Notebook,LifeBook and now the "ToughBook"!

After the proliferation of the standard Notebook category of laptops , Fujitsu came out with its version, the Fujitsu LifeBook. Now we have Panasonic coming into the laptop market with the Panasonic ToughBook. The ToughBooks are targeted at the engineering , construction, defence and utility segments where the working conditions demand not only performance but high resistance to wear and tear.

Most of us would have seen these laptops in the recently released hollywood flick " Mr & Mrs Smith" starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as covert spies.The movie shows Brad Pitt picking up a ToughBook and analysing it for evidence after a crash and burn sequence. Viola' the ToughBook true to its name reveals all even after being burnt beyond recognition.

Billed as the toughest notebook computers in the market, Panasonic has priced the semi-rugged variety from $3500 onwards, while the rugged laptops have been priced at $5500 onwards.ToughBooks are made as per US military wartime specifications and have a market share of 74 per cent in the 'ruggedised PC category' as per research.

The notebooks have a proprietary magnesium alloy casing which is 20 times stronger than ABS plastic and five times stronger than titanium.The hard disk in the notebooks come in a metal casing with sponge and polymer compounds that insulate it from any shock.The notebooks do not have any vent and all its covers are sealed with synthetic resin to protect against water and dust.They also come with an outdoor readable LCD screen.

Pretty Tough Huh!

Are you game for one!

Laughter the Best Medicine!

Check out these riotous one liners and two and three ...... liners .

Take 1
Somebody has said there are only two kinds of people in the world.There are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good morning, Lord,"And there are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good Lord, it's morning."

Take 2
Never give me work in the morning. Always wait until 4:00 and then bring it to me. The challenge of a deadline is refreshing.

Take 3
Banta was visiting Santa, who had acquired two new dogs, and asked her what their names were. Santa responded by saying that one was named Rolex and one was named Timex.Banta: Whoever heard of someone naming dogs like that?"HELLOOOOOO," answered Santa. "They're watch dogs!"

Take 4
"Hello! Where are you coming from?" asked Bill."Oh, don't ask me! I'm coming from the cemetery. I just burried my mother-in-law" replied Jim."I'm so sorry!" said Bill, "But why is your face scratched all over?""It wasn't so easy!" said Sid, "She put on a hell of a fight!"

Take 5
The owner of a company tells his employees:You worked very hard this year. The company's profits increased dramatically. As a reward, I 'll give everyone a check for Rs 5000. If you work with the same zeal next year, I'll sign those checks.

Take 6
Q: What four letter word starts with F and ends with K and if a man can't get it he uses his hands?
A: Fork

Gotcha " U probabably thought something else"

Movie Review : The Rising

Cast: Aamir Khan, Toby Stephens, Rani Mukherjee,Amisha Patel.
Director : Ketan Mehta

The long wait is finally over, India's most talked about movie project since the heydays of Devdas, has just hit the silver screen. It had been clearly cited as a movie ,tailor made for the masses, and aptly seen by fans of Aamir Khan as a sequel to his bravado against the British in Lagaan. After watching the movie , i felt that it left a lot to be desired.

This is certainly no " Lagaan" as said by both Director and cast in unanimous voice during pre-release functions. The movie revolves around the life and times of Mangal Pandey , an ordinary sepoy of the British East India Company,and how he single handedly challenges the Company for defiling the religious sentiments of Indian Sepoys. The movie seeks to glorify Mangal Pandey's role as the spark which ignited the First War of Independence.Yes we would like to see more of Aamir Khan after his 4 year hiatus but that in no way explains him getting 80% of the screen space and the rest of the talented cast having to share the remaining 20%.

There was nothing magnificient or unique about the Battle scenes , which were supposed to induce the A-factor in the movie. We could have surely done without the digitally enhanced scene of the Rangoon regiment's battleships arriving at the harbour. With so much attention to detail , this is one of the major drawbacks in the movie. The music direction by A.R. Rahman is a let down, except for the "Mangal, Mangal" track the other songs are way off the mark.

A few bright areas are visible , Toby Stephens as "William Gordon"has surely put in a lot of effort in learning Hindi and his acting skills are matched only by Aamir Khan. The King Khan surely deserves accolades for another job well done, he has literally gone into the skin of the character. Such committment can only be expected from Aamir Khan.Rani Mukherjee as the nautch girl Heera excels in the frames shared with Aamir. She sure has come a long way since her debut and looks like portraying character roles with relative ease. Amisha Patel as the widow has done her bit, but going back to her statements to the media about her extensive research to portray the role of a would be sati , i guess thats a job well done ,although she had limited presence in the movie.

The hype and hoopla surrounding the movie was nothing but a marketing gimmick which is a new fad learnt by Bollywood Production Houses. Plainly speaking its like make more noise before rather than after the movie.Strangely though this year movies like "Waqt" ," Black" etc have done rather well at the Box Office without any sizeable marketing ploy. The verdict is out, the race to the Oscars is still open for any takers in Bollywood.

Rating: *** ( Good)

58 Years On ! India Shining or Not ?

Happy Independence Day one and all!

Of course India is shining. Just ask the guy who is raking in the moolah from his BPO company. Or ask those who are buying all the electronic gizmos from the mega stores in the mega cities. India,defined strictly as those people at the top of the heap who make a flashy living because the supply of people at the bottom of the heap is so abundant that they work for next to nothing. India is still bracketed as being among the nations where the average person lives on less than $1.50 a day.

It's useless arguing against the statement that india is shining but only for 2% of the population. Multinational corporations have an "India centric strategy" and not a day goes by when international publications like NY TIMES ,WALL STREET JOURNAL run an article on india. I have personally come to believe that this feel good factor about india shining never dies down in indians. Conversing with a friend who had recently returned from a trip back to his hometown in india,i asked him , how are things back home. Pronto came the reply "they have never been better". Everyone he knew had a TV set, washing machine, mobile phone, cd player ,car. India had prospered beyond his imagination.

India has always been shining for some elite group or the other. If you neglect the hopeless 970,000,000 and just concentrate on the 30 to 40 million who have it all — from PCs to cars to foreign vacations — India is shining like a crazy diamond.The loopholes and potholes are however exposed in a big way.BPO and callcenters notwithstanding, when you see 120,000 people show upto apply for 40 job openings, you know that sooner rather than later, it is going to sink. When you hear that 40% of India’s childrenunder the age of 5 are malnourished, you know that the future is bleak. When you know that the vast majority of Indians don’t have high school diplomas, you also know that in the coming age of a global knowledge economy, Indians will not be able to compete against literate nations.

What is wrong in believeing India is shining even if its for a select section of people, asks my friend? I tell him, that in 58 years we have been following our own footsteps and also our neighbours footsteps , believing what is all hunky-dory and neglecting hard issues which will have a telling effect on the future of India as a global economy. If we need examples we need to look no further than South Korea, forget about population, land area,resources and other issues, South Korea has emerged from scratch to be one of the economic superpowers in Asia.This has been done by focus on economic growth without neglecting the growth of people. Our strength is in our people , unless we focus on development of people ,economic growth will have no meaning in the long run.

Heights of Downsizing!

Going by the recent happenings in the business world it comes as no surprise to me that Addidas have finally let the rabbit out of the hat. Yes! Its official now Reebok is gonna be owned and managed by Addidas.

But hey this is gotta be cruel on Reebok coz' over the years it has been giving both Nike and Addidas a run for their money in the lucrative worldwide market for sneakers and sport's accessories.

But why such a sudden turnaround, it baffles me and the people at the receiving end of this acquisition are the hot shots in the Reebok corporate headquarters , predominantly based in China , Thailand, Malaysia & Indonesia.

The talk of the town is that top corporate positions , going by departments are gonna be trimmed down to accomodate the acquirer's ( Addidas) representatives.Downsizing is tough but in an acquisition it becomes nasty , heads roll and hell breaks loose. As indicated by the illustration maybe some top honchos have to compromise on certain quarters to stay afloat.

Believe it or Not! India More Closer to Mars than Earth

A string of incidents in the last few days have brought forth startling evidence which indicates that India is closer to mars than earth. It started with a couple of bomb blasts in Kashmir which left 56 dead , this was followed by the death of more than 40 people in a stampede at Mumbai during a tsunami scare following the floods.

The mayhem at Mumbai was just complete when a few lost their lives to bullets of Indian Police in Srinagar. Just a few minutes back as mars started to pull away, 30 children lost their lives as a bridge collapsed in Daman. As mars passed closest ever to earth in 60,000 years, India was definitely closer to it than earth.Indian astrologers immediately pounced on the opportunity and insisted that India is not just closer to Mars, but it is closer to the entire solar system.

“Look” said Swami Futureshock, “we have more deaths that are meaningless than any other part of earth”.After all these years it just took Mars a few days to prove that India was more closer to the Solar System than earth. For example, planetary systems have been managing Politics and Sex in India for more than thousand years. Kings and Politicians have planned their policy by consulting their horoscope. All marriages are made in heaven when in India! This is done by checking the compatibility of the bride and groom using the horoscope. This has lead to the lowest divorce rate and the highest AIDS infected population. It took mars to come really close to India for no one to notice that 3 out 4 abnormal deaths can be traced to misinterpreted religion and belief in planetary systems.

Save Your Wives from " Bush" !

It is said that George W. Bush Senior was a patriot, his successor William Jefferson Clinton was a man of peace , but we have surely mistaken George Bush Junior as a warmonger. He is a step ahead of Clinton.

World leaders are busy protecting their vital assets during their state trips to the United States.

Certainly war is not the only thing on Dubya's mind.