Disqus - Latest Comments for SoftVision

Re: Facebook is Misleading Indians With its Full-page Ads About Free Basics

Rishad Bharucha — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 13:34:31 -0000

You start by learning to crawl and then to walk - by reducing internet prices in a financially sustainable way or by making a long term investment into research to find solutions to problems like this.

Re: [Exclusive] Here Is The Nexus 6P In All Its Glory, Front And Back

Rishad Bharucha — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 12:13:05 -0000

The black bar is probably a camera that flips from the back to the front. I saw this on some phone on eBay a few weeks ago.

Re: The Top Performer Paradox: Why You Should Acquire Skill From the Less Accomplished

Rishad Bharucha — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 10:32:41 -0000

I agree with your thoughts, David. I also have personal experience to back it up.

I am currently coaching football (soccer) at a local academy. I'm specifically working with under-10s and under-11s. We have divided our group into two tiers based on their ability. I have already seen the difference of working without using the tiers and with the tiers, and there is a significant difference. Some of our tier one players are the kind of players who would have to bear the expectation to perform if placed in a tier two team. I've already seen this happen in a recent round of friendlies we had before deciding the tiers. If these same kids are placed in their tier one team, they feel less pressure and can share the responsibility. I've seen this work out too and they've said they are happier in their new teams.

Re: 5 Reasons You Should Start Using Anki

Rishad Bharucha — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 09:48:12 -0000

I'll be going to university this Fall and I'm considering using a wiki. As a Computer Science student, concepts will be interlinked and I figure I can establish better hierarchy and linkage with a wiki than with flash cards. Just need to figure out a good one that has good mobile support.

Re: Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

Rishad Bharucha — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:50:27 -0000

Ewelina, theoretically it is possible to master an array of skills in one's lifetime. It takes exceptional discipline, time management, hard work and motivation to do so. Yes, talent helps but without turning that raw talent into skill by putting in the necessary shift, one is merely a genius in one's own head. I've seen plenty of those "fools with expensive cameras" and I see where you're coming from. That is unfortunately best summed up by what CLE2 said - "We're a very distracted generation".

Re: Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

Rishad Bharucha — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:43:36 -0000

Sure, I would consider it. We should get in touch online some time. ;)

Re: Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

Rishad Bharucha — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:41:46 -0000

"We are a very distracted generation."

So true. And yet we are better off than our forefathers in terms of getting access to learning resources.

Re: Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

Rishad Bharucha — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:48:58 -0000

"In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series." - Wikipedia entry for Steve Jobs.

"Designed, developed and marketed". If you break that up into skill requirements you could say he designed the hardware, programmed the software and used his marketing skills exceptionally well. There also is a famous story about Jobs taking a calligraphy class in Reed College from where he dropped out after only a semester. Jobs later stated, "If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts."

It is difficult to in the modern world to become a polymath, owing to factors (let's face it) such as the education system and peer pressure (not the teen kind, but the adult kind of focusing on one skill). But the point I want to make here is that even if you INSIST on focusing on a single skill, you should keep your mind open to the idea of exposing yourself to more "general" skills as well.

For instance, consider a programmer in the software industry who happens to have a good understanding of economics. He might not be proficient and have studied extensive theories on economics. But a good understanding of supply and demand would go a long way in helping him understand how the market he deals in functions. If he has some knowledge of business through a class or book, he might be more familiar with terms thrown around the workplace.

It might be practical to market yourself as being skilled at one thing and complement that with a fundamental understanding of skills that may be similar or beneficial to you. If of course, you don't want to be a polymath. Not that it's impossible to be a polymath, but this would be something between being a polymath and being skilled at just one thing.

Re: The most important advice I have to give

Rishad Bharucha — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:30:12 -0000

Couldn't agree more, Randy.

In January 2010 I dislocated my shoulder and prior to that I was hitting the gym and the running track regularly. Since my injury and even post-physiotherapy I couldn't get together a regular running stint throughout the year. I didn't think I'd even be able to go the distance again.

I didn't make any New Year's resolutions for 2011, I just took the New Year as a clean slate to clear my mind and give myself an early boost. I decided to go just 2-3 times a week so that I wouldn't lose my hunger for it and told myself that whenever I went to run, I had to make it count. I didn't keep any high expectations as to how much distance to cover in a particular run and started off with just 2km. 2km became 4km, which in turn became 6km and in my last run I told myself to go for broke and went 11km non-stop.

I think the most important thing I related to your post, is I that I told myself that I had to show up on these few days and just "hang in there" or "keep going at it". On my way to the track initially I'd say to myself, "Ok half your work is done, you're showing up here". Now I say, "Ok, a quarter of your work is done, you need to run now!" It helps not to keep any high expectations early on. That way you're just focusing on what you do. That's what commitment for me is all about.

Re: School Boy Mistakes

Rishad Bharucha — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 04:35:24 -0000

Good honest post, mate. Don't worry if you're bogged up with work, just keep doing a little at a time, it goes a long way. Edwards' book will give you some basic concepts in drawing. The time you need really, is just to practice the exercises which enforce those concepts so that they stick with you. It isn't hard at all, just keep going with it.

Re: Online support

Rishad Bharucha — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 05:20:11 -0000

Cool. Looking forward to your progress. I just uploaded what I've done so far as a sketchbook as well: http://conceptart.org/forum...

Re: Online support

Rishad Bharucha — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 03:34:40 -0000

Do you have a link to your sketchbook? I'm planning to put all my drawings so far in an online sketchbook as well.

Re: I’m Going to Learn to…

Rishad Bharucha — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:34:10 -0000

At the moment I'm reading "Fun with a Pencil" by Andrew Loomis and practicing sketches from there. You'll find that several artists recommend Loomis' books.

Re: I’m Going to Learn to…

Rishad Bharucha — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:09:22 -0000

Hey David. I have the perfect book for your goal - "The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards (http://amzn.to/grJUZX). At the start of the book Edwards asks you to draw a portrait of yourself, then takes you through exercises and asks you to draw another one to see how far you've come. Check it out. ;)

Re: #fml: Day -37: Its a beautiful day!

Rishad Bharucha — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 04:15:29 -0000

Lol no. Never heard of this. I don't have much respect for the IITs really, and I think we could do much better. I'll mail it to you anyway because I still think there are loopholes in it somewhere, that our esteemed Principal would object to.

Re: #fml: Day -37: Its a beautiful day!

Rishad Bharucha — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:31:29 -0000

If you are genuinely interested in a research lab, get back to me when you get elected. I've got a document you might find interesting.

Re: Hardy KDE 4.1 Beta Packages Soon

Rishad Bharucha — Sat, 31 May 2008 08:55:56 -0000

@protomank: There's a tool called kdesvn-build that might help you: http://kdesvn-build.kde.org/

Re: Hardy KDE 4.1 Beta Packages Soon

Rishad Bharucha — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:09:40 -0000

Shaman2 will support multiple distros. The stable version of Shaman should come out for Arch pretty soon now. I tried it in Beta 1 and it was perfectly stable as far as I saw. So far work on the API and libraries for Shaman2 has begun so it will take a while before we see it usable in the trunk.

Re: Ten Tips for KDE 4.0 Beginners

Rishad Bharucha — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:44:38 -0000

Ah, thanks for the KOffice tip. I was initially using KOffice2 as a search term in Adept.

Re: Are You Secure?

Rishad Bharucha — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 11:13:38 -0000

Hey Devnet. I've always been reading your blog but this is my first comment here. We spoke a little on the PCLOS IRC (I don't know if you remember). I went distrohopping again and stopped at PCLOS for the second time.

Nice article. So they actually included this NSA backdoor in Vista SP1? Unbelievable. Another small potentially harmful object to the load with the other bloat in the background programs of Windows Vista.

Re: How Many Posts Before You Promote

Rishad Bharucha — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:38:03 -0000

Yes, I think regularity is a point that should go with providing quality content. I've just started a blog and I managed to get a few subscribers by posting every day. I don't think I'd get them with just three posts a week, though in some exceptional cases it is effective.

Re: Driving Traffic With Free Article Services

Rishad Bharucha — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:24:39 -0000

Yes, it would make more sense posting to ezines that cover your blog niche. It's helping me build some backlinks too.