Two Good articles on Technology

Future of Entertainment | Balancing Multiple Mediums

Sony Arrives With Video Walkman

Sony launches a video Walkman to match Video I-pod, read more about Sony Video Walkman here

Convergence Knocking on the Doors..

A service provider in delhi called Bachwara Broadband and Communications on Saturday 9th March launched a ‘telemart card’ which will enable subscribers to avail TV, Internet and telephone services through one user ID called Digital Identity System and has tied up with Tata Teleservices, Dish TV and Spectranet for providing the service.

So we can hope to get all in one stuff from big telecom players in future converging the technology to the advantage of consumers..

Rising Tech Addiction

Read this stuff from BBC site, warning gadget users of a Addiction that's truly unavoidable in current age....

HOLI HAI !!!
Visit this site for extensive Holi Festival information

Man With HORNS !!
Check out this story here

Pictures of World from Sky
Some Great arial pics check them out here

Cool McDonald's Print Ad
A funky ad of Mc'd Fries click here

Most Realistic CG face ever created

Check it out HERE to believe

Future Perfect


Bionic Eye Wonder for the Blind

Read this article Here


Ink Less printer's

Ink less printers to be build in digital camera's -- Read article Here


The New Spidey Game On the Block

Watch out the Game Trailer,Visit the site Here

The Vista Makeover Guide.

For those who would still like to stick around with Windows Xp and would like to do a makeover for the current OS to Vista, here’s a guide for all of you which I tried and it has given me satisfactory results which would surely not make you feel left out, in the OS upgrade race.

First start by downloading the Vista Shell Conversion Pack, Vista Inspirat 1.1 from here, if you would like to have a look at the screenshots before downloading, take a look here, The Most stable transformation pack in terms of shell changing software’s is this one.

Once you are done with this download it would change almost everything you notice in Windows Xp, right from the boot up screen, log on screen, your wallpapers, icons, start button, with 4 to 5 vista theme’s, a floating bar with shortcuts to frequently accessed apps like IE, My Documents, quiet a cool one.

Next stop in the conversion process is to download some cool widgets, well if you would have not heard about widgets then take a visit at Yahoo Widgets and Widgipedia both these sites offer you a host of widgets which are popular for streaming music, live weather updates, RSS feeds. I downloaded for myself a Yahoo Widget Engine, which comes equipped with default Weather Widget, Laptop Battery Indicator, CPU memory usage indicator and much more, I then downloaded a Multimedia News reader widget, on which I added all the RSS feeds of my favourite sites from my Google homepage.

Then I also downloaded a Clear Sidebar Widget from Widgipedia which is a really cool Widget that resides on the right side of your computer screen given you instant access to frequently accessed Windows Applications, just in case you do not want the floating bar that would come along with the Shell converting Vista makeover pack.

Well for now this is what I have managed to dig out the makeover process for my Windows Xp, I have not managed to get a Aero technology makeover which vista boasts about, maybe I would not get such an application, however you never know what the net has to offer you, it’s just you need to keep searching.

I would be posting more links based on Vista Makeover and Windows Vista Wallpapers…. Keep reading..

Nokia Comes out with New Range of Business Phones

Nokia E61i is more of a pure business phone and so is Nokia E65, Nokia E61i has 2 MP camera, Blackberry connect feature, Mail Exchange Server support.

Nokia E65 is for those who don't want a very Wide Business Phone, with prominent access to frequently accessed apps.

The real winner here could be Nokia E90, a sensible refined version of communicator,which is on Symbian 60 series, instead of Symbian 90 series which has limited apps, and above all FM included, with 3.2 MP camera, which was not required actually

All three models are equipped with 3G and WLAN support.

Samsung F700 to Counter Attack the I-Phone

The F700 mobile phone features a 2.8-inch 440×240 color display, and a QWERTY key pad that slides out at its base. According to Samsung, the inclusion of such a key pad has mainly been for users who are not yet familiar with a touch-screen-only user interface.

Samsung Ultra Smart F700 mobile phone also features a 5-megapixel camera. Here, Samsung definitely has a one-up over Apple’s iPhone, which has a 2-megapixel camera. LG also has launched another "Smart Phone" recently named LG Prada, which is going to be priced around $770 and I-Phone to be priced between $499 - $ 599, Price of this samsung model is not yet known. Where's Nokia gone ???

WoW…. What’s the big deal

It’s time Microsoft started taking the Indian market seriously; today I was just watching the WoW Vista show on Star Plus for the launch of Windows Vista in India. This was not the story at the time of launch of Windows Xp, it was just like another launch fair, which I was a part of, at that time around 6 to 7 years back, can’t even remember the exact year, both AMD, Intel had set up stalls promoting Windows XP, no stars, no anchors, it’s the other way round this time, Microsoft is already battling the problem of piracy in Asia, India would play a significant role in success of this launch of new OS from Microsoft in the Asian Continent.

We tend to take whatever comes from the Redmond Giant blindly in terms of OS, Well for me Windows Vista is nothing more than visual jazz, it boasts of superior performance however you would need a major computer overhaul if you were still happy with Windows XP, then be so… Windows Vista would demand at least 512 Ram for the basic Home Version and for a good feature enabled Windows Vista I may suggest the Home Premium version.

Even computer magazines have given a clean chit to Vista, for what all that Visual Jazz ?? while they still write in the articles that on Intel Dual Core machine it would still take more time for apps to open than on Windows XP with a current configuration

I am not very clear on the price of this OS, for the Home Premium version, which may cost around 15,000 to 16,000 bucks as I read on some Indian online shopping sites, Windows Vista Ultimate would take the steam out of your machine, I have used a Windows Vista Shell Converter on my laptop, for now which gives me almost the same visual feeling to that of Windows Vista except few widgets and other visual jazz that Vista has to offer.

However recently when our office decided to move on to Open Office replacing MS-Office, even we found it difficult to move on without that MS-office feeling, actually Microsoft has a strong hold in terms of ease of use in it’s products for which it prices it’s products on a very high range and that’s not affordable in India for all computer users. This encourages the piracy to thrive and come what may, Microsoft may claim that they have hacked proof Windows Vista, its already with it’s launch hackers have busted open vista with reports floating on internet about a flaw being detected with Windows Vista.

So going ahead Windows Vista would also have to encounter the same fate as other MS-OS have faced, Piracy…. People on the internet have devised tricks and hacks to overcome Microsoft Genuine campaign, today I don’t feel it appealing enough to upgrade to MS-IE 7, or Windows Media Player 11 as I have other better options Microsoft, and why on the earth they thought of launching Zune, which was touted as a I-Pod killer, it did not kill anything, it just made another addition to already overcrowded Mp3 player market.

As Microsoft had the first mover advantage in terms of OS, so has the Apple Inc with I-pod and the I-pod mania continues to live. If Microsoft wants to succeed in India, It will have to work hard on pricing, rather than educating people about not buying pirated software.. If it’s heavy on my pocket I don’t care what effort has gone into developing Vista.

Movie Review: Guru

Mani Ratnam tells a exciting story through a aspiring gujju businessman who emerges as a winner in life, this is what I felt about guru, abhishek bacchan has shown that he has grown quite well in his stature as an actor, with aishwaraya getting a sensible role in this movie, good that she did not try anything silly like dhoom 2, Rajiv Menon’s camera work is splendid, however Mr Mani ratnam has failed to give our gujju bijness man “Guru Kant Desai” a proper gujju village, my god the shooting of his home town idhar is done somewhere in madurai or kerela…

I felt one or two songs in the movie were unnecessary and lengthened the movie, which was nearly about 4 hours.

Mani ratnam has created a period movie with proper detailed study, mithun, r madhavan have being given suitable roles, I think vidya balan could have being given a more extended role.

Watch the movie for the effort mani ratnam has put in telling the story of a aspiring villager turning into a great businessman, he has made the story in a practical way not glorifying the character but his thinking.

Finally I'm Connected

My Broadband is finally up and running, thanks to quick and prompt service from airtel broadband, lets hope the connection works well, as my sify connection worked without probs for 2 years but they spoiled my association with them in the last 2 months as i bid their connection adeiu, those freaks were asking me to pay 1500 bucks as i wanted to exhaust my renewal which was in pipeline of Rs 1100.

I was bearing their delay in giving me the connection since last 3 months and they just blew my lid off by asking me to shell out rs 1500 for cabling and installation.

The speed of airtel BB connection is quite impressive, i have not yet tested out the download speeds.

Broadband Dream

Mr Dayanidhi Maran is riding high on BSNL’s dream to provide 2MBPS connection@ Rs 250 a month that’s something revolutionary in field of telecomunnication.

But Mr. Maran going aggressive on increasing broadband connections is not easy, its tough road ahead, also involves risk of deteriorate already overburdened ISP service providers struggling to provide the desired speeds and customer service that’s left much to be desired.

I recently had a bad and infact a really bad experience with sify for shifting my broadband connection it was almost for two months I kept calling their call center ( it’s in Chennai, god save me can’t bear people with heavy, infact very heavy accent)

I finally thought of writing to sify’s topmost head in customer service, and to my surprise I found her email address on sify’s customer care website. I thought my mail would just go in the thrash can just like other customers keep mailing the customer care, I got a call from the access manager of sify the very next day promising me of getting my connection installed, I was not happy of what happened with me in last months in my association with sify, but the follow up and the personal attention which I got from them, makes me think they are difficult to be hated.

Scientists Create Cloak of Partial Invisibility

According to LiveScience, scientists “have created a cloaking device that can reroute certain wavelengths of light, forcing them around objects like water flowing around boulders in a stream.”

Any One Wanna Become Mr India !!!

Tread Mill Bike

The Treadmill Bike has just been released in Japan, priced at a whopping $2,019USD. This multi-purpose gadget is not only a mode of transportation, but also functions as a treadmill. Treadmill Biking is fun for the whole family. The variable resistance feature means that treadmill bikers of different abilities can workout together and no one will get left behind

Ancient Indian spaceport discovered

There has being an a recent write up featured on some website which claims that A giant figure that resembles the Roman numeral VI composed of wide trenches was discovered near the Havda village in the Kutch district of the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Ancient scriptures claim that this area often received UFO’s from the outer space - the chariots of fire. Archeologists suggest that the area might have been used as a spaceport by the Harappan civilization, which had one of the most fascinating yet mysterious cultures in the ancient world.

Read More About this Article Here

The Epic Waits to come Alive...

We have feasted our eyes and senses in recent times to some very high class and visually stunning Hollywood flicks, I always think if Harry Potter, LOTR (Lord of the rings), The Matrix Trilogy, MIB, I Robot and many more to go, if such movies can enthrall audiences around the world, why can’t Indian cinema attempt creating such fantasies, which become world wide blockbusters.

Krrish has shown the way to experiment and prove film industry that if attempted fantasy movies can be success, if story is sensible enough with other factors important in making a movie balanced.

I always imagine if someone makes a mega budget, grand scale movie on Mahabharata, The movie has to be graphically brilliant as the story of Mahabharata has lot of emotional package to keep the audience glued, there’s lot to experiment, I keep hearing rum ours on various directors and producers planning to take up this project.

Visualize this, a great battlefield, maybe it can be shot in a high altitude plains, sun rising in the background, a war score slowly building up, let Mr. Rehman do the honors for this, he is very good at background scores, a frame showing warriors on their chariots, next a frame on flags of both warring sides fluttering in the wind bowing across the battle field, a silence waiting to end, in a war cry. Next frame, Arjuna’s chariot flag fluttering, Krishna’s peacock feather swaying in the wind on his mukut, Then a conch sound is heard, with a frame capturing a warrior shadow blowing the conch, horses get ready to rage ahead, and then erupts a loud cry of warriors, running towards each other, and as the camera moves towards a warriors chariot, with a bow and arrow in his hand, ready to fire the arrow from his bow, the background score grows to its peak now and as the arrow leaves the bow, then the movie title Mahabharata is shown on a warring background, maybe ISKCON images can be used in the background as used In Mahabharata television series.

What do you think, comment here if you feel our traditional epic is grand enough to be showcased in the best way to the world?

Finally, Superman Returns!

It was time this superhero finally got a comeback, i had seen Christopher reeve as superman and had very faint memories of this superhero in my mind, as i grew up in awe of batman series, the master director Tim Burton, till the time batman movies got fancy and to the extent batman costumes became more girly, till the time Gorge Clooney acted in the last disaster flick.

I purely wanted to watch superman to see what this invincible character movie could offer, with Kevin spacey being the perfect match for the arch rival of superman, Lex Luthor. The movie revolves around how superman is gone for long, as he finds out that some astronomer had found remains of his home planet, thinking that he may find something superman finds nothing but ruins of his planet.

The opening sequence is awesome, would have looked celestial in a IMAX dome theatre, I am actually planning to re-watch this movie at ADLABS Dome Theatre in Mumbai. I had just seen Bryan Singer's X-men the last stand few weeks back, and I noticed that this director is technically a wizard, he does not give emphasis to special effects in his movies, but uses them as an advantage to the story, or you can say in better words, compliment the story.

Coming back to the movie, our superhero makes a comeback joins daily planet office as Clark Kent, to discover that his love interest, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) is being married and has a kid, she still has the same passion to work as she had before and she is married to cousin of Perry white, of daily planet, Richard white. The flashback scenes of Clark Kent at small’ Ville are very much authentic and give you that 70's feeling.

While out here Lex Luthor digs out superman’s hideout far away in a polar region and discovers secrets and gets in some crystals which form landmass when dropped in water, now Lex Luthor tries it for once and a small bit of crystal creates electro magnetic disturbance all around the city also failing a test launch of a shuttle attached to a aircraft with Lois lane onboard, it is here where our superhero is given a magnificent comeback. I loved the way our superhero cushions the plane back in a baseball stadium amidst an ongoing match, with the whole stadium erupting in applause.

The director has definitely told the superman story his way, adding more of romantic element to superman's life some scenes are really magnificent, a moment where Superman takes Lois on arial ride through the city, When she clings on to superman, and he flies up past the Daily Planet Office globe, flying her close to water surface where Lois watches both of their reflection in the water.

These are few touching moments of the movie, also Lois still deep within her heart loves superman, but has learned to move on, and in his absence she also gives up on superman, writing off his need to the world, the movie is two and a half hour long, and actually after Lex gets defeated at hands of superman, movie was dragged at the end, some hints are left by the director probably Lois Lane's son is probably superman's child.

Watch this movie for great direction, amazing effects that compliment the movie's story, Brandon Routh has done a decent job of a superhero, i still cannot forget the bullet -time scene of point blank shot in superman's eye. Kevin spacey excels in his role as a loveable baddy; he could have being given more to perform with some more quick and witty one-liners from him. Kate Bosworth delivers perfectly as Lois Lane and even superman is faced with the same question at a point in the movie as to save a city in danger or protect his love interest. Similar to the dilemma faced by Spiderman for Mary Jane.

In the end, Lois ask's "Would we see you again?" Superman replies “I will be always around", he flies off.

The movie has good background score of John Ottoman, and the superman theme originally composed by John Williams still sounds very fresh and lingers in your mind right from your childhood.

So we finally have all three superheroes Batman, Superman & Spiderman back in business and raking the moolah for Hollywood, as its not just that these characters are admired by kids, but they still help us re-discover the kid in us, who once used to read these superhero comics, watched their cartoons, and today the same adult wants to re-live that experience on the big screen....

Superman, Move over, Make way for “Krrish”

The latest news now going around Krrish is that it has started giving stiff competition to “Superman Returns” in North America, crossing over collections of Fanaa, which were holding the records till date. Compare this $10 Million budget of Krrish, compared to $ 200 million budget of superman returns.

Are we finally having a superhero who can give the Superman, Batman & Spiderman a stiff competition, maybe we have struck the right chord with international audience with our own superhero.

Well about the movie, I watched Krrish before I watched superman returns, I thought the movie may not be a big hit compared to Koi mil gaya, and superhero movies have bombed badly in past in India, and even if they gain popularity with kids, they do not take off actually with the normal audience.

Krrish proves this wrong, I also read and watched reviews on Krrish before going for the movie, but I always wanted to see this movie with the fact that Rakesh Roshan finally made an attempt to make an all out superhero film, some one had to really take this risk. The opening titles were impressive; the background score by Salim and Sulaiman has some element of dark notes similar to the Spiderman theme composed by Danny Elfman, that’s what gets you into a mood that you are going to be treated with a good movie and not some mediocre stuff.

The story starts with the kiddo Hrithik making pictures of his late father and mom with quiet ease, and his dadi, Rekha watching in amazement, she discovers that he has inherited the same powers his dad had, she decides to move her away from the being detected with such supernatural powers, Hrithik as Krishna is detected by his school dean to be having exquisite IQ, which he wants to develop, but grand mom Rekha has other plans, she takes the child away from everyone, she becomes her teacher, her mom, everything…now that’s what we call a super grandson’s super grandma !

While Krishna (Hrithik) moves away from kasauni, to some place in himachal, Sharat Saxena comes seeing him to his school, where the father refuses to give any whereabouts of Krishna and his grand mom. I was spellbound by the cinematography of Santosh Thundiyil, the landscapes captured in the movie are amazing, and Rakesh Roshan does have such amazing breathtaking frames of nature even in Koi mil gaya, Koyla as far I remember.

The film moves on with Krishna growing big, the scene is well shot, showing the transition of a kid into an adult, a village simpleton, with his superpowers and finding himself to be alone and unable to overcome his superpowers, which makes him play with bunch of kinds, the same plight which his father had to go through. I would definitely not compare superman with our Krrish, still moments from superman like, he returns to his home, he throws a ball, as his dog runs to fetch it, superman realizes that his doggy is not gonna get that ball anymore, and even the dog gives up..

Such scenes indirectly make you aware of the superhero’s powers and say a lot adding humor to it. Moving ahead Krishna discovers a girl in dangers, i.e. our leading lady in the movie Priyanka Chopra, who gets stuck on a tree top, falling down while paragliding, Krishna rescues the girl, again here also, the director captures the scene very well, showing a slow fall, rotating the camera around them, really well captured first meet, Hrithik coming almost like a elevator coming down, and priyanka screaming in between, not believing that she is actually still alive.

From here the movie has moments of Hrithik falling for Priyanka, playing tricks around with priyanka, as Hemant Pandey the tour guide plays a funny side-kick to Hrithik, as priyanka had arrived with her group and her friend Maaninee Mishra discover that he has amazing powers, the there is a song, Hrithik falls head over heals for Priyanka, Priyanka also meets Rekha, and as she departs she finds Hrithik falling for her.

Now Priyanka comes back to resume her job, she is a news reporter at Star News office in Singapore, her boss, Archana Puran Singh is ready to fire her as they have exceeded their vacations, in order to save their jobs, they think using Hrithik’s power display for the news channel, promising their manager to get Hrithik in Singapore.

Priyanka manages to bring Hrithik over to Singapore, as Hrithik has to face resilience from her grand mom , as she is not ready to loose her grand son, she tells Krishna (Hrithik) as to what happened to his dad, how he could never return after a company in Singapore called over Hrithik’s dad and it is none other than Naseeruddin Shah, who persuades Hrithik’s Dad Rohit Malhotra to make a machine that enables one to see future.

Naseeruddin shah excels as a baddy; he has a strong screen presence, similar to that of Lex Luthor in superman, a loveable baddy. The story moves on with Hrithik promising his grand ma that he would not reveal his superpowers , he meets a road performer who was performing for his sister for her operation, whom Hrithik helps performing some martial art stunts, they become friends and that guy invites Hrithik to his show at a circus. A song at circus with priyanka, fire breaks into the circus, Hrithik watches parents of few children trapped in the burning circus crying for help, in hurry, he picks up a black robe and a broken mask of a circus performer.

Enter “Krrish”, the superhero makes a impressive entry and leaves lot of questions behind, a good way to bring a superhero, the best thing Rakesh Roshan could have done to introduce, Krrish, a fancy costume would have killed the character, the birth of the superhero is more practical, which does not make you feel about a brainless story being told to you, Batman & Spidey had taken their own time designing their own costumes, here Hrithik does not get that time… a very creative move by the director.

Going ahead the film then takes some turns which further grip you to the story, and believe me special effects in the movie are far greater and better than any other Hindi movie seen till date and they have being used at places where needed and not unnecessarily, also another good thing about the stunts of the movie is that the action directors have worked hard to make stunts look impressive sans, special effects which also could have killed the thrill of these stunts, though it looked like more of crouching tiger, hidden dragon stuff, but its acceptable.

Hrithik is the main highlight of the film, followed by Naseeruddin Shah and then Priyanka. The time machine built by Krishna’s father Rohit, looks gracious and controls of the machine looked similar to those in the movie “Paycheck” also the latter half of the story after interval, is based more or less on the movie story of paycheck.

I would not go ahead further with the story as the movie is made with lot of effort, with a sensible storyline, editing of the movie needed some polishing, Watch this movie purely for Hrithik and for the storytelling of Rakesh Roshan, which is definitely going to make you appreciate this film. This movie has done a lot to priyanka’s career, what it did to preity’s career; Yash Raj banner has a special way of projecting heroines of their movies. They form central figure of their movies, here Rakesh Roshan does not have much to offer to the leading lady of the film, and still you cannot ignore the screen presence of his movies heroines.

Not to leave the music of the movie behind, Rajesh Roshan surely delivers in his bro’s films, his music is not a instant hit like that of Himesh, his music grows over you, taking its own time to keep listening to his songs, it was the same case when I first heard music of Kaho na Pyaar hai, Koi Mil gaya I did not like it that much, but after watching these movies I used to hear its music over and over re-living the feel of movie, same is the case of Krrish, I was disappointed that the track “Main hoon who aasmaan” was not in the movie, its really a slow melodic romantic track to fall in love with.“Koi tumsa nahin” also strikes a chord with your heart, “Dil na diya” is peppy. “Chori Chori Chupke Chupke” & “Pyar Ki Ek Kahaani” stand apart as excellent tracks.

If Rakesh Roshan is planning to make another sequel to this movie, he surely can go ahead; he has started something new in the Indian cinema which he can be proud of, which no other director like Subhash Ghai, Aditya Chopra or any other big name amongst the director could have thought of risking. One suggestion for Rakesh Roshan for the forthcoming sequel, he can groom the character of Krrish better, by giving him some more moves and powers, maybe he can spend good amount of money on special effects to give some muscle to Krrish’s character.

What's Your Worth !

Check out this one, another weird site which lets you know what's your worth, how much are you really worth of !

What you need to do is fill up a survey form and the site would display the result to you, and also if you wanna feature yourself on the Human Sale List, you can do that too !

Check out this link HERE