Nokia has launched a iPhone like device – the N8.

Cool features include:

• HD video recording
• 12 MP camera
• HDMI output with dolby output
• Integrated social networking
• WebTV
• 50 hours of music playback

For complete specs please visit:

http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n8/specifications

Please check: http://aavaas.com/2010/04/28/nokia-n8-video/ for the video

For details on the phone, please visit:

http://aavaas.com/2010/04/28/nokia-launches-n8-mobile/

Water is a unique substance. It is not possible for life on earth to exist without water. Given the meager amount of drinkable water we have on Earth, it becomes all the more important to save this significant and unique resource. It’s available to us for free, this doesn’t imply, we can waste it.

We have only one Earth to live on, so it’s our moral duty also to protect this natural resource for our future generations, our own children…

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Do you remember this ad?

Stay tuned….Aavaas is soon coming to Facebook!

“By Rekha Nambiar”

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Someone recently asked me if Feng Shui or Vaastu can be taken seriously by any ‘rational’ person. I presume that all subscribers to ‘rational’ thought would accept Darwin’s theory of evolution. And wasn’t it he who first brought to us the theory of the survival of the fittest?. Whether that applies to a species that survives and adapts to its surroundings or a theory that has withstood the vicissitudes of time and has remained virtually unchanged in principle, the reasoning behind them is essentially the same. And both theories can be explained scientifically and metaphysically. And they would not have survived if humans had no practical use for them. They are not the by-products of either religion or philosophy. Their sole aim is to achieve a harmony between man and his environment; an alignment with cosmic principles and a respect for nature and its laws.

Both these ancient theories are based primarily on the theory of elements and their effects on life with respect to the magnetic axis of Earth. Everything is related to space and time and does not exist in a vacuum. Coordinates on this x-y axis are essential for any activity and it is not surprising that they form the core of these two approaches. Just like the body needs nutrition and the proper environment; a premises, commercial or residential, requires the necessary factors essential for its health. Its health, or the lack of it, has a direct impact on those who inhabit its space. And since living space is always treated as one entity just like the human body, it is essential that one ensures that all its parts are functioning at optimal levels. Vaastu and Feng Shui help us create spaces that are more conducive to our well being and in tune with cosmic order. And just as doctors cannot prevent the existence of disease or change a man’s destiny, one cannot expect these disciplines to miraculously cure all the malaises that affect a particular space. It seeks to improve with the limited tools and knowledge at its disposal.

The keywords here are tools and knowledge. Smart packaging and successful PR has led people to DIY Feng Shui and Quack Vaastu which are not only ineffective but can considerably worsen an already difficult situation. And if doing-it-yourself-home-remedies were so effective or simple one would imagine that a theory that has been around for thousands of years would have made us all ‘experts’ by now!. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. There are a lot of so called Feng Shui practitioners and Vaastu professionals who offer their ‘expert’ advice applied en masse!!!!.

The principles of Vaastu are predominantly based on the rays of the sun and the energies of five elements. And when one follows its application as a whole rather than ‘hijack’ parts to suit a specific requirement, only then will its effects be realized. And just like a peace accord signed under tenuous (and questionable) circumstances falls through at even the hint of discord, if your application of Vaastu lacks conviction and respect for its laws, your ‘remedies’ will not withstand the slightest tremor of reality.

Astrology, Vedic and Chinese, is inextricably linked to both these theories, because space and time are not mutually exclusive. In Vaastu, the significations are based on compass directions. Horoscopes are made for houses based on their ‘year of birth’ so to speak. Feng Shui asserts that significations vary with time and astrological calculations for the house are essential in determining the ‘qi’ of the house and analyzing the shortcomings. Although there are a great deal of similarities between the two theories and both are based on the elements and the flow of energy it is not advisable to follow the instructions of a practitioner who combines both disciplines to provide solutions. You can always have a second opinion before you decide on surgery but you should only have one doctor and one prescribed treatment.

Vaastu consultants are still a far more affordable option for the reasonably well-off Indian. I doubt it will be long before American consumerist ideology shall top it with pepperoni and oregano and home deliver it riding on smart packaging and global advertising budgets. So make the most of it while you can! DIY Feng Shui is already here at ‘discounted’ rates!!!. But beware, advice that is light on your pockets may not necessarily be effective for solving your problems just as consultants that charge your weight in gold need not be experienced.

And for those that balk at its authenticity in the name of defending science it would be interesting to note that the scientific principles of these theories were established and practiced long before science staked its claim upon those very principles. There is nothing mystical about them and if a practitioner has some scientific grounding he/she will be able to explain it in those terms. Yes, there have been distortions and unnecessary commercialization, but that does not detract from its primary objective. And if over the years fact cannot be separated from mythology, that is an unavoidable fallout of attempting to capture the imagination of the layman (as any student of advertising will tell you). Give computers a couple of thousand years of exposure to the masses and Bill Gates may be deified! (Certain politicians have managed that within their own lifetime so why should we be surprised). If you are willing to look, fact can always be separated from fiction and mythology seen as a language not method.

(Appeared in Interior Spaces Blog)

Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For Part – 1 of the review, please click here

The player is really small. Well not as small as the shuffle, but small enough to be carried out on workouts. It is large enough to be noticed and turn a few heads…

Very simple design is what pulled me to the player in the first place. It has a metal ring on top and a 3.5mm jack at the bottom. On on side it has a power button with FwD and PREV buttons and the other side has SHUFFLE/EQ button with VOL+ and VOL-. All functionalities of the player are managed by  these 6 buttons. And the location of the buttons ensure that there is no accidental pressing.

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Operation is simple – press the power button and music starts. press it again and it stops (pauses actually, which means the next time you turn it on, it resumes from where you left it last). Press the FWD or PREV button fast to change tracks. Keep them pressed and release them to forward or advance the current track.

The SHUFFLE/EQ button is a nice thing too. Keep it pressed briefly and it toggles from normal mode to shuffle mode and another such press would do the opposite. Short presses would cycle you through the preset equalizers that are built in. There are 9 modes to choose from and this player boasts of BBE technology being built in. Cool thing is that a voice guides you on the eq setting that you are choosing.

It really is that simple. The built in ear phones are not very good. They are large and not very comfortable to wear. So I suggest you upgrade the earphones to in-ear type to truly appreciate the audio quality of iAudio/Cowon players. BBE enhancements for bass etc are more pronounced with good quality earphones.

One of the gripes with this product which many had pointed out was that there was no ability to skip folders. So if you have 500 songs in the player, you have to go from song to song until you find the one you like. This can be negated if you carefully choose what songs you put in the player in the first place. But this still remained a problem. Remained? Yes, today when I visited the Cowon site, I found that there is a firmware upgrade available for this device which now supports folder skipping. This is an awesome update and I cant wait to get it on my new player.

Even the firmware upgrade is revolutionary. No need to install any application on your device. You just have to copy the firmware onto the device and remove the earphone. The device updates itself automatically. How cool can things get !

I am still hunting for an arm band for this player to help me better manage the cable mess. But even without it, it is simply great.

File transfer and charging is though a supplied USB – custom 3.5mm jack. USB seems to be high speed which means you dont wait for a long time to transfer the files onto the player. Only concern is that since the cable is non standard, you can pretty much box your player if you loose/damage the cable. So keep it very carefully.

If you need more information, leave your comments below. I will try and post some pictures later..

Here are the tech specs for the player:

Sound Enhancements: BBE, BBE ViVa, BBE ViVa 2, BBE Mach3Bass, BBE MP, BBE Headphone 1, BBE Headphone 2, and BBE Headphone 3

Data Transfer: MSC via 4-pole to USB cable

Battery Life: 11 Hrs. (charge time 1.5 hrs)

Audio Support: MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, Wav

Weight : 16.6 grams

I am a tech enthusiast. Having moved to a new job in Mumbai, meant that I had to plan my fitness regime. I started the daily walk/jog routine and I think we all know how boring this can be! Hence I started listening to music to enjoy what I was doing – even more. I started using my Zune 30 which needs no introduction.

It is a first generation MP3 player from Microsoft which is very bulky and not suitable for jogging. (fine for brisk walking though)..Later I switched to my Nokia E63, which is no audiophile device.

The built in equalizers don’t work for god sake…The phone was lighter than the zune but still was bulky to carry for a jog. Then I borrowed my friend’s iPod Nano which even had a arm band for the fitness freaks.

Nano however didnt please me because its controls were very messy. The famous apple click wheel is not the best of options while you are walking jogging. With these three trials in mind, I decided to go for a new MP3 player – which really was an excuse to buy a new gadget! The same way, buying the E63 was an excuse when I had a decent phone already! But hey, the E63 did give me a lot of functionality which I really dig. But more about that in a separate article.

Coming back to the MP3 players, I visited two stores to see the options. eZone and Tata Croma.

They all had a plethora of devices ranging from simple players to advance PMP like the iPod touch and the like. My intentions were clear from the beginning. I needed something small, minimalistic and having display was really not necessary. I had three options in front of me.

a) Sony Walkman with a USB connector built in.

b) iPod shuffle

c) A seemingly unknown player which had plain looks – the iAUDIO E2 player (which was only available in Tata Croma)

In the first couple of visits I ignored item #3 because it really was not appealing. I even forgot the brand name and googled for “iriver player” only not to find any player which I saw in the store.

As with many things in life, I decided to eliminate options to narrow down on my selection. The survival of the fittest kind of principle. I eliminated the Sony because it was long and seemingly bulky. But its weight was really not an issue. Its just that the form factor seemed dated and I really didn’t find it appealing to start with.

I really liked the looks of iPod shuffle. The clip was a practical feature in the player and could have been the perfect companion for me during my workouts. But it so happens that the player really has no buttons on it. Yeah, you read it correct. Instead apple has moved all  the controls on the earphone. This means two things.

1) You have to grope for the earphone cable and press the right button without even knowing which is which….

2) (this is my biggest gripe) – you cannot use your standard earphones with the nano !!

So this was out of the picture as well.

That left the iAUDIO E2 player in the race. I wasn’t very convinced about the player. The sound quality, the order in which it played the songs and many such questions remained unanswered.

My friend and I tested the player with a set of creative earphones and the sound quality seemed pretty decent. When we asked the sales person about the order in which the songs are played, he remarked that it only plays them in a shuffled mode! This was a deal breaker because I wanted flexibility in what I listed to. I am not a big fan of randomness. I guess no one except mathematics is.

So we did a last minute product review online (thanks to the E63) and found that the playback can be customized to be either random or regular at a touch of a button. This is all I needed to hear. I picked up a black E2 player with a capacity of 4GB.

2GB price = 2499/-
4GB price = 2999/-

More detailed review in Part  – 2..Stay tuned.

The biggest furniture extravaganza opens with a bang….

The Chennai trade center (Nandambakkam) was filled with more than a 5 thousand people on 16th April in order to see the unveiling of the furniture fair. While some of the people filled in there were sales men or officials from those 160 odd furniture companies, several more were eager home-makers trying to get that particular piece of furniture to set things right in their homes…

This fair is set to be there till the 19th of April. Timings (10:00 am – 8:30 pm) and there is an entry fee of Rs. 40 but seems to be completely worth the deal…
There seems to be no problem with car parking as they have ample car parking… With some parking charges though…. and as usual there is the liking towards the plastic money … all major credit cards are being accepted

The theme interior and exterior does seem to attracting many people…
The featured categories are:-
* Armories*leather couches*recliners*carpets and rugs*divan sets-chimneys*contemporary furniture*artifacts*Rajasthani furniture*outdoor furniture*imported furniture* furnishing -bed spreads and quilts*artificial flowers* designer sofas* antique furniture * electronic safes* Thai handicrafts*water fountains*massage chairs and a whole lot more…….

Remember guys only open till the 19th of April. So hurry up…. Choose the furniture that can make your houses to homes….

Did you know, now you can follow aavaas on twitter?

Twitter, one of the most popular social websites, now is an integral part of aavaas.com

You can follow us on twitter by visiting : http://twitter.com/aavaas

Further, if you have a twitter account, and would like to retweet any post, all you need to do is click the “tweet” button which appears near all the posts..(not on the homepage)

So what are you waiting for – go tweet out !!