Having not seen any new successful product announcements from Google for last year or so I was feeling Google is losing its magic touch, it is getting bogged down by its own size and return of Larry Page is going to do little to change course. When I make the previous comment, I am not counting Android or Google Chrome announcements made me in recent Google I/O – those are enhancements, what I am talking is fundamental innovation. But today something happened that made pause this thought for a while and give credit to Google for its basic computer science research and its leadership position. It is the release of support in Google Translate for 5 Indic Languages including my mother tongue “Tamil”.
Though many research labs with their computer scientists & linguists both in India & outside are working on this for more than last 3 decades, having a publicly accessible Tamil translator has always remained a dream. I have personally met many of these great minds during the INFITT Tamil Internet conferences, but unfortunately they were all few critical steps away from completing their great work due to resource constraints. Many of these projects were also happening in silos – Private firms research arms, Government funded academic labs, Universities Linguistic departments and so on.
Though it is in Alpha stage and is far from perfect, it is a big day for all Tamilians. What Google has released today at Translate.Google.com is two-way translation (To Tamil & From Tamil) :
1. English (and other languages) to Tamil: The “Tamil” only speakers of Tamil Nadu & around the world can now access and enjoy the vast majority of World Wide Web without being hampered by not having English proficiency.
2. Tamil to English (and other languages): The entire world can now enjoy the timeless treasures in Tamil literature and written by Tamil poets.
As I have written earlier I love everything about my new iPad2, but I do look forward to a great Windows8 tablet sometime in future (?). Normally I connect my iPhone & iPad2 to my PC so that they can sync with iTunes for all latest Podcasts and Apps. After few days with my iPad2 I realized it is not charging while connected to my Desktop Workstation (of course I have upgraded a new PC few months back) due to lack of power wattage from PC’s standard USB Ports. Connecting to a powered external USB Hub from Belkin (FSU304) didn’t help either. It was inconvenient for me to connect the iPad everyday separately to a Power outlet for charging.
Doing some searching I found the solution in this Apple Support forum page. The answer is to download a free utility from Asus called AiCharger that works in Windows, this free app configures your Motherboard and USB Hubs to increase the power output that is required by iPad2 to charge. It works fine for me in an Intel Motherboard, but please check whether your PC has a big SMPS power supply to take the extra load.
I installed the “O The Oprah Magazine” app
for iPad. It is a interactive magazine with super sharp
photographs, videos, audio, social integration, shopping and more -
all integrated. Each month issue is an individual download, with
embedded video and all artefacts in a single download and no
waiting to load. Recent 2 months are $3.99 and older issues free!.
When The app is finely developed and feels great to read. A true
multimedia experience that’s difficult to get on a PC/Mac and
impossible on conventional media like newspaper or TV. If this is
the future of magazines and media then I want more of it, so will
all readers of fine journalism around the world. (Note: I am doing
this post from my iPad2 using an app called Blog.net connecting to
my dasBlog server. Not sure how it will render)
Some time back I had bought the DVD of this Disney Animated movie “UP” for my son, but he was not interested in watching it. Today suddenly he picked the DVD and insisted that I join him in watching, so I did. Expecting animated movies to be childish I was not so keen, but the movie turned out to be enjoyable for both of us. It had a underlying story of an old man who loves deeply and cares for his lost wife. The young boy who comes as a Scout is a fun character to watch too. The film is about on an old man named Carl Fredricksen and an young Wilderness Explorer named Russell who fly to South America by floating balloons on top of their house. Fredricksen goes to South America to fulfil a dream of his recently died wife in her memory.
For last few months I have been watching this American TV Serial “Outsourced” online. "Outsourced" is NBC’s comedy series about a catalog-based company (Mid America Novelties), that sells novelty goods and whose call center has suddenly been moved to Mumbai (India). The TV Series is based on a movie by the same name (which I haven’t watched yet). The title is a misnomer as the company is outsourcing the work, but just moved work to its own captive unit in India.
Season 1 was quite enjoyable with Ben Rappaport & Pippa Black playing lead roles. Rizwan Manji plays very well the rude, heartless assistant manager to Ben in India. Rebecca Hazlewood comes as “Asha”, Ben’s Indian sweetheart and she is gorgeous. I believe the shooting happened in entirely in LA, USA which you can easily guess with the canned portrait of Mumbai streets. In few places the story is stereo-typed portrait of India, it doesn’t tend to be demeaning anywhere. Overall it is an enjoyable office place comedy. I am sad to see NBC not renewing this for a second season, hence this post to pay obituary to it.
I have been attending this yearly event by Nasscom – Emergeout Concalve in Chennai. This year it happened today in Hilton, Chennai – this was the first time I am going to this hotel since it was opened few months back. The hotel was nice and functional, but I couldn’t find any character or inspiration in the design.
Mr.Som Mittal in his speech mentioned Indian IT products are being recognized slowly, for example Scope International of Standard Chartered Bank worked with NASSCOM in adopting Indian IT technologies. 12 products were showcased and 7 got selected.
Keynote speaker was Mr.Krishnamachari Srikkanth who started slowly in his speech but picked up speed and hit the balls all over Hilton. He over-shadowed everyone else in the panel discussion that followed up, but it was enjoyable and unpretentious. Krish Srikkanth in his speech talked about:
Being positive, energy can’t be created or destroyed it can only change
Be bold, play natural, be different. Human nature is to put down on difference
Enjoy what you are doing and don’t worry about results.
More important listen to your heart, don’t go fully based on data & Analytics. Your heart and consciousness is connected to super consciousness and super computer called God. Leaders take decisions through heart not by rational.
Don’t use complicate words like pedagogy and all that. Keep things simple
Fortune favours the brave (தில்லுக்கு துட்டு). High risk high gain
When Leader messes, every one is happy
In Cricket Technology can fine-tune a natural talent. It can’t create talent when it doesn’t exist
In the panel discussion one of the speaker “Ramki” says currently Cricket fans chase information and websites. Why not the information chase or reach users automatically?. One think I didn’t understand in the panel discussion why have a moderator with a star speaker like Kris. The moderator was completely unable to steer the discussion or add value. The next two panel discussions that followed were not inspiring for me, so I left the event during lunch time.
In my firm Vishwak Solutions we conduct periodic programs on various topics for self-improvement, health, technology & productivity. Last month we began a pilot program called “Vishwak360” the objective of which is to expose everyone in the organization to every department & its function – to give a 360 view of what’s happenings. I delivered the first talk and I spoke on Software Licensing – probably the driest subject, when selecting the topic I decided if I can get the audience interested through this then all the subsequent talks are going to be lively & enjoyable.
Over the years software licensing has become very complex and it need not be so. To navigate this jungle you need to understand why it originated, what is IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), different forms of IPR (Trademark, Copyright, Patent), Enforcement & finally different types of software licensing.
Yesterday while returning from Singapore to Chennai in SQ flight I saw this Egyptian movie “Khaltet Fawzeya” (Fawzia’s Secret Recipe). Hollywood and Kollywood movies are always there, but if you are lucky you get to watch wonderful hand-picked movies in Flight Entertainment and most often Singapore Airlines comes with good selections. The movie was described as “Fawzia is a poor woman, who has a magical, secret recipe for achieving happiness in life. She marries five men and lives with her large family in her small home”. The movie didn’t disappoint & was true to this description as well.
The first few scenes start off on a high comedy note, with Fawzia shouting in the midnight complaining about her present husband, then the whole neighbourhood coming to her support and she demanding and getting Divorce from her husband. She then asks the next man to help her to marry her and the whole sequence repeating for 4 times. The story happens entirely in a small Egyptian neighbourhood (though a slum it is shown clean and friendly, no gangsters or dark lanes) where Fawzia who has been divorced four times live with all her kids alone in a small house of her own. Each Thursday all her former husbands join for a family dinner bringing with them gifts and foods, each father taking care of his Son/Daughter. All her former husbands admire Fawzia for her strong will, caring nature and they show true affection and respect to her after divorce, she calls them affectionately as her brothers!. Fawzia has earned the love and respect of her small locality, she helps the ladies to prepare Jam in her house as a community activity, then distributing them free to kids around the graveyard, takes care of a fallen from fame dancer, a single lady friend of hers who is struggling to live after her love dies. Fawzia’s fifth husband learns her liking for a private bathroom (now all of them sharing a community bathroom), constructs a private one for her but authorities demolish it for they lack money/power.
The movie is directed by Egyptian Director Majdy Ahmed Ali, and Ilham Shaheen (the main cast who did the Fawzia character) has done a great performance in bringing out a down-to-earth practical lady with a strong will. Her will is tested by events and deaths (of her former husband, her good friend ‘dancer’, her first son) but after initial pain and sorrow, she overcomes them with resilience. The movie has many small fine touches by the director, like the scene where two men driving into their street seeing Fawzia’s large family eating together mistaking it for a Ramdan community dinner and joining them without being asked or asking; the last scene where all her former & present husband join together in building a beautiful bathroom (again!) for Fawzia with each one of them bringing something special to it; a wealthy rich lady leaving a flower bouquet in the grave of her loved one, then immediately the kids around picking it up and selling it; when Hood (fifth husband) complains that Fawzia’s mother didn’t come to their marrige, Fawzia countering that his sister too didn’t come.
Overall a comedy movie but an undertone message about how to take on life as it comes and how to care for others around you. Don’t miss watching this fine cinema. You can see a trailer of the movie (in Arabic without subtitles) here.
Apart from this movie, the other International Movies from the KrisWorld listings that I was interested to watch were: Two Girls from Egypt, I love Hong Kong, 20 Cigarettes & Outside the Law. I hope I find those movies too sooner.
Microsoft has been rather quiet on the next version of Windows till this week. This week in D9 conference Steven Sinofsky previewed for the first time Windows 8 UI. From PDC 2009 where Microsoft showed touch in Windows 7 I have been hoping they will come out with a great touch experience but with the ability to run existing Windows Apps. Think of it, Apple iOS claims about 300,000 or so apps, but Windows has like Millions of apps out there. The challenge for Microsoft has been the Hardware, which they don’t control; but in Apple’s case they design and control to produce great experience like in iPad2.
The video below shows Microsoft’s Director of PM (Windows User Experience) Jensen Harris showcasing the new Windows8 Touch UI. For me, I am super excited on this new UI, the concept of tiles and display of information quickly is cool. I liked this “Metro” UI when it was first shown in WindowsPhone7, but it is unfortunate it didn’t take off that well. May be the Nokia-Microsoft deal will revive the fortune of both the companies & adoption of this UI.
Only time will tell whether in this round with Windows8 will Microsoft be able to get their Hardware partners to design cool hardware with better battery life than iPad. But they have already started working with partners as this partner preview of new devices in Taipei, Taiwan shows.
Outside India, I am very familiar with Singapore. I have been there many many times and that’s due to having few relatives & friends there and that I usually stop-over en-route to my US trips. Also Singapore is a shoppers heaven for Electronics & Gadgets. The last I travelled to Singapore was in November 2010 and this week for business meetings. In the last few trips the craze for me on shopping gadgets has come down, for example when I went to the famous Funan IT Mall this time around I didn’t buy anytime – which is first for me!. This could be because I have most of the devices already (iPhone4, iPad2 from US, Kinect for XBOX360 bought in India, Apple TV and so on). Second most of the devices you get in India (Croma or Reliance Digital and so on) and the price difference is very less – buying in India saves you hassles of carrying them, warranty & customs duty in Airport. I have noticed that low-end & previous generation gadgets which move in volumes are now cheaper in India and on top of it you have to pay Singapore Taxes (of course you can get GST refund, but why the hassle).
While in Singapore one of the days for Lunch I went to Cedele by The Bakery Depot, a popular bakery & soup shop in Singapore. I was introduced to their shop in Raffles Quay (Basement 2 in Raffles Place MRT) by one of my friends in Singapore. For the lunch I had a lovely Moroccan Spiced Carrot (Vegetarian and without cream) and some breads. I noticed they sell many organic and fresh varieties of Ice Cream, Pastries and Salads as well.
Later, I went to the Marina Bay Sands Casino & Hotels. It seems you got to take your Passport & VISA to enter the Casino “free” as a foreigner (localities are required to pay SGD100) and the bouncers didn’t accept my Soft copy in iPhone. So instead I went to the Skypark (54th Floor) after paying SGD 20. From the top you get a great view of the city, but nothing spectacular.
One of the days my Uncle took me to the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Serangoon Road (Little India) where there was a Homam (Offerings Hindu Ritual) to Lord Sudharshanar happening, I had a good Darshan.
And every description of a trip to Singapore is incomplete without the praise to Changi Airport. I landed in the new Terminal 3 which is new and sparklingly clean, amazing how Singapore does it time and again.
The content of this site are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in anyway. In addition, my thoughts and opinions often change, and as a weblog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot you should not consider out of date posts to reflect my current thoughts and opinions.
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