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Oh ho ho..

2008-08-01T18:24:00.001-07:00

I'm not posting much here - I presume its just normal for me to stop blogging, I just get bored I guess, presumably by the lack of interesting stuff to post. However, this one's a cracker. We all know Freddie Flintoff is back and if you've missed what you did to Jacques Kallis the other day at Edgbaston, you've just got lucky with this clip. For a change, there are a couple of most exciting Test matches going around, but this short stint from the Big Fred is worth more than just a single watch.

Relive the magic

2008-07-09T14:04:00.001-07:00

I can't get enough of the epic final, and fortunately someone had put a high quality series of highlights of the match. For those who missed the magic, like I did, get yourself a second chance. Epics like these don't take place too often, for I haven't seen Federer hit the forehand so hard and yet see a winner fly by him, and for I haven't seen anyone till now who's scurried on grass from one end to the other during a 5 set course. For those who said rallies are only meant for clay (including me), we need to take a break after all. Having said that, I've got to say no one beats Federer in the tie breakers. Even though I've been a Rafa supporter for quite sometime, it would be foolish not to complement how the King played. Simply put, I think either of them would have won against anyone else with this level of play.

Magnificent..

2008-07-07T23:38:00.001-07:00

This year perhaps is one of the biggest in the Spanish sporting history. As if winning the Euro wasn't sufficient, Spain finally conquered the All England's Club with Rafael Nadal edging out King Fed in what might be described as perhaps the greatest duel in the history of tennis.

Tennis had lost its excitement on its most beautiful surface, with Roger Federer nailing Wimbledon five times in a row. But watching the finals last year, it was evident that fortunes might change in the next edition.. and boy did they change amidst some drama! I didn't get to see the finals this year, but was lucky enough to catch what happened to be the last game of the match. The light conditions reminded me of the farcical cricket World Cup final last year in the Caribbean, except that hardly anyone left the stadium during this game. The Cardie King and the Muscleman were still not ready to give the other an inch.. stuff that legends are made of.

Four hours and forty eight minutes, and I couldn't help catching on the highlights. Flair in any game looks beautiful, but determination takes an altogether different stage. Lleyton Hewitt and Michael Chang were perhaps the best on this premise during their days, but I guess we are safe to say that Nadal is in a different league altogether. Critics might have sidelined him only to the clay courts, and how wrong have they been proven.

Normally press conferences are all about light humor and nonsensical stuff, but this time it wasn't the case. The King has been wounded and he left no d oubts in our minds about that through his statements. Terming this loss as a 'disaster', it is apparent that things might only get more difficult for Federer in the future. With Nadal already there, and Djokovic breathing down his neck, it's going to be a war out there. I can't wait for the closing act of the season - 'The battle of Flushing Meadows'..

Oh the 'dead'lines

2008-07-07T23:15:00.001-07:00

Been away for a while and I can't remember putting this kind of effort earlier. I was facing a conference deadline and it was all about spending endless hours trying to get the results. Its over and things are much better now.. till the next deadline.. :D

At Last..Cricket in whites

2008-05-18T12:49:00.001-07:00

I was so relieved to read the proceedings in Lords where the 1st Test between England and Kiwis took place. But at the same time, I was a little baffled since the headlines on most websites instead chose to continue putting IPL on center stage. Well, am not against IPL as such or for that matter the cheerleaders, but the fact is that its been going for a touch too long now. Entertainment's good, but only if its within check. IPL is growing or rather being promoted rather uninhibitedly.

Well, no doubt that most cricket watchers wouldn't have known about the potential of some of the Indian domestic players without IPL, since BCCI has (in)advertently done all it can to kill the biggest domestic tournament of the country - the Ranji Trophy. Its quite mystifying to think that they were never able to schedule the domestic tournaments at a time when all the national squad players were available all this while, and now they have managed to stitch together a tournament which is dictating the international calendar, which could only be potentially matched by the World Cup. Money can do wonders and perhaps Modi and co. and too busy minting it to take note of that. Accepted..

People are comparing the Packer revolution to IPL - a question which would probably be answered in the time to come. I just hope the answer doesn't turn out to be true, since it probably would prompt all wannabe Rahul Dravids to instead have the likes of Afridi as their mentor. Funny as it might sound.

Further, if the folks at the top think that they'd soon be seeing the fanaticism of the crowds supporting their own teams, then I pity the people of other states.. Well, one never knows but BCCI may come up with any team.. the Bhopali Blunders!

Mafia, Drugs, Blackjack, Bank Robberies and Teens..

2008-05-18T01:00:00.001-07:00

Well, these are just the subjects of the movies I grabbed in the last couple of days. There were tonnes of them that I've missed and I've been trying my best to wrap them up..

Denzel Washington's always been one of my favorites and add Russell Crowe to it, and its a super bonanza. At 175 minutes a touch too long, but American Gangster held it up throughout. Mafia movies are always exciting, and this one was a complete treat to watch. The true story of Frank Lucas' drug empire is definitely worth watching!

I remember how much I loved watching Good Will Hunting and the rebellious brilliance of Matt Damon. Jim Sturgess definitely doesn't match the former, but the quick paced story of 21 based on the life of Jeff Ma, an MIT grad is fun to watch. Kevin Spacey and Lawrence Fishburne add to the cast, but there aren't any great acting honors for the taking here. Its just the exciting script about how the best brains in MIT take to card counting in Blackjack. Add to that the popcorn and the regular drink and rest assured, the 2 odd hours spent will not be considered wasted.

I completed the hattrick of watching movies based on true stories with Bank Job. For some reason, since I watched Snatch and the 'Turkish' character of Jason Statham is still there in the head. I've since watched Transporter, Crank and a few others of his, and Bank Job was no exception. Its not a great flick by any standards, but again one of those which is fun (yet again) to watch. I think what really adds to the fun is the shocking story on which this flick's based. Once I wrapped this one, I hit the Wikipedia to look for the facts. There weren't many listed apparently since this subject is under 'D Notice' which calls for utmost silence on such matters, but all one needs is a hint, right?

I hate sweet flicks, but Juno was a revelation. Yeah, this was the fourth one in 2 days! Ellen Page is terrific as a 16 yr old pregnant teen, though I must admit its over the top at times. But there are times, when you don't give a damn to it. How many movies have been made which are comical, but tackling a pretty serious issue at the same time. Juno's the one..

Back finally..

2008-05-17T23:29:00.001-07:00

Another semester went by. I start off with every semester thinking its going to be better than the last one, thoroughly determined to take it easier, but some things never happen. It just always hits hard anyways..

It was interesting though at times and not so at others. I hate theory and it was evident by the theory course I took. On the other hand, I just can't remember the last time building so much code for academic projects. It was tough while I was doing it, but looking back, I guess it was interesting!

Anyways, back for now and though I guess I'll be a little busy during the summer working over some project, but I guess regular posts will be on my agenda for sure..

TR's Top 10

2008-03-14T10:36:00.001-07:00

MIT's Technological Review just released the the list of top 10 technologies to look forward for this year, which they think are most likely to change the way we live.

Even though energy conservation, miniaturization and data mining seems to form the crux of most of these technologies, but its the ideas which are truly revolutionary. Here's the complete list, and though all of them seem pretty fascinating, the concept of Probabilistic Chips and Modeling Surprise really intrigued me the most.

Movies Galore..

2008-03-08T14:08:00.001-08:00

Yeah, that says it all. Its been a long time since I've seen one. All in all three of them in the last couple of days. Enter spring break..

The Fountain was pending since long and it lived up to its branding of being a little obscure. Classify it as science fiction or the romantic genre, it stays true to the Darren Aronofsky brand. It might not have the kind of impact that Requiem for a Dream had, but nevertheless, its a pretty good watch with Hugh Jackman really showing his class. It took me a while to get into the groove after I played it and I won't grade it as supremely entertaining, but definitely worth a watch for it really is a different grade of cinema. What more, it stars Rachel Weisz..

Pure unadulterated action was what I expected from the latest Sly Stallone's John Rambo.. Plenty of blood in it, but somehow it doesn't really invigorates as the earlier editions. But then, even if you are a Sly fan, you can't let this one go, for even at 60 this man can rip the enemies apart. :)

I don't know what drove me to watch The Notebook. Perhaps a high rating on imdb was the catalyst and though it was pretty decent, its not for me. I avoid watching such flicks, but then at times I do fall into the trap.

That was it for me, radically different genres to get the ball rolling. I've heard 10,000 BC is a drag, and I wonder how can the makers of Independence Day screw it up. But then I do remember Godzilla!

Finally, it arrived..

2008-03-03T11:58:00.001-08:00

..it indeed did. Nine years is a long time, but then when it came, it was all the more sweet. Few would remember that the last time he hit a ton in a winning final was against the Zims in 1999. He's been there all this while, scoring runs at a scorching rate, but when it came to the finals, it looked as though the law of averages seem to catch up with him. Perhaps it did him this time as well, probably this time the other way around, since he hadn't scored many in the earlier games.

Fantastic knock, which was not as imposing as the one Hayden played earlier in the day, but it was balanced. Talk about cricket being played as much in the mind as outside. There weren't many outrageous punches off the backfoot or the booming straight drives, instead what we saw was creative batsmanship at his best. This was mind over matter and no brownie points for guessing who won.

Being an ardent fan that I am, I was literally praying that India wins the toss and bats first at the SCG, since I've hardly seen teams chasing successfully on that ground. The pitch gets a lot slower and lower as the day progresses, and although the ground is at its magnificent best under the lights, it has more often than not been a burial ground for the chasers. But at last it changed..

A great game all in all - the Aussies showed why they are the best fielding side in the world yet again which meant that the Indians had to chase an extra 25 runs. They did and with the master there to see it till the end, it was all the more beautiful. I'm not saying that the Aussies are past their prime or anything else. There's still daylight between them and the others, but its good to see a few teams at least take the game by the scuff of the neck and give them a fight. After all any game needs two 'teams' to make it a contest.

I really expect Gabba to be everything but SCG in terms of the pitch. Indians are one up, and the Aussies are a bit wounded. Some fellow Aussie bloggers want their team to hit the deserts once again as they did when John Buchanan was the coach to strengthen them up. Interesting.. all I have to say is ask Stephen Waugh first - he'd have some scary stories about the desert storm he witnessed way back in the summer of '98 at Sharjah!

Adios Stage6

2008-02-28T14:05:00.001-08:00

A one stop for most of us, if not all to find a high quality video. Be it the movies or the TV shows, Stage6 has always been there. As expected, it was a shocker when news broke out that these folks are closing it down due to lack of funds. The detailed letter has been put over here, and sadly it wasn't supposed to be a prank. :( Now that stage6 would be closing down today, I hope it gets reincarnated in some form. Damn, so many movies have been made on this formula, I'd love to see it come true at least once!

Mission: Destroy Earth

2008-02-27T07:45:00.001-08:00

Space science has always been one of my favorite pastimes, to an extent that I dreamt of becoming an astrophysicist till a few years back! Well, an eternal optimist that I am, I won't really rule out that possibility, but the probability of that happening are as good as the you being able to destroy earth using any of the ways described here. Its as insane as it can get, but a terrific read. This is probably thinking along the fourth dimension. :D

Brett Lee-ing all the way..

2008-02-26T12:34:00.001-08:00

I don't know why he's nick named Bing; he doesn't resemble his namesake Chandler Bing even an inch. Not by his features and definitely not by his antics. But Brett "the threat" Lee's definitely a show stealer, much akin to the popular soap Friends character.

Though this year's Allan Border medal had quite a few phenomenal candidates as always, but perhaps no one deserved it more than Lee, who's taken the mantle of leading Australia's attack with utmost ease from his ever so glorious predecessors. McGrath and Warne formed the lynchpin of this champion side but once they left, there were question marks all over the place over who's going to carry them forward. Brett Lee's been there for almost a decade now, but what we've seen from him in the last couple of seasons has been nothing short of exemplary. Ask Ricky Ponting, and he'll let you know that the first name that comes into his mind whenever they need wickets is just one. The most brilliant part is that he delivers.. and does so invariably.

70 wickets in the last year, he's not given an inch whether it comes to the longer or the shorter format of the game. He has perhaps never been so consistent and he knows it. There have been times when others have been pretty ordinary and there's a tendency of the senior pro to be reduced to a workhorse. Rest assured, when it comes to BL, all you can expect is 90 odd miles an hour boomerangs being delivered and some twitchy nerves among the guys facing him. Talk about being right on the money.

When he first emerged onto the scene in the Boxing Day Test against the Indians in 1999, there was this guy who had some serious pace, but with a doubtable action and nervy temper. Though he bagged a fiver in his first match, but troubles with his action and fitness never really let him take off the way he would have liked. But champions never really 'say die' and his second transformation has been an absolute revelation. He uses his artillery much more wisely and is not just about throttling half trackers at the tail enders. Pit him against a Sachin Tendulkar and you won't probably find a bowler who can bowl better.

He wasn't known to be shy of hurtling beamers on the batsmen when things weren't going well, but in the past few years, he's perhaps gained the honor of being the most well behaved Aussie on the field. Perhaps both the sides need to take a cue from their mate, who knows exactly how to mix aggression and the game without creating a lump. Temper's fittingly taken the backseat and now we see a player who thoroughly enjoys the game even when the chips are down.

Admirable, Athletic, Super Fit and Exciting.. This package has definitely all the ingredients to be amongst the best.

Wishy Wacky..

2008-02-20T22:52:00.001-08:00

At times one needs bust the stress and there are a few movies that at times manage to land up in that category. Quality might not be the epitome of such a movie, but who cares. Sometime back I had written about Clive Owen's Shoot 'Em Up, which was one of the most outrageous movies I had seen in the recent past. A couple of days back I saw Jason Statham's Crank, and must say that it matches up to its title - it had eccentricity written all over it. A wacky plot and insane build up, but as I said who cares - Statham's exploits in Snatch and Lock Stock.. made me watch this, and though critics might have absolutely debunked this flick, it made for some pretty good entertainment. :) C'mon how many movies are based on the premise that a certain Chinese poison would kill you once your heart rate drops below a certain level. As again, one of those flicks where you need to keep your brains on the table to enjoy it.

If Crank was whacky, then The Bucket List was wishy. A pretty intriguing premise again, where a couple of terminally ill chaps escape from the ward and head off to complete off a list of To-Do's before they die. Anyways, plots carry little meaning when you have the stellar combination of Jack 'the eccentric' Nicholson and Morgan 'the unamused' Freeman. Its a nice and easy watch flick, though a rating of 7.8 on IMDB is probably a little high for it.

Micro-hoo! An interesting Perspective

2008-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

Computer Science at Grad school at times can really beat the hell out of you at times. A similar thing happened last semester and I grew increasingly inconsistent in my blogging life. The tech facet has already been almost non existent here, since I hate talking tech all the time. Grad life already takes care of that! :) But sometimes it gets really interesting as well, such as this article by New York Times on the Micro-hoo! episode. Well, its not the usual 'whether-or-not' thing, but gives an interesting perspective of 'what-if'..

A Few Wise Men..

2008-02-05T19:12:00.001-08:00

Watching live games on the ground is a helluva experience for a few, but for the unfortunate rest, the only savior is the television stacked in the corner of the room. But for them, blessing comes in disguise as they are not just able to view the happenings in the middle, but also listen to the thoughts of some of the best people who have been involved with the game. I didn't use the phrase who have played the game at the highest level, since there are some brilliant exceptions. I've been thinking on posting this since quite a while and it was long due. So here's my list of whom I really love listening to, the guys who can turn even some of the most boring games into pretty entertainers.. here are a few wise men -

1. Mark Nicholas - "By Heaven" doesn't sound even close to being blasphemous when he says that. For me, he's just the best in the business whether it comes to expressing elation or regret. The fact that he's the only commentator in the Channel 9 team who's not played international cricket pays a testimony to the respect he gathers in that pretty exclusive group. Watching Lee bowl to Sach with MN behind the mic is an absolute treat. Sorry for you fellas who see the game live at the grounds..

2. Richie Benaud - Well, I'm sure most of you would put him on the top spot, but for me he comes at a close second, just a little behind Mark Nicholas. The absolute pundit of the game, who ones famously said, "Captaincy is ninety per cent luck and ten per cent skill, but don't try it without that ten per cent". Without a doubt, the most respected cricket commentator, few would argue his credibility on passing any judgement. He's been one of the best Aussie skippers and been there, seen all..

3. Tony Cozier - No one probably knows Caribbean cricket better than him. I still believe he could have been the best of 'em all had he been involved with say, the Australian cricket. The decline in West Indian cricket, both in quality and interest probably attributes more than anything else in him dropping to the third place. I loved his comment, "Even God would have found it difficult to play that", when Malinga nailed Vettori with an absolute toe crusher.

4. Tony Greig - Needless to say, one of the most animated commentators around, he can even inject excitement into a Aussies-Kenya encounter! Not many would forget him during the Sach twin blows in Sharjah against the Aussies. It was at times difficult to comprehend whether TG himself was hitting them all over the park. The one who was was offered the 'job for life' by Kerry Packer as a commentator for Nine's cricket coverage, he's really carved a place for himself as one of the best ever.

5. Michael Holding - A quite man with an extremely good insight into the game, he's more different than anyone else in the above lot. Doesn't crack too many jokes and with the least of animations, its just a pleasure listening to him, since you know that he just won't make any blunders behind the mic. To the point and often accurate, he still stays true to his 'quite stealthy' run-up before delivering the knockout punch.

6. Geoffrey Boycott - Controversy's the name of this man, and some of the stuff that he says might seem outrageous to a few and humorous to the rest. Yorkshire's accent has never been this famous before. His 'momma' still takes most of the catches and hits most of the runs and we often see a 'poof' of dust when she's playing. Some characters are made for this game. He might have been one of the dullest around with the bat in his hand, but he's an absolute rock star with the microphone now.

7. Ian Chappell - If Michael Hussey's the Mr. Cricket on the field, he's the same off the field. As his twin, he craves for perfection, but balances it just about perfectly with humor. Probably one of those people who know the game as good as anyone else, he doesn't shy away from hitting the nail on the head when it comes to passing his comments. I've never found him going over the top and he really forms one of the core pillars of the Channel 9 club.

8. Bill Lawry - I'd include him just for the energy.. just for the its all happening here and bang and Its a ripper.. If excitement's the sole criterion, he'd rank on top of my list with Tony Greig a close second. There are times, when I find him really going over the top, at times pro Aussie, but whatever, Bill still goes for the kill..

9. Barry Richards - No list can be complete with the great Barry Richards. He falls into the same category as Ian Chappell - perfectionist. The best thing about him is that I've never found him biased in his comments about the game. Indian Protean encounters for some reason lack a bit of fizz in the commentary box, but for Barry Richards, who makes you sit up and listen to him.

10. Ravi Shastri - Well, some might argue that Sunny Gavaskar should have been there, but my pick would be RS. The way he's becoming increasingly good at his job as a broadcaster is commendable. The fact that he's so close to the Indian players help him immensely in passing judgements sitting in that air conditioned box and with his accent and control over the language, he's bound to appeal to the english speaking audience sooner than later. Brilliantly humorous, I'm sure he'll rise up the ranks in the years to come.

Sadly, I decided to limit my list to just ten of them. There were a few others who really were very close to being included but then, it had to be just 10. Harsha Bhogle, Mike Haysman, David Lloyd and Mark Taylor were some of them. Bhogle for his sincerity as a broadcaster and his trivia about this game, Haysman for the Bill Lawrish excitement, Lloyd for his humor and Mark Taylor 'tubby' for analysis. Well, this is it.. These gentlemen behind the microphones are as much as a treat to listen to as watching one of those Warnie rippers or Sach's maximums!

Share your list, and in the meanwhile, here's what Bill Lawry's has to say on an absolute ripper of a catch..

Indian Sports Journalism.. trenched..

2008-02-03T23:49:00.001-08:00

“Generally speaking, the best people nowadays go into journalism, the second best into business, the rubbish into politics and the shits into law”

- Auberon Waugh

Well, no offence and I don't intend to be disrespectful to any law folks and instead through this post I'll contribute my bit in elevating them at least a step, 'coz I think that some of the sports journalists in India are giving them a tough fight for the last position.

Heroes and Gods one day and Villains the next. Sometimes its hard for me to remember and dig deep into my brain cells to remember when was the T20 World Cup? Was it really last year? It wasn't too long when the team was being lauded and loaded with all kinds of metaphors for winning the championship. This was in the year when India earlier failed miserably on the South African tour and the big names in the team were being constantly asked some serious questions. A breath of fresh air comes in with the T20 and suddenly the Indian Press found new Gods who "should have been" long back drafted into the team. Insane celebrations followed and instead of putting in some critical happenings around the world on the front page, all that followed were interviews.. not just of the players but also of their families! Cut short to early 2008 now..

The same team arrives in Melbourne and finds themselves out of place after being skittled out for a paltry 74. Agreed it was disappointing, but what followed from the Indian media was just over the top. The news and the websites were flooded with columns degrading the same bunch of players whom they adored just a championship back. All of this is just so insane and uncalled for? They blew it over the top the first time when they won and now they just bury them a million yards deep when they fail. All of this - just to grab attention!

The silliest part of all this is that most of the writers of such columns don't seem to know a damn about the game. The Times of India was considered to be one of the newspapers that defined the new India, but its sports section is unbearable. The ever increasing number of news channels aren't helping the cause and in fact are sometimes even embarrassing to watch. I just wish that in such a vibrant country where sports is a passion, some sense is restored to these wannabe journalists. I still visit the Sydney Morning Herald or The Australian or for that matter The Times to catch up on the likes of Peter Roebuck, Peter Lalor and Simon Wilde. How I wish, I didn't need to do that! But looks like its still going to take quite sometime before the guys doing the job get their heads straight.

Good 'ol Sportstar has always been my ultra favorite for its articles.. sad I just don't get enough time to read them now.

Adios Baggy Green Number 381...

2008-01-27T00:01:00.001-08:00

The two formats of cricket have often led to players being tagged as a 'one-day' specialist or a 'test match' specialist. In the past we've also seen radically different teams and even different captains for the t wo versions. However, for some players it just doesn't matter. Further, some have even gone a couple of notches ahead and through their incredible actions have managed to bridge a bit of a gap between the two. Fewer belong to such an exclusive league more than the man who's donned the baggy green 381 - Adam Gilchrist.

'Gilly' or 'Church' as he's also known, has probably been one of the greatest all time cricketers to have played the game. Without a doubt, the best wicketkeeper batsman of all times, he's redefined the position of a No. 7 bat in the team. No more can an opposition breathe a sigh of relief when they get the Aussies 5 down, coz' they know that the next man taking guard probably hits the ball harder than anyone else in the game. For the purists, he averages almost 48 with the bat. Did I mention his strike rate? It stands at 81.97 (courtesy Cricinfo stats). To drop a comparison factor, his skipper Ricky Ponting strikes at 80.68 in the ODI version of the game!

Almost everyone falls into the trap of labeling him as a batsman-wicketkeeper rather than a keeper-batsman, which baffles me to no extent, since here's a chap who's recorded the maximum number of dismissals in test cricket. Now, if he still belongs to the latter category, that's quite a hefty bonus, isn't it? They say that Warne could bowl a different delivery every over - leg breaks, zooters, wrong 'uns, flippers, fizzers, whatever. Realistically speaking, if its difficult for a batsman to pick them up, how 'bout the wicketkeeper who even has to anticipate the various edges of the bat that the ball can brush. Yes, he might have dropped a few, some even sitters, but that's what this sport is all about. In fact, to call him one of the chief architects of the Australian juggernaut in last decade or so wouldn't be outrageous at all.

Ian Healy was good, perhaps one of the greatest glovesman to have played this game. Filling his boots wasn't easy and now when Brad Haddin sees Gilchrist's boots, I'm sure he'll find them even bigger!

Thank you Adam Gilchrist, for it was an absolute privilege watching you play, be it behind or in front of the stumps, for you never ceased to entertain us with the way you played the game. We've seen you in whites and in the funky yellow, but its the the sight or your baggy green that will be sorely missed.

The 39th Roar..

2008-01-24T13:42:00.001-08:00

The first international match I watched live at the grounds was during the WC '96, when India played Sri Lanka in Delhi. I was lucky enough to be a ball boy in the game and unlucky enough to see Indians lose against a blinder of a counter-attack by Sri Lankans. It did hurt me, though just a little, for I had already witnessed a majestic 137 from Sach's blade. Its one thing to see the batsman murdering the opposition on the television, but radically different when you see it happening in strict real time from the boundary lines. I still can't forget his flick shot off Murali which just made the ball disappear somewhere over the deep mid-wicket fence. That experience of watching the master play barely a few 60 yards away (yeah, Kotla's pretty small) was quite unbelievable. Perhaps thats the reason he gets a standing ovation at whatever ground he plays on, and its all the more awe inspiring to see that happening when India is having an away game. Its the sheer joy and pleasure of watching this guy bat and play the way he does, for it so often results in a 'Whoa, beautiful" in unison from folks around you.

Adelaide was a belter of a pitch, the moment I saw the first ball, I knew that winning the toss and batting first on this beauty of a track was an absolute bonus. I know that teams in the past have posted huge totals batting first and yet faltered in their second stint. Last year's Ashes pays a testimony to that. But then, that was England, isn't it? ;) Collingwood did hit an incredible double ton, but the question pops up again - would you pay to watch a Sach ton or a Collingwood double? No offence to C'wood, but I'm sure the percentages would be tilted for the former and the great Sir Don Bradman would have been one of them. That's what he brings to the game - unbiased people who just want to watch him bat, even though it might mean getting runs scored against their own team.

Yeah, the fact that his average of low 16s against the Aussies in the second innings is quite ordinary and that he should have indeed batted the Aussies out of the game at Perth and even perhaps saved the one at the SCG. Underachieved.. well, I have to agree on that. That's the perhaps the only blemish on an otherwise quite a 'wow' career and which might make the difference in him being called Sir Sachin in the future after all. But that doesn't matter at times like these, when you see a chap who's played and survived 18 years of international cricket, still come down the track and absolutely hammer that one on top of the sight screen. I hope this is not his last hurrah down under. Its quite unrealistic and perhaps unjustified to ask this man to perform time and again and how often does he come out with flying colors. Biased or foolish or absurd, whatever, but I just don't want to see the master hanging his boots.. not now.. not this year.. perhaps never..

There are not many things that give me goosebumps. The national anthem with the flying tricolor would be one. Guessing the other is a little difficult - the choices being his trademark on drive.. or the tiptoed punch of the backfoot through cover point.. I guess I need more time to decide on that.

"I Dream of Bangalore"

2008-01-20T17:24:00.001-08:00

Well, not literally true for me, but these are the words of a song by Kevin Maney of Portfolio.com. According to him, "In case you haven't heard it, it is truly a song of its time", which puts it as a candidate for being perhaps the only love song about outsourcing. And for the records, its doing great off late, by climbing as high as #84 in the rankings, courtesy GarageBand.com.

You can listen the song here..

Requiem for a Dream..

2008-01-19T01:23:00.001-08:00

To unpathed waters, undreamed shores.
William Shakespeare

It took me a hard time to really nail down to this particular quote to define what I feel. If cricket was at its crossroads a week back and it was only a dreadful dream of landing up at the WACA, Perth and losing it well within the stipulated end of a Test match. Well, the game did end well before 5 days, but wait.. did someone say that Australians 17th consecutive win would be a walk in the park!

Whacked at the WACA or call it the Perth Punch, I'm sure they'll be tons of phrases which would be framed soon before the final test gets underway at the Adelaide Oval. But, for now, let's just live in this dream, for its not often that the hunters become the hunted in their own den.

Comebacks have always been a style statement, Irfan Pathan couldn't have asked for more, with a supremely confident 46 in the 2nd innings and his effort with the ball. The swing seems to be getting back and the consistency graph is on the scale upwards. The best feeling a new ball bowler can have is when he can make the ball really talk. The big 3 failed miserably when it mattered the most, but the Very Very Superspecial guy always reserves his best against the Aussies. There weren't any demons in the pitch and neither was the big Curtly firing those red cherries, but it still worked. That's why I call it a dream. I won't dare say bring on Adelaide, perhaps 'coz I don't really give a damn.. atleast for now..

WACA and the Three de Bruijns in the Countin'

2008-01-17T14:48:00.001-08:00

Just an interesting analysis about the dice sequence problem that I came across. Long but worth a read, since its bound to wake up a few dying cells in your brain.

Further, its an interesting day's play today at the WACA and it remains to be seen if India will finally seize the advantage against the Aussies or squander it away as it so often does. Call it paranoia, but I still can't count the Aussies out of this game. Even though they might be trailing by 170 odd, but how often have we seen this bunch assert themselves out of nowhere. No matter what happens, but leave all your bread and butter and stay glued to the television sets, coz its not too often that the wicked heat of Perth gets to the Australians. Rest assured, if its 41 degrees in the city, its way higher out there at the center. Somehow Sehwag seems all so crucial in this game and I'm not sure if Lee's faced a tighter test in the past year or so before. With WACA gradually getting close to its pacy prime and with virtually no hopes of an Indian win prior to the start, it'll be interesting to see if Lee delivers or the pressure of performing gets to him.

Whatever said and done, the game has been a surprise to most.. and a exciting one for me in a pleasant sense. :)

TZP.. Shoot 'em up!

2008-01-13T20:09:00.001-08:00

Well, first things first. I'm not comparing these two flicks at all. Taare Zameen Par has set standards which will take a lot of work to go past. All the brilliant and supremely intellectual directors step aside, lets roll the red carpet for AK. Looks like most of the people would have seen it and few would actually question the sincerity behind it. Be it the dialogues or the music or the lyrics or the direction or the script or whatever, it was all first rate and to top it all, it was first rate entertainment. AK, Take a bow!

Sometimes, insanity also calls for brilliance, and when the two strike in balance, they call for a wow! Folks who've seen Shoot 'em up might differ in their opinions but it was great fun for me. Not since Kill Bill, have I seen such insane action and blood spattering with a subtle topping of humor. Action, which can't be described in words, but you've gotta see it to believe it. All in all, great entertainment! Never knew carrots could be that dangerous.. ;)

The Great American Vacation

2008-01-13T19:17:00.001-08:00

"College is the longest vacation you will ever take"

- Dan Indante and Karl Marks

I guess I would agree with that more often than not, but then during the semesters it can tend to get a touch too tedious and demand an actual vacation away from it. It didn't get off to the best possible start, but then as it turned out to be, it's been one of the best vacations I've had till now.

I've been to a few places up north in India in the past and seen some snow, but Madison, WI was a different experience altogether. Not that I'm comparing the two, but the scenes there were right out of some of the Hollywood flicks I've seen so far. White Christmas - well, I did indeed get to see one!

From up north here to the Gulf of Mexico the next day, and I landed up at Corpus Christi. Though, its not the best time to hit the beaches 'coz of the cold weather, but nevertheless, it turned out to be a fairly good drive down there. Mexico remains one of my cherished destinations, but haven't been this closer to being there.

Microsoft entertained me for the interviews at just the right time, and I did get to hit Seattle the very next week. It did refresh my memories of my stay in Assam, India where it rained almost every other day. But then, it didn't really stop me and a friend of mine from having fun out there. Well, if nothing more, but I guess it would take a lot to forget one of the best chocolate desserts and drinks that I've had in a very long time.

Well, though time to get back to the Spring Semester now and lets see what its got in store for me.

'Cricket' at Crossroads

2008-01-13T11:54:00.001-08:00

India arrived down under and its been a while since I've been so glued to the happenings since their arrival there. After all, it would perhaps be the last time when the great Indian middle order (at least on paper) would be taking on the baggy greens at their soil. Expectations were huge and fireworks beckoned and man.. have we seen them!

Benson-Bucknor, Roy-Bhajji, Kumble-Ponting et al - looks like the stars of this flick called 'Not cricket, but everything beyond' was a cracker, in literal terms, to the extent that the fissures and the cracks made to this game during the first week of this brand new year are bound to have the most defining repercussions the game has ever seen. Did I say fireworks? Try finding a better term!

The cricket was pretty exceptional with the majestic wrists of Lax and Sach providing to be an entertainment unmatched by any blockbuster. Lee continues to add on to my admiration for him and we all saw what Stuart Clark can do. Well, forgive me for not mentioning Hussey or Symo for the obvious reasons.

More than a week since the Sydney test, but the drama continues to unfold. Didn't I write earlier that the ICC have been increasingly getting better at writing scripts and they continue to do so.

Rewind the tapes to Oval last year when Pietersen was given out caught behind when the wicketkeeper claimed the catch when it clearly bounced before. Pietersen walks and the Sky Sports flashes the entire replay in slow motion from various angles that very instant, prompting the umpires to call him back. I wonder what was Channel 9 doing here! The walk from the center back to pavilion at SCG is a pretty long one, isn't it?

Anyways, how great it would be if India gets back really hard at the WACA..I wish Aerosmith's Dream On turns into Tony Greig's Its All Happening here!

Alas.. back to business

2008-01-13T11:29:00.001-08:00

Its been quite a while since I've posted on this blog and I've been on a vacation for almost a month now. In fact, classes get underway tomorrow and its back to where I belong.

Seeing the boeings fly by at this Denver airport, I was so adamant in fixing the problems with my blog. If anyone of you had visited, it was bloody messed up. I really don't know where it started, but I wasn't able to fix it and in spite of reporting it to the help folks, nothing happened. Finally, I guess they have removed the bug and I had to add all the widgets, which was a pain. Damn, I better be looking for another blogging domain.

An ol' one.. but a classic!

2007-12-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

I just came across this video where Harsha Bhogle talks about Tendulkar in an MBA school. Even if one is not a cricket fanatic, there's much to learn about work ethic from this master craftsman..

Back for Good!

2007-12-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

Time flies by and boy, does it fly fast! It just doesn't seem as though a semester is over, and it just was freaking crazy and way too much happened during this course.
No time at all a couple of days back, and now I've got this luxury of watching back to back episodes of Prison Break, writing a blog and even.. doing nothing! Well, I kinda hated this life a few months back, but how badly I needed this for now.

India won, but damn, it was one of the most irrelevant series ever played. It was only sad to see how the arch rivals match-up is just losing all its fizz. It was not just the dull results, but the manner in which the game was played that was disappointing. Well, though I'll be up in sheer anticipation of watching India meet the Aussies down under, but deep inside I'm pretty sure that facing the likes of Lee and co. on the bouncy tracks won't be a trivial task. Add to that misery of the Indian attack and you are left wondering that all that the team can do best is bat for 5 days. Less than a couple of weeks left and it would be interesting to see how the boxing day opens. Sometimes I wonder if the real essence of this series lies in seeing the master perform for one last time down under. There have been numerous articles in the Australian dailies citing how the Aussie crowds would be fortunate enough this summer again to watch him effortlessly switch between spanking backfoot punches and elegant on the rise cover drives! I hope they don't get disappointed..

I've not seen much of John Cusack and can barely recall Runaway Jury, Identity, Con Air and couple others of his flicks. 1408 showed why he's damn good at his job. A li'l scary and fun at the same time, 1408 is pretty gripping right from the start, though am still wondering what the heck was Samuel L. Jackson doing in that nitty role of his. Talk about wasted talent..

I've not been keeping up to date with the tech news and its barely been a couple of days since I was done with my semester. Replication systems and security was all that I could think till then. I didn't give much to Grad school, but sometimes its imperative that you return to the best papers in systems to actually get a feel of whats happening on the application layer. Three years of work in the applications side didn't give much insight on what allows you to build 'em, 3 months of extensive reading in systems did give me a fair idea though!

Another couple of weeks..

2007-11-25T22:21:00.001-08:00

No time at all for now, am just nearing the end of my first semester. I'll be back with a bang though sometime later with renewed energy. Damn.. sounds cliched, ain't it?
As the tour down under draws near, the aussie papers have started beaming about our man..

Destination: Burma (Myanmar)

2007-11-16T20:44:00.000-08:00

Rocky Balboa.. John McClane - we saw them get back last year belting the hell out of whoever came against them and now its time to let the master enter - John Rambo. Yeah, he looks old after his Vietnam stint, but then you can't count him out. Waiting for January 25th..

Hilarious!

2007-11-14T10:28:00.001-08:00

And its been under construction for ages! Back of the envelope calculations say that if one wants to fly from Delhi to Bangalore on one of those happy-go-lucky cheap tickets - one still ends up paying 1700(tax) + 1500(ferry) + 1(Best case) = 3201, which implies the ticket actually costs you 0.000312 of the total amount! :D Now there's some staggering planning which has gone in, ain't it? Burst with laughter..

Ct Dravid B Kumble

2007-11-14T07:26:00.000-08:00

Ain't got a lot of time for the next few days to post anything here, though I do find time to catch up on stuff somehow. The arch rivals are playing but we are yet to see some real quality cricket and by 'quality' I don't imply the closeness of the matches! It's quite amazing the kind of benchmarks the Aussies were setting barely a couple of weeks ago in the 'purely' cricketing aspects of the game.

Rahul Dravid abandoning the skipper's job was quite unexpected but I guess no one other than Anil Kumble would have been more fitting to fill the abdicated throne. Sachin Tendulkar might be the best batsman to have ever played for India, but when it comes to winning the longer version, few games would go without mentioning critical performances by the men from Karnataka. Such has been their impact on Indian Cricket, sadly most of which has never got its due.

S. Dinakar at his usual best here taking a sneak peek on how the leggie being made the captain should hold out to be a wise decision. I just loved the last line of the story.

T(h)rash the Dell Vostro 1500

2007-11-05T16:00:00.001-08:00

This post was long long due and in fact Harish, a pal of mine from my Huawei days had also asked me about the same. Somehow we know what to expect from each other at times.. :D

Any new technical gadget from a laptop to a sleek mp3 player deserves a mention, who more than Venu would agree on that. ;) I'll restrict myself to the former here, a piece that I bought a couple of months back. In a nutshell, it was a hasty decision.

Vostro 1500, launched by Dell a few months back was a much anticipated product, such that even Walter Mossberg wrote about it. But then I had purchased it by then. Before starting, my ideal laptop definition (without considering the RAM, HDD and other customizable factors) would incorporate the following -

Light, its a 'lap'top after all
Quick to come up after a standby or power save mode
needless to say, slick screen display

Vostro 1500 is everything but that. At 6.7 pounds I'll put it as a mini desktop with laptop like features. Perhaps I was asking too much, but a laptop should epitomize 'lightness' when it comes to weight. Needless to say that at 6.7 pounds its a back belter! How I wish IBM was a touch cheaper..

Frequent BSODs, failure to come up after standbys and hibernate failures - Welcome to Dell. Sometimes it is quite infuriating to see such brands perform so miserably such that you vow never to purchase their products again. Dell's just landed in that category for me. At a low volume, it'll also mix an agonizing burr when you plug in your earphones. Now that's an unwanted freebie.

There have been apparently some decent reviews on Vostro and sometimes I wonder if they were using some other machine while writing the review, or did Dell dispatch a wrong product to me! Sadly, none of them is true. May be I expect too much in $800 odd but then this product simply defies the concept of a laptop.

Vostro was supposed to be the second generation of the Inspiron series, but I guess the only thing that they have improved is the sturdiness of this laptop. Got a burglar at home, don't worry, just whack him with the Vostro, and he's all yours!

Perhaps I was too harsh on Vostro, but then it hurts when your $850 doesn't give you a good feel in the age when every 'other' firm is trying to bring some real sleek gadgets in this category. Once Dell, Never Again!

Quantum Gradanamics!

2007-11-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

This one's an absolute peach! :D

'Halloween' be thy name!

2007-10-31T23:54:00.000-07:00

An end-term exam day after, but I couldn't let go off getting a feel of Halloween after all! Incredible and spooky at the same time - it was quite unbelievable to see an entire bandwagon parading through downtown here in Austin wearing in the most wierd attire you can imagine! Happy Halloween.. :D

I wasn't really sure of the historical details associated with this, but then Wikipedia gives it all. In a nutshell,

The modern holiday of Halloween has its origins in the ancient Gaelic festival known as Samhain (pronounced /ˈsˠaunʲ/ from the Old Irish samain). The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes erroneously regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, where the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them. When the Romans occupied Celtic territory, several Roman traditions were also incorporated into the festivals. Feralia, a day celebrated in late October by the Romans for the passing of the dead as well as a festival which celebrated the Roman Goddess Pomona, the goddess of fruit were incorporated into the celebrations. The symbol of Pomona was an apple, which is a proposed origin for the tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.

Enough of enlightening and as the saying goes, a picture says more than a throusand words.

P.S: There was this hilarious incident where a genuine fire brigade was rushing to some spot, and a seemingly moron chap with an axe and dressed up started sprinting behind it. To add to the hysteria, once he was done, an encore chanting 'Bravo' went up. Crazy Austin, but its fun.

OpenSocial - Social Networking 2.0

2007-10-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

Google's plunging yet again into the social networks, this time with a much bigger and serious perspective. Things have been changing in this field since the past 12 years when Classmates.com was launched. Last few years, especially since 2004, this concept has taken a whole new dimension with terms like orkutting and myspaced becoming commonly used jargons.
Last few days have especially been interesting. Microsoft's new found interest in this finally was out when they entered into a whopping $240 million deal for a mere 1.6% stake in Facebook - a move criticized by many by terming it as 'not making sense'.
And now New York Times reports that Google's launching OpenSocial - which gives a whole new perspective on this - a more serious one. In a nutshell, through OpenSocial, Google's will provide 3 common APIs which would allow application developers to build their own applications using an array of hosts which include LinkedIn, hi5, Friendster, Plaxo and Ning, along with Google's own social networking service, Orkut. Understandably Facebook and MySpace were not there. The kind of impact it will have will only be clear in the future, but this standardization effort of Google might just result in some interesting sequence of events in the near future.
Update: Some serious momentum for OpenSocial APIs as MySpace and Bebo have too joined now!

Spare me the Glare!

2007-10-30T18:47:00.001-07:00

Crowd Taunts, verbal chats, brushing shoulders and intimidating glares - A perfect script to get the game going with the least emphasis on getting the game right! Its pretty inquisitive of the way things have been happening in this game and looks like a new script writer has been appointed to spice up things. A question however pops up - Is it really called for?
Cracking up Australia is not that easy. Andre Nel would have learnt that a couple of years back when Gilly whacked him to all corners of the ground after his antics. He even got a taste of his own against India, though Sreesanth's terpsichore in reply probably overshadowed the entire match itself. No doubt, its fun, though once a while. It becomes quite annoying after that!
Subtle humor with a pinch of sledging is brilliant and I'm not sure if anyone barring the likes of Graeme Hick would really argue with that. But not everyone is good at it, and then comes the case of crossing that 'thin' line when it becomes seriously objectionable. Isn't that happening too often these days? We all know that there is a lot of chatter going around that 22 yards but then to do it gracefully is an art in itself.
Indians were never really good at it, barring a few smart blokes, whom you can count on one hand (The name of Ravi Shastri instantly comes into my mind). However, there has been a substantial change in the past decade or so and this was much evident when Ganguly was at the helm of affairs. He definitely caused a few jitters in Steve Waugh's tummy when the Aussies had come down to India 2000-01.
Things have been changing since then. Aggression is suddenly becoming more important than your numbers. Sreesanth is perhaps a classic example of this. I'm not against giving it back to the Aussies, but then an overdose of the same doesn't really carry any meaning, and especially when you are not able to back your words with deeds. With the recent developments in the Indo-Aus series, its pretty clear that the upcoming tour to Down Under would probably be a make-or-break series for quite a few Indian players. We've all seen how 'generous' the crowds Down under can get, leave alone the 'mates'!
However, ICC would probably be relishing seeing all this. There's a touch of 'soccerial' behavior thats sneaking in this game, driving even the 'relatively' passive folks to hoot for their players. Lets see if these gimmics on display highlight fierce competitiveness or should be ignored as mere buncombe.

Halloween Beckons!

2007-10-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

Just an image to capture the moment. Yeah, cynics would accuse me of getting americanized! It isn't that way, its just that these folks here paint the entire picture of Halloween so well that you tend to get a li'l involved! :)

Finally!

2007-10-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

So finally I did something which was pending since a long time now. You can now find me at my department web page. It ain't pretty for now, but atleast its there. :D

10 Weirdos in Cricket

2007-10-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a video I came across on YouTube regarding the '10 Most Weird Dismissals in Cricket' and it accounted for a pretty interesting viewing. Though there have been quite a few which have been hilarious and at the same time outrageous, not all can be covered in this one.

Remember the game in New Zealand, where Andre Adam's magic delivery did in Kumble! I tried finding a video for the same, but couldn't. Any others that you can recall?

iHumor!

2007-10-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

iMac, iPod, iPhone - Steve Jobs and Co. have given quite a few i's since the iAge took over. We all know the kind of hysteria that was on display when the iPhone was first revealed. However, humor could sometimes fit so perfectly in certain scenarios. For instance, sample this spoof on the same. Thanks to Kunal for the link.

P.S: In no way do I despise Apple or any of its products. Its just some humor out here!

Trends of a Different Sort

2007-10-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

Trends! Beep.. Beep.. Mind says fashion or food or probably even cultural! Welcome to the Google Age and so yet another addition - Google Trends. :) The term is self explanatory but is enough to generate inquisitiveness. Although Google Trends has been there for sometime now, but then one doesn't have time to really infer from the data as such.
According to statistics provided by Google, it definitely shows some interesting patterns. PC World summarizes the same for data from 2004 (Oh c'mon, its like 3 yrs but I guess nothing much would have changed).
Indians hunt for 'sex' and Swedes hunt for 'Kate Moss' while the Americans stay glued to 'Burritos' (damn, I'm sick of Burritos). But the most interesting one would be the Latin Americanos - Mexicans and Venenzuelans lusting for 'Britney Spears'!! Why on earth do they need to hunt for anyone else? ;) Read the article here..

Brought back to Ground..

2007-10-18T00:14:00.001-07:00

Time's the Problem..

2007-10-08T11:47:00.001-07:00

There have been quite a few things happening around, be it in the tech arena or the sports world or even in my routine life. But then posting takes time, and thats something I'm desperately trying to find. There might be a few souls visiting this blog (if at all) to see if there have been any updates, but I'm just way too preoccupied with the coursework, projects and other academic stuff.. I'll try my best to update here sometime soon..

By the way, I did manage to grab some little time to watch Johnny Gaddar, and as one of the reviewers had put it, for a change you need to apply your brains to watch this intelligent thriller. Quite absorbing for sure!

And They said, "Unleash the Fury and Excitement!"

2007-09-24T21:03:00.001-07:00

Well, did I say it would be fireworks unlimited earlier? Pity, that I wasn't able to think of a better phrase since the game today catapulted to much larger dimensions than what me, you and everyone else could have probably imagined! Such were the ways of the game that it could have nailed a weak hearted right into the grave.

Sad, that I didn't get to see the finals and I'd be only catching up the highlights on the web, but from what I've learnt after reading about the game - it was a battle of nerves. There was little to choose between the 2 sides and it all came down to a 'cheeky' shot that went terribly wrong.

Well, I must agree that when the tournament format was first proposed, I just despised the format to the extent of almost acknowledging that ICC was hell bent on 'annihilating' the game. I'm sorry, and I take back my words! T20's been a rage and its been arguably one of the most exciting last couple of weeks of international cricket ever. In short, Excitement Unleashed!

Everything said and done, India won, but I'm elated for yet another reason - for the game itself and how two of its most ardent followers lighted up the sky. Cheers India and Pakistan, I hope its a dawn of a new brand of cricket in these two lands - seething but smooth, elegant yet brutal!

Fireworks Unlimited!

2007-09-23T09:01:00.001-07:00

It took 32 years and 10 premier World Championships for the Gods to figure out the right draw!

Cricket's biggest superpowers and arch rivals come together to play in the finals of a World Championship. Well, it might not be a regular F50 (sounds good, huh) format, but its still a World Cup. First round exits from the former earlier this year, and in the finals in the shorter version now. Its a dream script, and ask any ardent cricket fan, and you can't expect anything more.

I just read the above in one of the most established cricket sites, Cricinfo, and it summed it up all. This has been a dream tournament for both sides, who were gone for all money before it even started. However, 14 days into the Championship and few will argue that its debut could have been better.

Expect deafening noise, die hard support for both teams and hopefully a belter of a pitch (sorry for being batsmen biased). Its a party one can't afford to miss. It can't be a better time for David Lloyd who's been dreaming to switch jobs from being a commentator to flag seller. :)

'Woz'ning Education

2007-09-21T19:04:00.001-07:00

Steve Wozniak has always been an enigma of sorts. I'm not sure why but he is so synonymous to the word 'thinking engineer'. Well, there must be a hundred thousand 'Engineers' produced in India alone these days (I'm one of them), but then we haven't seen another Wozniak, have we?

A few months back I got hold of iWoz, and was startled at the way he has written the masterpiece. The simplicity with which he has described everything would probably be understandable by even a 12 yr old.

From dreaming to build a computer and realizing the dream, Apple's story is known to all. Steve Jobs is one side of the coin, the other side is this 'thinking engineer'. I came across his interview in Convergence and found it to be quite an intriguing read. Nopes, he doesn't talk about Jobs, he doesn't even mention Apple - rather he talks about 'Education' and talks about 'thinking'. A few quotes of his -

"We have to remember to think freely for ourselves. We need to make sure we’re asking a lot of questions and listening to everyone and not just automatically accepting the word of the day. Whenever anything sounds like you have no freedom of choice, you have to remind yourself to think for yourself.
You have to ask, “Does A cause B, or do I just think it does because everyone says it does?” If you don’t ask yourself that, you might one day read in a journal that someone proved it differently. The more you’re told you don’t have a choice in thinking, be very suspicious."

"Now another argument is that games make a kid socially withdrawn. The idea is that a “techie person” is always on a computer alone with the door shut and no one else in the room. Well, these are the kids who used to be shy at school with no one to talk to. Now, because of technology, they can go into chat rooms or onto MySpace, and they have a whole life and don’t have to be popular in real people world."

"If we could reverse some of the paradigms of education to let kids of different ages all participate together in a larger room, then the few human teachers would browse and help students with certain problems that somehow the computer can’t. Each person would have a computer that would be very personal and go at different rates."

And finally,

"Farmers get to vote on farm bills, the elderly get to vote on elderly bills, but students don’t get to vote on school monies. I’d love to see that change."

I especially just loved the 'research part' where he literally persuades people to ask questions, to be clear in fundamentals and force themselves to think!

If interested, you can grab the pdf version of Convergence here. Check out the Summer 2007 copy for the same.

Glimpse of X-factor and Absurd Politics

2007-09-20T23:11:00.001-07:00

Sometimes hasty decisions do turn up well, and when they do, it deserves a post. The incredible youth of Team India finally delivered on the big stage and for any ardent fan it does provide a good feeling somewhere inside. T20 isn't a great format, but then it definitely provides pressure cooker situations where a little flip could draw curtains for you. I virtually had no hopes from the Indian outfit to do well in this f ormat, and with a new 'young' skipper, success looked all the more distant. However, its this very player of the team, who has looked the most buoyant of all and in to talk simply - has been 'inspirational'. Well, sometimes performances alone don't do justice. MS Dhoni though hasn't lit up the skies with fireworks in South Africa, but the way he has handled the situations has been exemplary. Responsible batting and razor sharp thinking have shown the great transition that he has undergone in the past few months of his international cricket. The subtle arrogance and air of defiance that surrounds him is something that was missing since the 'Glorious Ganguly' captaincy regime lost its magic. Well, I can see a little glimpse of it now, though I just hope that the 'glimpse' turns into a blockbuster motion picture.

I don't write about politics, since I feel its one of the most ridiculously absurd creations of the Homo-sapiens. Indian politics is like an eternal drama where characters come and go and they just don't miss an opportunity to show their skill - just that they fall into the 'terrible' category. There has been a lot of confrontation going regarding the Sethusamudram project, and I had no inclination to even write about it, till I came across the comments of the party leader of one of the premier political parties of India. I don't fall into the believers' category, but sometimes these 'so called' leaders stoop to the kind of levels, that its embarrassing to acknowledge that they form the government. For those who know what I'm talking about, check this link, where P Anantha Krishnan hits the nail in the coffin.

Google Unlocks Presentation

2007-09-19T23:38:00.001-07:00

Google has made its Presentation tool available through Google Docs. Well, I had mixed feelings when I had a look at the same. There were certain obvious things missing and at the same time some pretty decent features present. A mixed bag of sorts!

Diskless systems are turning on the heat now and with such applications like Google Docs, Buzzword, etc we are slowly making a gradual transition to a new phase of doc keeping.

Sometimes, I do feel that Google takes its 'keeping it simple' motto a tad too seriously. Its one of the benchmarks on which their flagship product is based but then when you come down to a tool like a presentation maker you probably need to be a bit more flamboyant.. as I call it the zing, and their latest tool falls short on it.

Well, a somewhat surprising omission was that you can't add images from anywhere but your machine on the presentation slides! Did I forget to tell you that its an online tool? Errrr............. Few templates and fewer fonts make it a not so attractive option. Microsoft PowerPoint is a heavy product, and perhaps comparing all the features of such a product with Google's Presentation would be unfair, but then certain features can't be missed. A small albeit irritating glitch is that once you have created a new slide, you cannot change its layout. Oh com'on..

Anyways, the 'Share' feature is worth taking a look and yeah, Google allows you to save the presentation in a PowerPoint format. Moreover, you can also upload a PowerPoint file, though with certain size restrictions (which is obvious).

I never wrote about Buzzword, but then its one of the most fantastic tools I've come across. Its a word processor and I've not seen many better tools in this category than Buzzword.

And damn, when will Google recognize Opera as a stable browser? Google docs refuse to work, Google Reader gets a screwed up layout and God save the Blogger!

OpenOffice.org IBMed, Dravid's Declaration and Rahman's Genius!

2007-09-18T10:57:00.001-07:00

IBM's new found stand against monopoly is gaining momentum through collaborations. To start with, last month IBM announced that it will offer SUN's Solaris OS on x86 servers and now this latest news of contribution to OpenOffice.

In spite of being open source, this project hasn't yet got the kick it wanted in terms of fame. In fact, I am using OpenOffice out here and the suite looks pretty smooth but for some minor glitches, where Microsoft Office scores. However, now with IBM actually contributing code to OO, it will be interesting to see how it shapes up in the future.

Its been yet another news generating week in Indian Cricket. How often have we seen an Indian captain resigning after winning an away series? Well, first of all we haven't had many wins in series away from the sub continent, and then when we do, we generally have the skippers reaping in the benefits for years to come. Not so, with Dravid as he relinquished his post pretty abruptly. "I wasn't enjoying anymore", he said. Well, with crucial games coming in against Australia and arch rivals Pakistan, it will be not soon before we get to see the repercussions of this decision.

A.R. Rahman is a genius, and we all know it. I just came across this video of a new version of the National Anthem, and needless to say, it was inspiring. As though the original version wasn't stunning enough to make you stand up on your feet, this one goes to add some terrific new age music coupled with the classical. Check it out..

Cricket or Soccer.. Whatever.. India Won!

2007-09-14T17:23:00.001-07:00

Want to ignite any form of cricket, then bring them on. They might not be the giants of the game in terms of skills, but the vigor they bring into the game probably matches up for that.. well, at least sometimes! Today was just one of those days.

ICC has been trying to popularize this new silly format of T20 with the World Championship and I am really not sure if they have been able to score any brownie points after their 'actual' World Cup farce earlier this year. Anyways, you want to get the crowds going, then go for the magical wand - get India and Pakistan in the same group. Well, they tried the same in the World Cup earlier as well, but fate had other plans.

Now for the game, India looked a changed side, with a riveting fielding display. The same cannot be said about their batting abilities though. Whatever said and done, it was indeed a pleasing site to see Pathan back in action. I can't really say if he bowled or batted well, its way too short an innings to stamp yourself, but he fits this team so bloody well.

For those you missed the action of the bowl out, here you go. Damn, so reminiscent of soccer!

Orkut Updates!

2007-09-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we all know Orkut has undergone a "supposedly" phenomenal changeover with respect to their look. As part of the new feature-set, they have included the 'updates' section where one is notified of the updates made by anyone in the friend's list. As a result of the same, your page will invariably be cluttered with updates. Heck, I tried to disable this thing, but apparently its 'not possible' right now..

Is it really called for to make this damn thing mandatory?

Revisiting Iron Man

2007-09-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

I just found this video on YouTube, and the event dates back to March 2006, when Black Sabbath was inducted into the hall of fame by Metallica's James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Metallica paid a tribute to the legendary band by playing 'Iron Man'. Well, generally such covers aren't good enough, but then this is Metallica for you. If the riffs in the original were heavy enough, Kirk Hammett and Roberto Trujillo don't do a bad job emulating it either.

Indeed, as the lyrics go -

Iron Man Lives Again!

Future Trends in Web

2007-09-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

A silver convertible Audi zooms past me as I write this post making even a shiny black Mazda Protege and a host of BMWs look pretty ordinary. Damn, its not an illusion while I'm going to school in a bus! Okkkkkkkk am back.. its time for a context switch!
Arun Radhakrishnan points out an article originally published in ReadWriteWeb.com by Richard McManus, where he tries to analyze the 10 future trends of the Web. Read the original post here, and Arun's comments here.
The one thing that really caught me in the entire article was 'Attention Economy'. Well, he says that its been thriving since Web began, but I'd like to differ on this slightly. Attention grabbers were always there, but to generate monetary benefits out of it is something thats perhaps yet to gain momentum. There are several websites that get launched, primarily in the zone of video streaming, social networking, search engines (Ujiko, etc) which have served as attention grabbers but we are yet to see of any prolific site (atleast I can't recall any) which is generating significant revenues through such a model. Citing Google in the super profitable zone is attributed more to the fact that they brought about an entirely new model of generating economics - through advertisements. So the transition from 'Attention Grabbing' to 'Attention Economy' is something which is going to take quite a bit of an effort.
It was surprising but I didn't see Online Advertising in the list, perhaps that's one thing which is 'the' money grabber. What say?
Meanwhile, the 2007 trend is picturized pretty well below, though this pic only takes the brands into account, but still gives a fair bit of an idea. Thanks to BrandCurve for this.

Resurgent Indians.. and 'master'ful 90s continue!

2007-09-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life and events take a full circle, and you come to know that when scenes from the past flash again in the present. Obviously, there'll be subtle changes but the picture is so reminiscent of what you have already seen, and more importantly.. cherished!
Lords, 2002; India were facing a daunting task of chasing 325 in the grand finale.. The rest is history.
Oval, 2007; India were again facing a stiff challenge of 315 in a match which would have otherwise sealed the fate of the series. India won.. again!
The reason that I cite these as similar is because how often have we seen our superstars falling when it really mattered! Make no mistake, I still believe that its our stars who took us to that stage that really mattered (WC 2003 being an example) but then on the real big stage, they somehow just didn't tick.
So at such times, when they do it just sticks on to the cells in the memory forever, and perhaps that is why that such matches are so special.
Almost 2 decades of doing one of the most demanding jobs in the world, and then he still shows up with the kind of enthusiasm for another day at office which even the freshers draw inspiration from. That's what separates the great(est) players from the great ones.
Cover Drives, lofted shots, cheeky paddles, brutal pulls - these things never look so beautiful and at the same time audacious as they do when the master shows them how to play it. Mortals watching can only emulate, but its the master who shows the way. Brilliant yet Brutal, thats how I'll term Tendulkar's innings at the Oval, and when they come in unison with one of the most elegant left handers India has ever produced - that's like icing on the goddamn cake. They played as though with the least respect for the opposition, they played as though they just wanted to win, they played as though they were the kings!
Getting out in the 90s is becoming as much of a trend for Tendulkar as was making 100s a few years back. Well, it was another matter that folks like me were still gruntling when he got out, I just wanted to see him play forever. But its alright, he doesn't need to prove anything. If at all that he can do anything now is to re-inject his energy into this team, which now has a lot more promising and 'fighting' youngsters who probably will take the Indian Cricket to its pinnacle some day and reflect back on this Little Master who kept on giving every ounce of his energy for the game he loved.

Outsourcing - An American Perspective..

2007-09-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

Check this video out, which is a realistic account of Chris Jobbins, who loses his job to outsourcing. He then travels to Bangalore, India to find out more about this nature of business. An interesting account indeed.. Watch it here.

Alas.. I get to see this..

2007-08-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, I forgot to mention this.. How does this looks folks? ;)

This seems to be a radical change from what I experienced sometime back.

Watch out.. Bourne's back..

2007-08-30T19:56:00.001-07:00

Well, for some it might be too late to review Bourne Ultimatum, but I'm an absolute admirer of the Bourne Series, and skipping this one was just out of question. Yeah, Jason Bourne's back, his haunted past gets after him again (thankfully) and as a result, we get an absolutely brilliant piece of entertainment, courtesy Paul Greengrass, the director and his crew. Matt Damon is at his usual best and seeing him play the main protagonist makes me wonder if anyone else could have fitted in better. It looks as though Jason Bourne was created for Matt and vice versa!
There's a thin line between class and crass, especially when it comes to action flicks. Mindless violence with blood spattering all around generally accounts falls in the latter cateory, barring some special ones like Kill Bill, et al. Greengrass shows how terrific edge of action flicks should be done. The best part is that he makes Jason Bourne look a human, and not a super humar armed with 30th century gadgets belting the hell out of the bad boys. Instead what we see here is controlled action and the action sequence between Bourne and CIA asset Desh Bouksani (Joey Ansah) is probably the most breathtaking sequence which makes you sit up and watch without batting an eyelid. Such is the intensity that Greengrass manages to infuse in this flick that for once it feels as you are right besides Bourne!
Everyone else has done a pretty creditable job and with Matt Damon stealing the show, there's actually little that you see elsewhere. Joan Allen continues from where she left in Bourne Supremacy and looks pretty neat playing Deputy Director Pamela Landy.
Last but not the least, the soundtrack. I just loved Extreme Ways in the first two editions and this time Moby revamps his version a bit and still sounds good. They continue to pull it when the end credits roll, guess thats a lucky charm!
All in all, terrific flick and go watch it if you want some adrenaline pump up! For the statistics, its at #73 on IMDB's all time top 250, on Rotten Tomatoes, its a 94% and New York Times gave it 4.5 stars.

Go Gmail!

2007-08-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

According to YouTube, this video was added 23 hrs back, and it has already accounted for 45,019 views!! Am just wondering if this was the way mail was sent and recieved.. :D

First Ever Website?

2007-08-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

First grad class of my life starts in the afternoon, and right now while sitting at the system, suddenly I was wondering as to which was the first website ever on the internet? Well, in this Google-age, it ain't that difficult to find the answer of any question or for that matter a question to any answer. So I pinged in the query and there were quite a few folks who had wondered about the same before. But there were some hilarious answers such as -
- Microsoft, since they invented the 'first' browser.. IE.. :D I was almost rolling on the floor laughing!
- GameFaqs.com or LordsOfPain.net, since they have been around for more than 10 yrs.

Well, sanity returned when the name of Tim Burners Lee was mentioned and then further pinging and querying I finally had the answer -
http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
According to Tim,
It is not now (alas) served but a later (1992) copy of the original pages exists at http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

Well, I was also served with the history of browsers. For the inquisitive, here it is.

Home Made Flying Machines.. Welcome to Flugtag!

2007-08-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia defines Flugtag -

A Flugtag (German: flight day, airshow) is an event in which competitors attempt to fly in homemade flying machines. The flying machines are usually launched off a pier about 30 ft high into the sea (or suitably sized reservoir of water). Most competitors enter for the entertainment value, and the flying machines rarely fly at all.

Note the word "rarely" and you must be wondering why the heck do they do that? Well, to top it all this year at Austin, we had teams coming from as far as Minnesota and Canada to participate in this crazy event which has a team peforming for barely 5 minutes, and all they do is perform a crazy act and dash - they dive into the water. Points are awarded based on numerous factors including their attire, their wierd acts, their model and the final dash!
Thousands of people gathered and I was one among them to get a glimpse of what was happening. To sum it all it was fun, though a li'l wierd since I hadn't seen anything of this sort previously. We had rotating models, we had Andre the Giant and Gliders, et al all plunging 30 ft down in Town Lake. Yeah, fun it was. The pic below defines it all (Courtesy Gaurav)..

Acer bags Gateway.. Englands bags the lead!

2007-08-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

Well, during the dot com burst way back in 2000 (damn, it still seems scary), one of the biggest sufferers were Gateway Inc (formerly Gateway 2000). I remember reading about how they just weren't able to get into profitable margins in the aftermath. Their share values kept on slipping and then they decided ultimately that they'll be shutting down their remaining 180 odd stores. But then, somehow they have been surviving through retailers like Circuit City, CompUSA and the likes. A couple of weeks back when I started my research on buying a notebook, I was amazed to see Gateway and for once wondered if they still existed? Well, anyways, Acer has now decided to acquire Gateway for a good $710min a deal which has sent their counterparts, Lenovo searching for some serious shelter. With this acquisition, Gateway + Acer would surpass Lenovo in the number of PCs shipped. Thats some competition breeding up among the South East Asian players!
Well, some people hit the nail on the head. Siddharth Vaidyanathan, one of Cricinfo's editors is an almost perfect example of this small group. Fielding forms an integral part of any cricket team and we all know how a certain man named Jonathan Rhodes exemplified that. I'm not sure though if Indian team agrees with the Protean. Well, I haven't been seeing the matches, but it looks as though they are just not interested in this department of the game. He sums it all up pretty frankly in a bold assessment-
The facts are actually pretty simple. India lack strong arms, can't slide and can't hit the stumps. Often they grass catches. Regularly they concede overthrows and sometimes make a mockery of themselves trying to execute the basic act of stopping a cricket ball. Their running between the wickets is as ponderous as ever. With four matches to go, there's still plenty of fun to be had. In 1948 you packed the stadiums to watch the Invincibles, now you can take a look at the Unstoppables.

And they crack the iGizmo..

2007-08-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it was just a couple of days back when I had the first real feel of an iPhone, but little did I know that there was a certain bunch of geeks who have been working to crack it since the day of its launch. And though hard work doesn't always pay, it has this time. Engadget has claimed that iPhoneSIMfree.com has finally managed to do it and do it with 100% certainty. TechRepublic reports the issue here..More details on the hack here from Engadget themselves.

Try Square Dancin' Sometime.. and iPhone sizzles!

2007-08-25T09:49:00.001-07:00

IMG_0554
Originally uploaded by apurv.bhartia

Promenade and a circle left.. well, folks here sing it in a way that makes your feet move! I bet they know how to have fun and how to pull people into it. :)
This was my first experience in Square Dancing, the aim of the entire event being bringing international students together and in the process get started in this form of dancing. Oh, to top it all, I guess I did run my luck really hard and ended up winning a Philips DVD Player!

And another thing - iPhone rocks! I did manage to check one out, courtesy Ben, who got it through IBM and all you gadget freaks out there need to get your hands on the same. You need to feel it to really know what a magnificent piece of equipment Apple has come out with!

SRK's dribbles and Chawla's leggies..

2007-08-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Underdog movies - I just love watching them, and it probably is a vicarious experience for me. Be it the Invincible (starring Mark Wahlberg) or Goal (starring Kuno Becker) or for that matter Jerry Maguire (starring Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr.) - I can watch them umpteen times. At the same time, I'm not an avid Yashraj banner fan - actually even this would be an understatement. It would be more appropriate to say I detest them. But with their latest venture Chak De, well I must say they have been quite wonderful. Or rather the kudos should go to the director Shimit Amin, who has been exemplary in executing a seemingly tough task to a decent degree of perfection. I say that since quite often the movies have ended up making a mockery of the sport itself which has been the backbone of its such scripts.
The dribbles, reverse flicks and SRK all seemed real - now that is a bit unheard of, ain't it? Go watch it if you haven't.
Gimme a break and lets welcome Piyush Chawla - oh, I have this sweet corner for all the leggies in international cricket. This mystical art is probably the greatest sight in the game apart from Sach's backfoot punches through the covers. Bamboozling the batsmen gives utmost pleasure and who can swear to it better than a wrist spinner. Chawla did it twice today with Pietersen and Collingwood. The match is still on and I hope he bags a couple more.
And finally, Gods have to be going crazy since another ton eluded the champion. Oh com'on, wasn't it heartbreaking enough to see him miss a couple of them against the Proteans a month back? Anyways, for all those drives and nudges, though I missed them since they aren't shown in Austin - Chak De!

Asta-La'Vista', Dell and Metallica..

2007-08-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

Damn.. Thats Dell for you. Nah, am not a Dell (or for that matter, any brand) basher at all. I have ordered for one of their products, but then it goes bang! I get an email today from them saying that my shipment has been delayed due to 'unexpected' reasons. I am wondering now whether to get it cancelled!
Bill Gates (and Co.) crafted Windows, which is doing good to millions of systems around the world and its got its cons too. Another potential security threat through Vista and the entire fraternity goes absolutely nuts about it. Yeah, am talking about the signed drivers issue, which makes the kernel code terribly susceptible. I've signed on myself to a few dailies, and all the chit chat's only about the same. Vista oh Vista.. I'm not sure the Redmond techies have been through the same amount of trouble before!
No laptop, which means scribbling here becomes terribly difficult and all I can do is visit Venu's blog to get a quick roundup. But these days, I guess he's going a bit busy too, since there aren't not too many updates. Guess, he's finally got some work. (Just Kidding Venu..)
Advanced OS and Wireless Networking for the first semester here, so guess I'm looking for too much fun in grad school! Life seems to be turning a full circle here, or rather going back a few chapters in life. From all assured when I started my undergrad to a terribly lost soul during my grad. Dreaming of a wannabe Steve Jobs (sans the dropout thing) or Larry Page. Anyways for now Metallica sounds so real with their track - Turn the Page.. Aah, cut down the philosophy, lets gets down to some work!

Update: And guess, what I see now, the inimitable Walter Mossberg has nothing good to say about Vostro 1500.. :(

R or T series?

2007-08-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well.. Sometimes I do feel disconnected without my laptop. Yeah, that was one buddy which was always almost the entire time last year, courtesy my company! Now that I have landed up in a grad school, I've been struggling to figure out the one that I should be buying. Aah, things become difficult when you've got to spend in dollars while you aren't earning!
I was looking for Dell Vostro 1500, but I somehow didn't really like the built and its chassis. Moreover, I've heard of Dell's batteries conking after an year! One of the online coupons even presented me HP Pavilion dv2415us for around $750 and it did seem like a powerhouse with 1.8G processor coupled with 2 Gb RAM. But then again the heating and battery issues forced me to look elsewhere. For me Toshiba's keyboard sucks and so I did return to my good 'ol favorite - Thinkpads. Yeah, I had been using a T-43 and must admit that the battery backup remained wonderful even after an year. Given a choice, I would have taken a T-61, but then economic issues would probably force me to zero on a R-61. I tried customizing both with the same components and found that R-61 was around 70 bucks cheaper than its 'supposedly' faster mate. I've been trying to find out the difference between the two but no one clearly is able to come out with any. Dave Weinstein of Gizmag reviews both and concludes that coming out with R-61, Lenovo doesn't leave a lot of difference between its R and T versions. Any inputs, before I zero on R-61. For enthusiasts, here's what I'm looking for -
- Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 (1.8GHz 800MHz 2MBL2)
- Genuine Windows XP Professional
- 14.1 WXGA TFT, w/ Camera
- Intel GMA X3100 GM965 w/ 1394
- 1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
- UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
- 80GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
- CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Enhanced
- ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe US/EMEA/LA/ANZ
- 6 cell Li-Ion Battery
- 7732: 1 Year Depot Warranty - Express

Austined..

2007-08-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

Don't I usually say this - Things change! Yeah, they do and do much sooner than you actually realize. Oh, its not a techie post here and neither has it got anything to do with cricket, movies and the likes! I haven't posted for what seems like a generation and the fingers were just getting itchy. Welcome to Austin..
The bon voyage is over and its just been a couple of days since I've been here and to be damn freaking true, it doesn't feel all that great. Comfort level while you've been working was on a steep upward curve and it feels (0,0) all over again. Bang!
Yeah, I did get to see New York's airport and was wondering if JFK was a city in its own, coz that was the reason I was able to fight out 12 hours at the airport after repeated flight delays!
As for Austin, its pretty hot but not bustling the way we have back home, which is a let-down. Yeah, some might say that they'd love to be in such a place but then take my word - it doesn't feel all that great. Otherwise a lovely place to be in I guess!
I am not sure how things will change in the coming few months, since the next 6 would probably be the most important in my career till now. Getting back to academics ain't that easy and the legendary Lance Armstrong would be good for inspiration. I hope the land of Longhorns and Burning Orange doesn't give me too much of a bumpy ride.
P.S: By the way, just saw on Cricinfo, that India won the series. I can't comment too much on that since Big Sam doesn't showcase this game. I hope they realize that they are missing out on something big!

Vienna or Se7en

2007-07-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

100th post and it took a long time coming after the 99th one! Busy busy goin' with all the stuff that goes along when one decides to change path from a professional one to an academic one.. Austin's just a couple of weeks away now!
In the meanwhile, according to CNet News, Microsoft has announced its new version of Windows, even when before the hoopla surrounding Vista is yet to settle down. The new version called Windows 7 sounds simplistic compared to Vienna, which was the supposed codename for the same. Apparently, the delivery time is set to 3 yrs, though we all know how they struggled with the Vista release. Perhaps Bill Gates, Ballmer and team got to this new codename inspired by David Fincher's tagline of the 1995 blockbuster which goes by the same name - Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light!. ;). The way's been exceedingly long and hellish for the folks from Redmond and all they can hope is to get some 'light' with their new launch. Catch the details here..

Federer Wins a Jaffa @Wimbledon

2007-07-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

The stage was set after the innumerable rain delays and the vagaries of the British Summer for the match of the tournament. The top 2 seeds in a face-off similar to the one last year, except that this one emerged out to be an absolute cracker of a contest. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.. take a bow to both of 'em!

Great players spawn great rivalries - Muhammed Ali and Smoking Joe Frazier, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson - these greats have time and again taken sport to an entirely different level, and now we have Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who have decided to join the envious legacy.
Federer hasn't been seen in too many 5 setters as there haven't been enough players who have challenged him to that extent. Rafael Nadal has never come close to winning on grass barring the last time at All England's where he was beaten by Federer after 4 sets. Critics still considered him as a clay-only specialist who didn't stand a chance against the Swiss on this surface. But how quickly do things change..
A blinder of a match where the Spaniard matched his opponent shot for shot and point for point, or rather should we say that he did a bit better than that. The Swiss Champion had taken a leaf out of Sampras' book of tennis, belting aces at will which probably was one of the deciding factors in his favor.

The number of aces could have been much bigger but for Nadal who extended every bone and muscle in his robotic body to craft some incredible returns of almost unplayable serves.

Two tie-breakers went in Federer's kitty and Nadal broke him in the other 2 sets to take the enthralling encounter to the final set. It was power tennis at its best, with both the players having answers to almost every question raised by each other. There were shades of Sampras in Federer and Agassi in Nadal, and tennis fans know very well that the same class of tennis hasn't really been reproduced since the formers retired. But then, as I said before, things do change, isn't it?
Would it be appropriate to say that Federer did get a little lucky in the final set or did Nadal lose his nerves just a wee bit? In two Federer service games, the scoreline read 15-40, but Federer managed to scrap through both times. And we know that this is being too generous against the Champion who then broke Nadal to claim his fifth consecutive Wimbledon Final to give Bjorn Borg some much needed company.
A terrific match which would augur well for the future of tennis since now Federer has to watch his back not only on clay but on the greener version as well. As for Rafael Nadal, he'll definitely get another chance in the future to accompany Manuel Martinez Santana as the only Spaniard who's won in Wimbledon till now.
As Rafael Nadal sat on his chair after the match wondering what went wrong in the final set, we can all applaud his effort which made the final such a pleasure to watch. His ripping forehands from the back of the court hit with phenomenal precision often left Federer bewildered, such was the level of his game and he still ended on the losing side. For the purists, the final scores read 7-6(9-7),4-6,7-6(7-3),2-6,6-2

Reviving Good 'Ol Memories..

2007-07-04T03:48:00.000-07:00

Check out the explanation for a blunder on part of umpire Mervyn Kitchen..

Was Waz' really the greatest fast bowler the game had ever seen considering the conditions that he played in?

Web Services vs Distributed Objects

2007-06-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

There's always been this one sided debate on which is better in terms of performance - Web Services or RMI (Remote Method Invocation). However, most of the purists have termed the former as being really slow compared to the latter in all scenarios. Even then Web Services have evolved which has been attributed to the fact that they provide a convenient way to work with UI and also automatic firewall protection.
However, saying that Web Services fare poorly when compared to RMI isn't always true, as suggested by the work of Prof. William R. Cook and Janel Barfield in their paper Web Services versus Distributed Objects: A Case Study of Performance and Interface Design. They conclude that Web Services can also outpeform Distributed Objects and RMI if the scenario under question is well suited for document oriented communication.
Cook and Barfield take a simple example of a File Server, where the client requests multiple files from the server. The RMI approach in such a case would require multiple requests being sent to the server and hence the total service delay would depend on the number of such requests being made, and such a delay can be huge when large number of files are being requested from the server.
According to them, Web Services on the other hand with its document oriented approach would fare much better, since the request and response cycle would be run only once and thereby not depending on the number of files being requested. The paper provides skeletal snippets of code, but maintains that the Web Services implementation is difficult to maintain. However, they do provide an alternative object oriented approach to the same. Interesting read, find the paper here..

Old Boys.. Old Times..

2007-06-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

Vintage Sachin at last.. I've not been writing much with respect to this game, coz I just didn't feel like. Cricket's been losing its sheen with the retirement of giants like Lara, Warne and McGrath and also has suffered since one of its champions wasn't playing upto his name.
18 years of cricket and still going. He's not been at his exploding best, his foot movement not that positive and he's been made to jump around by novice fast bowlers. But then there are days like the one today, when everything seems to fall right in place. Sachin Tendulkar's 93 against the Proteas today had everything one can expect from one of cricket's most favorite sons. Elegant backfoot punches through point, devastating pulls and hooks, copy book cover drives and trademark flicks - you name it and he played it and it was obvious, the South Africans suffered.
15000 runs, 160 odd sixes to top over 1600 odd boundaries in an illustrating one day career, I just hope he carries on with this vigor. Forget the age, burn in the enthusiasm and let the bat do the talking. Great shot Sach..

Loading.. Loading.. Still Loading..

2007-06-26T23:53:00.000-07:00

Just for information, I have a 256kbps internet connection rolling at my home and I pay a 1000 bucks for the same per month. I consider the speed to be decent and I believe even though with the advent of 2Mbps connections now, 256 still is decent enough keeping the median speed which folks enjoy in this country.
However, Leslie Cauley of USA Today has kinda woken me up by reporting that even Uncle Sam does not enjoy premier interent data transfer rate.. and she's talking about rate in the order of 1.973Mbps! Read the article here, where she compares the same to Japan, where the median speed is 61Mbps.. are you kidding!!!!

I wonder with 50 million internet users in India and a whole lot of firms which are hooking up every nook and corner of space available in this country, why the heck aren't we at the top, even with players like Tata and Reliance now enjoying a considerable share in this business? Its baffling to say the least..

The Wimbledon - Federer? Djokovic? Others?

2007-06-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Change of surface, change of colors and change of tactics - Adios Roland Garros and Welcome to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Its that time of the year again, and the most prestigious championships are here buzzing with excitement that was missing in its past few editions.
Roger Federer played his first round y'day and it was as smooth a ride as it could have been. Pummeling Gabashvili in straight sets, it was a total no contest. Roger's been switching blazers every Wimbledon now, and the little doubts remain that he'll adorn a new one next summer with 5 crests on it.
However, certain players have been breathing down his neck pretty hard, and its not just Nadal that I'm talking about, but a certain Serbian force who has the game and the power to stop the Federer juggernaut. Novak Djokovic, who impressed one and all at Roland Garros earlier this year has been playing some terrific tennis of late and should his double handed backhands find themselves within the legal baseline boundarides.. man, he'll be more than a force to reckon with! Sample this - he started 2006 ranked 78th, but here he's now, ranked 4th and very much in the reckoning of causing some serious flutters.
The thing that impressed me most about Djokovic at the French was a lethal combination of speed and power - at 6 foot 2, this lanky looking athelete is pretty quick, otherwise how many times have we seen Rafa struggling on clay. Well, though Nadal won their semi final encounter in straight sets, but then there was ample display of talent from Djokovic, who somehow looks to be suited more to the faster courts.

He ain't got an easy draw for sure though - in all probability he'll take on either of Mardy Fish or Nicholas Kiefer or Volandri or Santoro - all capable of springing a suprise on their day. But then, to get the queen's crown you've got to beat 'em all!
Few matches that I'll be looking out for should the open go on as expected - Fed taking on the ever so volatile Marat Safin, Andy Roddick takin' on Dominic Hrbaty, David Nalbandian taking on Marcos Baghdatis, Hewitt facing Canas and Nadal taking on Grojean - all Round-3 matches.
Everything said and done, Federer still starts as favorite and more than just a couple of notches above the rest and anyone else aspiring to win on 8th of July would need to seek some serious inspiration and do that that quickly.

Genre Economics..

2007-06-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

I know my limited cerebral range in the genre of Economics, but sometimes the facts that I face are so startling that all I can do is mention about them. Thank you wired media!
Although I do keep a check on Mostly Economics blog, but seldom does it make a lot of sense to me, which is more credited to my unawareness in such money matters.
However, I also do keep a track on Portfolio.com which impressed me to a deal that I had written about this Conde Naste venture when it was launched.
Here Zubin Jelveh sheds some light on the highly debatable topic - breaking the economic growth among the developing and developed nations with a special mention of Latin America. Take out China and India, and the situation hasn't improved at all in the past 25 years. Startlings facts for novices like me. Consider this,

Setting aside China’s population, the number of people living in poverty is actually slightly higher than it was in the early 1980s, even though the percentage of the world’s population defined as “poor” has fallen 10 percent.

Ujiko - Theme based Search..

2007-06-25T02:08:00.000-07:00

The weekend came and went. All I did was read some stuff here and there and yeah saw Goal 2: Living the Dream, though a part of it is still left. Somehow I enjoy writing a blog whilst in office.. damn, this can get dangerous sometime for me. ;)

It ain't that new, but worth mentioning - I did come across this peculiar search engine called kartoo. Visit it and you'll come to know why I referred to it as peculiar. Further, I found out that the same guys have also come out with another creation of theirs Ujiko - again strange and all I was left wondering if I'll ever use it!

The reason I talk about here is that it just doesn't have the usual search engine look, rather its got more of a gizmo look! Essentially, its trying to establish into a different genre of search engines which are theme based. Enter a search item, and it displays not just the search results but also associates certain themes with them. Clicking on the theme would further narrow your search and so on. As usual they don't charge you a penny, but employs more of a more-features-as-you-work approach; i.e. a new user starts on level 0, and depending on his usage of Ujiko, his level increases and so does the feature-set! More of a game-based approach you can say..
Both Ujiko and Kartoo score well on their rich user interface, especially Kartoo. These metadata engines are definitely different but I'm not really sure if they'll be able to attract users beyond the first time.
And yeah, for the inquisitive bunch, they are powered by Yahoo!

XCavator - Image Search..

2007-06-21T12:30:00.001-07:00

Image recognition has been one of the most talked about technologies and quite a few companies have tried to recognize the potential in this genre. I came across Xcavator, which is an image search engine for stock photos working on similar lines. I tried my hands on this and the results were quite interesting. They provide more than just a couple of options to search an image -
- Color Search; select the hue and also the hue intensity and you'll be presented with a lot of images matching the criteria.
- Image Upload; upload any image and similar images will be listed from its database.
- Tag Search; this is a no brainer, just click on the tag and all the potential candidates will be shown.
- Mix and match the above options.
Xcavator also allows to select a part of the upload image - for instance, if an image of a car is uploaded to search for similar images; then the one can select say the wheel of the uploaded image, and the search will follow suit. XCavator is in the beta version and powered by Cognisign. However, I did try the face recognition part as well, but I guess they are still to get that in place.
For naive folks like me, stock photos mean that license needs to be bought on either once-buy-forever-use basis or on a normal royalty basis.
Update: Just saw that Techcrunch has posted their review on the same. Read the same here..

Africa.. Virtual Goods.. and Terry Semel..

2007-06-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

New software tools keep getting released, the startups keep getting funded, though I must admit the CEOs don't get fired e'day! ;) Well, Terry Semel finally amidst increasing hoopla laid down his CEO badge at Yahoo, and allowing co-founder Jerry Yang to take his position. Anyways, I just came across a couple of interesting reads, courtesy Techcrunch and NY Times.
- Techcrunch or rather Susan Wu writes a guest article for them, citing a new market thats coming up, and coming up at some acceleration - the market for Virtual Goods! Damn, I never realized that "People spend over $1.5 billion on virtual items every year!".. Read on the complete article here..
- Jason Pontin on the other hand writes on a radically different subject for NY Times. Africa - A subject that people talk about only on the email forwards or on social awareness channels. But this time, he poses a different question, "What Does Africa Need Most: Technology or Aid?" Well, he does not conclude on a definite note in this one, but then I guess he's shed enough light. Read on the same here..

Buzzzzzzzzzz..

2007-06-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Been keeping really busy the past few days, and Austin is now really knocking on the doors now and I've been busy trying to research the best air fares available and the routes et al. So I'll be back pretty soon once I get these things done. Seeing the way even the international airlines work, I just hope that the folks there become more competent - its indeed pretty sad the way incompetency has crept in virtually every sector. Anyways, adios till then!

Apple Safari 3 Beta..

2007-06-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

Apple has released its web browser, Safari 3 as a beta download for Windows. Jazzy as Apple is, I was really interested to to get the look and feel of this browser and I must say that it is a mixed bag of goodies and some lousy stuff as well. This 28.2 Mb download is available here. I haven't really checked out on statistics myself, but Apple folks say this about Safari -

The iPod users will relate the look and feel to the iTunes software. It gives a simple grey panel look without over cluttering it with too many things in the toolbar. The notable features -
- Tabbed Browsing; though I couldn't find a shortcut to switch between the tabs while browsing
- Snapback: which lets you instantly snap back to your original search results or to the top level of any website, even after you’ve browsed down a few levels.
- Autofill forms
- Google Search at almost every possible text; I didn't know that Apple folks have developed this kind of affinity for the former!

- Neat Interface: Yeah, with the decreased width of the browser panel, it indeed gives more screen space for the web page to the user.

- Incredible Inline Search: I say its incredible, try out for yourself. A subtle change from what other browsers provide, but then it really is helpful.
But then there are certain other issues, which eclipses its features pretty badly-
- Font, font..font; just can't believe that Apple has screwed up with this. Not adopting the ClearType used by Windows, the jagged edges are so visible when web pages are viewed with this browser, that it really hits it pretty hard. Nopes, they have to completel revamp this ASAP. Jeff Atwood has also mentioned this in his post here.
- Memory Usage; whoa.. unbelievable again - while minimized Safari behaves fine. Maximize it and you'll come to know. Check out this snap I managed to capture from my task manager, its unacceptable..

I'll still go with Opera, probably coz I still love the font they use and probably coz when I hit the back button, I don't want the latency associated with fetching the page again from the server. Cache it folks! Apple could have really done better with Safari, its smooth, no doubt, but with the font factor it really doesn't suit my eyes too well.

The Powerset Hype..

2007-06-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

I have always maintained that since Google has entered the web scenario, more than anything else, it has ignited the innovation fire among the geeks around the world. And at times even when the innovation factor isn't so pertinent, the hype factor that is generated with every new product release is pretty exciting.
A couple of months back, I had came across Powerset, but didn't write about it since it was due to be launched in September this year. The punch line for them is that they will be a Natural Language Processing (NLP) Search engine, which will revolutionize the way users search on the web.
In essence, the results produced by a query here will not just list the pages containing the keywords, but will take into account the linguistic meaning of your query and return results appropriately. Powerset is not open yet, but going through their blog, I found this. A similar query on Google yields -

Sometimes, I wonder whats the point of showing 1,620,000 results for the same?
NLP is a tricky domain, the linguistics as we all know can get really complicated. Meanwhile, Powerset has released a video, giving a small glimpse of their world, and inviting folklore to feel like product managers by testing their product and posting suggestions.. Hmm.. but whats the compensation? ;)

Knock, Knock.. Is the Coach there?

2007-06-12T04:48:00.000-07:00

Ian Chappel nails the Coach Carter issue brilliantly and to the point in this article on Cricinfo. And yeah, for the unaware folks, Cricinfo has been bought from Wisden by the Walt Disney owned firm ESPN for an undisclosed amount.

Yet Another Weekend..

2007-06-12T02:48:00.000-07:00

Nothing really too different happened on the weekend.. Rafael Nadal won once again at Roland Garros, confirming that his forehand's the best in the business and on the other hand the BCCI gets wrapped on the knuckles and yet again reasserts its incompetence at this level.
Well, I didn't witness any as I was off unwinding myself on the foothills of Western Ghats away from even the cellular network. Stay tuned for the travelogue for the same..

Rafael Nadal.. unstoppable!

2007-06-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I really wonder what the word 'sport' means? Is it the executiveness displayed by Golf, or athleticism by Soccer or craftiness by Snooker? At times, we witness the biggest games being played involving the biggest stars, but it still fails to evoke that feeling of the real Sport! However, sometimes it does just the opposite..
Time and again I've watched several sporting events, but it really counts when I do get a shot in my adrenaline. The second semi finals played at Roland Garros came pretty close to it, sadly though it wasn't able to sustain throughout the match.
How often have we seen Rafael Nadal getting flustered? And how many times has it happened on clay? Not many for sure. Yeah, he did lose at the recently concluded Hamburg Open, but then it did prove that he's not a robot! On the other hand, Djokovic has been a rising star, and somehow I see little shades of his opponent in him. Perhaps the one thing that he really needs to get in is RESILIENCE! Nadal showed why he's perhaps the most exciting player on the tennis circuit. We have seen the likes of Thomas Muster in the past who've been simply brilliant on clay, but this kid has lot more than that.
Rafael Nadal looks unstoppable to say the least. This wonderboy from Spain has 'headstrong' written all over him. Give him an inch, and he'll look to take the entire piece, or rather more than that. I am not saying that he's the greatest tennis player on the planet, its Federer who takes that spot. But what Nadal brings to this sport is something more magical!

A scoresheet of 7-5,6-4,6-2 in the favor of Nadal doesn't speak volumes of the match, but ask the folks who saw the match. The first set was a cracker, a supreme exhibition of power and precision. Nadal was great leading 5-2 at one point of time, but then Djokovic showed his abilities by breaking Rafa twice and levelling at 5 each. Mark Woodford would have been proud of the way Djokovic volleyed the ball on clay! Sadly though, the other 2 sets didn't really generate the same excitement level. But it was not that Djokovic played bad, but rather Nadal forced him into submission, we could see it with Djokovic applauding his opponent more than once. Such was the quality of tennis.
Sunday's final might just turn out to be a replay of the last year's event between Federer and Nadal. Roger did manage to end his 81 win streak on clay, but I guess another's just begun!

Roland Garros Showdown..

2007-06-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

Roland Garros is definitely gearing up for one helluva showdown this year in the men's singles. I did cover up on the prospects when it was starting and to be honest, I must acknowledge that the draws lined up couldn't have been much better!
5 of the top 10 seeds (which don't include Guillermo Canas and Carlos Moya) into the quarters. Further, the final spot is taken by Igor Andreev, the 125th Ranked Russian who literally scuffled Baghdatis in 4 sets.
Well, y'day was some of the best tennis I saw in quite some time now. The 3rd set between Rafael Nadal and Lyetton Hewitt was a jaffa, and though I'd really want Nadal to stay and fight off the Big Fed, but would have loved Hewitt pulling that set off from Nadal. Heck, the Hewitt forehand at 5-4 in tiebreak ruined it all! Powerful baseline tennis, and the weakness in Nadal's backhand was being exploited, until he really started to take almost everything on his forehand - and I believe, I need not iterate on his forehand capabilities..
Djokovic looks extremely impressive, and this young Serbian has definitely been pretty clinical in his approach. However, the one player with all the flair is Carlos Moya. He got nailed by Federer in the recently concluded Hamburg Open, but I've really not seen Moya so balanced and strong in the recent past. He looks to be a revelation, watch out for the giant Spaniard.

Canas playing Davydenko also has all the ingredients of a classic. Davydenko is perhaps one of the toughest triers in the game and Canas' re-emergence since the past couple of seasons will definitely be tested, even on his favorite surface.
Whatever said and done, Robredo might just pull off the biggest upset yet, whether it really happens or not is something, time will only tell. For now though, lets head on to The Chatrier..

Pirates.....Yaawwwwnnnnnnnnnnn

2007-06-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

Bangalore..weekends..rain..power disruption - all the words seem so analogous to each other. Anyways, this weekend saw the release of one of the most awaited movies of the year - Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. Well, to be very honest, I'm not that 'huge' a fan of this trilogy, but yeah it did provide some decent entertainment with The Curse of the Black Pearl, which did drop significantly with the sequel, Dead Man's Chest. Now with the latest release, there's just one reaction - Disappointing..

Well, the fans might really differ from me on this, and mind you Capt Jack Sparrow didn't disappoint me this time as well..just that the others did and which overshadowed Johnny Depp's brilliance. A sorry script, which they try to complicate beyond comprehension literally forced me to contemplate walking out in the middle of the movie! Sample this, the final battle in the middle of a vicious maelstrom and the 2 protagonists, Elizabeth and Will getting married among flying swords with the help of Hector Barbossa.. Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnn.. worst sequence of events in a long long time..
Fantasy is a dicey genre, it can be fascinating or just outrageously annoying. Well, for me this high expectations flick falls into the latter category. Special FX can't just carry on for almost 3 hrs!

P.S: As an antidose to my carribean adventure, I saw 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'.. an abstract movie, but then its definitely worth a watch. How I wish, I can get a Lacuna Inc to help me as well!

Surface Computing.. A Long Standing Due..

2007-05-31T23:07:00.001-07:00

Style and Innovation is definitely in - after Apple announced iPhones, a novel concept, its now Microsoft which has managed to turn people's heads. On May 30, they announced and showcased their latest venture - Surface Computing. Well, as novel as it may sound, however this computing concept has been there since the 1980s with firms such as PerceptivePixel, Microsoft is now trying to bring it to the common world.
For the introduction, a Surface features a 30-inch tabletop display which acts as a multitouch and hence multiuser interactive interface, all without a mouse and a keyboard. So you can just let your fingers do the talking on the surface itself - manipulating images, painting pictures, navigating maps et al. Intuition now is changing its interface!!
I saw a couple of videos related to the same, and the gizmo looks jazzy enough to deserve a mention. Well, it might not really be of use as a computing powerhouse for now, and with the initial offering hovering around the $10,000 mark, it might also not be a part of common man's household, but things change fast in this digital world, ain't it?

Barring, the multitouch fundamental concept of this device, the one thing that really hit me was the terrific data transfer capabilities that are possible. With multiple infra-red cameras built in, the digitized surface can intercept any object that is placed on it. Now consider a camera on the surface along with a infra-red enabled phone!! Did the bells ring? Once the camera is placed on the surface media, data i.e. the images can be extracted out of it and dragged into the phone.. with your hands, without actually connecting the 2 devices......

Code named Milan, this multipoint device is all set for an initial rollout as early as 2007 (though we don't trust Microsoft after the Vista deadline debacle) and the first buyers would be the casinos and the retail outfits.
Needless to explain, check out the videos..Its like Minority Report revisited.. ;)

The Bill 'n Steve Show!

2007-05-31T10:10:00.001-07:00

Well, a conference probably never seen before. Welcome Mr. Bill Gates and Mr. Steve Jobs together.. View the entire conference here, which was held in the annual D conference. As expected, Walter Mossberg and Kara Swisher were the mediators. Its a classic..

Yet another Search Revolution?

2007-05-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

This could be the sensational declaration of the year. I just came across a new Search Engine, My Live Search, which is due to be launched in June this year and claims to bring about a revolution in the Search Technology. Apparently the research on this has been on since 8 yrs now and not in the Silicon Valley, but in Melbourne! Michael Arrington of Techcrunch has also reported on this and suddenly we see a buzz about this being created.

As the name indicates, they claim that their search results for your queries will be fetched out from live pages, rather than from already indexed pages in the database, which is the way todays search engines work! Live searching and indexing, huh? Sounds interesting but we'll have to wait till June to see their beta version!

Facile Wins..

2007-05-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Another season begins for world cricket after a forgettable World Cup, and it was quite expected that the season openers will be as disappointing as its preceeding event. India went on to Bangladesh whereas the West Indians marshalled to meet the Poms. Well, sans Brian Lara its difficult to really categorize the once-upon-a-time world beaters as a serious contender.
The innumerable matches played has not only resulted in a over the top hectic schedule for the players, but also for us mortals and the broadcasters. Bangladeshi crowds form one of the most vociferous crowds in the world, and it was pretty sad to see near empty stadiums in the ill scheduled tour.
On the quality of the game played, it was indeed a very sorry display. Even being a staunch Indian supporter, it was disappointing to say the least to see the way they performed. Be it the 4 tons and the record margin of victory over their neighbors, but the high adrenalin factor was nowhere to be seen. A struggling Tendulkar, according to Cricinfo summarizes the tour in entireity.

Even the just concluded game involving the Poms and the West Indians was pretty pathetic. I am not sure, but guess a county side would have probably given more fight to the English Team. Yeah, a few bright spots like the Pietersen double or a Monty Special or a Sidebottom comeback, but on the whole.. nnaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh..
Perhaps Pakistan beating the Lankans was the saving grace, though just. Though sans Murali and Vaas, I'm not sure if we can put the Lankan tigers in the same category. But on the contrary, it was indeed refreshing to see a seemingly rejuvenated Paki outfit under the ever reliable and street smart Shoaib Malik. This chap might just get the team to a position where it belongs, i.e. near the top of the charts!

Google Desktop Search 5

2007-05-25T05:25:00.000-07:00

Google Desktop Search 5 has been launched, and the 1.8Mb download doesn't really tickle much. There's nothing really much different from its earlier versions. I did go through the release notes, which had this to say -
- Faster Search
- Inline preview about the document, which can give an overall idea of its contents
- Advanced Security Features
- Quick Search option
- Jazzier gadgets
However, I wasn't really satisfied with the results. For instance, I keyed in Synergy, but didn't get the result that I was looking for. Ideally, it should have showed me the Synergy application location, from where I could have fired it. Colibri still remains my favorite in this case.
But yeah, document searching is pretty fast and the tool can be a handful in this case. I'll update on this more, as and when I come out with some more on this. Download is available here..A more comprehensive description has been put by Google on their page.
Downsides -
- Damn, I still have to restart my system to complete the installation!
- With Vista already integrating desktop search, I am not sure how many Microsoft systems will Google be able to penetrate with its own Desktop Search..

Welcome to Roland Garros!

2007-05-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

Egalite..
This is what the French Open 2007 holds in it for me. Be it anyone, the Nalbandians, the 'Rafas', the Federers or the Canas', anyone can win it and that's why I love this competition. Folks might differ from me in this respect since quite a few find this Clay Court Grand Slam too boring and even exhausting to watch, but for me this is the ultimate test of character when it comes to Tennis. Marathon matches in the sultry heat, eternal rallies and every aspect of the game tested - What else can one crave for?The seedings will be released today, but history says that they haven't really been that critical when it comes to the French Open. Rafael Nadal, or "Rafa" was the popular choice, but with him getting beaten at the recently concluded Hamburg Open by Federer pulls the door wide open. Damn, still tough to believe the final set scoreline, 6-0 to Federer! Prior to the final, I had little doubt in my mind regarding Nadal extending the 81 match winning streak and thought that he'll carry the same in the French Open. But bang.. that's exactly what sport is.. UNPREDICTABLE!
A 7-4 head to head record definitely puts the odds in Nadal's favor, but the amount of tennis that he has played in the past couple of months would have probably added to the levels of exhaustion which was evident at the Hamburg Final as well. Nadal also admitted after the match,

"I lost a little bit of power after the first set and maybe I was mentally a little bit tired."

Federer understandably is a upbeat about his chances against Nadal,

"I'm feeling very good going into the French Open and I'm excited it's coming around now."

But its not just these 2 super-humans (well almost) who have the ability to lift the trophy on June 10th. History has it - that the Brugueras, the Gaudios, the Ferreros and the Costas have come out of no where to emerge champions at Roland Garros. Match of the French Open till now for me - Andre Agassi beating Andrei Medvedev in the 5 setter marathon in 1999!
Anyone playing the prediction game? Well, the predictometer can really go wrong here. Will the man from Basel do the ultimate, and win the highly coveted Grand Slam thereby filling up the missing trophy in his kitty? Or win Rafa kick start another of his winning streaks? Or we'll have yet another Grand Slam winner? Whichever guess comes true, the party beginning May 27th is surely going to be one helluva one..
Tennis has never been the same again for me since Andre Agassi called it quits. Well, slowly gaining back interest again, though it will be tough to get it to the same in this post-Andre period..Nothing to do with the French Open, but guess this clip really says it all about Andre Agassi!

Talk 'bout Acoustics? Check this out..

2007-05-24T04:20:00.000-07:00

Emails have poured today in my inbox asking me to open a link, finally I did let it go. Damn, you can call it creepy, realistic or just brilliant. Get on your headphones and listen to this..

Back in time with President Whitmore!!

2007-05-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

Its been more than a decade since this movie released, and was the first english flick that I saw in a theatre at Chanakya, Delhi.. and its been more than atleast 100 viewings that I have done for this movie.. but even now whenever it's aired on the television, like it did last sunday prime time, I'm instigated by myself to gear up for another viewing, thereby adding to the numbers. Independence Day just rocks. I am surprised its been given a 6 pointer on the mother of all movie sites, IMDB, but thats the way it is. Sometimes, the Gods also do get crazy. Be it Jeff Goldblum or Will Smith or Bill Pullman, the characters potrayed by them are just brilliant. Ignore the critics pointing at reasons such as how can a virus bring down the entire mother ship or a space ship of the size of 1/4th of the moon would cause tidal waves or the destruction of such a huge ship would be catastrophic for earth and its inhabitants - aah, I guess I'll find a reason to negate all that stuff.. Never again as any movie involving the ETs has generated this hype.
Moment of the movie.. errrrrrrr.. can't be anything but President Whitmore's stirring speech to his fellow fighter pilots at the Area 51 base.. For the ID lovers, here it is.. yeah courtesy You-Tube again..

High on Flyin'..Low on Basics..

2007-05-21T22:29:00.001-07:00

The Low Cost Airlines continue to embarrass themselves and they do that pretty badly. One such air liner is Go-Air. I've had a tough time with them in the past, when they cancelled their flights multiple times, and eventually again doing the same thing a day before the departure. Sorry state to say the least, since I won't be using any expletives here.
However, y'day morning they were supposed to release some tickets, or rather low priced tickets, and I was again up early morning checking out their rates. Voila, this is what I get on submitting the details..In a country where a substantial percentage of workforce forms the IT core for majority of international firms, it is pretty frustrating to notice instances like these..

P.S: My friend Venu, interestingly had posted this on the ongoing marketing warfare between these so called giants..

Search.. Continues to Grow..

2007-05-20T00:29:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest buzzwords to come out of the last decade is 'Search'. Since the evolution of the Internet from the days of the ARPA, there were millions of web pages in the early 90s with hardly any organization associated with them. Cometh the likes of Alta Vista, Infoseek, et al and we had the basic search torches with us. Google obviously redefined the search business through their PageRank algorithm. Its nearing the end of first decade of the twenty first century, and there has been this seamless migration towards metadata search and searching across networks. The trend's changing and last week had some startling news to support these facts.
Social networking is getting on the next level now. ZDNet reported last week on how Explode, the meta-social-networking site has added search api's which would enable searching for a soul across networks such as Flickr, Live Journal, Vox, YouTube, and Tribe, as well as the Explode network itself. Incredible as it may sound, but an 'A' can get across to a 'B' so damn easily now, even though not really knowing each other. I did try to check out Explode, but it's currently in the beta stage and accounts are created by invitation, and am yet to get one to try it. On similar lines, Spock was also launched which allows user to claim the search results, and linking themselves to the networks/communities that they belong to. No validation is done by Spock in this case, and is left to the community to authorize the details.
The whole fundamental issue of crawling across networks to yield search results is as exhaustive as it can get for the user. This might definitely look appealing but if referred to a more holistic view, the privacy takes a hit in the former case of Explode and Spock. Too much leverage to the end user and hence the feature itself partly becomes a security hole. The entire concept of metadata crawling and intra network search is bound to generate some heat when the beta stage websites go live.
Apart from social networking, last week Google also announced that its search results will now combine the results from other web services to provide a more exhaustive result sheet for the end user. For instance, searching Google Videos for a particular video would not also incorporate results from Metacafe. A classic case of dual level indexing, where the already indexed results by a certain search service is indexed again by another service.
'Search' is definitely going places..

World Hold On.. :D

2007-05-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Some wierd ideas keep creeping in..

P.S: Please click on the image to expand. Yeah, and if you are caught up in the numbers, use this for conversion.. :D

Microsoft, Sandisk, Apple.. et al

2007-05-14T23:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't been busy really, but haven't been posting anything since the past few days. All I've been doing is reading a lot of stuff, and I guess it would be appropriate to share what I've been going through. A lot of Microsoft is in the news, and somehow the leaders have managed to stay on the headlines since their Yahoo acquisition talks. I have no idea what happened to all that hoopla which was expected to carry forward since the last week, but then here is something else -

- Microsoft and Sandisk (the flash drive makers) partnering to come out with the next generation of USB drives and memory cards that lets users carry a personalized desktop and applications to any Windows PC. Well, to be more specific this next generation is carrying forward the U3 technology to the next level. I wasn't aware of this 'U3' buzzword, and then wiky-ing made me aware of the concept. In brief, U3 allows applications to be directly launched from the flash drive through a U3 launchpad which is similar to a Windows OS Start Menu. So basically you can personalize any desktop with your own settings by plugging in your U3 drive. Now both Microsoft and Sandisk are working towards carrying the entire desktop with you on your flash drive, so you can virtually personalize any desktop with your own settings. Interesting read..

- This might seem hilarious to a few, and audacious to a few more - Microsoft claiming that Linux has stolen 235 of its patents and is 'planning' to sue Linux out of the market. Well, as audacious as it might seem, it definitely won't be easy to even plan to take out the deep rooted Open Source Software from any realm. Happy Suing folks..

- This isn't new, but somehow didn't lay my eyes on this article earlier. A damn good analysis by Scot Finnie of ComputerWorld, on why Microsoft should fear Apple. Citing reasons of Apple being more market share savvy, superior products and the never-before seen buzz about itself, it makes up for a good read and some alarm bells for the giants.

- Further, nothing concrete about this article, but just the deft comparisons made. Dan Farber of ZDNet talks about recolonization of the world.. rather the web world!

Indian Sporting Arena..Dying?

2007-05-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

Often a question arises - why can't a country of 1 billion people produce sportsmen of supreme quality who can compete on a world stage? Even after a huge amount of money which is being pumped in, the quality of sportsmen is not on a uphill graph unlike most other sports loving nations. Somewhere, something is definitely lacking, something is not quite upto the mark!
Sports is an indispensable facette of any Indian individual. But sadly the two leaders in this genre (read Hockey and Cricket) are on a rapid decline. Well, the downhill graph of hockey could have been attributed to lack of funds and nationwide coverage earlier, but with the likes of Indian Premier League coming up, this hasn't been the case for the past few years. All the dailies, news and various sports channels are studded with the news regarding IPL. On the other hand, cricket is definitely not suffering from any of the obvious factors, be it lack of funds or coverage. Perhaps an overdose of these has cause its undoing!
I didn't watch India play Bangladesh, but was tuned to the online commentary, courtesy Cricinfo. It was indeed painful and disturbing to see the latter as being favorites for most part of the match, till a couple of sensible innings settled the draw in India's favor. I'm definitely not undermining Bangladesh, but the vigor is missing with folks wearing the Indian colors. Half of the 11 playing there aren't sure of their future and the other have been maligned pretty badly by the media. Not having the mind in the place won't be too difficult in that case, I guess! The proud champions of the '83 saga are being found wanting..seriously wanting! Bruised and battered by their World Cup performance, they need some kind of an enigma to get them back up and standing on the world stage.

The situation now is pretty much the same it was when India folded out of the competition in the '92 season down under. They suffered badly and with the likes of Kapil Dev bidding adieu to the game, Indian cricket seemed to have entered a dark tunnel. It was a tough journey, but then the flash was provided by Sachin Tendulkar, a player who single-handedly turned the fortunes of Indian Cricket. No, I'm not talking about him winning games for India, but what his contribution to the Indian Cricket has been much more than that. He pulled the crowds back into the grounds, and made the entire cricketing world talk about this genius, thereby putting India back on the charts of World Cricket.
A spark was provided then, and a similar one is needed now. Winning is required, yes.. but what's more required is someone to pull the crowds back, to infuse new interest into this game. I was particularly excited about Manoj Tiwari, he looked to be someone who might have belonged to the real genre, but with him getting injured, it couldn't have been bad. There are no doubts in my mind that India is going to win the series, and may be a few Indian batsmen might hit some serious runs, but Indian Cricket definitely..definitely needs much more than that!
I really don't want to delve into aspects like people becoming sports ministers inspite of them probably never stepped into an atheletes shoes. No point trying to find solutions to problems which would be deemed as not viable.
Thankfully, India has reached the semi-finals of the Azlan Shah hockey, I'll be definitely tuned to that. Its been long since our stick players have done something, which is worthwhile mentioning.