Posts filed under 'Technology'
Finally after 6 months, managed to get a cell phone without any deposits. I guess my credit history is starting to build up now. The last time when I asked for a cell phone service, I was told to deposit $750!!
I still say cell phone market in US sucks. The service providers dictate the market. No good handsets to choose too. You are kind of forced to buy from the limited range of handsets that the services providers have to offer.
After doing some major research, I opted for T-Mobile service. The service plan is pretty decent (Get More 1500), but is quite expensive compared to the mobile service back in India. With the plan, you are kind of forced to buy a cell phone, and T-mobile had very limited variety. Nothing compared to the barrage of cell phones available in India!.
I picked the Motorola Razr V3 (silver), since it was decently priced (keep in mind that I have an 1 year contract!). I had also read lots about its looks, and its coolness factor. Its supposed to be the Best and the “Most Happening” phone in the US of A currently in the market!.
The Razr V3 definitely has the looks! Its cool & sexy. Very sleek and slim. Its got a very beautiful finish, and a 260K color TFT display. It has a decent battery life too. And that’s where it ends. I being a Nokia 6600 user, feel like a total handicapped using this phone.
Here are some things which suck big time about the Razr V3…
- Its a flip phone. So, you need to open the flap to make/receive calls. And, the Razr V3 is designed in such a way that its next to impossible to open the phone with one hand. So, if you receive a call while you are eating or using your other hand, its a struggle.
- The phone is not at all extensible. Its got very little internal memory (5 MB), and there is no way to increase it. No slots for memory cards either.
- The phone boasts that it can play MP3 tones. Yes. It does have a great stereo sound, but with 5 MB of space, you can only store ring tones, and if you are lucky enough, you can store a MP3 song or two.
- It has a 4x digital Zoom camera - but the 640 x 480 resolution sucks big time. This phone deserves a better resolution camera.
- No Video recording. …….. and even if you could, you wouldn’t have enough space to store the recorded clips.
- Using Bluetooth, the phone could not detect most of the other Bluetooth devices that were around. But the other devices could detect and connect to the Razr V3. Once connected, I could transfer files as usual.
- There is an small stamp sized display on the outside (on the flap). But, you cannot do any customization specific to this display.
- The phone supports Java, but its very very slow. Again due to space constraints, you cannot load lots of applications
- The phone does not recognize WAV files!!! However, it plays Midi files, and MP3 files as ring tones.
- No support for .rm (real media) files when it comes to video. Neither can it play DivX encoded files (.avi).
Compared to the above, if you consider the features, my Nokia 6600 beats the Motorola Razr V3 hands down! While I came here to the US, I had brought my Nokia 6600 from India. So, after using the Razr V3 for couple of days, Now I am back to my Nokia 6600! I plan to use the Razr as a back up phone! Just in case. Or may be… just to ’show off’. hahaha…
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July 25th, 2006 at 01:14am
Come July 25th, I would have finished 6 months using Skype-In. I had used Skype prior to that, but it was mainly for Skype to Skype calls or Skype-out calls. I would also be finishing my 6 months here in the United States this month end.
During these 6 months, i have used Skype as my *only* phone to receive calls. This service is called the Skype-In service. The main reason for me to go for Skype-in initially was, I wanted a phone number which I could give to my parents before I left India!. So, I had a US number of Kingpsort Area code, when I was in India. I also had a feeling that it would take some time for me to settle down in US and get a phone number.
Over all, I am kind of satisfied with Skype. But I must say, I am not very happy. Here are some of the Pros and Cons of using Skype in no particular order:
Pros:
- The Call quality is great. No questions here.
- Outgoing calls - Very Cheap. I can say dirt cheap. Initially, it used to cost me around 2.1 cents per minute to call any number in US, but later on in May, Skype make all calls made from US to US and Canada free.
- Incoming calls - The Skype-in service costs $12 for 3 months (or some $38 for a year). So, its cheap again. The local phone service here (Sprint) costs around 30$ per month. So, comparatively its much cheaper.
- Voice mail is free with Skype-In. Its a very basic voicemail service. But it works. Well, most of the time.
- You can forward your calls to any other number
- You can make and receive calls from anywhere as long as you have Internet access.
- Skype worked pretty well from my office network too which is behind a firewall. Skype is pretty popular for this reason too. So, I can make long distance calls or even receive calls at office
- In its current version, Skype allows upto 4 parties in a conference. Works well while making international calls.
- International calls rates are pretty cheap and are comparable to other VOIP players. Its a bit expensive when compared to Reliance India call - when making calls to India, But again, Skype - to - Skype calls are free.
- Has got excellent SDK/API support - so, there are lot of third party tools/software which interact with Skype.
- I have bought a skype-to-usb-to-Phoneline adaptor. So, I use a regular cordless phone to make and answer calls. So, I am not tied to the computer.
- Video conference works great - Quality of video is much better than other applications.
Cons:
- Well, Skype is not a true telephone company. Its a Internet company based out of Europe. So, there is absolutely no customer service. There is an helpdesk and a ticket system on the Skype website, but it sucks big time.
- Even though you buy stuff from Skype, you don’t get a proper invoice (phone bill), which shows your name/address and phone number (Skype-in number) on it. Now, you might be wondering why the hell that would be required?.. .. Its required when you are new in US, and you want open and bank account or something similar, and they ask you address proof etc. I had a very difficult time trying to open a citibank account, which they refused to open without a phone bill.
- Couple of months back, Skype had some technical problems, and I think i missed some incoming calls.
- Same with the case with voice mails.
- No caller id for your outgoing call. So, the receiver receives your calls as a call from 012345.
- You get caller Id for your incoming calls, but only the number. It does not display the name. (the local phone lines, and some other VOIP players show caller ID with the name of the caller).
- If you don’t have a the adapter that I have mentioned about, then you must be close to the computer (with a mic) to make/receive calls.
- The Processor utilization is relatively high when call is in progress.
- Video chat take lots of bandwidth - It does not matter here in US, but if you are in India, and have a Usage Limit on your Internet access, then you need to be very careful while using video chat.
- No 911.
Overcall I would rate my Skype experience around 6 on a scale of 10. But I must say, you can really save a lot of money if you can live up with basic telephone connectivity.
Currently, at Houston, in Chitra’s appartment, we have subscribed to the Sunrocket service which is again a VOIP service, but works much differently from Skype. Its not as cheap has Skype, but has lot less cons then mentioned in the above list. Will post more about Sunrocket in the future after using it for a couple of months.
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July 14th, 2006 at 12:35am
Well, for the past two three days lots of things are not in place. First of all, my Bloglines aggregator is behaving like a total bitch. For some damn reason, Bloglines is not updating some of my feeds, which is driving me nuts.
Yesterday, Yahoo! mail, messenger and many of other yahoo services were down …
Orkut has gone bonkers for the past couple of days. It was down for maintenance for quite a lot of time. Also,.. the “Bad server, No doughnut” error is back!
There were reports that even Google/Gmail services was behaving erratically for some users.
And in the next day or two, the ’stupid’ net-neutrality bill would be passed. Sad news for the entire Internet community. Is this the beginning of, the End of Internet ?…
BTW, any alternative for a good web-based news aggregator ?
I tried the web-based newsgator - did not like it. I guess I am too addicted to the bloglines style of display.
Tried Yahoo! Mail (beta) RSS feed reader feature - did not like it either - Navigation is not that great. No import/export features yet.
Google reader - Tried my best to use it. But found it too user-unfriendly. This is one product from Google which I kind of hate now. Its such a pain.
The best alternative for Bloglines so far has been the “Sage” extension for Firefox. It works cool. But the only problem is, it does not aggregate & its not web-based. i.e, It just displays the most recent feed items that are available. So, I would miss quite a lot of news items. :(
Any better alternatives ? I would prefer something web-based so that I can access the feeds from anywhere using a browser (preferably Firefox!)
Update (10.25 PM) : Got a reply from the Bloglines customer service department for the feedback that I had given about the above problem. They are saying that they are aware of the problem, and are looking into it. I checked my Bloglines feed now, and it seems to be back to normal now!
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June 22nd, 2006 at 09:47pm
Just checked Google earth.. and it looks like there has been a major data update. Lots of places are much clearer. Not very high resolution, but much better then before!. My home town, Mangalore now looks great, and I can see my house ! :)
Check out this picture of Infosys Mangalore - My office back at Mangalore…
Infosys Mangalore - Google Earth view - Click to Zoom
Infact, tons of places across the globe have new images!. Enjoy! I am off to side-seeing! :)
Try out Google Earth today!.
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June 10th, 2006 at 12:13am
Check out this article by John Dvorak on Microsoft. 100% true. Great read.
I am fully convinced that Microsoft is loosing focus on its bread and butter business - i.e., developing good software. Instead its spending most of its energy in territories like advertising and search. Leave those things alone! Yes, agreed that there is lot money involved in advertising, but that does not mean that you should jump into the other territories without having the capabilities.
Microsoft is too occupied and obsessed with what Google is doing and that’s gonna cost Microsoft a lot!. Where as, Google doesn’t bother about what Microsoft does!!.. The day it does, Google too would be in big trouble!
One of the points from the above article…
8. Preoccupation with Google. Microsoft is too easily distracted by successful companies who are not competitors. There is a deep-rooted belief that if a company like Google is successful, then they are an enemy per se. So the company obsesses on what Google is doing rather than concentrating on important Microsoft projects. Now Microsoft is about to do a deal with Yahoo to flank Google. This old-lady-like skittishness is unbecoming for a company this size.
Check this: Possible Microsoft & Yahoo merger article on slashdot.
More: Mr. Ballmer’s mail to Micro$oft folks.
I feel that the next couple of years would really decide Microsoft’s future!
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May 3rd, 2006 at 04:41pm
Google Calendar is Live… and it rocks!… Its just too cool. I am really impress at the feature set they have provided on day 1. Almost as good as outlook. … in fact its much better than outlook!
The entire blogosphere has gone crazy about this, and i think this would be a hot topic for the next few days!.
I just quickly reviewed it, and I am amazed at the features that they have provided. The best part is the “Quick Add” feature. Just say “Meet Mr.XYZ at Bangalore at 3PM this Saturday” , and it understands!. It also gives you an option to view the map of that area (i.e., Bangalore in this case)! Very Impressive. Besides, the entire calendar is click-able/draggable. Its totally Ajax based. You can setup notifications too (emails and if you are in US, you can setup SMS notifications too).
The UI is just fantastic. Oh yes, there is very good support of data import/export. You can import your Outlook calendar, Apple iCal data, or Yahoo! Calendar data. You can also export to both XML and ICAL. And… the best part is, you can share the calendar with rest of the world or you can allow granular access to people you choose!!
One more step close to a Web-based world! Can’t wait for web-based document editor (aka word) and a web-based spreadsheet (aka excel)!
Do give it a try!, and ..yes, its still a beta!
More info from Google available here.
More review here, here, here and here.
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April 13th, 2006 at 02:19pm
April 1st, 2006, 30th anniversary of Apple. And no major announcements from Apple. That’s what the world thought. But then came this announcement….a bouncer from Apple! Boot Camp.
Now you can run Win XP on an Intel Mac. I would say that this is a major event in the history of computing. It means a lot, and I am sure that the Apple stocks are zooming sky up.
How would it impact Micro$oft? Well, as of now, Microsoft would be happy to see that Win XP works on Mac. But, Apple is a company which has learnt some hard lessons. Specially from Micro$oft. Its just a matter of time. For now, It would also mean that the sales of Macs would sky rocket since it would open up a whole new segment of users - the business users! Think about it! Wow.
I think the next big company to be impacted would be Dell. Dell, Watch out! Seriously, I was considering buying a dual core Laptop from Dell but now suddenly, a MacBook Pro seems to be a better option!. What say ?
BTW, an interesting side note from the Boot Camp site …
Word to the Wise
Windows running on a Mac is like Windows running on a PC. That means it’ll be subject to the same attacks that plague the Windows world. So be sure to keep it updated with the latest Microsoft Windows security fixes.
Oh, yes, there is a rumor that with the next version of OS X, one can directly run Windows Applications in the OS X environment. Wow!
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April 5th, 2006 at 06:04pm
Patents = big money… Well, not always. But this one is the latest Patent Infringement suit which involves big money : Netflix suing Blockbuster for Patent Infringement.
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V/S |
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Here is what it says…
Netflix holds two U.S. patents for its business methodology, which calls for subscribers to pay a monthly fee to select and rent DVDs from the company’s Web site and to maintain a list of titles telling Netflix in which order to ship the films, according to the patents, which were included as exhibits in the lawsuit. The first patent, granted in 2003, covers the method by which Netflix customers select and receive a certain number of movies at a time, and return them for more titles. The second patent, issued on Tuesday, “covers a method for subscription-based online rental that allows subscribers to keep the DVDs they rent for as long as they wish without incurring any late fees, to obtain new DVDs without incurring additional charges and to prioritize and reprioritize their own personal dynamic queue — of DVDs to be rented“
WTF ? I am just wondering at the IQ of people who granted this patent!
It also means one can Patent things like…
“I get up early in the morning, brush my teeth, and then go to the restroom… have bath and then go to office”…. and then once the patent is granted, can sue anyone who follows this routine………..including the person who issued this patent.
How about a restaurant which says……
“The guests at our restaurant can sit at the restaurant as long as they want and enjoy the food served……. ” - Yes, surely you can patent this….
Then how about…..Walmart or any big shopping chain says…. “Our customers can shop as long as they want and we won’t charge them for being at our shop & spending time …..” — Well, this can be patented too… and sue every other supermarket chain on the planet.
Oh.. ya… what about breathing…? I am sure a patent would soon be granted for that too.. Just a matter of time…Real crazy.
More discussion on Digg.com & Slashdot
Check these crazy patents too!
BTW, did you know that Micro$oft has been granted a patent for double click??
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April 4th, 2006 at 11:59pm
Atul Chitnis remembers the 10th Anniversary of PCQ Linux. No doubt PCQ was “the” reason for Linux awareness in India. Kudos to Atul and the great team @ PCQ!
I still have all the PCQ CDs with me back at home. Offcourse, during those days (1995/96), a CD was something great, and getting a CD for ‘free’ with a magazine was pretty cool (even though you had to spend around Rs. 100 for the Mag!)
Initially, I used to religiously buy the magazine from the newsstands, but it was always tough to get the issue with the CD. But I think I never missed a issue for a couple of years. I finally subscribed to the magazine after sometime. Was subscribed for nearly 3 years I guess.
But after that, somehow, I felt that the quality of the magazine was degrading, and I missed a couple of issues too. The customer service was bad too. So, finally stopped my subscription.
But then, the Internet revolution had gained momentum, and internet became my main source of Info to the world of IT and downloads.
Talking about Linux, I did try installing Linux couple of times from the PCQ CDs (and direct downloads), but never fully adapted it for some reason or the other!
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March 21st, 2006 at 02:43am
While I was working on the laptop on Saturday night, all of a sudden, the laptop stopped responding. A minute later, I got to see the dreaded BSOD (Blue Screen of Death).
For me it was pretty much routine to see the BSOD, and I thought to myself..”yet another Microsoft/driver problem”… but I was wrong. I rebooted the laptop, and found that the system wasn’t booting up. Further investigation showed that the hard-disk wasn’t detected in the BIOS itself :(. Aaahhhhrrrrrr………
What a bad time for the HDD to crash. I didn’t have a boot disk or any alternative media with which I could boot. :( So, the entire Sunday, was without a computer. Somehow spent the day seeing some (stupid) TV channels ….etc.
Monday.. i.e., today took the laptop to the office, and they said that its totally dead, and all the data is gone. .. they could try sending it to some external agencies to recover the data, but its gonna cost quite a bit. Luckily, there wasn’t any major data loss.
So, spent most of the day today setting up the software and environment that I would need for my day to day work…and its not fully over yet.
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February 28th, 2006 at 09:27am
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