Link Picks

Hey everyone
Its been a long long time since i've posted some good sites in the best of the web section. Well, here they are.


groupon.com
The site offers an application which helps connect people forming a pooled transport, and those who wish to avail such pool's services. The aim is to connect the people, and help pools get their required member numbers. And the final aim - reducing pollution

lafango.com
This is a talent hunt website,aimed at providing the right platform for all kinds of artists. The site lets musicians, comedians, singers, dancers, photographers, models and other artists to connect to the masses.

eraser.heidi.de
Download the free permanent file deleter from this site. Eraser removes any traces of any files that you deleted,hence offering complete anonimity. It uses many millitary techniques to erase all file tracks. Download Eraser from this link for free

http://www.cypherix.com/cryptainerle/
Frustrated of people who keep on sticking their USB drives/dongles on your computer without your permission? Troubled by people passing out viruses to your computer by their pen drives? Then Cryptainer is your solution. It blocks your USB ports with a password. Its a highly useful tool for shared systems. Download it from here for Free

cafindia.org
Desire to serve your society. CAF India is an organisation that lets you support NGO's in India with the donation that you send. You can select NGO's by their purpose, tax-relaxation schemes, location, etc. The authenticity of the mentioned NGO's is checked by CAF India before being listed. A site with a very noble cause, do visit this site whenever you'd like to make a donation.

beemp3.com
Do you have problems finding your downloadable song on google amidst millions of web-playable tracks? Wasting too much time on finding the track you want to download? Then this is the site. It searches through the deep web and arranges the site links to millions of tracks. India, English, any language tracks are available here. I got hold of some pretty rare tracks on this site, some tracks which were even not released on the disk. Although i must mention, many of the downloads might be illegal, though the site claims that it allows to download the songs for promotion sampling only. A personal favourite

faceboo.com/pehredaar
A great facebook page of a brilliant consumer rights awareness show. The show titled 'Pehredaar' has been on air for the last eight years, solving consumer problems that the companies had refused to solve. In case you have a problem, just logon to this site to request Pehredaar to take note of your problem,or contact other consumers. Who knows maybe the same problem might be there with many other consumers there.

Hope you guys like it. Comments/suggestions are welcomed

First Peek at the NTPC Badarpur Thermal Power Station

On monday, i went to the NTPC Badarpur Thermal Power Station. Being one of the oldest in the Delhi-ncr, this power station is the main power source to Delhi, Noida, and Rajasthan's Alwar.

BTPS(as we fondly call it) is also connected to my blood. Way back in 1985, my father was an officer in NTPC. He had attended a training seminar on Powerplant familiarization. back then, he was positioned in NTPC's Korba plant. So i'm the second generation of the family being associated with BTPS.

Being my first visit to any thermal plant, i took some pictures of BTPS.



The images show various angles of the main transmission/distribution building of the BTPS, along with the MCB of the plant(which is a building in itself).

How to use the computer safely

Hey
I came across a guide on how to use computers well. The guide includes the body posture styles and precautions that one must observe for safe computing.

This booklet was enlightening for me, as i found out a few flaws in the posture i use for computer.

Download the book from this link. Snapshots are attached

https://rapidshare.com/files/3840549560/Safety___Comfort_Guide.pdf

Hope you guys like it. Suggestions/comments are welcomed

No rift between Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambram a lie !

Very recently, home minister P Chidambram in an interview had said that he had no issues with the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee - the seniormost minister after the prime minister. Pranab Mukherjee was the seniormost minister after the prime minister too in 1972, when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister, and current prime minister Manmohan Singh was the governor for Reserve Bank of India, and used to report to Pranab.

The claim that P Chidambram is stating is a FALSE,a LIE. My father's been in the ministry of finance for the last twenty four years, this has been a known fact that P Chidambram hates everything started by Pranab Mukherjee.Infact, P Chidambram closed down a government owned FII called Industrial Investment Bank of India (aka IIBI Ltd, popular with the employees for great work environment and employee/job satisfaction) only for the sake that Pranab was the brain behind this bank's creation. Instead, P Chidambram opened a special purpose organisation called India Infrastructure Finance Corporation Limited (IIFCL - the very one which brought tax-free infrastructure bonds recently) wh ich does the same functions, and has the SAME OFFICE premises from which IIBI operated from(10th floor, 25 KG Marg). Infact, majority of the staff was taken from IIBI only. Infact, some of the IIBI officers, which had been under fire for allegedly asking for bribes, were taken in IIFCL.

P Chidambram is a shrewed politician. Doesn't matter how good does he work, but his political vision sucks pretty much.

Hyundai Motor Plaza, New Delhi - a Cheat,Sham

Earlier this month, i had visited the Hyundai Motor Plaza - the Hyundai owned and operated authorised service centre in New Delhi. And let me tell you what. THEY'RE ARE THIEVES. They charged me for a lot of services, which i found out that weren't performed. The problem i asked to check wasn't checked at all. I was misguided and asked to get an expensive Rs20000+ operation done. But on going to a local mechanic, this problem was sorted for Rs5330. And Hyundai Motor Plaza charged me with Rs5424 and did damage to the suspension, fuel injection and seats.

I have decided to file a case in the consumer court against Hyundai Motors India. But before that, i wrote a mail to the HMI management, as per the suggestions of national consumer helpline


"I had written earlier about my PATHETIC experience with Hyundai Motor India's services at the Hyundai Motor Plaza,New Delhi service centre, but now i've come to know that you are CHEATS. You charged us for things that you don't even do. HMI seems to be inspired from all the malpractices in the industry. I wasn't able to attend your calls which HMI made within half an hour and as on calling back,the call redirected to the customer care IVR , and HMI doesn't even show the courtesy to mail, or call back on the next day. I am angered at this behaviour of HMI.

When i recently bought a Hyundai car on the recomendation of high qualilty product, i did not know how DISGUSTING HMI's service network is. If you do not believe me, go google "Hyundai Motor Plaza complaints" and see for yourself the names customers have been crowning HMI with. For the record, i own a February 2006 Santro Xing XL purchased from Himgiri Motors(engine no. starting with MALAA51HR6M). The car comes with CNG fitting.

On 14/6/11, this dreaded day i had visited your Hyundai Motor Plaza service outlet in New Delhi for complete service, plus engine pickup issue. HMP being a company owned and operated service centre, i expected top notch service. Neither the engine pick up problem was solved, nor HMP cared about. Instead, the situation had worsened, and the car was not even fit for driving. Earlier,the car was fine,just the pickup was causing problem. Your employees are getting free meals off our pockets irrespective we get satisfaction or not. I had written about this on 16th June, but seems like that discovery of mine was just the tip of the iceberg. HMP executives told me that damaged crank was the reason the car was not picking up. I should suggest you to shut down HMP. YOUR EMPLOYEES DON'T KNOW THAT CRANK HAS NO RELATION WITH SPEED PICKUP OF THE CAR. And the crank is a very expensive part in the engine. I was told that replacing the crank problem would cost Rs 16000(for the crank)+labour charges+engine oil replacement charges+taxes. CLEARLY UNPROFESSIONAL INTENTIONS ARE EVIDENT.

To start first, noone picks up any of the phone numbers that the website or customer care 1800-11-4645 mentions. I was new to the Mohan co-operative area, and it took me half an hour to find a way to reach the location. I was approaching from Apollo hospital side, had to return all the way from Badarpur Border to find HMP. On reaching there,i see the receptionist gladly chatting with other staff members and ignoring the ringing phones. HOW COURTEOUS HMP IS, REALLY.

I was charged Rs100 for Full Throttle cleanup , and Rs 1200 for engine decarbonisation, along with the verbal claim that fuel injection was cleaned. Now, as my pickup problem was not solved, i asked another Hyundai owner who suggested me to visit Kar Scan centre at Savitri Cinema complex, Greater Kailash. I visited there on 19/6/11 and got my car scanned. THERE I COME TO KNOW THAT NEITHER OF THE ABOVE STATED ACTIVITIES WERE DONE and i was still charged. In simple, i was charged for things not done. CHEATING is the term what the Kar Scanning executive used for HMI on knowing the whole situation. Mr Ali at the Kar Scanning Centre is my witness/alibi. And as per the Consumer Protection Act,its the responsibility of Hyundai Motors India to prove that it had done these stated activities, which HMI cannot prove as none of it has been done in the first place.

My driver's seat was torn from behind at three places which was not earlier,though i didn't mention considering it a small ignorable defect. My CNG cylinder had been dislodged, and it started making too much noise on getting jerks while driving, this i also ignored. The right tyre have started to make unbearable whistling noise. A 'knocking' sound started coming from the engine on driving. The engineers at the Kar Scan centre told me that this would cause irreversible damage to the car's engine. Before this,nothing used to happen, and now all this trouble i have to bear just because that HMI engineers were to shameless,unprofessional and careless.

I have decided to SUE HYUNDAI MOTORS INDIA. I want a full Refund of Rs5424 spent, along with the charges of the Kar Scanning Centre pvt limited Rs717+Rs408, furthur charges of Rs 5330 which i had incured to repair the car inspite of handing the car to HMI for repair for a whole day, plus Rs5000 for harassment and fuel/oil charges i had to bear because HMP engineers were shameless and unprofessional. This is when i'm not accounting the time and effort that i would have to spend in the future to get the car fixed. My father had taken a day off without pay from the work only to get the car serviced well(consider this as a financial loss suffered for HMI's UNPROFESSIONAL service). Plus, any person would consider changing a week old lubricant oil wastage of money and sheer stupidity. I have firm reason to believe that HMI has done all this deliberately. Everyday the car travels 30 kilometres one way to Rajendra place and back, and even after spending Rs7000, there was ZERO outcome. Instead, things had become worse. What guarantee does the company give that the car will not cause any problem,difficulty,accident in the middle of the road and any consequent damages would not occur, and in case of so, HMI will completely cover the expenses for any such incident. And being a CNG car, what guarantuee does HMI give that the problems appearing post the HMP service would not cause any incident which might be fatal for anyone around/inside the car?

On 24/6/11, i went to Himachal Motors, Mohan Singh Market, INA , a trusted car workshop which has been flawlessly servicing all the petty vehicle issues i have had with our previous Maruti,and government vehicles in the past ten years, and he charged a net sum of Rs5330,including all the parts and labour. He told that there was a serious issue with the ignition system which was damaging the spark plugs severely. Also, he informed that the gear timer relay in the car was full of oil, and it had to be repaired with great efforts. He also pointed that THE CRANK WAS FIT ENOUGH FOR WORKING AND NO REPLACEMENT WAS NEEDED. It took them two days,and four dedicated technicians for fixing up the problems. Even they changed damaged critical parts such as belts worth Rs1700 which HMI never cared to. The pickingup problem was due to faulty gear relay timer, and nothing else. I PAYED YOU Rs 5400 AND YOU SABOTAGED MY CAR. HIMACHAL MOTORS CHARGED RS 5300 AND THEY RESOLVED ALL MY ISSUES. I ask you Hyundai Motors India? Even after i report you, you do not care to ask the customer the next day what was his grieverence. If Hyundai Motors India has the guts to reply, then kindly reply to me IN WRITING WITH THE COMPANY LETTERHEAD along with the details of action taken against the people involved in my harrasment! I do not believe that YOUR COMPANY TRAINED EXECUTIVES ARE LESS SKILLED THAN SELF-TRAINED GARAGE MECHANICS. I clearly find that the company has INTENTIONALLY not well attended the complain. Seems like Hyundai Motors India considers all the customers who entrust HMI as Idiots on whose time,money,effort and lives HMI can play and earn their money !

Also, i must again mention of your engineer Mr Faizur (Cellphone No: 9990120941) at HMP, who misbehaved with us when the car was serviced. First he disconnects the CNG kit, then he doesn't test the car until we force him to, and then he refuses to reconnect the CNG kit ARROGANTLY stating "its not his job" and shamelessly asking us to get it reconnected form outside. And two seniors of his weren't able to sort out the matter. The third in line senior(senior of senior of senior of mr Faizur) had to be requested in order to get that fixed. Two in-line seniors not completing the task shows the company is not at all bound to serving the customer, and is totally committed to grabbing the hard earned money of the consumer. The company was instant at billing, but my personally noted down problems mentioned in the jobsheet were IGNORED until i started looking into the matter and INSISTING to consider them first before paying. If i'm not suing him seperately, that is because i don't have the time, and he was acting on behalf of the company. Plus the company does owe the responsibility to the way their employees behave with the customers under the Consumer Protection Act . With his behaviour, i suggest HMI should employ roadside mechanics, even they know how to behave with customers well.

And surprisingly, HMI charges Rs 405 + taxes for replacing two nuts. These nuts do not cost anymore Rs10 in India, and along with labour, not more than Rs50 be charged. My mechanics - Himachal Motors stated that atmost Rs80 be charged for them,anything else would be a LOOT considering no permission is taken from the customer for changing them at such high prices inspite he company has the contact information of the customer. Its a SHAME that HMI has been implementing such malpractices.

Its upto your company's hands whether to built its image, or damage it more. Bad image caused the downfall of huge MNC's in India like Daewood Motors. Does HMI wants more grieving consumers taking legal action against it or not, its completely upto HMI's hands.

I'm giving you three days to think over it. If Hyundai Motors India decides to pay up full Rs16879.40 in cash/DD and NOT KIND, i shall be suing HYUNDAI MOTORS INDIA in the court of law for criminal negligence, in the consumer court for intentional cheating and sabotage of the vehicle, and take the matter with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, along with the media and consumer interest groups. I SHALL NOT HYUNDAI MOTORS INDIA LOOT ME. Its now upto the management of Hyundai Motors India to decide.


a DISSATISFIED hyundai India customer


Copy To:

Ministry of Consumer Affairs,Government of India : For their kind knowledge of HMI's poor services

Auto Industry Specialists : For their trade's knowledge

Media Houses : To consider this case before reviewing any Hyundai product

Maruti Suzuki Limited : For their good after sales service and robust products

Media/Consumer Right Specialists : For their knowledge

Hyundai Motors America : For kindly forwarding this to Hyundai Motors International's head office as a complain by a Hyundai India customer, They should be aware of Hyundai Motors India's malpractices bringing disrespect to the brand Hyundai."


Lets see what happens. Its the Customer vs Hyundai thieves

First Hands on Nexus One

I recently got my hands on the HTC Nexus One - the first Android 2.3 handset from Google. Though we do not get this handset in India, but he was able to manage it, being selected by Google to join their Bangalore operations. And must say, damn the phone is good.

The hardware is good. The touch is brilliant. Plus the way hardware and software work together is seamless. Its one hell of an iPhone killer. Android handsets,which are usually said to lag behind as the hardware and software integration isn't as good as the iPhone's integrated system(primarily because both the hardware and software are come from the same company in iPhone which isn't the case for Android handsets).

Anyhow, the phone worked well. Extremely fast and sturdy, the screen was brilliant. The only thing that Google needs to improve is the after-sales support. And if it manages to do it good, its just going to beat all the likes of Nokia, Samsung and Apple.

Movie Review - What Happens in Vegas

Another one of the movies that i had recently caught was the Ashton Kutcher Cameron Diaz starrer What Happens in Vegas.

The Plot:


The movie is about the story of two individuals - Jack Fuller, and Joy McNally. These two individuals are completely different from each other.
Jack Fuller, played by Ashton Kutcher is a lazy brat, who works at his father's furniture factory. He is fired from the factory as he caused other workers enough disruption to stall all work. He tries betting his opportunity at job, but fails. The fault that his father points out is that he cannot stand high pressure situation.

Joy McNally, played by Cameron Diaz, is an employee at the share market. She is committed to her boyfriend Mason, who dumps her on his birthday unintentionally in front of her closest friends. This leaves her broken.

Suffering with their personal tragedies, both of them decide to have a vacation in Vegas, and start afresh. There, Joy and jack meet each other because of a room allocation mistake. Jack during a conversation, challenges Joy for a drinking challenge. They get excessively drunk, and get married while being so.

The next morning when they wake up and realise that it was a mistake. But while discussing about undoing it, they get into an argument. She leaves her quarter while going away from the conversation,which Jack tries on a jackpot machine,and wins 3 million dollars. When jack tries to drive Joy away, she takes him to the court for her share, being his legal wife.

In the court, the court orders them to six months of marriage counselling, and the money would be frozen till then. They both get stuck with each other. Joy moves into Jack's place. There, both Jack and Joy try to make each other's lives miserable. They come to know that by proving the other partner not being fully committed in making the relationship work.

Both Joy and jack try to make things worst possible for their partner. They try to set each other up, to somehow make the other miss the counselling, which is considered the contempt of court and make things bad for them. Joy even tries to get Jack's parents involved, and give them a good impression of her so that they would become character witnesses for her. Jack tries to set her up with Mason-her exfiance. Meanwhile, Jack's parents invite both of them for their family get-together.

At office, Joy's boss asks her the reason for her inconsistence lately. She excuses about Jack. The boss asks her to bring him to the office picnic. Eventually left with no choice but to save her job, Joy brings him. At the picnic, Jack hits it off well with everyone, especially with the CFO and the board of directors. In the evening party, Jack is chosen as the most entertaining and team-spirited person in the picnic. That evening, they get to have their first dance together. Hence they slowly start bonding with each other.

Jack and Joy start to complement each other. Jack brings out the lively and fun part in Joy, and she fills the 'brumbling under the pressure' problem by motivating it. This shows its effects too. Joy becomes more confident and fun, whereas Jack becomes more motivated and focused. Eventually, they become comfortable in each other's company. Time passes.

But a day before the court hearing, Mason(her ex fiance) comes up to Joy, and asks her to be back with her. Looking at her engagement ring that Mason had given her previously, she understands that Jack must have set up this. She gets hurt.

At the court hearing, she gives up her claim for the money, and asks for a divorce. Then she shifts out of his place. Finding this, Jack becomes sad. Even after he gets all the money, he's still not happy. Joy on the other hand, becomes disappointed. She even leaves her job promotion out of her disappointment. They get divorced. Joy quit her job, goes missing and switches off her phone.

On the other hand, Jack's father convinces him to go and get her back. Jack looks for her and finds out whats been going on. He later guesses where she loves to remain alone to sooth and recuperate. He finds her there, and asks her to marry again, to which she agrees. The End. The last scene then shows how they got married in Vegas.

Final Take:

The movie is another one of those romantic comedies. Cameron and Ashton have done justice to their roles.
The soundwork in the movie has been well executed. The presence of popular tracks has made the movie more connecting with the audience.

To sum it all, its a nice movie , worth a watch or two. I'd give it 3 out of 5

How to Hack Wi-Fi

Hey guys.

While surfing through the web, i came across this brilliant video about Wi-Fi hacking. In case you're one of those who needs some free bandwidth, or need to test your security, here's the tutorial you've been waiting for.Here's teh link for the video

http://lifehacker.com/5459822/crack-a-wi+fi-networks-wep-password-with-backtrack-the-fancy-video-version


The author for the video Gina has been one of the oldest and the most reliable geeks out there on the net. This video is quite a good tutorial to learn how to hack Wi-Fi.

Hope you guys find it useful. Feel free to comment

Movie Review - The Island

Another one of the movies that i saw recently was the 2005 sience-fiction movie - the Island. This Warner brothers production was something that was suggested to me by a friend. And i must say, the movie wasn't disappointing.

The Plot:

The story starts in the year 2019. Lincoln Six Echo, played by Evan McGregor is one of the few people who live in an artificial human colony. He lives along with thousands of other humans. Everyday, he has the same routine. He wakes up in the morning, gets ready, has his breakfast, goes to work, has lunch, gym and other sessions. He usually gets nightmares about a boat and some other things and then drowning. He is bored about his predictable life, and has multiple questions about various things inside the colnony.

Jordan Two Delta, played by Scarlett Johanson is his best friend. She's the one who helps him all the food he desires, but cannot procure due to restrictions. He's quite close to Jordan.

The human colony was made after an enormous disease outbreak had occured,and after that this artificial colony was built. Everyone in the colony gets an opportuity to go to the island - a permanent vacation experience out of the colony in the natural environment. Because of contamination,only one island is left on the earth useful for safe habitat for human beings. Residents in this colony act slightly like children,whereas the staff acts normally.

Lincoln is of a curious investigative nature. He keeps on finding tricks to explore various aspects of the colony. He becomes friends with an employee McCord who works with the electronics and electrical department at level 6 of the ecosystem.

One day, Lincoln finds a bug in one of the contaminated zones of the campus. He tells about this to Jordan. Jordan later wins the lottery trip to the island. On getting to know this, Lincoln does some exploration before Jordan goes out to the island. He eventually finds that there is life on Earth,their manmade enviromnent is below the Earth's surface, and the residents of the colony are being told bag full of lies by their chief doctor Merrick. They are the clones of people actually existing on the Earth. People who've been told that they've won the lottery trip to the island are actually killed for their organs or body parts for those who need a transplant,or even for babies for the infertile.

He comes back to his underground world, and escapes to the surface with Jordan. He takes shelter in a ruin for sometime. When he wakes up, that he's on a national highway route. On following that route, he looks for a motel whose wherebouts he had read at a box in McCord's office. He reaches the motel ,and there he finds McCord. McCord takes them to his place, and explains them the whole story. He then gives them the addresses to their sponsors - the poeple who paid money to get them constructed. These are the people who utilise the organs and body parts. These sponsors do not know how these organs are built, or about the killing of clones for the organ. McCord boards them on the train to California, but gets killed by Merrick's newly hired security personnel. Lincoln and Jordan are attacked too, but somehow manage to escape.

Tom Lincoln and Sarah Jordan are the sponsors of Lincoln and Jordan respectively. They must go to these sponsors and tell the reality. First they try to find Sarah, only to find out that she's out of the state, and in the hospital at the moment. Lincoln gets arrested there on charges of arrest of Merrick, where he checks out the address of Tom Lincoln. But somehow escapes when the police car, in which he's boarded gets ripped in an accident. He escapes along with Jordan to Tom Lincoln's place. There they tell him the whole story.

There, Lincoln comes to know that Tom Lincoln is a sex addict, and he would need a liver transplant. Lincoln initially is a very kind person to them, but secretly he's against them. Tom calls up Merrick's men, and tries to get the clone Lincoln killed by deceit. Jordan,who already didn't trust Tom,had warned clone Lincoln, and being vigilant on her advice, clone Lincoln escapes unharmed, but in the act, the real Lincoln gets killed by Merrick's men after they confused the clone Lincoln with the real Lincoln. Lincoln returns to Tom's house, where he had left Jordan. There, they spend time together and become close.

Merrick finds that there was a flaw in four out of six generations of clones, and decides to kill all of them. Meanwhile, Lincoln and Jordan decide to save the rest of their mates. They go back to the ecosystem. Lincoln goes there acting like the real Lincoln, whereas Jordan intentionally gets herself caught. On reaching back to the ecosystem, they get themselves free, and try to sabotage the system, so that the other clones could get freed. Lincoln gets caught up with Merrick, and in the resulting struggle, kills Merrick. When Jordan reaches, Merrick's men were about to kill the rest of the clones of Lincoln's generation. She saves them and then sabotages the system with the help of the new security guy Merrick had appointed. Looking at the mass killing Merrick was commiting, this guy got changed and started supported the clones. As the main outlet fan for the system got destroyed, a void got created. Through this void, the clones escape and see the real world. The End.

Final Take:
The movie is good considering that the science fiction used is not too imaginary, and yet feasible. Director Michael Bay has depicted great direction skills of his. The movie is new, yet predictable. But you cannot watch it more than twice. Watching the ovie thrice would be too much.

Scarlett Johanson and Evan McGreggor have done justice to their roles. The music work is functional enough.

Considering all the aspects, i'd give this movie 3.5 out of 5.

Product Review - Altec Lansing BXR 1221

I recently purchased my newspeakers - the Altec Lansing BXR 1221. These speakers are the ones i finally zeroed on after a long hunt of three hours at the Asia's largest computer market - Nehru Place.

Priced at Rs1000, that is roughly US $45. Pretty cheap for a new branded pair of high performance speakers. The feature that i loved the most about them is their design. Small, kinda canon'ish, ready to blow out power but yet highly melodious. The small size makes them easy to place, and the long wires doesn't make it difficult to install anywhere slightly distant from the computer.

And i am right. Here are a couple of videos that i've recorded of them. One of the videos plays jay Z's 99 Problems. The other video plays D.O.A(Death of Autotune), and shows how the subwoofer blows .

Their performance is good. They give the in-house and in-hall experience well. Infact, i found them to be much better than Creative's S235, which some of the storekeepers had suggested. Personally, i didn't like the design of the Creative speakers, though i've heard good performance reviews for them. If one thing Altec Lansing does good , it is the product designing. The company seems to have spent a lot on designing its products well.

I had first seen these Altec Lansing babies at the Croma, Ansal PLaza store. They were at display and ready to be tested. I plugged them into my 5130XpressMuzic handset, and they gave really good sound output. Every sound was to its finest detail. And since that day, i became their fan.

It would be real fun for anyone to listen to rock and hip-hop/rap/RnB on them. Bass and Treble are perfectly balanced on them. I tried listening to Jay Sean's 'Stolen', and it sounds better than ever before. Stolen was released in the time when nothing called High Definition existed, and DVD was the highest possible audio-visual media standard.

My rating for Altec Lansing BXR1221 - 8 out of 10. Great design, great form factor(size) and a great value for money.

Movie Review - The time traveller's wife

Another one of the movie that i saw recently was 'The Time Travellers Wife'. Produced by the oldschool giants Newline Cinema, who had been accredited by many a good shows and movies, had produced this movie. This is one of the most unique movies i've seen, and infact i liked it more than 'The curious case of benjamin button'. the movie, directed by Robert Shwentke, has got some really rave reviews.

The Plot:

The story revolves aroubd a guy called Henry, played by Eric Bana. He is born to a singer mother, and a violinist father. He has this unusual disease of time travelling. He suddenly vanishes, and appears in the past or future for sometime, and then comes back. Unfortunately, his clothes don't travel with him in time. Because of this, he has to face many awkward situations. He never had a good normal childhood because of the constant time travelling. One evening, his mother died in a car accident, but he survived as he time-travelled. Ever since his mother died, his father became an alcoholic, and left his profession as a violinist.

As time passes, he gets accustomed to this unexpected travelling. As he travels, he meets a small girl named Clara Abshire (played by Rachel McAdams) in the past. Later he meets her in person at a library when she's a grownup. Henry meets her at a local cafe, where she tells about his disease, his doctor, and some other things.

As time passes, they get together. Henry gets married to Clara. Clara has a difficult time adjusting with the appearing and vanishing act of Henry. Even during the marriage ceremony, Henry had disappeared, and the Henry of the future had married Clara. But there are upsides to it too. Henry finds out the winning ticket, and

When Clara becomes pregnant, they start to look for the solution of this disease. They consult a geneticist doctor Kendrick and find out that he gets fits which makes him dislocated in time. The energy blast in fits is the trigger that dislocates him. The doctor advices him to stop alcohol.

The problem of dislocation also spreads to the offspring in the womb. Clara suffers multiple miscarriages, as the child in the womb disappears and reappears. They visit Dr Kendrick, who gets involved with their case,and terms the disease. Henry tricks Clara to abortion, only to find that Clara had again become pregnant by the Henry of the past.

Once when Henry time-travelled into the future, he meets his daughter. He comes to know that he died when she was 5.
Ever since then, he tries his best to make the lives of his beloved as happy as possible. They get a healthy baby girl which they name Abby. Initially, she doesn't have the time travelling problem, but eventually the problem starts getting displayed.

When Abby turns 5, one day, Henry time travels, and when he comes back, he becomes paralysed because one of his leg was crippled in the past. After some days, he again time-travels, where he finds himself on some hills. He gets shot there because a couple of guys were out hunting, and the bullet shot found him instead of the target - a deer. Henry comes back, and dies in Clara's arms, with his father and Abby by his side.

In the last scene, Henry reappears some years after his death. He meets Abby and Clara. When Clara asks him why hadn't he told her about this visit, he says that he didn't want her to keep on waiting for him. He then vanishes. Clara and Abby return to home. The End

Final Take:

The movie is a heart touching story of a man, who is highly unlucky. He couldn't get the love of his mother and his daughter, and his wife's complains for things that are beyond his control. Highly unpredictable life leaves him lonely and hollow. He has to face countless number of awkward and shameful moments, but cannot do anything about it. Even though he can access the past and the future, he cannot modify it, and he feels this helplessness throughout his life.

Clara, his wife - the only person who loves him after his father has constantly issues with his presence. Her life remains complication-filled till the day his husband lives. The love of her life, who has been there since her childhood becomes the become hinderance between her and a normal life. And even after he's gone, her daughter faces the same problems as him.

The movie is brilliant, though the title doesn't reveal it. A highly appreciable movie, it does change the way one thinks about life and the beloved ones. Director Robert Shwentke and producers Newline Cinema have done a splendid job, and should congratulate themselves for the job well done.

The music in the movie is apt and good. The 'love will tear us apart' track by 'broken social scene' is wonderful, brings depth and emotion in the scene of the first dance of Henry and Clara. Usage of only three tracks throughout the movie makes the movie serious.

To sum it all, i would like to call "The Time Traveller's Wife" a collectible - a movie which is beyond the commercial aspects,it is a classic. A must collectible. Anyone and everyone who enjoyed 'the curious case of benjamin button' would love it even more.

Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams have brilliantly portrayed their respective characters. The audience is able to feel the helplessness and pain of these two characters. The acting is powerful and driven.

My rating for "The time traveller's wife" - 4 out of 5.

Movie review - Life as We Know It

I had an opportunity to catch the 2010 release Josh Duhamel KAtherine Heigl starrer 'Life as we know it' at a friend's place. Since i hadn't seen it, i thought catching it would be a good post for the blog.

The Plot:


The movie starts in 2007. Eric Messer, played by Josh Duhamel(the Danny McCoy of Las Vegas) and Holly Berenson, played by Katherine Heigl, have been set up on a date by their friends Peter and Alison Novak. the date is a disaster, and it ends even before it takes off.

Eric's a technical director at a sports channel broadcasting company, and Holly's a professional baker who owns a bakery store. Peter and Alison's attempt to bring them together fails. Eric and Holly are two very different people who are very different, and very satisfied in their own ways.

Eric and Holly next meet at Sophie's first birthday in 2009. Being the closest to the Novak's, their presence was important at the birthday celebrations.

One night, Eric and Holly get a call from the police. Peter and Alison were killed in a car accident. Since they were the closest of the Novak's, they were given the temporary custody of the child. Later they come to know that the Novak's had given both of them a joint custody of Sophie in their will. Both Eric and Holly are devastated on coming to know this fact. Peter and Alison had never discussed with any about the custody of Sophie in case something happens to them, and hence seemed unbelievable. They tried to put up a petition to the court for transfer of custody to some other relative of Sophie, but the court decides to maintain the will of the Novak's.

Handling a baby becomes a big problem with them. Juggling work and baby becomes troublesome for both Eric and Holly. Eric once gets an opportunity to substitute his boss's place, but messes up because Sophie was crying in the second half which caused hearing problems to the employees.

Eric and Holly are visited by Janine. She's a counsellor from the social services who looks over their case. She always lands up at their place at the worst possible timing. Because of this, she gets to face awkward situations.

As for Holly, she had a really big trouble handling her bakery store and the baby. The bakery store was getting modified into a restaurant, and she had to overlook it. The expenses were increasing over the expansion than expected, and she was having a hard time paying her share of Sophie's expenses, the house taxes, the bills and the expenditure on expansion.

Sophie's doctor, Dr Sam Nelson know Holly for sometime as he used to drop over at her bakery. Before the death of the Novak couple, Holly had a crush on him. Because of some circumstances, he wasn't able to get in touch with the doctor. When she took Sophie to the doctor's visit, she met him again. They start dating each other. Doctor Nelson happened to be divorced from one previous wife.

As the story progresses, the various problems Eric and Holly face together brings them close. They start gelling along too well. Infact, people start considering them as a couple as their adjustment between them was no less than of a couple's.

But one day, Eric gets the opportunity to become the director for a production studio at Phoenix. He intends to take it, and even gets ready for it, but doesn't tell Holly. One day, Holly comes to know when one of his workplace colleague discusses about it with him in front of her. On coming to know this, Holly becomes infuriated and hurt. Eventually Eric goes to Pjoenix and does his new job. But even there he misses Sophie.

At the end of the season, he comes back for thanksgiving. He meets Holly and Holly invites him home for thanksgiving. On thanksgiving, they have a quarrel over selling of the house. Eric was mad at Holly for not telling him about the sale, whereas Holly was justifying her decision. In the sequence of arguments, Eric confesses his love for Holly. Holly gets shocked, and suggests him to continue his work at Phoenix. Eric goes. All the guests including Dr Sam hear about this. Sam later in the evening tells that she still had unresolved feelings for him.

Next day, the counsellor from social service. While conversing with her, Holly realises her mistake and rushes to the airport to stop Eric. But she gets too late as by the time she reaches there, the flight had took off.
At the airport, Eric realises that Holly and Sophie were his real family, and the reason Peter and Alison had given them the joint custody was because they were the closest to Sophie. Holly acknowledges her love for Eric. Later, on Sophie's second birthday, Holly bakes a special cake to mark her one year with Eric. They go and celebrate the birthday. The end

Final Decision:

The story seems a old, with some changes made to accomodate an element of freshness. The airport scene is probably the most predictable as we've been watching such stuff ever since we started watching movies.

Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl have done some decent acting. The others too have done a nice job.

The music of the film is nice. Its been used apt, and isn't loud - something thats been missing in many movies these days.

Overall, the movie is good enough for watching a couple of times. Watching the baby do things is entertaining.

Finally, to rate, i'd like to give the movie 3.5 out of 5.

What do you feel? Do you agree with me, or have a different opinion? Feel free to pour in

Movie Review - Up In The air

I recently had the opportunity to catch a movie. Its the 2009 hit Up In The Air starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. Produced by Paramount Pictures, i was told that it was a nice movie.

The story revolves around an executive Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney. he belongs from Milwaukee and works for a firm in Omaha. His job is to roam around the United States firing people off their jobs on behalf of the employers. He's a materialistic person, and believes in accomplishments such as special preferences cards and so. His priority in every action he does is to achieve as much efficiency as possible. He considers the flight as his home, and doesn't own a single property. He believes that owning assets hold one down to being inefficient. He lives a single life - no attachment from the family of friends. He contented with his moving life and doesnt want a settled life. His policy of life - keep the bagpack as light as possible, throw away the replaceables. The central idea behind this fact is that everyone dies alone, noone cares for others when they're on their deathbed. His personal aim in his life is to

He meets a newbie at his workplace - Natalie Keener, played by Anna Kendrick. She's a newly psychology graduate from Cornell, who has joined the job for the sake of being together with her boyfriend. She devices new techniques to fire people over the web using teleconferencing. Now, as the recession's going on, the company starts observing these new techniques.

Learning this development, Ryan doesn't like this. he tries to pull Natalie down. The company management decides to send Natalie with him to learn about the details and aspects of the 'firing' industry. They go places together firing people. natalie observes the odd things, the cursing people do on getting to know that they're fired. Natalie initially gets shook, but slowly gets used to it. The exzperience is one of a kind. There are people getting angry, some

Earlier, Ryan had met Alex Goran, played by Vera Farmiga. She's also an executive who frequently flies to places asa part of her job. Ryan and Alex hit off instantly. They meet sometimes at common destinations in their work travel. They have a fun time whenever they're together. He becomes used to Alex's presence in his life.

Ryan had the wedding of his sister Julie coming. Alex decides to visit the wedding. His other sister Kara requests him to take a photo of a cardboard cutout of julie and her fiance Jim. Julie and Jim are doing it as because of recession, they don't have enough finances and budget to bravel. He takes Alex there. Alex accompanies him everywhere he goes. Slowly, he becomes too fond of her.

Slowly as progress occurs, Ryan starts to change. Just before Julie and Jim's marriage, Jim get scold feet about marriage. Ryan talks him out of the situation, and convinces him to go ahead with the marriage. Julie and Jim get married happily. Ryan returns from their wedding alone for the first time after so many days.

While giving a seminar at GoalQuest in Las Vegas, he realises that he's in love with Alex. He immediately rushes to Alex's house in Chicago. But on reaching there, he realises that Alex's already married, has kids and a husband. She's been going around with him for fun.

Learning this, Ryan's heartbroken. He again seeks relief in solitude - the old way he used to follow. On going back to his office in Omaha, he learns that one of the employees Natalie fired. had blackmailed them with suicide, actually committed so, and on learning this, Natalie quit her job and applies for a job in San Francisco.

Ryan's back to his old ways. He again on the flight. But this time, he lonely and not just alone. The chain of events had actually changed him. His attachment with Natalie and Alex had an irreversible effect. Thats when he realises how much he has lost in all these years.

The movie shows how man is a social animal, and how it gets involved with other human beings no matter how much it tries to detach itself from them, or go into worldly things.

The acting by the stars is good, especially George Clooney. This is one movie which makes one think. Personally, it made me introspect too,as being a solitude seeker, it made me thing on the aspects of it too. Earlier i felt peace in solitude, but looking at this, it does make me ponder over balancing it.

The soundwork is good, appropriate to the movie's requirements. The movie needed minimalistic music so the message passed to the audience doesn't get spoilt.

Paramount studios has done a good job with Up In The Air.

My final Rating : 4/5 for good content, connected directly to the social nature of the human

What do you think? Do you feel the same, or think differently? Drop in a comment

Dexter In India - a felicitation

Surprisingly, Dexter has been a very favourite among the Indian english soap viewers. Dexter , as in terms of 'the Hindustan Times', happens to e a big leap for Indian television.



And i do agree with it. Michael C. Hall's strong acting, along with Jennifer Carpenter's skills, the show's been a delight to watch. Infact, i loved the season 5 of the show, the franchise is getting better and better as time passes.



The season 4 was my favourite was my favourite. Yesterday,i was just changing channels when i saw the guy who played the Trinity killer in Dexter in a How i met your mother's new season. He was playing Jerry the estranged father of Barney Stimpson. But i'd rather remember him for Arthur Mitchell aka the Trinity Killer(funny but even after a long time since i've seen the show, i still remember the character's name). The character Trinity killer's immortalised, seems like Dexter's power is beyond what was expected.



Wikipedia's facts on how people got affected by Dexter is an eyeopener. It really surprises me how much a show can affect the subconscious of individuals. Dexter sure has made a lot of impact in India.



Showtime Networks ,thank You !

iCloud success a doubt

Pretty seen enough, apple would be launching its iCloud services for its iTunes users. This way, apple tinks that it can compete with Google and Microsoft's cloud service. This sounds a bit difficult finding that Google's cloud is way more big than even Apple's data ecosystem is.Just look at Google's cloud. Gmail,GAE, Youtube, Orkut plus the Android ecosystem. There's no way Apple can match the Google's powerful and free ecosystem.

Apple's iCloud would be too expensive for all those who've been using the Google's cloud. Google's cloud is first free, plus syncable to the Gmail. With features like those, people who will use iCloud will use it only for the sake of their iPad or iPod.

And with such pricing, i wonder if anyone outside the Us will use it. With varying quality of product, it seems highly unlike;lythat the iCloud will have much takers.

What do you think? Do you think the same, or have a different opinion. Feel free to pour in your comments

iPhone 4 Launches in India - finally

So finally, iPhone 4 launches in India. And hence the long break finally came to an end.

Widely criticised iPhone 4 has been launched in India. it is this iPhone4 that had been a reason for wait for many mobile users. But sadly, iPhone4 is currently only on Airtel and Aircel. Aircel, with their 'poor' services, don't seem that maybe they would be good. Airtel, the oldest and the biggest private player in the Indian wireless market is good.
This was just for your information, for those who don't know. As for me, i'm quite happy with my Samsung GT-S3353 aka Sansung Ch@t

How to be Confidence

While going through the Hindustan Times, i came through a few good points which differentiate confidence and overconfidence.

Now there's quite some difference between confidence and overconfidence which we usually overlook.

Here are the characteristics in simple points which shopuld make you understand the slim line which makes the difference between them, and treat the issues you find in yourself

Overconfidence


Overconfident people are usually noisy and loud

they speak loudly and forcefully to impose their point

they seek validation from outside

after recieving approval, they feel emptiness inside them

they aren't satisfied with life and are usually unhappy

they do not feel good about themselves

they display courage to compensate their inferiority feelings

they like making fun of others

they cannot take a joke about themselves

the self doubt that they have can be easily detected by otehrs



Confidence


They do not try to prove anything

they are not attention-seekers

they exude a natural charisma which makes them attractive

they are usually happy,joyful

they are often very quiet and understated

they express themselves well when the situation demands

they aren't afraid to speak the truth

they are always authentic in their expression

people love interacting with confident people because he/she makes them feel confident too





how to be confident


dont judge and betray yourself if you display overconfidence

self confidence comes from inside

be honest about your feelings

if you feel negetive about yourself, introspect your self-concepts and beliefs

forgive yourself

don't try to fix whats wrong inside you, reveal it confidently

be kind and compassionate about yourself

start believing in yourself

congratulate yourself for doing your best

remember, you have the option to change,grow, evolve, transform, blossom, and bloom


Hope you guys liked the share. Comments/suggestions are welcomed