Respect the user's bandwith

The quintessential internet surfer does what he knows best - unearths an obscure webpage from the bowels of the internet. He is impressed by the content - its a subject he is deeply interested in. But then suddenly he is disturbed by the sound of music emanating from his measly laptop speakers. Yes, the page contained a youtube video which auto-started on page-load. The content of the video has nothing to do with the subject of the website. The surfer loses concentration, nervously glances at the video (which is embedded in a tiny 100x100 px frame btw). He has long lost the context of the real content of the website. He frowns in dismay when he realises that the video is almost 10 minutes long. He hits middle click on the tab in the browser. The music stops. He is no longer thinking about his subject of interest. He thinks, why. "Why should I be forced to download a video which has nothing to do with the real message of the website? Why is that video started automatically on page-load, thereby nullifying any chance of stopping it from being downloaded by the browser, apart from completely leaving the website itself? Why can website designers not be more bandwidth conscious?
He stops and starts writing this blog. Every new technology can be abused.

Just using cool new technologies doesn't solve the problem

This point is missed too often. So I just wanted to say it out aloud again. One can write clean code using good old Java and messy code using Groovy (or Ruby or whatever). I have a feeling this is common amongst ResumeAdorners. I'll leave the details of that word for another post.

Buying books in Australia

There is a good reason not to buy (especially technical) books from Borders.
Unix Power Tools costs AUD 127 on Borders as opposed to AUD 80 on FishPond.

Borders:

FishPond:







Borders, of course, has the overhead of maintaining huge stone shops and a fancier website. But a staggering 58% difference?! I find it hard to fathom how its going to be competetive in the long run.
Amazon does it for USD 47, but the US is a different story altogether; and at the moment, uncomparable. I wonder when will the day arrive in Australia when we can buy books at rates similar to the USA.

Will chrome change the www?

I am really excited waiting for the release of Chrome. Reading the book, it seems like its going to be significantly different from all current browsers.

A letter

Hi Only-person-who-reads-my-blog,

Hope you are doing well. Do let me know when you are free.

Thank you.

Regards,

Jayesh

And another one...

	Had a good start to the day, courtesy this Grey Butcherbird. Was having my usual cup when his mixture of piping cries and throaty calls caught my attention. That's the one common thing amongst all birds who visit me, they're all incredibly noisy!
	I had clicked this bird in June thinking it was the omnipresent Magpie-Lark until today I saw the "hook" on the beak. It feels good to get it right now. More information here.

New kid on the block

On an inevitably lazy Sunday morning, I heard a recognizably new voice outside the balcony. Luckily he was gracious enough to allow ample time to get some reasonable shots (though the tree branches and criss-cross wooden planks of my balcony wall made it a bit hard to get a good look at him) It is a male Oriole(Fig bird). Few more pictures here. Hope the visitors keep coming often!