We’ll be Counting Stars

My new all time favorite song which is stuck in my head is by One Republic, and goes by the name, Counting Stars. The beauty of this song is that not only the music is foot-tapping but also the lyrics are profound. The thing I love about songs with  great lyrics is that not only do the songs sound great with their peppy beats but also in when covered with acoustic instruments. (Just like, Avicii – Wake Me Up). One Republic is a relatively new band, having emerged on the scene off late and this song has given the band a global name and recognition.

Enjoy!

 

Why this Quarter is Going to be the Hottest one for Tech?

If you are even remotely excited by technology then you must be aware of the anticipation building up for the most awaited quarter of the 2012 calendar and if you ain’t aware of all the technology news flying across then all I can say is that you are a troglodyte!

This quarter starting from September,  is going to see a slew of new unveiling of new technology, both hardware as well as software, so much so that, it is going to make all the current gadgets seem a bit antiquated. In this post I am going to list out all the things that will be getting to see the light of the day in the coming months, because truth be told, we all love LISTS. Don’t we?

1. Iphone 5 : Cupertino giant, Apple is going to unveil a still newer upgrade to its six year old crème de la device, the most awaited Iphone 5. The new Iphone would be seeing many drastic changes as compared to its predecessor the Iphone 4S which, all in all, in my opinion was just Iphone 4 with Siri. Many people who owned the Iphone 4, did’nt immediately upgrade to the 4S because of this and were eagerly awaiting for the new Iphone 5.  The new Iphone also needs to be launched soon if Apple wants to fend off competition from Samsung’s SIII.

2. Ipad Mini : Also, the Timothy D. Cook, led Apple is going to go against its conventional 10 inch Ipad form factor to launch a 7 inch mini version of its flagship tablet, which is being rumoured to be christened as the “Ipad mini”. But as confirmed by ‘All things Digital’ Apple wont be launching the Iphone 5 and the Ipad mini simultaneously as they dont want the attention of the press and the public, in general , to be diverted from the Iphone. So most probably the Ipad mini will be unveiled at a later event most probably in the month of October.

3. Google Nexus 7 : Although the 199$ (around 11000 INR) Nexus 7 tablet which was giving its competitors a serious run for their moolah,  was launched by google a good 60 days back through its Play Store, it is STILL not officially available in India. September hopefully will be the month in which Google makes this beauty available here. But if you can’t wait to lay your hands on this Android OS 4.1 Jelly Bean brandishing tablet, then you can purchase an imported version of it on Ebay if you are ready to pay a premium of 16ooo INR for it!

4. Windows 8 : The much awaited OS from Microsoft is going to be launched in October, rightly in time for the festive season in India with a host of companies already launching Windows 8 friendly, touch enabled laptops and Ultrabooks. The new Windows is going to flaunting an uber cool Metro interface, which the Redmond behemoth, claims to be a refreshing change from its previous version. Also, recently on August 23 Microsoft unveiled a new logo, shifting from its  classic style to the tile-centric Modern interface which is going to be used in the new Windows 8 OS as well as the Windows Phone 8 and a host of other Office suites.

5. Windows Phone 8 : The next generation Windows Phone 8 which would succeed its successor WP 7.5 Mango is going to be launched by four companies namely, Nokia, Huawei, Samsung and HTC.

6. The new Arsenal of Smart Phones :  Nokia is going to extend its Lumnia series by giving them a refreshing upgrade with its Pure View Technology which boasts of an astounding 31 Mega Pixels, capable of shooting breathtaking photos right from your mobile device.  Also other players like Samsung, Sony, HTC and other handset manufacturers have already shown their prototypes in the on going IFA at Berlin. These handsets too will be flooding the market in the not so far future.

7. Kindle Fire 2 : Amazon will be giving its Kindle fandom a new upgrade to look forward to, with its touted release of Kindle Fire 2 which will definitely give a major boost its share in the ebook reader market and fend off competition from Barnes and Nobles Nook and other tablets.

8. Glass-less 3D TV’s : Manufactures, having nearly perfected the Glass-less 3D technology, are already showcasing their new 3D televisions which do not require one to squint through those cumbersome 3D Glasses. But this technology is still in the nascent stage keeping the price of these eye candies extremely high.

Also, the earlier launched, Apple’s Macbook Pro with Retina Display (bearing a hefty price tag of 1.5 lakh rupees) , and a host of other gizmos, as well as the new Blackberry 10 OS with its much advertised ‘Action’ tagline, would all be vying for your moolah!

Ciao

Whats Wrong with Mankind!

Today in the morning after giving a presentation for my Study Oriented Project and then spending a cool(Literally) half an hour in the cool engineered air(read air-conditioned), I was crossing the C-Lawns when I happened to notice dark poisonous smoke puking equipment which had been temporaily installed at C-Lawns to relay the road in front of the D-Lawns.I was filled with remorse and dismay to see children, or for that matter infants, playing with whatever debris their little hands could lay on, right next to the smoke puking petrol guzzling mammoth of a machine.

Little girls in ethnic Rajasthani attire lifted gravel, tar and sand in order to make a little money out of this ordeal, so that us Bitsians could have a smooth ride on the very roads their tender fingers built.

I came back to my room thinking that when a great Instituion such as my college was openly employing child labour and the Indian government only going to the extent of passing Child Labour Abolishing Acts and sitting back on this laurel, what is going to happen to the youth, the backbone of our country,the future of our so called “developing nation”.

After dinner I happened to watch this documentary on the Vietnamese War, christened “Hearts and Minds” in which there was a dialogue which goes as “The Oriental doesn’t put the same high price on life as does the Westerner. Life is cheap in the Orient. ” Here the Oriental is referred to as the native of Vietnam who were hapless and were brutally murdered by the US supported South Vietnamese Army. As I type out this post, the aria of “The Seekers – Five Hundred Miles” is filling the void created in my heart and echoing off the walls of my hostel room, making me wonder and contemplate about what is wrong with mankind. What is wrong with us?

The Indian Rupee gets a new Identity

Today is a proud moment for us Indians’. Today when i woke up this morning and switched on the news channels , i  was pleasantly surprised to see that our Gandhi’s would be standing tall in comparasion to other major currencies of the world like the omnipotent US dollar, yen ,euro or pound not in terms of valuation…. oh no no that seems a far away dream when we Indians can exchange a rupee for say 48 us dollars cause its still the other way round.

Our rupee/rupaiya got a new symbol which would soon be available on your keyboard and hence command universal acceptance and recognition not only of the Indian currency but also the fact that India is a growing superpower. It would mean that the Indian rupee has finally arrived onto the global economy. It would mean that people would not have to say for instance 20,000 INR or Indian Rupees because many of India’s neighbours like Bangladesh , Sri Lanka, Nepal , Pakistan as well as Indonesia call their currencies Rupee/Rupaiya.

The symbol is in the form of the letter ‘ra’ in devanagri script and it can also be looked from the view that it is a letter ‘R’. There is a line cutting across the top and middle of the upper part of R. The symbol was designed by an IIT Bombay Phd student who was given a sum of 2.5 lakh Rupees ( See what i meant,the symbol would reduce the hassel of typing the whole word) by the Government of India. The symbol was launched to the world by Mrs. Ambika Soni minister in charge of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.