Life, the Universe and Everything

Delhi Belly

2011-07-31T00:57:00.002+05:30

Although a lot of people have applauded Delhi Belly as a great movie, I failed to like it. Its different than the regular India movie but it did not seem that great.It was in production for the past few years. Overall the movie feel was pretty amateurish. I did not understand what the fuss was all about.@Amir Khan: take your time and come up with a movie but not like this.

Windows takes over Skype

2011-05-11T15:28:00.002+05:30

The question everyone is asking is, what's MS upto? Skype does not really fit into its profile. I think its simple. MS has realized the importance of dominating the mobile space and that is where Skype comes into picture.Skype although not profitable, has a good fan following and available on multiple devices (a new concept for MS!) Voice calling is not the priority of mobile service providers.

Blackberry woes

2011-03-03T09:59:00.002+05:30

Blackberry is primarily aimed at corporate users. If I have a blackberry, it is obvious that I will have a personal mobile also. Now I have to keep two mobiles with me so that I am connected to everyone.Blackberry should have dual SIM capabilities in all their devices. This way a person only needs to carry one device and attend to calls on both personal and business calls.Why are such simple

Android: With popularity comes trouble

2011-01-04T06:25:00.002+05:30

The Android mobile platform has spread far and wide. Its the most common mobile platform now with upto 300K new handsets added each day around the world.Its now time bot-nets, Trojans and viruses are created for this platform. Sure as expected, today there are reports of a Virus spreading in China for Android devices. Read more here.Its times like these that I feel secure using a relatively

Failures are the stepping stones to success

2010-08-23T13:40:00.004+05:30

I often hear people discuss why someone is not suited for a particular role or may not have the necessary characteristics for a task.We can never measure anybody's capability. Nor can we how someone will fare in a particular situation. I think we should give challenging tasks and provide necessary guidance. There maybe failures but it will make the team member stronger & motivated to outperform

Management: Conflict resolution

2010-07-21T15:34:00.008+05:30

Its funny how in different roles are interpreted in different organizations. It is y how the same role in multiple organizations work in entirely different capacity.Generally one would see a Manager as a facilitator, helps functioning effectively, guides people. Based on my experience in a high performance environment work culture, the manager is greatly involved in conflict resolution. When

Firefox extension - Shorten URL (Bit.ly)

2010-07-08T18:44:00.003+05:30

Created a simple extension to shorten a URL using Bit.ly and copy it to Windows clipboard. You can install it here.

Benoit Mandelbrot on TED.com

2010-07-07T10:14:00.002+05:30

I studied Benoit's work when I was studying engineering and wrote C programs to develop Fractals. I was intrigued by the concept of finding pockets of order in a chaotic system.Today I noticed his talk on TED.com. Could not resist watching it. If you do not know about fractals, nonlinear dynamics or Chaos Theory, you should watch this.

Java 4-ever

2010-06-28T14:08:00.001+05:30

Came across this lovely video for Java aficionados: click hereEnjoy!

Release ver 0.22

2010-05-26T16:13:00.002+05:30

Version 0.22 has been released on Mozilla website. Please install it from here.Added two new features:- On click on major movers its open the BSE page for the scrip- Options window, you can add scripts in a list box.

Javascript Color scaling

2010-05-19T11:59:00.002+05:30

Over the last weekend, I have been working on a script to apply a color gradient to number of rows in a HTML table. I wanted a gradient from green to red.In HTML, color is determined by the R, G & B values. Hence logically, I should start with Red (#FFOOOO). reduce red to white (#OOOOOO). Then I can increase green slowly to achieve complete green (#OOFFOO). Surprisingly this logic does not work!

Crazy options for IM clients

2010-04-04T10:41:00.003+05:30

On my work machine, I have the following IM clients:YahooGTalkSkypeDigsbyDigsby supports most IM clients but not Skype. It is a good replacements for most clients at work. The only problem is, its not available for Linux or MacOS. I have tried Trillium at some point of time but found it a little resource hungry.The problem is my employer does not have its own internal IM. Most people use Yahoo. I

CVS delete script

2010-03-31T13:17:00.002+05:30

We come across situations when we download source from CVS and have to zip and dispatch it to someone. CVS clients add a 'CVS' folder to all folders to track changes. Manually deleting these is a daunting task.I found this blog which has a windows batch script to recursively delete all these folders. Hope this helps.

Douglas Adams: Parrots the Universe and Everything

2010-03-22T11:50:00.002+05:30

If you haven't read the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you really should. If you have and know who Douglas Adams is please watch this video. Very interesting message, conveyed in a long drawn speech with multiple example.Its difficult for us to adapt to changes quickly. We need to take control of our environment but we need to look beyond that and realize the impact our actions have on the

Non-cooperation in Cyber age

2010-03-14T23:09:00.010+05:30

Almost a century ago, Mahatma Gandhi preached the idea of non-cooperation and civil disobedience. Indians picketed British establishments, factories and shops. They created a lot of problems by hindering their day to day activities, impacting business and their profits.Even today, political parties regularly organize road/ rail blocking, picketing and agitations in the name of social cause.In the

The Zorastrian Journey

2010-02-26T18:21:00.005+05:30

I recently got this nice video describing Zoroastrianism religion. It also describes a very common misconception, not all Zoroastrians are Parsees but vice-versa is true. I hope you like viewing this.

DataCrow - Media Manager

2010-02-09T10:27:00.002+05:30

I have been looking out for a media manager which can manage my movies, Audio CDs, Books etc. I think I may have found a single application which serve my requirements. Its DataCrow, they refer to it as a 'cataloger'. I must say, I am pretty impressed with the interface considering it is based on Java.As it is Java based, it works on Linux as well as Windows. Its sequential import of audio files

Jamendo: Open your ears

2010-02-05T10:42:00.004+05:30

Found this lovely site yesterday where independent artists to download or share their music for free. It called Jamendo.com.I have been listening to some streamed music. It has a good selection which will suite different tastes. Most of the music is shared under creative commons license. Which is really amazing!The only grudge I have is that the download speed is very erratic. IT will sudeenly

Chinese iPad

2010-02-02T05:08:00.006+05:30

Just read this news item, a Chinese manufacturer has been selling a iPad like device for over 6 months now. The article states, that they have been selling a 'iPad knock-off'. My point is that if this device was the first to be released would it not be that iPad is the knock off.You when credit when it comes to manufacturing. They will build and manufacture a product in record time (and

UI copyrights & the brave world of tomorrow

2010-01-11T04:43:00.015+05:30

The some Chinese developers were in the news as they released a Ubuntu based system which worked like Windows XP. My thoughts were as to to what extent can one extend copyrights to UI design? I don't think so. I did a little bit of searching but could not find anything to this effect. I am under the impression that copyrights can be extended to software for a particular functionality.Windows XP

Social Network Analysis and Community Manager

2009-12-10T11:16:00.003+05:30

Two key learnings for this week.First one is 'Social Network Analysis', this is analyzing Social networks to understand working relationships in their organization. Companies also want to analyze social network data to understand whom to approach for maximum gains. Also this can serve as inputs to engineering on expected features in a product.Still in the nascent stage regarding how the network

Il dolce far niente

2009-11-30T12:52:00.004+05:30

My daily schedule is demanding. Even on weekends I hardly have time for myself. It felt great to listen to some nice music, relax and think nothing. Helped a lot to clear my mind.Heard some Spanish guitar music. I have developed a fondness for Asturias by Isaac Albéniz. Heard some new music after a long time. Never understand what makes some musical pieces stand out above all the rest.I learned

Accident sketch software

2009-10-29T10:46:00.000+05:30

AccidentSketch.com a cool website if you have to draw a diagram of an accident scenario in order to explain it to insurance or others.I drew a sketch of the scenario when recently a mini bus knicked my rear bumper. Here's the scenario graphically displayed. It does give you many options of cars, vehicles and pedestrians to use in the sketch.It a module under development to file the accident

Ubuntu Karmic release party

2009-10-28T13:14:00.000+05:30

I looked through the Ubuntu release party map. As expected majority of the parties are in US & Europe.Parties in Asia are far too widespread. Surprisingly Ubuntu Release parties are being held in Iran and none in India. I am going to change this. I will have a party at home and update my Jaunty to Karmic! If you are in Pune, you are welcome to join me.Unlike other software open source software

The ascent of money

2009-10-15T17:12:00.000+05:30

I have been watching the documentary 'The ascent of money' in the past few weeks. In this Niall Ferguson discusses how various financial institutions came into being and where they went wrong in the past.Its a good watch for all the non-financial people who want to know how financial institutions play with our money. I especially like the history of banks, insurance and stock markets.eg. did you

Google Translate

2009-10-07T17:25:00.000+05:30

While messing with Google Translate, I came across a small script to translate your website in other language. A little drop down appears where you add the script. When you select a particular language, your web page is translated. Pretty neat!Not sure how Google wants to monetize this tool. I am not sure if I would pay anything such a service as the quality of translations is at times very

Virtualization to accelerate dev environment setup

2009-09-10T16:37:00.001+05:30

My team works on several projects at the same time on different versions of the same product. It takes us almost a day to setup the product and source base. If we have a 2 GB RAM more, this process can be accelerated by system virtualization. I would recommend maintaining

New Google search

2009-08-11T11:37:00.001+05:30

Google has been be at developing a better search engine. Read about it on Geek-Stuff. Visit their test site here.Searching for homyarb resulted in:First is my sun forums profile which I have not used in ages (last post 2003)second is this blog!Third its lists some questions I posted on linuxquestions.orgFourth my Flickr pageThen a little below is my LinkedIn profileWhere innovation is concerned

GPS in India

2009-07-28T18:00:00.001+05:30

GPS BackupOriginally uploaded by Jimmy_JoeGPS as a technology has failed to catch on in India for several reasons. Some of these are: High Cost (Its easier to ask someone along the road) Roads information is outdated and at time not available Non-uniform address format and Different spellings for the same locationThe last two can lead to a lot of trouble with GPS trying to lead you

Nassom & M$

2009-07-28T11:19:00.001+05:30

This is the first time I have seen Nasscom’s name featuring on a anti-MS website. Its worth noting this as it has significant business and revenue impact on business and individuals.I have blogged about this sometime ago and so have others. In spite of open standards, Indian authorities and governing bodies are adamant to follow MS wherever it may lead to .http://boycottnovell.com/2009/07/24/

Jesus fragged me

2009-07-23T11:43:00.001+05:30

Got Fragged by JesusOriginally uploaded by HomyarBFor all those who have been wondering my latest IM status, redemption is close at hand!I play Assault Cube, quite regularly in fact. The other day I was playing online and managed to frag (kill in layman terms) a player by the name of 'Jesus'. I found the message "You fragged Jesus" quite amusing.My tryst with destiny was not complete. In the next

New Email signature

2009-07-08T19:13:00.000+05:30

I do not despise sending emails from Blackberry device but why does their signature have to read "Sent using Blackberry" or "Sent from my Blackberry". Do you have to flaunt a BlackBerry!I prefer having the following official signature "Sent from MS-Outlook, would prefer an iPhone."

Please don't hurt the country... use open standards

2009-07-08T12:53:00.001+05:30

Please don't hurt the webOriginally uploaded by RoebotIt seems there is a debate going on to implement open standards for e-Governance projects expecially the multi-crore Unique Identity Card (UIC) headed by Nandan N. Read more about it here.In fact recently EVMs bugs were disclosed. The Indian opposition raised an outcry to revert back to paper voting. If it followed open standards, I am sure

Logo Infringement?

2009-07-02T13:09:00.000+05:30

Saw the Agile 2009 logo today and noticed that it looks very similar to the Ubuntu logo.Below are both logos for your reference. They represent 3 people holding hands and the picture is taken from the top.Agile 2009 logoUbuntu logoYou be the judge..

Jaunty Intel Graphics - 2

2009-06-28T12:43:00.000+05:30

This is in continuation to my previous post, here. Early today, Ubuntu update included the intel graphics driver, copiz and a new kernel (2.6.28.13).Finally my display seems fixed and performing well! Feels great. Hopefully the upgrade to Karmic will as better than Intrepid and Jaunty.

Ubuntu 100 papercuts

2009-06-23T14:44:00.001+05:30

ubuntu loveOriginally uploaded by magicfabUbuntu community has started a very unique feature to improve usability. These are smartly being referred to as hundred papercuts! A paper-cut are some small nuances which do not compromise usability or stability. These are simple annoyances for a first time user. First 10 have been identified and over the next 10 days, the community aims to resolve 100

Blogger Label Cloud

2009-06-22T19:34:00.000+05:30

You can a animated label cloud to your blogger/ blogspot page. Steps available here.Please see my blog for details

Cutting cost at the data center

2009-06-21T23:14:00.001+05:30

I guess the biggest issue with most data centers is cutting its cost. The main idea behind this would be to maximize utilization, shutdown hardware which is not necessary.We need a mechanism in database & applications to run in a minimal mode. I would say the entry interfae for any application (web or otherwise) would be its login function. Databases and application servers should have the

Rain rain.. come again

2009-06-19T09:21:00.001+05:30

rains...Originally uploaded by Ruks...Yesterday it rained in Pune. I love it when it rains but the first thought in my head was clothes left out to dry will get wet.. I am getting mature (old is too extreme :-) ).Hence I went out, got wet for a while. Felt like singing Phil Collin's song "I hope it would rain down".

Demanding Performance is not always productive.

2009-06-16T12:55:00.000+05:30

Most organization demand performance. 'Faster, Higher, Stronger' is the mantra of all management gurus. This is all that MBAs are taught and expected to achieve. Collateral damage is acceptable as long as profits are greater. Is this really the right way??Here's an which proves otherwise:BPO cabs supposed to reach the respective offices on time with passengers. To improve productivity and

Twitter Success??

2009-06-09T07:13:00.001+05:30

Flower Frame 5696080 with Twitter BirdOriginally uploaded by Hadramie'sI have always felt Twitter more like a passing wave than a technological evolution. This article tells us that 80% of Twitter users have less than 10 followers.Why so you may ask??The reason is simple, if a person tweets 10 times a day and you are following 10 people. You are likely to read 100 tweets a day. If you are reading

Jaunty Intel Graphics

2009-06-07T19:21:00.000+05:30

Jaunty/ Compiz has blacklisted some intel graphics drivers. Thus when I upgraded to Jauty, my Compiz effects disappeared. After an hour of tinkering with my graphics settings I have got Compiz-Fusion working on my laptop.My primary source of information was this blog. I used option 1 to revert back my drivers to 2.4 and Compiz works wonderfully. this option will be resolved in Karmic Koala with

Market Positioning

2009-05-16T15:07:00.000+05:30

Maruti Suzuki has launched its latest hatchback, the Ritz (Suzuki Splash). They are touting it to be in the league of Swift, i20 and Fabia. It is a nice car, good sporty one. Personally I feel it is a replacement for Wagon-R.There is only another competitor to the Wagon-R. Its the Santro. Suzuki is positioning it in the upper league. In fact it has a smaller engine than Swift. This positioning is

Booked and ready to roll..

2009-05-10T06:42:00.000+05:30

I am from Bombay (Mumbai), I have always preferred public transport as compared to private car to travel around. In Pune the Public transport is so chaotic and unpredictable that people ahve no choice but to opt for a private vehicle.Its been almost 3 years that we have been using a second hand Wagon-R. Althought I would like to blame it on my Infosys Salary :-), We bought a second hand car for

Mighty fall continues

2009-04-27T11:53:00.000+05:30

This is in continuation from my pervious post "How the mighty have fallen". It seems the fall of Infosys continues. They have continue harassing employees while the management prospers.It seems the IT people are being asked to take BPO jobs. This is very disgusting and not in tune with their skills. Read more here.Looking at this in light of recent hikes (~10 crores) given to higher management (

Ubuntu 9.04: Jaunty Jackalope Released

2009-04-27T11:14:00.000+05:30

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope has been released. Official desktop announcement is here. Some nice features and enhancements have been included. You can see a quick review of its features at LifeHacker.Ubuntu has also launched the Jaunty version for its server and netbook platforms.Personally I am looking forward to the next release, the Karmic Koala (v9.10). This will be important as this will be

How the mighty have fallen

2009-04-16T13:48:00.000+05:30

This is about Infosys, once considered the most employee friendly company has fired few thousand people in India on pretext of under-performance. This does not include people it fired all over the globe and others it forced to find jobs elsewhere.I was part of Infosys a few months ago and I have been noticing the changes since 2004. Infosys prides itself on having a well oiled entry process. It

Is the time of RDBMS up?

2009-04-07T19:00:00.001+05:30

Watch that tape spinOriginally uploaded by PeterForretRelational Database Management System (RDBMS) have been around for quiet sometime. They came evolved the need to segregate flat file data into logical groups. Thus providing efficient storage and better search and query capabilities.With the recent improvements in search tools and cloud based storage. Document Database management systems are

All hail Spider-Pig

2009-03-19T11:20:00.000+05:30

Spider-pig, Spider-pig,Does whatever a Spider-Pig does.Can he swing from a web.No he can't, he's a Pig....look out!Here comes the Spider-Pig- Homer Simpson, The Simpsons movieListen to Homer Simpson sing this here.

My new desktop

2009-03-13T22:40:00.001+05:30

Ubuntu 8.10 desktopOriginally uploaded by HomyarBAfter much trial and error, I think I am satisfied with my desktop. I have customized my Ubuntu Intrepid v8.10 with the following to come up with the following look: * Controls - Clearlooks * Window Border - Shiki Colours Metacity * Icons Theme - Gnome Crystal Diamon Icons 1b * MacOS dock - AWN Dock * Wallpaper - taken from Flickr* Screenlets -

Kingfisher: Bad governanace

2009-03-10T18:03:00.000+05:30

In the last few weeks, there have been several articles in leading news papers about Kingfisher debt sky rocketing out of control. The debt is estimated to have risen to 14,000 crores (ie. 140 Billion) INR. There is an article of management considering salary cuts.Vijay Mallya is known for his flamboyance. He owns a F1 team, he travels in corporate jets. Recently he even bought Mahatma Gandhi's

Juxtaposition

2009-02-19T10:49:00.000+05:30

An employee can be unhappy for any number of reasons; pay, designation, quality of work etc. Today's businesses are inherently dependent on IT. In such a scenario can the IT admin/ support staff be kept unhappy? He can hold business at ransom by disrupting services during peak business hours.Business may not understand technical matters. In order to cut costs they may have bought sub-standard

Linux sold

2009-02-15T08:26:00.000+05:30

Pg 20 of Pune Mirror, 15 Feb 2009 has an advertisement from indiatimes.com. It is selling a desktop for ~Rs 25,000 and "3 in 1 combo linux DVDs" for an offer price of Rs 500. If that was not enough they are touting maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs 1000. These 3 DVVDs have Suse 11,, Ubuntu 8.1 and Fedora 10.Firstly these DVDs are free to download and use. As per GPL(at least thats what Ubuntu uses

Everyone wants to be on Cloud 9

2009-02-04T17:42:00.000+05:30

The latest buzz in IT is cloud computing. Every product and application wants to move to the 'cloud'. They fail to understand that moving to the cloud requires serious restructuring of the product/ application.Technical: Applications have to be made SOA compliant. All components/ business objects have to be discreet. Common applications are designed with the user in mind. Many transactions are

Software Quality Methodologies

2009-01-15T15:26:00.001+05:30

qualityOriginally uploaded by buckaroo kidToday we have many software quality methodologies and project management frameworks like CMMi, Agile, Six Sigma, PMP. Although independent these have several similarities. All cover pretty much the same topics viz. scheduling, estimation, risk management etc. Although this is never true some even tout fictitious benefits like even amateur programmers

K3B: Burning CDs/DVDs in Ubuntu

2009-01-12T10:31:00.000+05:30

Ubuntu by default allows two software packages for CD/DVD burning:- Brasero- Through NautilusWindows based tools are fairly better than these. Brasero (v0.8.2) used to go into an infinite loop while erasing a disc. There have been some similar reported bugs on this. I was unable to find a better Gnome based alternative for the CD/DVD burning at home.Nautilus based burning is good for simple

Tigo Tago - MP3 Tag Editor

2009-01-06T13:24:00.000+05:30

As iTunes and Songbird use these tags to sort files in their library. It is important to maintain correct data in these.Everyone has a problem when you rip some CDs and the ID3 tag cannot be found on CDDB. I use Tigo Tago update many simultaneously.You see all supported files (MP3, AVI, WAV, WMA, WMV, ASF) in a folder in the application's central pane. I gives you options to update tags based on

Please evolve our televisions

2008-12-31T19:02:00.000+05:30

The basic television as we know it has remained the same over the last decade. Yes, there have been developments in improving picture quality and sound quality. But as far as functionality goes, the product has remained unchanged.One simple feature I want all televisions to have is a 'video mute'. As we have a sound mute a video mute will allow sound but the display will be blanked.You may as me

Merry Christmas

2008-12-23T11:51:00.001+05:30

xmas 2008 giftsOriginally uploaded by HomyarBMy wife decorates an Christmas tree every year. Photos of the same have been posted on my flickr page. We are off to Mumbai (aka. Bombay) for the rest of the week to stay with my parents. We intend to be papered and enjoy the city for a few days.Merry Christmas to all.

Beautiful advertising

2008-12-21T11:46:00.001+05:30

In the past few days two advertisements have caught my fascination.ING Bank India: (video@youtube)This advertisement captures the essence of India. Various cultures, traditions are shown with money playng a intricate role. It has a catchy song titled, "mere desh mein paisa sirf paisa nahi hai" (money is not just money in my country). I love to hum this several times a day. The sombre colours used

Flickr-Piknik image editor

2008-12-21T11:38:00.000+05:30

I have been using Flickr for the past 3 years and am very happy with their services.Yup, I am still to purchase a pro account as I am not such an avid photographer.While preparing the header for this blog I chanced to used the photo-editor provide by Flickr. The earlier version was this was a very crude one with minimal features like resizing etc. Now Flickr has tied up with Picnik. This software

Rickety Wickets

2008-12-19T15:03:00.001+05:30

Cricket WicketsOriginally uploaded by schmichFor the past few days I have been investigating Apache Wicket for use in a application we are going to develop.Apache Wicket is a good framework. Y have to develop all view components in Java, t HTML page is rendered using these components. Developing the HTML pages is very simple. For those who know it, web development will be a breeze.One thing I did

Technology Industry Evolution

2008-12-17T19:35:00.001+05:30

IT industry is know for long unearthly hours and impossible deadlines. Come what may we manage to get projects delivered with satisfactory quality. Due to these reasons this industry is known for good salaries and high returns.Will US is mulling a new bill for the creation of unions in IT industry. spell disaster to our lifestyles? Here are some thoughts:Pros-- Will stop exploitation of

Welcome

2008-12-17T19:30:00.000+05:30

I was an active blogger at InfyBlogs (Infosys internal blogs). Now that I out of Infosys, I have been planning to start blogging again.This will be where i will be available from now on... at least I am hoping to be. Lets see how much time I can spare on this.