Code, Coffee, Movies!

Book Review - The Einstein Prophecy

2015-08-26T16:30:00.000+05:30

I have been fascinated by science fiction stories since my childhood. From Jules Verne's wonderful "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" to Andy Weir's "The Martian", sci-fi books have never been boring. Till I read Robert Masello's "The Einstein Prophecy".

This book was suggested by the Kindle bookstore as number one popular book in sci-fi category. With a print volume of only 326 pages, I immediately bought it on my Kindle.

The story is set in the World War II era with the Allied powers facing off the Axis powers. The story moves briskly at first with good description of the environment and the war situation. Our hero is a US military officer Lucas. Yes, despite the book's title Einstein is not a major player in the story. Also, he does not make a prophecy. Lucas is trying to find an ancient object which will allow Allied forces to defeat Germany. Apparently it is something so important that even Hitler is also looking for it. After setting up this intriguing plot, the story takes a meandering form. If you have seen The Mummy series of movies, you will know what I am talking about.

To be absolutely fair to the book, the story is set on a great premise which could have a lot of potential if presented correctly. Instead for nearly three-fourths of the book, the story does not reveal what that secret object is, despite not much going on in other parts of story either. In many places the author begins describing the trees, birds and surroundings when the story should ideally be revealing the next big secret. It almost seemed that the author ran out of ideas and was just trying to fill in the pages to make the publisher happy!

The end is underwhelming and not worth whatever time you spent reading the story. If you are going to read the book anyway, keep your expectations very low. Also don't try to correlate it to Einstein or any of the historical occurrences.

Good luck!

Rating - 2/5

The Amazon story and future of (IT) jobs in India

2015-08-21T21:07:00.000+05:30

I am sure many of you must have by now read the New York Times article which paints a very unflattering account of Amazon and the way it treats its workers. Examples are cited where a worker was given low performance ratings because she missed work as she was suffering from cancer. In another instance, a worker was asked to go on a business trip just a day after suffering a miscarriage. There are many others instances cited in the article.

While these are horrible stories, I am not here to criticize Amazon. Thing is, that these are the practices followed by nearly every organization. Every company exists to earn profit and they want to squeeze as much out of their resources to maximize it. This is also true of Indian IT industry. In general, the work done by the Indian IT industry is monotonous, not innovative and something which their "onsite" counterparts will prefer not to do. Indians are ready to take these up at much lower wages and thus work comes here. Even with constant pressure put on these workers, these jobs were pretty much the best jobs that one can get in India - which paid well compared to other jobs and had a hygienic work environment. But don't start rejoicing yet, these jobs will soon be automated.

Human beings are resources, and very flaky one at that. They get sick, demand holidays, take lunch and numerous other breaks, which lowers productivity. Add these to the manual nature of jobs done by the Indian IT industry these jobs are prime contenders where automation can be applied. If you are wondering how this is even possible, watch the video below. I will wait.

After watching the above video, if you are a manager who is thinking that this is a good thing for you as it will increase your performance, think again. If all the jobs are done by computers operating at their maximum efficiency, who will you manage? Your job is over too!

Sure all this won't happen tomorrow, or in the next year. We may still be 20-30 years away from the Utopian future where nobody needs to work and everything is in abundance. Till that day comes, have a little empathy - for your maid, for the person who comes to deliver the package you ordered from the e-commerce giants, for the person who comes to deliver that pizza, for your colleagues, friends and family. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

App-pocalypse

2015-08-07T14:58:00.000+05:30

Have you recently tried to shop on any Indian e-commerce website? If you have, you too would be frustrated by the constant nagging done by these sites to download their app. Myntra has gone ahead and shut its website down completely! Others like Flipkart won't let you browse any product in peace and will immediately try to "connect" you to their app - even when you are already at their site and trying to buy a product. Amazon India will release "app-only" offers and discounts.

All this is done in the garb of making customer experience better.

@mayankMSFT We direct users to the mobile App in order to provide better shopping experience. We have passed your feedback along.
— flipkartsupport (@flipkartsupport) August 7, 2015

Only problem is that it makes user experience even worse. These companies are trying to lure the consumer into a walled garden so that they make bad, misinformed buying decisions. Let me elaborate.

On a desktop browser, you can easily search for and compare products across various websites with just a few tabs open. You don't need to switch context and lose track of what you were trying to compare when you move to a different product.

On a mobile screen, only one product is visible at a time. Even with only one product visible, you cannot see all the information about that product on one screen - reviews, ratings, QnAs. To read each review or product detail, the screen changes constantly leaving the consumer totally clueless.

I understand the monetary benefits of maintaining only an app with reduced IT, development and maintenance costs. But that should not come at the cost of user experience.

Apps should exist as a choice. These companies should stop trying to make them the only option and need to actually follow up on their mantra to let consumers "shop anywhere, anytime".

As XKCD has put it very correctly, Flipkart, Amazon IN and others, if you are reading this please just stop.

Vaastu Shastra

2014-12-03T14:47:00.001+05:30

There are certain tasks that the Indian society expects a person to fulfill - get a good job, get married at a certain age, buy a house, buy a car, have kids etc. So it would seem natural to you that after getting married I have started looking around for a house to buy. It isn't so. My hunt for a house began with a trip to the mall to buy a sofa set.

It should not come as a surprise that I like movies. I have watched hundreds of movies and now that I have means at my disposal I started to improve my movie viewing experience. With TV and audio system out of the way, a comfy couch was all that was needed. So I dragged my wife with me to the mall and started evaluating the over-priced sofas. We hopped and jumped on a lot of them and when the dust finally settled, my heart was with a sofa that was also a recliner, rocking chair, had foot support, was made of high quality dead skin... err leather - the complete package! It also came with a hefty price tag. We came back home to discuss more on whether we can afford it.

With such a hefty price tag, as Indians it is natural to consult your parents before you make such a purchase. In hindsight, it was a mistake. We were lectured as to how important it is to have one's own house before buying such costly furniture. It may get destroyed if we have to shift houses frequently. All of our effort to convince our parents that we won't be flinging sofas around fell on deaf ears. The bottom line was simple - buy a house before you buy that sofa; and I really wanted that sofa.

So we started looking for houses. The one word that you keep encountering while searching for a house is "Vaastu". This is the word that all developers will keep on buzzing in your ears. "100% Vaastu Compliant" makes me wonder if a house can be any other percent compliant.

If you don't already know about Vaastu, you won't know what that actually means. You see its a trick to make absurd house plans seem good. It is a cruel trick played by some people, much like religion, that fools the hard-working population into believing that by following vaastu guidelines their lives will somehow get better. You will be drowned by terms like energy, waves, chi till you give up and accept that it is good thing that the first room in your house is the kitchen as according to Vaastu that is the proper corner for kitchen to be in.

There is no escaping Vaastu. Even renowned builders now draw their floor plans according to Vaastu. When I asked one of them as to why they followed such absurdity instead of following the common sense and architectural guidelines, they answered that no one will buy their houses if they don't follow Vaastu. It is the kool-aid that is now forced down everyone's throat.

Finally I have a humble appeal to all the people out there reading this. If you are planning to buy/build a house, please make an effort to understand if Vaastu really improves your house before you take a decision. If not for ourselves, let's make a better world for future generations (and also a better house).

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

Remote Keyboard : Wireless Keyboard for your Windows Phone

2013-07-28T20:53:00.002+05:30

Download the Remote Keyboard service for you Windows Phone app. You will need administrator privileges on your PC to run the app.

NOTE:

1. Supported OSes are Windows 7 and Windows 8.
2. Your firewall must not be blocking connection to local IP addresses.

Movie Review : Mission Impossible 4

2011-12-18T22:56:00.001+05:30

If you are going to watch a Mission Impossible movie for emotions, story and nice little subtleties then, and I hate to break this to you, you are at the wrong party! For the past 15 years, people go to theatres to watch Ethan Hunt do stuff that’s not humanly possible. Ethan not only does it but does it in style.

As with other MI movies, Impossible Mission Force (IMF) main agent Ethan Hunt is entrusted with the task of saving the world. The only little twist in the story is the initiation of Ghost protocol, effectively ending any support to Ethan and his gang. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Ethan eventually succeeds. But don’t blame yourself if you still get the chills when Ethan cries out, “Mission Accomplished!”.

MI4 is full of action sequences, one better than the other. My favorite scene is when Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt) jumps down the Burj Khalifa with little more than a fire hose to support him. The looming sandstorm in the background, in all its IMAX glory, makes it an irresistible watch.

MI4 is also special because it features our very own Anil Kapoor. It’s good to see an Indian actor in a Mission Impossible movie but I think a three-minute long, forgettable role doesn’t do justice to his talent.

Finally to answer the big question: Should you watch this movie? Hell yeah! If you like to be amazed and experience the thrills of being an IMF agent, you should definitely watch it. It will be 133 minutes of your life that you won’t regret.

P.S.- Please watch it in IMAX.

Hyderabad Reloaded

2011-12-11T01:21:00.001+05:30

When I first came to Hyderabad, I did all the touristy things that one is supposed to do when visiting a new city. I was fascinated by the old city charm that Hyderabad exudes but never had I thought that I would ever be living in this city. Strangely enough, here I am writing this, after spending more that six months living here.

Like with yours truly, you have to spend some time with this city to begin liking it. Me being a nerd, the first thing that stood out as a beacon of hope during the initial dark days here was the internet connection provided by Beam Telecom. I have lived in quite a few cities of India and believe me nowhere you will get such blazing fast internet speeds at such affordable prices. It’s a pity that Beam is just limited to Hyderabad.

Next thing that deserves a mention here is the Rajnikant-style driving practiced here. Crossing a road, travelling in an auto-rickshaw, driving a car/bike, everything here gives you an adrenaline rush! You just don’t mess with Hyderabad drivers.

Lastly my Hyderabad experience would be incomplete if I don’t mention the amazing colleagues that I work with. Its only because of them that I have learnt to play Foosball and Mafia – two amazingly addictive games, Try them at your own risk.

Finally although I hate to admit it but after some initial hesitation I have actually started liking this city. Why this Kolaveri, Hyderabad?

Movie Review – Rockstar

2011-11-18T00:43:00.001+05:30

There are some movies that take themselves seriously and then there are some that make a fool of themselves (think Dabangg). Rockstar falls into neither of these categories and thus despite being a movie which could have a lot of potential finally ends up making a mess of itself.

At a running time of nearly 3 hours, I have a lot to nitpick about the movie but to be fair let’s list down some good things first. The music by A.R. Rahman is fabulous and fresh as ever. The songs reflect the pain, anguish and rebellious nature of a true rock star. Secondly, I was glad to see Ranbir Kapoor come out of his shell and really give the performance of his acting life till date. The (supposed) pain in his eyes looked as real as it could ever be.

Now that niceties are over, lets get down to business. Despite sporting pouty lips and great body, Nargis Fakhri ended up being the biggest disappointment. Frankly, a mannequin would have acted better than her. She is such a disaster that in some scenes which are supposed to be serious and heart-breaking, the audience in the theater was laughing.

The story is convoluted to such an extent that many of the scenes seem improbable. Janardhan Jakhar, a.k.a “J.J.” which was shortened to Jordan (go figure!), is a wannabe singer who seeks advice from his college canteen owner and ends up seeking pain as apparently it is essential to become a rock star. As a rock star, J.J is supposed to do some outrageous things but his only claim to fame was stalking a married lady. Such is the hypocrisy of the movie that in the song “Sadda Haq”, which is supposed to promote freedom, the banners of “Free Tibet” were blurred. There are many bigger flaws but I don’t want to leave spoilers here.

Did I mention the running time of 3 hours? The act of hero addressing the heroine as “Jungli Jawani” can amuse for only so many times and the length of the movie ensured that it crossed that limit.

So the big question dangling before you is whether you should watch the movie? If you are a die-hard Ranbir fan or have nothing better to do then it definitely worth a watch. I am not too sure if you would want a re-run.

Coding for Kinect for Xbox 360

2011-10-22T20:49:00.001+05:30

Kinect is an amazing piece of technology. Not only for gaming, it can be used for variety of uses ranging from Healthcare, Security, IT etc. Starting with coding for Kinect seems daunting at first, mainly due to lack of knowledge and starting material.

This article documents my first attempt at coding for Kinect. So basically it’s a beginner level article which introduces us to Kinect. Before you begin, you must ensure that the following pre-requisites have been met.

Kinect for Xbox 360 – You should have the retail version of Kinect hardware.
Kinect for Windows SDK should be installed on your system.
Coding4Fun Kinect Toolkit should be installed on your system.

After you install the Kinect for Windows SDK, plug-in your Kinect to your PC via the USB port and some device drivers should automatically get installed. Finally you should be able to see this screen.

Now that you have all set up, fire up Visual Studio and create a new WPF project. Add a reference to “Microsoft.Research.Kinect.dll” and “Coding4Fun.Kinect.Wpf.dll”. Next we will create a very basic application which captures Kinect’s RGB Video, Depth Video and try to create a Skeleton out of it. We will basically re-use the code from “Skeletal Viewer” sample that comes with Kinect for Windows SDK.

We will add two images to our XAML window to display the video streams. We will also add a Canvas to display the skeleton that we are tracking. Pretty simple!

<Window x:Class="MyFirstKinectApp.MainWindow"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" WindowState="Maximized" Loaded="Window_Loaded">
<Grid>
<Image x:Name="VideoFrameImage"
Height="500" Width="500" HorizontalAlignment="Left"
VerticalAlignment="Top"/>
<Canvas x:Name="SkeletalFrameImage"
Height="500" Width="500" HorizontalAlignment="Right"
VerticalAlignment="Top"/>
<Image x:Name="DepthFrameImage"
Height="500" Width="500" HorizontalAlignment="Left"
VerticalAlignment="Bottom"/>
</Grid>
</Window>

Coding4Fun dll helpfully add few extension methods which makes displaying the video streams a breeze. All we have to do is write:

VideoFrameImage.Source = e.ImageFrame.ToBitmapSource();

Next comes calculating and displaying the skeleton in the Canvas. You can follow the source code to see how it is actually being done.

Finally we end up with the following output:

That’s it! This is our sample sample application. As you move, the skeleton will mirror your movements. All we have to do now is to detect those movements and have some fun!

Movie Review - Delhi Belly

2011-07-10T21:26:00.003+05:30

Some experiences mark the end of one phase of your life and beginning of another. The signals for this change might be approaching for quite sometime but either you didn’t understand them or chose to ignore them. Like I did when MTV Roadies slipped through my important to-do things on a weekend. Or when Channel V Dare to Date stopped being hilarious and started being cruel and mean. Or when Love Kiya Toh Darna Kya seemed like a stupid show where ignorant kids ruin not only their reputation but also that of their families. I guess I was going through “Being a cynical asshole” phase.

You're Getting Old
Tags: SOUTH
PARK Stan Marsh,Randy Marsh,more...

These signals turned into a full-blown experience when I saw Delhi Belly yesterday. I know that we are supposed to rave about how hilarious and awesome the movie is but I didn't find it so. There are only a finite number of times when visuals of ass-cracks or loud noises of farting tickle your funny bone. The movie not only crosses that number but goes so far that the entire plot seems like mish-mash of swear words. The only people who would still find the entire fart-swear-ass-crack sequence hilarious are college kids and people having serious identity issues.

The movie suffers from a lack of serious plot. The director does an amazing job of making the perennially old story look refreshing but still there are serious loopholes and some plain stupid moves. Some would romanticise this as being essence of the movie or “creative liberty” of the director but then RGV’s Aag would also have been very creative. The acting is also not something to boast of and can be classified as average.

The only good thing in the movie is its brevity and its music. Ram Sampath doles out fabulous music which is fresh and also quite innovative. With a running time of 102 minutes, the movie gets out of your way before it starts getting on your nerves. Kudos to Aamir Khan for that!

Bonne Année

2011-01-03T21:11:00.000+05:30

Boy, what an year 2010 was! It was an year riddled with scams; so many of them that we have to invent a new search engine to just wade through them. Then there was Obama’s visit, Sarkozy’s visit, Hu Jintao’s visit. But that’s not all to the past year. It was also the year when I decided that I have had enough of the comfortable environs of Pune and that it was now time to brave the icy winds of Delhi. Delhi hasn’t let me down. Every morning it sends a chill down my bones when I get out of my warm and cosy bed.

It is said that some people in Delhi don’t feel any cold. I had heard and read about them in magazines and movies but never quite believed it. But its true! Delhi girls don’t feel any cold. They have waxed off their goose bumps and apparently live and die by the tagline “Jitna kam pehnoge, utna hot dikhoge”. They are a burning topic (no pun intended) for scientific study to find out what kind of heat insulating/generating system they have which helps them wade through chilly winds while we lesser folks remain trapped behind layers of clothing looking like Eskimos on North Pole.

There are many ways to fight off the Delhi cold though. The easiest way is to go to your neighbourhood vegetable store and ask for price of onions. You needn’t even buy it; just asking for its price would make you feel the heat. If you are of adventurous kind, you may also ask for tomato and milk but do so at your own risk.

In case you are feeling particularly cold, you may try crossing the road and more often than not a Tata Sumo with “Gujjar Boy” written behind it will zoom past you. It is sure to get your adrenaline pumping and is a perfect way to fight off the cold. And hey, don’t curse the poor and downtrodden gujjar boy! He probably would have been in a hurry to block rail and road tracks for getting 5% reservation in jobs.

If crossing the road still doesn’t warm you up then try getting on to any DTC bus. The behaviour of driver, conductor and fellow passengers would surely leave your blood boiling. But always remember, they too are just trying to stay warm in the harsh winter.

If you have any more suggestions to fight off the Delhi cold, then please do share them. In the hindsight, looking at the hots and colds which 2010 brought, it would surely figure in my top ten years of last decade!

The Prime Minister That Wasn’t

2010-12-19T17:55:00.002+05:30

Legends and WikiLeaks have it that the supposedly future Prime Minister of India will discuss about the greatest dangers facing the country with the US ambassador. He did and made the observation that “Hindu terror“ is the biggest threat to this country. Not Lashkar-e-Toiba, not Jamat-ul-Dawa, not even Naxalites, but Hindu terror. The perpetrators of 26/11 attacks are bewildered and are crying foul. They had spent so much time, energy and money in devising and implementing this whole plan and now entire credit is being taken away from them. Not fair.

Rahul Gandhi, the Baba of Indian politics (about whom some crazy people say that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth), had earlier equated SIMI with RSS. Its only fair to equate SIMI, which has engaged in mindless violence and is now banned by the government, with RSS, which fought for India’s independence and has produced leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani. That this equation might be an attack at the base of only opposition party of any relevance is just coincidental. Baba knows all this because he has worked at grassroots levels. He even drank tea at a dalit’s house; how much more grass root do you want to get!! His work and political career is equal to or even surpasses that of Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, who worked his ass off for 75+ years to get at the level at which he is now. This was evidently demonstrated by the fact that our beloved Baba was the only Congress leader, apart from Pranab Mukherjee, who got a chance to sit at the high table during the dinner party to welcome Barack Obama.

Some fans (sycophants?) of Rahul Gandhi say that he is a magician, which he humbly denies. His fans tell the story of UP assembly elections in which he magically transformed Congress’s fortunes by parachuting from one place to another. Asked about why the magic did not repeat itself in Bihar elections, they curl up their nose and say that magic acts should not be repeated. Its true, ask Rahul Gandhi... err, any magician.

Rahul Gandhi, future PM and most eligible bachelor (not necessarily in that order), still says that he is not yet ready for PM’s job. He says that the current PM is doing a fine job. After all the there was only one 2G scam during his tenure. Baba’s mother seconds him by saying that our PM is a holy cow and that those pointing a finger at him are despicable. Regardless, with Baba as our future PM, we can rest assured that our country’s future is in safe hands. After all we have grown accustomed to being governed by zombie PMs. Oops, despicable me!

WikiLeaks – Good to be bad

2010-12-04T14:18:00.002+05:30

I never thought that I would be writing on this topic. Its a no-brainer why governments across the world are pissed at WikiLeaks. And I naively assumed that every ordinary citizen would automatically see the potential benefits of WikiLeaks. My belief was cemented by the presence of 600,000+ fans of WikiLeaks on Facebook. But I have come across people and watched shows on TV which basically debate whether WikiLeaks has done a good thing by leaking the embassy cables or whether they are essentially an anarchist. Some people have argued that it leads to an erosion of privacy as the cables are private conversations between two individuals. The leaks are nothing but voyeurism on WikiLeaks part which may even lead to deaths of human rights activists across the world. Another argument that is put forth is that WikiLeaks is specifically targeting United States as all the cables are US embassy cables and not of any other country. While all these are good arguments, I will try to show you how these don’t hold much water.

If WikiLeaks were following the approach of telling-Harry-what-Susan-told-Sally, I would also say that it is an invasion of privacy. But these leaks are not bedtime conversations between a couple but between diplomats of nations who are answerable to the people of that nation. These diplomats are part of the government which is elected by its people, for its people and is of its people. If the people don’t know what their government is saying or doing about them, then its better to get rid of that government. A fine example of governments behaving like private corporation is in the cable regarding Yemeni president in which he tells the Americans that “We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours”. If you still think that the leaks are an invasion of privacy, then I would embrace that invasion any day. After all isn’t your privacy violated everyday when you are searched/scanned/fondled at every shopping mall/airport/metro station?

A leak from WikiLeaks has showed that in one incident western troops reported killing 30 Taliban fighters, but a UN investigation found 90 civilian deaths including 60 children. Who will account for deaths of these people? If not for WikiLeaks, we would still be believing the US propaganda. So in fact, WikiLeaks aims at exposing these very acts which may even one day lead to prevention of deaths of innocent civilians rather than causing any more deaths. If you read the cables yourselves, the sensitive names are carefully redacted. Probably this might be one of the reasons that they are leaking them slowly and not all at one go.

The leaks expose governments from every part of the world from Pakistan, Afgahnistan to Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe. It is therefore a misconception that WikiLeaks primary aim is to destabilise the US government. If there is no fundamental difference between what a government does and what it tells its people, it would have nothing to be embarrassed about. Sadly this is not true in the case of US and that’s the primary reason it is the most embarrassed.

Predictably, the US government is applying all its pressure to crush WikiLeaks. It was ousted from Amazon servers, kicked out by its DNS host. It is due the distributed nature of the internet that it is able to resurface every time it goes down. I hope that US government would stop its whack-a-mole policy and let the world know. In the meantime the least we can do is “Like” WikiLeaks on Facebook.

OrkPic - Now Download Your Friend's Orkut Pictures Too!

2010-11-27T20:46:00.000+05:30

A new feature has been added to OrkPic which lets you download your Orkut friend's photo albums too!

(Click for a larger view)

Download the new version here!

P.S. - Don't forget to uninstall the previous version first before installing this.

OrkPic - Orkut Photo Downloader

2010-11-26T21:44:00.002+05:30

Orkut usage is on the decline. Frankly, hardly anyone uses Orkut nowadays. They have all migrated to Facebook. Naturally, new applications developed for Orkut are very far and few. This may also be the result of Google's apathy towards Orkut and its OpenSocial API.

But there was a time when Orkut was hugely popular in India when people uploaded hundreds of photos on Orkut but now have no way of getting them back (except manually going through each of them). That's where OrkPic comes into picture. This tool lets you download your Orkut albums onto your system in a flash (depending on the speed of your internet connection, of course).

(Click for a larger view)

OrkPic lets you choose the albums you want to download and stores them in your "My Pictures" folder. OrkPic is built on .NET 4/WPF and uses DotNetOpenAuth library.

Download the tool and liberate your Orkut photos.

UPDATE - You have to install .NET 4.0 Full Setup before installing OrkPic. Please download and install .NET 4.0 from here.
UPDATE 1 - If you face an configuration file error while launching the application, copy the OrkPic folder from C:\ProgramFiles\MayankLive and paste it your desktop and launch the application from there.

Movie Review–Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)

2010-11-19T19:26:00.000+05:30

Clearly the best movie of the Harry Potter series; it is also the most honest one. For once, the movie does not take “cinematic liberties” and make the original story a complete mess. It sets the tone of gloom and darkness from the first scene itself in which Hermione “obliviates” her parents. There is death and despair in the air as we miss the familiar surroundings of Hogwarts and the warmth of Dumbledore. Instead there is Nagini , writhing and hissing, as per Lord Voldemort’s will. Harry as the chosen one, Hermione and Ron take upon themselves the mission to find all the Horcruxes and destroy them and we follow their story as they continue on this dangerous mission.

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) has clearly matured as an actor, as was also displayed in his play Equus. Rupert Grint (Ron) is at his funny best. The icing on the cake is the restrained yet powerful performance by Emma Watson (Hermione). Probably with Hogwarts out of the picture, it was easier for her to stop acting bookish. She is amazing in scenes which show the mature side of her and also in the scenes dealing with sexuality. But the clear winner is the character of Dobby, the house-elf. His undying, devoted friendship and loyalty for Harry coupled his child-like enthusiasm makes him an infectious watch.

The movie has awe-inspiring action scenes, as with any Harry Potter movie. But for me, the most poignant scene was when Harry and Hermione dance to a song after Ron has left them alone in the jungle. It is not a dance of lovers but of friends. Kudos to the director who could pull this off, even while remaining truthful to the story which is filled with curses, death and blood.

Make no mistake, this is not the end. It merely sets the stage for the grand action that is supposed to follow in part 2. With a running time of nearly two and half hours, it surely matches the length of Sooraj Barjatiya’s marriage videos but when you are telling the story of “The Boy Who Lived”, we don’t mind it. I will go for 4.5 out of 5 stars for this movie. Go watch it. NOW!

Bhagavad Gita Reader

2010-11-17T13:57:00.000+05:30

Few days ago I had a heated argument with my friend about religion. Still fresh from watching "Religulous", I was countering his every argument. Fed up, he asked me to read Bhagavad Gita and then tell him if I find anything wrong with it. Faced with the prospect of reading a book running into hundreds of pages, I asked him to keep it cool and let it go. He anyways went ahead and gifted me the holy book. Now I don't have the patience or passion to read such a thick religious book (yeah go ahead, judge me), I was thinking of a shortcut. That's when the idea of Bhagavad Gita Reader came into my mind. Snapshot -

(Click for a larger view)

This application divides Bhagavad Gita into chapters and verses. Then each verse and its translation is shown. There are no extra "interpretations to clutter up your mind."

This application is built on WPF/.NET 4.0 with MVVM Light framework - A great framework with a very small learning curve as compared to Prism albeit with less flexibility.

So go ahead download the application and learn a little about your religion!

Let There Be Noise

2010-10-28T16:48:00.001+05:30

Not withstanding the media’s (TOI in particular) constant attempt to force Halloween down my throat, I have decided again to write about the festival which indeed is part of the Indian tradition – Diwali. Some may criticize me for being uncool, but I guess Delhi need not be any more cold than it already is.

I grew up in an era when SRK-ization of India was happening. Come Diwali and we were inundated by “Say No To Crackers” campaigns which told us horror stories about how crackers led to loss of someone’s limb/life. We were made to believe that one night of cracker bursting led to more deaths than the number of causalities in road accidents everyday. They employed all tricks of the trade to keep us off the fireworks – environment being the oft cited reason. Apparently, it was good for us to plant saplings on the roadside (which will eventually wither away in two days due to lack of care) as it would help in reducing the pollution “others” will create on Diwali night. The fact that it was a total waste of money, time and the saplings (which could have been planted somewhere else) was of little concern to anyone. I too jumped onto this bandwagon with élan and have regretted it since then.

The few moments of joy that interspersed this monotonous campaign were when someone burst a cracker within the school campus. A loud boom and the expression on the faces of the students changed to like someone on Prozac. Teachers would make disdainful faces and look at us with disgust. Bag searches would be conducted for traces of any leftover crackers. Students would be cajoled, threatened for information on the culprit. “We won’t punish the entire class if you told us who was behind this”- yeah, like we would. Most of the time, the teachers returned empty-handed. We were seasoned pros in this interrogation business!

It made me sad when a few days back I read about a school suspending the entire class for an innocent moment of fun bursting crackers while not taking any action against a molester teacher till media highlighted the incident. As the corrupt and undisciplined Delhi wraps up its buildings in Chinese electric bulbs, I would ask everyone to let children be children. While you should exercise all the due precautions while bursting crackers, hell don’t say no to them!

Be safe and sound this Diwali.

Creating a Smart Playlist

2010-10-26T20:40:00.002+05:30

A few days earlier I was thinking that wouldn't it be nice if I had something which will automatically generate a playlist for me with no artists repeated. Also, it would be nice if I could block those artists which I really hate (like Himesh Reshammiya!). Since I couldn't find anything already available, I decided to code it myself. Here is the outcome -

This application is created entirely in .NET Framework 4/WPF and uses Windows Media Player Library as its source of information. So you have to keep your Windows Media Player Library updated for this to work. It is tested only on Windows 7/Vista. You can download it from here.

UPDATE: You can download the Windows XP version of the application here.

Please provide your feedback!

TweetAwesome - A Twitter client developed in Silverlight

2010-10-10T20:22:00.001+05:30

(GEEK ALERT : This post is for those who are interested in Microsoft Technologies, especially Silverlight).

A while ago I thought of developing my own Twitter client just for fun. And what better way to write it in than Silverlight. Because of the cross-domain policy restriction in Silverlight, I had to write a WCF service which carried the tweets payload. I decided to call this app TweetAwesome - a homage to my awesomeness and humility. :)

TweetAwesome uses TwitterVB as its Twitter API library and wears the Metro Theme for Silverlight. The application is also styled using Expression Blend (although I still don't fully know how to use it). As I don't have the infrastructure/money/time to host a WCF service, this app is just for enthusiasts. Here are some snapshots (sneak preview) of the application. (Click on the pictures to launch a full screen slideshow)

1. When TweetAwesome is used for the first time, the user is asked to allow TweetAwesome to access Twitter on its behalf

2. User signs in to Twitter and allows access, getting a PIN in return.

3. User enters the PIN in TweetAwesome and validates it.

4. User's timeline is being retrieved.

5. User's Timeline

6. User's Mentions

7. New Tweet Window

8. Reply Window

9. Retweet Window

This application is still under development and my plan is to add a host of features into it like URL shortening integration, Photo sharing integration. I will be posting the source code of this application soon. So keep any eye on the Downloads section.

Why programmers need to have a sense of humor?

2010-10-05T19:42:00.000+05:30

When I asked one of my friends for his comments about my last post, this is what he had to say -, "as an MBA i know hw imp ads are so i dont quite agree wit u" (reproduced verbatim from GMail Chat History). This was the same guy who had a great sense of humor when he was working as a programmer. He quit his job as a programmer and bam!, his sense of humor went away. Now this presents a burning question in front of us - why do all ~~good~~ programmers need to have an innate sense of humor?

It is an established fact that computers can become boring, especially to a programmer who keeps talking to it day after day without getting any response or appreciation. It never happens that you log in to your system and the computer chimes, "Hey Bro! Where have ya been? How 'bout a cuppa coffee before you begin?" If it happens, it means that it was written by a fellow developer who had his manager breathing down his neck to complete the project. Enjoying such greeting is like wearing a Blood Diamond! So to escape this dull, meaningless drudgery day in and day out, we programmers need to have a sense of humor.

The established notion of productivity in an IT company also contributes to programmers developing a funny bone. A developer, after working working very hard, reduces the running time of a program from 30 min to 30 seconds. Excitedly, he tells his manager about it. But the MBA-retarded manager only says, "Good. While you are here, can you point me to where I can find the mails I have kept for follow-up?" Its right there man. Just below the inbox, where it says "For Follow Up". What do you want? To dish it up in front of you complete with a 'Bon Appétit' greeting! The only way one can hope to survive in such a environment is to see the funny side of it.

The HeadFirst Design Patterns book is a great example of humor in computers. So are blogs like The Daily WTF, or XKCD.

Finally a message to all the the programmers of the world aspiring to be a great one - learn to laugh. It will surely help you in avoiding the 'SenseOfHumorNotFoundException'. No kidding!

Block Those Ads!

2010-10-03T18:26:00.000+05:30

It is a stormy night. A flash of lightning shows an old dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere. Thunder rumbles across the sky as the pretty blonde girl inside the dark house looks terrified. Suddenly there is a knock at the door. She picks up an axe and with trembling hands, opens the door. Just then the lightning flashes again and in that flash, looking at the visitor, the girl's face turns ashen-white. "Uski safai meri safai se behtaar kaise? Rin Supreme apnao..." I switch off the TV and bang the remote on the bed in frustration. Yet another commercial break.

Despite the fact that we all hate advertisements (except may be when someone posts a hilarious video of one on a social-networking site and we choose to see it), ads are present everywhere. From TV, internet, newspapers to billboards, everyone is asking us to buy something. The unbearable part is when they appear out of nowhere just when we least expect them to be.

In case of TV or internet, there are many ways to escape ads. TimeShift TV or the AdBlock extension for Google Chrome works wonders when we want a clean, ad-free environment. But what do you do in case of newspapers? There has never been a day when I have picked up the copy of Times Of India lying outside my flat's door without fliers falling out of it. Sometimes there are tens of them each asking you to join the local gym or to protect your PC by taking it to Raja Computer Institute. Its certainly does not make up for a good morning when the wind blows away all the fliers and you have to run after them lest the society members accuse you of littering. Being bleary-eyed doesn't help at all.

Nowadays there is a trend of ads being printed on pages cut in half. Just today, Salman Khan was flapping out of one informing me that Bigg Boss 4 will start tonight. These half-page ads make holding the newspaper an exercise in gymnastics. How do you hold it without removing the offending page in its entirety and thus losing the news that is in the adjoining page! I haven't figured it out till now.

Just a few days back readers in the NCR region were in a shock when their newspaper started making noises. Some even called in the police suspecting it to be a bomb. Turns out it was an advertisement for Volkswagen and they had pasted a device at the back of every newspaper, which when opened made the noise. TOI was gloating over this "innovative" way of advertising without being least worried about the hot tea that I spilled over myself when I opened it.

As R. Serling said, "It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper." Now if you don't mind, will you please click on the ads appearing on the right-side of this blog?

Old is iron, not gold!

2010-09-27T22:45:00.000+05:30

The other day I was at my friend's house discussing the flavor of the season - The Commonwealth Games mess. My friend was getting animated and brought on the topic of falling of the false ceiling. His grandfather, a typical Haryanavi tau, who was listening intently to our discussion suddenly spoke, "What's a false ceiling?" On hearing our explanation, he was shocked, "Why would anyone use such flimsy materials to construct ceilings! They ought to fall down. In our days, houses built with solid stones would last for centuries unlike the apartments you live in."

His comments made my memories flood back to the days when my grandfather would proudly show us his decades old Usha ceiling fan. "Not once has it been to a mechanic's shop and still working fine as new." As if to support him, the fan would merrily continue on its slow-motion journey.

Another thing that my grandfather was very proud of was his Godrej almirah. It was so heavy that it needed ten well-built men to lift it from one place to another; even when empty! No thief could ever cut through its inches of steel. Same was the case with the VIP suitcase. Carrying it on a journey was so much pain but we still lugged it around, for it was super-safe and also because my grandfather would not leave without it. There are numerous other items, from TVs with wooden cabinets to electric irons which were so heavy that they would give you a perfect workout if you happened to iron more than two shirts with it.

All that has been replaced by shiny, glossy, light-weight things. Its all about instant gratification now. One doesn't eat an apple now but instead gulps down a tetra-pack of Tropicana apple juice. There are fans which are so light-weight that even a child can lift them. We have irons which let out steam so that you don't have to exert too much energy on ironing. Even the good old heavy-weight Ambassador car is now replaced with Tata Nano!

All this makes me think if it has some analogy with India's history - the solid foundation was laid by our fore-fathers and we are reaping the benefits of it. All this is very good but we must not replace the inner solidity with outer glitz and glamour lest our country too meets the same fate as CWG.

Presently, my friend's new cordless phone was knocked over by his dog, spilling out the batteries. While he was busy collecting the parts, his grandfather quipped, "You know, even if you throw our old telephone off the roof-top it won't shatter like this." My friend growled back.

Movie Review - Dabangg

2010-09-11T22:32:00.002+05:30

I am not a Salman Khan fan because of his excessive theatrics and silliness. So when the lights inside the theater dimmed , I just prayed to be able to sit through the movie. Boy, was I surprised and how!!

Dabangg makes its intention pretty clear with the first scene itself - its not an "intellectual" movie. Its sole intention is to entertain and that it does through large doses of Chulbul Pandey (played by Salman Khan). Chulbul, a corrupt cop with a golden heart, rules the badlands of Lalganj, Uttar Pradesh. He does so by fighting off tens of armed men through his sheer muscle power while dancing to a caller tune. It doesn't make any sense, and that's the beauty of it.

Rajjo (played by débutante Sonakshi Sinha) is the love interest of Chulbul. He manages to romance her even while fighting off Cheddi Singh (played by Sonu Sood) and waiting for her drunkard father to die so that he could marry her. When her father finally commits suicide, Chulbul doesn't waste a day. He marries Rajjo on the same day as her father's funeral in the wedding ceremony which was supposed to be held for his step-brother Makhanchand Pandey / Makhi (played by Arbaaz Khan)! The madness continues with Chulbul finishing off Cheddi in the epic climactic scene in which Chulbul's shirt automatically gets ripped off his body due to his bulging muscles.

Sonakshi Sinha is confident in her debut movie opposite a superstar. She looks pretty and innocent although she still has to shed a lot of puppy fat. On the technical front, more emphasis should have been put on make-up as one can make out the difference in skin tones when looked at carefully.

On the whole, Dabangg will be major hit in small towns and to a significant extent with the multiplex going audience. Do watch it for its unbridled stupidity and fun else Chulbul would create so many holes in your body that you would be confused from where to breathe and from where to... you know better.

What do you Like?

2010-08-31T20:12:00.001+05:30

Roll over wheel, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is now the Facebook's humble "Like" button. The creators of this button would never have thought that it would lead to such mind-boggling revenue and precious data generation for Facebook. Nor would they have thought that it would be used for anything else other than showing your approval for somebody's status message or link.

The Like button now encompasses all the colors of emotions; love, jealousy, anger, frustration; you name it. There are various websites urging you to "Like A Like" completely oblivious of Shakespeare turning in his grave on hearing this. The Like button enables you to deconstruct a person's entire psyche if you go through his/her likes. It has served as tool for flattery (in case of your boss) or impressing (a boy/girl).

Some likes are philosophical - "I want my lyf 2 b a book so dat i can tear those pages whch i dnt want". Never mind the fact that no one would in their right mind would consider anything written in such SMS language to be serious. Nevertheless, an entire industry has spawned around these likes with people flocking there to pour their hearts out. In a sense, Facebook thrives on human misery, which is cool for any website to do!

Facebook's Like still has a long journey ahead with the clamor for a "Dislike" button. With Facebook setting up its shop in India, it seems India will now be seriously "liked" by Facebook.