TechyTonic

It's been days the DND service was enforced and most of today are so peaceful that we do not have to check our phones for that height improvement or the sauna belt sms. We were tired of buying properties on sms and getting those daily deals which we never actually bought.

Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecommunications, took this marvelous step through Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of India on enforcing DND registry and asking all the telemarketing firms to stop sending this messages to people who do not want them. And we actually saw this happening from 27th September, 2011

Kapil Sibal is working proactively on improving telecommunication standards in India. DND is one of its kind and a very strong example of his involvement and vision. 

Here is how you can opt for DND service

You can change Options by sending SMS to 1909.

START 0 : Block all marketing messages

START 1 : SMS related to Banking/Insurance/Financial products/credit cards

START 2 : SMS relating to Real Estate.

START 3 : SMS relating to Education.

START 4 : SMS relating to Health.

START 5 : SMS relating to Consumer goods and automobiles.

START 6 : SMS relating to Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT

START 7 : SMS relating to Tourism and Leisure.

India as a telecommunication market has more than 850 million mobile subscribers which is second highest in the world (first being after China). With cheaper call rates and cheap mobile services, all telecom operators have been finding their way to reach to everyone's hand and with the support of Government it has actually happened. 

Kapil Sibal has more plans of improving the way telecommunication operators work to make life better for consumers. One of them being Making Roaming free. Let us hope we this very soon and India will be connected as one network.

We have heard people say, where I stand the queue starts from there. It is a very famous bollywood movie dialogue but if you want to know a real life example of it? Steve Jobs is the person. A person who was left for adoption right after birth, dropped out of college, fired from his own company showed the world what he was capable of. The product it created were truly those which create an era of technology, changed the thinking of people and the directions of engineering. He taught the world what how easy and amazing life could be. 

Today Steve is no longer with us. If you would go back in history and try to find the most amazing and impressive things about his life you will forget counting. In his short life span he left for us tremendous life lessons. 

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”- Steve Jobs

His technology and vision not only amazed customers but also left the rivals puzzled saying now how would they compete this? The way he thought and the way he executed things was amazing. He started things which others could only follow. The products gave different dimensions to the world of computing.

One of the famous stories about him being fired from Apple which he built himself and he buying it back is truly admirable and can be quoted as an example of how strong of a man can be and achieve what he is determined of. 

Stay hungry, stay foolish is now mantra of many of us. Being focused is one of the traits he not only possessed but taught to the world. He always spoke of changing the world. Doing wonders was his dream which he fulfilled.

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

Talking of advent of Apple in India, MAC PC's were found only in rich people's homes. The very fist things reaching Indian common man hands were iPods. This is how Steve Jobs won over the masses. Then came iPhone and people were crazy about it. Today, who ever plans to buy a new phone would definitely go through the amazing technology and features the iPhone have and then every second phone would look so dull. This was his charm and his vision. 

Steve Job's quest for spiritual enlightenment brought him to India in the summer of 1974. Jobs came to India with one of his best friends from Reed College, Dan Kottke. 

Deeply philosophical then, Jobs wanted to study and experience spiritualism and existentialism. In India, he wanted to visit the Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi Ashram. However, when they arrived they learn't that Baba has died.

By Gangeyyo Bhattacharjee

The newest addition to the list of engineering wonders at least in terms of price and value for money is the 35$ tablet called “Aakash”(hindi for the sky) which has been developed by Datawind, a UK based developer of web access products. The 7-inch tablet is loaded with features like resistive touch screen with 800x480 resolution and weighs 350 gm, 256 MB RAM and internal storage of 2GB flash memory. The tablet also supports flexible memory of 32 GB, USB port. The pre-loaded software comprises internet browsers, PDF reader, video conferencing facilities, open office, sci-lab, media player, remote device management capability, multimedia input-output interface option, and multiple content viewers and many more. The device also features telephony to make and receive calls over GSM band. The product has specially been designed to suit the needs of students in Indian colleges. The government will buy the tablets at 50$ each and will offer it to universities at 35$ after subsidizing the rates. It will later be released for retail sale at a price of 45$ only for Indian markets. The software runs on android 2.2 Operating System and if 25000 colleges across 400 universities are linked through it, as planned, India will also become the largest android market in the world.

The product, launched on 5th October, paying homage to the soul of world’s one of the most creative appliance developer, is seen as a huge leap in the higher education system of India where the non-availability of internet or a computer is a common problem. With the advent of Aakash, every student will not only get to access the internet but can also enjoy the benefits of distance learning.

“If you throw a stone from the outer space on India, it will hit an engineer”, the old joke that was once used to mock the high number of engineers that India produced every year is gone. Indian engineers have come out in the open and have challenged the stereotype of coding and decoding that used to be attached against their name. Indian engineers are seen as vanguards of modern technology and a highly competitive lot. Indian now offers a range of utility products that not only boasts of sharp features and incredible quality but also come at an unprecedented cheap price. Products like Tata-Nano are tailor-made for Indian markets and offer a good service to a wide range of people. They are engineering marvels in themselves. We all can hope that Aakash lives up to its expectation.

Here is the picture of Minister Kapil Sibal launching AKASH.

There is an interview of Datawind CEO you can watch here

What do you think will be the implications of the the $35 Tablet India has launched. Please let us know your views. 

I miss my friends. Yes, I do.

Do you? Yes, I know you do.

With this fast paced and changing life most of us are getting distances in our relationships. We are getting far and far from our friends with whom we used to have a lot of fun. Those memories being washed away and we are becoming more and more materialistic. We want money, we may care a bit about those who are with us but forget everyone else.

One of the reason could be technology that instead of bringing it closer it is making us far away. It is making us more and more busy that we are glued to our computers, iPads, televisions and just not having time to go and meet our friends and relatives. Well, I kind of agree to it. But then there is a glitch here. I do not completely agree to it because apart from increasing the distance, technology has tried its best to eliminate this distance as well. You can be in touch with your so very distant pals and relatives which you used to meet once a year may be and that only by travelling thousands of miles. And how technology is doing that? Webcam.

This small eye, on your laptop or desktop is actually a miraculous thing.

This one thing makes all the emotions alive which we somehow miss when we communicate with our loved ones via emails or phones. 

The other night I was online and chatting with a very old friend of mine. We hardly talk now but she came online and turned on her webcam and we chatted for like 1 whole hour. She had become mom recently and I met her baby boy. He was so very cute and literally felt like holding him. The webcam not only made me close to her but brought me in that similar heart to heart connection we had when we used to be living nearby.

In another similar case, another friend who is doing her Ph. D. from a far away state pinged me on chat. I was surprised to see her and felt like I had completely forgotten her. And she had a webcam available sign and I started the video chat. She showed me her hostel room, the dirty one with clothes hanging everywhere, rather an alive room. And yet again, the webcam did its miracle and we were alive again.

Webcam is an instrument wrong people use to find girls, watch them and may be seduce them to a bit that they start showing off. But that's rare and a separate dimension. But regular people who rely on chat only despite of having a webcam, I would say are lagging behind and are creating distance in relationships themselves.

When technology has given us a tool to actually minimize the distance and connect with your loved ones, why not use it? You make a new friend, after casual chats, why not go on webcam and see each other. It helps you relate more. No?

Why I wrote all this? Well, I have asked some more of my friends to come on cam but they are like, no.. I am shy.. It is not good to be on webcam? Duh!? If you do wrong on cam, then it is wrong. Just showing up is not wrong! If it was wrong why would you talk to your family members on cam? Family is ok but friends are a part too. If not in real, virtual world friendship aint hard too. Instead a good subsititute to real world friendship. You can be more in touch. 

People say, security? Yes, its a big concern, but is it not a concern with real life friends? Do you know the person you are being friends with is a genuine guy and is exactly what he is saying? In that case, I would rather second the thought that you are more safe online than with real friends. If for that matter girls become friends with boys online, and if they do not turn out as good guys you didn't lose anything. Did you? But if the real life guy came out as a wrong guy you may lose a lot.

I am not saying make online friends only. But with current friends, which you know are good, you should have a little more life in the relationship and webcam is one good source of it.