Writer's Pit

The history of evolution of computer goes back a long time back yet it has achieved no one had ever imagined before. Unlike the computers which used to be as big as a building and used to consume a lot of electricity has now become smaller and smaller as the days go by and is still in the process of decreasing in size and increasing in utility. All those big computers of the past has been replaced by desktop computers and the laptops are now the successor of the desktop computers. The laptops available in the market today have more than enough features as compared to those traditional computers. The size has decreased drastically the rest of the utility is constant. The speed is better, the storage space is bigger, the resolutions of those LCD screen in laptops is higher and what more can we expect. There are a lot of big manufacturers of the Laptops like the Dell, HP to name a few. A standard Laptop is not bigger in size than those early encyclopedias we used to have. The most amazing factor of these laptops is that you don’t need direct electricity power supply as they have batteries which can last at least one hour. So, power shortage no problem, congested work area no problem hail laptop. The trend of getting smaller and smaller in computers world might someday make all those computers invisible.

Every now and then big names in television manufacturers come up with something new. This time around Philips has come up with the technology called the ambilight in television world. Ambilight is basically a technology only put in plasmas. This feature reflects the same kind of color displayed in the plasma from the sides via tubes. This creates a virtual image on the back of the plasma where it is kept. Thus an illusion is created to indulge the viewers into reality. For instance when a clear blue sky is being seen in the plasma same kind of blue and its associate colors are reflected from the sides of that plasma. It is really very interesting as I had once tried this in a TV showroom with the movie “The Glaidator” being played. I thought I would have this ambilight plasma but being the latest of technology it is far beyond my budget.

I don’t remember the name of those speakers which I saw on some television documentary and I am going to explain how it worked. This speaker had a very new feature. You join this speaker to your music set and enjoy the music. The most amazing feature of it is that you have to be positioned very perpendicular to the speakers. If you go beyond that right angle, you won’t hear any sound. So if you are in a room full of people around you and you are seated at right angle to the speakers you can hear the sounds coming from that speaker while other people around that speaker, won’t hear a sound unless seated perpendicularly to the speakers. Amazing, this is a real magical speaker.

The worst of all the investments made, is the investment in technology. There are so many big companies giving up everything and spending millions of dollars in creating new technology right now. Technology is such a thing which doesn’t exist for a long period leaving some. Let’s just talk about compact discs or the digital video discs. How long has it been since the “almost extinction” of magnetic tapes. It hasn’t been very long before the compact discs came. And now those compact discs have been replaced by the digital video discs. The digital video discs are now going to be replaced by divx and so on. Though this case can only be regarded as an improvement in technology. The market of the compact discs did not remain long lasting as one can make out if the companies who invested in those things would have got their return worth for what they invested? Before the investment could be realized another new technology came up. So in my perspective investing in technology is not so good as compared to the investment made in other sectors.

The most reliable scope of investment in Nepal is in Hydro Power. The second richest country in water resources has a lot more to do in hydro power. There are so many evergreen rivers as well as streams with enough current to produce electricity flowing throughout the year. The water flowing through these rivers is just a waste till date. The big companies of the world have been eyeing upon the investment in hydro power in Nepal. Only the political scenario has been the disturbing factor. If only all those flowing river water is utilized Nepal would be one of the richest countries in the world just by selling electricity. There are very less hydro power projects till now and this is disappointing. Investment in Hydro Power in Nepal should be made open to every one so as to expand its scope. On contrary to the water resource of Nepal, there are over 75% of areas where people still depend on lamps. Using kerosene oil to light those lamps is more expensive than electricity. The lack of oil mines in Nepal is the reason for the expense. The only encouraging factor in investment in hydro power in Nepal is the expatriates. They are willing to invest and hopefully the government will make suitable environment for them in the near future.

The Compact Discs are slowly but surely being replaced by DVDs. The technology has almost brought compact discs to an end as the use of floppy discs has been literally faced extinction Those early cds were just able to be written once, but the new re-writeable cds work like a floppy discs. The previous contents can be overwritten with the new contents. Now the re-writeable dvds are available in the market which means more reliable and high quality. More to this there are dvds which has a facility to contain data on both the sides and can be written on both the sides. It’s amazing. If a dvd contains two sided writable feature means more storage capacity. This modification of cds and dvds is still underway and can be expected more in the future.

In the context of Nepal. We have the privilege of getting kerosene oil at the cheapest rate. The kerosene oil used to cost around 27 or 28 NRS. The diesel used to cost 48 NRS or somewhere around forty. Now the cost of kerosene oil has hiked up to the same level as that of diesel. This has a cause. Smart people started using kerosene in place of diesel because kerosene oil was cheaper. The vehicles which are run by diesel could use kerosene because of its cost effectiveness. What they just needed was add some mobil a lubricant in the kerosene and this mixture would completely work like diesel. In this way the consumption of kerosene hiked up where as the consumption of diesel slowly moved downward. To maintain the equilibrium in the supply of the demand of kerosene and diesel the price of kerosene had to be raised. This has caused a very bad impact on the people living under par and who still uses kerosene oil for daily needs. And the government had no other option rather than to raise the kerosene oil's price and bring it to the diesel's price.

Back in the olden days people here in Nepal would invest their capital on land. This sector had a very good potential and there were a number of real estates mushrooming around every corner. At present the hottest property in Kathmandu has been the Educational Consultancies. Probably the number of those kinds of consultancies in Kathmandu equals half the students passing their 12th grade. Starting an educational consultancy in Kathmandu does not require that big amount of capital and it is a hassle free work. One can make a deal with some two to three colleges abroad especially those colleges of the US and attract students. Perhaps the current state of our nation is solely responsible for the youths leaving their native land and going abroad and this has been the most beautiful opportunity for such consultancies. They seem to be doing very well for the frustrated students and earning a lot of profit as well. Educational Consultancies are the hottest property in Kathmandu and will remain the hottest for some more years to come.