Sunday, May 23, 2010

Android 2.1 Update on Verizone Wireless Droid Eris

Recently received an OTA (Over the air) update to Android 2.1 on my Droid Eris device. It went fairly well. I noticed complaints on the internet about the contacts being deleted but for me they seem to be restored. It could be that I have already backed up my contacts on My Verizon and a Verizon service restored these contacts from there. Anyway, here are at some very useful features and tips to exploit the new features of the phone:

1. Check out the Google Voice Based GPS Navigation.
2. Seven home screens. Add some HTC Widgets or Android Widgets such as Facebook, Twitter, etc to individual home screens. These widgets give you a quick preview of any latest updates.
3. Pinching inwards shows a preview of all seven home screens.
4. Set up free Yahoo email finally from here. Note this requires 3G on.
5. Now, on other home screens, you can also add the Mail widget. The most impressive part of this option is it lets you choose which account to preview within the widget. Hence, I have my office email preview on one home screen and personal Yahoo email preview on another home screen.

However, there is one annoying feature in the phone which seems to occur as a result of adhering to some security policies of Microsoft Exchange. You will need to set up an unlock password on your phone and re-enter it each time, you wish to wake the phone up from its idle state.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Cuisine of Rajasthan

My Ranavat lineage originates from the western state of Rajasthan in India. It is a state of beautiful forts, amazing sand dunes and has a rich history of battles fought by Rajputs with the invaders of medieval times who came from modern day Afghanistan, et al. Of course, one of the most fascinating aspect of this state is its food and is something that never fails to mesmerize me. Here I would like to share three videos on the Rajasthani cuisine from a TV series that comes on an Hindi News Channel in India called NDTV India. Now what's special about this TV series, is that the anchor, Vinod Dua, visits small towns and cities across the country and visits the eateries that are popular among the locals and do not necessarily find a place on an average tourist's itinerary. But after watching the episodes, I am sure you will realize that your trip to Rajasthan would be incomplete without visiting one of these eateries in cities such as Jodhpur, Jaipur, Udaipur and Sreenathji:

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4