We speak to Steffi Paepcke, Lead Designer and Co-Founder of Open Source Robotics Foundation. Located in Silicon Valley this non-profit organization is focussed on help promote open source software in the field of robotics. This interview with Paepcke is part of our Women in Science and Technology series. Paepcke is the only non-engineer in her… Continue Reading
Meet Steffi Paepcke, lead designer and co-founder of Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF), a non-profit organization based in Mountain View. OSRF is a spin off from Willow Garage, a robotics startup in Menlo Park. OSRF’s mission is to support the development and distribution of open source software in robot research, education and product development points out… Continue Reading
Tim Sika is hooked on films, and therefore it should come as no surprise that he is the host of Cellouloid Dreams, a radio show from San Jose and also contributes to 810 AM KGO radio station and is the President of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. As if he did not have enough… Continue Reading
Cascade de Flores is a San Francisco Bay area musical ensemble founded by Arwen Lawrence and Jorge Liceaga in 1999. Their musical repertoire consists of music from Mexico and Latin America. A hallmark of their repertoire is they focus on bringing music from the hidden corners of Mexico, Cuba and Latin America. Their last album Radio… Continue Reading
Our interview with author and essayist Pico Iyer on writing, traveling, American pop culture, data obesity, mass distraction, films and Bollywood. Earlier this year Iyer was in San Francisco, which is where we recorded this interview. Is travel writer the best way to describe Iyer? He calls himself a “transport writer.” Transformation is a subject that… Continue Reading
Director John Crowley’s new film Brooklyn is a wonderfully evocative film set in the 1950s. At first blush Brooklyn seems like a simple story about family, love and finding a home in a new country. Living abroad is never an easy choice. It is a complicated & knotty choice and that is the theme this picture underscores brilliantly.… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Jay Roach’s new film Trumbo takes you back to the start of the Cold War period and the fight for the American way of life in Hollywood. The film revisits a dark phase in Hollywood’s history and how fear propelled people in the film industry to act in different ways. The film highlights how Trumbo… Continue Reading
Renowned and versatile actor Saeed Jaffrey passed away on November 14, 2015. The 86-year-old actor died of a brain hemorrhage in London according to the BBC. A jewel of International cinema as Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian put it, Jaffrey got his start on radio and stage in India. In the 1950s he came to the… Continue Reading
Meet Anarghya Vardhana, a millennial investor, marathoner, math whiz and dancer. We spoke to Vardhana on how she developed her interests in science, technology & sports and how did they turn shape her professional career. For instance, we were curious to find if participating in sports activities helped develop her confidence level. How did sports help… Continue Reading
Jordanian filmmaker Naji Abu Nowar’s debut film Theeb is a stunning coming of age film of a young Bedouin boy. This period film is set in 1916 during World War I when the powerful Ottoman Empire was crumbling and losing its hold over this part of the Middle East. The film was shot in Jordan… Continue Reading
Director Tom McCarthy’s new film Spotlight is based on a true story uncovered by an investigative team at The Boston Globe. In 2002 the newspaper published a series of reports about the pedophile priests in the Catholic church in Boston. The name of the investigative team in the newspaper is called Spotlight. McCarthy’s film premiered at… Continue Reading
Spectre, the new James Bond picture by Sam Mendes delivers on its promise with a couple of reservations that I will mention later on in the post. This is the 24th film of James Bond, a sauve and smooth talking British secret agent, who lives a charmed and dangerous existence. Spectre revolves around Bond (Daniel… Continue Reading
Sarah Gavron and Abi Morgan talk about their new film Suffragette, which tells you the story about how women fought for their right to vote in Britain. The film takes you back to the 1912-1913, the early years of the movement and how women from various strata of the society came together to fight for one… Continue Reading
Ever wondered about the brains of a robot or the robot operating systems (ROS)? Is there a standardized ROS for robots? How do robots learn? How do you teach a robot? And then there other questions about Artificial Intelligence (AI), ethics and the future of robots in our society. We spoke with Dr. Todd Hylton,… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson’s new film Room is based on Emma Donoghue’s novel by the same name. The film is about a mother-son relationship in a little room, which is where they have been confined for a few years. That little room represents the whole universe for the little boy, and the only visitor they get is… Continue Reading
Meet San Francisco Bay area’s Tava India Kitchen’s Hasnain Zaidi, Chief Operating Officer. In this interview Zaidi shares the back story of how Tava was born and what kind of food they serve. We also find out if they were inspired by the success of Chipotle, the restaurant chain that serves Mexican food. Tava… Continue Reading
Freedom is the theme for this year’s 3rd i San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival. This year marks the 13th year of the festival that takes place in San Francisco from Oct 22 through Oct 25, 2015 in Palo Alto on Nov 1, 2015. The festival features features, shorts and documentaries from various South… Continue Reading
Meet Samantha Moitke of Mayfield Bakery and Cafe in Palo Alto. We caught up with Executive Pastry Chef Moitke at the first food and technology event called BiTESV at Santa Clara. Moitke was part of the original team when Mayfield Bakery and Cafe opened. In this interview we spoke about the food served in the… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Cary Fukunaga’s new film, Beasts of No Nation, releases today in theatres and on Netflix.This is the first time that a feature film is releasing simultaneously in theatres and streaming online. With this film could Los Gatos-based Netflix became a key player in the film industry? We spoke to Fukunaga and Abraham Attah, the young… Continue Reading
Is Bollywood listening? Idris Elba is open to working in Bollywood films as he tells us in this interview we recorded in 2010. Fast forward to 2015 and Elba is a sought after actor and has garnered praise for his work on the small and big screen. Right now the buzz is around his role… Continue Reading
Director Cary Fukunga and actress Mia Wasikowska talk about their film Jane Eyre that released in 2011. This is Fukunaga’s second feature film. His first feature film was Sin Nombre (Nameless) that he wrote and directed. The film was received well and won him a clutch of awards. In this 2011 interview we talk to Fukunaga and… Continue Reading
We caught up the talented Avery Ruzicka, head baker and partner of Manresa Bread in Los Gatos, CA at the BiteSV conference in Santa Clara. BiteSV was the first food and technology conference that was held in June 2015 in Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara. Chef/Owner David Kinch heads Manresa, a Michelin-starred restaurant that consistently gets rave reviews.… Continue Reading
A couple of days ago during a visit to San Francisco’s The Fairmont Hotel I finally got to meet Thomas Wolfe, Chief concierge of the hotel. Elegantly dressed in a suit and a bow tie he graciously answered all my inquisitive questions about the hotel’s rich history and famous guests like, Alfred Hitchcock and Ella Fitzgerald, who… Continue Reading
The 38th Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) is currently underway and runs from Oct 8-18, 2015. This year’s festival seems to highlight the gender gap and features quite a few films where women play a central role. The films with strong female characters include I Smile Back, Room, Suffragette, Miss You Already, Light Beneath Her… Continue Reading
Get ready to watch Coen brothers new film Hail Caesare. No, not this year, but early next year around Superbowl 50 and the Oscar season. That is right, the film releases on Feb 5, 2016 . They just released the first trailer of Haile Caesare and that has already generated a lot of buzz for the filmmakers.… Continue Reading
Imagine attaching a one pound device to your leg and instanly adding strength to your joints and reducing fatigue? Imagine adding 200 pounds of pull from that one pound device. That is exactly what SRI Robotics has done with SuperFlex, a technology platform of light weight component technologies. SRI Robotics’ Dr. Rich Maloney explains how this… Continue Reading
Davis Guggenheim’s new documentary He Called Me Malala is a profile of Malala Yousafzai. The brave young Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner needs no introduction. She narrowly cheated death in October 2012 when she and her two friends were shot by the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat valley. The girls were on their way to school when their… Continue Reading
Bangalore is often referred as Silicon Valley of India. The city is studded with startups and has a huge pool of technical people. How and why did Bangalore became the startup hub of India? Why do startups from other parts of India move to Bangalore? What are the common characterstics between Silicon Valley and Bangalore?… Continue Reading
Cisco’s CEO Chuck Robbins is a man in a hurry to change things in the giant networking company. Faster and simpler solutions with an emphasis on analytics and security were the key points Robbins made during the global editors meeting on Oct 5, 2015. This is Robbins first public statement since he became the CEO of Cisco. In… Continue Reading
The Kamla Show 