Switch off, fly safe

Every time I fly, I see people put their phones under their thighs, look in the other direction and try to act deaf, all because the cabin crew has announced that all electronic devices, including their precious cellphones, have to be switched off for the duration of the flight. Recently, a man sitting next to me refused to do so. The flight was delayed and he was still on the phone.

Reprimanded a couple of times by the airhostess, the man decided to put the phone on airplane mode. The crew explained that he would have to switch it off completely. But the man countered that his calls were important, especially as the flight was late. As the debate turned into a heated argument, I tried to explain why it is important to switch off the phone in an airplane. But our friend was not convinced.

That episode made me decide that it was time I explained how a small mobile phone can cause havoc in an airplane. Though electronic equipment on airplanes is designed to ignore interference, there have been several instances when their navigational equipment showed errors. This was linked to a cell phone being used on board, though scientifically there are difficulties in proving that the gadget alone was the cause of the errors. But, I guess, it is better to be safe than sorry.

All electronic equipment, especially our phones, laptop computers and BlackBerrys, have a communication engine that not only listens for radio frequency signals, but also transmits them. Similarly, our iPods have Wi-Fi, while many other gadgets have Bluetooth. The airplane mode switches off the radio, but there are still chances that the device may send out signals, and that’s why we have to be cautious.

The aircraft uses sensitive navigational equipment, similar to a GPS in the car. The equipment depends on communication from the airfield below as well as satellites above to know where it is going. As all this communication is on radio frequencies, disruption or disturbance can make the plane deviate from its track. This can have disastrous effects, especially during poor visibility when the pilots are almost completely dependent on electronic navigation. Things can become even more complicated if the interference happens during take-off or landing.

The Government of India’s Civil Aviation Department circular dated September 12, 2003, categorically says that passengers can only use mobile phones as long as the aircraft is on the ground with its doors open. But, the phone cannot be used when the aircraft is refueling, when pre-flight functions are on, or when aircraft communication is happening. In no condition should the phones be used after the doors are closed, and this is a legal requirement, not a request.

But, why switch off an old Walkman or CD player which have no transmitters? These devices emit electro-magnetic radiation, which at times can exceed the prescribed limits and interfere with the onboard equipment like the auto-pilot.

The latest planes have a shield to protect their navigation equipment and some carriers have started allowing passengers to use cell phones mid-air. But till those planes come to India, it better to just switch off your phone and relax, maybe even chat up your fellow passengers and make some friends.
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The Above article appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday August 01, 2010

Encounter of the 3D Kind | Open Magazine Volume 02 Issue 06

What is all this noise about 3D TV? Will it happen? Should you buy one? It’s everywhere, even in this magazine, and you must have thought, ‘Wow man, all geeks and newspapers are talking about it, and it is about time I changed my old TV’. Well, sit down, take a sip of that green tea, and read this. Trust us, it’s not that obvious.



Okay, this noise is loud. After all, the biggest announcement was in December 2009 when Fifa declared that the 2010 World Cup will be broadcast in 3D. Yes, 3D so you could see your best players actually shooting the ball into your homes, and the experience will be like never before. But wait, are we that close to 3D content? Is 3D the next big thing after the LCD, plasma, the LED television? Here is my lowdown on why you need to wait before you jump in to buy yourself a 3D television in India.

3D movies, including India’s first, Chhota Chetan (1984), have been around for quite a while, but far too few and far apart to make an impact. The recent Avatar in 3D has now got people wowed by this extra-dimensional presentation. In addition, the increasing adoption of CGI (computer generated imagery) and animation means more 3D content on its way, and with the World Cup kickoff round the corner, suddenly there is a splurge of 3D TVs. The excitement is similar to what we experienced when we saw our first 3D animated foot rulers, or pictures of our favourite cartoon characters. But there is a hitch.

Though there are multiple technologies to create 3D images, starting from the anaglyphic (using a passive red-cyan glasses, this is what was used in early-day comics), to polarisation (with passive polarised glasses), alternate-frame sequencing (needs active shutter glasses, and this is what one of the companies has chosen) and autostereoscopic displays (no headgear/glasses required), the problem is that the world of 3D is split into two major halves—one wants to build TVs that will not require viewers to wear special glasses (after all, just to watch TV you can’t wear a pair of spectacles), and the other set wants to make TVs that require you to wear spectacles.

Now, when we talk about glasses for viewing, these spectacles are not like your ordinary green and red filter ones that were handed to you when you watched Chhota Chetan, or picked up that odd comic book in 3D where the characters leapt out of the pages. These are active glasses, running on batteries (that means charging them), and a pair would cost you around Rs 5,000.

The other camp—3D TV manufacturers who don’t want to have you wear glasses—propose to use a technology which is very similar to what we saw on those 3D foot rulers. There will be tiny lenses slapped onto the screen and you will see the images in 3D without wearing glasses.

There are big players backing each technology. LG, Samsung, Sony and Panasonic have TVs that require glasses; Philips, TCL and Alioscopy have TVs that can show 3D content without having you to wear any kind of glasses. Who will win and which will become the standard technology is something we can only guess. For me, even thinking about having to wear something to watch TV is a bit uncomfortable. And I am not sure if I will be able to wear it for the duration of a film.

Anyway, assuming you are one of the early adopters of technology, and you must buy it, here is what all you will need after buying a 3D set: irrespective of the technology you choose, you will need to upgrade your DVD player to a 3D Blu-ray player (not yet easily available), buy a huge new library of 3D films (even though you may have the original film), and wait for a broadcast company to start providing 3D content.

Since 3D requires nearly double the refresh rate, even your DTH box and/or CAS box may need to be changed. But I could not get a comment from any of India’s DTH vendors if their boxes are ready for 3D content. So, that could mean buying everything all over again.Also, the wow factor of 3D is short-lived. When you go to a store to check out the TV or see it at a press launch, as I did, the immediate impulse is to get one home. But then, after a few minutes of watching, you suddenly realise that there is very limited content there, and you will not want to pay a premium just because 3D is one of the new buzzwords out there. For me, the experience of watching a 3D movie, such as Avatar in 3D, or getting to catch Shrek the Final Chapter in 3D, is best enjoyed in a cinema hall.

If you don’t mind wearing glasses while watching television, and are okay with a mild headache while you watch TV for extended time, also know that you may have to just change your television in another two years, depending on which technology becomes the standard, go ahead and buy it. For others, I would like to say, just as soon as we’ve bought the last technology, a new one is here, so you need to buy it all again, all over.

I like the technology, and I love the potential, but I will wait to decide on which technology succeeds, and also wait for more content to be made easily available. Right now we are at a stage where the future is unclear; I sense that in another two years, we will have a lot more 3D content. After all, with animation and CGI, this really is not far off.

The biggest benefit of the technology, I see, is that it will enable doctors to work interactively with radiology reports—if it’s a Cat scan, an x-ray or an MRI, or even a Doppler scan, they will be able to turn things around in a 3D world and be able to offer better diagnosis. But for you and me, I will suggest we wait.

The Samsung LED backlit 3D TV is already available in India against orders, and LG and Panasonic should be here around this month. Philips 3D TV is expected to be here around mid June, and TCL is available in China. Once most of these brands come in, we will see prices drop. Currently, Samsung’s 3D LEDs, with a screen size of 40–65 inch, cost Rs 130,000–435,000. Its 3D LCDs (46–55 inch screen size) cost Rs 129,000–186,900, and the 63 inch 3D plasma costs around Rs 300,000. Eventually, as more content becomes available and 3D technology becomes mainstream, we will see prices crash, as happened with LCD televisions.
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the above article appeared in the Open Magazine, Issue Dated 14th May 2010.

So What Happened - Reliance Downtime New York to London

A couple of days back I was talking to a good friend and a senior person in the Industry on what would happen if the Alexandria crash of 2008 happened again and how long will it take to recover. I understand that Reliance, has built spare capacities, their new network diagram for the global foot print



You will notice that there are 3 Landing Points in the USA.

Palo Alto called PAO001 / Los Angeles LAX002 and New York NYC005

The Palo Alto to Japan Link was working fine but for some reason the link between London and New York stopped working. Also no data was available from the LA002 to Japan Route so not sure if this pop is operational.

I am also not sure why the network between NYC005 and PAO001 was not routing. Though there is no comment from Reliance about the Downtime, and since the Downtime lasted between 1345 GMT on 14th April 2010 to 1939 GMT on 14th April 2010, it should not be a Cable Cut.

I am still trying to get a word from Reliance Communication on what had happened. This is my 2 cents from the understanding of their network. Though it is quite possible that the problem is on one of the routes from New York to London and the Redundant Route is now working or it could just be a NAP / POP issue.

I will keep updating this threat as and when I recieve information. As of now the Reliance network is routing fully and traffic is moving on the New york London Link.

The Diagnosis was done using multiple points of presence and public Traceroute / Ping Servers across the Globe and also using Looking Glass Toolkit on Flag Telecom's website to ascertain the location of the outage.

The world wide web of ‘original fakes’

A fake will have a great price, but no value
Some days back a newspaper started running ads for the iPhone, strangely spelt as iFone. The phone had the same specs as the iPhone from Apple, and the real price was slashed to show the discounted price. The images used were also from Apple’s press section. While the Advertising Standards Council of India can take a call on this and other such misleading ads, it is for the consumers to be careful about not falling prey to the “original fakes”.

The fakes are everywhere. Take a walk down inside Palika Bazaar in Delhi and you will see ‘Kingston’ and ‘Transcend’ USB pen drives that claim to store up to 1TB of data. When you plug them into the demo laptops in the shops, they will show the promised storage capacity, but once you bring them home they won’t even work. Considering where you bought it from, you can forget about a replacement. As expected, the business of fakes goes far beyond pen drives, beyond even Nokia or BlackBerry look-alikes.

While there is no arguing that online sales is the commerce of the future, third-party companies outsourced to run operations and discount websites that buy from anyone and everyone will only leave you with more such fake products.

In many cases, parts are harvested from electronic waste sent for recycling. For instance, workers dismantle motherboards, recover components and sand the parts to remove markings. They then imprint forged dates, brand names and product codes.
The parts make their way to electronics marketplaces and other intermediaries before being distributed globally by suppliers. The fake manufacturers are smart enough to remove all original identification and screen print new names, make new boxes and send you a shipment that you will pay for happy at the great price that you got, but not realising that there is no value in your purchase.

So, before you buy a RAM or processor, or even a hard disk, from your neighbourhood computer guy always check his source. It is better to ensure that the equipment is in the original packing and with the bill.

Just remember, everyone from Cisco to HP is affected, and the fakes are only getting better with time. So make sure that your source is genuine and the price what it should be.

How to spot a FAKE

*The price is too good
*Products from online websites where you can’t see the gadget till it is delivered to your home
*Check holograms and also lookup the manufacturer website for identity information
*Make sure the documentation is in English and has the same font across the manual with absolutely no spelling mistakes
*If you can, check the serial number on the validation page of the manufacturer. Quite a lot of manufacturers allow you to do this. While it is possible that the serial number has been re-used by the counterfeiter, this is one more step to avoid falling into the trap

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The above article appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday April 11, 2010

The Right Design - Review Wind U160 from MSI

U160 is an award-winning design, but MSI should have improved on storage
It was love at first sight. Everything about the way the MSI Wind U160 looked, the stylish chiclet keyboard, the shiny brown body with the flash-cut Mac-like MSI logo and the round power button on the side, impressed me. After all, this machine won the iF Product Design Award for 2010.

And it was not all design. The U160 has a dedicated switch for wireless along with the 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth and a LED backlight screen with a refresh rate of 8 ms, one of the best in the netbook segment. Like other netbooks with the new age Pine Trail Atom Processor, the U160 too comes packed with a 1.6GHZ Single Core Atom Processor, with 1 GB RAM, and Windows 7 starter edition. The machine performed pretty well during web browsing as well as office work and stayed cool all along thanks to the special design.

MSI claims the U160 can deliver about 12 hours of battery backup, and I easily managed 8+ hours of work, a great plus point in a portable netbook. However, I would have loved to see a dedicated switch to turn off the display and save some more power. On the other hand, the webcam switch on MSI laptops is a bit of a let down, for every time you are about to chat you realise that the webcam is switched off.

For some reason MSI has chosen to fit the model with just a 160 GB hard disk, among the smallest today. The model is also not high on ergonomics, especially compared to the Asus EEE PC 1005P, the Pine Trail model already in the market. This one was a bit awkward in terms of the hand position, and small keys took some getting used to. But, the chiclet key design works well in dimly lit rooms.

Though the small 2.5” x 1.8” touchpad is nice to touch and bumpy, the single metal button is a bit of an irritant, as you often end up touching it inadvertently. But unlike MSI’s X series which has very stylish white LEDs, this one has irritating red, yellow, green and blue LEds all over the place. Plus, the U160 seems to have a weak Wi-Fi reception and it could sense just 50 per cent network signal strength where my iPod showed 80 per cent.

While like many other netbooks, MSI too has done away with the page up / page down keys, it was nice to see an additional Function key on the right hand side next to the arrow keys which makes it easy to go to the top or bottom of the page and is more ergonomic. But this also means you have a smaller shift key to work with on the right.

The 10” screen runs at a native resolution of 1024 x 600, so some sites don’t open up properly, but then this is a problem with most netbooks. The machine looks slim from the front, but is thicker towards the rear to give the battery air room to cool. The U160 sports three USB ports, headphone and microphone jacks, a VGA port, and an Ethernet port. There is also a Kensington lock port if needed.
The MSI U160 will cost Rs 24,999 when it is launched in India mid-April.

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The above review appeared in the Indian Express on Sunday 4th of April 2010

Peek-A-Boo (A Boo Boo)

India’s first dedicated email device promises a lot, but the service lets it down
It was about four months back that I heard that the Peek, 2008’s gadget of the year, was being launched in India by Aircel. About two weeks back, this dedicated mobile email device was finally launched in India with a relatively low-key announcement. Thanks to the Rs 2,999 price tag, it didn’t take long for the units to fly off the shelf.

I finally managed to find a retailer who had an unsold unit, and decided to get myself a prepaid service as the post-paid account entails a lot of paper work. I was hoping to get my email configured and working as soon as I opened the box, but I was in for a rude shock, as it takes up to 48 hours for the handset to be activated. Though Aircel call centres have different excuses for this, it appears that the company has to go back to the Peek guys in Bangalore and get it manually activated.

I managed to get the unit activated after two days, but not without a number of phone calls. Once online, however, I was able to easily get my Gmail and Yahoo mails working. Though only Rediff Pro mails work on the unit, it can be configured for Windows Live Mail.

The box clearly stated that it had support for Exchange Server and all mail servers that had a Pop or an IMAP port available. This is where I got another shock. To get your office mail configured, your IT team will have to fill up an Excel sheet form and share your username and password with Aircel, which in turn will sent it to Peek to get the account configured. But, I was not going to share my password with anyone and it finally took a brilliant guy at Peek to find a way around it.

The handset design is really catchy, with properly spaced QWERTY keys ideal for typing. However, the keys are a bit hard and the spacebar somewhat smallish, though there are dedicated @ and number keys. The right hand side has a scroll wheel and an escape key, while the power key is placed on top. The 2.5” screen works decently in bright sunlight and has a welcome matt finish to it.

The metal rear has the Aircel and Peek Email logos etched on it. The handset can store up to 5,000 emails before it replaces the oldest with new mails. It also supports up to 1,000 contacts which can be directly downloaded from your Yahoo or Gmail account. However, I had trouble downloading contacts from my corporate server. You can configure up to three email accounts, though they will all appear on a single inbox. But you can choose the account for outgoing mail. Sent mails are also stored on the handset, and there is a search function too. While there is an auto-complete for email addresses, the unit does not come with a spelling checker or auto correct. The battery is great though, as a three-hour charge stays for around three days despite all the email usage.

There are some other issues too. Since the online self management portal is still not online, you will have to depend on Peek support often. Currently my Peek runs about 30 minutes delayed, so it is not exactly a push mail service or even live. But I think this is more of a service provider issue.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The device is still a good alternative for those who want access to email 24/7 but don’t want to spend on a BlackBerry. Sadly, Aircel charges Rs 300 a month for unlimited access, roughly what you would pay for a much better BlackBerry package. Rs 100 a month seems a better price point for the service on offer.

This is a dedicated email device and there is no way you can use it to make a call, which will appeal to many buyers. But it is unclear whether the units will work outside India. However, if you are that hooked to your mail, I suggest you invest in a BlackBerry.

How To Buy

To buy the Peek, you need to pay the Rs 2,999 handset cost, Rs 897 for the first three months service, Rs 25 for the SIM card. Later, you can buy a Rs 300 coupon every month from Aircel.

Services

You can check you account balance using the item menu, though it will take roughly 10 minutes to retrieve the information. The Ask Peek services let you fetch cricket scores, movie information and other information services by sending an email.

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The Above article / review appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday 28th March 2010.

Broadband, an Infrastructure Challenge

Last week, the US government started exploring the possi- bility of a new Broadband Bill, and this prompted me to look at the status of our Internet connectivity is. The US mulls moving to a minimum speed of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to each home and at least a gigabit per second (Gbps) to each university. I am not aware of any university, college or a corporate that is currently using 100 Megabits per second. India is one of the leading countries that develop and work as the backbone of information technology. But while the Internet penetration has grown and speed leaped forward, the way our Internet access has been growing is something to worry about. This week I try to explore what are the reasons I feel that the growth has been slow, and how we can make the growth speedier .

We all agree that the Internet connectivity to the masses, commonly known as broadband—defined as always-on-Internet—delivered to people has helped us grow the economy, our personal businesses as well as increase the reach and availability of information. Some of us will argue that there is still a digital divide and some will take the stand that though Internet tariffs are attractive, the speeds are not.

Internet was made available to the masses on August 15, 1995, through the Gateway Internet Access Service (GIAS) of VSNL. Back then, you could get a 14.4 Kbps going up to about 28.8 Kbps of Internet bandwidth, starting with a limited level of access shell account to the new age TCP/IP socket accounts. Then, you paid roughly about Rs 15,000 per annum for a 500-hour connection.

Zoom in to 1999 when telecom operators started realising the 56 Kbps that the dial-up Internet could reach was limiting their growth. New private players emerged with the first set of broadband services, at 64 Kbps unlimited, but you had to shell out anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 6,000 a month depending on if you were a corporate or a home user; this is where the trouble started.

The Internet does not distinguish between a corporate or a home user; both use the Net to download content and to send information to other networks. But yes, the corporates were assumed to be heavy users while the home users were thought to be light. I could see why the price arbitrage was required back in those days, as roughly 97% of the servers that had content and email were outside India. Data needed to travel on international private leased circuits which would cost an ISP or telecom provider similar to an international call, making bandwidth expensive.

The sudden explosion in the dotcom space, a lot of development of applications and growth of service providers spun off entities that would host the servers in India. My company was one of them starting back in 1996, but we did not see content move to India until as late as 2004 when suddenly most of the large content providers started looking at servers in India to offer higher speed connectivity and a better experience to their website visitors. Also, in keeping with trends, the broadband kept redefining itself to a minimum of 128 Kbps. In 2005, the government of India mandated that for a service to be called broadband, it had to have at least 256 Kbps of interconnect speed between the customer and the point of presence. Another big mistake here.

The 256 Kbps of speed was defined as the capacity of the line between your house or office to the telecom/Internet service provider and not the Internet bandwidth available to you. The government suddenly realised that there was need to interconnect all Internet service providers and within themselves; they were not talking to each other. So, the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) was set up in 2003 and today, approximately 31 ISPs connect and exchange information at NIXI, which sadly does not go above 8 gigabits per second on any day. While NIXI backbone has been built to support up to 100 gigabits per second of traffic and stays underutilised, more and more bandwidth needs to be pushed to exchange points.

Most of the urban homes have broadband now, those who don’t still think it is too expensive or because they don’t see a need for it. Cheaper broadband will enable more and more people to connect to it, while faster broadband will enable doctors to monitor paitients remotely over the Internet (What we saw in 3 Idiots is just a glimpse of things to come—people are already using video conference to talk to each other, but the cost is still too high) and students take classes online. High speed internet means high quality video.

Companies such as BSNL and Airtel are at the high-speed frontier. Airtel has announced that the minimum speed of its broadband will be 512 Kbps. BSNL has a 24 Mbps plan, though it may not be easily available. But it is interesting to see a state-run operator coming out with the fastest possible broadband plan aimed at home users.

The ISPs need to drop the differentiation between a home user and a business user. The differentiation could be on the sharing ratios of services: business users end up buying Internet bandwidth as leased circuits, and pay as little as Rs 1.8 lakh per annum for a 2 Mbps link, i.e, Rs 15,000 per month for 2 Mbps, while a home user may get a 2 Mbps unlimited plan for as little as Rs 4,000 per month. It is the same bandwidth, but with different content ratios; while the corporate user will be able to peak up to 2 Mbps at all times, a home user may or may not peak depending on the loads.

The price war is taking place, new ISPs such as Tikona are changing the landscape and older players are entering new territories. But the unfair use of the term ‘fair usage policy’ needs to be looked at seriously. So, unlimited connection means there is no limit, but a *on the ‘unlimited’ signifies that there is a rider; people have billing hassles with the largest ISPs and tend to choose smaller plans, or stick to plans of limited speeds. The chicken-and-egg question of the content or the speed first needs to be answered at a time international connect prices are falling, more content providers looking at India and the country generating its own content. The content and the bandwidth seem to be merging and plans need to be drawn up for truly unlimited downloads.

Where do we stand today? The government is very supportive and ISPs have started talking to each other, but the premise that most of the content still lies outside India is not true. The other premise that international bandwidth is expensive also does not hold true any more. The world’s leading connectivity companies such as Teleglobe Network, i2i Networks and Flag are owned partially or fully by leading Indian telcos such as Tata Communications (formerly known as VSNL), Bharti Airtel and Reliance, respectively.

The premise that content is out of India is changing at a high speed. Though telecom operators need to focus on interconnectivity within each other and setting up peering/exchange points, they are still trying to outsell each other in terms of bandwidth. An archaic law such as the one stipulating content providers will not be allowed to peer with NIXI creates its own headaches. Today, a company such as Google has to come in and set up its servers at all three major telecom providers (Bharti Airtel, Tata Communciations and Reliance) while they could easily plug into the NIXI and be available to all Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 ISPs. We need to review the opportunities in the infrastructure segment and enable the growth of the Internet.

My request to the government would be to expand speeds in multiples of megabits per second, and let private exchange points come into the picture. It is in the interest of Internet service providers to connect with each other. I agree that they are competing but interconnects at independent levels, similar to what happens on the telephone links, would help the market mature and take a different shape. The definition of broadband if expanded to minimum 2 megabits per second will help increase penetration and expand use of the Internet beyond the casual use of checking email, updating Facebook status, watching live interactive videos, being part of global conferences and creating more and more content.

Broadband is an infrastructure challenge. It has been a long time that it was a demand and supply game. From now, the goal should be getting more people online and the price and speed mixture correct. We have come a long way and the growth has been amazing, but going forward, we need to enable leaps in megabits per second, and not kilobits per second. Rural areas lag not because there is a digital divide or there is no need of broadband there. It’s just that players have not reached this market as yet. The government has announced schemes, but there is a need to have content. Your average Web hosting company still wants to put up its servers outside the country as it is cheaper. But this flow of servers outside not only moves our content outside, but also precious dollars other companies earn. The more content is local and the more content is generated, the more impetus will it generate.

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The Above article appeared in the Financial Express, on Thursday 25th March 2010

Smart Devices - How are the Cell Phones Evolving

I remember a time when the phone was a phone, and all you could do was make calls with it—that is, if it worked. Cellphones changed all that, not only did they work (well at least back then they did) but were bought on a simple pretext—what do you like. If it had a game and having a colour screen was a big thing. And then, suddenly, something happened—the cellphone transformed into an intelligent device, and you could now download software applications to do more with your phone.

I remember when Symbian just came out and all the rage was to get the Opera browser working on the phone and get on the most sluggish GPRS connectivity and be happy that you reached a Web page. Symbian also brought along with it headaches, of phones crashing, not performing well, acting up on you and getting infected by virus, though most technology pundits at that time ruled that we will go back to non-smart phones. But today, the market is crowded with smart phones.

Buying a phone is no longer about the brand or the looks—it’s also about what it can do and does it have applications. Some ask, does it have an app store. Others say let them backup the phone online to their servers so that whenever they change the phone (be it dead or lost), just switch on the new phone, punch in a few buttons and get their data back. It can’t be more complicated than it is now.

It is a confused state of mind, with smartphones from Blackberry that run the Blackberry OS, some phones supporting Windows Mobile (6.1 and 6.5 are currently available and the 7 is coming out), Symbian, Linux, or plain simple Android. Most users today go in for what the phone looks like and try to stick to the same brand and family of phones for fear of retraining themselves and having a comfort. Only the tech guys go in and ask for platforms. In an opinion poll that I did with a few retailers and some people known in the mobile industry, the focus is very basic at the end of the day to get a phone that is easy to use as a phone, both for single-origin calls and conference calls, to be able to do email and messaging well.

Blackberry has started to emerge as the winner. It is one of the most stable phones in the market when it comes to a smart phone, also because of the reason that applications on this platform available to the end user were limited and you really could not infect a Blackberry out of the box. The lovely interface and inter-operability with any personal computer operating system has given it a winning edge.

Though still the most popular platform in India seems to be the Symbian OS Phones, the currently defining market share of one operating system versus others is really not possible. Closed operating system phones such as the iPhone have also picked up market momentum. People still end up choosing phones on preferences such as how good the camera is is the GPS worth it; how much capacity is the data card; does it have a touch screen; a big screen, can one listen to music on it; does it have an FM radio, etc.

The phones are now becoming application centre pieces, with data being the next revenue for telecom operators. After all, with the current and future falling rates of voice calls, the average revenue per unit (ARPU) does not make any business sense to operators.

Microsoft recently announced its Windows 7 Mobile operating system, though most of the phones that had Microsoft Windows 6.1 Mobile Edition never even came out with Windows 6.5 in India. We will have to see if the Windows 7 will really make an impact.

Due to its openness, Android has a lot of people making some great applications. Even the team at Google, and the Open Handset Alliance backing it, are creating a great set of location-specific applications, and also changing how you interact with the phone. From a point where the phone was a 12-key numeric touchpad, and changed to touch screens, hybrids and then multi-touch, the next frontier is to talk to your phone either through voice, or use pictures for it to do your work. Android takes a huge leap in it.

And then there are captive operating systems, owned by companies such as Samsung, Nokia and Motorola which are run only on their devices. These phones perform marvellously in terms of basic telephony and messaging, but stick to very simple applications. A set of people wants to stick to phones that are only phones. To people looking at a phone that can replace their camera, MP3 player and gaming device, look at the smarter phones.

Linux the other open operating system, has been chosen by a lot of players; Motorola brought in a Linux phone that had partial success. Some other players had their own Linux variants, but Nokia funded a software platform called Maemo that is based on Debian Linux. Though the operating system is more targeted towards tablet computing than phones, there have been mixed reactions to its success. At the Mobile World Congress in February this year, Maemo merged with Moblin to form MeeGo. It is expected to generate a lot of interest. A not so well known platform called Brew from Qualcomm is taking shape. With already more than 18,000 applications on the platform and 1,200-plus handset models already out there, this is going to take the feature-rich, low-cost phones mainstream.

It is the best time for developers. Now you can write an application for the platform you like and there is a wonderful SDK that lets you build out some interactive applications. With the iPad here in a few weeks, development on the Apple platform is increasing. What lags it that both the phone and the iPad will be closed devices and can only have application access from Apple-owned stores.

Linux developers were stuck with the kind of applications they could develop on the mobile Linux platform. That is also one reason that phones such as the A910 were not very succesful, but the MeeGo platform offers more opportunities. Symbian and Java have been leaders in their own ways, though limited options were available on what the apps could look and feel like. But the way Symbian OS has been adopted and if it maintains a good speed, it will remain the chosen smartphone OS for many manufacturers. The new look on the Windows 7 Mobile phone is very interesting for the user to develop and a large Microsoft development community should come out with some good looking applications, but how much and when is still a bit unknown.

With cheaper operating systems such as Android, MeeGo and Brew, handset manufacturers will be able to offer application- and feature-rich phones, that have different OS. Some manufacturers like Brew will allow you to change the OS on your phone and use their apps. The market is still evolving, and it is difficult to say who will emerge as the winner, but for now, I would rather stick to a stupid simple phone.

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The Above article appeared in the Financial Express, on Thursday, 4th March 2010

Staying invincible - Big Geek Brings You a Double Whammy on the Internet Explorer

Everybody knows that Internet Explorer is unsafe. But, trust me, though there are many good options, some corporations and governments still stick to Internet Explorer as their preferred browser and many applications do not work properly on any other. Also keeping in mind that IE is fully integrated into the Windows operating system and you just can't uninstall it. So, how do you make sure you are secured and have the latest updates to avoid a cyber attack?

Stop piracy
It is important to stick to genuine software. All of us want to run the prohibitively costly Adobe Photoshop to edit our pictures. But it is better to opt for freeware applications that let you do similar functions. The same is the case with operating systems. If you feel you do not want to spend on Windows, go ahead and give Linux a try. Or else, check out cheaper Starter Editions that offer limited functions but are good for home use. Anyway, make sure your OS is genuine and not pirated.

Antivirus
A good antivirus does not mean that you got it from your friend who bought a CD, it just means you paid for the antivirus or got one free from a great company like avg.com. With companies losing revenue to pirated software vendors, more and more companies are dropping prices. So it makes more sense to buy a paid version. Check with your friends and read some reviews if you can’t decide which antivirus is better. As we spend more time online and with the threats becoming more potent, it is advisable to get an antivirus with an inbuilt firewall to protect your computer from getting hijacked. While products like Bit Defender and Kaspersky are cheaper, high-end products like McAfee and Norton Antivirus will cost more. The choice is yours; just make sure you are buying a legal version.

Updates
Having a legal version of a software itself removes a lot of bugs, but it is also important to update your system regularly. Though most OS come with a built-in auto update utility, I have seen users disable this to save their bandwidth. If you want to disable the automatic update, it is suggested that you manually check for updates every fortnight. Update your OS every 15 days and your antivirus, antispyware and firewall everyday

Storage & file transfer
With the floppy drive era over, thumb drives, memory cards and Bluetooth file transfers have become the latest way to get a virus. In case you use memory cards or pen drives it is always suggested that you scan them immediately on connect. It might seem like a waste of time, but the first five minutes is when the virus enters the system. Try not to share thumb drives and memory cards. If your friend wants a file, email it to him.

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The above article appared in the Indian Express on Sunday 24th of January 2010. The Above video was a part of the news builiten on CNN IBN

Click@2010

This promises to be an exciting year as far as technology is concerned. A look at what you can expect
3G in India
As the world moves towards 4G, let us hope India finally resolves the battle for 3G spectrum. We are all hassled by speed issues on our mobile phones, with the only good option now being the Tata Photon+ and Reliance NetConnect which manage about 1 megabit in the metros. It is about time we too got high-speed Internet on phones which will enable us to pull attachments as well as use value-added services and essential business apps with location specific data applications. Though 3G is unlikely to penetrate many sections of the Indian market, let us hope we still get the option this year.

Number portability
Most of us are unhappy with our service providers and are waiting for the day number portability will allow us to move on to another company with better services. Number portability will not only give you the liberty of choosing the right plan, but even the service provider that you feel suits your requirements. The move could open a Pandora’s box of problems for service providers — they will have a tough time retaining customers. Expect a price and features war across companies.

Multi-core processors
Users have always been a bit apprehensive about the processing power of netbook — whether the Atom has the speed to handle your daily usage compared to a Core2Duo? However, this cannot be answered without a long technical discussion. For those of us who are looking at power higher than an Atom processor, the new multi-core processors like the Atom dual core from Intel are likely to change that forever. But will we be calling them netbooks anymore?

Chrome OS
Till recently, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows were the only options on which to run your PC. But that was till Google announced its Google Chrome OS. For some people Chrome will be the best available option, but with Jolicloud already available for download, a lot of companies will move to cloud services. On it, your PC will no longer crash, get attacked by a virus or need to be backed up. As you live your life online, both paid and free services will ensure that your computer is actually a computer, and not your master. Chrome will run on both X86 as well as ARM chips and Google is working with multiple manufacturers to bring a number of netbooks to the international markets next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. All web-based applications will automatically work and application developers can develop and write new applications using their favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Boxee Hardware
The biggest news last month was the partnership between Boxee and D-link to manufacture Boxee hardware. This January, when the hardware becomes available, it is expected to change the way we look at television, enabling the idiot box to become an interactive social media platform. Though a lot of plug-in mediaplayers are available now, the simplistic interface of Boxee, with the integrated social media applications, will transform television into an interactive family entertainment centre.

Personal TV
REMEMBER the hugely popular Casio personal TVs that could catch Doordarshan signals. With newer technologies and full-fledged 3G on the anvil, personal TVs like FLO are sure to make it to the gadget wishlist, making sure your PMP now has live TV along with stored media feeds — so that you could watch what you want, where and when you want it.

Que e-reader
Sadly, the Nook and Kindle, which revolutionised the way we saw books, were designed for retail consumers. The needs of the business market to view presentations, graphics, Word documents and spreadsheets on a touch interface with e-ink capabilities were forgotten. On January 7, Plastic Logic will launch its Que ebook reader, the first for the business e-reader. With a 8.5x11” layout, 1/3” thickness and looks similar to an A4 sheet, the Que will have Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. Plastic Logic has also tied up with Barnes and Nobles to have their library of free and paid books available on the Que, but you can always download and read your own documents.

Dual-screen laptops
Those of us who have learnt that multiple monitors mean higher productivity miss the advantage of having an additional monitor when working on laptops. But various vendors are expected to release laptops with dual screens this year, making more ‘real estate’ available for high-end professional designers, filmmakers, programmers and just about anyone who feels the second screen is a much needed accessory even on the move.

Fujitsu LifeBook UH 900
While Fujitsu have already unveiled their LifeBook U1010UMPC for a fat Rs 85,000, what remains to be seen is when the recently launched LifeBook UH 900 makes its presence felt here. Along with a super sleek design, the UH900 boasts of full-fledged Windows 7 capability, a multi-touch support and a host of eye-popping features. The unit weighs less than 500 g and features a 62 GB solid-state drive storage, a sunlight readable WXGA display, an Intel Atom Z530 processor, ThinkFree Mobile software for easy editing of slides and word documents.

Asus T91MT NetBook
From the guys who gave the world its first small PC comes the Eee PC T91MT, a netbook that features multi-touch gestures and a Windows 7 platform. While the netbook, thanks to its slate form, is a wonderfully easy to use e-book reader, in the normal version it will be handy enough to be used for everyday presentations. The 8.9-inch screen features a highly responsive handwriting recognition touch screen which will also support tap, drag, pinch and flick. The T91MT also has a solid 32 GB hard drive and is compatible with the 500 GB Asus Web Storage programme. The best part is the swivel screen that can accommodate multiple users at the same time and the bundle of touch sensitive software that can be used to the user's satisfaction.

Asus AiGuru SV1T
Skype has given us a lot of liberty, the liberating ability to conference with family and friends across the globe. The Skype phone enables us to run the application anywhere in a Wi-Fi zone. But using Skype on iPod, iPhone or Skype phone means you can talk on it like on a regular phone. The Asus AiGuru SV1T available which is expected to hit Indian shores this month will enable video calls to any Skype-enabled PC or phone. Soon, at the touch of a button, you could have a virtual dinner with your family, wherever they are.

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The above article appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday, Jan 03, 2010. It was co-authored with Rohan Swamy and Shawan Sen

2009: When the PC changed

The new Mac OSX snow leopard and windows 7, along with the chrome OS, are sure to change the way all of us use computers
Wow, what a year! When you look back at 2009, you will see how technology has moved towards a world that is free from the clutches of old corporations, letting you do things the way you like to. 2009 was a year in which the alternatives became the mainstream.

There are thousands of things that come out each year, but two major releases and a major announcement this year changed the PC world like never before. Apple announced its OSX Snow Leopard while Microsoft moved on to Windows 7, by far the best Windows yet, optimised for speed even on the slowest of Atom machines and full of eye candy. The Mac OSX Snow Leopard took all Apple machines to the world of 64bit. Though there were teething troubles, this was truly a move that allowed use of the latest dual core and quad core processors. Windows, though still available as both 32bit and 64bit, also became a bit cheaper making its 7 the fastest adopted Microsoft OS till date. Though there is always a debate about who stole what from whom, both the operating systems are without doubt friendlier to the user. Meanwhile, Google jumped into the OS war announcing that its Chrome would be available in 2010.

Along with the operating systems, 2009 also changed the way we looked at PCs. People finally came to terms with the fact that a fast processor was not always what they wanted, but something that worked. Atom laptops, popular as netbooks, took over and everyone wanted to own one. While Lenovo and HP came out with stylish but slightly pricey Atom netbooks, Samsung followed with multiple colours and Dell with its own Mini.

Atoms made big sense; you could buy a laptop for as little as Rs 18,000 and get up to six hours of battery life with screens that started off at six inches. But that was before the 10 and 12 inch models started appearing on the scene, bridging the gap between notebooks and netbooks. Sony came up with the icing on the cake, its ViaoX, the thinnest and lightest laptop I have ever come across, though at a fat price of Rs 65,000

Finally, Amazon launched the international edition of their bestseller Kindle. However, Kindle still ships from the US and you still have to buy it using a credit card on the website and not at a store. But the launch definitely made the world flatter, with all serious technology players looking at India as a big market.

I think the most looked forward launch of this year was the Blackberry 8520 which you could buy own for under Rs 15,000 — you no longer had to get a home loan to buy a Blackberry. With service providers also making it cheaper by offering e-mail only plans at Rs 250 a month, more and more people were seen sporting Blackberries.
The other big thing was the aluminium body laptops. The war was started by Apple, before HP, ViewSonic and Dell followed suit with their own aluminium avatars. However, only Dell thought of a lighted keyboard while others are still wondering how they can manage the increased heat of the light under the keyboard.

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The above article appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday 20th December 2009
Now, to see what 2010 holds for us.

Quickfix Art

The Internet is making it easier for all of us to try our hands at the arts, even create some “masterpieces” without spending an additional penny. This week I look at three websites, one that lets you create your own music without you having to learn anything and two others that help you create beautiful art, without having to pick up a brush.

Tone Matrix
Tone matrix (http://bit.ly/ie-music ) uses a simple Sinewave synthesiser triggered by a 16-step sequencer. Each trigger step causes a tone to be generated using a wave map, the tones in sequence sound like music. To generate music, you start off with a blank canvas which has a 16x16 grid. The click of a mouse turns on the component in the grid and another click turns it off. Click any one and you start hearing a single tone, click the second one and you have two tones. If you move up on the Y axis, you have a higher tone, moving down gives you a scaled down tone. The X axis movement does not change the tonal range, so in case you want two beeps of the same range, you switch on two lights on the X axis. Two lights in the same Y column will produce a chord like affect, which is similar to striking multiple notes at the same time. Trust me, making music on Tone Matrix is addictive. I found it interesting to write the characters of my name and generating music from them.
If you want to take it to the next step, or, as the author of the website says, make the music a lot more spicier, try your hand at the Audio Tool (hobnox.com/audiotool) and play around with beat boxes, baselines, splitters, delays, gates and compressors. Tone Matrix uses a pentatonic scale; don’t get into what it means, but what it will ensure that whatever you generate will sound good. I know this will sound like a toy to some of you, but try it on a day you are down and tired, and it will certainly perk up your energy levels.

Artpad & Strip Generator

Artpad (artpad.art.com) is very similar to Microsoft Paint, but has better brushes, a paint throwing bucket, a tex tool and opacity control.
You can also frame your paintings, and best of all you can playback your actions and see the “master painter” at work. If you think your work is worth sharing, the site allows you to directly send an email to a friend to view your masterpiece. You can also hang your painting in the websites public art gallery.

Strip Generator (stripgenerator.com) on the other hand uses comic set characters and bubbles, to let you make your own comic strip. So if you thought you had brilliant ideas on making a comic strip but couldn’t draw even a smiley, try your hand at the Strip Generator. Do play with the character generator—everyone ‘loved’ the Dracula I created— remember a few dialogues from an old Hindi movie and see your story come to life.
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The above article appeared in the Indian Express, issue dated Sunday 25th October, 2009

HTC MAGIC - First Android Phone Finally Available in India Next Week

The Wait finally seems to be over, with a Press Release, Airtel is Bringing the First Android Phone in India.

The HTC Magic, also known as the T-Mobile myTouch will be available across Stores in India, in the first week of July.

Though HTC has signed up with Airtel to launch the Handset, it should soon be available across every network.

I am expecting a Test Unit from Rediffusion DYR, their PR Agency in India, and will run a full review on it, so look out for it.


Just a Brief Look at the features

3G / 3.2" HVGA screen / 3.2 mega pixels Camera / Airtel customers get free 100 mb data download per month / Rs. 29,990 for the Handset

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Smart Power Outlets - Now Why did no one else think of it

Electrical Fire, a very common thing that happens across the globe, what was meant to be a single outlet to connect a TV or a Bed Side Lamp, has become an extension cord, and has Cell phone chargers, Mosquitto Repellers, Laptops, and yes, the Bed Side lamps plugged into it, and chances are, that your outlet may soon burn down, or spark, and worst comes to worst, cause an electric fire.

While going through TED, I came across this brilliant talk / presentation by John La Grou, an Inventor, Designer, and Entrepreneur.

Now I Wonder, why the **** did no one else think of this ?

John La Grou unveils an ingenious new technology that will smarten up the electrical outlets in our homes, using microprocessors and RFID tags. The invention, Safeplug, promises to prevent deadly accidents like house fires -- and to conserve energy.

iPhone 3G[s] - It's finally Here

Well rumour mill or not, the iPhone 3G[s] is finally here, it is faster, more powerful and starts at US$ 99. A Wall Street Journal report, mentions that apple has lowered the price so as to increase sales.

Though now the iPhone 3G (which was earlier available as 16 and 32 GB) is 8GB to start off at US$ 99, the iPhone 3G[s] starts at US$ 199. Details of India Launch, and India Pricing is still not available with me, but I will be in touch with Apple India to get you more Juicy details.

Just a few features, that were supposedly Rumors, which are now incorporated in the new iPhone 3G[s]:

*2x Improved Performance
*Built in Video Camera with Editing
*Compass
*Voice Control

What is interesting is that the Voice Control not only let's you make / answer phone calls, but also let's you play music. The Voice control works in several languages, click here for details, though I would have loved, if I could make a Calendar Entry using Voice, then I would really have a handsfree driving experience.

I think this version will finally make iPhone my chosen Gadget, can't wait to get one from Apple to test... Anyone at Apple reading this :)

To see the Trailers of Ad's from Apple iPhone 3G[s] release click here.

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Two New Microsoft Announcements - The Wow Factor

Last evening I was in an argument about how motion gaming is changing the outlook of games and it's developers. With the iPhone and it's wonderful set of games, and now most of the cell phone manufacturers coming out with their own concept of motion gaming, Wii taking the world over, how could Microsoft be left behind.

At E3, Microsoft Today announced a more interactive version of the controller, looks like indoor games (on the video game console) are soon going to replace us having to gout. Check out the Video from BBC News



The second video shows, what Science fiction has not yet spoken about, if you want virtual children, this will help you solve it.. WOW

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.

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

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 ?

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