tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119039102024-03-08T06:17:58.212+05:30B for BlogAny thing under the sun? I don't think so..sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-3884113197054192682009-08-03T17:40:00.002+05:302009-08-03T17:45:52.735+05:30Blogging to micro-bloggingSince I like to say things in very few words and I can't really find things to fit into 100 words or so for a blog, I've started liking microbloggin a.k.a twitter than this. <div><br /></div><div>So, over to twitter till I get some really good stuff to blog about.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is my channel</div><div><a href="http://twitter.com/sandysmobile">http://twitter.com/sandysmobile</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Why sandysmobile? Coz, I'm mostly tweeting and reading tweets from mobile. Unless I've to checkout a link or to post a link. </div>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-3199177624035906292009-02-23T21:40:00.006+05:302009-02-23T23:01:03.892+05:30A malayalam paper on 24-02-09?How will a popular malayalam news paper 'malayala panorama' look like on 24th feb 2009?<br /><br />Ok, whats special about this day? Two Indians got Oscar awards and a movie shot in Indian background won many awards.<br /><br />Can you imagine how malayala panorama will put their paper together on the next morning? (24th)<br /><br />Let me try..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihoFfVCJORZpv-iXXzpqYw8cih9IU6aO_SihpdSPINe9KsfPmkGJhLemuVwyWpmmHsWfT0-Q9vrgHK7Z4e1c8OW6C5z93WOIVEiRGUdk_zoWiA0nYm2xJLGf4cGsuMYeMclpYW/s1600-h/oscar2.PNG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 390px; height: 570px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihoFfVCJORZpv-iXXzpqYw8cih9IU6aO_SihpdSPINe9KsfPmkGJhLemuVwyWpmmHsWfT0-Q9vrgHK7Z4e1c8OW6C5z93WOIVEiRGUdk_zoWiA0nYm2xJLGf4cGsuMYeMclpYW/s400/oscar2.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306046238037071506" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />If they could, they would have added a diagram showing resul vanna vazhi, award vangiya spot, acceptance speech deliver cheyta sthalam and poya vazhi etc, to the front page of the paper.<br /><br />Long live malayala panorama.. :-)<br />Calendar panorama thanne..<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />---<br />Disclaimer: I've atmost respect for the Oscar award winners Mr Resul Pookkutty and A.R Rahman. Don't get me wrong there.. You've made us proud...sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-87647967796810215462008-12-23T20:04:00.020+05:302008-12-23T21:14:37.508+05:30Travel year - 2008It was last year that we(soo and me) decided 2008 would be a travel year. And we accomplished that to some extend.. :)<br /><br />Everything started with a wedding anniversary celebration at Sahib Sindh Sultan..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAYnfMsrXDiEu8vyqxf7EK_44PzFQWYrGw290ZRNgYQANlDiyEXO8IGU3_hE9xi_ANpt0DCxYpe3iHtvYlkEU3F4OsXZsP6lySeI_pbEtbGd9aCEEvg2DZBXgHAKz0-Sw9NPOY/s1600-h/DSCN7132.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 119px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAYnfMsrXDiEu8vyqxf7EK_44PzFQWYrGw290ZRNgYQANlDiyEXO8IGU3_hE9xi_ANpt0DCxYpe3iHtvYlkEU3F4OsXZsP6lySeI_pbEtbGd9aCEEvg2DZBXgHAKz0-Sw9NPOY/s320/DSCN7132.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283003578955030690" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Followed by a small Nandi hills trip.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6n2hWZSGVr9yr5pCKKRdf9g8QVFSqoygbgq4Ia63QPvF7-rabxywDL3mNq7Pa2nAacEX4CVmaPyZIxE8JUjugVVEqGPzA47yqT87IWkPAhbxHnJiXD7HSROu25O1XhqW9ybJ_/s1600-h/27012008511.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6n2hWZSGVr9yr5pCKKRdf9g8QVFSqoygbgq4Ia63QPvF7-rabxywDL3mNq7Pa2nAacEX4CVmaPyZIxE8JUjugVVEqGPzA47yqT87IWkPAhbxHnJiXD7HSROu25O1XhqW9ybJ_/s320/27012008511.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283004992721220594" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The actual wedding anniversary celebration was next. At Ooty. 3 days trip, by car. We decided to skip the usual stuff (like botanical garden...) and explore places like emerald lake & the heritage toy train to Coonoor.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOP8ls7WbrZd5z_IW3PoMsP4QZaC3nUCqcgzL-IIoMDNVoHQ_kX4YxWnMeSN0QW_zidOCe0eEmi2nyTMFQhj00HjzVWetA-VaqWsn-F7Nutg5cOuvSJ_gFihZyImczsXrlZR4E/s1600-h/DSCN7276.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOP8ls7WbrZd5z_IW3PoMsP4QZaC3nUCqcgzL-IIoMDNVoHQ_kX4YxWnMeSN0QW_zidOCe0eEmi2nyTMFQhj00HjzVWetA-VaqWsn-F7Nutg5cOuvSJ_gFihZyImczsXrlZR4E/s320/DSCN7276.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283005456114265746" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvj69NiKpxiCjjXCyKJQb_jpvNOqVR-8JONc8GaBWEtDRr99JRR2j-kNaRqCqF2MM4Dl9NMNUYdyM3-2OQCM5eFYgce6bFBkXvU2PX_6yYcYj_HXx03IimjojceGk1UPEpgkV/s1600-h/03022008550.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvj69NiKpxiCjjXCyKJQb_jpvNOqVR-8JONc8GaBWEtDRr99JRR2j-kNaRqCqF2MM4Dl9NMNUYdyM3-2OQCM5eFYgce6bFBkXvU2PX_6yYcYj_HXx03IimjojceGk1UPEpgkV/s320/03022008550.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283005569528648386" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Next in line was a big one. End of March it was.. A 5 days trip to Singapore. First international vacation.. :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirJX2B4a4kAQ8ajJ7cw-lY9dCH_isDgA2Ub1hET3bkvg96mfrbKTs3JEb9cX-K3ahMamZ5GR-hEM6f2yq6NieKATxODHgoDd64r-3AFHxD5SnYVLV-Tfk-gVPNmRzGNQ8Rv7GA/s1600-h/DSCN7532.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirJX2B4a4kAQ8ajJ7cw-lY9dCH_isDgA2Ub1hET3bkvg96mfrbKTs3JEb9cX-K3ahMamZ5GR-hEM6f2yq6NieKATxODHgoDd64r-3AFHxD5SnYVLV-Tfk-gVPNmRzGNQ8Rv7GA/s320/DSCN7532.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283006043602515154" border="0" /></a><br />April was somewhat dull compared to March.. Just went to Athirappilly from home.. Family trip. Seen this place many times.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBeSJFngdmrcL8emjv2vDF9jTlKgWIFKvh0ZLd-flTLgNYkreaORJo9qpPQIsT9t1RiSUesifv9y2G-ubCA2beZ5t5dvQi_q7VdnZri-KjgQeJgoxpnCBkGTKpA8_VGR5oE-p/s1600-h/DSCN8059.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBeSJFngdmrcL8emjv2vDF9jTlKgWIFKvh0ZLd-flTLgNYkreaORJo9qpPQIsT9t1RiSUesifv9y2G-ubCA2beZ5t5dvQi_q7VdnZri-KjgQeJgoxpnCBkGTKpA8_VGR5oE-p/s320/DSCN8059.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283006506137084098" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Came May and came two trips.. One local and one interstate.. :)<br />We went to Kannur for Binoy's bro's marriage. Thalassery and nearby areas. One surprise was a parasailing event at Muzhuppilangad beach.. Flew parachute for the 1st time.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNA7X35Hjm7XBYfQZIFLX_OF8a1JSx9gNK3fhgXeL7qUvAtera12c69kdMPytH69bssD90kl647295mJnc6qhuRE3Jw6A4-DUqX1cg-gPz35cdZpOBwqOVzlxcbfUrgWsTiL8i/s1600-h/IMG_9501.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNA7X35Hjm7XBYfQZIFLX_OF8a1JSx9gNK3fhgXeL7qUvAtera12c69kdMPytH69bssD90kl647295mJnc6qhuRE3Jw6A4-DUqX1cg-gPz35cdZpOBwqOVzlxcbfUrgWsTiL8i/s320/IMG_9501.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283006878391630018" border="0" /></a><br /><br />June was time for an overseas trip.. official though.. unlucky Soo couldn't get a taste of it..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCempHCfc5z3o-xJCfm7AVwLtpElJDEgG3hRHjY4TqS8bN4Zre9PgsboFPmuXD13fboRQ6tgQyPir3M1h696j1z_j-xARrrU6Y4uRvNq6ZpRaEefcevnc0I4irfMt-CnS6AkP/s1600-h/DSCN8326.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCempHCfc5z3o-xJCfm7AVwLtpElJDEgG3hRHjY4TqS8bN4Zre9PgsboFPmuXD13fboRQ6tgQyPir3M1h696j1z_j-xARrrU6Y4uRvNq6ZpRaEefcevnc0I4irfMt-CnS6AkP/s320/DSCN8326.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283007268047337842" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So when I came back, the 1st thing we did was to go to Wayanad. 2 days trip. Nice place and nice (rainy) weather.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHgcv_QQkYLy4QUE0iDh-SsJjCQxdf2j4-nj1-cbExuoPyEh0XFp2wAufFkIZfbFuTROA5J9Gu6LA8GmH1rqXnXH8OjeribF7kawBYvdl3SvJPmNGMWlAtOR84dHup3qpDv-TC/s1600-h/DSCN8532.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHgcv_QQkYLy4QUE0iDh-SsJjCQxdf2j4-nj1-cbExuoPyEh0XFp2wAufFkIZfbFuTROA5J9Gu6LA8GmH1rqXnXH8OjeribF7kawBYvdl3SvJPmNGMWlAtOR84dHup3qpDv-TC/s320/DSCN8532.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283007721817325922" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A trip to the jungle (lodges and resorts) at Kabini in July. A team outing. One more trip in the same month to Pune.. This was for a recruitment program.. :)) Again Soo wasn't there.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpLP-c23jwIVbXINwS8Z3LiL46QIPzm3uzUs4Dzc8Dz6K5jxRmttTIKSOeq2lWulFXKcjmgcyR_062xNhs6QLTc8aOtZp37kpIeA4NLDDy84wuIEDsq07Sl5k_Pek5VgBFYkc/s1600-h/DSC02477.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpLP-c23jwIVbXINwS8Z3LiL46QIPzm3uzUs4Dzc8Dz6K5jxRmttTIKSOeq2lWulFXKcjmgcyR_062xNhs6QLTc8aOtZp37kpIeA4NLDDy84wuIEDsq07Sl5k_Pek5VgBFYkc/s320/DSC02477.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283008169812118306" border="0" /></a><br /><br />End of July we went to Mattanchery - Jews' town and nearby areas. Wasn't a planned trip.. On the way planning while roaming around EKM.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaAzJr-isQqQ4fqUBDc0zHjDcuykvjXTY1E8kQrVPM4_fzneXBplcqXFiyms-Erh-b1da4X9o4MuthQSgr3wMbGSwYHxwxdJhyphenhyphenir-2NrAnGpouNHA0Qs9jlWcQBi5w3KF0SBaT/s1600-h/DSC00702.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaAzJr-isQqQ4fqUBDc0zHjDcuykvjXTY1E8kQrVPM4_fzneXBplcqXFiyms-Erh-b1da4X9o4MuthQSgr3wMbGSwYHxwxdJhyphenhyphenir-2NrAnGpouNHA0Qs9jlWcQBi5w3KF0SBaT/s320/DSC00702.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283008682059804802" border="0" /></a><br />Yet another Nandi hills trip in August.. Took achan, amma, sree there..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwahpV63lVLThpkF9FR06zskUnOr4BI28N2KXDWam439rCmofjCQW6Jm_jXQNBmOudnMzUKV4Mw8z-ecU_hsNKCCb8dN-8NQyDip7hbSr8t2-BK3CMtoWaNiD99vnT5PJ0Tf-e/s1600-h/DSC00946.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwahpV63lVLThpkF9FR06zskUnOr4BI28N2KXDWam439rCmofjCQW6Jm_jXQNBmOudnMzUKV4Mw8z-ecU_hsNKCCb8dN-8NQyDip7hbSr8t2-BK3CMtoWaNiD99vnT5PJ0Tf-e/s320/DSC00946.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283009254699525058" border="0" /></a><br />It was September and we had a long pending trip to Kolhapur. Uncle visit, but the place was new as well.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAZGXZOsM9cZfnBrj-VXrraQG77uoC55ntDt9TIj5X5m9rrdbMTRN-nijzk_U267lOrZvDrfEmasulD_MksrRlIBC5SpNvlI8_UFwaPXWndmOgjwN4yiEHg33bFGfx-TUmg1A_/s1600-h/DSCN8931.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAZGXZOsM9cZfnBrj-VXrraQG77uoC55ntDt9TIj5X5m9rrdbMTRN-nijzk_U267lOrZvDrfEmasulD_MksrRlIBC5SpNvlI8_UFwaPXWndmOgjwN4yiEHg33bFGfx-TUmg1A_/s320/DSCN8931.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283009669962541874" border="0" /></a><br />To Nelliyampathy in October.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYbV6uk6FOaEENR6WNJAvn6Or-W0rnSMOWktSQUKJXz-d9v6pd1lIzTXxL2BUQCmxqygdhfAl0MljFlmqwECfFckJ9yFPduvZiHn3U1F9QPq_WpfSf9tnB7MkVhlvJMhjCIaS/s1600-h/161120081027.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYbV6uk6FOaEENR6WNJAvn6Or-W0rnSMOWktSQUKJXz-d9v6pd1lIzTXxL2BUQCmxqygdhfAl0MljFlmqwECfFckJ9yFPduvZiHn3U1F9QPq_WpfSf9tnB7MkVhlvJMhjCIaS/s320/161120081027.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283010112323377330" border="0" /></a><br /><br />November was a busy month with KK's marriage & Deepa's marriage. No time for trips other than those to Angamaly & Plkd.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NRl_IpNwQj8cANf9fZdQl42J2abca64dS-WmiVq0BqU4g17Jr2T3PqDHxzT9MnAio-xK6iBpr2rSSsHCLA0r6YU_tJ-qrx06yCnpRYEp_b2hxgf69B8csJ7fNPXjwJjneHb4/s1600-h/DSC02319.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NRl_IpNwQj8cANf9fZdQl42J2abca64dS-WmiVq0BqU4g17Jr2T3PqDHxzT9MnAio-xK6iBpr2rSSsHCLA0r6YU_tJ-qrx06yCnpRYEp_b2hxgf69B8csJ7fNPXjwJjneHb4/s320/DSC02319.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283010948468497682" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And concluded with a grand vacation in Rajastan.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9ssmFudAUfzig5Jde9DpHYeZhcQACKpWNhRi3TalXmYRrSKhqKzzJshDffSIo8pSKay5cVOzVqrQ5uy1lzS3MmrJ6Qwb1T55y2UTiAZyW36ZrB-LxfkmCn_gxUuqXq-PhABl/s1600-h/DSCN9402.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9ssmFudAUfzig5Jde9DpHYeZhcQACKpWNhRi3TalXmYRrSKhqKzzJshDffSIo8pSKay5cVOzVqrQ5uy1lzS3MmrJ6Qwb1T55y2UTiAZyW36ZrB-LxfkmCn_gxUuqXq-PhABl/s320/DSCN9402.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283011006444469026" border="0" /></a><br /><br />What was missed? We had a plan to go to Gokarna. That didn't work out.. Hoping to cover that next year.. bon voyage... :)<br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/sand-soo/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEamY2YZSG5c2TSWoeL6Ld2icL3oEPYK4QA3i53P6FR4iog3g6jCVd1x7HNWgZ3f5wJmHBSqt-sdG9swesl3tR5DLxNc3lr0vOUWfcDbZQFVr0MULZAyXVWEXMDYn0b9rHs08/s1600-h/800px-OmBeach_Topview.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEamY2YZSG5c2TSWoeL6Ld2icL3oEPYK4QA3i53P6FR4iog3g6jCVd1x7HNWgZ3f5wJmHBSqt-sdG9swesl3tR5DLxNc3lr0vOUWfcDbZQFVr0MULZAyXVWEXMDYn0b9rHs08/s320/800px-OmBeach_Topview.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283011634419004882" border="0" /></a>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-24293811389638069272008-09-04T15:42:00.002+05:302008-09-04T16:16:09.130+05:30Chrome now, what next?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/images/dlpage_lg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/images/dlpage_lg.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div>Have you tried the new google chrome browser? </div><div><br /></div><div>Google has been telling for years that "We're not going to make a browser!". So, why now? They say things have changed in the past few years. And today's browsers are simply not ready for tomorrow's world. Google see's tomorrow's computing as a set of web-apps, a gradual deviation from the install-and-use desktop scenario.</div><div><br /></div><div>Google already has a powerful set of webapps including the ubiquitous gmail, google docs, google reader, maps, orkut and many more. Rumours are there that they are going to provide a web storage as well. (Note that the gmail drive was not from google)</div><div><br /></div><div>The benefits of web-app based computing are many. First thing, most of these services are free. (At least in the case of google, where they source their $$$ from advertising) The next reason is that working on mulitple computers is quite easy. You don't have to carry around your settings or data between your office PC and home PC in a USB stick any more. No more painful merging or synching of your documents as well. Also, its quite easy to share your work/data with your friends/family. It's not only sharing, but collaborating. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fine, but why do you need a new browser? </div><div>Most of these web-apps are written in Javascript and AJAX. The existing browsers started as HTML viewers. Though there have been improvements for most browsers over time, they were incremental (Except, may be Firefox 3). Currently the bottleneck in attracting users to web based computing is the speed of webapps. Think of this - for viewing a spreadsheet in google docs, you need to start the browser(assume you are connected to net), launch google docs, login, select your spreadsheet and open it (opening is the slowest among the others). It's quite reasonable that users ditch google docs and use MS office - you only need a few clicks here. So, there comes chrome. Along with google gears, and its improved js engine, chrome aims to bridge this gap. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, what next?</div><div>I think, an OS from google. </div><div><br /></div><div>Once you are fully into web based computing, you only need a minimal OS and a browser. You don't need massive hard disks or optical disk drives. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>You hear music through streaming.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Your favorite videos and movies are on youtube.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Your documents are on google docs.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Your mail is in Gmail <br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>You chat with your friends through gmail chat.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Your photos are hosted by flickr or picasaweb and your camera directly uploads them.<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>...<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Why you need a windows PC then? You dont need it.</div><div>Imagine this.. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Google launches a linux based minimal OS. Itegrated tightly to it is Chrome, the browser. Once it boots (say in 15 sec), you are shown a new look desktop with an address bar on the top. There is no minimize/maximize/close buttons. There are no icons on the desktop. Instead, there are tiles of frequently used web pages. On left bottom, there is a menu named favourites instead of the start button. On the task bar there are tabs instead of task buttons. </div><div><br /></div><div>That's tomorrow's PC for you. <br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><br /></div><div><br /></div>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-90209858686480423662008-08-06T22:40:00.003+05:302008-08-06T23:24:06.983+05:30A trip to the woods and the wildMy first trip deep into the jungle, that happened last week.<br /><br />It was an official trip to Kabini River lodge, run by Karnataka govt's Jungle lodges and resorts. It's supposed to be in the top 5 wild life resorts in the world (?) and quite an old one. The trip went like this -<br /><br />We were expecting a group of 20 and only 11 turned up due to various personal reasons.. :) A big 36 seater bus started with all 11 of us trying to find a way to utilize the rest of the seats, from Bangalore on Saturday(01/08/08) morning. Rather uneventful journey, we reached the kabini reservoir area around 12.30. We were informed that the reservoir is full and to take care but we couldn't find any traces of flooding. The catchment area and the surrounding villages are a superb feast for the eyes. This time of the year, its all cultivated land and greenery without any brown patches. We entered the Nagarhole national park and immediately diverted to another village road to reach kabini river lodge.<br /><br />Contrary to my expectations, this "Jungle lodge" is not inside a jungle. It's surrounded by farm land on one side and the river on the other 3 sides. But there is a jungle inside the resort, literally.. :) This place is pretty big for a resort and the cottages and tents are well maintained as far as you remember that it's run by govt. <br /><br />4pm was the time to start the jeep safari. After a usual briefing of DOs and DONTs, we jumped on to the jeeps to get a real taste of the jungle. Our Jungle lodge was probably around 2-3 kms away from the real jungle. We entered into the state highway connecting Mysore and Mananthavadi (Wayanad, Kerala). Quite bad road for the entire stretch inside the WLS. The guide was telling that unlike Bandipur/Mudumalai or Virajpet roads, this area has a very high probability of animal sightings on the main road itself. And to avoid speeding vehicles hitting them, the road is purposefully kept bad !!<br /><br />The main road safari continued for another 10 mins and my friend got impatient.. He started telling "What kind of safari is this?? When I came last time, they took me deep inside the forest... " Finally the fun part of safari started when our jeep (Well, it's a Tata 4x4 truck with seats for 9, open seating, but with a roof) took a right turn from the main road. Guide asked us to keep quite until we hit the main road back. <br /><br />So we all stopped talking and started looking around for tigers, leopards, elephants and the others.. but.. nothing came.. nothing happened for some 15 mins.. only that the jungle was good and very very silent. The first sighting was some gaurs.. we dismissed them as 'cows' :)<br />Then there was deers.. nothing exciting.. then there was a wild dog (or some said it was a jackal) but i didn't care.. more than anything else, i was interested in seeing elephants. expected a herd..<br /><br />It was an hour, but nothing great apart from deers, monkeys, gaurs, wild dog.. The guide said we would take a different route.. That one was not taken in safaris during the rainy season.. there would be mud on the road and becomes difficult to move along. So we took a turn while the other jeeps took the usual routes. <br /><br />The result has come in just less than 10 mins.. We heard the sound of an elephant and just 100 m ahead we saw a tusker running across the road. A moment of excitement and fear together.. :) It was a lone tusker. If in our own vehicle and alone, probably something we'll be avoiding. But these guys have seen a lot and have been living in the forest for years. So our jeep moved slowly without making much noise. The tusker was on the right side, some 50 m away from the road. He's still making sounds and has seen us. We stopped. He watched us for some time and was waiting to see if we're moving or staying. After a while realizing that we're not going, he made a mock charge.. I felt a chill in my bones.. Oh my god.. But our driver had no plans to move. The tusker didn't come to us.. He just took 2-3 steps and stopped. Then again watched for sometime. Finally he cross the road from behind our jeep and again made a mock charge from the other side. And then went back... It was over, felt that the was worth the time..<br /><br />Didn't see anything after that, came out in another 15 mins to the Mananthavadi road. Back at the resort by 6.30. <br /><br />We had another jeep safari scheduled for early morning at 6.30. But nobody woke up and it was cancelled. We thought of going for the boat safari through kabini river into the jungle again. But to our disappointment, we came to know that boat safari is permitted only till 9.30. We had to be satisfied with a "boat ride" only. And then it was time to packup. Left at around 12 and reached Bangalore back at night. <br /><br />A nice trip and a totally different and new experience. Those who want to goto Kabini JLR, the booking office is in MG road, BLR. Check their website http://www.junglelodges.com<br />Rates are around 2500-3000 per person per night, including all meals, safari, boat/coracle ride, elephant ride etc. There are rooms, cottages and tented cottages. We stayed in tented cottages. Though its named like that, it's a proper cottage with doors, floor carpets, beds, attached bathrooms, geyser, lights, fans, mosquito mats etc. The food is good and more like home made food. And your cellphone signal is a full 5 bars. <br /><br />Photos in my orkut profile, check this video of our tusker friend..<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AEJJ4tjt0Zk"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AEJJ4tjt0Zk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed> </object>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-39697083818902536962008-07-18T07:33:00.002+05:302008-07-18T07:42:17.462+05:30Das autoDas auto - translates to "The Car"..<br /><br />My dream car is launched in India. The rock solid <a href="http://www.volkswagen.co.in/vwcms_publish/vwcms/master_public/virtualmaster/in/models/jetta.html">Volkswagen Jetta</a>.. :-)<br /><br />What it takes? 15 lakhs :(( <br /><br />Breaks down to:<br /> A downpayment of around 4 lakhs and an EMI of 25000 for 5 years.<br /><br />The dream will always be a dream.. ;-)sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-25360478157727058142008-06-26T08:35:00.003+05:302008-06-27T09:35:31.349+05:30It's end of road for cabs<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Auto/Automobiles/Its_end_of_road_for_cabs/rssarticleshow/3165622.cms">Click here</a> first.<br /><br />Indian cities are also moving towards huge taxi companies rather than independent taxis owned by drivers. Again, there may be protests saying that lose of employment for taxi drivers, as we saw in case of retail industry. But, I believe they sealed their destiny themselves. Asking for more than what's shown in the meter (if it exists), frauds, criminal activities and what not !!<br /><br />Obviously, the corporate taxi services cost more, but people will be ready to pay that extra buck for comfort and safety.<br /><br />Hope the auto drivers also learn this soon.. Else they'll have to learn it the hard way too..sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-48414564822836388012008-04-23T18:39:00.001+05:302008-04-23T18:39:58.403+05:30Filler<pre style="white-space: normal;"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.ubuntu.com/files/countdown/display.js"></script></pre>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-36635370188977348112008-04-03T10:13:00.001+05:302008-04-03T10:16:22.315+05:30Learn Singapore In 5 days (Part-I, The plan)What should be the name of this blog? I'm not sure - Singapore for dummies? A budget traveler's guide to Singapore? Singapore travel for software engineers? Touring Singapore with only Rs 20k in your bank? Okay, choose what you want it to be. Disclaimer: You'll find a lot of 'thallu' here. Can't help it.. :)<br /><br />Big decisions are taken by your heart, not your head. I'm very experienced to say this.<br />Even when we decided that 2008 be a travel year, we didn't have even the slightest hope of going abroad on our own. I had created one Google doc (Google doc is where I do my research - travel, shopping, career plans) early this year named "International vacation plans" and had 3 entries in it - Singapore, Mauritius, Dubai. Roughly calculated the expenses and thought "okay, next year.. not now". <br /><br />The U-turn happened when Rat went onsite. He was going through Malaysia. And after we chatted about the trip and other things, I just logged into makemytrip and checked the air tickets to US via Malaysia. It was of no use to me. But before leaving the website, I managed to check round trip air fare for Singapore as well. Found it to be 34000 for 2. This was less than what I had estimated earlier. Sounds interesting.. I started digging in more. Found that after March 31st airfares go up (May be because of summer vacation. Or maybe related to the extra charges by the new Bengaluru airport). Whatever, its 44K after Mar31 and 34000 before Mar31. Great, I don't need any more reasons to do a feasibility study. <br /><br />We thought we would go sometime between Mar21 and 30. First thing is to get leave. Managed to convince our managers and got leave for that whole week. Let's book it then... Money? For everything, there is always a mastercard. I tweaked the days 1-2 days front and back and got a good deal at 30000 for round trip for 2 on Srilankan airlines. Yatra.com had a 2500 cash back on intl tickets. That would have made it 27500, but they were saying the ticket wouldn't be refundable. It's a risk. (If we don't get visa, we would have to cancel). So went with makemytrip, booked the tickets on a Saturday morning. !!!! <br />(No matter how careful you are, you'll make mistakes when the excitement is high. I entered passenger names as Mr Sandeep and Mr Soorya. (The title was a drop down list and the default was Mr. Forgot to change it.. Soo was all angry. :) I called up their call center and they said it's not a big problem)<br />Got the visa through makemytrip itself. I had to go to their residency road office and submit all the documents (S'pore visa documents are - passport and photo.. that's it) They charge 1500 pp which is kind of costly I felt. <br /><br />Visa took 4-5 days to come and thus the trip is confirmed. :)<br />Next is to find out a hotel. Makemytrip had intl hotel booking. And hotels start from 2000+ per night. I checked the hotel websites. Photos of rooms look good and clean. But there was a problem. I read it somewhere on wikipedia/wikitravel that the place where these hotels are located - geylang is a famous(notorious) red light district. :) Yeah Singapore is a low crime state and you'll still be safe in a red light area. But isn't it better to avoid? I checked with Jijo, my classmate in Singapore. He said "Aliyaa, geylang kalippaa.. vere evideyengilum nokku".. Fine, let's dump makemytrip for this and do something else. He suggested 2-3 hotels and told he would book if needed. Singapore's tourism board has a visitsingapore.com website which gives exhaustive info on singapore. They have a hotel booking section as well. We made a list of affordable hotels. Some of them were - harbor ville, Copthorne orchid, hotel 81 elegance, royal peacock. Read some reviews of these and found copthorne orchid is the best. And we were getting a deal of 103S$(around 3K Rs) per night through agoda.com(a partner of visitsingapore.com). Thought that's a good deal and booked. The hotel availability was not known and it was a "book on request". While we thought everything was booked, a nice mail came from agoda.com that the hotel was full and hence the booking was rejected. It was already 15th and there is hardly a week left. Had not much of time to think. So we thought we would book harbor ville. Had to call up agoda's call center (It's in Thailand) and asked to book harbor ville (Std room - which had no photo anywhere. Didn't know how it look like) Anyway we went for it and booked.<br /><br />Done. Major items are done. Now time to study. What to see, where to go, how to go, where to eat..<br />Thanks to Singapore being a big ticket tourist attraction, every other info is available on the net. You only need 3 websites - visitsingapore.com, wikipedia.org, wikitravel.org. So we made a list of attractions, their entry fee, reviews on some doubtful attractions etc.<br />If you choose to see every other ride or show, your bill for 2 will come to around 12000 Rs for attractions only. :) So a shortlisting was required. A draft plan was ready - 1st day singapore city and river area, 2nd day jurong bird park and night safari, 3rd day sentosa island, 4th day little india-china town-shopping, 5th day shopping-airport. (Airport itself is an attraction). How to go around - Singapore has excellent public transport - metro trains (MRT), buses, taxis. There is a tourist pass which you can use on trains and buses for unlimited travel for 8$. Or if you are staying for more than 3 days, it's better to take ezlink card (which is again a pass, but not unlimited). And I found a mobile application named "Singapore Digital Concierge". This is a guide you can install on your mobile phone(java app). It has almost all the info provided on the website compressed into your handset. So if you choose "jurong park", it'll display "take MRT to Boon lay station and change to bus no 138 to jurong park". Quite useful it was. Then there is nokia maps to help you if you are lost.<br /><br />Finally the weekend has come. Not many things to buy. Did a small round of Indira nagar/Marathahalli and bought all required items. Printouts of e-tickets, hotel voucher, some other important information and Saturday 22nd, we boarded Srilankan airways flight to colombo via singapore.. cheyyy.. singapore via columbo..sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-60425423673384826152008-03-31T21:46:00.003+05:302008-03-31T22:01:41.908+05:30Second life<span style="font-size:100%;">Well, those who thought B for blog is dead.. It's the secondlife for BforB... :)<br /><br />The sequel starts from where Part-I ended.<br />What was happening.. (ie 2007 recap)<br /><br />First things first..<br />7. I got married to <a href="http://soojada.blogspot.com/">Soo</a><br />8. Moved to my new flat<br />9. Saw that there is a big hole in my pocket.<br />10. Patching it up.<br />11. Paying 30K+ to Visa & Standard chartered bank every month.<br />12. Still managed to go to many places.<br />13. Changed job (again)<br />14. Put on (more) weight. (Effect of wife's cooking??)<br />15. Bought a car.<br />16. 2008 started. (I had nothing to do with it)<br />17. An international trip to Singapore.<br />18. Came back.<br /><br />Yeah, that's where I'm.<br />And this post is just a prologue. I wanted to write about my trip to Singapore. :-)<br />Will be coming soon.. (in 2 days, believe me.. )</span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1164878874244648632006-11-30T14:57:00.000+05:302006-11-30T14:57:54.293+05:30What's happening..Oops.. its been a long time since I did something on this page.. <br><br>Hence, dear blog readers (if you still exist)... this is what happened after the world cup.. :)<br><br>1. I bought a flat in Blore.. <br><br>2. Got very busy with my job. <br><br>3. Went to pegasus(on the outskirts of bangalore) for an Out Bound Learning.<br><br>4. Sold my car.<br><br>5. Spent deepavali in Lakshadeep.. a 3 day 2 nights 'cruise' to the coral islands.. <br><br>6. I got engaged.. <br><br><br>Will get back with more stories.. zzzzzz.. <br><br><br> sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1149170829787262602006-06-01T19:37:00.000+05:302006-06-01T19:37:09.866+05:30World cup feverThe wait is over... Its world cup again.. <br><br>Can't forget the last cup. The only one we enjoyed from our hostel. It was fun to be there at that time.<br><br>Fighting each other predicting the results, innovative demo ideas, thorough analysis of each and every moment of every match. <br>Disappointed some times, felt good some times. <br><br>Majority of hostelites were Argentina fans.. And we formed an anti-Argentina grp. Not coz that we didn't like 'em. If everybody liked one team, there is no fun watching a match.. :) <br><br>And we gathered together ppl who even haven't watched football yet. <br><br>Guy1: I was a hard core Arg fan. Guy X has made me anti-arg.<br>Guy2: Ok, which color is Arg?? Who's the other team? <br>Guy3: Am I supposed to clap when the reds score or the blues score?? <br>Guy4: And I thought that was a sixer.. Errr... a goal.<br><br>Then there were fans..<br><br>I wasn't a hardcore fan of any team... My strategy was to have some 5-6 teams in my list and whoever doesn't progress to the next stage were eliminated from my fav list too.. :) <br><br>Got confused when Eng and Brazil met each other. But Brazil won. So I didn't like Eng from then onwards. Thts how it works.<br><br>And who'll take the cup this time? Brazil? Germany? England? Argentina? Or someone else??? <br><br>I'm happy as long as all the big teams reach the quarters and semis.. <br><br>Will surely miss last time's env this year. :(<br><br>Around a week to go....<br><br>My todo list:<br>1. Buy a TV<br>2. Ensure that cable operator provides ESPN n STAR. <br><br><br><br><br> sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1146573937576416142006-05-02T18:15:00.000+05:302006-05-02T18:15:37.600+05:30Autobahn is old storyFolks, news for you.... <br> <br> We moved to "Corsica" last weekend.. Autobahn doesn't exist now... <br> (BTB, I changed the name "Auvergne" 5 mins before.. Its lacking the necessary punch) :))<br> <br> Corsica is situated at marathahalli, a strategic location at the heart of bangalore.. Wayto corsica is.. Take a right turn at the 1st reebok showroom (while coming from airport) and follow the 6 lane highway. Its surface is prepared by next generation mud technology.. After some time, you'll see 3 aluminium painted chimney towers.. Take a left and u reach corsica.. <br> <br> Test drivers are Kiron, Gasper, Mridul(Robin's classmate) and myself.. Mridul is currently testing new porsche 911 LBW at his old location.. He's expected to join this weekend.. <br> <br> All junior test driver candidates are invited to visit corsica the following days. Should bring your uniforms, as we are facing a severe shortage of kits.<br> <br> The entire facility is to be networked with wireless LANs and the project is expected to start soon. Airtel has won the contract and it'll start networking as and when the final contract is signed. The computers are arriving and will be forming a cluster immediately after we get the neccessary infrastructure.<br> <br> As of now a problem exists - The International Racing Federation(IRF) hasn't approved the existance of Corsica and hence we don't have an address yet. <br> The organizers and test drivers are slightly afraid of this fact that sometimes the IRF may decide to screw up Corsica and we'll have to search for another track. <br> In that case, the advance of 60 million $ may be on the floor. :( <br> <br> <br> <b>Glossary:</b> <br> Aurobahn - old house<br> Corsica - new house.<br> Test drivers - inmates<br> Testing - staying<br> Junior test driver - Friends<br> Uniforms - chairs<br> Neccessary infrastructure - tables.<br> IRF - BDA<br> Track - House<br> 60 million $ - 60000 Rs.<br> <br> <b>PS: </b>For those who didn't understand a word, explanation comes in my next post to this blog.<br>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1145600195845111202006-04-21T11:46:00.000+05:302006-04-21T11:46:35.850+05:30Go techLets go geek this time.. ;-) Here I've put top tech products the world expects in 2k6. Comments welcome.<br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 1. Windows Vista </span> - Ending a long wait, microsoft is coming back with the newest version of Windows - Windows Vista (previously Long horn) at the later half of this year. Its translucent UI and rich features have already booked its place in top gadget sites.<br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 2. Playstation 3</span> - Possibly the killer gadget of the year. Sony playstation 3 is a major improvement from its current PS2. Sony is also planning an online service that enables the PS3 users to communicate each other and play thru internet. It also sports a Blu-ray disk drive. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 3. UMPC</span> - Supported by Microsoft and Intel, Samsung and Asus are coming with the UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC). It comes between a laptop and a PDA. Featuring Windows XP tablet edition, with audio/video/gaming features and connectivity with Wi-fi, bluetooth, GPRS, it could be a replacement for portable media players, PDAs and portable game consoles. Also optional support for GPS is a possibility. Having a 7inch touch screen, it will give a better user friendly experience compared to a PDA. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 4. Intel Macs</span> - Apple Macs used Power PC processors for a long time, which prevented it from using popular OSes like Windows. Apple recently switched to Intel processors. It also announced a software called Bootcamp, which enables dual boot for Mac machines. It has started rolling out Intel Macs recently and is hoping to penetrate to the PC market giving users an option few can resist.<br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 5. Motorola Q</span> - A Blackberry Killer? Quite possible. Moto Q is a Smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard. Featuring Windows Mobile 5.0, 1.3 megapixel camera, MiniSD, and Bluetooth etc etc.. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 6. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players</span> - Talk of the year. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are successors to DVDs. Supported by 2 rival groups, both are poised to take on each other to win the format war to become the market leader. Blu-ray supports around 30GB and HD-DVD around 25. Both carry High Definition(HD) content. Players and discs are expected later this year. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 7. A next-gen iPod?</span> - While there is no official announcement of a next-gen iPod, rumours are flying high. It could be a touch screen, bigger LCD, higher capacity nano or anything like that.. Lets wait n watch.. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 8. 750 GB HDD</span> - A new technique named Perpendicular recording is going to change history of hard disk drives. It increases the capacity 10 times.. That is .. we'll see normal PC hard disks ranging from 500 to 1000 GB, while portable mini hardisks will have 50 to 100 GB? <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 9. Mac OS X Leopard</span> - Next version after OS X Tiger. Coming in August. It supports bootcamp, runs on Intel and obviously much more.<br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 10. Gadget X</span> - Leaving this space for a gadget not yet announced.<br> <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72"><br></pre>Note: <br>The numbers doesn't mean ranking.. :)<br> sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1145453253624147132006-04-19T18:57:00.000+05:302006-04-20T07:39:25.310+05:30On the streets, with an RJ.. <div class="moz-text-flowed" style="font-family: -moz-fixed; font-size: 13px;" lang="x-western"> <br>This event happened almost one and a half years back. Thought it'll be 'informative' for others and worth sharing with. <span class="moz-smiley-s1"><span> :) </span></span> <br> <br>I was crazy abt cars and it was my dream to buy one once I get a job. Managed to buy a second hand Indica with a chain of loans. Booked that in Nov 2k4. The morning I was supposed to take delivery of the car, I found myself affected by Chicken pox. But anyway I had to take it.. So paid the balance took delivery of it and parked the car in my office, left for Kerala to take a 2 weeks bed rest. <br><br>It got cured pretty fast and I was back after 2 weeks. Meanwhile, I had to shift house from Indira Nagar to HSR layout. The first thing I did was to get it from my office in white field. Then packed everything, filled my gaadi with all the stuff and headed towards HSR. <br> <br>Its only the 2nd day I'm using it and I was enjoying the drive. While in Koramangala, the car ahead of me suddenly stopped. Me too.. But.. <br>I saw in the rear view mirror a speeding red indica getting closer and closer.. and .. BAAAAAAAAANG...... It hit be from the back. :(( <br> <br>I just got out and saw a fair girl leaping from the driving seat and asking in a lovely voice.. Did I damage your caaaaaaaaaaaar??? Me: ^%$@%^#$@&@#% (that was silent) Yes of course you did. <br><br>Then some ppl and a traffic policeman came from somewhere, and we started blaming each other for the accident. But finally I took the lead coz everybody saw that she cudn't stop the car in that reasonable distance. <span class="moz-smiley-s1"><span> :) <br><br></span></span> She agreed to pay for the damages finally.. But I shud go in the evening to the service center and she'd pay it directly. Agreed. <br><br>Also the name she told sounded similar.... I thought its just a coincidence.. Later it proved false. <br> <br>Since that was my come back day after 2 weeks, our gang had a get together and in the evening we decided to go to serv center together. Means 5 guys. She came with her father (maybe for a small negotiation, who knows) .. but she was rather shocked at the sight of 5 guys jumping out one after other.. :D <br> <br>And Arun was our master negotiator.. He stood with me while the other 3 enjoyed the show from behind. But the girl didn't like his presence and sarcastically called him my advocate. <br>While we were assessing damages, there was an interesting conversation.. <br><br>G: (to arun) Is this your car? <br>A: Nope <br>G: Then could you step aside? <br>A: Wht do you mean? Is this some kinda show off? <br>G: You'll have to sign a paper telling you won't raise any more complaints <br>Me: Ok <br>A: We'll need some assurance from serv center that you'll pay directly. <br>G: (to arun, angrily) What's your name? <br>A: Thats none of your bloddy business.. <br> <br> <br>And that ends there.. Everything went peacefully <b class="moz-txt-star"><span class="moz-txt-tag">*</span>after<span class="moz-txt-tag">*</span></b> that.. <br><br>THE GIRL TURNED OUT TO BE A HOTTIE RADIOCITY RJ IN THE TOWN.. <span class="moz-smiley-s1"><span> :) </span></span> <br>But.. who cares?????? <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br></div> sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1144679711988978322006-04-10T20:04:00.000+05:302006-04-18T14:03:02.156+05:30I changed my mind<p><span style="font-family:arial;">Hello world !!!!!!</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Thts how you start something new...</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">When I created this blog, I had decided that I won't write anything stupid at this space.. In fact I signed up for blogger because of the s/w "Picasa" (A photo organiser from google). The sole purpose was to upload my photos somewhere easily.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Hell lot of peer pressure and 'external encouragement' pushed me to this unknown and unexplored area.. ;-)</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">I thought I'll wait till I get broadband at home. That also seems like a distant mirage... :(</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Anyway, now I'm also a blogger.. Well, a newbie blogger to be exact...<br />Watch this space.. I'll be back with something that can bore you for sure... ;-)(Till then, scroll down and see some of my photos collection)</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Cya next week - same channel, same time... :) Bye Bye..<br /></span><br /></p>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1128377860604884312005-10-04T03:47:00.000+05:302005-10-04T03:47:40.616+05:30<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/1024/DSCN1199.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/320/DSCN1199.jpg'></a><br />never fading rainbow at the niagara falls. canadian buildings in the background<br /><span style='font-size: 8pt;'>Posted by <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>Picasa</a></span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1128377775024289912005-10-04T03:46:00.000+05:302005-10-04T03:46:15.030+05:30<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/1024/DSCN1203.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/320/DSCN1203.jpg'></a><br />fiery horse shoe falls<br /><span style='font-size: 8pt;'>Posted by <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>Picasa</a></span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1128377724610529832005-10-04T03:45:00.000+05:302005-10-04T03:45:24.610+05:30<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/1024/DSCN1214.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/320/DSCN1214.jpg'></a><br />american falls<br /><span style='font-size: 8pt;'>Posted by <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>Picasa</a></span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1128377688814252292005-10-04T03:44:00.000+05:302005-10-04T03:44:48.820+05:30<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/1024/DSCN1220.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/320/DSCN1220.jpg'></a><br />niagara state park<br /><span style='font-size: 8pt;'>Posted by <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>Picasa</a></span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1128377634858273162005-10-04T03:43:00.001+05:302005-10-04T03:43:54.863+05:30<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/1024/DSCN1227.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/320/DSCN1227.jpg'></a><br />cave of the winds.. american falls in the background<br /><span style='font-size: 8pt;'>Posted by <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>Picasa</a></span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1128377580791142112005-10-04T03:43:00.000+05:302005-10-04T03:43:00.790+05:30<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/1024/DSCN1239.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/320/DSCN1239.jpg'></a><br />after a soaking "maid of the mist" tour<br /><span style='font-size: 8pt;'>Posted by <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>Picasa</a></span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1128377538635866892005-10-04T03:42:00.000+05:302005-10-04T03:42:18.640+05:30<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/1024/DSCN1242.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/320/DSCN1242.jpg'></a><br />american falls closeup<br /><span style='font-size: 8pt;'>Posted by <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>Picasa</a></span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1128377429185802972005-10-04T03:40:00.000+05:302005-10-04T03:40:29.193+05:30<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/1024/DSCN1255.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/320/DSCN1255.jpg'></a><br />candidate for best photo of the year.. :)<br /><span style='font-size: 8pt;'>Posted by <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>Picasa</a></span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11903910.post-1128377354564726492005-10-04T03:39:00.000+05:302005-10-04T03:39:14.573+05:30<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/1024/DSCN1289.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/134/4209/320/DSCN1289.jpg'></a><br />my favorite stuff - near the ford taurus we took for rent<br /><span style='font-size: 8pt;'>Posted by <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>Picasa</a></span>sandeephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00731782125458729780noreply@blogger.com0