Siddharth Vanchinathan

iPhone 3.0 First Impressions

The 3.0 software update released a couple of days ago and almost soon after the generous iPhone dev-team released the updated version of their jailbreaking/unlocking software Pwnage. Now for those of you who are still on 2.2.1 or below and have used pwnage before (I’m talking only about iPhone 2g), go ahead and update directly through iTunes. For those who haven’t used pwnage before or have used quickpwn then try redsn0w. It’s simple, quick, easy and similar to quickpwn.

I used pwnage intially and after 2 days of using the phone I realised my battery was dying within a day and my network was not as stable as it used to be. Decided to give redsn0w a try and I’m currently restoring my phone settings after successfully unlocking. Will post an update as to the results in one or two days. So here’s the deal with 3.0 if you’ve noticed lower battery life and other problems. Turn off all push notifications, whether in your email settings or in the apps supporting push – all problems solved. As for impressions of 3.0 here are some things I noticed immediately.

1. SMS landscape isn’t that great, specially if you’re used to typing in portrait mode. You will still hit trees if you text while walking though, a bigger keypad doesnt help.
2. Copy Paste was a little cumbersome initially, but the ability to select and delete large amounts of text at a go is a great help.
3. “Lol” doesn’t get capitalized anymore!
4. The phone seems much faster than before. Apps load up quicker too.
5. When you go from an app to the home screen (by pressing the button), previously the screen simply vanished into the center. Now, opacity is also gradually reduced when the vanishing happens (yes, I notice such stuff!).
6. The bottom padding for the SMS input text box seems to have increased, and the text that is input is not in the center of the box anymore. Cursor has become blue as well!
7. Shake to shuffle music is good, but what good is it when the phone is in your pocket?
8. Camera loads up much quicker and shows a thumbnail of your last picture. Well, I’m still wondering why video was not included in the update?!
9. Same with the voice controls – it’s not a hardware deficiency!
10. Wifi seemed to remain connected for a longer period of time. Earlier if it wasn’t being used, it was turned off automatically – maybe that’s why my battery is lasting less longer as well.
11. App store still doesn’t cache results! When will apple fix this? It is extremely irritating when the list has to load every single time you see more details of an app.
12. I still haven’t got any push notifications! Push has only been enabled in Tap Tap Revenge. Yet to see more apps using it effectively.

More when I come across them, till then hit up comments to tell me what you noticed!

My Tryst with IDC, IIT Bombay

This is going to be a post with strong words so be warned. And to the IDCians I know, I don’t mean any disrespect, this is my personal experience.

It all started with me wanting to become a product designer quite a while back. When I gave my CEED exam the year I was graduating (2008), I was not aware of the procedure of admission at IDC (Industrial Design Center) and presumed it would begin after the results were declared. To my shock, I find from the day the results are out, I have only a week to prepare my application and send it by post all while I was working at Cisco doing my internship. “What logic is that?” I said to myself and dismissed IDC as a bunch of people who didn’t know logic. I was ignorant, forgive me.

Cut to 2009, I am working at a design studio run by an ex-IDCian. I now know a lot more about it and I consider it to be one of the top design schools in India (or atleast my research told me so). I was more keen on applying abroad – but decided at the last minute to give it a shot. My CEED score from the previous year was valid this year too. So I fill in my application, complete the three “tasks” allotted and send it in. During this application process I discover that the CEED is merely a qualifying exam for IIT Bombay and a host of other colleges. The colleges then conduct their own tests to shortlist candidates for admission. No logic here either, the CEED is a good exam! According to me, it is a pretty good indicator of your aptitude for design. Anyway, I am noone to decide this, so I went along with the process.

One month later, the list comes up on the IDC website with my name on it along with 300 others. I am supposed to receive a call letter confirming my selection for the next round but I get none. A quick phone call to the IDC office and they say it’s ok, come along anyway. So me and my friend (who incidentally also got selected) book flight tickets for Bombay for all the three days of the selection process.

Cut to today – 18th June, 2009. Reached Bombay early in the morning and reached the IIT campus just in the nick of time. Had a tough time finding our way to the Convocation Hall (the venue of the test, considering IDC is part of IIT – they should do something about their wayfinding signage – it’s pretty pathetic!). The test entails designing a vegetable carrier to be mounted on a bicycle. According to me I had a pretty good solution and I had presented it well. I noticed that the table in front of me (bearing roll no IDC-067 – if you’re reading this, congrats you got selected!) was empty – ABSENT!. Results were to be announced at 5 PM.

Off Topic: One warning to people joining IIT Bombay – Hostel 6 is pretty sad. Manipal hostels rock!

Back to the topic: We decided to drop back into the main IDC building to check it out and look at our future department and the kind of work that’s going on. To be frank, I was very very impressed with the Visual Communication dept. Swarna – the design degree show was on all the work done by the grads this year were on show. Again VC was impressive. Most people designing mobile applications seem to be over inspired by the iphone icons though – no originality in that respect. Product design was not too impressive and I shall leave it at that. Outside there were posters of each department (there are 4 – product, visual, animation and interaction) with a one liner tag line for each. Anim said: We not only move lines, we move people. Interaction said: Let the two halves of your brain interact (or something to that effect). VC had a good line too. PD said “Aesthetics with practicality”. Hmmmm, now PD is not only aesthetics is it? and who does copy for things like this! Totally put me off. Back to the main topic, I seem to be straying a lot.

A First List was published with selected candidates and was immediately withdrawn since it contained gross errors – candidate’s name appeared twice etc etc. After another hour long wait, the next list came out and to be frank I was pretty confident that I would clear the test atleast. I didn’t. Neither did my buddy. I went through the list a couple of times, checking each name twice just to make I hadn’t missed out. Surprise! Surprise! Roll 067’s name is on the list! Wow!

Ok now here’s the deal. If the profs who conduct this selection process are reading, then listen up! You don’t call 300 people to Bombay from all over India just to give a test (300 in PD, I’m not sure about the numbers in the other depts). If you’re calling them to your city, atleast give them a chance to talk to you, give them an interview. You don’t send 210 people back on the basis of not clearing a test. This is the design field, you cannot judge somebody’s design capabilities by what they do in a 1.5 hr exam. You need to look through their portfolio, see their work and talk to them about their ideas. If you had to conduct a test to reduce numbers, do it in the major cities, or do it as a part of the application, or do it online!

I am quite relieved that I was not on that list. Because joining such a design school would be quite a waste of 2 years (You may think this is a case of sour grapes, it probably is). If you read my previous post it talked about design education in India and the problems with it. Now the confusion is gone – it is “to go”.

To go or not to go?

As I complete one year of working at ergoform I am faced with a dilemma. To put it simply – I have to do my master’s in design, but should I do it in India or do it abroad? As I look at it both have it’s advantages and disadvantages.

India:
After I complete 2 years of my Master’s, I would work somewhere for a year or two and then I would have a big enough network when I start my own practice. Education is cheap here and most designers do it for the sake of validating their work in the future. People in India don’t usually take you and your work seriously unless you have a degree to prove it. So, I save on time and money but at the same time I probably don’t get a quality education and exposure that I would get abroad.

Abroad:
Here’s where real education happens. Where you are encouraged to explore and go crazy. Spending two years in University will be like a lifetime given the amount of work required, but at the end of it, you emerge a better designer, better manager and a better human. Downside is that I do want to come back to India and settle down. Starting my practice would require a lot more time then – by my calculations atleast 5-6 years more after the degree. I will work abroad to recover my tuition fees for atleast 2 years and by the time I come back to India, I would have lost touch with the people and the places. Hence another 2 years working in India to develop my network all over again.

Arrgghh… dilemma dilemma! Someone have any bright ideas?

Portfolio v2

I have updated my portfolio to include all my latest work.

My Portfolio v2

IPL Schedule Wallpapers

I was looking for a chart of the IPL matches this season and I was surprised to find that all schedules available were simply text. So I decided to do something about it. Here are the results. Enjoy

[EDIT] There was a mistake with the schedule on 22nd April – Sorry! Here are the updated ones.

SiddharthVanchinathan.com

Yay! Been wanting this for a long time! Thanks to my friend Swap for making it so simple and quick! Forgive the default theme for now. Will start working on my very own theme!

I love Nikon too

So finally I took the plunge into the world of SLR photography. I bought the Nikon D-60 yesterday. No fancy lens extras, only a kit 18-55 VR lens. Instead of spending a lot of money upfront buying expensive lenses, I figured that I should first learn how to use an SLR properly. I remember reading photography books at my cousin’s house in Hyderabad and being quite fascinated by the kind of photographs you could take with an SLR. So here begins my journey, and here below are some of my very first pictures taken with the Nikon. More pictures on my facebook profile.

Ergoform

Ergoform – seems pretty logical as a name for a industrial design company. I am here today for an informal interview. Looks much more like a design studio than 3 Head ever would! I see huge desktops, macs and I’m instantly impressed. It seems they have a prototyping workshop as well. So far so good. Here goes the interview.

Burnt my tongue while drinking the coffee that was offered to me there. Interview went smooth and I am very impressed by the company. The CEO offered to take me as a trainee for the time being and he said that he’s taken risks like this before (hiring someone totally inexperienced in the field of product design) and it has always paid off. So things look good now and I really want to work at this place!

UPDATE: I got the job! “Trainee Designer” for now. Reasonable pay. Excited!

Injection :(

I’m getting my 2nd MMR vaccine dose today. No I am not a baby. But NY state laws require me to have taken both doses after 1 year. The system in India is to give it after 9 months. I wonder why there is such a difference of opinion of schedules for vaccination all over the world. And what could possibly be wrong with the Indian system that it is not in accordance with the NY State standard. Yet year after year students going from India to the US for further studies are required to take most of their vaccination again. Nobody complains or does anything about it. India is equally worried about its citizens as is the rest of the world. So the process of preventing epidemics should be the same all over the world. Anyway enough about the medical systems of the world. I’m more worried about the injection right now!

3 Head Design

3 Head Design welcomed me with this sawed off front of a green ambassador balanced precariously on 2 nylon threads from the ceiling. Quite an entry I must say. The guys seem to be really laid back and easy going. There were three founders if I understood right. All friends from school and all exponents of the infamous IT industry of Bangalore. Bored with their 9-5 jobs, they set out to do something that they enjoyed. They offer “visual solutions” as they like to call it which basically means they do it all! Go to them for just a brochure and they’ll shoo you away. The interview went pretty well I presume because it ended with George asking me to quote how much I wanted. Heading to brigade’s to look at DSLRs now. More later!