What has recently amazed me is how the rest of the world is getting on with the new web improvements. Not too long ago (before Watchmen released) i was mentioning to my friends as to how if you really crazy about some movie, you can get all this extra information. Even beyond what E! can give you. Watchmen had a twitter account that was updated as if you were living through the time before the movie. Pictures on Flickr and videos on YouTube all gave you a glimpse of the world that you will soon immerse in when you go to see the movie.

Today, I read about the Pilot screening of NBC’s Community. If you become a fan of the show on Facebook, you can get see the full pilot without advertisement right there before it even airs on the traditional silver screen. This sort of marketing of previously unheard of. Sure they did it for music before. You could listen to the full song if you listened to some radio show. You could get an exclusive clip here or there. But a full show..

Of course, by becoming a fan of the show you automatically advertise for them on your profile so your friends and see it and they can join in and the crowd takes care of the word of mouth and all the company had to give was an incentive. It’s great to see people taking the initiative and getting on with the new world order

For a while, I ignored this, since I really just wanted to have the small signal. I justified it by claiming that I don’t listen to the radio much anyway. Unfortunately, that isn’t true. When I’m done with my podcasts or a new album, I usually switch to the radio. Sometimes I just like listening to the classics on my way to work. Yet, I ignored the problem and let it be.

Then came summer. All of a sudden out of the blue all the radio signals seem to have been adversely effected. May be the summer storms turned most of the stations I listen to slightly away from my travel route. It’s crazy none the less. Today, I finally gave up. I want my radio. I’m taking it back.

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am about this.

So here’s what Pheonix looked like before

And here is what she looks like now

And for those wondering, I didn’t find what I was originally looking for.

The following technologies are currently under active deployment, so that means they are already developed. Unfortunately the auto indrustry does not move as fast as the tech industry. However, the amount of changes coming up will beg to question if they aren’t going a bit faster than usual.

• Hybrids – They are already here. They have been already hear. From the Insight to the Prius to the Hybrid Fusion. They are here, coming more strongly, and from almost everyone. I say almost since not everyone is going all hybrid crazy.
• Diesels – For years diesel engines have been there with high torque and better fuel economy. However, what hits hard about these cars are the higher cost at the pump and the apparent higher maintenance costs. Even so, the 2009 Jetta TDI still managed to a lot more heads than she usually does.
• Reduced weight – For simpler and a faster way to boost fuel economy marginally, many auto-makers have taken to looking for lighter curb weight. Not that they care that much about the fuel economy but since it directly correlate to the CO2 emissions they have been forced to taken this measure to meet the new expectations.
• Start-Stop system – Basically taking a hypermilling technique from out of the drivers hand and putting it in to the engine, the new start-stop systems will conserve fuel usage by shutting down the combustion engine while idling.
• Alternative Fuel – From batteries to hydrogen, everything is getting it trial these days. Not that I see the world shifting over to a  new source over the next decade, but change is inevitable, and it can happen. Though this isn’t a reason to not buy a car now, but it is worth a mention on this list.
• Smaller engines – A lot of our favorite cards, including Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s are cutting back on the engine size. Not that it means that you are getting reduced power, no. In fact in some cases, they are proving to be better since the makers slap on a turbo to give the same power, but now the power to weight ratio just shot up.
• Direct-injection – Though this has been around for a while now, interestingly not all new cars have it. That said, it does look like it is slowly going into every car as M-P-G is the new fad.

This is just the list that I know. I’m sure there are tons of other ones that are being worked one. Not to mention that if you are a fan of small cars (smart4two, iQ, Mini, etc), your options are going to get larger. Think about it.

That aside, what I really wanted to tell you today was the changes in network technology in Bangladesh. What amazes me, is that WiFi hasn’t still hit mainstream in Bangladesh. Neither is LAN a big part of the culture. As you start looking deep into it, you realize that it doesn’t really make sense.

Besides spoilt brats like me, most people have only a computer at home. Prices of computers though cheap it isn’t cheap compared to other things. Most cases people cannot justify having more than 1 computer at home. What’s the point of a LAN at that moment? There’s one desktop with everything. What’s the point of having another power sucker running somewhere just to dish out a few files on the LAN.

As for Wireless is concerned, it’s pretty straight forward. Laptops cost a bundle to buy and tons more to maintain. On the other hand, desktops are pretty straight forward and tends to be a much cheaper for repairs. Swipe the bad card and wala! Simple, cheap and easy.

As for the internet itself, a lot has changed. Even though last time I was here cable internet was the big thing, what was actually happening was that the cost reduction was happening the same was as roommates would share internet. One guy gets the actual cable internet. He feeds it to his lovely router who dishes out 192.168.1.x IP address to all the people that guy sells the internet to. So what would happen is when everyone get online at the same time, the network would start to crawl. Not to mention the insane amount of firewall problems caused by the friendly router.

Nowadays, however, the playing field is very different. Shared cable internet has become dirt cheap while Wireless WAN has become the next big thing. EDGE modems are cheaper here than they are back in the USA and not to mention that you don’t have to sign your life away on a 2 year contract. Once you get past that hurdle, you can get 1Gb/month at a very reasonable price.

Granted it’s not HSDPA (3G) but hey we’re going WiMAX in a few month, baby! This is something I predicted 3 years back when I visited. It feels good to be right. Though it feels bad that I couldn’t be a big part of it. But hell. I still have time. May be I’ll bring LTE to Bangladesh at a later date

What I mean is that when I drive in Atlanta, I’m constantly thinking what will happened when I reach the point 250+ feet ahead. But here that distance is down to a few feet at best. This causes the insane amount of sharp turns and hard breaks. I know people say that I drive bad, but people here are just crazy. I think you can’t drive if you aren’t crazy and pissed off.

And unfortunately enough unlike Atlanta’s Hartsfield, Gatwick doesn’t let people get out. Not even for a smoke (which could have been a good excuse). I tried all different points and I don’t have a way to get to Arrivals without violating the law. Thus I had to tell my uncle that “Hey, I’m retarded. I’m already in Departures and I can’t come out.”

Stupid me.

If you haven’t  noticed yet, I’d like to guide your attention to the “Bonus” sticker. This book claims to have the deleted scenes. What’s next – blooper reel?

The other thing is that I got a Rubik’s cube. I saw this really good tutorial online and wanted to really learn it this time. I could always do one side without a problem, but I figured it was time to explore further. And after a couple of painful hours with several mishaps that made me restart. But I did it!! That’s the big news for the day. Sorry to anyone who called me during then because I really couldn’t concentrate on anything else.

On other news, Big Cat is going to get a new name since some people are revolting against it. I’m thinking Vombol Daas. What do you think? The weird thing is that sometimes I get afraid that he’ll scratch me. It is weird because if anyone met me in the last year, they know I am all scratched up. But that’s by Sylvee, and she was there with me since she was a baby. Anyway, we’ll see whatever ends up happening with Vombol.