Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

It's finally happened! The $5.95 billion Marina Bay Sands Hotel , Singapore finally opened its doors to public in a gala event, and it also managed to dethrone the Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi from its position as the world's most expensive hotel. But that's not all, the main attraction of the hotel is a 650ft wide pool perched up at the 55th storey of the magnificent hotel, making it the largest outdoor pool in the world that high. Called as the Infinity pool, the drop at the edge of the pool spills into a three-tiered catchment which pumps water right back to the main pool! The hotel also has a boat-shaped 'SkyPark' on top of the three towers. The hotel features 2,560 rooms that would cost you $520 a night. Designed by Moshe Safdie, the structure is said to be based on the design resembling a deck of cards. The hotel décor includes an indoor canal that has Sampan boats to ride in, a casino, an outdoor plaza, a convention centre, a theatre, a crystal pavilion...

The design The hardware design hasn't changed from the one we already knew about. It uses the same materials as the prototype: Black glass and stainless steel rim. It fits with the rest of the Apple product line, from the hard edges to the Dieter-Ramsesque utilitarianism of the iMac and the iPad. The black glass is aluminosilicate glass. Apple claims this glass is "chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic." According to them, this makes it more scratch resistant and durable than the previous generation. The size is smaller than the previous generation: 34% thinner than the iPhone 3GS. Although it is 3 grams heavier. According to Apple, it's the thinnest smartphone ever. It has split buttons for volume, unlike the current iPhone 3GS, all made in stainless steel. The stainless steel rim The stainless steel rim gives the structure to the iPhone, and acts as part of the antenna for 3G and Wi-Fi. In theory, this will greatly incr...

Traveling is about keeping it real with your surroundings, yet  it’s easy to get lost in the lure of nerdy  gadgetry these days (check out   “5 Gadgets That May Ruin Your Backpacking Experience” ). Things like GPS systems can keep you from getting down and dirty with locals (just ask for directions, stupid!). However, for those of you who are physically unable to unplug, we give you OTP’s 10 Most Useful Travel Gadgets of 2010. Water Filter Don’t drink the water. You’ll hear it over and over again in just about every country. In fact, you may find that it’s cheaper to buy booze than it is water. Enter the MSR Miox. This little flashlight-sized device only requires batteries to transform that putrid, disease-ridden water into something more drinkable. There’s also the Steripen, which uses ultraviolet rays to turn dirty into liquid clean goodness. Of course, you may prefer the excuse of choosing booze over water but at just over a hundred bucks, it’ll probably save y...