Tablets and Slates

Wow ! The hype and the news on the soon-to-be-announced iTablet / iSlate is really amazing.

The latest I read is here - http://www.cringely.com/2010/01/apple-tablet-twit/

If this is what it is - then "meh".

Trending topic on twitter

Podcasts - Or How I keep my sanity while driving...

Driving in India is, to put it mildly, stressful and chaotic (understatement) - more so in the city of Pune which is seeing unstructured unprecedented un-whatever growth (basically more of everything on the roads).

Although my commute to office is 20 minutes at most - I realized that I missed listening to the radio while driving in the US (the local Pune FM radio stations are not per my listening tastes, basically making me feel OLD). I primarily listened to NPR in the US.  So that got me on a quest to see if I could start listening to some of the shows that I enjoyed there. I pulled out my old iPod mini (1st generation) plugged it into iTunes and set about subscribing to podcasts (iTunes + iPod is the easiest way to go about this).

Here's what's on my podcast subscription list:

- Wait wait don't tell me! - A really amazing radio show that is an "informative news quiz" show with some great news & media personalities at their humourous best! There hasn't been a single podcast that hasn't got me chuckling... A tip though - Keeping current with what's happening in the US helps in "getting the jokes".

- WNYC's Radio Lab - Another great show - on very insightful topics  - ranging from Animal minds to great things about Numbers. I've recently started listening to this based on Seth Godin's recommendation. In his own words "The content of each show is a unique mix of science, pop culture and relevance. I guarantee that they will make you smarter. That's a lot to promise for a radio show, but I think it's true."

- NPR Technology podcast - Allows me to listen to interesting things happening on the tech side (that's what this blog is supposed to be anyway about). If you've listened to NPR before - this is basically "All Tech Considered" from the "All Things Considered". Good weekly snapshot on happenings in the tech world.

- CarTalk - If you are a car buff - you will enjoy the lively "Click and Clack" brothers dishing out advice on cars, car repairs and troubleshooting! Guaranteed to put you in a lighter mood!

Other subscriptions including WSJ's daily tech briefing and the occasional NPR's fresh air!

My driving has definitely gotten better! Try it - you wouldn't be disappointed, it will, at the least, make you smarter!

T400 - First Impressions

So finally got my hands on the T400 I'd ordered for my significant other (every gadget I order is generally for her ;-). I had debated and researched (meaning browsed the net a lot) on whether to go in for the 13 inch Macbook Pro or a T400. The primary driving factor turned out to be the end use of the laptop (development machine - .NET to be precise). Got a good deal through deals2buy.com (with a 128GB SSD to boot!).

Here are the specs for the T400:
 - 2.26 GHz Intel Core2Duo  (P8400)
 - 3GB RAM
 - 128 GB Solid State Drive (Samsung)
 - 14.1 LED Backlit - WXGA+ TFT, W/ CAMERA
  - Windows Vista Home Premium (yeah I know)

The only reason I got Vista Home premium was that Windows 7 had not been released when I ordered. Though I now have the option of ordering that online (some free Lenovo upgrade program - free as in beer + shipment). Haven't got around to doing that yet.

So - first impressions: The machine feel light, in fact feels lighter than the 13" macbook that we've got. 
The display is really good - had a direct head to head comparison with the macbook and the Dell Latitude 620 (my office notebook) and it is bright!. The machine is also fast! Owing to the fact that I haven't loaded anything on it yet, I guess. Not too impressed with Vista though - can't wait to get my hands on Win 7. The plan is to then load all the development software after that. Battery life seems to be pretty decent (on a 4 pack li - it now shows 3:57 mins left, after 20 odd minutes of typing).

The machine is really quiet! In fact it is more quite than the macbook. The keyboard is great (tactile feedback is really good). I had read about flex issues with T400 keyboards  - don't find any flexing here. The only thing I don't like is the noise the keyboard makes. I would be ok with it - can't say the same about someone sitting next to me though. The keyboard light (a nifty little feature that I haven't seen on other laptops yet) is also pretty decent - it casts enought light to be able to type in darkness.

All in all - I think it has been a good buy (spent around $1200)- but time will tell. Next step is to load it up for the better half to get cracking on - and then I'll get my (ahem) macbook back!

Finally getting Cable

Or rather DTH - Tata Sky.

We've been cable (and dish free) for the past 6 years or so, ever since we moved to our (then) new house.  The reason for getting cable is simple - I have my grandmother visiting us - and she definitely needs good old TV to keep herself occupied.  I had actually contemplated getting BSNL's IPTV (and may still do that sometime down the road if they ever improve on their customer service - but that's another rant), but since we had installed Tata Sky for our tenants (when the house was on rent) - I just decided to enable that.

I was pretty pleased with the way Tata Sky is setup. Within the space of half an hour, I was able to
- connect the set top box to the TV  (including crimping the required cable)
- get the subscriber ID from the Digicomp set top box.
- login to tatasky.com, recover the password,
- recharge my account online (payment using credit card)
- watch TV!

The whole experience with Tata Sky was pretty positive!  Although I have mixed feelings about going back to the world of TV. We did enjoy the hiatus though - always had more time to read books, play board games with the kids, watch movies uninterrupted, go out shopping (oh wait.. :-)...

Free ebook - What matters now

Free ebook

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/files/what-matters-now-2.pdf

To quote Seth Godin (from his blog)

"Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around. I hope a new ebook I've organized will get you started on that path. It took months, but I think you'll find it worth the effort."

Download here.

FSJ and Digital Flash mobs..

This is interesting. FSJ (aka Fake Steve) is proposing some sort of digital flash mob - http://www.fakesteve.net/2009/12/operation-chokehold.html

The target is, apparently, AT&T's network, and the statement made by AT&T regarding bandwidth usage (see Om's coverage of that here - http://gigaom.com/2009/12/09/att-exec-stop-streaming-dammit/).

Will this work? Coverage for that seems to be increasing. (Click here to check the latest Google search results).

Google Launches Public DNS

http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

I've been using OpenDNS for the past 6-8 months - works great, although I have not had good success in blocking dodgy sites. And 2 days ago OpenDNS would not resolved www.youtube.com for around 5 minutes.

So, should I be considering trying out Google's public DNS service (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4)?

Some links for further reading...

http://blogs.computerworld.com/15193/google_dns
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2356618,00.asp

and OpenDNS' reply to Google DNS

http://blog.opendns.com/2009/12/03/opendns-google-dns/

Comments ? Thoughts?