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.

Useful Android Apps for Samsung Galaxy S2

Personalization



Windows 7 Launcher provides a nice interface of Windows 7 phone theme which can be customized to map your favorite apps to the home screen tiles, you can also customize the tile colors. Transitions work smoothly on Galaxy S2, There is a AD based free version and paid version for this App, check the video below for a demo.



Pops



Great app for setting animated notifications for your SMS, Gmail, Twitter and Facebook alerts, It is a free to download app which currently has limited set of animated packs you can download however you can set your own custom video clips for notifications too.



Music & Audio

Saavn Music



Saavn music app is free to download app that gives you access to vast library of Bollywood music, Bhangra, Bhajans and more. Creating customized play list is quite easy and the song library is extensive from tha tracks I tried checking out, I liked the App interface and the ease of searching tracks and adding to your customized play lists for listening music on the go which works seamlessly on 3G connectivity.



Photo Apps

Instagram is a very popular app for iPhone users and Android market does have some notable photo apps that allow adding image effects to your pictures and instant sharing options, check out some of them below which I have being using recently.


   Little Photo                   Picplz


     FX Camera                   MOLOME

More app features coming up on my blog, keep checking

Times have changed: Music industry in last 30 years

Check out this animated transition of the way Music Industry has transformed in last 30 years

If you are ....... send me ........?

Funny response to a SMS forward

Rise of Android OS

Mobile handset and software market has undergone a major transition from the past year and the not so well known OS Android now captures 50% of the smart phone market globally, Nokia is pinning all it's hopes on windows OS to revive it's crumbling market share which still stands strong on top position in BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. Samsung has good potential to rush ahead if Nokia provided it adapts to aggressive marketing and sales strategies in emerging markets.

Apple has grown from a market share of 14.2% to 19% with iOS it enjoys a stable growth in the US market and it does not see any immediate threat from Android considering the hype around iPhone 5 which is peaking amongst consumers eager to find out what Apple is going to come up with, Nokia is placed third falling from a lions share it had of around 41% of market share with Symbian which Nokia is now bidding farewell to and embracing Windows OS ahead seeking a new lease of life. RIM also is struggling to Android OS and iOS onslaught in American market which is visible by its market share falling from 18% to 12% from last yearThis situation was not the same last year in August 2010 which is reflecting from the graph below an article(via www.seekingalpha.com)



Google has woken up to a bitter reality of going easy on aquiring patents that are essential to safegaurd growth of Android OS, Apple is flexing it's muscles going hard after Android tablets and phones alleging manufacturers like HTC and Samsung of lifting designs meant for Apple phones and tablets. Luckily google also realised that it needs to act swift on unifying different versions of Android OS into one version touted to be named as Ice-cream Sandwich that makes it easier for developers to focus on developing apps for Android.

Indian Smartphone market would provide Nokia enough time to get their act straight with Symbian OS and its dream to build an ecosystem akin to Apple with Ovi services has not met desired success. Sony Ericsson once had the potential to come close to Nokia's market share in India lost the path midway with a series of mediocre phone launches which gave Samsung good chance to rise further with BADA OS and it started offering value for money products in different price segments. Samsung has also discussed options with google for developing desi version of Android OS in Indian market.

Nokia:Final adieu to Symbian

Nokia Kills Symbian Ahead of Windows Phone 7 Launch

CGI fest: Journey of CG characters

Watch: Full-Length 'Short History' Video of CG Characters in Movies