My Parchment

"The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows." - Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975)

Name:
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Get a bite of Apple (MAC) with Windows XP. Sweeet!

Market Share. Its been about time I guess, Apple needs that market share almost more now than ever before. Its survival and growth is pretty much chalked out by its deadly iPod product lines which seems to be in the 'growth stage' of its product cycle since introduction. But would that suffice in this day of bitter competition. I would assume not. Apple's share of the PC market has been dwindling around a measly 2.5% in the last few years.

Apple's got to do something! & so it does in 2 strategic steps. Early this quarter, Steve Jobs announced a shift of Mac's from its traditional Power PC hardware to Intel based processors. In less than a couple of months Jobs asserted the fact that, Windows could be installed on the Mac as a parallel OS by the use of a software called 'boot camp' (available on Apple website). That is some piece of news for Macintosh droolers who avoid the fancy hardware owing to unavailability of all softwares compatible with the Mac. Shares climbed 10%, also strengthening Apple's chances of boosting its sales and revitalizing its PC market. This could be the chance for those who have dreamt of owning a Macintosh to actually contemplate buying one (even though it maybe a little pricey, its justified!).


Attaching Windows & its proprietary OSX together on the Macintosh, certainly works in attracting Businesses which remain to be extremely important accounts. Businesses tend to favor stability, security and software compatibility. While Macs master the first two components, it involved serious software compatibility issues. Well with the Windows residing on it, that problem seems to be solved too!

Its an all win situation. Microsoft gets hold of more customers and so does Apple. But Apple must be careful as to not cannibalize the Mac-Os and its much awaited release of the OS-Leapord. Considering Apple's current earnings, products and prospects it remains to be a strong 'buy'. Meanwhile rumors are afloat about a radical internal redesign of the iPod nano. So watch out for some iPod-gizmos this Fall.

***

In a nutshell. Q3 earnings report Google is still on the rise, quelling analysts fears of growth glooms. Shares skyrocketed to the mid $400's, currently trading at $428.42 (as of April 25). Yet again, eBay, Yahoo, Microsoft & others pursue very diligently to break the 'Google home run'.

Microsoft beefs up plans towards 'webifying products' when it recently appointed the highly respected Ray Ozzie (creater of Lotus Notes & Founder, Groove Networks).

Social Networking boom. MySpace, Facebook, Orkut & Linkedin. Facebook rejected a recent offer of $750 million, expecting $2 billion for the college networking site as reported by BusinessWeek.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Infuriating 'Anonymous'

With a couple of exams and case studies lined up, my urge for caffeine is gradually on the rise. Just as I make a decision to sit in my office and study...I feel the need for COFFEE! The only restaurant within walkable distance in the vicinity is 'Anonymous' (disguised). If anything is even edible in this repository, it is the coffee (sometimes!), chocolates & drinks. The sandwiches...uggh! for the lack of adjectives I refuse to describe them. Please relate to my frustration. To top it all, what do they do? try to make things better you must think. NOooooo! They put a minimum as $3, if credit cards are used. Why would they do that! Anyone in a sane frame of mind wouldnt dare step in there. And thats not all! They close at 3:30 p.m. At the peak hour of drowsiness...

So I sit and think now dogged and infuriated by the inavailability of French Vanilla..What do I do?

Chintu.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Limericks.. fascinating indeed!

I could'nt help but post this blog after reading a few really funny limericks. For those who are alien to the term, 'limericks' are a form of poetry usually composed of 5 lines essentially made to rhyme with nonsensical humour!

Here are a couple of Edward Lear's limericks from his 'A Book of Nonsense',

There was an Old Man of Peru,
Who never knew what he should do;
So he tore off his hair,
And behaved like a bear,
That intrinsic Old Man of Peru.

There was a Young Person of Smyrna,
Whose Grandmother threatened to burn her;
But she seized on the cat,
And said, 'Granny, burn that!
You incongruous Old Woman of Smyrna!'

Don't these pay justice to the word gibberish! Well they make me laugh nevertheless..Another savant of poetry known for his wit & humour was Oscar Wilde. I am trying to get hold of 'The Wit And Humor of Orcar Wilde'

should be a light hearted read..


Chintu.


Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Review: MOTO SLVR - Eye popping!

Rating: **** 1/2

Am I glad I got this phone! Its thin as a blade, as sleek as a phone can get. The new Moto SLVR, released recently bringing 3 bigwigs into one device - Motorola (the maker), Apple (iTunes software) & Cingular (service provider). After the debacle of the Moto ROKR and a moderate Moto Razr, this phone silences critics.

Read over 1000 reviews (few as inane as this, "the screen gets oily when I talk sticking it to my ear." duh!! use a cover, bluetooth, dont use oil!), convinced Nokia fanatics, and finally chose the SLVR. It is a difficult choice in this day of fierce competition with one nudging the other with an inch of better technology. I am writing this blog in an attempt to help those who are in a quandary in selecting the right mobile phone that combines quality, style and function (the love triangle for any gadget).

In this family of Mp3 phones the 3 phones that I narrowed down to were the Moto SLVR, Nokia 6682 & Sony Ericsson 700i.

Moto SLVR
*Vital Statistics*
1. Top notch design
  • Style: Candy bar
  • Dimensions: 4.5 x 1.9 x 0.45 inches
  • Weight: 3.5 ounces (~100 grams)
  • Talk time: upto 300 minutes
  • Quad Band GSM phone
2. Features
  • iTunes music player: Apple's award winning software - play, shuffle, sort, shop and manage music
  • VGA camera: 4x zoom, video playback (average.)
  • Bluetooth capability
  • Download: games, music, ringtones, pictures and screensavers
  • Display: TFT colour display with 256 colours (extremely sharp.)
  • Memory: Choice of switching storage between phone & memory.
    • Phone - 6 Mb
    • Card - 512 Mb Micro Sd card (limitation of 100 songs even with more space.Why? don't know, live with it. Its great even with that!)
  • Music automatically pauses for incoming calls. (you can also hide the iTunes player)
  • Mobile email, browser & messaging capability
  • Battery life is reasonably good considering the amount of functions it provides.
3. Pros
  • Seamless integration of all functions
  • iTunes player! (it was a major deciding factor for me) - great speakers for the music (at the back though.)
  • Great quality & signal strength
  • Ultra slim (you have to see it to believe it!)
4. Cons
  • While on the speaker-phone I dont find the volume too high.
  • The ringtones are not too loud (you could download louder ones)
  • Just one connection slot for headphones, USB transfer & charging (maybe a problem if you want to charge & use the headphones.
  • On a few occasions when you unplpug the headphones and you don't hear a small beep, then you are in trouble. The SLVR just didnt recognize that you unplugged the headset. You try talking on the phone you can't hear a thing. To correct it, plug the headphones back and unplug it slowly till you hear the beep. A major technical snag!
To sum up the Pros clearly outweigh the cons, giving the Moto SLVR a high rating. When compared with the Nokia, I like the Moto better merely because of size. As of the Sony, it was a tough choice, but I chose Moto because of the iTunes & its sleek design. Maybe I just prefer iTunes over other jukeboxes!

Hope this review helps. The SLVR is with Cingular priced at $199 with service & 2 yr contract. Mobileplaza.com is good site for cheap phones. I got mine there for $49.99. But again you need to wait for the damned mail-in rebates.

Chintu.

I will soon put up Adsense on the blog, it might pull up Ads with useful links about the SLVR.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Promotions.

The brief hiatus in my blog postings is owing to a string of weeks with very busy schedules (or is it for the lack of topics I can think of? I wonder!).

Meanwhile, I thought I had keep the blog space bustling by promoting my 'Linkedin' profile. For those who are new to the term, Linkedin is an online professional business networking site. Strictly business! unlike its more popular counterparts - Orkut, Facebook & the lesser knowns. Well, Linkedin.com also works by invites, has a friends contact list, etc. But its niche is that it helps connect people from businesses, establish corporate contacts, search for jobs (some exclusive to linkedin through inside sources!), and so on. Go discover it. It'll help you some day to fish a job or make a fruitful contact.

So before I deviate from the purpose of this posting, "promoting my Linkedin profile", click below to view it:
View my profile on LinkedIn

Chintu.

visit http://www.linkedin.com & widen your contacts web. gives a whole new meaing to the saying 'Its not what you know, its who you know'.