Rajan's View

Image Credits:  http://openclipart.org/user-detail/technoargia Often a problem is defined on it's own, something like 'I want to reduce traffic jams in a city'. The advantage of having an open statement like that is that it can be interpreted in different ways and people come up with various ideas and solutions. But, the downside is that a lot of time is spent in coming with the various solutions. Alternatively you could define the problem within a boundary. The same problem could be defined in other ways like - 'I want to reduce traffic jams in a city without building new roads' or 'I want to reduce traffic jams in a city without increasing public transport' etc. This way the problem and the constraints are known and therefore any further ideation, solution is more focussed. All this probably increases the chances of a solution being successful. Another way to define a problem is as a contradiction. An example would be - 'I want to create a ...

I chose the word friction deliberately for the title of the post. More on that later. Let me first explain what I mean by control, content and connections. Photo by  Paulo Barcellos Jr.     Control This is the ability by which people are going to control their access to all things digital and more. By digital, I mean - web, media and communication. Control is today offered by various devices - mobile, tablet, desktop, laptop, TV, music players and so on. The major manufacturers of these devices are technology and consumer appliance companies like Apple and Samsung. More and more, these devices are not tied into any specific kind of content or connection.Within the control space, there are those who provide just the hardware or software or both. Apple has always done both. The Microsoft-Nokia partnership, Google-Motorola acquisition, Samsung points to a trend that companies want to follow that model. Companies that do only one of them are at risk...

We have seen the world of services evolve taking many shapes and forms like SOA, REST and API's. REST seems to be on the way to becoming the de-facto language of the internet. Most often, we create application and business layer in Services and API's. However, the data layer continues to be tightly bolted with the database. There are now some alternatives emerging. There is an open source (MIT License) data access layer called restSQL . restSQL Architecture (source: www.restsql.org) Once set-up, it will provide a REST based access to the database. This means that all the SQL statements like insert, select, update, delete etc can be executed using HTTP GET's  and POST's. Like any other REST service, it provides a platform agnostic method of accessing the database. Since it is hosted as a web application, it can be scaled and managed like any other web application. Lastly, one needs to update the database drivers and configuration only in this layer a...

Chicken Kebabs Recently, I saw a cooking programme on TV showing street food. I thought, I will try own version of a middle eastern classic - chicken kebabs. It's perfect for a dinner with friends. Contributed by Rajan Manickavasagam . Published 06. Feb 2012 Ingredients 4-6   tablespoons  olive oil 1   tablespoon   garlic olive oil 1   tablespoon  chilli infused olive oil 4 chicken legs 1 teaspoon turmeric powder 1 teaspoon red chilli powder 1 teaspoon mixed peppercorns 1 teaspoon cumin powder 1 teaspoon of garam masala powder 1 teaspoon of coriander powder 1 teaspoon of nutmeg powder 1 teaspoon of coarse black pepper 1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary) 1-2 teaspoon of rock salt (or to taste) 1 chopped onion 2 chopped garlic cloves 1 sliced ginger Instructions In a bowl, add the olive oil, garlic olive oil and chilli infused oil. Roll the chicken legs in the...

Google has recently been in the news for their latest update to search, called 'Search plus your world'. It is about showing google plus results in the search results. After the launch of google plus, it was inevitably going to be linked in with search.  However, on the personal search space, there has been another startup making news. It's called - greplin - www.greplin.com . 'Grep' is from the old unix command. It is a 'freemium' service and the free features are quite enough for most users. You can link all your online accounts and all the information - mails, contacts, documents, tweets, facebook posts, dropbox and so on. Overview: The centre of the page holds a search box along with a filter option. On the left, all your linked accounts and status show up. Above the search box, is the size of your personal index. There is an iphone app also available. With each of us using many online services (facebook, linkedin, twitte...

Okra Fry Here is the first recipe of this year. It's quite simple and spicy. Normally, I don't use much oil for any of my cooking. For this dish however, oil is the main ingredient. So, be prepared to use plenty. Contributed by Rajan Manickavasagam . Published 02. Jan 2012 Ingredients 8-10   tablespoons  vegetable oil 25 sliced okra 1 teaspoon mustard seeds 1 pinch of asafoetida powder 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala powder 1 teaspoon of coriander powder 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder 1-2 teaspoon of salt (or to taste) Instructions Heat the 4 tablespoon of oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and pinch of  asafoetida powder. Add the sliced okra to the pan and start frying them. Add the turmeric, garam masala, coriander and red chilli powder to the okra. Saute the okra and keep adding the remaining oil. Finally, add the salt. Cook the okra in medium heat for a few minutes un...

Posted by Rajan Manickavasagam December 26th, 2011 News 360 Rating: 4 out of 5 I think, one of the habits we all have is reading news or other articles on the net. Generally people use their browser to read the news. This year has seen a lot of mobile and tablet apps launched in the market. One of the leading apps is of course, Flipboard. But it's available only in the iOS platform for now. In the other mobile platforms, we have apps like Pulse, Feedly and the latest entrant - Google Currents. For me, the one app that stands out is News360. Depending on your platform, download the app from your respective app store. When it starts, it shows all the latest news across various categories like World, Politics, Technology etc. But here comes the interesting part, you can personalize it by connecting your online profiles like Facebook, Google Reader, Evernote and Twitter. The app analyses all your activity and other information and then personalizes the news for ...

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Ever since the launch of Siri on the new iPhone 4S, there has been a lot of talk about it being a competition for search engines and therefore Google. However, I hope and wish Google and Apple treat the two differently. And, here is why. I see Google largely as an 'information broker'. The search is brilliant and gets you to what you are looking for. And, if you are signed in, Google then makes the search experience more personalized and contextual. As a natural extension of the search capability, voice is already there but obviously not at the same level as Siri. With more information being created each day as well as the variety of devices being used to access the information, Google should continue to improve the core search. I think there is still a lot more to be done in the search algorithm, incorporating social signals and the different user experiences. For example, if I search for 'data visualization', ...

Here is a simple sample program for accessing a MongoDB database. In order to run the sample, you will need the following - PHP server 5.x running on IIS/Apache  MongoDB database  MongoDB driver for PHP  You could easily write the same program using .NET program and driver too. Hopefully, the comments in the program are self-explanatory. Happy coding and exploring!

Simply prawns It's been a while since I made any sea food. I thought a I will try a quick prawn curry. The ingredients are quite basic and somehow they just seem to be good enough for the prawns. Contributed by Rajan Manickavasagam . Published 01. Dec 2011 Ingredients 4   tablespoons  vegetable oil 3 sliced green chillies 1 teaspoon of ginger and garlic paste 1 sliced onion 2 chopped tomatoes 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder 1 teaspoon of chilli powder 300 gm prawns 1-2 teaspoon of salt (or to taste) Instructions Heat the oil in pan. Add green chillies, onions and saute them. Once the onions are golden brown, add the ginger garlic paste. Add the tomatoes to the pan. Add the turmeric and chilli powder to the pan. Keep frying the ingredients until they become like a paste. Add more oil if required. Add the prawns and reduce the heat. Cook the prawn in medium heat for a few minutes. Serve with naan/c...