Missions | JohnDas FunDas & Ideas

March 14, 2009

HDFC bank meritus scholarship program has problems

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HDFC bank India has rolled out a nationwide scholarship programme for schoolkids from class 4th to 9th standards.

HDFC Bank has always been considered as a safe and secure bank with financial prudence. Now they have started the program for brightening the life of even young ones. HDFC Bank has come up with a scholarship program for Indian kids from class 4th to Class 9th. This scholarship is not just based on academics but looks at all round performance of participants.

You can register your kids, your younger brother/sister, your cousins or even your friends. Registration is free and was closed on March 10th. So register now. To start the registration process, visit here: http://www.hdfcbank.com/meritus/register_now.asp

What is more, the first rounds can be taken on the phone itself and you need not travel with younger ones. So it is simple to even appear for test. So don’t worry and just let your kids try.

Here is what the HDFC site says :

The HDFC Bank Meritus Scholarships is an initiative by which we intend to bring more opportunities to talented and deserving students.

We plan to give out over 5000 Scholarships ranging from Rs.2,500 to Rs.10 Lakh amounting to Rs.1.5 crore, to students from the 4th to the 9th standard.

A special panel of judges will evaluate the final shortlisted participants and decide the winners.

Evaluation will be based on the following parameters:
a. Academics: Last 2 years performance in school
b. Extracurricular activities and Sports: Competitions won in intra-school, inter-school, state level and national level
c. Final written tests

But here is a problem !!!!!!!

Erratic Call charges on IVR No.505101012, Complaint from ******* Regn No. **********, HDFC Meritus Scholarship

Dear Sir / Madam,
With Reference to the HDFC Meritus Scholarship Test – My Daughter ******* Thasneem – Registration Number – **********
I regret to bring to your kind attention that the disappointment experience what we had faced now,
1. I have already forwarded Two mails on the connectivity for the IVR Test as we did not get connected at all Every time it says Tray Later.
2.My Daughter has continously tried the number early morning / midnight / holidays but of no use, Not connected to the IVR Test only says “Try Later”
3. We have tried so far 276 times but no use.
4. The problem what we face now is ” We have been Charged Rs. 6/- for every attempt we made to the number 505101012.
5. We have been charged Rs. 1656 ( 276 * 6 ) One thousand six hundred and fifty Six Rupees for not having connected to the number you have mentioned. We agree that Rs.6 will be charged for taking the IVR test and the test may go also 10 to 15 mints provided there should be connectivity between the two lines.
6. Whereas If the Phone is charged Rs.6 for every attempt and not connected, then how do you expect us to try whether we will get connected to test or we would be just paying Rs. 6 for every attempt.
7. In what way it is Justifyable?? Pls let me know it clearly from your management.
8. I am attaching the detail summary of calls are being charged for the every attempt of your IVR number 505101012. Pls Go though the same and come to conclusion. Pls see the Trailing Mail.
9. How the People will try and deleberately knowing that Rs.6 will be charged for every attempt with out knowing that this call will get connected or not.
10. Now we have decided not to try further this IVR Number as we do not know whether this will get connected and we have to pay Rs. 6 for every attempt and so far we have been already charged Rs.1656 for dialing this number and to hear “Try Later”. The Call get cut at 23 seconds.
I would like to get the suitable remedial action from your side and I would like to know what would be your further necessary action to solve my problem.
Based on the above I would initiate the further necessary interest.
Regards,

*******

Did you have any similar bad experience ?

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August 6, 2008

Stonehenge – the claw clock robot takes time to show time

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RoboClaw Clock takes time to show time.

Stonehenge – A Robotic Digital Clock uses its claws to arrange cards to show time.

It uses a CrustCrawler Smart Arm and a Parallax Propeller chip. There are a total of 14 cards. Each card has two digits with one on each side. The software planner determines which card and which side is needed to display the time and then sends the necessary movement commands to the arm.

For more info head over to Norris Labs .

Have a look at the video of StoneHemge – the Robotic Clock

Stonehenge is named for the way the cards are arranged around the bot ’s claw(actually it is only a claw) like the Stonehenge’s rocks. The bot slowly but surely changes the cards every minute to update the time on display. Because it takes a long time to change cards it keeps track and might have to skip a minute for example when shifting from 12:59 to 01:00.

This would involve changing all the 4 cards on display, so it would take a lot of time, see the video to see what I mean.

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September 27, 2007

Save Electricity by using black – Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year

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Here’s an interesting article I found from ecoIron

Take at look at Google, who gets about 200 million queries a day. Let’s assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. Assuming that users run Google in full screen mode, the shift to a black background [on a CRT monitor! mjo] will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts. That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year. Now take into account that about 25 percent of the monitors in the world are CRTs, and at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, that’s $75,000, a goodly amount of energy and dollars for changing a few color codes.

You’ll find a lot of pages out there that claim “many studies have shown … that dark text on light background is easier to read”. I have always suspected that this is due to the historical accident that physical writing works best with dark ink on light paper-ish stuff. I wonder how many of “those studies” studied populations that grew up unbiased — i.e., grew up and learned to read without the historical accident of paper-based (dark on light) reading.

Only CRT displays use more energy to display brighter things. For everything else, it is completely false that a black display uses less energy than a white page. The backlight on an LCD is on for the entire LCD regardless of what is being shown. The black pixels are only black because the LCD blocks out light. Same with projectors, etc. You’re article is thoughtful, but invalid.

Something to consider: If Google were to change the color scheme to all black, Google would loose AT LEAST 50% of its user base (dare I say 80%?). The “tech Elite” could find work arounds such as using Firefox extensions (Stylish or Greasemonkey), but the vast majority would just switch REGARDLESS of the fact that functionality remained the same.

All the money Google would be saving people (assuming the accuracy of this article) would be guzzled in the end by Google’s competition: Yahoo And Microsoft have lots of white on their search pages.

Fact is, this entire idea of Google saving energy by switching to “black” would lose GOOGLE money, and not be much better energy wise at then end. Not only will it never happened, but even if it did no good would come of it (for anyone).

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Save Energy – Prevent Global Warming by changing your computer (and website) colours

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Save Energy – Prevent Global Warming by changing your computer (and website) colours

White and bright colors (especially in backgrounds) can use up to 20% more power than black or dark colors. Look to the right to see the power usage (in Watts) of a sample monitor with different screen backgrounds. Unfortunately, e-mail and word processors tend to use white backgrounds, so your workstation uses considerable power while you are in these programs, which you are during much of the day. Because black-on-white is the most familiar (it’s just like the newspaper), selecting alternate combinations may not be appealing. However, you can change your desktop background to something efficient. You can change your background by selecting Start, Settings, Control Panel, Display, and Appearance tab. The “Item” field should say “Desktop”. Under color, select one of the colors at the right that has a rating below 65W and then click OK.

White – 74W

Fuchsia – 69W

Yellow – 69W

Aqua – 68W

Silver – 67W

Blue – 65W

Red – 65W

Lime – 63W

Gray – 62W

Olive – 61W

Purple – 61W

Teal – 61W

Green – 60W

Maroon – 60W

Navy – 60W

Black – 59W

Screen Savers

Screen savers originally were not meant to provide energy reductions, but they now provide a means for energy savings. The use of dark screen savers can mitigate bright backgrounds, reducing monitor power up to 20%. Screen recovery occurs within 1 second by hitting a key or moving the mouse. Nearly all of the standard Microsoft screen savers are efficient. If you supply your own, please try to use one that uses primarily dark colors.

To set your screen saver, select Start, Settings, Control Panel, Display, and Screen Saver tab. Under name, select a screen saver that uses mostly black and set the Wait time to 5 minutes (or less). The following Microsoft screen savers are energy efficient:

3D Flower Box

3D Flying Objects

3D Text

Curves and Colors

Flying Through Space

Flying Windows

Mystify Your Mind

Scrolling Marquee

Note that the 3D Text and Scrolling Marquee allow you to display a personalized message on the screen saver; click on “Settings” after selecting the screen saver.

The following Microsoft screen savers are NOT energy efficient:

Channel Screen Saver

Travel

The following Microsoft screen savers also are likely to be inefficient, if only because they use the current display as their foundation. Because many common applications use white backgrounds, the screen will remain bright when the screen saver is active if the user is in any of those applications or uses bright colors in general. These screen savers include:

Science

The 60’s USA

Windows 98

Also note that some screen savers, such as 3D Maze, allow the user to select the background, which cannot be controlled and may result in an inefficient configuration.

Energy Star

Energy Star is an important and automated means for realizing significant power savings. A Standby setting (available only in Windows 95) can drop power over 90 percent from maximum. Screen recovery occurs within 1-4 seconds by hitting a key or pushing a mouse. The Suspend setting can drop power nearly completely, although screen recovery can take up to 10 seconds. Energy Star is not supported by all computers or all operating systems. To activate Energy Star, perform these steps:

Windows 95 – Select Start, Settings, Control Panel, and Display. (You also can right-click on your desktop and select Properties.) Select the Screen Saver tab. Choose a predominantly black screen saver and set it to wait 5 minutes. Click the Low-Power Standby box and set for 10 minutes. Click the Shut Off Monitor box and set for 20 minutes. Click Ok or Apply.

Windows 98/ME/2000 – Select Start, Settings, Control Panel, and Display. (You also can right-click on your desktop and select Properties.) Select the Screen Saver tab. Choose a predominantly black screen saver and set it to wait 5 minutes. Click on “Settings” to reach the power management settings. Click the Shut Off Monitor box and set for 10 minutes. We recommend that you do not change any other settings that apply to the computer. Click Ok or Apply. (Note that these versions of Windows support only one power-down level, the Suspend state.)

Windows NT does not support Energy Star, so you cannot activate the low-power settings through the Control Panel. You still can select a dark desktop background and screen saver. Energy Star still can be activated through the computer’s set-up program, which varies among computer models. Contact your computer support staff if you need assistance.

Macintosh – Pending.

Note that different computers, operating systems, and monitors may produce different options. However, you should be able to create balanced settings that deliver energy savings. For more detailed implementation information and procedures for additional configurations, click here for instructions provided by the New South Wales Sustainable Energy Development Authority.

Power Off

Of course, the ultimate energy saver is to power off your monitor, which will produce complete and immediate savings. Although screen savers and Energy Star produce automatic reductions, it takes time for the lowest level to be reached. If you go to a half-hour meeting, there will be no savings for the first five minutes, 20% savings for the next five minutes, 90% savings for the next ten minutes, and 95% savings for the last ten minutes. Energy Star saves 65% of the monitor’s power during the half hour. Powering off saves 100%. So if you know you will be away from your desk for a period, turn off your monitor. When you come back, turn it on again (and remember that it’s asleep, so push your mouse!), and it will wake up in 10 seconds. And this doesn’t apply just to your monitor. Turn off your lights. At night, turn off your printer, fax machine, coffee maker, or copier. Every minute that a machine is off saves energy. (Note that some components, such as your printer, can use a lot of power when they are turned on, so only turn off these machines for extended periods. Your printer should be powered off only if it will be idle for more than an hour.)

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