Spectrum spectrum

While we continue to read headlines on this topic in India, here is something from the US:

AT&T bought sub-700MHz spectrum for LTE technology at 1.93B US$
http://mashable.com/2010/12/20/att-qualcomm-spectrum/

Businessweek says that translates into 87 cents per subscriber - Standard rates. So it is up to them on how many of those potential 300 Mn subs they convert.

And here is an interesting article on Indian Tech Space

Major Pioneer in Technology

Reading Friedman at his best in this article on US Armed forces making big headway into green technologies:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/opinion/19friedman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Makes me sit up and think of how much US Defence has contributed to mankind. And NASA. Seriously and if they push hard, there inventions enter commercial markets making technologies cheap for civilian users.

As we go green, we need to start harnessing sunlight and heat, wind, tides and other such sources that are abundant and omnipresent. Oil should be one of the alternatives and not the only thing.

This large scale burning of gas needs to go down. Our earth is precious and we cannot afford to leave it high and dry.

Indian TV - Turning gold into rubbish!

What is wrong with our TV? These channels are making a mess of simple things. The ad-breaks in a movie channel are longer than the actual movie segments.

Ads encroach and actually gobble up bowled balls in cricket.

The serials....the less said the better!

News show clips of serials as news items.

TV no longer holds itself as a primary source of entertainment. Internet, where available, gives total control on what I see/read/hear. Will TV morph into something else? Or will it have to fight for its survival when internet becomes ubiquitous? Time will tell.

Signs of change...Internet change TV habits

Check this article - while this is known to quite a few of us, the article tells how it is changing people's lives.

A parallel universe to TV and Film

In an extreme scenario, this will make TV irrelevant. But not so soon....TV has a penetration that is far unsurpassed by any other communication device yet produced on this planet. And transmission has reached a huge number of people which gets news, information and entertainment to a majority of people. Internet is still far off.

But soon enough communication world will merge these devices. And check this, naturally TV is bound become one of the devices on which the new communication technology will bring its magic miracles on it.

Limping Cow - Mumbai, Maharashtra...

So yesterday, I decide to hop on one of those 10 kmph BEST A/C buses to my work (The procurement guys in BEST deserve a Nobel for these 10kmph buses. These buses allow you correctly calculate the time you will spend on the road irrespective of the traffic conditions...that is because they go at 10kmph. Nobel my dear reader...nothing less). 

I go check the schedule, speak to the good man at the depot and there are 7 mins for the next bus.

I decide to wait. There is a bus in the depot and it starts at the time, makes 2 rounds within the depot and goes back to parking. I wait. This is 10 mins. past the scheduled time, I go and inquire again and they say in few minutes. Well it turns out, they had cancelled the bus. The next bus was 30mins. later.  And they cared damn  about the passengers.

Arguing with BEST is useless at best and hopeless at worst. BEST prides itself to be the best public bus transport company in India.But you know the fact is exactly that and only that much. It is and can be the best one only in India. Step out to leaders in public transport like Singapore or London and BEST will rank where India ranks in most other scales. And this incident summarizes the story of Mumbai today.

A proverb in Marathi says, "Vaasrat langdi gaay shahaani." Loosely translated, "A limping cow is a leader amongst the calves". That is what Mumbai is and Maharashtra is. It is only basking in the glory of its past. I think the past created in last 2 centuries. 

We all know about the able and adarsh leadership we have today. If you feel I am too harsh, then here is a challenge - Keep them as ideal and give their example to your children for next 5 years. If you cannot, accept I am right. Really, is there any leader worth his or her salt in this so called great state. And is there any future? Am I pessimistic, oh yes I am! 

See the roads, the urban infrastructure, the vision (or blindness) of current administrators (no they are not leaders), problems plaguing the state like power, water, employment, crime, land scams....have we even moved from the 70s? And look at other states. With its leadership position, Maharashtra should have been the perpetual outlier in the game, dictating terms to rest of the country....instead what we are is a sorry bunch of guys. Maharashtra and Mumbai are limping cows amongst other calves. Wait till one of them grows up.

Warning - This blog is a rant. But I think this opinion is shared by many....millions.