Apple Mac “This is why im hot!”

Owning a MacBookPro is no joke for some of us. First you have to come to terms with the amount of money you are just about to spend on a laptop as opposed to the ones you generally get to use for free most of your days. None the less i did shelve out the insane sum of money because at the end of any amount of research you tend to end at only one conclusion ” An Apple is an Apple!”

But my proud ownership soon turned into clinical frustration as my MBP started to act up. It would freeze for no reason even while doing mundane tasks as simple as opening a browser window or moving the cursor right after boot up. With Apple stores sprouting at every corner i soon found one close to where i live and took it to the Genius bar for diagnosis. A couple of visits later i got my Hard Drive replaced but the problems still continued. Last week i had to wait 30 minutes before the OS let me inside.

So i took my MBP one final time to the store and the nice staff graciously offered to replace my laptop and not only that i got a few coll upgrade that i would’ve got had i waited a month to buy my first MBP. So renewed in faith i think i realized personally why Apple’s following is only set to grow over the coming years. With stylish innovative products and first class service they’ve pretty much got the formula all figured out.

Mac - A Boon and a Bane

When you walk into a group of people who have worked with nothing but Windows driven machines all your life, don’t expect anything more than a raised eyebrow or two when you unveil your Macbook (pro) from its case. Having recently decided to try out something new and join the Apple bandwagon I decided it was time to join the minority of people who dare use a mac as part of their daily lives and the journey so far has been interesting.

1. “Oh isn’t he the guy with the Mac?!” - In more traditional organizations (the ones without the new  ‘Life 2.0′ crowd) owning a Mac is like having a Rolls Royce Phantom in a parking lot filled with Mustangs and Toyotas. The sheer nature of the car and its uniqueness grabs every ones attention. A boardroom filled with ‘heartless suits’ will stop whatever it is they are doing to see the unveiling of a mac from its laptop bag. A mac is a sure eye catcher. And if you think the cute girl in the other cubicle is giving you the looks, just know “ITS NOT YOU!”. If you own a Mac be prepared to handle all the attention and answer some of the very basic questions “How big a hole did it leave in your wallet?”. “Does it work?” (from a day to day office perspective). And if the attention is not enough, the sheer look out being ‘outdone’ on the faces of everyone else (especially the suits who should in normal circumstances be doing better than you) should be quite satisfying. 
2. “My mommy said “Life is not a bed of roses” : All the attention and love in the world can’t get you a ‘get out of jail free’ card when it comes to getting your work done. Working on a mac required some patience especially if you are a new convert. So be prepared for the odd ball that comes your way. For example a task of connecting to  a networked printer can be more painful that trying to retrieve data from a crashed windows system. Going ‘cold turkey’ is not recommended for new converts and it might be a better idea to have a windows installation on your mac (just in case!). Mac still has a long way to go before it will be adopted with arms wide!

Conclusion : Owning a mac can be an exhilarating experience and working with it is a pleasure. However its still a long way to go before corporates start accepting it as a ‘common standard’.

Encyclopædia Britannica - Free for a blogger

Remember the stolen sidekick story that broke out a year or so ago or the jailed egyptian blogger and not to forget the pivotal story of how Yahoo got a chinese blogger arrested. All these stories are a result of blogging. And of course blogging is no joke its a lot of hard work just ask Scoble or Michael Arrington or any of the top guys in the blogosphere.

Blogging being such an important reporting platform as it is, many companies have shown a whole lot of affection to bloggers (both famous and not-so-famous alike). For example, when zooomr came out, they offered free pro accounts for all bloggers. 

Now Encyclopædia Britannica is offering access to its articles free for a year if you meet their criteria which as per their site goes something like this

Note: This program is intended for people who publish with some regularity on the Internet, be they bloggers, webmasters, or writers. We reserve the right to deny participation to anyone who in our judgment doesn’t qualify.

So if you do happen to post ‘regularly’ on the internet go ahead, register and await the email from Britannica that says “you’ve won gold!”

I’m gone … I’m back!

Almost a year ago, I decided to experiment getting my own domain space after seeing my good friend Clazh get his own space. But after a while it occurred to me that this ‘own space’ business wasn’t all that glamourous after all - especially not for hobby writers such as myself. Therefore I’m back with the pledge that i will never cross over to the dark side!

Expect more in the days to come from the good ol’ WildGrey!

Voizd.com

Ladies and gentlemen, its my pleasure to bring before you Voizd. This brand new release of a blog will ..ah well read all about it there.

Voizd - let our voices be heard

Wild Hogs - The Review

Is a road trip the ultimate cure for people dealing with mid-life crisis? Like never before, this seems to be the self-prescribed solution. But having said that, a road trip is a fabulous unwinding experience for all.

The movie portrays the lives of 4 individuals who decide its time to change the monotony that has slowly and unknowingly crept into their lives.Although from varied circumstances and lives, there are two things that create an unspoken bond between them:

1. Mid-life crisis
2. A love for biking

They agree the latter seemed to be the perfect solution to bring back the spice of life and head out on this road trip that sees them bring out parts of them that they had chosen to suppress through life’s course. With only a ‘no rules’ rule applicable, they set out and it isn’t long before they find trouble before trouble finds them.

Life has made wimps out of these four and its all about finding their true selves back. After ‘losing’ one of their bikes to a mean Del Fuegos biker gang, they steal it back and in the process happen to blow up the gang’s hangout. Running from them the Wild Hogs end up in Madrid, a sleepy town where they are forced to stay for the night. This is when some of the very interesting experiences help them forge the bonds of friendship stronger.

The on screen chemistry between a group of four unlikely individuals - a little comedy from Martin Lawrence, blossoming love between William Macy and the ever so pretty Marisa Tomei, add to that larger than life Travolta and a Tim Allen we can all relate to and you got yourself a pretty potent combination of flavors to keep you enticed for a long time.

All in all a decent watch that has also got me making investment plans for my road trip in a few years from now.

Rating: 7/10

Its Green Time

It is DIFFICULT to get a man to understand something when his SALARY depends on his NOT UNDERSTANDING IT - Upton Sinclair

Global Warming is definitely an issues that’s on our minds, at least our sub-conscious. An Inconvenient Truth certain helps one get a perspective into the seriousness of this problem. Although many people, material have tried to help open peoples’ eyes to this grave concern, none have managed to drive the point home better.

Al Gore has demonstrated through this documentary, without a shadow of doubt, the impending consequences that we are about to face as a result of our ‘ignorant and blind’ actions over the past decades. What captured my attention for the entire duration was the sequence in which his point were stated, adequate use of imagery and video and also his ability to connect with his audience no matter what region of the globe they are from.

The idea of ‘go green’ is not something new. Its been around for quite some time. I remember a show on Discovery that discussed this very issue form a ‘worst case’ perspective. Although i watched this show at least 5 years back, i do distinctly remember the designs of an architect ( i have not been able to research him on Google) who came up with designs for buildings meant to be constructed on water - the designs being inspired by his fascination towards ‘gears’.

In my quest to find anything i could about the architect and his designs, i stumbled upon a few (out of millions) of ‘green designs’ and other ‘green news’ that are worth taking a look.

• Initiatives amongst the Gulf countries to align themselves with the ‘green’ attitude’.
• Designs from Koen Olthuis of Waterstudio.nl who believes the best course for humanity is becoming ‘friends with water’.
• What would a house in the future look like with all the green initiatives kicking into high gear? Check out this thought inspiring vision.

We have to be able to change the world we will in, for us and for our future and perhaps a renewable resource like ‘political will’ could give us the direction we are looking for to help forge on in this time of uncertain futures.

Time - A new Perspective

• How long does it take to get an online shares trading account opened up? I found out that a procedure that should take no more than 2 weeks can extend and extend up to 2 freaking months.

• It takes more that 30 minutes to try to explain the difference between a blog and a forum to your boss and convince him to go with one.

• It only takes a second to realize you’ve been a total jacka$$.

• It might take upto an eternity trying to correct the mistakes that you have made.

• The 2 hours you spent watching TMNT will never be restored to you. The 30 second video clips that you watch may yield more emotional and physical stimulation.

Oh for the love of God..

One of the many things, yeah many things, i hate about my town is the fact that you can never plan and get anything done. I normally don’t schedule any activity over the weekend besides watching a movie or three(couldn’t write 2 here ). But today  I decided it was time to get some stuff done - stuff that i have been putting off for quite some time. And once i reach there to get the thing done, can’t do it coz there was no electricity.

What does a man have to do to get things to work according to a plan that he seldom conjures up. Its plain ridiculous. Now i know why they say “life in the west (read middle east and west) is so much easier and faster than out here”. I wonder if people living in cosmopolitan cities endure the same predicaments as us poor folks out in the suburbs.

Divorce is so over-rated!

What God has brought together, let no man break asunder

Most Christians pride themselves with the fact that their family values are upheld by the very fact that they do things together. They pray together, eat together, watch TV together etc etc.

A family that prays together, stays together

But is this true? New data says other wise. The results of a recent poll on this very subject reveals surprising results. Read the entire article here

So the next time someone you know talks about the subject of divorce make sure you throw this at them. It could turn out to be a very interesting conversation