Just another blog!

I turned 25 last year, which in the highly mathematical and calculating eyes of the US insurance industry meant that I had suddenly matured into a much more responsible driver than I was at 24 years and 364 days of age. As a result, I expected my insurance rates to go down. Imagine my surprise when my insurance renewal notice from GEICO actually quoted a $50 increase in my insurance rates. To me, this was a clear signal that it was time to switch companies. Typically, I score really high on brand loyalty. I tend to stick with a brand for as long as possible, unless they really mess up. This qualified as a major mess up. As a result, I started shopping for insurance quotes. Two companies that quoted me significantly lower rates (30%–40% lower) were Progressive and Allstate. Both had an optional programme that could give me further discounts based on my consenting to the companies tracking my driving habits. Now, I am a careful driver – I hardly ever accelerate hard. I hate...

According to this article on the Verge , the FBI basically wants Apple to create a system that allows them to make an unlimited number of guesses, at speeds of 80 ms per guess. On a 4-digit passcode, this means that the pass-code is cracked in just under 14 minutes. With a 6-digit pass-code, it will be cracked in just about 22 hours. However, if Apple allowed creation of pass-codes of unlimited length, and someone chose a 10-digit pass-code (if you think that is hard to remember, keep in mind that most people memorise multiple 10-digit phone numbers), then the time required to crack it is around 25 years. However, the FBI or anyone cracking the pass-code also needs to know the length, so they will have to try all the way from 1-digit pass-codes to 10-digit pass-codes. 9-digit pass-codes will take around two and a half years, while 8-digit pass-codes will take 3 months. So while I do appreciate and support Apple's resistance to the FBI, I think that they will be much better off ...

This post stems out of Google's prank today; when they announced that YouTube will be shut down until 2023. Of course, they meant it as a prank, but considering their disturbing trend of shutting down services... well, let's just say that I did not find it the most attractive prank. I've written earlier  (during the GMail account fiasco) about Google's model, and why users who don't pay any cash directly for services are useful to Google. In this post, I try and lay out some pitfalls of killing off young services. Google aims to build a moat around it's search and advertisement business. It tries to do so by ensuring that users always use Google for search; which increases revenues through advertisement. Good search results are ones that are personalised, so that the user gets what he wants without a lot of keyword-jugglery that was needed a decade ago. Indeed, a decade ago, I remember going as far as page 10 in search results to find the information I neede...

All hail the idiots, for it is the idiots who run the world. Confused? Let me explain... People are idiotic. They yammer and yell, and yet do nothing, but run the world. The ones who do the actual work are often silent spectators, fed up of the idiots that rule them. Calling my readers "idiots" does not make for healthy relationships, so I'll refrain from doing so. But I'm fed up of the idiots that dictate how I live my life. The idiots pay $ 20 for a movie they cannot copy on their computer, because the DVD is encrypted. The idiots are willing to pay $ 1000 for a software that does the same work they could do for free. The idiots keep the big corporations alive, which then dictate how we live our lives. Yet, it is by the action of the idiots that our world, as we know it, can continue. Think of it... how different would life be, where everyone could make their own movies and share them with the world. If anyone wanted to do anything, (s)he could do it him/hersel...

This was the subject of an email I received from someone I know. The message asked for my review of the Aakash tablet, a low cost tablet which the Indian government in promoting. I replied with a verdict: uninspiring. My reasons were thus: The processor was pathetic; I cannot expect an ARM running at 366 MHz to provide any reliable computing. My mobile phone runs Android 2.3, and has a 600 MHz processor. Yet, I find it sluggish. To compound the problem is just 256 MB of RAM. I really cannot expect any performance from this tablet. Pathetic configuration is the first thing that ruins a computing experience. Further, the tablet has no 3G or GPRS, only WiFi (This is set to change in the next release of the tablet, with a better processor and Android 2.3 and GPRS connectivity, but still, I really cannot understand the point of including WiFi over 3G. After all, how many people who are the target audience of the government possess access to WiFi. If they did, why would they buy Aakash ove...

So, here's another DIY Let me start by putting the cart before the horse. I shall start with the credits. This project was done while I was working on my Electronics Design Lab, along with my friends, Srujan M and Indrasen Bhattacharya. The work would not have been possible without the generous help received from the staff at Wadhwani Electronics Laboratory, who ensured that the only thing we did right was to leave the lab on time. This project would also not have been possible without the guidance of our dear and learned professors. It would probably have just about become additional dead weight on the head. Enough with the credits, now, I need to dive right into noise cancellation and how it works. The essence of sound is a pressure wave. The pressure wave, when incident on the eardrum sets into motion the complex mechanisms inside the ear, and after a long path, rather like the Cog advertisement, ends up making some nerves vibrate. The nerves send electrical signals to the b...

This post comes in after a really long delay. The simple reason was that my end-semester examinations are here, and the run-up to the examinations is the most hectic ever. Boredom from studies forces me to the recommended items page in Google reader, and ideas there often prompt blog posts. So here goes... It turns out that Motorola had put in a Facebook poll asking its fans what they wanted from Motorola. Unfortunately, they allowed people to put in custom responses, giving a thumping 100000 votes for an unlocked bootloader. But hang on... I have gone off on a tangent... This post would be extremely difficult for non-geeky people to understand. They may even be asking, What is a bootloader? So, I first attempt to explain the basics. A bootloader is a piece of software written specifically for the particular hardware. It kicks in before the OS begins to run, and is responsible for launching the OS. The term bootloader comes from bootstrap loader, which in turn comes in from the phr...

After a whole lot of posts written out of sheer frustration, here is something you can really do. In this post, I explain how to build a simple temperature sensor. The temperature sensor is a LM35 chip. This is a easy to use 3 pin package. The pins are Vcc, Gnd and Vout. The output voltage (in millivolts) is the temperature in degrees centigrade * 10. I am using an Atmel ATmega8 micro-controller. There really is no specific reason for choosing this micro-controller, except for easy availability (I had one) and previous experience. The third and last major component is the LCD display for displaying the temperature. Now for some quick calculations. My temperature shall not in general exceed 100C. A diode drops 0.6V when it is on. Putting two diodes in series, I get an almost constant voltage of 1.200V. I have a 10 bit ADC. Hence, the temperature in Celsius*10 is ADC*1200/1024, or (ADC*1200)>>10. The final touch is a simple push-button for cycling through day average, day maximum a...