Tag: technology
- Let's do more email (14 Dec 2020)
The privacy advocates have been quite vocally and vehemently discouraging the use of email since almost a decade now but contrary to popular opinion, I strongly believe that despite being old, Email is a wonderful technology and mode of communication with several benefits, and it can optionally be made fully...
- The gimp, the git and the sacred rules that govern offensive behavior (06 Jul 2019)
Yesterday, I was reading this heated debate on the GIMP issue tracker which was also perhaps the most discussed topic of the day. Offensive behavior is a very serious and delicate topic, and needs to be handled with care. More importantly, rules should be codified which can objectively determine whether...
- Growing intolerance and lack of compassion towards new developers on StackOverflow (16 May 2019)
StackOverflow is the digital equivalent of the Holy See or the Holy Mecca when it comes to programming. It is that place where developers go visit when they don’t have answers to their coding problems in a hope that the Gods of StackOverflow will help them solve it. But lately,...
- A dark day for consumer rights - Right to repair bill killed in Canada thanks to corporate lobbying (03 May 2019)
When Linus Torvalds wrote the Linux Kernel in 1991 or Ian Murdock first released the Debian OS in 1993, talking about the “openness” of a PC or the “right to repair it” would have been a laughable affair! 8086 was an open standard then (just as standards should be) and...
- Foxy firefighters and the clash between individual and collective liberalism (02 Feb 2019)
The biggest speculation in the tech industry these days concern net neutrality and the last week was no different. Whilst I’m happy that TRAI is clear on upholding the net neutrality in my own country, India, the clouds of doom could be clearly seen in USA as the FCC is...
- Docker trick: Running containers efficiently using a bash script (14 Sep 2018)
One of the basic problems with running a docker image is that its too easy to spew up multiple instances or containers of the same image. Consider running the following container for instance: docker run -it -e AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="test" -e AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="test" \ --net=host "prahladyeri/testimage:latest" /bin/bash This will start a fresh container...
- Beware of Uber's vomit fraud when booking a cab next time (24 Jul 2018)
According to some recent reports by top technology blogs, Uber drivers have been reportedly engaging in an activity called “vomit fraud”. Basically, Uber (and many other cab services too) allow their drivers to collect a fine of up to $150 if their customer creates a mess in the cab (such...
- Alternative "Reddit like" social networking sites for the minimalists (10 Jul 2018)
Minimalists are those netizens who prefer websites that mostly contain rich and relevant textual content (with maybe bits of images sprinkled here and here), but certainly not auto-playing videos, flashy animations, animated gifs and motion ads. Making an excruciatingly heavy and painful website by combining all these things not only...
- Why GPL isn't working - the Freedom vs Convenience Debate (29 Jun 2018)
What distinguishes GPL from other freedom licenses is their premise: The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or GPL) is a widely used free software license, which guarantees end users the freedom to run, study, share and modify the software. The GPL or copyleft strives for the freedom of the...
- Smyte is no more - The latest episode in the acquisition saga of Tech Giants (22 Jun 2018)
Not even a month has been passed since Microsoft gave a big surprise to the world at large and the open source community by acquiring Github Inc. a few days ago, and there has been another acquisition yesterday. This time, Twitter Inc. bought the well known online service Smyte. Smyte...
- It's high time we find alternatives to centralized platforms like Youtube, Patreon and Twitter (27 Jan 2018)
The other day, I was listening to this Linux Unplugged podcast when I realized to what extent we have been locked in by the so-called “platforms” already. Only few days ago, Google started blocking some of Amazon’s videos on Youtube only because Amazon refused to sell Nest Cams and Chromecasts...
- The Reviewer's Duty and the Tragedy of the commons (31 Aug 2017)
In Economics, there is a concept called Tragedy of the Commons which simplistically means that when left to their own mechanism, individuals acting out of their own self interest sometimes behave in a manner which is against the common interest of all. Some popular examples of this are air and...