February 2010 Archives - 2/2 - eWebBuddy - Tech Talk for Non-Techies

Monthly Archives: February 2010

Amazon Kindle Digital Conference in Bangalore – Techbloggers invited

February 10, 2010 Piyush Agarwal 2 Comments

This month seems to be dedicated to e-book Readers. It all started because of the launch of Apple iPad last month. Apple launches cause such a wave that now everyone knows what a e-book reader is.

But who is the real pioneer of this revolution? It’s Amazon’s Kindle. I have talked about the latest Kindle DX just a while ago.

Now that there are ways to get yourself a Kindle in India, its price tag still makes it a lil out of reach for many at present. But worry not, you can still get your hands over one of them i.e. if you are in Bangalore.

Trivia: Are you aware that the technology of Kindle which has been an Amazon #1 Bestseller was actually developed in Chennai, India?

Facts like these and more can be known at the upcoming Amazon Chennai’s ‘Digital Conference’ in Bangalore. To know more and recieve invitation, keep on reading.

What is the conference about?

This technical conference is targeted to all techies, (what better place than Bangalore) where one can learn about Kindle, the product and the technology. That’s not all, you can get your hands over one of the Kindles, get a live demo, try it, drool over it and be amazed. The conference is known as “Kindle – From ink to e-INK” – how true!

When and where?

Date : Feb 12, 2010 (Friday).
Time : 6 pm onwards
Venue : Will be communicated to you via email upon receiving your RSVP.
City : Bangalore.

Who are invited?

This invitation is extended to all the techies and techbloggers out there. If you are interested in e-books and want to understand how the Kindle works, this is the place to be. Get an insight on how the technology was developed, sneek-peek into the development process and lot more. So do you fit the bill? Great, read on to know how you can get your invite.

Note – The conference is going to be purely technical, so by techbloggers it is meant who are interested in technical subjects and would like to learn the core. This may be a chance to be a part of the Kindle team too.

How to get an invite?

Blog, tweet, talk, facebook about the event. Let everyone you know, know about it.

Leave a comment in this blog if you are planning to attend the event. We can form a tech blogger group at the event.

This the most important step, if you really want the invite. Shoot an emil to sanbala@amazon.com by giving following details of the participant(s) –

a) Number of participant(s) :

b) Name of the participant(s) :

c) Designation :

d) Organization :

e) Contact phone number:

f) Email ID :

Some more information about the event

Amazon.com in Chennai plays a vital role in the Kindle reading experience. We conceptualize and build digitization systems for content like books, newspapers, magazines, blogs etc… In addition, we also build several infrastructure web services that serve as building blocks for the Kindle content pipelines and for other Amazon teams worldwide.

In this talk, we present an introduction to the Kindle device, discuss the technical challenges of building automatic, scalable, fault tolerant systems that are pivotal to transforming content from Ink to E-Ink, and conclude with some lessons learnt in the last 3 years.

Profile of the speakers

Ashok Thangamani, Software Development Manager at Amazon.com

Ashok is responsible for managing the creation of critical software for the e-book business at Amazon.com. His day-to-day concerns revolve around the best ways to translate cutting-edge technology to a new, pleasant customer experience

Prior to joining Amazon.com, Ashok has worked several years managing the development of highly scalable industrial decision-making & control systems; he has also helped create rule-engine systems that can efficiently find valid configurations given constraints. Ashok has a degree in Aerospace Engineering (& Theoretical Computer Science) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Viswanath Sankaranarayanan, Senior Software Dev Engineer at Amazon.com

Viswa currently works in the conceptualization of algorithms and techniques for the automatic digitization of printed content at Amazon.com. Since joining Amazon, he has worked on designing and building fault tolerant, large scale distributed systems that are vital to the Kindle business. Prior to joining Amazon.com, Viswa worked on offline distributed systems, reliable data replication, and the Office application suite for several years at Microsoft Corporation. He hold a master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in ECE from R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore.

So hoping to catch up with all of you there. The invites are limited, so send an email now!! Go go gooooo…

Amazon Kindle DX now with global wireless available for Indians

February 10, 2010 Piyush Agarwal 3 Comments

Amazon Kindle! Does the name ring a bell? It doesn’t? C’mon.

Ok..let me take a different approach. Apple iPad! Does the name ring a bell? It does right… See this the kind of popularity Apple products gain. Afterall even I was talking about iPad’s launch on eWebBuddy. You can read about it here.

So, coming back to the point…long before Apple iPad, Kindle by Amazon, the e-commerce giant, started it all.

What is Amazon Kindle?

This is what the wikipedia says,

Amazon Kindle is a software and hardware platform developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 for rendering and displaying e-books and other digital media.^[1] Three hardware devices, known as “Kindle,” “Kindle 2,” and “Kindle DX” support this platform.

Putting the same in simple words, Kindle is a cool tool which started the revolutionary e-book reader phenomena. Its a e-book reader designed and developed by Amazon with the help of which one can read e-books on the fly. Whether its the daily newspaper, or any other book. You can simply connect to the internet bookstore specifically setup for Kindle and download your favorite books. The device has a good memory space which lets you save all the e-books and read whenever you want. You can also connect via USB and transfer data. Though kindle doesn’t boast of a color screen like the upcoming iPad, it had been appreciated and being used by more than 2million users wordwide.

What is Kindle DX?

Kindle DX is the latest in the Kindle series which even has Global Wireless. Now you can connect and download books from anywhere around the world. Amazon has also enabled world-wide shipping for Kindle since 19th January and that makes it available for all Indian Customers too. It’s priced at $489. Whereas, one can only dream and wait for the iPad until it reaches India, you can get your hands over this baby now. Also, I am pretty sure Apple iPad’s price tag will make it absolutely outta reach from the masses. Click here to buy kindle now.

Features in the new Amazon Kindle

Wireless Delivery of Personal and Professional Documents: Customers can take their personal and professional documents with them around the world with Kindle DX. They can even wirelessly receive personal and professional documents while they’re on the road, saving the hassle of searching for a printer or fax machine.
Built-In PDF Reader: Kindle DX features a built-in, native PDF reader using Adobe Reader Mobile technology for reading professional and personal documents. Like other types of documents on Kindle, customers can wirelessly receive their PDF format documents on their Kindle if they have wireless coverage or move them over using a USB connection. With a larger display and built-in PDF reader, Kindle DX customers can read professional and personal documents with more complex layouts without scrolling, panning or zooming, and without re-flowing. Everything from annual reports with graphs to flight manuals with maps to musical scores can be viewed on a single, crisp screen with Kindle DX.
Auto-Rotation: Kindle DX’s display content auto-rotates so users can read in portrait or landscape mode, or flip the device to read with either hand. Simply turn Kindle DX and immediately see full-width landscape views of maps, graphs, tables and images.
3.3 GB Memory Holds up to 3,500 Books: With 3.3 GB of available memory, Kindle DX can hold up to 3,500 books, compared to 1,500 with Kindle. And because Amazon automatically backs up a copy of every Kindle book purchased, customers can wirelessly re-download titles from their library at any time.
Annotation and Bookmarks: The Kindle DX keyboard lets customers add annotations to text, just as they would write in the margins of a book. Customers can edit, delete and export these notes, highlight and clip key passages, and bookmark pages for future use. Additionally, Kindle DX automatically bookmarks the last page a customer reads of any content.
Automatically Syncs With Kindle and Kindle-Compatible Devices: Amazon’s Whispersync technology automatically syncs customers’ last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights across Kindle, Kindle DX, and Kindle-compatible devices like Kindle for PC and Kindle for iPhone, as well as Kindle for Mac coming soon.
Incredibly Thin: Kindle DX is just over a third of an inch thin, which is thinner than most magazines.
Adjustable Text Size: Kindle DX has six adjustable font sizes to suit your reading preference. You can increase the text size of your favorite book or periodical with the push of a button. If your eyes tire, simply increase the font size and continue reading comfortably. Now every book in your library can be large print.
3G Wireless, No PC, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots: Just like Kindle, Kindle DX customers automatically take advantage of Amazon Whispernet to wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content in less than 60 seconds, and read from their library–all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing. Amazon still pays for the wireless connectivity on Kindle DX so books can be downloaded in less than 60 seconds–with no monthly fees, data plans or service contracts.
Extended Battery Life: Kindle DX now offers extended battery life – read for up to one full week with wireless on and up to two weeks with the wireless turned off.
Text-to-Speech: Kindle DX offers the experimental read-to-me feature “Text-to-Speech” that converts words on a page to spoken word so customers have the option to read or listen. Customers can switch back and forth between reading and listening, and their spot is automatically saved. Pages turn automatically while the content is being read so customers can listen hands-free. Using the read-to-me feature with books, newspapers, magazines, and personal documents, Kindle DX can read to you.
No Setup Required: When customers order a Kindle DX, it arrives from Amazon.com ready to use. There is no software to load or set up. Customers are immediately ready to shop, purchase, download and read from Kindle.
Built-in Dictionary and Wikipedia: Kindle has built-in access to The New Oxford American Dictionary, which contains over 250,000 entries and definitions, so readers can easily look up the definitions of words within their reading. Kindle customers also have seamless access to the world’s most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia–Wikipedia.org. With Kindle DX in hand, looking up people, places, events and more has never been easier. It gives whole new meaning to the phrase “walking encyclopedia.”

What more?

There are more than 320,000 titles available for Kindle and its growing everyday. Also, the wireless connectivity is free for all customers, even non U.S. There’s a lot more. So what are you waiting for. Get one today.

Note: Apart from the usual Kindle Cost, for Indian customers usual Customs applicable.

Thanks to Wikipedia, Amazon and Teck.in for some information.

Giveaway: EaseUs Partition Master Pro – eWebBuddy

February 08, 2010 Piyush Agarwal No comments

Here’s a limited period Giveaway that you will not like to miss.

EaseUs is giving away “Partition Master Professional 5.0.1″ which generally will cost you some dollars, for free. And this is not a trial version or for-limited use edition. You can use it for unlimited time, without worrying about renewing the license. Now you must be wondering, “All this sounds great but what is this application for?” Well stop wondering and start reading, eWebBuddy to rescue…

What is EaseUs Partition Master Professional?

How many times has it happened that you have deleted some file by mistake or realized moments after deleting that you need it? Forget files, how many times has it happened that you had to format your hard-disk or loose a partition? All that precious data lost is such a pain. I know how much it hurts and the way we are, we still never learn to keep a backup.

Well worry not, this is where Partition Master comes handy. Its a professional and very powerful data recovery tool. It helps you recover all your deleted, formatted data. Though this tool will also have its limitation, it will prove to be quite helpful.

In their own words:

EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition is an advanced Data Recovery Software to do Format Recovery, Partition Recovery, and Recover Deleted Files emptied from the Recycle Bin or restore data lost due to software crash, virus attack, etc. It offers users with quick scan, easy and safe data recovery.

Windows 7 Support

For the unaware, Windows 7 is the latest Microsoft OS after the failure of Vista. I have used it and found it to be quite impressive. Though still not all applications are compatible with the OS. Well if you are among the ones who are using or planning to upgrade, Partition Master is Windows 7 enabled and will work smoothly on all other OS i.e. XP/Vista (32 and 64 bit)

Features Overview

Here is what the folks from EaseUs say about the features of their product:

Windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit compatible.
Recover data from formatted partitions.
Recover data from accidently deleted partitions.
Recover data from partitions lost due to disk partitioning, boot manager, etc.
Recover accidently deleted files.
Recover files from RAW drive or unknown file system.
Recover files from virus attack, software crash, drive crash, etc.
Resize/move/delete/format/create partition and lots of useful features.
Backup all data or copy entire hard disk to another without Windows reinstallation.

When does the giveaway end?

The giveaway ends on 20th Feb, 2010.

How to download?

Simply head to the link, http://www.partition-tool.com/giveaways/epmpro/ to get further download instructions.

Friends, do not miss this opportunity and download now. My download is already in progress and will try and post further about it.

If you download too, do leave a comment here.

# Thanks to Amit Hegde for the tip.

Google to end IE6 support – R.I.P. IE6

February 01, 2010 Piyush Agarwal No comments

Well…it’s another installment to the IE6 story. You may ask…what is the story? Obviously I have never told the story on eWebBuddy yet. But instead of going in the details for now, I will keep it simple and direct.

Story of IE6 – Simple & Short

IE6 or Internet Explorer 6 was one of most popular internet browsers which made Netscape Navigator history! Microsoft’s strategy of making browser a part of their OS was among the main reason of this success. But with growing times and as the web evolved IE6 came off as full of bugs and with very limited support. As Firefox gained popularity, CSS became the webdesign phenomena, IE6 lost its popularity among the developers and designers because of its limitations and requirement of going that many extra miles to make sure webpages worked properly on IE6 without any cross-browser issues.

Microsoft realized of IE6 shortcomings and resolved quite a few of them in the next versions IE8 being the latest. But since IE6 was available for free with OS, it was still popular among users and thus developers had to support it. They made sure their websites are compatible with the browser…but how long could they tolerate that. Gradually as people started using better browsers, developers started letting go IE6 support. Though IE6 still shares 18% browser usage, it is decreasing gradually for good. Check out ripie6 to learn more about this.

If you are reading this blog on IE6, I request you to upgrade to better browsers. I will soon post about the browsers you can opt for. My preference though is Firefox.

Google’s decision

Coming back to the main agenda of this post, now google has also decided to do-away with their support for IE6. They have officially announced that starting March they will not be supporting IE6.

This change will start with Google Docs and Google Sites. According to Rajen Sheth, Google Apps senior product manager’s blog, a lot of crucial functionalities will not work on IE6.

It seems this decision is a result of the chinese hacking activity that happened over Google Servers a couple of months ago due to glitch in IE6.

And I support google in this decision. Because we need to evolve and like Google and many others who are evolving, we will also follow them. Upgrade to a better browser today.