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I have a HP Desktop at home. Yesterday, I tried using it after a long, long time.

But, Windows XP didn’t booted up properly. It shows the login screen, asking for the username and password. But, after filling it up, when I pressed Ok, it rebooted automatically. I don’t know why!

So, I popped in Ubuntu 7.10 disc, and booted through it. The system showed me the usual Ubunto boot screen. I selected the first option i.e. ‘Boot or install ubuntu’. But, after that the system got hanged.

What can be the problem? Both Windows and Linux aren’t working! And, I need to retrieve data from the harddisk. Can’t afford to lose it!

4th loss in a row. And, again its the batsmen which brought the team down!

Daredevils’s batting starts at Sehwag, and ends at Gambhir. The tail starts at #3! They probably have a longer tail than even a langur

I hope they are able to beat Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers in the next two home games!

I bought the car on 23rd September’ 07. Finally, after completing 10000kms, I have decided to pen down my journey with Swift Diesel Vdi.

The Good

• The car is absolute joy to drive. Has awesome power. The torque and the turbo when it goes past 2000 rpm, is something I don’t think I’ll ever tire of.
• Fuel efficiency is pretty good. The best I have managed is 21 km/l on Delhi-Chandigarh highway. In the city, generally I get around 17-18 km/l with AC, and roughly 19-20km/l without AC. With fuel prices going up with each passing day, this car has been a boon.
• Initially when I bought the car, I didn’t liked the looks very much - specially the big butt at the rear. But, now I love it. Swift looks awesome in pearl white IMO.
• When it comes to handling and ride quality, Swift rocks! I have touched 120 kms/hr with stock tires, and the car took it very, very smoothly.
• Air conditioning is quite effective even in this sultry Delhi weather.

The Bad

• The build quality is unsatisfactory to say the least. The plastic quality used in the car is pretty cheap. Off late, there’s a tuk-tuk sound coming from the left hand side rear door, but I haven’t been able to find the exact source.
• The seat fabrics are of poor quality - makes you wonder why so much cost-cutting in a Rs. 5.5 lakh car, when even likes of Santro’s, i10s and Spark’s have better interiors.
• The exterior paint is also substandard. Even if the impact is small when the car hits something, the paint comes off easily

So, in short
Likes – Great package, outstanding engine, raw driving pleasure , good performance / economy, nice looks
Cons – Poor build quality, prone to rattles.

Overall, the journey has been good - could had been excellent, only if Maruti Suzuki had cared a little bit more for the build quality.

I had bought a Dell Inpiron 9300 laptop almost 3 years back. Recently, I noticed a 2 inch thick band of vertical lines in the middle of it’s display screen. So, I just googled, and to my surprise, I found out that this is a known issue.

And, the company is ready to replace the screen without any charges. Awesome!

So, I called up Dell’s customer care number today morning, explained them about my problem, and asked them to replace the screen asap.

To my delight, they sent an engineer to do the job today itself, and got the screen replaced.

Voila! This is one the best examples of customer service we can have - You have a defective product, you acknowedge it, replace it free of charge, and that too within a day. What more can a customer want?

Dell - you really rock!

So, the news if finally out. Vodafone is going to launch the much awaited iPhone in India in the last quarter of 2008.

But, is iPhone worth this long wait?

Lets just compare iPhone features with the existing high-end phones in India - Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson P1i and HTC Dual Touch.

So, its clear, apart from the coolness factor, there’s nothing much to offer from Apple.

I still can’t see what the iPhone hype is all about. I agree that it’s beautiful and has a big screen, but that’s about it. So what if it has a touchscreen, am I the only one who would rather have standard buttons than a touchscreen? I sometimes send sms’es while on the move, and its real tough in my opinion to operate a touchscreen enabled phone when you are in a moving car. I also infact like to feel when I press something. Also, having physical buttons makes it so much simpler to use the keys without actually looking at them.

Moreover, iPhone doesn’t have GPS, have a poor cam, is delicate to handle (with its large screen, it is prone to scratches) and is quite big to fit in my trousers/jeans pocket easily.

So, all in all, I will prefer the likes of N95s and P1is over iPhone anyday, unless Apple comes out with killer features in iPhone v2.0. Lets wait and watch!

Update:
Vodafone has finally released their iPhone pricing details. The 8GB model would cost around Rs.15960 and the 16GB model would cost around Rs.19960, both available only on exclusive 2 year contract with Vodafone. No exact details about the launch dates are available as of now. (via The Mobile Weblog)