Bygone Days?

[r]
Originally uploaded by Babsi Jones.

NYC - Central Park Rink

NYC - Central Park Rink
Originally uploaded by RUKnight.

Where's the Kong?

Change to speed gear

Those laces are innovation. A simple and a great idea. Can be laced to any shoe. Available in different colors for the right styling for your shoe.

San Francisco

San Francisco
Originally uploaded by !Habit Forming.

Still iconic with out the Golden Gate.

Dear Santa...from Harley

Dear Santa...from Harley
Originally uploaded by Cynr.

Santa, Grant these wishes dear...

Netflix+

How about a wishlist for Netflix+? Netflix reviews your wishlist and then buys them once it decides the items in the list are non-porn (whatever its policies are) etc....

Googlers and del.icio.us

Given the fact that Google doesnt have a formidable equivalent tool for delicious (atleast publicly), I am inclined to believe that many Googlers must have been using delicious for tagging. Now that Yahoo! has bought the company, isnt it easy for yahoo! to keep a tab on the worlds and trajectories of these googlers? Isnt this a bigger issue for Web 2.0 in general, where players have the potential ability to lock up peoples data? Its easier to Do Evil once things fall into corporate hands (as corporations have lower moral and ethical standards. Yeah, thats one thing where sum is always less than the constiuents).

Anyways, Google is falling behind in this MyWeb area and thats one thing that sometimes makes me think of using the yahoo! toolbar.

Ajax and the Back button

Its snowing here and my shoes are proving to be slippery. So I decide to buy a pair of shoes from columbia.com. Their whole catalogue is thru a javascript menu that nests upto four levels ( What We Make >> Men's Items >> Outdoor Casual Footwear >> Outdoor and trail). I carefully choose 'Outdoor and trail', I am taken to a new page with those shoes. Now, I think "May be I'll find something in 'Trek and Travel'....Guess what? I'm stuck. Theoretically, I've made my way thru three levels of the catalogue tree. But when I hit back, I am taken back to the homepage. (why? because technically, i moved by just one page). From the 'Outdoor and trail' page, is there an alternate way i can browse thru the catalogue? NO. I've to take the "What We Make" menu on the top and start all over again.

So, moral of the story? Isnt Back button more to do with how you design the overall interaction? Isnt it about providing a means to get back, when you expect somebody is gonna need it?

Crediblity and Ads

Some times, its so hard to understand why do credible organizations like Discovery, CNN (Credible?, I know), The Hindu, even NY Times...allow a mess of ad-banners and popup windows! BBC, ofcourse, is the cleanest in terms of advertisements. Isnt 'keeping the site clean of advertisements and pop-ups' a factor of quality and credibility?

Bank of America and Laundry

I was thinking about Bank of America's new 'Keep the Change' scheme. Isnt that change precious for laundry? Isnt the amassing quarters for laundry usually thru Starbucks and its ilk?

Heavy Snow at Fishers

Heavy Snow at Fishers
Originally uploaded by kaysov.

Good to see snow all over...

"Homecoming is Ever Present"

I found some great world music on NPR today. Rachid Taha is a leading Rai musician. He's a second generation Algerian immigrant to France and is now one of the most sought after artisits in France. He's nominated by the BBC for the World Music Awards too. I liked Ya Rayah and Mamachi tracks in particular. Ya Rayah is a widely popular Algerian song that vaguely means "the feeling of homecoming is always present among first generation immigrants." Wonder how this song is perceived after the recent French riots. There is a more recent track called 'Tekitoi', that sounds like a Bollywood remix. You should give a try. (All tracks available on iTunes Music Store)

I got one other track called "My Comfort Remains" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook. I think I am falling in love with Sufi music.

All white with snow

All white with snow
Originally uploaded by kaysov.

Its very bright with the reflecting light.

National Cheese Emporium

Sometime back, when I was trying out yahoo video search, I found this classic little piece of animation called "National Cheese Emporium". I thought it was short, yet brilliant. Only today, I learn that it was a Monty Python sketch ! I should have recognized Sir John Cleese's voice in the animation.

12 F does this

12 F does this
Originally uploaded by kaysov.

Its was 12F today here in Fishers

NYTimes Photo essay on India's Golden Quadrilateral

This photo essay points out some glaring differences between North and South in terms of speed and quality of the road work, which I find a little alarming and disturbing. As North falls behind South in virtually all progressive aspects of society, the South is vulnerable to phenomenon like huge exodus to its urban areas. (Just like Eastern China Vs. Inland China). South in no way is equipped with enough infrastructure to cope up with it.

Luckily, "Yeh Madrasi tho bekaar ke cheez hai" attitude of average-North Indian may act in favor of South.

When I think about it again, I realize that I am talking about things which are already occuring. Well educated large North Indian populations exist in Bangalore and Hyderabad. I think I am fearing something like "Thousands of Jobless desparate Biharis littering Delhi".

Thats like being in Gaza strip or something!

The poor little stickman didn't stand a chance..
Originally uploaded by itspaulkelly.

The chances of survival seem to be 1 in a million!

Design and Pickle Bottles

Thinking about design in the Indian context, I find pickle bottles extremely clumsy to use. As a south Indian, I eat food with my right fingers. I think of pickle in the midst of eating. So, I have to go unscrew the lid of the bottle with the left hand, find a clean and dry spoon, take care of the dripping oil on those trips between the plate and the bottle, and then finally close the lid and then take care of the dripping greasy spoon. The pickle being real greasy does not fall freely from the spoon. So I have to keep yanking the spoon till the pickle gets off. The whole thing just sucks. It could get worse: you had disposed the greasy spoon and you decide to go for a second round of serving!

I was thinking of something like an icecream scoop and a good bowl for the whole setup.

A documentary on Maya Lin

The first two minutes of the documentary pass by And it invariably strikes to me..."Oh! My God, What an emotional roller coaster is the chronological order taking the visitors thru !! Thats the heart of the design. Nothing else matters as much." Ofcourse, Maya Lin later explains the significance of the chronological order. She goes on building on this very notion of capturing time in all her works. First in the Civil Rights, then the Womens Memorial at Yale And the Eclisped Time at Penn Station.

57000 Names stretched on a timeline (wall) of a decade long! The numbers and the stretch of time add up creating an immensely overwhelming emotion moving the visitors to the core. A simply Brilliant Simple Idea !

Walk in the Rain

Sometime back in 2000, PC Quest has given 1 min excerpts of hugely successful tracks from the label : Music Today . I had the mp3s, but no ID3 tag info. So, I started naming them to my imagination. I called one of them "Mayur Ka Naach" (the dance of a peacock). Yesterday, I found that iTunes 5.0 is selling that track. Its called "Walking in the Rain", a Pandit Shivkumar Sharma composition for the album "The Elements: Water".

I thought, "Well, I was pretty close!"