News Hour debates and Arnab Goswami

Arnab Goswami has been the Editor in Chief of Times Now since its inception.From Pioneering a new style of Journalism never seen before on Indian Television and from holding a Talk show-Frankly speaking with Arnab Goswami to the highly anticipated News show -The News Hour

The thrill that people associate with the word Arnab,a noun. Arnab means the Ocean in Bengali certainly Arnab Proves he is as consummate as the ocean itself. Arnab also becomes an adjective itself rather lends it self a new meaning to every debate this man moderates. Arnab or as Aurnob as some people say is trending more than any other television Journalist time and again on twitter and yes Arnab is there on Twitter and not that many people know about his presence on the micro blogging site.

Ornab or better pronounced as Aurnob linguistically is becoming loved and hated in circles.Times Now with its ever-increasing following in 27 countries across 4 continents is becoming a truly global channel and it is representation of nationalistic view points and the voice of the Indians to the Indian Diaspora settled across the globe.

I came across comments on Ornab saying,”Blood pressure will shoot up after watching Arnab’s outrage and his yelling on the show.”

Times Now has been significantly covering and representing the views of the opposition more than any other rival channel and I believe it is this core perspective of the channel which has enabled the channel to be successful.Representation of Ambiguous view points is one the other being that The channel sometimes represents very extreme view points which are rather for a very mature audience.Equivalent of watching a Rated film.Sounds absurd but watching Times Now is equivalent of watching a R rated film which some times though entertaining should be watched under supervision

Yesterday when Sarabjit Singh died Mr.Arnab Goswami made some very compelling political points.

1.He accused the Pak foreign office of lying because they issued a statement saying that Sarabjit Singh had died in a Scuffle.

2.The Pakistani spokespersons were very perturbed by his accusations which were a counter view to the very official statements made by Pak foreign office

3.He called some fellow Indian Journalists as Pakistani apologists.

Unlike other Indian channels Mr.Arnab Goswami did not tolerate the Pakistani  authorities.One may have his own reservations about Sarabjit Singh’s death.Sarabjit Singh’s death may be called a result of failure of Diplomatic talks.

Email: Outlook.com Vs Gmail

Hotmail recently became Outlook with their enhanced interface,apps and besides making Hotmail from a email service to a more social service that has integration with Facebook,Twitter and LinkedIn.The Shift from Hotmail to Outlook is a makeover for Microsoft which is increasingly losing users to its rival-Google’s GMail which comes with a host of features but the new Outlook.com from Microsoft is too good.Like Google Docs you and view Office Files and other supported formats Online with a app from Microsoft Office that allows Users to view and edit Doc files Online.Its a cloud based service that is not available off line.

Hotmail which is one of the oldest email services started by Sabeer Bhatia and was later sold to Microsoft for a premium is now revived by Microsoft and what appears to be a more social avatar for Hotmail which is now Outlook.Hotmail which was considered to be a rather traditional is now gone social and is plugged in with Facebook

I am sure you must try Hotmail for its ease of use and design.Your Hotmail account comes with a Calendar which is akin to Google Calendar and has got a makeover.Outlook also comes with Cloud based service SkyDrive where users can store and share large data files with other Outlook/Hotmail users or users of Microsoft accounts.

While old users are yet to get over the Hotmail Hangover and while new users will adapt to outlook.com.It looks like Windows and Microsoft fans must certainly try Outlook.com and experience the email service

 

Open Source Operating system:Ubuntu

A few months back I started using Ubuntu 12.04 and soon after they released Ubuntu 12.10.I have been using Ubuntu 12.10 since then.I also use Windows 7 but over the last few months I’ve liked Ubuntu more then Windows though Windows has more utility than a Ubuntu 12.10.

Ubuntu is a Linux based operating system that is being increasingly used around the world for being free unlike Windows Software which are expensive.I am not generalizing but then most of us use Windows in India and we use a counterfeit version of windows.The problem is ethical and therefore I urge friends to use Open Source OS like Ubuntu which are being increasingly used across the globe in educational institutes, organizations and even by governments.The idea for Ubuntu came from an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers.

As a user of Ubuntu I have been very satisfied over the past few months.Though I am no software professional and lay man trying my hands on the computer especially being particular about using genuine software.But I have to say that I am poor enough to purchase a genuine copy of Windows 7 and it is quiet expensive though utility wise it is undisputed leader.I would say you can try Ubuntu once and see how it feels to use Ubuntu from the principle of the African word meaning ‘humanity to others’ and another meaning ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’.

With Ubuntu you can surf the Internet,use Libre Office which a substitute for MS Office.Watch movies and listen to music and play games.You would also be surprised to know that the Google Android based phones are developed on Linux.

Another Linux-based platform is Linux Mint 14 which is compatible with X86 computers.It is a lot like Windows when it comes to interface but it is loaded on features and I suggest you really go for it.

5 best Open Source Word Processors

All of us use word processors.but lets make sure it’s not a counterfeit one.MS office is certainly one of the undisputed leaders in the business of word processors but do you know that there are other word processors which could do your job and that they are free.I didn’t until one day I came across some real cool word processors who can do your job as nicely as MSO does.You just need to take a look at some of these word processors which are free to use and distribute and that is why they are called Open Source.You could use them at home or office or at School and college for absolutely no charge or license fee.

1.Google Docs-Google cloud based Docs integrated with Google drive comes with 5 GB of storage .Google Docs comes with a Document editor, a Spreadsheet,a presentation and a form enabled by Google Forms

2.Office.com (Office 365)Microsoft’s Cloud based system which is both free and paid to use depending on the features you use and opt for. Office.com offers Word/Spreadsheet/PowerPoint and Notebook. Office.com is integrated with Sky Drive,a cloud based service from Microsoft which enables users to store content online on the lines of other Cloud based services

3.Apache OpenOffice-A Open Source Project from Apache Software Foundation created Open Office which does your job pretty well.IT comes with the essentials of a Word Processor and should do the job pretty well unless you are looking for advanced features where you can opt for Microsoft.

4.LibreOffice-Libre Office is an Open Source project from the Document Foundation and is user-friendly.

5.IBM Lotus Symphony-A Open Source project from IBM Lotus symphony offers three basic necessities and comes with great user interface.It has a Document/Presentation and a spreadsheet.It also has a n inbuilt web browser

The dilemma of English language

The word processor has changed the way we use English Language because the popularly used word processor from Microsoft and similar other word processors which were from IBM and other open source software are all using the American version of English.Sitting here in Mumbai I am appalled by one thing is the dying European English which is being used lesser because it is limited to literature and books.Also I studied British English in school but my college education was completely ruled by American literature because we essentially didn’t study British English in a world increasingly being dominated by American Literature .So as I am typing I am using British English and American Spellings because the word processor is designed so.I am not being Anti American here.Just an observation over the use of language because of the proliferation of Media from the US markets to the other parts of the world and a consumerist culture against the conservative British which uses an old English.Language has evolved but both the British and American English coexist and many of us have messed up big time with using our English because we fail to realize that we are using both types of English.Also Twitter and Facebook including Quora are American Mega websites all in big scale.So they endorse The US English.Anybody can share your thoughts here.When people read the bible they shifted from old testament to new testament though the old testament remained,it has some what been discounted.Similarly though the works of Shakespeare etc are becoming increasingly difficult to understand as we are shifting from an old English to new English which i call the English (US)this has also impacted Journalism in a big way where our Journalists are using essentially a mix of both.

Eastern Philosophy

Siddhartha is a novel written by Hermann Hesse a writer of German origin.In Siddhartha Hesse speaks of a journey of a man from his house through misery, suffering, peace and finally wisdom. Siddhartha is the story of man’s life and his struggle to understand the puzzle of man’s life on earth

It is said that Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is one of the books that changed the world because since then the western world was influenced by Eastern Philosophy. Another noteworthy movement where the Western world was inspired by Eastern Philosophy is the Hare Krishna Movement or the ISKCON[International Society for Krishna Consciousness] in the 1960′s is still very relevant.ISKCON temples are there all over the world and need no mention.

In addition to Siddhartha you can read J.Krishnamurti. J.Krishnamurti is a highly acclaimed philosopher of the 20th century, acclaimed by personalities like Dalai Lama and Deepak Chopra. J.Krishnamurti was born in Tamil Nadu, South India and was educated by Annie Besant. J.Krishnamurti’s teachings are still valid and are read widely in the Europe, Americas and in India.

Krishnamurti has been described by Writers and philosophers like Deepak Chopra and Dalai Lama has one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century.He is also a great human being.Krishnamurti Foundation is there in Chennai,India and other parts of the world.Krishnamurti has his own original and unique philosophy which has inspired many philosophers.He is more famous in the Europe and Americas than in India where here too he has many followers.The thing is that he does not give much references to god even though his books are spiritual.He does not preach religious philosophy and his teachings are intellectual and out of the box.He does not call himself a messenger of god.Its a must read if you read Osho.Its liberating to read Krishanmurti

Osho is another Indian Philospher of Indian origin.His teachings are acclaimed and it is often the very wealthy who subscribe to his teachings as by his own beliefs he never believed in poverty and drove expensive cars and lead a life of a millionaire but one can certainly read his books as they are not as expensive as visiting his ashram and his lifestyle certainly dont have much to do with his teachings..OSHO ashram in Pune is one of the ashrams/resorts which offer discourses and spiritual advice and open the windows of life.

I think these books would be an eye opener, for people who are looking for spiritual enlightenment. I recommend these books to anyone who is in need of peace and needs some souls searching in life

 

 

Hurt Locker: Movie Review

Hurt locker,a 2008 movie  directed by Kathryn Bigelow’s is one of those films that should move you.Hurt Locker,a 6 academy award winner movie is one of the films I watched recently.The film is about an elite bomb disposal squad who in their mission and war discover differences between themselves and go into a self introspection mode.

The film beautifully displays the brutality of war in Iraq.Hurt Locker too like other movies portrays the Americans as the good guys.A little idealistic characters all come together.Sergeant First Class William James who has diffused 873 live bombs and his 2 mates who accompany him.

The film has a sensitive side to portraying the trauma that soldiers go through.The movie is more specifically about a bomb disposal squad.Sergeant First Class William James is touched most when a Iraqi boy he calls Beckham (for his football skills) dies and he sees the pain and agony of war through his own eyes.Little does the movie glorify war though there are enough of explosions.

The movie offers enough to gawk,gape and gore.It offers a very newsy content with a touch of a documentary.Go watch it if the War interests you and especially this one which with its subtlety tells a gory tale.

Not necessarily do you have to subscribe to the views of the movie which might be unsuitable for some.