tathagata

I am myopic with a spherical power of around -4 on both eyes. I used to love high-dpi displays until recently. But now I can't seem to look at them for long. I am sorry, but I can't figure out the exact reasons. I have tried changing the resolution on the retina display and even turning off the over-sampling in the lower resolutions, but nothing feels comfortable. I also loved programming with font anti-aliasing/smoothing turned off, but this alas no longer works well on the retina display.

> Ironic for me that just as these things start to show up, I start to become less able to use them.

Same with me! I just bought the expensive 15" MacBook Pro with retina display, but I ended up using a 17" 1280x1024 external monitor with it to lower the eye strain. I am even more comfortable using a 19" 1280x1024 Dell monitor at work!

Just to clear some of the myths surrounding the exams - I studied for only a week (and only one subject - physics) before the exams in 1997 (the year the paper leaked and the exams were re-administered). I cleared the exams with a rank of ~1500. In the two years prior to the exams I was busy making money assembling computers. Did not take any coaching either.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the exams are not as hard as they are made out to be, and the students, at least some students, are not as studiously dumb as they might seem in retrospect. I know that most of us who cleared the exams with decent ranks were just luckier that those who didn't.

Oh, by the way, I almost didn't join IIT because that year the tution fees were hiked by 10x (from $30 to $300 per semester).

I wrote on these very same points recently, but argued differently - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5804423

The icon backgrounds now look largely redundant. Apple could have done better by getting rid of the backgrounds altogether like Android.

The new icons look ugly, especially the gradients in the background. Psychedelic looking, should come with a warning.

Thanks! I wasn't aware of these electronic shutters.

To accomodate the 1000x more sensitive sensor you will need a really fast shutter speed - maybe something like 1/1000000 of a second. Because shutters are mechanical devices, it might be difficult to achieve this without another leap in engineering. I am assuming that we cannot do much with the lenses.

I think that, to some extent, what we pay for are good memories. It just so happens that physical goods today produce longer lasting and stronger memories than digital goods. And the rapid increase in the production of digital stuff isn't helping their cause. Of course, at some point in the future we may actually identify strongly with and be as much possessive about our digital things as we are attached to our physical possessions.

Readability often conflicts with the geek-aesthetics on digital screens and devices. For example, I personally like to code with anti-aliasing off - I just find the code more readable that way (maybe I am used to that?). I also don't much like the retina-display because it tries to hide the digital nature of the device (can't see the pixels - makes sense?). Lastly, while serif fonts might be more readable when viewed from top there does seem to be something intangibly wrong with them when viewed head-on horizontally.

And now it is down...

Differently, did you know that readability is not always good for all types of content? If an article requires some thought and concentration then less readability is preferable - see this video of Adam Alter on something he calls 'disfluency' - http://edge.org/video/disfluency

The design might be modern but it is very distracting. The photos are surrounded closely by so many other photos that it is difficult to enjoy the beauty of a particular photo - it like a painting framed by a gold gilded frame which is more beautiful than the painting itself. Photography is an art form but in this new layout the art is overwhelmed by its 'evil' cousin, design.

You can get the old interface by appending /?details=1 at the end of the photostream url. e.g. - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tathagatac/?details=1

I have always had a eye for drawing and painting, but it took me over 13 years of practice to churn out half-decent sketches. I guess persistence is the key. As for writing - re-reading books and rewriting sentences can help. Each sentence should have enough spring to propel you and the reader to the next sentence. Of course, easier said than done and all that.