Physorg writes up an article that reports : "We are considering taking legal action against the website," said Vissanu Meeyo, a spokesman for the information ministry.
and then titles it: "Thailand to sue YouTube over king clips"
Slashdot pick's up the article and titles it: "Thailand sues YouTube"
Slipping on the tiny word "to" does make a lot of difference!
Monday, May 7, 2007
The Real Photoshop
When I outgrew MS paint eons ago and wanted a tool that was a tad more powerful, I picked up the one that was within the easiest reach. That month's PC World magazine CD carried a trial version of Jasc Paint Shop Pro 3.0 and I started using it. Soon I heard about Photoshop but I was comfortable with PSP and felt no need to change.PSP used to have all the features of Photoshop but was significantly cheaper, and was often called the "poor man's Photoshop". As my skills improved and newer versions came out, I stuck with PSP right upto version 9.0
The the unthinkable happened. Corel acquired Jasc. Corel stopped projecting PSP as a Photoshop competitor and started tagetting non-pro users. The GUI became overly shiny and useless but the feature set started stagnating, bugs started creeping in. I stuck with Jasc's last version instead of moving to Corel's (which I think is now at 12.0)
But then the age of the software started showing, as Adobe came up with CS, CS2 and soon to be out CS3, I was stuck with an ancient piece of software. So I decided to make the jump.
So I got a copy of PS CS2. It is certainly cool. possibly even cooler. But my biggest gripe is that, having been used to a different tool, I struggle for hours even to find the simplest tools or figure out how to make them behave the way I want them to. I spent about 20 minutes figuring out how to select the background color using the ink-dropper tool..
(I think the biggest difference I found so far is that Adobe doesn't like the mouse so much, alternative uses of tools are not right-click but are usually ctrl-click or alt-click. Photoshop does not use the scroll wheel at all! PSP zooms in and out with the wheel and you can vary values using the wheel too. Photoshop leans more towards Keyboard shortcuts. Grr.. I can never remember them)
Well all in all, I've spent about a few hours making this image from scratch and I've had fun. So I must say Adobe, you've won a convert. Without much further ado, I present my first Photoshop creation :)
The the unthinkable happened. Corel acquired Jasc. Corel stopped projecting PSP as a Photoshop competitor and started tagetting non-pro users. The GUI became overly shiny and useless but the feature set started stagnating, bugs started creeping in. I stuck with Jasc's last version instead of moving to Corel's (which I think is now at 12.0)
But then the age of the software started showing, as Adobe came up with CS, CS2 and soon to be out CS3, I was stuck with an ancient piece of software. So I decided to make the jump.
So I got a copy of PS CS2. It is certainly cool. possibly even cooler. But my biggest gripe is that, having been used to a different tool, I struggle for hours even to find the simplest tools or figure out how to make them behave the way I want them to. I spent about 20 minutes figuring out how to select the background color using the ink-dropper tool..
(I think the biggest difference I found so far is that Adobe doesn't like the mouse so much, alternative uses of tools are not right-click but are usually ctrl-click or alt-click. Photoshop does not use the scroll wheel at all! PSP zooms in and out with the wheel and you can vary values using the wheel too. Photoshop leans more towards Keyboard shortcuts. Grr.. I can never remember them)
Well all in all, I've spent about a few hours making this image from scratch and I've had fun. So I must say Adobe, you've won a convert. Without much further ado, I present my first Photoshop creation :)
Friday, May 4, 2007
Spiderman 3
Yay!!! I saw Spiderman 3 on the first day. As can be expected from superhero fans such as myself, I am going to say the movie was spectacular. Even better than Spiderman 1. The graphics were spectacular to say the least. The battles are actually so complicated and there's so much carnage and web action that I think it will take a second viewing to absorb all the action. I dare say that the physics in all action sequences were perfect as far as I could judge it. The new crop of villains are quite good, but reminded me of other ground-breaking movies of the past. Sandman for instance, reminded me of T-1000 in terminator-2.
The movie is quite funny too. In two ways. Scenes intended to be funny and scenes that were just funny. Jonah Jameson (editor-in-chief of Daily Bugle) brings in a lot of humor (and it was intended to do so). But Peter Parker crying was meant to be emotional and sentimental, but did not come off that way. Lets just say, the guy is better off with his mask on. Surprisingly though, he did emote well between the good Peter and the evil Peter. A little bit of kajal in his eyes helped the evil look, but his general mannerisms were differently portrayed in both characters. Topher Grace has done a good job too, but for all fans of "That 70s Show", you will feel like, "Whats' Eric doing here?". Harry made for a good villain too.
Final verdict: Definitely worth watching once. If you are a fan of either Spiderman or good graphics or both, it's worth watching multiple times.
The movie is quite funny too. In two ways. Scenes intended to be funny and scenes that were just funny. Jonah Jameson (editor-in-chief of Daily Bugle) brings in a lot of humor (and it was intended to do so). But Peter Parker crying was meant to be emotional and sentimental, but did not come off that way. Lets just say, the guy is better off with his mask on. Surprisingly though, he did emote well between the good Peter and the evil Peter. A little bit of kajal in his eyes helped the evil look, but his general mannerisms were differently portrayed in both characters. Topher Grace has done a good job too, but for all fans of "That 70s Show", you will feel like, "Whats' Eric doing here?". Harry made for a good villain too.
Final verdict: Definitely worth watching once. If you are a fan of either Spiderman or good graphics or both, it's worth watching multiple times.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Google's "Do Evil" NDA
I was telling my friends about the scary NDA I had to sign at Google when I interviewed with them. I am violating the NDA, making this post!
The NDA expressly forbids me ever "imply or mention the name of Google" in public, I am not supposed to mention the interview ever, and I am required to deny the existence of this NDA.
Out there at valleywag Someone managed to steal the NDA though and posted it online.
And they best part is, I needn't have signed it and they would still have talked to me. See update 2 here.
I'm told similar NDA craziness exists at Amazon too.
The NDA expressly forbids me ever "imply or mention the name of Google" in public, I am not supposed to mention the interview ever, and I am required to deny the existence of this NDA.
Out there at valleywag Someone managed to steal the NDA though and posted it online.
And they best part is, I needn't have signed it and they would still have talked to me. See update 2 here.
I'm told similar NDA craziness exists at Amazon too.
Slump
Hmm.. our posting rate has come down significantly as we approach the 100 mark.. A classic case of Sachin syndrome methinks. We should be able to rev up once Mayaavi and I are able to get our necks above the work.
For those who didn't catch the significance of the poem post below, I promise, I will make another post throwing more light on why 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are important.
For those who didn't catch the significance of the poem post below, I promise, I will make another post throwing more light on why 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are important.
Zero and her Origin
Zero, the number said to be discovered
Nine times by ancient magicians, was
Found again by a mysterious order of
Nine modern alchemists, who built
One machine after another, until finally
One exploded with fascinating results.
No fire emerged from its
Twin engines, but instead
Nine small automata crawled out,
Denying the proposition that energy,
Seven millenia or more in the accumulation,
For most purposes, remains
Ever constant, throughout the
Three ages of man's civilization.
Five hundred years after the death of Cesare
Borgia, whose image infected those of the
Divine Lamb (so called), still she who
Ate of the pomegranate seeds
For her indiscretion, must ever wend her
Solitary path amongst the
Five true worlds, stopping only for
Sex and occasional rending of garments.
Constant travel drains her.
Five worlds is too many for one lifetime, yet the
Sixth can never claim her.
Three wise men write, of the sefirot,
Five are false, and four are lies.
Tiferet alone among them holds the world's truth.
Eight lifetimes of study,
Eight generations of blind encoding,
Cannot release the final answer:
Zero defined by itself; no further emblems exist.
--Jeremy Bornstein
Nine times by ancient magicians, was
Found again by a mysterious order of
Nine modern alchemists, who built
One machine after another, until finally
One exploded with fascinating results.
No fire emerged from its
Twin engines, but instead
Nine small automata crawled out,
Denying the proposition that energy,
Seven millenia or more in the accumulation,
For most purposes, remains
Ever constant, throughout the
Three ages of man's civilization.
Five hundred years after the death of Cesare
Borgia, whose image infected those of the
Divine Lamb (so called), still she who
Ate of the pomegranate seeds
For her indiscretion, must ever wend her
Solitary path amongst the
Five true worlds, stopping only for
Sex and occasional rending of garments.
Constant travel drains her.
Five worlds is too many for one lifetime, yet the
Sixth can never claim her.
Three wise men write, of the sefirot,
Five are false, and four are lies.
Tiferet alone among them holds the world's truth.
Eight lifetimes of study,
Eight generations of blind encoding,
Cannot release the final answer:
Zero defined by itself; no further emblems exist.
--Jeremy Bornstein
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
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Since 22 Mar, 2007