December, 2008 - Raju Alluri

MD-5 or SHA?

Looks like there is a good amount of activity on MD5’s vulnerability (collisions). Would SHA replace MD5 soon in our daily life?

Sensex 2008

31 Dec

Raju Alluri 0 Comment Misc

What a ride for BSE Sensex! Lost more than half of the value during the year and took a heavy toll on pockets.

Despite all that loss, there is one interesting metric I read recently. Sensex always ended up (at least in the recent past) positive between Christmas and New Year day. Comparing the closing prices of 9568.72 (Dec 24th) and 9647.31 (Dec 31st), Sensex ended up positive by about 80 points, less than one percent, during this time.
How do you think it would fare in 2009?

Poolapalli Directory, 2009 Edition

31 Dec

Raju Alluri 0 Comment Personal & Family

Last year, I worked on Poolapalli Directory project for Sankranti. I got a very positive feedback on the usefulness of the directories distributed in 2008 January. Throughout the year, several people found good uses of the directory during important situations. I am going to lead the effort to revise the directory this year. Those who are featured in the directory can send me the suggested changes (like phone numbers, marital status, new kids, etc.) by email. I will be winding up the corrections on 04th January 2009 and will be sending the book for printing.

This year, I deligated most of the data validation part to a handful of people. We are also increasing the scope and size of the directory.

Back to Shell

31 Dec

Raju Alluri 0 Comment Hyderabad, Misc

The Shell fuel station (petrol pump) near Saradhi Studios is very popular about a year ago, for its quality of fuel and for its service. However, a few months ago, they stopped selling regular unleaded petrol (87 octane) and sold only premium unleaded. So I stopped going there.

This week, I noticed a new signboard stating the reintroduction of regular unleaded petrol. Today I went to the fuel station again after a long time. It is back to a better premises after a long time. Back to Shell!

A busy Saturday

30 Dec

Raju Alluri 0 Comment Misc

I never thought that a Saturday could be so busy and so diverse, despite going to work on that day. Started with going to work early in the morning. Visited my Ophthalmologist. Gave my two wheeler for servicing. Visited the construction site of my house and checked a few dimensions etc. Visited a couple of relatives. Had a eat out session with the entire family in the evening. Picked up my two wheeler from the service station. Visited my optician and ordered two pairs of glasses. Got the Santro’s car horn checked and fixed. Refueled my Santro and my two wheeler.

OpenSolaris 2008.11

27 Dec

Raju Alluri 0 Comment Solaris/Unix, Technical

Downloaded and installed 2008.11. This time, I used VMWare to install the image on my laptop. The laptop has 2GB RAM and OpenSolaris is given 512 MB RAM.

Experimented with different networking options like Host only, Bridged, etc. based on the network environment in which I am running this installation. Everything is working clean and fine. The full screen mode (of VMware server console) is the real workable mode for this installation. The VM boots real fast.

BTW, if you want to pick up a copy of the live CD OpenSolaris-2008-11 (and avoid 700MB download), please let me know by email. You can pickup a copy in the Ameerpet/Maitrivanam area, by paying for the media (Rs 10 per CD.)

Emergency Preparedness Drill

26 Dec

Raju Alluri 0 Comment Work

We did an emergency preparedness drill at work today. We have a nice group of volunteers for our ERT (Emergency Response Team.) The drill is well planned and well executed. It also exposed a few infrastructure limitations/malfunctions, which can be fixed with in the next few hours. Overall, the event went smoother than expected. Thank you Facilities and ERT!

Book Fair

26 Dec

Raju Alluri 1 Comment Entertainment, Hyderabad

Spurthi, Surya and myself went to 23rd annual Hyderabad Book Fair on Wednesday (24th) evening. With a week and half in holidays ahead of them, we wanted to pick up a few books. We could find no great collection in the fair. All the stalls features more or less the same items we see in any of the book stores. However, searching through the used book collection was fun. Brought a few books and CDs during the evening. For snacks, we went to a Chaat place in the premises.