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Light at the end of the cable? – End of consumer intelligence

The article in Hindu today clearly marks the end of consumer intelligence. Even a prudent urban customer can’t understand these jargons like CAS, FTA and MSO.

Just like how BSNL confused us with its tabulated un-understandable tarrif card, cable operators have also vowed to confuse consumer thereby cashing in more money. Still today people are unaware that when they call a mobile from landline they are paying six times more than what they were paying a week back. And before they realise each would have spent more than what their sum of two months bill would be. But BSNL has advertised the change in tariff well in advance. It’s only because the public wasn’t aware of it. The media underplayed this price hike and what happened at the end was a loss to Mr. Public.

To the consumer dismay, even the private networks like Star TV is also advertising this STBs in between their programs. They don’t understand, from day one of this CAS(Conditional Access System), if they don’t meet the demand of Set-top boxes(STB), they will loose their TRB ratings. This will only allow more useless serials and will not help in innovativeness.

After all who is bothered about innovativeness. It is the sponsor of the program who drives what should be seen by the consumer. Just like how the news media is controlled by the goverment in captalist nations(you know which one),we are controlled by sponsors. This is what is called as Image Overload. The more they show Mandira Bedi, the more you debate about her dresing patterns. People even had bets on what she would wear for India/Pak match. The more you watch Hoodi BABA advertisement, the more you would like to buy a KB Calibre. The more Kareena sips Pepsi, you die to sip one too. Fundas of the new generation.

What is so special about ICICI bank? Anytime I look at an ICICI Atm, it so crowded just like a SBI or any other nationalised bank. It is suprising to look at a private bank serving this many customers at the same time. Is this because ICICI’s service and interest rates are good or is it because most corporates indulge their employees in opening accounts with ICICI. In any case, it is a good news. I am still guessing why?.

As the wheel turns, people change from baggy trousers to boot leggers to narrow trousers. Same is true for other walks of life also. The private FM mania is already alive and kicking in most metros of India. Chennai is the last to join the race. One reason being the no. of Tamil tv channels is more than any other regional language channels in India. Infact, even the no. of Hindhi tv channels is also less by a count of 1 or 2.

So there is always something or other new program/serial coming up and it generally took time for people to start finding an alternative for TV. Also, I think there had been some hiccups in granting permission for private FM stations in Tamil Nadu. Now things have changed and Suryan FM @105.8 started its broadcast from y’day. I’ve been personally waiting for this for sometime. Being under the umbrella of SUN TV network which is the leading South Indian TV network, Suryan FM can achieve more things than what others can.

Last night, I tuned into Suryan FM @105.8 and it had cystal clear sound quality and it was way ahead of the public FM sound quality. I slept with the radio on by morning when I woke up, the headphones were just beside my head and I could hear some voices. I realised I didn’t switch it off. In morning they were playing thoughts of day which is usually broadcasted in SUN TV every morning. This is a clear advantage of being assosiated with a TV channel. They have the availability and flexibility of re-using the program which were programmed for the TV.

And when I read the newspaper today, Radio Mirchi @98.3 is also launched from today in chennai. Guys, start getting your personal radios. It’s gonna be a lot fun. Better idea would be to buy a Nokia with radio on it and go bonkers!!

Boys for Gals – Can u hear us?
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P.S : Read Boys Review

Shankar‘s long awaited Boys(for Gals) is expected to release this summer. But the wait extends that AR Rahman fans now atleast demand the music to be released. It’s been more than a year since Boys began. Shankar in his recent interviews keeps saying that he is finished most of the movie expect for a few songs. He said that the movie consisted of 10 songs of which a few of them are shorter ones. There are rumors going around that Jyothika was making a guest appearance for a song sequence.

Shankar known for his fantasy films like Mudhalvan (Nayak), Indian (Hindusthani), Gentleman and Jeans is set to come back with Boys which is said to be a reality movie. He says it has more elements of reality more of his usual fantasy oriented stories. The movie supposedly revolves around the lives of five guys and a girl and it describes the usual confusions and mishaps of teenage and how these guys rise back to the occasion.

Sujatha‘s go-getter dialogues would be a highlight. A R Rahman‘s songs would certainly make a bang. It’s been sometime since AR Rahman rocked the tamil world. His latest Udhaya has been well received but hasn’t made a big impact. Also ARR-Shankar combination has worked well in the past and they have been trendsetters. For the fans who are waiting for the movie for a long time, the music release will certainly cool their hearts.

Of C’s and C plus plusses

Only 35% object oriented featured in kuro5hin is a well-written short story I should say though it is a real life account of how a project went bad because of the buzzword lovers. This article has tons of comments and brickbatting happening. Very interesting.

As ucblockhead accounts in the article Buzzwords are not goals. If you let buzzwords overrule your requirements, you are in for a world of hurt. I agree totally to his point of how buzzwords rule the game and send projects to trash.

Being a die-hard fan of C programming and a pretty-ok programmer in C, I had issues of how-2-look-at-C++ from a C perspective. The perspective what I had was mostly academic and it wasn’t helpful when I was working in a C++ project. To unlearn the C++ which I learnt academically and learn the practical way of C++ took a long time but was fairly beneficial. And only then I was able to appreciate the OOP in C++.