Here is a Wonderful song I came across today. I have been Very fond of Midival Punditz from the time they came out in 1997, and Kailash Kher is a great favourite of mine. Though to a certain few people this may not look like / hear like a Sufi Song, but come across as what the Hindi Music Folks now call Sufi, but give it a listen, it is actually a beautiful song, rendered in a brilliant manner, and the words can make you think..
Here go the lyrics in Hindi, as much as I can manage
अली अली दम अली अली दम
दुनिया विच वस तू ही तू
मेरा जिस्म वी तू, मेरी जान वी तू
तूध बिन जीना ते मौत भली
मेरी धड़कन दा समान वी तू
दूरी ते नही जाँदी सही
आँख लगदी नहीं रात कॉट्डी नहीं
तू हालत मेरी वेख ते सही
तूध बिन जिंद जिंड्री लगदी नहीं
and Alternatively in English
Ali Ali Dum, Ali Ali Dum
Duniya Vich Bas Tu Hi Tu
Mera Jism Vi Tu, Meri Jaan Vi Tu
Tudh bin Jeena Te Maut Bhali
Meri Dhadkan da samaan vi tu
Duri te Nahin Jaandi Sahi
Ankh lagdi nahin raat katdi nahin
Tu Halat meri vekh te sahi
Tudh bin jind jindri lagdi nahin
My Understanding…
Oh My Lord, There is nothing but you in this world
You are my Body, You are my Life
I would Rather Die, than not have you in my life
You are My Heart Beat
I can not stay away from you, I can’t sleep with the thought of being away from you
Please grant me your Name, Without it, I have nothing..
It is touted as the world’s first consumer ‘light field camera’.
How many times have you clicked pictures at a party, only to find out later that most of them are blurred? And if you post them on Facebook, you get asked how much you had to drink. The fact is, those images would have been blurred regardless. The culprit is your point-and-shoot camera. More often than not, it does not know what to focus on. You could have carried a DSLR, but you don’t want to look geeky at the party. Plus, a DSLR is overkill if all you want is to post pictures on Facebook.
So, the next time, carry a Lytro. It is touted as the world’s first consumer ‘light field camera’. And this is how it gives you sharp pictures.
It stores all the ‘light field data’ of the scene you are trying to capture, instead of the typical image. You then download this data onto a computer and choose the area you want to keep in focus, or blurred—after the party is over. You can also share the picture as it is for your friends to help decide what to bring in focus.
The camera is super fast, because it does not need an auto-focus motor. You still get an 8x optical zoom. It comes in two versions: the blue and graphite has 8 GB storage and can click 350 pictures. The red-coloured camera has 16 GB storage, costs $499 and stores 750 pictures.
The only issue is that it is only a 2 megapixel device. But because I don’t print too many pictures these days, this camera works for me.
What it lacks in megapixels, it makes up with its f/2 aperture. The wide aperture gives you excellent brightness, even in low light. There is also enough onboard computing power to let you manipulate the images on the camera. Another small hitch: it is in pre-order stage and can only be shipped within the US.
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The above review appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 12-16 Jan, 2012, Volume 04, Issue 02
You can choose between 2D and 3D maps, and between a faster or greener route.
The way our cities are growing, GPSs are becoming a necessity. And while there are many brands available in the market now, finding a really good one is still a challenge.
Till now, Navon was available only with Volkswagen cars. The company has recently launched a retail strategy, and now anyone can buy it.
While the N485 is an entry-level model, it is definitely not a dumbed-down version. It has a 4.3 inch touchscreen, a rubberised grip and a one-year subscription for updating the maps. Its GPS boots up quickly, although the software takes its own sweet time. Once the GPS and software are up, everything works fine.
You can choose between 2D and 3D maps, and between a faster or greener route. The green route reduces your carbon footprint. The N485 does this using algorithms and historical traffic data. It knows that roads are clogged on Monday mornings and can suggests alternatives. Another nice feature is the Junction View. The moment you approach a turn you have to take, not only does the GPS announce it, it also zooms into the junction on-screen and shows you exactly where to turn. It is so much more convenient than the GPS announcing: “Take the second exit.” To better orient you with the on-screen map, landmarks such as India Gate in New Delhi and the Gateway of India in Mumbai come up in 3D on the screen if they are on your route.
Overall, this GPS has the best interface I have seen so far. It could have responded faster at times, but I was happy with its build quality, maps and interface. The Navon also lets you plug in a microSD card and watch movies or listen to music. With its Bluetooth, you can connect it to your handset and use it as a speakerphone. The touchscreen can also be used to dial numbers off the GPS.
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The Above review appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 29th December – 4th January 2012, Volume 03, Issue 39
A portable hard disc that you can access without a cable
Rs. 11,500
The biggest complaint most of my friends have with the iPad is that it can’t access data from a hard disc or pen drive without a cable. For me, this is not really much of a hassle, as I store a lot of my files on a data cloud. But if you would rather carry a hard disc full of movies because the built-in storage on the highest-end tablet computer does not suffice for you, sweat not. The Seagate GoFlex Satellite drive is here.
The Satellite offers 500 GB of storage that is accessible wirelessly. It features a built-in wireless access point and rechargeable battery, so that you can carry your library of movies, pictures and documents (if you want to) and access them wirelessly using the free GoFlex Media App. In case you want to avoid plugging cables into your Android tablet, you can also access these files off a Web browser—without any cables.
It can only handle three devices at one time. I wouldn’t bother about that. What I would worry about is its battery time of just 5 hours. What makes this figure distressing is that your laptop/tablet would last longer than the hard disc.
Since Satellite is part of Seagate’s GoFlex range of drives, you can use it as a standalone hard disc, a USB 3.0, Firewire or eSATA hard disc.
I am happy with the packaging. It has a USB 3.0 adapter, a car charger (which took me a while to figure out what it was), and a USB charger. TheGoFlex Media App though has a long way to go. The moment you relegate it to the background, it stops streaming. It is also slow when it comes to photo streaming, which I expect Seagate will fix in future releases. What I am not happy with is that you can’t use the Wi-Fi network while using the drive as a data store.
I want to buy this product. It fills a gap that I never knew existed in my life. Also, it’s time to go spend some money this Diwali.
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The above review appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 3-9 November 2011, Volume 03, Issue 31
Called Siri, its smart voice assistant can help you make calls, run internet searches, move your calendar and check if you have clashing appointments, read you your text messages and even reply to them.
How do you better the best? Apple solved this problem with the iPhone 4S by giving it a faster processor and smart voice assistant. It is also a world phone that works on all GSM as well as CDMA networks.
The 4S is powered by the same processor that powers the iPad. That means better handling of graphics and more responsive apps.
The camera has been bumped up to 8 megapixel. What makes this 8 meg camera better than many of the others in the market, is that it has a five-element lens that lets you capture sharper images, a larger f/2.4 aperture that lets in more light, and an advanced hybrid infrared filter to keep out infrared light so that you get accurate colours. There’s also an illumination sensor that increases the camera’s sensitivity and ensures a shorter exposure time for night-time pictures. And, 4S is the first iPhone to sport an LED flash. A good camera is not all. With the 4S, you can also crop, rotate, remove red eye and enhance the image right off the phone. It can also shoot videos in 1080 p HD, at 30 frames per second.
Now, on to the smart part. Called Siri, its smart voice assistant can help you make calls, run internet searches, move your calendar and check if you have clashing appointments, read you your text messages and even reply to them. It can serve reminders not just for a particular time, but also for a location. You can set a reminder for when you reach ‘home’. The phone will dutifully remind you to, say, kiss your wife/husband when you do. While Siri requires you to speak with an accent, it ain’t no stumbling block, like the voice recognition apps on many other phones.
Smartphones are notorious for short battery times. But the 4S on a full charge can do 8 hours on a 3G network and 14 hours on 2G. At 200 hours of standby time, you can keep it locked for a whole week, and it is still ready to go. If you use the iPhone for data, it allows 6 hours of non-stop 3G data usage, and 9 hours on a Wi-Fi network. If all you want to do is watch movies and listen to music, the battery will allow you 10 and 40 hours of each respectively.
Most GPS devices in India have not been up to global standards.
Finding your way around any city is a pain. Even the most helpful person can send you offtrack, because he offers you the best route that he knows. Most of us have been told by helpful cyclists, on lonely stretches, to go straight—only to find that the last time a road was built there was when Sher Shah Suri had just been defeated in battle by Humayun.
That’s why I love GPS. However, most GPS devices in India have not been up to global standards.
That changed last week when TomTom launched its Via series in India. The Via 125 comes in a brushed aluminium finish with a 5 inch touchscreen. It also has a USB cable, to charge the unit and update its maps. It also incorporates voice recognition so that you can ask it for help, rather than fiddle with it while driving. And, you can choose to receive directions in a language of your choice: be it Hindi, Tamil or Punjabi.
But what sets this apart as a GPS navigator is that you can use landmarks around your destination to plot a route. For example: nobody knows the name of the street in Delhi on which Jamali Kamali’s tomb is situated. But if you know that it is somewhere near Qutab Minar, the Via will give you all the landmarks near it—including the tomb.
You can also mark frequently visited places with icons. So, you can just choose an icon marked ‘pub’. And no matter where you are in the city, it will plot a route for you instantly, no questions asked.
Some of the other features are: Eco Routes, which gives you the shortest route; Quick Fix GPS, which enables the GPS to login faster; and Advanced Lane Guiding, which shows large diagrams of the lane you are driving in, so that you don’t miss that turn.
No wonder that TomTom is known as a disruptive player. Via is its first launch, and it will be interesting to see how it performs in India.
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The Above review appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 13-19th October, 2011, Volume 03, Issue 28
This is one gadget you will not be looking to upgrade anytime soon.
Though I am against driving while speaking on a cellphone, there are times when I just have to take that call. A hands-free earpiece could be an option, but it doesn’t suit everyone—women don’t like it, my Sikh friends with turbans can’t use it, and nobody likes to share it. But speakerphones are different. When you are alone in a car, they do a fairly good job.
Jabra’s Freeway changes the experience of telephonic conversations. It does this with its Virtual Surround Sound, so you feel that the caller is standing in front of you—and not whispering loudly in your ear.
The three-speaker stereo system ensures a clear conversation. It also serves as a great auxiliary speaker for the music stored in your phone or other Bluetooth-enabled devices.
The Freeway can also be coupled with two phones, via Bluetooth. Alternately, it can be paired with a laptop or personal music player, while staying connected to the mobile phone. It also includes an Auto on/off feature. The speakerphone powers on when you enter the car and turns off when you leave it, without the need to handle any buttons. It is a great feature for saving battery power, which offers 14 hours of talk and 40 days of standby. It can also let you play music from your laptop/phone on the bigger speakers of your car. This Freeway does by retransmitting the music stream over FM waves, which can be picked up by the car’s music system like it does any other FM radio station.
Those who have used the Freeway for a while have only one complaint against it. The blue LED power ‘on’ indicator is helpful during the day, but a menace at night. But it can be easily turned off. And if you need to know if it is on or not, just press the voice control button and ask how much battery time is left.
This is one gadget you will not be looking to upgrade anytime soon.
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The above review appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 6-12th October 2011, Volume 03, Issue 27
Finally, something sturdy and portable from the world’s best sound engineers
Rs. 23,513
The speaker has been designed to take all the abuse that a portable sound box could be subjected to.
In the good old days, listening to music meant owning a collection of cassettes, MiniDiscs or CDs. Then came the digital audio player (DAP), which could hold all that music and then some more. Its severe assault relegated CD and cassette players to attics and antique shops. In time, dad’s hand-me-down amps and speakers were also turned redundant by things that could speak to your DAP directly, and wirelessly, rather than through docks.
While the world was catching up, my favourite audio equipment brand—Bose—was lagging behind. But no longer. Bose’s Wireless Mobile Speaker, the SoundLink, is here. When it came to me for testing, all it had was brown leather trim, the Bose badge, and a few large buttons. Nothing else. But it is a Bose.
The speaker has been designed to take all the abuse that a portable sound box could be subjected to. The buttons have been pressed 100,000 times to ensure their sturdiness. The unit has been dropped from tables, had gallons of water poured over it, and has been tested under extremely humid conditions for 1,500 hours. It is smart too. As soon as you close the integrated smart cover, it powers off to save battery power.
It can connect to a DAP, tablet or smartphone via Bluetooth and an EP cable, if you prefer a wired speaker. The speaker lasts three hours on a single charge, and you can keep it plugged in for longer sessions.
Bose products are known for their technology. The SoundLink is no exception. It has a high-powered Bluetooth antenna, four neodymium transducers that generate full range audio, a new waffle-design passive radiator that allows for the full range of lows to be generated from such a small box, and, of course, Bose’s famous sound engineering.
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The above review appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 29th September – 5th October 2011, Volume 03, Issue 26
Yet another 3D phone. But you can turn off the 3D feature if it gets to you
The HTC appears larger than the LG, but it too has a 4.3 inch screen.
Okay. I know, last week too I had written about a 3D phone. But I had to review the EVO 3D because of what HTC has done with it.
The first thing that you notice is the phone is super fast, starting with the boot up, and the HTC Sense User interface just makes things seem like a breeze. What I really love about this phone is that you can toggle between 2D and 3D modes with an always-accessible physical switch.
Just like the LG Optimus P920, the EVO 3D too has a 5 megapixel camera and can shoot videos at 720p. While the LG’s 5 megapixel clicks 3D images in 3 megapixel, HTC peaks at 2 megapixel. However, the HTC scores higher on the front camera, which is 1.3 megapixel, compared to 0.3 megapixel on the LG.
The HTC appears larger than the LG, but it too has a 4.3 inch screen. The display is not as vivid as the LG’s, but looks cool because of the edge-to-edge glass. Its battery lasts longer than the LG’s, but the HTC too won’t last the full day without a recharge. The buttons for volume control and screen lock/power are easier to handle than on LG’s 3D phone. What makes the EVO faster is a Dual Core 1.2 GHz processor, while the LG has a 1.0 GHz Dual Core. It has an on-board memory of 1 GB, compared to 512 MB on the LG. Unlike the LG again, HTC’s 3D phone ships with Android 2.3, to the LG’s 2.2. The without-glasses 3D performance is on a par with the LG phone’s, and both are way below what the Nintendo 3DS delivers.
Another downer with the HTC is that its USB port doubles as an HDMI port. And, to charge the phone during an HDMI session, you’ll need to buy another cable.
The 3D world is suddenly becoming hot. Though 3D programming is still scarce, these phones still make sense. They can be used with the increasing number of 3D games; and their cameras let you shoot 3D pictures.
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The above review appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated: 22-28th September 2011, Volume 03, Issue 25
- An interesting feature is its Remote Call
It is being called the world’s first 3D phone. And no, you don’t have to wear 3D glasses to use it, a la the Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming console. Unlike the 3DS, this is primarily a phone and lacks certain 3D features: such as the Slider. Nintendo’s Slider customises its 3D effects to your eyes’ dioptre power and also adjusts the 3D depth. It would have been very handy on this phone too.
The 4.3 inch touchscreen can deliver 3D and 2D content in 720p. It is great to play games and use Twitter, Facebook, Wi-Fi and 3G apps. While its battery can turn against you if you use too many apps, it may be a little too heavy to handle for very long.
There is a 3D camera on the rear (with two lenses), which delivers nice and clean 3D images and videos. It can also shoot videos and pictures in 2D. Content in 3D is still a scarce commodity, even on YouTube’s dedicated 3D channel, so the camera is vital for your 3D experience. You also have the option of playing five 3D games. The gaming experience is good, but what I hate it that these 3D games can’t be played in 2D.
While the phone performs well, its finish leaves a lot to be desired. The covers for battery charging and HDMI sockets seem very flimsy to me. I would have preferred the volume controls, power button and screen lock to stand out a little. These buttons are a little difficult to use here, as they have almost merged into the phone.
An interesting feature is its Remote Call. It lets an LG call centre executive connect to your phone remotely and diagnose or upgrade the phone without the need of driving to a service centre. The facility ensures that your personal data such as email and SMSes cannot be read during a Remote Call session.
The ‘fourth dimension’ of this 3D phone is its user interface. It is faster and more responsive than most Android phones I have tested.
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The Above review appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated: 15-21st September 2011, Volume 03, Issue 24
