Hi friends, after dilly-dallying over this aspect for quite some time, I finally decided to add vozMe on to my blogs -- and make available all of my posts in voice!
So, if you visited either Pradeep Chakraborty's Blog or TechFools, and scrolled down to the end of each post, you can see a link that says: Hear This Post!
Click on the link and it opens a new page, which is powered by vozMe. It creates an MP3 file, which plays automatically. You can download the MP3 file as well!
The drawl is American, and I wish it could be better. Have fun, if you wish, folks!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
KartOO -- search and see your own maps on Internet!
I stumbled upon KartOO -- a visual meta search engine! Quite easy and quick to use, you must have flash player installed to be able to draw and see your search maps!
A quick check on Alexa revealed a current rank of 78,405 with the description -- "Displays results in chart or classic list form. Options include different language interfaces and basic or expert version."
For instance, if I type my name, it shows up the results -- as you can see below in the search map!
Well, I liked what I saw!
When you do a mouseover above each block of the search map, you can see a whole lot of options like Open this page, Related sites, More pages of this site, Modify/Watch, Erase, and Copy. Of course, you can zoom on the search map as well!
A list of topics on the top left half are shown quite nicely. If you do another mouseover above each topic, I believe the search map shows up all of the points where that topic is heaviest -- in terms of density.
On the top menu bar, you have features like Options -- parental filter, search the web, etc.; open, save the map, print and bookmark! The site lists eight languages for displaying search results -- German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, US and UK English, Brazilian and French!
This is a indeed a very good effort! However, I don't really know what the web site owners are doing about the promotion of this search engine. Do check it out! Even if it is for fun!
A quick check on Alexa revealed a current rank of 78,405 with the description -- "Displays results in chart or classic list form. Options include different language interfaces and basic or expert version."
For instance, if I type my name, it shows up the results -- as you can see below in the search map!
Well, I liked what I saw!When you do a mouseover above each block of the search map, you can see a whole lot of options like Open this page, Related sites, More pages of this site, Modify/Watch, Erase, and Copy. Of course, you can zoom on the search map as well!
A list of topics on the top left half are shown quite nicely. If you do another mouseover above each topic, I believe the search map shows up all of the points where that topic is heaviest -- in terms of density.
On the top menu bar, you have features like Options -- parental filter, search the web, etc.; open, save the map, print and bookmark! The site lists eight languages for displaying search results -- German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, US and UK English, Brazilian and French!
This is a indeed a very good effort! However, I don't really know what the web site owners are doing about the promotion of this search engine. Do check it out! Even if it is for fun!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Top 20 Indian IT companies! Really? What do they manufacture??
Who are the 20 companies in the Indian IT segment? Anyone can guess these companies! They are among the who's who of India Inc.!
Who are the top 20 Indian companies in the Indian IT segment in the manufacturing space? Well, difficult to list, isn't it? Or, what are the top 10 IT products being manufactured in India, by Indian companies? Well, this one also hits a road block!
These are just two questions that have been difficult to answer.
However, we all love to see a top 20 list of IT firms in India, don't we! The road blocks appear when you start probing a little deeper into things such as what they actually manufacture, where is their factory based, and well, how many SMT lines do they have?
Why do we find it so difficult to build IT firms that manufacture in India? Why can't we have more of such home grown firms? And, I don't mean some of the companies who are trying to produce handsets! We don't even have many successful business models to fall back on! Why, we don't even have an Indian equivalent of a Huawei or a ZTE!
My wish for the new year: dear lord, please give India several top notch home grown IT firms who are into manufacturing, and who can make a difference!
Who are the top 20 Indian companies in the Indian IT segment in the manufacturing space? Well, difficult to list, isn't it? Or, what are the top 10 IT products being manufactured in India, by Indian companies? Well, this one also hits a road block!
These are just two questions that have been difficult to answer.
However, we all love to see a top 20 list of IT firms in India, don't we! The road blocks appear when you start probing a little deeper into things such as what they actually manufacture, where is their factory based, and well, how many SMT lines do they have?
Why do we find it so difficult to build IT firms that manufacture in India? Why can't we have more of such home grown firms? And, I don't mean some of the companies who are trying to produce handsets! We don't even have many successful business models to fall back on! Why, we don't even have an Indian equivalent of a Huawei or a ZTE!
My wish for the new year: dear lord, please give India several top notch home grown IT firms who are into manufacturing, and who can make a difference!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Ignoring ignorance on GPS!
I have been really amused to find that GPS or global positioning systems and navigation are finding their way among the top 10 telelcom and/or technology trends for 2009!
To follow this tribe of enthusiastic analysts, I also mentioned GPS and navigation among the top trends to watch out for in 2009! However, it is really hilarious and amusing to find GPS being suddenly talked about so much!
Unfortunately, the terrorist attacks of Mumbai on 26/11/08 have probably turned the spotlight on GPS.
No matter, GPS is a technology around for close to a decade now. I remember seeing the first devices used in cars in Korea, back in 1998-99. Then, in 2000, I, along with a colleague, Pamela Yu (at Global Sources), were invited by Nokia and Citybus in Hong Kong, to showcase GPS solutions on Citybus. At that point of time, HS-CSD (high-speed circuit-switched data), had just taken its bow! In fact, Nokia was also showing off its HSCSD solutions. Come to think of it, no one even talks of HS-CSD now!
Back to GPS! Citybus and Nokia showed me a wonderful GPS network, which tracked all Citybus vehicles. And well, Nokia even demonstrated how a HSCSD phone could be used with GPS inside vehicles in Hong Kong!
In 2000-01, Japan produced first devices with GPS built in! At 2000 ITU Telecom Asia, I remember discussing with NTT DoCoMo regarding the accuracy of these devices in times of distress or emergencies.
Cut back to 2003, Geneva, ITU Telecom World, and prior to that, CommunicAsia. GPS has been present all the times! Why, if someone even cared to check Global Sources, or even Alibaba, they'd be spoilt for choice.
During several trips to Shenzhen, and also during the various China Sourcing Fairs, I came across GPS, embedded into various devices -- PMPs, MP3/MP4 players, etc. Since it has been in the mobile phone for some time, there's always no doubt of it not making an appearance elsewhere.
In India, I believe, the problem lies more with not having ready, detailed maps of places. However, this is a problem that is being addressed.
Recently, a colleague, a youngster, who's just started his career, quizzed me about GPS, where a client had told him that GPS can't be used in mobile phones! The moment I heard this, it immediately stuck me that this so-called client, who mentioned such a thing about GPS, isn't even aware of the industry, or rather, does not have a telecom background!
This is the Internet world. All the information I've given above, has been available on the Internet for a long time. No excuses, if people can't look it up!
God bless us all from ignorance! ;) Ignoring ignorance? At your own peril!
Wishing everyone a very happy 2009!
To follow this tribe of enthusiastic analysts, I also mentioned GPS and navigation among the top trends to watch out for in 2009! However, it is really hilarious and amusing to find GPS being suddenly talked about so much!
Unfortunately, the terrorist attacks of Mumbai on 26/11/08 have probably turned the spotlight on GPS.
No matter, GPS is a technology around for close to a decade now. I remember seeing the first devices used in cars in Korea, back in 1998-99. Then, in 2000, I, along with a colleague, Pamela Yu (at Global Sources), were invited by Nokia and Citybus in Hong Kong, to showcase GPS solutions on Citybus. At that point of time, HS-CSD (high-speed circuit-switched data), had just taken its bow! In fact, Nokia was also showing off its HSCSD solutions. Come to think of it, no one even talks of HS-CSD now!
Back to GPS! Citybus and Nokia showed me a wonderful GPS network, which tracked all Citybus vehicles. And well, Nokia even demonstrated how a HSCSD phone could be used with GPS inside vehicles in Hong Kong!
In 2000-01, Japan produced first devices with GPS built in! At 2000 ITU Telecom Asia, I remember discussing with NTT DoCoMo regarding the accuracy of these devices in times of distress or emergencies.
Cut back to 2003, Geneva, ITU Telecom World, and prior to that, CommunicAsia. GPS has been present all the times! Why, if someone even cared to check Global Sources, or even Alibaba, they'd be spoilt for choice.
During several trips to Shenzhen, and also during the various China Sourcing Fairs, I came across GPS, embedded into various devices -- PMPs, MP3/MP4 players, etc. Since it has been in the mobile phone for some time, there's always no doubt of it not making an appearance elsewhere.
In India, I believe, the problem lies more with not having ready, detailed maps of places. However, this is a problem that is being addressed.
Recently, a colleague, a youngster, who's just started his career, quizzed me about GPS, where a client had told him that GPS can't be used in mobile phones! The moment I heard this, it immediately stuck me that this so-called client, who mentioned such a thing about GPS, isn't even aware of the industry, or rather, does not have a telecom background!
This is the Internet world. All the information I've given above, has been available on the Internet for a long time. No excuses, if people can't look it up!
God bless us all from ignorance! ;) Ignoring ignorance? At your own peril!
Wishing everyone a very happy 2009!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Top 10 trends in telecom for 2009!
What will be the top 10 trends in telecom for 2009? My estimate is, it will be boring, but business as usual! Boring is steady, they say! So, let's see!!
Don't look around for too much of innovations though!
Here are what I feel will be the leading trends in 2009.
1. WiMAX vs. LTE -- the debate should carry on in 2009 as well.
2. Growth of 3G services in places where it hasn't taken off or started!
3. IPTV -- this really needs to catch up and grow substantially.
4. More of GPS enabled devices as mobile navigation attempts to grow stronger.
5. Near field communications or NFC. A report on the Web talks about NFC phones starting to roll out in Taiwan.
6. Further adoption of femtocells... have the standards been finalized? Are we there yet? Perhaps, 2009 will have all the answers.
7. Embedded Internet devices. Yes, Intel loves these!
8. Carrier Ethernet should gain steam.
9. More of mobile VAS and mobile Web
10. More of mobile OS wars.
I also wonder, whatever happened to the following technologies/standards, or what's the status! These were supposed to be hot not so long back! Oh well, TD-SCDMA, for instance, never has had the glamor as a 3G technology!
1. OFDM
2. VCSELs
3. TD-SCDMA
4. MIMO
If you beg to differ, I'd be glad to know :) Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2009 dear friends!
Don't look around for too much of innovations though!
Here are what I feel will be the leading trends in 2009.
1. WiMAX vs. LTE -- the debate should carry on in 2009 as well.
2. Growth of 3G services in places where it hasn't taken off or started!
3. IPTV -- this really needs to catch up and grow substantially.
4. More of GPS enabled devices as mobile navigation attempts to grow stronger.
5. Near field communications or NFC. A report on the Web talks about NFC phones starting to roll out in Taiwan.
6. Further adoption of femtocells... have the standards been finalized? Are we there yet? Perhaps, 2009 will have all the answers.
7. Embedded Internet devices. Yes, Intel loves these!
8. Carrier Ethernet should gain steam.
9. More of mobile VAS and mobile Web
10. More of mobile OS wars.
I also wonder, whatever happened to the following technologies/standards, or what's the status! These were supposed to be hot not so long back! Oh well, TD-SCDMA, for instance, never has had the glamor as a 3G technology!
1. OFDM
2. VCSELs
3. TD-SCDMA
4. MIMO
If you beg to differ, I'd be glad to know :) Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2009 dear friends!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Welcome to Techfools! To entertain and to fool around with tech
We all love technologies, don't we! And, most of us, love being fooled by the many 'romantic ways' that various technologies can be used!
How many gadgets do you own? A telephone, a camera, an MP3/MP4 player, a tape recorder, a DVD/movie player, an emailing device, a surfing device? Wow! That's quite a lot!
But hey, they squeezed all of these devices into that tiny thing we use to make calls -- the ubiquitous mobile phone! Oh, they call it a smartphone these days, coz it does all of these things!
Umm, hey, the smartphone offers all of the devices mentioned above, doesn't it? Did that fool you? Or, maybe, you knew all of this!
Well, you may be smart tech geek, but there are several others not so smart as you are! For instance, I know so many folks who can't be bothered about emails. Isn't it a wonderful feeling NOT to be glued to your emails!
Come on, get social! Get away from emails, they say! However, most of us, and surely I am, spend most of the day either receiving or sending emails...
Well, these are just two examples how technologies influence our lives.
Via this blog, I hope to entertain, and have fun (or poke fun) at technologies, about technologies, about what technology companies do (and what they should not do!), and so on and so forth!
How many gadgets do you own? A telephone, a camera, an MP3/MP4 player, a tape recorder, a DVD/movie player, an emailing device, a surfing device? Wow! That's quite a lot!
But hey, they squeezed all of these devices into that tiny thing we use to make calls -- the ubiquitous mobile phone! Oh, they call it a smartphone these days, coz it does all of these things!
Umm, hey, the smartphone offers all of the devices mentioned above, doesn't it? Did that fool you? Or, maybe, you knew all of this!
Well, you may be smart tech geek, but there are several others not so smart as you are! For instance, I know so many folks who can't be bothered about emails. Isn't it a wonderful feeling NOT to be glued to your emails!
Come on, get social! Get away from emails, they say! However, most of us, and surely I am, spend most of the day either receiving or sending emails...
Well, these are just two examples how technologies influence our lives.
Via this blog, I hope to entertain, and have fun (or poke fun) at technologies, about technologies, about what technology companies do (and what they should not do!), and so on and so forth!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
MHEG-5 headed for India
This post originally appeared in Pradeep Chakraborty's Blog!
MHEG-5 is an open standard middleware solution, an application program interface (API), designed specifically for low-cost memory constrained devices — particularly suitable for digital interactive TV (iTV) services and is platform agnostic. Simply put, MHEG-5 is a simple object-orientated programming language.
MHEG-5 was initially adopted in 1998 by ONDigital in the United Kingdom (rebranded as ITV Digital) for use in the world’s first pay-TV digital terrestrial television (DTT) network. ONDigital lead the industry wide specification and development task of the first MHEG-5 profile, which subsequently (after the collapse of ITVDigital) formed the basis for deployment of interactive services on the UK DTT platform (Freeview).
Developed by the ISO-MHEG group and DAVIC in 1995, it is intended as a UI for DAVIC interactive services and VOD. MHEG-5 has been standardized in ISO 13522-5 and adopted by the UK DTG in 1997.
Going by its history on IMPALA (The International MHEG Promotion Alliance), MHEG (Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group) originally developed and standardized by Working Group 12 (WG12) of the ISO — officially known as ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG12. It was developed in the mid 1990s as part of the DAVIC (Digital Audio Video Council) standardization effort to support interactivity and navigation of multimedia services on various small footprint devices.
WG12 issued a suite of documents (MHEG parts 1-8) as part of MHEG standard covering extensions for scripting language (MHEG-6), testing and interoperability (MHEG-7) and support for encodings in XML format (MHEG-8). Part 5 of the standard, officially known an ISO/IEC 13522-5, or more commonly know as MHEG-5 that is of primary relevance to interactive DTV.
So what’s hot about MHEG-5? Well, the standard’s profile evolved to UK Profile 1.06 (current); ETSI standard ES 202184. And now, new international profiles extend the UK profile. These include: New Zealand — extra Maori characters and EPG key; Hong Kong — Traditional Chinese font; Singapore/China - simplified Chinese font. Certain other extensions are said to be under development within DTG for possible deployment in 2008. These include IP interaction channel (return path), improved graphics, HD compatibility and support, and PVR support.
Heading for India?
What’s more significant is that MHEG-5 is said to be launching in India and in Hong Kong in 2008! Trials and evaluations are reportedly ongoing in Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, India and Russia. There is said to be interest from other countries in Europe and Asia as well.
MHEG-5 has no known essential IPR. The MHEG middleware software is typically less than US$1 per receiver. It has had wide integration into iDTVs in Europe. Finally, MHEG is proposed as the UI for new Common Interface spec (CI+), as well.
I hope to be speaking with IMPALA sometime soon about its plans for India and update you appropriately.
MHEG-5 is an open standard middleware solution, an application program interface (API), designed specifically for low-cost memory constrained devices — particularly suitable for digital interactive TV (iTV) services and is platform agnostic. Simply put, MHEG-5 is a simple object-orientated programming language.
MHEG-5 was initially adopted in 1998 by ONDigital in the United Kingdom (rebranded as ITV Digital) for use in the world’s first pay-TV digital terrestrial television (DTT) network. ONDigital lead the industry wide specification and development task of the first MHEG-5 profile, which subsequently (after the collapse of ITVDigital) formed the basis for deployment of interactive services on the UK DTT platform (Freeview).
Developed by the ISO-MHEG group and DAVIC in 1995, it is intended as a UI for DAVIC interactive services and VOD. MHEG-5 has been standardized in ISO 13522-5 and adopted by the UK DTG in 1997.
Going by its history on IMPALA (The International MHEG Promotion Alliance), MHEG (Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group) originally developed and standardized by Working Group 12 (WG12) of the ISO — officially known as ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG12. It was developed in the mid 1990s as part of the DAVIC (Digital Audio Video Council) standardization effort to support interactivity and navigation of multimedia services on various small footprint devices.
WG12 issued a suite of documents (MHEG parts 1-8) as part of MHEG standard covering extensions for scripting language (MHEG-6), testing and interoperability (MHEG-7) and support for encodings in XML format (MHEG-8). Part 5 of the standard, officially known an ISO/IEC 13522-5, or more commonly know as MHEG-5 that is of primary relevance to interactive DTV.
So what’s hot about MHEG-5? Well, the standard’s profile evolved to UK Profile 1.06 (current); ETSI standard ES 202184. And now, new international profiles extend the UK profile. These include: New Zealand — extra Maori characters and EPG key; Hong Kong — Traditional Chinese font; Singapore/China - simplified Chinese font. Certain other extensions are said to be under development within DTG for possible deployment in 2008. These include IP interaction channel (return path), improved graphics, HD compatibility and support, and PVR support.
Heading for India?
What’s more significant is that MHEG-5 is said to be launching in India and in Hong Kong in 2008! Trials and evaluations are reportedly ongoing in Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, India and Russia. There is said to be interest from other countries in Europe and Asia as well.
MHEG-5 has no known essential IPR. The MHEG middleware software is typically less than US$1 per receiver. It has had wide integration into iDTVs in Europe. Finally, MHEG is proposed as the UI for new Common Interface spec (CI+), as well.
I hope to be speaking with IMPALA sometime soon about its plans for India and update you appropriately.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Good to be back!
This post originally appeared in Pradeep Chakraborty's Blog!
It’s good to be back, especially after a long break! In my case, my long break was in form of an illness, which required surgery. I am still recuperating, and am only able to sit in front of a computer for a short while. Finally, I decided to make use of that short window and see if I could add anything worthwhile.
Well, this past month, I’ve missed a lot of events. Recently, the ISA’s Vision Summit got over, with lot of stalwarts from the overseas, such as Stan Meyers of SEMI, and Malcolm Penn of Future Horizons gracing the event.
As per an ISA-Frost & Sullivan report released at the event, the Indian semiconductor market is likely to generate $5.49 billion in revenues in 2009, growing at 26.7 percent CAGR. The report for 2007-08, said, the market in 2006 generated $2.69 billion total revenues in 2006, lesser than the estimated $3.8 billion in the previous report.
Now these figures may impress those new to the semiconductor industry, but there are other ramifications as well.
Speaking at the ISA Vision Summit, Jairam Ramesh, union minister of state for commerce, said that the Indian government had received seven confirmed investments in the Fab city at Hyderabad, with a total value of $7 billion for 10 years.
Five firms have been given principle approval with $1 billion investment. Proposals of three other firms — Videocon, Moser Baer, and Hindustan Semicon Manufacturing Corporation (HSMC), have yet to be considered.
Reliance is said to have put forward a proposal for solar/PV manufacturing facility with an investment of $5 billion in Jamnanagar. This proposal is under consideration.
The majority of firms proposed to set up in Fab city are mainly focused on solar/PV.
This last bit is the interesting part. If everyone focuses on solar/PV, who will focus on the other ancillaries required to complete the semicon ecosystem? What about the LCD, OLED plants, etc., that were mentioned in the semiconductor policy?
No matter, the coverage of this event has been disappointing/has disappointed me.
I also missed NASSCOM’s Leadership Summit in Mumbai. There was another CIO event, but no problems. CIOL has it’s C-Change 2008 running from Feb. 21-23, which I will again have to miss due to health issues. Nevertheless, this event will focus on the making of an agile enterprise, and a reality check on how agile Indian enterprises actually are!
That’s all I can manage in about 10 minutes. Maybe, more stuff will show up later on, as my health gets better. Till then, keep rocking.
It’s good to be back, especially after a long break! In my case, my long break was in form of an illness, which required surgery. I am still recuperating, and am only able to sit in front of a computer for a short while. Finally, I decided to make use of that short window and see if I could add anything worthwhile.
Well, this past month, I’ve missed a lot of events. Recently, the ISA’s Vision Summit got over, with lot of stalwarts from the overseas, such as Stan Meyers of SEMI, and Malcolm Penn of Future Horizons gracing the event.
As per an ISA-Frost & Sullivan report released at the event, the Indian semiconductor market is likely to generate $5.49 billion in revenues in 2009, growing at 26.7 percent CAGR. The report for 2007-08, said, the market in 2006 generated $2.69 billion total revenues in 2006, lesser than the estimated $3.8 billion in the previous report.
Now these figures may impress those new to the semiconductor industry, but there are other ramifications as well.
Speaking at the ISA Vision Summit, Jairam Ramesh, union minister of state for commerce, said that the Indian government had received seven confirmed investments in the Fab city at Hyderabad, with a total value of $7 billion for 10 years.
Five firms have been given principle approval with $1 billion investment. Proposals of three other firms — Videocon, Moser Baer, and Hindustan Semicon Manufacturing Corporation (HSMC), have yet to be considered.
Reliance is said to have put forward a proposal for solar/PV manufacturing facility with an investment of $5 billion in Jamnanagar. This proposal is under consideration.
The majority of firms proposed to set up in Fab city are mainly focused on solar/PV.
This last bit is the interesting part. If everyone focuses on solar/PV, who will focus on the other ancillaries required to complete the semicon ecosystem? What about the LCD, OLED plants, etc., that were mentioned in the semiconductor policy?
No matter, the coverage of this event has been disappointing/has disappointed me.
I also missed NASSCOM’s Leadership Summit in Mumbai. There was another CIO event, but no problems. CIOL has it’s C-Change 2008 running from Feb. 21-23, which I will again have to miss due to health issues. Nevertheless, this event will focus on the making of an agile enterprise, and a reality check on how agile Indian enterprises actually are!
That’s all I can manage in about 10 minutes. Maybe, more stuff will show up later on, as my health gets better. Till then, keep rocking.
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