Strangely enough the programming bug in me has received a stimulus, yet again. Somehow I've gotten really interested in java. Am I somehow missing programming? Not that I was an avid programmer at any given time, infact my feeble and insufficient knowledge of programming is only limited to some BASIC which I learnt years ago in high school. But even though BASIC is sort of a noob's language I loved it. I played around with it so much that after a few months of learning the language I was creating programmes which were unconventional at least syllabus wise, I was drawing pictures, creating quiz apps with elaborate certificate print outs once you qualified till the final round (lol) etc. In short I was in love with BASIC and was more or less convinced that programming would be or had to be my profession.
Unfortunately life had other plans for me. I soon became interested in something as unrelated to engineering as ice cream is to onion. Biology. A subject which till then I had considered to be a mindless mugging up regimen, suddenly captured my imagination. I was sceptical of myself quite frankly when this sudden transformation in me took place, and wished and hoped that it was a passing phase. But it was not. Soon I was convinced that I had to pursue this awesome subject and do something meaningful with my life. Medicine was my true calling. And fortunately I was insanely lucky to clear one of the toughest entrance exams of this country and got accepted in a reputed med school.
But frankly, my passion for programming never left me. I soon discovered Linux and fell in love with it. Ubuntu has been my only OS for a long time now and I would highly recommend it. But frankly whats the fun of using open source softwares if you dont 'give back'? Hence my urge to learn programming more seriously. But since I dont have the time to go through books and all, I have stuck to online tutorials. Of course, my friend Vivek (@milcom_) has helped me out immensely, I would be stranded in deep sh*t without his help. Hope I can start making simple apps real soon.
Anyway thats all there is to it. Thanks for reading. Take care folks.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Duck Tales
I have been pretty brutal and ruthless in my iphone bashing posts. Maybe a bit too brutal I'm afraid. Recently I found a youtube video showing the functionality of the iphone gyroscope. Its something which has been sort of overshadowed by the iphone form factor and video calling features. Anyway from the looks of it, the gyroscope is pretty awesome. Non-iphone (or lets non-iphone4 users since even the iphone 3GS doesnt have the gyroscope) users, that includes myself, have so far only experienced the accelerometer which lets face it is pretty old school now. The gyroscope sort of revs things up. You can now change the orientation of the phone to any angle. That can come in very handy in case of gaming (yeah I know who plays games on a smartphone other than iphone users :P). I doubt if any other device is going to beat Apple to gyroscopic supremacy (lol) but it sure makes the other manufacturers think of innovations in future models.
Speaking of which, I'm pretty sad for Nokia. The once smartphone giant is now fast becoming a defunct phone manufacturer, completely out of sync with today's needs. Its inability to innovate has irritated many fanboys and sure enough, it has been reflected in the sharp drop in smartphone sales of Nokia. The Finnish manufacturer had proudly announced the ultra smart, uber sleek N8 in the recent past, even specs wise its faster than the iphone 3GS, but from the looks of it, its practically out of date now even before its launch thanks to the iphone 4. I wish Nokia hadnt announced their plans so early, its surely gonna be a big letdown now the N8, irrespective of what the symbian^3 interface looks and behaves like. I will be frank here, I wish any company other than Apple had come up with the gyroscope. Not because I passionately hate Apple or because of the prejudices surrounding the company but simply because I would love an open source mobile OS to lead from the front. Closed source, although it respects the right of the programmer, is severely detrimental to the development of the mobile arena. Apple contributes very little technology wise from its devices and OSes. And this needs to change, Apple wont be part of it, so the other have to.
Speaking of which, I'm pretty sad for Nokia. The once smartphone giant is now fast becoming a defunct phone manufacturer, completely out of sync with today's needs. Its inability to innovate has irritated many fanboys and sure enough, it has been reflected in the sharp drop in smartphone sales of Nokia. The Finnish manufacturer had proudly announced the ultra smart, uber sleek N8 in the recent past, even specs wise its faster than the iphone 3GS, but from the looks of it, its practically out of date now even before its launch thanks to the iphone 4. I wish Nokia hadnt announced their plans so early, its surely gonna be a big letdown now the N8, irrespective of what the symbian^3 interface looks and behaves like. I will be frank here, I wish any company other than Apple had come up with the gyroscope. Not because I passionately hate Apple or because of the prejudices surrounding the company but simply because I would love an open source mobile OS to lead from the front. Closed source, although it respects the right of the programmer, is severely detrimental to the development of the mobile arena. Apple contributes very little technology wise from its devices and OSes. And this needs to change, Apple wont be part of it, so the other have to.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Finally blogging again
Its been a hellova long time since I posted anything on my blog. Bad me!
Thing is, like it or not, microblogging is far more interesting or lets say easier than 'macroblogging' (thats what wordpress blogs are called now I guess). Twitter, stupid as it might seem, is indeed a powerful medium of communication (yeah as if you're hearing that for the first time! :P) Anyway, to cut the long story short, I was too preoccupied with other stuff including twitter, hence the lack of blog posts.
In the meantime though, the world has changed. Really? Hell yeah! The iphone 4 is out now, and its changed everything, apparently. Steve Jobs was in a jovial mood that day as he launched his new pet 'i' device. It now has video calling and Jobs made it sound so awesome that it almost seemed as if he'd invented the technology. (Anyway I can video call on my N97 mini just for the info. And if you have one of these symbian devices, use a software called Fring to connect to and make video calls via wifi or 3G. If you're on the iphone 4 however make sure you ask all fellow wifi users to switch off their devices so that you can 'video call'. Not sure if they'd be elated to make that sacrifice for you, but hey you can always say that Steve Jobs said so, maybe then they'll listen to you)
Enough of Jobs bashing. Was watching a really nice movie the other day about the Israel Palestine conflict, Salt of this sea. Its a really shocking movie and I'd highly recommend watching it. I think the Israel Palestine issue has been kept alive for long time and enough lives have been lost/taken. Its high time that an amicable solution acceptable to all parties was reached.
Other than that I've been busy attending boring lectures in college (okay some interesting ones as well), visiting (or touring rather, still not qualified enough to handle/help others) rural health centres and learning a lot about the healthcare system of this country. Tell you what, its a pity that when loads and loads of schemes are being devised by the government, age old superstitions and prejudices still rule the roost, at least in the rural areas. Sad that.
(And now I cant find the zemanta toolbox in the wordpress page. Great, so that means adding tags from my collection of whims and fancies. Great.)
Anyway, thanks for reading. Stay safe, keep smiling (wait that was like sooo gay!) and have fun. Till next time, adios.
Thing is, like it or not, microblogging is far more interesting or lets say easier than 'macroblogging' (thats what wordpress blogs are called now I guess). Twitter, stupid as it might seem, is indeed a powerful medium of communication (yeah as if you're hearing that for the first time! :P) Anyway, to cut the long story short, I was too preoccupied with other stuff including twitter, hence the lack of blog posts.
In the meantime though, the world has changed. Really? Hell yeah! The iphone 4 is out now, and its changed everything, apparently. Steve Jobs was in a jovial mood that day as he launched his new pet 'i' device. It now has video calling and Jobs made it sound so awesome that it almost seemed as if he'd invented the technology. (Anyway I can video call on my N97 mini just for the info. And if you have one of these symbian devices, use a software called Fring to connect to and make video calls via wifi or 3G. If you're on the iphone 4 however make sure you ask all fellow wifi users to switch off their devices so that you can 'video call'. Not sure if they'd be elated to make that sacrifice for you, but hey you can always say that Steve Jobs said so, maybe then they'll listen to you)
Enough of Jobs bashing. Was watching a really nice movie the other day about the Israel Palestine conflict, Salt of this sea. Its a really shocking movie and I'd highly recommend watching it. I think the Israel Palestine issue has been kept alive for long time and enough lives have been lost/taken. Its high time that an amicable solution acceptable to all parties was reached.
Other than that I've been busy attending boring lectures in college (okay some interesting ones as well), visiting (or touring rather, still not qualified enough to handle/help others) rural health centres and learning a lot about the healthcare system of this country. Tell you what, its a pity that when loads and loads of schemes are being devised by the government, age old superstitions and prejudices still rule the roost, at least in the rural areas. Sad that.
(And now I cant find the zemanta toolbox in the wordpress page. Great, so that means adding tags from my collection of whims and fancies. Great.)
Anyway, thanks for reading. Stay safe, keep smiling (wait that was like sooo gay!) and have fun. Till next time, adios.
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