Saturday, May 31, 2008

AIESEC Evolve conference in Singapore

Wow, where do I start. This is gonna be a very long post. So here goes..

Well I thought I won't be able to attend the conference because my university didn't approve my leave at first [ well it was the holidays but there were still other issues..]. Then just days before the conference I got the approval, with the help of my friends in university, tnx loads to them:)
I already had a ticket due to leave early morning on the 6th. I got the approval on the 5th morning, packed my bags in the afternoon and was out of the country the very next morning! Wouldn't have made it without the help of my family of course.. especially mom! tnx mom:)

When I arrived in Singapore I joined the rest of the Sri Lankan delegation who were also from the University of Moratuwa[Colombo South Local Committee]and had a wonderful time for the 5 days of the conference!

The theme of the conference was 'From Social Entrepreneurship to Social Intrapreneurship'. I learned a lot at the conference and it did help me evolve:)But most of all I met AIESECers from 14 different countries and made loads of new friends.

I had just one day left after the conference for sightseeing and shopping. In the end I spent most of that day at sentosa island. I was a bit dissapointed they didn't have bunjee jumping[that's definitely on my 'to do some day' list] but i got to ride on a sky tram which was quite exciting.. I also got to see the pink dolphins who were really cute.

All in all it was a fascinating experience. AIESEC in Singapore did an amazing job organizing the conference, hats off to them:)

Friday, May 2, 2008

Free stuff over the internet

As someone who recently converted from a slow dial-up connection (52kbps at max)to a broadband connection I am just beginning to discover the 'so far undiscovered treasures of the internet'.

My current favorite treasures are You Tube [ its fantastic to finally be able to watch streaming videos in real time over the net] and LimeWire. Of the 2 i guess LimeWire is the real treasure coz its become my doorway to free stuff over the internet!

LimeWire http://www.limewire.com is a software that enables P2P file sharing. You can use it to search for music, videos, ebooks or software that you are looking for. The program searches if any of its other users have what you are looking for on their pcs. If yes they will download it directly from their pc to yours! Its absolutely free! I am not sure to what extent copyright laws are broken but im not too bothered.. Anyways I am a big supporter of having free stuff over the net. Id very much like to see the internet becoming an equalizer in that way..

As all things LimeWire has both good and bad...

Good:)
Free!
Choice [when there are multiple files with same content u can decide which file to download depending on the file rating]
Pause [ U can always run the download in the background while doing another task and u can always pause it and shut down the program and come back whenever..]

Bad:(

Virus [ u might come across viruses disguized as other content. how well u ellude these depends on wit and the strenght of ur anti virus]
Limited [ Dont expect to find evrything u r looking for.. Availability depends on popularity and how lucky u r!]

LimeWire is opensource and absolutely free. Really worth trying out...

No more googling evry damn thing im looking for.. A good thing, especially since google is becoming more and more copyright conscious and hiding away free content sites where u can't find them...