BSNL launches 8Mbps broadband in Bengaluru

So its about time we had some decent net speeds, and BSNL seems to understand our requirements as well. Yesterday, they have launched an 8Mbps broadband scheme in Bengaluru. Now you can be assured of simply blistering speeds. I got a chance to experience 8Mbps while I was at London, and it was simply terrific.

They have three plans, 2000, 4000 and 15000. While the first starts from 256kbps upto 8mbps, the latter start from 1mbps minimum and go upto 8mbps. Whats also good is the download limits. Instead of skimpy 1Gigs they now have 27GB in the starter plan upto 125 GB !!! in the last plan.They even have a free modem (rental, and without monthly charges, returnable on disconnection) for the last two plans which makes this a scheme to lap up immediately if you got the dough!

For more details you can call a toll free number of BSNL – 1800 424 1600 and be rest assured your life might change forever with respect to the way you browse!

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Repair your PCs, laptops and networks in Bengaluru – 24/7, online support and more!

Some decent support for all your computers seems to be finally in the making! Yesterday a website called itsupportdesk.com was launched in Bengaluru. Operating out of rajajinagar area, for about Rs.899/- ($23) they offer you unlimited software downloads onto your PC/Laptop, live chat 24/7 and one year’s worth of warranty for your PC. Stealing the punchline off HP’s ad blitz about the computer being personal, they go on to add, ’the computer is personal, lets treat it personally’For this price you get 4 free carry in services if in case something is wrong with your PC. While the price seems a bit steep for just four services, atleast you have someone reliable (hopefully) and someone you can reach 24/7 online. This makes the price a bit attractive especially considering 24/7 work.

(image courtesy : times of india)

They have quarterly, annual, and pay per visit plans while they have managed to keep their online support free forever. They would perhaps be able to solve most of the problems by logging in remotely into your PC. A sister concern of Rooman Technologies, this company seems a bit promising for now. Other than PC support, they also offer support in network installations, security and offer helpdesk outsourcing options to customers. Their website is basic, static HTML content, with a login page for customers to login and view history of their activities with the company. This unique database management of customers would provide such companies with strong base to manage their ever growing base of people coming to them and put them into the bigger league of well managed companies.

Their customer service link though did not work on the website, which means something is still brokenSo what are you heading for? Have a problem late in the night in Bengaluru? log on to www.itsupportdesk.com and voice it out.

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Rammurthynagar underpass finally ready

The BDA officially inagurated the Rammurthynagar underpass yesterday. With six lanes (3 on each side) this underpass will enable smooth movement of traffic from Hebbal towards KR Puram and vice versa. The BDA completed this in record time as scheduled. but the main bottlenecks still seem to be the Lingarajapuram signal and the Nagawara signal. Assuming the BDA does up these junctions with two more underpasses the road then must be sufficiently free enough for smooth traffic movement.

dImages courtesy: Deccan Herald and Times of India.

This is something that BDA must have thought about long back, which they did not, and thankfully they are now proposing something like this for the 8-lane peripheral ring road – still to be one of the best ring roads in Bangalore. For now they can either use the precast underpass blocks (which they are now using for the international airport connectivity) elsewhere too at places like Nagwara for example. Only time will tell how the congestion will look like after these structures are in place.

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Chilly season still persists in Bengaluru

I had posted earlier about the onset of winter in our Bengaluru, well the season seems to be still on, with temperatures going as low as 12 degrees this time. Add to that a cyclone in Tamil Nadu, and the shivers only crept up more faster than ever. The fog was so thick that it had engulfed the whole of the KR Puram hanging bridge. Proof of that is here:

Its there in the first snap, and missing in the second! With this being the only hanging bridge (other than the ones that well …. sort of hang precariously), it always makes me stare at it in awe everytime I pass through it each day.

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The good old Bengaluru cigarette lighter

Yes we have seen thousands of cigarette lighters of all jazzy types and prices and sizes in both the domestic and international markets so far. But how about the good old indian beedi and cigarette lighter? It has withstood the test of time, and has lit many billions of cigarettes and beedis for the customers since time immemorial and continues to do so.

Except that if its electricals arent so right, it could even light you and your clothes in flames too

This the real raw deal – two probes connected to a 230 volts 50Hz AC supply and a small spring connected inbetween them, much as a filament rests between the leads in the tungsten lamps. When you pass electricity through this spring, it lights up and becomes white hot (not red hot!) which you can then use to light your puff. Though dangerously exposed, this still is the cheapest, to the point concoction that simply works till date! And maintenance is super easy too! Just replace the spring or better still each component that goes into this stuff.

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Apple cutters for Bengaluru, my day is always made

So how fast can you eat an apple? Well, perhaps in five minutes or even lesser depending your hunger level. But If I were to tell you to cut the same apple in the same two minutes, would you be able to do it without the seeds being there?

I can thanks to my new apple cutter which I bought from the London M & S store (marks and spencers). It cost me about 7 pounds, but more than compensates for that price with the many apples it has sliced for me since a year now.

So there you go then! Easy to eat apple. There is also another product called the apple corer, where you just push that instrument right into the middle of the apple until it reaches the other end, and the entire seed portion is cored out like drilling a hole into a wall

This brings me to a parting joke for this post

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but if the doctor is beautiful, keep the apple away!

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Staples comes to Bengaluru

Staples Inc has finally made it to our very own Bengaluru, at Marathahalli! Opportunity knocked I would say. Staples was the store that invented the office supplies superstore concept way back in 1986 and has over 74000 people working for the store all over the world! Staples 2006 sales alone was $18.2 billion, can you imagine how much that is in Rupees? It is 18.2 x 1 000 000 000 x 40, which is a mind boggling figure of Rs. 728000000000 !!!!!

Today as they step into Bengaluru, consumers never had it so good with respect to choices for stationery. Move over William Penn, Staples is here! As I was driving down the Airport road towards Marathahalli, I finally caught up with this poster!

So people what are you waiting for, bring your kids along and splurge on some great stationery for yourself! I am sure you wont regret it

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Gmail launches AIM integration in chat

I am not sure why Google thinks AIM is so important that it has integrated AIM buddies into its own chat, but perhaps they foresee a potentially lethal alliance between themselves big enough to screw other players with their chat application going places. One thing is sure, Google is sure upto lot of things this Christmas!

For more details on AIM integration, click here!

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Gmail adds more functionality to labels, and new colours too!

Google seems to be doing new things with Gmail. First it was emoticons, then it was IMAP, then it was a slight change in UI, then it was group email chat. And now labels and options on labels. For starters, google is now adding colours to labels, and you can set colours to your important labels to spot them easily on the screen.

Not only that, you can also access emails or conversations based on labels more easily than ever before. One can easily notice its AJAX at work efficiently on the google mail. If your conversation has a label, you can now click on that label and it will open that conversation in a much bigger better view showing all labels associated with it.

You can then click on the labels in view to search for all messages with that label. You could also delete a label off this conversation by clicking the small close ’x’ button next to label. Pretty neat eh?

So more label related features coming onto gmail now! Google is now ensuring that people drift more and more away from traditional memory hungry, bandwidth hogging email services such as Hotmail and Yahoo! And as of date google has given me almost 4 GB of space (virtually though!) which itself is unmatchable by anyone as time goes by. Way to go google!

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The leaning tower of Bengaluru – the silicon city of India

As usual my evening drives always provide me with interesting insights into what automobiles can be used for in India, and today was no exception. There was this truck with a huge set of container type loads, of which two of them were dangerously leaning on the verge of collapsing onto vehicles nearby. In fact in all glory it resembled the leaning tower of Pisa. I could not help marvel at the angle at which this load was balancing itself. I am not sure when I would get a chance to see the leaning tower of Pisa, but for sure I would perhaps get many chances to see such leaning towers of Bengaluru, the Silicon City of India!

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