Microsoft wants you to buy gold membership to use facebook and twitter on your Xbox 360 [WTF]

I signed up for the Xbox Live update preview and got accepted. With high hopes, I downloaded the preview update only to find out that the things that can be previewed need me to sign up for a Xbox Live Gold membership! WTF?

Apparently, just like the Netflix streaming service, Microsoft is gonna make facebook and twitter available only to gold members. I can understand that they want to earn $$ from it (why wouldn’t they, they are M$), but charging a subscription fee just for using these services, which otherwise are completely free, is insane.

(more…)

Michael Dell indirectly reveals bitter truth about Windows 7

At a recently held Silicon Valley dinner, Michael Dell revealed a bitter truth about the upcoming Windows 7 operating system:

"I’ve been using Windows 7 for a long time now, and if you get the latest processor technology and Office 2010 with it, you will love your PC again."

Does this mean that if I do not have the latest processor technology (and apparently, Office 2010) and install Windows 7, I would hate my PC?

Moreover, I am not sure how many users would be willing to upgrade to the “latest processor technology” (whatever that means) to upgrade to the successor of the biggest tech failure of the past decade.

[via Gizmodo]

Happy to help? Apparently not

I have to buy a new postpaid connection for my mom. Now I want to go with either Airtel or Vodafone. The decision will depend on whosoever provides cheaper calling cards for ISD.

I browsed Airtel’s website and found out the different calling cards option. To be sure, I called up their customer care and within 2 minutes, I was able to reach a customer care executive and he tells me the various calling cards available for postpaid. Period.

Next up was Vodafone. Since I could not find any info on calling cards on their website (they forgot?), I called up their customer care and chose the option – I am not a Vodafone Customer and am interested in a new postpaid connection.

After a few button clicks, I was able to reach the customer care guy (who greeted me in Hindi even though I had selected English). The conversation went like this:

Me: Can you tell me about the calling cards available for a Vodafone postpaid customer for making cheaper ISD calls?
CC: Surely sir, could you please provide me your Vodafone number?
Me: I am not a Vodafone customer yet. I might become one if I like your calling cards
CC: OK. Could you please provide me your Vodafone number?
Me: As I told you, I do not have a Vodafone number. I am currently looking to buy a new postpaid connection from either Airtel or Vodafone and that decision will solely depend on who is offering cheaper Calling cards.
CC: But sir, I need your Vodafone number to give you that information.
Me (frustrated): Can’t you simply tell me about the various calling cards available to postpaid customers?
CC: No Sir, you need to have a Vodafone number first. Moreover, how will you use that calling card if you do not have a Vodafone number?
Me (confused): Who said anything about buying the card right away, I have called up to get some info. Now I cannot first buy the connections and then evaluate the calling cards. I need to check them out before hand.
CC: I can give you info on a new Vodafone connection sir. (Then starts blabbing about it).
Me: I know everything about a new connection. I just needed info around calling cards.
CC: I am sorry sir, I cannot give you that information until I have your Vodafone number.
Me: Fine. Thanks.
CC: Happy to Help (read hell) sir !

Apparently, Vodafone has no idea how frustrating its customer care is. I mean I understand they should discourage trolling, but they were hiding the calling cards info as if I was asking for a top secret mission info which is perhaps only available to their existing customers. They might be Happy to help, but the help isn’t making the (perspective) customers happy.

That’s 1 vote down for Vodafone.

Windows 7 RC shutsdown every 2 hours before expiration [WTF]

This happens to be our first Windows 7 post. We kept restraint and avoided reporting how “cool” Win7 looks/is, but we couldn’t resist sharing what Win7 RC has in store.

So Windows 7 RC starts to shutdown every two hours after the “doomsday”. And it even alerts the user starting two weeks before this feature kicks in.

Watch the calendar. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use. (Learn more about installing Windows.)

We could also not resist sharing the comment by bosskev on Gizmodo.

So, it will shut down every couple of hours? How is this different from any current release of Windows?

We at woikr believe this may not totally convince a normal user to get a “non-expired” Windows version, instead a default wallpaper of Steve “Crazy” Balmer would.

There you go – don’t curse us for destroying your appetite.

[Via Microsoft & Gizmodo]

It’s spam all over Google Help forums

After the Google Groups, it is also the Google Help forums which is getting spammed now.

This screen shot shows some new posts that advertise for “female escorts” in some of the Indian cities with contact info too.

Guess, my question (first from the top as shown in the image), would not get any attention from the geeks till this spam is gone.

Its time Google noticed and put an end to this.

Reliance Broadband woes

After using the pathetic services of Reliance Broadband for about 15 days, I shifted to BSNL broadband last month. Since I am kind of an internet addict (who isn’t?), I requested for disconnection of the service only after the BSNL guy came and activated BSNL broadband at my home. Here is a list of issues I faced with Reliance in the period of 15 days when I used their services. Some of the issues are thankfully closed. Others, are still bugging me.

1. They took more than a week to install the connection. Reason ? The previous tenant defaulted his bills so my address was blacklisted. WTF?
2. They got my name wrong. Instead of Setu Garg, they stored it as Jatin Garg. I can’t think of any scenario in which a person can mistype Setu as Jatin (unless he/she was drunk). To make matters worse, they did not change it even after repeated complaints.
3. I received too many welcome calls. Now I understand that welcome calls are cool. But I got more than 20 of them. Little did I know there was a WTF reason behind this as well. Every time a different person called and wanted to speak with Jatin Garg. I believe I spoke with people from all parts of India. Every time I told them that my name is wrong, and every time they would say that they will fix it.
4. I asked the guy who came to install the modem if I can use my existing Netgear wifi router with the connection. He said Reliance does not support wifi routers (and he was kinda right – read on to find out more).
5. The login system is browser based as opposed to industry standard PPPoE. Security – came the reply when I asked the reason for the same. WTF? This is a wired connection you morons. No one can misuse it unless they break into my house and hook up the cable to their laptops.
6. It was a big pain in the ass to get my Netgear router working with this thing. I had to spoof the MAC address of the router with that of my PC as they block traffic from a router. Owing to the browser based login system, I had to login using my PC every time I wanted to access the internet from any other device like Xbox etc.
7. Streaming video sucked. Even with a 1 Mbps connection, you cannot watch videos from youtube without waiting for them to buffer completely. Good luck watching online porn. Extremely low download speed with torrents.
8. They do not seem to update the DNS tables regularly. Many new and some old sites did not open. Switching to open DNS did not solve the issue either. They probably also block the traffic to other domain name servers.
9. I requested to disconnect the connection on 1st Jan 2009. It took them the whole 14 days to deactivate and disconnect the connection. 2 guys came and collected my telephone instrument and modem.
10. Little did I know that the telephone line and broadband connection are 2 completely different entities. I came to know this when I received my latest bill in which I was charged with telephone line rental till 14th Jan and broadband rental for the whole month. When I called up the customer care, they told me that I was supposed to request for deactivation of broadband separately. WTF? How in the world am I supposed to know that? And moreover, how can they charge me anything after they have collected my modem?
11. They have too many departments in their customer care. Billing, Telephone, Broadband, Telephone Termination, Broadband Termination, Telephone Retention, Broadband Retention (I will not be surprised if they have departments for pee and loo as well).  If you have to file a complaint, you have to go to the Telephone or broadband department. If you have to request for disconnection, you have to go to termination department and then to retention department perhaps. None of the departments are in sync.
12. There were some weird calculations in my bill which I could not understand despite my expertise in reading telephone companies bills. They had debited some amount and later credited it back. The terms were cryptic. Somewhere I read “Rejected payment”. Since when are these greedy telcos rejecting payments?
13. They had registered another telephone line in my name. I came to know this when I called up the customer care guy to get the bill details. I never signed up for more than 1 telephone line for my home.

All in all, it was a painful experience in signing up, using and terminating the Reliance Broadband connection. Some of the issues above are still open and I have to follow up to get them closed. I can now probably guess why the previous tenant had some defaulted bills under his name.

I hope this article will help people planning to get a new broadband connection to take an informed decision. It is recommended to read woikr’s Broadband connection guide for Indian customers.

How not to hold your iPhone

How did they do this!

But what ‘s really weird is that while the phone is upside down, the screen reads straight! And yes, I checked and re-checked, it does not auto-rotate. Anyone has any idea of what is going on here?

Oh yes, it also shows the charging icon.

To their credit, it was at least a funny scene. BTW, Did you get the SMS?

Zune 30GB Y2k8 fiasco

It is being reported that zunes all around the world are sick. The issue? Dec 31st of a leap year. Apparently, if you own a zune, you aren’t allowed go to the last day of a leap year or else it will die. To use it, you will have to use a time machine to go back to an earlier date in 2008, else, you will get this on your zune’s screen:

Here is the official release from Microsoft:

Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. That being the case, the issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.

Customers can continue to stay informed via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).

We know this has been a big inconvenience to our customers and we are sorry for that, and want to thank them for their patience.

Q: Why is this issue isolated to the Zune 30 device?
It is a bug in a driver for a part that is only used in the Zune 30 device.

Q: What fixes or patches are you putting in place to resolve this situation?
This situation should remedy itself over the next 24 hours as the time flips to January 1st.

Q: What’s the timeline on a fix?
The issue Zune 30GB customers are experiencing today will self resolve as time changes to January 1.

Q: Why did this occur at precisely 12:01 a.m. on December 31, 2008?
There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the 30GB device to improperly handle the last day of a leap year.

Q: What is Zune doing to fix this issue?
The issue should resolve itself.

Q: Are you sure that this won’t happen to all 80, 120 or other flash devices?
This issue is related to a part that is only used in Zune 30 devices.

Q: How many 30GB Zune devices are affected? How many Zune 30GB devices were sold?
All 30GB devices are potentially affected.

This news deserves a position both in our LOL and WTF sections.

[Via Gizmodo]

Reliance Digital vs. Croma

vs. 

Please Note: This is an article from Dec 2008. We have been informed that since then, Reliance Digital has had strict measures in place to ensure that such incidents do not occur and that customers are of utmost priority there now. They have also put in a complaint mechanism in place to ensure proper customer support. We can also confirm that our last few visits to Reliance Digital were pretty good. Furthermore, our recent experiences at Croma haven’t been very good. We will be publishing another article on the same when we have enough information. Woikr recommends that readers keep this in consideration when they read this article. (February 2, 2012).

Below are my experiences at two of the mega consumer electronics stores in India. One of them also includes a short trip to Sony World. Hopefully this will help you choose where to go next time you are out to buy any electronics item.

Scenario 1:

I wanted to buy NFS Most Wanted game DVD for Xbox 360.  I went to Reliance Digital first. I found the DVD on the shelves, however, the price was too high (2510 INR). I knew that the price of this DVD was reduced to 1299 INR by the publishers some time back. Wondering why the latest price wasn’t reflecting on the product, I reached out to the sales guy who was supervising the DVDs section.

Me: The price of this DVD is printed as 2510 INR. However, I believe this has been reduced to 1299 INR. Can you please confirm this.
Sales Guy: (Completely un interested) Sir, the price is whatever is printed on the DVD. If the price changes, we update the price sticker accordingly.
Me: I understand. However, can you please use one of your computers to find out the latest price of this DVD. If you offer me the new lower price, I will buy this right away.
Sales Guy: (Still completely uninterested) took the DVD from me and went to the cash register, did something there and came back to me. Sir the price on the DVD is right. This game costs 2510 INR only.
Me: Fine Whatever.

I went to the nearby croma store. I saw the NFS DVD on the shelves. I flipped it over to see the price tag. It also had the old price of 2510 INR. Dissappointed, I was about to put the DVD back on the shelf when a sales guy approached me and asked if he can help me.

Me: (with little hope) I believe the price for this DVD has been updated. Can you please find out the new price?
Sales Guy: (took the DVD from me) told me to wait. He went to one of the cash registeres and came back in a minute. Yes sir, the price of this DVD has been reduced to 1299 INR. Would you like to buy this?
Me: Definitely.

Scenario 2:

We wanted to buy a Sony Home Theater (Model Number: DAV 777. Price 29990 INR). We went to Reliance Digital and asked for a demo. There was another Onkyo Home Theater package available for 21000 INR with a Sansui DVD recorder free. We decided to check  it out. The sales guy asked us to sit on a couch and popped in a DVD in the player and hit the play button.

Me: (after a few seconds of nothing happens) Is something wrong?
Sales Guy: Please hold on for a minute sir, I am connecting the cables.
Me: (frustrated) Aren’t they supposed to remain connected?
Sales Guy: Yes sir, but we sold off the TV which we were using here yesterday. This is a new TV and the cables aren’t connect to it yet.
Me: Fine.
Sales Guy connects the cable and plays the DVD.
Me: (after a minute) Looks like you connected the cables wrong. I can’t seem to notice any positional audio. It sounds like Mono audio is coming out of all the speakers.
Sales Guy: Impossible sir, I have connected all the speakers properly.
Me: Hmm OK. Then lets go to the Home Theater room and watch the Same disc on another Onkyo system.
Sales Guy plays the same DVD on an Onkyo 7.1 channel system.
Me: I still can’t seem to feel the positional audio. Are you sure  the settings are fine?
Sales Guy: Absolutely sir. I have personally connected all the cables yesterday only.
Me: Fine. Let’s check out the Sony DAV 777 then.
Sales Guy takes us to the Sony setup and pops in the DVD into the system.
Me: Why is the screen blank?
Sales Guy: I am sorry sir, but the LCD over here was also sold off yesterday. This is a new TV and the cables aren’t connected yet.
Me: Lemme help you. I went to the setup and tried to help them out. And what I saw was utter horror. The sales guy had connected the Home Theater to the TV using a coaxial cable (the cable TV’s cable) and was trying to tune the TV to receive the signal from the Home Theater’s DVD player. I asked him why isn’t he using a component or HDMI cable.
Sales Guy: (ignoring my question) Sir, the connections on the Onkyo system you were checking out have been fixed. Please come and have a look.
Me: Fine.
Me: (after watching a few minutes of playback off the demo DVD)  Are you sure you have connected it right? I still cannot feel its Dolby 5.1. And why is the picture quality so bad?
Sales Guy: Sir, I assure you that it is connected right. Regarding the picture quality, it depends on the DVD.
I leaned over to look at the connections. And what I saw filled my heart with utter horror again. They had connected the player to the TV using a single yellow AV input (RCA). No wonder the picture quality was so bad.
Me: You seem to have connected the TV using a standard AV cable. Can you please use component cable or HDMI?
Sales Guy: Sir we do not have those cables for display purposes.
Me: Fine. Lets go back to the Sony’s booth then.
Sales Guy: I am afraid that we do not have that model in stock sir. There seems to have been a price hike by Sony and the models are out of stock right now.
Me: Fine. Lets try at Sony World.

We went to Sony World. They had this awesome Home Theater room with all the systems neatly connected to the display using good quality component and HDMI cables. We watched a couple of demo scenes and listened to some songs and finally decided that we will buy the DAV 777 model.

Me: What’s the final price for DAV 777?
Sales Guy: Its 29,990 INR sir
Me: Any discounts or gifts?
Sales Guy: I am afraid not sir.

We tried to make some calls and locate a dealer having old stock with the older (lower) price tag, but couldn’t. We went back to the showroom to buy it at the MRP and found an uncle negotiating with the sales guy.

Uncle: The croma people are giving a 5% cash back. If you can give some discount, I’d buy it from you.
Sales Guy: (whispering to uncle, trying to avoid us) Please hold on sir, I will definitely do something for you.
Me: Hmm. 5% discount sounds good. We should try out at croma.
Sales Guy: (still avoiding us) Sure go ahead.

We went to croma but couldn’t find DAV 777 on display. We could find all the other models though.

Me: Do yo have the DAV 777?
Sales Guy: (after checking all the display models) Looks like we are out of stock sir.
Me: Is the 5% cash back applicable on home theaters?
Sales Guy: Absolutely sir. Its for all the products available here.
Me: If you can arrange it for me,  I will buy it right away.
Sales Guy checks his computer and tells me that he can get it for me tomorrow if I make the payment today. The price is 29,200 INR (that’s 700 bucks lesser than anywhere else).
Me: Any gifts or offers?
Sales Guy goes in and gets me a pack of James Bond movies (Casino Royale full movie and Quantum of Solace promo disc).
Me: (sounding greedy) Cool. But this probably comes free with Sony. I need something more.
Sales Guy goes in yet another time and gets me a small handbag. Its a pretty cheap one and from a different brand. But hey, its free !

We finally got what we wanted and that too at a lower price than other places. The key takeaway from this experience is that its best to negotiate with the retail stores sales guys. They have a lot of margin in these products. Also, it is always a good idea to ask for gifts/offers during festive seasons. They usually have gifts in stock throughout the year but are hesitant to give it to every other customer unless they specifically ask for it. Also, visit a few of these stores before you make your final purchase. Most people just go to a single store and purchase the item right away without even wondering if it might be available at other places for cheap. Remember, they are sitting there to make money.

In the above two scenarios, croma proved to be the best in extending courtesy and staying on top of the market  in terms of price and availability. The sales guys were also well versed with the home theater equipment and knew much more stuff than the other two places.

And last – please use your judgment when going to Reliance Digital for buying Audio Video products. I am not sure how much credible a store can be if it cannot even afford quality cables for its display equipments.

e-Zone Bangalore and the XBox 360

E-Zone: Experience Electronics, Don't Buy!

Since last week I’ve had this undying urge to buy a game console. I’ve been reading reviews watching game trailers and raiding forums to find out the perfect fit for my requirement. Based on games/price/graphics I chose XBox 360. Good job Microsoft. (You can’t imagine how surprised I am to say that!)

Anyway, since a week or so, Microsoft and some big retail chains (Landmark, Croma, e-Zone etc) have been running a Diwali offer on the XBox 360 core. You get a free 20 GB HDD (Microsoft charges 5.5k for this!) and a cool wireless controller free with the normal package. I checked with e-Zone for this on Thursday and they said that the offer will run for a week more and I can come and buy on weekend.

Come Saturday and I visited the e-Zone Koramangala all excited to get my new XBox.

Me: (Playing around with the XBox demo) “Do you have the Diwali offer right now?”
Sales Guy 1: “Yes Sir, We have the Diwali offer with us, it’s a great offer, you should buy.”
Me: “Ok, then get me one.”
Sales Guy 1: (looking surprised) “What, Sir? ”
Me: “I want to buy an XBox Core model. Please get me a box.”
Sales Guy 1: “Oh ok sir, I’ll see.” (Looks here and there finds a few empty boxes saying XBox Diwali offer and runs to another guy)
Sales Guy 2: (Comes and looks at the same boxes and starts whispering to the first guy)
Me: (Is this the first time anyone has asked for an XBox!)
Sales Guy 1 & 2: (Call another guy who comes and starts playing on the XBox demo and whispers something to the other 2)
Sales Guy 2: “Sir, wait for a few minutes, we’ll get the XBox from inside.”
Me: (Finally!)
(After some 5 minutes)
Sales Guy 2: “Sorry Sir, we are out of stock.”
Me: (WTF!) “Not even 1 box, you said that you have the Diwali offer?”
Random Sales Guy 4: “Sorry Sir, we’ll get stocks next week.”
Me: “Will they have this offer?”
Sales Guy 2: “Yes Sir.”
Random Sales Guy 4: “No Sir.”
Me: (Crying over my pathetic situation) “Yeah right, I get it.”

And, I left the store without an XBox cursing my lucky stars. Now it turns out the offer is officially over in all other places (Landmark, Croma etc) but e-Zone guys have been extra lazy not to remove the offer banners or even check their inventory!

UPDATE:

I finally got the XBox 360 Diwali offer from HomeTown in Marathahalli. Wait for new XBox related woiks coming soon!