Technology @ nerd

Book review : Tamerlane

Dipankar Sarkar — Fri, 31 May 2013 09:07:45 +0000

Tamerlane

Book by Justin Marozzi

Marozzi travels in the footsteps of Tamerlane the Great (1336-1405), the last great Mongol conqueror of Central Asia, the ruler of a vast empire, and one of history’s most brutal tyrants

For all people who like reading about conquerors and how they approached life, this is quite a fun read. It really goes into a part of the world now only known for terrorism and shows us a past which had tremendous culture/power. Today, we are clearly dominated by western point of views about most things. But in the past, it looks like the West was being pushed back and quite threatened by this growth of Eastern might and power.

This book however also goes to show how authoritarian power can eventually dissolve empires because of lack of capable future leadership. There were some interesting events lesser known today which would have radically changed how we perceive that region. The very rulers of India before the British came out of the same regions and had gone on to showcase what can be achieved through better governance.

After reading the book, seriously considering visiting Tartar lands, especially Samarkand and a few other cities around it. Read up quite a bit about the Aral Sea and whats really going on in those regions. Hope the region comes out of the tough times its facing with the same ingenuity and brilliance shown by the many generals who have been born in that region.

Geeksphone Keon unboxing

Dipankar Sarkar — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:35:12 +0000

I have the using the Geeksphone Keon over the last couple of weeks and its been an interesting experience till now. Just to start things of here is the unboxing of the packed unit. The box is really beautiful and really reminds you of a great mozilla experience!

The top side of the box!

The bottom of the box!

Neatly arranged battery, and handsfree!

Cool firefoxOS sticker

And, finally the phone

The phone has fantastic battery life, for at least 3 days normal usage. The internet seems to be a little flaky, and the OS has crashed a couple of time though. Hope to put up more about firefox OS.

The 1% fallacy | Successful Software

Dipankar Sarkar — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:57:54 +0000

Here is how to make a fortune writing software:

Pick a large and established software market e.g. back-up, anti-virus or customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Write a new product for that market.

Get 1% of the market.

Retire to your own island.

These markets are massive. The CRM market alone is estimated at around $18 billion per year. 1% of that is $180 million. How hard can it be to get one measly percent of a market? Ka-ching!

via The 1% fallacy | Successful Software.

SpaceX’s Autonomous ‘Grasshopper’ Rocket Makes Milestone Flight | Autopia | Wired.com

Dipankar Sarkar — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:43:03 +0000

Show off … great stuff @ SpaceX.

Musk’s visit to SXSW was his second stop in Texas. The entrepreneur spent time talking to lawmakers about developing a space launch facility in the Lone Star State. SpaceX currently has two launch facilities for its NASA missions and commercial satellite launch customers. The current mission to the ISS was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX is putting the final touches on a facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Both sites are operated by the government, and SpaceXleases the launch pad.

SpaceX’s Autonomous ‘Grasshopper’ Rocket Makes Milestone Flight | Autopia | Wired.com.

Bijan Sabet – Who took a chance on you?

Dipankar Sarkar — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 07:50:49 +0000

Bijan Sabet on who took a chance of you

Many folks get to experience some of their goals because someone, somewhere along the way, gave them a shot. They took a real chance based on something they felt or saw (vs historical evidence per se).

Bijan Sabet – Who took a chance on you?.

Ten things about being a founder I wish I knew two years ago. // Speaker Deck

Dipankar Sarkar — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:56:52 +0000

Ten tips and concepts that I personally value very much about being a startup founder, managing a team and a product.

The white slides represent my speaker’s notes.

Ten things about being a founder I wish I knew two years ago. // Speaker Deck.

RFC 6455 – The WebSocket Protocol

Dipankar Sarkar — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:54:42 +0000

 The WebSocket Protocol enables two-way communication between a client
   running untrusted code in a controlled environment to a remote host
   that has opted-in to communications from that code.  The security
   model used for this is the origin-based security model commonly used
   by web browsers.  The protocol consists of an opening handshake
   followed by basic message framing, layered over TCP.  The goal of
   this technology is to provide a mechanism for browser-based
   applications that need two-way communication with servers that does
   not rely on opening multiple HTTP connections (e.g., using
   XMLHttpRequest or s and long polling).

RFC 6455 – The WebSocket Protocol.

Very interesting RFC, say in comparison to BOSH. Should be a fun read for most engineers.

Career Advice From LinkedIn’s Billionaire Founder – Business Insider

Dipankar Sarkar — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:21:43 +0000

Reid Hoffman started his professional life with the intention of becoming an academic.

But then he realized: “in order to be a professional scholar, you have to dedicate a vast majority of your career to writing esoteric books that only 50 people will understand.”

So instead, he got into the technology industry with a job at Apple, where he helped build eWorld, Apple’s version of America Online.

Next, he started a company called SocialNet. It failed.

Career Advice From LinkedIn’s Billionaire Founder – Business Insider.

Zombie Startups | Danielle Morrill

Dipankar Sarkar — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:20:37 +0000

My greatest fear as a startup founder isn’t to fail, it is to become a zombie startup. Kind of like in the 6th Sense when Bruce Willis doesn’t realize he is dead and tries to have a nice dinner with his wife, there are startups out there who are still “operating” but might as well not be.

Zombie Startups | Danielle Morrill.

Firefox operating system released!

Dipankar Sarkar — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:18:59 +0000

One of the first things that i wanted to implement in my university [~2006] was a operating system with only the Firefox browser as the core application. Turns out that is a popular reality now with the Chromebook and well to some extent the Firefox OS which is being released. I at that point had no idea that mobile would become that big, with the exposure that I had. Its all coming together!

The new Firefox OS is something that I was waiting for, and I believe a true iOS challenger. We should definitely keep in mind that Steve Jobs had seen the future and pushed for all iOS applications to be web applications in a mobile webkit browser [before the whole app store came about]. So we finally have Steve Job’s dream working out in style.

All the core applications[Dialers, Contact book, Messaging] need to be web applications, unlike say in iOS which is such a partial approach. One must appreciate the ideas that iOS has introduced, and well android has copied religiously. However, it seems some others may take a lead soon. I look forward to making this work on the desktop as well.

Three cheers to the mozilla team for this achievement!!