Keeping up with an amazing brain

Every child comes with its own unique characteristics and built-in talent which shows up in various ways and takes a keen eye and patience to identify and nurture the seed into a thriving plant.

We could see the twinkle in Tanmay’s eyes as he marveled at the LED displays in Stockholm public transit showing the station names and various numerical displays. What we were thrilled to learn was that not only he was observing but rapidly learning also.

At the age where children are mastering their motor skills, this is what Tanmay was working on

Reading numbers

Tanmay is naturally curious and always ready to explore,  learn and discuss things. He is able to learn master topics within 1-2 attempts. True to his name (Tanmay) he becomes deeply involved, both physically & mentally in whatever he does.

At the mere age of 14 months, he was able to recognize and utter numerals 1-20 just by watching rhymes. Recognizing his curiosity, we provided him with charts of English alphabets, Hindi varnmala & numbers. In parallel, he picked up French, Spanish, arabic & tamil alphabets from relevant rhymes.

He is always eager to explore and expand his knowledge and understanding of the topics being taught at school with help of books from school library and other aids out of his interest.

To illustrate an example, we had provided him a World map puzzle to learn about the 7 continents, but he went beyond just that and ended up learning and able to recognize countries, their capitals & flags as well.

Hindi Varnmala read through

 

Writing his own name with Hindi block letters

 

Hindi Varnmala

 

Arabic Alphabets

French Alphabets

Geography sessions

Countries of the world

Countries of Asia

Countries of Europe

US states and capitals

Astronomy

Planets

Dwarf Planets

Mathematics

Addition

Subtraction

Multiplication / Division

Human Body

Longest word in the dictionary

Reciting Maha Mryutinjya Mantra

Hindi Reading

Gayatri Mantra

While there is so much to cherish and feel proud, it also brings in the sense of  consideration of how to channelize and continue him on his journey so that he doesn’t lose interest and expands his knowledge and vocabulary without feeling bogged down with the normal routine of school life which obviously he is well in the advanced stages.

What we did not do is to pursue an agenda of active learning but let him pick topics of his choice and aid him learning them.

Montessori schooling system so far has provided him the liberty of choosing his pace and activities to work and also to observe his elder classmates do activities which he is happy to accomplish, which he did after coming to home and working on them.

I often wonder when he lands in the day long school system with the defined set of classes, how his concentration and patience will hold on subjects which he is already aware of and has a tendency to play a teacher’s role by instructing his fellow students which comes very naturally to him.

The Wolf in the Sheep's clothing - Tribute to emergence of Arvind Kejriwal's species

It's been a good couple of years since India woke up to a promising movement which on the surface seemed to generate enough momentum to bring about "Aam Aadmi" scenario into the elitist Lutyen's zone and convinced enough educated middle & other classes of Indians to pitch in with their efforts - physical, emotional and monetary wise.

What it actually ended up was use & disposal of the face of "Jan lokpal movement" Anna Hazare who in typical feudal style was used as a stepping stone to launch careers of a new breed of politicians & a marginally promising new politicial party which hailed itself as the doyen of "Swaraj Wapsi".

Enter the IIT-K educated IRS officer Arvind Kejriwal from the shadows of Anna who honed his "Dharna" skills to such precision that out of his habit, he even ended up practicing it when he was looking like serving as Chief minister in his T20 style "49 day" government.

So brazen were some of the acts that politicians of yesteryear would have marveled at what IITs can produce when politics is the ambition of its alumni. In a short instant, transforming from a anti-corruption crusader to giant killing Cong rule in Delhi state elections, Kejriwal attained a feat few would have rivaled or even dreamt of.

But being a cat with nine lives, this was just start of the journey where the craze to use "shock value of unpredictable behaviour" overcame rational considerations and dilution of the office of Chief minister, that he attempted to self-immolate a decent start to throw cat among the pigeons.

Coming back after forcing the taxpayers money for a 2nd election within 90 days, it was a stunning victory, which for reasons still not very clear to me, resulting in even better showing in the election. It wiped out everything but 4-6 seats which was a consolation to the two national parties put to shame 2 times in a row.

What was assumed would change Delhi's fortune and brighten up the hopes that the various "scam kings" would finally face trials for their acts fizzled out faster than a soda bottle left in open.

Even faster were the numerous "U" turns which now Kejriwal has mastered which caught few of their founder members on the wrong side of the road left huffing & puffing and finally shown the door.

The tall promises made such as Free-WiFi, half-priced electricity, water, pollution drives, some of which might not materialize before their term officially expires have kept people wondering, whether things are in works or it is all "smoke" and no "fire".

What we have learnt with enough clarity & evidence is that Kejriwal has brought in a new era of showmanship unseen within the political circles, where "Is it true" re-tweets on unverified news & claims is his daily routine when he is not

• reviewing movies & recommending them on twitter
• finding tweets to show BJP & its members in bad light
• claiming astounding achievements which fall apart when facts are analyzed
• doing "U" turns on everything under sun given the direction of the wind
• crying foul on media when his ego is trampled upon
• & finally when anything which doesn't go according to plan anywhere in India, he creatively finds a way to question and frame the Centre Govt as the possible cause.

Astounding it may seem that a Chief minister who has nearly the whole assembly for his party would drive & devote time to construct his future in Delhi and latter embark upon to make a dent at the National level instead chose to duel in a visible and deplorable manner with numerous entities, it was very easy to see that after Anna Hazare, the Delhi citizens are being taken for a ride to fuel AK's quixotic ambition to attempt at eyeing the PM seat which has anything but deeply disappointed normal Indians who can see beyond the dramatics and the ever occurring blame games of AK vs. Centre / Modi / BJP.

My hopes of AK being different than the other "wolves" in the political circle were quickly laid to rest with his 1st tenure dramatics. However, he did affirm the "different" tag in his 2nd tenure where he has demonstrated what "different" can mean in scope of degradation of political discourse to a shocking new low, that if I were to call him the "Reality TV" version of Indian politics, the pioneers of reality television might sue me !!

But in the end, the aim is the same, maximum attention & diversion from "reality" serving as a nice irony to "Reality".

Indians have yet again, especially Delhities have been shown "Babaji ka Thullu" in a different style. What is interesting to be seen is how the Punjab elections play out along with the Goa elections where AAP has already claimed victory without any votes being polled.

If the "wolf in the sheep's clothing" is indeed well covered, Punjab & Goa falling prey to AK's antics would prove one thing for sure; that people are so sick of the traditional political players that they are desperate to gamble their future with someone who can't keep his house in order & gossips like the "Dehati Aurat" which excites and feeds the "Presstitutes" to keep their studios busy & noisy for TRPs and news creation. 

Long time Google, and things haven't been so kind in the blogger space

It's been a long time since I visited blogger portal due to my international transfers and setting up a new permanent home back in my home country.

While Google has been playing the change in "Authorization APIs" close to its heart and disrupting one too many platforms which connect its services from other cloud applications. Microsoft & Apple have been equally less enthusiastic in ensuring that this cross-rival handshakes are being oiled and working all fine.

Where does that leave the "looking for free" or "subscribing" netizens; basically stuck in Web portals trying to type their blogs or ponder over the decision to move their blogs to other services such as "Wordpress" which on my recent visit is thriving well and probably should be my only blog portal if Google & Microsoft's blog writing software keep each other in isolation.

Although my frequency doesn't really justify the above rant, but simple things like updating your applications of minor authorization mismatches shouldn't sit around for months altogether when users report it. Granted that the maintenance & intent to update "free" software is not really on Microsoft's agenda, then it is better to kill these non-value apps then letting them linger around and invite the negative feedback from their users.

Having said all that. I did finally write this post from the web portal. :P Like I had a choice to begin with..

IOS 7 & OS X - Work half done

Yesterday's Apple WWDC was awaited with lot of anticipation. The introduction of the new OS versions for the Macbook & iOS devices were eagerly awaited. I was disappointed with what was introduced would be the most flattering response, given the features unveiled and the ones which never showed up.

Here is what was introduced (in the Apple eco-system)

OS X (As in 10)

• Finder Tabs (Still trying to understand the real utility behind such a feature)
• iCloud & Keychain  integration (Good start again on a unfinished feature)
• Upgrades to Safari (Not sure if it is a catchup-game to Chrome)

I am not too excited by the above features, so might skip this version upgrade on my 2011 MBP unless the price is really attractive for upgrade. It was surprising to see no talk about Aperture or any other products such as Garageband or iPhoto.

iOS 7

The most awaited overhaul to the ageing OS UI finally arrived. The new look is much cleaner than before, and finally Apple is coming to smartphone standards with notification pull-ups and doing away with the glassy shine. What stands out is the clean UI which reminds of Windows Metro & more recently the Android JB 4.2 UI. They're all starting to look mutant siblings slowly but steadily.

Features introduced (for the iOS ecosystem)

• Notification drawer goes the Android/Samsung way but from bottoms up.
• Icons now resemble Nokia N8/9 and Miui ROM like.
• New filters and Panorama mode in Camera App
• Activation lock if phone is erased/lost.
• Multitasking finally looks like WebOS like.
• iTunes Radio
• Upgraded Safari with iCloud Keychain support
• Facetime Audio (Good addition to the default video calling app)

What was glaringly missing in the event for iOS

• Dynamic content icons - The icons are still static !!
• No talk on Maps !! Why ?
• Long needed update to Contacts app for intelligent dial/contact search.

Upto this point, we are not even discussing anything innovative except that Apple took the courage to change the ageing UI and Activation lock feature which should deter some, if not all the iOS device thieves. The years from 2007 - 2010 were the trailblazing years in my opinion for Apple with incremental features added and interesting hardware upgrades. Since the iPhone 4 and iOS 5, things haven't looked the same.

It remains to be seen if Apple picks up steam again during fall and impresses with hardware refreshes for the Macbook Pro and the iOS device line. The catching up game on the software & hardware could result in bulk migration of people to other ecosystems. With the iOS 7, the catchup game is already a generation behind and it will be old by the time it lands in consumer's hands given the fact that Android & Microsoft will have refreshes up their sleeves as well.

iPhone 5–Flattering to disappoint

 

The newest version of the most important product from Apple was unveiled yesterday. With purists gunning for bleeding edge tech to be adopted and inserted into ever thinning profile were not disappointed, it was still a lackluster debut where I felt certain key things were missed.

Build

It was a welcome return to the original design, which was one of the greatest reasons, iPhone sold out when it was introduced. The aluminum back would greatly reduce the need to invest in a phone case.

Physical dimension – Apple avoided the lure of going big and stuck to something which I really appreciated - The width is being retained while the length was increased. I have rotating use of the HTC One X, iPhone 4, and Blackberry 9700. I believe the fit in your pal determines, what you tend to pickup for your daily use irrespective of screen size and features.

I personally do not bother with the 4.0 inch screen introduced. 4.3 would have been the best screen to introduce and continue for a few years, after all, our palms will not evolve in next few years for us to feel the Galaxy Note screens to be any smaller.

Hardware Upgrades

The other hardware upgrades were either expected, given the current crop of smartphones with overflowing features. But, Apple still is left behind by missing to introduce several features beyond the obvious. Retina displays are common, so is LTE and high end optics in flagship phones. Neither did Apple introduce newer Bluetooth version.  The change of data port pin is a bit relief, but again, Micro USB plugs have been around for a while, and we are now heading into Era of Wireless charging, so Apple seem to be chasing the past here.

IOS 6 – Although announced during early Summer, it would turn out to be the weakest part of iPhone eco system, which lacks innovation. It should have been a innovative upgrade, but has ended up being incremental. The classic look is now getting stale and unless, Apple introduces dynamic icons / screen elements to catch up with Android widgets or Live tiles of Metro UI. Apple might excel at what it does, but then so did Blackberry with mobile email. It did not take much time for Blackberry to start staring at its grave with the onslaught of consumer preferences, which they ignored.

What’s for future – The wishlist for iPhone 6 is already out on some tech blogs, I thought I would put in one from my side as well.

• 4.3 inch screen,
• Dynamic screen elements,
• World phone with world wide LTE capabilities in single device,
• NFC or similar approach to use with passbook,
• Offline navigation as standard,
• FM Radio (It’s a unicorn in Apple world),
• Wireless Charging,
• USB Mass Storage mode,
• and a decent set of Earphones, which you don’t throw away after 2 months.

Trip 2012–Some Experiences

I would not qualify my return as a complete return to India, but rather as a experience before you really start living.

After my last trip in May 2010, I have finally relinquished US and headed back to India. It has been now around 45 days that I have been here now. I got a chance to travel across couple of cities, many of which were of my preferred come back cities in India, once I come back finally to settle.

As is customary for Indians living abroad, we often store a perception of the cost of living, when we leave from the airport, only to come back and, evaluate the existing cost with the one, which, we kept in our mind till we were away. This serves as a mild surprise, which you tend to discuss everywhere you go. India’s inflation has not been missing the global trends, just like it’s double digit GDP growth was.

Real Estate Shocker !!

If you are in country and scouting for a home (flat essentially, unless you can afford a land in city with the astronomical prices going about), it gives you a feeling as if you just touched a live wire, hair raising experience literally. Depending upon which city you research, the value for money calculation never hits your mind so hard, as it does when you physically explore the potential property with your own eyes. The Real Estate market  is something similar to what a villager would react when reading the coffee rates at IGI Airport’s T3 Terminal. You get the drift.

I personally was treated to experiences where the builder should have thrown his architect from the topmost floor of the apartment building, then should have jumped himself in view of the “nominal price” being offered for such apartments. But RE as they call it, is the “in thing” to do, no wonder, many stalwarts of the IT industry seem to be jumping ship to latch on to the wave as long as it lasts.

USD to INR

This is so called reverse calculation which your brain performs for few weeks of you stay in India. You would be disheartened to know that, Indian prices now compete with US prices for most of the every day food and grocery items sans the need for quality. This is an essential fact, when you bring in the disposable income you’re left with in US vs. India.

I pretty quickly got over with my developed habit of grabbing a coffee on the go. The coffee if not drunk in Chennai style at home or the popular coffee houses across the cities, should generally be avoided. Tea and sugarcane juices are highly recommended.

However, the happier part is that medicines and standard laboratory tests in India, would cost you the equivalent or lesser than your average “Co-pay” of the most premium health care plan. The customer service might be non-existent, but the quality is on par.

Travel

This has been the major highlight of the current trip. It has involved travel through Air, Train and city buses. Air travel is as painful as in US, the required additional time is ridiculous when you find out that the reason behind it is due to a single window of security clearance by the airlines whereas, CISF roams in majority at each and every airport. Thank god, you do not have to remove your shoes and get personally attended as the TSA does it.

Train

Train availability through Tatkal has greatly improved, after the government killed the touts and their advantages in the booking business. I was in fact, able to book all my urgent travel through Tatkal online without sweating it out and breaking into heated arguments with fellow passengers. The trains are also generally on or before time, which sounds reasonable, due to the fact that train drivers do not get overtime anymore, but get rewarded for prompt arrival and departure instead.

Metro Train of Delhi is worth noting here. If you happen to be in Delhi, try it out. It is quick, convenient and worth for long distances, where you don’t want to sell your soul to the devil which resides in the “Autos” in Delhi. Current project in Chennai has high hopes from me, I would love to see the declining control of the “Auto Raj” which Chennai Auto rickshaws are so notoriously infamous for.

The EMU trains in Chennai is a boon for those looking to travel to the IT corridor which sometimes can be a deterrent to relocate there. My couple of trips from Chennai Beach to Velachery without changing trains was great gift.

City Buses

City Buses are a hit or miss depending on which city you decide to explore them. I have been a long time commuter of Chennai and like them, but Chennai’s one way traffic patter deployed temporarily due to the Metro project plays havoc with patience of even the most calm drivers and passengers as well.

(to be continued. .)

Initial Impressions of the MacBook Pro

Being a PC wanderer, I have jumped the fence to the other side, where everything white is cool, premium and the "in thing".

I'm personally not a fan of the features to cost ratio of Apple products but somewhere down the line, Windows based products were really letting me down in terms of features and execution. Windows Vista was nearly a killer but it was killing the systems it was running on and not the competition. Windows 7 and Windows Mobile have come and saved the MS world for now.

To mention that I own a product from every major platform including RIM (yes, I still love my Blackberrys) is a feeling where I get to evaluate each of the platforms' strengths and weaknesses.

Since this post is about the MBP (MacBook Pro) I will concentrate on it for now. The version of MBP I have is from the refresh cycle of Spring 2011 where they came out with Core iX series of processors from Intel and featured the new Thunderbolt technology. Honeslty, I do not care much for it for now unless it matures and you start seeing a plethora of devices which use this technology.

Build :
The build of the unibody aluminium is impeccable. I have not seen HP Envy but would assume it to be of similar quality if not better. Dell Adamo was another one, but it never caught my attention. Plus, the aesthetic value of an Apple product cannot be underestimated.

The otherwise minimalist appearance is something worth showing off. The build is definitely a 4 out 5 rating.

Hardware :

Intel inside with the GMA video option is something which will be bypassed in today's Windows 7 world with sigh. 1 GB and 2 GB dedicated video cards are the norm.

But the Apple world places a premium on everything. The Core i5 build in the 13.3 inch MBP does not allow any video card customization and still costs equivalent to a Wintel laptop which would include 8 GB of RAM, Core i7 and any of the above mentioned video graphics with a Bluray burner.

But as they, fastest is always not the best. The utilization of the resources in a optimum manner is what is desired today.

I would from a Hardware perspective, give a 2 out of 5 to Apple even though considering they are among the premium laptops irrespective of the OS world.

OS X Lion :
Coming to the OS, I have upgraded to the recently released OS X codenamed "Lion" which has brought in excellent features of the iOS platform and combined some neat multitouch features which nearly eliminate any kind of lengthy scrolling or navigation key strokes.

A swipe to the right with 2 fingers takes you forward in a browser, 2 finger swipe to the left takes you back. Changing screens between Dashboard and active window is a matter of 3 finger swipe to the left or right.

The scrolling is something you have to get used to. There are no scrollbars and flicking to scroll is the  opposite to what you do in iPhone or iPad.

The OS is a major change with introduction of built in App store and also introduction of iOS like architecture where now applications can be full screen without need of a menu bar or status bar.

It is a very promising move and Apple leads the way here, I would assume some novely from Windows 8 when it is released.

Software :

This has been my biggest disappointment. I also assume this would be resolved to a great extent since now the App store is integrated. I hope there are many developers attracted to make good and cheaper Apps for the Mac store so that more tools and utilities can be created for people to use.

A good example is blogging software. On a Windows, I would use Wordpad or Windows Live Writer to get some blogging done, however on the Mac, unless you use iWeb which comes installed with the OS. All other options run from $20 to $50 for a decent blogging utility. In today's world when every mobile platform has blogging tools available for free, it is really appalling looking at the Apple repository for such costly alternatives.

Software has been always premium on Apple platform due to small market share and targeted audience. I guess it will improve with the App Store arrival.

For a long time Wintel loyalist, I take comfort in the fact that whenever I would need to go to Windows 7. It would be a bootcamp click away on the MBP. This is one of the strong reasons for me to combine the hardware superiority of a Mac with software usablity of OSX and Windows on the same machine.

It would be really incredible, if Apple would release its OS like Windows to be installed on any machine without providing support for the hardware issues. That would help people like me to build and enjoy low cost Hackintosh and Win7 platforms on awesome hardware specs.

The Software unless bought and used for which Apple is famous for, gets a 3 out 5 rating in terms of cost and variety of choices.

I will possibly post an update to the software later this week.

What if today, you have to leave the IT field and earn your bread ?

This is something I would wish to ask everyone in the IT field. What if, today, you have to leave the IT field and earn your bread ?

It is something very relevant to the current economic situation, and also an eye opener to the labourers who toil away with their eyes, hands and brains sitting in a vegetative state for hours together, working for their IT overlords, who now have have been busy sorting them out for keeping their profit margins intact.

2001 was a preview of just how vulnerable IT was. 2008-09 has showed how resilient it has become. No more there are IT bubble bursts, even though the current situation has sent a electric jolt to those who had come into this line just for the greenbacks and a great lifetime opportunity to people who could really do something great apart from their IT skills.

Seeing the way people have come together in Bay Area after being laid off, to collaborate, to identify new ventures, new ideas and press on to initiatives which were on back burner due to various reasons. It reminds me that all we need sometimes is a gentle nudge to remind of what we are capable of.

Coming back to the title of the post. Well, my honest answer to this would be, anything to start off with to keep my home running, and then I would gradually draw up a plan to utilize my knowledge and channelize it to do something which would help to utilize IT to enable the common masses.

It could be anything from, teaching in a primary school to going back to school to empower you with the skills to really push for that goal, which you dreamt of, but never dared make an attempt at, for the fear of upsetting your routine 9 to 5 office life.

I come from a home of goldsmiths, a profession which was last practiced by my grandfather. The generation after that moved to businesses in metals, and I have a medico father. Although, it's a art which is being overwhelmed by precision machines, gold jewellery making is something, which is seeing tough times due to high prices and lack of expendable money.

Since, even I am not clear, what I would like to do apart from IT, I think it is imperative, that I give a deep thought on this and also continue to focus on my career. I hope, the reader of this post is also in the same mind frame and has a plan 'B' ready for the worst of times.

Tere bin ‘Bin Laden’ – A match fixed in Pakistan ??

Like an unexpected fall of a wicket in a boring test match, the news of assassination of the world’s most sought after men was quick to arrive amidst the end of the weekend primetime.

The elusive one had been found and put down, and not only put down, but drowned to abyss rather quickly and much to everyone’s surprise. The entire episode’s proceedings is nothing short of a script for a chain of sequels due to the number of open questions it brings into people’s mind all across the world.

For Pakistan, the feeling must be like a stumped batsmen, who did not know when the killer team came from, landed on its arguably safest zone of military academy and took out the stumps as quick as a flash and vanished. I probably would have cried “Match Fixing” on this one for sure, since I for one, cannot conceive that a nation’s defense would have been so bad that they could not detect, react, or chase the US package which came in, did its business and left, no questions asked, no rounds fired.

Further to this, whether they were secretly involved but non-committal in the open to avoid any backlash will weigh upon every citizen and lead to question their true intentions. Do they still continue to want play safe with US and the hostile elements within their country. It’s a fine line of walk keeping both sides in dark, eventually the consequences would have to borne by Pakistan only.

For the world on other hand, the post-operation activities around the quick sea burial, DNA tests being completed in matter of hours begs some serious introspection. Why is that, all the other assassinations resulted in showcasing the trophy bounty, whereas in this case, without even sharing with the allies, the physical evidence was quickly confined to the abyss of the Arabian Sea citing religious obligations. Since when have warring factions been so cognizant of the other’s religious rituals ? Did they fear retaliation from the allies, or it was a way to hush down any contradictions arising which would have questioned the legitimacy of the operation and its result ?

I hope Donald Trump definitely demands the “long form death certificate” on this from the coroner’s office, it might become his ticket to Oval office, who knows.

Conspiracy theories are like like sugar crystals, one piece of loose information or unanswered question draws a whole herd of them.

In the midst of all these events, reaction from India was pretty lame and old rhetoric. The “I told you so” line is making us look like whiners, who take every opportunity to walk up to US and whine and take no action. Would India have any guts to do such a covert operation and never ever bring it in the open ? They might, if our ministers take their hands and minds of the money they seem to be passing among themselves before their tenure runs out.

Overall, it is a symbolic ending of one of the most troubled searches in recent human history, a search which has spanned a decade, with the highest casualties for US, and dented their reputation unlike anything. Still, this can be equated to killing one snake off Medusa’s head where new ones have spawned quickly and widely.

With the US economy in doldrums due to the wild runs of unregulated markets and banks and blind eye by the Feds, a victory as this would be at the very best “Oonth ke munh mein jeera”, a fennel seed in camel’s mouth for the general American masses.

At Odds with the U.S., Pakistan Deepens Ties with China - Search for a symbiotic partner

While the relationship itself is not new, but with the toughening up of the requirements and complaints from its oldest ally, the country finds itself in search of a new godfather, or largesse supplier.

Religious manipulations in modern times

Tough times ahead with religious authorities now joining the bashing of other religions to sound "patriotic".

Locking your Wireless router – Bad Manners ?

There is a lot of talk around the need to protect your wireless network with mushrooming of wireless equipment in every household. There is a legal angle, where it says – you can be “prosecuted” if an incident involving your wireless network happens resulting in criminal / civilian liabilities. Then there is a cost angle, the consequence of going over your allocated bandwidth comes to the mind of of budget consumers, who somehow manage to have a connection for their use.
But, the question here is something to do with your community and your humanitarian approach. Would you be willing to help out someone in dire need of accessing information over the internet without knocking on your door ? Will this help seem trivial to the bad consequences of someone deliberately using your open networks for nefarious activities which could possibly lead to visit from the local law enforcement agencies ?
There are some of the questions which seem to understand what extent you are willing to help your fellow beings while still maintaining sure that you do not end up being indicted for crimes which you were not part of but happened over your internet highway. Also, it throws light on which one is more dangerous :

1. Running an open access network and claiming to be non-party to activities occurring over it.
2. Running a closed network which if hacked and results in unlawful activities, leaving no ground to come clean out of it.

For some, though, leaving their wireless router open to outside use is a philosophical decision, a way of returning the favor for the times they've hopped onto someone else's network to check email or download directions while away from home .

So the next time you setup a wireless router or hop on an open one. Be cognizant of the moral behavior and respect the generosity of the person offering the free internet. Ultimately in this world, what you give eventually comes back to you. Even if it is in "bytes".

Your route to the wireless world - Wireless Routers

As Internet transcends to our everyday activities, the desire to access the information and store data without being constrained to connected cables is more pronounced than ever. Although, city wide WANs are still in the nascent stages of implementation, the mushrooming of small wireless networks in the homes and in enclosed public areas such as malls and restaurants/stores has been anything but slow. You can find Wifi probably more easily than public telephones nowadays in the cities of US.

This post addresses picking up the better equipment for making your life wire-less inside your home. I shall address the nuances of public place Wifi hotspots in a later post.

I have been battling a war against the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz in my home. The reason, is the "mushroom" of Wifi equipment in residential apartments as everyone goes Wireless in their homes and couple it with the multitude of gadgets which use the same 2.4 Ghz as do the wireless routers. This congestion of the frequency spectrum causes couple of issues which are highlighted below :

1. Interference due to concurrent use of devices such as cordless telephones or Microwave equipment.
2. Interference due to large number of wireless equipment in a given area.
3. Cross-Interference between equipment when the frequency are right next to each other.

The above issues coupled with other technical difficulties led to induction of the 5Ghz frequency in wireless equipment. This not only ensured that the wireless equipment operated in a range where none of the household equipment currently operate, but also to give a steady signal strength as well.

This introduction of a separate frequency led to design of new wireless equipment which utilize either 2.4 or 5 Ghz transmissions, or come with dual band frequency transmitters to support legacy equipments. Now, you might be thinking, what does all the above mean to an average consumer who just wants to buy a wireless router. Here's why.

If you know your equipment which utilize Wi-Fi functionality such as phones, laptops, tablets, PMPs. You can zero-in on the frequency you would require while also taking into consideration how much congested your wireless space is.

Wifi-n is the current standard which supports both 2.4 and 5Ghz bands depending on the manufacturer of the equipment. Older equipment running on Wifi-g / b operates mostly on 2.4Ghz while Wifi-a operates at 900 Mhz.

 

2.4 GHz is probably the most congested of all. Anything which emits radio signal probably uses it. So, if you are looking at getting a new telephone or router, here is what you can do to save yourself interference headaches and performance issues :

 

Computing / Networking Equipment	Wireless Router	Telephone
Older Computing Equipment with Wi-fi G capability	Wireless - G	DECT 6.0
New computing Equipment with Wi-fi N capability	Wireless – N	DECT 6.0
Mix of the above	Dual & Simultaneous band Wireless – G/N	DECT 6.0

Most of the home networking setup would land in the last category where you would encounter mix of old and new equipment. The best way to address this go for the dual band and importantly “simultaneous” transmitting wireless router. Here is the marketing gimmick you need to be aware of :

a. Almost all of today’s Wireless routers come with flexibility to allow Wi-Fi N access over 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, but within the configuration, only one can be active at a given time.

b. The ones which come with capabilities to operate on both the bands are not very clearly identified unless you can find the word “simultaneous”.

The latter is always on a higher range price , but it will serve you well in many ways. First, the older equipment can keep chugging at the 2.4 spectrum, whereas all the new equipment supporting Wi-Fi N would benefit from accessing the 5GHz spectrum. It will allow the newer equipment to work at its best setting thus provide your with a faster bandwidth experience in operation. The networking mantra is always “the least speed of a connected device will determine the overall speed for the network”, this is also true for wired and wireless connections.

If you go with the last category in the table, your network should be operating in the following way :

1. Wi-Fi N clients >>> 5 GHz  >>>65 – 300 Mbps connectivity
2. Wi-Fi G clients >>> 2.4Ghz >>>36-54 Mbps connectivity.

Couple of noteworthy Wireless routers are shown below, which I have tried out :

Wireless G/N Device ( Operates on one band at a time).

Wireless G/N Device (Operates simultaneous bands)

I hope the above points help you in deciding the right equipment and provide the value of investment with peace of mind. Happy Networking.

Technorati Tags: Wireless,Network,Networking,Router,Home,Apple,Netgear,Dlink,2011,Home Networking,DECT,Wi-fi

Now : Price for your honour

The rich have often put price for things which normally are not considered up for sale. Lives for example, Take any tragedy and depending on the severity or the scale of it, the government somehow manages to find a price tag for each of the life lost and announces to hand it over to the bereaved family. While this might help them to cope temporarily for the loss they have incurred, it is by no means an approximation of the gap it leaves in their family, physically and monetarily.


The recent spate of crimes committed usually return in landmark judgements passed to ensure that such crimes are not repeated or the potential offenders are deterred by the scope of punishment for those crimes. But the link above is a landmark in itself, and surprisingly it comes from the highest office of justice in the Indian Judiciary - Supereme court.

The details are sort of summarized in the headlines itself, and if you find it impossible to believe. I believe it is extremely abhorrent to even conjure such statements, leave alone imagine a possiblity of making them public. Money is such a powerful tool which for ages has silenced rebellions, enemies, dissolved differences between powers, people and sometimes substituting for a life lost without a reason.

For a dead person who cannot argue his life's worth, paying money to their family does not have any trauma for the person itself. But justifying payment to a rape victim by the offender is something which the victim will have to endure for the rest of the life !!

How can you justify receiving money from a offender who has violated your honour and manage to live with it. Will the panel who makes such public statements accept such reimbursements for their family and kin. I would find it grossly against human dignity whether you are educated or not.

I hope sanity prevails and the Supreme court stays away from making such incompetent statements which will only allow the money laden criminals to happily commit crimes knowing that they can pay for it and get away from their deeds.

Shameful indeed.

The Ultimate waste of time !! Asteriod shooting scriptlet.

Amazing way to kill time and let out your frustration. Just remember ! Do not make this a habit.

Have fun !!

Jeans care - Uber style. Read on

Interesting article about caring for your favorite pair/pairs of denim.

After reading the article, I would admit it is a very novel way of caring for your denim from the director of brand concepts and special projects at Levis Strauss co., the founder of the denim culture.

Here is a small extract from the article :

"

After six months of wearing a pair of jeans, Mr. Chiara does a comprehensive cleaning; his method could also be used by those who like to wash their jeans more often. Usually, he fills a bathtub to about six inches with room-temperature water and adds two tablespoons of Dr. Bronner's Magic Liquid Soap, which he likes because it is mild. Then, he immerses the jeans in the tub, laying them flat.

Sometimes, with dark jeans, he'll add 1/8 cup of white vinegar to the water. "The vinegar sets the indigo and keeps it from fading," he says.

"

CWG 2010 - India amazingly shameless

In the never ending stream of woeful spats and infrastructure issues, this piece of news is just sh*t hitting the fan. Literally, the phrase fits what is going on with the CWG 2010 which commences in Delhi in another week.

Any major sports meet in India should be taken with a grain of salt ( for the participants ) and quick trip to the bank ( for the contractors and the ministry / local government ) involved. “India Incredible” is a phrase which is sometimes better suited to be limited to the hoardings in foreign airports and websites and mostly in the hearts of ever forgiving Indians, who tend to forget every wrong within few moments, even if they are repeatedly subject to it.

With the inauguration of one of the most awaited events in India coming close, all sorts of creatures came out of the closet of the organizers and the government. While the key government officials, including the venerable minister who handles the sports guarantee a world class experience to the participants, the situation on the ground is far from it, so far that we have a great chance that this meet might not happen at all. so much for planning which started 7 years ago and looks like they just woke up to realize the deadline is right over their head.

First there was bickering over quality of construction and passing off the buck for the delays which have already been doing rounds in national and international press. Then came the blasts, which have become a precursor to any big event in Indian cities.

The collapse of the walkway near the main stadium was just the kind of boost the reluctant participants and commonwealth members needed to strengthen their case for opting out of these games with proof of unlivable conditions.

The government and the organizers seem to have the least regard for the visiting sportspersons by the way the complaints and news have been propagating around the event’s athlete village. Otherwise, why should a minister issue denial statements contrary to the proof and experience being reported from the site. It would be wise of them to speed up the finishing of the works which are lagging behind to ensure a proper inauguration and conduct of the game.

Mudslinging and endless inquiries can be initiated once your prime objective of conducting the games in a secure and health environment is achieved, which currently looks rather depressing. What should have been a showcase of organization from “rising power” instead has become another feather in the distinguished and miserable screw-up cap which the officials of Indian ruling party and other accomplices are happy to wear in lieu of loads of money being passed around for their personal gains.

Coming to the link to the title of the post, it is simply unbelievable, but YES, it can happen in India. When the home ministry can taxi a CEO of a company to safe havens, even if it killed thousands of its citizen with deadly gas leak, what wrong a stray animal “accommodating” itself in the athlete’s bed in Delhi’s monsoon time has done, hey at least it did not kill any human in the process.

But as they say, “The show must go on”, and all I pray is “Let the games begin”. 

Technorati Tags: India,Incredible,2010,Sports,CWG,Delhi,Bhopal,gas tragedy,corruption

Capitalism meets Socialism - Here in US

Desperate times need desperate measures. Guess, the Feds and Congress started to realize that and have scurried over the past couple of years to bring Mahatma Gandhi's idea back to help their swindling economy and unemployment under control.

Once a free market, US now has started resembling a state which seems to recognize its irreversible dependency on its trading nations for everything from a needle to planes being imported. So in name of job creation, the free market advocate is trying to bring a new wave of protectionist measure which it so vehemently opposed and opposes in other global markets such as China.

The “Buy America” or the “Made in America” resembles the result of the Satyagraha which Mahatma Gandhi undertook reduce Indian dependence on cloth and other commodities imported from overseas, this not only led to business in Britain taking a hit, but also bolstered the local industry in India empowering them to be more assertive and strengthen the growing need to be independent from British in rule and economy.

Now, how does it help US is something which has been debated on both sides. The current generation of americans never had the dire need to fight for a job until recently, with close to 6 million jobs that have vanished, the government seems searching for answer. The cause, somebody in the well running private economy machinery fooled the system so bad, that the spokes of the economic wheel nearly collapsed.

Take an example of how well the money flows in a daily situation :

Healthcare for example : You sign up for insurance and pay X dollars for premium. When you visit a medical provider, the insurance pays part of your high bill to the hospital, the insurance also pays for your costly medicines to the pharmaceutical companies, the pharmaceutical companies use part of this money to lobby at the Capitol Hill for research subsidies and keep the market in flow by pushing for higher insurance costs, which being mandatory doesn’t leave much choice for the common man. Get the drift ??

With the money rotation gone, the grim reality that dawned was that most of the money which was being rotated now either had ended in bad investment or gone overseas. Apart from printing more money, which obviously has not done any good, the government now wants to do the thing which they should have done a long long time back, maintain basic economic independence.

The new acts represent a step in that direction, but what they also are doing is, going against the principles of free trade by disallowing certain segments of the markets to be closed to outsiders, which cannot be justified in terms of quality or cost issues. After all, outsourcing and local manufacturing strategies were meant to enhance quality and reduce cost.

Rather than going globally competitive, which is what had been their advantage during after WWII, the administration was doing “if it aint broke, don't fix it” approach. Now when it really broke, the fix attempts are nowhere a quick fix affair due to various situations like, long wars being fought at an exorbitant cost which never actually helped the US economy, poor education levels in the populations, rise of high skilled resources and and shipping out of low cost jobs to other developing countries.

Indulging in a bit of Socialism seems to be their bandage solution, until couple of the above issues are addressed, which will take years of planning and commitment from the businesses and the government.

Technorati Tags: capitalism,socialism,economy,outsourcing,manufacturing,skill,education,resources

The best business ever - Arms forever

 

Whoever says violence and economy growth do not go hand in hand would be either completely naive or brought up in a jungle.

 

Here’s an excellent article which not only tell us how the US has been paying nations to buy weapons from them, but also gives you an idea of how well oiled the whole “supply arms which can be used later to justify use of more arms against them” framework is. Check out the familiar story below :

 

1. Enter into a zone where 2 neighbours are fighting, supply one with arms and financial aid ( which is used by the receiver to buy more arms to continue the struggle in hope of winning ).
2. If the receiver is well oiled (yes “oiled”) then you grow your contracting business to keep the money spinning, else you now have a say in their foreign strategy by way of bullying and arm twisting.
3. If your ally does win, then you crown yourself as the conflict solver. Else, you supply even more arms to covertly continue to stoke the tinder till they result in another theatre of conflict.
4. If the ally goes rogue, even more reason to come on your own to clean the mess with an aim of “stabilizing” the peace equilibrium in the region.

 

We have seen repeat of this in various parts of world with unfailing accuracy which has become now a “Bhasmasura’s hand” for the world’s largest weapons industry. As they say in India, no effort of yours goes unrewarded; depending on the intention. All the years of ensuring that every nation stays at the  shooting edge of weapon technologies, US has armed pretty much the world and accumulated $$$ which every weapon maker will be proud of. But the tide seems to be turning.

 

How else do you understand, escalation and threats of action against the state of IRAN which was couple of decades ago the friendly nation to which fighter jets and other armaments were provided readily. The same story has been played for a long time now in Af-Pak region.

 

Now how does it work in growing your economy is pretty interesting. For the unwashed masses, more sales and big contract means, more manufacturing jobs and more employment, which can never be wrong for any economy. More money inbound definitely would mean more buying power. But, is the money really helping their economy or being channeled by the corporations to keep their business running through various means, whether ethical or not.

 

Not many people are aware of the way the generous aid which the US offers to strife-ridden countries like Pakistan is used. A little search of the official documents reveals the discomforting truth of the money being supplied for humanitarian use being used to secure more ammunition and defense systems which are top priority for a nation struggling to keep its old enemies at bay and new ones from threatening it. This means that US basically has its aid money being returned to itself for its arms sale, so much for the aid. This tactic has assured the continuous flow of arms for a long time. This also means that the taxpayers dollars are used to keep other nations armed, in the end, the Lockheeds and the Boeings are the ones laughing away to the bank at the taxpayer’s expense.

 

US had the money and power to buy allies with its weapons and/or financial aid due to its technological advantage and rising manufacturing efficiency which was incomparable anywhere in the world except the Russians who axed their own future with the dissolution of the USSR.

 

With the emergence of locale specific militant activities which sometimes have been targeted US itself has forced them to promote peace and vindicate their stand by slowing down the arms export which till the Cold war era was a justification for its own protection.

 

However, with the recent economic crisis, measures are being taken at various fronts to identify how to increase jobs, and the recent news of selling $60 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia could not have come at a better time. Its time to start doing the same thing which was being done till recently at a higher pace, but does it truly help the economy if the money that comes in through these sale goes out as aid which usually is never paid back and finally ends up in the corporate coffers.

 

After all being the “Lord of the War” does come with its own benefits, even if you sometimes are shot at with your own ammunition.

 

Technorati Tags: 2010,economy,US,war,weapon,Boeing,Lockheed,militancy,stability,peace.

TV Journalism - from news reporting to news creation

Technorati Tags: news,India,US,Media,Rann,newsmaker,TRP,story

I happened to read a pretty *interesting* article by a news blogger on the recent Peepli Live movie which lampooned media journalism and the current way news is dished out on television. As the author mentions, gone are the days when news was reported with programs like "The World this week" of which I was an religious follower and credit my simple understanding of global events to it.

Current News channels are more like reality shows. You can choose from watching the crappiest of news when a celebrity joins twitter to the biggest environmental accident unfolding on the other side of the world.

I did consider news channels in India worthy of news till 2006, after which I came face to face with the more sophisticated and organized media houses of the US. Here is what I have understood and learnt so far.

US news channels have known alignments - whether left or right and the rest sway depending on the story or the issue. There are also identified channels for the individuals who prefer about celebrities, shopping and so forth.

• Rising above them are channels like Fox News and others, the experience of watching couple of shows on them would lead you to question yourself about your entire education and what you have learnt in school or college. They also tend to offer a deep insight into what media feeds the "mass population" of the US to keep their opinions aligned to their own "opinions".
• America is surely the leader in "news creation" and nowadays I fear even "History" being re-defined by the syndicated shows on these news channels. Take a quick look at Glenn Beck and likes and you would understand what I mean.

Compared to these, the Indian news business ( I really mean the "business" word ) is still in its growing stage, but it would not be long before we see near absolute erosion of the "Journalism ethics" of reporting news vs. creating the news. Where we are not on the similar stage with the US news industry is that our news channels seem to try to become “All in one” where you will find the regular news slots preceded or followed by sensationalist news bytes, which sometimes border on yellow journalism to say the least. 

Media was once known as the weapon which could expose wrongdoings in the society, but now has been used to just "poke" and have fun without any serious follow ups except couple of reporters who still carry the real journalism on their sleeves every day. Just think of the numerous sting operations and fact finding missions carried out and plastered all across the channels. What happens after the channels rake in the TRP ratings ? Well, they move on to another “developing” story. Its a rarity to see true issues being raised and the people responsible being questioned to its resolution or a conclusive end.

The movie "Rann" showcased what media coupled with businesses can do with their power to gain popularity and TRP ratings and meet selfish needs of the ones who wield the power. Of course, the corrupt politician has his hands in here as well, they have their hands everywhere where there is money, isn't it.

Its a disappointing scenario where the channels have communication have multiplied and become easier to access, the quality of information also tends to vary. Sometimes, it is for one’s good, as now you have multiple sources to verify information being consumed by you. On the other hand, if you do not exercise good judgment, you can end up making opinions and influencing decisions which sometimes are not you would like to think upon in the future.

I have really liked the idea of mainstream news reporting coupled with blogs from the same guys. This not only gives you an idea of what the person thinks like, but gives a chance to read through their previous news reporting to get an idea of how fair or biased a reporter really is. I have found couple of worthless pieces which have driven away from certain websites for ever.

In the end, I would like to say is : Whether it is good or bad, take every news with a “grain of salt” and some fact finding effort by yourself. Now time to go and track the newsmakers, the real ones. . .