You can’t tell, but I just upgraded the application that runs this blog.
It lets me do some cool design stuff, but isn’t advanced enough to stop me from doling out the same old garbage. :)

I don't know why I was so excited to read that Queen Elizabeth II is on facebook! I think it was mainly the idea of being able to poke her! Oh well, they have that sorted out. You cannot poke the queen! But you can like her all you want and read the Court Circular and follow the entire royal family's engagements on the interactive map. 

There are already over 170,000 people who have 'liked' her, even though many seem to have joined only to discuss the validity of the monarchy in our times. Some have also expressed their disappointment in not finding pictures of Princess Diana in the albums. Oh well!  

What I love about the queen is that she is a bit of a geek at heart. She is an early adopter of technology. She owns a Blackberry and an ipod, has accounts on everything from Flickr to Twitter, is a popular podcaster and has over 8 million video views on her YouTube channel!

But what took her so long to get on Facebook and why now?

Well actually the question to ask is why did Obama hold out on her about Facebook? If you consider the fact that Mr. President too uses the Blackberry, and that it was he who gifted her the ipod, and who is huge on these social networks, you would call him a trendsetter, wouldn't you? 

"Modern Monarchy" isn't as much an oxymoron as we make it seem... in fact modernity and the monarchy are so closely intertwined, especially if you consider the fact that the Monarchy has not only embraced technology, but has also shaped it, and even shaped our history with it... Take for instance the Industrial revolution during Queen Victoria's time. The most important communication advancements happened during her reign -- first in the way of transportation systems like the railways and steam ships, and then communication systems like telegraph and telephones... and even visual media technologies like cameras and film projectors...

In that context, being on Facebook must come naturally to Queen Elizabeth II :) Did you know that she was among the first people to use email all the way back in the mid-70s?

I'll end here before this turns into a first-cause argument. But Yay to the queen :)

Help me understand this: My ipad doesnt work with my laptop that has Mac OS 10.4.x, but it does on Tapi's Windows machine!

Why is Apple being nicer to competition than it is to loyal fans?

iPad requires me to upgrade to Snow Leopard (10.6.x), which I have been resisting for a while now, even though I've heard great things about it. I find having to kill the tiger for the snow leopard very unsettling. I guess they are both endangered animals, but should I really kill one to embrace the other?

It is one of those a'gnaw'ying "what do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant" scenarios that I would much rather not deal with.

What is Apple doing naming its operating systems after endangered animals anyway? It is so traumatic being pricked with these reminders of our cold-blooded attitude towards nature every time they come up with some alluring new product that you can't resist... Do we really need to be pricked? Let me say it again... Do we, the more stereotypically morally-conscious (at least superficially), influen"sentient" fans, really need to be pricked?

Thankfully, I haven't yet felt the need to connect the ipad to a computer. I can check emails, read books, listen to music, watch movies, download apps, and do everything that an ipad will possibly let me do. The only thing I can't do is move my media from my comp to the ipad, which doesn't bother me (yet).

So I guess I will just postpone resolving this moral dilemma!

ps: By the way, the ipad is so awesome! I don't think I've been this enamored with any device in my life before. I highly recommend it, with or without the snow leopard! ... Of course, you can do the "smart thing" and wait till the prices drop and all the kinks are worked out! Bleh! ;)

Since ACs and I don't get along, Mom wanted a portable fan -- the standard oscillating pedestal kind with circular blades enclosed behind a steel grill. I can't bear the thought of that "homely" fan sitting in my living room. I can deal with a small, quiet, aesthetically pleasing tower fan maybe. -- like this one or this one. But, the monstrous, space-hogging ugliness she wants I just can't do!

To my utter delight, the tower fans have better reviews than the standard pedestal fans. They come with multiple speed settings, a remote control, dust/pollen filter, and an automatic shut-off feature. More than anything, they are lightweight, and less prominent!

Of course, I show this work of art to mom for approval and she views it with apprehension. What she wants is a fan that will blow air like a wind tunnel. She is used to having the ceiling fan on full blast even in winter, and is addicted to that breezy feeling with the air circulating all the time. For that purpose, the pedestal fan is a tested and proven contraption that has serviced mankind for generations! I call it the "thatha fan" (not that my granddad ever used it! It also occurs to me that our house never had one in all the years that I have lived there... but thatha fan it is)

Anyway, the phone conversation with mom was getting frustrating. For one thing, I wanted her to see beyond my predilection for aesthetic over comfort. I wanted her to acknowledge that the tower fan was more practical and sensible from every point of view. Just take the fact that we will use it for 10 days in a year when mom is here and won't know where to store it after she leaves. No matter what I said, and how I said it, she insisted that all I care about is the aesthetic! I lamented that reasoning with her was no different from reasoning with a blind man about color or a deaf man about sound! "I don't care about color or sound, give me breeze", she said!

Then, I wanted her to see that bigger is not always better and "small and sleek" does not mean "less powerful". I went on an analogy rampage: Gramophone vs. ipod, Air Cooler vs. Air Conditioner, Tube TV vs. Flatscreen, Grandfather clock vs. small digital clock... Much to my annoyance, my analogies had the opposite effect on her. Mom went off on a nostalgic excursion. I don't blame her. I could see myself buying into her nostalgia and craving the Gramophone, the Air Cooler, the Tube TV, and the Grandfather clock as well. :) But Screw nostalgia. I was not going to give in so easily!

Much to my disadvantage (and hers, I insist), Mom is stuck in her old world of tubelights and tape recorders and continues to adamantly disregard the awesomeness that is the 21st century... :)

So I finally screamed:

"Mom. Tower fan is all you are getting, period. It comes with three settings... Setting 1: Balmy October Night in Hyderabad; Setting 2: Blustery Evening in Besant Nagar Beach; Setting 3: Netherlands Wind Turbine. Setting 1: Underwear; Setting 2: Shorts; Setting 3. Sweatpants!"

"Fine. Wind Turbine Explosion in Sweatpants sounds good", she said.

Why do I feel like she won?

In the mean time, Tapi had a fun time representing our argument in paint!

Last week, I had a really dull heart. Nothing would inspire the slightest amount of joy and believe me I tried! But, it didn't help that I watched a film about a young girl abused by her parents and made pregnant twice by her own father, another film about a Holocaust survivor who was used as a human guinea pig in genetic experiments, and a third one about a girl kidnapped and sold to prostitution at the age of 7!

In retrospect, I didn't try hard enough to cheer myself up.

It was depressing because I had to say goodbye to a few friends. Some of them moved to a new city and that's fine. I don't mind those kinds of farewells at all. They mean a whole new world of possibilities for them and I hope they will translate to joyous reunions at various points in our lives!

But, the worst is where you lose your friends forever. They are gone whether you say goodbye to them or not, and their absence is the only kind of presence you are left with for the rest of your life. Sometimes these farewells happen suddenly where you have no time to prepare, but they leave behind a deep scar that may never heal.  

But what do you do about the kinds of farewells that come with a lot of notice? How do focus on the now, and make the best of the time you have without thinking of the eventual end? And what if you can't make the best of the time you have but don't want to look back in regret!

Death is really cruel on people who are alive. I realize with each person I lose that it becomes harder and harder to cope with.  
   
I used to sit in front of the green screen in the film studio wondering which part of the world it could put me in. I could be in the dystopian future or standing in front of the blue waters in some tropical island or driving a flying car in space... My favorite places to go to were the busy streets in Hyderabad. Sometimes, I liked to imagine that I was sitting in the verandah with my grandparents and watching the rain while having one of those loud, passionate discussions about really absurd things.
   
The reality was, I was setting the green screen up for someone else who knew exactly where it would put them. And soon they would not only be able to see themselves in that world but also make us believe that they belong there. I was to make that happen as believably as possible!  

Still, I used to tell myself that I was luckier than the actors for several reasons. For one thing, I can't act to save my life. But more than that, I was lucky because these actors couldn't let their imagination go wild like I could. They were limited to their preordained roles in a preordained setting! If the scene demanded that they fight a giant squid in the middle of the rainforest, they have to put that thoughts of driving a flying car to rest and pull out the sword and attack the now defenseless (and invisible) squid to the director's screaming instructions! 

The other exciting thing I could do was go into the editing suite and change the backgrounds behind the actors as many times I wanted. So the fight could take place in Mordor, in the realm of Sauron or in a Jedi temple. Of course, I would have to eventually put them back in the rainforest as was ordained by my boss!

These were the small perks of working as an entry-level cinematographer or editor. I think of my green screen days when I am reminiscing the good times with my friends... only, now I am beginning to feel more and more like the actor whose character and story was predetermined, and there is nothing left to imagine.

Sometimes inexplicable things can happen to your mac. You wake up one morning to find your battery bulging like a fat chicken. If you take it to the apple store, they will swap it out with a new one for free.

It is slightly unsettling isn’t it? On the one hand the problem is solved and you are happy, but on the other hand, this act of wordlessly patching up the problem leaves you feeling befuddled. It is as if your bullet wound was quickly covered up with a bandage by someone who suspiciously looks like the culprit responsible for the wound. Then again, the problem is solved. Why am I complaining?

My laptop feels like it is missing its soul. Like the real deal was replaced by a well-behaved doppelganger! I am feeling uneasy.

I want to see what people carry in their pockets. I want to see everything they want to be able to do by putting their hands into that little receptacle behind their asses and pulling out their favorite wonder device.

I want to see what people are wearing these days. If everything they wear is designed with just functionality in mind. I am particularly curious to see how they are putting that small inside pocket in their jeans to use.

I want to see the interiors of people’s houses. I am particularly curious about the extra functionality that their expensive grandfather clock offers. Those pretty boxes that hold their jewels. Those paintings that adorn their walls.
Those porcelain vases that hold their flowers. Those chest-cum-coffee tables that store their ill-gotten gains. Those cosy leather couches with recliners. Those magical lamps and chandeliers that do more than light their living rooms. Those media consoles with those entertainment devices - are they keeping them entertained well?... and functionally?

I want to see where people are eating these days.  Do they fill up on those hors d'ouerves, amuse bouches and mezes in high-end Tapas Bars because it is convenient?
I want to open their fridges and see what they've been snacking on. Those carefully picked wines and cheeses from speciality stores, those matsutake mushrooms, snail eggs and luxury pizzas, those organic veggies and fruits, those truffles and ice creams... do they only serve to fill their stomach?

I want to know why they think the ipad is a futile purchase!

How much do we need to know about something before we are willing to commit to it? Is our decision based on a mathematical number or gut feeling?

I have been thinking about the thought that goes into making big life decisions! I find that I rely on my gut for the most part and let the thinking happen subconsciously.

For instance, my gut says I might mess my pants if I were to dive down from a bridge with an elastic cord tied to my ankles. But it also said, diving down 50 feet in the middle of the ocean with a tank strapped to my back is a good idea. I have never bungee jumped, but I would scuba dive again and again (even though I had an accident during my last experience, when my oxygen mask gave way after I made it all the way down to the bed)

But going with one’s gut is not just about making life-threatening choices. They also have to do with the matters of the heart like quitting your cushy job to pursue that wild dream, making a commitment to your relationship, deciding if having a baby would jeopardize the good things you have going for you, believing or not believing in god and so on.

While I have gone with my gut on all of these decisions so far, I cannot still quantify how successful I have been with them thus far, and will be in the future. I doubt that I will ever think of them as being 100% successful only because I don’t know what that 100% is or if what feels successful now will turn out to be unsuccessful later! I can only say I have no regrets as yet. How then do I quantify the ramifications of life decisions made on intuition?

Not many days from now, we will carry this little game-theory thingamajig to help us make these decisions. But, how far can it take us with the matters of the heart? How successful is successful, or happy is happy! How do we quantify superlatives. How do we define infinity.

Will the thingamajig leave us feeling just as unsure of our future? Will it deprive us of the pleasure of making decisions on gut feeling? Or should I on gut feeling reject the thingamajig!

[A thought comes to mind. There are days when I listen to music on the radio because the station I tuned to has created a mood that I want to be in. I like the unpredictability of it all. There are new songs interspersed with ones that I am familiar with, each winding down to the deep, rich voice of the host and his antics. You feel like you are in a conversation with him, and are being entertained without having to say anything. Then there are days when I want to be in control and in familiar territory. When I am sure of what mood I want to be in, I pick an artist or a genre in Lastfm or listen to Genius in itunes. When I want to be all over the place, but with songs I am familiar with, I go with Shuffle. I also have hundreds of playlists I created, some with as few as four songs, and some with as many as 30, and I play them again and again, until I have heard enough.
This thingamajig gizmo I was talking about, might be the kind of thing I would use when I am in a mood to listen to the radio]

I didn't think it was enough that I tweeted about the new Safari. It is jaw-dropping awesome. Surfing the net feels like using the ipod or iphone and even better!

When ads say things like "seeing the web in a whole new way" or "providing the most enjoyable way to experience the internet" you don't expect to be bedazzled by an elegant and sophisticated interface, with SO many interactive features!

There is a logitech wireless bluetooth device that I use to connect my laptop to Tapi's ubercool monster ampliflier, when I want to listen to my itunes and lastfm music on awesome speakers. When Tapi feels like I am taking over his space, I retreat to my headphones, which is just as enjoyable. When I am on my headphones I spend hours at a stretch listening to music and get lost in my own world, to have him complain about wanting me back in his space!

Sitting in a place and getting lost in music all day sounds very idyllic but the real dream is living in that world while you are walking, working, dancing and galavanting :)

So now Tapi bought me wireless headphones! How cool is that? I am mainly excited about listening to music in the bathroom - on the throne while reading a book, in the bathtub, in the patio when doing my little rocking-chair dance, in the kitchen when cooking without melting my headphone wires in my curry!

We have a tiny split device that lets us connect two headphones to one outlet. As I brag about my headphones in this post, Tapi and I have been sitting and listening to music - him on my old headphones, and me on the new ones. I am almost tempted to get up now and start dancing, to see how Tapi reacts to feeling wired down and restricted :D

What i like most about this two-headphones system instead of the regular speakers is that we can both sing loudly and not hear each other. Tapi and I like our music in different volumes and my wireless comes with it's own volume control as well!

But, the disadvantage is that I have to connect the wireless base directly to the laptop, making it less mobile. If I were to listen to music alone, I'd connect the wireless headphone's base to the music system and the blue tooth device to my computer and walk around with both my laptop and my music at the same time!

Now if you will excuse me, I plan to walk out the door with my new toy to see if it will bring music to my ears at the next door coffee shop! :)

Arvind says "what is the point of you posing if you can't really see the headphones?"

:D Coming soon: post on product placement

I can't seem to recall the procedure for making a trunk call. My guess is you give the operator the phone no you want to call and hold the line. In a few seconds, a familiar voice miraculously appears from the other side, usually in high pitch. Some people think the only way to talk long distance is to scream even when the line is clear, while others maintain an abnormally normal voice even when they know the person on the other side is having trouble hearing them. 

Every few minutes the operator reminds you of how much time has elapsed and then they either automatically cut the line or it gets disconnected when you put the phone down. If you are (un)lucky, you are the victim of a cross connection problem and get to hear exciting arguments and random conversations in some unknown language. You then scream at the operator to no avail.   

I can't wrap my mind around why people who can effortlessly make trunk calls and be calm throughout the process, have trouble using a cell phone and dialing long distance! 

Ok! What am I getting at?

Wired has an article about a student who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for uploading a video on youtube on how to convert a remote-control toy car into a bomb detonator. The guilty egyptian student looks so much like Tapi! Scary no?

Did I mention I gifted Tapi a remote control car for his birthday?

Not to mention, few days ago I wrote a post about how I don't want to mess with batteries because I am afraid they might detonate!

And then there was another post about youtube and vimeo!

What is this? Christmas or Halloween?

I am looking forward to my vacation in Cancun, but I am afraid to say "I hope to have a blast" now.

I hope this means that Tapi is the "good" Amitabh Bachchan in Don! :D (even if in my example pic, it is Tapi who is not smiling! Irony or what!)

----

ps: What has all this got to do with Abhishek Bachchan you ask? Or is what I am thinking obvious! :D

I have always been afraid of messing with batteries. There’s the thought that inside that little double A, there is a certain volatile substance that might just explode. But, all deep-seated irrational beliefs aside, I have wondered if there’s a way to revive dead batteries. Now, I don’t know the first thing about science – or the many manifestations of our physical world. So my question is based only on intuition. What could a battery possibly have that cannot be revived!

Every time I throw a dead battery into the trash, I am consumed with guilt and self-loathing and feel miserable for the rest of the day. So I googled “bringing batteries to life” and found an article that confirms my hunch! (did I tell you I won a physics argument even last new years with Anand based on a hunch? :D Even Miru and Tapi were against me! It was a terrible night! But victory was on my side)

The article says:

Bring Dead Ni-Cad Batteries Back To Life
Are you tired of having your Ni-Cad batteries that refused to charge and simply die?

So what do you do with them when they die?
Just throw them in the trash - which harms the environment?
Or just take them to a recycling facility for them to be recycled?

Well, here is the best solution, bring your dead batteries back to life that can save you a chunk of change - By zapping them!
Here is one great instructable, Revive Nicad Batteries by Zapping with a Welder. Of course, you will need a welder, and not many people has one... So I came up with this idea that almost anyone can build!

DISCLAIMER:
This instructable involves hacking a device that operates on 300 volts and can be dangerous if not handled correctly. So, I am NOT responsible whatever happens to you using this information.

I am tempted to try this, but am also skeptical owing to the scary disclaimer. Moreover the disclaimer on their actual “instructable” page says

WARNING:
If you get killed by a poisonous explosion it means you did something wrong.
Electrocution is a real possibility also.
Ask your parents how to not electrocute yourself with a welder.

Yikes! How can this possibly be ECO-friendly if it can kill me? (Unless, the idea is to eliminate humans under the pretext of recharging batteries and thereby save the environment! brilliant i say!)

and I was right. Batteries do detonate!

Side note: The instructables website looks pretty cool. I can see myself going there often. It has all kinds of resources for DIY projects. Great stuff!

Tapi and (therefore) I have become addicted to Vimeo. I don’t know how they do it, but I haven’t seen a single bad video on Vimeo so far. Even the animated films by students are on par with Pixar and Dreamworks… and display creativity on a level that’s beyond anything I have seen.

I don’t really know how they manage to keep their site free of movie rips or commercial videos, but the site only has user-created content and somehow attracts the best talent out there! The whole experience of online video watching is a lot more personal.
Vimeo reminds me so much of Google. It’s the cleanest version of “YouTube” there possibly can be and has only the most relevant tools on display. This is really ironic given that I’d somehow expect the “clean” look with a Google product. Total bummer!

Moreover, the site has a huge inventory of superior quality video, including a lot of hi-def content. Watching it on full screen is a real treat.

Side Note: Don’t like Viddler. No can do. Sorry!

I have stopped dreaming about the day when we wont need remote controls at all. (a.k.a. the virtual reality chip implant in brain that will help us control everything by thought!) Nah! who am i kidding. Coming Up: whole blog section dedicated to the "next" level of ubiquitous computing & ambient intelligence :D.... But for now, can we at least rid ourselves of excess buttons in tv remotes? How hard can it be? I already drew up a sketch of what that can look like (image on right). Maybe dad should stop focussing on steel doors and get cracking on this remote control idea. Listening appa? You can make this fire-resistant too... AND in TITANIUM! :D

Cowabunga! :D

Read the whole article

No. See this!

This certainly deserves a long post, but I needed to say something quickly before I somehow manage to get my hands on it.

Film dream finally realizable?

VirusComix.com

Just before my elder brother left for his vacation to India, my younger brother asked him for a couple of DVDs, to which his response was a big NO. He isn’t being stingy, just a little reluctant to squander money on something whose value is being seriously contested.

With blu-ray discs threatening to become the standard soon, no one seems to want to invest in DVDs anymore. They will become obsolete in next to no time, just like our tapes and records did. Now is a good time to weep for that glorious DVD collection in your shelves, and even your VHS tapes if you haven’t already.

Tapi has been trying to put sense into my head and prevent me from buying the third season of Battlestar Gallatica and many other films for the same reason. I see his point, but it's tough! Despite the mandatory move to HD in a few months, I don't see myself watching movies in their hi-def glory at home any time soon. Am I in denial? Maybe.

I can see blu-ray discs trickling into the stores, and how people are taking to them quickly. At work, I am thrilled to be able to use blu-ray and it really is a blessing. The fact that I can store 50GB of content or upload an uncompressed hi-def video directly onto a disc straight after editing is truly amazing. But as a regular consumer, I know that the demand for blu-ray players is higher than the number available in the market, and even if that changes, I suspect that we'll see skyrocketing prices for a long long time. The question is not whether it is worth it. The reality is that there is no escaping it.

I keep getting asked if hi-def is really higher quality. Yes. The difference will definitely make you say WOW. It’s not even a subtle difference. I know people who can’t tell “film” from standard definition, but I don’t know people who don’t recognize hi-def. HD with it's flawless image rendering is a celebration of visual clarity. Film with it's cracks, pops and hisses is a celebration of amalgamation. It's hard to pick one over the other. I like the smoothness of HD as much as the texture of film. But, there are some filmmakers who use HD cameras to replicate the film look. Irony, if you ask me, but it's nice to have that option. What difference does it make if you can't tell what camera was used to create a look as long as there are different looks.

All this aside, my mom who has with some difficulty made the shift to the DVD player from her VCR doesn't understand the difference between Blu-Ray discs and DVDs, and cannot at all comprehend why her perfectly working DVD player will soon be considered obsolete. I had to explain the mandatory shift to hi-def, and that it’s not like she has a choice. But more than anything I had to tell her how hi-def is better quality than standard-def and how blu-ray discs with higher storage capacity can fit two hi-def films, or even her whole "Mind Your Language" season into one disc instead of many DVDs. While she was amazed at all this, and can see the benefit, it’s still hard for her to imagine the advanced technology in her head. I suspect this theory of hi-def’s better quality is all Emperor's New Clothes to her. I don’t blame her. But, she has seen a shift like this before. She moved from analog tv of the good ol’ days to standard def. Wasn’t that a huge difference?

Still, HDTV is quite complicated. You would think that advancement in technology should simplify people’s lives apart from improving quality. But, simplification is actually a complicated process. Buying a hi-def tv is not as easy as picking a size, a price and a brand. You need to choose a path. You need to pick a display technology from a wide array – there’s plasma, DLP, LCD, LCoS, D-ILA, CRT.. and if that isn’t confusing enough there’s direct view, rear projection, front projection, flat panel, wide screen, big screen displays. It’s a maze, and quite inane considering all it does is show you good image and sound. Is it worth the effort of going through that decision making process if it doesn’t promise direct interaction with the characters on the screen, if Brad Pitt won’t walk out of the box and shake hands with you, or if you can’t join Harry Potter find the Philosopher’s stone?

In light of all this, it is ironic that I’ll have to say Blu-ray and hi-def will simplify our life by creating a unified format. No, this is not a contradiction to what I said before. You see, just as we can play a DVD on TV or on a computer, the type of hi-def display technology
may be different, but they will all project the same hi-def video. Moreover, when connected to a blu-ray player (like the DVD player), it will play the hi-def movie in blu-ray format, which is a unified acceptable format all over the world. And that unified format is what we need to look forward to.

After all this, here’s a detail that will send your head spinning. As of now, NTSC, PAL and SECAM will be replaced by three digital broadcasting systems called ATSC, DVB, ISDB, DMD. So where’s the unified format and how is blu-ray creating it you ask? I really don’t know. This entire post is a whole lot of claptrap. I am just pretending to know more than I do. Ah well, it’s not ALL bunkum. It turns out that HDTV and blu-ray formats work with all these new digital broadcast systems, so as long as there are only blu-rays and HDTVs in this world, we will have unification. So why have three formats? Same reason why we had NTSC, PAL and SECAM. Very ironic, really. The people who created these formats don’t want to give up theirs in favor of the other and in the process they are all here to stay until we witness Darwin’s survival of the fittest. It happened with blu-rays and HD-DVDs, where the two competitors tried to kill each other and in the end blu –ray emerged victorious and HD-DVD died a brutal death, ending the format war.

What I do know is that as of today, the world has more films than we have access to because they are not available in the format of our choice. I know of a lot of films that I could not watch in India because they were not available in PAL. Imagine a unified format, where the options are limitless with nothing stopping us from sponging up more entertainment. If access to information has only to do with laws and regulations and there’s no technological hindrance, isn’t that something to look forward to?

And when you are done killing time on my blog, try Game Design. It has a very good collection of fun flash games that are seemingly lame and harmless, but before you know it, your brain's switched off, you are staring blankly at a screen full of blocks and circles and turn into a mouse-clicking zombie. =)
And, if lame isn't for you, they have some thought provoking games that are equally absorbing. Enjoy!


Don't let the language options to enter the website fool you. Most of the games have no written rules, so it doesn't matter whether you enter through their Japanese site or Chinese site even. My link takes you to the English one. But, if you feel uber-dweebish go through the other language ones.

I am now the proud owner of the Palmsize R/C Helicopter! :D

It will be a while before my aviation skills are as good as the braggarts on youtube, but I'll get there! =)

“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.”

Lao Tzu (600 BC-531 BC)
Founder of Taoism

There are individuals in this world who are able to appear in two or more places at the same instance in time. Everywhere they appear, they interact with the surroundings, move around, talk to people, touch objects, experience sensations as naturally as we all do. They are not ghosts or spirits or apparitions. They are great monks who can bend time and space.
By the end of your life, you will have seen at least one such great monk, but beware of the evil Doppelgängers. They are harbingers of bad luck and impending destruction. They cast no shadows and have no reflection. When they appear, they make themselves known as advisors. Heed not the word of the Doppleganger! Be especially wary of the ones that look just like you.

And if you still should want to see yourself in a different form,

					over time
					as a different tribe
					inspiring thought
					as the other sex
					a primate
					or even just with a befuddled mind

We celebrated ours with an argument on whether toilets and bath tubs drain clockwise in the southern hemisphere because of the Coriolis effect. =)

Wikipedia:
A misconception in popular culture is that the Coriolis effect determines the direction in which bathtubs or toilets drain, such that water always drains in one direction in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the other direction in the Southern Hemisphere. This urban legend has been perpetuated by several television programs, including an episode of The Simpsons and one of The X-Files. In addition, several science broadcasts and publications (including at least one college-level physics textbook) have made this incorrect statement.

Many sources which incorrectly attribute draining direction to the Coriolis force also get the direction wrong, stating that water drains clockwise in the northern hemisphere. If the Coriolis force were a significant factor, drain vortices would spin counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere, but in reality the Coriolis effect is a few orders of magnitude smaller than various random influences on drain direction, such as the geometry of the container and the direction in which water was initially added to it. Most toilets flush in only one direction, because the toilet water flows into the bowl at an angle. If water shot into the basin from the opposite direction, the water would spin in the opposite direction.

When the water is being drawn towards the drain, the radius of its rotation around the drain decreases, so its rate of rotation increases from the low background level to a noticeable spin in order to conserve its angular momentum (the same effect as ice skaters bringing their arms in to cause them to spin faster). As shown by Ascher Shapiro in a 1961 educational video (Vorticity, Part 1), this effect can indeed reveal the influence of the Coriolis force on drain direction, but only under carefully controlled laboratory conditions. In a large, circular, symmetrical container (ideally over 1m in diameter and conical), still water (whose motion is so little that over the course of a day, displacements are small compared to the size of the container) escaping through a very small hole, will drain in a cyclonic fashion: counterclockwise in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere—the same direction as the Earth rotates with respect to the corresponding pole.

I won. =) (although my brother insisted that I didn't understand the coriolis effect and questioned the law.. bah! I only questioned if it holds in the toilet =) ) ... an hour into the argument, it turns out my brother knew he was wrong, but didn't want to admit it, and went on until I broke down because he thought I was stupid! ... and then he felt terrible and apologized. =D

It was 11:45, 15 minutes to new year and we made a ton of resolutions from brushing teeth twice a day to calling home once a week, cutting down on starbucks visits, speaking correct english using as little "you know"s, "whatever"s and "like"s as possible... but we said nothing about not arguing or arguing fair =)

Ever since the new gmail upgrade, my mac world hasn't been very peachy! It almost completely screwed me over! Checking emails has suddenly become exasperating. I open Safari and log into my gmail account, to find that none of the buttons and links are clickable. Sending attachments is impossible. The status bar hangs on one last item to load. I keep refreshing the page with hope, only to see a very disappointing "Oops.. a server error occurred" message after half an hour. It's not a server error Goddammit! It's GMAIL.


For two days, I unwillingly moved to Safari's arch-nemesis, the ugly and unreliable Firefox, to check email. But, I kept switching back to Safari out of habit. Safari seemed to work well with every other website. But, in the end, this switching back and forth just to check email was "so not happening". I HAD to find a way out. It doesnt help that I have become a slave to email... to gmail. I even send and receive office mails from it and have a million email aliases and manage multiple accounts from the gmail interface. Gmail is really the most intuitive chameleon-like interface I have come across. I can not only receive emails from my other addresses (hotmail, office mail etc), but can also customize the "from" address and send messages that display my other addresses (hotmail, office mail etc) in place of my gmail address.

Anyway, despite all this praise, the new gmail release is anything but useful.

I noticed that Gmail was working perfectly well on my older mac with the older version of Safari. So it was only a matter of figuring out whom to blame. New Safari or New Gmail or New Gmail on New Safari.



After troubleshooting for a whole day, I found this button on the top right corner of my gmail inbox that said "Older Version". That did it! The solution was right in front of my nose all this while. Isn't it amazing how one button can miraculously change everything?

Dear Safari (new and old) and Gmail (old),
I am a happy slave again, checking and sending messages more enthusiastically than ever, at the rate of once every 30 seconds.

I still feel nauseous and queasy owing to the overuse of Firefox!

But all's well that ends well?

Holy Cow! I found this widget on my cousin's blog.



Now I've got to learn how to protect my computer! =)

I am now the owner of a brand new 17 inch Macbook Pro AND the good old PowerPC G4 that has been through a lot with me over the last three years. So what can I do with two Macs that I can't do with one?

a) I can compare notes.
b) I can surf the net with one while taking a video of myself with the other.
c) I can sit on one chair and work on two computers simultaneously.
d) I can connect them and pretend to have one huge screen. The laptop even comes with a remote!
e) Hah! the best part! I can sit right in front of Tapi and his monstrous computer setup comprising million entangled wires connecting two archaic looking desktops running windows and linux and a doddering pc laptop that does god knows what. We will roleplay the "MAC and PC" advertisement and I'll swear by my comps and he'll swear at his....

In visual art, it’s one thing to invent beyond the ordinary, and another to see the ordinary with some invention. That practically sums up the art of Photography and the photographer’s quest to amalgamate these two seemingly ambiguous intentions.

There are a lot of things that separate professional photographers from regular click-happy camera enthusiasts. Surprisingly, that separation does not end with the kind of cameras pros use. Some people are just born with a flair for “creating” pictures. You can give them a bad camera and you’ll still find that they’ve managed to produce works of art with it. I learnt that, in order to be a photographer you need a good eye, a sense of what the camera can do and the skill of getting it to do what you want it to do. The last one, as always is the toughest and the most important considering it’s also the only point that involves actual work.

That being said, there are some pointers to taking good snaps. For a non-pro, this starts with owning a good camera. It helps to be wise to the things that a pro looks for in a regular affordable camera.

Pros, to some extent are more willing to physically carry the weight of what they think represents their life and their primary form of expression. Simply put, light weight pocket-size cameras won’t do. In fact, pros are willing to bear with a lot more inconveniences for what they think will fetch them that perfect snap. In general, the bigger the camera, the more features it has. They offer a lot of gimmicks and advanced manual features and possibilities like lens changing and speed controls. Still, most pros will agree that a standard light-weight camera will do well for regular use, like sending photos over the email to share with friends and family.

Cameras are getting smaller all the time. In fact, some of the smaller cameras offer more features than the standard-sized cameras. Does that mean all compact cameras are better?

Here are some things to think about. Compact cameras are convenient, they are light and fit in your pocket, but as a result, they also have small inconvenient buttons that are hard to access especially when you need to zoom. Standard-sized cameras on the other hand fit in a palm-size bag and are a lot more affordable. By the virtue of being slightly bigger, the buttons are easier to control and the weight helps with taking a steady shot. My vote therefore is for the standard-sized camera. Of course, you lose points for looking passé but that’s small price to pay for big value. :-)

One of the most paradoxical factors to bear in mind when buying a digital camera is that not everything digital is better. Take the zoom for instance. It is apparent that the zoom helps with switching between close-ups and long shots. However, its job doesn’t just end there. There are essentially two kinds of zooms, the optical and the digital.
As outmoded as it sounds, the optical zoom is much better than the digital zoom for a bunch of reasons. It measures the ability of the lens to capture more light and detail from a faraway point and thereby offers better-quality pictures. Whereas, the digital zoom captures only the central portion of the image received by the sensor and cuts off the parts that are out of the field of view.


Here, it is also important to understand the function of the lens aperture. It is the least appreciated part of the camera, although possibly most important. After all, the biggest struggle is to take bright pictures at night and unbleached pictures in the daytime. The aperture of a lens is its maximum opening capability. The bigger the lens the more light is gathered and the less light you will need to take a good photo. The aperture of a lens is measured in f/numbers. Smaller numbers mean bigger openings. An aperture of f/2.0 literally means that the lens opening is half the focal length of the lens. So you would rather have an f/2.0 lens than an f/4.0 lens. This way, you can shoot indoors without a flash. The best available apertures for standard cameras seem to be between f/2.8 and f/3.5.

All said and done, sometimes a good focal length and aperture will still render you a bad picture if you have been cheated with a poor quality lens that may exhibit chromatic aberration in which all colors are not brought to the same focus. This usually shows up as colored fringes at high contrast edges. For a regular consumer, it is hard to differentiate a good quality lens from a bad one. Unfortunately, most camera manufacturers incorporate good electronics over good optics. My best method is to stick to a trusted company.

Then comes the infamous “pixel” dilemma. Pixel can be a bad word sometimes, especially when it is accompanied by a decimal number and a price tag that’s outrageously steep. Let me explain why. A digital photograph is essentially made up of tiny dots called pixels. The more dots that can fit in a one inch space, the sharper the image. If an image is taken at 100 dpi, composed of 100x100 pixels, it may look good at one square inch, however, if you blow it up to twice the size, it will make the image look grainy, since it still contains the same 100x100 pixels and is now only 50 dpi. Digital camera resolution is measured in megapixels. One megapixel is made up of one million dots. Therefore, the more megapixels, the higher the resolution, the better the quality of the photograph. Then again, after a point it doesn’t make a difference what the megapixel capability of a camera is, unless a photographer is going to blow up his picture into a wall-size poster. Keeping this in mind, going beyond 6MP is meaningless.

Secondly, small compact cameras have very small sensor chips, almost the size of a little fingernail. As a result, it is more difficult to get a lens to focus on an image perfectly on a small sensor. The precision of internal focusing becomes more and more critical for a given pixel count thus, increasing the signal to noise ratio and affecting the graininess of the image. In conclusion, a lower resolution camera can be a better product in every respect. Truth be told, real resolution hasn’t improved much since the 2MP days. However, cameras with 5MP or more has become the norm even with manufacturers. In view of this, it makes no sense to get your hands on a new camera at all. Old stock or even second-hand cameras do the job just as well. You may only have to worry about the wear and tear and dead lithium ion batteries.

I care less what in-camera software today’s cameras have to offer. Moreover, there is no scope of undoing changes and retrieving the original photograph once it is edited within the camera. I prefer adjusting my picture using a computer software like Photoshop that has hundreds of options. Afterall, there is nothing in the world like Photoshop. :-)

So that’s my two cents. :-)

I am conscious that my blog is getting more and more geeklike, but this time I am willing to risk it for a greater cause. ;-)
I saw these tiny cubes a few days ago on "thinkgeek.com"
They are simply cubes with "Stick People Sticking Together". Each cube has a fantastically busy stick person who is living his life, doing his thing, but, when one cube is attached to another, the stick people inside both cubes start interacting with each other. I know. It blows my mind. So, here's why it's brilliant. The cubes they live in have magnetic contacts on four sides that allow them to connect with each other. What more? You can shake 'em up a bit or even use the buttons to play games with them. What kind of games? You'll find out when I get my hands on them soon. ;-)

If you happen to go to thinkgeek.com, don't miss the other cube goodies and everything else they've got. It's really addictive.

No, this is not about film being better than digital and vice versa. I have just learnt to look at them as apples and oranges. Somehow the citrusy orange is more appealing to me at the moment, but that's a whole different story and doesn't apply to this metaphor. :-)

I love the cracks, pops and hisses of film and really enjoy the overall visual impression. When you watch film, it's like eating strawberries with cream. You enjoy both the composition of the image as well as the detail and texture of the film itself. And even though it is laborious to work with film, it is more satisfying as you are involved in the whole art-making process. Film teaches you the true meaning of perseverence and endurance and how they can really pay off.

But I also enjoy the clean look of digital, its smooth visual clarity, the overall ease of use. It's like a clear pane of glass, like an impassioned white canvas that takes a backseat and allows the art in it to take precedence. It's a different matter that different canvasses can make the same art look and feel different, but here the canvas is invisible so that doesn't apply.

Without digressing, this is what I have come to say. I need to buy a camera before I make a trip back home. I can't even decide if I want a motion camera or a still camera, let alone deciding between film and digital. I have come to terms with the fact that I cannot afford a motion film camera. So my choice has really come down to still film camera, still digital camera and a digital camcorder. I don't know my budget, but the word "economical" comes to mind... whatever that means!

I am so glad I am not a teenager anymore, because today's news would have made me extremely unhappy.
I learnt about a unique kind of mosquito, the shocking kind that needs a serious slap on the back. =)

It says on their official website that:

The Mosquito™ ultrasonic teenage deterrent is the solution to the eternal problem of unwanted gatherings of youths and teenagers in shopping malls, around shops and anywhere else they are causing problems. The presence of these teenagers discourages genuine shoppers and customers’ from coming into your shop, affecting your turnover and profits. Anti social behavior has become the biggest threat to private property over the last decade and there has been no effective deterrent until now. Acclaimed by the Police forces of many areas of the United Kingdom, the Mosquito ultrasonic teenage deterrent has been described as “the most effective tool in our fight against anti social behaviour”. Shop keepers around the world have purchased the device to move along unwanted gatherings of teenagers and anti social youths. Railway companies have placed the device to discourage youths from spraying graffiti on their trains and the walls of stations.

Since the device emits high frequency sounds that are only audible to young people, adults are oblivious to this sound. That (thankfully) hasn't stopped the device from receiving all the criticism it deserves, with one campaign called Buzz Off taking the lead. There is no doubt that anti-social behavior needs to be tackled, but the Mosquito is a weapon against all young people (babies included) whether they are misbehaving or not. Canada and the United States are now selling this device, and private citizens too can legally purchase the product and use it at home. Imagine the Mosquito being the punishment at home for not cleaning your room or doing your homework! Yikes!

Here's the much needed silver lining. Smart teenagers have been putting this "repelling" product to a very sly use. They have turned the annoying Mosquito buzz into a ring tone, which is inaudible to adults and therefore can be used in class without the teachers' knowledge. =)
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Speaking of human rights violations and the curbing of right to freedom, I also learnt that Louisiana town is banning "controversial clothing", meaning saggy pants revealing undergarments or "certain" body parts. The penalty is set to 6 months in jail and a $500 fine. Back in India, when my college banned short skirts or spaghetti tops, we were all so outraged. After I left college, I was told that the authorities further restricted students from wearing any western clothes. Of course, that is nothing compared to the dress restrictions imposed in some nations or the curbing of certain religious beliefs in some other. Still, I'm finding all these restrictions and sonic tortures very bothersome.

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You may wonder why this article is labeled under "Environment". It turns out, this Mosquito too breaks some environmental laws (specifically Noise and Nuisance Acts) even though it does not sting or cause long term health problems. And it's wrongly labeled under "Philanthropy" because that's the closest label in my list to "Social Issues". I use it for all matters affecting members of a society concerning moral or ethical values. I take my blog too seriously, don't I! =)

This tiny yo-yo like gadget generates electricity. You pull the cord repeatedly for a minute and build enough electricity to power up your ipod for hours (1 pull = 1 song)
It’s light, it’s cool, it’s ingenious, you save on electricity, save the environment… it’s win-win all the way. Believe it or not, it can power everything from rechargeable batteries to house lighting, cell phones to GPS, and even laptops.

I can’t wait to get my hands on it. But, here’s the kicker. Imagine sitting in a slum with no power, but a working laptop! Isn’t that tremendous? Potenco, the company that make’s this product has created an alliance with the “One Laptop Per Child project” that will provide laptops to children in developing countries. And each laptop will come with this yo-yo that will charge their computers to circumvent the need for electricity to use advanced technology.

A few days ago, the environmental organization I work at introduced me to the Juice Bag, a laptop bag that powers laptops on the move using solar energy. It’s incredible that we have advanced to a point where we can charge cell phones, gps units, or even laptops anywhere in the world.

Then I learnt about mini solar panels that can charge phones and radios using just a car charger adapter. They are being sold by Kibera slum dwellers. Kibera is the world’s largest slum located near Nairobi, where the average wage is about $1 a day. The solar panel is made with discarded industry material and takes only few minutes to put together and can sell for $5, which is an incredible income source for these dwellers. The panel itself looks unsophisticated, but the idea that something as primitive looking as that can serve as a charger of hi-tech devices should be incentive enough to buy.


Coming back to yo-yo’s, there’s another one that’s making listening to music a ton of fun. The ReGEN yo-yo has an in-built mp-3 player that can be charged for an hour with just 10 to 12 tosses. What more? When you are bored and have nothing to do with your hands, you can yo-yo while you listen to music and perfect your skill. Say goodbye to adapters and extra batteries. This one even comes with a wireless headset. Isn’t that a dream come true?

I’m not a yo-yoer, but for some reason, as is the case with million other things, I know a few things about the yo-yo. =) It may have to do with my dad living in Philippines for a bit (you’ll see why), or just the fact that I am by and large a collector of useless information. But, as luck would have it, my yo-yo knowledge has found a place in my blog today. =)

For a long time I thought yo-yos were invented in Phillipines (the dad-connection) in the early 1800s and indeed yo-yo is a Filipino word that means “to spin”. Wikipedia concurs with me. I also learnt that they were first manufactured in the United States in the State of Wisconsin during the Depression Era and therefore Wisconsin is dubbed the “Yo-yo capital of the world”. There's even a World Yo-yo Championship takes place in the United States in Florida!

Since last week, this knowledge on yo-yos increased owing to some of the emails I received in gmail about green yo-yo technology among other things. It turns out, gmail advertisements are not as unobtrusive as they say they are. They display “relevant” advertisements on the sidebar related to the text within the emails. So, I clicked on yoyoguy.com, a yoyo treasure trove that we never knew existed. And eventually wikipediaed yo-yo and googled yoyo history!

My dull work-day quickly transformed into a top-spinning adventurous. Apart from gathering trivia facts about yo-yo related world records and companies making yo-yo training videos, I found the ultimate yoyo website online belonging to the “Museum of Yo-yo” . I saw some fantastically designed yo-yos of the past, and learnt a great deal about the history. It turns out that while they originated in China, the first evidence of its existence was found in Greece way back in 400-500 BC. It’s all very fascinating information with paintings of royalty in different countries with yo-yos in them, to knowledge on the most suitable shapes for yo-yos, the artistic design qualities, yo-yo’s as a sport toy, the different materials used to make them etc.

More recently a man called Tom Kuhn is said to have revolutionized yo-yo technology and brought the gadget back to life. Almost all the innovations we see in yoyos today are supposed to have been inspired by his designs.

But, of all yo-yo related innovations, I find the new energy use that they are being put to, the most exciting.

So what is it like driving a recyclable car? When I heard a Ford employee proclaim that the concept of “gas stations” will soon be alien to his son, I sat there amazed gaping at the television screen.


The employee was talking about the Ford Model U, a concept car that’s powered by a hydrogen duel cell supercharged engine that emits absolutely no carbondioxide and is 25% more fuel efficient than a gasoline engine. What is more, all of the parts are recyclable or biodegradable including: recyclable polyester seats, dash, steering wheel, door trim, corn-based biopolymer roof and carpet mats; corn-based fillers in the rubber tires to improve rolling resistance and thus fuel economy; soy-based composite resins for the rear tailgate and side panels; soy-based composite foam for seating; and lightweight, recyclable aluminum body.*

As soon as the film ended, I rushed to the computer to google Ford Model U and found not one, but several cars that have been working on alternative fuels and hybrid models. No just that, companies are coming up with revolutionary concepts to create high performance cars, including supercars and sports cars that are completely eco-friendly throughout it’s life cycle – in the way they are produced, used and then disposed.

It’s not surprising that motor vehicles are the most environmentally damaging consumer products on the planet. Therefore, it is not unpredictable that there are many companies trying to make more fuel efficient cars. What is disturbing is our deliberate rejection of green cars even when we know that they are as cool and sleek as some of the top notch cars we long to drive. In most cases, we can’t even tell the difference. Then why do we kill green cars, especially when they are more efficient and much less expensive in the long run? We were unjustly absolved of killing the electric car because of our ignorance and our ambivalence to new technology. But now that the damage is done, it’s time to redeem ourselves.

Links about Green Cars:
•How to Green Your Car
•Top Green Cars
•Green Car
•What Green Car
•Green Cars: A Guide to Cleaner Vehicle Production, Use and Disposal

My favorite Green Car films:
•Who Killed the Electric Car?
•Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Paper or Plastic

*from Sundance’s description of the Ford Model U.