Category: My Updates

Categories
My Updates

Lecture on Eclipse in VTU Edusat

I delivered a lecture on “Introduction to Eclipse and its usefulness” in VTU Edusat, a distance learning program of VTU. This is the first time I am delivering a lecture in VTU Edusat.

Here is what I liked about the program:
* Excellent use of technology to reach distant colleges in Karnataka.
* Currently Edusat has cast more than 3000 lectures. All of these lectures are available to the students if needed.
* There is good industry backing. This can help bridge the gap between industry and academia.

There are some things that will hopefully improve:
* It is more of a monologue right now. So there is absolutely no way of knowing the skill level of the students and tweak the lecture.

Hats off to the guys behind this mission. This is a good first step; however there are things that can improve. If you are part of University Relations in your company, do join the Edusat program and make a difference!

Categories
My Updates Photography

A very productive weekend

With 5 movies and a solo trip on my bike around Bangalore on the ring road, clearly, this is one of the most productive weekends ever! 🙂

Movies I watched:

  • Cast Away
  • Forrest Gump
  • Road to Perdition
  • Insomnia
  • Whole Nine Yards


And now about the trip:
I was bored. That is when this thought came to me that I could go round the city on the ring-road. I had planned a similar trip around the Mysore Ring road during Engineering, however the road was not yet complete.

So I started off at 3:25 pm from Indiranagar. I reached the Marathalli junction at around 3:45. My plan was to return to this exact same location and then return home.

Just to give you an idea of the route I took, here are some places I came across during my trip:

Marathalli, Sarjapur road, BTM ring road, Bannerghatta road, Deve Gowda petrol bunk, Kathriguppe, Pantar Palya, Bangalore University, RVCE, Kengeri, Papareddy Palya, Peenya, Tata tea, BEL circle, Hebbal fly-over, Devanahalli (had lost my way), back to Hebbal fly-over, Banasvadi junction, back to Marathalli.

I lost my way thrice during the trip. On one occasion I was on my way to Hyderabad. Little did I realize that I had taken the wrong way from Hebbal. It was only after I reached Devanahalli a good 25 km from Hebbal fly-over that I realized I had hopelessly lost my way!

After having travelled for about 150 km, for about 4 hours 15 minutes, I returned home safe and tired. Wow, that was a memorable journey!

Categories
My Updates

Two down; still going strong

I just completed two years in IBM! It has been an interesting, challenging and rewarding journey so far. It has been my pleasure to work with some of the industry leaders and some of the most unique people here.

I see a blend of skills, knowledge and passion in the people. I have been involved in a variety of projects, which have helped me understand IBM's business and the role of technology better. There is still a lot more to learn and contribute.

Categories
My Updates

iPod Nano – my new acquisition

What would you prefer? A single gadget which does all or a gadget which does the best in its category?

I got a new 4 GB blue iPod Nano today. Special thanks to my cousin for getting it from Canada.

I was criticized by some for not buying a music phone. Their opinion was, “Why spend 10k on a gadget that does one thing, when you can have everything in one device for that amount?”

Ideally speaking, I would like a single device myself, but then when it comes to quality I better not compromise. I would rather prefer a mobile phone for calls/messaging, a music player for music and a camera for snaps. Too many gadgets? Difficult to manage? Well, not for me.

The nano is perhaps the sleekest it can get; any more sleeker and you will risk breaking it when manipulating the wheel!

iPod has been the best music player available. Hats off to the guys behind its User Interface. If someone is planning a PhD in User Experience, you better work in Apple for a significant part of your career!

Well, as far as the iPod is concerned, I should say it's great! The sound is amazing, so is the battery backup and as already mentioned, the User Interface will leave you amazed as to how simple things can be.

Categories
My Updates

Ananya is 3 years old today

I am turning 3 years old today. It has been a fun filled journey. During the course of the year, Gautham developed interest in photography, and so you will see a steep decline in his technical blogs and photos figuring in many of the entries.

Here is how I am faring:
Journal entries: 195
Comments posted: 285
Comments received: 467

Last year at this time, I had:
Journal entries: 147
Comments received: 353

I along with Gautham, would like to thank all my readers especially those who took the pains to comment here (excluding spammers of course).

Categories
My Updates

ISL Innovator watch

I received this watch as an award for my first patent disclosure. Thank you ISL!
Categories
My Updates

Trip to San Jose, CA

I am right now in my hotel room in San Jose, California.

This is a business visit for a duration of 2 weeks.

I reached here on Monday afternoon after a long and tiring journey that lasted for more than 24 hours. We took Singapore airlines and came via Singapore/Seoul.

My first impression of this city:
Well, for a person like me who has been in India all his life, there are some major differences you see here. You hardly get to see people on the street. Places are too far apart from each other and it seems like car manufacturing is a booming business!

You hardly get to see anything other than cars and trucks.

The office is quite close to the hotel and it is about a 10 min drive.

Here's the map.

Use of technology:
I have seen some wonderful use of technology right since I left Bangalore. For example, Singapore airlines has a small screen for every passenger, where you get to watch movies, listen to music and play games. The remote doubles as a WiFi phone. It has a card reader to activate the phone.

One of the channels shows real time information about the flight, including altitude, temperature, time in destination and present position, and a map showing the current position of the plane. Whenever you see some mountains, you look out of the window and you actually get to see the mountain tops. You also realize why the plane is changing direction and in which direction it is heading.

I also saw the cab driver using GPS to reach the hotel. He just entered the destination address and the map showed him the direction he had to take.

A lot of things to learn and take note of!

Categories
My Updates

Super splendor – the latest ‘new’ thing in my life


[ad name=”blog-post-ad-wide”]

I was on the look-out for a 125 cc bike.

The bikes that I tried are:
* Hero Honda Super Splendor
* Honda Shine
* TVS Victor GLX
* Bajaj Discover

Honda Shine has the smoothest engine and good power. Next is the Super Splendor. I did not quite like Victor or Discover.

So I had to choose among 2 bikes. It was a tough choice!

Shine, being a new bike, I did not want to bet on it, especially with people commenting that although Shine has a whole lot of cool features, the looks are not good and Honda might come up with a new version of it soon. Plus there have been comments about Honda having starting problems and costly spares.

So Super Splendor was the obvious choice. It has decent power, is light and easy to maneuver and has good mileage. Plus Splendor has done well already and so this is a safe bet.

Next to decide was the color. This bike is available in 5 colors. I liked the Frost Blue colored bike. Black is good, but then it is pretty common.

So here it is. The latest in my 'belongings' list.

Categories
My Updates

About my work

Well, I hardly blog about my work. But here's something that gives moments of pride.

Categories
My Updates

One year up in IBM

A year back on this day, I joined IBM.

So far, so good. Lots more to do.

technorati tags:, ,