Up to Something
Update
I am now employed full time @ 3Par a US Storage company working on Python, Django in Bangalore.
I made my decision to be employed again due to the sudden change of life circumstances. $$ is now important and here I am chasing it.
However it’s not going to be long until I work here coz both HP and Dell are currently in a bidding war over 3Par. Personally as long as my work doesn’t change I am cool. Having worked in obscure companies by choice I would say I am not to be bothered by who acquires us.
The most exciting thing about my job is
a) I am no more coding in C++/Qt anymore, ( Thank god for that )
b) I will soon find myself dealing with over 25 TB of data. Distributed real time processing here I come.
Work is good all is good.
What openhackday audience hacks taught me ?
Small focused software satisfying a single need is beautiful and one need not be ashamed that it’s just one page app. If it satisfies a need it’s good.
People have insane and wicked ideas.
Thought of the day
When I was in school I was always in awe of those who topped my class, the intelligent ones. (I have studied in 15 schools across 7 cities so I know many such toppers. The closest I came to being a topper was 4th rank at Arya Vedic School – Kenya). These guys topped the class consistently. Today when I look at their linkedin profile, I realize that they aren’t doing anything game changing / making the world better / solving some of the toughest problems the world is facing. They are all working in some MNC, hell most of the guys from Indian schools are now in the IT sector even thou they did say CA/CS/MBA coz thats where the $$$ is.
Today I want to tell them
a) With marks as benchmark you guys are elite, please work on solving the toughest problems.
b) I am no more in awe of your marks.
Now I am in awe of people who are kind and intelligent at the same time and have a drive/desire to work on things that benefit many. Let me tell you there are very few such people.
Democracy Tools from c4 at Yahoo OpenHackDay
I teamed up with my ex-hostel roommates Yatin and Ankur Patel and participated at Yahoo OpenHackDay. Team name – C4. We created Democracy Tools, which ended up being one of the Ten Winners.
It is made up of four tools
a) Search the government:
We made use of Yahoo BOSS API and created a custom search engine against government websites.
b) Know your constituency
Parsed a list of constituency from pdf and csv files we got of Net and Election commission websites. So you can select the state and get the corresponding constituencies in it. Made use of Yahoo Maps and PlaceFinder API to do reverse geo encoding and get longitude and latitude of constituencies. Later used the co-ordinates to put markers on Yahoo Map.
c) Know your leader
Used YQL and parsed govcheck.net to get pictures of politicians and later parsed data from EC websites to get further data. Then used Yahoo BOSS – News API to see what the media has to say about the politicians. Yahoo BOSS Web Api to search on twitter and web.
d) Donate money to your leader
Used Paypal’s API to allow people to pay from one account to another.
Got a free N900
Filled a long Qt Survey form and got a Free N900 … A month back I brought a Nokia Xpress 5800 for my sister. That really pissed off my dad. Turns out I haven’t brought anything for him in quite a while and he was using the same phone for last 4 years. So this N900 goes to him, I don’t want him to feel that way. He’s excited and happy now and I am mildly pissed 
… All in the family I guess.
Neat
Linkedin.com allows you to integrate twitter accounts. If you do so. Their recommendation software starts picking up twitter users with whom you have had a conversation and then if they fall in 2 degrees of contact, they are showing up as “People You May Know”.
I think that’s smart.
Book Review: Mobile Design and Development
Completed reading the book last week. Here is a book review in form of bullet points
a) Good for people who don’t know a thing about mobile development,
b) Starts with giving us a piece of history on mobile application development history, fragmentation, ecosystem, operators etc,
c) Focuses on Design and context in which we run the application. Context is everything and type of context as well,
d) Describes the categories of apps and it’s implications in design,
e) Introduces on on a mental model and approach towards making mobile application, How it’s different ?,
f) Talks about sitemaps and wireframes, paper prototyping,
g) Starts talking about Mobile Development by comparing native and web apps and differences,
I stopped at chapter 10th because I wasn’t interested in reading the further chapters.
I think the book could be a little condensed in terms of text and also some case study or example of sample application should be there. Else a decent book.
Where is Mobile Application development for App Stores heading ?
I am exploring the idea of making web apps for the Ovi Store. People who have shared their sales figure for Ovi stores on blogs/forums are quite disappointed. If you stay in India you wouldn’t be reason being the Euro will multiply 55 times.
All App Stores have their own language bindings. Nokia is with C++, Apple with Objective-C, Android with Java.
One fairly recent and upcoming trend is to make application using javascript and html and deploy it across all three web stores. Ovi, App Store, Android Market place.
It goes without saying that the trend of using HTML5 + JavaScript based apps using different CSS will gain momentum in the days to come.
Now comes the question of profitability.
In the Mac world they say freemium apps have a 20:1 ratio on average. 20 guys tried you app and 1 paid. On Ovi store some say it’s 500:1, Android it’s 100:1. These number have been picked from threads on official forum. It’s fact for those developers but certainly not the average.
Frankly, phones with large touchscreen is going to be the norm and widely available. Sooner or later each phone will have a net connectivity by default. Would apps make sense despite having a browser ? For one apps are made with small screen in mind. Well then shouldn’t the future be one where in based on the browser and screen estate/size the web application will serve a interface. As in have different CSS for mobile, web browser. I understand that it’s easier said then done. However say if 50% of people browse websites use their mobile phones wouldn’t they prefer a web site which is optimized for their screen ?.
At Google I/O one mantra for Android Developer was your apps will be available on phone, PC, Google TV. Same code runs everywhere just optimize it for the screen. Read the Google TV Developer guide and most of it talk on how to optimize it large screen and dos and don’t. HTML5 and Javascript based apps will win hands down.
I think App stores are going to enjoy popularity for next 3-5 years for sure. With more apps coming on board written in HTML5/Javascript, better app search/discovery functionality, same app will be available across web stores. Another trend that will catch up is to make an app on SAAS model and then also have a mobile interface for the same and sell it on various app stores as well. That way you cast a wide net and get access to a large audience.
Python Session Content
Nothing can beat this
I updated my Linkedin profile to reflect that I left TRI and currently not employed. In the last four weeks I have received three offers to work on software where in person in question said he will not pay me, however as and when the first customer comes into picture money will be shared. While one of them thinks for reason best know to him, I would be an idiot not to work on his project coz it’s going to be big soon.
No that’s not what’s unsual. Honestly it isn’t. I know of ppl who have worked for free for my previous two companies/startups. So stuff like this happens. Most Entrepreneur genuinely believe in their Idea and their ability to execute it.
What’s unusual is that the third person in question is with a VC. Hell ya. To quote him he said “as part of being a VC we help people and I know a very smart 21 year old younger who needs a webapp done” … blah blah blah. I asked myself Is he testing me ? As in may be he’s building a team and wants to see if I have the startup frugal mindset.
I have worked for free in my life before to help others. I have realized that people don’t respect those who do things for free, yeah the very person whom you helped from a long term perspective. What’s worse is they also forget the promise they made, “if the application is successful we shall share the spoils with you”.
So I mailed the VC on linkedin where the conversation was happening. (No I wasn’t arrogant in my response). I told him “Once bitten Twice Shy — Sorry I like to pass on this opportunity”.
VC’s asking for free work seriously man. Aren’t you guys of all the people suppose to have money ? Nothing can beat this right ?