SONY WALKMAN TPS-L2. A revolution of life time

After a long, I just thought of writing a blog a about one of my dream to have a Walkman that had made a revolution in the history of the Music World. The TPS-L2 an iconic Walkman made by Sony Corporation, Japan in 1979.

The Sony Walkman TPS-L2 in the streets - 1972

I will continue writing this blog....

Let me put a picture of the Walkman from http://www.walkman-archive.com/gadgets/walkman_sony_01_tps-l2_eng_v3.htm.

Sony TPS-L2 - Courtesy: Hugo Rodriguez

MY WORLD - OVERBOARD

Its 2011 and everything's changed.

My life will never be the same and I am very much grateful for it.

Before I pen out my experience, I would pay my gratitude to

JM, ACM, Steve, Bill, Paulo, Liz who helped me out go overboard.

"Books" pose me with a lot of words, words of people and including a lot of other people's words.

Why should I know them?

Why on earth should I ever confine myself to one's words?

Is it that a one dimensional view gives a one direction of world? Why only that dimension?

What if I could reinvent my own new dimension?

I see lots of people around in my journey and find myself nowhere among them.

Why not me? What made them so different?

Because of where they were born? or what they are?

I always worked as hard as I could so I that didn't end up underneath the footstamps in a hustle.

What if I can work even more?

I want to stand and walk with the people in a way beside and not be so far or beneath them.

For the first time my life had an order to count on.

Then, I found myself thinking what if I just go crazy and use every potential to do it?

I have to do it. I have no choice.

I am so close to this skin now that "I can" cross through it.

It could rearrange. It's not impossible. Not for me any more.

"IM"possible is not a word, it is just a reason for some one not to try.

The world moves.

I am just a speck.

It can all happen without me.

Situations are not conducive to what we want for ourselves.

Someone else's needs,someone else's play.

It's going to be stronger than what our's is.

I think people just get frustrated with our hush.

So they spend their time dwelling on that frustration and calling it to be anger,

Keeping their eyes shut to the wholeness of the situation,

To all the little, tiny things that have come together to make IT.

What "IT" is?

How I could I not do IT.

I found what an alternative could be.

I am forced to look forward. I have to dare because there is no going back.

I've just always been a trash trying to survive every single moment.

Now, I reached a point where I just thought alright, I'm gonna work as hard as I possibly can and see what

happens.

I m gonna live. I m gonna my life in my way, no matter how many odds I have to face.

Protect your Gmail or Yahoo ID with 2- step verification code

Recently 2 months back Yahoo! has introduced 2-step verification beta feature within the security option of the Yahoo Account. This feature was already in place with Gmail, which I am using since a year.


So here I thought I will share how to use this feature to protect your identity by following the steps as described below:

1. Go to page https://edit.yahoo.com/commchannel/sec_chal_manage login into your account and update your mobile number. Turn on "Your second sign-in verification" by checking the checkbox. You also update your security question which is another option you will prompt for.

2. Second way to access this security option is to browse through the account info page and update the "Set up your second sign-in verification"

 

The same kind of option is available for Gmail account too. Just login into google account www.google.com/accounts and activate the 2 step security option with your mobile number. A 2-step verification adds a layer of security to your Google Account by requiring access to your phone - as well as your username and password - when you sign in. If someone steals or guesses your password, that person can’t sign in to your account because they don’t have your phone.

Warmex - India's Best Room Heater Review

Warmex PTC Fan Room Heater PTC 99 N

It's been very cold in india this year so I finally bought a room heater after reviewing all the available heater. I actually wanted to buy an Indian make rather than an imported chinese one for a best price. Warmex room heater was a good deal for the price of Rupees 1900/-, which can heat the room at the maximum rate of 2000W(~). 
The product features/functionality and quality as descirbed below.

Cool/Warm/Hot wind selection as show:

• Cool is fan running without the heater ON as shown on the right know with a ' fan ' symbol.
• Warm is fan runnning along with heater @ 1000W as shown ' I ' symbol. And this is the ideal heat recomemded for most of the rooms in the winter season.
• Hot is fan runnning along withe heater @ 200W as shown ' II ' symbol. At this setting its really hot, and this setting is recomenmed only during first 1 hour to get the room to normal temperature.

The rotary switch used to change this 3 different modes is well a standard one as shown that shall lost longer.

Temperature control : Its controlled by a thermostat which just work fine but not very sensitive as its mounted inside the box as shown below.

The thermostat is connected to the know on the box which is show on the left side that can be rotated to controll the temperature.

Fan speed selection mode: The fan runs at constant speed. There is no such option to adjust its speed.

70° oscillation for even heating:  The Body oscillates whien this option is slected and recomended for the first one hour when its operating at 2000W to spread the heat evenly. The osillation of the body is controlled by a standrad synchronous motor which is attached on the base of the box which rotates it from the base plate.

Built in safety switch: This switch is safety switch which is under the base plate of the complete unit, which prevent it from powering ON, if the unit not place correctly and switched OFF the power to the unit if it falls by anykind of push. The switch is located to the right of the product label under the unit.

Indicator lamp: Indicates when the power is switched ON to the heater and fan which is located on the front panel above the grill in red.

Easy carry handle: Well designed handle to carry the heater anyware u like to.

The room gets heated well with 2000W mode in few minutes. At 1000W the room is warmer whole night and keeps us cozy with a sound sleep.

The fan is made a wind sound which is bearable, but recomemded to keep atleast far of 5-8ft to have a sound sleep during the nights. This fan sound cannot be reduced as it cannot control fan speed.

Some suggestions before you operate this heater:

1. Ensure the you have 16A power plug socket to connect this heater.
2. Place the heater away from hanging clothes, wood, plastics ( away from bed, curtain, woden furniture, TV).
3. Turn on the heater @ 2000 W before 30 min and make it to 1000W while using the room.
4. Turn the thermostat to a desired level clockwise until the unit turns on and reduce it anitclockwise a little to ensure correct operation of switching at desired level, which shall save the power consumption.

Update me with ur comments to add.  

Wish you all a very happy, colorful, prosperous & a successful New Year 2012…!!




Take Care Of Your Dear One's

 

Air Car from Tata Motors of India has been scheduled

http://bit.ly/1bHpplA

What is this?

Will it be the next big thing?

Tata Motors of India thinks so.

What will the Oil Companies do to stop it?

It is an auto engine that runs on air. That's right; air not gas or diesel or electric but just the air around us. Take a look.

Tata Motors of India has scheduled the Air Car to hit Indian streets by August 2012

The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy N. For Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air to push its engine's pistons and make the car go.

The Air Car, called the "Mini CAT" could cost around 365,757 rupees in India or $8,177 US.

The Mini CAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis, a body of fiberglass that is glued not welded and powered by compressed air. A Microprocessor is used to control all electrical functions of the car. One tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, turn signals and every other electrical device on the car. Which are not many.

The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power.

There are no keys, just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100 KM, that's about a tenth the cost of a car running on gas. It's mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car, a factor which makes it a perfect choice for city motorists. The car has a top speed of 105 KM per hour or 60 mph and would have a range of around 300 km or 185 miles between refuels. Refilling the car will take place at adapted gas stations with special air compressors. A fill up will only take two to three minutes and costs approximately 100 rupees and the car will be ready to go another 300 kilometers.

This car can also be filled at home with it's on board compressor. It will take 3-4 hours to refill the tank, but it can be done while you sleep.

Because there is no combustion engine, changing the 1 liter of vegetable oil is only necessary every 50,000 KM or 30,000 miles. Due to its simplicity, there is very little maintenance to be done on this car.

This Air Car almost sounds too good to be true. We'll see in August. 2012

Here is the link to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztFDqcu8oJ4&feature=related

How it works great inside the engine http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=hwgQsF18NVM

Uses a battery powered selenoid to open the valve, that pumps air from the compressed tank into the engine thus rotating it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvimw11hzOc&feature=related

The High Speed train that never stops at a station

The High Speed train that never stops at a station YET PASSENGERS GET ON & OFF
*The train that never stops at a station: - How to get on and off the non-stop high speed train!*

A new Chinese train innovation - How to get on & off the bullet train without stopping. VERY COOL CONCEPT !

No time is wasted. The bullet train is moving all the time. If there are 30 stations between Beijing and Guangzhou, just stopping and accelerating again at each station will waste both energy and time. A mere 5 min stop per station (elderly passengers cannot be hurried) will result in a total loss of 5 min x 30 stations or 2.5 hours of train journey time!

The Chinese are innovative enough to come up with a non-stopping train concept. When the train arrives at a station, it will not stop at all.

The passenger at a station embarked onto to a connector cabin way before the train even arrive at the station. When the train arrives, it will not stop at all. It just slows down to pick up the connector cabin
which will move with the train on the roof of the train. While the train is still travelling away from the station, those passengers will board the train from the connector cabin mounted on the train's roof. After fully unloading all its passengers, the connector cabin will be moved to the back of the train so that the  next batch of outgoing passengers who want to alight at the next station will board the connector cabin at the rear of the train roof. When the train arrives at the next station, it will simply drop the whole connector cabin at the station itself and leave it behind at the station. The outgoing passengers can take their own time to disembark at the station while the train had already left. At the same time, the train will pick up the incoming embarking passengers on another connector cabin in the front part of the train's roof. So the train will always drop one connector cabin at the rear of its roof and pick up a new connector cabin in the front part of the train's roof at each station.

A very happy and prosperous Diwali!!

Wishing you and your family a very happy and prosperous Diwali!!

Happy Diwali

Project Aakash - Ipad

Finally, the day has come in the Indian history that we can boast of showing that we have achieve a great height what others have not. The Government of India has finally launched a tablet PC in association with Datawind, a technology company. The tablet is available at mere 35$ or 2276 Rs including takes precisely. The tablet runs on a android platform and is capable of running word, power point and pdf files. The tablet has an internal memory of 256 mb which can be increased to 2GB through SD card and has a Wifi connectivity with a sim card slot for internet. The one of its kind tablet would be available to students at a price of Rs.1200 thanks to the government subsidy.

A good thing to know is that India is taking step by step to become a super power in the coming years. We can proudly say that if US has given the world an Ipad, India has given Aakash. If Ipad is launched every year with a new version for people who can afford it , we have launched Aakash for the people who cannot afford it. This is the difference, a huge difference !

The difference which starts from a tablet does not limit it their, but continue to each and every aspect of life, including a raring difference between the Wall Street and the Dalal Street. The difference in the financial system, the difference in how we tackle the crisis and also the difference in how we find a solution and not run away from it.

President Obama takes a long pending decision to move the economy but cannot create a single job. Not able to stop the movement of the Job from the west to the east. Neither able to stop the protest by the people against the Wall street greedy monkeys. The question is will he be able to stop the so called Chapter 11 season which is yet to start. Last season saw around 100 banks filing chapter 11, what bout this season. Will still their be privatization of profit and socialization of losses ??

A Small lesson to be learnt for Mr. Obama and also to the people behind the movement behind the Euro countries from Project Aakash. It's not what kind of technology you offer matters, but whom you offer matters. It's high time they start taking basic economical decision rather than just pushing the economy with a temporary boast.

- Niraj, Equity Research Analyst

Save the Planet Earth. We all have a date with the planet !

We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate.

The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.

For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film. Watch it at Home on Youtube

10 things to learn from JAPAN

I am happy to share Today’s article on “10 things to learn from Japan”.


10 things to learn from JAPAN-

1. THE CALM

Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY

Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY

The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.

4. THE GRACE

People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER

No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE

Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS

Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING

The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA

They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE

When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly

Thanks to Chandini Chandrasekaran for contributing this article.

Prestige Centrifugal Juicer PCJ 3.0 - Review

Centrifugal Juice - Prestige

 I thought of buying a juicer since long time, as it tedious using a grinder to retrieve juice. I bought a Prestige juice for 2200/- Rs, and thought I would share my experiences about it. This centrifugal juicer is best of its kind. Its specification as given in the link http://prestigesmartkitchen.com/juicers-c-21/centrifugal-juicer-pcj-3-0-p-504

It has wider mouth to drop the cut pieces of fruits or vegetables. Its doesn't mean that you can drop whole fruit into it as it fits. It obviously has a big storage for pulp, such that you don't need to empty the pulp frequently.

It has a good funnel type opening that guides the juice in the container without any spill. There is rotating part called sieve which is designed to cut as well as filter. So I have few some operating observations after using this juicer, which the person has to take care while using a centrifugal juice like this one.
 

Sieve which has sharp teeth to cut the pieces

1. Cut pieces in one inch cubes approximately
2. Put this pieces into the mouth and just drop the white tube on them. Do not push this white tube hard as it may spoil the sieve.
3. Pour some water in between while filling the mouth with the pieces, that shall lubricate the sieve and clean the filter holes.
5. Check the pieces you have cut does not have any hard substances. For example a beetroot or carrot may have a small stones, which can spoil the sieve.

Wider mouth of the juicer

4. Clean the sieve after usage, and let all the holes open.

5. Do not fill the mouth with more pieces as it is bigger. This shall over load the sieve teeth as it cuts faster. Just fill less than 3/4 of the mouth.








I thought will update review about this juicer after using it for few months. Some tips I have for you as below:

1. Cut the pieces into triangle as shown below to get more juice rather than wastage. In cubes you will waste more than triangle pieces.
 
 









2. Start the juicer putting the knob on to low speed and just put this pieces into the mouth like opening from top and put the stopped. Do not press the stopper, just keep into the hole from top and leave it. Let the stopper push itself by its own weight.

Stopper

3. To put some more pieces afterwards, do not stop the juicer. Remove the stopper from the mouth of the juicer and put some more pieces. The pieces start to pop out from the juicer. To avoid popping of pieces out of the juicer, keep your hand over the mouth opening and keep the pieces by the side of your hand. And then keep the stopper once the pieces are filled until half of the tunnel of the mouth.

Now I know how to use it, it does an excellent job. :)

How to clean the prestige juicer

hmm This is the question in everybody's mind who uses this centrifugal juicer.


How to clean it??. Below are the few practical tips to clean this centrifugal juicer.

1. Remove carefully the pulp container lid along with the stopper from the pulp container base (as shown) and keep it an tray.

2. Remove the sieve holding at the round edges by pulling it up with a little folder and keep it in the tray. Don't not pull with more pressure on it. It has two notches that keep it buckled to the rotor below.

3. Now remove the pulp container base from the juicer base and remove all the pulp from it by tilting into into the dust bin. You can use your hand and pull off the remaining pulp to the dust bin. Keep some detergent like vim in the container. Using a soft sponge and clean it thoroughly and Keep the pulp container base under the tap water flow in the wash basin sink. Clean thoroughly all the pulp with the flow of tap water from the top side of the container base and also from the bottom of the container.

Now turn the container bottom up and point the funnel opening to the tap and let the water flow inside the juicer funnel and get the stuck pulp be cleaner by the flow of water. This cleans the pulp container base.

4. To clean the pulp container lid keep some detergent like vim, rinse using a soft sponge and keep it below the tap water to clean. Let the water flow through the wide opening to clean it. This cleans up the pulp container lid.

5. To clean the sieve you have to be carefully. Don't use your hand to clean it this may cut your figure you you rub inside the sieve as it has a minature teeth on it to cut the fruits in to small pieces. Keep some vim all over the sieve. Then keep the sieve upside down under the tap water flow, using a tooth brush gently rub it from inner side while the water flows from top. Do it around the circle from inner side with water flowing from top side. Clean it this way until all the plump is removed from the inner edges of the semi-cone shaped sieve. To clean the flat inner of the sieve, let the water flow on it from top and brush it with the brush until all the pulp is gone. This cleans up the sieve.

I would suggest to go for this juicer for longer life as per its service and i am happy with it..

Happy Sankranthi

Happy New Year - 2011

Wish you all a very happy, colorful, prosperous & a successful New Year 2011…!!

Know where you are going in life - for my beloved ones

“Know where you are going in life"

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village. A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took them to catch it.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children, and take siestas with our wives. In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing few songs. We have a full life."

The tourist interrupted." I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!

You should start by fishing longer every day.

You can then sell the extra fish you catch.

With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?"

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and may be open your own plant.

You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City!

From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?"

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years.” replied the tourist.

And after that?”

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting,” answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions.

"Millions? Really? And after that? asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, Sleep late, play with your children, Catch a few fish, and take a siesta with your wife. And spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years? asked Mexicans.

And the moral of this story is: Know where you're going in life ..... You may already be there.

A Day Dreaming Lazy Priest

Once upon a time there lived a priest who was extremely lazy and poor at the same time. He did not want to do any hard work but used to dream of being rich one day. He got his food by begging for alms. One morning he got a pot of milk as part of the alms. He was extremely delighted and went home with the pot of milk. He boiled the milk, drank some of it and put the remaining milk in a pot. He added slight curds in the pot for converting the milk to curd. He then lay down to rest.


He was extremely delighted at the pot of milk he found and started dreaming about the pot of curd while he lay asleep. He dreamt that if he could become rich somehow all his miseries would be gone. His thoughts turned to the pot of milk he had set to form curd. He dreamt on : "By morning the pot of milk would set, it would be converted to curd. I would churn the curd and make butter from it. I would heat the butter and make ghee out of it. I will go to that market and sell that ghee, and make some money. With that money i will buy a hen. The hen will lay may eggs which will hatch and there will be many more hens and cocks. These cocks and hen will in turn lay hundreds of eggs and I will soon have a poultry farm of my own." He kept on imagining.

"I will sell all the hens of my poultry and buy some cows, and open a milk dairy. All the town people will buy milk from me. I will be very rich and soon I shall buy jewellery. The king will buy all the jewellery from me. I will be so rich that I will be able to marry an exceptionally beautiful girl from a rich family. Soon I will have a handsome son. If he does any mischief I will be very angry and to teach him a lesson, I will hit him with a big stick." During this dream, he involuntarily picked up the stick next to his bed and thinking that he was beating his son, raised the stick and hit the pot. The pot of milk broke and he awoke from his sleep. Only then did he realise he was daydreaming.

A small story - Money (am not the author)

Money

There was a man who worked all of his life and saved all of his money. He was a real miser when it came to his money. He loved money more than just about anything, and just before he died, he said to his wife, "Now listen, when I die, I want you to take all my money and place it in the casket with me. I wanna take my money to the afterlife." 

So he got his wife to promise him with all her heart that when he died, she would put all the money in the casket with him. 

Well, one day he died. He was stretched out in the casket, the wife was sitting there in black next to her closest friend. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said "Wait just a minute!" 

She had a shoe box with her, she came over with the box and placed it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked the casket down and rolled it away. Her friend said, "I hope you weren't crazy enough to put all that money in the casket." 

"Yes," the wife said, "I promised. I'm a good Christian, I can't lie. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him." 

"You mean to tell me you put every cent of his money in the casket with him?"
"I sure did. I got it all together, put it into my account and I wrote him a check."

Happy Deepavali and Prosperous New Year

Sketchpad an Interesting drawing tool

  

http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/

I like my toys says the little heart

These Toys are of a kid you like them a lot. The kid is never tired of playing with them. Why it is so? That's be of the curiosity the kid has. His knowledge at this stage about the specific toy is a mystery for him, how it is moving is the first question in his mind that arises. And next came into his mind what’s the magic in the wheels (called the Tyres) that makes this object move.

The kid likes to play with these vehicles and explorer them in different ways. He could find this has something that can lift the object which got no much interest to his mind. He could not see anything moving so drastically like the movement of the vehicle as the tyres rotate.  I showed him that you can keep another car over this and take wherever you like to take, when it got repaired or its tyre is punctured. (He had seen Car gets punctured and he knows well).

Then he bought a small car of his and kept on it and was playing, as this car is the defect one. Could you find that there is no tire, what would have happened to it? Hmm, this kid is very fond of the tyres and he removes the wheels off the vehicles within 2 days of its purchase. And when asked he says, the TYRE got punctured and its given for repair in the repairing shop.