nirav May 14th, 2006
So finally, BarCampMumbai is over. I enjoyed the event thoroughly. The blogosphere coverage of the event is low. It’s building up, but nowhere near the expectations. The photos too are slowly coming in.
I have uploaded the PDF slides of my talk on our experience with OpenLaszlo and Flex. It was very interesting to read Pratik’s comments on my presentation. It’s a busy day (and week), so I am saving the answers to his questions for later. Probably he has used some more intelligence by now to discover that it’s called OpenLaszlo and not OpenLazlo. 
The DJ performance was ok, I liked the concept but could not understand the story. My fault though, as I got there late and left midway.
Had a long ride back home from KReSIT. Had to drop coming home and go directly for an appointment due to the traffic jams on western express highway! But well, worth the experience of the day!
nirav May 13th, 2006
Mahesh Murthy is talking about online advertising, marketing and mathematics right now. Pretty interesting concepts. The idea of buying ad words for phrases that are not so common, but still relevant, is great. The money search engines make, the money an advertiser would end up paying if he choses wrong ad words, and the methods to optimize the ads. It’s a fascinating business model - at the same time a good technical challenge (to process through the tens of thousands of phrases and process the ads).
He talked also about various tactics people use for online marketing as well. The click frauds, ad sense hacks, and optimization strategies that they use.
I am now realizing why there is so much of spam around - especially the spam comments!
This was a very interesting session - something not so tech, yet very engaging!
nirav May 13th, 2006
The best thing about BarCampMumbai so far, has been the interaction. It’s a like a large BoF session. I have already met more geeks here than I meet in a quarter. My intention of coming here is served - meet hackers and geeks. And learn what they are upto. The most common discussions I witnessed have been about RIAs (Rich Internet Applications), comparing BarCamp with the local Linux User Group meets, dearth of good programmers and exciting latest technologies. In between knowledge sharing and pulling another’s leg.
We started around 10. Shantanu had the first session on YubNub. I moved to the next room to setup for my session around 10.50. People started coming in and we began at 11.05. The room was packed and I talked about Building RIAs with OpenLaslzo and Flex. People were interested and asked quite a few questions. I believe some will even consider developing a RIA in near future.
As I write this, Manish is talking about Flex. He is through the initial marketing slides and now on some tech stuff about Flex. So I will drop writing and focus on the talk!
nirav May 11th, 2006
Did you know that men die younger because they have to fight to find a mate? They pay the ultimate price to get women - their life!
Read this story on Yahoo! that explains! Scientists have studies various male species and say that it was recognized as early as the 18th century that the life span of males is shorter.
Human males don’t always have to wrestle to get a woman these days, but the pressure to succeed sexually hasn’t changed much, the researchers argue. Only the methods have been revised.
Now, if you buy all this logic, here’s the critical part: To impress women, men remain prone to risky behavior, just as they have been for millennia and just as other male animals are.
In caveman days, being good with a club was one way to get a mate. Now, the ability to purchase a blinged-out SUV has similar value, the scientists suggest.
So if you smoke / drive rash / get into a fight - you now know why you do that!
While you are reading the story, also check out The Rules of Attraction in the Game of Love. And if you are a geek, I am sure you would love the book covers of Understanding Girls for Geeks!
Good read for Friday morning 
Magnet May 11th, 2006
BarCampMumbai - thanks to Nirav sir, I got to know about it.
BarCampMumbai has a cool poster I must say. Its a nice bright and colourful design,which is unconventional and innovative. The best thing about this poster is its mumbaiya appeal; with the background showing the Gateway of India and the punchline boosting the words “Bindaas” and “Vada Pav”. Simply loved it! Thumbs Up to the BarCamp designers!