8bit Tribute

Sometime in November 2011, after some contemplation i decided to buy http://dsouza.im, then i after much dawdling i finally uploaded version 1 somewhere in february. My main intention of buying the specific domain is for using domain name hacks making my personal site having a url: http://kenneth.dsouza.im Very existential.

So version 1 was just something i pulled online without giving much thought. When i got shortlisted to NID second round, i decided to code a portfolio using deck.js and uploaded it.

Essentially, i havent yet done anything much on the domain that i would be proud of i.e., until now. Work has been hectic and in between 12 hour days and work on Saturdays i somehow got a Sunday for myself and spent it reading manga. Sunday evening was when i decided to code something new onto the domain.

I like pixel art. I use Gmail’s High Score theme. I grew up playing cartridge video games. The love for the 8 bit is ingrained in me. So here’s my personal tribute to video games.

First, i stole background images from Gmail for use. Please be excusing my plagiarism. So i coded up a design that had been growing in my head.

Then i needed a pixel font. So i went ahead and tried out using @font-face for the first time.

Finally. A video game tribute would be incomplete without having a Konami code* reference. So a quick google found me a library which was widely used to recreate konami code.

So now with that out-of-the-way, i finally release http://kenneth.dsouza.im on this blog. Please head down there and then enter the Konami code for the pixel version that i am proud of.

*Konami Code: ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A Start(Enter)

Fonts used: My Logo: Pacifico, a Google Web Font. The Text is Silkscreen via fontsquirrel.

Being Social

Pair is the latest app/social network that is creating a buzz in the west and most people would be wondering why anyone didnt think of it first ?  Actually they have but none have been successful.

A social network targeted at couples and especially at those maintaining a long distance relationship is quite a well thought fork to the idea of social. The Y Combinator backing they have is also giving them the essential technology press so that they will need to sell an idea that has been thought of before but never well executed enough to survive.

Pair also has some unique features like the “thumbkiss” which will surely be the next “poke”. Monetizing this app also would be simple and easy.

However i wrote this post not to share this app with you but because i was pondering on the unique negative scenarios that this app would produce  if it became the next big thing.

1. An app can be installed only once in a phone, therefore would this reduce cheating ?
2. Could this app actually help people cheat ?
3. In case of a breakup, would an option of deleting the app signify an end to the relationship ?
4. How about a new relationship ? would that mean that you would have an option to start using Pair from scratch ?

Also you should have noticed by now that the idea of social is shifting from the “have more friends”(Facebook) to “share with close friends”(Path) and the emphasis being on your “friends” being a very close knit group. This is the future of Social networking. Privacy concerns are the reason for this shift and come on, you wouldn’t really want to share many of the parts of your life with your entire network. That is why when i realized that, i stopped updating this blog in a diary like manner and its become more of a article like blog. Because you never know who’s watching.

Lost in Translation

In the past few days there have been quite a few project related discussions. Most of the things are hazy and discussions are started to clear things up. But i have realized that i have started talking rubbish and jumping to conclusions without understanding the bigger picture. I should be knowing better but i am still doing this. There is so much ambiguity that its better if i dont add any more of mine.

Communication is essential. I always felt i had above average communication skills but its increasingly becoming clear that having good skills is not good enough. I fumble everyday trying to make people around me understand what i am trying to tell them.

Language is a universal problem. This Mexican colleague of mine, Marcos, mentioned about how when everyone talks in Hindi, he just sits and tries to piece together the conversation and i identified with him. Our stint at Chennai has often put us in such situations where we are just extras in a conversation/discussion. He also mentioned an incident where a friend of his who doesnt know Spanish ended up in a Spanish speaking country and faced a similar problem where everyone spoke in Spanish and he never understood anything

Scratching your own Itches

“So if you want to start a startup and don’t know yet what you’re going to do, I’d encourage you to focus initially on organic ideas. What’s missing or broken in your daily life? Sometimes if you just ask that question you’ll get immediate answers. It must have seemed obviously broken to Bill Gates that you could only program the Altair in machine language.”

 -Paul Graham in  Organic Startups

Last Night, Faris came up to me with an idea. “Why not make a timetable for our dinner eatouts for the coming week?”. We always end up wondering where to go and after some confusion settle upon a place. I realized that this was a brilliant idea. So we set about making a Excel file and placed it in our Dropbox. I mean thats a good start to scratch our itch.

There’s a lot of truth in what Paul Graham says. You would find the highest motivation only to repair something broken in your day to day life. That’s what i have kept in mind these past few months whenever i thought of building something. Why would i be passionate about building something for someone else? You wouldn’t be.

Everyone has an itch that needs scratching. You only need to find it. Think for a while. Think simple. I am not telling you that you could come up with something that could bring world peace but maybe..just maybe you can find an itch and a solution for that itch.