Akshay Shah

A recent visit by a salesman to my home reminded me of my school days. He was selling Encyclopedia. Some lightyears ago, it was so cool to have an Encarta CD. You could use it as a reference for project or homework or just for learning fun facts. Internet and Wikipedia have completely changed the game.  Almost any information that you will ever require is freely available online. Microsoft has realised that (a bit late though) and have discontinued Encarta. If nothing the entire episode just made me nostalgic about my glorious school days.

Yesterday, I finished reading this book A Whole New Mind. And I loved it. I wanted to thank the author Daniel Pink for sharing all the wonderful experiences and references. I looked on twitter and voilà he’s there. I appreciated his book in 140 characters and he was humble enough to reply back. It’s amazing the way twitter has empowered us. I can only imagine what will happen with Google Wave.

A while ago, I had bumped into the reviews of two books - 2666 (featured in NYT Top 10 books for 2008) and A Whole New Mind and decided to buy them. These books were not available in local bookstores and so the search began to find them online (nothing beats Amazon but it costs a bomb for shipping the books to India :( ). After some Googling, I got good deals on 2666 and A Whole New Mind on Landmark and Flipkart respectively.Here is how they fared:Comparison ChartFlipkartLandmarkReasonPackagingExcellentGoodF: Books plastic wrapped and enclosed in cardboard boxL: Only cardboard box was used which led to the book’s cover being damagedShipping ratesFreePaid-Customer SupportGoodExcellentL: Immediately replaced the damaged book (scratched book cover), got the old book collected and super follow-up over phone & emailF: The book was out of stock. No initial email regarding this was sent. Although, on further inquiry they were quick to send a follow-up emailHope this helps all the Indian bibliophiles out there.Disclaimer: The above comparison chart is based on my personal experience and your experience may differ.

I had already got my hands dirty with iPhone development (thanks to Evan/Alan, more about them in my earlier post) but I thought it was time to really dig in. So, I bought an iPhone development license.  Unfortunately, Apple store is not available in India yet but they had this mechanism in place where in I could fax them the details (surprisingly, no e-mail).Yes, the good old fax - it must have been at least 10 years since I last used the fax for any purpose whatsoever. It took four days for them to process it and then I got a confirmation with the invoice. The moment I got the mail, I jumped onto the site and downloaded the iPhone 3.0 Beta 5 firmware. I am still exploring the 3.0 and will post more details soon. If you need to register, check out the Apple iPhone developer program here.

For those of you who do not already know, Stanford has made available videos of lectures of their iPhone Application Programming course CS193P on iTunes U. It is an excellent resource if you are thinking of starting with iPhone development. The problem was that I was not able to download the podcasts as it did not have a resume feature. My ISP is not very reliable and has intermittent disconnections. So, every time there is a disconnection the download would start again from the beginning.I contacted Stanford and Brent from Stanford suggested that I use some other podcast aggregator (apart from iTunes). I used Juice to download podcasts and it worked like charm. Thanks Brent for your valuable input. As for the podcasts, Alan and Evan are doing a terrific job. Keep up the good work!!!

The Macbook’s 13" glossy screen is awesome but there are times when one wishes that the screen was bigger especially when watching movies. So, I decided to do a little bit of poking around to find out about connecting the Macbook to my 32" Sony Bravia HDTV. Here’s how I did it:Step 1: Knowing the essentials Find out the display adapter that you will need for your Macbook. Check if your HDTV supports HDMI connectivity. Refer user manual or physically examine the back of your TV and look for  HDMI input.Step 2: Getting the stuff I would recommend buying the Macbook Mini-DVI to DVI display adapter from Apple Store ($19). Get a DVI (Male) to HDMI (Male) cable for hooking up the output of Macbook to your TV ($7). Buy a Stereo to 2 RCA cable (as HDMI cable produces only video output). In case you don’t buy the RCA cable, you will hear audio from your Macbook instead of your HDTV ($1.6) I got the stuff from Lamington road but its also available on eBay. Check out the links above for product listing.Step 3: Putting it all together Connect your Mini-DVI to DVI adapter to your Mini-DVI port on Macbook. Insert the DVI end of the DVI to HDMI cable into the DVI output of the display adapter. Connect the HDMI end of the cable into the HDMI input of your HDTV. Hook up the Stereo input of the cable in the headphone jack of Macbook and the 2 RCA outputs to the audio inputs present under HDMI video input (on Sony Bravia). Set your Display preferences under Settings to Mirror displays. You can also configure your HDTV’s resolution under the same preference pane.Note: I am using an early 2008 White Macbook and it has a Mini-DVI port. The tutorial considers this case. If you are using the Late 2008 Macbook models, it has the newer Mini-Display port. For more information check out the KB articles HT1562 & HT3388.Bigger is better! Definitely!

Apparently Microsoft has one more feather up its cap, it now can proudly claim that it not only sucks at Vista (as mentioned previously) but also at marketing. The new Get a Mac ad’s completely knock out the silly Laptop Hunters ad’s by Microsoft. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself.Check out the Mac & MS ad’s on Youtube:  Biohazard, Legal Copy, Stacks & Time Traveler (Get a Mac) and  Ad 1 & Ad 2 (MS Laptop Hunters).

I had recently attended a live concert (a mind blowing one at that) and started to tag the songs using the super music application Shazam. Unfortunately, I used my iPhone 3G so extensively that it ran out of battery. I decided to look for a backup battery which would help in such emergency situations and picked up ‘Mobile Power Station’. It is also available in India on eBay (although I did not buy it from eBay).[caption id=“attachment_215” align=“aligncenter” width=“150” caption=“MPS Package”][/caption]Here are the Technical Specifications of MPS (for folks interested in them): Battery type: Lithium-ion Dimension: 625212 Weight: 40 g Capacity: 1000 mAh Input: 5V 800mA Output: 5V 500mBackup battery helps you in 2 situations:1. Extended usage: You want to use your iPhone for a extended period (instead of the 5.5 hours).2. Emergency usage: You just forgot to charge your iPhone and have to go out, no electricity at home or battery is just about to die kind of situations.Note for iPhone Gamers: Playing games (in landscape mode) when charging would become difficult as the on-screen game controls would be out of reach of your fingers due to increase in height of the device after inserting the MPS in the connector slot.I bought a black MPS to match my iPhone 3G’s colour. It looks nice and is bound to attract fingerprints as it has a glossy finish. You can carry it around in your pocket as it’s light and portable. I charged the MPS completely (blue illuminated indicators show the progress) in about 2 hours time. MPS does not ship with an iPhone connector cable and you will have to use your own to charge the MPS.[caption id=“attachment_214” align=“aligncenter” width=“150” caption=“MPS in action”][/caption]iPhone uses a 1150 mAh battery and MPS has a capacity of 1000mAh, so it provides around 87% additional juice or around 4-4.5 hours of extra juice depending upon your usage. I also tried testing it by completely draining my iPhone battery (till the connect to power supply icon appears) and charged it from MPS. MPS was able to charge the iPhone to around 80-85% of the battery bar.MPS is currently retailing for INR 1250 on eBay and is definitely good value for money. Since iPhone can do innumerable things, it’s battery is bound to drain out quickly. Having additional battery is always advisable so that you do not stay away from using your favourite gadget.

“As I am writing these lines I am using a Macintosh, by Apple, after years of using Microsoft-based products. The Apple technology is vastly better, yet the inferior software won the day. How? Luck [emphasis mine]”- NNT.A year ago, I was impressed by Leopard and decided to go for a Macbook. And after a year of utopia living with the Mac, all Vistas of Windows are closed.

Here are some of the reasons so as to why the Mac platform rocks:

Design - Pardon me for mentioning it for the umpteenth time but the Macbook just looks so beautiful. If it was so easy then why are the other companies not able to replicate the design prowess of Apple? How much would the best Industrial designer in the world cost? Why are there so many ugly products on the market? Watch the documentary Welcome to Macintosh for more. Ease of use - Doing simple things is just as they should be - simple. For example Connecting to Wireless networks, Sharing data, setting up your own website and backing up using Time Machine is a snap. Immune to

Viruses (almost) - No annoying viruses and other malware lurking around in your system. If proper caution is observed, there is even no need of installing an anti-virus. Check out the relevant articles at PCMech and Wired. Quicksilver - It’s the mother of all application launchers and much more.

Difference in User Interface - Megan Fox (Mac) & Jodie Foster (Windows, no offense to her).

Stability - Mac is rock solid at the core. It crashed on me only five times in an entire year.

iLife - The complete multimedia package ships free with Mac.

Windows support (if required) - Ability to run Windows XP natively as well as virtually (a bit more secure). If I had to, I would personally prefer running Windows on VMware Fusion.

iPhone - If you are developing applications for the best mobile platform on the planet then you need a Mac.

Spotlight - Find what you seek. Immaculate. The Mac community - The Mac community in spite of being minuscule in comparison to its counterpart is extremely active and supportive. You will find every bit of information you require in Mac forums.

Vista SUCKS - Sorry but there are no two ways about it. It’s the biggest mistake of the biggest software company in the world. There is an article about it on ZDnet and results of the poll conducted by them are as below (funny):So, which do you think is the true reality? Vista really does suck (68%) It’s a perception that Vista really does suck (32%)Total Votes: 4,812I have just touched upon a few prominent features. There is an extensively researched and informative article with about 50 reasons about switching to Mac here.

Reasons under which you might consider not switching to Mac:

Avid Gamer: Unfortunately not many game titles are available for Mac platform.

Corporate environment: MS is dominant in this area and Apple as of now has not been able to penetrate into corporate markets as much as they would have liked to but this might change very soon.As for others, toss your Windows machine in the garbage and start over with a shining new Macbook (as in Californication).

If you don’t mind the minimal learning curve, make the switch. Once you switch, you will also (like me) shut the doors on Windows.

I love my Macbook. It’s been almost a year and it was time to extend my 1 year’s warranty provided with the purchase. The cheapest deal for Apple Protection Plan for Macbook is available on Amazon for USD 199. You can buy the warranty from Amazon and register online at Apple’s website. Macbook works like a charm and I have no plans of selling or discontinuing its usage. So, I  extended the warranty just in case there is some hardware issue/malfunction. Here are some of the reasons so as to why you should consider buying an extended warranty: Since you will be travelling around with your Macbook, there would be chances of it getting damaged during transit. Peace of mind for an additional 2 years as Apple’s support is ranked as the best among notebooks by Consumer reports. Apple provides Global warranty/support for all its products. Better resale price in case you want to sell your Macbook. In case of recurring repairs or damage of expensive hardware (like display), the cost of repairing may far exceed the price that you pay for the warranty.It’s always better to protect your investments rather than pay for repairing a broken product. I had 2 dead gadgets after my recent travel- camera and hard drive. Thankfully both were covered under warranty :).

Apple does it! It fixes all the overdue minor annoyances and delivers some new outstanding features in iPhone 3.0. I was following this live on Gizmodo and Engadget. Thanks guys, you were awesome. iPhone 3.0 releases this summer and it’s a free update for all iPhone users. Here are some of the features which stand out among the 100-odd announced by Apple: Cut, Copy & Paste: It got the loudest cheers and is number one on my list. Spotlight search: Search across applications. MMS A2DP Bluetooth: Feel free to use your Bluetooth Headsets. Push Notification: Apple can push badge, text or audio updates without running any processes in background. Peer-to-Peer: Connectivity among iPhones and iPod Touch for playing games, sharing contacts and so on. Turn by Turn: Enables you to get turn by turn direction on your phone. Landscape Keyboard: Bigger keyboard with more space between keys now available for use across applications. Voice Memos Third-Party Accessory Apps: Manufacturers can built an interface to link a any device to iPhone using the connector. For example, you can connect a sphygmomanometer to the iPhone connector which communicates with the app built to keep track of your blood pressure. In-App purchasing: Allows developer the freedom to charge for an additional level in a game or an additional city guide in a Travel application. More: Forward SMS Delete individual SMS Mail multiple photos Auto-fill WiFi autologin Anti-phising Enhanced Calendar Tethering: Consists of 2 parts - Client side has been implemented in 3.0. Talks on for Carrier side implementation.Update: iPhone 3.0 preview event video posted online by Apple - snipurl.com/e23r2

I started reading the book The Black Swan yesterday (thanks to a friend who got bored of the book and lent it to me) and I came across this beautiful, beautiful concept - about idea and labour jobs. The two can be classified by citing an example which involves J.K. Rowling and a baker. Surprised? So was I. As we all know, J.K. Rowling had come up with this magical fantasy adventure series of books - Harry Potter (personally, a fan). Coming back to the point, if the book sells one copy or a million copies, the effort required from the author is the same. She had to generate the idea. The idea can be replicated with the help of printing press for mass distribution of books. So, it requires a one-time effort from the author. This type of job is classified as an Idea-generating one.In contrast, the baker who prepares the cake has to work hard on each and every  cake that he is going to prepare. His effort is required on each and every cake sold by the bakery. This kind of job is a Labour job.Similarly, USA mostly exports IT labour jobs to India. The important point here is that the idea jobs are scalable - once you have an idea it can be mass distributed or replicated using technology but labour jobs are not scalable. A person would be physically required to do the job. So, this is what gives USA the creative edge as they work on the scalable and thinking parts of the project.My previous project resembled an IT labour job-project. I never felt that way for my other projects but I did not like my previous project. I always knew the reason for it but I could never explain it as impeccably to people. I could not put words to it. But now I CAN and so, here it is.  THANK YOU Taleb!

My old theme took a lot of time to come through as I had designed it from scratch but it was hampering the readability of the site. So, I was thinking of designing a new theme based on Apple’s site. Fortunately, I just bumped into this theme by Pagelines and there was no way I could resist using it. So, here it is- the new theme. Feel free to comment ;).

After about 6 months of iPhone usage, here is a list of my favourite free applications which I found very useful and productive. Feel free to share your favourite iPhone apps in comments. Fring: One IM to rule them all. Facebook: It does what it says- helps you stay easily connected with your Facebook friends. Shozu: Upload photos to over 50 sites. Twitterrific: Post tweets from the beautifully designed Twitter client. RDP Lite: Remotely connect to your Windows system (PC). Dictionaire: A Free dictionary- very useful for quick reference. Shazam: Tag songs playing in the background. It just works. Instapaper: Save web pages for offline reading. Stanza: Read e-books on the go. Snaptell: Snap a picture of cover of book, DVD, CD or video games and get info about the product. Evernote: An excellent alternative to in-built Notes with support for Text/Photo/Voice notes. Wordpress: Check out the full review here. Remote: Control iTunes and Apple TV from your iPhone. VLCRemFree: Control VLC from your iPhone. FilesLite: Store and view MS Office & other format files using this app. WhatTheFont: Snap and find the font. Doodler: MS Paint for iPhone. Flashlight: No description required. NYTimes: A native app for New York Times newspaper. Backgrounds: Get access to over 5,000 wallpapers.

Here is an easy way to link to iPhone apps: L2AppFrom the Developer (Normalkid, LLC) : “In messageboards, instant messaging, and twitter, this tool makes it easier to quickly link to an app without looking it up in iTunes.”

Dev - the administrator of the popular iPhone India Blog was courteous enough to post my story and credit me for the same on his blog. Link to the article : snipurl.com/bt7bv

First and foremost, I would like to truly appreciate the work of all the developers who have put in a lot of time, energy and effort in designing and developing the games- especially the one’s who have made it available for free applause.Here are some of the games which I truly loved and enjoyed playing on what is proving to be my (and lot of other people’s) preferred gaming platform.Free Games Trace - The best full free game on iPhone. 2079 - A shoot ‘em up space commander style game with online leaderboard to keep track of scores globally. Dactyl -  Simple and quick finger tap game. Touch Hockey: FS5 - Good replacement for Ice Hockey in the malls ;). PapiJump - Simple jump game.Paid Games Rolando - One of the best games on iPhone. I enjoyed this one as much as Mario on Sega. Hero of Sparta- 300 + God of War on iPhone. Fastlane Street Racing - Blows you away with the amazing graphics. Touch Physics - Addictive 50 levels (free update, earlier 30) for 99 cents. True value for money.Free Games (Lite Version) Adrenaline Pool Lite - A cool online multi-player pool game. Functional even with the Lite version. Ability to chat while playing is an additional bonus. Pac-Man Lite - A nice retro game but lite version is limited to only one stage. Also, the controls are not very responsive. Labyrinth Lite Edition - Looks realistic and excellent use of accelerometer.

Got a new T-shirt from Cafepress. It was shipped within the suggested time frame and I am happy with the quality of the T-shirt. The design looks cool. Check out the pic here.

Checking out the iPhone’s Wordpress App. Offers the option to locally save the draft if the Internet connection is not available. It also has a host of other customisable and useful options. Pretty nifty when you want to post something longer than 140 characters on the go. Just quit to check if it can save drafts when interrupted and it did not disappoint- wonderful. Hopefully this is the first of the many posts on my blog coming from the iPhone.

Amidst the ‘BIG’ change promised by Obama, I have made a small change myself. I have moved my old blog from Blogger to Wordpress and completely revamped the theme. There are some CSS issues with IE that need to be fixed. I recommend that you use Firefox. Please let me know your feedback/suggestions on the new ‘A’ Club theme.God Bless all the people below who have taken out time and shared their knowledge/work online for free: Alvaro Guzman’s tutorials Billy Argel’s fonts SXC’s free photo library Jenn B’s brushes Urbangiraffe’s Wordpress tutorials Official Wordpress Docs Jeffrey Way’s tutorials Psdfan’s tutorials Deke McClelland Tyler Durden