A BAG FULL OF GADGETS

I hate to travel, but I have to travel. My work involves travelling extensively across india, and I hate it. No, not because the roads are bad, the public transportation drags and people are uncouth, but from a technologist’s point of view carrying all your gadgets, making sure you are connected, toys charged and mails answered, is a challenge.
So, what do I do, other than write articles on my trusted Blackberry? Well, a few things that I have learnt, other than making sure there is plenty of diet colas in my car and mineral water bottles, is to carry the following with me:
Recharger and rechargable batteries. It is tough when you get dependent on someone to buy batteries for you. These days there are manufacturers like Uniross that keep you going, always.
Anchor power strip with universal connectors and indicators. This is my favourite gadget and something I have stashed away in every corner. The led lights on it tell me if its safe to connect my gadgets in case the earthing is not proper or the phase and neutral have been reversed. It also does away with having to carry multiple convertors. Charging my camera, Blackberry, laptop and mobile phone becomes easy even if the hotel, like most in India, provides just a single power outlet in the room.
On this particular trip we came across a lovely bottle of wine that we all wanted to enjoy. But in this small hamlet, a corkscrew was too much to ask for. So in came my handy old travel companion, the Victorinox 25-in-one Swiss Army knife. Though I love the model with a torch and pen drive in it, I am still old fashioned and use the one with just the tools.
Torchlights and flashlights always seem to have run out of charge or a bulb when you need them. So a chargeable torchlight is a must-have. Though this is still not easily available across India, you can find it at most Chinese gadget shops. Or carry a crank-operated light that uses light emitting diodes (LEDs) for the light source and has a crank mechanism which means you can just crank it up any time, anywhere to turn it into a flashlight.
Now, I need to get back to enjoying the cool winds of the Himalayas.
--
The above article appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday 31st of August, 2008

Touched by Beauty

HP’s touch screen PC is a beauty, but slow and pricey
REMEMBER Minority Report? It had a sequence where Tom Cruise could solve a crime by flying through records, all using his hands to move things around on a virtual screen, on a virtual computer. Well some geeks at HP got inspired by the movie to build the world’s first all-in-one touch home PC, and it’s called the HP Touch Smart. This is HP’s second attempt—the earlier one was not very successful—but this one is much smarter, and looks more like the iMac or the Dell XPS.
The touch screen
At 22’’, this is the largest touch screen there is. Though the touch screen is good, the HP touch interface, the program that lets you play your music, videos, leave an audio or a text note, play around with your pictures, touch or crop them, is literally an overkill. It is good for my two-and-half-year-old nephew, who can now touch the computer and do things, as he does not know how to properly use a keyboard or mouse, but I am not going to trust a Rs 90,000 machine in the hands of a toddler.
There are a few things that are missing in the touch interface; the voice note function is good, but there are flaws. I was taking this phone note, repeating everything I heard on the phone. After the call I played the note, but forgot to save it. In a few minutes I took another note, and the machine overwrote the first one. This is a machine for people with dumb computer skills, and that’s really sad.
The webcam performance in daylight conditions is good, but at night it is very bad, it can barely see anything. If fact, you get spooky images as the screen light fills in.
Since the HP Smart Touch ships with Windows Vista Home Premium, the Windows Media Center is built-in and has a much better response to touch. Though the PC comes with a huge remote control, I did not bother to use it. After all, I am not replacing my television, at least not yet.
Where HP Touch Smart scores over the iMac is the TV Tuner, an IR Blaster which lets you change DTH channels using a software, Audio Out and Audio In.
Like the iMac, and other new generation machines, it features a slot DVD drive where you slide in the disc. What is good is that HP has given an eject button next to the drive. Apple does not have this function. However, it’s not easy inserting a DVD while sitting in front of the machine, you have to get up and do it.
A small clip at the back of the machine helps you tidy up all the cables that are coming in/out of the machine. The only wire that comes into the machine is the power cable. The size of the screen and the great emphasis on the design of the machine allow you to slide in the keyboard under the PC.
VERDICT: HP deserves a lot of credit for what it has done. If you are looking for an allout entertainer, and don’t mind spending money on a very, very slow machine, just because it’s the latest in technology, this is a must-buy. But for this much money, you can actually buy one of the fastest desktops on the market now.
For videos and pictures from the review, please visit: gsapra.blogspot.com
WHAT I LIKE
The wireless keyboard mouse is a standard accessory
The ambient light—reminiscent of an IBM thinkpad called the Think Light, or inspired by the light on the Philips Ambi Light TVs—with three brightness levels
The black shiny mirror piano finish, ideal for a country which prefers black over a white machine
The built-in SD card reader
The side USB ports
The brilliant microphone
WHAT I HATE
Synchronising the keyboard mouse the first time was a pain, it took me over half-an-hour to figure it out
Taking the dongle out from the back of a 22” screen, is not such an easy job, especially when you have spent a lot of money to buy the machine and turning over means risking a break
Windows Vista: The machine that came from HP for the review had a 4GB RAM and the Core 2 Duo 2.17 gave it a score of 3.8 on Vista, a tad too slow for me
Power adapter: Yes, the machine uses a bulky power adapter. Why not build an integrated supply into the PC?


Bootup Time


HP's Touch Interface


Skype on HP


Windows Media Centre

--
The Above article appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday 24th August 2008

iPhone 3G Finally Here / STEEP Price

Vodafone beat Airtel to send it's first round of announcements, the iPhone3G is finally here, and will be available from Vodafone as promised on the 22nd August. So what does it cost

Rs. 31,000 for the 8GB Version
Rs. 36,100 for the 16 GB Version
No Contracts
Advance Payment Rs. 10,000 to confirm Booking

Below is the Mail from Sanjay Sawhney, AVP - customer service, Vodafone for confirm of launch

--


Hello Gagandeep,

Thank you for registering for your Apple iPhone 3GTM with us.

We are delighted to announce that the iPhone 3G will be available in India from August 22, 2008
It will be available in 8GB & 16GB models, priced at Rs 31,000 and Rs 36,100 respectively.

Be the first to get the iPhone

We have received a large number of registrations. As there are limited stocks, make sure that you get yours first, by paying an advance of Rs 10,000 to confirm your booking.

Where can you make this advance payment?

The iPhone 3G will be available at select Vodafone Stores. All you need to do is drop in at any select Vodafone Store between August 20 and 21 and make the advance payment by cash or credit card. Don´t forget to show the iPhone booking SMS, which you would have received from us, when you visit the Vodafone Store to pay the advance. To find a Vodafone Store near you, click here

Get an appointment now. No queues for you.

Once you pay the advance, we will immediately give you an appointment date and time, starting
August 22 when you can come and experience a full demonstration and collect your iPhone, all ready to use with your contacts and settings, by paying the balance amount.

Hurry! Limited stocks.

Remember, the sooner you confirm your booking, the earlier you´ll get your iPhone. We have limited stocks and it will be on first come, first serve basis.

Buy a Vodafone connection now!

As you are not a Vodafone customer, you will need a Vodafone connection for your iPhone 3G.
We recommend that when you come to confirm your booking, please do get yourself a Vodafone connection too. Remember to carry a passport sized picture, photo ID proof and address proof as these are required for activating your Vodafone SIM card.

Happy to help

If you have any queries, log on to www.vodafone.in/iphone or call us on 9811098110 and we´ll be happy to help.

Hurry and be one of the first to make the iPhone 3G your own.

Regards

Sanjay Sawhney
AVP - Customer Service
--

Do I want one ? YES
Will I take it ? NO
Why ? Have you seen the Cost, 3G not here, no contract, long term support available


So, Do you want one ? Yes
Will you Take it ?

G

Desktop Video Conference a Reality in India

Video conference has been a thing of the future, the thing, that science fiction books spoke of ever since we were kids. Desktop Video conference has been happening for sometime, and you could always fire up your desktop, with a web cam, and do a video conference, but the Digital Divide, of people who did not know the PC, or how it operated, was a big issue. Dlink, one of the pioneer Networking companies in India, announced the availability of the GVC 3000 in India, made in India.

I have requested Yogesh Sharma, their Branch head in Delhi, for some review units, and should soon do a review, if I get the units. Though the details of the GVC 3000 are as follows:

* SIP Standards compliant, Interoperable with the SIP servers’ world wide
* Multi Codec Support H.264, H.263, H.263+ and MPEG-4
* Video Telephony at a bandwidth as low as 128kbps
* Excellent Audio and Video Lip Synchronization
* Tiltable LCD and Camera
* Excellent Video and Voice Quality on TV for group participants
* E.164 Dialing
* Audio and Video Privacy Options

Waiting for the review units.

GS

Beauty with brains, Mac style

It’s time to take the iMac more seriously

Well, I may sound like a bore with my newly-found love for Apple machines, but trust me, I have never actually felt this way about technology before. Problems with Windows Vista have had a lot of people look at Linux and Mac, and the Mac adoption rate in India is at a high now. Though the iMAC has been available for quite some time, i thought this is the best time to review iMac as a desktop for your home or office.
The first thing that strikes you is the clean lines and the lack of a tangle of cables — the machine just has one power cable, a cable to your keyboard, and one from the keyboard to the mouse. The other thing that hits you is that there is no CPU box, and wow, isn’t that screen big.

Setting the standards for elegance and simplicity, the all-in-one iMac packs all its components — from processor to video camera — into a thin anodized aluminum frame. Though this makes the machine heavy, its 20” / 24” display sizes make it an awesome experience to work on. The glossy widescreen delivers incredibly rich and vivid colour. The sound quality is wonderful—if you listen to music on this machine, you can make sense of what Surround Sound actually is. The screen is bright, and graphics responsive.

The built-in webcam is great, but night picture quality is not all that good. But, why would you want to do a video conference from a dark room. The performance of the machine meets all expectations. With the fast Core 2 Duo processors, and the Agile Mac OS X, the machine works beautifully. However, you will have to take the machine to the store to upgrade the RAM.

The built-in wireless is great, and very receptive to the signals. It was able to connect to all five wireless devices in my home. I have a large compound and my other laptops/desktops can find only two in any room. The bundled Apple Remote lets you remotely play music, movies, forward, rewind, almost everything you’d like to do with a home entertainment system. Like most of the other devices from Apple, it’s so sleek you can’t even see the screws.

But did I like everything? Well, not really.

I hate the material that Apple uses for its keyboards on the iMac and the Mac Book, the keys tend to get dirty too fast, and you can’t really clean them. The mouse is very nice, but getting used to its interface maybe a problem for some people. If you can, spend an additional Rs 6,000 to buy the S530 Logitech Desktop Wireless Set for the Mac—the mouse and keyboard are nicely built, it also helps clean up two more wires, leaving you with just a power cord.

My nephew, who is used to the glowing Apple logo on my Apple laptops, wanted me to light up the logo on the iMac, but sadly this one does not glow. The slimline DVD drive built into the monitor is placed high up, making inserting and taking out discs easy. Only if Apple had built in a video-in / TV-in option, I could replace my TV with this entertainment centre.

So if you need a new PC at home, or are thinking of changing your PC, it’s time you looked at iMAC. The Mac, is not about learning something new, it’s about unlearning, forgeting how you worked with PCs all these years. Give it a shot, and trust me, you will be surprised, and shocked that you did not switch over earlier.

PS: If you don’t want to change to a Mac, and are happy using Windows, watch this space for a review of HP Smart Touch PC next week.

Specifications
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 to Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8
RAM: 1 GB to 2 GB
Hard disk: 250 GB to 320 GB
Screen size: 20” to 24”
Warranty: 1 year, extendable to 3 years at extra cost
Price bracket: Rs 56,600-83,500
Ports: Mic-in / headphones out / DVI-out / Ethernet / 2 Fireware and 3 USBs (all behind the monitor)
In the package: Keyboard, mouse, Apple remote, DVDs and documentation

--
The Above article appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday August 17th, 2008

MTNL Makes Public Announcement of TV on Phone

Though this service has been available for quite some time, but today was the first public announcement of TV on Mobile Phones. This is the first service provider to launch Live Television (Actually about 4 to 5 minutes delayed, as we are still on GPRS and not 3G) on your Mobile Phone. Powered by Apalya, a service provider based out of Hyderabad, this has put MTNL on a lead advantage with other major cell phone providers.

The service is right now available on Nokia and Sony Ericsson Handsets, details atMTNL compatible Handsets, but the price announcement is very interesting, at Rs. 99 per month for a Set of 15 channels (Aaj Tak, BBC World, Bindaas, Cartoon Network, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC TV18, CNN IBN, CNN Mobile, IBN7, INDIA TV, NDTV 24x7, NDTV India, NDTV Profit, Times Now & Zoom). Channels Such as Fashion TV, and some Spritiual Channels (Iskcon Temple, Haji-Ali Dargh, Mumbai, Siddhi Vinayaka Darshan, Shiridi Sai Baba Darshan) are also available, but no details about Tariff of these is available.

From the looks of it, even the Babu's at MTNL don't like Doordarshan, I thought that needs to be compulsarily built into any kind of Cable / CAS / TV / IPTV / DTH Etc etc..

G

MTNL Slashes Broadband Pricing

Though personally speaking, I would want to stay as far away from MTNL as I can, as of today, it's been over 2 months, my telephone line is lying dead, and they can't do anything about it, my experience with MTNL owned services is nothing short of pathetic, but the above ad from the Hindustan Times, today, on the eve of the Independence Day, shows that the price war is just about to begin.

Indian Broadband is ruled majorly by Airtel / VSNL - TATA (ex-dishnet) / and MTNL / BSNL, though most of the customers looking for reliable connectivity choose Airtel, but in Area's where Reliance has launched services (Speed is a concern with reliance), people have looked at Reliance as an option.



Currentlyunlimited Data Transfer from Various Vendors costs
256 kbps
Airtel: 799 pm
VSNL - TATA: 1,000 pm
MTNL (From Today) 599 pm (Earlier 799 pm)
Reliance: 999 pm (300 kbps)

1 mbps
Airtel - Bharti: 2,222 pm
VSNL - Tata:3,600 pm
MTNL (From Today):3,999 pm (Earlier 4,999 pm)
Reliance: 2,999 pm

Though new revised tariff's are not published on MTNL's website. | All plans are for Delhi prices, and prices taken from individual websites.

Though the Ad makes them look cheaper, they really aren't, except in the 256k fight.

G

Acer Aspire One / Finally Here in India

Last Week, in My Indian Express, My Editor cut out the name of Acer Aspire one, but well, it's finally here. Just got the Press Release, and should soon get my hands dirty with one. The Market is hotting up and we should see a pretty big price war soon.

Acer Aspire One is available in 4 cool colours, Seashell White, Sapphire Blue, Coral Pink, and Golden Brown. Keeping Acer's past in mind, I am sure, they will launch all 4 colors at the same time (remember Asus EeePC was avilable only in White or Black, and MSI did not launch Pink in India).

W S Mukund, Managing Director, Acer India said, “In phase 1, the netbook is available through Croma and 250 odd retail stores across India. These retail stores include Acer malls and franchisee stores by partners.”Acer feels the initial push of Aspire One needs to be through the retail channels as it is basically a touch and feel product for people. By next month, we will decide about pitching the product across our traditional channels of distributors and resellers, Mukund said. The Aspire one (with 3 batteries), launched in five colors, is priced at approximately Rs 20,000 plus taxes for Linpus Linux Lite and Rs 22,000 plus taxes for Windows XP Home.
The Aspire One is available through Acer’s five distributors including Ingram Micro, Redington, Salora and Esys.

More Details coming up soon.

G

The HP Smart Touch is Launched in India

It's Finally Here, the HP SMART TOUCH
Our Fingers are the best pointing devices in the world, the most sensitive to feeling, and a wonderful tool to work with, HP has taken the iPod Touch, and the iMAC, and blown it up to build the HP Smart Touch. After exactly 2 months of it's first launch in Berlin, the Smart Touch was launched with fanfare at a press event last night (12th August 2008), at the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi.
"We will have this in stores in the next 2 weeks, though primarily starting with the Class A cities in India, down the road we would have it available in all our 200 odd HP World stores across India. The price point is expected to be Sub 90K", commented Rajiev Grover, Director Consumer Products - PSG for HP. He also mentioned "I will send you some papers on how we have made sure that the screen is actually screen resistant". Mr. Walker from HP, said that this is the first time a touch screen this size has been launched, doing a touch screen on a small screen is easy, but this big (20") is a little difficult.

Though on my trials, the PC hanged twice, but hey, it's Windows Vista, Rajiev also commented that they have tested it out and have ironed out all the bugs. I should get the test unit in a day or so from Burson Marsteller the PR Agency for HP, and should run a review, both here and in the Indian Express, so look out.

HP Smart Touch Ad:


HP Smart Touch Experience:

G
PS: the best part of the release last night, was the Laser Show, with a Dancer, amazing stuff.

Don’t buy the MSI Wind, not yet

Not the right time to buy the small laptop
WELL, I know that’s not the most apt headline, especially not for a cuddly little laptop that costs you just about Rs 25,000, so small that you can lug it around without noticing it, and can turn your colleagues green with envy. So why this tough line on the MSI Wind. Well, read on.

The recently announced Intel Atom Platform — MSI Wind is the first next book to use it — has put a lot of computing minds into overdrive, and set them thinking how we can take lowcost computing forward, what are the possibilities. And there is always a debate on why you should and why you should not. But in recent years, there has been a big hype on how you can use your machines, with Microsoft upgrading us to a Mac-style environment called the Vista, and even Mac becoming cutting-edge. Earlier, only Linux offered a no-frills desktop computing environment, and to a certain extent the Windows XP. Sadly, Microsoft has discontinued Windows XP sales, though you can buy a Windows Vista licence and downgrade it to XP, so you can run XP on these Atom machines.

But if your usage, like most people, is to browse the Internet, check mail, watch online videos, listen to music, watch a movie, sync your portable media player, work on Word documents, crunch a few numbers in an Excel sheet and make Power Point presentations, the Atom, the Celeron and the Sempron will all suit you well. My typical usage of this machine will be to carry it around to coffee shops to jot down my thoughts, and leave my power house of a computer back home to do the number crunching, and spare time to Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence using SETI.

These new machines will change the entire scenario, making life much simpler for students of B Schools and other higher education centres who have been forced to buy laptops since they are affordable. But, yes, they are not the right fit to get those fancy Windows Vista graphics, neither are they great for ripping DVD’s as all these functions require a lot of power. Still, there is nothing better for your day-to-day use.

But, is it the right time to buy a netbook? I’d say, despite all the temptations, don’t fall for it just yet. Things are going to change within a couple of months, and these will make you regret buying it today.

Here is what’s in store:
By September, the Lenovo Idea Pad S10 Ultraportable, using the Intel Atom Chipset, should be out.
The Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Ultraportable will be out around the same time. But it’s still not clear if this will be brought to India, though it features a cool changeable face plate — remember the Nokias of yesteryears.
Intel has already announced a Dual Core Intel Atom to be released in September, which will change the landscape quite a bit.
Dell Inspiron Mini comes out in September with an approximate price tag of $300.
So wait, if you can, that is.

--
The above Article appeared in the Indian Express, dated 10th August 2008

The clean-up drive : How to rid your PC of viruses in seven steps

How to rid your PC of viruses in seven steps

OUR computers are a lot like our body, they also go down with virus attacks, and are often tormented by zombies and trojans. Not surprisingly, a bulk of the mail that I receive in reference to my article each Sunday is related to virus infections, malware, badware, bots and what-nots.

A lot of us techies will advice you to format your system, forget about your data, and start afresh. Others will genuinely want to help you out. But the truth is, it takes a lot of time to clean a virus mess. So this week, let me tell you how to do it.

Assumption 1: I am going to do this article around Windows XP, the most penetrated platform in India. It can also work with Vista, but not as successfully.
Assumption 2: You already have some kind of antivirus installed. In case you don’t, then we will install it, but you will need to skip steps 1 and 2.
Assumption 3: You have an antivirus software on a CD—not the pirated kind. If you don’t, ask a PC enthusiast to send you one, or maybe buy one of those computer magazines and use its CD.
Step1: Close all programs, except Windows.
Step2: Fire up whatever antivirus you have installed. If you don’t have any, skip to step 3. Go into antivirus settings and enable deep mode scanning—some antivirus scanners will warn you that this is slow, ignore the warning. Now, look for the action option—what to do if a virus is found. Change this to ‘quarantine’ (do not set it to delete, not yet). Run the scan. Shut off the monitor, just the monitor. Leave your PC alone for anywhere between one to three hours, depending on the size of your hard disk.
Step 3: Turn on the monitor. If it’s still scanning, leave the PC alone for some more time. But if it’s done, open up the quarantine report, and see how many files have been moved. These are the dangerous ones. If nothing comes out of this scan, well you are lucky.
Step 4: Shutdown your PC, and restart. When the PC is starting, press the F5 key to boot the PC in safe mode. Once in safe mode, it will give you a warning that some things will not work. Now go to Add/Remove Programs, and uninstall your antivirus; this is an important step. After you remove the antivirus, you need to restart your PC in safe mode, remember to keep the F5 key pressed.
Step 5: Once restarted, put in the antivirus CD—please don’t use a thumbdrive/pen drive for this—and install the antivirus, preferably one of the free ones like AVG Free, Bit Defender Free Edition, or CA Antivirus Free Edition. Once installed, run deep scan again. Since your PC is in safe mode, and most of the old files are already in quarantine, this will be faster than the last time.
Step 6: You will see some results, move all of them to quarantine, and then shutdown your PC. Reboot it in normal mode.
Step 7: In normal mode, connect to the Internet and update antivirus. Once updated, run a full scan again. Sometimes it will find more threats, but this is unlikely if you have used the latest CDs.
Done. Your PC is now clean. In case you still have some viruses, or are getting too many errors, you will either need to format the PC or get an expert to clean it for you. But if you do the above steps, scan your PC regularly, stay away from downloading unnecessary utilities and backup often, you will not lose much data.
Happy computing.
--
The Above Article appeared in the Indian Express, on the 3rd August, 2008.