Must have android apps

Hi,

With Android market picking up big time in the Indian market and apps flooding the android market I felt it won't be a bad idea if I share the apps that I have enjoyed and those that made life a lott easier. I might be missing some really popular apps but this is just my list. All the below recommended apps run great on HTC wildfire (That is probably the reason some of the other apps might be missed here)

Talking Tom - > https://market.android.com/details?id=com.outfit7.talkingtom
Definitely hard to find an android phone that runs without this app. An app that repeats whatever you say in a cat's tone. Simple idea that works brilliantly with superb graphics. Definitely my top app for sure.

Note: Other versions like talking santa or robot fails to match with this one

Whatsapp - > https://market.android.com/details?id=com.whatsapp
Excellent app. Allows you to chat, send audio, image files through internet. Activate your GPRS / Wifi this one is one of the most widely used app.

Advanced App killer - > https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rechild.advancedtaskkiller

Another App that almost all android phones run. Simple task manager implemented brilliantly.

The best part is the one touch app killing using the widget.

App2SD - > https://market.android.com/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.app2sd
This app enables you to move your other apps from phone to SD card or the vice versa. Few other apps like this one in the market but I liked its UI and smooth functionality better than the others.


AutoSMS Smart - > https://market.android.com/details?id=in.apps.kamalnivas.autosms.smart
My personal favourite. Simple, easy to use app that sends out SMS on missed calls. Several similar apps available in the market but the SMART features sets it apart from the rest.

Cricket Pro - > https://market.android.com/details?id=in.notworks.cricket
Easily the best app for cricket updates in the market. Lighter, faster than top players like espn and ndtv has some really excellent additional features. With updates before every major tournament a must have app for all cricket buffs.

Traffic Jam - > https://market.android.com/details?id=com.jiuzhangtech.rushhour
Only game in the entire list. That is because i don't play much. But this one is kind of addictive to me. Kind of solving a puzzle using a car, would say can improve one's problem solving capability

xPiano - > https://market.android.com/details?id=com.cyandroid.piano
Am not a Piano player but still loved this app. Have seen people playing actual music using this one(even with a free version). Not a utility app, but definite one to have if you want to show off the android power.


Music Timer Setting - > https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ican.MusicTimerWidget
Nice idea actually. Lets you set a timer for whenyour music player has to stop. Works perfect. Extremely useful app for music lovers who love to listen to music when they goto bed. It is the only app that worked for me in the market for this purpose.

SMS scheduler - > https://market.android.com/details?id=com.lylynx.smsscheduler
Simple app. Schedule your birthday wishes at midnight goto sleep. Works perfect.

       
Ur top 10 is also most welcome in the comments section.

After 1 yr!!

Hi everyone. It has been quite a while since I had posted something here. The reason was not because I was busy (People don't buy it even if I have Gtalk busy status!!) but because I didn't have anything much to share. But when I found it is now 1 yr since I joined Aricent I thought its time for a post. I will probably think of some of the highlights of this past one year.


Pointer to a constant, Constant pointer
It all started with the PRISM training in Chennai. I thought I was strong in C. I was just surprised at how much more there is to C !!! The training was seriously good. Sibu Cyriac - The man who organised and executed it has to take a lot of credit for it. It was actually lottt of fun though the only batch outing we successfully managed was HSB ( ஓட்டல் சரவணபவன).

The Enlightenement
Despite interesting sessions there is always bound to be sessions where you just cannot sit through. There was one such session where myself, Brighton, Anirudh Murali and Ajay had a discussion on "life", when the guy was seriously talking to the board. The discussion involved so many hypothetical scenarios that made us explore so many options 'in career and life. It was definitely a discussion to remember and ponder.

Vetty Pasanga XI
That's how we called our team (I will take credit for the same :) ) for the company's cricket tournament.
Be it Chinnathambi's hat-trick (wickets and sixes he gave), nail biting finishes, NRR calculations, losing to a team that we thought we never would it was totally fun experience.

Am Basically a TT player
Seriously, am not sure if have become better in coding or networks but am pretty sure am a good TT player. Have even challenged Ji that I ll beat him 5-0 before either of us leave here :). Starting from carrom switched to TT post training(hell a lot of free time then) and  we used to play at some of the odd hrs(7.30Am, 10.30 PM) I made a point to count the number of games I played on one such days and it mounted to 47!!

Benched / I me and Android
Benching is pretty common in IT industry. But its less in my company. But I was one of those few ones who got benched. You could think its fun but after a week you could get so bored that you ll end up watching Kenya/ Srilanka match all alone!!! But honestly I did learn a lot of android stuffs (courtesy Brighton), made apps published in the market, posted on fb walls, got likes... yeah it kept me going!!

Yeah, the Work
Of course I need to write atleast a couple of lines about my work!! To be honest I got some work only in the last 3 months which I have enjoyed so far.

The people
Be it the PRISM batch or my project team I have had the previlege of meeting a lott of wonderful people ~ Brighton(my android guru), Srihari (my TT partner),  Chinnathambi(always restless guy (Ganguly n Vijay fan)), Arun(the travel palanner), Sumathi(The scientist)  and several others whom I hope ll stay in touch for a long time.

finallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

A post after some tym...guess this topic might nt deserve a post (a status msg wud ve done it) but wanna write this one since this is an extremely satisfying moment !!! After an incredibly long wait i ve finally got the DOJ from Aricent. Its quite a  long time that i ve been expecting the call that the number of 'y's in the title is the number of days i ve been waiting(don't even try counting it!!). Just 20 more days to kill :) :). Guess what?  the training is in Chennai. Its just a 10 min drive from my home!! Enna oru chinna feeling na I ve built it up saying I would be going to Gurgaon for training which kind of sounds good("Delhi la training!!!"). Never mind, chennai always rocksss :)

Am just all excited to kick start my professional life @ Aricent!!! Next post ll be from Aricent ;)

What if????

This post of mine is greatly inspired from the butterfly effect ~ according to which small changes in the initial conditions of a dynamic system can produce great variations in the long term behavior of a dynamic system. It states that small flapping of a butterfly can alter the path of a tornado!!! for more detailed explanation check out wikipedia from where i have quoted the above two lines ;)

Very often we think about "what if this had happened?? Things would have been totally different..."not necessarily for the good though. I thought I shall ask the "what if" question at some important points in my life so far and how it would have affected my life!!! Let me go in the chronological order...


JULY 2010 : The very fact that I am writing this blog and in turn you reading this one is because I had not yet got the call from my company and am totally "vetty". But this delay has certainly helped me find out that I can blog quite decently who never wrote more than "As I am suffering from fever" ;)

Feb 2010 : The day of my accident. IF the security guy had not had not had his extra cup of coffee, he would have locked the door earlier, I would not have got my helmet, I would not have driven faster, the accident might not have taken place ~ sounds a great result BUT I might have taken my bike to college on my project day and accident then could have been disastrous!!! The accident now does not sound that bad after all!!!


SEPT 2009 : The period when I prepared for GRE in a month and scored 1160. An in between score ~ confused whether or not to go ahead with MS. Here comes my company for placement. I remember changing the options for the last 5 qns in the first round. I just manage to sneak through the first round and eventually get placed. That was when I ended my MS dream. What IF I had not changed them, I would have been placed in one of the succeeding companies but I would have certainly gone ahead with my MS plans. Sounds great BUT I don't know whether doing MS for the sake of it would be such a great thing. Only time ll tell!!


DECEMBER 2006 : My first year @ SSN. I had taken bus no: 13, eventually changed to 21 because I got ragged(sounds silly now). IF I had not been ragged I wouldn't have changed to 21. I would have not seen HER and I would not have fallen for her BUT I might have fallen for someone else and I am sure that would have also ended in the same way though. So no regrets on this one for sure!!!


JUNE 2006 : Counselling at anna university... Myself and my dad went there with selecting CSE @ SSN. But we met one of my dad's friend who suggested ECE is a field with greatest scope(I still don't know y he said that ;)) and that resulted in me doing ECE @ SSN. IF we didn't meet him I would ve done CSE...not much of a difference really BUT I certainly feel I would have been with a totally different group of people I too would have been DIFFERENT as I always get influenced more by the people around me and it would have also had effect on most of the above events directly or indirectly!!! No regrets again and infact happy that I selected ECE then as I have enjoyed every moment of my life @ SSN.

APRIL 2006 : My +2 board exams ~ I get the question number wrong in my Maths paper and lose out 10 marks. IF I had got the question number right, I would have done my B.E in Anna University. Again sounds great BUT I might have  never found my individuality and lost in the crowd. No regrets again!!


Most of us do think at times asking the "What if" question. It springs up some really nice imaginations. But we can never alter the things that have already happened. Its probably best to believe in destiny and put our best foot forward (advice ellam illa, epdi conclude panradhunnu therila ;))

Moviesssss

I had mentioned in my earlier post that I had managed to catch up with a lottt of hollywood movies in this extended vacation. Some have been brilliant, some ordinary, some unbearable. So, I thought i shall classify them based on how much i enjoyed them. They have no bearings on the number of oscars it has received or the IMDB ratings bcoz more often than not they are totally misleading. People might say I have not understood the movie or I may not have international taste but I don't care about that anyway as I hope people would with similar tastes as mine would like this post!

This is how my rating goes:

5.0 : Movie worth watching more than once :)

4.0 : Must watch

3.0 : Not bad, won't regret wasting ur time

2.0 : Oooh,some poor, few others difficult to watch at a single stretch, go for it if you don't ve anything else to do!!

1.0 : Avoid this even if you don't ve anything worthy enough to do!!

So, here's my pick!!!!

5.0:(all equally brilliant movies, i type just as I remember them)

12 angry men, Fight club, Shutter island, Beautiful mind, Matrix,Titanic, Shawshank redemption, Die hard, Dark Knight, Minority report, Rain Man, LA confidential, Snatch...


4.0:


Mission impossible 1, Mission impossible 3, Ocean's11, Ocean's 13, Get smart, Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Bastards, Man from the Earth, Hitch, Dial M for murder, kung fu panda, Butterfly effect, Departed, Sherlock Holmes, Casino Royale, The Rock, Speed,Pursuit of happiness, Deja vu, Catch me if you can, Usual suspects, Seven, Forrest Gump, Babe, Avatar, Phonebooth, Spiderman series, Rocky series, Taken, Jurassic park, Lost world, Eternal sunshine of a spotless mind, 21, Planes,Trains & Automobiles...

3.0:

Rear window, Psycho, Hangover, Harold and Kumar, Pulp fiction, Twilight, Silence of the lambs, Paranormal activity, Face off, 300, Girl next door, Negotiator, Troy, Heat, Speed 2, Inside Man, Memento, Angels and Demons, Da Vinci code, The Italian Job, Blood Diamond, American Beauty, Juno, Burn after reading...



2.0:

Vertigo,Ocean's 12, Mission impossible 2, Wall E, Bourne Identity, Eyes wide shut, Gangs of Newyork, To kill a mocking bird, Taking of Phelam 123, American Psycho....

1.0:


Taxi driver, Good fellas...

FRenZZZZZZZ

This post is about some of my close pals in SSN. I feel a necessity for this post as 10 years down the line it is only natural that our memories would fade. So let me record them here right now. There are a lot of people I need to talk about but I limit it to only those who were really close to keep the post short. Let me go in alphabetical order :)




Akshay Rungta : A good friend!!! A great man manager, official and unofficial class representative, an expert at organizing things(from symposium to culturals to movies). Very famous for his tamil speaking style ;) . One of the very few to have successfully found his love. Coach cum manger of Warriors I might add!!! ;)


Anerudhan  : One of the three real techies of our class. A real genius, managed 99 percentile in CAT n GATE but doesnt mind to check them anyway :) MATLAB expert. Of course it is never gonna be complete if I don't mention his passion for cricket here. Biggest fan of the game I ve ever come across. Main man behind the WARRIORS formation.


Balaji : A guy who never stops talking who has great sense of humour. A lottt to talk about him actually. But I ll keep it rather short. My best friend I would say. Strangely many others would say the same about him!!!! Dats Balaji for you!!!


Gopi : Another wonderful friend of mine( I keep starting the same way for each one?? But that's what they are... )
One guy who always acted as if he was a techie (Managed to explain pointers for an hour...trust me he just asked about it from someone minutes back ;)). In short a "Dubagoor". But always had an amazing sense of command in his speech, a real flirt (I probably wanted to emulate him on those two areas). Promised he would return a "true" techie from Gatech. Lets C :)


Harish Kumar : Fondly called as warrior, propagated the warrior's success. A real athlete. Brilliant cricketer and a footballer. But I always liked him for his amazing sense of timing he showed in catching "adhithya" dialogues. A rare blend of GRE engish and local "kalaai".


Kannan : My batch mate for nearly four years and also my project mate. Never cared about anything or anybody. This attitude could irritate you at times though. Does "sighting" quite professionally. Will always remember the dialogue when he overtook a girl and said to me,"machi,she is following me da"!!! Last year and a half was more of a sister sentiment period where he had a lot of SISTERS in the department. Nevertheless he certainly was a really good friend of mine!!!


Karthikeyaan : 10 years after now if someone in our class sees this guy the first thing he would remind them would be his cricket. No exaggeration here : he bats, bowls, fields and keeps brilliantly. A really nice guy (really...hey, no kalaai here).Definitely one of my closer pals @ SSN.


Kaushik : "He is my best friend ya" ~ Ya really ;) Another true techie, excellend programmer in our class. Software, Hardware...you ask him, he always has a solution for everything. A UBUNTU lover and always propagated the same. But somehow we had an opposite opinion on most of the stuffs. There were always ideological conflicts (haah.. I know this is a big term to be used between us, plz dont mind it though :)) but always had mutual respect. 


Murali : Fondly called as POT(has a reason behind the name but told others he was called that way because he looked like harry potter ;)). Easily the most popular person of the class. Ultimate kalaai guy (at the receiving end most of the time though). Deep inside a real feelings guy though. Unsuccessfully ran "Bombay"  as his rival gopi and his machan kannan always came in his way. Hope its a success in CTS!!!


Murali Rao : A real good friend whom I knew better only in the last year and a half. Had a clear opinion about most of the things and also wanted to know what he wants to be. A budding IAS officer (sounded a bit strange to me the first time but he had his reasons). Hope he realizes his dream! Was always on form when it came to kalaai of POT ;)
Note : A great supporter and critic of my blog posts :)


Prashaanth : The third techie in our class. Brilliant - just as the other two. Easily the most liked guy in the class :)  He was the cashier for the entire class :) :) But always found a reason to be worried about. Hope he enjoys life a lot more in Gatech :) 




There are several others who I may have missed owing to the same reason I had mentioned already. I just hope anytime later I read this it would bring back some really nice memories :) :)

This part of my life is called "being vetty!!!"

As I had already mentioned it was boredom that drove me into starting this blog and that continues to drive me post stuffs like this ;)

47 days past my last anna university exam, I still can't exactly say what I ve been doing these days to kill time.
Still waiting for the call letter from my company this period is getting increasingly frustrating. One could argue why not enjoy this extended vacation hanging out with friends. With no touching of the bike for atleast 6 more months I gotta take MTC buses to reach any place which kind of kills the excitement to get out!!!

Well, I generally love watching sports. Its the world cup time and ppl are crazy about it updating their status in FB every 10 mins regarding the same. I too decided why not try a different sport apart from cricket. A couple of hyped up matches that I managed to catch were goalless draw. I just guess I have not yet understood some of the technicalities of the game :(

Y not catch some cricket. Yeah but... BCCI had killed the excitement that a fan gets while watching an India game by a 2 month long IPL. Moreover I do not know y India keep on playing Srilanka every 2 months.Also, when you find Dinesh Karthik topscoring in an international game and Maharoof picking up a hat-trick u can be sure that its not the highest quality of cricket that is being played.

On the brighter side,I am managing to get 12 hrs sleep everyday ;). I ve managed to develop a taste for hollywood movies(almost watching one of them daily), and a passion for programming, solving problems on SPOJ.

I just hope this period ends pretty quickly else I might have to come up with a part 2 of the same post :)