Are you safe with google ?

Sometime back, I had posted a laudatory article about Google, while striking a cautionary note about putting all your sensitive data in google's hands.

The debate rages on and here is a nice article which looks at the potential pitfalls of this situation -

Does Google know too much about you ?

Is the Nokia N97 going to sell in India ?

For the uninitiated - presenting Nokia's latest offering the N97 multimedia computer ...as they like to call it...

Link to official website for description and specs

From what I have made of all the hooplah surrounding this phone, it is supposed to keep you "connected" to the web ... all the time. I mean, the USP of this phone is that it claims to bring the internet to your palm and keep you updated with everything as and when it happens - real-time.

What I am mulling over is - how is it going to perform in the Indian market. Obviously its a phone in a niche' segment and is not a volumes product here but even in that segment, I wonder how practical it is to buy this phone given that ... data connectivity services like EDGE/3G or even good old GPRS are still fledgling in this country.

Almost all the service providers will offer you GPRS today and even EDGE but the speeds and connection reliability are pathetic. Even Airtel - I am a customer of Airtel - seem to have issues with their EDGE services. This is a complete U turn from a few months ago when their EDGE service was very quick - I did my Shirdi trip live posts using Airtel Live and had no issues whatsoever with connectivity or speed. But today I find that sometimes its a pain to open even google on Airtel Live. Maybe they have dedicated better resources to the Mobile Office service ?

You will hear the same complaints about EDGE/GPRS services from other operators. So when this is the scenario ... how practical is it to own a phone - whose USP depends on having a 24x7x365 connection to the net ?

Never ending passion

The paint job came out really well. I like the colour - it is one of my favourite colour schemes. This is a 99 model 135 4 speed. It was in a pretty whacked out shape when I picked it up from a dealer. Spent quite a bit of a fortune to get it in this shape. All the work done is purely cosmetic.

I have not ventured anywhere near the engine - yet. It was raining today so I didn't get to ride her for a long time - the restoration was completed just today evening. So a lot of ride-time is due on her. But the initial impressions are all good. Good job by Bike World Jayanagar.

Zero

Today I am at "ZERO".... a ZERO-POINT .... in many ways.

What does ZERO denote ? There are two ways to look at it. The negative way is to say that you have lost everything, you are broke, a pauper etc etc. The positive way is to say that its a new beginning. Its the starting point of something new.

Times are hard. The economy is not in great shape. Its hard to get jobs. Money is tight. Everywhere you see - there is one or the other kind of constraint. They weigh you down. No matter how spirited you are, sub-consciously, you are affected by these things. And in the midst of this vicious storm if you are hit by one problem after the other, its easy to start looking at things negatively and give up hope. Wrong approach.

Like Johnny Walker - keep walking ... you need to muster all the spirit, confidence and belief you have in yourself and keep pushing. Things WILL change. I decided to post this little pep talk because I was in a sombre mood and found myself thinking about everything in a very negative way. And I think a lot of people find themselves in a similar situation today. I just want to breathe positivity. I am sick of all the gloom and doom around. It feels like being chained ..grounded .....and you just desire to break free and soar into the skies.....

.........SPIRIT......you need to keep up the spirit and work without thinking about the results.

Development ?

I was going through a very good article on Indian Development. As one of the leadging developing nations, the biggest issue that India is going to face will be food security.

Yes - today we might have the luxury to sit on a stockpile of surplus foodgrains. But as per estimates - by 2025 we have to increase our output by about 40% to feed a projected population of 1.3 billion people.

The point that the article stressed upon - something that I am sure many people overlook or are not aware of is - the kind of strain it puts on existing land resources. We have to get a lot more out of the same land and water resources. Modernisation of agriculture is not really a complete solution. Because with modernised machinery comes the dependency of agirculture of fossil fuels and we all know how the oil prices are fluctuating in the world today.

So its a complicated link between population,food security,development,oil and water. How do we tackle this ?

Lonely days - slow and low.

Umm well not having a great time of late. Decided to take the plunge into CAT and joined TIME for coaching. Took out some old dev books and started to brush up some topics.

Otherwise life has became slow - repetitive. Too much of a pattern . I am starting to wonder why life is so "scripted" - there is a script for everything !

Want to break away - but can't take wings now. Its the time to lay low and go slow. Hence the lack of updates - there is nothing to update !

Oh - btw - I did pickup a 4speed RX135 recently and I am rebuilding it. Must be ready by the end of this month.

Windows 7 RC and the blogger buddy tool

Hiya ...

This is a test post right from my new Windows 7 RC desktop. I am typing this from the small gadget called "Blogger Buddy" - just to check out how this thing works...

Frankly - I am not really convinced about this neat little toy. I feel, opening up my blogger page and getting the post done with all the options is more convenient for me - its something that I am used to and comfortable with. So I don't know how much I will be using this - but what the heck ! let me give this a shot ! So here goes....