Thoughts of a semi-nerd

Is Grand Theft Auto 4 the best GTA ever

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Sun, 18 Feb 2018 14:48:00 +0000

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an open world action-adventure video game. I completed GTA 4 in Jan 2018 and I loved it from the beginning till the last mission. I played GTA Vice City few years ago and clocked some gaming time with other variants of GTA, but my favourite so far is GTA 4.

Great Story

The intriguing story is the best part of GTA 4. The game follows an European immigrant in US and teaches a lot of life lessons on the way. As a gamer, we must take some decisions in the game that changes the course of the game. This makes the game even more interesting. At the end of the game, we are left with a feeling that money isn't everything.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Characters

There are many characters that would leave a mark. My second favorite, followed by the protagonist Niko, is Little Jacob. He is a genuine person who values friendship more than money or his own life.

Realistic Gameplay

The car damage, bomb explosion and people' health is very realistic. I haven't seen a GTA as good as this in all these aspects.

Arguably the best Expansion-pack ever

The Lost and Damned was good, but The Ballad of Gay Tony was amazing. This add-on was almost as good as the main game itself. In fact, certain missions were more challenging.

Overall, I loved every mission in GTA 4 and I don't think any other GTA can match it. Thanks for reading.

The Everyday Watch

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 17:01:00 +0000

I started using the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter since the beginning of 2017 and have come across some great new ideas since then. I was also looking for a formal watch during that time and luckily stumbled across The Everyday Watch. It's a good looking minimalist watch.

Image courtesy: Plain Supplies

I have been wearing it almost "every day" since I got it on May 2017 and I love it the more I use it. If I have to be nit-picky, it is that I have to change the date manually in a 30-day month. Having said that, it is only for 5 times in a year and it is not a big deal.

The watch came along with 3 interchangeable wrist straps - leather, steel and nylon. If at all you are bored of the beautiful leather strap, you have 2 more options.

Please refer to the graphic below for the complete specifications.

Image courtesy: Plain Supplies

Disclaimer: This is not a paid blog post.

What is Kickstarter and how does it work

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Tue, 02 May 2017 17:53:00 +0000

Kickstarter is a crowd funding platform that connects creators and backers from all the over the world to bring new ideas to life. The famous Pebble watch was launched as a Kickstarter project and is still the most funded project ever. Let's dive right in then.

Creator

Any individual/company who has a new product idea but doesn't have enough funds of his/her own. He/she submits his product in Kickstarter to collect funds from the members of Kickstarter.

Backer

Member of Kickstarter who funds the project(s) of his/her liking. If you back a project, you become a backer. Your money is collected only if the project is successfully funded at the end of the campaign. Your money is not collected if the project is:

Unsuccessful - not funded within the deadline.
Canceled - creator cancels the project.
Suspended - creator violated the Kickstarter rules.

Project

The creator submits his new idea as a project on Kickstarter, with the following info:

Goal - minimum amount needed for the project, e.g. $5000.
Days - number of days by which the goal should be reached, e.g. 30 days.
Details - Usually the creator submits the project with a demo video and a detailed description, sometimes accompanied by a working prototype.
Risks & challenges - risks involved and how the creator plans to overcome them.
Faq - general questions and answers about the idea/product.

If the goal is reached within the given days, the project is considered as a success. Once successfully funded, the creator uses the funds to manufacture the product and ships it to the backers on a later date. The product is usually delivered in 2-6 months since successful completion. The delivery date is mentioned in every project and most of the projects come with a detailed timeline, since the idea's inception to delivery date.

Pledge levels

The creator usually provides different options to back the project. The product is initially provided at a cheaper price to attract more backers and at a different price as more backers join.

Let's see with an illustration where the expected retail price of the product is $129.

Super Early Bird - Cheapest. $59 and limited to 50 backers.
Early Bird - $69 and limited to 100.
Kickstarter Special - $89 for all other backers.

You can see that as more backers join, the price increases but still less compared to the retail price when it hits the market. As the creator sells to the backers directly without middleman, the product is sold at a cheaper price.

My Favorite Projects

ZeTime - World's first hybrid smartwatch

Ori-Kit - The ultimate small space kitchen solution

IllumiBowl - Anti-germ toilet night light

The Everyday Watch - an affordable minimalist watch

I backed this project and received the watch on 02-May-2017. Hence I can personally vouch for it. It's a great looking watch at an affordable price.

Pro-Tips

Let's say you want to back a project but only Early Bird (EB) option is available and all the cheapest Super Early Bird (SEB) are already taken. Initially back it at EB price but keep checking regularly as any of the SEB backer might cancel it. Once the slot is open, you can change your pledge to SEB. Usually backers cancel their funding in the last few hours of the project.
There's always risk involved with crowd funding. Do some basic background check about the creator before you back a project or funding is collected. It's your money after all and hence your responsibility to ensure that your money is in safe hands. If the creator has already created successful projects and honored them, he/she is most likely to deliver as promised.

Kickstarter is also a great place to stay up to date with innovative products and future trends. So what are you waiting for? Join Kickstarter right away to create/back awesome projects.

I'm not affiliated to Kickstarter in any way, except as a normal member with immense interest for new ideas.

What has it done to me

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 06:42:00 +0000

It has improved my knowledge in various topics.

It taught me more about good manners.
I didn't know about so many types of car, before it.
It exposed me to some of the best resume formats.
It helped me to know about 100+ Indian inventions.
I learned more about Nokia because of it.
I brush my teeth with my left hand because of it. Now my left hand control is better.
I now close the toilet sink before I flush, because it made me aware about "toilet plume".
..and many more. The list goes on.

I've been referring to the question-and-answer site Quora. Quora is a great platform to learn new things and share your knowledge. According to me, Quora provides a much better value for your time when compared to Facebook or other social media platforms. If you haven't joined Quora yet, please give it a try.
Thanks.

How to improve iPhone battery life

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:59:00 +0000

* Enable Auto-Brightness from Settings-Display & Brightness.
* Turn off location services for some system services. You can find it in Settings-Privacy-Location Services-System Services. My current setting is in the picture.

* Turn Bluetooth off when you are not using it.
* Enable notifications only for those apps that needs your immediate attention.
* Turn off “Background App Refresh” from Settings-General.

Hope this helps. Thanks.

iPhone 7 review

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 16:44:00 +0000

Design
See the picture below. These are 3 different models of iPhone released in the last 2 years. Do you see any difference?

You get my point don't you. It's been the same since iPhone 6 released in September 2014.

Camera
This seems to have improved, at least with iPhone 7 Plus.

I'd love to see the new camera mode abilities in the future versions of iOS.

iOS
I used to love it when I first started using the iPhone. The addition of new features have been very less in every major update. No innovation here too. In fact, there was an update with a change in font and nothing else worth mentioning.
I know that iOS works well (may be the best) with the hardware, but that's no excuse to hold up new features for future releases.

Performance
Well, there's no surprise here. It's one of the best in terms of performance. If you want a good phone with a good interface that always responds on time, iPhone 7 will always be there for you.

Haptic Home Button
There is no physical button and it's like a sensor. It takes some getting used to, but at least there is some innovation. ;)

Water resistance
It was believed that iPhone 6s itself was water resistant but Apple didn't promote it that way. Now, iPhone 7 is officially water resistant. I believe that they are just following the crowd. Nevertheless, it's a good add-on.

Headset
If you already have a pricey/good wired headset that connects to a 3.5mm jack, think twice before considering the iPhone 7. Even though it comes along with an adapter, it will only reduce the life of the lightning port. If you prefer wireless audio, then it doesn't make any difference to your choice.

Conclusion
Will I buy it? Of course I will. :)

I complain a lot because I love my iPhone and have very high expectations from its maker. I'd love to see more innovations and only hope they fulfill it their 10th anniversary with iPhone 7s. Fingers crossed.

Hope this helps. Thanks.

Best movies that teach real life lessons

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 16:28:00 +0000

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
To name a few,

Patience
Perseverance
Importance of education
Timing is crucial
You can't control everything

Fight Club (1999)

Don't lead a materialistic life
Don't try to be perfect
Stop trying to live and live ( just wanted to sound dramatic ;) )

The below movies teach the same lesson,

Never give up, no matter how hard the situation is.

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Cinderella Man (2005)
Cast Away (2000)

The following set of movies teach,

Karma - what you reap is what you sow

City of God (2002)
The Lord of the Rings (film series) - Wikipedia
Harry Potter (film series) - Wikipedia
Pulp Fiction (1994)

Hope this helps. Thanks.

What's a decent salary to survive in Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 06:08:00 +0000

Well, this is a difficult question to answer as lot of factors are involved. Let's see the monthly expenses incurred by a family of 3.

Rent

Rent is a killer in Singapore. If you’d like to stay in an apartment alone with your family, rent is easily $1800 on an average for 2BHK. This is going by the current trend as rent has gone down. Usually average rent is $2000.

A sharing accommodation will cost you a minimum of $1100 if you take the master bedroom. Needless to say, this will not be convenient for some.

Groceries

You will end up spending $400–450 a month, assuming you cook your own food most of the times.

Utilities: Water + Gas + Electricity

As you cook a lot at home, you will use up more Gas than the national average. That's still fine as you will save money on eating outside. More cooking will of course lead to more water usage.

If your spouse is a homemaker, electricity bill could be slightly high.

On an average, you could incur $150 per month.

Broadband + TV + Mobile

Let's say you subscribe to broadband connection with a TV package. If you also take Mobile postpaid connection with the same provider, you will save money in the bundle pack.

You could incur $135.

Miscellaneous

You could go out on weekends, do some shopping and/or eat outside. Let's say $75- $100 per weekend. This is bound to increase if you shop a lot.

Conclusion

This is just based on my personal experience. The expenditure may vary in your case.

Having said that, now you've a rough idea and know how much you should earn to sustain and also to save.

Hope this helps. Thanks.

Gaming: Farcry 4 Tips

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 05:51:00 +0000

Rhino

Leave the rhinos alone. Stay away from them. They inflict a lot of damage and also hard to kill. Period.

Elephant

Once you have enough XP points, you can use them to buy "ride elephant" from your skills menu. They are very helpful when you are surrounded by a lot of enemy soldiers. When you ride in them, they just toss your enemies and vehicles like they are nothing. They are also very hard to kill.

Snake

Usually green in color. They inflict small damage per attack, but annoying as your guns are not so effective against them. Use your sword to kill them.

Tiger

They are very ferocious and aggressive. You've to be very fast in killing them if you just want to use sword. Better to stay a bit far and shoot them when they come running towards you. You can slice them when they are too close after which you can skin them.

Enemy soldiers with Guns

Usually the range of the enemy soldiers is not so good, but they can spot you on an open ground. It's best to crouch if the "detection" icon starts appearing. I prefer to use LT button for a better aim, before I start shooting them; might as well same some ammo.

Enemy soldiers with Knife

They are very loud and come running when they see you, as they only have a sword. Shoot them before they near you, or they can inflict some damage.

Hunters

The most dangerous human enemies. They spot you even through vegetation and communicate within themselves by whistlin. You can mark them only for 2 seconds or so. They have a bow with very good aim; some are equipped with fire arrows as well. Do not panic if you see them; running back straight ahead won't help as their rate of fire is fast. Choose your best weapon, keep moving and kill them as soon as you can.

Map

Farcry, as you would know, is an open world game. The entire world is filled with so many activities and fun all around. Map is the best way to navigate. It enables you to:

Quick travel (be there in seconds) to "Fast Travel" enabled locations

Mark your desired destination. This is very helpful when you have a vehicle.

Enjoy gaming.

Top 10 Free iOS Apps

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 16:55:00 +0000

Google Maps

The best app for navigation and Google never stops improving the features. When I'm writing this post, the app provides the following and more.

Voice guided navigation
Live traffic conditions
Street view

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/A8S3I.i

Spark

I have used so many email clients but this app stands out from the rest.

Add/save attachments from/to google drive, dropbox, onedrive and other cloud services
Enable notifications only for the emails addressed directly to you
Save your email as pdf
Smart Inbox: Auto-customised inbox which separates your newsletters, notifications and priority (other emails addressed directly to you) inbox. I love Spark especially for this feature.

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/MkPB7.i

Google Photos

All in one photo and video app.

Unlimited backup with normal clarity or limited backup (the space remaining in your Google storage) with high quality.
Auto generates animation, collage, memories and videos from your photos/videos. This feature is pretty cool.
You can create your own animation, collage, video; add music to the video and many other customisations.
Identifies vehicles, food, person in your pics. The algorithm is so awesome that it groups the pics and you can search with the string "cars" and it will show you all the pics with cars in them. Yes, it's almost perfect. Try it for yourself.

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/WYEw5.i

Flipboard

A neat app to read news.

You can decide what genre of news you want to read; when you see an article that you like, just select the drop-down button and click "more like this".
It presents different news articles in the form of a collage or a 1-page preview.
Navigation between articles is really smooth and easy. Click on the article preview to read it, once done scroll from left to right to go back. Scroll from bottom to up to go the next page.

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/e-Tyv.i

CamScanner

Arguably the best scanner app.

Convert your hard-copy to a digital-copy in seconds.
Point your camera towards the hard-copy, align the phone so that the full copy is captured, shoot it, adjust the borders, select the tone, save it and email it to yourself.
The digital copy can be saved in image or pdf format.
You can add multiple hard-copies and create a single digital document.

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/h1Fkx.i

Adblock Plus

Apple introduced the ad-blocking feature for iOS devices from iOS 9. Just install Adblock Plus and activate it from settings. Enjoy web browsing in Safari without ads.

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/8A1u9.i

SwiftKey

Once I started using it, I've never looked back.

Auto completion
Meaningful Suggestions based on your usage history.
The prediction only becomes better with more usage. It remembers even the order you type a set of words.
Emoji keyboard, also with prediction based on your usage history.
A ton of themes to choose, though you have to buy them. The free themes are more than enough; more so, if you are not interested in the looks.

Apple did free us from its ageing in-built keyboard.

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/qWsw2.i

Google Translate

The Google Translate app has come a long way from its inception. This is a saviour if you are travelling to a new place and you do not know the local language.

Translate to and from 90 languages.
Speech translation in 40 languages. You can speak to it and it will speak back the translated sentence.
Use your camera to translate the text instantly in over 20 languages.
For some languages though, you have to take the picture and let it process the letters for translation. The live translation is coming soon to many other languages.

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/kT-Ty.i

Betternet

Free VPN without ads. Too good to be true already.

Anonymous surfing.
Free forever and it doesn't ask for your credit card details.
No registration or login required.
Simple one tap to connect

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/q-nB4.i

Apps Gone Free

Get great paid apps and games for free.

Updated every day.
The developer claims they select the offers manually. Hence the authenticity.
You can nominate apps that you want to go free

Download Link

https://appsto.re/sg/CEJdC.i

Android Rooting

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 14:35:00 +0000

Android powers almost 50% of the smartphones and tablets today. Though many manufacturers have embraced Android, we neither get the pure Android experience nor do we have control over the apps and CPU performance. Nexus and a very few devices offer the stock Android but with restricted access. It is because, by default, we are a normal user of the device. Android Rooting (AR) makes the user an administrator (root) with full rights. Rooting your device is complicated but it has its perks if completed successfully.

Rooting is performed by exploiting bugs in the device. There is virtually no device that cannot be rooted. The following are the major advantages of AR:

Full freedom over the applications in your device
Take backup and restore applications including the data
Completely customise the look of your device including the animation (bootloader) on your device when it boots up
You can increase or decrease CPU frequency
Applications get root access only with your permission

Titanium Backup is an application that works only in rooted devices to perform various tasks like backup & restore apps, detach apps from Play, create zip file with our apps and so on. It is a must have for all rooted devices.

Though there are many advantages of rooted devices, you need to be wary of the applications that you install. If you inadvertently give root access to a dangerous app, it can exploit the root access and harm your device. Also make sure you have read and understood the steps to root your device before you actually do it. If you perform a mistake when rooting, you end up bricking your device making it permanently unusable. So ensure that many others have successfully rooted your device and made it work.

I have a rooted smartphone (Huawei G300) and it is my primary device too. It works like a charm with the latest Android Kitkat 4.4.4, thanks to Cyanogenmod.

Make Money with ClixSense

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Sat, 24 May 2014 18:37:00 +0000

Earning money through ClixSense is easy. I have tried so many sites, but ClixSense is the best PTC (paid to click) site out there. As a beginner, you can start by viewing ads, taking free surveys, completing easy Tasks and free offers. I have earned over $50 so far and you can find proof of my first payment below.

My Payment Proof

Join ClixSense Now

My Recommendations:

1. Click all the ads every day

2. Check for free surveys and complete them. You can find them under "Offers"

3. Regularly check Tasks and complete them - trust me, they are very easy

4. There are many free offers that just pay you to install an android application on your mobile
5. Play ClixGrid every day and win up to $10 - you never know :)
6. Refer others to join ClixSense - most powerful of all. You will earn every time your referral earns.

Daily Checklist Bonus

This is one of the coolest features in ClixSense that enables us to earn extra money. If you complete the tasks in the daily checklist, you will earn a bonus. The bonus increases as you complete more ads, tasks and offers in the day.

As you can see in the picture above, I completed my Daily Checklist on April 16, 2014 and earned a bonus which was directly added to my account balance.

Click HERE to join ClixSense now.

ClixSense Premium

Minimum payout for a standard user is $8. I'd suggest you upgrade once you reach $17. Your earnings will almost double once you become a Premium member and you can earn so much more from your referrals. $17/year is so less for all the benefit you get.

Personally as a Premium member, I earn more than double the money I was earning as a Standard member.

Click HERE to join ClixSense and start making money.

IPL is back to India

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Thu, 01 May 2014 14:37:00 +0000

One of the most coveted tournaments in Cricket is coming back to India. The seventh season of IPL started on 16 April 2014 with 8 teams competing with each other. The first 20 matches were held in 3 magnificent venues in UAE. No one could have written a better script for this tournament which has seen excellent batting, bowling, fielding and more. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) leads the pack with 5 consecutive wins, courtesy of some brilliant hitting by Maxwell and Miller. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are in a close 2nd with 4 wins in 5 matches. CSK has seen good performances from various players so far. Rajasthan Royals (RR) have also played some decent cricket and their one down batsman Sanju Sampson is trending all over because of his batting abilities. He has surely been a revelation but he has to find a way to convert his moderate starts to good scores if he needs to be a part of the Indian National Cricket squad. Mumbai Indians (MI) have been the worst with 5 consecutive losses and they'd want to turn their fortunes around.

Crowd Reception

The stadiums have been jam packed in almost all of the matches held in UAE. It looked as if the matches were held in India. The teams were named after popular cities to get the local crowd support in India but the crowd reception is Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi has been amazing. Expatriates from Kerala top the list and most of them have supported Rajasthan Royals as the 19 year old Keralite Sanju Sampson plays for RR. There was good support for other teams too, especially CSK and KXIP. We have seen people of all ages in abundance thronging the matches.

Glitz & Glamour

IPL is never short of glamour and this season is no exception with many team owners being celebrities themselves. Preity Zinta was seen in all the matches that KXIP played. Her mood directly reflected the stance of KXIP on the field and she was happy most of the times for obvious reasons. The King of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan and Shilpa Shetty were also seen supporting their teams KKR & RR respectively. The TV hosts were no less than the celebrity team owners. Shibani and Archana added to the glamour and their moderate cricket knowledge did not hinder their anchor abilities. Sameer with his professional dressing & confident attitude, Gaurav with his witty jokes were meticulous in their job.

Back to India

The remaining 40 matches will be played in India and the first of them is between CSK and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on 2 May 2014. KKR badly needs a win and their last match with RR that ended in a tie would have been really frustrating for their players and fans alike. It is very early to say who will top the table post the league matches but KXIP and CSK look good to make it to the top 4. My next bet would be on KKR and RR to compete in the knock-out stage. You never know how things could change in cricket. I hope my favorite team CSK does well in India too.

Vote for Change

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 13:51:00 +0000

Do you know that India's Lok Sabha election is the World's biggest. More than 800 million will be eligible to vote. Here is the schedule in all States/Union Territories of India. Make yourself free and vote.

The candidate you vote for is completely your choice. Having said that, I hope you are not biased towards caste, religion or any personal benefits. The final decision is up to you, but please do vote. Every vote makes a difference. We Indians complain about poor road conditions, corruption, atrocity in the name of power and so on. This is the time for us citizens to be responsible. If you really care for India, you must vote. Not just you, make sure all your (eligible) family members vote too. Let us all vote and hope for the best.

The detailed schedule of General Elections 2014 can be found here.

Alex Hales, the next Pietersen

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:53:00 +0000

Alex Hales played a magnificent innings in the ICC World T20 match vs Sri Lanka today. Sri Lanka made 189/4 in the allotted 20 overs, thanks to the wet outfield and the generous English fielders. Jayawardene made the most of it with 89 off 51 balls; Dilshan looked out of sorts but still made 55 off 47 balls. England had come in to the match after a frustrating loss to New Zealand with rain bringing in the Duckworth-Lewis method into picture. Ironically, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis are English. I personally think D/L method should not be used for T20.

This was a must win game for England but Sri Lanka looked confident to continue their winning streak; after all, they've been playing in Bangladesh for 3 months now. After losing 2 wickets in the very first over for nought, hopes were running low in the English dugout. Alex Hales and Eoin Morgan had other ideas. Both played cautiously in the beginning and exactly knew which balls to attack. Eoin targeted Mathews and Alex bludgeoned Mendis. Their 100+ partnership kept England's chances alive. Malinga's most powerful weapon, the yorker, was futile against the confident Alex and the stylish Morgan. Chandimal's gamble to use Malinga's last 6 balls in the 18th over did not pay off - Bopara hit 2 crucial boundaries off the first 2 balls and then they played him out. Alex stayed till the end and finished the game with 4 balls to spare. He remained not out at 116 off just 64 balls. It is still too early to compare him with Pietersen, but the stature and confidence surely resembles the South African-born.

Why I don't like Galaxy S5

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:58:00 +0000

The latest flagship smartphone from Samsung is not so impressive in my view. I am not talking about the features here, which is certainly top-notch. The real problem is the cheap look of the phone though it burns a big hole in one's pocket. What is that dotted design on the back - really ! I expected a better show from a company that is the sole challenger to Apple in terms of mobile market share. The last smartphone I liked from Samsung was Galaxy S2 - it was (is) awesome. Great features with masculine design. After S3 and S4, I thought Samsung would take a leaf from HTC's book and put some thoughts into design.

Specifications are not everything - design does matter. I have a friend who owns a white iPhone 5S - man it's good; a pure classic. I am no Apple lover but the design beats it all - it gives a premium feel. The features are no less too - super fast processor, amazing screen clarity and enviable camera. Coming back to Samsung, are they running out of ideas - finger print sensor, water & dust resistance. Come on, now. You know what I'm talking about.

Samsung, better luck next time !!

10 Must have Android apps

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 16:17:00 +0000

It has been almost 2 years since I befriended the green droid. I have used many apps during this period and in my view, here is a list of must have free apps for Android.

MX Player

A free video player that plays almost any format. You do not need any other video player if you've got this. Its got Hardware acceleration, pinch to zoom feature and even supports subtitles. The controls are very simple and intuitive.

Google Play Link: MX Player

CamScanner -Phone PDF Creator

A free document scanning software. Once installed, you have to just point your camera towards the document you want to scan and click it - it will automatically detect the document in the picture and zoom it. You can further crop the document as per your requirement and save it - trust me, it looks exactly like you have scanned it from a physical scanner. You can save the documents in pdf format.

Google Play Link: CamScanner

ES File Explorer File Manager

A free file and application manager. You can not only manage your files in an easy and efficient way.

Built-in zip and rar support
Built-in viewers for audio, video and many other file types
Text viewers and editors
Root explorer

and so on..

Google Play Link: ES File Explorer

Dictionary - Merriam-Webster

A free offline dictionary. After download, the definitions will be stored offline in your memory card using about 100MB space. The word is suggested as you type it in search window and you just have to click it. You can also click words from definitions of other words which will show you the meaning of the word concerned.

Google Play Link: Merriam Webster

Opera Mini browser for Android

A free browser for android.

Easily the fastest browser I have ever used.
Even though the web page may contain lot of images, the content is loaded real quick.
The browser uses some form of compression tech and hence less data is downloaded.
In some cases my stock android browser has shown a bit of lag in response but Opera Mini is always smooth.
You also have a convenient Exit button, that you can enable from Advanced Settings.

Google Play Link: Opera Mini

BBC News

A free news app.

Of all the news apps I used, this runs minimal or no ads.
A simple interface and an elegant design on top of it
You can select the news topics that you want and arrange it as you wish
I use this app with my 2G data connection and still its very fast

Google Play Link: BBC News

GSM Arena

A free and unofficial mobile version of the GSMArena website. This provides the news from GSMArena site in user readable format for mobiles. If you are looking for latest news, rumors, reviews on mobiles and tablets - this is the app you want to have.

Google Play Link: GSM Arena

IMDb Movies & TV

Free and official IMDb app. You can find information about countless Movies and TV shows here. For those do not know about IMDb, it is Internet Movie Database with movies listed with user rating. Usually a movie will be rated on a scale of 10 by IMDb members and the score is open for everyone to see. I always trust this app before watching a movie and it has seldom let me down.

Google Play Link: IMDb

WhatsApp Messenger

A free instant messaging app.

A very cool application to send messages, share photos and videos instantly via internet.
The initial setup is very quick and simple - hardly takes 10 minutes.
This will scan your Contacts and automatically identify all your contacts using WhatsApp.
You can create groups within your friends and share data simultaneously

Though the app is free for the 1st year and chargeable henceforth, I have never heard a person reporting that the app demanded money after the end of subscription.

Google Play Link: WhatsApp

Candy Crush Saga

A free puzzle game by King.com.

Very simple and yet very addictive.
Nice graphics
Over 400 levels

Google Play Link: Candy Crush

Titanium Backup

Yes, you counted it right but I could not neglect this app amongst must-haves. Though this is only for rooted devices, a very useful and awesome app for your android phone.

Take backup and restore your applications with full data. e.g.: you took backup after completing 13 levels of Angry Birds and uninstalled the app - after restore, you can continue from 14th - the data remains intact.
Apps freezer
Cache cleaner
Schedule auto-backup
Convert user apps <=> system apps
Group all your required apps with data in a zip format and install it at once from a supported Recovery Manager (this feature for PRO version only, costs around 300 INR)

Even if you buy the PRO version, it is certainly worth every penny.

Google Play Link: Titanium Backup

Halo 4 - One hell of a Game

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:01:00 +0000

After Call of Duty, this is another game that gave me a sense of satisfaction once I completed the Campaign mode. From the first level to the last, I loved every bit of it. The beauty of this game lies in the Screenplay; Yes, I mean Screenplay and not the Gameplay which is equally awesome but I'll come to it later. We play as the Master Chief in the game, as was the case with the previous 3 instalments of Halo. We are accompanied by Cortana, an Artificial Intelligence make, throughout the game. The game revolves around Chief and Cortana. In all the games I have played, I was the protagonist. In this game though, I'd say Cortana is the key and we just accompany her to accomplish the tasks at hand. In fact, Cortana is the one who wakes us from cryonic sleep thereby initializing the game. Cortana is such an intelligent AI that I wonder can such things really exist in the future.

I have to say, Graphics in the game is absolutely awesome. To give a glimpse of the things to come, we are shown a complete space ship construction from a hill top view in the first level. It was really awe inspiring. I literally had goosebumps. It actually makes us yearn for more and to go on a unstoppable streak till the finish. The visual is so appealing and the impeccable sound adds more value to it. If graphics is fabulous, Gameplay is top-notch. I played the game with the easiest difficulty, but let me tell you it was difficult from Level 1; God help the gamers who opted higher difficulty. We get to see lot of new enemies which are difficult to kill. For some enemy AIs, we have to find and target its weak point or else we'd empty our ammo.

The game is not just shooting and killing. Strategy is very important or else we'd be playing the same sequence countless times only to die at some point. There was one level where I played the same sequence around 15 times before I could formulate a successful strategy and finish it. Apart from shooting, we also get to drive a lot of vehicles of which most of them are fictional. In a level close to the finish, we have to manoeuvre a fighter jet through a maze like path. This is easily the toughest sequence in the game. It required complete hand-eye coordination and a lot of thinking in very less time. I was proud of myself after finishing it. Any gamer who finished 'Halo 4' has some serious talent.

Halo 4 is easily the best game I have played so far (sorry COD). To me, this is also the best Game of 2012. If you are a gamer, there is no excuse for not playing this game. For those of you wannabe gamers, it's high time you become one. Hats-off to Microsoft and most importantly the Developers for giving us a magnificent game.

My first Onsite

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:24:00 +0000

My first post from outside my motherland India; also long time since my last post. Well, here I am - back in business. Those working in Indian IT companies very well know what Onsite is; I had dreamt of it many a time when I was in offshore working for a foreign client from India. Onsite is working directly from the client location - so higher salary, global exposure and better client visibility (my preference in the same order). Major leap in career too they say.

I have been looking for an Onsite opportunity for close to 2 years and became desperate at a point. My desperation came to an end last month when I got my UK visa. I was asked to start last week. Got my tickets with Dubai being the transit point. This was my first air travel - was very excited and nervous at the same time. My parents, sister and my eldest niece had come to airport to see me off. After bidding them bye, I went through Immigration and Security check. Earlier I had got my boarding passes after luggage check-in where I was also given a tag that can be tied to a baggage. I thought it was for their flight advertisement and so I kept it in my pocket. After a long wait, the plane arrived. We were informed that there would be a delay of 15 minutes due to some reason, only God knows what that lady said in speaker. When boarding started, security told me that my hand-luggage did not have security clearance and it cannot go through. Only then I realised that the tag that was given initially must be tied to the baggage so that they can apply a seal after security check - damn, I went back in a hurry and had it done.

As soon as I got in the flight, I was greeted by the flight crew and was also told my seat location. I sat next to a guy who was also in a flight for the first time. I tied my seat belt when asked to (its certainly not rocket science as they speculate in movies and commercials). I was a little scared about the take-off but it was rather fun. The airlines I took was Emirates and the ambience was very good. As it was a morning flight, we were given breakfast which was unsurprisingly nice. The flight landed in Dubai. Got to tell you, it was a BIIIG airport. I must have walked at least a kilometer to reach the designated gate for my next flight; I had to go through a tighter security check on the way. All done well, I was in the flight and this time the journey was a longer one of 5 hours whereas earlier one was 3 hours. This one also being Emirates, the experience was good again. We were given the Menu for lunch and I was planning to have Chicken; but my bad - I was served Asian Veg which they said was pre-ordered. I thought my company might have done it, but I am still not sure about it. Leaving that and the frequent turbulence due to bad weather aside, the trip to UK was peaceful.

I reached UK and went through UK Immigration which went fine. My colleague had booked a taxi for me and thankfully the guy was already there, waiting for me with my name on a paper. It was a 2 hour drive to my destination and the local time was 9:30 PM when I got here. The same colleague had arranged for a temporary accommodation; I owe him big time. It was a good trip and a great experience altogether. I had planned to say further more but just the travel part took so much space. Let me end this post now and share my further experiences in forthcoming posts.

I hate Speed Breakers...

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:42:00 +0000

Speed breakers - I hate them as much as anybody. When laid proper, they can prevent accidents; but most of the speed breakers, I think, are laid with very less common sense. They are either huge, steep or both. Very rarely I have come across a proper speed bump. There is a road near my home, that I use every day to go to office; 3 new speed breakers within 30 metres. Not only they are laid in cement to be rigid, but also steeep; I have not made a spelling mistake, but emphasising on the needless insensitivity.

Yes, we need speed bumps to control rash driving and prevent a mishap. This does not mean that the road is to be filled with them. I sometimes wonder, do we have any standards for laying speed breakers - the height, width, how rigid they must be and most importantly the distance between 2 consecutive speed bumps. If not already, we must have one. I also feel there must be a formal approval from a Government body to lay a speed bump. It is often ridiculous to see a speed breaker considering the road condition; right in the middle of a road which is already full of potholes - I'd be like 'what the heck!!' in such situations.

This may be a petty thing to complain but its been annoying me, like many others, for so long now. I wish there were lesser speed bumps in whichever route I go. Will such a day ever come?!! :)

Movies that made me cry

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:04:00 +0000

According to me, a movie should make us think, laugh or cry. Here is the list of English movies that made me cry:

Cars

The Game Plan

Black Swan

Glory

The Pursuit of Happyness

Marley and me

300

The Sixth Sense

Schindler's List

The Fisher King

Children of Men

Saving Private Ryan

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Requiem for a Dream

I Am Sam

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Cinderella Man
Million Dollar Baby
Real Steel
Forrest Gump
Enemy at the Gates
The girl with the dragon tattoo
The greatest game ever played

I hope these movies give you the same feeling as it did to me. :)

The above list can be accessed in imdb as well.

My Software Pick - Part II

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:04:00 +0000

My first post in 2012. Happy new year to all my readers. :)

This post is the second in 'My Software Pick' series. First part can be accessed here. This list too contains useful utilities. As usual, only legal and legitimate softwares - no crack or pirated copies.

1. Shaplus Bandwidth Meter

This is a free tool to track your internet usage. This tool tracks every KB you download. I have been using this to track my internet usage, for over 5 years. This is a must have for us broadband users to keep our download limit in check, so that we are not surprised seeing our internet bill. Also, this occupies less than 200KB of your disk space after installation and less than 2MB of memory when runs in the background.

2. vlc media player

vlc media player is one of best media players out there and it is free. It plays almost all formats. Till date, I have not seen vlc returning errors for a video. In my system, it even played corrupted avi file which was abandoned by other players.

More details about vlc media player - vlc home page.

Direct link to the latest version (as on Jan 10 2012) for Windows is here.

3. Mozilla Firefox

My favorite browser and it is free like most of my favorite softwares. Firefox is the best browser according to me, be it the wide range of add-ons or the intuitive design.

Check out the official site with download links here.

4. Cheatbook Database

A must have for any gamer. Cheatbook Database is a freeware cheat code tracker that makes hints, Tricks, Tips, Walkthroughs and cheats (for PC, PS/PS2/PS3, Sega, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, DVD, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Color, N-Gage, Nintendo DS, XBox, XBox 360, iPhone, Gamecube, Dreamcast, Super Nintendo, Wii, Sony PSP) easily accessible from one central location. You can find information about all the games through this tool and they release updates every month.

The latest version 'Cheatbook Database 2012' was released on Jan 14 2012. Here is the link to download the software for free.

5. Game Booster

Another must have software for a gamer. I came across this tool when I had to play a game that demanded a high-end PC. As the name says, this software boosts our PC to the maximum by freeing a bulk of CPU and RAM. Game booster automatically identifies the unwanted applications running in the background - we can choose which of them can be disabled and also stop more applications that we find useless. We can add our games to Game booster so that the tool stops unwanted apps before launching the game.

I find this very useful to play games with great graphics. This software is not completely free though.

You can download Game Booster v3 from here.

Please report dead links by commenting to this post or emailing me.

My Software Pick

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:19:00 +0000

This is the first part of 'My Software Pick' series. I will suggest some of the best softwares out there, which will be very useful to you too. Only legal and legitimate softwares - no crack or pirated copies.

1. Winrar

This software is free legal version of winrar. Winrar can be used to compress and uncompress data and this one does it all for free. The formats supported are zip, rar, 7z, cab, arj and some more formats.

2. CCleaner

CCleaner is free system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It can remove unused files from your system, thereby speeding up your system. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner.

Check this page for full feature listing.

I have been using this for over 2 years and its very useful.

For latest version of this software, check out the official page here.

3. doPDF

Free PDF converter you can use to create PDF from any printable document. Install this software, select print from any document you want to convert and select dopdf as printer - you can then save the file as pdf.

4. Oxford Dictionary

Dcictionary in your PC will always come in handy and it's double awesome if free.

5. Unstop Copy

Have you faced the issue of your copy being abruptly stopped due to redundancy or unknown errors, especially from external media to your PC. No more worries about that with this free tool. If there is any media from which you are not able to download data, use this software to copy your files to your PC.

Please report dead links by commenting to this post or emailing me.

My scribblings...

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:55:00 +0000

What you think is always right until you tell it to someone.

I better myself by the minute.

To understand is wisdom; to be understood is divine.

With love, you defeat death.

Faith in love is the beginning of wisdom.

To love thyself more, go to gym.

Yesterday's workout is today's pain; today's pain is tomorrow's gain.

Slow and steady only completes the race, doesn't win it !

Stand up, get your ass kicked and be proud or be smart, save your ass and live a normal life.

A friend I can trust

noreply@blogger.com (VN) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:14:00 +0000

I have been thinking for over 10 minutes just for the title of this post and still yet to find the apt one. Just the thought of him gives me a wide smile. I have not met such a genuine person before in my life. I try to be funny without hurting anyone's feelings; but boy, isn't he the best in business. He is funny, well mannered, disciplined, calm and got a great sense of humour. Now, why am I mentioning funny and sense of humour at the same time. Being funny and having good sense of humour are two complete different things - let me tell you how. Anyone can be funny if they have good presence of mind with quick thinking; but good sense of humour is how well one reacts when he/she is made fun of. I am (sometimes) funny, but got not so good sense of humour. My friend on the other hand does not take anything seriously if it is just for fun. He is simply a great guy.

Sabaree (right) with me

The way he carries himself has earned him respect among his friends and acquaintances. I respect him a lot. If I got a problem, I feel free to share it with him; he will give me genuine comments and not the name sake monotony. Happiness can be shared with anybody, but our problems can be shared with only those we trust (got the post title only now). He is a responsible person. Even if it is a simple get together, he used to take the initiative and make sure that things get done. I like that attitude. I also admire his helping tendency - a living example of the famous phrase "friend in need is a friend indeed." Did I tell you that he is good at mimicking famous actors - we have laughed our heart out over his subtle expressions.

Another gentleman-friend of mine. I am lucky to have Sabaree as my friend. His wife is luckier (as of this moment he is single :P). Message to Sabaree - "be the same you are now and everyone will love you."