To never follow a dream because you don’t think you’re good enough or don’t have the skills, or knowledge, or experience is a waste. In fact, these projects where there is doubt are the ones to pursue. They offer the greatest challenge and the greatest rewards. Why bother doing something you already have done a hundred times, where there is nothing left to learn?

via The first step is to start – (37signals).

In short, ownership dampens your happiness and burdens you psychologically. Being able to leave your home and not worry about a pet adds to your happiness. Keeping your housing costs low and not accidentally accumulating stuff allows you to spend time and money on things that matter more. Riding the bus frees you from mechanic’s fees and being worried about “that squeaking sound the car makes when starting up.” And avoiding very nice things allows you to avoid the “good china” problem where you don’t want to use something for fear of damaging it.

When you are young and don’t have a family, the extra freedom you can derive from not owning tons of stuff enables you to go to Europe for 3 weeks on a whim, quit your job and pursue your passion, invest all your energy into learning a skill, or build/strengthen relationships. Surely these things are worth an extra few hundred a month for a few years.

via Be Happier: Rent Everything

When iPad was announced, I wasn’t really sure if I needed one. All the time I drag my mac around, so I thought I don’t another device to keep an eye on. But when it was released in the Netherlands, I wanted one. My iPad arrived last week and so far it found its rightful place on my desk. Anyway, here’s what I like and dislike about my iPad.

The Hardware

iPad has gorgeous screen with very nice 1024X768 resolution. The screen looked pretty amazing – considering that all this time I’ve been using the tiny iPhone screen. The detail is amazing and it is super fast. I got so much used to the screen rotation, that now and then I try to hold my iPhone in landscape mode and wait for it to switch.

iPad has only 256MB, which made the calendar and Mail etc. crash occasionally. The logs show that the iPad’s memory is maxed out. The in-built speaker(s) are surprisingly good, and they make the iPad work like my radio during cooking in the kitchen. The microphone audio quality is also very nice. I’ve been using Skype exclusively on iPad, and it worked pretty well.

And the battery life is simply unbelievable. Even with my heavy and continuous usage, the battery didn’t die for almost 2 days.

The Apps

These are the apps I use daily on my iPad

• OmniFocus
• Reeder – RSS Reader
• Twitterrific
• Dropbox
• Mail
• Mobile Safari

After I started using the Reeder, I didn’t even open my usual RSS client on Desktop (NetNewsWire). This is one of the most thoughtfully designed app I’ve ever seen. OmniFocus on iPad fully syncs with my desktop application. It works perfectly as a standalone app too. I love the “Forecast” view on it. And I wish that this feature is also added to the iPhone and Mac versions. Twitterrific also replaced my desktop twitter reading on Itsy. All these apps are great and I didn’t miss my MBP even once.

With Mobile Safari and Mail apps, I survived the whole weekend without even opening the Mac. That’s great. So I’ve moved all the Internet consumption and productivity applications to iPad. Now I don’t need to open them on my Mac at all, less distractions and of course, more memory to sacrifice at the Maven’s altar.

The Games

I’m not much of a Gamer, but I downloaded a couple of games to play on iPad. I love the Angry Birds HD on this gorgeous screen and the free Super 7 HD is also a very beautiful game. All in all iPad is one of best Gaming devices. Its fast and got some pretty decent resolution.

Ebook Reader

I read a lot – but mostly on the Web. I haven’t used a proper eBook reader, so I can’t really compare iPad’s reading experience with them. The iBooks app is pretty good for reading the PDFs I have and mostly I read the books on Safari Library, so it is more or less a browsing experience – which I can say really usable.

The Cons

My three main gripes about are – Typing, Weight and Glossy Screen.

The on-screen keyboard is an okay kind of solution if you just want to send tweets, and write moderately long emails. But typing something like this blog post is a horrible experience. I consistently hit on the ‘n’ or ‘m’ instead of space bar. I also have to keep all my fingers in the air all the time, otherwise. I guess for real typing you need the bluetooth keyboard.

The iPad feels heavy if you continue to hold it in one hand. My hand started to ache to hold it in one hand for too long.

The Glossy screen is very smudge-prone and generally I hate glossy screens, mirroring everything – lights and all. But it was solvable by adding the screen protector which changed the iPad to feel like Matte Screen.

But all in all, the iPad was just the device that I needed to reduce clutter and distraction on my Mac. Now when I’m in front of a Mac, I’m doing the real work, and iPad for communication and consuming the Internet.

Kids from school somewhere here.

The school is basically  a simple shack, as you can see in the background. A couple of classes actually happen under the trees. Some of the kids attend the school because of the free mid-day meal, but most of them are genuinely interested in learning new stuff. I brought a bunch of Mars for every one in the school – and their faces were lit up with joy.  Reminded me of my school days in a Govt. Primary School.

I’m sure someday more than one of them will be blogging and hopefully they’ll remember the fun time we had.

The Great Trans-Siberian Railway – the pride of Russia – is in 2 parts of the world, 12 regions and 87 cities. A joint project by Google and the company “Russian Railways” will allow you to not leaving the house to pass on this famous route, and look at Lake Baikal, Khekhtsir ridge Barguzinsky mountains, the Yenisei, and many other beautiful places in our country. In a way you will be offered the classics of Russian literature, vivid landscapes by photographer Anton Lange and captivating stories about the most interesting sights of the route. Let’s go!

This is just awesome, I always wanted to go on a trans-siberian train trip. Hopefully I’ll be able to do it.

Москва-Владивосток: виртуальное путешествие на Картах Google & Youtube Channel

I don’t want to stare at some photo of me at 21 when I’m 50 and contemplate everything I was, or could have been. I don’t want to have to drown in partial truths, grasping at a falling memory to paint in details. I’d rather either remember, or not. Rather know, or forget. I’d rather be able to molt my life as it goes, letting the useless bits drop away as the important becomes more dear.

via Big Contrarian → Pictures..

I wrote Hand to Mouth to India in 1997/8 at the age of 20 and it’s the tale of how I hitchhiked from England to India with no money.

via Hand to Mouth to India.