Mayank's Blog

Not withstanding the media’s  (TOI in particular) constant attempt to force Halloween down my throat, I have decided again to write about the festival which indeed is part of the Indian tradition – Diwali. Some may criticize me for being uncool, but I guess Delhi need not be any more cold than it already is.   I grew up in an era when SRK-ization of India was happening. Come Diwali and we were inundated by “Say No To Crackers” campaigns which told us horror stories about how crackers led to loss of someone’s limb/life. We were made to believe that one night of cracker bursting led to more deaths than the number of causalities in road accidents everyday. They employed all tricks of the trade to keep us off the fireworks – environment being the oft cited reason. Apparently, it was good for us to plant saplings on the roadside (which will eventually wither away in two days due to lack of care) as it would help in reducing the pollution “others” will create on Diwali night. ...

A few days earlier I was thinking that wouldn't it be nice if I had something which will automatically generate a playlist for me with no artists repeated. Also, it would be nice if I could block those artists which I really hate (like Himesh Reshammiya!). Since I couldn't find anything already available, I decided to code it myself. Here is the outcome -  This application is created entirely in .NET Framework 4/WPF and uses Windows Media Player Library as its source of information. So you have to keep your Windows Media Player Library updated for this to work. It is tested only on Windows 7/Vista. You can download it from here . UPDATE : You can download the Windows XP version of the application here . Please provide your feedback!

(GEEK ALERT : This post is for those who are interested in Microsoft Technologies, especially Silverlight). A while ago I thought of developing my own Twitter client just for fun. And what better way to write it in than Silverlight. Because of the cross-domain policy restriction in Silverlight, I had to write a WCF service which carried the tweets payload. I decided to call this app  TweetAwesome - a homage to my awesomeness and humility. :) TweetAwesome uses TwitterVB as its Twitter API library and wears the Metro Theme for Silverlight . The application is also styled using Expression Blend (although I still don't fully know how to use it). As I don't have the infrastructure/money/time to host a WCF service, this app is just for enthusiasts. Here are some snapshots (sneak preview) of the application. (Click on the pictures to launch a full screen slideshow) . 1. When TweetAwesome is used for the first time, the user is asked to allow TweetAwesome to access Twitter on...

When I asked one of my friends for his comments about my last post , this is what he had to say -, " as an MBA i know hw imp ads are so i dont quite agree wit u " (reproduced verbatim from GMail Chat History). This was the same guy who had a great sense of humor when he was working as a programmer. He quit his job as a programmer and bam!, his sense of humor went away. Now this presents a burning question in front of us - why do all good programmers need to have an innate sense of humor? It is an established fact that computers can become boring , especially to a programmer who keeps talking to it day after day without getting any response or appreciation. It never happens that you log in to your system and the computer chimes, "Hey Bro! Where have ya been? How 'bout a cuppa coffee before you begin?" If it happens, it means that it was written by a fellow developer who had his manager breathing down his neck to complete the project. Enjoying such greeting is ...

It is a stormy night. A flash of lightning shows an old dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere. Thunder rumbles across the sky as the pretty blonde girl inside the dark house looks terrified. Suddenly there is a knock at the door. She picks up an axe and with trembling hands, opens the door. Just then the lightning flashes again and in that flash,  looking at the visitor,  the girl's face turns ashen-white. "Uski safai meri safai se behtaar kaise? Rin Supreme apnao..." I switch off the TV and bang the remote on the bed in frustration. Yet another commercial break. Despite the fact that we all hate advertisements (except may be when someone posts a hilarious video of one on a social-networking site and we choose   to see it), ads are present everywhere. From TV, internet, newspapers to billboards, everyone is asking us to buy something. The unbearable part is when they appear out of nowhere just when we least expect them to be. In case of TV or internet, there are m...