Yet another article in a newspaper :Android-the future of mobile technology

This article got published in NxG, The Hindu newspaper supplement click here

How smart is your phone?

TREND Android’s the future of mobile technology, says BHARADWAJ VASUDEVAN. Here are the why’s and how’s…

A much pronounced terminology in our present mobile market is the word “Smartphone”. Unfortunately, not everybody understands its real meaning. The moment we mention it, somebody is going to hoot, “I know, it’s an iPhone, right?”. Not to blame anybody but that is how it has been marketed, for smart phone is a very generic mould given to a complex hearing device.
Bridging platforms
On Google-ing it, I came across an interesting definition: “A Smartphone is a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality (PC-mobile handset convergence). There is no industry standard definition of a Smartphone.” The key thought is held within the braces.
Smartphones are meant to bridge the barrier between PC and mobile. And here comes the biggest fallacy of eras. Almost the whole last decade this meant, a cheap imitation of your Windows inside an awfully small screen with a gigantic toothpick called stylus.
Poking on every possible angle to just stutter open the tab equivalent of our start menu in Windows XP and try playing solitaire in it. Not to forget the Blackberry, unfortunately neither did have it and the ones who had it got stuck to it fascinated by its mail server. But there grew the sowing seeds of the current generation advancement only to be just hindered by the giant sites like Facebook and Twitter. For now, the one qualifying factor in a mobile for the young generation is to have access to Facebook in the phone. Let’s not forget our initial thought, convergence!
Looking at the present trend though may not be so prosperous towards advancement; mobile phones are going through that transition from being a vendor specific black box to a user customisable jukebox. Yes it is true; Android is going to rule the market just for this one reason. It gives the customer the flexibility to decorate their customisable ROM (namely cyanogenMOD, XDA, MIUI etc.) and at the same time share it with the others in the community. To support my argument, you will not be astonished to know that every quarter there is a minimum of 100 mobiles getting launched powered by Google.
Every vendor has now got only a small area of hoarding their market value by providing hardware infringement for jail breaking the phone (it’s the act of rooting your mobile to access the core software), which are also on the verge of getting abolished for its well known to them they can’t sustain longer with such a policy.
Power to you
So what difference does this make to us as a simple layman with very little buying power? It’s simple — as an individual we get options and the power to customise our requirement. Similar to the PC revolution, we will get access to individual hardware required to build our mobile and the vendors’ can have a hold only on the software part (Operating System). We would get to design our phone. And this is where Google is cashing in; it’s a company that believes in open source and that’s the reason they support this revolution.
They have launched special developer’s mobiles just to help anybody willing to grow android. Their NEXUS (NEXUS one and NEXUS S) product is a testimony to Google’s ideology towards developing a common product by not hoarding talents but by providing opportunity to anybody interested. Samsung is trying to do just that but the only difference is they have entered the market late and already people have gotten familiar with a better product in the name of android and they find no reason to shift to Samsung’s BADA market.
This revolution is heading towards a bright future in the mobile world by bringing out better mobiles that shall one day throw the PC away, just like PC did throw the typewriter and the latter the pen over the generations behind us.
I’m a proud owner of Nexus One myself!
Some links to help you understand this thought better:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_One
http://www.xda-developers.com/
http://www.cyanogenmod.com/
Bharadwaj is a Systems Engineer with Areva T&D India, Noida.

Its just the way it is...

Disclaimer: Im not a racist, im just a critical critique.........


Here is a part of a healthy conversation,two grown up men had last night lets say today early morning.....
here me is me and the Speaker Y is a mysterious anonymous NRI with a same blend of intellectuallity.....

somewhere sterday, I read this genration lacks attention span, well i guess here is the reason for it.


this is an era where everybody have their opinion and its very strong and biased blame it the media or the availability of unrestricted information.
This is how the convo started....


me: here durga pooja is happening

its actually

nice

me: particularly the well clad

bongs

Speaker Y: Its a big event for them
12:07 AM
me: i have never seen

it

b4

and not the bongs too this well clad

with dark n bold bindi

in their hed

with a

semi transcluescent sari

n a

sleeveless

blouse to top it

i dont get it
12:08 AM
they are so very sexist

n

all look as if they are on a high

Speaker Y: Some off thebongs are hot

me: almost all are

but only as longs they dont speak out

i cant bear their jwol kabho

stuff

simply disgusting tongue
12:09 AM
Speaker Y: Is their language that does not have V

me: yup

thas the one

and its the same language
12:10 AM
Speaker Y: yup sometimes it can be a little fucked up.

me: wer they

say

eat every thing

eat water

eat

fag

eat

anything
12:11 AM
Speaker Y: Malayalam drives me nuts

me: its all kabho

no pebho at all

i know

i have two at my palce

they guys are simply

lets

say

over mouthed

they and their

out grown

teeth

god

they need two mouths to keep it

Speaker Y: Its never simple with them. Its always SIMBLE
12:12 AM
me: ha ha

u kno its chol bhe

not chal abey

for bongs
Speaker Y: Not to say tamils are any better

me: not at all

we say h

as ech

Speaker Y: We have a horrible end tinge to every word

me: and 'sh'

as

'sa'
12:14 AM
makes

it sound like

makess

for mahesh

or mages

with bloody mustache n

Speaker Y: Yup and it sucks big time

me: a

grossy

nose

which

almost everybody use to talk with

none talks from their mouth
12:15 AM
Speaker Y: Hey nothing against the mustache ok :-)

me: even im sporting one today

jus givingthe dabangg look

moustache

is

old stuff

im biased

i consider it to be old man stuff

Speaker Y: Lets make it you are trying to sport one
12:16 AM
me: how true

seriously i cant grow one

i accept it

Speaker Y: I know.its as true as truth can get

me: :P
12:17 AM
hey n8 launched here

with the same s60

jus a third gen of it

but then 12 mp camera

that sounds

something
12:18 AM
Speaker Y: Nokia sucks they have to snap out of their self made utopia.its better for them

Sooner the better......


things dont change....

Glory Glory! Its a Hell of a way to die

I went for the kill, three were already dead. It was a tactical op carried out to the pinnacle of its perfection. And most of all we had no other choice. As Tennyson had said it, they had marched the valley of death and surrender was a no-nonsense for them. They succumbed to the ultimate and we can't say they dint put up a fight. Just that they were weak. There is a reason why we still hold the top of the evolution chart.

Men have strange habits. They sleep all the night just to wake up in the morning to cleanse their mouth with some peppermint so that they dont give out a noxious smell. Rather they might not have slept at all to peppermint themselves in the morning. But they never care. All they need is yet another avenue to prove that they are lazy. So was the day when it began with the search for the peppermint. I found them hanging on the edge of the cupboard, when i placed my hand on it. It then appeared out clenching its fist which i obviously coudn't see but could feel its breath on my skin when i placed my hand closer to it. I had not noticed it till then. It jus cracked a little and then began to jump forward. I was actually taken aback. Primarily it was morning and i was slacky after my slumber and secondly it was there right in my cupboard. How in the world did it reach there? Without second thought i pushed myself back only to be hit on the bedside and fall gregariously onto the cushionless bed only to break a bone or two. I recovered quickly and now with both of us knowing our presence we became alert. I had the added advantage of home ground, but not to under estimate its alacrity and firm footing.

I wanted to face it head on. A warrior's stroke, you may call it. One by one i started removing things out of the place providing it more space to come forward. People might say you need to lead your enemy into your determined path. But i say to make your enemy uncomfortable give him first more space, he shall get confused and ultimately fall in your trap. So did my strategy took over me and i eventually faced my opponent again. The moment it found open space he ran listlessly and made a fretful jump only to fall on my skin. I immediately with a reflex action of less than a millionth of a second cornered my leg and made it flew through the side of the door. It had one meanest chance to escape and it went for it. Just then i lauched a killer strike on him, right on his upper abdomen with a stick equivalent of a not-so-fat baseball bat. The shot was intact and the receiver got the full brunch of it only to be sent ot a deft undertaker ot give it a better look on its funeral. It was a terrible blow on the mean soul. I rushed aside into the kitchen only to find a few more dead. It hardly mattered anymore I couldn't just bear the sight of dead ones in front of me, but then what to say I was just afraid of lifting them and throw away!

Prologue

Its been a year since the shelling. Uneasiness has slowly started to retrieve out of the commoners mind. But behind the curtain, the military was extending its every ounce of a resource to trace the traitors. It was a cold war at the outset. Neither of the developed countries was willing to get their hands dirtied. Already almost all of them were busy making up for their afgan mistake. One that they cannot repent on since its a bygone story and secondly you can never just curb terrorism. Not if the same fellowmen were the once who grew them for their then needs. Vietnam was a mistake but the last war can never be atoned; to enter a war the third time, none of them would even burn a matchstick unless the true enemy is known.

The stillness of the bright city was shattered by the insolence of the thundering mortars. It volleyed through every corners of the city filling it with just chaos and dust. The military had just a pinch of a second to recover, when the sky was poured with more shells and within a wisp of a second they all vanished ecoying into the city randomly. The remains of the shells where the only ones the intelligence got hold of to investigate. Off course it was the left overs of the world war II and the last transaction was dated far beyond for them to be traced only to an anomalous decoy. The intelligence knew that it was a waste of a time to invest on whose they belonged to. All that mattered was to stabilise the country from the shattered belief of a safe country. It was a preparation to meet the unknown future. The war tune had already been set in the minds of the admirals and it was just a matter of time before they responded to the attack. But one big question was yet to be answered, whom should they attack?

Had you been to rishikesh

“okay team all forward! Now! Faster Dig Deep! On reaching the side i shall call for all down! Be quick to lower yourself into the boat.” here we go into the famous rapid “ the roller-coaster!”” he said this with so much pride and enthusiasm. We all were amatuers in rowing and our paddle never made it to the water perfectly. It was a downstream and thus by the laws of motion we continued to stay in the same state. The water gushed in the centre creating a wallow just ahead of us. The sharp turn provided the water to gurgle up and splash on the rock with a massive strike. The rocks made the difference. They were so unevenly positioned that they raised the turbulance much more than it meant to be. This was one hell of a rapid we were to enter. Just a yard ahead of us the first raft entered it side ways. A strong rapid is deadliest when you enter it right through its womb. You get to tap the entire force of the rapid to get your raft outside. The more the heavier the raft, the more balanced it is. But at the same time its more vulnerable to tackle the entire force on it. The raft in front of us thus entered the rapid form the side. The person sitting on the right side middle was the bulkiest of all in it. The moment the raft gave a shake,out of angst the person stretched for his lifeline and shifted himself. This disturbed the raft's balance and eventually the man fell outside. By then our raft has got positioned to enter the same rapid and we heard the guide say “ Hard and fast team!” we brushed our paddle as much we could into the most holy river of India, The Ganga. Just after a few strokes i realised we were entering the rapid head on. On the same moment our raft gulped right into the wallow and popped above us just as a mighty horse does to celebrate the riders triumph. I was in the centre left holding my lifeline with all my life. We saw the fatso emerge out of the rapid in the far left, his boat pretty safe without him but far ahead. By the force of the rapid our raft had gotten pushed to the right and all of us were forcing to find the balance since we were still engulfed in the rapid. Just then we heard the command “stoppppppp! Paddle back. Double it . We need to take up the guy.” the raft turned right just at the end of the rapid. The river was gurgling less and we were all vibrating but it dint stop us from rowing. All of a sudden we all felt heroic and all we wanted to do was say that little fatso. “all forward now! The left one stretch your paddle to lock with his. Bring him closer and give him the lifeline.” We reached him in a minute, by now the river has settled calm and we in the left, three of us struggled to get him inside. After a strenuous effort we had him inside. He was all drenched with fear and little water. Once he got settled our guide shouted “ there is another rapid nearing us we cross the rapid and transfer this fatso to his own raft! Now all forward.” now that we had him with us, the raft pressed more into the river and we felt like drowning more. Still we went forward crossed the rapid with the raft nearly reaching an explosion due ot over pressure and helped him get back to his raft.
We entered the final and a more fierce rapid called “The Golf Course”. The moment i heard the name it brought my old memories back. Just six months ago i had entered the same rapid with six other friends and got toppled with the raft right in the centre of it. I shall never forget that. “All forward team nice and easy.! We shall clear this one and we head home”, the guide said. I caught my lifeline for the last and final rapid. “team down now!” the water splsahed right into the raft pushing aside my friend sitting opposite into the raft. He had completely lost his balance. On approaching the centre the river rose into a whirlpool and it just swooped us with the raft. By then all have settled down into the raft. “hurry now back paddle hard and fast! Faster! Faster!”. We forced our raft from hitting the rock just in front of us. And then came the deal breaker . A solid cliff just on the course of our raft obstructing us from moving forward. “Left back! Right Forward team” was the command. All of us tired and exhausted followed the command and pushed our raft away from it with a 90° turn and somehow made our way out of it. All this while i dint paddle even once, i held to my lifeline hard and on seeing the cliff i forced myself to paddle back since i felt it was my responsibility too to keep us all alive in the raft . I paddled the rest of the cruise without much of a fear. For once i had come out of the golf course. Its not that rafts are dangerous. And a fall from it is just a thrilling experience. Rafting is a adventurous sport and Offcourse you dont fall into the golf course always!

Life In a Cubicle

A phone to look at, a computer to stare at and a desk with drawers to stuff up , How can I miss the most comfortable seat. This is the Alcatraz of thousands of employees like me. People never realize that they spend almost 3/4th of their lifetime here. It’s sober in color and has a soothing effect. It has only a single opening and you can’t jump over your desk. It is not in the least comparable to the college desks. Every now and then people walk around this and it’s the only source of outer world enjoyment you get, to see them move. Here are a series of policies (I call them policies not because the post is an acronym of LIC) which may appear as cliché but then what else? Truth by itself is cliché. These policies are actually myths that surround our office culture and as a newbie I find them more glaring. It’s in no way the usual bias with which people hate their office routines and crib about it. It’s just a subtle observation of things in and around me.

Policy Section 1.0
Reach office early:
Nobody has the habit of reaching office on time. It’s actually a myth for the rule makers as to set the official hours over a range. It’s not obviously possible for the entire strength of the company to punch their cards exactly on time. If that had been possible then obviously the forefathers of the company would have provided enough doors and enough access card points in the premises. They dint do it because some super intelligent Management guy showed them a graph of the peoples mentality of reaching the office and ended up with a peak hour analysis and brought down the maximum number of access points required. But everybody is serious about one point you are not to leave on time, it’s a crime. As a golden rule to impress the boss always leave just after him. It may work out for your early promotion (That’s another myth which shall be broken in the due course!).
So people end up reaching office either damn early (there are still a few over-enthusiastic!) or properly late. It takes time to bust this myth since it’s hard for people to accept reality.

A-SS!

Staring on the glaring walls of the bare-faced room, i get to see nothing more than struck up tombstones.. i had never bought anything in my life...myself. Every time i had needed something was bought by someone for me. I hardly bought bread or butter, sometimes even that was bought for me. this had been my biggest transition in my life , now that i start to buy everything i need; by myself. Its not that I'm trying to be all the very calculative and create a good saving out of my skilled budgeting, its just that i still have the feeling that somebody will still get me my things... I want to break this syndrome, rather i had even named it one. i call it the A-Shopaholic Syndrome...
I do go out to socialize,and on the process i do fall upon good shops to look for.. shops where in i can buy my needs..but then the moment i step near it, even before i glare at the price tag, i get to adhere to this feeling that, okay let me buy the next time i come here..
Let me define its symptoms in detail. You would start with a wish list. You will draw outlines and commit yourself that you totally need it.. in the next phase you just start on a spree to go out and have fun in any of the local malls. During this period you would unknowingly forget about the fact that you had stepped out of your house just to buy things from the list. But then its your subconscious that had worked out a plan behind your brain to make you go out.(naturally you wouldn't have seen it, since it was at your back..)
The moment you enter the mall you find a shop, you enter it without any knowledge. It would as if look like the shop had just attracted you, and it had been the shop's exquisite beauty that stung on you instantaneously.. You end going inside and in the end you even land on that one thing you had wanted.

This is where the syndrome starts, Its poisonous ingredients sniffs with the object on scrutiny and fumes its extra- sensory-deregulation perfume which on contact with you makes you lose interest on it. It breaks into your wish-list table and postpones the entry to future archives and makes you believe yet again that there had never in the world been a choice for it.

Indeed its a vicious conundrum,this disease is quite contagious, at least for you after reading about it, an awareness has been created.. beware.