Why I'm not Buying a new iPhone

2020, like everything else, has changed my perspective on how to decide whether to get a new phone. Some of the reasons I switch to a new iPhone are: a) Camera, b) Software, c) Design, d) Speed, e) Length of ownership. I compare the state of my current phone, with the new phones, to decide whether to buy that year’s iPhone to replace my current iPhone. Once I buy a new phone, I use it for years, and thus always buy the top-of-the-line phone from that series. Continue reading...

Handwashing with an Apple Watch

One of the two standout features in WatchOS 7 for me was handwashing. Today, it has been just over a week since I turned on handwashing notifications. Some background on the new feature: Apple Watch can now detect when hands are being washed and encourages you with gentle taps on your wrist to continue for atleast 20 seconds. When your return home, it can now remind you to wash your hands. Continue reading...

Online Privacy Should Be Modeled on Real-World Privacy

I read Daring Fireball often and one of the things I strongly agree with Gruber on is privacy. I think privacy ought to be a fundamental right and I loathe the practices of tech companies that are formulated on invading it. That is also why I use DuckDuckGo as my default search engine. John Gruber wrote this post following Apple’s new iPhone ad (watch it, it is a great one) about companies act as privacy thieves by tracking people across the internet. Continue reading...

Good Sudoku

I’m a sucker for sudoku. I was obsessed about 7-8 years ago and solved it every single day for a while (thanks, Mumbai Mirror!). In the week after I watched and posted about the Miracle Sudoku, Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger released a great sudoku game. I have been obsessed and can’t stop playing. My total daily phone screen time is ~2.5 hours and >20% on average has been playing Good Sudoku for the last few weeks. Continue reading...

How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond

One thing that has constantly been on my mind for the last 7+ months: The COVID-19 pandemic 1. There’s so much I have read about it, heard about it, tried to learn about it, but a thought exercise around long-term implications of it fascinated me early on. Thereafter, I spent a weekend looking at the how walking and driving habits had changed in various Indian cities. More recently, as discussions around vaccines progress, and we learn more about SARS-CoV-2 and how it attacks the human body, I have also been thinking about what we can expect in the medium- to long-term as governments succeed or fail in controlling the spread of the pandemic. Continue reading...

The United Nations of Uniqlo

Over the last 18 months, Uniqlo has gone from being a brand I had no idea existed to my preffered clothing brand. The simplicity of the designs and the great quality of the clothes have won me over. Be it solids, polos or graphic tees. So when The Economist had a profile piece about Uniqlo by Amelia Lester, you bet I read it. Some quotes that are telling of the story of the company, its success and its goals: Continue reading...

Takeaways from the WWDC 2020 Keynote

I am an Apple enthusiast, and I just watched the WWDC 2020 keynote. Here’s what I thought (in no specific order): iOS 14 Reaching for the top row apps on my iPhone 7 Plus is not easy. I can rarely, if ever, use my phone with a single hand anymore. So, I appreciate the new home screen layout. It definitely appears useful at first glance. I can see myself adding Dark Sky (wait, will it still be updated? Continue reading...

The Miracle Sudoku

Trust me and take 25 minutes out to watch this. Just trust me.

Playing with Apple's COVID-19 Mobility Data for India

I came across Apple’s COVID-19 mobility dataset in mid-May. Instantly, I was curious. I have been interested in understanding how the world is changing ever since the pandemic begam, and thinking about what it means in the short and long-term. As I started exploring the data and seeing some interesting patterns in there, I started thinking about if there were ways I could share it and make it public. Of course, there’s always Jupyter Notebooks, but I don’t enjoy making my notebooks overtly formal and presentable. Continue reading...

What Will be the New Normal?

On January 31, 2020, when USA started restricting entry into USA from China, I felt lucky that it happened then, and not 20 days earlier when I was flying through Beijing on my way back to USA. Little did I imagine then that it was only the beginning of what was to come in the next few months (years?). Over the last 6-weeks, SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) has transformed the world as I knew it. Continue reading...