Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan (Rajan)

Attended Proto 08

I could finally make it proto. Despite my general disappointment about the innovation scene in the technology space I think that events such as Proto and Headstart are great platforms to help startups irrespective of whethere they are innovative or not (of course one could endlessly argue on what is the definition of innovation). I could…More

What and where is innovation in India?

Contrary to most popular belief startups may not neccessarily mean innovation , it certainly could be a business( a good one maybe). Simillarly a product may not be equal to innovation and some cases it could be a good business too. Of late I have seen more noise than substance about innovation in the Indian context and this thought…More

Indian Startup/Products events

2008 promises to be a very good start for Indian technology startups and products. Two great events are lined up in January for startups and other companies to show case their products. Headstart.in – An event with a mandate to highlight product innovation in the technology space. Of course the sweet corner for this event…More

Android Dreams

Verizon becomes open, I think now I will now take Android seriously and look at its SDK. I suspect also half of the skeptic world that did not take it seriously earlier will do now. Inspite of all arguments about how this was different from other reference platforms or earlier efforts it still looked to…More

Announcing MoDeMO

We are announcing a day long event called MoDeMo in december to showcase cool things/products/services in mobile in India. We hope to see demo and usage of interesting mobile service/products, hobby and/or commercial projects in the event. This is meant for anyone who have anything related to mobiles to showcase or demonstrate. Register here if…More

Critical Next Gen Mobile Service Enabler

ZXing – a mobile barcode reader, a google project is publicly out now. I have been tracking barcodes in mobile for quite some time and am going to download ZXing and give it a try. I have always thought that a barcode reader should be open source with sustained support for it, with google getting…More

Future of UI

Me thinks this is the future of UI and not iPhones touch based interface. It is manifold intuitive, even those who are uninitiated to technology can use this with relative ease. [Hat tip:Rajiv] Innovations in UI happens at a much slower pace when compared to technology in general, IMO we have’nt seen any…More

TV more interesting but still same

I watch lot more TV these days in comparsion what I used to do a year ago and that is probably the reason I get lesser time to blog :). Either the channels are churning interesting stuff or I am becoming less averse to the kind of programming that I once used to hate ,…More

Mobile Web Requests India ???

First it was Admob and now it is Russ with Mowser (long ago it was Scott Rafer) who is saying that India generates a large number of mobile web requests. This is quite very puzzling to me as it is to many. I have never witnessed use of GPRS/WAP or have not used it myself…More

Wow factor , where is it ?

The other day Rajiv, Raja and myself were heading to do some conspiration for MoMo (psst can’t let that out 🙂 ) and had pretty interesting conversation about valuation/innovation in the Indian context. The initial topic of discussion was the difference between percept value & real value, applications and R&D came up and were comparing…More

Indian mobile data and GPRS is a supply side problem

The more and more I come to think about it , I think the lack of uptake of mobile data is a supply side problem rather than a demand side as it is drummed up to be. I am a little tired now of hearing the myth of 50-10-2 about GPRS since the last two…More

Crazy Mobile Growth – What are causes ?

I am really scratching my head to find out who are the influencers for the Indian mobile markets ? What tips consumer market behaviours here. what are the information that Indian mobile buyers use before purchasing a mobile. A friend’s recommendation, TV ad, recommendation websites. I read/watch all the top Indian mobile blogs, forums & news snippets, TV shows but…More

MoMo Global and Back

Last week I was in Helsinki and St.Petersburg attending the Mobile Monday global summit. Thanks to the invitation from the folks of Mobile Monday Global/Helsinki I had a great week meeting some cool companies and making many amazing friends across the globe in the late night sun of Finland and chilly winds of Russia. Though…More

OnMobile to buy VoxMobili

OnMobile to buy VoxMobili , interesting ! this news only points that the VAS offerings would be maturing from Voice/SMS to data services which is very good. Another interesting aspect is that trend of Indian companies making acquisition in other markets is gaining more steam. This article quotes that VAS industry is a ~4000 crore market this…More

Open Coffee Club India

Open Coffee Club starts in Chennai and in Bangalore. This should result in a regular meetups and creation of informal network/community of entreprenuers and would benefit entreprenuers interacting with each other. But I think the unique thing about Open Coffee Clubthat differentiates from other meetups & camps is that…More

Big Media vs Individual – Indian Media

Nikhil has spurred up an interesting conversation @ contentsutra about big media and individual content creators.Read the entire post and don’t miss out the comments section as it has pretty important thoughts.I have been following this debate in many places and now it’s spilled over to this side of the globe. As much as I want…More

Nokia Research Centre , Racoon, CBP and NokiaCV

I am very excited and impressed by the folks and work that is coming out of Nokia Research Centre. The kind of products(prototypes) that they are rolling out are amazing and at times just mind blowing. A little old news by now but nonetheless a very significant release is the release of a mobile web server (called Racoon)…More

VoIP India?

One the same day I come across the following three different news item. From RedHerring: Standalone VoIP business may not be viable any more in US. JajahIndia – Jajah “click to call” service has finally set foot in India (via labnol) Fring launches Fring India blog Am I being apophenic or there is relationship among them.…More

BPL Mobile TV

BPL is set to launch mobile TV and looking to getting one million users using the service in six months. What are they smoking ??!!! Either the HT reporter has massaged the message a little more than what is necessary or the executive quoted has no idea of what he is talking about.Nokia Widsets which I think…More

Blogging Junk food for the mind

Reading blogs is like having junk food (Burger/Pizza/Coke) in many ways. Only few among the many who have the purchasing power have access to it (just like junk food) The more you have it the more dumb you become (information obesity or physcial obesity) Its absence for makes you crave for it But then you love…More