Microsoft bars Indians from searching for sex

Microsoft silently made available to the public its new (actually Live Search on energy boosters) search engine Bing.com - they prefer to call it a "decision engine". And the online world was abuzz with buzz about the new product. So was I.

To test the product (well, that wasn't my only purpose) I tried to see what it served me when in asked for the most popular keyword on the World Wide Web - sex. And Microsoft, rahther its new surgically enhanced baby - Bing.com poured a bucket of cold water on my carnal desires.

The search led me to this page:


THE SEARCH SEX MAY RETURN SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT.
To get results, change your search terms.

I tried other 'sexually explicit' keywords. Same result. Then I looked for an option to turn off the safe search (as in Google or Live Search), but nothing existed. Then I logged in with my Windows Live ID, to see if it recognises me and displays some benevolence. No avail.

Not the one to give up I changed my country location and tried masquerading as a lascivious surfer from the US of A. And like magic, the discriminatory service revealed all, in partial glory (it was safe search moderate by default). And I could also change the safe search settings.



That can mean one thing (or I would like to look at it that way), that Microsoft Inc. does not want us Indians to search for sex or porn or xxx or nudes or anything of that genre - the sexually explicit kind.

But it doesn't discriminate when you look for kama (essentially sex in Sanskrit) but censors the Kamasutra while it is kindly towards Kokshastra.

The countries that Microsoft thinks (I assume) are more conservative and should be kept away from anything sexual include:

1. Arabian countries
2. China
3. Germany (I wonder why?)
4. Hong Kong
5. India
6. Indonesia
7. Korea (obviously South Korea)
8. Malaysia
9. Singapore
10. Taiwan
11. Thailand
12. Turkey

I had earlier expressed my displeasure on Twitter over Microsoft playing the nanny for us Indians:

@bing sex filter is on for Indians, but if I change my country to USA, I can search for sex. I protest the discrimination. Indians need sex!

Retweet, if you support the cause. This is a clear and blatant violation to the (unwritten) right to online sex.

Just in case you wanted to know more (useless) stuff about Bing. Here are a few that I discovered:

1. Deprived of sex, Indians spent their time looking for Katrina Kaif (who else?)

2. If there are pre-roll ads before the videos, Bing treats the ads as snippets and plays them (maybe publishers hungry for search referrals might need to rethink their video ad placements). Advertisers would obviously be happy.

3. The earlier avatars of the domain bing.com.

4. This is what the first (that I could find) logo of Bing.com looked like. Not much of an evolution, I say.



5. Bing.com was also for a while related to "a B2B CRM pen-computing AI P2P groupware product with great SMB ROI" project.

6. Bing doesn't (when I cheched a while ago) find a place in Google's Hot Trends. Maybe people are searching about Bing via Bing.

Anyway, I don't see myself binging in the near future, for now am content with googling. Also Google has no qualms about Indians looking for sex.

Related posts:

· Why Indians Google for Google on Google?
· New Suggest Feature in Google Hindi - Not Safe For Kids
· Six Countries Don't Have Firefox 3

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Election Commission violates its own rule (and so did Getty)?

10.7 of the Election Commission's A guide for the Voters [PDF link] clearly mentions that "Photography of a voter casting vote is prohibited." But the Election Commission's own website carries an image of a woman casting her vote on an electronic voting machine [Link].

And if photographing a voter casting his/her vote is a punishable offence (should be under Section 128 of Representation of People Act, 1951 [PDF link]) then action should be initiated against Getty Images and their photographer covering the polling in Guwahati, Assam, for these images: [1] [2] [3].

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The Google Chrome Comic Book

I have a thing for comics and also for new web utilities.

Google mixes both to announce the of launch its new web browser Chrome. The beta version is expected to be released today.

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff - the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers.

Meanwhile take a look at the comic book that Scott McCloud has inked for the publicity campaign.

I've converted it into pdf and put it up on Scribd for a better reading experience.

The Google Chrome Comic Book
[Image source]

(Alternatively you can download it from here)

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in.com: Good Place to Download Music?

in.com - must say, helluva domain name. Was trying out the newly launched website and its many features. Suddenly the DownloadHelper icon on my browser showed some activity. I was listening to some the music that they have in there.

I let DownloadHelper do what it is the best at and wondered whether this new site will be another blow for the music industry. As the file downloaded revealed, not exactly.

Though you can browse and listen to music from different genres, they are optimised for smooth play on the web and therefore aren't of a high quality.

The specs read

Bit Rate: 64kbps
Channels: 1 (Mono)
Audio sample rate: 44 kHz

For people who aren't that choosy about the output quality, it might just become the next big inadvertent music download destination.

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SMS from CBI

After 12 days of internetlessness at home I am back online from my own PC. Curse my ISP.

Many days back I got this SMS, the sender id read "CBI" (I believe many others also did). The information contained may be useful to many, so passing it along:

If a Central/Delhi Govt/PSU/Bank Employee demands BRIBE for any official work in Delhi. Plz contact SP CBI at 24361535/3541/2494 or 9968081216/17/18!!

And before you make that call note that the CBI, as a matter of policy, does not entertain anonymous or pseudonymous complaints.

There is another angle to it. This technically is an unsolicited SMS and my mobile number is registered on the National Do Not Call Registry. Therefore, the national investigation agency may be guilty of flouting the law.

According to media reports over 80 lakh mobile phone users have received the SMS and the fine for the violation is Rs 500 for the first instance and Rs 1,000 for subsequent violations.

But before anyone reaches out for the calculator, there are clauses that allow government agencies to transmit such messages. So who's next RBI? Would definitely like some more tips on identifying fake currency notes.

I didn't know that CBI also has a blog, but that has only five posts with the last being in March this year. Investigators don't make good bloggers?

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Six Countries Don't Have Firefox 3

Firefox 3 created a world record with over eight million downloads in a day and there have been over 619 million downloads of the much loved web browser! But beyond the bottom of the download heap are six countries/territories that (according to the stats displayed by Mozilla on Firefox 3's Download Day page) that haven't recorded a single instance of a Firefox 3 download (as of July 2, 2008).

The six Firefox 3 black holes are: French Guiana, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Timor-Leste, Western Sahara, and of course, North Korea.

Besides the six there are 17 countries/territories with double digit downloads and 41 more countries with less than a thousand downloads.

I've compiled this table (ordered according to the number of downloads) for further illustration.

Firefox 3 Downloads (as of July 2, 2008)
In order of number of downloads

Rank	Downloads	Country/Territory
1	7,734,930	United States
2	2,466,910	Germany
3	1,342,608	Japan
4	1,198,993	United Kingdom
5	979,362	France
6	824,561	Spain
7	799,448	Poland
8	790,624	Canada
9	763,062	Italy
10	721,524	China
11	598,116	Brazil
12	535,796	Iran
13	495,484	Turkey
14	489,596	India
15	453,278	Australia
16	442,930	Netherlands
17	424,374	Lithuania
18	353,314	Russia
19	329,930	Romania
20	328,664	Mexico
21	279,059	Switzerland
22	252,535	Taiwan
23	247,588	Sweden
24	241,059	Argentina
25	225,824	Hungary
26	221,145	Austria
27	207,103	Chile
28	205,956	Vietnam
29	195,053	Philippines
30	193,209	Belgium
31	184,153	Czech Republic
32	173,805	Finland
33	170,122	Norway
34	168,981	Hong Kong
35	165,764	Bulgaria
36	163,433	Malaysia
37	161,836	Thailand
38	148,090	Greece
39	148,006	South Korea
40	143,283	Indonesia
41	140,331	Denmark
42	139,003	Israel
43	131,479	Portugal
44	129,957	Singapore
45	129,458	Colombia
46	98,740	Ukraine
47	98,445	Venezuela
48	98,186	Ireland
49	79,008	Slovakia
50	78,441	New Zealand
51	72,589	Peru
52	70,343	Slovenia
53	69,286	South Africa
54	62,216	Egypt
55	58,511	Croatia
56	49,922	Saudi Arabia
57	49,658	Serbia
58	44,371	United Arab Emirates
59	43,974	Estonia
60	43,195	Latvia
61	36,114	Morocco
62	35,893	Pakistan
63	32,256	Costa Rica
64	28,822	Puerto Rico
65	26,630	Dominican Republic
66	24,867	Algeria
67	20,247	Ecuador
68	19,339	Bangladesh
69	18,884	Nigeria
70	17,764	Luxembourg
71	17,093	Guatemala
72	15,946	Tunisia
73	15,222	Iceland
74	14,953	Kuwait
75	14,893	Belarus
76	14,500	Sri Lanka
77	13,905	Bosnia and Herzegovina
78	12,442	Qatar
79	12,225	Panama
80	11,188	Republic of Macedonia
81	10,804	Kazakhstan
82	10,446	Moldova
83	10,335	Jamaica
84	10,085	Bolivia
85	9,958	Trinidad and Tobago
86	9,902	Cyprus
87	9,310	El Salvador
88	9,285	Paraguay
89	9,227	Jordan
90	9,046	Uruguay
91	8,646	Kenya
92	7,672	Ghana
93	7,002	Malta
94	6,472	Mongolia
95	6,034	Nicaragua
96	5,921	Bahrain
97	5,853	Nepal
98	5,704	Lebanon
99	5,425	Cuba
100	5,256	Mauritius
101	5,091	Honduras
102	4,870	Senegal
103	4,452	Georgia
104	4,349	Barbados
105	4,174	Côte d'Ivoire
106	4,089	Palestinian Territories
107	4,073	Myanmar
108	3,915	Maldives
109	3,792	Oman
110	3,766	Brunei Darussalam
111	3,745	Syrian Arab Republic
112	3,527	Azerbaijan
113	3,037	Sudan
114	2,869	Albania
115	2,779	Cameroon
116	2,730	Libya
117	2,557	Bahamas
118	2,254	Armenia
119	2,227	Uzbekistan
120	2,051	Cambodia
121	1,881	New Caledonia
122	1,754	Iraq
123	1,598	Uganda
124	1,591	Tanzania
125	1,580	Faeroe Islands
126	1,480	Aruba
127	1,468	Yemen
128	1,433	Antigua and Barbuda
129	1,339	Angola
130	1,318	Bermuda
131	1,317	Madagascar
132	1,309	Fiji
133	1,303	Mozambique
134	1,296	Namibia
135	1,289	Andorra
136	1,264	Montenegro
137	1,237	Ethiopia
138	1,134	Belize
139	1,093	Saint Lucia
140	1,085	Liechtenstein
141	1,045	Zimbabwe
142	958	Botswana
143	935	Guyana
144	921	Zambia
145	844	Lao People's Democratic Republic
146	832	Afghanistan
147	785	Grenada
148	757	Reunion
149	732	Kyrgyzstan
150	714	Rwanda
151	696	Haiti
152	679	Suriname
153	677	Benin
154	647	Aland Islands
155	604	Burkina Faso
156	528	Malawi
157	514	Saint Kitts and Nevis
158	513	Gabon
159	513	Mali
160	511	Dominica
161	482	Greenland
162	389	Guinea
163	370	Togo
164	307	The Democratic Republic of the Congo
165	288	Mauritania
166	265	Gambia, The
167	255	Papua New Guinea
168	248	Tajikistan
169	224	Bhutan
170	220	Djibouti
171	201	Virgin Islands, British
172	196	Cape Verde
173	187	Guadeloupe
174	180	Turks and Caicos Islands
175	170	Anguilla
176	155	Swaziland
177	145	Vanuatu
178	138	Niger
179	136	Burundi
180	125	Lesotho
181	111	Tonga
182	106	Equatorial Guinea
183	79	Sierra Leone
184	66	Martinique
185	60	Somalia
186	59	Solomon Islands
187	56	Republic of Congo
188	53	Liberia
189	53	Samoa
190	50	Eritrea
191	41	Turkmenistan
192	34	Chad
193	24	Palau
194	23	Falkland Islands
195	19	Guinea-bissau
196	18	Central African Republic
197	15	Montserrat
198	13	Sao Tome and Principe
199	12	Comoros
200	0	French Guiana
201	0	North Korea
202	0	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
203	0	Svalbard and Jan Mayen
204	0	Timor-leste
205	0	Western Sahara

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Why Indians Google for Google on Google?

Was playing around with the recently launched Google Insights for Search and discovered some interesting (some expected) trends. Though "Insights for Search applies a filter for search terms that may be explicitly sexual," it still is a lot of fun.



One thing that struck me is that Indians search for Google on Google the most.



But Indians are not the only ones, most countries have the term Google on the top 10 most searched terms (It should be kept in note that search for "Google" doesn't imply only Google, but also includes related terms like Google Earth, Google Maps. The title of the post was just to catch some attention). And the interest in Google has shown an increasing trend worldwide since 2004 to present (that's the maximum date range in Insights).

The next obvious term is "sex" and the Pakistanis rule the roost here. Followed by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India stands seventh in exhibiting interest for the search keyword "Sex". India's not-so-friendly western neighbour is also the numero uno in the hunt for "boobs", "breasts", "penis", "rape", "xxx", "nudity" and more (I have better things to do then exploit my neighbours' secret desires).



Within India Orissa stands first in 'sex search' followed by Delhi. Chattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram and Nagaland seem to be the least interested in such activities (the search volume index for the states read zero).

Trinidad and Tobago look for porn via Google the most. Bangladesh comes in second. United Kingdom is at number three. And most, obviously, look for "free porn".



Lesser developed countries seem to more eagerly seek their national identity online than more developed countries. A random search showed that the country name ranked as the top searched item in these countries (India is an exception).

Countries that have witnessed turmoil feature prominently in the search for "peace".



Some random snippets to end this post:

* Honduras is most interested in Paris Hilton
* Albania seems to have a huge Pamela Anderson following
* Americans like their guns, but followed in the second place by Iraq
* The US is still looking for WMDs on Google
* But Cameroon seems to be more interested in Saddam Hussein (US doesn't make it to the top of the list for Saddam Hussein searches)
* India seeks the most 'outsourcing', the developed world (besides Singapore) doesn't seem to care much
* Nepal has the hots for "Aishwarya Rai"
* Katrina Kaif is more popular in Pakistan than in India
* Salman Khan is a huge hit in Somalia. Nepal is a faraway second.
* The Somalis also drool over Kareena. Pakistanis are a distant runner-up
* Pakistan and Fiji are more interested in Bollywood than India
* The Kiwis seem to the most excited about the Olympics
* Indians express the most interest for "silicon implants", but the popularity of the term seems to be fading over time.

Do come up with more interesting Insights.

(The above 'findings' are just assumptions via my limited understanding of Google Insights for Search and should not be construed as real)

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Firefox 3: It's a New Guinness World Record

As expected Firefox 3 created a new Guinness World Record or the most software downloaded in 24 hours.

Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we now hold a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. From 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008, 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3 and are now enjoying a safer, smarter and better Web.

Ever since Firefox was launched in 2004 we've relied on our community to help us spread the word, and thanks to projects including crop circles, newspaper ads, giant stickers, videos, blogs and more we now have over 180 million users in more than 230 countries.

So what's next? We'll just have to wait and see what YOU come up with!

Here's my certificate of contribution (Get yours from here):

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Help Firefox 3 Create a World Record

Join Firefox in its mission to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours!

Sounds like a good deal, right? All you have to do is get Firefox 3 during Download Day to help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours - it’s that easy. We're not asking you to swallow a sword or to balance 30 spoons on your face, although that would be kind of awesome.

The official date for the launch of Firefox 3 is June 17, 2008

To take part in this effort, just download Firefox 3 as soon as it is available, preferably from Download Day Headquarters. You'll get a customised certificate by downloading from Headquarters.

Firefox fans in India have to download Firefox 3 from the Download Day Headquarters by 11:46 PM [23:46] on June 18, 2008 to be able to contribute to the record-making download count.

Update: There were more than eight million Firefox 3 downloads in 24 hours.

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The First Ever Dot Com

TheLongestListOfTheLongestStuffAtTheLongestDomainNameAtLongLast.com (Now that's a loooooong domain name) has put up a list of the first ever dot coms to be registered.

...the first .com which was registered on March 15 1985 and it was symbolics.com which still happens to be up and running, although not much to look at.

[Via Slashdot]

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Regenerate Disappeared Firefox Extensions / Add-ons

This morning as I logged onto my work PC, I found that all the extensions/add-ons that I had installed had disappeared. Even the add-ons manager was not responding, though it showed the installed extensions but the controls didn't work and the window just remained stuck there.

I first suspected the IT support guys to be behind this, they often come up with wierd ideas to restrict a hassle-free browsing environment. But then I doubted their abilities.

A little googling and the problem was solved. The reason was a recent update. And the fix is not that difficult.

First look for your Firefox profiles folder. As this folder could be hidden. To show hidden folders, open Windows Explorer and choose Organize -> Folder and Search Options -> Folder Options -> View (tab) -> Show hidden files and folders.

Delete three files from your profiles folder.

extensions.ini
extensions.cache
extensions.rdf

Make sure Firefox is not running when deleting these files. Firefox will regenerate these files on restart.

[All the gyan is from here]

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Good Riddance, Pesky Callers

For once the adholic in me was pleased to see an advertisement released by the Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) - who aren't exactly known for creativity in advertising. This ad was in typical DAVP style - unappealing. But the appeal was in what it said and not how it was expressed. Relased on behalf of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) it announced the establishment of India's National Do Not Call Registry.

I came to know of the abundant money in the Indian economy through telecallers, who would have even offered me a loan for the purchase of new chaddies. Now that I've changed my number and the new one hasn't reached the unscrupulous - but nevertheless enterprising - people out there. Now it's only my mobile service provider who irritates me with those midnight messages asking me to subscribe for a Himesh Reshammiya caller tone. Not a bad idea though, it might just act as a repellant for people who call me up at uncomfortable hours.

In an act of desperation, they had replaced human callers with recorded voices. "Darling..." the voice from the other end said. I was a little taken aback. No one calls me that and that too in a wannabe seductive tone. I disconnected on hearing the next few sentences, disappointed, it was just a recorded voice. My do-not-disturb requests to the service provider have till date gone unheeded.

Hope this National Do Not Call Registry will go some way in restoring my peace with my mobile phone. Here's what the ad said:



(The original - see image above - was in all caps and gawky fonts, I've changed the case and the rest is verbatim)

Telephone users not wanting commercial calls/unwanted calls may now register request with their telephone operator

* For registering contact your telecom operator through phone-customer care-SAM-online-through letter
* Telecom operators have allotted specific numbers for registering your request through phone and SMS
* Telecom operators after verifying your request will intimate registration number within 10 days
* 45 days after registration no commercial calls/unwanted calls will come on your registered phone number
* Even after 45 days if you receive unwanted calls/SMS from telemarketers, you can lodge complaint with your telecom operator giving details from where call/SMS received along with phone number
* Telecom operator will register your complaint for taking suitable action
* No extra charge will be levied by telecom operator for availing this service

For more details visit: www.ndncregistry.gov.in

Though the process can tale up to 55 days (10+45), it might be worth the wait. But TRAI should try to cut down the processing time, in the US it is about 31 days, but that too in today's e-era seems too long a time.

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An Afternoon at the Taj

[Click on image for a larger view / download options]

A few photographs from my visit to the Taj at the last puff of 2006.

From the Archaeological Survey of India plaque outside the monument:

The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (reign 1628-1658 AD), grandson of Akbar, the Great, in memory of his queen Arjumand Bano Begum, entitled 'Mumtaz Mahal.' She was niece of Empress Nur Jahan and grand-daughter of Mirza Ghias Beg "I'timad-ud-Daulah" Vazir of Emperor Jehangir. She was born in 1593 and was married to Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) in 1612. She died in 1631 on the birth of her 14th child, at Burhanpur where she was temporarily buried. Six months later the body was transferred to Agra and finally enshrined in the crypt of the main tomb. Shah Jahan who died in 1666 was also buried here. The Taj Mahal is the mausoleum of both Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. Originally styled as 'Pauza-i-Munavvara' and 'Rauza-i-Mumtaz Mahal,' gradually it became famous as Taj Mahal and Taj-Bibi-ka-Rauza (the Garden Tomb of the Taj Queen).

It is sited at the right bank of the river Jamuna at a point where it takes a sharp turn and flows eastward. The location has a correct orientation for the adjunct-mosque, minimum thrust of water, and above all, a large natural lake to provide it with a continuous protective cover of moisture. The river with 30 feet deep clean water was thus a constituent of its original design.

Originally the land where the Taj Mahal stands belonged to the Kachhwahas of Amer (Jaipur) and was acquired from them in lieu of four havelis. The construction began from the foundations. A network of wells was laid in the sub-structure to support the huge building. Masons, stonecutters, inlayers, carvers, painters, calligraphers, dome-builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the Empire and from Central Asia and Iran. While bricks for internal skeleton were locally made, white marble for external surfaces was obtained from Makrana. Semi-precious stones for inlay ornamentation were brought from distant regions of India, Ceylon and Afghanistan. It was completed in 1648 in 17 years, at the cost of Rupees four crore (40 million) when gold was sold at Rs 15 per tola (11.66 grams).

In all, it covers an area of 60 bhigas. As terrain gradually sloped from south to north, towards the river, it is laid out in descending terraces. At the southern point is the forecourt with the main gate in the front and tombs of Akbarabadi Begum and Fatehpuri Begum, two other queens of Shah Jahan, on its south-east and south-west corners, respectively. On the second terrace is a spacious char-bagh garden divided into four quarters by broad shallow canals, with wide walkways and cypress avenues on the sides. They are studded with fountains which were fed by overhead water tanks situated in the adjoining Bagh Khan-i-'Alam.

The main tomb is placed at the northern edge of this garden, to tower majestically on the river. It integrated the Taj with the blue sky, and provided it with a beautiful natural background, which was constantly changing from sunrise to midnight. The changing colours of the sky descended softly on its white marble and it looked ever new at every moment. This newness is the secret of its beauty.

The main tomb was designed under the guidance of the Emperor himself. It marks the perfect moment in the evolution of Mughal tomb-architecture and only its composition is novel. Thus the minarets are detached and placed to face the chamfered angles (corners) of the main tomb. Its perfect proportions were evolved in wooden models and, though it is such a gigantic building, rising to 285 feet from the river level with 187 feet width (of the main tomb), it looks in fact like a small model. Its geometrical symmetry is also unique. On its sides are red sandstone Mosque and Jam'at-Khana, architecturally for a contrast.

Though it has some wonderful specimens of polychrome inlay art, in the interior: on the dados, on cenotaphs and on the marble jhajjari (jali-screen) around them, and on the exterior on the spandrels of the arches, this ornament is sparce and minimal, and it does not play any role in the total aesthetic effect of the building, which is totally architectonic.

It was efficiently maintained by expert architects and engineers with the help of skilled masons, gardeners, and other workers, until it fell on bad days, in the 18th century AD [Portion of text whitened out. Probably refers to vandalism by the colonial powers. A mention which perhaps wasn't to the liking of some]. The British replaced the original gold kalash finial in 1810 and, the Taj was once - during the regime of William Bentinck - put to auction only for the value of its marble. Fortunately this sacrilege was averted. The Taj survived, although in bare skeletal form without the imperial coverings. Since the Archeological Survey of India was established in 1861, it is properly maintained and conserved.

One of the most beautiful creations of man on earth, it is variously admired: as a 'Materialised vision of Loveliness,' a 'Dream in Marble,' a 'Nobel Tribute to the Grace of Indian Womanhood' and a 'Resplendent Immortal Tear Drop on the Cheek of Time.' It symbolises India's composite culture. It is reckoned among the wonders of the world and is inscribed as a WORLD HERITAGE SITE by UNESCO.

According to a rough calculation based on the figures mentioned above, the cost of construction of the Taj Mahal in today's currency would be around Rs 2,604 crores (Rs 26.04 billion), the US currency equivalent would be approximately $651 million.

In comparison Delhi's ostentatious Akshardham Temple took Rs 200 crores to build.

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Trademark Sense

It is rather difficult for me (or anybody else) to type something like this:

"The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software."

It is so much easier to write and read:

"The image was photoshopped."

But trademark owners would never see the reason. Therefore they say:

The Photoshop trademark must never be used as a common verb or as a noun. The Photoshop trademark should always be capitalised and should never be used in possessive form, or as a slang term. It should be used as an adjective to describe the product, and should never be used in abbreviated form.

Moreover, those '®' symbols do not always display properly.

[via Digg]

[Update]

For all their gyaan, Adobe uses 'photoshop' as a verb on their own site:

Found by searching for 'photoshopped' on adobe.com internal search. This is result #12, right next to the ones where they're ragging on the general public for doing this exact thing. C'mon, guys, couldn't you do a basic search of your own site first? Ugh

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Indian English Primer

What is the difference between an alphabet and a letter? Many people (including some editors) confuse alphabet for letter. 'Z' is a letter, not an alphabet. It isn't the alphabet Z, it is the letter Z. Alphabet is the complete character set - A to Z (or whatever, according to the script), letters are the elements within.

Here's a primer in the alphabet (with translations in Devanagri/Hindi). Note the classic drawing style, also found in calendar art and early movie posters. Reminds me of my nursery classes. Kids (and even grownups) were as a rule - chubby, reflecting the traditional Indian preferences, until anorexic models filled magazine pages and the boob tube.

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2007 - The Year of the Mobile?

Last year everyone was all gaga about the Moto RAZR. I was too, looking at the ads and reading the reviews. Until I got my hands on one. It's good, but not as good as I had expected it to be, given the widespread extolment. Its lwasn't exactly the stunner that it pretended to be. It should have been a little slimmer. The guys at Moto overheard me (all my great ideas get lifted this way) and came up with the KRZR, over a centimetre narrower than its predecessor. But now it looks anorexic (usually happens with stolen ideas).



At the Global Mobile Awards 2007, the awards winning phones were:

Samsung's SGH-D900 (Best GSM Mobile Handset or Device)



and Sony Ericsson K800 Cyber-Shot phone (Best 3GSM Mobile Handset or Device)



As the seventh year from the year that many celebrated as the beginning of the new millennium (but the Cubans didn't) began, the horticulturists at Apple unveiled to the world the hybrid of a mobile phone, an iPod and an internet communications device.





If you were all ogling that the sexy thing (expectedly) called the iPhone, LG and Prada delivered a sexy babe (the mobile, not the girl).





The drool session isn't over yet, here's a Swede bombshell - Neonode N2 (it supposedly can give the iPhone a real scare).





And there'll be many more. It's only February.

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The Megapixel Hoax

Don't go for megapixels I tell everyone and even had written about it in a tech column that I used to pen for a youth magazine. But given all the guru gyaan and the advertising blitzkrieg that digicam companies have embarked upon, very few people had taken my advice seriously.

About a year later I find a voice of support, from New York Times columnist David Pogue.

"But one myth is so deeply ingrained, millions of people waste money on it every year. I’m referring, of course, to the Megapixel Myth.

It goes like this: “The more megapixels a camera has, the better the pictures.”

It’s a big fat lie. The camera companies and camera stores all know it, but they continue to exploit our misunderstanding. Advertisements declare a camera’s megapixel rating as though it’s a letter grade, implying that a 7-megapixel model is necessarily better than a 5-megapixel model."

I own a 4.1 megapixel camera, but I hardly shoot any photos using the highest resolution, most of my photos are shot at 1 megapixel, and the results are as good. In fact a few of my best photographs have been shot at VGA resolution (640X480) and the prints are as clear as the rest. Unless I need a humongous print of my pics (which is a 1 in 100,000 possibility), what would I do with a 10 megapixel camera?

Most of us hardly get prints of our pics and when we do we get at most a postcard-sized print. That's many thousands of rupees of worthless megapixels down the drain. I would suggest that you put your money where it matters - the lens. And no digital zoom please. That's another hoax.

[The accompanying pic was shot at VGA resolution (640X480)]

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Rubbers of India - II

Boing Boing termed my earlier post on Indian condoms 'bottomless.' Now researchers have 'discovered' that condoms "made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men." Damn! I wrote such a long post and still my brethren fell short.

Almost every newspaper and website has this story. But didn't we know this for long. At least women abroad know better. A few had posed me the question during online chats (no, I wasn't on any of 'those' chat rooms).

Clothing brands had realised this much earlier, only that they are implementing it now. But then it was for the visible portions. For something like a condom, it is just a little difficult. And with samples, however large they are there's always a chance of having it skewed. The suggestion of having different sizes is welcome (in addition to flavours, colours, texture there'll also be a choice between S, M, L, XL and XXL). But like women, many of whom are not aware of their perfect cup sizes (the calculation, like most things female, is a little confusing), it will take some instructions for men to know which category they 'fit in.' Different experts still have varied opinions on how to go about the measuring exercise.

There's also an online Definitive Penis Size Survey (contains images which might not be safe for work) In case you are interested in an unscientific measurement exercise, which will not require you to drop your pants, try this out (safe for work, requires Flash).

Anyway does size matter (Cliched question, I know that. But the answers are always interesting)?

[Initially thought of not posting about this story, then Shivam sent me a link. Then thought that it might just be my forte and moreover many people were already visiting this blog looking for that story. I don't want to disappoint anyone. The last post had got too long, will post updates on this page, until this too gets bottomless]

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Push-Ups Go Down Under

Czech model Eva Herzigova said "Hello boys," in that famous Wonderbra ad, a dozen years ago, and we all responded in a full throated "Hi!"



The times they have changed. And the guys Downunder are focussing on, what else, the stuff down under.



The briefs (Wonderjock) are named 'Patriot' and the product description on the website says:

Your country has never been prouder and neither have you! The new 'wondercup' technology in these attention-grabbing, all-cotton Patriot briefs will have you seriously looking bigger and feeling amazing.

Since the elastic band reads "Property of Australia," it cannot expect much of Indian orders, especially after the Pawar shove.

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Thousand Pictures in One

Learnt about this via Amit's post. Always envied the collage/mosaic artists and wanted to do something similar. Never did. The closest I came to making a collage of sorts was when I was asked to design the template for a blog called - The Collage.

Had seen quite a few of photomosiacs, but didn't know that they could also be so easy to create. Pre, a member of Adelaider.com has created an image mosaic generator. It doesn't get easier than this, even if it is not creatively stimulating. All you have to do is to upload a JPEG, GIF or PNG image, wait for a few minutes (the resultant image is usually in megs) and view the image. You also have options to directly print or download the image.

Tried these two:
(Click on the images to see a larger detailed picture)

(The Cutting the Chai logo)

(My profile image)

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