Rock Machine / Indus Creed Letters from '93

I'd completely forgotten about this post when I switched to blogger. Anyways, these scans actually are letters written to us by the guys from Indus Creed / Rock Machine, way back in 1993. You see, back then when the Internet still hadn't come to India (was it even developed then?) the only fan club address we could get our hands on was of Indus Creed / Rock Machine. And so we wrote. We asked them a couple of questions like how do we get a recording contract, what is the pay like and a few more about technical stuff like guitars and effect pedals (where do we get them, and what do they cost). After a few days, we had a reply. Not a dry one, but a nice detailed one (which you see below). It felt really good getting mail from them back then. I wonder if we'll ever see a reunion. I hope we do. And "Pretty Child" still is one of my all time favourite songs after all these years. Good work guys, and thanks :-)

Thanks to Uday Benegal for reminding me about this post and pictures :-)

P.S: Click to enlarge.

This one was a reply to - how do we land a recording contract, where did they get their guitars and effects from and other questions.

Announcing release of the "Pretty Child" Video

Announcing change of name from Rock Machine to Indus Creed

Invitation to join the Indus Creed Fan Club Announcing the nomination of " Trapped" for the MTV Asia Viewers Choice Awards

Are you on 1ClickRecommend?

If you liked something online and wanted to share it with your friends, there's now a new service that lets you easily do this.

When I say easily, I really mean easily. Heres how. You simply click a 1ClickRecommend button on the page you'd like to share, then, select which of your friends you'd like to send it to, and click Send. That it!. It simply cannot get easier than that. No more copying the link and mailing it, or posting to some site or anything else. Just click that button - this'll bring up a list of your friends - select which friends you'd like to send it to and click Send.

Best thing is 1ClickRecommend does not dip into your main email account for contacts. You can maintain just a few of your contacts with 1ClickRecommend itself. So this way your email accounts stay safe and out of reach. And even better, its only people you approve who can share something to you. This way every Tom, Dick & Gregory wont be able to keep sharing things with you (and that's really good).

Each time you share something with someone, they discover something new. Each time someone one shares something with you, you've discovered something new. Very nice indeed. Not to mention 1 new user for the web site (in case you're a web master)

You can sign up for 1ClickRecommend here : www.1ClickRecommend.com

To see how it works, go here : www.1ClickRecommend.com/how_it_works/

Photoalbum - Empire Mall, M. G. Road, Mangalore, India - 40 Images

Covers Amoeba, the Interior and few other floor in the building.

Photoalbums - St. Aloysius College - 106 Images

Covers most of the campus. Includes image from the old block (commerce block), Xavier Block, Old Science Block, High School and approaches from the K. S. Rao Road and PVS building.

Photoalbum - M. G. Road, Mangalore, India - 131 Images

Includes The Ladyhill Church aka Church of our Lady of Immaculate Conception, Divya Deepa Apartments, Mangala Stadium, Saibeen Complex, Lalbagh Junction, Ballal Bagh, Inland Empire, T. M. A Pai Convention Hall, Empire Mall, S. D. M. College of Business Management, Canara College, Besant College, Deepa Hotel, Ibrose Complex, Manasa Towers, Sanu Palace and others

Photoalbum - Other places of Interest & Landmarks in Mangalore - 23 Images

Contains Hotel Moti Mahal, Milagres Church, Central Market, Ramakanthi Theater, Felix Pai Bazaar, Udupi Sri. Krishna Bhavan, Hotel Mohini Vilasa, Hampankatta Post Office, Government Pre-University College, Ganapathi High School

Photoalbum - Places of Worship in Mangalore - 20 Images

Milagres Church, St. Dominics Church, Shri. Gopalakrishna Temple. More coming soon.

Photoalbum - K. R. Rao Road, Mangalore. India - 106 Images

Includes images of P.V.S Building, St. Aloysius Technical Training Institute, Essel Towers, Abhiman Residency, Abhiman Plaza, Hotel Woodlands, Hotel Goldfinch, Trade Center, Jyothi Circle, Jyothi Talkies, Vijaya Bank, K. M. C Hospital

Photoalbum - Light House Hill Road, Mangalore, India - 82 Images

Includes images of K. M. C Dental College, Plaza Towers, Syndicate Bank, Mangalore Catholic Co-Operative Bank, Maximus, Nalpad Residency, Lobo Prabhu Apartments, Tagore Park, Mangalore Ladies Club, Vijaya Bank

Photoalbum - K. S. Rao Road, Mangalore, India - 98 Images

Includes images of P.V.S Building, Abhiman Commercial Complex, Panch Mahal Hotel, Kodialbail Post Office, Ram Bhavan Complex, Mangalore Stock Exchange, Rakkno Building, Karnataka Bank, Bishops House, St. Aloysius College Pre-University College, City Center Mall, Popular Building, Mischief Mall, Hotel Poonja International, Hotel Dhanyavad

Easily mapping your photos in Google Earth and Picasa

Heres a great new tool I came across last week. This ones a program that lets you easily map your photos.

And, if you've ever tried mapping your photographs you'll probably know what a painstaking process it is. In fact, as far as ease is concerned, you'll never ever want to do it again.

Until now, if you've mapped your photos in Google Earth or Picassa, you'll have - a) Uploaded your photos to panoramio b) Found the location on a small map at the side c) Positioned the place marker on the map etc. etc. Of course, you're doing all this simply because Google doesn't know the location of where your photograph was taken (the coordinates). If it did, it would automatically map your photos.

Now, one way to get the location into your photos would be to use a camera that will automatically embed the location into the EXIF data. But the downside to that is, not too many cameras currently do that. In fact, I think none do it at all. And even if they did, you probably have tons of old photos taken with older cameras that never had this feature.

The other way to do this, is using this: http://www.clanmills.com/articles/gpsexiftags/ And this probably is the easiest way to get the location into you photos EXIF data. The whole process requires you to only have two instruments. A camera, and GPS device or any other device that can provide you with the location. Once you have those, all you need to do is this: take your photographs, and note the location. Then, use this script to embed the location into the photos EXIF data. Upload your photos, and ~Bang!~ they're automatically mapped. No locating anything on a map and no placing markers or anything else. Cool, Right? You no longer need to manually map anything, because Google automatically recognizes the location in the EXIF data and will map your photos. Check the photos below.

All of this is done by Robin Mills, a good friend of mine. You can check it out over here http://www.clanmills.com/articles/gpsexiftags/ You'll take sometime to get used to it, but once you've mastered it, its the easiest way to map your photos. Specially if you have tons of old photo without the location embedded in them. Full instructions on how to get started, are on the same page.

Sometime back I uploaded about 50 photographs to panoramio, and mapped them the hard way, wasting a lot of time (3 hours) and a lot more metered bandwidth. They're all here http://www.panoramio.com/user/1398960. I wish Robin had done this earlier. Well... :-)

Doing it the hard way: Upload your Image
Position the red balloon after figuring out the location. Not easy if its a big city (or forest)
Doing it the easy way: Upload your image after inserting the coordinates into its EXIF data


Click on the image you uploaded.

Its automatically mapped. No locating, no positioning anything.

Safe way to search for domain names

If you're worried about having your Domain name stolen (by UltraRpm / MetaPredict) after you search for it at some major Domain registrars site, heres an alternative.

I'm not sure if its 100% safe and accurate, but give it a try.

Click Start -> Run -> Type NSLOOKUP into the box next to Open.

You'll get this:
Next, in the black window with white text :-), type the name of the domain you want to look up.

In this case, i'm searching for firefarter.com. So its taken. You'll see the DNS address.

Next, search for one thats not taken. This time i'm looking for firefartman.com. You'll notice it says: NON EXISTENT DOMAIN.

I'm sorry about the screen shots, but this'll give you an idea. And i know i'm not doing it the right way. Theres something screwed up with my DNS, but firefartman.com is actually available. So I guess its right.

How to get your Domain name back from UltraRPM.com / MetaPredict

After a week of waiting an checking patiently, I was finally able to get my domain name back from UltraRpm / MetaPredict.

If you're wondering what I did, I did nothing at all.

Here are a few things to keep in mind.

* Do not write to them. This'll only indicate that you're desperate to get it back, and UltraRpm / MetaPredict will reply with a mail asking for a huge sum, and even worse, may hang on to the domain for longer
* Wait for 5 Days. This is the time they keep a domain to see if theres a lot of traffic coming at it, and if theres someone desperate out there to get it back.
* Never visit the domain. If you do you'll only see a page full of advertisements. Again, they'll know someones out there wanting it.
* If you'd like to check if they still have it or not, do not use a whois or the search boxes on godaddy or any other registrant. Instead, use nslookup. Remember, you lost it using those search boxes ;-)

In all, do nothing at all.

I must consider myself lucky. After I found they'd taken my domain, I wrote to them asking them to release it. A few minutes later, I got a reply asking for US$ 1200. I replied saying that i'd come up with the name in 1997, and would like it back. They never replied after that.

In spite of all this, when I checked after 5 days, the domain was released. Many others who write in to them are not so lucky.

The trick then: be patient, be cool, be still.

If its still with them, then I've known a few people who've managed to get it back initiating Legal action. This however, is not something you and I can do. Its expensive, and extremely difficult if you're outside the US.

Well, I got mine back, Good luck to all of you :-)

UltraRPM.com (aka MetaPredict) and your domain names

If you've tried registering a domain name in recent days, you'll probably realize what an exciting (frustrating) process it is.

Here's how you'd do it, say a year and a half ago:
* Go to reputed domain registrar
* Search for your domain name
* If its taken, well... search again
* If its available, leave it there. You can always come back a day later and register it. It'll always be there.
* Come back later, register your domain name.
* Peace. You have the domain name you wanted.

Here's how its done now:
* Go to reputed domain registrar
* Search for your domain name
* If its taken, well... search again
* If its available, leave it there. You can always come back a day later and register it. It'll always be there. (At least thats what you think)
* Come back later, and... FIND YOUR NAME HAS BEEN TAKEN BY ONE UltraRpm / MetaPredict based somewhere in Pasadena, California.
* Peace? Nope. You now have to start scouring the web for whats going on, and who are these UltraRpm / MetaPredict guys, and why have they registered your domain.

This exactly is what happened to me on the 8th of January this year.

I happened to be looking for a domain name, and went to godaddy.com to see its available. Found it was available, and thought I'd come back a day later to register it. A day later, it was gone. Taken by UtlraRpm / MetaPredict.

And if you're wondering whats going on, the answer is UtlraRpm / MetaPredict are somehow able to find out what people are searching for, and register it before anyone else can. If its something in demand or something someone desperately needs, they'll let you have it back. Only, for a huge price.

Take my case, when I wrote to them asking them to release my domain, I got a reply asking US$1200 for it. Thankfully I could find an alternative, since my domain had a number in it. Eg: 7 can be Seven or 7. So 7Up can also be SevenUp. I got saved that way. It appears, most others wont.

Anyway, from what I've learned, these guys simply register domain to see it they can make money with them through advertisements, or sell them back at a higher price, in case someone desperately wants them. If you were to visit the UltraRpm / MetaPredict Site, you'll only find a one page site, with a WhoIs search Box, and contact information.

It all appears to be highly automated. Even the replies.

And if you're wondering how to get your domain back, well, I'll do a separate post on that soon.

It is possible to get your domain back, and most have. Including me.

Meantime, I had the most exciting week of my life from the 8th of January, 2008 to the 15th of January, 2008.

On the 15th of January, UtlraRpm / MetaPredict dropped my domain name, and I was able to register it.

And, what did I do to get it back?