Chronicles del mundo jillako!

Pictures from India @ Big Picture

2008-09-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

The Big Picture is one of the most interesting blogs that I follow. The most recent posting profiles India. Head on over and take a look!

Japan has 21-st century bicycle parking

2008-09-08T14:50:00.001-07:00

Check it out, totally rad!

It would be nice to have something like this for BART! Actually, any secure bike storage would be welcome, forget the robotic wizardry.

Google intros Chrome

2008-09-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

So, this is verrrryy interesting - after being a robust partner of Mozilla/Firefox for so many years, Google has decided to launch their own browser - Google Chrome (link should be up soon). If that didn't surprise you in itself, apparently Chrome is going to be based on Webkit, the same engine used by Apple's Safari! Like I said, verrrryy interesting indeed.

This can only be bad news for Mozilla, since they make most of their money from their relationship with Google, who now competes with them!

On the other hand, I think this is great news for web users as Google's investment should serve to hasten advancement of browser and web standards.

Windows only for now, Mac and Linux versions should be forthcoming.

UPDATE: If you're technically inclined, this cool toon tells you a lot more about what Google is trying to do and what's different.

London at night

2008-08-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

The Big Picture just put up a bunch of awesome pictures of London city. If you like/know London, you're sure to enjoy the whole bunch, head on over.

Tomatoes in bloom

2008-08-27T11:26:00.001-07:00

Tomato Flowers
Originally uploaded by Jillako

These are exciting times in our yard, our tomato plants are blooming!

We got an Earthbox when the tomato planting season was all but over. With nothing to lose I planted some seeds but they have done very well indeed and I'm really looking forward to having some homegrown tomatoes!

My Neighbor Totoro

2008-08-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

So I watched "My Neighbor Totoro" last night and it's still on my mind this morning. I love animated movies in general, and this was a masterpiece. I think I'll watch it many times before I've had my fill.

It's an anime movie with a simple story, artful depiction of the Japanese country side, cute characters, pretty good voiceovers and many little touches that made me long for the simple life. Also, the 2D animation still blows the pants off many 3D animated movies that are being made today.

It was first released in 1988! I cannot believe that I hadn't heard about it until Netflix suggested it (because I loved "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Spirited Away"). Chalk one more up for Netflix. This one's a winner, I may have to buy it for Anjali.

It's great for all ages, do yourself a favor and watch it with your family! :)

EyePet for PS3 announced

2008-08-24T22:42:00.001-07:00

.. and it looks cute!

Since we already have the camera, this should be a fun, inexpensive game. From what I can tell, looks like it will take a year to release (late 2009).

தமிழில் ப்லோக் பண்ணுவோம்!!

2008-08-22T12:18:00.001-07:00

கூகுளுக்கு தான் நன்றி சொல்லணும்.

தமிழில் நியூஸ் கூட படிக்கலாம் இங்க.

So, Google added transliteration support for Tamil, our mother tongue. Pretty fantastic stuff. See full details here.

How to hack a technical job interview- Vijai @ Lifehacker

2008-08-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

I like Lifehacker but they're not in my Bloglines, which is why I didn't find out until today that my high school pal Vijai was featured in this post last month.

Good one, Vijai. I'd take his talk seriously, he can nail interviews!

XBox 360: Call for action!

2008-08-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'm only a casual gamer but I'm intensely interested in this generation of gaming hardware. I think this is gaming's "breakout" generation. Nearly everyone is going to have one of the 5 devices out there by the time the generation is done and lot of us are going to be doing more than gaming. Some of the rules that applied to the previous generation will not apply here. The current hardware has a lot more staying power than previous generations. Sort of like the Audio CD. The Audio CD was seen by most as good enough. While DVD Audio and SACD offered better quality, people were happy with Audio CDs and they didn't buy into the higher fidelity.

In a way, Sony has the right idea with their 10 year strategy for the PS3. The Cell chip has enough processing power and by the time new hardware comes out from Nintendo and Microsoft, developers should've learnt to fully utilize all that power.

Anyway, I want to talk about the XBox 360. Against all odds (I'm writing on a Mac, I don't like paying for online gaming, I'm not interested in the Zune), I find myself liking the XBox 360. More surprising, I like it for the software! Yes, Microsoft is definitely doing good on the software front here. Unfortunately, their hardware is falling behind. Here's my call for action to get the XBox 360 back to being competitive. As of now, its falling behind and will likely be relegated to 3rd place in this generation again. Here are a few things Microsoft should do -

1. Bring sexy back.
It worked for the DS Lite. Yes, the games are awesome but MS needs to redesign the XBox.
A few suggestions -

Get rid of the monstrous external power brick, we need one nice svelte XBox.
It would be nice if I didn't feel the need to reach for my noise canceling headphones when the XBox is powered on - make it quieter. A slot loading disc drive might help too.

2. Make XBox Live Gold cheaper.
Yes, hardcore gamers don't mind paying for XBox Live but if you're looking to get this into kids' homes, you need to look beyond. Faced with a choice between a Blu-Ray playing PS3 with free online play and a DVD playing XBox 360 with paid XBox Live, guess which one is getting picked? Also casual gamers like me would like to play a few nights a week, but I'm not going to pay for this privilege.
Free would be nice but even $24 ($2 a month) is easier to swallow than the current cost.

3. Include wi-fi.
This is 2008! How many homes have ethernet in their TV room or bedroom? Wi-fi is everywhere. Your wi-fi accessory is outrageously priced and I don't want a Gaming adapter in addition to the noisy console and its huge power brick.

4. Increase storage.
You need to keep up or move ahead of the competition here. 160GB standard would be nice, 320GB for the premium? Personally, I'd like the ability to upgrade the drive myself, but I realize that the non-techie users (vast majority) would prefer to buy these upgrades at Best Buy.

5. Sell Media Center.
How many XBox 360 users who have Vista pay for Tivo? I bet it isn't a small number. MS needs to sell this functionality. Btw, we need the wifi toting, quieter XBox that can fit in a TV cabinet for this to happen. Create a Media Package - the 360 console with a USB TV tuner for those using Vista Premium or Ultimate. For $50 more, you can have a DVR too!

6. Make it reliable, stupid!
Last but not least, the hardware needs to be reliable. MS is lucky the users like the games and software as much as they do. I can't image a mass market device being so unreliable. My unit has been replaced twice in 2 years! I don't have much hopes for it staying alive long after the 3 year warranty ends. It would be nice if there was a trade in option for the older XBox owners on a newer console.

I'd like to end by giving kudos where it's due. These are the things that the XBox 360 gets right -

1. Great integration with XBox Live. Superb online experience.
2. Graphics on par with PS3 even while having launched first and using DVD media.
3. The best wireless controller of the current generation. Feels right, reliable.
4. Best games library of current generation.
5. Media Center is awesome.
6. XBox Live Arcade is best in class. Great selection.

Bollywood @ kk.org

2008-07-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

Kevin Kelly is one amazing man. I read his Cool Tools blog everyday and have found so many interesting products through there. However, he is so much more. He founded "Wired" magazine, for one thing. He also runs a whole bunch of other blogs and just seems to be getting so much accomplished!

Anway, back to my post. So I was reading this post on his Conceptual Trends and Current Topics blog and did a double take when I saw the sample picture used to illustrate the face swapping technology being discussed. Check it out and see if you recognize any of these faces :)

How does a lightning strike feel?

2008-07-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

I personally don't know, but maybe this user from Flickr can answer that one for you. Here's her video -

Free song from Coldplay.com

2008-07-16T16:42:00.001-07:00

Coldplay is giving away another free song. This one is called "Death will never conquer". It's free of cost, so go get it.

Looking under the hood of Google search

2008-07-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Amit Singhal of Google has a very interesting post explaining "Technologies behind Google ranking" over at the Official Google Blog.

It's quite eye opening about the myriad things that happen to make every Google search operation happen. Here's an excerpt -

"Synonyms are the foundation of our query understanding work. This is one of the hardest problems we are solving at Google. Though sometimes obvious to humans, it is an unsolved problem in automatic language processing. As a user, I don't want to think too much about what words I should use in my queries. Often I don't even know what the right words are. This is where our synonyms system comes into action. Our synonyms system can do sophisticated query modifications, e.g., it knows that the word 'Dr' in the query [Dr Zhivago] stands for Doctor whereas in [Rodeo Dr] it means Drive. A user looking for [back bumper repair] gets results about rear bumper repair. For [Ramstein ab], we automatically look for Ramstein Air Base; for the query query [b&b ab] we search for Bed and Breakfasts in Alberta, Canada. We have developed this level of query understanding for almost one hundred different languages, which is what I am truly proud of."

House of cards - Radiohead's new video

2008-07-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

So, Radiohead has a new video out and it's making waves because it doesn't use any cameras in the regular sense. Instead it uses some kind of 3-D scanner technology which uses lasers to create 3-D imagery.

That in itself would be pretty cool but they worked with Google (I don't know how Google does it but they get involved in all these neat things) to share a lot of the "making of" information. There's a web-based 3-D Viewer available that you can use to manipulate the video. Because its just data, you can see it at any angle. Very very cool! Check it out.

Hooray for Jay-Z

2008-07-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

The man has a sense of humour. After widely reported disparaging remarks from Noel Gallagher about the hip-hop artiste headlining at Glastonbury this year, Jay-Z got back in his own classy way.

First, he included Noel G's comments in the video played before starting his set

And then he proceed to sing Oasis' Wonderwall! :)

LOL!

Also, he gave a stellar performance as well.

Good stuff!

Anjali's Birthday visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium

2008-06-12T23:45:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

We took Anjali on her first visit to an aquarium for her birthday. As you can see, she had a bit of fun. We enjoyed it as well.

Anjali did not take much interest in the Sea Otters and Penguins but was very interested in the fishes, the kids play area and the touch pools. She really digs the huge whale model they have hanging from the ceiling.

Another chance to show off the ability to import from the Panasonic Camcorder. Nice picture don't you think? :)

Happy First Birthday to Anjali!

2008-06-12T00:00:00.001-07:00

Totally lovin' the ride
Originally uploaded by Jillako

Can you believe that our little angel is already one! At this age, there are no demands for birthday gifts and party, she's so happy whenever we spend time with her! So that's what we're doing today (and what we did Tuesday, when this was taken). It's a family day off. Hope to have pictures of Anjali on her birthday gift (a trike) soon enough.

The $25 iPhone

2008-06-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

Now that the iPhone 3G has been announced at $199, Craigslist is chock full of early adopters trying to sell their iPhone to raise cash for a 3G purchase. There are also the folks who passed on the original iPhone looking to pick used units for a song. This guy takes the cake for his asking price though.

Nice try, dude, nice try!

Honeybees, ducks, chicken and dogs

2008-06-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

Actually there were goslings and a cow too. I've listed some of the fine animals and birds that Anjali enjoyed the company of today.

We took her along on a field trip with the Santa Clara Beekeepers Guild. I've gotten very interested of late with keeping a bee hive. We certainly have the space and we'd love the honey and the bees seem nice enough.

At one point I was standing near about 10 hives, with the beekeeper handling a frame full of bees from one of the hives. The bees started buzzing around quite a bit and it was a bit unnerving, but everyone seemed pretty calm and wore no protective gear and so I kept my nerves. This particular beekeeper had a lot of bees and though it was interesting to see his operation, we'll probably learn more from some other folks there that had smaller setups. We brought a quart of local honey home with us! :)
I hope the parents will start their own hive in Kutrallam!

Would've loved to take pictures but it appears that the Pentax SLR is broken! :( It is still under warranty and I hope to have it fixed soon!

Look ma, I can walk!

2008-06-06T18:52:00.001-07:00

Amazing how fast things develop in a one year old's life. Anjali could not do this 2 days ago, look at her now!

Amazon.com is down

2008-06-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

Probably means a lot more to a software engineering couple like App and I but here's what Amazon.com looks like right now -

It has been that way for almost 15 minutes. WOW!

The weekend before a Jobs' keynote

2008-06-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

As usual, Joy of tech nails it.

Lots to look forward to on WWDC Monday.

Anjali with her canine buddy

2008-06-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

Went bicycle shopping this past weekend and Anjali loved Dino, the doggie at the bike shop!

Weekend Update!

2008-05-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

Not in SNL style, but jillako style!

Right now, its hotter than ever this year. The local paper called the weather "hot, sticky, nasty and uncomfortable". I say, it feels just like home (Madras)! Bring on the fans and go crazy with the garden hose :)

Anjali is doing great. She has learnt to use the walker, she is also quite comfortable going to daycare in the day.

We are managing but squeezed for time as full time workers and parents. Anjali's food is made on time but ours is a bit of challenge. The best dinner we had all week was a mish-mash of leftovers from Anjali's food all cooked into one tasty dal curry!

I managed to make chapatis from scratch, hooray!

I found out that 1080p video recorded in 24p mode on the HDC-SD9 video camera can be imported into iMovie w/ Perian 1.1 installed. Yay! Look forward to some good quality videos as soon as we find something interesting to shoot and share!

And I'll end with a clip from a recent SNL Weekend Update. This one is about GTA IV, the highly anticipated video game. I've never been much of a GTA fan, but this clip was funny!

Til' later, adios amigos!