Well "quick" means a little less planned than my usual excursions, and of course, a bit shorter than the past few trips.

This should be quite the interesting experience with many "firsts" for a few different people, and I hope they all manage, seeing as they're not a seasoned desi like me (jk).

I will be intentionally disconnecting from the internets for the whole duration (unlike some BlackBerry toting brethren). So email replies will be a few weeks delayed. Hopefully I won't have any 3G withdrawal symptoms.

Anyways, will report when I get back. Happy start of summer!

Posted in: Life, India, Travel,

In a half filled lecture hall in the fall of 2000, I heard an enthusiastic Compaq (now HP) engineer talk about his work with IPv6. He said eventually every single tiny device you own will have an IP address to connect to the internet. Most of the students passively dismissed this idea. I was among them.

I was fortunate to have the time and the means to attend Google I/O last month. This is Google's yearly conference known for engaging software developers on a deep level to both promote Google's technologies as well as openness on the internet. The demo for "Froyo" - Google's next update for their Android cell phones - is what really caught my attention.

I honestly beleive the the new features introduced are really what the customer wants and NOT what the manufacturer wants you to want. This is quite revolutionary in this age. Things in Froyo will deeply offend the cell service providers (who might charge extra $20/mo for hotspot) or even the media companies (who want to charge you to stream music). And the sad thing is that these things aren't really revolutionary take so long to get to the people.

When reviewing Apple's iPhone 4 presentation last week, it was pretty clear to me that the iPhone will be a dominant product for some time to come. But outside of the typically bigger and faster - I failed to grasp the features that make it so much better. Limited multitasking? Changing backgrounds? I don't see how iPhone users are much better off than they were one year ago. And even worse in some cases with Apple's strict limitations on what you can do on your phone.

I'm not a Google fanboy (I'm still using my Palm Pre - soon to be also purchased by HP *sigh*). I don't even care much for Flash. I'm just a bit disappointed by complacent Apple customers whose very purchase only contributes to denying progress in this market.

I am however making the plunge to Android. In a few weeks when I get a chance, I will be switching over to my new HTC EVO 4G. How to describe this phone? Impressive! And the best part? The "Froyo" update soon to come will only push that further.

When the Google I/O keynote emphasized how openness will rapidly progress evolution in smartphones - virtually no attendee dismissed this idea. I am among them.

Posted in: Internet, Technology,

I had not put any real work in over 3 years. I knew a lot of things needed some cleanup, but it wasn't until I bought a new monitor that I realized how ugly everything looked. I started the styling from scratch. I know the "blue" has got to go, but I didn't have time to pick a new color scheme.

I was going to cave in and switch to WordPress for blogging but I had been working on a new back-end for over a year now and I didn't want to throw that away. I'm now running on CodeIgniter which I am incredibly happy with. I'm finding adding functionality much easier now. And I personally find my site incredibly faster than before (or maybe that's me). I gave up way too much sleep over the last few weeks for this!

I know there is a big push for web standards now, so you'll notice a much nicer experience in Google Chrome 4, Firefox 3.6 or Internet Explorer 8 ... or anything newer than those. I used some cool CSS3 effects.

There is a significant amount of quirks yet to be resolved but I really wanted to go live so I can really test things out. Right now my contact still accepts spam :( ... and my landing home page is incredibly bland. The category and archive views either are broken or don't exist yet.

Majority of my URL's have been remapped which should re-direct but I am guessing there will still be plenty of 404 page not found errors. So if you see some please let me know. Also my primary blog feed now exists at the following url:
https://mjmwired.net/feed/blog
If you are using a Reader it should automatically redirect, but resubscribing is recommended.

It will be 7 years at the end of this month, I still suck major at blogging, but that's the fun of it.

Thanks for reading.

Posted in: Website,

From reading Fear of philanthropy, the following question is presented in regards to donations and charity: "how much is enough?". A good read with some interesting points.

My adopted philosophy is quite simple: Give out of need, not out of abundance. What I share comes out of my pocket, so I will decide how much based on the gravity of the need. Sticking to some percentage seems far less ... considerate.

Posted in: Life, Philosophy,

I've always found it a bit ironic that St. Patrick's Day occurs during Lent. Some Catholics (not all) typically forgo some indulgence as a form of discipline and self denial in the 40 days prior to Easter. And some Catholics (not all) create an excuse to allow this holiday of sorts to be an exception to Lent. It can be a further disappointment when St. Patrick's Day happens to coincide with one of the Fridays in Lent - which in NO uncertain terms are deemed as days of fasting and abstinence. Luckily this year that did not happen.

One such season where this it did occur was in the later half of my university years. By chance the Bishop granted dispensation for that Friday in Lent. One could make up their fasting on their own, but essentially everyone could interpret this as a "free ticket". Not considering how silly this may sound to a non-Catholic, I casually mentioned this to my colleagues waiting for lecture to start one morning. Perhaps I added a bit of enthusiasm, I don't know, but I will never forget uttering the sentence that began with: "The Bishop says...". And they didn't allow me to forget it either.

Till the end of the semester, the response to anything I said would always begin with: "Don't worry, the Bishop says it's okay" (or something to that effect). ... It's fine, they weren't really mocking my religion (my Hindu buddies would never do that). Honestly, I thought it was pretty funny too, even though it got on my nerves sometimes.

Anyways, while many surrender their attention to a pint of Killian's, wearing green or perhaps kissing the Blarney Stone - on St. Patrick's Day I am left to ponder what the Bishop might say.

Posted in: Funny, Religion, Random,