Triumphs Personified

"Privacy" - The thesaurus throws up various synonyms for this word. Confidentiality, discretion, secrecy, concealment, and more. However with Mobile Phones listening to your voice commands, home furniture and accessories getting internet and your car climate control getting synced with your bedroom AC, the veritable meaning in the word "Privacy" is perpetually getting lost while we are techno-enabling our day-to-day lives. Yes that very same life that is governed with the use of this technology and like it or not, you cannot change it.

Well, today the top technology companies are vying for the lone top spot in a technically competitive market and each of them is ensuring they secure a irreplaceable spot in our lives. Take for example "Home automation". Yes, that seems to be the new buzzword. Even eCommerce companies are assisting people in getting their homes automated under the 'pretext' of running their day-to-day lives. But why in the first place would an eCommerce company want to automate your home? Why would even the same company want to introduce a new shopping experience of 'walking in the store and adding products by merely touching them'? Duh! Is that not an electronic commerce company?

Honestly that is not it. I don’t think I need to introduce Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and the like. One single command and these virtual assistants hang on to your every word spoken, to personalize queries and find answers to questions with utmost precision. Wow! Certainly blows your mind, doesn’t it? Simply say, “Echo” or “Hey Siri” and listen to your favourite music. A “OK Google” will also connect you to your favourite radio stations if you ask the personal assistant to do so. Siri one day would be able to turn on your bathroom lights if you utter the command. Cortana can set reminders for the busy professional on the go and answer your questions about the weather updates and much more. However, while they are obediently listening to your commands, they are also listening to your conversations. They have to do that because they need to detect when you said their magical word("OK Google OR Hey Siri") to activate them. So, next time say you talk about how your camera has stopped working, don't be surprised if you are spammed by camera companies and dealers. Well, and you just don't talk about cameras in your warm and cozy homes do you? You talk about politics, you talk about your boss, your frustrations and even your desires. A simple conversation with a friend can honestly pump in a great deal of information to your office assistant. Why is it that a conversation that revolved around technology and ended with a debate over the preferred coffee hangout threw up similar results that suggested you some ‘best coffee deals’ when you browsed online? That’s simply because you are being watched. Being heard. And data is fetched every single time you interact. And sometimes, it can translate and expose a part of your personality in an entirely different light. In a way, you certainly don’t wish to. You talk about something these days and a series of advertisements ‘tailored’ to suit your requirements appear on your timeline. It’s more than mere coincidence that machines near your are actually reading your mind and is predicting your next move. Companies are listening to you even while your are not not talking to them directly, be it your personal or professional life. There’s data you think too personal to be shared. But, you know what? It’s too late to draw the line, because your data - your sign and agree that to be used by someone else. So, logging on to your favourite social media site is more than a routine for many who sit with their cup of coffee and peruse their timelines for a daily update every morning. Now that such ‘habits’ are hard to do away with, it is indeed natural for one to share data with friends and family. Yet, when you find an odd company update that declares, “If you don’t comply to allow our company to the use of your data, you can no longer use this platform”, you feel devastated and confused. Can you honestly click on the checkbox and allow them to? It is indeed ‘harmless’ and after all, you need to login every day to use these social media accounts. How much of a difference could it make?

While users feel threatened about such situations, the result of using platforms like these and its aftereffects is viewed just like an addiction. You tried it once, and you feel the need for it again and again. You know the perils. Your data is at stake. (Wait, no! I need it. I need to use these platforms. My day revolves around it.) And, you give in. Allowing data to be transferred silently. Leaving everyone connected to you quite vulnerable. So, do you think you are really incognito now?

More on this in my next blog!

Yo 2015!

2015-04-25T05:40:00.002-07:00

I am really not sure what this post should be about or why I am writing this. Infact I was not sure what I should write as the title of this blog post. I certainly see that year on year, my contribution towards this blog has gone drastically low. Blame it on my workload, but I could manage writing just a single sensible blog last year in March and now after more than an years time, I have finally found time to write a new post and fuel up my blog.

When I really look back and do a quick review of when I posted more frequently I clearly see that I did that when I was a fresher in this industry, Transition to a corporate broadband that gave 20-30 KBPS speed from a couple of bits speed dial up modem was phenomenal! First thing that I did was, searched for my long lost chuddy buddys! So I bumped into this blog of one of such buddies and I finally checked this awesome website called Blogspot - got this sub domain and boom! It all started off with the Panwallah pattern, reivew for Youngistan or even some controversial articles including my experience in getting a new passport. I usually wrote casually, without a purpose and probably my audience liked it! (As per the analytic) however, one of the best posts that till date rocks the views on my website is the Strike-through shortcut on post it notes.

Well, over the years, the topics got matured and probably my ability to pull out a new blog post in couple of minutes time could be possible! I think my job profile needs to be given that credit. Let us hope I again start coming on this page more often and I change the theme on my blog. This one rocks but there are better I have seen now.

See you around!

Android: Device out of memory/Device Memory Full/Insufficient Storage Available? Here is how I got rid of this message.

2014-03-31T00:43:00.002-07:00

Despite of having 2GB of memory on my phone, my phone was showing a very weird ratio on the storage usage. App's were using around 830 MB of memory and I was having just 240MB of memory left with me. This happens very frequently and to get rid of this problem, just follow the following steps(at your own risk). This works with non-rooted(Stock) phones.

1. Open your Dial Pad and dial "*#9900#".

2. Press the "Delete dumpstate/logcat" option.

3. Reboot the phone(optional).

Presto! It helped me free around 800 MB of memory on my phone. Yes, some people have reported loss of bookmarks on the stock browser but rest of the data ideally is intact which is anytime better than rooting or a factory reset.

Making a come back!

2014-03-08T09:13:00.001-08:00

My closest circle had warned me not to walk that walk and talk that talk of becoming an entrepreneur. Had heard enough warnings that I'd not be able to devote time to my own self, to my family and most of all to my identity online - my blog! And so, here I am writing a new post after what feels like a decade since I last came here.

What took me so long? Was it my work? Was it my schedule? Or was it my ignorance? Honestly, I don't know. But what I do know is that this blog despite of not having any new posts was doing a good 16K visits in a months time. It is all thanks to a couple of hand picked topics. - Well the winner is a post about a shortcut that we usually use. Anyway, that is going to take sometime for me to figure out what is going to roll in this world next but somewhere I feel I need to change the gears in the topics selected for new blog posts.

Can that be core technology posts? Well it can be, but there are thousands of them and they are doing a great job! Then may be why not Sales? Yeah, I have been doing Sales, Marketing, Housekeeping, Security along with my usual R&D and just development and I can go on describing my experiences. But of course that won't be justice to the rest of the disciplines.

So here it goes, from this day forth I will try my best to hit the keyboard with my experiences about being an entrepreneur. Hope I can manage time for the same.

Simulated Learning Environment using Augmented Reality

2011-10-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

Creating simulations uptil now was just about arranging the right learning content after the current one based on the input of the user or at the max it probably could go upto showing a 3D environments. Perhaps that was the best way we eLearning guys could visualize the learners learning in a simulated environment. But is that really it? Well, perhaps not. I found this video over here and when I showed this to my team, they thought I peeped into the future but minutes later, we were close building a simple basic example of Augmented Reality.

Yeah, post-that as a technology person, I feel Augmented Reality is the future of simulated learning environments. Watch this video to get a load of simulations using Augmented Reality.

Google+ is now open for all. So will there be a dramatic shift of masses from FB to Google+?

2011-09-22T02:47:00.000-07:00

Google has attempted to do this circus before, and none of it succeeded. On top of all, Facebook has recently launched their new upgrade(Subscription and Lists) that is better than the USP of G+ i.e. Circles. Though, G+ brought it first FB just bettered it and released it just in time when Google + was made open for the public. This strategic move has diverted the attention of the existing masses of FB(that was more vulnerable to go on G+ to find something new) in exploring the new features of FB more than checking out what G+ is all about. Looking at all of this its certainly not going to be a cakewalk for G+. Probably market penetration for G+ is going to take some good time. Also, since past couple of releases Google has been in the news for all the wrong reasons so certain amount(negligible but still considerable amount) of 'back of the mind' hesitation for signing up for a new Google product can probably be there. Another advantage for FB is probably that Google opened up the API's just last week...as in minutes before it opened up for public so there ain't a lot of games and applications as compared to FB(as I write) and that will make G+ weigh less than FB anyway. Over the period of time, if Google keeps focused on G+ there are fair chances it may come shoulder to shoulder with FB, but a dramatic shift probably is out of question for atleast a season or two.

Google+: Google's new Wave?

2011-07-15T01:57:00.000-07:00

Have been trying Google+ since past couple of weeks, and I must say that I don't foresee it as a possible threat to Facebook anywhere. (Wonder what Mark Zuckerberg is doing on Google+?) It probably might be a worthy competitor for Twitter instead, but for me I think twitter is more of like a plain vanilla flavour of Google+… No non-sense anywhere. I can follow any random guy on Twitter and that is what Google+ allows me to do(Yeah, if I have the permission). Google+ has a "Facebook Wall" inspired layout but it’s really hard to navigate(and understand) the rest of the functions too.

Well Google’s radically different attempt at interactive messaging known as Google Wave failed just because people could not figure out what it was or how to use it. It was too scary unfamiliar and the fear of messing things up on a social network always haunted ones mind as his social image was at stakes. Oh yes, as compared to that, Plus plays it a lot safer and seems to be more of a derivative of the usual social media tools (Facebook, Twitter). After spending a lot of time on plus I think probably I do understand what exactly Google+ is for and one thing is for sure, it probably may not turn out to be as popular marketing platform as that of the facebook but it is certainly going to be a popular platform because its Google(I have seen Orkut too but this looks different). Have not yet heard about the Developer API's or applications in Google+ but may be in the next couple of months Google might come out with a Bang! Just bumped into this funny GIF image(Click on it to view the animation) and I think it’s a little bit of over estimation. Facebook is still powerful!

Click on the image if the animation fails to start

3G: Advantage India!

2011-04-29T02:47:00.000-07:00

Slowly and steadily, the picture of the Indian Telecommunication Industry is changing day by day. With pigeons and flying carpets just like those in Indian stories and movies, India has definitely come a long way with the introduction of 3G for message communication. Just recently 3G networks set its foot in India and Indians are up with excitement with what this miraculous technology can do for them. This technical article discusses what 3G is and articulates the benefits that you can experience using a 3G network/spectrum.

Before we start, let us understand what exactly a spectrum is. Wikipidea® describes Spectrum as "A spectrum (plural spectra or spectrums[1]) is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum". Simplified way, it means collection of values representing a specific order. Going closer, in context of the article, Radio spectrum is what we are going to look into and it refers to a range of radio frequencies. The bandwidth of this radio spectrum like any other spectrum is the difference between the upper and lower frequencies of the signal.

So what exactly is 3G?

3G, like the name suggests, is the third generation technology. Before we get any further with ‘what that is’, let us take a look at the dots that were joined to come over to this boulevard. It all started off with 1G, i.e the first Generation technology that introduced wireless telephone technology for mobile communication. 1G was totally analog unlike 2G. 2G, i.e the Second generation on the other hand was completely digital. Though both were quite similar, 2G had the capability of encoding voice to digital signals where as with 1G the voice was just modulated to a higher frequency so that it would be out of reach of ham/home radios. Since 2G was digital, enhanced data services could be a part of it. Along with a greater privacy, 2G also contributed in efficient data transfer and this generation actually could manage introducing less expensive equipments. SMS and GPRS hence were introduced in this generation. In 2001 finally 3G was introduced. 3G used completely different frequencies from 2G hence the hardware was different. An obvious question now would be, ‘So if it was introduced back in 2001, why is India getting a taste of 3G after 9-10 years whereas the world now is celebrating the release of 4G already?’. The reason is simple. The enormous cost of additional spectrum license fees delayed 3G for India. 3G brings with it high data transfer speed and even the more high privacy as compared to 2G.

What will you need to access 3G?

There are two primary things that you would need to access 3G. First of all you need to have a 3G enabled phone. Well, now most of the phones that get manufactured are 3G enabled but the cheapest and ‘not so compromised on quality’ of them all should cost around 3-4K. The second thing you would need is obviously a service provider. Well, Vodafone Zoozoo ad’s already talk about 3G and so does Abhishek Bacchan. Almost all the service providers are upgrading their networks to support 3G. As of now the rates in India are way too costly but over the period of time they are bound to get slashed and reasonable.

Few of the top 3G phones and approximate prices in India.

From style point of view

1. iPhone 3G’s:

* 16GB – 40,500.Rs.

* 32 GB – 45,000.Rs.

2. Nokia N8: 23,000.Rs.

3. Samsung Omnia: 26,000.Rs

From economy point of view:

1. Nokia 2730: 4200.Rs.

2. Nokia C5: 7600.Rs.

3. Spice G-6500: 6000.Rs.

Sheer combination of Style and Economy:

1. Samsung DUOS: 12,300.Rs.

2. Sony Ericsson Zylo: 10,000.Rs.

3. Blackberry Curve 9300 : 13,700.Rs.

Overall winner: Blackberry Curve 9300.

Some Apps’ to watch for with 3G around:

Following is a list of applications that can help you become more productive with a 3G network.

1. Remote App’s: Control your music players like iTunes and other players with your 3G enabled phones.

2. Score App’s: Stay updated with the latest scores second-second.

3. Watch steaming movies on phone: 3G is just like high speed broadband hence you can watch movies on your phone while on the go.

Some additional benefits of 3G:

1. Mobile Internet: Mobile Internet experience with a 3G handset will have the benefits like: Fast connections, reasonably priced access plans (Over the time), light weight browser compatibility and push services

2. Mobile Music: EV-DO is a part of 3G initiative. It stands for Evolution Data-Optimize and using this you would be able to hear crystal clear streaming music, right on your handset.

3. Social Networking: Stay connected with your friends, contacts and family 24x7 using Facebook, LinkedIn, Orkut.. etc.

4. Mobile Advertising: With exceptional reach, Mobile advertising is bound to get a different exposure with 3G. This will include 3G-Push emails and other advertising mechanism with mobiles.

5. Mobile Commerce: 3G is faster and secure than 2G and hence mobile commerce would also be faster and secure with 3G.

It is believed that when India goes 3G, there will be less Network Congestion but in most of the cases where 3G was introduced there was frequent network congestion's and 3G was held as the main culprit. In any case with faster data transfers 3G is going to bring in a faster and better tomorrow. The power is in the hands of some of the key decision makers including the Government of India and the Service Provider so as to slash the rate’s in a way that will benefit the country.

Suspenseful ad! What is Vodafone/Zoozoo ad upto?

2011-02-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday one of my friend’s status messages read "Hmm…What good are Zoozoo ads with subtitles. No fun!!!". It seems that this time Vodafone has a different strategy for advertisement with Zoozoo’s. It probably wants to focus more on the ad-brand rather than the cute characters that stole the lime-light last Cricket season. Well, certainly the 'curiosity' factor of these type of suspenseful ad's is expected to be high and they are intended to gain high attention but certainly awkward during the 40 second break in-between of a bowling over or wicket of a very exciting match.

A year back, Vodafone’s media strategy to air these ads during IPL(somewhat)worked for the brand but the downside was that the characters were always a bigger story than the actual brand. It’s hard to digest but the audience has a minimal capacity to understand features while the characters take away the limelight with their cuteness and novelness. Realizing the same fact Vodafone now has the ads in a suspenseful manner to discover the brand offerings rather than just hammer them out one after the other like Vodafone did last year.

In general, if the graph of ‘Audience involvement in advertisement’ is plotted against the ‘India’s chances of winning’ that should ideally look something close to the graph shown below.

Though honestly nobody would prefer advertisements in-between any match this graph just plots the probable curve of audience involvement in advertisements once ad comes infront of you. But the case of suspenseful advertisements though probably can be a bit different. The same graph can be plotted as shown below.

People would certainly be involved at a greater percentage if the advertisement creates a suspense.

In this particular case though, Zoozoo’s were talk of the town because the advertisement was creatively done with exceptionally cute characters. The cute characters too were very cleverly done. There were (young/old)male Zoozoo's along with female Zoozoo's and kid Zoozoo’s thus creating a connection with all the age groups and genders. The advertisement was in white and black with a hint of the Vodafone red only to be used as props, emphasizing on the story. These characters inturn had a funny story to narrate the intention of Vodafone but without any narration or sounds other than actions, squeaks and mummers from Zoozoo’s. The Vodafone logo appeared separately only after the advertisement in a bold red background. Unfortunately a lot of people by that time(Vodafone showed the banner) probably kept busy recollecting the funny incident that happened with their cute Zoozoo’s. Hence the banner got ignored and hence did the brand.

All in all definitely a suspenseful ad with Zoozoo is a ‘kind of’ a strategic move that Vodafone has tried to experiment with. Keeping the sound track intact as it was earlier, they seem to have just added an element of suspense assisted with subtitles for audience only to understand the suspense. Usually with a suspenseful ad you somewhere feel that the commercial leads you right to the climax and then kind of leaves you hanging. It works best if these ad’s leave you with a message that if you want to know what happens next you will have to watch the World Cup Match to see the end of the commercial. Though it would work most of the times, there is a high chance that the advertisement might work better if the suspense is emotional and more involving than an imaginary character(Zoozoo) creating suspense about another imaginary character(alien). Even if Vodafone fails, they will just get rid of Zoozoo’s and create something more involving.

Anyway, what according to you might work best for Zoozoo's to create suspense?

The best download speed that I ever ever ever got!

2010-09-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Guess what! I got an awesome download speed of 20.35 mbps. Its 13 times better than my previous internet service provider. I remember downloading at a lightning speed of 10-12 mbps from US... but this speed is like stuu much!

Dagdusheth Ganpati

2010-09-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

Ganesha Chaturthi also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi is the Hindu festival of Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, who is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees in the duration of this festival. It is the birthday of Lord Ganesha who is widely worshiped as the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune.

Following is the photo of the richest Ganesh idol by the name Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati in Pune that was taken on Sept 16, 2010 during the Ganesh festival.

Tomato Halwa (Pudding)

2010-08-27T04:35:00.000-07:00

When we talk is about desserts, one name that undoubtedly comes into every person's mind is the traditional Tomato halwa prepared on every home in almost all the festivals. On the occasion of most of the festivals/carnivals, Tomato Halwa is an unavoidable part of the menu. When served hot, the Tomato Halwa tastes wonderful. It is simply the prefect sweet dish to be relished post dinner. Not only its delicious, it’s also fulfilling and nutritious with about 8 grams of proteins, 50.3gram carbohydrates and 1.9 grams of fat. Making Tomato Halwa is not a very difficult task in terms of process; it requires a little more time and patience than any other halwa. Even if you are in love with this mouth watering dish, here is the recipe…

Tomato Halwa Recipe

Ingredients
1 kg Tomatoes
1 litre Milk
1 teaspoon Cardamom seeds
3/4 cup Water
3 tablespoons Ghee
2 tablespoons Raisins
2 tablespoons Almonds
2 tablespoons Pistachios
450 grams Sugar

Method
Wash and grate the Tomatoes. Soak the raisins in water for 30 minutes. Blanch and shred the nuts.Put the water to boil, when it starts boiling add the grated Tomatos. Cook for 5-7 minutes.
Add the milk. Cook on a low flame for 1 hour stirring occasionally.
Add sugar, mix well and cook till the sugar has dissolved and all the milk has been absorbed.
Add ghee and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the slightly crushed cardamoms and the raisins.
Mix well. Remove from heat and arrange in a serving dish. Garnish with almonds and pistachios. Serve cold, hot or at room temperature.

Sunshine!

2010-03-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

This is my first blogpost from my iPod. Well what is so diferent about this post? I am going to be an uncle shortly. Hard to imagine that I would officially be an uncle so here I am, sitting in the lobby of the hospital that would be pointed out from google earth some day to point the place she was born. I just know it from the inside that it's going to be a girl and I am going to pamper her to limits. She is already very lucky enough to be born in the city having the worlds best weather apart from having the world best uncle. Well, Today is just perfectly bright and sunny outside so personally I would prefer calling her 'sunshine'. What a lovely name right? One of my best friends prefers calling one of my good friends by that name. I don't mind telling you guys thats the place from where I have picked up this name. Thanks bimlees.

Flash in Google Wave! Finally a dream comes true.

2010-03-12T16:47:00.000-08:00

Today, post the announcement of 'Google Wave Extensions' over here, something made me realize that probably this may be a good news for the eLearning folks. Well, I know this was bound to happen one day but probably this is just the beginning. Google Wave probably may have more surprises for us.

Integration of Flash SWF OR HTML pages with Wave would have probably been on the Google's agenda but till date Wave was missing all the action without the Flash support. The yes/no gadget was the only known way of easily integrating an activity on Wave but post today's announcement of the iFrame extension, watch out for more surprises.

I was able to integrate a Flash movie right inside my Wave. Technically this is probably what the eLearning folks were waiting for. Flash is still not everything, there is more. But since they have support for HTML, this can pretty much be used to embed your whole course right inside your Wave where you can add your audience/students and they can put their comments right below the topmost Wave showing your course. Tracking (probably) would also be possible as this extension prefers loading the HTML from a remote server.

Coming back to where I was. Well, I was able to integrate a Raptivity interactivity in Google Wave using the iFrame extension as I specified earlier.
This is how pretty it looks.

The interactivity shown in this image is one of my favorite interactivity's from Raptivity that you can try here. Ping me if you want to experience this Wave. (Yes, certainly you would need a wave account for doing that.)

The 'Next Level'

2010-03-03T07:23:00.000-08:00

Pranav Mistry from MIT, probably a year back at TED announced a device called as the "Sixth Sense" which he described as a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around with digital information and lets one use the natural hand gestures to interact with that information. Quite a mouthful! Well, like every time Microsoft seems to have got inspired from that and has teamed up with brains from the Mellon University for "Skinput".
Check out this video.

But somewhere earlier there are chances that probably Pranav might have got inspired from Microsoft Surface. Looks like a 'chicken first or the egg' kind of exercise here.
Sometimes I feel that had it not been Apple we would have still seen a mouse-less world. Obviously it is not about who did it, its about who brought mouse into production and proclaimed it as an invention. Post Apple's invention of converting a pointing device concept into reality, the popularity/usability/acceptability of other such inputs has never been widely accepted but probably the first mouse was officially invented in the 1960! Since then have the most genuinely genius brains failed to think of the next level of pointing devices? Come to think of it, you still are making use of a mouse while reading this post and the best part is that its 2010! 40 less for a century. It was Apple again that showed the world a multi-touch screen possibility with their iPhones and now they have come out with iPads. Why are we so hopelessly dependent on pointing devices with hardware? In fact why can it not be neural? Same goes for display. Monitors have been the display units since quite some time. Why can't humans ~~innovate~~ invent something more than a pointing device and a display unit for the next level? May be it can be a chip implanted in some part of the body that sends electric signals to the brain. Merely closing eyes would help in browsing Google for instance. Just like what they have shown in "The Matrix".

Following is a conversation from "The matrix"
Trinity and Neo have just killed a 1000 odd people and now they find this deserted chopper in front of them.
Neo: "Do you know how to fly this thing?"
Trinity: "Not yet"
Trinity pulls out her phone and calls up the operator.
Trinity: "Tank, I need a program to fly B190 helicopter"
Operator: "One moment!"
The operator goes through his collection, picks out a disk and slips it in a drive.
Trinity closes her eyes for a moment.... and they fly off with the chopper!

Would this be reality one day? Probably the world is waiting for "The one" person to crack this code? Well, I read it somewhere that the visually impaired people can have a chip implanted in their eyes to correct their vision.
Guess this is pretty much on the same lines... Has to be given a different perspective.

iPad Killer: First look of Notion Ink's Adam tablet

2010-02-18T01:01:00.000-08:00

If branded properly this device/concept can make iPad look outdated.

g-speak spatial operating environment

2010-02-17T06:06:00.000-08:00

The era of real gestural input and output is now here.

Link http://oblong.com/

Sticky Notes: Strikethrough/Strikeout shortcut

2010-02-09T02:11:00.000-08:00

The "Sticky Notes" that come with Windows7 happens to be a very good application. With this you can keep a track of your task list by scribbling stuff on it. Its just like the 3M Post-it notes that you usually use in office.

Well, since the font formating capabilities of these notes was not very impressive I was just wondering if there is an alternative to strikethrough/strikeout a scribbled line from the note... and guess what! It does have a shortcut... Just like Ctrl+b is for Bold and Ctrl+i is for itallic, Ctrl+t is for Strikethrough/Strikeout.

Survey: Phone wishes

2010-02-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

This survey is hosted for Shanu. He wanted me to create a survey for one of his concepts that he is planning to launch shortly. Please feel free to pass this link to your friends as well. That would help him a lot.
Yeah! He is certainly open for all sorts of criticisms and suggestions.

Well the story goes as follows:

He is doing a survey for finding out the acceptability of a "Phone wishes"/Phonogram system. This system will help people wish each other through meaningful, musical and melodious poems that will be recited by well-deserving artists.

This will not only help in seeking employment for talented professionals but it will also encourage people to promote the 'paperless-greener' way of wishing.

Click Here to go to the survey page

Thanks in advance guys.

First blog post for 2010

2010-01-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

Oh! My! God!

The year to blog post ratio that I have been having lately certainly shows that there is a drastic drop in the number of blog posts. Back in 2007 it was the highest I guess and 2009 was the lowest. I wonder why!

Was it that I kept busy all the time? Probably yes, just stepped into a new role... or maybe my internet connection might have been responsible... Sometimes I get great speed( I am using a well reviewed connection called as BSNL EVDO which is supposedly 3G) that is encouraging to write up a blog post but sometimes it actually pains to pay for a connection that is half alive. Vicinity to the tower makes a difference and you got to do all sorts of weird stuff to get a proper signal.

Well, anyway I just want to be as frequent as possible in writing blog posts. (Hopefully I won't get reprimanded for breaching my companies lately designed policy for writing blog posts. I do respect that.) I have been following a lot of people lately and mann... they have some flair for writing. 

All said, lets start of this new year by wishing you a whole new year of happiness, excitement, opportunities ,..,etc in your lives. I know it’s almost end of Jan and its late... but still sweet. 

Loading Raptivity SWF files with Adobe Connect

2009-12-13T02:03:00.000-08:00

One of the folks on Raptivity Community asked how to load a Raptivity SWF file in Adobe Connect Pro. Following post shows how to do that.

I have not attached any files and please don't ask me to attach any file. Just follow the steps and everything should be taken care of.

1. Upload your SWF file to any web server. One of the free servers can be Google Sites. Copy the complete path of your SWF. Lets say the path is http://yourserver/yourswfToLoad.swf.

2. Create a SWF file. (Any blank swf file)

3. Now load your movie inside this new SWF you just created by inserting the following script on Frame 1 of your newly created SWF.

//Create an empty MovieClip and use the MovieClipLoader to load your SWFinto it.

var container:MovieClip = createEmptyMovieClip("container", getNextHighestDepth());
container._lockroot = true;
var mcLoader:MovieClipLoader = new MovieClipLoader();
mcLoader.addListener(this);
mcLoader.loadClip("http://yourserver/yourswfToLoad.swf",container);

function onLoadInit(mc:MovieClip) {
_level0.mainMC.m_room.scaleArea.m_pods.module2.m_thePod.m_imgSwfLoader.m_swfHolder.swf_mc.innerClip._lockroot = true;
}

4. Once done use this file with Adobe Connect.

This resolution can work out for loading any type of SWF files that use _root terminology for accessing the movie content.

NOTE: When your SWF's are on external sites, there's a chance you may need a cross domain policy (basically a crossdomain.xml file) on each of the sites you are trying to load content from. Flash player has security built in that restricts loading content from other sites without this policy in place.

Grievance

2009-10-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

He was just brilliant... but I may not admit... coz I don't flatter, coz thats just not me.
Did us proud and just added weight to our confidence...but I may not admit... coz I don't want to send wrong signals.
I probably am living a part of someone elses dream?... maybe! coz as of now lifes like Eklavya to me but...he's got no clue that he is 'one of' the Drona.
Deep inside I wish to wish him luck but I may not... coz he's already got a load.
Time has come to try mine.

Una paloma blanca...

2009-06-12T03:47:00.000-07:00

When the sun shines on the mountain
And the night is on the run
It's a new day, it's a new way
And I fly up to the sun,
I can fell the morning sunlight
I can smell the new born haze
I can hear God's voice calling
For my golden sky like gray

Una paloma blanca
I'm just a bird in the sky
Una paloma blanca
Over the mountains I fly
No one can take my freedom away

Once I had my share of losing
Once they locked me on a chain
Yes, they tried to break my powers
Oh, I still can feel the pain

Una paloma blanca
I'm just a bird in the sky
Una paloma blanca
Over the mountains I fly
No one can take my freedom away

Yes, no one can take my freedom away...