Akshay Shah

After about 6 months of iPhone usage, here is a list of my favourite free applications which I found very useful and productive. Feel free to share your favourite iPhone apps in comments. Fring: One IM to rule them all. Facebook: It does what it says- helps you stay easily connected with your Facebook friends. Shozu: Upload photos to over 50 sites. Twitterrific: Post tweets from the beautifully designed Twitter client. RDP Lite: Remotely connect to your Windows system (PC). Dictionaire: A Free dictionary- very useful for quick reference. Shazam: Tag songs playing in the background. It just works. Instapaper: Save web pages for offline reading. Stanza: Read e-books on the go. Snaptell: Snap a picture of cover of book, DVD, CD or video games and get info about the product. Evernote: An excellent alternative to in-built Notes with support for Text/Photo/Voice notes. Wordpress: Check out the full review here. Remote: Control iTunes and Apple TV from your iPhone. VLCRemFree: Control VLC from your iPhone. FilesLite: Store and view MS Office & other format files using this app. WhatTheFont: Snap and find the font. Doodler: MS Paint for iPhone. Flashlight: No description required. NYTimes: A native app for New York Times newspaper. Backgrounds: Get access to over 5,000 wallpapers.

Here is an easy way to link to iPhone apps: L2AppFrom the Developer (Normalkid, LLC) : “In messageboards, instant messaging, and twitter, this tool makes it easier to quickly link to an app without looking it up in iTunes.”

Dev - the administrator of the popular iPhone India Blog was courteous enough to post my story and credit me for the same on his blog. Link to the article : snipurl.com/bt7bv

First and foremost, I would like to truly appreciate the work of all the developers who have put in a lot of time, energy and effort in designing and developing the games- especially the one’s who have made it available for free applause.Here are some of the games which I truly loved and enjoyed playing on what is proving to be my (and lot of other people’s) preferred gaming platform.Free Games Trace - The best full free game on iPhone. 2079 - A shoot ‘em up space commander style game with online leaderboard to keep track of scores globally. Dactyl -  Simple and quick finger tap game. Touch Hockey: FS5 - Good replacement for Ice Hockey in the malls ;). PapiJump - Simple jump game.Paid Games Rolando - One of the best games on iPhone. I enjoyed this one as much as Mario on Sega. Hero of Sparta- 300 + God of War on iPhone. Fastlane Street Racing - Blows you away with the amazing graphics. Touch Physics - Addictive 50 levels (free update, earlier 30) for 99 cents. True value for money.Free Games (Lite Version) Adrenaline Pool Lite - A cool online multi-player pool game. Functional even with the Lite version. Ability to chat while playing is an additional bonus. Pac-Man Lite - A nice retro game but lite version is limited to only one stage. Also, the controls are not very responsive. Labyrinth Lite Edition - Looks realistic and excellent use of accelerometer.

Got a new T-shirt from Cafepress. It was shipped within the suggested time frame and I am happy with the quality of the T-shirt. The design looks cool. Check out the pic here.

Checking out the iPhone’s Wordpress App. Offers the option to locally save the draft if the Internet connection is not available. It also has a host of other customisable and useful options. Pretty nifty when you want to post something longer than 140 characters on the go. Just quit to check if it can save drafts when interrupted and it did not disappoint- wonderful. Hopefully this is the first of the many posts on my blog coming from the iPhone.

Amidst the ‘BIG’ change promised by Obama, I have made a small change myself. I have moved my old blog from Blogger to Wordpress and completely revamped the theme. There are some CSS issues with IE that need to be fixed. I recommend that you use Firefox. Please let me know your feedback/suggestions on the new ‘A’ Club theme.God Bless all the people below who have taken out time and shared their knowledge/work online for free: Alvaro Guzman’s tutorials Billy Argel’s fonts SXC’s free photo library Jenn B’s brushes Urbangiraffe’s Wordpress tutorials Official Wordpress Docs Jeffrey Way’s tutorials Psdfan’s tutorials Deke McClelland Tyler Durden

I had protected my Apple iPhone 3G with ScratchGard. After 2 weeks of usage, it had black marks imprinted on it. I was afraid that the screen was affected. So, I removed the scratch guard. To my relief, the black marks were on my scratch guard. I got a new one and the same problem persisted after two weeks of usage- so this was not a one off problem.I mailed the ScratchGard team (twice) with the screenshots of the problem in their product. I did not hope that I would get any response but I did get a reply from their Sales team to scan and send them the invoice.  After completing the formalities they send me 2 scratch guards (as I had bought two) and all this was done within a span of 2 days. Amazing! As per their request, I have sent the defective product back to them so that they can check if it is a counterfeit product or if there is some issue with it.Cheers to their entire team for their quick and effective response.

A year and a half ago, I had predicted that the iPhone would sell and it did not disappoint. Finally, I got my hands on this handheld computer. It’s been 45 days with the device and I am loving it. So, what is it? It’s a Mobile…It’s an iPod…It’s a Superdevice. It’s a multifunction device. Some of it’s salient features are: Mobile phone iPod Gaming device Internet connectivity (Wi-Fi, 3G, Edge) GPS Navigator Appstore with over 10,000 applications E-book readeriPhone is creating waves everywhere, here is what the press had to say:“iPhone wins top business smartphone satisfaction marks”“Lower income consumers drive iPhone growth”“Demand for iPhone developers up 500%”“iPhone tops business rankings, steals Nokia market share”“#1 iPhone take one step forward. Not so fast RAZR”“iPhone only half as good at breaking as Blakberry”“iPhone is now the top iPhone in Q3”“Apple’s iPhone makes inroads into corporate market”“Study: Apple iPhone twice as reliable as RIM Blackberries”“Dallas Morning News: RIM’s new Blackberry still can’t touch the iPhone”“Canalys: Apple now world’s #2 smartphone vendor; iPhone outsells all Windows Mobile units combined”

Love at first sightCirca 2007 - Imagine, Bangalore Leopard launched. Immediate visits made to check out the demo. Although Leopard Macs were not available, I fell in love with the Macbook. With Apple, it’s possible.The Wait2008 - Macworld, San FranciscoAmidst all the rumours about the launch of a new slim notebook which made me wait, Macbook Air was launched. Lacking key features, Macbook cleared the Air. Angel & JusticeApril 2008, MumbaiAngel V to the rescue, yet again. Macbook arrived and the feeling of holding this white ethereal beauty in my arms could be second only to embracing Charlize Theron ;). It was well worth the wait as I got my hands on the recently upgraded Macbook configuration. Desktop Experience - RedefinedJune 2008, Somewhere in HyderabadTwo Months. Amazing visuals, user friendly interface, no crashes, no anti-virus, superb search engine and productive Mac-only software have justified my faith in Apple.

I came across this real story on one of my friends blog. Read it, feel it and let it hurt enough to do something about it:http://sriharshagrama.blogspot.com/2008/03/heart-touching-story.html

Watching a movie with friends is a last minute contingency plan to enjoy a weekend and it works most of the times. On a certain lazy weekend afternoon, we decided to go for a movie. Rushing through the bustling Hyderabad traffic, we made it to the theatre just in time. As soon as the availability of the ticket was confirmed, the person behind the counter asked my friend to stand right in front of the ticket counter. A tad confused, my friend followed the instructions given to him; only to realize later that the ticket was having his photo printed on it. The photo was taken via a webcam and thereby the instructions. The movie ticket was bar coded and the bar code is scanned upon entering the movie hall thereby registering your entry into the movie hall. It is an extremely efficient way of keeping track of people and also an interesting use of technology in a theatre.

Nobody launches their product the way Apple does. Speculation, curiosity, teasers, rumours and publicity are some of the characteristic traits that one would associate with the launch of an Apple product. Apple has done it again; iPod, iPhone, Leopard and now Air.Apple yet again manages to showcase its design supremacy and prowess with Air. Sexy, sleek and attractive – this beauty has got all the right curves.Targeted at the Ultra-portable notebook segment, it is bound to raise eyebrows and has got the looks to kill. It lacks an optical drive and expandability of the device is a concern but I have to agree with the advertisement, there’s definitely something in the Air.

It’s been about a week, away from Bangalore and I am feeling nostalgic about Bangalore. I have highlighted some of the important things below:Super hit bus~Colourful bus with two displays, playing regional movies with loud music blaring from multiple speakersBargaining for fare with auto-rickshaw drivers10 people sharing a single auto-rickshawEating in Andhra mess once in a while, as though it was a luxury Passing time during the weekends @ Forum mallCribbing about the exorbitant movie ticket rates, yet ending up watching movies @ PVRShopping @ MarathalliTravelling in CabsExperimenting with food on weekends

Once upon a time, in a house far far away…somewhere in the dark dungeons of Bangalore (Electronics city), an attempt was being made to successfully complete a task. The memories of the last encounter were still fresh in the mind and the consequences had turned out to be lethal then. The odds were not in favour but he had been the chosen one. There was no choice; often having no choice gets the best out of the people.Chanting the Spartan law ‘No retreat, no surrender’ under his breath, he undertook the task. Sweaty palms, heavy breathing and extreme concentration were conspicuous. Amid the tension, there was a minor goof-up in proceeding with the task as per the strategy.Finally, after a strenuous two minutes, Maggi was ready.

It’s been long time since I have posted. I am going to try and post at least once in a month.Agent Tyler was in search of good headphones and was looking for headphones which would help to get the best out of the Apple iPod.The best place to start looking for reviews is on the Internet. After a lot of Googling, I fixed my mind on buying the Sennheiser HD-201 as it had the perfect price/performance ratio. So, the first visit was to Apple showroom in Forum but unfortunately they did not have HD-201.The sales guy at Apple said that they did not take orders for Sennheiser. So, I had to find another dealer for the same. Back to the Internet, I found the list of dealers on www.sennheiser.com/india . I called each and every dealer and fortunately one of them had HD-201. Off we went (Bharath accompanied me) and after a few problems in finding the place, we finally reached the showroom and I got my hands-on HD-201. The pack was sealed and the dealer would not let me try it out. It was a calculative risk that I took (based on all the reviews on the Internet) and it paid off. Thanks to all those who had taken out the time to write the reviews for it. I have been listening to music ever since on this beauty and it ROCKS! Superb crystal clear sound and with a little bit of tweaking of the iPod EQ (thanks to Bharath for that tip) it sounds even better than the Bose entry level Headphones which were being sold at a premium. I am no audiophile but the sound quality is as good as it gets.All in all, a great buy if you want quality sound at an affordable price.

The aftermath of the phenomenal success of iPod was a string of chain mails suggesting the possibility of the launch of a mobile phone from Apple. Every mail came up with a new design. After receiving hundreds of mails, there was an official announcement from Apple about the launch of a revolutionary mobile phone. From the moment the information was out to the time that I had a look at the video (which demonstrated all the features of the Apple iPhone), my curiosity reached an all time high.In India, Apple did not have mass market penetration as their products are costly and out of reach of the common man until Apple launched iPod (which by the way is also not dirt cheap but by virtue of comparison with other Apple products is cheap). I was lucky to get an opportunity to grasp one of those sexy beauties which had the trademark Apple design and class. God bless Jonathan Ive! Holding the iPod in my hand and briskly shuffling through the songs with the WHEEL was an exhilarating experience in itself. People would argue that iPod has fewer features than other MP3 players from other market competitors but I would say that none of those players make a style statement. There is a difference between an iPod and a JAMP (Just Another MP3 Player). iPod also has a plethora of accessories which make up for the lack of features.Coming back to iPhone, the critics are not wrong in pointing out the flaws of non-replaceable battery, security issues, lack of service provider tie-ups and some other problems. I don’t know whether iPhone is going to live up to the hype or not but I would bet my money on one fact that iPhone would sell - no matter what the flaws! There are many similarities between iPod and iPhone. Many came, many went but iPod conquered and it will not be an overstatement to say that iPhone is on its way to meet a similar fate. Godspeed!

Like almost everyone in Bangalore, our favourite hangout place is Forum Mall. Among all the beautiful creatures in there, my eyes fell on a humongous banner in Forum Mall. The banner read “Turn on the bluetooth functionality on your mobile phone and you can receive information about the best deals in the mall”. Just out of sheer curiosity, I turned on my bluetooth device and voilà! It was clearly mentioned in the banner that you have to accept the message with only a particular signature “Welcome.png”. This may have serious security implications as it may be easy to forge messages which are having a similar signature. This form of advertising and marketing of products is a very novel concept, especially in India. If the marketing strategy is backed up by a foolproof security plan it would allow to target advertisements to a niche market. Atleast there is a start, keep up the good work!

After tasting all different kinds of rice, sambhar, daal, papu, rasam and all that, I was feeling completely restless to have some kind of food which reminds me of home food or hometown. Even my room-mate (Nikhil Babu) shared my feelings about having Maharashtrian food (Nothing new here. He thinks, dreams and eats food all day and he is bound to feel bad about having the same kind of food everyday).Luckily, I came across a review of a Maharashtrian hotel on Bangalore Belly and from the moment i read the review to the moment i found the hotel in Jayanagar, we (of course, my room-mate got excited the moment i conveyed the result of my findings) had innumerable illusions of having all that food.Finally when the moment arrived, we ordered almost half of the items on the menu. The lady behind the counter must have thought we are coming from a famine hit place, looking at the intensity at which we ordered the food. After having a sumptuous meal ,we appreciated the owner on having served delicious food. Of course, we thanked her in Marathi for making our day such a special one. And so there our search for Maharashtrian food ended in some small hotel in Karnataka.