TED Talks

Today I want to write about TED Podcast. Though I listen to the TED talk on my IPod, there are other avenues by which you can follow the TED talks. I will list the YouTube channel to which you can subscribe for regular updates .TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives. I am thoroughly impressed with the Content. In fact, these days, I wake up to a TED talk every morning. This helps me to feel that we have so much to learn from the people who have changed our world and our perception by their unique and Invaluable experience. I urge readers to try it once and I am sure you will tend to listen to them regularly.


TED on Different sources
TED Talks Rss Feed
TED on YouTube
TED Blog
TED on Twitter

As Usual click on the first image to subscribe to the itunes video podcast and the second image to subscribe to the itunes audio podcast
You need itunes installed to follow these links

Of Work And Workmanship

" There is certainly an affinity between a person and his work.But it is not easy to define what that affinity is , and on that question many judge quite wrongly"

-Vincent Van Gogh(30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890)

He is one of my favourite artists I have always loved his works...
For more info on him click his name

Chess Clock

This is a very handy tool that I use some times to play chess with friends, its simple and easy to use.

All of the features you would expect In a world-class chess clock without the need for a large and expensive dedicated timer.

Chess clock includes support for Fischer accumulative delay or Bronstein delay.
Dual independently settable timers allow for handicapping games.Elegant interface designed to prevent accidental interruption of the timer Displays time remaining, delay and the number of moves for each player.

When the Timer runs out, clock is shown in blinking red.
Ups
• Dual independent timers are useful for handicapping one of the players. You can edit the clocks in between a game also and add time to the player who ran out of time
• Fischer accumulative delay or Bronstein delay , makes it any standard chess clock u might buy for 1500 or so rupees.
• Move Tracking is also useful
• Its cheap about Rs. 120 if you want to buy it at app store .I downloaded a cracked version ipa .so its free for me
Downs
• The Touch sensation will not be there like real chess clocks , some of us like the feel of knocking the button to start your opponent's timer.

My Verdict : Rating is 4 of 5
PS: I use an Application called Evernote to take the snapshots of the screens of my Ipod.One of my friend was asking if all these images are from my Ipod.The answer is yes and Ever note is the enabler.

Bangalore Sunfeast 10k Run

As an amateur Photoshop enthusiast , I do some poster for event @HP . The recent activity that needed a poster is the Bangalore Sunfeast 10k Run.HP is representing Enable India as a charity of choice via the Corporate care segment. Many other volunteers are participating in the event as part of the 'I care' segment too. I created 3 posters as part of the event promotion.
I am putting up all 3 here .
The poster boy for the first poster is my friend from SAP Labs , Priyank Bhandari, an avid runner.

xCube

The first game application that I wanted to review for Ipod touch is xCube .

This is the software version of Rubik's Cubes.There were two released , the earlier one had the following cubes




But the Newer version has all cubes except the 3x3x3 as it was copyrighted by others

It has two modes namely timed and non timed modes

As for the games there are three types

- Get all the outside faces to be the same color (classic).
- Get all the outside cubes to be the same orientation.
- Get all the outside and inside cubes to be the same orientation.

There are three sticker types
Namely
1) Standard

2) Outline

3) Vintage

The High scores and Setting panel is shown below

My Verdict
since i pod touch does not have haptic feedback mechanism, you don't feel the rotate and flips in this game.But its a good game and the controls are simply superb.I have played several cube emulations in PC, but they don't feel anything like touching and flipping things in 3D.The newer version not having the 3x3x3 cube is indeed a deal killer. .The restriction of cube size to max of 6x6x6 is also very odd ,In real life we have up to 7x7x7 (the 6x6x6 and 7x7x7 are available only in v-cube).Since I am a cube fan I would rate it 4 stars out of 5.

Apps and Games on my Ipod

By now I have jail broken the IPod touch and started installing the IPA files. I just wanted to catalog some of the things on my iPod touch. This is how my IPod looks these are the screen shots of my screens



in my future posts I will review some of the applications that i have used and would get into the details of them one at a time.

Now let me introduce ' The Professor'

Final cube in my collection, the very interesting Professor cube ….i.e. the 5X5X5 cube. This one also I got from US for about 27 $.I was not able to keep this one down the moment I picked it up from my friend Suthen who brought it along when he came back from US. This was an irresistible cube for someone who was enamored by Rubik’s 3x3x3 and enticed by Rubik’s Revenge; this was one more step in the pleasure of solving puzzles. It also has the same center problem as in a Rubik’s Revenge. You need to fix the centers first and then work on edges…the edges in itself are more tricky especially the last two edges .once you are through with the edges you can solve the cube like a 3x3x3 . The last and trickiest part of the solve is parity as usual, this took some time to analyze and understand the combination and their possible solutions. It felt heavenly when I solved it for a first time. I still remember the day I was carrying it around in the office pantry and cafeteria. I was trying to solve it on every available minute I had on that day. But now it’s a show piece in my room. The reason is simple. It takes some time to solve so the amount of time commitment is longer. You dare not try speed cubing this cube as its delicate .I don’t want to break it during my solves. So I am keeping it safe... ;)( guys who know me, how I am a walking disaster and a natural regression tester …., should be chuckling by now ...).Until next post on Cubism

'R' for Revenge

My Next Cube in the Collection is Rubik’s 4X4X4 or more appropriately called as Rubik’s Revenge. This one I got from US for$26.It was a very interesting to solve as it does not have a fixed center like the Rubik’s Cube. So the First step is to fix and solve centers in the correct places. The Corner Pieces will help is doing this .Next step is to solve the edges. This one took little time to figure out. After this it would become an scrambled 3x3X3 cube. Now solve it like a 3x3x3 cube and voila you have solved ….wait…wish that was so easy .It is called a Rubik’s revenge for a reason. That reason is the parity problem .Though you are almost at the final solve...One or two edges are in the wrong place .This one took some time to solve and understand various possibilities and how it can be handled when faced with them. Personally I was not looking at speed cubing this cube, as it was not exactly so workable as a 3X3X3 cube .I tried solving fast and the average is not good, about 2 minutes and 30 seconds .Like all Machines the Cubes need lubrication to reduce wear and tear and also increase speed of handling .I will post details on how to lube a cube in my upcoming posts.