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M& S WANDER 6reasons JOURNEY ON TO HEAD TO BANDIPUR, RIGHT NOW! From spellbinding views to soul-stirring serenity, Bandipur is the place to head to for a quick weekend getaway. By Tsering Ngodup Lama 8 12 JUNE, 2015, FRIDAY Once a bustling trade town for traders travelling from Tibet to Nepal and India. Bandipur's glory days ended in the 1970s when the Prithvi Highway came into being. But the town has now made a comeback not as a trading town but as a major tourist destination in the country with its natural beauty and history. We draw out the best reasons why you should head there. For the love of mindless stroll Bandipur's past glory reflects in the architecture. A walk around the town lets you soak in its former glory and its today's quaintness. The roads are paved by slabs of rock and you can see women drying vegetables and children playing around. Adding to the beauty of it all are Bandipur’s wellmaintained houses—walking through this town is sure to transport one to an era long gone but still kept alive. Spectacular views Bandipur's hilltop location makes it a great vantage point for spectacular views of lush green hills and on clear days the majestic mountains. On top of Gurungche Hill, from the temple of Thani Mai one can catch gorgeous views of the sunrise. From Tundhikhel in the north of the main town, the beauty of Dhaulagiri, Machhapuchhre and the Marshyangdi river flowing below shines on. Temples and a whole lot of it If you love visiting temples you will love Bandipur, for it has plenty of it. Khadga Devi is one of the most important temples in the town and is where the sword of King Mukunda Sen is kept. It is said that the sword was gifted to the king in the sixteenth century and is opened to devotees only once a year during Dashain. Another important temple is the Bindhabasini temple built in pagoda style. The temple boasts of exquisite wooden carvings and detailed brass work. Fuel up your adrenaline As much as Bandipur is for those seeking solace and calm, it also has plethora of adrenaline fuelling to offer. Explore the very popular Siddha cave and be mesmerised by the natural artworks formed by stalactites and stalagmites or go rock climbing. For the cycling enthusiasts, Bandipur boasts some great trails and if you do not mind a little bit of travel, in the nearby district of Chitwan you can explore hidden canyons with canyoning. Hardcore Nepal, an adventure company runs great day trips that will keep your need adrenaline satiated. Kakshya Café, for the best coffee in town Nothing beats a good cup of coffee after a day of activities and at Kakshya Café, a relatively new outlet in the town they serve the best coffee in the entire town. The food menu though is limited but if you prefer some munchies to go along with your cup of joe, the café has some fresh bakery items. Hotel Depche This small but with a fantastic location, Hotel Depche is for those who seek isolation and quaintness over luxury. The rooms are Spartan-like with just the basic amenities but it’s the views of mountains, green fields and hills that steal the show. There are just 11 rooms so make sure you pre-book. PHOTO COURTESY: FOTO.PAISES.COM PHOTO COURTESY: KIRAN PANDAY
9 GIZMO S 12 JUNE, 2015, FRIDAY M& TECH TALK DIAL M FOR MORE Google recently provided a developer preview for the yet to be named Android M, and we take a look at what that means for the OS in the future. FAB APP Smartphone brings back the video star Let your inner entertainer out and create funny and creative videos right from your phones—no videoediting skills required. Google is expected to rollout the finished version of Android M sometime this year’s third quarter, but it did release a developer preview in the recent Google i/o Developer conference so that we can get an idea of what’s to come. Although not all changes are written in stone right now—it is only a developer preview— M&S got a hold of Android developer Rakeeb Rajbhandari to give us his take on what’s exciting about M and how it looks to smoothed, polish and contextualise our user experiences. Smarter phones There aren’t going to be big, obvious changes on Android M, mostly just tweaks to improve the experience, but everything will be kept contextual. This means, “Your phone will know who you are,” says Rajbhandari. Now Android will tailor-make the experience to suit the user’s preferences using what can be called as contextual awareness. It will be able to know where you are and what you will need and cater to just that. For example, with Direct Share Android can learn about your top contacts and apps you use frequently and lets you share with them directly at the first go; the app drawer will probably show your most frequently used apps on the top. Improved power Still surprised to see your battery sapped out even after hours of leaving it unattended? Well, there’s a reason for that: “Several apps update themselves even when the phone is not in use; meaning they suck unnecessary battery life,” says Rajbhandari. Now, with Doze, Android detects inactivity of your phone through motion detectors and allows it to go on an enhanced level of sleep. So, essentially, your phone holds the syncing of apps and other features to help save battery life. Apart from that Android will now fully support USB Type-C. Instead of the usual shape, the latest version of USB is a small reversible plug, meaning you plug it in right the first time, every time. It also means higher rate of transfer and faster charge. Since the cable will also be bi-directional, M will also allow users to direct the power flow—you’ll be able to charge your phone or make it a charger for some other device. More control As emphasised earlier, the update focuses more on the backend of the OS, and that is most noticeable in the settings. Unlike on Android L, when you install apps on M, you will not receive all the access permission during installation. Instead, the system will ask for specific permission when the app tries to access a feature for the first time. This would make more sense for the user and would justify the app’s permission request. For example, you’ll be notified if a calendar app tries to access you camera; if you don’t think it requires that access you can deny that specifically. Also, you’ll be able to specifically alter app permission through the app setting later. This means users get more active control over app functioning than just remaining blind to their background activities, which entails less vulnerability to malware apps. Now on Tap The latest iteration of Google Now, the company’s unparalleled intelligent personal assistor, will be the most noticeable and potentially the most used feature of M, especially it’s Now to Tap feature. “Google is looking to reduce efforts and use data in a way that is relevant for the particular user,” says Rajbhandari. Here is where the context side really comes to play. When Google Now rolls out later in the year, it will be able to know where you are and what you will need with what is called contextual awareness. And it’s new feature Now on Tap (access it by tapping and holding the home button) will analyse the information in whichever app you’re in, be it text message or email, and give you relevant information about anything it thinks you’d need without leaving the app. For example, if you’re emailing about a movie, Now on Tap will give the information about the film without you asking about it particularly. Minor tweaks There are, however, some minor user interface tweaks that help further polish the already great Lollipop experience, still continuing with the clean and minimalistic material design. The visible changes are in the form of the app drawer: it is now vertical instead of horizontal swipes with a search bar and recommended apps bar on the top; volume controls: it now allows you to change volumes for ringtone, music and alarm individually; animations; newer text select system and a revamped settings panel. And if you’re worried about the app drawer, you can easily switch themes from the settings menu. POST REPORT Dubsmash Dubsmash has certainly come out as a crowd favourite, and if you haven’t heard of it, where have you been? But just in case you haven’t gotten around using it, here’s a all you need to know the app that has become a global hit, regardless of celebrity status or not. Dubsmash lets you lip-sync over a range of audio clips, recreating your favourite video moments. The clips are categorised under different ‘soundboards’ ranging from animal sounds, memorable ads, pickup lines to a lot, lot more. Or, if you’re not satisfied with all the user uploaded clips, just make your own and turn it into an inside joke among your friends. However, there have been recent concerns about the copyright issue of the audio clips, but for now the only limit to your fun is only your imagination; just set it free and enjoy! WHAT WE LIKE: n Select from thousands of popular audio clips uploaded by users and categorised for convenience. n Simple interface and easy to use: select audio, shoot video, add text or sticker and upload. n Easy to record and cut a clip from personal audio. n Direct upload to Facebook Messenger and What’s App straight from the app in Android. You can even upload straight to Facebook and Instagram if you’re an iOS user. PLATFORM: Android, iOS Video Editor Make your own music videos all powered by our handy smartphone. Just like its name, there’s no fuss, no added gimmick, just simple video edit tools. Video Editor lets you trim and merge videos, create photo montages and even extract audio from video clips. Act out your favourite songs or music videos and overlap the actual song over them using just the basic features. You will have to be a bit inventive with this bit though. Since the app doesn’t let you trim and merge different sections of the same video at once, select the same video multiple times, keep the parts you need and merge if you need to do so. The interface doesn’t look the best but is easy to use after you fiddle around a bit, and it certainly gets the job done. The rendering part of the video does take decent amount of time, depending on the video length and size, but that should be expected regardless of it being on a PC or a smartphone. Also, there’s no “freemium” policy here; meaning no need to buy and unlock extra features. Everything is there from the get-go. WHAT WE LIKE: n Make simple photo slideshows to share with your friends during special occasions; no more need to sign up to dubious looking Facebook apps for that. n Split a longer video into multiple parts or simply merge different sections for that perfect 15 second Instagram post. n The video to mp3 feature comes in real handy. n Easy to use with few to no distractions; just get in, create and get out. n Save videos with default resolution or suited for instagram. PLATFORM: Android POST REPORT
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