Microsoft Rocks...!

Everyone talks about the workplace of Google... and just look and pictures and say ooh la la...!

Well let's get real...!

http://www.fastcompany.tv/video/the-innovations-microsoft’s-new-research-building

Who are you...?

There was a senior manager from the leadership who had a meeting with the entire team today. He was telling us about his career and about what he had done throughout his career, going a little into the details of a few selected projects, his achievements, some interesting stories of despair, struggle and finally success... Hell leaderships don't even talk about failure now do they... But that doesn't mean they haven't seen any... :)

But while I was listening to it I could make out who that man was? That's the crux of this post? Who are you...? You are not your name... Your name just represents who you are. It is a facade. You can define yourselves with your relationship (Son of ... or Father of ... or Husband or Wife of...) But is that really you...?

You could define yourself with your profession... Senior Developer at Microsoft or Vice President for that matter... But is that really you...?

So I am what I contribute. At home, at work, at play. To my family, to the organization I work for and to the society too. So it seems I am a lot of people :). I always say the ultimate purpose of humanity is to grow. Smarter, stronger and better every passing day. So here are the metrics by which you grow.

You would be recognized by what you contribute to your immediate surrounding. If you contribute directly or indirectly to the business of the organization you work for, if you make it grow, you will grow. If you contribute to your family, if you contribute to your personal passions... They will know you by your contributions... that's what you are...

That's who you are.

Blogger stops working with Live Writer

I use Microsoft live Writer. I maintain a no. of blogs. One about tech, one about gadgets, one about religion and mythology, one about training my new pet "Boomerang" (a 2 month old yellow Labrador) and so on. So to manage all these blogs, I use live writer. It is pretty cool and dainty. It gives all word like features like spell check and text formatting, manages my photos, if I want to post one along with my Blog Post, and so on. One fine day I realize that one of my blogs on blogger doesn't post the blogs that I am posting through live writer.

After sniffing around a little I realize that it is the "Captcha" that I somehow need to put while posting my blogs. Since live writer isn't able to solve the "Captcha", it is not being able to post my blogs on that particular blog.

So I click on the link that says "Why do I have this?" and I find out that "Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog." and that "Since you are an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy and we sincerely apologise for this false positive."

Now I have absolutely no issues with Blogger thinking that my blog is a spam blog. And in fact I think they are doing a pretty good job trying to prevent spam.

I was just wondering why this happened and how this could be made a little more user friendly. It happened perhaps because I am using Live Writer, which is in a way an automated blog posting engine. Which is exactly what a spam blog would probably use. I think the Blogger Spam Bots are doing the right thing.

So going beyond this point, I started wondering if the live writer in some way could report the issue to the author. I am sure there must be some kind of exception thrown on the blogger side when I was trying to post the entry without solving the "Captcha". Why did live writer not inform me? is that a test case missing in the live writer code? Why does Live Writer give me the feeling that everything is fine and hunky dory? Or is it that there is no way to find out whether the blog has been posted successfully or not? Should I report this? Well what the hell I probably should.

Last but not the least, Blogger is smart enough to store all the posts that didn't solve the "Captcha" as draft. So all my work didn't go a waste. I just had to go to Blogger and solve the "Captcha" individually. I hate to admit it, but I have to appreciate good work when I see it... Even if it is from the "enemy camp". Kudos Google...!!!

Google Calendar Synch... Bro ha ha...

Google launches Calendar Synch. This provides 2 way Synch with your Outlook Calendar. So every time I make an update on my Calendar on outlook, it automatically synchronizes it with the Google Calendar. So if my home
machine has Calendar Synch running, it would also synchronize my home machine outlook calendar with the Google Calendar. So all I have to do is make an update on one of the machines and my desktop, my laptop, my IPhone, everything stays in sync.
So I wonder what I would really do with this. I don't have an IPhone. My Sony Ericsson P990i syncs the Calendar I have on my laptop. I don't maintain my Outlook Calendar anywhere else. Since I carry My phone everywhere. All the Updates that I do I do only on my Phone and My laptop Outlook Calendar more works like a back up of my phone data.
Yes there is one small thing. All the meeting invites that I get, since I don't have the Blackberry service yet, don't get synchronized on the go. But as one of my ex-seniors used to say, "If you can't get in touch with me at home and if you can't get in touch with me at work and if you can't get in touch with me on my cell, don't get in touch with me. I am probably avoiding you."
Ok sounds good. But I do accept that I am not 100% "synched" on the move. So my next phone will facilitate me in doing that.
So considering that Microsoft had a utility like that which would sync windows live, outlook, hotmail calendars, I really ask myself. Do I really need something like that? Would I ever use it? Or is that small icon on my task bar adding more clutter to my windows registry and my installed programs?

Casio's new G-Shock GW-9200

Now isn't that a gadget a man would love to own. Features you ask...? well here you go.

1. 6 Band Atomic Time Synch: This (for dummies) is a synchronization mechanism that tracks proper time depending upon the Earth's Geoid. The principal realization of the Earth's Terrestrial Time.

2. Barometer (Air Pressure range 260 to 1100 hPa)

3. Altimeter (-700 to 10000 meters): Does this also mean that it can go up to -700 meters under water? I wonder.

4. Thermometer (-10 to 60 degrees Celcius): Trust me dude you don't want to go beyond those temperatures.

5. Stopwatch (1/100 seconds, 24 hours with a split)

6. World Time (33 world cities, 29 time zones)

7. Countdown Timer (24 Hours Max)

8. 5 alarms (1 with snooze)

9. Full Auto EL Light (with afterlight): EL meaning Electro Luminescent. The watch has an EL Panel causing the entire watch to glow for easy reading in the dark

10. Tough Solar: There is a Solar cell that converts solar energy into electrical energy, which is used to charge the re-chargeable battery of the cell.

11. Geiger Counter (Soon to be added): A Geiger Counter helps in detecting radiation using Alpha and Beta Radiation.

Now should I show this to Nidarshana, what would she say? Is that a watch or is it a room full of machinery. Why do you need a watch that does so much. Why can't a watch just show time and look good and do nothing else. Why does everything in a Man's world have to be so Complicated?

So a Man's world is complicated. And as per her, its a woman's world that's simple... talk about it eh...!

Windows Mobiles Rule...!

For a long period of time there was a fad that windows is bad. Open source and anything anti windows was so cool to talk about. Ridiculing Microsoft products was a favorite time killer. People have slowly started realizing that not everything that they hear is true.

I have been using Symbian phones for quite some time now and all of them have been smart phones. Last weekend I attended a friend's marriage and his HTC Touch dual was with me for almost 3 days. This just made me realize how sweet windows mobile is.

It is small things that matter the most like a java application, when run, it gives a security alert. I get a choice to run the app once only or allow for the session or not this time or not this session or not at all. I cannot imagine what security threat it could pose on one run if it didn't on the previous in the same session. Or for that matter what across sessions. If it is safe once, isn't it supposed to be safe always...? Or is it that the OS doesn't recognise the app in the next session...?

Amd why are most of the apps designed for keypad phones and no extensibility for the touch screen browser phones...? I wonder...

A no. Of issue i notice with predictive text, handling, ergonomics, etc. So i conclude. symbian phones are good but when it comes to smart phones and its usability... Windows mobiles rule.