Materialistic Pleasures........

When I was on my first international trip to Singapore last year, I thought that life couldn't get better than this. I had just bought a new Nintendo Wii gaming console and that,I guess,was the peak of all my materialistic pleasures.


While I still lived in this world of self-imposed happiness.In came Microsoft,to destroy what had been,until then,a wonderful dream.


They had to do it.They had to come out with something better than the Wii and remove the smug smiles from all those who owned it.We 'Wii-Faithfulls' had to suffer for all those funny faces we pulled at the initially over-priced Xbox (Where the Wii outsold the same by a ratio of 3:1*)


In comes the Xbox Natal which gives the term 'next generation'  a whole new meaning.Remember those days when you'd dream of gaming consoles where-in you could play like Jhonny Quest ?


Well,if you did, then Natal has just made your dream come true.


With it's non-imaginatively named 'Free-body Motion'  technology, the Natal apes the movements of the gamer into the console and hence the game,which when explained in a simpler manner means.........You no longer need controllers to play on an Xbox !


When I first watched the Natal's concept video on youtube, I liked what I saw.But,then I thought "Nah. It's just a concept video. Nothing too exciting"


But,there it was,that sneaky little 'recommended videos' tab on the right which proudly claimed
'Watch the Live Demo of the Xbox Natal'. Ofcourse,it was too tempting to pretend that it didn't exist so I clicked it.


That's when it began.......The journey to that place which often makes us marvel at what we humans are capable of creating, if we set our minds to it. But,in this case it was a journey to sadness too. 


"Those were the good old days,eh,Wii"


* Info from http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1050029/wii-outsells-xbox


P.S:- Here are the links to the concept and live demo videos.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SP2glzpUc0


P.S 2:- I hear that that microsoft bought the company (3DV) which created the 'Free Body Motion Technology" .Follow this link for more.


http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/nintendo-rejected-natal-technology-666311


P.S 3:- The people at Sony too have a new device to try and beat the Wii-Remote. It's apparently called the Sony-Wand. For more visit:-


http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/02/sony-announces-new-ps3-motion-controller/


Not researched it myself, so can't comment much.But, on first impression it does look like a.........Nope I'll leave that to your imagination.

The first of it's kind or not ?!

My first step into the world of detective novels started with 'The Secret Seven' .Though it all looks silly now, at the time it was most enjoyable.


Nostalgia aside,however, I had now progressed into the world of the Holmes', Marples' and Poirots'.


Until I had read 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', Holmes had always been the top notch detective novel, in my opinion*. This opinion did not suffer many changes,not until today at least !


I had picked up 'The Valley of Fear',the only Holmes left unread in my cabinet,more so because of that evil known as procrastination, that seems to affect our judgement (or the lack of it!) just before the final exams** and was enjoying the same along with a few 'Mint Humbugs' (Courtesy :- My sister's overflowing cabinet of chocolates!) when I began to smell something fishy***........


The climax of both the books were similar ! And considering that Conan Doyle's 'Valley of fear' (September 1914) was written much before Agatha Christie's Poirot (June 1926)**** , it seemed to me that, what I had considered to be Agatha Christie's most original work was actually not so original ! Granted, that most of her work on Poirot was influenced by Holmes,directly or indiectly....But,still Ackroyd was something different,or so I thought !


And hence this blog.What are your views on the matter?


Of course,it would be a grave injustice on my part to reveal what exactly the climax is,so go read the book.However, once you've done so don't forget to share your views in the comments section below.



*Which I'm not sure holds any weight.Come to think of it !

**Which start this Saturday ! Yikes !

***Not the chocolates of course. They were quite enjoyable.

****Dates courtesy Wikipedia. Gotta love that thing.

Catch the wave !

It's against the laws of nature with which I've been designed. But, it must be the effects of this strange device called the 'mobile' which I'm beginning to use.

As each day passes, I find the internet to be more powerful. The upcoming technologies more interesting and 'blogging' less cumbersome !

Even so, there are a only a few techs which I'd like to classify as awe-inspiring more so perhaps, because of personal egoistic reasons than the merit a technology deserves. A reviewer after-all is a product of his/her (These feminists ! I tell you) ego.

One such tech is the upcoming Google Wave. The next generation e-mail they call it and that is exactly what it is !

After having checked whether the download of the 'Google I/O video' (Which is a developers conference during which Google Wave was revealed for the first time) was finished or not for the umpteenth time. I finally sat back to enjoy my well-deserved hour of technological geekdom.

As Jens Rasmussen (You may remember that name. He was the maker of Google Maps along with brother Lars) unveiled his new  brainchild, the more I was amazed by what the human mind was capable of. I mean the touchscreen on the Ipod Touch and the Iphone was crazy enough! Wasn't it ?!

I won't spoil it for you by listing the various perks that 'Google Wave' offers. That'd be too non-dramatic. Instead, I attach the link below, where the amazing world of 'Google Wave' will be unveiled to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ

It totally bowled me over.I mean, look at me ! I'm promoting this thing without even being paid !

Hmmm......that triggers a thought.