Indicast - All Podcasts

The Navratri and Durga festivals have ended along with the Common Wealth Games but, the action surrounding CWG seems to be heating up. CBI, Enforcement Directorate and several other investigation bodies are readying themselves for games. In other top news stories of the week, India got elected as a non permanent to the UN Security Council after 20 long years, Kerala police bust a gang of telemarketers, and Nirmohi Akhara and Muslim law board decide to take the Ayodhya issue to the supreme court.

After a lot of negative press leading upto CWG, the opening ceremony has a bit hit. The jugaad worked, again. India has had a successful CWG campaign so far and are ranked 2nd in the medal tally behind Australia. The other topics discussed include Sachins and Laxmans exploit against Australia, launch of Project Aadhaar, and Indias billionaire list.

It's a big day for Microsoft and Manan was there to witness it. Microsoft announced the Windows Phone 7 and, according to Manan, they have got it right this time. The hardware and software are completely redesigned to be a worthy contender for your money. Manan dropped off after talking Windows phone but Rati Chaudhary, Principal Science & Technology Correspondent at CNN IBN, kept me company to discuss DRDO's attempt to create an OS for India, Microsoft and Adobe getting cozy, and a few other topics.

Kalmadi, finally, stepped up and owned up to his responsibility with a few caveats about the money spent by the organizing committee but the bad press for CWG continues. The Ayodhya verdict is expected today and the government has taken the security concerns very seriously. Offices and schools plan to remain closed in anticipation of problems but does the Ayodhya issue really matter any anymore? In other topics, we discuss the unfortunate incident that killed 7 elephants, visa requirements for Indians, space tourism, Peepli LIVE as India's entry to Oscars and update on the spot fixing controversy.

We might have missed the pakistan "spot fixing" saga and then the Gokulashtami celebration but are back in time for Ganpati. The recent Jama Masjid firing might just cause a dip in the collections at Mumbai's largest Ganesh mandal. The other stories include waiting for the decision on Ayodhya, CWG mess, Sania's faux pas, Mahesh Bhupathi's innovative tax planning and China making me thank for being an Indian. In the interest of avoiding further delays, we recorded the episode via cell phone so please bear with the audio quality.

Research in Motion, the Canadian company which manufactures the world famous business device Blackberry is in a fix. It is running against a tight deadline set by the Indian government. Like other countries where Blackberry operates, India demands that Blackberry mails and SMSs be allowed to be scanned for security reasons. In other news, Nokia entered the dual SIM market in India. Google's Youtube has opened up a pay per view for 5USD where you can rent movies online.

This episode of Indicast starts on a rather sad note with the flood situation in Leh and Pakistan. The rescue efforts are in full swing in both places, but like most desperate situations the aid is still far from sufficient. The rest of the world is also facing a lot of heat due to climate change. The magnitude of news that the Commonwealth Games is churning has reaching new proportions with new scams and cases misappropriation of funds showing up.

We have a lot of hardware oriented stories ranging from tablet PC devices, mobiles phone to even "Made-in-India" super computer called Annapurna developed by the Institute of Mathetical Sciences.Other stories include Make My Trip IPO, Blackberry getting into trouble with several countries, Yahoo Japan signing up with Google and Google shutting down Wave. Manan Kakkar joins in as a guest contributor for this podcast.

We are back after a break and you might be getting a bit tired of us saying that over and over again. We missed a few important events like the world cup, and the pakistan peace talks breaking down for the nth time. However, we start with the new Indian rupee symbol, Bihar women fast tracking their pregnancies, Ministers by passing the gag order by Congress by taking to twitter and the active sports sections - Saina is #2 and Murli reached ends his test cricket with 800 wickets.

The league stage of the Football World Cup 2010 is over. France and Italy faile dto make it through. Now, start the knowout phase, where one bad game and the effort put into over two years in the qualification will bite the dust. The tournament has already thrown enough surprises in the form of Slovakia and Serbia. No team can be taken for granted. Arunava joins in to discuss the Pre-quater stage and the big matches to watch out for in the Pre- Quarter final stage is the England vs Germany and Portugal vs Spain.