Mobile Fetish

I was talking to Swaroop the other day and we came up with this interesting concept. How about starting a company which makes niche personal electronic gadgets? How would it be if you can gift your mom a mobile phone which is customized to her(with larger key buttons)? How about customizing a mobile/radio/torch to your grand mom? And all this at an affordable cost. I understand the economies of scale, however, if such customizable products can come in the affordable range, doesn't it sound exciting. Read on for more...


We were discussing about custom mobiles. I should be able to order the features I need (ala. Dell), the look I need. An example might be having my families photo on the back of my mobile, or a key pad layout with just four names on it, or a mobile which can jump!!. Is this not possible, I don't think so. Sure there are some issues, read Swaroop's post to get a better hang of them. But that is where the never say die spirit lies.

What I had in mind for mobiles was something what Dilip Chhabria did to the cars. Have extensible kits, modify them, build prototypes. Does this not open up amazing opportunities on what can be built.

Mind you I am not referring to customizations which cost a zillion.Check out BugLabs, what I have in mind is something similar to start with.

What kind of products do you want customized?Is their a market for such products? Will you buy one such product?

Liked this Post: Subscribe to the RSS feed to get the posts to you. You have the advantage of getting my deli.cio.us links on the feed.

Green Entrepreneur, Green Startup,Green Waste, Green Bangalore

I have always maintained a corner for non-it startups (Pixelninc, ion, easylifeservices, brewhaha) in this blog. And design is my passion. What can be better than a startup which combines these two. In this post I will be introducing you to one such startup .

"Oh! Man, I have to throw that stinking waste basket from the kitchen", said a friend of mine when I visited him. He's just married and as with most of the people find it difficult to keep the kitchen clean. I am sure most of you can identify with this situation. I for one am lucky that the maid cleans up the waste basket in kitchen daily.(If she does not come for a day, my kitchen is in for a toss).

One more thing that concerns me most of the time is that all this waste is thrown in the overflowing dustbins on the road (mind you not road side). All the waste degenerates on the roads and makes the best of the best roads stinking fowl. This is not just a problem in Bangalore but across the country.

An old saying goes like this "Win at home, before you conquer the world". One more "Little drops maketh an Ocean". Same here, before we get to clean the roads of Bangalore let us clean our houses first (without dirtying the roads) .

You might ask, what do we do about it? Ok, I might have a solution up my sleeve. I came across this old-new startup from Bangalore which precisely helps you in doing this. I am referring to DailyDump, trying to make good of the waste.

[tHe sTory bEhind?]
Most of the waste generated in an Indian home is organic in nature. We all know that organic waste makes an excellent ingredient for compost. This compost is made using organic waste like dead leaves, cooked food, vegetable peels etc. It makes good supplement and nutrient for the crops, gardens etc. Composting is a time taking and tedious process(Ask me, I was on a project with AID Bangalore). What DailyDump tried to do is make composting in your house a decently simple and clean process.

[wHat tHey dO]
"Our products are designed to make your environment better - both aesthetically and ecologically " is the line from DailyDump. Check out the photos in this blog, that should speak of what good job these folks are doing. Though at this point I am not very sure on how all this stuff works (exact mechanics), I feel it should be a bit straight forward.(I don't guarantee it at this point). Check out the names of the products, simple vernacular !!.

[cOst]
I know your next question is how much it costs me? (I mean you!).
Depending on the size of the container, it might cost you anywhere between 100rs to 750 rs.

[pItfalls]
No service/product can be without pitfalls. I am so happy that dailydump has openly come up with the problems that people might face and offer workarounds.
"Composting at home could take some getting used to, but Daily Dump’s Service Team is there, anytime, anywhere, to help you. You could either sign up for a Service Plan or call us when you feel the need.

We find that some customers are hesitant to begin by themselves and need some support to fall back on, which is why the service plans are flexible and you can choose from four options." (DailDump)

There is a service option to people who find it difficult to maintain the stuff.

"The daily dump current range needs a bit of maintenance by the urban consumer. A city needs multiple solutions, at the community level and larger scale. The daily dump addresses only the problem of home waste." (Index 2007 Awards)

[aCcolades]
With such a great design can the accolades be far behind. DailyDump has been nominated by the Index 2007 Awards under the Home category (Index is a NPO- focusing on design to improve Life worldwide). There is also a mention on springwise and trendhunters two of the sites that bring out the innovative things across the world.

[fUture]
So what does dailydump see in the future.

" A mechanised composter for homes, which handles the task of having to turn the compost pile by the owner. Composting products for specific needs like big restaurants, cafes, marriage halls, convention centres and larger hotels. “Bangalore has a lot of vegetable, fruit and flower co-operative outlets. These need specific low-cost well-designed solutions,” feels Poonam. On the anvil is composting for large flats that can effectively use ‘In-house composting units’. Products for other urban needs, like rain-water harvesting, organic farming, non-formal sector businesses are also in the plan. " (Deccan Herald)

[pEople bHeind]

This is the brain child Poonam Kasturi, one of the co founders of Srishti Design School. She is an NID Ahmedabad 85 batch alumnus. Check out her paper at design with India conference in 2006. A go through the paper tells you about her deep insights into the design and what kind of design we need in India.
If you think it's a one man show it is not. Check out the page where the team behind dailydump is introduced. I guess every one involved found a place here.

I am planning to have a podcast/videocast with her and the team. Will get to know more details then and let you all know about, one more face who cares for design. Check out this page where she describes why she chose this approach to composting.

[cOol fActor]
The pictures, very impressive. The website has a nice, cool interface. (Somethings can be improved). And the best part is, Poonam says the content and the business model is opensource.
"Also people – lots of them have shaped it in many ways – so this project does not belong to me alone – it belongs to the many that will shape it as time moves on. This project therefore is dedicated to everyone who wishes to do something with it – and all the material is available on this site under a creative commons license." (DailyDump)
That's the zing factor, I bow to her for the vision. She is an inspiration to all of us.

[mY Opinion]
Ok, we come to the last part. I am impressed.
But I do have concerns that you might have. Does it really stand up to the claims. What will happen in rains, if I am away from house, if the pot breaks, so on and so forth. Also I haven't got the exact nature of work on my part if I start using this in my house. As mentioned earlier in this post, I plan to talk to Poonam next.
Drop by all your queries in comments. I will try to get them answered.

[sUbscribe]
If you liked what you read and would like to read more stuff like this. Subscribe to the rss feed of this blog.

[cRedits]
Photo of Garbage: The Hindu
You Tube video of Daily Dump
Other Photos: Index

Proto.in Second Edition

Good news for all those out there in the wild. It's time for you to come out into the open and showcase your brain child to the world. If you are an early stage start up in need to showcase your technology, someone looking for those green backs to take you to the next level, looking out for some smart folks on whom you can bet your money. It's time to act.

"Proto.in" is coming out with its second edition in July 2007. The nominations are open for some time. All you folks out there take time to be present at what can be called the biggest startup fare in India. One more encouraging news is that this time around, they are accepting nominations from other Asian countries. For more information check out there blog.

Now for people like me, who might be interested in just following up on what is happening over there, please wait for some more time until you get more information. Will post more info. once I get closer to it.

ideas Roundup

Looks like I have some time these days to spend some time on whats happening. The last few weeks have seen lots of ups and downs, affecting the performance of my little Grey Cells. I was waiting for the past few days thinking of what to write about, typical writers block you would say. Then I came across some cool stuff which you all should know of.

Imagine, if only you could display the funny picture where you caught a friend off guard to all your friends, shoot a concept with your mobile and project it without the hassle of connecting to a projector or a PC. Imagine being able to watch your favorite TV show when ever and where ever you want on a large enough display. Those of you who have wished for such devices, hold your breath the time is not far when you can buy one for yourself or your loved ones.
This is a dummy phone with a real projector showcased by TI at CES in January 2007. For a detail on this check out this item on cnet. This article on digitimes throws some more light on the specs. You can watch some picutres over here.
Now DLP is not the only technology, we have a few others from Microvision. Check out there PicoP over here. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany have are working on a making mini projectors affordable. For those of you vieing for more details check this out(page 53). A very good article on this is available at primidi. How I wish to lay my hands on this device.

Moving over to another area. For all those Scott Adams out there who shied away because of drawing skills. You have a good news, check out toondoo, its a cool site where you can create your own toon strips. Check out the details here on TechCrunch.

Not to disappoint the hard core Potter fans, check out mugglecast. This is for all you muggle out there. Finally to end this roundup. Check this YCombinator Startup School event. There were some cool speakers from Facebook founder to Lotus founder. Check this link on SiliconBeat, I fid the comments more useful.

Have fun.

Mobile Advertising

A bit on Mobile Advertising this post by Atanu Dey, set my grey cells to work. They have been pretty dormant over the last few days. Before I go ahead with what is it about this post that set my grey cells racing, I will tell you something I did.

"Mobile Advertising", what image does it conjure up in your mind? I don't know about you, but to me I started seeing Google ads in my mobile. I started seeing the ads change on the screen becoming more and more relevant to what I speak. And I saw a lot which is censored here for reasons not known to me. Then I said to myself wait a minute, do you something else? Doesn't mobile advertising refer to advertising on the vans, buses, trains, auto rickshaws and innumerable moving objects both living and non living. Do a flickr search and you will see some amusing shots. The shots you see here are flickr results.

Enough of digressing, coming back to the topic on hand, I was planning to write on it for some time. The trigger was a discussion where we were wondering how advertising on the net works. I thought hard, read a few things about advertising in general. Then I came to the conclusion that advertising on net is in no way different from the fundamentals of advertising. What an amazing coincidence, no sooner do I plan to write, I see the genesis for this post (referring to Atanu's post) in my feed reader. He has done a great job in explaining the basics before embarking on his idea of Mobile Advertising. I could never think of putting it in so succulent a manner. It gave me the confidence that my own conclusions on advertising are not far off and also gave a peek into the economics without miring me into technical mambo jumbo.

Now the question arises, what is that set my grey cells active? I am coming to that, in the last section of his post, Atanu talks about possible ways for advertisers to reach customer. This was what triggered me. How can advertisers reach the user? How can they be effective? How can someone make money out of it? What is the technical feasibility? Where can I contribute? And ultimately what can I do here?

Each one of the above questions have given some answers and threw some challenges. I will address them in a later post. But, one thing that struck me is there is a gold mine here. There will be a company which will do a Google in the world the world of Advertising on Mobiles. What will I do? Will I wait and watch, or will I be part of this game. I can tell now, you can tell over time.

iDeas of the Week

Ok! back again with a post. Before the RIP of i Think, i Wait, i Fast, I used to blog without much study of the subject. It was mostly what I understood from a chance lecture, meeting or my personal opinion on something. However, many things changed now. I am now loath to write about something without that doing sufficient back ground work or without proper understanding of the topic. Call this becoming obsessive or moving to the echelons of writing, know not I. One more thing that is apparent is the need to improve my language both vocabulary and grammar. I haven't initiated any attempts at either but am sure with more writing (coming out of writers block), I will improve in this area.

Enough of digressing from the post title. I will just provide you with links to some cool stuff that I have come across. Those of you interested can dig it up further. I have no qualms in mentioning that this is the style I picked from New Scientist Technology Blog post Elsewhere today.
Dragon Naturally Speaking a big stride in speech recognition from Nuance Technology. (Digital Inspiration)


Website in a widget from Leafletter.com (Venture Beat)

A widget to share files on your blog!! Boxnet (Venture Beat)

On a similar note another easy to use Writeboard, a service which is very lite and easy to use.

The last idea for the day is primetimetables, this site enables you to book tables. It for sure sounds good.

Ok, that's the first list. Will see more in the future. Drop by a few lines on what you want to see in this space and also on how I can improve this blog.

Buy a Handmade Robot with Wii Mobile

Aha!! I have five things with me today that will make you say Aha!!. Without wasting any time I go on to these things. At the end of it you will probably make out what the title of the post means.

Etsy.com, its so cute. Just check out their concept very simple, its a place for people like you and me who fiddle with things and make some other things out of them, to see those things. Pretty common, this is what e-bay does? Isn't it, Did you visit the site before you make a comment. Etsy rates very high on the coolness, usability factors, and the way they have used technology to create some sexy ways of navigation. Check color, geolocator, treasury, connections , I am at loss to answer if creativity enhances technology or technology enhances creativity. Before I leave, check out the blog, the folks out there are simply amazing.

Talk about creativity and the first thing that comes to my mind is what I am going to post here. These amazing photos are probably a big coincidence, but don't they tickle your grey cells for a few moments at the timing and remind you how some people are at the right place at the right time.

Now we will move on to some more mundane stuff. These days all the sites seem to follow one mantra, KISS (Keep It Short and Simple). Check out this site TELLME, a very clean concise, to the point information without all clutter, I usually associate with companies pre Web2.0. Not only that tellme, has come up with a cool applet for you mobiles to locate business, essentially doing what one used to do with 411.(Folks in US throw some light on 411, I am ignorant of what exactly it does).

For sometime we have been hearing a lot about Wii. It has created and continues to create ripples across the gamin world. But, what sets Wii apart from other consoles is that it has broken into new areas which were traditionally inaccessible to gaming companies. Looks like it has awaken the dormant gamer in every one. One of the main reasons might be the ease of use, where even a small child could use it. The number of hacks making it into a laptop. People have come up with regimens to lose weight. Check out what Brendon Chase has to write about wiimote or the wii remote control.

On a closing note check this small little fellow called PLEN(any Japanese to help me translate the site). According to crunchgear its a humanoid robot that can roller skate around a hard surface. This little fellow also comes equipped with blue tooth and a not so remote possibility of being controlled by your blue tooth mobile phone.

Its time of cool, sexy stuff. Small is definitely the in thing!
And now can you make out what the title means?

Hungry Bangalore!!

iDeas gaLore as you all know is the current avatar of my blog. The first post of this new avatar is about a concept brought about by a couple of my batch mates. I am referring to "Hungry Bangalore" . It is run by two folks, with passion to be on their own and make a difference. The concept is simple, timely and from what I hear efficient. It goes like this, any one with a hungry belly will land up at Hungry Bangalore selects his(i am not gender biased) favorite restaurant, make an order and watch the TV or surf the net (for people like me), or do some useful work till the food arrives at the door step. Yes It's that simple. Not only this you can also plan a party, search for a recipe, review the service, and if lucky enough win a t-shirt.

Being a food freak and a lazy single, I love this idea. A great thing about this site is they don't ask you register before you order, I bow to the founders for this simple yet bold decision. They now have over 150 restaurants on their site, isn't it awesome. I select Airport Road and get the list of restaurants near by, I can either get the food delivered (provided the restaurant offers the service) or can book a table. Another cool feature is the map. You can choose the area you want to by clicking on the Bangalore map. The review and feed back section tells you all about users experience.

The recipe section interests me, with a host of recipes posted. That best part is you can post your recipe too. Wow, If not on my blog, I can find some audience for my culinary experiments. The best part about the site that makes me go back again and again (unfortunately I am not in Bangalore to give them business) is the simple uncluttered interface, more on this latter.

Mind you folks, I am not praising them just because I know them, it is because I just love this concept. I have been reading off late, a lot about user interfaces, it made me think on whats right with the interface of "Hungry Bangalore" and where all they can improve. What does my analysis reveal? In spite of being a great fan of their interface, I find it falls short on many fronts. Some simple and some not so simple things will make it a truly great experience.

Hello!!I am not a great hand at design, but I try to answer one question, "How easy is it for my mom to use a site?". (My blog falls short awfully on this test, I am on the way to fix it. Suggestions are welcome).

I take up one issue at a time, tell you what is wrong with it and how it can be improved.
The first and foremost thing is what is the Hyundai advertisement doing on your front page? I guess this site is into food. First it is right next to the site header, think of what message it sends to your users. Not only does it fit into the color scheme, but also your business.

I click on the plan a party link, it goes to a new page. Great it's simple and just two clicks for me to plan my party. The problem is, instead of asking me to ensure that I give all the details, ensure that no message is sent with incomplete details. It will reduce load on your mail server and also ensure that I get it right the first time.

I am still at plan a party. After sending my request, I am still in the same page. Nothing wrong with it, except that I am using a 800*600 resolution screen and can't seem to find the link to go back to home. Initially I was flustered how you guys can get this wrong, but later I find that you have a nice home sitting in the top right corner. Great stuff! only put it to top left corner.

I will get back to contact us later, now will jump to Recipes. Folks frankly you need to spice up this area. I can find the recipes here by googling. Being a food freak I want something more, not a list of ingredients and a list of ten steps on how to proceed. Let the creativity of the viewers come in. Let the viewers post on how they made a wonderful dish last evening. Let them post the photos, let others comment it. Make it a place for all food junkies to discuss their prized culinary skills. I love this blog by annie, check out this post on pies. I just can't wait to get to my kitchen to try this. In short bring in the pizzaz and personal element in this section.

The FAQ's very essential for a site like yours. Good that you folks gave the necessary details. Try using peekaboo interface here (+/-) . Add some pictures than just plain text on how to go about using your site(my mom will be able to use it).

The other links is embedded in the column which looks like an advertisement and sounds as if it will take me outside the site. Rename it immediately. The color combination of the article though goes well needs rework, to suite an overall theme. The buffet takes me to a table of restaurants, offering buffet. Why is this information not available at the restaurant details? Its the traditional way of doing things. Static tables are past, make it dynamic in use. (More on presenting data in a later post)

Ah! I come to search, this is my pet topic. Drop boxes are passe, it's a pain for me to search through the list of a hundred different locations/restaurants in a drop box. Think different employ tag clouds (I will talk about tag clouds and how they can spice up an interface in a later post). I would replace the drop boxes with two tag clouds and a context sensitive search box (no need of a go button). Check out wikiseek and Quintura, the way they employ tags and context search is simply superb. Use cookies so that the next time I visit the site, it shows the restaurants from my last selection.

The "Advanced Search" link looks as if it takes me to a new link, put a (+/-) or some other symbol to tell the user that its a collapsible link and will not open a new page or take time to reload. Now why is this important? It is observed that users tend not to click on the links unless they really need it. One more tip, combine the above selection of clouds with a different clouds here. I guess it will be awesome. Why do you have the radio button? Isn't it redundant. If you see what I see there, you can do away with it.

Coming to the main section with the tabs. The home tab is good. Well utilized, to sell the idea. Why do you have the catering inquiry? Isn't it redundant and confuse with plan a party. Use consistent conventions across. The map feature is amazing as I said earlier. What applies to recipes and the buffet section applies to review section. It is not consistent, does not have date. The date feature helps the viewer to gauge the relevance of the comments(check this). Though it may reveal a bit about your site statistics, I still will go put the date. And please do something about those boundaries, it makes me feel as if I am reading a government tender(Too much, I should restraint myself).

Continuing with the review section, work on the links. Once I select the review for a restaurant, and I want to add a review I have to click on the link above(for which I might have to to scroll my page up and click a link). This is a pain, I would avoid it at all cost. Have a text box below the rating where it will auto save what ever one enters(use CATCHPA, you can do away with save!!). Put another text box for name. It makes life simpler for me to give feedback or write a review. I reiterate do away with the drop box. It simply will not do.

If there is one thing I have no complaints against , its the announcement tab. It is just right. But it would be nice to have a preview feature for the links to the news articles. (Call me impossible to please -:) ).

God!! I am tired of writing. This probably the single largest piece of document that I have written at a stretch after my Final year thesis. Any way let me continue and finish of with what I feel are the last but nevertheless important sections.

Coming to what I left out earlier Contact Us, it serves the purpose. Use CATCHPA, else you will get lots of junk in your mail servers. After I go to an area and a restaurant, I can see again a table (I just seem to hate them). Why do you have that Rs.0.0 as if its a bata showroom with a price tag Rs.99.99. Just give an integer price. Why is the min order column there if there is no home delivery from that restaurant. Revamp this section. It's not an absolute must, but it adds to overall perception in the viewers mind. It would be nice if you can add the restaurants picture (Entrance, interior,any a flickr link).

Moving on to the menu offerings, I see that you folks are working on adding images to each link. Also a nice way to say if the item is veg or non-veg. That is great. I hope you get it done fast. I have talked enough about tables so will not mention them here. Now if the menu runs over one page, I see the page1, next links to the bottom left corner, it will be more convenient to have it towards the bottom right corner. The left corner with various sections is bland, work on to spice it up. Put images, animations, art, or what not. Don't just leave it like that.

If I select an item and say add to cart, you have the view my cart at the top right corner, it might serve more useful purpose at the bottom right corner or at both the places. Once I proceed, why do I need the recalculate button, are you not confident!!. Work on the colors here, I should not miss the final Total.

I will come back to the main page. What message are you sending by putting advertisements over and above your site announcements? It is totally out of place. Some suggestions, do away with the formal(search criteria entered was) and technical language(Email Id is a required field).Show your passion, don't be modest.

Try video reviews, video recipes, make Hungry Bangalore the first stop for food. Make it the first place for people like me when I think of eating. I would love to see this venture create a paradigm shift.I thank you folks for providing a site which I could go through exhaustively (I might have missed a lot, do let me know ;) ) and hone my skills in design. Thanks to many of you who took the pain of going through this long boring monologue.

A few last words to both of you and also to host of other people (if any) who read this post. I know how passionate you all are about your venture. It' s great, but show the same passion in your website (must if you are Web based). Check this company called PicSquare , they have a great website which is one of the few sites that I find are very easy to use. Another thing before I close is don't be too corporate type. You folks are entering the lives of people, so be like them talk like them, use lingo, no dictionary words, make viewers, part of your site, don't make them feel as if you are a third party providing service. Make them feel you are a part of their life. Bring life to your site, Spice up if you are already living.

iDeas gAlore

Now my blog has a brand new identity. I will work on the look and feel in the coming months. For now it starts with some ideas on ideas.

“Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.” Howard Aiken

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”Oscar Wilde

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.”Swami Vivekananda

“Good ideas are common - what's uncommon are people who'll work hard enough to bring them about”Ashleigh Brilliant

“Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.”Howard Aiken

“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.” Andre Malraux

“Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.”Napoleon Hill

“Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas”Paula Poundstone

"Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds." Albert Einstein

“Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.” Thomas Alva Edison

"The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."Linus Pauling

"If I were required to guess off-hand, and without collusion with higher minds, what is the bottom cause of the amazing material and intellectual advancement of the last fifty years, I should guess that it was the modern-born and previously non-existent disposition on the part of men to believe that a new idea can have value."Mark Twain

“Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.”Nolan Bushnell

"I said to myself, I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me - shapes and ideas so near to me - so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down. I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught. "Georgia O'Keeffe

"Do something. If it doesn't work, do something else. No idea is too crazy."Jim Hightower

"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."John Cage

"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."John Steinbeck

"Lack of money is no obstacle. Lack of an idea is an obstacle."Ken Hakuta

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."Oliver Wendell Holmes

"The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."P. B. Medawar

"I had a monumental idea this morning, but I didn't like it."Samuel Goldwyn

"An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come."Victor Hugo

"One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea." Walter Bagehot

A lot of what some greats had to say about ideas. Keep watching this space. It is changing the world.

The NeXtGen

Now Now.. How many times do you get the chance to see some stuff that hooks you, coddles you, entices you, lures you, and just gets on to you. And if it so happens that two such things happen to you in a span of minutes, I don't have words to describe this truly overwhelming phenomena.

The first is some thing called Open Laszlo. To put it in simple terms, this guy lets you write what you want in XML and generates a SWF or a DHTML out of it. Now have a look at its capabilities, and you can't but think of all the old times, when you slogged to create a control like that. Just go

The other is in a totally different domain. This ones called Chumby (did I here some one say chubby ). This totally shook me of my feet. A "massively Cute" (My unregistered Trade Mark) open source hardware. Every thing you need to build the system is out there in the open(How safe, no need to worry that some one will steal your design!). Now if you have it in you, just let your mind free for all the things you can do with it.

I am sure there exist more such stuff out there -- over here in the web. Just drop by a mail to me in case you come across such stuff.

Thanks to Madhukar(a guy with me at Nirma Labs)for introducing me to a whole new world, that I was not aware of.

Time in Mutiple Dimensions.

I was going through yesterdays post and gosh it was incoherent. Now I will put it in simple words what I was targeting at. I am talking of multidimensional time. Makes sense. No!! May be you need to exercise your grey cells a bit.

Am I excited, you bet I am all over this multi dimensional time. What does that mean in to us who are used to considering time as a parameter. In the existing setup we move in time at a pace that we have no control of, in a direction that we don't control. To understand this in actual significance, how will you fee if you can move only in one direction and at a definite speed, without any freedom to turn or freak around. That is exactly the life that we are leading.

Now, just like our perceived freedom in 3 dimensions of space, if we were to have freedom in time? What we can achieve is amazing. For every present that you perceive there are infinite presents that give rise to infinite futures and infinite pasts. The definition of future, past and present is itself at stake. To take a simple analogy, in space your current position is here, now what is forward to you is what you face, what you cannot see consists your back. Now if you do an about turn your back becomes front and vice versa.

The same applies to time in multi dimension, just as all the spaces exist at same time, all times exist at same space. That is if I were dead in a time dimension t1, i will be very well alive and kicking at the same place in another time dimension t2. Now is this something very new to us, no only we are closed to realizing this fundamental truth. We have seen and heard many miracles of cure being performed by very so many people. How could they do that?? They could realize the existence of time in multiple dimensions, and make use of this to perform what they did.

Is it that simple? Yes it is! But then its still not understood by us humans. However the day is not far where some of us will the freedom to travel in time, travel in space and both.

Richard a philosopher deals more in his blog on Unchanging time and infinite past . I am little surprised to find this article at the following site, nevertheless it gives a perspective. This same site tells us how we can travel faster than light. I have more details on the mathematics of multi dimensional time, I will let you discover the joy of the numbers once I have a feel of playing in time.

Time is no More

I was walking by, nothing unusual about it except that I have stopped walking for a long time, courtesy a physical disability which prevents me from exercising my physique. Any way coming back, I was walking by and I come across a man, nothing special in that except that he was not moving. Ok! I thought and moved on.

That was a week ago. Yesterday, I had a tough day at work and considering that my personal life was rocking (on the boat), I was in a mood that I cannot describe. The news of my cooks absence only added some more fuel. I dropped to sleep. No I did not sleep, I was again walking and the same man was next to me, in the same position. This time I don't pass by I stop and look into his eyes, pale white eyes, Oh god! He's dead. I open my eyes, expecting it to be a dream. Oh No! Its not a dream, How am I here, didn't I sleep. I was terrified. Saw the surroundings. They were the same but they are not the same. Everything was as it was on that day.

Then I noticed, everything except me was the same. I was not the same, I was as yesterday, not as a week before. What's going on, I have no clue. I go home, I am lost. Any way I go to bed hoping things will change.

I wake up, you guessed it right, I wake up in today. And frankly I have lived today, I have vague recollections of today, vague recollections of writing this article as it is. And as I am writing this, Holy Shit!! It was yesterday that I was doing this.
Does that mean I am in a time wrap? Does that mean I am oscillating in back and forth? We will see.

Now while writing this article, I take a nap. What do I see when I wake up, you cannot guess it. I am in my bed, which is in my office next to the man on the street who is still dead. And guess what, I am writing this very line at the moment when I speak this to you. It makes me think, and of course makes you think on my sanity. But I am not thinking of my sanity as that was never an issue I considered worth thinking.

Am I living in a universe where space and time have N dimensions and N degrees of freedom. I am excited, I am going to see another day another time another place and wow it baffled my imagination trained to think in Chronic-3D.

I am not sure where I will be the next moment, so am hurrying to tell you that I am off, into a world where time is no more "Time".