A Silicon Valley startup was founded in 2003 with an aim to develop an advanced operating system for digital cameras. Considering that the camera market wasn’t large-enough, they started work on a mobile OS, and were acquired by Google two years later. Currently, they have over a billion active monthly users, which has doubled from 538 million in mid-2013. Of course, I’m talking about Android, the magical Linux-based mobile OS that sells more than Apple’s and Microsoft’s mobile and desktop OSes, combined.

So how do you get from there to here? And where do you go after this?

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There have been drastic changes to computing in the past couple of years with new technologies challenging existing ones. People are so close to their devices—rather emotionally—that magnitudinally, the WWDC every year is considered as important as Xerox with the Alto. As revolutionary as Xerox’s...

There were only two companies in this world that I truly adored for their great products—Apple and Google. I was also always a fan of the innovations at Microsoft, but they never really rocked my world. Until now.

When the iOS 5 came out, I was honestly mesmerized. It was the best, made even better, and I’m still a huge fan of Scott Forstall (I was rather unhappy when Apple let him go, but I believe Tim Cook made an informed decision.) Google, not unlike Apple, didn’t fail to thrill me almost each time either—I remember how thrilled I was when I said “Okay, Google Now” the first time.

However, Microsoft usually made something really cool, but forgot to focus on something more far important than their products—people.

Recently, I’ve been working with an amazing company called Unifiers. Their motto is “People and ideas, for a beautiful world.” That’s the most apt vision I could find...

“A substandard education will always result in a substandard nation.”
—Aubrey Priest

Unlike all stories, ClassRebels didn’t start with the simple idea of making teachers and students connect in a way they’ve never connected before. It started with an idea to bring about a reform, a change, and a revolution. In India, this change was long needed. The society is evolving, and our education system needs to catch up.

We believe that the whole idea of education is taken in the wrong sense. It’s become a misconception that studying is only about scrolling through the pages of your textbook the night before your exam. It’s not about that. Education is about freedom. Like Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

And that’s the dream we’re trying to fulfill. Making education not restricted to classrooms—instead of a professor talking...

Disclaimer: I wrote this article for the Fleksy Blog and they provided me with the premium version of the app, which, for the record, is worth the $3.99.

A couple of days ago, one of my friends asked me to try out a new keyboard called Fleksy. I had never heard its name before, but since he was so excited about it, I decided to give it a try. Soon, I installed it on my phone.

And then, my whole tying experience changed. But before I get into that, I’ll let you know that I was using Swype. And I have it uninstalled now.

It was Swype that originally gave us the gesture-based typing feature (and they’ve got a patent for that!) which is found on a majority of keyboards today, including SwiftKey and Google Keyboard, and I respect it for its incremental contributions. It single-handedly changed the entire market of custom keyboards for touch displays. And as amazing as gesture-based typing...

Dawn symbolizes a lot of things, of which sunrise is the only literal meaning. A new hope, a new beginning, fresh thoughts, an opportunity to stop condemning, meet challenges with resolve, pursuits that are remarkable and passion that reflects creation. Stupor and sleep restore confidence and vitality, very much essential to play in the field of life. Beyond shower, tooth-brush and break; time to step out. The stage is set.

Arise! awake! And stop not till the goal is reached!

People who set the standards, people who bring in new technologies that completely change the way we work, the way we think and the way we behave. Stupendous performances and heroic acts, and innovation that leaves one in disbelief!

Excellence in workmanship; perseverance to deliver products and services of high quality each time, are no ordinary feasts for a common man. Not greedy, but being conscious, useful...

I recently participated in an event where I was required to redesign Internet.org’s homepage and logo. The content had to remain the same, but the design was to be completely new. The website was required to be responsive, and good in code-quality and aesthetics, without the use of any external code. The logo was marked for creativity and execution. Here’s what I co-designed with Akshat Srivastava in five hours. And why.

The relationship between form and purpose—How and Why— is symbiotic. But despite this link, Why is usually neglected, because How is more easily framed. It is easier to recognize failures of technique than those of strategy or purpose, and simpler to ask “How do I paint this tree?” than to answer “Why does this painting need a tree in it?”

While working on redesigning the corporate identity for Internet.org, I had only one thing in mind — the initiative. I believe...

We’re a group of products and organizations which were proudly created in India.

You see this meticulously made handicraft item which would be the perfect addition to brighten up any living room. You pick it up, admiring the attention to detail when suddenly you spot the ‘Made in India’ label at the bottom, instantly making the product you were admiring seconds ago feel as cheap as dirt. Why is it that a ‘Made in Italy’ label makes people feel as if the product had been made in heaven itself? Why does it give the product a sense a class regardless of its quality? Now, imagine yourself with the beautifully made handicraft once again. You carefully inspect it in your hands when suddenly, you spot a label on the bottom, stating, “Made with love, in India.”

A warm feeling comes over you and a smile plays on your lips. You reach for your wallet and purchase the product.

Thus, we’re...

‘Reality control,’ they called it—in Newspeak, ‘doublethink.’

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” Maybe Orwell was right, just a few decades wrong. One of the beliefs, the internet is free, and one of them, the United States Government controls the internet. It’s happening, and it’s happening now!

I’ve figured it all out—it’s all about power—and information is power. For example, in those countries with a breakthrough coup d’état, when military guys overthrow the government using physical force, the first thing they do it take over the media. They take over the television, newspapers, and even tap phones and messages. Why do they do that?

Well, because they want the people to know what they want the people to know. They would hence telecast only the channels they want you to see (promoting their...

The ‘WWW’ subdomain is deprecated. There. I said it.

Let me put it this way — When you type google.com in your web browser, you get redirected to http://www.google.com, right? But is that necessary? Do we really need to prove our world-wide web presence by adding a WWW subdomain? I don’t think so.

Let us first recall the definition of WWW:

World Wide Web — n. Abbr. WWW — The complete set of documents residing on all Internet servers that use the HTTP protocol, accessible to users via a simple point-and-click system; n: a collection of internet sites that offer text and graphics and sound and animation resources through the hypertext transfer protocol

All web browsers assume HTTP by default. So, the app looks for the http:// in the requested URL and automatically connects to the HTTP server on port 80 (likewise FTP connects on port 21). Mail servers do not require your to email to...