As you will have noticed, there’s been a slight change in the visual aesthetics of the site from today. This is owing largely to two factors, ONE, some people complained that some graphics were not visible on Mozilla Browsers, so I had to compensate for that, and TWO, it was about time for a change!

So, the latest news is, I have been selected for a Workshop on Firewalls (the Computer Network ones) at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, during their annual “Techfest”. So I’ll be in Bombay from the evening of 27th January 2005, to the 30th/31st of January 2005.

In other news, as I had mentioned before, my paper on Smart System for Contextual Location Based Service Provision Technology has been selected for the International Conference MapIndia, which is from the 7th of February to the 9th of February 2005. I will soon be uploading a copy of the poster that I will be presenting at this conference. I would be glad to listen to comments on the poster.

Following this I will be participating in “Linux For You” magazine’s LinuxAsia-2005 Conference & Expo on the 10th and 11th of February.

All in all, it’s a tough month ahead, along with college, which is, incidentally, on at the same time! The project is going well, hope to finish it off by the end of February (touchwood!!).

Aah, recently StarNews telecast a special on a Mobile Tracking Technology that has been implemented by Airtel for it’s consumer base. Looking at the entire work, I was ecstatic, yet disappointed!

Ecstatic, because even at our level (undergrads, with limited knowledge, and only innovation, determination and enthusiasm to egg us on), we had developed the exact same algorithms as were being used by the company. The proof that the work of our project group, on a theoretical level sitting at a Project Partner’s home, sipping tea, while bashing out the algorithms (with innumerable arguments and discussions on simultaneously), was actually implemented, practically, was something that made me feel proud!!

So, where did the disappointment come in? Well, actually it set in because although we developed all these methods and systems, although we worked oh, so hard, we could not convince a single mobile operator to allow us to practically test our theories! The reason? Not effort, not marketing, but the simple plain truth that we were from a small town, had limited resources, and most of all, were from a not so famous College (read: K. K. Wagh College of Engineering). Yes, our college is the best in Pune University as far as Student freedom is concerned (??). Yes, it is the best rated under Pune University, but it does not really have the kind of standing that, say, an IIT has! Or even a College of Engineering, Pune (COEP). And therein lies the problem. Resources and Fame!!

If we had either one of those, today you’d have seen us on StarNews instead of four IIT Alumni who continued their research after their Undergraduate studies for a Mobile Company. This is where the nexus between Corporates and Colleges comes in. Most Corporates do not acknowledge the fact that there may be some extremely brilliant students in smaller towns than they could ever hope to find in big cities! I hope that the times change by the time my brother gets into this sort of a position. Or at least I’d encourage him to be in a Big City instead of a small, but amazing town like Nasik!