Microsoft Surface - The next generation of computer

The software giant announced at the D5 conference that it’s built a new touchscreen computer—a coffee table that will change the world. Go inside its top-secret development with PopularMechanics.com, then forget the keyboard and mouse: The next generation of computer interfaces will be hands-on.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid932579976/bclid932553050/bctid933742930

Have a look at the above video, it is an amazing technology.

Creativity

Characteristics of the Creative Person

1. curious
2. seeks problems
3. enjoys challenge
4. optimistic
5. able to suspend judgment
6. comfortable with imagination
7. sees problems as opportunities
8. sees problems as interesting
9. problems are emotionally acceptable
10. challenges assumptions
11. doesn't give up easily: perseveres, works hard

Positive Attitudes for Creativity

1. Curiosity
2. Challenge
3. Constructive discontent
4. A belief that most problems can be solved
5. The ability to suspend judgment and criticism
6. Seeing the good in the bad
7. Problems lead to improvements
8. A problem can also be a solution
9. Problems are interesting and emotionally acceptable

Miscellaneous Good Attitudes

1. Perseverance
2. A flexible imagination
3. A belief that mistakes are welcome

Source

Design Standards - when can it be in place?

When can a company/individual put the standard in place (as per my understanding)

• (most important) if they have will to implement the standards
• If they have appropriate resources in place
• If they have proper plan in place
• If they have right staff in place

Pagge Paadi to Maatana Madh - Kutch (2006)

barCamp mumbai

This is to inform everyone that BarCampMumbai UniversityLevel is coming up.

Date: 11.02.07Venue: K. J. Somaiya Engineering College, Vidyavihar (E), Mumbai - 77

For more details, please visit the wiki at http://barcamp.org/BarCampMumbaiU

Looking for Sponsors:
BarCampMU is a university level event, and while it might not have the level of participants that a regular BarCamp has, it is a step in the right direction, and I am sure it will encourage students to think out of the box, think different and beyond the university syllabus. However, even a small event needs sponsors, and any sponsorship of any kind will be greatly appreciated.

If you are interested in sponsoring the event in any way, please leave me a line at scdoshi@gmail.com or call me or message me at 9821889957.

Spread the word:
Let everyone know about BarCampMU, blog about it, post it on user groups, mailing lists, etc. Just spread the word. Please.

Everyone is welcome:
Professionals are just as welcome as students. In fact, if you have the time, please make it a point to come and speak on some topic. Industry - Student networking in one if the key advantages of BarCampMU.

"Guru" bhai aavya chhe!!!

Overall the film was really good, it really inspires a young entrepreneur to work for himself and it throws a message to them that keep trying untill you succeed. Abhishek has acted damn well and Aishwarya looks different.

What I felt funny was that last sequence of the movie, Abhishek totally tried acting like his dad and couple of dialogues were look like picked up from Agnipath and Amar Akabar Anthony.

Cricket: Dancing Sreesanth in SA!!!

Cricket: This is Sreesanth, of India, responding to Andre (the Giant) Nel of South Africa by scoring a six and..... (more) I think India should definately this sort of attitude ,,,,, a fire back. Common India!!!! Dikhaa do.

What is SPAM Emails?

Try to understand what is Spam?
Many people including some people working in an Internet security products company is unable to identify the SPAM emails. I got this spam email forwarded to me from one of my friends who himself is working for a software company:

Subject: FW: FW: FW: Please Read and Froward it!!
Dear Reader,
I am writing this behalf of my loving husband.
Everything was fine, me, my husband and our two children. We had a happy family. My husband was an Engineer in a big company. He comes home early and helps me with the house chores and plays with the children.
Our dreams were shattered in front of our eyes last week. It was a drunken lorry driver, came on the wrong side and hit us and went.
It killed my little baby girl and left my husband paralyzed. My husband is still in the hospital. His brain is damaged and he needs an operation. I need 5 lakhs s to save his life. I collected about 3 lakhs from my friends and family. I need another 2 lakhs.
I don't want to lose him. He was such a wonderful husband & father. He still doesn't know we lost our little girl. I am looking after my son now. Without my husband I won't be able to take care of him.

Please help me save my husband the one person I dearly love. I already lost my daughter and I don't want to lose my husband as well. Please help us.
Thank you very much for your love & support. May God bless you.

Yours Truly,
Nirosha Silva

(I know you don't like to forward mails. I am really sorry to bother you. If you have a heart and like to help a family, please forward this mail. Every mail you forward will add 5cents to AOL and they will deposit it to my bank account. This will help me save my husband.)

////////////////// Points to be noted here. ////////////////////////////////

1.) In the subject the Mail Server itself shows that its a SPAM

2.) The Content

3.) IT states "Every mail you forward will add 5cents to AOL", Here note that there is no Track Back url.

4.) If any service provider wants to pay for this kind of activities they might get a small space for donation in their website.

Note: If you are going to make a donation online, see if that the website is a legitimate one.

Also you might have noted and experienced as well that you would get money if you forward this mail to 100 people etc and so on. So inorder to do this the SPAMMERS they use the reputed companies name like Microsoft Corporation, AOL and so on. Also sometimes it comes with some attachments which might be a virus file.

Though there are Spam Blockers installed in the system, people anyway manage to get thest kinds of email and forward it to their friends in their contact list.

So it is in the hands of us, not to encourage these kinds of emails.

(Source: http://yuvi-internetsecurity.blogspot.com/)

Unit of Measurement

Below mentioned information will be useful for designers and developers which has been picked up from elementK's training files on CSS:

Unit of Measurement

pixels (px)
A standard screen measurement. One pixel equals one physical pixel on a computer screen, which varies with screen resolution. (For this reason, some consider pixels to be a relative unit of measurement.)

inches (in)
A standard English measurement. One inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters.

centimeters (cm)
A standard metric measurement. One centimeter is equal to almost 2/5 of an inch.

millimeters (mm)
A standard metric measurement. Ten millimeters are equal to one centimeter.

points (pt)
A standard print measurement. One point is equal to 1/72 of an inch. In reality, point values are not this precise on the Web, and vary according to the font face in use.

picas (pc)
A standard print measurement. One pica is equal to 12 points.

===========================

If you intend to use absolute units of measurement for any CSS property, pixels tend to be the most reliable across different browsers and operating systems. Pixels also make the most sense for the screen. Points and picas, for example, are units of print measurement that have no real meaning on a computer screen.
If you want your length values to scale from user to user, and from one output device to the next, use relative units of measurement. The following table lists the relative units of measurement in CSS.

Unit of Measurement

ems (em)
A standard print measurement. Ems are relative to the width of the uppercase M character of the parent element's font, or the inherited font size when applied to the font-size property.

x-height (ex)
A standard print measurement. The x-height is defined by the size of the lowercase x character of the parent element's font, or the size of the x character of the inherited font size when applied to the font-size property.

percent (%)
A fraction value based on the computed value of an inherited length.

You Tube acquired for $US1.65 billion by Google

The news that strike me today is "Google to acquire You Tube for $US1.65 billion." Now I am quite exciting to see new user interface changes on youtube.com which is already a nicely navigable site, but then Google is known for its usability designs.

Really,,, Lagge Raho Munna Bhai

Just a saw the movie yesterday nite and I must say that pls Lagge Raho Munna Bhai... you are doing Awesome. As the slogan suggest, the movie is not just about Munna Bhai and Circuit. This time they have a new friend called Bapu, Our 'Gandhi Bapu". The movie is not just about the GundaGiri but also about GandhiGiri. Its really a thought provoking movie like Rang De Basanti with a suttle funny events.

Should watch it with friends & family and try to implement GandhiGiri.

Tarikh pe Tarikh (Date keeps postponing)

Many people must have heard of this dialogue "Tarikh pe Tarikh" from Damini movie, it must be really frustrating experience to the people who are suffering from that syndrome of Government. It seems to be that government is reluctant to make decisions faster.

The same happened yesterday. The verdict for the Bomb Blasts happened in Mumbai, 1993. It killed more then 300 people and injured 700+ people, 139 people caught under the conspiracy act, 13 people died in the jail, few ran away, main accusers are still not caught, and again, after 13 years of long period verdict had been postponed for another month.

Isn't it really a "Andha Kanoon"???

Human Factors International - offers courses for being Usability Experts

Few days ago I was complaining to myself that WHY INDIA DO NOT HAVE ANY INSTITUTIONS FOR HCI [Human Computer Interaction] in INDIA. When I met Aadesh and Bhooshan, I came to know about really an interesting thing about Institute for Human Computer Interaction and that also in Mumbai [Bandra].

It came to me as a surprise that it's there in India. The name of the institute is "Human Factors International Inc". I visited their site that is http://www.humanfactors.com/ and seems to be very interesting to me. My friends who have attended these classes told me that it is really an amazing stuff to attend even if you have immense knowledge in Usability, it just change the way you look at the things in terms of usability.

That statement made me eager to know more about it and now I am planning to go for it in near future.

If you people know any other institutes in India, who offers such courses on usability, please, let me know.

Hear it and you will be laughing for sure.

A Good comic video found some where on Net.

7 Serial Blasts in Mumbai Local Trains

Alright here...

Luckily i left office at 7.15pm yesterday.. otherwise usually i leave by 6pm for the same route via train.

As soon as i got the news i stayed back in the office (ChurchGate). I moved from there at about 12.40am and reached home (Borivali) by 2.20am by road. Today, taking rest for the entire day.

Helpline:
+ 91 22-22005388, 24451515, 24452222, 26207254

Series of blast rocks Mumbai
http://broadband.indiatimes.com/videoshow/1735925.cms

Hospital wise list of injured and dead in Blast
http://mumbaipolice.org/images/news_cp/1blast/blast.htm

May God bless all the victims's soul and give peace to their loved ones.

Sketching --- wanna start again!!!

It's been more than 3 yrs that i have not done any sketching (pencil sketching or charcoal sketching). Well, as i am more relaxed nowadays..... i am planning to start it all again.

You can see the collections of all the sketches done by me at http://www.prashantpoladia.com/html_files/sketches.htm

Let me know your suggestions on it.

Is IT Salaries are at their peak level??

[image source: Corbis]

Just read the article today in Economic Times regarding "IT salaries soar as cos scramble for talent". It talks about the annual raise given by the Companies to its employees in India. It is raised from upto 20-30% on an average.

This is leading to the stage where India seems to be no more of Cheap Wages. People are visioning that it could be the threat to the Indian IT Market as the Foreigners will start looking at alternate option. As the expert says Indians needs to increase their talent pool to stay intact.

Pay Anyone Online

Wallet365.com, India's first e-Wallet is a revolutionary new service that lets you pay anyone, anywhere. It lets you store money, shop online and even receive money. Wallet365.com is absolutely safe, instant and convenient. All you need is a valid email ID. It secures you from the dangers of online credit card fraud.

Seems to be interesting stuff but the time will tell whether are there any flaws in it.

Stages of Design Process

This is an interesting stuff about "Stages of Design Process". The above diagram has been picked up from the book "Visual Research" of Ian Noble and Russel Bestley.

It talks about the 4 stages involve in design process based on their research.
1st - Difinition
2nd - Divergence
3rd - Transformation
4th - Convergence

Starting from 1st stage of "Definition" where Design problems are defined and the appropriate data gathered after agreeing on design objectives in the 2nd stage of "Divergence". Once the objectives are all set, prototypings are prepared and they are evaluated in stage 3 of "Transformational". If the tests were not successful revaluation of design objectives takes place. At the final stage of "Convergence", effectuve measures are checked and improvements are recommended.

The book talks more about an introduction to research methodologies in graphic design. The subjects covered are INVESTIGATION, ANALYSIS, SYNTHESIS, COMMUNICATION, EXPERIMENTATION, AUDIENCE, CRAFT, PRODUCTION, MATERIALS, SYSTEMS, METHOD, PROCESS, SEMIOTICS, SEMANTICS, RHETORIC and DESIGN.

Windows Live Local

It seems to be the old news but i have just came across Windows Live Local. Its interesting the way they have worked on User Interface. The MAP features are very very interesting.

You can define your destination and get the Road MAP printed. Its really useful for the people who are new to any place and for those who want to explore more.

As we are going out for bowling on this Monday at Phoenix Mills from Nariman Point, i decided to pick-up the best route to reach there early.

I wish later in the future we will see the information on traffic jams which will update every 5 mins.... so people can pick up the best route.