Showing posts with label Navigate Articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Navigate Articles. Show all posts
5 reasons the new iPod Nano is boring
1. Its screen is too small. Who on earth would want to run down its four hours' worth of battery charge watching movies on a screen the size of a quartet of postage stamps? We're getting eyestrain just thinking about it. It would have to be some pretty unimportant content for you to waste it on such a micro-cinema. Maybe aspiring film auteurs could put together some flicks especially crafted for the teeny-tiny medium, shooting with lots of close-ups and accompanying the nano-pic with big sound effects and such. Could happen, but until then, we're yawning.
2. Its earphones are substandard. Now Steve Jobs has so much as admitted the iPod Nano's earbuds are crappy, offering a pair of proper in-ear phones, each earpiece equipped with a separate woofer and tweeter. But you're going to have to pony up extra for that privilege, buddy — $79 to be exact, and you'll have to wait until October. That's not a bad price, though, considering that some dual-driver earphones cost $1150.
3. It doesn't do anything else. Where's our Bluetooth headphone connection, and built-in Nike+ support for the player that might actually find itself in a gym? With the iPhone and iPod Touch boasting 3,000 applications, the abilities of the Nano are looking damn limited. Music and video are definitely still the iPod's prime functions, but every player does that, many just as well if not better than Apple. What else ya got, Steve?
4. Extra sauce where none is needed. We get it. It's thin. But pointing out that it's "the thinnest iPod ever" doesn't really mean anything at this point. Check out our size comparison to get an idea of just how incremental its smaller waistline is, with hardly a diff between Nanos old and new. How thin does the Nano really need to be, anyway? Should it carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleeding? And what's with that shaking feature? It sounds like fun, but we make gestures like that when we think somebody is, uh, pulling our leg.
5. The Nano still steers you into DRM-infested iTunes. This is especially true with songs you've bought at the iTunes Store. We've never been too thrilled with the digital rights management woven into music and video on iTunes. The Nano can play back music and video content with quality that's about the same as its competitors, but the iPod forces you to use iTunes software even if you don't want to. We'd like to decide what we do with our music, and don't like being treated like criminals, no matter how fair the software pretends to play. And I tried the new "Genius" feature — it feels more like a salesman than a physicist. Note to Apple: Consider changing that nuclear icon to a plaid sportcoat, you know, like the used-car salesmen used to wear.
Top 10 interesting factors about the Large Hadron Collider.
10. Accelerates particles faster than ever. While we're not going to be racing to the nearest star in seven years anytime soon, can you believe we can actually get an object (albeit atomic-sized) to go 99.9999991% the speed of light? And for those tiny particles, time slows down for them.
9. Gives us something other than "a witch's tit" with which to compare coldness. This thing is going to get scary-cold, way down to a temperature that's more frigid than deep space: -456.25°F. It's got to be that cold so those humongous magnets can work their magic particle-steering trick. It's not a green machine, though — to keep that cooler frosty it'll use $100,000 worth of electricity every day.
8. Might find the Higgs boson. This is the so-called "God Particle," and the researchers think if they find this little sucker floating around it might help them explain exactly why things have any mass at all. And we were thinking the answer to why things have mass was, "they just do."
7. Costs almost as much as
6. Might prove string theory. Some of the hundreds of smartypants scientists working on this project believe in string theory, which posits that atoms and molecules aren't particles at all, but vibrating strings that seem to be in two (or more) places at once. Sounds like a great Halloween trick.
5. Could discover a whole new group of particles. The string theorists are especially interested in finding supersymmetric particles, or sparticles, to help prove their tangled theory. So far, the other scientists think these guys are nuts, because there's no evidence of such things. Yet. This monster collider might change all that.
4. It's going to get even bigger. Plans are in the works to make this behemoth even more monstrous, and by 2012 it could be called the Super Large Hadron Collider (SLHC), giving scientists an even better chance of seeing rare particles and building on their research with the LHC.
3. Unlock secrets about dark matter and dark energy. There's something out there in the universe that's pulling galaxies around. All the stuff we can see only accounts for 4% of the total matter in the universe. But that's not even the half of it. Visible and dark matter together might only account for 25% of the universe's mass. The other three quarters? Dark energy, alleged contributor to the expansion of the universe — and we don't even know if dark energy exists yet, either. C'mon collider, we gotta know!
2. This thing sucks, big time. In fact, it contains the largest volume of a vacuum ever created by man, and it's a super-vacuum, sucking 10 times less pressure than you'd find on the moon. It contains fewer particles than the emptiest parts of the solar system — we wouldn't want any stray atoms getting in the way of those light-racing protons, now would we?
1. Might blow up the world? No way. Well, infinitesimal way. But all credible scientists say the collider poses no threat to the world, except to smash old physics theories that are incorrect. Concerns are based on fear of radiation (no danger 328 feet underground), fear of "strangelets," exotic material that can pop up enough gravity to turn the planet into a giant sucking sound (if such strangelets existed, they'd be unstable and decay in a zillionth of a second), and that most ominous one, black holes (no way, they'd be too small and unstable to do any harm). Fear, fear, fear. Get over it. Besides, if this thing destroys the world, it'll be so fast we'll never know what hit us.
No, not that kind of bug. A previously-undiscovered type of Aphid, encased in amber, has been found after a scientist bid £20 for a paperweight on the popular online auction website eBay.
The insect has been named Mindarus harringtoni, after the purchaser, Dr Richard Harrington. After he couldn't identify what it was himself, he sent it off to an expert in
Dr Harrington wanted to call the new species Mindarus ebayi. "Unfortunately using flippant names to describe new species is rather frowned upon these days." said Dr Harrington. It's unknown whether the next step will be to extract dinosaur DNA and clone dinosaurs, releasing them on a remote island.
I've been waiting for this bugger for a long time. Finally, after having being teased mercilessly two years ago in the Microsoft Seadragon video,Ballmer & Sons has finally released Photosynth for you and me to use at will. Thank the Big One (Many Ones if you subscribe to a polytheism and No One if an atheist).
If not in the know, Photosynth is an application and browser plugin that creates essentially 3D images from a collection of gathered 2D photos. Naturally, it's no good if the pictures are not of the same subject but let's say you go to Flickr and grab a load of people's holiday snaps of the Taj Mahal. Photosynth automatically puts them all together for you, with all the different angles and annoying tourists that got into the shots, and creates something rather incredible.
160GB Sony PS3 announced for UK
Well, aren't Sony just pulling it all out of the hat this week? First we're told the 80GB PS3 is coming out tomorrow, this morning we hear about the redesigned PSP and now we find out that the 160GB PS3 heavyweight will be hitting our European shelves on 31st October. We even have a price too - £339.99.
Now that price, I'm informed, is about the same as it would cost to buy the smaller 80GB model and a hard drive to go with it, rendering this new announcement a bit rubbish to say the least. To try to even it up, Sony is adding the bonus of 70 Euros-worth of downloadable content along with the 160GB mutha, but somehow I doubt that's going to make the difference, particularly when they're asking people to wait a few extra months for the privilege.
Nordic Rocks: Non Melting Eco Ice Cubes
In early man days stones were employed to produce fire and in that era it was considered to be a quite radical discovery which saved human life. However, in this day and age we are bestowed with numerous contemporary utilities that we believe that we don’t necessitate exploitation of stones any more in our lives.
But contrary to our perception a remarkable contemplation involving the application of stones has been instigated in recent days. Delving into this novel concept I found out that extraordinary kind of Swedish rocks named Nordic Rocks which are naturally excavated out in an uncontaminated form can be proficiently bring into play as an eco-cooling medium.
Packed in leather pouches, these ultra cool rocks would be available to us in set of ten cube shaped rock pieces. These stones entail a freezing of at least one hour before putting them into our drinks for chilling purpose. Slowly but surely these freshly exposed Nordic rocks would accomplish cooling job without melting in thereby avoiding the possibility of grimy water amalgamation in it at all.
Furthermore the reusability aspect of these voguish cooling parts formulates the whole concept to be an eco friendly one.
An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly that made the world community smile.
A representative from
When Rishi Kashyap struck a rock and it brought forth water, he thought, 'What a good opportunity to have a bath.'
He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.
When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Pakistani had stolen them.
The Pakistani representative jumped up furiously and in support of
The Indian representative smiled and said, 'And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.'
he he he :)
Why Planning is important ?
One Night 4 college students were playing till late night and could not study for the test which was scheduled for the next day.
In the morning they thought of a plan. They made themselves look as dirty with grease and dirt. They then went up to the Dean and said that they had gone out to a wedding last night and on their return the tire of their car burst and they had to push the car all the way back and that they were in no condition to appear for the test.
So the Dean said they could have the re-test after 3 days. They thanked him and said they would be ready by that time.
On the third day they appeared before the Dean. The Dean said that as this was a Special Condition Test, all four were required to sit in separate classrooms for the test. They all agreed as they had prepared well in the last 3 days.
The Test consisted of 2 questions with a total of 100 Marks.
Q.1. Your Name......................... (2 MARKS)
Q.2. which tire burst? (98 MARKS)
a) Front Left
b) Front Right
c) Back Left
d) Back Right.....!!!
U will b surprised to know that all of them gave different answers
Waiter to IAS officer - An inspirational story
I am writing this post after reading the story of a waiter who passed in the IAS exams.
Now a days the young minded are not interested in studying or working hard.
with the upcoming of the software field no one is ready to work hard to full fill their dreams.
All just want to get a degree and just join the software company.
Now a days this software job has become very easy and all are fasinated and attracted towards this unpredicatable future.
Amongst this kind of situation K.Jaiganesh (29) who was a waiter in the canteen in satyam theatre strived very hard and had passed the Indian civil services examinations.
After his unsucessful 6 attempts , without even losing the confidence ,instead he gain experience
and took each failure in his life as a stepping stone for his great success.
His story is as follows,
In Chennai for the last eight months, K Jaiganesh (29) served food to hungry customers at a small eatery next to Satyam Cinemas in the city. Now, he will continue to serve people, though in a different capacity — as a civil servant. Battling poverty, Jaiganesh has fought his way up to emerge the 156th rank holder in the Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Exam 2007.
Born in an impoverished, backward class family in a remote village, Vinavamangalam, near Ambur in northern Tamil Nadu, Jaiganesh is now looking forward to moving away from cleaning tables and taking food orders to learning the nuances of administration at the
Jaiganesh, who managed to acquire a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Government Thanthai Periyar Institute of Technology in
The eldest of four siblings, he had landed in Chennai after graduation. “I had tried unsuccessfully to appear for the civil services examinations thrice from my village. I realized that I needed to be in Chennai to be able to make it. Therefore, I secured admission at the government-run All-India Institute for IAS Coaching at Anna Nagar. Having come here, I had to take up whatever work I could get to pay my monthly mess bill of Rs 600 and travel,” he recalls.
At first, he worked in Satyam Cinemas, issuing tickets for a monthly salary of Rs 3,000. “But soon, I found myself caught in a 10 am to 8 pm job that did not give me enough time to prepare for the civil services. As a result, in 2004 I failed in the main examination. I decided to quit the job and moved from one job to another before landing up as a waiter. Thankfully, at the eatery I had time to study,” Jaiganesh says. During his three years in Chennai, Jaiganesh stayed with his friends and used their phones to stay in touch with others. Today, after his success after six unsuccessful attempts, Jaiganesh has this to say: “It’s been a struggle all through.” CIVIL SERVICES ON HIS PLATE NOW: Jaiganesh passed the exam after six unsuccessful attempts We congratulate Jai Ganesh for overcoming the hurdles and passed the I.A.S. examination with good faith. He is standing as victory symbol for those who lost their hope in passing examination.
One thing which i want to suggest to u readers is ,,
Every morning before you wake up you hav two options,
One to continue with your dreams in your sleep
Two to wake and start chasing your dreams.
Choose your destiny
Interview with NarayanaMurthy's kids
ON A NEW ROAD AHEAD
N R Narayana Murthy is the proud father of an entrepreneur in the making and passionate research student. When he stepped down as executive chairman of Infosys, Akshata Murty (26) and Rohan Murty (22) flew down from the
THE TURNING POINT
Akshata: We never felt we were celebrity kids. Our father was travelling a lot and we didn't really know what Infosys was about. I left
Rohan: For me it was very different. I went to Bishop Cottons here. For the first few years, I took a bus to school. The next few years, I went by van and later by autorickshaw. Suddenly, in the 9th or 10th standard, my parents started insisting that I need to go by car. I understood why because newspapers would write that this much money was made and so on. It restricted my freedom. Some teachers began to treat me differently. I didn't quite like that. It's different perhaps if you had grown up with it. For me, it was quite at a late stage. Over the years, it (press coverage) increased and I felt I need to go like Akshata has.
Were you compelled to study in the
Akshata: I didn't want to do engineering and I was really passionate about history and arts. There are some great schools in
Rohan: My decision to go abroad was because of Akshata (influence). I was very short sighted. I thought I would be away from home, fast internet, nobody can tell me not to play computer games. I was very keen on computers. I started programming when I was in the 4th standard. I had a group of friends in school who were real hackers. We were all very passionate about computer science. I was clear in school itself that I wanted to do PhD. So I thought it was a good option to go abroad.
Anything you missed while growing up?
Akshata: When we were really young, my parents wouldn't let us celebrate our birthday because they believed that on our birthday, you have to donate money to the less privileged. But when Infosys was small, we used to celebrate Infosys' birthday with cakes. And we always wanted to be the ones to cut the Infosys cake. We never celebrated our birthday except on my 18th birthday because I was leaving for the
Rohan: I never celebrated my birthday.
Akshata: But we never felt our parents ignored us even though they were so busy. Sudha aunty (Kris Gopalakrishnan's wife) was such a good friend and we (Infosys) were such a close community. We were a family and we really loved that. Because of the expansion, it's hard to have that same intimate feeling. I do miss some things like buying cutlery, stationery for Infosys.
Rohan: My mother was largely responsible for the first half of my life because my dad was always travelling. Earlier, I was not a very academically- strong student. More than my parents, my friends played a big role. I had friends who were all toppers. It was peer pressure and suddenly you also begin to study well. My parents never pressured me to study.
I joined BASE after my 10th standard because all my friends joined. After two months I realised it was not what I wanted to do.
I visited IIT Kanpur because my friend was studying there but somehow I felt it was not for me. I told my dad that I don't want to do (IIT). He said OK.
Akshata: I am so glad he did it. In
Rohan: What I found was people were doing it because their parents were telling them to do it though they were good at many other things.
Akshata: People like us are fortunate that we weren't under pressure to do things. In my family, including my aunts and uncles, I am the only non-science graduate. Rohan: When I picked computer science, I was fascinated. There is no question of asking my parents what I should do. It is more of telling them this is what I am doing. Of course, my dad has to be involved if I require a new computer. Even while doing PhD, it was I who decided.
Akshata: Rohan is more independent than I am. I was a normal kid, asking parents what to do. Because of the circumstances (parents being extremely busy), Rohan had to become more independent.
I can't make a serious decision in my life without my parents signing off.
VALUES IN LIFE
Akshata: I can never remember a time when I felt like I could do whatever I wanted with money. We always had what we needed. Books, anything to do with school, we had it. I didn't eat at Indian restaurants in the
Once when I was in the 2nd standard, I wanted to be part of a choir, and we had to buy an outfit to be part of it. I came home and told my mother about the dress and she said OK. But I knew that it was not 100% OK. I decided that there was no need to be in the choir.
Rohan: It was nothing like that for me. I never felt that I should economise for anybody. The only time I wanted money was to buy candy in school. We have never got pocket money, even till date. Those days, my mother gave me Rs 5 and made sure I was accountable for everything I did with it. So I have never once felt that we were swimming in money.
INFOSYS IMPACT
Does the size of Infosys ever hit you?
Rohan: We never felt like it's our own company. But most of the time, our parents spent so much time, I definitely view it as a sibling. I might not know the exact details of how many people Infosys hires. To me all those things make no difference.
Do you talk of Infosys at home?
Akshata and Rohan: Noooo... I mean, we talk of specific occasions in Infosys like when all the employees got watches. Not even once have we spoken about things like market capitalisation of the company falling or rising.
What opinion do you have each time you read about Infosys?
Rohan: I have never had an opinion on it, whether it's the first time or the 'n'th time... I have never felt it's too little or too much. The only time I feel a pinch is when my name appears somewhere and I don't want that.
Akshata: I think Rohan faces more of the brunt on that (Infosys' publicity). There have been both good and bad things in the press. But there have been many times when I have been upset about what people have said about Rohan and wanted to write back. I just wish that people understand who we are (as independent individuals), before they look at us as our parents' children.
Rohan: The other day, I visited my school (Bishop Cottons). Whenever I come home, I visit my school. I am very attached to it because I was there for 14 years. Usually I go and teach a class on interesting research problems in computer science. I have received so many accolades in schools and won several awards. When I walked into the class where my teacher was teaching, she introduced me by saying, "Oh, you obviously know who his father is...'' I told her that you have taught me here for 14 years and it is extremely unfortunate that the way you choose to remember me was like this. There are so many things that she could have said, which I have achieved in school on my own. But it was very unfortunate that she chose to introduce me to my juniors in that way.
Akshata: There is so much hype around an individual that its hard unless Rohan and I do something more breathtaking than my dad. Only then will this stop. We have understood that this is a fact of life. It's much harder for him (Rohan) because he is also in the same field. I just do my own thing. This is one reason why I like to live in the
Rohan: There are many traditional business houses in
INTEREST IN POLITICS What do you think this country needs most?
Akshata: I have been thinking a lot in the last month since I have been in
Someone like me who comes from a privileged background can institute some sort of discipline into the system. I am not looking at politics as a career but as an effective means to institute policy change for a wide range of matters.
I really commend what my mother does. But her work is not about policies. She doesn't have that kind of power. Sometimes I think whether it makes sense to have some sort of revolution, where you have people who think differently. They must not look at it as a way to substitute their own pockets. I dream of that sometimes. Having read Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru and My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba's life, I wonder where such phenomenal leaders are today. I just saw that movie Rang de Basanti, which talks about corruption that exists in our society. I feel very strongly about politics.
There is also this other side of me that is fascinated by entrepreneurship, which is why I went to Stanford. Although it could be nothing in the realm of technology, I do dream of starting my own company. Whatever I do, I know for a fact that it will involve
Akshata: The short answer is yes because he thinks differently and he is what we need from a thought perspective. But he can't implement it. It's not because some politician would not let him but because the system will not let him do it.
That's why I feel that politics is not for him because he is so action oriented. One can then ask why I think of politics. I feel I'm younger and we need young people to come up and do something.
Rohan: I am not interested in any of those things. I have 4-5 years left in my PhD. One of my interests is higher education in
UNLIKELY TO JOIN INFOSYS Have you ever felt like joining Infosys?
Akshata: There have been times when Infosys has come to our university to recruit and I have helped them by giving my suggestions about the recruiting pattern at business schools. But it has never even been a thought for me to join Infosys.
Rohan: No, not me. I have never thought of it either.
FATHER'S RETIREMENT What were your first impressions of your dad retiring?
Rohan: Well, it's a rule that you have to retire when you are 60. So, even if he said no, he had to retire as per rules. I'm least bothered that he is retiring. Even if he sits at home for the next 20 plus years, it is still fine because he has done enough. So it's time for me to stop worrying about him and think about what I need to be doing. Dad will find something to do.
I was discussing this with Mohan uncle (Mohandas Pai, HR-head of Infosys) the other day that my father has lived the last 20 plus years of his life on planes. He is almost never been on land. He comes to
I'm told his calendar is booked out right through 2007-08. So retirement technically means that the few days that he is in
I actually tell my dad that he should do a PhD. I have been talking to him about it for the last two years. He is very interested in getting into computer science. But obviously he cannot do it because of his age. More than that, he likes being in an academic setting where there are students. It is different being a student. I believe that a couple of business schools in the
Akshata: Rohan wants everyone to do a PhD.
Rohan: No, that's not true. I know that my mother would thoroughly enjoy it. She was at Harvard two years ago for some seminars and lectures. She stayed in the undergrad doms (dormitory) and she really liked it. She is a great history buff. So I keep telling her to look at a PhD in history.
Akshata: I have a different take on this. My parents have been through enough. They have left a lasting impression on us.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
