Tech Bangalore

Barcamp Bangalore 9 is here!

Prashanth — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:47:53 +0000

Most popular community driven tech event in Bangalore and one of the popular barcamps worldwide Barcamp Bangalore is here. After a long break it is back for 9th edition. It’s going to be on 18th of this month at Intuit. If you are new to barcamp, take a look at this wikipedia entry.

Head over to BarcampBangalore.org and register yourself for the event.

Watch youtube videos on facebook in fullscreen!

Prashanth — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:49:13 +0000

Whenever I find some really funny video on youtube, I normally share it on Facebook. And many of my friends on Facebook do the same. One annoying thing is that Youtube videos on Facebook doesn’t include an option to view in fullscreen. I often click twice and go to youtube page of the video to view in full screen.

If you are a Google Chrome user, I have good news for you. Facebook Full Screen Video chrome extension adds that little icon to view youtube video in full screen

I tried searching for similar add on for Firefox and failed to find any. Don’t be disappointed, I found a Greasemonkey script to do the same on Firefox.

Install the extension and remove the annoyance!

Applications to calculate new auto rickshaw fare in Bangalore

Prashanth — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:28:59 +0000

From August 1st, auto rickshaw fare in Bangalore has increased. And rickshaw drivers haven’t yet updated their meters with new fare system. Government has given them three months of time to update the meter with new fare. Until then we have to rely on whatever driver says or look into the chart which most of the drivers carry.

I wrote a simple web application which calculates new fare based on old. Since it is based on math, application returns accurate fare like Rs.27.29, use your brains to round it up

www.techbangalore.com/auto

I haven’t added any style or images to the pages to make it load quickly on mobile devices. But, if you like to have it in a form of application which can work offline, Sriki has built them. He had created one for Android and one for Java, get them here.

Roopit – Easiest way of buy and sell!

Prashanth — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:06:12 +0000

It is so hard to find and sell used products online. I know there are tons of websites which allow listing of such things. But, they ask you too many questions, you have to go through complex registration process & most importantly your phone number is exposed to public and spam bots. Roopit is different from those. I loved the way they put it on their FAQ:

How do I Login/Register?

You don’t. There is no Username or password. Nope. And, We don’t need your e-mail, your mother’s maiden name or your childhood favorite hero. But, we do need your mobile number. Roopit identifies you with your mobile. If you are selling, You post with your mobile number. If you are buying, You receive the contact details of the seller as an SMS on your mobile.

You can track a product via SMS which you are looking to buy. Simple! Just send what you are looking for to 9916766748. For ex: “Maruti 800″.

Visit Roopit and start buying/selling!!

Acer E110 beTouch – Cheapest (Rs.8,999) Android phone officially available in India

Prashanth — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 06:24:36 +0000

Almost everyone is impressed with Google Android, but unable to switch to it because of price tag it comes with. But you no longer have to be in that situation. Acer E110 beTouch, which runs Android 1.5 is available on Flipkart for Rs.8,999!!

3 mega pixel camera, 3G, 2.8 inch resistive touch screen, 256 MB inbuilt memory with SD card slot expandable up to 32GB, GPS with A-GPS support are the other features this phone comes with. Phone has 1 year Acer warranty.

Buy it from Flipkart

What I liked in Nokia N900/Maemo

Prashanth — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 06:16:00 +0000

It’s been more than a week since I started using Nokia N900 smart phone. At the same time an android phone visited me (Samsung Galaxy S) which failed to impress! I continued using N900 & handed that device over to Santosh to write a guest review on Tech Bangalore. Since it’s too late to write a detailed review of N900, I’m just pointing out what all features I liked on this phone.

Build:

Many said it’s bulky/heavy, but I personally like the way it is built. It perfectly sits in my hands & makes it totally comfortable to use QWERTY keyboard. You will feel it’s bulkiness when you keep it in pocket, you cannot keep anything other than the N900 in your pocket!

Browser:

Almost all N900 reviews talk more about browser! Though I had an option of using Firefox (AFAIK only smart phone which runs Firefox), I liked using the default browser. Default browser is powered by mozilla technology & gives desktop browsing experience. I was really impressed by capabilities of this browser. For ex: Few days ago I wrote a simple location aware foursquare app using Geo APIs supported by Firefox. Out of curiosity I tried accessing this app from N900 & voila, N900 gave my application GPS location & my app worked perfectly fine. I had actually written the code without any intentions of accessing GPS location, all done by the browser.

Angry Birds!

Killing time in power cuts is not that easy. Angry Birds make me feel like Power, don’t come for another hour please!. Angry Birds is a simple yet very addictive game which first came on Maemo & then launched for iPhone too. It’s one of the most selling games on iPhone app store. Game is simple, just throw birds at pigs and kill them!

Vagalume:

I hugely rely on last.fm (I don’t know how many times I said that!) for music. I wouldn’t buy a phone if it can’t play last.fm radio, it is so important for me. Vagalume is a last.fm client for Maemo platform which can play last.fm radios. Unlike other last.fm clients I have seen, vagalume automatically downloads free tracks on last.fm while playing a radio. That means, it plays that track locally instead of streaming it again. One more unique feature I liked on Vagalume is that, you can enter a last.fm url & play that radio. It can be friend’s library, friend’s loved track, similar artists page…anything.

Joikuspot:

The application which enables you to carry wifi hotspot wherever you go, Joikuspot is my favorite right from the day they launched it for Symbian. Thanks to MyNokiaWorld which gave away a premium license of Joikuspot to me. If you aren’t already aware of, Joikuspot uses your GPRS/EDGE/3G connection & converts your phone into a wifi hotspot. Other devices like laptops, iPod touch, tablets can connect to this hotspot & access internet.

Android 2.2 (Froyo) has this feature inbuilt, you don’t have to install/buy any application to do it.

Tunewiki Widget:

Tunewiki widget automatically fetches lyrics of the song you are currently playing on N900′s music player. Tunewiki syncs the lyrics with the playback which enables you to sing with your favorite track. This can be ultimate karaoke machine!!

I wrote about only these many features to just to maintain uniqueness of my writeup. There are lot other things which I like on N900 like unified conversations, unified contacts, camera, email client, customizable multiple desktops, community support….and lot others.

As a special offer to Tech Bangalore readers, you will get a stereo bluetooth headset free with the purchase of N900 worth Rs.4000. Store price of the handset is around Rs.24k. Leave a comment below to know how to avail this exclusive offer.

Norton 360 Version 4: Complete PC Security Solution

Prashanth — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 05:18:23 +0000

Norton 360 is a complete security solution for PCs, not just an anti-virus software. It includes lot of tools which makes your PC totally safe. Let’s go through each one of them in brief:

PC Security:

Norton 360 comes with all in one set it & forget it automated virus & spyware protection. This system effectively blocks viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, worms, bots, and rootkits. Norton Bootable Recovery Tool repairs, restores and boots severely infected, which is very useful when your PC is not booting because of an infection. Norton has Real-time SONAR technology which detects emerging spyware and viruses before traditional definitions are available making sure you are protected from upcoming threats. Norton firewall quietly defends against hackers from hacking your PC.

Identity protection:

Norton Identity protection securely stores your login, credit card details & makes it easy to shop at online stores. It guards against key-loggers by auto filling the forms with your credentials. Blocks phishing websites automatically to make sure your personal information doesn’t land in wrong hands.

Back up & Restore:

Norton backup allows you to back up important data securely on their servers. Backup can be setup in three simple steps:

What? – What all data you want to backup. Select all the directories which you want to backup.

Whare? – Where you want to store the backup. You will get to choose between local drive & online storage which Norton provides. Norton provides upto 25 GB of online storage based on the package you are buying.

When? – When you want to run backups. Here you can choose between Automatic, weekly, monthly or manual.

PC Tuneup:

PC tuneup comes with set of tools which helps keep your PC clean. Disk optimization optimizes the hard drive and free ups more disk space. PC Tuneup automatically finds and fixes the problems which are making your PC slow. It also has clean up utilities to take care of unwanted temporary files & cookies which improves the start-up speed of the computer.

Overall Norton 360 is a total solution with set it & forget it protection. You have to go through the setup only once & concentrate on work which you want to do rather thinking about security risks.

Bangalore auto woes!!? Email ID & Phone numbers to register complaint are here!

Prashanth — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:46:23 +0000

David SR on Barcamp Bangalore mailing list sent out this very useful information which was collected by Srikanth. Thanks to his efforts on finding this valuable information. So next time if you face one of the following situations, just note down the vehicle number!

Refusal to come to destination (Any destination!!!).
Demanding excess fare.
Using rough language.
Cheat the public, for e.g. taking longer routes.
Faulty Meter.

Once you have the vehicle number noted, you can either register a complaint by sending an email or by calling appropriate RTO (numbers given later in this post)

Note the vehicle number (KA-XX-YY-ZZZZ) and email the details to
transcom@kar.nic.in , Based on the prefix XX (for example KA-01), complaint
will be sent to one of the ten RTO offices in Bangalore and adjacent taluk
areas.

Based on the vehicle number, you can also call appropriate RTO & register complaint, Following are the phone numbers:

* KA-01 Koramangala 080-25533525
* KA-02 Rajajinagar 080-23324104
* KA-03 Indiranagar 080-25254310
* KA-04 Yeshwantpur 080-23376039
* KA-05 Jayanagar 080-26630989
* KA-41 Gyanabharthi 080-28602833
* KA-50 Yelahanka 080-28561366
* KA-51 Electronic City 080-25735522
* KA-52 NeelaMangala 08234-285598
* KA-53 KR Puram 080-25617951

Once the complaint is received at the corresponding office, a notice is
issued to the address of the vehicle’s registered owner, requiring him/her
to turn up at the RTO office within 7 working days. Every RTO has about 10
IMV’s (Inspector of Motor Vehicles) who seize the vehicles which don’t
report to the RTO.

The penalty levied from the auto-waalas is Rs.100 under section 200.

There is also a helpline number – 080-22353785 available Monday – Saturday from 10:00 am – 5:30 pm on which one can call to lodge complaints.

As Srikanth found out, the Koramangala RTO office received only 5 complaints a month!! I guess that’s purely because lack of awareness about this system. Let’s spread the word!

Carry all your books with you, with Infibeam Pi

Prashanth — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:13:04 +0000

If you are fan of Tech Bangalore Facebook page, you already know this write up is coming. I shared some pictures of Infibeam Pi over there few days back. Now it’s time to talk what I liked & disliked about it.

First impressions were really great, I liked it right away after un-boxing. It’s very light & feels perfect to keep it in hand & read. E Ink based black & white display gives exactly the same feeling of reading on paper. Wasting no time, I loaded few PDF files I had which I was planning to read onto Pi. Slowly, I got totally used to it. Hats off to it’s form factor, I could carry around it anywhere in the house and read.

Unlike it’s competitor Amazon Kindle, Pi has keys on side panel, which I found a little uncomfortable. Right panel has two keys to increase & decrease font size. Left panel has four keys which performs multiple operations based on what screen you are on. Screen size is same as Amazon Kindle, I compared them side by side. Though the screen gives ‘reading on paper’ feeling, flickering while navigating between pages is a little disturbing.

Device comes with internal memory of 512MB & an SD card slot expandable up to 4GB. That’s more than enough to fit in all your books. Other than ebooks, Pi also allows you to put in some music & pictures. Having pictures on Pi seems pointless to me since it has B/W display. But, music makes a lot of sense, since you can listen to your favorite tune as you read books. Reader menu which appears when you are reading a book helps in navigating through the book & also bookmark pages.

Overall, it’s an amazing gadget to have in your bag, especially if you travel often. It’s long lasting battery helps you kill time all through your journey. Infibeam Pi is priced at Rs.9999 & can be bought at ?http://www.infibeam.com/Pi.

If you have missed out on pictures of Infibeam Pi posted on Facebook page, here is the link.

Facebook working on an ‘Answers’ portal?

Prashanth — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:37:17 +0000

Today I found a link on Facebook inviting users to apply for beta testing program of their new product, which looks like below:

Wondering what Facebook is upto I clicked on that link & apparently it looks like Facebook is working on a ‘Answers’ portal similar to Yahoo Answers. To get the beta tester access to this application, Facebook requires user to pick three questions & write answers for them. This is clearly about Questions & Answers, let’s see whether Facebook can really stand against well established competitor like Yahoo! Answers.