What most of us Indians know Zimbabwe by is their cricket team.

Once upon a time they were quite formidable, with the Flower brothers, Heath Streak, Neil Johnson,and even a certain Henry Olonga whom Sachin took a real liking to.

Then around the 2003 World Cup, the political situation turned so bad, that England forfeited a match refusing to play in Zimbabwe, most of the Zimbabwean team, including Andy Flower and Olonga, applied for political asylum overseas.

What we should know about this country is this:

This presentation won the third prize in the Slideshare World’s Best Presentation Contest.

We have our problems in India, but nothing compares to this. Period.

Google’s Chrome (Beta) browser is now available here

The highlights:

1. Includes a JavaScript Virtual Machine called V8. Your browser is now like your OS with multiple threads and processes and also a task manager of its own! So next time one tab crashes, you dont have to shut down your entire browser; now that’s cool enough for me to want to switch from Mozilla, much as I love it.
2. The tabs are the most important elements and this design reflects just that. Each tab has its own address bar and menu
3. Auto-completion in the address bar, but this time not intrusive and irritating, but genuinely helpful (Google Search incorporated) while being subtle
4. Your homepage will be your dashboard with 9 previews of your most-visited websites, and on the sidebar you have your favourite search engines, all setup and ready to go
5. An ‘incognito’ mode, where everything you browse,search,do is private
6. Webapps now open in their own windows, without the address bar and toolbar
7. Sandboxing – improved security against malware and phishing

The whole project is open source and described in wonderfully by Scott McCloud. You can read the comic here.

The browser is the OS, that’s what Google is telling the world with comics and backing them up with innovation.

Ofcourse there’s going to be endless debate and speculation about Google’s war against Microsoft and how if this sticks, Google could end up being the new Microsoft.

But Chrome is not exclusively about browser or OS wars. This open source project is about improving all browsers, making them more suitable for applications rather than pages for which they were originally built.

It’s the theory of complements at work. Google lives on the internet. Every application, service and now browser from Google is aimed at improving the internet at large, increasing usage and dependence on it, and thus fostering its core business, Search and Advertisements.

For me, as long as they continue to make my life a tad bit easier and comfortable, I am game.

And how disruptive is Chrome going to be? My guess is very.

Do give it a shot and let me know if it works for you. More on my experience later.

That, I didn’t see coming.

As per reports, starting TODAY, 2,000 ‘high value’ customers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited will be able to access 3G services at select areas of the city.

No idea what you need to do to qualify as High Value. I thought bearing BSNL’s slow and pathetic services, customer and otherwise, suffice.

Within two km of the 10 BTS that are 3G enabled, customers will be able to access 3G services. There will be no additional cost for the time being as we are in the trail period, customers will be able to access 3G services at 2G rates,” said Chandra Prakash, Chief General Manager, Maharashtra circle, BSNL.

The 10 3G hot spots in Pune are the exchanges at Satara Road, Bajirao Road, Bhavani Peth, MHS – Camp, Atur Park, Shivaji Nagar, Model Colony, Janavadi, Chinchwad and Bal Gandharva. Once the 3G spectrum is auctioned, BSNL will provide this service at 56 cities in the state, said Prakash.

10 hotspots and a 2km radii for each. Sufficient? Doubt that.

At 2G rates during the trial period. I thought 2G is still in the trial period. Do they have UATs in telecom??

However, when 3G is launched commercially, it will make possible other services like video conferencing, online gaming, high speed internet, video streaming, live IPTV, video-on demand on 3G enabled mobile phones.

“We have been asked to design the equipment for 20 per cent of the customer base,” said Neeraj Sinha, Alcatel-Lucent, the vendor company for BSNL.

At present, BSNL is waiting for 3G spectrum to be officially auctioned. “The cost of the services will depend upon the auction of the spectrum. The number of people opting for 3G services will also matter, but it will still be expensive if the spectrum is auctioned at a high price,” said Mahendra.

So it depends on the auctions.

Auction design, for very good reasons, is a dedicated topic of study in Economics. I truly hope, being a country which has produced some excellent economists, there are a few who’ve been working on our 3G auctions.

All said and done, we know it’ll take time to really kick in, but when it does, it’ll be interesting to see how it sticks in a market like ours.

More on that later.

Update: BSNL High Value customers are those on the Rs 750 plan.

There’s no better way to put it. Period.

Being agnostic and an atheist in India is tough. I dont have anything against religion or faith or belief, it’s religious fanaticism and extremism that I despise.

I don’t believe in ‘No God’. I just don’t believe that God exists. Big difference.

Amit Varma at the India Uncut blog nails it…

Nonbelief

Some people think that atheism means believing that there is no God.

The conviction that there is no God is irrational because one cannot prove a negative. (How do you prove that something does not exist?) However, it is entirely rational to not believe in something whose existence has not been demonstrated. I don’t believe in dragons or fairies because no one has yet proved to me that they exist. Ditto God.

The Economist published a letter from Chad English of Ottawa a few months ago that summed it up well:

“Atheism is a religion in the same way that not collecting stamps is a hobby. When you understand why there are no ‘aphilatelist’ conventions, you will understand why atheists don’t congregate.”

Agnosticism

The word ‘agnostic’ is a combination of the Greek α (without) and gnōsis (knowledge), and refers to a person who believes that the truth about something, in this case the existence of God, is unknowable. It has nothing to do with believing or not believing.

Indeed, it is possible to combine agnosticism with either theism or atheism. A believer may choose to believe in God while accepting that some things are fundamentally unknowable. An atheist may agree with that view. I see myself as both an atheist and an agnostic: an atheist because I do not believe in God, as His/Her/Its existence has not been proved; an agnostic because I believe that on this matter, we may never know the truth for sure.

What other people choose to believe in is none of my business, and I respect their right to their beliefs. But the right to religion does not imply the right to force it on others. I object when people try to coerce others into conforming with their beliefs, believing that their religion gives them the license to infringe on the rights of others.

Religion in the private domain and in community settings can be useful, and a force for good, but too often in recent times, it has been used to justify the worst excesses: genocides, riots, terrorism, and all kinds of coercion. We have seen deplorable instances of this from every major religion in the last 100 years (including communism, which relies as much on faith as any God-based belief system).

It is not religion per se that is a problem, but our attitudes towards it.

And here’s what George Carlin has to say about it

Just heard that Yahoo and Intel are planning to launch a special channel, which could turn out to be the first real mainstream Internet TV venture that ’sticks’.

WATBlog reports:

“Yahoo, using its Yahoo widgets engine, is attempting to launch a TV channel based on Yahoo Widgets. It won’t be a usual TV channel, ofcourse, but a more interactive and responsive channel. This is an attempt to bring Web to the TV. So the Yahoo TV channel will have interactive features. For example, a viewer might request for a scrolling stock updates from Yahoo Finance. Or, for a film review from Yahoo Movies. May be, a dosage of Dilbert comics from Yahoo Widgets. You get the idea.

It needs specialized hardare to run on. More specialized than a conventional TV set. For now, the Yahoo channel will be running on devices using Intel’s platform as the hardware technology. Intel will be working closely with Yahoo to develop the specifications and the end product. Yes, this means you cannot see the Yahoo-Intel channel on your TV set.”

New hardware requirements, although a dampener, may turn out to be alright in the long run, especially if standards could be set so other web services can run on them as well.

An interesting space to watch, no doubt, especially with reports of Google wanting in too..

As Venturebeat speculated recently:

Industry sources tell us that although Android will indeed start as a mobile OS, Google intends to expand it to be a sort of universal operating system that will span set-top boxes for televisions, mp3 players and other communication and media devices and services.

And as Erick Schonfeld at Techrunch had guessed last November:

If creating applications for set-top boxes was more like creating applications for the Web, we’d be able to do a lot more things with our TVs—especially if those set-top boxes were also connected to the Web. Want instant messaging and caller ID on your TV? No problem. Want customized information widgets for the TV that scroll breaking news, weather, sports scores or stock quotes from sources you choose in your own ticker at the bottom of the screen? No problem. Want to turn that annoying ticker off? No problem. Want to control the camera angles on that basketball game? No problem. Want to add the live video stream from your friend’s cell phone who is at the game? No problem. Want to create your own video mashup of fight scenes from various movies that you can edit right on your TV and share with others on their TVs? No problem.

Apart from a lot of speculation about the big players, there are quite a few startups in the Internet TV space doing great. More on that later.

Next time when you see someone get thrown out for monkeying around during a movie, remember it’s the people throwing them out who are at fault..

So says Tim Harford…

Could be very useful if you were the one monkeying around in the first place. But do keep in mind that most Indians are not exactly rational most of the time.

That’s the price for the 8 GB model, and for only the hardware.

That’s what the e-mail from Vodafone to Amit at Digital Inspiration says.

They’ve priced the 8GB model for Rs 31,000 ($710) and the 16GB one for Rs 36,100 ($820) respectively.

For the 3G Voice and Data plans:

“Vodafone offers no “unlimited data” plan for iPhone users. That means if you exhaust your monthly data usage, be prepared to shell out an extra Rs 5 per MB of data exchanged.

The monthly rent for iPhone will range from Rs 500 to Rs 1000 depending on your Internet requirements. The lower plan will provide you with 50 MB of free data usage while the upper 1000 plan provides 600 MB of data usage.

This above plans are for postpaid customers. If you want to go for a prepaid iPhone connection, there’s a special data card that is available for a monthly rent of Rs 100 but provides no free data usage.

The SMS and local / STD call charges on iPhone will more or less be the same as existing tariffs offered by Vodafone.

Let’s do some maths. If you are heavy web user, the overall cost would work something like this – Rs 36000 (for handset) + Rs 12000 (yearly rent) + Call Charges + Extra data charges + Taxes.”

I doubt Airtel’s pricing would be much different, so if you go by WATBlog’s analysis of a good price for the iPhone, it’s about 50% costlier than their valuation of Rs 21000.

But my guess is, as happens often in India, there will be people willing to pay this price, and when that customer base is squeezed enough, the prices will come down. Or maybe that’s just the hope speaking.

I love the iPhone and the AppStore, but am not buying, not now atleast.

Background: I have been receiving “offers” from sysplextech via Naukri.com.

The same e-mail, sent from different sysplextech IDs, over 10 times atleast.

Just another spam, but this time I decided to reply; pasting my complete rant below…

“Dear Aasiya/Nahid,

I request you to please read this article on Permission Marketing by Seth Godin.
Looks like your company really needs it.

And however unfair that may seem, as a result of the continuous spam you have been sending me via Naukri.com, I seriously doubt if I would want to ‘make a career’ with you.

I would like to list a few suggestions which may improve your effort:

1) SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE
Inspite of the numerous times I have got the same mail, I still dont know for sure what you do.
You probably offer SAP training services for individuals and corporates, but you go out of your way to hide that. I dont know why.

1. An ERP company, like the one I am currently working with, designs its own ERP products
2. An ERP Implementation Company implements the products of the above companies for its customers
3. An ERP Training Company provides training services for individuals and corporates for products of Type (1) companies, so they can learn how to implement it.

Am sure you know these things, then why not be open about what you do?

2) USE TECHNOLOGY FOR YOUR PROCESSES FIRST
Since I have been receiving the same email from different sysplextech IDs, I will give you the benefit of doubt that maybe you did not know you were spamming me. You have no idea that many others from your company have already sent me the same email.
In that case, it is for your company’s internal process and technology owners to address this situation. If you can train people on SAP, am pretty sure your highly capable staff can design a simple system that would ensure that you know exactly how many times I have got this email. Or maybe just restrict marketing to a person to one time. That would be even better.

3) GET PERSONAL
E-mail templates are great, they save your time and effort. But that’s about it.
This depends on your business process and procedures and the efficiency, but maybe you could make the e-mails more personal, since you already have access to a lot of information about me.

Billions of dollars are spent in the internet advertisement industry to get more data about consumers, so they can serve targeted ads better.
And you dont use the information you have.
The irony of it all.

(Ofcourse the real reason am taking out the time to reply to you is to tell you “please dont send me that email again”. A personal reply to this one would be welcome. (This is just incase you didnt get what my point was.))

Wishing you all the best,

Thanks,

Shyam Kumar

P.S. Since many of the jobseekers you are spamming may not be from Pune, I believe you should atleast make an attempt to put your address correctly. ” MG road pune camp 1″ is pathetic. This is stuff they teach you in primary school.