Rock on!

NO guys!! am not appointed to promote Farhan Akhtar's new movie.
Well anyways...I just saw it yesterday night (first preview show!.. How could I miss bollywoods first ever Rock-based movie). And drew parallels to his first movie 'Dil Chahta Hain' which was a story of friends. DCH was one movie I have watched over and over again. after Sholay and alongside Munna bhai series and as then suggested by my friend that DCH was a movie to be watched by friends:) This time I suggest this one is too. You may or may not agree (eventually), but after knowing few rock-inclined friends, and after being with the making and breaking of my college rock band (as a non-musician). After knowing few ultra-talented musicians (rock and other genres) who still are trying to make it big (in the worldly sense). I think this is a great movie to go watch(barring some disagreements which can easily be skipped n the larger picture). See it if you have the time and inclination :). Even if you leave aside the Rock factor, it's still a good movie.

And yes! Interestingly Farhan seems to have won a 'race' for the title, I learnt from the web that there was another English movie scheduled for 2009 with the same title. I guess it will now be called 'Bandslam'

2008 Farhan Akhtar's 'Rock on'

2009 - 'Rock on' (now Bandslam)

LINKS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_On!!_(2008_film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_On_(film)

Yahoo! Photos is closing!

Yahoo! Photos is closing on September 20, 2007.

Fear not! you can still transfer all photos from those accounts to a different service (from the options given by Yahoo).

However, I thought since Flickr was now a Yahoo company this should have happend automatically. I am not sure I saw Yahoo photos in the form that used to be before. I've been on Flickr whenever I logged into Yahoo. So not quite sure how that works and why do they still want us to validate a migration... anyways, there are few other options than Flickr. The message goes-

" Move your photos to Flickr, Yahoo!'s award-winning photo sharing site that Time Magazine calls "completely addictive." And since Flickr is a Yahoo! company, moving is easy - just sign in with the same Yahoo! ID and password you use on Yahoo! Photos.Or if Flickr's not for you, you can also move your photos to services such as Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, Snapfish or Photobucket. Select from the options below!

Dear (User),
Thank you so much for using Yahoo! Photos. Before we go, we can help you move your photos to a new home.
You must decide what to do by September 20, 2007, because any photos still here after that date will be deleted. Learn more.
Please choose from one of three options below: "

The options are-
1) Migrate to Flickr , Kodak Gallery , Photobucket , Shutterfly , Snapfish with help from Yahoo.[alrite! Thank you so much for this Yahoo]
2) Download all your pics by Sep2007 [Good Luck on that!]
3) Order DVDs of the back-ups [Gee, now we talk business :)]

Anyways... thanks I have some on Google's Picassa. Won't have to move them. And Photobucket too was a favorite :).

Log-in to you Yahoo photos accounts today! and get updated. You will see all the migration info proactively displayed. Get going save all those 'memory pichs'

iPhone – Apple reinvents the phone

Technological revolutions are always on… there are some things which entirely change the way we have been doing things. The computer as compared to a mere calculator or a simple typewriter as compared to a top-end printer with x many other built in features. Recently came across one such device that is headed [or rather already is] in that way. Maybe most of the tech savvy among us already know.

It’s the Apple iPhone- the revolutionary phone by Apple. Happen to see the keynote by Steve jobs on the internet. Thanks to a friend who forwarded me that link and ever since I’ve been in love with the device and dream [like always] of owning one. I liked this so much that I am at risk of sounding like a Apple spokesperson :)

Here’s how Jobs introduces the device :) …excerpts from the presentation [not verbatim]. He talks of how Apple created a revolution by introducing the Macintosh in early 1984 and then the iPod in 2001 which entirely changed the way music business worked and then…

“… Today we are introducing three revolutionary products-
- Wide Screen iPod with touch controls
- Revolutionary Mobile Phone and
- Breakthrough Internet communications device.”

Blah Blah! and goes on to mention that these are not 3 separate devices... but just one…called the iPhone [audience cheers and continues] Apple has re-invented the phone… and shows a digitally morphed iPod with a analog phone dial [audience laughs :))]... and later goes on to reveal the actual iPhone :)

So let’s leave you to take a look at the actual presentation video. The link is at the end of this blog

So the top level things I noticed about the iPhone... er!! well here are couple of pictures… and then let me go ahead with my comments.




Ok, so going ahead the top level things I feel I should share are..

1) It has a revolutionary User Interface –
The controls are not physically set… permanent into the single device that you would have, it enables adding new controls/features in future just by upgrading the operating system, it’s their Desktop class application the OS X [read OS Ten] . Instead we have a giant screen… with a great pointing device. Like we had the mouse… er no… the Stylus? No just your finger, the device is intelligently configured to understand you finger pressure etc. to kind off read any unintentional touch [hmm this could be a little dicey though, hope not!]

2) More detailed integration with you computer. Has lot of inbuilt stuff, for example Google Maps is one.
3) Has BIG memory space
4) Has a inbuilt iPod [as mentioned earlier]
5) Easy email access [just stating, haven’t used it for real]

Here are the iPhone specifications:
Screen size: 3.5 inches
Screen resolution: 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
Input method: Multi-touch
Operating system: OS XStorage: 4GB or 8GB
GSM: Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera: 2.0 megapixels
Battery: Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing

As promised the detailed keynote and introduction video by Steve Jobs on the Apple website. http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/j47d52oo/event/
Over here watch the iPhone Introduction (the second button)

More details on the features and their demo movies can be found on http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Hope you like it as much as I do :). Let’s see how fun this can be. I am very optimistic

PHOTOS
From the Apple website

Look what ORKUT does!

Orkut, the new craze for all online netizens. Yahoo is good will always be, but Orkut seems to have induced some freshness into the whole idea of communicating/synching-up/networking/ etc. Interesting...very interesting!

Today, apart from my Yahoo or MSN chat friends list. I am talking to various other folks. My 6th, 7th grade classmates from one school, my 9-10th grade folks from another, my college mates, most of my ex-work places, and almost all of my current friends. The message on top of my Orkut profile saying “You are connected to 46,915,167 people through 90 friends" is proof enough and I bet some of us have triple the figure I have.

Ok now I agree that not all talk, but then the knowledge of each-other being around sort-of gives the feeling of being in-touch. You are free to message anyone, without being worried about disturbing him/her... and same for you replying back. You have the freedom of checking them whenever and replying whenever. However, we have to be responsive enough to make this two-way communication work.

This whole concept is just so wonderful. There are communities you can join and further collaborate personally, professionally or just for fun. Fan clubs, hobbies, and topics of interest everything can be done. If you remember names of you long lost friends go search them, but warning you might make friends or find ten others with the same name :)

Then there are provisions of photo sharing ( limited), video sharing, building up a detailed profile ( which 99% of us don't complete). You can post scraps (the term used for a message on Orkut) which are public, or send individual messages or messages to an entire group/community. We can configure it to get alerts on a selected email on receiving any scrap and also on receiving individual emails. You can add friends, sort them and maybe lots more that even I haven't explored. There are profile visits listed on you home page, so that you know the last 4-5 people who visited you. That’s one way of making friends too. You could end up visiting a friend’s scrap book and getting lined on to few more friends (new or old) who would have left messages there. See didn't I tell it was interesting!

Of course, we have to follow those basic etiquettes of being online, be responsible, responsive and behave. We need to exercise caution not to promote any illegal activity or harass or get harassed. Well as long as its fun there’s no problem. Hope no one ever gets into trouble here or causes trouble, but you cannot say for sure. There is so much to make use of there in a positive sense. Why would someone want to spoil the party? Best of all its FREE ;) All you need is a email ID to link that with.

In all this baby, a personal project of a Google engineer Orkut Buyukkokten is a sure hit among us. Read more about this and him on these links. Thanks Orkut! (both the person and Google's site) for making the net some more fun.
Link - http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3302741
His personal website - http://www.stanford.edu/~orkut/

(Note: I also got to know that there might be iisues with the actual ownership... Google seems to be facing a lawsuit from another company in CA. Read...http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64046,00.html )