This video contains content from Vevo, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds. Sorry about that.

Now thats just great. You put your video online and then block it off from large audiences for whatever reason. This is the kind of stuff that Inspires Piracy.

This video is blocked for your country!

This was taken on a safari ride within a National Park a few days back. The idea is to have the people with cameras in a cage while the animals roam free. However I found that the vehicles are in fact an intrusion in their habitat and probably a better approach will be to construct ropeways or something similar higher above the ground so that the animals do not come in direct contact with the vehicles so often. It will definitely intrude on camera angles but will serve a bigger cause.

Just an observation on how a Color Photograph compels us to look at color where as the same in Black and White emphasizes more of the Structure and Form. Idea probably is to use each judiciously where necessary!

Screen Grab from the Video

This is the result of TAT’s Open Innovation experiment. It is an experience video showing the future of screen technology with stretchable screens, transparent screens and e-ink displays, to name a few.

Well actually I would expect more. For instance the Keyboard and Mouse sure look redundant with a display and touch sensitive table surface. And a few other things here and there. Interface shown for Mobile to Mobile sharing is really great, hope speeds and technology catches up with such things faster. I am not a fan of straight edged black screens, but I guess it’s just the idea that counts at this stage.

Via www.unpluggd.com

Old Keyboard

Over the years we have used many types of keyboards. Early years they were the bulky ones with klunky keys that still made a “klapaty-klap” noise. In fact I still use a later version of that for my daily work, never needed a reason to upgrade.

Keyboard - Early 2000

Over the years they got quieter and sleeker. The keys got smaller and their aesthetic appeal increased. With that, the problem of dirt and grime getting stuck in them got minimized as well. (Here’s a step-by-step guide to clean the old one)

Keyboard - Current

Next to come were the backlit ones where each key was illuminated even in absolute darkness. Apple‘s Power Book was one of the first ones to have them and we all drooled over it for years.

Logitech diNovo Edge

Of the recent fore runners have been the Optimus Maximus and Tactus . Featuring full and functional backlit displays under each key and a complete touch screen with customizable layout. They are made in a way to customize your keyboard for every need imaginable starting from an Video Editing Layout to a Photo Editing Layout.

Optimus Tactus Concept

It is possible that in future, the ultimate keyboard will eventually be a touch screen that is infinitely customizable for almost everything under the sun, much like an ipad, used dedicatedly as a keyboard.

i-Pad Keyboard Layout

If made the correct size and shape, this would probably be the ultimate keyboard. And yes, carry it off wherever you go with just the files you need for the day.

Reminders | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

A Post-it note is a piece of stationery with a re-adherable strip of adhesive on the back, designed for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. While now available in a wide range of colors, shapes, and sizes, Post-it Brand notes are most commonly a 3-inch (76 mm) square, canary yellow in color. The notes use a unique low-tack adhesive that enables Post-it Brand notes to be easily attached and removed without leaving marks or residue, unless used on white boards. - Wikipedia

3M introduced this in the market in 1977, it took time and heavy marketing to catch on. By 1980 it was selling in US and soon worldwide. 3M Patent expired in the 1990′s and others started producing this incredible piece of office supply with the Post-It name and the Canary yellow color remained a 3M trademark. 20 years on since then, and we still can’t do without these, even with a bunch of technology/ software to do this for us.

The Animation Industry loves it to make Storyboards on.

Control | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

There is something about heavy machinery that’s unmatched. They have character.

A bookshelf and a coffee table at the same time. Well actually it's like a book hanger.

Sit on the chair and browse that magazine. One of the most interesting ideas I have seen. Would like to have one but with a softer seat.

(Via funniez.net)

You have a server room in your multi-million dollar corporation that is generating so much heat that you have to use 5 tonnes of air-conditioning to just keep it stable, and probably another 1 tonne more to make it perform well. You do have the other option to put it up in Alaska but that might not be such a great idea for the admin guy.

And then you have a few hundred employees drinking coffee, tea and other hot beverages in another room and heating that up using microwave, heating coil, cooking gas and various other things.

It’s probably time that the heat from these machines can be tapped and sent to heat up the food that’s being eaten by people who drive these machines.

The Server Equation

Just a thought.

1. First and foremost they needed to be legal, and were easy to acquire.
2. They were rugged unlike the CD that followed them with great quality but their reliability depended on their usage.
3. An album on a tape was a sequence of songs intended to follow each other in a predefined sequence, a function that lost it’s meaning with the fast paced Skip and Shuffle world of MP3.

And they had their share of disadvantages as well:

1. They often got chewed up until better motors and technology came in. Direct Drive from Sony was one such technology that sort of achieved this almost flawlessly.
2. The quality deteriorated with time and age of the tape and the player. The player also needed regular maintenance to run smoothly.
3. The battery life was appalling, with so many motors and moving parts the most advanced Direct Drives would just about manage a few hours of playback.

Remembering the walkman, a few images gathered from the web, surprisingly there are very few of them around.

The complete set as available in the 90's

Click on the small thumbnails above to check out other images.

Pity they are no longer there. Somehow they were mode dedicated to music than an iPod or Zune. The clunky physicality of using one is missing from the polished convenience of today.

Note: Images used are not taken by me, neither do they belong to me. They have been copied and uploaded back on the server simply because only few of them are available to view and enjoy these days.

A few years back I got a couple of old photographs from home with the intention to restore them and get them printed. Somehow I never managed the time to get all of them done, but this was the first one. (More info is on the photograph itself and will try and upload a larger resolution version as well)

Parts of the photo were moth eaten. Out of the 14 legs of the brothers, about 9 were left when I started out. After touching and fixing most parts, the colors were done, mostly out of imagination and generalization.

A long long time ago

It was supposed to get me updates from Picassa, Blogger, Flickr, and some more things. But initial experience soon became a pain of repeated comments and updates. Simple things are not sorted out. Things like sending me an update on my own comment. These kind of things just highlight the fact that the product or service has been thrown out in a hurry.

Then there are status messages. Which are pretty much like tweets and they appear in your inbox. Personally, I would like to keep status updates separate from emails, they are really not the same things. But it does not end here.

When you comment on a status message, the complete chain of messages as a single email update is mailed to you. It’s cute when there are 5 comments, and plain irritating if there are more than 30.

Have a few questions for Google

1. What’s the need of getting into social networking when there are quite a few of them that already work well. Why not collaborate and improve upon it.

2. Why not innovate and improve upon instead of barging in suddenly. Gmail is simply popular for its efficiency. Gmail is yet not perfect and still has a lot of scope for improvement.

3. Why so many products? We all thought Docs was a great idea. But it seems thats not getting any better any soon.

“We did not enter the search business, They entered the phone business. Make no mistake: they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.”

- Steve Jobs, ipad Launch

And many of us completely agree with Jobs here. It’s almost like there are people in Google sitting and waiting for new products to come out which then they can “Improve” upon.

Make a product that’s needed, if it makes people go “Wow!” on day one, that’s a plus. Probably Buzz is a good product, but the premature launch of a buggy product just killed it.

Just came across this post while browsing for 3D Topic Browsers in Jquery. It’s a simple Jquery funcltion to flip a container within a web page. I think, it’s a great idea to have spot reply forms created with these. They will give a blog very ‘Dashboard – Widget – Settings’ kind of feel. Will give it a test drive soon.

Jquery Flip Content

But can’t the manufacturer rig the doors correctly?

Metro in Calcutta started 2 decades back and the doors would open if something or someone got caught in them and they did not shut properly. Its alarming that such stuff is not in place on buses even today.

The tech part should be fairly simple.

1. Detect an open door
2. Disengage the already electronic / hydraulic clutch (yep, they are no longer wires pulling each other)
3. Bus does not move.

Technology is there, it’s a matter of using it.

Auto Closing double jackknife bus door

This is just a broad overview.

Social networking sites as we see today consider the later to be their primary user. Sites like Google, amazon etc consider the former to be their primary user.

The idea has to slowly shift to combine the both, to invite the “accessing” user to “provide” more often, and this can be done only when the “process of providing” becomes a lot easier.

Apart from that, now we have to keep in mind the 3rd kind of user. “The Bots”, or crawlers from various search engines. Yes, a site has to be easier to crawl for information as well, and easier it is to do that, the better chances of it’s visibility on various search rankings.

What’s next?

The move should be to design for the 2 types of users and try and merge them. This would lead to a steady flow of updated information (not just about status messages and tweets but relevant information). The move has already started, and personal computing devices and slowly changing sizes and shape to aid in the process. And designs have to mirror the same sentiments.

We all know that iPod is probably one of the most used devices in the car in conjunction with other devices that already exist. But why doesn’t Apple get into the market directly and give us front row right from the driver’s seat either as a Software (with 3rd part hardware) or Hardware + Software combo. Many die hard fans have already put their Mac Minis in the their cars.

Car audio running front row!

Example: http://bit.ly/b2NoCF becomes http://bit.ly/b2NoCF (with tooltip, hover to view) or http://timeline-studios.com/blogs/2010/02/i-would-have-loved-if-my-mobile-and-tv-did-this/ (complete URL)

WordPress Plugin Anyone?

Top Sites is a feature in safari where it gives you a thumbnail display of all frequently visited websites. Although the function is very simple, the display however is fantastic like all things Apple.

Safari Top Sites

That’s how this thought came up.

What if the Mobile and the TV could talk. Which means I use the mobile to type and navigate while the TV did the display part. I would not mind a 640×480 display on the HD screen, but it would be larger, take less time, and much more user friendly just by the sheer size of it.

Mobile 2 TV display transfer

It seems there is a Campaign on supported by our cricketers and a popular mobile company to save the Tigers that are left in India. An alarming 1411. The Campaign in it’s true ad world way shows a tiger cub waiting for his / her mother followed by a gun shot echoing through the forest. Nice, very touching, works to get ones attention to the tigers. But is that where we want the attention to go to?

No

1. We need this bulk of attention to be diverted to those who poach tigers, those who buy their byproducts and those who flaunt tiger skins in their homes, including the fake ones. Logic says, if you buy the fake one, you definitely long for the original.
2. The bulk of the problem is their diminishing habitat. It’s a large territorial cat that needs lots of wild space. A stringent control of Human population within the country would surely help reverse effects in the long run. Maybe it’s already too late for the tiger, but the Rhinos and the Ghariyals are going to go soon.

Let’s put down some ideas wherein we can come up with some innovative and plausible solution that would actually help rather than exploiting a lone cub to market ourselves.

Do comment in your ideas. The original video from Youtube is included.