Aquajets For Dummies

Posted by Kushan | Posted in | Posted on 8:12 AM

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Another day at the canteen!

No, I don’t believe it! – This more or less summed up my initial reactions when Utsav (the patient geek) was trying to explain me the dynamics of a Water Rocket. He & team had recently returned after participating in a Water Rocket Competition at IIT B.  After many binary arguments he went on to explain about how Newton’s Third Law was responsible for the pressurized water filled bottle covering a distance of even 40 metres.


Well, I had to admit defeat against Newton and the geek put together. I did find out later that there was a lot a physics involved behind the apparently simple flight of the rocket. Those of you interested in understanding it, head over to : http://www.sciencebits.com/RocketEqs. Those who want to just skip over the equations and visualize an actual simulation, check out: http://www.sciencebits.com/RocketCalculator?fromForm=yes

For beginners with no knowledge of how to build these, visit: http://www.water-rockets.com/article.pl?3. Another website containing a lotta videos on the same: http://waterrocket.org/

The WRAWRA or (as popularly called WRA2) is a group of people determined to break every other record there is in the field of water rockets. You can access their forum for hands on advice on how to build and optimize your design: http://www.waterrocketforum.com/.For current news and info about what’s trendy in the field or water rocketry http://www.uswaterrockets.com/

Hope you’ve had an interesting time browsing through these links. If you still have problems designing it, do not panic - The competition at Technoaspire will be preceded by a workshop on the same. Make sure you and your friends don’t stay home on the couch while our rockets perform some spectacular moves.

Stay tuned !

For Dummies: Relaunching Products

Posted by Kushan | Posted in | Posted on 10:37 AM

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Epic failure is what I (& erstwhile Microsoft Fans, laymen, techies and critics alike) cried out when they started using Windows Vista(Microsoft did admit this later). The same could(and has) happen(ed) to any other product. The market doesn’t greet every product with the same response. 

According to a popular taxonomy, three of the most common buyer’s responses can be stated as
Hot -> Apple Ipad, Windows 
Lukewarm -> Amazon Kindle, WorldSpace Satellite Radio
Cold -> Microsoft Zune, Ford Edsel

Business History has even witnessed examples of products being voluntarily retired to give way to their new and improved counterparts. For eg. Amazon Kindle 2.

Philosophers have often advised us to treat every problem as an opportunity. So here lies an opportunity for you? Hypothetically, if you are given a failed product how do you go about re-launching it? 

Let’s start by listing the basic reasons for product failure:    
Exorbitant price
User-unfriendliness
Unattractive packaging
Poor Marketing
Inability to change popular perception
There are many more of these, but these many would suffice for the time being.

The next step involves correcting all these aforementioned pitfalls. Merely this won’t be sufficient; you also need to change popular perception towards it. This can be achieved by including promotional offers to woo customers. Now come the important parts – market research, identifying target audience, market segmentation and brand positioning.

Financial Analysis is also imperative in a Rebranding Campaign since it includes listing the probable sources of revenue versus the cost incurred. This is followed by the Break Even Analysis wherein the Break Even Point is usually specified in terms of time period or sales volume. I have had to cut this one short to include only the gist of rebranding. A detailed explanation may be found on these links :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/127497/relaunching-brands
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-most-successful-rebranding-campaigns-2011-2


Multisim For Dummies

Posted by Kushan | Posted in | Posted on 8:44 AM

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After the popularity of SPICE and PSPICE, NI Multisim has been the standard industry choice of many. The interactive and user-friendly interface, neatly categorized extensive component libraries and the variety of different analysis that can be carried out make it an ideal simulation tool both for students and professionals. Since fitting a blog post on the Introduction to Multisim to a compact size is a difficult task and exploring the tool is the best way to learn it, I recommend checking out this link for a beginner’s tutorial:

http://goo.gl/RSZ6N

MultiSim also has an extensive help section and the Component Library Help section for newbie circuit masters. For the pros, the NI DeveloperZone is a must visit: http://ni.com/

Gaining proficiency over the Component Library would enable you to tackle the elims with ease. The 2nd round requires you to design a circuit from scratch. The circuits that you might be asked to design might be from the Digital Electronics (Counters, Flip-Flops, Registers) or the Analog Electronics (Adders, Amplifiers) domains. Overall Innovation, Time taken and obviously the correctly Simulated Circuit would be the basis of judging. Here’s a presentation about Multisim in NI’s own words:  

http://goo.gl/kEvwI

Ciao !

Sci-Fi Writing For Dummies

Posted by Kushan | Posted in | Posted on 10:12 AM

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Ever wondered what it is like to create something out of nothing? No, I m not talking about Rajnikanth or magicians. Creating something out of thin air is what very few creative people can do. To mention a few - Putting life on an empty canvas, creating a melody out of an instrument, making sensible permutations out of the innumerable words of the English alphabet. Each one of the above three is a task in itself. The latter would by far be the most difficult to achieve. More so when the task requires pushing your imagination to its limits.

Jules Verne, Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ayn Rand and their magna opera have inspired a genre of writing - Science Fiction dealing with the effects of imagined innovations in a futuristic setting. This genre has also been popularized by movies like Back to The Future Trilogy, The epic Star Wars series and the more recent ones like Inception and Wall E. If you ever had an idea and wondered how to pen it down, but not how continue reading –

Step 1: Get an idea. No matter where you get it from – be it a random conversation, something on TV, a word in a magazine or a newspaper. The best option would be to invent the idea. Slightly difficult but far more appealing.

Step 2: Develop a plot around the idea. Make up a world of your own, add characters and develop their profiles. Think of an appropriate start to the story. Create a problem, submerge your characters in it and the solution to this problem will determine the central theme of your story.

Step 3: The ending is the most crucial part. The most appealing end would be the one which keeps on lingering in the reader’s mind even after the story has been read. A moral drawn out of the story would also be preferable.

Step 4: Once finished, evaluate your story in terms of interestingness and appeal. Introduce changes wherever required.

Obviously writing SF isn’t as simple as 1,2,3…But you know what ? it isn’t too difficult, either. The best part -  SF extends from  - ∞ to  + ∞. Every small idea counts. So what are you waiting for? Dig up a hole, put on your thinking cap and don’t come out until you have created your own magnum opus!

Further Reading :
1)http://sf.emse.fr/SFRG/sfrgy.htm
2)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_science_fiction_themes

Google Advanced For Dummies

Posted by Kushan | Posted in | Posted on 9:32 PM

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Enough with the history of Technoaspire, we are now beginning the For Dummies series on this blog. A series of non-intimidating, easy to understand guides to help you in our competitions and sometimes even make your life better(no kidding!)

Although the purpose of writing this post is to enable the Google Hunt participants save every tiny second during Googling, the tips given here are ever effective and might make you a Power Googler.

FYI – [ ] are used to denote search queries and can be omitted while searching.

Search for a phrase – When “” is put around a search query, the search engine searches for the exact phrase without any change in the order of words. But the mere fact that the words are together is a very strong reason not to put quotes around them. For eg. Try searching for [Sachin Tendulkar] once with the quotes and once without them and notice the differences in the search results. By putting “”, you might be missing out on some really good search results. Moral – Handle “” with caution.

Terms to be excluded – A term can be excluded from the search results by placing a – before the term. For eg. Searching for [Windows –os] will give you results only related to windows. Results pertaining to the OS would not appear. Remember not to include a space between – and os. Multiple search terms may be excluded by using – before each term to be ignored.

Wildcard – Putting a wildcard (*) after a search query instructs Google to treat it as a placeholder and then search for the best matching results. Try searching for [Microsoft *] and observe the search results. This is a very powerful feature when used. Search for [Loksabha vote * on the * bill] and you will get a list of search results containing info about every recent bill the Loksabha voted on.

Usually trivial words like “a”, “for”, “the” are omitted from searches since they do not add much to the semantic context. But there are certain exceptions to this rule. For eg. Searching for [the who] will give results pertaining to the band while searching for [who] will give links to the World Health Organisation

Here’s an interesting Easter egg - Try searching for the following words individually [anagram], [ascii art] and [recursion].
When you search for [anagram] Google will display “Did you mean “nagaram” ?” ! (Both nagaram and anagram are anagrams)
Search for [ascii art] and the Google Logo will change into an ASCII Art Logo
Search for [recursion] and Google will display “Did you mean “recursion”?” and when you click on this hyperlink you will be redirected back to the same page, thereby creating a recursive link in itself!

Until next time Happy Googling, folks!

Technoaspire ’11 Menu Card – New Arrivals!

Posted by Kushan | Posted in | Posted on 9:43 AM

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  • Water Bird    -> Water Rocket workshop cum competition
  • Realms of Fantasy -> Sci-Fi Story writing competition
  • Junkyard Wars       -> The name says it all!
  • Eco Delineation -> Energy Efficient House Design Challenge
  • Fire Extinguisher    -> A robot fire fight
  • Simbiosis  -> Multisim based circuit Simulation Challenge
  • Poster Challenge -> Photoshop based poster design competition
  • Relaunch -> Biz strategy to rebrand and re-launch a failed product
  • Laymen  -> Explain a tech concept to common people
  • Potpourri -> Word Games + General Awareness + Lateral Thinking
  • 7 a side football  -> The timeless game in a compact avatar
  • Mock Drill -> Real World Problem Solving Competition
  • Crime Time -> Murder Mystery solving

Hey Technoaspire, Wats up ??

Posted by Kushan | Posted in | Posted on 9:19 PM

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DREAMS - Everyone has them. Day, Night, Dream within a dream (Nolan, please don’t sue me!) being the most popular types. But why bring all this up now? It’s because am writing this blog post after a day dream in one of my not so favorite lectures. On a similar note, the students of my institute are chasing a dream – Turning Technoaspire ‘11 into a beautiful reality. And this might not materialize without your support.

The next obvious question you would ask us is WHY

We here believe that every talent needs a stage to make it large (no kidding!). A “Rancho” might be good at creative writing, creating something out of junk, planting/defusing a bomb, devising market strategies, implementing a virtual town plan, lateral thinking or even Googling (yeah, seriously!) while a “Chatur” would have unmatched domain knowledge, coding, circuit designing or problem solving skills. For every “Chatur” and a “Rancho”, Technoaspire is the place to be. Be it geek or ungeek, this is the place you seek.

Until now, I never mentioned the Robo fanatic who can create an electronic primeval beast, a water dragon, a rally car, a fire fighter, an obedient line follower, a puller or a thief. Robo enthus, you too are cordially invited. What’s more is in some competitions (e.g. Rally de canteen) we give you extra brownie points for a technically advanced design. 

The invitation cards are on the way.  If our representatives can’t reach you, do get in touch with us through our official website: www.technoaspire.com or our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Technoaspire-11/179152392126505
                                                         
Waiting to see you with a contingent at Technoaspire ’11 – 28th Feb & 1st March.Until then, ciao !

Technoaspire 7 : Modern Warfare

Posted by Kushan | Posted in | Posted on 5:40 AM

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Ancient folklore suggests that since aeons, waging wars has been mankind’s favorite sport. The human race first fought with The Gods for supremacy over the Earth. Even after that objective was accomplished, they did not give up. Instead, they fought against each other. The saga continues even today with Technoaspire becoming their new favorite battlefield. Unlike the previous wars which were primarily fought for territorial supremacy, the battle here is over technical supremacy.

Technoaspire attracts gladiators from all over the country who are pitted against each other in an ultimate battle of wits and technical know-how. Access to this battlefield is purely on a first come, first serve basis and is open to all prospective talenteers. The intellectual (and to some extent even physical) battles are all based on the timeless Darwinian Principle which states: Only the fittest survive.

With the ambient temperature at its peak, the battles are promised to get even fiercer this time. This is also partly due to the inclusion of new arenas like Aero-Modeling, Tremors, Eco-Delineation, Sci-Fi Story Writing and the like. Motivating the warriors is the fact that in addition to a plethora of prizes at stake, the victor walks away with unlimited bragging rights.

All classes of weapons ranging from Melee to Plasma Guns are permitted. The war-horns blow on 28th February at 0900 hours IST. Justifying the inevitable nature of wars the Legends conclude by quoting: Sometimes War is the most effective way to eternal Peace.

PS – The white doves have migrated, the olive leaves swept away and the white flags lie somewhere in the midst of trash.   

Strolling down memory lane

Posted by Kushan | Posted in | Posted on 9:43 AM

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Google publishes a list of the most popular search queries every year. In 2010, Justin Bieber (bah!) topped this list as the most searched celebrity while the FIFA WC dominated the list of most searched events on the Internet. Anyways, the complete list has been named The Zeitgeist and rightly so.   
                           
But why am I boring you with such mundane stuff? Does TechnoAspire even remotely relate with the word ‘Zeitgeist’?

Situated somewhere on the Sabarmati-Gandhinagar Highway (or as we proudly call it SG Highway) is a not so small college. One that is more popular in aapnu Amdavad coz the IIT shares a campus with it.

Inside the sprawling campus of VGEC blossom a few roses and many more gifted minds.

Photo Courtesy : Milind Kabariya & Siddharth Mistry


Although each day of college life is a lasting memory this part of the year is their most favorite. Why ?


Come February and when nature celebrates autumn, VGEC puts on new leaves.The entire campus is turned on with a new buzz as TechnoAspire – The Annual Techfest nears.

Walking back through the entire history of TechnoAspire (which undoubtedly has got better every year) would be tedious. Instead have a look at this photo montage


I hope this answers the question I posed earlier. The concise English dictionary defines Zeitgeist as the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history. In this sense, Technoaspire is VGEC’s Zeitgeist.


A lot of people ask us about the meaning of the term – Technoaspire….Oops! I got to prepare questions for Potpourri. Gotta go, guys n gals. Until then, stay tuned to this blog for more updates! 

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