Amar Bose and his Bose Stereo: Passion for Excellence

Amar Gopal Bose, an American with Indian origins (born to an Indian father, who was a freedom fighter) was a professor at MIT, and CEO of the (World renowned) Bose Corporation passed away recently (June 12, 2012 at the age of 83). This short post recounts his quest and pursuit of excellence in creating world-class systems.

Bose Stereo Speakers are world-class and there is no need to shout it over the top, as its systems are installed in Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and also in the grand mosque, Masjid al-Haram in Mecca – cutting across different religions but unifying through its quality product.

Amar Bose’s venture into creating the world’s best audio system starts like this: Bose bought a high-end stereo system in 1956 with technically impressive specifications, thinking it will be able to reproduce the quality of sound as in a live performance in an auditorium, but failed miserably. Bose, then a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), researched on acoustics and produced a stereo loudspeaker that would reproduce music as you would listen in an auditorium, and without any sub-woofers.  

Bose then founded his own company Bose Corporation in 1964 with funding from angel investors and from his mentor and professor Dr. Lee. Bose said he never wanted to do business to make money, but to try out his creative ideas and research. A point to note is that though the first speakers were a flop, subsequent product releases delivered through extensive research garnered huge appreciation and gave them required reputation. 

Bose had varied interests and developed technologies for regulating electric power on Jets, noise-canceling head phones, suspension system in cars (a very innovative technology developed after 24 years of research!)

Though a founder of a firm, he continued as a professor at MIT, till 2001; and he also donated a major chunk of shares in his company to MIT – as a gratitude to the institution. 

As I write about this genius, two thoughts occupy my mind. One is the link between passion and excellence – his passion for excellence coupled with his curiosity and persistence (what can explain several years of research without results for many years) lead to greatness; and the other is about when will the Indian academic system will create such an conducive environment for such passionate researchers to thrive?

Few Notable Quotes by Bose: 

•  I wanted to teach thought, not formulas; – as a professor to his students at MIT

•  Learn how to work through the problems you’ll experience in life, in any subject – to his students

•  Better Products through Research – his company tagline

•  I went into business so that I could do interesting things that hadn’t been done before

The Laminated Truth in Digital World

It was the early 1990’s, when I was in my high school.  Lamination as a technology and as a industry was growing and touching our everyday lives – in the form of laminated identity card, laminated report card, laminated photographs etc…  It protected the cards and photographs from being smudged or stained. 

We were then quite surprised by the ‘neat and clean’ work done, through lamination, and it became so entrenched in our conversations, a new phrase called “Laminated Truth” was created – to mean absolute truth! and to convey that the information or message heard (invariably over heard) by that person has not been altered or modified in any way. Determining the truthfulness of this “laminated truth” is entirely a different matter altogether … 

Coming back to today’s digital world, where “cut & paste” is the norm, and documents could easily be forged, how do you achieve this “laminated truth”?  – The answer is Cryptography. A mathematical one-way function called Cryptographic Hash Function produces a fixed-size bit string for the input message. The beauty of this function is that any alteration in the input message, even as insignificant as punctuation, will produce a different output bit string. For instance “Its mine” and “Its mine.” will produce different bit strings, as the second message contains a period at the end. 

The fixed-size output bit string produced by the Cryptographic Hash Function is called as “Message Digest”, which form the basis for a “Digital Signature”.  The digital signature is nothing but the encryption of the “Message Digest” by using a key that is personal (private key) to the author or signer of the message. This encrypted digital signature could then be decrypted only by using the one and the only another key that has a mathematical pairing with the key used for encryption, and which is generally announced publicly (public key) by the author or signer.  

Therefore the signer has a pair of keys with him or her – One of them is announced publicly – called public key, another is kept secretly – called private key. A message encrypted using public key could be decrypted only by using the private key, and a message encrypted by using private key could only be decrypted using the public key.  The digital signature provides a reliable mechanism for anybody to determine whether a message is indeed a laminated truth!  

Kaapi and Coffee

After writing about a hot and serious topic (on Religion), its time to unwind and thought I will focus on a hot but not a serious topic.

I like Coffee … with milk and sugar; and preferably with pure coffee powder (without chicory; and preferably with Peaberry Coffee Beans) and would like it to be a filter coffee (instead of instant variety; though I like the freeze-dried instant powder); served at sipping hot levels and with froth at top.

Well the above description of Coffee refers to South Indian Filter Coffee pronounced popularly as “Kaapi”. If you are keen to know, how this is prepared, follow this link , else follow these steps:

• Add 20 grams of fresh roasted coffee powder to the brew basket.
• Pour 200 ml of freshly boiled water over the coffee powder and close the brew basket.
• Allow it to brew for 4-6 Minutes
• Wait for the brewing cycle to complete.
• Pour the brew into the cup
• Add fresh hot milk and sugar to the brew

Of course I had tasted the modern varieties of coffee also and liked Cafe Latte and Cafe Mocha. Though I was able to distinguish between the taste of different varieties, I only later realized the compositions of different varieties. Here they are:

• Cappuccino – Espresso (1/3) + Steamed Milk (1/3) + Milk Foam(1/3)
• Espresso – Espresso (Black Coffee)
• Cafe Latte – Espresso(1/3) + Steamed Milk(2/3) + Milk Foam(as a topping)
• Cafe Mocha – Espresso + Chocolate Syrup +  Steamed Milk + Whipped Cream
• Latte Macchiato – Steamed Milk (1/2.5) +  Milk Foam + (1/2.5) + Espresso (< 1/6th)
• Americano – Espresso (1/3) + Hot Water (2/3)
• Cafe au Lait – Coffee + Milk

As you can find Cafe Latte (also called simply as Latte) and Cappuccino are similar; but the proportions of Steamed Milk is higher in the former which makes it comparable with the Indian Filter Coffee, and Latte Macchiato (pronounced as: lawthe muckiyatho) makes it comparable to a ‘light’ Indian Filter Coffee. Cappuccino and Caffe Latte both originated in Italy. Latte Macchiato is very popular in Germany.

As you can see Espresso is the base, and it is nothing but the coffee decoction. However espresso is prepared by a different style of brewing, especially using Espresso Coffee machines in contrast to the simple method adopted for preparing decoction in Indian filter coffee.  Espresso is therefore liquid coffee extracted very fast under both high pressure and temperature. A 30 ml of Espresso coffee can be extracted from about 7 -10 grams of Coffee powder within 30 seconds.  The extraction takes very little time, but the espresso coffee has to be consumed immediately after brewing to get that taste.

I also found that WMF coffee machines are used in high-end restaurants and hotels, like the one below.

Think it’s enough of writing about coffee! – Looking for a hot Indian filter coffee!

Wild Ideas or Fantasies?

Well, once in a while, I get interesting ideas or fantasies. OK, I could describe it using adjectives like “Wild”, “Awesome”,  and so on… But I don’t like to do a self boasting here. These may sound like wonderful ideas, but may lack the technology or economics to be implemented. Though, I like to see these ideas into action, I am not contemplating  to take them to the next level. So, let me start spelling out one such idea (or fantasy) here. 

“As you travel in a car on a road, the heat generated due to the movement of wheels on the road, should be used to charge a layer of energy cells (solar) that are embedded on the road! and the car can draw energy from the road, when required, and when being stationed!, to run its AC’s and Entertainment systems!  

Of course this might sound improbable at least for the next 25 years, but hope something close to it could spring up after 25+ years. This requires radical technologies like roads being laid with energy cells that can withstand all the rough movements on it, heat and other climatic conditions. 

An even still better one would be: Once a car (or any vehicle) has started moving it should at least  get or derive part of its energy required for further acceleration from the underlying roads.”

WWW2011 and Interactions with Sir Tim Berners-Lee

The dub-dub-dub 2011 Conference (that is how they call WWW2011) was held for the first time in India, at Hyderabad, during March 28th to April 1st, and I attended it from March 30th to April 1st. The keynote speakers included: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and also our former president, APJ Abdul Kalam.

Our former president Kalam, was as usual at his best, highlighting his vision for the nation (empower the rural and underprivileged people, through Internet & Web), and sought solutions from the research community, for NLP related challenges especially in Indian languages.

On 31st, I got a chance to listen directly to the inventor of Web: Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He did not use any slides for his presentation!, and probably it was not required, as his talk was very much animated and everyone was listening with rapt attention.

Ask him a question related to Web, and you are sure to receive a long reply, which shows his enthusiasm, excitement, and the commitment he still has over his creation, which I understood from the Q & A session, that followed his talk.

He asked the businesses, and the governments to put their data on Web, and create mechanims for an inclusive Web. He also mooted for a multi-stake holder model for governing the Internet, and eventually the Web. He talked about the extremes: Finland and Libya; He also talked about privacy concerns, and the need for being anonymous, and at the same time, highlighted the negatives associated with allowing full anonymous status.

During later part of the day, when I got a chance to directly interact, I asked him whether he still believes in his top-down approach towards Semantic Web, and after finding out that I was from C-DAC (an agency under the Govt of India), he said that govt and their departments should put all their contents on Web, in the form of Linked Data, which could pave the way for the realization of Semantic Web. He was very keen in wanting us to contribute to the linked data.

And then, I took a photograph with him, – really a memorable moment for me!, followed by my colleague and friend – Dittin Andrews.

Also, I need to mention about the General co-chair of the event: Prof. Sadagopan, who was as usual at his best – Warm & Witty. He was the prime person responsible for bringing this conference to India; first tried in 2001, and then in 2006 successfully won the bid, to bring the 2011 conference to India! Lastly about the Venue: HICC – Wonderful place to be; and I could not forget the Coffee that was served throughout the event from the WMF combiNation vending machines.

I forgot the art of Handwriting!

It was mid (19)80’s, when I was in school, and had to do a lot of homework each and every day, assigned by teachers of various subjects, who taught on that day. There were two standard homeworks that had to be done each day for the subject of English – One, a vocabulary work – where we have to write about 5 ‘not-so-common’ words from the dictionary, and Two, a handwriting work – where we need to write one page passage as legibly and neatly as possible.

Now, it appears to me all those efforts were waste, because these days, I rarely get an opportunity to write anything on my own handwriting, except for signature. Writing on paper with pen, has changed to typing on your favorite word processor, and if required, printing it out later.

Many would be complaining about the loss of ‘personal touch’, in computer-typed & printed documents. For those such people, here comes a technique that would help you regain that personal touch, despite it being computer-typed & printed. Check this link for more details.

Now, for those of you who had been signing paper after paper, each day, and cribbing about the ‘manual’ process, stop worrying as the technology of ‘digital signatures’, (not same as scanning and printing of your hand-written signature) has arrived long back, and the ‘legality’ of such ‘digital signatures’ had been enacted as a law, in India, almost 11 years ago!!! (in the year 2000).

For those of you who have already been using digital signatures, and complaining about its use only once or few times in a year – like at the time of filing your IT returns, do not worry much, as more and more applications would become available in the coming years, and 10 years later, from now, you will rarely find an opportunity, to sign using your hand and might probably be using it over greeting cards or gift packs only.

So, for the future generations, there may be hardly any need to learn the art of writing by hand, unless otherwise they are planning to become artists!

Research is Costly!

If you had been guessing that I am going to talk about some Sci-fi or life-involving scientific research here, then you are going to be disappointed.

This week, I had the privilege of attending two events – one was an open discussion forum (that had two renowned guests – one was Dr S P Mudur, and the other was Dr N Vijayaditya), and a project review committee meeting for a project, that was into developing a product, out of research efforts.

In the open discussion forum, after a few questions (including one by myself, on IT infrastructure), the discussions steered towards research in general (with IT or other innovations at the back of the mind). The summary of the discussion was that even a very non-critical research involves risk – risk of time, manpower, & money. Out of several attempts made in research, only a few of them may succeed over time, and that too the success is not guaranteed. This is in a country like India with more than a billion population, translates to spending very less on research, and expecting results in a short time, which imposes constraints on the researchers, to focus on short-term goals rather than long-term goals.

In the later project meeting, there were comparisons drawn between the product developed on home-grown research efforts, and products developed by well-known MNC’s. Though the fact that the cost involved in terms of money, time, and manpower, are in no way comparable with those of the MNC products, the expectations were always there. Also, the costs associated to take the product beyond the labs, to a wide-scale user base was even more prohibitively costly affair!, which is the main reason that most of the research prototypes do not see the end of the light, and just lay in the labs.

What’s more is that, even cash-rich companies or developed western nations do not expect all their research efforts to produce great outcomes, despite significant costs being associated with them, and here, there is a pressure on many fronts to get a great outcome in a short-time, and with the least of the infrastructure. Of course, this too could be achieved, by an extra-ordinary person in a select field, but could not be replicated every time and every where!

To summarize, research is a form of learning, and one should be open for failures and involves huge cost – not only in terms of money, but also in the form of time, and other risks such as a evolution of a superior technology in the future, turning the scales upside down, for an existing research effort.

Socks – Is there a Left and Right foot socks?

After posting three consecutive ‘heavy‘ articles, let me take a break, and discuss about a lighter issue – Given a pair of socks, which one would you wear on your left/right foot?

Initially, I thought there were no such left and right foot socks, until a friend of mine, asked me how to identify it, couple of years ago!. From that time onwards, I became conscious while wearing the socks, thinking of which one to wear for the right and left foot 🙂 So, one fine day, I consulted our modern-age gurus – Google and Yahoo for answers 🙂

I started with searches in Google whose results pointed to companies that were manufacturing socks and marketing as “Anatomically designed for left and right foot”. I got a few hints, that some companies were making specialized socks for left and right foot, especially for athletes, but otherwise, there is no such concept!. But, when I checked for the same query in Yahoo answers, to my surprise , I found the same question being asked by 2 or 3 users in the past one year!. However, when I went through the answers, to those queries, I was thoroughly confused, as each user had their own opinion, and often contradictory with the previous user, or post!.

So, again I returned to google, rephrased my queries (my first query was left-socks and right-socks; and my final query was “Is there a left-foot sock and right-foot sock”) and the initial scanning of the results proved that there were some companies that were making such specially designed socks for athletes, and its there I discovered the phrase “anatomically designed for right and left-foot”, and were charging around 9 UK Pounds for a pair of socks!.

The lesson to take-away from this exercise, is that when there are no obvious answers, everyone tries to provide their own answer and adds to your confusion. This could be a factor to the detractors of online social networking. The problem occurs when things are always fuzzy and not obvious, and the chances of even obvious things turning fuzzy may increase, over time, when more people enter the online world and give different and often contradictory suggestions! A simple way to illustrate this is when you try to discover a person, whom you might be knowing already – and you use their name to discover that person say in Facebook or Orkut, you may be staring at a huge list of similar looking names. This might not have been the case, when these sites were in their infancy stages.

Nanotechnology – from a layman

I have never followed (or should I say bothered) about the developments in Nanotechnolgy; However, I have heard about the potential applications and the basics from many people through hear-say. This article is a reflection, of what I had gathered about the technology and its applications from many people, over the last few years.

Nano means 10 to the power -9. This can help you imagine, how small it could be. Nano devices can be built from many materials; However carbon is the most widely used and common material for building nano devices. Generally, using carbon, Nano-tubes are constructed. A significant property of nano-tube is that the surface-area of the tube is very high, and hence it can hold significant quantity of some other materials. Some research is going on for using nano-tubes to carry hydrogen – a potential fuel in the future. A large nano-tube perhaps can be seen only through a microscope, and might appear as a thin black powder, if built using carbon. Nano-tubes made of silicon, or even gold is also in place, but their use and applications are different.

A Nano-tube is a benzene-based structure of the bonds between the carbon atoms, whose property has to be analyzed and studied when they are holding materials like hydrogen or some other material; Right now research is primarily focused on how to use the nano-tube to carry materials using the outer surface-area of the tube, though some researchers are working on how to utlize the hollow space inside the tube to carry materials also.

By now, you might have guessed, that you can only think of carrying chemical compounds or other materials in significantly smaller quantities effectively. Hence research is progressing on how to utilize nano technology for carrying medicines, chemicals and also of how to store and retrieve data (information) from them!

A lot of people, particularly researchers, and students are working in this hot topic. There seems to be two groups here (as usual!) – one of theorists and the other of the practioners. Unlike most other fields, it seems that one could easily start experimenting with nano-technology by investing a few thousands to buy a nano-tube, and study its properties. Also, its said that it is easier to create a nano-crystal (?) in the lab, by growing the atomic structures of a material.

Nano Medicine or Nano Robots is an interesting application area for Nanotechnology and research is going on, in this area. Here it is being said that medicines and that too of a very tiny quantity can be injected at the spots required in a patient’s body through this technology. A small tablet like piece, if swallowed by a patient, would travel via the blood stream, before reaching the point where treatement has to be done, and after reaching that point, the medicines or chemicals will be released at the exact quantity for treating the disease. Research is also being carried to perform surgeries through nano-robots.

CAUTION: I have not taken any serious efforts to read, collect and gather data about Nano-technology; Even for writing this article, I have not used any reference material or even used Google. This is absolutely written on the basis, of what I had heard from many people, over the past few years; and hence relying on this information is entirely up to you!.

Intelligence Defined!

Intelligence can be defined as realization; like the realization of:

Learning is different from reading
Listening is different from hearing
Observing is different from seeing
Thinking is different from dreaming
Talking is different from speaking
Relaxing is different from sleeping
Acting is different from reacting
Narrating is different from telling

(This has to be read from the AI Perspective!)