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Tech

Preview: Spice Mobile’s AndroidLand Store

The country’s first Android store opened this week. The store’s fun and engaging concept was developed in collaboration with Google.
by Manik Kakra

Spice Mobile, one of India’s leading mobile companies, opened the country’s first AndroidLand store in Noida’s The Great India Place recently. The store houses Android devices from Spice, Lenovo, Samsung, LG, HTC, Karbonn, Sony, LAVA and Micromax, along with a variety of accessories for your device. Google is reportedly helping in training staff for more such stores in order to give a user improved experience and know-how.

Spice Mobile AndroidLandThe store also has free WiFi access for users to download and check apps on their Android device, as well as get their queries related to the OS answered there and then.

“We are confident customers will love the fun and engaging store concept that we developed in collaboration with Google. We have created a destination for customers to experience Android technology and learn about what they can do with mobile Internet. Spice has always believed in constant innovation in retail and with this launch we have kept our promise of bringing many ‘firsts’ to India”, in the field of technology retailing,” said Dilip Modi, Co-Founder and Group CEO, Spice Global.

While it is good to see such initiatives in the market, especially considering we might soon get Play Store gift cards in India, it would be interesting to see how well these stores compete against these companies’ own and other retail stores. The company has also opened a bigger store in Bangalore.

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Watch

‘Maazii’ gets a second chance

Small film gets a re-release in the absence of a biggie doing well at the BO; releases today in multiplexes.
by Rachel Tseng

With several small and big films releasing at the box office every week, a second chance is not something that is granted to many. The fear of failure dogs many a filmmaker, actor, producer and distributor every Friday. And though it is possible to recover one’s investment in a film by way of satellite rights and sale of music, DVDs and other media, it is the public’s and critics’ response that actually sets the tone for things to come.

maazii film stillWhile some films achieve success through their content and star power, there are others that don’t boast of a popular star cast, but have a good story to tell. The film Maazii falls into this second category – made on a minimalistic budget with lots of hard work and hope.

Maazii was released on September 27, 2013 after negotiating show timings and numbers of screens. Starring Sumit Nijhawan and Mona Wasu, the film opens in a setting that has no respect for the law and even less for those who uphold it. But released with minimum publicity, booked with less shows and screens, it was quickly replaced by a big banner film boasting a power star cast.

But the last few Fridays have not been kind to big budget films, with the likes of Phata Poster Nikhla Hero and Besharam faring very poorly at the BO. With Besharam doing badly, and as per the contract between multiplexes and film distributors, if a film does not cross a particular box office collection, they have the right to reduce the number of shows and screens in the second week. Hence, small budget movies like WAR – Chhod Na Yaar and Baat Bann Gayi are getting more shows and screens. Even Phata Poster Nikhla Hero is being shown in theatres again.

In the past, Rang De Basanti was re-released due to the phenomenal audience clamour for it; so was Fukrey, in Delhi. But this is probably the first time that a small film with an unknown star cast has got a re-release.

 

Maazii, which had been noticed by critics and liked by those who saw it, re-releases today, October 11, in multiplexes across India. It will have 60 shows across India, with six in Mumbai.

Lead actor and writer Sumit Nijhawan is ecstatic at the news. “From a state of disillusionment, I see hope that at least the hard work put in by the entire team will reach some quarters Maaziiof the audience. Cinema is a beautiful medium and it should stay democratic,” he says.

Producer and director Jaideep Chopra says, “I am happy to have the support of the people who believed in the film and liked it. With the re-release, the film will be seen by the people it has been made for.”

The makers agree that with no famous cast in tow and minimum publicity – this movie does face the challenge of drawing in the crowd. But the fact that it got a second chance to be seen at all certainly needs to be celebrated.

I’m not saying this is a great film and that everybody should see it – though every film critic has given this film a thumbs-up. I just feel that often, we – the audience – are lured to the silver screens by jazzy songs and promos, we land up paying big bucks to watch really bad films featuring stars, and what do we get? Besides, the power play that big films indulge in – block booking screens across the country so that no other film is seen, wrangling the maximum profits out of distributors, etc. – ensures that many films either do not get released or are not seen by most people. Maazii does have its work cut out, but it would be great if other small films also get a similar second chance – and not just when the big films crash.

(Pictures courtesy www.indiatvnews.com, skjbollywoodnews.com, indiatoday.intoday.in)

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Event

World Cerebral Palsy Day observed in Mumbai

Actor Ayushmann Khurana flags off event that sees participation from about 150 CP-afflicted children and 500 adults at Bandra today.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

A lifelong disability that affects movement and intellectual capability, cerebral palsy (CP) is a complex motor disorder that affects 17 million people across the world. There are 17 million people across the world living with CP. Another 350 million people are closely connected to a child or adult with CP, which is the most common physical disability in childhood. Its impact can range from a weakness in one hand, to almost a complete lack of voluntary movement.

Ayushmann Khurana at the eventWhile there is no permanent cure for the disorder, some efforts can be made to improve the quality of life of people suffering from it. For example, in people with debilitating upper limb spasticity, incessant muscle contractions can be controlled by injecting onabotulinumtoxin, popularly known as ‘Botox’ into the affected muscles, in addition to physical therapy and other rehabilitation measures.

Hundreds of people came together in Mumbai today as part of an initiative to offer support and ideas to differently-abled people and make this world a better place for them. Lending a voice to the initiative was Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurana, who participated in the programmes organised by the Indian Academy of Cerebral Palsy to mark the World Cerebral Palsy Day today.

As part of the day-long initiative, over 500 adults and 150 children came together to participate and lend support to the DSC02691differently-abled people through words and ideas. The day began with a carnival walk by children, starting from Bandstand and culminating at St Joseph School, Bandra, where the rest of the activities for the day included a trade fair and fun fair. To celebrate academic and vocational success of differently-abled people, awards were also given out in different categories.

“Cerebral Palsy is a very common motor disorder that makes life extremely difficult for those living with it. We need to make the world more sensitive to their needs and conditions and encourage them. Sensitivity comes with awareness and the latter is something which needs to be generated. World Cerebral Palsy day is an initiative to make people living with the disorder feel normal yet special as also it is an effort to make other people aware of their conditions,” said Dr Taral Nagda, Director of Cerebral Palsy clinic at Jupiter and Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai.

(For information on how cord blood can help in the prevention and treatment of cerebral palsy, click on http://www.viacord.com/why-bank)

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Tech

Check your systems for ZeroAccess

A new botnet is getting alarmingly bigger; India reportedly has the third highest numbers of affected users in the world.
by Manik Kakra

New and increasingly more dangerous spywares and viruses making their way to our computer systems is a fairly routine occurrence these days. But these are usually covered by most users either themselves or through a security suite. But, recently, there’s a new botnet in town, called ZeroAccess, which has spread quite rapidly – to about 1.9 million systems counted about a month ago – but not many are aware of this, or know how to tackle it.

Infograph - ZeroAccess BotnetSymantec, in its security blogpost, has issued a statement that it has partnered with several ISPs and even CERT teams to bring down the level of this botnet affecting systems worldwide.

Simply put, if your machine is running this botnet, it could be used to send out spam and active bots to affect more systems. Owing to this threat, it is also believed that many are abusing this botnet for click fraud and Bitcoin mining, meaning that any affected system could be used to generate artificial clicks on a website to improve its page rank, and allow people to earn Bitcoins (a virtual currency) in a similar fashion, respectively. So, yes, a lot of monetary benefit, apart from users’ data access, is at stake.

In fact, this botnet isn’t very new. Believed to be active since 2011, it was during the month of March 2013, that security firm Symantec got some proof of this peer-to-peer botnet. ZeroAccess is primarily maintained by a few individuals with some expertise and who also have some malwares for a better success rate with this botnet.

India ranks third among the countries with most users affected by ZeroAccess. India ranks behind Japan and the US, with 5.6 per cent of total affected users. This base of users is image001definitely relevant and needs to be addressed fast.

It’s not at all easy to do away with such command-and-control programmes, resilient botnet, which communicates continuously with its peers, but you can take a few precautions to ensure your system doesn’t get infected by this botnet: Fire up your security software, update it and run to scan the whole system.

Other than that, I would also suggest that you scan your Windows PC, just once, with this small removal tool.

(Picture courtesy betanews.com)

Categories
Tech

Preview: LG’s ‘G2’ smartphone

Our tech writer explores LG’s newest offering – the G2 smartphone, which has Power and Volume buttons at the back.
by Manik Kakra

LG has been coming up with a lot of good stuff when it comes to smartphones in the last 18 months or so, and this year they seem to be doing even better. Officially announced about a month back, LG has just launched the new G2 in India. The phone has got a lot to look forward to including its unique button positions. The G2 is more or less the successor to the popular Optimus G without carrying the moniker ‘Optimus’.

G2_Global_Onshot _(B)(1)What’s new? LG’s G2 features a 5.2-inch full HD LCD touchscreen with Corning Gorilla Glass on top, and very thin bezel on the sides. The phone is powered by Qualcomm’s 2.26 GHz Snapdragon 800 SoC, along with 2 GB of RAM. Sporting a 13 MP rear camera (OIS) with some features which LG calls ‘advance’; with Power and Volume buttons on the back, just below the camera. Yes, that’s quite unique. The rear camera can shoot 1080p videos at 60 FPS, while the 2.1 MP front-facing camera can do HD videos. Similar to the Note 3 and S 4, the G2 has also got dual recording to record from both the cameras at the same time. Running on Android 4.2.2 with LG’s own Optimus UI on top, this smartphone boasts 192 KHz 24-bit playback for FLAC and WAV audio files, which isn’t common, but certainly a good news, in phones.

What else? The device is equipped with 3,000 mAh battery and 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage. Coming as a competitor to Samsung’s Note 3, the phone has got quite a few things different from a usual Android device. LG seems to be banking a lot on this device, and rightly so, looking at the phone, it sure does have a lot going for it. The G2 also features double tap to unlock the screen (seen on quite a lot of older Nokia phones), and guest mode, for when you give your phone to somebody and don’t want them to browse through personal stuff on the phone. Other features include Bluetooth 4.0, 3G, 4G LTE, microUSB 2.0 and NFC.

Colour and cost: Available in black and white colour options, the phone has been launched at an MRP of Rs 41,500 for the 16 GB model and Rs 44,000 for the 32 GB model, where you also get a free Quick View flip cover with your purchase.

Categories
Event

Largest ever auction of princely jewellery to take place in Mumbai

A sneak peek into the biggest-ever auction of royal Indian jewellery and other valuables to be auctioned at Taj tomorrow.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The biggest-ever auction of royal princely jewellery and other valuables of historical interest in the country will happen in Mumbai tomorrow, on Sunday, September 29, 2013. On auction will be paintings, sculptures, gems, jewellery, and coins, which the auctioneers, Rajgor’s, have sourced from collectors in Mumbai.

Dilip RajgorSpeaking to The Metrognome, Dr Dilip Rajgor (in pic on left), CEO, Rajgor’s explained, “It took about six months to put the entire collection together, after we had purchased it from collectors in the city. There are several wealthy collectors who have precious historical objects in their collections. Most of them are not interested in selling, but we convince them.”

Interestingly, a lot of people who have these historical treasures in their private collections are neither aware of the objects’ value nor are interested in getting a valuation done. “They sell off the pieces when they need money, but they may not get the items valued through the proper channels. An ordinary goldsmith will value a historical gold coin on par with today’s market rates for gold. But the true value is a 100 times more, owing to their rarity and historical significance.”

Mumbai boasts several private collectors, he says, as do other cities in the country. “Most of the collections comprise objects that are purchased from other collectors, while some were purchased directly from Kings. Collectors sell when they get old, if they are not handing rajgors2the collection down to the next generation,” Dr Dilip explains.

The auction

There will be four categories at the auction – coins, antiques, paintings and royal jewellery (this last is divided into 13 sub-categories). “We had an auction for the other items even last year, but the really interesting element this time is the jewellery,” Dr Dilip says. “There are so many beautiful surviving examples of historical jewellery, which give us a glimpse into making styles and design elements of the time. For example, when we speak of the Mughal period in history, we merely think of that era in terms of paintings. But there are so many beautiful items of kundan jewellery to be found in that period.”

The auction includes items right from the time of Alexander the Great to contemporary times. “We have tried to give continuity – there are all ranges, all eras. There are several collectors from outside who have already expressed an interest in buying tomorrow,” he says.

View some of the objects that will go under the hammer tomorrow:

If you want to be present at the Heritage of India Auction 10, register in person at 6th floor, Majestic Shopping Centre, Near Central Plaza, 144 JSS Road, Opera House, Mumbai 400004. Call 022 23820647 for details.

(Pictures courtesy Rajgor’s)

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