The iPod turns 2
The New York Times has come out with an article on the second anniversary of the iPod. In an attempt to look under the untouchable veneer of the iPod to see what makes it so cool, and what drives Apple to make “innovative” devices, Jobs tells him that Apple doesn’t really try to innovate – innovation may result, but the attempt, always, is to create the best possible product for a given set of consumer expectations. The best part of the article:
What I had been hoping to do was catch a glimpse of what’s there when you pull back all those layers — when you penetrate the aura, strip off the surface, clear away the guts. What’s under there is innovation, but where does it come from? I had given up on getting an answer to this question when I made a jokey observation that before long somebody would probably start making white headphones so that people carrying knockoffs and tape players could fool the world into thinking they had trendy iPods.
Jobs shook his head. ”But then you meet the girl, and she says, ‘Let me see what’s on your iPod.’ You pull out a tape player, and she walks away.”
I love my iPod.
And hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! (In case you didn’t notice, in the pic below, I have a tiny, off-center strip beard.)
Posted by Anil on November 30th, 2003 :: Filed under
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A new photoblog
That’s right, I’ve put up a photoblog at textamerica. Textamerica is a moblog site (for publishing photos taken with mobile phones), and the site says that it’s been created with my sony ericsson T616, but that’s just because I couldn’t figure out a way to get rid of that message. So here’s my photoblog!
Posted by Anil on November 29th, 2003 :: Filed under
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How not to get fired because of your blog!
Blogger has this timely post that addresses the issue of blogging at work. It might be a good idea to read it and avoid the fate of the Microsoft employee who posted a picture of macs being unloaded at the Microsoft campus and then proceeded to describe the surrounding geography. It also mentions the web-fire escape – a button that can be clicked to instantly exit the page to a harmless one. Check out the button below each of my posts.
Posted by Anil on November 25th, 2003 :: Filed under
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The top 40 directors in the world
The Guardian, UK has come out with a whimsical rating of what they feel are the top 40 directors in the world. While the talent of the directors in the list is never in question, the relative importance given to each director is certainly an open question. It is, of course, impossible to compile such a list and satisfy every critic out there, but there are some glaring omissions in the list. The list names David Lynch (Mulholland Dr.) as the “most important film-maker of the current era”. This is probably the equivalent of looking at a particularly abstract painting and calling the artist the ‘most important artist of the era’ knowing fully well that no one will contradict you as no one can interpret it any better either. Admittedly, Lynch’s films provoke much thought and are interesting, but at no point of time does any of his films strike you of greatness. While Quentin Tarantino makes the list, another filmmaker who makes films with the same panache, Guy Ritchie is nowhere to be seen. IMHO, Guy Ritchie is a superior filmmaker since his movies do not smack of self-importance and ‘see-I-think-this-is-so-funny-and-I-don’t-care-if-you-understand-shit’ the way most of Tarantino’s films do. And where is Zemekis? And for a list that claims to be a list of the best directors in the world, it appears to be a list of directors known in the western world I’m sure a little extra research would have turned up amazing directors from the rest of the world too.
Posted by Anil on November 21st, 2003 :: Filed under
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MSN Newsbot
Microsoft, in its never ending quest to put a finger in every pie has brought out a pathetic tool that imitates Google News. Named MSN Newsbot, this reeks so strongly of innovation that you might be tempted to think that someone mined the Google News site and changed the colors and fonts around to give it some more eye-candy. From being a ditto of the Google page format, to selection of sections, and even the ‘beta’ sticker on top, this has to be the worst piece of work from Microsoft. What irks me most is the complete non-usefulness of the website. Every section has at most two stories, and they are so badly selected that they give you no choice but to click on the ‘more’ link to see what other stories might be on the section. Then there’s the ‘most popular’ section, which has been showing Microsoft related articles for the past two days. What irks me most, however is the eye-candy. Google has perfected a system whereby they use the simplest of styles to create a neat website (note the near absence of any design related images on any Google website). Like any other MSN website, this one has neat graphics which look good at first, but after you stay on the site for a while, the gloss starts getting on your nerves. One of the reasons why I love to stay on Slashdot is that you are never distracted by the graphics. Sites like Kuro5hin which work pretty much like Slashdot are enveloped in so much gloss that you feel the need to escape after a while. I’m sticking with Google for now.
Posted by Anil on November 20th, 2003 :: Filed under
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Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro, and an alumnus of Stanford was conferred an honorary doctorate by IIT Roorkee on monday. From his acceptance speech:
• A rupee earned is of far more value than five found.
• Learn to lose and also to enjoy winning. And when you do lose, do not lose the lesson.
• Have faith in your own ideas even if everyone tells you they are wrong. Have enduring faith in yourself because then you will always have enduring faith in others.
• Life’s battle does not always go to the person who is stronger and faster. But the person who wins is the person who thinks he can.
• Strive for excellence. We are what we repeatedly do. Remember, excellence is not an act but a habit.
• Always keep in mind that it is only the test of fire that makes fine steel.
• Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values. Your values are your foundation for life.
Premji dropped out of Stanford in ’66 to take over Wipro when his father passed away – and took the company from being being a vegetable oil company to one of the biggest IT companies in the world!
Posted by Anil on November 18th, 2003 :: Filed under
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Long week… midterm, project… messed around with the Google toolbar dll during one crazy night..
Posted by Anil on November 17th, 2003 :: Filed under
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An interesting way to copy-protect discs
Macrovision has come out with an interesting way to deter piracy of games/movies. Of course, it’s impossible to prevent discs from being copied bit-by-bit unless all hardware is designed to prevent that – something that is practically impossible. The region encoding in DVDs doesn’t really work outside in the US. It’s extremely easy to obtain DVD players (or even get hacked players from big name brands) in Asia that do not look for the region information in DVDs and hence, will play almost any DVD.
Now this method tries something really interesting. Almost all CD/DVD systems have error correction mechanisms so that discs with minor scratches or dust will still play fine. The macrovision method puts bit sequences on the disk that appear as minor scratches to the player. The bits do not worry the original game/movie which is designed to look out for those bits, but as soon as the disk is copied, those virtual ‘scratches’ are lost – which signals that the disk is a copied one.
The interesting part about the technology is that instead of completely disabling the software, the games are designed to progressively deteriorate over time if it detects that a pirated version is running. So guns might not aim properly, or balls on a pool table might not have enough gravity to keep them on the table – all this happens after a while, and in stages so that the player is properly hooked to the game by then. It is assumed that the player will be sufficiently interested to go out and buy a proper version to keep playing. For movies, the idea is to stop playing the movie at some interesting point.
Of course, no system can ever be completely hacker proof, but the very concept of having pirated software disintegrate over time, much like a low-quality pirated book is innovative.
Posted by Anil on November 11th, 2003 :: Filed under
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Hyderabadi Ishtyle!
I don’t know how I missed this, but there was an awesome entry in my guestmap (it’s the link that says ‘leave your mark here’) written in hyderabadi hindi. My apologies to those who cannot understand it, but it’s written in a style that’s simply too good. Okay, here it is:
Shehnaz
Date Posted : August 19, 2003 06:25:05 PM
Email : Fir kabhi
Website URL : Ham to bas nacheez hain!
Comments : Hyderabad se Shehnaz ka aadab! Kya mast site hai baap! Ekdam hila ke rakh diya!! Miyan tum ho badi kamaal ki cheez! Tumhare likhey articles padhke meri to sitti pitti gum ho gayi! Main kya…merey muhalley ke sabhi dost aapke pankhey ho gaye! Aur main?? Beganey ki shaadi mein abdulla deewana! Hmm…bas! Isi tarah likhte rahiyega…hamein besabri se intezaar rahega!! Khatam kahani, barkhast biryani!!
Posted by Anil on November 9th, 2003 :: Filed under
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A wacky chat between the developers of gaim (from the secret developers archive)
22:39:18 RobFlynn: Umm
22:39:19 RobFlynn: My brain is dead.
22:39:39 Flyn Orange: *hooks up electrodes to Rob’s brain and connects the battery*
22:39:47 Flyn Orange: kaZAP!
22:39:53 RobFlynn: EEpepEPAPEPAEppaep BBrRERERFFFF EPEPEPPEPpeppepape
22:39:58 RobFlynn: *waddle jerk waddle waddle twitch*
22:40:14 Flyn Orange: Its alive! Its ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!
22:40:25 Flyn Orange: *maniacal laugh*
22:40:26 RobFlynn: *twitch twitch waddle convulse*
22:40:41 Flyn Orange: *disconnects battery*
22:40:52 RobFlynn: *** The sun slowly fades away as a giant penguin towers above the remains of a small, wooden table***
22:41:13 Flyn Orange: ** storm clouds rise **
22:41:25 Flyn Orange: *thunder crack*
22:41:26 RobFlynn: *** With an eerie, almost mechanical qualling, the penguin marches its way over to its creator ***
22:41:56 Flyn Orange: Well, hello lit…er…big fella. Would you like some HERRING?
22:42:19 Flyn Orange: How about some FREE BEER?
22:42:44 RobFlynn: *** A booming voice echos through the hallways ***
22:42:47 RobFlynn: *** PIPE GREP MORE ***
22:43:20 RobFlynn: *** With a low, rumbling sound the last syllable of the mysterious phrase shakes the very foundation of the decrepit laboratory***
22:43:22 Flyn Orange: ** the mad scientists terminal suddenly crashes, and a vaguely familiar blue screen shows on it’s display **
22:44:08 Flyn Orange: Damn the fates! How can I face my peers now when I TOLD them proprietary was better!
!
22:45:19 RobFlynn: *** THE PENGUIN BALKS: CTRL-ALT-DELETE ***
Posted by Anil on November 9th, 2003 :: Filed under
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