2012 January | Venkatarangan Blog

Citibank Virtual Keyboard–Bad UI Example

For few years now, Citibank India has a Virtual Keyboard for their online login. While this is a good scheme to prevent Keyboard hookers the UI could have been better. Security and Prevention of hacking is not an excuse for lack of design and intuitive user interface, unfortunately many think it is so.

Notice the below screenshot. They say IPIN cannot contain special characters, can contain only Alphabets & Numbers. Then why did the Virtual Keyboard have special characters. Frequently I end up pressing special characters then get prompted I am wrong!

Madly in Love

“Madly in Love” is a German movie about a Sri Lankan Tamil boy falling in love over a Swiss-German Divorcee with a Boy. I came to know of this movie from a friends’ FaceBook stream, after a search in the Internet found this movie.

The main character “Devan” is done brilliantly by Muraleetharan Sandrasegaram – he comes out naturally as a next door youngster that we will see daily. The female lead role “Leo” is done nicely by Laura Tonke. The movie is about the struggle the Devan goes through between his love for Leo and his father’s pressure to marry “Nisha” a young girl from Sri Lanka who has been engaged and flown over to Switzerland to marry him. The movie briefly touches on the life that Sri Lankan Tamilians have in Switzerland trying to assimilate into main stream Europe or to stay apart. You won’t believe it – but the movie has 3 to 4 Tamil songs just like Kollywood movies, but were shot quite nicely and were appropriate to the storyline.

madly-in-love

விலங்குப் பண்ணை

ஜார்ஜ் ஆர்வெல் 17 ஆகஸ்ட் 1945ல் வெளியிட்ட நூல் “அனிமல் ஃபார்ம்” (Animal Farm). 66 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு பிறகு தமிழில் பி.வி.ராமஸ்வாமி மொழி பெயர்த்திருக்கிறார், கிழக்கு பதிப்பகத்தின் 2012ஆம் ஆண்டு வெளியீடு. நண்பர் பத்ரியின் வலையில் படித்துவிட்டு நேற்று தான் வாங்கினேன், கையில் எடுத்ததிலிருந்து படித்து முடிக்காமல் கீழே வைக்க முடியவில்லை, அவ்வளவு சுவையாக இருந்தது. சில புத்தங்களை ஏன் மொழிப் பெயர்ப்பை படித்தோம் என்று எண்ண வைக்கும், வெகு சில தான் நம் நல்ல காலம் தாய் மொழி தமிழில் படித்தோம் என்று தோன்றும். அப்படி எனக்குப்பட்டதில் இது இரண்டாவது புத்தகம் (முதலாவது: சீனா).

விலங்குப் பண்ணை புத்தகம் -சிரித்து, சிந்தித்து, சிரித்து என உணர்ச்சிகள் மாறி மாறி வரவழைத்தது. வேறும் 140 பக்கங்களில் (ஆங்கிலப் பதிப்புக்கூட இதே அளவு தான்) ஒரு முழு கதையும், அதுவும் ரஷ்ய ஸ்டாலினிசத்தை நையாண்டி செய்துக் கொண்டே எழுதுவதென்பது ஒரு சிறந்த எழுத்தாளாரால் மட்டுமே முடியும் அதை தெளிவாகச் செய்துள்ளார் ஜார்ஜ் ஆர்வெல்.

மிக உயர்ந்த நோக்கத்தில் ஆரம்பிக்கப்படும் புரட்சிகள் கூட எப்படி சில ஆண்டுகளிலேயே கருத்து வேறுபாட்டால் உருமாரி, சிதைந்துவிடுகிறது என்பதற்கு அனிமல் ஃபார்ம் ஒரு சிறந்த கையேடு. போன வருடம் நடந்த அரப் ஸ்பிரிங்க் இதன் இன்றைய கால அடையாளம். சர்வாதிகாரத்தின் கொடிய முகத்தை ஆசிரியர் உன்னிப்பாக சொன்னாலும், விலங்குகளை வைத்து கதைச் சொல்லி சொல்வதால் நமக்கு எளிதாகப் புரிகிறது. ரஷ்ய ஸ்டாலினை நெப்போலியன் என்கிற பன்றியும், ட்ராட்ஸ்கியை ஸ்நோபால் என்கிற பன்றியும், லெனினை ஓல்ட் மேஜர் என்கிற வெள்ளைப் பன்றியும் அப்படியே இயல்பாக நம் கண்முன்னார் கொண்டுவருகிறது.

கோ

இந்தப் படத்தை தமிழ் கூறும் நல் உலகில் கடைசியாகப் பார்த்தது நான் தான் போல, படம் பொங்கலுக்கு கலைஞர் டிவியில் கூட வந்துவிட்டது. இந்த வாரம் எங்கள் கிளப்பில் வேலாயுதம் என்று சொல்லிவிட்டு இதைப் போட்டார்கள்.

”கோ”வில் ஜீவா சண்டைக்காட்சிகளை பொளந்துக்கட்டுகிறார், பாராட்டுக்கள். நான் முக்காலியை வைத்து படம் எடுத்தால் கூட கோனலாகத் தான் வருகிறது, மனுஷன் ஒருகையில் ஏன் இருவிரலில் எடுக்கும் படங்கள்கூட சரியாக வருகிறது, நம்ம ஊர் 3ஜியில் மின் அஞ்சலே கஷ்டம் ஆனால் ஜீவா முழுஅளவு படங்களாக அனுப்பித் தள்ளுகிறார். கார்த்திகா ராதாவை நினைவுப்படுத்துவதோடு நின்று விடுகிறார், நடிப்பு முகபாவம் எதுவுமில்லை, அடுத்தப் படத்தில் பார்க்கலாம். வில்லன் வசந்தன் பாத்திரத்தை நிறைவாகச் செய்துள்ளார் அஜ்மல் அமீர், சில கோனங்களில் இயக்குனர் திரு.வாசுவின் மகன் ஷக்தியைப் போல இருக்கிறார்.

முடிவில் எனக்கு உடன்பாடுயில்லை. என்ன காரணம் சொன்னாலும் பாத்திரிகைகள் உண்மையை மக்களுக்குச் சொல்லத்தான் வேண்டும்.

R.I.P – Microsoft Mix

World over Microsoft conducts lots and lots of events every year. Their flagship events are two – Professional Developer Conference a.k.a. PDC (this is where they announce the next big thing like .NET, Windows 2000, Longhorn, Windows Azure and so on) and Tech Ed (this is more hands-on current technologies for IT Professionals with some Developer content) happening almost every year in USA and then replicated across the world. About five years back in 2006, they announced a new event by name “Mix” which for the first time tried to bring 3 stakeholders into one event – Business Managers, Designers & Developers. It was started to promote Web development and Microsoft’s new designer tools family Microsoft Expression. This was the first Microsoft event where you got to hear Microsoft’s competitors like Yahoo! & Amazon (Microsoft wasn’t in cloud yet in 2006), which I found to be quite useful to get a sense of where Web technologies are going in general. And the lunch-table discussions I had with such a variety of audience were very interesting.

As a Microsoft Regional Director from 1999 and as a Microsoft Partner for many years, these events have become annual fixtures in my calendar.With the new “Build” event that happened last year (instead of a PDC) where they announced Windows 8, it was clear the existing Microsoft events landscape was changing. And indeed it has changed. First casualty was PDC and today they officially acknowledged that there will be no Mix in 2012. Though I feel sad for an event that offered variety and fun, in the last few years unfortunately Mix was made into yet another Developer event by Microsoft. So it was time the event got killed and merged into a unified better event.

In this moment of our prayers for “Mix” and for its soul to R.I.P I I will like to look back at some of the moments I have experienced around this event.

Mix ‘06

Bill Gates announced and kicked off the very first Mix at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The big announcement was WPF/E (which became Silverlight later) and demonstration of it on a Nokia phone which never got released.

Mix06 was my second or third trip to Vegas so I didn’t understand well on how lodging in Vegas works. I ended up blowing money (literally) by booking a $400/Night (concessional rate for attendees!) room at the venue itself (Venetian).

Mix ‘07

This event was all about Silverlight!. I am sure most of us .NET enthusiasts remember the demo where Silverlight in a browser with C# code-behind winning over Java Script in a game of chess. Looking back (from a world of Node.JS & Chakra) I was not sure on what we were smoking back then in May 2007.

I found the BBC Radio 1 and Windows Live Messenger social co-browsing (called Messenger activity then) & sharing to be quite cool. Unfortunately it never got released outside UK (just like most of the good stuffs from BBC which are available only to UK Residents due to a antiquated theory of UK Tax payer funding).

What got me thinking was a quote made by “The Economist” Publisher Mr.Andrew Rashbass on a panel discussion (which alone was worth my travel to the US from India). The quote was on how Portable Reader devices replacing paper. Andrew said “it will not happen in short-term, not in mid-term and definitely not in long-term and that BillG can use one, but no one else will use it”

I think this year Microsoft started to highlight that Mix was a “72 Hour conversation”, a tag line I liked & which I consider to have captured the essence of what Mix ‘06 and Mix ‘07 were. The evening party on one of the days was fun and colourful.

After blowing my money staying in Venetian, I realized how lodging works in Vegas – you can get rooms from $40 to $1 Million per night, it all depends on what you are looking for. From this year, I was booking myself a room at $40 in the Stratosphere Hotel. Although it is on the other end of the Strip, it was a good 30 minutes walk in the evening after you finish your dinner near by to Venetian like in the Food court at The Capital Grille.

Mix ‘08

This year the keynote was by Ray Ozzie who outlined Microsoft’s investment in IE and Silverlight, Web Slices and more. Lots of demos this year.

Then it was Dean Hachamovitch talking about how great IE 8.0 was (do you remember this IE?)

Lot of coverage about live streaming capabilities of Silverlight during the then upcoming Beijing Olympics

My fellow RD Scott Stanfield’s company Vertigo demoing the “Hard Rock” app they have build using Silverlight and Deep-Zoom technology.

Coca-Cola sponsored UEFA Euro 2008 & Windows Live Messenger community (what was that I don’t remember other than the photograph below?)

On the corridors of the show, I gave an audio interview to Scott Hanselman on Outsourcing (the hot topic then because of a Presidential Election year in USA).

Mix ‘09, 10, 11

Due to the onslaught of recession, travel budget constraints and thanks to great live streaming of the Keynotes by Microsoft, the next three years I decided to watch it from Home, only trouble being the need to have loads of coffee to keep me awake through the Night in India. I didn’t miss out the individual talks either – all the session videos were made available from Channel9 for download in few days of the event getting over.

Losing my Virginity and other Dumb Ideas

Being a weekend I had time to read this novel “Losing my Virginity and other Dumb Ideas” written by Madhuri Banerjee and published by Penguin India. Needless to say what caught my eye to pick up the book was the first part of the title, which was probably inspired from Richard Branson’s book “Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way”. For a first time author, good work by Madhuri, best wishes.

The Protagonist in the novel is a young well educated, 7 language speaking, attractive 30 year old girl “Kaveri” living in Mumbai and doing freelance translation at foreign consulates & for visiting dignitaries. The story starts off interestingly with Kaveri worried about being a virgin for too long, but mid-way into the book the story gets lost in the direction it is going. It strays into reality TV, tour guide, then into New York and Barcelona, ending kind of abruptly.

Make Chai not War

Yesterday this stand-up comedy “Make Chai Not War” show happened in Egmore Museum Theatre, Chennai. It was organized by U.S.Consulate General in Chennai in association with Evam Entertainment and Times of India. The stand-up comedy was by 3 Indian Americans – comedian Hari Kondabolu (www.harikondabolu.com), comic Rajiv Satyal (www.funnyindian.com) and Azhar Usman (http://www.azhar.com). The show was brilliant, over two hours of non-stop laughter and a bit to think over. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much in my life on some clean comedy. A fantastic effort by U.S. Home Department to foster friendship with India and its people through some multi-religious, multi-ethnic jokes and not through handouts or military aid. There is so much for all of us to laugh about our diversity in this world than to fight for.

Rajiv who is from Ohio, a Hindu (he stresses it often for effect & to poke good fun at), born to Punjabi parents who immigrated to USA. He covered everything in his show – from Indians refilling with water the almost empty Soap bottles to how Gujaritis save money. He touched nicely on the diversity of Indians and India – saying unlike USA in India the smart people are put up in South.

Hari who is from Queens New York, born to parents from Andhra Pradesh is a performer in Comedy Central & HBO Comedy Arts Festival. He seems to have a stated dislike towards British and Colonization that he made fun of at every turn. Yesterday he appeared a little sombre but still funny enough to make you laugh.

Azhar who is from Chicago, hailing from immigrants from Bihar and a title ‘America’s funniest Muslim”. He was the super-star yesterday firing all cylinders. He started by how to spell his name – Azhar like in Buzzer with a B, it gets pronounced as Uzzer. His experience of Auto-drivers in Chennai hailing him first for Sight-seeing, then for Girls and finally for Marijuana. He closed his show with a profound thought – we are all birds in a cage, each of us can see all the 7 billion people in the world but not ourselves (for which we have to look inside us). His story of scaring a British Gentleman in a flight was hilarious.

Overall a superb, brilliant, hilarious show you shouldn’t miss if they come to your city.

Bad Teacher

When a friend suggested I see this movie “Bad Teacher” I was not sure I will like it. From the web comments I expected the comedy to dull & boring and the sexy visuals of Cameron Diaz especially as a teacher will be making it unpleasant to watch. But the movie turned out to be better than that. It is by no means a great movie or anything but just different, certainly watchable & at places I even laughed while watching it.

The movie is about a seventh grade teacher Elizabeth Halsey (played by Cameron Diaz) who is an exact opposite of an ideal teacher. She does everything that is wrong about a teacher, she sleeps in classes, secretly drinks alcohol in class, doesn’t even know her students names or what’s in the syllabus and she even uses Marijuana in the school parking lot. To fund her breast implant (which is to attract a wealthy spouse) she is shown stealing items from a student’s house, dresses provocatively in a student car wash to pocket the collection and even accepts grafts from parents for better grades and drugs the state examiner. Then there is the usual love story with Elizabeth trying to impress a wealthy substitute teacher while the gym teacher likes her.

What makes the movie watchable is the simplicity and the frankness of the portrayal. It doesn’t sugar coat anything. The Director breaks the typical mould of a teacher character in movies – someone who is normally inspirational and above criticism. And at the end too, Elizabeth doesn’t get caught, instead the good teacher gets punished and Elizabeth gets away, she stops being sloppy and becomes a guidance counsellor.

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