Penned Thoughts

Milind looked his name up on the Urban Dictionary and it turns out that it’s used to describe a “diligent brown driver”. Of course, I had to look up mine as well. You’ll never guess how it describes “Aayush”.

Legend has it that this guy is a human blessed with unearthly powers. The sexiest man on earth according to Indian mythology, he is the Indian counterpart of modern superheroes like Spiderman, Hulk and Batman.

Anybody who confesses to have come in contact with this unique character mentions him to have an extremely sharp intellect, which is why he is known to be the heart throb among the females.

His opulent lifestyle, his undiplomatic talk and his vitriolic wit has alienated him from mortal human beings, to a large extent however his entourage among humanity remains unchallenged.

Ravi: Dad, I want to grow up and be like Ramesh.

Dad: Well, who doesn’t. After all, he is the Aayush of his time.

I kid you not, that is the actual description of my name on the Urban Dictionary! If this had been Wikipedia, I would have dismissed it as the opinion of some random joe named Aayush somewhere, but if the Urban Dictionary says I am a “human blessed with unearthly powers”, all I can do is humbly bow my head and say, “now, now, you don’t have to be so dramatic about it!”

Update: And, just for kicks, do check out the descriptions for the people who unfortunately ended up with the shorter, wrongly spelt version of my name. Yes, I have way too much free time today.

Another opinion column about the reaction to the iPad that I highly recommend.

(via Instapaper)

Milind’s take on the iPad’s lack of multitasking. It got Fireballed so it must be good.

Joel Johnson:

Apple is selling a product. They’ve chosen to keep it closed for demonstrably reasonable benefits. And—yes, okay!—several collateral benefits that come from controlling the marketplace that services their products.

But Apple is not the government. There’s no mandate to buy an Apple product except the call of excellence. And if you think the average persona on the street doesn’t recognize both the ups and downs of buying into an Apple ecosystem, you’re eyeing them with the typical nerd myopia, looking down your nose with the same autistic disdain you cultivated in high school. Turns out the internet you helped build as a sanctuary ended up a great place for normal folk, too.

Bravo! Recommended reading.

Ever since the iPad came out, I’ve been thinking aloud about it on Twitter and going into furious debates with Apple apologists and haters alike but I haven’t been able to express my exact sentiments about this device as accurately and humourously as Mr. Brooker has. So go and give his essay a read. Needless to say, I absolutely agree with him.

In fact, a week before its launch, I wrote an article about it that never got published. Now that the Apple tablet has been released, it’s only fitting that I present that article to you, especially because I still stand by my opinion of the iPad as it was before I had ever laid eyes on the device. Here goes:

Ah, Apple rumors! You can never have enough of them. The most prominently accepted rumor currently is that Apple is going to unveil a tablet at its 27th January special event. You know, one of those notebook-without-a-keyboard things that no one has ever been able to figure out a practical use for? Yes, that’s the one.

Riddle me this—if you already have a smartphone (or an app phone, superphone, super-smart phone, freaking awesome phone, or whatever they’re calling them these days) and a notebook, why would you want another device that is neither as functional and powerful as a notebook nor as communication-savvy and portable as a phone?

The rumored tablet falls squarely in the category of products that people can only use in their toilets. I, for one, cannot even imagine any practical use for a MacBook Air, a notebook that is a little more portable than regular notebooks but much less powerful than one, besides serving as a very expensive secondary computer for people who only have a desktop.

There are two things to take into consideration though. (A) Different people have different requirements and what may not appeal to me may be a very compelling product for others; and (B) Apple has a knack for coming up with products that defy conventional wisdom and up the standards of usability to the point where they gain mass-market appeal.

In the old days, I would have unceremoniously dismissed all tablet rumors as fantastic sandcastles that only existed in the minds of their perpetrators. However, times have changed and Apple has been far more leaky in recent years than they used to be. It may either be by design or simply because it’s hard to plug all holes in the ship when you are a behemoth of a corporation. Either way, persistent Apple rumors are much more likely to be true these days than not.

Therefore, I do believe than an Apple tablet is coming, as prophesied in the holy scriptures. But I also believe that, just like the iPhone before it, the real deal will be quite a bit different from all that we’ve heard about it so far and will have unique features that we haven’t got wind of yet. And, of course, it will cost you more than the mortgage on your house!

And yet, somehow, I’m sure that I will not be purchasing it. Color me skeptical, but even in my wildest, most detailed fantasies, I’ve never been able to come up with an Apple product which would fill a significant gap between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone and would be a compelling purchase for me. I would love to be proven wrong though.

You know what would be awesome though? If, come Wednesday, all Steve Jobs does is talk about App Store download statistics for a half-hour and then hands the stage to Phil Schiller who spends another hour talking about a new version of iWork. One week later, they launch the tablet on their website with the slogan, “We just love messing with you guys!”