iPad finally arrived !!.. I personally feel its the first Apple product which doesn’t deserve all that hype and much attention.

How much ever people use smart phones today, I am sure they won’t throw their conventional laptop computers into the gutter. That’s because, there are lot of things a smartphone cannot do and similarly there are lot of things that a laptop cannot do. Hence smartphones and laptops are two things that do not jeopardize the existence of each other. If iPad has to be a perfect bridge between a smartphone and a conventional laptop, it should completely fade away the need to carry our laptops.

Can we manage our daily routine with iPad dumping our laptops into the gutter ??.

How about video conferencing and web meeting ??..  (Asking a camera for such a device would be foolish. But it still can have a basic webcam)

How best can the Safari browser present the Rich Internet Applications without having basic Flash Player support ??.. (Adobe came forward to offer Flash support for iPhone. I have no clue why Apple rejected that offer when it’s for their good in view of enhanced mobile browsing experience. IPad also has no Flash support)

What if we want to read some news online while instant messaging with our friends ?? (No Multitasking)

What if we want to do some programming or Can this device be our development machine ??

If iPad cannot answer any of the above issues, What is the use of having such a device which cannot completely free us from conventional laptops ??  It’s simply extra luggage to have.

With No Webcam, No Multitasking, No Flash, No USB port, No SD Card,.. It’s simply an enlarged iPhone !!!.

A Netbook is far more promising device which is a perfect bridge between a smartphone and conventional laptop !! (It relieves us from the need to carry laptops and with various location based services including GPS, it can do most of the things that a smartphone does)

Anyways, I hope iPad 2.0 which might come in future won’t be a technological flaw.

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara v2.0 finally arrived with the very same ethnicity, little more charm and national integration. It was produced by Zoom Television Network.

The song was aired exclusively on Zoom TV on 60th Republic Day of India and thus made this Republic Day even more special. The song features many of the current day iconic personalities.

Below is the original version of the song which was aired on 15th August, 1988.

I always wonder why smart phones aren’t smart in terms of their built in battery. Today, while browsing over Internet I found this really smart accessory called Smart Cover. It’s main purpose is to provide external battery for iPhone. But the smart thing about it is that it can be charged with solar power while being able to charge up using a regular USB cable.

I personally feel this great gadget can come to my rescue as I always run out of battery when using iPhone outside and can easily get into a worst situation when I don’t find an electric power outlet. It supports internet usage of up to 13.5 hours on 3G and up to 11 hours on WiFi.

For more information on how to buy this gadget, visit http://www.thesmartcover.com/

Pranav Mistry, an MIT Grad student and his advisor Pattie Maes from MIT Media Lab have presented something called Sixth Sense Technology at TED 2009. No wonder he is from IIT Bombay.

With this technology, the physical world around us can be augmented with the digital data which will let us interact with that information using simple natural hand gestures.

Check this video for the demonstration.

And as we know something which is open-source will be ever developing, Pranav is making his work open source so that way, he can give chance to anybody in the world to extend and enhance this technology.

References:

SixthSense Project Website

Pranav Mistry Website

Click here to become his fan on Facebook!

Adobe makes a debut in the iPhone App Store with its brand new Photoshop.com Mobile App and the good news is that it is offered for free.

Though the Photoshop.com Mobile App has not all the great features of the actual desktop version of Photoshop, it is certainly good in its own way by offering minimal features for any mobile user to get start right away. But this is just a start and we can expect a lot more because the Photoshop brand certainly rocks as everyone knows.

Get the App!!

Aardvark is a less-known more useful tool. I really don’t know how I missed this wonderful tool right from when it is out. But thanks to one of my Facebook contacts whose status update regarding Aardvark made me dig more and find about this wonderful application.

Sometimes, a conversation with a live person makes it more easy for finding the information that we want rather than searching on the web. That’s what Aardvark does. It gets you the right person who can answer your question. For e.g. if you have a question related to fitness and health, Aardvark forwards your question to a person who knows more about health and fitness and hence there is higher probability that you get the right answer. Aardvark Folks were the first people who realized the need for such an application and hence made one.

Aardvark http://vark.com is very easy to use application. It works with any of your favorite IM like Google Talk/embedded Gmail Chat, Yahoo Messenger, AOL, Windows Messenger.

Here is how it works:

1. When you sign up for a http://vark.com account, you will be allowed to select an IM of your choice with which you like to use Aardvark. You can also use it with your email. You will also be asked to select the areas/topics that you know more about and probably be able to answer any questions related to it. However selecting topics is optional.
2. After your account gets created, you will see a contact called Aardvark on your chat list. Just start typing any question related to any topic. Aardvark will figure out your question to which topic it is related to and forwards it to the person in your network and networks of your friend and friend-of-a-friend who is specialized in that topic. You will get the answer within minutes.

Visit their website http://vark.com to know more about this application. Its very useful application and it proves how best we can use the IM services for productive purposes.

You even have an app for iPhone. Get Aardvark Mobile App for iPhone!!

Ever forgot charging up your cell phone/ipod last night?? Dont worry.. researchers from Georgia Tech have a solution for your problem. They say that the energy generated from the muscle power while walking, typing, running etc if harnessed well can be used to charge up your cell phone or ipod on the go!

Check this video.

Listen to this awesome music composition. You will be surprised to know that this was composed by taking bird positions on electric wires as musical notes.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Jarbas Agnelli from Brazil, 46, spotted a picture of the birds in a newspaper and noticed they were arranged like notes on a musical score. He arranged his score using a xylophone, bassoon, oboe and clarinet. However, he was reluctant to take credit for the beautiful piece. He gives complete credit to the birds!

Google Voice is a new way to manage all our call/SMS forwarding. You can customize in such a way that when a particular caller gives you a call, either your work phone or mobile or both rings. Google Voice also provides you transcripts for your voice mails.

Check out the following video to explore the features of Google Voice.

Below is the image of a 10-day-old baby in India who was born with heart outside the body.

The baby had incredibly rare defect ectopia cordis that affects only eight in every million births and ninety percent of these are stillborn or die within three days. Dr. Yogendra Gupta said they had to create some space in the baby’s chest to accommodate baby’s heart. The baby has undergone a revolutionary life-saving surgery.