when i am feeling blue...

Body Sensing comes to Smartphones -- by Steve Lohr:

Sensor technology has become smaller, lighter and more powerful. At the same time, more attention is being paid to preventive health and personal fitness as an answer to the nation’s rising medical bills.

A result, for sensor companies like BodyMedia, is an opportunity to marry body sensors to smartphones to create full-body monitors. Last week, BodyMedia announced that its armband sensors would be able to communicate with smartphones, wirelessly, using Bluetooth. Its health sensors will be one of the first devices, other than ear buds, that link to smartphones with Bluetooth short-range communications.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/11/body-sensing-comes-to-smartphones/

The company seems to be ahead of its times... but with the recent positioning as a health care product, and its forthcoming apps for smartphones... the time seems to be catching up to the company?

-- Animikh

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Untitled

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the Zheng-Condi Story

Once upon a time, there was this project called AO that was running its life really iterative (aka Agile).  However his friends, family members and co-workers, all were running their life with waterfall.  AO finally found a friend in RA who really wanted to adopt the lifestyle and functionality of the AO project.  They were both really excited.

 

However several rough weeks later, AO and RA both now started showing infighting and really getting on their throwts.

“That stupid AO project, they have no documentation, no plan, they are crazy, how can we follow them if there is no documentation” – complained RA.  AO was furious, “ can it no see that we are not done with the project yet, can they not see that we are doing SIT, UAT, all at the same time, in different cycles, getting so many bugs.. can they not see how the requirements are still changing and we are running against the same deadline, how can we have time for documentation”…

The neighborhood leaders (also known as Project Manager/Change Managers) came in to rescue.. “No worries, we will help mediate between the two of you.. lets discuss on a 1:1 what problems that you are facing”.

They had their first 1:1 meeting with AO, and realized that AO lost a senior member in Zheng, who was replaced by a newbie Condi.  AO was already furious; there was a net loss of knowledge and expertise…

The Change Managers just flipped their wings, “Well, according to Sicromoft Project, your resource leveling remains the same, and if you can just add some management hours, we you should be ok.”

The next 1:1 was with RA, who were very upset with not getting the proper documentations and support to start their journey.. “We need a Sr. Resource to walk us through the code. And a full the team member to develop with us.  It’s crucial to our success.. we are being set up for failure.. we are so red”… 

“Calm Down,” quipped the Project Managers, “we are going to get a great resource for you .. Condi.. he is the greatest”.

 

So it was settled.  Everyone was happy, “1:1” style.  AO knew it was getting Condi to replace Zheng, and RA knew Condi was theirs.

A face to face meeting was set up between Aao and RA. 

AO asked Zheng and Condi to join the meeting, but since Zheng was out of the project, Condi decided to join.

RA asked Condi to meet with the Sr. developer of AO.

And then the meeting happened.  Condi was sitting in front of a mirror!

 

Moral of the story, Agile needs steady team, and it’s never a good idea to double count.

 

PS. The author plays the Role of a Project Manager in real life.

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GWT-ing

A friend of mine introduced me to GWT. Google Web Toolkit. 

According to Google  "Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a development toolkit for building and optimizing complex browser-based applications. Its goal is to enable productive development of high-performance web applications without the developer having to be an expert in browser quirks, XMLHttpRequest, and JavaScript."

Its been around for a few years now - since 2006 version 1 release, and gaining traction. I spend about 3 four hours since last night looking at it and really like what I saw.  Specially given the issues currently my client is facing on writing a Web 2.0 app. 

From what little I could figure out.. programmers write AJAX apps using Java, and when that app is deployed, the GWT cross-compiler translates the Java Application to a set of JS files that are very much optimized.  Write in java - run as javascript?  nice!

For those who are interested, a comparison of the different JavaScript frameworks is available here

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Design Process and hunger

the Indian Middle Class - 300 Million folks with ideas, time, and the money to experiment with those ideas  -  . Or you can expand the geography and thus the number. 

last night I was talking to a moderately successful entrepreneur friend from US who has been traveling every year to India for the last three years.  He is amazed by the growth, and mind it, his company in US is one of the top 50 companies fastest growing companies in the region it operates.

that part of the world he is visiting still has another 300 million below or close to poverty line  ( as defined by??).

the abstract syntax that connects money with success trickles down for some philanthroprenuers in designing ways to uplift the socio-economic curve for many.

as a result you end up with a "muslim" from a corruption ridden "hindu" state to meet with a "black" president in the "white" house 

or you can get - adam

the design of everyday things is living with complexity now.

so what happened to the Keep it Simple Stupid principle?

 
-- Animikh  Sen
http://www.linkedin.com/in/animikh

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Chief Happiness Officer

I am not an idealist by any stretch of the word. but somehow decided
to bing the word. and came across this nice little website

Ideallist.org .. Imagine.Connect.Act. ... really liked it.
According to their own words... 'Idealist is a project of Action
Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices
in the United States and Argentina. Idealist is an interactive site
where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas,
locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a
world where all people can lead free and dignified lives."

Its a very well organized listing site of volunteer opportunities,
jobs, consultants, speakers, events - across the globe

There is a Pedal Patch Community in California who is looking for
volunteers to work as Gardening Enthusiast;

National Lawyers Guild in NY is looking for volunteers to open
letters from prisoners requesting the Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook, a
self-help guide enabling prisoners to file civil suits for violations
of their rights while in prison. (Please visit http://jailhouselaw.org
for more info).

Another interesting job posting - "Chief Happiness Officer " -
http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/370626-0/c

nice corner on the web.

- A

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From Contracts to Cupcakes: A Wall Street Career Change

While cleaning up the kitchen after a nice family meal that we shared
with a friend, I heard that comment again.. " you should open a
restaurant".. my felony... was a mouth-watering salmon bake ( bite
sized pieces of salmon, marinated lightly with ginger, garlic, cumin
and coriander paste and baked at 350 with light EVOO for about 20 mins
and then broiled for 3)..

But wait, this post is not about that dish.. it about a wall street
career change....
---
When David Arrick thought about using skills gained at an elite Wall
Street law firm to transition from one job sector to another, real
estate development in Dubai was his next logical career choice. When
that didn't pan out, it was cupcakes. Mancakes, to be exact.
After getting laid off in 2008, Arrick went on job interviews in
Dubai, where he hoped to get in on the real-estate boom there. He
accepted a job, returned to the States to pack up his things, but his
offer was then rescinded because of the local financial crisis.
Just when things looked bleakest, Arrick found his calling. Strolling
around one day in the West Village, a neighborhood in downtown
Manhattan, Arrick spied people lining up around the corner for
Magnolia Bakery's cupcakes. This piqued his interest in the business.

And then, reading an article about cupcakes shortly after, he found
himself disgusted when the writer called them "pink and magical."

"Why did cupcakes need to be magical? They're not magical for me.
Where's the masculine aesthetic?" Arrick said. "We needed to butch it
up, buttercup." And so Butch Bakery, an online delivery "masculine"
cupcakery was born.

The bakery sells the usual fare, but with a twist. It offers flavors
like kahlua-soaked vanilla cake with Bailey's Bavarian cream,
brandy-soaked lemon cake with orange-infused chocolate ganache
filling, and chocolate and beer-infused cake with beer buttercream.
Not every cupcake is drenched in alcohol: Butch Bakery offers caramel
cake with salted caramel filling; and maple cake with milk chocolate
ganache and crumbled bacon.

Right now, Arrick has a staff of five, including the baker. He runs
the operation out of a commercial kitchen space in Queens. There's no
storefront yet, but he hopes to open a store downtown in Manhattan
this spring.
---
Read more at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704479404575087420338070854.html?mod=WSJ_Small+Business_LEADNewsCollection#articleTabs%3Dcomments

The guy seems to have a natural motivation for marketing .. if you see
his website... And as he "admits".. he is capable of drafting complex
agreements and contracts... that always helps...
I would love to order one, and see what the fine prints says... some
of these are "CUPCAKES"... you have to be of legal drinking age to eat
it.

So how many cupcakes does it take to turn the economy around?

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How to fill up a bucket..

This is probably one of the most discussed topic... but proper
planning and budgeting the appropriate amount of time seems to be
always among the top three root causes of failure for all projects...

There is a term that many people who are in the business of building
software use, :"Change Control"... wonder if this is a used
effectively ? Most cases, its adding to the scope with no change is
timeline... of delivery. And then again, we discuss a change control
for 12 hours, and the real change probably can be one in 1/2 and
tested in 4 hours.. ha!
Few days back, I asked my kids if you have a 12 gallon bucket , how
many pounds is that?
My thought was around a mathematical response.. you know... ( US
gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds) .. but guess what kids being
kids... they said, if you take a lot of news paper and keep stuffing
them into the bucket you can fit in more.. and then another responded
that you can actually wet the news paper in water ( making a paper
pulp) and it will be have more pounds to it.

What great answers...

I am thinking about keeping a bucket of water at work, and every time
a change control comes in, print it out.. and let it soak into the
bucket... lets see how many we can fit in...

And then again, change is a fact of life.. ( others being death and
taxes) ... so it is expected.. and must be handled... so a proper
analysis is needed, and that can only be done with a partnership
between the end user and the team to is building the tool/software for
the end user... However, we (including yours truly) seem to have the
habit of getting a signoff on a contract .. when we really need the
collaboration.

Agile.. Anyone?

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test

this is another new post

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Crunchy Triangles

Crunchy Triangles -
Ingredients - leftover stir-fry, s fat free Floor tortilla, some olive oil, water to soak, and some innovation...

Cut the tortilla into triangle shapes, make a cone, and stuff the stir-fry into it.. use some water to moisten the ends and fold it into a triangle... rub olive oil on it, and then bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes... you get your crunchy triangles..
Its almost like the Indian snack ..samosa.. but not exactly... works for me..