Rungta’s Webmarks

Political Lampposts And Independent Candidates ∞

Amit Varma explains why voting for independent candidates like Meera Sanyal (representing Mumbai South) is worthwhile in current India’s “fragmented” political environment. I’m linking to this because I’ve had people suggest otherwise.

With Hands Tied Behind My Back ∞

Apple rejected version 2 of my friend Karan’s iPhone app, Qǐngwèn:

I’m sorry, did I mention it’s a dictionary? Dictionaries have words, all sorts of words, including, yes, swear words like “fuck” and also words like “penis”, which of course is such a lewd word that I should be smited (well, technically, smitten) for having included it in Qingwen? And all of this somehow falls under their so-called “reasonable judgment”.

Ridiculous. In case Apple hasn’t noticed, developers — the most important component of the App Store — don’t like this nonsense.

Google India Elections Centre ∞

Great collaboration to provide Indian voters with information about their constituency, (shocking though not altogether surprising) profiles of current MPs, voter registration status and more. If you’re an Indian citizen, 18 or older and in the country during the elections, make your mark – go vote! (via)

The Prado in Google Earth ∞

In Google Earth, you can get close enough to examine a painter’s brushstrokes or the craquelure on the varnish of a painting. The images of these works are about 14,000 million pixels, 1,400 times more detailled [sic] than the image a 10 megapixel digital camera would take.

There’ve been demos of ultra high resolution images at TED and elsewhere, but these excellent paintings take the experience to a different level altogether. The painters’ attention to detail is just mind–blowing.

Accessibility to the Face ∞

Another wake up call, but this time about accessibility.

No, it’s not just another rant article about how you should mark–up your pages semantically or use javascript unobtrusively (you do that already, don’t you?). What is it about then? Well go on and find out.