The Chromebook

Before boarding the Virgin America airlines from San Francisco to Chicago, I was in for a surprise. There was a promotion offer of Chrome notebooks with free wi-fi access onboard the aircraft.

At the boarding gate, one had to enter their registration info, show their id and the credit card details. Now if something is free, why does one need the credit card details? I had the same question. The deal here is that on arriving at the Chicago airport, one must turn in the notebook to the chrome staff else your credit card will be charged. As simple as that.

With a 12.1 inch screen, the chromebook looks like an ordinary notebook. The differentiating factors are:

Pros:

1. Log into the PC, the first interface you come across is not the windows icon but the chrome browser.

2. There is a SD card slot

3. Nice keyboard

4. Taunt the battery gods (mentioned on the instruction kit :)) 8.5 hours of battery standby time. My flight was 6 hours duration but as I am writing this article only 30% of the battery has been utilized.

5. Slim and Lightweight

6. Instant on. This feature was really awesome. I browsed and then closed the lid. I opened the lid and voila the browser was there in front of me.

Cons:

1. If you're looking for the familiar operating system like Windows etc.. you will be in for a shock. Please remember its just Chrome o/s :)

2. Although the keyboard is nice, it has only the bare bones feature. For example there are no function keys and the usual separate keypad for numbers.

3. As this is a cloud based notebook, your data can't be stored on a hard drive. Remember its built only for the web.

4. The only drawback which I observed was while watching YouTube videos the pictures freezed. The most probable reason as the chrome staff explained was due to the limited bandwidth available during the flight.

The Samsung website punchline for the Google Chrome Samsung notebook states "Born for the Web". I agree :)

(Image courtesy: http://cdn.unixmen.com/images/stories/linuxlogos/google-chrome-logo.jpg)
(References: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/chromebook?cid=ppc_CRO_goo_C-Brand_Chrome_Generic_chrome+notebook)

Deja Vu

There is a scene in "The Matrix" when Neo (Keanu Revees) who is climbing the stairs spots a cat and then spots it again which makes him say "Deja Vu"

After the recent Mumbai bomb blasts when the television anchors mouth those very same words one cannot but tend to agree.

The maximum city has borne the maximum number of bomb blasts. The last time I saw a television reporter asking a mumbai resident about the "spirit and resilience of mumbai" I felt like squirming in my chair.

These words have been so often bandied whenever there has been such blasts and it has begun to jar and irritate. The pictures of people whose clothes were soaked in blood, some without their limbs taken in a truck were disturbing.

I have lived and worked in Mumbai and I still love the city. The people are friendly and professional in their work ethics. So it pains to see the people suffer repeated terror strikes. Strange as it may seem more people in Mumbai die by falling from local trains than in the bomb blasts. But it still begs the question when a city and its citizens are traumatized and terrorized by repeated bomb blasts and terror strikes whom do they think will be their savior.

Take Zaveri Bazar for instance, it was struck for the third time. Now common sense dictates that when a particular location is targeted more than once you put in place atleast the minimum security measures.

When the 26/11 attacks happened there were a raft of promises made by the government. As is usual after such incidents there were committees set up. One of them was the Ram Pradhan committee and ironically 3 years later as a senior columnist in an television interview noted that a cabinet meeting was in session to discuss the recommendations of the committee on the day when the blasts happened.

People are quick to draw comparisons with the 9/11 terror strikes in the United States after which no serious incidents have occurred. But India has a big population and the cities like Mumbai are crowded. However where U.S has been successful is that it has put safety and security above everything else. There are no excuses for not implementing security and intelligence measures unlike India.

Rahul Gandhi is right when he says that not all terror attacks can be prevented. But when he claims a 99% success rate, one wonders where did he gets his facts from? You cannot hide behind the excuse of 1% when you have not learnt from the previous attacks. Zaveri Bazar is a glaring example of that. Why should you blame your neighbor without first setting your house in order. An enemy would definitely take advantage of the weaknesses which unfortunately are many. What confidence does the common man derive when R.R Patil who was the Maharashtra Home Minister when 26/11 attacks happened and had to quit was reinstated due to political compulsions.


With a Z+ security Rahul must be definitely feeling very secure but what about the common man. As one aggrieved person on television said no VVIP or a big shot is killed in these attacks its we poor people who suffer. Families have lost their bread winners, women widowed and children orphaned.

Look at the dirt cheap way human lives are treated. We had 3 railway accidents in 1 week and the Railways were functioning without a full-time cabinet minister. Close to a hundred people were killed and others seriously injured. Safety and Security has been non-existent in all these incidents.

We call overselves an emerging power but what power are we talking about when we can't ensure the security of our people. As per the Indian constitution, every citizen has their rights and responsibilities, it's time for the citizens to hold the government to honor its responsibilities. A government which abdicates its responsibility to protect its citizens has lost the right to rule.

Coming back to the Mumbai blasts, you're moved to tears when a relative of one of the victims says "People will offer their condolences but only those who have lost their loved ones know how it feels". Neither words nor money can compensate for the lives lost.

(Image courtesy: http://www.theHindu.com)