What Size AC Do I need ?

For those of you, logging on to my site after my radio show on Radio Mirchi, this is the Reference table to size an AC for you.

Though I am not the best expert in sizing an AC, but these general guidelines will help you establish what is the best size of the Air Conditioner for you. What I mean by the Directions below are if you have a wall with a Window on this specific side, since our Rooms are designed in a manner to be open to sunlight from two directions at the maximum and one at the least, from general Indian Architecture designs, one should use the following table only for reference. For best results, always speak to the company selling you the AC, to help you size it better, remember there is no turning back.

Tonnage	South	East	West	North
0.8 / 1 Tonne	100 - 150 Sq. Ft.	150 - 175 Sq. Ft	175 - 180 Sq. Ft.	180 - 200 Sq. Ft.
1.5 Tonne	150 - 200 Sq. Ft.	175 - 220 Sq. Ft	200 - 250 Sq. Ft.	230 - 300 Sq. Ft.
2 Tonne	180 - 250 Sq. Ft.	200 - 300 Sq. Ft	275 - 350 Sq. Ft.	320 - 400 Sq. Ft.

Now Follow the above rule if you have a larger room, put two ac's. When ever putting Two Ac's, always put them of the same size and at two ends of the room, and not one on top of the other. Also if you have an exposed room, then increase tonnage and or decrease room size by 20% to use the above calculations.

G

3 Websites to Help you Save Money

While regular browsing on the Internet, sometimes you come across sites that make you sit up and realise, wow, this can really help me save some time and money, and you keep a record of them. Though the Internet is evolving and newer things come by fast enough to change the older options, but these three websites, have caught my attention for a long time.

1. Zoomtra.com
2. JahJah.com
3. Coghead.com

Read my take on the three websites in Express Money, with the Indian Express on Monday 30th April 2007, or click here to read it online.

GS

beinSync File online and Storage Marry in the Buffalo Web Access

There have been many a times, I realised I wanted a file on my local area network but I did not get it with me for the presentation / friendly visit etc.. and the only possible way of doing this till a few years back was to call someone at the office, and have them email it to me, then came along remote access software like Logmein that allowed you to access your windows PC from anywhere for free, but your PC had to be on, and then Ifound about BeInsync.

Till the time I was a Windows User (Now I am on linux for quite some time), I was using BeinSync to synchronise two desktops in the office, and used it's feature for web enabling my files, so that I could get the file whereever I was, the recent news on Gizmodo made me sit up and look at this box from Buffalo, though not sure if they are using BeinSync or whatever tool, but this is a great buy for all you high speed DSL home users, now access your files from anywhere..

G

My Childhood Dream Come True - A Gear knob with LED's

When I was about 18, and learning to Drive, the kind of Cars Available in India (Other Than the good old Maruti 800 were the old daddy Fiats and Ambasaddors, and they had the worst possible Gear Shifts you could have seen. Thank God to Floor Gear Shifts, that I learnt how to drive, I was never able to manage the ones built into the steering. Anyway, I always had a feeling, that the Gear knob should be backlit, and there should be a Light telling you which gear you were in, I was always dumb to know which Gear I was in. A lot of ridicule down the line, I forgot about my dream, till now, when I hit upon the IndyCator shift knobs website, and hey, My Dream is true, just about when I was thinking of moving on to an Automatic.. Well 169$ in the US, don't know when it will be here in India, but it is on my wishlist, for any one who wants to know what to get for me from the US :)

I am drooling..

G

Google Maps - India also working, but not as detailed

A day or so back, I wrote about the Yahoo Maps India site being available. I thought why not take the google Maps India for a try out, and it worked. Above is a snapshot of the Same area as below, the Moolchand Flyover / Underpass (both the satellite images, don't show the Underpass which was opened this October 2006), but there are more markings on the Map on Yahoo, maybe because it is being sourced locally, while Google is depending on some other company. But a noteable fact is, that the clarity on google maps and the zoom level is much higher.

Love to wait and watch how they will evolve.

GS

OLPC @ US$ 175 a Piece

About this time, last year, I had written about the OLPC Project from Nick Negroponte. A news announcment today saying that the OLPC will now cost US$ 175 and not 100 put the whole project back into mainstream news. The price of 100 or 175, are both reachable prices to give IT to the masses, though the decision of now running Windows on the OLPC may not be such a great idea, maybe the announcement from M$ about 3$ a copy of Windows Starter + Student Office 2007 has something to do with this.

But it is still over all a good news, the only sad factor

New Laptop = 600$
Second Hand Used Laptop = 250 $
OLPC 175 $

I don't think we are making a lot of sense, the price of US$ 100 was a great attractive option to have this penetrate into real need locations.

GS

Broadband in India will be Free - Is it really True ?

A few days back, I wrote about the pathetic condition of Connectivity in India. The Recent news in Economic Times about India Broadband being free, and speeds upto 2 MBPS (God knows how this would happen), but if it were to happen, India Data Center Business is out for a Toss, if each home would be able to download at speeds in excess of 1 mbps and data centers not able to buy cheap bandwidth, there would be congestions. I think the government seriouslly needs to look at controlling Bandwidth Aggregation Prices, and Bandwidth Retail prices. Why not have similar Exchanges like Nixi, maybe privately run ? Any VC's out there.

GS

Finally, Good Street Maps for India

I have been an avid user of the Google earth for about 2 - 3 years now, and I have used it to perfect my ways around Delhi and also to plan trips when I have travelled across India. The Portal Map My India, when it came out, became one of the trusted map sites that I would look at before I would leave town for another city, but the search in Map My India was not as good. The Recent announcement of Yahoo India Our City made me sit up and reivew it again, the Search is finally working, the streets are well marked, and the images are clear, sadly the preview box is small for a hybrid image. I think we are not far, when all this information will be mapped into Google Earth to get a full screen view.

Brilliant.

G

3 Money Saving Websites

New Portals come every now and then, and then they get Funded by VC's, make some money and disappear, but some of the Portals that I think will stay here in the future and actually help make people save money and be the next big thing, are detailed in my article in the Express Money, on Monday 23rd April 2007, with the Indian Express, Nationwide. If you missed the print copy, you can read it here.

Websites listed

• Zoomtra


• Coghead


• Jajah

G

Is Vista the ME2 - Well A lot of people think so

I am asked by quite a few of my colleagues, on why I took a decision to move to Linux. Being a company that is a Partner of Microsoft, as well as supports Microsoft Technologies at the Customer end, I myself prefer to use a Linux Desktop, well I wanted to get out of the rat race of upgrades, new versions, better improved free gift inside stories that large software companies were putting us through.

A few days back in a discussion with a customer, and a close friend, I told him that the move to Vista was not really a wise one on the corporate level, though he disagreed, but I generally think that each time MS put's out a new version of it's OS, one should wait and watch.

Dell, the culprit in moving our friend to Vista, has now gone back to selling Windows XP again. I remember the day Windows XP came out, and people started upgrading to XP from 98, we faced similar delima's, the problem with Drivers, networks not working, issues related to user training, and we see it again.

My Question, is this another Windows-ME, think about it !

GS

TRAI Announcement - What a CRAP

A few of you who know me personally, would know that my company runs a Data Center for Hosting / Co-Location and Dedicated Servers in India. We are amongst the two other companies that do this business Independently and are not ISP's. We have to setup a facility and buy our bandwidth, sadly I had all my hopes pinned on to Nixi, that the moment it will Go live, will not only bring down the prices of Bandwidth but also allow a faster interconnect route to other ISP's.

The reason for Data Centers in India being at such a low penetration is not only the critical power situation, but also the fact that INternet Bandwidth is very expensive, the current buy price of Internet bandwidth 1 MB 1:4 starts at about 5,00,000 (5 Lacs Rupees Per Annum or US$ 11,000 Per annum). Compare this to about 100$ in the US, this business needs a serious look.

When Nixi went live, I wrote to them for an interconnect, and was told the following

"Since you are not an INternet Service Provider, we will not connect to you, we only offer this service to ISP's, and not to Data Centers", on digging further, this is what I was told, that Companies like Yahoo / Google / Indiatimes etc buy STM's from large ISP's at huge profitable prices, if Nixi was to allow every one to connect, where would the ISP's go.

Does this mean that India by default wants to do all businesses, and not by leveraging the technology service aspects. Well Today's news in Business Standard, seems to be a mockery, that Nixi is under utilised, but if you wanted to connect your Data Center to Nixi, to get onto the National backbone, go sleep, or get your self an ISP Licence, which you can't for the next 3 years due to security and other concerns.

What a bunch of Crap.

GS

Where are the Podcasts for Gadget Guru ho Ja Shuru

Yes it is your loyal friend, I who is doing Gadget Guru Ho Ja Shuru, for the last 6 weeks with Radio Mirchi (98.3 FM in Delhi). If you haven't tuned into the show, do listen to it live on Radio Mirchi on Mondays' 5:30 to 6:30 PM.

I am asking Radio Mirchi for permissions to link my Podcasts online, so those of you who have missed out the show can hear it online, let's see when Mirchi takes a call on it.

GS

First Case of Car Found using GSM / GPS Tracker

What a coincidence, not only do I know Ram Bhupal very closely, My company works for his company as a Technology services provider, but I just wrote about this Gadget in the Indian Express just last week. When the story hit the paper today The Times of India, I wrote to RAM asking him if it was indeed him. Well the Device actually works, so if you don't have one installed, get one right now if you are driving a popular car.

GS

Smart Cars - Smarter Gadgets

Well every geek in town will tell you to add an MP3 player at the least to your car, and maybe a GPS, so what are the three cool gadgets, I think each car in India should have now, to read my take on it, buy the Indian Express on Monday April 16, 2007 and read Express money, or click here to read it online.

G

Tomorrow’s technologies

Five gadgets that caught my eye this year at the IT industry’s mecca. They might well catch yours in the months to come. To read more, click here or buy the Express Money, with the Indian Express on Monday 2nd April, 2007, Nationwide.

G