Wisetechie Blog : Ctrl your Tech Life

It was being touted as a Wikipedia Killer, but “Knol - a unit of knowledge”  seems to have died a painful death so to say. No one uses knol, i didn’t ever remember whether the URL was google.com/knol or knol.google.com , They both redirect to the subdomain though.

Knol was supposed to be the first place one would go while searching for a particular topic, but i am unimpressed. I searched for computer graphics and got pages about women in the computer industry and computer buses , ports etc. If you cant find a topic in Knol, then knol isnt so great, is it ?

Wikipedia had welcomed the entry of Knol into the online knowledge sector, it had said the more the free content, the better. However it seems that Knol seriously lacks on content and content quality. Also the images on Knol did not have separate pages like Wikipedia and had no individual licensing information.

There was also criticism to the Knol from other quarters, people had said that Google might try to fudge rankings to ensure that Knol ranks higher up in the search rankings. Google however dismissed all such allegations.

Knol also scared the media industry, a lot of people in the industry said that Google is slowing switching over , first it was a data searching company, then it became a data organising company, and now its a data generation company seriously threatening a lot of media houses.

For the time being though it seems like knol isn’t used by all

Ask any newcomer to the Internet if he has ever been conned, the answer would invariably be yes. Here comes the concept of a Trusted Internet , wouldnt it be great if before interacting with someone on the Internet, you would know if he/she is genuine ? , what if there was some way to tell that the person whom you are buying that auction product is going to defraud you.

Trusted Internet as a concept appeals to me, although i do feel that a 100% trusted Internet will never be a possibility. The use of secure certificates i believe is a part and parcel of trusted Internet. You can now know which sites to trust with personal info and which sites not to trust. The Identity of sites can be verified, so can the fact that your communication with a certain site is properly encrypted.

In the trusted Internet of tomorrow, computers shall be able to take decisions autonomously with a very high accuracy rate as to the authenticity of transactions. However money always comes and spoils the fun. I will take the example of our college computer labs, all of them run on AVG, and all of them have viruses because initially no AV was loaded on them and only when viruses started emerging the software was loaded as it became necessary. In case this trust was free, all S/Ws were free , wouldn’t it be better ? Comodo is looking to introduce free tools to make the Internet a little bit better for all

I have linked to Comodo above, i came across this concept of  a trusted Internet from their site only. I must say its a very interesting read

What do you feel ?

A few months ago i had posted about how Sony India was refusing to honour its warranty clause on a memory stick and how one of their employees Ms. __ (the company officials know her name as i had written it in my email to them) had behaved rudely. When i let her know that her tone was not appreciated she refused to help me and honour my request.

Anyway i wrote a strong letter to their online dept. (4-5 letters actually), and pretty soon a Sony India employee called me and told me to take his name at the service centre and my memory stick shall be replaced. It was amazing to see the affect of his name on the service centre people. Suddenly the service centre people who didn’t have means to test Memory Stick Pro devices now had a card reader which could test them. Funny the same employee who had told me this had a memory stick pro with himself. Anyway they reluctantly accepted my memory stick and warned me about a long wait time. Suddenly instead of shooing me like a beggar, the guy there was chatting with me.

Last Tuesday i got a call from them informing me that my memory stick was now available, woohooooooooooo to that !

But that joy was shortlived. On going to their Lajpat Nagar service centre i was shocked to see the replacement was of a memory stick duo and not the model i had given. The service centre receptionist rudely told me that the model i gave is not  made anymore (which is a blatant lie). He also asked me to purchase an adaptor myself, if Sony gives a pro adaptor with new duo memory sticks why didnt it give me an adaptor with my replacement for a pro memory stick, perhaps they want me to spend more money. What was more shocking though was the fact that i was told the only way to seek redressal is via emails, there is no feedback form or telephone system. In short the service centre is invincible. There is absolutely no way to write feedback at Sony India’s main service centre in the capital of India (thats what i was told). Even dhakkan companies who import Chinese stuff have feedback mechanisms at service centres.

I have written another email to them, but it seems like a dead end. It seems that their concern for the customers is only till you have the money to buy the product. The minute you buy their product, they dont care less. I saw so many Vaios today at the service centre that it sort of validated my decision to buy a DELL.

On a better note, i will be writing about Dell’s Next Day onsite Warranty service which is AWESOME ! Sony could learn a thing or two.

The HTC Dream which will be manufactured by High Tech Computer Corporation is going to be the first Android phone to be marketed and released. Android as some of you may be knowing is Google’s mobile platform. The Dream will cost $179 when purchased along with a T-Mobile plan. The good news is that HTC has a very strong base in India and might launch the phone pretty early in India at a very competitive price.

The Android platform is designed to take on the likes of Windows Mobile, Symbian and other generic and specific mobile phone OS manufacturers. However this particular phone is intended to compete head on with the Apple Iphone. The Apple Iphone has been a moderate success in the US and a complete failure in India.

The HTC Dream features a capacitive touchscreen interface, GPs, 3.1 MP camera, Accelerometer and a Qualcomm 528MHz processor. Its interesting to note we dont even know the processor used by Apple.

On the software front too, the phone is pretty good. As you can see in the video, it has built in Gmail, Youtube player. It features multiple desktops like most Linux systems and allows drag and drop for icons (How cool is that). The menu is brought up with swipes.

It also has a full QWERTY keyboard, gotta say looks pretty promising.

My cousin was in town lately and i got a chance to play with her Acer Aspire 4720 Laptop, only for 4-5 hours, but enough to give me a gist of its pros and cons. The laptop comes with 14.1” LCD Screen, Intel Core2Duo Processor T5450, 160 GB HDD , the laptop has a 4-5 hour battery life.

The Acer utilities were not working on her laptop though. Also when i tried to connect to my Wifi connection, it didnt work. The drivers bundled with the laptop are highly confusing, the WLAN Adaptor had 5 different drivers on the CD which left me confused. Later i was able to figure it out and Wifi worked , this was ofcourse after hitting the switch on the front of the laptop.

The laptop has a 1.3 MP web camera with a Microphone so Skype Videochats are a breeze. The laptop impressed me with its speed and clutter-lessness, ofcourse the laptop comes preinstalled with Linux  so you can use your own Windows key and save on costs if you have a MSDNAA account like me.

Anyway the laptop is sturdy and is giving no problems at the moment. So all in all i see no problems with it. Wifi and integrated bluetooth are premium features included in the laptop.

The 1GB RAM is less by today’s standards, so get it upgraded to 2/3 GB according to your wishes and budget.

So finally i was fed up with my earlier router which would start rebooting itself sporadically sometimes and wouldn’t calm down for hours. I filed for a change in router and my area’s engineer did it pretty fast.

Its a Telenet router TNDSL 2120 and hopefully wont fail me. It has slightly more features than my previous router, but the same firmware, version is newer. My earlier one was a Broadcom router which served me for 10 months before becoming problematic.

The last level support in my area from Tata Indicom broadband has been pretty good. The nodal officer at the top level is a horror though, if you live in Delhi, there is no use contacting the nodal officer of Tata Indicom broadband, he will never solve your queries and keep blaming it on someone else. Its such a long story that i cant even post it here. TOOOOOO LONG !

I hope the current officer is changed quickly though, people like him don’t deserve to be in such posts.

For all of those who have tried to find the railway schedules and fares on the Internet, there is no feeling more frustrating than the stupid errors from one of the Railway’s servers that its  too busy. These servers all have Indian names BTW like real people. So enter private company, the railways provide them access to their database, in-turn the private player takes load off the railway’s servers, symbiosis !

Rediff Online Indian Railways Train Enquiry Video Review

The above video review tests the functionality of the Rediff website.

Pros:

• Faster than Normal Railways Search
• No Logging in required unlike IRCTC
• Easy to Use

Cons:

• Station suggestion needs improvement
• It would be great if Rediff passes info to the IRCTC website
• Booking should also be allowed directly

Verdict: An incredibly easy to use and functional service, it offers great utility, highly recommended.

Another tale of bad customer service, this time from supposedly the best and most expensive brand in the consumer durables market. But Sony India just lost all the respect i had for them.

Hopefully someone can forward this to a Sony India personnel. Thanks, i as a consumer am appealing to your guys reading this.

So it all started when i purchased a Digital Camera (Cybershot) from an authorised Sony dealer alongwith a Memory Stick. The dealer told me that the memory stick has a 5 year warranty , i asked him to mention this on the bill so that they don’t refuse. A warranty card was inside the Digital Camera package but there was none in/with the memory stick.

Anyway the memory stick turned out to be junk, losing files like crazy. I goto Sony service center in New Delhi and the guys there tell me that i need a warranty card, i tell them the dealer didnt give me a warranty card. So they give me Sony India’s corporate office (Mathura Road) number which i call and ask to speak to customer care , i am redirected to their call center (i think) , i tell the lady my ordeal and she says that there should be no problem and transfers me to a senior at their Mathura Road office. She talks to service center guys who say they need a warranty card, hands the phone to me.  Now i am talking to Ms. ________ (name hidden for privacy) , she is the rudest person that can talk to a customer. Literally shouts at me that warranty card is not a paper sticking to the memory stick (WTH !) , i tell her to mind her tone, she replies : my tone is not complicated and then says “now that you say it , your stick will not be serviced without a warranty card” , anyway my blood is boiling at this point of time so i say ok and slam my flip phone.

Anyway 2-3 things, my only fault was trusting the dealer and Sony as a company, please look into the following points:

1. Why is your staff at office not trained to talk politely to customers ?

2. How is it a customer’s fault that the dealer didn’t hand the warranty card ? Its for precisely this reason i asked him to mention the warranty in the bill, i am a genuine customer, with a genuine bill bought a genuine product from your authorized dealer.

3. I have a proof of purchase, i have the product but still Sony India refused to solve my problem.

Update:

I received a reply from their Northern Region customer care head, i have sent my invoice to them, i will keep everyone updated, hopefully Sony India will live up to its great name.

Earlier occasions where bad service was highlighted and was successful in company’s response:

• Tnt Courier Customer Care issue : An employee of the company read our post and helped.
• A seller on Homeshop18 committed a fraud on us, the company later refunded the money and courier costs

Well we have been getting a lot of questions about the Iphone 3G, so here is a short FAQ for the time being  , but first some general Iphone 3G news, the Iphone is out of stock in the USA and its GPS is pretty bad from various reviews we have read. Updated 20th July 2008.

1. Who is going to launch the Iphone first in India ?

90% its going to be the Vodaphone Iphone 3G that will be launched first in India, it will be followed by the Airtel Iphone 3G , other companies like Idea and Spice will not be launching the Iphone 3G on their networks. The Indian Iphone 3G will most probably be locked to Airtel and/or Vodafone, ofcourse it will be unlockable as hackers worldwide are working to unlock the Iphone.

2. What kind of plan will the Indian Iphone have ?

The Indian Iphone as we said will be locked to Airtel and Vodafone, as Apple is supposedly subsidizing the cost of the Indian Iphone 3G, its very much possible that like in the USA, it will come bundled with a data plan, so cost could be as high as Rs.500 per month data charges apart from rent and call charges. Ofcourse final details will be known later. We’ll will update you as soon as Vodafone and/or Airtel announce their Iphone tariff structure.

3. What will the Airtel and Vodafone Indian Iphone 3G cost ?

Not $199 we are afraid, the Airtel Vodafone Indian Iphone will most probably cost around 14000-15000 Indian rupees (INR) at launch, and with the high demand its expected to be sold out in India a few days after the launch. We ofcourse would recommend waiting a little before buying the Iphone in India so prices come down, never smart to buy a product when its being sold at a premium.

4. Will Apple Applications be available to Indians ?

Yes ofcourse, Apple Apps will be available to Indian customers, infact companies like Indiagames are already planning (i read it) to release games for the Iphone 3G.

5. My relative is in the US, should i get them to buy the Iphone 3G and bring it to India , willl it work on Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Spice Telecom, Aircel etc.?

The Iphone 3G currently cant be unlocked to a non AT&T network. And also Apple has learnt its lesson, its offering in-store activation only. You can only buy the phone with a connection and it has a hefty cancellation fee. So really little use in getting these locked bricks attached to AT&T. Wait for some time, as soon as we get some clarity, we will let you know more. This phone will not work with Airtel, Vodafone, Idea etc. without activation.

6. Is Apple Iphone 3G really the ultimate phone to be launched in India ?

No, its not. 3G services really arent available in India. A lot of other phones also have 3G, but again its of absolutely no use.

Iphone has Wifi, most Windows Mobile phones come with Wifi, it has a 2 MP camera, which is pretty low, it has no video recording (huge setback) , the only feature we think is yet to be properly replicated is the Multi-touch feature. HTC Touch and other Windows mobile phones do provide a good touch interface though.

The Iphone has no expandable memory, no stereo bluetooth connection capability (NO A2DP) , its camera has no flash, it has no picture messaging and no cut and paste text support.

7. So what should i do ?

Well incase you don’t need the GPS feature and 3G being unavailable in India, buying an old Apple Iphone and upgrading it to firmware 2.0 might not be such a bad idea. Ofcourse check the fineprints.

8. Can i buy the Iphone 3G already in India ?

No but you may preregister the Iphone at both Airtel’s and Vodafone’s site.

9. Does the Iphone work on all continents ?

Yes, the Iphone is a quad band phone and will work on all continents, including Asia and North America.

10. I already have an Airtel and Vodafone account, will i have to change my number to get the Iphone 3G ?

Most probably no, whenever you sign up for a postpaid account, you are given the option of retaining your old number even if its prepaid. Iphone 3G plans should be no different.

11. Does the Iphone 3G’s GPS service work in India ?

The Iphone 3G’s GPS function is a global function and will definitely work in India, but as of now it will be very useless as Satguide and MapmyIndia, the two topmost routing providers in India dont have an Iphone 3G application yet. To use Google maps, you will need GPRS/Wifi to connect to internet and download maps, Google Maps are decent for Indian cities.

Original Iphone didnt have GPS.

12. Will Airtel/Vodafone Iphone 3G support EDGE ?

Yes it will.

13. How much will the Airtel and Vodafone Iphone 3G cost ?

This is a repeat question, but the fact is around 15000 Indian Rupees (INR) seems like the appropriate cost for  the Iphone 3G in India, the price could be higher, but definitely not lower. Apple will try and position it as a niche product so $199 cost is not feasible or appropriate. In US huge plan costs will help subside the phone cost but in India that cant be the case, most people love the freedom of prepaid unlike the USA.

14. Cant i buy the Iphone in America and come back to India ?

Apple and AT&T arent as stupid as you think, the Iphone is sold in USA with an AT&T contract. For the contract, AT&T will probably need your SSN and other identification documents. The phone plan like any other should have a security as well which would be forfeited if you try and rip AT&T or Apple off.

More FAQ will be added later,  Please correct us in comments if anything is wrong, also you are welcome to give your views, select comments may be incorporated in the post also.

Iphone Box Photo : Dan Taylor under CC 2.0 license

Well the Iphone 3G will soon have its worldwide launch, but India stands to miss out yet again. While the Iphone is being launched even as we speak , its interesting to note the implications of the launch on Indian Iphone 3G enthusiasts:

1. India will most probably have an August 2008 launch for the Iphone 3G, unlike the normal perception India is having a deferred launch for the new Iphone. This has been confirmed by both Airtel and Vodafone.

2. The first operator to launch the Iphone 3G would be Vodafone in India, its expected to be a soft launch with a limited number of handsets. Vodafone beat Airtel to getting to be the pioneer handset manufacturer to procure the sets. Airtel will ofcourse launch soon afterwards, or may delay the launch till Diwali in order to get better sales. It will be interesting to note how Airtel combats the advantage that Vodafone will have of launching the Iphone early on in India before anyone else.

3. The price, as you know price is THE most important factor in the Indian market. The original Iphone was infact never launched in India many say due to the pricing. Anyway, the Iphone will not be $199 in India. Most are expecting it to be anywhere from 12000 rupees to 14000 rupees.

Also, unlike last time you wont be able to import and unlock, as the Iphones will be exclusively store activated in the US,the plan desertion and leaving charges will be enormous, making importing the Iphone 3G an expensive affair.

Keep looking at this space for more Iphone infomation !