Disqus - Latest Comments for Sengupta

Re: Techknots — India's Mars rocket Mangalyaan blasts off

Aditya Sengupta — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 09:41:24 -0000

So the mileage (including cost of ownership) of this is better than my car.

But then again, sending SMS messages is more expensive than sending and receiving data from space, so the economics of consumer goods is somewhat strange.

Re: Techknots — Line Crosses 10M Users In India

Aditya Sengupta — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 15:10:22 -0000

A few better metrics to track might be monthly/daily **active** users (MAUs) and (this is a useful metric @Thakkar enlightened me about) monthly active monetizable users (MAMUs).

Re: http://rickrollshaw.com/post/568922119

Aditya Sengupta — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:58:52 -0000

I have this very t-shirt.

Re: After BlackBerry, Indian Government Now Wants Access To Skype, Google, and Twitter Servers

Aditya Sengupta — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:25:01 -0000

You mention this: "RIM on the other hand continues to maintain that it is impossible for even them to monitor data sent through their own servers because of the kind of complex encoding they use."

I would like to point out that this is not necessarily the consequence of complex coding (which I'm sure it is). This is primarily because of logistical issues.

The Blackberry Enterprise Server solution is installed on the provider's premises. Therefore, if your company is providing you a Blackberry, the BES solution will be installed at the company itself. The encryption keys are managed on-venue at the BES. RIM has no control or jurisdiction over a provider's installation of BES (at most- they can offer a software upgrade to enable a Government to get a tap into the system- but hey- who is going to upgrade to a *less* secure system?).

Google and other such providers have their software installs on their own premises, and as such, have complete control over the encryption keys. Therefore, anyone seeking Google data needs only to go to Google. Anyone seeking Blackberry protected data needs to approach the provider of the Blackberry directly. Sometimes, this can be your telecom provider, if your plan is through one of them (like Airtel, Vodafone, etc); or this can be your company, if you've got your Blackberry through them. Either way- this is a logistical nightmare for anyone seeking the data- they have to figure out who the provider is and go to them- not to RIM. RIM has no more control over the encryption keys than you do over a Word document on my computer. Perhaps, if the word document were on Google docs, you might find a way to get through to it, but if it were on my local machine, approaching Microsoft would be entirely useless.

Re: The Odyssey

Aditya Sengupta — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:06:31 -0000

The last track is the end theme of Gladiator:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: The Odyssey

Aditya Sengupta — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:41:06 -0000

No re- I graduated this year. I really wish I had the time to do more of
these things, but I've got far too many things on my plate for the
foreseeable future.

Re: I’m Back- Again

Aditya Sengupta — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:48:38 -0000

I'll try my best.

Re: BEST TV

Aditya Sengupta — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:17:50 -0000

I wouldn't say all aren't working- I see a few that still are. But yeah- generally speaking, they aren't getting the maintenance they need.

Re: I’m Back- Again

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:45:56 -0000

Thanks Kokonad, it's great- albeit a bit strange to be back- after so long.

Re: #mumbai- Role of Twitter during the Mumbai Terror Attacks

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:20:01 -0000

Haha- "long time" is the understatement of the year. Yeah- I definitely have
to get back to blogging.

Re: Why “unfollowing” someone is not the solution

Aditya Sengupta — Sat, 30 May 2009 02:05:01 -0000

Yes, Twitter has done a good job of having a very strong API so far- the number of clients and services based on Twitter only enforces this. Manan told me yesterday that Tweetdeck can filter out certain tweets- I don't use tweetdeck anymore though, but those are different issues. I hope to see the ability to selectively filter out, and along the same vein- selectively aggregate certain tweets proliferate across twitter clients. For instance, I might want to filter out #ipl since I'm not a big cricket fan (this isn't flamebait) but I might want to read catch tweets on #F1 since I don't get the channel it's broadcast on in India. I appreciate that server-side issues like filtering out tweets can be expensive for twitter- I understand that this is the cause of the recent @replies issue. On a sidenote, I hope twitter offers this feature in any prospective premium service that they might consider having.

Re: Why “unfollowing” someone is not the solution

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:17:57 -0000

Very well written. This debate kind of reminds me of the whole Facebook quiz frenzy which apparently (by the looks of my news feed today) hasn't quite stopped yet. I read one of your tweets about unfollowing people being personal, particularly when made public and I must say I agree. Especially when it's someone you do interact with regularly. The better you know them, the closer the analogy gets to unfriending them Facebook.

To an extent, Facebook gives one the tools to address this problem by giving you the choice to either ignore a user or to ignore an application entirely. When I find that it's not the user being perpetually obnoxious, I tend to ignore the application. I wish Twitter would have something remotely similar- say the ability to ignore a hashtag you're not particularly interested in like #ipl or #twpp and focus on one you are- say #traffic. Or even the ability to group your friends into lists. It is conceivable that one might go and interact with a different bunch of people when one bunch gets hyper.

IMHO, I feel that as time goes by, the need for such features will only grow more acute and might in fact drive people into services like friendfeed- which has something resembling the second feature I talked about. While there already are a lot of people who've crossed over to Friendfeed, perhaps the critical mass of people actually *interacting* there is yet to be reached.

Re: Way forward for www.magnifrisco.com

Aditya Sengupta — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:10:21 -0000

Great to see more folks from VJTI in the blogosphere. I've always maintained that there aren't nearly enough people from VJTI blogging and I'm glad that's changing.

Re: 6 must-download softwares for your new PC/laptop

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:25:48 -0000

Honestly, most of the software is not really that famous, but are very good in my opinion.

Foxit is a great alternative to Adobe Reader- much much faster, and has a far smaller memory footprint. IrfanView is great for quickfire editing- more than Paint, less than Photoshop. Also great for batch editing/renaming/resizing. 7zip is a great all in one archive tool- can deal with RARs, ZIPs and virtually anything else you can imagine. InfraRecorder is plane jane alternative to something like Nero. Who needs all that jazz to burn a disc? CutePDF is a nifty and very useful piece of software that lets you export any printable document to a PDF file. CCleaner is a great utility to keep your computer clean- you know- disc cleanup, registry fixes, uninstalling software, disabling annoying startup software-all stuff you can already do using your computers regular settings, but all in one place.

One thing I forgot to mention is a good defrag tool- Auslogics is a favourite of mine

Re: 6 must-download softwares for your new PC/laptop

Aditya Sengupta — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:05:05 -0000

I agree, Google Desktop isn't worth it if you can arrange your files reasonably well. It's thoroughly bloated. The eye candy effect wears off quite fast.

Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk aren't particularly lean pieces of software themselves. And why have two chat applications when you can use a single multiprotocol application like Digsby or Pidgin. In fact, Digsby can interface with your MSN, AIM, ICQ and Jabber accounts as well as with your social networking accounts- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. It'll even track your email.

My list of "must download softwares" for Windows would have:
Firefox, AVG (if you're going for a free AntiVirus, I prefer NOD32), Digsby, Foxit, CCleaner, IrfanView, Picasa, VLC, 7zip, InfraRecorder and CutePDF. I'd also recommend something like Dropbox for backups.

Re: First they laugh at you…

Aditya Sengupta — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:45:37 -0000

Check out http://www.redhat.com/video...

If you're not using the video for commercial purposes, you shouldn't have a problem. You should probably ask Red Hat though if you have any doubts.

Re: First they laugh at you…

Aditya Sengupta — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:18:05 -0000

That's perfectly fine. Some attribution (I won't insist) would be nice though.

Re: #mumbai- Role of Twitter during the Mumbai Terror Attacks

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:42:31 -0000

Thanks Mona.

I've always considered the comments section to be one of the most important aspects of a blog. The diversity of opinion it brings truly makes it the most social facet of a blog.

Re: Abhilash Ravishankar

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:50:44 -0000

You could perhaps try using Google Calendar for reminders. I've set mine up so that I get messages on my phone to remind me of events. (Calendar can be enabled from within GMail as well if you have Labs)

Re: #mumbai- Role of Twitter during the Mumbai Terror Attacks

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:15:49 -0000

Thank you Dina for the informative clarification. I cannot stress this enough- you folks over at the Mumbai Help blog have undertaken a pioneering role indeed and have have dealt with this situation, as well as situations in the past, in a pragmatic and productive way indeed. As you can see in the preceding post, a substantial amount of the information is, in fact, sourced from the Mumbai Help blog.

Hope the mainstream media is listening.

Re: #mumbai- Role of Twitter during the Mumbai Terror Attacks

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:07:47 -0000

Thanks for the comment Harini. I know what that feels like. With the chaotic state of affairs, there were many instances where the folks on Twitter trumped the mainstream media. Which is sad in a way since the MSM is supposed to be place to look up to for facts.

Re: #mumbai- Role of Twitter during the Mumbai Terror Attacks

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:40:49 -0000

Thank you for the kind words!

Re: #mumbai- Role of Twitter during the Mumbai Terror Attacks

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:49:18 -0000

Got that. Thanks for having raised an interesting point indeed.

Re: #mumbai- Role of Twitter during the Mumbai Terror Attacks

Aditya Sengupta — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:30:42 -0000

Thanks Sathya!

Re: #mumbai- Role of Twitter during the Mumbai Terror Attacks

Aditya Sengupta — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:49:00 -0000

Thanks for the comment Vivek. I think you've raised a very good question. One that I fear I might not be able to give adequate justice to, but here is my best shot:

About bloggers 'doing nothing but posting their interviews with various media giants'- well, a blog is a personal, albeit public medium. It is about sharing ones thoughts, opinions, experiences and knowledge with others. So if an individual does wish to share his/her interviews with the media, I see no reason why he/she should not. If it does get to be excessive, readers will simply stop following the blog.

However, the blog you mention is one I that I have been following for a while now and I do not believe that he is exploiting the incident as he is discussing the role of social media and citizen journalism in relation to that incident. I simply see him aggregating his conversations with other entities in one place- and why not? After all, it is HIS blog and the posts (interviews included) are relevant to what his blog is all about. If I were interviewed by someone on any issue, I don't see why it would be wrong for me to post it here and solicit comments, criticism and feedback from the readers of my blog.

As I said earlier, a blog is about sharing ones thoughts, opinions, experiences and knowledge with others. In posting interviews and the like on ones blog, you're simply sharing with your readers what you have shared with someone else.