Sub 800$ Laptop Options (India)

The world over there was a trend of getting the PC to come under a 1000$ and then to a PC under 500$, today MIT Labs is talking of a 100$ Laptop, India is still fighting with a pricing that is not consumer sensitive. The primary reason you think maybe the exchange rates, but the duty on the import of these devices adds up to another bulk (Since there are no indian manufacturers at small scale that maybe hampered, duty on imports of Laptops / Notebook computers etc should be abolished or brought to minimum), anyway.

This week in my Indian Express / Express Money article, I look at the sub Rs. 40,000 laptops available in India, from IBM, Compaq, Toshiba and Acer, and choose the winner out of them.

Want to read my verdict, catch it in Print with Indian Express on Monday, 28th November 2005, or click here to read it online.

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iPod G6....G7...G8... what more :)

Breaking News !!! STEVE JOBS, my fav guy for today (well I wrote about him in my Indian Express column also today), anyway he just came out with a New iPod, the iPod Micro, the iPod Pequeno, and the iPod Invisa. Don't believe me, check out the movie from the TV Release. To download the movie, right click this link and select save target as, and watch it.. enjoy.

I think by the time you watch this, Steve Jobs will be out announcing another version.. anyway..

Movie courtsey Saturday Night Live. Full Article on Mac Mischief.

Just Kidding

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FM Transmiter for your DAP

My Ed at Indian Express always says, talk in terms that people understand and not in acronyms that only you geeks know, so to fill you in DAP = Digital Audio Player, more commonly known as MP3 Players.

Was the iTrip the primary reason for you to buy an iPod over others. What is an iTrip, it is a device that let's you transmit your music collection from your iPod to your car stereo wirelessly, so that you can enjoy your music while driving, I know of a lot of people who bought the iPod cos iTrip was available.

Well for those of you mortal souls, Logitec of Japan has taken out car ciggarette lighter charged FM Transmitters, that can work with any Digital Audio Player, Ahem, MP3 Players, that have an earphone plug.

Please note, this is not Logitech the popular company, but Logitec in Japan.

Enjoy.. PS: I hope Gizmodo does not run after me, the last three articles, are all reference Gizmodo.

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Something truly for me !

For those of you who know me personally and know how scared I am of water and swimming, well you know why I said this is for me. Back in 2001 for our annual office picnic, we had all gone downhill at Sona (near Gurgaon) in an inflatable ball at someone's farm. The ride was 50 bucks at that time per person, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all the staff including me, I ever since have had my eye on one of these.

Today I saw this on Gizmodo and found it worth a mention, this ball currently only available in Australia, can make you walk on water, or roll on water, so you could wear your business suit, and cross the river, without even getting wet.. now what do we do about claustrophobic people.

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The Perfect Christmas Tree for Xmas 2005

Ever since the first USB connected appliance came out and people realised that they could draw power from the USB port without damaging the internals of the PC, there was a spate of things you could do, from charging your cellphone, to a USB light for your laptop, to USB nail dryers and what not. But what I just saw on Gizmodo, I think this is one of the finest gadgets to hit USB for a very long time.

A USB powered Christmas tree, which lights up, blows styrofoam snow around and plays 4 popular Christmas songs, amazing right.

Out in US Stores this christmas. (Santa, send me one)

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Video ga ga...the video was new

The iPod video has caught up like wild fire with every gadget freak and the social circle on page 3, wherever you go, everyone is talking about it. Especially the world has made finally accepted Steve Jobs as the best man in town.

So what makes the iPod video a great deal, when you have things like Creative Zen Vision and the Archos PVR available, why and how the Apple story continues.

Read my article in print with the Indian Express this monday on 21st November 2005 in Express money, or click here to read the online version.

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India is Finally Shining !

First it was the spate of Miss Worlds and then the campaign by BJP about India Shining, well India is finally shining. If you have seen the recent ads' on television by British Airways about "The world is waiting for India", to last nights interview of Virgin boss, Richard Branson on CNBC about his upcoming investments in India, well you are missing out on what is the India factor at this time.

Good news for the average Indian is the fact that technology companies are now looking at India, and Indianization. From Open Office coming out in Hindi and Punjabi, the Microsoft Bhasha project and then Opera in Punjabi, and now the Nokia 1110, and 1600 series of phones with talking alarm clocks in Hindi, Tamil, Gujrati, Marathi and Bengali, it is time to wake up.. Jago India Jago.

Two great phones, good features and good prices, something I think I shall buy for the cute alarm clock that says, "samay hai, chey bajkar paanch minute".. Jago.

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Return of the chics!

 

No I did not mis-spell the word chicks, and I am no where talking of women, though that is one of my fav topics, but hey.. this is serious stuff.

Chics (the Bamboo blinds) have caught on the rage in the upper middle class homes as the in thing for window blinds, in place of curtains. With the new variants of block printed, color coordinated these do make your home look good, for a long time I had these hanging in my office as well, but then I went overboard, and got mauve colored curtains in place.

My last browsing session to inhabitat (for those of you reading my blog for the nth time, know that I like this site quite a bit), I saw a very functional and practical design, called the Re:Form Energy Curtain.

What is interesting about this is that the Energy Curtain is a window shade woven with solar-collecting and light-emitting materials that store sunlight during the day and emit it at night.

Interested, read more at Inhabitat

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Can Someone do something about this !

I hate it when companies use pretty, smiling models for a thing that causes hurt to people and business around. Airtel has done the cheap story again, back in 2002, when Airtel launched their private telephone service under the name of Touchtel, the numbers were 7 digits, and started with 8, then the government decided, that the number regime had to change, so we all changed our numbers to an 8 digit regime, and the numbers started with 5 for Airtel, 5 for Tata, 3 for Reliance and 2 for MTNL / BSNL. Now for what reason did the DOT or so called providers accept 5 for both Airtel and Tata I am not sure, It was bound to happen (either they assumed one of them will buy out the other, or one will run away from the service), but we were in for a shock that the numbers would run short.

Any person who know's number schemes could have told them that the maximum number of customers they could have with 51 as starting code (as 51 is delhi, 50 is haryana etc), was 99,9999 and they would run short of it.

Well a recent announcement has made me sit and really scream now they are planning to change numbers for airtel to start with 4. That means new set of stationery for the office, informing everyone that your numbers have changed, and a new set of numbers to remember.. sad... very sad.. can someone do something about it.

Atleast my friends at Airtel, please remove those smiley faces from your website, there is nothing to smile about here.

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The Desi Jugaad :)

I drop my phone one too many a time, and with my sad ending of the Nokia 6600 (I think one of the most expensive phones I personally picked up in recent times), I dont' want to spend a lot of money on cellphones, sure the new variants look interesting and smart, but I am happy with my basic Candy bar phone that can give me speakerphone, gprs, and bluetooth capabilities.

Similar thoughts have evoked from the Geek community about the so called buy me gadgets, but priced high, much beyond a geeks' dreams :).. An Indian Friend (this is only from the name that I can tell you), called Suraj Patel is trying to make his own cellphone, how practical, I can't say.. but definately jugaad

Read more here.

Now, should you be inspired to make one for yourself, send me a mail.. let's see what comes out of it :)

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Screen them Right !

With the prices of LCD monitors falling day by day and the manufacturers offering more and more variants, with features so many, opting for a TFT / LCD monitor with your computer is now the in thing. But are all the monitors same, do they match up, or is there a difference that you should notice.

Which one leads, and how, to read more click here, or catch my Article Screen them Right in the Indian Express on Monday November 14, 2005 in Express Money.

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It's Black, red, and has the monogram of a Ferari, but it is not a car !

Acer and it's new obsession ferari, in a new avtaar, yes an Acer LCD Monitor, so what if it's not a car, it still is a ferrari. This limited edition Acer Branded Ferrari LCD monitors, available in 19 and 20inch screen sizes, have a high contrast ratio of 500:1 (19"), 800:1 (20") and include stereo speakers.

These monitors mimic the Ferrari design, and the red and black and the yellow monogram make it an awsome sexy looking display. The limited edition makes sure your table always has everyone's attention. From what i hear these will be priced at about 800$ and Acer shall release only about a 1000 of these babies. (If they get them to India, call me)

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Philips LED Lighting !

I can remember from as long as I was a kid, I have always been fascinated with the LED Lights, the moment I saw one, from my first few electronics tinkering projects, to make an LED Glow, then make it blink to what not, I believe I must have spent an enormous amount of time and money to make LED based projects.

Today LED's are not what they used to be, well they actually are, but the applications are changing. About 6 years or so back, when I saw the first LED Light based cluster I was amazed to the possibilities that existed.

If I am boring you with tech, let me get back to the subject, the pictures above are again from the Philips Sense and Simplicity theme, this is a light wall with LED Lights, that can be turned around and they change colors, yes they do.

I dont' know when they come out, or when I will be able to lay my hands on a bundle of these, but this has gotten me interested.

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Plants for a Geek !

Go Ahead, what are you waiting for, yes, it won't hurt.. yes go on now click the picture.. still wondering what are plants doing on a geek's website, well well..

Philips, yes the company that makes so many things (have you lately seen that they are even advertisimg MRI machines on TV, now do doctors buy machines looking at TV Ads ?), anyway.. as a part of their on going campaign of "Sense and Simplicity", have devoted quite a bit of time and money in making our lives easier. (I like that)

The "Herbarium" that makes growing herbs as easy as making a cup of coffee, even for people like me who do not have green fingers.

These are a self contained unit, solar powered, creating a micro climate for the plant pads (yes pads), that contain everything that these herbs need to grow with. The plant growth is monitored electronically and the Herbarium ensures proper growth conditions.

Did you notice the small lights, that read sage, basil and thyme, well this is because once the plant pads are "planted", the herb name is illuminated on the rim, so you dont' mistake sage for basil :)

Now this is really really interesting

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Nokia Does it again ! N80

I am a big fan of this finnish company, I prefer using their cellphones over anybody else. Having washed my hands on a Samsung, Ericsson, Sony, Motorola and a number of Nokia's I think I was made for Nokia, or they were made for me. The announcement this week from them made me get up and take notice (once again).

Nokia announced, the first UPnP enabled (Universal Plug and Play) smartphone. Announced side by side to the N80 is the N92 (TV Smartphone), and a Multimedia Oriented N71.

What is interesting in the N80 ?

At a paltry weight of 138 gms, and a footprint the size of a credit card, this is the first smartphone from nokia, that has 3G and Quad Band support, also throwing in EDGE for high speed data transfers for non 3G networks.

The UPnP support will allow the media (images, videos, songs) stored on the phone to be accessible via a media extender connected with your TV in your living room, without the need of any addons.

The N80 (also the N71, and N92), support the new Nokia browser with mini map, providing a semi transparent zoomed out overall view of the web pages.

The N80has a 3 Megapixel camera which outperforms that of the N90 by a full Megapixel. The N80 may not have the Carl Zeiss lens and autofocus of the N90, yet is able to record stills as well as video at CIF resolution, storing content either to the 40 MB of non-volatile onboard memory or miniSD memory expansion cards which can be had in capacities of up to 2 GB at the time of writing.

Also benefiting from miniSD cards is the music player of the N80, which supports MP3 and WMA formats as well as AAC. Rounding out the feature list is a stereo FM radio with Nokia's Visual Radio client present, as well as USB 2.0 for high-speed wired data transfers and the presence of a front-mounted 0.3 MP camera to enable video calls.

And if you are wondering, yes the phone has Wifi access. It is slated for a launch in the first quarter of 2006, and may be priced around 500 Euros.

via [Infosyncworld]

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Web Browser !

Well yes there is a browser war happening, with Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla all going free why not.. this will happen, but I am talking of another Web browser. For those of you who liked the concept of the Nokia Webpad, I bring you another innovation, the Pepper Pad. Well what is it ?

Right in time for the christmas, priced all of US$889 (well why could they not make it 900 or 800 ?), weighing in at just 2.3 lbs, it's a pad that can do almost all that you want, including, surf the web, email, IM, download, store and play music, also organise it, edit store and share pictures, watch videos, maybe keep a journal, edit your blog, or control your TV.

It has it's own mozilla based browser, a spyware resistant email client, and an AOL compatible IM client.

Running on the Intel XScale PXA270 (624 Mhz) processor, with 20 GB of hard Disk space, it connects wirelessly to your home network, and runs on Two rechargeable lithium batteries offering hours of use.

Now this is something that I want this christmas :)

Want more info, click here.
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Play it Right !

Choosing a DVD Player is no more a big thing than spending how much you like. From the arcane days when DVD's were just about starting to replace LD players (Laser Disks for those of you who are new to these buzzwords), they used to cost a bomb.

Today a player is available at your chosen price, from either a Chinese OEM, or a Branded Manufacturer with Warranty and everything. And they are loaded with features, well too many compared to what the original boxes shipped with. Anyway.

Here is my take in choosing and helping you find your best player, also looking at the winner in the segment of entry level branded DVD players in India. Want more info on it,

Catch it with the Indian Express, in Supplement Express Money on Monday the 7th of November 2005, or click here to read the online version.

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