Monday, July 30, 2007

BCB4 log

Yes, Barcampbangalore4.

Oh! for the people who are hearing it for the first time. Let me clear a few, it got noting to do with Bar's in Bangalore intended to throw a big beer party out there. In simple its an unconference, one of its kind. Still confusing is it? Its an open gathering of people with similar interests to share, discuss, learn and have fun. This was my first Barcamp in Bangalore. Here is my unconference logs.

Friday, July 27:
20:00 - I was supposed to go alone for it, but now I found company.
22:00 - Bored at home with my Sh** hathway broadband connection. Called my friend and tell her how excited I'm about next two days.

Saturday, July 28:
07:00 - Woke up! Never felt so great to get up so soon on a Saturday morning. I will curse my mobile if it wakes me up soon.
08:40 - Drove through the moderate traffic Banergatta road and reached IIMB.
08:45 - Security check. First verification for the Unconference.
09:00 - It was nice to meet one of my earlier Intel friends to stand right in the reception. Also meet Vishnu who came there to talk in the Mobile Collective. Good, few known faces.
10:00 - Let the unconference begin, No welcome address, so chief guest, no lighting of the kuthu velaku as we followed for our house warming ceremony. But it was all informal fun. Random ppl came there and spoke about themselves and what they are looking out in the Barcamp. The turn out to this barcamp was the highest ~550. Some thoughts were from Advanced Programming languages to a low cost dating model. :)
11:00 - A main attraction for me was the Bloggers collective. To brief on this collective it was to discuss on blogging, bloggers and more blogging. Had session on Podcast by Sridhar, Blogging platforms by AJ, How to make your blog popular by Umesh, Firefox widgets by Jerry, interesting sessions on Mobile Blogging and photo blogging by Arun and SEO by Events Bangalore Tejish. Thanks to Sanjuktha to make it all possible with her nice leadership.
14:00 - Break for lunch, Collectives did not stop there. Food Collective made up a ranking board asking for best pubs to restaurants in Bangalore. Interesting to people right.
15:00 - IIMB hostel. I meet my school buddy Anith after 5 long years. Had a nice chat with him recollecting school stories and learning a more on IIM :P
16:00 - Approx the Photography collective gathered so called a stand up meeting. Lots of tips was given by Venky, Hari, Balaji, Jace and many more. Venky spoke about street photography. Kinds of camera right from mobiles to DSLR's. Also lots of human expressions were clicked. Before this I joined the bikers collective near Cafe Coffee day to know more about biking and kinds of bikes. Firefox, trex and more. Chennai favorite Kiruba was there.
18:00 - Unband. One of the best collective. Shourya & Jayanth rock in the strings.

This was day one for me! I really tried to connect and post this on Saturday night. But as usual hathway screwed me up with the entire night. No option other than to sleep after some refreshing data structures (def not for me).

Sunday, June 29:
08:30 - Left home for another day @ BCB4. This time too we landed up early and unconference began late.
11:00 - First session that interested me was by Ashwin. "What all rules can we break to make a start up!" . Nice idea shared by Ashwin. Who is an inspiring person for every young blood out there.
12:00 - Adobe Air by our low cost dating model inventor. he demonstrated few of the cool technologies. But trust me, he disappointed me. Some how the session was suppose to cover on Google gears also to go with the title. but he din look into that.
13:00 - Early lunch today. Instead of the canteen, they took us to the lawn. Better food than yesterday. Then went around the campus and clicked a walls, trees and people. Then vivek and his friends invited too see the water tank of IIMB. On the way to water tank we felt why its hard to concentrate and study in IIMB LoL. Rest on water tank is ...
15:00 - One of the interesting talks I was listening, was Mobile blogging and photo blogging by our respected most God father of BCB4 Arun. Thanks Arun, still I have a pending activity of changing your Photo Blog look & feel as u asked for.
16:00 - Another interesting speaker, Umesh who spoke on how to make your blog more popular. The theme on his session was simplicity. He did not talk about technocrati or SEO, its was a KISS (Keep it simple stupid).
17:00 - One of the last session I attended also my favorite Photography collective. Again Venky led the way talking on theme photography. Hari spoke on ISO, Night photography, Firework photography etc. Also they shared a lot of photos which were really cool with post processing.
18:00 - Concluding the unconference. Again lots of noise, clicks and people. We will meet again this November.

Thanks to all, who made this possible! BCB Rocks!
More to write, time and tide wait for none.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Barcampbangalore

I should be a dumb missing the last Bangalore bloggers meet. Thanks to Events Bangalore to give me a wakeup call as that I'm missing my appointments. A group of Bangalore bloggers gathered last Saturday at a nice location BrewHaHa in Koramangala. I needn't write more, since other bloggers got plenty more to say. They brain stormed on various topics on blogging. One of the outcome was Barcampbangalore on Jul 28th and 29th at IIM Bangalore. Interested people can register and pass a word to others. Here is the schedule of the sessions!

Meet you there!
Happy Blogging!

Friday, July 13, 2007

Friday the 13th

"A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck in English, German, Polish and Portuguese-speaking cultures around the globe." says the wiki. Paraskavedekatriaphobia - Fear of Friday the 13th. Not only an ancient belief, but a technical background too in the form of a Computer Virus. Here is MaAfee report.

But here in bangalore, yet another friday. Sky is gloomy as ever without the sun. People are getting lazy & lazy day by day (inc). Still 3 young guys are breaking these bariers and getting ready to rock & roll on this day. Btw what could be the occation? Is it a wedding? - No they are not old enough to tie the knot or few din find the right match yet. Is it some one's birthday? - No. What else, are they venturing out with a new company? - Not now, may be future has an answer! So what is it then. Well its their "House Warming Ceremony". Yes we have rented out a newly built house in the heart of the city "Koramangala". So they decided to follow the tradition! Also managed to ramp up with an e-invite in minuites.


So its all now left for it to happen. Hoping to expect a decent crowd for the occasion. Hoping that this would be an unoffical get-together. :) Lots of work is being done on getting the dinner menu ready! Arranging for a photographer! Milk - Key item. Even leaving office early today to kick of the work.

Also there have been lot of rumors from untrused sources that this might be a big Joke, etc etc. But we will prove them all wrong today evening. One final note we got this idea and inspirations from this this & this.

Feedback, Suggestion - Leave us a comment.
Thanks - HW Team


Update:
Lot of you asked for an update. So here it is. To be frank I was proved wrong! Or the last 3 this's were proved wrong. The house warming ceremony was auspiciously done by Gopal's parents. As put in the agenda milk was boiled. Chief guest was there. We do have photos and videos, which will be uploaded and shared soon. Btw anybody can check into the house anytime, were you are welcomed with warm heart and served good food. ;)

Friday, July 6, 2007

Super Singer

Thumbs down!

A search for the best voice talent in state! Super Singer - Junior. A very good creative show to showcase every hidden talent. This is second in the row, followed by Super singer comprising for all category. I had not been in constant touch with the show. Now that this Super singer junior has reached its finals! Nice to see all those kids perform with their gifted voice. The jury giving their valuable feedback etc etc.

But, I see a annoying side of the programme. The explicit showing of the emotional ups & downs they undergo. Right from the beginning till the finale this is happening. The way those small kids cry of failure, their parents prayers with tears, brothers, sisters. Such shows now more concentrate on that aspect of the programme more than the actual telecast. An unnecessary intro to few children happened even before they sang the first song in the audition. These emotions are also a strong reason of the commercial success of these programmes which is inevitable. Even if they don't eliminate at least the organizers can reduce them in future esp with children!

But Star Vijay TV's efforts in such new ventures is creditable. Lots of new programmes are being introduced and are being duped by rival channels. But Vijay TV play a major stake in reality shows and such talent hunts.

Follow up:
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