e_musings

Smitten by Silk!!!

2011-10-02T10:01:00.001+05:30

http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=ee95570813d41308e1a16ad068fbacda

It is that season when everyone is smitten with Silk!! Not the first time though!! South India was in the same situation a couple of decades ago. They miss it so much that Bollywood is readying a movie to remind them of those Silken days again.

Bloggers are going over the top in praising the new Fire that rages across the clouds and threatens to change the world of computing for ever. That actually beats me!! The basics of computing, services, cloud always tell us that "shared" is always better. Ie. Standards driven and allows wider adoption with shared overheads! Thus in this milieu, this raging desire to christen the new Fire Kindled by the great Amazon beats me.

If it is truly going to be unique, then the Fire will rage only on its Cloud, and maybe be chastised as a flash in the cloud! That would be a business model so uniquely identified with the great growers of Apple. Having said that, they expanded their "cloud" to ensure that a huge variety of content can be posted and consumed. I wouldn't trade my iPod and iTunes for all the brilliant Podcasts and iTunesU content!! Will the Great River want me to trade in my existing devices to best leverage their store and services? I doubt it.

Bloggers calm down!

The Fire is here, the iPad is already a very dominant force (atleast fair to say with those with disposable income :-) ), and a long line of others will come along (and from different stables such as Windows, Android etc).

PS: this post was written on a Samsung Gingerbread device using an Apple wireless keyboard on a Google app! I'm lovin it!

Oh! Was that a problem??

2010-08-05T07:28:00.001+05:30

The latest update to the BBC News application on iPod claims that it fixes a problem with adverts not displaying!! I didnt realise that it was a problem! I thought it was a feature upgrade!! ;-)

Ahh well …

Wah! Another vile scam!

2010-07-22T06:52:00.001+05:30

Look at this email that came in! Sounds so convincing! Poverty ended by 2015? UN MDG?

All that these blokes will succeed in, is reducing a few gullible folks to poverty well before 2015!!

Invitation to United Nations Summit on 20-22 September, 2010

United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG Summit) 20-22 September 2010, London.
On the behalf of the Organizing and Scientific Committees, the United Nations Working Group announces the UN summit(MDGs WE CAN END POVERTY 2015) to be held at the International Conference Centre London on 20-22 September 2010. We also would like to extend this special invitation to you and all your colleagues to participate in the UN Millennium Development Goals International Conference & Exposition.
This unprecedented and historic event is dedicated to the exchange of scientific data, governmental assessments, and public policies concerning community development, including poverty reduction and gender equality. Attendees of the MDGs International Conference would be delegates from around the world, representing academic institutions, corporate sectors, non-governmental organizations, community associations. Leaders of religious organizations. Private and Public participation are highly encouraged.
Participants who wish to learn of recent developments in United Nations MDGs will be exposed to invited plenary lectures and concurrent sessions followed by open workshop discussions with outstanding speakers and multi-disciplinary researchers and scientists. Open discussions are planned to consider the broad challenges of UN MDGs upon, community development, human health, and economic infrastructures at local, national, regional and global scales.
Along with conference lectures and workshops, the UN MDG Exposition at the International Conference Centre London will include over 175 booths at which representatives from the health, educational and agricultural sector will present their programs to address the challenges of MDGs. Other corporate bodies and environmental organizations will present projects and training opportunities to participants.
United Nations General Assembly has set up an Access Fund to support free all-round air flight fare for all participating delegate. Intending participants are to pay for their own hotel accommodation expenses at the Royal Garden Hotel London, this is the recommended hotel that will accommodate all participant for the UN MDGs summit. For accommodation reservation, Contact Royal Garden Hotel: reservations@royalgardenhotels.co.cc
For registration, visa and flight ticket details contact Ms. Isabelle Broyer, [Organizing Secretary] United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit. (Conference Organizing Secretary) e-mail: mdg@un-summits.org
We call on individuals and organizations who may wish to submit papers for presentation at the summit Plenary sessions to do so on the following Theme---
1. MDGs Access to Freedom from Poverty and Hunger
2. Gender Equity and Women Empowerment Sustainability
3. Sustainable Development and Environmental Concerns
4. Education and Health for All: Challenges and Perspectives
Important Dates:
Registration/paper Abstract submission ..... 20th July - 20th August, 2010
Notification of acceptance of paper Abstract...... 27th August, 2010
Conference Dates ...... 20th-22nd September, 2010
Register Now!
Dr. Derrick Armstrong,
[Conference Coordinator]
Communication and Public Affairs,
United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit Organizing Committee.
Copyright © 2009-2010 United Nations. All rights reserved.

Alert: Finalization Alert

2010-07-13T07:03:00.001+05:30

How stupid can these idiots be? They send this email below with a hope of phishing!! Ahh gosh! Terrible English, Terrible content AND the spam mail filters in GMail missed it!!!

Subj : Alert: Finalization Alert

We are deleting some accounts and your email was automatically chosen to be deleted. If you are still interested in using our email service please fill in the space below for verification purpose by clicking the reply button:
User Name:
Pass word:
Profession:
D.O.B
Registered Location:
Warning!!!! Account details not received within 48hours will be automatically shut down and closed permanently.
- The Gmail Team

Delighted! Bloody Delighted!

2009-12-15T07:48:00.001+05:30

with my iPod for being a superb radio!

Here i am sitting in my living room (in Bangalore) at 6 in the morning listening to Bizet’s Symphony in C major (2) played by the Parisian Les Siecles orchestra! Nothing out of the ordinary in that, just that it is streaming into my iPod through the Classic FM application that i have installed, and is being also played just now on the radio in London! Phenomenal! Mr. Friedman – did anyone tell you the world was flat?

Ok. I have to confess that this isn’t the first time I have had streaming radio in Bangalore. My beloved HP iPAQs have been doing it for several years! However, it involved several clicks before you heard the music, and the iPAQ never told me anything about the the program (current and future) that I was listening to. The iPod changes all that! You can actually see what program is underway, what song/piece is being played. Further, in a couple of radio applications (that I have installed on my iPod), you can even see what is coming up next!

Listening to streaming radio now doesn’t quite feel like the old PocketPC experience anymore (actually to be honest, the whole PocketPC experience used to remind me of the days when I used to go upto my terrace in Madras and tune my shortwave radio to pick up distant stations (BBC, VOA etc). More effort went into the act of getting it to work, than into listening to the music that came out)! The experience was exhilarating, but the quality of the music was mediocre/poor!). The iPod applications / widgets changes all that. Suddenly it is mainstream and matter of fact. You can listen to good music – anytime, anywhere.

The radio widgets that I have installed on my iPod are the following :

Classic FM : an excellent application that gives you streaming radio and shows you some interesting banner ads / notes / quips. It will also play several other UK stations (i havent tried them)
Public Radio : another excellent application that will allow you play several several US radio stations. I have selected a few as my “favourites” and just listen to them. This application will also tell you the program for the rest of the day (and it seems to present that information to you in your timezone – which is very nice)
Yahoo! Radio : This appears to be supported/managed by CBS radio (who also have a radio application in iTunes – which i haven’t tried out). However, the reception on it has been patchy, with breaks & interruptions. Though, it must be said – they also have an excellent set of stations preset into it (including a “Bollywood” one! :-o ).

iPod test!

2009-12-10T00:18:00.001+05:30

Testing if I can post from my iPod!!

Interesting Birdy ...

2009-09-29T16:15:00.000+05:30

Ahh this one (the last one from me for now on the Sony DSC-T500 Macro mode) was a surprise! I got this snap through a window (ie. the tinted glass of the window was between my camera and the bird). I really love what these "Out of the pocket" cameras can do! I will take my Canon SLR across to Mysore on my next trip and try and shoot a few comparative snaps to see the difference!

This particular bird was quite an interesting one. It insisted on coming over to closed window and pecking on the glass. I think it really fancied its own look in the dark window and was challenging the image to a fight! I never flew into an open window, but did spend a lot of time pecking at closed windows! I am sure it sensed my presence, because everytime i got my camera and ran upto the window to take a close up of its pecking, it would just fly away! :-(

HOT! DSC-T500 Macro Mode!

2009-09-28T10:22:00.000+05:30

Ahhh! I couldnt resist this. I was so happy with the macro mode (close up enabled) on the Sony DSC-T500 that i had to take this snap of a rather ripe chilli! It does look quite hot (both the ripe red one and the green one behind it)!

Spider's "nest"

2009-09-28T10:00:00.000+05:30

And this is a side-on view of the same spider's "nest". I cant really call it a "web", as you can see from this snap - it is very very more elaborate than a bog-standard web! Wow. This guy/gal has built a lovely passage into an inner chamber! Just look at the ingenuity and complexity! Superb. I am in awe of this spider.

Macro Mode on my Sony DSC-T500

2009-09-28T09:54:00.000+05:30

I spotted a little "nest" that a wood spider had built on a mound! The first time i have seen one of these this close. So i whipped out my DSC-T500, turned on the Macro mode and took some close ups (i actually held the camera so close that the spider knew i was there and even crawled back in to its nest). The quality of the snaps was superb! I am maha khush with it!

Mike Testing 1,2,3 ...

2009-03-01T21:33:00.000+05:30

Well, i am trying to see how wired up i can be! Can i blog here and have it also show up on my linkedin page?