iPhone 5S - Why it is a case of "Its more than what meets the eye"

Its almost that time of the year when Apple releases its new iPhone for the year. This time around its probably going to be an iPhone 6 (unless Apple decides to not stick to the norm) - which makes this post almost a year late. Yes- a full one year.

There was a time when I wrote a lot about Apple and Steve Jobs and almost swore not to do it lest my blog be tagged as another Apple blog but I feel the need to write one now. I guess the hiatus is over!

When the iPhone 5S first came out, many people said that there was no innovation and that the TouchID was the only real addition which in itself was not game changing. On the outset that would be an accurate statement to make but the point that most people missed was about all the changes/updates/upgrades done under the hood which practically set Apple up for multiple future markets - each capable of being a game changer.

Here is what I think we will see in the future (While writing this post, I am going to try and remember my argument with people from a year ago and also imagine that time stood still since Apple released the iPhone 5S)

Tesla Patents - PR stunt or a Savvy Business Decision?

When Elon Musk made his bold annoucement on Tesla's Official Blog, it took the entire tech industry by surprise. Patents are the new world ammunition that high tech companies use to keep their competitive stance and hence Elon Musk's decision to open up all of Tesla's patents for public use was unconventional to say the least.

The internet had a field day and many people wrote great blog posts with their point of view. Let me present a couple of theories that I thought were interesting

Is Diesel really a more expensive fuel?

    

The familiar fuel price sign at every gas station seems to suggest that Diesel is the most expensive gas for your car. We own a diesel and a gasoline car and I wanted to explore to see how much truth there is to this statement. We bought out first diesel car for many different reasons (one of which being the fact that disel is a more efficient gas in terms of the miles per gallon that we could travel). See my previous post in which I talk more about it.

Its been nine months since we bought our diesel car and I looked back to the average price for gasoline (regular and premium) and diesel for this period. The results mostly validated our pre-purchase analysis -  Diesel is a more efficient and cleaner fuel but needs to be incentivized further for widescale adoption in the United States. See below for a graph of the fuel prices in the State of California (where we live) during the nine months from Oct 2013 to July 2014.

Quote - Baking a Cake!

Bringing up a child is much like baking a cake - you add all the ingredients (importantly, a lot of sweet and a little salt) needed for it in the correct quantities, beat it up well (as needed) making sure it is all held together(with the flour) and then let it bake in the oven, occasionally checking to make sure that its ready to go!!

PS: This was after a weekend of baby sitting(successfully) my sister's kids with Manasi

What's your fuel?

We recently had to make a decision on one of our big purchases - A CAR. Its neither as daunting nor as expensive as buying a home (in most cases) but it sure is the biggest investment into something that is a liability. I mean, you are always going to lose money on a car.

I have bought cars before but this time around, I was asking myself different questions. Among all the other usual options that we get to pick while buying a car, I was excited by a new one - What fuel does the car use?

Boy Toy

Keeping with my long term plan to participate (may be compete) in a triathlon, I have just purchased my first road bike - Cannondale CAAD10 5 105. Did not think that buying a road bike would need as much research as buying a new car, although there is no haggling in this case. I have to say that all that research has allowed to me understand so much more about the sport of road biking which I would have probably learned the hard way. Of course, they sell bikes called as "Entry Level Bikes" which would have been a easy first choice but being a previous owner of a mountain bike and having rode that for a few years, I would consider myself to be a little better than a novice. This brought me to a classic dilemma of buying a bike that is not an entry level bike but is not something so advanced that I will have to give up an arm and a leg to own one.

The CAAD10 gave me the best bang for the buck - A super light aluminum bike, aggressive, snappy and responsive. A bike with the not-so-entry level Shimano 105 Groupset and a super light aluminum frame which keeps the costs low, renders the additional sturdiness for a starter but with a geometry that makes the bike competitive. I love the bike so far and will post more about my rides/group rides/competitions in the future

Check out details of my first ride here

Malleshwaram 18th Cross

Carnatic Cafe is South Delhi is a rustic little cafe snucked into a typical Delhi neighborhood. Surrounded by older restaurants, a towering five star hotel and a filthy alcohol shop around it, it definitely is a gem that is little known in Delhi. In its defense its still a five month old cafe that could use some word of mouth promotion.

In fact that is how my friend(Anup Surendranath) heard about it and picked this place for our meet this morning. The delight of meeting an old friend after fifteen years was further sweetened by the fact that we recollected our days and moments from school and Bangalore over dosas that were made in typical Bangalore style and served by people who spoke Kannada. One such dosa was actually called - Malleshwaram 18th Cross. Yes, it is about now that anybody who know what this means will want to be at this cafe to try it out. Dosa in general is considered as a South Indian dish but it still tastes different in Bangalore than it does anywhere else even in South India. I might be biased here but I think that the dosa from Bangalore tastes a lot tastier - a lot more complete!

The Masala dosa is more stuffed, the Uttapam is more cooked, the Rava idly is more brittle - 

Just different, Delightfully So!

Picture of Anup Surendranath