Was watching some news from India today and it just highlighted the sad state of Indian politics. First for caveats… yes – I am aware of the fact that there are some excellent leaders in India who genuinely have – for most part – wished good for the country and the people but this group is significantly small compared to the group I am about to whine…
The increasing group of uneducated and politically motivated, so called leaders – is just wrong. Instead of improving conditions, all I see is
So, I have been using the iPad extensively for the last 5 days and probably a good time to make the call – this was a good investment.
In general, having using the NotionInk Adam on and off for the last year, the major challenge was the support and consistency of software. There is no way with the patchy software NotionInk would have come close to Apple but at least, it was a hopeful attempt.
With the iPad the fact that I am able to type this up close to the same speed as I would normally do with a laptop, speaks volumes on the usability of the iPad and the simple design of the keyboard. One nice feature I have come to appreciate a lot on the keyboard is the ability to split the keyboard so that while holding the iPad in hand you could thumb type. Useful stuff.
There is very little to say about the screen – yes – I said little. Summarizing it – amazing. Nothing close by anytime soon.
Staying happy with the investment
Apple has always been known to launch the product right and they just continue to do that right to the dot. Believe this is the first time I am buying an apple product on the day of the launch or at least the day it went live online. iPad 3 or the new iPad – whatever you want to call it – was to be delivered on March 16.
Here I was sitting anxiously on March 15, waiting for shipping information thinking that apple goofed up and may be they won’t make it on march 16. But was proven wrong. It shipped on March 15 and made it in time and I am glad I did not try the in store pickup.
There are enough reviews out there showing how great this new iPad is and I am going to skip that piece here and keep it short. Yes – this is a great product and yes it doesn’t come with 100 new features compared to the iPad 2 but just the screen itself is good enough to make the difference. The bar for the competition has been raised.
Happy with the investment….
Yes indeed… what happened to this blog? Well, life happened!!!
It has been a crazy 2011 with some significant life changing events both on the personal and the professional side of things. Was a crazy year but an exciting year. Can’t find one thing I can complain about – it has been a fun year.
Now – 2012 – things haven’t settled down yet – it’s not going to be any less of a hectic year but I need to take some time to log in here and share some stuff. Hopefully, I can do it and this time, I plan to do it.
Yes – Still waiting for the NotionInk Adam. The small delay on my part debating between PixelQi or not during the pre-order pushed me to the last shipments – or so I am being told. So, as I wait patiently, hopefully, this is the last delay by NotionInk.
So, am I going to cancel the pre-order? Probably not. One of the reasons, beyond the fact that Adam seems like a promising product, is that NotionInk is an Indian company and I would love to see this startup grow into something big. I really do hope though that NotionInk team is learning from the mistakes they have been doing and disappointing loyal followers.
Typically, such delays are anticipated but the delay of close to a month is something not common. This is where companies differentiate themselves and own up to the fact that it was mistake by providing some kind of compensation – in this case, I vote for free shipping. Again, this is not just to get a free thing but this is to really see that NotionInk management understands the mistake and appreciates the customers.
Well… 2 more weeks… hopefully this is it.
So… as suspected Google used the BumpTop acquisition (April 2010) to enhance the Android user experience. The Android 3.0 Honeycomb has a 3D desktop experience similar to what BumpTop was doing…
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/01/sneak-peak-of-android-30-honeycomb.html
Glad I was able to get into the preorder and find the right credit card to get in line for the NotionInk Adam PixelQi. Despite all the challenges they have had during the preorder and all the frustration, NotionInk Adam still continues to be one of the better tablets out in the market today – post CES as well.
I was hoping to see some good competition for NotionInk Adam from new tablets that were scheduled to be announced by Motorola, Vizio, Toshiba and a few others, but seems like NotionInk is still standing good….
Slashgear hands on review and post here.
I wasn’t quite impressed with what Slashgear did with NotionInk. Whoever was at the booth having the first look did not seem to be too enthusiastic about what he was doing. You are at CES – c’mon, show some excitement.
Engadget on the other hand, seems to be much more into it.
Overall, looks promising and waiting for NotionInk to stick to their original committed date. I have a feeling that they will miss the initial ship dates, but hoping they won’t. Particularly concerned about a comment from Rohan on making some “final calls” on including previews or not for the “final version” during the Slashgear review. I would have hoped things are almost ready to be packed and shipped on DHL… but guess not 🙂
Getting closer to the end of what turned out to be an excellent year for me – personally and professionally. 2010 will leave with some good memories – of course, with some bad in the middle but all in all, as we get closer to 2011 – here’s wishing everyone a great 2010 holiday season.
US Economy did not turnaround as expected in 2010 and the real estate actually turned for worse. Hopefully, these are two things that improve in 2011.
Intel and Nokia had announced a great partnership – was it 2009 or early 2010 – to work together on the Meego platform. I think this was a great idea – unfortunately, very purely executed as I haven’t seen anything really happen on it for a while – at least not something that caught a lot of Media attention.
Finally, I see some good progress on the website.
http://meego.com/devices/netbook/netbook-screenshots
This is quite promising but seems like the focus of the companies is still on the netbooks. Hasn’t everyone already agreed that Netbooks are dead and it’s the “touch screen pads” that will really make it happen. Would be good to see something on this Meego…
BTW: very interesting to see that Meego runs Google Chrome… Like it…
If Indian political parties really believe they represent people and not “rule” people, here’s an open challenge to you all.
Next time you call for a Bandh or any protest, don’t send out your goons or so called party supporters out to the streets to forcibly close the stores and or burn down buses. If you really have the confidence the issue is legit, let the people support you – don’t force them.
When will the Indian people realize that the political parties are there because of them and not people because of political parties. It’s sad to see that things haven’t changed in 50+ years and they don’t even show a small sign of changing.
Be it the Telangana movement, the TDP fighting for the farmers or the Congress fighting internally – not a single time did the politicians have the courage to call for a non-violent Bandh or a voluntary Bandh – it’s always been a forced upon thing. It is unfair – grossly stupid to force something of your choosing on the rest of the world. This is not freedom…. not even close…
So, here’s my open challenge to all the political parties in India…. represent the people. Present your case and let the people decide who to support….
STOP the “forced” BANDHs….
The date gets closer… for one of the most awaited report – Telangana or united Andhra – Sri Krishna report. Regardless of what the report is going to say, I have a feeling Andhra is going to suffer and hurt.
Not really looking forward to the burning of public property, fighting or worse, but I am almost certain that these politicians are going to make it bad.
Honestly, I do not understand the point of a “Bandh” the way it is executed in India. The concept would have been great if voluntarily people “shut down” because they are supporting a cause or are unhappy with something. But a Bandh in India is forced upon you. The political parties decide whether you support a cause or not… you don’t have a say in it.
Anyways…. not really looking forward to the Sri Krishna report. Would be good to see things stay the way they are and would have been great to see the fight for an United Andhra with a Developed Telangana…. that is feasible…
I have been following the NotionInk Adam since it first surfaced in January 2010. A nice little interview with Rohan – the founder / designer / inventor – of the Adam. At that time iPAD was the one and only option in the market and it was felt really good to see a small little Indian startup coming up with what seemed like an extremely great product – the Adam.
Over the year, the hype increased around the Adam as more and more vendors started talking about their own Android tablets. Adam always seemed to stand out based on the great specs and more importantly the open blog where Rohan and team “seemed” to listen.
Finally the big day gets closer where Adam was supposed to open for “pre-order” and all hell broke…. it was, in my opinion, the worst ever launch of any product I have seen. First of all, it would have definitely helped if Rohan and team worked with a few of the Tech Blogs closely. I understand the challenges of entertaining every Tech Blog out there – there seem to be more of the blogs then the actual products out there these days – but it would have helped to work closely with at least a couple of them. The others could have picked up the interviews / reviews anyways.
Even though that did not happen, people were still excited about the pre-order but the entire ordering process was another disaster. It was unclear as to who were getting the pre-order early access links and who did not. And it was a mess on exactly when the ordering will open for the rest of the world. I checked the site at the time it was supposed to go live and when it did not happen, went shopping but made it back just in time – even though as per the page there was an update that said pre-order was an hour away, ordering was opened. Regardless… picked my PixelQi and almost got to the credit card page and then started debating if I needed to pay the extra $125 for the PixelQi or not. Apparently that was a mistake I made – now my actual shipment date got moved by a week, because I did not click submit fast enough. Seriously….
Anyways, I think Rohan and team took enough heat from various blogs, communities, readers – everyone out there. Seems like Rohan gets it but just hasn’t cleaned up the act yet. For a product that holds such great potential and following, I would have hoped they had better PR and communication. It would be sad to see NotionInk go out into the sunset because of their communication capabilities. Rohan isn’t one of the great communicator representing the company… he needs to look for a better face on the company or it is going to hurt.
Either ways, I felt compelled to support an Indian company that has set out to compete in the big world where Apple and Microsoft (and Nokia ;)) play and that was one of the reasons I bought the Adam.
I would love to see some more Indian companies popup and compete….
Still waiting for my NotionInk Adam to ship out….
Now that the Android tablet I bought at few months ago is stable after the latest firmware upgrade, I figured it’s time to try the WordPress app for Android and so far it looks pretty good. This could possibly change the frequency of my posts here….
Things have been quite busy at work as well as at the house, preparing for a big change in life. A great one indeed…. so, while we wait in anticipation, finding my way to the laptop which is being sought by 3 others in the house at the same time, and finding time to get online and post my thoughts hasn’t been easy.
I have started to like the so called micro-blogging. May be my attention span has significantly reduced over the past years that I prefer to post a single status update on Facebook or on Twitter and share a thought rather than post a detail version on the blog.
Hopefully things change in the future, but for now signing off for a few more days…
Remember how they used to say he is fulfilling the American Dream once you worked hard and bought a house with 80% in mortgage 🙂 I think it is time we changed this requirement of “owning” a house as part of this dream.
True, it was a great idea a while ago when people found a nice happy job, and stuck with it pretty much for the rest of their lives – good or bad. But with the global economy these days and the changing (or already changed) tides no one does this anymore. There is no guarantee that a job is going to stay for 5 years, let alone a life time. No guarantee that even if the job is vital, it’s going to stay in the same location. So, how does investing in a permanent thing like buying a house make sense?
It’s not fun – even with a good market and may be even a good equity to leave a house that you searched for, that matches your likes and wishes. Now, the market is screwed up anyways and it has made it even worse. Unless you are a professional investor, buying a house should probably wait until late.
Time to change the dream – may be it should include something on wheels. How about a nice expensive RV instead of a home?
NRI Vibes 