Tech Ka Masala

In this episode - Manan & I talk about the topic that may well turn out to be the biggest tech story of 2011 - Steve Jobs announcing his retirement. While there cant be a replacement, the succession plan has been well planned. The other stories discussed include Google's Motorola purchase, Samsung Annoucing ChatON, Reliance's 3G Tab, MapMyIndia's Carpad and we had almost forgotten HP's big announcement.

Brendan Greeley joins us after a long time to talk about his feature story in BusinessWeek on Spotify entering the United States. In this podcast, he talks about how Spotify cracked the long standing question. How do we make something so much more convenient than piracy that we get people to pay for it. He also talks about his recent article on the US debt crisis and explains the standoff between the Democrats and the Republicans through the concept of game theory.

Manan and I talk about the much talked about Google Street view mapping program being launched but as soon as it did the Bangalore police sent them a shut down notice. YouTube also launched the Box Office with Band Baja Baaraat seems to be making an aggressive push into publisher content. We also spend sometime talking about 100 glorious years of IBM and wonder which new age company will still be around 100 years from today. We also briefly talk about Aaramshop.com, and NIC website getting hacked.

I have two TV Tech Show hosts - Sudhir Sayal of ET NOW and Aalaap Ghag, formerly of UTVs Techtree. We talk about Microsoft buying Skype - one of the most high profile acquisition in recent times. Microsof has received a lot of bashing in the press for the sort of money they spent to buy skype but here is the TKM panels take on it. Also, after discussing about the huge VC investments in the US, Indian enterpreneurs are finally seeing their share. There are no prizes that eCommerce is the focus area for VCs but is it too concentrated in one segment remains to be seen.

Talk about coincidence, While discussing 35 Pakistan sites being hacked by the Indian Cyber Army, we get news that the CBI site has been hacked by the Pakistan Cyber Army. Sounds like a fun game - trying to out do each other. We have a feeling that there is more to come. IN other news, Google is attempting to make its biggest ever acquisition by buying GroupOn for $6bn, Microsoft is launching a new loyalty program, Apple gets patent for glasses-less 3D and facebook is responsible for 20% of all divorces in the US.

In this longish episode of Indicast, Manan and I talk about the 15 long years that India has had internet and we did get a bit nostalgic sharing our personal dial up internet stories. India ranks 4th in the world with 81 million users and 1 million domain names registered however, the stats dont consider the quality of internet service which has been a huge problem in India. We hope that the upcoming 3G launches brings respite to us. In other topics, we discuss about mobile app stores hitting India, PPL digital revenues surging, 12th Planning Commission launching a page on facebook, the big Nokia and Microsoft alliance and BTW, we might be in a tech bubble.

The latest to hop on the the social media train is Pune traffic police with an initiative to use Facebook to fine parking violations. It will be carried out for two weeks starting 25 November and is a way to get people involved in policing. The much awaited mobile number portability has been initiated in Haryana and would be rolled out to the rest of India in a phased manner. Other topics discussed include Rediff's VuBites purchase, Facebook messaging platform, and password cracking using Amazon EC2.

The launch of Google Music India, a legal music streaming service, led Manan and I to spend significant time talking about how companies have started experimenting with internet business model. We talk about the various initiatives that Times Internet has also undertaken. The other topics on this episode include MapMyIndia Traffic, Nokia N8 launch and its dilemmas and Virgin Galatic.

It's a big day for Microsoft and Manan was there to witness it. Microsoft announced the Windows Phone 7 and, according to Manan, they have got it right this time. The hardware and software are completely redesigned to be a worthy contender for your money. Manan dropped off after talking Windows phone but Rati Chaudhary, Principal Science & Technology Correspondent at CNN IBN, kept me company to discuss DRDO's attempt to create an OS for India, Microsoft and Adobe getting cozy, and a few other topics.

We spoke about MakeMyTrip.com IPO a week back and the stock has surged 90%. The best opening on Naqdas for a tech stock after a very long time. That isnt the only good news, the blackberry vs India finally seems to be coming to be an end but RIM caving in to India's demand. in other stories, Oracle sues Google, blackpad, and Tata Docomo and Tata Tele launches Call n tweet service.

We have a lot of hardware oriented stories ranging from tablet PC devices, mobiles phone to even "Made-in-India" super computer called Annapurna developed by the Institute of Mathetical Sciences.Other stories include Make My Trip IPO, Blackberry getting into trouble with several countries, Yahoo Japan signing up with Google and Google shutting down Wave. Manan Kakkar joins in as a guest contributor for this podcast.

After the $10 laptop debacle by India, the latest $35 laptop initiative seems to be a much better effort. HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal, showed off the touch screen device and announced that more innovations will follow. We take a look at the specs of the machine. In other stories, we talk about the Lenovo's LePad, Google discontinuing Nexus One, Microsoft giving up on Kin Phones and giving out free Win7 phones, Dell's $100 mn payoff and other stories.

This show is the most "Indian" episode with ALL stories coming from India. The telecom market has been kept on toes by Tata ever since the price war cry by Tata DoCoMo. They have further launched a new internet to TV product called Dialog. The other conversations are around the bunch mobile handset players that have entered India, Google launching metro routes on Google maps in India and a special "dumb" Nexus one being planned for India.

Apple does it ones again. It boots out around 5000 apps that apparently had too much skin but decided to leave the Playboy App in its store. Google has started to feel the heat for being too big but hints at Microsoft having something to do with it. The updates include 3G auction in India, Paypal India outage.

Its been quiet a week in the technology world with a mix of product announcements - Apple iPhone 4, India's 3G auction completion, Google sniffing its into trouble, and Hotmail releasing a new feature for India to enable access hotmail via SMS. Need less to say that Apple iPhone 4 stole the limelight this week. Saket is impressed by the display and I like the front facing camera for FaceTime. We also talk about iPhone coming to India. Things are a bit hazy and we discuss the expected pricing.

Recently, India's Internet had its own Epic moment when Hidden Reflex, a Bangalore based software startup, has launched a browser targeted at Indian audiences. Saket downloaded it and gave it a quick test drive and shares his experiences. The other stories include muslims planning to quit facebook, Apple iPhone 4 rejected by Consumer Reports, XXX to be a TLD, and Maharashtras DTE website turns into rubbish.

Major announcements happened this week but none of them turned out to be revolutionary. Twitter released its intention about monetizing its platform with "Promoted Tweets" which is just a different way of saying ads in your twitter timeline. Apple also continued its fascination with "i" branding by announcing the iAd, a confusing ad platform for iPhone.

Another 40 mins of Tech Ka Masala is here for you. Manan and I talk about Infbeams 2000 crore MoU with Gujarat Govt to e-nable rural Gujarat and help them set up their stores online. The sheer value of the MoU is staggering from an e-commerce point of view in India. They obviously see something that Manan and I cant. We also spend enough time talking about Microsofts seriousness about the Windows Phone 7 Platform given the mishaps and lack of updates to the platform and also, about LinkedIn reaching 100 mn users in India and why the phenomenal service is so undervalued. Other topics include the iPad 2 launch, layoffs expected at AOL India and XXX domain being cleared.

We have barely completed 2 months of 2010 and we already have 3 major product announcements. At 53 minutes, this episode is the longest ever for Tech Ka Masala but with the announcement of iPad and the controversy, Google Buzz and WIndows Phone 7, we thought it deserved the extra time.

A slight goof up has led to this delayed release. Saket & I recorded this episode on the 26th of Jan but is being released almost 5 days later. Blame me. More details will follow in the next episode. In the episode we cover IPL 3 live broadcast on Youtube, updates ont he Google-China story, Apple get cozy with Microsoft (again) and it seems like using patents to sue each over out of business is becoming fashionable.