March 2010
29 posts
Made by Sofa →
Drop-dead-gorgeous web design. I know it is HTML, CSS, Javascript and a lot of hard work that goes behind the scenes. But how do they even manage to come up with such awesome-ness is beyond me. Someday I will get it, someday!
The Gates foundation... →
Bill and Melinda Gates have “made a commitment that 50 years after the last of the two of us has died…all our money would have been given away.”
Say what you want about Microsoft and its products, Bill, Melinda and their team are doing an incredible job at lifting up the lives of people all over the world. And all we do is, read about this, and say “oh good, nice!” (that includes me...
“Google is a car-mechanic wanting to be a poet, while Apple is a poet wanting to...”
– Heard somewhere over the internet :)
Update: I heard this in the Reporter’s Roundtable podcast at CNET.
Google Bookmarking!
Google recently introduced collaborative bookmarking which lets people mark, star, and share bookmarks (and lists). Take a look at the blogpost to get a feel of what it is. While the idea does seem very Google-ish, the service itself is not earth-shattering.
One has two options after reading the post. Crib and cry(as always) saying “awwwww Google is into everything, they want all my data,...
Google's Chrome standing tall...
Ars technica reports about the 2010 Pwn2Own contest where security researchers try their hand in breaking the latest and greatest of the web browsers. It seems pretty impressive that while IE8, Safari 4, Firefox 3, iPhone fall on day 1 of Pwn2Own contest, Chrome (just like last year’s contest) is the only browser left standing tall (I am not sure what happened to Opera). The fact that none...
Kasab a scapegoat? What is this crap?
Today’s article on The Hindu relating to Kasab (the terrorist involved in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai) read as follows
“Kasab has no connection with the perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks. He has been arrested by police just because he is a Pakistani and according to the police the conspiracy of the attack was hatched in Pakistan,” Mr. Pawar told a special court here.
Kasab had come...
A Letter to My Mother: Chicken Soup for the Soul →
“Nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough and go after it hard enough.”
We could all use some encouragement and inspiration every now and then. Touching letter from a son to his mom.
(via beliefnet.com)
Apple store on 5th Avenue, New york →
So much for an electronics store! But I must agree, the 5th avenue store is indeed a beautifully designed place.
(via: daringfireball)
Is the cloud in control? →
My phone tells me numbers, Facebook reminds me of birthdays, my nav system gives me directions, Google tells me how to spell, my bookmarks remind me of what I’ve read, my inbox tells me who I’m having a conversation with – my mind has been distributed across several devices and services.
How true! Even though I am not yet completely dependent on the cloud(and hopefully never will be), the part...
Apple's Mistake.. →
Wonderful piece on why Apple’s app store policies are detrimental to its own success. Will the launch of the iPad make any difference to the development community? Will Apple continue its stronghold on mobile apps? I hope not. It is my dearest hope that Android and the Nexus one adoption continues to grow - simply because there needs to be a contender to challenge Apple in the mobile arena....
Here's to sleeping well
Warren Buffett’s 2009 annual letter to shareholders
We will never become dependent on the kindness of strangers. Too-big-to-fail is not a fallback position at Berkshire. Instead, we will always arrange our affairs so that any requirements for cash we may conceivably have will be dwarfed by our own liquidity. Moreover, that liquidity will be constantly refreshed by a gusher of earnings from...
“Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it...”
– (source: Whatever works - Chicken soup for the soul - Teacher tales)
How often do you trust your instincts above and beyond your common sense ?
My fears come true...
Paul, after successfully managing to fall for the first time while ice skating - in front of 4 year olds and their proud parents.
Paul: Wooops!!! (falls down with a big thud, so huge that it makes every head turn around and go “uh oh”)
4 year old girl: Awwww!!! Are you okaieeeeeeeee? Here, take my hand and get up.
Paul: (slightly embarrassed) Yes, I am ok. Thanks.
4 year old girl:...
Life was much easier when... →
Cheesy!
Biking directions added to Google Maps →
Woo hoo !!!!
Three things about Marco Arment →
Nice tribute by Merlin Mann to Marco Arment the creator of Instapaper. Good read if you brush aside the occasional use of foul-language. I especially liked this part
Doesn’t have to be a cool computer program or a rocket to the moon. But, it’s worth remembering that we all have at least a little potential to do something bigger and more useful than pissing ourselves about what we don’t have or...
Whatever happened to programming? →
I have to admit I do feel like an API stitcher sometimes.
(via DaringFireball)
Mike Taylor:
I want to make things, not just glue things together.
1 tag
My first day at school
It has been quite a while since I wrote up a blog post. There have been quite a few sharing of links in this space, but nothing that I took time to pen my thoughts. Today seems to be a good day to break that long-running period of drought.
Last Tuesday, after much twisting and turning in my mind, I made a decision. That if I do not make use of this opportunity, I will probably never get it again;...
“We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think...”
– How true!
Art Buchwald (via fatalistichues) (via kimberleecline) (via secondverse) (via rickwebb)
Nostalgia, where the past is preferred over the present, and not just fond memories of the fuzzy past, is usually just a neurosis. On the other hand, thinking that we’re going through more nostalgia...
2 tags
Apple, HTC, Android and the patent system →
Yet another wonderful article by Gruber on the recent patent suits filed by Apple against HTC. The article is long, filled with wonderful arguments and references to patent-related articles; but what really amazes me is the way in which Gruber analyzes the issue, lays down the case considering the community at large and the sheer amount of thought that goes into the entirety of his writing. As...
2 tags
Thoughts on Software piracy →
Such a beautiful, straight-from-the-heart article about software piracy, and what we as developers can do about it. I especially love this part -
for the criminals: you can’t beat them on technical grounds, just forget it. If people want to crack software, they will (code obfuscation, call-home schemes or not. These guys write decompilers before breakfast)
And this one too.
“the best way to...
