iPhone Vs myPhone

Cost:
iPhone costs $499 or $599 after you've signed a 2 year contract with Cingular.

myPhone costs $18 and no contract with Cingular. In fact when you buy this pay-as-you-go Phone, you get $10 worth of talk time free. In effect myPhone costs $8.

Features:
iPhone: is a phone, a camera, a music player and an internet browser.

myPhone: is barely even a phone. Some days it wakes me up doubling as an alarm. It triples as a girl repellant. Ideal function for married men.

If I lost it:
iPhone: I'd turn suicidal, because it is almost as valuable as my life. The person who finds it will almost certainly not return it back.

myPhone: I just fast for one meal and buy me a new one for free. If someone finds it, they are certain to return it... or throw it into a dumpster.

If you are seen using one:
iPhone: People think you are a cool, rich person with good taste. Maybe even a spendthrift who will turn suicidal when he loses his phone.

myPhone: People run away from you, and then you can call them to ask why?

Marketing:
Apple spends millions of dollars to produce snazzy ads for the iPhone.

Motorola spends millions of dollars, so that people won't find out that they made myPhone.

Steve Jobs advertizes the iPhone = iJobs

I advertize myPhone = iJobless

A Laid Back Weekend!

Peter Gibbons: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
Lawrence: I'll tell you what I'd do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.
Peter Gibbons: That's it? If you had a million dollars, you'd do two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I were a millionaire I could hook that up, too; 'cause chicks dig dudes with money.
Peter Gibbons: Well, not all chicks.
Lawrence: Well, the type of chicks that'd double up on a dude like me do.
Peter Gibbons: Good point.
Lawrence: Well, what about you now? what would you do?
Peter Gibbons: Besides two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Well, yeah.
Peter Gibbons: Nothing.

So guess what I did this weekend? I pretended to be a millionaire for the weekend and did nothing! :) It feels so good to do nothing productive, nothing useful.

On Friday night I went out with Sai's cousin Varun to Banana Leaf for dinner. If you have never had Malaysian food, it is an interesting experience. It is very closely related to Indian and Thai food. My favourite appetizer has always been roti prata (so close to Roti Paratha), which comes with fluffy crispy roti and a curry style dip. The next day I helped him move into his apartment in Mountain View.

Saturday afternoon I slept and then went to Borders in the night to read random books. I picked up the New York Times Almanac. It was an interesting read. I loved the compressed history of India that they have in it, listing all the major historical events. Even the recent past does seem like a violent time if you go by that description... Babri masjid demolition, Bombay riots, Kargil War, Attack on the parliament and so on. Then of course most news-worthy stories are such events. The final paragraph talking about the great strides that India made with Green Revolution to feed all it's people, the IT revolution also feels nice for a change. There have been positive developments. I also looked for a John Mayer CD, but I didn't want to spend $20 on it. So I backed out. Sorry John, your music is really great but please go easy on the pricing!

I tried hunting for apartments from time to time but I couldn't find a great deal. Most one bedroom houses in the area have shot up to $1600+ thanks to a new school across the street and the influx of recent graduates from various universities. I remember the good old days when I used to split a two bedroom apartment and pay $700 in rent. Went for a bike ride around the area in the evening. And finally watched parts of Office Space. I love it... Every time you watch it, you have gained more experience and you start relating even more to all the problems in the movie. I hope I don't have to see a round of layoffs like those guys. There are always pessimists out there... many predictions of slowing growth in the semiconductor industry. Don't know what to make of it.