Birthday

Wife's first birthday after marriage. Should be special, rite?

That's why, it's a Baskin-Robbins cake, Bailey's IrishCream Cocktail and Ao-yama flowers

All about Google

Interesting presentation on Google’s business strategy, how they buy traffic,business levers, how do they plan to take on Facebook, why do they not monetize all their services etc.

All about Google

Shinkansen

Shinkansen is the Japanese word for the high speed trains in Japan. It is actually Shinkan -sen, where 'sen' means line and 'Shinkan' means bullet. More commonly, the shinkansen was known as the Bullet train for this reason.

The Shinkansen is very reliable, and in 2003, JR Central reported that the Shinkansen's average arrival time was within six seconds of the scheduled time. This includes all natural and human accidents and errors and is calculated over roughly 160,000 Shinkansen trips completed. The previous record, from 1997, was 18 seconds.

An amazing network of trains crisscross the eastern border of Japan connecting all important cities and towns.

There are three different services on the Shinkansen. They are the Kodama, Hikari and Nozomi. It's categorized on the lines of Express, SuperFast and SuperExpress respectively.

Nozomi is the fastest which stops only at major stations along the route. It stops at all three stations inside Tokyo Metropolis which are Tokyo, Shinagawa and Shin-Yokohama.

The speed is never felt while on board a Shinkansen. There is absolutely no wobbling of any sort. Even the start and stop of the train are done so smoothly that it's absolutely safe to walk inside without holding!

The trains run at an average speed of 300 Kms/hour. It can cover a distance of about 1000kms from Tokyo to Hiroshima in about 4 hrs.

Competition with air:

Compared with air transport, the Shinkansen has several advantages, including scheduling frequency and flexibility, punctual operation, comfortable seats, and convenient city-center terminals.

The Shinkansen system and airlines often compete with each other for the business of city-to-city domestic travelers. If the Shinkansen connects two cities in less than three hours, most passengers choose the Shinkansen, but if it takes more than four hours by Shinkansen, the majority choose air.

Tokyo – Osaka (515 km): Shinkansen is dominant because of fast (2 hours and 30 minutes) and frequent service (up to every 10 minutes by Nozomi); however, air travel has a certain share (about 20 – 30 percent) because of the availability of discount fares.

Amazing experience and wish India could have such a network which will boost the economy by uncountable times.

Amazing Autumn

Autumn and it was at Kyoto this year!

Dogashima

Went on a trip to the Izu Peninsula. It is a resort area about 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, popular for its hot springs, beautiful coastlines, beaches, mild climate, scenic mountainous interior and views of Mount Fuji from its western coast. Our's was a short trip and we could cover only one place called Dogashima, famous for it's carved rocky cosatline.

The dark color of the rock near it's base, is what the water rises up to during high-tide.

That strip of land connects a small island with the mainland is what we r heading to next. We need to make it to there well before noon, else water level rises n the strip submerges.

The coastline of Dogashima in Western Izu is famous for its dramatic stone formations, cliffs and caves, formed by the lava flow of past volcanic eruptions and the erosion by the sea.

Entirely fearless it was while clicking these shots. It was later the next day when we think of it, that fear grips you!!! The water was neither silent too, always restless and splashing against the rocks.

The last leg of the journey involved travelling by bus. This is because, we've got to cross over a mountain. Defenitely a windy ride. Got to see a small but lovely stream on the route.

29 Years on this Earth.

First b'day with the wife!

Excellent mouth watering dishes and an amazing day.

Tokyo Disney Sea

Was sooper fun with friends. Nice park with neatly done theme based sections. A must visit for everyone.

Disney Sea is part of the Tokyo Disney Resorts which already operates Disney Land next door. Diseny Sea has been constructed primarly on land reclamied from the sea.

Seems the Tokyo DisneySea and its companion park Tokyo Disneyland are the only Disney parks in the world not owned by The Walt Disney Company.

Enoshima

Enoshima Beach.

A nice place to spend the evening. Particularly before the Summer peaks!

Home by the Homemaker!

Who better than a Home Maker can make a home? After all it's the difference between a home and a house that makes all the difference.

The wife had some excellent changes done and my favourite spot is the this.

The Judgement Day

Looking forward for a great new avatar with greater responsibilities, more mature and fun-filled life.

Uber cool ThinkPad X300

Macbook Air, please stay away.

ThinkPad X300. The thinnest and lightest full-function notebook in its class. The ultraportable X301 starts at only 2.93 lbs. Models including the integrated super-thin DVD burner weigh in at a slight 3.1 lbs.  Features 3 USB ports plus external display, headphone/line-out and microphone/line-in. X300 looks and feels like an ultraportable but has the powerful processor, exceptional solid-state drive, long battery life and rock-solid durability of a full-sized, professional-grade ThinkPad. 

ThinkPad X300 models feature 13.3" widescreens—a workspace roomy enough for spreadsheets yet perfectly scaled for optimum portability.  X300 models are equipped with dual speakers for enhanced stereo sound not typical in most ultraportables.

Beyond thin and light

Lenovo’s amazing new ThinkPad X300 ultraportable notebook is the thinnest ThinkPad ever – less than 19mm at its thinnest.  It’s light too, just 1.4 kg.

But the X300 is more than ultra-thin and ultra-light.  It’s ultra-functional, too, thanks for available performance and convenience features like these:

Integrated DVD burner –  Hard to find in an ultraportable

Extended-life batteries – Get up to 10 hours unplugged

Easy connectivity – Advanced wireless options plus Gigabit Ethernet

Convenience – 3 USB ports, line in/line out, and more

Advanced components on the X300 include Solid State storage drives (with no moving parts, they consume less power and are considered less likely to break down than traditional hard drives). The X300 also offers several wireless connectivity options including integrated Wireless WAN and WLAN.

Style-wise, the X300 is closer to the size of an actual paper notebook than a ThinkPad notebook has ever been. And it offers numerous design flourishes including a glossy bottom bezel, select illuminated buttons, and – for the first time in X Series – an integrated camera option and stereo speakers.

'Greenest' ThinkPad ever

In addition, ThinkPad X300 is the first Lenovo notebook rated EPEAT Gold for low energy use and minimal impact on the environment.  It also meets the European Union’s Reduction of Hazardous Substances standards.  And it is Energy Star 4.0 qualified.

The X300 uses 25% less energy than previous X Series models.  What else makes the ThinkPad X300 so "green"?

• Energy-saving low voltage processors, LED backlit displays and solid state storage drives

• Arsenic-free glass / Mercury-free displays

• 90% recyclable packaging (by weight)

• And much more

Source: Lenovo

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