Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Hope you had a good one and better ones to come! I've finally gotten around to sorting some pictures from last year when my parents and brother were here. So without much ado I present, the Road Trip 2005 site. I put the new iWeb program to good use and think the results are quite good. Check it out and let me know.

Not much else by way of updates. I've been wanting to post some pictures but ran out of Flickr bandwidth so will post tomorrow or so. I'm close to intermediate snowboarding (I think); In any case, I'm having a lot more fun than I was when I just started so am really looking forward to the next Kirkwood trip. App has been busy with job apps and I'm confident she'll find a good role. I've now got Soul Calibur III and am looking forward to playing that so I might be quiet on the blog for a bit :)

You want cute? You can't handle the cute!!

With a title that's a blatant rip-off from CNET News, I introduce to you Cute Overload, which is exactly what the name says - lots of cute pictures. I'm sure the female readers of this blog will love it. :)

On a totally different note, Happy Republic Day to my fellow Indians!

Slow week

I got back from Rochester and plunged headfirst into the work week. Plenty of work at office this week which has made it a slow week here on the blog. I'm trying to update my photo library (starting with last summer's road trip) so hopefully I'll start posting some pictures real soon. Other than that, not much else has been going on so will update as time permits.

Blogging from Rochester, NY

Yes, I've been told that I must have my head checked for coming to NY state from CA in the winter but I'm here with friends in what is right now a really warm house!! Murugan, Harish (surprise!) and Raghu have been spending time together catching up and playing cards today. Thanks to Vandana (Mrs. Raghu) for some really great food today!! Hope to head out and take some pictures tomorrow.
We've been lucky to have great weather today, hopefully that will stretch into tomorrow. Hope everyone has a good weekend, and good luck to App who is prepping for job interviews!!

Digital Television: Making Sense of it all

Engadget presents Digital Television, Part 1: Making Sense of it all:

"Digital Television (DTV) is upon us friends - some of you already lie prostrate at its feet, a few of you cower in terror at its approach, and we'll lay odds that most of you, whether you live in Amsterdam or New Amsterdam, are confused as hell about what it all means. So let's all gather 'round this phosphorescent global campfire, and we'll tell you a scary story which makes that man with a hook-hand sound as passive as Bo Peep."

It's a pretty good read for anyone that wants to quickly get started with DTV basics. They also have Part 2: Global Status and Part 3: Devices up already so check out all of them.

Powder!

From abc-of-snowboarding.com -

"Powder is freshly fallen, untouched, soft snow. Powder, tiny flakes and crystals form the smooth and soft surface in mountains. It forms a soft smooth surface that will give you the feeling that you are floating in a weightless environment. Powder is often packed in thick layers that form a natural pillow for any crashes.

Most snowboarders and skiers find powder the ultimate surface especially since it is the best snow to land on because it does not hurt as much as hard, compact snow. Thick powder is the best surface for trying new tricks and increasing your speed record. It is also easier to carve turns, to control your speed, and to hold your edge when the snow is like powder. "

Just an intro for those unfamiliar with the term. Check the full article for more info and other types of snow. Darrell and I had a awesome day in the powder at Kirkwood on Monday. Fresh powder is to die for, hope to get more such days in. Need to keep watching the storms. :)

The Sony Bravia Advert

Happy Pongal, I have a long weekend thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. and will go to Kirkwood tomorrow to celebrate. We had a good pongal on Saturday, thanks to App for the food. Back to the Sony ad, I wanted to post a link to this ad for a number of reasons - One, it's a really cool ad. Two, it's set in San Francisco and I love that. Third and certainly the best reason is that my neighbour Mike's Jeep Cherokee was used in the ad (it's the first one one the left when the balls start rolling down) and he's got the little dents on his car to prove it. Pretty cool, be sure to check out both the short and long versions.
The Sony Bravia Advert.
You'll need to have Quicktime 7; go ahead and get it - it's a worthwhile upgrade. 7 supports HD.

The W810

Move over, W900! Sony launched the W810 at CES and it is now my current cellphone pick. I've struck a deal with App that if I'm still using my current phone at Christmas 2006, she should buy me this phone as my X'Mas present, hehe! :)
It's quad band, EDGE, has a 2MP digital camera, regular headphone jack, comes with a 512MB memory stick and just feels great in my hand. Love the matte finish and how smooth the new menus are. Also, I've already mentioned their speaker/charging cradle accessory that will be great for this phone. Should be available soon, read Sony's release for full deets!

Spot the fake?

Check the above images (enlarge by clicking on it) and see if you can spot the electronic image! You probably can tell which is real; one of the images is from the XBox 360 game "Project Gotham Racing 3"!! The developers seem to have gone to great length to mimic the real world (Tokyo, in these shots) and the results are quite impressive. Answer: The bottom image is from the game.

There's more at Kotaku.com and Gamebrink.com

MacWorld SF: No real surprises!

MacWorld: Intel Inside
Originally uploaded by Jillako.

Well so much had been predicted that surprises would've been hard anyway. Kevin Rose, however, had it spot on. In a midnight post before Job's keynote, he predicted everything but the iMac, pretty impressive.

If you haven't watched the keynote yet, check it out. It was long, most of the time consumed by iLife '06 which appears to be a solid upgrade. The new Macs are real nice too, I have no reservations in saying that the iMac Core Duo is the best personal computer for the average consumer (including me). The included iSight and FrontRow are great, Tiger and iLife '06 are killer. Now with the upgraded processor, it is faster than before and, when Vista comes out, you can dual-boot Windows if that's your cup of tea.

I was at MacWorld for a bit yesterday and have uploaded my pictures to Flickr.

TeluguCinema.Com - Interview: Music director Mahesh Shankar

TeluguCinema.Com has posted an interview with (my buddy) music director Mahesh Shankar. It's great to see Mahesh's talent getting recognized. IMO, he's more than ready to take on mainstream Tamil film music. Here's hoping we see more music from him soon!

CES pictures are up

CES: Panasonic Plasmas 2
Originally uploaded by Jillako.

If you just can't wait to see our pictures from CES, I just uploaded some of them to Flickr. I'll be adding some comments in a day or two but go ahead, check them out.

All eyes on Apple as Macworld begins

I borrowed the headline from Mercury News, read their full article.

Right on the heels of CES, Apple can steal the thunder from all the gizmos at CES by pulling a surprise out of its hat. Jobs did this last year with the Mac Mini, iPod Shuffle etc. However, this year the chances of something similar happening are considerably less. The media has set huge expectations for Jobs' keynote and even a full fledged movie store with downloadable movies that can be played back with an upgraded Mac Mini / DVR device would not surpise everyone. It would quite a feat but it would be something that has already been predicted. On the other hand, Jobs' is great at keeping new products under the covers till the last minute so you can still expect the unexpected. Just don't expect the obvious, you might be disappointed. :)

For my part, I'd be happy with a widescreen Intel iBook and an Intel Mac Mini with FrontRow. Have fun waiting to see what tomorrow brings!

Indian Overseas Citizenship is now available

You can now apply to become an Indian Overseas Citizen at your local Indian Consulate. PM Manmohan Singh finally launched the scheme after working out the formalities, last week. Seems to be fairly straightforward with most people being able to get their OC cards in 15 days.

Blogging @ CES 2006

We're in CES and boy is it huge. After a long day with a *lot* of walking yesterday, we are taking it light today. We covered a lot of what I'd wanted to see yesterday including the booths from Sony, Microsoft, Samsung, Panasonic etc. Some of the highlights - Sony's new Reader (an e-book), the Sony Aibo, Panasonic's Plasma Display including the world's largest and Samsung's Pocket XM Receiver. We've got a lot of pics but I forgot to bring the memory card reader or the cable for the camera so will post those up when we're back on Sunday.
We also ate a bit at the Aladdin Spice Market buffet, which was worth a visit. Overall, a good visit so far. Sean has been a great host and he has a really friendly dog called Ashley. I should get a picture.
That's all for this update, more when we're back!!

CES @ Vegas, baby!

Alright, time to head down to Vegas for the amazing CES!! Gotta leave right now to drive there tonight but will try to post updates whenever I can. Apologies to all those I was supposed to call this week but haven't gotten around to, will make up for it next week!!
Read all about CES at http://ces2006.engadget.com

Happy New Year 2006

A little late on a work night but wanted to post an update. I whiled away 10 days of vacation without accomplishing much. I did go to Kirkwood twice and fall down more while trying to learn snowboarding. I have the rest of the season to prove that it's not just a caucasian sport :) Lets see how that pans out.
Our college mate Sathya dropped by and we went (again!) to taste wine at Rosenblum. Since we are so totally hooked on to their zinfandels and wines in general, this Alameda winery is now our first wine club membership which means we will be visiting them at least every quarter to pick up our 3 bottles. We had one more pizza at Zachary's in Berkeley which drove me to find new places to eat at Berkeley (more on that later). Sundar was visiting us and and we spent some time with Deepa (here on a visit) and Ranjit and Mahesh when possible. It was fun. Mostly though, the holidays were spent indoors thanks to the incessant rain.
I was back at work today which took a little bit of getting used to, will hopefully get more work done tomorrow. Looking forward to being in Vegas this weekend for CES and MacWorld this time next week so keep watching for updates :)
Hope all is well with everyone. Happy New Year 2006!