MJK94ME

Flickr Tags of places

This gives an idea of the most photogenic places of the world; or

This gives an idea of who all are flickring most in this world.

* blogger : journalist :: tick : sheep

Nov18 2005
Blogging is good. The personal publishing thing is a paradigm shift. etc. Pause. Here's the other side of blogging. A blog has the author's views one after the other (can I say linear ?). Most of them are disconnected while sometimes a categorization is used to group some posts together.
Our brain, on the other hand learns through association or rote methods. For the interest of learning we should follow up what we have written. Otherwise what one writes is lost in the stack of posts.

For example a techno blog gives an info about the new PS3 console gamer. I like it immediately and give a link to the site or put some image from that site on my own blog. Some other day, some other news with my overlapping interest, and it goes on and on. After some time I lose track of them and stack lots of trivia which could in turn be valuable knowledge if used correctly.
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May15 2005
Found an iteresting article on blogs. It compares blogs and journalism. An excerpt.

SEARCHING FOR A METAPHOR by John Hiler

Were Bloggers parasites feasting off their Journalist hosts? Or were Bloggers creating a new form of grassroots journalism, one that threatened the extinction of Journalism as we know it?

Then one day it hit me: parasites & hosts, grassroots & extinction... they were all biological metaphors.

All of a sudden, it all made sense! The truth is, Bloggers and Journalists are both parasitic organisms. In biology, we have a term for relationship that seems mutually parasitic: symbiosis, when both organisms benefit from working together. In many ways, bloggers and journalists are in a mutually symbiotic relationship, working together to report, filter and break the news.



The Blogosphere isn't perfect, but it's the most robust and diverse Media Ecosystem we have. As the mechanisms tying it together grow more and more automated, its collective power and influence will start to approach that of any single newspaper or magazine. In many ways, the Blogosphere has become the default forum for intellectual discourse, a sort of intercontinental coffeehouse buzzing with discussion and debate.

See the latest on this
http://www.invisibleweb.com/cgm.asp

On self-sorting

del.icio.us, flickr, gmail use the categories/tags to mark online content (and now google base categorizes offline content too). what that makes me wonder is - the content could also belong to some category which we dont know about. i might miss putting a certain tag to a file.

Using gmail and flickr, i have come across these potential problems - a. There could be more than one tag to a mail and this gets more complex. There could an option of automatic categorizing (If a mail comes from the domain "microsoft.com", give it a SwareUpdte tag)

there could be a system evolved of Most Common Attributes (MCAs?). flickr tags

* New Media Term

The examples off new media change with times. In the present (and future) scenario, I believe
new media is Mobile
new media is Online
new media is Wireless
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May 25 2005
Collaborative Media - Rusty Foster, founder of blogsite www.kuro5hin.org

Context: Group journalism.
The site is powered by a software system called Scoop which lets other people contribute to the story. Scoop has four powerful features which let people collaborate on a story on Kuro5hin:

1 Anyone can submit stories about interesting things that you hear about, things you think of, or other things which strike your fancy. This site has an open submission queue.

2 Any user can see and vote on all submitted stories. If you want to see something posted, you can make it happen by participating in the moderation of the stories in the submission queue.

3 Garbage will not be tolerated. Others can and will rate your posts into oblivion.

4 Anyone can post comments about the stories that you see here. ... Commenting is a very good thing, and really helps articles develop into the discussions we like to see here.

Other examples : http://www.metafilter.com/
http://blogdex.net/

* Expelliarmus

Nov17 05
Harry Potter 4 is releasing tomorrow. The rushes looked quite impressive.
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Jul18 05
I have got the Harry Potter 7 Spoiler right here (my interpretation, of course)!

The last horcrux is in Harry's forehead scar.

Reasons:
a. Out of Harry and Voldermort, one HAS to die. I think if Harry lives then Vold guy cant have the last horcrux.
b. In previous books (at least the ones that I read), everytime Vold is nearby, Harry's scar begins to ache (the soul inside wants to "merge" with the MotherShip ?)

This is the ONLY logical conclusion possible of the whole HP series. What say ?

I think Potter mania will go down from this book. Its getting too complicated. Something like the Matrix Trilogy. First was a complete movie by itself so enjoyed by everyone. The second and third were ONLY for matrix cult-ures/hardcore fans and went over the head for most of the general crowd. So I think the people, tired of riding the Potter broom will want to get over the mania ASAP. So I can see the seventh book releasing pretty soon.

* UI to NewI

Since so much talk is happening about web2.0, the technology changes on the web, renewed interest in Javascript, its time for a paradigm shift in the interface for web apps. And also in desk apps. A recent flurry of articles on ET and other business dailies on some Indian companies making innovative products for a highly specialized marke section.
Keep imagining, people !
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SIGGRAPH is featuring more and more game-oriented interfaces since the last couple of years. This time too, the focus was on installations which makes the "intern" get multisensorial feedback. Lots of other papers were presented on video textures, complex hair renderings, and other jargonating topics which are used in spl fx and animations. The day is not far where all of these are used in games too..

ps: (hate the word 'user' so am making short form of 'interaction person' and giving the new name intern)
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Spread the word

I just realised: The word passion has the letter 't' silent ! The word actually is pass-it-on !
Passion = Pass it on

I dont know if its original or not.. I find it quite liberating though.
Big deal, you'll ask. Well, if you really love something, then you inspire others to believe in it. Its contagious and infectious. Spread your passion around. You might be doing something great to others..

Crores of millions

This is one thing that I leaves me confused.. how many zeroes in a crore ? How many millions in one crore ? Just for the record,

10 million = 1 crore
10 lakh = 1 million
3 crore would be written as 3,00,00,000
Number of zeros in a million - 6, a billion - 9, a trillion - 12

Also see this

Googley !

If we type a word in google search that is spelt wrong, even then there will be hajaar sites with that wrong word. Its so fun to watch common grammaticals on global sites (at least english ones).. :P

try mislaneous

Special Mallu Party -

poster by meghna james - mallu by birth, aethist by nature - YenjoY

Form of the future ?

(Accessories shown will NOT be part of the standard equipment. Please watch this space for more details..;)

Q: Does the phrase "future of mobile entertainment" now spell in four letters ?
A: iPod

Humble, Spontaneous, Impact, Promote, Improvisation

Improvisation
Insaan or Insane

Wiki

I did a classsroom project which was based on the concept of wiki, the collaborative, based-on-trust website. I came across quite a few of them lately. I think they are going to be very focussed and very useful ofrspecific short-term purposes and some limited edition purposes too..
a nice wiki url : http://wiki.helpware.net/

Translation

I was browsing for a tutorial in flash and came across a french page. the google automatic translation feature, in an instant crossed language barriers to give me what i wanted.. just reading the pages from a european or a japanese server makes me high these days. its the translation technology that will help us to know other worlds on our good'ol earth.

Prefix

I am doing some reaseach on Unicode fonts for a project of mine. Seems its quite an interesting thing. One can view any webpage of any language with just one font installed. With the internet connecting people from different partsof the world, it should also be able to make easy for us to know about what people from other countries express and how they express it. Translators will be one of the next big things for information sharing purposes.

ps: UNI is a nice prefix. It make both UNIversal as well as UNIque, UNIverse as well as UNIt, any others ?

Wreath for Film

Did you notice ? The foreign movie trailers have got this symbol

when it wins an award. I didnt see this in the earlier trailers. Must be a new global way for recognizing an award winning feature..

Gaming, seriously

there is some serious gaming happening here

Blogfolio

It seems that one can make a portfolio using the blog templates. upload photos, add the description... and you're done. people can even comment on your individual work ! I tried making one at home but my laziness got the better of me.

Banquet Hall to Wedding Mall

I was wondering something like this HAD to come up in the land of elaborate weddings. The celebration now has a 50,000 crore market (!!) and what a way to capitalize on it ! Read some text from the ad -

.. a shopping extravaganza specialy brought to make your wedding preparation easier than ever. From wedding wear, jewlery and banquets to beauty parlours, white goods and furnishings, wedding card makers with honeymoon package organizers... 3-screen multiplex, food court, speciality restaurant and banquet hallsadd to an experience... 175000 sq ft of retail space.. launching in 5 places in India.

CellPhone Cloning

A case of cellphone cloning surfaced the day before in delhi. A sting operation conducted by a tv news channel exposed this.

More on Cell Phone Cloning

Machinima

Machinima is a new art form which uses game engines to make animation movies. It can be a gud prototyping tool for moviemakers, I think. Also, runtime games could be made with two players on opposite sides play. One puts enemies at new places and the other has to kill them. Something like "Assault" in UT.

Blog, Borrow, Steal

Many of today's blogs lack "original content". It has become a platform to "flaunt your sources", rather than "individual thought expression". I think the so called "new media" borrows from old media, mixes with other old media and voila ! you're done. People appretiate it too.
Welcome to blogosphere !

Designer Label ?

On one hand BusinessToday is promoting "design" as a span of ideas, objects, services. And paradoxically their compatriates in the media are promotin design only as a fashion and clo-thing.

If someone asks what I do and I say I am a designer, its likely that it'll be presumed that I deal with clothes, fashion, models, glamour.. the works !

Common people already have a misconception about a designer. And all leading (or misleading) newspapers and magazines are adding fuel to the fire. Design has a long way to go in India. Bhagwaan bharose !

SpongeBob

I love SpongeBOb ! The characters are so simple and so well written, the story gets so engrossing and enjoyable everytime.. and the creative moments are such a joy ! Thanks Sharad for telling me what I was actually wearing on me ;)

Here are the lyrics of the title song for the show.. Have fun !

Captain: Kids: Captain: Kids: Captain: Captain: Kids: Captain: Kids: Captain: Kids: Captain: Kids: Captain: Captain & Kids: Captain:

Are ya ready kids? Aye, Aye captain! I can't heeeaaar yooouuu! AYE, AYE CAPTAIN! oooooooooooo......... Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Sponge Bob Square Pants! Absorbent and yellow and porous is he. Sponge Bob Square Pants! If nautical nonsense be somethin' ya wish. Sponge Bob Square Pants! Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish. Sponge Bob Square Pants! Ready? Sponge Bob Square Pants, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Sponge Booob Square Paaants! Ah Ha Ha, Ha Ha Ha, Ha, hArgh wh..arire..Ha arrrigh.

Hindu Jehad

The RSS is going to air a channel soon to promote their "Hindu" way. Its called Sudarshan TV and is starting on I-Day this yr. Knowing their ideology, the other TV gods and demigods will be nothing in comparison to this one. I clicked these docile but influential creatures sometime back from my dgcam (media borrowing from other media to display in another media - new media !)

Sick Love

Heard the new-s about Sania's crazed fan ? The pervert had some lewd (and false) comments about our young Indian sportstar..

Seeing all the rape stories on TV in these few days, I think the more sex we show on TV, the better it will be for the "member-s" of our community. At least they'll jerk off and feel spent and satisfied..

playboy.co.in anyone ?

meanwhile check this one out (for sane Sania fans) http://saniamirzablog.blogspot.com/

New Media Terms

Domain: publishing content to the web
podcasting
like we view blogs thru RSS, we can put audio files and listen to them via RSS protocol on your portable mp3 player (i am lost). Where is the world getting to ?


Domain: advertising/brand building
in-serial or in-film placement

for ex: BMWs get endorsed in all Bond films, Indian movies have placed brand names/products at strategic locations to catch the attention of viewer/proxy-consumer.
It is said to firmly place brands in the consumers' mind.
has been happening since 'bobby' days, but has been more "in-our-face" today.


p.s: serial = see real ? truth is stranger than fiction :)

Operating Games ?

Saw an interesting gamerTV episode yest. a special game has been made for surgeons so they can perform surgery with much more precision..

Trajan

Have you noticed the media lately? Movie Promos including Star Wars 3 and Master & Commander on the tube, Real Estate print ads use this new elegant font called Trajan . Seems like trajan was a roman warrior of repute. The font has got that Roman feel with a royal touch . Looks good to me. What say ?
The font designer's name is Carol Twombly who also designed one of my favorite fonts, myriad. Isnt it a small world ?



More on Trajan, the guy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan

Logos

Have you noticed the logos that are popular today ? Google, ebay, Frog Design - all have this colorful, one color per letter each ? Have people's recognition for plain logos gone ? or dot he companies need a stronger visual treat to catch attention ?

Amway

http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/apr/13amway.htm

* Like other multinationals, we've also been guilty of misjudging the Indian market at times...
* We discovered that people wanted to come into the stores, see the products, pick up and touch them before they purchased anything. Home delivery just didn't interest them...
* a 'one-size-fits-all' strategy won't be successful in India. We have a portfolio of 450 products that are all available in one size each...

* ..to believe that old successes will drive new ones and to not change your ways -- an attitude that says "this is how we will do it because this is how we've always done it" -- is wrong.

html editors

HTML editors are a pain.. whatever the graphics artist does, the "constraints" of coding makes the website so monotonous. no wnder ppl, specially designers are switching to complete flash based websites..

Transport

all good thingsa come to those who wait...

I dont know who said this but I think it applies to the means of transporation

Train takes 24 hours to reach delhi
Plane takes 1.5 hrs

Train doesnt reuire any waiting
Place has a 2 hour check-in time...

Funny ?

visual

two types of clients

ones who DONT care about visual LAF
ones who do

you can care about the composition for the latter bunch
ngos which are more about their work would

Sri Gnesh

ok, then.. here goes my second try to spit my thoughts on e-paper. lets begn

ps: btw this blog aims at making sense of desi design in general.. warning:: some spiritualism could be mixed with it.