Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Atif Aslam's songs

I Loved this song of Atif Aslam and i often sing it to my daughter Diya (Not that she understands)




And now my wife loves this song, another by Atif Aslam. I think we should buy his albums now!

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Things to Buy in Japan - 2 (Akihabara)

I'm in japan after 2 years and of course i have been to Akihabara again. So what are things i could have bought from here, well the list is big. Once you take the electric town exit from the Akihabara station and move towards to main road, once can see the big stores like Laox (see left), Onoden, Sofmap etc. Most foreigners usually frequent these stores coz you usually get the overseas electronics models and souvenirs too. I bought an Ipod Nano for about 16.5K yen about a week back. The real stuff lies in the streets behind the main road. You get stuff real dirt cheap. Most of it is either used (2nd Hand) but i belive of good quality. You also get genuine new stuff in these bylanes. Things that can bought here are
1) Used (2nd hand) ipods, nanos
2) 2nd hand digital camera (saw a sony p100 for 12K yen)
3) Brand new HP Ipaqs for cheap
4) Used and new PDA's for dirt cheap (cassiopiea, sony clie, sharp zaurus)
4) sharp zaurus linux kits for cheap
5) packs of CD/DVD for cheap (10 for 300 Yen kinds)
6) Amazing range of laptops (starts from 20K yen, yes decent configuration ones) (saw a pentium m, 512 mb ram, 20gb hdd, 12inch lcd screen, weight less than 1.5 kg panasonic for 25K)
7) usb stuff, usb fans (damn neat), lights, 10 number keyboards (500Y), hubs (400Y) etc!
8) Memory sticks (Must buy, very expensive in India at least)(got a 1Gb stick for my camera for 2.8K yen)
9) Mouse (usb/wireless) for cheap
10) mp3 players/cd players (1000Yen, being sold on street)
11) External HDD and compact USB HDD

You'd find a lot of this stuff in cartons lying outside shops and being sold. yous mostly find Japanese guys buying stuff from here. Also there are the DIY (Do It Yourself) shops here selling all kinds of computer hardware...name it and u get it here.

On the other hand, there is the huge Yodobashi Camera shop (Yodobashi-Akiba). This is another must visit place if you are in Akihabara. Good stuff at reasonable prices and you always get some stuff for cheap here depending on how much time you spend and keep looking. Split your purchases into multiple days from here coz at the billing counter you can get the Gold Point Card and use it the next time to get discounts. You cannot use the points the same day and they are valid only from the next day.

I did still go to Laox coz you get good souvenirs here although they are way overprices. Am yet to know a shop that has a variety of souvenirs and is cheaper.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Taxis in Japan

Taxis are one of the most convenient mode of transport in japan, although they are pretty expensive compared to Train travel. The taxis in Mishima charge 610 yen as the minimum fare, wheras i guess in Tokyo and other places where ive used Taxis, it was 660 Yen. I use a taxi everyday to commute from the hotel to the office and since my hotel is just next to the station, there are taxis available most of the time. Most of these taxis have a car navigation unit which has the map of the local town you are in and so you get an idea of the route you are taking. Taxi drivers are a meticulous lot. My route usually involves crossing the railway tracks. Usually when the gates/bars (all unmanned crossings) of the crossing are open, the taxi drivers almost stop at the crossing, look right and look left and look ahead and then move along. They even use their finger, point right, point left and then straight ahead. ive seen this happen almost always. its an amazing sense of discipline which never is seen in India. You can ask for the fare receipts by saying "Ryoshosho Kudasai", although they do understand the word reciept (risitto) too.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Ubuntu Linux Desktop

I used the isohunt website to download a movie. I usually dont do this but in a reckless act, i actually downloaded an unknown codec (Riyo Codec) and it caused my internet connection to go kaput. Luckily i have ubuntu installed (Yes the latest one) and i booted into Ubuntu and googled for Riyo codec. It did turn out to be a hijacker. There is a howto to remove the program and i still havent tried it. More coz somehow i am very comfortable using the new Ubuntu Desktop (7.10). It runs a GNOME desktop and its very simple to use. Of course while using it for daily purposes, you will need to download and install a lot of plugins. The update manager in Ubuntu (Synaptic) does a great job at that. Browsing is easy, playing movies is easy and so is listneing to music. The rhythmbox music player plays easy and when i plugged my new ipod nano, it popped out and i could play songs of it. good stuff im impressed. linux desktops are now slowly but surely announcing their arrival!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

interesting news

Xerox document security blocks access to sensitive data. see the story here
NASA and ISS computer glitches reasons found here

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Live Cricket Streaming

The current India Australia cricket series is available online at http://www.livesportzstreaming.com/voip-tvu.html

You will need Internet Explorer to watch this and install an active x plugin. Doesnt work with firefox though.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

HP's snapfish in India

HP has started their India specific Snapfish website. This is nice!! Helps you share and print photos online. They have some cool features like printing on T shirts, mugs, key chains etc. The calendar option costs about 800/= for a period of 12 months. Everything looks OK priced and im just waiting to upload my first album soon. Seems like the first 20 prints are free, but havent yet checked the disclaimer.

The website is http://www4.snapfish.co.in/login

Diya @ 10 Months



Its Diya's Happy 10th Month Birthday and here are a few pictures taken by Megz

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Blogging after long!

Its been quite a few months since i blogged. Im in japan now and well other than the usual work here, haven't had much to do. The flight journey was uneventful and traveling on planes is something id avoid if i have to. The food that Thai airways provides isnt all that great to write about. The new Suvarnabhoomi airport at Bangkok is sprawling though. I reached early morning on the 24th (sep) and had to take the boarding pass for the connecting flight to Narita at the transit counter. They don't open their counter until 5.30 Am and thats a hassle. There is a really long line of at least 60-80 people waiting for the counter to open. so instead of seeing the airport, one has to stand in a queue By the time you get your boarding pass, its time to go for the security check. Reached Narita at about 4PM, was lucky to get through the immigration quickly. The baggage took some time to arrive and by the time i called Megz/Dhruv/Gopa, id missed my Narita Express (NEX) to shinagawa. I boarded the next NEX to Tokyo and met Gopa there. Had a good italian dinner with him. It probably was the best dinner i had at a restaurant in the last one week or so. Of course ive had dinner at Dhruv/Sundeep's place, and they cook well. I hope they read this. Thanks Guys! im going to continue piling upon them for as long as i stay.