What Size AC Do I need ?

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

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

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

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

G

3 Websites to Help you Save Money

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

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

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

GS

beinSync File online and Storage Marry in the Buffalo Web Access

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

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

G

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

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

I am drooling..

G

Google Maps - India also working, but not as detailed

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

Love to wait and watch how they will evolve.

GS

OLPC @ US$ 175 a Piece

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

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

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

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

GS

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

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

GS

Finally, Good Street Maps for India

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

Brilliant.

G

3 Money Saving Websites

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

Websites listed

• Zoomtra


• Coghead


• Jajah

G

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

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

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

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

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

GS

TRAI Announcement - What a CRAP

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

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

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

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

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

What a bunch of Crap.

GS

Where are the Podcasts for Gadget Guru ho Ja Shuru

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

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

GS

First Case of Car Found using GSM / GPS Tracker

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

GS

Smart Cars - Smarter Gadgets

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

G

Tomorrow’s technologies

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

G

CAS or DTH, making Sense of the Greek !!

Are you as confused as any third person on the road, do you choose, the Tata Sky or the Dish TV in DTH, or maybe the CAS that your cable walah is offering, let me try to make some sense of the greek people are speaking about, click here, to read my views online, or buy the Express Money, with Indian Express on Monday Jan 8th 2007.

G

Work, Play, Indulge - 7 Gadgets for 2007

My New years gift to you, 7 Technology / Gadgets that I think will make it big for all of us in 2007, from the Samsung Black jack to the Ninetendo Wii.

Also my 7 Predictions for all things technology in 2007. Read it online here or by the Monday Edition of Express Money, on 1st January 2007, with the Indian Express.

G

8 Questioins to Ask yourself when you are buying a Laptop ?

Are you in any manner similar to Sanjeev Rai Puri, travelling most of the time with business, and need to be connected wherever you are, worried what happens if your laptop fails, how much battery time will your laptop give you, what if someone steals your laptop, My suggestion to him was a Toshiba Tecra A8, but then I can't personally suggest a model for each one of us, to choose the right model, click here to read my 8 Questions and Answers to ask yourself when you buy a laptop in the Express Money, with Indian Express on the 18th December 2006, nationwide.

G

Internet Filtering Software - Protect your children

Tips to protect your children online, there are many a scares on the Internet, read my solutions in the Express Money, with Indian Express on the 4th of December 06, or click here to read it online.

G

Next Gen DVD Players - Should you by em, or hold on

In the second in the series on high-visibility consumer durable items this festive season, I turn my attention to the next generation of DVD players (last week, I had sized up LCD TVs). The DVD players most of us have today are simple devices you insert a DVD and they play. But the players coming into the market today do more than just that, more so in the context of the way our viewing options are evolving.

To read the full article, pick up the Indian Express dated 30th October 2006, or click here to read it online.

G

How to buy an LCD TV

With the prices of LCD TV hitting rock bottom, and so many advertisements in the Media about LCD TV's, how do you take a decision on which TV to buy, what are the parameters to be compared, is there a rating for the current TV's.

Read my take on it in the Indian Express on Monday 23rd October 2006, or click here to read it online.

G

It's Diwali Again - Indulge

It's diwali time again, and this time around, I am telling you what to buy for yourself, you are a Gadget freek, a tech wizz, well these are gadgets, you should not be seen without.. so go on ahead, grab a copy of the Indian Express, Monday 16th October 2006, or click here to read my take on the 5 cool gadgets you should buy this diwali.

Happy Diwali

G

3G - Music, movies, conferencing…

Questions / Answers / Possiblities, 3G the new hype, the new buzz word, so what all can you do with it, does it make broadband happened, when will it happen in India, what will be the cost, read my take on it by clicking here, or buy the Indian Express this Monday, 9th October 2006.

G

Is this really from Microsoft

I was just updating myself on some of the new phones available in the US and UK, and came across an MP4 player, believe it or not, Microsoft.. I had to read it again, again, again, spell check, again and it was true, it was Microsoft.

Like the picture above, well the specs look cool too.

•30GB capacity - Keep 7,500 songs (MP3 format) or 25,000 photos at your fingertips, or even 100 hours of video
•Photo and video compatible - Sometimes you want more than music to entertain you; the Zune delivers both photo and video options
•Hard drive storage format - Integrated hard drive provides massive amounts of memory for the least amount of money
•3" portrait or landscape video screen - Unusual 3" video screen goes from portrait to landscape mode as you turn your Zune; you always see the best picture possible
•Extensive file format compatibility - Advanced software lets you import most music, photos and videos with ease
•FM tuner - Catch the Top 40, stay up to date with your favorite sports teams, and make sure the weather doesn't take you by surprise
•Online music store - Browse the huge selection of music in the Zune Marketplace designed to work flawlessly with your Zune

More details click here, or and the inside scoop from Cesar Menendez, a Microsoft employee working on Zune - Microsoft's new music project, by clicking here.

Hmm.. now will this be an ipod killer... dont know.. steve jobs..ur comments ?

G

International calls @ Rs 1 per minute

Everytime I needed to call international for a long time, i have loved to use iconnecthere a service from Delta three, and Delta three originally as long as they were in Retail. Even in the early days of the Internet, calling a land line (regular phone line number) in the US was of zero cost, with the emerging technologies in Voip and more and more options coming up, which one should one choose for their daily needs.

In the Express Money on 2nd October 2006, with the Indian express, I compare PC-PC, PC-Phone, and Voip Phone to Phone over Internet technoloiges, and help you choose the right one.

Grab a copy of the Indian Express, or click here to read it online.

G

Silent Launch of the Xbox 360 - What is MS Scared of !

Most of you must have read my colum in the Indian Express, I spoke about XBOX 360 and the PS2 about 6 months back, and was awaiting the launch of the XBOx 360. Rumors in the market had it, that the XBOX should come out by the Diwali this year (20th October), and then I touched base with Mohit Anand .

Our first conversations about May of this year indicated that we will be a part of the launch test, and I actually wanted to share the opinion of what it felt like with all my 1000 odd readers on the website, and through Indian Express..

Sadly the XBOX was launched last week without much fan fare, no big news paper carried the story, no reviews done, just in time to be there in stores for Diwali.. so.. what is it, that MS is scared of.. ... PS3 is not here for another 2 months, I assumed MS wanted to encash on the India Diwali market, but seems like, MS Figured, most of the people who wanted to buy the xBOX already had one :)

Keep it up.

G

The Idiot Box Wars - DTH, IP TV or CAS

I have been yapping about the DTH story for sometime.. Now the government is cler on what it wants to do with the CAS roll out also, a new announcement from MTNL means IPTV should be here in about a month or so.. So.. more options, more confusion... well.. want to know what to choose, or should you wait right now, read my take in Express Money, with the Indian Express on Monday 4th September 2006, nationwide.

G

Choosing the Right Color Printer

Digital camera penetration is growing, I see more and more film camera users now going digital, becasue the cost of running is low.. Printing film is becoming a tougher task, especially those of you who know me well, know that I love black and white film photography, the chances of getting a good photo by clicking, and then the chances of getting it printed are out of any safe probability estimates.

So if you have a Digital printer, and are thinking, why not print an image from the camera at home, read my take on choosing the right digital printer in the Express Money, with Indian Express, on Monday 21st August 2006.

G

Dish TV is Hotttttt

The DTH market in India is becoming Hotter. The only private player in the Industry till a month back, Dish TV from the Zee TV Stable, now has a competitior, (sadly a lost competitor at the moment, learning to teeth), in Tata Sky.

After TDSAT's Intervention in making sure Dish TV has access to all Star TV Channels, Dish TV looks like a Leader.

I fought a battle with my Dish TV STB today to program Star Channels (well I will get them for free If i Get one of dish tv specials, till 31st December 06, and after that is when they will fix costs. Anyway, Dish now has some great offerings,.. Check out dish tv's website for a list of some new channels, and if you are a bit wiser on how to program the STB, check this link out at Lyngsat, which has a list of channels, you may not be getting on your Dish TV, but will be able to, if you go into the setup and change a few settings.

Happy Dishing :)

G

Tata Sky is Online but Still Confused

Tata Launched TATA Sky, it's venture with Star TV and Sky Broadcasting with Pomp and show on the 8th of August. You had only heard of it, if you are an AVID star news watcher, nothing else. Then the site went kaboom, and you could not check what was happening. Yesterday Tata Sky, Launched their new site, and the full fledged advertising campaign across cities, the banners are up, and every one wants to know where to get a Tata Sky Dish Antenna, your's truly decided to get one for testing myself, and thought why not now evaluate if the Dish TV setup I have v/s the Star / Tata sky thing which one is better, so i was back on their site, and found a few things which were interesting to read,

Basic Hardware Cost: Rs. 2999
Installation + Activation + One Year Warranty: Rs. 1000 (Why isn't the warranty included in the product price)
Rs. 200 Per Month for Subscription (you get only and all star channels, nothing else, and no other options, it's 200 or nothing).

So I am doing a comparative on what it costs you, what do you get, look out for that.. In the meanntime, when I called all the dealers in Delhi (I made about 60 phone calls to various dealers), the list was taken from Tata Sky website, and none, yes NO ONE of them had heard of what Tata Sky is, and why their numbers are on the website. I then frantically started calling dealers in the other cities, and wow, same story, no one knows that they sell tata sky dish based system.. it was news to them, some of the dealers even asked, me launch ho gaya bhaiya, ke aise hi bol rahe ho

Well, one thing I figured out, Tata did not get their hosting right, got a partner to shutdown their website, put up a technology company to do a website (that does not work on any linux browser properly), and put up the whole electronics dealer directory from some site, and none of them new about the Tata Sky launch.

Well Good luck Mr. Tata, a businessman I have always respected, but never understood, hopefully this will be another of the ventures like your Indica Car, that will be a great succcess, but why, and how still escapes me.

G

Tata Sky is TATA BYE (AKA Choosing the Right Hosting Company)

This week on TV News was dedicated to the launch of TATA Sky and how it's entry into the Indian Market will help people get a choice, after all, we are all tired of our cable operators. Some of us , like my Dad who were the early movers, chose the ZEE Dish TV and were all waiting for more channels, and the Star Bouquet on it for the last two years. Finally TATA Sky is launched.

But well, my post is not about Tata Sky or it's launch, it is about how to choose the right hosting company. After all you pay the hosting company to make sure the site is running, and not show you

"Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
Apache/1.3.34 Server at www.tatasky.com Port 80"

Why did it happen to Tata Sky, Well TATA is the owner of VSNL, country's largest Internet and Hosting company, Sky a Part of the Star TV Network is one of the largest cable / satellite television networks of Asia, and the Investment to start Tata Sky "Approximately 13,000 crores or US$ 28 billion, if I have my mathematics right".

Who do they choose to host their webiste, well atleast not my company, and atleast not VSNL, but a Shared Hosting Company run by Quadra Infotech (Using Shared hosting servers from DirectI), at a plan of maybe Rs. 5000, for a 100 MB disk space(well how much more do you need for a website).... without reading the fine print Bandwidth Allowed: 1GB... :) Well who will do 1 GB.. TATA did it.. you will do it, anyone can do it.. it's a matter of visitors coming to your site.

Who is the Culprit, someone called Mr. Rasesh Patel, who I believe is someone very senior in Tata Sky's IT Department.

Sadly, Mr. Patel, did not bother to verify the company and or the kind of service they provide, and also forgot to check out, that the same server had 288 other clients for hosting.

So beware and be careful, do not let your IT Guy or your Accounts guy take the decision on where to Host, check everything, read all fine prints... you never know.. you may become famous, and have a dead website saying "The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later."

Have a Happy Weekend.. and Hopefully tatasky.com should be working before we say wake up and smell the coffee. It's 11th August, 2:18 AM.. and I am still up and awake trying to figure out, after all TATA should not have done this.

G

Money Management Software - Mr. Mouse, the Financial Advisor

The New form 2/3 from the Government of India seems to be an impossible tax, after all you spend a lot of cash daily, ranging from your parking tickets, to the burger at Mac Donalds, that you never get a reciept for, or maybe better still, Dominos' pizza, that has the reciept stuck to the pizza box, you can't staple / file your pizza box as proof of payment to Domino's at the end of the year.

Thinking where your money went, or how you could have kept a good tight record of the cash flow, so taht the Form 2 and 3 are not a pain. Well read my take on some Money Management softwares by clicking here, or grab the Print copy of Express Money, with the Indian Express this Monday 7th July 2006, India Wide

G

5 Things to look for in your new DVD Player

DVD Players are a common buy, we dont' give any thoughts when we go out into the market either looking for a new one, or to replace the one that sadly died on us, are there somethings that you should look for, maybe things / features that will make it future proof... well.. read my take on the 5 most important features I think you should look for when you buy your next DVD Player, click here, or Buy the print copy of Express Money, with the Indian Express on Monday 31st July 2006, India wide.

G

Mp3 Phone or MP3 Player + Phone - Indian Express

A lot of us have been troubled by this question, should we in the day and age of mobile entertainment, look at a converged device like the Nokia N91, for mp3 + phone in one, or should we buy a popular mp3 player like an iPod + any other Nokia phone ? Read my take on it in the Express Money, free with Indian Express on Monday July 10, 2006 Nationwide, or click here to read the online version.

G

Is this Technology Abuse ?

Ever had the weather play spoilt sport with you, or been to a wedding that was delayed, because of incessant rains that decided to pour at the n'th hour. Well this news article on CNN IBN, is really cool.

Somnath Chattopadhyay, A priest in Kolkatta, recently solemnised the wedding of Debasree Roy of Kolkata with Dhritiman Dutta of Silchar in Asaam over the mobile phone after the weather gods decided to play spoilsport.

The other day though there was news, that no one can get a divorce over the phone by saying Talak Talak Talak, but getting married on the phone, seems to be still acceptable.

G

Toshiba Does it Again - L30-C330 Launched in India

We got our first consignment from Toshiba today, and Toshiba's done it again, Last year their Celeron Laptops broke the price barrier of Rs. 40,000 and this year, they have broken the price barrier of Rs. 35,000. All for Rs. 32,990, this cool model with a Celeron 1.6Ghz / 256 MB DDR 2 RAM / 40 GB (5400 RPM) Hard Disk Drive / 14.1" WXGA display, DVD Combo, Wireless and yes, Windows XP Starter Edition. This machine priced so cool should really break the markets for Toshiba in India.

Toshiba has never been portrayed as the cheaper brand, and with this price point, Acer and Compaq Presario need to watch out.

G

BPO's and Data Secrecy

System3, My company has been toying with the idea, of opening a Training Institute, a Technology / Skills finishing school, and while the Internal discussions were going on, we were thinking of making sure that about 15 - 20 hours of training time is spent on Ethics / Values / Morality training.

Since Customer Support Executives at companines like mine, and larger corporates at times have access to critical information related to the customer, well anytime you call your cell phone company, they take all your details this includes, your Date of Birth, your Wife's name, your land line number, your home address, and they already know your credit card numbers, so what stops them from defrauding you, ethics / morality.

A big story on CNN-IBN today about the fraud at HSBC Back Office in Bangalore, where the kid managed to cheat HSBC customers to the tuen of 2,33,000 pounds.

Interested, well CNN IBN raised a question, how safe are our bank accounts. Well how safe.. keep strong passwords, make sure you know what information you need to disclose.. be careful, there is someone watching you.

G

Review - JVC D-350 (Indian Express)

India is a big market for White goods, Digital Cameras have become a rage, but sadly Video Cameras were not able to make the simliar dent in the Market. A few weeks back I got a call from JVC to review their D350 First Digital Cam Corder in India, for Under Rs. 20,000. I could not believe it, and I called up the JVC guy to bring the camera over. I ran through tests, and lived with it for about 15 days, till I came up with the review. Is it worth a buy or not, read it here, or buy the Print Copy of Express Money, with the Indian Express this Monday, June 19th 2006, Nationwide

G

The First Case of Gadget Misuse for Tax Evasion in India

It's out, It's public, It's no news, INDIA IS ALL ABOUT JUGAAD. Times of India, Page 13, June 13,2006 Reads

New Delhi: If you thought iPod was just a device to store music, get a second opinion from revenue intelligence officials. The department has unearthed a slew of cases where taxevaders had stored records of their illegal transactions in iPods and pen-drives — devices that can be easily concealed or destroyed.
During a raid on an industrialist in Haryana’s Yamunanagar town last year, the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) found excise evasion of over Rs 55 lakh. However, no incriminating documents were found on computers or files. The sleuths then scanned a pendrive and an iPod to find details of undeclared dealings stored there. The pen-drive was hidden in the industrialist’s bathroom.
This is hardly an isolated case. At another raid in Ludhiana, DGCEI officials seized a pen-drive allegedly belonging to the owners of plywood company, Perfect Agro. After deciphering its contents, officials found evidence of largescale evasion of excise duty.
Concealing secret transactions in pen-drives and iPods is fast catching up as a trend, say income tax and directorate of revenue intelligence officials, who now take special care to seize these devices before laying hands on account books and computers during a raid. The internet too is a favoured hideaway for taxevaders, who post details of illegal accounts on the web before deleting these files from their records.
Though these gizmos are small enough to fit into a shirt pocket, they have immense memory — ranging from 1 to 30 giga bytes. They are also very easy to discard. Officials believe that during many raids, pen-drives have been put into burning furnaces, crushed under car wheels or thrown into dustbins. In one case, a pen-drive was recovered from the driver of an accused.
Three rolling mills were raided in Shahdara area of east Delhi last September, where transactions worth Rs 40 crore was unearthed from data tucked away in iPods and pen-drives. Clearly, as gizmos get smaller the headache for enforcement agencies gets bigger.

There is more, try to grab a copy. You had never thought of this, ahem, you had.. and you thought you could get away with it, well not really, the Tax Man is smartening up.. Be ware.. But hey.. JUGAAD is big..

I don't think anyone in the world, thought about this.

G

The Second Contendor (Hunt for the Perfect Candy Bar - Non Smart)

The Second Contendor, Nokia 6230i, well the i Makes it a bit disinteresting for me, I dont' want a camera, but Nokia dealers tell me, the Nokia 6230 the original model is discontinued, so for my Rs 11,000 I will get the 1.3 MP camera built in. The phone matches all my criteria, and also the fact, that I can use the same old Car Charger that I have for the Nokia 6021, so it makes it interesting.

What are the things I dont' like in this model, well, the first, I dont' like the Music Player interface, If I press another key on the keypad, the music player brings me back to the main screen, and the music keeps playing in the background. Also the interface, aah.. Nokia needs to learn from Samsung.

I like the Black body, with the front face as Silver, but think the Samsung looks better, more professional.

I also like the fact that the phones supports PTT (Push To Talk), sadly it is not here in India as yet, mobile operators, listen to me, introduce PTT, you will get more and more revenue.

Best of all, the phone book in the phone can store 2000 entries.. ah I remember the days of a Casio Diary or a Casio smart data watch :)

One up for the phone.. Next contendor Wait for tommorow.

G

The First Contendor (Hunt for the Perfect Candy Bar - Non Smart)

The First Contendor, Samsung X700. Well the phone looks nice, as a business phone too. The black with silver accents really looks cool. The plastic has a bit cheaper feel to it, but something you can get used to. First thing I notice is Samsung has gotten rid of the ep pin connector for the headphones, and switched to mini USB (I wonder why), the good part, you have a slider to cover this slot, unlike earlier samsung phones which had a rubber / plastic cover that you could place back on the connector.

The image quality looks nice, but our friendly shop keeper will not let me try the mp3 player and or the camera, I wonder why. I ask him about the features and get the full low down, But hey.. I notice, he does not know, and neither does Samsung talk about, whether the phone is business card sms compatible. I check with a few friends, no it is not. Good phone, but misses out a crucial feature in today's date. Anyway, I investigate further, the phone really looks cool and nice

I like the fact that this phone has an external card slot, that means you can take the card out without switching off the phone. The shop keeper tells me, that this is a hotswap slot, i.e like server hard disks, you can take the card out while the phone is on, now that is cool.

The phone is 95 Grams, but feels light. Curvy body and very attractive. The phone supports GPRS Class 10 data service, and no EDGE. so for me, this is a No No.. Dropped..

Next Contendor, wait for tommorow.

G

The Hunt for the Perfect Candy Bar (Non Smart) Phone Begins

Around this time last year, my Nokia 6600 smart phone started acting up on me, it had got one of those newbie Bluetooth viruses, and Nokia India was not able to do much about it, that I vouched not to use a smart phone any more. I personally also prefer the Candy bar format than anything else.

My Basic requirements in a phone are, Color Screen - To see incoming MMS Messages, The Cability to put multiple reminders, Long Talk time (atleast 3 hours), EDGE/GPRS for Data on the Road, Bluetooth for My Bluetooth Handsfree, Send and Recieve Business Cards, Speakerphone and Simple straight forward interface.

If it has a voice recorder, voice dialing, they are good features, but not something that I have to have. The Phone that met this criteria last year, was the Nokia 6021, and it has been a great phone till now, till it's speakerphone started acting up. I have realised, with a total talk time of 393:44 Hours, it is nearing it's end of life with me. So now the search for a Perfect Candy Bar phone, begins. The Current Contendors, Nokia 6320i (The Camera is now a bundle I can't get rid of), Samsung X700, and more and more that come my way. So watch this space carefully, and let us unfold, if NON SMART, CANDY BAR, phones are the way to be, and which one to buy.

G

Want to Move to Linux - Think UBUNTU

As a Corporate have you been contemplating moving your desktops to Linux, well what has stopped you, If I may, I can lay down a few things

• It is free
• No Long term Support
• Versions Change very fast
• No Corporate Support

Well, all of this is changing except part 1, where It is Free is still the essence (except in case of Red Hat Enterprise Linux). If you are a small corporate (say 20 to 40 desktops), and are looking at Linux as a great viable next step, think Ubuntu. The company that produced the best Desktop OS that was available till date, and now offers Long Term Support.

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS introduces functionality that simplifies common Linux server deployment processes. For system administrators setting up large numbers of web, mail and related servers, Ubuntu 6.06 LTS offers the fastest and most consistent path to deployment, combined with the availability of global commercial support where needed. "Ubuntu has a reputation for working well out of the box on desktops, and we have worked to bring that same ease of deployment and configuration to the server marketplace" said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project. "Based on our analysis of the ways people were already deploying Ubuntu on servers, we have aimed to streamline their experience while expanding the range of software available to people deploying Ubuntu in the data centre."

The Latest version of their Desktop and Server OS is o ut, and may I say, I am thinking of another format of my laptop to get Ubuntu back in Place ... Download it from Ubuntu.com.

G

Repair or Replace - Express Money (Smart Spending)

After 3 weeks of a sabatical from the Indian Express, I am back with a Cover story, this time around on a very old question, to Repair or to Replace. Every now and then one of our gadgets fails, and starts to get on our nerves, till we dont' get it working, how do you take a decision wether to repair or replace the gadget, white good.....

Read my views on it, in the Indian Express this week on Monday June 12, 2006 or catch it online at expressmoney.in

G

Move Over Wave Radio - Your Turn is Over

Bose, undeniably makes the best sound. Ever since I heard one of their demos 10 ~ 15 years back, I am a big fan of theirs.. but sadly, everytime I went to buy one for myself, I came out thinking.. hmm... that is expensive.

My last such trip was to buy the Bose Wave Radio, I did not want to shell out Rs. 39,000 for a CD Player.. Though however good it may sound, no.. this was not the budget. I ended up buying something lousy.. but well it not only plays CD's, but can do more.

While browsing the internet, I came across the iSonic from Polk Audio, which to me looks like, will move the Bose Wave Radio out of it's realm.

Polk may not have the same speaker design technology as the Bose guys, but what Polk has done is something we used to do when we were in college, Want Surround sound, and have a basic amplifier, put the left and right speakers in the front, and put another left and right speakers at the back of the room, so you had four speakers, and Great surround sound. No processor, no DSP, nothing, just a bare basic rig to give you high quality Surround Sound.

Polk has taken this to the next level, and the iSonic seems interesting. It plays CD's, VCD's, DVD's (Yes you can connect it to your TV too), AM/FM Radio, XM Radio Ready - Though not an interesting option for us in India, and a Dual Alarm Clock, yes 2 Alarms, one to wake you up to the radio and the other to wake you up to a CD.. for a lazy guy like me...this is the Auto Snooze Reinvented.

Now.. the price tag of 599$ is something that i think i will need to relook at.. Waiting to get this to test.. Go check out the site.

And NO I dont' know when we will get this in India.

G

Nokia India Website - NOT LINUX FRIENDLY

There is nothing wrong with using linux, there is nothing wrong with using an OLD PC. For some of us, it is a mandate, for some of us a liberation, for some of us, why upgrade technology.

For someone at Nokia, we are stupid, that we are not on the latest browser, with the latest plugins.

Nokia India's website Requires Flash 8 < Every programmer knows, that Flash 8 is only supported on Windows at the moment, and no other OS.. Why build websites with Flash 8 ? <

Screenshot Above

If anyone at Nokia is reading... Please make sure when you outsource work, you dont' fall to the whims and fancies of the programmer rather than do it the way technology needs to be done. .

G

PS: Maybe it is because Nokia in India is distributed by HCL, remember, HCL's own site was offline (As of 11th June 2006, The Domain has still not been renewed)..... Luckily I dont' invest in Shares, else HCL shares.. I think personally needed a dump :)

Nokia Get's Handwriting Recognition

Think it, Write it

The AD from Nokia reads. Yesterday after ages, I visited the Ghaffar Market at Karol Bagh in Delhi, the Mecca of Parallel Import, and the Mecca for all Electronic wannabe's, and found that the latest rage to hit the market is the Nokia 6708, a Sleek candy bar phone, with a Stylus to input and touch screen wala phone.

If you remember, this is not the first Stylus input phone from Nokia, in the past there was the Nokia 7710, the much touted wide screen experience, but the stylus was only for point and click.

Wht the 6708, Nokia claims cutting edge handwriting recognition, now let's see, when can I land my hands on one to test it out.

G

Want to Design your Own Robot ?

Year 2035, Matrix is becoming a reality, why not try to do it today...

Try designing your own robot, and write 50 words or less, your hopes and fears when the robots do come to life, and you could win a Digital Video Camera or an MP3 Player.

Interested, click CNN FUTURE SUMMIT CHALLENGE.

I am already in, how about you ?

G

What do you think of the Future ?

Matrix.. Will it be true, will there be a time, that humans and robots co-exist, and look so much alike, that it becomes difficult to know who is who.

CNN Future Summit, brings together some of the brightest minds of our time to see how science and technology are shaping our future.

To know more about the details, goto CNN

The Future of Cellphone

While researching a topic on how the Future of the Cellphone will be, will we head towards a converged cellphone or a standalone cellphone like the olden days, what all will it be able to do, I came across this video, and I think it's worthy of a watch.

A Swiss Key you want !!

They say the Sweedish have a solution to everything, and this new product seems to make it sound so true. Every now and then I have been left hunting for a Philips screw driver or a small saw, I can cut out something with, I have been carrying a Swiss knife, but that is bulky, after all I dont' need 30 tools at any one go, but I do need a saw, a flat screw driver and maybe a philips screw driver more often than I need any other tool. If this is the case with you, a $9.99 investment at Think Geek can get you some peace of mind, the best part, it can become a part of your keychain.

G

Shredding Scissors

I was a little kid when I first attended a seminar by the RAW (India's Intelligence Division in the Millitary) on how to destroy sensitive corporate documents. They showed us bleached, burnt, cut all kinds of documents, and they could retrieve information from it, the only thing I remember from it is, bleach the document, shred it, burn the ashes, and crumple them.. .and you have the perfect destruction, but in our daily lives, we come across papers that need to be destroyed, just tearing them is not sufficient, getting them to shreded pieces is important, now for a person like me, who writes down some stuff and wants to get rid of it later (dont' go hunting my dustbins now).. Shredders are the ultimate in immediate docuemnt distruction, but for small pieces of paper, buying a shredder did not seem to be very intelligent.

This post on Gizmodo about the Shredding Scissors caught my attention immediately. Japanese people.. now they are intelligent.. go check it out.

G

Xbox 360 Coming to India

It's out, and It's confirmed, right from the horse's mouth, the Microsoft XBOX 360 is finally coming legally to India, microsoft is going to work on a launch schedule in the next few days, keep watching this space for an exclusive look at the box, and most probably a first hand review report.

G

One Laptop Per Child is True !!

Back in October 2005, I wrote about the 100$ laptop project sponsored by MIT, the project now called OLPC or One Laptop per Child, has made it a reality, yes, the first working prototype(s) was unvieled on 27 May 2006 (pictures), to the working committee. More Details available here.

Now I am out waiting for this to come out.. if nothing else.. it will help create more computer savvy children, and more employees for IT companies like mine.

G

LG Launches it's new website !

Ever since LG Launched it's products in India, I have always respected them as a company. My first exposure with them was a 14" Digital Color Monitor back in 1997 with the name Goldstar and the same LG Logo, to a time where every Air conditioner / DVD Player / gadget I was buying, I was hunting down LG for an option.

For my articles, and for General Info, I have used their website again and again, and I have seen it change and evolve, but What I saw today is something I never thought was their focus.

1. Their website now works properly with Firefox on Linux
2. The site has a much friendlier e-commerce look unlike before
3. The New E-Shoppe now offers 0% loans, EMIs Automatically and good prices.. One great step taken by a manufacturer in India to get people to buy from their website.. now only if the website had great prices, check it out at http://www.lgezbuy.com

:)

G