If....

" If you can meet with triumph and disaster
   And treat those two imposters just the same; "

Migrated to Windows 7 ... finally!!

Today (20 March, 2010) is the National day of Unplugging. If you are unsure about what this means - it is a day to encourage people who are addicted to technology to practise abstinence towards all gadgets (for a day, that is). Ironically, I made a big switch from Windows Vista to Windows 7 today. Though I have been using Vista Ultimate since late 2007, I haven't really liked it. There were instances where I abhorred this operating system. I installed Ubuntu linux on my laptop in early 2009 and have been using Ubuntu and Vista in a 70-30 ratio.

I wanted to buy a new laptop but did not want to get rid of my ThinkPad. So, I decided to get rid of my operating system and my dual-boot option, which slowly became a minor nuisance. All it took was a stroll to Staples store. I bought a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade CD and the installation took 20 minutes. This is my first blog using Windows 7. Connecting to the network etc, was a breeze.

At the outset, I liked the look and feel of the OS. Till today, Windows to me was all about style and nothing much about substance. But looks like Microsoft turned the corner with Windows 7. They seemed to have worked on both style and substance. And as a result, Windows 7 looks to be a good blend of both as opposed to Windows Vista which was a hero in style and a zero in substance.

Anyways..my first impression is pretty good about Windows 7. Hope it stays that way!

One year of 'Civic'ing!

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of my first car, Honda Civic. It has been a fun ride all the while (pun intended). I bought this car on Aug 15, 2008. I was slightly nervous on road for the first couple of months. I got honked twice in these two months. First, when I tried to change the lane in the last second near a signal. The second instance was kind of scary. It was near a Circuit City store near our house. The entrance to this store was on a curvy road and I did not notice an oncoming car. I turned on my turn indicator and was entering the store's parking when I noticed a speeding car some 20 feet away. I sped my way through but man, it was close! Barring these two, I did not face any other untoward incidents. (Touch Wood!)

The price of fuel was highest in the month I purchase the car and was lowest in Jan 2009. I started off with a decent Miles Per Gallon (MPG) and am now at a good rate. Power blended with performance is a commendable feature in Civic. This impresses me the most. Check the charts below for the fuel price variations and my Civic's MPGs over the past year. Data point for June 2009 is missing as I was in India and did not refuel my car. (Click on the charts to enlarge them).

I am not a heavy-duty user; My office is nearby and I don't hit the freeways often. Average distance travelled per day over the last year is around 16 miles. This has contributed towards the good condition of my vehicle. Overall, the pros and cons are:

Pros:

(1) Economical mileage.

(2) Exceptional handling.

(3) Stylish exteriors and interiors.

(4) Very good features - good stereo and digital dashboard.

Cons:

(1) Quality of materials in interior isn't great. Hard plastic finishes for seats, dashboard.

Looking forward to more of 'Civic'ing.

My tryst with computers!

Anyone who knows me well will concur that I am a gadget freak. I am particularly fond of laptop computers and love their company. While driving back from work today, my thoughts wandered down the memory lane. It was a good flash back that I wanted to document.

I first operated a computer in 1992. I was in the VIII grade at Loyola Public School. We were taught to program in GW-BASIC. I vaguely remember trying to build an image of a ship, programming a student mark list and couple of other programs. It was fun. We had around 10 computers in the lab. All of them had monochrome screens. There was one computer that had a green screen with black font and that was my favourite. Rest of them had black screens with white font. Coding in GW-BASIC was very interesting. It was programming in its simplest form. Click here for a sample program in BASIC.

After my Class X, I did not get a chance to work with any computer for two years. And then, I joined Loyola College for my undergrad. This was in 1997. Computer Science was not a predominant subject in our curriculum then. I had a natural flair for programming but noticed that I was only interested in the mathematical component of programming. I wasn't too keen on mundane coding. I was more interested in algorithms. It was around this time that the internet fever gripped us. My first email account was with Hotmail. I remember going to an internet cafe and typing an email for 45 min. It costed us 60 rupees an hour to browse the internet. My first email was to my cousin who came to the US in 1997. My second email account was with Rediffmail. I used to have pen friends, prior to the advent of email. When email entered my life, pen friends went out.

By 1999-2000, I became very attracted towards computers/internet. I used to go to an internet cafe twice a week (two hours), which was 'high frequency' then. In 2000, after my graduation, I coerced my mom to buy me a personal computer. I opted for a HP Brio. This was my first 'own' computer. Specs read something like this: Intel Celeron 500-700Mhz, 32 MB RAM, 10GB HDD with Windows 98 (Second Edition). It had a floppy drive, a CD drive and came with a huge CRT monitor. It costed us ~45,000 rupees to get this PC along with a computer table and chair.

I had many PC games installed. I remember Wargasm and NFS. I was fond of another game whose name I cannot recall. I had MS Office and Borland C installed. I primarily used my computer to play games. I was at IIIT for a brief period. I had an Acer computer there with which I did not have whole lot of an attachment. I wasn't motivated enough to translate my interest in algos into programming. Honestly, I had other distractions.

In 2004, I sold off my HP Brio and bought a build-to-order 'assembled' computer. This was a Pentium-4 with 256MB RAM and 40GB HDD. I loved the increased speed. I decided to never purchase a Celeron machine again. By 2004, I became a regular user of the internet (not an addict yet!). We had internet in our house too and browsing became my favorite past-time. Also, it was around this period that I involuntarily gave up reading newspapers. I used to follow news on the web. I was slowly becoming an internet addict.

In 2005, after I came to Cincinnati to pursue my masters, I bought my first laptop. Dell Inspiron. I had to compromise on the price of a new laptop and ended up purchasing a Celeron machine again. But as I was a student with no source of income, I don't think I had much of a choice. Its specs - Intel Celeron 1.4GHz, 512 MB RAM, 40GB HDD. I got it for $450. I used this laptop primarily for school but right from the day I got it, I wanted to get rid of it. Ironically, I had this laptop for the next two years. I joined US Airways before I graduated. For my master's thesis, I needed a powerful laptop as I needed to process huge search logs (~10GB data). It was processor-intensive and my Dell surely could not handle it.

On May 5, 2007 I bought one of my favorite devices to date - IBM Thinkpad. It was a T60. Specs: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz, 2 GB RAM, 120GB HDD and Windows Vista Ultimate. It costed me a bomb though - $1600. It was a huge upgrade from my handicapped Dell. My thesis went through like a breeze. As days went by, I developed a passion for programming in Python. It was partly fueled by my work and partly by the language itself. I still use this ThinkPad and have all the software and apps I need installed on this machine. I also have Ubuntu installed on it.

My fascination with laptops compelled me to sell my Dell and purchase a Sony Vaio for my wife. In Jan 2008, I purchased Sony Vaio VGN-NR110E. It came with an Intel Dual Core processor, 1GB RAM and 160GB HDD. I bought this for $550. I upgraded the RAM to 2GB. This laptop served us good. Sony Vaio was aesthetically beautiful and keyboard layout was very good. Very user-friendly. By Jan 2009, I was kind of bored with Vaio. While I still have my ThinkPad (I foresee hanging on to it for the next 2-3 years), I sold the Vaio and bought a HP Pavilion laptop. This was a significant upgrade again. It had a Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 GB RAM and 250 GB HDD, integrated webcam/microphone and with many other multimedia features. I bought this for $550. In May 2009, I bought another laptop - Lenovo G530 - for my Mom. It is again a Dual Core/2GB/160GB machine.

So, long story short, my tryst with computers will go on. I feel happy when I look at the prices of laptops these days. I am happy because, I can try different laptops whenever I want to. It gives me lot of pleasure doing so. To me, my laptop is more a personal organizer and an internet communicator. I don't have any work-related material in it, but do have all the latest software (including Python 3.1.1 that released yesterday) for my non-work related stuff. I am looking to move further on, to Mac perhaps. In all certainty, my next laptop will be an Apple MacBook. Do you want to continue to MacBook (Y/N)? Y

Slumdog Millionaire!

As I write this blog, the cast and crew of Slumdog Millionaire are in Kodak theater, Los Angeles for the biggest prize in cinema - the Oscars. Incidentally, I saw this movie just today. There were some scenes in the movie that embarrass Indians; atleast I felt so. What is shown in the movie isn't the true India, but scratch that; true India can never be shown on screen. It can only be felt.

Anyways, back to the movie, I think it has all the ingredients in good proportions. It is logical, has a wonderful background score, has scenes that can rivet you, an excellent script and life in the characters. The only thing I didn't like in the movie is the constant focus on slums. India is not only about slums. Maybe the director had to focus on slums to emphasize the title. Maybe.

At my workplace, at times when we have team events, my colleagues ask me what India is all about. They are honest questions for sure. What I tell them is a different story altogether but I hope they don't see this movie as it shows only a part of India and incorrectly portrays as if that is what India is all about. 

Except this, I have no issues with the movie. I think it is very well crafted and above all, like its protagonist, the movie has right things happening to it at the right time. Golden Globe happened. BAFTA happened. Now it is time for Oscars. Who knows what the destiny has in store for the millionaire? Let's try this question.

What major award(s) did the movie Slumdog Millionaire win?

A. BAFTA

B. Golden Globe

C. Oscars

D. All of the above.

I would go for D.

A rocky year ticks by!!!!

Phew! What an year it was! 

An extremely volatile economy with dampened spirits and investor confidence at the deepest trench. An year of extremities. Fuel hitting 147/barrel before plummeting to 30 something. Stocks fluctuating as spikes in an Electrocardiogram. Investment Banks wiped out - Lehman Brothers and Bear Sterns collapsed while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley chose to become bank holding companies; Merrill Lynch was gobbled by Bank of America. This ended the era of Investment Banks in the United States. WAMU was the largest bank failure in US. 25 Banks have closed down in 2008. Here is the 2008 failed banks list. (Source: FDIC)

More than half a dozen airlines have shut business. Automobile companies are fighting for survival and some of them are staring down the barrel. CEOs of these companies are like deer caught-in-headlights. IT sector's outlook is bleak. Start-ups and mid-size companies are in severe cash crunch. And ofcourse, there are housing, real-estate and mortgage issues that plague the economy.

Personally, I feel we have moved over the worst part of this recession. I hope the proposed bailout works soon and get the economy back on track. Whatever the measures are, to restore investors' confidence and eventually the economy, results will not be achieved overnight. It will be a slow but steady way upwards hopefully from mid-2009.

Here is me wishing everyone a prosperous, refreshing and a very Happy New Year.

Rebranded Logos - Post Recession

Here are very catchy logos proposed for some brands post recession. 

Source: Anonymous

iPhone 3G - What's hot and what's not !

It's been over two months that I have been using Apple's iPhone and wanted to share my experiences and my version of the phone's pros and cons.

Apple's strength has always been aesthetics and quality and the iPhone is a testimony to this. These two features together with Apple's brand make this a coveted product. What really prompted me to purchase the iPhone apart from the abovementioned qualities are it's functionalities as (in my order of preference)

- Efficient personal organizer
- Internet communicator
- iTunes & App Store friendly device
- iPod player
- Cool phone

I don't intend to describe these functionalities or features (Apple has a comprehensive support site for that), but it is to mention some tangible features that are otherwise unavailable. I use iPhone mostly as a personal organizer. I rate it very highly as a personal organizer. I have my Calendar synced up with my Outlook. I made it a point not to have office mail on my phone but am always logged in my GMail. The Clock and 'Notes' features are very handy. The Notes feature is similar to Google's notebook that allows me to save random thoughts and reminders. Stocks and Weather apps on the home screen are very useful. I track my portfolio constantly using the Stocks App and have nearly a dozen cities tagged to the Weather Apps. I have a habbit of adding all cities that I visited or plan to visit to this Weather App. It is weird but nostalgic too.

iPhone as an Internet communicator is a decent pass. Safari is adequate in the sense it opens most of the commonly used sites with minimal fuss. I haven't tried any highly secure logins, but browsing, booking flights, catching cricket or tennis updates can be done in a trice. One needs to get used to the 'proxy' keypad. Youtube is a very abridged of its original self. Videos or not sortable, which sucks, but it is again a decent feature.

A third important asset that lets Apple dominate its competitors is iTunes. While iTunes has a proven track record, App Store which is bundled in iTunes barges Apple's success. The fact that App Store enables developers sell their apps to iPhone users is a win-win situation for developers and users. And in the heap, Apple takes 30% of the revenue generated by App sales. 70% proceeds to the developer. This turns out to be a great strategy by Apple which Microsoft and even Google to some extent are trying to mimic. Also, because the App Store fosters apps from independent developers and organizations alike, the ensuing competition to develop user-friendly and productive apps gets intense much to the liking of consumers like me. I have around 20 apps in my iPhone ranging from Google Earth to AroundMe, TWC, Jott, Who and a whole lot of games like iGolf, Chess, Sudoku, iBowl etc.

That iPhone has an embedded iPod is a huge gain in itself. And an iPod that can connect to the internet directly to download podcasts and songs is all the more beneficial. I am always hooked on various podcasts, Knowledge@Wharton is my personal favorite. Audio & video quality and transmission are extraordinary. I don't listen to songs much but that doesn't hamper me from having close to 100 songs on my device. Who cares when you have 8GB of space?

iPhone as a phone - I would rate it as standard. Nothing revolutionary but has everything that is necessary. I like the details included in Contacts information and the ability to have personalized ringtones and photographs to be displayed for callers but that is not exactly new. Call reception and other technical stuff are good.

As with any revoultionary device, iPhone also has its share of cons. Some are really striking. Some are subtle, but very frustrating. 'Copy and paste' is a hackneyed shortcoming of the phone but it stands out because of its impact. While iPhone offers email friendly apps where one can send docs or notes instantly through email, it is frustrating not to have copy and paste options. Another commonly stated drawback is the camera and its inability to record videos. For a device which outstandingly organizes audio and video files and has an amazing iPod embedded, the lack of ability to record videos or frame high resolution pics is dissapointing to many. I don't expect my iPhone to be a substitute to a camera or worse still, a camcorder. So, I have no qualms regarding this or rather lack of this feature.

Sometimes you feel it would be great if you have the ability to personalize ringtones and obviously without any fee. I am impressed with Apple's cognizance regarding web security et al. But, I don't think it needs to delve too deep and prohibit users from using ringtones outside of App Store. There were ways to trick iTunes and get other ringtones to iPhone, but the latest release of iTunes prevents this. It is just not enough to change file extensions to .m4r and drop it into iTunes library. Sooner or later, someone will find a way to trick the present version too but it would be great on Apple's part to leave the choice to users to personalize their ringtones. A prudent way would be have a pre-fixed number of personalized ringtones - atleast 3 or 4. Anyway, this isn't major either and I wouldn't worry about it much. There are some trivial drawbacks like lack of bluetooth stereo, lack of mms capability, no removable battery etc which, to me, aren't the break-the-deal type.

Overall, iPhone is a slick and trendy communication device with excellent iPod and is also a very efficient PDA. I have no issues with it and would highly recommend it. It has style and substance in equal proportions.

We, the people of India

We, the people of India, supposedly have the power to either make or break the nation. And of late, efforts to enforce the latter are surfacing more frequently than the former. In its sixty first year of independence, India is still struggling to stamp its authority on the global front. We are yet to make our mark in a number of fields and disciplines.

Do, we, the people of India, want our country to be considered as an 'emerging economy', 'a potential superpower' or worse still 'a country with its potential unrealized' for eternity?

Do, we, the people of India, want our country to be in eternal strife not with our neighbors or enemies but with its own people?

Do, we, the people of India, want our country to be looked down by its western counterparts for its poverty, illiterates and lack of development?

Any citizen who has an iota of gratitude towards our nation will have a negative answer to the above questions. But, is a negative answer adequate? Is feeling bad for an adverse situation enough to change its state? The answer is a big NO. Feeling bad for our nation is not sufficient for it to come out of dire straits it is currently in. And more than bombs or terrorists or anti-social elements destroying the country, it is us that are hurting our nation more by not acting. It is WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, who are and who should be responsible for our nation's undoing in ways more than one.

Why are some people so selfish? They place nation's pride and its development on the altar for personal and political gains. They need to come to power for their personal gains. And for them to come to power they need people's support. And for the support they need to stir people's sentiments. And that is exactly what they are doing. This syndrome is not specific to a state or region. It is rampant all over the nation - from Jammu & Kashmir through Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and all states between them.

If there is a political outfit fighting for Maharashtra Navnirman there is a similar one fighting for Telangana. Throw in the fight for Tamil's pride in Sri Lanka and the ageless Kashmir dispute and we have necessary fodder required to stir sentiments. And what does this vote-bank politics finally bring to the common man. Nothing. It is foolish to assume that leaders of these outfits are fighting just for that pride in attaining their state or status for their region/caste or whatever. The real reason is power. Ideally, with great power comes greater responsibility. But in India, with great power comes greater MONEY. And what else do our politicans need?

I am pretty sure these politicians have not read our constitution's preamble in the first place. Agreed, the Preamble does not bestow any rights to individual or entity. But it serves as a guiding tool for the interpretation of the Constitution in its entirity. And what fraction of the preamble are today's politicians adhering? 1%? How about 0.5%? Here is an excerpt from our preamble.

"to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all"

Justice, Liberty, Equality. Aren't these terms sounding odd and out of context? Don't they seem anachronous? They do and that is the state of our politics. When our constitution was drafted and the words 'WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA' were put together, it was meant to signify that power is ultimately vested in the hands of people of India. We, as a nation, cannot claim to have justice, liberty and equality now. Many things have changed over the last 61 years. Many political/religious and frantic outfits have been established. Running to power and Ruining the nation seems to be the 'IN' thing. Poor have become poorer and rich have become richer. The divide between rich and poor, educated and illiterate and ultimately good and bad has widened. But one thing hasn't changed.

One thing hasn't changed.

The power is still in the hands of WE, THE PEOPLE. All of the abovementioned banes like rich-poor divide, castesism, regional chauvinism etc have crept in because the power to lead nations and state was placed in unworthy hands. Political leaders are still trying to capitalize this and are targetting gullible PEOPLE. They are targetting sensitive issues that are region-based or caste-based. They are instigating animosity within communities that can be devastating. And these targets that they claim to achieve may bring about infinitesimal good together with abundant harm. And the worst part is that people are still falling to these baits.

'The power of One' is often understated. More often than not, we think a single person cannot bring about the required changes to the society. We think he can easily be suppressed and get his intentions overruled. Seldom do we think about a fact that if each and everyone of us stands up for a common cause or an objective we can achieve that objective effortlessly. And obviously this is not as easy at it sounds. For sure, it needs lot of wisdom and courage. And character. And if each of us understands his or her responsibility and is righteous in electing his or her leaders, that can change our politics. Here comes the bigger problem. Whom to choose? If all leaders are corrupt and all are equally bad then whom should you choose. Well, this is not a overnight process. To cleanse up an entire nation, it is definitely going to take a good number of years. Remember, Rome is not built in a day. My point is, if each of us feels responsible to the nation and shows our patriotism by not being corrupt and by not getting carried away by regional or caste-based feelings, we can contribute to our nation's well being. And then, slowly but certainly India will arise from the dumps it is currently in.

Justice, Liberty and Equality are common virtues found in developing countries. The point here is not to ape developing countries but to understand the fact that these three virtues play a vital role in a nation's development. And if India needs to get anywhere close to becoming a superpower, we need to get our basics right. And We, the people of India need to be aware that each of us play a crucial role in contributing to India's success.

Lehman Brothers Bankrupt - Why and how it happened.

As a prospective MBA student and one really keen on investment banking - Lehman Brothers is a big name to me. It is the same with many prospective and current MBA students across top B-Schools all over the world - IIMs, ISB, Wharton, Harvard and what not? A glimpse at Wharton's MBA placement statistics for 2007 shows that Lehman recruited 18 grads. It could be around the same number of students placed across other top B-Schools here in USA. And the doomsday came on 15th September. Lehman filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. This is what it posted on its website at midnight of the 14th.

"Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Announces It Intends to File Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Petition; No Other Lehman Brothers' U.S. Subsidiaries or Affiliates, Including Its Broker-Dealer and Investment Management Subsidiaries, Are Included in the Filing."

It is indeed a red letter day in USA's corporate history. A 158-year old company has filed for a bankruptcy and wrecked Wall Street and rattled the global finance system. Also rubbing salt to the finance industry's wound, is Merrill Lynch's demise (read as acquisition) by Bank of America. Two majors down on a day. But what actually happened at Lehman? This is my two cents on the issue.

"Know when to stop before you begin" goes the saying. Lehman got this messed up. Investment banking was always about high-stake bets and huge borrowings but it also demands high level of strategy. It is believed that Lehman borrowed too much money and invested it in 'very high' risk domains, namely real estate. Success in IB is proportional to the ability of that company to take risks. But there is thin line that separates risk from imprudence or over-confidence. More so when we speak of real-estate investments in this economy. Clearly Dick Fuld, Lehman's CEO got his priorities and numbers wrong. 

But as the credit crunch worsened, Lehman's leverage - borrowings relative to capital - continued to grow. This is in contrast to other major IBs. One instance of Lehman's miscalculated investment is its leveraged buyout of Archstone, a big apartment developer. Lehman paid $22.2 billion for this transaction (in partnership with Tishman Speyer) in Oct 2007. By then, real estate woes have already begun. But how prudent is that investment? Lehman's shares have lost 94% of their value since the beginning of this year due to its exposure to subprime debt crisis.

And on 15th of September came the bang. The filing shows that Lehman is closing its doors with more than $600 billion of debt. The bank has total debts of $613 billion against total assets of $639 billion. Its filing with the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York shows that Lehman had more than 100,000 creditors. The move into bankruptcy came after last-minute talks with Barclays PLC  and Bank of America faltered Sunday, leaving few options for the 158-year-old firm.

Many of us know that Lehman is actually a 14 year company with a 158-year name. That is because it was acquired by American Express in 1984 and spun-off in 1994 as a standalone company. Sadly, over the last week or so, Lehman was like a bug dying on your windscreen: you want to focus on the road but are compelled to watch the stricken insect’s last moments.

Good-bye Lehman.

A paradise called Ventura!

What was supposed to be a business trip turned out to be an immensely relieving and refreshing personal trip as well. My conference at in Ventura, CA gave us some wonderful moments to cherish and even better weather to relish. 

There are very few things that I am a captive of. Nature is foremost amongst them. And nature in any form of water – lakes, rivers, seas or oceans, enthralls me the most. My hotel was on the pacific coastline. My room overlooked Pacific Ocean. What more can I ask. I spent hours effortlessly watching the waves splash the coast. Whenever I had a break in my conference, I was back in my balcony watching nature at its best. 

For someone from Phoenix which has an average summer daytime temperature of 110F, 70F on the coastline is a dream come true. Throw in a resort-type atmosphere, a laid back but interesting conference and paid trip into the mix and the outcome is very satisfying. It is not an overstatement that this is the best personal trip I’ve had. I did not attend the casual dinners that were included by my conference sponsor. All the 4 days, I had my dinner out with my wife, after we spent hours on the beach sand. I could see the ocean meeting the sky at the end of horizon on all the three directions and it was a treat to watch.

 Sometimes, I tried preparing for the conference and the presentation that I was supposed to deliver  by sitting on the balcony deck that faces the ocean front and all that I ended up doing was watching the endless magical waves. I strongly recommend Ventura and its surroundings as a very good vacation spot. I see myself visiting Ventura often in the coming days, thanks to US Air.

Purchasing a Car.

My research into economics and efficiencies of various cars finally culminated on Aug 15, 2008 and I chose Honda Civic LX Sedan amongst nearly a dozen similar cars. Though it is slightly more expensive than the nearest rival, Toyota Corolla, Civic's more urbane interior more specifically its digital dashboard tilted my decision in going for the Civic. People like me who find it tough to keep an eye on speed will love this feature. Speaking of my speed, incidentally I happened to cruise at 40 mph in a 15 mph school zone in my DMV driving license test. Luckily, I got my license on that day with a minor warning as other aspects of my driving that day were perfect.

Coming back to the dashboard, I love the digital speedometer that helps me keep track of my speed continuously. I strongly recommend a Civic for someone who has a similar problem. Moreover it is highly fuel efficient with 25/36 mpg, a boon in this economy. Another very good feature in Civic is its overall handling. The car is compact yet spacious and easy to drive. Throw in Honda's historical resale value and high security standards and you can get the best bang for your buck. Initially I had concerns over Civic's style but as I saw it as a prospective car of mine and delved a bit further into its details, I started to like the styling. For a comprehensive review (US News) on Honda Civic click here.

Toyota Corolla isn't far behind though. 2009 version is far stylized than its predecessor. In fuel economy it has the best figures in the segment with 26/35 with many consumers reporting 27-28 in city. Corolla doesn't seem to have any significant cons but has most of the features on a basic level. For someone who isn't concerned about styling/handling as much as fuel economy Corolla is apt. Corolla is overshadowed by its sibling Prius, which is way more fuel efficient albeit lacking in power. US News' review on Corolla can be found here.

I also compiled a list of vital stats of compact cars and it can be accessed here. I spent nearly a month in finalizing my choice. Test driving the cars that I short-listed was the crucial factor that enabled me take a decision. My order of factors in determining the car to purchase were suitability (through test driving), price, fuel economy and security. I hope you find this helpful to decide the car of your choice.