Tuesday, May 24, 2011

iTouched, iLoved & iOwn an iPad now

Eventually the day has come for me to have this beautiful gadget in my hands and not to worry about anything else at least for now. After a long wait, anticipation, excitement and thrill this super smart gadget reached home and I have been playing with it for couple of days. Whatte a device! Pure simplicity in your hands.

First to begin with, a good applause should go to Mr.Jonathan Ive, the principle designer for the apple products. He is seriously a magician when it comes to look and feel of the iPad. Beautiful would definitely be an understatement. Simply spectacular. And then comes the user interface, amazing it is. I have been "busy" lately because of iPad. Very smooth, responsive and also shows simplicity in every use. No wonder it is the most hipped and most sorted device at current scenario.

Then comes the applications for iPad, which simply is called apps. I would dare say iPad is nothing without apps. The kind of apps you will find in the app store I am sure it will blow your mind, very vast collection indeed. I must have download some 50 plus apps within few days of using it and I am so happy and glad that each app comes with such generous usage and uniqueness. At present there is no comparison for the app category from any of its competitors, Apple's iPad is well ahead of all others in this category. And the main point is it's not mostly the name sake apps, most of them are really very useful apps which brings simplicity that a tablet PC should have. No complications at all while using it. Starting from browsing, reading books, playing games, incredible battery life of over 10 hours and exploring the amazing apps specifically designed for iPad, this is one great gadget you have to consider having it.

I have seen Google's Android tablets, used for sometime and checked it again to have an idea and to do little comparison. Honestly there is no "wow" factor in there. Google has to do something about this. No matter how hard some of the manufacturers try they could not compete when it comes to software. When browsing in the Android tablet many times I have had trouble browsing it, most of the times the browser crashed pathetically. And then when it comes to apps, yes there are some good apps In Android market I agree but you really have to search and find such apps. The vast category of apps is missing in Android market and of course this is as of now, I am sure it is evolving. No matter how much they beat their heart out and tell customers what they have got, it's high time they really should show what specialties they have got which ultimately differentiates them from iPad. In simple term, they should not try to copy the iPad features. They should come up with different ideas.

Of course there is not all "right" aspects in iPad, first comes the crappy cameras. Not even a single mega pixel camera, really? Come on Mr. Jobs. Lately, there is not any popular gadget which at least comes without a single mega pixel camera. Of course you don't need a super cool camera for a device like this because it is odd to hold and capture images or video. But not even a single mega pixel camera for video chatting through Facetime? It's a bummer. Given the fact that the reviews of camera for the fourth generation iPod touch was very bad, Apple must have at least provided a decent camera for this very popular universal gadget. And then we all will miss the Flash Player for this wonderful tablet, which other platforms have the edge over it. Luckily some of the popular websites are adopting to iPad compatibility apps but still there are tons of websites which deliberately need Flash player. We all will miss Flash for sure. And then Apple's iOS is often criticized for being such a closed platform which is not like it's peer. Downloading files and organizing it are very easy when it comes to other devices which is not so in iPad. But then if you really want to go with a leader, you have to follow the rules and restrictions, no other go.

For some certain reasons, at present Apple's iPad is the market leader when it comes to tablet market is concerned. For any naysayers just the volume of shipping and demand for the product clearly shows the truth and I don't have to argue with it. If Google's Android is going to compete, it really has to show some unique features, fix a lot of issues in its software and more importantly it has to bring the "Aha" feature if not the "wow" feature. A lot to work and show us something special Mr.Android. And for some hardware manufacturers please don't brag about the same old song, "You can see flash contents, you can have great cameras in our tablets". Serious question to you all is despite the drawback why iPad is still in the winning streak. Better find the answer and bring it more in your tablets. As customers we would love to have more varieties in any product category, we would always give green signal for the competition and all we expect is some unique features not just the mere imitators who boast about how well they could polish the old shoes. Please show us something new.

Tablet PCs are getting better and better each day. Take any technology news and you will find many new tablets on its way in the current situation. Probably by this year end you might end up with more number of tablets than you ever imagined. Every company has jumped into the tablet bandwagon and the laptop sales are going south wards. After having iPad for a short while I have to admit that I haven't touched my Macbook Pro that much which is surprising for me. But that's me. It all depends on your use. If you are not into any serious laptop oriented work like programing and other stuffs, I am sure tablet is right for you. And a serious thing to consider is which tablet is right for you before you buy it. To put it simple, you have to decide whether you want to go with a leader or a follower in this regard. iPad is definitely the leader and no doubt about it while others just fall into the category of being the followers. And then this scenario is as of now and things might and should change, as a consumer we would all love the heavy competition.

Competition - Hands down its iPad now. iPad is "The Tablet" and Steve Jobs is the Emperor. iPad's simplicity, fantastic design, amazing apps clearly makes it a market leader. And if anyone thinking of buying a tablet, you owe yourself time to have a look at iPad. And I am sure you will thank me later for that suggestion. Please go with iPad if you don't really need a laptop or wait some more time to enjoy the heavy competition right ahead with other tablet manufacturers and also with Google's Android to get it's feet rightly in. 

I am so glad I waited this long to jump into this amazing gadget. After a lot of anticipation, excitement and also some disappointment (as I could not get it on first day of its launch), it perfectly landed in my hands on May 17th and I am rightly on track with the technology leader.

iLove my iPad. And I typed this post from my iPad :-)

Monday, May 16, 2011

Taking time

Okay, getting back to my blog. Hmm it took this long to get back again. No specific reason to avoid blogging though. But Interesting is that I received couple of comments during this time frame which ultimately made me feel guilty. There has to be at times, at frequent intervals you really have to see or check yourself for what you are doing, I would call this time as such. Just felt like I want to sit back and see what I have been doing for sometime, and it was really worth a try. For a good change I wish I can do better cooking so that I can blog and post recipes, seriously there are several blogs out there which are very useful. Not only recipes, every other topics. Amazing and useful blogs I come across in all topics. I wish I had that talent. Sigh.

We moved to a new place, especially to a beautiful apartment community which I fell in love from the moment I stepped in. And I keep patting myself for selecting this one. Whatte a beautiful landscape we have got here in this apartment complex. This is one of the times I really feel happy living in US and the previous apartment was a crap in all terms. And coming to Texas, we seem to be sticking with this state for a quite a long and looks like it doesn't like the idea of us leaving the place. Now I want to go back to refresh my memory, only few months before life was pretty harsh on us, lot of uncertainties, lot of chaos, lot of silence, lot of turmoil. And in the end we survived and as some say there has to be some reason. I am so glad everything is fine now.

As a cricket fan, I enjoyed, cheered, shouted and loved every moment watching World Cup matches and elated would be an understatement as our team won the precious cup. Well deserved win, Team India.

As I posted previously my new love, Macbook Pro is getting better and better each day. Amazing innovation Mr. Steve Jobs. Just love it. I could not take my hands off from it and interestingly iPad 2 is on its way home which sure will make me more entertained soon.

Then comes the breaking news of death of Osama Bin Laden, the entire world was relieved finally. And an era of cruelty and revenge came to an end eventually. Nice to read this from somewhere, "Obama Got Osama". Well executed plan, Mr. President. There was this unique front cover page in Time magazine after the death of Adolf Hitler and now after all these years there was a similar one for this man, Osama Bin Laden, the name alone will tell lot of blood shed tales. Reminded me of a time when I read about him through a small book and when I finished I only thought all his talent was channelized for a wrong and disastrous thought. I was watching a repeated program about 9/11 attacks in National Geographical Channel and was thinking what could be the reason to make such a heart wrenching attack in the heart of US. What made this man to bring such adversity to Americans? I have few books to read about him. Sure will read soon. Between, Don't ever mess with America!

And here comes the latest election news from Tamilnadu, before that a quick remembrance from the past. During 1996 election, the most popular, the most talented, the most humble man from the acting field who is popularly called as "The Super Star" came on a popular television channel and requested people of Tamilnadu to wake up for good and get away from the current ruling party. I could still recollect his words as it created lot of uproar at that time. He still remains the most sought actor and the most popular personality. At that time the ruling party was under scrutiny for which the leader was a bright lady who acted as a "Royal Queen" by wasting lot of people's money lavishly. There were lot of reports, news, criticism circulating around at that time, which sure set the alarm for the people of Tamilnadu. Fast forward to this time, the present ruling party which consists mainly of one family created so much stir in the entire nation right now. There were reports of major corruption which came to limelight and the entire nation stood united to fight against it. I was so ashamed to read an article in The New York Times about a major corruption which this whole family seeded and executed shamelessly. The whole scam was a shame to the entire country which was carried out by this disgusting family group who are the leaders. Interestingly this time, this actor didn't give any voice for the current situation as he did during 1996 election though this scam was a remarkable dent not only to a particular state and also to the entire nation. And more interesting it gets as this particular party which used this actor for voicing for their party during 1996 elections has now (May 2011) spreading rumors that this actor is dead making sure to divert their worst failure in the current election. These people should be taught a lesson. And here comes the election result, well played People of Tamilnadu. That's a nice and silent fight you could show to such people, no wonder we all belong to Mahatma Gandhi's "Ahimsa" philosophy. The way you showed them, simply superb, I loved it. To our new Chief Minister, Whatte a courageous Lady, bring on some light please. We sure had been in darkness for quite a long time.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

What a day it is!


In the world cup cricket 2011 India won in the semi finals and is heading to the finals. Interesting match it was. Well done Men in Blue, looking forward to the finals.

One more and most important happy moment for today is I just brought a new Mac Book Pro Laptop. My first laptop and I am so glad I got a Mac, Steve Jobs here is the baby step into your world, Sorry Mr. Bill Gates, I have used windows enough in my life, time to move on to the direction of Innovation. I am sure it's going to be a learning experience for my hubby too, I will make sure he learns more about iOS. And most importantly I will make sure this laptop is well pampered. Love it Mr.Jobs. My beautiful baby. And of course I am typing this post from my Mac.

Next up iPad 2!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

When in love, everything is beautiful

This post will be like dusting a hidden diary of mine. Thinking so much of a person, I could not help myself from going back to the wonderful memories we spent together. Those memories will remain one among the best time in my life and to recollect those moments now, I suddenly feel like a excited kid...

I don't know whether to call this as a destiny but I am sure God has some reasons for this to happen. This is going to be a journey of mine which happened a few years back. It might sound funny but still it's true, I happen to like a language so much because I loved watching movies in that language. But then how long can I watch those movies without knowing the language? Result being searching for a person in my place who knows the language. Then I found a person, a lady who's going to be the main reason for this post.

Gosh, I could still picture the first meet we had, I was so silent when she spoke for the first time. Then from the very second day I realized there is something about this person that makes me feel very special about her. Words sometimes fail to convey the feeling you have for a person, that is exactly what I am feeling right now. So many butterflies I felt inside, so many wonderful moments, she's such a vibrant person to show me so many good things about life especially the love which I missed for a long long time.

I still remember the first SMS I sent to her cellphone after filtering it from so many messages. And I did all the possible crazy things for her which brings a smile on my face now. "Super Joke", this word is going to be one of the most weirdest reply someone could get when showing the affection towards a person and yes, I got this reply from her. The kind of affection and understanding we had for each other was so amazing. God only knows how much I lied to others to be with her. Every evening was a celebration for me to spend some quality time with her. Oh, did I say all this started for learning a language? who cared about a language? It didn't mattered at all as we were like kids having too much fun, thanks to a bunch of kids who made it more interesting then.

Thank you Airtel for the special offer you gave us to talk endlessly otherwise our family might probably went broke. We talked and talked for hours together. I always believed her to be my most personal diary, there is nothing I hide it from her. She was my best friend and also a well wisher with whom I shared a lot of things. I have never admired a person for his/her sense of humor but for the first time in my life I happen to notice that from her. Such an amazing light hearted soul who made me to think that most of the things in life has to be taken so lightly which I could not make it till date.

I remember sitting on the top floor and watching the Orion Constellation at night which I call it as 'I love you stars'.We sat together on the stairs talking about stupid things and watching the traffic in the town.She's someone who gets more excited about my birthday than myself. She baked a very big cake for one of my birthdays.We used to visit a small temple every Friday and God only knows what she was praying as she used to pray a lot.

There are certain things in life which others would never understand and that has happened to me time to time. It's so unfortunate to even think that this beautiful relationship has to face so much stiffness which ultimately came to an end. If fate was the reason for our meet then I would blame it on the same fate for having ended this story in such shame.

Thinking of those days, I still could not able to believe my eyes how I crossed such a bad phase. Nothing helped at that time. After almost having lost two of my close people and also facing all nightmares at home, I got attached to this person and which eventually gotten me into trouble. No one understood then and I doubt the fact they would come to understand in the near future too.

My life today is going smoothly at least in most of the ways and I wholeheartedly thank God for that. So I can take a selfish step to make sure I avoid this person entirely who stood by my side during my worst times. Infact I have seen people who have done that to me blaming it on their hectic life, family, kids or whatever. If I do that cruel blunder to this person I would not call myself as a human ever.

There was a time, out of nowhere through my extended family I was offered a job which landed me in night shift in a nearby city. If there is anything in the world I cared much about me that would be eating and sleeping. I was so nervous and went to that office at night for the first time, believe it or not every one hour I received a message in my cell phone from her asking me to stay awake. There was only one person who didn't sleep along with me on that night and that was her! Who on earth would do that? A mother? She certainly is....

And one day I fumed being part of such disgusting people and I left the place for good. I don't know where to go. I took a bus, went to a city. A city which is not familiar at all to me. She called and at first I denied telling her where I am going and finally I did. She convinced me that she would meet me pretty soon. I still remember the way she looked at me on that day as though nothing happened. She then took me to a near by temple and did the comforting part. She could be the best friend I can ask for.

Let me name a person in my entire family and my friends, she could easily tell how they are related to me. She cared so much about me and the people who have been part of my life. And also the kind of sufferings we both went through in this relationship, I promise no one could dare face such terrible moments in their life. I know others must have played the game safe.

If I were to picture herself ever then that would probably picturing herself with lots of kids. She always looked so beautiful among the kids, such a ravishing personality that you could not deny her presence even among the cute kids. She is the best teacher any student can ask for, such a dedicated and a patient soul.

I could not able to invite her to my wedding, I felt so guilty for that but still she showed up on that day. She was the only person I hugged on that day thanking her for what she has just done. I really doubt the fact whether I could able to meet such an unconditional soul ever on earth. In American term it's called "The Bird and Bee's Talk", one day I asked her a "doubt" in that and it's so funny to recollect how uncomfortable and embarrassed she felt explaining that to me. One of the most funniest and also a touching moment in my life. In Indian standards it's way too awkward moment for anyone to explain.

I would probably go on and on typing about her because it makes me feel so happy and then it also makes me sick of knowing that those days are gone forever and I hate the fact that I don't have any touch with her right now. Dear Mr. God, you really act like a jerk sometimes and I don't know what to do with you. Most of the people who cared about me are either taken away by you orelse some people voluntarily left me for they felt something is better than being with me. And this one, it's called fate.

I haven't made any friends after her. Some questioned me for being so lonely locking myself in an 700 square foot apartment here. I could not able to explain the reason to them. But I have started liking the fact that I am alone doing something useful other than feeling emotional or sensitive in life.

I have met some Interesting people and also some worst people in my life. What more can I add now? That man (her husband) was amazing, he knew I was digging for a treasure. He knew I noticed the treasure and watched me everyday as I was putting all the effort to lift it from down under. And when I eventually lifted it, he suddenly asked me to leave as it belonged to him. He said he owned it! Interesting thing was he never even cared what he had until I came along, he didn't even respected her feelings and then he didn't cared to provide her any peace. 

Every single people I told this, they advised me to leave her because I was just a trespasser. Nice to know people, it was very soothing indeed and thank you! And every single person who noticed what she has gone through because of him and his family knew what she deserves in life. How could her family accept this in first place? I hate to digest the fact that it's a love marriage. If she were my daughter I would have killed her rather than helped her married to this monster and sent to be with his filthy people. She did the exact same mistake my mom did several years back. She too called it as love. And the bitter truth is I am talking about two wonderful ladies who deserved way better life but then fallen trap in the name of love to the most disgusting men ever on earth. There is a term for this, "Good girls fall for bad boys"! I swear to God if these men are to get such a blessed life, I bet every single human deserves thousand more chances to receive true love and a beautiful life.

Everything is over and who cares now? For the last few days she kept coming to my mind, probably because of her birthday and I could not help wondering how she's doing right now. But then who am I to care for all this? I don't want to knock those doors which belongs to someone. This is the most crappiest term I could ever imagine, "Belonging to Someone"or "someone owning someone". Even I have been part of so many people in every part of my life, as a daughter, as a grand child, as a sister, as a cousin, as a friend, as a wife and so on. No one can claim that I belonged to one particular person, I have been in parts and love the fact that I belong to each individual rather than a particular person. Are we an object to be owned by someone? Never mind...

When in love, everything looks beautiful and when in hatred, everything falls apart. My love for this person would never vanish in my lifetime and in the same way my hatred for another person would never go away too. But then there would be a part of me which would get a life from time to time thinking about those wonderful moments, making sure I will always love her and also miss her all my life.

Interesting few incidents happened recently, probably will happen more...One day I really got pissed off by my cooking and started searching for recipes. As I took a book which was given by this person, I looked exactly for my favorite recipe in the index page and then went straight to that page, I saw these words from her on the top of the page for the first time, "My Akil's favorite recipe!". Tears poured down seeing those words.

Then again another incident, last month I was alone for almost a week as my husband went for an official trip and I felt tired of being lonely. Record level snow happened in my place during that time and it was not advisable to step out of my apartment. But still when he came back I behaved like a kid, I cried, I fought and I said I want to get out of this apartment at least for a short walk. Then I went alone for a walk in that weather, managed to check the mail box and was surprised to receive a birthday card from her. It was one among several cards she sent to me for this birthday. God knows what I felt on that moment but still he would not help me. Damn God.

I have rightly gave her a nick name long back...JAANU, I am glad the meaning of this word rightly blends in, the first reason of having met her ie the Hindi language and then the second reason would be being my life, love, sweet heart, darling...

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

This isn't fair Mr.Steve Jobs

Hi Mr. Jobs,

Hope everything is fine at your end. I am kind of sad as I still could not able to find your iPad 2 anywhere Steve. As you knew and we all knew we expected a huge crowd on the day of your tablet release. There were reports that people camped outside in few apple stores for days before, to get their first hands on the device. How nice! And then there was another report about a lady who camped outside the New York apple store for couple of days and sold her first spot to a man for a ransom of $900! Wow, What an idea!

Apart from your apple store, you have informed that your product will also be available in other retail stores like Best Buy, Target and Walmart exactly the same time on the same day. But shockingly they only had very few, in fact countable numbers with them and which sold out within few minutes. Then when inquired in your own apple store and other retailers they didn't have any idea when the next batch of your iPad 2 will be available. Remember how much you boasted during the iPad 2 event that the first generation iPad sold about 15 million tablets within 9 months time frame, taking that into account are you not aware of the demand for your iPad 2 on the first day of its release? Keeping in mind of the great track record of how crazy apple fans are when it comes to the release date of most of your lovable products (iPods, iPod Touchs, iPhones & iPad).

Then comes the online ordering from your apple store for iPad 2. At first the shipping days showed 2-3 days, then within few minutes it showed 3-5 days, then after sometime it slipped to 2-3 weeks. At this time as I type it is showing 4-5 weeks! It's disappointing to notice that despite the expected demand and its popularity, this gadget seemed to be out of reach for another month.

Do you feel intimidated by the growing speed of Google's Android, Mr. Jobs? Have you started noticing the Android's threat already? As your product cycle used to be one year, what made you to rush up for the March iPad event as it has to be during April? Then your pricing for the iPad 2 is very shocking. Apple is very famous for its over priced products and now suddenly you haven't increased your iPad 2's price. Happened to read an article yesterday about your iPad 2's components and I noticed that the enhanced components cost you more which ultimately reduces the profit margin of your gadgets. You have never compromised for anything, why suddenly now? You better know even if you have increased the price by $100, people would still be buying it but you didn't, why? And then forgot to ask you this, Are you disappointed to notice that there wasn't much crowd (like it used to be) for Verizon's iPhone 4 release a couple of months back? So you are really pissed off by this one incident and that's why you want us to wait in line everyday in front of your apple store to have your iPad 2? Are you trying to create an "artificial demand" for your product? And then did you check Ebay, some morons are bidding a new iPad 2 for $200,000! Bingo! See the price of your single gadget, amazing right?

Call me a person of very little knowledge, in a sense it's true, but I have never seen or heard about any product getting this much attention. A kind request to you Mr Jobs, You have got an amazing company, a wonderful product line up, a fine talent hub and a greatest CEO a company could ask for and that being you, Mr. Jobs. I still believe that you are such a visionary to bring the simplicity to every customer in every product of yours. No matter how crazy some of your fans are, myself included, you have earned it and you deserve each one of them. Please don't disappoint us and please don't behave like others. You are so different from others and your products are always used to be well ahead of its time. We all love your Apple Inc as much as you do!

Can't wait to hold your iPad 2. I have waited this long to know about you and your products and I can wait for some more time. I love Apple Inc and I am sticking with you, Sir.

Take good care of your health Mr. Jobs.

Cheers,
Akila.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

The iPad 2

Yesterday was a day I realized myself being one of the craziest persons following a technology news very eagerly. The more I hear about Steve Jobs, more respect and love goes out to him. I would never forget this day as it was first of its kind for me to follow a gadget release event. The last time when the first generation iPad released, there were several breaking news showing up on television with pictures of him and his first generation iPad but then I had no idea who this person was. Thank God, I know him now.

As expected he was present for this event and he seemed to be in better health and I am so glad. After receiving huge applause and standing ovation for his presence, his first words were this, "We've been working on this product for awhile, and I didn't want to miss it." And then he introduced his iPad 2.

The most anticipated iPad 2 is thinner, lighter, has front and back cameras, higher processor, same 10 hour battery and the best part is it's going to be the same price as like the iPad first generation and will be available only from March 11th. Hmm...One more week to go...

I liked Steve Jobs ending note for this event:

"This is worth repeating. It's in Apple's DNA that technology is not enough. It's tech married with the liberal arts and the humanities. Nowhere is that more true than in the post-PC products. Our competitors are looking at this like it's the next PC market. That is not the right approach to this. These are pos-PC devices that need to be easier to use than a PC, more intuitive. The hardware and software need to intertwine more than they do on a PC. We think we're on the right path with this."

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Apple iPad second generation event


Finally! The most anticipated news came out just minutes before to me and to all the apple fans. Yay! Can't wait for the apple event on March 2nd. Come on Mr.Steve! I can't wait to hold your beautiful product, bring it on Steve. Apple rocks. My long wait comes to an end. And yes, this is going to be my first apple product. I am so proud to be an Apple fan. I love, love apple soooo much. And to all other tablet PC, watch out guys Apple iPad 2 is on its way. Woohoo! I am super excited today.