Back in January 2007, I had an article on 7 Gadgets for 2007, and spoke about the Info SD Card, a lot of people told me that this was Crap and never going to work, the reason I thought it was going to work was because to check how much capacity you have free in a Thumbdrive / Memory card, you actually need to plug it into the device, well Lexar, finally announced a Thumbdrive with a Capacity Meter.
GS
Via Engadget
Via Engadget,
The relatively small Uruguayan town was thrown into a mild frenzy as a batch of shiny green and white OLPC XOs showed up.
Yahoo, yes the biggie in the Internet space, has started a huge advertising campaign for it's Yahoo Groups. People who have been a Yahoo user, would have seen the groups have been there for a long time, so what is the new proposition, well the above ad speaks everything, though it is not a Social networking site, but being a part of a group, can make you listen as well as give you a chance to talk to individuals, and connect with them.
GS
Esys, One of the emerging IT Distributors in the country (Others, Redington, Ingram Micro, Rashi, Neoteric, Cyberstar), has been in and out of controversies, and has also managed to create a dent in the market. Currently being pitched as one of the best Distributors for Sun, Microsoft, and Samsung, Esys recently launched it's retail online initiative called Cafe Gadgets.
Though from the look of it, someone has used a CMS to make the site, as most of the pages are in HTML, but very interesting options, pricing is not that affective, but keep a look out, you never know, when you maybe able to steal a deal from here.
GS
2 Days Back, on Tata Sky, you had that same silly yellow postal envelope popup, to tell you "TATA SKY LAUNCHES 7TH CHANNEL WITHIN A MONTH", now I wonder what do they mean by 7th.. Check the details and it talks about only 3, BBC Entertainment, BBC Ceebees, and India TV, though the release of AIR Jallandhar Radio Station (Because they discontinued ETC Punjabi) & Akash Bangla, was never flashed, but this makes a total of 5, and not 7. Does someone at Tata need to learn counting again, or is the 5 a new 7 ?
Ohter Interesting Reads this week: Govt - TDSAT differ on DTH Pricing
List of New Channels allow to downlink to India
GS
A great discussion on India Broadband Forum, if TRAI should play a regulator to see that all DTH Operators, and CAS providers carry all signals, that means all brodacasters to compulsarily give signals to CAS and DTH operators, and Customer to choose, would love to see what comes out of it.
G
I am no big fan of the Pearl or the 8800 but all I can say after looking at the Curve is WOW. Yes, It's brilliant, RIM, finally adds the features we all wanted
1. The Phone can now work as a Modem, so no need for an additional Data Card
2. Expandable Memory
3. 2.0 MP Camera with Flash
4. Media Player
5. Blackberry Maps
WOW
Price: Unknown
Availability in India: Not Yet
Wishlist: Yes (7290, it's time for you to go)
A bit late on my blog, but a serious news, TRAI and ISP's will now share 6% of the Revenue, (Did I read that right, 6% of the Revenue, and not Profits) WOW, and we talk about making this country internet Enabled, with forcing higher fee's and this Revenue Share structure, I think the ISP community of small rural ISP's, and small town ISP's will finish, I agree that there is a lot of Grey / Illegal Voip Connectivity happening in the name of ISP's, but sadly, raising the fee, and introducing a rev share is not the way to do it.. somone listen to me.
As reported in Hindustan Time on Thursday 10th May 2007.
G
PC Magazine India, yes, it's a reality, wait for June 2007, and PC Magazine India shall hit the market shelves pretty soon, Arindham Chaudary's Planman Media, is bring out the magazine and has already started huntin for Advertisments for the first issue.
I have always Admired Arindham as a visionary, and his work with Planman, and the magazines he has brought out, has made me put him on the spot.
GS
A few days, back, when Tata took off some of the Zee stable channels, and Tata' service still not stabalising, a lot of people have come upto me and asked me a question, should we switch, or maybe get this box too. I thought the whole concept of going DTH / CAS was to bring your cable bill down, in my case it has taken it up, since the same content is not avialable (well 80% is same) but the balance 20% (Dish has the zee channels, has MGM, B4U Music, Total TV, India TV and Tata Sky has BBC Entertainment....and nothing), my bill is now going up to 300 for Tata, and 300 for Zee, so a total of 600, and when MTNL IPTV does finnaly launch or I mean is available where I Live, I will be down a 1000 bucks, for the same thing that I was getting for 200 a month.
Anyway, a good news for all you Tata Sky customers, TDSAT has announced that it is working on resolving the Pricing formula for DTH users, and also Issued a notice to Tata Sky, to start beaming down India TV and Total TV. Thanks ET, and good work people filing PIL's..
GS
Well, no jokes, a few of my friends have been after my life to help them hack a Tivo and get it into India, to work in India to record programs. Digital Video recorder market in India is still starting up and the only solutions available right now (other than PC based DVR's) is the LG's Time Machine which includes a Hard Disk based recorder built inside a TV, though this will not be able to tune your DTH reciever, or the Dish TV DVR, which though will work with the Zee Dish TV, but sadly I have not been able to buy one, after repeated calls, and requests to Zee Group. Anyway, a few days back, while browsing through the immense world of technology sites, I came across an Interesting Indian company called Keen Pvt. Ltd, and is building a DVR called Wizo. Though it is not commercially fully launched as yet, this basically means, you can't go into a store and buy it right now, but look out for it, Anil Gupte, the guy who runs Keen is working hard to bring this to market.
Should I put this into Wishlist, why not, Anil Said, that he would love to have me as a customer when he does the full commercial launch, here is Cheers to a brilliant Indian company, an Indian working hard to bring out the next Generation DVR, tuned for you in India.
GS
When DTH actually became a reality, and CAS took a beating, a lot of people called in on my show on Radio Mirchi, and asked me on why they can't choose a single channel, or a set of channels that they want only to pay for on DTH, which is what they could do with CAS, After all they should all be comparable services.
Till a few weeks back TATA Sky did not offer any other subscription plan, while Dish had some plans, but under pressure started sellling only one Plan. Now both of them have some plans, but you still can't choose. The news that Subscribers will go through a PIL to get this, was expected, and May 7th's Hindu reports
Coming out against the packages of pay channels thrust by the DTH (direct-to-home) service providers on the viewers, the subscribers have demanded they should have right to choose the pay channels they want to see.
If you are a Joost user, you must have felt this too, and I see this happen to a lot of Joost Users, Airtel is blocking Joost servers, you are not able to sign in, to watch Joost. Is airtel nearing it's release of the IPTV, or is it only to save on International bandwdith. If you don't know what Joost is, head on to Joost.com
GS
Buing a Suitable cellphone for your Dad, or your Grandparents is not really the easiest thing to do. Some of them dont' want to learn how to use a new technology, and some of them can't see that sharply to use the smallest of cellphones available today. I was faced with a similar delima sometime back and decided to check out the market for a suitable cell phone for the elderly from the available phones, my article in Express Money, with the Indian Express, on Monday the 7th May.
Alternatively you can read it online here
GS
PS: this is my last article in Express Money, sadly the Money Marketing team has not been able to cash in on it, and hasnt' managed to make money with advertising to support it, My fate with express is a bit unclear right now, but will keep you posted.
I have been a big fan of the Netgear SC101, and have been selling it at my company like crazy, I think we must have sold over a 100 Units in the last year, and also promiting the Use of this Device. Sadly, we could never buy one for our office, or my home use, as we have a Linux + Windows Mixed Network, and SC 101 supported only Windows PC's.
The Latest news from Netgear, that they have acquired Infrant, made me sit up and read it carefully, not only does Infrant have a good Home Solution but also a great solution on the Workgroup front, waiting for the device to land in my hands. If you think you need Scalable Storage for your network, call System3, and we will come and give you a solution that works for you. Alternatively if you are looking for some free advice, well Send me a mail
GS
From July 1, the most talked about scheme in Power will be implemented. If you are a large Establishment (Current Definition: A hotel, an Airport, or a Metro, etc). You will be able to choose your Distributor, BSES or NDPL. Also another part of the news is, you will be able to buy power from an Agency, as a third source. Read more by clicking on the above graphic.
Source: Hindustan Times, 7th May Print Edition
GS
I am not sure if all this news is only to Drive up the Share Prices or to rig the market, but Business Standard today reports, that the talks between Microsoft and Yahoo are no longer active. But MS is still open to possibilities of work together.
What would be the name if they merge it, Microoooo or ????
GS
Well, this is not such a big news but still with quite a few people using Reliance Phones, this was always an issue, roaming across the world, where CDMA / GSM networks co-exist, and keeping the same number. Reliance has announced the World Roaming, and comparitivley, the Tariff also looks interesting and lower than the competition, will it work, won't it, I will need to wait for someone to review this, till then.. Good work ADA. More Details here
GS
Recent News on Gizmodo, Asustek / Asus to build a $249 PC, Intel watch out, another contendor in the OLPC Segment (though this is strictly not OLPC), but with a7" LCD at 800x480, an Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV) Celeron M 900 with no L2 cache, and 256MB of DDR-II, presumably with a version of Windows embedded in memory, this sure looks hot.
GS
About an Year back I was seriouslly contemplating getting into Solar Power Production, and while reading up on it, I found that the only possible way of doing solar power production on a full day basis would be to have a tower with solar panels all around it, something like a cylindrical tower, but this idea found on BBC is great.
GS
PEOPLE DO not have a fundamental right to electricity, the Delhi government told the Supreme Court on Friday The statement - in a season of scorching heat and frequent power cuts - came during the hearing of a public-interest petition on the city's power crisis.
I have never been a big fan of the Microsoft Search Engine. I think Hotmail is a good product, but it got shadowed out under MS. Also Yahoo, has not been my search engine since the early days, I was more of an Altavista/Digital to a Google fan now.. In between I swinged to Yahoo to use their calendar, which still has a lot of my data on it, but then, Google Consolidating everything together moved me.
Today's news in Economic Times caught my eye, and at approximately 50 million Dollars, Microsoft will surely get an edge if it acquires yahoo, but will then Yahoo stay yahoo, we have to debate that.
G
This news is of No Surprise, but yes, Google is has been named as the Best Place to work for IT Guys, while Goldman Sachs is the Best place for Finance guys, as per "The Universum IDEAL(TM) Employer Survey- MBA Edition 2007"
Links: Economi Times, Financial Express
Refer to my posting, Today Tata Sky released the Advertisments for the multiple price packages that they have. The Ad also mentions 5 New Channels, 2 I spoke about yesterday, wonder what the other 3 are, and when will they announce it.
BTW TATA ji, the first icecream (Starter) is pretty Sour.. and it's 160 a month.. :(
G
Tata has done it, finally, they woke up and realised they need to offer multiple packages, as the price of Rs. 300 flat was a little turn off for some people. Now they have three packages other than the flat 300 bucks a month pacakge, and details are available here.
Packages are called, Starter @ 160 / Family @ 250 / Western @ 250 / SuperSaver @ 300
Also today, Tata Sky announced two new channels, 205, BBC Entertainment, a Hillarious channel with a lot of Brit comedy on it, and 6xx, CEEBies. BBC entertainment is available between 6PM to 6AM, and Ceebies, the Preschool kids channel, between 6AM to 6PM.
I dont' recall the Channel number for Ceebies, but will update tomorrow.
Something which is amazing is, BBC's website is not updated about today's launch of BBC Entertainment in India, also Lyngsat is not showing this as a Channel.
A recent few other channels added included MH1 Shradha, and Aakash Bangla. With Tata Loosing Some of Zee's Channels, they need to work hard to retain their customers.
G
Earlier on about Last year or so back when I saw the iMac, it immediately grabbed my attention and I seriously started looking at thinking on buying one for my bedroom, but then did I really need a Mac... I was unsure.. I have been gradually moving my whole organisation to Linux and have been an early adopter of Linux for my Desktop / Laptop for quite some time, playing with different distros. Anyway, a post on the Internet somewhere brought me to a gadget / a pc I had not seen, this is not the first try of a similar platform, but what HP has done is amazing.
What I Like, "Sleek, stylish, space saving, clutter free—the HP TouchSmart IQ770 PC will help you organize your life and shine as the centerpiece of your digital lifestyle."
Go Check it out. Sadly not availbale in India as yet, but My Next Drool Machine, but sadly, I will need M$ on it :(
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I have been a big user of Google Earth since the day it came out, I played around with all that came and went, and now well into it's version 4, a great thing that has happened, India is mapped, yes street's, buildings, parks, and not by the community which was always there, this is done by google. Though some small mistakes, but National Highways marked as NH, streets' named and everything going online, in a Few days my next hill station holiday may just get planned here online using Google Earth.. If you haven't seen it / used it in sometime, I think it is time you checked it out.
G
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. |
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
