Of Laptops and Futures

I was looking at my now 3.5 year old laptop, typing up some documents that I need to be sent. At various points in the last few months I have seriously contemplated buying a new machine. My trust machine despite being unstinting in its service and ever willing to run for its user, sometimes shows it limitations, in size, in speed, in bulkiness and in box shapes. Right across my house is a neighbhor who has one of the new Macbooks thats excruciatingly thin and small and lightweight not to mention packs in twice as much number-crunching capabilities without breaking a sweat as my machine could hope to do at its peak (no side processes, hard disk clean, no windows .. so on).
This got me thinking.. what do I think laptops will look like in the future? Hmm.. a short answer will be.. smaller, more powerful. Another answer would be that laptops won't exist at all. Simply put, we'll all have iPod like objects that will be twice as powerful as any laptop that exists today, while consuming very less power and capable of connecting to any wireless device or display.
For now, I am going to look into only the next 10 years and see how things can change. Of course two things can happen here: I might make categorical statements that will be proved horribly wrong and make me look like an idiot in 10 years time, or I will grossly underestimate how technology can change and things will look much better. Another remote possibility is that global warming will get to us and destroy humanity, before any of these devices can come out, oh well, let's see..
1) Displays: LCDs will be history, Plasma TVs might be also-rans, most likely, future display technologies will run on OLEDs. Not only do they consume less power, they are seductively thin, and will most likely be foldable, thus bringing about the minority report kind of paper that we have all been waiting for. Apple is expected to come out with OLED versions of its products in the next year and already we have 40" showcase TVs from Samsung and Sony.
2) Processing: Bring on the multi-cores! Won't be surprised to have 64 cores in one computer connected and working with each other to produce mind boggling processing. Graphics cards might be obsolete and the lines will finally merge, unless one needs extra graphics processing ofcourse. Another philosophy, might be that all future laptops will be netbooks that delegate processing to a stationary more powerful machine and only take care of local caching and minimal processing.
3) Hard disks: Magnetic drives might stay for a while since they are a mature technology. However, don't count Solid State drives out! They have no moving parts, are so much lighter and pack a lot more data per weight and if the technology matures enough to become consumer friendly (as it is slowly becoming) harddrives as we know it might be a thing of the past. I wouldn't discount a breakthrough in nanotechnology or holographic technology leading to dramatically increasing storage capacities either.
4) Supplementary drives: A couple of optical drives might stay, CD roms will be obsolete, Blu-Ray and its derivatives will work for a while, but ultimately all data transfer will be from a remote source eliminating needs for temporary storage drives.
5) Wireless: Hmm.. tough one.. there would ideally be two wireless receivers one for short range and one for more steady needs such as data transfer. Both would consume less power in a week, than a light bulb does in an hour. But most future laptops will bank heavily on wireless technology to transfer and store data. The days of CDs and DVDs might be over, just download the software or movie or song that you want and use it (I never liked those stores anyway).
6) Speakers: Why have speakers when you can wireless communicate to a speaker set or headphones nearby :) Speakers might exist as a rudimentary case though, just so people don't crib.
7) Wires: Ugh.. no external connections. All wireless please. Especially to those annoying projectors and TVs!!!

This is by no means a full list.. so many things could change and comments are invited to add or subtract from what I wrote.. Can't wait for the future :)

Berhael

Of BC and Roy

I was reading this article..
http://209.97.214.175/~scholars/wordpress/?p=1024
What impressed me the most about this was the idea that if enough people get together and fight for a cause, together with intelligent reporting, anything is possible. I'd like to think that this was how our independence was won. The only unfortunate thing was the use of violence and destruction of property. Hope that does not happen again and also hope that this results in real change. But still, it was a valiant effort.
Also hope the reporting was objective. Seems so.
Berhael

Of Legos and Fridays

It was Friday night, 7:30 pm, didn't really have a party to go to nor was in any mood to work or go to the gym after 3 hours of meetings. It was raining heavily outside and there was no one else in the lab. Felt really bored. Thats when I remembered something. My cubicle neighbhour had recently got a Lego Mindstorm set for Mentoring school kids next fall. I've always loved Lego Mindstorms, it has and will always be my dream birthday present. The nerd/child/self-obsessed-engineer in me will always make sure I will spend hours working under a lampshade making some new creation. And the beauty of Lego Mindstorms is that, it is somewhat like Windows, it is meant for people who don't want to tinker around with settings and innards and just want to whip something up real quick. But how it differs is that if you DO require to tinker, you can start interfacing python code or C code to create ever complicated robots. So when he gave me the license to play with the toys over the weekend, I couldn't resist.. So I spent about 2.5 hours pouring over the instruction manual and constructing the robots, and loading the programs. I wanted to do more, but the fear that there would be nothing left to do if I finished everything in 1 day, there would be nothing left to do later, kept my enthusiasm at bay. Here are some videos:

Who needs a social life when you have THIS!!!

Berhael

Of Kaakas and Naris

Once upon a time, there was a Kaaka (no not this one, but this one)who was very hungry. True to satisfy his wants, the new-age Maami wearing a T-shirt bought by her son from Walmart and sent across just yesterday, made him some Masala Vadais and gave them to the Kaaka. The Kaaka of course was used to the best food from across the world thanks to food at Ascendas, just a few potholes away. But since he was hungry, he decided to indulge the Maami and took them to his new Penthouse nest on top of the latest YAIT*.

Just when he was about to munch his sumptuous feast, a Nari (no not this one, but this one) saw him from the bottom. The Nari didn't want to waste any energy shouting out to the Kaaka so he decided to SMS him with his new BlackBerry Storm. The text convo went something like this:

Nari: hey dde sup?

Kaaka: nthng mch dde. jst got thse vds frm tht mmi

Nari: wtf it's bn ags snce i had vds pass sme ovr!

Kaaka: lmao ..no way jose, i'm fckng hngry now & no 1's gnna bt MY ass 4 these vds

Nari (strikes Vairamuthu pose and walks at the footsteps of the YAIT..thinking deeply and then): 

yo kka kka UR the brd i'd eat 

if i didn't hve UR vds 4 a trt

i'm sre UR vce is vry swt

so sing me a sng 2 the aadhi bt..

Now this was too much for the Kaaka and he immediately started his own hand at rap while the Vadas were still in his mouth and they all fell down faster than Satyam's shares in the stock market, for the waiting Nari. 

Nari: rotflmao!!! so lng sckr!!!

In this way the Nari managed to dupe the innocent Kaaka out of all his Vadas.

Update : This is to announce that the Kaaka has officially been granted a bailout package, approximately 70 billion vadas and tax-cuts worth another 70 billion whenever he goes for dining at the San Jose Saravana Bhavan. Some creatures have it made. *Sigh*

* - Yet Another IT Tower

Of Coffees and Winters

4 sets of crispy, thin dosais with Thaengai Chutney, followed by Bru Filter Coffee on a cold winter morning.
Of all the pleasant surprises I expected in the US this was the least expected.. :)
Berhael

Of Macs and Worlds..

Macworld is around the corner and from macrumors.com I saw these two pics..
Even the Small Talk Will be BIG




















There are widespread rumors that Apple is going to release the iPhone Nano very soon, this could just be the announcement that portends it. I am waiting with jollu to see how it looks like.
And also..

The Start of a New Era























This probably signifies that Apple is not going to be @ Macworld from 2010 onwards. But I am going to go one step further and say that the big Kahuna of Apple is not going to be at the helm of affairs anymore come 2010. Praying to God that its not so!

Update : Both my predictions were wrong! :(

Berhael

Of Trolleys and Bowls

Yesterday:
Location : Los Angeles
I walk down the road on my way to college and spot a person moving along a trolley. Its a woman, about 5' 6" wearing a green-checked shirt and worn out jeans. She wears brown boots that have four stitches in them. She is rummaging the trash can looking for plastic bottles and cardboard boxes. The only thing protecting her from the cold is her withered sweater and an olive green jacket that she has tied around her waist for now. As she collects each box, she places it carefully in her trolley so as to create maximum space for impending items. As I walk across she smiles at me and says good morning. And just as I cross her a face pops up from under the boxes in the trolley, its a kid, perhaps 5 or 6 years old. His face is all dirty betraying his lack of bath for the day (at least). He has a cookie in his hand and waves it at me showing his half-broken teeth. I wave back at him, smiling, and show a thumbs up as I walk across.

One Year Ago:
Location : Chennai
I walk from the Besant Nagar bus stand back home after escaping my classes for the day. Right opposite my house, near the school, there is (and has always been for as long as I can remember it) a green trash can. As I cross it, I see a woman with a wrinkled face and natted brown hair probing it hoping to find some plastic packets and cornflakes boxes that the people would have thrown. She is about 4'5". She has two bags, a dirty greased sling on her left shoulder into which she puts each box or dabba and the other bigger bag on her right shoulder from which an infant peers out looking wonder-eyed at the world around him. I can't help but smile that in this world there are still innocent faces that are goodness personified. The woman gives me a cold stare, I walk on.

Of Gestures and Robots

Here's what I did for my class project in Sensing and Planning in Robotics . This was done as part of a 5 member team. The gesture recognition is tracked with an Inertial Measurement Unit that I hacked up. We use Hidden Markov Models to identify gestures. The robots actually track the leader through a pair of Wiimotes on each robot that track a Sensor bar on the leader. This is one project that uses 5 different languages on the same framework. :P



Oh and for those who might have questions feel free to comment. :)

Berhael

Of Daminis and Dosas

Siiigh.. Why can't they have franchise outlets like these....

Of CMs and Dogs

Why calling a politician a dog is a compliment:
1. A dog is a honest and hard working animal, a poitician is a scoundrel, a thief and a hardly working animal.
2. A dog guards his territory no matter what; a politician sells his territory if the price is right.
3. You can always trust a dog not to bite the hand that feeds him, you can expect the politician to always bite.
4. A dog looks cute and good while a politician .....

Copied and pasted by Berhael

Of Rest and Peace

May God bless the souls of those who gave their lives for our country's security.
You make me proud of my country.

Of Blues and Dots

Look at the image above...
Who would think that on this blue ball are organisms ready to destroy each other?
Who would think that on this blue ball that religion exists?
Who would think that on this blue ball is pain, suffering, loss of loved ones and carnage?
Who would think that on this blue ball is fear, hatred and anger?
Who would think that on this blue ball is panic?
Who would think that on this blue ball is us?
Who would think... Who would think...

Berhael

Of ISRO and Myths

Top 5 myths of Moon Mission
It's a waste of money:
India's GDP (adjusted for purchasing power parity) = $4.156 trillion
ISRO budget = $ 940 million Or 0.02% of our GDP
Amount paid as bribes in India per year = $4.6 billion
Total Consolidated revenue for BCCI = $ 1 billion
Cost of Pirates of Caribbean = $300 million or 1/3rd the cost.
Total revenue of Bollywood in 2007 = $ 1.3 billion
(All costs in US $)
So you decide what's a waste.

US has achieved this before:
Yes but they did it 30 years ago. All the data from those missions is 30 years old with not much added after that. The image/terrain resolution is of a bygone age. The main scientific objective of the mission is high resolution remote sensing which involves mapping detailed terrains of the moon and determining what the soil of the moon contains with a sophistication not seen before. THAT is new and is data the whole world would want.

Why should India do this anyway:
Some of the US, Russia, Japan, China are all planning on establishing bases on the moon eventually. We would definitely want to have some moon real-estate of our own and not end up at the mercy of other nations. As a country willing to assert its authority in the world stage, the capability that we demonstrate is important.

It won't benefit common man:
There is hope that the helium found on the moon would be useful for electricity generation in the future. Helium is found in abundance on the moon. If the ISRO is able to tap even two tons of helium from the moon then it could be considered a major achievement as it could be used to generate power supply to the entire country for a year. The mission will also explore minerals available on the earth's only satellite. So if they are found in abundance, we would definitely want to be the first to stake claim on them. Even besides that, the fact that ISRO can send a probe to the moon means it has the increasing capability (and confidence) in its launch vehicles, very similar to the ones used for satellites. These could be used for launching further satellite systems, India's own GPS system for example.

Whats the point? Its just going to the moon:
If you can send a space craft to the moon, it means you have the technology in
- Electronic Systems
- Advanced compound materials
- Advanced Rockets
- Control systems that can precisely control an object all the way to the moon
Roughly, if you send a probe to the moon, it also means that you have the potential to send an inter-continental ballistic missile half-way across the world. The technology just has to be re-arranged.

AND CONGRATS TO ISRO!!!

Berhael

Of Just and Lyrics

Throughout life people will make you mad
Disrespect you and treat you bad
Let God deal with the things they do
Cause hate in your heart will consume you too
Always tell the truth say your prayers
Hold doors pull out chairs easy on the swears
Youre living proof that dreams do come true
I love you and Im here for you
--Will Smith

Copied and Pasted By Berhael

Of Dogs and Misses

To my two brothers..
Socks



































and
Prince

I'm going to miss you guys crazy... You've taught me a lot about how to live life and I hope we will be friends forever. Keep yourselves safe and out of harm's way.







Berhael

Of Olympics and Predictions

The Olympics is around the corner. It is highly likely that China is going to (finally) overtake USA in the medals tally. Last time, China won 32 golds. It might win at least 40 this year around.
On the downside, I am expecting at least 3 athletes from the USA to end up in a dope scandal and at least 1 from China.

Interestingly, a list of "Medal density", i.e. the number of medals won divided by the population of that country (unit is Parts per million or ppm) gives the top 5 countries as The Bahamas, Norway, Australia, Cuba and Hungary! USA is ranked 34th. Also the medal tally divided by GDP ranking yields, Georgia, Ethiopia, Cuba, Jamaica and Uzbekistan! Now there's something that tells you that a country need not be rich in people/resources to produce medalists! Just two or three good ones or a strong program in a particular sport.

India first participated in Olympics in 1900 in Paris. The country was represented by Norman Pritchard, an Anglo Indian. Mr. Pritchard was holidaying in Paris during that time. He bagged two silver medals in 200m dash and 200m hurdles. (How's THAT for a productive holiday?!?).

One of the most consistent medal winners for India has been the Men's Hockey team. At one time, 7 successive Olympic Golds were won by the team right from 1928 to 1956. The Goals scored by versus against in all these matches was a very Federer-esque 178 - 7. Of course they also won two more Golds in 1964 and 1980 apart from 2 silvers and a bronze. With such a rich history, you have to wonder whether bad management, apathy of the masses or just the drying up of talent has brought Indian hockey to a pathetic state of not even being able to qualify for the current Olympics.

We are yet to win an individual Olympic Gold, having won 2 silvers in Athletics, Bronzes for wrestling, a bronze in tennis, a bronze in weightlifting, a bronze in shooting and a lone silver in last time in Athens.

Not that what I say really matters, but my predictions for this year?
Archery - 1 medal
Shooting - 2 medals
Boxing - 1 medal
Tennis - 0 medals (and I hope that will be the end of the Lee-Hesh story, for the love of tennis!)

And for everyone who would like to know, here is the list of the Indian Contingent. For everyone's information, I had to look for this in a news archive, the Indian Olympic Association does not even have a website (this is the so called address : www.olympic.ind.in ) , let alone putting up names of athletes online to look for sponsors. And we wonder why we don't win medals!

Archery: Dola Banerjee, Pranitha Vardhineni, Bombayala Devi, Mangal Singh Champia.

Athletics: Anju Bobby George, Krishna Poonia, Harwant Kaur, Preeja Sreedharan, Manjeet Kaur, Chitra K. Soman, Sini Jose. M.R. Poovamma, Mandeep Kaur, J.J. Shoba, Susmita Singha Roy, G.G. Pramila, Vikas Gowda, Renjith Maheswary, Surendra Singh, K. Mridula, S. Geetha.

Badminton: Anup Sridhar, Saina Nehwal.

Boxing: Jitender, Akhil Kumar, A.L. Lakra, Vijender, Dinesh Kumar.

Judo: Khumujam Tombi Devi, Divya.

Rowing: Bajrang Lal Thakar, Devender Kumar Khandwal, Manjeet Singh.

Shooting: Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Mansher Singh, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, Samaresh Jung, Sanjeev Rajput, Anjali Bhagwat, Avneet Kaur Sidhu.

Swimming: Virdhawal Khade, Ankur Poseria, Sandeep Sejwal, Rehan Poncha.

Table tennis: Sharath Kamal, Neha Agarwal.

Tennis: Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Sunitha Rao.

Wrestling: Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Rajeev Tomar.

Weightlifting: L. Monika Devi.

Yachting: N.S. Johal.

Berhael

Of Uncles and Balls

Today, I was walking through a municipal corporation ground while walking my dogs and there I saw a group of kids playing cricket. Immediately, the youth in me took over and I felt like joining them for a game despite my canine entourage.
And then it happened, one of the boys hit a ball and it came flying towards me and landed right next to my feet. It was a small ball, rubber, blue, shining, inviting. And there it stood, right in front of the three of us, man and beast coveting the ball alike. The kid posted at long on, ran over to me and came up to collect the remains of an astounding shot.
And there I was, waiting for him to ask me to join in their game, maybe even join midway through this one (as they were a keeper short). I was bristling at the opportunity to showcase my sportsman skills. The dash towards the boundary, the rolling in the mud, the incessant appealing, the fright on seeing the fastest opposing bowler, the inventive sledging, hoick over mid-wicket, the satisfaction of finally placing that cover drive, all came to me in a menagerie of frenzy, excitement, lust, exhilaration!
And so the kid ran up to me, walked about to about 10 feet within me. I was just waiting for him to ask the question, quivering with adrenaline. And there, his lips moved : "Uncle.... could you please pass the ball?"

"Uncle?" :|
So much for youth

Berhael

Of IITians and Analytics

Alright, I confess, I use Google Analytics to monitor which content is most viewed on my blog and what are the keywords, to tune my future content and meta tags better. Long back I had written an entry on why IITs aren't so much a waste of time. And today, I happened to see the search keywords for that article and I am pasting them here. Basically, it means people Googled for these phrases and got (mis?)led to my blog. At this point, I must state I have not cooked up any list item here they were actually used!
Here you go, in descending order :
0) all about iitians
1) blog about iitians abroad
2) blogs of iitians
3) dowry rate of an iitian
4) hate iit iitians
5) how iitian achieve so much
6) iit colleges hate
7) iitian bloggers
8) iitian quotes
9) iitian+software+blog

Dowry rate of an IITian? Priceless. :)

Berhael

Of Lasts and Lectures

May you Rest In Peace Randy.Image courtesy: Wikimedia
Berhael

Of Hindu, Kalam and Projects

This article came in The Hindu today. In the paragraph indicating the low-cost technology developed in IIT Madras, one of the two projects shown was mine! :)

CHENNAI: In the eyes of APJ Abdul Kalam, the scientist, there was a Stephen Hawking lurking in every corner of Vidya Sagar, wielding technology from a wheelchair. “This is a very hi-tech establishment,” he remarked of Vidya Sagar, which works for children with cerebral palsy. “What Stephen Hawking is doing, you are trying to do everyday.”

Stepping into the Augmentative and Alternative Communication Centre in Vidya Sagar, which works on various devices used by students who are “non verbal,” Mr. Kalam spent more than his scheduled half-an-hour, finding out how technology could be harnessed to help children with poor motor and auditory skills to learn and communicate.

Rajul Padmanabhan, director, Vidya Sagar, told Mr. Kalam about a low-cost technology, developed in association with IIT-Madras, that opens up the world for a child with multiple disabilities.

Poonam Natarajan, founder of Vidya Sagar and chairperson of the National Trust, and Usha Ramakrishnan, chairperson, Vidya Sagar, informed Mr. Kalam of the various initiatives of the institution.

Mr. Kalam promised to come back to Vidya Sagar, along with a student conducting research on mental retardation, and spend half a day with the students, teachers and mothers.

He took a couple of questions from 12th standard students Anjana and Abhishek.

Mr. Kalam congratulated “his friend” Siddharth, a former student of Vidya Sagar currently employed in a private bank, for his achievements.