SlideShare: How to Add an event, Add presentations to that event & Embed all presentations on your website

Slideshare has a remarkably twisted way to create an event, add presentations to it and then get a widget with all presentations from that event. I have created many IndicThreads events on Slideshare and yet I struggle with it every time I need to create a new one. I faced the same issues again while creating an events page for our upcoming Cloud Computing Conference in June.

So thought I should at least put up this rather raw post in the hope that it would help someone (including me in the future) facing a similar situation. Also hopefully Slideshare would see this and fix things. Read more

Mobile Software Development

My recent presentation (Jan 2011) on Mobile Software Development at the RSS IT Milan held in Pune. The event was targeted at college students and so the presentation is meant for students and those just starting off with mobile software development.

You can find many more presentations on specific mobile software development technologies at the website for the annual IndicThreads Conference On Mobile Software Development that’s held in Pune, India. Read more

IDEA Cellular Needs To Get Its Act Together, Particularly Internet & Customer Care

Been an IDEA subscriber for almost a decade. True to it’s ads, IDEA has always had good connectivity, at least in Maharashtra. So hardly ever have I had issues like dropped calls or a weak signal. So if you are a basic phone+SMS kind of mobile user, IDEA is a good option. However start venturing into more advanced features and IDEA starts to struggle. Read more

Trends In Software Development For The Java Platform

I recently gave a 15 min presentation followed by Q&A on “Trends In Software Development On The Java platform” at the Computer Society of India, (CSI Pune) InCSIghts conference. Slides below. The trends I touched upon 1) Power To Choose 2) Java Platform & not the Java language Is Java’s primary identify going forward 3) Convention Over Configuration 4) Mobile Apps Show Rapid Growth 5) Agile is moving from small companies & geeks to the mainstream. Read more

Internet For Business Development, Internet Entrepreneurship & IT Security & Compliance Courses – By IndicThreads Education

From the IndicThreads Education Press Release. You are welcome to link – share >>

IndicThreads, a technology media pioneer, creators of the IndicThreads.com software developer portal & the IndicThreads Technology Conferences, announces the  launch of  ‘IndicThreads Education‘ a novel initiative in business & technology education. The courses are path-breaking in their content  & way ahead of their time as compared to curriculum of traditional education courses in India.

IndicThreads Education kicks off with three courses, all of which are a first for education in India – 1) Internet For Business & Development 2) Internet Entrepreneurship 3) Information Technology Security & Compliance

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Internet For Business Development

My presentation on ‘Internet For Business Development’ at Barcamp Pune, Nov 2009. The learning was part of my preparations while designing the Internet For Business Development & Internet Entrepreneurship course for IndicThreads Education.The session gives an overview of how the Internet has changed business and business development activities forever & how today’s entrepreneurs & business development professionals need to harness the power of technology and the Internet to deliver better sales, stronger brands & a larger customer base for the enterprise.

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Compare Candidates Contesting In India Elections 2009

In a previous post “Wealth & Assets Of Candidates“, I mentioned how you can access the affidavits filed by the election candidates.  However there’s an easier way than having to go through the affidavits of all candidates. Check out http://myneta.info/. The site provides an easy and tabular comparison of the various candidates contesting in a constituency. Read more

Facebook : “Push To Open”

A couple of days back, I wrote about Facebook vs Orkut, where I talked about the rapidly growing popularity of Facebook in India. However despite the success and popularity of Facebook, I haven’t been able to get comfortable with Facebook and get truly on-board. A few reasons why I somehow feel rather wary of Facebook. Read more

Fading Orkut – Rising Facebook

Orkut has easily been the most popular social network in India for the past few years. However things are changing and Facebook seems to now have replaced Orkut as the happening network. Orkut users are seemingly migrating in herds to Facebook. Orkut seems to have become the network for kids and newbies while Facebook has become the place where the supposedly smart, rich, famous and influential are active. From movie stars to politicians, they all refer to Facebook as their social network of choice.

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What’s The Impact Of The Economic Slowdown On The Software Business?

Rightrix Research & IndicThreads.com have undertaken a research to gauge sentiment of the insiders to the software business (the developers, architects and managers) and know what they think about the slowdown and its impact. Participating in the survey also gets you 15% off on registrations for the 3rd IndicThreads.com Conference On Java Technology

>> Click to enter the survey

Facebook Privacy Settings Are Unfair And Intentionally Complex

I am not a very active Facebook user, but I am amazed at the number and frequency of alerts and updates I keep getting from friends and family. I doubt if these friends are aware that even their micro changes and activities on Facebook are being splashed on the screens of all their friends. These alerts sure are the life blood of a networking site and without them sites like Orkut and Facebook would never have been the phenomenons that they are. However shouldn’t the user have a real and simple option to go private?

Keeping your profile updates private and controlling the overall privacy of you profile and applications is relatively simple on Orkut. However Facebook seems to have intentionally made it difficult for users to manage their privacy settings.

There’s an option “Privacy Settings” that provides only partial privacy control. It controls the privacy of only the core profile and stuff and even within this there are multiple options and confusing screens thrown at the user so as to prevent the user from going private.

Facebook Privacy Unfriendly

Applications that you install on Facebook are a major privacy headache. You have separate sections to control privacy of applications that your friends can use to access your profile and for applications that you yourself have installed. By default each new application you install starts of privacy unfriendly.

Click these links to control your Facebook privacy. Don’t forget to edit each application and set it’s privacy settings.

  1. http://www.facebook.com/editapps.php (On this page ensure that you open and edit each application and tab provided. There’s no easy way to go private on all applications.)
  2. http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=platform
  3. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/privacy/
  4. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/privacy/?view=profile
  5. http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=search
  6. http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=feeds
  7. http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=platform#/privacy/?view=platform&tab=other

Overall, I think these are bad policies that Facebook needs to fix asap. By providing privacy settings and then making them hopelessly complex, they are trying to project that the users have total control over their privacy when in reality 99.9% of users are totally at the mercy of Facebook.

What Facebook should have is a simple, single screen settings page and one button that says “Go Private” or something like that, which will disable all updates and alerts throughout Facebook as well as all applications.

Considering that privacy is a big concern, especially in the US and the developed world; I am surprised that privacy activists haven’t protested against these Facebook policies as yet.

Using Facebook Pages For Networking @ IndicThreads Conference On Java, Pune, India

The 3rd IndicThreads.com Conference On Java Technology will be held in Pune from 25-27 Nov 2008. In previous years, the conference has been quite good at getting people from various companies, countries and cultures talking about Java. However as yet we didn’t have an online forum for delegates to connect amongst themselves and with the speakers. So we recently evaluated the various networking options available. Creating our own networking site, using Orkut, Facebook, Linkedin or a social networking site like Ning were the options we looked at. Read more

IndicThreads Conference On Java – Version 3.0 – Pune, India

The 3rd edition of the IndicThreads.com Conference On Java Technology will be held at the Hotel Sun n Sand in Pune, India from 25-27 Nov 2008. The conference is I believe the best place in India for Java learning and discussion. However as I am a speaker at the conference and my firm is the host of the conference, don’t take my word for it. 

Check out – http://Conference.IndicThreads.com and have a look at the sessions and the speakers who would be presenting at the event. Conference sessions deal with topics like Domain Driven Design, SOA, HTML5 WebSocket, Agile, Lean, Ajax, Web 2, Scripting, Java Persistence and Desktop Java amongst others. The theme for the event this year is “Architect The Future

If you think the event is worth it, use the discounted rate currently on offer to grab a seat.  I look forward to seeing you at the conference.

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Lord Ganesha Causes You Telecom Internet Failure

You Telecom’s internet connectivity in Pune has been pathetic for the past 4 – 5 days. I have rarely managed to connect and despite repeated complaints, nothing has been done in the matter as yet. However just now I happened to see the You Telecom website and realized that You Telecom was not to blame and it was only god’s wish that citizens of Pune do not get Internet access.

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Grails Web Application Development Using Oracle JDeveloper IDE

Check out my new article on OTN about building a Grails web application using the Oracle JDeveloper IDE.

Excerpt-
Following the Ruby on Rails (RoR) wave, most software developers have considered, if not tried out, either ROR or some other framework that promises to deliver ROR features. The Grails framework also rode the Rails wave to popularity but is now shaping into a powerful framework in its own right. Grails uses the Groovy
programming language; Groovy syntax is similar to Java’s, but it also adopts some concepts from other languages. Like Java, Groovy generates bytecodes and runs on the Java platform, so it has the power of Java but also adds a few niceties and simplifications.

In this article you will get an introduction to developing Grails applications using Oracle JDeveloper as your IDE. You will also get an overview of Groovy concepts as you go about developing your Grails application.

Visit – http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/oak-grails.html

Related –
* Groovy bridges the scripting and the enterprise Java worlds (Interview with Groovy Lead)
* Grails is a breath of fresh air for Java developers (Interview with Grails Lead)

First Java Champion In India!

Java Champion Award LogoPleased to announce that I have been chosen as the first “Java Champion” in India. Java today is a mature technology that is being taught and used throughout the software world. However it is still evolving and venturing into new domains and uses. This is an exciting time to be working on Java and the ‘Java Champion’ selection makes it that much more fun. It is also great motivation for us at Rightrix Solutions to continue our Java work through Rightrix Research, IndicThreads.com and the IndicThreads.com Conference On Java Technology.

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A Car For Every Indian – Questions Posed By The Tata Nano

12jan08-tata-nano-car-small.jpg“Citizens cannot be denied the comfort they deserve, innovators the recognition

A couple of days back, the Tata’s launched the much hyped 1 lakh car, the Nano. The car is believed to be the cheapest in the world and is expected to revolutionize travel in India. The car looks good and also seems to come with a decent set of features. Considering that hardly any Indian companies consider research and innovation a priority, the Nano is a significant achievement for the Tatas.

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San Francisco Days – Experiences @ Oracle Technology Conference

Oracle OpenWorld In San Francisco USA - Lessons for Pune cityI am writing this column from the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco on an Internet connection that’s as fast as the Internet speed of half of Pune put together. It’s strange how fast Internet connections always put me in a good mood. Anyway, talking of OpenWorld, it’s an annual event that has over 40,000 people coming to San Francisco from over a 100 countries. It’s amazing that the city can pull off such a mammoth event fairly easily and the infrastructure doesn’t collapse under the load.

The city administration seems to go the extra mile to ensure that delegates have an enjoyable and safe visit to the city. Although OpenWorld is the biggest, it is just one of the many events that happen all year round at the Moscone Center. Each event not only gets people to San Francisco and works as a great public relations exercise for the city but also pumps millions of dollars into the economy of San Francisco.

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Conference On Java Technology, Pune India, Oct 07

IndicThreads Conference On Java TechnologyI am pleased to inform you about the IndicThreads.com Conference On Java Technology 2007 that will be held on 26th and 27th October 2007 at Pune, India.

The conference is an independent event with indepth vendor-neutral technical sessions about Web Services, Ajax, SOA, EJB, Mashups, Frameworks, JSF, Data Caching, Dependency Injection, Patterns and various other aspects of Java software development.

The event is a gathering of the best Java brains in the business and a place to learn from technology thought leaders about the latest and greatest in Java technology. It is also a great place to network and meet like-minded people from across companies and industry segments.

Registrations for the IndicThreads.com Conference On Java Technology 2007 are open. Register now to grab the very early bird discount that closes on the 31st of Aug 07.

The conference website is http://conference.indicthreads.com. Do check it out.

Being the editor of IndicThreads and a speaker at the event, I certainly will be around at the conference. Look forward to seeing you there.