Don’t You Wish Your Notebook Was Hot Like Me?

Isn’t that what we’re all running after these days? The latest gizmos, the fastest cars, the grandest homes, the hottest girls, the fanciest farm-bred horses (no harm fantasizing, right)? Well if you want to be part of life’s rat-race, you better have the right notebook to put you in the lead. The sleek new MacBook Air is the envy of every hot-shot and getting your hands on one is sure to get you into all the elite clubs you’ve been dying to get into (I might be exaggerating this a bit, but hey; my blog, my rules!). Looks can be deceiving; the new MacBook Air might be a platinum-blonde, but it sure ain’t dumb. With features unheard of in a notebook this size, it is the must-have gadget for 2011.

Body

In this world obsessed with size zeros, the MacBook Air proudly boasts a slim, bulimic, size -2 (read as minus two) body, slender yet powerful; your average Nikita. By default, it comes dressed in matte silver (aluminum finish) but couture brands like Colorware can dress it up for you in a multitude of colors for as little as $1,850 per gown. Irrespective of your dressing preferences, the Air sure is a sight for sore eyes. It comes in both 11″ and 13″ screen-sizes, measuring a mere 2.8 mm at its thinnest point and 17 mm at its widest.

Memory

Apple has successfully experimented with SSD/Flash storage in their other ‘i’ products (pod/phone/pad), only to introduce the same in the new MacBook Air. This thin, wafer-size chip is an essential element of the sleek new design and bestows up on you, the gift of instant turn-on from standby, whether it’s after a day, a week, or a month. Both models can hold up to 256 GB of of your life, extend-able using portable USB hard-drives.

Eyes

Even though the phrase “Big, bright, blue eyes” may not be applicable to the new Air, doesn’t mean it can’t see. A tiny sliver of a camera (codenamed FaceTime) graces the interior of this book, delivering quality video recording and chatting capabilities.

Graphics

With the latest in graphic display technologies, she comes in colors everywhere (only the hard-core Mac fans would get this innuendo), boasting a typical 15″ display resolution squeezed on to a 13″ screen (and a 13″ display resolution in it’s 11″ sibling). It’s a marvel how the geniuses at Apple were able to fit in an Nvidia GeForce 320M (with 256MB shared memory) into this deceivingly thin silhouette.

Sound

What good are looks if it doesn’t sound good, right? I can’t resist referring to the phenomenal uFone advertisement entitled “Saaf Aawaz” (meaning “clear voice” - the one with the pretty lady in Paris and the chorus singing “Teri aawaz ka jadoo”) to give you a better picture. You can always count on getting exceptional sound quality from a Mac and this notebook sure won’t let you down. Even though you can’t see the speakers hidden cleverly underneath the keyboard, you’ll definitely experience the power of full stereo while you watch your favorite TV shows or chat with friends.

Trackpad

Owing to my first-hand experience, many tried this (and failed miserably), but no one can do it better than Apple. The new Multi-Touch Trackpad boasts a jaw-dropping button-less design that allows you to interact with your MacBook Air in unimaginable ways. Innovation at its best, this extra-large trackpad lets you click, double-click, zoom, browse, rotate, navigate, switch between applications, scroll and do much more.

Battery Life

On a long lonely night, the 13″ book can pleasure you for a whopping SEVEN hours (and the 11″ for FIVE). You can browse the web, play your favorite movie, edit photos, or just sit and stare affectionately at the dazzling screen while occasionally caressing the trackpad.

Price

See? I saved the best for last. The one ironclad rule of dating: the more beautiful the girl, the pricier the gifts – and this baby is no exception! This drop-dead-gorgeous bombshell will end up making your pockets at least $999 lighter (and then some); the one I want is only $1,907 at the Apple store. With the recent advancements in technology, this book would be good for the next three years.

Below is a complete list of promises that this elegant lady upholds:

Features	11″ Model	13″ Model
Display	11.6″ – 1366 x 768 glossy wide-screen with LED backlighting	13.3″ – 1440 x 900 glossy wide-screen with LED backlighting
Graphics	Nvidia GeForce 320M using 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM with Mini DisplayPort output
Front-side Bus	800 or 1066 MHz
Processor	1.4 GHz (SU9400) Intel Core 2 Duo with 3 MB on-chip L2 cacheOptional 1.6 GHz (SU9600) Intel Core 2 Duo with 3 MB on-chip L2 cache	1.86 GHz (SL9400) Intel Core 2 Duo with 6 MB on-chip L2 cacheOptional 2.13 GHz (SL9600) Intel Core 2 Duo with 6 MB on-chip L2 cache
Memory	2 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, extendable to 4GB
Secondary Storage	64, 128, or 256 GB of flash storage
Optical Storage	NoneOptional External USB SuperDrive
Keyboard	Gray characters, non backlit
Connectivity	Integrated 802.11a/b/g/nBluetooth 2.1 + EDRWired Ethernet not supported
Battery	35-watt-hour non-removable lithium-ion polymer	50-watt-hour non-removable lithium-ion polymer
Weight	2.3 lb (1.04 kg)	2.9 lb (1.32 kg)
Dimensions	11.8 in (300 mm) wide × 7.56 in (192 mm) deep × 0.11 in (2.8 mm) – 0.68 in (17 mm) high	12.8 in (330 mm) wide × 8.94 in (227 mm) deep × 0.11 in (2.8 mm) – 0.68 in (17 mm) high
Peripheral Connections	2 × USB 2.01 × 3.5mm headphone jack	2 × USB 2.01 × 3.5mm headphone jack1× SD card slot

In the end, the choice is yours. I merely act as your guide to steer you in the right (wrong) direction. *evil sneer*

Cheers!

References

Official MacBook Air page – http://www.apple.com/macbookair

Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air

Colorware Skins – http://www.colorwarepc.com

Nexus404′s Blog – http://nexus404.com/Blog/2010/11/23/colorware-does-new-macbook-air-professional-recoloring-service-will-now-touch-up-your-macbook-air-for-just-1850/

 

Man-made Inspiration: Architecture That Demands Respect

Four – the number of countries I have visited in my 30-year existence (including the country I live in; pathetic, isn’t it?), although I’d like for this number to at least go into the double-digit range by 2013. On my journeys, I’ve come across some marvelous architectural feats that just mesmerized me, demanding me to stand there and appreciate every crevice.

Here are some shots I took at my favorite locations. Every single image represents a culture, a race, a civilization, a story. Hope you enjoy them.

The Corridors of Time - Souk-al-Bahar, UAE

Iranian Dome-ination - Ibn Battuta Mall, UAE

Round and Round - Ibn Battuta Mall, UAE

Painted Palace - Emirates Palace, UAE

Timeless Beauty - Emirates Palace, UAE

Praise the Lord - Sh. Zayed Masjid, UAE

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue - The Address, UAE

Broken and used - Empress Market, Pakistan

Eternal Rest - Quaid's Mausoleum, Pakistan

 

Manslaughter on New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve (or NYE as it is popularly referred to) seems to be all the rage in Karachi these days. Surprisingly, this was never the case a couple of decades ago. My dad, or his dad before him, never went out to the Clifton beach partying his way into the new year, welcoming it with fire-power (note that I didn’t use the word ‘fireworks’ here) and dancing with some downright cheesy music blaring out of the bystanders’ cars, a mash of discordant symphonies coupled by grotesquely gyrating bodies.

It’s December 31, 2010, and I’m sitting in my room YouTubing for some videos. Suddenly, I hear shots being fired in the distance; lots and lots of shots. I instinctively duck down, asking my wife to do the same, but she’s relaxed, unfazed, without a single frown-line on her forehead. She smiles surreptitiously, points at the wall-clock and says, “Relax, honey. It’s going to be 2011 soon; seems like the party’s started a bit early this year”. I breathe out a partial sigh of relief and can’t stop myself from thinking about the consequences, the price that some innocents might end up paying because of a few irresponsible idiots. More firing follows and for the next hour or so, thats all I can hear, my ears trying (and miserably failing) to pinpoint the origins of this mindless debauchery. Never in a million years could I imagine one of my family members to be a victim of this New Year insanity, as I was about to find out the very next day. The story that follows is in the victim’s (i.e. Hassan’s) own words and has been modified slightly (as he was unconscious through part of the incident).

“Since it was my last weekend of freedom, the last couple of school-free days, I decided to join my friends outside for some late-night chit-chat. It was almost 11:30 p.m., me speeding down the stairs, my dad yelling after me to take my jacket. After contemplating for a split-second, I flew back upstairs, grabbed my winter-gear and whispered a silent thank-you to my dad once I stepped outside. It was 9 degrees centigrade outside, or at least that’s what I had heard on the TV earlier that evening, and that is extreme by Karachi standards. My friends and I headed towards the corner of the street, our usual hangout, and started engaging in some boy-banter. The discussion soon steered towards the computer games we had played, Monday blues, upcoming exams and the teachers we hated. After about 10 minutes, we heard the first gun-shots being fired, signalling the arrival of the fast approaching New Year. A few fireworks lit up the night sky, but it was the noise of the gun-shots that dominated our senses. The firing intensified as time snaked its way towards 2011. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my scalp, as if something was burning through me, trying to making its way to my brain. Two little streams of blood trickled down my forehead and the next thing I remember is blacking out completely, falling on the ground in a heap. At first, my friends thought I was joking, then spotting the blood, they started screaming. Thankfully for me, the hospital was only a short distance from where I live, so my friends had me there in no time. I was still unconscious, my breathing shallow and labored. The doctor in the ER rushed up to me, examined the wound and started throwing questions at my friends. What? How? When? Confused and afraid, they answered as best as they could. After a few minutes, the doctor picked up a pair of tweezers and extracted a bullet out of my scalp. He dressed up my wound as best as he could, all the while consoling my friends. I came to about 10 minutes later, my brain about to blow out of my skull. I told the doctor I was in a lot of pain and he mercifully gave me the magic drug (what would we do without pain-killers?). According to the doctor, the bullet must have been shot into the sky and on its way back, its trajectory had slowed it down considerably before it landed on my head, failing to go further on into the skull. Had this not been the case, it would have been a through-and-through and I would have definitely died. With a prescription in one hand, I managed to walk out of the hospital, a bit groggy and disoriented but otherwise alright, the dent in my scalp a constant reminder of what could have been.”

Firing a gun isn’t fun when you are at the receiving end, a deal you didn’t sign-up for, an innocent bystander, caught in the cross-fire of mindless self-indulgent individuals trying to prove some point that I fail to comprehend. Yet this continues to happen year after year after year, a soiree of imbeciles hell-bent on painting the earth red with the blood of the innocent. How can we expect the New Year to be peaceful when all we really do is welcome it with violence? Think about the 70+ people (including INFANTS, for crying out loud) who were either dead or seriously injured in Karachi; sadly, the same story was repeated throughout the country. Not to mention the disregard for people being disturbed by these senseless acts; think about the elderly, the sick, the children, and the people who have to wake up early no matter what. Is this a celebration or an act of barbarianism? Go figure.

Note: Here’s a link to the video of the coverage done by a Pakistani news channel.