Tech Ka Masala

The week after CES was dominated by Google and Chinese hack attacks. The Indian PMO also added to the controversy complaining about several hacking attempts of computers in its office. The other topics include Microsoft’s ever increasing problems with IE, Mozilla changing its development strategy and the Apple-Nokia patent

Indian Post gets innovative with a service that might sound a bit retro but is of immense utility given the Indian rural needs. Keeping to the theme we then talk about Godrej’s Chotukool and then get into stories about the usual suspects.

Windows 7 is the best Windows version ever, so says Microsoft but this time everyone seems to be agreeing. Here is a TKM episode dedicated to Windows 7 special and we have Manan Kakkar join in as the Windows 7 expert to answer very basic questions and his expeiences with Windows 7 so far.

What can bring china's internet to a screeching halt? - Lesbians or just the myth about a lesbian city. In other topics we talk about Kindle coming to India, Microsoft, Paypal killing a user account, Microsoft office - Starter Edition and snow leopard eating up user data. This week's news update include EU giving a go ahead to Microsoft's browser ballot solution.

The 3G adoption in India isnt going anywhere with only MTNL and BSNL in the market but that isnt stopping MTNL tying up with Dell to put out a 3G Netbook. After launching a subscription MP3 services, Hungama has announced a Rs.10 per download service on their website. In other news, we talk about Google SideWiki, Google Chrome Frame, Microsoft suing malvertisers, and a few updates from previous episodes.

Tata is the top of the mind brand when it comes to cellular services but Tata Indicom has released a new plan costing Re.1 locals and Rs 3 for national calls on any network, no hidden clauses. After getting trumped in the last year by Apple, and Palm, Nokia seems to be on the offensive and is showing off its new wares. Other news that dominated the week include companies having patent developments. Microsoft and then Google. We also talk update you about a few stories that we spoke about last time followed with an email query about upgrading to Snow Leopard.

After ISRO failed success with the first Chandrayaan mission, it is ready with the design for Chandrayaan-II mission. This time ISRO is planning to put actual human being on the lunar surface and is ready to spend Rs 12400 crores on the mission. Saket doesn't like it but I think the bragging rights are worth every rupee spent. In other topics, Hungama and BSNL have launched a new subscription music service, Yahoo and Microsoft strike a search deal and the Pirate bay deal may be off. We also respond to a twitter query and laptop buying advice.

After Google's entry into to Microsoft territory, Microsoft has announced a web version of Microsoft Office 2010. It matches and as Saket mention trumps Google Docs in a few ways. In other news, Facebook never disappoints in finding new ways to get itself into privacy trouble.This time it's for using user photos in ads that are being served on facebook, Amazon didnot want to get left behind in pissing off its clients and decided to delete a book sold to Kindle users. Other stories include Pirate bay's new business model, Youtue dumping IE6, and Apple kills Palm pre support.

This episode is slightly lengthy but it was a week filled with a news starting the G-bomb. This week Google announceed the Chrome OS for netbooks and marked Google's entry into the Microsoft turf. We talk about our hopes and concerns about Google's ability to support an OS. In tech news from India, the Planning Commision has launched a Rs. 2000 crore project to inter connect police stations, courts and other important offices with an ambitious deadline of 2011. India also saw Nokia launching its music store but we have our doubts if the severe DRM restriction will its adoption.

In a belief shattering development, Pirate Bay got bought by a swedish company for around $7.7 million and have announced plans to have a legitimate business plan. While we believe that the Piratebay valuation is fairly low, one must not forget the legal hassels that the company brings with it. In other stories, While Delhi Metro decided to put in cell phone charing stations on trains, cell phone manufacturers in EU have decided to adopt the MicrUSB as a standard for charging the phone. Other stories include facebook's pulic updates, Firefox 3.5 released and a few updates from the last episode.