I remember one of my professors, Mr Divakar Kamath, saying in one of his lectures that for many in India mobile will become the first screen. Seems like the day has somewhat arrived. Who would have thought that the ubiquitous mobile would one day be used for watching TV. It is the stuff of science fiction now turning true!
The last effort at such dream was made when mobiles incorporated DVB-H technology, an acronym for digital video broadcast- handheld. This technology was officially endorsed by the EU as the preferred technology for terrestrial mobile broadcasting. Most probably this technology also saw its use in India, in the capital city of Delhi, though in a limited way. And then came its nemesis : 3G.
The onset of 3G era (it hasn't started yet in its full earnestness) has changed the rules of the game tremendously. 3G allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates (up to 14.0 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink with HSPA+)[Wikipedia]. Moreover it is supposed to provide a minimum data rate of 2 Mbit/s for stationary or walking users, and 348 kbit/s in a moving vehicle.This fact has made it possible to watch TV on mobile screens.
Currently only the government telecom service providers are working with 3G. And I happen to be subscribed to one such operator: MTNL Mumbai. This coincidence has left me using 3G servises for more than two months, and it was only today that I thought of subscribing to mobile tv. In India the service is provided by Apalya technologies and their website is : http://www.mimobi.tv/
How to watch TV(MTNL Mumbai) :
Step 1: Sms MOBILETV to 53388
Step 2: You will receive a WAP link/service message in your inbox. Click on the same and download the MTNLTV application
Step 3: Install the application in the phone memory of your handset
Step 4: Click on the application and open it to see the TV channel logos. Choose the channel you want to watch and click on its icon.
Step 5: You will see the subscription packages available as given below. Choose the option that suits you.Step 6: You will receive a confirmation that your registration has been successful. Now click on the channel and watch the content.
The subscription options are cheesy to say the least. You can watch 29 channels[ aaj tak,ndtv, india tv, cnn, espn, times now, cnn ibn, bbc world, cnbc tv18, star news, total, headlines today, ndtv profit, ndtv hindi, zee news, ibn7, star one, pogo, cartoon network, ftv, utv, bindass, wwf, and some( 4 or 5) inconsequential ones] at the cost of Rs 150 per month(1) or you can subscribe to an individual channel foe Rs 50 per month (2) or an individual channel at the cost of Rs 10 per day(3). Obviously the die is a bit loaded towards the first option.
So after downloading the application (668kb) from the wap link send by mtnl, i saw a menu with various channel logos. I promptly subscribed to option one which after one successful attempt again showed my subscription status to be void(thankfully i hadn't lost any money). I am going to try it again after some time. I am planning to catch any show on BBC World and after that budget highlights on CNN-IBN. Lets see how it peters out. I am willing to go through some heartburn (always true in the case of onset of new technology), but let's hope it is not too much.
P.S. Look out for 4G technology.... It promises 1 Gbit/s for stationary and 100 Mbit/s for mobile operation. Arthur Clarke hit the nail on its head when he said, " Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".
Friday, February 26, 2010
Blogger's Block!
Imagine of all the ailments possible suffering from an acute blogger's block! No there is no such recognised ailment in the world. And yes, i made it up by borrowing heavily from writer's block. Time was when i would have various issues to write up on....I had views on almost everything under the sun.... my being knowledgeable had nothing to do with it...rather my lack of knowledge and it's accomplice wisdom gave me strength: it's true, what they say- fools rush in where angels fear to tread & the other one- Ignorance is bliss!
No! I havn't gained enlightenment all of a sudden now. Merely that after being in the twitterland and then buzzland, my old blog writing days have suddenly become a fond memory. Why write more, when you can say it in 140 words? And to top it all you can keep doing it as frequently as possible...even from your omnipresent phone. Guess the blogger's are a dying breed now.... dinosaurs in the age of apeman.
I sure hope that the above scenario does not come true, for both mediums are complementary as well as supplementary to each other. Blogging is a serious matter. The amount of information that you can give, the analysis you can do, the thoughts that you can pen; is vastly superior in case of blogging. Try telling what you had for lunch on your blog. I dare you! You can't. That has to go on to newer emerging digital platforms like Twitter. A blog is inherently a serious matter, not a place to put frivolous matter. So it may continue to survive after all!
Now to the blogger's block. When and how did I reach this stage is a mystery to me. Though not exactly a doyen of blogging, i would find time and energy to write something from time to time. But somehow this feeling of writing dried up, instead of being enthused by the idea of blogging i started dreading it. The issues over which i always felt strongly suddenly started appearing mundane to me. That was when i first realised that something was not well, that some piece of puzzle was missing from my life. So now i have decided to start writing once again...torturous though the process seems to me... for writing is also a means a knowing oneself, and as the ancient Greeks said, " Know Thyself" was the beginning and end of every person's journey.
The only discernible side effects of being in twitterland is that writing long passages seems to be a burden now. The macro view has given way to micro view now. Maybe that's a blessing, may be that's a curse. Which one only time will tell. For now only one thing matters : overcoming the blogger's block.
Bhavatu sabba Mangalam! May all beings be happy!
No! I havn't gained enlightenment all of a sudden now. Merely that after being in the twitterland and then buzzland, my old blog writing days have suddenly become a fond memory. Why write more, when you can say it in 140 words? And to top it all you can keep doing it as frequently as possible...even from your omnipresent phone. Guess the blogger's are a dying breed now.... dinosaurs in the age of apeman.
I sure hope that the above scenario does not come true, for both mediums are complementary as well as supplementary to each other. Blogging is a serious matter. The amount of information that you can give, the analysis you can do, the thoughts that you can pen; is vastly superior in case of blogging. Try telling what you had for lunch on your blog. I dare you! You can't. That has to go on to newer emerging digital platforms like Twitter. A blog is inherently a serious matter, not a place to put frivolous matter. So it may continue to survive after all!
Now to the blogger's block. When and how did I reach this stage is a mystery to me. Though not exactly a doyen of blogging, i would find time and energy to write something from time to time. But somehow this feeling of writing dried up, instead of being enthused by the idea of blogging i started dreading it. The issues over which i always felt strongly suddenly started appearing mundane to me. That was when i first realised that something was not well, that some piece of puzzle was missing from my life. So now i have decided to start writing once again...torturous though the process seems to me... for writing is also a means a knowing oneself, and as the ancient Greeks said, " Know Thyself" was the beginning and end of every person's journey.
The only discernible side effects of being in twitterland is that writing long passages seems to be a burden now. The macro view has given way to micro view now. Maybe that's a blessing, may be that's a curse. Which one only time will tell. For now only one thing matters : overcoming the blogger's block.
Bhavatu sabba Mangalam! May all beings be happy!
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