Feed your Brain || Preet Parikh

a letter to my child...

2012-07-08T15:43:00.000+05:30

Dear child,
I am writing to you sitting at a place i never thought i would ever see again. I don't know, by being here, have i knitted new Karma or is it the Redemption. With so many thoughts in my mind and many other choices too-
I, Preet Parikh(24yrs) write this to you, my Child.
I need not wait for you to born and me to be your Father to tell you what i am going to further.

My living, has been a lucky one, most of the credit for which goes to my parents and their Karma. Although i am not going to bring you up exactly how my parents brought me. Nevertheless, from my brought up, i take certain inspirations here and there, then and now and intend to bring you up with at least a couple of steps better. Must say, when i was younger i used to wonder how so correct my parents are. They may still be, but its not within my purview of concern anymore.

I pray that you will always be honest to yourself.
I pray that whatever is it, you'll always think rational, that very much includes Love.
I pray you will accept things for what they are and then when required, with your mental faculties, do the needful.
I pray no matter what, you'll forgive people and most importantly yourself.
There is only one kind of management my Child, situational management.
Its OK if you commit mistakes, as long as you learn a lesson or two out of them.
Have Courage, at all times.
If you are my Son, before you get into any relationship, my Child, see whether you can stand by what you say.
If you are my Daughter, Choose. My Child, just choose wisely.
And both of you, things do fail, times do fail, relationships do fail, we too fail.. what matters is that you still have an open-mind to always have a respectful regard of that thing, time, person and your own self.

Consider these lines, all the times-
"Ishq di mere mitra, pehchaan ki. Mit jaave, jadon jid apnan di"
They are from your Father's most favourite Hindi film by the time he wrote this.
A complete character, according to me, is better than a 'good' character.
I pray that you make the Second-hand on the Clock, your God. That whatever happened or happens, if you can make a difference, its with the help of your present.
No matter where you are from or who you are, all that will matter is what you do out of it.
Carpe Diem. Seize the day, they say. Get the marrow out of your life, but i pray you wont suck the bone.
and one last thing(for now)-
Cross the bridge, only when you reach there.
that will make all the difference.

That's all for now, these are inspired from the basic 'Saar' i have gathered out of my living so far.

Make me proud, and yourself especially.
I Love You.

It’s a BIUTIFUL world!

2012-07-06T23:01:00.001+05:30

A year back I had picked up my first copy of short-stories, where one of my most favourite ones happened to be the story in which a writer walking on a street writes about his amusement over the kind of things people pick up from the street. It is indeed amazing how things that are on the streets are usually the thrown out ones. A butt of a cigarette, a wafer-wrapper, an ink-less pen, a broken pair-less shoe and varied other objects. Being on the streets is just as interesting. It’s like being a part of the mirror that reflects into things some people throw away that other people pick up and otherwise.

Streets are where people really come to negotiate their choices and objectives in exchange with people. Streets are the real stage of the culture of a city. What you see in the malls, restaurants and cinemas will be customized, but what you see on the streets is how people really are. Their dressing sense, their way of talking, their way of responding to people, everything will be absolutely original. The things people leave or take from the streets can tell a lot about them. What they leave or take can indeed give a very clear understanding into the priorities of the people.

I love being on the street myself. There have been times when I too have picked up things from the streets, but more in the metaphorical manner, until yesterday. Last night I too came across an object that appealed to me, and I stepped two steps back, picked it up, cleaned it and put it in my bag. After 5 seconds, I put my hand into my bag again in a genuine attempt to believe what an amazing thing I picked up. It was an empty distorted frame of pair of spectacles. Firstly I was too amazed to find it on the street. Thereafter my mind wandered into the possibilities of life that could have been lived by these frames.

Who knows whether they were owned by an old man or a young girl? Or a generously proportioned woman sat over it, while the old man was traveling in the state-run municipality bus? Or a “cool dude’s bike” bumped into the old man, leaving the man and the frames of glasses out of shape? Or! Or, a very fashionable middle-aged woman decided to dispose off these frames and buy a new one? Who knows! Till the time I reached the book-store I had promised my friend to meet at, I had already thought of fifteen different kinds of lives and owners these frames could have possibly had.

Maybe I was imaginatively stimulated by the film I had watched months back. It was called Biutiful(Beautiful in a Spanish drawl), one of the films screened at the Pune International Film Festival. The film itself had given me a very heavy food for my thoughts. I was already thinking about life of that father(Javier Bardem!) whose sole purpose had become to be remembered by his children against how he did not remember his father. There was so much to question and so much to value in the story. There is so much to question and so much to value in day-to-day life as well!

Last night was one of those days- from taking a very close friend along for the film (especially since we share the knack for Hispanic languages) to bumping into a newly-made friend on whose suggestion I went for Biutiful. From picking up my first ever object from the street to the chilling bike-ride towards home that thoroughly welcomes me back to the neighborhood I relate with my college life. These things, moments, people aren’t directly related to each other, but I’d like to. Cause maybe it is indeed a Biutiful world, if we look at it through the right frame of glasses!

" How do you spell BIUTIFUL?

Just how you say it. " :)

Microsoft unveils Surface tablets, powered by Windows 8

2012-06-21T19:30:00.000+05:30

The Earth-shattering Microsoft announcement we've been waiting for is finally here. As several pre-event rumors suggested, Microsoft is indeed building its own tablet.

Make that two tablets. One Windows RT tablet runs an NVIDIA Tegra 3 ARM processor, and the other Windows 8 Pro tablet runs Intel's Ivy Bridge Core i5 chips. One thing that looks really cool are new magnetic covers that are quite reminiscent of Apple's "Smart Cover" for the iPad. But they're a lot smarter—Microsoft's covers actually include a multitouch trackpad and a keyboard. There are two, as explained in this story: a Touch Cover with virtual keys and a Type Cover with a tactile keyboard and touch-pad.

Typing on the cover is twice as efficient as typing on glass, according to Microsoft. There's also a stylus.
10.6-inch devices running Windows 8, the "Surface" tablets borrow their name from Microsoft's table-sized computer that has been an impressive yet niche product for the past few years. (The original Surface has been renamed to PixelSense in a possible attempt to avoid confusion.) In announcing the new tablets, CEO Steve Ballmer stressed that Microsoft has been a hardware company for decades, producing mice, keyboards, webcams, and of course the Xbox, among other products.

While Microsoft typically lets hardware partners build Windows-powered PCs and tablets, Surface hardware is built by Microsoft. "Things work better when hardware and software are considered together," Ballmer said. In what is perhaps a nod toward Apple's so-called "Retina Display" marketing term for high-definition screens, Microsoft said the displays are so good that your eye won't be able to distinguish individual pixels. The exact resolution is unconfirmed, but we do know the tablets feature Gorilla Glass.

"Much like Windows 1.0 needed the mouse, we wanted to give Windows 8 its own companion hardware innovation," Ballmer said.

Here are the specs for the two tablets:

The Intel tablet weighs 903 grams and is 13.5mm thick, while the NVIDIA/Windows RT model weighs 676 grams and is 9.3mm thick. They each have a 10.6-inch display. Office Home & Student 2013 RT is listed for the Windows RT tablet, as well as microSD, USB 2.0, and Micro HD Video. Office isn't listed on the Intel tablet, but x86 Windows 8 devices will run all standard Windows applications. Ports on the Intel tablet include microSDXC, USB 3.0, and Mini DisplayPort.

Even with the cover, the tablets are quite thin, as you can see here:

And here:

The newly unveiled Surface site doesn't say which model is shown in those pictures. In fact, Microsoft's site says these "images are design renderings and not photographs," even though Microsoft did show off actual hardware prototypes at its announcement. In any case, the Windows RT version will be available in 32GB and 64GB flavors, and the Windows 8 Pro device will be available with 64GB or 128GB of storage. Each have front- and rear-facing cameras, and 2x2 MIMO WiFi antennas.

Surface tablets have 16:9 aspect ratio, a built-in kickstand, and edges that are angled at 22 degrees, "a natural position for the PC at rest or in active use," Microsoft says. The casing uses "VaporMg" technology, "a combination of material selection and process to mold metal and deposit particles that creates a finish akin to a luxury watch." These are supposedly the first PCs with a vapor-deposited (PVD) magnesium case, which makes for a device that is thin, light, rigid, and strong.

Microsoft claims it's a tablet that is as great as a PC and a PC that is as great as a tablet. As for availability, the Windows 8 RT tablet will be ready around the time of Windows 8 general availability, a few months from now. The Windows 8 Pro unit will ship a few months after the Windows RT version. They'll be sold in US-based Microsoft retail stores and online. Microsoft said suggested retail pricing will be competitive to a "comparable ARM tablet or Intel Ultrabook-class PC," but we don't know the exact prices yet.

So far, we're not seeing any indication of integrated 3G or 4G cellular connectivity. There are, however, some pretty pictures on the new Microsoft Surface site.

Windows Phone 8 :: Everything you would want to know

2012-06-21T10:51:00.001+05:30

Microsoft has officially announced the first details of Windows Phone 8 (which you may know better as Apollo) and confirming many of the rumors about the new operating system at the Windows Phone Summit.

However, don't get too excited - this is a 'sneak peek' rather than the full details of the new version and there's still a lot of information that we don't know.

Windows Phone 8 apps

The problem for Windows Phone is less the existing users – who tend to be enthusiastic as well as demanding – and more selling the phones.

The partnership with Nokia is certainly helping, as will the announcement that the Windows Phone Marketplace is now up to 100,000 apps with more coming - from the PayPal support for Wallet to iPhone must-haves like Words with Friends and Audible, plus Zynga's newly acquired Draw Something.

All Windows Phone 7 apps will run on Windows Phone 8 handsets; but in future developers will have to choose whether to make an app that only uses Windows Phone 7 features and works on both, or one that uses Windows Phone 8.

This means supporting features like Wallet, VOIP, native code or being able to run navigation in the background (which should mean we finally see some full-featured turn-by-turn navigation apps that go beyond what Nokia Drive offers).

There are other advantages, but with the interfaces to components like graphics, audio and sensors being far more similar to those in Windows 8, it's a lot easier to write Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps that share features.

Or, of course, they can make two versions, one for 7 and one for 8; how often that happens is going to depend both on how easy Microsoft makes it to share code between versions of apps in its developer tools and on sales of Windows Phone 8 handsets.

Windows Phone 8 interface

There is one feature of Windows Phone you will be able to get on current handsets (with an update that has the strikingly appropriate name of Windows Phone 7.8) and that's the new Start screen. This now uses the whole width of the screen, without the arrow to tell you to swipe sideways for more apps.

With the extra space you can fit in a lot more tiles, which can now be three different sizes. There's a new small size that you can pick for any app, so if you don't need the Office hub or the dialler to have a full size button because there's not that much useful information on them, you can shrink them down.

New start screen: With the extra space you can fit in a lot more tiles, which can now be three different sizes.

And as well as the current standard tile size, any app will be able to have an extra-large tile to fit more details onto the live tile. Along with some new colour schemes, that makes the Start screen look much more personal.

But the overall look of the platform hasn't changed dramatically – you're still offered a list of apps adjacent to the Start screen, and the panorama method of seeing more information by moving horizontally remains – after all, why change one of the best things about the old OS?

Windows Phone 8 – under the hood

Windows Phone 8 is a major new version, running the kernel from Windows rather than from Windows CE. It isn't the same as Windows 8, or even Windows RT – even though that also runs on ARM processors – and it doesn't have the same look to the Start screen and Metro-style WinRT apps won't run on Windows Phone 8.

But under the hood it's a lot more similar to develop for and Windows Phone gets several key components from 'big' Windows as well as some significant new features and new hardware, which is good news for what developers can make apps do with the increased access they get to the phone system.

Don't expect the same do-anything, break-anything ethos of Android though; battery life and user experience are still priorities for Windows Phone and even native applications run in a sandbox.

Windows Phone 8 browser and security

Key features that Windows Phone 8 gets from Windows include Internet Explorer 10, complete with the phishing filter and SmartScreen application reputation service to make it harder for malicious websites to trick you into giving away personal information like credit card details or downloading malware.

Malware hasn't been a problem for Windows Phone so far, but any platform that becomes successful is going to get attacked.

Windows Phone gets other Windows security features like disk encryption and secure boot, so businesses will be happier to use it (especially as they can now manage devices and sideload their own business applications).

Windows Phone 8 media and gaming

Audio, graphics and media playback all work more like their Windows equivalents, which should make for more powerful games and entertainment apps.

However, this means that current games will need to be re-tooled to take advantage of the new platform – the likes of Rovio can leave their games as Windows Phone 7 versions, but they'll likely want to re-release a more powerful version of the game too.

But given the increased GPU support and power on offer, we'll at least start seeing some more 3D-rich gaming environments that start taxing the Windows Phone 8 handsets compared to their previous counterparts.

Video calling

There's one place where Windows Phone is jumping ahead of Windows; VOIP calls will look just like regular phone calls with all the same features and notifications. Obviously that's good for Skype but other VOIP apps like Tango will get the same support.

We're still waiting to see how deep Skype integration gets into the Windows Phone 8 OS, as given it's already available as an app on the Windows Phone Marketplace it should be shoved pretty deeply into the platform.

Will it lead to a surge in video calling? Probably not, but as there are strong rumours the Xbox platform will be getting a taste of video calling too it seems only fair that Windows Phone 8 devices, complete with their improved front-facing cameras, should be given priority.

Windows Phone 8 CPU

To make all this work well Windows Phone 8 will run on new hardware; still ARM processors, still the Snapdragon platform from Qualcomm but now with multicore processors, with a new generation of GPUs, and with NFC support.

Battery life is still priority for the platform, so we doubt Microsoft is going to allow any CPUs that get too amorous with the power pack – but more power is a big selling point in today's smartphone market, so this makes enormous sense.

Microsoft Wallet

The new Microsoft Wallet app will allow you to make payments by tapping your phone on a credit card reader the way Google Wallet does, and store credit card and membership details securely and tap your phone to send them the way iOS 6 will.

And you're not tied to using a Microsoft payment service; applications will be able to tap into the Wallet system to set up new payment services – which will include Paypal.

The app is a hub for digital coupons and debit or credit cards - plus you can add in loyalty cards and third party apps that will notify you when they become relevant.

NFC support

NFC is there for Microsoft's Wallet payment system, but has other options as well. The OS supports secure SIM, which means users' can swap from handset to handset and take their payment method with them physically.

There are other applications that Nokia is keen to utilise as well, such as being able to pair with its Bluetooth accessories with a simple tap of the phone – it's a trick we've seen on the old Symbian phones and one we expect to feature heavily here too.

Windows Phone 8 upgrades

That's the reason that you won't be able to upgrade any existing Windows Phone handsets to 8, because they don't have the hardware to support the new features or deliver the multitasking performance that the Windows kernel and the improved VOIP support needs.

Only two of the rumoured new resolutions are being announced, both widescreen formats: 1280 by 768 and 1280 by 720 as well as the current 800 by 480, which should give phone makers more flexibility when it comes to choosing parts they can use in multiple devices.

And Windows Phone finally sorts out its SD card support; you'll be able to store media files on a micro SD card or install applications onto it.

Windows Phone 8 release date

We're still waiting to get our ears on a proper Windows Phone 8 release date – we're currently being given the boring notion of 'autumn', which could be any time from October to Christmas for all we know. However, we expect it to be sooner rather than later as Microsoft won't want to miss the traditional holiday season gadget-buying rush.

If you like the sound of all this, then the good news is you won't have to wait until your mobile network gets around to testing and pushing out updates in the future either.

Microsoft is still agreeing details with the operators and handset makers for Windows Phone 7.8, but there's going to be a way to get updates directly from Microsoft (perhaps labelled as beta releases) as long as you assume responsibility for anything that goes wrong.

In summary, Microsoft is adding the features that Windows Phone needs to succeed and that need new hardware.

It's also finally doing something to address the problem of upgrades that would work on your handset but you're frustratingly unable to get – listen up, Google.

Where Windows Phone still needs to catch up with the other smartphone systems on features it's doing that much faster. Now it just needs to sell more devices.

How do I choose a good password?

2012-06-05T12:00:00.000+05:30

A great deal of confusion surrounds the choice of strong passwords, and many suggestions for creating a good password are over complex and do not provide much security. But there is a simple way to create strong passwords that you can remember – and that will make you less vulnerable to online attackers.

A good password should be easy for you to remember, but difficult for anyone else to guess. But we're often advised - or forced - to create unmemorable passwords using rules that confuse us and provide little protection against real threats. So to choose a good password, we must understand those threats.

Threats to your password

You can be persuaded to reveal your password - it’s called 'phishing' and it's very common. It can be stolen by 'malware' - a malicious program on your computer that watches keystrokes as you type - or if you use the 'remember password' feature on a web page. In any of these cases it doesn't matter how complicated your password was.

Websites with login pages store passwords in a file, and these files often get stolen. If the file isn't encrypted, nothing you can do will protect your password. If it is encrypted, obvious passwords could get revealed quite quickly. More complex passwords would be slower to break, but the attacker usually has all the time they need.

An attacker might systematically try user names and passwords at the login page of some popular online service. This is called 'brute force' and it's preventable - the page should lock out further attempts after a small number of failures. But many don't, so this is a real threat. Here, using a strong password can help protect you.

What makes a strong password?

Two of the most commonly used passwords are '123456' and 'password' - very bad choices as they would be among the first to be tried by an intelligent attacker.

The ideal password is a fairly random sequence of characters, and extra length is usually more important than a wider range of symbols. But creating your password in this way is not always the most ‘human-friendly’ approach as you may find it tricky to remember.

Instead, one of the best techniques is to choose a memorable phrase containing the same number of words as the desired password length in letters (usually this is at least eight characters) and use the first letter of each word to create an acronym to use as your password. The chosen phrase should not be well known, and using capitals and lower case can add quite a lot of strength, but substituting numbers for letters or adding special symbols doesn’t make much difference.

For example, the phrase 'the boy stood on the burning deck until it got too hot' could yield a password of 'tBsotbDuigth', which is quite strong. The phrase is memorable even if the password is not, and the rule - capitalise every noun - is simple to remember, but results in unpredictable patterns in the password that make an attacker's job more difficult.

Don’t use the same password!

Finally, it's important to use different passwords for different activities - not necessarily for each site you use, but at least to segregate sensitive from non-sensitive services.

You might use the same password with different user names for commenting on multiple news sites or blogs, but you should have a different password for each bank and shopping account.

How do I know if I'm shopping on a safe website?

2012-06-03T12:00:00.000+05:30

When you’re shopping online, it's essential to make sure that you're dealing with a reputable business. There are several easy checks you can make that will help protect you against dishonest or unreliable traders and fraudsters.

Online shopping is convenient and can save you money, but it's not quite the same as shopping in the high street. At its best, you can purchase items from trusted, well-established retailers - although, of course, you can't actually inspect the goods. But at its worst, shopping on the web can be more like using your credit card at a car boot sale to buy goods in unmarked sealed cardboard boxes.

Anyone can create a web page, so there's no immediate way for a shopper to tell whether an online shop is genuine at first sight. So there's more to being safe than just ensuring your card transaction is encrypted.

Things to watch out for

Firstly, ask yourself whether the offer is realistic. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Quite a lot of stolen and sub-standard goods get offered at seemingly huge discounts by small traders on auction and free advertisement sites. Online 'sales' of non-existent event tickets are notorious. But even mainstream dealers frequently limit your ability to check what you're buying - photos of goods with captions like "the item supplied may not be identical to that illustrated" are all too common.

It's a sad fact that many perfectly honest online business owners simply don't understand their legal obligations. But that makes it difficult to distinguish between them and less legitimate traders. You should probably err on the side of caution.

Can you identify the seller from information on the site? The law requires every commercial website to include specific contact details - at least a trading name, a street address or Post Office box number and a phone number or email address, and these must be clearly visible.

A phone number is a bit safer than an email address alone, but beware of sites that only give a mobile number. Consumer sales sites must (by law) also publish some obligatory terms and conditions - particularly about cancellations, returns and refunds. Check them out and make sure they're valid.
Check the carriage charges too. If you can't see what they will be until the final stage of the checkout, the seller is not playing by the rules - they should be clearly set out in the terms and conditions.
If the trader has their own website, you can also use a 'WHOIS' service on the web to look up the registration details of the web address - the 'domain name' - of the site. Then check they match the details given on the site. The registration will also show how long the domain name has been registered - sites with registrations only a few days old or that are incomplete should be avoided. If the site only gives a PO box number, you can get the street address (but not the name) of the holder by calling the Royal Mail helpline.

On the web, you get none of the subtle signals - body language, verbal cues - that could tell you at a car boot sale when a trader is not to be trusted. So, provided the statutory details are present on the site and seem in order, it's worth phoning the trader to find out if they sound businesslike. It's also worth doing a web search for customer comments in blogs or online communities.

If you're buying via an auction site (such as eBay), it should publish seller ratings and history. These are well worth checking, although there is a recognised scam - sometimes a seller will set up and trade honestly in a small way for some time to gain a good reputation, then will put up a spectacular offer, that turns out to be fraudulent, and disappear. So it's worth doing a web search for the seller as well, in case they also have their own website or there are customer comments.

Check – and check again

Once you're reasonably satisfied that the trader is genuine, you should look at the ordering system. If it takes you to a different site - particularly for making the payment - you should perform the same background checks again.

Then, if everything still checks out, make sure the web address of every page on the ordering site starts with https://. This is most important on the page where you type in your card details. The final 's' before the colon is crucial as it means the data you send and receive on that page is encrypted in transit. A padlock or key symbol at the bottom of the browser window also indicates you're on an encrypted connection - but this is not a perfect guarantee, as the symbol can be faked using JavaScript on a page that doesn't use encryption.

But the encryption, although necessary, is actually less important than knowing you're communicating with the right website. The https:// confirms this by sending your web browser an encrypted electronic 'certificate'. If everything is in order, it happens invisibly. But sometimes a warning will pop up. The most common one says the site you're on isn't the site that owns the certificate. This should make you very suspicious. It's a common fault on badly-designed legitimate sites, but it can also indicate a malicious program that might steal your money or card details.

Finally, if a site asks for your card details when you respond to a 'free offer', it's certainly fraudulent. No free offer involves prior payment, and no legitimate trader is permitted to hold your full card details except while they are currently processing a specific purchase.

Microsoft's So.cl: A Brief Tour

2012-05-29T12:54:00.001+05:30

Microsoft's social networking experiment, So.cl, a site designed around sharing Web content pulled from Bing searches, is now available for all users. Launched in December and aimed at students, So.cl is not meant to compete with popular social networks such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. So.cl isn't a place to connect with friends and share moments from your lives.

Instead, So.cl is more like an image board where you post and share web-based content based on general interest categories such as cars, movies, and sports -- all of which is filtered through a built-in Bing search tool.

So.cl isn't for everyone and convincing users to fit this site into an already busy online life with Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and LinkedIn will be a tough sell for Microsoft.

Then again, So.cl doesn't appear to be a product built for mass appeal. The social network is still under the "Microsoft Research" banner and is very much a development project. You may find at times that links won't work, content won't populate your feed, and other functions will be limited. But if you're a hard core social networking fan and want to see what Microsoft is up to, here's a quick peek at So.cl.

Signing Up

You can get into So.cl using your Facebook account or Windows Live ID. I signed up initially with my Windows Live ID with no problems, but when I tried to use Facebook I didn't get in right away. Instead, I was told to expect an invitation by e-mail in the coming days. So for now, your best bet may be to use your Windows Live ID to get immediate access to So.cl.

After you're signed in, you'll see a pop-up window suggesting some general interest categories as well as people to follow. The buttons on this window didn't work for me, however, so I just ended up adding interest categories on my own.

Explore

Once you get past So.cl's initial greeting, you'll land on a page called Explore. The main column is populated with general interest categories you can follow.
To the left is a navigation column with links such as Feed, Post, Profile, Video Parties, and Interests. The navigation column also uses what are effectively subfolders for each main navigation link. These secondary navigation links let you control what you are seeing in your feed or what kind of content you are going to share in a post.

Feed

After you add a few general interest categories to your profile, your next stop is the "Feed" section, which is your standard social networking news feed similar to Facebook and Google+.

Your feed shows you every public post that other So.cl users are sharing online. But you can also pare this down to just the people and categories you are following, or take a look at the activity just on your posts. There's also a section under your feeds called "Conversations" where you can send direct messages to other So.cl users.

Post

Our next stop on this So.cl whistle stop tour is the posting section. This is where So.cl's Bing-centric nature really comes into play, because before you can post any external content to So.cl it has to go through Bing first. The first way you can post is to choose a topic such as “surfing” or “Windows 8” and then search for it in the Bing-powered search bar at the top of the page.

Once you have your search results, you can drill down using the navigation links on the left to see results for news, images, and videos related to your search. To add a specific link to your post, you click the “Add to post” button at the bottom of each separate search result. You can then add a message and once you're satisfied with the post, click done.

The second way to post is to grab a link from a website and click the “Add link” button below the message entry box. Let's say you wanted to post an article from The New York Times. On any other social network you would just grab the article link, paste it into your post, type up a comment, and you're done. But not on So.cl.

Instead, you past your URL into a pop-up box that appears after you click “Add link” and hit enter. This causes a Bing search based on your link and then you can choose the article you want to share from the Bing-powered results.

Once you're post is out in the world, people can like it by clicking the smiley underneath your post. They can also leave comments, or share your post outside So.cl via e-mail or Facebook. There is also a link called “Riff” that lets people do a Bing search based on your post and then create their own posting. Finally, people can tag your post, which is just a quick way for a user inspired by your post to follow a category on So.cl.

Profile

Your So.cl profile is fairly standard. It lists your name and uses your Windows Live or Facebook profile picture, shows you recent activity and lets people comment on your posts or leave you a message.

So.cl also provides a Facebook-style cover photo section, but it appears So.cl automatically generates this based on what you share. That's just my guess, however, because I didn't see a way to change it.

Video Parties

This is where you can watch YouTube videos at the same time as other So.cl users in lean back mode.

All video parties are based around a subject such as a singer like Katy Perry or Adele. You can leave comments in real time, add videos to the playlist, and move a video to the top of the playlist.

Interests

This section lists the interests you're following. Each interest has its own page that lets you see posts from other users based on the same subject. There is also a quick search link to find and add new interests to your profile.

And that's about it. So.cl lets you share your interests with others online, discover topics through other people's posts, and participate in video viewing parties. So.cl is a curious take on social networking and is definitely not for everyone. I'd say if you're life is already filled with tweets, Facebook likes, and LinkedIn status updates, you can safely skip So.cl without missing much.

What will our (future) interfaces feel like?

2012-04-30T13:30:00.000+05:30

The visual language of our interfaces has gone through a lot of changes over the past decade. Remember what the Web 2.0 interfaces felt like? Giant type, ginormous forms, and buttons that would make Fitt’s Law insignificant. God forbid you went off task or didn’t know exactly what to do next. Icons lined our digital streets (and still do in some parts). Need to cancel something? A big red circle with an “x” is here so you can be sure what it means.

These days it’s about the content. Design starts with the content. Language is the navigation. The interface is words. We’re advised to choose them carefully. Copywriting is now where the interface lives or perishes. We can’t trust those devious icons or that friendly, yet somewhat unclear language from the Web 2.0 days — we need to be clear and say exactly what we mean. The three most important things here are: Clarity, clarity, clarity.

“Nothing says Send Message, like the words “Send Message”. You can play with envelopes and arrows all you want. That’s not to say that icon-only interfaces are bad. They exchange initial clarity for long term beauty. It’s a choice you sometimes have to make.” — Des Traynor

With touchscreen, a lot of these rules change. The new applications I’ve seen hint at another (potential) stage of how our interfaces might act. One that stands out is Clear. It’s a to-do list app designed by Impending and Milen, with Realmac Software. Now, it’s not available yet, so I can only go by what I saw in the video — it’s all assumptions from this point on. It looks like much of the interface is gestures without labels or icons, lacking any sort of visual affordance. There could be an onboarding for it to help you understand what you can do, but we’ll have to see.

What I find interesting about this interface is that it breaks a lot of our current rules for interfaces. This is the type of interface that I imagine a usability expert would have nightmares about. But it looks fun as heck to use. There is an element of play (no, not “gamification”) going on here. Now, in the context of this application, it looks like this will work very well. The limited job this application does for you allows for the lack of language and icons to guide you. According to the designers, it appears their intention was to question many of the current rules of interface design:

“I think the important thing is to never take anything for granted and question everything — all the known interface design conventions, the clichés and rules of the genre. These are formulas, and to us formulas are just a fancy way of describing the rut you’re stuck in.” — Phill Ryu, in a Venture Beat interview.

The biggest problem with gestures is that they look fun to use, but aren’t always that great. Swinging your arms around like Tom Cruise in the future looks pretty damn cool, until gorilla arm sets in after doing that for an hour. The usability expert might point out that most users today wouldn’t know what the gestures are to navigate without being instructed. And Jakob Nielsen would be somewhat right.

But, I don’t think that’s who this is designed for… or, should I say, when this is designed for. This app feels like an app for the future. One where a toddler today, that has used an iPad her entire life, will be comfortable with it in the future. If some time traveling designer from Web 2.0 created the Clear app, the interface would likely feel very awkward and confining to this next generation of users.

I think it’s interesting to watch interfaces evolve. Especially moving from what we Web nerds call skeuomorphic interfaces. I don’t think our future is trying to manipulate “a picture under glass” of some physical looking thingy.

I understand that the gesture-based navigation for the Clear app is still a finger, swiping at things under glass. However, the playfulness and animated elements unraveling are very intriguing to me. It reveals something interesting happening with our interfaces. We’re just beginning to figure a lot of things out. As Wilson Miner so eloquently puts it in his Build talk:

“We’re not just making pretty interfaces. We’re actually in the process of making an environment where we’ll spend most of our time, for the rest of our lives. We’re the designers. We’re the builders. What do we want that environment to feel like? What do we want to feel like?” — Wilson Miner