Reflections

I am no tech fan. I am not non-titanic. I am not amused by what I see around. I am not unaware of what I do not see, what haunts a huge section of mankind, with God's grace.

I am not planning to write some serious mail today. I was just looking through the window as I sat in the "break room" at TI Japan. The whole glass buildings reflecting the other buildings around. A reflection of growth. Construction in Japan has been in both directions - upward and downward. The Oedo line platform at Azabujuban is at B5. I know that is not the deepest platform. Probably Keiyo line platform at Tokyo station? Dont know.

Japan and Tokyo are just not the Pheonix after war as we all heard in school. If they were nothing, they would not have been in war. Just look up some pictures of Tokyo after the great Kanto earthquake and the Tokyo fire followed. (great used to mean big before US invaded English -btw the new meaning of invasion seems providing freedom) Just see the Tokyo that was carpet bombed during the war. It was rebuilding Tokyo and Japan that they did. Someways, you and me rightfully think, they still don't know what and what for all these...

I took a snap of the view using the old FOMA phone - TIJ visitors phone. Thought I would share. The reflections of constructional growth captured by a reflection of communication technology growth. Really, is camera a communication technology? No. May be. Yes. The phones these days boast of a lot of features. See the latest FOMA releases?

2M camera. Videophone. Barcode reader (visiting cards). Built in charge cards with RFID. (Flash the phone at billing is a reality now) Forthcoming phones to have more - WLAN access. Migration from walkmans to watch-while-you-walk mans with mobile digital TVs. wow, just now, as I typed the last line, there was a mild earthquake. In future, they want the phones giving out messages immediately after such a quake for getting people to safe locations. (Read that they are thinking of a legislative amendment that would allow local authorities do all these without having the cabinet committee to sit and approve:)) Dial 119 from your mobile and ambulance should be able to zero in. And, definitely, more fancies too. You are going on a bus and you happen to hear an old music, just get your phone listen to that for a few seconds, then would find the song from the server and buy it and play it for you. For the funnily un-necessarily dressed, feel-like-fairies-in-late-twenties, there will be UV detectors that would tell them to cover their skin from sun.

Who named phone a phone. Bell himself? I feel these days phones are becoming no longer phones. And bells have been replaced by ring tones and now sing tones. All said and all heard of, I still prefer landlines when it comes to talking to someone! And especially so if it is a con call. Good camera, good colour, good resolution, good MP3, good MIDI. But bad voice quality.

Don't write it off still. People now talk about voice centric phones !!! Hmmm... great!!!!! People should no longer mock at my Nokia1100 back in India.

I remember the days when PC was boasted as the financial, entertainment, information (and what else) center of every home. Lets see. Icebergs and tsunamis kill boasting and pride too.

"deepasthambham mahashcharyam
namukkum kittanam panam"