onX: way to go Microsoft.

Microsoft has stunned everyone by launching this wonderful platform on{X}, that lets you write custom code and automate your Android phone... Wait did I just hear Microsoft + Android? Seriously?

Looks like it is happening and whatever happened, seems very good and promising so far!

The site's documentation page teaches you everything you probably want to know before you can start writing your own code.

A number of common recipes are also available for download on the website, for use right away.. The codeplex community for onX is just maturing and there is no doubt it will soon become the next big thing among geeks.

You need to install onX(~7MB) on your phone before you can start using it and writing custom codes online.Oh yeah, you write code online and push it to your phone (which is very simple in fact) so we can call this remote programming...

Shira Weinberg, the on{X} team’s Program Manager, explained that the less strict security model of the Android platform is well suited for deploying early stage technology previews. This means that on{X} should be expected to be implemented on Windows 8 and Windows Phone, which require a more mature implementation of the technology.

All users need to do is download the Android app and then configure rules on the on{X} site. Rules are called ‘recipes’ and there are 11 templates ready to go. These include ones such as ‘Launch the music app when I am walking’ and ‘Remind me to visit the gym if I haven’t been there in 3 days’. Check out the video at the bottom of the post for a demo.

Each recipe can be easily edited by novices before being pushed to the user’s device. The rules and all the data they hold are private, and are available only to the user.

By Sharath with No comments

Must Read:Higher Ed Roadmap!

So, the grand finale of your B.Tech life is getting closer every day, and everybody is busy saying goodbyes and trying to have one last shot of college life before it all turns into sweet memories of some of the best days of our life...

Here are some ten-things you can squeeze in-between while the apocalypse nears... if you plan to do Masters or some other higher education. Even if you don't just do these 'coz you never know when these will come in handy!

Get all your papers and their certificates.

Because in the end, certificates are all that matters boss, clear as much of "supplys" you can, correct all those mark-sheets if the university somehow messed up any figures, don't wait for college to get over, do it now and get ready for that final piece of paper that turns you into..... just another engineer among the millions in India :P

Get as many Letter of Recommendations as you can.

Get as many as you can... In all forms and shapes and sizes. Because you never know what fits whom. I'm sure not many of your professors are gonna sign off whatever acts of academic bravado you have put in your LOR as authentic... Hell I don't think all of them are gonna give you an LOR in the first place even :D So, get those LORs, the good ones, and get the contact numbers and mail ids of those benevolent professors who agreed to vouch for you despite.... you know! Also prepare a 'general' LOR so that you can produce it for more than one course.

Get all the official documents from your college.

By this I mean conduct certificate, migration etc. Also don't forget to get back your tenth and Plus two certificates if you were forced to give them at the time of joining.

Get the most important document after your degree certificate: the transcript.

Most foreign universities don't accept the mark sheets for individual semesters from your university. Instead they ask for the transcript of marks. The transcript is a consolidated mark-sheet that tells us what all subjects you took and how did you score through the whole eight semesters at one look. Transcripts are usually single page documents on a university letterhead.

As far as I know, M.G university and most other Indian universities requires you to prepare the transcript on your own in the prescribed format, put it on a C.D and produce it with all the supporting mark list copies after applying for transcript at the university office.

Don't get scared at the sound of this, it is most probable that the DTP centre in front of your university will do this for you for a small fee. Apply for this along with your application to issue degree certificate.

By this time, you will be at home.... either wondering what to do now without the faintest of clues, or rabidly facebooking away alll your time. Any way there is gonna be one day when you finally get borred with both and decide to do something about it. :)

And that is the day we start part two....

Get yourself a passport, PAN Card and all those umpteen cards.

And be careful not to mess up the procedures of any of these, like the passport especially. Applying for passport and then 'accidentally' missing the police verification or anything are the last thing you want to do.

Get all the government documentations ready.

Cross check all your old but still important documents like birth certificate, etc and see your name spells the same everywhere. If possible get documents from your village office proving residency etc. Never know these will come in handy.

Prepare yourself for GRE/TOEFEL/IELTS or whatever.

First decide which of these is necessary for you depending on which part of the globe you are targeting. Keep in mind that for applying for the above exams, you need to produce a copy of your passport.

Open a new e-mail account and dedicate it for course hunting.

Use this inbox for official communications with universities only; which means no stupid ids also. It should preferably be your name with normal characters and preferably on gmail . And for gods sake avoid cluttering the inbox with all sorts of spam by registering for all sorts of free Facebook t-shirts and other sites... you know :D

Upload all scanned copies of these certificates and documents to the Google docs account associated with your new id so that these are always accessible from anywhere.

Prepare the killer Statement Of Purpose and C.V.

You get lots of templates on-line but its best you write one for your own, and try to be as convincing as possible about the fact that 'the sole intention of you joining the course is your un-quenchable thirst for knowledge, and that you have no plans to stay back in that country for job since you will be very busy contributing to and serving mother India after the course'!!.......... :D 

This depends, since some countries may actually want you to stay sometime after you complete the course. So just get a good SOP. Keep in mind that big time lying will screw you up big time in the future so keep it real.

Prepare a small general purpose resume' and C.V that is quite detailed and that which can be modified for specific courses. Keep these also in your Google docs account.

Now you are almost ready. Get out there, and start firing your applications far and wide.

Oh, and by the way don't 'acccidentally' mix up applications and screw yourself..... Believe me, Shit Happens :D

ALL THE BEST FOLKS!

By Sharath with 1 comment

My Pick: Windows phone; Cool Tool in the wrong hands!

Windows phone had been the hype-du-jour for the past few months. While admittting that it succeeded in creating its own fan-base, we should also point out that being proprietary has kept the potentials of this platform leashed to a the market interests of Microsoft.

Read this article about how the platform could have been made more attractive, now that Windows 8 is gonna come, this might be what you can expect.
Presenting… a vision of what Windows Phone 8 might look like: Read ON>>>

By Sharath with No comments

My Days at Infosys.

I joined Infosys Technologies Ltd. on November 28th 2011 as Systems Engineer. Like any other fresher, who was just out of his college days, I didn't have a clue about what Infosys was all about, or what corporate atmosphere is. All I had was the impression that all ITES companies like Infosys belonged to a class off companies that made their living out of the shitty brainless and monotonous jobs outsourced by Europe or North america. In fact I looked upon Infosys (and other IT companies) with much contempt and disgust much akin to that shown to his humble servant (who makes a life out of washing under wears from all over the world )by his aristocratic master (who happened to be a fresh Electronics & Communication Engineer). Well, the servant might be damn richer than the master here, but who cares! He made all of it washing under wears!


During my never ending wait for Nov 28th which lasted almost 5 months, I was busy renovating this blog, trying to learn some media-graphics tools like After Effects and Maya, scouring the web for what to do after B.Tech, sometimes applying for some Masters programmes with no expectation of studying at one ever, Facebooking, Sleeping and more Facebooking. Finally it seemed like I was bored with whatever I could think of to spend a day. It was so much that soon I was asking myself questions like "What is the meaning of this life...." and the sorts which probably should be happening after a few more decades.

Infosys Mysore was a turning point... no, this is not the turning point for the sake of my probably stupid article sounding good; it really did change some things in my life forever.

Infosys Mysore allowed me to have a glimpse of what professionalism is. Pretty sad that even after studying a 'professional course' in a 'professional college' I had to come here to actually feel it.


Infosys pampered me with lots of luxury care and friends all around. It is probably the best place in India to make friends, with people coming in from all states for their training.

And finally, the most important thing Infosys taught me was that I am capable of more.


 More than what challenge the I.T sector would probably offer me... maybe not in terms of money, but still I felt that in the end I will be as bored as I was when I sat at home waiting for November 28th. During the initial months of training, I religiously stuck to GECs, reviewing the study materials and routines. But soon I found the whole thing to be too  easy; I was even put in a fast-track batch that required good performance in the Generic Training sessions.

While I still admire the way some young entrepreneurs from India started a small company with almost 100$ and the way it grew into a billion dollar global enterprise, and the way Infosys 'cared' for its employees, there was always this lingering feeling in my mind that kept reminding me that none of this success belongs to me.... At Mysore, I was still doubtful about this queer feeling.
But when I came to Trivandrum (TRINFY) these doubts became proven facts. Infy never cared (and it could not; practically thinking) about the interests of the 'employee'... Many of the straight '5 point CGPA' trainees were assigned to the dreaded testing stream, and people who never wanted to work were put into 'hot technologies'... Pretty soon, the picture became clear before me

Infosys and the many other ITES companies are basically organisations giving engineers for hire... it doesn't matter whether this engineer likes to work in this field or that, or even whether he knows anything at all about the field is of little concern. This fact gains more significance when you add to it the fact that most of the work or the so called 'Projects' done at these companies are basically clerical jobs or requiring similar brain work. You don't do anything, no, you don't even think! As the funny chain-mail says, the whole IT employee community owes their livelihood to who ever invented Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.

I don't want to think further about what will happen to you sitting in front of a computer, going through code all day long, but it sure will strip you off whatever you gained in Mysore. (You'd gain some weight around the tummy for sure :D )

So when I got an offer from a University which I thought probably wouldn't even take a look at my resume, I just couldn't let it pass. Life is always filled with twists and turns... and for me most of it has been unexpected ones. But without them, I'd become as bored as I was, when I waited for that November 28th. :)
So, its time to bid adieu to Infosys although these memories of Mysore will always be close to my heart.....

By Sharath with No comments