Reflections

Hyderabad - International City ??

2012-03-12T10:24:00.001+08:00

Though its our capital I don't really feel that Hyderabad reached the status of International city yet. My beloved city still lags behind the rest of the metro's or even Bangalore. Be it the 'courteous people' or 'culture' or 'work culture' or 'air travel connectivity'. Now I've another surprise from DHL :) See it below. The mail to Hyderabad goes via Chennai.. Sunday, March 11,

Purchased a Samsung Mono Laser Printer - 1865W

2012-03-10T10:24:00.000+08:00

Just purchased this mono laser for occasional home usage. Initially I was looking for a MFC but realized I don't really need a MFC and opted for a cheaper alternative. I went to IT Show 2012 at Suntec City and as usual the place was crowded madly. I wonder how these shows attract such a massive crowds even with no price difference compared to sim lim square :) Anyway the box is pretty solid and

Apple iOS release 5.1 (not 5.0.1 but real 5.1)

2012-03-08T11:00:00.001+08:00

Just updated my iPhone to iOS 5.1. Main reason for the upgrade is to 'try' whether this solves my battery drain. Ofcourse it will take couple of days before I can really fell the improvement (if any) but there are few useful updates caught my eye. First one is the increase in 'app' download limit from current 20MB to 50MB. This is a big thing to me because whenever I update the app's the '

SingTel 2G/3G BBOM or Data Network down..II

2012-03-03T13:42:00.000+08:00

Well its just 48 hours and need to write a new post :| The BBOM is not working again since morning in City area. Change to Internet works like a charm though a bit slow.. These days it is getting very common and I don't want to blame them solely. Competition is driving prices down and operators are squeezing vendors in return. The entire value chain is in a 'price war' and there is no such

Insurance Comparison in Singapore (Medical / Health, General, Accident)

2012-03-02T14:27:00.000+08:00

I tried searching the 'blogs' but couldnt find a good and detailed comparison including the estimated premiums. Finally I wanted to give a try to the 'website' which many other nationals would laugh if I share with them :) But I went to Singapore gov website and here is the comparison showing estimated premiums and various options in a neat PDF file :) +1 to Singapore.. MOH Website

SingTel 2G/3G BBOM or Data Network down..

2012-03-01T15:35:00.001+08:00

I was in the office yesterday and seems SingTel Mobile BBOM was down again.. @ Tanjong Pagar to Suntec (CBD area) I couldn't connect. This morning there was a slight problem but so far seems the problem resolved quite fast. However right now (@1500 Hrs) I could connect to 3G + Data network but I can't browse any sites. I tried resetting the network settings & turn on/off the phone but still the

Akash / Ubislate Tablet vs BSNL Penta vs iPAD vs Galaxy Tab

2012-02-29T15:56:00.000+08:00

I believe India is obsecced with 'cheap' these days and you may have heard the news from India on the 'cheapest' tablet which is called Akash. As usual the tablet launch is delayed and when it was available few weeks back students/people didn't even use it as a paper weight. Ofcourse the ministries and the 'experts' are working on improving the situation. Just now BSNL announced they are

IDA asks OpenNet to wire Singapore quickly..

2012-02-28T16:09:00.000+08:00

Source: CNA Basically IDA is asking OpenNet to improve its performance. I could recall our (myself + colleagues) when we first heard about OpenNet plans to wire the nation by 2013. Lets me share with a quick example. If OpenNet were to install 2,050 connections/weak then they can only do 106,600 connections in an year. In 2010 we've close to 82% penetration in residential sector as per IDA.

Skype - Windows 7 64 bit problem (Solved)

2012-02-28T13:19:00.000+08:00

I've been using Skype for almost 8 years and I was never frustrated this much. For the last 10 days I couldn't sign in to Skype on my laptop at all. I tried all the options and communicated in Skype forums but the solutions couldn't solve my problem. Then finally I looked in to one simple 'engineer' troubleshooting. Backtrack my steps and try to see what'd have caused the problem. So I started

India's humiliating defeat in Australia (cricket)

2012-02-26T22:04:00.000+08:00

Now after successfully (?) losing both test & one-day series in Australia, I'm sure there will be lots of discussion in media about 'seniors' and their perceived control over the team India. I do not doubt their contribution to team India or the Cricket game. But what I am concerned is the lack of action. When they loose few games the media & public start to demand non performing player departure

Fiber Internet aka NGN in Singapore

2012-02-23T11:21:00.001+08:00

Recently I got a call from Myrepublic a new entrant in to the NGN market. They claim that they are quite different from existing players and also they do not cap international bandwidth. Even the local news papers published their stories and blogs/forums were abuzz with this claims. Though I am not against them I still believe the 'value' of Infrastructure lies with the organization rather than

Skype Impact on my international call costs

2012-02-19T23:45:00.000+08:00

Within few years Skype went on to become the largest international telecom player with marketshare of over 20%. It also helped a lot of folks like me who is working overseas to be in touch with family & friends back home. But I still have to make international calls for those folks without access to a PC or Internet connection. Now I just got a mail from Skype on their unlimited calling plans

Baby milestones - Telugu celebrations

2012-02-19T23:22:00.000+08:00

I tried to find the milestones and celebrations which we used to hear from our grand parents but couldn't find anywhere in the web. So thought of speaking to the parents & below is the list The names are written in anglicized Telugu & Telugu script. If not sure just drop me a note :) English Version Approx ageMilestoneCelebrate with Around 2nd month Smiling Nuvvula Vunda Around 3rd

OCBC & Lim Tan securities were down due to a Power Failure at Hosting site

2012-01-26T22:20:00.000+08:00

Source: CNA Strange enough, SingTel came to the news once again for not so good reasons. According to the press release from OCBC there was a "electricity" fault at the Hosting company premises and it caused the four hour outage this morning. Also Lim Tan Securities servers too failed. Now the big question is how come both the servers failed at the same time unless the entire power feed in the

Anise, Mugwort, Fennel - Absinthe; Common herbs in Indian kitchen.

2012-01-21T22:27:00.000+08:00

Ok. If you ever seen Absinthe or the green fairy logically you'd think that this is an European stuff and for asians this is not a traditional drink. But I was curious and tried finding out how it was made. Believe me guys, you'd be surprised how widely we use the ingredients of Absinthe in our day to day life :). If you are from India and not a spoiled kid of rich parents I'm sure you'd know

SP Services charges are up again from Jan 12..

2012-01-16T19:31:00.002+08:00

Source: SP Services As you can see from the graph if you are wondering how SP Services manage to keep the 'costs' moderated while the fuel oil prices are going to the roof then you're an innocent person who doesn't know this phrase "Lies, damned lies, and statistics" Below is the graph I reproduced from the data given by SP Services. (I've checked the numbers but please let me know if you see

Ang Mo Kio Ave 10 Upgrade - MUP

2012-01-13T16:14:00.000+08:00

Here is the main entrance/lobby pictures of the recently completed upgrade.

Air Asia - X Cuts Indian routes to Mumbai & Delhi from Malaysia

2012-01-12T19:54:00.000+08:00

Source: CNA You'd be surprised to hear the news that a carrier is cutting the capacity to India. We all used to hear the news how world is looking at India and how carriers are expanding in to India. But the fact is compared to the potential the actual traffic is close to zero. Look at Indonesia or Philippines or even to Srilanka (I stopped comparing to China. They are two generations ahead in

Waze - Free GPS with Voice guidance

2012-01-11T20:49:00.000+08:00

www.waze.com If you see the Appstore GPS perhaps this is one of the best out there. Even lifehacker mentions it as the best free tool for GPS on iPhone. I've used it in USA and I was expecting similar experience in Singapore but trust me guys you'd be terribly disappointed with Waze in Singapore. First of all the maps are not updated and when I tried to update it gaves me an error " I don't

Non Camera Phones - Secured Office

2012-01-10T09:30:00.002+08:00

I am trying to find mobile phones (preferably smart phones) without camera but I am quite surprised that I couldn't find any in the market right now. There are a couple of smartphones but they are running windows 6.1 (HTC Snap & Fuze) and one from Blackberry. Seems like the best bet is to go for ipad v1 & use VoIP :) So my plan is to subscribe to MIO MOBILE and use the soft client on iPad for

Chennai Airport

2012-01-09T22:46:00.000+08:00

Here are some pictures I've taken @ Chennai airport. The new terminal/expantion works are pretty fast it seems and I was told that it'll be ready in 2012. Also the Chennai Metro team is working to connect "tirusulam" suburb station with the Airport using underground walkway. I'd think it as a great idea and if they can add travelators that'd be perfect. Hopefully they won't start

Top 1% of Mobile Users Consume Half of World’s Bandwidth (NY Times Report)

2012-01-09T22:35:00.001+08:00

Source: NYTimes Here is an interesting article about the usage patterns The world’s congested mobile airwaves are being divided in a lopsided manner, with 1 percent of consumers generating half of all traffic. The top 10 percent of users, meanwhile, are consuming 90 percent of wireless bandwidth. Part of the reason for the increase in download volumes may be Apple’s Siri voice feature on

Pogaku Bellu - Cured tobacco package

2012-01-09T10:28:00.000+08:00

I've taken these pictures at Manduvavari Palem or Patimeeda palem near Ongole, India. Although government is discouraging tobacco farming, still majority farmers are still opting for tobacco. Reasons are very simple, 'money' :)

SMRT Circle line signalling problem (3rd time in quarter), Qantas A380 problem, SingTel network problem..

2012-01-08T21:22:00.000+08:00

What exactly is going on? Are we totally lost our focus on the quality in pursuit of higher profits? Or is it just a matter of coincidence?. I prefer to settle with the latter option but something in my mind tells me very strongly that it can't be a mere coincidence. Atleast from Singapore context I can tell confidently this is due to the 'skill-set' issue at top management. There're days when

Thaman - Grandson of Ghantasala Balaramaiah (not Singer Ghantasala)

2012-01-04T20:41:00.002+08:00

While I didn't really enjoyed the music of Thaman, I started to respect him after reading about him. He is the grand son of Ghatasala Balaramaiah who introduced Akkineni to telugu film industry. At the age of 12, he started working to run the family after his father passed away. From Wikipedia Thaman had worked with leading music directors was added to the cast of Boys after a successful