Trip to Dickwella

Dickwella, a place in the south coast of Sri Lanka, had been chosen to be the spot for the company annual trip (for our group). We enjoyed the pleasure trip on 23rd and 24th June at the Dickwella resort. We travelled on Saturday morning in 3 buses and returned on Saunday night.

It was a fun-filled weekend with more relaxation, food, dinner dance, sports and fun events. My wife and kid accompanied me this time and it had been our first long trip with her.

I have shared the photoes in my album.

Trip to Dickwella

Web Browsers - timeline

The timeline of web browsers shown here seems to be very useful. I can think about the following ways, the information can be utilized.

1. Details of all the existing / non-existing web browsers and their version release periods
   
2. The ways in which different web browsers have evolved and their ancestors
3. Maturity levels of the browsers
4. etc. (there may be more)
   

I couldn't find the famous text based 'lynx' browser (found in Linux OS) in the timeline. May be it was not considered as a web browser?

Web 2.0 - design guidelines

I was googling to find some resources about web 2.0 design trends. I say web 2.0 design trend because the web sites' designs have changed drastically since the introduction of web 2.0 services. I found this as a good article on the topic.

web 2.0 how-to design style guide

It gives good explanations on the changes to the web design with examples and some links to more information.

Opera Mini - mobile browser

While I was in Sweden, I met Ms. Malin Rundberg, Project Manager of Opera Mini software, at Graziela's (our Development Manager) birthday party. We had a good chat about various things for some time. One of the topics was about the Opera Mini, the free mobile browser.

I use Nokia 6230 and I had been using its default browser to access the internet over GPRS. At the party Malin recommended me to use the Opera Mini, not just because she is the Project Manager of it, but it has got some nice features. When she was telling the features of the software, I was thinking like, 'how did I miss this nice piece of software?'. I decided to try this when I'm back home.

I downloaded the software and I have been using it for a while. It's amazing! If I say the truth, now I don't like to open my phone's default browser at all. I recommend this software for everybody around and I should thank Malin for introducing me to this application.
This is how you install the product (phone should support java applications):

1. Open the default mobile browser and connect to the internet
2. Access the site www.operamini.com
3. Download the software by clicking the appropriate link
4. Allow the phone to install the java application
5. Exit your phone browser, now the application has been installed.

Opening the browser is as easy as running a java application in the phone. Just select the 'Opera Mini' from the phone's applications collection and let it to connect to the internet (you will be prompted to allow network access). Now you can play with it.

Trip to Sweden

I was a bit busy these days hence I could not blog for some time.

I visited our Sweden offices to participate in few knowledge transfer sessions and one meeting. This was my second time in Sweden and this time I felt more comfortable than the previous visit in 2004.

According to my travel schedule, I had to go to the Stockhom city by flight and then by train to Linkoping. Unfortunately due to the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) strike, I had to change my connecting flight during the last moment. My flight destination was changed to Goteborg with a different carrier, 'Air France'. It was late night when I arrived Goteborg so I stayed at the Hotel Landvetter. Next day morning, Jens came and picked me up from the hotel and we travelled together to Linkoping in his car. It had been a nice journey where the average speed of the car was above 100 km/h. After the knowledge transfer sessions, I took over the responsibility of 3 systems from a person in Sweden. These software systems will be developed further under my supervision in Sri Lanka.

Paris Airport

While I was in Linkoping, I was able to try several dishes for my lunch including the typical swedish menu with dear meat, potatoes and cucumber salad. I should thank Henrik and Mats for taking me to different restaurants everyday. Once we went for a dinner to the 'Texas Longhorn steakhouse' and I ordered the medium cooked meat for me and others ordered medium rare. Initially I was a bit scared to have a dish with the blood and pink meat. But, it tasted good.

Linkoping

Then I had to go to Goteborg to participate in a meeting with the Area Manager (Jens) and our Development Manager (Graziela). I had to go by train and the X2000 journey was a bit disturbing. I got travel sick. On the same day I went for the Birthday celebrations of Graziela and Eva as I was invited by Graziela. This was really a wonderful event where I could meet a lot of different people in Sweden. There were few who left IFS and working for some other companies. We talked a lot; about software companies, Opera software (one Project Manager from Opera was there), visiting Sri Lanka, current situation in Sri Lanka etc.

Goteborg

The next day I travelled to Stockholm and stayed there for a day before my departure. It was really a nice place with more people on the road and many sites to see. I enjoyed that day walking along the streets of Stockholm. I had to return to the hotel early as I had to travel back the next day morning.

Stockholm

Frakfurt Airport

On my return, I travelled through Frankfurt airport and reached Colombo on 4th morning. I was thinking whether my little one would identify me as this was first time I was away from her for a week. She was a bit scared initially but later she realised that its her father.

I have shared some of the photoes which I took during the trip.