Caesarean Rhapsody

Bill "I know exactly what you want" Gates has supposedly decided to support no disc format other than the old, old DVDs on the XBOX 360 console. Wise choice, will keep the prices low. Sony however has got its PS3 ready with Blu-Ray discs as the base and oodles of floating point & signal processing power coming from 7 dedicated DSPs. Looks like a tough call between the two. But I'd still choose the PS3 maintaining my Sony loyalty. They've never failed w.r.t gaming content.

He's also allegedly made another "statement" during the release of Microsoft's console last Christmas.

 The Register reports:

Bill Gates has hinted he thinks DVD could be the last disc storage format.

Remember guys, this is the same man who was reported quoting (in 1981) that 640k of memory should be enough for anyone!!!

Do you cringe in agony when your cousin (or hell even that toddler nephew/niece) from abroad romps about with his/her latest gadget and you would probably be able to afford it only some 50 years later?

I used to. Still do. But then I found relatives and friends in those countries

Now HCL computers is about to change the equation. It's going to take over the currently hap-hazard distribution of Apple's iPod. (Read more here)

That may be music to some people's ears but to me it means thorough disgust. Somehow HCL has never appealed to me. Neither with their lacklustre PCs nor with their slipshod distribution/service for Nokia phones.I have found their after sales servicing centres to be the most blatantly disrespectful and impolite. They have really bad work timings and badly chosen office locations. Maybe that's what fuelled Nokia to break the long standing deal they had. HCL will lose almost 70% of its revenue due to Nokia's decision to self-market its products.

Bottomline. Would I really want to buy something as expensive as an iPod from HCL? Certainly not. Above all this, would I want a terrible HCL logo (blue letter 'H' 'C' & 'L') on my iPod? Hell no!!!

A decade ago, Bajaj was to be the first player in the Indian market with a 250cc bike, with the release of the Kawasaki Ninja 250. Man that would have been a marvel. But they realized it wasn't the right time to launcch expensive 2 wheelers in India, much to my dismay, and stalled the deal which in the end never came through. But it was the right decision I think. What with the beautiful Hyosung Aquila failing to cause a stir in the market.

Now Bajaj Auto has actually launched their first foray into the 200cc+ market. The DTS-Fi sports a first in indegenious bikes, fuel injection. It only means faster throttle response and added to the 21 bhp it promises, this one is set to blow the top off the competition.

What upsets me most is that they are re-using the old Pulsar shape. The pics are here. Honestly, they're disappointing. The new bike could have used a whole lot more (and better) changes than are seen in the pics.

A wider wheelbase would definitely be my top priority. And lower seating is a must. It looked great on the earlier DTS-i models. The rear suspensions are a bit too high for visual comfort. Gives it a BMW F650 like look methinks (which I don't prefer). Plus thicker rear tyres are next in order. Enthusiasts will replace the stock ones anyways. And better shaped headlights pleeeease. The new look of the front lamps is horrendous. These are a few (and not comprehensive by far) suggestions that I would make.

But by and large Bajaj is doing the wise thing by bringing out this bike now. What with the bulging wallets of the current crop of potential bikers and a lot of enthusiasts tired of their 3-4 year old bab-eys.

As I had previously said, Café Mocha is coming to Pune. Now some updates on the when and where.

Location : Law College Road, near Kinetic showroom

Date : 15th June 2006

Nothing's official yet, but what the hell!!! We'd all still love to live in hope to get our hands on those sinful choc avalanches, vertigo's and toblerone shakes.

Translated from Latin the above words mean "That which nourishes me, destroys me". What has this certain expression got to do in relation to this post? I was reading today's news on Google. What I saw was a stark contrast between two different pieces of news.

Govt. agrees to examine students' demands

Fanaa ban undemocratic

Where one set of individuals is protesting to retain fairness in the basic right to education for everyone, democracy is under duress from another pack of wolves in Gujrat. A few weeks back in another act of "secular and democratic" awareness Priyaranjan Dasmunshi brought restraint on the release of Da Vinci Code. Kudos to Sharmila Tagore for having publicly condemned this stupid misuse of power.

My question is, do we still have the right to call ourselves the sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic that we are?

Nine MSN reports, that the notion of invisibiltiy suggested in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series, may no longer be a matter of fiction. Duke University and Imperial College professors have come together to develop something know as Metamaterial that will sweep the light and electromagnetic waves around themselves and subsequently the object they are covering.

It got me thinking how great it would be to have one all to myself. Takes me back to the book Invisible Man by H G Wells. Also reminds me of the horrible consequences if it were to fall into the wrong hands a la Hollow Man.

To give you an idea about the right thing in the worng hands, here's an example from the recent past. Sony uses UMD catridges for playing back video on the PSP. They had full control over the production of these cartridges till recently when someone suddenly started providing UMD media to porn companies. Sony is baffled by this development and is answerless to the media.

So however big this breakthrough may sound, it is a potentially dangerous thing to have. Absolute power corrupts and it's a very indiscriminate process when it comes to moral deterioration. The most steadfast men could fall prey to power-play. And think of the conseqeunces if the technology reached terrorist camps. They would have a field day laying down body counts that would put the world wars look like child's play.

Best keep this a work in progress.

Google has started a new service, called Google Pages, to allow its massive fan-following to publish personal micro-websites. It's a bit too late, but Google has still gone ahead and done it. It is still being tested, but in the current state itself looks "good to eat"

It's way behind Yahoo or Tripod in the WYSIWYG page publishing game, but then they were ages behind in the messenger race too. As things stand, GTalk is giving a tough competition to Yahoo and MSN messenger.

Simplicity, Google's mantra for success, reflects in this nifty little tool. The look-n-feel is similar to GMail and is way simpler than Yahoo's Geocities or Tripod's services. Templates are really cool and best of all, no ads on your page. What's more you can log-in with your GMail ID itself

Rest, I haven't checked. But I'm sure most of you will as this gains momentum.

3 programmers + 1 marketing intern

10 weeks

1 complete software released

FogCreek Software hired 4 summer interns from Yale, Duke and Rose-Hulman university and put them amidst a life of luxury and more signifacntly code, code and more code. It was (for some odd reason) called Project Aardvark.

Their task. To develop CoPilot, a software that allows one to remotely assist someone with their computer related problems. It may sound similar to Windows Remote Assistance but apparently it is more secure, easier, works though most firewalls and more importantly needs no special installation or configuration!!!

Joel Spolsky, the owner of the famous Joel on Software blog, runs the show at FogCreek. He also recruited a professional documentary maker to create one for the team involved in this unique attempt at a coding record.

It also has its own Wikipedia page. Check it out here.

This little doodley blurb found its way to my inbox this morning. Featured here is the Father of the Nation (still haven’t figured out how he managed it) being given the famous historical “boot”. Does this also cast an innuendo at the incumbent party? That is for the viewer to ponder upon.

The government has been in the eye of the tornado for the past few weeks with the protests against reservations gaining momentum by the hour thoughout the nation. What the outcome of all this will be still remains to be seen. But there surely has been enough opposition to create a stir at 10 Janpath. The government is now trying to appease both camps by increasing the overall seats in the institutions under purview.

Although it doesn’t seem to be a solution, if in the end it means good for everyone, why not?

Articles elsewhere about this issue: Economic Times, Indian Express, Mid-Day, DNA India

Thanks to Gaurav's Blog I came across the English blog of a marathi shiv sainik. It was a nicely put together article about how we maharashtrians always end up bashing the outsiders or politicians for the state we are in. 

Here is the link to the article on the Patrakaar blog.

Time to put on our thinking caps people.  After all nothing is permanant. Neither glory nor gloom.

Follow up coming soon: What Maharashtra can and should do for its own good.