Well, I am back in Bangalore, after a nerve-wracking trip back from Berlin.

When I set out from Berlin, I was worried to death for a number of reasons:

Due to the G8 meet in Berlin, security at the airports was reported to be unbelievably high.

And I was worried because not only was my baggage overweight, but I was going to be carrying TWO large pieces of handbaggage – my laptop bag/rucksack (that weighs 8 kilos when packed for a long trip), and my new guitar which (as I had already mentioned) looks an assault rifle when disassembled and packed.

Read on – this is a long story.

Read the rest of this entry…

How many of you kicked yourself for missing Eben Moglen when he was in Bangalore last August?

Well, for those of you who did – here is your second chance:

Monday, 6:30pm, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Don’t miss this!

Eben is the world’s foremost authority on the GNU General Public License, for one simple, but excellent reason – he is its architect!

And this Monday, he will be our guest at the IISc, speaking to us about the GPLv3 and beyond. This is your chance to pick the brains of one the greatest minds of our times.

I have personally attended several of his talks, including the monumental “Die Gedanken sind Frei” (the video of which I have played at BLUG meets before), and I can easily say that along with Larry Lessig, this is one of the most powerful speakers I have ever had the pleasure to hear.

I am going to miss his talk at the IISc (since I am still in Germany), but I urge all of you to go listen to him. This is a chance of a lifetime, and that too in the fantastic setting of the Indian Institute of Science, the home of some of the greatest intellects of India.

Click here for more details

(Update: linked to the transcript of “Die Gedanken sind Frei”)
(Update: linked to the video of that talk as well)

Been to RadioVerve recently? As in the past 24 hours? Or less?

No?

Shame on you!

Go check out the magic that is

Behold the goodness of not one, but EIGHT (seven now, one more coming up) channels of 24×7 independent music from India – ranging from everyone’s favourite main RadioVeRVe station, though dedicated Rock, Metal, Easy Listening, Gospel, Konkani and Indian Classical music channels, with a Folk Music channel waiting in the wings awaiting final tweaks.

This is Internet Radio at its best, but then RadioVeRVe *is* the best. We all knew that, right?

‘Nuff talk. HIT THIS LINK NOW!

And don’t miss the ads at the top – yeah, RadioVeRVe now has ads on its site – dynamic ones. So if you want to support the project (the way Geodesic does), you know how.

You know how sometimes, you feel that you shouldn’t do something, then you do it anyway, and realise that you were right all along about feeling that you shouldn’t have done it?

Today was one of those days for me.

One of the items on my list of things to do here was to buy new shoes. My favourite Nikes are now seriously long on tooth, and while they fit me like they were moulded on my feet (and in many ways, they were), one begins to notice the look in the eyes of people who see you walk in with them, as they grope in their pockets for some loose change. (Some people don’t recognise history when they see it – when I started buying these shoes on September 11th, 2001, the Twin Trade Center buildings were still standing in New York. When I paid for the shoes, the buildings were gone)

So today was the day that I was to set out and go buy the shoes.

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I am currently in Berlin, Germany, to attend Linux Tag. I came in early to be able to spend some time with my mom over the weekend.

This morning, I went out and put a resounding tickmark against an item long outstanding on my wishlist – I bought a new acoustic guitar, to add to my existing harem.

But I am a geek.

So I didn’t just buy *any* guitar, I bought the “Yamaha Silent Guitar”, the SLG-100 S. Go read the link to figure out why I chose this one. And if you need even more information, check out this service manual.

I have wanted one ever since I saw Sting play one at his concert in Bangalore in 2005. and now I finally own one.

It is everything I had hoped it would be – feels great, is really light (less than 2 kg), sounds fantastic. Totally silent, yet deafeningly loud.

I can’t wait to find a screwdriver to take it apart.

[Update] A few people got back to me with “I don’t get it – it looks like a normal guitar, what’s so special about it?”

I apologize, I forgot that not everyone tunes into stuff like this with the ease that I expect.

For those who didn’t get the part about the body – there isn’t any. The “body” is just a frame (that is actually detachable) and hollow. This picture of Andrew White should make it clearer.

The guitar simulates the body with a nice big, fat DSP that also produces some fantastic-sounding reverb, and allows for tone control. A line-in feature allows you to plug in a CD/MP3 player and “play along” on headphones or over an amplifier.

And it collapses into a small package that looks suspiciously like an AK47 in its bag – this point is going to catch me some grief as I take it along as hand-baggage on my flight home.

Wow!

Remember my post about Mundu Radio – the first product I was responsible for when I joined Geodesic?

Well, that little product has been doing VERY well for itself, and now finds itself to be a finalist for C|Net’s Webware 100 awards in the Mobile category!

I am *thrilled*!

To win the award, Mundu Radio needs lots of votes, so if you would like to see the only Indian product in the category win the award, why don’t you help out by clicking here and voting for Mundu Radio?

Thanks a lot in advance!

p.s. If you haven’t tried Mundu Radio yet, just go download it and try it out! You’ll love it! *Then* go and vote for it!

p.p.s Check out the post on RadioVerve as well.

On May 17th, 2007, my parents-in-law, Mahadev and Bhagyawati Deshpande, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

The three sisters – Shubha, Keerti and Arati – moved heaven and earth to make sure that this day was special, with both Keerti and Arati flying in from the USA a week before, spending time with them in their hometown in Belgaum, then coming to Bangalore where we had a big family together with more than 70 people (close family and friends).

The three sisters coordinated across timezones to arrange this event, and for once the three brothers-in-law (Abhijeet, Vibhu and I) took a total backseat while we let them handle almost every aspect of what happened during these two weeks.

To mark the occasion, we (the family) put together a collage of pictures of them and their immediate family, which you can see if you click on the picture on the right (complete with notes). This collage was printed out on a bog high-resolution poster, mounted and laminated, and it came out really well.

I’ll put up more photos soon (when I can find a place with more bandwidth).

On Sunday, the 6th of May, I will be speaking at the “Mobile Monday (on Sunday) Chennai” event, on “The Challenge of Mobile Internet”.

And on Monday, the 7th of May, I will be speaking at the “Mobile Monday Mumbai” event on “Mobile Messaging Futures”.

If you are into (or interested in) mobile computing, and would like to brainstorm with other like-minded people, drop in. The events are free, but you will have to register up front. Details on the respective sites.

One of the advantages of having friends who become relatives is that you usually know a lot about each other.

Such is the case of my wife’s younger brother-in-law, Vibhu Srinivasan who was a friend long before he married my sister-in-law. From the kid growing up next door, through attending the same engineering college I went to, through becoming part of the family – Vibhu had a lot of time to learn about the things that I enjoy.

So should I have been surprised when he landed today from Seattle, carrying with him the “Concert for George” DVD Set? Without my having asked for it, but having desperately wanted it?

Needless to say, I am very very happy.

And having just finished seeing the concert DVD, I must admit that I have a seriously big lump in my throat.

If you are a startup, then you could do worse than reading Paul Graham’s “Hacker’s Guide to Investors”.

Go on, read the whole thing. Then read it again.

I’ll wait for you here.