FirstStep (by Rishabh Singla)

Justifying the higher price of a Sony VAIO VPCYB25AG/B compared to a HP Mini netbook

2011-08-15T22:31:00.002+05:30

When some weeks back I had to choose a small, light, ultra-portable notebook for my father [primarily for accessing the Web], I faced a dilemma - whether to go with the cheaper HP Mini [or equivalent alternatives from Dell, et al.], or to go with the relatively expensive Sony VAIO VPCYB25AG/B.

I decided to compare to differences between the Mini and the VAIO and assign individual costs to these differences, in order to determine if the VAIO justified its higher price [INR ~25K, compared to INR ~17.5K for the HP Mini 210-2103tu PC].

The Sony VAIO VPCYB25AG/B

The VAIO has the following extra stuff compared to the Mini, and I've assigned an approximate price to each of the extra things. It has to be remembered that the extra stuff will be enjoyed over the many years one is expected to use the product, so the actual value realized might be significantly more than my conservative estimates.

CPU: The CPUs can be considered broadly equivalent. However, judging by some online reviews, the AMD chip in the VAIO beats the Mini's Intel chip in standard CPU benchmark tests by a material margin. INR 1,500 value.
RAM: The VAIO has double the amount of RAM than the Mini has, although its memory is slightly slower than the Mini's. INR 1,000 value.
Display: VAIO has a 11.6 inches display, compared to 10.1 inches on the Mini. My hands-on experience made me realize that a while a 10.6 inch display fares poorly from a readability perspective [defeating the purpose of buying a machine for Web access], a 11.6 inch display passes the minimum acceptability barrier by a decent margin. INR 2,000 value.
GPU: With its AMD Radeon GPU, the VAIO easily beats the Mini when it comes to graphics performance [increasingly important in more and more products, such as in Internet Explorer 9]. INR 1,500 value.
HDMI port: The port is absent in the Mini, but available on the VAIO. INR 500 value.
Software: The VAIO has a better bundled software package. INR 500 value.
Design: The VAIO has a far more elegant and tasteful design than the Mini, one that's both more functional and more pleasing. INR 1,000 value.
The "Sony" and "VAIO" flaunt value: One must assign a price to the extra flaunt value that comes from carrying a Sony VAIO. Acer, Compaq, Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc., just can't beat the Sony and VAIO brands. INR 500 value.
Build quality: A minute spent with both the Mini and the VAIO makes it clear that the Mini doesn't match the build quality, finish, manliness, ruggedness and workmanship of the VAIO. The VAIO gives the feeling of a machine that has been designed and built from scratch, with care and love, while the Mini gives the feeling of an assembled machine, a toy. INR 1,000 value.

I concluded that the extra differential value offered by the VAIO is about INR 9,500, which more than compensates for the INR ~7.5K difference between the actual market prices of the products. Even if the extra value is not taken into account, essential attributes such as display size, design, and build quality made the VAIO the more sensible choice.

Hidden, ugly truth: It's the petrol buyers in India who are subsidizing the price of diesel!

2011-08-07T18:49:00.002+05:30

I'm strongly against sale of diesel cars in India. Diesel has been subsidized in India for agricultural use and for use in trucks, etc., and not for use by wealthy owners of Audi, BMW, VW and other cars.

In India, we're repeatedly told that the government subsidizes diesel (and kerosene, etc.) for welfare reasons. Yet we see the super-wealthy segment misusing this subsidy by buying diesel versions of cars (next time carefully look at every Mercedes and Skoda that passes by, you'll notice that a majority of them are diesel-powered).

The ugly truth Indians are not told is that diesel is not subsidized by the Indian government.

It's subsidized by the petrol buyers!

It's the petrol earnings that subsidize the price of diesel. And who pays for petrol? Those with bikes, scooters, Maruti 800s and the scores of other petrol-powered vehicles. While someone driving a Toyota Corolla can easily afford petrol, someone driving an 800 or an Alto or a Nano probably finds it difficult to buy the ever-more-expensive petrol. And yet, this individual finds himself in the uncomfortable and unacceptable situation of subsidizing the fuel costs of a BMW owner, who clearly has enough money to pay for petrol.

Automobile companies in India are clearly trying to profit from the rate difference between petrol and diesel.

Solution: I believe that taking all of the following steps will play a significant cumulative role in ensuring that car-owners cannot and do not misuse the subsidy on diesel available in India:

Ban the introduction of new diesel cars (let existing ones sell - read more below).
Allow car companies who have already invested in diesel cars to continue selling these for the next 5 years. This will ensure that these companies are not at a disadvantage, after having already invested.
Make it mandatory for all fuel stations to sell diesel to cars at a higher price compared to the price charged to tractors, trucks, etc. While there are some obvious holes in this step, it'll help at least partially.
Increase the costs of owning and operating diesel cars (by increasing insurance costs, pollution certificate fee, taxes, etc.). This will recoup the subsidy that diesel car owners have misused over the years.

Humans and the right to roam freely on Earth

2011-07-20T00:46:00.005+05:30

Sometimes I wonder, animals and birds can freely roam from any place to any other on Planet Earth. Nobody stops them from walking over the mountains, crossing the "borders" and moving or settling in a new territory.

Us humans, arguably the most special species on this planet, in contrast, do not enjoy this right to move freely on our very special planet. I ask why. Why aren't humans allowed to travel freely on Earth? To whom does this planet belong? Can anyone be stopped from traveling to other celestial bodies (like the Moon, or perhaps Mars or to an asteroid)? Most likely not. So why cannot humans travel to any part of Earth, a planet that belongs to all of us collectively but none of us individually...

An aerial view of a dense forest.

SEO (along with PageRank) has wrecked the Web

2011-05-08T15:45:00.059+05:30

This thought has been going on in my mind for many days now, and I've finally decided to put it in words after reading the PageRank-busting post by Rich Skrenta today.

I have to agree with Rich. PageRank has indeed wrecked the Web. It has incentivized "publishers" to create utterly useless pages infested with paid links to other websites. As Rich said, the value that Google has attached to a hyperlink has had the side effect of encouraging the mushrooming of billions of trash-worthy pieces of content on the Web. The result? The Web has got wrecked. I won't be surprised if a future study reveals that 90% of the content on the Web is trash.

However, accusing PageRank alone of playing havoc with the Web would be an injustice to this arguably marvelous mathematical model. The other offended that has also played an important role in screwing the Web is SEO, or search engine optimization.

Without digressing into details of SEO, I claim that SEO is a major distraction for publishers that publish their content on the Web. Instead of focusing solely on creating quality content and writing what they want to write, these publishers also have to optimize their content for the major Web search engines [all of which employ broadly similar techniques to rank content]. This so-called optimization means that, in the case of news stories, both the title and the body of a news story is filled with keywords and phrases that help to jack up the visibility of that story on the major search engines. So, instead of giving a story a witty but obscure title, an author would rather include important keywords in it to attract clicks, virtually killing the title by making it mechanical [CPI is another culprit responsible for encouraging production of useless content, as it encourages publishers to use tricks to maximize page impressions].

The broad path the Russians should follow to sustain and grow sales of Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft

2011-04-08T21:35:00.003+05:30

The Ilyushin Il-96 is a nice large-sized aircraft. It's relatively modern, it's large, it's based on the proven Il-86 product, and crucially, it hasn't faced the quality and reliability issues that have plagued the Tupolev Tu-204. Even more importantly, it's significantly cheaper than comparable offerings from Airbus/Boeing. Equally importantly, it belongs to the Russians' political camp, meaning thereby that anti-America nations such as Iran and Venezuela can buy it.

A beautiful Il-96 taxiing in Poland. (Source)

However, these good points aside, the Il-96 can't really match the comfort, economics/efficiency, prestige, quality, reliability and safety of comparable aircraft from Airbus and Boeing. Additionally, while all-new Russian aircraft are being developed in the small and medium categories (Sukhoi Superjet 100 and Irkut MS-21), there's no program to develop an ultra-modern, large-sized airliner to replace Il-96. Finally, as of today, the Il-96 has logged negligible sales.

What should the Russians do to sustain and grow the sales of Il-96? I think UAC should launch a program to release an overhauled and Westernized version of the Il-96, with the specific intent of selling it to the West. The Superjet 100 and MS-21 both incorporate a large amount of Western technology, and it shouldn't be a concern if this Westernized version of Il-96 also relies significantly on Western technology. The objective, it should be remembered, is to steal some sales from Airbus and Boeing. And any airline that matters in the West asks for brute quality, something that can't be achieved using contemporary Russian technology alone.

Apart from this, I think UAC should also do what Airbus and Boeing do - release frequent and regular updates to their aircraft, that improve performance and reliability, reduce cost and increase safety. The Il-96 is a nice aircraft that can sell more than it's selling at the moment. There's no other aircraft of this size at this price (neither passenger aircraft nor cargo aircraft), but the Russians apparently aren't taking advantage of this strong advantage.

On treating adulterators and criminals equally

2011-04-05T22:49:00.000+05:30

That there are a lot of adulterated food (including beverages, etc.) and spurious medicines on the market today is not hidden from anyone. I'm quite concerned about it.

A thought has been running in my mind for the last few days - that adulterators (not to be confused with adulterer) should be treated just like criminals. What does a criminal do? He shoots at you or stabs you can causes you bodily injury. What does an adulterator do? By way of making you consume adulterated food and spurious medicines, he too causes you physical harm (albeit slightly indirectly).

This striking commonality alone is sufficient to convince me that all those who adulterate cosmetics, drinks, fruits, medicines, milk products, vegetables, etc., should be considered dangerous to the public and punished harshly - like criminals. Remember, a murderer might kill only one person, but an adulterator will probably harm dozens simultaneously, including such delicate lives as infants, little kids, pregnant women, the elderly and others.

It's my desire that every product on the market be pure, so that I and others can start enjoying the pure milk that once sold in Punjab :)

Foreign companies operating in India shouldn't be allowed to take Indians for a ride

2011-04-04T00:05:00.001+05:30

I've frequently read complaints (on Consumer Complaints, MouthShut and other websites) about cheating, fraud, poor service, etc., given to Indians by foreign companies operating here (AIG, Allianz, Barclays, GE Capital, HSBC, RBS, etc.). I feel outraged when I read such complaints, and I wonder why foreign companies operating in India are allowed to deceive Indians and get away with it. Why aren't they punished harshly, making it clear to the world that if you're coming here to make money, you won't be allowed to cheat Indians.

I'm not suggesting that Indian companies should be allowed to deceive Indians, but I'm proposing significantly harsher penalties for foreign companies. I would also like to see these penalties delivered quickly, so that the affected customers don't have to wait for remuneration for a long time.

Antennagate, iPhone 5 and Apple's opportunity

2011-04-02T01:16:00.000+05:30

As an attempt to calm down the negative publicity about iPhone 4, Apple had initially posted a webpage (since taken down and replaced by a milder version) comparing the antenna performance of various smartphones from Apple's competitors (HTC, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, etc.). The comparisons showed that phones from Apple's rivals had at least as many antenna issues as iPhone 4 has. A backlash ensued and Apple quietly removed the offending material from its website.

If the following assumptions are true, Apple has a nice opportunity in its hands to humiliate and hurt its rivals:

Apple, based on innovative engineering, virtually eliminates the antenna/signal issues from iPhone 5.
Apple's rivals do not take any material steps to eliminate the antenna issues highlighted by Apple's original comparisons.

Assuming that the above two assumptions come out as true, Apple can reinstate the offending material that it had put up on its website, and this time (with iPhone 5, that is) its rivals won't be able to claim that the comparisons are false. Apple will have a potent marketing weapon in its hands with which to strike at the heart of its rivals.

A dealbreaker weakness in Web standards (CSS, HTML, JavaScript, SVG, etc.)

2011-03-27T16:44:00.002+05:30

For me, the fact that all of the code written in Web standards (CSS, HTML, JavaScript, SVG, etc.) is readable by anyone is a dealbreaker. Why do Adobe and Microsoft protect the source code of their desktop applications so fiercely? Because the source code is their most important piece of intellectual property.

These companies, and others, cannot extend the same protection to client-side software (or documents) built using Web standards. These standards have been designed to be human-readable.

An example of a company that's facing serious issues because of this openness of Web standards is Google. Because documents built using Web standards can be read by humans and parsed/processed by machines, Google's rival Bing is able to process Google's search results to better its own ranking. Would this have been possible if Google SERPs were served inside proprietary desktop software? Probably not.

I consider the openness of source code of applications and documents built using Web standards a serious issue. Frankly, I don't like it. I'm not in favor of it.

Disclaimer: I do understand that it is openness that has led to the proliferation of the WWW. I also understand that the proliferation of the WWW and of Web browsers has been a significant contributor to Google's success. I'm not contesting any of this.

Corrections needed in India's NEFT/RTGS systems

2011-03-22T21:50:00.005+05:30

Make NEFT and RTGS free: There's no fee charged for using cheques, and so should NEFT and RTGS be. More so because cheques cost banks much more than the cost of NEFT and RTGS systems. It's unfortunate that these fast, electronic systems are not free, forcing people to use slower, paper-based methods.
Abolish IFSC: We don't need this. Really. If a customer of HDFC Bank wants to transfer some money to someone who holds an account with SBI, only the account number of the recipient should be required. The NEFT/RTGS systems should be redesigned so that the communication is from bank to bank, rather than from branch to branch. HDFC Bank should be concerned with transferring money to the specified account number of SBI. It should be up to SBI's computers to determine the branch and transfer money to it.
Allow hot transfers without addition as beneficiary: It's possible to write anyone's name on a cheque, but it's not the same with doing a NEFT transfer through a bank's website. You have to first add a beneficiary, a process that, for some banks, requires a mandatory 24 hour waiting period before a payment can be made to that beneficiary. Ridiculous! Reminds me of License Raj and how it inhibited India's progress. It should be possible to do hot transfers to anyone without having to go through the ordeal of adding a beneficiary (I'm not sure if this step is mandated by RBI, but it's possible that it's the banks that have implemented this requirement and that this isn't an integral part of the NEFT system). The philosophy should be the one followed in online email services - you can add someone to your address book if you want, and this'll make your life easy, but you can also always send an email to someone without having to add him to your address book.
Introduce a NEFT/RTGS book, like a cheque book: The process of transferring money using cheques (clearing) typically takes two days. This can be reduced by one day if banks introduce a new NEFT/RTGS book (can be named Tatkal cheque book to make it easy to remember by the Average Joe in India). An individual or a firm needs to mention only the name, bank name and account number of the payee (this assumes that IFSC isn't required, as listed above). Give this Tatkal cheque to your bank and the transfer will be done on the same day (using NEFT, RTGS, etc.).
Allow NEFT/RTGS 24x7x365: I find it appalling that two of the most important/popular electronic methods of money transfer in India, NEFT and RTGS, have been handicapped by some arbitrary cutoff timings set by the RBI. Cutoff timings for electronic systems? What's the rationale behind this? Credit and debit cards work 24x7x365, and so should NEFT and RTGS. After all, there's no human involved in these transactions, and barring the occasional maintenance and rare outages, computers can work nonstop without breaking a sweat!
Eliminate "free-floating" RTGS forms: A gaping hole in the way RTGS transfers are conducted is that some banks (such as SBI) have placed booklets of generic RTGS forms at various counters, openly available to anyone. A signature is now the sole barrier to fraud. Unlike cheques, that must be issued to the firm/individual who wants to transfer money, these RTGS forms can be picked up and filled by anyone. This makes it futile to securely keep the forms in your locker (something most people do with their cheque books), since both payer and payee can be filled in these generic forms. This hole must be plugged, by issuing NEFT/RTGS books in the same way that cheque books are issued today.

These are just some of the improvements that I think will encourage the use of electronic money transfer in India, and also make the whole process more convenient, efficient, quick and secure.

Fiction books - a waste of valuable time or just another source of personal entertainment?

2011-03-20T15:43:00.003+05:30

I'm not a fan of fiction novels. I consider them a waste of valuable time. I don't read fiction, and I suggest to others to not read fiction.

Why?

Because I believe that one should instead read a nonfiction book, because a nonfiction surely teaches you something, in addition to entertaining you. Better deal! Better utilization of time! And you can't disagree that there are tons of great nonfiction alternatives to fiction books, so you can't say that nonfiction ain't good enough.

This old belief became fresh once again when I read the following opening sentence in a recent article by Dwight Garner in The New York Times:

"Reading a dull, charmless nonfiction book is almost always better than reading a dull, charmless novel. With a nonfiction book, you might at least learn something."

But this time I thought - isn't my belief equivalent to saying that one should watch only documentaries [assuming that most documentaries are based on reality] and never watch movies [assuming that most movies are fiction], because documentaries both entertain and teach you. When I tell others to never waste their time reading fiction, why do I watch scores of fiction movies?

I guess I'll stop opposing fiction from here on and accept it as just another source of personal entertainment.

P.S. Interestingly, I just googled this and found that a lot of debate has already been done on this question!

Against naming airports after popular individuals

2011-02-28T22:24:00.003+05:30

Indira Gandhi International (Delhi), John F. Kennedy International (New York), O. R. Tambo International (Johannesburg), Paris-Charles De Gaulle (Paris), Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International (Amritsar), etc. These are names of some of the airports that come to my mind when I think of airports named after important individuals.

I'm against naming airports after individuals (political, religious, etc.). In my opinion, such names:

Are used by politicians and religious leaders to only further their interests.
Serve some sections of the society, but (can) make others uncomfortable.
Unnecessarily introduce additional complexity that could've been avoided.

Clean, easily memorable, neutral, self-explanatory, simple

I think names of airports should be kept clean and neutral. Airports should be named after the respective cities in which they are located. So the above five airports would look like - Delhi International, New York International, Johannesburg International, Paris International, and Amritsar International.

Interference to airliners from electronic devices, possible terrorism, and my vision for the future

2011-01-21T21:53:00.006+05:30

That electronic devices might pose a threat to commercial aircraft through electromagnetic interference has already been discussed many times (for example here).

What I'm concerned about is the possibility of executing a terrorist activity through a nefariously modified electronic gadget. An iPod touch or a MacBook could be modified by adding high-power radio transmitters, and could be used to reliably cause interference with an aircraft's communication and navigation systems. Such a modified device would easily pass the security checks at airports, since it would look and work just like any other iPod touch or MacBook.

Social engineering (the use of a harmless-looking female, for example) can make pulling such a terrorist activity easier (source)

I'm not sure if anyone has ever thought about the possibility of what I've written above. Most of the published material appears to be concerned about electromagnetic interference from electronic gadgets used by travelers (and travelers either forget to turn their devices off or they deliberately don't turn them off - we all know this).

However, I can predict that in the near future, devices will begin to automatically recognize their current location and take at least some safety-related actions based on their location. For example, smartphones or tablets of tomorrow will realize that they're inside an aircraft or a hospital and will either alert their owners of the possibility of interference or will automatically turn off their wireless components. Alternatively, a transmitter in an aircraft's cockpit will send a signal (at the order of a pilot) ordering all electronic devices to turn themselves off. Compliant devices will either alert their owners or will automatically turn themselves off.

Why are humans the only intelligent species?

2011-01-08T01:21:00.006+05:30

That's the question that struck my mind as I was driving back home a few days back. It seems odd that humans are the only species on the Earth that are intelligent (of course, this statement assumes that whatever intelligence is exhibited by non-human species, it's so primitive in comparison to the godly intelligence exhibited by humans, that it's easily ignorable).

(source)

This looks even more odd because the Earth is the only astronomical object known to possess life. So at least as of today, humans are the only intelligent species in the entire (known) universe.

Stunning!

I queried this on Google, and interestingly, so many people have already asked this question!

Update (9-Jan-11): A related question that just struck me - what would happen if there are two or more intelligent species on our planet? Would they fight against each other? Would they be able to live in harmony? Is it possible that there was at least one other intelligent species on the Earth, but the early humans killed it? When many animals species are physically similar to each other in so many ways, why has intelligence not spread to any other species?

An ultra-cheap, flight-based foreign tour from India. A wild dream or an achievable reality?

2010-10-06T23:22:00.003+05:30

Of course it is possible! What an absurd question, considering the word cheap isn't objective...

Anyway, today me and my cousin had a debate on whether or not an okay foreign tour (starting from DEL) is possible in under INR 20,000. I was vehement that it is indeed possible, whereas my cousin asserted that INR 20,000 is too low for an acceptable foreign tour. The underlying question was whether or not making an ultra-cheap foreign tour (in under INR 20,000 per person), assuming it's even possible, makes more sense than spending a similar or slightly less amount to visit a place within India.

I've visited three foreign countries till date. And my experience strongly suggests to me that there should be at least a few foreign destinations which can be had from Delhi for under INR 20,000 per person. I spent a few minutes on Cleartrip to check ticket prices of flights from DEL to various foreign destinations nearby, and I'm largely convinced that acceptable tours (of two nights and three days duration) under INR 20,000 should be easily possible.

Specifically, return tickets from DEL to Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Muscat, Kuwait and Dubai are priced reasonably (click here for screenshots of prices seen on Cleartrip), and a bit of frugality should allow one to have an acceptable overall experience, while spending less than INR 20,000 per person (the per person cost is even more achievable if more people are added to the group).

A lack of an apology following an epic blunder is one of the ways to spot a shoddy "tech-journalist"

2010-10-01T22:31:00.001+05:30

This "tech-journalist" at TG Daily published an article in which she committed an epic blunder - she attributed to Microsoft a technology being developed and promoted by Google. Is this an excusable mistake? In my opinion, no. Because she has mixed Google and Microsoft in the same article, and any sane person would've realized that mutually exclusive events don't occur together. Perhaps she was an intern. Whatever.

Now. When NYT or WSJ make a correction to an already-published article, these houses make sure that the edit is promptly highlighted. And this admission actually raises one's respect for these fine publications. On the other hand, when an outlet such as TG Daily makes an epic blunder, like it made today, it quietly changes all the instances of Microsoft to Google, and doesn't make any admission whatsoever. A thief always leaves some trails, they say. So did TG Daily - it forgot to:

Update the tags
Change the URL, which still includes Microsoft
Delete all the comments that blast this article and its intern author for this epic failure

Bottom line: Absence of admission and stealthy damage-control is one of the surest ways to spot a low-standards organization and a clueless and shoddy "tech-journalist".

The increasing enticement for fraud with multiple insurance covers for a car

2010-09-28T00:01:00.000+05:30

I recently got our Honda City insured from Honda Assure (I chose National Insurance as the insurer) for INR ~12,000. I asked the agent if it is possible to give multiple insurance covers to a car. He nodded in agreement, assuring me however that I don't really need multiple covers. Then I asked him if one has the obligation to let each insurance company know that the vehicle has been insured from other insurance companies. He answered in negative, but appeared a bit surprised at my questions.

Anyway, his answers had me thinking. Five simultaneous comprehensive insurance covers (say from Bajaj Allianz, ICICI Lombard, National Insurance, Reliance General Insurance, and Tata AIG) would cumulatively value our Honda City at INR ~2,150,000, and I would've to shell out only INR ~60,000 to get these covers. Not to say that I'm thinking on these lines, but a theft of this car would - in case all five of the companies approve my claim - get me much more easy money than is the cost of even a new City.

This looks odd. If it were this easy, people would've been abusing this scheme for eons. Getting their car stolen and then making insurance claims to the multiple insurers to get undeserved money shouldn't be that easy, after all. I don't know if this is really possible, but if it is, people might already be misusing this scheme to make easy money.

Adaptive keyboards and my years-old idea

2010-09-27T22:06:00.003+05:30

A few days back there was an article on Microsoft Adaptive Keyboard in Punjab Kesari (okay, I usually stay away from this newspaper but occasionally have a quick glance through it). Intrigued, I had a read and realized that it was similar to something I had sketched when I was in class 11.

Class 11 was the first time I had my own computer. That was the time when every deficiency that I would feel in my computing experience would give me a new idea. And I would write each of those ideas.

One such idea came to my mind when I played Recoil (by Electronic Arts). You have multiple weapons in Recoil, and you switch between them using numeric keys on the computer's keyboard. Initially, I found it annoying to remember which key stood for which weapon, so I scribbled something like this on my notebook:

There should be a keyboard, each of whose keys is composed of a tiny LCD that can display colors. These LCDs will allow the keyboard to be "dynamic", meaning that the functions of keys can be changed depending on the "context", or the "environment" being operated using the keyboard. For example, when playing Recoil, the numeric keys shall stop displaying numeric digits, and each of the keys shall start displaying the icon of the weapon assigned to that key, making it both convenient and quick for a human to switch between weapons, without having to remember anything (except, of course, the icons).

Although an abstract idea is no match for an actual implementation (even if the initial implementation is only a prototype), it's flattering to see that folks at Microsoft have developed something similar to what I thought of over 8 years ago.

When an American company with no real understanding of Indians tries to market...

2010-09-27T18:05:00.004+05:30

...its wares in India using an advertisement, this is what happens:

Whoever designed this advert, did he not know that:

Indians don't know what a QR code is.
Most Indians use phones that are neither smart, nor feature.
Your car is in the low-price segment. Do you really think that potential buyers in this segment own phones capable of processing QR codes (and of displaying rich content)?
Most Indians haven't used the Internet on a full-sized computer. A negligible fraction uses it on their phones (both because the costs are high and the speeds are low).

Whoever approved the idea of adding a QR code in this advertisement doesn't have ground knowledge about India.

An unbeatable benchmark for Web browsers

2010-09-27T00:59:00.001+05:30

"I'm pleased to announce the timeless version of HomoSapienTest, an eons-old browser benchmark. More than Kraken, Sunspider, V8, and Dromaeo, HomoSapienTest focuses on only the real workloads. I believe that the benchmarks used in HomoSapienTest are the best in terms of reflecting realistic workloads, and give every other artificial benchmark a kick in the groin." - A parody of text from Release The Kraken, Mozilla Blog

There are so many performance tests available for Web browsers. Unfortunately, none of these appears to honestly indicate the real-world performance of contemporary Web browsers. Different vendors like to report the performance of their respective browsers based on the results of only select benchmarks - ones that make a vendor's browser appear snappier (for example, Apple uses a relatively unknown test called iBench, because it projects Safari 5 as the fastest). Unfortunately, all of these tests merely try to be representative of reality.

But who decides what this reality is? Humans, of course.

No matter what these tests say, a human is almost-instantly able to decide which browser is the faster one, and whether or not the level of performance is acceptable. Let Mozilla beat the Firefox-is-fast trumpet a million times. Let Microsoft beat the IE9-the-fastest trumpet a billion times. Fact remains that - and this can be felt by a human in mere seconds - that IE and even Firefox can be unacceptably sluggish on many machines that are just a few years old, whereas Opera and especially Chrome can provide acceptable performance on such systems.

I'm not sure if there have been research studies that compare the numbers produced by these artificial benchmarks to thumbs-up and thumbs-down ratings given by human users to different browsers. If a benchmark's results can match the ratings given by humans, then it can probably be called a good benchmark.

Punjab's corrupt and frustrated traffic police... and how their excesses would be avoided in future

2010-09-21T21:42:00.003+05:30

I was fined today on the following two counts:

Red light jumped
Driver not wearing seat-belt

I plead not guilty to both the allegations - I didn't commit either of the offenses. I am 100% sure that I crossed while the light was green. I don't drive without the belt on. But can I prove that I did not jump red light, and that I was wearing the seat-belt? No. Not yet, at least.

It's fairly safe for me to predict that in the not-so-distant future, cars (whatever form they take by then) will include some sort of instrument that mimics the functionality of a flight data recorder (FDR) installed aboard every modern commercial airliner. With real-time tracking of multiple parameters of every vehicle, situations such as the one I faced today will be a thing of past. Using Galileo/GLONASS/GPS/Etc., the device will record a vehicle's precise location at all times during the flight, and a driver will be able to review his past positions before claiming that he did not jump the red light (actually, even this won't be required, as fines will probably be charged automatically, and there will be minimal human involvement in enforcement). Similarly, this device will record whether or not a seat-belt was worn.

The broad idea is that as we move into the future, human decisions - many of which can be plain incorrect - will increasingly be removed from worldwide systems and supplanted by error-free decisions made by machines. Tracking will ensure that the data required for appeals is available (although I don't expect machines to make mistakes fining rogue drivers).

Think and it's already done :(

2010-09-21T12:02:00.002+05:30

It has happened many times that I got a thought, one which I deemed non-trivial, and I checked on the Internet, only to find that someone, somewhere had already either penned that thought, or had executed it.

Disappointment. But also an assurance, that my train of thought moves in the right direction.

This happened most recently on 19-Sep-10. I woke up in the morning, and had a thought that Microsoft should tie-up with Facebook to gain access to the valuable Like data building-up in Facebook's databases. Such a move would not only provide Bing with a few days worth of free marketing and elevate the perception of Bing among users' minds, but would also potentially make material improvements - both perceptual and real - to Bing's search results.

I queried on Google, and to my disappointment (and assurance, as said before), there were very recent news stories talking exactly this. Despite implied claims by Ballmer and Microsoft's executives that the relevance of Bing's results is at least as good and perhaps better than Google's, my first-hand experience is that Bing has a long, long way to go before its results start feeling as relevant as Google's results are today (and Google would've become even better by then).

Comparison of insurance with online advertising

2010-09-19T19:59:00.000+05:30

The following thought struck my mind today.

As a post on Chitika Research points out, a very small proportion of Internet users pay for the remaining users (and for themselves). This fact is the bedrock of online advertising, and of all the free applications and content that have become available on the Web.

In contrast, in insurance, most users - who make few or no claims - pay for the very small proportion of users who make significant claims (and this small proportion contributes too). This shows the interesting difference between insurance and online advertising in terms of the proportion of feeder customers.

Microsoft is back to playing lock-in games with Pinned Sites feature in Internet Explorer 9

2010-09-17T23:43:00.005+05:30

This post is based on an unverified assumption that the Pinned Sites feature in IE9 is "closed", that is, it's a proprietary Microsoft feature, and cannot be implemented in other browsers.

Sometimes I wonder whether I admire or despise Microsoft Corporation. The company houses brilliant-minded individuals and churns out high-quality products. And the same company also uses evil practices to choke competitors and lock customers into its products. Windows API is perhaps the best example of the latter.

Pinned Sites is the latest in a long series of intelligent, but customer-locking features launched by Microsoft.

Official description of Pinned Sites (Source: Microsoft)

This clever feature - a wolf hiding in a sheep's clothes - is marketed in the familiar customer-friendly tone typically used in Microsoft documentation. But most won't see the predator hidden in this feature. The feature essentially locks the icon of a Pinned Site to Internet Explorer 9, instead of working in a browser-neutral fashion. Windows 7 users using this feature will see icons of their favorite Web destinations in the taskbar of Windows 7, and will click these icons to reach the desired destinations - in Internet Explorer 9.

The genius part of this feature is that it exposes that the Web browser is merely a means to an end. From the user's perspective, the icons in Windows 7's taskbar apparently remove the browser from the equation by taking a user directly to the desired destinations. Also, this feature - I don't know if others realize its importance - allows tight integration of Web based applications with the OS, helping to bridge the gap between Web applications and traditional applications. The evil part of this feature is that it can unknowingly force users to use IE 9. On their parents' machines, kiddies will create one-click icons to the Web destinations of choice of their parents, and the parents will thus forcibly use IE 9. Websites might strike deals with Dell, HP, Sony, etc., that mandate placement of one or more Pinned Site icons to these websites, in exchange for a few bucks per machine, forcing most users who use these websites to use IE 9 (most users try the easiest/quickest methods they can think of, and they can think of only little, and Pinned Sites clearly is for such users).

I don't know if an antitrust complaint will be filed by a competitor (Google, Mozilla, Opera, etc.), but I believe it should be - this genuinely helpful feature should be browser-neutral.

Update (19-Sep-10): I totally hate the fact that this feature allows traditionally-platform-agnostic websites to create platform-specific extensions (currently only for Windows 7). I'm probably not able to imagine Microsoft's long-term goals with Pinned Sites (and other features in the pipeline), but I'm worried that such features might start locking websites to Windows OS.

GMAC should convert GMAT Paper Tests into a new book, complete with detailed explanations

2010-09-14T18:26:00.005+05:30

After having tried 5 of the 9 ETS-created GMAT Paper Tests sold by GMAC (I possess all the 9), I'm convinced that:

The level of most Quantitative questions in Paper Tests is quite low
A lack of explanations is felt each time you get a question incorrect, but can't find out why (especially in Verbal)
Paper Tests can't be used as a representative of the real GMAT, since Paper Tests aren't CAT-based, and because the level and number of questions differs significantly from the GMAT of today
Despite all of the above, Paper Tests are helpful because the questions are high-quality, the answers are battle-tested, and the problems are real GMAT problems (from the past)

The four observations above lead me to conclude that GMAC should create a fourth book called The Official Collection of GMAT Paper Tests. A lack of explanations make the USD 75 Paper Tests look like a lot, lot less value compared to the USD ~73 bundle containing all three Official Guide books. So, The Official Collection of GMAT Paper Tests should include detailed solutions for every problem in the Paper Tests (including AWA problems).

I'm convinced that this fourth book, if released, has the potential to register significant sales, because addition of detailed explanations for all of the 900+ past GMAT questions will be sufficient to convince potential buyers into purchasing the book. Besides, an orange-yellow book will look great sitting beside the current trio!

No software version of Google Mini or GSA!

2010-09-12T11:00:00.003+05:30

I like both Google Mini and Google Search Appliance. However, what I don't like is that they're available only as standalone hardware devices. That means, no software version to deploy on one's own servers! And that also means possibly-avoidable increase in costs.

(source)

Why hasn't Google provided a software version? Possible reasons:

To prevent reverse-engineering of its search algorithms
To provide consistent/predictable and reliable performance
To avoid the problem of piracy

Are we living with a sub-optimal mathematics? Is it possible for us to design a better mathematics?

2010-09-09T23:53:00.001+05:30

I'm no mathematician, but I believe I have a fair understanding of basic mathematics and I can reason decently. Here's a rant about some things I don't understand.

I don't like the following facts:

We have complex numbers, imaginary numbers, and negative numbers
Division by zero is not defined
Tangent of π/2 is not defined
Square root of a negative number is an imaginary number
A finite value for π hasn't been reached
0! has arbitrarily been equated to 1
...

Is it possible that fundamental flaws in the basic elements that constitute our mathematics and in the principles that relate these elements to each other are reasons why we have to resort to self-created filler solutions such as complex numbers, imaginary numbers, "not defined", etc.?

I sometimes feel so. I sometimes doubt the need of 'zero'. I sometimes feel that negative numbers should not exist at all (i.e., numbers should only be positive). Not sure, but I sometimes feel that it might be possible to construct a better and error-free mathematics from scratch, in which every operation is defined, and everything is reasonable.

Is the (unadulterated) composition of Earth's atmosphere ideal for life? Is "better" air possible?

2010-09-09T19:18:00.003+05:30

The following figure represents the normally-accepted composition of the Earth's atmosphere.

(source)

Assuming that the above figure represents unadulterated and unpolluted composition of the air we breathe, I wonder, is this composition the best that can be (for humans)? Can an artificially-made gaseous mixture (with constituents and their proportions different from the constituents and proportions of natural air) beat natural air, in terms of health benefits, longevity, etc.? If yes, how can we conveniently and economically expose humans to "air 2.0", so they can experience its health benefits?

BA's alliance with Kingfisher looks like it'll help BA more than it'll help Kingfisher

2010-09-06T16:27:00.002+05:30

A quick look at fares from India to Europe and vice versa reveals why the recent codesharing alliance between British Airways and Kingfisher Airlines will probably help the former more than the latter.

In summary, the alliance allows:

BA flyers to fly to various Indian cities on Kingfisher's Indian network
Kingfisher flyers to fly to various European cities on BA's European network

When BA flyers arrive at BOM, DEL, etc., Kingfisher will fly them to the smaller Indian cities that BA doesn't serve directly. This will provide these flyers with increased convenience in terms of baggage-transfer, booking, check-in, etc., and thus help both BA and its customers.

When Kingfisher flyers arrive at LHR, BA will fly them to other European cities that Kingfisher doesn't serve directly. At this point, it might appear that Kingfisher (and its customers) will get a benefit similar to that obtained by BA (and its customers). However, a quick look at the fares from BOM, DEL, etc., to LHR and to other European cities reveals that carriers of the Middle East usually offer significantly lower ticket prices for flights from India to various European destinations, compared to prices offered by BA and Kingfisher. BA's and Kingfisher's ticket prices usually tend to be higher than those offered by airlines of the Middle East (this is based on the hundreds of times I've checked ticket prices between different cities of the world).

What, if anything, does Kingfisher stand to gain from this alliance? Why will a price-sensitive Indian flyer - and most Indians are very price-sensitive - fly to a non-LHR European destination on a (probably) costlier Kingfisher+BA plan (with LHR as the hub), when a Middle East carrier is willing to carry him to the same destination for lesser money (with a Middle East destination as the hub)?

One possible future of computing

2010-09-04T01:04:00.003+05:30

One possible future of computing will be composed of the following:

ARM-based chips
A lean OS, with itself is silent and stays in the background
An optimized Web browser (or an evolved version of what we know as a Web browser) as the platform for applications
All applications are Web applications, in the sense that they were all initially served from the Web, update off the Web, execute at least part of their code in the Web, and are functionally integrated inseparably with the Web
An application need not be served off the Web each time it is launched. If it can be proved that the latest versions of all parts of the application already exist locally, it'll be executed from the local cache
Most code executes on the Web, and only some code executes on the local device
Applications do not require porting from one OS to the other. Only the Web browser needs to be ported from one OS to the other (thus mimicking JRE)

Why is CSeries being compared to 737 and A320?

2010-09-01T23:45:00.001+05:30

When Bombardier was developing the CSeries, it had a choice:

Go against 737/A320
Stay away from 737/A320

Now we know what the CSeries is, and Bombardier appears to be in a weird situation - its aircraft doesn't actually overlap with 737/A320 - these aircraft differ considerably in terms of range and revenue seat-capacity - but people all over the world (especially the guys at GLG News) are busy criticizing the CSeries as being inferior to 737/A320. Why are these people even comparing CSeries to 737/A320?

One thing can be said with a good amount of certainty - that with CSeries, Bombardier did not intend to directly compete with 737/A320, because an aircraft with lower range and seat-capacity simply cannot compete with 737/A320, even if it provides a double-digit fuel-burn improvement. Any aircraft that wants to directly compete with 737/A320 must - in general - match or exceed the established players' range and seat-capacity (else it would be in a different segment, invalidating the comparison).

In summary, it appears that Bombardier is in the worst position it can be in. It developed a relatively less capable aircraft to, apparently, not compete directly with 737/A320, and people are busy complaining that the CSeries has less range and seat-capacity than 737/A320. What a pity!

Questioning the infallibility of solutions provided by GMAC for GMAT practice problems

2010-08-28T16:27:00.001+05:30

I've largely liked The Official Guide for GMAT® Review, 12th Edition. It's a high-quality, well-built book. A trustworthy book. Makes you feel that when GMAC says that 1+1=10, it's gotta be true. So is the case with mba.com - a well-built and trustworthy website.

Except that I've come across a very small number of questions, the GMAC-provided solutions to which have shook my faith in the infallibility of GMAC's solutions.

Example 1: I was horrified when I saw that GMAC has provided the following essay as a model essay - receiving the highest rating - for an Analysis of an Argument question, considering the following three statements about the Argument essay:

"In this task, you are not asked to state your opinion but rather to analyze the one given." - Page 759, The Official Guide for GMAT® Review, 12th Edition
"Perhaps the most serious error one can make on the Argument essay is to disagree with the author's conclusion." - Page 534, Kaplan GMAT 2010-2011 Premier
"Violate the essay directions, either by not taking a position on an Issue or by taking one in an Argument, and you risk scoring a 2." - Page 539, Kaplan GMAT 2010-2011 Premier

(source; SkyDrive link)

Example 2: Among the GMAT Teaser questions on mba.com, QuestionID=25 succeeds in teasing me. According to GMAC, "The fourth choice is correct. It can be inferred from information given in the third and fourth sentences of the second paragraph: In addition, any institution that holds 20 percent or more . . . the value of the stock would plummet.". I say BS. The passage never says that the stock must plummet. It only indicates that the stock would plummet unless there's an explanation that can be provided.

(source; SkyDrive link)

A coincidence? Perhaps. But intriguing.

2010-08-27T02:04:00.000+05:30

Today morning I was thinking about nondestructive testing in the context of civil airliners. I thought, it's important to nondestructively test each aircraft before it's delivered to its customer. That was about it. I forgot about it for the next few hours.

A few hours back, I conducted some queries related to ETS, GRE, GMAC and GMAT, and hit upon an interesting-looking article.

To my surprise, the Google-served ad below the article read Non-Destructive Testing, and linked to a company providing nondestructive testing systems.

How's it possible? I clearly remember that at least in the last 1 year, I haven't conducted any query related to nondestructive testing.

A now-funny "clarity" about the meaning of Internet, in a Dec'94 article in NYT

2010-08-26T23:52:00.002+05:30

"The E.T.S. warned that anyone releasing questions without permission would face charges of copyright infringement. Ms. Cole said testing service officials did not think that people were leaking questions from the computerized tests. She said officials have been monitoring computer conversations between college students on the Internet, the huge computer connection a network allowing communication by computer, to see if college students talked about cheating on the G.R.E., or whether questions were being passed via computer conversations." - Computer Admissions Test Found to Be Ripe for Abuse, NYT, Dec'94

It feels so good when I recollect one of the faint memories from class III or IV, when there was no Internet here, when NYT had to add words clarifying the meaning of Internet.

Does GMAC reveal the identity of an examinee to the readers of the examinee's AWA responses?

2010-08-26T18:35:00.000+05:30

"Readers are trained to be sensitive and fair in evaluating the responses of nonnative speakers of English." - Page 760, The Official Guide for GMAT® Review, 12th Edition

Does this imply that the nationality of a test-taker is revealed to the readers who evaluate a test-taker's responses in the AWA section (of the GMAT)? If yes, is this disclosure leading to the readers awarding ingenuine scores to nonnative speakers of English?

Apple's "Thoughts on Flash" are hypocritical

2010-08-23T01:27:00.004+05:30

"3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited)." - iPhone Developer Program License Agreement

"We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform." - Thoughts on Flash, Steve Jobs, Apr'10

My biggest, and in fact the only problem with Apple forbidding Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool is that it allows - hypocritically - JavaScript and Safari on to the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. Safari is a native application that links to Documented APIs. And it runs JavaScript applications on top of its native code.

If JavaScript can be allowed inside Safari, a native iOS application, then why is code written in a forbidden language, say Language X - which runs inside a native iOS application using a compatibility or a translation layer - prohibited? Since letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform, shouldn't JavaScript be banned too?

Double standards...

Results of various tests related to IQ, logic, memory, reasoning, speed, etc., that I've taken

2010-08-14T01:56:00.008+05:30

This post is intended to summarize the results of all the cognition-related tests that I've taken recently, and to replace all the related posts that I've written previously (all of which have been deleted).

The following chart from the now-defunct MSN Encarta shows a standard distribution of IQ scores.

The following list summarizes my performance (screenshots here):

IQTest.com (6-Jun-06) (Result: "129")
Super IQ Test (by Tickle) (10-Jan-07) (Result: Detailed result currently not accessible on the website. The only information available on record is that I was termed a Creative Theorist)
IQ Test (by the now-defunct UberMens International) (11-Aug-08) (Result: "154")
IQ Test (25-Dec-08) (Result: "137")
Real Superhumans (memory test) (24-May-09) (Result: Scored above both "Average People" and "Super Humans")
Real Superhumans (memory test) (24-May-09) (Result: Identical to the first time)
IQ test (13-Jun-09) (Result: "over 140")
IQ Test (13-Jun-09) (Result: "140")
Ultimate IQ Test (21-Jun-09) (Result: "123")
Ultimate IQ Test (based on Mensa IQ Workout) (21-Jun-09) (Result: "148")
What's Your IQ? (11-Aug-10) (Result: "146")
How's Your IQ? (11-Aug-10) (Result: "80", on a 0-100 scale)
Kaplan 20 Minute Workout (GMAT) (17-Sep-10) (Result: "16/16")

Why I'm sad at the death of Google Wave and what I believe about the future of its innovations

2010-08-06T23:17:00.003+05:30

I remember those weeks of last year when a buzz started around Google Wave - with the Sci/Tech section of Google News filled almost each day with stories about Wave. For a few days, I kept myself from reading about it, so that I could focus on work, in the hope that I would look at Wave in detail over some weekend.

I first got to know Wave when I watched a few videos of Google's I/O developer conference. I clearly remember clapping many times as the video unveiled feature-after-feature of Wave.

I was fascinated. Some of the things I had been thinking about for a few years were the design principles of Wave - no forwarding of messages (it unnecessarily duplicates messages, wasting tons of storage space) or attachments (a single copy that's pulled-on-demand). More lovely features - comment/reply right next to the content that your comment/reply applies to (wow!), playback a conversation (think before you Wave), a context sensitive spell-checker/correcter (this is how you do spell-correction), permissions built right into the design, drag-and-drop support, real-time updates, Robots (what a bloody fantastic idea), and Gadgets (another '!' idea).

Wave was billed as the future of electronic communication - the way modern communication ought to be done. It blended the myriad of communication methods we use today, and there was no reason Wave couldn't absorb yet more of the discrete ways of contemporary communication (voice, video, etc.). Wave has potentially many applications - comments (on blogs, websites), collaborative communication, document creation, social networking (imagine Facebook's Messages or Wall features built using Wave), wikis, and so many other things we can't even imagine right now.

I saw tremendous power in Wave, and no matter how unfriendly it might have appeared initially, Wave is not a bad idea. Bloggers and so-called "tech journalists" might have invested thousands of man-hours on initially gushing about and eventually bashing Wave, what they didn't grasp (and still haven't grasped) is that Wave is a fundamentally novel idea. The current UI of Wave is just one of the possible implementations of its features and underlying design principles, and it's perfectly possible to redesign the UI while preserving Wave functionally, if the need be.

However, fact of the matter is that Google is discontinuing Wave. I personally believe that it's an impatient and a premature move by Google. A bad move. Discontinuation of Wave only months after its public rollout and only over a year after its unveiling reveals potentially dangerous impatience and a severe lack of persistence, more so for a product billed as the future of communication (with Xbox, Microsoft has demonstrated that persistence pays, and Bing has begun paying off as well).

I very strongly believe in the fundamental rightness of Wave's design principles and its many features, and I predict that these will be back soon, either from Google or from others.

Post the committal of a crime, who deserves 'justice', the victim or the victim's family?

2010-08-03T02:56:00.004+05:30

I was outraged Monday morning when I read a news story in The Tribune which said that murder charges against three Punjabi men (and the death sentence previously awarded) had been dropped by a UAE court, as a compromise had been reached between the families of the convicts and the victim's family.

WTF, I thought!

A poor guy was killed by the three men, and just because the victim's family has agreed to accept so-called blood money from the families of the murderers (arranged by some apparently prominent Punjabi in the UAE), is the dropping of murder charges by the Sharjah court even legal, let alone morally justifiable?

I - a patriotic and proud Punjabi myself - strongly believe that they're completely unjustified.

By punishing the killers, who are we trying to give justice to? The victim, of course. It's he who lost his life. It's he who is no longer alive. And just because his family is poor and ready to accept money for their son's life, does it legally justify the dropped charges/ punishment? The court knows that the three guys committed the murder. And despite this, its dropping of charges seems to be equivalent to saying - Ok. We know you are killers, and we know that killers deserve the strictest of punishments. But so what if that guy died? We're not punishing you-the-murderers, because as long as the dead guy's family is fine with this monetary compromise you guys have reached, we're fine too! After all, if the families of victims of murder, rape, theft, etc., are able to reach a "compromise" with the convict, there really isn't any need for the court to intervene. There is no such thing as an "absolute law". This court isn't here to clean the society. It's here only to handle those situations in which the poor victim has no family. Got it?

Really, it's sick! A crime and a criminal is over and above the family. How can a court close this loop without giving justice to the victim?

Infidelity and the cable TV

2010-08-02T19:05:00.001+05:30

The other day, I observed an 18 year old guy watching TV. He was primarily watching a Hindi movie (which he had seen N number of times previously), but that doesn't mean that he wasn't also watching other stuff as well. What that means is that as soon an uninteresting scene or an (obviously boring) song would come, in a fraction of a second he would start flipping through channels and settle at another channel which looked interesting-enough to serve him for a few minutes (till the movie got interesting again).

Every few minutes he would switch back to the Hindi movie to check if it got interesting again, and if not, he would flip channels again and temporarily settle at something worthy. After about 30 minutes of this drama, he stumbled upon a channel which was playing a Hindi movie which he liked more than the one he was watching. Without a second thought, he started watching this one, ditching the previous one. But that didn't mean that the infidelity with the movie ended. The flip-channels-whenever-sucks drama continued.

I believe that the above is a typical case with many (or most) of us. Does this practice promote infidelity (Uncyclopedia; Urban Dictionary; Wikipedia) in the real life? Does the ease with which channels can be switched decrease one's fidelity? Does the multitude of television channels available on contemporary cable services program individuals to be disloyal and opportunistic, in relationships as well? Conversely, do people who practice infidelity flip channels more often? I don't know the answer, but I feel this might be true, or there might be a connection (subtle, at least).

Translation suggestion bar in Google Chrome should add a 'Wrong suggestion!' button for feedback

2010-08-02T15:24:00.002+05:30

So that a user can kind of indicate to the translation suggestion feature that the suggestion you've provided is invalid, because the language that you've detected in this page simply isn't present!

An example is the image below, where there's no Malay in the webpage. Instead of clicking 'Nope' (which can have many meanings, as far as feedback is concerned), I would rather click 'Wrong suggestion!' button to make the system learn, or to merely build a log of pages where the feature malfunctions.

When I used the work feedback in this post, I refer to the following classic feedback model.

Ideal feedback model (source)

Recollecting my mistake in CASTLE MathQ'2001

2010-08-02T06:31:00.003+05:30

I jointly won the CASTLE MathQ'2001, a state-level mathematics competition held in late 2001, in which 900 candidates appeared. While I was happy that I scored the highest marks, even if jointly, I had a somewhat strong regret at that time (whose intensity, and perhaps importance, has faded with time).

I remember that on the test day, when the allotted time was just about to finish, I had reached at the last question of the question paper. I was probably at a back bench, so when the time-over alarm had sounded and the test administrator had started collecting the answer-sheets, I still had a few seconds left before my sheet was taken. I knew that I had moments left, and aggressive as I believe I generally am, it was my intent to extract even the last possible drops of marks from this competition, in order to maximize my position. I was in battle-fighting mode that day, I remember clearly.

My brain wasn't working as well at that moment as it had been working all through the test, and I concluded that in the few seconds left, I wouldn't be able to solve the last question to reach at an indisputable answer. What to do? Guesstimate? Or just leave? 1 mark for a correct answer, a negative 0.25 for an incorrect answer, and no marks for a blank.

Last page of my actual MathQ'2001 question paper

My winning certificate :)

Not sure why, but right before my answer-sheet was taken, I just marked the most-likely-looking option as the answer.

And it turned out to be incorrect. I lost an extra 0.25 mark that I wouldn't otherwise have lost. A narrow win became a joint-win. The first prize - a Vintron Biz123 desktop computer - changed into a joint prize. And I regretted this a lot (at that time at least).

In a life insurance policy, you never win!

2010-07-25T15:09:00.005+05:30

"...In any kind of insurance you are betting against the insurance company & the insurance company is betting against you.

The insurance company wins if you don't die early.

You win if you die early - so effectively you never win..."

LOL! How true!

Source: A discussion thread on an online forum

Russia needs new aircraft engines which are accepted by Western airlines and lessors

2010-07-20T23:48:00.012+05:30

Based on my current knowledge about the state of civil aircraft manufacturing industry of Russia and Ukraine, I can say with reasonable confidence that engines (also known as powerplants) are one of the key barriers to acceptance of current (An-148, Il-96, Tu-204, Tu-334) and upcoming (MS-21, Superjet 100) Russian/Ukrainian civil aircraft among Western customers (Note: MS-21 uses a P&W GTF engine as its standard powerplant, with the option of Aviadvigatel PD-14 engine). Western customers just do not trust the current breed of engines made by Aviadvigatel, Progress, et al.

I hypothesize that the acceptance of Russian/Ukrainian civil aircraft will continue to be zero/near-zero among mainstream Western operators until Russia/Ukraine:

Either develop all-new engines that are at-par with engines from CFM/GE/IAE/P&W/Rolls-Royce/Snecma
Or equip existing and upcoming aircraft with Western engines

Of course, neither of the above steps will help alone unless Russia/Ukraine also address the (many) other technical and service/support barriers (and possibly political barriers as well) preventing large operators worldwide from betting on these aircraft.

Aviadvigatel PS-90 turbofan powerplant (source)

What qualities are desirable in aircraft engines? I can think of these:

Low fuel burn
Low emissions
Low noise
Low vibration
Low weight
Low maintenance requirements
Low cost of the engine
Low cost of spares
High performance (meets requirements of the host aircraft)
High durability/reliability
High resilience/safety/tolerance
Automatic early warning systems (in case of malfunctioning)
High serviciability (cheap/easy to service and repair)
High availability of spare components
High compatibility (supports many of the currently popular and promising upcoming aircraft models)
High modifiability/upgradability (easy to downgrade, modify, or upgrade the basic design for different aircraft types)
High recyclability (easy and profitable to comprehensively recycle old/written-off engines)
Easy manageability (fully automated/computerized engine with easy management/operation)
Compliant with global standards for aircraft engines
Supports any alternative aviation fuels being standardized for near-future implementation

New engines such as the Aviadvigatel PD-14, PowerJet SaM146, and Progress D-27 are steps in the right direction, but Russia and Ukraine need to do a lot more - including, possibly, a consolidation of major engine-makers (akin to the formation of UAC) - before their indigenous engines are considered as a threat to Western engines.

A consolidation of major Russian/Ukrainian engine-makers looks as promising as PowerJet-like collaborations with Western makers - it'll create a large pool of engineering talent, funds, infrastructure, IP/patents and other assets, and hopefully result in new powerplants that bring sleepless nights to GE, Pratt and Rolls executives...

Do aircraft travelers desire compatriot cabin crew?

2010-07-14T23:41:00.004+05:30

This question struck my mind when in Jun'10 I looked at this print advert of Finnair in a popular Indian magazine.

A print advertisement of Finnair

One of the features emphasized by this ad is the presence of Indian cabin crew aboard Finnair flights from DEL to HEL. But do Indian travelers really want to be served by Indian crew? I haven't yet been able to reach at a practical answer to this question. Applying this question solely to myself, a fast-food answer is that depending upon mood, I sometimes want to have Indian flight attendants (like below),

Indian air-hostesses at BOM

and sometimes foreign (like below).

An Etihad Airways air-hostess (source)

Aeroflot air-hostesses

A more precise answer to this question will depend on research, which might show that a majority of passengers want compatriot stewards and stewardesses, making it the obvious business choice.

Aeroflot should use only Russian aircraft in its fleet, and set an example for other airlines

2010-07-12T22:53:00.008+05:30

I second Putin's disappointment (here, here, and here) at Aeroflot's fleet expansion plans that include huge orders for Airbus and Boeing airplanes, but none for any Russian/Ukrainian plane (barring the Sukhoi Superjet 100 order, which pales in comparison to the Airbus and Boeing orders).

Aeroflot has to realize (or has to be made to realize) that its role is wider than of a for-profit company in the Russian Federation. Aeroflot is the de facto national airline of Russia, and its fleet is going to be looked at by both Eastern and Western airlines. If Aeroflot doesn't rely on Russian-made aircraft, the disastrous impression that this will leave on the potential customers of Russian-made aircraft is hard to underestimate.

Aeroflot Il-96 taking-off from Salzburg, Austria (source)

I'm (cautiously) hopeful that the newest breed of UAC aircraft - An-148, Il-96, MS-21, Superjet 100, Tu-334 and other cargo/special-purpose planes can fulfill at least many of Aeroflot's requirements (and Aeroflot might want to lease a few aircraft till its Russian-made aircraft are delivered). Aeroflot should adopt these fine aircraft with open arms, maintain these well (and thus prove to the world that with proper maintenance, the latest breed of Russian/Ukrainian aircraft perform as beautifully as the stewardesses of this fine airline), and set an example for other airlines to follow.

Update (16-Jul-10): And lo, the opening sentence of this 15-Jul-10 story on Aviation Week says exactly what I'm trying to say above.

Update (18-Jul-10): Not very happy to read that Aeroflot has ordered a bunch of A330 aircraft

Update (20-Jul-10): An insightful piece from The New York Times

Parents of underage drivers deserve punishment

2010-07-12T15:49:00.001+05:30

Whenever I see kiddies literally flying their bikes/cars/scooters as if these were Boeings, I feel that it's their parents who must be held accountable for the potential danger that these underage drivers create for themselves and others.

Yes, guardians/parents should get strict punishment - both monetary and social - for giving vehicles to teens.

Sikh turbans must pass security checks at airports

2010-07-04T01:19:00.013+05:30

Most Indians - especially Punjabis - are well aware of the existence of a large-sized subset of the Sikh population which is extreme and radical. The Emperor Kanishka terrorist act of 1985 was a direct result of this subset of the Sikh community, as have been numerous other large and small incidents (also see this, this, this, and this). Any regulation that relaxes security-checking for the turban opens up a potential security hole, especially since the turban is frequently large-enough to accommodate small-sized weapons or a small bomb (large enough to bring down an airliner).

And so, in my opinion, the turban - irrespective of which religion's individual wears it - must undergo stringent security checks at all airports worldwide. Strong and loud voices by Sikhs that touching the turban is an insult should not deter the airport security agencies from thoroughly searching it.

I, for one, want to feel 100% safe whenever I board an aircraft, no matter how much inconvenience it causes to me or others. We can certainly do without another Emperor Kanishka.

Why has Sony's launched an "updated" series of VAIO laptops with lesser value for money?

2010-06-15T15:41:00.000+05:30

VPCEB14EN was available till a few days back at Sony stores, and carried a sticker price of INR 38,990. It's no longer available, and according to dealers, Sony has "refreshed" its lineup of VAIO laptops in India, and launched VPCEB22EN (also priced at INR 38,990) "in place of" VPCEB14EN.

Differences between the two models (based on official specifications for CEB14EN and CEB22EN):

22EN has Core i3-350M CPU; 14EN has Core i3-330M
14EN has ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 GPU (with 512 MB dedicated video memory); 22EN has Intel HD Graphics GPU
14EN has 3 GB of DDR3 RAM; 22EN has 2 GB
14EN includes "3D audio"; 22EN does not
22EN includes "Gesture supported" touchpad; 14EN does not
14EN includes full versions of Adobe Premiere Elements 8, and Adobe Photoshop Elements 8; 22EN includes 30 day trial versions of these two applications
22EN includes Office Starter 2010; 14EN includes 60-day trial of Office Professional 2007

It's clear that 14EN offers higher overall value for money, with a (much) better GPU, more RAM, and full versions of two digital creativity applications (compared to a better CPU, gesture-supported touchpad, and Office Starter 2010 offered by 22EN).

In the cut-throat competition world of consumer electronics and notebook computers, every refresh or update I've seen either offers more substance for the same price, or a lower price for the same substance. Why then, did Sony reduce the value offered in a refreshed lineup of VAIO? Disappointing. A dealbreaker.

Websites can sometimes throw up really embarrassing content...

2010-06-12T17:53:00.000+05:30

...and why does this happen more often when you're with a sibling?

(click to enlarge; some content in Hindi)

Disabling traffic enforcement cameras using paint

2010-05-30T20:24:00.001+05:30

While we were in South Africa, many times we would slow down our car to avoid getting "snapped" by a speed camera. There were a few cameras close to our home, and these were a frequent source of irritation for us. We sometimes wondered - how to impair these cameras without causing damage to the devices?

A speed camera in South Africa (source)

After a few discussions, one seemingly good idea that hit our minds was coating the camera's lens with black paint - effectively blinding it - without causing any visible damage. This act should be done at night, so that the camera doesn't capture the perpetrator's face.

I wonder whether damaging/disabling/impairing traffic cameras is a frequent occurrence in the world.

I want a simple, solid phone. Please.

2010-05-22T16:41:00.006+05:30

I'm tired of having to take care of my Nokia N72 all the time, as dropping it would most likely damage it. It's a good phone no doubt, but it's too overloaded and tender. There are way too many features in it that I don't need or want, and too many others that I need and want are absent. What I need is a phone that:

Is solid, yet lightweight
Has a set of only the essential features
Looks elegant and manly
Has a long battery life
Has excellent voice quality and volume
Has excellent network reception
Is dust-resistant and water-resistant
Is easy to use and ergonomically designed
Is something I can depend on

I don't need MMS, or camera, or games, or calendar, or Java, or multi-color display, or GPRS, or a Web browser, or music/video playback, or fancy ringtones, or other fancy features. I only need voice calling, SMS, call-recording, multiple alarms, and a few other capabilities. Actually, I realize that none of the phones I've ever seen fit my needs perfectly. What I really need is something I can only design myself.

When I look at some of the phones of 90s and early 2000s (Bosch World 718, Ericsson GA 628, Ericsson GF 788e, Ericsson GH 688, Ericsson I 888, Ericsson SH 888, Ericsson T28 World, Ericsson T28s, Motorola StarTAC 75, Nokia 8810, Nokia 8850, Nokia 8855, Siemens S10, Sony CMD Z1 plus, Sony CMD Z7), I wish that the makers of these phones start making and selling these again. So simple, manly, and graceful. Almost what I need.

Such a graceful phone (source)

I want to own and use each one of these. By saving contacts and SMS data only in the SIM card, I can ensure that I'm not locked-in to any handset, and can place the SIM in any of these to ready it.

Update (17-Jul-10): Among the relatively more recent phones, I especially like Nokia 2600 and Nokia 3120. Both of these phones are really durable/rugged, and both have soft keypads that feel nice!

Nokia 2600 (source); Nokia 3120 (source)

The Apple MacBook I want to buy

2010-05-22T11:48:00.003+05:30

As I'm thinking of buying a new laptop computer these days, I see that the MacBook selling for $999 has nearly everything I need (it's light, fast, durable/strong, beautiful, ergonomically designed, graceful, decently priced, and has a good feature set), except the following:

8 GB RAM (so I can disable the swap file, and use RAM disk)
40 GB Intel MLC SSD, so I don't have to worry about jerks
SD card slot, so I can more easily transfer data
GSM SIM card slot and appropriate communication chips, etc., so I can stay connected on the move

I really wish that the current MacBook - along with the above 4 features - was available in India, and priced at the equivalent of 1099 USD. I would've happily gone ahead to buy it...

PS: Apple.com continues to impress me. In contrast to the tasteless and trash-worthy websites operated by Dell and HP, Apple.com actually manages to inform and impress you.

Is it possible to sabotage someone's Google AdSense account with repeated clicks?

2010-05-21T01:16:00.001+05:30

I first experimented with Google's AdSense service back in early 2006. One of the thoughts that arose back then in my mind was this - is it possible for someone - say someone who dislikes/hates me - to get my Google AdSense account banned/disabled, by deliberately causing repeated clicks on the ads (either automatically or manually)?

I felt that the answer should be yes. Ever since, I wanted to pen this concern on my blog. And today - after 4 years - when I (finally) started writing this post, I was (a little) surprised to see that many other people have already voiced concerns regarding this (here and here).

Renaming this blog...

2010-05-19T22:42:00.006+05:30

I'm renaming this blog today. It's current name is "Rishabh Singla's Main Blog". Henceforth, it'll be titled "FirstStep (by Rishabh Singla)".

This name change was long due, as ever since I created a new blog on my own domain name, I was concerned about the word 'Main' in the title of this blog. This isn't my main blog (HyperBlog is), and so the word 'Main' was required to go from the title.

I've chosen FirstStep as the new name, because it reflects that this was the first blog on which I started posting more serious ideas and thoughts. It'll take some time to adjust to the new name, but this change is a much-needed one.

Some screenshots of SERPs with the original name are here.

Opera Software should consider switching to third-party layout and JavaScript engines

2010-05-15T12:50:00.005+05:30

After over 8 years of using the Opera browser, I'm in a position to say that Opera Software should consider switching the innards of its Web browser to an Open Source, third-party engine (preferably WebKit). I say so because based on my years of usage of this great Internet suite, as well as extensive reading of the business and technical aspects of Web browsers, I feel that Opera's key attractions are its:

User interface
Security and reliability/stability
Speed
Features
Low resource usage (less valid with Opera 10.x)
Standards-compliance

These attractions continue to hold true if Opera switches to third-party layout and JavaScript engines. Why then is Opera continuing to invest a significant amount of cash in the development of proprietary engines? Would it make more sense to redirect this money to increase the abysmally-low penetration of Opera's desktop browser? Or to speedup the development and refinement of new/existing features?

Has the quality of McDonald's McAloo Tikki burger gone down in the last few months?

2010-05-13T00:24:00.003+05:30

I remember clearly (CLEARLY) that the quantity of the characteristic orange-colored sauce inside a McAloo Tikki burger (also called just Aloo Tikki burger) used to be quite higher than what McDonald's gives these days. Although the orange sauce would nearly overflow as one ate the burger, it made the burger softer and more easily chewable, even without ketchup. The burger they give today is dry. Sad.

(This one was bought from Sector-18, Noida)

Web counter replaced to StatCounter

2010-05-09T02:57:00.000+05:30

I've replaced the hit counter on this blog, from Tiny Counter to StatCounter - the former's counter didn't show up quite often. I've started the count of StatCounter's counter at 21,115 - the latest count displayed by Tiny Counter's counter for this blog.

Why I bought Swift petrol, and not diesel

2010-05-09T01:52:00.005+05:30

When I bought Swift in Oct'08, I had a choice between buying the petrol and diesel variants. The diesel variant was priced ~1 lakh INR above the petrol variant. Following factors made me go for petrol:

1 lakh rupees translate into ~2,000 liters of petrol, which translate into ~24,000 km worth of driving (a reasonable estimate). I estimated that I'm going to drive ~20 km per weekday, and I shall need a total of ~600 km per month. Which means that by going for the petrol variant, I shall be driving for "free" for the first three years, by not paying 1 lakh rupees for the diesel variant. Notably, this calculation includes only the premium needed for purchasing the diesel variant, and excludes the additional cost of buying fuel.
Lower maintenance.
Lower NVH.
Low external noise (but not too low to not alert others).
Lower pollution.
Higher acceleration/pickup.

(My Swift looks almost like this; Image source)

My Swift's odometer currently reads ~9,000 km. Excluding my 6-month stay in South Africa, I've used the car for ~1 year now, and 24,000 km is still far away - which means that my car is still running for "free". And I'm a happy owner of this beautiful, modern automobile.

Pay-by-usage software pricing? Yes please!

2010-05-07T19:37:00.010+05:30

This post (and its title) is inspired by:

A thought I had a few weeks back
A blog post by Duncan Jones of Forrester (Pay-per-use Software Pricing? No Thanks!)

Consider two individuals:

User A: Needs certain features available only in Photoshop CS5, but uses them infrequently
User B: Uses many features of Photoshop CS5 heavily

Should A pay as much as B to buy a Photoshop CS5 license? No, in my opinion. It's neither fair, nor value-based, to quote Duncan Jones.

(However, I'm against the "limited duration" and "limited number of times" models sometimes used to implement pay-for-usage. From my observation, these models act as a constant "concern/distraction layer" in the minds of users trying to complete a task, forcing them to also focus on their usage, hurting productivity/quality and killing the fun of using software. Examples include limited minutes on phones and data-transfer limits in Internet connections. You may give less features, but don't limit their usage.)

What solution do I propose? None as yet. I'll think about this some other day when I have more time.

Air India offers South African Airways' codeshared flight tickets at a price lower than SAA's price

2010-04-01T21:43:00.005+05:30

I just came across this odd-looking pricing. Air India flight AI 7625 from Bombay/Mumbai (BOM) to Johannesburg (JNB) is operated by South African Airways (flight SA 285), and the ticket price for Air India is lower than the price for SAA. I don't find this normal. How can Air India offer a price which is lower than SAA's price, unless Air India is either making a loss, or is making no profit. Shouldn't ticket-booking websites detect such anomalies, and alert users (especially those who're buying tickets for SA 285) that tickets for SA 285 can be had for less, if instead they book on AI 7625? I think they should.

Every flight is a mission...

2010-03-11T16:12:00.011+05:30

I love watching flying planes. For years now, I've been looking at planes passing above in the sky. I feel good when I see the bright blinking lights moving through the night sky. I wonder if decades back, anyone had ever imagined that in the 21st century, civilian aircraft will carry millions of individuals across continents and oceans at near-supersonic speeds. I wonder if they had ever thought that colorful blinking lights flying through the night sky will be commonplace in the 21st century...

Screenshots from 'A Tribute to Ethiopian Airlines'

I sometimes think: Even though air-travel has become routine in current times - with thousands of planes flying daily - it (probably) doesn't mean that the complexity and risks associated with it have decreased. Drinks, delicious food, warm hospitality and a multitude of entertainment options might make us forget it, but the truth is that we fly tens of thousands of feet above the earth's surface, where outside air and temperature are unsuitable for human survival, roaring and piercing through the sky at nearly the speed of sound.

Image 1 source; Image 2 source

And so I believe that every flight is a mission. A mission as crucial as a military mission, with safely transporting the set of passengers from destination A to destination B as the objective.

Update (15-May-10 and 1-Jun-10): I watched a few aviation-related videos on YouTube today. The following videos have strengthened my belief that every flight is a mission

Sad that The New York Times copies sentences from its own, previously published stories

2010-01-25T01:39:00.003+05:30

"Nearly four years behind schedule, several tons overweight and as much as 7 billion euros ($10.6 billion) over budget, the A400M has become a financial albatross for Airbus and its parent company, European Aeronautic Defense and Space. The company has already written off 2.4 billion euros in costs for a project that continues to expend cash at a rate of around 100 million euros each month." - (Source: Hopes for Costly Plane Are Riding on a Test Flight, The New York Times, 3-Dec-09)

"The A400M has become a financial albatross for Airbus and EADS: nearly four years behind schedule, several tons overweight and as much as €7 billion, or $10.6 billion, over budget. EADS has already written off €2.4 billion in costs for a project that continues to expend cash at a rate of around €100 million each month." - (Source: Airbus Issues Warning on Military Plane Project, The New York Times, 12-Jan-10)

"EADS has already written off 2.4 billion euros in costs for a project that continues to expend cash at a rate of about 100 million euros each month." - (Source: No Progress in Talks for Financing of European Military Plane, The New York Times, 22-Jan-10)

Since when did The New York Times start lengthening its stories by copying stuff from previous stories? Does NYT believe that its readers don't read with enough concentration and interest to be able to remember previously read words, phrases and sentences? What is sad is that the author(s) have chosen to use classic methods to avoid accusations of plagiarism - changing the order of phrases and sentences, replacing € with euro and euro with €, and so on, something that I did not expect from NYT.

Really sad. Because I enjoy reading NYT and trust it.

The benefits and perils of Google Chrome browser (in context of multitasking and productivity)

2009-09-14T19:03:00.004+05:30

Without doubt, Chrome has made me more productive - its UI responds nearly-immediately to my actions, making my own speed - and not the software's - the primary barrier/deciding-factor to how fast I can work (which is a good thing). I freely and quickly group and rearrange tabs, and overall, the UI is very responsive.

This was the good part. The bad part is that I've started multitasking much more now. I open many more tabs in Chrome (and Opera), compared to when I'm in other browsers. I can even hypothesize that Chrome/Opera users open more tabs (on average) than Firefox users, who open more tabs than IE users. And all these open tabs give a kind-of restlessness to the mind - they give the feeling of many pending tasks, reducing my mind's concentration.

An example of my typical Chrome window

Guess I'll have to adopt some self-controlling policies to prevent myself from drowning in these tabs.

Moving to Johannesburg (SA), shortly

2009-09-08T00:21:00.001+05:30

I'm moving to Johannesburg, South Africa, within a couple of days. So many things need to be done still... Visa, packing, other formalities, learning cooking (!), etc.

Let's see how things pan out.

Well, this is embarrassing...

2009-08-25T19:34:00.003+05:30

...but Firefox is having problems restoring a session with no tabs.

This is embarrassing.

(About half of my browsing has already shifted to Chrome/Chromium)

A brand new blog - on my own domain

2009-08-02T22:18:00.002+05:30

Close on the heels of the launch of my email address on my own domain comes the launch of a new blog - also on my own domain name. This new blog - named HyperBlog - will be my official blog from now, and is likely to supersede my Main Blog (my Other Blog should continue just fine).

Click to read Rishabh Singla's Google profile

Microsoft should contribute the content of Encarta encyclopedia to Wikipedia / Wikimedia Foundation

2009-07-27T01:13:00.005+05:30

Microsoft has decided to discontinue the Encarta line of products, as well as the associated online websites. I assert that Microsoft should contribute the content of all languages of Encarta products to the Wikimedia Foundation, from where this high-quality content can be appropriately added to the various Wikimedia Foundation projects such as Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, etc. This of course means that Microsoft contribute only those portions of Encarta that it owns, as opposed to the content it has licensed from third-parties.

In my opinion, such a move:

Will gain Microsoft a large quantity of favorable press coverage, leading to an overall improvement in the image of the Microsoft brand among Open Source communities, news media, and general public
Will give Wikipedia a much-needed shot in the arm, and make it a significantly more useful service for students and other sections of the society
Will not have have any meaningfully unfavorable implications for any of Microsoft's various businesses

An alternative is to have the Wikimedia Foundation host and manage an online version of Encarta ("en.encarta.wikimedia.org").

Click to see my detailed LinkedIn profile

Email service now active on rishabhsingla.com

2009-07-27T00:26:00.004+05:30

Finally, I've setup an email service on my domain name - rishabhsingla.com (though the website itself has no content yet).

The mail service went online at about 9 PM IST, on July 25, 2009. I intend to use my @rishabhsingla.com email-address strictly for professional purposes.

Click here to read my detailed Google profile

Comparison of video types available on YouTube: HQ18, HQ22, HQ35, HQ37, FLV, MP4, HQ, HD, etc.

2009-06-06T12:43:00.021+05:30

Update (12-Jul-10): YouTube has recently added support for 4096*3072 ("ultra-high") resolution videos, as reported here.

I frequently download videos from YouTube, using Mozilla Firefox and Video DownloadHelper extension. However, DownloadHelper shows that many YouTube videos have multiple versions available, labeled as HQ18, HQ22, HQ35, HQ37, etc. There does not seem to be any official explanation of these different versions.

So today I set out to

Understand the difference between these video types
Identify the version with the highest quality

I started with this video (Check out E3 Spotlight) (screenshot below), as it was available in all versions that I've seen on YouTube so far.

Click image to view in full size

The findings are below

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Schema Details
[Video Type]: [Container]; [File Size]; [Ratio]; [Relative Quality]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Basic / Normal: FLV; 718 KB; 1x; Low
HQ18: MP4; 1.4 MB; 2x; Medium
HQ22: MP4; 4.5 MB; 6.4x; Very high
HQ35: FLV; 2.7 MB; 3.9x; High
HQ37: Container?; Size?; Factor?; Super

What it shows: HQ22 (and now HQ37 - an even higher-quality video) has the highest quality on YT, if file-size is used as an indicator of video-quality. Additionally, for HQxy, a higher value of xy doesn’t necessarily mean an increase in video-quality over a lower xy value.

Verification of the above findings: The above findings have been found to hold true for all 5 of the following videos (except for HQ37 - which is known to have higher-quality than HQ22, but this has not been verified yet)

Result of My Memory Test

An Analysis To Predict The Price Of Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 Digital Camera In India

2009-04-25T17:02:00.004+05:30

I am quite impressed by the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 camera. However, it's not yet available in India (officially). I want to guess its approximate price, when it launches in India in the near future.

To do this, I used the following approach: I looked up the prices of various Sony digital cameras on Sony Style USA and Sony India websites. I tried to derive a pattern in the US price (in US Dollars) and India price (in Indian Rupees). As of today, 1 US Dollar = INR ~50

Following are the contents of my scratchpad:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SCHEMA DETAILS
[MODEL NUMBER]
[PRICE ON SONYSTYLE.COM] [CONVERSION TO INDIAN RUPEES]
[INDIA] [PRICE ON SONY.CO.IN] [DIFFERENCE COMPARED TO US]

H50
$330 16,500
India 22,000 +33%

T90
$300 15,000
India 18,000 +20%

T500
$330 16,500
India 18,000 +9%

W220
$180 9,000
India 13,000 +44%

W230
$200 10,000
India 14,000 +40%

W290
$250 12,500
India 16,625 +33% [BASED ON OTHER "W" MODELS ONLY]

W300
$300 15,000
India 20,000 +33%

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rishabh Singla's Google Profile

How It's Possible For A 22 Year Old To Have Lived For Longer Duration Than A 23 Year Old Person

2009-04-04T19:22:00.019+05:30

This thought is based on the idea of more effective / productive time utilization, the way we use it in the context of work.

HYPOTHESIS

7 hours of optimized sleep per day has the same amount of desirable effect as 8 hours of usual sleep (which can be reasonably assumed to be unoptimized in most cases), without involving any compromise with one's physical or mental health. The basis of this (unproven) hypothesis is real-life observation on myself, among some other observations.

DEFINITIONS

Amount of desirable effect: Sleep has some purposes (related to both the physical and the mental health), and these purposes are the desirable effects of the activity of sleeping on our body and mind. These effects can vary in extent depending upon sleeping conditions and its duration
Optimized sleep: When sleep takes place in such conditions as to maximize the desirable effects obtained per hour, the sleep is called optimized sleep. Posture, noise, lighting, time, type of bed, and many other factors affect the quality of our sleep
Usual sleep: The way most of us sleep each day. The conditions we sleep in are not the best possible, and hence almost all of our sleeps are not optimized. The desirable effects we obtain per hour are lower than the maximum possible amount achieved during an optimized sleep

Sleeping like a baby

CALCULATIONS

If a 22 year old person has been having 7 hours of optimized sleep each day for the last 10 years of his life, then he has been awake for about 3,651 hours more than a similar-aged friend who has been having 8 hours of usual sleep, without making any compromise with his physical and mental health (this follows from my hypothesis).

Assuming that the average number of productive hours (the hours which are utilized each day for work - these hours do not include eating, entertainment, bathing, etc.) per day for any person who takes 8 hours of usual sleep per day is 10, a 23 year old person X has had 40,170 productive hours in the last 11 years of his life (3,650 hours per year; 2 days have been added to account for the minimum number of leap years that must be traversed during 11 consecutive years).

Using the same methodology, a 22 year old person Y - who takes 7 hours of optimized sleep per day and hence has one extra productive hour per day - has had 40,172 productive hours in the last 10 years of his life (4,015 hours per year) - a total of 2 hours more than person X. This difference will increase as person X and Y age.

CONCLUSIONS

Assuming that most of the learning / living occurs during the productive hours (the definition of productive hours can be broadened to include entertainment, since a lot of social learning takes place during entertainment activities), the 22 year old person Y has effectively lived slightly more than the 23 year old person X - without making any compromise, and without accumulating any sleep debt.

If this hypothesis is proved to be true, it will make education about effective sleep all the more important for inclusion in the syllabus of school children. Also, optimized sleep will become another productivity-enhancing weapon in the arsenal of organizational CxOs (CEOs, COOs, CTOs, CFOs, CIOs, CMOs, etc.), and other high-ranking individuals.

Finally, it must be remembered that optimized sleep is just one out of many possible methods by which a 22 year old can have practically lived for more duration than a 23 year old. Also, this idea assumes that the situations faced by person X and person Y (while they're in their productive hours) are the same. In real life, it's more likely that these 2 individuals shall face very different situations, resulting in learnings that vary not only in extent, but also in type.

Update: Forgot to mention that person Y also has a full extra calendar year ahead of him, compared to person X, since he's only 22 yet (that's 4015 more productive hours by the time he turns 23!).

My Thoughts About Human Memory

Default Settings Of Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 Suite Are Harmful For Ads-Supported Web

2009-03-26T20:55:00.007+05:30

By default, Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 (KIS 2009) has its ad-blocker module enabled. This is bad for the Web, much of which is supported by advertising (and a lot of that advertising is delivered via banner ads).

I believe that the popularity of KIS is increasing, as Kaspersky's products have been hailed not only for their high malware detection rates, but also for their minimal resource utilization. This increasing popularity of KIS (and KAV - Kaspersky Anti-Virus) will lead to more banner ads getting blocked, leading to a reduction in the revenue of banner ad-supported websites, ultimately leading to either shutting down of at least some of these websites, or a reduction in the amount of fresh content (applications or multimedia or text) that the website owners add to their website (for lack of funds).

More importantly, such a default setting is a slap in the face of an entire business model on which much of the modern Web rests. Is Kaspersky trying to suggest that every banner ad is malicious? I don't think so. Yes, there are many malformed banner ads that are unpleasing, even annoying, but publishers who deploy ad-serving systems of networks that allow such unfriendly banner ads will automatically see reduced user visits to their websites, eliminating the need to have banner ad blockers installed at the user end.

Such a setting may resonate well with Kaspersky's potential customers (cleaner webpages, faster browsing, and increased privacy), but in the long run, it is ultimately bad for the customers.

An interesting thing to note is that disabling the Banner Ad Blocker causes KIS to throw a bright yellow warning - Your computer security is at risk. Oh really? I didn't know that banner ads could put my computer's security at risk. I do know that they can put my privacy at risk, but with secure browsers such as Opera configured to receive cookies only from the site that is visited, even the privacy threat is mitigated.

The default block-list - a lot of banner ads are being blocked!

An Idea For Truly Portable Applications

Google Chrome 2.0.169.x Both Passes And Fails The Acid3 Web Standards Project Test

2009-03-26T16:50:00.006+05:30

This is rather absurd - Google Chrome 2.0.169.0 and 2.0.169.1 both pass and fail the Acid3 test. Screenshots below (click them to see them in full size)

Version 2.0.169.0

Version 2.0.169.1

My personal take is that such a situation is possible because of a flaw in the test, and not in the browser. It is possible for the test to show a FAIL sign as well as give a 100/100 score simultaneously.

Why Flickr Is Better Than Picasa Web

Yahoo's Flickr Offers A Key Benefit Over Google's Picasa Web Albums - Superior Image Quality

2009-03-23T08:38:00.015+05:30

I recently uploaded photos of Neha Bhasin, that I had shot at my college about a month back - on both my Picasa Web Albums account and on my Flickr photostream. I was quite disappointed to notice that although the same source images were uploaded to both Picasa Web Albums and Flickr, the visible image quality is significantly superior on Flickr as compared to Picasa. Photos on Flickr are visibly sharper than those on Picasa.

EXAMPLES

Left photo is the Flickr one; Right is on Picasa Web; Click it to view in full size

Although it was because of higher social activity and a cleaner page layout on Flickr that I had chosen it over Picasa Web for displaying the better photos clicked by me (I post even the less-good ones on Picasa Web, but on Flickr I post only the better ones), it turns out that that decision has now got a compelling reason - photo quality.

Some notes to annul any methodology concerns

Web browser used to view the albums was Apple Safari 4 Beta for Windows
For creating the examples, a screenshot of each photo was taken, cropped and saved as a PNG file
These cropped screenshots were stiched together (maintaining original dimensions) and saved as PNG files
These PNG files were uploaded here on Blogger

A Fashion Show Photo Album

Use Alternative And Metasearch Engines To Protect Your Privacy While Searching On The Web

2009-03-15T12:49:00.010+05:30

If you are concerned about giving away too much of your private information to one of the top Web-search engines (Google, Yahoo Search, Live Search, Ask.com), then you can use the following method to protect your privacy without compromising on the quality of search results. It's crucial that any solution to the privacy issue be uncompromising with not only the quality / relevance of the search results, but also with the quality of search experience, although slight compromise with the latter is an acceptable price to pay to get increased privacy.

It must also be remembered that the solution outlined here is only 1 of the several easy-to-use measures that can be used to protect your privacy when conducting Web searches.

For Google users: Use AOL Search. It provides the high-quality search results of Google without directly letting Google associate any of the searches with you. To make it less painful to access AOL Search, set it as your homepage, bookmark it, add it to the search box of your favorite browser and set it as the default search engine, and so on.

For Yahoo Search users: Since I'm generally logged in to Google, and not Yahoo, I find it OK to search directly on Yahoo Search. If however, you do not wish to search on Yahoo Search, use Forestle. It provides Yahoo's results while keeping you anonymous. Engines such as AltaVista and AllTheWeb do not protect your privacy, as they use a Yahoo.com cookie.

Fore Live Search users: No great alternative, although Search and Give is a fine one (if you are not signed in). I use Live Search directly, since I am never logged in to any Microsoft website, and hence all searches I conduct on Live Search are anonymous by default.

For Ask.com users: For all practical purposes, you are already anonymous. No need to look elsewhere.

As an alternative to the above, you may use one of the better metasearch engines. I prefer Ixquick, although you may also choose from Scour, Dogpile and Clusty (in decreasing order of preference). Don't even look at the the dozens more metasearch engines that are completely trash-worthy.

As a side note, there are other search engines that are based on one of top 4 search engines (such as Click4Carbon, GoodSearch, Lycos, etc.), I do not recommend these because they have poorly-designed or slow user interfaces which mar the search experience unacceptably.

My Idea For An Advertising Campaign

Geometrical / Graphical / Pictorial / Visual Proof Of The Formula {(a+b)^2} = {(a^2) + (b^2) + (2ab)}

2009-03-11T05:32:00.009+05:30

Yesterday, at the lunch table, a friend told me that at one of his IIM interviews, he was asked to prove the well-known identity {(a+b)^2} = {(a^2) + (b^2) + (2*a*b)} geometrically. He asked me to try this question. It took me over 5 minutes to come up with a solution, but gladly, I did come up with one. Here it is

Click on the image to view it in full size

This same method can be applied to prove the identity [(a+b)^3] = [(a^3) + (b^3) + {3*a*b*(a+b)}], and many other identities as well. It'll require the use of Google SketchUp or AutoCAD to create 3D models of these. Let's see if I have the time some day to create a model.

Read About Me - My Google Profile

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 + Outlook 2007 Provides Higher Value

2009-03-08T13:21:00.004+05:30

If you are an individual and are thinking of buying Microsoft Office Standard 2007 for personal use [currently priced at $400; includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook], you should stop and take a look at this package

Office Home and Student 2007 [$150; includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote]
Outlook 2007 [$110]

The total comes out to be $260 [$140 less than Office Standard 2007], while adding OneNote.

I believe that for personal use, this package is significantly better than buying Office Standard 2007. However, it must be remembered that the scenarios in which Office Home and Student is permitted to be used are governed by

Are there license restrictions to Office Home and Student 2007?

Yes. Office Home and Student 2007 is licensed only for noncommercial use by households. It cannot be used in commercial (business) situations.

A Wiser Deal For Game Consoles

Now Tweeting - I Have Just Joined Twitter :)

2009-02-28T11:35:00.005+05:30

I had been reading about the sweetly named Twitter for many weeks now. But yesterday when I read that Google has joined Twitter, that really caught my attention. I noticed that even Yahoo and Live Search had joined recently, and they had welcomed Google to the party. Curious enough, I signed up (the sign-up is delightful... it can be finished in under 45 seconds), optimized my settings, chose my avatar, customized my theme a little, and was off to start tweeting...

My first four tweets... I've starred all of them... LOL

My first impressions?

I'm liking it so far
I've used it as a scratchpad so far... to scribble down random thoughts coming to my mind
The feature I like the most is Favorites. I can star any tweet that I want to re-read (perhaps because it has an idea, or there's a pending task related to it, etc.)
I'm unsure as to whether I'll be using Twitter as a blog or as a scratchpad (or a to-do list)... or maybe a mix of all three
I'm curious as to why the limit on the number of characters in a tweet is 140... my initial thought is that perhaps Twitter intends to integrate tweeting with the insanely popular SMS service on cell phones, which, on some devices has a limit of 140 characters per message. To be compatible with every cell phone on the planet, Twitter has used a lowest common denominator approach. Just a thought, but Twitter could be looking at itself as the SMS provider for the Internet
I'm happy that Twitter is not blocked at my company... at least not yet

Rishabh Singla's Tweets On Twitter

An Edgy Idea For Advertising Campaign For A Car

2009-02-26T09:20:00.008+05:30

Sometimes I like to create new ideas for advertising campaigns of products (electronic gadgets, automobiles, computer software, etc.), apart from doing other things. And some weeks back, while I was reading about the Audi R8, an idea for advertising campaign for a supercar came to my mind.

A rough summary of the idea: There is a huge sign / text all over the R8. You can't see it, nor can any other human. However, every other non-R8 automobile on the planet sure will. It reads "SHUT UP".

I think it's a nice concept for advertising a supercar. It intends to capture the vast superiority the R8 has over every other car on the planet. And with just 2 words, it humbles all of them. If this concept gets someone who can create elegant print and video ads, I think it should be a success.

The Audi Q7. A real manly beast for real men

I first wrote this idea some weeks back here (as a caption below a photo on my wishlist album).

About Me - My Detailed Google Profile

Finding the right price point to maximize profits

2009-02-23T01:34:00.007+05:30

For many months now - perhaps over 2 years - I've been telling some of my friends a simple formula (over lunch table, or during other casual discussions) that companies perhaps-already-use / should-use to correctly price their products / services in the market.

"Correctly" refers to that optimal price point which maximizes the total profit.

The simple formula states that if

X is the cost price per unit,
Y is the selling price per unit,
Z is the number of units that sell at Y price point, and
P is the profit per unit (i.e., Y minus X)

Then a company should strive to find that value of Y, where the product PZ is maximum.

It is no rocket science that P and Z are generally inversely related to each other - as P increases, Z goes down, and vice versa. It is also trivial to understand that the relation between P and Z is not of the nature "PZ = constant" (that is, a particular increment in P will generally not cause so much decrement in Z so as to keep the product PZ unchanged). And finding the correct value of Y - and hence P - is not an easy task. It is a task that not only requires sound market research, it also requires sound knowledge of the consumers and the market, as well as sound judgment.

And here's a recent news story that has some interesting figures which demonstrate exactly this - the importance of the product PZ, and the effect of varying Y on PZ. An excerpt from the news story is:

...Valve's Gabe Newell revealed that a recent sale on the Steam version of Left 4 Dead led to an astounding sales increase of 3000 percent...

Update (14-Feb-10): It appears that the premise behind Laffer curve is analogous, in a way, to the thought I've outlined in this post

An Idea For Variable Power Car Engine

Google Has NOT Banned The Term 'Netbook' From Its Ad-Network

2009-02-22T17:33:00.007+05:30

Despite a flurry of recent reports (here, here and here) suggesting that Google has banned the term netbook from its ad-network, I could still spot at least one ad featuring the word netbook on Google's ad-network, as of today

Click on the image to view it in its original size

About Me - My Detailed Profile

An Obsession For Perfection - A Common Mistake In Corporate Email Disclaimers

2009-02-21T10:43:00.006+05:30

I believe that I'm obsessed with perfection. I like finding imperfections and shortcomings, and I feel good when these flaws and shortcomings are put to rest. I have a strong belief that if processes are in place to discover and correct flaws - small or big - then processes and systems will improve quickly. Analogies can be drawn between finding and correcting flaws, and debugging and testing.

Yesterday, when I read the following email disclaimer of a leading consulting company, I felt uncomfortable on finding a flaw.

+=========================================================+
This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. Thank you for your cooperation.
+=========================================================+

The disclaimer requests the unintended recipient to advise the sender by reply email, and requests deletion of only the original message. It should also have been requested to delete the reply email, since almost all reply emails include a copy of the original email (without attachments).

Unadulterated nitpicking for sure. But that's what obsession is about.

An Idea For Truly Portable Applications

Average OR Mileage OR Fuel Consumption - Economy - Efficiency Of Maruti Suzuki Swift

2009-02-16T00:12:00.021+05:30

THIS POST IS BEING WRITTEN USING UNOPTIMIZED LANGUAGE AND/OR STRUCTURE. AT THE END OF THIS TEST, OPTIMIZE THE LANGUAGE AND REMOVE THIS MESSAGE.

I've decided to find out the fuel-efficiency of the Maruti Suzuki Swift VXi that I bought in October 2008. The main reason why I've decided to do this is because I couldn't find a single credible source of fuel-consumption of Swift Petrol when I was to buy one for myself. This post will fill that void. The second reason why I'm going to do this is because I feel like doing it
I'll try to be as scientific in my measurement as possible without causing myself a lot of inconvenience or productivity loss
I'll also try to provide a thorough list of the conditions in which the test was performed, so that the readers are well-aware of the context in which the findings present in this post are applicable, and can make more informed approximations for their own scenarios
Some of the conditions that I wish to list are - status of the air-conditioner, type of petrol (standard petrol or high-grade petrol such as Power, Speed or Xtra Premium), approximate type of driving (city-traffic, city-normal, or highway-fast), tyre pressure, amount of load, etc.
The test is scheduled to start on 16-2-09 and end after 9-3-09 (whenever the fuel gauge needle is at the same point where it was when the test was started)
I will update this post on each day when I drive the car, till the end of this test
I also intend to try to publish / sell the detailed findings to some car magazine, etc.

Following is the list of the initial conditions in which the test is being performed

Car: Maruti Suzuki Swift VXi Petrol (hatchback)
Bought in: October 2008
Free-services: First free-service done in December 2008
Fuel-type when starting the test: Before I got my car refilled today (16-2-09), the fuel gauge was at this level. The fuel in my car was high-grade petrol (Xtra Premium)

After clicking this photo, I got my car refilled with normal petrol worth INR 1,000 (at INR 43 / liter, that's about 23.25 liters).

Fuel-gauge reading when starting the test: After getting my car refilled, I took the following shot

Although it appears that the fuel gauge is at the fifth mark from left (including the thick first mark), a few seconds after taking this photo, the needle went up further (close to the fourth mark from left, but not touching it exactly). This is the fuel level at the start of this test.

Load when starting the test: The car was not loaded with any luggage, etc. The only load while starting this test was my body weight
Odometer reading when starting the test: 2170
Tyre-pressure when starting the test: ~21 psi in all 4 tyres (pressure recommended by Maruti is 33 psi)
Description of the type of driving by percentage breakup: City-traffic means stop-and-go traffic, with speed varying between 0 and 25. City-normal means standard intra-city driving with speed varying between 20-50. Highway-fast means driving on a clear highway with speed varying between 50-90. It is to be noted that I consider my driving quite smooth, in the sense that I do not like to accelerate / decelerate suddenly. This should've a favorable effect on fuel consumption

16-2-09

Air conditioner: Off all the time
Load: From 2170-2174 km, load was 1 adult. From 2174-2182, load was 2 adults. From 2182-2190, load was 1 adult
Type of driving: Approximately 60% highway-fast, 30% city-normal, and 10% city-traffic

17-2-09

Air conditioner: Off all the time
Load: From 2190-2209 km, load was 1 adult
Type of driving: Approximately 70% highway-fast, 5% city-normal, and 25% city-traffic

18-2-09

Tyre-pressure change: I got air pumped up into the tyres. The new air pressure in all 4 tyres is ~31 psi (pressure recommended by Maruti is 33 psi)
Air conditioner: Off all the time
Load: From 2209-2226 km, load was 1 adult
Type of driving: Approximately 75% highway-fast, 15% city-normal, and 10% city-traffic

19-2-09

Air conditioner: Off all the time
Load: From 2226-2244 km, load was 1 adult
Type of driving: Approximately 60% highway-fast, 30% city-normal, and 10% city-traffic

20-2-09

Air conditioner: Off all the time
Load: From 2244-2252 km, load was 2 adult; From 2252-2264 km, load was 1 adult
Type of driving: Approximately 60% highway-fast, 30% city-normal, and 10% city-traffic

2-3-09

Air conditioner: Off all the time
Load: From 2620-2624 km, load was 1 adult; From 2624-2632 km, load was 3 adults; From 2632-2640, load was 1 adult
Type of driving (2620-2624): Approximately 60% highway-fast and 40% city-normal
Type of driving (2624-2632): Approximately 60% highway-fast, 20% city-normal, and 20% city-traffic; During this stretch, my driving was rough - hard acceleration, hard braking, dangerous overtaking, etc. (my mood was bad)
Type of driving (2632-2640): Approximately 70% highway-fast, 25% city-normal, and 5% city-traffic

4-3-09

Air conditioner: Off all the time
Load: From 2660-2663 km, load was 1 adult; From 2663-2670 km, load was 2 adults; From 2670-2680, load was 1 adult
Type of driving (2660-2680): Approximately 60% highway-fast, 30% city-normal, and 10% city-traffic

5-3-09

Air conditioner: On from 2680-2691; Off from 2691-2699
Load: From 2680-2683 km, load was 1 adult; From 2683-2691 km, load was 3 adults; From 2691-2699, load was 1 adult
Type of driving (2680-2699): Approximately 60% highway-fast, 25% city-normal, and 15% city-traffic

6-3-09

Air conditioner: On from 2699-2711; Off from 2711-2725
Load: From 2699-2703 km, load was 1 adult; From 2703-2711 km, load was 3 adults; From 2711-2720, load was 2 adults; From 2720-2725, load was 1 adult
Type of driving (2699-2725): Approximately 60% highway-fast, 25% city-normal, and 15% city-traffic

9-3-09

Air conditioner: On from 2725-2732; Off from 2732-2745
Load: From 2725-2628 km, load was 1 adult; From 2728-2736 km, load was 3 adults; From 2736-2745, load was 1 adult
Type of driving (2725-2745): Approximately 60% highway-fast, 35% city-normal, and 5% city-traffic

10-3-09

Air conditioner: Off
Load: From 2745-2648 km, load was 1 adult; From 2748-2756 km, load was 3 adults; From 2756-2764, load was 1 adult
Type of driving (2745-2764): Approximately 60% highway-fast, 35% city-normal, and 5% city-traffic

16-3-09

Air conditioner: Off from 2891-2894; On from 2894-2902; Off from 2902-2910
Load: 1 adult from 2891-2894 km; 3 adults from 2894-2902; 1 adult from 2902-2910
Type of driving (2891-2910): ~70% highway-fast, 25% city-normal, and 5% city-traffic

17-3-09

Air conditioner: On from 2910-2921; Off from 2921-2931
Load: 1 adult from 2910-2913; 3 adults from 2913-2921; 1 adult from 2921-2931
Type of driving (2910-2931): 60% highway-fast, 20% city-normal, and 20% city-traffic

18-3-09

Air conditioner: On from 2931-2950
Load: 1 adult from 2931-2934; 3 adults from 2934-2942; 2 adults from 2942-2950
Type of driving (2931-2950): 45% highway-fast, 25% city-normal, and 30% city-traffic

About Me - My Detailed Profile

Portable Apps That Are Portable Across Operating Systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris)

2009-02-05T22:54:00.014+05:30

Here's an excerpt from an article on portable applications on Wikipedia

There is a very restricted category of software that can support a sort of double portability, being both stand alone and cross-platform compatible, able to run on different hardware with little or no modifications, perhaps with minor restrictions. One such software is SymbOS, whose main modules can in their present form be executed on both Amstrad CPC and MSX machines without modification. Only some of its bundled applications are hardware-dependent. To a much lesser extent, Macintosh fat binary applications could be considered as cross-platform, but not always truly portable.

The above text is present in this particular revision of the article.

While reading this paragraph, it occurred to me that it is possible (quite painlessly) to create a portable version of Mozilla Firefox, which is portable across popular operating systems (Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and Solaris). More importantly, such a version would be useful. Having Firefox in a single folder, with the ability to seamlessly hop from Windows XP to Leopard to Ubuntu to Solaris, appears quite appealing. And the good news is that this should be doable without much fuss.

A typical install of Firefox consists of two parts. On Windows XP, these are

Core program (platform dependent): Typically, it's inside C:/Program Files/Mozilla Firefox
User data (platform independent): Typically, it's inside C:/Documents and Settings/Username/Application Data/Mozilla/Firefox

I believe, it is possible (and relatively simple) to mix 4 builds of the core program (for Windows XP, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris) in a single folder, so that executables and other program files for each operating system are kept in separate folders, while the user data is common. Separate launchers, of course, will be required for each OS. This arrangement shall make user history, cache, bookmarks, passwords, etc., all available in all of the 4 builds. I have a strong belief that such a release of Firefox will not only be received well, it will be quite useful to many users.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF SUCH A RELEASE

No need to use Foxmarks, at least for some users. Hop across OSes without having to sync anything
Carry the application platform as well as applications, across operating systems. This one benefit may seem insignificant as of now, but to me it's at least as important as the first one. Imagine that a user has a portable version of Firefox (the one I have envisioned in this post), and the user installs some extensions on it (a calculator, some basic games, a basic word processor, etc.). My version of Firefox allows the user to carry not only Firefox (and user data) across OSes, it also allows carrying these applications that run on top of Firefox. As Web browsers start being used more and more as application platforms, the importance as well as usefulness of this portability will only increase.

P.S. This article was written using portable version of Firefox

My Prediction About Google Chrome

Goodbye To AltaVista Audio Search

2009-02-02T22:38:00.007+05:30

First I have to admit something - I have, in the past, downloaded a few songs (illegally), using AltaVista Audio Search. And for the same reason, I went to AltaVista Audio Search page once again a few days back, only to find that it doesn't exist anymore. It was not only surprising, it was disappointing as well.

I have always liked AltaVista. I've resorted to it many times, to gain access to the very-relevant yet somewhat-different-from-Google results of Yahoo Search, via a lean, clean and fast user interface (cleaner and lighter than Yahoo Search). And I fell in love with AltaVista ever since I started reading The Search (where delicious accounts of the birth of AltaVista, and its pioneering achievements in the initial days of the Internet can be read). Watching Yahoo gradually cripple the legendary search giant makes me a little sad.

Here's a screenshot from the cache of Live Search, where AltaVista Audio Search is still alive

About Me - My Photo Albums On Picasa

PREDICTION: Google Chrome Web Browser Will Be A Hit Among Netbook And Subnotebook Users

2009-01-31T12:48:00.011+05:30

Because of the following (incomplete) list of reasons, I believe that Google's new Web browser, named Chrome, will be a hit among Netbook, and Subnotebook (alias minilaptop & ultraportable) users: -

Minimalist user interface: In contrast to other contemporary Web browsers (especially Firefox 3.0, and to a lesser extent, Internet Explorer 8, Safari 3.x and Opera 9.x), Chrome 1.x has a lean / minimalist user interface that does away with the title bar, the file-edit bar, and the status bar. The result is a UI that consumes non-insignificantly less display space, allowing a larger proportion of the display area to be devoted to the webpage / Web-application being used by the user. Netbooks typically have display size <=10 inches (measured diagonally), and this characteristic of Chrome should result in a significantly improved Web experience, relative to that provided by competing browsers such as Firefox 3.
Reduces effort required by users: Chrome includes features that reduce the amount of effort required on the part of users, to get to various webpages or Web-applications. The Omnibox (a multipurpose box on the top of Chrome's UI) acts as a search box too, so a user doesn't have to make any effort to select a separate search box, or to go to a search engine such as Google. Omnibox displays suggestions for typed queries, which can potentially reduce the amount of additional typing required. Finally, as a user types a URL or a query, Omnibox displays results from the user's search and URL history, again reducing the effort required on the part of the user. The default new tab page, which displays a list of recent bookmarks, recently closed tabs, and thumbnails of 9 most visited websites, is another feature that has the potential to reduce the amount of typing required. Netbooks typically have keyboards and touchpads that are smaller than those found on standard-sized laptops, and this reduced need to type and click should result in an improved Web experience for users.
Faster rendering of webpages and Web-applications: One of the most hailed features of Chrome is its V8 JavaScript engine. This engine is able to execute JavaScript code significantly faster than competing browsers such as Internet Explorer 8, Opera 9.x, and Firefox 3.0. Chrome uses WebKit as its layout engine, which allows it to render non-JavaScript code fast as well (Safari also uses WebKit). This increase in speed of rendering webpages and running Web-applications results in an improved user experience for users, especially on those webpages and Web-applications that make heavy use of JavaScript and other code. Netbooks typically have CPUs that are significantly slower than those in standard laptops, and the increased rendering and JS execution speed that Chrome brings (on relatively slower processors - on which competing browsers are expected to give a relatively sluggish experience) should result in a significantly better Web experience in Chrome, compared to competing browsers.
Improved system memory management: Google Chrome uses a multi-process model, and reclaims all the system memory that was being used by a tab, when that tab is closed. This model - although it has the disadvantage of an increased memory overhead for each tab - is overall better than the single-process model used in competing browsers such as Firefox 3.x and Opera 9.x, because as tabs are closed in Chrome, all the memory in use is reclaimed. This is not true for single-process browsers such as Firefox 3.0 or Safari 3.x. Unless a user opens too many tabs, this model should be able to consume less memory on an average. Netbooks typically have significantly less RAM compared to standard laptops, and the improved memory management / reclamation features of Chrome should result in a visibly improved experience for users, especially relative to competing browsers such as Safari 3.x and Firefox 3.x, which do not reclaim all of the memory used in past.

It can be observed that almost all of Chrome's strengths result from its ability to use the hardware resources more efficiently. On Netbooks, whose very essence is small (small form factor, small display, small keyboard, lesser memory, slower CPU, slower GPU, etc.), Chrome should be able to provide an experience that no other contemporary browser can. These reasons also apply to Subnotebooks, albeit to a lesser extent.

BARRIER TO SUCCESS OF CHROME ON NETBOOKS
A key barrier to the success of Chrome on Netbooks and Subnotebooks is awareness about it among the general public. As of now, Chrome is hardly known outside the set of tech-savvy computer users. As users receive Netbook machines loaded with a flavor of Windows OS, whether they choose to download, install and use Chrome, or resort to the bundled-by-default IE, depends on Google's ability to make Chrome as well known as its flagship Google.com search engine.

OEM DEALS TO BUNDLE CHROME ON NETBOOKS
To partially mitigate the above barrier, it makes sense for Google to strike deals with Netbook vendors such as ASUS, Acer, etc., to include Chrome as the default Web browser. Netbook users who are not familiar with Chrome may initially find it alien; however they should be able to find their Web experience noticeably degraded if they try switching to other browsers (because of aforementioned reasons). This should bring these users back to Google Chrome. The slowly-gained familiarity with Chrome may convert some or many of them to Chrome on their regular computing machines as well.

Update 4-2-09: For the reasons mentioned previously for Netbooks and Subnotebooks, Chrome should provide an improved Web experience on other computing devices, such as MIDs and UMPCs.

About Me - My Detailed Profile

Commercialization Of Open Source Poses A Serious Threat To Vendors Of Proprietary Software

2009-01-25T14:29:00.010+05:30

I've been observing the developments taking place in the packaged software landscape for some years now, and an interesting practice that I (and probably others) have noticed is the commercialization of open source software, by rivals of well-established proprietary software vendors.

A partial list of examples of this practice (sorted alphabetically): -

Adobe Flex Builder - Eclipse
Adobe Integrated Runtime - WebKit
Apple Mac OS X - BSD
Apple Safari - KHTML / WebKit
Borland JBuilder - Eclipse
Google Andriod - Linux / WebKit
Google Chrome - WebKit
Google Picasa (for Linux) - Gecko
IBM Lotus Symphony - Eclipse / OpenOffice.org
Red Hat Linux - Linux
Zend Studio - Eclipse

Another form of commercialization of open source software is when vendors write add-ons / extensions / plug-ins for open source software, that add useful features to a particular open source software, and are paid. For example, a vendor creates a $9.99 plug-in for GIMP, that adds the Liquify feature to GIMP, or a vendor that creates a $19.99 plug-in for OpenOffice.org, that allows it to import and edit PDF files.

What are the implications of these practices?

Catapult effect: Vendors such as Google, which otherwise would've taken months or maybe years to build (from scratch) feature-rich yet stable versions of their software products (in case of Google, these are Andriod, Chrome, Picasa for Linux, etc.), can now come out with refined and souped-up versions of open source software - in mere weeks. Time saving apart, potentially millions of dollars in development and testing is also saved. I would go as far as to say that open source software is a blessing for vendors such as Google - so while most of the evolutionary and maintenance work is done by third-parties, Google (and others) get to eat the fruit. The "lead", which vendors such as Adobe and Microsoft used to have over other vendors, matters less now in those areas where rival vendors have commercialized open source software. Imagine a vendor coming up with a slick photo-editing software, based on GIMP, which removes all the annoyances of GIMP.
Customer concerns about support & services: Why are many enterprises and SMBs wary of adopting open source software? One of the major reasons is support & services. Commercialization of open source software mitigates this concern. Take Red Hat Linux, or CollabNet Subversion - these come with support & service options, just like those from vendors such as HP / Microsoft. And this largely eliminates a key barrier to adoption of open source software.
The Long Tail: Yet another effect of commercialization of open source software is the development of software packages targeted at niche markets. These specialized versions of open source software (or standard versions used with a combination of paid plug-ins) appeal to users with specialized needs. Anyone familiar with The Long Tail should be able to grasp the meaning of what I'm trying to say. So using the same KHTML / WebKit code, different vendors have come up with software development tools that are "specialized" - Chrome, Epiphany, iCab, Midori, OmniWeb, Safari, etc.

In summary, commercialization of open source software poses a real, a serious threat to those vendors, which are hell bent on developing and selling proprietary software built from scratch. They call it reinventing the wheel.

P.S. I wrote this post in SRWare Iron browser (a fork of the open source Chromium browser, on which Google Chrome too is based)

My Prediction About Google Android

Analysis Of Skill-Increment Required To Win A Losing Quake III Arena Match

2009-01-02T22:00:00.004+05:30

I've recently started playing Quake III Arena, and I'm already liking it a lot. I was playing a deathmatch in which there were only 2 players - me and a bot. The bot had scored 15 frags while I had scored 10 in the same time. The limit of frags was 20.

Let's mathematically analyze the increment required in my fragging/killing/playing skill (in percentage terms), to be able to win this match, to find out if I have any chance of winning this match.

I played 66.67% as good as the bot (since I scored 10 frags while he scored 15 - in same time). If I continue to play same way, I will have got 3.33 frags in the time he gets 5 - and he shall win the match. To be able to win, I need to score 10 frags in the time he scores 5 (his frag score should tend to 5, but shouldn't actually touch 5 - else he would win). This means I need to play twice as good as he has played so far, to be able to win this match. Sad! Also, compared to my own past performance, I need to play an astounding 200% better [{(10/3.33)*100}-100] to win the match.

This explains why - having reached this point - the chances of me winning this match are narrow.

However, this analysis would not have been true had the bot scored 3 frags and I had scored 2 (although even in that case I would've played 66.67% as good as him). This is because the confidence with which it can be said that I played 66.67% as good as the bot is very low for small number of frags such as 2 or 3, whereas in the case number of frags is 10 or 15, the confidence increases.

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Google's Evil Quest As The Default Search Engine In Microsoft Internet Explorer 7

2009-01-01T05:27:00.002+05:30

Today I uninstalled Google Toolbar 5 from my IE 7 (it made the already cluttered interface of IE 7 look more cluttered). After that, I performed a reset on of IE 7, using this inbuilt feature

I hoped that doing this - after uninstalling Google Toolbar - would undo every customization that Google Toolbar had done to IE 7. It turned out that even after uninstalling Google Toolbar and resetting IE 7, two leftover things persisted.

First annoyance - and this is a disturbing one - is that even after resetting IE 7, Google continues to be the default search engine, and Google-as-the-default-search-engine cannot be changed (also, all other search engines I had manually added got removed - except Google)

Secondly, Google Toolbar Notifier - this program remains in Program Files (although I did not find a running instance of the executable in Task Manager)

At Google Operating System, I had read this and this post, and after my today's observation, it is easy to conclude that Google has not corrected all the "bugs" in its toolbar (most likely on purpose). Google may be taking every clever step to maintain an image of a good boy, but its actions speak loudly that the company does engage into evil practices.

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Apple Safari 4.0 Developer Preview Has Problems With The Acid2 Test

2008-12-30T13:27:00.018+05:30

It seems that Apple Safari 4.0 Developer Preview (526.12.2) has trouble with the Acid2 test.

In a restored down window, it passes the test

However, if the window is maximized, Safari corrupts the correctly-rendered image

Safari also incorrectly renders the Acid2 test, if horizontal length of the window is made small

The extent of corruption increases as the horizontal length is decreased further

Finally, Apple engineers have still not solved the annoying white line bug in Safari - it looks so crude and unprofessional

However, despite all this, it's reassuring to see that this build of Safari shines in the Acid 3 test

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PREDICTION: Google Android Operating System Will Steal Market Share From Microsoft Windows

2008-12-30T00:49:00.009+05:30

Google's Android operating system, the way I see it, holds more potential than Apple Mac OS, in its ability to supplan Microsoft Windows as the mainstream OS.

Although Android has started from smartphones, I believe that it will soon start shipping on netbooks, then nettops, and finally on mainstream desktops and laptops/notebooks.

Multiple factors will be responsible for this

The pressure to reduce prices of devices (Android is free and open source) will attract hardware makers (smartphones, netbooks, nettops, desktops, laptops, etc.) to Android. Also, the alleged discomfort that hardware makers have with Microsoft's licensing terms will be another factor pulling device makers to Android. Multiple device makers will flock to Android, and the market will see a huge surge in the number of devices of various shapes, sizes and prices - all powered by Android
The capabilities and quality of Android as an operating system: Android, the way I see it, is a capable and complete operating system, and not a mobile-optimized and stripped-down version of a desktop operating system. There is nothing that stops the use of Android on mainstream desktops and laptops. And being open source software, bugs will be discovered and removed quickly - like it has been with Firefox and Linux
The discomfort-with and hatred-for Microsoft and Windows: I believe that one of the chief reasons for the success of Firefox has been the devotion with which fans of Mozilla and Firefox have made efforts to develop, evolve, improve, promote and use it. The hatred for Microsoft, combined with the love for Mozilla caused millions of Microsoft users to shift to Firefox, and these converts also converted many of their friends and family members to Android. This same set of users will be among the first ones to install and try out Android, should it be available for the desktop. This set of users - probably millions in number - will be more than happy to use a Linux-kernel based operating system over Windows. This same set of users will develop, evolve, improve and ultimately spread Android to others
Android is backed by Google. And many more heavyweights: Unlike Firefox, which is backed by the not-so-rich Mozilla, Android has the formidable backing of Google. Google has the financial and industry position to invest heavily in development, partnerships, and massive promotions, and unlike Microsoft, Google isn't hated by the community at large, at least apparently. It seems that developers are not only comfortable with Google, they are actually happy with it. Doubtlessly, most users are, as well. Add to this the support of the other members of OHA, and it's easy to see that the young Android already has lots of support
Android-powered devices stay close to our heart: With iPod, Apple brought our whole collection of music to our pocket. We didn't need to have the collection on our Windows powered machine, thus reducing the need/role of Windows in one way. Android-powered smartphones will reduce the need/role of Windows-powered machines in multiple ways - we will be carrying our entire music, photos and videos collection right inside our Android-powered smartphone. Large-sized display will make Web browsing and online video more entertaining/productive/useful, and will also make watching locally stored photos and videos more fun. There will be lesser and lesser need to boot the Windows machine. Click a photo using the phone, and post it on Orkut or Facebook from within the phone - no need to transfer it to the laptop
Location-specific information and social-networking: Wireless network, Wi-Fi and GPS, all allow a user's location to be discovered, and based on that tailored search results (among other things) can be provided to the user - not usually available on a desktop. Also, location enables creative and engaging new ways of social networking. Local and social will thus be yet more reasons why Android-powered devices will be more useful to the user than his Windows-powered desktop/laptop
Application and data portability resulting from Cloud/SaaS applications: Google will push its Cloud-based services such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Picasa Web Albums, Google Maps, Blogger, etc., over native desktop applications in Android (user data resides on the servers, and is accessible from any other computer or smartphone). So while users temporarily switching from Android to Windows will be able to access their applications (Gmail, Blogger, etc.) and hence data on their Windows-powered machines, the reverse will frequently not be true (Microsoft is notorious for making the experience of its products poor on rival platforms - it's hard to imagine that an Outlook user will have seamless access to his Outlook data on an Android device)
The sheer weight of Windows: While Android is fast even on a mobile device, Windows is often complained to be slow even on desktop machines. This sheer weight associated with Windows makes it less practical to run it on mobile devices, without heavy modifications. Because Google has started from a mobile device, it's easy for Google to upscale Android for a desktop machine. Microsoft, on the other hand, will have a tough time stripping Windows to enable it run with a decent speed on mobile devices. The dramatic difference between Windows Mobile and Windows Vista/7 create an inconsistent user experience, a situation Android should not suffer
The halo effect: An interesting fact is that while on the desktop, users resist using an unfamiliar operating system, on mobile devices they happily use whatever proprietary system is given to them (Symbian, BlackBerry and the various flavors of proprietary OSes in low- or mid-end Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson phones). This fact will ensure that users will adopt Android OS on their phones as easily as they adopt other mobile OSes. Over time, these users will get familiar with the OS (its applications, UI, etc.), and when presented with a desktop computer powered by Android OS, these users will have no difficulty in using it or being productive on it. In fact, users who like Android may actually ask for it - Dell, HP, Toshiba, Acer, Sony and Lenovo should not make the grave mistake of ignoring Android as merely a smartphone OS
Android is cool to use and cool to Flaunt. And Google is cool too: One of the key reasons why people buy a Mac, iPod or iPhone is the cool to use and makes me look cool among my friends factor. This image associated with Apple and Google is a far cry from the boring and corporate image associated with Microsoft. I believe that the coolness of Android (applications/features and UI), the coolness of owning a Google-powered device, and the coolness of telling friends that my phone runs Android, will be a non-insignificant factor in the adoption of Android
The image of Windows is tarnished: If the unfriendly image of Microsoft was not enough, the image of Windows is apparently quite poor. Windows is considered an operating system that is slow, and is often plagued by viruses and other malware. Macs, on the other hand, are perceived to be fast, secure and free from malware. If Google succeeds in keeping Android free from malware and privacy/security issues, people who are fed up with Windows will want to move to Android (just like these people want to move to Macs)
Android can be customized and even forked: Many device makers and wireless carriers like to customize the core OS according to their specific desires or needs. The open source nature of Android allows device makers to customize the OS. Device makers who do not get this flexibility with Windows Mobile or Symbian may choose Android instead. What's more, Android can even be forked to create an entirely customized operating system
Android will improve quickly and dramatically: We should not forget that Android is very new. And whatever shortcomings it does have, they will probably be eliminated soon. It is easy to see that 2 years down the road, Android will be brimming with immensely useful applications and features

An Idea For A "Variable Power" Car Engine That Saves Fuel

2008-12-22T16:11:00.009+05:30

On the lines of my post - An Idea For A Shutterless Digital Camera - here I write a desire and an idea for liquid fuel powered car engines that are "variable", in the sense that their power output can be decreased by turning off some sections, to save fuel.

In a 1.3 liter, 4-cylinder petrol car like my Maruti Suzuki Swift, is it possible to "turn off" 1 or more cylinders (temporarily), so that although the power output reduces, fuel consumption decreases too?

I got this thought when driving from Noida towards Pitampura (Delhi). Concerned about fuel consumption, I thought "My car has a 4-cylinder 1,300 cc engine. So each cylinder's capacity is 325 cc. And each cylinder accounts for exactly 25% of the total fuel consumption. Right now I'm driving alone, and the air-conditioner is off. I really don't need all the power generated by the engine. It would be great if I could just turn off a cylinder, so that my engine temporarily reduces to a 975 cc engine, thus consuming 75% fuel - saving me a significant 25% fuel"

I'm not sure whether it's possible to achieve this with the current design of engines, but I'm sure it's possible to build an engine which has this ability. An internal computer could then ensure that different cylinders are turned off each time, so that wear-and-tear is evenly distributed across all cylinders.

I'm also sure that there will be many effects of turning off a cylinder - like the other cylinders having to run at higher RPM to produce same amount of power, etc. But all that is the work of an engine engineer!

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An Idea For A Shutterless Digital Camera

2008-12-20T18:31:00.007+05:30

I remember, when I was in class 9 or 10, I read somewhere that children are the most free thinkers (and innovators), because they don't have any knowledge of financial / physical constraints, etc., and so their thinking wanders freely. In contrast, the thinking of experts, professionals and researchers is (at least sometimes and at most always) handcuffed by their knowledge of "costs", "feasibility", "practicality", etc.

It's more likely that the solution produced by an expert or a professional / researcher will work, but it's also likely that this class of people will not be able to come up with "fresh", "out-of-the-box" and "revolutionary" ideas (due to the reason mentioned already).

With this context in mind, I will write an idea - a childish one - that has the potential to make shutterless digital cameras possible.

Why a shutterless digital camera? I like digital devices with the least number of moving parts. I like it when functionality is delivered without having any moving part (so I love flash memory based SSDs over magnetic HDDs). I feel that gadgetry with moving parts is unreliable (especially hard disks). And a digital camera with no moving parts would certainly be great - long-life, shock-proof, and longer battery life.

The idea - can varying the time for which we "pick" the signal from a digital camera's sensor be used to emulate the effect of shutter speed? More specifically, the idea is to turn on the sensor of the camera for such an amount of time, so that the amount of signal collected from the sensor is equal to the amount of signal we get by keeping the shutter open for a specified amount of time.

In a nutshell, the idea is that - the sensor is always exposed to light. However, it's to be turned on only when a picture is to be taken. And it's to be turned on for a small amount of time, and a continuous signal is to be collected for that time. The continuous signal could be broken down into discrete signals (say every 1/5000 second), so that RGB values represented by each discrete signal are added to progressively build the image. The longer the sensor is turned on, the more exposed the image would be (as each discrete signal would be added).

2 things to note:-

The mapping between conventional shutter speeds and the time for which we capture signal using this idea may not be (will most likely not be) direct. For instance, it's possible that to get the kind of photo we get using 1/60 second as shutter speed, it's required to sample the signal for only 1/25 second
It's possible that this entire idea is fundamentally flawed (i.e. it's based on certain assumptions made subconsciously - i.e. without explicit knowledge - which are incorrect). But in that case, it's possible that a new kind of sensor (possibly using a new kind of technology - for example using photoelectric effect) can be constructed for which this idea works

Update (22-12-08): I read about the concept of Design for Manufacture (DFM) while traveling from Delhi to Ludhiana. The concept, essentially restrains a designer's thinking to make sure that what he designs is manufacturable. These restrains are the kind of things that prevent free thinking, and children, unaware of these restrains, innovate and think freely! Read about DFM here, here, here and here.

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My First Award - At My First Job & On My First Project :)

2008-12-20T17:41:00.006+05:30

Yesterday - December 19, 2008 - was a special day for me. We had finished our project just a week back (we were working on it since August 2008, i.e. it took ~4.5 months), and informal feedback from the client came on December 18, 2008 (formal feedback is still to come).

The feedback was not just positive, it was mind-blowing! The client was very pleased with our work, and especially applauded the practices and processes used by us, as well as the quality of our deliverable. And my company's top brass was extremely happy as well.

So, each of the 5 team members was awarded an Outstanding Client Service Award in the company-wide meeting yesterday (the core team consisted of 5 people, and 2 more people were conducting higher level works). It felt quite nice to receive the award. All the hard work that the team had put in paid off nicely.

At the personal level, I feel that all the diligence and hard work I had put in paid for me. Those late nights when I would be busy consuming, digesting and marking reports from Forrester, Gartner and IDC (and sometimes Burton, Jupiter, Ovum and Yankee too); those train journeys from and to home, when I would be studying research papers and white papers - all that has paid off in the form of a satisfied client, a happy team, elated company officials, and personal satisfaction (of course, this is the result of a combined team effort).

However, after this initial success, I feel more responsibility now. This success is past now, and looking ahead, the bar of expectations is higher. The next project is visibly tougher (it's the same client - pleased with our work, they've given us a significantly more challenging project this time). I hope I am able to deliver even better this time.

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Secretely Devilish - Could Google Be Promoting Its Properties By Playing With Search Ranking?

2008-12-19T07:18:00.012+05:30

Consider 2 webpages, both deployed on the same website (say http://www.rishabhsingla.com/ ), having similar file names (index1.html and index2.html).

The content of index1.html is as follows

The Web of today gives us for free, much of the content that people used to pay for sometime back. While on one hand we have online videos to watch, we can read regularly updated news, and even have encyclopedic content to consume - all this for free! Even the portals providing a regularly updated view of this content are free.

The Web doesn't provide us with just free "content". It also gives us free services and tools. Users can engage into social networking, send and receive email, enjoy chatting with their buddies - by text or even by voice or video, search for images or photos, look for interesting blog posts, write blogs of their own, and can even use office productivity applications - once again, all this for free!

If all these free goodies were not enough, even the applications used to access the Web are available for free. We have secure and capable Web browsers, and feature-rich toolbars which add useful functionality to these browsers.

Clearly, the Web saves people a lot of money!

The content of index2.html is as follows (not everything is same)

The Web of today gives us for free, much of the content that people used to pay for sometime back. While on one hand we have online videos to watch, we can read regularly updated news, and even have encyclopedic content to consume - all this for free! Even the portals providing a regularly updated view of this content are free.

The Web doesn't provide us with just free "content". It also gives us free services and tools. Users can engage into social networking, send and receive email, enjoy chatting with their buddies - by text or even by voice or video, search for images or photos, look for interesting blog posts, write blogs of their own, and can even use office productivity applications - once again, all this for free!

If all these free goodies were not enough, even the applications used to access the Web are available for free. We have secure and capable Web browsers, and feature-rich toolbars which add useful functionality to these browsers.

Clearly, the Web saves people a lot of money!

You would've noticed by now that everything is same for these 2 webpages, apart from the properties to which they point. index1.html points to various Google properties, while index2.html points to non-Google properties.

Google's PageRank, as much information about it is publicly known, doesn't factor outbound links to calculate the rank of a webpage. But that's publicly available information!

The question I ask is - will the rank of index1.html and index2.html be exactly the same (considering everything about them, except their file names and outbound links, is identical)? I have my share of doubts. It's in Google's interest to promote webpages which point to Google properties, so that visitors to those webpages have a higher chance of coming the Google properties which have been pointed to. And currently there is no way to ensure that Google is not engaging into malpractices. The underlying reason behind my doubt is that Google is both a gateway to the Web (both Google and non-Google properties), as well as a provider of some of what constitutes the Web. It helps Google if it can promote third-party pages pointing to Google properties, without letting anyone feel this.

This post echoes another concern of mine - Google promoting webpages with AdSense deployed on them, over those which either have no contextual advertising system deployed, or have a system deployed from one of Google's rivals. Read about my concern here

P.S. I composed the short essay used as the content of index1.html and index2.html

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PREDICTION: Google's Native Client Technology Is A Game Changer

2008-12-18T00:14:00.010+05:30

No matter what benefits accrue from the use of a Web browser for running Web applications (platform independence, sandboxed execution, etc.), fact remains that a Web browser is yet another abstraction layer, and adds to the execution inefficiency. The Web code runs one layer higher, wasting precious CPU cycles, and consuming more memory. The speed lag may be less pronounced on powerful modern desktop systems (in part because Web applications have so far been put to relatively "light" uses), but imagine running the full version of Gmail or Google Docs on even a relatively powerful mobile device such as the iPhone (inside Safari browser) at an acceptable speed - it's laughable...

And so since many months, I was wondering - why doesn't Adobe / Google / Mozilla or a startup develop a product (either a complete platform by itself or a browser plugin) that allows "sandboxed execution of native code".

I'm delighted to see Native Client, Google's project that does just the same thing - sandboxed execution of x86 application code inside a Web browser. What's more, the characteristics we typically expect from browser-based applications - browser-neutrality, OS-independence and security - are preserved. Bravo Google! I see this project (and also JavaScript engines such as V8, that compile JS code to native-code) as game changers (albeit I believe it will take at least a year before Native Client gets a decent amount of traction, and at least 2-3 years before it starts getting widespread adoption).

My personal feeling is that this is a nail in the coffin of desktop applications the way we've traditionally known them. This makes it possible to securely run the full Photoshop inside a browser. And this is the technology (or a derivative thereof) that will eventually subvert / supercede the myriad of technologies fighting for domination as the choice for applications served from the Web (Web browsers, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Integrated Runtime, Sun Microsystems JRE/JavaFX, Mozilla Prism, etc.). To be fair, it's not the first time that native code is being run in a browser - that credit deservedly goes to Microsoft, whose ActiveX has long had this ability, albeit infamously insecurely (there is a reasonable probability that ActiveX can get a second life, if Microsoft evolves the technology to make it more secure). By creating a viable application platform layer at the browser level, Google further undermines the role of the operating system as a software platform, unlocking the long-held hold of Microsoft and Apple on their respective software ecosystems. Over the long term, NaCl poses a serious threat to these now-popular operating systems.

Quake running inside Firefox - over Native Client (from Ars)

Of course, Native Client is still at a fetus stage. It will progress in both evolutionary and revolutionary ways, and my belief that it will be a game changer factors in this expected evolution. Native Client has the essential quality any would-be contender as the dominant software platform must possess - cross-platform and cross-browser support (support on mobile platforms such as Android should follow in some time). Looking at it from an inverted perspective, I see no reason why Native Client shouldn't succeed. Finally, I see Native Client getting bundled with Chrome down the road (the way it has been with Gears).

Chrome (secure architecture + inbuilt search) + Gears (offline) + Native Client (heavy duty functionality + speed) = A fulfilling user experience for various types of applications and content.

I'm wonder why this project didn't get as massive coverage in press as I believe it deserves... Does my post on journalism provide some indirect (*cough*) explanation (read ranting...)

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Human brain's information-retrieval system is imperfect (apparently)

2008-12-14T12:45:00.006+05:30

This post is in continuation to my previous post (Human brain could be storing & retrieving information as 'related blocks').

About a year back, I was at home and me and my sister were watching a program on TV. A character appeared on TV, which I felt I've seen before. I started trying to recall his name, but couldn't. My sister knew the name, and after watching me trying to recollect the name for about 5 minutes, she finally spoke out the name, and I exclaimed "Yes! This is his name!".

Immediately I realized something. To be able to confidently say that "Yes, this is the name", I must have compared the name that my sister spoke out to the name that was already residing in my memory. After all, it's impossible for me to claim that the name which my sister spoke is his name, unless I already have a full copy of that name in my brain, to compare with.

This leads me to two things:-

Although my brain's information storage system had successfully stored the name, the information retrieval system was unable to read it
Our brains have much more information stored inside, than we know. The inability of information retrieval system to retrieve all that information doesn't mean that tons of information isn't present

Why didn't the information retrieval system of my brain retrieve the name by itself? Possible reasons:-

Wear and tear over time, leading to partial damage to the information retrieval system
Inherent shortcomings in the system's design
My focus was on some other task, and so the retrieval system wasn't focused on the right block (to better understand this point, read this - Human brain could be storing & retrieving information as 'related blocks'
Excessive amount of information had been stored in the brain, and the retrieval system either found it difficult to retrieve information (pointing to a design flaw in the retrieval system, or its inability to scale), or the retrieval process required more time (there's no flaw in the design of retrieval system, but the time needed to retrieve information is proportional to the amount to information stored)

Will we be able to solve this problem in future? Two obvious approaches may help:-

Improving hardware and algorithms of brain using genetic engineering
Connecting the brain to external equipment to copy information stored in it onto a computer, and retrieving it from there

The intent of this post was to prove that the information retrieval system of human brain has its share of flaws. It will be helpful to go through this post, to get a better idea of my views on information storage inside the brain.

Inconsistency Between Results Of Google Search And Suggestions Of Google Suggest

2008-11-16T02:33:00.007+05:30

When I type apple developer connection into the Google search box, it returns http://developer.apple.com/ as the top result (and I'm Feeling Lucky button takes one to this URL). However, when I type the same query into the address/location bar of Google Chrome, the inbuilt Google Suggest feature shows me http://developer.apple.com/iphone/ as the suggested URL.

The joy of using Google and Chrome gets marred due to this inconsistency. I've been using Google for years now, and I'm used to typing certain queries, only to expect certain results at fixed positions in the SERP that Google returns. I'm also quite used to the Browse By Name feature in Firefox, and expect that if a particular query typed into the location bar of Firefox takes me to a specific URL (because of the Browse By Name feature), then the same query typed into the location bar of Chrome should return the same URL as a suggestion.

This, after all, makes perfect sense!

The screenshots below show the inconsistency:-
I just noticed that all the visible bookmarks in the Bookmarks Toolbar of my install of Chrome point to Google properties! A sign of things to come?

The Blog Invasion - A Drop In Journalism Quality At CNET News

2008-10-11T14:59:00.013+05:30

It's a little silly that I'm going point this out in a blog post. I'm feeling increasingly sick of the unusually large number of blog posts coming up on some of my (till recently) favorite and most-read news websites - such as CNET News.

There was time some years back when I would daily go to CNET News (it was located at http://news.com.com/ back then) and would find a dozen or more fresh and well written news stories, free from immature and misinformed personal opinions and also both enjoyable and insightful. The advent of blogs on the Web, initially by independent individuals on third-party services such as Blogger, and later on News Websites started the trend of what CNET now calls a News Blog. Initially, these News Blogs took up only a small proportion of the total number of stories published by CNET News. Slowly and slowly, however, the proportion of these blogs grew, till a day came when News Blogs finally outnumbered News Stories on the homepage of CNET News. And this, in my opinion, was an unfortunate event, not just for CNET News (and its discerning readers), but for Web-based journalism as a whole (I see similar trend on some other websites such as Wired).

The final blow came when CNET stopped marking these News Blogs with a large and clearly-visible News.Blog banner, and gave all types of stories a unified http://news.cnet.com/ domain (previously all these News.Blog posts had a separate Internet sub-domain). Together, these 2 changes ensure that not only does one not know before clicking on a link pointing to CNET News (Say, from Google News) that it points to a News Blog and not a news story, but worse, one can't always be sure that one is reading a blog post even after having landed on the page. Additionally, news aggregators such as Google News are mistakenly including these News Blogs in the news stories they include, when the correct place for such posts is the newly revamped Google Blog Search (now in Google News format). One of Google's goals is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful, and an important step in this direction will be to separate indisputable and reliable facts from disputable and unreliable personal opinions. My reasoning for this is that there is a clear line of distinction between News Stories and Blog Posts, as outlined below:-

A News Story: Should present pure and unbiased facts (as they happened), and only pure and unbiased facts
A Blog Post: Should present pure and unbiased facts (if it presents them at all, something not required of a blog post), but can additionally add personal opinions (which sure can be biased, provided reasonable and sufficient attempt is made to ensure that the reader is made aware that he is reading a blog post and not a news story, as well as implications of the same)

The issue I have with CNET News is that it labels and markets itself as a News Website, whereas with News Blogs generally outnumbering News Stories on its homepage, it should ideally be branded as CNET News Blogs, thus reflecting the disproportionate share of blog posts. Readers at large should not be tricked into believing that they're visiting a News Website when in reality they are being given a heavy dose of personal opinions, instead of facts and logical analysis.

Which brings me to the pathetic, and often hilarious News Blogs that many (most?) journalists write. With apparently no real understanding of the underlying business models or technologies, many journalists are dishing out "analysis", "opinions" and hilariously, even "forecasts" and "predictions" about brands, products and segments in the technology sector. Just look at this story and I bet you'll either laugh holding your tummy or get to the verge of crying. The hopelessly pathetic nature of this unusually immature post can be effortlessly judged from the expectedly large number of reader comments it has accrued (which, by the way, are way more correct and enjoyable to read than the story itself - maybe it's Computerworld's secret futuristic 2025 AD strategy of making readers themselves create great content for Computerworld for free, by Computerworld putting up a post full of the material ejected from south end of a cow, thus triggering a surge of corrections and fresh inputs from infuriated readers).

Not only is the correctness of journalism questionable at these so-called News Blogs (I can't digest this term- How can something be both News and Blog?), the professionalism of language used is questionable as well. Look at this story on CNET News. Comparing it to the flavor I get on The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (notice that WSJ has a separate sub-domain for blogs at http://blogs.wsj.com/ to clearly separate authentic news stories from blog posts), I realize why NYT and WSJ are NYT and WSJ, and why CNET is CNET and perhaps will remain CNET.

It infuriates me how right now CNET News homepage is highlighting 15 stories in large font size, and out of those at least 8 are blog posts (most blog posts on CNET News look so identical to news stories that it's hard to decide what is what). Unless a clearly-visible banner is added to each blog post which indicates that this is a blog post and not a news story (along with cautionary implications of the same), such masquerading of blogs as news stories by CNET is tantamount to misinformation.

My 2 cents on the degrading quality of journalism in the age of the World Wide Web.

Update (18-12-08): A recent story on The Wall Street Journal claims that Google's recent actions are an indicator of a reversal of its previous stance on Net Neutrality. Once again, it's a confused, ignorant and misinformed journalist - making premature conclusions and judgments - to blame. With apparently no fundamental knowledge or understanding of computer science, computer networks, cache, content delivery network, and edge computing, the WSJ journalist is making hyperbolic claims which indicate his state of confusion, ignorance and misinformation. I completely agree with Google's visibly enraged response blasting this story on The Journal.

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