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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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 ?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 :)

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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