Rungta’s Webmarks

Oh My Science ∞

replacing god with reason… one tweet at a time

Haha! Twitter mash ups are awesome, aren’t they? (Via Shaun Inman)

Formula 1 Cost Reductions ∞

It is no secret that Formula 1, the pinnacle of motorsport, is a costly affair. Team budgets run as high as $445 million! Surely, the sport could do with some cost reductions (especially given the current state of world finances).

The FIA however seems to be demeaning the essence of the sport by proposing to standardize engines in order to reduce costs. Don’t get me wrong, cost reductions are good and in fact necessary given the current 20 car grid (with one team’s future uncertain), but I think that standardizing engines will change the sport fundamentally, and not in a good way. In F1 as we know it, the team matters as much as the driver.

Then, as the linked article points out, there’s the question if, given the FIA’s other targets, adapting their proposals would indeed reduce costs after all? There’s a lot more on the subject so if you’re interested in the future of F1, read on.

Fifty People One Question ∞

Excellent little indie video by Benjamin Reece. (Via Authentic Boredom)

Features you want desperately but still can’t use – HTML5 demos ∞

Ian Hickson demos a few HTML5 features that’ve already been implemented by various major browsers in this aptly titled ~90 minute Google Tech Talk (that I conveniently found time to watch when I really should be revising for my Computer Systems 2 exam).

Google Chrome to Pranayama ∞

Brilliant even if it’s only a Photoshop job.

Babel ∞

noun [in sing. ]
a confused noise, typically that made by a number of voices *: the babel of voices on the road.*

You may or may not already know this, but I am – for lack of a better term – a soundtrack freak. Recently, I’ve been hearing Gustavo Santaolalla’s excellent score for The Motorcycle Diaries in a lot of different places, and I decided to check out some of his other compositions.

To my delight, I discovered that he won the 2006 ‘Best Original Score’ Oscar for his work on Babel. Delight because an Oscar meant the soundtrack would definitely be worth a listen and also because I finally had a good excuse to watch Babel.

So, Babel. Similar themes as Lost in Translation yet not the same. Great direction, some great performances and a good script. I say good, not great because I think that a little more work on the script could probably have resulted in one of those must-watch movies. That, or I didn’t fully get it.
(Official Site | Wikipedia | Apple Trailers)

The Pool – Trailer ∞

Venkatesh the room service boy; Nana Patekar the owner of the house with a pool. Shot in Panjim, Goa. Hindi with English subtitles.

The trailer made me nostalgic, and the soundtrack already has me intoxicated. I hope I get to actually watch the movie.
(Official Site)

This Week in HTML5 ∞

Mark Pilgrim’s semi–regular column keeping tabs on the HTML5 standards process. Not meant for light reading.

The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!) ∞

It’s 2008, and as far as Unicode goes, things have thankfully improved a lot since 2003 (when the linked article was published). However, ever so often I stumble upon the work of an character encoding ignorant developer and that just makes me sad (at the state of affairs). If you’re a developer and have the slightest doubt that you might not know everything Joel Spolsky wrote in the linked article, please read the whole thing.