Wanna Compare cell phones before buying them ?

Here's a site to compare cell phones before you buy them, a complete no frills and simple website.

Wanna Know more about WEB 2.0

Visit this web site Webcare

One Dream I want to be true…

As a child, I have read all possible comics of almost all kinds of Super – Heroes, Both Indian & International, of which Batman was always my favourite, I have watched all batman films released till date, followed all animated series on Doordarshan, Cartoon Network and my admiration for this Dark Knight grew always, Then I was bowled over by the charisma of the sci-fi flick Matrix’s character Neo, These two characters have left a deep impact on my mind, I can never forget visuals from movies of these characters, which further propelled my dream to see our own epic Mahabharata and Ramayana to be made into a mega feature film, having a strong potential to enthrall audiences across the world.

I always would rate the efficiency with which the matrix trilogy and Batman Begins was directed, the scene in Batman begins where Bruce Wayne stands surrounded by bats overcoming his childhood fear for bats, with the dark score of Hans Zimmer matching the scene perfectly, and from the second edition of matrix where Neo does a fly away after beating down few agents, he soars high in the skies running through the clouds, a slow frame showing him descend down against the backdrop of a full sized moon, are scenes which never go out from my mind.

It’s not just action that would help us make our epics a mega film it would be the way the action sequences are choreographed which would leave an impact on the audience. Following are my thoughts for Mahabharata:

1) The film can be a trilogy or even more parts, directed LOST series style, let the movie begin on the war turf, the kurukshetra war ground with battle lines drawn, and sun rising from the mountains tearing the mist of silence spread across the ground. A conch blows showing a frame of shadowed Krishna’s headgear with his peacock feather fluttering in the wind, flags waving across the ground, a sword drawn out in air from the kaurava camp.

2) Next frame shows a shadowed image of Arjuna pulling out his bow and fires it across the ground which will then pave way for the opening titles, shown in a format of a Bow zipping across the screen and leaving behind the title credits shown from different angles in the beginning.

3) Then as the credits end the battle cry erupts louder and the images start getting bloodier, as one of the warrior slashes his sword across an opponent, blood spills and the camera view (CGI effect) zooms out to the eyes of Sanjay with a disturbed face, frightened to narrate the war events to his blind king Dhritrashtra.

4) From here the movie would stay focused on the characters of Mahabharata, pulling the audiences back to why a particular character jumped in for this epic war, narrating his part of the story, for example we can show the chariot of Bheeshma standing still, with other Kaurava chariots departing fast to battle the Pandava’s, as Duryodhana looks amazed questioning Bheeshma is he on the side of Kaurava’s or Pandava’s, on which he gets furious and answer’s back Duryodhana, “ Im not here to fight a personal battle like you, im here to fight for Hastinapur” from here the scenes flash back to events that brought Bheeshma to the war, even though he was suffering deep pain from within he chose to be on the wrong side, still fighting for the land he loved, for which he was committed to.

5) Coming down to the aesthetics of the movie, choosing of locales and using a mix of CGI and artificial sets all needs to be done very carefully as overdoing of CGI and artificial sets would kill the emotional side of the movie, the warrior dresses need to show the royalty of the characters still not too heavy and first of all should not look artificial, hair dressing of characters also would be important, accessories all would matter a lot.

Got That LCD

I was looking to buy a good LCD and It was Sony’s bravia series that lit up my senses and i had previously decided to settle for nothing less than a 40" screen, however I realized if were to buy a Sony and that too the model I had eyed which was KLV40S200A which is costing around 94,000 bucks and for that I knew I would have to keep myself waiting for too long.

I then had a look at the Philips 32TA2800 wide screen LCD at Central mall in Pune, while shopping, there were other televisions from Samsung & LG placed there which were running same channel on cable broadcast.

I observed that this model of Philips was performing on par with the colour reproduction of Samsung, though losing out on the Bordeaux series external looks, which did not matter to me much. LG LCD television quality in terms of contrast and colour reproduction was way too poor compared to Samsung & Philips.

I was then waiting for a good offer to buy this model from Philips and this ganesh chaturthi I saw an ad of Philips Arena pricing this television for around 38000 bucks on exchange of any old 21" above colour TV working set. I checked with them on this offer and it was kind of a best deal for me as I also checked out specs of this television, I also checked specs of other LCD TV’s in the same category and finally decided to buy this one since other brands also were offering similar specs with a difference of few features.

One important piece of advice that I would like to give to all those who want to buy a LCD TV, check the performance of the television with a cable connection or a DTH connection, because normally LCD TV’s put on display in most of the shops run a Demo video created by the company which is normally in HD format, which is sure to make you feel that the television would be having outstanding picture quality, however things may not turn out to be the same when you bring it home and get ordinary picture on your regular cable connection or DTH connection.

Ask the dealer in the showroom to change channels, and look out for factor’s like the Motion response time of LCD, which is normally 8ms for most of the brands, for some it is 5ms, this response time will be better the lower, preventing “ghosting” of images on screen, also check if the television is able to reproduce colour combinations flawlessly, check different picture settings of the television for yourself, important one’s being the contrast and colour settings, do not settle for any LCD missing on HD compatibility since technologies like blu-ray and HD discs , HDTV broadcast would start flooding Indian markets, also confirm if the LCD TV has a PC input, in case you want to play your favourite game title on your LCD screen. Also do not give to much of importance to specs because what you can see with your eyes will help you judge what’s better for you.

This television has widescreen HD resolution of 1366 x 768p pixels with a digital crystal clear feature, different screen refresh ratio’s for different video outputs. Following are the screen resolutions available in the television: 4:3, Subtitle Zoom, Superwide, Widescreen, Zoom 14:9, Zoom 16:9, with host of other features. I got this television delivered as promised by the dealer, no hassles, installation was done professionally and I viewed the connection on my Tata Sky connection, clarity was awesome, never encountered any pixelisation issue while viewing, played few movies from my collection, DVD and VCD viewing was more clear and crisp.

I must say there are many superior brands in market offering more high quality products, but I am impressed by after sales service of Philips from the time I had bought one of their DVD music systems 3 years back which developed a snag and I did not expect some one to follow up with me on my complaint and come to my home twice for just getting a music system repaired, and I had denied in the end to repair the music system as I got a new Home Theatre with DVD player, the service person did not even charge for the visit, it was Akshay Service in Pune who is one of their dealers.

I experienced a similar service with Philips again this time, as I write this review I got a call from Akshay service asking me about my availability to give a demo of the LCD with warranty features to be explained and get a feedback about the product and installation experience.

This television may not give you the “SONY” experience, though would not disappoint you as well, because this LCD would actually give you that wide screen experience on a 32” screen, though not as artistic looks of a Samsung Bordeaux, if you are on a budget and seeking a good 32” LCD below 50,000 bucks, this is the television you can bet upon, price of this model is around 49000 – 48000 bucks.

Indian Invasion - International Comics go Desi

It's kinda dream come true, virgin comics now has 4 Indian culture based comic lineup, The devi was already popular, now joined by The Sadhu and Ramayana 3392AD

Even sony has tied up with virgin comics to launch MMORG based on Ramayana read here

Visit this site of Virgin Comics to read more about the comic Ramayana Re-born | Sadhu | Devi | Virulents

Don't know when would we get treated with some good stuff even though in comics of our own culture... more on this later. I also happened to find this site for Indian Comics.. good one the second one also here

Photography Enthusiasts

For those who love browsing for pictures on Flickr and other photo community sites, here's another interesting site to keep you busy

Pbase Web Galleries

Trivia Stuff

300 love letters

Guinness world record site

World Mysteries

Famous products, Weird Uses

Trivia Stuff

Im starting off today with a list of sites that i have found on the net, few of them are quite amusing one's

Human World Trivia

Weird Facts

List of unusual Deaths

Cursor Mania

Mailbox Picture collection

History Freaks


If you are one of those kinds who love to re-live important moments in history, this site may be of your interest http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

This site has log of eyewitness account of people who have witnessed important events in history, site is well laid out categorizing events from ancient world, middle ages, world war era, post world war era

Addition to my tech stuff….

I purchased a View sonic 19” Widescreen monitor, Artis 6600R FM 5.1 Speakers and got a I-pod shuffle as a prize in a contest. The I-pod shuffle I got is a 2^nd gen, 1 GB I-pod and is sleek and has cool looks, however it failed to appeal me and I really wonder how the world has gone crazy behind this white stuff..

I had to download the I-tunes 7 version from the apple site... then transferring songs from my pc to my i-pod was not that hard however had to take care of some settings initially in the I tunes software. The headphones provided by I-pod are below average quality, I started doubting the player’s capability to reproduce good sound quality… later on I plugged in my Sony walkman earphones which gave me good sound clarity and that’s it I have not being using this player much as somehow it still does not appeal me, I had an opportunity to hear songs from a Sony W810i phone, the audio quality and bass reproduction was awesome, I-pod is no match in front of it.

I read the review about Artis 5.1 speakers in digit this month and found these speakers to be packed with great features, also I had heard sounds from Artis speakers previously in some shops and public places and I always found their sound quality impressive, I cancelled my plans to go for a basic creative 5.1 inspire speakers, where in was getting a good deal from a kunhar peripherals dealer in pune, this dealer was near dagdu sheth temple in pune in a old wada type mansion.. got free home delivery.. the speakers were priced at 8500 bucks in the digit review I got it for 6850 bucks..

Setting up the speakers was easy, connected it to my Tata Sky DTH digicomp and sound quality on star movies, HBO, MTV, Channel V was awesome, I watched Alexander movie on it last Tuesday and I could notice difference in the sound quality of my Philips Music system and this speakers, the surround effect was good and the sound ambience was also impressive.

Still I have not being able to set up the speakers with proper combination with my LG DVD player which is 5.1 channel enabled DVD, it plays only on two speakers when I set it on 5.1 channel mode and plays sound on all 5 speakers when I set it at 2.1 channel mode. These speakers come along with a manual which is self explanatory, quiet a bunch of AV cables and AM & FM aerials.

Also I dumped my 15” Samsung monitor which was still performing since 1999 and without any problems, I was itching to upgrade my monitor at least to a LCD 17” category.. I read review on Benq FWp92 version which was 19” widescreen monitor priced at 13,000 bucks… I then shifted my plan to upgrade to a good 19” widescreen model. I found out that the Benq product was not sturdy build wise and did not reproduce great colours and contrast. I then zeroed on to two models one from Viewsonic and other from Asus, finally opted for Viewsonic 19” model. I got the monitor at 11,000 bucks from a Rashi Peripherals dealer at market yard area in Pune near swargate.

The wide screen experience is engaging while playing games like NFS carbon, Brian Lara Cricket 05, The Punisher which I am playing right now.. the screen settings are extensive with both manual and automatic adjusting mode. The monitor delivers both on performance and looks.

Nokia 77


Nokia has launched another Symbian OS 60 series phone with DVBH enabled technology, seems to be quiet a cool phone.. have a look at pics and video of the phone

Nokia N77 Key Features

.Watch real live TV based on DVB-H on the go
.Wide 2,4”QVGA screen with up to 16 M colors
.Mobile TV application for selection, purchase and consumption of TV programs
.Replay of TV programs
.Set reminders via the Program Guide
.Enjoy TV and music with high quality stereo speakers
.Take up to around 1500songs with you on a optional up to 2GB memory card

Its the 3GSM World Congress in Spain & Finland and Nokia has 5 new offerings including the exciting N77 a phone and multimedia computer that offers Live TV on demand.

Of course you'll need an operator that supports DVB-H technology (and there ain't a lot) for you to get Live TV to work. According to DVD-H.org, Digital Video Broadcasting (Handheld) has currently been launched in Albania, Italy, the US and believe it or not Vietnam. Finland, France, Russia, and Spain are following suit this year.

If you are one of the countries listed above than you can enjoy Live TV on the Nokia N77 phone's 2.4-inch QVGA screen. Built-in software also allows you to select and purchase TV programs for replay later on.

The phone is also a digital music player with support for the popular MP3, AAC, and WMA formats and comes with FM radio all of which you can enjoy via the built-in stereo speakers or bundled stereo headset.

The Nokia N77 is shaped like the Nokia 73 but appearance wise looks a bit more serious (or boring depending on how you look at it) with a plain coat of black on its front.

Also in front is one of two integrated cameras (this one for video calls) the other on its back is a 2 megapixel camera with 16x digital zoom.

The phone can story up to 2GB on an optional microSD card, otherwise it comes built in with 20MB of internal memory. Nokia hasn't announced yet how big a card it is bundling with the device.

The Nokia N77 phone is compatible with 3G, EDGE and GSM (triband) networks and runs on Symbian OS S60 3rd Edition.

Watch the video here

Apple's Vintage I-phone

Here's a pic of a phone design patented by Apple way back in the year 1982, seems really innovative but weired wanna carry a apple in ur pocket ??

DD to partner with Nokia for Mobile TV broadcast

Now Nokia has signed a deal with Prasar Bharti to broadcast TV on mobile phones, currently in India Nokia N92 is one such phone available in market capable of receiving television broadcast via DVBH technology.. there was another model Nokia 7710 for which manufacturing has stopped. Read here

Well no one would ideally be interested in watching DD channels on his mobile...here's some new launches from Nokia, they just seem to be unstoppable in launching new phones...also a look at competitors for Apple i-phone.

Two Good articles on Technology

Future of Entertainment | Balancing Multiple Mediums

Sony Arrives With Video Walkman

Sony launches a video Walkman to match Video I-pod, read more about Sony Video Walkman here

Convergence Knocking on the Doors..

A service provider in delhi called Bachwara Broadband and Communications on Saturday 9th March launched a ‘telemart card’ which will enable subscribers to avail TV, Internet and telephone services through one user ID called Digital Identity System and has tied up with Tata Teleservices, Dish TV and Spectranet for providing the service.

So we can hope to get all in one stuff from big telecom players in future converging the technology to the advantage of consumers..

Rising Tech Addiction

Read this stuff from BBC site, warning gadget users of a Addiction that's truly unavoidable in current age....

HOLI HAI !!!
Visit this site for extensive Holi Festival information

Man With HORNS !!
Check out this story here

Pictures of World from Sky
Some Great arial pics check them out here

Cool McDonald's Print Ad
A funky ad of Mc'd Fries click here

Most Realistic CG face ever created

Check it out HERE to believe

Future Perfect


Bionic Eye Wonder for the Blind

Read this article Here


Ink Less printer's

Ink less printers to be build in digital camera's -- Read article Here


The New Spidey Game On the Block

Watch out the Game Trailer,Visit the site Here

The Vista Makeover Guide.

For those who would still like to stick around with Windows Xp and would like to do a makeover for the current OS to Vista, here’s a guide for all of you which I tried and it has given me satisfactory results which would surely not make you feel left out, in the OS upgrade race.

First start by downloading the Vista Shell Conversion Pack, Vista Inspirat 1.1 from here, if you would like to have a look at the screenshots before downloading, take a look here, The Most stable transformation pack in terms of shell changing software’s is this one.

Once you are done with this download it would change almost everything you notice in Windows Xp, right from the boot up screen, log on screen, your wallpapers, icons, start button, with 4 to 5 vista theme’s, a floating bar with shortcuts to frequently accessed apps like IE, My Documents, quiet a cool one.

Next stop in the conversion process is to download some cool widgets, well if you would have not heard about widgets then take a visit at Yahoo Widgets and Widgipedia both these sites offer you a host of widgets which are popular for streaming music, live weather updates, RSS feeds. I downloaded for myself a Yahoo Widget Engine, which comes equipped with default Weather Widget, Laptop Battery Indicator, CPU memory usage indicator and much more, I then downloaded a Multimedia News reader widget, on which I added all the RSS feeds of my favourite sites from my Google homepage.

Then I also downloaded a Clear Sidebar Widget from Widgipedia which is a really cool Widget that resides on the right side of your computer screen given you instant access to frequently accessed Windows Applications, just in case you do not want the floating bar that would come along with the Shell converting Vista makeover pack.

Well for now this is what I have managed to dig out the makeover process for my Windows Xp, I have not managed to get a Aero technology makeover which vista boasts about, maybe I would not get such an application, however you never know what the net has to offer you, it’s just you need to keep searching.

I would be posting more links based on Vista Makeover and Windows Vista Wallpapers…. Keep reading..

Nokia Comes out with New Range of Business Phones

Nokia E61i is more of a pure business phone and so is Nokia E65, Nokia E61i has 2 MP camera, Blackberry connect feature, Mail Exchange Server support.

Nokia E65 is for those who don't want a very Wide Business Phone, with prominent access to frequently accessed apps.

The real winner here could be Nokia E90, a sensible refined version of communicator,which is on Symbian 60 series, instead of Symbian 90 series which has limited apps, and above all FM included, with 3.2 MP camera, which was not required actually

All three models are equipped with 3G and WLAN support.

Samsung F700 to Counter Attack the I-Phone

The F700 mobile phone features a 2.8-inch 440×240 color display, and a QWERTY key pad that slides out at its base. According to Samsung, the inclusion of such a key pad has mainly been for users who are not yet familiar with a touch-screen-only user interface.

Samsung Ultra Smart F700 mobile phone also features a 5-megapixel camera. Here, Samsung definitely has a one-up over Apple’s iPhone, which has a 2-megapixel camera. LG also has launched another "Smart Phone" recently named LG Prada, which is going to be priced around $770 and I-Phone to be priced between $499 - $ 599, Price of this samsung model is not yet known. Where's Nokia gone ???

WoW…. What’s the big deal

It’s time Microsoft started taking the Indian market seriously; today I was just watching the WoW Vista show on Star Plus for the launch of Windows Vista in India. This was not the story at the time of launch of Windows Xp, it was just like another launch fair, which I was a part of, at that time around 6 to 7 years back, can’t even remember the exact year, both AMD, Intel had set up stalls promoting Windows XP, no stars, no anchors, it’s the other way round this time, Microsoft is already battling the problem of piracy in Asia, India would play a significant role in success of this launch of new OS from Microsoft in the Asian Continent.

We tend to take whatever comes from the Redmond Giant blindly in terms of OS, Well for me Windows Vista is nothing more than visual jazz, it boasts of superior performance however you would need a major computer overhaul if you were still happy with Windows XP, then be so… Windows Vista would demand at least 512 Ram for the basic Home Version and for a good feature enabled Windows Vista I may suggest the Home Premium version.

Even computer magazines have given a clean chit to Vista, for what all that Visual Jazz ?? while they still write in the articles that on Intel Dual Core machine it would still take more time for apps to open than on Windows XP with a current configuration

I am not very clear on the price of this OS, for the Home Premium version, which may cost around 15,000 to 16,000 bucks as I read on some Indian online shopping sites, Windows Vista Ultimate would take the steam out of your machine, I have used a Windows Vista Shell Converter on my laptop, for now which gives me almost the same visual feeling to that of Windows Vista except few widgets and other visual jazz that Vista has to offer.

However recently when our office decided to move on to Open Office replacing MS-Office, even we found it difficult to move on without that MS-office feeling, actually Microsoft has a strong hold in terms of ease of use in it’s products for which it prices it’s products on a very high range and that’s not affordable in India for all computer users. This encourages the piracy to thrive and come what may, Microsoft may claim that they have hacked proof Windows Vista, its already with it’s launch hackers have busted open vista with reports floating on internet about a flaw being detected with Windows Vista.

So going ahead Windows Vista would also have to encounter the same fate as other MS-OS have faced, Piracy…. People on the internet have devised tricks and hacks to overcome Microsoft Genuine campaign, today I don’t feel it appealing enough to upgrade to MS-IE 7, or Windows Media Player 11 as I have other better options Microsoft, and why on the earth they thought of launching Zune, which was touted as a I-Pod killer, it did not kill anything, it just made another addition to already overcrowded Mp3 player market.

As Microsoft had the first mover advantage in terms of OS, so has the Apple Inc with I-pod and the I-pod mania continues to live. If Microsoft wants to succeed in India, It will have to work hard on pricing, rather than educating people about not buying pirated software.. If it’s heavy on my pocket I don’t care what effort has gone into developing Vista.

Movie Review: Guru

Mani Ratnam tells a exciting story through a aspiring gujju businessman who emerges as a winner in life, this is what I felt about guru, abhishek bacchan has shown that he has grown quite well in his stature as an actor, with aishwaraya getting a sensible role in this movie, good that she did not try anything silly like dhoom 2, Rajiv Menon’s camera work is splendid, however Mr Mani ratnam has failed to give our gujju bijness man “Guru Kant Desai” a proper gujju village, my god the shooting of his home town idhar is done somewhere in madurai or kerela…

I felt one or two songs in the movie were unnecessary and lengthened the movie, which was nearly about 4 hours.

Mani ratnam has created a period movie with proper detailed study, mithun, r madhavan have being given suitable roles, I think vidya balan could have being given a more extended role.

Watch the movie for the effort mani ratnam has put in telling the story of a aspiring villager turning into a great businessman, he has made the story in a practical way not glorifying the character but his thinking.

Finally I'm Connected

My Broadband is finally up and running, thanks to quick and prompt service from airtel broadband, lets hope the connection works well, as my sify connection worked without probs for 2 years but they spoiled my association with them in the last 2 months as i bid their connection adeiu, those freaks were asking me to pay 1500 bucks as i wanted to exhaust my renewal which was in pipeline of Rs 1100.

I was bearing their delay in giving me the connection since last 3 months and they just blew my lid off by asking me to shell out rs 1500 for cabling and installation.

The speed of airtel BB connection is quite impressive, i have not yet tested out the download speeds.

Broadband Dream

Mr Dayanidhi Maran is riding high on BSNL’s dream to provide 2MBPS connection@ Rs 250 a month that’s something revolutionary in field of telecomunnication.

But Mr. Maran going aggressive on increasing broadband connections is not easy, its tough road ahead, also involves risk of deteriorate already overburdened ISP service providers struggling to provide the desired speeds and customer service that’s left much to be desired.

I recently had a bad and infact a really bad experience with sify for shifting my broadband connection it was almost for two months I kept calling their call center ( it’s in Chennai, god save me can’t bear people with heavy, infact very heavy accent)

I finally thought of writing to sify’s topmost head in customer service, and to my surprise I found her email address on sify’s customer care website. I thought my mail would just go in the thrash can just like other customers keep mailing the customer care, I got a call from the access manager of sify the very next day promising me of getting my connection installed, I was not happy of what happened with me in last months in my association with sify, but the follow up and the personal attention which I got from them, makes me think they are difficult to be hated.