Arnav's Musings

Hyundai Ioniq 5 When you hear the words "electric vehicle", or the abbreviation EV, which car comes to mind first? I'm sure most of you think about a Tesla. Some of you might mention a car made by one of the Germans (Audi, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, or Volkswagen). And if you live in India, it could even be a car from Tata Motors. But did you know the car that won the coveted 2022 World Car of the Year award was not from any of these brands? It was the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which was also named the World Car Design of the Year and World Electric Vehicle of the Year. Let's understand how this South Korean automobile company managed to beat everyone else and become the first carmaker to win these three awards in the same year. Hyundai first showcased the Ioniq 5 as the 45 Concept in September 2019 and it instantly captured everyone's attention for its retro yet futuristic styling. The concept also paid homage to the Hyundai Pony , South Korea's first mass-market ca...

  The 6.1" iPhone 14 and 6.7" iPhone 14 Plus were launched on September 7, 2022 2022 has been a rather unusual year for Apple, with its best-selling product - the iPhone - getting the least possible annual update. The iPhone 14 is, in many ways, an iPhone 13 S. However, Apple hasn't used the "S" moniker since 2018 (so, maybe that was its "end of the line"?). In terms of technical specifications, there isn't much that differentiates the iPhone 14 from the iPhone 13 (and yes, I'll come to the iPhone 14 Plus soon). Both phones share the same exterior design (including the 6.1" screen), same internals (including the A15 Bionic chip), and only differ in price by just $100. They also have slight differences in their main cameras, but it's something I doubt even those with the keenest eye for detail will hardly notice. Also, Emergency SOS and Crash Detection are not features I'd expect a new phone to tout (given that most new "connec...

The new iPhone SE (2020) While the Coronavirus pandemic (aka COVID-19) has stopped us in our tracks and forced most of the world to retreat to the safety of their homes, technology companies continue to launch new products to entice their customers to upgrade from older devices. One such company is Apple Inc., which launched a brand new iPhone this month. The 2020 version of the iPhone SE (Special Edition) might not look like a "new" phone to the uninitiated, but it is being billed by reviewers as the most important smartphone launch of the year. Some of them are even bestowing this device with lofty titles such as "Best Budget Smartphone of 2020". Under normal circumstances, this would not attract much attention (except maybe at the lower end of the market). But then again, the situation we are currently in is as far removed from "normal" as possible and many people looking for a cheap new smartphone may be swayed into considering or even buyin...

Quirky (adjective: characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits) Happy new year everyone! The last two years have been quite busy as I graduated from the MBA program at Schulich School of Business, found my first job in Canada at Ceridian, and finally a new home in York Mills, Toronto. It has been a wonderful learning experience during the 1.5 years that I've spent as a Specialist in Competitive and Market Intelligence. I'm interested to see what this year has in store for me, and hope you are as excited as I am about what I believe will be a wonderful decade ahead. I'm now bringing my blog out of a long, but self-imposed, hiatus. I will try and stick to my plan of writing one blog article every month in 2020. As always, these articles will focus on anything that comes to my mind, and could be inspired by current events, technology trends, daily observations, etc. For February 2020, I've chosen a topic that will surely make you sit up and think. Below is a li...

Electric vehicles have become the buzzword in the automotive world these days. I was amazed to see the huge crowds around two of the newest "environment-friendly" cars, the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model 3, which were on display at the Canadian International Auto Show that I attended in February 2018. However, one question that I have always pondered over is "Are Electric Vehicles really as clean as they are portrayed to be?" Img. 1: The 2018 Nissan Leaf Img. 2: The Tesla Model 3 An electric vehicle (or EV) is a vehicle that does not have a conventional internal combustion engine but is instead driven by one or more electric motors. The motors are typically powered by lithium-ion batteries that are similar to the ones found in our smartphones and laptops. These batteries can also be recharged by plugging the vehicle into a conventional wall charger or through the use of specially designed fast charging outlets. This is the premise that automobile manufa...

The beautifully-made iPhone X advert, with a very catchy song (Best Friend, by Sofi Tukker) Every year at the onset of fall in North America, people are anxious to see the change in the colours of foliage around them. And having been introduced to the new version of the iOS mobile operating system at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) during the summer, people around the world are waiting with bated breath for the arrival of the new iPhones. This year, everyone was a little more excited than usual. It was the tenth anniversary of the iPhone, a device that has revolutionized the way we interact with our digital world and forever transformed how we communicate with each other. Analysts rumoured that Apple would launch a brand new device that would herald the future of the smartphone, while speculators began to fervently render images and create concepts of what this device might look like. Apple finally released new iPhones on September 12, 2017 during the fir...

The sudden focus on sexual harassment at the workplace in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal made me ponder, "Why do men in positions of power misuse their authority?" The incident reminded me of the famous quote by John-Dalberg Acton which goes something like this:" Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are, almost always, bad men." The countless other examples that have since tumbled out of the closet from the entertainment and media industries illustrate that this is a widespread trend that has been going on for many years. While the culprits always claim that it was consensual and the victim was aware of the implications, it is often the victim's gullibility and desire to be successful that these powerful men so casually prey upon. This happens primarily due to the perpetrator's "too big to fail" mindset. A person in a position of power believes that he is licensed to impose his will on other...