Guitar Hero is just one game that will be a part of out future, a future that will blur the lines between professionals and amateurs. In future we may not even use these two words anymore. The only two words we will be using is creators and copiers. Once anything, say music, is created by the creator, it can be played by just about anyone on almost any instrument. The creators may not just be humans. They may be some device with artificial intelligence.
Whatever the future may offer us, the only that that will be valuable to us is time because no matter how much we stretch our skills with the latest technology, we will need a hell lot of time to make use of it.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
The Cristmas Tree Phenomina
Christmas is back. There is nothing more enjoyable than to spend time with your family putting up the Christmas tree. I watched everyone as we put up the balls, the bells, the stars, the angels and the smiles. Suddenly a grim reality dawned on be when I admired the beauty of that tree.
I am putting up an artificial Christmas tree. It may ridiculous comment but as i looked around the house i saw synthetic plants and flowers. The only natural plant was a bonsai on the coffee table. Is this our future? Will we be surrounded by artificial plant and animals. Wont we see the trees change with the seasons or will that too be induced by some artificial process.
There is a lot of hype about an artificial tree which is 10 times more efficient in purifying air than a real tree. Actually it looks more like a metal box than a tree. Anyway thats the future. And there is no denying it.
After Christmas is over, as sit to dismantle the tree and pack it into a box, I feel that I'm performing a symbolic ritual as a reenactment of on the cutting of trees by us, our fathers and forefathers. A ritual to remind us that no matter whether we live in the stone age, iron age and or the the plastic age, we will always destroy far more that what we hope to create.
I am putting up an artificial Christmas tree. It may ridiculous comment but as i looked around the house i saw synthetic plants and flowers. The only natural plant was a bonsai on the coffee table. Is this our future? Will we be surrounded by artificial plant and animals. Wont we see the trees change with the seasons or will that too be induced by some artificial process.
There is a lot of hype about an artificial tree which is 10 times more efficient in purifying air than a real tree. Actually it looks more like a metal box than a tree. Anyway thats the future. And there is no denying it.
After Christmas is over, as sit to dismantle the tree and pack it into a box, I feel that I'm performing a symbolic ritual as a reenactment of on the cutting of trees by us, our fathers and forefathers. A ritual to remind us that no matter whether we live in the stone age, iron age and or the the plastic age, we will always destroy far more that what we hope to create.
Yo Google! Show all others the way
I, on behalf of every nature loving human on this earth congratulate google for their initiative on solar power generation. The company itself has a 1.6-megawatt solar panel system installed at its headquarters in Mountain View, California.
That a good message to all Software Companies especially in India where all the software building are made of tinted glass thus require huge amount of air conditioning to counter the green house effect and lights to illuminate the dark offices.
Here in India, Software Companies guzzle power whereas neighboring villages survive on oil lamps. I appreciate the efforts of Google. The continue to raise the benchmark for all software companies and hope they continue the good work.
That a good message to all Software Companies especially in India where all the software building are made of tinted glass thus require huge amount of air conditioning to counter the green house effect and lights to illuminate the dark offices.
Here in India, Software Companies guzzle power whereas neighboring villages survive on oil lamps. I appreciate the efforts of Google. The continue to raise the benchmark for all software companies and hope they continue the good work.
Paedophilia : Faulty wiring in the Brain
I read an interesting article that connect pedophilia with faulty wiring in the brain. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7116506.stm
Lead researcher Dr James Cantor said the latest study found a significant lack of white matter connecting six different areas of the brain all known to play a role in sexual arousal. His theory is that the lack of adequate wiring between the different centres results in paedophiles not being able to differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate sexual objects.
Some of these studies lead to very controversial consequences. Soon parents and other institutions will force their teachers, coaches, staff and anyone else interacting with kids to take this test. Not misunderstand me, I am all for such test. But till now we don't have a system of privacy in place where not just the result of the test but the test itself is anonymous. I live in a society where taking a test itself is a sigh of guilt for example taking an AIDS test is a sigh that you might have had sex.
So all you wanna be pedophiles, murderers, rapist and other criminal out there, watch out! your are being watch and your brain is being scanned and you don't even know it.
Lead researcher Dr James Cantor said the latest study found a significant lack of white matter connecting six different areas of the brain all known to play a role in sexual arousal. His theory is that the lack of adequate wiring between the different centres results in paedophiles not being able to differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate sexual objects.
Some of these studies lead to very controversial consequences. Soon parents and other institutions will force their teachers, coaches, staff and anyone else interacting with kids to take this test. Not misunderstand me, I am all for such test. But till now we don't have a system of privacy in place where not just the result of the test but the test itself is anonymous. I live in a society where taking a test itself is a sigh of guilt for example taking an AIDS test is a sigh that you might have had sex.
So all you wanna be pedophiles, murderers, rapist and other criminal out there, watch out! your are being watch and your brain is being scanned and you don't even know it.
Dont judge a product by the skills of its salesman. : My Citi Story
When I joined a software company from pune, i had four options of banks to choose from. I had applied for ICICI but I soon realized they were too overloaded with customers. The long queues outside the branch and the ATM, the rude staff and the fact that they did not find it necessary to clarify my doubts forced me to abandon that bank.
My next bank was CitiBank. They had good banking agents. The convinced me right away that the bank was good. Even though they didnt have branches and their customer service people (phone) have know knowledge on banking and read every solution to queries from a manual, i didnt mind. I thought it followed standards. I was wrong. I was very wrong. I realized that CitiBank do not like offering people savings account. They offer salary account so that the money remains in the bank and not flow to other banks. When I left the company and came back to my home town in Goa I realized that the only ATM in the state did not accept deposits anymore. Of course they did not have any branches and the only way to deposite checks into the account and pay credit card bills is to hand it to some third party courier company. So much for security. Adding insult to injury, when I called customer service, they didnt know that there was a CitiBank ATM (housed in a +25 square meter shop with an LCD TV with cable) in Goa.
I wanted to end my banking relationship with them but guess what, no branches around. Now my account lies in some server with Rs 23 balance. Its because of such shoddy policy implementation at the grass root level by MNC banks that these banks are most vulnerable to crashes and loses with the slightest sound of alarm
Moral of my story, don't judge a product by the skills of its salesman.
My next bank was CitiBank. They had good banking agents. The convinced me right away that the bank was good. Even though they didnt have branches and their customer service people (phone) have know knowledge on banking and read every solution to queries from a manual, i didnt mind. I thought it followed standards. I was wrong. I was very wrong. I realized that CitiBank do not like offering people savings account. They offer salary account so that the money remains in the bank and not flow to other banks. When I left the company and came back to my home town in Goa I realized that the only ATM in the state did not accept deposits anymore. Of course they did not have any branches and the only way to deposite checks into the account and pay credit card bills is to hand it to some third party courier company. So much for security. Adding insult to injury, when I called customer service, they didnt know that there was a CitiBank ATM (housed in a +25 square meter shop with an LCD TV with cable) in Goa.
I wanted to end my banking relationship with them but guess what, no branches around. Now my account lies in some server with Rs 23 balance. Its because of such shoddy policy implementation at the grass root level by MNC banks that these banks are most vulnerable to crashes and loses with the slightest sound of alarm
Moral of my story, don't judge a product by the skills of its salesman.
Japanese most wanted criminals : Whales
In each culture, there is at least one animal that looses its life for us human. Goats and sheep in Islam, cobras in Hinduism, tigers in china etc. Non of these killings are justified but one country that crossed all boundaries of molarity and human compassion are the Japanese. The mercilessly kill these magnificent and harmless animals like as though they are a plague on this earth. They disgrace the scientific community in the process by justifying these killings in the name of science. One small insignificant country that owes its existence to the sea is destroying all that the sea took centuries to create. The are terrorist in the league of Al Kaeda who kill the innocent.
I congratulate Green Peace, the Australian government and all the other groups who put pressure on the Japs and forced them to stop this genocide.
I congratulate Green Peace, the Australian government and all the other groups who put pressure on the Japs and forced them to stop this genocide.
Job Interviews
I have recently launched a site for training people on how to successfully answer a job interview. Check it out on www.brustrguide.com/job_interview/.
Im sure there is something in it for everyone to help them in their interview process
Im sure there is something in it for everyone to help them in their interview process
Art and Culture
We always use Art and Culture in the same sentence. But they are world apart. Art is expression of new ideas and thoughts, culture is suppression of new ideas and thoughts.
No one knows that better than any citizen of India where every action has a possibility of offending someones culture. There are just too many cultures around here!
No one knows that better than any citizen of India where every action has a possibility of offending someones culture. There are just too many cultures around here!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
There is nothing like a death of a loved one to remind us that whatever we do is a futile atempt for everlasting happiness.
I lost my dog recently. He was 18 years old and died of cancer. I was 8 when i got him. He was my best friend. This quote is an expression of what I felt when i lost him.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
The value of a human life.... ....is grossly overvalued after killing a tiger than before. 7 years prison for killing our national symbol?
Every day I feel helpless that I cant do anything to save such magnificent creatures. On judgment day I will be guilty of being an accomplice to this genocide. I know one thing for sure. If I ever see anybody killing a tiger or any other endangered specie, and if any human comes of it alive, i'm pretty sure it wont be the hunter.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Quotes from the Enlightened One
Imagine if there was no global warming, there would be a lot of people getting very rich. Of course there are those still imagining that and getting rich at the expense of the planet.
How are we going to justify global warming to future generations? Explain it as a consequence of greed?! No generation has made the world so inhospitable for the future residents like that of ours. No generation will be cursed and hated for their actions like that of ours.
Mobile companies are doing exactly what prehistoric fashion designers did centuries ago: Make you feel ashamed of not having any on you!
We meet so many people that we enjoy n love being with but can't.Alas we have just one life with limited time. The best we can do is b with the closest ones we enjoy the most n think and wonder about the life we missed with the rest.
In the old days kids learned their virtues from teachers ans parents. Yesterday the TV was added to the list, today the PC and tomorrow the Mobile will teach our kids about life. We had a tough time with the former two. I pity the kids of the future.
Cash, in all its heavy bundles are replaced by cheques and credit cards therefore reducing its size... But ironically the weight of it on people carrying them seems to increase.
True Freedom of speech will be when the world goes deaf.
A couple of millennium there were many specialized gods. No one was better then the other. Later, to prove their god is the most powerful, the one god ideology was born. There can be no debate with a person who believes in only one god.
Festivals are....
....like watching an F1 race from the track, u wait an entire lap for a glimpse of your favorite star n all u get is a lot of noise and then the cycle continues".
.... an example of Gods unfairness in this world. The rich spend on the gods and get richer, the poor don't and get poorer.
.....celebrated indoors be families, they spend. .... celebrated outdoors by corporates, they earn.
.....simply payed holidays, in India, when the festival is not of your religion.
..... becoming a show of strength amongst religions groups these days.
Popular are ....
.....thou when, in a quiz, someone replies you name as the answer to a question and the answer is wrong.
.....thou when there is an porn MMS video circulating and people believe you are starring in it.
.....thou, in India atleast, if you are gay.
Respect is...
....what you get when you cause harm to animals, things or people for a good cause. Good deeds are seldom noticed,let alone respected!
....a piece of gold colored plastic given to us by American Express
....costing Rs 1000. Its an Elections Season discount only for politicians.Offer valid only till the voting date.
Why do we lookup to someone like Gandhi to make peace in the world? Coz we are humans; we always want someone else to do our dirty work. Fortunately he didn't start a religion. Imagine the communal wars that it would cause
Its amazing see how complex the simple task of shaving has become. Its just like a home facial. The money spent on luxury shaving product and that spent on researching newer product can end world hunger.
What are the three primary necessities of mankind? clothing, shelter and looking good.
If god preaches peace and the devil preaches war, Based on the actions we do in the name of religion,whose religion are we following ?
Gods come down to earth in human form make a bunch of mistakes that we foolish humans follow and the situations gets even worse. They have realized it now hence no one showed up in the last 500 yrs!
The one precious Indian item that the seller pays to give it away is a Bride.
Endangered species especially in India make so much noise before they go extinct in a desperate attempt to survive : Elephants, tigers, lions , communists.
There is nothing more evil than human perception. Pedophilia, hunting, poverty,genocide, global warming etc all being committed as a result of humans twisted perception. But the most evil perception of all is pretending all this doesn't exist.
My hand made blanket protected me from the cold last night. I wonder if it protected the person who made it?
These are quotes on IT Professionals (ITP) in India
Want to sell a Coffee costing Rs 5 for Rs. 50 to an ITP, accept a credit card and give 5% discount.
Don't want your ITP employee to leave their job, tell them they are being sent to the US.
Whats the difference between an ITP employee and any other ordinary employee? an ITP employee earns and spends 10 times more than that of an ordinary employee.
How do you sell pooh (or anything close to it) to an ITP? Just brand it!
An ITP in his new car had a race to the office with a tortoise, Who won? The ITP didn't stand a chance, he worked in
Whats the difference and similarity between a bee and an ITP?
The Difference: A bee leave its cubical for work, an ITP enters his cubical for work.
The Similarity: Both work till they drop dead.
What do you call the wife of and ITP?
If she is dum, a virgin!
If he is dum, a prostitute.
What do you call the husband of an ITP?
If he is smart, Casanova!
If she is smart, Boss.
What do zoologist call an IT office? A green house with an AC.
What are the three most consumed items by a ITP during break besides food? Coffee, Cigarettes and Anti Depressants.
How are we going to justify global warming to future generations? Explain it as a consequence of greed?! No generation has made the world so inhospitable for the future residents like that of ours. No generation will be cursed and hated for their actions like that of ours.
Mobile companies are doing exactly what prehistoric fashion designers did centuries ago: Make you feel ashamed of not having any on you!
We meet so many people that we enjoy n love being with but can't.Alas we have just one life with limited time. The best we can do is b with the closest ones we enjoy the most n think and wonder about the life we missed with the rest.
In the old days kids learned their virtues from teachers ans parents. Yesterday the TV was added to the list, today the PC and tomorrow the Mobile will teach our kids about life. We had a tough time with the former two. I pity the kids of the future.
Cash, in all its heavy bundles are replaced by cheques and credit cards therefore reducing its size... But ironically the weight of it on people carrying them seems to increase.
True Freedom of speech will be when the world goes deaf.
A couple of millennium there were many specialized gods. No one was better then the other. Later, to prove their god is the most powerful, the one god ideology was born. There can be no debate with a person who believes in only one god.
Festivals are....
....like watching an F1 race from the track, u wait an entire lap for a glimpse of your favorite star n all u get is a lot of noise and then the cycle continues".
.... an example of Gods unfairness in this world. The rich spend on the gods and get richer, the poor don't and get poorer.
.....celebrated indoors be families, they spend. .... celebrated outdoors by corporates, they earn.
.....simply payed holidays, in India, when the festival is not of your religion.
..... becoming a show of strength amongst religions groups these days.
Popular are ....
.....thou when, in a quiz, someone replies you name as the answer to a question and the answer is wrong.
.....thou when there is an porn MMS video circulating and people believe you are starring in it.
.....thou, in India atleast, if you are gay.
Respect is...
....what you get when you cause harm to animals, things or people for a good cause. Good deeds are seldom noticed,let alone respected!
....a piece of gold colored plastic given to us by American Express
....costing Rs 1000. Its an Elections Season discount only for politicians.Offer valid only till the voting date.
Why do we lookup to someone like Gandhi to make peace in the world? Coz we are humans; we always want someone else to do our dirty work. Fortunately he didn't start a religion. Imagine the communal wars that it would cause
Its amazing see how complex the simple task of shaving has become. Its just like a home facial. The money spent on luxury shaving product and that spent on researching newer product can end world hunger.
What are the three primary necessities of mankind? clothing, shelter and looking good.
If god preaches peace and the devil preaches war, Based on the actions we do in the name of religion,whose religion are we following ?
Gods come down to earth in human form make a bunch of mistakes that we foolish humans follow and the situations gets even worse. They have realized it now hence no one showed up in the last 500 yrs!
The one precious Indian item that the seller pays to give it away is a Bride.
Endangered species especially in India make so much noise before they go extinct in a desperate attempt to survive : Elephants, tigers, lions , communists.
There is nothing more evil than human perception. Pedophilia, hunting, poverty,genocide, global warming etc all being committed as a result of humans twisted perception. But the most evil perception of all is pretending all this doesn't exist.
My hand made blanket protected me from the cold last night. I wonder if it protected the person who made it?
These are quotes on IT Professionals (ITP) in India
Want to sell a Coffee costing Rs 5 for Rs. 50 to an ITP, accept a credit card and give 5% discount.
Don't want your ITP employee to leave their job, tell them they are being sent to the US.
Whats the difference between an ITP employee and any other ordinary employee? an ITP employee earns and spends 10 times more than that of an ordinary employee.
How do you sell pooh (or anything close to it) to an ITP? Just brand it!
An ITP in his new car had a race to the office with a tortoise, Who won? The ITP didn't stand a chance, he worked in
Whats the difference and similarity between a bee and an ITP?
The Difference: A bee leave its cubical for work, an ITP enters his cubical for work.
The Similarity: Both work till they drop dead.
What do you call the wife of and ITP?
If she is dum, a virgin!
If he is dum, a prostitute.
What do you call the husband of an ITP?
If he is smart, Casanova!
If she is smart, Boss.
What do zoologist call an IT office? A green house with an AC.
What are the three most consumed items by a ITP during break besides food? Coffee, Cigarettes and Anti Depressants.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Yoga VS Yoga
The recent controversy of a couple of churches refusing to allow Yoga classes to be held in their premises have caused an uproar among yoga followers and fanatics specially in India. Why wouldn't it? Channels like NDTV, CNN - are flashing it all over TV like as though it is a crime against humanity.
Indians like many other culture-based nations over the world are hypocrites. A very small percentage of people in India of it 1 billion population practice yoga. But if anyone says anything against our heritage.. all hell breaks loose. This is not the first time such incident has happened. Indians hold their heritage close to their hearts.. well almost. Kill a diseased cow which threatens the entire population of cows in UK, its a crime against the gods. Take bribes in front of Gandhi's image but any makes fun of the mahatma, people are up in arms. That was precisely what Gandhi gave his life for. Bah... sorry to say these things will never end. Its human nature: Hypocracy.
If someone does not want to hold yoga classes in their premises, that is no one else's business. I dont know what must have happened between the priest and the yoga instructor, and frankly, I dont care. I am concerned about how everyone else including Indians in India and elsewhere are reacting just because yoga originated in India. I bet despite of its immense health benefits no Indian would be bothered about it if Yoga did not originate in India. And the question people are too afraid to answer, "Would people oppose this incident if instead of a church and priest, a mosque and mullah was involved. " No one would even think about it.
I guess news channels dont have any other news to present therefore they flash such irrelevant crap. If anything they should show how many Indians are not even allowed to enter temple premises let alone do yoga or aerobics there.
Its sad. Truly sad. One good thing that has happened because of this incident is that, in India yoga is diminishing and will soon be wiped out but I guess its legacy will be alive and practiced in other countries like UK and if anyone opposes it there we Indians are here to fight against those oppositions.
Indians like many other culture-based nations over the world are hypocrites. A very small percentage of people in India of it 1 billion population practice yoga. But if anyone says anything against our heritage.. all hell breaks loose. This is not the first time such incident has happened. Indians hold their heritage close to their hearts.. well almost. Kill a diseased cow which threatens the entire population of cows in UK, its a crime against the gods. Take bribes in front of Gandhi's image but any makes fun of the mahatma, people are up in arms. That was precisely what Gandhi gave his life for. Bah... sorry to say these things will never end. Its human nature: Hypocracy.
If someone does not want to hold yoga classes in their premises, that is no one else's business. I dont know what must have happened between the priest and the yoga instructor, and frankly, I dont care. I am concerned about how everyone else including Indians in India and elsewhere are reacting just because yoga originated in India. I bet despite of its immense health benefits no Indian would be bothered about it if Yoga did not originate in India. And the question people are too afraid to answer, "Would people oppose this incident if instead of a church and priest, a mosque and mullah was involved. " No one would even think about it.
I guess news channels dont have any other news to present therefore they flash such irrelevant crap. If anything they should show how many Indians are not even allowed to enter temple premises let alone do yoga or aerobics there.
Its sad. Truly sad. One good thing that has happened because of this incident is that, in India yoga is diminishing and will soon be wiped out but I guess its legacy will be alive and practiced in other countries like UK and if anyone opposes it there we Indians are here to fight against those oppositions.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Bold New World of Flex
Introduction
We all have viewed flash applications at one time or the other in our life on the web inform of
e-cards, ads, games etc . It is a very different from the boring static html pages we normally view. Over the years Macromedia has created a revolution in the web world by developing a very strong platform for developing web graphics on the Internet. Now there is a new revolution taking place.Macromedia, which is now owned by Adobe, has created a new technology for the developing web sites which is based on the existing flash platform, known as Flex.
One Night Stand!
Over the years I have tried and tested many technologies, both web and standalone. Ive dwelled into .NET (VB.NET, C#, ASP), Java (JSP, Servlets, J2ME), python, Ruby/Rails, Groovy, PHP, C, C++, perl etc. To be honest my skill level is not the same in all languages but I do know the pros and cons of each technology I use and believe you me, some of these technologies are just over hyped and once you hook on to any of these, they just suck you deeper and deeper into their vortex and by the time you realize that it was a mistake you are 60 and on the verge of retirement. My latest fascination was Ruby/Rails which I invested a lot of time and money(for books).
Couple of months back I had to develop two rich client web application, a web service for myself, say A and another for a Brokerage and Investement Firm, say B. Both application were entirely different wrt their demands. The former required a simple UI for the user. When I mean simplicity it means getting the maximum relevant information for the user with minimum number of clicks. The second application required a very complex UI but within a level of user friendliness. A has small volumes of data but large number of users. B has large volumes of data but small number of users. A was hosted on the Internet. B was restricted to an office My first choice was rails. It was easy, fast to develop application, and very powerful in terms of features. But it failed in performance and support. That was unacceptable for both applications.
I dove into AJAX. After an exhaustive study i selected Google Windows Toolkit or GWT. It was an obvious choice for me because the programming language was JAVA, but my curiosity did not stop me from exploring other technologies. So GWT was my client site technology and PHP was my server side technology. Although development was smooth, I had problems with interfacing PHP and GWT. Adding to my woes, the time it look to load the page would put most people to sleep. GWT was out along with the number of hours I spent on it. I hate to admit it, but I felt google did not release the optimized version of the GWT compiler. It was not even close to optimised
Flex, will you marry me?
During my research, I had accidentally come across Flex in one of my Developers IQ magazine CD. I had to reject it due to RAM constraints. It requires 512MB and I had just half that. Later I decided to back to it and I was glad. My prior knowledge in XML and JavaScript helped me pick up the MXML-ActionScript Syntax quite easily. But it took time to learn the internal working of the platform. I fell in love with it instantly.
I did not use Flex for project A. First, it required Flash 9 which were few people use. Second, it cannot be parsed by search-engines. Third, we felt that the UI would be too advanced and complicated to use for novice web users. We stuck to plain old but nevertheless effective HTML and JavaScript. We used flex to implement the Administrator UI and functions.
Project B just couldn't do without Flex type UI. Although my client cant tell the difference between a rich client web application and plain text even if it hit them in the head, I had to do my part to make their life easy, at least as easy as much as they can pay for it.
The server-side technology is PHP /MySQL and communication takes place using AMFPHP2, a RPC Service implemented in PHP. I use Flex Builder as the development environment.
Now my life cool, my work is easy and my client is happy. Well what else would I want? I don't know but Adobe thinks it does. It has released Flex 3 beta with new features. I am eagerly awaiting the final release. And for all you source fans there is an Open Source version on the way.
So what are you waiting for? Put on your swimming suits and dive into the world of flex.
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