DVD writer bought

I bought a Sony DRU-170C DVD writer (Sony DVD RW AW-G170A) from Metro Computers, P. R. Lane, (off S. P. Road) today for 1820/- (Rs. 1750 + 4% V.A.T.).

Notes:
a) Can write almost every DVD format conceived including DVD-RAMs. (At least, the specs give me that impression.)
b) 4 screws provided.
c) Black on my beige cabinet. (I asked a couple of shops and they didn't have white DVD?RWs at all), (this cabinet will go soon.)
d) No printed manual - on the CD only.
e) One year limited warranty seems to be available only in the US and Canada.
f) Nero Essentials only provided on the CD (apart from the manual) - yet to see what software this comprises.
g) No P-ATA or digital audio cable provided.

I also picked up some blank DVDs from Ankit Computers, S. P. Road:
150/- for a ten-pack (with hard plastic cover) of Master 16X 4.7 GB DVD-Rs.
85/- for a Moser Baer 4X 4.7 GB DVD+RW.

Picture gallery links

An entry, just for bookmarking, of recently updated online albums of people I've seen (or am):

http://picasaweb.google.com/srikanthnv/

http://picasaweb.google.com/mayurmotgi/

http://picasaweb.google.com/devadutta.ghat/

http://picasaweb.google.com/purnateja/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sree314/

http://www.imagestation.com/members/sandy.mallya

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34749291@N00/

http://picasaweb.google.com/amber.agarwal/TrekAndKukkeSubramanyaTemple?authkey=DbSnqwhE_wA

http://picasaweb.google.com/abhijitpai.photos/

Flash memory stress test

My 128 MB Rundisk 2.0 flash drive somehow chose to remain in the pocket of my shirt when it was put for wash. Needless to say, it spun for over 1 hour 15 minutes in soapy dirty water, and I noticed it along with some unidentifiable shredded pieces of paper when I was hanging it out to dry.
Surprisingly though, it still manages to work just like before. I've dropped the drive multiple times from over 4.5 feet before, and put it inside my bag where it lay between all sorts of other hard non-electronic devices and managed rough handling that even my bag couldn't. But this, really, is some sort of a benchmark that it has managed to come clear of.

BSNL's removed the upload cap too

[For ISP enthusiasts]

Background: I've a BSNL Dataone Home 500 connection.

(Feb 11th 12:50 p.m. - Upload to YouTube)

The indicator on the website was showing 52-53 KiloBytes/sec.(steady over minutes). I timed and found that 1 Megabyte gets uploaded in ~19 seconds (- If the 64 kbps upload cap was still on, it would have taken at least 120 seconds). This means BSNL has removed the upload cap too.

Note: Download tests from http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest since Jan 1st, 2007, when BSNL removed the cap, have shown me results of 1 Mbps lots of times (~128 KBps for download), and at most other times, show respectable values between 270 Kbps and 1 Mbps. Earlier, whenever the connection was available, I almost always used to get the promised 256 kbps / 64 kbps speeds (~31 KBps download speeds).