Completed 30 years yesterday and my company Web1 completed 7. Not bad I guess.

This one is going to be a real quick post as I am leaving for Matheran in next few minutes and just realized that I totally forgot to post about my birthday on the blog. Really bad of me, I have started giving high importance to Twitter these days.

Gifts? haha yeah, I love to collect gifts (who hates though).. got truck load of clothes from Sister and Wife. I gifted myself iPhone 4S. Wife gifted me (again) a bottle of really nice perfume, loved it. Sister in law gifted me a cool Swatch watch.

I wanted to gift myself a Apple’s 27″ Thunderbolt Display but the new ones have not arrived in India yet, so I kind of saved money there. But that’s fine. I am gonna buy it soon. Frankly speaking, I have zillions of things in mind, when it comes to spending money on myself but sadly, I don’t have zillions of rupees in my account. I wish I had though haha

So Web1′s birthday.. 7 years.. feels good.. again.. like always, bumpy ride but I am quite happy with it. I can never be satisfied though but happy for sure.

I guess, time to move now.. people waiting for me outside..

Cheers,
Deep

Rest in Peace

Apple Vs Android has become more like Linux vs Windows of old days where half of the people bash the other product just for the heck of it.

I have been watching this Apple vs Android arguments since quite sometime.. and today was the day when I actually got pissed off and decided to note down few things.. I am really not sure what runs into the mind of Apple or Android Fanboys but let me tell you what runs in my mind and this might openup the minds of many fanboys or Apple haters with half knowledge about the product.

Apple vs Android – Sales: Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are just operating systems. Apple’s iOS is a closed system which caters just to Apple owned devices. And Android is an open OS which can be ported into any device by the manufacturers. So, logically, sales of Android devices are always going to be higher than Apple ones. So there is no point in comparison here.

Now, if you ask why Apple does not allow to port iOS to other devices then the simple answer will be, it’s their choice afterall, it’s their own OS, they have every right to decide what they want to do with it. Google decided to keep Android open and it was their choice, that’s about it.

I have xx feature and you don’t have it: This started with Copy / Paste. All windows fanboys started saying, Apple did not have basic Copy / Paste options and what not but even first version of Windows Phone 7 did not have it. Android had it but there is no point in discussing this. Yeah, Apple did not have it. It was pretty basic thing but there has to be some reason behind it. (I am not the right person to answer)

One more funny thing is, whenever Apple announces some new features.. all Anti-Apple guys add the tag of “Innovation” and bash Apple about it. This happened with FaceTime to start off with. People laughed over it saying, we already had video chat in our old smart phones so what’s so new in it? The point is here is not about new, the point is about how to make people use that feature and how easy it is to use.

Even my old Sony Ericsson phone has video chat but it’s pathetic. It’s a hidden feature. There is Skype for desktop and phones but frankly speaking having a native video calling app integrated with the phone book is damn simple and anyone can use it. So the key here is, ease of use not the innovation.

The recent example in this is, Siri. People started assuming lot of things and started cooking up funny stories. I was going through some tweets. One guy was even arguing on baseless stuff like “If Apple bought Siri then why it killed it from the App Store” haha this was really funny to ask. If Apple bought it then don’t you think it’s their right to do whatever they want with the Application? Do you see Tweetie anymore after Twitter bought it? haha

Siri is innovation. Yes it is but not by Apple but by the guys who built it. The role of Apple comes in terms of making the application much better than earlier and integrating with the core of the system.

Now, why Apple does not allow in iPhone 4 or older version is their business decision and it does not make any sense to argue about it at all.

Patent wars: Apple sued Samsung for using their patented stuff without  taking permission from Apple. And many Samsung fanboys started bashing Apple. (Without even knowing what were the reasons for Apple suing Samsung) From what I understand, the patent wars are mostly (obviously not all) related to the business than the technology. It’s an open fact that Samsung openly copied many things from Apple. Their app screen looked exactly like iPhone’s, the icons, the box and even the power adapter haha

The simple fact behind these patent wars is, increasing sales of Samsung’s Galaxy phones is hurting Apple. It should hurt why not. Let’s assume that, if your competitor copies part of your product and sells it without your permission then wouldn’t it hurt you? Won’t you try to stop them from doing it? I will definitely do it. Anyone will do it.

So let’s not take these patent wars personally.

Processor Wars: This one is another funny war. My phone has Dual 1.5 GHz and it’s 6 months old. Your phone has just launched and has only 1 GHz processor. Yea Okay, it’s possible but do you actually need that much of processing power on a phone? I am okay with whatever processor iPhone 4 has even processor in 3G worked without any issues with the older version of iOS.

The list is just never ending.

But the point here is: Is it even worth criticizing Apple for every other statement they make? Yeah, they must have made few wrong decisions, they too must have killed some products but everyone in the business does that. The simple fact is, everyone loves to copy Apple. They started with iPhone and everyone started copying iPhone and introduced touch screen phones. Same features and what not.

How many phones in the market are usable? Android has reached a good level just now. Samsung Galaxy 2 is something really good from Samsung but that surely does not make Apple products bad. Apple’s sales is increasing. Be it iPhone or Macs. Obviously it won’t reach the level of Android devices or Windows based machines (Unless these 2 giants make some huge mistakes) but it’s growing really well and I don’t think it’s growing so much just because of the hype, there is definitely something good about the product which is helping the company to generate the sales.

So, finally, ending the long article. Let’s not crib about Apple or Android all the time. Let these 2 giants fight and compete. We will eventually get a better product in the end haha

And yeah, I love Apple products. I use iPhone, iPod Touch, Macbook Pro and Mac Mini and Apple’s 27″ Cinema Display is in the wish list already. The next recent purchase is going to be iPhone 4S so I can gift iPhone 4 to my wife haha But that surely does not make me Android or Windows hater or doesn’t even make these 2 products bad. They both are good at their own places but I love Apple products and that’s about it.

Cheers,
Deep

Image Credit: The raging battle between Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android by Tsahi Levent-Levi

Recently, I came across open source messenger server called OpenFire. It’s basically based on Jabber (XMPP) server and provides web interface to handle the server and various settings. (Incl. users and groups obviously). OpenFire made my life easier because, it can directly interface with Active Directory (LDAP) and import all the users and groups automatically. The installation is pretty simple too. I installed it on my Windows 2008 R2 just by running an exe file and going to few configuration steps. (OpenFire is available for Windows, Linux and Mac)

Yes, I did face some issues while connecting Openfire with LDAP but I think that was more or less due to my lack of knowledge in Active Directory management.

Once the server is setup,  you can use free messengers like Pidgin (Windows, Linux, Mac), Adium (Mac), iChat (Mac). Select XMPP or Jabber from the list of servers and login.

I am not going to write a guide for installation and setup as there is plenty of good material available online. I will simply share some important links here:

- OpenFire Installation Guide
- OpenFire LDAP Guide
- Connecting to OpenFire Server using iChat
- Connecting to OpenFire Server using Pidgin

I guess that’s it. I hope this helps you to save few dollars.

So, here is the story..

I was on my way back home, driving the car.. suddenly, I see some municipality (government) vehicle driving very rash, honking continuously.

This pissed me off as government vehicles (any vehicles for that matter) are not supposed to drive so rash and honk so much. I was lucky to find a RTO, I tried to wave hand and ask him to stop the vehicle behind me but he did not understand what I was saying. So I ended up stopping my vehicle in the middle of the road, blocked the municipality vehicle, called the RTO and told him to get his license for rash driving or atleast ask him to park his vehicle aside so we can talk.

To my surprise, RTO guy talked very rudely and behaved as if I have committed some crime. I openly asked him why he was talking rudely.. he simply replied saying, this is the way we talk as there is too much noise around so we speak loudly. This was something really hard to digest but I did not argue with him much.

Now, I told him about the rash driving issue, so this guy, instead of listening to me, started blaming me of blocking the traffic.. (2-3 vehicles hardly). Though he did not have any answers when I asked, “how am I supposed to tell you that vehicle behind me is driving very rash and it needs to be stopped?”

So, after that point, I basically folded my hand and told him, “I am really sorry for wasting your precious time and informing you about the rash driver, I should let him drive rashly and wait for the consequences.”

I walked away right after that, he tried to call me again as if he is going to listen to what I say but I did not bother to respond as there was no point in arguing with someone who is not even ready to understand what is rash driving and what problems it could cause.

The point of this short story or experience is: I have seen so many policemen in India (atleast in Mumbai), they do not work for citizens, they talk to you as if you have done something wrong, they make you feel like you are the one who is at fault. I have seen this kind of behavior at many places. Not sure why they have such negative mindset or they are afraid to lodge any complaint.

But at the same time, I have seen many polite RTOs too. I think something needs to be done to change their mindset. It’s not helping anyone, they are getting the salaries from tax payers’ money and tax payers are the ones who gets treated badly.

Mera Bharat Mahaan..
Jai Hind

Image Source: Greasing the wheels by Satish Krishnamurthy

Well, to start off with.. we moved to a new office on 13th June. This one is a bigger one.. spacious.. I am not fan of hopping around different places in short span of time but again who hates growing.. so I am not complaining haha

Spent 3 months in the renovation, last few days were really hectic but now things are getting settled.

Oh Yes, my first baby, tybcom.com completed 9 years on the same date too. And with the same layout too. This reminds me that I need to change the site’s design with something really fresh.

And that also reminds me that, the design is already ready but I got stuck with other projects so I am not able to give time to the baby.

Apart from the work, the personal life is going on pretty smoothly, all the elderly people around me have started bugging Megha and Me for the baby.. this cycle never ends, Singles are bugged to get married, married are bugged for the baby, and once the child is born, if it’s girl, then everyone starts bugging for the boy (as if we are baby making machines), once that it over, it’s time to bug for a new house and this cycle never ends.

Thankfully, I am not surrounded by too many buggers.

And no baby planning at this point, may be 2-3 years still.. not yet ready for it.

I think that’s it.. I really do not know what else to say.

If you show your card with CEO to a corporate guy, he will end up laughing at you, coz he knows what it takes to becomes a CEO or any officer level guy. Calling yourself a CEO, President, Director for a sole proprietorship company is totally wrong. The best suitable title for a proprietor will be “Founder” or “Proprietor”.

I have been running a sole proprietorship company for the past 6 years, I call myself Founder, I am totally cool with that. I am partner in another company, I call myself as Partner for that company and I am Director of Technology in another company so I use that title, but I can’t just sit and make up funny titles myself.

It looks really funny when we use these cool terms without having any knowledge of it. Give yourself the right title and be proud of it, don’t try to copy others just to present yourself as “cool” and new age guy.

One last thing, I have seen many people using too many titles under their profile.. e.g. “Blogger, The Startup Guy, Evangelist, CEO” and what not.. all these guys, please understand, these funny combination of titles is a BIG NO in a practical world. But Yes, you can keep those if you love being in your own imaginary world. Generally we laugh whenever we see anyone with so many titles.

Select the correct appropriate title for yourself, don’t mix zillions of titles just because it sounds cool.

Just my 2 cents.

Image: Question Mark by Marco Bellucci

Work makes everyone go mad, No, I am not complaining, in fact, I love to keep myself busy. This birthday was nothing great frankly speaking but then, not all days are great, so this was one of those “not so great” days.

My company, Web1 completed 6 years on 13th October too. Happy with the way it’s shaping up, almost the way I wanted it to grow, still lot more to achieve. Experience of 6 years has taught me a lot. Went through some best and worst times. Learnt from various people and experiences. The learning goes on, it should never end. Once you stop yourself from learning new things, it simply means that you are killing your path to success.

The personal life is going on pretty smoothly too. Wife is not around for the past one week and she is going to be away for another week. For the past couple of days, not in that great shape, minor cold, cough and slight fever.

Lot of things planned up for the future, very less time in hand and yea, need some good flow of Vitamin M too. Just a matter of time I guess.

And yea, this was one of those random posts where I feel like talking to someone and the blog ends up becoming a best friend to talk to.

That’s about it..

Cheers,
Deep

Image by Darin Dickison

Thankfully, Tax Information Network website came handy.

So, now the question is, how do we check our Tax Statements?

Well, you need to register to get access to Annual Tax Statement (Form 26 AS) first. You can register by visiting this page. The registration process is manual. You will have to fill in required details, then within 5 days,  the authorized person will get in touch with you, their person will visit your place, verify the details and collect Rs. 100 + taxes as fees. And within 3 days your account will be activated.

Once the account is active, you need to login here with your details, once logged in, the site will give you access to Tax Statements of all the years. (From the year you have started filing tax). The statement will show the details of Tax Deducted at Source, Tax Collected at Source, (Advance) Tax Paid and Tax Refunds Paid. Next to each TDS entry, it displays the status of each entry, which basically says, the Tax amount was accepted by the government or not.

Okay, now, if you just want to check the status of your Tax Refunds, then you can directly check it here. Absolutely no need to register to check the status, you just need a PAN card number. If you are facing any difficulties there, you can call them up on the helpline: 1800 425 9760 or email them here

Thanks to the IT Department for developing such a wonderful site, I can’t imagine myself calling or visiting the babus just to get this basic info.

I guess that’s about it, I hope this helps someone.

Image Source: “Tax by definition” by Alan Cleaver

Since my monitor was HD, I was planning to get HD based STB as it won’t require any TV Tuner card and will give me better quality for Audio and Video too. (Even on the normal SD channels).

I got Airtel’s Digital TV HD. Pretty decent looking stylish STB and remote controller. So, to get it working with my monitor, all I needed was HDMI to DVI cable / converter. I am not sure if all the HD monitors have HDMI port but if your monitor has DVI port, then you should get this cable. You will also have to keep in mind that, the type of DVI port can be different for your monitor. In this case, mine is DIV-D (24+1, this one is a common one) but some the monitors might have 24+5 pin DVI port too. Check here for more info. These cables cost merely Rs. 250 on eBay India website.

Once this is done, you will need to get the speakers working. You may want to connect your surround sound system (2.1 or 5.1) but for my office, I just had basic speakers, so I just needed a Mini Stereo (Female) to 2 RCA Male speaker cable. This costs just around Rs. 30 and you get it at any local stores.

So for me, by spending additional Rs. 280, I saved myself for lot of mess (wires) and got much better sound and video quality. I use this monitor as a dual monitor and whenever I want to watch TV, I just take out the VGA cable from my monitor and we have the TV ready.

I know, this is not any rocket science but this will surely help the newcomers.

Image Source: HD by phjellming