Perspectives

Considering most of my posts are related to GIS, internet mapping and local anyway, Why not talk about a new entrant in the Indian internet mapping space? Called SadakMap

Sadak Map has “Mark your place” , and then another “ask a question/post a message with a location relevance”. I guess it really is about a discussion forum with location specific topics. Mark a point? Well, I can do that on G Maps.

Was just trying to see where Opus Bangalore where, apparently, this gorgeous subject constantly performs. And found out that Google has integrated results from local.google.co.in. They have also managed to crawl reviews from Burrp. The data set itself hasnt improved much though.

A couple of my friends already asked me about it. Although it is a shameful thing, Big deal, I tried!
Had to give it up on the fourth day for that eighth milestone Tailor I mentioned in the first of this series of posts.

But, that does not mean I have given up on Cycling. She is still my baby and I am still coming to office on her. She also goes with me for all the corner shop related activities.

Anyways, Thanks all for cheering. Maybe it is time you took it over from me!

Trust me, this doesn’t seem as easy as it sounds. First day, and I already have a good mind to hell with my bicycle.

Firstly, Too much pollution around. I need to get a mask from somewhere. Second, You have no idea how long distances will take. Fortunately, it is not so much a factor of traffic, but your own being fit. Early in the morning, a trip to my office took around 20 mins. I was very happy because it takes minimum 10 minutes on my motorbike. But then, after the gym in the evening, the same distance took a full half hour.

I was going to go meet Lipi and wish her a safe trip for her sojourn to the US, but then I was only 3/4 the way to the airport in the estimated 40 mins. Lipi, being lipi has to go and check in three hours before her trip. And she asked me to ^&*$ it and go home. Damn!

I have further pain points now. I need to go collect a Jacket for my brother from some God Damned Tailor sitting on the eighth milestone from Silk Board junction. I also need to make another trip to GK Vale in CMH road because the Korean Embassy needs a weirdo 35mmX45mm passport photo of mine before they can issue me a Visa.

hmmm…Life without energy definitely sucks. The only good thing so far? zeropetrolweek.com and zeropetrol.in are both not taken. Yay! Do you think I should start a community around this now?

zero petrol for a week
Originally uploaded by shivku.

I ve had this on my mind for a long time. A Bicycle. Yesterday, I got my motorbike towed away for putting it in a NO-parking zone. It was a pain finding the bike back especially when I was crunched for time. And I parked there because of intolerable traffic in the first place.

I was also contemplating buying a swift mostly because many people around me started asking me if I was going to buy a car. Sometime during the last week I also read an article about how global oil production has already peaked and gone (sometime in 2006, they claim).

Anyways, the climax of all of this ended up with a bicycle. Now I have another mission to accomplish. Zero petrol until 4th november. Wish me all the best.

Yahoo India Maps has just released driving directions for destinations inside of India. Ofcourse, locations in NA and EU work as well. There are a lot of easter eggs hiding all over. Read about it at ycoolthing. Go find your favorite directions here.

Go Anywhere!

After huge successes a couple of times at the Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, California and Yahoo, London, Hackday comes over to Bangalore. Hack Days in Yahoo are always a single day love affair with your computer. So, this one happens between October 5th 2007 from about 5 PM to October 6th 5 PM at Taj Residency.

So, If you are one of them who has registered and have an invite, Kindle the hacker head in you and come and show us your genius. You wont be disappointed. Ofcourse, we have lots of stuff happening all through the day to keep you all awake. Food is going to be yum. So are the games and talks. And we also should have some serious music from a sexy band at the end of the day. You should spot me somewhere there with an orange shirt. Pull me over and I will be glad to help you. I will also give a short talk on hacking with, well ofcourse, maps. I may just have a surprise in store for you.

And for those who did not register or did not get an invite..well, hang on here for more updates. You can always hack and post it at Yahoo! Gallery. If it is brilliant enough, someone will take notice.

Someone also managed to make a huge banner (60ft x 20ft) and put it outside our office in inner ring road, Bangalore. Unfortunately, the Wind Gods didnt like it and tore it into pieces in less than 12 hours. I managed to get some bad pics of them here:

If you’re a Web developer, or have an interest in web and online standards, and you also like booze, then Pub Standards is the place for you. If you don’t like booze, but don’t mind hanging out in a pub with a fresh lime soda, that’s good too.

The plan is to meet at a pub somewhere near Brigade Road, talk about web standards, and current trends on the web, have a few drinks, have a lot of fun and meet new people.

Be there.

For full details, including attendance, visit:
http://upcoming.org/event/268075

Just learnt that MGMaps has added Yahoo India maps support. What that means is now, using mgmaps and selecting Yahoo India maps as the map provider, you have lesser ways of getting lost in India. The default search is still from Google though. I actually didnt know about mgmaps until the Google controversy. But the app is one helluva sweet little thing. Works like a charm.

I was thrilled for a different reason though. I wanted to see how our maps look on a mobile. Sort of a first look for me as well. Aah, looks sweet. I searched all over the place and got my archaic digi cam to take a pic of my phone with our maps (these days, I click only with my phone).

What do you think? Is a mobile map app something that Indians want ?

Heard about it from Siddharth. Was an independence day special I guess, went over all the way to Hebbal. The place is called Lumbini Gardens along the shores of Nagavara lake, close to Hebbal flyover, bangalore. Well, Drum jam was not so bad.

Started off as a passive on-looker, I was slowly in the groove and before I realised I was following Roberto’s beats with a single congo in my lap. At the least, it was a different experience. Nobody invites me to play drums for free. Was fun. Thanks guys.

Here are a few videos I captured. And one of the fat white women in the middle is vasundhara Das.