(If you havent read the first part of this post, kindly go through it for a more detailed analysis)
That the N97 Mini is having a low quality battery is well known. However the thing is, the battery does get heated up pretty soon and due to the heat generated the phone body (especially the back) becomes insanely hot. A 30 min call from my friend resultedin the phone getting so hot that I had to disconnect to prevent my ears from getting burnt. Thats simply unacceptable on a 21st century device. Although heating is not an issue when one is using 2G or GPRS connections, during wifi usage the phone becomes a pressure cooker. Again, not acceptable on a device which costs around/more than $400.
I am an avid ebook-reader and I am appalled at the lack of ebook readers at the ovi store. Adobe pdf is an extrememly slow ebook reader and so is a bunch of other softwares.
All platforms have proper ebook reading softwares, Well thats what you are supposed to do if a phone with a large screen size. Now anyone please make Nokia understand this. Starving new phones of hardware resources can only erode fan bases. And thats what it needs to learn.
Thanks for reading, I'll be back with more.
Showing posts with label IMFAO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IMFAO. Show all posts
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The N97 Mini - Exposed (Part 1)
Starting today, I will give a detailed account of what I think of the N97 Mini, a phone which is being incredibly vigorously promoted as the next big thing by Nokia. Is the N97 Mini a good phone? Is it worth buying? I will try and put forth arguments both for and against the functionality of this device and let you decide.
1. What makes the N97 Mini special - Its probably now well known that even though Nokia manged to sell loads of N97s (the original N97), it really didnt fare well among users. Be it the less than sufficient processing capabilities, the 128MB RAM on a high end device, or the camera lens cover which actually ended up scratching the lens instead of protecting it. There was widespread outrage among users, many of whom had expressed it publicly on the web. It goes without saying that the N97 was terrible PR for Nokia, till then considered an innovative company at the helm of introducing ultra modern technologies to smart phones. The Symbian^1 which was then touted as the next big thing didnt help matter either. It reminded most people of their old S60 v2 and v3 phones and the UI was boring to say the least. Nokia had to do something to spice things up and restore 'order', releasing innumerable patches and updates for the N97 didnt work, and so it did the next best thing, reduced the memory and the size of the phone, packed in a weaker battery (1200mAh compared to N97's 1500mAh) and termed it the new N97 Mini. However it did something positive as well, it improved the build quality of the phone and made it look classier. Or so I thought.
2. Okay, but why does it suck then - Hey wait, I didnt tell you it sucks, not yet. Anyway, lets look at the context of the mobile phone arena and then compare N97 Mini's specs. The iPhone 3GS had been released and another iPhone was on its way which was supposed to have a huge amount of RAM and improved processing speeds. Google had released Nexus One armed with 1Ghz processor and an equally powerful RAM. And there was Nokia who was content with giving customers what they thought was the best deal possible, a 434Mhz processor and 128MB RAM in an attempt to compete. Spare me a second while I enjoy a hearty laugh. It had the same dated unusable insanely unprofessional looking (everything is being compared to iOS and Android here) and unevolving Symbian^1. And the price? Quoted price on most Nokia ads in India was/is Rs. 21000 (more than $400). I was one of the few who got mesmeried by the Nokia story (mainly because I had been a satisfied Nokia user till then). I decided to buy the Nokia argument of it being a better device. A decision which would come back and haunt me every single day henceforth.
When I first got my N97 Mini, I was really happy! The white phone looked beautiful and so did the keypad. I loved typing using the QWERTY and the phone soon became my treasured possession. I then started to put the device to the test and see if I could really be 'at one' with it. Shocks after shocks after shocks followed. It was soon clear to me that something was wrong, very wrong.
The phone wasnt lasting long enough, even on normal regular use which included listening to songs, browsing, using wifi to stream music and of course making calls it was hard to make the phone last more than 8 hours. In a bid to improve battery life and performance I changed from a snazzy looking theme to a toned down almost mellow inbuilt theme for my phone. Widgets, something of a huge USP for Nokia, had to be turned off, at least the online ones or else they would consume power and diminish battery life further. I had to reduce calls, reduce internet access and wifi usage to a minimum especially when I ventured outdoors without a charging cable in my bag. Yeah I know what you might be thinking, how was I supposed to use the phone without those features, well it seems Nokia cares little for its 'valued' customers and the sole reason for this uber crap battery life was nothing other than the underpowered 1200mAh battery. And that was just the start. Symbian^1 sucks just as much today as it did when the N97 Mini came out. The UI is outstandingly boring. You would need pure talent to create a boring UI like that. Well, at least they could have copied Apple or Android! That would have resulted in a better looking OS! Anyway. Next came the hardware which was so insanely dated that I could imagine my father getting this phone on his first mararige anniversary! Nokia has a strange fascination with dated hardware, it perhaps stems from a monopolistic attitude it has developed over the years being the no 1 smartphone manufacturer. Its like the company is telling its customers "haha you moron, this is what you deserve, cry as much as you want to, I wont give you a better device." Of course Nokia didnt say this, but frankly as a customer who had bought a new N97 Mini this is what I felt. The application manager constantly keeps crashing and notifying me to close running apps when no apps are running. Multitasking is a pain thanks to the incapable processor and RAM.
And then came the ovi store. What the **** is that? Well its an app store. You mean like an Apple App Store? Yeah, kind of. Are you sh*tting me? Ovi and Apple? That is like the biggest baddest saddest and poorest joke ever! The ovi store is so starved of apps that in a bid to create proper ones, Nokia introduced an App wizard for non programmers! Yeah you heard me right. Well that did help increase the number of apps but what that made the ovi store was an absolute piece of junk. Whenever I see apps mentioned on sites on the web, I'm pretty certain that its either for the iPhone or for Android. I mean there is no proper pdf file reader for symbian platforms! Adobe reader is almost unusable and so are many others. Its a pain to read pdf documents on the N97 unless you have hundreds of hours to spare waiting for pages to load.
I will be posting more such reality checks soon. I have been CHEATED, DUPED AND MISGUIDED by the company I once was a fan of. I know I have been rude at places in this post, but hey, I have spent my money (and a huuge amount of it) on the phone and I have not been delivered what I was promised. I have the right to complain and let others know what they are signing up for when they buy a N97 Mini. Stay away from fanboys, do your research well, especially before you buy a Nokia.
Take care folks, and thank you so much for reading. I'll be back with more soon.
1. What makes the N97 Mini special - Its probably now well known that even though Nokia manged to sell loads of N97s (the original N97), it really didnt fare well among users. Be it the less than sufficient processing capabilities, the 128MB RAM on a high end device, or the camera lens cover which actually ended up scratching the lens instead of protecting it. There was widespread outrage among users, many of whom had expressed it publicly on the web. It goes without saying that the N97 was terrible PR for Nokia, till then considered an innovative company at the helm of introducing ultra modern technologies to smart phones. The Symbian^1 which was then touted as the next big thing didnt help matter either. It reminded most people of their old S60 v2 and v3 phones and the UI was boring to say the least. Nokia had to do something to spice things up and restore 'order', releasing innumerable patches and updates for the N97 didnt work, and so it did the next best thing, reduced the memory and the size of the phone, packed in a weaker battery (1200mAh compared to N97's 1500mAh) and termed it the new N97 Mini. However it did something positive as well, it improved the build quality of the phone and made it look classier. Or so I thought.
2. Okay, but why does it suck then - Hey wait, I didnt tell you it sucks, not yet. Anyway, lets look at the context of the mobile phone arena and then compare N97 Mini's specs. The iPhone 3GS had been released and another iPhone was on its way which was supposed to have a huge amount of RAM and improved processing speeds. Google had released Nexus One armed with 1Ghz processor and an equally powerful RAM. And there was Nokia who was content with giving customers what they thought was the best deal possible, a 434Mhz processor and 128MB RAM in an attempt to compete. Spare me a second while I enjoy a hearty laugh. It had the same dated unusable insanely unprofessional looking (everything is being compared to iOS and Android here) and unevolving Symbian^1. And the price? Quoted price on most Nokia ads in India was/is Rs. 21000 (more than $400). I was one of the few who got mesmeried by the Nokia story (mainly because I had been a satisfied Nokia user till then). I decided to buy the Nokia argument of it being a better device. A decision which would come back and haunt me every single day henceforth.
When I first got my N97 Mini, I was really happy! The white phone looked beautiful and so did the keypad. I loved typing using the QWERTY and the phone soon became my treasured possession. I then started to put the device to the test and see if I could really be 'at one' with it. Shocks after shocks after shocks followed. It was soon clear to me that something was wrong, very wrong.
The phone wasnt lasting long enough, even on normal regular use which included listening to songs, browsing, using wifi to stream music and of course making calls it was hard to make the phone last more than 8 hours. In a bid to improve battery life and performance I changed from a snazzy looking theme to a toned down almost mellow inbuilt theme for my phone. Widgets, something of a huge USP for Nokia, had to be turned off, at least the online ones or else they would consume power and diminish battery life further. I had to reduce calls, reduce internet access and wifi usage to a minimum especially when I ventured outdoors without a charging cable in my bag. Yeah I know what you might be thinking, how was I supposed to use the phone without those features, well it seems Nokia cares little for its 'valued' customers and the sole reason for this uber crap battery life was nothing other than the underpowered 1200mAh battery. And that was just the start. Symbian^1 sucks just as much today as it did when the N97 Mini came out. The UI is outstandingly boring. You would need pure talent to create a boring UI like that. Well, at least they could have copied Apple or Android! That would have resulted in a better looking OS! Anyway. Next came the hardware which was so insanely dated that I could imagine my father getting this phone on his first mararige anniversary! Nokia has a strange fascination with dated hardware, it perhaps stems from a monopolistic attitude it has developed over the years being the no 1 smartphone manufacturer. Its like the company is telling its customers "haha you moron, this is what you deserve, cry as much as you want to, I wont give you a better device." Of course Nokia didnt say this, but frankly as a customer who had bought a new N97 Mini this is what I felt. The application manager constantly keeps crashing and notifying me to close running apps when no apps are running. Multitasking is a pain thanks to the incapable processor and RAM.
And then came the ovi store. What the **** is that? Well its an app store. You mean like an Apple App Store? Yeah, kind of. Are you sh*tting me? Ovi and Apple? That is like the biggest baddest saddest and poorest joke ever! The ovi store is so starved of apps that in a bid to create proper ones, Nokia introduced an App wizard for non programmers! Yeah you heard me right. Well that did help increase the number of apps but what that made the ovi store was an absolute piece of junk. Whenever I see apps mentioned on sites on the web, I'm pretty certain that its either for the iPhone or for Android. I mean there is no proper pdf file reader for symbian platforms! Adobe reader is almost unusable and so are many others. Its a pain to read pdf documents on the N97 unless you have hundreds of hours to spare waiting for pages to load.
I will be posting more such reality checks soon. I have been CHEATED, DUPED AND MISGUIDED by the company I once was a fan of. I know I have been rude at places in this post, but hey, I have spent my money (and a huuge amount of it) on the phone and I have not been delivered what I was promised. I have the right to complain and let others know what they are signing up for when they buy a N97 Mini. Stay away from fanboys, do your research well, especially before you buy a Nokia.
Take care folks, and thank you so much for reading. I'll be back with more soon.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Make the N97 Mini battery last longer
Its an open secret that the N97 Mini battery sucks ass. Its terrible to say the least, completely unworthy of the 'N' series tag. A 1200mAh battery is completely insufficient to run a Symbian^1 OS. Anyway, all curses and slangs aside, here are a few ways you can make your N97 Mini battery last longer:
1. Remove all online widgets: Yes I know that sucks and that Nokia has always proudly advertised widgets one of the strong points of the newer N-series devices, but fact is given the less than standard battery quality of the N97 Mini, you'll have to live without these online widgets. In short make your phone look naked, like this:
2. Make changes to the Display settings: This might inconvenience a lot of people but this has to be done. Change your display settings to as minimalistic as it can get. Something like this is less than tolerable but will make your phone last about 6-8 hours (thats a long time for the N97 Mini actually as you'll discover later in the post).
3. Switch off all connectivity options when not in use: This applies to Bluetooth, WAP services, 3G as well as WiFi. All of these draw insane amount of power from the battery. Remember this, if you switch on the WiFi on your phone manually, you'll have to switch it off manually as well, it wont disconnect automatically. In short, remember to disconnect WiFi on your device as soon as you're done. I had unknowingly used an online music streaming client for around 2 hrs and the battery drained to level zero in 2 hrs flat.
(Just for your info, WiFi connectivity is indicated by a small symbol on the top right corner of your N97 Mini display:
WAP/3G connectivity is indicated by another small symbol on the top left corner:
So make sure you aren't leaving these in their "on" state when you're done. I wont talk about GPS here since the N97 Mini does not come with a free GPS package, no sir, not even for a month. And since GPS rates in India are almost worth a new iPhone, I havent tried it out. But I believe the same rule of switch it off when not in use applies to it as well.
Oh wait, I almost forgot, using the WiFi for a long time, well 2 hours is all it can run anyway, makes the device suffer from SERIOUS heating issues. So make sure you have ice cold water near you just in case when you switch WiFi on)
3. Dont leave any games open: I know the N97 Mini does multitasking but its useless coz of the battery that has been packed in it. The N97 Mini seems to be screaming for more power and Nokia seems to have turned a deaf ear to all its cries. Anyway, if you're into multitasking, make sure you're multitasking with simple stuff like say, a music app and a calendar. Dont try multitasking with a game and a web browser or youtube app. The you're gonna be pretty much in for a rough ride. So, if you leave any games running in the background, you can be sure that the next time you look at your phone, it will have run out of power and switched itself off.
4. Dont run constantly updating online apps for more than 5-10 mins at a time: This applies to Twitter clients like Gravity and Snaptu. If you're using these apps, dont leave them running for hours. That way, you can be pretty sure of immense power wastage. I fell asleep the other day for around an hour or so and had left gravity running, to my utter shock when I woke up, the battery was nearly dead by then.
So, in conclusion what can I say?
Well lets say the N97 Mini looks better and performs better when its switched off.
Make sure you take utmost care of the device when its on, or else....bleeeeeeeeeeeep.
1. Remove all online widgets: Yes I know that sucks and that Nokia has always proudly advertised widgets one of the strong points of the newer N-series devices, but fact is given the less than standard battery quality of the N97 Mini, you'll have to live without these online widgets. In short make your phone look naked, like this:
2. Make changes to the Display settings: This might inconvenience a lot of people but this has to be done. Change your display settings to as minimalistic as it can get. Something like this is less than tolerable but will make your phone last about 6-8 hours (thats a long time for the N97 Mini actually as you'll discover later in the post).
3. Switch off all connectivity options when not in use: This applies to Bluetooth, WAP services, 3G as well as WiFi. All of these draw insane amount of power from the battery. Remember this, if you switch on the WiFi on your phone manually, you'll have to switch it off manually as well, it wont disconnect automatically. In short, remember to disconnect WiFi on your device as soon as you're done. I had unknowingly used an online music streaming client for around 2 hrs and the battery drained to level zero in 2 hrs flat.
(Just for your info, WiFi connectivity is indicated by a small symbol on the top right corner of your N97 Mini display:
WAP/3G connectivity is indicated by another small symbol on the top left corner:
So make sure you aren't leaving these in their "on" state when you're done. I wont talk about GPS here since the N97 Mini does not come with a free GPS package, no sir, not even for a month. And since GPS rates in India are almost worth a new iPhone, I havent tried it out. But I believe the same rule of switch it off when not in use applies to it as well.
Oh wait, I almost forgot, using the WiFi for a long time, well 2 hours is all it can run anyway, makes the device suffer from SERIOUS heating issues. So make sure you have ice cold water near you just in case when you switch WiFi on)
3. Dont leave any games open: I know the N97 Mini does multitasking but its useless coz of the battery that has been packed in it. The N97 Mini seems to be screaming for more power and Nokia seems to have turned a deaf ear to all its cries. Anyway, if you're into multitasking, make sure you're multitasking with simple stuff like say, a music app and a calendar. Dont try multitasking with a game and a web browser or youtube app. The you're gonna be pretty much in for a rough ride. So, if you leave any games running in the background, you can be sure that the next time you look at your phone, it will have run out of power and switched itself off.
4. Dont run constantly updating online apps for more than 5-10 mins at a time: This applies to Twitter clients like Gravity and Snaptu. If you're using these apps, dont leave them running for hours. That way, you can be pretty sure of immense power wastage. I fell asleep the other day for around an hour or so and had left gravity running, to my utter shock when I woke up, the battery was nearly dead by then.
So, in conclusion what can I say?
Well lets say the N97 Mini looks better and performs better when its switched off.
Make sure you take utmost care of the device when its on, or else....bleeeeeeeeeeeep.
Macro Photography on N97 Mini
Surely everything about the N97 Mini cant be bad. Hence, I wanted to give a shot at perhaps the only positive thing on that phone, its camera. The phone has a 5 Megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss Lens with dual LED flash. Although the flash is less than satisfactory in case of night photography, the lens however is indeed a revelation, especially when it comes to macro shots (aka close up shots).
First up, the settings. I changed them to Close up and turned the Flash Off.
Here are a few macro images I shot with the N97 Mini (the pic following each of them, indicates detailed info about the shot and the lens used):
IMAGE 1:
IMAGE 2:
IMAGE 3:
IMAGE 4:
Tell me what you think of it.
First up, the settings. I changed them to Close up and turned the Flash Off.
Here are a few macro images I shot with the N97 Mini (the pic following each of them, indicates detailed info about the shot and the lens used):
IMAGE 1:
IMAGE 2:
IMAGE 3:
IMAGE 4:
Tell me what you think of it.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
N97 Mini Battery Life Woes
I am currently being forced to write this post as I have recently been affected by the unimaginably poor battery life of Nokia N97 Mini. Yesterday some of my friends came over and I had to put the N97 Mini for the first time to the test. The Mini has a 1200mAh battery (substantially reduced from the original N97 which had a 1500mAh one). And yes, expectedly the battery life or the extreme lack of it, is giving me serious problems. I will in detail list my points below.
1. Widgets: Nokia has somehow been fascinated by widgets and is proudly hailing it as a USP in current devices. However what is missed especially in case of the N97 Mini is that these widgets, the ones which require internet connectivity eg. facebook, email widgets etc. draw a huge amount of power from the battery.
2. WiFi - Cool technology eh? Yeah I guess and Nokia thinks so as well, only if it had been serious enough to give it a proper thought before implementing it in devices. (Read on for more details on this)
3. Screen Display Brightness - Oh well, the one time I tested the device using full brightness, it didnt even last me 6 hours! So, forget about using your device outside an air conditioned chamber (read indoors).
Okay, so here's what I tested. I enabled the facebook and email widgets and waited for it to see how long it lasted. To my utter shock and surprise, on normal use which included occasional phone calls and using offline games (oh well I do have Quake 2 installed on my N97 Mini, coz thats the only decent game available for the device. If you're getting an N97 Mini make sure you're NOT a gamer, it has NO GPU, so forget about gaming, just for the info, all recent devices including lower end Android ones and of course the iPhone have dedicated GPUs), the battery hardly lasted me 5-6 hours. Hence, if you're using the N97 Mini, dont use online widgets, or else make sure you carry the charging cables (USB or charger) with you all the time and stay close to a PC or a socket, always.
Next came the acid test. WiFi. I was using Mobbler, a highly popular LastFM client and Tune Wiki. It took me simply 2-3 hours to reduce a fully charged N97 Mini to a completely battery life famished device. Which is like saying, dont use this device to use if you're a heavy WiFi user.
And for the sake of decency I am not comparing this with recent Android and the iPhone, but you get the point.
So, not only is this device underpowered (memory and processing capability wise), its also under-powered (quite literally) as well.
I was completely unaware of this aspect of the N97 Mini till I put it to the test yesterday and today in the morning. Bottomline, I am hating it. I am looking at options to sell this device and get an Android powered one. The severe lack of processing capabilities, softwares, proper usable OS and now a less than usable battery is too much for me to bear. This is my last Nokia. I really dont care if the company comes up with a better device in the future. I am currently ruing my decision, and feeling really crap coz of having spent a substantial amount of moolah on this. May Nokia be a better company and may it produce better devices in the future, but I honestly dont give a damn.
1. Widgets: Nokia has somehow been fascinated by widgets and is proudly hailing it as a USP in current devices. However what is missed especially in case of the N97 Mini is that these widgets, the ones which require internet connectivity eg. facebook, email widgets etc. draw a huge amount of power from the battery.
2. WiFi - Cool technology eh? Yeah I guess and Nokia thinks so as well, only if it had been serious enough to give it a proper thought before implementing it in devices. (Read on for more details on this)
3. Screen Display Brightness - Oh well, the one time I tested the device using full brightness, it didnt even last me 6 hours! So, forget about using your device outside an air conditioned chamber (read indoors).
Okay, so here's what I tested. I enabled the facebook and email widgets and waited for it to see how long it lasted. To my utter shock and surprise, on normal use which included occasional phone calls and using offline games (oh well I do have Quake 2 installed on my N97 Mini, coz thats the only decent game available for the device. If you're getting an N97 Mini make sure you're NOT a gamer, it has NO GPU, so forget about gaming, just for the info, all recent devices including lower end Android ones and of course the iPhone have dedicated GPUs), the battery hardly lasted me 5-6 hours. Hence, if you're using the N97 Mini, dont use online widgets, or else make sure you carry the charging cables (USB or charger) with you all the time and stay close to a PC or a socket, always.
Next came the acid test. WiFi. I was using Mobbler, a highly popular LastFM client and Tune Wiki. It took me simply 2-3 hours to reduce a fully charged N97 Mini to a completely battery life famished device. Which is like saying, dont use this device to use if you're a heavy WiFi user.
And for the sake of decency I am not comparing this with recent Android and the iPhone, but you get the point.
So, not only is this device underpowered (memory and processing capability wise), its also under-powered (quite literally) as well.
I was completely unaware of this aspect of the N97 Mini till I put it to the test yesterday and today in the morning. Bottomline, I am hating it. I am looking at options to sell this device and get an Android powered one. The severe lack of processing capabilities, softwares, proper usable OS and now a less than usable battery is too much for me to bear. This is my last Nokia. I really dont care if the company comes up with a better device in the future. I am currently ruing my decision, and feeling really crap coz of having spent a substantial amount of moolah on this. May Nokia be a better company and may it produce better devices in the future, but I honestly dont give a damn.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Are there any Ubuntu haters today?
I was watching a video on youtube the other day of ThisWeekInLinux where the topic of discussion was Ubuntu haters.
Now even till a few years back I had my reservations about Ubuntu. It was a new distro, with a huge focus on making life easy for he average user. However, it was (and still is) being run by a South African billionaire, Mark Shuttleworth who made his fortune by providing security solutions for online transactions. I wasnt sure of his intentions and frankly I wasnt convinced if a new company with only a few employees would be able to revolutionise the Linux market by making it more user-friendly. Open SUSE had always been a very efficient OS and beating it to become the most popular distro was bound to difficult.
Fast forward to 2010. Ubuntu as of today is by far the most popular Linux distro on the planet with millions of users worldwide and gaining market share at a spectacular rate. Was this expected? I'd say no. But it only happened because the guys at Canonical (the company in charge of Ubuntu) knew what they were doing. They have in the past 2-3 years improved the usability of Ubuntu so much that now, its almost synonymous with Linux. Infact google insight predicts that soon, ubuntu will overtake linux as the more used search term! Thats quite an extraordinary achievement for a relatively new distribution.
Now there's a new group of people who think that Ubuntu's spoiling the Linux environment by making it a more n00b friendly. I really dont understand how something user friendly can be bad. Even experienced programmers I talk to tell me that after a hard day of coding, the last thing they need is to make another bash script when they get home, hence their liking for the distro.
Linux has forever been a geek's platform, and thats exactly the reason why it has almost been neglected by software companies for many years. Thanks to Ubuntu's success, Linux is making all the right noises. Ubuntu has such a huge market share with such a diverse community that its progress is the progress of Linux. Now that cant be a bad thing now can it?
Now even till a few years back I had my reservations about Ubuntu. It was a new distro, with a huge focus on making life easy for he average user. However, it was (and still is) being run by a South African billionaire, Mark Shuttleworth who made his fortune by providing security solutions for online transactions. I wasnt sure of his intentions and frankly I wasnt convinced if a new company with only a few employees would be able to revolutionise the Linux market by making it more user-friendly. Open SUSE had always been a very efficient OS and beating it to become the most popular distro was bound to difficult.
Fast forward to 2010. Ubuntu as of today is by far the most popular Linux distro on the planet with millions of users worldwide and gaining market share at a spectacular rate. Was this expected? I'd say no. But it only happened because the guys at Canonical (the company in charge of Ubuntu) knew what they were doing. They have in the past 2-3 years improved the usability of Ubuntu so much that now, its almost synonymous with Linux. Infact google insight predicts that soon, ubuntu will overtake linux as the more used search term! Thats quite an extraordinary achievement for a relatively new distribution.
Now there's a new group of people who think that Ubuntu's spoiling the Linux environment by making it a more n00b friendly. I really dont understand how something user friendly can be bad. Even experienced programmers I talk to tell me that after a hard day of coding, the last thing they need is to make another bash script when they get home, hence their liking for the distro.
Linux has forever been a geek's platform, and thats exactly the reason why it has almost been neglected by software companies for many years. Thanks to Ubuntu's success, Linux is making all the right noises. Ubuntu has such a huge market share with such a diverse community that its progress is the progress of Linux. Now that cant be a bad thing now can it?
Monday, July 5, 2010
Is Nokia really losing?
I recently got myself a brand new N97 Mini. I have forever been a Nokia fan, and wanted to try out this new device which has certain improvements over the disastrous N97. When I got hold of the N97 Mini, I was pretty happy with it, the touch sensitivity is decent inspite of it having a resistive touch screen. The build quality is really good and so is the form factor. The main advantage of this device is the presence of a QWERTY keyboard. This comes in really really handy when one is typing long posts like this one or say, an email.
I find it a pain to type on a virtual keyboard. That may also be because the N97 Mini doesnt have a true landscape keyboard and one has to use the default phone layout.
Anyway, once the amazement factor faded away, I slowly discovered the true picture of the device. The thing is, this phone uses exactly the same processor and RAM as the new X6, N97 original. This has 128MB of RAM, runs Symbian^1 and has 8GB of internal memory. Symbian unlike the iOS is built for multitasking. In fact having used Nokia for many years now, I cant think of using a phone which doesnt offer multitasking, I have sort of taken it for granted on my phones. Unfortunately however, as you might have figured out, the RAM and the processor (ARM 11 434 MHz processor) are totally insufficient for this device. This is not to say that it hampers day to day use of the device, but it definitely doesnt give you the "edge" which something like a Nexus one or an iPhone gives you. Although the blame of producing an insufficiently powered device can only be blamed on the Finnish manufacturer, Symbian^1 doesnt help things either. Although decent, Symbian^1 is not specifically suitable for touchscreen devices, although ironically it has been built for it. Vertical browsing of apps is quite difficult simply because a) it takes quite some time to "load" the menu and b) its perfectly possible that you end up opening the wrong apps while browsing through the list. I felt disappointed, even though I knew that I was using one of the "high-end" devices of Nokia.
And finally came the death knell. The iPhone 4. Armed with a magnanimous 512MB of RAM and a blazing fast 1Ghz processor, this soon became the device of the year thus far. The iOS was revamped to support multitasking, subfolders and some extra jingles. It now has a gyroscope, obviously a superb touch screen and now a retina display. Its hard to miss the irony here. When Apple is trying to outdo everyone else by revamping their phone, Nokia seems quite content to come up with refurbished (sorry but thats the most appropriate term) devices for example N97 mini, N95 (phew cant even remember how many versions of it we had!), 5800 etc. These are dated devices in today's scenario. Unfortunately Nokia simply ignores the current situation where all other manufacturers are simply coming up with better devices. And from the looks of it, the N8 wont be much of a game changer either. Its simply lacks the punch to compete with most of the flagship devices of other companies and I'm not even considering Apple.
Finally, the biggest failure of Nokia in my opinion is the failure to create a proper software market. Its obsession with Symbian, now MeeGo makes it really difficult for developers to come up with proper apps. Hence the Ovi Store even after a year of its launch is simply a complete and utter disaster. Compare that to the Android market or the Apple App Store.
Is Nokia losing? Hell yes, and fast. The departure of many noted blogs from the web including the famed SymbianGuru is proof enough of that. Unless they get their act straight, which in my opinion is going to be very very difficult, Nokia will soon become a phenomenon of the past which once had a majority market share in smartphone devices.
But lets end on a positive note, and hope this legendary company does get its act together (I alongwith millions of others are pinning my hopes on this man, Anssi Vanjoki, the new head of mobile solutions, Nokia. His recent statement can be found here on his blog: http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/07/02/the-fightback-starts-now/ )
I find it a pain to type on a virtual keyboard. That may also be because the N97 Mini doesnt have a true landscape keyboard and one has to use the default phone layout.
Anyway, once the amazement factor faded away, I slowly discovered the true picture of the device. The thing is, this phone uses exactly the same processor and RAM as the new X6, N97 original. This has 128MB of RAM, runs Symbian^1 and has 8GB of internal memory. Symbian unlike the iOS is built for multitasking. In fact having used Nokia for many years now, I cant think of using a phone which doesnt offer multitasking, I have sort of taken it for granted on my phones. Unfortunately however, as you might have figured out, the RAM and the processor (ARM 11 434 MHz processor) are totally insufficient for this device. This is not to say that it hampers day to day use of the device, but it definitely doesnt give you the "edge" which something like a Nexus one or an iPhone gives you. Although the blame of producing an insufficiently powered device can only be blamed on the Finnish manufacturer, Symbian^1 doesnt help things either. Although decent, Symbian^1 is not specifically suitable for touchscreen devices, although ironically it has been built for it. Vertical browsing of apps is quite difficult simply because a) it takes quite some time to "load" the menu and b) its perfectly possible that you end up opening the wrong apps while browsing through the list. I felt disappointed, even though I knew that I was using one of the "high-end" devices of Nokia.
And finally came the death knell. The iPhone 4. Armed with a magnanimous 512MB of RAM and a blazing fast 1Ghz processor, this soon became the device of the year thus far. The iOS was revamped to support multitasking, subfolders and some extra jingles. It now has a gyroscope, obviously a superb touch screen and now a retina display. Its hard to miss the irony here. When Apple is trying to outdo everyone else by revamping their phone, Nokia seems quite content to come up with refurbished (sorry but thats the most appropriate term) devices for example N97 mini, N95 (phew cant even remember how many versions of it we had!), 5800 etc. These are dated devices in today's scenario. Unfortunately Nokia simply ignores the current situation where all other manufacturers are simply coming up with better devices. And from the looks of it, the N8 wont be much of a game changer either. Its simply lacks the punch to compete with most of the flagship devices of other companies and I'm not even considering Apple.
Finally, the biggest failure of Nokia in my opinion is the failure to create a proper software market. Its obsession with Symbian, now MeeGo makes it really difficult for developers to come up with proper apps. Hence the Ovi Store even after a year of its launch is simply a complete and utter disaster. Compare that to the Android market or the Apple App Store.
Is Nokia losing? Hell yes, and fast. The departure of many noted blogs from the web including the famed SymbianGuru is proof enough of that. Unless they get their act straight, which in my opinion is going to be very very difficult, Nokia will soon become a phenomenon of the past which once had a majority market share in smartphone devices.
But lets end on a positive note, and hope this legendary company does get its act together (I alongwith millions of others are pinning my hopes on this man, Anssi Vanjoki, the new head of mobile solutions, Nokia. His recent statement can be found here on his blog: http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/07/02/the-fightback-starts-now/ )
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Roger Federer, end of an era?
Yesterday's match was brutally a proof of the fact that Roger Federer, arguably the most popular and successful tennis player that has ever walked the earth, might be nearing the end of his professional career. Ranked consistently as the world no. 1 for a long time, his exit from the Wimbledon quarter finals this year to a relatively low ranked player was unexpected. To be honest, I doubt if Birdych fans had expected such a result.
Some say this augurs well for tennis as it opens the door for new talents, the younger generation of ultra fit sportsmen. Roger Federer was never really in the group of power servers or power players. His amazing agility on court, his breathtaking strokeplay coupled with his graceful movement and humility won him fans all over the world. I bet the English spectators in the court were as big a fan of his as any Swiss, and were as devastated by his loss.
Most people have started asking 'the' question now. Is it the end of the Federer era? Are we ever going to see a display of top class tennis from the man?
It would be unfair if not wrong to strike off Federer from the current best players list. Even though he's all set to be ranked no. 3 in the world now, a new low for him, its still a very very good rank. Fans and non-fans alike always expect him to reach such a high standard of gameplay that it becomes noted as a failure if he does not manage to qualify for the semi finals. However none can deny that Federer's current form is definitely not his best. We all know how he can come back after losing a set or two. I'm pretty confident that this great player will pave his back to the top, where he belongs.
Some say this augurs well for tennis as it opens the door for new talents, the younger generation of ultra fit sportsmen. Roger Federer was never really in the group of power servers or power players. His amazing agility on court, his breathtaking strokeplay coupled with his graceful movement and humility won him fans all over the world. I bet the English spectators in the court were as big a fan of his as any Swiss, and were as devastated by his loss.
Most people have started asking 'the' question now. Is it the end of the Federer era? Are we ever going to see a display of top class tennis from the man?
It would be unfair if not wrong to strike off Federer from the current best players list. Even though he's all set to be ranked no. 3 in the world now, a new low for him, its still a very very good rank. Fans and non-fans alike always expect him to reach such a high standard of gameplay that it becomes noted as a failure if he does not manage to qualify for the semi finals. However none can deny that Federer's current form is definitely not his best. We all know how he can come back after losing a set or two. I'm pretty confident that this great player will pave his back to the top, where he belongs.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
My tryst with programming
Strangely enough the programming bug in me has received a stimulus, yet again. Somehow I've gotten really interested in java. Am I somehow missing programming? Not that I was an avid programmer at any given time, infact my feeble and insufficient knowledge of programming is only limited to some BASIC which I learnt years ago in high school. But even though BASIC is sort of a noob's language I loved it. I played around with it so much that after a few months of learning the language I was creating programmes which were unconventional at least syllabus wise, I was drawing pictures, creating quiz apps with elaborate certificate print outs once you qualified till the final round (lol) etc. In short I was in love with BASIC and was more or less convinced that programming would be or had to be my profession.
Unfortunately life had other plans for me. I soon became interested in something as unrelated to engineering as ice cream is to onion. Biology. A subject which till then I had considered to be a mindless mugging up regimen, suddenly captured my imagination. I was sceptical of myself quite frankly when this sudden transformation in me took place, and wished and hoped that it was a passing phase. But it was not. Soon I was convinced that I had to pursue this awesome subject and do something meaningful with my life. Medicine was my true calling. And fortunately I was insanely lucky to clear one of the toughest entrance exams of this country and got accepted in a reputed med school.
But frankly, my passion for programming never left me. I soon discovered Linux and fell in love with it. Ubuntu has been my only OS for a long time now and I would highly recommend it. But frankly whats the fun of using open source softwares if you dont 'give back'? Hence my urge to learn programming more seriously. But since I dont have the time to go through books and all, I have stuck to online tutorials. Of course, my friend Vivek (@milcom_) has helped me out immensely, I would be stranded in deep sh*t without his help. Hope I can start making simple apps real soon.
Anyway thats all there is to it. Thanks for reading. Take care folks.
Unfortunately life had other plans for me. I soon became interested in something as unrelated to engineering as ice cream is to onion. Biology. A subject which till then I had considered to be a mindless mugging up regimen, suddenly captured my imagination. I was sceptical of myself quite frankly when this sudden transformation in me took place, and wished and hoped that it was a passing phase. But it was not. Soon I was convinced that I had to pursue this awesome subject and do something meaningful with my life. Medicine was my true calling. And fortunately I was insanely lucky to clear one of the toughest entrance exams of this country and got accepted in a reputed med school.
But frankly, my passion for programming never left me. I soon discovered Linux and fell in love with it. Ubuntu has been my only OS for a long time now and I would highly recommend it. But frankly whats the fun of using open source softwares if you dont 'give back'? Hence my urge to learn programming more seriously. But since I dont have the time to go through books and all, I have stuck to online tutorials. Of course, my friend Vivek (@milcom_) has helped me out immensely, I would be stranded in deep sh*t without his help. Hope I can start making simple apps real soon.
Anyway thats all there is to it. Thanks for reading. Take care folks.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Duck Tales
I have been pretty brutal and ruthless in my iphone bashing posts. Maybe a bit too brutal I'm afraid. Recently I found a youtube video showing the functionality of the iphone gyroscope. Its something which has been sort of overshadowed by the iphone form factor and video calling features. Anyway from the looks of it, the gyroscope is pretty awesome. Non-iphone (or lets non-iphone4 users since even the iphone 3GS doesnt have the gyroscope) users, that includes myself, have so far only experienced the accelerometer which lets face it is pretty old school now. The gyroscope sort of revs things up. You can now change the orientation of the phone to any angle. That can come in very handy in case of gaming (yeah I know who plays games on a smartphone other than iphone users :P). I doubt if any other device is going to beat Apple to gyroscopic supremacy (lol) but it sure makes the other manufacturers think of innovations in future models.
Speaking of which, I'm pretty sad for Nokia. The once smartphone giant is now fast becoming a defunct phone manufacturer, completely out of sync with today's needs. Its inability to innovate has irritated many fanboys and sure enough, it has been reflected in the sharp drop in smartphone sales of Nokia. The Finnish manufacturer had proudly announced the ultra smart, uber sleek N8 in the recent past, even specs wise its faster than the iphone 3GS, but from the looks of it, its practically out of date now even before its launch thanks to the iphone 4. I wish Nokia hadnt announced their plans so early, its surely gonna be a big letdown now the N8, irrespective of what the symbian^3 interface looks and behaves like. I will be frank here, I wish any company other than Apple had come up with the gyroscope. Not because I passionately hate Apple or because of the prejudices surrounding the company but simply because I would love an open source mobile OS to lead from the front. Closed source, although it respects the right of the programmer, is severely detrimental to the development of the mobile arena. Apple contributes very little technology wise from its devices and OSes. And this needs to change, Apple wont be part of it, so the other have to.
Speaking of which, I'm pretty sad for Nokia. The once smartphone giant is now fast becoming a defunct phone manufacturer, completely out of sync with today's needs. Its inability to innovate has irritated many fanboys and sure enough, it has been reflected in the sharp drop in smartphone sales of Nokia. The Finnish manufacturer had proudly announced the ultra smart, uber sleek N8 in the recent past, even specs wise its faster than the iphone 3GS, but from the looks of it, its practically out of date now even before its launch thanks to the iphone 4. I wish Nokia hadnt announced their plans so early, its surely gonna be a big letdown now the N8, irrespective of what the symbian^3 interface looks and behaves like. I will be frank here, I wish any company other than Apple had come up with the gyroscope. Not because I passionately hate Apple or because of the prejudices surrounding the company but simply because I would love an open source mobile OS to lead from the front. Closed source, although it respects the right of the programmer, is severely detrimental to the development of the mobile arena. Apple contributes very little technology wise from its devices and OSes. And this needs to change, Apple wont be part of it, so the other have to.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Finally blogging again
Its been a hellova long time since I posted anything on my blog. Bad me!
Thing is, like it or not, microblogging is far more interesting or lets say easier than 'macroblogging' (thats what wordpress blogs are called now I guess). Twitter, stupid as it might seem, is indeed a powerful medium of communication (yeah as if you're hearing that for the first time! :P) Anyway, to cut the long story short, I was too preoccupied with other stuff including twitter, hence the lack of blog posts.
In the meantime though, the world has changed. Really? Hell yeah! The iphone 4 is out now, and its changed everything, apparently. Steve Jobs was in a jovial mood that day as he launched his new pet 'i' device. It now has video calling and Jobs made it sound so awesome that it almost seemed as if he'd invented the technology. (Anyway I can video call on my N97 mini just for the info. And if you have one of these symbian devices, use a software called Fring to connect to and make video calls via wifi or 3G. If you're on the iphone 4 however make sure you ask all fellow wifi users to switch off their devices so that you can 'video call'. Not sure if they'd be elated to make that sacrifice for you, but hey you can always say that Steve Jobs said so, maybe then they'll listen to you)
Enough of Jobs bashing. Was watching a really nice movie the other day about the Israel Palestine conflict, Salt of this sea. Its a really shocking movie and I'd highly recommend watching it. I think the Israel Palestine issue has been kept alive for long time and enough lives have been lost/taken. Its high time that an amicable solution acceptable to all parties was reached.
Other than that I've been busy attending boring lectures in college (okay some interesting ones as well), visiting (or touring rather, still not qualified enough to handle/help others) rural health centres and learning a lot about the healthcare system of this country. Tell you what, its a pity that when loads and loads of schemes are being devised by the government, age old superstitions and prejudices still rule the roost, at least in the rural areas. Sad that.
(And now I cant find the zemanta toolbox in the wordpress page. Great, so that means adding tags from my collection of whims and fancies. Great.)
Anyway, thanks for reading. Stay safe, keep smiling (wait that was like sooo gay!) and have fun. Till next time, adios.
Thing is, like it or not, microblogging is far more interesting or lets say easier than 'macroblogging' (thats what wordpress blogs are called now I guess). Twitter, stupid as it might seem, is indeed a powerful medium of communication (yeah as if you're hearing that for the first time! :P) Anyway, to cut the long story short, I was too preoccupied with other stuff including twitter, hence the lack of blog posts.
In the meantime though, the world has changed. Really? Hell yeah! The iphone 4 is out now, and its changed everything, apparently. Steve Jobs was in a jovial mood that day as he launched his new pet 'i' device. It now has video calling and Jobs made it sound so awesome that it almost seemed as if he'd invented the technology. (Anyway I can video call on my N97 mini just for the info. And if you have one of these symbian devices, use a software called Fring to connect to and make video calls via wifi or 3G. If you're on the iphone 4 however make sure you ask all fellow wifi users to switch off their devices so that you can 'video call'. Not sure if they'd be elated to make that sacrifice for you, but hey you can always say that Steve Jobs said so, maybe then they'll listen to you)
Enough of Jobs bashing. Was watching a really nice movie the other day about the Israel Palestine conflict, Salt of this sea. Its a really shocking movie and I'd highly recommend watching it. I think the Israel Palestine issue has been kept alive for long time and enough lives have been lost/taken. Its high time that an amicable solution acceptable to all parties was reached.
Other than that I've been busy attending boring lectures in college (okay some interesting ones as well), visiting (or touring rather, still not qualified enough to handle/help others) rural health centres and learning a lot about the healthcare system of this country. Tell you what, its a pity that when loads and loads of schemes are being devised by the government, age old superstitions and prejudices still rule the roost, at least in the rural areas. Sad that.
(And now I cant find the zemanta toolbox in the wordpress page. Great, so that means adding tags from my collection of whims and fancies. Great.)
Anyway, thanks for reading. Stay safe, keep smiling (wait that was like sooo gay!) and have fun. Till next time, adios.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Khap Panchayat
When was the first time I heard the term? A few weeks back on NDTV. It was a show hosted by Barkha Dutt. Maybe it was 'We The People'.
What was my first reaction? Khak panchayat! (?)
Anyway, I guess you must have heard reports about this Khap Panchayat in various news channels recently. These pseudo unrecognised judicial system headed by (in most cases) illiterate folks, have taken upon themselves the task of cleasing the nation of all ills. Which in other words mean, that they dont give a rats arse about the Indian judicial system and are basically trying to create a law of their own. Result? Innocent people are suffering in the hands of these morons who claim to be the know-it-all. And the worst part? The dare to come on national television and defend their stance of rendering speedy justice (whether its at all 'justice' is something I'm in serious doubt).
So why do people in villages (where these pseudo systems of justice thrive) need such panchayats? Well apparently, they think the country's judicial system is a #fail and that they can render a better verdict than the Indian courts. Dangerous waters? Horrendous waters me say. These stupid organisations are so barbarically barbaric (eww what was that?) that one would shudder at the kind of 'justice' they have rendered so far. (Read more: http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/fear-of-honour-killing-haunts-this-bride-and-groom-25387.php )
Conclusion? Well the Talibans may not be present in India but hell we have our own home grown indigenous group of Talibans! And whats more shocking is that Congress MP Navin Jindal has come out openly in support of these panchayats. (Read more: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/69354/regressive-move.html )This is where I shout WTF!!!
What was my first reaction? Khak panchayat! (?)
Anyway, I guess you must have heard reports about this Khap Panchayat in various news channels recently. These pseudo unrecognised judicial system headed by (in most cases) illiterate folks, have taken upon themselves the task of cleasing the nation of all ills. Which in other words mean, that they dont give a rats arse about the Indian judicial system and are basically trying to create a law of their own. Result? Innocent people are suffering in the hands of these morons who claim to be the know-it-all. And the worst part? The dare to come on national television and defend their stance of rendering speedy justice (whether its at all 'justice' is something I'm in serious doubt).
So why do people in villages (where these pseudo systems of justice thrive) need such panchayats? Well apparently, they think the country's judicial system is a #fail and that they can render a better verdict than the Indian courts. Dangerous waters? Horrendous waters me say. These stupid organisations are so barbarically barbaric (eww what was that?) that one would shudder at the kind of 'justice' they have rendered so far. (Read more: http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/fear-of-honour-killing-haunts-this-bride-and-groom-25387.php )
Conclusion? Well the Talibans may not be present in India but hell we have our own home grown indigenous group of Talibans! And whats more shocking is that Congress MP Navin Jindal has come out openly in support of these panchayats. (Read more: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/69354/regressive-move.html )This is where I shout WTF!!!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
The IPL cleanup
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The revelations are so stunning, it sort of changes the landscape of the IPL entirely. For example, Shilpa Shetty as it turns out is merely the 'face' of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) team. She's neither the owner nor a stakeholder in the team, something she has been claiming all along. The IPL committee now is giving the excuse that proper papers havent been sorted regarding the stakeholders of RR. What the heck? You have a huge tournament like the IPL and you dont have papers in order? Is this even believable? Turns out that the real stakeholder is the RR team is Lalit Modi's brother-in-law (whatever his name is).
And of course, the television rights scandal, which is so complex that it took me a minute to understand what reports in the newspapers meant. BCCI now is trying to paint a picture where Lalit Modi is the lead offender and BCCI is the spectator. However are things really that simple? What was the BCCI doing when Lalit Modi so categorically made dodgy deals and biased auctions? To wash their hands now of the scam is really crappy clarification. Instead of Lalit Modi, its the BCCI which should come clear on the matter.
And finally, how can a tournament survive when its sole purpose is profit? There's no sense of pride (most of the domestic players are not in their home teams), no sense of humility and no sense of honour anywhere in the IPL. Its all about money, money and money. In the process of making money if the team wins, well then it can only mean one thing, more money, more money and more money!
Spare us this brazen display of might and financial prowess. We the fans of the great game deserve better. Much better.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Shashi Tharoor - bad
- Image by MEDEF via Flickr
MPs with criminal records - good.
MPs with corruption charges - good.
Yee! Lets celebrate the Indian democracy.
So, a person with a credible past (not consisting of murder charges, corruption allegations, riot charges) had the bloody guts to enter the "system" which celebrates people who take part in the bracketed terms, and what was he met with? Allegations. Baseless charges. Mockery. And last but not the least, pure and utter quintessential trademark Indian nonsense, mastered by our hallowed "experienced" politicians.
If anyone wants to know the "revised" criteria to be popular in politics in this country, its as follows:
1. DON'T be tech-savvy.
2. DON'T speak out about what you think.
3. DON'T be open and accessible to the public.
4. DON'T speak English in a way which doesnt include Indian words.
5. DON'T have a girlfriend if you are over 50!
6. Last but not the least, DON'T "mentor" anyone.
Be a dumbass with a Nokia 3210, always have a phone diary in your pocket in case you need to call someone (coz one cant check the address book on the phone, that would be counted as tech savvy), be QUIET for heaven's sake (aka SHUT THE F*CK UP!) and dont talk to ANYONE among the public about anything that concerns the...erm...public(?), speak English the Indian way replete with erm "chakki pissing" (pissing in this case is a Hindi word) type things (or even better dont speak English!), DON'T for heaven's sake have a girlfriend when you are in your 50s (its against the Indian kulture!), get married like a good mama's boy in your early 20s and be screwed (erm...that wasnt a slang) for the rest of your life and stick to your wife (coz thats the Indian kulture).
Right, listed above is the recipe for the perfect Indian politician. Follow the above mentioned things and thou shalt be a successful politician in India.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Things beyond my comprehension
Why am I so angry? The official sites of the Government of India regarding new PAN applications are so complicated, especially when it comes to that hallowed AO Code explanation, that its virtually impossible for a non Chartered Accountant to fill up those columns. I honestly cannot fathom the thought process behind this. If the govt wants us citizens to file our income tax returns, why cant it make the process of filing it a bit simpler?
I understand that this is a period of recession and that CAs are as much in need of moolah as us non-CA folks. But harassing new potential tax payers by complicating the process in a bid to make them pay up for the CA's fee is an absolutely unrealistic idea (thats the only possible reason they could have made the application procedure so complicated).
The rest of the form is so simple, a nursery student can fill it up. However the AO code is where things mess up. And from the looks of it, perhaps this has been done intentionally.
I want to frakin get a PAN, let me get it. NO, says the govt. I'll screw up your life and make you look like a moron and force you pay that CA. Fine so be it. In the land of whatever, you have to be a whatever.
I understand that this is a period of recession and that CAs are as much in need of moolah as us non-CA folks. But harassing new potential tax payers by complicating the process in a bid to make them pay up for the CA's fee is an absolutely unrealistic idea (thats the only possible reason they could have made the application procedure so complicated).
The rest of the form is so simple, a nursery student can fill it up. However the AO code is where things mess up. And from the looks of it, perhaps this has been done intentionally.
I want to frakin get a PAN, let me get it. NO, says the govt. I'll screw up your life and make you look like a moron and force you pay that CA. Fine so be it. In the land of whatever, you have to be a whatever.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Does closed source somehow contribute to open source?
- Image via Wikipedia
Closed source OSes like Windows and Mac are the epitome and prototype of functionality. Eg. Windows supports practically an innumerable amount of hardware across the planet and still manages to mesmerise the user with its intuitive and friendly interface. Mac on the other hand is an icon of style and glamour. The hardware is exquisitely designed and the same goes for OSX. Linux OSes however arent as user friendly as Windows. Although a lot has changed and Ubuntu has created a benchmark for usability as far as Linux OSes are concerned, but it still has a long way to go.
Now frankly, these closed source OSes set the benchmark for usability and open source ones (harsh and unkind as it might sound) kind of follow those 'set paths'. I therefore believe that its very important that closed source apps and OSes coexist with open source ones.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Travel
Seriously why cant I just post on my blog without adding a title? You want a title? Okay here a crappy one - "Travel".
I have been bitten by the travel bug! (Dont ask me where) I have somehow developed an acute sense of liking (WTF! 'acute sense of liking'? Medicine does destroy your vocabulary) for travel shows. Be it those Discovery channel-esque ones or the classier BBC ones. The best part of these travel shows is that you get to 'see' and 'experience' various cultures of the world without having to leave your favourite couch. And of course without spending a penny as well (if you dont consider the money you pay your 'cable-wallah', sorry there's no word in the English dictionary to describe a cable-wallah in eloquent terms).
Globe Trekker is one show I like. Back when I was a kid (as if I am all grown up now :P), this programme (yeah, 'programme' and not 'program', I love Queen's English, albeit I hate the Queen) was called 'Lonely Planet'. Why? Hell, it was named after its parent publishing company. Why was the company called Lonely Planet? I dont know, maybe the one who was given the responsibility of 'coining' the name was another med student. Globe Trekker shows are shown in Discovery Travel and Living (a channel which dedicates itself to showing you all the pleasures of life you cannot experience or lets say cannot 'afford' to experience. How else would you describe shows like 'Europe Richest...", etc. etc. unless of course you happen to be Vijay Mallya or his son, in which case you would watch NDTV Good Times rather than this).
You still reading this?
Even Harsha Bhogle has been trying his hand at hosting travel shows. Lets face it, after the downfall of ESPN-Star Sports (in terms of Indian cricket coverage) he really didnt have a job! Oh well, he did actually. Picking cricketers for Mumbai Indians or something aka serving as Tina Ambani's PA. (If you're from the UK, you might not understand what I'm talking about but you will understand what I wrote, but if you're from the US, you wont even understand what I wrote coz its Queen's English! :P Sorry, bad joke)
There a really cool programme on NDTV Good Times, "Highway on my Plate". Hosted by two funny and charismatic anchors Rocky and Mayur, its a real treat.
Now magazines. I heard the other day that Conde Nast Traveller magazine (the Indian edition) is now available in india. And expectedly it costs a bomb! But fortunately there is a cheaper alternative, Outlook Traveller, the annual subscription cost in India of that is around 600 bucks, which is kinda okay. Their website has loads of articles as well, so even if you dont subscribe to their magazine, you can actually read most of their articles online (for free of course).
All good things come to an end, but all bad things must come to an end. Same goes for this terrible post. If you have read this till the very last line, I owe you a treat.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A naughty little Twitter trick
In the absence of anything sane going on in my head, I've been doing some insane stuff. Result? I've discovered quite a few naughty things! *evil laugh*
How many times have you found that the person you followed back on Twitter suddenly decided to unfollow you. (Yeah, thats what causes the drop in the followers count) Well, fear no more. www.friendorfollow.com is here. Enter your username (no password required, I hope that will appease those privacy freaks, err that includes me as well I guess) and they tell you who are the naughty people who have decided to unfollow you. Trust me, even if you think this is useless stuff, in time you will find this an indispensable tool!
Let me know who those naughty folks are, if I'm following any one of them, I'd be more than happy to do the honours.
Monday, March 15, 2010
IPL - Indian Paisa League
That the Indian Premier League (IPL) was all about money and money and more money was never a secret. But that it put money above anything, absolutely anything, was quite a shock.
I'm a Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) supporter, and the events which have unfolded in the past few days, on this third season of the IPL, does make me a sad panda. As you might know, the Kolkata Knight Riders is 'owned' by Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla's Red Chillies Entertainment. And trust me, these people do their bit to add that spice to the game. But of late, this tournament has taken a weird turn, at least I can say so when it comes to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
There's now, to my utter astonishment, an official fan club for the KKR. And for around 500 bucks, you can 'buy' the KKR the much needed fan following. Its almost as if the people who refuse to spend their hard earned money to get a silly hamper (with 'goodies' I might add), which includes a T-Shirt (which will be rendered redundant and useless once KKR decide to change their jersey design, again), membership card, 'exclusive' access to....well, thats not exactly specified, and oh yeah here's the interesting bit, ticket discounts! (Erm, maybe they'll give you a hundred bucks off on their 32 grand ticket)
Wait! I aint done yet.
Although the first two seasons of the IPL had official sponsors and advertisers and stuff, cricket was always the main draw. Now it looks like I'll have to get accustomed to the new lingo, for a 'DLF Maximum' is the new term for a six. And each good bit of play gets tagged as the 'Citi moment of success'. And of course the entire tournament is called the DLF IPL.
Nowadays people, mostly women throng to the stadiums not to watch cricket (honestly, since when did women have a passion for the game? Of course with a few exceptions), but to catch a glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Katrina Kaif, Priety Zinta, etc etc. Never mind if the home team is losing, never mind if the game is boring, never mind if the team management is doing an absolutely nonsensical job, never mind if the integrity of the team isnt in shape, you still get to catch a glimpse of the Bollywood celebs, right? Well, when people start paying 32,000 rupees to sit next to Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif, you do start questioning if cricket is still the main draw.
And yesterday was the worst day in the history of the IPL. Shah Rukh Khan had apparently refused to 'attend' the IPL match at the Eden Gardens, unless his guests were allowed to sit in a temporary structure suited for 'best viewing'. Never mind if the state government departments havent given the organisers the permission to build the structure in the first place, after all its all about appeasing the celeb crush/fever of some freaks who happen to shell out nothing less than (okay its getting repetitive) 32 freaking thousand rupees! But honestly, if someone is paying that amount of money, the structure built for them, should be all the more well built. So, Shah Rukh Khan refuses to watch a match because, hold your breath, he is not being allowed to sit on his illegal structure at the stadium! Hence, the conclusion. KKR management (who decide the price of the tickets et al) has absolutely nothing in mind but money, money and more money! And the KKR is making an issue out of it, by (almost) making it a 'look its Kolkata's image which is getting damaged' kind of a thing. And yesterday Juhi Chawla gave the killer punch (at least she tried to). She decided to meet Mamata Bannerjee and supposedly offered her tickets to the match to be held today (you guess the price of the tickets which were on offer!). Fortunately, she refused. Or else she would have generated yet another controversy by sitting in the 'illegal' block of the stadium. And of course, that would be perfect for KKR, they could then have Mamata on their side and the Mamata vs State government agenda would take centre stage and people would forget about the 'illegal' construction. Smart move, SRK camp. But not smart enough.
For heaven's sake, these people, SRK, Juhi, and everyone else related to the IPL are only hell-bent on making money and nothing else. They want the team to win because that would earn them more moolah from the advertisers. Not becasue they want to help the youngsters or anything! I never was an ardent fan of SRK (although I do like some movies of his), I always thought of him as one lucky fellow, with mediocre acting talent, hogging all the attention only because he happens to do 'formula movies', song and dance, dancing around the trees, and other stereotyped films, (now) mostly for the NRI audiences. And guess what, I dont think this naked display of 'I-want-money-and-money-only' attitude from him has made him a greater/better (or put anything you want here) human being at least in my eyes.
Oh well, gone are the days when cricket used to be a game of gentlemen. It looks like, cricket now is a game 'for' gentlemen.
I'm a Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) supporter, and the events which have unfolded in the past few days, on this third season of the IPL, does make me a sad panda. As you might know, the Kolkata Knight Riders is 'owned' by Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla's Red Chillies Entertainment. And trust me, these people do their bit to add that spice to the game. But of late, this tournament has taken a weird turn, at least I can say so when it comes to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
There's now, to my utter astonishment, an official fan club for the KKR. And for around 500 bucks, you can 'buy' the KKR the much needed fan following. Its almost as if the people who refuse to spend their hard earned money to get a silly hamper (with 'goodies' I might add), which includes a T-Shirt (which will be rendered redundant and useless once KKR decide to change their jersey design, again), membership card, 'exclusive' access to....well, thats not exactly specified, and oh yeah here's the interesting bit, ticket discounts! (Erm, maybe they'll give you a hundred bucks off on their 32 grand ticket)
Wait! I aint done yet.
Although the first two seasons of the IPL had official sponsors and advertisers and stuff, cricket was always the main draw. Now it looks like I'll have to get accustomed to the new lingo, for a 'DLF Maximum' is the new term for a six. And each good bit of play gets tagged as the 'Citi moment of success'. And of course the entire tournament is called the DLF IPL.
Nowadays people, mostly women throng to the stadiums not to watch cricket (honestly, since when did women have a passion for the game? Of course with a few exceptions), but to catch a glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Katrina Kaif, Priety Zinta, etc etc. Never mind if the home team is losing, never mind if the game is boring, never mind if the team management is doing an absolutely nonsensical job, never mind if the integrity of the team isnt in shape, you still get to catch a glimpse of the Bollywood celebs, right? Well, when people start paying 32,000 rupees to sit next to Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif, you do start questioning if cricket is still the main draw.
And yesterday was the worst day in the history of the IPL. Shah Rukh Khan had apparently refused to 'attend' the IPL match at the Eden Gardens, unless his guests were allowed to sit in a temporary structure suited for 'best viewing'. Never mind if the state government departments havent given the organisers the permission to build the structure in the first place, after all its all about appeasing the celeb crush/fever of some freaks who happen to shell out nothing less than (okay its getting repetitive) 32 freaking thousand rupees! But honestly, if someone is paying that amount of money, the structure built for them, should be all the more well built. So, Shah Rukh Khan refuses to watch a match because, hold your breath, he is not being allowed to sit on his illegal structure at the stadium! Hence, the conclusion. KKR management (who decide the price of the tickets et al) has absolutely nothing in mind but money, money and more money! And the KKR is making an issue out of it, by (almost) making it a 'look its Kolkata's image which is getting damaged' kind of a thing. And yesterday Juhi Chawla gave the killer punch (at least she tried to). She decided to meet Mamata Bannerjee and supposedly offered her tickets to the match to be held today (you guess the price of the tickets which were on offer!). Fortunately, she refused. Or else she would have generated yet another controversy by sitting in the 'illegal' block of the stadium. And of course, that would be perfect for KKR, they could then have Mamata on their side and the Mamata vs State government agenda would take centre stage and people would forget about the 'illegal' construction. Smart move, SRK camp. But not smart enough.
For heaven's sake, these people, SRK, Juhi, and everyone else related to the IPL are only hell-bent on making money and nothing else. They want the team to win because that would earn them more moolah from the advertisers. Not becasue they want to help the youngsters or anything! I never was an ardent fan of SRK (although I do like some movies of his), I always thought of him as one lucky fellow, with mediocre acting talent, hogging all the attention only because he happens to do 'formula movies', song and dance, dancing around the trees, and other stereotyped films, (now) mostly for the NRI audiences. And guess what, I dont think this naked display of 'I-want-money-and-money-only' attitude from him has made him a greater/better (or put anything you want here) human being at least in my eyes.
Oh well, gone are the days when cricket used to be a game of gentlemen. It looks like, cricket now is a game 'for' gentlemen.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Where is that charm of cricket commentary?
- Image via Wikipedia
Part of the blame goes to the herculean schedule of cricket. Every year we have more than a hundred one day matches, and even more T20 ones. Even test cricket, which is supposedly dying, isnt really that scarce in a calendar year. Overexposure of the game such as these, has always been blamed for the drop in popularity of the game.
However I think there's something else which is responsible for, what I'd call, loss of the charm of the gentleman's game. Its commentary.
Commentary is an integral part of the viewing experience. A good commentator can make a perfectly boring match tolerable. (Although the reverse is necessarily not true, as you now have the power to simply press the mute button on the remote.) Remember those days when people switched on their tele sets in the middle of the night to catch India's West Indies or Australian or South African tours? I distinctly remember those nights. I used to set my alarm at 4-4:30 in the morning to the extreme agony of mum and dad. The moment the alarm clock (yea, back in those days I didnt have a mobile phone of my own) sounded the arrival of the hour, I was awake, and with a steaming hot cup of coffee in my hand I used to tune in to ESPN/Star Sports. The oh so awesome voices of Harsha Bhogle, Sunny Gavaskar, Richie Benaud, Ian Bishop, Michael Holding and last but not the least Geoffrey Boycott boomed from the television set. It didnt matter which team was batting or fielding, it didnt matter what ground it was, hell it didnt even matter what form of the game it was! Those voices made cricket seem well and truly the gentleman's game.
Sigh! Gone are those days. I saw Harsha Bhogle on a programme on CNN IBN today, and frankly, when I heard him speak, all these memories started pouring in. I never realised how much I had missed that voice until I heard him speak.
I wish I could go back in time to that wonderful era. But again, maybe thats why memory is such a sweet thing.
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