Delhi Voice

A Sideways Glance at Creative's Mp3/Movie Player

2010-01-08T03:48:00.000-08:00

This post is short... just a few snaps- but it's a salutation to a piece of great design by creative-- the chess-board like front finish is just too cool.

The hardware-software integration does however leave a lot to be desired-- with this MP3/Movie player unable to playback a lot of files which a phone or Apple iPod can otherwise play.

A Look at the Nokia N97

2009-09-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

A First Look at Nokia N97 (See the next pic to get a idea of the Nokia N97's relative size)

The Nokia N97's size-- compared to a TV remote and a Nokia E61 (silver coloured phone be

The N97 is Nokia's latest flagship offering with a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard-- intended for people who want to browse the net as well as get email on the move.

Speed-wise, we found it's processor to be a trifle slower than that of the other bestselling QWERTY keyboard phone, the E71-- but functionality-wise, it is a worthy successor to Nokia's original line of QWERTY keyboard equipped communicator type phones.

Screensize wise though the N97's screen resolution at 640x360 is a trifle smaller than screens of both the Nokia E90 (Nokia E90 has a screen size of 800x352) though better than the resolution offered by some of Nokia's Series 80 - S80 series of 90xxx communicators (definitely better than Nokia 9300's 640x200 screen resolution).

One interesting thing I really liked about the N97's design-- the stylus sits in the phone's cover/casing rather than in a slot or hole in the phone's plastic body-- probably gives more space for the electronics inside.

Also, With the optional DVB-H Nokia Mobile TV Receiver, SU-33W it is possible to watch television on the phone (one very cool-- but highly under-advertized feature of the Nokia N97).

User Interface-wise, The N97 runs Symbian Fifth Edition Touch, just like the Nokia 5800 Xpress music phone (earlier S60 5th Edition Touch-- but now after Nokia's shift of positioning, there's only Symbian, no S60).

The camera's quality is reasonable- and while snappy for most tasks- the processor is far slower than the Nokia E90 or Nokia N95's Dual-core ARM Cortex-11 processors.

As per Nokia's Specifications, the features are as below, and scroll down for some pictures of the N97.

* Talk time: Up to 6.0 hours (3G), 9.5 hours (GSM)
* Standby time: Up to 17 days (3G), 18 days (GSM)
* Video playback: Up to 4.5 hours (offline mode)
* Video recording: Up to 3.6 hours (offline mode)
* Music playback: Up to 40 hours (offline mode)

Below are some snaps of the Nokia N97. A deeper, more satisfying review of the Nokia N97 coming up soon... WATCH THIS SPACE!!!
The hinged-back of the Nokia N97
A Closer look at the Hinged-back of the Nokia N97-- more rigid than the Flip-open design of the Nokia N76-- and yet less vulnerable to damage than the E90's hinged 'second larger screen'.

The Holster and the stylus-- relative sizes compared.
Another pic of the Holster-casing of the Nokia N97.

A Closer look at the N97's stylus-1.A Closer look at the N97's stylus-1.A Closer look at the N97's stylus-2.

A Closer look at the N97's stylus-3.

A Closer look at the N97's stylus-4.

Samsung JET Launch Function and Our First-Look Product Comments

2009-09-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

When you hold it in your hand, at first glance, the Samsung JET looks and feels almost exactly like the Nokia 5800 XPress music.

Being a big-time fan and user of the Nokia 5800, this blogger decided to sample out the Samsung Jet's features- and even compare the Samsung Jet with the Nokia 5800.

(Samsung Jet (left) and Nokia 5800 (right)

Samsung Jet (Right) and Nokia 5800 XPressMusic (left)
Samsung Jet (Left) and Nokia 5800 XPressMusic (Right)

Incidentally, both the Samsung Jet and the Nokia 5800 belong to a family of touchscreen phones which are seen by many to be "iphone competitors" or "iphone wannabes"-- and the following features distinguish these from various other phones like the Samsung Omnia HD or Nokia N95 :-
- Almost entire front-side covered by touch-screen-
- All functions accessible by touch-- no keypad- but just 3 function keys on front- and some keys/buttons (eg: camera) on the side.
- Accelerometer and gesture support- phone detects motion- allows user to access functions by tapping or shaking the phone.
- Extensive Tactile feedback through vibrations
- Camera with Geotagging
- Built in GPS functionality
- Wifi Access
- Email.
- Widescreen for easy internet access
- Widgets- which are applications built around a website- accessible through shortcuts like all other installed applications- but which are written entirely in JavaScript/HTML and which run inside a instance of the phone's web browser.

So... those were the similarities between the Nokia 5800 and the Samsung Jet, now lets see the differences- how he specifications of these two phones differ and also what are the comparative advantages and shortcomings of each of the above.

The two best things about the Samsung Jet-- which make it REALLY AND TRULY WORTH THE MONEY are:-
(1) the ultra-long battery life (240 hours on standby = almost 10 days)-- which makes the Samsung Jet great for business users and especially international travellers or field-staff

(2) The very large 800x480 screen-- to many 800x480 would be just numbers-- but these numbers are big-- when one observes that the Nokia N95's screen size is 240x320; the Nokia 5800 and the Nokia N97 have a screen-sizes of 640x360 and the Apple iPhone has a screen-size of 320x480 pixels; so truly, browsing websites on a Samsung Jet is like having a Laptop computer in your pocket-- it beats even the Nokia E90's 800x352 screen-size when it comes to a laptop-like website browsing experience.

There is the presence of AmoLED display technology- which gives brighter more vibrant colours; as well as blacks which are almost totally dark with no exitting light. The Samsung Jet's LED based display technology, and it's vibrant colors have to be seen to be believed.

This AmoLED technology which is based on Light Emitting Diodes (LED) is from standard LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology technology used' in the Nokia 5800 and most other phones.

As expected from phones of this class, the internet browsing experience is good-- and the Samsung jet supports a browser technology called "Dolphin"- which is built upon the WebKit browser base-- and atleast to us, the browser experience felt excellent.

The most glaring limitation (atleast for power-users like me) of the Samsung jet compared to various Nokia touchscreen phones is the fact that while the Nokia 5800 supports symbian OS- on which one can install native applications- which can access and change each of the phone's underlying hardware features;
the Samsung Jet runs on a closed operating system called the "Samsung Handset Platform" (SHP)- which is a lot like Nokia's Series40- in that it can install Java applications- but cannot install native applications.
This felt bad- because with a expected street price (Rs.21,000-Rs.22,000) that's almost Rs.4000 more than the street price of a Nokia 5800 (approx Rs.18,000-Rs.19,000/-); one would have expected more from the Samsung Jet.

The other glaring limitation of the Samsung JET is the sluggishness with which the handset responded-- I am not sure if this was because the demo pieces were overloaded and hence we did not see it the way a user would OR is it that this sluggishness is a part and parcel of the Samsung JET ?
With a advertised processor speed of 800 Mhz one expects responses which are fast or of a speed that's ultra-fast and far beyond fast.

Other things I noticed about the Samsung Jet were:

a. 6-sided cube user interface (one of the very few phones that have actually tried experimenting with 3D- and to a very good effect). Infact, if I understood correctly, the center button- which is hexagonal in shape- can be pressed in any of the 6-directions.

b. The 2-buttons apart from the center button dont have backlights- a big disadvantage for people-- that may want to check email on the move lying in bed in a hotel thousands of miles away from home.

c. The amoled's crisp colors and level of contrast-- especially when there is a dark background has to be seen to be believed and puts the Jet far ahead of competition.

So... that's all folks-- check it out-- and if you like it OR find more that you dont like, feel free to mail us here at DelhiVoice... on nsnsns(at)gmail(dot)com (Nalin, writer of this article) OR reachsuren(at)gmail(dot)com.

And do... scroll down to see the snaps.

TiECon Delhi from Sept 18 to Sept 19

2009-09-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

(This Post is also Mirrored on VentureWoods )
TiECon Delhi is about to happen at Taj Palace Hotel, SP Marg, Chanakyapuri, Delhi, Sept 18-19, sessions from 9:00am onwards and networking dinner/cocktails at 7:30 pm.

Is it worthwhile to show up at TieCon and pay Rs.8500/ (Rs.8000/- online) for a 2-day event ?

That's the question I've always been hit by, when I see a banner for a event like this-- no matter that I've already paid-for and attended dozens of events like this after over a decade in the industry.

I'm therefore going to throw up the possibilities-- for folks that're thinking OR for folks that cross out such a conference the moment they read the price-tag.

Also, I'll touch upon some background information about what is Tie ? And why it may be a good idea to spend Rs.8500 even if you're already a solution architect at a top tier company earning better than your peers and as far away from being a struggling entrepreneur as anyone can imagine.

Also, even if you're wondering about not getting discounts or waiting tll next time-- it may just be the best possible value for money to show up at the venue with your credit card and ready to pay your way in.

What is TiE ?

Ever heard about how Sabeer Bhatia found Hotmail ? And how he now wants to help ther Indian startups as a mentor and investor ? Or about how a Indian called Raj Jaswa built a outsourced non-label chipset company of silicon valley in the 1980s by doing deals with Taiwanese chipset manufacturers... and set the stage for many totally new ways of doing hardware and chipset businesses, which werent common earlier ?

And if you've heard of these and even if you havent heard of these, then surely there would be a part of you which would say that some things happen mainly because of the technology markets and entrepreneurial ecosystems that exist in the silicon valley-- and there would be a part of you that would wonder just how difficult it would be to hop right in and become a part of those ecosystems.

TiE stands for "The Indus Entrepreneurs"-- and TieCon is TiE's annual convention.

TiE is a NGO which as founded to promote entrepreneurs from the Indian subcontinent-- and it has people like:--
-- Sabeer Bhatia- founder of Hotmail.com.

-- Kanwal Rekhi (one of the early Indian success stories in silicon valley- in the 1980s, he built a networking company was acquired by Novell- and as one-time CTO of Novell he was one of the first Indian success stories in the Silicon valley).

-- Vinod Khosla-- if you've heard of Java, you'd have heard of Sun Microsystems- but not many know that Vinod Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems at age 25-- and after that went on to found and also finance many more companies in different areas; some of which shook their respective areas even more than Sun Microsystems or Java did.

-- Gururaj 'Desh' Deshpande-- he's NR Narayanmurthy's brother-in-law who founded and funded optical networking companies before the world had heard of optical networking-- and the speed at which some of these companies grew-- and the prices at which they were acquired-- would make everything seem small.

And definitely, when one hears such stuff it's obvious that the views one would hear from the horse's mouth would be far different from what the cost-cuttng middle-managers of mature companies growing out of India say.

If you are a entrepreneur, you have no reason to miss this.

And, If you are a currently working professional-- wondering if this is worth Rs.8500/- (or Rs.8000/- online) you should go there to see and hear-- what's cutting edge- and what the guys who shaped the technology landscape over the last few decades are saying-- and hear them, even ask them first-hand-- "Next is what ?".

I just got home from a pre-event Blogger-meet-- and I was listening to some prominent and senior guys discuss the benefits-- and some ways to promote the TiECon 2009.

Suggestions came... including: Lets give out a 20% discount ? Lets give out free passes ? Lets do...But then, there was also voices which said-- hey... for a entrepreneur or a potential entrepreneur.. lets instead offer:

Best Lucky draw prize for any attendee- whether a professional who's currently employed or for someone who has already taken the entrepreneurial plunge would be "15 minutes with Mr.[name of a world famous entrepreneur]"--

and that's when Mr.Ashish Gupta and Mr.Mahendra Swaroop chipped in and added-- "with the number of sessions and networking events and accessibility... if the topic is of mutual professional interest a person can easily spend as much time as they want speaking to their favorite mentors or entrepreneurs"; though ofcourse that's something that cant be promised as a lucky draw prize.

So folks, if you're interested show up-- buy yourself a pass-- and check out TiECon Delhi 2009 at Hotel Taj Palace on dates 18th Sept 2009 and 19th Sept 2009.

Also, please feel free to contact TieDelhi at
+91-120-4066500 (Tie Office) email: info@tienewdelhi.org
or RSVP Krithi +91-98101-27290 krithi@tienewdelhi.org

ps:
I incidentally just got back from a pre-event blogger-meet, where I had the pleasure of listening to Mr.Ashish Gupta (Organizing Chair TieCon) and Mr.Mahendra Swaroop, President Indian Venture Capital Association and chief mentor at Smile Interactive, and where we had the chance to understand some of the benefits and possibilities. The Photos were taken at the same gathering.

Photo-1:

Photo: (Left to Right: Ms.Mary Joyce, Mr.Mahendra Swaroop, President IVCA, Mr.Ashish Gupta Country Head Evalueserve, Co-Chair Organizing Comittee TieCon 2009, Mr.LD Sharma )

Photo-2:

Photo: (Left to Right): Gerard (gerard@the-practice.net), Ajay Jain (Blogger, President of IBNMS www.ajayjain.com )

Photo-3:

Photo: (Standing Tall: Akshay (akshay@the-practice.net )

350- Tiger

2009-07-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

What do tigers and thousands of school children in India have in common? They can both roar extremely loudly, and they both need desparately for the world to get back below 350 ppm CO2.

Yesterday over 1,000 school kids from across Delhi, India, braved sitting (or lying) in completely drenched grass and under a hot, hot sun for an hour to form a giant Tiger-350 aerial image with their bodies. Photographers and media climbed up on top of Teen Murti Bhavan, the home of Jawaharla Nehru, the first prime minister of India -- not quite as tall as the crane that was intended to be there, but enough for a beautiful image and call to action for sure... (time lapse video below)

Image and video credit: Spectral Q / Shiv Ahuja

And the image wasn't the entire festivity for the day. Organized in collaboration with our good friends at Kids for Tigers, Delhi Greens, the Indian Youth Climate Network, and Spectral Q, the school children and a fun-filled morning of face-painiting, art and poster-making -- all as part of an effort to send a powerful message to Indian an world leaders: we need interenational action to get the world back below 350 ppm CO2, protecting tigers, the forrests in which they live, and humanity.

And some of those same leaders they wished to influence were just inside at the same venue attending the 5th National Bengal Tiger Consultation organized by Santuary Asia and The Wildife Conservation Trust.

Giant Tiger-350 aerial art image in Delhi

2009-07-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Indian Youth Climate Network, Delhi Greens, Sanctuary Asia, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, The Shri Ram School, The Climate Project-India, Nature First, Green India States Trust (GIST), Center for Social Markets, Wildlife Conversation Trust, Bengal Tiger Campaign, National Tiger Conservation Authority, and 350.org, are all coming together for a Rally and a Tiger Consultation - of what is perhaps the LAST CALL FOR SAVING THE TIGER AND HUMANITY.

Please join us on 28 July for a historic aerial art demonstration for tigers, 350, and action on climate change. And be inspired by visiting speaker, Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org.

We are coming together for a demonstration demanding the Right of the Tiger to Live, taking action to protect tiger and forest habitats, and tackle the climate crisis setting the world on course to 350 ppm CO2, the safe upper limit of CO2 in the atmosphere. Some 3,000 school children from across Delhi and the NCR are joining us in the call to action, forming a giant Tiger-350 aerial art image.

The Tiger Consultation will take place in Teen Murti Bhavan and will include among others the Union Environment Minister, all tiger experts in the country, Dr. Karan Singh and a series of eminent personalities from the country.

We invite all of you to come to Teen Murti Bhavan on the 28th of July at 09:30 to demand justice for the tigers, humanity, and all generations to come. You will be able to take part in the first giant human-tiger image ever in India, sending a huge, beautiful call to action to Indian and world leaders.

And from 18:00 to 19:30 we invite you to join 350.org co-founder and US author and environmental visionary, Bill McKibben, speaking on building a global movement to fight climate change and get the world back below 350 ppm CO2. Bill McKibben wrote the first book on climate change for a public audience, The End of Nature, in 1989 and has been a visionary in the movement for technological, social, and political action to address the climate crisis. Please join us, be inspired, and join the movement!

Date - 28th July 2009
Time - 8 am - 11 am
Place - Teen Murti Bawan, New Delhi

http://www.iycn.in/node/83

Need more info/willing to volunteer : suren@iycn.in, 9990 7673 80

DataWind PocketSurfer Previewed– A first impression shared

2009-02-23T02:33:00.000-08:00

It’s longer than a Nokia E61/E95/E71.
But it’s thinner than a Nokia E90 communicator.

But appearances apart; it’s faster at Net-access than your Dell - but with less multimedia than even the multi-ringtone basic phone used by our cleaner-woman; what is this ?.

It’s the DataWind PocketSurfer!!!

This is a device which has the potential to emerge as being in a class by itself.

It is'nt labelled as one-- but it works just like a PDA or Smartphone- which uses a SIM-card from a local mobile services provider (Airtel) to access the internet using a data-plan.

This is a device which has the potential to emerge as being in a class by itself.

It is not labelled as one-- but it works just like a PDA or Smartphone- which uses a SIM-card from a local mobile services provider (Airtel) to access the internet using a data-plan.

But that is where the similarity with smartphones ends—because it is minus the voice telephony, video, camera and sound features- and it brands itself as being in the category of “mobile internet access devices”.

When I first surfed to DataWind’s website after seeing the invitation to DataWind’s press conference- I was skeptical- and wondered- is this a scam ? or is this a average-to-mediocre product branded as the next big thing? Fortunately for me, it was a good product that came as a breath of fresh air.

Here’s why, the good, the bad and the ugly of the DataWind PocketSurfer: my overall impression, followed by photos and technical details- and finally the limitations- which I see as the stumbling blocks- that will make or break this product’s success in the market.

This product is perhaps one of the few come-up-from-behind products that really has the potential to kick the biggies out of their comfortable perches. If it evolves, it can give the iPhones and Nokia E90s of the world a run for their money (and I say this not as someone with any attachment to the PocketSurfer but as a user who has shelled out hard earned money first for a Nokia E61 and then for a Nokia E90).

This product needs to evolve a lot- to become as perfect or as mature as a iPhone.

But no matter what- one has to admit that DataWind, with it’s PocketSurfer product has the potential to shift and totally re-shape the SmartPhone and internet-access device landscape.

So, here goes- what follows is a lowdown on DataWind’s PocketSurfer product… as I saw it- and as it was related to me by DataWind’s very helpful team.

The Product:

What else sets the PocketSurfer apart ?

Form Factor:

The PocketSurfer is a 6 x 3.98 x 0.6-inch device, that’s got a flip-open form factor and a qwerty keyboard reminiscent of the Nokia E90 and the Nokia 9xxx series communicators- but it’s longer than a E61 and at the same time thinner and lighter than a Nokia E90.

GPS: That’s a awesome nice to have- atleast on paper- but we never did get a chance to see it NOR a chance to actually play with the PocketSurfer’s advertised GPS capability- so no comments on this.

Keyboard:

The Keys atleast 5-times bigger than the keys of a Nokia E90 Communicator or the Keys of a Nokia E61 or E71.

These are keys which are backlit, and can be pressed as you stand in a airport- checking for cheaply priced tickets.

The screen is BIG- 640x240 – that’s not as big as a laptop’s screen- but it’s definitely big enough to show most web-pages the way the designer intended you to see them.

And for those of us who want to check stock quotes and book tickets on pages designed for PCs-- these DataWind folks really have worked hard- on getting the ergonomics of showing webpages right- with a “scroll lock” key (lets you use the 4-way arrow keys to move around a webpage- without affecting the position of the nouse pointer.

There are also keys to temporarily zoom into or shrink parts of a webpage.

Selection and Mouse Pointer Motion:

There’s a key for mouse clicking and there’s a touch pad like those on laptops—for moving the mouse pointer around and just like a laptop, tapping the touch-pad has the effect of double-clicking the mouse pointer.

Download Speeds:

It can display webpages blazingly fast- like for example you can browse to- and open a 50 megabyte PDF file from a website- in under 5-seconds.

When I tried out the PocketSurfer- I saw that’s true; but when I heard it, that sounded crazy- even to me- the more I’d listen, the more exaggerated this claim would sound- so I spent the time, listening to these folks and figuring how exactly such blazingly fast speeds are possible.

So, for those of us that like to know it all—here’s how the PocketSurfer manages it’s speeds:

How ? Because it’s web-browser accesses the files through a intermediate server- which uses high speed server-to-server internet connections to “get” the file to the server- and then the server sends out pre-rendered versions of the heavy webpage to the user’s webbrowser running on the PocketSurfer.

It also has a host of advanced and patented file-compression technologies- through which DataWind’s servers and web-browsers get compressed versions of the files shrunk to far beyond what’s possible with standardized web-protocols.

Weight:

It’s much lighter than a Nokia E90 and it has keys that are atleast 5-times bigger than the Nokia-E90’s keys- which makes the keys easier to press- all the better for one-handed typing, while walking or standing.

External Connectivity:

As per script, Here’s DataWind’s take on PocketSurfer’s External Connectivity, the quotes and the emphasis is all mine (Delhi Voice Blogs’):

“Since the PocketSurfer is a Internet Access Device- and since each pocketSurfer device has 50 MB of space on DataWind’s Midstream server(see diagram), therefore, to stick to it’s planned positioning and to keep costs low, the PocketSurfer has only internet connectivity through a packet data enabled SIM card, and there is no Bluetooth, WiFi or USB connectivity between the PocketSurfer and any external PC or Laptop or Smartphone- all file transfers etc can be done through the internet- but uploading the file to the internet and downloading the file onto the PocketSurfer.”

Pricing:
The PocketSurfer costs Rs 11,995 suggested retail price- and the street price is expected to be lower… lets see, how low!

Limitations:

In this blogger’s view, external connectivity is the weakest part of PocketSurfer’s value proposition. That means:

Dependance on mobile network coverage: in a situation of limited or zero mobile network coverage, the PocketSurfer is limited to the point of being unusable- whereas, a normal smartphone or laptop could still do a lot—even without internet connectivity or mobile network coverage.

Data Access Charges: The PocketSurfer’s midstream servers can greatly use data usage- I feel that the offered “Free 35 hours a month for the first 12 months” would still prove to be a stumbling block.

Here’s why ? It’s just a unqualified opinion- but imagine this: read your mails and compose 4-5 mails—and poof!!! You’ve used maybe a hour of net access time; do that daily, and before the month is finished, you’ve completed your 35 hour quota.

Once the net access quota for the month is finished- what else is there to do ? nothing- nothing at all- no mp3 playing and no movie clip watching, not even a way to locally edit and draft documents without being connected to the internet.

- Getting Data Off the PocketSurfer: No Bluetooth, no wifi connectivity, and no USB cable to transfer files from the PocketSurfer to a PC/Laptop or other smartphone.

Will this affect most users ? Depends on the user- but to power-users like me, this is bad!!!

Beyond this first impression: Complaints ? Complaints ? Praise ?

Nopes… that’s it…

this is where the press conference ends.

Someday soon, the DelhiVoice will indeed get a chance to play with the PocketSurfer… maybe after buying one from the local market or borrowing one from a friend… and then; that’s when I guess the real story… praise and pitfalls will come out.

Till then… watch this space!!!

RefControl - Stop those thieves ;)

2009-02-12T03:15:00.000-08:00

RefControl is the latest firefox addon. This control prevents the websites from peeping into our recent web history.

When we go to a website, the scripts in the page could easily find out the site from which we had visited the site or in short the referring website. This is an inbuilt functionality in the internet mechanism which lets the webmasters determine the source and then improve their commerce and business models.

But many consider this to be an infringement of their privacy and have been complaining. The RefControl addon may solve this predicament. It will block all the websites from reading the recent history. It can also be configured to send null value or a custom message.

It can be downloaded from here. Once installed, it will be reflected in under the tools menu. The interface looks like this and is very easy to work around.

By default, RefControl blocks all the sites from reading the data. It is very easy to use and can be
configured very easily.

One has to add the website and then select one of the three given options, whether to block, or send the null value or send a default message.

Offline Gmail

2009-02-05T22:54:00.000-08:00

Reading your emails offline from the browsers itself seems to be a better option tha using the email clients mainly due to the fact that one gets to use the same email interface when done from the browser as against the complex interfaces some of the email clients offer.

Google is extending this offline feature in its Gmail with the help of Google gears. Gears is an open source browser extension that lets developers create web applications that can run offline. Gears is currently a beta product; moreover, it is currently considered to be a developer-only release. Gears extends browsers by making new APIs available to JavaScript code.

Gmail uses Gears to download a local cache of your mail. As long as you're connected to the network, that cache is synchronized with Gmail's servers. When you lose your connection, Gmail automatically switches to offline mode, and uses the data stored on your computer's hard drive instead of the information sent across the network. You can read messages, star and label them, and do all of the things you're used to doing while reading your webmail online. Any messages you send while offline will be placed in your outbox and automatically sent the next time Gmail detects a connection.

To use this feature, one has to install google gears first. It can be obtained from http://gears.google.com The setup file is a 500Kb file, which gets downloaded in a flash. The installer connects to the internet and downloads the gears application from the google servers after which one has to restart the browsers.

After logging into Gmail, navigate to the settings tab and select the labs option.

Select enable under the Offline section and click save changes button. This section displays all the applications from the google labs' vault which the user has enabled.

After your browser reloads, you'll see a new "Offline0.1" link in the upper righthand corner of your account, next to your username
.

When the link is clicked, gears starts synchronizing the mails and starts to store them in the local hard drive. The status message shows how many have been synchronized and the date till which mails have been backed up.

Once done, one can use it the same way the online version functions.

Everything said and done, this is still an experimental feature and users may send the glitches they come across, to google.

GMAIL DRIVE

2009-01-14T05:50:00.000-08:00

GMAIL DRIVE

GMail Drive is a third party windows shell extension which allows one to map the storage space allocated for a gmail account on to a virtual drive that is mounted on the user's computer.

As it is clear from its name, in order to create this one has to have a gmail account.

The next step is to install the shell extension which will create this virtual drive. The Virtual Drive will appear in the user's My Computer. This new drive behaves like any other hard disk drive in one's computer and has the normal functionalities associated with the windows explorer(drag n drop, cut, copy, paste etc., the only difference being one needs to log on to the gmail account to see the contents of the directory. The Gmail Drive scans the gmail account once in a while and rebuilds the directory structures, if new files/folders are found in the account.

The GMail Drive works on top of the GMail File System, which is behind the google's mail service.
When a new file is added to the drive, the file is in turn uploaded to the google's storage through the Gmail Drive. A new mail is generated in which the uploaded file appears as an attachment. The file size limitation which is generally associated with a gmail account also apply to this too.

Though it seems a brilliant idea to use the storage space of google for our personal use, google's terms of conditions doesnt allow one to use this. The program policies do not ban the use of these, any immoderate use of Gmail's storage space may invite temporary suspension of the account.

One has to note that if there is a change in the GMAIL FileSystem, the whole idea of GMAIL Drive, in its present form, may be useless and also that the GMAIL Drive doesnt support the Google Apps account.

There are similar packages from other companies like Microsoft and AOL.

The GMAIL Drive shell extension can be found here. http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm

Please use the GMAIL Drive at your own risk. It is an experimental package and NOT offered by Google as one of their services.

Part-2: A Detailed “Here’s what I saw” account of Mr.Bill Gates’ talk- Bill Gates Speaks at IIT Delhi - November 5th 2008

2008-11-08T11:40:00.000-08:00

Author’s Note: This post and accompanying photographs are copyrighted by the author and/or Microsoft (photo-credits) or others. and any unauthorized replication, storage or publishing of this material without the author’s express written (and signed on paper) permission is prohibited.

The Speech
This Part-2 details Mr.Bill Gates' speech- reported as heard and remembered by the blogger- Mr.Nalin ( nsnsns(at)gmail(dot)com ). Please see earlier posts- Part-0 for Event Background and Part-1 for Venue Details and other people in this event.

Mr.Bill Gates kicked off the talk by Dreamspark- Microsoft's scheme of giving for free, it's latest development tools to students in colleges and high-schools.

Mr.Gates then shifted gears to talk more about his own motivations for trying to solve global problems. Most of this article touches upon Mr.Gates's motivations and reasons- for doing what he is currently doing with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

During the 80s and 90s Microsoft was making a lot of money. But even at that time, Mr.Gates thought a lot about how he could contribute to alleviating the world’s problems. Mr.Gates believes that all the problems are because of overpopulation- that in many parts of the developing world, preventable infant and adult diseases kill so many people that people are unsure about the chances of survival of their children or are not sure if they and all their children will continue to live up to be healthy and fit that they have many children as a means of support and insurance against the diseases prevalent.

If healthcare was better people would live healthier lives. And when people rise above subsistence and survival- then, Mr.Gates feels that the population pressure will decrease and that in turn will- over time- help solve all of the world’s hunger, poverty and other problems.

And it is true that in 1960, the rate of child (children under age 5) mortality due to Measles was about 20 million infants and children annually and in 2004, even though the world’s population had more than doubled the rate of child mortality due to measles had more than halved- which is a big achievement- because measles is not as deadly and life threatening a disease as it once was.

(These numbers seemed somewhat alien; therefore the author, Mr. Nalin Savara verified this number; and here's a reference: http://www.results-resultats.ca/action/actions/2008/2008-02-en.aspx)

Mr. Bill Gates talked of Polio and India’s fight against polio- and the varying success rates of Polio eradication between different parts of India- and how more research-work and action was needed on that front.

But it’s also true that while capitalism is the best system developed till now, the way capitalism works, miniscule amounts of money are spent solving problems for those at the bottom of the pyramid.

For example, the amount of money spent annually researching polio and cures for polio till recently was about 10% of the money spent researching cures for baldness.

And it’s also true that till the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation chipped in, researchers could not typically expect rewards for their efforts. In US and even more outside the US, researchers just did not see rewards or money for solving the tough problems that affect the poorest, the most needy and the most deprived people in the world.

Mr.Gates also saw that currently it often takes long to get research-funds- and many long, tough-to-understand descriptions are submitted as the researcher goes through a tiring and exhausting process for meager funds.

So that’s why, when the last time they invited ideas to fund; they asked-for got two-page descriptions and got around four thousand short descriptions of various ideas from many researchers- and then they got 60 people to evaluate the ideas- and they told the judges the following:
(1) Each evaluator selects three ideas he liked best.
(2) Automatic US $100,000 funding to the idea each evaluator liked best- and the Gates’ Foundation would get back in a year to see how much progress was made.
(3) For the idea each evaluator liked second-best:
a. If the idea was from the US, then it would get $100,000 in funding if three evaluators liked it in their top three ideas.
b. If a idea was from outside USA then even one evaluator liking it as second best would get the idea $100,000 funding- because they want to get people all around the world working on ideas- they want researchers to be finding and developing solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, rather than worrying about funding.
c. For each idea selected as a third best idea by any researcher, more criteria will be applied- but whatever happens, Mr Gates felt that opening up the purse-strings would really get people digging into and researching ideas.

Mr.Gates further mentioned a idea submitted as a 2-page synopsis by a lady in India, which suggested a way of trying to control AIDS by creating nano-particles which resemble the AIDS causing HIV virus- and when nano-particles resembling the virus impersonate the virus and when the virus interacts with those, they cause the virus to get de-activated.

Mr.Gates further added that irrespective of the (credentials of the researcher and the) details, since this was presented as a outline only, they don’t know if it’ll be useful or not- but since the evaluator presented with the idea liked the idea; they gave the lady who proposed this idea $100,000 for her research- and they’ll get back to her in a year to see what progress she’s made on this front.

Mr.Gates continued, and told us they have funded atleast 6 or more ideas on finding a cure for AIDS… and in a few years- when the researches bear results- they start to find if the ideas were non-starters or how much closer they have come to finding a cure for AIDS.

He also talked of a instance when they found a youngster who after winning a contest was invited to work for Microsoft in USA for some months- and he was made Mr.Gates’ personal assistant. And this youngster from South India got a chance to do many cool things and these days the youngster is doing great, doing his Master’s Degree (Graduate Studies) in a US university, on his way to becoming a great software professional.

Mr.Gates went on to add that while he remembers fondly all that he and his friends did as teenage programmers back at high school, the opportunities and access to information they had was nothing like what is available to the youngsters and students of today. He mentioned when he was young, he would ask many questions and sometimes he’d get satisfyingly informative answers and many times he wouldn’t get as much information as he wanted- but today he has a son too (is he talking of his son Rory John Gates, born 1999 ?)- and when his son asks him questions he cant answer, Mr.Gates either gets the information himself from the internet… or he directs his son to go check it out on the internet… and added that the sheer amount of information and knowledge available on the internet is unbelievable and till a short time back, even specialists found it hard to get so much information on their fields…

He then invited the audience to field some questions to him…

Question-Answer Session Between Mr.Bill Gates and Audience at IIT-Delhi

Question: Neha Jain from NDTV Profit asked for Mr.Gates’ opinion on the election of Barack Obama and his opinions about the current recession as well as the effect Obama’s election would have on the current recession and it’s outcome.

Mr.Gates spent almost 10-12 minutes offering his own extremely optimistic views on the subject and he said that he feels that a fresh approach from Obama would help find new solutions to old problems.

Question: A student from IIT Delhi asked about what can we do about the world’s problems since we have more access than Mr.Gates and his 5-friends in his days.

Bill Gates' Answer:
- Youngsters in India have more familiarity with problems
- You people are closer to and exposed to the Challenges of Poverty
- Mr.Gates criticized the university curriculum in his own days and said that in the days Microsoft was wildly successful and he was making all his money he would bemoan and regret that his own University Education did not expose him more to the problems of the world, the challenges of poverty and how difficult life actually is in the real world.
- He said that given your own awareness of the hierarchy of problems that poverty and under-development creates, you should try to face these challenges and find solutions to the problems of underdevelopment and poverty.

Question: What do you say about Masters’ (Degrees), higher studies- how is that important ?

Bill Gates' Answer:
Mr.Gates said there are huge opportunities in the world today for research and for finding new solutions to problems. He said that a increasing percentage of students should go for their higher studies and PhDs and that even his Bill and Melinda Gates’ foundation tries to encourage and reward research results such that researchers focus on the problems of the developing world and the problems faced by those at the lower end of the economic strata.

Question: A student from IIT Delhi asked Mr.Gates about Microsoft Surface technology.

Bill Gates' Answer:
Mr.Gates answered that a digital camera as a electronic component could be had as cheaply as US $3 or $4 and that Microsoft through a combination of software and hardware would like a scenario, where a “surface”- like a table-top or whiteboad could have a camera behind it- that tracks the user’s hand touches and movements- and uses that information about the user’s hand or touch movements as a input device for a computer.
Mr.Gates mentioned how the cost of surface technology had decreased from almost US$1800 in v1.0 to around US$400 in the current version- and how, someday surface technology would make it easy for students, researchers and many others to collaborate at a distance even across continents.

Question: Mr.Gates answered one more question from a youngster in a engineering institute in Delhi, who asked why Microsoft doesn’t support open source.

Bill Gates' Answer:
Mr. Gates replied that Microsoft has a variety of pricing models and that Microsoft as far as possible gives out a lot of software for free to students and educational institutes and tries to make it’s money from big-corporations. So for example, he said that if you (student) may get a lot of development tools free while if we are giving our software to say a Oil-Refinery with support and maintainence contracts, then we will charge them money for it.
He added that he believes Open-Source and Microsoft’s own commercial software efforts are complimentary to each other and each has it’s own place in the world and that he personally is not against Open Source software but Microsoft has to support a variety of licensing and pricing models to survive as a corporation and to support research and development and so that it can support and help students and researchers in universities.

Question: A reporter from DNA asked Mr.Gates:
a. What is the approximate Dollar-figure for the software Microsoft’s dream-sparks program plans to donate.
b. What are Mr.Bill Gates’ views on the impact of the upcoming slowdown and possible economic recession on the outsourced software majors from India.

Bill Gates' Answer:
Mr.Gates mentioned that while they expect over 10 million student developers to benefit; with programs like these you just cant put a dollar figure since Microsoft does this for students and not by calculating the value of the software.
About effect of recession on Indian IT majors; Mr.Gates said that based on the exchanges he has had with India’s IT giants, he feels that the market demand for IT services will remain and that he feels that given the IT majors are playing a long-term game; he feels that the Indian IT Giants will continue to hire and grow- because of their own long-term visions- and the current recession will be like another speed-bump which will come and go.

Please do feel free to comment here OR to mail me- nsnsns(at)gmail(dot)com

Part-1: Details of the Venue - Bill Gates Speaks at IIT Delhi - November 5th 2008

2008-11-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

We arrived at IIT and entered the hall around 1:45 pm on Wednesday 5th Nov, 2008. After several minutes of waiting and watching a movie about dreams (since the event was called DreamSparks)-.

The stage was taken first by Mrs. Daggubati Purandeswari (hon. Minister of State for Higher Education) who gave a long-ish talk about the details of Microsoft’s plans and contributions.

A portal called Sakshat and a program called ICT Champs to create : 100,000 IT literate teachers was mentioned.

The goal to reach 35 million students in 11 countries with Microsoft’s professional level design and development tools was also mentioned.

After that, a professor from IIT Delhi, gave a friendly introduction to Mr.Gates. He quoted a Harvard Professor about one of Mr.Gates’ student-day escapades. After being introduced to a previously unsolved problem in a introductory maths class by his Harvard professor, Mr.Gates along with another of his Harvard professors solved the problem- and published the results in a mathematical journal.

Part-0: Background - Bill Gates Speaks at IIT Delhi - November 5th 2008

2008-11-08T05:29:00.000-08:00

This article is divided into 3 parts: Part-0: Background, Part-1: Fluff and Details of the Venue and Part-2: A Detailed “Here’s what I saw” account of Mr.Bill Gates’ talk. Scroll Down-- to Part-2-- if you want to SKIP ACCROSS TO Mr.Gates' speech without this introductory text.

The event marked the launch of Microsoft’s “DreamSparks” free software to students distribution program- but in the talk, Mr.Gates talked mainly about his humanitarian activities and his underlying motivations and approach to improving the world.

I am posting this article as a detailed “this what he said account”, because the words about Mr.Gates thoughts and his approach to various activities tells the listener or reader a lot more about Mr.Gates as a person, than any number of articles or opinions written about him.

A Disclaimer: This is “as I saw it”- and while I happily accept corrections and missed details- I present this for information and entertainment- and by reading this, you agree that the author cannot be quoted OR be sued OR be otherwise held liable for the accuracy and veracity of this content.

Author’s Note: This post and accompanying photographs are copyrighted by the author and/or Microsoft (photo-credits) or others. and any unauthorized replication, storage or publishing of this material without the author’s express written (and signed on paper) permission is prohibited.

Part-0: Background

Like everybody else, no matter what my own personal opinions about Mr.Bill Gates- when I heard Bill Gates is in town- I wondered what it would be like to see him in person.

I recently read a newspaper article about how a meeting between the a Tech-Startup Founder and representatives of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation at Uttam Nagar in South-West Delhi turned into a meeting with Bill Gates and his father and sisters- because they decided to show-up and represent the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
And, my thought was “Wow… if BillG comes anyplace near where I am; I am will definitely go and see BillG myself”.

So, when I learnt BillG is speaking at IIT-Delhi, there was nothing to hold me back from showing up- to check out how Bill-G is in person.

So people; if you’re curious “I wonder how it went…”—here’s my post aimed to be as detailed as possible- to give you all a ringside view of this awesome talk by Mr.Bill Gates. Personally I liked Mr.Gates much more than I liked watching Mr.Steve Ballmer on TV- and no matter my views about Microsoft—I found Mr.Gates to be a epitome of gentleness and kindness- a impression that none of the articles I’ve read have conveyed to me—and that’s why I’m transcribing the event as best I remember it- so that you too can get a feel of just how it felt sitting there listening to Mr.Gates.

Also, though Mr.Gates did infact show up with a Elderly Gentleman and two ladies of roughly the same age as Mr.Gates- but ofcourse, I’m not sure if like the newspaper reported they were his father and sisters.

Were you there ? Do you see inaccuracies or gaps ? Do you have a opinion, positive or negative about this article ? Do you want me to add to this or send you any more information ?
I am happy to hear from all of you- and I am happy to reply mails and comments and if I can be of help- I am happy to be of service.

Please feel free to drop me a mail at nsnsns(at)gmail(dot)com OR to comment just below this blog post.

Also, my thanks to Mr.Abhishek Kant and Mr.Abhishek Baxi(In Photo) of Microsoft- these guys are total professionals and they are doing a great job- guys you rock!!! They do their job so well, that it sets a very high bar in my mind, on just how well things can be done.
Mr.Kant and Mr.Baxi are responsible for MVP program and certain other developer relations activities in India and South East Asia- and if you need any information or help- please do feel free to drop them a mail.

Finally saw him!!! Yes!!! I finally saw Bill Gates… heard the man speak!!!
Read through the details of Part-1 OR jump right across to Part-2 about the details of Bill Gates’ talk.

TiE Retail Summit 2008, Aug 1st New Delhi

2008-08-01T12:14:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity to check out the TiE India Retail Summit 2008- not all of it—but a few hours towards the end and I’m using this platform to put down a brief account of the same—all comments, questions, suggestions and queries are welcome, either here or by mailing me on nsnsns(at)gmail(dot)com- also, incase you’d like me to add to this article, if you want me to make corrections or if you want me add specific details I may have missed out, please feel free to mail me.

For information on author's copyright, reprint-permissions and mirrors of this article, please scroll to the notice at the end of this post.

The TiE India Retail Summit 2008 was held at the Sheraton Hotel, Saket, on August 1st 2008 and it had one main conference session, with 2-3 simultaneous workshops, and it talked about various aspects of organized retail in India.

This is by no means a complete account of the event- but rather a synopsis, followed by some of what I saw and really liked about the event.

I’ve attended a lot of tech events but not many on retail, and I’m blogging this account mainly for the benefit of people like myself who wonder how’s TiE’s retail event would be- from a human perspective, beyond the networking-value and beyond what a layperson or a journalist would talk about. Also, since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’m also posting here a few snaps I clicked there too.

The session kicked off at 9:00 in the morning, and the schedule as per the pre-published program mailer was as below:

Introduction and Opening Remarks
• Arvind Singhal, Chairman, Technopak Advisors
Keynote Session – The India Story
• William Bissell, Managing Director, Fabindia Ltd
• Arvind Singhal, Chairman, Technopak Advisors - Chair
Learnings from Indian & Western Retail Models
• Viney Singh, Managing Director, Max Hyper Market India
• Mark Ashman, CEO, Marks & Spencer
• Andrew Levermore, CEO, HyperCITY Retail
• Himanshu Chakrawarti, COO, Landmark (Trent Ltd). - Chair
Tea

Hot New Retail Stories
• Rajiv Agarwal, CEO & Director, The Mobile Store
• Ashutosh Garg, Chairman & Managing Director, Guardian Life Care
• Kamal Oswal, Cotton County (tbc)
• Anurag Batra, Editor –in Chief & Publisher, exchange4media Group – Chair
LUNCH

Workshops
• TiE - Milagrow: How Small Will Become Bigger
Rajeev Karwal, Founder & CEO, Milagrow
Sanjay Shani, Director, Ritu Wears
• TiE - KPMG: Retail Financing
Narayanan Ramaswamy, Executive Director, KPMG Advisory Services
• TiE - IBM: Retail IT
Rafiq Shafi, Retail Industry Solutions, IBM India
Tea Break

Workshops
• TiE - Technopak: Retail Operations
Krishna Kumar, AVP-Retail Operations Practice, Technopak
• TiE - Cushman & Wakefield: Retail Property & Infrastructure
Rajneesh Mahajan, Director, Retail Services, Cushman & Wakefield
• Guru Session/Mentoring Clinic

Venue: The event was held at the Sheraton Hotel, Saket. A great venue that offers superb ambience. There was a session happening in the Dynasty ballroom with 3 other parallel tracks happening simultaneously.
The Sheraton, Saket was earlier called the Marriot, Saket. In it’s current avatar as the Sheraton- a Starwood Property- this hotel definitely lives up to Starwood’s legendary standards of elegance, ambience and hospitality- which are world-class.

Event: I showed up sometime after the tea break; and after running through the Tea Break, I had the chance to attend the session on “Retail Operations” by Mr.Zahir Abbas, Mr Kostubh Rishi and Mr.Bikram Chatterji of TechnoPak.

Takeaways:

Informative Sponsor driven sessions are often long and theoretical, but this “Retail Operations” session; though 120 slides long, was one of the most informative and thought provoking.

Zahir spoke at length about key factors, choice points, criteria involved in the organized retail industry.
Subsequently, Kostubh, spoke about a consulting assignment in which technopak had helped a major retail chain expand and set-up stores in South Indian cities that involved selling farm produce and groceries among other things to Sec-A and Sec-B households, where-in the retail chain partnered to a extent on the local milk-men and newspaper-sellers to fulfil orders.

Just summarizing Zahir and Kostubh’s responses to some of the “after-session questions” will give the reader a idea of the sheer depth and hands-on practicality of the session:

When asked by a IT professional for a example of the role of IT Infrastructure in Organized Retail ?

Zahir’s Answer: If you have a pen-and-paper note-book type of accounting and billing mechanism, a item gets sold, and it takes over a month for information about the sales-figures, transaction-times and selling prices to reach head-quarters if at all, while if you have a point-of-sale (POS) system with a centrally accessible database, someone managing operations and sitting in another city can instantly or at the end of the day see, who bought what, at what price and what quantity remains in inventory- which is important because 80% of the sales comes from 20% of the items in stock.

A interesting answer I must say, and refreshingly simple and totally free from all the jargon we hear today about SCM, CRM and ERP- even though the description provided would encompass all these buzzwords.

When asked by a professor of retail marketing from IIM-Lucknow about whether connecting with the consumer through milkmen and newspaper-boys is a good idea- might not it be better not to connect to consumers through government census data and vehicle registration databases ?
Zahir and Kostubh’s Answer: Milkmen and newspaperboys- because they deliver daily and show up with bills each month, typically have better information about the socio-economic status of each household than most surveys and statically collected data- and moreover if a retail chain wishes to distribute a free-sample or introduce itself, then the milk-men and newspaper-boys would have better and freer entry into the house-hold than say a team hired to survey the neighbourhood or a team hired to sell or distribute free-samples which does not already have a existing business relationship with each house-hold.
Technopak incidentally talked to and collected information from over 1000 such milk and newspaper vendors for this particular consulting project.

New Products and Brands:
I saw a product called VFConnect, which lets retailers use Bluetooth wireless networks to connect with consumers- send consumers a image or text about their shop/retailing outlet- it just broadcasts to consumers mobile phones whenever they walk past a cinema or a shop and the consumer can see the picture/advertisement OR text on their mobile which tells them about the shop/brand or about special offers available.

NIIT I had assumed was out of the training for retail space after it sold off NIS (National Institute for Sales) to Reliance, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a new brand called NIIT Imperia- in collaboration with the IIMs, NIIT Imperia tries to provide “advanced higher education” to those who’re already working.

Whenever I surf to shopping.Indiatimes.com or to MagicBrix.com, I assume these companies have in-house developer teams working on their online shops—so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that these names, and others actually depend on a company to provide the software backend for their virtual shops- and ANMSoft – a Mumbai based company is the one that provides the e-commerce software backend for these sites.

Presence of Academia: Another thing I found interesting about TiE’s retail conference compared to other similar industry events was the visible and active presence of youngsters and faculty from a cross section of academia, famous-name colleges, but also colleges I haven’t heard much of but which are actively absorbing what’s happening in the world and in the process actively building their brand, and this is one thing I really liked and appreciated.
And active as-in really active, both in asking questions and in trying to go beyond the answers of the speakers to volunteer answers to audience questions.

Some of the colleges present included:
(1) BIMTECH – Birla Institute of Management and Technology- This is primarily a MBA college, which to encourage interaction with industry has a Center for Retail, a Center for International Business and a Center for Insurance and Risk management, and the student attendees from the Center for Retail it seems had been notified about this event by their inhouse mailing-list- interesting. To say the least

(2) Design and Innovation Academy – This college in Sector-58 Noida teaches students design- all the various facets of design which include jewellery design and multimedia, amongst others—definitely sounds like a interesting course atleast to me.

(3) NIFT – yes indeed; the National Institute of Fashion Technology.

(4) IIM Lucknow- that’s right, there was Professor B.S.Nayyar, Professor of Retail Marketting from IIM Lucknow attending and he’s the gentleman who I mentioned earlier in the bit about the question-answer session.

Some Photos from the Event: (a picture says a thousand words- and if you want, you can click on many of these photos to see larger sized high-resolution pictures)

Here’s one session I would have loved to attend but which I regretfully missed, anyone know of a blog that covers this OR if you have the slides from this, do drop me a mail!!!

VFConnect: This company makes Bluetooth advertising technology- broadcasts to the mobiles of passer-bys information about a retailer's shop or about special offers

A Upcoming TiE event

Lounge Conference: As the conference proceeds, the lounge area is filled with folks interacting and networking

Tea-Time- The rush for food.

A Cross Section of the Attendees at Tea time

Pradeep Sonthalia (Langham Capital) and Avinash Aggarwal (RouteGuru.com) pose for a photo at Tea-time

Vishal Singhal of CellStrat looks on as Tea-time proceeds in the background.

Mr.Ranjit – of the Indian Venture Capital Association takes the stage before Technopak’s 120-slide long (but extremely interesting) presentation on retail operations commences.

Zahir Abbas of Technopak presents- while Bikram Chatterji and Kostubh Rishi (sitting, also from Technopak) Look on

A Member of the Audience takes the mike as a very informative and lively QA Session proceeds.

We are all students- of life!!! but here's a snap of some students of the Design and Innovation Academy who had come to attend the TiE Retail Summit 2008- was great seeing active student participation at a event like this-- see article above.

With most events, I tend to be atleast a bit critical, suggest something for the better, but this is one event which I found perfect; and I’d like to compliment and commend Ms.Geetika Dayal (Executive Director TiE New Delhi, geetika(at)tienewdelhi(dot)org) and Mr.Nitin Aggarwal (Assistant Director TiE New Delhi, nitin(at)tienewdelhi(dot)org) of TiE New Delhi for a job well done.

Also, my special thanks once again to Mr.Nitin Aggarwal of Tie New Delhi.

Author’s Note: This post and accompanying photographs are copyrighted by the author; and any unauthorized replication, storage or publishing of this material without the author’s express written (and signed on paper) permission is prohibited.
The author has been in the High Tech industry for over a decade; and can be reached on nsnsns(at)gmail(dot)com or mobile: 9811109407 and is happy to attend and blog about events, product launches and technology news; please feel free to contact him with your questions, comments, opinions and info about tech events.

A mirror of this post is also published on Venture Woods - The Venture Capital and Start-up Blog.

I look forward to seeing your comments about this post, you can post comments here, at DelhiVoice.blogspot.com itself or you can mail me..

Proto.in Delhi - 18-19 July 2008

2008-07-21T02:35:00.000-07:00

Author's Note: This post and accompanying photographs are copyrighted by the author; and any unauthorized replication, storage or publishing of this material without the author's express written (and signed on paper) permission is prohibited.
The author has been in the High Tech industry for over a decade; and can be reached on nsnsns(at)gmail(dot)com or mobile: 9811109407 and is happy to attend and blog about technology events and technology news; please feel free to contact him with your questions, comments, opinions and info about tech events in delhi.

Also, before everything else, my heartiest compliments and thanks for a great job done--- to Vijay and team (Sudhir, Divya, Kiruba, many others whose name I wasnt exposed to)-- my only complaint :-))) -- u cud do it bigger!!! 10 times bigger next time guys!!! :-)))

Also, the main reason I'm posting is because I googled around; but couldnt find any articles that did justice to the awesome event that proto.in 2008 at IIT-Del was...

This article is also on posted on VentureWoods - The startup and venture capital blog. will also be posted on my DelhiVoice Blog... http://delhivoice.blogspot.com --> and I encourage you to visit that blog too...

Hi Folks...
I was there at proto.in at IIT Delhi on 18-19 July 2008.

This was my first time at Proto.in- as earlier I wasnt sure if it'd be worth it- since I'm not actually looking for any funding from VCs nor do I have a product idea for which I need to create a buzz- but anyways, some college buddies who're also ex-Trilogy God programmers were here in Delhi showcasing their startup's concept and I took the liberty of hanging around them, feasting my eyes and ears on the intense startup and ideation action around me.

It was a amazing, awesome, mind-expanding experience- to understate it and to put it mildly. It was something everyone in the tech industry should check out-- even if you're not even remotely looking to interact with VCs and even if you have no entrepreneurship thoughts even from a distance.

Here's a bit of what I saw that inspired me to make the above statement.

(1) You heard "Allah ke bande has de" from the Movie Waisa bhi hota hai ?
You seen the Quick Gun Murugan commercials on your fave music channel ?
---> Shashanka Ghosh... the guy who conceived and executed both of the above was there talking about his filmmaking experiences and on the perspectives he got to hear from folks like Ram Gopal Verma when he presented his ideas to them. Furthermore, beyond any book on writing business plans, he shared his thoughts on getting funding; interacting with financiers and why he took some of his ideas only as far as he did-- and not as far as they could have gone.

And he did it all in a talk that was peppered with humour and a projector showing rushes from some of the movies/commercials he has done and some which are upcoming...

(2) There was Kiruba Shankar... one of India's premier podcasters competing with everyone else in the quiz and taking his shot at running the ideation session... a idea jam... where people would grab the mike and spout forth on ideas; as others expanded them and took things forward.... a lively entertaining session; which incidentally was surprisingly fruitful in generating some ideas on changing the shape of Indian society and indian politics... which kept the audience on it's feet and entertained throughout and which (surprisingly!) gave out prizes to ideas that generated the maximum momentum - and momentum was judged and measured in a surprisingly objective way.

(3) There were startups too; with loads of great ideas, presenting their concepts... and pushing their buttons and there was a session where all the startups were asked to sit on different tables in the luncheon area and attendees were encouraged to stroll by and talk to whoever they wanted to and see whichever demo they fancied seeing...

I personally had a pleasant surprise learning that one of the hot idea start-ups had as it's CTO a guy who was once one half of a team whose other half... it's chief marketting officer & CEO I had interacted extensively with over Ryze and over yahoo messenger... always great to learn it's a small world... and the world is round too!!!

(4) Food and coffee flowed freely and the ambience of IIT-D added to the atmosphere... but for me atleast, what really brightened up the atmosphere was the pleasure of running into and meeting a whole bunch of hot-shot techie faces I had heard or read about...

There were indeed a whole bunch of interesting people. There were folks who're agewise kids compared to me but who I respect as upcoming God programmers. And there were people I have heard and read about in techie circles but have never met. And then there were individuals I knew at college years back as God-programmers who are now senior technologists. And many others whose acquaintaince I will cherish... there was everybody... a electric mix but in a very civil garb... and a pleasure to rub shoulders with and interact with...

I'm sure the startups presenting their products must have got their mileage too; for I saw people wearing badges of various incubators and every Seed-stage and mid-stage funding company I could think of and a few I had never heard of and I saw lots of interesting potentially lucrative products being presented... but yeah, I thought I'd share my take on stuff as a attendee-- so that folks that wonder abt the value of buying a pass to proto.in and attending-- but who are doubtful about showing up or doubtful about spending money see the value and do show up next time.

Some of the startups / attendees / people I met at proto.in 2008 included: (I hope my posting your names is ok- if any comments for additions/deletions, please mail me)

LifeBlob http://www.lifeblob.com
ApnaBill http://www.fourfractions.com
SocialWebFactory http://www.socialwebfactory.com
iStrait http://www.istrait.com
Eko - Mobile Financial Azadi http://eko.co.in
WebEx http://www.webex.co.in
Mustseeindia http://www.mustseeindia.com
Inkfruit (a t-shirt publishing company!) www.inkfruit.com
Medianama http://www.medianama.com
Muziboo http://www.muziboo.com
Lords of the odds http://www.lordsoftheodds.com
Pureplay Media
2i Capital India Pvt Ltd
... and many more... this was just a sampling from the names I remembered and the visiting cards I collected...

Posted below are some photos I shot at the Proto.in Delhi 18-19 July 2008... I hope ya like them... reach me on nsnsns(at)gmail(dot)com or on 9811109407... and I'd be happy to hear your comments...

Also, Lets make a flickr photo-pool of Proto.in snaps or if there is; please do inform me...

Also, finally, my thanks to Mr.Bakshish Dutta (dbakshish@hotmail.com), General Manager - Startups and Emerging Markets (Web 2.0) at sun microsystems; who when phoned him and asked him if proto was worth it and if he had a extra pass for me; strongly advised me to show-up and check out the atmosphere-- even if I showed up for a few hours...
A plug for Sun: Guys if your startup needs servers or if your web application uses a database; chances are you will be using MySQL- which while still free; is now owned and supported by Sun-- and I strongly advise you to atleast talk Sun Microsystems; enquire about their offerings and their prices-- they are doing a lot of interesting work to encourage startups... and a lot of their offerings beat the grey market/nehru place offerings fair and square; and their price includes the extremely valuable advice/information they share about servers, technology and technology options!!!

Please feel free to comment/ share your opinions.

DYSOC 2008 Countdown - Russia ahead in Arctic 'gold rush'

2008-05-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

In our Countdown towards DYSOC 2008's Youth Climate Charter to be released on May 29th 2008... we'll be covering some aspect of climate change each day... till May 29th 2008...

Russia ahead in Arctic 'gold rush'

By Paul Reynolds
World Affairs correspondent, BBC News website

As the arctic ice-melt continues... the Russians are leading a new "gold rush" in the high north, with a bold attempt to assert a claim to oil, gas and mineral rights over large parts of the Arctic Ocean up to the North Pole.

Check out this article... posted by the BBC...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6925853.stm

-----

Russia ahead in Arctic 'gold rush'

By Paul Reynolds
World Affairs correspondent, BBC News website

The Russians are leading a new "gold rush" in the high north, with a bold attempt to assert a claim to oil, gas and mineral rights over large parts of the Arctic Ocean up to the North Pole.

Russia's most famous explorer, Artur Chilingarov, complete with nautical beard, led the expedition to plant the Russian flag in a capsule on the ocean seabed under the pole itself.

"The Arctic is Russian," Chilingarov said earlier. "We must prove the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf."

Russia is claiming that an underwater mountain known as the Lomonosov Ridge is actually an extension of the Russian landmass.

This, it argues, justifies its claim to a triangular area up to the pole, giving it rights under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention.

Under Article 76 of the convention, a state can claim a 200 nautical mile exclusive zone and beyond that up to 150 nautical miles of rights on the seabed. The baseline from which these distances are measured depends on where the continental shelf ends.

Russia lodged a formal claim in 2001 but the UN's Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf told it to resubmit the claim. The flag-planting can be seen as a symbolic gesture in support.

At the same time, other states are acting to protect their interests in the Arctic. Canada is planning to build up to eight new patrol ships and the US Congress is considering a proposal to build two new heavy polar ships.

The rush for the Arctic has become more frenzied because of the melting of parts of the polar ice cap, which will allow easier exploration, and by the urgent need for new sources of oil and gas. A new sense of nationalism is also evident in Russia.

The ice thaw is predicted by a team of international researchers whose Arctic Climate Impact Assessment suggested in 2004 that the summer ice cap could melt completely before the end of this century because of global warming.

If the ice retreats, it could open up new shipping routes and new areas where natural resources could be exploited.

The US Geological Survey estimates that a quarter of the world's undiscovered energy resources lies in Arctic areas.

At the moment, nobody's shelf extends up to the North Pole so there is an international area around the Pole administered by the International Seabed Authority from Kingston, Jamaica.

But quite apart from the Russian claim there are multiple other disputes.

The US and Canada argue over rights in the North-west Passage, Norway and Russia differ over the Barents Sea, Canada and Denmark are competing over a small island off Greenland, the Russian parliament is refusing to ratify an agreement with the US over the Bering Sea and Denmark is claiming the North Pole itself.

North Pole solutions

The five countries involved are considering two other potential ways of sharing the region, in which all the sea would be divided between them.

The "median line method", supported by Canada and Denmark, would divide the Arctic waters between countries according to their length of nearest coastline. This would give Denmark the Pole itself but Canada would gain as well.

The "sector method" would take the North Pole as the centre and draw lines south along longitudes. This would penalise Canada but Norway and, to a lesser extent, Russia, would gain.

One major problem is that the United States has not ratified the 1982 UN convention, largely because senators did not want to have international restrictions placed on American actions.

However, in May 2007, Senator Richard Lugar, a senior Republican, pleaded for ratification in the light of the Russian moves, saying that an American voice was needed at the negotiating table.

RUSSIA'S ARCTIC CLAIM

1) North Pole: Russia leaves its flag on the seabed, 4,000m (13,100ft) beneath the surface, as part of its claims for oil and gas reserves
2) Lomonosov Ridge: Russia argues that this underwater feature is an extension of its continental territory and is looking for evidence
3) 200-nautical mile (370km) line: Shows how far countries' agreed economic area extends beyond their coastline. Often set from outlying islands
4) Russian-claimed territory: The bid to claim a vast area is being closely watched by other countries. Some could follow suit

Story from BBC NEWS.

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

Delhi Youth Summit on Climate - May 28, 29 2008 - (DYSoC 2008)

2008-05-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

The Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) /Delhi Greens and the Nehru
Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), in collaboration with LEAD India,
Fountain of Development Research & Action (FODRA), The Climate Project
- India, SAYEN/UNEP and in partnership with the YP Foundation is
organising a two day "Delhi Youth Summit on Climate" (DYSoC 2008) at
Teen Murti Bhawan, on the 28th and 29th of this month.

The two-day event will bring together youth from different parts of
the city and different backgrounds - to discuss, debate, share
concerns and find innovative solutions to the pressing problems faced
by Delhi and to shape a vision towards securing and safe-guarding our
common future.

All concerned citizens between the age group of 18 - 30 years are
invited to participate in this historic event - to hammer out a Delhi
Youth Charter on Climate. Individuals outside the age group are
welcome to attend the summit as observers. Pre-registration is
mandatory for participants while observers can do spot-registration on
the event day(s). The summit will conclude with a white paper or the
"Delhi Youth Charter on Climate", that would be presented to the Chief
Minister, Environment Secretary and all decision-making bodies in
Delhi.

To find more, read what the media is saying about the summit and to
register yourself, visit: http://iycn.in/dysoc

(Registration is now open and shortlisting is being done on a
first-come-first-serve basis. Pre-registration is a must to
participate in Summit)

Kartikeya Singh
Event Coordinator
Indian Youth Climate Network
iycn.in

Ph: +91-9999-00-88-07
E-mail: kartikeya@delhigreens.org

--

Govind Singh
IYCN, Delhi Greens
M. +91-98111-477-54
E. govind@delhigreens.org

Coming soon... a post abt PVR anupam;

2007-04-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

Coming soon... a post abt PVR anupam;
people seeing this, please suggest/comment on what I can touch upon in my next post...

Madhuban Fine Dining, and PVR memories
http://jaiarjun.blogspot.com/2005/11/madhuban-fine-dining-and-pvr-memories.html

Changing Delhi (inspired by Priya's blog)!
http://sharmavivek.sulekha.com/blog/post/2005/05/changing-delhi-inspired-by-priya-s-blog.htm

Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai/Lagta Khuda ka nek irada hai...

2007-03-06T18:26:00.001-08:00

This video is one of my favorites.
For those that arent into hindi/urdu and need a explanation of lyrics... talks abt falling in love etc.

This has lyrics like "Kya Mujhe Pyaar hai ? Lagta Khuda ka Nek Irada hai... kal ka fakir aaj shehzaada hai"
Translation: "seems by God's Good Intentions I'm in love... yesterday's Fakir is today's Crown Prince"
(Fakir = wandering holy-man who survives by begging for alms)

Love the lyrics coz I'm a technology buff and I love disruptive technologies that change the faces of markets, challenge status quo and throw up new kings... and yeah, at some level, love is the ultimate disruptive technology!!! That makes folks break old bonds and create new relationships...

Enjoy the beautiful video folks... and if there's someone that's not soo much into the hindi/urdu lyrics and wants a translation... comment me... and I'll do the honours!!!

And for folks that're heavy into music trivia; someone explain to me the caption this video had on you tube.

"The remix video of the song "Kya Mujhse Pyar Hai" from Woh Lamhe. And before anyone decides to bombard this one with comments - YES, I realize the song is a copy of Tak Bisakah by Peter Pan. Don't state the obvious."
[You Tube Caption for the above video]

Who's 'Tak Bisakah' and WTF's 'Peter Pan' ???? Drop me a comment, I'd love to hear the funda behind these names/words...

aaaa

zzzz

Petty Shopkeepers & deep convictions; versus white lies adding up to a petty life...

2007-03-06T18:06:00.000-08:00

If there's one thing I pride myself for- it's my ability to connect with the ground reality- and be sensitive to the market around me.

And yeah... each time I visit a market- I feel like I'm visiting a beach or climbing a beautiful snow covered mountain or experiencing a communion with God.

Why ? because a market to me embodies a idea of freedom and independance. A idea of being one's own boss and living by one's beliefs and sleeping happy even if that means sleeping hungry.

And yet; that same sense of independance often adds up to anarchy; and that same sense of shop-keeperliness adds up to chaos and a seemingly ungovernable city.

So ok; one aspect of this ungovernable-ness is the sealing of un-planned shops that's happening here.
Another is the spectre of student protesters clashing with and inflicting casualities upon heavily armed riot police...
ANd then there's the dark side!!!
Of stupidly profiteering autowallahs that give our city a bad name.

Ok, so anyways, I met this friend on orkut- she's a law student, and passionate abt taking a stand for certain causes... most notably the one relating to profiteering autowallahs... so ok, here's this scrap exchange we recently had on orkut:--

Myself: (in orkut scrap)
You know, I and a friend were standing at a uncle-jee's shop- and a friend remarked upon seeing a 23 yr old female autodriver about the equality - and uncle-jee sadly commented abt how she's their neighbour and how when school bus didnt come, she charged him Rs 60 for a ride others charge Rs 20 for and insisted on talking rudely to them in front of their kids.

NC: (Orkut scrap)
the term 'autowallah' is used as iv never come across an 'autowallih'....so for me its a gender neutral term.....feminism is not abt.allowing women to indulge in corrupt actions.....whether a woman or a man, 'autodrivers' will surely be taken to task if the meters are messed up with!!!

... a interesting exchange... and yeah... this is a exchange we're gonna come back to, with heavy philosphy someday soon... so, folks!!! watch this space!!!

Rock On, rocking city...

2007-03-06T17:39:00.000-08:00

THis photo folks is a photo of a popular pop singer called Kailash Kher performing live at a college rock-show.

Kailash Kher folks for those who're not plugged into this particular genre of music got famous performing a song called "Allah Ke Bande Has Dey" (Laugh oh Man of God); the lyrics of which alluded to the importance of hanging on, and seeing hope, even when one's dreams or plans are shattered.

To me, this song embodies everything the city of Delhi stands for... in it's spirit and in it's history.

So, without further ado, here's the video; and then lyrics of this awesome song, with a rough translation by local-guy...

Allah Ke Bande Has De - performed & written originally by Kailash Kher
(lyrics picked up from http://www.indianguitartabs.com/archive/index.php/t-3490.html

Toota Toota Ek Parinda Aise Toota
G
Ke Phir Jud Naa Paaya
G D
Loota Loota Kisne Usko Aise Loota
G
Ke Phir Ud Naa Paaya

(a bird, broke such that it couldnt put itself together again;
so badly did someone rob it that, that it couldnt fly again)

(Rythm Starts)
Verse 2:
D G
Girta Hua Woh Asma Se
D G
Aakar Gira Zameen Par
D
Khwabon Mein Phir Bhi Badal Hi The
G D
Woh Kehta Raha Magar
Chorus:
G
Ke Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
C
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
G
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
C
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega

(falling from the sky, fell on the ground
in his (bird's) dreams there were still clouds,
and he (bird) kept repeating "oh man of God Laugh, Tomorrow will come again")

(Same as verse one)
Kho Ke Aapne Par Hi To Usne Tha Ud Naa Sikha
Kho Ke Aapne Par Hi To O O O
Kho Ke Aapne Par Hi To Usne Tha Ud Naa Sikha
Gham Ko Aapne Saath Mein Lele Dard Bhi Tere Kaam
Aayega

(it was only by losing his wings did he learn to fly,
take the sorrow with you, even the pain will serve you)

Chorus:
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Aa Aa Aaa

D G
Tukde Tuke Ho Gaya Tha Har Sapna Jab Woh Toota
D
Tukde Tuke Ho Gaya Tha Aa Aaa Aa
D G
Tukde Tuke Ho Gaya Tha Har Sapna Jab Woh Toota
D
Bhikre Tukdon Mein Allah Ki Marzi Ka Manzar Paayega

(shattered was each dream when he broke,
broken to pieces,
in broken pieces will you find the shrine of the Lord's Wishes)

Chorus:
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Toota Toota Ek Parinda Aise Toota
Ke Phir Jud Naa Paaya
Loota Loota Kisne Usko Aise Loota
Ke Phir Ud Naa Paaya
Girta Hua Woh Asma Se
Aakar Gira Zameen Par
Khwabon Mein Phir Bhi Badal Hi The
Woh Kehta Raha Magar
Ke Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega

It's a beautiful song... and only by knowing the language can one do justice to it's lyrics... but yeah, to folks like myself that's what the city of Delhi (and perhaps Lahore), more than any other city of the world embodies.

More from me soon... and I'm gonna be auditioning some team-members for this site real soon now... so, people, watch this space.

And if someone knows where I can find the youtube video for this song; drop me a note in comments and I'll add this to the blog...

Delhi Ahoy!!!

2007-03-06T17:27:00.000-08:00

Okie folks... here it is, this blog's finally manifested itself onto popular consciousness.

There's a story behind it, the how and the why!!!

And that story too, will manifest itself here, albeit in parts.

So, hang on and keep reading; this is going to be one helluva ride...

-LocalGuy