That's it?

So, Apple unveiled it's refreshed iPods today at an event titled "it's only rock and roll but we like it". Interestingly enough, the most important announcement was not that of a product, but the reappearance of the irrepressible Mr. Jobs. He's back and slimmer than ever before (almost as slim as a Nano).
On the whole, I'm slightly disappointed with the announcements. Sure, I like the new Nano and the price drop/capacity bump for the iPod Touch. I think iTunes 9 is cool, too.
However, the upgrade to the Touch has left me rather under-whelmed. No camera and still no in-built mic and speakers. The nano has it, but not the touch. Think about it. The touch runs iPhone OS 3.1. The possibilities for apps are endless. The most obvious ones would be proper VOIP and camera integration with flickr, facebook and youtube. There are a few possibilities for why Apple hasn't put a camera and mic/stereo in the touch:
1. Some hardware constraints made it impossible for them to do so.
2. They weren't able to do so in time for this event.
3. Jobs is shitting his pants that people might start buying the Touch instead of the iPhone
Well, I think reason 1 is total BS, so it comes down to the other two. Either way, I do think the touch is already a great device and would benefit from having these features.


Tomorrow is also a big day, though its not likely to attract the same sort of hype. Motorola is expected to announce its first Android handsets. If it does so, it'll be the third major manufacturer to commit to the platform after HTC and Samsung. Android does seem to be gaining ground now, but has a really, really long way to go if it intends to seriously challenge the iPhone. As Jobs mentioned in his keynote, iPhone OS is now on 50 million devices. Android is nowhere even near that. I put it down to a lack of compelling devices, but thats just me.

Have fun.

I'm giving up on lunch

I have decided to give up on lunch.

It's much too time consuming and completely redundant. I've found I can make do with a massive and slightly late breakfast followed by a massive and slightly early dinner. The advantage, obviously, is that I don't have to cook twice. Plus, I can eat something interesting for breakfast, for example a pizza. Breakfast tends to be boring. A bowl of cereal, some bacon, an omelette, a glass of orange juice, etc. Not good enough.

Arguably, I could have a pizza for breakfast anyway, but there's a certain amount of guilt that I experience if I have something like that for breakfast. In my current setup, I can fight off that guilt based on the excuse that I'm not having lunch, so it's okay to have a pasta and a cheescake for breakfast.

As a result of my new policy, I had Garlic and Coriander Naan with Tandoori chicken for breakfast. Enough said.

You know you want to.

The unthinkable has happenned

After a nearly two year break from blogging, I'm back. Let the drums roll, bring out the champagne.

Obviously, there's a lot of catching up to do. I mean, the last time I wrote on my blog I was 18 years old, living in Delhi and just out of school. Things have changed since then, and I'll soon bring everyone upto speed, but sadly today is not the best time. I have an exam tomorrow (Compilers) and I will probably get my ass kicked (along with the rest of my esteemed colleagues) as my lecturer thinks he can divide by zero... don't ask, that'll be a separate post as well.

Anyhow, I'm sure people have two questions on their mind right now and I'll attempt to answer them.

1. Okay, you're back but... WHY?

Ans: Well, I like blogging and I like reading my old posts, they give me an intimate insight into who I was in the past... so, basically, I'm doing this for myself, for the future. I really don't care if anyone is interested in reading it!

2. Isn't twitter the place to be? Brevity is the soul of wit and blogs are passe, right?

Ans: I'm not going to question the phenomenal success of twitter, but twitter just doesn't cut it for me. Perhaps I'm too verbose, but I like expressing myself with more than 140 characters!

That's all for now!

P.S. I do realise there should've been an accent on the e in passe but it's inconvenient to find and, frankly, I don't care.