Wolfram|alpha

For years Google has ruled the web, so much so that it has even got itself a place in the dictionary as a verb. However its primary limitation was obvious in its description itself: It was a search engine, and its capability was limited to scouring web pages for a particular word or phrase, which would suffice most of the time (provided the person using it was not a dud).

A classic example of a search engine failing to read the user's mind would be to search for "today" in a search engine. Most of it would be riddled with sites containing the word today in their titles or some similar stuff (JFGI and see!). Worse, think of searching for "x.sin(x)" when you want information about the function.. Search engines just falter at this step, simply because it's not what they're built for.

Enter Wolframalpha (admit it: the name, though perhaps oozing with the dire tones of chemistry or Greek alphabets, sounds cool :) Wolframalpha calls itself a "computational knowledge engine. It generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links."
The site sports the quintessential Web 2.0 look, with loads of AJAX(I guess that's what it is) for easy functionality and has a very clean interface that's n00b-proof :) On the right is a handy list of the things one can do with wolframalpha, including a link to their Examples page, where one can do nothing but simply go WOW for a moment looking at all the things one can do (compute) with this beauty! The knowledge search one can do varies from mathematical functions, transportation, education etc, to weather, food and nutrition.

Comparing this with what had been talked about earlier (the 'today' search), it's easy to see the difference: Searching for 'today' displays: Date (in various formats), Observances for the day in the user's country, notable events, moon phase, and so on (oh, and with a 'more' option under each) Pretty exhaustive!

The 'About' section in the site says (hold your breath) "As of now, Wolfram|Alpha contains 10+ trillion pieces of data, 50,000+ types of algorithms and models, and linguistic capabilities for 1000+ domains. Built with Mathematica—which is itself the result of more than 20 years of development at Wolfram Research—Wolfram|Alpha's core code base now exceeds 5 million lines of symbolic Mathematica code. Running on supercomputer-class compute clusters, Wolfram|Alpha makes extensive use of the latest generation of web and parallel computing technologies, including web Mathematica and grid Mathematica."

Wolframalpha gained its popularity immensely in many circles when it was made known on the microblogging site, Twitter. It has come a good distance, and now that we really have really awesome computers to handle and run the kind of a platform this is proving to be, it's sure to grow by leaps and bounds.

Oh, and just think of the possibilities if this became accessible on mobile devices or even watches (psst! during exam-time!)

ISTE Quiz 2008 - questions cache...

For questions of the prelims, click here

The quiz finals' ppt:

Photography/Videography contest

This is in regard to the 1^st ever photography and videography competition held by the ISTE. We are very proud to have been able to go on such a venture and are doubly happy to see the entries pouring in from all nooks and corners of the college.

Here is a small description of the topics for both competitions, as there has been countless number of questions regarding them.

Photography Contest – CONSTRICTION

The word meaning of constriction is ‘a narrowing that leads to restriction of flow’. In terms of action, we can say constriction refers to the action of squeezing or restricting. Now what this contest looks for is the way you approach the given topic. The more refreshing and dynamic the approach gets, the more you further your chances of winning. Certain ways of looking at this topic are:

- forceful restriction of action

- narrow mindedness

- inability faced while doing something(for no justifiable reason)

- tied down by forces that one cant understand.

These are just some of the ways we can approach the topic. There are still innumerable ways in which you can analyse this and capture it in your lens. And those different ways are what we are looking for. Surprise the judges and your in for a huge chance to win!

Videography Contest – BLACK AND WHITE

Contrary to what the name suggests, we do not want the video in black and white mode. That is totally up to your jurisdiction. What we mean by this topic is ‘stark difference’. There is no other pair of colours that contradict each other so much and that too in every sense. Both black and white are purely opposite each other. So this topic refers to the differences, or highs and lows, or positives and negatives of any aspect of your choice. There is no space for grey shades to be captured. Anything and everything in its purest sense of contradiction.

The ISTE Report

Aptly titled, Prarambh kicked off our event calendar of the year. Held in the CETAA Hall, Prarambh was mainly an initiation drive for the first years. ISTE class reps were selected, presentations were made and the relevance and benefits of being an ISTE member were effectively put across. This is clearly reflected in the intake of a whopping 299 freshers to our ever growing fraternity.

Welcome Y’All…!!!

In the CETAA hall during Prarambh

Exodus 2007

Brainchild of the ISTE, Exodus marks a fresher’s first leap onto the other side of a technical/cultural festival. An exclusive festival, organized solely by the first years for the first years, Exodus usually throws up some pretty interesting stuff. And this year’s was no different. The freshers went all out, created a website even with forums and online registration and the whole enchilada. The final event held on the 7^th and 8^th of March 2007 exceeded all expectations, with over 230 people taking part in competitions like Technical Quiz, Technical Debate and Tech Prop.

Kudos you guys and keep up all the good work!!!

A contestant at Exodus 2007

Persona 2007

The ISTE’s poster event. A personality contest with a difference. No more airheads and bimbos, Persona aims to seek out that one person with the perfect combination of looks, smarts, talent and brains. It kicked off on July 21, 2007 with a written preliminary round that saw 160 odd people. After 8 grueling rounds over the course of two months which checked everything from a contestant’s spontaneity to his IQ, from his leadership skills to his teamwork skills, the final round of Persona was conducted on March 4^th at the Sargam stage. It was a runaway success and to all of you who’ve gotten excited just reading about it, keep watching this space for Persona 2008.

Dr Sam Chandran, Principal and Dr Sukesh Kumar Chairman,ISTE inaugurating Persona

A finalist on stage at Persona

Audience

Teachers Day Celebrations

Let’s face it…teachers are the sole reason why we’re even in class. They’re the people thanks to whom we retain at least a small portion of what we’ve “studied” and they’re the people who’ve made us what we are today. Though a single day is not enough to show our gratitude, the ISTE did it’s very best to make them feel wanted on the 5^th of September 2007. Cards and roses were distributed in a very special ceremony in the CETAA Hall.

Industrial Visit

The ISTE believes that all theoretical knowledge, technical and otherwise, should be supplemented with practical experience and relevant industrial exposure. With this aim in mind, an industrial visit was arranged to KMML (Kerala Mines and Minerals Limited) Chavara and NTPC, Kayamkulam on the 16^th of November 2007. 16 ISTE members attended the trip.

At NTPC during the industrial visit

Semfiesta

The annual technical paper presentation competition. It was conducted on the 19^th of April 2008, separately for the Computer Science, Mechanical and Circuit branches. It was an instant hit and numerous abstracts were submitted from which the best 15 were selected and presented before a panel of competent judges.

A student with his presentation for Semfiesta

Cerebro

Another novel initiative, Cerebro was aimed at preparing the pre final years for the then impending placement season in college. It was held on the 10^th of June 2008 in association with TIME, Trivandrum and was basically a written aptitude test. Around 193 students took part and benefited from this programme as they were given feedback on their performance and tips for improvement.

FRIDAY TALKS

‘Friday Talks’

Topic : Anti-terrorist Laws in India –An Analysis
Speaker : Dr. N. Krishnakumar
(Lecturer of Laws,

Govt. Law College, Trivandrum)

Venue : YMCA Youth Centre
Date : 10th October 2008
Time : 5.15 pm

UNI-Y & YMCA
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
All are welcome

MATH ARENA

"Test your Math skills against the pros. See if you have it in you to be the BEST in MATH. Solve your way through puzzles, speed math and history of Mathematics to be the winner."

The number of people, who took up the above challenge, suprised even the event organizers. 61 CETians turned for the event, conducted by ISTE CET as a part of familiarizing CETians with popular Technical events. The Prelims were held on 25th of September at 12.20pm. The venue was the Mechanical Drawing Hall at the top floor of the main block. At 12.20pm, only a handful had turned up for the event. But, like true CETians, the crowd turned up only after 12.30pm. The test, which lasted for half an hour, tested the brains of all those who turned up. From the 61 who turned up, we selected six finalists -

1. Vaisakh S3 E2
2. Maria George S3 T2
3. Ranjani S7 EC
4. Vasudev S3T2
5. Deepak Sasikumar S7 E2
6. Anu Jose S7 EC

Of this, Deepak couldn't make it to the finals held at the same venue on Friday. The other five fought against each other through History, Speed Math and Passage problems to be the winner. The end result showed that Anu Jose of S7 EC had the highest number of points followed by Vasudev of S3T2.

The event was conducted by Jim of Mechanical and , myself, Harisankar.S.A of Electrical. We were helped by Shanker, Vivek and Sarath of S3 Electrical, and Josey Mathew of S5 Electrical in conducting the program. We would also like to thank Anup Unnithan of S5 Electrical for the his help in conducting the program. So, until next time...

hello everyone...

so here it is.. an informal platform to share thoughts and ideas.. a simple blog for the iste club of CET..
anyone interested to join just needs to reply to this post with their e-mail ids and an invitation will be sent..
as of now, i've given just a dummy name and dummy template for the blog.. we could improvise with ur ideas and suggestions.. pls give suggestions for the blog's title as a reply to this post..
trust the blog would showcase the active face of the iste to the students of our college.. and double up as a discussion forum to its members as well..
do contribute.. we'll need this to keep in touch with each other and the college later on..