Disney World has great vegan ice cream

Great Vegan Ice Cream, and the cookies were vegan too. I thoroughly enjoyed the dessert!

I was "That Guy" at the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor

More Disney World stories soon. Visited the place with my best friend, and had a blast there; but one of the funniest parts was when I saw the Monster's Inc. laugh floor bit. The stand up comedy bit hosted by a projected Mike Wazowski relies of jokes sent by the audience but also relies on crowd play. One part is being "that guy", it's a silly bit where they make jokes on you, and unlike other crowd bits, you get no chance to defend yourself. It's also very funny to see yourself show up on screen at very unexpected moments. I was in splits by the time the bit ended.

My friend didn't take pictures. But my evidence is this sticker! :D


BTW I did neither of these things, I was wearing a normal black T-shirt, was very happy to be there, and was not sitting in the front. I was just there.

Camera is not an app: it's a memory capture tool

I've been wondering how the "Camera" should no longer be an app. Like Camera is a technology, and sure you can do the traditional thing of taking pictures, but by no means is that the only function of that technology on a personal computing device.

To begin with, it's a great cognitive offloading tool. It's the tool you use to take save receipts, books to read, food you've eaten, things you've done. Sometimes even medical readings if you're tracking them over time.

Photos are visual memory. The timeline acts as a tool for eidetic memory, or photo-recall; but mixing that with photos I take for Photography has interesting side-effects. The photos app is fundamentally not a note-taking app, so it's not smart enough to serve as one and thus curtails the technology's ability to serve as the center piece of computing that it is.

I think the next killer camera app is not one that helps you take better pictures, but one that combines taking pictures with it being a photographic memory.

Sunset view of the Golden Gate from Berkeley Marina

Captured this from the passenger seat while being driven down the Berkeley Marina back to SF. Such a good view, such good vibes.

What do Prototypes Prototype?

I was reading this paper on Prototyping, titled "What do Prototypes Prototype" and found the whole scenario to be really interesting.

Prototypes are such an interesting space. Ofcourse you can't build the thing at once, or else it'd be a fully functioning product at that point. So it must be something that's in-progress, but how does one show that. and when to "fake" something vs when to show something as real is such a pertinent question.

To me one of the best advice I've received is, everything should be fake except for the thing you're testing the prototype for. That should be real. So then it really becomes the question of "What answers we need from a demonstration", and then that informs what is prototyped.

Wish I knew this before.

BTW, this also hits at the problem of making first, or doing research first. If you look at it in one way, prototypes are ideas put out of the brain in tangible form. Making a prototype should be non-negotiable when showing something to people. Understand a problem space, yes. But don't do research without a prototype, would be my advice.

Fun with Particle Effects

Ported my SwiftUI particle animations to the web and the effect is pretty fun, I must say. May just release a tool to create particle effects out of it.

The beginnings of a generalized preference framework.

Why do we like what we like? What forms our preferences, dislikes, or any number of emotions we attach to tangible and intangible things. This is the heart of the question I want to ask for the next few months.

Reading suggestions welcome.

Ba***ds of Bollywood is so much fun!

Will probably write a proper review at some point, but Ba***ds of bollywood is just so much fun! I think Aryan Khan's hit it out of the park with the show. Clever dialogue, well etched out characters and a star-cast (not just the cameos) that shines through and through. Watch out for Anya Singh, and Raghav Juyal; along with Arshad Warsi's delightful cameo.

This is excellent comedy that's well done. I binged watched it in two sittings, that's how good the show is.

Throwback: Me making Pasta

One of the things I had more time to make is Pasta. It's one of the trickier dishes to make, but it's just as fun as baking Pizza.

Productivity Crash

I have been extremely productive for the last 3 weeks. Getting a lot done really quickly. But somehow my productivity just crashed Wednesday evening. And hasn't been back up since. I don't want to work for a while, I can. Being productive is weird. Somedays I am deeply motivated, others I just want to sit and watch movies.

What is AR useful for

Your's truly 8 years ago. I think it's infuriating that I don't get to work on Emerging Technologies, even though I have been diligently researching everything for the last 10 years. It's just well and truly sad.

Notes from Alan Kay's Notion Chat

These are my sketch notes from the talk. I was a bit disappointed to not see him in flesh and blood, but through a video call, but it nonetheless good to hear from the person. What stuck with me was two things: First how we as ourselves are a combination of things we're born with and the culture around us. The cultural part is intangible harder to capture. And second that we no longer have anything like Xerox PARC or DARPA, so all the trash gets exhibited in the open, in the name of "startups", my big take-away is none of the "AI Computers" should be shipping right now; that's a space for exploration, not shipping, as of 2025.

What Meta and other tech-companies don't understand about the future of computing

I can say with a fair amount of confidence that I and the majority people around me, neither want or need a new way to send text-messages, play music, or ask Chat-GPT random questions. That's one part about why I don't find the Meta Glasses to be impressive.

The other part is the assumptions. The assumption that people are dying to get a new form factor to move on from the touch-screen phone. People are either don't think twice about using their phone, or are sick and tired of technology invading every part of their lives.

The former doesn't care about a new way to message friends, the latter would puke at the thought of smartphones strapped to my eyes, so that they can see what I am seeing and act on it; that to by Meta.

So why is it a foregone conclusion that AR glasses would ever be a thing. IMHO the next computing revolution would be one that helps us use less of technology; not one that shoves it into our face.

Finally had good Paneer Tikka SF

Friend visited me in SF the other day, and I finally had the chance to try the Paneer Tikka at this Indian Restaurant in Mission that goes by the name of Apna Chulha. The place is good their food is very authentic but for me what stole the show was their Paneer Tikka, it was really well done. Don't get me wrong, it's still not perfect, for e.g. the Paneer felt a little underroasted for a Paneer Tikka, but it tasted really good, so I am not complaining.

How would you illustrate the word "Design"

Was writing anothe blog post, and I was struggling to find the right glyph for design. We all know design is not just how it looks but also how it works, and how it feels. But ultimately if you're visually showing design, the representation for the graphics are a bit restricted.

Take these two examples here. One is more direct, but too restrictive. It boxes design into visual design, and frankly its offensive to me as a designer, who hardly ever wants to a "paint job" on the designs. The other one on the other hand is a bit too abstract, and doesn't clearly show design; which is ironic.

Just two explorations, wonder how else design can be represented, visually.

Missed posts: What have I been upto this week

So why am I missing so many posts. What's up, why is the blog post momentum suddenly slowing down. Well, I have been working on updating my app for iOS 26. And I started a redesign project at that. So the whole process has decidedly taken way too long and too much time. for me, which is why the blog posts have become a formality for the last two weeks.

That said, the update is live now and I'll be back with more fun stuff.

Blogger doesn’t have an app!?!

This is gonna be a short meta (not the company) post, but I just discovered that Blogger doesnt have an iOS app anymore. That's a shame. A well built blogging app can make it easy to publish content on the web. What we have right now in the name of a web app is too janky.

A new coat of paint always does wonder.

Was redeisgning certain parts of my app that I barely had the time to touch. Gave them a new set of gradients. And now they look straight outta 2026! :D

Some more thoughts on the iPhone Air

I think it's pretty insane that they packed the entire iPhone in a camera bump, and then proceeded to put battery in the rest of the unit.

I think this will be remembered as one of the best iPhones to come out, especially in terms of industrial design. It's right up their with the likes of iPhone X, iPhone 6s, iPhone 5, and iPhone 4. It's a stunning design with some insane forward looking electronics.

This is the first iPhone to get me excited about iPhones in a while.

Crunch Time for LookUp Updates

Been working for the last 12 hours. Crunch time here for LookUp updates. I did a crazy redesign with a crazier strategy. The result is that Betas are lagging far behind the actual progress. This has been the most insane update cycle, with practically no beta. Not gonna do this again.