The Mobile Funk

I moved !!

2009-05-11T01:48:00.000-07:00

Its almost middle of 2009 and I haven't posted anything. Well, a quick post. I have moved to Helsinki, in the north European country of Finland and am keeping busy learning about the new country and meeting awesome people from around the world.

Would put up an entire story of how I landed here and how it goes in the next few days. Till then.

Kittos !!!

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

2008-11-22T06:24:00.000-08:00

I just finished the Booker Winner called The White Tiger. I picked it up for the obvious reason, its a Booker Winner. It talks about entrepreneur. And it talks about New Delhi, the city where I have lived since birth and Bangalore, the city I have lived in for some time.

It tells the story of a certain Balram Halvai born into a very poor family in desolate village in India. His life as a servant, his life with his employer and how he robs and murders his employer before moving to Bangalore and striking it rich.

I hate it. Not because its badly written. Its a good read. It is witty and snazzy. Talking about practicalities of life. Not too flowery language, but not shoddily written either. It scores good points on presentation.

BUT, the plot. Mr. Adiga misses the whole point when it comes to plot. He has written a book which is too formulaic. It reeks of efforts to be accepted in the western lit circles. The characters are cliched. The oppressive landlords, corrupt policemen, a simple trustful urban Indian man, bossy modern and exhibitionist American-Indian woman. They just fit into well known moulds that literature has created. The character development is average but the reason of murder isn't convincing enough. The narrative of the book is mostly exaggerated to the extent of being way over-the-top.

But something the really bothers me is the lack of research on the part of the author. In one section, the authors tells you how Balram's master goes to the President's House to bribe one of the cabinet ministers. Cabinet ministers do not sit in the President's House. Their offices are all around New Delhi. In fact, The President has very limited influence on the governance and is generally considered a rubber-stamp at the hands of the Prime-Minister and the Cabinet.

The corruption is a serious problem in India, most ministers are corrupt including many of the cabinet ministers. However, its almost never that straight forward . The sums of money that the author talks about are a joke and its never a simple give-and-take process. On a side-note Mohd. Azhruddin lost his captaincy of India cricket team in 1999, almost 6 years prior to 2005 when this novel is set. His narrative of New Delhi are flimsy and it is very evident that he hasn't lived in the city.

Overall its a disappointment and more so because it got an undeserving Booker just because it played upto the west's imagination about India.

Mac and Nokia: A wonderful marriage

2008-09-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

Oh !! Its been so long since I updated. I have been thinking about writing so much but have had so little time. Anyways, so there is something pretty cool I learned today which I would like to share with anyone cares.

I have a Nokia E65 (a pretty nice phone) and am a proud owner of a hackintosh. I run Mac OS X 10.5.2 and am really fond of it. However, one thing that I truly missed on my Mac was the Nokia PC Suite. I know, I know. Its a horribly software. Junky, slow and almost impossible to use. But you see, I don't have bluetooth integrated in my laptop and I really want to send a few PyS60 scripts to my phone and had no option to do it. Or so I thought. Apparently, Nokia has moved forward from being a Windows only support to include Mac in it as well.

So, just an hour of research and I am perfectly happy and content now. I found out that Nokia provides this plugin for iSync which syncs my cellphone with my Mac almost seamlessly. Just install the sync, run iSync, go to add devices and you would see Nokia E65 in the devices sitting pretty and happy. It would sync your calender entries and my phonebook at one click.

But what about transferring file, photos and music. Well, guess what Nokia has this neat little application called Nokia Multimedia Transfer which allows user to transfer music using iTunes(yes, not much use, I know), photos using iPhoto and best of all any files using Phone Browser.

Hope it helps.

Of cheap telecos and flashy phones

2008-07-26T04:42:00.000-07:00

I have heard of horrific tales of the US mobile users. I have heard how you are not allowed the handset you actually paid for is not yours. How, the users have to go with a particular service provider if you have got your heart on a particular model. How even if you switch its illegal to install a software on your cellphone which your telecom operator does not like and how you have to jail-break your cellphone if you want to do as little as take it abroad and use it with a local number.

Sounds scary ? Well, welcome the trend to India. iPhone as most of us know would only work with Vodaphone and later Airtel. So if you want to change your phone, well change your number (since there is lack of number interoperability. As yet). And now, its the turn of HTC touch diamond to go "exclusive" with Airtel. What is cruelly ironic is that HTC hadn't cut a deal with any of the American providers to market touch Diamond.

But there is more to it than meets the eye. Consumers in the US get these cellphones at throw away prices. The telecos subsidizes these cellphones heavily in exchange of a lock-in period. However, our very own Indian telecos have flatly refused to subsidize these cellphone even by a penny citing difficulty in implementation the clauses of the contract.

So, now you would have to pay the retail prices for these cellphones AND would have to sign a lock-in contract. So now you would have to pay 15 - 17k for an iPhone or about 27K for an HTC touch diamond and HAVE TO go with Airtel or Vodaphone if you want to use while our American counterpart pay as little as $199 for an iPhone and $99 for a HTC touch diamond with same clauses. Talk about double whammy.

As far as I am concerned, I think it is outright wrong for a service provider to meddle with the handset business. If the user is paying for the cellphone, he has an absolute right to decide how to use it including with which telecom operator to chose. But the telecos are becoming more and more greedy everyday and not satisfied as serving as a pipe. They not only want that the user uses their service but also how it uses it. It is outright insane, in tune with saying that I would have to subscribe to a particular ISP if I want to use a Sony Viao laptop or a Macbook Pro. It is absolutely absurd. And they are not willing to pay anything for this control. Talk about being cheap.

I wish this trend would not be successful in India, but with the hype that iPhone has created, I highly doubt it.

The 3rd generation

2008-07-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today at Proto4, I was drawn into a discussion with Varun (as I usually do) about the advent of 3G in India and its impact on VAS providers and mobile software developers. During the last 2 days at Proto and Medianama I have repeatedly heard people saying the same thing. How 3G is going to force Telecos to be more receptive towards VAS providers. About how 70-30 revenue sharing model would become obsolete and how VAS providers would finally get their dues. Mostly the argument goes as follows:

The telecos invest huge sums of money in 3G infra. They want to get a quick ROI and hence look toward VAS providers and mobile application developers to increase data usage. Since the competition shifts to data and VAS now, the cut throat competition makes VAS operators important players and who in turn can ask for a better pricing model.

The argument sounds very logical and really makes sense. Also, it is incorrect. I do not think mobile market is opening up to VAS providers any time sooner. And I have my reasons. Yes, its true that telecos are investing heavily in 3G and would definitely look at 3rd party providers to leverage enough data usage to get an ROI. Except that the 3rd party players are too many. And if you make one successful mobile app today. In India, expect clones to be launched as soon as you can say "Ta-Da". There are 5 major telcos and a LOT of VAS providers / developers / entrepreneurs / Web 2.0 enthusiasts. Supply would always outstrip demand. .

In fact, I have a strong inclination that Indian mobile space is going to get more closed before it opens up more. There is a dearth of 3G devices in India and the mobile operators would like to get more and more users on board. Which means they would have to subsidize devices like their American counterpart. Now, at this point, the telecos have invested in the infrastructure and the handsets. I think it would only be fair to expect that they would want to control how user uses the bandwidth that they want him to use. The signs are ominous.

However, I cannot help but agree that the bandwidth costs are bound to come down with 3G. In a price sensitive market like India you cannot sell expensive and expect returns. So, to get mobile users to get on mobile web, the telecos would decrease cost and the scenario would be similar to the call charges with everyone trying to get a bigger piece of the pie without looking at short terms returns.

So, in short, in my opinion, if you are a VAS player, do not expect the things to be merry once 3G comes in. Its dark days ahead buddy, and it would only help to be prepared. But the night is the darkest just before the dawn, so things would change and the industry would mature. Till then, go look up perseverance.

India and the copyrights

2008-07-13T00:35:00.000-07:00

The Indian film industry has demanded that the copyright period for films should be increased to 100 years from the current 60 years. Since old films are still good business in Indian, none of the big businesses want to let go the cash cow. Interestingly, the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting Ministry has backed the claim.

Draconian copyright laws is not an oft-discussed topic in India even though at 60 years it is full 10 years more than the 50 years prescribed by the World Intellectual Property Organization and full 46 years more than the optimal period of 14 years as pointed out by some researchers.

But as the times change copyright is gonna get more and more important in India. First of all, the Indian film and music industry like its American counterpart is a big money business. Secondly, the Indian film and music industry is much-less if at all tech-savvy than its American counterpart. Its a matter of time when we would have our own home-bred MPAA and RIAA start suing people left and right. And thirdly, as the Hollywood influence increases, we would tend to follow the bad precedent. Though, Indian judiciary is over-worked and has a long queue of pending cases, so its not anytime sooner that we would see people facing trials for this kind of stuff.

This might not happen at all and I hope it doesn't. And old films are part of the Indian culture now. And nobody gets a monopoly over our culture ? Right ?

What has Economics got to do with it ?

2008-03-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

Cricket crazy India doesn't get to see days like yesterday very often. While India defeated Australia in the first final of the tri-nation cup. Indian juniors stole their thunder by winning the prestigious U-19 world cup. As remarkable as the wins were, they are also a tad surprising to me. Not that India hasn't been playing good cricket of late. In fact, they have been doing very good in recent times barring one debaclous world cup last year.

Its when I compare the team to the cricket team we have grown up with, the pre-2000 team if you would, that I tend to be pleasantly surprised by the resurrection. Even their harshest critic would give in the fact that India has been playing much better cricket the present decade then, well, ever before.

And you don't just see the change in the statistics. You can 'feel' the change. You can see a more confident team. The youngsters today are far more confident and self-assured than the flukes we saw in the 90s. So what has changed exactly ? The ECONOMY, I say. But what has economy got to do with it ? You may ask. Well, just everything.

We have all heard the story of young India. How economical growth has made Indian youth find their place in the world. How they have come to believe that they matter. Indian youth today not only sees itself as someone who is an important part in this country but also knows of its place in the world. They carry themselves off to the swankiest malls. Buy out the world's best brands who have custom made their products to their needs. They shell out big bucks eating world cuisines at world's fanciest restaurants who have opened up their branches across Indian metropolitan. There is no self-pity, no angst, no looking towards the west with jealousy. They are self-assured. An assurance that they are capable of the competing and beating the best in the world. And it shows, everywhere. Even on the cricket field.

So when a Rohit Sharma or Robin Uthappa is sitting in the dressing room, he is not thinking about the facilities their Australian counterparts. When he walks to the field, he doesn't get intimidated with the attitude their white (or aboriginals) show him. He doesn't walks in as a third world citizen impressed with all the brightness and charm of the first world. He walks in as an equal, as someone who is capable of paying his counterparts in their own money (pun intended). He doesn't need their approval, nor he asks for it. So, when some show-off superiority complex laden opposition gives a 19 year old Ishant Sharma a word of malice-laced appreciation, he politely asks him to go fuck himself. He knows his place and asserts that he be treated equal. No matter the age, experience, nationality or race. If someone tries to belittle him, he fights back and fights hard.

I really hope the Indian team wins the next match but even if they lose, my point about the Indian youth and their self-confidence still stands. Indian youth is hungry and they know where to find their prey. If I were the rest of the world. I would be really, really scared right now.

The predictions: Indian will keep growing better in cricket and in sports in general. We increase our medal tally in the Olympics. The money also has a direct effect/ More money means better sporting facilities and in-turn better sportsmen. Who knows, India might well end up as a major sporting power in next 20-25 years. May be its just a figment or my dreams, but as they say he who never dreams never achieves. And as I am fond of saying, I AM HOPEFUL. Amen to that.

Nokia acquires Trolltech, what it means for user and developers.

2008-02-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

The news is rife with Microsoft's acquisition attempt of Yahoo!, probably the biggest acquisition bid of all times. While this is huge news in itself, it has dwarfed an equally important but less glamorous deal of Nokia's acquisition of Trolltech. For the uninitiated it is the company behind Qt, an open source and multi-platform UI designer. Though primarily for Desktop application development, Qt also has a smart-phone / PDA cousin called Qtopia which runs on Linux based smart-phones.

So, why would Nokia be interested in Qt all of a sudden. Is Nokia finally ready to adopt Linux as a standard operating system for its devices ? I don't think so. Nokia might have been thinking of Linux for its devices but I do not think they would phase-out or even start phasing out Symbian platform sometime soon.

I think the reason behind this is that they plan on providing a standard UI designer to the already discussed Open C platform. So, the developers would be able to port existing open source unix/linux based applications to Symbian in totality, unlike Open C, which allows porting only the business logic and requires Symbain C++ module to provide even the basic UI.

In addition, this would also give developers an alternative to the existing Symbian C++ development environment, which is not exactly the easiest platform to develop in. And in the long term, it would not only provide loads of applications ported from Linux to Symbian but an army of open source developers.

Plenty of applications being available for its devices has always been the USP for Symbian and Nokia phones, but with open source platforms such as Android and OpenMoko ready to hit the market very soon, this may not continue to be the case. Nokia knows it has to inevitably move towards open source. In fact, Nokia has already shown cautious enthusiasm towards open source. Nokia's standard browser is based on Webkit, the open source browser engine.

So, what can we expect to see in the future. Most definitely a lot of great open source application running your Nokia S60 3rd edition mobile phones. Personally, I would be really interested in porting VLC to Symbian S60, now that VLC has announced that from 0.9.0 build onwards the UI would be QT4 based. So, its a very good news for Nokia phone users.

My personal advice to Nokia developers, starting looking at Qt4. You might find yourself using it for S60 development sooner than you expect.

Hello World !! Open C Style

2008-01-24T06:30:00.000-08:00

As I promised in my last post. I am posting a video that would help anyone interested in getting started on the Open C platform. This video illustrates how to write a Hello World application on using the Open C platform.

But before that, you would have to set-up the environment. To do that, first of all install the latest version of Carbide.C++. You can get the free express version at forum nokia. You would then require the S60 Platform SDK for Series 60, 3rd edition or higher. In addition you would require the Open C SDK. Once you download and install these you would ready to write your code in Open C.

This video would show you how-to.

It is even easier to actually port an existing project using open C. Instead of creating a main.c file as in the video, you can directly copy your source files from the windows explorer and paste them in the Navigator window of Eclipse in the Carbide C++ as shown in the video.

EDIT: There seemed to be a problem with the video, so I am trying to resolve that. Till then and even otherwise you can download the video here.

P.I.P.S. and Open C

2007-12-16T04:02:00.000-08:00

I love the C language. I truely do. Its like the Led Zeppelin among all the languages. Knowing C automatically makes you like the coolest cyber-punk around. Its like the light-saber of the cyber world. Having it makes you the Darth-Vader of the cyber-wars.

But alas, you cannot use C to program the mobile phones. It has never been the choice of the mobile honchos who somehow were always seduced by more a more bigger language. J2ME (ah yuck!!), C++ (Symbian, oh man !! thats one tough platform to master), Java (Google's Android), C#( Windows Mobile). So, unless you want to work on a hobbyist platform (like OpenMoko), the C developers are left out in cold for writing softwares for cell-phones.

Too bad. Huh ? But not now. At the start of this year, Symbian introduced what is known as P.I.P.S. ("PIPS is POSIX for Symbian", get it ? No ? Me neither, anyways, read on). So PIPS is basically Unix's POSIX libraries ported to Symbian OS). POSIX stands for Portable Operating System Interface and is roughly a set of IEEE standardized APIs for Unix like operating systems.

In sync with this Nokia, lauched what they termed as Open C. Its basically the PIPS with many more libraries supported other than PIPS. Open C basically aims at allowing developing houses to port existing (especially open-source) applications to Symbian systems. So it basically boils down to reusing your desktop code for Symbian smart-phones.

However, I think Open C gives the developers a unique opportunity to develop applications for Symbian using the age-old C language. I think its pretty cool. In some ways its a first of its kind opportunity for developers like me who swear by the C language on Unix systems.

However, there is a down side to this technology. Developers can not, as yet, write the GUI of the application in Open C. The C functions written by you have to called by an application written in Symbian C++. Now, Symbian C++ is a devil of a language. It has one of the deepest learning curves of all the technologies I have worked on. I am pretty sure that Symbian or Nokia would never allow the GUI to be written in C for their aim of allowing to port existing open source apps to Symbian is met by Open C. So I am not hopeful.

BUT, there is something in my mind which I would post in the next few posts. Till then enjoy exploring Open C. If nothing else, its at least a start.

I would post an easy-to-follow, how-to video for Open C very soon. Keep your eyes open.