What a lousy week it has been… I’ve had this fever all week long, and is still poking its head around me now and then.. I have been down for the last few days with a viral fever. I also made the mistake of calling my family and telling them that I am unwell. They got very worried and came to Chennai in a taxi to pick me up (my mom). (That was embarrasing … but did feel well pampered). ...

As technology enters our lives, dare I say, invade our lives, the concept of radical design has been ubiquitous. It’s design, design and more design, for last few days for me. I came across quite a few very kewl interfaces and design concepts (a detailed listing below). Some much of what we do, is so dependant on how efficiently a product has been designed. How minimal and useful the interface is. ...

There was once a wondeful browser called “Opera”. The lucid interface, the smal memory footprint - it was simply browsing heaven. Then came the version loaded with ads, heavy, sluggish UI and a hug memory footprint in the name of new improved UI. The ads loaded version of opera turned out to nag-ware and I totally detested it and moved to other browsers (read Firefox). Get online and check websites out became “swimming” and not “surfing” ...

After a week long battle with my host sending email back and forth, I managed to get my site back online! Hopefully now, I can start posting some of the events of the last two weeks. Very eventful mind you. Check back in a couple of days.

Another wonderful tool and a new area that Google has strolled into and stormed! Check out the new IM from Google.. neat sparse interface as usual. Extremely intuitive and very light on system resources. I’m lovin’ it! Download Google Talk

OBL - Out about learning, the second time to the same place, same people, but totally a new experience. On a deeper note, I rediscovered myself! Quite a few things about myself, that I hadn’t noticed before came to light. I had a great time too, meeting a few new people, and a few new versions of old ones! The day we were returning to Chennai, we went to a kewl pub called “Alibi” in Church Street, where we managed to get two free pitchers of beer (try the Castle beer there … really neat!) ...

I’m at office, after an all-nighter! I chanced to come by this amazing un-put-downable book by name “Five point someone” by Chetan Bhagat (Check out the book’s site). Not many books that I read get read, in a day.The amazing story of three friends through life at IIT, brought back memories that had been shelved for the past four years. Of the gazillion trees that were felled for the books I have bought, read and enjoyed, the trees that made this book lost their lives to a worthy cause. ...

I encountered, by far, the sickest website I have seen in my entire life. Kittyculture is the act of stuffing a sweet little kitten into a jar, sealing its anus shut and feeding it to a tube, and keeping it that way for 4 weeks and more, so that it may be given “fair” treatment by giving it an “unique” shape that nature has denied it!! Wow, I just read what I wrote and the absurdity just baffles me! How can anyone in their sane mind can even dream up something like this!! ...

Check out the future of google here Google Suggest is in BETA testing (as all other kewl features of google ;) ). Just go to the link above and search for your favourite search text and wait for a second before pressing “Enter” and voila!

We went for team-lunch at this amazing restaurant called “Kadaleevanam”. It is a health food restau, at Mugappair, Chennai. The food there is based on naturopathic principles and it actually tasted quite good. They explain the food that you eat, and enforce (read, beware of the order in which you eat, or else they’ll make you eat it again ;) ). A small tip, check out the ice-creams there (Yup, healthy ice-cream!! quite an oxy-moron eh?! ). Quite an interesting choice of ice-creams, like tender-coconut, ginger and honey, guava! ...