The perfect bachelor den !!

When you think of a bachelor’s apartment, the first visual that comes to mind is one of bare necessities, clutter and disorganized space. Think again. Today’s bachelor is usually two steps ahead in terms of aesthetic consciousness and indulgence in décor. Today’s bachelor is house proud. Considering that you are only catering to the lifestyle needs of one person, the synthesis and leverage available for design ideas is far more. The thumb rule for a bachelor pad is to stick to what is practical. If it is not easy to maintain and does not fit into a practical arrangement, a bachelor pad is the last place for it to be. I shall outline below some of the design and décor basics that would constitute the perfect bachelor den.


Unless you have inherited a palace, most bachelor homes, are small and compact. The first step is the open plan house. Fewer the walls, the better. For privacy, screens or glass sliding doors are a much better option. The open plan makes a place look much bigger, brings in more light AND gives a very contemporary feel.

Guess what the center of gravity of a bachelor’s home is? The Couch !!! It is probably where you will end up spending most of your time at home, and also what most of your guests will notice. Make sure it is comfortable and large. Floor cushions can complement it. Make sure the floor cushions are both bright and colourful or in an extremely luxurious fabric.

If the couch makes a statement of how comfort conscious you are, the coffee table in front of it, speaks volumes about how trendy you are. Get a low contemporary coffee table, preferably square. While working on colour for furniture and woodwork, keep the same tone throughout the house. Use paint to accent that tone on the walls. If you are using subtle tones on walls and woodwork, get some bright accents; but if you are using bold colours on the walls, then keep the rest of the stuff muted.

The entertainment unit is usually the be-all and end-all of a bachelor den. Now this is not JUST about the gadgetry, which is usually well taken care of. The unit that houses the gadgetry makes a bigger statement. Whether it is a big screen TV, the latest hi-fi system or even the coolest games and music collection…..put them together and watch the fireworks. It is great to have a music collection that is the envy of your friends. It is even more hip to have it in a neat rack, in the entertainment unit, rather than lying all over the place.

Whether you drink or not, a bachelor den needs a good mini-bar. A man should know his martini from his melon juice, regardless of which one he prefers !! Get the basic stuff. But get good stuff.

Leather makes a huge statement. Use it on furniture or accessories..but use it somewhere. A hardwood floor is a huge investment but it is the best way to created understated luxury. If the flooring is basic then focus on rugs instead. You don’t have to invest in expensive stuff….but it should complement the rest of the stuff in your apartment.

Colour is something that can change the décor of a room substantially. Elegant black with white and beige offset with a daring shot of flaming orange somewhere is for those want the ultra modern look. If you are inclined towards something subtle, go in for taupes and teals with soft accents. A striped paint finish on one of the walls will create some element of drama too.

While you are still near the walls, pay attention to what goes on them. If you cannot afford good art, put up a few advertisement posters….there’s a lot of cool stuff out there, but don’t turn it into a dorm wall !! Family pictures, neatly framed and put on the wall, lend an air of warmth and hospitality. Photos of your travels, will convey the impression of a man who has seen the world.

If you have some money to spare, a little space to accent and a little imagination to carry it through…get a fireplace. It does not have to work…you can place candles in it if you like. A fireplace is the ultimate style statement.

Lighting is the next key element. If you can afford concealed lighting, nothing like it. If not, get some simple straight-line lamps, with adjustable light settings, to create the perfect ambience to complement a mood.

The bathroom is perhaps the most neglected interior space. It should be well lit and clean, even if you cannot afford fancy fittings and fixtures. A shower curtain is an absolute must, as are coordinated towels.

If you can walk down to the neighbourhood nursery and ask for low maintenance plants you would have achieved what most bachelors consider to be impossible. Keeping plants (real ones) in their homes. There are many options that won’t require too much attention, but will considerably turn up the style quotient of your home.

Multi-functional furniture and modular units allow you to store everything without it being an eyesore.

Roman blinds or sheer drapes for the windows work best. Keep it simple, but keep it elegant. Don’t put standard curtains in prints or checks.

A comfortable work space is essential for a bachelor pad. A compact desk which that is well lit and has the necessary file cabinets to keep all important papers handy is a must. Unless there is a separate study room, the table should coordinate with the bed as it is most likely to be close to that area. Bookshelves would be a necessary addition and ideally, should complement the desk.

Now that you possibly have the coolest bachelor pad in town, you could work on the accents. A Queen size bed instead of a single or double. Good quality sheets. A state-of-the-art kitchen. Stenciling on walls. Detailing on cornices. Exterior finish on interior walls. Area rugs that define various sections of the apartment.. A day bed. A wine-rack. An antique or a retro piece that will become a subject of conversation. A plasma TV !!!!

asankhya - A good source on epics

Check the link. Its name is asankhya. A blog for all the andhraties out there.
asankhya
Don't forget to check his site asankhya.org
It contains some great works on shri Hanuman and also on arudra. The best part is alls in Telugu.
Last but not least hats off Soma garu, bharadwaj garu and all the persons for the good work.

Project Windows to Mac

Converting a windows interface to Mac OS X is great. Looking on the brighter side of it... the look and feel is similar to mac. This makes things look more graphical on the brighter side.
This can be achieved by everyone of you. U need not need a high end pc for it. Just download some third party themes which provide the interface and enjoy it.

One of this posting gives a clear cut idea of how to use it
http://features.engadget.com/entry/8828351836181248/

Also All these and many more like the longhorn themes and others are provided in www.stardoc.com

Have fun and enjoy...

Goodbye Longhorn, Hello Windows Vista!

Longhorn = Windows Vista

With product names, my feeling is that anything new takes awhile to get used to, especially after using a codename for several years. It's hard to imagine a creative name for a new version of a product that people would love instantly (although I thought Xbox 360 was a good choice). I just remember how much some of us on the CLR hated the .NET name when it was first revealed! I wasn't sure about the 'Windows Vista' name when I first heard it, but now I actually like it! Check out the press release for it.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/jul05/07-22LHMA.mspx

Free Training on Visual Studio 2005 ("Whidbey)

Free Training on Visual Studio 2005 ('Whidbey)
Free Training on Visual Studio 2005 ('Whidbey') and SQL Server 2005 ('Yukon') from MS Learning

Although the products themselves have yet to launch, Microsoft Learning has training content available today on the Beta releases of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005. Available to you now are free skills assessments, free E-Learning, free E-Reference books and classroom training that will make it easy for developers and database professionals like you to get up-to-speed on these new technologies.

Find the Yukon and Whidbey resources you need today at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/learning and www.microsoft.com/learning/sql.

Blog Sense

What do you think when you see a blog and a blogger or even go thru a blog?? The other day when i was surfing the net i ran thru this guy who has got a completely different meaning (IN THE NEGITIVE SENSE) about this Blogging. The funniest part is that he blogged this too. Have a look at it.....

Online Messenger

eMessenger
WOW faster, efficient and gud as no popups...........
Hope u got wat i am telling about....... Yes its online messenger for Yahoo, MSN and AOL. With experince ( i feel it so 'cause i used it!!) its fast and good. Use it and have fun..........

Morning Sunrise - Kerala

Early morning Sunrise on a clody backdrop in Trivandrum, Kerala. This is beautiful even during the sunset time. Where else you can find such beauty...... Of course i am in The God's Own Country!!!

Fragrance of Flowers

Fragrance and beauty of flowers captured during one of my tours in kerala.

Sudoku puzzle

The Hindu : Sudoku puzzle
This is an intresting topic started by "The Hindu". Hats Off to The Hindu Team. After their hugely popular Crosswords this Sudoku might be the next thing daily morning on people's mind...

Google typo crashes systems!!

Spyware authors and phishing fraudsters yanked an old scam out of the playbook Wednesday by directing malicious code at Internet users who may be prone to typing or spelling deficiencies, according to security researchers. Finnish security firm F-Secure said they discovered an attack aimed at Web surfers attempting to land on Google's homepage, but who may have mistyped the Web address.

Internet users who punch in "Googkle.com" are treated to a host malicious code, as the computer gets slammed with a heap of the unwanted software that is automatically downloaded and installed. The malware includes: Trojan droppers, Trojan downloaders, backdoors, a proxy Trojan and a spying Trojan. A few adware-related files are also installed, the firm said.

Full Story : internetnews.com

Is your PC ready for Longhorn?

Microsoft isn't offering up many concrete specs for Longhorn PCs. But company officials are making some strong 'suggestions' as to what PC makers should be providing.

Although Longhorn isn't slated to be available until "holiday 2006," some PC users are already wondering what kinds of PCs will be able to run the next version of Windows.

Microsoft officials at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) here this week in Seattle attempted to provide some answers, vague as though they were.

In the past, Microsoft used WinHEC to deliver a very detailed set of hardware reference specs to the OEMs who attend the event so that they can build new PCs that would be able to run whichever version of Windows was on tap.

At last year's WinHEC, developer sources said that Microsoft was going to recommend the "average" Longhorn PC feature a dual-core CPU running at 4 to 6GHz; a minimum of 2 gigs of RAM; up to a terabyte of storage; a 1 Gbit built-in, Ethernet-wired port and an 802.11g wireless link; and a graphics processor that runs three times faster than those on the market.

Microsoft declined to comment on the rumored specs and never went public with any recommended Longhorn specs at last year's show.

At this year's WinHEC, Microsoft offered up only the most basic of guidelines as to what PC makers should do to make their PCs "Longhorn-ready." During a session at this week's show, Mark Croft, a group product manager in the Windows product management group, told PC makers that most existing mainstream 32- and 64-bit CPUs from mainstream manufacturers should run Longhorn.

While dual-core CPUs will run Longhorn better, "Longhorn does run on mainstream processors," Croft said.

The only other Longhorn PC requirements that are set in stone are 512 MB or better of RAM and, support for the new Longhorn Display Driver Model (LDDM) in order to handle the operating system's new graphical features.

(Comparatively, Microsoft suggests that users have a 300-MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM to run Windows XP.)

Support for LDDM doesn't insure that PCs will be able to run Aero, Microsoft's next-generation Longhorn user interface, Croft noted. But PCs that can will be able to avail themselves of features such as dot-per-inch scaling; 3D window management; the thumbnail document previews that Microsoft demonstrated as being part of its built-in Longhorn search technology; and the "Glass" theme. Systems that cannot run Aero are expected to run a "Classic" Windows interface.

Croft drew distinctions between PCs that will be "Longhorn-ready" versus "Longhorn-capable." He told attendees of the packed WinHEC session that "older CPUs with 128 or 256 MB of memory and older graphics will still be capable."

Instead of delivering detailed Longhorn reference specs, Microsoft officials offered a number of suggestions to OEMs for what would make a "great Longhorn PC."

Because Longhorn will make its way into so many different kinds of PCs and devices — ranging from home-entertainment consoles, to mobile Tablets — Russell and Croft did not detail any kind comprehensive list of reference specs that could be applied to all PCs.

"We want to make sure Longhorn platform capabilities will scale," explained another WinHEC presenter, Richard Russell, who is a developer in Microsoft's core Windows division. "Not just performance, but also high-definition video, extra memory and dual core."

In order to do so, a Longhorn PC will need a good BIOS that correctly implements the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) features for suspend, hibernate and resume, Russell said. It also should be able to be able to boot quickly, which new systems could (but do not have to) do by taking advantage of recently announced hybrid disk/nonvolatile RAM technology announced by some of Microsoft's partners, he said.

Russell did advise mobile PC makers to consider supporting 802.XX wireless; General Packet Radio Service (GPRS); Bluetooth; the various Tablet PC input technologies (including speech and touch, in addition to digital ink); ClearType, the hybrid flash/disk technology; and Longhorn's forthcoming Secure Startup capability, among other features.

For Longhorn PCs that are customized for "living-room scenarios," Russell suggested PC makers strongly consider optimizing around 64-bit, dual-core processors. He also said dual-channel memory; a minimum of 1 GB of memory; and a high-performance and capacity disk drive (averaging 3000 GB-plus)would all be nice to have.

"Longhorn will provide an absolutely fabulous gaming experience," Russell told WinHEC attendees. In order to be able to take the fullest advantage of Longhorn as a gaming platform, Russell suggested PC makers gravitate toward 64-bit dual-core processors, 1 GB of memory, 56 MB of graphics memory and advanced LDDM support.

Microsoft officials are advising OEMs to avail themselves of the new WinSAT tools that will be built into Longhorn to measure system performance in order to determine how well Longhorn will run on existing and new PCs. WinSAT also will run on Windows XP.

For further Info related to whether you are ready for Longhorn go thrrough these links:

Microsoft pushes 512MB RAM, "modern CPU" for Longhorn
Will your PC handle Longhorn?

Nokia Unviels New Phones

Check out Nokia Cam out with the New series of phones known as th 'N' series with latest features.
4GB memory, MP3 Player,Bluetooth,WAP, and The best part 2MP digital camera.

Wonderful isn't it??!!!

Nokia N series

Ok have fun for now.
Will keep u posted with latest news soon.

AlamyIT Blog Started!!! Hurray!!!

Hey today is one more great day where AlamyIT Blog is started. So all you people out there Join this and keep the blog running strong.

AlamyIT Blog

Ok guys just click on the link sign in (haven't you registered yet???? Comon rush. register) and send comments.

cheers,
Praveen

P.S: just to remind you to visit my blog for latest news and updates.