Swype – Revolutionize The Way You Type
Posted by veetrag in Technology on July 1, 2010
Swype is the virtual keyboard device that replaces the original keyboard that comes along with various mobile devices. I have been hearing about Swype from Gina Trapani for long time but always thought, how great can one keyboard be over the existing one. I had to try for myself and in just 2 tries I fell in love with this brilliant piece of software.
Typing on mobile devices has never been my strong point, I would always spend a lot of time figuring out where the keys are and a simple text message reply will take up to 4 minutes. T9 was a great help and I still consider it better then most of the physical qwerty keyboards that come along with mobile devices. iPhones soft keyboard was improvement over all and Android’s keyboard was better but Swype takes the experience to a new level.
Swype is developed by the same person who developed T9. In Swype you do not lift your fingers to type but move them in a pattern such that it joins all the letters of intended word you wanted to type. Swype recognizes the pattern and types in that word for you. One does not have to necessarily spend extra time on the character he wants to input, just swiping over it does the trick.
By eliminating the time spent on lifting the finger and putting it back, a greater amount of efficiency is achieved. Tracking of the path need not be accurate, Swype uses its extensive database of words to give you a closest match and its substitutes. It has increased my typing speed by more then twice and it promises to take the typing speed up to 40 words per minute. Just try this once and you will fall in love with the new way to type.
This also demonstrates the importance of open platform. Swype started developing for Windows phone first and now has included Android phones to its portfolio. By replacing the normal keyboard, my productivity on N1 has improved drastically. I believe, these kind of revolutionary products will push the Android platform ahead of iOs platform.
Nexus One Review
Posted by veetrag in Technology on June 21, 2010
I have been using Nexus One for over a month now and it seems right time to do a
review. I did not want to review it soon, because as a smart phone it has too many functionalities and all those have to be tested thoroughly before giving a verdict. My main purpose was to fill the void between my McBook pro and mobile browser (iPod touch) during business travel. I planned to use this as replacement for a netbook and it seems N1 fits perfectly into it.
To start with hardware, the most striking feature of N1 is its beautiful screen. N1’s AMOLED touchscreen emits such beautiful colors that its a pleasure to watch videos and photographs. Unlike the iPhone screen, it gives much better contrast and blacks come out really well. One would expect phone to be heavy with a 3.7 inch screen but surprisingly HTC did a wonderful job. If one is transitioning from other smart phone they will feel the difference on how lighter phone this is. First thing that I noticed as soon as started my phone for first time was the snappiness, the reaction time between the action and command. It was brilliant and that is the result of 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor, which combined with 512 MB RAM makes phone very responsive.
At the end of screen we have four soft touch buttons, which come very handy for menu access, going back, reaching home screen and most importantly search functionality. These four buttons are tremendous leap for a multitouch screen phone. One might consider they are not needed when everything can be achieved with multitouch, but to experience the impact one has to use N1 and they will feel the difference. I believe Google took this idea from Palm Pre, but this is a brilliant addition to N1. Then at the bottom we have a trackball, which I do not use frequently. I wonder why would we need a trackball for such a device, might be some functionality but I don’t get it. The only use I have for trackball is its notification light.
Moving on to the Android OS, this is where Google shows its true strength. This phone is not as intuitive to use as iPhone, but by taking that away Google has provided such a wide set of functionality that every day one discovers new features. This OS is power packed with tweaks, shortcuts, and multiple ways of doing things that it takes few days to get used to the phone. But once a person is used to phone, its features look much more powerful then what iPhone provides. Android brings multitasking along with it and that adds a lot of complexity to the system, but Google overcame that with a brilliantly designed notification system. The way notification system is designed, my first reaction to it was, why don’t Microsoft and Apple make operating systems like that. Why have windows and all the complexity when things can be done in a much simpler way.
The phone comes up with a set of preloaded applications from Google, most notable are Voice Search, Google Goggles, Navigation, Amazon MP3 Store, Voice dialer, New and weather app and a browser. All of these apps are very well developed and I tested them in various scenarios and found them to be very useful. Navigation system is brilliantly designed and when first times one see Google maps changing to street view when we reach destination is amazing. Google has used its web services very well and combined a of them together to provide N1 users a perfect experience. Browsing apps also have been made very smooth and aesthetic by a roll down approach, rather then a card based approach as seen in most smartphones. Another good part about the N1 is, integration with Google services. One just has to provide his gmail id and everything is setup for him. Picasa albums are directly synced, Gtalk configured, contacts synced and phone is ready to go. Syncing contact has been revolutionized in N1 – Google takes contacts from Gmail, Twitter, Facebook and phone book and collates them together to provide all the information about the person. So lets say if I want to call X and I open the contact, I will not only get details about his phone number, email address but also his latest tweet, photograph etc. This just makes life so easy and one does not have to waste anytime for fixing contacts, removing duplicates etc.
Moving on to less used features. I rarely use the camera that comes with N1, its a very good 5 Megapixel camera but I have a bias. I do not like any other camera then a DSLR, I just want to have much more control over my settings. Browser – I do not know what browser it is, but I have not used it much. All the services/information I need are provided by apps from market place and direct search. One more complain I have from N1 is low ringtone. That is caused by the placement of the speaker on back side, if the phone is in cover, its very hard to hear the ringtone. One has to replace in built ringtones with a louder one.
Battery life, which is the main issue with all the smartphones is an issue with N1 too. But one can improve the battery life of phone easily. N1 provides a task manager where one can see how much battery an app is consuming and with that information one can kill the applications which are battery exhaustive. By following simple things, I have increased battery life from 1 day to almost 2 days.
Overall, I would give it very high rating. Its a smartphone with very progressive approach and frequent OS updates helps improve its performance. An open market place gives N1 tremendous strength. I get most of my updates/hacks about N1 from few people I listen to regularly. For hacks and increasing productivity on N1 I follow Gina Trapani and Leo Laporte, they give so many tips on This Week in Google that every times I listen to show I end up improving my phone. For applications I rely on Jolie O’Dell and her updates on Mashable.
Photoshop CS5 – Panorama with Content Aware Fill
Posted by veetrag in Photography, Technology on May 5, 2010
I have been hearing about how good Photoshop CS5’s Content Aware Fill is, so I tried to give it a chance. I took 7 different shots at Round Bald on NC/Tennessee border during spring break, using those I created a panorama. I used Photomerge in CS5 to stitch all the images, so it did not took me much effort. Here is the outcome –
![9138628_22745f9fee[1]](http://veetrag.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/9138628_22745f9fee1.jpg "9138628_22745f9fee[1]")
As you can see, lack of tripod will always result in these unfilled spots in a panorama. Usually when I have situations like these, I get the best possible crop of it and utilize it. This time I tried to use Content Aware Fill. The result is shown below. You will notice it has filled almost all the spots. The procedure I followed was to use lasso took to select dark areas and delete that portion. When deleting I get an option to use Content Aware Fill and I said Ok. This did not happen in one go, when I selected a large area, I got the error message that my computer does not have enough memory (RAM), even though I have 3GB RAM on my system. I used bits and pieces to fill the image and took me less than 10 minutes. I deleted 7 different selection to get this result.
![9138634_4857cbb1c1[1]](http://veetrag.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/9138634_4857cbb1c11.jpg "9138634_4857cbb1c1[1]")
As you can notice, there are some improper edges and some fills are not smooth. But these can be smoothened easily by putting some more effort.
I do not like to use Photoshop for my images, not because its not good tool but I like to use my photography skills more then to use photograph as my canvas. This certainly is a step too far into that direction and I do not like it. I agree their are times when we need to have good image, but personally, I like to show what real world looks like. Good bye Content Aware Fill.
Daemon & Freedom – Excellent Set of Techno-thrillers
This weekend I finished two books from Daniel Suarez – Daemon and it’s sequel Freedom. These are the first novels written by Daniel Suarez but at the same time best techno-thriller I have read. It was a 27+ hour listen (= read) from Audible but not for a single minute one looses interest in story. Page after page it was an exciting thriller that maintain the grip.
This is story about a computer daemon that is triggered after death of a genius game designer, Mathew Sobol. This book is the journey of the daemon; people who are trying to fight it and how our perception changes when new facts come in light. Sobel tries to take over the world by utilizing the game engine he has developed and which has matured over years. The book is fairly technical in terms of how things take place but author does an excellent job simplifying things. Sometimes there are complex things like API, Encryption algorithms, Buffer overflow, Dictionary hack etc but the book never goes beyond a level where common person cannot understand, but at the same time it uses all of the technologies perfectly.
These books not only cover technology but blends in the current scenarios, world politics, and financial situation very well. Daemon is trying to resolve the entire crisis and on other end there is a set of people who are trying to save themselves from this deamon. The best part about book is Daniel Suarez makes everything believable. He is always using commercially available technologies in a creative way, which makes us think that its not far when we see some of the things he is talking about in book.
As one of the reviewers wrote, these books are Dan Brown’s books done right and I fully agree with that viewpoint. I would rate it 5/5 and highly recommend to all fiction (not only sci-fi) readers.
As always Hollywood has jumped over this story and planning to make a movie, I am glad Walter Parkes of Wargames fame is involved in the project.
An Update
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
– Douglas Adams
It’s been twenty months since I landed in US and just over a month left before I leave. Planning to come here has been going on for much longer, the main goal was to understand the American perspective of business, to experience the land of opportunities and figure out what makes this place most innovative in the world. MBA here was part of the plan, but not the only thing in mind, interacting with people and learning as much as possible was primary aim. I am not disappointed that I could not get a major in entrepreneurship, but I compensated for it by taking three concentrations.
I think the goal is achieved, learning is a continuous process but at one point one has to decide that its time to implement and learn from experience. That time has come, my two long term goals – to start my own company and to locate very close to home, seem to be close to realization. Next month after graduation, I am heading to Ahmedabad to start a ‘Knowledge Solutions’ venture with two of my friends. This venture brings both fields that I love – Computer Science and Learning, together. We plan to build simulators for learning and teach different aspects of businesses to various sets of managers.
Business plan is made, ideas brainstormed and we are ready for the challenges. Lets see where it goes from here!
A Day in New York City
Since I came to US one dream was to visit NYC. For people outside United State NYC is the reflection of US. The first image that comes to mind when someone mentions is Statue of Liberty or those high risers from where Spider Man keeps jumping around. Finally this dream came true last Saturday. When my friend asked what all places you want to see and the only thing I came up with were Statue of Liberty and Times Square. If I had time I had a list of places to visit but time has been the constraint for some time now.
If anyone asks me what is the best way to see the city I always say, use public transport. 
We started from Bedford in the train bound to Grand Central Station, the journey takes around 90 minutes. On the way, I was told how NYC is structured in Streets and Avenues and the best ways to navigate the city. Grand Central Station suits the name grand perfectly. It is a lovely train station spanning multiple levels. This station looks very impressive from outside and inside, even though with all modern facilities it has maintained its historical touch.
From there we took the subway to go to Wall Street. We were in search for the Wall Street Bull, but could not see in directly. In our search we saw other landmarks such as Trinity Church, New York Stock Exchange, and many famous buildings that we keep hearing about. One surprise was the presence of hawkers on the street, I have not seen them any where else in US. Finally we found the bull, took some pictures and took a cab.
Cab was to the 83 Pier, where we were supposed to go take a city cruise. Inside the cab 
was a typical scene portrayed by television. Only difference was presence of a television that play local news and one could browse maps on it. On the way we passed Ground Zero. I was told, that the memorial has been shifted into a building nearby and at that location construction for One World Trade Center was in progress. We could see that first 2o floors were completed and work was in full flow.
We then took a 3 hour boat tour of New York from Circle Line Sightseeing. This was an 
excellent choice, not just because we could cover a lot of landmarks in three hours but because of tour guide. The guide on boat has excellent knowledge of the city, he went on to explain everything we saw in depth. And NYC is a place where we see a lot of things. He has knowledge of all the buildings that we saw, he could tell which famous celebrity lives where, what is the rent in specific area, which celebrity went to which school, what is significance of a particular building, when/why were they constructed, history and other relevant information of bridges and obviously about Statue of Liberty.
It was a very cold windy day, so we were shifting between inside of the boat and deck 
based on importance of landmark. It was great to see the most recognized landmark of US, Statue of Liberty. I was a bit surprised that it does not look as big as it looks in photographs. Passing under the bridges was another good view, we could see the underside of bridges and listen to the historic significance. NYC has both elevator bridges and swing bridges. There was a place where one bridge has to change its position to let us go.
By the time this tour was over, it was evening, so best idea was to go directly to Times Square. We followed the crowd and walked to Time Square. We had dinner at a Mexican Place and were surprised to find out calorie count of the food. NY states has law to mark all the calories and the high value of calories came as surprise to us. I believe the law succeeded in what it was meant for.
We were at broadway at this point. We could see the number of shows going on (which 
are always the same) and building of New York Times. Moving ahead we went to Hard Rock Cafe, the main one where the chain started. It has a lot of original equipments from Beatles and other famous bands. Times Square is the biggest advertisement area I have seen in my life. Of course there were shops of higher grade but the amount of light/neon on billboards was breathtaking. No amount of photographs or videos can capture what one sees in real. Other stores we visited were Toys R Us, M&M and few more. It was astounding to see the amount of effort and money put into those places. Everything was bigger and better then the normal shops we see all around world. Even McDonalds was so shiny, bright and filled with neon that it was hard to believe that it is owned by same chain.
It was pretty late by this time but how could one come to NY and not see Empire State 
building. We walked to Empire State Building, one architecture marvel from the 20s that was highest standing free structure for almost 40 years. We then walked on to Park Avenue, we could see the Chrysler Building, which New Yorkers take pride in. It looks wonderful at night, the radiator grill styling on top looks beautiful in lights. We reached back Grand Central Station, it looked completely different at night. Lights have added to the beauty. It was time to take the train back, we were tired but a day well spent.
Thank you friend for showing me such beautiful city! One thing that has been common in my visits all across east coast is the cold weather, wherever I go, whenever I go, it does not leave me alone. I wish next time wherever I go, I will find a better climate.
Lessons Learned in Sports Photography
Posted by veetrag in Photography on March 5, 2010
I have been shooting sports for Collegiate Times for over a year. I started with very little 
knowledge of photography and no experience in shooting sports. I have learned a lot from my fellow photographers and still there is a lot to learn. Here are some tips that fellow photographers have shared with me and I am jotting them down.
- This tip does not basically belong to photography but how to behave on field. Players should always get the preference no matter. There are always limits where a photographer can go in field, but in those limits also photographer should try to sync in background. He should be almost like invisible, so in any condition he is not disturbing any players or blocking any viewers.
- In a sport where ball is involved, always get ball in the picture. Ball in the picture always gives your viewers what is going on in the picture. I was taught this skill while shooting tennis. Taking ball out of photographs can confuse viewers what’s the player doing.
- Study the players. After shooting a particular sports for a team we know what kind of moves/shots/dunks a player has. If we are able to predict players next move in the game we can be at exact place to capture that moment. Its true that it will take many hundred bad shots but one good shot is enough to make you happy.
- Know the sport well, especially the rules of the game. It may seem trivial but sometimes when we are trying to figure out what’s going on in the game and we miss the chance. Rules also help us decide which is the perfect position to take for photographs e.g. one should know where the referee would be most of the time so they don’t block the shot.
- Study the fellow photographers and their photographs. I think this is the most important step in learning. You know the photographers that usually shoot with you and the spot they choose to take photos. When analyzing their photographs we can find out why they chose that place, what kind of shot they were looking for etc. We should also search for images from that sports and try to figure out what composes a great shot. I believe, learning from others experience is the best way.
- Its not just the action that is important, we should be able to capture the reaction as well. Since we get only one photo to tell the story of the game, we need to know exactly what is going on in the game and capture that moment. Sometimes the frustration, joy, excitement, eagerness, anger, intensity, and concentration of the player make an excellent shot. Fans, cheerleaders, half time activities and mascots are very good subjects too.
I learned a lot in last two years from SPPS photographers and seeing others shoot at Cassell. It has been a joy shooting Hokies at Basketball and Volleyball, I am definitely going to miss it.
PS: These are just few basic tips I learned, I believe I have a lot of learn. I would try to update this blog regularly based on comments/tips I receive.
Ouroboros
Posted by veetrag in Photography, sports on February 26, 2010
Today I shot my last Basketball game for Collegiate Times. One interesting thing that happened today reminded me of the first Basketball game I shot. I am attaching both the photographs as part of story.
![8946881_53e9c4f2db[1]](http://veetrag.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/8946881_53e9c4f2db1.jpg "8946881_53e9c4f2db[1]")
First shot is from my first game (14th Dec 2008) and second is from today’s game. Both times I was sitting at exact same location when this happened, player lost control of ball and it came toward me. Being a rookie that time, I could not move and I was hit by ball and the player. This time I was fast enough to move and get out of the way. Not only did I achieve it, I was able to capture a much better photograph too. I surely learned a lot in last two years about photography, thanks to all the photographers around me. That blog would be some other day, but I just find this “coincident” humorous.
Bow to The Master
Today was the day that will go down in golden world in Cricketing history. The mythical ![3109890657_58d06b2217_m[1]](http://veetrag.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3109890657_58d06b2217_m1.jpg "3109890657_58d06b2217_m[1]")
200 run mark in ODI was broken and it was by none other than India’s proudest possession, Sachin Tendulkar. For last 20 years he has given India a consistent performance that is unparallel to any other effort. He has many names – God, Master Blaster, Little Master, Tendya, One man army etc. He has many names and I won’t get into detail which one I like, but what he means to country. He is HOPE, he is the one who can swing the game in India’s favor. Till he is on crease no Indian ever loses hope, opposition fears him more than anything and bowlers have nightmares before and after the game. He has played many great innings – ranging from his ‘Desert Storm’ inning in Sharjah to ‘cut shot’ in 2003 world cup which sent Pakistan back home.
He not only survives the tremendous pressure put by opposition but also the enormous amount of expectations from more than a billion people. When he walks onto the filed every fans wants a century from him and nothing less. To meet those levels of expectations constantly for twenty years is phenomenal.
He has literally almost all the batting records to his name, but the one he created today has eluded him few times. Why is this great (if not greatest) inning? why does it carry more weight than anything when it is just six run ahead of previous record? What makes this the one to remember for life? Here are my reasons:
‘Carry the bat’ is not an easy thing to achieve. It takes immense concentration, stamina, patience and requires perfection of the incomparable level. It takes just one mistake – a slight miscalculation, loss of concentration or something minute and you are sent back to pavilion. To perform such task in changing conditions and distractions all around is huge task. In not only requires patience but also controlling the emotions. One cannot achieve such perfection without hard work, dedication or letting success get into head. Even one survives those five grueling hours on pitch, it takes enormous effort to scores runs consistently at such high rate. One is not just concentrating on batting but also running, keep the score ticking and attacking the opposition mentally. To achieve such a feat at age of 37 in itself is amazing. He not only has stamina to survive, which he has developed over years of rigorous training and immense discipline, but also cunningness to adapt to situation. The way he switched from hitting shots to using bowler’s pace was marvelous. To end this argument, I would say, he does not have the body structure of modern day players who believe in power hitting. Sachin Tendulkar is not six foot tall with broad shoulders to attack all the balls, he is a class act – a mix of brilliance, elegance and ability to innovate shots. All these things make this one of the greatest innings of Cricket.
What now? Sachin Tendulkar has one more dream, to win the World Cup for India. We know he is going to do his best and he will have more than a billion fans to support from him. If he continues this form, I have no qualms in proclaiming that India will not fail to win the World Cup. What could be a better gift than winning the World Cup on home turf. We all LOVE you Sachin! You are Cricket to me and I don’t want to imagine…
Know Your Food
Today I watched Food, Inc. and that triggered this post. Coming from India I see food in a different perspective, a nation where poverty is the main problem and almost half of ![food-inc[1]](http://veetrag.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/foodinc1.jpg "food-inc[1]")
the population struggles to get both meals a day. A country which has the highest malnutrition (215+ million people) in world, food to all seems to be the biggest challenge. Then we have another set of problems related to food – adulteration and excessive usage of chemicals in farming.
When I came to US, the first thing I noticed was the prosperity and then in few days I was introduced to Wal Mart. This gave me an impression that at least this country doesn’t have problems in this area. Then I met few friends who introduced me to different set of issues that most people are unaware of. They gave me a comprehensive idea of how most of the food is prepared. At first I did not see it as problem, I thought of it as efficient use of technology. When they explained all the aspects I was surprised to find out about cruelty to animals and other ways in which food was prepared. This was not end of story, this form of preparation promoted unhealthy eating practices. Then the question was why still people don’t change? Answer was simple – lack of awareness and low cost. And here it comes back to similar problem as India- to prepare food at lower costs. In India the problem magnifies as enforcement of food related laws is not proper.
This movie provides the same insight in terms of how technology advancement has solved some temporary issues but can lead to tragic issues later. It talks about how chicken and cow are bred, kind of environment they live in, how they are used in assembly line, how genetic engineering has changed the life cycle of animals and how animals are grown specific to human taste. They further extend this approach to corn, soybean and other agriculture products and its impact on humans. Basic idea of the movie is to show how food is engineered to human needs with maximum efficiency and at lowest cost. Movie also talks about law reform needed to improve conditions and what we can do to help not only ourselves but environment as well. It’s a terrifying expose of food industry but sends a deeper message – how our habits as a consumers have degraded the way we live and that message is more important to me.
This movie is an eye opener for normal people like us who have no idea what goes behind the food counter. This should also be a lesson to developing countries on how to tackle food problems. More than 50% of world population has food related issues, we need to come up with better ways to resolve the problem rather than taking the same approach. I do not know what that approach will be but I like what one of the message from the movie – “Eat at home instead of eating out.” and “Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS.” I would recommend this movie to everyone, because awareness is the first step and always helps.
On the same topic I have another recommendation, in the form of book this time – Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health.
Update: I received many queries about me being still vegetarian and if yes, how does it impact me? I am still a vegetarian. It impacts me because I look this from perspective of consumer. How our behavior as consumer has changed over years and how that drives the corporations to change their policies. My perspective was to increase awareness among all, to understand what corporate social responsibility is and how organizations we deal with fare in it.