Microsoft Commercial - Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld

If Circus Shoe store size 10 refers to Apples Mac OS 10, then I consider this Ad subtly funny.
Frankly it doesn't click as Mac/PC Ads.

Oh well it is clearly evident MS is losing it's grip.

Google Chrome

Installed Chrome on my work computer, but when I tried to access Gmail and couple of other sites, I got a blank page. Chrome seems to be having problems dealing with both http/https sites through a proxy...bummer.. Hope they fix it.

Otherwise at home, it is amazingly fast and I love it - need to get used to it though.

Phew..finally was able to update to iPhone 2.0

After relentless trials for hours, I was able to update my iPhone to 2.0. It's worth the upgrade. Will post more on iPhone 2.0 in coming days.

So long Bill - Farewell to Bill Gates

Today is his last day as a full-time worker at Microsoft, marking the unofficial end of his career as a business leader.

I personally am not a big fan of Microsoft products, but still admire Bill Gates for his achievements and difference he made to this world leading the PC revolution to see a computer on every desk and in every home (presumably running Microsoft software ).

Also I am aware there is a world beyond my geeky interests and that hunger and disease are far more important than them.

So long Bill.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2630130120080627


I haven't blogged in ages and thought today is the most appropriate day to restart it.

Small is the new big

I have to overcome my blogging interia, so I figured now is as good a time as any.Joined Travelocity couple of weeks and I am getting trained in various of the business there...

Lately, I have become a big fan of Seth Godin and his new book "Small is the new big..." adds more to it. He makes some good points about a lot of interesting topics and insight into various business ideas.

Unleashing the Ideavirus

Always keep saying, I have to blog regularly - haven't been able to keep the promise ever, dunno if it is work (trying to do too many things), procrastinating attitude or mental fatigue due to severe sleep deprivation.

But then only a busy man finds time.

I have been reading Seth Godin's Unleashing the Ideavirus. The only thing I can say about the book is "awsome". Seth Godin is one my favourite new age writers/speakers. Defintely cannot help refering to one of the comments on him and after reading few pages of the book, I definitely agree with it.


"Take Leo Burnett, David Ogilvy,
Bill Bernbach and Mark Twain.
Combine their brains and
shave their heads.
What's left? Seth Godin."

Jay Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing


Quite impressive

Educating Intuition

Back to blogging again. I have been reading a lot these days and came across this book which is a read list in Gladwell's Blink - Power of thinking without thinking.

Educating Intuition - Robin Hogarth

Hogarth lays bare this mysterious process so fundamental to daily life by offering the first comprehensive overview of what the science of psychology can tell us about intuition--where it comes from, how it works, whether we can trust it. From this literature and his own research, Hogarth finds that intuition is a normal and important component of thought that has its roots in processes of tacit learning. Environment, attention, experience, expertise, and the success of the scientific method all form part of Hogarth's perspective on intuition, leading him to the surprising--but natural--conclusion that we can educate our sixth sense. To this end he offers concrete suggestions and exercises to help readers develop their intuitive skills and habits for learning the "right" lessons from experience.

Worth reading.......

Google home page Logos

Was looking at google home page logos . Quite interesting !!!

http://www.google.com/holidaylogos.html

new engine, same soul - Mac Pro intel

Thats what apple calls. Well apple has done it again - but is it going to be a hit, I think so..... But then soon it will be just like wintel machines plagued with same problems of spyware, viruses, security vulnerabilities etc., making it loose the uniqueness of the platform. Many mac aficionados would be very dissapointed with it, if it ever happens.

Anyways, I am very excited for apple world, lots of things happenig out there - can't wait to own the new mac pro

Google - CES 2006

Here is the video of Larry Page talking about Google Video







Courtesy CNET News

Flying Trapeze - 2006

Happy New Year !!!!

Yeah thats what I think 2006 is going to be (for me and everybody). 2005 marked lot of unforeseen events, natural calamities - but some where buried deep is hope for a better economic future.

Things seem picking up, definitely there will be growth this year, but might have to be careful - the road could be bumpy. Oh well I am not a soothsayer, or an analyst, its just an idle speculation.

Technology trends/forcasts this year

1. IPod based Pocket PC - what else is left for apple in IPod list.
2. Google O/S
3. Voice Chatting - Yahoo would cash in (I think..)
4. Video Blogs

Achilles - My new Robot

My robot named after one of my favourite heroes Achilles (from Homer's Illiad). Have lots of plans for Achilles to make him autonomous. Hopefully I'll find time from my busy schedule.

Only Busy Man finds Time .....

Phew .... finally got time to do something fun. But then no excuse as my professor said - "Only busy man finds time".

I have been working on a lot web services and Map technogies, Goggle Maps, MSN Virtual Earth and Yahoo.

1. Where I live in Google Maps along with Weather Details

Where I live

2. MSN Virtual Earth

Weather

DFW Traffic Report

Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Security -> Custom Level, and enable the 'Access data sources across domains' option under Miscellaneous

You are too busy working...

..... when you forget blogging.

I am coming up against a major deadline -- I'm too sick at heart to do much, anyway,I'm just burying myself in coding.

Hope I'll get back to blogging soon.

Back Again.......

I've been missing out a lot from life these days. there's so much I want to do, so much to learn...
What I need is to get out of denial mode.

Data Mining

In this modern age, information is power.

IN THE old days, knowing your customers was part and parcel of running a business, a natural consequence of living and working in a community. But for today's big firms, it is much more difficult: a big retailer such as Wal-Mart has no chance of knowing every single one of its customers. So the idea of gathering huge amounts of information and analysing it to pick out trends indicative of customers' wants and needs—data mining—has long been trumpeted as a way to return to the intimacy of a small-town general store.

Improvements in both hardware and software, and the rise of the world wide web, have enabled data mining to start delivering on its promises. Richard Neale of Business Objects, a software company based in San Jose, California, tells the story of a British supermarket that was about to discontinue a line of expensive French cheeses which were not selling well. But data mining showed that the few people who were buying the cheeses were among the supermarket's most profitable customers—so it was worth keeping the cheeses to retain their custom.
As data mining has matured, examples like this are plentiful. The field is now advancing on three new fronts. The first is the ability to mine data in real time, and use the results to adjust pricing on the fly, for example. The second is the vogue for “predictive analytics”, the art of using historical data not just to explain past trends, but to predict future ones. Finally, there is growing interest in systems that can analyse messy “unstructured” data, such as text on the web, rather than just structured data stored in orderly databases.

Predict and Provide - The new order of the day.

I could have been a contender

“You don’t understand. I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody, instead of a bum - which is what I am.”

- Marlon Brando in 'On the Waterfront'

I have been feeling exactly the same from past few days

Can't wait to see my all time hero "Spider-Man".
Seen the movie more than 50 times.There is
something about the movie that draws my attention
always.Big thanks to HBO and the god forsaken place
where I currently live, the only rescue out here
is the Television

Yeah talking about "Spider-Man"......
Mary Jane is the love interest of Peter Parker and as such,
the romance is one of the core emotionaldrives of 'Spider-Man.'
It makes you relate to the characters.I think that Spider-Man
is a very relatable superhero. I think that's why he's probably
one of the most-beloved superheroes. Because he's a normal guy,
people can relate to him, and he has humanistic qualities. You
feel for him and you go on a journey with him in this film. You
see how he gets his powers and how it's almost a curse for him at
times. I think you really feel a lot for Spider-Man and Mary Jane
and all the characters because there are good storylines amidst a
comic book story.But the thing that applies to each and everyone is the
central theme of the story "With great power comes great responsibility....."

A heart is a fragile thing. That's why we protect
them so vigorously, give them away so rarely,
and why it means so much when we do. Some hearts
are more fragile than others. Purer, somehow.
Like crystal in a world of glass, even the way
they shatter is beautiful.

Achilles(Akilleus)

Achilles was the greatest warrior on the Greek side. He stopped fighting however when Agamemnon took away
his love, Briseis. He returned to the war after his best friend, Patroklus, was killed by Hektor wearing Achilles armor.
Achilles rejoined the war and killed Hektor. He then dragged his body with a chariot around the walls of Troy.
Hektor's father, King Priam, went to Achilles to beg for his sons body. Achilles was killed by Paris with and arrow
shot in his one vulnerable spot, his heel.

I am so enamoured with this Wonderful Tool, looking for information found this

Soople

The word 'Soople' comes from an early English dialect, meaning "to soften, make supple".
That's a great description of what Soople.com does for Google or for Google users.

The author of Soople Floris Rost van Tonningen says that the idea was to make Google's full
power easily accessible for those who have no clue about extraordinary features/tools of Google.com.

For instance, one can specify a search by one particular site or file type (word, excel, PowerPoint and PDF)
or an image search by size (small, medium, wallpaper, icon-sized) and type (JPG, PNG, GIF). Furthermore,
there are many useful tools Google offers; search in the latest news, look up definitions or use Google as
a phonebook, search any detail by number (a UPS/FedEx tracking number, Patent numbers), search for latest
stock prices from the top five finance websites, movie reviews, who's linking to your website, etc. And last
but not least, the Calculator. This amazing tool let's you do all kind of calculations. Soople has added the
unit-converter, which is based on this calculator, for the conversion of all the common units/measures
(meters to yards).


Suddenly, life sounds quite simple. If you have been a pro or average Google user, chances are you will fall
in love with Soople.com on your first visit.

Google is a company that has built a single very large, custom computer. It's running their own cluster operating system.
They make their big computer even bigger and faster each month, while lowering the cost of CPU cycles. It's looking more
like a general purpose platform than a cluster optimized for a single application.

While competitors are targeting the individual applications Google has deployed, Google is building a massive, general
purpose computing platform for web-scale programming.

This computer is running the world's top search engine, a social networking service, a shopping price comparison engine,
a new email service, and a local search/yellow pages engine. What will they do next with the world's biggest computer and
most advanced operating system?

Imagine if we integrate Google into searching hyper and meta datasets and that we can soon have an integrated Data Search
layer for all Applications ( No SQL .....).Oh Well am I dreaming, I don't think so, pretty soon its going to be a reality.

Fashion is demanding. Oscar Wilde once said “fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we
have to alter it every six months”. But who says our wardrobes need to always be the slaves of
fashion? Who says we need to fret and fume over what the fashion gurus say we should/shouldn’t
be owning this season?

Every wardrobe can comprise of a few essential or basic items that never go out of style, that shall
prevail for numerous coming seasons, that are not fashion victims but define fashion.

Love Story

The most intelligent thing said in this book is that ’’Love means never having to say
you’re sorry.’’ This book is good for anyone who thinks that love can be conquered
by hate, but in reality love that is true lasts an eternity. It makes us cherish our relationship
with the loved ones, and at the same time brings forth the inevitable... that every meeting has a
parting. Reading it makes you feel that there is so less time to love.
We pass our daily lives seldom acknowledging the love we have around us.

Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of greatest strength, and greatest weakness.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

John Keating: We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are
members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering,
these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay
alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the
faithless--of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here - that life
exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse." That the powerful play goes
on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

Keating: Sucking all the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone.

Daulton : (answering phone) Welton Academy, hello? ... Yes he is, hold on. Mr. Nolan, it's for you. (holds up phone)
It's God. He says we should have girls at Welton.

John Keating : Why do we need language?
Neil Perry : To communicate...
John Keating : Nooo!! To woo women!

Keating: No matter what anybody tells you, words & ideas can change the world.

Keating: Now I'd like you to step forward over here. They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts.
Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined
for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to
make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now
fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen,
you hear it? --- Carpe --- hear it? --- Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.

I’m the darkness in the light
I’m the leftness in the right

I’m the rightness in the wrong
I’m the shortness in the long

I’m the goodness in the bad
I’m the saneness in the mad

I’m the sadness in the joy
I’m the gin in the gin-soaked boy

I’m the beauty in the beast
I’m the sunset in the east

I’m the ruby in the dust
I’m the trust in the mistrust

I’m the tiger’s empty cage
I’m the mystery’s final page

I’m the stranger’s lonely glance
I’m the hero’s only chance

I’m the undiscovered land
I’m the single grain of sand

I’m the Christmas morning toy
I’m the gin in the gin-soaked boy

I’m the world you’ll never see
I’m the slave you’ll never free

I’m the truth you’ll never know
I’m the place you’ll never go

I’m the sound you’ll never hear
I’m the course you’ll never steer

I’m the will you’ll not destroy
I’m the gin in the gin-soaked boy

I’m the half-truth in the lie
I’m the why not in the why

I’m the spirit in the sky
I’m the catcher in the rye

Who am I?


Gin Soaked Boy- Divine Comedy

The greatest happinesss in the world is the conviction that we are loved, loved for
ourselves, or rather loved inspite of ourselves....

Victor Hugo

The Stain Remains

Was it me? honestly
Turn away from my purity
Never look back and don’t look ahead
At those lies that night or empty promises
It’s the blood in your tears
The pain in your veins
The lies, the cries, only the
Only the stain remains

Everyday-i live it
Everyday-i face it
Everyday-i hate it
All I need is me and that’s it

I wish I could turn back the hands of time
And maybe I would believe in a dream I cannot even see
Close your ears if you don’t want to hear
Let me make myself perfectly clear
I don’t believe your dream even exists
Save your prayers and solve your problems with your fist

Sometimes I don’t see any point in life
Can’t seem to break away
From the pain that’s here to stay

All I need, set me free
All I need, set me free
All I need, set me free
All I need...is me!

-- ALBUM · River Runs Red (1993)

Perspective

Michelangelo said the best way to judge the essential elements of a sculpture is to throw it down a
hill and the unimportant pieces will break away. Sometimes life is like that. It tosses us down a hill.
But when we reach the bottom and only the important things are left, that's when our vision clears.
That's when we hold on tight to what we know, while hope stirs inside us. It's all a matter of perspective.