The New Age Zombies

1. Smartphone Users

For us, let's face it, it's all about the Battery Charge, Bq!!

I’ve said this before, briefly, in my previous write-up about the strange life of the phone battery. The golden equation of charge retention for uninterrupted power outage and misery avoidance goes something like this

14 ≤ (Bq) ≤ 17; and valid for all integer (only) multiples of this value.

Any deviation from this rule will invariably involve frantic moments with high levels of perspiration, pockets bulging with chargers, constant charge monitoring of the battery level indicator and/or the cell phone dropping dead between a call!!

Scary, I know!

Of course, there are conditions apply to this rule too. Assuming that your typical work day starts by say 8 every morning, you are taken care of at least till 10pm; for the late nighters till about 1am!! Often with new age smart phones if this rule is met, it’s more than good enough!

Battery Blues

Imagine now you get battery backup in non-integer multiples.

So when Bq < 14, you may have to put it to charge just as soon as you might be reaching home; and then if your night involves a dinner out, you gotta charge it a little at least before you hurry out and then put it back on charging before hitting the sack!

When Bq > 14, you still have some charge left in your battery when you’re about to turn in for the night, and you are bugged thinking you really don’t want to charge when your battery is still 25% full!!

So either ways, you end up having to do a lot of math if you want to get your phone’s charging cycle right, and that’s almost every day!!

Why this matters?? (are you kidding me !)

Well, to the casual user these things hardly matter, but make this a practice, and soon you’ll see that your battery charge retention has gone down.

So after being through this frustrating mental exercise the first few months of my smart-phone usage, I reduced the time spent on non-phone features – most of which drains out my battery – games, heavy internet usage etc during the peak times of the day. If I’m left

with ample charge towards my day’s end, I then liberally use my phone for gaming and 3G surfing!

Still, I do a lot of math, and I don’t deny it does get difficult at times. But I’m slowly getting used it – most of it now comes to me as though it’s all hard wired into my system – am now one of those new age zombies \m/ !

Peace,

$ur

Nokia's Leap with Lumia

About 6 months back or so, I had blogged about how Nokia has been trying to keep it's loyal clientele happy with teeny weeny offerings such as the customizable apps for Symbian based Nokia smartphones !

I myself thought Nokia was almost out of the game when the Droids and iPhones were so much more intuitive and feature rich, while Nokia was still making phones on it's age old Symbian OS with updates that failed to capture anybody's attention. But then came the Lumia ! Bham !

Firstly, the Metro interface of the OS, then the awe inspiring form factor and the Nokia True Black screen resolution/clarity, Lumia is just mind blowing ! Bringing in a lot of innovation, and thankfully  with an interface that even a Droid or iOS will drool over, Mr. Jobs himself would have been pleased to see this one !

I'm certainly not a person who buys the hottest thing on the market just because everyone's after it. But the first chance I got to check out this Baby - Lumia 800, whoa, it really made my eyes ogle.

So off I started with my research.

Sure, there were some minor software bugs reported, being the first generation of it's kind. But overall, the experience I felt was worth owning ! Then on, I tried to find reasons why it would suite my needs :P lol. Well not exactly, but I did read on a lot of different forums that most of the glitches were minor and fixes for poor battery life and tethering were just around the corner.

The thing I've realized about the battery life that seems most important is whether it will give you enough to get you through your entire day - 8 am to 11 pm or no more than 15 hrs. (A post will be dedicated for this one !!) and I managed to get a pretty accurate estimate that the Lumia will not fail my expectations !

Next what I loved was the social networking integration in the OS. Further, the MS Office productivity suite and the ever growing app store gave me a strong impetus to zero in on Lumia. Given a choice, I would have opted for the newer of the Lumias, the 900. But it was more expensive and available only in the US with the Verizon bundle. Basically, this one has a bigger screen, a faster processor and a better battery (though the processor will drain out more, giving it only a slight edge). But importantly, the newer one might be the first of the Lumias to support the Windows Apollo / 8 OS. But alas, this wasn't an option, so I settled for the Lumia 800.

But, I must add I certainly hadn't settled for anything less ! Pure indulgence is what you get with this smartphone ! Be it web browsing, Xbox gaming, Office suite use, scheduling and RSVP'ing events, social networking or navigation in some of the most interior of places, I'm thoroughly happy with my decision. It puts out a decent 12-15 hours of charge on heavy usage and close to a day on moderate usage. 

I feel Nokia has really stepped up their ante in the Smartphone arena with the launch of Lumia following their collaboration with Microsoft. I'm still hoping though, that Nokia realizes sooner than later, what Apple's success factor has been with it's iPhone - providing iOS upgrades across all the models. If Nokia can somehow manage to pull this one off by making Lumia 710 or at least 800 upgradeable to Win 8, that'll be a huge bonus in terms of customer base retention !!

More to follow..

$ur

Curb the Krokodil !

Few days back, I stumbled across something really disturbing, or more distressing perhaps, given the plight of a once great nation that had mostly just great examples of almost everything to look up to - Russia. 

When I refer to Russia as a great country, that produced many bright and successful engineers, scientists, sportspersons etc., I'm referring to all the Soviet nations in general, largely because most people associate Russia more with USSR than any other country (though not meant to offend the other nations).

Anyways, so it was shocking to me when I found out about this street drug called 'Krokodil' that's taking the toll of millions in Russia. Krokodil or desomorphine, most lucrative to and used by people living in the lower strata of the society, is mostly home cooked off headache tablets and the likes easily purchased at the Chemist without a prescription. So what's drawing more and more people to use it? Well, it's supposed to be about 8 times stronger than Heroin and about 1/10th the price!! And also because it's a home preparation and not a drug that's sold in the market per say, it's even more accessible !!

This drug however is highly toxic and very difficult to wean one off, leaving addicts only about 2 years of life expectancy. It literally eats through the flesh of the addict until it falls off. The few pictures I managed to find were pretty ghastly and stomach turning !

Russia has fallen prey to this epidemic and the nation doesn't seem to be taking enough measures to curb the widespread and ever increasing usage. Some say the its country's indifferent attitude towards junkies' treatment. But then there is also a financial motive for the pharmaceutical industry which is probably benefitting the most from the sudden hike in sales of codeine based tablets.

Report says more and more such forms of drugs are hitting the Russian streets making drug addiction a serious concern and factor of deaths in Russia.

It was really sad to learn all this; and come to think, most people outside of Russia are totally unawares to this situation.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/krokodil-the-drug-that-eats-junkies-2300787.html

Click the link enclosed to read more in detail !

Peace,

$ur

Glimpses: On the social front

Glimpses: On the social front

Cyclic ?

Off late I've been rediscovering old interests, of which, ones like last.fm, I never knew I missed so much until I rediscovered it for good. It is interesting how certain things stick on after one cycle. Like fashion, you know, people always say that it is cyclic in nature - that trends and fads change, but then after a whole cycle, one day a random guy decides to dress a little retro and BOOM you have it doing the rounds again. 

So it may be worth trying that old hobby of yours' again; the one that probably didn't get you hooked onto for more than couple of days last time around !

Most of my hobbies have been that way too, pretty cyclic in nature, I get really involved in something for few months and then slowly that interest starts to wane off. Then somewhere down the lane, one day I get some new ideas to revive it up and am all excited once again !

Have you ever felt this way ?

Peace,

$ur

Food Blog

I'm not sure whether I linked you guys to my food blog which I started like a few months back on tumblr. 

Yea, tumblr blog designs and layout seemed so much better for a change and so I went for it when I was planning to put all my food-spotting into one place.

But yea, the cons of it is that it isn't as easy to find and follow a tumblr blog unlike the blogger. But anyhow, I thought I'd help myself a little and also you guys, if you haven't found your way to it yet.

Here - http://theinsanefoodie.tumblr.com/

Been a little lazy lately in updating the blog after the first little spurt of enthusiasm. But I promise there is a lot that's going to turn up there in the weeks to come.

So stay tuned and be well.

Peace,

$ur

Misleading Docomo Recharge

Hola,

Finally something has given me the impetus to post here and reach out to the masses with an important discovery. 

Some of you who are Tata Docomo customers might have seen the new SmartLife plan ad that loads on the Online Recharge page - http://www.tatadocomo.com/online-recharge.aspx

Well, like every other Indian perhaps who loves bargains, this seemed like a wonderful mobile recharge plan to me. What this plan essentially gives you, is a Rs. 219 talk time on a Rs. 246 recharge. But this isn't the good part. Within 48hrs of doing this recharge, if one recharges for Rs. 4, he/she gets 1GB of 3G Internet Data with a validity of 30 days !! Yeah, awesome right ?

Yeah, but here is the catch. You will not be able to do the Rs. 4 recharge !! :D read - screwed !!

But I was definitely not gonna let it go that easy. I figured it's just a matter of time before I'll be able to do this recharge, because all that kept showing up when I tried to do this Rs. 4 recharge was that it's not applicable to my number.

So after waiting for a day, I called up the customer care. But again, I couldn't find a way to reach the Customer Care Assistant. The menu just didn't feature that option !

By this time I was starting to get really pissed. I got online to check if I could find a way around this hitch. That's when, hidden way inside somewhere in the website, I found that there is a hot line number to get to the Customer Care Assistant - Dial 9 after you call 121 (Customer Care) !

So then I managed to talk to the Customer Service lady. As usual, she was courteous and asked me what she could help me with. So I related the whole episode of the SmartLife recharge. At first she tried to convince me that the Rs. 4 recharge had to be done immediately after the Rs. 246 recharge. To which, I countered saying that's not what it says on the site. Finally she agreed to check it for me. And then came the stunner of the information which I was looking for all along !!!

One has to dial the MAGIC CODE to do the Rs. 4 recharge which is, WAIT FOR IT  ----- *141*15# 

Well, my first reaction was to ask her who the hell knew of such a thing. Then I realized she is just another poor pawn in the corporate conglomerates' little game of saving some money ! So I decided against shouting at her, thanked her for this information and ended the call.

And the minute I pressed the MAGIC CODE, Kaboom ! It all worked. Now I have the 1 GB of data for the next 30 days and the problem is solved.

But one wonders, how much a customer has to take care in order not be swindled by corporations ! Looking at the bright side of things, it reassures you that you still have to be smart to survive in this era (and not iBitches :D) even though technology is making things easier everyday (so even an iBitch can survive) ! ;)

Peace \m/

$ur