The Oath of the Vayuputras - Stunning!

Shiva Trilogy comes to an end with ‘The Oath of the Vayuputras’.

Meluha which appeared to be a perfect land that ever could have existed has hidden in itself the worst secrets that get revealed in the ‘Oath of the Vayuputras’. Battle scenes are beautifully demonstrated with absolute perfection and clarity with no loopholes. The system followed by Meluha  as we know is described well enough in ‘Immortals of Meluha’ leaving the readers in awe. But then, what lies beyond anyone’s imagination is the pernicious effects of the system that has been overlooked many years. Shiva finally discovers what is evil and is ready to fight against it for that is his purpose of existence. Though he wants to achieve this with no blood shed and absolute peace, fate has its wish otherwise. A battle is inevitable and lots of unresolved mysteries would get unfolded. Who Shiva would ally with, who he would battle, who he would lose, who would help him and who would not is all brilliantly plotted in the final part of Shiva trilogy.

The characterization in the trilogy is the best. In the battle against evil Shiva might lose his close friends or even worse, he might have to kill them. Both Shiva’s army and those against his are equallycompetent and is no less than the other in implementing brilliant war strategies. So the battle is not a piece of cake for the Neelkanth to easily win over. Realizing this, Shiva seeks the Vayuputras help in the upcoming fierce battle. But not all of Vayuputras support Shiva, atleast not openly. What is the secret or untold connection that exists between Shiva and Vayuputras is a good twist. All dots are well connected.

Whatever happens, Shiva’s love for Sati is fresh and beaming as ever. Their eternal love for each other is well described right from the beginning till the end. They stand as an epitome of pure love throughout the story. Ganesh and Karthik together equal Shiva in all aspects – be it war or humanity (or even sense of humor).  Shiva travels to many places in and around India - each kingdom, their safety measures, their engineering skills are well differentiated from the rest according to their geographic location. As much as I loved the characterization of Parvateshwar and Ganesh in ‘Immortals of Meluha’, I loved Anandmayi’s in ‘The Secret of the Nagas’ and Karthik’s in ‘The Oath of the Vayuputras’. Not to forget Sati for her characterization was the most brilliant and deserves respect. Amish Tripathi has really nailed it.

I found myself traveling through and living among the characters – a bliss which every reader would experience while reading this trilogy and it is indeed priceless. This final book will give you goose bumps and bring tears in your eyes at the end and is certainly a page turner. If I had to recommend my friends about the must read books in one’s lifetime, Shiva Trilogy will definitely be one among them. Amish Tripathi deserves the best writer award for this epic.

Wondering if Shiva Trilogy would be pictured as a movie in future. We shall hope for the best to happen.

Pen down your thoughts for me about the trilogy J

Happy reading!

“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting.”  - Mary Wortley Montagu

                

The Shiva Trilogy - freakin awesome

Being an avid lover of historical fiction I found it difficult to restrain myself from “The Shiva Trilogy”. The first book “The Immortals of Meluha”  is a definite page turner. Trust me, you don’t have to be a Hindu to understand the story. Though the story is woven around known characters like Shiva, Sati, Ganesh, Karthik and Nandi who are worshipped as gods in Hindu religion today, it is not spiritual or religious in anyway. Turns out to be Amish Tripathi's masterpiece with adequate twists and turns keeping readers glued to the book.

Synopsis:

Meluha is a land which can be described as something that each and every one of us want our society to be like. Located in Kashmir, Meluha is an epitome of heaven on earth for it serves as a model for righteousness, laws, cleanliness and discipline. You could not stop wondering how it would be if we exist in such a society! Meluhans believe for ages that when evil rises a Mahadev would emerge and save them. Shiva, a normal human being of flesh and blood unknown of what his destiny would be is brought to Meluha only to unravel many new and hidden secrets.

Shiva falls in love with Sati whose has been living a doomed life for years. What stood their way of love is a mystery which Shiva solves. Somras is said to be a divine medicine which gives mortality for those who consume it. And Meluha has been manufacturing Somras which their so called enemies try to stop. Who are the enemies and who their allies are and what are their reasons for doing so are very sensibly demonstrated at a very good pace.

Characters like Nandi,Veerbhadra,Brahaspathi, Dhaksha,Parvateshvar, Parshuram, Kali did ring a bell while reading the book.  On the other end, the author gives us a glimpse about Nagas(the cursed people) and their deeds leaving the readers to judge them. What connection exists between them and Meluhans are portayed in the second book of Shiva trilogy “The secret of the Nagas”.

The second book for all you know might shatter whatever the reader has imagined. “The secret of the Nagas” bringsKarthick, Ganesh and Kali into picture which I would say was simply brilliant. The way each character is mould into the story is spellbound. War strategies used, engineering establishments, honesty and dutifulness are all well expressed and was mind blowing. The author really deserves whatever highest award that is given for a writer. Because, Shiva Trilogy is the one book which has equally matched some of the greatest historical fictions written in Tamil :O. Impressed :D

Hats off to Amish Tripathi and those who helped him publish the book in every single way. You really deserve a standing ovation.

The third and final book in Shiva Trilogy is “The Oath of Vayuputras” which Iam dying to read it ASAP. If you are a passionate reader, do not have second thoughts in reading this trilogy.

My rating: 5/5

Happy reading!

Poda Podi - Review

The much awaited movie starts with the sensational "Love panlama venama" song followed by Simbu(Arjun) nailing Varu Sarathkumar(Nisha) projecting that he is very rich. Nisha is a salsa dancer working hard to win a dance competion but Arjun is a possessive and a male chauvinistic boyfriend who is irritated to see his girlfriend practicing with her dance partner. Desperate to stop her from dancing, he tricks her into family life. How Nisha wins the favor of her husband for dancing is the rest of the story.

Though Arjun acts like a male chauvinistic maniac in the first half, he becomes a cute father and husband in the second half of the movie. How he overcomes an emotional breakdown and wins Nisha back is touching. The couple's chemistry has worked well. Good to see Shobana again on big screen. Varu Sarathkumar is such a natural- Given that Poda Podi is her first movie, the actress has done a fantastic job deserving an applause. Dialogues in few places get the audience's full attention and acceptance which could be seen from the whistles and claps. But there are places where dialogues were too lousy. Simbu's acting was flawless with his sense of humour soaring up as usual. 

The frequency of songs in first half of the movie is annoying.  Ganesh Janardhanan could have have been utilized well. And Varu's dancing skills could also have been projected well. The funny part is that what Simbu does for a living is not shown till the end of the movie. 

The opposite poles not only attracted but lived through many sorrows and pain and yet with full of love!

On the whole, Poda Podi is worth watching once! 

My Rating: 3/5

Good day!

The Krishna key

As i was sipping my coffee on a Sunday morning, I was lazily flipping through the pages of literary review supplement on The Hindu. Review about "The Krishna key" by Ashwin Sanghi on one of the pages caught my attention and I started reading it briskly.

As Da Vinci Code dealt with symbols, churches, path that leads to The Holy Grail and quest for the living descendant of Jesus Christ, so is The Krishna Key dealing with symbols, temples and Lord Krishna. India as a vast land has gone through innumerable changes through rulers, religions, beliefs from times immemorial. We have come all this way and what is left today is not even half the wealth India had as its own decades earlier. The Krishna Key basically emphasizes the facts which the world has forgotten(or misused) and portrayed it wrong.

The story begins with Anil Varshney handing over four identical seals to four of his friends - Ravi Mohan Saini, Nikhil Bhojaraj,  Rajaram Kurkude and devendra Chhedi. What is the significance of these seals ?What do they represent? What happens when they are united? Who seeks it? This is what The Krishna key is basically about. I do not want to spoil the suspense by writing it here. Some of the other interesting characters are Priya Ratnani, Radhika Singh and Taarak Vakil.

The Krishna key is a story with historical background intertwined with scientific proofs and with suspicious murders. I was spellbound by the facts written in the book and it left me sleepless at night. The story of Mahabharata in snippets before each chapter is really a good touch. The author has obviously worked the hell out in putting all the pieces of facts together in making a sensible plot.

But way too many facts that might sometimes be very heavy to digest.The lengthy conversations are capable of losing the audience. The author could have saved some of it for his future works. Other than this, the work is definitely a masterpiece!

Digging out the past, verifying with the data in hand, cross checking with ancient records and plotting a story is not an easy task though. This is indeed a one of a kind book and it needs to be read by every Indian.
Hats off Ashwin Sanghi!
You have written a remarkable story.

My rating - 7/10

Happy Blogging!

How I met your mother Season 6

For the viewers of How I met your mother : Season 6 is just more than AWESOME. The best till now. In case you have not watched it yet, do it asap.

For those who have never watched it, well spend some time and try seeing the show.
After a day's work, when I come back from office I would love to do something (or anything for that matter) which is not even remotely connected to my routine work. For this I will start watching How I met your mother, the latest being Season 6. It makes you laugh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,laugh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and laugh.. Seriously can u afford to miss it?

I felt one episode that I felt I was so connected to. The episode was like this : When Lily and Marshall tell their friends that they are about to have kids, for a minute Robin and Barney felt very happy for their friends. But the next thought that came on Robin's mind will be "Lily and Marshall are doing something useful. God! What am I doing? Iam unemployed, still single..........I have to figure out a way." And so are the thoughts of Barney desperate to do something useful too. And so Robin rushes her decision and convinces herself for a weird and petty job that will never take Robin anywhere nearer to her dream job (which is being an anchor for the top most news channel). All she wanted was a change and she tries to push her life forward only because she came to know her friends get a change. And Barney tries to donate a huge amount for the charity. Only then Lily's message arrives saying that they are not having kids then. Both Robin and Barney change their decisions again.
On the other hand, the couple who took a big decision gets freaked out because of the sudden change in their lives and the fear of facing it. Ted screams at everyone and brings them back to reality.

This is exactly what happens to most of us in our lives. I saw this episode when I was literally mad at myself just because I felt everyone keeps moving forward and my life is stand still. I wished so badly for a change to happen.
After seeing the episode, I laughed at myself for being so stupid. But i also realized that it is not unusual :) Happens to almost everyone.
We are at a place today for some reason and change is inevitable anyway. So why rush for it?
There was a time when I waited for my college days to get over. But today there is nothing more than those days that Iam missing a lot.

LIVE THE LIFE !

Keep visiting!

Epic Browser-The first ever Browser designed by Indians for India

Epic Browser is the first product of Hidden Reflex founded by Bangalore based Alok Bharadwaj. Initially Hidden Reflex constituted 3 members and has consequently grown up.

When I came to know that there exists a browser for India made by Indians, I went up to the site to download it. Ammmazing work!! It has everything you need on one browser. So many applications that you can add, so many customizable themes which is India oriented and so on.

 
I'l start with the sidebar that is inbuilt with the browser.

•     Epic India is all about news of all categories
•     Epic Indic Text is where you can type in any of the Indian languages
•     Epic Skins lets you choose the themes and backgrounds and as i said it has lots to do with India
•     The browser has an inbuilt antivirus, a text editor, snippets-which lets users highlight words/  images       and save them automatically to your hard drive.                                                            
•     You can add your My computer,My documents etc to your sidebar for added convenience
•     Aaah,,this is for people who spend endless hours infront of computers like me-To do applications         and timers.Very helpful tool- especially for me coz whenever I start working on my computer I             eventually get pulled by social networking sites. Reallly addictive!
•     Needless to say, the browser has Facebook, Gmail, Orkut, Twitter,Yahoo,Maps in it. 
•     Additionally icons like travel,games, jobs are also present
•     Collections- The sites which the users open regularly can be put in a collection and can be opened 
•     Then the ususal apps like History,bookmarks downloads are also present.

Users are allowed upto 1500 applications to the browser.

 Unlike other browsers, Epic browser claims that they do not save user's search data.The look and feel of the browser is too good. From now on Epic is gonna be my default browser.

DOWNLOAD EPIC here

According to Alok Bhardwaj, CEO and Founder of Hidden Reflex, “We want to prove that India can be a hub for innovation in software and technology."  Sure it is :)

INDIANS ROCK!!

InterviewStreet

Are you a job seeker?

Are you in your final year of college awaiting placements?

Do you wish to get yourself into one of the tier one companies?

If yes, here you go..

There is an all new website you should check it out-interviewstreet.com

About the founders

InterviewStreet portal is started by two youngsters-Vivek Ravisankar and Harisankaran who finished their graduate degrees from National Institute of Technology, Trichy in 2008. They left behind their jobs at Amazon and IBM and started this portal which has a whole bunch of interesting features which I havent come across in any other portals so far.

Now about interviewstreet.com

So how does this different from the other ususal portals?

Heres the answer:

InterviewStreet enables you to attend mock interviews from highly skilled working professionals from the company you choose. Isnt tat cool??

At present they have four companies from which you can choose one- Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo and CTS. They claim to add more companies in future. Once you register for a company, in around 2 days or so, you get to attend the mock interview.

There are pricing plans as well :

For Bronze, you get 1 interview and 1 multiple choice question test.

For Silver, you get to attend 2 interviews and 1 online written test with evaluation.

For Gold,you attend 3 interviews, 2 tests and feedback of each question answered.

Pay and get benefits accordingly.

Not only does this website offer mock interviews, it also gives a lot of interview tips, phone interview tips, workshops that are about to be held in colleges and a lot of important stuffs you need to check out.

And visit mcq.interviewstreet.com also. It has the mock aptitute, verbal tests etc.

My favourite part of the portal is the 'Articles' section which is too informative to ignore. So make it a point to go through it.

So guys, make the best use of this portal and get yourself into one of those tier 1 companies out there!

And good luck to interviewstreet team!

Cheers!

The Google Phone-Nexus One

Launched on january 5,2010 the Google phone has been the talk of the town since then.I happened to see the video of how the phone works and its various features and what else can i say-"Its supercool"

Google's Nexus One:

You would have lesser problems operating Nexus One in daylight compared to the other smartphones released so far. This is because Nexus can auto adjust the brightness and turns down the processor when it is not used.

When it comes to smartphones the rule is dont expect much when it comes to camera. Well Google Nexus has broken that rule. The 5 megapixel camera is a real feast. Comes with four auto focus, flash, 2*digital zoom and more. Video recording is possible to the max 30 mins.

The Android tops the OS market because of its high responsiveness and speed. Scrolling and opening programs are done instantly which makes Nexus the best of all Android handsets.

Nexus is incorporated with almost all the Google products. Google Voice is integrated in the phone. You can assign your voice mail number and use it to call your friends or text them.(I love this feature)

Now my favourite part of the phone comes- Voice to Text input feature. You dont have to type messages anymore. Just tell your message by pressing he microphone button and the phone types it for you (including the punctuation marks)..If I get Nexus microphone wud be the most used feature in the phone :D

And there is lots more like YouTube, Picasa, GoogleMaps etc.

Finally, you cant stop having fun with Nexus. I'd say Nexus is the best of Android handsets released so far.

The Avatar Sensation

The recent release of the much awaited movie from the Oscar winning director James Cameron(Titanic) has raised many controversies especially in Italy. Now lets be fair by first reviewing the movie before going to the controversial part of it.

AVATAR - MOVIE REVIEW

A human getting stranded in a land of aliens and fighting back to survive is no different in Hollywood. But wait,,there has to be some difference coz remember the movie has been in the making for more than 10 years and it is directed by James Cameron who got Titanic numerous Awards.

The WETA Digital which was crowned for its work in "Lord of the Rings" and "King Kong" has once again proved itself in Avatar too. WETA used CGI technologies to transform the characters and the environment to the realistic 3D form leaving the audience spellbound.

No doubt the movie rocks!

THE AVATAR SENSATION IN ITALY

Vatican is not happy with the film because it has no restriction for the kids to watch this hi-tech adventure film and no warning for parents .The rating of Avatar is PG-13 in all countries. Two Italian organizations -Moige and AGE has argued to increase its rating.

The film was already slammed by a newspaper in Vatican for promoting nature worship.

And China is also about to ban Avatar from cinemas

Wondering wats gonna happen!!!

The new iPod from Apple

Apple which is known world wide for its user friendly gadgets has extended the features of its Nano iPod. Apple iPod came in two categories- shuffle and nano both of which had become a sensation once it entered the market. Nano which has been serving only music to millions is now coming up with video camera, Music genius, FM, VoiceOver and Fitness. Wats even more exciting is the size of the iPod is still the same. 

Video recorder:

With a few scrolls you could access the video camera and start recording the fun things happening around you. A built in mike lets u record the audio too. 

Music Genius:

Now this is not something new for those who are familiar with iTunes. When you really love a song you could turn on the genius in the nano which brings you a playlist of songs that would sound great with the one you love. If you are not satisfied with the playlist refresh it and give it a go for another combination of songs. 

And one of the best features of iTunes is Cover Flow which will be available in the upcoming Nano too. You cannot find an easier way to browse through your songs. And just give the Nano a shake to shuffle the songs. Pretty cool 

FM Radio:

FM in Nano is not just the FM you listen daily in your other gadgets. Besides playing the station you tuned in it also tells who and what you are listening to. Two mind blowing features which comes along with FM- Live pause and iTunes Tagging. If you had to go for a break while your favourite song is playing, just pause it and go ahead. The song is all yours and you can play when you want to. You can also rewind and fast forward it. And its still FM ( APPLE, YOU ROCK).

And what is all about iTunes tagging ? Say you listen to a song in FM and you seem to like it. When you goto iTunes library you forget the name of the song. Is this happening with you? Then new Nano makes it simple for you. You  can tag the songs and make a list of all the songs you like. Later when you synch it with iTunes you can download them as you wish.

Voice Over:

This is something that was already put in iPod Shuffle as an additional feature. Voice Over tells you what song you are listining to and also the artist without interrupting your music. And it talks multiple languages too. 

Fitness:

The built in accelerometer helps you to remain fit. You just turn it on before starting from your place to see how many footsteps you take to meet your goals. 

8GB iPod Nano costs $149 (around Rs.7000) and 16GB costs $179( around Rs.8500). Totally worth it and I cant stop falling in love with Apple gadgets. 

Waiting to get my pay cheque so that i get one. 

Microsoft succeeds in buying Yahoo!

In my last second post about Google Vs Microsoft on July 25th, I had written that Google and Microsoft stepped forward to buy Yahoo but eventually none succeeded. Well, this was 3 days ago :) Today Microsoft has bought Yahoo . From now on Bing (Microsoft's search engine) will be the offiicial search engine that would be found on Yahoo home page as a result of which you will find "powered by Bing".

So now the two Internet giants have joined hands to push back Google... (???!!!!)

The agreement is signed for 10 years during which Microsoft will focuss on search engine and Yahoo on ad sales. Microsoft apart from focussing on operating systems, hardware, browsers had also invested millions in search engine market as a result of which it was able to get Bing to the third place when Yahoo was on second and Google on top of everything. Now a partnership with Yahoo does make a difference.

So no doubt everyone would be eager to know who gets on top in search technology!!!
And Google is now high on developing free OS for PC's the success of which would be a bane for Microsoft Windows (obviously)!

We will only have to wait to know who gets what better (and Id be happy either ways coz Im a die hard fan of both the companies ;) )

Experience the 3D web browsing

When we come across the word 3D the first thing that comes to our mind is real time experience. We have watched 3D movies, played 3D games and done animation in 3D also. But this being an era of Inernet, 3D web browsing is also possible.



SpaceTime enables 3D web browsing. I happened to watch a video demonstration of this SpaceTime browser and wanted to try it at once. Although in the video the demonstrator says that spaceTime requries any system that runs Vista, the download page of the setup file says that it runs in windows XP too. Good for me :)




In SpaceTime web browser, when you give the address and click Enter the page opens in a cover flow format and gets you the required info. And there is no "add tab" button like what you usually find in other browsers. Initially I was disappointed by this but soon I found a button at the bottom which says "Goto the previous item of the stack". Click this button which displays all the pages you requested for in a stack.

Visit http://www.spacetime.com/

SpaceTime browser is fast and user friendly too. Im having great time surfing thro this 3D browser :D

Reinvent the web with Opera Unite

Here comes a website which lets you to access your files in PC from anywhere in the world. All you need is the registration of your computer name to the website.



I just downloaded Opera Unite to explore its features and i was surprised to see how the installation did not involve any complex third party products. The norwegian company which owns Opera says it aims to make every system as a web server thus enabling the users to share their files with the rest of the world. Although sharing files is available in other products released so far, the uniqueness of Opera unite lies in making every system as a server. With this you dont have to be infront of your PC to access and share your files.

Once you register your computer name with the website, you are provided with the link that makes your job easy. There are other things that come along with Opera Unite-

1. A media player to play as well as to send the audio files to your friends. You can also change the setting to public or private by which you can or cannot let others access your files.

2. File sharing module lets you share your files instantly with your friends. You dont have to worry about attaching files to mail or setting up an FTP service any longer.

3. And there is something called Fridge where you and your friends can leave a note and you get a notification when someone leaves a note.This is like what we do in our daily lives- you leave a note in a specified place for the intended person to see. I really love to see this feature in Opera Unite!

4. Photo sharing-Now this doesnt need much explanation coz we have been through a million photo sharing softwares.

5. The lounge is a chat server right on your computer without any third party websites. Really cool!

6. Sharing files are not restricted to just audio and image. Now you can host your websites too and let your friends know what your favorite sites are. This feature changes Opera Unite from browser to web server.

A browser that comes along with all these features. So what r u waiting for?
Opera Unite is available for download @ http://unite.opera.com/
Have fun exploring the new Opera Unite!

livekick

If you are a person who are looking forward for your favourite concerts , its schedules, updates, availablity of tickets etc, livekick is something that you would fall in love with.

Livekick is basically a ticket search engine tat lets u search for the available concerts near your location and the best prices of the tickets. Initially it gets to know the users' interest of who their favourite artists and their tastes. This can be done either by manually entering your favourite artist or by uploading your iTunes music library file. Accordingly livekick retrieves info about any concert near the user's location which matches their preferences .

Currently livekick's store contains the schedule for more than 75,000 concerts in U.S. Online ticket reservation is done with the help of sites like StubHub and eBay and it regularly tracks and displays the updates. The recommended sites will be available on the site itself which also provides an online calendar with the upcoming events.

Livekick also features an application that scans the user's computer for his/her favourite artists and updates them. You can get frequent updates about your favourite artists as well.

Sounds cool!!

Visit www.livekick.com

Omgili

Wondering wat it is?

We know that many search engines are out there working hard to become
the ultimate option for searching among people. In that list comes Omgili.

Wat has Omgili tried is that it retrives information from just forums
and discussion boards telling what people have discussed about that
particular topic you are searching for. To make it more interactive
Omgili launched Google@Omgili.

Google@Omgili provides similiar results to that of Google at the same
time retaining the unique features of Omgili. Visit www.gomgili.com.

Here u have 3 options-u can search Omgili or search google or both.
Searching Omgili or both Google and Omgili retrieves info with a
bubble beside the links saying if there was any discussion about the
topic and if so how many. And theres a small box at the right side of
the link generating a preview of the web page right there.

“As most of you are searching Google to find information, we
created a new service, named Google@Omgili, that integrates
Omgili into Google in a manner that should make searching
Google even better." says Omgili CEO Ran Geva.

Omgili clearly says that it not endorsed or sponsored by Google.

Good luck to Omgili team!

And now the iPod talks !!

Being an "Apple" fanatic, I usually keep seeing what its new releases are. Here you go,

The iPod which evidently has become a favourite gadgets to many because of its simple structure, user friendly and portability. Its affordable as well. This applies to both iPod nano and shuffle.

Coming to iPod shuffle,these are very simple with just 5 buttons and a flexible handle less than the size of your thumb. This has already become a hit in the market. And now like adding feather to the cap, Apple has introduced a feature which enables the iPod to talk.

It tells you what song is being played in the playlist and who the performer without interrupting the music and this is possible by just pushing one button. This is done by VoiceOver technology. A 4GB iPod shuffle can now play around 1000 songs. This VoiceOver doesnt limit itself to just music. You will be alerted when the iPod needs to be charged too.

Language is not important for music and this new iPod shuffle seems to know it. Coz VoiceOver can talk 14 different languages. Its inbuilt music library plays you the music from all over the world. So you hear songs in spanish, japanese and many more.

And for the first time, this iPod shuffle features multiple playlists as this was not available in the previous version of the product. Voice Over tells you the name of the playlists too thus paving way for easy navigation across the playlists.

The product has come up with a very user friendly nature so that it can be used with anyone with little effort.

Have fun using the new iPod shuffle.

Hats off to Apple :)

M-commerce

We all know what E-commerce means.. But there is something else that is new and interesting: M-commerce.

M-commerce is basically mobile commerce which enables transaction through wireless hand held devices. Unlike E commerce, this does not have to be wireline. Many top vendors like Nokia, Sony Ericsson are trying to implement WAP(wireless access protocol) in their smartphones to enable wireless transfer. Such hand held devices are expected to hit the market because of its fast, secure and scalable data transfer .


Recent books for m commerce are written by Norman M.Sadeh, a professor in Carnegie Mellon University,Pittsburg.
Though the area is still under research, it is expected to rapidly develop in future once implemented.
So we dont have to rely just on our PCs and laptops because this is no doubt the era of mobile phones taking over the place of PCs.

Apple's Safari 3.2

As i was surfing through Apple website i came across its recent browser called Safari. Fortunately it was available for Windows also. I just wanted to try to see if it is effective and then after downloading i felt its just too good to avoid.

Below the address bar is the homepage bar consisting of Google,Apple,Youtube, Wikipedia homepages in seperate tabs.The default Apple homepage displays its latest applications, latest movie trailers, headlines, latest book reviews, TV shows and so on.Unlike Google and Yahoo you dont have to select your widgets to be displayed on your homepage.It is all there by default.
The browser setup is 19mb in size and requires atleast 256mb RAM.
The sites u visited via other browsers from your PC are automatically loaded the first time u use Safari. This applies to the Bookmarks as well.
To sum up, Safari is speedy,attractive and user friendly.
So if you are someone who experiment new software/browser arrivals, here u go, u shudnt miss this!
Visit www.apple.com and click the downloads section
And share your experience with me.

The coolest smartphones of 2008

2008 has been the year of smartphones .In that case some phones have topped the market last year. Lets see which are those

1.Blackberry Storm

Blackberry Storm has become an outstanding product hitting the market in nov 2008.

Proves to be a good competitor for the iPhone. The Storm has all the facilities like Email, messaging, GPS, music, video recording, 3.2 megapixel camera with zoom option etc.

The key factor is the touch screen. When users type. the screen blends a little with a clickable sound.

Running on Verizon wireless 3G network Blackberry Storm costs about $200(as of nov2008)

2.Apple iPhone 3G

The much awaited smartphone of 2008 had a good hype even before it got released. The phone comes in 8GB and 16GB models and features WIFI, a 2 megapixel camera, Email, GPS,Safari browser and a touch screen.

The touch screen has multitouch and pinch facilities for better navigation and selection.

The iPhone also acts as a multimedia phone supporting nearly all the audio and video formats and has an integration with iTunes music Store.

Costs around $199 for 8GB model and $299 for 16GB model

3.T-Mobile G1

This HTC built smartphone is the first to operate on Google Android.

This phone has a keyboard layout and it slides out. Various features like GPS , Google Maps and WIFI.

T-Mobile G1 features a 3 megapixel camera and has access to the Amazon music Store.

The cost is around $180


4.Nokia N97
Nokia has introduced a computer in the form of a smartphone.

Has a keyboard layout, features GPS,WIFI,3G capabilities,3 megapixel camera and funtions on Symbian operating system.

Nokia N97 offers streaming facilities for videos-something which is not present in the other smartphones at present.

With 40 GB of memory space this mobile computer costs around $700.

5.Sony Ericsson Experia X1

The release of this smartphone has been postponed but it already has become a common talk among people.

Experia X1 features audio and video streaming, surfing, multimedia messaging, Email, GPS, 3.2 megapixel camera, music player,video recording and so on.

Runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 professional and has a keyboard layout.

Cost is fixed to $800.

6.Blackberry Bold

This smartphone provides all the functionalities of Blackberry like Email, messaging, GPS, Bluetooth etc.

Provides a qwerty layout keyboard for typing and features WIFI, browser, 2 megapixel camera with zoom facility and video recording.

It supports voice activated dialling and has access to AT&T music store.

Costs around $300.


7.HTC FUZE

Comes up with a 3D user interface in touch screen, Opera browser

with zooming.

Running on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, HTC Fuze enables users to work on Microsof Word, Excel, One Note and PowerPoint.

Features 3.2 megapixel camera,GPS,bluetooth,push to talk and has access to AT&T Music stores.

Costs around $300.

8.Nokia E71

Nokia E71 has proved to be a business device.

Provides encryption for memory cards with 110MB of internal memory and can be extended upto 8GB external memory.

Runs on Symbian OS and features a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus.

Supports a music player too.

And it costs around $400.



9.LG Incite

This sexy smartphone runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and therefore provides access to Microsoft Word,Excel and so on.

Features GPS, Email, WIFI and Bluetooth etc.

The Incite has Windows media Player. A 3 megapixel camera with video recording facility is available.

Provides 16GB of memory space.

Costs around $200.

10. Samsung Instinct

Instinct runs on Sprints network and provides functions like visual voice mail.

Users can listen to music while surfing and also paly games. Features a 2 megapixel camera, video recording, Live TV, Bluetooth, an integrated World clock, extendable memory upto 8GB and messaging.

Released in June 2008, the price is around $130.

Smart softwares for day-to-day use

Very few try different softwares available in the internet. Some of the softwares which i found are very useful to us in day to day life.
I have a mobile phone which has just 256MB memory space.As you all may know,50 songs at the maximum can be stored.But i have manged to store 120 songs at present. This is possible by a compression software. Convert mp3 to ringtone which reduces the size of a song to less than half its original size without quality loss. Sometimes songs can also be reduced to Kb's.The same thing also applies to pictures.Try it and save your memory space.

You may any time be tempted to buy a new mobile.Not all contacts will be saved in your memory or sim card.So why dont you have a back up of your contacts in your PC? A software exists which enables you to store all the contacts and to retrieve them when needed. You can also provide a password to unlock this software.

And another software i found useful is the "folder lock".Not only folders does it lock but any files or even drives.If you think your PC is not confidential enough,go for this. You hav to lock a folder with an authenticated password as a result of which this folder does not even appear in the directory.You need to give your password correctly to retrieve the file. In this way your data stays secure.