The awesomeness of European public transport
London to Belgium in 2 hours flat..
Now we are shifting!!
What went into my packing
As many if my close friends and family know I am an oxymoronic mix of structure and amorphousness. Especially when it comes to traveling. I pack last min but I know exactly what I need. I pack light but I have pretty much all I need. I don’t make any plans for what I intend to do when I get to my destination unless it is meeting specific people and accommodating to their schedule.
So anyhow, what did I pack for a 10 day international trip? I am not going to go through the usual clothes etc. that’s subjective and depends on the purpose of travel, weather, etc. Let me list some other indispensable things/ gear I am carrying which come with me regardless of where I go.
- My trusty Delsey carry on bag, This bag has travelled over 200K miles with me. It’s compact, robust and yet carries 10 days worth of clothes, spare shoes and toiletries I highly recommend folks who travel more than 40 hours a year to take their luggage purchase seriously. This bag was quite expensive (for my analyst grade pay) when I bought it but it has been single handedly the best purchase I made to easen my travel over the years. Now after another 30k or so miles I think I might need to retire this bag and I am already researching alternatives. Some of the contenders are Rimowa Topas, Tumi Alpha, Delsey, Zero Haliburton and Briggs and Riley. So far none of them seem to achieve the balance of compactness, light weight and durability my trusted Delsey has.
- Brady Gelderburn shoulder bag. Waterproof, light weight (compared to my over engineered Filson) just the right size to carry your portable workstation and tough as nails. Looks smart enough to pass off as a work bag but is also casual enough to carry my street photography kit. Classic case of form follows function
- Workstation gear: 12in Dell work laptop, and charger and USB sticks to take backups when internet isn’t available or a Mac Pro if I am traveling purely for pleasure
- Camera gear: Epson R-D1 rangefinder camera, two lenses – Leica 40mm summicron and Voightlander 18mm ultra wide, 4 extra batteries and memory cards. Very light weight gear that fits perfectly in the front pocket of the Brady Gelderburn. It’s a bit of a retro quirky camera but the image quality more than makes up for it
- Travel essentials: Passport, notepads, one file folder with travel docs, pens, iPad, Ibuprofen tabs, playing cards, sunglasses, earbuds, international currency and mints
- Power pack: Kangom travel accessories bag with contains all my power and data needs: Anker battery pack, 2Tb ext hdd, USB sticks, charging cords and cables, global travel plug adaptor
More to come and I will add some images as well
Back to nomadic days
The next ten days no the actually next 45 days are going to be a whirlwind of travel and kinda reminds me of the days gone by when I used to commute from LHR/ JFK to BOM.
Well this trip promises to be an interesting mish mash..5 countries, 3 continents, 4 currencies, 8 cities, air, bus, train, car and maybe boat as modes of transport and stays in hotels, YHAs, Airbnb rooms and homes. I am soo looking forward to get back to a nomadic life. It’s been nearly 5 years since I last did this.
This is going to be a different style of blogging than my usual opinionated rants. Would love to get feedback on what you think about it.
Tags: Travel, SFO, LHR, BRU, ZRH, BOM, LAX, SEA, JFK
Pagani Huayra
For all those who dont know..a new Pagani is in town. The Huayra..(it was announced about a year ago but will go for sale next year).
730HP 6.0 lit Merc AMG engine, 230mph+ top speed, 1.5 lateral G’s..all the usual hyper car brouhaha..but..but..but..
What makes the Huayra special is the attention to detail by its creator – Horacio Pagani. The mirrors are shaped to look like a womans eyes, the gear linkage is a work of art..hell the instrument panel was built by swiss watch makers at a COGS of $8000!!
Priced @ $1.25Mn its probably the steal of the century
All hail the new Da Vinci..signore Pagani..bow!!
I have always maintained that central control is necessary for a revolution..distributed processing is good only for efficiency..and the Huayra under the helm of Horacio Pagani is a testament to that.
Some links:
Pagani website (see the Huayra intro video): http://www.pagani.com/it/default.aspx
Top Gears first look at the Huayra and attention to detail: http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/topgear-pagai-huayra-2011-03-08?imageNo=3
Jay Leno interviews Horacio Pagani: http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/Pagani-Huayra/1354710
Amplify Life: How to save money on Petrol aka Gas..
For many of the folks who know me, this post is bit of an oxymoron. However, in keeping with the times and with gas prices hitting nearly $5 a gallon I thought it would be good to write a post on some of the ways to save money at the gas station. While this situation is relatively new to my American friends, my mates in the Blighty and Desh will relate to it much more.
I would like to preface my thoughts with this video of Clarkson, doing a comparo of a BMW M3 vs a Toyota Prius on Top Gear. While the Top Gear trio are generally known for mucking about, this test was actually very insightful in its simplicity.
So what can we do to improve the gas mileage from our cars??
Driving Style : Dont change your car, change your driving style. If there is anything to take away from the Top Gear video, this is it..Smooth driving is the key
- Rev Lower: If you are a numpty who races other cars at stop lights..refrain!! The more you rev your car the more fuel it drinks. Keep your revs low..in my car which is a 3.5l V6..about 2000 – 2500 revs works best. Good compromise between power and gas mileage. If you wanna be even more stingy try keeping below 2000 revs
- Drive at higher gears: If you have a stick shift (manual gear) or a manu-matic gear box, try to go up to the higher gears as soon as you can. This will ensure that the engine produces the same power at lower revs (you will have less torque..ergo less accelaration) but it will drink less fuel
- Anticipate braking: Braking is the single most energy inefficient action. It literally converts your fuel into heat thats dissipated by the brakes. The more you brake, the more you will have to accelerate to get your car moving. While approaching a traffic light instead of braking at the last minute, apply gentle braking and let the rolling resistance bring you to a halt
- Anticipate the traffic patterns: This is an advice which is applicable both tactically and strategically.
- While driving always look down the road ahead. Gauge the cars 3 cars ahead of you and half mile ahead of you..are they slowing down, are they braking or are they moving in a steady pattern. Modulate your speed accordingly. This will ensure that you avoid unnecessary braking and thereby wasting precious fuel.
- If you live in a city like Chicago where peak hour traffic can double the average commute time..it is a smart move to be strategic and reschedule your commute time. For example in Chicago, if you can leave downtown 15 – 30 minutes before the traffic begins you can get to Hoffman Estates in 40-45 minutes instead of the 75-80 minutes it takes during traffic hours. Think about it, you spend 30-35 more minutes burning gas because you leave during peak traffic hours.
- Cruise Control: Most people cannot fine tune and modulate their right leg. This means that maintaining steady revs and steady speed is a challenge. Use the cruise control as often as you can, maintain a steady speed and if you wanna slow down..anticipate the braking distance and just cancel cruise control..the car will roll to a slow halt.
- Speed: No matter how sleek your car is..the faster you go..more fuel you burn. If you really want to optimize your fuel consumption, maintain a speed that keeps your engine revs at around 2000 rpm and around +- 10% of the posted speed limit
Tires : Make sure your tires are well inflated. Maintain the recommended pressure. Normally during summer the air in the tires expands. This reduces the contact area of the tire with the road and reduces friction, which will result in a better fuel economy. During winters however the air contracts and the tires flatten. This increases friction and fuel economy goes down. So keep an eye on the tire pressure once a month during winters.
Fuel :
- Make sure you fill the right kind of fuel for your car. The right octane rating of the fuel will ensure that the engine breathes properly and burns fuel completely.
- One of the best kept secrets is that fuel is cheaper during mid week and is expensive during the weekends. You dont need to be a rocket scientist to figure out why, but some how most of us dont bother and often end up spending 20cents more per gallon because we are lazy to fill it up midweek.
- If you live in the city and work in the suburbs, try to fill the car in the suburbs where the gas is normally cheaper.
- Finally, use sites like Gasbuddy.com (they have great iPhone and Android apps as well) to find out the cheap gas stations near you. This app is most useful, if your car needs premium gas. I have observed that sometimes the gas station with the cheapest advertised regular gas isnt the cheapest for premium gas. Gas buddy comes in handy here.
Work from home : Work from home on Fridays if you can. Might sound funny but it isnt. When I was in the U.K., companies there used to encourage people to work from home. It saved the company real estate and overhead costs (internet, electricity, facilities, etc). It made people more productive because people who appreciated the flexibility made sure that they worked effectively in order to keep enjoying that facility. And most importantly, you can work in your pajamas :)..from a fuel stand point, you save about 4-5 days of commute every month. Thats 18-20% reduction in your fuel consumption per month.
So whats the math?? Let me give you my example
My daily commute is 30 miles to and fro. Plus over the weekends I clock about 100 miles. So in a month I do about 1060 miles. My car has a 17 gallon tank and in the days of $2.50/ gallon and aggressive driving I used to get 17 mpg. Now with this sensible driving I get 20 mpg. I still enjoy spirited driving at times but all within reason. So, @17 mpg I needed about 63 gal of gas a month and now @20 mpg I need only 47 gal. I have to put premium fuel and today I tanked up @4.5/ gal. So with these few changes I am saving $70 a month, thats about $840 a year. Significant, if you ask me.
Misc : If you have come this far then you have really made good progress. If you want to squeeze the last ounce out of your gas money then there are a few more ideas that you can try..
- Aircon saps upto 10% of your cars power. If the weather doesnt merit it then try to keep the A/C switched off
- Carpool..carpool..carpool. Economics 101..economies of scale
- If you can..then use public transport..almost always cheaper, its a good exercise in punctuality and keeps you on your toes 🙂
Click here if you want to see an epic Top Gear race to find the most fuel efficient car.
I hope this has been helpful. Please share more inputs/ ideas that you might have to save gas or make your money smarter when it comes to transportation. And yes please drive carefully!! Godspeed..
Watching a CEO grow from strength to strength..
We see successful leaders all around us; Howard Schultz, Michael Bloomberg, Mukesh Ambani to name a few. What makes them successful?? I guess many things – resourcefulness, smarts, analytical abilities, vision, execution strengths, etc. But I think the ones which distinguish successful modern day leaders is the ability to learn, adapt quickly and communicate/ convince effectively. How do they do it?? Can we learn something from them?? In this post I explore my thoughts which I have gleaned by observing one of my favorite leaders – Steve Jobs.
 Steve Jobs 80s |
 Steve Jobs 90s |
 Steve Jobs 2000s |
Apple, though not my first employer, was my first company. Back in 2002 when I was working on building software products for Apple, it was a time of great resurgence in the company. Steve had comeback and was launching a slew of products at a rapid clip. He hated failure but wasn’t afraid to fail (think back to Power Mac G4 Cube). Jobs is an iconic and towering figure not just in the tech world but in the business world as well. He successfully took what was essentially a dying company, leveraged its assets (built new ones en-route which changed the playing field) and made it the second largest company in the world. He is showman par excellence and a man who is nauseatingly detail oriented.
Today we all know Jobs as the guy in a black turtleneck, blue Levis and white New Balance sneakers. But how was Steve of the old?? Lets rewind time back and look at some of the old videos of Steve.
- The launch of Apple Macintosh- circa 1984
- Steve Jobs return video as the interim CEO in 1998
- The launch of iMac – circa 1998
- The launch of iBook – circa 1999
- The launch of iCube – circa 2000
- The launch of the iPod – circa 2001
- The launch of Apple retail stores – circa 2001
- The launch of the iPod Nano – circa 2005
- The launch of the iPhone – circa 2007
- The launch of the Macbook Air – circa 2008
I would categorize my observations and learnings in 2 main buckets:
- Connect with your audience: Back in 1984 Jobs presented in a suit and a bow tie!! Somewhere along 1999-2000 (he was vacillating with his looks – iMac vs iBook launch) he realized that the image of the company that he wants to portray to his target audience is minimalism, fashionable and most importantly non-business like. So black, blue and white became a staple attire
- Make it special: Jobs started out in 1984 with a very plush stage and the Apple Macintosh was launched amidst great fanfare, but look at the launch of the iPod. The stage looks almost pedestrian for the launch of a product which would change the music landscape and the fortunes of the company. But Jobs learnt, and learnt well. These days an Apple event WWDC or Macworld is akin to the launch of a major blockbuster movie
- Location choices for launch: Steve returned to the company in 1997 and from 1998 – 2003 the Macworld Expo was help in New York where Apple launched a lot of its products. Why?? 2 reasons viz. reach out to the creative audience in NY and appeal to the NY stock market. Result, Apple’s loyal fan base (creative and graphic folks) fueled the sales for its main stream products like Macbook Pro and Power PC, while iPod in the background slowly entrenched itself into the consumer consciousness.
 Original Apple Logo |
 Apple Logo 90s |
 Apple Logo Today |
The Message
- Refinement, shock and awe: Jobs’ trademark presentation back in the day was all about surprises, flash and awe for the audience. He lost his way a little bit between 1998 – 2001 (look at iPod launch, Retail Store launch, iMac launch). But then look at the launch of the iPod Nano, iPhone and Macbook Air. Simple master strokes. He played the audience like a conductor plays the orchestra..
- Brevity and Simplicity of Communication: If you look at some of Jobs’ initial presentations they had some flavor of humor but were technical and verbose. The Apple Macintosh launch though humorous was still a tad verbose. The iBook launch was (by todays standards) a verbal diarrhea of technical mumbo-jumbo. He started refining his technique with the iCube and iPod launches and for me the coup de grace was the iPod Nano launch. These days Jobs is a master at using language which communicates effectively in an easy and palatable manner (comparison of sizes and weights to everyday objects). Words such as speculative, large target market are thrown in with a good visuals to supplement the overall message to the average consumer. Today Jobs is one of corporate Americas best presenters because he has made technology both sexy and non – threatening and that starts with effective communication
- Structure and Organization: Everyone of Jobs presentations have improved in the overall flow of presentation. He sets the context in the opening line/ teaser (“There is something in the Air” – Macbook Air), starts by doing an industry analysis of strengths and shortcomings, showcases that Apple is picking the best, then shows how Apple has gone one up (smaller physical size, weight or no compromise) before launching the product. Finally after he launches the product there is a small technical discussion but then he takes time to summarize so that the message stays. That is something Steve has visibly improved over the years.
- Maturity: Look at the production quality of the Apple events, the simplicity yet quality of the Apple website, the design of the products..hell look at progression in the fonts used. The iPod launch used Comic Sans!! The company and Jobs have learnt from their mistakes (even if the consumers didn’t punish them for it) and improved. Enough said!!
Of tablets and sugar coated pills
I recently switched from Blogspot to WordPress as my preferred blogging platform. My last post on my previous blog was about the iPad and how it had the potential to alter the market. Fast forward a year and we are already playing with iPad2, which on all counts is a much superior product and a must buy if you are willing to cough up the money. I played with the iPad2 for a few days and as wonderful as it is..it does have some limitations and ergo I am a fence sitter.
– Retina screen : Apple is a victim of its own excellence. After using the retina screen on my iPhone 4, I cannot go back to a lower resolution screen.
– Price to pay : While the price of the iPad might be magical at $500 (and considering how refined the product it..I think $500 is a reasonable price to pay), the cost of the device coupled with supplements (case, stylus for drawing, high-priced apps, etc), creeps dangerously close to the price of a full-fledged laptop. I know comparing laptops to iPads is like comparing apples to caviar. But think about this, if you had an iPhone 4 and had between $800 – $1000 to spend on your next device, would you buy an iPad or a 11″ Macbook Air/ Thinkpad X201?? Tough decision right?? I am currently in the market for a computer and I am not sure which way to go.
– Size : While El-Jobso might tout the iPad screen size as perfect balance between portability and ability to immerse you in content, I humbly disagree. I love to read books in the digital format and for me the iPad is waaaay too bulky for reading books, especially when you want to curl into bed at the end of the day with a nice digital book, it just is a clumsy affair.
So, whats the solution?? Well it would be arrogant to say I have one, but I will venture to say that I might have found a compromise which works for me for the time being.
Enter, the Barnes and Noble Nook Color. Costs $250, has a 7″ screen instead of a 10″ screen and weighs about the same as an iPad 2. It’s a device which is built to be an eReader. However, underneath the shell it is a different story. 800 MHz ARM processor (over clockable to 1.1Gig), 512 MB RAM, 7″ IPS screen and an Android platform. It needs to be hacked/ rooted to unlock its full potential (this will invalidate the warranty, mind you). It’s a very easy process which is nicely outlined in this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=997034). It took me 2 hours to do it and voila!! You have a decent tablet which is an excellent eBook reader. It has full access to the Android marketplace, so you can download any and every application that’s available. Since it’s the Android platform you can get most apps for free.
Upsides??
– Well for starters you are getting a tablet for $250 which is 95% as capable as the iPad
– The battery life beats the iPad
– 7″ IPS screen is gorgeous
– The size is perfect for reading eBooks (couple it with a BN Moleskine case and it feels exactly like a paperback)
– It’s infinitely customizable..in a way that the iDevices can only dream of
Downsides??
– Well it isn’t the iPad..the user experience is not going to be works-out-of-the-box streamlined.
– No camera, no frills
– If you don’t over clock the processor then the touch screen can be a tad jerky. But I think it’s a small price to pay for the small price you paid 😀
Who is it for??
1. Guys who like me are still fence-sitting on the tablet revolution and undecided on their platform allegiances
2. Folks who are stingy to pay for apps
3. Students who would like to have a cheap tablet for quick browsing, mail check, FB and Twitter updates etc
4. Folks who love reading eBooks but hate the iPads unwieldy size
In conclusion,the Nook Color is a device I definitely recommend for the slightly tech savvy person (a person who can install their own programs and is comfortable with the occasional command line detour). It definitely helps you get warmed up to the tablet experience.
Report: Google planning app store for businesses
Report: Google planning app store for businesses: “Third-party developers might soon be able to sell add-ons to the Google Apps suite of software for businesses through a Google-hosted online store, according to the Wall Street Journal.”
Random Musings.. 