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A midsummer night’s drain

22/3/2014

Continuing with the Bardesque theme, I noticed that my iPhone battery drained to zero percent overnight. Again. And, like the previous time, I hadn’t sent an email or a message, made a call or watched a clip, nothing. In fact, I followed a few tips from a website and turned off notifications, even put the phone on airplane mode (just in case I had one of those flying dreams) as recommended. But still, the battery went and did what it does best. Die, when you least expect it, like a Hollywood celeb. Unfortunately, it's not the case of the good dying young. I believe the new update is the issue, at least that’s what the websites say. Maybe there’s something’s wrong with the calibration. Perhaps 49 is the new 0. I’ve made some more changes to the settings, swiped away apps that I don’t use, let’s see what happens. Hopefully, won’t have to make the Bard on Avon turn in his grave more than necessary.

Out out brief Apple battery ...

21/3/2014

Out out brief Apple battery.
Charging is but a brief interruption
That fills and drains its hour on the iPhone
To be seen no more
A tale bought by an idiot
Full of apps and games
Signifying nothing

Maybe the Bard would have said, ‘forsooth’ to those watered down lines if he had been using a smartphone but you get the drift.

My iPhone battery went 49% last night to dead in the morning. I hadn’t made a call, watched a clip or listened to a song. Just like that. Gone. All 49%. Not 29%. Not 15%. But 49%. If you though fireflies had a short life, you probably don’t have an Apple product, all of which uniformly have this malaise plaguing them. From their iPads to MacBooks to iPods. While you are admiring the sleek new iDon’t Know What, its shape, colour (it’s in yellow now!), size and other features, you almost always gloss over the crucial question: how long does the damned battery last?

Talking of ‘i’, it seems to me, an Apple fan (at least until Jobs was around), that the ‘i’ stands for iteration. Not innovation or inventiveness. If you notice, all the recent releases have been variations of the same offering. Smaller iPad, longer iPhone, cheaper, wider, slimmer, five dimensional, in outer space but nothing new and groundbreaking and category-changing revolutions like the iPad or iPhone or iTunes when they were launched. Just more iterations.

Good thing I’m not writing this on my iPhone or iPad but a Mac connected to a power source. Otherwise it would have

Ignorance maybe bliss but illiteracy opens many a door.

11/3/2014

There was a time when illiteracy was synonymous with thumbprints. Back home, people who couldn’t sign their names on the dotted lines were usually labeled ‘thumb print’ cases, meaning illiterates. Fast forward to today, when a guy in the office came round getting everybody’s thumbprints on a little glass topped gadget like the ones you see at sophisticated airport immigration counters. This, I was told, was to do away with the card access system (which can be a pain, especially when your wallet is pregnant like Gorge Costanza’s wallet which actually tilts his posture considerably).

It left me marveling at the way human beings shift their perspective over time. From its rather ignominious association with the unlettered, the humble thumb print has come a long way (and is probably holding a Virginia Slims) to be at the forefront of security technology, going where no thumb has gone before, to the final frontier of highly secured office doors everywhere, as if to say, ‘I maybe illiterate but I can get in, can you, you educated punk?’

Thumbs up has an altogether new meaning, don’t you think?

5 star reviews for Ten Twisted Tales

1/3/2014

I published my short story collection Ten Twisted Tales a few months ago on all the e-tailers and on this site. I put it up on Goodreads and a couple of kind souls were willing to read and review when the book was on free promotion on KDP. And someone from a group I signed up with on facebook read it as well. I had some nice reviews from the people I know, but they are not easy to please. Actually, they are extra tough on friends, which is a good trait. While it was nice to receive good reviews from them, it was even more encouraging to get 4&5 star reviews from people I've never seen in my life, and probably never will. Thought I'd share them here. Ten Twisted Tales, a collection of short stories with unexpected endings, can be bought here. Let me know what you think. If you want a free copy for review, email me at [email protected]

A midsummer night’s drain

Out out brief Apple battery ...

Ignorance maybe bliss but illiteracy opens many a door.

5 star reviews for Ten Twisted Tales

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