TechGazing

A pretty reliable source (and we have many of those, believe you us), has informed us that Microsoft will be releasing the latest version of its bestselling office suite, MS Office 2010, in India on Thursday, May 13. We have no details of pricing, but we have been assured that the price tag of the office suite will surprise us. We just hope it is one of those good surprises, really.

The MSOffice 2010 suite will contain an improved interface and greater integration with the cloud (read “you will be able to save and edit work on the Web”) and cellphones. Of course, it will feature new versions of some of the most popular software applications in the world such as MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint. Although the office suite has easily been one of the most popular in the world, it has been facing a number of challenges of late, especially from the likes of free office suites like OpenOffice.org and IBM’s Lotus Symphony. Will this version of MS Office batter the opposition into submission? Ah, we will find that out on Thursday, we are sure.

Watch this space for a review, folks.

Yep, you got that headline right. The folks at DataWind (the same gents who gave us the PocketSurfer) have come up with a netbook with an Internet package for a year (30 hours per month)   - all for a piffling Rs 7999. Called the UbiSurfer, the device comes with an inbuilt modem and a sim card that will connect users to Tata Indicom’s CDMA network all over India. On the spec front, it has a 7 inch display, a full standard 80-key keyboard, Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity, a USB port, 128 MB RAM, 1 GB onboard flash memory storage (and 50GB online), dual speakers and an onboard office suite, all powered by Windows 6 CE(an OS seen in GPS and other mobile devices running Windows Mobile) - all that in a sleek package that tips the scales at around 700 grammes. And that’s not all - the company claims that thanks to its data compression technology, the device will be able to access the Internet at very high speeds, even on slow networks. Finally, if you think that 30 hours a month is too little for your Internet needs, go ahead and take an unlimited package that will let you surf the Net as much as you want - for Rs 99 per month! Continue reading »

Apple managed to deliver every tech lover’s dream yesterday - better machines at lower prices - when it announced its latest range of MacBook Pros. While most attention has been focused on the fact that these notebooks come with more powerful processors, better graphics and better battery life (upto a staggering ten hours in the case of the 13 inch MacBook Pro and nine hours in the 15 and 17-inch models), what a lot of people seem to have missed is that Apple has actually cut the prices of the entire range - some models are now more than Rs 20,000 cheaper than their previous versions. Continue reading »

Want to find out what’s happening in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but do not have a television at hand? Well, just dial 08 123 123 123 on your cell and you will get access to live ball by ball coverage and even access video footage. Making all this happen is July Systems’s MIX platform, which serves up live ball-by-ball updates, action replays, video scorecards, cheerleader videos, and many more exciting features. Best of all, you do not need a smartphone to access this service - just about any cell with Internet connectivity at any location will do (there are more than 6,000 models supported) and you do not even need broadband or 3G, as it works fine over EDGE and GPRS. Best of all the service is totally free - even 08 123 123 123 is a toll-free number. You just end up paying data costs for using the Internet. Incidentally, if you do not feel upto dialing numbers on your handset, just open its browser and head to m.ipl20.com to get a slice of the IPl action.

Think we are sounding over-effusive about this? Well, ’tis because it really works pretty well. Just try the service and then join us in the applause!

Whatever you associate with netbooks, it is certainly not style. These are supposed to be the ‘umble cousins of the real thing, after all, scaled down in terms of specs and more often than not, in looks as well. There have been exceptions to the rule, such as the Sony Vaio P series last year, but these have been on the pricier side. Well, that might be about to change with Asus unveiling the Eee PC Seashell Karim Rashid (1008P) at Mumbai yesterday, a netbook conceived with the help of Karim Rashid, one of the world’s leading designers. We have not got our hands on a unit yet, but we must confess to being VERY impressed by what’s on offer. Continue reading »

Blogs in many countries like India, even the real high quality ones, do not generate the kind of traffic one sees in the west; nor do they get as many links and comments as they may deserve. (The reasons are a different subject altogether) Result: They stay low on the radars of PR professionals who would rather go for a clip in a print publication (even if it is one with even lower readership than many blogs).

But there are some reasons why a smart PR professional should pitch to a quality blogger. Here are ten: Read on for some thought-provoking stuff

By Nimish Dubey

I know I go on and on about brand ambassadors being a bit of a liability in the tech field but well, I just cannot help it if celebrities endorsing tech products keep tripping up.

The latest to join the list is Aftab Shivdasani, who has been named the brand ambassador for the World Gaming Day, a concept backed by the likes of Sony Ericsson, Microsoft Xbox and Zapak.com.

Continue reading »

India is a photographer’s delight with its natural features, wildlife, flora, people, cultures and festivals providing more fodder for a shutterbug’s creativity than one can chew.

So why not take out your camera, or dig out your stock, and participate in Kunzum.com’s travel photography competition? Bring out the spirit of a place, or its people, its flora and fauna, or things you may have done in India through photographs for a chance to win a professional LCD monitor from Viewsonic, or holidays from Banjara Camps? Continue reading »

The Indian Blog & New Media Society is organizing a 3-day Blogging workshop at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi. Following up on the previous month’s BlogCamp, this is another effort by IBNMS to enable blogging enthusiasts - both rookie and experienced - leverage this medium for both personal and professional reasons.

All sessions will be highly interactive, allowing participants to raise specific queries and also to try their hand at what is being discussed. Read on for more information

Here is a quick reminder:

BlogCamp Delhi is happening on Saturday May 24, 2008. And so is a LinkedIn F2F meet in Hyderabad. Make sure you attend the one closest to you. You may click on the links to know more.

For those attending the LinkedIn meet, here is some good news: Mr. C. Sasikanth of the Habits Lounge, where the event is being held, has offered to host the complete evening and offer complimentary food and beverages. A big thanks to him - sounds like the evening will be fun. Did we hear a burp somewhere?

The first ever Blog Camp is being organized in New Delhi by the IBNMS, or the Indian Blog and New Media Society. It is open to all to attend (for free) as well as deliver presentations and talks; it follows the unconference style of Bar Camps.

To know more about the event and to sign up for it, visit the wiki.

Some of the sessions that have been already listed are:

• Beating the Spam on blogosphere- Looking beyond Akismet
• The 4Ps of Marketing Your Blog
• Open Access - What it is and why it is required for scholarly community?
• Corporate Blogging Strategy - Abhishek Kant
• Blog Branding - Turning Blog into Business
• How to monetize a blog effectively? How to enhance earnings from a Blog?
• Setting up a new blog and various tech options

After the highly successful meet of the Delhi Blog and New Media Society (DBNMS) in New Delhi on January 12, 2008, another event has been put together on January 14 for keen bloggers and readers as given below: Continue reading »

The Indian blogging and new media landscape has been highly fragmented so far, with little information available on who is doing what. In an effort to bring this community under one roof, the recently floated Delhi Blog and New Media Society is organizing a meeting of all stakeholders in New Delhi on Saturday, January 12, 2008. The event is sponsored and supported by 20:20 Media and Microsoft.

The expected audience will include professional/part time/fun bloggers, fringe/yet-to-start bloggers, PR/corp communication professionals, blog/ new media/ social media consultants and service providers and mainstream media. The event is open to all, and there is no registration fee. Click here for more details

The last three weeks have been quite eventful - literally speaking. Starting with the Social Media for Business event in London on October 30, I have been almost around the world covering events related to new media, blogging, mobiles, digital advertising, PR/ Web/ Tech 2.0 etc. In the coming weeks, you can expect to see some useful and interesting posts based on my reporting from these events and interaction with global leaders.

The other events covered include Ad:Tech New York, Blogworld and New Media Expo in Las Vegas and GSMA’s Mobile Asia Congress in Macau (Hong Kong) - all in succession in this order starting November 5.

And I may just slip in a piece or two about my experience of witnessing the New York Marathon and how I survived a 63 hour journey from Las Vegas to Macau.

Watch this space!!

Are you fed up with continually hearing about Facebook or are you actively involved and intrigued by this national obsession? These and other issues will be discussed at the Social Media for Business Conference on October 30 at the Kensington Close Hotel, London. Continue to read more about the event

freed.in, a community event in the Indian sub-continent and the developing world about promoting freedom in technology and personal privacy in software and other related fields, is happening in New Delhi on September 28-29, 2007. The annual event makes free and open source software more visible to the world, and shares its excitement with everybody. freed.in helps nurture the community and enables networking within and outside the community in a fun environment, and strives towards seeding of new projects. Click here to know more about the event. See you at freed.in.

Blogs and new media are all set to walk down the offline aisle at the first BlogWorld and New Media Expo at Las Vegas, USA from November 8-9, 2007. It may well be a truly insightful and educational event. Interested? Read on.