Free Edge

Apple Store came to Melbourne in June this year, only third in all of Australia and first in Melbourne. For years before then, the only place to get Apple products has been resellers, of which there are very few around.

There is one in particular, My Mac right in the city. It is just opposite Federation Square and across the road from Flinders Street train station. Arguably the best location one could have asked for in Melbourne, only next to where the Parliament now stands.

I had never been to an Apple Store before it came to Melbourne. While Melbourne is an extremely hospitable city and most shops have great service, I was pleasantly surprised by the service at the Apple Store first time went there, and I have visited the shop many times since.

On one of my visits, I told the guy at the Genius Bar about some of the dropped calls I was getting since I bought my iPhone. He connected the phone to a computer, made some tests and about 5 minutes later, handed me a brand new iPhone in replacement for the old one. And I didn't even suggest it!

Cut to the My Mac store. I have been to this store a few times, simply because there were no alternatives. While you can get what you want, the staff are not there to better your experience in the store. They are there to bill you. Every time a customer asks a question, the answer is given, albeit in a tone that makes it clear that the customer has just wasted a few precious moments of the staff.

They might still get away with it, simply because they boast a great location, but what a waste? For years they have had the opportunity to build some great customers with nearly no competition, and unlike the location and the size of the store, this would have been free of cost. And they blew it.

Immunity to Death

This has been the biggest break for me, after putting up my first post on this space. I was nearly ready with a post, and then the Mumbai attacks happened.

There were so many things to be said, but at the same time I didn't want to say a thing. There were so many things being said in the media already. They were proud of our forces at times, and they were outraged at times. Proud of all the men who swarmed into the hotel to save numerous lives putting theirs in line. Outraged that a dozen people could cause so much damage, so easily.

It is my opinion that we Indians have become more immune to death than anybody else. May be because we see so many of them so often. Whether it is a natural disaster or a terrorist attack or a large scale accident, we forget about it the next day and move on with our lives. While it is great that Mumbai can get back to normal so quickly after the train bombs, are we learning anything from them? Or is it just some more lives lost and moving on as soon as possible? After so many terror attacks in the recent times, it is worrying that our Rapid Action Forces took more than 8 hours to reach the terror scenes.

These recent attacks had more at stake because of the targeting of foreign nationals. The Government stand to lose a lot of its revenue from tourism and even some business opportunities. While it is terrible for so many people from US, UK and other countries who had planned their holidays in India, I am hoping these stakes would cause the Indian Government to take strong preventive measures. This is what we have come to, because it seems the lives of the locals don't seem to warrant any.

Ayn Rand vs Dagny Taggart

There is this discussion I had in Orkut communities sometime back that turned out pretty interesting. The community discusses Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and this was reason enough for me to be interested. Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are among my all time favorites, and I have recommended the book to a lot of friends.

This particular discussion was about something everybody who reads Atlas Shrugged would identify with. Many people understand and accept Ayn Rand's reasoning, while many others find it as some sort of a scar in an otherwise terrific piece of work.

Is Dagny Taggart right in leaving Francisco De Anconia and Hank Rearden for John Galt?

(If you didn't understand the last sentence, stop here. You have a lot of work to do. Go read Fountainhead, then Atlas Shrugged, then come back here. I will wait. Promise.)

There are a lot of ways to look at this issue, and the explanation that Ayn gives in the book is perfectly valid. Here is my point of view, better formatted than from Orkut.

Does anyone know what Ayn's views on marriage were? The fact is she approved marriage very much. She even thought it was very important in one's life. I think that is commitment.

She actually did something very close to Dagny in her life. Not three men, but two.

She was married to Frank O Connor. Ayn was in love with him, but he was not in love with her (he married her because Ayn persuaded him to marry her for her immigration purposes).

And ayn had a student of her philosophy, Nathaniel Branden. She persuaded another student of hers, Barbara to marry Nathaniel. They were living happily. Until Ayn at an age around 60 started loving Nathaniel, and Nathaniel out of respect confided he loved her as well (he was not in love actually, as Ayn came to know later).

She caused extreme pain to Frank, Nathaniel and Barbara, the 3 people she supposedly loved most in the whole world, and she caused the divorce between Nathaniel and Barbara.

She might have persuaded the readers about this in her novel, but causing unimaginable pain to the very people you love is ugly in any philosophy. I love her philosophy and I respect her and her books. But because she says a lot of good things, doesn't mean everything she says is right.

What happened in her life is just an extension of what she wrote in Atlas Shrugged about Dagny. Infact, she quoted Atlas Shrugged to her husband and Nathaniel's wife, and persuaded them that what she did was right.

I have been thinking about this ever since I first read Atlas Shrugged and then Ayn's biography. I have concluded that what Dagny did is right and what Ayn did is wrong. The only difference is that what happened to their earlier lovers (Hank and Fransisco - Dagny and Frank - Ayn). Hank and Fransisco don't seem to be concerned about Dagny leaving them, at least they don't seem distressed and hurt. But, Frank was hurt to the point that he started drinking very heavily and ruined his life. The fact that Ayn caused such agony and misery to the person she loved most in life (she dedicated Fountainhead to Frank earlier), is unforgivable.

Although what Dagny does doesn't seem to affect the earlier lovers, it should be remembered that it is fiction, an extremely well written one, but still fiction. May be Ayn wanted Frank to react like how Fransisco and Hank did in Atlas Shrugged, and because of this wishful thinking, the whole situation was created in the novel. Anyway, I think the only way a lover will react to an act like that of Dagny's is how Frank reacted.

If a women or a man is already in love, and he/she finds a great person, may be even greater than his/her lover, why can't he/she have a relationship without a romantic connotation, especially when you know that you are hurting your earlier lover? For example, if the man/woman finds his/her sister/brother, or any person from the same sex as a great person, the relationship is great, as between two sensible people interacting, enjoying each other's company, and obviously without any romatic connotations. Why can't there be a relationship like that just because they are not related by birth, or of the same sex? Why should there be sex involved in all relationships? (I am not saying sex is wrong by any means. But I definitely think to have sex with every great man you see is foolish, impractical and most important of all, uncivilized). And it is the same when somebody says I give my soul to one person, but I would give my body to different people, at least until I find the person who I can give my soul to.

It certainly doesn't sound fair to me. It might when you are in the position of Ayn or Dagny, but what to do, we are talking about objectivity here!

(Facts about Ayn's life are from her biography, Passion of Ayn Rand by Barbara Branden.)

Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton, one of my favorite authors, has passed away at 66. To me, nobody has made contemporary science, be it nano-technology, genetic engineering or paleontology, more interesting and popular than Michael Crichton.

I became a fan of his gripping and fast-paced narrative style when I first read Disclosure. I remember reading the book, through the night, while working on a quite night shift, telling myself I will do some work at the end of next page everytime I finished a page!

Everytime I finished one of his books, I have realized I have gained much more knowledge about a field that not only did I have any idea about, but also had no interest in, and wouldn't have read it unless it was in such a format.

It is hard to imagine the kind of research that must have gone into each of his books, considering they were usually of completely different fields, ranging from issues relating to abortion, dinosaurs (of course), Japanese domination in corporate America, sexual harrasment, issues relating to flight accidents and media, nano technology, global warming to genetic engineering, to name just a few.

His contributions would be gravely missed. I will leave you with my favorite lines from one of his books.

On your planet you have an animal called a bear. It is a large animal, sometimes larger than you, and it is clever and has ingenuity, and it has a brain as large as yours. But the bear differs from you in one important way.

It cannot perform the activity you call imagining. It cannot make mental images of how reality might be. It cannot envision what you call the past and what you call the future. This special ability of imagination is what has made your—species as great as it is. Nothing else. It is not your ape—nature, not your tool-using nature, not language or your violence or your caring for young or your social groupings. It is none of these things, which are all found in other animals. Your greatness lies in imagination.

The ability to imagine is the largest part of what you call intelligence. You think the ability to imagine is merely a useful step on the way to solving a problem or making something happen. But imagining it is what makes it happen. This is the gift of your species and this is the danger, because you do not choose to control your imaginings. You imagine wonderful things and you imagine terrible things, and you take no responsibility for the choice. You say you have inside you both the power of good and the power of evil, the angel and the devil, but in truth you have just one thing inside you—the ability to imagine.

- Sphere, Michael Crichton - 1987.

Plug your Blog on ProBlogger

Blogosphere is filled with tons of very interesting blogs and downright extraordinary people. One of my favorite blogs around is Darren Rowse's ProBlogger. When I wanted to start my own blog and started looking for stuff I should be aware of, tips on the best blogging platform etc, ProBlogger was one of the first I found, and there is some solid help provided in this area in the site. The passion with which he writes is very infectious!

He is probably the last person needing a plug on a startup casual blog like this, but he posted a really nice post over the weekend. Being a top guy in a very competitive niche, he gets bombarded with requests for links in his blog, and obviously to keep the quality of his blog, he needs to turn the requests down. What he has done in this post is to let any readers comment on the post, giving a short write up about their own blog, for 48 hours.

It's a great opportunity for anybody who wants to let their blog be known to everybody interested, also that's some great marketing right there. Right now, there are 1153 comments and counting. Do write up a small intro of your blog if the time has not run out. If not, just have a look at the blog. Some great tips on blogging there.

Cinema Cinema

RV has sent a tag our way! And to be done in Tamil. Apologies to the readers (plural - I am optimistic), who don't speak or just don't read Tamil.

இந்த தொடர் பதிவை அனுப்பியதற்காக RV அவர்களுக்கும், இதை எழுத உதவியதற்காக Google Transliteration-உக்கும் நன்றி. இதை அனுப்பும் அளவுக்கு ப்ளாக் எழுதுபவர்கள், இந்த தொடர் பதிவை முன்பே செய்யாதவர்கள் யாரும் எனக்கு தெரியாது. செய்ய வேண்டும் என்று தோன்றினால் நீங்களும் தாராளமாக எடுத்து கொள்ளலாம். கமெண்ட் பகுதியில் லிங்க் கொடுத்தால், இங்கு வருபவர்களும் படிக்கலாம்.

1. எந்த வயதில் சினிமா பார்க்க ஆரம்பித்தீர்கள்? நினைவுதெரிந்து கண்ட முதல் சினிமா? என்ன உணர்ந்தீர்கள்?

ஒரு ஐந்து இல்லை ஆறு வயசு இருக்கும்னு நினைக்கிறேன்.

பூவிழி வாசலிலே.

இதுக்கு முன்னாடி கண்டிப்பா ஏதோ படம் போயிருக்கேன். ஆனா நினைவு இல்லை. அப்பா அம்மா இல்லாம பெரியப்பா பெரியம்மா குடும்பத்தோட அடம் புடிச்சி படத்துக்கு போயாச்சு. படம் ஆரம்பிச்சு அந்த சின்ன பையனோட அம்மா அப்பாவ கொல்ற சீன் வந்ததும், 'அம்மா கிட்ட போகணும்'னு ஓன்னு அழுது ஆர்பாட்டம் பண்ணி... ஆரம்பமே அமர்க்களம் தான்!

இப்போ கூட இந்த படம் பார்த்தா கொஞ்சம் பயமா தான் இருக்கும்.

2. கடைசியாக அரங்கில் அமர்ந்து பார்த்த தமிழ் சினிமா?
சத்யம். தலை எழுத்து!

3. கடைசியாக அரங்கிலன்றிப் பார்த்த தமிழ் சினிமா எது, எங்கே, என்ன உணர்ந்தீர்கள்?
திமிரு. இருக்கற DVD எல்லாம் பல தடவ பார்த்தாச்சுன்னு நண்பர் புதுசா இதை வாங்கி வந்தார். இன்னும் முழுவதும் பார்க்கவில்லை. இது வரைக்கும் விருவிருப்பாதான் போகிறது. திரும்பவும் அப்பாவி ஒருத்தர் ஏதாவது ரவுடியின் அட்டகாசத்தால் அவதிப்பட்டு அதை எப்படி சமாளிக்கிறார் என்கிற கதை. கொஞ்சம் தான் வித்தியாசம். ஷ்ரேயா-வின் பாத்திரம் கொஞ்சம் புதுசு.

4. உங்களை மிகவும் தாக்கிய தமிழ்ச்சினிமா?
மகாநதி. முதல் பாதி பார்க்க ரொம்பவும் கஷ்டமா இருக்கும். ரெண்டாவது பாதி, முக்கியமா climax பார்க்கும்போது அதெல்லாம் மறந்துடும். படத்தின் கதையில் இருந்து தவறி ஒரு சீன், ஒரு பாடல் இருக்காது. இது போன்ற படங்கள் தமிழில் ரொம்ப குறைவு. ஸ்ட்ராங்கான திரைக்கதை. கமல், பூர்ணம் விஸ்வநாதன் அருமையான நடிப்பு.

அன்பே சிவம், மௌன ராகம், தளபதி, நாயகன் போன்ற படங்கள் மறக்க முடியாதவை.

பார்த்ததும் ரொம்ப கோபம் வந்த படம் பருத்தி வீரன்.

5-அ. உங்களை மிகவும் தாக்கிய தமிழ்ச்சினிமா-அரசியல் சம்பவம்?
அப்படி எதுவும் இல்லை.

5-ஆ. உங்களை மிகவும் தாக்கிய தமிழ்ச்சினிமா-தொழில்நுட்ப சம்பவம்?
எனக்கு தொழில்நுட்பம் பிடித்தாலும், சினிமா பொருத்தவரையில் அவ்வளவு கவனம் செலுத்துவதில்லை. உடனே ஞாபகம் வருவது விருமாண்டி படத்தின் திரைக்கதை யுக்தி. புதுமையான ஒன்று. ரொம்பவும் கஷ்டம் கூட. இது ஏதாவது வேறு மொழி படத்தில் இருந்து பெறப்பட்டதா என்று தெரியாது. ஆனால், இந்த படத்திருக்கு ரொம்பவும் பொருந்தி இருந்தது.

கிட்டத்தட்ட இதே யுக்தியை மணிரத்தினம் 'ஆயுத எழுத்து' படத்தில் உபயோகித்தது அவ்வளவாக எடுபடவில்லை என்பது என் கருத்து.

6. தமிழ்ச்சினிமா பற்றி வாசிப்பதுண்டா?
அவ்வளவாக இல்லை. நண்பர்கள் சொல்லும் விஷயங்கள் தான்.

7. தமிழ்ச்சினிமா இசை?
மலிவு விலை sale இல் கிடைக்கும் டீ-ஷர்ட் மாதிரி ரொம்ப அருமையான இசை முதல் கேட்கவே முடியாதது வரை எல்லாம் கிடைக்கும். நல்லதாய் பார்த்து எடுப்பது கேட்பவர் சாமர்த்தியம்.

8. தமிழ் தவிர வேறு இந்திய, உலக மொழி சினிமா பார்ப்பதுண்டா? அதிகம் தாக்கிய படங்கள்?
ஆங்கில, ஹிந்தி படங்கள் நிறைய பார்பதுண்டு.

ஆங்கிலத்தில் Aviator, blood diamond, cast away போன்ற படங்கள் ரொம்பவும் பிடித்தவை. சமீபத்தில் dark knight, Taken பார்த்தேன்- இரண்டுமே அருமையான படங்கள். அது தவிர அனிமேஷன் படங்களும் பார்பதுண்டு. Incredibles, Cars, Wall-E எல்லாமே தொழில் நுட்பம் மட்டும் இன்றி மிகவும் கற்பனை வளமுள்ள, ரசிக்கக்கூடிய கதைகளுடன் வருகின்றன.

ஹிந்தியில் ஷாருக் கானின் தீவிர ரசிகன். DDLJ, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai போன்ற படங்கள் பல முறை பார்த்திருக்கிறேன். மற்றபடி பிடித்த படங்கள் Taare Zameen Par, Chak De India, Dil Chahta Hai என்று பல சொல்லி கொண்டே போகலாம்.

என் கூட வசிக்கும் ஹாங் காங்கை சேர்ந்த நண்பன் சொல்லி பார்த்த சீன படம் Infernal Affairs. ஆங்கிலத்தில் Departed என்ற பெயரில் ரீமேக் செய்ய பட்டது. என்னை ரொம்பவே வியக்க வைத்த படம். ஆங்கிலத்தில் இருந்ததை விட மொழி புரியாவிட்டாலும் இந்த படம் அருமையாக இருந்தது.

9. தமிழ்ச்சினிமா உலகுடன் நேரடித்தொடர்பு உண்டா? என்ன செய்தீர்கள்? பிடித்ததா? அதை மீண்டும் செய்வீர்களா? தமிழ்ச்சினிமா மேம்பட அது உதவுமா?
நேரடித்தொடர்பு எல்லாம் எதுவும் இல்லை. சத்யம் மாதிரி படத்தை எல்லாம் $15 கொடுத்து அரங்கில் சென்று பார்ப்பதே தமிழ் சினிமாவுக்கு நான் செய்யும் பெரிய உதவி இல்லையா??

10. தமிழ்ச்சினிமாவின் எதிர்காலம் பற்றி என்ன நினைக்கிறீர்கள்?
காதல், இரண்டு சண்டைகள், ஐந்து பாடல்கள் என்ற வட்டத்தை தாண்டி கதைக்கு ஏற்ற படங்கள் எடுத்தால், பல தரமான படங்கள் வரலாம்.

11. அடுத்த ஓராண்டு தமிழில் சினிமா கிடையாது, மற்றும் சினிமா பற்றிய சமாச்சாரங்கள், செய்திகள் எதுவுமே பத்திரிகைகள், தொலைக்காட்சி, இணையம் உள்ளிட்ட ஊடகங்களில் கிடையாது என்று வைத்துக்கொள்வோம்? உங்களுக்கு எப்படியிருக்கும்? தமிழர்களுக்கு என்ன ஆகும் என்று நினைக்கிறீர்கள்?
தமிழ் நாடு தாண்டி இருந்து பழகியதாலோ என்னவோ, அவ்வளவா பிரச்சனை இருக்காதுன்னு தான் தோணுது.

தமிழர்கள் கொஞ்சம் பித்து பிடித்த மாதிரி தான் அலைவார்கள் - கொஞ்ச நாளைக்கு. Blessing in disguise என்று சொல்வது போல இது ஒரு நல்ல விஷயமாக இருக்கலாம்.

ஓராண்டுக்கு மேல் என்றால் வருத்த படுவேன். எப்போதாவது வரும் அருமையான படங்களுக்காக எப்போதும் வரும் மட்டமான படங்களை பொருத்து கொள்ளலாம்!

How to get the best out of your iPhone

Mobile gadgets are my favorite type of gadgets. You can be in contact with all your friends from anywhere you want, take all the music and movies you need with you, and more importantly if the gadget is cool enough you can show off quite a bit with it too!



So, when my old windows mobile had been used to its maximum capacity, after a couple of battery swaps, I decided to look for a new phone. I have an idea that if you want to find the best product around in any field, all you need to do look around for the product that is being copied frantically by all the competitors. That, obviously would be an iPhone. From Nokia to Google's android everybody seems to want a piece of the iPhone pie right now!

So, when Apple's iPhone was released in Australia this June, I was among the first to pick it up. After nearly 4 months of heavy usage, I must say I am a very pleased user. I can confidently say that this is easily the best phone I have ever used. The ease of use and the internet capabilities are unparalleled. But, I think there are some things that a user can do to get the best use of the phone. With these tips, I hope some of you will have an even better experience with the phone. I will try not to get into the specifics of any particular application here. This applies generally to the phone and its usage itself. So, here goes..

• This is the most basic of all tips, but probably the most useful. Even though you can hold it in your hand, the iPhone is still a small computer. Like in any computer, the first thing you want to know is what to do when something goes wrong. As stable as it is, it can sometimes stop on its tracks. The first thing to try if an application freezes and would not respond to the press of home button, is to force quit the application. Anybody who has used Mac OS X will immediately recognize this command. This is the equivalent of End Task in windows, but one that will work everytime. iPhone has a simple of calling this command. Press and hold the home button for about 6 seconds. If the problem is something simple and specific to the application, the application will quit completely and you should go back to the home screen and when you open the application again, it should start afresh.

• Sometimes the problem is not as simple as that. If the previous tip doesn't work, try restarting the iPhone. To do this, press and hold the on/off button on top for about 6 seconds. You will see a slider bar named Slide to Power off. Slide and the device would be turned off. Just press the on/off button a couple of seconds to turn it back on.
  

• If you think the phone is really messed up and it doesn't respond to either techniques, you might have to reset the phone. This one, always works! Press and hold the home button and the on/off button on top together for about 6 seconds. The phone turn itself off and then on again. You should be ready to put the phone to spin again.
  

• Alright, with the crisis management out of the way, we can work on getting some productivity on the phone. This one relates to the 3G network that makes the iPhone such a fast internet browsing machine. As great it is when it works, 3G is still a very new technology in many parts of the world. In Australia, I have seen users have dropped calls, because of this, and when I contacted Optus, my phone service provider, they actually confirmed there were indeed 3G issues. So, the tip is, turn 3G off when not needed. There are a couple of advantages to this. First, my dropped call rate dropped from more than 5% to 0% overnight, after I turned 3G off. Thats a lot of difference. Also, the 3G chip is very battery intensive and turning it off will make your iPhone run for much longer. To turn 3G off go to Settings>General>Network>Enable 3G, and slide to turn it off. If you need high speed internet you can turn it on quickly of course (Internet still works, just that it is slower).
  

• While many apps that are available for the iPhone are great and adds to the experience of the phone, it must be realized that a very large percentage of them are developed by third party developers. It means that they are not all stable, and some of them might be more battery consuming than others, simply because of bad coding sometimes. So, when you install a new app, try it out and if it freezes your phone, you would want to wait until a bugfix is released. Bugfixes are rather quick if the developers are keen, and shouldn't take too long.

• If you do not need mails pushed to your phone, and you can open the mail app to read them, turn off push notifications, this might have a major impact on the battery life as well.
  

I am sure there are many more, but these tips I hope will make it using the iPhone a better experience for you!

Do share any tips you can think of in the comments section, or about anything in the world for that matter. Thanks for coming!

Experiments With Food

Ask any Indian who has migrated out of India and has been living elsewhere for over 6 months what they miss most about being away from India, and about 99% of them would give the same answer without a second's thought - their mother... and they would be lying. Not that they don't miss their moms much; just that they miss their moms' food more.

When you have such a ready source of great variety of food at home and anywhere else you go as in the case of India, you kind of start to forget that there in fact is a source! So, when I moved to Australia having decided to study here, it came as quite a shock to me that for some reason dining tables in Australia would not generate food every morning and evening like the ones in India did.

I had never learnt even the basics of cooking when in India, because well, there really was no need for it until I moved out. I guess everybody needs a little push to get started - couple of days of bread and jam, oriental noodles, and potato chips from the supermarket did it for me.

I would never forget the day, I think it was about a week in to being in Canberra and I couldn't take it anymore, when I entered the kitchen with resolve and learned everything there was to know about lighting the burner. The landlord for some reason thought it was quite amusing that I would focus so much on a seemingly trivial task, trying hard to suppress his laughter all the while teaching me the nuances of lighting. About 15 minutes of constant practice later, I could at last light the burner without calling him or one of my house mates who were no better at this than me to supervise me. Yayy!

It took many more sessions over a couple of years to learn cooking even modestly. But it is such a great hobby and I love it now. I probably can't do without it. The good thing is I can now cook something edible nearly every time I start and all the utensils I start out with come out fine at the end of it!

PS: The fact that I learned cooking enough to be a chef for a reputable restaurant for nearly an year, is simply a true testimony to the patience and skill level of the other chefs.

Stupid Web Apps

Richard Stallman has denounced cloud computing and web applications as a whole. "It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign". He has come out rather strongly about these budding technologies that many think could be the next big thing in computing. So, why are they thought to be so good and is Stallman right in saying that they are stupid?

Apple made its foray recently in to cloud computing, and made the term famous with MobileMe. Update a contact or make a new appointment on the go with your iPhone, and the details are updated within seconds to your desktop and laptops at home and work. You accept an invitation for a meeting at work, and it is automatically updated on your phone, so you will be reminded wherever you are, not just when at the desk. Pretty powerful stuff.

Popular e-mail applications, blogging softwares, productivity programs like Google spreadsheets are all examples of web applications. There are some great advantages to web apps over its desktop counterpart.

• There is no need to install web applications on every computer you need to run it on. Its distributed over the network, and they are available out of the box.
• You create a presentation, save it on your desktop and forget to copy into a flash drive. Every body has these stories. No such problems with web apps. Point to the same URL and you have the file anywhere in the world, as long as you have an internet connection.
  
• Upgrades and bug fixes are much easier to distribute. No need to install in every computer around. Upgrade it in the server, and the next time the users open the site, they find the changes. This in turn cuts costs for the service providers and so prices for customers are much cheaper. Many web apps to this date are free.

These are just a few of the advantages. So, why is Stallman being so negative about these technologies? His argument is that, by storing our data with these companies, we are losing control over our data, and so we need to stop using them.

There is no doubt that we are giving considerable control of our data to these companies, when we store data with them. But in my opinion not using web apps is as much a solution to this problem as stop eating due to the increasing costs of food (I think I took it too far too) !

If we take some precautions, in my opinion we can save ourselves from this loss of control while also enjoying the advantages these technologies provide.

• Use a software like Mail or Outlook. Get it configured with all your mail even if you never use it, and do not forget to have it started when the computer starts. In case you lose your mail account (this happens far more often than we realize), you have all the mails on your computer. You still need to let all your friends about your new mail address, but at least the glass is half full.
• The fact that documents have been saved in Google Docs is not sufficient. Make frequent backups. The frequency depends on the importance of the documents you have stored there of course.
• Try to use blog platforms that provide the option of automatic backups, and if possible exporting in XML format, so it is easy to import the complete blog into a new platform. Wordpress does a great job of it. Have a look at this if you are looking for this plugin. I cannot find a feature that can export my blog in blogger. Can somebody please let me know how I can do this, if possible at all. Here is the second best solution.

Some people have far too sensitive data and would have to take extraordinary measures to protect them. For the rest of us, I think the web is still a relatively safe enviroment. But, I think realization that these services are provided free (in most cases), and not to be taken for granted can go a long way.

I am sure there are tons of such small techniques that can be used to ensure that our web experience is safe. Do share them in the comments section if you can think of some!

Gotcha !

What do you call a person who is completely laid back; for whom nothing is sacred, nobody too big? You might use a 17 letter tongue-twister or you might use a simpler and more accurate word - 'Aussie'.

Have a listen to this Gotcha call for some first hand proof. Some background information, before you go though...

Dr. John So is the Lord Mayor of Melbourne city. The man I have heard is probably the most famous of Mayors Melbourne has ever had, and was named World Mayor in 2006.

My first memory of him is from the closing ceremony of 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne. On stage in company with the then Victorian premier Steve Bracks and the Australian Prime Minister, John So beat both of them hands down in the appreciation showed by the Melbourne crowd. At every mention of his name, the applause kept increasing, and after the completion of the games, there were even some John So for PM t-shirts seen around the city. So, you might say he is one of the most influential men in the country.

Gotcha call is a rather famous section in the breakfast show of Fox FM in Melbourne. It is the equivalent of candid camera, for radio. People give information about their friends, usually some queer thing about them, and Matt Tilley, the co-host of the show, calls them up and torments them with the information, usually impersonating as someone else. What keeps the show interesting is Matt's quick wit and the many variety of voices he can impersonate (He does a great Indian accent, the character Ajeeb he does has achieved near cult status).

Last friday Matt decides to call up the Lord Mayor's office impersonating, president of a local football team, who was going to run for Mayor, but withdrew at the last minute because of his commitment to the Hawthorn football team. The poor unsuspecting Mayor is in for some shock!

Warning: There is some coarse language. It can be noticed that John So, being of Chinese origin is not fluent with his english. So, go have a listen. Look for the one titled Gotch Call - Matt gets Melbourne's Lord Mayor John So singing. Here, the link again.

Only in Australia! If it had happened in India, the radio station would have been history by now!

The thousand other things

Action is highly overrated.  

A scientist is highly active with her work.  So is a doctor, a software engineer or a writer.  But, so is a gambler or a couch potato.  She chooses all the wrong things to act upon.  So, the challenge is not action, it is the choice - What do I act on now?

Every day, every moment, we have this choice to make.  But this choice is rarely as easy as choosing between something important vs something frivolous.  

Do you spend your free time learning more about the programming language you are working on or about the brand new programming platform that looks like the next big thing?

You have chosen what you are doing right now over a thousand other things you could be doing.  You could be out learning a new skill.  You could be spending quality time with a family member or a loved one.  

Does the thing you are doing at any point of time deserve the precedence over all the things that you could be doing?  If no, make a different choice now.  If yes, are you putting in the kind of effort such a thing deserves ?

Just the start

I found this nice little video recently. Sachin, barely 16 giving the interview before his international debut.

He hasn't developed much interviewing skills or tact in answering questions then. What confidence, though !

My favorite part is when he is asked if he is tired of all the people asking him a lot of questions and he answers in a matter-of-factly tone, I think it's just the start.

What a legend!

The 20 Rupee Misadventure

Do you have a friend who you can show the photograph of, if someone asks what a smart-ass means?

Symptoms of such a person might include

• getting himself (and you) into situations where you are inches away from getting your ass kicked - on a fairly regular basis,
• asking questions non-stop to the lecturer who is taking her first class ever, causing her to seriously consider other career options

among other things.  My guess is, you did. I did too - unfortunately, a few of these. But nobody comes close to perfection at this smart-ass thing as this friend of mine, lets just call him S.

This once, I remember the details only vaguely, but I think we were looking to have a good lunch having cut the classes to go to a movie or something. This was in Coimbatore when we were in college, me and S had already been going to school and college together for about 6 years then. I drive into a petrol station to fill up my motor bike. The guy finishes filling the tank, I pay and we are ready to go.

There was this salesman selling something to the guy in the next pump. He just finished up his sale, saw an opportunity to make another quick sale, and came to us before we would leave. For those who are not familiar with this situation, it is nothing new, it happens all the time in India. We have salespeople selling stuff everywhere. We don't get annoyed at this, in fact we get rather offended if the guy doesn't come over to us, because they only do that when they think you can't afford to buy their stuff.

Now, this guy is the super-exuberant salesman kind. I hated this kind. It is most difficult to decline a sale from one of these people. They are very convincing with whatever they are selling, and I end up buying something that I don't need or can't afford (there weren't really many things that we could afford then). I am sure he has used this technique many times before and he had the confidence of someone who knew it works.  But he had no idea how lucky he had been to be in the same city as S and to never sell him anything...

The salesperson starts by quickly explaining what he was selling, God-send for every biker, a cloth that is a cleaning cloth as well as a polishing cloth, at the same time.  Apparently it can be stored away very easily behind the vizor of the bike until you need it next time and so on...  

I am engrossed in the live demo of this amazing product, when S rudely interrupts by asking how much?  The salesman hadn't really been focussing on S, but replies just 20 rupees sir! and tries to continue with his presentation.  Now, 20 rupees is not a lot of money.  But we hadn't had our lunch yet, and we didn't have much more money than what we needed for that, and S knew that too.  When I was all set to excuse ourselves, and drive away, S says to the salesman, what? 20 rupees for a piece of cloth?  Thats far too much, I will take it if you give it to me for 10 rupees.  

Now it is normal to bargain with salespeople like this.  But to offer a price half of what he is selling for is a bit of stretch, even for S.  The salesman is happy that we are already discussing price, and says, its a very good cleaning material, very durable etc, and will sell it for the final price of 15 rupees.  S stays his ground.  Not a paisa more than 10 rupees, he says.  The salesman tries some more explaining, some more polishing of my bike and reduces the price to 12 rupees, saying that is his cost price, he can't reduce any more than that.  No deal, says S.  

After going back and forth for another 5 minutes, the salesman comes down at last to 10 rupees.  Ok sir, you have bargained for so long.  For you, I will give it for 10 rupees, he extends a fresh piece of cloth to him.  Now, S goes, but you said 12 rupees was your cost price.  Are you making a loss??  I was pretty sure, we would get into trouble if we stayed much longer, I want to leave, but S continues..  I am pretty sure you are making profit even out of 10 rupees, and you wanted to sell this piece of cloth for 20 rupees!  All I can think is, 'dude, seriously,  all this philosophy for 20 rupees ??'  

Now, the salesman is getting annoyed.  Not only are we not going to buy his product, we have also wasted about 10 minutes of his time, when he could have sold a couple of these things.  He grumbled something and turned around and started walking towards a new customer at the next pump.  As I am starting my bike, S calls the guy at the next pump and says pointing at the salesman, 'excuse me! he would try to sell that cloth for 20 rupees, but he just offered it to me for 10 rupees.  Don't get it for anything more!'.  

I wouldn't know if the guy would have tried to hit us, because I was driving as fast as I can out of the petrol station.  

The Muralidharan Case

In my experience, one of the first things you notice about Aussies is how nice they are. They cheerfully wish the bus driver, the operator at the super market counter and apologize to you even when you bump into them with your trolley. I guess an average Aussie uses the sorry-thank you combo at least 50 times in a day. I don't mean to generalize, but in my experience, they are great people to be around.

And then the cricket season starts. The politeness and niceness seems to evaporate in the heat of summer. A special breed of Aussies, answering to the name 'cricketers' become the torch bearers of this apparently great tradition of cricket, called sledging. In fact, there are talks of issuing R rating for all future interviews featuring Mathew Hayden.

To be fair, it is not all of these cricketers, there are still the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee who stay away from these behaviors. One only has to look at the footage of Sachin Tendulkar walking into the ground, to see the respect Aussie crowd has for overseas cricketers.

I would like to talk about one particular overseas cricketer, who has been a target of the unanimous animosity of Australian cricketers, crowd and media - Muttiah Muralidharan. Since the day, Darrel Hair called Murali for throwing in 1995, his career has been marked with controversy and more often than not, Australia has been involved.

Most recently, on the day Muralidharan clasped the wicket of Paul Collingwood to overtake Warne as the highest wicket-taker in test cricket, this is what an Australian newspaper had to say - "He doesn't deserve it". It doesn't get any blunter than that, and that was the headline of the article announcing Murali's record to fellow Aussies. This to me was the tragic climax to the decade long struggle.

Now that the race is at last over, here is hoping we take the lessons and move on.

You are playing it too hard when your loss is not graceful, and you are not playing it fair when a casual blogger has to remind you of it ! ;)

The ad that could have been

So, the first of Microsoft ads featuring Bill Gates and Seinfeld is out.  The campaign is expected to cost some $300 million.  Microsoft has been rather vocal about this campaign in the last few weeks, and frankly, I thought there was hope. Microsoft has not had much going lately. The list of its woes are growing long as are its emerging competitors, who seem to be able to innovate and release new products at a much faster rate. And the Yahoo deal isn't helping.

I thought this could be a good first step. It was proof that Microsoft was not being defensive, and have decided to do something about these problems. On some level, it is in fact the first acknowledgement of a problem, and that is a very important thing.  

  

But even if these commercials are really good and are able to change public perception of Microsoft, they need to back it up with some really good products.  There doesn't seem to be anything that MS can offer in the recent times, that excites people.  Every new release seems to simply change the user interface and the novelty wears off in the first couple of hours.  

All I can say after watching this first commercial is, well, the rest better be really good!   If it is funny, I do not get it. There is one advantage to this ad though - they have brought the expectations to a bare minimum on the future ads, and that probably was the strategy ?

Google Chrome - What it means to us

We knew it was coming. And from previous experience we can guess it is going to be a big deal. It is just that when an announcement of this magnitude is around, there is usually a lot of rumors going around. Even Apple, famed (notorious ?) for its secrecy could not stop the iPhone rumors. But, here we are.. with a simple comic book description of Chrome, released as a blog entry. So, what does it really mean to us ?

Expect some paradigms to go out of the window
Ever used google spreadsheets? The small chat window inside GMail right in the browser? They are great examples of truly dynamic web applications. You no longer need to press the submit button every time you want a single line of text. The server connectivity is done behind the scene, as you type away. I mean, this what Google does best. They take a simple idea, throw all existing precedents away and build something completely new, in the process changing the way the industry works.

It is here to stay
You might as well download it now, as sooner or later you will. If there is any company that has the developer support to pull this off, it is Google. It might start slow, but it is in for a long run.

What we see is just the tip
The blog entry that introduces Chrome says it elegantly - launch early and iterate. Iterate they will. This is one of the greatest advantages of building new technology from scratch. You can build the technology that suits your vision instead of building a vision that the technology can accommodate. There is a whole barrage of innovation waiting to happen and Chrome might just be the launch pad.

The Landscape is set to change
I had never seen in-browser chat windows before GMail. Few months since it appeared though, nearly all major e-mail providers have them. The competition is getting fiercer and that means a browser needs to be better in more ways in order to hold a user. IE might still hold the advantage of being the default browser in the most popular operating system. With number of firefox downloads increasing, it looks like the advantage is only going to get weaker.

Best Indian Restaurants in Melbourne

OK, I reckon there is a pressing need for this post! If there is a downside to the great variety of restaurants Melbourne offers, it is finding the great ones among the rest. This, is an attempt at making this a tad bit easier. Being a major foodie, I know I have wanted a list like this many a times !

My observation with Indian restaurants in Melbourne generally is that, there are very few who have got the whole package right. Many very well-located restaurants with great service does not seem to focus enough on the quality of the food itself, others that have a great menu often have mediocre service and so on.

1. Madras Banyan Tree

- Hampton East
This one is my personal favorite and probably the only south Indian restaurant I can think of that makes this list. Indian food is so much more than just curries and naan breads and this restaurant is a great place to start if you have never tried south Indian. Nice ambience and good service. Highly recommended.
www.madrasbanyantree.com (03) 9555 7170

2. Bala Da Dhaba

- Glen Iris, Elsternwick

Extremely professional, helpful staff and great food. They have 2 restaurants and the good thing is the quality of the food and service remains the same in both the places.
(03) 9822 5069

3. Gujju's Cafe and Chaat House - Malvern East

This is another sub-niche of Indian restaurants from the state of Gujarat. For first-timers I would recommend the all you can eat banquet meal, so you get to try a variety of dishes. The staff are some of the most helpful, which makes the who dining experience very pleasant. Vegetarian.
Address and business hours (03) 9571 1188

4. Cinnamon Club

- Cheltenham
Cinnamon Club is all ambience. With live music and dancing over the weekend, the atmosphere is unlike any Indian restaurant. The buffet on fridays and saturdays is highly recommended.
(03) 9584 4774

5. Nirankar - Melbourne

One of the classier of the Indian restaurants. Great city location, excellent ambience and all round great food, makes it one of my favorites.
www.nirankar.com.au (03) 9642 1995

6. Red Pepper - Melbourne

The only reason this restaurant is here is because, it has one of the best Indian food in Melbourne. The service on the other hand is below par, and even though the location is great, the small space leaves a lot to be desired. Good value for money.
www.redpepperindianrestaurant.com (03) 9654 5714

7. Namaskar India - Malvern, Melbourne (Lygon St)

Another restaurant which is great value for money. The food is pretty good, has a lot of variety, and the staff helpful. Make your bookings early, because this restaurant is virtually always full! In my experience, I have noticed that the food at the Malvern restaurant is much better. This is from some time back, and stands to be verified.
www.namaskarindia.com.au (03) 9500 9558

There, thats my list. The number one reason any of these restaurants is in the list is because of the quality of its food, everything else takes second place. The list is by no means comprehensive, feel free to leave a note if you have tried one of the restaurants.
What are your favorite Indian restaurants ?

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Shocking a culture - What NOT to do as an immigrant

It's 11 pm on friday night and the partying has only just started. She is tall, blonde and has had one too many slices of pizza from the dinner they had down at La Porchetta. She signals to her boy friend, who is waiting to get a drink. They will have to drive out to some service station to use the washroom, the one in the club being almost always occupied at this time.

By the time they drive upto the service station she is.. well, busting to go. Asking the boy friend to wait for her in the shop, she runs gingerly towards the washroom, throwing a side long glance to find a skinny Indian fellow behind the counter. Now, she hates to use these public washrooms and never uses them unless she definitely has to. As soon as she enters the washroom she is reminded rather immediately, why she hates them so much. Its very badly maintained, is over-used on friday nights by the many youngsters coming down from the club much like her and most frustratingly the tissues have been used up. Now she has to go all the way into the shop, ask for the tissues, wait for the guy at the counter to get them and... aaah, why today ??
As she awkwardly half runs towards the counter, the Indian guy smiles nervously at her, greeting. "The washroom has run out of tissues". A statement. She does not find the need to ask for some action explicitly.. because it is rather obvious. The guy at the counter does not go anywhere, doesnt grab a tissue from beneath the counter - he simply looks puzzled. Now, why would he look puzzled? She is pretty sure he heard her right, it is rather quite in the store. She repeats herself impatiently to be sure. The same look - if anything he looks a bit more puzzled now, and may be slightly alarmed. She starts to fear he might not speak any english at all, when he looks as if he might have had some new realization. "I have only just started working here, and I have no idea where the tissues are. so.. ", he looks around the counter, grabs a box of.. facial tissues, holds it out for her, rose flavored and all.
Now, she could shout, scream and throw a tantrum at the outrageousness, but for the little emergency she is in. She quickly evaluates her options - looks the other way at the boy friend, who is still getting a drink on the other side of the store oblivious of the whole scene, looks at the guy at the counter, grabs the box and runs away for the washroom... never to be seen again around the service station....

A Thousand Splendid Suns

For me, the first ten pages of a book are usually the most difficult to get past. I make too many evaluations, I try to grasp too much at that stage. I am not very tolerant of an author who is too indulgent, who does not try to capture all the reader's attention at the outset. In many ways, I am a very difficult reader to convince at this stage. But then again, once I warm up to the characters and the plot, I am hooked. I have caught myself visualizing scenes on numerous occasions, and I end up reading a book over and over again. I am sure I will read A thousand splendid suns again.
It becomes clear early that this is a book of strong characters. Its a story of two women - Mariam and Laila, so different by birth, rearing and ambitions, whose lives get intertwined by a twist of fate. There is another quintessential character in the story that makes it as gripping and heart-wrenching - Afghanistan. The wars that has ravaged the country for over two decades, makes for a tragic yet intriguing stage for the plot.
The story works, because I could relate to the characters, empathize with them. In Hosseini's words Afghanistan ceases to be an exotic foreign land. This is a story that makes Afghanistan real.
Its like the movie Titanic. It was a great movie, with great attention to detail, terrific plot and an impeccable cast. But, I loved the movie for the simple reason that it made me relate to the tragedy. It needed a Jack and Rose to make Titanic personal. They made the pain real; They made Titanic real. Mariam and Laila are the Jack and Rose of Afghanistan. Through them, a bomb is not just a news story - it is the death of someone’s parents, someone’s friend. A coup is not just a political event, its a death knell to a woman's dreams, ambitions.
PS: I have consciously tried to keep the spoilers that would give the plot away to a minimum. Do visit the author Khaled Hosseini's very well put together web page here

First things first

Hi everybody, 

For a person who writes as much as I do, I have jumped on to the blogging bandwagon rather late.  But hey, better late than never ! So, here goes.. 

I hope to write about things including but not restricted to - technology, gadgets, books I am reading/have read, sports, and all the other important stuff out there, that I am passionate about.  

When we communicate, we constantly receive subtle feedback from whom we are communicating with and fine tune in subtle ways, so that what we say actually makes sense and also to keep the communication more interesting.  This can be slightly more challenging though with a medium such as this, where the feedback is delayed.  So, help me keep this space better and keep the feedback coming with the comments section below.    

Thanks for coming.