Futility of Dual-SIM Smartphones.

ual SIMs are considered quite useful, particularly when you are on travel. So, what did I do? I procured a 2nd personal phone, an Android phone. (My first one is an iPhone and we all know that Apple does not have dual-SIM versions of iPhones).

I also procured a post-paid SIM for usage within India.

My $35,000 Tesla Model 3.

Model 3 was unveiled this past Friday, July 28. Tesla made the production Model 3 available to the first 30 owners, all of them Tesla employees:

While it will be quite some time for me to get my hands on my Model 3, even though I stood in line on 31 March 2016 to sign up for it, it is worth making an assessment of what I'd like (A good review by Tom Randall on Bloomberg.com):

As of today, however, the estimated time for my car's availability is:

and my hope is my $35,000 Model 3 — rather, the $58,000 version 😀 — would be available during that window.

Father's Day, 2016.

ather's Day, 2016. Best wishes to you, if you are a father and happen to be reading this, and hope that this Father's Day is as special to you as it is for me.

In a normal course of a Father's Day every year, the usual things happen: Phone calls to dad, visit dad, provide gifts to dad, Father's Day lunch or dinner, etc.

This particular Father's Day, 2016, is very special to me, however. Why?

Has the Republican Party Lost Its Moral Compass?

ow come we see the spectacle of a broken Republican political party in the United States, day in and day out?

For several months now, we have seen Donald Trump make a mockery of democracy. It started with his public mistreatment of newscaster Megyn Kelly, and continues with his latest: Trump assures America ... he has normal-sized 'something else', with a lot of others in between. The fact that he has been able to get away with the abrasive -- read undemocratic -- behavior unbecoming of any civilized human being, let alone the President of the United States, is testament to the strength of US democracy: Tolerating a certain amount of undemocratic behavior.

Rebooting India - A Book Review.

ebooting India by Nandan Nilekani and Viral Shah is an excellent discussion of how, and under what circumstances, Aadhaar got conceived and its meaningful extensions to improve the manner in which the Indian Government can enrich the life of its citizens.

The book is a bold attempt to infuse technology as a foundation for governmental and societal efficacy, by rooting out opportunities for fraud, bribery, leakage, etc. (I'm poignantly familiar with the strikes against computerization labor unions held in the early 1970s that technology was to be eschewed: Why? It'd rob the unionists of 'meaningful' employment, of course, ...)

US Independence Day Celebration, 2015, Personal Style.

ndependence Days of individual countries are celebrated with differing themes all the world over. Today, July 4, is US Independence Day.

Certain institutions take this opportunity to celebrate the day in their own unique way ...

Customization of Web Streaming for Classical Indian Music - An Unscientific Observation.

usic Genome Project®, we learn from Pandora's web site, is what powers the music service. In this post, I want to share my observations in customizing the web site for Indian Classical Music.

The only mechanism for customization of Pandora Radio is the Thumbs-Up/Thumbs-Down pair. (In How Pandora Radio Works, author Julia Layton describes in good detail how you can use the Pandora software to customize the music you'd want to listen to).

Healthcare and Boeing?

ealthcare and Boeing, the aerospace giant?

Yes.

Not exactly the kind of healthcare schemes that employers are interested in, regarding their employees. But, a system for ensuring that patients get wholesome care by their doctors.

My First Uber Trip.

ver since I learnt about the infusion of capital of Uber at an unusually high valuation, and definitely after I came to know about an UberCHOPPER service in Bangalore, I had been awaiting for an opportunity to experience the Uber service myself, complete with the use of the iPhone App, starting from requesting the service ¹.

How Corporations Help Society.

A good example of how corporations help society can be found in this blog post: Second innings with Google’s gCareer program. Since the blog authors are generally of Indian origin, cricket metaphor has been used talk about 2nd careers.

Another example is how Microsoft has influenced the Redmond area in Washington state.

It seems that it is a lot more effective to have corporation-sponsored activities than government-sponsored ones.

Minimalist Approach has Advantages.

hen you move to a different town, as we did recently by moving to the Seattle area, an important realization hits you: You are indeed able to live in a minimalist manner, out of suitcases, so to speak. And, life is a lot simpler!

14 March 2014: Doodle for Google

Minimalist approach has other advantages.

Take the Google front page, for example. This simple front page has been the gateway for many people for their searches and for the diurnal goodies that Google itself leads you to: Today, it is about Doodle for Google, a scheme which invites young artists — Grades K-12 — to submit their doodles ...

(An Almost) Perfect Parking Experience in Oakland, California.

The smart way to park.

crambling for change before driving to a different location where you have to allow for parking has been a painful phenomenon. Until recently, that is.

I'm not talking about using a credit card to pay for the parking at a curb; this method, while definitely better than scrambling for change, doesn't come close in convenience. What if you need to extend the parking duration? Do you have to call the toll free number, and get into voice-mail jail? Pain.

Enter Parkmobile.