Friday, October 06, 2006

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ traffic

ಇಂದು ಮುಂಜಾನೆ office ಗೆ ಬೇಗನೆ ಹೋರಟಿದ್ದೆ. ಪ್ರತಿ ದಿನ 8:30, 8:45 ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ಹೊರಡಿತ್ತಿದ್ದ ನಾನು, ಇಂದು ಏಳು ಕಾಲಿಗೇ (7:15) ಮನೆಯಿಂದ ಹೊರಟೆ. ಅಷ್ಟು ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ, ರಸ್ತೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ವಾಹನ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಇರುವುದೆಂದು ಭಾವಿಸಿದ್ದೆ. ಆದರೆ, traffic ತುಂಬಾ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಏನೂ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ.

ನಾನು ಪ್ರತಿ ದಿನ ಗಾಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಓಡಾಡುವಾಗ, ಬನಶಂಕರಿಯ ಬಸ್ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣದೆಡೆಗೆ ಹೋಗದಿರಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ. ಆದರೆ ಈ ದಿನ, ನನ್ನ ತಮ್ಮನನ್ನು ಶಾಲೆಗೆ ಬಿಡಬೇಕಿತ್ತು. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ, ಬನಶಂಕರಿ ಬಸ್ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣದ ದಾರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋದೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ದುಃಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಏನೆಂದರೆ, ಹತ್ತು ಹೆಜ್ಜೆಗಳ ಅಂತರದಲ್ಲಿ ಎರಡು signalಗಳು ಇವೆ. ಬೆಳಗ್ಗಿನ ಈ ಹೊತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಪೋಲಿಸಿನವರು ಇರುವುದಿಲ್ಲವೆಂದು ಜನರು, traffic ನಿಯಮಗಳನ್ನು ಗಾಳಿಗೆ ತೂರಿ, ತಮಗೆ ಮನ ಬಂದಂತೆ ಗಾಡಿಗಳನ್ನು ಓಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಮೊದಲನೆಯ signalನಲ್ಲಿ ಬಲ ತಿರುಗುವಂತಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೂ ಒಂದು ಕಾರು ಬಲ ತಿರುಗುವ indicator ಹಾಕಿ, ಆರಾಮಾಗಿ ಬಲಕ್ಕೆ ತಿರುಗಿತು. ನನಗೆ ಕಾನೂನು ಉಲ್ಲಂಘಿಸುವವರನ್ನು ಕಂಡರೆ ಕೆಂಡದಂಥ ಕೋಪ ಬರುತ್ತದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ನಾನು ಏನೂ ಮಾಡುವಂತಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆ signal ಹಸಿರು ಇದ್ದುದ್ದರಿಂದ, ಮುಂದೆ ಹೋದೆ. ಬಸ್ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣದ ಎದುರು ಎರಡನೆಯ signal ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಂಪು ದೀಪ ಉರಿಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಕಾರಣ, ನಾನು ನನ್ನ ಗಾಡಿಯನ್ನು ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿದೆ. ನನ್ನ ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿ 2-3 ಆಟೊಗಳು, 2-3 ಬಸ್ ಗಳು signalಅನ್ನು ಕಡೆಗಾಣಿಸಿ ವೇಗವಾಗಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಆಗ, ನನ್ನ ಹಿಂದೆ ಒಂದು ಬಸ್ ಬಂದು ಜೋರಾಗಿ horn ಮಾಡಲು ಶುರುಮಾಡಿತು. ನಾನು ತಿರುಗಿ ನೋಡಿದಾಗ, ಅದರ ಚಾಲಕನು, ನಾನೂ ಸಹ traffic ನಿಯಮ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘಿಸಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಹೋಗಿ, ಅವನಿಗೂ ಮುಂದೆ ಹೋಗಲು ದಾರಿ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಡಬೇಕೆಂದು ಸನ್ನೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದ. ನಾನು ಅವನಿಗೆ signalನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಂಪು ದೀಪ ಇರುವುದನ್ನು ಕೈ ಸನ್ನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತೋರಿಸಿದೆ. ಆದರೆ, ಅವನಿಗೆ ತಾಳ್ಮ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅವನು ಜೋರಾಗಿ horn ಮಾಡುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದ್ದನು. ಆದರೆ ನಾನು ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಕಿವಿ ಕೊಡಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಹಸಿರು ದೀಪ ಬಂದೊಡನೆಯೆ, ನಾನು ಬಲ ತಿರುಗಲು ಹೊರಟೆ. ಆದರೆ ಎದುರುಗಡೆಯಿಂದ ಒಂದು ಆಟೋ ಮತ್ತು ಒಂದು ಬಸ್, ಅವರಿಗಿದ್ದ ಕೆಂಪು ದೀಪವನ್ನು ಕಡೆಗಾಣಿಸಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಬರುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಆ ಆಟೋದವನೆಂತೂ ನನಗೆ ಇನ್ನೇನು ಹೊಡೆಯಬೇಕು ಅನ್ನೊಷ್ಟು ಹತ್ತಿರ ಬಂದು ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿದ. ನನಗೂ ರೇಗಿ ಹೋಯಿತು. "red light ಇರೋದು ಕಾಣ್ಸೋಲ್ವಾ sir?" ಎಂದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಅವನು ನಾನೆ ಎನೋ ತಪ್ಪು ಮಾಡಿದ ಹಾಗೆ ನನಗೇ ಜೋರು ಮಾಡಿದ. ಅಲ್ಲೆ ರಸ್ತೆ ಮಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು ಅವನೊಡನೆ ಜಗಳ ಮಾಡುವಷ್ಟು ಸಮಯವಾಗಲಿ, ತಾಳ್ಮೆಯಾಗಲಿ ನನಗಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅವನನ್ನು ಮನದಲ್ಲಿಯೆ ಬೈದುಕೊಂಡು ಮುಂದೆ ಸಾಗಿದೆ.

ಬನಶಂಕರಿಯ ನಂತರ, ರಸ್ತೆಗಳೆಲ್ಲ ಖಾಲಿಯಾಗೇ ಇತ್ತು. ಮನೆಯಿಂದ officeಗೆ ಬರಲು ಇಂದು 35-40 ನಿಮಿಷ ಹಿಡಿಯಿತು. ಎಂಟು ಗಂಟೆಯ ನಂತರ ಹೋರಟಿದ್ದರೆ, ಒಂದು ಕಾಲು ಗಂಟೆಯಾದರೂ ಹಿಡಿಯುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ ಎಷ್ಟು ಬೇಗ ಹೊರಡುತ್ತೀನೊ, ಅಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರಯಾಣದ ಸಮಯ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು.

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು, ಅದರಲ್ಲೂ ಇಲ್ಲಿನ traffic ಸ್ಥಿತಿ, ಎಷ್ಟು ಹದಗೆಟ್ಟಿದೆ. 4-5 ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಕೆಳಗೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಹೀಗಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಇನ್ನು 2-3 ವರ್ಷಗಳ ನಂತರದ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಯೋಚಿಸಿದರೆ ವ್ಯಥೆಯಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

"Free" software?

I've been an avid linux fan from my first year in Engineering. I've installed & worked with over 50 different linux distributions. In short, I love linux. I bought my PC in 2000. It came pre-loaded with windows.

I didn't have much knowledge about PCs or operating systems then. I remember, one of my friends (Srini) had told me that I should get a bootable windows CD along with the PC. When I asked the guy who assembled my PC, he said "what CD? We don't give any CD". He gave me a bootable floppy instead! I realized that I got a pirated version of windows atleast a few months later.

When I started using Linux later, I realized it's much better than Windows in almost every possible way. Slowly, I was so much awed by Linux, that I've been working mostly on Linux only (at home) ever since.. But I still had windows for a few reasons.
One, I had a win-modem which came with the assembled system, which meant I wasn't able to get it working in Linux for a long time.
Two, I had some data in windows partition. Three, I used to play a lot of games. And if you wanted any good 3d games, there were very few available for Linux.
Also, my dad sometimes used to use the PC, mostly to browse the internet. And he wanted only windows.

My hard disk crashed a few months ago. After some of my futile attempts at getting it fixed, I bought a new one. I installed linux on my system & things were going well.. A new 80 GB hard disk meant that I could have one or two permanent linux partition (with any of my favourite distros installed in them) & also I would still have disk space to install & try out new (or new versions of existing) distros.

After about a couple of weeks of getting the new hard disk, my dad asked me if I had "repaired" the PC. I had then installed Vector Linux & PCBSD. I told him that I had created an account for him in PCBSD & he could start browsing internet in that. The following conversation (or you can say a heated argument) ensued:

Dad: "What? Have you not installed windows? You always keep installing this linux & other stuff.."
Me: "No.. As I have told you many times, you can do everything that you do on windows in Linux (or FreeBSD). Just try it.. If you find **any** problem at all in using Linux/FreeBSD, let me know. I assure you you won't have any problems"
Dad (angrily): "I don't want to learn something new.. Windows is what I know & what I work with in office too.. Why should I learn linux? I can't learn new things at my age.. I don't want to learn.."
Me: "But dad, you don't have to learn anything at all.. Just boot up the PC, log on to Linux (FreeBSD actually) using your name only (no password required too, I had disabled password for his account). Then you can just start using it right away.. You'll have a start menu similar to windows. Select web browser & start browsing.. It's just like the way you do it on windows. You don't have to learn any new thing"
(I had configured his user account with password-less login on PCBSD. The default desktop was KDE"
Dad (angrily & not wanting to listen to anything I say): "I just don't want to do it.. You always keep installing Linux.. What is your problem in installing windows?"
Me: "Well, you'll have to pay about Rs.3000 or so for Windows XP. You know, windows is not free"
Dad (even more angrily): "Does everybody else pay? Don't they get it installed when they get the PC? Can you not get the CD from one of your friends & install windows? (If not just call the computer shop guy & he'll install it for you if you don't want to do it yourself)"
Me: "But dad, that's pirated versions of windows. You know, piracy is illegal. You are not supposed to install software from pirated copies. It's wrong"
Dad (much more angrier now): "Everybody does it.. What's your problem. If everybody else can use pirated versions why can't you?"
Me: "Because it's illegal. I can get arrested for installing pirated copy of softwares, even windows"
Dad: "How many people have been arrested so far? Doesn't **everybody else** do it? What is your problem in installing windows.. I know, it's just that you do not want me to use the computer. That's why you install linux & other things. That's why you don't want to install windows. I won't touch your computer from today. You do whatever you want"

Anything I said after that, was useless. My dad didn't want to listen to me. I even challenged him to use it once & show me **any** problems in using Linux to browse the internet. But he didn't want to listen.

As you can see in the above situation, the problem is not windows or linux or even the reluctance to learn/adapt new things. The problem is piracy. Call it ignorance towards piracy or call it the lack of knowledge/information about piracy. The truth is that piracy has infiltrated our lives much deeper than anyone can think of. (And mind you, software piracy is just one small part of it). If there were no piracy, maybe my dad would have known that it costs a bomb for windows, office, etc. Maybe then he would try out other low cost alternatives. The problem is, as he says, since everybody is embracing piracy, why not us? This reflects the general thinking of the majority of the population. In a way, piracy is like corruption. We all know corruption is bad & must be eliminated. But when it comes to getting your work done, you are ready to pay a small (or some) amount of bribe to get it done faster & smoother. Piracy works similarly.. If you can get something that costs a lot for dirt cheap, would you not buy it? Even if it's illegal? Especially if everyone's doing it & nobody is being penalised legally or facing any problems? Would you not do it?
Atleast, I wouldn't do it. Simply because it's illegal.

Let's have a look at software piracy. Most new PCs are shipped with windows. Branded ones ensure they provide only licensed copy. But more than 90% of home PC users buy assembled PCs (because of the mere price difference b/w assembled & branded ones). And I'm sure 99% of the computer shops that assemble PCs have pirated copies of most popular software (& not just windows.. To name a few - ms office, visual studio, macromedia flash, adobe photoshop, acrobat, antivirus softwares, etc). Many people assume that all these softwares come for free along with the PC.. Just ask the computer shop guy to install what ever software you want & he'll do it for free. The irony is that a few computer shop vendors themselves are not educated about piracy. Others who are well aware of piracy, convenietly don't mention about that to customers. Many customers may also not be aware of piracy. But even a majority of people who are aware, do nothing to stop it. I mean I'm not saying you need to take pro-active actions. You can atleast not buy/use pirated things.

Piracy is not limited to softwares.. It's much more rampant in the music industry, movie industry & even the computer games industry. Recently, I saw a person in Domlur who was selling lots of pirated CD on the roadside. He had CDs - both audio & video of most recent movies in most languages! Go to National Market on any day & every shop there has pirated stuff. The innumerable no. of raids there seems to be futile.

So, who benefits from piracy? People who create software/music/movies, are the ones that have lot to lose.. They put their hard work & money to create something. But piracy robs them of the money they are supposed to get for their hard work. At first it might seem that the end users stand to gain from it. You get costly commodities for cheap prices, right? But you'll soon realise that this is not the case. If all popular products (non-tangible products like software/music/movies that can be pirated) do get pirated, then most people would buy pirated ones instead of costly original ones. This means the people who create these products lose money & they may not create products in the future. The quality of products in that industry goes on decreasing and the end-users stand to lose. For eg. if piracy becomes very rampant in the music industry, prople producing music will soon realise that they are losing money because of piracy. So, they stop producing music (atleast the quality of music produced will go down as there will be no proper ROI). So, in the long run, people will not get good music.

Let us all atleast try to stop piracy. Let's not buy/use any pirated stuff, be it software, music, movies or anything else. Unless we, the end users don't do something about it, we can't bring down this evil.

Friday, September 15, 2006

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ blogging??

ಈಗ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೂ blog ಮಾಡಬಹುದು! ಕನ್ನಡ ಗಣಕ ಪರಿಷತ್ತು ನಿರ್ಮಿಸಿರುವ "ನುಡಿ" ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ (software) ಬಳಸಿ, ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆಯುವುದು ಬಹಳ ಸುಲಭವಾಗಿದೆ.
ಅಕ್ಷರಗಳು "unicode" ನಲ್ಲಿ ತೋರುವುದರಿಂದ, ಯಾವುದೇ ಗಣಕ ಯಂತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ (computer), ಬರೆದಿರುವ ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಕ್ಷರಗಳು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ತೋರುತ್ತವೆ.

ಜೈ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ.. ಜೈ ಕನ್ನಡ..

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Java interview

Although I do not have much experience in Java, hopefully, I'll do better than this guy in a Java interview..


Q. What is the difference between an Abstract class and Interface?
A. Terms are different ... nothing more

Q. What is JFC ?
A. Jilebi, Fanta & Coffee

Q. Explain 2 tier and 3 -tier Architecture ?
A. Two wheelers like scooters will have 2 tyres and autorickshaws will have 3 tyres.

Q. I want to store more than 10 objects in a remote server ? Which methodology will follow ?
A. Send it through courier.

Q. Can I modify an object in CORBA ?
A. As you wish , I do not have any objections.

Q. How to communicate 2 threads each other ?
A. Non living things can't communicate.

Q. What is meant by flickering ?
A. Closing and opening of eyes at girls.

Q. Explain RMI Architecture?
A. I am a computer professional not an architect student.

Q. What is the use of Servlets ?
A. In hotels, they can replace servers.

Q. What is the difference between Process and Threads ?
A. Threads are small ropes. Make a rope from threads is an example for process.

Q. When is update method called ?
A. Who is update method?

Q. What is JAR file ?
A. File that can be kept inside a jar.

Q. What is JNI ?
A. You mean JINI? It's a ghost which was Aladdin's friend.

Q. How will you call an Applet from a Java Script?
A. I will give invitation.

Q. How you can know about drivers and database information ?
A. I will go and enquire in the bus dep ot.

Q. What is serialization ?
A. Arranging one after the other from left to right.

Q. What is bean ? Where it can be used ?
A. A kind of vegetable. In kitchens for cooking they can be used.

Q. Write down how will you create a binary Tree ?
A. When we sow a binary seed , a binary tree will grow.

Q. What is the exact diffe rence between Unicast and Multicast object ?
A. If in a society, if there is only one caste, then it is Unicast, else it is multicast.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Holi


My Team mates Posted by Picasa

Some of my team mates Posted by Picasa

Playing Holi, in the evening Posted by Picasa

Me & my team mates celebrating Holi Posted by Picasa

Myself, on Holi day Posted by Picasa

Everybody in our office played holi on Wednesday. It was fun.. We couldn't work the whole day.
Although we were informed the previous day, I didn't bother to wear proper wear to celebrate holi with colours. Well, to be frank, I never let anybody apply colour on me all these years. I mean I never played holi at all.. :-) I know that sounds weird. My colleages were surprised to hear this too.
When I entered the office, I noticed that some people were already 'coulourful'. I didn't want to spoil my clothes & thought I would resist people who try to put colour on me.. But believe me, no one, not even one person was spared in our office. Everybody did multiple rounds to all the desks & made sure they put colours on all our faces, hair & even clothes.
In the evening, there were some snacks arranged on the occassion of Holi. But people who went to get snacks were greeted with more colours. I washed my face & hair almost 4 times that day (thinking that the colour smearing ceremony was over). But everytime, they put more colours on me. Luckily my clothes weren't much coloured.. All in all, a different experience for me.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Flexible Computer Keyboard

Have a look at this:
Flexible Computer Keyboard

The "Super Kool Keyboard", as they call it, seems to be very flexible. They even claim that it is virtually indestructible. Supposedly, you can wash the keyboard & roll it up. It is also supposed to be durable & soft..

I remember my keyboard at home. It's over 5 years since my dad bought me that computer. I stopped cleaning the keyboard over 4 years ago. The once white keyboard is now brown with dust. But still, all the keys are working properly & the keyboard is in good condition. I've used my computer to play a lot of games, which means I have put my keyboard into a lot of stress test. But yet, my old keyboard is still strong. They keys are still soft & responsive. And in over 5 years, I have never spilt anything on my keyboard.

The USP of "Super Kool Keyboard" is that you can spill anything on your keyboard & wash it up. But as I have already told, in the past 5 years, I haven't spilt anything on my keyboard. So, spilling something is a rare occurance. Next point is cleaning the keyboard. Well, cleanliness is a matter of personal discretion. One of my friends, never bothered to clean his bike. There used to be 2-3 inches of dirt/mud on his bike most of the time.

The ability of rolling up the keyboard could be quite useful. In the future, such keyboards could be supplied along with PDAs or even mobile phones, so that you can spread out a large full size keyboard & connect it to your device. You can roll it up & carry it in your pocket in other times.

Coming to the price, it costs $40, which is just less than about Rs.2000. This is more than 2 times the cost of an ordinary keyboard. (Infact, you can get a good keyboard for less than Rs.500). So, unless the price comes down a bit, I don't see a lot of people buying it.

My verdict: Just another one of "interesting" gadgets. Not very useful though. If you are very cleanliness-concious & would like to wash your keyboard often, this is for you. Or if you work in environment where dust or water/moisture is inevitable, this will be useful. One good thing is that you can roll it up & carry where ever you go.

Personally, I think its a total waste of money. I don't know why I'm wasting time writing about this. Maybe just to fill up the blog with something..

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Chat

Chat is evolving.. Older days of using messengers are out of fashion now. Most messengers are bulky & come with too many unwanted features. A classic example is yahoo messenger.

Google Talk revolutionised this market. This is one tool that impressed me a lot.. It's simple interface, ease of use, light weight, crystal clear voice chat (even over dial up connections), everything about it seems perfect.

Now, it seems that chat has evolved once more. And yes, it's Google again. Have a look at this: Chat in Gmail.
You can now chat from within the browser. Yahoo had this feature (web chat) for a long time. But if you ever used it, you'll know how paethetic it was. Text chats from within GMail is so cool. Not only is it light weight, simple & easy to use, it's very intuitive. I can vouch that it's going to be as good as GMail itself.

Google is redefining most of the tools. Recently I came across Goobuntu, which is the new OS being developed by Google. It uses Linux kernel & is based on the Ubuntu distribution. I can 't wait for it to be released.

Friday, January 27, 2006

"See-through" lenses

Have a look at the link below:

IR Pass Filters & Infrared Lens for Sony NightShot. Panasonic NightView KAYA Lens

KAYA optics have developed Infrared lenses which can see-through objects. The images from their experiments show how they can see through clothing. Not only that, the 2nd experiment, amazed me. Permanent ink is spilt on a document. The text in the ink spilt area is impossible to read then. But using this lens, the writing is clearly legible through the ink.

I wonder what will happen if such lens are introduced in the market.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

No post for a long time

A few weeks ago, I wrote a long post. I was also installing some software at the same time. And the installer rebooted my system closing everything. The post that I composed for almost an hour was lost. Just like that! After that, I lost my enthusiasm in blogging.

Don't you feel the posts we start to create must be saved (as draft) automatically every minute or two? GMail already has this feature. You start composing the mail & the content is saved every minute or so, so that even if your browser crashes or you lose your internet connection, your composition will be stored as Drafts. Blogger.com should come up with a similar feature... After all, blogger is owned by google itself..