Slides from my talk on “Password Management & You” at Barcamp Bangalore
· ☕ 1 min read · ✍️ sathya
I’ve been going to Barcamp Bangalore since quite a while now, and it was only at last time’s Barcamp Bangalore that I actually gave a techlash session on Automated backup. This time, I decided to give a general session with focus on how & why people people should improve their passwords & password management skills. Embedded below are my slides. And the very next day after my talk, Evernote gets compromised & has issued a password reset.
A look back at 2012
· ☕ 2 min read · ✍️ sathya
Last year, I’d written a 2011 year in review, thought that was a nice way to recap the year. Continuing the same trend, here’s how 2012 went by Welcomed the New Year in a coffee estate/homestay in Chikmagalur with Ashwin, Daaku & Prasad. Made a quick trip to Mumbai & Vasai with Ashwin and finally met some awesome twitter folks - b50, Anaggh, Nakul, Jayesh, slacker, Preshit, Failgunner and lots more.
Contacting Bank of America from India via phone without International outgoing using Collect Call
· ☕ 1 min read · ✍️ sathya
If you’re ever stuck in a situation where you need to contact Bank of America from here in India, but don’t have International outgoing available, here’s a quick tip: Check out AT&T’s Direct Access Dialing Code for India(at the time of writing this, it’s 000117) You’ll reach an Operator. Tell him/her the number you want to Dial. This should be 602.597.2395 for Bank of America. Will be different for others.
The case of the expanding, exploding iPhone 3GS battery
· ☕ 4 min read · ✍️ sathya
Way back in March, I got a bit tired of iOS and jumped the ship back to Android, purchased a Samsung LOLSUNG Galaxy S2 as my main phone. I won’t get into iOS v/s Android debate now, suffice to say I prefer Android to what it lets me do with the device. Anyhow, I didn’t want to give up on the 3GS - it’s a nice device and always a good idea to have a backup handset.
Reddit’s secret santa and Guinness World Record for most email addresses in To: List
· ☕ 3 min read · ✍️ sathya
Way back in late November/December last year, I took part in reddit’s /r/secretsanta. I found it was pretty cool, to (hopefully) get a random gift based on my barren, lurking reddit account, though a small search would reveal a lot more about me. Anyway, after Ashwin’s feedback(“my santa didn’t send anything. I was reassigned. second santa also nothing. #foreveralone”) I didn’t expect anything. A month or so later, however, my secret santa confirmed shipment of the gift.
Being on the other side of the Interview table
· ☕ 3 min read · ✍️ sathya

Attending an interview tends to be a scary, nerve-wracking event for most, me included. It’s like college exam 2.0 - you don’t do anything building up to the event, panic & do a splash and dash the previous night(though in my case, it’s more like “ah, fahgettaboutit”), start wondering and worrying what’s about to be asked prior to the event, with your mind racing about - “what if x comes, oh shit I forgot about y”, the big moment where you stammer, blabber and spit out something and then keep worrying till the results are out.

Last week, I got a call from the HR team asking if I’d be available and willing to come to office on Saturday. The reason? We had a weekend hiring drive and they wanted me(among others) to be an interviewer. My first reaction was - “mm okaaay but I’ve never done this before”(though never is not true, I did take up an interview, but that was for my team & was more of accompany-the-project-leads-and-ask-a-few-questions). This case, however, was different. It’d be a face-to-face interview. With people willing to join the organization. I decided to say Ok. Hey, it’d be a different experience.

On Contact Lenses and Bausch & Lomb’s Pure View “HD” lenses
· ☕ 3 min read · ✍️ sathya
I’ve been wearing contact lenses for more than 10 years now. Switched to contacts from my clunky spectacles when I started my PU(aka 11th). Guess who I am & win! When you use something for 16x7x365 (I won’t say 24×7, since the lenses are off when I’m sleeping), you tend to know it inside out. And especially when it’s something like contact lenses, which sit on your eyeballs, every little change will result in instantaneous result.
Redbus.in’s long weekend reminder mail
· ☕ 1 min read · ✍️ sathya
I’ve been a huge fan of redbus.in ever since I first used their site back in 2007. For someone as lazy as me, the idea that I could sit on my ass, check for all available tickets & book them at the comfort of my air-conditioned room was pretty awesome. Didn’t hurt that they had a very nice, clutter free UI. Off late, they have been sending these long-weekend emails.
Capping off a roller coaster year
· ☕ 3 min read · ✍️ sathya
2011 was a roller coaster year. Here’s the year in review, in bullet points Sold off my iPhone 3G and purchased a Nexus S Supposed long term US stay gets cut short. 3+ years of work on project gone down the drain. On the upside, learnt quite a lot. Met Manaa in person, after being a very close friend for 6+ years Was elected as Community Moderator for one of the Stack Exchange sites, Super User Wrote my first Chrome Extension to get around WebNonsense crap Bad security practice from the past comes to haunt me.