Architect and Designer working on low-cost, sustainable design with a special interest in energy and water conservation. Fascinations include science & technology, photography and natural history.

• GRIHA v/s LEED – which is the better system
  This article from ConstructionWeek is sure to fuel a debate that could go on forever with proponents of both systems backing their favourite.  Any rating system can be manipulated and, in this regard, GRIHA scores higher because there is lot less scope to fudge it.  More importantly, LEED gives points ...
  
  
• Making Secure Sites More Prominent in Firefox
  I hate that I have to check for the "s" after http to make sure a site is secure. Firefox does show a blue colour behind the site's icon but it's hardly noticeable. That's easily changed - have a look at what Amazon's secure site now looks like to me. To ...
  
  
• Virus Masquerading as Home Planning Software
  If you've received an email supposedly from IKEA telling you about a fantastic new and free Home Planning Software, please note that it is (surprise, surprise!) a virus. Ralph Grabowski of WorldCAD Access received just such a mail and has posted a screenshot. IKEA, meanwhile have clearly stated that this ...
  
  
• Lakhs and Crores using Open Office
  In an earlier post I talked about a formula that could be used in Ooo Calc or MS Excel to group numbers according to the Indian system of lakhs and crores. Now, Open Office 3.x has the possibility built into it. All you have to do is make sure your ...
  
  
• Save Ink by Using EcoFont
  This isn't something most people look into but a company called spranq in has created this font which saves ~20% of your ink. They recommend a laser printer for best results but, since I don't have one, I tried it on my regular inkjet and didn't find any degradation of ...