iPad meets Sushi at 4/12/2010 08:38:00 AM

And just when you thought that everyone's figured out all the application for Apple's all new device, a Sushi restaurant right here in Sri Lanka decides to offer each of it patrons an iPad just to see whats cooking in the kitchens! Press release after the jump.

On the opposite side of the planet to Cupertino, is the island nation Sri Lanka, home to Nihonbashi Japanese Restaurants, the first restaurant in the world to use the iPad. Nihonbashi has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to restaurant design, creativity in foods and bringing to diners the cultural and gastronomical appeal of Japanese Cuisine. The half Japanese, half Sri Lankan owner of Nihonbashi, Dharshan Munidasa, a Johns Hopkins Graduate, watched the ipad launch from across the oceans while preparing content for the ipad; and now guests can browse through the menu and view the specials photographically.

“Describing an original dish without a picture is tough and hard copies are time consuming and expensive,” says Dharshan as he prepares to use the ipad to communicate to guests the daily specials. “No you cannot order from the ipad,” he continues, as he’s strongly against automated ordering that could erode the relationship between restaurant and diner. According to Dharshan, the ipads will also be used in the administration aspects of Nihonbashi operations as communications between team members and idea sharing will become easier, faster and more descriptive owing to pictorial representation - and all this without paper.

Dharshan explained that the ipad will soon open up a new medium in which hotels, resorts, restaurants and banks especially can use as a promotional tool in advertising.

With peace settling in the country after decades of war and tourism gathering momentum, Dharshan now wants to show the world that Sri Lanka and his restaurant Nihonbashi is a place where innovative ideas thrive and are not restricted to the Dubais or the Singapores of the world.

Wine Lists, daily specials, guest comments and much more will form part of the content found on the ipad allowing guests to email directly from their ipad comments or take part in surveys and lucky draws. Dharshan added that a special application will also be developed for this very purpose at a later stage.

Trying to be the first in the world to introduce the ipad in a restaurant is especially hard owing to the fact that Sri Lanka is on the other side of the globe from the US. If Nihonbashi were based in the US, Dharshan claims the implementation of the ipad could have happened on the ipad launch day itself, but with a general election and almost a week of holidays, 9 days later can’t be too bad either.

Starting a new series of posts on gaming at 7/29/2009 07:43:00 AM

Gaming is a pretty important part of any geek's diet of daily gadget-goodness. So Gizceylon will be starting a new set of posts dedicated to all things gaming. Stay tuned and lookout for the new posts.

N97 FM transmitter demonstrated in an easy step-by-step guide at 7/23/2009 03:23:00 AM

The Nokia N97 is a multimedia powerhouse packing everything in it apart from the kitchen sink. So its quite a common occurrence for some or most of the features to remain hidden to its oblivious users. Partly this is due to the sheer number of features which do not provide the opportunity or the time for busy users to try them out, and also partly due to how they have been implemented on the phone. The FM transmitter on the Nokia N97 may be one of the more useful features in the device which has sadly gone unnoticed as a major functionality of the device.

Here is a post which any N97 user may like to check out to get the most from their device’s FM transmitter.

LHC (Large Hadron Collider) delayed again, now planned to start in mid-November at 7/23/2009 03:02:00 AM

The brilliant chaps on the borders of France and Switzerland have pushed back the date for doomsday 2.0. New leaks in the world's largest particle accelerator (27km in circumference), which has been plagued since one week after its initial launch earlier this year, have sprouted in the vast liquid helium cooling system. Scientists and super geeks predict repairs to it will push the scheduled restart in to the winter months of the northern hemisphere.

Technorati Tags: LHC

Sony’s new S-series Walkman Leaked at 7/23/2009 12:40:00 AM

The folks at Sony Insider have uncovered some interesting details on Sony’s new addition to the S-series line-up. See what Sony Insider had to say below.

The S-Series Sony Walkman has been a good seller for Sony – super-thin, music and video capabilities, long lasting battery, FM tuner, and so forth. It resides in a good price range and has probably been one of Sony’s best selling Walkmans. We recieved this picture from one of our most credible sources of a never before seen Walkman and we are guessing this will be the successor to the S series. Pictured in red, blue, pink and black, what is most curious about this device is the inclusion of what seems to be speakers on the front of the device. This could be great for those who like to use their music players without headphones, like at the beach. The design is really fresh looking and the screen also seems to be bigger. This product isn’t set to arrive for a while, but we are hoping that Sony brings it to the market with higher than 8GB capacities, noise canceling, and even better battery life.

New Sony Ericsson Android UI Demoed at 7/23/2009 12:05:00 AM

Sony Ericsson has hit somewhat of a rough patch in the recent year, with mounting losses and sharp declines in market share. However, this doesn’t seem to have dampened the Japan-Sweden corporation’s spirit to innovate. This demo video of their new user interface for the X3/Rachael looks promising. See the video below.

Nokia N97 vs HTC Touch Pro2 - showdown at 7/22/2009 05:19:00 PM

Just came across this video running rounds on the inter-webs. Well, to begin with, both phones featured here are flagship devices for their companies and naturally pack a tank load of features. Implementation of these features on the other hand will be an interesting area to observe as both these phone run on relatively outdated operating systems for touchscreen usage.

New Blackberry Storm 9550 spotted in the wild at 7/22/2009 04:28:00 PM

The good folks at Crackberry.com have once again given us an early peak into RIM's future line up. After the disaster with the release of the Storm 9530, RIM seems determined to make amends, and has seen to a number of changes in the newer model, although the notorious clickable screen remains to have another go at the consumer market. Hands-on Video and pic below

Windows 7 goes RTM, creeps closer to final release at 7/22/2009 03:53:00 PM

Well it looks like the folks at Microsoft have finally got their multibillion dollar ship in order. Reports indicate that Windows 7 has been upgraded to RTM (Release to Manufacturing). Now we've got all the more reason to expect the new OS to meet it October 2009 release target. Check out the announcement from the windowsteam blog below.

03:40 PM Wednesday

Jul 22, 2009

As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM. Then, it goes though all the validation checks required for RTM including having all languages of that build completed. If all the validation checks have passed – sign-off for RTM can occur. Today after all the validation checks were met, we signed off and declared build 7600 as RTM.

Not only is RTM an important milestone for us – it’s also an important milestone for our partners. Today’s release is the result of hard work and collaboration with our partners in the industry to make Windows 7 a success. We delivered Windows 7 with a predictable feature set on a predictable timetable that allowed OEMs to focus on value and differentiation for their customers.

Our customers told us what they want (and expect) and we defined those specific experiences and then built features to support them (like HomeGroup and the Windows Taskbar enhancements). Our customers also told us that “fundamentals” on both the hardware and software side was extremely important. Windows 7 today runs great on the broadest array of hardware types ranging from netbooks to high-end gaming machines. We worked closely with OEMs so that their PCs delight customers with the new features in Windows 7.

Of course, today’s release is also the result of the amazing amount of feedback we received from the millions of people who tested Windows 7 – from Beta to RC. We actually had over 10 million people opt-in to the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). That’s a lot of people opting in to help us make Windows 7 a solid release. Through CEIP, our engineers were guided by customer feedback all the way to RTM. We also have had a great group of beta testers who have dedicated a great deal of their time to testing Windows 7 too. A special thank you goes out to all the people who helped test Windows 7.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to my friends over on the Windows Server Team. Today they are also announcing that Windows Server 2008 R2 has RTM’d. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 together can help businesses cut costs and increase productivity. Click here to read their blog post on Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM.

The RTM code will be delivered to our partners within the next few days who will then start preparing to deliver some amazing new products timed to hit at General Availability (GA) of Windows 7 on October 22nd. And going forward, I expect to be showcasing MANY of these new products here on The Windows Blog.

We continue to be overwhelmed at the community’s response to Windows 7 and it has been an extremely rewarding experience to witness. We hope the enthusiasm will continue to grow even more as our partners build amazing experiences with their products and Windows 7.

Welcome! at 7/22/2009 02:57:00 PM

Welcome to Gizceylon. Your one portal to all things tech, geeky and gadgety. This blog will attempt to inform its readership on all the latest happenings in gizmo-land around the world and also feature posts on gadgets that are available right here in Sri Lanka. So folks, please bookmark us and visit frequently to get your fill of gadget goodness.