Samsung

So I was unpacking the so-called Samsung Hero. A phone that costs a mere 3500 bucks (I got it for free btw). I was pleasantly surprised.
The build quality of the phone is superb. The keys are big and have a good feel. Tactile. Easy-to-use. The quality of the plastics used in the phone is phenomenal. It has a nice velvety feel to it. I'm mighty impressed with Samsung. I had expected a cheap, low-quality Korean product but was surprised to find a value-for-money, high quality product from Samsung.
I am, btw, a stout Nokia supporter when it comes to phones for alot of reasons but after using this phone, I'd say I'm pretty open to buying a Samsung phone, in particular one of those slim Ultra edition phones.
Sony-Ericsson is a strict no for me, due to reasons, namely:-
1. It's a Sony
2. I don't like the memory sticks. Proprietary shit.
However, they're walkman phones are pretty good. The quality is great and they have some neat features. However, the lack of a real OS is at times annoying.
Motorola? Awesome looking phones but an equally horrible User Interface. The standard UI used for the RAZR, KRZR, SLVR, etc. look like they've been ripped off a 5 year old colour phone. It's absolutely shocking that a company can get away with something so disgusting.
That's why Nokia is the best. Great build quality. Symbian kicks ass. Feature packed phones. Legendary ease-of-use and user interface. However, they don't do to well in the looks department.
Samsung looks to be almost as good as Nokia and with the kind of money they're pouring into R&D, they'll probably trounce SonyEricsson and Motorola in the near future.

Over the course of the next week, I shall be introducing you to R.D. Sharma and Kahlil Gibran. The prospect of introducing you to the most dreadful authors in the world gives me a great deal of sadistic pleasure.

An update was due, and here it is.

As everyone knows, Exun took place on the 11th and 12th November, 2006. Went well. It was also my last Exun. Ironically, the end-of-school and similar such sadness shit hasn't sunk in yet.
The Exun sweat shirts, I feel, will take a while coming but it will be done if all the juniors are "helpful" ;)
During my absence, the PS3, the Nintendo Wii and the Zune have been launched. Here's my take on them:-
Sony PlayStation 3
A Waste of money. Spend it on the Wii instead if you want to play good, fun games.
However, there are certain good things about the PS3. If you want a powerful machine with an awesome processor (read: the Cell) then go for the PS3. The PS3 will let you install PPC based Operating Systems. Yellow Dog Linux and Fedora Core 5 have been successfully installed on it. It also comes with a BluRay drive. All for 600 dollars. A pretty good deal if you think of it as a Linux desktop, though I don't see what you'd do with one.
Bottomline: Sony looses big bucks on every PS3 they sell. So go buy it, if you want Sony dead!
Nintendo Wii
It was codenamed "Revolution" and, if you ask me, it has done just that: revolutionized the gaming console industry. While the X-Box 360 and the PS3 pushed for more number-crunching power and High-Def graphics, Nintendo has stuck to the basics: better gameplay. The revolutionary controller, the Wii-mote, is one of the most endearing features of the Wii. The price, $250, is also welcoming and is unlikely to burn a hole in your pocket.
Zune
The Zune hath arrived. And it's darned good. Put aside Apply fanboyism for the moment, see some pics, read some reviews and check it out. It really is good. The Zune might not, and probably WILL NOT, hurt the iPod much right now, but I suspect the second iteration of the Zune will give Apple's iPod a good run for its money.
Oh, and if you thought the iPod had a good looking user-interface, then check out the Zune's UI. You'll probably drool over it.
Microsoft doesn't suck that much, now, does it?
More later.

Saddam has been sentenced to death, two days before the Bush administration is expected to "face the music". Coincidence? I think not.
Yes, I think Saddam deserved to be punished. However, I neither agree with the timing of the sentence nor the sentence itself. Capital punishments, imho are inhuman and should be abolished. Such medieval practices are best left in the medieval ages.
Anyhow, Exun is coming up. Being the President of Exun is tough. Never realised it.

Firefox 2.0

Firefox 2.0 is really good. I've been fiddling around with it, and I've concluded that it's a worthy successor. The User Interface also looks marginally better. However, my favourite new feature is spell check. Its quite useful when you're writing blog entries and emails.

Attention Microsoft haters and LOTR fans, read this: http://www.comedycorner.org/76.html

The exams are over

The exams are finally over. They went reasonably well (for any class 11 or 12th student, this means that I didn't have my ass kicked. This is the kinda pile of shit we're in, by the end of class XII).
The problem with the last exam is that, inevitably, the next day involves waking up at 11:30 with a splitting headache. No matter what you do, theres no getting away from the hangover that you get because of last night's partying (more specifically, last nights booze).
Anyhow, you guys know this as well as I do, so without further ado, lets move on to more pressing issues.
Tell me, do you like (or prefer) fat waiters or thin waiter? I think I'm biased towards thin waiters. They seem more efficient. I feel they can give me better service. Fat waiters, I believe, are slow and inefficient, and incapable of rendering good service. In other words, they make you wait, and, in effect, make you the waiter (okay, bad joke).
Fat waiters, on the other hand, give you the impression that the food has to be good. Think about it, waiters spend alot of time in their respective restaurants. If they're fat, it's probably because they eat a lot of food, most of it being prepared in-house. This, in turn, means that the food must be worthy of being eaten. In short: Fat waiters mean bad service, but good food. So make your choice.
And Einstein is (was) an absolute nitwit. I respect the fellow for his work and all, but his english is horrendous. I (and all other class 12 students of my school) had the misfortune of reading a speech that he declaimed on a dull, dreary day in New York. It's horrendous. Period. His sentences are long and fragmented, his organisation is utterly illogical and his style is, once again, horrendous. (You may level the same accusations against me but I'm not Einstein am I? Nor am I a nobel laureate).
Nordstrom is good.
That is all for now, my friends.
Dhruv
P.S. I heard from a reliable source that Gudi is restarting his blog.

Those arrogant IIT aspirants in our class were damn wrong. They dont know shit.
Let me explain: Fermat's principle does not explain refraction. Read wikipedia's entry on Fermat's principle and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Undoubtedly, Fermat's principle proposes a result which is true, but bear in mind that it is a result, and not an explanation. I pointed this out to Tuteja and company but, as always, my words fell on deaf (and extremely arrogant) ears.
Anyway, presently I'm inundated with work. I have no time at all for anything. So see ya around.

I wonder what Apple is going to release today. The excitement is driving me insane.
P.S. I hope its the elusive iPhone (seems unlikely) or atleast a widescreen iPod (more likely).

Victory

• Schumacher won, and subsequently announced his retirement by the end of the season. This truly is sad. Formula-1 will never be the same anymore without Schumacher. Love him or hate him, he was undeniably the most significant driver the world of racing has ever seen.
  
• Roger Federer won the US Open. Number 9 for Federer. WOW. That's all I can say. And he's just 25.
• We Won e-spice 2006
• We also won MINET 2006.

Its been a good week on the whole.

News: RG has taken up blogging!

Inspired by someone, RG has started blogging, following Sid who resumed blogging yesterday.
Check out his blog http://rgdot.blogspot.com
P.S. I think I was the one who inspired them to blog! Haha :P

Sid's blog is back. Check it out.
http://lordsid.blogspot.com/

Reverse Image Search

I like Google Image Search and in addition I'd like something like a Reverse Image Search. Let me explain:-
You copy an image into the engine.
The search tells you stuff about it.
Simple as that.
I have a lot of images lying around whose source I'd like to trace - and know more about. Wouldn't it be cool if I just copied an picture of say, a park in Delhi into this Revearse Image Search and it would tell me that the park is Shri Malwari Lal Park and the pic was taken by Mr. Harnam Singh?
Yanyway, more later.

Gradients

Can you spot the gradient on this page?

Does sound travel in water?

Well, physics will have you believe that it does. But have you ever experienced anything that would suggest that sound travels beneath the surface of water. Have you ever heard anyone talk underwater?
There is, of course, a very worrying problem associated with speaking underwater: the moment you open your mouth, water will make its presence felt within your mouth. Not a very pleasing experience. This has always deterred me from speaking underwater.
However, I think I can convince some poor, stupid soul into attempting this (assuming that he overlooks the water-in-mouth incident that will inevitably occur). Before the inevitable surge of water in his mouth, if the poor idiot manages to speak a few words, I might be able to solve a mystery that has intrigued me for a long, long time.
If one of the aforementioned idiots is reading this post, then please feel free to volunteer by means of a comment. After, science must triumph in the end.

The Thank yous

Now that under_score is finally out, I'd like to thank some people for their efforts and contributions. They are:-
1. Mukesh Sir
He's supported and encourages us throughout this initiative, as always.
2. The Principal, for taking such interest in our magazine
3. Gudi: It was his idea, he conceived it.
4. Sid executed Gudi's idea to perfection.
5. Mohit, for the wonderful cover and the cover story
6. Rohit Garg, for writing a brillian article in the gaming section
7. All the other authors
This is an unofficial thank you, so I'm being totally honest in my "thank yous" here, as this is my blog.

Under_score

The first issue of Under_score has finally arrived. Take a look at some pictures of my personal copy:-





The stunning cover is the outcome of some solid hard work by Sid and Mohit.
The whole thing has come out well, and we'll learnt from the mistakes that we made this time, and the next issue should be much better.

Under_score

It's finally out. The first 25 copies of under_score arrived from the publisher's, and they're simply stunning. I will post a pic (or two) as soon as I get the chance, but I must repeat, the magazine is stunning.

Oh and by the way, there were 77394 searches for "shit" in yahoo during july 2006. People really are stupid.

The internet is full of shit

Check out this link and you'll now what I'm talking about.
It's incredible that more people searched for "shit" on the internet that "vodka". Okay, vodka might not be a very popular thing itself, but shit? Do people actually go out of their way to type the word "Shit" in google and hit the enter key? Seemingly they do.