Blogging in the New Year

Hello all !! The last time you would have visited this page would have been to download illegally some material for your G.R.E preparations. If you were not one of those in my peer group who went through the second half of last year doing so, I'm sure you spent your time well. Since I was not wise enough, I had to divert my efforts elsewhere and could not devote time to my page. Six months later, I'm back, typing away , without knowing if anyone actually is going to read this :).

Happy New Year ! Hope you had an eventful new year's eve. With so many unknowns in my own life, this year will hopefully show me a way forward. Apart from my own life, I'm sure everyone is waiting for affordable 3G and faster broadband (guess people wait for both every year in India).

If you are a technology enthusiast I suggest you keep your ears open to announcements from CES 2011 at Las Vegas. A host of tablets and dual core mobile processors are on the cards. The time has come when mobile processors are as powerful as netbooks. What's the point in having a netbook when your mobile can do everything with the same ease.

So here is wishing everyone a wonderful new year ahead!

P.S If anyone you know or you are going to buy a new phone, please don't rush off and get a Nokia, please look at HTC, Sony or Samsung android handsets.

G.R.E Prep Folder

http://rapidshare.com/files/402054268/G.R.E.rar.html

Contents:

1. Vocaboly 2.1
2. GRE Big Book
3. Kaplan CD ROM
4. Kaplan Verbal E Book
5. Kaplan Quantitative

iPhone 4 Runs into Trouble on Day One

                     iPhone unveiling and antennae feature video - Youtube

Apple has released official advice for iPhone 4 owners to overcome the problem of the device losing signal when held by the lower left corner.Steve Jobs responded to a query about the problem from one owner by saying: "Just avoid holding it in that way."The official advice is to "avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band".Alternatively, said Apple, customers could buy a case to shield the antenna.The iPhone 4 went on sale on 24 June, with hundreds of people queuing outside Apple's flagship store in central London for the launch.Many new owners reported that signal strength dropped when the phone was held.In a statement, Apple said: "Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas."Steve Jobs issued his response in a message responding to an e-mail from the Ars Technica news site. Mr Jobs wrote that "All phones have sensitive areas".The problem is thought to be particularly acute for left-handed owners who naturally touch the phone in the sensitive area.The casing of Apple's latest phone is made of stainless steel, which also serves as its antenna.Apple sells a rubber "bumper" that shields the sensitive area as do many other firms.Richard Warner, one of the first to buy an iPhone 4, contacted BBC News, saying that he thought the phone was "useless in its current state"."Apple have created a phone that has an antenna on the bottom left-hand side of the phone.""This means that when you hold it in your left hand, the signal bars slowly fade until there is no signal," he wrote. 'Complaints' A number of videos have been posted on video sharing site YouTube complaining about the reception issue.One video had an American user running a speed test, with hands on and hands free.In it, the user 'awington' says that, while holding the phone "it won't even run the test when I am holding the phone... once I let go, it makes a connection and runs the test."Hold it a second time, and the upload test will not start."Social networking site Twitter was full of chatter, with numerous tweets on the reception problems.The issue might stem from the way the integrated antenna is constructed. One section provides mobile reception, while another is for wi-fi.Some users have speculated that touching the bottom of the phone bridges this gap, affecting signal strength.When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone 4 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, he described the integrated antenna as "really cool engineering".

 When Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone 4 would solve the signal strength problem by making the outer metal body the antennae for GSM and WiFi signals, he was met with cheers. That same tech is now the cause of embarrassment for Apple on the day of launch. Now if Apple stopped counting its money and spent time testing their product, this would not happen , would it ? 

Courtesy - An Indian Shopper's Dream

"Hello" , "How do you do ?" Strange is'nt it ?? Why is this guy at the store counter greeting me all of a sudden?- If this thought just ran through your mind, I guess you got what i am trying to say. Courtesy is something we have grown up knowing the meaning but not properly recieved. In how many trips to a nearby shop,have you been greeted by a "Hello" ( i am asking for too much here.. i meant .. "vanakkam.. vaanga") by your shop keeper or a "Thank you" when you leave. Even though you get a mechanical version of "hello" and "thank you" from the bill desk at many retail chains, they are more like trained chimps acting out sign language rather than heartfelt ones. I am not saying that its obligatory on the part of the salesperson to be polite,in his point of view,all he needs to do is to say those words because he has been directed to do so in his training. But what does it take to put a smile on his face, a proper greeting, to make you the customer,feel good about shopping with him, that you feel respected. Sadly that does'nt happen. I dont see it happening in the near future either.
    What is to blame? is it the education from our kindergarten which said that we should all have good manners.. mmm.. yes.. good manners .. but it cant see to that we practise them. Maybe its us .. we adults have come to a point where we see such things as trivial matters and dont care about them. Just think, if you are given them, not a big thing, but a small moment where you just need to say "Thank you" and you are left with you and the other person with a smile on the face .
    What could we do? Maybe a one sided expression of courtesy from the part of the customer will ring some bells in the right places. I mean a "Thank you" to the guy who opens the door for you ar supermarkets , and another for the person who helps you in finding things you need, to the person who prepared your bill. Even if you dont get anything in return, you can be rest assured, you've fulfilled your side of the bargain.

    Thank you for reading :)

Express Avenues - The next big thing in Chennai

Express Avenues is the new mall nearing its completion at Royapettah ( Near Sathyam Cinemas). Man !! This thing is huge. This collosus extends from one end to another with nothing but retail heaven. The complex has not opened fully though, only a few stores including Lifestyle have already started operating. Its an exiting prospect for shoppers just owing to the fact that all possible brands are opening stores here. Yes ! every brand possible ( leave out the Paris stuff, designer I mean ).

The place is very big and you can compare it to Spencers in terms of size, but where this trumps Spencers is in terms of intelligent planning and design of the floors. Instead of cramped corridors where you might get mugged, you have long stretches of free corridors interrupted by a central atrium which is spacious and designed to handle the crowds.
Once this place is fully open, it will surely be the next retail hub competing with Spencers in terms of footfall.

Snapshots from the United Kingdom

Hey people, its me again posting after a long gap marked with a semester i would rather forget and a trip to the UK. Wonderful place for tourism, and if you are a avid shopper, there are places where you can go mad.
I wanted to share some pictures of the places and some things that caught my eye.Do not worry, none of the pictures have me in the frame ( Now who is interested in that ?? bah !! )

First stop : Stonehenge. Some say that the earliest stones at this place date back to 4000 to 5000 BC. A 150 odd miles drive from where i stayed. Some 2 hour drive when you have roads like this ( Driving nirvana !! )

The Emirates Stadium in North London. The Stadium was majestic but would have been better if placed somewhere else. I did not find the locale rather uplifting to the senses.

A stunning view while driving through Scotland. The scenery is consistently breathtaking throughout the journey.

The only Indian city mentioned at the Greenwich Meridian line is Bombay. I always thought Delhi was more important because its the capital. Maybe the brits thought otherwise..

And look ! guess who stopped by to pose for a photo :) !!  Madam Tussauds is loads of fun. !!

Now, this is the funny part. The picture above is a pay booth at a public toilet in central London. 50 pence is the fee. Hmm.. lets see... 35 Rs to pee ??!! . Now wtf dude.. i can go by the road for free from where i come from !! LOL.

And finally a really cool tissue to end with :)

Wii @ Blur

Blur at Sathyam Cinemas has now become on of the most popular gaming destinations featuring the latest games on the current generation of gaming consoles. If you are a gamer and you haven't been here, mostly you're not. This place has it all, PC, Xbox, Playstation 3,Wii and even good old coin operated arcade machines each having a dedicated floor.

The Wii is very much different because you dont play with a normal controller where you mash up buttons. You get to play games with your actions i.e. its Motion controlled. Common games are tennis,bowling,baseball,golf and even boxing. Its really fun to play it with a group of friends because 4 players can take part at once ( except for boxing) . The place is very large and spacious and you can spend hours together playing the Wii.

Lets come to the main reason why i posted this entry. I know almost everyone reading this ( about 5 or 6 people who actually visit my blog) know about the Wii and Blur. If you have seen the Wii up close, it does'nt have a disc tray. It just have a slot to push the disc into. 

And thanks to the intelligent customers who play at Blur, look at the sign posted by the management above the console (LOL) 

The Big Bang Theory - A TV show am currently crazy about !!

The Big Bang Theory is an american sitcom which has had me in splits lately. The show is about a group of four nerds and how things change when a beautiful girl moves into the apartment across the hall. The lead characters, Sheldon(Jim Parsons) is the main source of humor with his extreme intelligence and compulsive behavior.He works at CalTech as a theoretical physicist working on string theory. Leonard(Johnny Galecki) is Sheldon's roommate and has to put up with his behavior. Penny (Kaley Cuoco) is the girl who moves in. She works as a waitress and aspires to be an actress and is the only normal person on the show. Howard (Simon Helberg) is a Jew who lives with his mother and his constant attempts to fulfill his romantic aspirations are seriously funny. Rajesh (Kunal Nayyar) is a Indian who cant speak to women. Both Howard and Rajesh are friends of Sheldon and Leonard. No one really likes Sheldon owing to his attitude but put up with him.


The Show makes many references to Sci-Fi like Star Trek and Star wars and most of the humor is linked to the same theme. The scenes in the show commonly take place in the apartment or at the university cafeteria. The show is currently in its third season and continues to gather very high ratings. Despite its title, you don't need to be a genius or be into science to like this show. Each episode runs for 20 mins and is a laugh riot (especially season 3) .


If you dont watch this show, you should definitely give it a try. You will love it !!

Miracle Energy Source !!!

You must have heard about the Bloom Box. If you have'nt then this video shows an in-depth look at how the Bloom Box works. When this is released for public purchase, its going to truly revolutionize the energy industry. The small box which you can hold in your hand could power FOUR Indian homes (or) ONE American home.
This looks very promising and is an exiting prospect for everyone trying to go green.

Guys, after watching this, still you want to present a paper about creating green energy, guess this guy K.R.Shridar has beaten everyone in the race to create efficient clean energy.

The State of the Internet

This is an awesome video i stumbled upon on YouTube. It should give you a very good overview about the state of the Internet as of 2009. It basically deals with stats about social networking sites and YouTube and their traffic volumes. Overall a fun video to leave you dumbfounded with mind boggling numbers :)