I'll put Indian! - Dilbert

Transition of Interactive Web-Content - Flash to HTML5

Vidit Bhargava

As I type this article on my iPod Touch which is attached wirelessly to my Apple Keyboard, I wonder, how many of you are actually going to read it on a "big-giant Personal Computer", Which is probably acquiring as much as a Table of your room? It is not Hidden, the fact that today, people either use their mobile phones, their iPads, or other sources of On-the Go Internet. Nobody, wants to start that large machine sitting innocently on the table, taking all the time in the world, just to show up a petty desktop screen, which by the way seems much far from an Interactive User Interface (Touted as being so, in the late 90s). They'd rather wake up their phones from the sleep to browse the internet, check their mails, visit content intensive websites or just take a tour to the App Store.

One of the things these mobile devices generally don't have is Genuine Adobe Flash compatibility. Yes, Android provides it to the users, but it is currently half baked and people generally hate it. The reason, is simple, They don't want it on a touch-screen. Flash just doesn't work, when it comes to touch-screen based content.

On the tablets, its a completely different story, iPad amounts to about 90% of Tablet Sales. It doesn't provide the users with Flash Compatibility, this means that out of millions who are using a tablet, most of them using an iPad, browse the internet without accessing millions of websites with flash content.

All this in-short makes the flash technology, which was at the pinnacle of its power before the arrival of the Post- PC devices, look slump. It is now, widely seen as Stale, premature and of a different world.

The new cool is something else. Something that is tightly integrated with the web, it doesn't require a plug-in to enter your phones, computers, laptops or tablets. HTML5!

Now, Let me make it clear, HTML5 is a programming language version of HTML, certified by W3C. And Flash is a proprietary Software for creating Interactive Web-Content. The main debate is over as to which option is better for displaying media content. Flash or HTML5? However, HTML5 implementation with CSS and Java Scripting has made it more powerful than flash over time, in displaying interactive content. And since, flash is not available for many mobile devices, developers are moving towards the HTML5 implementation of Interactive content.

Today, when you log on to your GMAIL ID, you see a cool new feature, that allows you to drag and drop files to attach them to the email. You don't know the technicalities, of course. For you its something that's coming for free, without the hassles of installing a plugin on your device. What you don't know is that the web is now, shifting its base to HTML5. Adopting the new standard.

However, in a completely opposite scenario, you go to a gaming website, start a game, only to find that flash is not supported on your device. You do not know much about the technicalities, but what you know from then onwards is, that gaming website is awful, It didn't work on your expensive gadget. The user won't wait for flash compatibility on his gadget but he'll look elsewhere, for a better experience, for a better website.

Those two instances, teach us as developers, something. The developer, must keep pace with the new standards, the new tech. So that the user has no problem using his website. It's not the gadget that is going to mould into the website, its the website that has to mould into the gadget.

Developers learnt this lesson very early last year. The result was the staggering boycott of flash content, flash video and flash games.

Major Newsgroups like CNN, BBC, NYTimes shifted their flash-based videos, and picture content to HTML5. An outright boycott of Flash Video, resulted in sites like Vimeo and Youtube adopting standards like the H.264, both the websites increased their compatibility for Mobile Devices. Slowly but eventually they made sure that HTML5 reached the PCs too. Young developers, adopted HTML5 even faster, within months, new games like the Galactic Inbox and Letter Wars came up. They were not flash, yet they were a huge success. Web-Development firms, started providing HTML5 templates. Eventually HTML5 over-shadowed flash, as the new Interactive-Web Standard. And all this was quick, within months.

The bigger challenge was web-browser compatibility. About 70% of users still used the old haggard and ragged Internet Explorer. While, Safari, Crome, Firefox and Opera provided HTML5 compatibility, these browsers have not yet reached to every computer-using soul. But this March, the world marched on to complete HTML5 compatibility, that is IE9 was launched. And Sources reveal that it reached 2.9 Million Downloads within hours.

More, evidence of the Flash demise can be seen from Adobe. Adobe Labs, announced earlier this month, the beta version of Adobe Wallaby. An AIR tool, that allows the developers to convert their Flash Content into usable HTML5 Code. Adobe has accepted defeat. They know, now that if there is any thing left for Flash, it is to be friends with HTML5.

Summary : Flash ain't the Web-Developer's most Pampered kid anymore, They've ever so happily embraced HTML5. For the user, unaware of this standard's war, is quickly getting glued to this new technology in many ways. And the most interesting part, he might not know what HTML5 is but he'll surely know that there is something different on Youtube for his iPad or that some websites just got more interactive.

But who knows in the un-foreseen future, HTML5 might be beaten red and blue with a new Web-Standard which may take over the HTML5 legacy, much faster than HTML5 took over Flash.

Sent from my iPod

Stick Cricket iOS App - Review

Ah! You see, I've been better than my word! Here's a new blog-post, in just no time!

Game : Stick Cricket

Rating : 8.6/10

Price: Free

Vidit Bhargava

You've got a paper toss game to pass your time throwing paper. You've got a game to shoot birds at pigs, you've got a game for everything but you don't have one decent game for Cricket. Well, now you've got one. Its the same one, you play while on the internet. Yes, you heard it Stick Cricket is now on iOS.

Eh Bien! For those of you who have already played it, you'd know, the game is addictive. It is super addictive. You've got no tension of bowling full length 50 overs or getting hit for runs, you just need to sit and hit sixes (with some good timing), that's it. And score as much as you can. Its Cricket, but its far more fun playing on the iPod (the iPad app hasn't arrived yet).

Gameplay: Its snappy. You've got 5 Overs to score as many runs as you can. Or you can chase down a hefty total and dominate the world world with a bunch of oldies (the likes of Jayasurya and Gavaskar).

What hampers the experience is a block! You don't get a full experience for free. After dominating three teams in the domination, you cannot dominate more "Without paying $2.99". More so, the two-player mode is disappointingly also in that $2.99 package. Then there is a whole world cup in front of you which cannot be played before upgrading. All This is free on the internet version of the game by the way.

Graphics: You don't expect great graphics from this game. Its the classic, stick-figure game. So you won't be seeing a next-generation graphic render of the Sachin Tendulkar while playing India in the all-star slog. So you see, graphics is not a forte of the Stick Cricket App.

GameCenter integration : Ok, now you've scored the runs, you paid some money, you've mastered your skills on the App, and won the world cup. Can you have competition? Oh... Yes, its the natural GameCenter integration you've got here. You can challenge your friends on the All-Star Slog to hit the maximum number of runs. You can get some wild achievements too like "Scoring a Century by one batsmen in 5 overs" or "Scoring 36 in an over" . Also, on the world stage you can compete, with the highest run-scorers. (I've not risen above the 725th Rank so far! )

Addictivity Meter: Angry Birds is addictive. Yes. Paper Toss is Addictive. Yes. But can a cricket game have so much power, to be addictive enough? The answer depends on the fact that how-much of a cricket fan "you" are. Well, I am a giant fan, in that matter. So My answer is Yes! It is as addictive than any other app in the app store.

Wrap-Up: Cricket fans will love it. The gamers will crib over the graphics. While the guys, who play for fun, will be playing it for hours until the batteries die.

iPod Touch Review

I know its coming rather late in the day, but yea, it is here:

Vidit Bhargava

Now starting with it, first of all this is my second iPod. Same memory. Bigger size and a touch-screen. The Primary question when you buy a gadget is Where does it stand in my Gadget wishlist. How do I view it? The iPod Nano is a simplistic yet eligant solution to portable music. I already have one. iPod Touch must come in Somewhere! This review of the new fourth generation iPod Touch reviews some areas where it helps and others where it doesn’t. So let me begin with the most marketed factors.

Gaming: The iPod Touch 4G with its powerful A4 chip allows for a powerful set of games. Mainly created by Gameloft (they develop the Assasins Creed for iPod) and Electronic Arts.Games like the NBA elite, NFS Hot Pursuit and FIFA 11 by Electronic Arts; Assasin’s Creed, Pro Evolution Soccer, Real Football and others by Gameloft Games and Infinity Blade (the earliest next gen game for the iPod) are some of the cool games that make the iPod a perfect NextGen Portable Gaming Console and make the iPod pose a serious threat to the likes of Nintendo DSi and Playstation Portable + You don’t have to cope with the hastle of having a CD or UMD. But My gaming has more often been concentrated with the less graphic intense but much more insanely addictive games like the Stick Cricket, Angry Birds, Star Dunk, Fruit Ninja and Tic Tac Toe. They are my favorites.

Game Center: The iPod Also has a game center. Though, not all games support it currently but iPod has a fare amount of games to challenge your friends and a have a great competition together + Games are increasingly adopting to the game center platform.

To some it all up, iPod Touch for portable gaming is a treat. It is one of the best portable gaming consoles with the best operating system and a wonderful graphics engine. Chuck your PSPs and Nintendos for the iPod Touch 4G, its a faster, snappier and cooler experience than those gaming consoles.

Music: The iPod as a music player is certainly great and that doesn’t change for the iPod Touch. It just gets better. With the powerful music UI and more imporantly the good quality of headphone listening the iPod Touch surely wins the Music Race among other touch-screen players.

iBooks: This is a place where the 3.5” touch-screen loses its touch. Reading a 3.5” Book is something that you won't want to read. At that small a screen, reading an eBook just becomes a painfull experience. You surely never want to read a book again on the iPod Touch. (iPad does that better)

Hardware: iPod Touch is paper thin, You tend to feel it will slip anytime. The screen is fine enough with a VGA camera in front for facetime. But the Real Hardware problem comes at the back. The iPod Touch still poses that abominable stainless Steel back which gets scratches on it ever so easily. It is something that no-one except Apple has a liking for. The plastic buttons are fine but still could have been better, as a matter of fact I liked the previous buttons. The Retina Display is good, but it lacks an IPS Panel. Sad.

Cameras: VGA in Front and HD recorder at back. Brilliant, but there is more to it, than what meets the eye, The Back Camera for still images is not worth it. It is not so good even for indoor or low light HD recording. VGA camera in front is surprisingly good and is suitable for FaceTime calls.

FaceTime: Facetime is something of an achievement. Users complain about the unavailability of 3G Video Calling feature for the iPhone 4 but Since the iPod’s life is based on WiFi, WiFi video calling doesn’t hurt at all. Moreover the ability to make Video Calls to a MAC, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 is just awesome. Having a facetime call with my cousins in Australia was a complete delight for both my grandma and me. FaceTime seems to go deep enough to create an emotional bond with the iPod.

Battery Life: Battery Life, frankly speaking, didn't impress me much. The iPod Touch looses battery too fast when doing some next gen gaming or watching movies.

Everything else: The iOS 4.3 is good, but still has a few rough-edges (the screen flickers sometimes). The Web-Experience is wonderful, and with Nitro-Engine thing, it is even better. The A4 as I've said before is very powerful.

Wrapping it up, the iPod Touch 4th Generation is a powerful gadget which proves to beat many serious competitors hands down. Add to that the not so exorbitant price of 15K. It is a delight to have a Portable Gaming Console, HD Recorder and iOS device at that low a price.

Rating: 8.4/10

New Rating Scale out of 10:

1 - Pathetic! I Survived it

2 - Very Bad. I want my money back!

3 - Bad, but with a few good things.

4 - Okeyish

5 - Not Bad, But Needs a lot of Improvement

6 - Good but there are many things that could have been better

7 - Nice. Value for Money

8 - Very Good. But Not Perfect

9 - Perfect but Still I'll save 1 for something better next time

10 - The best thing I've ever seen, I need nothing more! (This is virtually impossible)

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P.S. You'll be reading more from me, once my exams are over i.e. 28th March

Best Of 2010 - Movies

Vidit Bhargava

Ah yes, it has been a long time that I have written something abou anything on this blog (I had been busy with a lot of other work) . So here comes a post that is delayed by at least 24 days but just in time for the tweeple awards (about which I will write in a short time).

This list, I will caution you is just a list of the best movies I have seen throughout 2010 (roughly 30). So you may or may not think that it is a complete list + There is no top 5 here. All the good movies have made it to the list:

Hindi Movies

1. Peepli [Live]

The movie didn't make it to the Oscar's final list of nominees but ignoring it is something to say. Peepli Live was one of the more unconventional movies of 2010 which beat the glamorous sets and flashy clothes type of movies. Peepli Live was funny, enlightening and gripping through out.

2. Udaan

One of the best written movies of 2010. The tale of Rohan's escape from his authoritative father is just so promising. Udaan does get the 2nd spot for its sheer brilliance of writing, direction and acting. Amit Trivedi's Music is the icing on the cake.

3. Phas Gaye Re Obama

An innovative dark comedy about a bankrupt NRI who joins hands with recession stricken gangsters to have a 50-50 share in whatever they earn from selling the NRI to a higher gangster. The movie is short, simple and comic. Starring Rajat Kapoor, Manu Rishi, Sanjay Mishra and Amol Gupte in lead roles all of them have done a wonderful acting. At a running time of approximately 90 minutes the movie is one of the most exciting watch of 2010.

4. Robot

Breathtaking Sci-Fi effects, Rajnikanth Style action and a well researched plot are enough to make this Tamil Movie a must watch at all costs. Seeing 1000s of Rajnikanth turning into a giant snake to gulp in a car was just one of the sci-fi effect we had seen throughout this visual wonder.

5. Rajneeti

The movie showcased one of the not so frequently raised topics in movies and did it in a thrilling way. Rajneeti was one of those movies in 2010 that was awesomely grippy in the first half as well as the second half. Ranbir Kapoor's acting was also a plus point.

6. Dabanng

Dabanng can surely be called the entertainer of the year. A hairline plot which doesn't matter is not of much importance when you've got some really catchy and cool dialogues with some good action. The movie is completely entertaining to say the least.

7. Tere Bin Laden

Waking up a new kind of comedy in Indian movies. Ali Zafar's Tere Bin Laden was entertaining, funny, low budget and wonderful. Even when competing with some seriously good scripted drama of Udaan. The movie did well and was just good enough to be called slapstick or badly scripted.

8. My Name is Khan

Last in the list but not bad at all. My Name is Khan was something different that had been done with the movies but the movie was itself a repeat of mass success. Even though, the plot, when you think now doesn't make much sense but the movie as a whole is credited with Shah Rukh Khan's wonderful acting and the message it tries to convey and conveys successfully.

English Movies

1. Inception

IMDB ranks it number 1, it is the top contender to academy awards and so do I think it is. The Best Movie of 2010. Inception wins it hands down. The dream into dream into dream action and science fiction could only have been created by Christopher Nolan. Inception is a well crafted plot with amazing action and amazing acting.

2. Toy Story 3

Usually Animated stories turn out to be boring at some point of time. They loose their charm easily and just please the kids, but it isn't so with the Toy Story 3 (Yeah! There was another jinx with the 3rd in the series thing!) Toy Story 3 is the best ever in the series. Wonderful animation with a touching plot makes for fun watch of 90 minutes. What more, with 3D Glasses!

3. The Social Network

The Social Network is undoubtedly one of the best of 2010. The Nerdy topic of Facebook's creation displayed enigmatically and interestingly in a movie by David Fincher is a success in itself + The wonderful acting and some really interesting drama makes this movie a worth watch.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.. That's the max I'll say. True Harry Potter Fans do love this movie. Even though in parts, the movie has been carefully and interesting adapted from the book. Not much is left behind and the movie does complete justice to the book. (Yea, finally after the 1st part :D) .

5. Karate Kid

It may not be in the best list. But Karate Kid is one of the best according to me. The inspiring story remade into today's world is .. just inspiring. And if a movie inspires you to learn Kung Fu you can't help it but put it into the best of the year category.

6. Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2, though not as good as the Iron Man 1 is still good and interesting. They made the sequel and they did it the right way, even though the movie didn't have all that action as in the first half but Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson were enough to pack power in the movie.

MVDIT I.T. Person of the Year 2010

Vidit Bhargava

Julian Assange. That was the "Buzz" word all over the globe. From a low profile hacker, only shown in good quizzes as a tough question to a completely household name that was his transition throught the earth. Born on 3 July 1971 The Whistleblower is primarily the owner of WikiLeaks.

Assange was born in Queensland, Australia and served much of his life living on the magnetic island. In 1987, after turning 16, Julian Assange began hacking under the name "Mendax". He and two other hackers joined to form a group which they named the International Subversives.

In response to the hacking, the Australian Federal Police raided his Melbourne home in 1991. He was reported to have accessed computers belonging to an Australian university, the Canadian telecommunications company Nortel, the USAF 7th Command Group in the Pentagon and other organisations.In 1992, he pleaded guilty to 24 charges of hacking and was released on bond for good conduct after being fined a certain 2100 Australian Dollars. Here is what the prosecutor had to say about him:

"There is just no evidence that there was anything other than sort of intelligent inquisitiveness and the pleasure of being able to—what's the expression—surf through these various computers".

So you see Assange's Magic had already begun. Later in the 20th Century Assange was involved in various activities but none was too big as What would come in the future. Assange once commented that he was actually proud of the hacking phase of his life, and wasn't in the least embarrased.

Wikileaks

WikiLeaks is easily the most important thing that has happened to Julian Assange. In 2006 Wikileaks.org was born. The site claims to have been "founded by Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and start-up company technologists, from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa". So you see it is a complete misconception that wikileaks is Assange's creation. There is no formal identification of the Wikileaks but is only represented by Julian Assange and others since January 2007. Assange describes himself as the member of the advisory board.

In March 2010, WikiLeaks released a secret 32-page U.S. Department of Defense Counterintelligence Analysis Report written in March 2008 discussing the leaking of material by WikiLeaks and how it could be deterred. In April, a classified video of the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike was released, showing two Reuters employees being fired at, after the pilots mistakenly thought the men were carrying weapons, which were in fact cameras. In July, WikiLeaks released 92,000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan between 2004 and the end of 2009 to The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel. The documents detail individual incidents including friendly fire and civilian casualties.

Following on from the leak of information from the Afghan War, in October 2010, around 400,000 documents relating to the Iraq War where released in October. The BBC quoted The Pentagon referring to the Iraq War Logs as "the largest leak of classified documents in its history." Media coverage of the leaked documents focused on claims that the U.S. government had ignored reports of torture by the Iraqi authorities during the period after the 2003 war.

In December 2010. The wikileaks.org domain was killed and just 4 hours later Wikileaks was up again with a completely new domain. Wikileaks.ch . Now thats what you call determination.

So er.. This is what Wikileaks has been doing throughout the year. The rapid growth in the visitor levels have been seen throughout 2010. From a mere hacker Julian Assange had turned into a public figure. Launching leaks one after the other. Ripping (or Opening, whichever you might love to call!) the US Government through the largest leaks the world has ever seen. And All this while sitting at home and sipping a coffee in front of his computer. (ER.. That's not actually true, but Hey it really does sound epic. Ain't it?).

For all that Assange did this year. The James Bond of Hacking. The Whistleblower, Julian Assange gets the MVDIT I.T. Person of the Year Award.

Hero of the Year 2010

In a sense, Zuckerberg and Assange are two sides of the same coin. Both express a desire for openness and transparency. While Assange attacks big institutions and governments through involuntary transparency with the goal of disempowering them, Zuckerberg enables individuals to voluntarily share information with the idea of empowering them. Assange sees the world as filled with real and imagined enemies; Zuckerberg sees the world as filled with potential friends. Both have a certain disdain for privacy: in Assange's case because he feels it allows malevolence to flourish; in Zuckerberg's case because he sees it as a cultural anachronism, an impediment to a more efficient and open connection between people.

After reading the extract you won't be surprised at the title. You know now what Time wants to convey through that message. Assange was considered d-villain. Call him the bad guy or Call him James Bond of hacking, its up to you. But the truth is he is the deserving PERSON OF THE YEAR. Even if TIME gives it to the 'Hero', Zuckerberg, who did those supposedly 'good deeds'.

P.S. - Zucker's sure to get on the good kid list of Santa this year :P .

** The post is in no offense to Mark Zuckerberg and intends at causing no harm to the prestigious TIME. These are just the personal views of a blogger.

ARTICLES! MORE ARTICLES!

Vidit Bhargava

Have, you ever wondered if you could get your article published in that coveted tech-magazine that goes on every bodies doorstep? You might not have had such good luck at that...

Ok, You all are aware of MVDIT TECH BOOK (Our e-zine which gives the most unbiased view of the latest trends and technology). Fine even if 'you' don't know: in a gist, me and brother started creating this monthly e-zine three years back. It is meant to give only the month's first-rate news. What happened... What was the new game that came... How was that mobile anything and everything is there on this roughly 20 page long eZine.

What we need now is contribution, we have only two permanent writers (that's me and brother), while some of our friends contribute once or twice. We are in search of young bloggers, who can write constantly on technology (Like an article once per week) with a little bit of wit.

You just need to keep writing, and keep submitting, we will put the best articles in our eZine while others go straight to the website atleast (Some still wont make it, though "Since we moderate the stuff we publish").

The only requirement here is your writing skill, your text should be yours completely, it should not be plagiarized or even partially plagiarized from any other source. There is no age limit. This program is open to all the people of world with a computer and an internet connection.

The content should be in English language only.

To register yourself for the program : Send us the following details at: viditbhargava@live.in

Name:

Occupation:

Age:

Email Address:

PenName: (optional)

** Your articles will be published on the basis of how regularly you write to us.

DECRYPT Answers

Vidit Bhargava

Time For DECRYPT 2010 - Answers:

1. WELL DONE! (I used the CAESARS BOX over here!)

2. Xkcd.com (I used ROT -1 to generate a hinting, random name)

3. Not Even an Encryption Standard

(The answer refers to ROT 13, used to encrypt the text).

4. Number for is correct/right (Again, the Caesar's box)

5. Pass Key to Round Two (Encryption used, ROT 12, but it is of no relevance now, due to the lukewarm response)

Ok so you know What Rotation Text is, we just shift the alphabet a certain number of spaces to get the encrypted text. (Like Using ROT -1, we shift B to A, C to B, D to C, and so on...)

There is another more powerful method used and that is CAESARS BOX. Ok what is Caesars box? You'll observe that the letters (All added up) make a perfect square i.e. the 1st Question has 9 letters. So if you arrange each group of (3 letters) one below the other, it creates a box and gives a message. This is the way Julius Caesar used to communicate and it is believed to be one of the first encryption standard.

The answers are in reference to the following post : [LINK]

PUFFIN 2010

Vidit Bhargava

Puffin 2010 was conducted in Delhi, on 15th November 2010. Here is an archive of the prelims:

Hotpot For Hotspots

Vidit Bhargava

Google Hotpot was unveiled today. Here's a video that Explains the Google Hotpot:

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P.S. All content shown in the video was for demonstration purposes. I may not have necessarily visited the place.

The Fatal Error

Vidit Bhargava

Mark Zuckerberg -24% , ______-6%, Eduardo Saverin 5%, Microsoft 1.3%

Ans.Dustin Moskovitz...

It was a unique experience going into Exun 2010, without anyone else from my school. I had to participate alone in a junior quiz. (you see if they don't want to go, its their problem, I won't sacrifice an awesome upcoming event for that.)

"Woah! You're Brave" - That's what Yash Singh, one of my gyaan[dot]in friends, said to me after the quiz.

So what was experience like? You see, going alone doesn't affect much, as you'd probably have friends from other schools. "Which I had, Prempal, Apratim, Aman (and other NEPS participants) and Yash were the one's with whom i had a nice time!". Bien Then How was the event like? Hmm... i gotta say something about that too, Na!

There you go! The ever so awesome After Effects edited video of Exun 2010. The event began with a nice bang. From there on there was a nice group discussion with not so nice topics. "Do You think Social Networking sites should be banned for kids?", "Are these new Indian Mobile companies going to survive in the future?", "Should technology come first or should Health be the priority?". The discussion was nicely conducted by a guy in grey T-Shirt (and two others, the ferrari t-shirt guy who looked a little rude, and the curly haired one who was almost very silent.)

Next up was recess, and their came the much awaited, delicious Pizzas! I got a chance to stretch my legs and click some pics:

Just after the delightful pizza, came the surprise. I was certainly a surprise to see what the event was. So they had given us a sheet of paper, which had all those pictures and stuff. You had to find 5 keywords to win the the event. Fine There were a few obvious clues like "Android", and "Blade Runner" and there was a Nexus One also. So i got two right first. and then I tried, making four continuous errors. With 5 continuous errors, I was gone. "Ok, but the deal doesn't include making 5 consecutive errors in different attempts!" So, I went for the next four. And came the invigilator's voice..."You're disqualified!" That was the Shock quotient. "The deal doesn't included making 5 consecutive errors in different attempts!".

Some time back in the day I had even given a certain Junior Quiz, The questions were rather tough, I thought, for a junior quiz but I knew some. One of them was a question about Facebook's founders having shares, I wrote Dustin Moskovitz, I was certain it was correct. But in the last moments of the quiz, something happened:

Mark Zuckerberg -24% , ______-6%, Eduardo Saverin 5%, Microsoft 1.3%

Ans. Dustin Moskovitz Chris Hughes

ta-da! The Fatal Error!

The error cost me my position in finals (I had 5 and the cut-off was 6) and I still regret my decision to cancel out Moskovitz for Hughes, and yearn for a time-machine that could correct it.

Congratulations to my friends, Prempal, Aman and Apratim for winning that Junior Quiz.

Times NIE Fundamental 2010

Vidit Bhargava

Derek's Quizzing may not be like the one's you experience when attending a Cradle Sports or School Quiz. They are different, certainly very different from what Derek does. Here you have nicely organized and humor filled quiz, which keeps the audience seated and not just the quizzers.

Here are the prelims of the NIE Fundamental Quiz, where I came third!

Project Titan - Explained in one Video

Vidit Bhargava

Yesterday, Facebook launched a new service which they had been developing for as long as one year. Internally codenamed as Project Titan, the new messaging feature of Facebook is very complex. This post should make it simpler for you!

The Upgrade now page explains a little about what this new thing is about.

But there is still more explanation to be given, so here's a video from Facebook's side to give more information:

DECRYPT Season 2

Vidit Bhargava

Remember Season 1? It was long-long back. It was then called "Decode This" (Being in 6th I didn't know what is Decryption and Encryption). That, decryption test of sorts was just a set of character toggled text. Not much manual work. You just needed a word processor and keyboard and Voila! Here is the answer!

But, DECRYPT is back and it's not going to have such silly decrypting tools that i quoted above!

Get ready, with a pen, paper and your brains

Thees is Round 1.

1. WLN-EDE-LO!

2. Most random in the CC world: wjbc.bnl

3. ABG RIRA NA RAPELCGVBA FGNAQNEQ.

4. N R I R R - U F S E I - M O C C G - B U O T H - E R R / T

5. BMEE WQK FA DAGZP FIA.

The round is very simple, so you'll need to give all the answers correctly, to go to the next round.

The last date of submission of answers is: 18th November 2010 at "vidit.best@gmail.com", please don't submit the answers in the comment box.

The Quizzing Season at Delhi

Vidit Bhargava

November this year, is the month of quizzing. There are just so many of them that it is tough to keep a track, when they are coming! With half the month, already gone. Some have actually finished. So if you are a quizzer and looking for information on the greatest quizzes happening in Delhi. This is a post for you!

Already Conducted:

Times NIE Fundamental 2010

Date: 10th November 2010

Venue: Siri Fort Auditorium

Eligibility: Open

Quizmaster : Derek O'Brien

Results:

1. DPS RK Puram

2. Bal Bharti School

3. Manav Sthali School R-Block

Archive: [Prelims], [Finals]

Exun 2010 [Computer Symposium]

Venue: DPS RK Puram

Date: 13th and 14th November 2010

Quizzes:

Junior Quiz (Upto Class X)

Senior Quiz (Open)

Results:

Junior Quiz:

1. New Era Public School, Mayapuri

2. New Era Public School, Mayapuri [Team 2]

3. The Air Force School

Senior Quiz:

1. DPS Vasant Kunj

2. New Era Public School, Mayapuri

3. DPS Dwarka

Puffin Quiz

Date: 15th November 2010

Venue: Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Lodhi Estate

Eligibility: Open

Quizmaster: Derek O'Brien

Results:

1. Gyan Bharati School

2. Sardar Patel Vidyalaya

Upcoming Quizzes

Limca Book of Records Quiz, Delhi 2010

Date: 19th November 2010

Venue: St. Thomas Girls School, Mandir Marg

Eligibility: Open

Quizmaster: Derek O'Brien

Keshav Maha Vidyalaya Quizzes

General Quiz and Business Quiz:

Date: 22nd November 2010

Venue: Keshav Maha Vidyalaya

Eligibility: Preferably 11th and 12th

Quizmaster: Parnab Mukherjee

More Details Here.

Texas Instruments, Jack Kilby Science Quiz, Delhi

Date: 24th November 2010

Venue: Chinmaya Mission Delhi Chinmaya Centre of World Understanding 89

Eligibility: 8th to 10th Class

More Details Here.

Dynamix 2010 [Computer Symposium]

Date: 26th November 2010

Venue: Ramjas School RK Puram

Brainwave [Science Quiz]

Date: 26th November 2010

Venue: Manav Sthali School, R-Block

TCS IT Wiz 2010

Date: 27th November 2010

Venue: IIT Delhi Dogra Hall

Those Mysterious Happenings - Peril At the End House

Vidit Bhargava

Ingredients of an Agatha Christie Poirot classic, are simple.

Queer Happenings, Murder, Inquest (with no certain outcome), Japp, Hastings, Poirot's Special Remarks, Poirot's own style of Investigation, Talk -Talk, Arrest (of the wrong person), Poirot's Little Comedy, Murderer's Denial, Poirot's Explanation.

Occasionally when not Japp, some other Scotland Yard Officer comes up and is often correctly predicted as egoistic. The books in which Agatha Christie had shattered those ingredients and chosen new paths, she had succeeded, succeeded not only in surprising the reader but also turning those books into best sellers. (Take the examples of 'Murder on the Orient Express', 'ABC Murders', 'Death in the Clouds', 'Murder of Roger Ackroyd' they all were nice and of course the mysteries were 'Jaw Dropping').

Although, she might have been 'fed up with Poirot' (As christie's grandson explains), Agatha Christie never left writing Poirot Novels. This book, Peril at the End House was however one of her earlier creations (1932). Peril at End House, sounds haunting (thanks to the cover also, which makes it look like one). But, it isn't.

Bien!, the plot goes like this:

Nick Buckley has had three accidents (three escapes from murder) recently, (An Oil Painting that came crushing down on her bed, a boulder that just missed her and a car whose breaks had failed). She is fortunate to meat the great Belgian, Poirot! (Who is by the way on a holiday, with Hastings). What follows next, is Poirot's Attempts to find the murderer, before he commits the murder.

The murder mystery is narrated rather "Stylishly" by Hastings this time & is engrossing in most of the parts, even though you may know the murderer half-way through. Moreover the Novel always urges you to read more, 2 chapters a day won't help you, you're anyways going to read more to suffice your growing hunger of reading. The swiftness of the book is also a factor which acts a bonding agent between you and the book.

It is all well but what disappoints here is the mystery. As usual, Poirot plays his little comedy first (Like he has done in many others like the Blue Train mystery). There are a lot of twists, turns and truth to be blurted out till the last moment. Its all a mess in the end, till Poirot Explains and others listen. Though, out of so-much that's left to be unraveled by Poirot, you'll find a few things surprising and shocking but at the bottom of it all, the final solution is not very pleasing. Why do I say that? The Book itself reads at the back, quoting a critic's message that the final solution is ingenious. Its not. As a matter of fact, it can all be nice and surprising if you read this as your first Poirot Mystery, but looking at it in a sequence you're bound to know the murderer very easily.

There you have it, Poirot Investigated another murder after his apparent retirement, but failed to surprise me. I had known the murderer even before Poirot realized what had happened (you can say that I boasting to him here, but you see Mon Ami, even he is also not a modest chap!)

Rating: *** 1/2

Your Travels at Delhi

Vidit Bhargava

The CommonWealth Games are going on in Delhi. The Players, Officials and Supporters have arrived and as usual there are a few tourists also. The Games will be over by 14th, but i guess all others will love to take a break and visit places at Delhi.

Not Exactly dirt and filth: If you're prejudiced that you'll find dirt, filth and poor all around, break that. Delhi's is not all about that. It's got some really cool places that you can visit.

Connaught Place - If you wish to get the best-stuff in town, just come to Rajiv Chowk (The offiical name of CP) via Delhi Metro or any other transport. The Circular market is all about the best things in town. The best food joints, be it Indian or any other cuisine or maybe you'll love to have some entertainment? The best cinemas are here. About Clothes? You'll find all the pepe jeans, and levis stores, with the FabIndias in the main-circle.

Places of interest at Connaught Place:

Food - Indian

Haldirams - Gives you everything from North indian to South Indian

Sarvanabhavan - Delhi's best for South Indian food

Moti Mahal Delux - The Restaurant which got Tandoori to Delhi! The best place to eat North Indian

Food - Others

Zen - Traditional Chinese and Japanese Cuisine

Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza and McDonalds - You all know what's that for!

Parikrama - The Revolving Restaurant of Delhi!

PiccaDelhi - Mutli-Cuisine. Note: under a wonderful Cinema hall!

So that was Food: Now about Cinema Halls:

The Best in town:

PVR (Priya 'Village Roadshow'): Plaza & Rivoli

Big Cinemas Odeon

There is also a single-screen theater known as 'Regal', but i wouldn't personally recommend that.

Also you'll find shops to buy some Indian clothes everywhere in CP. I'd suggest FabIndia for Indian Outfits. Apart from that you'll get Pepe Jeans, Levis, etc.. also.

From the mega-market of Delhi, you can take a metro to almost anywhere. Even any CWG venue. So if you've got plans for watching the ongoing CWG 2010 (which i hope you do!) you can go to any stadium. If you have a ticket already, you'll also get a free Delhi Metro ride. And the venues, needless to say are wonderful! (and without any filth!), The Delhi Metro connects to every stadium!

You can also take a ride down to Noida and Gurgaon, and visit some fantastic malls. You'll find the Great India Place (Noida) and Ambience Mall (Gurgaon) particularly very interesting.

You can also goto the Akshardham Temple, a really very interesting place to visit. Its completely spiritual and a trip to Akshardham is bound to mesmerize you.

There are of course, many other monuments in Delhi. I've made a list of the best of them:

India Gate

Humayun's Tomb

Qutb Minar

Lotus Temple

Lodi Garden's

All of them can be Googled about and searched on Wikipedia.

There are some food's you otta have (even though, they might not please your stomach much! :) ). Being in Delhi, you won't want to miss the street food! You can have Chole Bhature, Bhel Puri, Matra Kulche anywhere in Delhi! Apart from don't forget the Dal Makhni, Shahi Paneer, and all the other Tandoori foods of Delhi, which you can get in any good restaurant of Delhi.

You can visit all these places of Delhi, without any problems. You can visit even more (if you've got time!) but these are the best places, particularly you won't find anything dirty or filthy here. You'll enjoy the visit throughout and find people very helpful. You can take a metro ride and go any where around the city. I hope you like your visit to Delhi! (Do share your experience in the comments box below!)

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P.S : Up next my review on the mozart of madras' creation : the soundtrack of Jhootha hi Sahi

Robot - Review

Vidit Bhargava

"Robot dekhne jaa raha hai? Best of luck!" That was the message by my friend to whom i suggested watching the movie with me. Of course this would have been completely different in Chennai, where these movies are a real hit. So what made me watch a tamil movie dubbed in Hindi. Bien Messieurs, it was the sci-fi plot and Alan Scott's special effects that attracted me.

The movie has a simple 'followed by many' plot, about the debatable existence of Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Vaseegaran (Rajni), creates an Android (A human like robot) named Chitti! (Also Played by Rajnikanth), which doesn't have AI and fails at many crucial tasks of human society. Vaseegaran, does that impossible thing (that every actor of a such a sci-fi has done before), and adds AI and 'Feelings' into Chitti. Guess what? The predictable happens, Chitti now loves, Vaseegaran's girlfriend (Aishwarya Rai) ... yank yank yank yank You can complete the plot mostly by yourself its mainly very predictable.

After I got used to the dubbed movie feeling, and Rajnikanth's Super-natural make up. The movie started taking its, shape and I started enjoying the movie. Robot is entertaining. The Rajnikanth Action, which gets more realistic as the character is a robot, is an experience you won't like to miss. What Robot also does, is add a slight sprinkle of humor. So, you're certain to have a few good laughs.

The first half of the movie is nice, its entertaining, action packed, and fun. It is also very interesting, even with its predictable plot. However, the predictable plot works against Robot in the second half, the movie slows down for about half an hour, and just when you start feeling bored, the special effects and the newly designed Rajnikanth comes to the rescue.

What follows next is a sequence of breathtaking super effects and brilliant action sequences. You can't just stop praising the special effects. You see, that's what they spent र162 Crore on! There hasn't been anything like those special effects in hindi movies before. The special effects also make the whole climax very interesting.

You can catch a glimpse of the effects, here in the teaser!

Talking of acting, Rajnikanth is the hero, villain or whatever you'd like to call, of the movie. It's because of him, that the movie is so engaging (needless to say that really!). Aishwarya Rai has not much of acting to here but whatever little she's got to do in the movie, she does it well. The wicked Bohra played by Danny Denzongpa involves some super acting on the actors part and makes his character much less monotonous.

Praises and Praises everywhere, eh? Well, not so, when it comes to music. It's A.R. Rahman's after all what bad can it be? Well, the tamil version is nice but it gets lost in translation in Hindi. The music is very melodious, not doubt! but when it comes to lyrics, Swanand Kirkire (of the 3 Idiots and Paa fame) fails bitterly. The tracks, 'Naina Mile', 'Pagal Anukan' and 'Kilimanjaro' still stand out because of sheer brilliant composition.

On the whole, the movie is an interesting one, which is well researched and meant for both the entertainment loving and sci-fi watching audiences. There have been sci-fi hindi movies earlier but this one makes an impact.

Rating: *** 1/2 [Interesting and Entertaining]

FIFA 11 - Demo First Impressions

Vidit Bhargava

Bien!, what do I say? It has been a long and tiring two months for me. First the online Tech Quiz, then viral and then the CBSE CCE Exams (about which I'll write but later!), I got time and played the FIFA 11 - Demo. Here's what's my First Impression about it.

FIFA 11 will be coming at your nearby store this week, we got a copy of the FIFA 11 Demo, just a few days back and here's what we have to say about the game:

Graphics: That's the first thing you'll notice about the game. The game has the same graphics engine, that they are using for XBOX 360. It certainly does take FIFA PC to a new level, the previous two graphics engine (FIFA 07,08 and FIFA 09,10) look amateur in front of the new NEXTGen Graphics. What you'll notice here is that not only the graphics engine is of XBOX 360, the whole game works on XBOX 360 Gontroller commands, which you need to tweek for your Keyboard. Although for the Gamepads All is well.

Gameplay: What FIFA has immemsely improved at is its gameplay. They keep on making changes to it every year, to make the game look realistic, but fail bitterly. This year's FIFA 11, does the trick. It is 'realistic' with all those players who keep on moving around the field and not stand like plastic puppets, and that is peppered with the brilliant graphics. Which makes it a visual aswell as core delight to play the game. Also, the AI gameplay has improved, It takes time to figure out how to battle it to a perfect goal finish add to that the thrilling matches which are only possible because of AI's ruff and tough play. 360 Dribbling is also a neat addition, it gives you the advantage of keeping the ball out of the AI's way!

Pro-Camera: One thing you'll find with FIFA 11, is its new pro-camera. What's new about? It gives you the players eye when playing the game. So what basically happens is, that it becomes easier to score a goal or defend it. Pro Camera also has this really cool feature of accelarating the camera speed when you make your player sprint which gives an even better experience.

Crowd and Commentary: Though this is not something very important but it has still got better than most of its previous versions.The crowd is now 3D and keeps on screaming and whistling. (The full version will have custom crowd chantings), commentators remain the same but their style of commentry has grown into something more world-class. All this, multiplies the thrilling experience of the game.

But is all well with the game? The answer is a decisive no. Although, the game may be brilliant in most of the areas but it still has some bugs. To begin with, there is a prevailant passing bug, now when you pass to a player, it happens that almost 70% of the times he'll miss the pass between his legs, also sometimes the players pass the ball, even when their not said to do so, another bug which was encountered by many was the alien player bug, Here, one of the players of the demo displays no-face instead shows a green-black color instead. There are still many big and small bugs in the game apart from these two.

Apart from the bugs, the camera swing also has a problem. When using the Dynamic V2 Camera modes, you'll see that you cannot see the defenders image when defending a free kick or you may not even be able to see your goalkeaper taking a kick. When passing it happens almost all the times in the dynamic camera that your fellow player to whome you are passing isn't visible. The same is prevailant many a times in the 'new Pro Cam' mode. I also feel sometimes that referee is potentially biased!, he never gives a free-kick, penalty or red-card to the user's benefit, and even for the tiniest of tackles you'll be punished bitterly!

My first impressions of the game are very good. Even though the game has minor and major hiccups, but it is still one of the best FIFA Gaming Experience on your Personal Computer. I hope they fix the bugs before the game's official release.

And please this is not a review. I'll be reviewing the game, and posting it in a month's time. These are just first impressions

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P.S - I couldn't post the actual game play screenshots, because of the brilliantly bugged windows 7 which doesn't allow for Game Screenshots. Oh and a Belated happy Birthday to my blog, which just got 4 years old on 30th August!