India's Equivalent of The Likes of IPad

If you thought the Indian HRD ministry's attempt at making that $35 (Rs. 1,500) laptop is pure government fantasy and the usual pep talk we see from the Indian government, be ready to be surprised. Not only does the tablet exist in a prototype form, it actually works pretty well - and how!

Before I start, let's take a look at the brief history behind the story. The first time we heard of the tablet was last month when the HRD ministry, out of no where announced its plans to bring this $35 wonder to the student community of India. Back then, it was welcomed with the usual suspicion and skepticism that the Indian and world media has regarding anything that is remotely connected to the Indian government.

A month on, when all the hype about the tablet was just about to die, folks from NDTV Gadget Guru managed to scoop an interview with HRD Miniter Kapil Sibal (if you don't know who he is, you REALLY need that tablet) who carried the tablet with him to the studios. And that resulted in the first video hands on of the device. Our first impressions?

Well, it's no beauty contest contestant. The looks are nothing much to home about. If you were expecting something curvy like the iPads or the JooJoos or the Notion Inks of the world, be prepared for a nasty, boxy surprise. But hey, this is no lifestyle product. This is pure utilitarian stuff so if it does the job, that should suffice.

The hardware on this thing is pretty impressive by the looks of it. I am not sure what processor does the number crunching inside but it looks quite meaty to handle most tasks thrown at it. It has 2GB of RAM which is quite sufficient for web browsing, the occasional video streaming and document editing tasks that this is expected to do. The tablet is particularly impressive when it comes to connectivity options. Apart from Bluetooth, it seems to have all you need - ranging from Wi-fi, USB ports, Video out and SD card slots to SIM card slots for 3G ready connectivity. There is a camera at the rear (the megapixel count is still under wraps) that should suffice for normal photography. Besides, I don't expect anyone to take this on an African Safari anyway - so, the camera is pretty much sufficient for something that won't cost more than $35. One disappointment might be the screen which is resistive in nature. But then, for $35, it's criminal to expect a capacitive display on this - that too a 7-inch one.

On the software front, while we all thought it would run some real excuse of an OS based on Linux, I was surprised to see it running Android OS! Yes, I know Android is based on Linux as well. The good thing about this bit is the fact that there is considerable activity on the app development front when it comes to Android and this would actually make the tablet appealing to people who are just looking for a pure, no frills tablet. While the version of Android doesn't look to be the latest one, it still is pretty much usable. Also, I think it is likely that the tablet is powerful enough to get an update to Gingerbread once that arrives. Let's hope the processor is clocked at 1Ghz or more so that its eligible for the update.

Sibal, during the entire course of the interview, emphasised that the $35 price is pretty much real and that had it been under the retail sales, the price would have been considerably higher. However, this project is government subsidised and has no intention to go retail. Surprisingly, he also confirmed that he is aiming to bring the cost down to $10 later! By 2011, he expects at least a million units of the $35 tablet in the hands of Indian students. He adds that once that is done, we are ready to take the next step and take the tablet global.

What we think about this $35 wonder from India? For once, India has proved and has actually made something that isn't just there on paper or in pictures. It is pretty much real and more importantly, it works pretty well. If the idea is taken forward, there is no doubt that this will positively impact the education of millions of children who do not have access to basic computing. Think of it - an Internet tablet for under $35. Only Indians could pull off this one!

Reference: Techtree

One Laptop per Child

One Laptop Per Child has revealed that they are working on deals to sell around 1 million units of their current generation XO Laptop in the Indian market.


The laptop is designed to be used by school going children and it comes preloaded with educational material.
The device is being offered for Rs. 15000 per unit which is slightly more than what it costs in the US market.


OLPC India Foundation spoke about the new developments: “The momentum has just begun in India. We are targeting government primary schools as illiteracy in the country is in the level of primary schools”.

It added: “The Gujarat government had placed an order for 350,000 units recently. Andhra Pradesh has evinced interest in the product and we will be meeting the government officials shortly. Our India plans are what the state governments want.”

Nokia's "Listings"

Nokia has announced the launch of a new service in India. Known as "Nokia Listings". The service has been developed for the purpose of connecting buyers and sellers (or employers and job seekers)and making this process as simple as possible.


According to a blog post on Nokia Beta Labs announcing the service, Nokia highlights the fact that almost 60 percent of the hiring and consumer-to-consumer transactions, like apartment rentals, in emerging markets (like India) currently occur via word-of-mouth or through middlemen who charge a hefty commission for their services. Nokia aims to bring a digital marketplace of sorts to users of basic mobile phones (Series 40) without the need of GPRS connections. Nokia Listings enables users to buy and sell things on a digital market place, look for jobs and access local services such as auto repairs, driver services, plumbers, etc - all using their basic phones either using GPRS or SMS.

The service is currently available only in India and as of now, no registration is required to use the service. Nokia has coded a Java application which can be used to access listings. Note that while the app should work on most Java ready devices, it has been optimized for S40 handsets.

Exit Of Apple Executive Mr. Papermaster

Mark Papermaster, Apple Inc.'s senior vice president for iPhone engineering, is leaving the company, signaling a change in leadership after criticism erupted over the iPhone 4's unique antenna.


Mr. Papermaster's duties will be shouldered by Bob Mansfield, the company's senior vice president of computer engineering, Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said. He added that Mr. Mansfield already manages some aspects of Apple's mobile device technologies, such as the touch screen and A4 processing chip.

Mr. Papermaster couldn't be reached for comment, and Apple wouldn't say under which conditions Mr. Papermaster left.

The move comes after a series of uncharacteristic missteps for the popular consumer electronics maker. Earlier this year, photos of the iPhone's new design were published on a popular technology blog after an engineer allegedly left a test unit in a bar.

Then, after the phone's release, the device was dogged by complaints of reception issues related to its unique new antenna design. Apple eventually was forced to respond with a press conference hosted by CEO Steve Jobs, at which the company said it would supply free bumpers to iPhone 4 purchasers.

Mr. Papermaster joined Apple in April 2009 after the company reached an agreement with International Business Machines Corp. IBM was arguing that Mr. Papermaster, who had managed Big Blue's PowerPC chip business, shouldn't be allowed to join Apple because he had signed a noncompete agreement.


The dispute took several months to resolve. As part of the settlement, Mr. Papermaster was required to certify at a couple of prearranged times last year that he had complied with his legal obligations not to disclose IBM's confidential information.

Adopted from : The Wall Street Journal

Hyderabad to become a Smart Grid City

In an initiative that is untried in the country as yet, the state government will soon start a pilot project using smart grids produced by a company supported by the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad in a city’s neighbourhood.
Ecolibrium Energy, an Ahmedabad-based company, “is in the process of implementing the first smart grid pilot in India,” a release from the Center for Innovation Incubation and Entreneurship (CIIE) at IIM-A said.

Smart grids are power grids with the ability to adapt to various electricity sources, be it conventional or clean energy. While electricity may flow from either a wind mill or solar cell, changes in the weather may abruptly stop the electricity flow (clouds may cover the sun or winds may stop). In such cases, smart grids change their sources to conventional sources; drawing power from a conventional energy power plant instead, for example.

Besides this, smart grids can also send signals to both power plants and end-users like homes or office buildings, constantly telling them how much energy they are consuming. The power plant can then either cut down the amount of power it generates or the end user can cut down its consumption accordingly.

The CIIE is currently undertaking its RE-Search (Renewable Energy Search) programme with support from the state government’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and Ecolibrium Energies is one of its incubatees.

Chintan Soni, the company’s MD and CEO, said the project would involve 130 kilo watts and the agreement would be for two years. The project is likely to scale up to include 3-4 neighbourhoods in a month or two, he added.

Adopted from : The Times of India

Fate of Google Wave

Was it a social network or a collaboration tool on steroids? Nobody could quite agree, and it's one reason for the demise of Google Wave.

The company is disappointed with the user adoption and has announced it will discontinue developing Wave as a stand-alone product.

Google Wave was largely an Australian developed product. Google will maintain the service through the end of the year and will roll the technology into other projects, according to senior vice-president for operations, Urs Hölzle.

Jonathan Yarmis, a senior research fellow with analyst Ovum, said Wave's strength -- its lack of definition -- was also its greatest weakness as you could do any of the things incorporated into Wave in other, more accessible, fashions. "The ongoing growth of things like Facebook and Twitter probably killed Wave, as conversations that might have taken place there instead migrated to either a social platform -- Facebook - or a more conversational tool - Twitter", said New York-based Yarmis. "Even Google Buzz played a role in Wave's death as the two were somewhat similarly targeted but Buzz, being more Twitter-like, was easier to understand and embrace."

Ovum went so far as to call Google a 'one trick pony', referring to the company's dominance in search and advertising.

"Everything else is merely distraction, or survives in its ability to feed the advertising beast, which represents 98 per cent of Google's revenue. Of course, fortunately for Google, that one trick is a really good trick."

The analyst thinks Wave may be reincarnated in very different fashion if Google launches its rumoured Facebook competitor.

"If and when Google introduces its platform -- and really, it's just a question of when -- this would have obsoleted Wave anyhow," Yarmis said. "This way they just put a bullet in it now, so when they introduce the next platform, the focus isn't on how this co-exists with Wave or what this means for Wave or anything like that. Wave is gone, will be quickly forgotten and when Google does the next thing, for the most part no one will focus on Wave."

Adopted from: http://www.pcworld.com/