Posts filed under 'Den'
Now, is this innovative or what… a $100 Laptop?? According to MIT Media Lab, this $100 Laptop will be a Linux-based, full-color, full-screen laptop, with a rear projecting the image on a flat screen or by using electronic ink. Totally cool. I wish I had one when I was a kid. But before you start wanting one, read this:
Please note: these laptops are not in production. They are not—and will not—be available for purchase by individuals.
Check it out. I think its a cool idea.
Technology Life
May 5th, 2005
If this isn‘t an example of misdirected use of technology, then I am not sure what is? 
What prompts such an invention? Is there really a market for this? Who knows.
Anyway, if the guy forgets to do the laundry, will the dirty laundry keep piling up? Because, the machine is inoperable unless we alternate the user. So will she be left with more dirty laundry than usual?
From the article:
“Spain is changing a lot, and I wanted to come up with an invention to enable men to do more around the home.”
This ain‘t funny.
“Some men may disagree that it is a good present for Father‘s Day and argue that it is more of a gift for the lady of the house.”
Some men? Some? Men? I wonder which men agree it is a good Father‘s Day present. I hope this invention stays in Spain. 
My prediction: has excellent potential to become a relationship killer inducing more / faster break-ups. It‘s a Breakup Machine, Eh?
Humor
May 3rd, 2005
If you liked the Project Lifecycle cartoon, you are going to love this.
While entertaining myself by reviewing the list of referrers to my blog, I happened to find this, which has lots ot work related cartoons. I found one which looks like an older version of the Project Life Cycle cartoon I posted earlier.
Enjoy!
Cartoon
April 29th, 2005
Are Carpools designed by sadists? I think so. Carpools are just plain evil!
I
live in the SF
bay area. Today I was driving from Palo Alto to Milpitas and after I got
on to Highway 237, I began crawling in the middle lane with traffic barely moving
for almost 8 miles. And then on my left, I see this wide open car pool lane,
with just an occassional car or two whizzing by. What the ding?!! 25–30% of
the lanes are reserved during peak time for who now? This makes no
sense. I see countless cars in my lane and the lane to my right all barely moving
and the lane on the left is empty! So I think carpools are evil and a waste
of thousands of hours, because:
- Carpools take anywhere between 30%-25% of the available lanes.
- Number of cars using carpool lanes is a miniscule fraction of total cars
in all lanes at the time.
- This means a majority of the people who are stuck in regular lanes are stuck
to provide incentive to this miniscule population.
- The majority of the cars are stalling and guzzling gas to let a few handful
vehicles have the luxury of breezing through for 4 peak hours of traffic.
- A majority of us cannot carpool. It is impractical to arrange a carpool
unless you live and work with your carpool partner!
- I don‘t think the Carpool lanes are encouraging carpooling. I haven‘t seen
any increase in the number of cars using the carpool lanes.
- Most carpoolers are not really carpoolers by design, but by accident.
- Carpools are un-American and anti-democratic.
Bottomline, Carpools are an unjustifiable failure that waste lots of gas and
lots of productive worker hours.
There is only one way to like carpool lanes. If you are driving in it. Or if
the car is in the pool!
Life Carpool Humor
April 29th, 2005
Is Apple being silly or what ? I had not heard of this upcoming book, and even if I did I probably would not have paid much attention to it.
Until I saw this and this today. Apple pulled Wiley books off their shelf despite the author and publisher saying that there is nothing negative about Steve Jobs or Apple in this book. I think this silly move by Apple is going to make this book a best-seller. This book is now on my list to buy now. There is probably more to this story. I am intrigued. What gives?
Books
April 28th, 2005
I thought it would be fun to design a logo for ROME. So I could not resist participating in this
all roads lead to Rome… er, I mean, All Feeds Lead To ROME logo contest. My entry got accepted!
My design builds on the idea of All Feeds Lead to ROME tag line on ROME Website. The arrow heads represent Feeds and the bullseye represents the target in ROME. I tried to keep it as simple and minimalistic as possible. It is designed so that it can be used for a variety of purposes (website, docs, clothing, etc.)
Do you like my design?
[View other submissions here]
April 27th, 2005
First,
Cookie Monster went vegan!
What next? Count Von Count counting
Big Bird‘s calorie intake? No. It‘s only that
PBS is going commercial. They are launching
a new channel called PBS Kids Sprout on Comcast. While the On-Demand feature
looks interesting (access any show anytime), it seems to be more mainstream
commercial than the regular PBS Kids channels we are used to. Atleast according
to the media reports.
According to this
column:
…public television executives say the advertising will all be very
low-key. Commercials will run only between programs.
Huh?? Does that mean we won‘t get to see Cookie Monster gulping down a Diet
Coke during the show.
And this
article from Washington Post says:
PBS programming would not have commercials “in the traditional sense”;
it will, however, include about the same dose of sponsorship spots as other
PBS fare. They will be targeted at parents and caregivers, not children, and
will appear only between programs, said PBS spokeswoman Stephanie Aaronson.
Note to self: Time to join Campaign
for Commercial-Free Childhood.
Life Humor Kids
April 22nd, 2005
Don‘t you hate being stereotyped? I do, anywhere anytime.
This time, I think the restaurant chefs are out to get me! They want to find out how spicy I can
eat, because they hear Indians can eat very spicy food with ease and delight. So
this is exactly what happens to me in some restaurants and especially in ethnic
restaurants. And especially if I am new to that restaurant.
When I find a new restaurant, I really really want to check it out. So, when
I get my food, I find that they made it the spiciest they can, without checking
with me first! And then hand it to me with a big smile and say what I have now
heard many times in many places:
"I made it extra spicy for you!"
And I am like:
"What the…Oh no! I hate friggin extra spicy! Spicy is ok,
but extra spicy? Darn!"
Of course, I do not say that aloud to them, because I might want to come back there again.
So nowadays while ordering my food, I ask them upfront to go easy on the extra spicy.
On the plus side, spicy food does have potential benefits. Check out Kormatherapy!
Korma
Hmm…Maybe I am shouldn‘t be complaining after all!
Todd
Fast points out Gernot Katzer's Spice
Pages, which provides a detailed look at each of over a hundred spices.
Programmer's Kormatherapy
Now, let me draw a parallel lesson in software development from the afore mentioned experience. If in the above anecdote, I substitute as follows:
- Replace Chef with Programmer
- Replace Diner with Customer
- Replace Food with Code
- Replace Spices with Features
Now i wonder how often programmers produce code with extra/excessive
features than what the customer really asked for in the first place.
For instance, if customer asks for a feature set {A, B, C} and the programmer
churns out {A, B, C, D, E}, would the customer be delighted? Probably, if {A,
B, C} were implemented to meet the requirements. However, a more likely scenario
is that the programmer churns out {A, X, Y} because {X, Y} is what the programmer
thinks the customer asked for when they described {B, C}. But a more interesting
reason might turn out to be the wanderlust programmer implementing {X,
Y}, which seem a lot more fun than implementing boring old {B, C} !
YouRIt: Programming Life
April 15th, 2005
I
have a problem with this
study by Danish researchers. Looks like you can pass off anything nowadays as
research and the media is eager to buy it as such. I would just plain
ignore this Danish research. Nothing in this report says indicates that mobiles
are any more safer now. Yet, I heard it on the BBC Radio News and read on their
website here that
mobiles are now ‘safe‘. My problem is that the study is not conclusive in any
way. But the reporter on BBC last night and their website headlines claim that
they are now ‘safe‘. Some observations on this research:
- they only "talked" to around 1000 people. That is statistically
insignificant!
- they want more data because technology has been around only for a few years.
Huh?
- they questioned the survey candidates and checked their phone bills to
ensure that they were provided with accurate data. What no trust?
- they do not resolve any previous questions on safety. So much for this
friggin study!
To top it off, the Danish Researcher leading this study, one Dr. Christoffer
Johansen says:
"We advise all people who use a mobile phone to use a hands free
set. It reduces exposure."
Ya, Sure. That‘s some advise I can live with. Thanks, Doc. Where did you go
to school BTW? You might want to read How
Cell Phone Radiation Works when you get a chance.
On a more serious note, I think this IEEE
Spectrum report from August 2000 on this topic is much more detailed and credible.
If you want to check your cell phone radiation level, go here
and there.
April 13th, 2005
The show is about to get started.
I
am writing this as I sit in the center of the plaza at the Arrowhead
Pond in Anaheim, CA where U2 is going to rock
soon. This is the Vertigo Tour !
It is 6 PM! The doors opened and crowd starts to flow…
April 7th, 2005
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