chirag.patnaiks.in

Kindle Fire

2011-11-15T11:53:00.001+05:30

My Kindle Fire has shipped and will reach a destination in the US. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get my hands on it till about the end of December.

Ah well.

New Year's gift I suppose.

So, a quick run down on the Kindle Fire. It comes with a 7" screen and priced at $ 199 (approx Rs. 10000). The tablet features the Andriod OS. Other notable tablets that feature this OS include Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom etc...

How to get it sitting here in India. Order from Amazon, and get it shipped to some you know and then they will ship it to you. or Or you ship it to an importer who will then ship it to you. Sites liek IndiaPlaza also source the Kindle for you.

Coffee Table Books - Part Un - Motorcycles

2011-11-14T16:33:00.024+05:30

We are looking to move into our new house sometime late next year. Apart from the all the furniture, furnishings, appliances et al. We were also looking to expand our library. As avid readers, my wife and I already have a bookshelf full of books. We wanted to add some coffee table books to the lot. So like all things these days, we researched and researched. We must have gone through literally hundreds of books. So I decided to draw up a list of Coffee Table Books that we really liked (but did not necessarily buy).

The list became a little ponderous, so I broke it up into categories. This first list of many is on Motorcycles. They are in no particular order or preference.

Superbikes of the Seventies - Roland Brown : Features the most amazing bikes from the 70's. An era of fantastic performance, unecumbered by pollution controls & efficiency ratings, and evolving style.

Cafe Racers of the 1960s: Machines, Riders and Lifestyle - Mick Walker : The pictures are in Black & White and there is a lot of text. Cafe Racing (which was about racing from a cafe and back) is back in vogue. Perhaps the right time to pick up a book like this.

The Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Archive Collection - Darwin Holmstrom : There cannot be a list of Motorcycle books without one a Harley Davidson. This one is a visual treat for The HD fan. Over 400 pages of mostly photographs and an efficient history of HD with info sometimes not found anywhere else.

Legendary Motorcycles - Luigi Corbetta : Due to be released later this year and talked about a lot in the trade press pre-release. The book features hundreds of photos and talks about different manufacturers like Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Moto Guzzi, Triumph, and Yamaha amongst others.

More screen shots of Amazon's new look

2011-09-16T16:08:00.001+05:30

Some of you may have been following the story on Amazon's new look, where there was a screen grab of the new home page. Here are some more screen shots of the upcoming look. Contrary to speculation it doesn't seem to be very tablet friendly. But maybe they have other things in the works.

This is what happens when you click on the search bar. The free stuff and deal of the day shows up front and center.

See a larger version

Then this is the rich menu that they are going to show and it is... WOW!
If there ever was something designed to sell this is it.

See a larger version

Another variant of the menu, this time with Kindle.

See a larger version

Looks good. Let's see if we can get some more.

Anna

2011-08-20T12:56:00.003+05:30

There was a man called Anna,
who was perpetually on Dharna;
Alongwith Bedi and Kejriwal,
He fought for the Jan Lokpal;
While on fast he survived on Mango Panna.

West Bengal

2011-08-20T12:38:00.000+05:30

There was a state called West Bengal,
which had debt worth a googol;
They decided to call it Poshcim Bongo,
as in the second cousin of the drum called bongo;
All while didi was having a ball.

The Spy

2011-08-19T13:06:00.000+05:30

There was once a spy,
named Ghulam Nabi Fai;
He was a Kashmiri
who committed hara-kiri;
while working for the notorious ISI.

Paschim Banga

2011-08-18T12:27:00.000+05:30

There was a state called Pashcim Banga,
as in the western cousin of Vindi Banga;
But the bongs called it Poschim Bongo;
as they related themselves to the state of Congo;
and that was the fate of Paschim Banga.

The PM

2011-08-01T11:00:00.000+05:30

There was a PM called Manmohan,
He didn’t know Lindsay Lohan.
Unlike the motormouth Gandhi,
He was silent yet handy.
That was our man Manmohan.

Amazon in India

2011-07-26T08:10:00.003+05:30

If the news of Amazon imminent entry has any truth in it. It is the most significant announcement in the e-commerce space in the country.

It is also time for Indian e-commerce to take a bow. It has performed yeoman service to the country. But now, Like MacArthur once said about old soldiers, it is time for them to fade away.

From the Times of India

CHENNAI: World's largest online retailer, Amazon.com is set to enter India, riding on the second wave of e-commerce boom in India. Amazon is in discussions with leading Indian e-commerce players like Flipkart.com, LetsBuy.com and Exclusively.in, among others and may enter the market as early as the first quarter of next year.

Acquiring Indian players has been the dominant theme for foreign majors looking to enter Indian market with eBay acquiring Baazee.com and Groupon picking up SoSasta.com to enter the market. But sources say that Amazon is looking to set up operations on its own as its discussions with many players on acquisition front haven't seemed to work out. "Indian players see the huge potential in the e-commerce segment here and so have so far been resistant to being bought out easily," said another source. Amazon is likely to ramp up through inorganic ways later, depending on market growth and their performance relative to competition.

Hiring is currently on in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai to fill up the various positions in this team, say sources. "A team of over 200 people is being built, though all of them might not end up in the core retail arm," said another source.

The earliest indications came from the hiring of Madhu M, a senior executive at Landmark (retail chain), by Amazon to head its India operations. Madhu is an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus and is currently holding the position of SVM at Amazon. He is based out of Chennai where Amazon's Kindle development team is also based.

Amazon is also establishing a warehouse in Mumbai, a standard step before entering the e-commerce space going by what Amazon has been doing globally. Another interesting development has been the buying of 80,000 sq ft by Amazon at SP Infocity, promoted by Shapoorji Pallonji & Co Ltd, in Perungudi in Chennai. The company already has a development centre in Chennai.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Amazon-set-to-launch-services-in-India-next-year/articleshow/9364346.cms

PSN Store is back

2011-06-03T06:44:00.000+05:30

Finally, the PSN store is back. No sign of the welcome back offers. But still

Smart advertising?

2011-02-25T17:38:00.001+05:30

Story of a death accompanied with an advertising for Insurance. Contextual advertising? I thought you don’t advertise next to death and destruction? Did someone forget to tell ICICI that?

Amazon now ships special edition video games to India

2010-08-28T23:26:00.000+05:30

One of the strange things about Alexa ranking for India is the presence of Amazon on the top 100 list for India. Number 47 as of today. Weird right? One of the most popular ecommerce sites in India, when it doesn't have operations in India.

Now, Amazon for many years has been shipping to India, but only books, music and movies. For several years they used to use DeutschePost which used India Post for the last mile. About a couple of years ago, they switched to a local courier company to finish the last mile. Even while books, music and movies were available. Electronics and Video Games and tons of other things were not.

Last November, with the Kindle, Amazon started direct shipping of electronics to India. Sure it was an Amazon subsidiary which was doing it and and sure you could have some trouble getting things.But you got it.

Some time then (or maybe before). Amazon added India to the list of countries which were covered under the Amazon Global program. A big step, but it had all sorts of crap that was never affordable after you paid shipping and customs duty.

The program still didn't cover most video games. which isn't too much of an issue, since games are at about the same price in India. But things like the special editions were rarely available here.

So what has changed?

Amazon is now shipping them to India. What am I getting? It's going to be expensive, and it is this one.

Prices in India of New Kindles 3G+WiFi and WiFi editions

2010-07-29T16:11:00.004+05:30

Amazon has release two new Kindles, one with 3G and WiFi (3G is free for use everywhere in the world) for $189 and one model with only WiFi for $139.

3G + WiFi model is available in Graphite and White and the Wifi Model is available only in ~~White~~ Graphite.

The landed cost of 3G+Wifi version is ~$284 which is approximately Rs. 13,300
The landed cost of just the Wifi version is ~$216 which is approximately Rs. 10,100

The New Kindle has better contrast (50% better than the previous models)
21% smaller size (while keeping the same size screen)
15% lighter
20% faster page turns
Storage has doubled
one MONTH battery life

As always the Kindle DX model is available in Graphite for $379, (landed cost $540 which is approximately Rs. 25,200)

Kindle Price drop - prices in India also fall

2010-06-22T18:13:00.003+05:30

Please Note: Prices have fallen further and new variants are not available. Please see this post. http://chirag.patnaiks.in/2010/07/prices-in-india-of-new-kindles-3gwifi.html

See below for links to some other posts on how to buy the Kindle in India

Original Post: Just eight months after the launch of Kindle International version, the price of the regular sized Kindle has been dropped by a whopping $70 (Primarily because of the drop in price of the Nook reader). The total cost of importing the Kindle is now down to $283. Which is approximately Rs. 13,000 including shipping and taxes. This is about $100 less than before. Quite cool. Makes the device much more attractive than before. If you have been waiting on the sidelines, this is a great time to buy it. Go here and get it.

PS: You may get a 2-3K customs deposit refund. In which case the price drops to a range of Rs. 10,000, bang in the price range of the Infibeam Pi.

See other posts on the subject below
http://chirag.patnaiks.in/2009/12/how-to-buy-amazon-kindle-in-india.html
http://chirag.patnaiks.in/2009/11/kindle-in-india.html

Is Lalit Modi even eligible to be IPL Commissioner?

2010-04-27T00:32:00.001+05:30

So Mr. Modi claims "I am still chairman of IPL. Just suspended. Wait - we have just begun."

He is Chairman because he is a member of the BCCI. He is a member of the BCCI because he is representing Rajasthan Cricket Association. He got to be a member of the Rajasthan Cricket Association allegedly through some skullduggery (but let's let that pass for now). His eiligibility was established under THE RAJASTHAN SPORTS (REGISTRATION, RECOGNITION AND REGULATION OF ASSOCIATIONS) ORDINANCE, 2004. This ordinance was later passed by the state assembly in 2005.

Now if you look up the text of the ordinance here: http://www.rajasthan.gov.in/rajgovresources/others/RajSports2004Eng.pdf

Chapter III of the ordinance talks about elections and clause 15 specifies Schedule C as the eligibility criteria.
Schedule C Point 3 states as part of qualifications "He/She has not been convicted in any criminal case."

Which brings us back to Lalit Modi's indiscretions of his youth. Refer to this piece by the Daily Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/2303250/Drugs-and-kidnap-charges-could-bring-down-Indian-Premier-League-chief-Lalit-Modi.html

(Also see: http://chirag.patnaiks.in/2010/04/curious-case-of-missing-toi-article-on.html) This piece says that Mr. Modi was convicted of false imprisonment and assault. Definitely Criminal acts.

So, Mr. Modi has been convicted in a criminal case. hence he is not eligible to contest RCA elections. hence he has not right to be in BCCI. Ergo he cannot be IPL Commissioner.

So, why so much debate. He should be chucked straight out, he doesn't even have a leg to stand on.

The curious case of the missing TOI article on Lalit Modi

2010-04-26T23:44:00.005+05:30

Folks, some of you may remember an article that ran in TOI some days ago at the height of the Twiteroor fiasco. It was titled "When Modi was booked for robbery" filed on 16th April. It was available on the TOI website at this url http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/When-Modi-was-booked-for-robbery/articleshow/5814316.cms.

The article talked about how Modi was indicted for trafficking more than 400 grams of cocaine, second degree kidnapping, assault and conspiracy to kidnap. (In fact there is a Daily Telegraph article that says that Lalit Modi was convicted of these charges). (See related item: Is Lalit Modi even eligible to be IPL Commissioner?)

Guess what? the article is not available anymore at the above URL on the TOI website. If you search for the article on TOI you get a Google search result pointing to the article.

When you reach this URL it says "Page not found".This is the error that shows up when you delete a page from the TOI system.

Well on the internet nothing ever really goes away: So from the Google cache we have the link...
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:ZkjBJRhzW-IJ:timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/When-Modi-was-booked-for-robbery/articleshow/5814316.cms+indicted+for+robbery+lalit+modi+duke+university&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&

There was yet another URL which carried the story: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ipl/News/iplarticlelist/iplarticleshow/India/When-Modi-was-booked-for-robbery/iplarticleshow/5814316.cms You can't see it here either. Same message.

Sure enough the Google cache has it:
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:_OJuTJ1FqXoJ:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ipl/News/iplarticlelist/iplarticleshow/India/When-Modi-was-booked-for-robbery/iplarticleshow/5814316.cms

Here is the article on the TOI epaper http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?Daily=CAP&AppName=1&login=default&pub=TOI&Skin=TOINEW&Enter=true&GZ=T&BaseHref=CAP%2F2010%2F04%2F16&AW=1272349830500&Page=14

Weird!

Folks, something is rotten in Denmark.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

2010-04-23T22:56:00.001+05:30

I finally finished my first PS3 game a full one year after owning the PS3. So you would have guessed from the title of the post, the game was Uncharted. An old game no doubt and on loan from my Co-brother who is an avid gamer with a surround sound and flat screen rig.

This is not to say that I haven't played other games. I hace played Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, Unreal Tournament 3 and the Orange Box. I played quite a bit of Motorstorm. Till the game just got too tough. So midway through the game I gave up on it. Unreal and Orange box I guess will just have to wait till I finish inFamous.

PS3 is my first stab at console gaming after the good old Atari 2600. I have been gaming on the PC for well over a decade. FPS, Strategy, City building, Empire building. You name it, I've played it. So when Sony came out with it's Supercomputer masquerading as a Blu-Ray player and a gaming console, we finally got it.

For some reason (perhaps because of gaming on PC's for years) I alsways have to invert the vertical axis. Old school Fighter sims and joystick controls. Up is down and down is up.

Considering that I plan to be gaming almost exclusively on the PS3, I may have to unlearn this bit.

Anyway, back to Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It is a great game to get yourself familiar with playing on the PS3.Since I was not too familiar with the controls I played it on Easy first and finished it. Then just to get a sense of what the game would be on normal difficulty, I went back to the start and played it on Normal. I have gotten to be quite good at it. So good that when I started playing inFamous, the game auto-detected my skill as hard. Not bad.

Unlike most Action adventure games, this game is bright and colourful as opposed to the dark, grey, brown look of most games. Makes playing this game a rather pleasant experience. It took me about a week to finish on Easy and another 3 days on Normal, playing about 3-4 hours a day on the weekdays and 6 hours on the weekend. Considering that this game is now a platinum release (which means that this is now at a bargain basement price of Rs. 1500). It is a worthwhile buy.

Speaking of platinum releases Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Grand Theft Auto IV are also Platinum releases. If I have the time after playing inFamous, I may well pick up these games as well.

Watching the IPL at home? Get ready for Domestic Display Tax

2010-04-20T17:10:00.005+05:30

In an unnoticed announcement and what will probably be his last executive decision before being asked to leave IPL over the Twitteroor controversy, Lalit Modi has decreed that anyone watching IPL matches at home on a TV screen size of more than 21” or with a crowd of 4 or more will have to pay “Domestic Display Tax” aka DDT. Modeled after Music industry’s similar fees for playing music in public, this seeks to boost the revenues for IPL and the franchisees.

This move came after IPL Franchise owners complained of declining attendance at stadiums and consequently reduced incomes from ticket and allied sales. A Liquor baron who owns a team complained “I have spent crores of rupees and hundreds of hours to personally select cheerleaders, so that I can draw in more people to the stadium and fleece them with overpriced lousy seats, lousier food and fizzless fizzy drinks”.

Sick of this fleecing, some people have decided to take matters in to their own hands and throw IPL parties at home. Reasoned Ramesh Kalra who throws and attends 3-4 IPL parties a week “I get to watch the match in the air-conditioned comfort of my or a friend’s home on a 52” flatscreen TV.” He also complained about the price of food “I can get a plate of Chilli Chicken for 70 bucks from my neighbourhood thela wala and a 2L bottle of Coke for 50 bucks while the prices at a IPL match are 4 times this.’

A member of the hoi polloi (of Jessica Lal murder venue fame), said "For the outrageous price of the box seats filled with bureaucrats and politicians I can buy a 42in flatscreen TV. And if I were to go with Family, I could through in a 3D TV along with a Bose home theater and it would still be cheaper to watch it at home"

To halt this loss of revenue DDT has been imposed. DDT mandates that anyone with a qualifying TV size or gathering size will have to pay a DDT of Rs. 100 per person per match. There is a discounted rate of Rs. 90 for Senior Citizens over the age of 85 and children below the age to 2. Justifying the DDT, IPL commissioner said “We have been very generous with the exemptions. Everyone knows that you can enjoy a match on a 15in TV screen. So we have been generous and exempted screen sizes upto 21in”. Added his assistant (step-daughter of the aforementioned liquor baron), “In India the family size in cities is around 3. Any more number of people than this means that people are enjoying the match in too large a number than that is permitted.”

Keeping up with emerging technology trends DDT is also applicable on the estimated 36 HD projectors that people have installed at their home at a site license of Rs. 5,000 per match.

On being questioned on how will DDT be enforced. Mr. Modi said he expects people to be honest and pay up on their own. But he also boasted of political connections in the agriculture and civil aviation ministries along with a chief minister, and claimed that the state law and order machinery will be pressed into service. “We will have informers around liquor vends and food joints that do home delivery who will tell us about people who are ordering large quantities of food and liquor. We will follow these people home and listen for noises of the match.” he added gleefully.

We will also have incentives for people to rat on their friends and colleagues and IPL will pay such people a bounty of 20% of all recoveries.

On reading this news, people like Ramesh Athavale from Mumbai were found grumbling at some news and blog sites and vowed not to watch the IPL finals this year.

With inputs from Agencies

PS: In case you folks didn't get it. This is a piece of satire.

Youtube front end is down. Here's proof

2010-03-25T17:22:00.002+05:30

MP3 player > Noida - Rohini - Noida + Taxes?

2010-03-19T23:41:00.000+05:30

Just came back from the E4M Quiz competition just now. I won a MP3 player and a t-shirt. The question was what are DVB-H, OneSeg etc. The answer. They are all Mobile TV protocols.

Anyway, that's not the last of it. I didn't actually get an MP3 player. I got a letter which says I can collect the MP3 player from Rohini (imagine driving from Noida to Rohini) and after I pay the applicable taxes.

So will the cost of travel + the taxes be less than the cheapo MP3 player they are going to give?

Kindle Nirvana

2010-03-11T18:45:00.000+05:30

I have been getting a lot of traffic on Kindle related topics on this Blog. I have now consolidated those posts in another site called Kindle Nirvana. Have a look see. http://www.kindlenirvana.com/

Irony?

2010-03-11T07:01:00.002+05:30

Do you see it?

Also, no more no-smoking signs. (Though there was an announcement to the effect)

Hindi and other Indian languages on the Amazon Kindle

2010-03-11T01:01:00.001+05:30

The Amazon Kindle currently does not support Hindi and other Indian languages. So I was experimenting and messing around with the Kindle, till I discovered that we can actually display Devanagari (and Bengali) text as well. Here are a couple of samples. More instructions coming soon.

Infibeam Pi

2010-02-25T23:51:00.003+05:30

At my workplace are doing some work with Infibeam for their new ereader Pi.

A quick rundown on the specs
(from the Infibeam site)

Height     188 mm
Width     118 mm
Thickness     9.5 mm
Weight     180 gm
Screen / Display

    * 6" E Ink® Vizplex
    * 600x800 pixels
    * No backlight. Daylight readable.

Battery Life     7 days

File Formats Supported
Books / Text     PDF, EPUB, HTML, TXT, MOBI, DOC
Images     JPG, BMP, PNG
Audio     MP3

Control & Connectors

    * 3 mm Audio Earphone Connector
    * SD Card Slot
    * Mini USB Slot
    * Button for 4-Way Navigation & Selection.
    * Buttons back, home, plus / minus for size changes etc.

Internal Memory     512 MB
SD Card Slot upto 4GB

    * Screen Rotate for landscape / portrait views
    * Search inside a book or document
    * Game Play by Function Key & Navigation for Soduku

How does it feel
It is light. Much lighter than the Kindle. However, somehow you don't get the same intuitive feel as when you hold the Kindle. The Kindle UI can be used either handed, especially when you hold it for long periods and one hand gets tired

The first iteration of putting our India Today on it shows that the Infibeam team has put in a lot more thought into the presenting the magazine.

In the Kindle edition of India Today, the magazine runs like one solid block of text, without any formatting, indentation, tables etc. as if it were a book.

The Infibeam guys on the other hand have put in some effort in making the content presentable. It actually nicer to read, because of all the formatting elements introduced.

So to answer the eternal question. Is it worth it? At 10K a pop it is definitely worth a look as an alternative to the Kindle whose landed cost in India is Rs 18000 (Rs. 16000 is you got a customs refund).

This coupled with the fact that the Kindle does not do Indian languages and the Pi does, is a huge leg up for the Pi. Those reading books in Indian languages should definitely be looking at the Pi. Find out more about the Pi here.

The Kindle remains an attractive option for whoever is travelling and finds it necessary use the Internet to get his books. Also if you are subscribing to a few magazines and newspapers and rely on automatic wireless delivery. Then the Kindle is currently unbeatable. You can read about or get your Kindle here.

For a detailed thoughts on using the Kindle in India, see the post "Kindle in India" and a mini-faq on Kindle see this post "Kindle on the Delhi Metro"

Stop motion Jigsaw assembly

2010-02-14T09:19:00.004+05:30

This is a stop motion video of a Jigsaw puzzle my mother and brother put together.

I took 300 time delayed photos with my Canon PowerShot Series S5 ISslaved to my laptop and knitted everything together in Windows Movie Maker and this is the end result.