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உத்தவ கீதை யின் முத்துக்கள் சில உங்கள் பார்வைக்கு !!!!

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 உத்தவ கீதை
பகவான் கிருஷ்ணனின் குழந்தைப் பருவம் முதலே, அவருக்குப் பணிவிடைகள் செய்து, தேரோட்டி, பல்வேறு சேவைகள் புரிந்தவர், உத்தவர். இவர் தனது வாழ்நாளில், தனக்கென நன்மைகளோ வரங்களோ கண்ணனிடம் கேட்டதில்லை. துவாபர யுகத்தில், தமது அவதாரப் பணியை முடித்துவிட்ட நிலையில், உத்தவரிடம் ஸ்ரீகிருஷ்ணர், உத்தவரே, இந்த அவதாரத்தில் பலர் என்னிடம் பல வரங்களும், நன்மைகளும் பெற்றிருக்கின்றனர். ஆனால், நீங்கள் எதுவுமே கேட்டதில்லை. ஏதாவது கேளுங்கள், தருகிறேன். உங்களுக்கும் ஏதாவது நன்மைகள் செய்துவிட்டே, எனது அவதாரப் பணியை முடிக்க நினைக்கிறேன் என்றார். தனக்கென எதையும் கேட்காவிட்டாலும், சிறு வயது முதலே கண்ணனின் செயல்களைக் கவனித்து வந்த உத்தவருக்கு… சொல் ஒன்றும், செயல் ஒன்றுமாக இருந்த கண்ணனின் லீலைகள், புரியாத புதிராக இருந்தன. அவற்றுக்கான காரண, காரியங்களைத் தெரிந்துகொள்ள விரும்பினார். பெருமானே! நீ வாழச் சொன்ன வழி வேறு; நீ வாழ்ந்து காட்டிய வழி வேறு! நீ நடத்திய மகாபாரத நாடகத்தில்… நீ ஏற்ற பாத்திரத்தில், நீ புரிந்த செயல்களில், எனக்குப் புரியாத விஷயங்கள் பல உண்டு. அவற்றுக்கெல்லாம் காரணங்களை அறிய ஆவலாக இருக்கிறேன் நிறைவேற்றுவாயா? என்றார் உத்தவர்.

உத்தவரே! அன்று குரு÷க்ஷத்திரப் போரில் அர்ஜுனனுக்காக நான் சொன்னது, பகவத் கீதை. இன்று உங்களுக்குத் தரும் பதில்கள், உத்தவ கீதை. அதற்காகவே உங்களுக்கு இந்தச் சந்தர்ப்பத்தைத் தந்தேன். தயங்காமல் கேளுங்கள் என்றான் பரந்தாமன்

 
 உத்தவர் கேட்க ஆரம்பித்தார்; கண்ணா! முதலில் எனக்கு ஒரு விளக்கம் வேண்டும். உண்மையான நண்பன் யார்? நண்பனுக்கு ஏற்படும் துயரத்தைத் தீர்க்க, உடனே அழைப்பு இல்லாமலேயே வந்து உதவி செய்பவனே உற்ற நண்பன் என்றான் கண்ணன். கிருஷ்ணா! நீ பாண்டவர்களின் உற்ற நண்பன். உன்னை அவர்கள் ஆபத்பாந்தவனாக, பரிபூரணமாக நம்பினார்கள். நடப்பதை மட்டுமல்ல; நடக்கப் போவதையும் நன்கறிந்த ஞானியான நீ… உற்ற நண்பன் யார் என்பதற்கு நீ அளித்த விளக்கத்தின்படி… முன்னதாகவே சென்று, தருமா! வேண்டாம் இந்தச் சூதாட்டம் என்று தடுத்திருக்கலாம் ஏன் அப்படிச் செய்யவில்லை? போகட்டும். விளையாட ஆரம்பித்ததும், தருமன் பக்கம் அதிர்ஷ்டம் இருக்கும்படி செய்து, வஞ்சகர்களுக்கு நீதி புகட்டியிருக்கலாம். அதையும் நீ செய்யவில்லை. தருமன் செல்வத்தை இழந்தான்; நாட்டை இழந்தான்; தன்னையும் இழந்தான். சூதாடியதற்குத் தண்டனையாக, அதோடு அவனை விட்டிருக்கலாம். தம்பிகளை அவன் பயணம் வைத்த போதாவது, நீ சபைக்குள் நுழைந்து தடுத்திருக்கலாம். அதையும் நீ செய்யவில்லை. திரௌபதி அதிர்ஷ்டம் மிக்கவள். அவளைப் பணயம் வைத்து ஆடு. இழந்தது அனைத்தையும் திருப்பித் தருகிறேன் என்று சவால் விட்டான் துரியோதனன். அப்போதாவது, உனது தெய்வீக சக்தியால், அந்தப் பொய்யான பகடைக் காய்கள் தருமனுக்குச் சாதகமாக விழும்படி செய்திருக்கலாம். அதையும் செய்யவில்லை.

மாறாக, திரவுபதியின் துகிலை உரித்து, அவளின் மானம் பறிபோகும் நிலை ஏற்பட்ட போதுதான் சென்று, துகில் தந்தேன். திரவுபதி மானம் காத்தேன் என்று மார்தட்டிக் கொண்டாய். மாற்றான் ஒருவன், குலமகள் சிகையைக் பிடித்து இழுத்து வந்து, சூதர் சபையில் பலர் முன்னிலையில், அவள் ஆடையில் கை வைத்த பிறகு, எஞ்சிய மானம் என்ன இருக்கிறது? எதனைக் காத்ததாக நீ பெருமைப்படுகிறாய்? ஆபத்தில் உதவுபவன்தானே ஆபத்பாந்தவன்? இந்த நிலையில் உதவாத நீயா ஆபத்பாந்தவன்? நீ செய்தது தருமமா? என்று கண்ணீர் மல்கக் கேட்டார் உத்தவர். இது உத்தவரின் உள்ளக் குமுறல் மட்டுமன்று; மகாபாரதம் படித்துவிட்டு நாம் அனைவருமே கேட்கும் கேள்விகளே இவை. நமக்காக இவற்றை அன்றே கண்ணனிடம் கேட்டிருக்கிறார் உத்தவர். பகவான் சிரித்தார். உத்தவரே… விவேகம் உள்ளவனே ஜெயிக்க வேண்டும் என்பது தர்ம நியதி. துரியோதனனுக்கு இருந்த விவேகம் தருமனுக்கு இல்லை. அதனால்தான் தருமன் தோற்றான் என்றான் கண்ணன். உத்தவர் ஏதும் புரியாது திகைத்து நிற்க, கண்ணன் தொடர்ந்தான். துரியோதனனுக்கு சூதாடத் தெரியாது. ஆனால், பணயம் வைக்க அவனிடம் பணமும், ஏராளமான ஆஸ்தியும் இருந்தது. பணயம் நான் வைக்கிறேன். என் மாமா சகுனி, பகடையை உருட்டிச் சூதாடுவார் என்றார் துரியோதனன். அது விவேகம். தருமனும் அதுபோலவே விவேகத்துடன் செயல்பட்டு, நானும் பணயம் வைக்கிறேன். ஆனால், என் சார்பாக என் மைத்துனன் ஸ்ரீகிருஷ்ணன் பகடைக்காயை உருட்டுவான் என்று சொல்லியிருக்கலாமே?

சகுனியும் நானும் சூதாடியிருந்தால், யார் ஜெயித்திருப்பார்கள்? நான் கேட்கும் எண்ணிக்கைகளைச் சகுனியால் பகடைக் காய்களில் போடத்தான் முடியுமா? அல்லது, அவன் கேட்கும் எண்ணிக்கைகளை என்னால்தான் போட முடியாதா? போகட்டும். தருமன் என்னை ஆட்டத்தில் சேர்த்துக் கொள்ள மறந்துவிட்டான் என்பதையாவது மன்னித்து விடலாம். ஆனால், அவன் விவேகமில்லாமல் மற்றொரு மாபெரும் தவற்றையும் செய்தான். ஐயோ…. விதிவசத்தால் சூதாட ஒப்புக்கொண்டேனே! ஆனால், இந்த விஷயம் ஸ்ரீகிருஷ்ணனுக்கு மட்டும் தெரியவே கூடாது. கடவுளே! அவன் மட்டும் சூதாட்ட மண்டபத்துக்கு வராமல் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்று வேண்டிக் கொண்டான்; என்னை மண்டபத்துக்குள் வர முடியாதவாறு, அவனே கட்டிப் போட்டுவிட்டான். நான் அங்கு வரக்கூடாதென என்னிடமே வேண்டிக்கொண்டான். யாராவது தனது பிரார்த்தனையால் என்னைக் கூப்பிடமாட்டார்களா என்று மண்டபத்துக்கு வெளியில் காத்துக்கொண்டு நின்றேன். பீமனையும், அர்ஜுனனையும், நகுல சகாதேவர்களையும் வைத்து இழந்தபோது, அவர்களும் துரியோதனனைத் திட்டிக் கொண்டும், தங்கள் கதியை எண்ணி நொந்து கொண்டும் இருந்தார்களே தவிர, என்னைக் கூப்பிட மறந்துவிட்டார்களே! அண்ணன் ஆணையை நிறைவேற்ற துச்சாதனன் சென்று, திரவுபதியின் சிகையைப் பிடித்தபோது, அவளாவது என்னைக் கூப்பிட்டாளா? இல்லை. அவளும் தனது பலத்தையே நம்பி, சபையில் வந்து, வாதங்கள் செய்து கொண்டிருந்தாளே ஒழிய, என்னைக் கூப்பிடவில்லை! நல்லவேளை… துச்சாதனன் துகிலுரித்தபோதும் தனது பலத்தால் போராடாமல், ஹரி…. ஹரி… அபயம் கிருஷ்ணா… அபயம் எனக் குரல் கொடுத்தாள் பாஞ்சாலி. அவளுடைய மானத்தைக் காப்பாற்ற அப்போதுதான் எனக்குச் சந்தர்ப்பம் கிடைத்தது. அழைத்ததும் சென்றேன். அவள் மானத்தைக் காக்க வழி செய்தேன். இந்தச் சம்பவத்தில் என் மீது என்ன தவறு? என்று பதிலளித்தான் கண்ணன்.

அருமையான விளக்கம் கண்ணா! அசந்துவிட்டேன். ஆனால் ஏமாறவில்லை. உன்னை இன்னொரு கேள்வி கேட்கிறேன் என்றார் உத்தவர். கேள் என்றான் கண்ணன். அப்படியானால், கூப்பிட்டால்தான் நீ வருவாயா? நீயாக, நீதியை நிலை நாட்ட, ஆபத்துகளில் உன் அடியவர்களுக்கு உதவ வரமாட்டாயா? புன்னகைத்தான் கண்ணன். உத்தவா, மனித வாழ்க்கை அவரவர் கர்ம வினைப்படி அமைகிறது. நான் அதை நடத்துவதும் இல்லை. அதில் குறுக்கிடுவதும் இல்லை. நான் வெறும் சாட்சி பூதம். நடப்பதையெல்லாம் அருகில் நின்று பார்த்துக்கொண்டு நிற்பவனே! அதுதான் தெய்வ தர்மம் என்றான். நன்றாயிருக்கிறது கிருஷ்ணா! அப்படியானால், நீ அருகில் நின்று, நாங்கள் செய்யும் தீமைகளையெல்லாம் பார்த்துக் கொண்டிருப்பாய். நாங்கள் தவறுகளைத் தொடர்ந்து செய்து கொண்டேயிருந்து பாவங்களைக் குவித்து, துன்பங்களை அனுபவித்துக் கொண்டே இருக்க வேண்டும். அப்படித்தானே? என்றார் உத்தவர். உத்தவரே! நான் சொன்ன வாசகங்களின் உட்பொருளை நன்றாக உணர்ந்து பாருங்கள்.


நான் சாட்சி பூதமாக அருகில் நிற்பதை நீங்கள் உணரும் போது, உங்களால் தவறுகளையோ தீவினைகளையோ நிச்சயமாகச் செய்ய முடியாது. அதை நீங்கள் மறந்துவிடும்போதுதான், எனக்குத் தெரியாமல் செயல்களைச் செய்துவிடலாம் என்று எண்ணுகிறீர்கள்.

 

 SOURCE:::: input from a friend of mine
Natarajan

Message For The Day…You Are Essentially a Bliss!!!

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Believe Me, your nature is Sath-Chith-Ananda (Existence, Consciousness and Absolute Bliss). That is why you behave in the way you do. You desire to exist for ever; you enjoy life and avoid all talk of your own death. That is enough evidence to conclude that you are Reality in essence (Sath-swarupa). Then, again, you are filled with wonder and curiosity and a desire to know the world around you. You ask continuously what, why, how and when, about all and sundry. This is the prompting that is given by the Consciousness (Chith). Lastly, you are always seeking joy and try to avoid grief. It is your nature to do so, for you are essentially Bliss. When someone asks you, “How do you do?” and you answer, “Quite well, thank you,” they do not stop to enquire why you are well. It is only when you answer that you are ill, you are further questioned anxiously. “Well-ness” is natural; “illness” unnatural. Anxiety is caused only by the unnatural. So, in essence you are happiness.

 Sathya Sai Baba

Message For The Day….Meditation is Like Learning a Bicycle Ride !!!

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Sathya Sai Baba

 

When you learn to ride a bicycle, you do not get the skill of balancing immediately. You push the cycle along to a safe and open ground, hop and skip, leaning now and then on one side and another, and make many an attempt to get the balance. Once you get the skill, you never even think or worry about balancing. You automatically make the necessary adjustments. You can now ride through narrow streets and lanes, and even through crowded alleys – you no longer need the large, safe, open ground! So too, practice alone will equip you with deep concentration, that will sustain you even in your most difficult situation. Hence, do not get discouraged that you are not able to concentrate on prayer or meditation for long. It is just the start!

 

Swami Sathya Sai in one of  HIS  discourses..

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With Humour, You Can Fight Many a Battle !!!!!

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Humour is a bulletless gun, an anger dousing foam, a tension reliever, a face-saving shield, a pin to prick bloated egos!!!!

In primitive days, nations settled their disputes only through wars. In feudal times, gentlemen settled all their quarrels with gun duels as if bullets could decide the justice or otherwise of things. In all dictatorships the army and suppression are of critical importance to the survival of the regime. Modern man tries to settle differences through the more civilised ways of diplomacy and dialogue. In his arsenal of non-lethal weapons humour occupies the prime place in negotiating potholes in both the public domain and private lives. For the civilised man a sense of proportion of things and a razor-sharp intellect replace the savage’s fist of fury. Perhaps like our shrinking integrity in public life, our sense of humour is taking a beating and intolerance is becoming pervasive and shooting up by the day. Like the paradoxical common sense it is becoming rare to find.

Humour is a bulletless gun, an anger dousing foam, a tension reliever, a face-saving shield, a survival tool in the face of grim oppression, a social friction lubricant, a pin to prick bloated egos. So it is heartily loathed and outlawed by dictators who ban all cartoons. But it is the refuge of the underdog, and the unfailing weapon of debaters. It is the essence of the democratic spirit. Autocrats dread and proscribe it since they cannot silence ideas with bullets.

Great men and women possessed it in abundance. They never attempted to cage or muzzle it. Wise kings of old kept court fools who had the freedom to jest about imperial follies. We see a number of such ‘wise fools’ in Shakespearean plays. Even in the circus we have clowns who ape the artists clumsily, arousing peals of laughter, thereby relieving the tension of the high-strung trapeze artists.

Winston Churchill, who successfully led England through two world wars, was an exceptionally witty man. Once a society lady insulted him saying if he were her husband she would poison him. He coolly quipped that if she were his wife he would drink it.

Another time dramatist Bernard Shaw attempted the snob game with him saying. “I invite you to the first performance of my play and bring a friend … if you have one.” Pat came his blistering reply: “Impossible to be present for the first performance. Will attend the second … if there is one.”

When Gandhiji was visiting King George in London he made no change in his sparse attire, with no shirt to his back. A palace officer condescendingly dropped a hint, “Mr. Gandhi, do you think you are sufficiently dressed for the occasion? “ On the instant came his unfazed reply. “His majesty has enough clothes for both of us”.

Pomposity and petty jealousies can be seen even in religious circles. Once a hushed dispute arose among the close disciples of Jesus over who was the greatest among them. The wise master called a child and, placing it in the centre of their circle, said: “Unless you become like this little child, you will not enter the kingdom of God.” Their egos then shrank to healthy dimensions.

John Paul II, while fighting communist oppression in Poland when he was a young bishop, was forbidden by the government from holding the annual traditional procession with the picture of the famous Black Madonna. He did not despair. He held the procession all the same with just the frame of the picture and the knowing huge crowd of devotees gallantly joined in. The bamboozled authorities were at their wits’ end at this out-of-the-box thinking coming from the unlikely quarter of a churchman.

Once an emperor was visiting prisoners in a crowded jail and he asked each of them his life and crimes. All of them protested their innocence and blamed the government and the courts for their plight. One man alone confessed his crime honestly and had no complaints against the authorities. The emperor ordered his immediate release and told the rest that the presence of such a criminal would be undesirable among so many innocents.

We can see this subtle irony in Shakespeare in the classic speech of Mark Antony after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Not even once did he speak disrespectfully of the chief conspirator Brutus but he rubbed in layers of irony with his repeated epithets of ‘honourable’ and ‘noble Brutus.’ When wit takes a back seat, then the powers that be order arrests and detentions. Great statesmen like Nehru never objected to any cartoons and, in fact, looked forward to be amused by the great cartoons of R.K. Laxman.

(The writer’s email: adukanildb@gmail.com)

Keywords: humour sense, tension reliever, R.K. Laxman

source:::: THE HINDU ….English Daily
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When I Started Loving Myself…A Poem By Charlie Chaplin !!!!

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A poem by Charlie Chaplin written on his 70th birthday on April 16, 1959:

 



When I started loving myself
I understood that I’m always and at any given opportunity
in the right place at the right time.
And I understood that all that happens is right –
from then on I could be calm.
Today I know: It’s called TRUST.

When I started to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody
When I tried to force my desires on this person,
even though I knew the time is not right and the person was not ready for it,
and even though this person was me.
Today I know: It’s called LETTING GO

When I started loving myself
I could recognize that emotional pain and grief
are just warnings for me to not live against my own truth.
Today I know: It’s called AUTHENTICALLY BEING.

When I started loving myself
I stopped longing for another life
and could see that everything around me was a request to grow.
Today I know: It’s called MATURITY.

When I started loving myself
I stopped depriving myself of my free time
and stopped sketching further magnificent projects for the future.
Today I only do what’s fun and joy for me,
what I love and what makes my heart laugh,
in my own way and in my tempo.
Today I know: it’s called HONESTY.

When I started loving myself
I escaped from all what wasn’t healthy for me,
from dishes, people, things, situations
and from everyhting pulling me down and away from myself.
In the beginning I called it the “healthy egoism”,
but today I know: it’s called SELF-LOVE.

When I started loving myself
I stopped wanting to be always right
thus I’ve been less wrong.
Today I’ve recognized: it’s called HUMBLENESS.

When I started loving myself
I refused to live further in the past
and worry about my future.
Now I live only at this moment where EVERYTHING takes place,
like this I live every day and I call it CONSCIOUSNESS.

When I started loving myself
I recognized, that my thinking
can make me miserable and sick.
When I requested for my heart forces,
my mind got an important partner.
Today I call this connection HEART WISDOM.

We do not need to fear further discussions,
conflicts and problems with ourselves and others
since even stars sometimes bang on each other
and create new worlds.
Today I know: THIS IS LIFE!    

source:::babamail

Natarajan

Message For The Day…Move From Karmakshetra to Dharmakshetra With The Help Of Guru…

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You are all pilgrims, moving along this land of action (Karmakshethra) to the goal – the land of righteousness (Dharmakshethra). The literary men, the poets and teachers who address you are all guides who help you along; but, the road has to be trodden by you, every inch of it. “Kavim Puranaam Anusaasitharam” – scriptures declare that a kavi (a poet or the learned one) places the rules of right conduct before people and warns them when they go astray. These individuals should also be very careful that they themselves do not stray, while professing the right path. The learned are those that have a noble vision, whose role is to interpret God for the benefit of one and all. They should not indulge in meaningless talk or writing about less significant topic.

source:::: Swami Sathya Sai in one of His Discourses

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One Minute Please…For One Good Laugh !!!

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20 Quick and easy ways to make you and your friends smile, grin and laugh!

[1] Regular naps prevent old age, especially if you take them while driving..

[2] Having one child makes you a parent; having two makes you an area referee.

[3] Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right, and the other is the husband

[4] I believe we should all pay our tax with a smile. I tried – but they wanted cash.

[5] A child’s greatest period of growth is the month after you’ve purchased new school uniforms.

[6] Don’t marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you cannot live without, but whatever you do, you’ll regret it later.

[7] You can’t buy love, but you pay heavily for it.

[8] Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.

[9] Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired..

[10] Marriage is give and take. You’d better give it to her or she’ll take it anyway.

[11] My wife and I always compromise. I admit I’m wrong and she agrees with me.

[12] Those who can’t laugh at themselves leave the job to others.

[13] Ladies first. …They are always !!!

[14] A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

[15] You’re getting old when you enjoy remembering things more than doing them.

[16] It doesn’t matter how often a married man changes his job, he still ends up with the same boss.

[17] Saving is the best thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you.

[18] They call our language the mother tongue because the father seldom gets to speak!

[19] It’s funny when people discuss Love Marriage vs Arranged. It’s like asking someone, if suicide is better or being murdered.

[20] There is only one perfect child in the world and every mother has it. There is only one perfect wife in the world and every neighbour has it!

source:::babamail
Natarajan

Biggest Name in Android Rolls Out its 2013 Flagship…Samsung Galaxy S4 !!!

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Samsung’s Unpacked events are nothing if not spectacles, and tonight at Radio City Music Hall in New York City the company used the time to introduce its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4. The S4 succeeds the wildly popular Galaxy S III, and brings with it a litany of new features and tweaks — though at first glance, you might not even notice it’s different.

The GS4 looks a lot like the Galaxy S III or the Galaxy Note 8. A lot. The phone’s nearly the same size as its predecessor, despite having a larger 5-inch, 1080p Super AMOLED screen that is the first of its kind in a smartphone. The GS4 is taller but thinner (just 7.9mm) than the GSIII, and is lighter as well. Samsung’s basic design ID hasn’t changed, which is unfortunate: the GS4 is plasticky and feels much cheaper than a device like theHTC One, though Samsung at least squared the edges slightly and added just enough texture that it doesn’t feel slick or slimy like the GS3 does. But from the colors – “white frost” and “black mist,” or just white and black if you’re a human — to the ports and buttons to the way it feels in your hand, Samsung hasn’t changed the way it thinks a phone should look.

Samsung’s consistently on the bleeding edge of smartphone horsepower, and that continues here: the Galaxy S4 is built to fly. It’ll be sold with either a Samsung Exynos 5 or Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, depending on region, and every model will come with 2GB of RAM, a big 2,600mAh battery, and 16, 32, or 64GB of storage (plus a microSD slot if you want to add more). The 5-inch display is the belle of the ball, of course, and it looks great — we don’t love the PenTile subpixel arrangement, but on such a high-res display it didn’t seem to cause any problems. Viewing angles are great, colors pop on the Super AMOLED display, and the bezels on the device have been slimmed to the point where the screen feels even larger and more immersive.

These are mostly small improvements, though, and in some ways the Galaxy S4 feels like an upgrade designed less for people who own the previous generation and more for those looking for a first smartphone, or upgrading from a two-year-old device. (Call it the Galaxy S IIIS.) One aspect did get a significant upgrade, though: the GS4’s new 13-megapixel rear-facing camera comes with both upgraded hardware and some new software flourishes. For starters, Samsung adopted some of the menus and options from the Galaxy Camera, like the on-screen mode dial and a few of the scene modes. The Eraser mode is one of our favorites: it takes a series of quick pictures, then automatically detects motion in the background and lets you seamlessly remove it. Goodbye, photo bombers.

In classic Samsung form, there are countless different ways to take a picture. DualShot lets you take a picture with both front and rear cameras at once, using pre-made templates that embed one within the other. Drama Shot takes a burst of shots and overlaps them — Samsung’s demo showed a guy jumping off a rock, and it had automatically layered every stage of his jump into one shot. Cinema Photo is probably the most fun, allowing you to take a series of shots, and pick one part of the photo to move while the others stay still; it’s basically Cinemagram for your GS4, and lets you make goofy GIFs in the time it takes to shoot five photos. The camera is fast and usable even while doing such complex things — it’s clear there’s processing power to spare on the GS 4.

Software

The Galaxy S4 runs Android 4.2.2, for now the most current version of Google’s operating system, but Samsung spent most of its time touting what it’s added on top of the OS. These features vary wildly, from the simple utility — S Translator, which translates messages and emails to and from any language — to what amounts to a complete re-imagining of how we use a smartphone. “Air Gestures” let you scroll through pictures or scroll a webpage by literally swiping with your hand, without touching the screen — you just sweep from left to right over top of the phone, and it responds. It looksridiculous, but it works. “Air View” gives your finger the power to hover over an email or date and see the information hidden behind, which previously only the Note and S Pen combination could handle. Those both work surprisingly well, though they’re certainly as much gimmick as game-changer. From our limited testing, “Smart Pause” and “Smart Scroll” skew more toward gimmick — they’re supposed to detect your eyes, and either pause your movie when you look away or scroll when you reach the bottom of a page, but neither worked much at all in our time with the GS4.

The most ambitious of Samsung’s new features is S Health, which Samsung has made vastly more powerful — it now amounts to Samsung putting a Fitbit or Jawbone Up into your phone. The GS4 has a pedometer built in, plus temperature and humidity sensors, which can automatically detect your surroundings and your exercise levels. You can input how much you eat and sleep, too, and get all the data you’d expect from an external device right on your phone. There’s even a companion wristband, the S Band, that syncs via Bluetooth to your phone for those moments you’re walking around without your phone in your pocket.

Somehow packed into the small phone along with all those sensors is an IR blaster, which pairs with Samsung’s WatchOn app to serve as a combination universal remote and visual TV Guide — just point your phone at your TV. It’s the same Peel-based system we’ve seen on a handful of Samsung tablets, and it makes perfect sense on a phone as well.

Samsung loves to talk about how its devices work together, and the newest feature for GS4 owners is Group Play — it lets you cue up a song or a picture, and quickly share it in sync with any other GS4 owner nearby. You can even use it to play local multiplayer games, so long as the app supports it; Asphalt 7 and Gun Bros 2 are the two launch partners, but other games should support the feature soon. NFC remains the key connection point, and unless all your friends buy GS4’s we’re betting Group Play is a better demo than it is a practical feature.

Befitting its global spectacle of a launch event, the Galaxy S4 is going to be available around the world, and Samsung’s continuing the scorched-earth strategy that worked so well with the GSIII. The device will be available on all four major US carriers, plus Cricket and US Cellular. It’ll be out in the second quarter of this year, and Samsung wouldn’t comment on price except to say it will have a “premium Samsung smartphone price.”

At first blush, the Galaxy S4 doesn’t feel revolutionary, but given the continued success of its predecessor maybe a revolution wasn’t called for. It’s a faster phone with a better screen, a better camera, and some cool new software features, and for the company that’s nearly synonymous with the word “Android,” that may be enough to ensure another huge success.

source:::: The Verge

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Famous Indians In Silicon Valley…Part 2… Sundar Pichai….An Indian To Head Google”s Android Division !!!

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In continuation of my earlier blog post on the ” Famous Indians In Silicon valley ”  published on Dec 12 2012 wherein Mr. Sundar Pichai “s profile appeared,  i  am delighted to publish Part 2 of that Blog covering Mr. Sundar Pichai”s  yet another successful milestone in his career . We are all very proud of you Mr. Sundar Pichai…

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Andy Rubin, the architect of Android, the world’s top-selling mobile operating system, has decided to step down as Google Inc combines mobile software divisions under one roof, the company said on Wednesday.

 

Sundar Pichai speaks during Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California June 28, 2012.Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Google Chrome, speaks during Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California June 28, 2012. REUTERS/Stephen Lam                                        

 

Google appointed Sundar Pichai, the executive overseeing its Chrome web browser and applications like Google Drive and Gmail, to take over Rubin’s responsibilities, hinting at how the company with the dominant Internet search engine intends to address the rise of mobile devices.

In a blog post, Larry Page, Google’s chief executive and co-founder, credited Rubin for evangelizing Android several years ago and building it into a free, open-source platform that runs on nearly three-quarters of the world’s smartphones and is used by the world’s largest handset manufacturers, from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to HTC Corp .

“Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android – and with a really strong leadership team in place – Andy’s decided it’s time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google,” Page wrote. “Andy, more moonshots please!

The merger of the Chrome and Android divisions helps resolve a longstanding tension in the Mountain View, California-based company’s corporate strategy, and reflects a convergence of mobile and desktop software.

When Google poured resources into launching the Chrome web browser five years ago, the company laid out a vision of the Internet and an ecosystem of Google apps based on the Web. But the Android operating system, acquired by Google in 2005, has also been a runaway success, enabling third-party handset makers like Samsung to overtake Apple Inc while also spawning a massive economy of third-party apps that are only loosely affiliated with Google.

Under Pichai’s direction, Google has released several netbook computers using the Chrome operating system. Last month, when Pichai unveiled the Chromebook Pixel, the first Chrome-based laptop with a touch-screen interface, analysts noted that Chrome and Android appeared to be on converging paths.

“You had this Chrome OS and this Android Group that were building in many overlapping products,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner.

Gartenberg argued that despite Android’s overwhelming popularity, it is Chrome that remains at the core of Google’s strategy.

“For Google, it’s not about the platform, but the ecosystem,” Gartenberg said. “They’re more concerned long-term about Google Docs, Google Voice, Google Books, and less about helping Samsung sell more phones.”

Chrome, Gartenberg added, “is the purest expression of Google’s philosophy.”

“Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use – and he loves a big bet,” Page wrote. “So while Andy’s a really hard act to follow, I know Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward.”

Android is now installed on roughly two-thirds of the world’s smartphones, supplanting Apple Inc at the pinnacle of the fast-moving mobile arena.

Android tablets are also expected to overtake Apple’s iPad in terms of shipments in 2013, IT research house IDC predicted on Tuesday.

But Android’s explosive growth – and the companies it has boosted – have also concerned Google’s leadership. Rubin himself has warned other Google executives that Samsung could use its heft to renegotiate its ad revenue-sharing deals with Google, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

LEADING VOICE

The re-shuffle reinforces Pichai, a senior vice president, as one of the leading voices within Google.

Trained as an engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, before moving to the United States, Pichai holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He joined Google in 2004.

In 2008, Pichai aggressively pushed Google’s Chrome browser, when Microsoft Corp’s Explorer lorded over the market. Chrome now commands a roughly 35 percent market share according to Web traffic analyzers StatCounter.

He is also credited with the development of some of the company’s most successful cloud-based apps, such as Calendar and Gmail, and has also steered Google Drive.

“Today we’re living in a new computing environment,” Page wrote. “People are really excited about technology and spending a lot of money on devices.”

source:::: yahoo news

With Samsung Galaxy S4 launching, it wouldnt have been a better time for Sundar Pichai to take the reins of Android.

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