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Stuff that's too large for twitter and doesn't fit in my other blog My Portable World. My day job includes building mobile apps and cloud based systems. My hobbies include amateur photography and trying out new gadgets and apps on iOS, Android and Windows...

[vinuthomas]

The Ants Cafe Whitefield

I was excited to visit this newly opened branch of The Ants Cafe in Whitefield, Bangalore. Does it live up to the name?

[vinuthomas]

Data Security or the Lack of it in India

Data Security or the Lack of it in India

The past few weeks, the conversation on the web has been around how private information in the form of Aadhaar numbers, account details and PAN numbers of citizens have been floating out on the internet. In some of the leaks, the source was pointing back to some private and government sites themselves which had Excel files with a trove of data sitting on open servers. This is alarming, but the…

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[vinuthomas]

Habanero, located in the Park Square Mall in Whitefield, is one of the places which us folks who live and work around the ITPL end up visiting at one time or the other. They serve Tex-Mex food, which is a fusion of American and Mexican food.

Ambience

It’s a brightly lit place with spaced out seating around a bar. For smaller groups of 2’s and fours, they have a window side seating with sofas, and the center area has tables and chairs which they can join together for bigger groups. It’s not too crowded during weekdays, with just a few folks visiting it, but Friday afternoons usually means more crowd here. We’ve never had to wait for a table here. The downside is that  most times we’ve visited, the place had a stale and musty smell since their air-conditioning seems to be switched off or not working.

Food & Drinks

One of the reasons we end up frequent this place is because of their draught beer offer, which is priced at Rs.99 for a mug or Rs.199 for a pitcher during lunch time. They also have a selection of hard liquor and cocktails as well. If you ask nicely they’ll throw in a  free serving of  Nachos with the beer. The Nachos are nothing great, but something to munch on with the beer till food arrives.

Most of our group end up ordering mostly from their selection of 2 salads, the Taco salad or the Fiesta Salad. The Taco Salad is served in an edible bowl made of deep fried taco. Its’ not really healthy if you end up eating up the taco bowl. If you do plan on ordering this dish, make sure they have Avacados in stock, or they’ll silently serve you the salad minus the Avocados. Their Fiesta salad is a safer bet on most days. If you’re really hungry, you should skip the salads and order their Chicken or Paneer Fajitas which is served as a sizzler dish, with a side of tortilla bread, avocados and beans.

Lack of Service

Service here is generally slow and unresponsive. They rarely even serve a glass water unless you ask for it. If you go with a big group, you should expect your food to be delayed. Most times, we visited, some of us get our food a while after the rest of the group finished their lunch. The staff seem to lack enthusiasm and don’t even bother about keeping a good level of service. There have been times when the waiter came around 15-20 minutes after I placed an order to let me know that the they’ve run out of the dish I ordered.

Summing up

The only reason we keep going back is for their 99 buck mug of beer and the decent food they serve. Their service is what really brings down this establishment, and that seems to be the reason why it’s empty most of the days.

Habanero Whitefield – TexMex with Mediocre Service Habanero, located in the Park Square Mall in Whitefield, is one of the places which us folks who live and work around the ITPL end up visiting at one time or the other.

[vinuthomas]

Ather S340 A Smart Electric Scooter Made in India

Ather S340 A Smart Electric Scooter Made in India

Ather Energy, one of the few hardware startups in the entrepreneurial landscape in India, has just launched the S340 Scooter for the Indian market. The company is based out of Bengaluru and started by two IIT’ians – Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. They’ve received funding from Tiger Global and Sachin & Binny Bansal (of the Flipkart fame). Their claim to fame of the S340 scooter is the fact that…

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[vinuthomas]

Muddy puddles after a quick shower. #bengaluru #puddle #rain #reflection #photograhy #tiltshift (at kullapa circle, kammanahalli Bangaluru)

[vinuthomas]

A spinning #firework making its rounds on the road, as kids and adults alike light up the roads for #Diwali #bengaluru #festival #chakra #gioneeshutterbugs #photograhy (at Kammanahalli Main Road)

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Photos from a day trip to Lal bagh. Once you’re in the park, it feels like you’re far away city and it’s a much needed change from the usual maddening rush. 

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Hey guys, come out, come out wherever you are. I'm tired of playing hide and go seek. #kidsplay #blocks #playtime #buildingblocks #tigger #photograhy

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Green tea and scribbles on the table. #scribble #greentea #photograhy #pencil

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Artwork using a bunch of bottle caps which were lying around while the bottles were getting washed. #cap #bottle #colorful #art #photograhy

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Clouds turn reddish as the sun sets over a nice weekend.

[vinuthomas]

Weekend road trip. A nice relaxing drive on the Bangalore Kolar highway. We stopped at a Coffee Day outlet just outside Kolar which had a real scenic view. #vw #roadtrip #bangalore #kolar #ccd #volkswagen (at Cafe Coffee Day - Kolar)

[vinuthomas]

Tried some salads and sandwiches from FreshMenu.com for dinner tonight. The food was really good and healthy. They have a different menu every day of the week, so if you eat out regularly, here's a healthy option to try out. #food #homedelivery #bangalore #healthy

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Beating the commute boredom and the traffic jams with a book from Kindle Unlimited #kindlepaperwhite #trafficjam #bangalore #ebook #kindle (at K R Puram Railway Station)

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Dramatic Clouds over Outer Ring road in Bangalore (at Banaswadi)

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We're cooking by candle light tonight.

This happens when there's a long powercut and the backup power also runs out. Sad state of affairs for the Silicon Valley of India.

Poor narrow roads, rampant constuction and goverment apathy and shortsightedness plauges Bangalore's aging infrastructure. Citizen movements have started making a dent, in small pockets of the city, but don't have the full support of the goverment agencies.

[vinuthomas]

Found this ancient BlackBerry when I was clearing my gadget closet today. What do you know, it still works after all these years. I'm wondering what to do with it. I can't throw away something that still works.