Breaking the language barrier - Review Quillpad.com

Since the time I started learning computers, most teachers have stuck to English to reveal the wonders of the PC. As a result, most of us still think in the Queen’s language while using computers, what to speak of typing in local languages. Though some companies have come up with coloured stickers of local language fonts and even charts that tell you which key stands for specific characters, the mix of consonants and syllables in Indian languages makes using them an uphill task. The job is even tougher if you don’t need to type in a local language every day and hence cannot rely on practice to see you through.

This is where Quill Pad (www.quillpad.com) comes to your rescue. Quill Pad was built by Ram Prakash H and K S Sreeram from IIT Madras in September 2006. Three years on, the website supports 10 Indian languages—Hindi, Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.

Since my words can’t do justice to the ingenuity of the two, I suggest that those of you who can read or write any of the 10 languages try out the website. You can use the Quill Pad editor—which they call my-mother-can-easily-type-interface—without registering. Type the text you want and then copy-paste it to a Word document or e-mail. There is even a mobile interface, similar to the T9 Dictionary, which helps users type in the local language without having to bother about learning the alphabet layout.

Some of my employees who write emails to me in Hindi using the Roman script are happy with this new discovery. They type the way they spell the words in English, and within a jiffy the words reappear in Devnagri script, often correcting their spelling errors. Some Facebook friends with whom I tried a few Quill Pad tricks have started updating their status in local languages.

I encountered a small problem, though. I could not mix two languages—so if you want to compose an English document with a bit of Hindi in it, Quill Pad is not for you. But, then, you can’t ask for the world.

Localisation is the key for the expansion of the Internet. It can no longer afford to limit its content to English. And this is where initiatives like Quill Pad are the key. So, go ahead, type out that letter to your grandmother in your mother tongue.

For trying out or using Quill Pad, click www.quillpad.com

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The above review appeared in the Indian Express, Dated 30th August 2009

Sony Wireless Walkman

The earphones and player are not wirelessly connected, they’re built into the head band. It’s more expensive than other Mp3 players, but hey, it’s a Sony
Zappin Technology enabled | 2GB music capacity | 35 grams
At Rs 4,990, you may want to give it a second thought, despite the way it is displayed at demo stations across the country. But when you plug it in and see what you can do with it, you feel, oh man, why did this not come out when I was in school playing football on the field burdened with that heavy load of a box called a Walkman?

It’s a full Mp3 player built into a head band that you can wear—with the in-ear earphones and a band connecting the two—and it looks amazingly cool. This is one mighty Mp3 player that you may want to get if you are the sporting kind. The charge port and the sync port are the common mini USB standard, and you can connect and drag and drop music on to the player like it’s just another thumbdrive connected to your PC. It also features 13.5 mm large driver units, which support a large frequency range and sound great. The soft silicon earbuds make it a comfortable wear, but they’re slightly uncomfortable for people with small ears. Instead of a screen, it has a jog wheel to choose songs, using a technology called Zappin.

What I loved most about this Walkman is that it charges up to 90 minutes of use in 3 minutes. So you can charge it in the time that it takes to brush your teeth and hair, before you go for that jog in the morning. It takes 1.5 hours to fully charge the unit for a 12-hour music playback, though. It also supports AAC / WMA and DRM protected files. The 2GB music capacity can keep you rolling with approximately 480 tracks. It comes in pink, white, black, green, and violet colours. And all this weighs only 35 gram.

For more information, click http://bit.ly/sony-mp3

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The above review was printed in the Open Magazine Issue Dated 4th September 2009

Binging Google - Which one do you use, Bing or Google ?

I was never a fan of either the Yahoo or Microsoft Live search options. I loved AltaVista until it was replaced by Google as my homepage, my one-stop-shop for all answers. I must confess I have used other search engines in between, but when I learnt how to use Google to get the results I wanted, I was happy with the G option.

This is when Yahoo and Microsoft tied-up to create Bing, touted as the answer to Google’s monopoly over Internet search. But a couple of months later, it doesn’t appear as if Google has lost an inch. I thought it was time we put Bing to the test to see how the challenger compares with the real thing.

MAPS: I fired up Google Maps and Bing Maps to search for Nehru Place, New Delhi. The map results from Bing were cleaner and sharper. There is a lot of information on Google Maps, but the clean look and the meaningful information on the Bing results were more useful. Zooming in gave more detail on the Google Map, and there were a few photos that popped up with a link saying “Explore this area”. By default, Google uses a hybrid view—satellite plus map—while Bing does not have a satellite view. Bing shows an “explore collections in this map” icon, but it is not clear what that means.

I then decided to ask both engines for directions from New Delhi to Mumbai. Google immediately brought up a map of India and showed two routes, one using NH8 and the other using NH3. Bing was completely lost.

IMAGES: I tried an “India Independence Day celebrations” search on both. Google searched through the recent images first before listing the older ones. Bing’s results were more confusing, though it gave me the option to change the layout from small to large images with details. Google, on the other hand, gave me the option to choose the tint or hue of the image. I think both perform equally well here.

VIDEO: I did a video search with the same terms. Google took me to the YouTube website and threw up a lovely video rendition of our National Anthem, the one we used to hear a lot on DD a few years back. But Bing definitely has a better way of showing video results. I was able to preview videos by just taking the mouse pointer over the icons in the results page—you will need high speed Internet for this—and I could mute each video separately in the preview. I also liked the Bing filter to select if you wanted short videos or longer ones, resolution, screen type and source.

NEWS: For some time Google News has been my first option to read up what is happening around the world without going to multiple websites. Bing did search for news, but it took some work to get it to display top stories and I could not figure out how to see today’s stories. I searched for ‘Chandrayaan launch’ on both engines. Google showed 93 results while Bing had none. I will just stick to Google for my news.


Bing is a good option with a welcome look and feel. I like Google’s clean look, but love the image background in Bing. But since Microsoft and Yahoo are still learning the ropes of search and prefer to call Bing a Beta version, I will stick to Google for most of my work for now.

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The above review appeared in the Indian Express, Dated Sunday, August 23, 2009

Atom-based Vaio - Review Sony Vaio VPCW115XG

If you always wanted a Vaio, but did not want to take a loan to buy it, and an Atom machine works fine for you, check this out

Processor Atom 1.6 GHz | OS Windows XP | RAM 1GB | Hard Disc 160 GB | Screen 10.1 inch wide | Weight 1.19 kg

Yes, a Sony Vaio at Rs29,990… go wash your eyes. I did too when I read this. Sony finally has an Atom-based machine. Available in three colours (pink, white and brown), these will appeal to both the younger set of users as well as women who were always looking for a pink laptop (yes, I know you girls like the colour).

Like most Atom machines, it also features an easy-to-type isolation type keyboard, where keys are spaced out. I loved the resolution of the machine, and this means you will never feel like working on a smaller machine. It also comes with Vaio Media Plus, that allows you to wirelessly stream music and videos to DLNA-enabled devices, and, if you have it, PlayStation 3. The downside is that it has a battery time of only 2.5 hours, compared to four to five hours in other Atom machines, and it has only a 0.5 megapixel camera, while others have started including either a 1.13 or 2 megapixel camera. The W Series unit is Energy Star 5.0 compliant, EPEAT Gold registered, and has eco-conscious features such as a mercury-free, LED backlit LCD.

The choice of colours lets you choose what you really want to reveal in your personality. Since this machine has just been announced, I could not touch and feel it, and this is only a preview.

So if you always wanted a Vaio, but did not want to go take a loan to buy one, and an Atom machine works fine for you (it does for me when I travel), go ahead check it out. Just in case, the full model number is VPCW115XG/P/T/W. For more details visit the sony website by clicking here

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The Above Article Appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 28th August 2009

Cool Cam - HDC HS20 Panasonic Review

The HDC HS20 from Panasonic may seem an expensive option, but if you are looking for a next generation camcorder, this is a safe investment
16x optical zoom | full HD recording | 80 GB hard disk | Rs 49,990

My dad is a Sony fan, but this time around he was open to an option of a camcorder from any other company, and he had a clear brief: the camcorder should be able to shoot full high definition video, should have a hard disk, and he should be able to download the data from the camcorder on a Mac or Windows PC without hassle. A little research led me to the HDC HS20, which Panasonic let me try out for two weeks.

It is a light piece, all shiny and well finished. The black body gives it the luxury feel and the Lecia lens adds the magic. This gizmo features a 16x optical zoom, full HD recording, and an 80 GB hard disk. It also supports 32 GB SD/SDHC card. It supports sound capture at 5.1 channel surround, and I must say that the microphone is one of the most sensitive ones I have come across in recent times. The built-in speaker, if you are doing a preview of the movies, is not that great, but the recording is great quality.

The camcorder features an LED Light for shooting in low light, and the manual focus allows you to focus on those hard areas. It supports both H.264 and AVCHD video formats.

I feel disappointed that this camcorder gives only one to two hours of video recording on a fully charged battery. Sadly, the battery and the AC Adapter can’t be used together, so if you are running it on AC power and supply gets disrupted, your recording will stop in the midst of the action.

The camcorder has a 1.47 megapixel sensor giving an affective 1.17 megapixel digital still camera. Still images and the video can be recorded on the same media—SD card or hard drive. It also features a 40x to 100x digital zoom and has a focal length of 2.95mm to 47.2 mm. The 2.7” wide LCD seemed a bit small to me. I love the part where you can randomly access video segments you had shot, and that you can easily select video quality depending on whether you want full HD or HD mode, you can go from 8 to 33 hours of recording. More here

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The above article appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue #20, Dated 21 August 2009

The ideal navigator - Review Garmin Nuvi 215

On my last weekend trip to the Himalayan foothills, I decided to try some alternative routes, giving my ‘navigator’ wife a rest and depending entirely on the new Garmin GPS from Map My India.

I have always had a preference for Garmin, and during a meeting with Map My India’s Rohan Verma last year had told him how people like me would love to see his maps on a Garmin device. So I was more than delighted when the company recently launched Garmin products pre-loaded with their maps.

Any in-car device can be a bit of a distraction while driving on dangerous Indian roads. This is where the Garmin Nuvi 215 gets it edge. Every time I tried to feed in co-ordinates, it reminded me that I should stop the car if I wanted to do so—however, this function can be disabled if your co-passenger is looking after the device.
Most other GPS devices I have used to take around three minutes to start up, lock into the satellite positions and get its coordinates right. But the Nuvi locks in under a minute, telling you exactly where you are.

I loved the interface too. You can search destinations in a free field, or in a specific state—when you start entering the destination the device pops up choices, making life much easier. Plus, it shows a list of points of interest around where you are, right from star hotels to ATMs and hospitals. Though by default all GPS equipment shift from a yellowish interface to a green and black interface at night, Garmin allows users to choose the display they like. The Nuvi can easily fit into your pocket; arm/bike straps can be bought separately. Moreover, the matte finish screen makes it easier to read in sunshine.

In case you don’t want the GPS to prompt you, use the power switch to shift the unit into a lock/safe mode, enabling you to focus on your driving. A mute button, to allow you to listen to just your songs, would have been welcome—as of now, users have to choose mute through the menu.
The device comes preloaded with Map My India for 401 cities and there is the provision for an SD Card to load maps for other countries or update when new maps come out. Since Garmin is an international brand, you can easily buy maps for the device, though most country maps are not free.

The unit came with a disc to mount it on the dashboard, but I failed to do so despite my best efforts and had to get used to the windscreen position. So make sure you ask the dealer to fit the device on your dashboard.
The battery on the Nuvi lasted about four hours, so I suggest you keep it plugged in for longer drives. It features a good trip meter and shows your maximum speed, average speed, total moving and stoppage time. However, the device has to be on at all times during the trip for it to calculate time. A trip planner is not built-in, but if you key in you destination and click detour it will show all alternative routes available.

Map My India on Garmin GPS is a brilliant combo if you are looking to buy yourself a GPS device. Though it may seem expensive compared to the other options, I still believe my preference towards Garmin has valid reasons. The Nuvi 215 is available for Rs 14,990 on mapmyindia.com.

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The Above review / article was printed in the Indian Express, Issue Dated 16th August 2009

HTC Magic Review

When Google... let me correct myself, Android platform was launched, it was dubbed the Google phone. The phone was supposed to be the iPhone, BlackBerry and Palm killer. The Android phone could not kill them—not because it’s not a great platform, but due to its limited availability. Earlier in July 2009, HTC launched its second phone on the Android platform, called the HTC Magic. Though initially available only through Airtel, now it is available across the market and is a brilliantly done up phone.

The feel in hand is that of a quality device, the low weight immediately felt. There is no keyboard, except six buttons and a scroll ball in the centre that lights up for alerts. All other features are touch screen based. Like most of the modern phones, this gizmo also features an accelerometer, which enables both the keyboard and the screen direction to change, and the qwerty keyboard in the landscape mode is one of the prettier ones around.

The web browsing experience on the phone is brilliant: the search bar and address bar are integrated. If you think iPhone had solved all browsing issues on a phone, you should check out the Magic. It is much better. The camera is pretty decent on the phone, but does not have a flash. At 3.2 megapixels, you get some crisp shots in the outdoors. The media handling and connectivity were all really good, and now the Magic also supports Microsoft Exchange, so you have brilliant office features too.

The battery lasted me roughly one full day on heavy usage, and I had to put it on charging only the second day, which I loved. I am not sure why HTC can’t figure out a way to insert the Micro SD Card from outside, without opening the back cover. But keeping the design in view, I did not mind opening the back cover to change my Micro SD Card. Another downer is the fact that there is no 3.5 mm jack. The hands-free plugs into the USB port and is a proprietary one.

This, my friends, is a bestseller. So if you are a Google fan and did not want an Apple device for whatever reasons you had, and the other iPhone killers were nowhere near what all you wanted, get your hands on this one. Airtel has a cool deal with this phone if you buy it from them, but otherwise it is available for Rs 29,900 in the open market. Find out more here

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The above article appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 14th August 2009.

THE CHEAPEST ONE - Review Blackberry 8520 Curve

Finally, here is a BlackBerry everyone can afford
If the prices scared you away from owning a BlackBerry, your wait is over. The 8520 Curve, launched last week, thankfully costs just Rs 15,990, though available only on Airtel for now.

And it’s not just the price. Over the years, the BlackBerry had moved on from the side scroller to a trackball in the middle; now it has taken another leap of faith and switched to a track pad. Plus, the 8520 is 3.9 gram lighter than the lightest BlackBerry.

So what is good and what is bad about the new 8520? First, there is no 3G, (remember the Bold was 3G, the Javellin Pearl 8900 was not), the 3.2 megapixel Accurate camera of the 8900 has been replaced by a 2 megapixel in the new one. The new 8520 is thicker by 0.4 mm than 8900, and the 5.5-hour battery has been replaced by a 4.5-hour battery— with up to 17 days of standby time. The GPS and BlackBerry Maps features have been done away with, which means no geotagging for photographs. The 480x360 screen of the 8900 has been replaced by a 320x240 LCD, but at a bigger at 2.46”.

While I am not sure a lot of people use the mediaplayer on their BlackBerrys, the 8520 has dedicated keys to help you play music, pause to talk and skip tracks. You can easily mute a call with a dedicated button.
There is also a 3.5-mm stereo headset jack and BlackBerry Media Sync, which makes it easy to quickly sync music from iTunes and Windows Mediaplayer. However, RIM says the unit won’t play some music files. The 8520 has an expandable memory card (microSD / SDHC) slot next to the battery and supports 16 GB of memory— 32 GB when the new cards come out.

Also instant messaging and social networking applications are now available, thus enabling you to access sites such as Facebook, My Space, and Flickr. If you are a fan of Twitter, you can always download free applications such as Uber Tweet to update the world on your latest status. Like other models, it comes preinstalled with the BlackBerry messenger, which lets users text for free to other RIM phones.

RIM has also decided to make six new colours available, but it has not announced the pricing of these skins— you get one skin free with the handset. While the tight-fit rubber skins add more durability to the handset, it also allows you to be slightly different than the thousands of black BlackBerrys you see everywhere.

Premium phone features including voice-activated dialling and Bluetooth support for hands-free use with headsets, car kits, stereo headsets and other peripherals, built-in Wi-Fi and full HTML web browser with support for online streaming video

Recently, at parties and other social gatherings, I have been surprised by the number of people carrying BlackBerrys, more for the social standing it brings than purpose—some don’t even have a data plan. But the fact is that while BlackBerry started out as an email-only device, today it is on a par with the best in the market and has the best possible data handling. No wonder there are 28.5 million Blackberry users across the globe now.

Overall, the 8520 Curve is a great bargain. The ideal way to enter the BlackBerry club.


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The above review appeared in the Indian Express on Sunday 9th August 2009

Remember Bobby Mc Ferrin: The Power of Pentatonic Scale

Remember Bobby McFerrin, of the Famous, Don't worry Be Happy Song. All of us thought he has disappeared, but his sudden appearance at the World Science Festival 2009, showing how Science and the Pentatonic Scale can be used to teach music to anyone, is a wonderful presentation, this Presentation should also get featured on Presentation Zen in some days, but for now, here is the wonderful video, Trust me the second part is awsome.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Electric Auto Spotted in Bangladesh

Electric vehicles are making inroads but are very expensive, this Jugaad, in Bangladesh was spotted by Shawn

Here is the Video

MapMyIndia Light - A Candid Review

MapMyIndia got popular last year, when they launched their NAV 300 priced at Rs 22,900. The journey over the last one year has been both to reduce the price and also to make it a bit more efficient and friendly to the user. They did this with the MapMyIndia Light Edition. It is not only light on the pocket, Rs 11,900 for the unit and all-India maps, but also very nicely made, and comes with one of the best GPS mounting kits that I have used in a long time. It features maps of 401 cities in India on a street level and a very fast locking GPS, which left me amazed.

The usual GPS features that tell you your current running speed and the points of interest around you (ATMs, hospitals, emergency services, restaurants) are all built-in. A unique feature which I saw for the first time on a GPS is the snooze feature—you can snooze your GPS when you exit the car, and wake it up from sleep when you return, to cut out the boot up and lock time. At just about 12.5 mm thickness, you can fit it in your back pocket, or take it with you hiking (though no kits for using it as a wrist mount are provided).

The major problem that I had while testing this piece was that the battery would not last more than 2 hours. Also, one misses a safe mode (this means you should not be able to key into it to locate a destination while driving).

The plastic body is finished well and the display is nicely done (in very bright sunlight this may have a problem, but night- and daytime views are great). The Bluetooth is gone and the video player is also missing—I think they were useless features anyway, and were just loading up the price.

The micro SD card that holds the data just pops out at a flick, which is a bit dangerous, but overall the Navigator (Light) is built brilliantly and comes at a price point that makes it affordable for all car users. If you were waiting for GPS prices to fall, here is what you were waiting for.

For More Information, http://bit.ly/open-light
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The above review appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 7th August 2009

Great when it’s for free - Review ADRIVE.COM

There must be a million sites offering free storage online, but not more than a handful which offer their services for free. Then I discovered A-Drive.com, which claims to offer 50GB of free online storage.
True to its claim, A-drive allows you to store 50 GB of data on their servers. However, you cannot upload files larger than 2GB, or more than 1,000 files in one go. So if you are looking to create a backup library for your songs online, you can do it on A-drive, but over a period of time.

I managed to test the site on both 256 kbps and 512 kbps broadband connections and found the performance satisfactory. However, in case of a transfer error, the web-based uploader on the free service does not skip to the next file and just pauses, waiting for intervention. So don’t think of going to sleep, hoping the upload process will be over by morning.

A-Drive.com has a desktop utility which is faster and uploads your files even if it comes across an error. But this is a paid utility and the free trial expires in 14 days. It offers three types of accounts, Basic (free), Signature (US$ 6.95 per month) and Premium (US$ 13.95 per month). In case you are looking to save various versions of the same file, a desktop utility to synchronise, or FTP transfers, you will need to enlist for one of the paid plans. There is a ‘transfer remote file’ feature which allows users to download files directly to A-Drive from other servers. Make sure you keep the window open if you don’t want the transfer to stop. I was able to transfer a 650 MB file in under 10 minutes from a remote server to the A-Drive.com server. I will think twice before uploading anything confidential on the site, but it can’t get any better than this for free.

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The above review appeared in the Indian Express, Issue Dated 2nd August 2009