In the shivering winters of Illinois, what can one do with snow apart from hating it? I liked the responses from UIUC students

Here’s the detailed updates of Igloo making in Siebel Centre backyard, the pictures bring a loadfull of memories. Another news article here.

• Several students from ECE, Computer Science, and other Illinois departments built an igloo by Siebel Center over winter break.
• The team spent 15 hours building the structure.
• The igloo lasted five days before melting away.

src: www.brettdaniel.com

Deadlines. Ideas. Team.

Light at the end of tunnel

For sometime, I’ve been looking into few tech ideas. For sometime, I’ve been looking for people with same level of adrenaline and impromptu attitude. And for sometime, I’ve been researching the inane immigration and visa laws of Uncle Sam.

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iPhone and Nexus – just a beginning. It is a given that mobile computing is the next big thing. When Apple opened its iPhone SDK, which gave developers the tools to make native mobile apps for the iPhone and iPod touch, no one imagined how revolutionary it will prove in the long run. iPhone Apps make it the ‘it’ phone of this generation. And the explosion of mobile app users just confirms that the cell phone will become the ultimate solution to personal computing within next few years. Google Android is trying to take it one step further by being open source.

So, it does not surprise that Palm follows suit in a battle of survival. Palm opened up its webOS developer program to the public on Thursday, saying it expects to see a flood of new applications developed for the mobile OS. Read the Slashdot story here.

As an incentive to developers interested in building their own directories, Palm is offering US$1 million to the developer with the most downloads of free and paid applications between February and May, Mitic said.

Palm also announced a plug-in development kit for WebOS that allows developers to extend the OS’s capabilities using code written in C and C++. Over time, these plug-ins will be incorporated into the software development kit, she said.

Mobile Mania (src: wirefresh)

iSlate imagined

The web is rife with speculations on an Apple Tablet and with Amazon kindling the market of ebook readers and iPhone’s spectacular success, it might just be the right time for one because it is time the consumers got a one-for-all solution to personal computing.

Found this post by Mark Potts describing it excellently-

Apple’s Tabula Rasa

Most of those speculating about Apple’s tablet aren’t thinking big enough. They’re concentrating on narrow possibilities—it could be a book reader! It could play movies!—without seeing the much bigger picture of what Apple may be on the verge of creating. To its users, it will be: All Of The Above. And that’s huge.

These are grand expectations. Truth is, nobody really knows what Apple is up to except Steve Jobs and a handful of other insiders. And certainly a handful of naysayers are suggesting that nobody really wants to lug around a tablet computer, and thus it could be a Newton-like bust (although the Newton, in retrospect, seems remarkably prescient). Indeed, Apple, full of hubris and swagger after the enormous success of the iPod and iPhone, could well blow it with an overpriced, unfocused product.

But like Gruber, I’m betting on Apple to break ground, yet again, with its tablet, and in a big, big way. It could bring together so many threads of innovation that have been developing for the past few years. I truly believe that we could be on the verge of an important turning point for the way we get and use all sorts of media. I can’t wait to see what Apple comes up with. It could change everything.

Apple had tried something this big in laptops in MacAir which was a failure due to the unjustifiable price tag although the idea was quite good. All I am hoping for is that Steve Jobs keeps it realistic and affordable this time. Keep it under $1000 and I am in. After all, the idea is revolutionary and truly what we need in the market today – can it be done at an affordable price, we shall see on Jan 26th, Tuesday. The Mac lovers are already drooling on the possibilities.

A look at the LATimes’ 2010 predictions: Another turbulent year ahead for media-

Our crystal ball says: Jay Leno will leave prime time; MGM will finally be sold; Disney will discover video games; and maybe somebody will figure out how to make money on online content.

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