Audio, Video, Bits & Waves ↔︎ Z(er(o)ne)A
This is the first part of many (definitely more than one) of my home automation journey and will act as an anecdote of my experience while trying to setup the home automation. It may not be informative but surely would provide an insight of what not to do.
Continue reading “Home Automation – The Beginning”Yup thats me, you probably wonder how I got here.
Another year has drawn to a close and the query might linger a little longer. Is 2019 the last year of decade or 2020?
Before answering when the decade ends, let’s take a moment to sink in the effects being caused to environment and how close we are to the brink of destruction. What are we passing to the next decade. Ironical that we welcome the new year with fireworks when the world is in extreme need of shot in the arm before it is too late.
India has its share of turmoil. The troubled territory of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) is no more a state in India. The state of J&K, is a part of India but chunks of it are occupied by Pakistan & China. Unrest has been happening since times unknown, rocked by terrorists, once a heaven on earth is no more considered safe. The special status given to it is now revoked and it is now 2 Union Territories. Has it been peaceful, depends on who you are asking.
Before end of year, Government of India introduced Citizen Amendment Act & National Register of Citizens. Confusion has ensued since then and students are agitating. No one cares to explain the issue nor trying to understand how this can be worked out. At the time of writing this, students are still agitating while opposition parties mostly missing from the game – why? The parties are indirectly playing behind the students while students are acting like the mob brain.
Thinking of mob brain, we come to main question: When is the decade coming to an end, 31 December 2019 or 31 December 2020?
There are 3 answers and all are correct.
I may not post the year round but make sure a post is up on the 01 January every year – something to keep me regular :). I had some important client deliverable going live over new year & I for a change was a key member (show-off alert). Could’ve auto-published but how can I prove I’m lazy so waiting while to write. Now obvious things out of the way, Wishing you all a very Happy New Year 2020.
This is a continuation of Streaming dreams – Part 1. I highly recommend visiting the earlier article. In case you are as lazy as me, read on. This post has lots of time jumps and refers few points from earlier post.
Continue reading “Streaming dreams – Part 2”For sometime I’ve tried using services like Apple Store or Google Play Store to purchase or rent movies. The new services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Eros Now, Zee5, AltBalaji, Sony and many others. They are also creating original contents which are quite interesting. We are living in a cord-cutter’s dream world. The plethora of choices cause us to over-subscribe just like some channels we pay for 1-2 good programs. This in turn is the reason some end up paying more or are still living with the old cable/DTH. This is my memoir of accessing my movies from anywhere.
Continue reading “Streaming dreams – Part 1”
Finally, it’s here – the last of the teens. Last year, the year 2000’s turned 18 and now we are looking it to turn a new chapter. Oddly enough, it’ll be the last year we can call 2000’s teenager. May be enough of pranks and turn things serious.
Delhi, as always breached all pollution levels and continue to threaten the life while our Governments both centre and state continue to ignore and play dirty politics. We’ve celebrities endorsing a no-cracker Diwali but then compensate on their weddings. Companies promoting products for sale to build a healthy lifestyle by chopping off the life giving trees (without new plantation).
People are becoming smarter and need better governance, while there are few who love to go to ballot paper and reverse the digital era. We’ve Supreme Court whose judges enjoy a healthy amount of vacation can open doors for terrorists at midnight, pass judgement on religion but no time to expedite the pending cases which span years.
Aadhaar, probably a scheme no one liked initially to a something everyone wanted (I liked it for I’d have one ID proof which is online) to basic tatters. Instead of separating the monetary angle, the ease of use was scrapped. In my honest opinion, both Government and Activists have been high headed and no one tried to solve a problem but just highlight.
A lot of people have sacrificed their life for India’s independence. Many want separate state, some a separate country. A lot of people have tried keeping it together. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel happened to be the first and the most known. We got the tallest statue in the world but I still feel if it was needed. This has indirectly started a war of claims to build more statues. Build a park with statues of all great leaders or may be make our own wax museum like Madame Tussauds.
Some great movies this year. Big names failed, new names ruling the charts & hearts. Intelligent movies are being appreciated. Character actors are gaining the limelight more than the main lead. An indication that even though it is the last teenage years of year 2000s, they don’t need to act like one. Someone said, movies are an indication of the society.
The millennials will now be part of building the nation in next year General Elections 2019. I hope we all will learn from past and build the nation instead of acting like teenagers or playing dirty politics. On this note, I wish everyone a very Happy New Year – 2019.
Last 24 hours have been harrowing for me due to the unauthorised transactions that have taken place on my account. Being hit by credit card fraud does take away more than half of your share of your mind simply because credit card are basically loan accounts. If you don’t pay, the default will impact your CIBIL score and if you do – you already know. It is then up to your bank on how they support you in this regard. Continue reading “American Express saves the day”
I’ve been using cards (both debit & credit) for over 14 years. Doing almost a decade of online banking. I’ve heard people being hit by frauds on online banking and while using cards. I’ve been quite fortunate of not being targeted until recently.