Human killing Nature with their own hands!

How can one tolerate the human over exploration of environment! How can one just ignore the fact that we ourselves are damaging our mother earth, the land that gave birth to us?

This is becoming a serious issue now on which humans need to focus more than planning to go on moon! Damage one planet and move onto another! Is that what we have been taught?
Well, the simple answer is lack of knowledge and realization in people.

I, being a hosteler for more than 2 years now realize that people can not be changed so easily. Everyday they may be taught not to waste water or not to waste resources like food, etc., but guess what? No one is really bothered.
If you tell them people you are wasting resources, they think you are mad. Come on people! Its time to face the reality. Earth is dying! We need to protect it. And i will leave no stone upturned to try changing people's mentality.

My campus waste is being dumped everyday into the river running alongside it. But who is to be blamed? The college in-charge who is doing it or the government who doesn't care about it?
If you complain, you are scared of ministers torturing you in future, if u don't, you are frustrated!
I am tired of watching it happen everyday. Humans are killing their own planet. So sad but hell true! 

Some Easy to make Home decors: walls and rangoli

Handmade Wall Art for bedrooms

This post is for those creative ones who have keen interest in decorating their homes with their handmade drawings and patterns. These are self made designs made in just 1-2 hours. You can give a try if you know you are good at it! 

Credits: Nikita Bhatia

Japanese Wall art for Master Bedroom
Design is made on spatula textured olive colour wall

Zoom in view 1

Zoom in view 2

Quotation Wall Art with texture design for Kid's room

The Legendary Glass..............!!!!

Google Glass

It displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format,that can interact with the Internet via natural language voice. 

The side of Google Glass is a touch pad, allowing users to control the device by swiping through a timeline-like interface displayed on the screen.

Technical Specifications:

• Android 4.0.4 and higher
• 640×360 resolution suggested.
• 5-megapixel camera, capable of 720p video recording.
  
• Wi-Fi 802.911b/g
• Bluetooth
• 16GB storage (120 GB available)
• Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 SoC 1.2Ghz Dual(ARMv7)
• 682MB RAM 
• 3 axis gyroscope 
• 3 axis accelerometer 
• 3 axis Magnetometer (compass)
• Ambient Light sensing and Proximity sensor 

Google Glass may allow users to do amazing things, but it does not abolish the limits on the human ability to pay attention. Intuitions about attention lead to wrong assumptions about what we’re likely to see; we are especially unaware of how completely our attention can be absorbed by the continual availability of compelling and useful information. Only by understanding the science of attention and the limits of the human mind and brain can we design new interfaces that are both revolutionary and safe.

IPL SPOT FIXING: What a Shame...!

Sreesanth could stay behind bars for life as Delhi Police charge him under Section 409 of IPC!

 

The massive spot-fixing scandal, that has cast shadow on the ongoing IPL (Indian premiere league) series is getting murkier with each passing day- with cricketers, bookies and even bollywood actors involved in the same.

The spot- fixing scandal has uncovered a huge sleaze scam that played with emotions of 2 billion people.

18 people have been arrested so far, including cricketers, bookies and bollywood actors like Vindoo Dara Singh.

The Kerala pacer, S. Sreesanth has been suspended for his involvement in Spot Fixing.
After investigations, it was found out that he did shopping worth Rs. 1.9 Lakhs before the match on 15 May and paid in cash.

What a shame on great player like him!

According to recent interviews of the bookies, they told they found Sreesanth as a vulnerable target by bookies after he was seen crying when he got slapped by Harbhajan Singh in IPL Season 1 in 2008.

In a recent development, the suspended player said, "I am innocent and I have done no wrong. I have never indulged in any spot fixing".

 

Vindoo Dara Singh confesses to betting in IPL Season 5 and 6 during interrogation.

 

 

The Police have claimed that the arrested bookies have told them that fixin was done at 3 levels: 

1. On the result of match.
2.On a session of match.
3. Fixing Spots.

A public prosecutor told the court, " It is an extremely organised racket. The bookie racket is spread all over India."

                   SOME  UNKNOWN FACTS 

1.Bill Gates' first business was Traff-O-Data, a company that created machines which  recorded the number of cars passing a given point on a road

2.According to security equipment specialists, security systems that utilize motion detectors won't function properly if walls and floors are too hot. When an infrared beam is used in a motion detector, it will pick up a person's body temperature of 98.6 degrees compared to the cooler walls and floor.

If the room is too hot, the motion detector won't register a change in the radiated heat of that person's body when it enters the room and breaks the infrared beam. Your home's safety might be compromised if you turn your air conditioning off or set the thermostat too high while on summer vacation.

3.Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

4. Your tongue is germ free only if it is pink. If it is white there is a thin film of bacteria on it.

5.The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.

n a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.

7.

1984 SIKH"PLANNED" RIOTS

Please refrain from referring to this very dark period in India's history, as the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots, this was not a riot, it was a planned genocide and should be know as the 1984 Anti-Sikh Genocide!

This is what happened:

Timeline of events

First day - 31st October 1984

9:20 am: Indira Gandhi is shot by Sardar Beant Singh ji and Sardar Satwant Singh ji at her residence, No. 1 Safdarjung Road, for the Attack on Sri Darbar sahib June 1984.

She is then rushed to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

10:50 am: Indira Gandhi dies.

11:00 am: All India Radio listeners learn that the two security guards who shot Indira Gandhi were Sikhs.

4:00 pm: Rajiv Gandhi returns from West Bengal and reaches AIIMS. Stray incidents of attacks in and around that area. Rajiv Gandhi has already by this time spoken to some high ranking congress officials and politicians.

5:30 pm: The motorcade of President Zail Singh, who is returning from a foreign visit, is stoned as it approaches AIIMS.

EVENING of 31st October 1984

URGENT meetings are taking place at a high ranking congress leaders residences in Delhi.

One of those meetings was at 24 Akbar Road, New Delhi attended by members of Parliament and senior members of the Congress party including Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, Kamal Nath, Dharam Das Shastri, Vasant Sathe, HKL Bhagat, Lalit Makhen, Arjun Das amongst others

What is being discussed? The planning of a genocide! How to bring in tyres, kerosene oil, iron rods, and have enough transport to mobilise paid hooligans, rapists, murderers from one point to another...how the police are not to intervene, how state media will be used to show inflammatory speeches and scenes.

Congress MP's are ordered to make pacts with known 'criminal gangs' in their area's to eliminate Sikh men, rape their women and loot their belongings.

A memo is sent out to ALL Delhi police stations ordering the immediate 'stand down' of ALL Sikh police officers till further notice AND for all Sikh police officers equipped with fire arms to return their fire arms to the local police station as of immediate effect.

1000's of photocopies of Voters list are being printed, containing ADDRESSES of Sikh houses and businesses in and around Delhi.

Organised and well equipped gangs of ruffians set out in different directions from AIIMS.

The violence, including violence towards Sikhs and destruction of Sikh properties, spreads.

Rajiv Gandhi is sworn in as the Prime Minister.

Senior advocate and BJP leader Ram Jethmalani, meets Home Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and urges him to take immediate steps to protect Sikhs from further attacks.

Delhi's Lt. Governor, P.G. Gavai and Police Commissioner, S.C. Tandon, visits some of the affected areas.

Late evening, Delhi transport corporation buses are making their way out of Delhi to surrounding states to pick up paid hooligans/mobs.

NIGHT of 31st October 1984

Meetings are still taking place AND now truck loads of Iron rods and tyres are coming into Delhi from surrounding states.

Trains and tankers full of kerosene oil are also making their way to OLD Delhi.

Jails around Delhi housing the most ruthless criminals are now being emptied of ALL those criminals including murderers and rapists, on the grounds that they can go FREE if they kill Sikh men and rape Sikh women, they are also told they will be paid for every Sikh that is killed and for every Sikh woman that is raped.

Second day - 1st November 1984

Congress party MP Sajjan Kumar and Trade Union leader Lalit Maken handed out 100 rupee notes and bottles of liquor to assailants.

On the morning of 1st November, Sajjan Kumar was seen holding rallies in, at least, the following Delhi neighborhoods; in Palam Colony from 6:30 AM to 7:00 AM, in Kiran Gardens from 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM, and in Sultanpuri from around 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM.

In Kiran Gardens at 8:00 AM, Sajjan Kumar was seen distributing iron rods from a parked truck to a group of 120 people and instructing them to "attack Sikhs, kill them, and loot and burn their properties"

The FIRST killing of a Sikh occurs in east Delhi.

Armed mobs with guns lead the way.

9:00 am: Armed mobs take over the streets of Delhi and launch a massacre.
Among the first targets are Gurdwaras.

Sikhs seen in cars, public transport, including buses and trains are being dragged out...Sikh men are being beaten with rods and tyres are being placed around their necks...doused with kerosene oil..they are being set a light!

Before they are being burnt they are pinned down and their hair and beards are being forcibly cut off.

120 Sikhs working at the Bokaro Steel Plant Jharkhand thrown alive into burning furnaces.

In Agartala, Tripura 40 Sikh families who took refuge in a police station to save their lives were burnt alive in the police station.

In Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh 12 Sikhs were hanged from the ceiling at the railway platform.

Sikh women are being gang raped, beaten...stripped naked they sit next to the burning bodies of their husbands, bothers, sons.

40-50 Sikh girls are kidnapped and taken to a Chilla village where they are raped for 7 days!!
Sikh belongings are being looted, their homes and business set alight.

The police refuse to help or intervene.
In some cases, the Police actually assist the mobs by disarming Sikhs so they could attack them.

The worst affected areas are low income colonies like Trilokpuri, Shahdara, geeta colony,Mongolpuri, Sultanpuri and Palam Colony.

100's of Gurdwara are being burnt, Shiri Guru Granth Sahib ji de saroop are being set alight...Waheguru.

This scene is being replicated in others parts of India.

The state media show looped video clips of Amitabh Bachchan raising slogans like "Khoon ka badla khoon" (blood for blood) and "Khoon ke chintey sikhon ke ghar tak pahunchni chahiye" (Splashes of blood should reach the doorsteps of Sikhs).

Third day -2nd November 1984

A repeat of 1st November.

And

A curfew is announced throughout Delhi, but is not enforced.

The Army deployed throughout Delhi too but ineffective because the police did not co-operate with soldiers (who are not allowed to open fire without the consent of senior police officers and executive magistrates).

The killings, rapes and looting continue.

Fourth day -3rd November 1984

Massacre continues.

By late evening, the national Army and local police units work together to subdue the violence.

After law enforcement intervention, violence is comparatively mild and sporadic.

In Delhi the dead bodies of the victims were taken to All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi and Civil Hospital Mortuary Tis hazari, Delhi.

It is now believed that 30,000 plus Sikhs Perished throughout India during these 4 days of State Sponsored Massacre.

100's of Sikh women listed missing / unaccounted for.

100's of young children missing / unaccounted for.

We NOW ask you to please help raise awareness of this massacre, so the remaining culprits that are STILL alive are brought to account.

In memory of the 30,000 that perished we say Waheguru.

Indian Government is a big LOL!!!!!!! :P

 

09.05.2013:  Three convicts in a 1984 anti- sikh riots case have been sentenced to life after being found guilty of murder.

 

 

Hahahaha!!!! Is this a joke or what??

The convicts must almost be about to die now when they are being sent to life term jail!! Lived and enjoyed a normal life after committing murders and now are put behind bars!! what kind of law is this???

Someone please tell the culprits, its their world now! Commit a crime and enjoy a normal life!! 

Welcome to the new world!

 

The Blue Eye... An Awesome photography!!! :)

 

For more photographs, visit the link :

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Blue-Eye/418559711499798?ref=hl

NASA's ROVER to Explore Greenland.....!!!!!!

NASA's newest rover to explore no other planet than our own!
Before understanding other planets, after all they first need to understand our own Earth!!!!

Named GROVER (abbreviation for Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research), will explore Greenland's ice sheets to better understand how they form and how quickly they may be melting. The device is solar' powered and semi-autonomous, and will embark on its first mission beginning Friday, May 3, and continuing until June 8. It was developed  from 2010-2011 by teams of students in summer engineering boot camps at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, according to a release from NASA.

The 6-foot tall, 800 pound rover is equipped with ground-penetrating radar that will send "radio wave pulses into the ice sheet, and the waves bounce off buried features, informing researchers about the characteristics of the snow and ice layers," according to the NASA statement.



Source: Google

The rape capital Delhi.!

Ranga Panga..! Two normal characters created by a friend of mine..!

just two mere characters.; but they are so true..!:|
God save OUR INDIA.!

Who all remember the very famous GTA, VICE CITY>>?????

THE EARTH SUMMIT, COPENHAGEN, 2009

What was the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit??

The UN meeting was the deadline for thrashing out a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, with the aim of preventing dangerous Global Warming. It went on for two weeks from 7 December 2009 and was the latest in  a series that traced their origins to the 1992 Earth Summit, Rio De Jainero.

What's the bottom line??

Climate scientists are convinced the world must stop the growth in greenhouse gas emissions and start making them fall very soon. To have a chance of keeping warming under the dangerous 2C mark, cuts of 25%-40% relative to 1990 levels are needed,rising to 80-95% by 2050. So far, the offers on the table  are way below these targets.

                                                                                                                            

Who should make the cuts?

That is a crunch issue. The industrialized nations such as US, UK , Japan and others have emitted by far the most carbon and still emit vast amounts per person, so have the responsibility to make the deep cuts scientists demand. But emissions from emerging economies such as China and India are surging, and any global limit on carbon emissions needs curbs on these nations, too. Yet, per person, those nations have small carbon footprints and millions of people in deep poverty-400 million Indians live without electricity, for example. So China, India and others can argue they need to be allowed to continue to pollute for a while as they improve their citizens' lives. Balancing the responsibilities for cuts is a key part of the negotiations.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?? WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE WORLD IF SUCH ISSUES PREVAIL AND NO SOLUTION IS FOUND??? 

People, please comment and let the world know it needs a change!

tRueE FrIenDSsssssss!!!! :)



Friends are far, friends are near,
Friends will be there to lend an ear,
They listen, laugh, and care,
But most of all, they're always there,
Through thick and thin, up and down,
Your true friends are always around,
For treats, hugs and real big smiles,
They'll travel to you from several miles,
They'll always be there to hold you tight,
Anytime, no matter if it's day or night,
You really know when your friends are sincere, 
When they always show up to lend their ear.

THINK & ACT POSITIVE!!!

Not going along with the crowd can help you stand out in the crowd!

Sometimes, being yourself is the hardest thing to do.

Going along with the crowd may be easy, but being an individual will be more rewarding. 

Don't make your choices based on the crowd. 

Make your choices on

YOUR FEELINGS....... YOUR VALUES.... AND YOUR NEEDS......!!!!!!!!

DREAMWORLD!!!!! :)

 

APPLE'S JOURNEY TO THE TOP !!!!

Apple appears to have knocked Microsoft off its throne to become the world's biggest technology company. The news has been met with delight by many of Apple's loyal customers, who see the news as proof that the era of Windows is finally over, and the computing baton has passed from Redmond to Cupertino. Sadly for Mac fanboys, the truth is probably quite the reverse. OS Roundup: Was it exclusion or exclusivity that fuelled Apple's journey to being the world's biggest technology company? Or perhaps it's Apple's understanding and ability that when the producer names the tune, the consumer must dance.

Here's why: When Apple Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was a computer company that concentrated on selling Macs it went to the very brink of bankruptcy before being bailed out by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in 1997. Apple's recent success stems not from computers, but from its iPhone, iPad and iPod consumer gadgets. It would therefore be no surprise if Apple threw in the towel on the computer front in the near future and abandoned the Mac platform and its OS X desktop and server operating systems altogether.

Unlikely? Think again. After all, Apple does have a track record of abandoning its technology and the customers unfortunate enough to have invested in it. It did just that with the Motorola-based Macs, and it did so again with the PowerPC-based ones. It also has a history of telling its customers what they want and what they can have -- think of the absence of Flash on the iPhone, for example.

As recently as this month at the company's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), Apple supremo Steve Jobs spent two hours talking about the iPhone and new mobile apps without so much as mentioning that the Mac platform even existed. As Jeff Bertolucci points out over at PC World, Apple dropped the Mac software category from its annual Apple Design awards, told shareholder and analyst meetings that the company is focusing on mobile gadgets, and announced that personal computers -- including the Mac -- are on the wane.

So is it really so far-fetched to imagine that at some point in the coming months Apple will tell its followers they can't have Macs anymore, and they will have to learn to want iPads or some other iDevice instead? Most Mac customers dutifully bought PowerPC-based Macs when the Motorola-based ones were discontinued, and then bought Intel-based ones when Apple told them to. There is little reason for Apple to doubt that its long suffering fan base would abandon their Macs for gadgets if Jobs gave the word that they should. Apple has become so successful because it understands that when the producer names the tune, the consumer must dance.

So how did all this come about? Apple used to be a computer company, and it was founded, in part, on lofty ideals. In the documentary movie "Hackers Wanted," Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak talks about the legendary Homebrew Computer Club and his ideals before starting Apple. "The whole mentality of the Homebrew Computer Club was extremely open. Information should be handed out because basically we were creating stuff that was going to move the world forward, and we should do our best to be good contributors to society in that way."

But as the company grew, this openness gave way to a closed, jealous, selfish approach to technology. Apple built up a tiny but loyal following of fans who enjoyed using its desktop and laptop computers, and it managed to convince them life was better without most mainstream software and popular games, and without the ability to use these computers with most of the peripherals and gadgets on the market. Apple customers simply got used to the fact that if they bought a laser printer, a heart rate monitor, a GPS or some other gizmo that could be connected to a computer, they would probably be excluded from doing so because they had a Mac, and after all, style was more important than substance.

In fact, Apple's entire computer strategy was based on exclusion or -- as Apple customers were encouraged to believe -- exclusivity. And Apple loved to remind Mac owners that its OS software also excluded harmful viruses and other malware from their machines.

The problem was that less than 5 percent of the world's computer buyers were prepared to live like some bubble boy in a digital plastic oxygen tent, never catching a cold in Apple's sterile environment, yet isolated from those outside enjoying all the excitement of the big bustling digital world -- albeit catching the occasional sniffle along the way.

It was this unsuccessful Mac strategy that almost caused the company's downfall, and it was then that Apple clearly made a decision to move in to gadget-making. More recently, it has elected to devote itself to that market, all but abandoning its computer-related activities -- which are now restricted to regularly grinding out uninspired iterations of its laptop and desktop machines to its fans. (Of course some people claim that iPads or iPhones are computers in their own right, and technically that's true -- in the same way that fridges or microwave ovens with processors and firmware are computers.)

So congratulations to Apple for becoming the biggest tech company in the world thanks to all those addictive gadgets. Let's see how long it is before the company dumps the Mac platform, the OS X desktop and server operating system, and the rest of the baggage from its old life as a computer company

An amazing Painting made by an Engineering Student!!! Wanna have a look????

Any one interested in purchasing this fabuluous charcoal painting can contact:

Mr. Pranav Sahai

Contact No. 09597366177

Painting size: 6 feet X 4 feet

Painting Type: Charcoal Painting

Material: Wooden Board

Price: Available at a very affordable price

Major Earthquake in West Asia today!

Tehran: Hundreds of people are feared dead as a massive earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale rocked Iran on Tuesday.
As per the US Geological Survey, the quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale had its epicentre on the Iran-Pakistan border at a depth of 15.2 kilometres. It was located 86 kilometres east-southeast of the Iranian city of Khash.
A government officials told a news agency that "it was the biggest earthquake in 40 years and we are expecting hundreds of dead".
There are no further details of the extent of the damage. The rescue teams are being sent to the quake stricken areas.


The quake was felt in Iran, Pakistan and a major part of West Asia.

At least 37 people were killed and 850 wounded when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit south-west Iran on April 10.

GOOGLE LAPTOP IMPRESSIVE BUT NOT FOR ALL

Google's first high-end laptop, the Chromebook Pixel, is an impressive machine. It feels light and comfortable in my hands and on my lap. Its high-resolution display makes photos look sharp and video come to life. From a hardware standpoint, it's everything I'd want a laptop to be.But the Pixel isn't very practical - at least not yet - for most people. It works well when you have a steady Internet connection, but can't do much once you lose that connection.

And because it uses Google's own operating system, it doesn't run enough software yet to replace your other machines.I brought the Pixel along for a nearly three-week trip to Thailand and Cambodia, where I knew I wouldn't have the type of round-the-clock access I'm used to in the U.S. I was surprised by how much I could do, but quickly got frustrated when I couldn't do more.

Such frustration doesn't come cheap. Prices for the Pixel start at $1,299, just $200 less than a MacBook with a comparable screen and the ability to do much more offline. A higher-end Pixel with cellular access costs $150 more than the basic model and is scheduled to start shipping Monday.

For those unfamiliar with Google's entry into the laptop market - I guess that's many of you - the Pixel and other Chromebooks run a Google operating system called Chrome OS. Based on the Chrome Web browser available for Windows and Mac computers, Chrome OS underscores Google's vision of letting the Internet do all the heavy lifting instead of your computer.

As a result, you can power up and start working on the Chromebook right away. Boot time is minimal because there's not a lot of software to load. Those functions are pulled from the Internet as needed. That also means updates come regularly and don't need any installation on your part.

There's not a lot of storage on the machine either. The idea is to keep as much as you can online, through a storage service such as Google Drive or Dropbox.

Think of the Chromebook as a gateway to the Internet. You can download apps from Google and others to run on the Chromebook, but many of those apps do little more than access a website on your Chrome browser when you're online.

Previous Chromebooks haven't been too powerful. They have tended to be low-cost machines ideal for casual users who mostly need computers for Internet tasks such as email and Facebook.

Google is changing the dynamics with the Pixel. It's targeting power users who are willing to pay more money for the best features.

For $1,299, you get a well-built machine sporting a touch-sensitive display that measures nearly 13 inches diagonally. The screen's resolution is among the best out there. At 239 pixels per inch, it tops the 227 pixels per inch on the 13-inch MacBook Pro, though your eyes might not be able to discern that small difference.

The basic Pixel model comes with 32 gigabytes of storage and has a slot for external storage, such as a camera's SD card. Each machine also comes with a three-year subscription for 1 terabyte of online storage through Google Drive. It's normally $50 a month.

Google also offers a $1,449 model that has double the internal storage, at 64 GB, and 100 megabytes a month of LTE cellular data access through Verizon Wireless for two years. That's suitable for occasional use, but if you'll be away from Wi-Fi a lot, you'll need a data plan. Prices start at $10 a day.

The LTE model isn't set to ship until Monday, but Google lent me one to try out. I was impressed with the LTE offering, as the cellular access would help cover some of the gaps I'd have outside my home and office. But it's of no use abroad.

Nor is LTE of use on airplanes. Both models offer 12 free sessions with Gogo's Wi-Fi service on airplanes, but those are good only for flights that offer that capability. Those tend to be domestic flights in the U.S.

So I found myself trying to use Chromebook without a steady Internet connection.

Before I left, I configured the Chromebook browser to enable offline access to Google Docs, the company's set of online tools such as word processing and spreadsheets.

With offline access, you're able to access and edit documents. Changes get synced with the online versions the next time you connect to the Internet.

I was able to do a fair amount of writing offline, but every now and then, my document would disappear, replaced by Google's "Aw, Snap" error message sporting a sad face icon. That would be cute if hours of work weren't at stake.

Although I was usually able to recover the file and never lost more than a paragraph of writing, I got nervous with every crash. Google Docs lets you save copies on your computer as text files or in Microsoft's Word format. But that function works only when you are online, even for changes you are making offline.

Even without the crashes, I wasn't getting tools such as spell-checking while offline. That's not an issue when using Word or Apple's Pages on other machines.

Beyond text documents, the Chromebook is able to view photos, PDFs and other files, just like any other computer. It can also read files in Microsoft's Word and Excel formats, though you must convert them to Google Docs to make changes.

And obviously, it can browse the Web. I successfully paid credit card bills, bought magazines and watched Hulu video on the Pixel. I was able to read an e-book on Amazon's Web-based Kindle app, too.

But there are limits, particular when sites require plug-ins that aren't available for the Chromebook.

And while I was able to write this story on a Chromebook, our publishing system isn't compatible with it.

Chromebooks are ideal for those who have steady Internet access and do most of their computing on Web browsers. But those people may be fine with one of the other, much cheaper Chromebooks. One is the $249 Samsung Chromebook, which I have tried and like for simple tasks when Internet access isn't an issue.

If you need a machine as powerful as the Pixel, you might also need an operating system that can do more, especially when offline.

Google executive Caesar Sengupta admits that Chromebook owners might still have to turn to a Windows or Mac computer now and then. In many ways, it reminds me of the early days of the Mac, when most software was written only for Windows.

That makes the Pixel expensive for a machine that can't serve as your sole computer. At $1,299, I'd rather spend another $200 for a MacBook with a high-resolution display and four times the storage, at 128 gigabytes. You don't get a touch screen with the MacBook, but frankly, I didn't use the Pixel's touch controls even once during my Asia trip.

On the other hand, Sengupta told me that selling Pixels isn't Google's main goal with the machine. Rather, the company made it to showcase Google's vision for the future of computing. In that case, Google has succeeded in producing a machine that is a pleasure to use - as long as you're online.

 

About the Chromebook Pixel:

The device represents Google's entry into the high-end laptop market. It runs Google's Chrome OS operating system, which largely assumes you'll have round-the-clock Internet access. You can still work with the device offline, but functionality is limited.

The basic model costs $1,299 and comes with 32 gigabytes of storage. For $1,449, you get 64 gigabytes and LTE connectivity through Verizon Wireless. Both models come with a terabyte of online storage through Google Drive for three years, a $1,800 value at $50 per month. Not everyone will need as much storage, and Google Drive offers free and cheaper plans.

The pricier Pixel model also offers 100 megabytes a month of LTE cellular data access through Verizon Wireless for two years.

If you need more, you can buy a day pass with unlimited data for $10. Or you can buy 1 gigabyte of data for $20, 3 GB for $35 or 5 GB for $50. Those are good for a month. If you're a Verizon customer with a plan for sharing data allotments over multiple devices, you can add the Pixel for just $10 a month.

The Pixel is sold through Google's online Play store and Best Buy's website