ADIOS 2008

This year, like any other, has been one hell of a treat for all us gadget and technology freaks. Why do I call myself a tech freak? Well, I am among those who look out for new technology every year, and by December say “hey you know what, we should have just waited a while and bought it cheaper”.

2008, too, had its share of things that revolutionised technology and changed the way we made our choices. Here’s an attempt to revisit all the movers and shakers of the year.

The most awaited launch this year was the iPhone 3G, with operators waiting for the clock to strike 12 to sell the first unit which promised high-speed Internet on your phone. We also waited eagerly for 3G services which were supposed to bring the high-speeds to the iPhone, but by the time MTNL launched its services it was mid-December and that too was restricted to a few customers, who are unsure of what they would have to pay for the G force.

There was some other mobile news too. Hutch became Vodafone, Virgin joined hands with Tata to become the first company to pay you for all incoming calls, and Airtel launched more and more services. The fight for 3G licences is still on, and soon we should get to see one of the big players finally giving you a full-fledged service.

Till then, the iPhone is just another iPod you can use to make some calls. At the price it is being sold at and with 3G still beyond us, the Jesus phone has been confined to being every yuppy’s dream, maybe also a conversation starter at parties, but is yet to become a phone that flies off the shelves.

2008 was also the year of the Netbook. These new age laptops make sense, as they are cheaper than regular notebooks, and are also green, using lesser energy to produce, ship and run. Since most of us use laptops only to browse the Internet, document management tasks, e-mails and chat, we really don’t need the fastest computers on earth that can calculate a trillion bits of information in a second, at least not all of us.

I bought the Acer Aspire One from among a choice of Dell, MSI, Asus and HP. I also found a lot of other users switching to these machines, which not only offer great battery time and ultra portability, but are ideal for the daily grind. No wonder, market leaders Asus and Acer together managed to sell 10 million of these tiny laptops in 2008. For me it has been a good investment. Though I bought it as a second machine, it makes good sense even as your primary laptop.

2009 is at our doorstep, but the debate between Plasma and LCD TVs is still on. Back in the old days it was a simple choice between colour and black and white, plus size, all defined by budgets. Today, when everything can be bought on EMI, having the biggest TV, Plasma or LCD has just made life a bit more complicated. I personally am very happy with my standard television and don’t really want to shift to an LCD. For one, the wide format (16:9) is only good if you are watching DVD, the regular TV feeds look awkward on this format. HD should be here in a few years, but not right now, unless you plan to watch a whole lot of HD content by buying a Blu-ray player.

The Plasma vs LCD war should also be over soon. With the price difference diminishing, one should win over the other and become the standard. Till then, I am also a spectator.

The list can go on, but I will bid farewell to 2008 with this, and wishes for a great new year ahead. See you in 2009.

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The above article appeared in the Indian Express, dated Sunday 28th December 2008

Time for Teamwork - On the Lean

Three solutions to share knowledge, virtually
THE corporate world has a lot of knowledge, but hardly any knowledge centres, and hence all this knowledge seems to be residing among individuals instead of organisations. This week I will show you some solutions that will let you share knowledge, interact, collaborate and work with distributed teams on common goals, all this without spending much money.

We will always be able to email presentations, documents and spreadsheets to colleagues and clients, but we will always end up asking for more. This is where tools like Zoho office (www.zoho.com) and Google docs (docs.google.com) come in. Both are effective when it comes to working with teams, but they still fall short of our requirements.

Both are great to share Word documents and to work on them together, but are unable to do the same while sharing an Excel sheet or making a guided presentation to multiple people. In my search for a solution to this problem, I came across three websites.

If you want to share a spreadsheet or work on graphs without having to install anything on your PC, then head for editgrid.com, open a free account, look at some standard templates and spreadsheets others have made, and start. You can send an invite to multiple people who can log on to slide-share and work with you live or otherwise on the same spreadsheet. You can do this from any PC, and so there is no need to carry all those files with you. The website has a paid version for enterprises that look at data security and support.

If you are familiar with modern day organisations, you would have come across a term called Webex (now a Cisco company). Webex allows you to share any application, do presentations remotely and work together as a team, but at a price of 33 cents per minute— sadly, meetings end up costing quite a packet. Now you have an option. Dimdim.com offers the same features for free. Though their $99 per year version offers higher speeds, it also has a free version which is sufficient if you audience is small—about 10 to 15 people—and you want to limit interactions to text or voice chat. You can also do video conferencing, though this feature is not very stable as of now.

We all need to send screenshots, whether it is for support on an application or getting advice, and the Print Screen button on your keyboard can’t always do the trick. Jingproject.com from Techsmith, the leaders in professional screen capture solutions, allows you to take screenshots—pictures or video—and annotate them using text, arrows, lines, boxes and highlights in multiple colours, all for free.
So go ahead, share that knowledge.

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The above article appeared in the Indian Express on Sunday, 21st December 2008

New year, New Tech - Tech Trends 2009 as per Me

It is the end of the year, the time for so-called Gadget Gurus like me to tell our readers what to look forward to and what to buy in the new year. Here is my take on how techworld would look like in 2009.

BIG SCREENS: There was a time when we thought a 21” television was the ultimate in home entertainment, a time when a 14” portable TV was considered cool for they saved space, a time when most conversation revolved around the colour TV in the drawing room. Then size took over. Bada hai toh behtar hai replaced everything else. From 25, 29, 32 to 70 inches, we were all spending on the bigger TVs, at times dishing out more than you would on a 1-bedroom flat to acquire a rather large screen. My first prediction for 2009 is that bigger will become cheaper and you will see 40” screens going for as low as Rs 30,000. The obscenely big 52” screen could also come within your grasp. So whether it is playing games on the latest console or cutting costs by watching DVD movies, in 2009 the big TV will be the next big thing.

PVRs: No, I am not talking of Mr Bijli’s chain of cinemas, but personal video recorders. Things have already started moving in 2008. Though Zee has been talking of it for a couple of years now, Tata Sky took the leap with its Plus model. Though still in its infancy, Tata Sky Plus has taken PVRs to Indian homes, and to people who have always dreamt of owning a Tivo Box some day. Anil Gupte of K.E.E.N Inc, has been developing a digital recorder out of his Pune office, and you should soon see every major player jump onto it. Soon, it would be like the good old days of the VCR, though this time around the magnetic tape would be replaced by a Hard Disk, making it a personal video recorder. Though the prices of recorders are not fully unjustified, in 2009 we should see them become cheaper. There are already about five major players in the market, and with more joining the fray it’s only going to get better for the buyer.

PERSONAL ASSISTANTS: Cellphones are becoming smaller and lighter by the day and can already do much more than what they were originally designed for. Our greed for the lightest and the latest has always led us to cellphones which claim to be user-friendly but end up as being a pain to use. But with time the cellphone has also become the assistant that we all yearned for, making us reachable on voice, e-mail and text, making sure our contacts and calendars are synchronised, and that we are up to date with what is happening around the world. Though most new age phones come with browsers, the next level would be automated concierge services, what I would call personal assistants. A few start-ups are already on the job, creating applications like Around Me on the iPhone that tell you what cultural events are happening in town, how to get tickets for them, or suggesting a place to go out for dinner. The technology will let you manage your vacation, business, office, work and even leisure, all intelligently. If you have a larger task to do, you could always place a call to a service provider which will do it on demand. These services could be available in India by next year.

BLU-RAY DVD PLAYERS: The glass wall has finally been broken and Blu-rays have started appearing in India, though at costs which will make you think twice, even thrice. Moreover, not many movies are available on Blu-ray. But, in 2009, we are likely to see DVD’s enter the lower end of the market with players having built-in upscalers. More and more content will soon be available on Blu-ray discs, and yes, you should also see Blu-ray movies available at your movie rental shop.

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The Above article appeared in the Indian Express dated 21st December 2008.

Hands-free freedom - Review Jabra SP 700

At last, a device that lets you talk and drive the safe way
NO, I am not in favour of anyone using the phone while driving, but then at times you just need to. There are a lot of Bluetooth options, which let you do this safely, but then, some people don’t really like a device plugged into their ear, and most Bluetooth hands-free speakerphones are just not worth their salt.

The other day, my Jabra SP 5050 speakerphone died on me. It was about three years old, irreparable and out of warranty. So, I got in touch with Faxtel India, the local distributors, and was told that they would be coming out with an SP 700 model in early November and I should wait for it. Last week, the wait ended and I finally got my new car speakerphone kit.
So what is so nice about the gadget that I decide to write a review?

My earlier Jabra was great, but it had its share of problems:
The battery time was less than two hours, so I had to keep it plugged into my car charger.
Power on and Power off were lengthy processes—at times when you were actually trying to switch off the hands-free, you ended up dialling a number.
In case you left the car with your speakerphone on, it used to stay on till the battery ran out. So at times my calls would be ringing inside the car, while I was in my bedroom.

So what makes the SP700 better?

Well the unit is small, beautiful and all black. The speaker and microphone are integrated— the earlier model had a separate microphone, which made more sense as it could be turned around for better reception. The new one will only listen to the person in front, and that is also good in many ways.

It can now play music over Bluetooth. But, why would you want to do that in the car which already has a stereo. Well, with all the music phones around, it is better to have options. Moreover, the speakerphone can even link to the car stereo using the FM transmitter. When a call comes in, the music actually goes off on its own. All you have to do is press the answer button on your hands-free.

The new Jabra also gives great voice quality and an extended battery life of about eight hours. It even announces the number you are getting the call from, though most often you don’t remember any phone number. It is still a cool feature.

I also loved the voice prompt feature. The moment you get into your car, and press the power on button, it connects to your phone and says “connected”. Similarly, when you power it down, it says “power off”.
The coolest feature, however, is the auto detect, which uses advanced acoustics to detect if you are in the car or not and switches off the device in less than two minutes, thus saving battery time, and making sure your phone is disconnected when you exit the car.

Though the listed price is Rs 5,499, I picked it up for Rs 4,999. I believe the device is available for as low as Rs 4,500. So think about it, do you want to keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel, or hold a phone and put yourself and others in danger.

For more information visit Jabra Website

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The above article appeared in the Indian Express on 7th December 2008