My First Century - Cycle Ride From Bangalore To Mysore

After I began cycling about 6 months ago, I had pledged to do a long ride before the end of the year. In the months that ensued, I built my stamina by commuting to work, covering about 100kms a week. I even climbed the Nandi Hills once in October. As December came in I planned to ride to Mysore between Christmas and New Years. I increased my weekly commute rides to 150+kms. Did a few 40km rides (a round trip to Decathlon from my home). A couple of my friends Vishnu and Shashi promised me company for the ride. 

But alas, just before Christmas I came down with a viral flu and was bed ridden for a couple of days! The thought of not being able to make the ride pushed me towards a speedy recovery. On the 26th, after being confined to home for 3 days and still dizzy from my medication, I took my hybrid out for a 3.5km ride around my house. The next day, wanting to build up some strength, I made a visit to Vishnu's house on my roadbike - a 36km round trip. 2 things happened: Vishnu informed me that he had done a bike ride to Bandipur with another friend and doubted that he would be able to join us to Mysore. And I realized that though  I was through with my course of medication, I still had a lot of congestion and found it hard to breathe while riding in the cold. I thought about the situation for a while and decided I'd not push myself lest the viral flu relapse. The next day, Wednesday the 28th Dec, I did nothing and just rested at home. I started planning for the ride - read ride stories on BikesZone and Bangalore Bikers Club. Folks at BBC suggested that I avoid the Bangalore-Mysore highway unless I wanted to bake in the sun and get mauled by traffic. They suggested the Kanakapura Rd route which is more scenic, with tree cover and a lot less traffic. I checked the elevation on the route at MapMyRide and figured the first 100kms would be downhill with climbs towards the last 45 odd kms. Before going to bed I called Shashi and told him that we'd definitely attempt the ride the next day, 29th Dec and see how far we could ride. I asked him to give me a wake up call and hit the bed.

I heard my phone buzz at 6AM and told Shashi I'll meet him down in an hour. My wife made me some tea and I munched on a breakfast bar and got myself and my bike ready. The KHS Flite 300 would be my steed of choice for the journey! I gave my wife a farewell hug and asked her if she thought I'd be able to finish the ride. She smiled at me in assurance and sent me off.

As I waited for Shashi, I saw the clear blue sky at dawn and hoped the great weather would hold up through the day. A few minutes later he was down with his white Cannondale SL3. 

We were out the gate by 7:30AM, a little later than we would have liked to, but atleast the sun was out and we'd escape riding in the December chill. We did our first rest stop at 20kms and snapped a few pics as we caught a breath.

 I was dressed in my fluorescent Btwin jersey for high visibility and protection from the cold. 

A couple of inquisitive kids posed with us for snaps.

We rode on and did another stop at 40kms - munched some energy bars, mixed some more Gatorade and kept going. We passed Harohalli, Anjanapura, crossed the Arkavathy river and reached Kanakapura. We stopped by at a darshini and had a breakfast of idli-vada-sambar. The next stop was at 65kms.  Till now the ride had been quite pleasant. The tree cover keeping us cool and the roads were good.

 We found a place where we could sit and did a few stretches and took a few more snaps.

I had stripped down to my T-shirt and Roadie Shorts.

This is where the climbs started. The sun kept getting a little stronger and the tree cover also thinned out a bit. We did get to appreciate the beauty of the surroundings as we rode on.

Shashi riding up one of the climbs.

This is where we started noticed the big difference between roadbikes and MTBs. Although I was not at my physical best, I was able to ride ahead of Shashi. My bike kept rolling smooth and fast keeping the effort to a minimum while his MTB gripped the tarmac on uphills. At one stretch a guy on a bike rode up to me and struck a conversation. I told him we were riding from Bangalore to Mysore. He asked me why? I said it was for the joy of riding. He said "you are great saar! Not married no?" I told him that I was in fact married and asked him why he thought a married guy would not do a ride like this? He smiled back and rode off after a while. At about 1:00PM I made my 5th stop. My cyclocomp showed 87kms. The last few kilometers of the ride had been tough with some extended climbs. I sought shade under a sort of makeshift timber post and waited for Shashi to catch up. We were about 9km from Malavalli. 

After riding for about half an hour we reached Malavalli. Again, Shashi had fallen behind and while I waited for him at an intersection, a couple of kids ran up and started asking me about the bike. They were fascinated by the thin tires and asked me how much the tires cost. I said I didn't know. They asked my how come I didn't find out while buying the bike! Then they asked me how many punctures I had so far. I said none and kept my fingers crossed, hoping I'd be flat free for the rest of this ride!

We entered the town and stopped to ask some locals for good places to get lunch. Couple of them guided us to a place called Utsav Hotel. They said that the week before, they had seen a big bunch of bikers and asked if we were with them. I told them that those guys were riding for the Tour of Nilgiris and we were a separate lot on a joy ride.

We found Utsav Hotel and had a couple of south indian veggie meals. All the water we had started with had run out by now. We picked up fresh bottles of Bisleri and continued on our ride. My cyclocomp showed 96kms. We were thrilled at the prospect of completing our first century and took off on the roads which were now more potholed and uphill. Very soon I saw the digits roll by and stopped to celebrate the moment with Shashi. :)

After this point, we knew the rest of the ride would be mostly uphill, but nothing could have prepared us for what was yet to come. After crossing the magic number, the will power was reduced and we started feeling the exhaustion of the ride. The tree cover was also quite sparse and the sun at its highest intensity. I developed a headache due to the heat and stopped to cool my head by pouring some water. At each climb we'd stop a while and try to inspire each other to keep going. I kept listening to music I'd carried along and tried not to think about the heat or the headache. Heavy metal kept my cadence going steady climb after climb! \m/

On one climb, 3 guys on a bike (yes they were triple riding) asked me why I was pedaling so hard but not moving fast. I told them it was a gear cycle and that on low gears, the bike moves smaller distances for each rotation of the pedal. They said their village cycles would go much farther for that kind of pedaling. I said yes, but it would be pretty hard for them to keep that kind of pedaling for long. They nodded their heads and rode off.

The roads were bad and the climbs steady to hard. We kept at it at under 15kmph. 

At around 5:30PM we crossed the Cauvery river. I saw flocks of sheep grazing. I heard some guys asking Shashi "why saar? you have money to buy car, bike, but why you ride cycle?"

A bridge across the Cauvery

We kept riding, counting down the number of kilometers that we had left to ride. After 6:00PM the sun started going down fast and the temprature even faster! The jerseys came back on. We took a few last shots before the sunset.

　

After we crossed the Chamundi Hills the worst of the climbs were over. We were less than 10kms from our destination. We quickened our pace and reached the Mysore Palace by 6:40PM. What a sight it was! We'd arrived at Mysore!

We cycled on towards our friends Ravi & Ramya's house in Kuvempu Nagara. When we arrived at their house we were in for a big surprise welcome - They had got garlands to welcome us and sprayed us with beer at the gate! We felt like some F1 racers who were at the podium after a race! :)

What a journey it had been! 148kms in all, traveled in a saddle time of 7 hours and 21 minutes. An average speed of 20.1kmph and a max speed of 52.8kmph. My body ached in places where I didn't know I had muscles! But it was all washed in the joy of getting our first century ride under the belt and making it all the way. This concluded a journey we had started about 11 hours ago. We had some beer followed by a good meal and hit the bed. This will definitely be a ride that I'm sure both Shashi and I will cherish for a long time to come!

Cycling - Falling in love all over again!

It has been a few months since my last post. And with good reason too; I've been busy with my newest interest - cycling!

Having chosen a great time to fall sick (the long Christmas weekend! [facepalm]), I decided I'd use my time to put down some thoughts. 

I'd been a runner on and off, to keep fit - hitting the nearby parks or the treadmill to clock in a couple of kilometers. But thanks to my bony feet, I'd develop pain in my heels if I ran too hard. I know, there are special shoes and soles designed for that; but right around then my dear friend of many years, Mr. Vishnu declared that he'd bought a bicycle. I thought, hey this might be a great idea to cross train along with running. The circular motion of pedaling takes away the impact and is easier on your feet. I started researching bikes and was initially shocked at how much imported bikes cost these days! A good entry level bike can set you back by 15-20 grand which is what I'd paid for my first motorcycle back when I was in college! When I heard this from Vishnu the first time, I thought he was mad to shell out so much for a bike. After much research and coaxing from Vishnu to up my budget (which I seriously dont regret now), sometime in June 2011, I got my Trek 7100. As you use one of these modern bikes and understand what goes into the their design and construction, you begin to appreciate what makes them cost so much. It would not be too much of a stretch to say that a modern bicycle is no less technical than a F1 car!

This was my first bike (leaving out the Hero Ranger and Hercules Top Gear that I had ridden in school days) and a Hybrid at that. Not to be confused with hybrid cars, there is no electricity involved here!  :P

So to talk more about the Trek 7100, 2011 Model 

This one is a Hybrid. Which means, it is built to roll smoothly on tarmac but at the same time can handle bumpy road and potholes and can also be used to ride on light off-road trails. It comes with suspension on the front fork and a spring loaded seatpost which make for a very smooth ride. The posture is very upright and the raised handle bars make for a laid back riding posture. I got mine from the FireFox Bike Station in Jayanagar 4th Block for about 21 grand without accessories. I was amazed by the comfort and the ease of riding. I had initially never intended to ride this thing it traffic. This was supposed to be my exercise bike. But I had built up stamina  by running and within a week I was able to do 15kms at a stretch. This is the one-way commute distance to my office. I decided to ride it to work! This was THE game-changing moment for me and I've never looked back. Today I cycle more days to the office than I take the car and clock upto 100kms a week on my bike. Thanks to a very supportive boss, Meher (who herself is a marathon runner) we now are a more bike friendly workplace with shower facilities. And to top it all, my commute time by bike is actually shorter than by car! In the months that I have been using this bike, I've put mudguards on it to ride it in the rain, had a bike rack and pannier bags installed to carry loads and even done a 60km ride with Vishnu down Kanakpura Road. An excellent source for all you want to know about commuting by cycle is this one. 

Vishnu owns a Trek 4300 which is a Mountain Bike (a.k.a MTB). On the Kanakapura ride we did a couple of off-road trails climbing hills and riding through villages where we realized the limitations of each bike. My 7100 was very comfortable on long rides but really struggled for grip on bad terrain. Vishnu's moutainbike hugged the rocks and felt very stable on off-roads but the saddle comfort on longer rides left a lot to be desired.

This also got me thinking about getting my next bike - the Giant Revel 1 D, 2011 model. 

This one is a proper MTB, and I bought it after much research, from RR Cycles in Ulsoor. The guy at the store was pretty helpful and gave me a good discount - I ended up paying a shade under 20 grand for this while the MRP was 23-24. The 2012 model has an MRP of almost 30 grand and IMHO has somewhat inferior components. So, looking back, I'm happy with my purchase. This bike came with mechanical disc brakes and big-a$$ Kenda MTB tires! The Alivio rear derailleur shifts gears like a dream and I have since used this bike to do a couple of off-road rides and climbed the Nandi Hills with Vishnu.

Over the months of riding I increased my appetite for longer rides and once joked that I'd ride to Mandya or Mysore before the year 2011 was through (100-150kms from where I live in Bangalore). I slowly began understanding the dynamics of bikes and the reason people use different types of bikes. On a visit to the BOTS store in Jayanagar, I got to test ride a Trek 1.1. This was my first experience of riding a roadbike and it left me wanting more. Roadbikes are essentially built for riding fast on good road surfaces. They are light and have skinny tires and have an aerodynamic riding posture with drop down handle bars. Because they are meant to be light they are designed with parts that are both strong and light. This is what makes Road Bikes more expensive than all other kinds of bikes. Like Keith Bontrager (who designs for bike components) once said "strong, cheap, light - pick two!". This summarizes that it is difficult if not impossible to design a bike component (or any other type of machinery) that is light, strong AND not expensive.

So, long story short, last week I made a new addition to my set of bikes - a KHS Flite 300 roadbike. 

At 26 grand for a bike with an MRP of 32 grand, this was the best deal I could get on a roadbike at this budget. More pics here. I got if from Venky at Wheelsports in Chamrajpet and am grateful to him for throwing in a free Cateye Velo 8 Cyclocomputer. Weighing in less than 10kgs, this is the lightest bike I have. The low weight is in part because of the carbon fiber fork on the front wheel and seatpost and the overall weight reduction on all other components such as frame, handles and wheels. I took just a day to get used to the posture of riding on drop down handle bars and started loving the effortlessness of going anywhere on this bike. In the first 5 days I clocked 100kms. I am now preparing for a ride to Mysore the coming week on the Flite 300 and realizing the dream of doing that in 2011. I shall write a ride report of my first century ride when I am back to Bangalore in 2012. Until then, be good, have fun and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! :)

Payment Schemes [Personal Finance]

Back in the days of yore, before plastic money was all the rage and banks were all over the place, people bought stuff in a straightforward way. You figured out what you wanted, saved up the money needed to pay for it, forked it out up-front and brought your newly acquired stuff home! Plain and simple.

Then came along the financial institutions with credit facilities. You didn't have to bother saving for what you wanted, just so long as you were “credit-worthy” enough for the goods you were looking to buy. All you had to do was make a down payment, a promise to pay the rest over a fixed number of installments and then you could take your new stuff home! This is popularly known as the EMI (Equated Monthly Installments) scheme.

Problem with this approach is that over a period of time, people started basing their expenses on their ability to pay the installments rather than being able to afford the actual price of the product. Combine that with the effect of increased imupulse purchases and soon you're paying for a house-full of mostly un-necessary crap.

Now comes the new trend of an even more ridiculous payment system. Pre-Orders! Essentially, you are not given a product (or in cases even shown a live product), but asked to pay full price for it upfront and wait for the manufacturer / dealer to ship / deliver the product in the weeks / months to come. This is IMHO the most stupid way to pay and is a conspiracy by manufacturers to take power away from the consumers. How do they do that you say? They take away your freedom of choice! What if, say a week after the pre-order I come across a better product? Can I cancel and get a full refund? What if I don't like the product when I finally receive it? Will it be worth the wait? Do I get to return it and claim a refund?

The ideal way to buy, my friends, is the old fashioned way. Save up and put your cash down up front and pick up your product of choice. Here are some of the key benefits:

1. The wait while you save up thwarts any impulse purchase tendencies

2. Having full cash for payment upfront might offer you leverage to bargain with the seller

3. You get to fully examine and try out the product before you part with your money.

4. The feeling of achievement that you get since you had to “work” towards your buy. :)

So there you have it... my 2 cents! Go forth and "spend it"! :P

Why Mod?

Wikipedia defines “Modding” as a “slang expression that is derived from the verb "modify". Modding refers to the act of modifying a piece of hardware or software or anything else for that matter, to perform a function not originally conceived or intended by the designer.”

The context in which I speak when I speak of modding is related to the technology and gadgetry that most of us surround ourselves with.

Most of us own atleast one computer, cell phone, music player, car stereo, TV, etc.. (the list can go on and on for some of us!)

There is no denying the place that technology has in our lives. And whether you like it or not, it is only going to get more and more deeply integrated as we move forward. We truly are a digital civilization!

Once we accept that technology is a way of life, we then move into how we use it. How do we derive benefit from it? How does IT work for us?
This depends more on the way that the technology itself is built and marketed to us. The way I see it, there are 2 design schools.

The first one, I’ll call the “Apple School” because I can think of no bigger example of a company today that practices it! This is basically a “one-size-fits-all” philosophy. You take a concept, develop a product and implement its design in a way that will do 90% of the work for 90% of the people, 90% of the time. Make a million units and convince every tom, dick and harry you can find to hand over their money! This has worked very well for Apple (iPod, iPad, ring any bells?) and made them a bigger company than Microsoft! The good thing about this approach for the digital consumer is, it makes the purchase decision easier. Need a music player? You can pick anyone you like as long as it’s an iPod! :P And to an extent, once you get used to an interface, you can keep working on it without having to learn anything new. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work 100% for anyone 100% of the time.

The other school of thought that a lot of companies (Samsung, LG, etc.) use is to breed a swarm of designs and have them all out in the market at once. No matter what product you look at – TV’s, microwaves, home theaters, air conditioners, you name it! There are enough variants to make you break into a sweat just thinking about buying one! The idea that these manufacturers start off with is noble – that every human is individual and unique with different needs. Ergo the need for differently designed products to suit the different needs. But the problem arises in that the companies are not resourceful enough to understand the needs of every consumer perfectly or dish out enough variants for each individual to find the perfect match. The consumers tend to rarely find a perfect fit here and the luxury of choice here actually starts to look like a curse! This is compounded by the fact that sales people in stores are mostly incompetent – both in technical knowledge of the product that they are looking to sell and in the soft skills needed to understand the buyer’s needs and suggest an appropriate product. Seriously, how many times have you bought something and had to go back to the show room and return it because it was junk for your needs? It is situations like this that actually make a bunch of people jump ship to the Apple cart! Are all you Korean and Taiwanese companies listening?

The 3^rd approach is “modding”. This school of thought assumes that your needs will never be perfectly matched by any one product. So you start off by picking one that comes closest and then “modify” it to meet your requirements to the T.

Needless to say that this takes more involvement from the end user – more investment in terms of spending time to understand the options that are available, reading up and learning how to run the mods and then actually running them! What you get in return is:

1. Perfection in what you want – a customized product
2. The joy of creating something unique
3. Bragging rights and a ticket to geekdom! :)

If all this seems too roundabout or if you are feeling bored that you ever started reading this post, then modding may not be for you. However, if you are getting excited and already thinking about what tinkering project you can start next week, then hang on! In my next post, I'll talk more about some of my tech stuff and mods I have run on them. In the meantime, google is a wonderful resource! Read up and get your feet wet!

Adios!

Renewal

Fortnight of eventful pain
Ritual death, ceremonial death
Pouring of new wine 
Solace be mine
Shimmering lights through 
Cool summer nights
Awaiting the dawns new Awakening 
As beauty sleeps
Malice creeps
Raw edges cut through the darkest time 
like spices through cigarette breath 
A private voyage to the borders of boredom 
Even the seamonkeys brought their oars

Android App Guide for Beginners

     One of the first things that anyone who gets their first Android device notices is the overwhelming number of apps that they have access to! Rest-assured every n00b out there spent countless hours (days?) downloading, installing and uninstalling a zillion apps from the Market. I've gone through the same cycle and having recently wiped my phone back to factory condition, I came up with a list of must-have apps that I would put back on it. And that is what I share with you today.


     Before I get into that, a big word of caution! There is a difference between the way Apple's AppStore and Android Market work. Apple has a rigid system of approving apps that are made available on their AppStore. While their rules might not be to all of our liking and a lot of great apps dont make the cut, this system ensures (or atleast tries its best to ensure) that the apps that you do get from their channel are safe to use on your device. This reduces the possibility of downloading malicious apps (like virus / trojan laden ones). Google embraces a more open philosophy and is more lenient with allowing developers to publish apps on their Android Market. This is good in general for developers and end users but also keeps the door open for potentially dangerous apps making their way into the Market. You can read about some of the latest threats here http://j.mp/i74deD While this may seem scary, its relatively easy to reduce chances of you getting a malicious app on your phone. First of all, dont go into an app downloading frenzy. There are hundreds of thousands of apps out there, but you dont need all of them. Figure out which are the ones that you are actually going to use and keep those on your phone. When it comes to getting games especially, make sure you download apps from reputed app publishers. Remember, if a virus / evil app hacks your phone, it is because you downloaded it in the first place! Just like phishing sites on the Internet, you need to be careful with the apps that you put on your phone and subject them to a level of filtering and scrutiny before you install.


Ok, now that we have that out of the way, lets get down to the list of apps!


Launcher Pro 
(Homescreen Launcher, FREE, Download from Market)
I'll go ahead and say it - This is THE best launcher for Android till date. What is a launcher? Its what you see on your phone's screen. It is the user interface that puts all your phone's apps and functionality in one place and presents it to you in a easy (or not so easy) to use kinda way. Except for the Google Nexus One and the Nexus S, all other phones come with a customized version of the launcher that is stuck on by the phone manufacturer. The problem is, in some cases the implementation is not so great, I've seen my phone respond better than a Samsung Galaxy S purely because of the way the launcher is implemented. So, long story short, getting a Launcher can help speed up your phone Even if you have a Nexus phone, a launcher can give you more customization options. I've tried tried ADW, Zeam, etc. but kept coming back to Launcher Pro. I use the free version which comes with enough functionality and customization options. So head over to the market and get it already!


Swiftkey 
(Keyboard, PAID, Download from Market)
The beauty of Android is the level of customization that it offers you. You can replace the keyboard that your phone came with! Why would you want to do that you say? Well, unless you are using a HTC device or a Gingerbread keyboard, you are probably unhappy with the way your keyboard works. The Gingerbread keyboard is a HUGE improvement over the older Android keyboard but Swiftkey is better! In fact it is so good, it is the only app on my phone which I paid for! (Costs less than what you'd pay for a drink in a pub!) This app has an algorithm that analyzes your usage of words from the messages you type and figures out how you frame sentences. Based on that, not only does it autocorrect your words, it predicts the next word you are looking to type! It keeps learning and your experience with it gets better and better over time. I found it better than Swype and it has saved me thousands of keystrokes and made me 20% more efficient in my typing! Go get it and trust me, you wont regret buying this app.


Dolphin Mini
(Browser, FREE, Download from Market)
The stock Android browser maybe fine for most folks but lacks the finesse and additional functionality that we are used to in our desktop browsers. Dolphin Mini may not be the fastest browser out there for Android (Opera anyone?), but gives a very clean Google Chrome kind of experience with tabbed browsing and full screen support.


Google Reader 
(RSS Reader, FREE, Download from Market)
This is the Official Google Reader app. And I know a lot of you are huge fans of the web version of Google Reader. Then this is a must have app for your Android phone. Its very clean and simple, allows you to take your favorite RSS feeds with you wherever you go and you can read up on your phone at a traffic signal, in elevators or even on the toilet!


Dropbox 
(File Syncing, FREE, Download from Market)
If you dont already have Dropbox on your computer, get it NOW! You can sync your files online and across computers with Dropbox. 2GB account is free! http://db.tt/NEa7Ukc The Android app gives you access to all your files right from your phone and is a lifesaver at times when you want to access a copy of your important documents like PAN card or Passport. Just keep a copy on your computer's dropbox folder and access it whenever you want with the dropbox app on your phone. Its that simple!


Epistle 
(Note taking, FREE, Download from Market)
There are hundreds of note taking apps out there including Evernote. But my vote goes for Epistle for its simplicity and mainly its integration with Dropbox! This app saves all your notes as text files within a folder on your dropbox account and keeps them synced at all times. So when my wife wants me to buy some stuff on the way back home from work, she opens up the shopping list note on my home computer and updates the list. This gets synced with dropbox and when I stop by at the supermarket and open the Epistle app on my phone, I can magically see what she wants me to get! This is just one of several cool uses for this app apart from the fact that you have a back-up of all your notes.


TweetDeck 
(Social Networking, FREE, Download from Market)
This is one app that integrates Facebook, Twitter, Buzz and Foursquare (does anyone I know even use that?) functionality. So you get an integrated timeline where you can see updates from all the services in one place. You also get a widget that you can place on your homescreen and post updates to all the services at once. It feels lighter and I think it uses less data than having the Facebook and Twitter apps all running individually on your phone. Need I say more?


SwiFTP 
(Network / File Sharing, FREE, Download from Market)
If you have a WiFi router at home then this is a must-have app. With one click it runs an FTP server on your phone and makes the contents of your phone accessible over WiFi. You then type in the FTP address on your computer and copy files to or from your phone over the WiFi network. No wires! You can use it to even stream audio and video files from your phone!
If you want to access just your SD card then no rooting needed but if you also want to access phone memory then you would need to root.


Skype 
(VoIP, FREE, Download from Market)
The Skype service needs no introduction. With this app you can make free Skype to Skype calls over a WiFi or 3G network. The only cost involved is the data plan charges that you pay your WiFi or 3G cellular provider. If you buy Skype credit, you can make calls to cell phones and land lines at cheaper rates. I use this route for making calls to my friends in the US and save a ton on international call charges. 


Widgetsoid
(Widget / Utilities, FREE, Download from Market)
This is one widget app that does it all. Highly customizable! It gives you clock, battery, network / WiFi indicator, custom widget bars for contact and app shortcuts, network, screen and power control. The list is almost endless. Get it and spend some time playing around with it. I'm sure you'll like it. 


Z4Root
(Rooting App, Get it here http://j.mp/gjvLIi )
If you decide to root your phone, this app will let you do it with one click. There is enough info about the pros and cons of rooting out there. So google up and read about it. This method should work for most phones. There are also other apps like 'super one click' that you can try. I rooted my phone the day I got it and there is no looking back. 


Root Explorer
(File Browser, Get it here http://j.mp/fZEITT )
This is a file explorer that requires root. On a rooted phone, it allows you to access and modify contents of your phone memory and system folders. I would recommend using this if you want to get rid of unwanted junk apps that your phone manufacturer / carrier put on it before selling it to you. Once you install Root Explorer, head to '/system/app' folder in your phone and delete the files pertaining to the apps that you want to get rid of. The files would be with .apk and .odex extensions. If you dont want to delete, you may want to make an alternate folder on your SD card and move the files there. This way you can restore the apps at a later stage if you want to. 

If Apple=Steve Jobs then what is Apple without Steve?

 So you might have all heard the news. Apple CEO Steve Jobs who has been fighting a battle with pancreatic cancer for several years now took a long leave of absence on medical grounds in January 2011. Yesterday there were reports that Steve's condition has deteriorated and he has only 6 weeks to live! Humanitarian grounds aside, let us see what this might mean for Apple as a company.

I believe that Apple's growth over the last few years has been largely driven by Steve's vision and ideology. (It is a different matter that I hate his philosophy and business practices, but we're not getting personal here!) In fact, the current growth phase for Apple started in 2004-2005 with the success of iPods, iPhones and more recently the iPad. Steve Jobs should get all credit for this – he single handedly steered the company from being just a manufacturer of computer hardware and software to a manufacturer of evolving media consumption devices. Heck, touch screen technology wouldnt be what it is today if it hadnt been for the iPhone! So here's a look at the company's performance in the stock market.

Now the question on every one's minds would be “what next after Steve?”. Steve is still the CEO and day to day operations at Apple are being taken care of by Tim Cook. The biggest challenge for Apple will be to continue on the growth path without Steve Jobs at the helm providing direction and purpose to the company. The “passing of the baton” can be a huge challenge for even the most successful of companies. To illustrate this, let us take a look at another major technology company – Microsoft. Just like Apple, Microsoft has a love-hate relationship with most users and just like Apple, they were one of the leading innovators in technology. (notice how I said 'were') Microsoft was truly blazing its way to glory under its founder CEO Bill Gates. Their growth phase in the stock market lasted till the year 2000 when Bill stepped down as CEO and handed over charge to Steve Ballmer. (Another Steve!???!) One look at the graph below will tell you what happened after that.

Microsoft's stock price has remained almost flat, if not fallen in the last 10 years! Their last big success was Windows XP which was followed by a series of duds. Even the recent 'success' of Windows 7 has not really improved their performance on the stock market. The problem here was that the drive and zest for innovation that one CEO brought to the company was gone when the next guy took over. So a great company entered a phase of mediocrity. Will Apple suffer the same fate with Steve Jobs' passing? I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Of Nokia And Connecting People

Hi Folks,

Been a while since I've blogged. My humble apologies, blame it on busier work schedules on the back of a new role I assumed at my workplace and the hunt for a new apartment.

Anyway, the news of the week has been the big announcement from Nokia - of a strategic partnership with Microsoft, made by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. (Elop is an ex MS guy who took over as Nokia CEO in 2010.)

Nokia is one of the top mobile handset manufacturers in the world and probably the leading manufacturer of mobiles and smartphones in India. What does this announcement mean and what ramifications does it hold for the company and the users of its devices? 

In simple words,what this means is that Nokia is relegating Symbian to be the OS of choice for its "lower end" devices and turning to Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 (WP7) for its "top end" handsets. 

I have 2 points to make about Nokia's strategy here. And before I get into it, let me make something clear. I have been a big Nokia user myself. I believe that they make great phones with die-hard hardware! (Excuse the pun!) I have written in one of my previous blogposts how I believed (maybe still do) that the N8 is a cutting edge device when it comes to hardware. But over the last decade the company has dropped the proverbial ball on more than one occasion.

1. Nokia has always positioned itself as a leading innovator in mobile technology with its "connecting people" tagline. But top level management decisions did not always help the company live up to this philosophy in true spirit. In 2000-2005 (I'll call this the pre-smartphone era), Nokia dropped the ball once when it fell behind on hardware. The company was making great phones but slow on adopting newer technologies. They were outdone by companies like Sony Ericsson who took the lead in launching phones with advanced music and camera capabilities through the Walkman and Cybershot series. Nokia played catch up by launching XpressMusic phones and cameras with Carl Zeiss optics (which IMO were still behind Cybershot in picture quality). This caused them to lose customer base and share in the market. During this period, I too switched away from Nokia to Sony Ericsson for my cellular needs. 
2. From 2005-2010 (I'll call this the smartphone era) a major transformation occurred in the mobile industry.  Manufacturers had saturated themselves with hardware choices like WiFi, Camera, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G, etc. that they could offer to the consumer. Apple launched the iPhone and introduced the concept of 'Apps' and an 'App Store' which became the standard with the industry. Suddenly, the smartphone battle changed from hardware to software. Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung among others joined together to form the Symbian Foundation to develop the Symbian OS. Until 2008, there were 3 major OSes - Apple's iOS, Blackberry OS by RIM and Symbian. While the battle continued for software standardization and supremacy, the biggest change in hardware occurred - the proliferation of touch screen technology! While all manufacturers tested the waters on touch screen technology, the remained skeptical and through their weight (wrongly so in hindsight!) behind the development of Blackberry style hardware QWERTY keyboard toting handsets. Apple on the other hand put all their resources behind the iPhone and optimized the software for touch technology. Nokia made a series of mistakes here which together represent the dropping of the ball for the second time. 
1. They entered the Touch Phone market late with the launch of the 5800 Xpress Music and what was worse, they opted for resistive screen technology over capacity screens that Apple was using on its iPhone (which is now the standard for smartphones of today)
2. For their first touch screen phone (and for the few that followed) they made use of the existing Symbian OS instead of a wholly new OS. While Symbian was a good OS, it was not built for use with touch input, simply because the technology was not used in a big way when the OS was conceived! Nokia was trying to throw a touch user interface over an OS that was never built for the technology in the first place and the flaws were there for everyone to see. All one had to do was use a iPhone to understand the difference in user experience. Nokia's partners at Symbian slowly began to walk away and by 2009 Nokia was left as the only company that owned the Symbian Foundation.
3. Nokia made another mistake when they tried to re-invent the wheel. By 2008, Google's Android OS was gaining traction and Samsung, Motorola and HTC who were struggling to keep share in the smartphone market dedicated their energies towards developing good Android devices. This paid off for them over time as can be seen in the success that these companies have in the market today. But Nokia suffered from escalation of commitment from the Symbian Foundation which it was left holding when the other partners left. So they tried re-writing the Symbian OS with focus on touch input - the result was Symbian^3 which the N8 and C7 run on. The results are there for all to see. While the OS is a huge improvement of its former self, there is still a big gap in capabilities from iOS and Android and most importantly, developer backing for Apps! Nokia at the same time was working on Maemo (ring any bells?) - a linux OS (like Android) for top end phones. The only Maemo phone that Nokia ever launched was the N900, which met with little success. The Maemo project changed focus after merging with Moblin (from Intel) and was re-christened as MeeGo. Nokia's stand was that they did not want to jump onto the Android bandwagon like everybody else with a myopic view for growth. They wanted to differentiate themselves in the long run and had a vision for MeeGo to be their OS for top end smart phones while Symbian would continue to be their OS for lower end devices.
4. Cut to 2011 and Nokia announces that they are pulling the plug on MeeGo and partnering with Microsoft to offer WP7. We all go like WTF???  While I wont go so far as to call this a "mistake" right away, I would like to point out a few things here. Why all the wasted effort over Maemo/MeeGo and Symbian^3 and what happens to the company's dream of differentiating itself with a robust in-house OS? What about the vision? And if you are going with a 3rd party OS, why WP7 and not Android? Elop during his announcement said "We talked to our friends at Google, and there are some attractive elements [with Android], but we felt we wouldn't be able to differentiate ourselves,"
   "There's a commoditisation risk using Android and essentially value moves out to Google." While that may be true to some extent, there are 2 things one cant deny - WP7 still is in its infancy in terms of capability while Android is going big guns and looking to topple iOS. There is a much much bigger developer backing for Android when compared to WP7. Secondly, its not about philosophies alone but about growth. Nokia really needs to grow today to retain its position in the mobile market and to survive. It would serve the company well to partner with the growth engine of today i.e. Android. If tomorrow WP7 becomes bigger than Android, there is nothing stopping the company from offering that on their devices. But Elop is the CEO and Nokia chooses to walk along Microsoft Avenue while HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG etc. are laughing their way to the bank with Android's success. 
   Only time will tell if the Microsoft partnership is a wise decision or a nail in the coffin for Nokia, but one thing is for sure, 2010 has marked the beginning of the "Android era" in cellular technology and there was many a night when I dreamed of the N8 running Android Gingerbread! :)