The Interwebs

Particularly liked this comment about the distinction between "Document" and "App", and how the Internet is finding it difficult to bridge that gap.

Google talks Chrome OS, HTML5, and the future of software

 

JS: On the Web, it seems that there's a spectrum of sites that exists between "document" on the one hand, and "application" on the other. Google Maps would be an example of an application, whereas Ars would be an example of a document or document collection with some navigation added on. But you guys put both documents and applications in a browser window, still.

I know you're still refining the user experience, so I guess what I want to know is, are you going to stay within the document/browser paradigm, or are Web applications going to become peers, with their own window and their own specific window chrome. So maybe [a Web app] is like this OS X window, so that the view looks like an application to the user, and not like a "webpage." [I'm essentially talking about moving from a document/browser paradigm to an application/window manager paradigm for a certain class of sites.]

MP: That's a good, insightful comment. It is weird that when you cruise the Web today most of the Web is still a fairly static web of things that fundamentally seem more like documents than they do like applications. Even CNN, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, etc. are really fairly static pages. And yes it's being served to you dynamically, and there are ads, and whatever, but fundamentally you're reading words off the page and it's not quite like something like Gmail, or Picasa, or even Netflix, where it really does feel like an app. Everything being served to you [on these sites] isn't really static at all—you can reorder lists by dragging things around, and it feels like an application.

So far in Chrome, we haven't really made any distinction between those two things, because the Web doesn't really make any distinction between the two. You can't really tell when you get to a page what the page is supposed to be. But there is a lot of stuff that we're starting to work on in Chrome OS where we're starting to add specific features for things that really are apps.

A good example for Chrome OS is mailto links. Typically, those kick you out of the browser back into your Windows mail program, which, if you're using Gmail, is a complete hassle and annoying. So we're doing a bunch of work now to figure out, how do we make that actually launch Gmail. Or, better yet, if you're actually running Gmail, how do we get it to switch to that tab and open a new compose window, which is what you want it to do. Or in Chrome OS, maybe it should pop up a panel and you start writing in that, so as not to interrupt your flow in the site that you were on.

 

Maturity and Misery

Time. The one aspect of life that seems to go on, unceasingly, without regard to anything that we humans do in our petty lives. Yet, we define ourselves based on time. From when you would like to meet your friend at a coffee shop, to how old you are, to what you will be doing in the distant future - we seem to view our lives through the lens of time.

But what of time? What does it teach us? Does it lead us somewhere, or is it merely an innocent bystander as we go about our lives?

I turned 28 recently, an age where I should have gone past the teenage angst. Should have matured into a young man - capable of going through life without the hand-holds that have guided my path until here. Yet, I feel adrift. Lost. This is my attempt to understand this emotion, and maybe crystallize it for future reminiscing.

It seems like my whole life has been a case of the world telling me where to put my feet, and me obliging without a protest. At first, it was the parents, who did the best they could. Then, I just seem to have been buffetted by the winds of fate, as it were. My choices seem to have been entirely decided by the path of least resistance.

Does everyone go through life like this? I doubt it. There are those who take the bull by the horns, and search within themselves before coming to any decision worthy of note. Not I.

Now that I have reached a point where the going is tough - there are many unanswered questions in my future, and every passing day merely makes me more aware that these questions are unanswered - I find myself unsure of where to put my feet. The choices I make today will, no doubt, have repercussions in the future, but the magnitude of those repercussions is beginning to frighten me.

Does everyone feel this way? Is fear a natural part of living, or is this something only a few people have in common?

I am certainly more introspective than your average person. I enjoy revelling in my own misery - this is something I learnt a long time ago. But I always assumed that with time, I would learn to deal with such misery better. It appears not to be the case.

Time has taught me, though, that with every passing year, while the source of the misery changes, the depth of the emotion seems to remain the same. It seems, now, that my troubles are worse than they have ever been, but the logical side of me knows that that is not true.

Will this help me deal with the troubles I have now, and surely will have in the future? Not entirely, I don't think - but it will allow me some perspective. I am, even now, in the nadir of a black mood, capable of isolating myself from myself - seeing that I am merely looking at the cup half empty.

Time has also taught me to reach out to those close to me at times like this. While I try, and sometimes fail, to do so - it seems that Time has also taken away so much innocence that it makes it that much harder to call people "close".

I do know that this is common to a lot of people though - so I feel a little bit better about myself. I often hear complaints from people about how many fewer friends they have now than they did in their heady college days.

Time has taught me to cherish the friends that I do have, and there is a lot to be said for that. Maybe these are the new hand-holds of life - not the tangible ones, but the ones in your head. You learn, with time, where the pitfalls are, who to trust, and who not to. Is this knowledge all that we have to take away from 28 years of wasting oxygen?

It appears so.

Anal Nightmares

First Music, then Movies. Now Porn. Is nothing sacred anymore?

A new record: 9,729 P2P porn pushers sued at once

On October 29, Ford helped Axel Braun Productions sue 7,098 anonymous online Does for sharing the film Batman XXX: A Porn Parody. According to the legal complaint, the film features "adult actresses engaging in various intense sexual acts" and was distributed via BitTorrent by the 7,098 IP addresses in question.

On November 4, Ford stepped up his game again, drafting a complaint on behalf of porn producer West Coast Productions against a whopping 9,729 people—the most we have ever seen in a single one of these P2P complaints. (The film in question, according to Slyck, is called Teen Anal Nightmare 2.)

That's nearly 17,000 people in under two weeks. In contrast, it took the RIAA five years to go after 18,000 individuals

And in other, more cheerful news ..

"Horde of piratical monkeys" creates LimeWire: Pirate Edition

LimeWire Pirate Edition builds on the old LimeWire codebase, but it removes LimeWire's use of some centralized servers, the Ask.com toolbar, in-app advertising, and software backdoors. It also enables all the features of the "Pro" version that LimeWire LLC used to sell as a premium product.

According to the coders behind the release, "A horde of piratical monkeys climbed aboard the abandoned ship, mended its sails, polished its cannons and released it FREE to the community to help keep the Gnutella network alive."

 

Gideon Haigh

Just got Gideon Haigh's Silent Revolutions as a birthday present from a friend. Haigh happens to be one the wisest people writing about cricket nowadays, and, having heard an interview of his on TestMatchSofa, I am pretty excited to listen to what he has to say about the history of Australian Cricket. He has a good command over the language, and seems to enjoy revelling in seemingly trivial incidents in the history of the game - and most importantly, he doesn't get too caught up in statistics, something most current writers tend to revel in.

An excerpt : In an article about Bradman's feats in the 1930 Ashes series, he writes : "When Australia passed 700, it was discovered that the Lord's scoreboard had not been designed to go past 699, and a small 7 had to be fetched to hang from a hook. Wisden, too, would need sturdier bindings by the time Bradman's business was finished."

Will write more about this once I am done with the book, but so far it seems to be a very good gift indeed.

English

During a very enlightening conversation about a lot of things with S and D today, talk turned to "race" and cultural differences. I brought up the fact that I was very nervous teaching here for the first time because I wasn't sure if anyone would understand what I was saying, and whether my students would hate me because the way I spoke was different. The response?

S: What you speak is proper English. If I don't understand what you are saying, then I am the dumbass.

D: When S speaks .. he just says things, sometimes without a pause - and I understand it fine. But when you speak, I know where the commas and full-stops are.

Just thought I should record that comment for posterity.

Sachin - The legacy

Many things have been written about Sachin Tendulkar over the years - his cricketing abilities place him amongst the very highest echelons of great cricketers, and his effect on an entire nation has made him one of the most talked-about cricketers ever. One question one is forced to ask is, what is his long-term effect on the game? In 20 years, or 40 years, will he still have an impression on the game that goes beyond the rheumy eyes of nostalgia?

Let us first consider the One-Day game. Yes, the One-Day game that was, not too long ago, the red-headed step-child of cricket, has been transformed in the last 20 years. Now, a genuine game in its own right, it has its own fluctuating strategies, its own "sessions", and its own lunch break.

Sachin is, together with Viv Richards, one of the two great batsman of the One-Day game. Sachin's effect on One-Day cricket will be remembered as long as they are still being played. Together with the Sri Lankan opening pair (Jayasuriya/Kaluwitharana), the Indian openers (Tendulkar/Ganguly) were instrumental in showing the world how to take advantage of the 15-over field restrictions. While scores of 50/0 were common in the first 15 overs up until the early 90s, soon scores of 90/2 started becoming par for the course. The idea was, even if one or two soldiers perish, a run-rate of 6.00 per over after 15 had already put you so far ahead of the game, that getting your average score of 240-odd became a canter. You now only had 150 runs to score in 35 overs.

This is an important effect Sachin's batting has had on the game - he has been the most successful One-Day opener ever, and his run-scoring abilities in the shorter form of the game will be hard to top. 17,598 runs at an average of 45, and a strike rate of 85 ... and counting. He will be the benchmark for all ODI batsmen to come.

Sachin's effect on the longer form of the game are harder to gauge. While he has played some unorthodox shots (the upper cut over the slips comes to mind), he has, by and large, stuck to the textbook. His back-foot punch (down the ground either side of the wicket) is something to behold, but he is not the inventor of the shot. He has merely adopted it very successfully, as have many others (like Gavaskar, which is probably where he learnt it from).

He has, together with other great batsmen of his era - Lara, Ponting, Kallis, Dravid, Steve Waugh - modernized the benchmark for a good middle-order batsman. Batsmen had to reacquaint themselves with quality spin bowling from 1993 onwards, and these batsmen definitely showed the way in that regard. Watching Lara vs. Murali or Sachin vs. Warne is an education in itself.

The last - but certainly not the least - piece of Sachin's legacy, will be his impression on Indian cricket. Sachin has been the iconic Indian cricketer for nearly two decades now. Gavaskar and Kapil were the largest icons in Indian cricket before him. While they were undoubtedly great cricketers, there was a lot of petty in-fighting which the discerning public did not like. Sachin has, together with Dravid and Kumble, brought to Indian cricket a certain humility and dignity that one feels was much needed (particularly in the wake of the match-fixing scandals in 2000).

Also, together with Gavaskar, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, and lately Sehwag, Sachin has ensured that the world has a very high regard for Indian batsmanship. In a recently concluded series against Australia, a certain Cheteshwar Pujara made his debut. In the previous series, Suresh Raina made his debut. Both of these were important events - and not just for India. Every time an Indian batsman makes his debut now, every cricket follower takes a moment to register the fact. Just to follow their careers a little more carefully. Just in case one of them turns out to be of the calibre of his illustrious predecessors.

Mi Casa es Su Casa

Just moved into the new place where I intend to live by meself for the next year or two. No furniture yet, nothing on the walls, barely any food in the house - but it's all MINE!

Yeah, bitches.

Sachin, again

There was just this one shot today, that seemed to say it all.

One ball off Dale Steyn was just short of a good length, outside the off stump, and Tendulkar played (or rather, attempted to play) a front foot push to extra cover, and the ball beats the outside edge of the bat. Tendulkar looks down at his bat, knowing that he did something wrong.

Next ball, Steyn tries the same thing, but pushes it a little further up the pitch, so if he tried the same shot, he would definitely edge it to the slips. Tendulkar tries the same shot, but this time he had planted himself a little bit further down the pitch to counter any seam movement, so the ball finds the middle of the bat.

Now the reason for two attempts at the same shot? Well, there was an extra cover, a cover, and a point fielder, one of whom was Herschelle Gibbs (at cover), who is considered one of the best fielders in the game. What better way to show who's boss except pierce that field!

He didn't get a four, btw. The man at extra cover dives, gets a hand on the ball, and slows it down a bit, and it runs into the outfield. Gibbs chases it down, and Sachin gets two. This was that kind of day.

Sanspareils Greenlands

That is the expansion of "SG" - the company that makes all the balls we love to fondle.

....

Here is a little treat for those who care about what happens to a ball before it meets Sehwag's bat. I'm not sure which is worse.

The Making of a Cricket Ball | OPEN Magazine

A cricket ball’s life is hard-earned and short. Before it is ready for a pounding, it is hung, soaked, stretched, and has its lips stitched. Afterward the beating is more external. But it lives for one day, and that is its place in life.

Partisan Crowds

So, Indian cricket fans are literally having their cake and eating it too right now. India is the "Number 1" cricket team in the world thanks to some dubious statistics from the ICC (demystified thanks to Russel Degnan here), they have just finished a riveting series against the fantastic South Africans (anyone who disagrees with that just needs to have a look at Dale Steyn on song). All in all, pretty heartening to see Test cricket return to the Indian public consciousness after many years of languishing in the shadows of ODIs and that Twenty-20 monstrosity.

However, there is something I would like to think/talk about - the crowds in India. The Eden Gardens just witnessed one of the best Indian victories in the Test arena, and was lauded by everyone watching for their support of the Indian team and the fact that the crowd is the X factor, the 12th man, your mom's chicken curry, etc. What I'd like to point out is how bloody partisan those crowds are! When Hashim Amla (the best batsman in the tournament, notwithstanding the belligerence of Sehwag or the precision of Tendulkar) reached his fifty on the final day at Eden, the hush in the crowd was so palpable it made you feel bad for him. He was the only South African with a backbone on the final day, and it was clear from the start of the day that all India had to do was to get him out (which they didn't, btw, they merely made sure he ran out of partners), and yet there was not even an attempt to applaud the young man.

On the other hand, if Sachin so much as runs down to the boundary and fields a ball, the crowd is up and clapping. Agreed, this is a man who more then deserves the adulation of the fans, but it is disappointing to see the crowds react so favourably towards cricketers from India, and so unfavourably towards others.

This whole situation is also exacerbated by the silly games the IPL is playing, together with Lalit Modi in the driving seat, to ensure that broadcast rights for the IPL 2010 end up lining their pockets even more over the next year.

All in the name of cricket. What a shame.

Sachin Tendulkar

Some reminiscing about the greatness of the man yesterday sparked off this blog post. Having been a huge fan since the early days, it seemed appropriate to give a list of some of his greatest contributions to Indian cricket over a long and illustrious career.

Tests :

1. 119* vs. Eng, Machester, 1990 : At 17 years of age, Sachin scores his first Test century and, together with Manoj Prabhakar, saves the match for India.

2. 148* vs. Aus, Perth,1992 : In Shane Warne's debut Test match, Sachin plays what he himself considers one of his best innings.

3. 136 vs. Pak, Chennai, 1999 : In a heart-rending climax to one of the great Indo-Pak matches, Sachin played through intense pain and almost pulled off victory.

4. 103* vs. Eng, Chennai, 2008 : After the horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai, England graciously accept to continue their tour of India. Sachin, together with Yuvraj, seals a great victory for India - and dedicates it to the city of Mumbai.

One-Day Internationals :

1. 82 (49 balls) vs. New Zealand, Auckland, 1994 : Sachin is promoted to open the innings for the first time in ODIs, and responds with a blistering knock to take India to a comfortable victory.

2. 143 vs. Aus, Sharjah, 1998 : The legendary "Sandstorm match". This was Sachin at his very best. He follows it up with another brilliant 134 in the finals to hand India a fabulous win.

3. 98 vs. Pak, Centurion, 2003 : An innings forever etched in the Indian psyche for one six off Shoaib Akhtar over third-man. And also for the fact that India won.

4. 175 vs. Aus, Hyderabad, 2009 : This was Sachin of old, returning to haunt the Australians. India lost by 3 runs, but Sachin stole the show.

And, to wrap it up, here is an interview with the Master himself after 20 years of International cricket.