Recently, ALCATEL has introduced the ALCATEL OneTouch Net on Tata DOCOMO. The phone allows to freely access Yahoo Services like Y! Mail, Y! Messenger, etc as well as Tata Docomo Dive In services like Docomics, M-Greeting, Mobile TV, etc. Pretty much on the lines of the ‘email+IM’ plan on Blackberry. Interesting thing about this phone is the plans are offered by Tata Docomo as a bundle.

With the Prepay plan you get free life time access to Yahoo Mail and Messenger as well as free 250MB/month browsing for  1 year. The call charges are – Local On-net at 1p/6sec after the 1^st minute is charged at the default rate. All other local and STD tariff legs at default tariff of 1p/sec.

On the post pay plans with the ALCATEL One Touch Net, there are 2 plans – 199 and 299 with 1p/sec calling and 300 and 60 minutes of free talk time respectively. Both plans come with 250MB/month of free Y!Mail + Messenger usage for life. For all post pay connections bought before 20th October, they’re offering a free Reebok watch worth Rs. 2499/-.

Some pictures of a Live handset;

Now to the handset specifications;

• Screen: TFT, 65K colors, 320 x 240 pixels, 2.4 inches, Full QWERTY keyboard, Optical trackpad
• Size / Model: 111 x 58.2 x 13.9 mm, 102 g / QWERTY phone
• Memory: Internal 80 MB, external microSD, up to 8GB, 4GB included
• Camera: 2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 850 mAh
• MP3/WMA/eAAC+ player, MP4/H.263/H.264 player

Features;

• Social networking integration via Social Pulse
• Access to Yahoo Mail and Messenger free for lifetime on Tata DOCOMO
• One touch access to Yahoo Search,  News, Homepage
• Special designated Dive In key
• Special designated Y! key
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Short key access to My Song, CMT
• One click access to Tata DOCOMO Facebook, Orkut and Twitter.

Time to Win this phone!

Now if that looked interesting, I have a cool offer for you to win it, sitting right where you are! Just visit the OneTouchNet Crack to Grab site.

Use this code to enter the contest:

1. Day 1: 69B27092
2. Day 2: 6A3A5441
3. Day 3: 6B46BEA8
4. Day 4: 6C87DAD3
5. Day 5: 6D10E8B8
6. Day 6: 6D6EBD52
7. Day 7: 6E019632

Note: Each code is valid only for a day and shall hold good till 10 am, next day.

Do share your experiences with mobile and data services in India as a part of the comment section.

Pronto Networks, the company behind AirSpot has come up with this idea of building up a pool of users in a city who would want to share a part of their bandwidth (which they might not use otherwise, all day long), to their friends and neighborhood. What’s good? The users who take this initiative get a 50 % share of the revenue AirSpot makes!

Technically, the ProntoPoint router, that runs the AirSpot service, has a dual SSID – one personal and the other public. I am sure you got it by now!

All you need is a existing internet connection (broadband), and a AirSpot router to get started! The mantra is – social internet sharing across AirSpots, Make money by sharing your internet bandwidth, a revolutionary concept to try out!

Just as they say – Do more with your internet.

I am yet to try out their service and would love to do the same. You can also check out an interesting contest they’ve floated and who knows, you may win a AirSpot router to try out! Check them out on facebook and twitter, they do share some great tweets, across the week with various interesting hashtags!

I would love to see some feedbacks, if you get a chance to try the service.

I am a gadget lover but by no means a freak. There is a hell lot of difference between the two. I read TechCrunch regularly and Engadget often. There lies the difference, if I am in my senses.

While Steve Jobs is adding to the orgasm of Apple fanboys across the world, I have been trying to figure out, how does anything Apple affect the online ecosystem. It’s beyond the power of any agency to build such an ecosystem, community or fan following around any thing. Apple is again a brand.

The sheer ability to build great products is the only reason that I see people getting crazy for such an event. Of course, Steve Job’s’ presentation might just be another reason for people to swarm networks and websites and cause them to go down!

This is a great social effect which could lead to #apple and #ipad trending in minutes on Twitter, timeliness getting flooded with similar updates after every miniscule detail revealed by Apple. Which other brand can think of doing it, at this scale?

Amazon has always ruled the industry for the tablet/reader segment with its Kindle. It would be interesting to see how do things take shape now. Do we see a price war? Apple for sure would not get into it. Apple products have always been priced slightly higher, but it’s a matter of fact that it still excels.

For 499$ for a 16GB WiFi enabled tablet, Apple’s iPad might just attract gadget lovers across the world to opt in. A 3G version is slightly costlier but I guess that’s more value for money when it comes to developing countries where WiFi hotspots aren’t yet very popular. But then, people still get things done over a netbook, which according to Steve, doesn’t do anything great!

I wonder how many people in this part of the world aren’t ready to compromise on the ‘great’ factor, when they get a fully functional netbook for as low as 300$ This is still debatable.

Coming down to the key features of an iPad, it is/has;

• Half inch thin,
• 1.5 pound in weight (approx 600 gm)
• Slimmest Tablet
• 9.7 inch diagonal screen IPS type
• Capacitive multi-touch
• 16 to 64 GB Flash storage
• 1 Ghz A4 Processor
• WiFi 802.11n Wifi
• Built In Speaker
• Built In Microphone
• Accelerometer
• Compass
• 10 Hours Battery with One Month Standby
• iPad 3G models are unlocked
• Will be available in 60 days worldwide
• Comes with Wifi and / or  3G
• USB Sync with iTunes
• Uses new GSM micro SIMs

Price Watch

That’s the matrix. Which one are you opting for?

Thanks to Rohit for collating the technical specs!

Yes, you would perhaps say – not again! Abundance of social networking websites without a cause have resulted in a heavy amount of spam emails. Most websites like Yarri.com, minglebox.com, ibibo.com and more just wanted to be the next facebook, orkut or myspace. Sadly though, they never realized they’re heading no where.

However, a similar website, Linkedin has had an immense growth. The reason being, it had a reason added to it. It solved a problem of uniting people professionally using the internet cloud. There are times when people are not interested in knowing what you like to eat and watch but how proficient have you been at work.

Today, online shopping portal is a growing niche. A lot of websites have come up to sell stuff online, just as ebay started it off. All these have a dedicated shopping cart and a several hundred merchants listed which guarantee a product cheaper than the market. May be just because it happens to be a grey market product and gets shipped without a warranty from the manufacturer.

Uniting social networks and the concept of online shopping, ShopCorn has come up with an exciting platform for internet savvy customers to browse, select, discuss, debate and decide on a product before ordering it via the same window sitting at home!

Shopcorn is a social community based website which intends to provide user generated content in context with a product that’s available for sale on the portal. The idea is to allow a visitor to interact, review, comment and discuss a product with fellow members and friends in the network before finalizing on a product.

The idea is worth a praise. Many a times we remain confused while buying a product online and finally give it away by opting in for the conventional method of purchase. Adding a social angle to online shopping experience would make it convenient for an online shopper to get reviews and direct messages from people who would have bought and used the same product!

The website has a community tab which allows members to create their blogs, get answers to a question they may have for the audience, upload and watch videos, look out for other members, etc. Live T.V. is an interesting feature to check out major T.V. channels.

You may have a genuine question or something as weird as asking the best hotel in Moscow, just get to the Q & A section.

The Deals box showcases some of the best deals running across various sellers. One may keep a tab on this to know what’s hot and what’s cheap! One may check out the challenges which run on the website from time to time. What more? You can create an account and submit a deal as well.

The website also offers an interface to get your railway reservations done and hotel rooms booked. The news section features major news entries from various segments apart from gadgets and technology. All this and more under the hood of a social shopping community! Check out the offerings Shopcorn has before you plan to visit your nearest mall!

Now to Shopcorn, I would recommend verifying the products they display on their portal. A lot of fraudulent sellers display a different product than what they actually deliver. Shall that be a case, it would hamper the portal’s reputation. Most e-shopping websites do not stress on this and provide a disclaimer that they’re not responsible for the items displayed on the portal. Now this is some silly excuse for fake publicity. I would recommend Shopcorn to review the items before displaying them on the portal. This shall ensure the satisfaction of a prospective buyer.

As a part of its launch, Shopcorn is running a bloggers’ contest and as a part of the same, they’re giving away a few wrist watches, a Tata Indicom Photon+ datacard and a 21” LCD T.V.

If you’re still wondering what a Tata Indicom Photon + is, I would give a description of the same. India now has wireless broadband service. Photon + is the very same service from one of India’ leading CDMA operators, TATA Indicom. it provides a revolutionary 3.1 mbps download speed on a wireless connection, on the move. Now downloading audio-video files and streaming them while travelling in a metro train would be a cake walk! With an easy to install option, this device proves to be a must have for bloggers, office goers and travel freaks!

Update: I have won a TATA Photon plus out of this competition. Thanks to shopcorn!

Internet has been a boon for the market researches and gadget lovers. One can find almost any information related to a product over the Internet today. Websites which showcase comparative reviews and price list prove to be an added advantage in this case. One can find reviews of almost  any gadget over the web. Laptops are no different. ConsumerMate.com from the house of 9.9 Media group does the needful for a novice who is confused about which notebook to decide on.

If you’re looking forward to buy (or just research, for that matter) a laptop, check out this website which compares laptops on various verticals. The website has a neat User Interface that allows you to select your upper limits for price, weight and screen size with a sliding bar and you get to see the qualifying models from leading brands like Apple, HP, Compaq, Acer and more. You shall get to see some of the latest and up to date price list.

Various sections of the website include Compare Laptops, Hot Deals, Laptop Guru, Ask us and Test centre Expert ratings by Digit.

The Hot deals section has some of the best offers up for grab at any time. Laptop Guru offers personalized help to help choose a notebook.

Various new technologies have hit the display devices over the years -from the days of CRT’s, TFT’s, LCD T.V.’s, Plasma’s to now LED T.V.  by Samsung.

Samsung has recently launched two new series  6 and 7 in the LED T.V. segment. The prime models include;

• 7 series 46” – UA46B7000 40” – UA40B7000
• 6 Series 46” – UA46B6000 40” – UA40B6000

Samsung has been at the forefront of TV technology and is known for its award winning innovations, the latest of which is: the LED TV.

Few features which are of  interest include the actual width of the Samsung LED TV which happens to be just 2.99 cm. Superior picture quality, stylish design, sharper images and bright colors are salient traits of this display device. It encompasses a crystal design, instead of “Touch of color” that is used in the United States. Another noticeable feature of the LED T.V. include,  Samsung WS1* Sound Bar Surround System which is a masterpiece in surround sound systems.

The interactive connection panel is a breeze for media connectivity and digital video and music buffs.  Check out the flash video on the product homepage.

This digital device for sure is a marvel – for the ones who’re crazy about the picture quality and sound clarity. With LCD T.V.’s almost into fashion, the LED T.V.’s certainly are a step ahead – for those hybrid ones who love to hang on with the latest technology – the first in India.

Watch out the stores for a live demo. Who knows you may fall in love with one!

The fact however is, this Gmail lab feature delays the sending process for a few seconds, giving you that threshold time to react and hit the UNDO button!

The feature may prove to be worth giving out a try. Meanwhile, if’ you’re looking for more details, OnlyGizmos has a complete description of the feature.

Check out more more lab features at googlelabs.com (Yeah, google now has this new domain name dedicated for Google labs!)

This post is a submission for an awesome contest running at OnlyGizmos. Check out for more details.

Happy Gmailing!

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Most websites I found then revealed international prices, not much of a use to an Indian buyer.

A few days back, I stumbled upon a good consumer website called ConsumerMate.com. It intends to allow prospective buyers have an in-depth analysis of laptop computers, models and prices. The website has a neat interface which allows you to select each of the options like price, weight and screen size to filter out the best deals

Apart from that, it has a specific sections like Hot deals, which allow you to select from the best deals currently available in the market. You may check out notebooks for most brands available with attractive offers and at good discounts for sale.

Alongside, the portal allows you to browse through segments like – Know the basics and Consumer support which provide ready help to the customers. There is also a Laptop Guru section which helps you select a laptop for you based on your needs and budget by answering a questionnaire.

What more, the website has a detailed section on New launches.

The website features a unique Test Center Ratings section which features authentic ratings by Digit Test center.

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All in all a good website to check out laptop prices in India.

Initially: iPhone on the Apple iTunes

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A genuine iPhone would take a few minutes to get it done without any problems whatsoever. But a jailbroken and unlocked iPhone had an alternative route to success.

Since I never owned an iPhone, it took me a while to search over the web on what is unlocking and jailbreaking all about and how is it done for free!

With some effort, I could download and run a copy of QuickPwn to successfully unlock and jailbreak the iPhone 2G to the latest firmware.

Finally: iPhone on the Apple iTunes!

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Honey has taken the charge of putting up a detailed post of how I did that. This shall include all the screenshots I took!

Come 2009 and the developers have a reason to rejoice! Nokia kicks off with “Nokia Developer Conference 2009” in January’2009.

The conference intends to inspire and charge the dreams of mobile application developers who love mobile computing wish to create killer mobile applications through support and collaboration. The Conference shall serve as a forum for best minds in the industry will meet and discuss the evolution of the Mobile VAS industry and beyond.

You being a developer can have the privilege to meet the gurus of various verticals of the mobile industry – Operators, Government officials, Nokia and Forum Nokia members. A must go for developers who need to know about the latest developments in the mobile industry and be in sync with the future trends. You also have a chance to win cool mobile and other gifts from Forum Nokia.

3G is the next buzz word in the Indian mobile industry. Be there to discuss the Impact of 3G on mobile applications on consumers at this Bangalore conference.

The are a plethora of sessions for you to be a part of :

• Mobile VAS Industry
• Mobile Technology Evolution
• Technology Showcase
• Developer Evangelization

Details: 20^th January, 2009 at Trinity, Taj Residency, Bangalore.

The year 2008 is a about to say good bye. The year was no doubt an eventful frame of time, wherein we met a lot of wanted and unwanted results. I wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year 2009! Happy new year