http://sandeepmeher.com Sandeep Meher Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:46:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en There are more business books published every year than the number of cricket matches that India plays each season. And you will have to sift through a number of resources to create your reading list so that you don’t end up wasting your valuable time and energy going through a ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=112 Happy day today - effortlessly captured a macro shot of my son's favourite toy - his racing car. http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=111 Don't know when the iPhone 4 will be launched in India. And by that time, Apple will be gearing up for the iPhone 5 in US. Had a quick glance at a Samsung that a colleague at work was using and was not at all impressed. Unwilling to pay any ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=110 Lie is a graphic novel in the form of miniature paintings with an intent to provide a satire on politics, religion, film, cricket and family and how they contribute to the corruption, greed, caste prejudice, materialism, communalism and gender inequalities. The two lists in the preceding sentence are from the ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=109 It has been 4-5 months now that I have been driving in Mumbai. And I don't think there is anything as crazy as that. Apart from facing 2 year olds or a bulldozer suddenly popping in front of the car, it is fraught with unavoidable risks. It is easy to ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=108 The other evening I was playing with my son in the garden and overheard a discussion between three elderly gentlemen. One made a comment "We have selected the democratic system for governance, but people have a feudal mindset. It will take some more time for the mindset to change." Looking ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=107 I was able to change this to this by using a simple kitchen foil as following - I was inspired by 802.11b Homebrew WiFi Antenna Shootout, which I stumbled upon while trying to find a solution to the wi-fi signal dropping when surfing the internet from a room other than the one ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=106 I am so much disappointed not to have seen Sachin's inning today as it unfolded. Would love to reiterate what I had written after he surpassed Lara's record. The Genius. http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=105 After 20 years, he gives an interview through email and answers 6 questions. What a recluse?! Slashdot discussion and The interview on Cleveland.com Calvin and Hobbes - one of my favourite comics characters. If you find the following funny, then you should buy The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. --- Calvin: "Dad, are you vicariously living through ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=104 I came across this Wired article Ubiquity Alternatives Offer Power Users Command-Line Tools for the Web. The bookmarklet Quix is a wonderful tool - command line for the browser - it is similar to Quicksilver for Mac. I have dragged the bookmarklet to Safari's Bookmarks Bar in the first position ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=103 Finally, the shipment from UK arrived in Mumbai after 10 weeks and glad to have most of the things in one piece. I had to visit the customs office at the Mumbai Docks to get a clearance and pay for any duties. And I have to say the customs officers ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=102 I was excited like a kid finding a new toy when I read an article about the upcoming graphic novels based on Ratnakar Matkari's Marathi stories (the comics are in English) in today's Loksatta. Now, I consider Ratnakar Matkari as the Marathi Stephen King. And being an ardent fan of ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=101 http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=100 Here are some rough notes about my experiences in Mumbai so far... Mobile connection Airtel - Initially, I went to Airtel Chembur office for getting a mobile connection as I also wanted to check out an iPhone (I was under the impression that Airtel was the exclusive supplier in India). We had ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=99 It took one week for my mobile connection to get activated (I will be writing a critical review of Vodafone later) and left with no internet connection anywhere for me. But slowly things are getting sorted out and we had a good week - including a fantastic trip to my native ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=98 ... but still micro-blogging on Twitter @sandeepmeher and Facebook. http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=97 Driving down IT Operations Costs Introduction Even before the economic downturn started, organisations were always exploring ideas for bringing down the IT Operations costs of running live systems. The economic downturn has just brought more rigour or pressure in exercises aiming to reduce costs. IT service providers are exasperated as they are ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=96 A few days back, we had been to Banham Zoo in Norfolk - first zoo visit for my son, Advaita. It was a good day out. I think this was one of my best shots that day. http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=95 I was looking for a book that looks at the life of top executives in corporate and wanted to avoid business biographies. Luckily, I came across the "The Secrets of CEOs: 150 Global Chief Executives Lift The Lid On Business, Life And Leadership by Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave" which ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=93 Interestingly, both US CTO and CIO appointed in Obama's administration are of Indian origin - Vivek Kundra and Aneesh Chopra. And there is a debate going on in the tech circle whether these appointments are right or not - not just debate - it is mudslinging now. Today this has ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=92 The reason might be the attitude of so called entrepreneurs - blaming the bigger organisations i.e. blaming others for their failures. Please read this rant Why Wipro, Infosys and TCS are “Axis of Evil” for Indian startups!. http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=90 As a comics fan - maybe not as much as those who attend the Comic-Con, I was very interested in the two unconventional super-hero movies, Hancock and Unbreakable. Both the movies are very different but both portray super-heroes facing problems similar to ordinary human beings. The very conventional Peter Parker/Spider-man ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=89 BBC2 is broadcasting a fantastic series on cricket - Empire of Cricket. Any cricket fan worth his salt should not miss this. More information here - BBC Two Programmes - Empire of Cricket. http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=88 India out of T20 World Cup http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=87 I had thought about writing this for quite some time. Ab Tak Chhappan is one of the best movies to understand and implement effective Team Management - I am not joking. Having read this, if you go and watch this movie, it will be impossible not to get the point ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=86 My photography experiment after a long time... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=85 HDTV connected to a Mac running Plex controlled by Apple Remote. Plex is a great replacement for Front Row because of the control, configuration and expandability options it provides and it is as slick as Apple software. http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=84 Finally, I gave up my reluctance against HTPC, shared media around house, NAS in a home etc. and decided to do get started on a project to take a leap in that direction. Problem: 2 external hard disks, 1 old eMac desktop computer, 1 Macbook Pro (MBP) and an old ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=83 I used to cringe whenever I heard/read comics being referred as Graphic Novels (I thought that term was redundant). But then I came across the fantastic Sandman and I can say that comics and Graphic Novels are two different entities. There is no superhero by the name Sandman (at least ... http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=82 Will start updating regularly from this week. At least one friend cares and hence this update. http://sandeepmeher.com/?p=81