Jumping from Windows to Mac . No Windows7 for me?

Last two times at the release of the new microsoft operating system, I got the new pc with the new OS. It was great using Windows XP and to be frank i have enjoyed using Windows Vista. It never crashed on me and i always had a good peformance. My PC was pretty good at the time i bought it (time of vista release - Jan 2007)and is still very good with 4 GB of Ram, Intel Core2 Duo and 160 Gb hard disk. (i dont use much digitla media, so 160 Gb was fine for me).
Now as we are expecting Windows7 release osmetime this year, its time to buy a new PC with the new OS. However i am not sure about it this time. Mind you Windows 7 seems good. I have it installed on my test PC, though i havent done much on it.

However i am planning to jump the ship and move to Mac. I do use Mac occassionally at the uni and i find it really hard to use it, but still i want to move to Mac. Why then i want to move to Mac? Its the iPhone which has convienced me that i got to get the Mac. I got to try it fulltime as my only workstation. Only then will i know if its good for me. As i use Visual Studio for development, i will need to use VMware Fusion. So i ahve decided that my next comp is Mac.
When? - I plan to buy a Mac around summer time. I am still deciding on wihch one..
I dont know if i will ever have a Windows7 PC. Let see what happens in the next 6 months.

FogBugz based on Event Bsed Scheduling

Fog Creek is currently demo-ing their new bug/task tracking system FogBugz.

Most of the systems which we currently see (for example Jira, Bug tracker) are based on the fact that they are good at reporting, maintaining and tracking (somewhat) bugs and tasks. That's it. The role of a bug/task tracker system usually ends there. (if you been making more use of a bug tracking/task management system, drop me an email).

There is where FogBugz is different from rest of the systems. Probably the most interesting part of FogBugz is Evidence-Based Scheduling, which uses a statistical technique called bootstrapping (a variation on Monte Carlo) to determine the probability that you'll ship on any given date. In short, this is how it works. You estimate features as usual. But then, instead of adding up all the developers estimates—instead of taking them on faith—FogBugz does a Monte Carlo simulation looking at what speeds developers worked at in the past, vis-à-vis their estimates.

In Joel's words:
Using that same distribution of probabilities that we had in the past and if we run a simulation of 60 futures each of which will occur with equal probability, what we get, instead of a date, is a probability distribution curve that shows the probability that the product will ship on such-and-such a date.

Now thats what i call an awesome sfotware tool, which really stands out. Well how reliable and accurate FogBugz is, is another question.

I think i got to try it to find out!!!

Facebook Developer Garage London October 2007

Ever wondered how you could create the next mega app for Facebook. Do you know what FBML is? Well i will tell you that. It is "Facebook Markup Language".

"Get wise and monetise"....This is the title for the upcoming Facebook developer Garage event in London on 24th October 2007.

I will be there and you should be there too!!!!

Network with other developers and entrepreneurs to create the next mega hit application. Your audience is the 40 million users on the world's most exciting web platform.

Speakers will include:

* Affiliate Window - Monetising Facebook Applications Through Affiliate Marketing (David Hall)* Paypal (Anthony Hicks) - How to take payments (and subscriptions) with Paypal for your Facebook App.
* M&C Saatchi (Speaker TBC) - Online advertising in the UKIn addition there will be two application showcases from garage developers.

You can get your tickets here:
http://londongarageoct07.eventbrite.com/

Sapient to enter in Interactive media space in India

In London and NA we have been making rapid strides in the Interactive Media market for quite soem time, now its India's turn!!!

Our studios will synergise real-time work: Sandeep Dhar- Interviews-Opinion-The Economic Times

Silverlight video

Just got this off of Glenn Block's blog. Scott Hansleman posted a Silverlight video of Scott Guthrie demonstrating MVC to ALT.NET Crowd. See it here.

Artificail Intelligence - Machines taking over?

Continuing from m earlier discussion about Artifical Intelligence, i found the following from one fo the technology writers who went to the Singularity Summit

Singularity Institute Research Fellow Eliezer Yudkowsky explained over the weekend at the Singularity Summit why many believe that machines will eventually be smarter than their makers. The stunning progress in packing more computation power onto silicon chips, married with software designers’ increasing ability to take advantage of this power, virtually guarantees that machines are progressing faster than humans are. One day, machines will start building themselves, he predicted. And at that point, humans will certainly no longer be the smartest creatures in the room.

All that conference goers could agree on is that life with machines won't be the same. And even if the machines that take over from the geeks are friendly, these new masters of the universe may not serve pinot noir.

Artificial Intelligence - Where are we heading to?

Recently the Singularity Summit was held in San Francisco and it was attended by record number of people.

I had been reading quite a lot on the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence recently. The singularity institue exists to confront the new world of Artificial Intelligence, both the opportunity and the risk. I have been interested in this field since 2003, when i took a module on AI in my Computer Science degree and thus have my own views to share.

Do you think the machines can take over mankind someday? - Well currently i cant imagine something like that. However i can imagine computers taking over most of our jobs. People worry about competing for jobs with people from Mexico or from China, but what about competing with computers for jobs? People will be friends with robots who tend to understand them better than other humans!!! It will be robots who will make decisions as to when are we supposed to sleep, when are we supposed to eat and what are we supposed to like. Now that seems scary right. I think in 20 -25 years time we might also have the first Human-Robot relationship(partners/marriage). In short, robots will be good enough to replace humans for almost everything.


Robots are already to the level of rather dumb/stupid pets. Given moore's law, they will be to the level of smart pets within three to five years... That much is just simple exploitation of systems that have already been developed... This is such deep stuff, and there is so much of it that it will really take a human+ intelligence to fully use the data that we have now, much less the data that we will generate before we are able to create that human+ intelligence.

Google's gPhone

I have been hearing about Google's gPhone for over six months now but it was mostly speculation and hype by somebody on his blog or some avid google follower who thinks google is not only working on a gPhone, but also on an Operating System, a revolutionary gComputer and etc. etc.. list goes on.

However, the on again, off again offering to the mobile world by the search giant is reaching fanatical levels of hype and thanks to a recent news story by Rediff News in India, the hype is only getting worse. The story published by Rediff said that the gPhone is two weeks away from launch!!!! Now that is some serious speculation. Sources close to the development said a simultaneous launch across the US and Europe and India is expected, and announcements would be sent to media firms in India and other parts of the world in a week.

Well but all this is still simply a rumor, but a good one nevertheless. Lets wait and watch if google makes an official announcement. If they come out with a gPhone by any chance i am definitely going to get my hands on it asap, as i just love the way they make software.

Opps...aren't we talknig about hardware too over here!!!

Scientists break internet speed record

A group of researchers in the Internet2 consortium has set a new record for sending data through the Internet at more than nine gigabits per second.The team broke the old record of 7.67 Gbps, which was set last December. Using modified protocols, they were able to send data across a 20,000 mile path at a constant rate of 9.08 Gbps.At this speed, a high definition version of a movie could be downloaded in just a few seconds, instead of over 40 hours on a typical broadband connection.....

IBM PC turns 25. Incredible history on the way

I know, i am a bit late in posting it..but anyway something to be proud of..

It was a match made in computer heaven.
The May-December marriage of a young company called Microsoft and business powerhouse IBM would change the landscape of offices and homes across the globe.
August 12 (today) is the 25th anniversary of the IBM personal computer launch, a pairing of MS and DOS, Microsoft and the disk operating system.
"MS-DOS moved computer access from a community measured in thousands to one measured in millions
"It was a key transition from the hobbyist and 'geek' environment to business applications".

Several popular home computers existed before the 1981 IBM PC launch. But the regimented business world considered Apple, Commodore, and Radio Shack's Tandy products "toys."
The IBM stamp of approval on a personal computer changed that mentality for good.
"Almost overnight, with IBM introducing the PC, it became OK to use it for real business applications," said Tycho Howle, CEO of nuBridges in Atlanta, a provider of business-to-business services.
Howle remembers with fondness his first desktop PC."In 1981 I had an IBM PC, two-floppy system," Howle said."To give young people these days a comparison: It would take 10 of those floppy disks to be able to hold the music that is on one MP3 song," he said.
A floppy disk is a thin, plastic disk that was coated with a magnetic substance used to store data. Earliest disks were 8 inches wide, more efficient disks shrunk to 5 1/4 inches, then 3 1/2 inches. Unlike a CDs or DVDs of today, the disks were floppy, or flexible.
IBM, the 800 pound gorilla of the business world at the time, flooded trade papers and television with promises that this new device would provide "smoother scheduling, better planning, and greater productivity."
Early '80s status symbol, the first available PCs cost between $1,600 and $6,000. Little about this early version was user, but that has changed considerably over time and they are much cheaper now.

Long live the PC........