Saturday, June 23, 2012

Posters - World Environment Day : Green Economy

Some posters about Green economy and World Environment Day in general.






Source - http://www.greenpatriotposters.org
Source - http://www.greenpatriotposters.org

Source - http://www.rutland.gov.uk

Source - http://thegreeneconomy.com

Source - http://www.greenpatriotposters.org

Source -http://www.greenpatriotposters.org

Source -http://www.greenpatriotposters.org


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Why I bought the Archos Vision and not the iPod Nano..

Well, to start with, the Nano costs a bomb. This was probably the most important reason. At less than a third of the price of the Nano, the Archos Vision 24c is a lot more affordable. I have never been much of an Apple fan. While I do appreciate the quality of their products, I've always thought of them as overpriced, exclusive products (sorry, all you diehard fans!).



Flashback - At a time when babies would learn to say "I poo'd" before they said iPod, Archos had come up with the first of what has now come to be known as the PMP (portable media player). It was the Archos Jukebox Multimedia. By today's standards, the Jukebox multimedia had humble specifications but it was nothing short of revolutionary in those days -  a 1.5" screen that could display photos and videos, along with a 20GB hard disk. This was in the early 2000s and as a geeky kid, I would pore over PC magazines, drooling over this, amongst other coveted gadgets. It was the stuff of dreams - to be able to carry thousands of songs in a handheld device (no matter how bulky). This was at the time when the Walkman was the only portable music one had access to here, even the CDman was a luxury that few had. So, the name Archos brings those memories back and when I think that I own an Archos now, an involuntary smile creeps onto my face :) There's the second reason.


Then there are the other reasons
--The Nano has to use iTunes - I find it extremely annoying that one needs this software to get media onto a PMP, and that you just cant recognise the tracks when you plug the ipod in as a removable device in your PC. Compared to this, I enjoy the glory of drag n drop on the Archos Vision. The player also has an option through which the folder structure can be seen, in case you want to search for a file that way.
--The Nano has a smaller screen
--The Nano cannot play videos




While most people in India may not have heard of the brand called Archos, abroad they are a valid competitor, although perhaps not amongst the top contenders today. I have had this device for over a week now and I have found that it is not uncommon for people to set their eyes upon it and wisely remark "Ah, Chinese".

The Nano does have many features that the Vision lacks such as accelerometer, touchscreen, et al but at the price point, I really cannot complain. Finally it comes down to that -  I chose the Archos Vision for its sheer value for money - at Rs 2633 its a great deal, if not a steal. I have been rather satisfied with this PMP so far. I'm planning to post a more detailed review after some more use.



Meanwhile if you may be interested in buying -
Flipkart

A word of warning though - the bundled earphones are trash. Get a pair of decent earphones from elsewhere.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Flipping Indian Mp3s the Legal Way




Just today I was pleasantly surprised to notice two new categories in Flipkart - 'flyte The Digital Store' and MP3 Downloads. We should probably have seen this coming, considering the fact that Flipkart has recently been foraying into newer segments including Computer Peripherals. I decided to try buying some music on the service and here is my review after the procedure.

There seems to be a large collection Indian Music - Bollywood and Regional cinema as well as Music Albums in various languages. There is also an International section with many different genres listed. It would be interesting to see what the Indian market makes about this sudden access to Legal Bollywood MP3 and other music on Flipkart.
 

Music Categories

Note that there is a new Cart called 'Digital Cart' apart from the regular cart. While currently the only digital downloads may be MP3 files, the 'flyte' Digital Store seems to suggest that a slew of other Digital media downloads is on the cards for Flipkart. Music can be downloaded as entire albums or as individual songs. In most cases it seems to be slightly more economical to buy the entire album, whereas in some cases, strangely, it turns out cheaper to buy the songs separately! eg. MTV India Coke Studio Ep 1. Also notable is that certain songs may be priced higher, within the same album, as in the case of Kaminey below.





              Balabhaskar                                     Coke Studio                                   Kaminey                                       Rudaali


The payment process is the same as other products on Flipkart. On successful payment the songs can be downloaded from the 'MP3 Library', which shows up at the top right corner of the flyte Digital Store page. I bought one song, and the Library showed '4 left' under the download tab.Every song one buys can be downloaded upto 4 times, which means you don't have to worry too much about losing the purchase if the net connection gives up on you in the middle of the download. Also you can directly download the song onto multiple devices.

The songs are in DRM free Mp3 format. There are options to download it in 64, 128 or 312kbps formats. Downloads can also be done after installing the 'Flyte Download Manager' which makes its easier to manage downloads, with options to pause/resume downloads. Flipkart offers a preview option that can be streamed before buying the song. It would be interesting to see how the Indian customer base will take up these new offerings, now that sites like Flipkart, Infibeam and the like have gotten increasingly popular for other products. Perhaps this may also help the music industry recover some of the revenue that is currently lost through online piracy.

Note: 'Currently purchases can be done only within the territory of India' says the flyte help FAQ section. It is probable that people from other countries can buy music using a billing address in India.

Links:
flyte Digital Store
Flyte Download Manager

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

NID website Hacked!?

The website of the National Institute of Design has apparently been hacked by the Albanian group Kosova Defacer Group(KDG). The website displayed the now iconic Guy Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta, along with the KDG's greet messsage. As to what set this off, there has been no clear indication.


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Access Wikipedia - Bypass the Blackout

How to over come the wikipedia blackout - While it would be against the whole spirit  of the blackout, we cannot really make do without our favorite online encyclopedia can we? Exactly the point of the blackout.


Nevertheless here are a few simple ways to access wikipedia.


1. Access the mobile site -   m.wikipedia.org 

2. Translate the Dutch wikipedia page - Here



3. Google cache - Search for the page you want on Google and load it via cache instead of accessing the Wikipedia site directly. This is done by hovering on the right side of the search result in Google, when you will be shown a link called 'Cached'




Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Cheapest Netbooks in India



In my previous post, I talked about two of the cheapest netbooks in India, which happen to be powered by MeeGo. There are a few other netbooks in the market, which are priced similarly. Here I list down some of them. 

Seems like the netbooks that cost between Rs 12,000 to 13,000 that we saw earlier this year have dissappeared from the shelves. Now the cheapest mark seems to be Rs 14,000. The new series of Pineview Atom processors from Intel are here, giving better graphics capabilities.


Lenovo Netbook S10-3C Mah

Configuration
1. Intel Atom (Pineview) N455 1.66GHz
2. RAM DDR2 2GB, 320GB hard disk SATA
3. HD screen 10.1 inch
4. Digital motion camera 1.3 megapixel 

Component size
427mm x 92mm x 295mm
Main item/Add component density/weight/strength
Gross weight 1.96kg 

Color - Black 

Representative A/S Center Tel
1800 3002 99 29 or eService@lenovowarranty.co.in

Feature Description
1. Think Vantage Active Protection System helps protect against virus attacks
2. Microsoft Office 2010 suites
3. Face recognition system is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image 

Buy this at :
Star CJ - Rs 12799 After using coupon on the site.


Asus Eee PC 1015CX


PROCESSOR
ProcessorAtom Dual Core (2nd Generation)
VariantN2600
ChipsetMobile Intel NM10 Express Chipset
BrandIntel
Clock Speed1.6 GHz
Cache1 MB
MEMORY
Expandable MemoryUpto 2 GB
Memory Slots1 (Unused slots 0)
System Memory1 GB DDR3
STORAGE
Hardware InterfaceSATA
RPM5400
HDD Capacity320 GB
OPTICAL DISK DRIVE
Optical DriveNot Available
PLATFORM
Operating SystemLinux
DISPLAY
Screen Size10 Inch
Resolution1024 x 600 Pixel
Screen TypeWSVGA LED Backlight Display
GRAPHICS
Graphic ProcessorIntel GMA 3600
INPUT
Web Camera0.3 Megapixel
Pointer DeviceTouchpad
KeyboardStandard Chiclet Keyboard
AUDIO
Internal MicYes
SpeakersYes
SoundHi-Definition Audio CODEC with High Quality Speaker
COMMUNICATION
Wireless LANIEEE 802.11 b/g/n
POWER
Battery BackupUp to 11 hours
Battery Cell6 Cell
PORTS/SLOTS
USB Port3 x USB 2.0
Mic InYes
RJ45 LANYes
HDMI PortYes
VGA PortYes
Multi Card SlotYes
MACHINE DIMENSIONS
Weight1.25 Kg
Dimension262 x 178 x 36.4 mm


There seem to be two variations of this model. One with bluetooth and the other without. the price difference is marginal.

Buy this at :



Acer AOD 270
PROCESSOR
ProcessorAtom Dual Core (2nd Generation)
VariantN2600
BrandIntel
Clock Speed1.6 GHz
Cache1 MB (L2 Cache)
MEMORY
Expandable MemoryUp to 2 GB
Memory Slots1 (Unused Slots 0)
System Memory2 GB DDR3
STORAGE
Hardware InterfaceSATA
RPM5400
HDD Capacity320 GB
OPTICAL DISK DRIVE
Optical DriveNot Available
PLATFORM
Operating SystemLinux
DISPLAY
Screen Size10.1 Inch
Resolution1024 x 600 Pixel
Screen TypeLED Display
GRAPHICS
Graphic ProcessorIntel HD Graphics
INPUT
Web Camera0.3 Megapixel
Pointer DeviceTouchPad
KeyboardStandard Keyboard
AUDIO
Internal MicYes
SpeakersYes
COMMUNICATION
EthernetGigabit Ethernet
Wireless LANIEEE 802.11 b/g/n
BluetoothYes
POWER
Battery BackupUp to 8 hours
Power Supply65 W AC adapter
Battery Cell6 Cell
PORTS/SLOTS
USB Port3 x USB 2.0
RJ45 LANYes
HDMI PortYes
VGA PortYes
Multi Card SlotYes
MACHINE DIMENSIONS
Weight1.25 Kg
Dimension258.5 x 185 x 24 mm


This model has 2GB RAM as compared to the previous one.

Buy at:

Without Windows - Flipkart Rs 15,999 (May 2012)
With Windows 7 starter - Flipkart Rs 17,490 (May 2012)


Asus R051CX


PROCESSOR
ProcessorAtom Dual Core (2nd Generation)
VariantN2600
BrandIntel
Clock Speed1.6 GHz
Cache1 MB
MEMORY
Expandable MemoryUp to 2 GB
Memory Slots1 (Unused slots 0)
System Memory1 GB DDR3
STORAGE
Hardware InterfaceSATA
RPM5400
HDD Capacity320 GB
PLATFORM
Architecture64-bit
Operating SystemWindows 7 Starter
DISPLAY
Screen Size10.1 Inch
Resolution1024 x 600 Pixel
Screen TypeWSVGA LED Backlight Display
GRAPHICS
Graphic ProcessorIntel Graphics
INPUT
Web Camera0.3 Megapixel
Pointer DeviceTouchpad
KeyboardStandard Chiclet Keyboard
AUDIO
Internal MicYes
SpeakersYes
SoundHi-definition Audio CODEC
COMMUNICATION
Wireless LANIEEE 802.11 b/g/n
BluetoothYes
POWER
Battery BackupUp to 11 hours
Battery Cell6 Cell
PORTS/SLOTS
USB Port3 x USB 2.0
Mic InYes
RJ45 LANYes
HDMI PortYes
VGA PortYes
Multi Card Slot3-in-1 Card Reader
MACHINE DIMENSIONS
Weight1.25 kg
Dimension262 x 178 x 36.4 mm


This has 1 GB RAM along with Windows 7 Starter edition.

Buy at :

                Red Color - Rs 16,538 
                White Color - Rs 16,538