Kapil Sibal - Internet Censorship in India

Until the last week, he was more famous as the man who brought to the world, the $35 laptop. And today, he is a laughing stock, not only amongst us Indians, but also in tech blogs worldwide. Even Engadget (Link) is reporting this as a shameful initiative. And if we go by the trending hashtags of Twitter in India, you will find the top 5 to be pointing towards Mr. Kapil Sibal’s idiocy. This is a Harvard and St.Tephen’s alumni we’re talking about, who is now the Minster of Communications and IT in India. What made Mr.Sibal turn on his own head to become Mr.Scissorshands with the Internet?

I cannot decide if the initiative announced by Mr.Sibal to censor “the internet” is more stupid, or is it the incident which triggered this initiative which deserves a place on the stupid-er throne. He picked a post that targeted Sonia Gandhi, to be the reason why he wants the internet in India to be screened, censored and then released for the public. Now, I am not speaking in favour of anyone’s motive to malign a public figure. But across the world, we have a lot of “I hate abc” and “I love abc” clubs. The fact that a public figure like Sonia Gandhi has been picked on, and Mr.Sibal feels the need to censor the entire fucking internet in India is beyond me (well, I know his motive, well, sort of). So, here is my open letter to Mr Sibal.

@Mr Kapil Sibal :

I will try to keep it simple, and for your understanding, will present it to you in the form of bullet points.

#1.  The internet, as they showed in the IT Crowd, is not a simple box. So, if you want an initiative to scan through the whole internet, please get a reality check. Here are some stats for a starter.

There are 48 hours of YouTube video uploaded every minute, and 250 million tweets are generated per day. (Source: Labnol).

And that is just two websites. We are forgetting user generated forums, blogs, self hosted websites, Facebook, YouTube alternatives etc. etc. And oh, there are also proxy servers, and VPN networks to allow people to access anything from anywhere. Is this getting too technical for your liking? Good!

And the fact that you want, not algorithms to scan them through, but actual humans to do it for you is in itself worthy of an applause (sarcasm, check)! Best of luck with that. Perhaps, this might be your new Yuva Naukri Yojna (Youth Employment Scheme).

#2. Censor the internet you say? Why does it give me a deja-vú of what happened in Egypt and Libya? Oh yeah, they did it there, didn’t they? Speaking of blanket filtering of content, isn’t that reminiscent of China’s Internet filters. So, in the largest democracy in the world, are we now opting *that* as a role model?

#3. I would like to point you Mr.Sibal, towards a recently premiered TV series called Black Mirror – it is an interesting watch (review with spoilers here). The premise, is of a YouTube viral video released to the nation (UK). The video features a kidnapped Princess, who is faced with a death threat, and in ransom demand, the PM has to perform an obscene act involving a pig.

Now I know the UK is a different nation altogether, with different political and national sensibilities. But it is still similar in some respects. Like, the UK has its Royal family, and the Congress would like to believe the Gandhi family is India’s political royalty. But there is more to take in from this TV series.

The government tries to take down the ransom video from YouTube, but with every single video taken down, 6 clones would be uploaded the very next minute. This goes to show, that unlike traditional media, the internet is beyond territorial regulations, and can be made available from ​anywhere across the world. So, if you think that you can censor the internet with India, how are you going to control the millions of Pravasi Bhartiyas from creating another Facebook page?

#4. Last but not the least, Sonia Gandhi is a public figure. She might be an icon to the Congress, but she is just another democratically elected Member of the Parliament for me and the 1.2 billion Indians. So the whole objective of censoring internet to be triggered by this so called “I Hate abc” page, just goes to show the seriousness of your concern towards the Indian democracy.

I hope you read this, and I hope that you release an apology letter soon. I also hope that your trending hashtag finishes its innings sooner than Rakhi Sawant’s last breaking news. I miss Chetan Bhagat on my twitter hashtag.

Sincerely,

An online Indian.

For now, it is only the Galaxy Nexus which has got the latest version of Android OS, the Ice Cream Sandwich. Amongst other improvements over the previous versions, is the new improved keyboard which has better suggestions, targetting and shortcuts. And if you have an Android phone running 2.2 or later version, then you don’t have to wait for the upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwhich.

The keyboard is available for download for free, and ready for you to use.

Go hit the Android market link here:

But is it worth the download? Hit the jump for the review of this keyboard.

Review:

There are a few changes compared to the default one on my Samsung Galaxy S2.

Good:

The num keys option of symbols is reduced.

Apart from that, the keys look well layed-out with quite generous spacing. The layout is very standard Android, and the highlight colour is pleasant blue.

Also, the punctuation suggestions at the end of each word is very welcome here.

Bad:

The ICS Keyboard does not have any pre-installed keys for emoticons. You can insert emoticons if you are texting, by hitting the menu button, and selecting “Insert Smileys”.
But if you are trying to use it as a text keyboard for any other app, you are out of luck. You’d have to write your own emoticons.

Other:

If you are searching for this app in the Android Market on the phone, it is the one developed by Johntanmi, and not Nick Zhang.

Techkeyla Rating: It does what is says on the tin, and then some more. Full marks on functionality, but the exclusion of emoticons is a step backwards.

The Ice Cream Sandwich keyboard gets 3.5 *** / 5

Let me know if it works as well on your Android phone, and leave your comments below.

Although PayPal is the most popular platform that allows people to complete different online payments, some individuals are continuously looking for some other alternatives that give them the chance to benefit from better services. The reasons behind this action are due to various issues, such as availability, terms and conditions, restrictions and so on. If you are one of these individuals, you most probably want to find out the best PayPal alternatives. In order to help you with this issue, the following list present the top available options that come along with a succinct description of their activities.

Google Checkout

Google Checkout seems to be the best possible alternative to PayPal. Recommended for all users, this option allows anyone to benefit from a series of services, which are similar to those of PayPal. Therefore, the first thing that you should know about Google Checkout is that it allows its users to complete different online transactions. If you open a Google Checkout account, you can make payments to those individuals or businesses that accept Google Checkout. There are a few important pros of this service, including the fact that it is 100% free. Additionally, the signup process is not only free but also very fast and really convenient. Google Checkout also provides a great customer service, which gets back to its customers within 24 hours. The most important drawbacks relate to the fact that it is not available on eBay, it does not provide phone support and most of its services are quite limited for the moment.

Moneybookers

Having about 3.5 million users, this service is also recommended to different individuals. A truly great thing about this service is that the number of its users shows a continuous growth, which tells us that this service will become a very strong competitor for PayPal. Similar to PayPal, this service also allows its users to send or receive money via an e-mail address. As well, the service is present on eBay, so that you can easily close different deals. The pros that relate to this service highlight a few important considerations, such as the fact that the service is available around the world; the signup process is free for all users; its interface is user-friendly; and the platform can be used for different person-to-person, person-to-business, business-to-business and even auction transactions.

AlertPay

This is another important PayPal alternative, which represents an ideal solution for those people who intend to collect payments for their businesses. Additionally, it also allows people to send money via e-mail addresses. Thus, if you want to make any online payments, send or receive money, AlertPay can definitely support all these activities. This service also comes along with some great pros, which include free signups, low fees, fast and easy withdrawing process, and strong seller and buyer protection. Its cons highlight the fact that the platform is not yet available on eBay and the customer service via phone has some truly high fees.

In conclusion, if you are searching for the best PayPal alternatives, it is important to know that the aforementioned options are a real pleasure to use. Therefore, anyone who intends to open some new accounts for completing various online transactions should definitely consider these great PayPal alternatives.

[This is a guest article by author: Srikar Srinivasula, who blogs at - GadgetDust.com ]

All of us whose work involves staring at a monitor for 6 out of 8 working hours in a day, are also aware that most organisations have PCs with Internet Explorer as the default browser. If you are unfortunate, this could well be something like the dreadful IE6. For us who love the flexibility, stability and customability of Firefox/Chrome on our home PC, settling for a stone-age browser like the IE6 is just very unsettling. After all, the sole purpose for IE over its life time is to download the other browsers. So you have decided which browser you want. But it is not always fully allowed to install them on your work PCs. There’s always that nanny IT dude restricting your admin rights on your work PC. But there’s always a sneaky way to dodge these.

Option 1: C:\Temp , or D:\Temp:

Most of the times, IT admin guys restrict you from installing files in the default applications folder, such as C:\Program Files etc. Installing it in a folder where write access is provided is an easy work around. Most importantly, it works like a charm.

Option 2: Portable Browsers:

There are lots of browsers available in the portable format. i.e. they can be installed on a removable storage device such as a USB stick. You can find more on this in this article.

Option 3: Convince/Bribe the IT dude or make friends with him:

Chances are, your USB drives are also disabled from use, since the organisation you work for is worried about data security etc. Hence, the next best option is to make friends with the IT dudes. This always works, provided you don’t get caught on ethical grounds. And possibly, IT dudes are well aware of the superiority of Chrome/Firefox over IE.

Those are the three options that I could think of. If you do have any other ideas/ options that could serve as a work around this problem, drop us a comment. Cheerio!

[Image Courtesy: Reddit]

I know that the Samsung Galaxy Portal is quite an obsolete device by now, especially when the Android world has seen the emergence of dual-core handsets sporting Gingerbread and what not. But don’t be mistaken that this device can only handle Android Eclair 2.1. Although the official carriers won’t be upgrading the device beyond Eclair, when rooted, this device can be upgraded to Froyo (and there is some other dev work going on to upgrade it to run Gingerbread as well). We have already discussed the benefits of rooting your Android Phone here. So, now that you’re fully convinced to go down the root lane, let’s see how to root your Samsung Galaxy i5700 phone. (To avoid confusion, let me put one thing straight – the Samsung Galaxy i5700 is known as Galaxy Portal/ Lite/ Spica depending upon the region)

Disclaimer: Rooting your device is at your own risk. I do not take any sort of responsibility for bricking your device. Although it is important to mention that I have implemented the process on my own phone, and it works fine.

This root is going to use LeshaK’s Kernel Spica v.LK2.02. The root procedure is fairly simple and avoids complex commands. It also brings awesome features such as full root, su+Superuser, support for ext2, ext3 and ext4 SD card partitions, recovery mode, etc. Most importantly, this guide assumes that your Galaxy i5700 is already running Eclair (Android 2.1). If you need to upgrade your i5700 to Android 2.1 check our guide here. Please make sure that your Samsung Android drivers (USB modem and Composite device) are properly installed, and that you have Android Debug Bridge (adb) properly configured. This process will not delete any of your files or settings, both in SD card and internal memory. But just to be sure, it is always advisable to backup your phone.

So now that that is established, let’s begin with the process.
P.S. Some of the steps will be common to most of the Android devices.

Step 1: Download the files required

You’ll need the following files (just click on the links below to download)

1. LK2-02-1_update.zip
2. i5700_LK2-02_PDA.zip

Also download the Odin Multiloader for Android here . You’ll need the spica_jc3.ops file for this process, which is bundled with Odin.

Step 2: Copy the stuff on your SD Card:

Connect your phone to a PC with the USB data cable, and then copy the file LK2-0-1 update.zip file to the root of the SD card. Please make sure it sits in the root and not in any sub-folder.

Now, unmount the SD card, disconnect the USB cable from your phone, and turn it off . Turn on your phone in the Download mode ( which can be done by pressing the Volume Down+Camera+End Call keys simultaneously and hold it until your phone displays the following screen.

Step 3: ODIN download:

Run the installed ODIN Multiloader (mentioned in Step 1) and load the extracted i5700_LK2-02_PDA.tar file as PDA in Odin. Load spica_jc3.ops as the OPS file. To make sure, you can reset the files to clear any previous settings, and load the .tar file, and the spica_jc3.ops in the OPS.

Now attach the phone (in download mode) to your PC with the USB cable. ODIN should detect the phone, and once that is done, you should be ready to roll. Hit the Start button to begin flashing your device with the new LeshaK kernel. This process takes a bit of time, and your device will reboot in the process in the recovery mode. You can be sure that the process has finished when the ODIN Multiloader shows a blue background PASS replacing the usual RESET display as shown in the screen below (from left to right).

Step 4: Over to the phone:

Your phone homescreen will resemble a sort-of LINUX boot screen, and with the help of the D-pad, you can scroll up and down the options. Please make sure that Step 3 has completed successfully before you run this step. Select ‘Apply any zip from SD’ and press OK button. The next screen will show all the zip files present in the root of your SD card. Select the one indicated in the screenshot below, and press OK. Select the LK2-02-1 update.zip file and confirm by pressing the Home button.  Once the update is installed, the home screen will flash a message saying ‘Install from SD card is complete’.

Step 5: Reboot:

Once Step 4 is done, Reboot your device as usual, or by pressing Home+back keys, and your device has successfully been rooted. To check, go to Settings->About Phone and look for the Kernel version.

No matter which flavour of Windows OS you use, you are bound to get some really unnecessary shortcuts lying in the corner of that desktop. Here we list some of them, and this is a topic open for discussion.

1. Adobe Acrobat Reader

Really, who needs this shortcut. When was the last time you opened up Adobe Acrobat Reader, and then hit Open PDF. This also applies to other PDF readers.

2. Briefcase

So, this is like a Dropbox for the offline world. Totally unnecessary.

3.Show Desktop

You are already there. Why need it?

4.IE6 (or any other version of IE)

Well, ok so this one is from a Mozilla/Chrome fan. So the only time I had to use IE was to download Mozilla/Chrome.

5. AOL

No one uses AOL IM anymore. And even if someone did, with GMail integration, this one is about to be lost in the every deep recesses of technological oblivion.

6.Terrible SW: Real Player/Bonzai Buddy/Quicktime Player

Self explanatory isn’t it. Who uses them anyway?

7.Printer

Similar to the Adobe Acrobat Reader, we just print documents from the document window itself, rather than turning on the Printer from the official HP/Canon printer application.

So, the verdict is: <insert drumroll>

I respect you, Internet Explorer shortcut, and Imma let you finish, but Adobe Reader 9 shortcut is one of the most unneeded shortcuts of all time.

Kindly leave your thoughts, suggestions for additions to this list, and comments below.

Why root your Android phone?

There are million and a half reasons why you should make that bold move to root your beloved Android phone. So you made that investment to go with that data plan to finally land your hands on your favourite Android phone. But why take the risk of bricking it? Trust me, the rewards are big. Of course, there is the warranty void thing which keeps you thinking, but if you are brave enough to overcome that, look at the following reasons which will positively make you to think otherwise. So here are the..

*10 reasons why you should root your Android Phone *

1. Performance, Performance, Performance:

Android is an absolutely awesome open source mobile OS for smartphones. The only problem is that with manufacturer’s own version of UI layered upon with bloatware, the performance of the phone could become sluggish, and thus ruining your phone usability. With every update of Android, the performance of the hardware just gets better and better. But here’s something more awesome. Rooting your phone and installing your own custom ROMs available online gives a new lease of life even to the first generation of Android Phones. And we are talking stuff like proper performance stuff – New windows opening up faster, App menus loading faster and UIs being more responsive.

2. Hardware / Software Interaction:

Stock Android installations often tend to have bottlenecks when it comes to performance. With a rooted Android OS, this is removed and hence the performance is tweaked. Overclocking the processor is much easier, and even certain functionalities can be enabled which are not present in the default install – e.g. Flashlight function in HTC Desire.

3. Freedom:

Take for example my Android phone – Samsung Galaxy Portal. It came with Android 1.5 (or the Donut), and I hate to wait for bloody ages to get the carriers upgrade it to Eclair. It was eventually done, but I had to wait ages for the update. If I would have rooted my phone back then, I could’ve easily upgraded my phone with the then readily available custom ROM ( in Eclair version). So, no need to wait any more. Of course, you need to take care that which Custom ROMS are compatible with your phone. Also, most carriers haven’t really made any updates for the first generation Android phones such as the T-Mobile G1. With a root, these phones can be made to run Android Eclair.

4. Apps2SD:

One of the most important features that rooted phones support is that you can install Apps to the SD Card, instead of clogging up the phone memory. Although, the performance of apps which are installed on the SD card is a bit inferior to the ones on phone. This comes in very handy when you need to backup Apps, since most of the 1st and 2nd generation Android phones don’t come with a lot of internal memory.

5. Unavailable features:

With the root, features such as Live wallpapers can be enabled. C’mon, you have to admit. As silly as it may sound, one of the most amazing features of the Eclair update was the Live Wallpapers. With the official Eclair update on my Galaxy Portal, Live wallpapers was disabled. And Live Wallpapers was disabled on all Android phones with version lower than Eclair. By rooting the phone, I could enable Live Wallpapers.
P.S. After rooting my phone, I installed a custom Cyanogen MOD ROM based on Android 2.2 Froyo. More on that in a future post.

6. Multitouch:

This is yet another major feature which is enabled by rooting your phone. ‘Nuff said.

7.WiFi and Bluetooth tethering:

With this functionality enabled, you can share your cellular data connectivity to be used by your PC/Laptop. There are several apps available which can assist you to establish a tethering connection, but these only work with rooted phones.

8. Better keyboard:

Not that we don’t love what Samsung, or Moto or HTC have to offer – or any of the other paid apps offering keyboard layouts , but custom ROMS have their awesome input methods that make me go hmmm!

9. Apps from other builds:

The whole wide world of the Android market is your oyster. But also, you can get apps from Custom ROMs which are integrated from other builds – such as Switchers that can toggle WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth, GPS , Microsoft Exchange to support work mail, etc.etc. The list is endless. [Well, not endless really, but you know what I mean).

10. Because you can:

The most ultimate reason. Because you are a BOSS, the BOSS. Its your phone which you paid hard earned money for. And you are not letting the shitty default installation ruin the experience for you.
Now go and root your Android.

So, I hope you have had a change of heart, and almost brave enough to make that move. So now that we have established the Why, we will move on to the How of it. In our next Android Hack post, we will discuss on ‘How to root your Android phone’. I will be specifically discussing how to root the Samsung Galaxy Portal/Spica/Lite coz that’s my phone.
And then, we can go around and look at some custom ROM to install Froyo. Peace!

Ever wondered if there is a code of conduct for the gaming world. Well, since the world of gaming is no longer limited to the gaming room as the world of online gaming took off, there are separate set of rules which need to be established. These can be widely classified as Offline and Online Gaming rules. The scope of this post is to widely discuss the Offline gaming etiquette and aim at structuring these rules as – The Techkeyla Rule Book of Gaming .

Rule # 1 – This is my house. So, I am PLAYER 1

Under no circumstances should this rule be disobeyed, or the opponent might face the wrath of a physical bruise with the aid of a dual-shock controller. There is only exception to this rule ( discussed in Rule 4)

[Corollary: If its my house, and your game - you are Player 1. I ain't making a fool of myself trying to figure out a new game]

More rules are unveiled after the jump.

Rule # 2. Since I am Player 1 – I use the Branded controller, and you use the third party controller with the faulty X key.
[ Corollary: I choose the controller on the basis of grip, comfortable switches and battery power ]

Rule # 3. If I am selecting levels, maps, circuits or doing something /anything important – DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING. Failure to abide this rule will lead to a straight ban from the gaming circuit for a minimum amount of 5 days and also a fine of 2 drinks of alcoholic nature.

Rule # 4. If it is a three player game, I will be Player 3, and hence will have the largest portion of the split screen.

Rule # 5. I am the Boss, I am Bond, I am Bourne, I am Harry Potter and I am the fucking Kratos. You are always the shitty sidekick character supporting me.

Rule # 6. NEVER pause the game unless you are choking ( or have a reason which is as urgent as choking).
[Corollary: Only I can unpause the game period]

Rule # 7. Even if there is absolutely no chance of winning, you cannot give up until I have finished winning and completely kicked your sorry ass.
[Corollary: If you quit, you lose two games -  yes , not one but two].

Rule # 8. Leave the pickups. Only I pick up the pickups.

Rule # 9. If you fuck around as an accomplice, and are absolutely stupid, or wander off , expect a physical dick-punch.

Rule #10. I don’t have any Football games. No FOOTBALL games ever!