BUSINESSTECHONOMY

Google Mobile - Really Mobile!!!

dhirajkumarns@gmail.com (Dhiru) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:37:00 +0000

After a long hibernation, I have something interesting to share with you! It's about a mobile application on iphone. In contrast to other iphone applications, this is not exclusive for iphone, as it is a google's product. Infact, this is available for other mobile devices, from quite sometime and very recently got listed in the itunes india store. I have not seen many people around, using this application.

While its distant rivals are in the process of consolidating to compete with it, Google is looking at expanding its market share by pioneering in Mobile search market. This helps google to get closer to its customer like never before.

Let's talk about the application now...
In short... Its just Google on your mobile phone!!!
But the mobile version includes the following features...

- Voice Input:
You just need to open the application and keep the mobile closer to your ear. It senses the motion and the voice recording automatically starts. You just need to say the word you want to Google. Within seconds, you have search results displayed on your screen along with the location on map, directions and other information(if your search is a place).The accuracy of voice recognition is very high, i can say almost perfect.

- All Google applications:
All other google applications including Gmail, Orkut, Gtalk, Youtube, Docs, Calender, Picasa, etc.., can be accessed from the same mobile application.

- Customised search options:
You can specifically search for the information on your phone, Web, Images, Maps, News and Wikipedia.

- Google Latitude:
Using this you can Share your location with your friends and view where they are, on the map. No worries, you can even hide your location or change, how and where it displays to one or all of your friends ;)

- Local Search:
You can specifically search for dining, movie, shopping, events, ATM's, Petrol pumps, etc.., in your city.

Here are some screen snapshots from my phone.

From Blogger Pictures

Compatibility & Technical Info:

-Phones:

iPhone, Blackberry, Windows based, Android based, Symbian S60(Nokia smart phones)based and all java enabled sony ericcsson, samsung and LG phones.

- Connectivity:

Data connectivity through 3G or Wifi or even GPRS is enough. GPS is required for full functionality. Airtel has "Airtel live" already enabled and can be used without any additional packages. Though not sure, heard that even vodafone has a similar package.

Download the application from the following link:
http://www.google.co.in/intl/en/mobile/

Rather than just reviewing and discussing about it, download and experience it.
Believe me... Its worth trying out!!!

"Multiplexing" aaj kal!!!

dhirajkumarns@gmail.com (Dhiru) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:29:00 +0000

After a bumpy ride of the industry in previous few quarters, the multiplex companies are now desperate for a box office hit. Starting with the IPL season 1 in 2008, the occupancy levels are moving south wards. The recent dispute between the Bollywood producers and multiplex owners on revenue sharing , has resulted a very sharp decline of occupancy to as low as 15-17% in Q1FY10 in comparison to around 35-40% in Q1FY09(which was then considered to be a poor occupancy level due to IPL 1).IPL season 2 and the economic recession have made the industry jump out of the frying pan, but only in to the fire.

Settling down of the dispute and the end of IPL 2 hav'nt bought back the shine yet. None of the movies in the recent past has been successful at the box office. With such a back drop, multiplex companies have built very high hopes on the movie "Love aaj kal" which is hitting the screens on friday. This is very evident from the following numbers, which are few of my observations. Though limited to bangalore, they are quite surprising and will let us understand the whole scenario.

There are 7 multiplex theaters in bangalore , including a new one by Fame cinemas which is going to start from friday at Forum value mall, Whitefield(and excluding innovative multiplex and vision cinemas, which doesn't deserve to be called so!!!).

On this week end, these 7 multiplex theaters put together are playing the new release "Love aaj kal" for 234 times. Yes... 234 shows in 3 days. New fame cinemas-Forum value mall is at the top, playing 51 shows (17 per day) followed by Inox(Garuda mall),Fame lido and PVR with 39 each. And this is just about Bangalore.

Same way, a regional telugu movie "Magadheera"(whose budget is over Rs.45 crore and is releasing on friday in over 1200 theaters accross 14 countries) is going to be exhibited in 46 theaters in Hyderabad with a highest of 16 shows a day at Prasad's IMAX.

Movie production is also an area which is drawing the attention of BIG boys. This is not just limited to Bollywood but is crossing the shores. After UTV productions, Big names like Anil ambani and Ranbaxy's ex-chief Malvinder singh seems to have great interests in hollywood film production. Anil Ambani's Big Cinemas has already struck a deal with Spielberg's Dreamworks, to invest close to Rs.1000 crore and to roll out around 20 movies in next 3yrs. On the other side, the bollywood actors have started producing films themselves including shahrukh, Aamir khan and more recently Saif.

Without "LEFT"... on a right track???

dhirajkumarns@gmail.com (Dhiru) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:12:00 +0000

In the second innings of its government... UPA is on the right track, carrying forward the reforms... Despite the left's agreement for disinvestment of loss making government sector undertakings, UPA had not stepped forward on this front in it's last tenure...Government received only Rs.6701.49 crore from divestments during 2004-08, in comparison to Rs.26424.34 crore during 2000-04 in NDA's tenure.

Now, with a strong and better position in UPA, Congress has no excuse for not moving forward. However, the FM has already requested seven ministries including Telecom, Mining, Power, Commerce, Aviation and Coal, to submit proposals on disinvestment. Coal india limited, the largest coal mining entity in the world and the one which accounts to nearly 45% of the national electricity production, is in relatively advanced stage for disinvestment through IPO and is set to raise around Rs.6000 crore from a sale of 10% stake. Even other CPSE's(Central Public Sector Enterprises) are most likely to take the IPO way for divestment.

In my view, they should even consider the options like strategic sale and PPP(Pubiic private partnerships), which would also enhance the managerial and technical capabilities along with the financial benefits. In an IPO scenario, the investors are mostly concerned about the financial outcomes, i.e., the earnings part. where as in the other scenarios, a profit making private enterprise would actually look it from the operational perspective and would concentrate on enhancing the operational and technical efficiencies of the CPSE's. The reason for success of the CPSE's would then change from "MONOPOLY" to the "COMPETENCY"... which is more sustainable.

It would be a better idea for government, to roll out the divestment plans in phases... keeping in mind, the absorption capacity of the market. I mean, If all the IPO's are rolled out in closer time periods, the individual investors could prefer these to IPO's of India Inc. (as safer options, given the weaker investor's sentiments)... and as a result, MF's and IPO's of other private corporations would be left out with lesser no. of investors, making it difficult for them to close the IPO's successfully.

I liked it when pranab said, "Higher involvement of private entities is the most important reform he is planning to bring" as response to a question.

Let's see how "HIGHER" can he take it to...

Lets hope for no more political dramas like singur...
and for a matured and collaborative approach of political and corporate entities.

Paisa zyaadaa de diyaa kyaa shareholders ne??

dhirajkumarns@gmail.com (Dhiru) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:57:00 +0000

By now, you would have understood, what i'm talking about...
After much of gadgets and stuff... lets talk about something funny and stupid of an MNC...
for those who have not seen the new visa debit card commercial here you go...

This is the new ad campaign by visa india with an intention to promote the usage of debit card instead of ATM. The intention is good but not the execution... Everything is alright...i mean the creative and script... but i think the thought of trying to communicate this through an auto rickshaw driver in an auto stand is lousy. Using that character to create a mass appeal is ok, but when you use his(auto)service, you cant pay by card and you are using him to promote an intention or idea which cant be implemented in his own case. The person has to go to ATM for hard cash to pay for that very auto driver. How can an MNC like Visa miss out on such a silly thing?

I think, even the earlier "GO WITH VISA" campaign is not the worth it has spent on it. I think the title of this post suits well to the Advertising department of VISA. Mastercard's "PRICELESS" campaign is much better infact.

I think even the new Hero honda ad is inspired by Airtel... when they say
"Pyaar ke beech mein kabhi petrol kam nahi" as it sounds very similar to Airtel's
"Pyaar ke beech mein cutbacks nahi hona chaahiye".

Too much of hindi?? well, that's how the ads are....... these dayz....

Nokia N97 Sneak peek

dhirajkumarns@gmail.com (Dhiru) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Nokia India has conducted a bloggers' meet up at Oberoi today to discuss about their visions and thoughts behind developing its much hyped N97, which is supposed to hit markets soon.

Axel meyer, the global head of design for Nokia Nseries has turned up at the event as the keynote speaker. He has talked about the device and displayed the device live.

The world's largest mobile phone manufacturer is now trying hard to catch attention through different channels in different ways. Be it organising hack-a-thon at jillians in USA, which is very near to Apple's WWDC center(where iphone 3gs was launched yesterday) and providing free coffee to WWDC's attendees at nearby starbucks stores before the keynote speech started or be it trying to communicate to the blog readers in India by tying to embrace the blogging community before the launch of its flagship smartphone N97.

Well, with a clear intention of developing yet another iPhone killer after the flop show of N96, Nokia is coming ahead with this new smartphone.

To review the new phone from my hands-on experience...

I should say, Nokia has done a good job this time on the design end. the new phone is complete touch enabled with a slider QWERTY key board. The screen actually slides first and then tilts to 35degrees, which seems to be the feature which seemed to me as radically different and new from the existing smartphones in the market.
In the two coulour options, White looked richer and premium than the black version.
The home screen is good with customisable widgets.
The thing which is very important and which remained same from the previous phones and which disappointed me is the internet browser. It's pretty much same as 5800 and not so user friendly using touch interface.
The touch capability is still not perfect and is definitely not as fluid as iphone.
It has a great camera & flash with 5mp clarity and DVD quality video capturing capability but took little much time processing after a picture is clicked.
The OS and the applications still has a very long way to go before it could compete with that of Apple.
It has a great memory storage with a capacity of 32 GB.
Assuming that the devices were charged before the event kicked off, the battery back up was not so convincing with most of the devices running out of battery by the end of the show(though many people played around with it continuously, 3-4 hrs is not satisfactory with out even switching on 3g and wifi)

Overall, I would say its a better phone than the previous ones from nokia and would rate it 7 on a scale of 10. I would say its good but definitely not enough to compete with the iphone 3g and now, with the introduction of new iphone 3gS it could be even tougher for N97.

New iPhone unveiled....

dhirajkumarns@gmail.com (Dhiru) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:26:00 +0000

I'm very happy to be blogging about this...... just minutes after the new generation of iPhone... called iPhone 3GS is unveiled at WWDC.

Here are my quick comments and i'll be back with a detailed review tommorow....

Physically it's pretty much the same as iPhone 3G( weighs 2 grams heavier:) )
3 mp camera with video recording capability
Digital compass using GPS
The much awaited Cut,Copy,Paste capability
16 GB & 32 GB models against current 8GB and 16 GB models
Faster processor (though nothing is specified yet)
OS 3.0 update

surprisingly......

It's priced at $199 and will be made available by june 19th
Current model's price is slashed to $99 ( no information about indian price yet....... i juz chkd with Airtel customer care)

Current iPhone users need'nt worry as they are eligible for free firmware upgrade which enables ur iphones with all the new features.

As of now, from what i could see, the only things which remains different are....

processor's speed (i think even the current version is fast enough)
Camera ( 3mp against 2mp)
Storage space

will be back with a detailed review soon........

Click here to watch the guided tour

Will u Google it..? r Bing it..? r Glue it..?

dhirajkumarns@gmail.com (Dhiru) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:32:00 +0000

From being the largest search engine...

I think... now the Google is emerging as the Largest advertising agency on the planet..!

With the northward flying graph of the no. of internet users... the heat is definately onn! in the search engine market. World's largest software company...Microsoft, which is mostly into selling the conventional packaged software, is trying hard to gain the "online" advantage. This was very much evident from MS' desperate bid for a stronger online player, yahoo!, which ofcourse was not succesful.

When Google is not in a mood to reduce its pace of growth... which is driven by innovation & expansion and Yahoo! is not ready to sell off itself... being bullish on the potential of its business,

the software gaint was left out with no option than strengthening its online arm. Though there were few changes earlier ( from MSN to Windows Live) they were very cosmetic and could not make much impact.

Microsoft is now rebranding its search engine and as Satya nadella(Head R&D MS) says... there are lot of improvements on the functionalities too. Code named "Kumo" for many months, the new search engine Bing's beta version is already live. Microsoft has recently acquired farecast, a travel search engine, Medstory, a health search engine and powerset which is into natural language search that retreives information from wikipedia.

Microsoft is aiming to change the game by calling Bing a ‘decision engine’ , which, as they claim,will offer more insights to users for helping them take decisions, and not necessarily throw the most popular and relevant items. wolfram research is already live with a similar positioning for its search engine wolfram alpha, which they call a computational knowledge engine. I think that the wolfram is better structured(though it still has a long way to go) than bing.

On the other side, Yahoo! has released the beta version of its new face called Glue.

With all the recent improvements in the search engine markets... the heat is certainly on!

"STOP OUTSOURCING... BUT BE COMPETITIVE" ... hehe.. u r kiddin' me

dhirajkumarns@gmail.com (Dhiru) — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:26:00 +0000

US president obama unveiled the tax code changes with an intention to make offshoring more expensive(as he says..!) by denying deductions on things like payrolls and other expenses in the offshore centers for US corporations.The changes are yet to be approved by the congress.

"The U.S. currently has a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York," Obama said.

It seems he (and his thinktank) never took the wage difference into consideration which is the main motivation for moving the work overseas.For example, on an average, a filing for patent in US costs around $30,000 where as with$10,000, as many as 6 patents can be filed exercising the outsourcing option, as per a report by KPMG.

The criticism boils down to this: It isn't the tax code that created the offshore outsourcing industry over the last decade; it's the low cost of highly skilled labor.

More over, there could be unforeseen consequences to the tax changes. A foreign country could, for instance, offer subsidies to U.S. firms to create jobs as a way of mitigating any tax impact.

Obama says, "I want to see our companies remain the most competitive in the world. But the way to make sure that happens is not to reward our companies for moving jobs off our shores or transferring profits to overseas tax havens."

Mr.O**ma.. its not just the jobless population that is suffering but the companies too... Sustainably, u cant help one entity at the price of the other.Both should complement each other.

You want your companies to sell products to consumers in India and China. But you want to limit the job creation to US, though it is expensive.How can you justify it??? either logically or otherwise...

How can you stop your companies from going global, from adopting the efficient and cost cutting options like outsourcing, yet ask them to be competitive with their foreign counterparts who do outsource and have the cost advantage???

isn't that an oxymoron???

Welcome..!

dhirajkumarns@gmail.com (Dhiru) — Sat, 02 May 2009 18:53:00 +0000

Saturday night would be an ideal time for partying out.

For starting to blog....... I think, therz no need of ideal time, if you have something to share...........

I Hope...... This will be a good platform for the people who love to discuss about the things happening around us in the world of technology and business and I welcome you all for the same.