Thursday, May 25, 2006

Canon stopping development of film cameras

Very interesting article from News.Com on Canon stopping development of film cameras! Here is the link from news.com

Exotic India

Friend of mine runs a website for selling Indian stuff online. http://www.exoticindia.com/
Check it out.

Interesting authentication mechanism

Interesting article on identifying a user based on their typing patterns.
http://www.physorg.com/news67710818.html

Some questions I had after reading this:
1. how does the server detect replay of captured keystrokes i.e. of my name (perhaps you're asked to key in a one-time challenge)
2. what if your style of typing changes e.g. I see a google ad right next to it which says: Improve Your Typing Skills. Get Better Speed & Accuracy. Act Now
It would be interesting to find out more on how this works.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Mobile phones in India

One thing that I find very fascinating is how cool people's cell phones in India are. The phones people carry in Delhi seem to be so much more advanced than the ones I see people carrying in the US. My friend, Nitin, bought a Nokia 3250 (http://europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,,80112,00.html). Nice phone with a 2 MP camera and an mp3 player and built in speaker. I did not expect the built-in speaker to be this good - it's quite loud and clear. The form factor is not as good (it's a bit bulky and the keys are not too great). I would love to get the N91 but spending $650+ on a cell phone is (http://www.nokia.com/nseries/index.html?loc=inside,main_n91&lang=en&country=R1) is bit out of my budget. Given the rapid improvements in cell phone technology and falling prices, I am hopeful I can get one in a yr or two anyway.

In India for some time

I have been living in India for the past few months. I am amazed and delighted at most of the changes I have observed while staying here. My previous trips to India from the US were all 3-4 week long vacations, carefully planned during the months of March/April and Oct/Nov to capitalize on the small window when the weather is nice in Delhi. This time however has been very different. I have stayed long enough that my high-school friends now take my being around for granted. They won't drive 1.5 hrs one-way in rush hour traffic to just meet me at Barista (Indian version of Starbucks) anymore. I experienced the beautiful March/April weather and the hot June summer this time around too. Temperatures of 44 degrees Celcius (111 degrees F) have been a part of the daily routine. Talking about coffee joints, I think the coffee sucks in Delhi. I miss the flavorful cup of joe at Pete's Coffee in the Bay Area. Interestingly, some locations of Barista sell 3-4 different versions of espresso including Kenyan, Costa Rica. The imported varieties are twice as expensive. I ordered shot today at a Barista in Gurgaon. The lingering taste of the smooth flavor on my tongue took me back to my days of visiting my favorite coffee places on University Ave in Palo Alto. Thank god for Barista in India.