London at night

The Big Picture just put up a bunch of awesome pictures of London city. If you like/know London, you're sure to enjoy the whole bunch, head on over.

Tomatoes in bloom

Tomato Flowers
Originally uploaded by Jillako

These are exciting times in our yard, our tomato plants are blooming!

We got an Earthbox when the tomato planting season was all but over. With nothing to lose I planted some seeds but they have done very well indeed and I'm really looking forward to having some homegrown tomatoes!

My Neighbor Totoro

So I watched "My Neighbor Totoro" last night and it's still on my mind this morning. I love animated movies in general, and this was a masterpiece. I think I'll watch it many times before I've had my fill.

It's an anime movie with a simple story, artful depiction of the Japanese country side, cute characters, pretty good voiceovers and many little touches that made me long for the simple life. Also, the 2D animation still blows the pants off many 3D animated movies that are being made today.

It was first released in 1988! I cannot believe that I hadn't heard about it until Netflix suggested it (because I loved "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Spirited Away"). Chalk one more up for Netflix. This one's a winner, I may have to buy it for Anjali.

It's great for all ages, do yourself a favor and watch it with your family! :)

EyePet for PS3 announced

.. and it looks cute!



Since we already have the camera, this should be a fun, inexpensive game. From what I can tell, looks like it will take a year to release (late 2009).

தமிழில் ப்லோக் பண்ணுவோம்!!

கூகுளுக்கு தான் நன்றி சொல்லணும்.

தமிழில் நியூஸ் கூட படிக்கலாம் இங்க.

So, Google added transliteration support for Tamil, our mother tongue. Pretty fantastic stuff. See full details here.

How to hack a technical job interview- Vijai @ Lifehacker

I like Lifehacker but they're not in my Bloglines, which is why I didn't find out until today that my high school pal Vijai was featured in this post last month.

Good one, Vijai. I'd take his talk seriously, he can nail interviews!

XBox 360: Call for action!

I'm only a casual gamer but I'm intensely interested in this generation of gaming hardware. I think this is gaming's "breakout" generation. Nearly everyone is going to have one of the 5 devices out there by the time the generation is done and lot of us are going to be doing more than gaming. Some of the rules that applied to the previous generation will not apply here. The current hardware has a lot more staying power than previous generations. Sort of like the Audio CD. The Audio CD was seen by most as good enough. While DVD Audio and SACD offered better quality, people were happy with Audio CDs and they didn't buy into the higher fidelity.

In a way, Sony has the right idea with their 10 year strategy for the PS3. The Cell chip has enough processing power and by the time new hardware comes out from Nintendo and Microsoft, developers should've learnt to fully utilize all that power.

Anyway, I want to talk about the XBox 360. Against all odds (I'm writing on a Mac, I don't like paying for online gaming, I'm not interested in the Zune), I find myself liking the XBox 360. More surprising, I like it for the software! Yes, Microsoft is definitely doing good on the software front here. Unfortunately, their hardware is falling behind. Here's my call for action to get the XBox 360 back to being competitive. As of now, its falling behind and will likely be relegated to 3rd place in this generation again. Here are a few things Microsoft should do -

1. Bring sexy back.
It worked for the DS Lite. Yes, the games are awesome but MS needs to redesign the XBox.
A few suggestions -

• Get rid of the monstrous external power brick, we need one nice svelte XBox.
• It would be nice if I didn't feel the need to reach for my noise canceling headphones when the XBox is powered on - make it quieter. A slot loading disc drive might help too.

2. Make XBox Live Gold cheaper.
Yes, hardcore gamers don't mind paying for XBox Live but if you're looking to get this into kids' homes, you need to look beyond. Faced with a choice between a Blu-Ray playing PS3 with free online play and a DVD playing XBox 360 with paid XBox Live, guess which one is getting picked? Also casual gamers like me would like to play a few nights a week, but I'm not going to pay for this privilege.
Free would be nice but even $24 ($2 a month) is easier to swallow than the current cost.

3. Include wi-fi.
This is 2008! How many homes have ethernet in their TV room or bedroom? Wi-fi is everywhere. Your wi-fi accessory is outrageously priced and I don't want a Gaming adapter in addition to the noisy console and its huge power brick.

4. Increase storage.
You need to keep up or move ahead of the competition here. 160GB standard would be nice, 320GB for the premium? Personally, I'd like the ability to upgrade the drive myself, but I realize that the non-techie users (vast majority) would prefer to buy these upgrades at Best Buy.

5. Sell Media Center.
How many XBox 360 users who have Vista pay for Tivo? I bet it isn't a small number. MS needs to sell this functionality. Btw, we need the wifi toting, quieter XBox that can fit in a TV cabinet for this to happen. Create a Media Package - the 360 console with a USB TV tuner for those using Vista Premium or Ultimate. For $50 more, you can have a DVR too!

6. Make it reliable, stupid!
Last but not least, the hardware needs to be reliable. MS is lucky the users like the games and software as much as they do. I can't image a mass market device being so unreliable. My unit has been replaced twice in 2 years! I don't have much hopes for it staying alive long after the 3 year warranty ends. It would be nice if there was a trade in option for the older XBox owners on a newer console.

I'd like to end by giving kudos where it's due. These are the things that the XBox 360 gets right -

1. Great integration with XBox Live. Superb online experience.
2. Graphics on par with PS3 even while having launched first and using DVD media.
3. The best wireless controller of the current generation. Feels right, reliable.
4. Best games library of current generation.
5. Media Center is awesome.
6. XBox Live Arcade is best in class. Great selection.