The Best Position - Review Logitech Laptop Accessories

As more people shift over to affordable notebooks, there has been a rise in problems posed by bad ergonomics. To save yourself from laptop-related health problems, doctors recommend you use your laptop sitting on a table, or at least make sure your posture is straight. Ironic, but some think the lap is the last place to place your laptop, as the heat generated may cause some health hazards. So it makes sense to sit as ergonomically as possible, or buy notebook accessories, like the first two, to ensure a better posture.

NOTEBOOK RISER N110

This is ideal to put your laptop in the best position at home or office. The Logitech stand offers multiple angles and has a rubber soled swivel base that keeps the riser in position. It also has two flaps that hold your laptop—and, trust me, it works. Priced at Rs 1,595, the N110 comes with a three-year replacement warranty. The plastic quality is brilliant, but it comes only in white and could easily get dirty.

ALTO CORDLESS

This stand is a mixture of both matt and reflective textures, but in black. It comes bundled with a wireless keyboard and has a transmitter built into its base. Though you will need to connect your laptop to the base using a USB cable, there is an advantage: the built-in USB 2.0 hub with three additional ports. However, since the base needs a power adapter, the keyboard will not work during a power-cut. Moreover, Logitech could have integrated a touchpad inside the keyboard since there is no provision for a mouse. The Alto is priced at Rs 6,995. But, I don’t think you should pay so much for just an additional keyboard. I also found the angle a bit awkward. The stand, unlike N110, has just one angle and is a bit bulky. My unit even developed scratches within a week.

AUDIO HUB

I know all of us hate laptop speakers. But additional speakers mean a mess of cables. Logitech has tried to find a solution that can fit behind your laptop and be plugged in through the USB port. The speakers and the subwoofer on the hub give good sound quality, but since it uses a USB, it can be connected only to a Windows laptop. The hub also comes with a flimsy stand for mounting your webcam— though I am not sure any other webcam will mount on it. At a price of Rs 7,495, I think this one is also not worth a buy.

QUICK CAM PRO

Logitech still makes the best webcams. Its latest notebook camera features a Carl Zeiss Lens, a USB Interface, can take still pictures up to 8 megapixels, and shoot video at 2 megapixels. But there are two other brilliant things about this camera: it has a clip for your laptop screen and a stand, though a bit flimsy, for mounting. I could not get this to work with my Mac, but got brilliant results on Windows. At Rs 6,695 this is a great buy if you are into video conferencing. Alternatively, for this price, you can buy a good digital camera and hook it up using a table USB cable for use as a video cam.

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The above article appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday 24th May 2009

HP LEARN WITH A TWIST COMPETITION

Video is the new age of communication, sometime back, I got into this whole debate with Niyam Bushan on how the Digital Divide is here to stay, and the Print / Online are still just pawns, but the Video is the King.

HP Just launched it's global competition called "Learn with a Twist", where you have to make a 2 / 3 minute video that shows useful tips of using a computer in an Entertaining Way.

There are a lot of prices to be won for contestants, as well as people who vote for it. For details on this contest, click here, or check out the Facebook Page by clicking here

The Closing Date for Submissions is 31 July 2009, and Voting Ends 14th August 2009.

So go on create those videos.

G

PS: I am the only blogger from India to be a Judge on this Panel.. hip hip hurray.

MTNL - The Known Devil

Some Interesting Figures (As of 31/March/09)

Wireline Telephone Customers for MTNL Delhi 15,56,064
WLL-Mobile Customers: 1,11,354
Pre Paid GSM Customers: 15,00,919
Post Paid GSM Customers: 4,17,577
Broadband Connections: 6,95,500
Post Paid Internet Connections: 14,07,346
Pre Paid Internet Connections (God Knows what this Means, Sorry MTNL Knows): 21,280

Where did I get these figures from, Well click here to download the Excel sheet - Yes Excel Sheet, not PDF, from the MTNL website (That is if, they dont' remove it in a day or so.

Anyway, let's go back into the Strike History

June 6, 2000: Indian Express: MTNL Ends Strike, Agrees to Demands

July 5, 2000: Indian Express MTNL C & D Employees Effect Services Partially

July 11, 2000: The Hindu - MTNL Strike Deffered

May 17, 2001: Hindu Business Line MTNL Workers Strike

July 27, 2006: Zee News MTNL Executive and Non Executive Staff on Strike

December 15, 2008: Live Mint Indefinite Strike to Send Back Deputed Officers


These are just some of the historical links that come up when you search for MTNL, other than our Friend Mr. Sinha issuing rebuttals against Airtel, and claiming to launch services, that don't work, no one at MTNL really wants to work.

On calling MTNL for service and why services are disrupted, the answers vary from

1. There is no problem
2. We are on Strike
3. The Junior Management is to blame
4. I am on a holiday, call me tomorrow
5. I will not tell you my name, I am just a receptionist
6. I can't transfer your phone as I don't have this facility
7. Why don't you grease someone's hands and get your service working
8. Why is the Internet and Telephone so important to you
9. When you have other Providers, why do you buy from us ?


So, do you still want to buy MTNL ???

G

India Shining - MTNL PARALYZES THE COUNTRY

For the last one week, MTNL, the National Carrier from the Government of India for Mumbai and Delhi, (the other counter part being BSNL) has been having a lot of strikes, and workers not working, for those of you who are from India, or in India, will think, why is this worth a blog post, this has always been the story. Well what has happened as of yesterday has put the country to the shame, MTNL has disabled phone lines and Internet connections, and is blaming Level B Employee strike as the reason for it, none of the people in MTNL, neither at Junior Level, or at Senior Level are working, no phones are being answered, and if you try to Reach the Chief Manageing Directors Office, you are told, that they can't really do anything as it is a strike.

So why buy services from MTNL ?

I wonder myself.

G

PS: Ms, Dikshit, you are the Chief Minister Again, and it's Congress at the Center, why can't ESMA be enacted on MTNL I wonder.

Where there is a Will, there is a Way - Home Made Windmill

I have always believed in the addage, where there is a will, there is a way, and you may call it Jugaad, or you may call it, putting together things because you have the need. The following video of Willian Kamkwamba, from Malawi, shows how he adapted a Windmill concept, using a Cycle, to Generate Power, to light up 4 Bulbs and 2 Radios in his Home.. This is one of the Jawdropping Videos from Ted

An iPod that Talks - Review iPod Shuffle

How can you make something that is simple, simpler? This is a question I ask everyone in my office every day, and it also seems to be the driving force of a company I love called Apple. When I saw the new iPod Shuffle video some months ago, I knew why Apple had become a cult brand.

I have been using a Creative Zen MP3 player with a large 3” screen, but have for some time wanted to shift to a iPod Shuffle or any other MP3 player with a simple interface, at least 4 GB storage capacity, playlist management features and song info, just in case a song led to an argument. Sound quality is very important to me and so the Chinese imports don’t really make sense, though I saw Shuffle lookalikes for as low as Rs 350.



Finally, I settled for the new iPod Shuffle. And I had my reasons—it looked great, was the smallest in size, had no buttons, and could actually talk to you.
So how do you manage an MP3 player with no buttons? Well, Apple has made this so simple that you know the song/artist and can go forward/back on your playlist even with your eyes shut, thanks to the controls inside the right earphone cable. The tiny control panel on the cable has small buttons to increase/decrease volume plus a central button to play/pause and forward/reverse. Press the button longer and it will tell you who the artist is, the name of the album and song. It also lets you browse through playlists using voice prompts in 14 languages, including English.




It has a single 3.5mm jack which is used as the port for plugging in the earphone as well as for data transfer and charging, using the small USB cable.

So, is it all good? There are two glitches that I noticed. One, Apple headphones with the remote are still not available separately in India—if you were to damage yours, you are in for trouble. Two, there are no two-way connectors available if you like to connect your MP3 player to your car stereo.

Anyway, if you like new technology, you are going to fall in love with this one and wonder why they did not think of this the first time.

Specs: 4GB storage
Colors: White & Black
Capacity: Upto 1,000 songs
Battery Charge Details: 10 Hour Backup / Fully Charges in 3 Hours
Price: Rs. 4200 + Taxes
More Details: http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/
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The above review was printed in The Indian Express, on Sunday May 10, 2009

Can Electric Vehicles be a Commercial Reality - Another Ted Talk

Whenever I have spoken about / written about Electric Vehicles, or anything Electric Powered, people have looked at me and wondered, why am I so crazy about alternative fuels, and why I have a strong belief that the world will run on Solar Powered Electricity in the future, that seems to be the only way to reduce our carbon footprint.

Anyway, while my usual browsing through TED, I came across the above talk by Shai Agassi, who has just recenlty setup a company called Better Place, and if you are thinking, or if you don't believe the world is changing, and we will now soon be running Electric Cars, you must see this presentation.

More Later, till I think, how can I send this to Mr. Ratan Tata ?

G

So What Happend

Well, nothing really, I am still as much a part of System3, as I was before, but I was playing the role of a Finance Head, Technology Head, Business Head and Marketing Head. Now that System3 has grown in size, and the number of people, I thought it was time for me to reduce my roles, and actually just be the Big Geek in the house, so I am now moving on from my role of CEO to the role of the Geek in the House, and soon enough, System3 should announce a New CEO. In the meantime, watch out TheBigGeek.com evolve, and more writings from me.

Why did I rename it from www.g-spot.in to the www.theBigGeek.com well, two major reasons,

1. People kept going to the other G-spot website, and kept calling me, hey you said this is tech, but the **** is this ?
2. You sure you run the G-Spot website..

So the kink is out, and the tech lust is in, welome to the Big Geek

G

HIGH-SPEED TEST DRIVE - Review 3.1mbps Data Cards from Tata Photon+ and Reliance Netconnect

CAN 3.1 mbps really be possible on a datacard? Well, a lot of phone calls I have been getting for the past fortnight from Tata and Reliance claim so. Since the only reason some people don’t buy datacards is the horrible speeds they offer, I was keen to put the high speed claims to test.

I filled up the online forms for the Tata Photon+ and the Reliance Netconnect Broadband Plus demos. When I failed to hear from them for four days, I called up my account manager with Reliance and was told that he did not have much idea about the “new product”. However, after working the phone lines for a few more days, I had guys from both companies at my place for demonstrations.

But, since I could not use either of the cards for more that five hours, the tests may not have been as thorough as I would like them to be. But the results should be able to answer most of your questions.

Can old cards give high speeds? The new data cards — the ZTE Black USB data card from Reliance look like any other old card — uses new technology and you will not be able to get the high speeds on existing cards.

Is it really going to give me 3.1 mbps? Well, it is faster than the old cards, but not as fast as you would have thought 3.1 mbps would be. But if you download a lot of files and your life is spent using Flickr, Google, Yahoo and Facebook, you will see a remarkable difference.

Will the companies upgrade my old card? No, they will not. They will also not migrate the phone number mapped to your old card, so the money you spent on your card goes down the drain though it is just a yearold. Plus you will need to spend Rs 3,500 to buy the new hardware and service.

How much does the service cost? There is a slight change in tariff from old cards. I found Tata’s tariffs to be more consumer-friendly. Reliance offers an unlimited night time usage plan — but the fine print says unlimited as per Reliance means only 10 GB of datadownload.

Is the service available every where? Well, yes and no. The service will work every where, but since most cities still have old networks, you will get the 3.1 mbps only in select cities for now.

Who should I prefer, Tata or Reliance? Well, they are both good. I need Internet access during my frequent travels and keep using data cards. So I would prefer the Tata Photon+ since there is the option for an additional wireless router (costs approximately Rs 14,000) which connects to the Internet at 3.1 mbps speed any where while linking to my laptop wirelessly. I loved the product, but it is still not available with most dealers.

Are they Mac/Linux compatible? The Reliance website claims they have a Mac and a Linux driver, and as usual a Windows driver. The demo units were installed on a Windows machine and the executive who came for the demo had no idea about Macs. Will have to wait till I buy the product, or till the companies decide to send over Macs for testing.

Should I upgrade? Well, I will not take the plunge right now. I have about four data cards in my office,and all of them seem to have become redundant now, though they are just over a year old. So I will wait and see if we get 3G from Airtel, Idea or Vodaphone. Once 3G is available, I will preferably use it through the GSM phones. Better to see how the market evolves.

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TEST RESULTS
Maximum Download Speed: 2mbps. I did not touch 3.1 mbps in any condition
Maximum Upload Speed: 1mbps, though the compnies claim a max speed of 1.8 mbps
Over all browsing experience: Great
Voip/Skype: I had some trouble. But I think this was due to thes low powered laptop used for the demo Torrent download: Very slow, could manage only about 200-300 kbps Connectivity: Tata was stable but experienced drops in connectivity with Reliance
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For more information, click here for Tata Photon+ or here for Reliance Netconnect

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The above article appeared in the Indian Express, on May 3rd 2009