Monday, June 22, 2009

How useful is the iPhone!?

 

‘It is not what the device can do, it is what you can do with your device’ – Anonymous.

Last weekend a few of my friends planning to invest (waste ?) in the latest iPhone3GS release enquired which were the frequently used apps I used?

I mentioned about a few which I felt were useful and frequently used (but coming to think of it again, I am having second thoughts). Some of my close friends know me to be a gadget freak (recently acquired tag) and a camera clicker. (Of late Its my camera which has been getting more invites.)

So let me taking some time to list down a few of the Apps I frequently use in order of frequency of my usage:

App Name

App Icon

What is it ?

Comment My Rating

Twitterific Lite 

twitterrific_icon This is a TWITTER Client allowing Geo-Location at the touch of a ICON. Most of my tweets have a Geo Tag and my twitter id is @kanchirk Easy to Tweet

3/5

Camera

 


Email

 


Word Warp

Word Warp


Jumble Solvr

 


Audiobooks  


Voice Notes  


WeatherBug  


DailyFinance  


Public NPR  


Midomi  


BOA  


AAA Discounts  


Blog Writer Lite  


Comic Touch  


Trailguru  


Facebook  


Nationwide  


I am excluding Contacts, iPod, Calculator and Cell phone capability which I believe are the USPs of iPhone apart from the very Cool design and UI. There are more than 18 apps downloaded on my iPhone. But these are the ones which I prefer.

The iPhone has the convenience of a Hand Held Computer and with a Car Charger, it has become more useful. I still remember many days when I missed my Blackberry pearl and hated iPhone for short battery charge time and slow response when you fill its storage with songs, photos and other stuff.

Disclaimer: The above list is to simply for record keeping purpose. Please do not waste your time initiating a discussion with me regarding the ‘Utility’ value which I would defer from discussing or defending.

Note that most of the Apps are free and do not involved any more cents than the heavy initial down payment of 2 year contract with AT&T.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Jazz Effect

 

Ever since I heard ‘Sound of Music’ I have become a life long fan. As a matter of fact, only English songs whose lyrics I could figure out in first listen are the songs I prefer for repeat hearing. To be more correct I prefer ‘Blues’ instead of ‘Rock’.

My Wifey is a big music fan and her interests range from Local to International flavors. Her preference is for Instrumental music without vocal’s.

Last year during a visit, to my friend SK played this on this recently acquired Record Player. The difference in sound quality with respect to mp3 music was tremendous. The ‘something stupid’ song by Frank Sinatra blew me away. I believe I listened to it at least 3 times then and there.

Below is a rehashed remix video of the original song which is also likeable, but as they say ‘Nothing beats the Original’.

I am looking forward to keeping a collection of our favorite songs. If you have the original Audio for this song, please pass it to me.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Hanuman Chalisaa by M.S.

 

Recently my wyfee had suggested me to read hanuman chalisaa every morning. In general I am aware Hanuman Chalisaa is the praise of Lord Hanuman written by Saint Tulsidas. It is believed that daily recital of Hanuman Chalisa is supposed to keep away all the worldly troubles of fate. Even though I know a lot of my friends who read it everyday during my early years, I have never read it myself. I might have heard it many times, but just that - heard it, not listened, not absorbed or understood. Since I am still not that quick in reading the Tamil script, I took a printout of the original in Roman script aka English.

The first couple of days I read it I struggled to pronounce the words correctly. I decided to sing along with the rendition whatever was available on Youtube to learn it by heart and get the pronunciations right.

My wyfee requested me to play the M.S. Subbalakshmi version. With a slight bit of reluctance I got a video on Youtube and played it.

It just seeped me in. Just like that. Whaaammmmmmmmmm !!!!!!!!

Guess what…………

The 10 minutes of recital is so effective and excellently recited after 24 hours It is still reverberating in my head.

Anybody who has grown up listening to ‘Venkatesha Suprabhatam’ every morning knows M.S. and the Magic of her voice.

But this was astonishing 10 minutes I have had in recently times. Neither the sound of Niagara falls or the thrill of Hershey park rides or Special FX of any movie has been so enthralling.

Ever feel a little low or tired anytime in future just go ahead and put on the M.S. recital of any shlokam you like, I bet it will be more effective then any of the ‘self help’ books you have in your book shelf.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Blogging thru iPhone

Today I have been able to setup and activate my iPhone app which will allow me to write blog with only the phone.

Fasten your seatbelts and expect a lot of tweetposts on this blog.

This weekend the twenty20 world cup starts. Looking forward to it.

Apologies in advance for the numerous typos.

For those who don't know, you can follow me on twitter @kanchirk

Cheerio !!!