Whose name is blanked out?

Cracked by Logik, Raghuvansh, Rogi, Ananth, Ganesh Prasad, SV, shrik, Aparna, Dibyo, dineshk, Bharath, Girish, Manish Achuth, Vinay Hegde, byslexia, krudebox, joe, Prateek Agarwal, Shwetha Maiya, Hitesh T S, Rahul Rajeev, Rahulk, sandman, Vardhan Shenoy, Qbrain, lanu, Thejas V R, udupendra and blntechie.

Identify and tell us what is blacked out.

Cracked by: Rogi, shrik, Manish Achuth, Dibyo, Ananth, Raghuvansh, Goyal, Aparna, raklodramA, Bharath, krudebox, udupendra, Jean Valjean, Rahulk, Thejas V R, Shwetha Maiya, Sumanth Patlolla, Vishnu, Rahul Rajeev, Logik, dineshk, Vinay Hegde, v.chandrashekar, sandman and Vardhan Shenoy

What’s the connection? (2) is just an illustrative example!

Cracked by Thejas V R, Girish, Rahulk, shrik, udupendra, Manish Achuth, Logik, dineshk, krudebox, raklodramA, Rogi, Raghuvansh, Qbrain, lanu, Sumanth Patlolla, Jean Valjean, piezocake and Vinay Hegde

This piece of software, named after “**A” **in the map below, is the powerhouse of platform X and also the main cause of a huge lawsuit against X.

Identify the software.

Hint: Recent platform, very popular.

Cracked by: udupendra, Qbrain, lanu, Thejas V R, foobar, Raghuvansh, Rahulk, Shwetha Maiya, Dibyo, shrik, Prateek Agarwal, Vishnu, krudebox, anurag, Sumanth Patlolla, Manish Achuth, username, Girish, SV, Rogi, Siddarth Pai, Logik, Aparna, dineshk, Bharath, Ganesh Prasad, Ananth, blntechie, vasanth and raklodramA

Identify the artist of this painting, and let us know where it is from.

Pseudobonus points for naming the original.

Cracked by udupendra, krudebox, shrik, SV, Vinay Hegde, Rogi, Raghuvansh, Dibyo, Shwetha Maiya, lanu, Qbrain, Thejas V R, Rahulk, Sumanth Patlolla, Manish Achuth, Logik, dineshk, Bharath, Ananth, joe and vasanth

Identify and tell us what he claims to be the “first”

Happy Independence Day to our Indian readers!

Cracked by: shrik, Sumanth Patlolla, Girish, krudebox, Jean Valjean, Raghuvansh, dheeraj, Ananth, Ganesh Prasad, Vinay Hegde, Logik, Rogi, Rahulk, lanu, Shwetha Maiya, udupendra, Prateek Agarwal, Dibyo, Qbrain, Manish Achuth, Thejas V R, Aparna, dineshk, Bharath and username

1. said it involved violet
2. was expecting purplish-red, vegetation-green, and an ultramarine-blue
3. famously got it right.

But what?

Cracked by krudebox, Vinay Hegde, Raghuvansh, Girish, Ananth, Dibyo, Bheema V, Rogi, Rahul Rajeev, shrik, Thejas V R, dheeraj, Sumanth Patlolla, Jean Valjean, Logik, Shwetha Maiya, lanu, udupendra, Rahulk and Qbrain

Three questions today (you will know why tomorrow :) )

1. Guest question from Rogi

Why are you seeing these on BB today? (See post date, not today’s date :) )

2. Guest question from p vs np. Yes, this question had to come from him :)

Identify 1. and his recent claim to fame.
Though his claim is under intense scrutiny, if proved, he shall join ranks with 2. and shall gain eternal fame in the Kingdom of Nerds.

3. “Fan” proposed icon for what?

One point per correct answer, run-length intact if you get at least one right.

P.S: We have a huge queue of guest questions in our inbox. If you sent one, please stay tuned, it will make it to the main page soon :)

Cracked by: Manish Achuth(3), p vs np(3), Dibyo(3), krudebox(3), Rogi(3), Ganesh Prasad(3), shrik(3), Thejas V R(3), Vinay Hegde(3), lanu(3), Qbrain(3), Shwetha Maiya(3), Logik(2), sandesh(2), Ananth(2), Anjul(2), Raghuvansh(2), Girish(2), Bheema V(2), Rahulk(2), Sumanth Patlolla(2), dheeraj(2), Rahul Rajeev(2), blntechie(2), Bharath(2) and Jean Valjean(2)

(1) gave (2) a lot of bad publicity (although - to be honest - for no real fault of 2). Why?

Cracked by Logik, SV, Ganesh Prasad, Rogi, dineshk, Manish Achuth, Raghuvansh, Dibyo, Aparna, Goyal, Ananth, T R Rahul, Rahulk, udupendra, raklodramA, shrik, Vinay Hegde, Sumanth Patlolla, dheeraj, Girish, sandesh, Anubhav, krudebox and Bheema V

The dude in 1 created something in the aftermath of 2, which is now a very popular product of huge company. What did he create?

Cracked by: Raghuvansh, Vinay Hegde, Logik, dineshk, Ananth, Rogi, shrik, Abinaya, Dibyo, username, Goyal, Rahulk, Qbrain, raklodramA, lanu, Muthu, Thejas V R, krudebox, udupendra, Shwetha Maiya, wanderlust, Suhel Banerjee, Manish Achuth, Rahul Rajeev, SV, dheeraj, varuns88, Aparna, mankuTimma, Sumanth Patlolla, Anubhav and Bheema V