July 2010
3 posts
3 tags
Jul 22nd
“If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster...”
– Henry Ford school of usability
Jul 17th
“A lot of what we seem to be doing in a product like that is actually getting...”
– Jonathan Ive, Senior VP of Design, Apple
Jul 3rd
June 2010
9 posts
Statement by Apple on iPhone 4 Pre-Orders →
Apple/AT&T net more than HALF A MILLION pre-orders for iPhone 4. Hey weren’t android phones outselling iPhones these days? I think I hear fandroids crying in agony. LOL.
Jun 16th
“…Activities towards the Chandrayaan-II Mission will be initiated,”...”
– India To Initiate Activities For Chandrayaan-II This is good to hear, but was that “quote” really necessary (specially after the first sentence in the article)?
Jun 12th
“It is intended to give practical demonstrations of these principles with the...”
–  Nikola Tesla (Wardenclyffe Tower)
Jun 11th
Jun 10th
Jun 10th
“For a long time, iPhone felt like a Lexus while Android was more like a Kia....”
– MG Siegler in An iPhone Lover’s (Initial) Thoughts On iPhone 4
Jun 9th
“Of course, in real-world visual scenes, the Gestalt principles work in concert,...”
– From book “Designing With The Mind in Mind” I wonder what a typical Linux desktop exemplifies.
Jun 8th
Netbooks? Ha! iPads will replace desktop PCs -... →
My college-student son has embraced the iPad full time and has been neglecting his big-screen laptop. He does need multitasking, however, so he’s considering a second iPad and carrying two. Hahahaha!
Jun 8th
Jun 7th
May 2010
5 posts
Scientific analysis finds iPhone LCD trumps Nexus... →
Boo hoo hoo. Just when I thought I’m getting one of the latest and greatest smartphones on the market (i.e. Nexus One), the previous generation iPhone 3GS still manages to beat it even at hardware (never mind the software comparison of Android vs. iPhone OS - Android loses by a mile). I don’t know how badly the iPhone 4th gen is going to annihilate the Nexus One. Oh well.
May 31st
“At the age of 18, in President Zia ul-Haq’s Pakistan, Salman Ahmad...”
– BBC News - Muslim rocker on his ‘jihad’ against extremists
May 22nd
“Under section 77-A of the Indian Railway Act, the liability of Railways as...”
– Indian Railways
May 14th
4 tags
New earphones! →
Yay! Philips - In-Ear Headphones SHE9550/97 Surprisingly good sound for its price - I don’t mind listening through them without any equalizer. BUY it NOW if you want to upgrade from shitty bundled earbuds. In fact buy it even if you don’t intend to upgrade, you’ll thank me later ;-)
May 9th
“I don’t think that type should be expressive at all. I can write the word ‘dog’...”
– Massimo Vignelli (in documentary “Helvetica”)
May 1st
April 2010
5 posts
“Maybe things are different in college and the non-tech world, where you can slap...”
– enantiodrama ~ via Digg.com
Apr 14th
Apr 13th
Openmoko →
Can’t help but laugh at yet another “open” Linux-based project almost on the brink of failure.
Apr 11th
3 tags
Techno-geek questions; designer answers
Joshua Topolsky (Engadget): And one other item of note — Apple chose to place the headphone jack at the top of the device. We don’t know about you, but we think the idea of draping our headphone cord across the screen or snaking it around back is a tremendously bad idea. And guess what? In practice, it kind of stinks. Why the company didn’t opt for putting the plug in the logical place — say, the bottom of the iPad, or the side even — is a mystery that will undoubtedly haunt our every waking moment.
John Gruber (Daring Fireball): But the top of the iPad *is* the side half the time. It’s meant to be held horizontally just as often as vertically. Perhaps the headphone jack placement isn’t optimal for listening to music in the background, but it seems pretty good for watching video. And putting it on the bottom means you wouldn’t be able to use headphones while it was docked. If you really want your headphones plugged into the “bottom”, just turn your iPad all the way around so that the home button is at the top.
Apr 7th
“It further explains why one’s inability to hack an iPad means precisely nothing....”
– John Clark (via John Gruber)
Apr 7th
February 2009
1 post
11 tags
Indian/South Asian buyers beware: Canon EOS 1000D
If you are buying the Canon EOS 1000D dSLR camera in India — keep in mind that Canon doesn’t bundle the Image Stabilizer lenses in South Asia. Instead, they include a 2GB SanDisk SD card and the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II lens (the 2nd edition). Taking shots is mighty difficult if you don’t have a tripod and are photographing in low or indoor lighting without a flash. To add...
Feb 8th
January 2009
1 post
My wishlist
Giving in to rampant consumerism, I decided to compile a list of all the things I would like to buy, so that when it’s actually possible to buy them I don’t have to do all the same research again. They are not in any order of priority. Music/audio equipment Fender Stratocaster - Standard — €515 — Mahogany fingerboard, 3 single-coil pickups, candy red finish. Rest of...
Jan 23rd
December 2008
5 posts
4 tags
TheSixtyOne site redesign →
They redesigned their perfectly fine website and now I cannot access sub-genres. Whoever came up with this brilliant idea? Anyone know how to access sub-genre lists (like electronic > drum n bass, instead of just electronic).
Dec 13th
5 tags
15th century erotic literature
A friend of mine (an English major) sent me this on the eve of his examination. I thought I’d share. It’s really nice in my opinion, though often times funny. Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear, That th’eyes of busy fools may be stopped there. Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime Tells me from you that now it is bed time. Off with that happy busk,...
Dec 9th
4 tags
Dec 9th
3 tags
I guess you'll do →
Kind of accurate yet satirical representation of the modern mundane relationship. While the overall idea is kind of correct, the author misses two important points: Not everyone has no aspirations or big dreams in life There are lots of little stupid moments in a relationship, the collective experience of which makes up for the overall dullness Great read, however. There is a narrative...
Dec 4th
4 tags
Switched over to Tumblr
Tumblr seems to have easier and cleaner support for semi-hosting your blog on your own domain/website. So I decided to ditch blogger in favor of Tumblr. Hopefully this turns out to be as good as people claim! The address of my blog (as hosted on my own website) is: http://blog.mercurysquad.com In the next hour or so, my older blog posts from blogger.com should be imported into my Tumblr blog.
Dec 4th