Atul Gupta's Blog, page 4

Windows 10: Last of the Lot

"Change is the only constant" is something that we in IT world strongly believe in and the technological evolution around us have been a constant reminder of the same. However the recent declaration by Microsoft that Windows 10 will be last in the series of Operating Systems (OS) seems to go against this well accepted norm. It is a significant milestone of sorts, this announcement. 

Microsoft so far had relied heavily on sales of OS, Microsoft Office and more recently SharePoint...

Down the memory lane

Come Summer and it used to be the time to get packing and make the month long trip to grand parents place. A tradition that kept on for many many years and then took a break in between as I graduated from school to engineering and then onto my job. These trips became far and wide. However for the last few years they are back on track, though the destination has changed, for now it is the grand parents for my daughter. 
Though climatically this isn't the ideal time to visit Delhi, but can'...

Nokia Lumia 730 Review

I have been wanting to get back to write a more detailed review of how my Nokia Lumia 730 is fairing, but work pressure had been keeping me away. Finally found so time. So here’s the update from what I had shared earlier.
First to clear up what I had written earlier. In Whatsapp I could finally find a way to clear the chat conversations without having to exit the chat. For this, while in chat you can either tap on the header that displays the group name/person name or click on the 3 dots at t...

Travelogue: The Ark Wellness Retreat

If you are looking for a place to go and relax; kind of de-toxicate, then Ark Wellness Retreat, off Paud, on Paud Lonavala road, is the right place to be. 
Our daily chores keeps us busy all week long, so when we planned our vacation, we wanted to go to a place, where we will not have to get up and go visit echo point, or lovers point or suicide point etc. All we wanted was a nice and cozy place to go and relax. We would be fine to not go out of the resort at all and just stay put in the...

3D Virtual Reality and View Master

As a kid I have played around a lot with view master, where I would insert a circular disc with pictures around the outer edge of the disc and as I would pull a handle sort of a thing from one side, the disc would rotate and the pictures would change. There were many different kinds of pictures to browse and it used to good fun.

This is now getting a push into the virtual reality space. A modified new device (which overall looks kind of the same) and pictures that pop into virtual reality. Che...

Travelogue: Day trip to Places near Pune

Come long weekend and the trend these days is that you need to be going out with family for the long weekend trip. However this also means that one has to make the bookings well in advance as otherwise usually nothing much is available at the last min. For the 26th Jan weekend, we did realize a bit late and unfortunately as expected, didn't get any bookings anywhere.
Spending the 3 days at home, wasn't making any sense, so we decided to rather make do with day trips so that we don’t have to s...

Raspberry Pi

If you planned to do some basic computing experiments that possibly includes both software and hardware integration as well, but wanted all of that to be at a throw away cost, then am sure you would have heard and possibly already being using Raspberry Pi. At a price of just about $ 40, this credit card sized board, along with basic computing power, using an ARM chip, can connect to a regular desktop/laptop and use external keyboard and mouse and allows you to easily program in a language lik...

Windows Phone 8.1 Initial Experience

After having used Android for last few years, I finally decided to switch games and try my hands on Windows Phone 8.1. My official work experience has been mostly on Microsoft and Windows and I have closed followed the development of both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 and then their newer versions and have written my share of white papers on it as well (till last year). One of the main reasons for staying away from Windows Phone 8 or 8.1 so far had been the lack of availability of various app...

What did we achieve in keeping Kasab alive for so many days?

When the press was recently attacked by terrorist at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper, France, I am sure all of us thought that at least the Press used to be safe from such attacks, now even they aren’t safe anymore. My take is terrorists thrive on the Press’s reporting of their attacks and atrocities world-wide, for without appropriate coverage and people all over the world knowing about it, what’s the point of any such attack. Their glorified egos probably swell further when they see their self-...

Dubai Calling

Dubai, one of the 7 cities or rather emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates (the other 6 being Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain, and Abu Dhabi is the capital of UAE), celebrates its national day on 2 December. It is known for its passion to create world records like Burj Khalifa: world’s tallest man-made building and world’s highest outdoor observation deck on the 124 floor Burj Al Arab:  world’s only 7 start hotel, world’s talle...