Shyam's Blog

We contributed to Earth Hour 2012 by Switching off lights between 8:30pm and 9:30pm IST.

In Bangalore, it has become very easy to watch movies in theaters. There are Android and iPhone apps to check movie timing and book it instantly on our phone. Once we reach the multiplex, we can print the ticket in a kiosk. No need to worry of house-full. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Very few people feel they are passionate about what they do. I am one of them. I don't think I would have become an engineer if I was left to choose my career in-line with passion. My brother and I were doing so many things that Engineering came to us very late in our life as an option when we finished our college. I was checking this website of Karnataka Secondary Education Examinations - here . We were so much in to painting that I am sure we could have made Painting/related art as our passionate career. We had passed the exam when we were in High School. I will surely recommend all schools to have this exam in their curriculum. Another certificate (exam) that we got was Music Junior - link here . Though this certificate was of little importance then, I do feel that we took music very close to our heart. Seeing the publicity that today's generation get in media, I feel that we had very little opportunities. There were many other streams that we (my brother and I) participate...

A seminar was organized In Gayana Samaja today. 10 musicians answered questions from the audience of around 600. This session should have been for people who don't really know music, but it was otherwise. Most in the audience knew music and 90% of them were senior citizens. Don't know if that served the purpose of having this seminar. Highlights of discussion... On fusion music - Panel was open on this topic. Seeing the development of music in the past 5 decades, there is no reason to worry on fusion. If people like it, that will become an integral part of concerts in future. Overall, music is something very big to be made impure. On own compositions by current composers - Nothing bad. If the songs are good, they will stay, else they will perish. On structured way of basic lessons - it is important to have basics right. If the kid has talent, lessons can be taught faster. Also, teaching small songs initially will make the kid interested in music. First duty of a music teacher i...

It was a wonderful experience to be at Annual Day of our son's school (Planet Kids). It is actually pre-school! The program was arranged in Town Hall and it was done very professionally. All kids from age 2 to 5 participated. Our son was part of dance with theme as Sports. He wore the Hockey dress! All the dances were good. Only thing is, it is hard for kids to face a huge audience! They are moody too. Some were even crying:(. Nice thing is that the choreographer of each dance stood right below the stage and did the dance for the kids to follow. I appreciate their patience! Program ended with the National Anthem. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Having problems with my iPhone 4's home button made me to try out iOS 5 to resolve the issue. It took some effort to install it, had a few hiccups on my way. Overall, I got an onscreen Home button. Got iCloud too which I will be trying for the first time. Once installation was completed, my contacts were empty and all the installed apps were closing out before opening. Somehow, it got resolved itself after a few minutes. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

We now have 2 Android consoles at home - one on Touchpad and another on smartphone. I installed a racing game called Racing Splitter. It is a simple game. Both my son and I are enjoying the game as competitors. I have to see myself not to go beyond the limits in playing such games. It is truly grossing, but have to limit playing it with my son. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It is Summer time in Bangalore and people talk about water and electricity problems. I am thinking of a scenario - what if we share some of these day-to-day problems with the peole in USA. How will they react? Lets see. Mercury News says-Power shortage in Bay Area this Summer. People will start thinking of how they will survive without AC. Few companies have come up with solar power options. Though it costs more, people are planning to invest on solar power for hot water and lighting. With 4 hours powercut everyday, kids and students are requesting their parents to get them emergency lights! So much concern about power has led to companies shifting out of CA if crisis continues. Now coming to water problems... Mayor of San Jose, C upertino, and other counties are holding a meeting to discuss about water crisis. People are told to use less water and stop using sprinklers. Parks and gardens are looking dry with no lawn and mud everywhere. Plans to get water from neighboring states have n...

I installed Android OS on HP Touchpad. It was an easy process following this link - Link . Touchpad is now simply wonderful.

Started playing with a new tablet - HCL ME. With price 1/4th of an iPad, it is worth the features it provides - USB port, microSD slot, HDMI port. It comes with Android 2.3. It didn't have the Android Market and I checked on the net to get it installed.

Hero Pen - Courtesy: Web Dad was searching the whole house for one small thing this morning. He wanted a pen! Do you 'own' a pen in today's world? It has been more than a decade since I owned and used a pen. It has become so redundant these days. Go to meetings, use laptop write notes. Talk over phone, use notepad on your laptop to write down something important. There is very little need for pen. It has become a borrowing item, "swalpa pen kodtheera?". Owning a pen goes back to my school days. I have to write about stories how pens played a role in our lives then. Good pens were saved for the exams. If those pens turned lucky, they would be used only for the exam, and not for class notes. Ink pen, ball pen, and the so called expensive pen, 'hero' pen. Out of reach was Parker pen. My brother hated pens. In first place, he hated writing :). Schools didn't permit using ball-point pens. Only ink pens were allowed in the class. I don't remember him usi...