Book Review: Eragon

This book has been out for a long time and I read it about a year ago. But I didn’t have a blog to post a review on.

Author: Cristopher Paolini

Language: English

Series: Inheritance Cycle

Pages: 509

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Cover Artist: John Jude Palencar

Main Protagonist: Eragon [human]

Saphira [dragon]

Genre: Young Adult

Fantasy

Christopher Paolini debuts with Eragon, a book written and targeted mainly at teenagers. And oh, what a stunning debut it is. Paolini was only 20 years old when he wrote this book, and I must say he has made extensive use of words from the English language.

The Plot

It’s kinda similar to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. There’s this kid, called Eragon (surprise, surprise!) who lives in a country called Alagaёsia, in a village called Palancar Valley (oddly enough, the cover artist’s name is Palencar, which bears a striking resemblence to Palancar). The entire story is set in Alagaёsia. Eragon discovers a bright blue “stone” which he later discovers to be a dragon egg, and hatches exclusively for him. He is a poor orphan (reminds me of Harry Potter) living with his uncle Garrow and cousin Roran, when he stumbles upon the egg in the forest called The Spine. With the dragon, he becomes a dragon rider – someone with extraordinary powers of magic and immortality. Eragon, aided by the elderly and knowledgable Brom (reminds me of Dumbledore), has to set out and destroy the evil tyrant king of Alagaёsia – Galbatorix. Eragon has to travel miles from Carvahall in Palancar Valley, after creatures known as the Ra’zac killed his uncle, to Urû’baen – which is the throne of Galbatorix and the capital of Alagaёsia.

Of course, like any tyrant king, he cannot be easily destroyed, has vast skills and knowledge of magic, is very evil blah blah blah.

The Feel

Now here is where Eragon excels. Paolini’s exquisite writing style and use of powerful words helps readers to actually understand Eragon’s feelings towards his uncle, his family, the Ra’zac, and for his dragon, Saphira. You actually begin to feel the pain (like I did) and feel pity for Eragon, who shoulders such a massive responsibility as such a tender age. He is the only Dragon Rider in the entire land (other than Galbatorix) and Saphira his only dragon (other than Shruikan, Galbatorix’s dragon) and is the only hope to defeat Galbatorix, something like the chosen one in Harry Potter.

The coolest thing about the book is magic, which can only be performed using difficult words from the “ancient language” and with utmost concentration. Different spells absorb different amounts of energy and may even kill a person if he depletes his energy. The book also provides you with translation of words from the ancient language to English.

All in all, Eragon is a good read, but it’s a little childish. But that’s probably ‘coz Eragon was a kid. And also the book was unnecessarily long and excessively detailed, which is sometimes frustrating to read. But the climax is great and

Rating: 3/5 [Good]

An iPhone Crime

[via Onion]

Excerpts from an excellent article from Onion, which is supposed to be “America’s finest news source”.

WINNETKA, IL—This normally peaceful suburban town is still reeling following the news Monday that a local resident, whose name is being withheld by police pending a full investigation, left an iPhone unattended for more than three hours in a car parked in the hot sun.

“Responding to calls from concerned passersby, who observed the iPhone sitting in a vehicle … police arrived on the scene at approximately 4 p.m. and immediately intervened to save the device,” said Winnetka police chief … Security cameras have shown that the iPhone had been in the car … since 1 p.m.

… two officers … found the iPhone lying face down on the dashboard. The iPhone at first showed no signs of life, but after a tense few seconds, officers were able to wake it and get it to respond to a series of simple touch commands. Police said that if the iPhone were left in the extreme heat for any longer, it could have died.

The iPhone was rushed by ambulance to a nearby Apple facility for careful examination. Miraculously, no damage to its memory, screen, or wireless capabilities was reported.

… Hundreds of cards and letters have come streaming in, and local talk radio shows have been flooded with calls demanding that the iPhone’s owner be prosecuted. Many have come forward offering to take the iPhone into their custody, and still more have donated free downloads, ringtones, and MP3s to the victimized object.

“What kind of a human being is capable of such callous disregard for a precious, precious thing?” said one … “an iPhone is a 24-hour-a-day responsibility.”

“This iPhone was less than a year old,” said Janelle Mankewiecz, another outraged citizen. “If someone is blessed with an iPhone … they should never take their eyes off it”

“On a hot day, the temperatures inside a parked car can reach 150 degrees in just 40 minutes,” she added, looking up the information on her own iPhone.

Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death And It’s Cure

While chatting with a friend of mine, I stumbled upon this cool thing about the Xbox 360 – The Red Ring of Death.

Naturally, I was drawn to it and found out some really interesting stuff.

Just like the Blue Screen of Death [BSoD], Microsoft has gone a step forward and has incorporated another error screen – now in it’s console, the Xbox 360. It looks like this

Red Ring of Death

Instead of the green lights around the power button, you see a “red ring”, indicating that your Xbox 360 “has officially crashed”.

The Cure

Now this is what everyone is talking about – how to cure this strange illness? The PLAYSTATION 3 has no such known major technical problems, but a major one for the Xbox has surfaced.

The cure is simple – it is called “the towel cure”.

Requirements

1] At least four or more large towels

2] A RRoD affected Xbox 360

3] Patience

Steps

1] Wrap the Xbox 360 with towels, so that every part of it is covered with towels. Leave no end uncovered.

Towels and an Xbox

2] Make sure the Xbox is plugged in. Turn on your Xbox 360.

3] Wait for 10-15 minutes [this is where the patience kicks in ;D]

4] Switch of your Xbox 360, and remove the towels completely.

5] You notice it’s really hot, so you wait for it to cool down. Maybe a couple of minutes should do,

6] Now, switch your Xbox 360 on. Working like a dream.

Alternatively, you can also watch a video tutorial

However, this is just a temporary patch. There is no guarantee that this will work forever. But hey, at least you fixed it without blowing up a few bucks. Save ‘em for NFS Undercover.

Sony PlayStation 3 vs Microsoft Xbox 360

This is a hot debate to talk about and here is an honest review/comparison between both of them. Let’s see who wins in the end. Here are the features for both of ‘em.

Click for a bigger image

Obviously, as you can see, the PS3 is better than the Xbox in every respect. Power, processing, graphics, you name it. Even the average units sold per day is more than the Xbox. Considering the games released, all the Xbox games are war based – Gears of War, Halo 3, Bioshock. But the PS3 games have variety such as Afrika. Looking at the fact that the Xbox is 16 months older than the PS3, the titles should be even more exciting.

Even in the power supply, the Xbox has a huge and bulky brick, and the PS3 has an internal one, and only needs a cable.

The storage capacity is nearly 10-15 GB more than the Xbox, so that more detail can be added to it.

As noticed in the chart, you have to pay for everything in the Xbox – External HD-DVD Player, HDMI Cable, Internet Access, Wi-Fi adapter, etc. But in the PS3, you get everything for free. You only gotta pay a mere $44 for a Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller, to have vibration as well as Six-axis motion sensing, which the Xbox misses. That is one way in which the Xbox 360 triumphs over the PS3 – vibration. Sony claimed that it would interfere with the vibration.

The Xbox 360 has so many technical problems, that it is often referred to as a time bomb by many. It explodes due to overheating. But a core worth 3.2 GHz is left unused in the PS3 for just that – bearing overload and preventing a blast. The PS3 is also sturdy. I’ve heard about friends moving their PlayStation 3s from one place to another by air, and it worked perfectly. I’ve experienced the same with my PS2.

If I were you, I would buy a PS3. I wouldn’t mind spending extra money for some awesome features and superb glossy black look.

A Nice Web Page

Some guys have a lot of money to spend on domain names. such as this one. This guy made a site which actually tells you whether the Hadron Collider has destroyed the world or not.

Whoa. SO informative. But what is cool is the source…

… which guarantees a full refund if the LHC blows up the world and you still aren’t notified. He he.

[But the LHC did blow up itself]

The Battle of the Music Players

iPod

 

Zune

It’s been a long time since the Apple iPod Nano 4G and Microsoft Zune were out. The iPod Nano has been revamped for the fourth time in four years, but it does look damn cool. It sweet and light and sleek. I simply hated the fatty Nano which released previous year. The new Zune doesn’t look too bad. But which one to choose? Lets see the specs first:

iPod vs Zune

Well, that should be handy! Click for a bigger and clearer picture.

As far as the comparison is concerned, both of ‘em have equally great features. The Zune has Wireless Connectivity, which allows you to download stuff over a Wi-Fi hot-spot, and this the iPod lacks. This enables a Zune owner to transfer stuff wirelessly to other Zunes, and sync wirelessly to computers.  Apple has included this only in the iPod Touch.

Zune also allows you to download DRM free MP3s, which Apple doesn’t – limiting it’s playing to only five PCs or MACs

On the other hand, Zune misses cover-flow, an awesome feature to scroll through albums. Even the picture formats are more in the iPod. Zune also lacks the looks – it appears to be a big chunky brick. The iPod has nice tapering edges which make it look attractive. Apple offers free custom engraving, which is pretty cool.

Both have equal amounts of storage and battery life. Even the sound quality is flawless in both.

So in the battle, both have won. If you want to go for reliability, then go for the iPod, as Apple has dominated the music player market for years, and has a lot of experience to make these. However, if you want to feel different, go for the Zune. Its obviously rarer than the iPod, and will attract attention.

Strange, isn’t it, the roles being reversed? In the computer market, you get a Microsoft PC for reliability but a Mac for being different.