Finally the much anticipated competition to GoogleEarth is live in the form of VirtualEarth on MSN. There are some cool features which I like about VirtualEarth
- Zooming is supported by scrollwheel
- There is a location finder based on IP address. This tell you where you are located.
- The interface looks sleek. That's the first thing I noticed. Cool transparency effects. I guess they are using the IE CSS filters.
News: Fujitsu Debuts Bendable Electronic Paper
I imagine the Harry-Potter style maps, comics and books coming to market soon. My mind is already exploding with the possibilities in software. Long live geekiness.
Agile Development and Martial Arts
There is a connection. Agility in movement is a founding principle in Martial Arts. It's the technique that can overcome sheer strength. Bruce Lee has demonstrated many times before that the technique is more important and it can guarantee success than simply toiling with hardwork. At some point it becomes utterly difficult to maintain a peice of code that is seething with pain from so many design disasters and patch work. Agility can bring in some relief. But it needs to be practiced. Practiced right from the beginning.
It would be interesting to see what kind of connection exists between these two worlds. Although disparate I do believe there are principles common to both. Proven techniques in Martial arts when interpreted differently can serve as guiding principles just as the Manifesto of Agile Development. Although I am no expert at Martial arts, out of some weird instinct I do believe there is a connection.
When will I own a Mac ?
Yes, I am a very visual person. I love looking at visually appealing things (living and inanimate: pun intended). When it comes to tech, Mac OSX beats everyone hands down. In general I love apple's product line of G5, Mac OSX, iPod. Although I practice Windows, I would love to preach Apple. I am not biased towards a particular technology or product. I can switch from one technology to another just in a snap when I am convinced that it rocks!.
With the Tiger release, Apple has done a phenomenal job of putting great stuff together. Apple has created such a high standard of software that the third-party applications are also equally good.
Comic Life from Plasq.com has won the Apple Design Award and I am sure it would make anyone switch to Mac just to use it.
More cool stuff is yet to come with
Dashboard Widgets. The ones that come with the OSX package are already mind-blowing. All this makes me drool. Wish I had enough bucks now to get one Mac for myself. Then lock myself with Internet and play around with it until I collapse with exhaustion. :)
