Back after a hiatus...was on extended sabatical

hey guys what do you think of the latest generation kindles ...should i be replacing the keyboard one? this one seems nice coz the size is cute 

Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers

and it comes with a nice cover option too which seems lighter than my keyboard one Acase(TM) Classic Kindle Leather Case (Black) for 4th Generation 6" Kindle Wi-Fi w/o Keyboard (Not for Kindle Touch)

coz the touch ones don't seem very reliabe to me. call me paranoid if you have to but have had a few bad experiences with touch devices anyways

MORE DISCOVERY by the way am also on a discovery phase for perfumes on the internet and have found some interesting deals like this. One of classics from Davidoff, though some might just call it a little old fashioned. But hey isn't that what classics are supposed to be any way...old fashioned buy tried and tested...

i also had some big gadgets added to the kitty. including a Honda car and a fantastic vinyl player === one brings some speed into my life while the other slows down the fast hectic pace...perfect balance right

some items for my new passion in life

• some rest on shoulders
Ed Hardy® Seat Belt Shoulder Pad Love Kills
• some eye candy
Webkinz Tree Frog
• Batman The Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters Collector Batman Figure
• some tools to help out Swiss+Tech MMCSSS Micro-Max 19-in-1 Keychain Multitool
• emergency protection...this ones quite vital after all
• for some music to the ears

AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (9.8 Feet/3.0 Meters) - Supports Ethernet, 3D, and Audio Return [Newest Standard]

and to slow down the pace created by all the driving around what better way than to come back home to some soothing music on the records my fave stress busters

and oh yes how can i forget better half...his latest passion is his electric guitar (a special edition signed by one of the rock legends--yes an origina) so here's what i thought could be nice option for em...if you guys have any other option please do drop in a line one of these days???

ONE Snark SN-1 Tuner

TWO Jim Dunlop 83_52553 Guitar Capo

THREE Snark SN-2 All Instrument Clip-On Chromatic Tuner

despite all the wonderful options better half now wants this to add to his gadgets kitty...i mean really is that all that makes the cut? and of course another wonderful thing that he want is this Harbinger 1260 Men's Training Grip Gloves and Panasonic KX-TG4772B Dect_6.0 2-Handset 1-Line Landline Telephone

and of course LP-2020A+ Lepai Tripath Class-T Hi-Fi Audio Mini Amplifier with Power Supply musically speaking there has to be a reason why

New Kindle -- should you be Jealous

So Amazon has come out with a leaner meaner black avatar of its lovely device that's been quite a pathbreaker in the world of digital reading.

No more pristine beauty here, the new design for Kindle 3 which is aptly black in colour, is all about aggressive posturing -- Amazon clearly wants to stay at the top.

but then does just changing colours, shedding some weight and adding more brightness make for a blockbuster? Well if you are an actress then yes, all of these might help...but as a gadget, a lot more is surely needed.

For starters, the device cries out for a touch interface, i mean swiping the screen is so much more closer to the real life reading experience than just clicking on buttons.

Next the Kindle needs a device management software. Take a leaf from Apple, iTunes made ipods manageable. If you are reader who buys atleast 4 books a month, you really need one of those. Seeing that Amazon would like you to buy more of their cheaper Kindle editions, this one is a no brainer edition.

And then the real icing on the top would be colour. Yes yes we've heard that books are not coloured either, but the cover is right... nothing beats seeing the cover of your favourite book in all colours...enough to put a smile on your face and get you digging in.

And while at it, maybe get rid of the keyboard (it can go virtual...after all you don't use it regularly while reading. A touch screen keypad would be just ok for those bent on taking notes or searching) and increase the reading pane...much less 'page change' interruptions for the fast readers.

Finally, a better collection viewing system. The current one just sucks. It's tedious to create, difficult to locate if you have multiple collections and is just not appealing.

And mind you the above points are just top level stuff that needs to happen. But till these ain't happening you can stay sweet with your current white beauty and give the black sister a miss...Nothing to be jealous here ;)


CaseCrown Apple iPad 2 Bold Standby case (Black) for iPad 2 (Built-in magnet for Apple Smart Cover's sleep & awake)

Red dead redemption Xbox

Am told this the best game that money can buy now. Anyone care to post a comment on this?



Xbox 360 Kinect Wall Mount

Music to my ears

It might sound a bit strange, but i am one of those who just can't read while travelling. Even reading a few lines gives me a sever nausea attack. So severe that i real under it for hours after getting to where i was traveling to.

This means reading paperbacks, surfing the net on my phone is all ruled out whilst am on the road. As a result there is precious little i can do while on a road trip, barring daydream

Not that i mind doing that but how long can you conjure about images from thin air. So off i went on a mental journey yesterday to find out i could possibly engage myself in. And the answer came as music to my ears --- and the options i had were


OR



And i finally settled for the latter. along with this for workouts Belkin Neoprene Armband for Zune 80/120 GB (Black/Gray)

Also picked up some music that my better half adores.


though this may have been a better choice, but it was too late!
Chickenfoot - Get Your Buzz on Live

Anyway here's another to see.

Audio Technica ATH-ANC7B Active Noise-Cancelling Closed-Back Headphones

Or this one for in ear hearing

Klipsch IMAGE S4-WH In-Ear Enhanced Bass and Noise-Isolating Headphone (White)

My New Camera

Ok so I am back after a really really long time. So much for being regular and prompt on blogs :).
But then this time i have a new ingredient that promises to spice up my life like never before.That'll give colour to my life and capture moments for eternity...

To cut the euphemisms short, I'll get to the point. I've got the new Canon 550D or T2i as you wish to call it. Yes I have joined the DSLR club. While the camera purchase was done last week, I need to now stock up on accessories.


First on the buying list is a lens. I did not pick up the kit lens primarily because it's not worth the IQ. And am sure that I need good IQ cause this one lens will last with me for a few years. The lens that I have my heart set on is the Canon 15-85mm USM. Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM UD Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Now there is a lot of talk on how it may not be the very best given that it is a variable f3.5-5.6, but then again am definitely not a pro, not even a advanced amateur...i best qualify as a beginner amateur so i think i can settle with not having a fixed f2.8 lens like the Canon 24-70mm at this stage. First they are pricey and second they are heavy...and i think for the light body of the 550D it might just make the lens too heavy on the front. So 15-85 it is.

Next i would need an additional battery, reason for that is a no brainer. Can't miss the picture of a lifetime just because my battery ran out...that would be a sure bummer. Canon LP-E8 Battery Pack for Canon Digital Rebel T2i Digital SLR Camera

Next on card would be the high definition cards. Don't know if you guys are aware, but this camera shoots some awesome HD video. I know cause i tried it out. The only problem, is to stream the video. For some reason Canon does not ship an HDMI cable, so i picked this one on the second day of owning my camera. AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (6.5 Feet/2.0 Meters) Supports 3D + Audio Return Channel

As they say nothing beats vanity and i just had to see myself on my 40'' Sony LCD -- in all HD glory. And dare i say i was impressed by what i saw ;). Here's another option worth a look in, didn't know it existed else would have picked it up.

I was also looking out for a bag n this one seems worth a try

Kindle battery life - when things started going wrong

Now for details on what exactly plagues me on the Kindle 2.

The issue surfaced on my mini-kindle vacation -- a long weekend that I spent just reading and experiencing 'the device just disappears' experience as promoted by Amazon.

Around the same time Amazon released a software upgrade which I duly installed and updated. The upgrade promised PDF compatibility and longer battery life.
The PDF compatibility fell short of expectation, since it allows only change of orientation of the document on the kindle but no zooming in and out on the pdf. So if you have a file with smaller fonts (which seems to be the case with most pdfs i have) then it's quite illegible. Guess we need to wait for the next update on this.

But what I was looking forward to most was the upgrade in battery life. But I was disappointed. I had to recharge my kindle twice in 3 days.

Worse, I found that a couple of hours of reading saw the battery charge moving from 90% to 30%-- that too with wireless off. Way too fast a discharge. Especially, since Amazon claims that the Kindle should last 2 weeks with one full charge.

I am not sure what the culprit is, the upgrade or my device-- as I had not tested the Kindle out before applying the upgrade.

But since numerous searches on the new upgrade gave me no other result of anyone else facing this Kindle battery life issue, I assumed it had to be the device.

So I decided to call up the customer service numbers for help and device. More on the experience in my next post.... .

Kindle in India brings me back

Ok, so I have not been regular at all, joining a legion of internet bloggers who sign up but drop out from adding their 2 pence worth to the information jungle.

Not that I had no information to share, just that was not inspired enough to log in and write.

So what wakes me up from this blogging-slumber is this new addition in my life. The addition arrived last month, and I was as excited as a 5-year-old in anticipation of a big gift.

I got an Amazon Kindle 2. Those who I am acquainted to, know me as this absolute book worm...so this was the best gizmo I could ever dream of owning (barring a big flat LCD TV and a BMW Four Wheel Drive with lifetime free fuel supply! -- but that's for another post).

What made having the Kindle more exciting was that I was in India -- and Amazon had just launched it's International Kindle. And at the cost of sounding smug, I was perhaps among the few hundred Indians to own a Kindle in India on Nov 23, 2009. And I fell in love almost immediately.

I took a mini-vacation (one day off from work *wink), sat up cuddled in bed to read from it...read up the Twilight series (2 books), the Last lecture and Superfreakonomics -- all in tandem.

I even got a special side table with drawer stool made -- to house my kindle safe and close to my bed, and ensure it faces no inadvertent accidents!

But 2 weeks on and many downloads of all the 'FREE KINDLE BOOKS' and Free Project Gutenberg books for the Kindle later, the dream threatens to turn a bit sour.

And that's what brings me here so that i can pour my heart out as i wait for my beloved kindle experience not to turn completely Kaput. So that my love affair does not end in a fling....so that...melodramatics aside, I also want to record my experience of the famed Customer Service of Amazon in India.

And the start has not been exactly the very best yet.

P.S. Let what's been kindled not dwindle away just because someone wants to swindle.