Drive me lazy

I always used to wonder what my life would have been if God had not created a calculator; I'm bad with numbers, my math is bad... really bad. I don't know if thats some kind of a disability but i have never taken it as one. I know that there are so many things which I'm good at (haven't figured them out yet tho), but when it comes to maths, I just use a calculator. I also believe that my disability to remember dates is also related to my problem with numbers. I don't remember birthdays; well even mine. Google calendar is one of the apps I religiously visit daily. I've also synced Gcal to my phone calendar, so I'm pretty confident that i wont miss any important dates. Then there are to do lists, reminders, alarms etc to help me further to remember things so that i don't have to give a lot of work for my brains. I also believe that all these gadgets which made my life easier have also made me lazy.

I guess its my laziness which has made me a 'heavy weight'. And I've been using the "no time" excuse to not do any kind of exercice too. I have also got a diet chart which I think if followed will make me malnourished. But I'm open to not eat things which are fattening and not healthy. But I'm again lazy to read the calories and find out whether its too much for me etc.

What if there was a plate which told me if the food I've taken is good or bad for me. I just dont understand the calorie and fat chart. Just tell me if its good or bad so that I can avoid eating that or may be reduce the quantity. May be it can turn green to red to show how good or bad. Of course it would be a special plate to change colors according to the food; it should also be intelligent enough to find out my weight and body state by reading data signals from my body by me just holding it. I'm sure that my body or at least the brain knows if I'm over weight, if my organs have any specific problem, if i have an allergy etc. This information is what the plate would be reading to find out whether the food I have in my plate is actually good for me. May be it can also show me if the taste of the food is according to my likings? May be I'm pushing it this time...

To be continued (Of course when I have more ideas on how to drive me lazy)

Internet on the move

Its quite amazing to know that inspite of internet being a part of almost all of us, mobile internet has not been able to reach upto that levels yet. Its partly coz of ignorance among the users that their mobile phone can also be used to browse internet other than making calls and SMSing. The other reason would be the not so great user experience of browsing internet on a mobile phone which has made users stay away. But after the iPhone happened, every phone manufacturer has jumped into the "touch phone which is also a powerful internet device" bandwagon, which aspires to give users a compelling mobile internet browsing experience. After iPhone the users are also becoming aware of the fact that they can browse on their phone. Mobile service providers have also started marketing their services around mobile internet; almost all recent Aircel ads have been revolving around internet connectivity on phones. I personally have donned the role of a mobile internet evangelist for quite some time now, spreading the word and have also been able to successfully coax people into using internet on mobile.

Some time back I had run a small survey on Twitter and Facebook asking people what all do they use mobile internet for and also the reason if they don't. As expected the Twitter community was already aware of internet on mobile but there were still some people who hadn't tried it out.

Most people who stayed away from mobile internet said they didn't have to as they are online on their computer. Well I think its like saying "I don't need a mobile phone coz I have a land line". Mobile internet is supposed to be used when you are on the move and not in front of your computer. There is no point in using it when you are in front of the computer.

Some people also thought the small mobile phone screen wouldn't be enough for them to browse the internet. Most of our popular daily use sites (email/news/) have a mobile version which makes it easy to use on almost all new age mobile phones. I had talked about it some time ago.

The following were some of the responses I got...

My Friend: my phone cannot do internet

@mekkanikal: I do. Check my mail and update stuff on twitter all the time. I use it for reader and google, map, local search as well!

@morphiine: I dnt use net on mobile..coz my mobile doesnt have dis facility..ya i wud browse if i had the facility...

@Karthik: I use mobile internet always when I leave comp for long time and it can be anything from twitter to mails.

@KritiA: For Twitter ofcourse!

@vimalg2: EDGE++ Opera mini for news, Nokia Push Email, Gmail Java app, Slick IM (Jabber), and Putty SSH to keep an eye on all *nix servers

@ajuonline: To check mail and stay on IM while on the move. And as a backup, when not on the move :-)

@tsuvik: I use it for tweeting majorly and googling sometimes.

@scorpfromhell: I use mobile internet mostly for jibjib (twitter j2me client), google reader & offfice emails. some times 4 picblogging & googling.

@vsr: Primarily for gmail & twitter on the move. another reason would be tht I don't have a *internet* conn. & EDGE's my way of access.

@cruisemaniac: contacts+sms backup, chat, twitter, mail(push-or-not), music(wifi only), browsing, google-reader, app-download, flickr, twitpic, voip

@FagunB: Mobile bill payment, tweeting, mail check (push) n app download - rarely to connect thru putty (for app testing)

@unitechy: twitter/email/photo upload.. basically for social networking. i think on twitter everyone uses mobile internet

@jinadcruz: Twitter..Local restaurent search..movie search..gmail..actually all kindsa mail..fb..et al

@vivekk: i say no. Nokia 1100 supports torch and SMS. That's it

@fossiloflife: yes I do, to check mails, Tweet, FB, News, general gyan

@Zishaan: email, gmail, gchat, web browsing, calendar, address book, facebook, twitter, maps, google search

@the100rabh: I dont use MI because I am connected to my laptop most of time and plus over the roof wireless internet charges. I wish WiMAX comes to India soon and we have broadband with mobility. Thats when MI makes sense.

@poojakashyap: I don't use mobile internet coz the connectivity is too slow.

@dkris: The only 2 reasons why I use MI for tweeting, checking on emails.But yeah not always.Since its expensive

@jijoy: i use it for twitter,MFE n Youtube

@pratiksinghal: Nope i dont use mobile internet. reasons-i use net almost full day on lappy & mobile sceen is too small to properly browse!

@varunkhanduja: No. The small screen of mobile doesn't gives me same feel as using on comp. Personally don't like using Internet 24x7

@netcraze: Yes for email, fring, almost all google products, twitter, zedge, facebook, feed reading..

@itdeepak: I use mobile internet for everything. What is iphone without a mobile browser.

@nikhilnarayanan: Googling,tweeting/email when no internet is available

Souparna: Don't have a connection on the phone, and somehow don't see the immediate need to since i am connected via my system most of the day anyway!

Joy: I do .. checking location route maps .. and bars in bangalore to go .. some times for scores. works out cheaper than smses :)

Susheel: I do, I use it for twitter, to check the names of actors in movies (IMDB.com, i can never remember names) and to check my business and personal mail.

Anjali: I don't ! There's a life away from the internet !

Shikha: Gmail. GReader. Twitter. AskLaila. Facebook. Music. Finding restaurants. Finding places. A lot of searching. Okay, I know. I'm addicted ;-).

Siddhartha Sen Choudhary: I will use Internet on mobile only when a mobile like Nokia N97 replaces my laptop :) Doesn't makes sense to go for GPRS connection only for mobile browsing.