Apple faces more competition

Nokia and SanDisk have sounded Apple with what might be the biggest competition for Apple iProducts. Nokia with its dominance in the mobile phone market is not taking it easy after Apple unleashed its iPhone into the market.In almost direct retaliation , Nokia takes a dig into the Apple Store/itunes model with its own OVI platform.

-- Nokia would be charging €uro 1 for a song a €uro 10 for an album. This is higher than what iTunes already charges its customer.The direction that Nokia are taking might be right , but their pricing strategy might just be the weak link.The file format (WMV) could also be a deterrent for people used to MP3 consoles.

Sandisk on the other hand launched the Sansa Clip which would be in direct competition to the iPod Shuffle. The clip also comes with a FM radio , voice recorder and a display. Sandisk has however priced this product at just the right price with a 1GB model priced at $40 and a 2GB model priced at $60.

Nokia and Sandisk both have their advantages in bringing the competition to Apple's doorstep. Nokia being the largest mobile phone manufacturer already has a huge customer base for their products and added functionalities like these help in retaining the customers. Nokia with its Nseries phone ( the N95 in particular) has already demonstrated the ability to create smart phones like the iPhone. With iPhone receiving a lot of flak for having a single service provider (AT&T) and not letting people unlock their phones, It might be the right time for Nokia to enter into the US market - where they do not have a major presence.

Sandisk being in the flash memory business already will find it easier to cope with pricing issues , if Apple decides to fight the pricing war.Sandisk has the advatage of being a leader in flash memory technology and being a respected brand and it also has a decent market share in the music player segment ( although it comes nowhere near the cult status of iPod).

These are interesting times for the technology industry and everyone is eagerly waiting for Apple's next move. The September 5 iPod event in Sanfrancisco should be an interesting one.

Update Sony brings in more competition to the Ipod. Check out this article about the new Sony Walkman on Utility Belt.

No electricity in Chicago!!!

Yesterday was the first time I experienced a blackout in America.(I was given to understand that America never blacksout during my younger days - although this myth was broken the day NY blacked out. I didn't quite expect it). There had been a tornado warning near the suburb that I live and the storm gusts had uprooted trees and electric poles. My whole community was out of power. But thanks to the good souls working for ComEd ( the poor guys are working 16 hour a day shifts in this weather) -I managed to get the electricity late this afternoon.

P.S - this Mt Prospect community is 4 miles from my house :)

iPhone

There are some people who swear by brands like Apple or Google and think they can never bring a bad product to the market. There are a few others who take their time and wait for things to evolve a bit before jumping into the hype. The second group might just have hit a treasure chest because of this hacker. AT&T holds the rights as the sole service provider for the iPhone in the US. Now that need not necessarily be the case.

Update - Apparently there are now three different ways of doing it

Oh and -- If you thought having an iPhone was cool - think again - AT&T sends an itemized billing and sometimes runs up to 300 pages. Check this for example



People really should choose e-billing and stop all this deforestation for a monthly phone bill. Don't ya think? (ah! The environmentalist in me)

Update - AT&T gets back to smaller paper
bills.

Kiriket in Oosaa

All was well for the first few weeks in US as a bachelor - I got to watch all the TV that I wanted on weekends, got to eat from different cuisines ( although it was mostly Taco or Pizza Hut) , and got to see all those new places. After a couple of weeks though , I realised that
1) I was being spendthrift
2) I was gaining weight at an alarming rate , with all the cheese in the food
3) And I was being eternally lazy , sitting in front of a computer or a TV.

Thats when it dawned that , I needed some physical exercise or some sort of cooking at home. Discouraged by the bad return on Investment while cooking at home ( imagine having to cook for a couple of hours and having all that you cooked go into your stomach in 10 mins - aint that bad returns? ), I started looking out for people willing to play cricket. Having found a team and having had the net sessions and all , I was ready to begin my career as a 2nd Divison player ( yeah thats what they call it here -- Too much).

Wearing a dress that distinctly reminded me of the Holland jerseys ( the jerseys were apparently chosen to make sure they are never worn outside of a cricket match - duh!!!), I got into the field enthusiastically. After a couple of minutes , I realised that I might be able to dive on the ground. I didn't want to try the dive but I finally managed to slip and fall due to the dew on the grass. The ball managed to stick to my hand as I slipped and fell and it was misconstrued as a valiant dive to stop the ball (If only my teammates knew). After cheering for the bowlers in my team , I was called onto bowl. After a rather brilliant spell of bowling , I was given a well deserved rest.
Yep, That is me - holding on to a bruised toe after an intense bowling performance , where I managed to bowl more full tosses and wides than legitimate good balls :) After many gulps of Gatorade ( yeah we are the quintessential athletes) and a breezy knock , I headed home.

Tall poppy Syndrome -- Do Indians suffer from this as well?

I once asked about the Tall Poppy Syndrom as a question in one of my quizzes but this came to my mind when I read this post and its comments on Chinmayi's Blog.
The question that I had asked went something like this

This is a pejorative term used in Australia and New Zealand to describe what is seen as a levelling social attitude. Someone is said to be suffering from this when his or her assumption of a higher economic, social or political position attracts criticism, being perceived as presumptuous, attention seeking or without merit. The process can be linked with anti-intellectualism, especially with public criticism by the media or community leaders of particular academics or members of the intelligentsia.( I accept this was right out of wiki) but I came across this when I was reading Mark waugh's biography in college.

The thought of leaving anonymous hate comments on a public system like a blog somehow strikes very similar to a Tall Poppy Syndrome to me. People do not have ( in some cases , have) the pedigree to comment on other person's art or do not have the gumption to put their name in the comments. This is prevalent across the system.


Take the criketers of India for example. Sachin Tendulkar hitting a century in a test match is not good enough any more. The fact that he doesn't hit attacking century seems to be a grouse. Since when did a century in test cricket not matter. People who are struggling to score even 50's in club cricket have their right to criticise player's of much superior capability and that too on public forums like blogs. This is more like - if you are not able to achieve what the other person is acheiving , undermine the other person and bring him to your level kind of thing.
Are we becoming a group of whiners who like to bring down people who are trying to achieve something?

Sivaji - The Boss

( Contains quite a few spoilers)



The reason , we go to watch a Rajni movie is to see the charismatic mannerisms and punch dialogues and to be entertained for 3 hours. Sivaji manages to gives us the mannerisms and dialogues in good doses but leaves the viewer thinking that there is always something that is lacking. The movie stops and stutters through the entire first half but manages to entertain due to Rajni's strong screen presence and Shreya's ravishing beauty.

The style is evident right from the first sound byte that we get from Rajni. All we hear is just an 'Ummm'. This is perhaps the first time when the protagonist of a movie has been introduced with his face masked in a tamil movie. Shankar's storyline seems to go nowhere during the first one hour but more than compensates in the grandeur of the songs. Shankar had earlier shown his penchant for painting things for his songs ( Painting mountains in Anniyan) and his continues the trend in this movie , painting the potbellies of a few 100 people. Ballelaika is as good an intro song as any of Rajni's recent intro songs and Nayantara looks hot. The 'comedy scenes' of socializing with Shreya's family and Solomon Papaiya was pedestrian at best. Vivek though tunes right in , from the first scene and his timing and his dialogue delivery is thoroughly enjoyable. Vivek manages to be for Rajni what Coundamani was to Arjun in Gentleman , with a touch more class perhaps. A fight scene in the warehouse of a music store reminds of the Drum dance in Chandralekha and is again expensively made.

Shreya looks hot throughout the movie and is a sight for sore eyes ( nothing sore about the visuals of the movie though). During parts of Vaaji Vaaji , Shreya looks so damn hot , you forget that Rajni is part of the frame. ( That doesn't happen often in a Rajni starrer , so Shreya - Take a bow) .The set resembling Babylonian palace is wonderfully constructed and Thota Tharani shows that he is in a league of his own.

The sore point from the first half is the stagnant screenplay. You expect racy stuff from rajni movie , with one wave of emotions surpassing the other , but this movie manages to stagnate into still water , despite Rajni's charisma.

Suman as Adiseshan is a welcome change from the screaming villains of the recent tamil movies. He brings an understated performance to the screen and makes the character believable. He excels in the few scenes where he has extensive dialogue , especially the one in which he gives Sivaji the one rupee coin. The movie moves into a different orbit after that scene and races from one scene to the other.

Rajni , with his inimitable style carries the movie on his shoulders and delivers great entertainment. He reinvents himself with a bubble gum( As cigarettes are banned on films- Duh!!!) , throwing it into his mouth from umpteen different actions. His flipping of the coin is another class act and has the crowd ( that obviously includes a hoarse throated me) in raptures. His scene on a tea kadai bench with Suman is one for the ages and brings out the star in the superstar. Punch dialogues like ' Panninga thaan kootama varum , Singam Single aa thaan varum' are delivered with characteristic panache and makes you stand up and scream your appreciation.

The car fight in the second half seems farcical but , I didn't go to this movie expecting logic , so it was laugh riot and complete entertainment. Seeing cars move to the sounds of King Kong is the limit , but you can't help laughing at that scene (oh! that was supposed to be a solid fight scene. Sorry Shankar , that just doesnt cut through as a fight scene. Comedy scene yeah perhaps).

Rajni's imitation of Shivaji, MGR and Kamal during his first night explanations with Shreya are a revelation and is fun to watch. Adhiradee is a blatant 'tribute' to the Mariachi Trilogy of Robert Rodriguez and is meant to be a fun track.

Pyramid Natarajan, Vadivukarasi , Manivannan ( from villain to father's brother to father - manivannan has travelled a lot with Rajni) , Raghuvaran , Solomon Papaiya all make fleeting appearances on the screen from time to time.

The scenes with Mottai Boss are vintage Rajni. Just when you thought that Lakalaka laka was the best performance in recent times, Rajni ups the ante and turns on the style and charisma. His landing from the helicopter and his scene at Adi's office are sheer power scenes. You eagerly wait for things to unfold and lap up all that is being offered. Personally , the piece where Mottai Boss comes into the movie is my favourite.

Shankar has as usual tried to give a social message in this as well , but it is old wine in a new bottle, and we would like some other social message other than corruption. How many times is Shankar planning to grind the life out of this theme ( Gentleman , Indian , Mudhalvan , Anniyan and now this ??). Shankar provides an extravaganza of unseen scale but needs to work on tighter scripts.

Rajni - is the real boss of the Movie!!! Welcome back !!!


Oh! and a Big Thank you to the distributors of this film who got the Pottis in time.

Other reviews and live updates that you can read.

Anantha's Review

Sudhish Kamath's Updates

Rediff's Review

A different but rather inflammatory review by Karthik

IndiaGlitz Review

Oh My God!!!

In the last 15 years of watching Formula 1 , I have seen quite a few shunts but this is as scary as it gets. This crash reminds me of Alex Zanardi's crash in Spa. Thankfully, according to initial reports , Robert Kubica is safe. Look at the way the car clips the toyota and proceeds to surf over the gravel track and hit the wall. Kubica would be happy to have come out of this humongous shunt , alive and unhurt.



Have a look at the Alex Zanardi crash to see the similarity. Zanardi however was involved in a horrific crash in CART racing and lost his legs.