Entries from June 2008 ↓
June 23rd, 2008 — Leadership, Recommended Reading, Workshops
First, some introspection!
How was the last month for you? What are your achievements? What are the things you wanted to complete, but did not?
And if you could redo yesterday, how would you work? If you could really relive yesterday, how would you start your day? What all actions would you take? What would you not do?
More than 80% of us would like to be more productive, more expressed and more satisfied if they could relive yesterday. Why did we not live yesterday like that than? It’s not that we couldn’t do it. It’s not a question of ability, it’s a question of going beyond the usual.
You may know that we have a Monthly Review Meeting in Magnet. Different teams meet once a month to review the last month, share the learnings and to create something for the month ahead. We started with these introspective questions this time.
Our habits determine our productivity
Continue reading →
June 21st, 2008 — Personal, Updates
We were thinking about a vacation for time. There were two options - a naturopathy retreat or an adventure trip! The nature’s call won this time and we will be going to Nisargopachar Ashram in Uruli Kanchan (near Pune, Maharashtra, sometimes referred to as urlikanchan) tomorrow morning.
My sister returned from a week’s stay yesterday. Dad is still there, and I and Nikita will join tomorrow. Neha just loved the fresh air, the massages and the peace of the place. Hearing her experience, I think it’s going to be a good break for me too! Hopefully I won’t work too much there!
The place is unique. Famous for its mud baths, strict diets, cleanliness and the heritage of Mahatma Gandhi. Here are some more descriptions and experiences found around the web.
The Nisargopachar ashram is just one of the many indigenous health centers that dot the countryside. A late-century term for it would be ‘health farm’, but unlike its newer cousins, it remains a vestige of a more spartan life with its bare walls, crude flooring and minimal furniture. Founded in 1946 by Mahatma Gandhi-himself a fanatic believer in naturopathy-the Nisargopachar Ashram has kept alive the tradition of simple living and high thinking for more than five decades. More recently, it has given succor to stressed-out urbanites with problems ranging from obesity, arthritis and asthma, to heart diseases and diabetes.
- Outlook Money
Naturopathy believes not only in irradiating the symptoms and treating them but to kill diseases from its roots. For this purpose diet, patience and exercise also is important. The ashram in designed taken into consideration all these factors.
- Aarogya.com
I will writer more once I return!
June 19th, 2008 — Flex & Flash
Working on a project that allows user to change the color of an image using Hue, Saturation and Brightness adjustments from Flex. The same image should then be printed in high resolution from the backend.
The trouble is, when we apply the same HSB variations that Flex used to Photoshop / Gimp / ImageMagick they generate a totally different color output. We want a WYSIWYG color change/printing, so this is not going to work.
The following table shows the output we received!
Not sure what the solution to this is. ImageMagick has come the closest to Flex’s HSB variations, so I am currently trying to figure out something with it.
Any hints?
June 18th, 2008 — Apple, Business, Recommended Reading
What do you attribute Apple’s success to? Steve Jobs? Usability? Cutting edge technology? Innovation? Or their extra ordinary marketing skills?
I think much of Apple’s success is because of their marketing focus. The customer experience focus comes from marketing focus.
Steve Chazin, an Apple veteran, has written an insightful eBook - Marketing Apple. The eBook uncovers the secret of marketing that Apple uses. The principles are very smart and I believe if you use them, you would be successful too!
This is a must read for anyone interested in Apple or Marketing.
June 13th, 2008 — Mobile, Writing and Speaking
Aliza Sherman reviewed my Mobile Web Development book on the Web Worker Daily - a GigaOm site yesterday. One, it was good to be on GigaOm network (I am impressed with Om Malik and his ventures), and second Aliza had very positive comments for the book.
It was interesting to see her comparison of Mobile Web with the early days of Web. And how fascinating it was to learn HTML! Here’s what she says:
If I were still coding, this book would probably mean as much to me today as Teach Yourself HTML in a Week by Laura Lemay meant to me back in the 90s. Even as the person who hires the coders on development projects, it was an interesting read, particularly getting a glimpse of how far HTML has taken us and where it seems to be going.
She also says, “The gist of the book is to help you create mobile-friendly sites and mobile-ready apps.”
That’s pretty good! Thanks Aliza for your affirmation on the value of the book!
And while on the topic, I must not forget the excellent review Joe Dolson did a while ago. Joe said:
My overall reaction to this book was positive. It covers a wide variety of key issues for mobile web programming in an easily understood manner.
Mehta goes out of his way on many occasions to emphasize the serious importance of considering who (and what!) will be using your mobile web application.
Joe is a good critic, and identifies three problems with the book too. Thanks Joe for doing a thorough review!
For more reviews, checkout MyMobileWeb’s review, Martin’s chapter by chapter overview and the reviews on Amazon.
Also the example chosen is simple but at the same time enlightening. The author has demonstrated that he has done an excellent research on open source tools and standards for mobile web development. The chapter on Mobile AJAX has been also a very good choice, as Mobile AJAX is the future. (from Morfeo / MyMobileWeb)
In this book you find the outline of the mobile web applications development world, some principles for self-study, some useful hints and examples and - last but not least - the inspiration. I would recommend this book to every developer interested in the mobile web. (from Dev::Info)
