Nerd Arena

The first three months into engineering and I am already bored with it. That's a popular statement made by most engineering students if not all. However, I did mention in my last blog that I'm liking it here and it is true to a certain extent. So, I'll stop complaining now. Moving on, let's discuss what I did these past two weeks: I found a very interesting TED talk titled: "Inside the mind of a master procrastinator." It talks about how a master procrastinator (like me!) thinks. And the biggest takeaway for me from that talk was that all procrastinators need a solid and consequential deadline. Youtube link for this video! Talking about TED; our university hosted an event: TEDx CUSAT. A funny thing about that was that I was a volunteer. Yes, I was. I have been watching TED videos from a very young age and being part of an event that celebrates its existence was as good as anything. October was challenging! I had my ACM ICPC on 18th and I did not prep

Music is very important to Indians as I'm quite sure it is to everyone else on this planet. And with the ever-increasing Jio subscribers there is a significant shift to streaming services from downloading music locally. This is great news for streaming services as India would prove to be a great potential market for them. Now that Spotify and YouTube Music is available in India, the battle for the best music streaming platform–in India–has officially begun. With Apple Music, Spotify, Prime Music, Gaana and YouTube Music as top contenders for your money. I've been an Amazon Prime subscriber for almost two years now and when they brought Prime Music to India last year with no additional cost for Prime subscribers, it was a no-brainer. With an INR 999 annual Amazon Prime subscription you get Free 1 day and 2 day delivery on Amazon shopping, 1 year of Prime Video subscription and 1 year of Prime Music! I mean there's simply no competing that. Just to put things in perspe

When it comes to protecting your smartphone-back with scratches and those ugly fingerprint smudges, most people use cases. I hate cases. It takes away the awe of the tech we're using and makes it bulky. I love skins though. You get all the protection your phone needs without sacrificing on the look and feel of the bleeding-edge tech. In this article, I am going to discuss two major smartphone skin manufacturers : Dbrand and Gadgetshieldz. . Dbrand is a US-based skin manufacturer, which is one of the biggest in its segment and even ships skins to India. Gadgetshieldz , on the other hand, operates in India as well and, hence, doesn't require international shipping. Therefore the products of the latter are cheaper . I've used Gadgetshieldz's skins from Skinnova lineup and they're very good. My favorite is definitely the Black Matrix . It's a textured matte black sort of material. The quality of the material and the adhesive is very good and it will last

Ant Audio Treble H82 A month ago, when I was looking in the sub- Rs.1000 Bluetooth headphones category; two strong contenders emerged to claim my money and offer their services: 1. Ant Audio Treble H82 BT, 2. Boat Rockerz 400 ( I know the price varies from Rs. 999 to 1499). I chose the Ant Audio Treble H82 and this article will tell you why. Ant Audio is a UK based audio company that basically makes budget-friendly headphones and earphones for emerging markets like India. When I bought the headphones, there weren't many reviews online about it and not many YouTube videos either. But showing faith in this British company, I placed my order off Amazon.in at Rs. 949.00. The headphones came the next day and here's what I've to say after using them for almost a month: 1. Packaging & Accessories; The packaging of the product was very good. A hard cardboard box acting as the casing with a transparent plastic film showing the headphones itself. Upon opening the bo

I recently finished reading "Great Expectations" penned by the legendary, English author Charles Dickens. Dickens was popular for his writing styles and creating complex comically repulsive characters in poor social conditions during Victorian England. So striking is his body of work that it gave rise to its own adjective: Dickensian. The word describes or reminiscent of the novels of Charles Dickens, especially in suggesting the poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters that they portray. His characters exhibit the sheer absurdity of human behavior. Dickens, through his many novels, best describes the poor social and economic conditions of Victorian England, of which he himself was a victim. For instance, he often considered the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution. During this period, the lower classes experienced sordid working conditions. Dickens himself experienced this hardship as a child when he was forced to work in a boot blacking factory aft

"Happy New Year! , fellow Nerds" was the message  I was hoping to share but something felt odd. It felt, sort of, forced. It felt, as though, the time of "us" (fellow Nerds) not being the "alpha-male" is over, done(!) and 2018 did serve as a great example. Nerdy is becoming the new sexy and, nerds, the new protagonists. We're a creative community not bounded by the norms of societies, we daydream, we have ludicrous fantasies and weird imaginations but that doesn't stop us. Although we rarely socialize and even more rarely share our ideas publicly, the amount of creativity boxed into our minds can bring a real change. It rarely gets out. But when it does, it makes them realize, what they're missing. 2019 is all about us. It's about celebrating what we possess: a curious brain, a silent one. 2018 wasn't a great year in particular(for me). It sure had some good moments but it was mostly "meh!". I made a few goals at the be