Year 2011 in Lego Pics

Take a look a pictures lego pics compiled to show year 2011 events

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol review

I wanted to forget the bad experience of watching MI:3, memories of the rabbit foot were very irritating. Thankfully I was not disappointed with Mission impossible 4. The story is fast paced, takes little time to pick up at the start of the movie. Movie plot is not extraordinary, save the world from a missile launch is becoming an overboard patriotic plot with lot of movies and even video games these days.

The cast does justice to the plot, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn has enough arsenal of muted antics to bring out the laughter for you, and yes in a small role Anil kapoor also delivers on his "Jhakas" persona without even actually saying it. Tom cruise was lot subtle in his role this time around to do away with his antics from the last movie. The story manages to hold your interest however I am still awaiting a movie like MI:2 with the kind of stylish action that was orchestrated by John Woo, and yes a fitting background score from Hans Zimmer made that movie very memorable for me.

Action and thrills falls little short in my opinion towards the end of the movie when it was required the most, and as a foe to Agent Ethan Hunt the role of crazy nuclear strategist played by Michael Nyqvist as Kurt Hendricks does not look very menacing or threatning in any way. Watch it for once, you would not regret.

30 year old woman, trapped in a body of 9 year old

If you thought something shown in the movie Curious case of Benjamin Button as a human could not exist, you would be wronged by the condition in which a Brazilian woman Maria Audete do Nascimento has being living for the past 30 years of her life trapped in a body of a 9 year old. She is living in Ceara, Brazil with her step mother and father. She suffers from hypothyroidism which could have being reversed during her childhood that would have allowed normal development of her body and mind.

University of Ceara has offered help to this family to assist Maria in developing her walking, sepaking skills also helping her learn feeding self which would enable Maria to lead a little independent life, it's really painful to see her in such condition whereas the family has happily accepted it as a god's will for them to be of some service to her.

Pushing a point across: AD's can be really effective

Thought provoking AD that may go viral on helping a cause that is quite disputed and considered a taboo in lot of countries

Celebrating 80th Birthday in style

A California resident Pat Moorehead celebrated his 80th Birthday by sky jumping 80 times out of a plane in a duration of 7 hours, it was not just celebrating his birthday but he also contributed towards a fund raising effort for construction of a National Skydiving Museum in Fredericksburg in Virginia. Surely this guy deserves all the respect for the guts he has to follow his adventure at this age.

Returning to my Passion - Comic Con Express Mumbai

My summer vacations at school turned out a challenge for my dad to keep me busy and engaged, for which he found a solution I would be thankful to him for rest of my life. He got me enrolled to a library which opened door's to my creativity through comics, If not just library, i used to visit Wheeler stand at Mulund railway station to grab my favorite comics and every time I used to travel during my vacations I always carried a good collection of comics to pass time during train travel. It was great to relish few days off school embracing stories of Spiderman, Batman, Superman and host of Indian comic characters from the house of Amar Chitra Katha, Diamond Comics and Raj Comics. There came a time I was not ready to let go off my growing comic book collection right from my childhood to the time I was in college, I never missed out on catching up to comics even after I started working and a event like Comic Con was just the right recipe to get my tastebuds tingling for the love of comics.

I enjoyed 2 day Comic Con Express event held at World Trade Center, Mumbai, Cosplay participants got the mood of the event going. 1st day at the event saw decent crowd, there were close to 40 Exhibitors at the event which included popular brands like BSA, Funskool, Amar Chitra Katha, Diamond Comics, Inkfruit.com, WYO, 9XM, Buzzinga, Animagic. I was impressed by the effort made by upcoming publishers like Vimanika Edutainment, Holy Cow Entertainment, Sufi Comics, Level 10 comics who have the potential to get our generation hooked to gadgets and gizmos into reading a comic book once again.




An event which saw launch of close to 15 new titles, VJ Cyrus Broacha, VJ Manish Anand and VJ Juhi, Ankit V from TechGuru were spotted at the event with a stage appearance by Irrfan Khan for the launch of Munkeeman comic title created by Abhishek Sharma (Director: Tere Bin Laden). Some stalls also had live artists, Mario De Miranda's art collection was impressive with lot of curious audience turning up at Sufi Comics stand to take a look at spirtualism in a totally new avatar, Sunday saw more crowds drawing in with lot of kids as well with their parents enjoying the event. there were few independent artists too who had set up their stalls showcasing their talent which is truly a great platform to bring out your creative talents and get "Discovered". Amar Chitra Katha has made a foray into Animation which was showcased with a promising sneak peek feature for Sons of Rama series.

Stall owners / Publishers were keen enough to answer queries and interact freely with audience/ visitor's, SRK's Ra.One also made it's presence felt at the event selling Ra.One merchandise, Vendor's like Bombay Merch and Buzzinga had a great collection of poster's, tee's and comic figurine's to choose from. I got myself good collection of comics after a quite long time, hardly remember if I went shopping for comics.

Upcoming event is again returning to Delhi next year, Destination Delhi next year ??? Comic Con just got me back to my passion for comics. check out some links to pic albums/ promo videos for this event.

Promo Vid 1 | Promo Vid 2   | GadgetCurry at Comic Con

Album Link

Weekend trip to Kaas Plateau

Kaas Plateau is growing as a popular tourist hotspot branded as valley of flowers.I had Kaas trip on my radar since last year, I was in two minds going there this year with the extended rainfall spell continuing in Pune, however my new Canon EOS 550D DSLR I got last month got me motivated for a day's trip to Kaas last weekend also few office friends had already been there recently. Route: It's roughly 140 kms away from Pune, you need to head towards old katraj ghat via Satara road and connect to NH4 on the Pune Bangalore highway, I did not take the Ramnagar route via a right turn from NH4 at service road junction before Khed Toll Naka that skips Satara city circle, I entered Satara by the Khed toll route following sadar bazaar road you would reach a chowk in Satara city, take a right turn from the effiel tower replica at the chowk and again a left turn on Rajpath road which would lead you to nana chowk ahead.

Don't take the straight road via tunnel, take the road on the right and you would begin your trip uphill towards Kaas Plateau. The view on the way is very scenic with proper sunshine it looks more amazing. Road condition is okay, thankfully very less potholes but very narrow so drive cautiously.

We stopped on the way up to click pics which are a treat for a landscape photography enthusiast like me. Once you reach a checkpost made by forest department you can choose to park your vehicle there and walk a distance of 2-3 kms or take a 5 min ST bus ride to the plateau plying at an interval of 15-20 mins to and fro at the plateau, It had being ages since I had last boarded an ST bus. If you are planning to vist Bamnoli village ahead you can take your car via the Kaas Plateau route and park your car ahead of the plateau and climb back up the slope. In case your are inquisitive about knowing the flower names that grace the Kaas Plateau, you can buy a pocket guide leaflet some local kids would be selling at the car/bus parking area.

There are quite a few forest department rangers and police officials patrolling on the plateau to make you feel safe and enjoy exploring Kaas landscape.Terrain on the plateau is walkable, please make sure not to step over the flower beds there are enough rocky patches for moving around freely. Forest department has done a commendable job putting up temporary fencing around the some patches restricting entry to certain spots on the plateau.

The best time to visit Kaas Plateau is between Aug - Oct, I visited Kaas probably towards the end of blooming period here still it had quite good flora present to make my visit worthwhile, please ensure you move early morning to catch the flowers blooming, afternoon heat can be little taxing and not the best time to click pics. Have your breakfast/lunch in Satara city or while travelling via NH4 route you would spot quite a few eateries on the highway after moving out of Pune, carry your liquid refreshments with you once you reach the parking area as Kaas Plateau is still developing as a tourist spot which is seasonal and does not attract too many visitors as of now, do not expect toilet/food facility once you reach there.

You can check out my pic gallery here for more pictures

Samsung Galaxy S3 specs leaked?

A possible specs leak on galaxy s3 sound very promising with a 12 megapixel camera and 1.8 Ghz processor.
[Rumor] First Information About Samsung Galaxy S3 Leaked Online? - AndroidPIT

First hands-on video: iPhone 4S

MacRumors has got hold of the first hands-on video for iPhone4S, which also features some test benchmarks scores.

iPhone 4s crosses 1 million preorders in a single day

iPhone 4S has achieved an unbelievable feet of crossing 1 million preorder sales in 24 hours, which is quite a feat considering a lot of technology fans were not so happy with the announcement of iPhone 5 still  not in sight, a lot of critics felt it does not give a iPhone 4 user a real reason to upgrade to iPhone 4S. After the news breaking out about Steve Jobs death it looks as if every consumer is pledging some kind of support or god knows what to Apple as a brand which saw it's fortune changing with the vision of Steve Jobs, read more about this here

Future Station and 9 more marvels to explore

Some cool stuff being put up at the CEATEC 2011 event in Japan, DoCoMo has displayed a prototype technology touted as "Future Station" enabling 3D call conferencing, also take a quick look at some other futuristic technology being showcased at this event.

Journey of Spiderman across years

Trace the Journey of your friendly neighborhood superhero from 1962 until now in different variations across countries, check out the link below
all the Spider Men

Creativity Brewing on a High - Coffee & Beer Art

Karen Eland, a former employee at Barista is a budding artist. She is becoming popular with her paintings not with just the normal colors, she had posted work earlier made out of coffee and now she has made paintings out of beer, check out the video below and link to her new website showcasing paintings made out of beer.

Amazing Shadow Art from Junk

Check out this slideshow via Environmental Graffiti

Small and Beautiful : Evolving Asthetics for car market in India

Both Honda and Hyundai are up for important launch in the compact car segment with Brio and Eon. Global car manufacturers are taking note of the taste of Indian consumers for design and decor while buying a new car which could turn out to be the differentiating factor beyond the bells and whistles of features that may turn out to be common over a period of time. While every car consumer zeroes in on a vehicle choice with a specific budget, they definitely look at Value for Money proposition offered by a specific variant of the same car model.

Honda's Brio could land up giving competition to Hyundai's i10/Chevrolet Beat/Ford Figo/Nissan Micra. It comes with a 1200 CC engine and claims to deliver a mileage close to 18 kmpl with an entry level model pricing at Rs 3.95 Lakh. I liked the rear windshield design of the car which gives it a tall look and enhances rear view visibility for the driver. Noticeable curves streaming from the front and rear section of the car, compact grill in the front with a wide stance complement the interior of the car as well. I noticed 4 fan blowers on the front dashboard of the car in the 360 interactive view on their website, which also is an intelligent feature allowing cooling to be available equally for the driver and passenger on the front seat. With the kind of quality and customer service Honda is known to deliver, Honda Brio should be able to find a sweet spot with consumers with their new launch offering with the sales picking up by the arrival of Diwali festival.



Hyundai too is ready to take on Maruti in the small car segment directly with their upcoming car Eon scheduled for October launch pitching it directly against Alto, It has got ARAI ceritified mileage of 21.1 kmpl which goes beyond Alto's 19 kmpl benchmark. Powered by a 814cc petrol engine it is aiming entry level variant pricing at Rs 2.5 Lakh. This car looks well styled for a small car segment category. Hyundai could be looking at a potential winner on hands for offering a much needed option for small car buyers interested to look beyond Maruti, given that Hyundai is the 2nd largest car manufactuer in India today after Maruti with a very strong after sales and service network. Personally i never liked Hyundai Santro/i10 in terms of the design, post the launch of i20 Hyundai made serious efforts to enhance the wow factor for consumers and they now seem to be committed in this direction with Eon's upcoming launch.

Hopefully amidst rising petrol prices and interest rates, these new launches could bring the much required cheer to both consumers and car manufacturers during the upcoming festive season.

Free Android games from Gameloft

Gameloft is running labor day promo on their facebook page, giving away free games, also running $0.99 offer on all popular games. Android Games from Gameloft - http://pulse.me/s/1txPx

Exciting Labor day iOS game deals

Go nuts: Tons of iOS games are on sale now - http://pulse.me/s/1u0na

Ford Evos Concept Car Trailer

A concept car design that has made it's way to the Frankfurt Auto show 2011, looks sexy and appealing in design and aesthetics would prove to be a successful compact city sedan, hope ford stays true to the concept design as far as possible.

 

Sony's Wearable Personal Media Viewer

This one is currently on my wish list for sure, unless it really falls flat on the promises shown. Sony has displayed it's 3D enable Head Mounted Display at IFA 2011 event. What looks like a device right from the future it packs 720p OLED display which is capable of displaying 2D & 3D images and sports a virtual 5.1 surround sound headphones as a part of the single HMD device.

It's rumored to be priced around $800 (INR 36,000) so one can expect the price to touch INR 50,000 by the time it releases and IF it makes it to the Indian market. You can use this HMD with your television, gaming console, or laptop, check out the hands on video review by IGN below.

5 Amazing Interactive Billboards

Check out this collection feature of vids featuring innovative Interactive Billboards displaying clever marketing at play, engaging passerby's instantly.

1) Billboard campaign by a reality TV show in Japan.