Adam - A Desi iPad Killer ?

It has been quite some time that I wrote on this blog. However, I wanted to write about something that I am really excited about . Adam - soon to launch Tablet Computer from NotionInk. The innovative design of this Tablet has already created lot of excitement since when it was first shown in the Mobile World Congress 2010. What is more exciting about this is that it is completely Desi at heart. It's designed and built by an Indian company in Bangalore - NotionInk under the leadership of the young innovator - Roshan Shravan. http://www.notionink.in/ The super cool innovations in this product, coupled with a lucrative price makes it a potential iPad killer. Here is why.

Design

The Adam has loads of innovations built into the design of the Tablet itself. With the unique "Curve" design, 180 degree turning camera, multi-touch capacitive touch screen, Pixel Qi e-ink technology (will explain this below), innovative track pad navigation from the back side, NotionInk has dozens of patented elements into the new gadget.

User Experience

The User Interface of the Tablet is extremely fresh and young. Have a look at some of the screenshots here. The company promises completely new user experience on this gadget. The Adam is built using Google's Android Operating System, however completely customized for its use. As you might know, Android is fast becoming the Operating System of choice on the Smart Phones. However, looking at the size of the Tablet, which is quite larger compared to a smart phone, NotionInk has customized the OS to suite their needs and also made many innovations to enable far richer user experience. Going by the limited previews available for the product, they seem to have done pretty impressive job.

Performance

Adam boasts of an impressive nVidia Dual Core 1GHz processor, supposedly faster than the Apple A4 processor in iPad. This means much faster processing speeds and graphics responses. Roshan Shravan claims a battery life of 16 Hrs compared to 10 hrs of iPad.

Pixel Qi e-ink Display

The Adam has an optional Pixel Qi display. This means simply that you can clearly read the tablet even if you are standing in bright sun. This feature is currently found in eBook readers like Amazon Kindle. Even iPad does not have it so well. See the demo of this in the video.

Connectivity

Adam supports three USB ports and an HDMI output. This means that you can connect external devices like hard drives, mouse, keyboards to it at the same. Also, you can project the tablet on a High Definition TV using the HDMI port. Sorry. The iPad is nowhere closer Mr. Jobs. Apart from this, it also supports Wifi, 3G and GPRS. It also has GPS chip.

Price

The Adam is priced between $375 to $549 (depending upon connectivity and display options). Compare this with iPad that ranges between $499 to $799. Moreover, Adam will have a global price. This means that this will make it even more attractive price in Europe. India hasn't seen the formal launch of iPad yet. The max price of $549 of fully loaded Adam (Rs. 24,000) is extremely exciting compared to an iPad that is available for 38000 in the gray market. The price is cheaper than many smart phones like higher end Blackberry, Motorola Droid and iPhone.

See an interview of Shravan here

A few Questions though

All the above looks very lucrative and exciting. I do have these questions before I finally give out my verdict.

• I understand that Adam has customized Android OS for its use. What does this mean for the millions of applications available out there on the Android market? Will those applications work on the Adam? If they don't, then Adam has a huge set back given that iPad has a killer app market and anything and everything you need is available there.
• The looks of it are impressive - especially the User Interface. Will the experience itself be as impressive? I mean, will the response time of the touch screen be as lucid as an iPad?
• Will it be available in India? :-) Steve Jobs was ok. But hope Mr. Shravan does not ignore his own motherland.

The Adam has started taking pre-orders since couple of days back. It is being manufactured in China and being shipped world-wide from there. If it stands up to the expectations and excitement it has created, it is definately an iPad killer and surely a reason enough for all of us to be proud of. Finally, are we up for a real global IT product Made (oops, designed) in India?

Is that a New Dawn at Ayodhya?

The Anxiety

The issue that started as a local conflict of ownership of the land between Hindus and Muslims more than 150 yrs finally turned into a national issue in early 90's when BJP's made it a political manifesto to win over the Hindu hearts and come back to power at Delhi after decades of dominance by the Congress. While the historical Rath Yatra by Advani was a major booster for his career, helped BJP come back as a National Party to recon with, it also manifested into falling of the Babri Masjid in Dec 1992, followed by one of the worst communal riots in the country killing close to 2000 lives. The 1993 Mumbai serial blasts were supposed to be a revenge of the same.

With this background the Allahabad High Court was to deliver the historical verdict on whom the disputed land belonged to apart from answering a few related questions like whether the place under dispute was really the birth place of Ram, did a temple exist earlier, was the Babri masjid constructed after demolishing the erstwhile temple, etc. While the Ayodhya is no longer a lucrative political manifesto for BJP since it has lived its life as a political issue in the minds of people, the aftermath of it - the massive communal riots - are not forgotten. No wonder this was the most anxiously awaited verdict, not from the perspective of what the verdict would be, but more for the possible communal conflict it could potentially create.

The Verdict

Here is the summary of the verdict.

For me, following points are important.

• The disputed Land equally divided into the three parts - one each for Muslims, Hindus and Nirmohi Akhara.


• Established that the central dome was really the place of birth for Ram


• That a Ram temple existed before Babri Masjid was constructed


• Paves the was for construction of Ram Mandir

The merit of the verdict lies in the way it balances both sides. While it paves the way for the Ram temple, reaffirms it to be the birth place of Ram at the same time gives equal ownership of the disputed place to Muslims. The very respectful and dignified response from people all the country from all religions is a testimony to this fact. There are extremists from both sides that may not be completely happy with it, but that's OK. These are the people who have made their careers and living out of this issue. It will be in their interest not to let this die out.

The Dawn

The calm and matured reaction given by one and all is an indication of the fact that India has moved on. The first thought in the minds of a common Indian (Hindu or Muslim) was that of a sense of relief rather than the verdict itself. Given that the verdict has something for everyone is a bonus. We all have moved on. We love religions. We respect and worship our Gods. But we no more want it at the cost of our own lives. The dreaded memories of 92 riots haunt us even today. We do not want a repeat of the same at any cost. This division of land has offered to unit us, keeping all the memories of 92 behind. It has paved the way for Ram Temple and offered equal share of the land to Muslims. Can we join hands to build a temple of Ram Lalla as well as a Masjid side by side? Can we turn around the place that currently reminds one of the worst hindu-muslim conflicts in the history into a monument of secular peace and harmony for centuries to come? Time has come to tell the world that India has really moved on. That the youth of this new India does not carry the legacy of 1947, 1971, 1992 and even 2002. That no political party can use our religious sentiments to their benefits. All that is behind us. What we want is the birth of a new Dawn.

With no untoward incident being reported from any part of the country even a day after the verdict, I am sure the Ram Lalla himself will be much more satisfied to see the new found calm, maturity and resilience in his own erstwhile Kar-sevaks.

Jai Shree Ram

Swadeshi Coming Full Circle

A. R. Rahman - Doubting the Legend

Google's Changing Personality

I am not sure if you have observed this, but recently Google added a small new feature to the legendary http://www.google.com/ page. The change might look very subtle, but it indicates a major shift from the very fundamental principle of UI Design that google is known for - minimalistic design. I have no clue why google has done this. Let me explain.

The Classical Way

Google is known for its simplicity in User Interface (UI) design. Its UIs are easy to use, intuitive and free of clutter. The best example of this is http://www.google.com/ The world's most visited website just had a google logo, a text box and two buttons - "Google Search" and "I am Feeling Lucky". Over a period of time Google added links to other google applications such as News, Image Search, YouTube, Orkut, Photos and so on in addition to some language options. It even added a feature last year where all these options and links are hidden by default and get enabled only when you move the mouse a little.

The story has it that when the google founders created google, they didn't know HTML coding and they created a very simple design which they could code. Over the period of time that became the signature design of google. Just a plain white background, google logo and a text box with two buttons. I loved it. Millions loved it the world over. However, Google just lost it... well almost.

The New Option

Recently google added a new link towards the left side bottom of google.com. It reads "Change Background Image". You need to sign-in with your google ID in order to use this feature. What this allows you to do is that you can either upload your own image or select from an existing set of publicly available images that you can set as background to your google.com home page. The image shows up in the background whenever you use google.com anywhere in the world.

Issues

The classical plain white simplistic design has been googl's signature. I am not sure about the motivation for this feature. Somehow I feel, this is a step away from its own legacy. There are some challenges with it as well. The user can really shoot herself in the feet. Try uploading an image that is too small or too big to fit your screen. It messes up the entire look. Second issue is with the logo. Since google can not predict the image color scheme, it has made the logo transparent white. This is again a big deviation from the signature multi-color design of google logo. Thirdly, if you upload a heavy image, it makes the loading of the page slow. Google is known for its speed. Its the most reliable and fast website in the world. A heavy background can make it slow.

Copy Cat???

Did google find motivation for this feature in Microsoft's bing? The way Plain background has been the signature design for Google, beautiful background images has been the key design principle of Microsoft's new search engine - http://www.bing.com/ I love that as well. It has a slightly different approach and does not have any of the issues relating to googl's approach that I mentioned above. Every day it has a new, rich quality background image, showing some famous place in the world. It also provides some useful info about it on mouse over. It does not allow user-uploaded images. The user can not shoot in her feet. When it was introduced last year, this looked new and fresh. Many who used it, loved it.. including me. However, was this the motivation for the new feature in google? I hope not.

I hope the biggest innovator on the Internet didn't have to copy it from Microsoft and had some other inspiration that I am not aware of.

You are being watched.... by Facebook

Facebook has been the punching bag of the security and privacy advocates for ever. No wonder the movie on facebook, "The Social Effect" has the tag line "When you make 500 million friends, you are bound to make enemies". The biggest criticism for facebook has been that it knows too much about us and there are concerns about security and privacy of this data. Usual response to this criticism is that this is social media and if you are so concerned about privacy, don't share it. I was convinced with this argument until recently when I figured out, there are things which you don't explicitly share, but eventually reach facebook. Here is an example where you need to be aware that facebook is watching you. Many, won't know. I didn't.

Background
Recently, facebook introduced Social Plugins. These are facebook components that any website in the world could embed in their own webpage to provide social networking features through facebook. Examples are - "share on facebook", "like" button, friend list, comments, etc. This requires that the visitor has logged-in to facebook, may be through another browser window or tab. If a website ebmbeds the facebook "like" button on its webpage, the visitors of the website will be able click on "like" button (very similar to you like videos, photos, status messages etc on facebook itslef). This will result into an update on your Wall that you liked that link. This is good. I have no problems with this.
I have a problem with what it does next. Read on.

The Use Case
Follow the steps below.

1. Login to facebook.
2. Go to any article on Times Of India. Say this one.
3. Look at the bottom. You will see this facebook plugin - "Recommend".
   
   
4. If you observe closely, it also tells you if any of your friends have recommended this. In my case it says "Be the first of your friends to recommend this."

What happens in the background?
If you imagine the logic of this, the code snippet from facebook that TOI would have embedded in this page would have sent this info to facebook that amol has visited so and so URL, and in-return asked if anybody from amol's friends recommended this URL? In my case facebook returned none.
The Issue
This is scary. I just happened to be logged in to facebook in some another browser window and without even checking with me, the plugin sent the info to facebook that I visited Times of India - this article. I hate this. I didn't choose to add/enable this plugin to TOI. It did not check with me and peacefully sent the info to facebook that I visited this page. If you don't observe carefully, you would not even see the facebook plugin amidst the clutter on the site. Thankfully facebook didn't put it on my wall , but mind well... it knows that you visited it.
I do share a lot of info on facebook.com through my wall.... my status, photos, videos, links, etc. However, there I do it conciously.... by choice. Here, I never chose to do it. I don'thave option to turn it off either. Forget it, I didn't even know it did all this.
Simple Advise
Log off from facebook after you are done. Don't keep yourself logged in through out the day. Be aware that you are being watched.

K for Kishore

Yesterday was the 81st birth anniversary of arguably the most versatile legends of Hindi Film and Music Industry - Kishore Kumar. Here's homage to him in remembrance of his birth day. The man who was bestowed with the responsibility to spread happiness, to make the common man laugh inspite of his sorrows, to fall in love with his unique "harkaten" and to cherish those unlimited melodies for generations to come, will always remain close to the hearts of all Indians for generation to come.

Abhas Kumar, who came to Mumbai industry as a frequent visitor to his then already-star brother - Ashok Kumar (Dada Munee) did some acting stint to start with, changed his name to Kishore Kumar (Did numerology exist prior to Ekta Kapoor?) and went on to become the numero-uno playback singer of the 70s and 80s. Here are a few interesting and exceptional thoughts about him.

One of the Best Ever - Without a formal training
Kishore Da was initially dismissed for his first singing assignment because he did not have any formal training in Music. At a time when classically trained singers dominated the playback singing, it was pure talent and creativity that KK more than compensated for his lack of formal training. The same music director - Salil Choudhary - who was dismissive of him for his first assignment, gave us some of the best gems of KK in years to come.
Inspite of not trained in music, Kishore Da had amazing perfection in his singing. You would never hear a flat note from him, inspite of all his "harkaten" which he used to do even in the studios while recording the song. He was a gifted man. Gifted with a voice that was devine.... one that would touch the soule. Although he harldy sang classical based songs (like Rafi, Manna Da), he had surgical precision in all of his songs.

Versatility
He is possibly the most versatile singer we have seen ever since the Hindi Music Industy was born in the last century. Close to him will be Asha Bhosale. Right from romance, comedy, love, sorrow, philosophy, devotion... KK has it all covered on his portfolio. His versatility not only crossed the boundaries of genre, it crossed genders as well. He is possibly the only one who has sung a duet himself. "Aake Seedhi Lagi Dilpe" was supposed to be sung by him and Lata Didi. Since Lata Didi could not come at the 11th hr, he sang in lady voice as well - with no help from technology by the way.
Apart from classical based songs, Kishore Da is also lesser known for Devotional songs. Although he has sung many of the devotional songs right from his start of the career right upto Swami Dada in late 80s, this genre remained the core competence of Rafi. Nevertheless, many of his devotional songs do touch your soul, although they might not be popular as "Roop tera mastana".

Creativity - Yoodleeyooo
KK gave us something that noone could ever imagine. The Yoodling. Perhaps this was his way to compensate for his lack of classical training and inability to sing a classical based song. With this, he created something that none of his contemporaries like Rafi, Manna Da could sing. "Main hoon zum zum Zumroo" is the most yoodled song ever and even today remains the best test of a "KK Style" singer.
He was born with the gift of creativity. The story of how he managed Asha's fumbling in "Piya piya piya" is well known. One of his best funny song, "Meri pyari bindu" from Padosan was his instant creation on the sets while shooting. It wasn't planned earlier - added later to the music album of Padosan.

Beyond Music
KKs versatility extended beyond Music into Films as well. Actor, Producer, Director, Music Director, Editor. Are there any other roles remaining? He did everything. Apart from singing, he is second-best known as a comedian. Who can forget the "Guru Vidyapati" of Padosan ? Apart from acting, he produced 18 films. Sadly only 8 saw the light of the day. Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Door Gagan ki Chhaon mein, Zuumroo are some of his best known films.

The Serious Kishor... Seriously???
Many close to him say that although on the face of it he looked vary funny, jovial and full of humor, somewhere within, there lived an extremely serious person. This shows up in the soul he put in his serious songs like "Dukhi man mere". In many of his films, his style was completely different than the comedian persona which he was known for. Look at "Door Gagan Ki Chhaon mein". A story of a soldier and his son. Many say that these films were his way to vent out that personality of him.
Inspiring Generations
Kishore Da has inspired generations of singers. Many have made thier careers after him by imitating him. Kumar Sanu (Duplicate), Babul Suprio (Duplicate ki Xerox Copy), et al. It is sad that many of them do not acknowledge this fact after becoming a star. However, an imitation after all, remains an imitation. There has been no equivalent of him even after decades when he left us. Recently, there was a kind of remix of "Bachna aye haseenon" in the movie with the same title (staring Ranbeer Kapoor). Listen to it carefully. There are original lines by KK initially and then new lines are sung by a new comer. The difference is evident. Even with today's technology, KK stands out.
Kishore Da, you will always remain alive in our hearts forever. Your music is the only refuge amidst the chaos and noisy numbers dominant in the music industry today. I only wish we had more of you.
Hope you rest in peace.

The Social Network Effect

Recently I was reading the book - "The Facebook Effect" by David Kirkpatrick. Its the amazing story of Facebook - the phenomenon that has caught up the entire world since last few years and its effect the world over. I believe, especially in the Indian context, the impact of facebooks and orkuts of the world can be much more significant... I worry... to the extent of being cultural.

About facebook
With 500 million active users and growing at an approx pace of 100 million per 150 days, it the third most populous country in the world, next to China and India, if it was a country. Founded by a (then) 19 yr old Mark Zuckerberg at Harward, it has taken over all of its contemporaries Myspace, Orkut and bunch of others. It is the second most visited website on the Internet, next to Google.com. Its the most talked about Internet company today, loved as well as hated at the same time. It has also inspired a Hollywood Movie, "The Social Network", scheduled to release in Sept 2010.

facebook in India
Facebook is the most popular social networking site in India. It has surpassed Orkut's over last one year. The growth has been phenomenal. One significant observation is that it has been able to reach out to all age groups. Social media (at least India) was always perceived to be for young generation or IT savvies. However, people of all ages, professions, even those who have just learnt to boot a computer, all of them are hoping on to facebook. While its a good sign of IT penetration to the Indian common man, there are some strange observations.

• You can see colleagues sitting next to each other putting stuff on each others walls on facebook. What is so great about the wall that you can not directly talk ?
• Son/Daughters putting comments on their parents wall and vice-versa. This is extreme.
• I get friend requests from people whom I have never seen/met. What does that mean? I know nothing about them. The entire notion of "friend request" is at times misinterpreted.
• There are people who spend 2-3 hrs on facebook every day.
• People tend to use facebook as a medium of chatting.

These are indications of some fundamental changes the facebooks and Orkuts of the world are bringing to our society. They have given a fresh, new and lucrative channel of communication. As a result, instead of picking up the phone and talking to friends, we log on to facebook and write something on their wall. Instead of planning to meet a friend/relative on Sunday evening, people would spend time in reading useless comments others have put on their stuff and even contribute to it.
The Undesired Effect
This is an undesired side effect of the social media. Don't get me wrong. I am a heavy user of facebook. It is a very powerful tool to express yourself to your buddies, share your ideas, your thoughts, happenings in your life, your joys & sorrows. It is a great channel to find those old school friends you never met in last 20 yrs since you completed SSC. It has a potential to influence and move large groups towards a common goal. E.g. Facefook has helped large scale national movements like the one in Colombia a few yrs back. However, it can never substitute the charm and warmth of talking to your friend over a phone or more so, meeting them in person.
Especially in our society, which has traditionally given very high importance to family and social values, a facebook cannot replace the chaukats and nukkads of our bastees. If it does, its a major cultural shift.
So, go to the Profile info of your old friends in Facebook, pickup the contact number and give them a call. You will realize, it is much more satisfying than writing "wats up buddy?" on his/her wall.

The Terminal

No. I am not referring to Steven Spielberg's Hollywood blockbuster. I am referring to a public infrastructure piece of work in India.

• Being the 6th largest terminal in world, it certainly puts Indian aviation on the global aviation map.
• It is likely to attract many more international careers to India and setup their hubs in Delhi, resulting into further investment and employment opportunities.
• It is a giant leap for the Indian Aviation industry. After Hyderabad and Bangalore airports, India walks further on upgrading its aviation infrastructure which desperately needs an overhaul.
• Last but not the least. This giant piece of art was completed in record time of 3 yrs. Cutting through the usual red tapes and govt machinery, a public infrastructure project of this size has been executed bang on time and almost within projected budget. This defies all the popular (?) believes that Infra projects, especially those under the Govt fold, take ages to see the light of the day. Delhi once again (after Delhi Metro) has demonstrated excellence. Kudos. This should add to our confidence in our public servants to deliver on their duties. Although, this might be the result of GMR's involvement, it does not make it a lesser exception in the infra projects in India.

I hope Mumbai learns some lessons from this and finally gets through the Govt red tape that is sitting on approving the International Airport at Panvel.

I am happy, proud and hopeful.

Bharat Bandh Brings India to a halt

Rajneeti - Mahabharat Revisited

Watched Prakash Jha's much awaited "Rajneeti" on the day of its release. With so much hype around it, and acclaim of Jha's earlier ventures - Gangajal and Apaharna, the expectations were very high. Here is my own opinion about the film.


Bottomline An excellent movie, worth every penny, elaborate plot, powerful performances, grand cinematography and a gripping story telling under Jha's superior direction.

What Works:

• Elaborate Plot: One of the few movies in the recent past (after Kaminay, I guess), that has a strong plot. You really need to watch the movie carefully to get it completely. Its today's incarnation of Mahabharat. You can easily place all the major characters of Mahabharat. Duryodhan, Arjun, Krishna, Kunti, Karna and so on. Still, Jha has been immensely successful in making it look absolutely contemporary. The earlier attempt by Suraj Badjatya to modernize Ramayan (HSSH) was a disaster. This one is the opposite.

• Powerful Performances by a Powerful Cast: The second most famous Bhajpai on the planet delivers his second performance of lifetime - after Satya. Watch out for his expressions when his rival brother tells him that he is quitting politics for ever. He deserves a standing ovation. Arjun Rampal is further on his journey towards a matured actor after OSO, Rock On. Nana and Ajay both are very impressive, as usual in a very intense role. It is Randhir Kapoor who walks away with your attention. Simply superb. His transition from a foreign university student to a hard core politician is amazing. Katrina is suited to the roll, but cant make an impact amidst such a star cast

• Superior Direction: Kudos to Prakash Jha for pulling off such a huge star cast, a complex storyline and a potentially sensitive topic with such an ease. The movie hardly drags anytime. He makes perfect justice to all characters... almost

• Grand Cinematography: Some of the scenes of Political rallies and gatherings are so huge and real that I wonder if Jha used any special effects. Simply awesome.

What Doesn't Work:

• The film becomes little non-realistic towards end. I mean, Politicians might kill each other... but not themselves. That was Mahabharat... this is Indian Politics
• There is one loop hole in the plot. Which political party will get the rival party's leader killed just before the elections? Its anybody's guess that the rival will get the sympathy vote.
• Some performances are weak... Ranbir's mother, especially.
• If you miss first 5 mins, you will never see Nasir. Such a fine actor, only as a cameo?? It might be purely my love for Nasiruddin that I felt he was wasted :-(

Finally

• Rajneeti works for its story, performances and direction. Worth every penny.
• Going by the media, it seems there has been enough Rajneeti behind Rajneeti. Well, some hands-on experience might have helped Mr. Jha.
• Last but not the least.... The story of Mahabharat written by Vyaas thousands of years ago is still very much valid. I wonder should we still call it a Mythology?