All That Matters

Right across the busy junction on my regular commute to office, a big hoarding has come up in last few days. It is about Facebook's initiative - Free Basics. A huge media campaign is under way at the moment across all channels. It is supposedly a philanthropic effort to provide free internet to people who cannot afford it. Sounds like a great idea. However it has been surrounded with controversy and criticism since when it was launched. So what's the noise all about?
Here is a closer look.

What is Free Basics?

The erstwhile internet.org, now renamed to Free Basics, is Facebook and Reliance Communication's joint effort to provide free internet to everyone. An attempt to bring the entire country of a billion+ online. However the devil is in the details. There is a difference between Free Internet and Free Basics. It's not the entire internet that is free. Only a few "registered" services (aka websites) that are on-board are free. Facebook included. And of course provided those services are accessed through Reliance SIM Card.

It is interesting to see why Facebook and Reliance are so keen to push this through. After all, why would a company run a massive media campaign for a charity initiative? Well, the truth of the matter is, it is not really charity. Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook in every hand so that his advertisement revenue increases. As regards Reliance, Facebook's own survey based on data from other countries says that once people start using the "limited" free internet, more than 50% upgrade to a paid service.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong in this.

The issue is that of Net Neutrality.

Now what's Net Neutrality? 

Since the birth of the internet, the world has been working towards the principles of Net Neutrality. What this means is every content on the internet must be treated equally. Of course subject to age restrictions for certain sensitive content. The internet service itself must not provide preferential treatment to a sub-set of services available on the internet. The biggest exception to this of course is China and Middle East. However those parts of the world are known for restrictions, on every aspect of life - Internet included.

An open, free internet service is a must of fair competition and growth. A service like Free Basics is kind of biased towards certain set of services (web sites) which are on-board with it and hence carry tremendous advantage over those that aren't. Moreover, Facebook is a commercial organization. Activist doubt the real intent of Facebook behind the service.

Free Basics has been opposed by all activists and proponent of Net Neutrality. It is obviously strongly opposed by those services that are not being offered through Free Basics. Paytm founder famously compared Facebook's tactics with those of East India Company centuries ago. While that me a far stretched comparison, there is a merit in looking at it from Net Neutrality perspective.

In summary 

It is a service that has some great advantages which include internet access to people who cannot really afford it, although in a restrictive manner. Internet access to these hands can potentially open many more opportunities for them. The flip side is that it is strictly against the principles of Net Neutrality. It can potentially encourage monopoly.

TRAI right now seeking comments on Free Basics. The dead line has been extended until January 17, 2016. It is supposed to make its recommendation by end of Jan. It will be interesting to see the outcome, as it is likely to steer the evolution of the internet in India.

The morning today was flooded with messages and tweets about Manna Da’s demise. For once, I was hoping this was yet another false rumour on the social media, just like the one a few months back. The fate disappointed me this time. Manna Da rendered Bhairavi of his life during the wee hours of this morning. Another legend left for heavenly abode, leaving behind a legacy that is unmatched.
A musical journey that started in 1942, spanned 6 decades. During this marvellous ride, Dada gave us some unforgettable melodies that make him immortal. He will reside in the hearts of Indians all over the world with his music.

Manna Da created a space for himself in an era of legends like Mohd. Rafi, Kishor Kumar Mukesh & Talat Mehamood. He carved a niche for himself by blending Classical Music into Film Music. He was the de-facto choice of all Music Directors for Classical based compositions. It is said that he would make Notations for songs before recording, so that he could record it with perfections; something no singer has ever done. Manna Da immortalized many Classical based songs. He also gave us some of the most beautiful romantic, patriotic and funny songs as well. His versatility was beyond imagination.

Numerous such melodies of his are doing rounds in the mind since morning and giving sense of a void that he has left behind. Here is a list of 10 Songs – from 4000 odd songs he sang across various languages – that are close to me. I am too small to apply any rating to his work. However, as a fan of his, this is a tribute to him by remembering his most beautiful creations that he has left behind.

1. Poochho Na Kaise Maine Rain Beetai

A beautiful melody in Raag Ahir Bhairav from the film “Teri Surat Meri Aankhen” composed by S. D. Burman. The pain of an ugly looking Ashok Kumar rendered by Manna Da brings Goose Bump even after 50 yrs.

2. Aayo Kahan Se Ghanshaam

Another marvellous classical based composition by Panchamda in Raag Khamaj comes from the Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film Buddha Mil Gaya. Listen for the beautiful Style inspired from traditional Thumri.

3. Aye Mere Pyaare Watan

This is one of the best Patriotic Songs ever made in Hindi Film Industry. Manna Da brings the soul to it with his gifted voice. It describes the plight of Indians who are settled in foreign lands but still have their heart back home.

4. Ek Chatur Naar

Only a Genius combo of Panchamda, Kishor Kumar and Manna Da could create a funny song with a strong classical base as Ek Chatur Naar. This remains a cult even today.

5. Ketaki Gulab Juhi

A pure classical Bandish in Raag Basant and Drut Ektaal. It was possibly only Manna Da from the then contemporary playback singers who could even attempt to render this composition along with Pt. Bhomsen Joshi. In fact, it is said that Manna Da was embarrassed with the situation in the film where this song is shown as a competition and the character with Panditji's voice is shown defeated.

6. Zindagi Kaisi hai Paheli

Anand - The film that remains one of the best by Rajesh Khanna and this song truly characterizes the synopsis of the film

7. Kasme Waade Pyaar Wafa

What a composition! From the film Upkaar. “Dete Hain Bhagvaak ko Dhokha, Insaan ko kya Chhodenge” epitomizes the situation we are in today. The depth in Manna Da’s voice made this seemingly negative song immortal.

8. Tu Pyar Ka Sagar Hai

This melodious composition from the Film Seema is still very close to millions even after almost 60 yrs. Such was the power of Music of that era, where Manna Da belonged.

9. Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi

This is one of the many romantic sweet melodies that Manna Da gave us. Film Chori Chori (1956). I think, next to Mukesh, it was Manna Da who rendered his voice the most for Raj Kapoor.

10. Laga Chunari Mein Daag

And finally the Bhairavi. The amazingly beautiful composition by Roshan, based on a traditional Thumri, is possibly the best Bhairavi in Hindi Film Music. Thousands of Musical “Maifils” so far have concluded with the “Tarana” of Laga Chunari Mein Daag. I had the pleasure of watching Manna Da perform this Tarana live when he was already 92 yrs. Notwithstanding his age, his rendering had the same energy and “lay” as the orginal 50 yrs back.

There are many many more. I know you would expect Pyar Hua Iqaraar hua, Zoharajabi, Yaari hai Imaan and so on. A blog like this is too small a canvas to capture even a glimpse of Manna Da's genius.

Manna Da, I feel fortunate to have lived in a time when I could hear you live, although at your age of 92. Our Music of today desperately needs you back Dada.
Take a re-birth and come back to save us from the septic of Lungees and Pungees.

How would you react if you knew your Facebook account was hacked? Worst, the hacker not only got into your account, but changed the login ID, reset all security, removed alternative emails and phone numbers and left you with absolutely no means to recover your access? Blame your not-so complex password? Not really. Its a flaw in Facebook's legacy security setting which one can exploit. You don't need to be a hacker to do it either. Read on for the step-by-step method to hack into a Facebook account and a way to shield from such an attack as well.
Facebook account of somebody close to me was hacked last early morning. What followed was a deep investigation to recover the account and to know what exactly happened. Thanks to Mr. Hacker, I now know the precise steps how this was done and figured out ways protect against such an attack. Here are the details.

The objective here is not to encourage such hacking, but to create awareness and help you secure your account from such an easy but brutal hack.

Part A: The Hack

Step 1: Log off from Facebook and go to https://www.facebook.com/recover/initiate
Step 2: Enter the user name/email ID/Name of the target account. Click Search
Step3: Facebook gives you the following options to recover the target account.
You will see the Profile pick of the target account on the right. It has been blurred here.
Step 4: Click on "No Longer have access to these?" link at the bottom left.
Step 5: Facebook gives you the option to enter a new email ID to be linked to the target account. Provide your own email ID. Make sure it is not linked to any existing Facebook account. Click continue.
Step 6: Unless you have set in the right security settings, Facebook throws a security question that you would have chosen right at the time of creating the Facebook account. In most of the cases, the answer to this question is anybody's guess. See example below.
Step 7: Assuming you entered the answer correctly, you will be presented with an option to set the new password.
 Step 8: Facebook will now send a link to your email ID (the one you provided in step 5) to link the email ID to the target account. Click on that link.
Step 9: Once you activate the link that you received in your email, Facebook attaches the new email ID and  the password to the account. You still need to wait for 24 Hrs.
Step 10: Wait for 24 hrs. Bingo. You have got access to the account with the new email ID and password that you specified.

Some major concerns in this implementation. I hope Facebook fixes this sometime.

• There is no way to change the security question or the answer to it. If you made a mistake in selecting a very simple question and obvious answer while registering... too bad.
• There are no notifications to the original email ID when somebody tries to add a new email ID, at least during that 24 Hr window.
• It basically assumes everyone in the world is very honest :-)

Part B: Shielding your account from this hack

Part C:  How does this safeguard from the hack?

I have been a big fan of Flipkart, the leader in the budding online retail stores in India. I have been even bigger fan of its Digital Music Store - called Flyte. Sadly, I got an email from Flipkart that they are shutting down Flyte in June 2013. A beautiful attempt to fight Music piracy in India bites dust.

Flyte was amazing. It allowed you to buy Music from its rich collection of Music Library and download the same on your computers/laptops/phones at a very low price- typically 1/5th of the physical Audio CD of the same album. You could even buy individual tracks typically at Rs. 5 to 15. You couldn't get a more economical option to buy "Genuine" Music. But who wants to buy Genuine Music here, where there are tons of options available for free Pirated Music?

Flipkart hasn't said anything about the reasons behind this decision of pulling off the plug just within a year after its launch. My guess is that even after making Music dirt cheap and affordable, it could not change the very culture within Music listeners in India which is against buying genuine Music by paying even a small money. The volumes generated on the store may not have been sufficient for a viable business.

It is such an irony I feel. On one hand, there is certain class of the society that has seen huge prosperity within last one decade. This class has enough money to buy expensive cars, international holidays, branded watches, designer clothing, parties and  dinners at exotic places and so on. But they can't spend few bucks on buying genuine tracks of the very Music they love. Is Rs 35 too much a money for an album of R. D. Burman? Does the Legend not deserve a price which is even lesser than a plate of Dosa for his genius?

When will our society understand that piracy is akin to shop lifting? When will our authorities wake up and take some serious actions against rampant piracy done in bright day light, on the streets- often next to police stations? When will the so called Music lovers in this country realize that piracy is an insult to the Musician whose album they just downloaded from Torrent?

I hope we get answers to these painful questions some day.

In my earlier blog I wrote about the recent hot trends that make a smart phone even smarter. There are enough things out there that still make your smartest phone a dumbo. Here is my take on things that still need major attention from the Apples and Samsungs of the world. Hope somebody is listening.

1. Battery Life

If there is one thing that anybody who has ever used a smart phone would want to improve in a smart phone is its battery life. There are hardly any smart phones that can last more than a fair usage of a business day. Add wifi or 3G/4G, GPS, Bluetooth, multimedia and a fully charged phone can dry up within hrs. It isn’t that the muscle power in the battery has not improved. The mAh specification of the battery (an indication of how much fuel a Li-ion battery carries) has steadily increased over a period of time. Take Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S series for example. The mAh rating has increased from 1650 for S2, to 2100 for S3 and finally 2600 mAh for S4. Ideally S4 should long 1.6 times long. However, the phones themselves have become mightier and so has their consumption. The quad-core or even eight core processors, Large HD displays and all those frills like NFC come at a cost of battery life. Every now and then I do experience the frustration of my cell phone breathing its last right in the mid of an important phone call. That’s when I miss my good old Nokia brick so much.

2. Interoperability

I wish there was more standardization. I wish there was more inter-operability. I wish all accessories of one phone would work with others. I wish the Bose Docking station for the iPhone would work with the Android Phone. I wish there was just one universal charger pin for all cell phones. Unfortunately that’s not really the case. Off course there are business reasons the manufacturers for doing so. Accessories is a big revenue stream. A more proprietary accessory is likely to lock down customers. All those Docking Stations, Chargers, car accessories made for iPhone are a major exit barrier for anybody who has invested in those accessories and looking to buy an Android phone. Apple is known for its “Closed Ecosystem”. It goes beyond chargers, docking stations and accessories. Need to print from your phone? Make sure the Printer is AirPrint compatible. Want to stream music? Get an AirPlay compatible player (aka Apple TV). Things work beautifully so long as all your devices are from the Apple eco system. “Land and Expand” strategy at its best. Android is relatively better when it comes to openness. It supports open standards like DLNA, UPnP for Media Streaming, NFC for device-to-device communication, Qi for wireless charging and so on. Apple leaves far more things to be desired when it comes to interoperability. And you know what? It’s by choice.

3. Call Quality

It has been a major debate whether a smart phone has any role to play with the call quality. The manufacturers usually blame it on the service providers for the poor call quality. While in most of the cases it might be true, the reality is that the phone itself has a lot to influence call quality. J D Power published a study a while back to measure the Cellular Call Quality measured as Problems Per 100 (PP100) calls. The study discovered that the call quality has declined over last one decade and also that the PP100 score was higher for Smart Phones than for the normal phones. A very simple and logical reason for this difference in performance is that Smart Phones pack just so much into a little slim and sleek device that there is no room to “optimize” the phone for better call quality. I can’t agree more.

4. Fragility

Remember the first Nokia Ad - “Made for India”?


The Ad beautifully emphasized the ruggedness of the Nokia phones. I don’t intend to hang the phone outside the truck. But I do want the phone to survive occasional drops, occasional exposure to water, scratches and a bit rough use. My phone already has a cracked back cover. It looks so ugly. Smart phones are known for their fragility. They cant beat those old Nokia phones for sure. However, this is an area where a lot of improvement is expected to happen. Sony already claims its Xperia Z is water proof. The screens made out of Sapphire were demoed in Consumer Electronics Show this yr. The material is expected to make the mobile screens Concrete proof. See for yourself

5. Far Away from True Office Productivity

No matter how smart the phones become, they are still far away from replacing your bulky old school laptop. You may buy highly rated, fancy Office Apps from app stores. But nothing can replace the Office Suite on a laptop. Its not only about Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Even writing an important longish email is bit cumbersome on a phone. I still prefer a laptop for such a use case.  But I would love to use just one device that does it all. I am not sure if it is even possible ever. May be I am asking too much.

I can live without the last one. But the phones of the future better address these fundamental rights of a cell phone users. NFCs, Wire Less Chargins and Finger Hovers can wait.

Posted by Amol Mategaonkar
22nd April 2013
Originally Posted at http://digitalden.tumblr.com/

The completion for the Numero Uno slot in Smart Phones has ner been so hot. Cutting edge technology backed by engineering muscles of the giants is ensuring that your smart phone gets even more smarter. Here is the top-10 list of new trends and features that we have seen in new smart phones

1. Killer Cameras

Just when we thought Camera in a cellphone was more of a commodity, the Samsungs, Nokia and Apples of the world bumped it up with killer specs – hardware as well as software. Samsung’s latest kid on the block – Galaxy S4 – boasts of a giant 13 Megapixel camera. Nokia went further with its PureView technology and introduced Nokia PureView 808 that has a 41 Mega Pixel Sensor.
The war of cameras goes beyond Megapixels. Check out LG Optimus 3D with abilities to shoot and play 3D photos and videos. See here. And yes, did I tell you that you don’t need those annoying 3D glasses for watching 3D content. Super cool.
Then there are all these frills around cool features like video shooting with both cameras at the same time in S4, Sweep Panorama, Low Light Shooting Sensors of Sony’s Experia Z, Filters, Face Detection. This list can go on.

2.    Stunning Displays

iPhone 4 revolutionized the display of Cell Phones with its “Retina Display Technology” in 2010 with 330 ppi (Pixel Per Inch) density. Steve Jobs claimed that it is beyond the abilities of a human eye to recognize the difference beyond this resolution of 330 ppi. While Apple is till sticking with a ppi around the same number, the completion has moved on with 400+ppi territory. S4 has 441 ppi. With 1080P full HD support, the displays of today’s smart phones is stunning with clear and crisp texts and sharp images. Wonder what effect has on battery consumption though.

3. Wireless Charging

The new Wireless Charging Technology found in Nokia Lumia phones allows for charging your cellphone without wires. You still need to “put” the phone on a compatible Wireless Charging device, typically a Charging Pad. Imagine just dumping your phone on a Charging Pad while you are driving a car or when you sleep at night and the phone gets charged. The new Qi wireless standard is being adopted by the industry with lead from Nokia. Check out Nokia Lumia 920.This means that a Nokia Wireless charger can potentially charge compatible Samsung Galaxy phone.

4. NFC (Near Field Communication)

Near Field Communication is the latest buzz in phone-to-phone and phone-to-accessories communication. Bring two NFC Compliant devices next to each other and share the content seamlessly. Simply touch your Nokia Lumia 920 with the compliant Headset accessory and bingo! Bluetooth is such a passé.

5. Processing Prowess

The CPUs of smart phones have become increasingly powerful. Galaxy S4 has an Eight Core processors with 2 GB RAM.  These Specs beat the laptop that I had few years back hands down. The rich graphics, heavy games and ever increasing need for a snappy and fluid touch screen demands heavy muscles bundled in a thin package of a smart phone.

6.    Smart Touch or Not

All smart phones have Capacitive Touch Screens these days. However, the capacitive touch requires you to touch the screen with your fingers. Try using it while walking in a chilly and windy weather of Chicago and I bet you will wish you had that old school phone with buttons. Capacitive Touch does not work with gloves on. Not anymore though. Nokia Lumia 920 allows you to operate your phone with gloves on.
Galaxy S4 goes further. It has this cool feature of “Finger Hover”.  Want to peek into the email before you open it? Just hover your finger over the email (without actually touching it) and the Email App shows you two line summary of the email. There are many other Apps that support the “Finger Hover”. This is similar to a “Mouse Hover” in the good old PCs.

7. Eye to Eye

The front cameras of the phones are no longer only for Video Chats etc. Check out Galaxy S4s cool new features. The Front Camera of Samsung has the ability to watch your eye movements and make the phone behave accordingly. For example, the phone switches off the display if it senses no one is looking at it, saving some battery. It can also stop and start videos depending on whether someone is looking at the screen. The video will automatically pause if you glance away from screen and it will restart when the eyes refocus on the screen. Pretty cool.

8. Size Matters

The size of the smart phones is trending to increase. It all started with 3.5inch Apple iPhone. Samsung raised the bar with 4.3 Inch S2. S3 was bigger 4.8 inch. S4 is even bigger – 5 inch. The Note II is even bigger with 5.5 inch screen. LG, HTC, Sony have similar size phones. And that seems to be the trend. Apple is falling in line, slowly.

9. Water Resistance

I wish we had this few years back. I would have saved one phone at least. Sony’s Xperia Z boasts off to be water resistant. Pour water on it. Dip it completely into water. The company guarantees your machine will be safe. Wow ! Great boon during the Mumbai rains.

10. And all those Frills

a. Virtual Personal Assistant – Hello Siri.
The voice assisted virtual assistant on your phone is new frill, lead by Appl’s Siri. I have doubts how useful it is though. Samsung has SVoice
b. Infrared Booster – Double up as TV Remote
This may be quite useful. Double up your Phone as a Universal Remote with its Infrared capabilities. Check out Galaxy S4 and HTC OneX
c. Tilt to Scroll
No need to touch. Tilt the phone up and down to scroll.
d. Fitness Tracker
More of an app. But quite useful. Galaxy S4

Still to Come

Then there is buzz around what’s in Store.

• Unbreakable Glass
• Flexible Phones – Prototype has been on display during last CES Event in the US
• Good Battery Life. This is my fantasy though. Its not going to be a reality soon