Google Wave : the future of internet communication

Google recently gave a developers preview of their new upcoming project The GOOGLE WAVE.This is unlike Google which has always believed in user getting to know about the product once it is ready and pass the beta stage.However, in this case Google decided to follow this path primarily for a very simple reason as explained here.Google Wave and for that matter ny new application in today’s world relies on a number of other smaller API’s developed by individual users.In order to avoid the gap between releasing the public version and availability of the various cool API’s that Google expects people would develop, it is necessary that these developers are allowed access to the API’s and protocol structures.Hence, the idea of a keynote address the Apple style.

What is Google Wave ?

Google Wave is a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. A “wave” is equal parts conversation and document, where users can almost instantly communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Google Wave is also a platform with a rich set of open APIs that allow developers to embed waves in other web services and to build extensions that work inside waves.

Google Wave aims at uniting the various means of communication that internet offers today.With a live environment it aims to replace emails and voice chats as the single new means of communication.

What is a Wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Here’s how it works: In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It’s concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.

As with all recent projects by Google aka the Android  and Chrome, this too is expected to be Open Source.Lets see how the world reponses to the change in the basic means of communication.The wave surely has started , let’s wait for the resonance.

For further information and the API’s please go to www.wave.google.com

A Season Won… A Moment Lost!

Our HISTORY makes us STRONG, Your HATE makes us STRONGER.

A lot of my noob friends have laughed and mocked at me for supporting Manchester United over Barcelona.This article was NOT written for them.However if you are one of them, you will find plenty of reasons to realise why have I supported this club for the past 10 years.Here is a bit of History for those who started with football support once they learnt that Etoo had scored.

Manchester United and Barcelona had previously faced each other nine times in European competitions: three times in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and six times in the UEFA Champions League. Of those nine matches, Manchester United have recorded three wins to Barcelona’s two, with the remaining four matches finishing in draws. The only time that the two teams met in a final came in 1991, when they contested the 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup final. The first meeting between the two sides came in the third round of the 1983–84 Cup Winners’ Cup; Barcelona won the first leg at the Camp Nou 2–0, but Manchester United won the return leg 3–0 at Old Trafford to reach the semi-finals. That result marked Manchester United’s biggest win over Barcelona; Barcelona’s biggest win was a 4–0 home victory in the group stage of the 1994–95 Champions League. The most recent meeting between Manchester United and Barcelona came in the semi-finals of the 2007–08 Champions League, when United held Barcelona to a 0–0 draw at the Camp Nou before beating them 1–0 back at Old Trafford.

1990/91 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final
Barcelona 1-2 Manchester United (Koeman 79; Hughes 67 74)

1994/95 UEFA Champions League group stage
Manchester United 2-2 Barcelona (Hughes 19, Sharpe 79; Romário 33, Bakero 49)

Barcelona 4-0 Manchester United (Stoitchov 2 59, Romário 45, Ferrer 88)
Barcelona advance, United eliminated

1998/99 UEFA Champions League group stage
Manchester United 3-3 Barcelona (Giggs 16, Scholes 24, Beckham 63; Anderson 47, Giovanni 59pen, Luis Enrique 70pen)
Barcelona 3-3 Manchester United (Anderson 1, Rivaldo 57 73; Yorke 25 68, Cole 53)
United advance, Barcelona eliminated

2007/08 UEFA Champions League semi-final
Barcelona 0-0 Manchester United
Manchester United 1-0 Barcelona (Scholes 14)
United won 1-0 on aggregate

For the first time since 1999, the UEFA Champions League was fought between teams which were Champions in their own countries for that season.History awaited the Barclays Champions as they were to attempt to achieve the historical feat of successfully defending the CUP. Sadly, it was destined not to be such.

The game started all well for the Red Devils with 5 shots on target , some of which were lethal in design.However, a defensive flaw by Vidic and a bit of skill by Etoo ensured that Manchester were not to have a cakewalk.What we did not know at that 10th minute was that it was not the only scar Machester United would face that day.Through out the game we looked like a bunch of street footballers who were playing against the Dream XI team of some fantasy online competition.Reds failed to create any significant entries into the defence of BARCA and instead of a defensive strategy we were in for Attack ( if it qualifies as one). Was Sir Ferguson so naive as to not realise that if you give BARCA players space to play their game , things turn ugly for one own team.He had probably the best example from the strategy of Chelsea in the two previous matches which they sadly lost to an erroneous judgement by the Match Referree.Then was what we call a final blow from the 5′ 7”  Messi amongst the all above 6′ defence line that Manchester boasts of.It was in the least of the words ” A classic Header “.

The History and the Glory has been lost.Noone knows when the moment will come again.But what Manchester can do is bury the ghost of Rome behind their backs and come back for an all new season this August.We do not know if Ronaldo would stay or if Tevez would be left out in the open market.What we do know is that come August, Englad shall face the wrath of the Red Devil like it has never felt before. The blue team can pull over their socks and the Maroon ones can stop trying to come in the way.

Is there anybody out there?

A manifestation of YOU!

God..Ishwar….Parmatma….Mohammed……Bhagwaan…all these words are used to refer to the almighty super power that is synonymous to all the cultures of humanity. But what is GOD really.This post is an atheists’ attempt to understand the mysterious entity.

In my humble opinion the existence of GOD is a very basic psychological phenomenon.We humans often in times of distress and pain call upon this so called GOD for help and support. This is a very basic psychological phenomenon wherein one seeks the support of an imaginary inner strength or being to help in a very daunting situation. In my view the very existence of GOD can be understood from this need of humanity to seek its own hidden strength through prayers. I feel GOD is not some foriegn entity but ones own inner self, inner force that is the store house of power and support one is oneself unaware of.

GOD is nothing but a psychological entity which is the manifestation of our own spirit.And what greter proof of this thought than in all the religious scriptures which boldly emphasis ” GOD IS IN ONE AND ALL”. The human soul seeks support in distress but the support is our own hidden potential that is being channeled through the metamorphosis into a SUPER POWER called GOD.

Note: This is a literary document reflecting the views of the author alone. It is not to be interpreted as a senseless approach on human religions.

Psychedelic Nostalgia!

For all those who love to be high, illusion seems to be reality. Often the world as seen and felt when tripping is felt by many to be far real than anything they have felt for a long time in the real world in perfect “control” of their own senses. However, as you read you will realise it is not really control but rather lack of control that makes you survive in real world. Welcome to “reality”!

The Human brain provides a very strange yet essential feature that can be understood as the real life equivalent of a bypass filter.Those associated, like me, with engineering or electronics in one way or the other can recall it to be a circuit that allows a certain frequencies to pass through it but at the same time it filters certain range of frequencies that it is designed to stop. When we are young we are open to senses and can feel a lot more than we can when we have grown into adults.Imagine being able to feel everything that the world around you has to tell! Imagine being able to hear the scream of the child in the building next to you, the itching behind your ear, being informed of how exactly each part of your body is feeling at that particular moment! Would you ,in such a state , be able to concentrate and write your final semester examination or even check out how HOT the chick that just gave you a second look actually was? NO! NO! NO! and a straight forward NO!

That is why our brain filters the range of information that is fed to us so that we can well check out actually how HOT that chick was!However when you are tripping this ability of the brain is highly reduced.It is because of this that you can feel more and the creativity increases manifold.SO is the time distortion or more commonly known as time dilation that we feel when tripping!

Higher levels of psychedelic experience makes your ego zero and you gradually merge into the essence of Universe , a feeling that is often said to be achieved during Nirvana.However one must keep in mind that mere hallucination and momentary lapse of ego is not Nirvana.

Till you achieve that.. HAPPY TRIPPING!!!

Do comment on your experiences of tripping!

The Song remains the Same!

Here is a self designed wallpaper (1440×900 widescreen) for free use.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Rock lyrics and Uncertainty Principle!

A few years back when I was preparing for the prestigious IIT’s I had learnt a phenomenon known as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.It primarily states that the position and the momentum (velocity) of an electron can never be known without a certain error i.e in order to know the position accurately the error of the momentum will be infinite and vice versa.

A very similar phenomenon can be seen in the case of meanings of rock lyrics.What I mean here is that one can never know the intended interpretation of a song with certainty.I would like the reader to note here that the interpretations of the songs that I give here are just few of the many prevalent meanings that can be google upon the internet.For  popularity reasons and also to maintain the universal nature of the blog I choose two of my favourite rock classics

1. Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

2.Hotel California by The Eagles

Stairway to Heaven

The lyrics of the song go as under:

Theres a lady whos sure                                                                                                        All that glitters is gold                                                                                                         And shes buying a stairway to heaven.                                                                           When she gets there she knowsIf the stores are all closed

With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and shes buying a stairway to heaven.

Theres a sign on the wall
But she wants to be sure
cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook
Theres a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

Theres a feeling I get
When I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen
Rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who standing looking.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And its whispered that soon
If we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn
For those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If theres a bustle in your hedgerow
Dont be alarmed now,
Its just a spring clean for the may queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But in the long run
Theres still time to change the road youre on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it wont go
In case you dont know,
The pipers calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow,
And did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How evrything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

And shes buying a stairway to heaven.

The song and its interpretation has been an area of debate and discussion.Here are the few main interpretations:

1-The song speaks of a materialistic lady who thinks that her status and money would enable her to buy a seat in heaven.In this interpretation the song is a very apt slap on all the materialists in the world.

2-The song is an evangelistic ode by the otherwise Satanic believer Jimmy Page where the lady learns that only Bible can make her get a seat in Heaven.The line “with a word she …” point directly to the Book of Bible, the Bible is full of double meaning phrases as told by the line “sometimes word have…”.The songbird refers to the Church officials and the tree to the Church.The Piper is the good old Jesus whose flute is referred as the piper tool here.

3-A very silly meaning referes to the girlfriend of one of the band member who suppposedly ran of with his credit card, though frankly I find this version ridiculous.

Hotel California

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
this could be heaven or this could be hell
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say…

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel california
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the captain,
please bring me my wine
He said, we havent had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say…

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin it up at the hotel california
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said we are all just prisoners here, of our own device
And in the masters chambers,
They gathered for the feast
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just cant kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
relax, said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

The various meanings for this classic are:

1-It is a song meant for the hospitality industry and the visitors who come but do not leave soon enough.In a way it shows the state of affairs back then.It is a very credible interpretation as Hotel California is for real and not made out of thin air.

2-My favourite is the Drug Addiction interpretation.The Hotel California is a false name for Drug Addiction.This is hinted at many place like “warm smell of colitas..”Also the ending lines ” prisoners of our own device…” is the best proof for this verdict.People become addicted at different stages of life but seldom can they leave.The knife mentioned is referred to the fining of the drug with a sharp object while we can never kill our own desire.

I would again like to draw the attention of the reader that the interpretations are not exhaustive and many more are available on the net.However these are my personal favourites used to show the Unceratainty Principle!Hope u enjoyed them, next time your iPod plays them try visualizing each meaning.The effect is awesome.In the words of a good old friend of mine, it is Legen…wait for it … dary!

Cheers!!

L.O.V.E

Note:Ok this one is a bit philosophical and emotional so please don’t bother reading it if you are not into it.

Is a touch of hands a mere sensory pleasure?

Is a hug mere entanglement of body?

Is a kiss a mere brush of lips?

Is LOVE a mere emotion?

Life does sometimes put you into a spot where after years of living you are left to wonder at the mere usefulness of life.Whether you lived it the way you had started off to live it, whether if given a second chance would you live it in a different way than the way in which you lived this one, whether after living it the other (second) way would you want to live it in a different third way again? Would you ever get bored of living life again and again this way, every time living it in a different way? Would you ? Think Again! How would you know that it is the same life that you had lived in a different way some other time? Would you remember the roads, the houses, the lake, the sunshine, your favorite ride? If not then how would you that it is the same life that you had lived in a different way? Perhaps if at all you can remember something, it would be Love.But would the person you Love be different in each different Avatar of your life or would he/she be the only thread that binds all your lives and makes them really your life. But would you then be bored of loving the same person even if you lived differently in each life.So are you really getting bored of Living or Loving?

Would you ever get bored of loving a person? Sounds stupid at first but think again, is it really stupid?

Does the end of a relation mean the end of Love or does it mean that you would have to carry the love and treasure it for the rest of your life to your grave? Or is it more of a burden of a lost Love that we carry rather than a cherished memory? It is said if all be taken away of a person and nothing but his heart ripped apart to pieces he would still have the heart to Love. Is it really true? Also if everything is left untouched and the heart ripped apart would the heart ever love again?  Or is the heart like the stubborn child which is bent upon finding its same

path despite its falls and ripping sessions? What if the heart is ripped many times over ? What then? Will the heart still fall in Love? Mine does!

TuneUp : Blessing for iTunes Users

TuneUp with iTunes on MAC

TuneUp is a revolutionary software that aims at freeing your iTunes library of tracks that read Unknown Artist/Album/Track 01 or are without an Album Art.Yes I know there are a lot of softwares to do the same job but the only problem is that they are manual in some form or other but TuneUp .. No ! Yes you heard me right, all you have to do is Analyze what % of your Library is messed up and then add all your files to the clean zone by dragging from the library.TuneUp will automatically find track names Albums and Artists along with Album Art.Sounds Easy .. it actually is. Also their is a Now Playing Tab that does something like the Genius Sidebar but added to that it also shows 3 nearest Youtube.com Links for the video of the track playing. Add to that a tab that informs you of the Concerts that the band has planned for your city.

It is a blessing for anyone who uses iTunes. Sadly the program gives only first 500 tracks for free clean up and 50 Album Arts for free. After that you need to buy the sofware for 19.95$ a year or $ 29.95 for a lifetime subscription. Try It and you will know it is worth it.

www.tuneupmedia.com

Unboxing Macbook Pro

A Little Trivia

Last week I finally managed to lay my hands on the masterpiece that I had been yearning to own for a long time – Macbook Pro. I bought it from a shop called MAC Clinic Media Solution Pvt. Limited in Lajpat Nagar at a very cheap price of 1.36 Lac only ( compared to its price of 1.5 in all Apple showrooms ). Another benefit of the same is that this particular shop has amazing after sales service and does not refuse to solve your problems even if you have installed pirated softwares your MAC , which sadly other Apple Stores refuse to do. The shop is located at veer A-56, Savarkar Marg, Lajpat Nagar -2. The reason I am telling all this info about the shop is because I had a lot of trouble finding a shop which sells the MBP at such a cheap price, so I hope the blog will help someone in the process.

UNBOXING

The ugly Picture!

The first cover was the brown ugly carton that is provided for shipping safety.It also had all the barcode stickers that contained the information about my MBP.

Then as you open this box, you can feel you heart beat rising as the uber-cool , environment friendly packaging of Apple reveals itself in the form of a small rectangular box with a black arc used as handle to pull out your MBP box from the brown box.

Now , untill this time I had been very patient and prcautionary in opening the package and preserving even the plastic covers.. Yeah I know thats dumb. But the box makes you a bit more enthusiastic and you are bound to dive into the feeling to open the box as soon as you can have a look of you prized possession.

Opening the box reveals the MBP proudly shining off the Apple Badge of Honor. It is encapsulated between a plastic cover and the keyboard and the screen are protected from each other by a foam layer. Very thoughtful of Apple.

Finally after all this you can set aside your MBP to look at the other goodies that Apple has provided. Frankly there are not many. There is the Adapter ( Power) and the Backup/Restore CD’s and the Manual and my personal favorite – The Apple Stickers.

Ohh  Yeah! and also there is a very thoughtful Apple Display Cleaning Cloth.Vary Helpful.

And by now I am sure you must have had enough of this Apple Freak so I would take your leave with this beautiful Shot that can be used as a wallpaper.

PS: If you are from India and have access to older power sockets then you need to buy a converter for the adapters. You can get it from you local electrician for 10-20 bucks.

Cheers

Slumdog Hypocrites

Hypocrisy is probably the easiest and never failing way of showing the other person what exactly you are.Slumdog MIllionaire by Danny Boyle was released a few weeks ago in the Indian Subcontinent.Sadly, all that the Indians saw was the poverty and a reaction carrying similar hues.People from all walks of life argued that the movie had shown India in bad light and we were not this backward economically. People like Mr. Arindham Chaudhri went forward to dismiss it as a forein take on India’s poverty and eventually its mockery.Even the Great Big B could not excuse himself from going into the flow and mentioning that Bollywood had given far better performances ( Though I totally agree to this particular point yet neither with the timing nor the motive).

Few weeks later the scene changes, suddenly Slumdog M. is a bandwagon of the immense potential and talent in Bollywood.It transforms from “portrayal of poverty and India in bad light” to a story of hope.Even the UPA government changes its own statements and says it to be a proud moment for India.The reason .. hehehe..is sadly not because of a shift in the thought process or a sudden realisation of the beauty that the Director and the actors have put in the movie but simply because it went on to win 8 Oscars out of 9 categories for which it was nominated.

These incidents reveal nothin but our own immature state of thoughts.Hope this article causes the change in the view of atleast one hypocrite fellow human being. Say what you like , be what you like but not to please others but because you feel that to be correct. If you can stand by your own ideas even in times of distress you can well be either stubborn or correct. And believe me you will know what you actually are deep within you!

Cheers.