user experience and user centered design

NIIT is running those TV and media ads portraying that their students or those who bear a NIIT seal will be carried away almost immediately by IT companies. One of the ad, which shows two middle-aged guys grabbing and almost kidnapping a student who comes out of a building and then drive away.

The ad attempts to project the value and demand a NIIT educated candidate may get once he is certified. But in reality the things doesn't happen like so. If I were a employer, I would not simply take up a candidate just because he is from NIIT campus. Certifications and Brandings will never impress a employer. Things that matters most are how good his skills are?, then, how able he is? Will he/she can perform better and give consistent performance? etc.

What happens if some one who lacks logical / analytical skills pass through the certification somehow? Though he has a prestigious institution's branding backup, he may fail miserably in the interview or during the course of employment.

Am I against certifications or branding? Definitely no. Certifications and Brandings are quite essential to survice in today's competitive IT world. But they alone cannot guarantee a good career and job. My advise is - Do not rely solely on certifications and brands. Develop your skills and core competency. It is those skills and your core competencies which will help you to sustain in the job and improve your career.

- Rajesh Sundaram

10 different roles, various make ups, different outfits and a misfit ASIN! The movie would have been more enjoyable if ASIN's irritating character was removed. Does the story needs a heroine?

This movie is an effort the showcases kamalhassan's never-ending enthusiasm towards workmanship and offering variety of roles to his fans. He is one of the pioneers to try all the challenging roles in his films. Dasavatharam is one such film which should be appreciated for the complete efforts as a kollywood movie.



Watching Dasavatharam is like watching a fast-action cut-scene action flick of hollywoods, sans the quality. For a movie like Dasavatharam, the technicians should have worked more to offer better quality in technology. I could not even digest the keying, mixing, fast-framing which gives a home video look for the entire movie. All chase shots are fast-framed and it looks cartoon'ish. No clear storyline of chasing makes me feel I was watching a butch edited movie clip. Man! was there an editor??

In short, ignoring all the logic holes and senseless screenplay (except the first 15 minutes), I can only appreciate Kamal's effort and nothing other than that.

- Rajesh Sundaram

One of my dreams is to drive a Maruti Gypsy. Right from my childhood I have fascinated and dreamed about driving a Maruti Gypsy off-road, go safari into the Wild. Yesterday I got a chance to drive a Maruti Gypsy. This one is owned by KPS of Adventnet and it is one of the first release models which is almost 15 years old. Kumarakuru Motors have managed to keep the baby in the best condition possible to drive. Though the interiors are old , the chassis and body are in excellent shape. This one featured the very first Gypsy engine which lacks the power and performance of the later implemented Gypsy King's 1.3L engine. Neverthless, this baby was good and excellent.

The first thing I noted is the space inside. From the outside Gypsy may look cramped. Bu inside, the cabin is spacious and there is ample space for the legs. Suspended thru Leaf springs, Gypsy offers a bumpy ride.. i mean real bumpy ride on pothole filled roads. If you are not the kind of guy who likes rough or harsh driving, Gypsy is not for you.

Started the engine and crawled out of the Adventnet's parking lot. Once I reached the Velachery bye-pass road I pressed the gas and Gypsy roared ahead. There was some lag in the performance due to the Gas fuel. And the lag was invisible above 40kmph. Small potholes didnt make any difference. But when I took a U-turn near velachery water pump station, Gypsy bumped a lot because of the big potholes there. But that was very interesting and fun to drive. Handling the gypsy in corners and turns will need some practice because of its large turning radius.

Steady driving is another feature one has to master in Gypsy. Everything in this baby is raw. No power steering, no disc brakes (only drum brakes), leaf spring suspension and all these mated to a petrol engine. So, once your speedo crosses 60kmph, the steering will wobble because of the big tyres and relatively low body weight. The driver must hold a tight grip over the steering to maintain a proper drive. And again, once this is mastered, Gypsy is a breeze to drive. Gypsy's braking is something that scare drivers who has not driven any vehicles of this sort. Don't fear, braking is good and it is just about practice. Once you practice, driving the Gypsy is fun!

I have driven cars which has every sophistication, but I felt more satisfied and enjoyed the fun only in Maruti Gypsy. Gypsy is not for everyone. It is more suited for off-road travel and adventures.

- Rajesh Sundaram

I was shocked to note that 2K games implemented the notorious SecuROM in their RailRoads! PC Game. After the BioShock problems, I am very worried when I found that, the rootkit style SecuROM is found in my RailRoads! game. Am I a pirate? Why would I spend so much money to buy a game and get treated like a Pirate?

I will never buy any games from 2K games here after. And worse, 2K games never bothered to mention that the game needed the CD inorder to play! The packaging box never had any remarks like the game needs the CD in order to play, and no single word about the rootkit style SecuROM CD copy protection.

2K and Sid Meier : You lost a customer and a fan.

- Rajesh Sundaram

Converting/Re-sampling 72dpi plain screen shots into 300 dpi print quality images is not a big trade secret.

1. Take screenshot (CTRL+PrintScreen) or (PrintScreen)
2. Open Photoshop. Create New Image
3. Paste in the new image
4. Press ALT+I+I to open image size dialog
5. Type the new resolution (300) in the "Resolution" text box.
6. Check "Constrain Proportions" & "Resample Image" (If both are not selected)
7. Select the "Nearest Neighbor" from the "Resample" drop down.

Refer the sample below. The small window is the original screen shot. To the right is the Bicubic Resampling. To the bottom is the "Nearest Neighbor" resampling. :-)



Thats it.