Every since Google made public its interests in creating Chrome OS, I've had my doubts on how it will pan out. Yesterday I read about all they want to do with Chrome OS. Well, now I am pretty clear about Chrome OS future or at least what I will be doing with it. Nothing!
I've several thoughts about Google Chrome OS. We all know Google is obsessed with its users' data! If you had read my post about Google Wave, I had requested for Google Wave client for Desktop. Well, it's now clear that we are not going to get any of that. Instead their idea is to replace the desktop with the internet..Chrome, the browser to be precise. Idea behind Chrome is that Google feels 99% of users stay always connected to internet. See, that's the problem with these Americans. They create products thinking the world = US. The problem is across the pond there are countries still operating on dial up internet connections and where broadband = 30kBps. And broadband connections going down for hrs and sometimes days is not a shocking news! Mountain View, we've got a problem, right there!
Next up, Desktop is still relevant and if I am not wrong, it will stay relevant for years to come unless we make rapid advance in internet technologies. Trust me, when that happens, chances of Google being relevant are very low. The very fact that I need another computer to have Google OS loaded is unattractive. I mean, seriously, what's the point, Google? Unless I get a Google OS based netbook for sub-$100 range, I see no point in purchasing a Chrome based netbook over Windows based OS (or even an Ubuntu based netbook) which will do everything that a Chrome based netbook will do and moooore! So that leaves us with Google obsessed geeks and technology challenged folks as the target audience for Chrome OS ... in other words, be prepared for rave reviews and massive influx of returned goods!
Last but not the least, why would I need another internet based device in the age of droids and iPhones. These are very capable internet devices which will only get better with every iteration and update.
Google needs to stop reinventing the wheel in the name of doing something revolutionary. Looking back at their products, I haven't seen anything great coming from Google since Android. Don't get me wrong, I love Google Search, I love Google Mail (gmail) and I will definitely own a Android based mobile because I love Android (Android > iPhone OS). But nothing else interests me. I use some of their products just because the better alternative popped sometime after I started using Google service (blame it on my laziness that I am still writing this post on blogger instead of WordPress). Ignoring their Ad related products which I don't use, every other Google product has a better alternative. Their products are getting so lame. For eg. the first thought on my mind when I used Google Wave for the first time was 'Why?!'.
More on this after using Chrome OS.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Does U2 still matter? 8:15 PM
Live Daily asked this question to folks in music industry. Overall the responses were positive (to a U2 fan).
It's easy for anyone to guess my answer to this question. Being a U2 fan, my response is a big YES! Why?
It's easy for anyone to guess my answer to this question. Being a U2 fan, my response is a big YES! Why?
- They care about their fans. Why should they make spend 100 million dollars? I am sure they would have filled stadiums without the claw. So why spend 100 million dollars. If you are an U2 fan you'll know the answer.
- Their music is still decent enough for an old U2 fan like me.. brilliant if you compare with the shit that tops the billboard charts these days.
- They can still pull record beating crowds to their concert
- They innovate - their Youtube initiative, their incredible stage setups, their music are all great examples of their innovation
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Paintball 3:02 AM
Paintball is fun. Not sure who invented it but it's a blessing for anyone who had played multiplayer video games before.
Two weeks back, our clients arranged for an outing and Paintball it was! We (our team) never got any options to vote on how to spend the day out and I am glad it was that way. I bet none of my team mates would have voted for Paintball. Back to paintball, it was incredibly fun. Watch the video here on how this game is played. Of course we were nowhere close to these pros... linked it just to give you an idea of how much fun and competitive this game is. Just like any other sport, two teams facing off against each other in a field filled with barricades and hide outs. Team members from the opposing team start from extreme ends of the paintball field with all their guns loaded with paintballs (our guns took upto 50-60 paintballs). It's all mayhem from there. Two referees to officiate the game. The team that lasts longer wins the game. A paintball splatter on your body or gun means you are out.
There's also variety to it... like 'Capture the flag'. It's like Quake or any other multiplayer game that we play on computer/console with a minor difference. A flag (in this case a cloth) will be placed in the centre of the field and the team that picks up and brings back the cloth to their base/starting point wins the game. My team lost every game except the first shoot and run game but boy, we loved every moment of it.
Fun apart, the game can also be cruel. For eg. in one of the Capture the flag games we almost won. After losing two rounds of 'capture the flag', in the third round I grabbed the flag and ran like a mad man. When I say mad man, I truly mean it. Instead of taking the flag to the base, I outran the base and crossed it and even went out of bounds..meaning I ran out of the field's boundary. The referee (so biased against my team) pulled me out and returned the flag where it was. Not to mention, the other team won by capturing the flag. And then there's this stupid 20foot rule. We were told not to shoot people when we were within 20foot. Agreed. But what we were never told is that we could not even get close to the opposing team member. I was pulled out once for violating this rule. This was our first paintball outing and yet the referee was not ready to take any excuses.
Paintball can also be dangerous. You are not supposed to remove your protective gear (helmet) until you get out of the paintball field. You are not supposed to fire your gun when you are out of the field. Understandable.. after all the paintballs are filled with paint which,you know, are dangerous for eyes.
Overall, it was an awesome outing. Thoroughly enjoyed it. If allowed, I would have played it all day. I totally recommend this game irrespective of age and gender. More the number of people, more the fun.
Here are some pictures.
Two weeks back, our clients arranged for an outing and Paintball it was! We (our team) never got any options to vote on how to spend the day out and I am glad it was that way. I bet none of my team mates would have voted for Paintball. Back to paintball, it was incredibly fun. Watch the video here on how this game is played. Of course we were nowhere close to these pros... linked it just to give you an idea of how much fun and competitive this game is. Just like any other sport, two teams facing off against each other in a field filled with barricades and hide outs. Team members from the opposing team start from extreme ends of the paintball field with all their guns loaded with paintballs (our guns took upto 50-60 paintballs). It's all mayhem from there. Two referees to officiate the game. The team that lasts longer wins the game. A paintball splatter on your body or gun means you are out.
There's also variety to it... like 'Capture the flag'. It's like Quake or any other multiplayer game that we play on computer/console with a minor difference. A flag (in this case a cloth) will be placed in the centre of the field and the team that picks up and brings back the cloth to their base/starting point wins the game. My team lost every game except the first shoot and run game but boy, we loved every moment of it.
Fun apart, the game can also be cruel. For eg. in one of the Capture the flag games we almost won. After losing two rounds of 'capture the flag', in the third round I grabbed the flag and ran like a mad man. When I say mad man, I truly mean it. Instead of taking the flag to the base, I outran the base and crossed it and even went out of bounds..meaning I ran out of the field's boundary. The referee (so biased against my team) pulled me out and returned the flag where it was. Not to mention, the other team won by capturing the flag. And then there's this stupid 20foot rule. We were told not to shoot people when we were within 20foot. Agreed. But what we were never told is that we could not even get close to the opposing team member. I was pulled out once for violating this rule. This was our first paintball outing and yet the referee was not ready to take any excuses.
Paintball can also be dangerous. You are not supposed to remove your protective gear (helmet) until you get out of the paintball field. You are not supposed to fire your gun when you are out of the field. Understandable.. after all the paintballs are filled with paint which,you know, are dangerous for eyes.
Overall, it was an awesome outing. Thoroughly enjoyed it. If allowed, I would have played it all day. I totally recommend this game irrespective of age and gender. More the number of people, more the fun.
Here are some pictures.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Few facts about Google wave 2:12 PM
Here are some facts you would like to know about Google Wave, particularly if you are still on the other side of the Wave fence.
- Google's "beta invite only" strategy still works like charm. Everyone seems to want Google Wave.
- No one knows what the purpose of Google Wave is, except for may be few souls who think they know what it's all about.
- Anything that Google Wave can do, can be performed using plenty of other platforms or tools. If at all Google Wave becomes a success, it will be because of Google,the brand not Wave, the concept.
- It's dull.. very very dull out there. After all the begging,pleading and mopping, you'll get an invitation but then what? That's the million dollar question. There'a little initial excitement but then nothing happens. Just nothing.
- Google is adamant about browser based technologies just like how Microsoft used to be adamant about desktop based technologies. While I do believe everything in the future (sometime in 2020 or 2030) will be web based, this is definitely not the time. If you don't agree, please try using a data intensive web application using a broadband connection in India. Wave can only suck less with a desktop version.
- Google Wave is the answer to the question no one asked. Come on, Google how about improving your Google talk app. How about giving it a conference feature and video options? So I have to go to the sucky iGoogle page to use the conference and video feature using the equally sucky Google Talk gadget? What kind of bullshit is that?
- It's slow, darn slow. Yeah, I know it's in beta but at times it's just unusable.
- It won't kill twitter. Can't believe some folks were trying to say Wave is a Twitter killer. Also,It won't kill email or for that matter,it won't kill anything in the near future.
- Google Wave is no Google Gmail: Gmail was an email service and we know email is an age old technology. Google Wave is a new communications concept/platform. It's going to take some time for people to accept this as their sole communication platform. In other words, soon everyone will have a Google Wave account but they won't be using it on daily basis.
- Google seriously needs to re-think about the Wavelet format and management. Right now, you cannot follow a wave if it has more than 4-5 users. You won't know what was updated. You won't know why the Wave is sitting in your inbox without any updates being made to it. It's just ridiculous!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Thank you, U2! 6:30 AM
I did it. A dream realized. There can be no words to express what I am going through right now but I will try my best to put it in words.
First of all you've to trust me when I say U2 is still the best live band out there. No one cares if you don't. Agreed, their latest album suck and will never reach the pinnacle which their other older albums have managed to attain but this band knows how to put on a great live show irrespective of the songs they perform. The greatest thing about U2 is innovation, their passion coming in close second. The band has always been ready to explore new things - both 'The Claw' and their latest album 'No line on the horizon' stand testimony to this fact.
Today, Muse opened for U2. I've never listened to Muse before. All those 70,000 Texans seem to love this band but all I wanted was U2 so I was patiently waiting for this band to wrap up so that U2 can kick in! There were even people who came with Muse US tour '09 t-shirts. So after a 30 minute 6-7 song set, they thanked U2 and left the stage. 'Awesome!' you may think but it's not. It took another 30 minutes for the U2 stage crew to rearrange the stage, make sound and lighting adjustments before Larry Mullen Jr. made his walk in with U2's 'Kingdom' track playing in the background to kick off the concert with the drums that then exploded into 'Breathe'. One by one, other band members followed and when finally Bono walked in, the noise created by 70k fellow audience blew away the roof of the stadium, literally. Okay, that was a bit of exaggeration.. it was already announced that the roofs will be lifted off.
The band then played 'Get on your boots' and 'Magnificient' from their recent album. As you all know, I am not a big fan of their latest album but these two songs were okay live. To be frank, some parts of 'Boots' was amazing! Following 'Magnificient' was 'Mysterious ways', first of many 'Achtung Baby' songs. Bono pulled in a girl from the Red Zone (the enclave within the stage has been christened as Red Zone). 'Mysterious ways' blew everyone away! It almost looked as if everyone was tired of the new songs and was waiting for some old classics to set the tone of the evening! Mysterious Way was followed by the crowd pleaser 'Beautiful day' which was followed by a beautiful acoustic version of 'I still haven't found what I am looking for'.
Apart from that the highlight was 'The Unforgettable fire' song from The Unforgettable fire. 'Vertigo', 'Elevation','Until the end of the world', 'Sunday bloody Sunday' ... songs like these is the reason why U2 is #1 live band in the world. Frickin' unbelievable! You just have to be there to experience the adrenaline rush. City of Blinding lights was just as soothing as ever.Couldn't have asked for a better set list! The only missing piece was 'Bad' my most favorite U2 song!
'Where the Streets have no name' - Is there any song in this world which sounds better live than Streets? I don't think so. The very second the band exploded into this song, everyone in the audience was on their feet dancing, jumping and screaming! I still get goosebumps thinking about 'Streets' performance. To a U2 fan, this is heaven.. this is nirvana. I love you, U2!
Encore kicked off with Bono's now famous laser lit jacket and Ultraviolet song. If you follow this blog regularly, I've been one of the biggest supporters of bringing back Ultraviolet into regular setlist. Now it's on the regular setlist of 360 tour. Every U2 song on Achtung Baby is a gem and this one is a sizzler. Bono could have brought back Macphisto too but for now I will take the song the laser lit jacket and flying Bono without any complaint! Ultraviolet segued into mesmerizing 'With or Without you'. No girls on the stage... just Bono... more flying Bono. Finally the song that I love from their recent album - a Stay sound-alike 'Moment of Surrender' to close the night. Personally I think it makes a great closer... just like 42 and Yahweh.What a night! The one for which I've been waiting 7 years. Everything that they did was a spectacular.. the songs, the claw, the lightings, the sound... just mind blowing experience!
Looking back, I think I needed this concert desperately. I was slowly but steadily drifting away from my beloved band partly because of the their last album and partly because of Coldplay. But now after watching this concert, I strongly believe that the band is not going anywhere. There's still a lot of magic left in them. That passion, I don't think there's another band in this world that performs their live show with so much passion. Bono's voice was awesome. I was little concerned when I saw some of the youtube videos from earlier shows of 360 tour but as with other tours his voice has become better and better with every show. Thanks for the great show! Thanks for being so influential in my life. Thanks for every bit of joy,comfort, emotion, passion that your song delivers! Thank you very much for everything, U2!
Some great videos from the concert:
With or without you
Where the streets have no name
Vertigo (will add more later)
First of all you've to trust me when I say U2 is still the best live band out there. No one cares if you don't. Agreed, their latest album suck and will never reach the pinnacle which their other older albums have managed to attain but this band knows how to put on a great live show irrespective of the songs they perform. The greatest thing about U2 is innovation, their passion coming in close second. The band has always been ready to explore new things - both 'The Claw' and their latest album 'No line on the horizon' stand testimony to this fact.
Today, Muse opened for U2. I've never listened to Muse before. All those 70,000 Texans seem to love this band but all I wanted was U2 so I was patiently waiting for this band to wrap up so that U2 can kick in! There were even people who came with Muse US tour '09 t-shirts. So after a 30 minute 6-7 song set, they thanked U2 and left the stage. 'Awesome!' you may think but it's not. It took another 30 minutes for the U2 stage crew to rearrange the stage, make sound and lighting adjustments before Larry Mullen Jr. made his walk in with U2's 'Kingdom' track playing in the background to kick off the concert with the drums that then exploded into 'Breathe'. One by one, other band members followed and when finally Bono walked in, the noise created by 70k fellow audience blew away the roof of the stadium, literally. Okay, that was a bit of exaggeration.. it was already announced that the roofs will be lifted off.
The band then played 'Get on your boots' and 'Magnificient' from their recent album. As you all know, I am not a big fan of their latest album but these two songs were okay live. To be frank, some parts of 'Boots' was amazing! Following 'Magnificient' was 'Mysterious ways', first of many 'Achtung Baby' songs. Bono pulled in a girl from the Red Zone (the enclave within the stage has been christened as Red Zone). 'Mysterious ways' blew everyone away! It almost looked as if everyone was tired of the new songs and was waiting for some old classics to set the tone of the evening! Mysterious Way was followed by the crowd pleaser 'Beautiful day' which was followed by a beautiful acoustic version of 'I still haven't found what I am looking for'.
Apart from that the highlight was 'The Unforgettable fire' song from The Unforgettable fire. 'Vertigo', 'Elevation','Until the end of the world', 'Sunday bloody Sunday' ... songs like these is the reason why U2 is #1 live band in the world. Frickin' unbelievable! You just have to be there to experience the adrenaline rush. City of Blinding lights was just as soothing as ever.Couldn't have asked for a better set list! The only missing piece was 'Bad' my most favorite U2 song!
'Where the Streets have no name' - Is there any song in this world which sounds better live than Streets? I don't think so. The very second the band exploded into this song, everyone in the audience was on their feet dancing, jumping and screaming! I still get goosebumps thinking about 'Streets' performance. To a U2 fan, this is heaven.. this is nirvana. I love you, U2!
Encore kicked off with Bono's now famous laser lit jacket and Ultraviolet song. If you follow this blog regularly, I've been one of the biggest supporters of bringing back Ultraviolet into regular setlist. Now it's on the regular setlist of 360 tour. Every U2 song on Achtung Baby is a gem and this one is a sizzler. Bono could have brought back Macphisto too but for now I will take the song the laser lit jacket and flying Bono without any complaint! Ultraviolet segued into mesmerizing 'With or Without you'. No girls on the stage... just Bono... more flying Bono. Finally the song that I love from their recent album - a Stay sound-alike 'Moment of Surrender' to close the night. Personally I think it makes a great closer... just like 42 and Yahweh.What a night! The one for which I've been waiting 7 years. Everything that they did was a spectacular.. the songs, the claw, the lightings, the sound... just mind blowing experience!
Looking back, I think I needed this concert desperately. I was slowly but steadily drifting away from my beloved band partly because of the their last album and partly because of Coldplay. But now after watching this concert, I strongly believe that the band is not going anywhere. There's still a lot of magic left in them. That passion, I don't think there's another band in this world that performs their live show with so much passion. Bono's voice was awesome. I was little concerned when I saw some of the youtube videos from earlier shows of 360 tour but as with other tours his voice has become better and better with every show. Thanks for the great show! Thanks for being so influential in my life. Thanks for every bit of joy,comfort, emotion, passion that your song delivers! Thank you very much for everything, U2!
Some great videos from the concert:
With or without you
Where the streets have no name
Vertigo (will add more later)
