Just another blog!

I’m on a process to break away from the distractions of social media, primarily Facebook, and spend the time to pursue other interests. This is an interesting experiment, and it has required significant dedication and effort on my part. At the end, though, I’m not certain if I’ll be successful. I realised that I had a problem when Facebook became the most visited sites in my browser. I should have been working, not scrolling through Facebook like a, well, you know what Jerry Seinfeld has to say. I further noticed that I would tend to log on to Facebook every time I was stuck at work, so that my capacity to tackle problems was reduced to only those that involved cracking a walnut shell. Anything more complex, and I would procrastinate and end up on Facebook. What I needed was a swift kick in the arse to get off Facebook and into the real world. It came through the means of my latest project which required all my attention. At this time, I logged out of Facebook from m...

Supporting a cause on Facebook is the way to go, unless of course, the cause is endorsed by the Prime Minister of India, in which case, either you are an angel or a devil, depending on your political leanings. Recently, the Prime Minister met Mark Zuckerberg, and asked people to change their profile pictures to be overlaid with a tricolour and a network representing digital connectivity. As you can probably tell from my Facebook profile page , I changed my picture. Then stuff hit the fan. Apparently, buried in the code was a reference to , a contentious business venture by Facebook to provide ‘free’ internet to poor people in India. Apparently, what Facebook wants to do is provide Facebook for free, which allows Facebook to tap into a demographic that has since eluded it, and which will also prevent competitors from opening up shop in India – we won't have our own Renren . Now, I support net neutrality, but I don't think that internet.org is about net neutrality. A big co...

2300: Log in to Facebook. Go through posts Go through even more posts. Block that annoying "True meaning of your name" app. Check out that interesting post on 9Gag Hey, it's 0100, I'd better log out. I'm a dork for wasting two hours on this shitty thing. Ever happened to you? You end up spending hours on Facebook, and still end up dis-satisfied? Happens every time with me. I wonder why I still login... If the movie is to be believed, most people head over to Facebook just to see the relationship status of that special someone. Not so much of a concern for me. I'm voted most likely to be single for life. I mainly log in to Facebook to catch up on what people are doing; in other words, to stalk people. People are all awesome. They post the best parts of their lives online, leaving the not-so-interesting parts out. Have a look at any profile picture. If it is a real picture of someone, it will be a face radiant with happiness and joy. Check out pictures ...

\begin{rant} Sometimes, I wonder about the trolls that exist in the world. Earlier, this species would be found forwarding email which was grossly incorrect, or just plain stupid. The categories of these emails used to be one of the below A picture/s of cats or some similar irrelevant object Email humour, jokes, comics Some grossly incorrect story/information about a public figure, public project or some god-damn thing in public life Emails with a forward this or Jesus will disembowel you message Emails with a picture of a dying child with a promise to donate 3 cents for every forward of the email. ... (build this list further) I used to wonder, "Can anyone be as dumb as to fall in for such stuff?" This was almost always followed with a sigh and a don't they have anything better to do in their lives kind of thought. Recently, these emails have stopped, thank god! But wait! Such trolls have taken to Facebook now. It starts with invitation to Mafia Wars, Crazy Taxi, ...

The only comment I received over my earlier blog post criticized me for digressing too much and not presenting an opinion. So, in this post, I aim to give my views on the filtering of search results by services we trust, like Google and Facebook. So, what is the issue with filtering search results to make them more specific to the user (searcher)? As discussed in the video, the main issue with this mechanism is that it isolates a person from the web, where a person might go in to spot views contrary to his own, some views can challenge a person's often limited and biased understanding of matters, thereby helping in the overall development of a person. By filtering those views, Google and Facebook end up showing us views that we like, instead of views that we ought to see, which essentially leaves our world view unchanged. Take for example the concept of my personal blog (this one). I end up sharing links to my posts on Google+ and Facebook. I shall refrain from discussing about Fa...

This post came up from a discussion... No, it's not important to inform you of the origins of this post. What finally matters is the content. Is that not why you read the blog. Who cares about all the emphasis on telling a story about the post with the post itself? I mean, I'm not really into meta-blogging, really. So, what is this post about. No, it's not about the most common excuse raised by some baldies with grey hair (really, since when did baldies have hair?) when some of our neighbours decide to travel over 500 nautical miles to pay us a social visit (with guitars) and try to act in our films (it may be cheap bollywood, but it is much better than the quality of stuff they get at their home, I believe). No, it's about companies with mottoes of Don't be evil deciding what is or is not useful for me. It's also about a website that gives a crappy blue colour to the entire world. The internet (whatever it is, I really don't understand all this tech jargo...

It's really weird that the posts most difficult for me to write are the ones that have a deep personal touch: they are the ones that reflect my own views, or relate to some experience I have had. Maybe you would think that these posts are the easiest to write, and that they should flow out of my fingertips onto my keyboard, and from there onto the internet. But it is these posts that trouble me the most. I may write for lengths about DIY projects, or on why facebook sucks, or anything else; but when it comes to writing about something I really connect with, I have difficulty. As such, it is not difficult to explain this: Brecht's distancing works for me as an author as well as an observer, I write best when there is some distance between me and the object of my work. Here, again, I find myself drifting into the realm of the objective. But that is not the purpose of this post. So, I drag myself back to writing what I have put off for over a week. Recently, I met some wonderfu...

Well, here's another post on security on the internet. Well, there is no security on the internet. With most private details up on the internet, and with Google being as efficient as it is, there is an utter lack of privacy. Anyone can dig up information about anyone. Even riskier are the SNS (Social Networking Services). Under the pretext of helping people connect, they are actually making people reveal the most intimate details about their lives to others. And like in the previous post, I shall go back to Facebook. The recent hullabaloo about Mark Zuckerberg stating that all information on Facebook shall be private by default shows that some people are (at least not yet) agreeable to an open reality show based on their lives. Of course, many don't care. The type of activities which take place on Facebook are worrying too. Now, my friends on Facebook spend hours on useless apps which claim to predict their future, their deaths, and their love. Some of the stupid apps...

sang the Guitar Man from Central Park, David Ippolito. While he was worried about the stupidity of the kind of exchanges that take place on Facebook, there is another aspect in which facebook tends to show absolute absurdity I am referring to the silly interface changes that Facebook seems to love. Only recently, I opted for the new profile. Now, I can still see the friend requests in the same old place. But when I click there, this is what I see: This is really stupid. What am I supposed to do with the friend requests have moved box? If that was the case, then the original link should be removed, so that people do not click there. Or if they really had to keep the old link, they should have allowed both links to check friend requests. Try blocking Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. This is what happens: This is simply juvenile and lacks maturity. Why can I not block someone just because he is the one who created Facebook? And nothing beats the useless apps that come up on the damned ...