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...

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 ...

Yes, it has happened. While we were so busy fighting PIPA, SOPA and all other acts that threatened freedom on the internet, we ignored the events brewing in our own backyard. It is with great sorrow that I write about the sad state of freedom in India. Yes, we are free. Yes, the constitution declares that we are sovereign. The people are sovereign. The representatives of the people are sovereign. Consequently, the parliamentarians are sovereign. Hence, they are in a position to bring about draconian acts that curb freedom of speech, acts which benefit them and them only, acts which make it illegal for you or me to criticise the government; yet, we must bow down and accept meekly, cause the parliament is sovereign, and anyone questioning the sovereignty of the parliament is a traitor and anti-national. I've always found India to be a strange place, and the series "It happens only in India" on this weblog, under which the current post too is filed, is a collection of thin...