Frost Bite: Blog

The Great Rebate Scam

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:34:45 GMT

With Thanksgiving around the corner, many are, I am sure, already drooling at whats on sale either in the electronics store or wherever it is that they get high. Just remember that most items that are on sale are available at that price because of a retailer rebate. Yes, the great rebate scam- this is what I am getting at. [article] enlightens us and maybe (?) will put some sense in those of us who go weak in the knees when looking at their favorite new toy on sale at the store.

Stunning Mountain Photography

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 17:19:09 GMT

[link]
Absolutely wonderful!!

side note: some of them definitely look like they have been polished with photoshop but the composition is stunning nonetheless.

Insect Macrophotography

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 18:57:30 GMT

[link]
Not for the squeamish. Great aperture skills and color capture, though I suspect they might have been processed later. Nonetheless, great stuff.

I want Firefox to.....

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 04:05:21 GMT

HUGE number of absolutely top notch extensions for Firefox [here]

If anything, DO get the del.icio.us extension, I love it.

Top 100 Hubble Images

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 00:37:20 GMT

[Top 100 Hubble Images]

Absolutely amazing!! What else can one say?

Biomedical Image Awards

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:08:28 GMT

No, its not the surface of a post-apocalyptic Earth but that of an embryonic stem cell. Yes, this is the center of all the controversy. Go [over] and vote for your choice of best biomedical image. Though many of them are pseudo colored, they are stunning. Super macro photography at its best!!

Thats my money!

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 02:50:44 GMT

And you thought only Indian politicians spend money to scratch personal itches? junkets, villas and suchlike.
Think again!
You have to check [this] out - the excessive tax payer money thrown at avant-garde projects that befuddle the mind is quite befuddling! huh? what did I just say?

The Cloud Appreciation Society

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:52:38 GMT

huh? goes you.
Yes, there is such a [society] and it features clouds of all shapes, sizes, color and altitudes. Superb photographs and rich information on how to spot and identify various cloud formations. If anything, atleast the photographs out to be worth a look see.

a sample off their main page: (click to enlarge)

Guide to DSLR photography

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:44:18 GMT

AnandTech [article] - interesting and serves up the basics of SLR photography in general. Good read.

Edit: If you want general tips on improving your digital photography skills, the resources that this [article] points to are pretty good.

9/11

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 03:20:02 GMT

The symbolic 5th year anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11 has almost passed. I watched a little of the coverage of this event on most, if not all, news channels. Apart from the President's address which I believe focused on Iraq and the dead horse of "staying the course", most shows went on and on about how tragic the whole event was. And just in case there still lingered some doubt in the minds of viewers, they brought on all and sundry to testify to the horror and the tragedy that was 9/11 - right from what they were doing at the time to what were their thoughts blah blah to saved in the nick of time survivors. Though the sentiments are appreciated and the loss of life is mourned, I can't help but to think that 9/11 was America's doing - the ghosts they helped create are haunting them. Their continued war mongering strategies have divided nations, contributed to the killing of hundreds of thousands all across the globe all in an effort to keep the single biggest industry alive - weapons. Another aspect to keeping this industry alive is the country's oil interests in the middle east. What puts me off is their arrogance in portraying to the world that islamic terrorism was born on that day. Until that day, the threat it posed and its effect was merely a myth, a fleeting thought in the shadows. The suffering endured by all its victims until then was moot and was discounted as merely something of the past - a past that did not matter until then because the US was not part of this "war on terror". Overnight, the US became the poster child for a victim of terrorism and alliances were forged with total disregard for history with a blind slogan - "With us or against us". Admittedly, this war cry galvanized most of the world into some sort of action. The rest, as they say, is history. Don't even get me started on "The leader of the free world" shindig.

9/11 was a huge cultural shock to the spirit of the average american - the symbolism of the targets are undeniable and this was the first time war came knocking so close to home. Of course, I am not even going into how and why militant islam is so vitriolic towards the US. Thats the job of the experts!

Atanu Dey weighs in astutely, as always, with this post.

Very wordy, but written with typical British flair, set of articles by respected journo Martin Amis written almost like a novel that he says he was contemplating writing.

Why Smart People Do Dumb Things

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:44:20 GMT

Guy Kawasaki enlightens us.

Guy Kawasaki has loads of posts that are enlightening and to use Fox's O'Reilly's words, "The spin stops here". General topics of posts are startup company environment, raising money, art of making a business impact etc. Seeing through the hype and the "bull-shiitake", he writes succintly and with many tips. Check them out.

"Everything You Wanted To Know About Getting a Job in Silicon Valley, But Didn't Know Who To Ask"

"Ten Things To Learn This School Year"

"The 10/20/30 Rule of Powerpoint"

"The Art of Bootstrapping"

"The Art of Execution"

The Geek Trail

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 18:49:45 GMT

How does a geek walk the walk? how about a GPS enabled trail map for hikers, bikers and suchlike? sound interesting to you? It wow'ed me - me got to make meself one of these!
[Link]

Indrajal Comics

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 14:34:14 GMT

How many of us as kids read Indrajal comics? How many of us spent our early childhood summer holidays engrossed in the world of the Phantom, Mandrake the magician, Bahadur etc etc. Before I lost touch with them a.k.a growing out of them I used to read them quite frequently. I recently found this blog run by Indrajal Comic fans and the good samaritans on that blog actually scan entire comic books and post them online to satisfy our guilty pleasures. It was quite a trip really, perusing through their archives, downloading a few strips and of course, reading and reliving my glorious past. So, head on out there and support those indrajalites - The Comic Project.

Guilty as charged!

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 13:46:54 GMT

Awesome YouTube video on an awful lot of crazy monkeys!

Hat Tip: India Uncut

Human Betterment Through Globalization

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 02:12:31 GMT

Cafe Hayek points to a podcast of an outstanding lecture by Nobel prize winning economist Vernon Smith on how humanity as a whole benefits from globalization. A very rewarding listen, I must say. Recommended.

Show me the money!

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 21:25:20 GMT

Whenever I've used a coin operated laundry machine, for some reason I've always wondered what the ratio of quarters (that are liquid in the market) to the population would be. Thinking of the uses of quarters to the average Joe - parking meters (the single biggest need, I think), laundry, slot machines at casinos (the largest, in terms of sheer volume of transactions),.......(please feel free to add more uses in the comments) - I guesstimated that Joe requires around 10-12 quarters per week. Of course, at the end of the week he might end up with more than he started with but he still would have traded around 10.

Anyway, after another week of pondering on this number I decided to look online and see if there were any figures on liquid cash in the economy that was available to the public (not tied up by banking institutions). Here is an interesting article on how much cash is floating around, who has it, why is it floating etc. I will add my thoughts as an update to this post.

Brain-Computer Interfaces

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 16:07:30 GMT

NY Times report of a paralyzed individual who was able to control a cursor, a robotoc arm and a television set with just his thoughts. More articles here - [1] [2] [3]

Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc., a company out of Foxborough MA, is responsible for developing this implantable chip and its interface - a permanent port in the skull into which a cable from a computer is inserted whenever the subject wishes to perform tasks. Sounds familiar?

These researchers have tapped into motor cortex neural activity meaning that the subject just imagines that he is moving an imaginary limb and the embedded chip transmits these signals (corresponding to neural activity for actuating motion and its perpeptuation through the duration of the task) through the port in the skull to a computer on the outside. Though the potential of this development is enormous, the accuracy and other statistics of task completion are no better than non-intrusive methods(using electroencephalography) developed by another group of researchers out of NY. What is interesting to note is that another set of researchers have developed techniques to detect and transmit neural activity(in monkeys at present) that represents the intention of the brain to perform a task. A brain-computer interface of this sort - one that drives a task with just the thought of doing it and not actually thinking through the physical motions involved, represents, in my opinion, a true brain-computer interface. Any advance in this field is welcome though!

The battle rages on........elsewhere

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 04:12:01 GMT

I am moving the "All that glitters is not gold" thread to my main blog. Its grown to be more than just linking to numerous other articles/columns/reports. I will keep up the variety of posts in this blog It aligns better with the philosophy of a link blog and also makes for a varied and interesting read.

Part 2 in the series is up!

All that glitters is not gold Pt.1

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 03:34:56 GMT

I am, quite frankly, tired of reading and hearing about how India and China are the next global economic superpowers - the cliched contrasts of abject poverty juxtaposed to astounding wealth, how inspite of the education and health sectors being in disarray India churns out "world class" graduates who are spearheading this breakout. But what exactly are these graduates good for? For joining the workforce as customer service agents? For seemingly to shine as part of technical support? Thats the impression I get from reading all thats out there on India's economic boom. I know better than to believe everything I read but in order to improve the abysmal signal to noise ratio I have decided to link to articles/commentary/essays/blogs of eminent scholars who call it like it is.

Tomes have been written about their socio-economic growth and scholars have endlessly exchanged letters and written countless books opining what they see about their (India and China) future. Though all this makes for fascinating reading, most of the recent ones have become rather cliched and often just regurgigate thoughts and ideas that have long since been accepted as the state of affairs. Of course, once an objective effort is made into investigating the claims to superior economic status of the two nations, social indices and a whole lot of other measures of development in industrial and allied areas follow suit. It is in these numbers and their interpretations that the truth lies. Hope follows closely.

In response to Smitha's comment and before I introduce commentary on developmental policies, I reiterate the importance of hanging back a second to take a closer look at various indices of social and economic development will give us a better picture than just outrightly denouncing India's apparent economic advances (whether it is as notable as it is made out to be is a matter to be seen). India is a nation that houses most of the world's poor people, life in India is stained with poverty but when a country makes rapid strides (India's growth being a documented 7% - 8%) it is important that this growth be reflected in all sections of society. Policies that try to ensure that this growth be reflected more or less equally across social strata rein in the growth rates of forward sections and invest more resources (effort, money and time) in trying to improve the lot of the lower classes.But there exist certain drawbacks of equality centric policies as they aim to improve the lot of the masses under the working assumption that the masses can be banded together as a collective. It is my personal opinion that there are deepset inherent inequalities in Indian society that preclude any attempt to address the society as though it was one. Also judging by the sheer mass of Indian society, lifting them collectively out of poverty is a monumental task both effort and time wise. As opposed to equality centric policies there exist progressive policies that recognize that rapid growth first benefits only certain sections of society and only certain regions of the country but they aim to share this growth and wealth by allowing it percolate down to the lowest classes. These policies work on the assumption that no section of sociey is denied access to this growth or denied partaking in it. The reservation I have about these policies is that by ensuring that all sections partake in the nation's growth they might be able to lift the lower sections out of poverty (poverty as defined by world bodies), but since they don't ensure equal access to growth/wealth the more progressive sections, on account of their greater accessibilty to wealth and resources pull away much faster from other poorer sections resulting in greater inequality - greater inequality even though the masses are progressively moving out of poverty. A little irony eh?

[hat tip: The Middle Stage, Pankaj Mishra's resistance to temptation]
With that I introduce few links to some excellent commentary on the very same topic. To coincide with the release of his book "Temptations of the West : How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond", Pankaj Mishra argues that the value system of the free market model that heralds us as emerging economic powers is a western one that assumes that the end result of economic growth is a western lifestyle with its attendant consumerism. Though his arguments get a little less convincing as he progresses, The Middle Stage attributes this to the difficulty of a comprehensive analysis of a topic of this magnitude. In reponse to Mishra's column, Salil Tripathi replies with his own piece arguing for a progressive economic policy. Mishra replies and Tripathi counters. I urge everyone to carefully read these essays/letters and follow up on most if not all embedded links so that you are aware of the complete picture. These essays are instructional to the novice (like me) and showcase opposing theories of India's (and China's) economic explosion.
More articles by Pankaj Mishra and Salil Tripathi.

The free market economics of "justice"

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 23:22:48 GMT

I've read enough free market 101 books to understand and appreciate its (free markets') philosophy and do lean towards a liberal view that the government is responsible for maintaining an atmosphere condusive to engaging in trade, one can consider this atmosphere as consequence of maintaining law and order. I have a few misgivings, unlike true free market liberals, of the morality of totally free markets and their apparent self correcting nature. I do believe that the government, as part of its responsibility in maintaining law and order, ought to protect the interests of the minorities without, I repeat for emphsasis, without getting regulatory in nature. Though the government represents the majority, the rights and interests of the minority have to be protected keeping in mind that policies framed by the majority can be very well done at the expense of minorities. Just because the majority wants it doesn't make it right. Though I have used the example of policy framing in order to make a point, the analogy can be easily extended to protecting (without getting protectionist) minorities (economically speaking) in a free market that potentially could get immoral. This fine line within which a government must confine itself is transgressed so often that it doesnt exist anymore, much like the case of many a socialist Indian government. It is when the government's policy becomes regulatory and when the markets march to the beat set by the government that everything starts to fall apart. There has been so much said about the detrimental nature of socialist indian policies that nothing I say can add any fresh perspective nor can I say it any better.

Yazad Jal presents us with a free market look at how justice will prevail in a true free market.[Link] The central idea of this post comes from the ideas proposed in "The Market For Liberty" by Linda and Morris Tannehill. The authors being true libertarians re-think the role of government in a revoultionary way and in the book, deal with "private arbitration agencies in managing with disputes and criminality, the role of insurers in providing profitable incentives for security, and private agencies in their capacity as protection services." [book review]

Though I tend to be liberal, being a total libertarian and actually believe heart and soul in the spirit of the said post is a little hard for me. Maybe reading the book and thinking of counter arguments will give me a better perspective and a convert I may become. Time (and the markets) will tell.

[Cross posted on my main blog.]

Vista - A Broken Window?

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:57:28 GMT

A popular theory concerning itself with broken windows has been appropriated "because it sounded good, not because it actually has anything at all to do with our subject matter" to explain in very succint terms the reason for why Windows Vista slipped its August schedule and might slip even its January ship dates.[link] A very good read - the comments apart from some trolling are quite good too.
(hat tip: Scobleizer)

Update: reading the relevant parts regarding micromanagement and action control (where actions are stated as a means of achieving an ill defined result) - situations I have faced or friends have faced come to mind. Just an after thought: though I agree with the author's points that too many cooks spoil the broth especially when everyone squabbles about how to cook rather than concentrating on the broth itself, I feel some of this action control pholosophy has resulted in standards which when followed results in the identified objective. Industrial process certification (ISI, ISO etc) are good examples of such action controlled outcomes. Of course, before any standards of action control can be arrived it is imperitive that the result be clearly defined in terms of encompassing fields of relevance. In short, a "what?" has to be answered perfectly before a "how?" can even be thought of. Once the "what?" is clamped down, the "how?" can be refined and standardized using action controlled iterations. Of course, I am equating process control to action control. Is that valid? what are the overlaps that validate this sort of equivalence?

Any thoughts?

M/F/?

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 20:40:39 GMT

Through a link posted on India Uncut I found the blog hosted by Sonia Faleiro, a journalist from Mumbai. As part of a series done for Tehelka, Sonia interviews dance bar girls from Mumbai - six articles detailing their lives and times - (in her words) "the ignominy and the freedom, the pride and the pathos" of their lives. Interviewing both girls and hijdas for this series, her articles are marvelous and set an altogether high standard of journalism. That being said of her calibre, the content she serves is poignant at times and hard hitting at others. I couldn't stop till I had read all the six.
[Links] 1 2 3 4 5 6

Another article on a hijda activist: (top notch as usual!)
Gunny Bad Dreams No More

After thought: apart from it being a scitillating read, it serves as a reminder of the bigotry in our society. Our society - the world's biggest, greatest democracy - is built on oppression of various sections. The sections that live in the outer fringes of our society have no representation and as a consequence no say in policy and governence at all. The rights of those mainstream minority sections (dalits, muslims etc) are almost always exclusively given preference (sometimes given preference over sanity, as is the case of reservations in the education sector) over majority and national interests. I read this in a column somewhere (credit goes to the author whose name I cant remember) - the smallest minority is the individual. If the rights of the individual are not protected then no one can credit himself with protecting the rights of minorities. (at this point, sarcastically recollect all the seemingly protectionist policies of the government). These people (in Sonia's article) chose a life for themselves albeit unconventional and they did so without putting anyone else in harm's way. Their right to choose for themselves ought not be trampled upon and they ought not be banished from society in the way they have. They are after all, human beings.

Reservations About Reservations

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 19:09:17 GMT

I am an ardent reader of Atanu Dey's blog on India's development - mind you, there are scores of people who at the drop of a hat will launch very confidently into a monologue on India's various problems and enlighten us on the solutions to the various problems that they see. But all their apparent know how stops at rhetoric. Atanu Dey, on the other hand, writes with passion and clarity (both of thought and expression) on India's development. Highly opinionated on certain issues (you have to visit and read his blog if you want to know more), the lucidity in his writing and the logical approach of his proposed solutions are inspiring. Driven by passion for the emancipation of the hundreds of thousands that are trampled on by self-serving governmetal policies, he firmly believes that the education sector (from amongst the many avenues of failure of the government) has to be reformed and revitalised in order to reach the famed and oft hyped heights of "India Shining".

He has on many occassions outlined how he proposes to educate and transform the rural landscape. I shall provide links to all his posts that refer to the theory that he has enshrined in and calls RISC (Rural Infrastructure and Services Commons). You can read his entire theory of achieving this dream of "India Shining".

Disclaimer: the title of this post is actually the title of a post on reservations over at his blog

[Link] leading to category titled "Education"
[Link] leading to category titled "RISC"
[Link] leading to category titled "Solutions"

Recently, he authored five posts on education and the reservation issue over on Tech Talk. These are beautifully written and lay bare all the problems and implications of current education policies. 1 2 3 4 5

I urge all to explore and read with ernest all that Atanu has to say and think for yourselves what "India Shining" is all about.

Announcing Frost Bites

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:55:14 GMT

After a long silence, I am just formalizing what this blog was mostly always for - giving you links to all things that I find interesting and appealing in the big bad internet/blogosphere.

“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.”
- Samuel Johnson

In the spirit of this quote, announcing "Frost Bites" - my link blog. In the same breath, I promise to keep the posts rolling and the content fresh. Given the time I spend trolling the internet and blogosphere that should not be a problem!

You can also find me at my main blog [here]

Understanding CPU caching

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 19:16:26 GMT

I was trying to profile some of my code in which I had employed some sort of a caching mechanism and this [article] helped me remember most of the details that I had forgotten from my drowsy computer architecture classes. As usual, Ars saves the day!

Internet services disruption

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:20:08 GMT

Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie, CTO, Microsoft Corporation recently sent out memos outlining a more streamlined webservices and convergence strategy signaling a shift from monolothic productivity software (for which MSFT is famous for). Far reaching implications or so say the market and business pundits. Read Bill Gates' email [here] and Ray's memo [here] and decide for yourself. Its very interesting for me to sift through the process of making sweeping business model changes and its affect on a company's perspective and direction of collective effort.

Out of Touch With the CIA leak case?

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 19:17:14 GMT

Confused about who Karl Rowe is? what is his involvement in the leaking of a CIA operatiev's name? You can do some catching up [here].

Touching up digital photos

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:30:26 GMT

Anybody who is somebody has a digital camera (probably several) and truck loads of (amateur) pictures. Everybody's favorite tech site - ArsTechnica - has put up a couple of tutorials on retouching those goofy pics without the ouch! Very impressive, as always with ArsTechnica, and cover a wide range of retouching topics starting off with the rock bottom basics and goes fairly high up keeping in mind that the ouch! was to be avoided.

Editing your digital images without the mystery - Retouching techniques 101

[Part 1]

[Part 2]

More as they come up.

comp.soft-sys.MATLAB

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:57:00 GMT

[link] to the official FAQ page of comp.soft-sys.MATLAB - maintained by Peter Boettcher from Lincoln Labs, MIT.

World Press Photo Foundation

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 17:18:04 GMT

The World Press Photo foundation celebrates the 50th anniversary of its annual photographic competition this year and the BBC has all the details.

[link] Afghan Burial
[link] Tiananmen Standoff
[link] Fire Drama
[link] Trapped
[link] Soldier's Torment

On the top right hand corner of these pages, is a link to the winning photos of yester years. Do go over those too.

Warning: graphic images!

Ethics and the individual

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 14:13:54 GMT

Anand Shah blogs about "The Ethics of Individualism" the jist of which is "The challenge in world ethics is not so much about structures and rules, but about the tendencies of people to do what is right at times of great consequence."

Black Gold or Pipe Dream? Pt. 2

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 20:31:18 GMT

Following up on a previous post on oil and keeping in mind the recent surge in oil prices, courtesy Katrina, there is growing concern in the world about this precious life line that the entire world hinges on. Follow the link to a very intereting article by Peter Maas, a contributing author on the NY Times. [link]

Righteousness and honesty

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 05:01:11 GMT

I am, over the course of a few discussions, left to ponder what is the difference between righteousness and honesty. The difference between what I want to do, what I can do and what I am going to do brings up so many conflicts in so many lives that are intertwined in complex strains. Its riding the wire that is so daunting and its so ironic that the primary reason you want to ride the wire is to please everybody at the same time. Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes fame) so rightly said - nobody is happy when its a compromise. Everybody feels like they have lost something and aren't too happy at that. What cause or higher purpose does one have to (wants to) stay true to? oneself? society? ideals? others? love? What is the 'right' thing to do?

The interplay between theme - story - story telling Pt. 1

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 17:22:43 GMT

The other day I was partly thinking out aloud and partly talking this over with a friend of mine - what differentiates one movie from another, a book from the other. It all started from my criticism of J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter series - it was, is and will be my point of view that she hasn't revolutionalized the realm of children's literature.

I am not entirely sure of how to decouple the details of my reasoning from the specifics of the case of J. K. Rowling but I shall try to present my general theory of what makes a good story and cite examples to reinforce them.

So what goes into making a good novel/series of novels given that the final aim of every artist in every genre is to sell. We also very well know that a promotional blitz the likes of which have never been seen before can transform a mediocre effort into a best selling one. "The bigger the lie, the greater is the number of people believing in it". Forbes.com had this to say of the sixth edition of Harry Potter, that created records of sorts by selling 10 million copies in its first 24 hrs, "Enormous sales are not a sure-fire sign of literary merit.....". I tend to agree whole heartedly but a discussion of the power of marketing is outside the scope of this exposition and will be skirted.

The elements that go into creating a lasting impression in one's mind must aim to connect with the user on a level more significant than just an shock and awe campaign. How exactly does one do that? By connecting the viewer/reader (henceforth shall be refered to as 'user') to meaningful, significant events in his past. These events encompass those that have occured in the past and have had a profound effect on the user, those that haven't yet occured but are on the wish-list of the user, those that the user wishes would happen to him but knows that they aren't likely (these are those that incite the feelings of escapism, exhilaration). The use of powerful symbols/images in the medium (books, movies etc) make this connection possible. The appeal of the medium lies in its skill to make this connection possible and an easy one at that. Once this is done, the medium takes on some personal meaning to the user - each user connects to the medium in his own way thus leading to varied perceptions of the medium - the biggest reason that some people happen to like a particular medium and others don't. Most, if not all, users are like fish in the ocean of emotions (pity, love, hate etc) and movies/books (medium) are like fishing trawlers that trawl through these oceans with long trailing tackles of all possible sizes, colors, shapes (signifying the entire spectrum of human emotion). Fish usually are pre-disposed to a particular kind of tackle and on sight of it, they bite. This is analogus to different people being attached to different emotions and latch onto mediums that appeal to their sensibility - the reason why some people love mushy romatic movies while others would rather go watch a horror movie.

Watch out for part 2

Ozzfest review

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 16:29:15 GMT

I just completed my ozzfest 2005 review. Here is the permalink to it.

[link]

Corporate Blunders

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:19:27 GMT

What are Fedex boxes meant for? packaging maybe? shipping maybe?
what about furniture? Does anyone want furniture made entirely out of Fedex boxes? Jose Avila apparently did and he went ahead and used tons of Fedex Shipping boxes with packaging materials and made himself a couch, table, shelves and even a bed! Check his website out. Another report here

Apparently, Fedex didn't seem to like the idea that their boxes were being used for anything other than shipping and sent Jose a legal letter threatening action against his unlawful use of boxes. They also suggested that his taking a .com domain suggested that he was trying to commercialize his furniture making. Huh? please run that by me again.

iPod vending machine?

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:06:56 GMT

check this out - an iPod vending machine! all you need for your precious $400 iPod is to drop 4 feet into the vending bay with a sick crunch that I am sure would rattle your credit cards. Is there anybody out there who will buy Apple (or for that matter any other company) merchandise out of a vending machine?

Virtual Earth-Google Maps: Gunfight at the OK corral

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:57:47 GMT

check out this side-by-side comparison tool of the recently launched Virtual Earth and Google Maps. [link]
Try keying in different places, try to zoom in as far as possible and see what happens.

Some of my trials resulted in Google maps displaying a message that they didn't have GIS data at the chosen zoom level and they switch to a pseudo map identifying just streets etc.
Virtual Earth on the other hand was great and zoomed in quite a bit and still maintained realism in the map by continuing to display actual satellite images.

Virtual Earth site [link] and the API site [link].

Google Maps hack - Cellphone tower reception

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:45:01 GMT

[link]
nifty google maps hack - check out the cellphone towers near you (or anywhere else you want tocheck), click on a tower of choice to get details on who owns it, the network ot services etc. The comments page is enlightening with respect to various user experiences with different networks at the place of choice.

very cool indeed!

I just found out (a little too late) that the place I am moving to (I just signed a one year lease) has very bad T-mobile reception.

PC to Mac

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 13:33:36 GMT

This is to all those PC users who think that Macs look way cooler than most average windows PCs. Follow this link and in 7 ways, you can completely mod your PC so that it looks just like a mac. I did it and it looks awesome! Read through the comments too, there are some interesting alternatives suggested by other 'in the know' users. This is one cool mod.

Disclaimer: just beacuse it looks like a mac doesn't mean it behaves like one!

Blog Search Engines

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 13:22:08 GMT

There are quite a few blog search engines out there and initially, when I wasn't in the know (or meant to know) I relied on good old Google to do the honors. But with the ever increasing complexity of the blogosphere, comes specialized search services that cater to the (apparent) needs of bloggers. Here is part one of a six part series on blog search engines, how they do it, how to get them to work for you and in the process, a comparison of performance -
Part 1
Part 2

Ozzfest 2005

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 02:23:44 GMT

Bristow, VA July 24 2005
Ozzfest 2005 featuring Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Black Label Society (these were my wanna see bands). Three words - Pure <bleeeeep> Armageddon! -or- Magic and Mayhem!

Here is my review -
It was as hot as purgatory, the heat sweltered and fashioned long lines at the beer stands. We were all on a high - a high that we were to have, probably, the best spots in the big top to see the big two - Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. Enthusiasm ran as high as the mercury in the thermometers. The second stage was where most of the action resides during the day and it was here that eddies of heat and dust swirled around frenzied fans as they moshed their heart out to nameless metalcore/hardcore bands. The FYE and official merchnadise tents received continued patronage as rabid fans lapped favorite band merchandise. I bestowed upon these stores my financial blessing through purchases of an awesome breath taking european issue of the current Iron Maiden tour. Fresh on the tracks of the recent Iommi release (which I love for its crushing riffs and rhythm section), I now own an Iommi shirt too. We were, of course, beguiled by our enthusiasm into buying BLS CDs in the hope of meeting the one, the only shred master - Zakk Wylde. To our anguish, we found that we were not the chosen few who actually got to meet and greet Zakk. But we did find convenient spots just outside the signing tent to catch a good glimpse of the 6+ foot beer guzzling guitar god. Soon after, we decided to skip Rob Zombie's act though I really wanted to see him perform a couple of songs that I like so that we could get real up close to the stage when the main stage acts came out to strut their stuff. It was during this wait that something that I have always noticed in almost all the concerts that I have attended - american fascination with neo-metal they have dubbed metalcore. The very existence of this genre, its purpose, its appeal totally escapes my mental faculties. Band after band sounding just the same with the same approach to song construction where the motto is 'its show business'. I have to draw special attention to two of these bands that made it to the main stage - Mudvayne and Shadows Fall. Shadows Fall hail from Massachussetts and the vocalist has the longest hair I have ever seen on a man/woman/animal. At 6+ feet, his hair in dreadlocks cascades down to his lower thigh/knee. But I just wish the music stood as tall as his did. The sooner the shadows fall on this band the better. Mudvayne was very experiental and their music deserved as much respect as their clown/gorilla suits. But the adoring american public gave these bands a lot of support while I watched impassively, all the while awaiting the arrival of the metal titans.
Before these clowns took the stage - the doom crew set up the BLS stage and with a flash Zakk was upon the crowd belting out awesome songs while working his guitar into a frenzy. You should have been there to see his wizardry on the fretboard - it was uplifting, exhilarating, contorted string bending orgasms with his (atleast I think it is) southernish accent singing about doom, death, war and angst against the ills of society. This guy is one cool dude - absolutely no airs, very connected with his fans and he knows he can play the guitar like no one. His show I shall not forget for a very long time to come. After his set was done, he hi-fived all the foaming-at-the-mouth fans (like me) at the front of the stage and took the doom crew with him as he left only to be followed by clowns. We were left berrating the fate of classic heavy metal when stalwarts of this genre retire.

As the clowns departed and the chosen moment drew nigh, the crowds surged against the barricades awaiting their overlords - the one, the only Iron Maiden. I have seen them 4 times till date and to me they are simply the best there was, the best there is, the best there will be. Fifty-five year old timers have more energy than this 24 year old young man. "Doctor, Doctor......" flitted out from the speakers and I knew from past experience that this was it, mayhem was about to descend on the crowd. With ear spliting screams from Bruce, all six charged out like bullets from a six-shooter and it was hard to figure out the proceedings for a few minutes as they all ran around all the time playing and singing. Bruce, as usual, was himself - simply the most energetic, comical, cynical vocalist with mind blowing power, range and melody. If you guys have seen "Pulp Fiction" then you will recollect this - 'some people think that they age fine like wine. But the truth is that most of them sour and turn out like vinegar.'. Bruce, on the other hand, has aged and matured to perfection. All the guitaristos - Adrian, Murray and Janick dazzled. Murray, to me, is like this kindly looking gentle guitar giant. He gently struts as though he were ball room dancing rather than belting out giddying solos. As usual, Nicko was his comic self and timed the whole show to perfection. And whats to say about the focal point of Maiden - Steve Harris. His fingers blazing across the bass fretboard sending out waves after wave of heart thumping bass lines. This concert, nay ritual was a celebration, an elevation of the self into another dimension!

The next act was from the grandfathers/inventors of heavy metal as we know it - Black Sabbath. Seminal in their contribution to the development of metal and doom, the old grandfatherly looking members of Black Sabbath trooped out and an ear shattering wail, much like an air raid siren on dope, issued forth from the wall of speakers signalling the start of War Pigs. I have to say something about Iommi here - he has remoulded himself into this stylish, suave, leather sporting, riff/lead behemoth who usually doesn't jump and clown around like Ozzy but delivers crushing riffs and blistering leads without mercy. I grew up reading about this 'sabbath sound' and how seminal it was. Nothing, I repeat, nothing could have prepared anyone for what was to come. Sledge hammer drone riffs, long fiery orgasmic solos, the hard hitting heavy drum lines, thumping bass and Ozzy's wails and buckets of water all turned out to be an awesome experience. Just simply awesome! I have no other words to describe the magnitude of the entire show. I just came away ecstatic, at peace with myself for having witnessed my personal heroes at a distance of 3 feet.

Hailz!

Harry Potter - seminal work or germinal waste?

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 06:55:24 GMT

The literary world, and not to mention the publishing, marketing, business worlds have all been affected to some degree by Potter mania. Record sales, mind boggling distribution, sales and marketing have assured that Harry Potter "apparates" into your possession. I am sure a simple search on Google can link you up with some of this information. You can also visit [here] and [here]. I have quoted two sentences here for your benefit - 10 million copies were sold in the first 24 hrs of trade and this was Amazon's biggest selling product in almost ten years of its existence. But, there are voices of dissent - quoting Forbes.com, "Enormous sales are not a sure-fire sign of literary merit.....". I tend to whole heartedly agree here.

I will continue my diatribe on the morrow.

The future of the keyboard?

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 16:24:42 GMT

Whoa!
you have to check this out.
A totally customizable LCD keyboard. You can configure the keys to any kind of shortcut depending on the application you are running. I am not sure if this is automatic, but if it is then its one of the uber cool inventions I have seen. Just imagine the use cases - you start up photoshop and the keys change - you switch to browsing the net and the keys change accordingly - everytime you make a switch to any program, the keyboard automagically updates itself with the controlling shortcut keys.

Wizard of Oz eh?

Technology Trends

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 17:40:39 GMT

Mozilla isuses updates to patch up a slew of security flaws.
here, here and here

Microsoft issues three critical updates - one each for the OS color management modules, IE (a regular feature) and Word (2000 and later). [here]

just a thought that this cycle of release product-release patch to fix bugs in the product has become so common place that it almost seems like a new mode of software development rather than a fix for something development-testing overlooked. Understanding that software development cycle does not result in a perfect piece of software has been accepted in all levels of software users (from end users to developers) that certain companies/products berrating others for releasing buggy software seems superfluous.

Yes, Microsoft comes to mind in this context. They have often been slammed for releasing software with many holes that require frequent patches and fixes. But Netscape underwent so many updates in a single day that a new version number came out the same day! Mozilla with its continuing attention from web users/developers and in general, the open source community has run into many security problems, has become a tad slow and heavy on recources. Ironically, the very reasons it started to gain acceptance amongst the community were its lack of holes, speed and its weight (or lack thereof). Though many might still consider it the better browser (I use Firefox too) the path it is taking in its evolution as it deals with increased user attention and increased power/responsibility as a browser seems a little familiar with the development of IE. IE grew very powerful because of numerous SDKs that microsoft puts out in all areas of browsing/scripting/.NET web enabled services. But with it comes holes because of increased exposure of the communication pathways between different modules of browser/OS components.

In this light of all this, Microsoft has always been saying of its competitors that increased user base, awareness and acceptance will reveal many chinks in their seemingly strong armor. This has been often said of two important open source initiatives - Linux and Firefox. Firefox seems to be toeing the line but will Linux follow suit?

You decide and time will tell.

How flexible are you?

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 21:44:45 GMT

No, I wasn't refering to body positions but acrobatics of the mind - a sort of mind over matter topic for today.

I work in this small but very enterprising start up company (technically we have out-tagged ourselves as startups as most startups fold within the first three years and we are still going strong and expanding even). But at the end of the day, we are small in size and resources are precious. What does one do when resources come at a price one cannot afford to pay every time? Improvise, innovate and invent. Therein lies the secret to those million dollar acquisitions that you so often read about.

But the point I was trying to make is that a small of group of highly motivated individuals all driven by a common vision assume multifarious roles in their professional and non-professional lives to attain their unifying goal. I am just so impressed with the diverse roles they play all at once and so effectively. The company has (very rightly so, in my opinion, considering the size of teams) done away with most distinctions of program manager, tech lead etc etc. Everybody is as important and nobody shirks away from the 'menial' jobs of system administrator, handy man and any other job specification one would tend to look over when working at a big company. And this just doesn't stop at sewing needle kind of jobs (as compared to a sword wielding one). One has to make important and useful contributions at a managerial level regarding business strategies, contribute on the technical direction of the project and donning the mantle of marketing professional, read up and be knowledgeable on the competition and other things that people from this division usually do.
Doing all this on a daily basis, I find, requires great mental discipline. Once the wild steeds of your mind are under control, great demands can be made of them and all of them will be met. A disciplined mind is flexible. At one moment, you are thrashing out the nuances of implementation and the next you are thinking on the level of making gross/big picture decisions. Putting the mind through these paces and the ability to think on various levels almost all at once while maintining each level in isolation requires mental discipline.

So, am I saying that I have disciplined my mind. Hardly. Though I have learnt a great deal since I was here, the rigidity of my mind and my fascination with details (because I think small, think of details, think like a developer) often has resulted in me being out of sorts at times when I am required to add my two cents to a business/broad technical discussion. And this often has put me under a lot of work to catch up with and the result - you guessed it, long work hours. I am getting better but the progress has been slow.

Does anybody else want to share similar thoughts?