I now see a new and encouraging trend in a company’s efforts to be visible in the marketplace. And I’m not talking about press, outdoor, film or television. The new recipe has carefully hand-picked ingredients that can even get a steak to sizzle : bloggers. Bloggers, specially invited to a freewheeling session that is informal, interactive and informative.

I was recently invited to a product curtain raiser for bloggers and my invite gave me a sneak preview of two new Lenovo products. The new IdeaCentre A600 and IdeaPad Y650 – just off the blocks from the Lenovo launch pad. After the presentations were concluded, the bloggers were invited to test drive the two machines and interact with the Lenovo team on features, specs, support and compatibility with typical user profiles.

One of difficult things about a bloggers’ meet with a corporate agenda is the actual handling of the event – especially in terms of presentation logic. It can’t be orchestrated, or formal. It can’t be to a script. And it can’t be blow-dried. So, it has to be open-ended, freewheeling and meandering – with no timers set on presentations and discussions. And that is exactly what this bloggers’ meet was all about.

For details, visit

http://barcampbangalore.org/wiki/Main_Page

And if you want to know in detail what a Barcamp is, go to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp

I have earlier been a little hesitant to join in, thinking that it would be full of tech stuff…but each time, I found more than enough to hold and kindle my interest! It’s a great atmosphere, and one can jump into whatever one finds strikes a chord (yes, there are also impromptu jam/music sessions!)

Be there….

A tax collector moves around HAL market to collect taxes from vendors selling vegetables in the market the device used helps retrieve tax dues and prints instant receipts storing the data that can then be uploaded onto the central databases once back in office….

Why the barrage of them, you ask? Well, the ‘biggie’ search engine guys have found that search engine data show many users – roughly between 5% to 30% – searching for local or geography based queries which, in turn, lead them to a buying / availing a service decision. As there is money or potential money to be made catering to these folks searching, well, you get the idea. Of course, moving onto a revenue model at the outset is tricky so things do take time.

Bangalore is no exception to these online services. There are many local search engines here – a simple type on google with “Bangalore, local, city search engines” will give you a number of them and more. Here at MB, we’ve even profiled one of them. If you’ve gotten over that one, here’s one more for you.

It all started a while ago when Sumeeta moved in to Bangalore from Bhubaneshwar around August 2006. Bangalore captured her heart immediately and with gusto, she went around finding places to check out, eat at and shop. Not satisfied with the results of her searches online, she decided to do something about it. Hence was born mycitybuddy, a city search engine for the web and mobile, that lists only the best businesses in the city. In-depth information about each business address, description, maps and driving directions, ratings and reviews, panoramic images with multimedia content, contact tools like email and SMS are her site’s USP.

She readily admits that MyCityBuddy is still in its infant stage and a lot of ground work is being done on the features before a formal launch is announced, perhaps, in 2008. Currently, users can get loads of info on hotels, restaurants, pubs, shops, travel, airlines etc and work is ongoing to have other services like service apartments, movies, theatres etc. Users can also rate and recommend businesses to ensure their trustworthiness. Plans are afoot, she adds, to introduce the service to other metros as well.

Personally, I found two unique things about MyCityBuddy- their SMS Mobile search engine where customers can SMS their search queries to 56006 and search results are sent back to their mobile within seconds. I tried ‘Barista’ and was given many options. Replying again with the option number got me further details on the exact location of the coffee shop with tel. numbers. Saying ‘how convenient’ would be an understatement. Secondly, MyCityBuddy guides users/customers to the exact location of their search via Google maps. To those who are even more tech savvy, they plan to give you latitude and longitude data as well so that your GPS thingamajigs can find the place too!

Savvy businessfolk can also contact MyCityBuddy to use their SMS promotional tool to offer special deals, promos and coupons etc to customers. MyCityBuddy also has inplace a text ticketing system that will allow users to book tickets from anywhere, anytime.

Whew!

All one can say is that, in this day and age of innovation & enterprise, Bangalore certainly is not lacking in entrepreneurs who have a flair for seizing opportunities & capitalizing on the same.

ATB, MCB!

Broadband speeds are poised for an explosive growth. Pushing the limits, Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced the launch of broadband internet access at 8 mbps for the first time in the country. The speed offered is much more than the 256 kbps to 4 mbps now available for the mass users. At 8 mbps, the Airtel broadband network will be IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) ready. The high speed broadband will be commercially available within the next three weeks in Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Kolkatta, Delhi and the National Capital Region, with a subsequent roll out in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

So what are you waiting for!! The new revolutions make it easier now to choose your TV channels via Internet anywhere in the world!! Isn’t it a time to bring Dreams into reality!!

“Reliance Communications (RCOM) will soon launch its wireless broadband technology commonly known as WiMax in Pune and Bangalore in June. Unlike wireless fidelity (wi-fi), where radio waves can cover up to 30 meters, WiMax services are accessible for over 10 miles in theory. WiMax is offering better mobility to the users without being connected by a wire to a service operator. Indian wireless market, which is growing rapidly by 40%, is expected to react positively to the new technology” Refer..

While many netzians keep struggling to get their boradbands connections from various players in the market and due to resource limitations they have to wait to get online. The bandwidth and reach of WiMAX make it suitable for the following potential applications:

1. Connecting Wi-Fi hotspots with each other and to other parts of the Internet.
2. Providing a wireless alternative to cable and DSL for last mile (last km) broadband access.
3. Providing high-speed data and telecommunications services.
4. Providing a diverse source of Internet connectivity as part of a business continuity plan. That is, if a business has a fixed and a wireless internet connection, especially from unrelated providers, they are unlikely to be affected by the same service outage. etc

Many companies are closely examining WiMAX for “last mile” connectivity at high data rates. This could result in lower pricing for both home and business customers as competition lowers prices and with a faster and reliable access to Internet . Enough heard! When will it work? Let’s keep our fingers crossed!!!

Go to Hyderabad Muni site and find handy links to register your grievance, and track them as well! Whats more, they have an online way to take in RTI queries as well (seems broken today, but did work last time I checked).

While I sure hope these grand citizen friendly online things work for Hyderabad, Bangalore site (BBMP) has been making us wait for an online grievance system. Sep 2006 was their self-enforced deadline, hope they put it up soon.

For lazy keyboard-warriors like us (who are good for not much else!), I think online RTI and complaint systems should be good tools for activism, isn’t it? Hopefully soon!

BP and Tata plan to invest USD 100 million to create solar mega plant in Bangalore to meet the demands of Indian and global solar PV markets.
On Mar. 21, 2007, at the inauguration of a new 36MW solar photovoltaic (PV) production line, the board of Tata BP Solar confirmed that this represents another step towards realizing the designed potential of the 300 MW plant. The new production line has seen TBPS more than double its cell manufacturing capacity to reach some 50 MW per annum. The next phase of the expansion will see an additional 128 MW of cell manufacturing capacity added during 2007-08

This Tata BP Solar is a Joint Venture between Tata Power Company, a pioneer in the power sector in India and BP Solar, one of the largest solar companies in the world. The company is focused on designing, engineering, manufacturing, supplying and installing Solar Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal systems that cater to both domestic and industrial needs.

Though our country has an enormous renewable energy potential, the current installed capacity of around 8100-MW is currently derived from renewable energy sources like sun, wind and biomass. Even though it constitutes just about 7% of the total installed power generation capacity, we are one of the pioneers in utilizing a part of its huge reserve of renewable energy sources. Perhaps time has come to seriously look at such options for cities like Bangalore where the sunshine is available for more than 300 days in a year!! Indeed a welcome move, isn’t it?

In a big revolutionary move towards ‘Open source Computing’ was set forth by the Simputer project. Alchemy – the user interface used on the Amida Simputer – has been open sourced, and the code has been released under the General Public License. By “open sourcing” the code, it would mean that the software would be made available to the general public with either relaxed or non-existent intellectual property restrictions.

The Simputer is a self-contained, sharable and handheld computer, designed for situations where personal computers were inapt. Due to the low cost, and the attempt to make it sharable, it was also seen as useful to bring computing power to the “developing” countries.

Born in Bangalore, the Simputer project evoked a large interest across the globe in recent years, though the project failed to make the impact it was expected to earlier. Efforts are still underway though to build on the project, this move may prove it to be the right one, accordingly!!

Open sourcing of software projects is seen as beneficial as it enables users to build or improve user-generated software through incremental individual effort, or collaboration.

Way to go, Simputer!!

Bangalore is now home to 70 of the 130 firms (including multinationals) engaged in chip design in India. That makes it not just way ahead of the rest of the Indian competition but one of the top global clusters in chip design, comparable to Silicon Valley, Cambridge (UK) and Taiwan. Bangalore is second to Silicon Valley and ahead of the rest when compared to VLSI chip engineers working in here…given the pace at which chip design work is growing in Bangalore, it surely would gain the top spot in future.

Among the 70+ firms designing chips here, nearly 30 of these are captive offshore design centers of renowned MNCs. Seems that irrespective of where in the world an innovative chip design firm may be located, more and more of them are acquiring a Bangalore branch.

Quotes this interesting article, the Brand Bangalore getting into solid state via chipping in it’s share in the innovative technologies domain. The IT city is almost emerging to be the technology hub for most of companies operation in and around technologies, a ‘Tech-City” metamorphic may be ..

When compared to other chip design clusters of the world, Bangalore has the fastest growing community of VLSI engineers 15,000, next only to Silicon Valley in the US, which has 55 chip design services firms employing around 20,000 VLSI engineers. The fact that proves the skill pool and capabilities city has offered to the world supporting technical revolution.