Deepanjan Nag's Magnum Opus

I was stunned to learn today that Google will be shutting down its Google Reader. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read it. How could this be? Has Google gone insane? Why did Google have to abandon its loyal ‘reader’ users? Over the years, I’ve grown accustomed to using Reader for virtually everything technically possible – reading the news and blogs, keeping an eye on comments, house hunting, job hunting, video searching for Indian Railways…the list was limited only by my imagination. Unfortunately, RSS requires a populace that’s a little more tech savvy than the current load of iCrap fed retards. RSS fell victim to an entire generation too used to a brain-numbing social-networking and share-everything phenomenon. My heart is broken. Goodbye, Google Reader. You will be dearly missed.

The old lady has just won a new lease of life, thanks to an application that corrupted the .NET runtime on my Windows 7 system. I’m not fond of the new OS. Microsoft has tried too hard to merge disparate concepts into a single platform. As a first attempt, Windows 8 is commendable, but I suspect most Windows users won’t take too kindly to the forced hybridization. Windows 8 is ill suited for a desktop OS. Banishing the Start button didn’t help things either. The forceful fallback to the tablet interface is a serious annoyance. Yet, I’m happy Andromeda, seemingly on her deathbed, has sprung back into life.

Asha’s laptop’s replacement power cable was working fine for the past few months. And then today happened. My better half is reduced to using the original cable, which needs to be held at a certain angle with a certain degree of pressure to be coaxed to work. We’re delaying buying a laptop for her until Windows 8 appears. Microsoft, I have high hopes from you. Make the wait worthwhile.

This has become so routine, I'm really getting annoyed. Andromeda's choked vents are causing overheating leading to sudden shutdown. I was watching the movie Hugo tonight and was almost 75% through when Andromeda shutdown yet again. I've considered opening the computer to unclog the vents and remove all the dust that must have settled by now, but the instructions manual charted a course so daunting, I thought it better to leave the poor thing to its own fate. Andromeda is nearing 5yrs and I'm hoping to install Windows 8 when it's released later this year. I'll be happy if I can squeeze in another 3yrs.

On the desktop, you can’t beat OneNote - it’s just perfect. On my Android, it’s a very different story. The product is so buggy, it’s almost unusable. Even a task as simple as signing in seems Herculean and I have lost count of the number of attempts I made before successfully getting through. My case was no exception. The Internet abuzz with similar rants. To make matters worse, the product is huge and refuses to be installed anywhere else but the internal memory. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. And here’s the final blow: even after you wade through all the challenges, OneNote for Android often fails to sync. WTF!!! I tried reestablishing some faith in Microsoft’s capabilities by installing the product once again on my phone after previously uninstalling it. It was the same old story- their servers were unavailable for syncing. After multiple attempts, I gave up and uninstalled. Maybe a future version will address these nagging issues. Evernote, on the other hand, works fl...

It's a sleepy Saturday afternoon. Andromeda keeps shutting down due to overheating and I keep wasting time waiting for the hottie to cool off. I'm concerned Andromeda is ageing too soon.

Asha is now the proud owner of a Huawei Blaze. It’s a rock solid Android 2.3. Linux forks are invading us like crazy. First it was our Kindle. Now this. Hail Open Source!

I’m a dedicated TechCrunch reader. This, in spite of TIME (or was it something else of equally high repute) ranking it as one of the most over-glorified blogs. TechCrunch doesn’t talk often about development platforms, which is why it was pleasantly surprising when it reported “ Tech Job Site Dice Reports Shortage Of .NET Developers .” One of the reasons for the possible shortage has been attributed to the fear that if people specialize in .NET development, they won’t be able to branch out to other platforms. I can identity with the sentiment. As the devices connected to the Internet get more varied with diverse platforms, open source is best equipped to bring in innovations to its fold. .NET, being proprietary, leaves its developers out in the cold. Windows 8 is moving in the right direction with its heavy emphasis on CSS3, HTML5 and Javascript. .NET must somehow reinvent itself to protect its relevance in the brave new omni-connected world.

Began the day with Pandora and XML.

Windows 8 rocks!

Which is worse: being spoilt for choice or having no choice? I have been in a dilemma for some time regarding buying an ebook reader, the Amazon Kindle, to be more precise. But then, the exponentially dropping price eggs me each time to wait just a little more. Technological improvements have been another wait-maker, the crucial divide being of a certain chromatic character. You see, I love color thought I have a fetish for black. Years ago, when Dad was about to buy our very first TV set, he gave us the choice between a 21” B&W TV and a 14” Color TV. The womenfolk ganged up against me and settled for B&W. It made no sense to me at all and I would have been up in arms had I had access to them. The loss of screen width could be compensated for by sitting closer to the set, I reasoned. Want it bigger? Sit nearer! Want it bigger still? Keep nearing the screen until the tip of your nose touches the screen and electrostatic sparks fly. Simple! Well, 1 is less than 2 and Dad knew h...

I generally hate history, but not when it comes to computers. I’ve been especially keen about operating systems and how they’ve shaped the high-tech industry. For those with little or no knowledge about the antagonistic relationships shared between IBM, Microsoft and Apple, this movie is a must-watch. Though the IBM part of the picture has been considerably dwarfed to accentuate the other two, it in no way belittles the importance of Big Blue. Well, I’ve never really liked the philosophy behind Apple, though it help us explore the possibility of seeing how tightly coupling hardware with software works. As it turns out, it works rather well. But I have a feeling that after a certain point, market dynamics no longer depend on technical brilliance, often it’s mass hysteria that sees you through the next chapter. This explains Apple’s cult following, its artistry in product innovation being fueled by the premium Apple charges on its products. Here’s the irony to it all: I watched the m...

I fell in love with computers solely because of operating systems. To me, operating systems are the only reasons why computers ought to exist! DOS, in those early days, was exquisitely simple and simply exquisite. The OS was actually tiny enough to fit into a floppy disk…unimaginable by today’s standards, Years later, when Andromeda was ushered into my life, operating systems had changed dimension altogether. So bloated was Windows Vista that I never dared to share hard-disk space with any other OS. Of course, the operating system had become a lot prettier, what with fancy things like a Desktop and a Control Panel. Still, my passion was on the wane. All this lasted 3 years. That’s when I stumbled across something on the OCW from MIT and though of giving the native tongue of C a spin for a change. One thing let to another and I finally mustered the courage a seat the up-and-coming Ubuntu 10.04 on Andromeda. That’s when all hell broke loose, not because the OS was at fault but because ...

I know I want something when I see it. I never wanted an Apple desktop or laptop, I never wanted the iPhone, I wanted the iPod (& I got one) though I hated iTunes…and now I want the iPad . Desperately! A device like this is what I had been longing for. It’s rather surprising that no tech giant had thought of something like this for so long. Yeah, the tablet PC has been around for some time but it’s more of a glorified laptop with a swiveling screen. I wanted something just large enough to watch movies and read books, just small enough to lug around with ease and just powerful enough to let me surf the web. It shouldn’t have a constantly whirling fan that annoys me immensely, it shouldn’t have a physical keyboard jutting out and keeping me half-an-arm’s length away from the screen and impeding any intimate relationship I might have otherwise had with it and, unlike my laptop, it shouldn’t take ages to restart. The iPad fits the bill perfectly. The only flaw it currently has ...

I love stuffing my calendar with automated updates!