Sep 28, 2013

Wrapping up the summer's work | Google Summer of Code 2013

Although it has been quite some time since I last blogged on my work on the GSoC (blame the exams and then the last minute work I had to do), it has just been confirmed that I have passed my final evaluations for the same. I would use this blog post as an overview of the work that I have completed in the summer.

Sep 10, 2013

Choosing the right ubersmartphone

July 17th, 2030
It had been a long time since I got my microphone. Significant changes in the cell phone market had taken place. The phones had gotten even smaller, this time to the size of nanometers, which would be embedded in your skin. I decided to get a new one.

"It has been such a drastic difference in the way we shop over the decades," I told K over Skype.

"Remember the days when you would order through Flipkart and it would be delivered to you, after numerous delays!" K reminded me of the times when snail mail was the way of getting things over to you, even if you were to shop online. "Why don't you come over here and we can go get the ubersmartphone together!" He said.

Sep 7, 2013

Flipkart's false promises

Towards the twilight of the last semester, my HTC ChaCha started giving big problems. By the time I was returning home for the vacation, I decided I needed a new cell. My choice- the Galaxy Tab. I just couldn't resist the large screen (and the games that I would play!)

I came to know of Samsung's plan to release the Tab 3, which would be available for order sometime in mid July. So, I decided to wait. Fast forward to July 13th, and I had just won a Samsung Galaxy S4 in a blogging competition (Contest Page | Winning Post). Naturally, the tab ideas took a back seat.

Sep 5, 2013

And then Schlumthing wasn't quite right

Being in an Integrated M.Tech. course and finally being eligible for campus internships after getting into my fourth year, the first company that was open for us was invariably Schlumberger (I still can't pronounce it the way the HR did, though). A Pre Placement Talk (PPT) was going to take place with the HR blabbering about how their company is awesome followed by the internship process.

Sep 1, 2013

Convicted of Rape and Murder | Just three years | The Great Indian Judiciary

It took me quite some time to come up with a blog post on this one, because I believe my feelings are similar to millions of others and reiterating the same things which you would find in millions of articles since the judgement was something that didn't fancy me. However, I ended up ranting so much in Twitter that I decided I should spare the people who follow me and just pen down what's in my mind.

It is really a matter of shame. Let's first review some facts. You know for sure that this guy was involved in the rape and murder of a 23 year old last December. Hell, he has been 'convicted' of it (even after having the guts to plead not guilty and say he was elsewhere during the crime). Media reports suggest that he was the most brutal of the group, some even putting forward the idea that he ruptured her intestines with his bare hands. That much we know. However, his involvement has been proved in court beyond doubt although the details haven't been revealed.

GSoC weeks 10-11 | Creating sassy CSS

The primary task going into week 10 (after my last blog post) was to complete the flipswitches (keeping in mind the accessibility of course) so that it could be integrated into the ATutor system preferences page.

The problem with this was that I was going to replace radio buttons with the flipswitches and most of the ones available online were make for checkboxes, which meant catching the events via JavaScript and preventing the default actions were just not going to be enough as that would involve major changes in the back end.