What are the politicians condemned of?

What is the Internet doing?

Sikh Riots

Babri Masjid Riots

Mumbai Riots

Godhra/Gujarat Riots

Egyptian Revolution

Chinese protests

Libyan protests

Occupy Wall Street

Which should we pre-screen Mr. Sibal??

As @gkhamba says, pre-screen this: Fuck you!

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Other than Gmail, Search, YouTube, and Maps, the only other Google product that I use regularly is Reader. I am sure I spend more time it on than any other webapp. And I was a happy user. Content that Google did not really pay attention to it. Content that Google did not meddle around much with it, and let it be what it was meant to be – useful.

However, I am not happy anymore. You’ve taken my favorite app, and rendered it useless in the name of redesign and social strategy. I don’t get it.

You have removed the sharing features, without allowing the user any option. May I ask why?? To push people to Google+?? From a service that some (passionate) users swear by, to a service that not many use, at least regularly?? I will try and understand. Some ass could have suggested this. However, you could have handled this better. Here is what I think you should have done.

1. Create a feature that would allow people to (in a single click) create Google Circle containing the users they were following on Reader.
2. Allow, again in a single click, users to (by means of RSS or whatever suits your whims and fancies) follow the Reader shares of people in their Reader circle.
3. Allow for simpler sharing – clicking share should have shared the post (by default) with your Reader circle.
4. For further conversation and comments, taken users to the Google+ page for the particular post.

The benefits of this method. Satisfied users. More traffic driven to Google+. No??

The second point. Redesign. Should Reader look like GMail?? Not necessarily!! But then again, I am no design guru, But I am an understanding user. Maybe consistency is what you were aiming for. Unfortunately, what you ended up with is decreased usability. You see, the key feature of Reader is …. wait for it …. the ability to read. And the redesign has killed that.

The current usable are for content is less than sixty percent. While the total screen area (on my laptop) is approximately 1280×670 pixels, the area for actual content is 1010×490 pixels (rough approximates – screenshots below). That is, the content is on less than 60% of the screen space. Let me repeat that for you. Less than 60%

Total Screen Area for Google Reader

Area available for content in Google Reader

While, I believe that this problem will be solved soon by some hacker (God bless his noble soul) using JavaScript, I am not so sure what are you going to do about sharing. I hope someone comes back to senses at Google, rolls back the madness, and talks to Kevin Fox - he has done it before, and I believe he can do it again.

Please give me back my precious!

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1. We won!

• Chaos
• Decent eating options
• A loo that smells as much as loos at local stations in Mumbai
• A public address system – which sounds like one at a railway station and is so loud that you can barely make out what they are trying to say

Things Kolkata Airport doesn’t have:

• Cleanliness – the pillars have posters stuck to them
• Effective air conditioning
• Free Wi-fi – seriously!!
• Online baggage scanning

I was recently at the Chennai Airport and cribbed a lot about how it was light years behind the other airports in India (Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bangalore – in that order). However, now that I have to spend a couple of hours at this one, I can safely say that this the worst of them all!!

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“Were the ICC to be based in New Delhi or Mumbai, the power-base of their next president Sharad Pawar, the staff would become predominantly Indian as the main current administrators would find it too difficult to relocate their families there, and the organisation would cease to reflect the attitudes and values of all its members.”

Where would you, Mr. Berry, have it relocate to? One would think it has to be one of the Test playing nations, given the lack on interest in cricket in the neutral venues like Dubai. If so, would not a city in the sub-continent, with four of nine test playing nations, be more representative of the members? And I would stick my neck out and say that Delhi or Mumbai would a top choice in the region. Also, with a large number of expat population, I see no reason why administrators would find it difficult to relocate here vis-a-vis London or Sydney or Johannesburg.

“It is not a business, or an industry like steel, to be taken over.”

In case you have missed the memo Sir, the game is a business, and the clout of India is proof enough. Unless Mr. Berry wants to stick his neck in the sand and pretend that we are still in the 50s, he should know that the game needs money to be run efficiently and ensure the further development of the sport.

All said and done, I believe the piece was out of place. While I agree that India wields more than necessary influence on the ICC, one has to be cognizant of the fact that India is where cricket gets most of its audience from. So get over your fears and accept reality.

And for God’s sake, please let Tata and Corus be in peace. It’s not like we have made you slaves.

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Let’s look at batting for a while. In the past three years, starting 01 Jan 2007, five of the top ten run scorers in the Test format, excluding runs scored against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and WI, have been from India. SL, SA, Australia, England, and WI have one each in the top 10. Not too bad I would say. Even the great Ricky Ponting is on the 15th step, which really makes you wonder why no one calls him over the hill anymore, but I digress. A team that has the best batsmen of the last three years must have something in it.

Now for the bowling. The list is much more evenly distributed this this. Three of the top ten bowlers, with same filters as above, are from India, with SA claiming another three, Australia two, and England and SL one each. Though bowling still remains a concern for the Indians, it is no better for the other teams. SA is arguably the strongest in this department, but then with Steyn injured and Ntini fading quickly, they might not enjoy the same status for long.

The thing to note is that this data is for a three year period, and not for a one off year. So its not really a flash in the pan, but rather some sustained good performances by the Indian team. During this period, India has played an almost equal number of tests home (15) and away (14), so there is no real home advantage for the team.

I know that statistics don’t really tell everything, but they do tell you a few things, and what it does tell here is that India really has been a world’s best team for the past couple of years, even though SA are right on their tails.

All data from Cricinfo’s Statsguru. Batting and Bowling.

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I was transported back to the days when I was so happy at the launch of Google Patents that I almost predicted doom for patent database providers. Heck, I even sent them an email with features I thought would have been easy to implement.

Little did I know that it would turn out to be some time pass project for some one bored of regular work at Google. Sure the tool is great, but the limited coverage and search make it almost useless, when Google, using its immense technological prowess could have brought patents to everyone with very little incremental work. But then I guess the team that worked on it got shifted to some more important stuff and the project now sits there like a tool which I use only to read patents – and not search them. What a waste I tell you!!

Sleep in peace Lexis Nexis – there is no battle brewing on your home turf!

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Ishant has been but a pale shade of the bowler who bowled that amazing over to Ponting during that awesome Oz trip. Sreesanth was moved more by movies and glam than cricket. About the batsmen, the lesser said the better. The Jadejas, Sharmas, Pathans, and Utthappas have just shown a lot of promise and then quietly faded away after an initial hoopla has subsided.

Not one player, other than Raina probably, has shown any sort of consistency. Yes they look good on the field on the occasional days that India fields well. Other than that you can’t depend on them for anything. And yes, we have given them enough chances. They just don’t have the balls to grab the opportunity and prove that they are good enough. Heck they even lack basic cricketing knowledge – Jadeja was a classic example today! What on earth was he running for?? As Jrod says,

Those were the ten dudes. A collection of shit hot batsmen who were made to look like dribbling fools compared to Sachin.

And I am just talking about the ODI team. I don’t even want to imagine what happens to the Test team when Sachin, Laxman, and Dravid retire, with Sehwag not too far behind.

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Given the volume of cricket that BCCI imposes on the Indian cricketers, the cricketers have found a novel way to avoid over exertion. How ? By crashing out in the first rounds of every ICC tournament ( World Cup, 20-20 World Cup and now the Champions Trophy) and thereby gaining some “rest” for the ad endorsements.

Another one from Apoorv:

O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The rain saves us the shame of losing two on the run, The port is near, the bells I hear, the Oz horns are blaring, While follow eyes the steady keel, the media grim and daring.

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One thing that an engineering college education does to you is make you very emotionally inadequate. All we can do is think logically, brushing aside all emotions, and makes us quant jocks in real life too.

I was discussing the unfortunate death of Dr YSR Reddy, the AP CM, with a classmate who believed that all this state mourning and shutting down the state for a day was not logical. While I agree with the logic, I am not so much in sync with the emotional aspect of it.

Some people do believe that protocols are unnecessary, and a burden on the state exchequer. While I agree that some protocols are useless, some of them are required. We need to show some respect for people who work for the society and the country. Agreed that not a lot of them do it out of compassion, but who decides that?

The second discussion I had was the validity of Intellectual Property Rights, specially in the Pharmaceutical industry. While I agree that IPRs are an essential part of the industry and required to spur innovation, there is something fundamentally broken with the role they play in the pricing of drugs.

Would you rather not a sell a drug in a nation because you are making a lower profit or would you rather save a life? Isn’t the huge profit margins you make in some nations good enough to subsidize some losses in the less fortunate countries? Also, if a company decides not to sell a drug at an affordable price in a certain country facing an epidemic, is the government flawed in its decision to grant a compulsory license?

I guess these questions have no right answers. See what aspect sways you more and take that way is the right thing to do I guess.

As Captain Teague says in the last edition of Pirate of the Carribean, “It’s not just about living forever, Jackie. The trick is still living with yourself forever.“

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The first shock was that Vodafone did not support Twitter. WTF!! Wake up and smell the breeze folks. It could be a significant revenue earner, and yet you have decided not too support it. Can someone please explain the logic??

Next, I had some issue with the billing (never had it on Airtel I tell you), and I lodged a complain on their helpline. I must inform you here that it is near impossible to speak to a human voice on their IVRS. However, I did manage to file a complain, and 10 days (seriously) later they get back to me saying that they believe that the invoice is correct. I try to explain to the person my logic, and why I think there is an error, but he doesn’t know anything about my complain. What?? Are you fricking kidding me!!

Anyway, I sent their regional head an email about the error with the invoice details, and also the complaint number. He replied back saying I had forgotten my mobile number. I was soooper pissed. Can’t they locate my details through the invoice number and my name?? How hard can that be??

Seriously Vodafone, if you want to be as attractive as the Zoozoos, get your act together in customer support.

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