Sri Lanka Cyber Games 2008 - Official results released

Sri Lanka Cyber Games 2008 (SLCG), the biggest PC gaming event in Sri Lankan history, has come to a close and official results of the events held have been released. SLCG 2008 was held on the 15th, 16th and 17th August 2008 at the BMICH premises with many Sri Lankan gamers taking part. The following gaming tournaments were held; Counter Strike 1.6, Call of Duty 4, DOTA (Defense of the Ancients), StarCraft and FIFA 08.

The official results as as follows (according to SLCG site):

Counter Strike 1.6

New to the scene, team Xtrap did amazingly well to reach the SLCG finals as an untrained team, showing pure talent that should be fine tuned for future tournaments. Team Liquid showed Sri Lanka that they are leagues ahead of any other CS team in the country by breezing through SLCG to grab the CS champions title.

• Champions: Team Liquid
• Runners-up: Xtrap

Call of Duty 4

A match worthy of a final, The Alliance and Infinity Gamers battled it out over three nail biting maps. In the end IG's dedicated practice and superior strats pushed them ahead and on to the title of SLCG COD4 champions.

• Champions: Infinity Gamers
• Runners-up: The Alliance

DOTA

DOTA played out as everyone expected, with the unrivaled Team Death taking the SLCG champions title after a relatively close match with GHUT in the finals.

• Champions: Team Death
• Runners-up: GHUT

StarCraft

Two SC veterans Jeeves and Sub went head to head at the bo3 SC finals. Jeeves came out on top to clinch the SLCG Starcraft Champions title.

• Champion: Jeeves
• Runner-up: Sub

FIFA 08 

Leon who is ranked 13 worldwide at FIFA 08 by EA Sports took the SLCG champions title with GHUT Hero coming runner-up.

• Champion: Leon
• Runner-up: GHUT Hero

Congratulations to all the winners from TEAM FILEnetworks! If you missed the chance to take part in SLCG 2008 keep your hopes up as there will definitely be SLCG 2009. In the meantime you can take part in online gaming tournaments held by Gamer.LK which are just as awesome.

[Click Here] to visit SLCG official site

[Click Here] to visit Gamer.LK Sri Lankan gaming portal and forum.

Download IM+ and chat with your Yahoo, Windows Live, Google Talk and AIM contacts via mobile

Usually I am not a fan of Instant Messengers but what I saw on Dialog GSM site (Sri Lankan mobile service provider) inspired me to write this post.

Apparently Dialog is offering unlimited instant messaging at Rs.50 per months! Initially, I though the word 'unlimited' meant that once you paid Rs.50 per month there would be no additional GPRS charges based on the usage. But the tiny note on Dialog messenger page broke my heart; "Note: GPRS charges applicable while chat session is active" . So, why the hell would I pay an additional Rs.50 per month to Dialog when there are free (and better) alternatives available?

I've tried many mobile messengers some time ago on my Nokia N72 and one of the best I used was IM+. Here is the developer description of IM+

"Chat with IM+® All-in-One Mobile Messenger within AIM®/iChat, MSN®/Windows Live™ Messenger, Yahoo!®, ICQ®, Jabber® and Google™ Talk between mobile devices and PCs in real-time. Communicate with friends and colleagues wherever you are regardless of location and mobile operator."

From my experience, IM+ did the job just fine was very easy to configure. It had a nice, clean user interface, sound alerts and ran smoothly even on my crappy N72.

Download

There are many versions of IM+ available. Make sure you choose the correct version which is compatible with the Symbian Operating System of your mobile. 

In order to download, you will need to register yourself and account in the linked forum.

SHAPE Services IMPlus v5.65 S60v2 SymbianOS7 and SHAPE Services IMPlus v5.65 S60v2.FP3 SymbianOS8.1

IM+® Mobile Instant Messenger supports the most popular instant messaging systems: MSN®, Yahoo!®, AOL™, ICQ®, Google® Talk and Jabber®. It allows the always-on exchange of instant messages easily, cost-effectively and in real-time.

[Click Here] to download - S60v2 SymbianOS7 and S60v2.FP3 SymbianOS8.1 devices only

SHAPE Services IMPlus v7.03 S60v3 SymbianOS9.1

Chat with IM+ All-in-One Mobile Messenger within AIM®/iChat, MSN®/Windows Live™ Messenger, Yahoo!®, ICQ®, Jabber®, Google Talk™ and MySpace® IM from your mobile device in real-time. Communicate with friends and colleagues wherever you are regardless of location and mobile operator.

[Click Here] to download - S60v3 SymbianOS9.1 devices only

SHAPE Services IMPlus For Skype v2.22 S60v3 SymbianOS9.1

IM+ for Skype is a fully mobile application that enables voice and text communication with other Skype users and provides cost-effective calling to landlines and mobiles.

[Click Here] to download - S60v3 SymbianOS9.1 devices only

If you are looking for a simple mobile messenger which utilizes the J2ME platform, check out eBuddy mobile messenger

Sri Lankan ISPs ordered to filter and block pornographic content on the Internet

According to several news sources, Sri Lankan Internet service providers (ISP) are issued with instructions to filter and block pornographic content on the Internet as per a presidential order.  First of all, we have nothing against pornographic content being illegal in Sri Lanka or whatever laws that apply to it. Long time readers will know that FILEnetworks has never advocated nor linked to any sort of pornographic material in any of our 700 odd posts so far.

That being said, we do have several questions over how this latest presidential order will be executed. There are many places and mediums to download porn (or any other material for that matter) via the Internet. But these mediums are not only used to distribute porn. For example, pornographic images are often transferred via E-Mail. But as any jackass may know, not only porn is transferred via E-mail; there are many other 'moral' uses as well. The same goes for video streaming sites, FTP sites, HTTP sites, IRC channels, Instant messages, Blogs, Forums and the likes. So how will the censorship be imposed? Will this be limited to several sites? If so, who will decide on which sites to be blocked? Will the ISPs be allowed to monitor and track user activity in direct violation of their privacy?

Right now there are a lot of question rather than answers. We sure do hope that Sri Lankan Internet users will not be deprived of new technology nor will have their privacy intruded, just to prevent few folks downloading porn off the net.

P.S. - Even if you block the shit out of internet, users will not stop till they find a way to unlock the 'now hidden treasures'. Hope this won't backfire and increase the popularity of porno sites instead.

Here are some links from the Sri Lankan blogosphere that are related to this story:

• http://www.kanabona.com/kanabona/?q=opinion_chinthanaya_blocking_pr0n_sites
• http://dinidudealwis.com/?p=248
• http://metheblogger.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/a-sad-day-for-sri-lankans/
• http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/the-rise-of-the-nanny-state-sri-lanka-to-filter-pornography-on-the-web/
• http://madeinsrilanka.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/from-mahainda-chinthanaya-to-taliban-chinthanaya/
• http://lirneasia.net/2008/08/sri-lanka-pornography-regulatory-commission

Sri Lanka Cyber Games 2008 - Registrations now open

If you are from Sri Lanka and if you are into PC gaming, you should definitely check this out. Sri Lanka Cyber Games 2008 (SLCG) is a multiplayer gaming tournament which is organized with international standards in mind. Make no mistake though, it won't be  your typical average multiplayer tournament where few people will get together and randomly play games using a few outdated PCs. We are talking about an actual e-sporting event of a much broader scale and one that enforces international standards such as those followed in World Cyber Games (WCG).

This year's tournament will trigger the start of a series of similar annual events. The date, time and venue for SLCG 2008 are given below:

• Date: 15th, 16th and 17th August 2008
• Time: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
• Venue: BMICH Committee Rooms D and E.

Following games will be featured in this year's event:

• Counter Strike 1.6
• Call of Duty 4
• DOTA (Defence Of The Ancients)
• Starcraft: Broodwar
• FIFA 08

To obtain more information on SLCG 2008 and to register online, please visit http://www.slcg.lk/

You may also find discussions related to this event in Gamer.LK - the Srilankan gaming portal and forum.

Links Added: LankanTorrents.com and Gamer.LK

The following sites are now linked from FILEnetworks Blog. You can find the links in our Partners Section located in the right hand panel.

LankanTorrents.Com : LankanTorrents is an entirely Srilankan Bittorrent index. It facilitates torrent downloads of various local and international content and boasts a large and active file sharing community.  Unlike most other bittorrent sites, LankanTorrents maintains its own bit torrent tracker rather than merely maintaining a torrent index.

Gamer.LK : Gamer.Lk is a Srilankan gaming portal and a forum. This site features latest game releases, active discussions on gaming related topics, multiplayer competitions and many more. The site has been able to build up a large community (mostly comprising of Sri lankan gamers) in a very short time. If you are a gamer, this is the place to go.

SLT's new ADSL package: Good or Bad?

Sri lanka Telecom (The incumbent fixed line operator in Srilanka), in its latest drive to boost subscriber base, has re-branded SLT ADSL as SLT Broadband and launched a new budget ADSL package to capture new market segments. Is the new package as beneficial as it sounds?

New ADSL packge Features and conditions

• Monthly rental Rs.1000/=
• Usage Allowance 1GB and additional usage will be charged Rs.250/= for each 250MB blocks
• Connection fee Rs.500/=
• Download 512Kbps and upload 128Kbps
• Available in all current ADSL areas 

Usage allowance term simply means that you will be charged extra if your usage (Web surfing, e-mail checking, downloading, TV/radio streaming or basically anything which you do using SLT ADSL connection) exceeds 1GB.

In our opinion, the package is not worth it. What can you do with a 1GB limit on your ass? 1GB might have been a huge amount some years back but this is the information age for fucks sake! Even a simple login to Windows Live Mail is bound to consume more than 2MB per try. Your 1GB limit will exceed before you know it and you might even end up paying a rental higher than for ADSL Home Express (You download 2.25GB --> You pay Rs 2250 which is the same amount as the monthly rental for Home Express package)

Don't even think about downloading torrents or software using this connection as you will end up with a huge monthly bill due to additional usage charge.

The Internet evolves, file sizes increase, traffic consumption goes up, web services are born, everything is downloadable, SLT puts a 1GB limit to its budget 'broadband' connection. It just doesn't make sense.

Conclusion:

Stay away from the Rs 1000 package. It's basically a faster dial up connection. If you are planning to upgrade to ADSL go for the Home Express package (512K Up/ 128K Down, Rs 2250 per month, unlimited usage) and experience Internet without restrictions or fear of exceeded bandwidth limitations.

Unreasonable Software pricing in Sri Lanka

If Bill Gates ever visited Pettah, he would commit suicide after seeing his precious intellectual property being sold for Rs 80 ($0.08). As in many developing countries, software piracy rate in Srilanka is extremely high. In fact, not even 1% of home computer users in Srilanka use legitimate software.

The main reason for this is unreasonable pricing in a market where pirated copies are readily available.

For example, newly released Windows Vista costs LKR 40000. This pricing is totally unrealistic for a country with a small economy such as Srilanka. Majority of the PC users will go for a pirated copy which sells at LKR 80-250 or download it from the internet rather than paying a colossal amount of money to buy the original software. Earlier it was promised by MS and other software giants that the developing countries will be given special pricing schemes as a method of promoting legitimate software use. So far this has not happened. Before urging the government to implement laws against piracy (which Microsoft has been trying to do during last few years) or running massive awareness campaigns to highlight the benefits of legitimate software, companies should address the main problem; price. Otherwise, they will never win the battle against piracy.

Dialog GSM Billing System: Share your experience

Dialog GSM is the dominant mobile phone operator in Srilanka with over 60% of market share. The company offers many different postpaid/prepaid packages, value added services, infotainment services and more. This post aims to discuss problems faced with their billing system and how Dialog responded to miscalculations.

Dialog billing system is designed and managed by Millennium IT (MIT), which is a highly reputed IT firm in Srilanka. It's needless to say that Dialog billing system is a highly complex application as it has to bill calls of 3 million+ customers. As with any software system, it's not perfect. The following experience was sent to us by one of our readers.

"I purchased a Dialog Super 503 package along with a Super 101 package back in 2004. It was a really cool package coz outgoing between the two connection was Rs 0.50 any time of the day! That was a damn cheap price at that time (and it still is today) so I went for it without hesitation. I normally don’t check my bill through phone. But suddenly I got a message from 8896 saying that my credit limit has exceeded and that my connection was liable for automatic disconnection #@#&@*. Guess what, all my calls to Super 101, which were supposed to be Rs 0.50 were billed as 'Dialog to Non Dialog' outgoing and were charged at Rs 10 per min peak and Rs 5 per min off peak . I contacted Dialog customer care and was told to lodge a complaint. I lodged a complaint and I was told that they would get back to me once they figure out what the problem was. I had to pay a colossal amount for the first month but I was assured by Dialog that any excess amount would be waived off in next bill. After around a month customer care contacted me and guess what, my call records were fixed! All the excess payments were waived off and they apologized for the inconvenience caused. A rare bug in the billing system detected my super 101 as a non Dialog number it seems. Overall I think Dialog handled the issue in a professional manner and there was no lasting harm done. I've been using dialog since then and have never run into that problem again."

Have you had similar experiences? Discuss them here.

Tri Forces of Srilanka: Videos

This post is a tribute to the armed forces of Srilanka. Posted below is a collection of videos that are available on YouTube/Defence.lk. Some videos contain SLA/SLAF/SLN military offensives, some contain footage of brutal LTTE attacks and some contain footage of SLA arms demonstrations. 

LTTE Arms Ship being chased: Video shows LTTE arms ship being chased by the Srilankan Navy.

LTTE arms ship hit: Video shows LTTE arms ship on fire after being hit by SLAF Kfir Bombers and SLNS Samudura Attack Craft

Sampoor Attack: Watch the SLA armoured divisions and 1st, 2nd and 3rd Special Forces regiments break through LTTE defence lines to capture eastern rebel enclave; Sampoor.

UAV footage of Wrecked Jordinian Ship: Shows video footage of the wrecked Jordanian ship.

Sencholai LTTE training camp bombing: Footage of LTTE training camp in the middle of jungle.

Multi Barrel Rocket Fire: Watch the SLA use RM-70 Multi Barrel Rockets to pound rebel positions in the North.

LTTE Attack on Sri Maha Bodhiya: A documentary on the brutal LTTE attack on Sri Maha Bodhiya, which killed over 120 civillians.

Mavil Aru Mission: Watch the Srilankan Defence Forces liberate MavilAru and clear the waterway whihc was blocked by the LTTE.

LTTE weapons trawler attacked: SLN Fast Attack Squadron takes on LTTE arms ferrying trawler.

Air Force Gunship Fleet: Footage of SLAF Gunships.

SLA Ground Attack: SLA ground forces.

SLAF Fleet Video: Slideshow of SLAF aircraft fleet. Contains images of Kfir/Mig27/F-7 Skybolt/Pucara and transport aircraft. 

SLN Fleet: Footage of SLN fleet.

SLAF Video: SLAF fleet video.

SLA Video: In tribute to the tri forces of srilanka.

More than 150000 troops are risking their lives everyday to protect this country from terrorist attacks. FILEnetworks salutes the defenders of the nation.