Steve Jobs, Apple and India

Let me clarify up front that this post has been written purely based on whatever limited knowledge I have about Steve Jobs and Apple. And believe me, that knowledge is indeed limited.
There wont be any statistical references anywhere, so if you see some numbers, it is basically a gut feel that I have.
This post is driven more by assumptions than by facts.
But the good news is that, I am willing to publish all comments that help me correct my views, if they are proven to be wrong.
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Unless you are KumbhaKarna or Rip Van Winkle or any other such character, you should know by now that Steve Jobs, may his soul rest in peace, is no longer alive. If you are indeed KK or RVW or aosc, you now know that SJ is no longer alive.

Angry Birds make a Happy Jawaman

I purchased my first Android Phone – HTC Incredible S – on 22nd April 2011. This is not a review of the phone, because (a) I don’t know enough to write a review (b) There are way too many reviews available anyway and (c) The only person who would probably read this has given sufficient details about it and my review would, at best, only paraphrase what was told to me.


Amongst all the features that are packed in that device, what has caught my attention till date is the Mobile App that was listed as the most downloaded in 2010 – Angry Birds. It was practically the first or second app that I downloaded into my new phone. And in the last 15 days, I have been playing it at every available opportunity – while watching TV, while waiting for friends at the lunch/tea table, in audio conferences (and once, during a video conference too).

In fact, if it weren’t for my car pool

Cell phone for elders

My parents have been using a cell phone for the past few years. While it has mostly been hand-me-downs when I change to a newer model, there has at least been no change in the last year or more. But probably due to their old age and an inherent fear about handling something “costly” so late in their life, they continue to make some “rookie” mistakes while using the phone.

For instance, they don’t use the phone that regularly and one fine day, when they try to make a call – which typically is a call to me – they find that the battery has drained off totally. Now comes the interesting part. They then put it on charge, have the basic presence of mind to check that the “charging” message appears and then let things be. After a couple of hours, they unplug the charger from the phone and leave things as is. So, when I try to call them, I get the phone switched off message. Or if they decide to call me, they find the phone to be blank and assume that the phone didn’t charge properly and they complain to me.

This is just one example. There are scores of other such mistakes

A belated recording of a historical event

Just realised that I didn't record, in these annals, the purchase of my first genuine Touch phone. I used the word genuine because I did have a touch based phone some 3-4 years back, but that was more like a PDA than a phone.

Anyways, on the 16th of August 2009, I bought the Nokia Xpress Music 5800 phone.

It is a pretty cool phone and am liking it so far. But after being used to a Sony Ericsson interface for almost 3 years, I do find a whole lot of things better in a Sony than in a Nokia. I know there are few people who are strong advocates of Nokia and even vehemently abhor Sony, but my take is that Sony is far better when it comes to the SMS module.

Clearly the Nokia I now own, has its own plus points - mainly things related to touch screen. I have been subjected to some of its inherent mood swings, but all-in-all, I am happy with this phone.

The reason why I went in for a new phone was simply to give my Sony Ericsson K810i to my mother. I had to give it to my mother because her phone was stolen at home! We suspect a gardener who had come to do some odd jobs around the house, but we cant say for sure.

Going off on a tangent, I see that I haven't been posting quite regularly in the last couple of months. Hope to set things right soon.

Client and Hyderabad Visit - Day 2 - 21/Oct/08

I reached the meeting room just on time this morning and in fact the clients had arrived a minute before I did. We went ahead with our breakfast and then resumed our meetings. Buoyed by the confidence I received after the presentation on the previous day, the demo I had today was a cake-walk. The client did ask few questions and I must admit that I came back with good responses.

We then had a walk-thru around the campus this day as well. But this time, the clients came out with their cameras and it was time for a lot of photo-ops. We even had the mandatory team pictures taken at a couple of scenic places.

We wound up for the day by around 5 and were out on the road headed to the famous Golkonda Fort. I think what happened after that has already been chronicled by me here.

In effect, I missed learning about the Fort and also didn’t get the opportunity to roam around the ruins. Anyways, since it was late in the evening, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it, though the authorities had installed lights at many places in the ruins itself. But these lights were only for a cosmetic effect and I think I have one more trip pending just to see this Fort.

We had dinner at a really fancy restaurant that was attached to the Hotel where our clients were staying. The food was outstanding especially their desserts. We split for the day and I finally reached my room by 11.15 PM.

New mobile

I got me a new Sony Ericsson K810i mobile phone (with 4GB M2 card) on Sunday. Blew up a 11.6K INR hole in my wallet.

You may think that I have a habit of buying mobile phones. But the problem this time around was that I lost my mobile phone last Tuesday (21st October).

I was at Hyderabad as part of my client visit (separate posts coming up) and on Tuesday evening, we had taken them out to see the Golkonda Fort. Somewhere between getting out of the car in front of the fort and entering the fort (a total time period of 10-15 minutes at the max.), I lost my phone.

The moment I realised that the phone was not with me, I used one of colleague's phone to call the cab driver and had him look around the Innova for my phone. He told me that he couldn't find it and asked me to call that number so that he could try locating it using the ringtone. I got another phone in parallel and called up my number.

That's when I heard the dreaded "the number you are trying to reach is currently switched off" message. It meant only one thing. Someone had taken my phone and had consciously switched it off.

I came out with one of my team members to help me look for the mobile outside the fort. We looked around the entrance area. Went to the shop where I bought ice-cream. Looked around the road. But to no avail. We just couldn't locate it. We went back to where our car was parked and looked again. Still no luck.

We had no choice but to give up the search after nearly an hour of running around. I then called up home and passed on this "happy news".

I loved the w810i phone a lot. I even bought a 4 GB card earlier this year, with the intent of sharing this card with my Sony digital camera as well. All gone now.

What has also gone is all my contact details, a bunch of pictures that I'd taken over the last couple of months and a whole lot of original songs. Not to mention, all my high scores in Quadrapop would now be illegally taken over by someone else!!!

So, I am still reconciling my contact details and adding them one by one. Luckily, yesterday was Deepavali and so many folks had sent out their wishes. And my response was invariably this:
"Thank you and wish you the same. BTW, I have lost my mobile contacts, so please let me who this is. :)"
People then responded with their names and I have stored them now. But the number of contacts I have at present would barely be 40-50% of what I had in my w810i.

It will take easily one more week for me to restore even 80% of the previous list of contacts. And only when that is done, would I be able to resume my SMS services! ;)

Random Observation # 043

Of late, there is an ad on TV for Reliance Communication. It features a guy who has bought a new laptop and is on the way home (I presume). This guy is at first asked by someone in the elevator "got SIM?". Then he gets the same message displayed in various means. Like he sees a text "got simpler" and a bus pulls over and cuts off the "ler" from his view. He sees the mirror image of MI2 which looks like SIM... you get the idea.

All this is for selling Reliance's USB modem which can be used to connect to the Internet from anywhere.

And the theme of the ad is that this USB modem for a laptop is like the SIM for your mobile.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Reliance Communications' core mobile service offered using CDMA technology? Which offers no SIM. So why do they want to advertise with an analogy to a SIM when they don't use it themselves?

Jet lag for my phone's battery?

During the week of April 21st, I observed that the charge in my mobile phone's battery was getting exhausted quite quickly.

I did an optimized charging during office hours on the Wednesday of that week. I had to go for one more such session within 24 hours. Had to repeat it on the Friday as well. Saturday was no different and I had to charge the phone in the middle of the day.

Normally, the battery of my phone shows excellent durability per full charge. I have a habit of charging only when the indicator on my phone goes to red, showing the availability of less than 30% of full charge. This happens, every 48 hours or so and I usually put it to charge at night time. And before I put the phone on charge, I usually switch it off and leave it for a complete charging. I've read somewhere that this increases the battery life and going by this case, I have to agree.

And for the 48 hours between these recharges, I usually spend some 2.5 hours listening to music and around 2 hours sending messages. My talking time would probably be around 1.5 hours (yet another clear proof that I am a relatively silent guy) for this period. And I always have the vibration mode ON, so that I don't miss out on message/call alerts even when I am in crowded places like the Food Court in the office or when I am in malls. I am also known to take some 2-3 pictures daily, on an average. And the bluetooth is always ON.

So, I was surprised to see the need to charge my phone during the day time and that too on a daily basis. The first thought that came to mind was that the battery was dying. Considering that the phone is around 18 months old, I was somehow not happy with that line of thought.

Only then I remembered that I had inserted a new memory card into my phone, the previous week. It was a 4 GB card and it replaced the 512 MB card that came with the phone. So, the phone was evidently consuming more battery to keep pace with the additional memory space available.

Once I was able to identify this reason, I somehow manipulated my phone's usage last week and was able to start charging it every night in stead of every morning and had to resort to the optimized charging mode on only one day. To further prove my theory, I used this weekend to check it out. I last charged my battery on Friday night. As of now, the battery is at 10% balance and during the interim period, I didn't listen to any music, didn't forward messages (though I did have a couple of SMS conversations) and talked lesser than usual on the phone.

But coming back to the title of this post, I felt that the battery was now undergoing the same symptoms seen in human beings when they cross different time zones. We experience jet lag for a couple of days and it takes some conscious effort on our part to alter some of our routine activities and somehow see to it that we sleep properly on one night. After that, its back to normal life for us.

Same seemed to be the case with this phone battery as well. It suddenly got jolted out of its night charging routine and got trapped in the optimized charging mode. Once it went there, it kinda got stuck with the daily-charging-during-day-time cycle. I had to tweak its usage and somehow bring back to its routine and ever since, things are back to normal. However one thing that has changed is the frequency of the charging and unless I revert to the lower capacity memory card, that's not gonna change.

I think this similarity must have inspired the machines that created the Matrix, to use human beings as batteries.

P.S: To the two people who regularly comment to my blogs: Please don't comment that I need to get married/l*** to stop thinking like this.

P.P.S: To the 5-6 others who regularly read my blog but do not comment: Please don't think that I need to get married/l*** to stop thinking like this.

Technologically challenged

I don't claim to be very tech savvy like Raghu, but some of the older people in my family are miles behind where I am.

One of my maternal cousins, who is like 15 years older than me, had come home yesterday from our native place. My mother had wanted to give her a mobile and I procured a basic model last Sunday. Last night, I thought I will have her do the formalities of inserting the SIM card etc., so that she gets a feel of what needs to be done (using the adage of feeding fish to someone will feed him for a day but teaching him fishing him will feed him for life).

Since my mother would not let herself be left out of these things and she had to show my cousin that she was an experienced mobile phone user, she too started giving tips here and there! Anyways, towards the end of the demo session, I asked my cousin to remove the SIM card and restore the phone back to its box.

I spent a vivid 2-3 minutes in imparting the "switching off a phone "lesson to her. After that, she opened the battery cover and told my mother "There is a light that is still glowing" ("ennadhu, edho oru light innum eriyardhu?"). She had actually seen the hologram on the battery and with the light reflecting on it, assumed that it was a light source by itself!

Even as I was reeling from the shock, my mother's response caused me to literally ROTFL. Her statement was "Don't worry, it will go off on its own" ("kavala padaadha, thaanaa annanjudum")!

I rest my case!

The hype over the new seven wonders

First of all, I find the very concept of "Seven Wonders" quite idiotic. Just common sense will make you question the basis on which the very concept came about.

And then there was this media frenzy and hype about having our Taj Mahal become a Seven Wonder. What the ?

What do you gain by making that tomb a Seven Wonder? Do you think that people don't know about that monument? Any travel brochure for India, has a picture of that. All international Government representatives who visit the country are paraded there. All international sports persons are taken there for the standard photo op.

So, do you think that all this non-stop propaganda was required?

And if you even think a little bit more, you will realise that this whole exercise is the brainchild of some private trust/organisation. And its not an org' that is very well recognised. If I had the money power, I would have set up a thingy myself, got some publicity seeking celebrities (are there any other kind) to endorse my group, then hire a good marketing firm and voila, I can have another set of seven wonders poll going on.

What irked me most was the insane number of emails that were being forwarded by "Gen-I" (Gen X, Y and Z are passe. Gen-I is for the iPod generation.) was quite simply mind-blowing. It amazes me that people who pass all kinds of aptitude tests involving so much of logic and maths, are unable to comprehend the simple fact that this whole initiative is stupid.

And ultimately, the only probable entity that could have given a stamp of approval for the whole event was UNESCO. And they have very clearly distanced themselves from this.

So, all that happened was countries - read third-world countries and border-line developed ones - that had easier access to SMS and Internet, voted en masse to the ones nominated from their country (obviously) and voila, you now have a new seven wonders list that excludes some REAL WONDERS.

If you want more details on the kind of money made by the mobile operators, the marketing groups and the organisation that started this vote campaign, please see the attached picture of an article in the Tamizh weekly KALKI.


Simple translation:
Number of SMSes polled = 1.2 Crores
Cost charged by mobile companies = Rs.3.00 per SMS (its a value service to send SMS to some special numbers)
Total = 3.6 Crore Ruppees.
The share:
Mobile companies = 75 %
Government = 15 %
The organisation conducting the survey = 10 %.

These are figures only in India. Just add all the thickly populated third-world countries and imagine the kind of money people must have made.

I hope someone somewhere does indeed wake-up and announce publicly, what a big sham this whole event is.

More details can be had in this article from today's The Hindu.

Either my ESP is off-time or the mobile network is slow

Like all of you, I too have a cell phone. At home or office, I usually place it within my arm's reach.

Sometimes, one does have to move away from the cell phone for various reasons - like going to the rest room (you are aware of my hatred to use the phone while in the loo right?) or a quick discussion with the team a few cubicles away from mine, or at home, going to a different room for some odd job and then coming back.. etc. etc.

So what I am coming to is that, whenever I am separated from the cell phone and am reunited after that short gap, I check for messages or missed calls. Not that I check for these things always, probably I check it like 7 out of 10 times.

There may or may not be such missed calls or smses. But 3 or 4 times (of the 7 out of 10 times that I check), I usually get an sms the instant I place the phone back in its pouch or on the holder.

I barely ever recollect having looked for these missed calls or smses and having one land right away. Its always been a case of these things coming in, some 10-15 seconds after I've checked.

So either my ESP needs some refining or if there is nothing wrong with it, then the mobile phone network better speed up its service!

Not Haywords 3000, but its Jawords 3000

First of all, thanks to Superthumby for coming up with that title.

Secondly, as should be evident from the picture, I actually sent 3011 SMS this billing cycle - Feb 20 to Mar 19!!!!

Needless to say, 90% of it was forwards that I received and hardly 10% would have been regular communication.

Since I have itemised billing enabled, I think my phone bill for this month will run to some 30 odd pages!!!! Hope Airtel doesn't charge me for extra courier charges. :)

Obnoxious telephone user in the bus

After a long time, I had the "PLEASURE" of travelling with an absolute nitwit, in the evening bus today.

I was sitting in an aisle seat on the 2 seater side and 2 of my friends were seated in the adjacent 3 seater. So we 3 were chatting for a few minutes. Then this guy came up and occupied the 3rd seat on their side. Naturally, he was given the aisle seat there.

A few minutes after the bus started, I found my friend (who had moved to the dreaded middle seat) talking to this guy and there was a generic pointing of fingers towards their leg region. Only then I realised that this nincompoop was actually sitting with his legs crossed and the crossed leg was hitting my friend! Great start.

After 30 minutes or so, this dude started calling people on the phone. He must have called up around 15 people. Spoke to each of them in 3 languages - English, Hindi and Tamizh. Summary of the conversation in any language "This is my new number. Please note it down."

I was able to hear his conversation, in spite of me listening to radio at a decent volume. And believe it or not, few people in the aisle seats in front of me did start turning back.

But that didn't deter our hero. He went on and on. And then he got into a serious conversation with someone about how he didn't want people to think wrongly about him. That he has stayed away from all kinds of certification from people. That he didn't want to be tagged. etc. etc.

Basically, someone with major personality issues. And absolutely no awareness of people around him. The kind of people that God sends in my bus, solely to take instant revenge on me!

Using mobile phones in the loo

Have you come across this?

Of late, I have started seeing more and more people do this. They answer their calls while in the loo. I have even seen some morons initiate a call from there.

Just because you got a call from your boss or spouse or girlfriend, doesn't mean that you have to talk in the loo. While you are at it.

Even if you cut off the call, you can always go out, call that person and explain why you didn't answer the phone. People will be happy to learn that they didn't have to speak to you while you were consciously eliminating unwanted chemicals from your body.

Please remember that when you are taking a call in the loo, it doesn't mean that you respect/like the caller so much that you don't mind taking the call there. It only shows that, to you, attending to that call and attending to nature's call are basically one and the same.

So, if ever you get a call from me, while you are there, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CUT ME OFF.

Another mobile number and my mom's ringtone request

After much deliberation, last week my parents finally decided to go in for another mobile phone number - this one for my dad.

Ever since I got my new Sony Ericsson w810i in late-Oct, my previous phone - LG4410 - was lying idle, I thought I would give it to my mom - because between my dad and her, she is more "tech-savvy". And my dad would be using the Nokia 3315. So, I started telling her about some of the features in LG4410 and one of the things I mentioned was the ringtone. Since the phone has MP3 compatible ringtones, I told her that she could have any song as her ringtone.

I asked her what she wanted. Her response totally stunned me. Left me baffled. Speechless. She wanted "Chinna Veedaa Varattuma Periya Veeda Varattuma".

Yes, now you know what it felt like? Cool.

She says that she likes the song a lot coz of - hold on - the lyrics. She said she got a great picture from the words, about the surroundings in a construction site!!!

Phew.....

Anyways, I got the new number over the weekend. This time with Hutch. And basically, this now means that every person in my house has access to 1.66666666666666 phone numbers. For the less mathematically inclined, we now have 5 phone numbers at home, whereas there are only 3 of us using it. The split up is 3 mobile phones and 2 land lines.

So Messrs.BSNL,Airtel and Hutch better thank us personally for keeping them in business...

Random Jotting # 001

Correct me if I am wrong, but almost all people who carry a mobile phone in English movies or TV series, almost always use a flip model. No character ever seems to use a candy-bar model.

Offer from a mobile telephone service provider

I've been listening to radio of late and there's this ad that first impressed me. One of the mobile phone service providers has an offer that says 2000 free minutes. For two years. To any mobile phone of the same network.
First time I heard it I was like wow, that's a super cool offer.
Then after hearing it for 2-3 times, I decided to do the math.
To enjoy the full benefit, one can talk for 2000 minutes in 2 years.
Which is 1000 in 1 year.
Breaks down further to 83.33 minutes a month.
On an average that's 2.77 minutes a day.
Now, does that look like a great offer?
Hell NO.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by playing Quadrapop on mobile

For the past two weeks, I have been playing the Quadrapop game on my mobile, like a maniac. Especially during the return trip home, I play for a minimum of 50-55 minutes non-stop before I even take my eyes off the mobile.

Today, I really felt some pain in my right hand. The pain was in the area of my right hand which is the very essence of evolution of monkeys. I am referring to the portion between the thumb and index finger. It was quite bad actually.

Its an indication that I need to take some serious preventive measures. So from tomorrow, I am going to test my ambidexterity and play with my left hand. :)

The T9 dictionary in a mobile is philosophical

Just try this:
type 73532833 in the sms editor.
Look at the options it gives you.
Its cool.....

I either inspired someone or created peer pressure

From the minute I boarded the Office bus to return home yesterday evening, I was playing games on my mobile. Since its a new one, it was my first time with those games and I was playing it quite seriously. Then a guy sat next to me and he naturally observed the intensity with which I was playing.

Some 10-15 minutes after the bus started from the Office, I noticed that he too took out his mobile and started playing games on it.

So basically, I either inspired him to play games on mobile phone or at least I created enough peer pressure for him.

Whatever it may be, I am happy.