Barcamp Delhi

Barcamp is a new kind of technology ‘unconference’- organized by attendees, for attendees. It’s an open, welcoming, once-a-year event for geeks to hang out with wifi and smash their brains together. It’s about love and geekery and having a focal point for great ideas.

Two things I liked bout barcamp

1. Its a great platform where every individual, whether he is a technokrat, enterpreneur, developer, researcher or a coder is invited to join in with open views, ideas and his/her experience in relevant field. So its good social networking where u can relate and address issues in interest of the community.

2. Excellent way of putting your point, which involves participation to a much defined structure than it usually is … when you blog, setup a website or write in a forum. Its something which should be promoted and appreciated. It has been a great experience for me, and I wish to join in and organise such un-conferences in near future.

Two things that I didn’t like bout barcamp

1. Some presentations lost focus in between and jumped in to something irrelevant to the scenario. Ideas, technology, experience are always welcome but capitalising on those areas, getting technical, n researching, inventing something creative is what we should focus on. I expected it to be more technical than it was(i have been attending some camps where undocumented stuffs come in, some 0day developments in technology, and some code to push on the de-facto of what is actually going on behind the picture which was not really happening in most of the presentations.

2. Most presenters showed us some new technology, new products but in the process didnt evolve as to why should we change over to a completely new language in terms of architecture, api, or syntax when the same can be done with older stuff. They were not able to present the advantages / diasdavantages, limits of present technology. Basic questions were not answered as to stating why what and how.

Two sessions I liked the most

1. I like the session put up by Gaurav Bhatnagar bout “bootstrapping in seven difficult steps”. Excellently put up. Was worth watching, more interactive, relating to all happening events in industry when u decide to set up a new firm.

Superb Gaurav. I liked it most.

2. Second presentation that liked the most was from Jonathan Boutelle. Very good way on conveying the idea, as to why, what and lil of how. I ll personally however talk to him through blogs n emails.

Barcamp Snaps …

Nainital was refreshing ...

Long time we had an outing, so my Brother-in-Law came in with a sudden plan to visit Nainital last weekend, a popular tourist destination in Uttranchal(lndia). We all set up for Nainital at four in the morning, reached the place around four in the evening. The lake of Kumaon nestling Himalayan region of North India left me spell bound. I was messmerized by the scenic natural splendor and varied natural resources. The fun we had, cant be conveyed in words. Have a look at my niece’s you u can imagine how good an experience it was …

Nainital Snaps ...

Nickdigital's Project Archive

Here are some cool projects already done or in ongoing process. The demo files are not attached now coz i didnt upload it ,but if u are interested you can come in near future and get it. However i dont plan to give away source for another 2 or 3 months for some projects, but i would like to hear from you all that which projects excite you the most. To know more bout me visit my blogspace at http://www.nickdigitial.blogspot.com

Projects include following categories.

• Neural Network and Fuzzy Logic (Artificial Intelligence)
• Video Streaming / Game Development in Flash.
• Networking Related
• General Applications

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AI projects which are in process or which I wish to start in near future

Motion Detection

Objectives : A complete solution to the web-cam surveillance, monitoring and recording or alarming when some relative motion is detected in subsequent frames

1. Motion Detection in Static background : Used MS DirectShow Api to calculate the difference between two images from successive frames and determine whether or not to trigger the alarm comparing it to a specified Threshold value.

Status : Completed.

2. Motion Detection in relative dynamic background. : I haven’t worked on it yet, since I don’t have appropriate gadgets to compliment my project. I would probably look into it when I get some proper funding and support.

Status : Not Attempted yet.

Face Detection

Objectives : I aim to use this project in implementing computer vision for spotting criminals to from the live scene comparing an already generated database showing all his past records of crime.

1. Basic face detection : I used Eigen faces method in recognizing a specific user by training through a database of faces. I captured images from web-cam and resized it to 80x80 pixels.

Status : Completed.

2. Stereo Face detection : Stereo face matching using Birchfield’s method by matching areas of continuous intensity flow using DirectShow Api from a video stream.

Status : In process. Hope it will be completed by end of March 2006.

Speech Processing

Objectives : I aim to use Speech Processing Interface using Hindi language in areas like browsing, playing media files and commanding situations in Speech User Interface.

1. Text2speech : Implemented text to speech using MS Agent from MS SAPI 5.1 Used British English as interface. However I plan to build my own library for Hindi language.

Status: Text2Speech for British English Completed. Text2Speech for Hindi Language is ongoing. Probably will be completed by end of April 2006.

2. Speech2text : Still working on this one, I ll be using MS Agent from MS SAPI 5.1. However I would like to build my own Application from scratch and using Hidden Markov’s model.

Status : In process. Probably will be completed in mid of May 2006.

Gesture Recognition

Objectives : Limits to use gesture recognition are endless, but prior to do anything creating such apps is limited, taking into account general computer user configurations. It can be used as an add-on to browse fast by using a mouse/web-cam. It can be used as a complimentary interface where speech processing fails.

1. Mouse Gesture Recognition : Can be used to create a utility for fast browsing where it tracks the point of displacement, direction and angle of mouse movement to measure what the user actually wants to do from a set of trained commands.

Status : In Process. Will be completed by end of March 2006.

2. Motion Gesture Recognition (Using web-cam) : Can be used to give easy commands from a distance where speech recognition fails.

Status : In process. Will be completed by end of May 2006.

3. Gaze Detection (Using Fixed Web-cam) : A fixed web-cam monitors the eye gaze of the user and detects the position where the user is looking at the moment and then the user can guide the cursor or pointer that particular point. It can be very realistic and exciting when playing a 3d computer game. Can also be implemented in piloting a remote vehicle in a scenario whereby the engineer can use his hands to do other work in interest of the mission.

Status : Not attempted yet.

Neuro Linguistic Processing

Speech Processing + Natural Language Processing : An interactive voice answering machine application which will take all your calls, answers queries, and records caller’s voice and number. I was thrilled from this idea when I went on using Eliza and IQATS.

Status : Not attempted yet

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Projects involving Flash 8 and Flash Communication Server MX / Flash Media Server 2.

Video Conferencing Application : A simple video conferencing application developed in Flash 8 supported by Flash Media Server 2 where users can Login, text Chat and use their web-cams and microphones.

Status : Completed.

Virtual Classroom : A virtual classroom where a teacher can show a presentation, use whiteboard to solve problems and confront a student’s problem when asked. A teacher can punish the student throwing him out of the class and disallowing him to enter again. A teacher can force the student to show his web-cam.

Status : Will be completed by first week March 2006.

Cricket Game : A small flash game of cricket which I developed, in order to learn flash from basics.

Status : Completed.

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Networking related Projects.

Remote Administration Tool : This is a complete surveillance kit for your pc. Install this on any pc and u can connect to it from another pc and monitor what all is going on the server pc.

Some of its features include

Key logging

Screen shotting

Disable mouse / keyboard

Shut down / restart remote pc

Lock / unlock remote pc (when the pc is locked it can’t be accessed even if it’s restarted.)

Switch to power mode (makes the monitor go on / off)

View files on remote pc

Download / upload files

Adds web server support to pc

View the web cam of server pc

Works in complete invisible mode if specified.

Smart web cam monitoring

When it detects any motion it

1. starts recording to a file

2. Sends an email to the administrator.

System compatibility : Win9x.

Status : Completed.

Mini Web-server : A tiny web-server to share your files on the LAN or internet where all directories can be listed using Winsock api, where you can allow directory viewing enabled or not.

System compatibility : Win 9x, NT, Xp (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed.

Mac Id spoofer : A tiny app to spoof Mac id on your computer.

System compatibility : Win 9x, NT, Xp (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed.

Port Scanner : A simple port scanner to scan all open ports on a computer.

System compatibility : Win 9x, NT, Xp (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed.

Video Chat Application : This a small chat client which supports video conferencing and 8bit mono audio on LAN. A simple video / voice chat application which can be used on LAN to chat with friends. It had the functionality to upload and download Files.

System compatibility : Win 9x, NT, XP (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed

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General Utilities which I designed out of interest.

Pe Loader : This small tool recognizes the file as valid pe file and gets information about sections in it which can be modified manually. The disassembler recognizes all import functions from libraries and shows the RVA for the same. Simple PE file loader to tweak around with executables.

System compatibility : Win 9x, Nt, XP (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed.

Hex Editor : Edit any exe files using this simple hex editor.

System compatibility : Win 9x, Nt, XP (Sp1 and Sp2)

Status : Completed

Panic Button : A utility to save you from prying eyes of your boss when he suddenly enters your room and starts looking at your computer. It was completely invisible and didn’t show up in Task Manager.

System compatibility : Win 9x.

Status : Completed.

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