Google bidding for wireless spectrum

I am presenting this topic tomorrow at office. Here’s a quick primer of the story behind the news.



What is so unusual about this news?

Google is a search company and spectrum is normally bought by Telcos.
That’s why this news is worth a look.

So why is google doing this ?

Google is just expressing an interest in the bid, provided the spectrum sellers impose certain restrictions on the potential bid winners.
Spectrum auction is few months away and the officials are drafting rules for the auction.

So, google is proposing that the winner of the spectrum should open up his network.

What do you mean by “opening up the network ” ?

Consumer who is going to buy the service from the operator, should be able to
- Pick up any handset he wants (iPhone is available only with AT&T)
- Download ringtones, games and any other software including skype,etc from any vendor

Sounds a modest request ?
Not so, for the incumbent operators.
Things are tight locked at the moment.
Consumer can’t make a free choice of the handset and services from different operators.

Why should it be so ?

When you buy a new laptop, the seller of the laptop does not obligates me to install WinXp or RedHat,
He does not tell me whether I should use google talk or Y! messenger.

This is what google is asking.

What will google gain out of this ?

Opening up of a network allows new entrants for the auction.
You will have more operators to choose from.
Accessing wireless internet will get cheaper
You will use Google services!



Do you see something more ?

BarCamp Bangalore 4

What was new at barcamp bangalore4 this time ?


What else was new to you ?

Why am I no-believer ?

My first video post on this blog. I wouldnt have found a better one to post.
Atheist : youtube video

This is what I mostly read as I grew up. Darwin, Freud, Marconi, Hertz, Feynman. They were a more believable stories than the marvels of Lord Krishna,Shiva, Shirdi Sai baba etc

A well presented reasoning always won over an abstract, vague and disillusioned concept of God.Luck, randomness or destiny may not still be explained or captured in any laws of physics, but it no way it makes me a fan of God.

“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring”

- Carl Sagan



Along the same lines, check this one out. This is not to offend your religious sentiments. One for a good laugh.

Pirates of Silicon Valley

I was watching this movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, last weekend. Hugely entertaining and informative at the same time. Purely made for geeks. Sorta spoof but not far from the real story.
All about the historical battle between Microsoft and Apple over the War of PCs and OS.
You get to watch younger nerdy Bill Gates, Design God Steve and wizard Woz.



You will know why Steve Jobs hates Bill Gates, what made Woz quit Apple, Who is 'Lisa' and other interesting incidents in their life. Once you finish watching read this page.


In the same breath, check this out. There is more to Apple than just iMac,iPod and iPhone.



My friend Niranjan, pointed this interesting video of Steve and Bill, going down the memory lane.

Grandpa's will and IP subnetting

IP addressing and subnetting. Any number of times you read and try to apply, the basics evaporate in no time. Subnetting is little tricky and hence needs working through it to stick in the head. Let me make an attempt to give you some help in grasping the concept.

Get this one right. Subnetting is all about dividing a large network to a fairly manageable smaller groups or sub networks. Even before we go and divide the networks into smaller groups, it is divided already into class A,B and C networks. Let's understand this division first.

Imagine this. Grandpa in his last days left a will to three of his sons Ason, Bson and Cson. Ason is eldest and Cson, the youngest.

To keep everyone happy and avoid any possible conflict Grandpa has done some homework and marked all the land he has to pass on. This is a clever division keeping in mind that eldest should get the lion share but again younger ones should not be disappointed. Hence the shape of the property.

Ason gets the taller box. It can accommodate only few but very very lengthy streets. So he can build many number of houses in a row. Bson's box is little regular shaped. It can accomodate average number of streets and average number of houses per street. Cson has got a narrow wider strip of land, so he can have very few number of houses but large number of streets.

Class A network can have - 128 networks [streets] and 16 lakh machines [houses] per street. Class B can have - 16000 networks [streets] and 1/2 lakh machines [houses] per network. Class C can have - 2 lakh streets and just 250 machines [houses] per network.

Once this land is handed over to these three sons, they can rework within the allotted area . It's upto the individual to come up with the desired number of streets and so many houses per street. So this is where subnetting will begin.

If Cson decides to increase the number of streets he might end up with an absurd situation like having one house per street. Similarly, if Ason decides to keep very few number of streets, he might have to line up the houses for miles together in a row that it may not be called a street.

So, a balance needs to be found in keeping the street length reasonably lengthy and with good number of houses. This is what subnetting is all about.

PS: Well, it took me nearly 6-8 hours of constant thinking to pick the topic, state the problem, referring the text, spin a story and illustrating with the free hand cartoon. Believe me, it's not as easy it looks here.

Am @ Barcamp Bangalore

I will be at BarcampBangalore: 28th and 29th July 2007 @ IIM Bangalore

Neeli Gang's Kemmanagundi Trip

We were off to the switzerland of k'taka, Kemmangundi last week.... Get the minute-by-minute description here

Click on the image to view the enlarged picture

What is an art ?

What is an art ?
I have asked this question myself several times. It always been abstract,vague and undefined in my mind. I think I found some answer to such and similar questions in the book I have started reading.

The Emerging Mind by Vijaynur Ramachandran.


The chapter Artful brain, talks about the artistic universals.

Obviously, there will be a difference between the views of neuroscientist and an Artist about the way they look at art. Neuroscientist’s interest is to find out what parts of the brain is evoked when Art is experienced. That's my interest too. That, perhaps explains what art is fundamentally.

There are few takeaways from this chapter:

- Science deals with universal principles whereas art is the ultimate celebration of human individuality and originality

- Art is not about realism at all. It’s the exact opposite. It involves deliberate hyperbole, exaggeration, even distortion, in order to create pleasing effects in the brain.

- Universal laws of Art : Peak Shift, Grouping, Contrast, Isolation, Perceptual problem solving, Symmetry, Coincidence, Repetition/ rhythm and orderliness, Balance, Metaphor.
(Read the book itself to learn more about these laws)

It also has answer to this basic question :

Why do humans ever bother creating and viewing art ?

I go with Author's idea on this :

"Art may have evolved as a form of virtual reality simulation. When you imagine something - as when rehearsing a forthcoming bison hunt or amorous encounter - many of the same brain circuits are activated as when you really do something. This allows you to practise scenarios in an internal simulation without incurring the energy cost or risks of real rehearsal"

It's a book complied after Reith lectures 2003. They are available in audio at BBC

It's Revathi now

Back to Back exit at my office. First it was Dipu. Now am losing another colleague in pursuit of their further studies. This time it's Revathi.
Me n Revathi got face to face first time during our Annual day celebrations. We hit it off well with plenty of ideas to make our annual day a sweet success. This one is from that skit where she was playing "Mr.Devaraj" n me Greg Chappel.

Then it was collage competition, where we outplayed others with a mysterious trick ;)


Later the cab which we took for commute became centre-of-intellectual discussions with great debates. Mungaru Male will always be our connecting movie. I bet she can do a Ph.D on it now.

Talkative, Nicely makes her point, Stubborn at times and so full of ideas. Oh yea, her SMS'es. No SMS lingo. Keys-in all the characters, without eatinng up any. That's Revathi for me.

The only problem I had with her was, she calls me "THE DOMINANT" ATM :(