A Review..

A hero unleashed adds the tag-line to the movie, Bolt serves to be another decent animation movie for the year 2008, released on November the story revolves around a canine star(Bolt) of a sci-fi-action show that believes his powers are real embarks on a cross country trek to save his co-star(Penny) from a threat he believes is just as real.  The story gets interesting when the Bolt gets separated from Penny, and gets accidentally shipped to NYC from Hollywood. From there he has to make his way home with the help of a manky old cat(Mittens) and an overweight hamster in a plastic ball(Rhino).

The story line is new and the humor included is really good just what you can expect from Walt Disney, especially with the character Rhino(my favourite), I’d say Bolt is a must watch, and bolt, bolts a score of 3.5/5

Christmas, one of my favorite holidays, season of joy, gifts, sharing – caring, a beautiful history and not to mention Santa Claus! But you know days are not like it used to be, people are busy, far from each other, even sending a holiday message from a remote place is not an easy task, there seems to be a lack of cheer for the season.

But thanks to the technology we have, no place is too far or not reachable, be it middle of the ocean, or half way up a glacier, there is always a way to send a message home. So here are some ways to keep connected with your family and friends:

E-MAIL

For many, this is the cheapest and easiest choice. Electronic mail covers the entire spectrum, from basic text message, through to sound and movie files.

As long as you have got an internet connection and a means of getting online, then an electronic season’s greeting can be sent with just a few clicks of a button.

SMS / TEXT MESSAGE

Short Message Service’s – or SMS’s – are almost as versatile as e-mails, enabling users to send photos and short video clips, as well as traditional text messages.

The popularity of the service has skyrocketed in recent years. According to the Mobile Data Association, more than 1.4 billion texts were sent in the UK every week in 2008, which is more than the entire number of texts sent in 1999.

According to data from the Mobile Data Association, from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day last year, 6,466,506 video and picture messages were sent.

Instant Messaging is a way of sending text messages (and in some cases, images) in real time across the internet.

Chat – or IMing – allows users to have a conversation between two or more people, or to send pending messages to a user, who will then get the message when they log in. Think of it as hybrid of e-mail and SMS in real time.

For some, constant or regular access to the internet is impossible. One solution is either writing a blog or sending a electronic greeting through a social network site, such as MySpace or Facebook.

It does mean you can send a global message to everyone you know, although they often lack that personal touch.

VOIP

Internet telephony aka VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol to give it its full name) is a way of transmitting voice communications over the web.

Although the first communication of someone’s voice over the internet happened in the early 1970s, it wasn’t until the late 1990s – when internet speeds rose from an average of 300 bits per second (bps) to 56 kilobits per second (kbps) – that it became a viable proposition.

Today, with a typical internet connection typically running at 3,000 kbps, you can now not only send speech over the net, you can send video too.

What’s more, you can often use your VOIP package to dial into a public switched telephone network (PSTN), meaning you can make a call anywhere there is an internet connection, with only a minimal charge made by an Internet Telephony Service Provider.

However, unlike PSTN networks, quality can often be hit and miss and due to frequent distortion and delay, using VOIP to send a fax is very difficult.

SATELLITE PHONE

Similar to a mobile phone, a satellite phone – or satphone – dials in using a satellite connection, rather than a conventional mobile network.

Modern handsets are similar in size to a regular mobile phone, although units installed in ships may have a directional dish that points at the closest satellite.

The only problem is that they need a clear line of sight to the satellite, so they perform poorly inside buildings.

BGAN

In principle, this works in the same way as a satphone.
But rather than direct voice communication, it taps into the B-Gan (Broadband Global Area Network) at 492kbps.

It is also somewhat larger – about half the size of a conventional laptop. It work on land, sea, and air; BMI is currently trialling a system that would give air passengers with a Blackberry access to the internet.

E-BLUEY

This is a free service operated by the British Forces Post Office and allows servicemen and women to receive typed letters in the field that have been written and sent over the internet.

Once the e-mail has been received, it is printed and put into a self sealing envelope and then sent out to the troops, along with the traditional mail.

On average, 100,000 e-blueys are sent each month, although this figure increases during Christmas and when roulement occurs ie when combat units go on a tour of duty.

Families of servicemen can also embed an image into the message, turning it into the eponymous picture-bluey.

VHF / SSB / HAM RADIO

If an internet connection is impossible, there are no telephone lines, and a post box is just a distant dream, then some people hook themselves up with an amateur radio.

Although operators can communicate across the globe, the range of available frequencies is limited, with the bulk of the radio frequencies occupied by military or commercial use.

At its most basic level, amateur radio operators – hams – use Morse code to communicate.

However, some sets can be used to talk to communication satellites called OSCARs (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio), as well as bouncing signals off the moon or meteor showers.

These are the technologies available as of now, but there will be more to come in the future. And I like to convey my Christmas wishes to everyone out there through my Blog

Wishing yo all a Very Merry Christmas!

It was about 6pm in the evening few weeks ago, I was at my home in Bangalore staring at the movies which was downloaded earlier, I was making up my mind which one to watch but the fact was I wasn’t really in a mood to see one. I had to see one just to kill my time in the evening, which is when the thought struck me, “why can’t I blog ?”

So I call up Gautham (good friend), and I tell him that I want to blog, he says “you should have started one when i asked you to.. longback” And a week later celestialrocKs is born.

I’d probably come up with another post for having my domain named celestialrocKs, in the mean time “Hello World”.