Twenty Onwards Media

www.playsleuth.com

Well, if you loved Scotland Yard (board game) as a kid, you should enjoy this one too. It's an open ended detective game where you solve mysteries by questioning the suspects, investigating the crime scenes, collecting clues etc.   http://playsleuth.com/
Caution: Patience is an essential to get through the game

Why don't we have this game already?

Life in Kashmir through the eyes of an Indian Soldier

BBC Online is carrying a feature article penned or atleast narrated by an Indian Soldier about this first experiences in Kashmir. It is truly heart-felt and you can tell it was narrated or written in Hindi/Urdu rather than in English. It first aired on the BBC Urdu service. He describes his arrival in the valley for the first time, the harsh eyes that look at him with mistrust and the small ray of hope he finds in a kid who doesn't know that he is not supposed to smile and wave at army men. I would highly recommend reading it.

F@#K Sony

I blame Sony for the recent recall of Apple Power Book laptop batteries and as luck would have it, my machine happens to be one of the many that might light up my groin area in flames, if i keep it charged too long. However, my PBook has never really heated up to scary levels and the battery is still working fine, but it has been recalled for safety. It feels weird carrying around a laptop with only one butt cheek. It doesn't really make the machine any lighter than it already is, just feels awkward.

Apple only handles the recall program through mail rather than in-store exchanges, which would, at least for me, be much more convenient. The job would be done in hours rather than weeks. In any case i plan to sell this machine as soon as possible and get my hands on a new Mac Book, yea the black one! (Hopefully)

Anyone interested in buying a 9 month old Power Book, fully functional, with loads of free goodies and still under warranty for 3 months more? There is a slight bump on its side, but not really noticeable.

UPDATE By:

Conan O'Brien: Apple recently recalled batteries for their Mac computers, following a similar recall by Dell Computers. When asked what is the difference between a Mac Fire and the regular PC fire, Apple replied that it is more "different, hip and condescending".

In Terms of Coverage

There's hardly much mention of Bush's trip to India, except the part where he flew in to Afghanistan. I am sure the new nuclear deal will bring in a 2 minute segment on CNN & Fox. However, its the not the same in the case of newspapers here.

Here are some links:

The New York Times

U.S - India Reach Nuclear Agreement

Washington Post

U.S - India Reach Historic Deal

Good Nukes, Bad Nukes

A Message For Mussharaf

International Herald Tribune (I know its a mix of the above, but they had original articles)

Louder Than Words (Warning: Arundhati Roy interviewed)

Blushing, Hip Bride

In a connected story, the Chinese actually put out a statement saying that they have misgivings with such a deal. And India should immediately sign the NPT and ofcourse its Nuclear weapons.

Maybe we should open the borders up too and let them in.

Just for Surfing Porn?

Asia Pundit reports on how the Chinese Internet Police can make you tremble and faint for just watching a naked lady.

iPod Nano

Forget the iPod shuffle, check out the new iPod Nano, as thin as a pencil and over 4GB of space and cheaper than the mini. Apple is supposed to come out with a iPod cellphone pretty soon, wonder how that would turn out to be.

Its just supposed to be a Phone

I couldn't help but write this post, ever since i have been back nearly everyone i come across has handed me his/her (him mostly) cellphone to view some new MMS clip. Sometimes involving ordinary people and sometimes celebrities. It seems everyone at least in Delhi is obsessed with them, can't even blame them for being like this. In the past week i have been shown at least 20 different 'scandals'. There seem to be an extraordinary amount of people taping themselves doing it in India, especially Delhi (came across a number of clips named after local neighborhoods here). The most famous of such 'scandals' actually involved people from my (great) high school, the Mms viewed around the world. It surely ruined one person's life forever.

These clips are not just traded using blue-tooth, they are also put on the net, dispersed to a even larger audience. I don't really understand the whole attraction behind people making these videos, but the attraction of viewing them is pretty obvious. Its bad that the unsuspecting female's life is ruined, but then there are cases where its willfully recorded. Some of these clips are also supposedly being used by people to promote themselves, i.e. celebs (Riya Sen 'Scandal'). There isn't anything that can be done about these clips and i am pretty sure some people wouldn't want anything to be done. After all, voyeurism is a universal attraction. However, the part where this crosses the line is videos or pictures being taken in public of unsuspecting victims, which not only violates their privacy but is essentially harassment.

This is rampant in Delhi, which is why just taking pictures (with a camera) in a public place can get you in trouble. Eve-teasing and guys leering is a part of life at most places in Delhi. I came across a middle-aged guy walking with his wife and leering at girls right in the front of her without hesitation. If you would randomly just ask any female in Delhi, they would tell you of at least one incident where either some tried to harass them or eve-teasing, lewd comments etc etc. I have come know that this is a part of every female's life in Delhi (age is no bar). This is truly desperation to the max, that the person is at a point where the only way to score with a girl is to do it forcibly. Its ruined nightlife in Delhi, most clubs only let in couples or charge exorbitant prices to let in stags. Even money doesn't stop people like this, in fact most of the people doing such stuff are actually pretty affluent. Its very ridiculous situation, where just walking alone, holding hands could get a cop on your back trying to score money. And at the same time, the same cop will let perps just walk away clicking those pictures or videos.

Banning camera phones doesn't really cut it, because its not a realistic option. There will always be perps like these everywhere, but their number can certainly be decreased. Its the attitude and behavior of the society which can really make a difference, looking away simply increases the audacity of the next incident. Delhi is a wonderful city, but it really needs to become a zero-tolerance zone for such behavior. That doesn't mean cops harassing couples, but cracking down on those perps sitting at the malls, markets, cafes etc. Its also a personal thing at a certain level, no amount of cracking down will do away with it. Its the person's moral fibre, how strong it is, how he (hardly ever she) views the other sex. Its also depends on society's predefined notions regarding sex, gender and their treatment. Certainly, hope Delhi just remains the capital of India, not the rape capital of India.

(Help me think of a better title for the post)

Together at Last: Apple switches to Intel

Steve Jobs, CEO Apple Inc. announced today at the Apple WWDC 2005 Keynote Address that the company will be switching from IBM to Intel Processors for its computers. They are doing so to increase the power and efficiency of Macs. Calling the new alliance 'Macintel' just like the 'Wintel' duopoly, Jobs went on to describe this shift from Power PC to Intel as a necessity. The transition will start next year and is expected to be finished by 2007.
This is not a easy transition, since they would have to change the OS-X(operating system) to be compatible with Intel chips. However, Jobs announced that the Intel compatible version was already on its way and will out there early next year.

This is good news since making Macs even faster and more efficient is only going to attract more customers. Macs have been outselling PCs in the past year and have a higher rate of growth than the PC market. The release of OS-X Tiger has really buoyed those sales. Even though Mac share in the computer market remains small but the fact that its outselling PC's is a good development. Apple has come out with 5 different version of their OS-X over the past 5 years, during the same period Microsoft only came out only with Windows XP. One of  biggest transition that Apple did was the shift from OS 9 to OS X. Creating a whole new OS from scratch, if you have used OS9 and OS-X , you would know the drastic difference. Built on Unix, it is the best OS out there. If you are a Windows user, just try using a Mac, especially one with the Tiger, you'll see why it's such an amazing OS.

Jobs also mentioned the increasing number of Mac developers from India, there were around 30 this year. Also, the next version of OS-X called Leopard, will be launched at the same time as Microsoft Longhorn that is 2007. Apple remains one of the most innovative companies and one of the hottest stocks right now.

First Hitch with Apple

All good things must come to an end and i guess they did today. Before switching to Mac i had been warned of the difficulties in using a Mac. Since, everything has to be seperate for a Mac, software, hardware, games etc. For 6 months i had no problems in getting software, hardware or even games at reasonable prices. However, i finally ran into my first hitch, a webcam. The Apple Webcam is a expensive $159 camera with essentially the same features of any regular webcam, except the fact that it looks a bit cooler than the others.

As i needed a webcam, i went through different stores and websites searching for a cheap webcam for Mac, but did not come across any. Technically any USB webcam should work but you need a driver. Creative  in its hatred for Apple does not make anything Mac compatible. Logitech on the other hand does make some Mac compatible cams, however they are extremely expensive (still cheaper than apple though). So, i bought a logitech one, at a considerable price just to test it, as it said it was compatible. However, the driver given along with the camera turned out to be the same one on Version Tracker which asks for $19.95 for a legal version, despite the fact that over $70 have already been shelved out.
I had to draw the line, after buying and returning 3 different cams and downloading all types of drivers i finally gave up. There is no way to get a cheap webcam to work on a Mac either you shelve out the money for the iSight or you buy some other company say Logitech and then pay more to buy a driver. There you have it, my first hitch with a Mac. I guess i better start saving for an iSight.