There is a lot to deal with when one moves to a new country. Languages, accents and colloquialisms take some time to get used to, even when moving to another English speaking country. Moving to the US 10 years ago, I did have to make adjustments in the way I spoke and in the way I understood what others said to me. One of the biggest adjustments was the “wassup” adjustment. Took me a long time to realize that it was a greeting and not a question, and that I didn’t need to respond with a full answer. It’s similar to the “you alright?” or “alright?” greeting in the UK (or is this London only?). 

It’s taken me a lot less time to make similar adjustments in the UK, however.  But I just don’t get British advertising and the confusing (and annoying) language it uses. I’m sitting in an East Coast train on the way to Edinburgh right now, and across from me is a sign for their new first class service. The last sentence goes: it’s extra special and we haven’t put the prices up. 

“Put the prices up”?? Do they mean they haven’t raised prices or they haven’t displayed them? 

The other day, I was surfing the Sky website, wondering if I were to get Sky TV what kind of package I’d get. A little sign at the bottom of the page said something like “get £5 off when you also take a Sky phone line rental for £11.99”. (The amounts here aren’t accurate.) A phone line is a service that I purchase. And even if it was a physical product and not a service, I don’t “take” it. I pay a monthly fee for the next 12 (or maybe even 24) months for a service that I sign up for, I don’t just “take” it. What I do “take” is an extra helping of mushrooms or another slice of toast. Not a phone line service that I’m renting and signing a contract for. 

Ok, rant of the day done.

In the 2 weeks since the madness of April 2nd there have been countless articles & blog posts written, thousands of tribute vides created, many gifts distributed and god-only-knows-howmany emails circulated about India winning the 2011Cricket World Cup. Dhoni has been hailed a Midas, Yuvraj as the comeback-kid, and Sachin the saviour of a nation who carried the burden of a billion people until the Cup could be won back after a 28 year gap. Journalists have used the opportunity to write about how the win, the first by a country hosting the World Cup, represents India breaking the shackles of external dominance. It is a symbol of the confidence of a country bursting through and taking the bull by the horns.

The night of the victory was special for me. I hugged numerous strangers and had a smile plastered on my face for the next week. I’ve been a cricket fan (and sometime cricketer) since I was 10. A vague memory lingers in my head of watching the imposing Imran Khan lift the cup in 1992. 1996 is much clearer to me. My friends an I took to filling out the win/loss brackets in between classes playing hand cricket when teachers weren’t looking. I’m certain I wasn’t the only one embarassed by Vinod Kambli’s tears after the semi-final in Kolkata. Sri Lanka deserved to win. The 1999 edition was perfectly placed – In the summer vacation between my 10th and 11th grades. Sachin’s 140 against Zimbabwe after his father passing away, Rahul Dravid scoring the most number of runs despite India not reaching the semi finals and Lance Klusner’s appetite for big sixes are highs in a tournament that was otherwise largely forgettable for me. 2003 was exciting though, I was away from home for the first time watching and playing cricket with new friends. Trudging through a foot of snow drift at 2 am to walk to where I’d paid $100, along with 6 others to install a dish so we could receive the broadcast marks the pinnacle in my desperation to see India win. And they almost went all the way. The thrashing they gave England in the group stages, having Zimbabwe and Kenya qualify through to the the Super Sixes and finally having to beat Kenya in the semi-final, I thought this was India’s year. But then Ricky Ponting happened. I wont even go into the 2007 edition, it was that miserable.

In the 19 years since I’ve been watching cricket, I’ve also been one of very people I know who truly enjoy Test Cricket. I watch any game India plays, and all 5 days if possible. And if England, Australia, or South Africa are involved against anyone else I’ll usually watch the game too. As I alluded to earlier, I also fancy myself a cricketer of sorts. My first coach believed I’d be a decent seam bowler given my lanky build. I quickly found myself more interested in the art of wicket keeping, however. But given the opportunity I’d love a bat up the order as well. Yes, a bits and pieces player who ended the president of the Drexel Cricket Club and even captained the University club team on occasion. Tennis ball cricket was a frequent pastime in the American summer as well.

So why this story? Yes, I’ve been waiting a long time for India to win the 50-over Cricket World Cup. Yes, Yuvraj Singh has proved he’s capable of a renaissance, MS Dhoni has appeared out of nowhere to first be the #1 batsman in ODI cricket, lead the Indian team to the #1 test rank in the world, and win both the 20-20 and ODI cricket world cup. But for a fan like me, is it too little too late? I’ve been vocal (when asked, of course) that ODI cricket needs to end. For all its quirks as a sport, I don’t believe that even Cricket can sustain 3 formats at the international level, especially with only 7 or 8 teams capable of competing at that level. T20 cricket has been great for the sport. It has lead to innovative stroke play, more thoughtful bowling and cunning captaincy. It has enabled the discovery of players who may never of shined otherwise, courtsey the IPL. And finally, it has elevated cricket to a truly professional sport. Players who may never have gotten an international contract can now make a true living just on the T20 format.

Many believe that the success of the 50-over World Cup in India shows that the format is healthy and can survive many more years. The ICC has, in fact, already begun preparations for the 2015 and 2019 editions (to be held in Australia and England, respectively). Sachin will certainly no longer be playing. MS Dhoni & Yuvraj Singh, both 29 years of age, may no longer be playing. That’s not my concern though. My concern is for the longest format of the sport. Will Test cricket still be a viable option in 2019? With our short attention spans, will anyone really care of a game that lasts 5 days? And if fans don’t demand it, broadcasters will now show it. And without advertisers, there can not be Test cricket as we know it (when was the last time you saw Table Tennis on TV outside of the Olympics?)

Yes, as much as I enjoyed the 2011 victory (strangers in Trafalgar Square will testify to that), and watching every other edition of the cup, I believe that it doesn’t bode well for the future of Test Cricket. Outside of India, Englad, Australia and maybe South Africa the sport becomes completely unviable. Even in India it is impossible to fill a stadium for a 5 day game unless it is a weekend and there is the possibility of seeing Sachin score a century. We’re starting to lose what made Cricket special in the first place. Maybe the future greats will emerge in the T20 format, but count me amongst the skeptical. The best ODI players have also been the best in the longer game. No one really remember Michael Bevan or Ajay Jadeja. They remember Gary Sobers, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh, and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Muralitharan, and Anil Kumble are the names that come to mind when one thinks of modern bowling legends. Images of Yusuf Pathan, Mike Hussey, or Paul Valathy will never adorn the dressing room at Lords.

Yes, at the risk of angering 1.2 billion Indians, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it may have been better for the future of Cricket as a sport if India has crashed out of the 2011 World Cup early on. We may now never see the next Sachin Tendulkar take guard against the next Shane Warne and that is a loss of immeasurable proportions.

Apart from being Amazon’s best selling product, the Kindle has also gotten customers accustomed to carrying around a tablet-sized device on their person. Although it is a single purpose device (yes, I know it has a few cute games like Minesweeper) consumers have shown they trust the Amazon brand and are willing to buy wirelessly. But is the retail juggernaut getting ready to take on the likes of Apple’s iPad and Motorola’s Xoom with a Kindle device based on the Android operating system? Recent moves certainly point in that direction.

Amazon’s own Android app store is definitely on its way with some aggressive pricing to boot, but what’s more interesting is that Lab 126, the Amazon division that is responsible for the Kindle is looking to build up its Android development team. The New York Time’s Bits blog reports that at least 5 new job openings have recently cropped up on the Lab 126 website for developers with Android programming experience.

Now this is not necessarily indication that an Android tablet is forthcoming from Amazon, but with the tablet market already exploding, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bezos & Co are contemplating offering up such a device. An Android based tablet will almost certainly have a color display, but the Amazon CEO has previously stated that a color Kindle is several year away. Also, the technology behind color E Ink is not quite ready for prime time.

But it is fun to speculate isn’t it, dear reader? What do you think – should Amazon go down the tablet route with Android and build a device that offers up more than just the latest books and the occasional game of Sudoku?

Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/is-amazon-working-on-an-android-kindle/?ref=technology

While American mobile carriers make earnest moves to deploy 4G networks, their counterparts in the UK seem satisfied with deploying faster 3G networks. Back in January, Ofcom, the British telecom regulatory authority, published a statement allowing “GSM refarming”. This means carriers are now able to offer 3G services on the 900MHz band, which was previously reserved for 2G only.

O2, the UK subdivision of the telecom giant Telefonica Europe, is the first carrier to respond to the new ruling. It has turned on 3G services on their 900 MHz spectrum for customers in London and a few other cities (Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester). Customers will benefit from 50% increased network capacity and better coverage since the 900 MHz band has higher quality transmission characteristics than the than the 2100 MHz band, which is currently used for 3G service. Combined with their plans to bring completely free WiFi across the UK, customers should be pretty happy with the carrier.

If you’re an O2 customer in London, let us know in the comments if you’re seeing better service right away.

Source: http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/11135/O2_switches_on_new_superfast_3G_900MHz_network.aspx

Have you ever dreamed of combining your Magic Trackpad and Apple Wireless keyboard in to one seamless device? Well, now you can thanks to the Magic Connector. The $25 adapter works by joining your keyboard and trackpad at the bottom and comes in 4 models: a permanent connector that allows for the occasional separation for a battery change, a removable connector that promises not to separate if bumped, a magnetic (also removable) connector, and a connector if you happen to own the $60 Bluetooth Calculator Keypad that Apple sells on it’s website.

The best use case is probably that it keeps the devices side by side if you’re working on a desk, but if you have a Mac Mini HTPC set up this can be a nifty way of controlling it from the couch. If you fancy attaching some sticky velcro or magnets to your shiny Apple products, click past the break the check out the full marketing video.

<embedded Youtube video>

Source: http://magicconnector.com/

Favorite gadgets of all time:
iPad – Allows me to take my reading material (blogs & books) on the go, plus the occasional game of Angry Birds

Palm Treo 650 – My first smart phone, which I got in late 2004 on T-Mobile. It blew my mind that I could look up movie times without a computer near by.

Sony DSC-F717 – My first digital camera, which I got in early 2003, with my first real pay check. Though digital cameras had been on the market for some time by then, this camera’s lens tilt functionality, 5x zoom, and fast lens made it a great camera for beginners and intermediates. This was my first real Sony product, not counting the Walkman I owned as a kid. I’m still a bit of a Sony fanboy.

Sony Vaio T140P laptop – My first true ultra-portable laptop. I saved and skimped and saved to be able to afford this $2000 laptop in 2005. But at just about 3 pounds, it was a netbook before there were netbooks.

Google Nexus One – My current smart phone. I’ve gone through iPhones, Windows Mobile Phones, Web OS phones and Symbian phones. At this time, nothing can compare to Gingerbread on a Google Nexus device. And unless the iPhone let’s me use Swype or something similar at some point in the future, I’ll probably stay an Android user.

Sega Game Gear – I was a proud owner of the original Game Boy, but when Sega came to the market with a color hand held gaming device, I just had to have it. Sonic the Hedgehog was a dear friend of mine for a long time. Of course, I currently prefer my games on an Xbox 360 or Sony PS3 and played on screen projected by a a 1080p projector.

Macbook Air – I don’t own this, but I hope to be able to buy one soon. It’s second to none when it comes portable computing. I currently have a 15” MacBook Pro, which is a great primary computer, but it can also double a great lap-warmer!

How is Engadget different?
Engadget is the original technology blog – I’ve been an avid reader since it’s inception. It has defined the category and continues to be innovative in this space with things like the Engadget Podcast and Engadget Show (I hope that without Josh, Nilay and Paul these continue to be outstanding).

I enjoy the fact that Engadget Classic sticks to what is knows best – gadgets, but has other sister sites like Alt, Switched, Joystiq, Engadget Mobile and Engadget HD for more varied or specialised content. I also enjoy the sense of community around the blog, podcast and show. When I read, comment, listen or watch, it feels like I’m part of the group here (eg. Podcast Bingo!) . Readers are frequently asked to respond to posts, and this just increases the feeling of community. I also particularly enjoy that industry analysts like Michael Gartenberg and Ross Rubin contribute some very thought provoking posts.

Engadget reviews are rating systems, though rather controversial, are one of my favorite things on the blog – I enjoy that editors are not afraid to give frank and honest reviews and stand by their posts.

A few words about me:
About 10 years ago, when I was 19, I moved from Bangalore, India to the US to study at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. I graduated in 2006, with a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and a Master’s degree in Software Engineering. Upon graduation, I began working for Deloitte Consulting, LLP as a Technology Consultant. I spent 4 years there, mostly working to implement large scale IT systems for clients in the media industry and state governments. In late 2010, I moved to London, a city that I absolutely love! I recently began working for Tesco as an IT project manager.

I’m an avid reader of blogs, in all shapes and sizes and would be lost without Google Reader to manage my reading list. I’ve also infrequently blogged about nothing in particular, originally at www.krishnasrinivasan.com and now at www.kri.sh. I can also be found on Twitter (kr1shna) and I have an profile on About.me.

I love beer, and occasionally brew my own. I go out of my way to try beer that is new to me and at some point would love to start my own brewery. I have a mild-to-moderate stammer, as a result of which I’m a very good listener. It also means that I have a keen sense of the written word. I’m also an avid photographer, but don’t get to spend as much time with my camera as I would like.

I’ve been enamoured with computers ever since my father brought home an IBM PC/AT with a monochrome monitor, an Intel 286 CPU, no hard drive. The most interesting “application” on the computer was a game called Paratrooper. If I ever wanted to change games, the whole PC had to be rebooted by loading MS DOS into memory from a 5.25” floppy disk. Gadgets to me are an extension of what made that original computer interesting – I just wanted to learn everything I could possible do with it. I spend hours tinkering with every setting on all gadgets I own (and some I don’t) just to see what happens. Having the opportunity to write about them full time would be a dream come true.

Contact Information:
krishna@kri.sh
+44 797 643 5007

How much time I can commit to blogging:
I’m applying for the European editor position and I’m ready to commit to being a full-time blogger for Engadget.

Foreign languages:
I’m a fluent speaker of Hindi.

Experience with CSS / HTML / PHP coding, or otherwise monkeying with code in a content management system:
I’m largely self-taught in CSS and HTML. I also have some familiarity in PHP and other scripting languages like Javascript. I’ve previously written HTML and CSS code to manage my own WordPress installation, but I’ve not done any serious coding in about 4 years.

I’ve had experience with managing my own blogs, going back to 2002, when I installed Movable Type on my own web-server. After using this for about a year, I migrated my blog to my own installation of WordPress. Recently, I migrated from WordPress to Squarespace to manage my blog.

It has always irked me that the carriers in UK Mobile market claimed “unlimited” data when their products are far from unlimited (usually a 500 Mb monthly cap). Something ought to be done about the unfair advertising, or more and more people are going to be facing slowed data throughputs at the end of their 30 day cycle. Now that I’ve been shopping around for broadband, I’ve noticed this false advertising also affects broadband in the UK. While it is true that the increased competition offers lower prices and more features in terms of broadband availability, they all tend to generally advertise “unlimited” plans, while the small print talks about a data cap (generally 5 – 10 GB), after which the provider can slow your available bandwidth.

Lately though, I’ve noticed that some carriers are trying to move away from this (O2 doesn’t seem to have the word “unlimited data” on their home page and it took me a while to find the words “unlimited data an downloads on the Orange website, but find it I did). I attribute this to Three UK promoting it’s One plan, which apparently has “true” all-you-can-eat data. T-Mobile, however takes a different approach on their iPhone page. The wording on this page, under the title “No scary data charges” says, “But we won’t charge you any extra if you go over your limit. And, we’ll always let you browse and email, even if you’ve reached your data limit for streaming videos and downloading files”. Vodafone’s advertising on their website is perhaps the clearest of all – they offer different “web packs” that subscribers can buy, but even the best of those has a paltry 500 MB limit.

Also, why do these companies complicate things with Boosters (T-Mobile), Bolt-Ons (O2), Animal Plans (Orange) and Freebees (Vodafone)? And while I loved the Orange Wednesdays when I used them (2-for-1 cinema tickets), isn’t it just an extra cost that they can pass on to the consumer in terms of lower prices? I wouldn’t stick with Orange for these deals, I moved my number the moment I realised their 3G service was awful.

What prompted this rant? My search for a good broadband provider, now that we’re moving flat’s and need to get our own service. We’ve been using our landlord’s Sky broadband service so far, and while it’s been decent, there are definitely times when I know they’re throttling me down. And what does Sky’s broadband page say? There are 2 plans, the first with a ridiculously low 2GB monthly data allowance. The second one, while claiming to be “unlimited” has a soft cap of 40GB and is subject to network management policies. And oh, I need to sign a 12 month contract. BT is even worse, with an 18 month contract required and the “unlimited” broadband that is capped, but their T&C don’t mention what the cap is. Forum poster seem to claim it is 100 GB, which is decent, I suppose. I can’t seem to find any information on whether BT Vision usage (IPTV) contributes towards this cap, but it shouldn’t.

Anyway, rant time over and some good news: I was very pleasantly surprised at the very decent BT customer service when I ordered a new phone line at the flat we’re moving to. It was set up fairly quick and when I had to make a change to the activation date, it was done without any fuss at all. I was quite impressed. And with regards to the broadband I finally ended up singing with? BE Broadband – apparently the only UK ISP with no caps or any traffic shaping policy.

Note: Tesco mobile (I’m currently employed by Tesco) adverstises “unlimited” web and data on their pay monthly sim only plans, while the paragraph below that says “fair use policy applies” and states the montly data allowance is 500 Mb (yes, with a lower case “b”, meaning megabits.) *sigh*

I spend on average, 3-4 hours on day, if not more on Google Reader, Twitter, various blogs and other news reader applications. It was much higher during my unemployment. What really sucked is that I’d come across a great new blog or website and want to add it immediately to my Google Reader subscription list and this meant my bloated list of 150+ websites generated a 1000+ articles before I had got my morning cuppa tea. I’ve come to the unfortunate conclusion that there is no silver bullet to solve the information overload problem. But along the way I’ve developed some useful tips and strategies that I’m happy to share to help reduce the stress. Here they are in no order of importance

1. I now resist the urge to add a new blog/website to Google Reader unless it’s truly exception. Instead I subscribe to their Twitter feed, where I don’t feel so compelled to read every Tweet. If for some reason more than 12 hours has passed since I’ve been on Twitter, I just scroll to the top (*wince*) and try not to to think about what I’ve missed. I also resist “liking” brands on Facebook as this pollutes my Facebook stream, which I try to keep to only personal contacts.

2. I trust the long list of people I follow on Twitter, who are mostly in tech/public policy/govt/news, will throw up or retweet anything that I shouldn’t be missing. The hardest part was getting over the feeling that I’m “missing” something on Twitter just because I skipped a few hours worth of Tweets, but now that I have, there is much less remorse.

3. A few weeks ago I ruthlessly culled my Google Reader feeds to the ones that I really read or care about. One fantastic thing about Google is that their tools have great statistics. Buried within your feeds somewhere is a Trends page that shows what articles for a particular feed you read, how many you clicked, etc. Very useful to help trim the wild growth. I also deleted feeds that don’t publish full text RSS, unless the site is something I care about. The extra click to go to the page, and wait for all the articles and ads to load was too time consuming. Additionally, I removed all news sites from my RSS feeds. NYTimes, Guardian, Cricinfo etc. sometimes published hundreds of articles a day that left my unread count very high. Finally, I stopped being afraid to click the “Mark all as read” button.

4. I bookmarked Techmeme.com (a news aggregator for tech news that has the latest, popular, and breaking news on its front page) and visit it before I go to Google reader. This gives my a very quick update on tech news and helps me skim my Google Reader articles faster.

5. For longer articles, like on the New Yorker or the Atlantic website, I save them to Instapaper and then read them from my phone when I’m on the tube or have some down time. This ensures I don’t forget about them but I’m not spending ages reading them when I’m on my computer and could be more productive. I’ve also started using Pulse on my iPad more, it’s a very well designed news reader and I use it for websites that tend to produce more in-depth, or longer articles. I generally get to Pulse in the night, just before falling asleep.

6. Finally, this morning (before I got your email, I swear) I was surfing Quora (another website that I’m now addicted to), I saw a question about RSS overload, and the answer recommend Feedly. It’s a very light Chrome extension that integrates with Google Reader and is supposed to do a good job of recommending what is popular in your feeds. I don’t know how it does this, and I’ve only used it once this morning, so the jury is still out.

Bottom line, there is no one way to reduce the RSS overload. This has what has worked for me, and I continue to refine my methods. If you find something better, do let me know!

I’ve tried Delerium Tremens before (not a big fan), but for the first time today I tried Delerium Nocturnum. It comes in a 11.2 oz bottle with an interesting label & packaging (pink elephant in blue swirls!) As a beer, I prefer this to the Nocturnum. It poured as a dark, almost coffee colored liquid with very little head. The aroma is fruity, reminding me of red grapes or raisins. It is very drinkable and is lighter than it looks/smells. The 8.5% alcohol is well hidden by a pleasant creaminess and carbonation as it goes down. But at $5 a bottle, retail, not one I’ll be buying for casual drinking.

I also just realized, courtesy the great Wiki in the cloud that there is a fair bit of controversy surrounding the name of Delerium Tremens. These beers were apparently banned from the US & Canada for a fair bit because of their names.