Techbyte - Ascii Magazine 2010

The ASCII magazine team is proud to present the second edition
of the annual magazine. This time we call it "TECHBYTE." The

ninety days of work by the editors and designers on this edition
Committee Coordinator yields a magazine that not only presents the readers with a
Mohit Shrivastava plethora of technical articles, but also provides the readers with
a glimpse into the world of the computer engineer. The highly
logical and programmatic style of thought of the 'CS guys' is on
Chief Editor display, albeit in a rather excessive manner, in the form of a
Pratik Gupta number of fine comics; xkcd.com deserves a special mention in
this regard.
Associate Editors This publication is also a fine display of the versatility of

engineers in general. Moreover, it is the product of the driving
Neha Nayak
force behind the inception of a number of technical magazines:
Devrishi Khare “the need for 'techies' to write.” If I may borrow from an article
Pooja Anand by Mr. Frederick Noronha in our previous edition, the technical
skills of Indians is recognised the world over. But documenting
Pranita MSS our talent is of the essence in the global context. And so we
Chinta Vydehi encourage our readers to put pen to paper and feel free to
express their views.
Designer Mohit Shrivastava

Pratik Gupta Committee Coordinator
ASCII Core It gives us immense pleasure to present the second

Gautam Pratyush edition of the annual ASCII magazine “TECHBYTE”. This
Sanmeet Shikh time around we not only have a wide array of tech
Arvind Asheesh articles but also ‘têtê-à-têtê’ with our seniors, ‘bytes’ of
humour and a section on handy tweaks for you to try.
I am grateful to my dedicated team members and really

appreciate the enthusiasm and patience they have
shown during the production of the magazine. Many
thanks to the article contributors. Also, special thanks to
the faculty for their constant support and backing.
We hope to see much greater enthusiasm from the

students next year for the third edition of this annual
tradition.
So go ahead and read as the world of computers beckons.
Pratik Gupta
[Type text] Chief Editor Page 1
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CONTENTS
ARTICLES FUN STUFF
Bytes ‘o Humour ............. 9

Bluetooth 4.0 ................. 1
Tall Techy Tales ............ 21

Cloud Computing ......... 3
The Chip-set Mindset ... 37
My name is Python ..... 5
INTERVIEWS
RIA Wars ........................... 7
The BITSian Dream ....... 11

Timeware ...................... 18
The Dynamic Duo ......... 16
Nettech @ BITS .......... 23
BITS LAN ......................... 25 TIPS ‘N TRICKS
10 Freewares ............... 35 SQL Injections ............... 27
Become a Gmail Ninja .. 29
CS Faculty Details ........ 39 Random Tweaks .......... 31

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Bluetooth 4.0
Do you aspire to own a better connectivity, a new version of bluetooth?? Can you imagine a
Bluetooth device used as a sports sensors utilized to monitor the wearer's heart rate during
exercise having a battery life of up to one year such as those powered by coin-cell used in
wristwatches and calculators ? BLE and its predecessors have been in the pipe for ages now,
The Bluetooth SIG(Special Interest Group) has officially added into a release: Bluetooth 4.0
Bluetooth is one of the many technologies that many of us couldn't get through a day
without using. It connects us to our phones, our cars, and a myriad of other devices we use
for entertainment and work. . Many Devices like Laptops, Mobiles, Headsets, Smartphones,
netbooks ,etc will be integrated with Bluetooth 4.0 technology mainly for transfer of data or
interlinking of different gadget's. In short Bluetooth 4.0 is soon going be used as data
transfer channel.
Why use high powered Bluetooth stereo
headsets or GPS receivers, which need just a
steady flow of data when the upcoming low
energy device is expected to ensure
promising results? Bluetooth 4.0 will be
termed as BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) . As it
has capability to transmit High Amount of
data with high speed and consuming low
power in comparison with Bluetooth 3.0
The new CC2540, wireless integrated module
developed by Texas Instruments, is measly
6mm-square in area, and is said to be able to
operate for more than a year on a single button cell battery. With the reduced physical size
and embedded Flash memory, this should be easier to install and update as necessary too.
Considering the battery-draining ways of current Bluetooth tech, such claims sound
preposterously awesome, but this is still under development and tests so samples will be
out by next year.
While Bluetooth 3.0 was all about high energy with the introduction of WiFi transfer, 4.0
takes things down a notch by certifying single-mode low energy devices in addition to dual-
mode devices that incorporate both the low energy side of the spec plus either 2.1+EDR or
3.0. Classic Bluetooth chips with the new low energy stack, enhancing the development of
Classic Bluetooth enabled devices with new capabilities. Single-mode chips, which will
enable highly integrated and compact devices, will feature a lightweight Link Layer providing
ultra-low power idle mode operation, simple device discovery, and reliable point-to-
multipoint data transfer with advanced power-save and secure encrypted connections at
the lowest possible cost. The Link Layer in these controllers will enable Internet connected
sensors to schedule BLE traffic between Bluetooth transmissions.

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A Technical insight into BLE

· Data Transfers – BLE technology supports very short data packets (8 octet minimum
up to 27 octets maximum) that are transferred at 1 Mbps. All connections use
advanced sniff-subrating to achieve ultra low duty cycles.
· Frequency Hopping – BLE technology uses the adaptive frequency hopping common
to all versions of Bluetooth technology to minimize interference from other
technologies in the 2.4 GHz ISM Band. Efficient multi-path benefits increase the link
budgets and range.
· Host Control – BLE technology places a significant amount of intelligence in the
controller, which allows the host to sleep for longer periods of time and be woken up
by the controller only when the host needs to perform some action. This allows for
the greatest current savings since the host is assumed to consume more power than
the controller.
· Latency – BLE technology can support connection setup and data transfer as low as
3ms, allowing an application to form a connection and then transfer authenticated
data in few milliseconds for a short communication burst before quickly tearing
down the connection.
· Range – Increased modulation index provides a possible range for BLE technology of
over 100 meters.
· Strong Security – Full AES-128 encryption using CCM to provide strong encryption
and authentication of data packets.
· Topology –It uses a 32 bit access address on every packet for each slave, allowing
billions of devices to be connected. The technology is optimized for one-to-one
connections while allowing one-to-many connections using a star topology. With the
use of quick connections and disconnections, data can move in a mesh-like topology
without the complexities of maintaining a mesh network
Consuming minimal power, it offers long-lasting connectivity, dramatically extending the

range of potential applications and opening the door to brand new web services. In a
nutshell, the technology should bring a number of new categories and form factors of
wireless devices into the fold. If you are unhappy about the power consumptions of
earlier versions of Bluetooth Then you will soon get thrilled with your bluetooth data
transfer rate with this latest Version Of Bluetooth.4.0.So brace yourself to welcome this
astounding wireless device. Thats Bluetooth 4.0 for you all.!!
MORISETTY SRI SANTOSHI PRANITA SOURCES

2009A7PS121G www.engadget.com
POOJA ANAND www.vespacious.com
2009A7PS141G

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Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing may sound exotic, but most of us have already come into contact with it using
Web-based email services such as Gmail or Hotmail. The user logs in from his or her computer, and
accesses data stored on the computer cloud of the service. Neither the hardware nor the software
required for the job exists on the end user's computer. This simple and ubiquitous example
embodies the basic concept of cloud computing.
Imagine if you had to generate all the electricity required by the appliances in your home. To
maintain your current lifestyle, you would have to install a generator. You could collect coal and run
it on thermal power, or relocate near a river and try to harness hydro-power. You would have to
spend a huge amount of money on the machinery required, and there would be limited potential for
what you could do with the electricity generated.
We don't generate our own electricity. Power plants,

remote from the consumers, harness energy and supply it
to the masses through a grid. We only pay for the energy
we use. This centralised system results in overall lowered
costs, and availability of greater amounts of energy to the
consumer, making possible the wide array of exciting
gadgets that we can all take for granted today.
Yet, when it comes to computers, we are limited by the

capabilities of the best hardware we can afford. Some of us
pay large amounts of money for proprietary software to run
on these computers. But all this may change soon. A
revolution may be underway in which users can share resources, software, and information, on-
demand, over the internet.
This is the concept known Cloud Computing. The cloud can be divided into layers. The ‘outermost
layer’, the Client, consists of the hardware and software through which the user accesses the Cloud.
It can refer to a computer or a smartphone; or a browser or operating system. The next layer is the
Application. An Application service delivers Software as a Service (SaaS) over the internet. This
means that a user can have access to software without having to install and run it on their machine.
Such a scheme results in availability of software that can consistently be updated with new features,
and which can be used from any device without the hassle of meeting technical requirements.
The middle layer is the Cloud Platform, which connects the client to the cloud system hardware. A
Cloud platform service (Platform as a Service, PaaS) consumes cloud infrastructure and sustains
cloud applications. The next layer is the Infrastructure. It is typically a platform virtualisation service

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which allows the user to purchase servers, network equipment and other hardware as an
outsourced service as opposed to buying them outright. The final layer is the servers layer,
consisting of the hardware and software that deliver the cloud services, including multi-core
processors and cloud-specific operating systems.
The advantages of Cloud computing are apparent. To begin with, any individual would only
require a simple computer with basic input and output devices. The computer need only
have enough processing power to run middleware that accesses the cloud, and minimal
hard disk space since all data could be accessed quickly and easily, at any time, from
anywhere, with just an internet connection! A corporation that implements cloud
computing would save on physical space, as the servers and digital storage would not be
located on site. In addition, the need for tech support would be reduced as a system of
streamlined hardware would be less error-prone than a network of heterogeneous systems.
Finally, any user of a cloud computing system would have the benefit of the processing
power of the entire grid supporting the system, offering speeds unimaginable with
individual computers.
Cloud computing is not, however, a miraculous gateway into the space age. It raises many
important questions of privacy and security. Many companies are not comfortable with
having important data ‘out there’, under the control of some authority other than
themselves. The ‘anytime-anywhere access’ characteristic of cloud computing is also a cause
of hesitation amongst potential clients, as it creates opportunities for unauthorised users to
gain access to data. Finally, high bandwidth and sound connectivity are required to take
advantage of everything cloud computing has to offer, and these require infrastructure of a
high standard which is not available in many places.
The day is not far away when a company will consist of individual people working from all
over the world, accessing data stored on the internet at higher speeds than we can imagine
today. A person will walk into a shopping mall and wirelessly request information, then have
their shopping histories analysed and notices about sales in their favourite shops sent to
their wireless device. An employee can safely access company data and finish off work
sitting on the couch in their living room. The possibilities with Cloud Computing are limited
only by our imaginations.
NEHA NAYAK
2009A7PS003G

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My name is Python
and I am not a serpent
Well, I am no pro at Python but just a normal user. But even so, I feel confident enough to
write about it. That’s the beauty of Python. Some of you may have heard of Python and the
first thing that comes to mind is probably, well,
‘snakes’. So, let me attempt to describe Python for
you and I hope to convince you, by the end, that it
has nothing to do with the snake. Python is an open
source dynamic programming language which can
be used for almost any purpose, be it scripting, text
processing, object oriented programming or
building web-servers. Many of you must be aware
that python is one of the languages of Google uses
the most (along with C++ and Java). Peter Norvig,
director of search quality at Google, Inc. has said
about Python:
"Python has been an important part of Google since the beginning and remains so as the
system grows and evolves. Today dozens of Google engineers use Python, and we're looking
for more people with skills in this language."
It is not only Google that relies so heavily on Python. Many other giants like Pixar, Intel, HP
and Adobe frequently use Python. Now a question might arise in your mind. Why Python,
when many other languages also do the same thing? The next couple of paragraphs list and
explain why Python is a cool programming language and what things make Python more
flexible than other languages.
Python syntax is very easy and uses natural language for its syntax i.e. most of the code can
be just understood by reading it. It is also portable and works on all the major operating
systems. It even supports object oriented programming. Moreover, Python is largely known
as a glue language that connects existing components. It is embeddable in applications from
other languages (C/C++, Java, and so on), and it is also possible to add new modules to
Python, extending its core vocabulary. Yet another attractive feature is the speed of
compilation of Python code. Thanks to a highly optimized compiler and support libraries,
Python code is quite speedy for most applications.

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Alright, it’s time for some geeky facts about this language. The most recent officially
released version of Python is 3.1.2, but most of the industry usage still lingers on the 2.3 or
2.4 version. Python has numerous compilers ranging from normal command-line compilers
to GUI compilers. The extension of python files is “.py”. Each and everything is an object
including a variable 'x' in Python. That is a feature of great utility in Python.
With this article I hope a few of you will take a greater interest in this fantastic yet rather
overlooked language. My suggestion would be to learn Python 2.5. If you are using Linux it is
an integrated component. A good book to start with would be “A Byte of Python”. Did you
know that the recent “Assasin's Creed 2” crack is a simple Python code that hosts its own
server and interacts? Now get going. The unique and enchanting world of Python awaits
you.
VEMULA NEELESH
2007A7PS120G

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RIA Wars
RIA Wars will decide the emperor of Web!
These days, the Internet is very different from what it was a decade ago. With the number internet
users increasing exponentially with time, there is a demand of increased User interactivity and user
interface. Web 2.0 is witnessing a major change with introduction of various platforms to provide
users with the feel of desktop in his/her browser. This is where RIAs step in.
Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are web applications that have many of the characteristics of
desktop applications, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser, via a browser plug-
in, or independently via sandboxes or virtual machines. RIAs are mainly used in online gaming and
video capturing. The three big players in this market are Adobe Flex, AJAX and Microsoft Silverlight.
This article discusses all three of them, concluding with a verdict on which could be the next Web
Emperor.
With introduction of HTML 5, browsers have become really
powerful. Various multimedia applications like audio and video
can be played in the browser itself. With Apple also trying to
promote HTML 5 for iPhone, iPad and iPod HTML 5 has a lot of
potential. The advantage of integration of multimedia in
browsers is a big threat to existing RIA frameworks.
AJAX is emerging technology and has become very popular after
introduction of Google suggest in August 2008. The need to
refresh entire page continuously has diminished with
introduction of AJAX. While AJAX promises to be a good
replacement of existing RIA frameworks, the main issue it faces
is cross browser compatibility, which can sometimes cause difficulties for developers.
Whenever something new is happening in the industry, Microsoft cannot be left behind. To
introduce itself into this arena Microsoft launched Silverlight in April 2007. Silverlight has the benefit
of a huge community of .Net developers who will not need to learn anything from scratch and who
can utilize the huge libraries of .Net components available in the framework. It has seamless
integration between desktop and online version as well. Because of this, building enterprise
applications will be the area in which Silverlight might have an edge over the others.
Adobe Flex released around in March 2004 is becoming very popular these days. In February
2008, Adobe released the Flex 3 SDK under the open source Mozilla Public License and so
Flex applications can be developed using any standard IDE like Eclipse. There is also a
commercial and proprietary IDE called Adobe Flash Builder. Output of Adobe Flex is a .swf
file which can be run on any browser which has flash player. According to adobe 90% or
more browsers today have flash player support. With Adobe Flex becoming open source,

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developers are showing a lot of interest in it. In addition, it has no browser compatibility
issues as it can run on flash player. Another great feature of Adobe Flex is that it can be used
to create desktop applications using Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated runtime).
Verdict:
With so many options available in the market, developers are generally confused about
which is the right choice. We will highlight a few important points regarding who could be
the next emperor of web and why.
With Jquery emerging, AJAX is really powerful these days and is moving forward to diminish
other RIA frameworks. AJAX basically works on javascript and it faces cross browser
compatibility problems. We are still far from standardization of the web and Internet
explorer mainly holds credit for that. The greatest advantage of AJAX is that it doesn’t
require any additional plugin, but an application may run on smoothly on one browser and
not on another, so it’s not always a safe choice.
Silverlight from Microsoft is giving good competition to Adobe Flex. The biggest
disadvantage with Silverlight is that it requires the Silverlight plugin which is not present on
the majority of browsers at the moment. Microsoft, with its loyalists, is trying hard to
promote Silverlight. Many parts of Microsoft’s website require the Silverlight plugin.
Microsoft, along with Novell, has launched moonlight for LINUX systems and Mobile
devices, starting with Windows Phone 7 Series and Symbian (Series 60) phones, will likely
become supported in 2010. Currently, Silverlight is mainly used for enterprise solutions and
still has to cover a lot of ground to compete with Adobe Flex. Making the Flex framework
open source was a very smart move by Adobe. Adobe already has great penetration in
market with Flash player available with almost all browsers presently. Adobe is contributing
a lot to open source Flex framework. Flex applications are written in MXML which is new to
many developers. But Adobe is promoting AIR and Flex by sponsoring various competitions
in Indian techfests like those held in IIT Bombay and IT-BHU. Adobe also has student RIA
representatives in various colleges all over the world. Adobe is an old player when it comes
to designing and multimedia but this time Adobe has come up with something as a
replacement for Flash, keeping developers in mind. While Flash was for designers, Flex is for
developers, and since it works on the old Flash player it can be a great competitor to other
RIA frameworks and can emerge as a winner.
In Future we may see a website like Ebay using Flex,Silverlight and AJAX for providing
different kinds of functionality. These kinds of hybrid websites can be seen in future.
SMARTH BEHL
2009A7031PS

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BYTEs ‘O Humour
Life Before the Computer:
- Memory was something you lost with age

- An application was for a job
- A program was for a TV show
- A cursor used profanity
- A keyboard was found on a piano
- A web was a spider's home
- A virus usually meant the flu
- A CD was a bank account
- A hard drive was a long trip on the road
- A mouse pad was where a mouse lived

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The BITSian Dream
He is the kind of BITSian every one of us wants to be... With an impressive GRE score, two
grad school admits, a placement in Oracle and even a call from IIM, all doors are open for
Aditya Bhiday (2006A7PS080G). Pratik and Mohit in conversation with Aditya about life on
the road to success.
First of all, many congratulations to you!

Thank you very much!
So tell us, what is your work ethic? How did you manage all the awesome stuff -
Placement, IIM calls, GRE score, admits, CGPA?
Well, there was a saying in 3 Idiots that went something like this... Pursue excellence and
success will automatically follow. This has always been
true for me. I have always lived life one day at a time,
trying to make the best use of it. Some days it was
chatting on DC or Google Talk, some days just bunking all
classes and watching TV series the whole day, but on
some days, I would actually have to get down to business
and get some serious work done, be it completing
assignments, or studying for the (never ending) T1s, T2s
and compres. I started out with a 7.79 GPA in the first
semester. Thankfully, my parents believed in me and
encouraged me to do better than just blaming my computer for the poor GPA. People
around you, friends, parents and especially professors do matter a lot and influence you in
ways you may not see immediately.
Let us start with the 'CSI IT Idol of Goa'. How did that come about and how was your
experience?
Yeah, with this competition I just got lucky. In fact, I wasn't even thinking of applying to it.
To be honest, I hadn't expected winning the competition. There were numerous rounds to
be cleared. The first one was the written test. The second was the programming round at
Goa University. They asked us to code for a program and that was fun as well. The next was
a presentation round and I had been asked to present on the topic "Future and Challenges
in Cloud Computing". The last round was interviews with a panel. I learnt a valuable lesson
here. Humour always helps. A small joke goes a long way in creating a positive impression in
the mind of the interviewers. It gives them something to remember you by and almost
always tips the scales in your favour.

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You got placed at Oracle. What preparations did you do for that?
Clearing the written test is usually a matter of luck and impromptu thinking more than
preparation. The verbal section does need the study of English or the inculcation of the very
important habit of reading which most of us give up right after coming to BITS due to
various reasons. However, if you're preparing for the GRE then this does not pose a
problem. The interviews are all about keeping cool and being honest. Tension shows easily
and usually brings out the worst in a person. It helps to stay calm and answer confidently,
and say that you don't know the answer to a question if you don't rather than fluking. At the
end of the day, all that matters is what you learnt in your CDC semesters and a bit of luck.
The best part about being placed at Oracle was that it happened the day before Waves, and
for that very reason, that was the best Waves in these four years for me.
Coming to 'Belling the CAT'. How did you go about

it?
To be honest, I was never serious about the CAT or
pursuing an MBA course immediately after BITS. It's
just that I was curious and CAT has had a reputation
of being one of the tougher and more competitive
examinations, so I decided to give it just like that.
How did it feel to get a call from one of the most prestigious B-schools - IIM?
It's definitely a great feeling. In fact, when I got my CAT result, I was pleasantly surprised to
see 99+ percentile on my score card considering I hadn't put any effort towards preparation
for the examination.
Okay so tell us, why do you think so many engineers go for an MBA nowadays? Don’t you
think that undermines your first degree?
I believe that pursuing any engineering course helps to build certain skills in a person, some
of them being logical thinking, working under pressure, meeting deadlines etc. Even though
so many students pursue engineering, some do aspire to be managers rather than pursue a
technical career. Studying engineering before management allows individuals to be well
versed with both the technical aspects as well as the managerial expertise. This gives
engineers an edge when they are at a managerial post in a technical organisation. Hence I
do not feel that an MBA undermines the importance of your first degree.
You also did very well in GRE. What preparations led to that?
I gave my GRE at the end of the summer vacations after my third year at BITS.
Unfortunately, I wasn't satisfied with my preparation because I ended up not studying for
most of the summer (because of the BITSian habit of procrastination). Thankfully, I ended
up with 1400, which is a decent enough score. My advice would be to try to get an intern
during the summer vacations after your third year. An internship really helps while applying
to universities abroad.

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A call from Purdue and recently, Georgia Tech. Lots of options to weigh upon. Which do
you plan to take up and what do you plan to study there?
Yes, I got an admit from Georgia Tech just a couple of days back. Other admits I received
were from Purdue, University of California at Los Angeles and Ohio State University. I had a
very difficult time choosing between UCLA and Purdue before I got the GaTech admit, and
now I'm having an even tougher time choosing from the three. My interest has been
Networking, Distributed Systems and High Performance Computing. Nettech and my
research for the CSI IT Idol presentation helped me realise what my interests were. I had
also chosen varied courses in my fourth year, such as Computer Graphics, Artificial
Intelligence and Parallel Computing to help me decide, In the end, I decided that Parallel
Computing was more interesting as compared to the other two, and this strengthened my
interest.
Lots of students here will be interested in knowing how to apply to these prestigious
colleges? What all do they look for in the applicants?
Students interested in pursuing a Masters or a PhD should join the BITS2MSPHD Yahoo
Group at the earliest. It has a
group of really helpful seniors
who answer the queries
students have about applying to
US universities and offer any
other assistance if required. One
should also start going through
the websites of the universities
that interest them so as to gain
an insight into the professors
and their research areas at the
university. It also helps to keep
in touch with seniors studying
there. As far as what a
university looks for in an applicant, I think the first parameter is probably the CGPA. A higher
CGPA increases the chances of an admit tremendously. Apart from that, the Statement of
Purpose is also very important and must be written in a concise manner but must still clearly
explain your reasons for graduate study. The SOP allows the Admissions Committee to
understand you better and gain an insight into your personality. Letters of Recommendation
also matter a great deal. Be sure to work on atleast one project in your field of interest with
a professor at BITS. Last but not the least, internships at known research institutes such as
IISc, TIFR, etc boost your chances by a fair amount.

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After having done it all, do you think it's wise for students to do all 3 things - CGPA, MBA
prep and GRE Prep?
At the end of the day, no matter what others say, your CGPA does count a great deal, but at
the same time, it's not the only thing that counts. It is also important to enjoy your four (or
five) years at BITS as you will never get this much freedom to explore yourself and your
interests later in life. Yes, I think it's reasonable and quite possible to pursue all three at
once if you are focussed. If you have a specific interest such as pursuing an MBA or an MS,
then one must concentrate on one specific task than trying to achieve everything. I wanted
to pursue graduate study, so the GRE was my first priority.
You must have worked on several computer languages. Which one do you think is the
future?
All programming languages are built with a specific purpose in mind. C, C++ and Java were
built for general programming, PHP for small to medium scale web development, Perl and
Python for scripting. I use a specific language based on the application. However, the
simplicity of Python has been really fascinating. I think one should definitely have a look at
Python as a language for quick and pain-free development.
Which are your favorite websites for resources?

Google usually helps in most cases. Apart from that a special mention
to http://www.w3schools.com/ for some amazing tutorials and
http://www.cplusplus.com/ for complete reference for the C and C++ programming
languages.
Tell us something about the CSD. The experience, your work, etc. (You must have been
partly responsible for blocking several sites huh :P).
Working with the Centre for Software Development was an amazing experience. In fact, I
spent most of my time between classes in my third year working at the CSD. I was always
interested in the real world application of what I was learning at BITS. The internet has been
a severe problem for a while now. We tried our level best to cooperate with the Computer
Centre and propose new solutions in order to provide safe, yet fast internet access to
students. I believe some of our efforts have helped to alleviate the problems to a
considerable extent. We also set up a few repositories for popular distributions such as
Ubuntu and openSUSE to promote the use of GNU/Linux in campus. The CSD also brought
me in contact with professors such as Dr. D.M. Kulkarni and Mr. Mangesh Bedekar and it has
been a pleasure working with them. As students, we understood the difficulties faced by
students in accessing certain sites blocked by accident and in fact, we tried to propose ways
in which sites would be censored without affecting the productivity of the internet access.
Therefore, we were responsible for unblocking wrongly blocked sites rather than blocking
more sites.

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THE BITSIAN DREAM
Now a few fun questions:
Comments on the new name of the campus?

Any change meets resistance initially, but I think changing the name of our campus has
made it stand out from the other BITS campuses. It has made our campus more special and
given it a new personality.
If you had 10 crores, what would you do for the campus? Let your
imagination run wild for this one.
10 crores is a really large amount. I would probably use it to build a
swimming pool (it's really hot in Goa during the second semester) and
establish new research laboratories in our campus. And build India's
fastest supercomputer in campus too.
Who on campus do you think deserves a golden mural?

Far too many people, in my opinion. The B-dome would be full of them if we made a golden
mural for every person who I think deserves it. ;)
One final question, where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
As I have mentioned before, I live life a day at a time, and putting down where I see myself
10 years from now would just be limiting the endless possibilities. As it is said popularly, the
sky is the limit, and I would let that be. Just drop me an email in ten years, and I'll tell you
where I am. :)

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
The Dynamic Duo
Ever heard about ‘Hunting in Pairs’? This team demonstrates just that. In conversation with
Atish Kathpal and Nilesh Kulkarni about team-work and how they became the ‘KINGS OF
QUARK’.
Q: How was Quark for you both?
Atish: Quark was good fun. We took part in 3 Programmer’s Inc. events- Rip Open, Geek n
Latin and Terminator. All of them were pretty interesting and well organized. We had a blast
participating, though we missed out most of the other highlights of Quark.
Q: Do you consider participating in technical festivals important?
Nilesh: Definitely. A great way to hone your practical skills and test your knowledge in a
competitive setup. Tech-fests are particularly fun as they give us the right push to come out
of our lazy self and get working. The adrenaline rush helps unleash your full potential.
Q: How do you guys prepare for an event as a team?
Atish: The focus is on getting our basics right before the event. Everything else needs usually
to be worked out on the spot itself. Nevertheless doing your homework is as important as
performing during the event.
Q: Do you think it is essential to be a team player these days? Why?
Nilesh: Obviously J. It’s a must to be a good team player for any team event. Also it’s
important to know each of our strengths to be able to divide work efficiently.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your projects?
Nilesh: I have been keenly interested in fields of Parallel Computing, Automated Vehicle
Control Systems and Artificial Intelligence. I have also worked a lot on basic application
development, networking and robotics during my first few years on campus.
Atish: Biocomputing and Artificial Intelligence have been my keen interests at BITS. Have
concentrated on projects in the fields of DNA computing, computational genomics, and
genetic algorithms besides web and application development work.
Currently we both are working on developing intelligent web-browsing systems.

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
Q: (For Atish) You where a founding member of Embryo. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Atish: BITS Embryo is a BITSAA International initiative that intends to tap the enormous
industrial/research experience of BITS alumni and make it available to on campus students
by organizing fruitful video conferencing sessions. Embryo’s journey on campus has been a
challenge due to evident and well known bandwidth issues, but I am happy to see, that the
way has smoothened now with more and more successful Embryo talks every semester.
Q: So, you both secured awesome ranks in most of the events you participated in and won
lakhs of rupees ;)… How do you plan to spend it?
Nilesh: Not lakhs :P just a few thousand bucks. We’ll probably buy some real cool hacker
stuff which we obviously don’t intend to tell about. :D
Q: On a serious note how much importance should one attach to monetary gain in life?
Nilesh: Too early to comment on that. Lets just earn some and find out. :P
Q: What is ‘Koolkats’? ;) Can you tell us a bit about the origin of the name?
Atish: It was during the Terminator event of Quark that we came up with this nick for our
robot. It’s basically a “concatenation” (:P) of our surnames Kulkarni and Kathpal. J The nick
proved lucky and our bot demolished all the other bots with the CC chanting KoolKat all the
way :D.

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
Timeware
Time-Ware, or literally meaning –a time bound software. Technologists have developed an

automated design methodology to work hand-in-hand with real-time design tools. The
objective is to guarantee a system's end-to-end real-time requirements by automatically
assigning intermediate timing constraints, and by restructuring the code. It is believed that
this type of strategy can significantly streamline the design process, since it supports a
variety of resource-specific considerations early on in the life-cycle. The method is
applicable to control-domain systems, image-processing and multimedia applications -- and
it supports a variety of different system topologies and real-time constraints.
In our real-time CAD tool, end-to-end constraints are entered as properties such as
propagation delay, temporal input-sampling
correlation, and allowable separation times
between updated output values. These
requirements are then automatically
transformed into a set of rate constraints on
the tasks. At this point new tasks are created
to correlate related inputs. The constraints
are solved by an optimization algorithm,
whose objective is to minimize CPU
utilization. If the algorithm fails, our
program-slicing tool attempts to eliminate bottlenecks by transforming the application. The
final result is a set of schedulable tasks, which collaboratively maintain the end-to-end
constraints.
This method was recently generalized to handle distributed real-time systems with
statistical quality constraints, and with underlying stochastic resource requirements.
Computations flow though distributed pipelines of tasks, which communicate in pairwise
producer-consumer relationships. We use the tasking abstraction to represent any activity
requiring nonzero load from some CPU or network resource.
Today, more and more organizations are switching to Timeware for superior workforce
management solutions Timeware's solutions are easier-to-use and more affordable than
other vendors. Or maybe it's because Timeware's solutions feature state-of-the-art
biometric (fingerprint) technology that eliminates fraud, and simplify everything from HR

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE|||THE
TECHBYTE DYNAMIC4.0
BLUETOOTH
TIMEWARE DUO
administration and scheduling, to attendance and payroll. Or maybe it's because Timeware's
open architecture can be up and running in days -- not the months or years required by
traditional HRMS vendors. Or maybe it's the speed with which our solutions pay for
themselves, in some cases within the first month, by minimizing administrative effort,
eliminating overtime, rounding errors and buddy punching.
As a result of its open architecture, Timeware solutions can be up and running in days -- not
the months or years required by traditional HRMS vendors. And Timeware's solutions
typically cost up to 70% less than the competition, and are supported by world-class
customer service.
One such example of a Time-Ware is a ‘BIOSCREEN’. The Primetime BioScreen is a powerful,

patented device that changes the rules of enterprise workforce management, and gives you
the power to interact with your employees in new and time-saving ways.
Part computer, part biometric (fingerprint) scanner, part RFID reader, BioScreen is an open
architecture touch screen kiosk, that organizations use for everything from employee
attendance tracking and self-service, to secure access control and just about any process
that can be launched from internal or external (Web based) applications.
As with each Timeware solution, we are 100% committed to your success and satisfaction
using Primetime BioScreen.
BioScreen as Timeclock
Unlike traditional time clocks, the BioScreen's

computerized hardware, 10.2 inch LCD touch-screen,
600 DPI biometric (fingerprint) scanner, and RFID
reader give it the intelligence needed in today's
complex workplace environment, where overtime and
buddy punching are real concerns.
With the BioScreen, you can forget about overtime and buddy punching, as well as manual
computation and data entry. The BioScreen not only eliminate fraud and overtime, but it
automates the accurate allocation of worked time to the correct cost center.
BioScreen as Access Controller
The BioScreen can also perform high security access control. Once a worker identifies

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE| THE DYNAMIC4.0
DUO
TECHBYTE||BLUETOOTH
TIMEWARE
themselves, either via RFID tag or by entering an employee identification number, they are
then authenticated by the biometric scanner, and access to secured areas can be approved
or denied. In many situations, authentication can be done in a single step – by placing an
approved finger on the fingerprint scanner.
BioScreen as an HR Terminal
The BioScreen is your HR representative that never sleeps. Not only does it collect data and
control access, but together with our award-winning software solutions, the BioScreen
saves you time by automating a wide range of activities including communication with
employees about accrued time off, work schedules, policy changes, vacation time, benefits,
and other HR-related functions.
PRASHANT MISHRA
2009A7PS027G

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
Tall Techy Tales
Computer Trivia:
Q: How do you keep a programmer in the shower all day?

A: Give him a bottle of shampoo which says "lather, rinse, repeat."
Q: Why do all Pascal programmers want to live in Atlantis?

A: Because it is below C level.
Q: How many C++ programmers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: "You are still thinking procedurally! A properly designed light bulb object would inherit a
change method from a generic light fixture class!"
Q: How could a programmer have saved the Titanic?

A: By declaring it as ‘float’.
Q: Why do programmers always get Christmas and Halloween mixed up?

A: Because DEC 25 = OCT 31
Q: What happened when the computer fell on the floor?

A: It slipped a disk.

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE||THE
TALLDYNAMIC
BLUETOOTH DUO
4.0
TECHY TALES
Facts:
· Google got its name from the mathematical figure googol, which denotes the number
'one followed by a hundred zeros'.
· Yahoo! derived its name from the word Yahoo coined by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's
Travels. A Yahoo is a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely
human!
· In February 2004, a unique Morse code for the '@' symbol was introduced: ·--·-· (Dit-Dah-
Dah-Dit-Dah-Dit).
· The time spent deleting SPAM costs United States businesses $21.6 billion annually.
· 35 Billion e-mails are sent each day throughout the world.
· The average 21 year old has spent 5,000 hours playing video games, has exchanged
250,000 e-mails, instant and text messages and has spent 10,000 hours on the mobile
phone.

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
NETTECH @ BITS
NETTECH- A Certificate in network management and ethical hacking but for me it was much
more than that!
2009 Winter at BITS-Pilani Goa Campus:
After completing our T1 exam, we started with the NETTECH workshop on 23rd September.
On the very next day, our second lecture session was interrupted and all the students were
requested to move to the college auditorium as some very important announcement was
going to be made. It was none other than the famous Jaundice Break.
The course resumed on 12th October after Jaundice Vacations. Swapan Purkait, master in
network securities and an amazing teacher, obsessive about punctuality, was in charge of
the workshop and made those 20 days really enjoyable for all of us.
The sessions were completely practical and started from basics, covering various topics on
networking like LINUX commands, TELNET, FTP, DHCP, DNS and, in addition, things like
Linux file system. A visit to the server room of our college was also conducted during the
course. Different working servers like FTP server, BITS Mail server, DNS server, DHCP server,
Proxy server, BITSAT server were shown to the students. A demonstration on how Switch,
Hub, Routers work was also given. A separate session was conducted in which the students
learned how to make crossover cable. The difference between straight and crossover cable
was also explained. Various cryptographic and Steganographic techniques were also
discussed. Simple tricks like making a virus and phishing, using sniffing tools like Cain, and
using key loggers were explained.
Issues related to security and ethical hacking were also discussed in various classes. Seeing
one’s password being stolen in front of one’s own eyes causes one to question privacy
offered while using the CC for social networking and other things. Students clearly
understood that no system is perfectly safe unless it is not connected to any network. As an
example, the Indian Air Force has a separate network making it almost impossible to hack.
Cyber laws are not very powerful in our country so here prevention is always better than
cure.

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE|||THE
TECHBYTE DYNAMIC
BLUETOOTH
NETTECH DUO
@ 4.0
BITS
Individual & group tasks and theoretical & online quizzes were conducted each of which had a
time limit. Marks were updated on a daily basis. The top three participants were awarded
special prizes. I was given a book on TCP/IP protocol for standing first in the workshop. The top
10 participants were adjudged as best of the best and given special certificates at end of
workshop. Students with less than 50 % marks were not given certificates for workshop
clearance. On the whole, the workshop was fun and very informative, and I advise everyone to
participate in it.
SMARTH BAHL
2009A7PS031G

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
BITS LAN
Most of us come to BITS knowing next to

nothing about networking, port numbers,
DHCP, DNS, network security etc, etc.
Frankly I felt more than a little lost in the
beginning, being bombarded with terms,
acronyms, lingo and whatnot. The first
thing we saw on our notice boards was
how to connect to the intra campus LAN,
we were given the proxy address and the
port number. Next we were introduced
to “DC”, the p2p software for our LAN. I
still remember the first ASCII meet, we
spent an hour waiting for the faculty to
leave and started drilling our seniors on
DC, understanding the lifeline of our
campus.
A little more into the 1st sem I learnt about the rules of IPv4 and the upcoming IPv6. What is
an A-class IP and what are private IPs?? The journey from this point includes just two
numbers – 0s & 1s. Every number in an IP is a representation of 8 bits. The first four bits of
the first byte determine the class of the IP, there are 5 classes in total – A, B, C, D&E. Now
arises a question - how to assign so many IPs? As an answer, the concepts of private IPs,
subnet masks and cidr emerged. The quandary remained unresolved, hence a new version is
being implemented – IPv6. According to which every single dust particle on Earth can be
assigned an address.
Now how are we assigned these IPs ?They are assigned by a DHCP server. We get our IP for
a specific lease period from the server, ranging from a day to even months. For example, in
an airport we receive an IP only for an hour whereas in our campus it is assigned for a few
days. After this period IP addresses are renewed. In our campus, students are not allowed to
setup their own DHCP servers, as setting them up disrupts the normal functioning of the
LAN.
Once inside the network we wish to surf the internet. Between us and the internet are the
proxy servers, watching our every move and keeping track of our whereabouts. Basically
they have a firewall that blocks the specific ports of the services which are denied to us, and
also controls the timing of net facilities . What are ports ? Ports are like doors to our PCs,

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE||THE
BITSDYNAMIC
BLUETOOTH
LAN DUO
4.0
every service they provide they provide via a door. In all, there are 2^16 ports out of which
0-1023 are standard reserved ports.
Our every query on the Internet is answered by the DNS(Domain Name System) server, if
the DNS doesn’t have an answer it will ask an external DNS server and provide us with the
answer. DNS is an internet system to translate names into IP addresses; if we type
www.google.com it replies us with 209.85.231.104
All the servers mentioned above are located in the server room of our campus. There are
three types of servers, namely Network, Application and Communication. The DHCP and
DNS are Network level servers, FTP is an Application level server whereas our mail server is
a Communication level server. There are 4-5 proxy servers.
As being the owners of sharp brains we do a lot of mischievous stuff ;) Quite a lot amongst
us host FTP servers for easy access to our personal files, what we don’t realize is that there
are people in our campus equipped with sniffing softwares which can pick up packets from
the network and read them, hence any communication not in a protected format can be
intercepted with ease. There also exist several fake websites hosted with the sole purpose
of stealing your Orkut/Facebook passwords, this is called Phishing.
If you are friends with a 4th yearite, you can ask him to setup a server and add your IP to his
network, giving you a round the clock internet access ;) However this tends to slow down
their computer. People with data cards share internet by setting up their own servers, this is
where a normal user can be easily fooled and can end up losing his/her net security.
Every packet on the network is made up of seven layers, the first layer has the original and
the destination IP, a hacker can easily send infinite requests to a server with a fake IP, thus
overloading and crashing the server. It is very interesting to note that both the hubs of our
campus can be hacked with relative ease, in-fact it has previously been done by our seniors.
Our LAN is insecure from even the most basic of hacks.
How to protect yourself from all this? While browsing in the CC always check DNS specified
in the browser and lookup the processes to catch any keylogger program installed. However
this is not foolproof, as any keylogger, worth its salt, is never listed under the running
processes. Constrain yourselves from installing pirated softwares as far as possible. These
softwares open up sensitive ports on our computers giving crackers easy access. Further,
never save a list of passwords, and don’t tell it to anyone, even your friends.
DEVRISHI KHARE
2009A7PS053G

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
SQL Injections
A “SQL Injection” is basically done through exploitation of user input fields. For it, we need
a server using a SQL database (preferably an old one). Most servers used nowadays are not
㻌vulnerable to a simple SQL Injection.
㻌
Examples of Real Time Attacks:

On August 17, 2009, Identity theft of 130 million credit card numbers using an SQL injection
attack.
In December 2009, an attacker breached the ‘RockYou!’ database containing the
unencrypted usernames and passwords of about 32 million users.
Backend Working:
## Consider an example, where we have a simple login window which displays your details.
The SQL query behind it is as follows:
㻿㻱㻸㻱㻯㼀㻌㻖㻌㻲㻾㻻㻹㻌㼠㼍㼎㼘㼑㻌㼃㻴㻱㻾㻱㻌㼡㼟㼑㼞㼚㼍㼙㼑㻌㻩㻌䇺㼋㼋㼋䇻㻭㻺㻰㻌㼜㼍㼟㼟㼣㼛㼞㼐㻌㻩㻌䇺㻌㼋㼋㼋䇻㻧㻌
So, in the username field you can write any username (whose details we wish to see) and in
the password field, we give the typical sql injection: x’ OR ‘1’=’1
㻿㻱㻸㻱㻯㼀㻌㻖㻌㻲㻾㻻㻹㻌㼠㼍㼎㼘㼑㻌㼃㻴㻱㻾㻱㻌㼡㼟㼑㼞㼚㼍㼙㼑㻌㻩㻌䇺㼍㼐㼙㼕㼚䇻㻌㻭㻺㻰㻌㼜㼍㼟㼟㼣㼛㼞㼐㻌㻩㻌䇺㼤䇻㻌㻻㻾㻌䇺㻝䇻㻩䇻㻝䇻㻧㻌
We can clearly see, due to the OR clause, the password field is always ‘True’, allowing the
user to see details of the username ‘admin’. This could have be any query like 1’ OR ‘x’=’x
etc.
NOTE: Vulnerability in a server can be tested in various ways like simply giving a query as
single quote (‘). This will generate an error because of an improper syntax.
## The injection above could have been worse, giving user name as: x' OR name LIKE
'%admin%;--
㻿㻱㻸㻱㻯㼀㻌㻖㻌㻲㻾㻻㻹㻌㼠㼍㼎㼘㼑㻌㼃㻴㻱㻾㻱㻌㼡㼟㼑㼞㼚㼍㼙㼑㻌㻩㻌䇺㼤䇻㻌㻻㻾㻌㼚㼍㼙㼑㻌㻸㻵㻷㻱㻌㻓㻑㼍㼐㼙㼕㼚㻑㻧㻙㻙䇻㻭㻺㻰㻌
㼜㼍㼟㼟㼣㼛㼞㼐㻌㻩㻌䇺䇻㻧㻌
Basically, ‘LIKE’ displays results for all users whose name contains the string ‘admin’. The ‘;--
‘ ends the SQL query and the password filed is not required.

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE|||THE
TECHBYTE SQLDYNAMIC
BLUETOOTH DUO
4.0
INJECTIONS
## This trick requires a bit of hit and trial. One can also perform *** attacks for deleting an
entire table by the SQL query: x'; DROP TABLE users; --䇻
㻿㻱㻸㻱㻯㼀㻌㻖㻌㻲㻾㻻㻹㻌㼡㼟㼑㼞㼟㻌㼃㻴㻱㻾㻱㻌㼡㼟㼑㼞㼚㼍㼙㼑㻌㻩㻌䇺㼤䇻㻧㻌㻰㻾㻻㻼㻌㼀㻭㻮㻸㻱㻌㼡㼟㼑㼞㼟㻧㻌㻙㻙㻌㻓㻧㻌
NOTE: Common table names are users, list etc.
## To end with one of my favorite tricks. If you are still not able to login, there might be a
possibility that the database is not read-only. Consider the following:
㻿㻱㻸㻱㻯㼀㻌㻖㻌㻲㻾㻻㻹㻌㼠㼍㼎㼘㼑㻌㼃㻴㻱㻾㻱㻌㼡㼟㼑㼞㼚㼍㼙㼑㻌㻩㻌䇺㼍䇻㻧㻌㼕㼚㼟㼑㼞㼠㻌㼕㼚㼠㼛㻌
㼠㼍㼎㼘㼑㼚㼍㼙㼑㻔䇺㼡㼟㼑㼞㼚㼍㼙㼑䇻㻘䇻㼜㼍㼟㼟㼣㼛㼞㼐䇻㻕㻌㼢㼍㼘㼡㼑㼟㻔䇺㼍㼎㼏㼐㼑㼒䇻㻘䇻㼍㼎㼏㼐㼑㼒䇻㻕㻧㻌
Though it has practically never worked for me, I found out the following syntax which works in
most of the cases.
㻿㻱㻸㻱㻯㼀㻌㻖㻌㻲㻾㻻㻹㻌㼠㼍㼎㼘㼑㻌㼃㻴㻱㻾㻱㻌㼡㼟㼑㼞㼚㼍㼙㼑㻌㻩㻌䇺㼍䇻㻧㻌㼕㼚㼟㼑㼞㼠㻌㼕㼚㼠㼛㻌㼠㼍㼎㼘㼑㼚㼍㼙㼑㻔㼡㼟㼑㼞㼚㼍㼙㼑㻘㼜㼍㼟㼟㼣㼛㼞㼐㻕㻌
㼢㼍㼘㼡㼑㼟㻔㻎㼍㼎㼏㼐㼑㼒㻘㻎㼍㼎㼏㼐㼑㼒㻎㻕㻧㻌
You can simply create new entries and login with ease.
Hackers spend days and nights finding new vulnerabilities and Developers in fixing them. It’s
like a race with one trying to prove superiority over the other.
Avoiding SQL Injections
Without discussing in detail, I can say a SQL server MUST NOT interact directly with a user
input. For example: Servers can parse user inputs separately and ignore/generate errors for (‘)
characters. Also, it can be replaced with two single quotes ('') to form a valid SQL string literal.
VINEET DHANAWAT
2007A7PS039G

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
Become a GMail Ninja
10 Steps to transform a GMail Nablet to a GMail Ninja
Everyone has heard of GMail, one of the most popular email services today. But do you use
GMail to its full potential? Here’re a few steps that’ll ensure you’re no longer a GMail
Nablet! :D
1. Get a GMail account: The obest step is to get a GMail account. Many people don’t do
that, as they already have an account on a more popular service like Yahoo, Rediff, or
Hotmail. Have no fear; you can use the POP3 feature in your previous account to fetch all
the mails that you’ll receive on it. There are also several ways to get all old mail transferred
to your new GMail account (Let’s put the 7GB+ space to some good use!); the best way is
GMail’s inbuilt Accounts & Imports Tab in Settings. Another method could also be to Auto-
forward mails to your new GMail account. Don’t forget to import your contacts as well!
2. Time for Labels: GMail uses “Labels” to allow you to tag your mails. You can have
multiple labels for a particular mail and then later view all mails under a particular label.
And, of course, you can personalize the labels by changing the
color schemes. So you could have labels for Facebook
Updates, Orkut Scraps, Important Mails and more.
3. Filter ’em out: Now that you’re done adding labels, let’s
configure GMail to automatically label the mails. Click “Create
a Filter”, next to the Search button, add keywords (Like from:Facebook for all Facebook
notifications) and then choose the actions to be taken (Like all Facebook notifications can be
removed from the Inbox, all mails from “someone” could be starred). Try to filter out mails
that you don’t regularly read from your inbox and assign them to particular labels. You can
read them later, or assign them a separate space, as is explained in the next step.
4. Divide your Inbox: Once you’re done creating labels, here’s a way to divide your inbox
into different parts. You could keep one for your Inbox, one for all Social Networking sites
(Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn etc.), one for Newsletters (Haven’t you subscribed to
BITSMS2PHD yet?) and so on. Just go to Settings>Labs and enable the Multiple Inbox. Next,
you can add labels (Use OR to add multiple labels in one view) and arrange your inbox!
5. Inbox Preview: Ok, so we’re done with basic configuration. But what’s the use of all this
on the slow BITS net? Does GMail take a lifetime to open? You could directly open the

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE||THE
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|BLUETOOTH
BECOME DUO
4.0
A GMAIL
“HTML View”, but a better option is to use the “Inbox Preview” Labs feature. Enable it by
going to Settings>Labs. Next time while you see the Loading bar on opening GMail, you’ll
see a sneak preview of the recent mails from your account! But if you aren’t content with
just that, there’s more in the next step!
6. Offline GMail: No, you can’t make Google send mails by carrier pigeons. But what you
can do is make GMail store all (most of) your mails locally on your computer so that you can
read them even when you aren’t connected to the internet (Or when BITS net isn’t working,
pretty common here!). You can choose which mails should be stored on your computer
(Select labels) and the time period as well. Also, you can send mails while you’re offline.
They’re stored in the “Outbox”. Once you connect to the internet, they’ll be sent
automatically! Interested? You’ll need to enable it from Settings>Offline (Google Gears will
be installed with it) and it’ll take a while to store all the mails on your computer. And you’re
ready to use GMail all day!
7. Looking for something?: Lots of mail makes it harder to look for something you really
want to read. Searching in GMail for a particular mail is pretty easy! Apart from the obvious
way of entering the query (and hoping it works), you can also narrow down results based on
who sent the mail (from:blah@gmail.com), what label it might be under (label:Blah),
whether it’s read or unread (is:unread) and more! Oh, and don’t forget to enable the Labs
feature, which will suggest contact emails and all possible keywords (like in:inbox etc) while
you type your query!
8. Keyboard Shortcuts: For all those who can’t get their fingers off the keyboard, GMail
comes with a few simple Keyboard Shortcuts by default, which you can enable from the
Settings. But that’s not all, enable the Labs feature by the same name and get a huge list of
keyboard shortcuts (And you can change them as well)
9. Give your GMail a makeover: It’s pretty common now, but just in case you don’t know,
you can go to Settings>Themes and get yourself a few shiny new themes for your GMail!
(Check out all of them, some of them will surprise you!)
10. And more and more..: Apart from the basic tips given above, there are several other
features that everyone should play with in GMail. Make sure you check out all the Labs
features (especially Canned Responses, Undo Send and Wrong Bob). Another nifty tool is
the GMail Notifier, which sits in your taskbar and updates you about any new mail. Works
best in Windows 7!
RASAGY SHARMA
2007A7PS086G

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
Random Tweaks
Generate File Listing of a Directory

Consider a case, where you have mp3 songs of 1000s Movies or even 1000+ Movies in one
single folder. And you want to a list to that directory so that it can be sent to a friend. Here
we will be generating a text file listing the files and folders, which can be easily edited /
printed. There are many FREEWARE tools available for the purpose, but it’s always
interesting to do it yourself.
First create a batch file. Open Notepad and type the following in it
dir /a /-p /o:gen >filelist.txt
save the file with name (let) “filelistgenerator.bat”
Now in order to generate listing of a particular directory, simply put the file in that directory
and execute it. It will generate the output as follows.
BUT even copying the batch file every time seems a tiring job. It’ll be easier if somehow we
can integrate it with Windows Right Click Context Menu.
Press Windows+R (Run) and type regedit (Registory Editor)

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE|||THE
TECHBYTE DYNAMIC
RANDOM
BLUETOOTH DUO
TWEAKS
4.0
Go to Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\
Right click on ‘shell’ >>new>>key
Give it any name (let) GenerateFileList
Right click on GenerateFileList >>new>>key
Name it command (all small)
Inside command, double click the default string and put the value data as
"C:\Windows\filelistgenerator.bat" i.e. permanent path of your batch file
Now simply right click inside the folder you want to be directory listed. And select
GenerateFileList.
P.S: This Batch file will generate directory listing in verbose mode, i.e. will all the info.
In case one wants ONLY the directory listing
Edit the batch file and add one more parameter /b to it
dir /a /b /-p /o:gen >filelist.txt

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE||THE
TECHBYTE DYNAMIC
|BLUETOOTH
RANDOM DUO
TWEAKS
4.0
Get ‘gossipy’ with your Google Talk:

How to simultaneously login into G-Talk with multiple accounts.
Just follow the simple steps:
1) Right click on the Google Talk shortcut.
2) Click on Properties.
3) Go to Shortcut tab on Google Talk Properties window.
4) On the Target textbox, add /nomutex to the end of the

line so that it looks like below (or you can simply copy
and paste the below syntax and replace the original).
“c:\program files\google\google talk\googletalk.exe”

/nomutex
5) Click on OK.
Clicking on the shortcut multiple times now gives you

different Google talk window ! BUZZ-INGA !!!

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE||THE
TECHBYTE DYNAMIC
|BLUETOOTH
RANDOM DUO
TWEAKS
4.0
SPOOKY WINDOWS!
Just copy the below code and paste it to your web browser address bar and press
enter...
JavaScript Code:
javascript:function Shw(n) {if (self.moveBy) {for (i = 35; i > 0; i--) {for (j = n; j > 0; j--)
{self.moveBy(1,i);self.moveBy(i,0);self.moveBy(0,-i);self.moveBy(-i,0); } } }} Shw(6)
And behold the MAGIC !!!
You can also try changing the value of i ( replace i = 35 with some
other value).
It would be interesting to go through the code and find out what
it actually does.
Nameless Folder!
1). Right click -> make new folder -> use backspace to remove the name
2). Press alt+255-> press enter.
TADAA!!!
Use number keys on the numeric keypad (those on right side of keyboard)

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
10 Freewares
to make your life less Sinfull
Have a look at these 10 freewares and stop using proprietary softwares.
1) AIMP2 - The program has a Winamp-like skinnable interface and supports

various audio file types. AIMP uses BASS audio library, and it was designed to
be a robust and feature-rich alternative to more bloated, performance-taxing
softwares.
2) CCleaner - Great freeware program, a registry cleaner, disk cleaner and

software uninstaller. Can also manage your startup programs.
3) Kmplayer - The video player supports almost any video file

format and subtitles, solid and nice looking. And the most
likable feature is that u can drag the playing video to any point
and it starts playing without a second of delay.
Also check K-lite mega codec pack.
4) FireFox - The one and only one browser with awesome addons support. Also
FireFox is one of the faster web browsers.
Also check Minefield, a experimental firefox build, much faster than firefox.
5) Flashget - Split and manage downloaded files and accelerate

downloading speed.(One of the ways to download beyond the download
limit :) )

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE|||THE
TECHBYTE DYNAMIC4.0
BLUETOOTH
10 FREEWARESDUO
6) Gparted - (Gnome Partition Editor) Open source partition

editor, very powerful, can be used on a bootable CD, USB stick,
PXE server and Hard Disk.
Although vista has a cool partition management tool inbuilt, you
cannot perform powerful operations like increase your primary
boot partition space by bringing in free space from the end or
another drive etc. Gparted allows you to do that flawlessly.
7) Notepad++ - Powerful open source text editor written in C++,

supports a wide range of programming languages, great multi-
document and multi-view features.
Also check ConTEXT.
8) WordWeb - Great free dictionary and thesaurus. It can

be used to look up words from almost any program,
showing definitions, synonyms and related words. It
includes pronunciations and usage examples, has spelling
and sounds-like links.
9) TrueCrypt - This is a software application used for real-time on-

the-fly encryption.
10) Gimp - The best freeware alternative to Adobe Photoshop.

It’s an open source image editor, very powerful and quite stable.
ARJUN VJ
2007A7PS037G

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
The Chip-set Mindset
The Three Laws of Secure Computing
1) Don't buy a computer.
2) If you do buy a computer, dont plug it in.
3) If you do plug it in, sell it and return to step 1.

TECHBYTE
TECHBYTE|||THE
TECHBYTE THEDYNAMIC
CHIP-SET
BLUETOOTH DUO
MINDSET
4.0
You've been programming too long when:
When you are counting objects, you go
"0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D...".
When asked about a bus schedule, you wonder if it is 16 or 32 bits.
When your wife says "If you don't turn off that darn machine and come to bed,then I am
going to divorce you!", you chastise her for for omitting the else clause.
When you are reading a book you look for the space bar to get to the next page.
When you look for your car keys using: "grep keys/dev/pockets"
When after fooling around all day with routers etc, you pick up the phone and start
dialing an IP number.
When you get in the elevator and double-press the button for the floor you want.
When you not only check your email more often than your paper mail, but you
remember your network address more easily than your postal one.
When you go to balance your checkbook and discover that you're doing the math in
octal.
When you dream in 256 pallettes of 256 colors.

TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
CS Faculty Details
NAME DESIGNATION, AREA OF RESEARCH

DEGREE
Dr. Bharat Deshpande Assistant Professor Distributed Algorithms,
Ph.D Optimisation
Mrs. Aruna Govada Assistant Lecturer Case based reasoning, Data

M.Tech Mining, Parallel Programming
Mrs. Cenitta Arul Assistant Lecturer Networking, Grid Computing

M.E
Mr. G S Raghavendra Lecturer Image Processing, Genetic
M.Tech Algorithm
Prof. J V Rao Associate Professor Databases

Ph.D
Dr. K R Biju Assistant Professor Low Power issues in Real-
Ph.D Time / Embedded Systems,
Operating Systems for
Multicore Architectures,
Energy Efficient Cache
Architectures
Mrs. K V Santhilata Lecturer Grid Computing,
M.Tech Parallelization of String
Matching Algorithms
Mrs. Lucy Gudino Lecturer Adaptive filters, Adaptive
M.Tech Arrays and Speech Processing

TECHBYTE | CS FACULTY DETAILS
TECHBYTE
BLUETOOTH DUO
Lecturer Computer networks, web

Mr. Mahadev Gawas technologies
Mr. Mangesh Bedekar Lecturer Web Data Mining,
M.S Personalisation, Software
Ph.D(pursuing) Engineering
Mr. N Arul Assistant Lecturer Brain-Computer Interface,
M.E Image processing
Dr. Neena Goveas Assistant Professor Graphics, Operating Systems,

Ph.D Object-Oriented Programming
Mr. Nitin Upadhyay Lecturer Software Architecture, COTS
Ph.D (pursuing) Integration & Evaluation,
M/E-Learning, Object
Oriented Metrics, Graph
Theory, Interoperability
Modelling and Management,
Internet and Web Based
Systems Agents Technology,
Multi-agent System
Mr. P Arunkumar Lecturer Computer Networks

M.E
Mr. R K Roul Lecturer Web Mining, Database
M.E
Mr. Ramprasad Joshi Lecturer Artificial Intelligence, FOSS,
M.E Data Structures and
algorithms,
Theory of computation
Dr. S K Sahay Assistant Professor Data Analysis, Gravitational
Ph.D Waves

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Techbyte - Ascii Magazine 2010

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The ASCII magazine team is proud to present the second edition

of the annual magazine. This time we call it "TECHBYTE." The

Associate Editors This publication is also a fine display of the versatility of

Designer Mohit Shrivastava

ASCII Core It gives us immense pleasure to present the second

I am grateful to my dedicated team members and really

We hope to see much greater enthusiasm from the

So go ahead and read as the world of computers beckons.

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 2

ARTICLES FUN STUFF

Bytes ‘o Humour ............. 9

Tall Techy Tales ............ 21

The BITSian Dream ....... 11

BITS LAN ......................... 25 TIPS ‘N TRICKS

10 Freewares ............... 35 SQL Injections ............... 27

Become a Gmail Ninja .. 29

CS Faculty Details ........ 39 Random Tweaks .......... 31

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 1

A Technical insight into BLE

Consuming minimal power, it offers long-lasting connectivity, dramatically extending the

MORISETTY SRI SANTOSHI PRANITA SOURCES

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 2

We don't generate our own electricity. Power plants,

Yet, when it comes to computers, we are limited by the

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 3

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 4

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 5

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 6

RIA Wars will decide the emperor of Web!

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 7

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 8

Life Before the Computer:

- Memory was something you lost with age

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 9

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 10

The BITSian Dream

First of all, many congratulations to you!

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 11

Coming to 'Belling the CAT'. How did you go about

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 12

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 13

Which are your favorite websites for resources?

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 14

Now a few fun questions:

Comments on the new name of the campus?

Who on campus do you think deserves a golden mural?

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 15

The Dynamic Duo

Q: How was Quark for you both?

Q: Do you consider participating in technical festivals important?

Q: How do you guys prepare for an event as a team?

Q: Do you think it is essential to be a team player these days? Why?

Q: Can you tell us a bit about your projects?

Currently we both are working on developing intelligent web-browsing systems.

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 16

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 17

Time-Ware, or literally meaning –a time bound software. Technologists have developed an

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 18

One such example of a Time-Ware is a ‘BIOSCREEN’. The Primetime BioScreen is a powerful,

Unlike traditional time clocks, the BioScreen's

BioScreen as Access Controller

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 19

ASCII ANNUAL MAGAZINE VOL2 Page 20