26 June 2021
Accuracy of SkEye Cam
I have created a new app called SkEye Cam. It's a Camera App targeted at hobbyist astronomers (such as myself), and its highlight feature at launch will be real-time plate-solving.
Plate-solving is the act of figuring out which part of the sky has been captured on a camera plate (image). This can not only help identify objects in the image, it can also help find the orientation of a telescope, which in turn can be used for navigation, etc.
Compared to raw IMU sensors, plate-solving has the promise of being more accurate and reliable. But exactly how accurate can it be?
We decided to find out.
10 Aug 2014
Open-source, Hiring and Low-hanging-fruit
For recruiters looking at an unfamiliar candidate, the candidate's open-source projects have often been a criteria for selection. Many résumés carry a link to a GitHub profile or equivalent and many recruiters demand as much.
However, it is hard to judge the suitability and ability of a candidate based on their projects alone; those projects might not be in the area of interest of the recruiter or not implemented in a relevant language, etc.
To get a better idea about the candidate's abilities, they are often asked to design and implement a quick POC or solve an imaginary problem. While this may work, the effort spent on these is wasted beyond the hiring process.
I just had a new idea; atleast it's new to me!
31 March 2011
Gmail HTML helper
Do you want to insert a horizontal ruler in your email? How about a table? Simply copy and paste the below elements into Gmail or any other HTML capable email client.
20 Aug 2010
Why Flattr needs to get out of Public Beta soon
At the outset let me say that I like Flattr, both its idea and its implementation. That is why I signed up and that is why I put their buttons on my creations.
Flattr works because it is so simple. Compared to Paypal donations or Pledgie, you need to make far fewer money transactions. And because the payout has a cap (or budget) set by you, the user can safely Flattr as many items as he likes, without worrying about over expenditure.
But, Flattr is currently in closed beta, which completely disrupts the above model of simplicity. The user has to go through multiple processes before he can login and by that time he might have forgotten why he signed up to begin with!
22 Aug 2010
HTC Desire : A mini-review
I recently bought the HTC Desire as a gift for someone, but as the undisputed resident-geek of the house I got to play with it for a while.
This is a really quick review of the phone, written for the impatient. Most of the online reviews get distracted with the eye candy while ignoring the important issues. Hoping that this will be useful to someone out there:
28 March 2009
Web programming in Scala: Choosing a framework
Note: This is a rather old (but still relevant) article that has been ressurected from the archives.
For the last few months I have been trying to build a web site. Months? You may wonder why it's taking so long. It's nothing very fancy; just a simple input screen for a project I am working on. But the idea is to learn the techniques involved, and try to build an infrastructure that I can use for .. you know.. the super duper mega project always lurking in the pipeline.
