As much as possible - AVOID!!!

Chronology of events
- I ordered a chicken roll at 920pm today.
- the guy called me back at 930pm saying he doesn't have change and
therefore I should keep change ready. I confirmed I have change.
- 1010pm I called up to confirm if my order was sent. He said the
person has left and I should be getting in a while
- 1030pm I called up - the person still hadn't reached. He said the
person will jus be reaching
- 1045pm - he said the person has really left this time

So it is 1 hour 25 mins and my roll is still not here.

Awesome Diwali Weekend!!

Dates: 5th to 7th Nov'10

Persons: Gitika, Both in laws

Stay at Swapnadeep Beach Resort, Murud Karde

Date wise itinerary

5th Nov'10

• Started from Malad at 630AM, Reached Murud Karde at 1230PM
• Quick lunch and than slept till 5PM
• Off for a drive to Harnai beach and the hill nearby. Awesome view of the beach from atop the hill - absolutely fabulous!!!
• Evening at beach

6th Nov'10

• Started at 930AM for Guhagar Beach. Reached Guhagar beach at 1230PM
• Route taken: Murud - Dapoli - Khed - Chiplun - Rampur - Guhagar. The Chiplun - Guhagar stretch on State Highway 78 is a driver's delight. The beautiful twisting turns, less traffic and well maintained roads, are a delight to drive. You can do averages of 80-100kmph without any sweat
• Lunch at Abhiruchi veg restaurant - clean, Marathi veg food
• Went to Velneshwar - not so great beach. Can avoid
• Started from Velneshwar at 330PM, reached Murud at 630PM by same road

7th Nov'10

• Started at 915AM from Murud
• Route taken: Murud - Anjarle - Kelshi (Road: MSH-4)
• Kelshi - Mandangad (Road: Velvi Kelshi Road and than State Highway 70)
• Mandangad - Goregaon (Road: State Highway 100) - and than NH17 to Mumbai

Highlights of the trip

• Murud-Anjarle stretch on MSH-4 - this is an awesomely beautiful stretch to drive. Rolling roads on top of a hill - the sea on one side, with green valleys on the other side - this stretch does take your breath away
• The beach next to Anjarle - this is not the main Anjarle beach. Once you reach Anjarle village, instead of taking the left to Anjarle beach, take the right. After the village is over, you reach this, small, virgin white sand beach at the end of which is a small hill. With not a soul in sight, you just want to roll a carpet below one of the trees, and read a book. The beach is very shallow and very clean. Reminded me of Coral Island at Pattaya.
• Guhagar Beach - awesome white sand beach. It has a steep gradient and the waves are quite large. Very clean beach again. Reminds you of Goa beaches
• The drive from Chiplun - Guhagar. The road twists and rolls across small hills. The State highway 78 is beautifully maintained, traffic is very less. You can drive at an average of 80-100 kmph

The following is the entire route map

<br /><small>View Larger Map</small>

Augmented reality, not doubt, has a great future. Most of the currently available applications are to explore and know more of new places. Therefore, if you are in your own city I don't think it is of much use - well if you want to see twitter comments it works.

But you really can't indulge in the bigger fun of exploring and learning of new places, when you are in the place, because of the seriously expensive data charges. At around Rs. 100 (1.7 euros) per MB it is a non starter. The same reason as to why Google Maps also don't work.

If you are looking for navigational aids, better to buy some offline map applications.

If you are looking to explore the place, do it before hand and go there - don't rely on augmented reality to help you.

Objective: Pack in as much of F1 as possible and obviously see new places

The two F1 stretches where you typically have races in consecutive weekends are

1) Monaco - Catalonia

2) Nurburing (Germany) - Budapest

Already been to Budapest and therefore the 1st options looks great. 

The drive along the coasts of Spain should be great. See the route map below.

<br /><small>View Larger Map</small>

My last Europe tour, guided by Navigon's Iphone offline GPS maps says select the options of

1) Scenic drive

2) avoid all motorways

3) avoid all toll roads

4) take as many wrong turns as possible

to really experience a great drive.

Potential schedule

• Book car at Monaco with drop off at Barcelona
• Monaco - land and explore Monaco on Saturday with the 1st F1 on Sunday
• Monaco - Barcelona drive - as per Google map, if we follow the above route, it is a 21 hour drive. With 10 hours of driving everyday, with lots of stops and intentionally taken wrong routes, reach Barcelona on Thursday morning
• Stay at all nondescript places, extremely cheap etc, if you like the place than extend stay by a day types during this drive
• Set Barcelona as base and drive to Catalonia
• Budget permitting do a Saturday - Sunday F1 program
• Fly back on Monday afternoon

(download)

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IMG_0006.MOV (1.55 MB)

Sent from my iPhone

(download)

Click here to download:

IMG_0007.MOV (1.44 MB)

Sent from my iPhone

Sent from my iPhone

The Mobile Phone Becomes Self-Aware: Introducing Nokia's Mobile Bots

Despite the heavy press coverage of smartphone operating systems like iPhone and Android, sometimes the most intriguing mobile innovations come from other companies. Case in point: Nokia's newly released "bots" for its Nokia N97 line of handsets. These four individual software programs run in the background, learning your mobile habits by passively collecting data on how you use your phone. After gaining a sense of your daily tasks and routines, the bots personalize your phone, doing everything from rearranging your applications based on usage to automating the switch between mobile profiles. Incredible!

Sponsor

Four Smart Bots

There are four distinct mobile bots now available as a bundled download here from Nokia Labs, the community site featuring beta, non-commercialized programs for Nokia handsets.

Currently, the collection includes the following:

• Profile Bot: This bot automates switching between mobile profiles - like switching to "silent" mode when you're in a meeting and switching back to normal mode when the meeting is over. The bot can be configured to suggest profile changes that can be activated with a single click or it can be set to full automation.
• Alarm Bot: The alarm bot learns when you go to bed and when you wake up. At night, the bot suggests alarms and profile changes via your homescreen. With a single click, you can set the phone to silent mode and create a new alarm to wake you in the morning. 
• Shortcut Bot: The shortcut bot learns what mobile applications you use the most and updates your homescreen accordingly. The bot reconfigures your phone's homescreen to feature shortcuts to your most frequently used applications. As your habits change, the bot updates these links.
• Battery Bot: This bot keeps an eye on your battery's status. If your battery needs a recharge before bedtime, you're reminded to plug it in.




In combination, what these bots deliver is a more adaptive UI and mobile phone experience. As your behaviors change, the bots learn and their suggestions change. More importantly, you don't have to configure these bots - they figu...