Happy Holi

Happy Holi to All. Enjoy all colors of Life

 

Cloud Computing

 

Cloud computing is a buzz word these days.  Its used as metaphor for internet. If you have a high traffic website / web based application and you don’t want to spend too much into hosting high end dedicated servers – cloud computing / cloud hosting is what you are looking for. Cloud computing relates to the way we design, build, deploy and run applications that operate in an a virtualized environment, sharing resources and boasting the ability to dynamically grow, shrink and self-heal. You can look at cloud as a virtual server that provides single-point access to a distributed (often across the globe) collection of hardware/software. It generally incorporates combination of the following.

1. IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service. A good example is Amazon EC2, where you basically get a virtual machine (Amazon Machine Image) on which you install what you want.  IBM Blue house, VMWare, Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure Platform, Sun Parascale and more are examples of this service. Here they mainly deal with physical assets as services. Apart from Amazon EC2 there are other reliable and efficient providers such as GoGrid and Rackspace.
2. PaaS: Platform as a Service. This adds infrastructure software to IaaS so you don't start from scratch. Examples are Google App Engine (GAE) and Salesforce Force.com. They are resources on demand. Developers create applications on the provider’s platform over the Internet. PaaS providers may use APIs, website portals or gateway software installed on the customer’s computer Force.com, (an outgrowth of Salesforce.com) and GoogleApps are examples of PaaS. This mainly deals with Middleware, Intergation, Messaging, Information, connectivity etc. AWS, IBM Virtual images, Boomi, CastIron, Google Appengine are examples of this kind of service.
3. SaaS: Software as a Service. Here, you get the full package that you tweak/customize to your needs. SaaS is a vast market. Services can be anything from Web-based email to inventory control and database processing. Because the service provider hosts both the application and the data, the end user is free to use the service from anywhere. Best example of course is Salesforce.com. Gmail, GoogleCalender,Payroll, HR, CRM, Sugarm CRM, IBM Lotus Live etc are such examples of services on demand.

 

Clouds have many benefits, most importantly:

1. You don't need to plan/invest in hardware/software upfront
2. You don’t need to worry about heavy traffic and high bandwidth requirements.
3. Your infrastructure will scale as your business/needs grow. Just pay as you grow.
4. You system will be fault-tolerant and secure
5. You don't need to maintain/manage the setup. Very low maintenance.

Sachin, Tussi Great Ho! Tohfa Kabool Karo!!!

wow what a great stand by Sachin. What a knock it was. At the age of 36, what a perfection it was. Its not a joke to stay on the pitch for the complete 50 overs and break the record for the highest individual score in an ODI innings, that too with a double hundred. Yesterday would be one of the most memorable moment to any indian cricket fan and also to the history of world cricket. All answers to his criticizers by him in one word. He is just born to break the records or create historical records in cricket. 440 Matches played / 17394 runs, scored ,46/93 ... 50's/100's , 200 notout Highest score... and the records keep on growing for the legend...! Long live Sachin Tendulkar...!! The greater has become greatest with his double ton yesterday. The only topics that were trending yesterday on Twitter were #SachinIsGod #ODI & "Sachin Tendulkar”. Abhishek Bachchan on Twitter tweets about Sachin: I finally know what God really looks like!! He is about 5"5, Maharashtrian and plays cricket!! Tendulkar Bapa Morya!!! Some of the Nostalgic moments when sachin is younger can be seen in the following Interview. All I can Say is , Sachin you are the God of the Cricket. A Legend of the Legends.

 

Book Review..

I'm losing count of the books I've read/is reading, so trying to jot them down as crisp as possible...

Only Love: This novel is my first encounter with Erich Segal's work. He's got an amazing style of writing. It is about an amazing love story and also intense love of music the male character in the book has. The book deals with a complicated love story between two doctors. The guy a music virtuoso and the girl heir of famous Italian buisnessman. They fall in love in africa and then suddenly she disappears what happens then is the story. Its true that there is a bitter part of life. No matter how deeply we love someone, to live the rest of our live with them will depend on destiny, family and ofcourse themselves. The book just fell flat in the end. On the whole the book is a fantastic quick read, and it certainly dragged me towards eric segal other works The Class, Man Woman and a Child.

 

 

Man Woman and Child: A compelling story of a husband and wife with trust lost and love regained. It's a story of love,a story of forgiveness . A story of acceptance. If there is any author who knows how to bring out emotions and make you sob like a baby then it is Segal. Sheila and Bob were a superb couple. Perhaps even better after Bob's son's brief episode in their lives. They have two beautiful daughters Jessica and Paula. SUddenly she got to know that her husband Bob had a brief affair with Nicole, a French doctor, when he had been to France on a business trip. And Bob fathered a son , about whom he knew nothing until the day he received a phone call informing him of Nicole’s death. Now, Jean Claude(Bob's son) is an orphan and the responsibility falls on Bob, to take care of him. Sheila reluctantly agrees to let him stay with her family and thus begins ,the couples new journey towards accepting one another for being not so perfect. A 9 year old boy bearing the fault of his parents illegal relationship and his innocence being able to change a woman's heart. It’s a good read. Totally recommended.

Random Ramblings

The days are hectic, life is so busy, it seems I don't even have time to remember each and everything that happened. So just want to rewind and playback what happened in past few weeks.

• Place: Same old place, Home alone again. Looks like Quarter life crisis is hitting me badly.
• Friends: Met some of them. Reconnecting with old friends and bringing those nostalgic moments back into life is always fun.
• Movies: Watched lot of them. Nothing really impressed except Rann and Paa.
• Books: Again a lot, and everything was impressive. Dork by Sidin, Only Love, Man Woman and a child by Erich Segal . Segal has got an amazing style.
• Life Lessons: Life is so idyllic. It hasn't been smooth for me., still fighting against all odds to get the very best... and it seems it will continue for a while. Started to look at it through the eyes of "experience".
• Blogging: Totally active. I didn't want to do this earlier..but now I can't resist...
• Technology: Not upto date, haven’t updated my other blog in a while. Haven’t responded to the comments either. Should get back to it before people loose interest in it.

Not much to say other than this. but there exists a hope in time,I hope that the three will surely meet the fourth line.

Windows Phone 7 Series

 

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For the first time ever, Microsoft is bringing together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience to phones. And Smart thing is that they have integrated popular social networking (like facebook) instead of just pushing windows live.  Phones are the new PCs. PC guys are the new phone guys.  I am simply amazed at the innovative UI. Awesome Windows Mobile team! Many many many Congratulations! It looks quite impressive and I am willing to wait for one. Certainly its going to be the replacement for my iPhone.

 

Bing maps + augmented reality

 

This bing map is pretty impressive. I should say a game changing app for maps. Great to know that Microsoft  have created something that is beyond the current generation of Map features. Checkout the feature, flickr integration with streetside. Its just brilliant.  With this feature you get to see individual user contributed photos seen right into the streetside imagery.  I have been looking forward to this since the first previews of Photosynth.

 

Here is an example in Vancouver

http://www.bing.com/maps/explore/#/ttx56k60vpzxvptv

try toggling the image on/off by clicking the thumbnail in the left panel like this:

Check out this video too.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Z3NSff3I0&feature=player_embedded

 

Photosynth integration in Bing maps is another cool feature which has become even more incredible over the last couple of months. If you haven’t tried it in a while you should check it out. Here is a synth just taken at the Olympic opening ceremonies:

 

http://www.bing.com/maps/explore/#/hkm3bc0oqjko4co9

after navigating around in there a bit, hit the overview button:

 

Hover your mouse through the point cloud and note the preview images and the cone showing where the photo was taken. Click one to swoop back into 3d. and when you want to step outside of the stadium, click the globe icon to the left of the 4-way control.