Thursday, August 10, 2023

SnapGhar, a Group Buying Platform for Real Estate: Look at the PremiumProduct Group Buying Sites |

SnapGhar, a Group Buying Platform for Real Estate: Look at the PremiumProduct Group Buying Sites |

SnapGhar is a group-buying site in the real-estate domain and is based on the fact that a group of like-minded customers come together on a website and avail of discounts on a real-estate project of a company/builder. The real estate developers are encouraged to give discounts when they see a large group ready to buy property in their project and the buyers also get the same property for a lesser price than what they have got on buying separately. It actually is a win-win situation for both the buyer and the seller.

How does it work?

Real estate projects are listed on the site and they get active only when they attain a minimum number of buyers showing interest before the expiry date. Currently, the site lists properties in Jaipur, Karjat, Thane and Mumbai. People interested in buying either need to show interest online or by making a call. It is more like putting the real-estate business online, but with a twist which helps customers get discounts in a group.

SnapGhar is a relatively new startup on the scene and its Facebook Page consists of only 101 fans and the Twitter profile is yet to get active. Also, with a poor Alexa rank of 1564734, the site traffic is meagre. All these facts show that the aggregated deals domain business in the higher priced product ranges is not run through an online medium but more of through an offline medium.

A Look at the Group Buying Space of Higher-end Products

The Group Buying craze in India is huge. Many startups have come and gone, all trying to sell goods and services at discounted prices. Some of the popular sites in the group-buying domain in India currently are: Snapdeal, Mydala, and Dealsandyou. With effective strategies and some luck these companies have survived and done exceedingly well in the Indian market till now. There is also a long queue of failed startups in the domain as well.

All the startups in the group-buying domain are trying to capitalise on the fact of frugality being a part of the culture in India. With the mainstream group-buying space flooded with more than 20 competitors, the recent trend in group-buying ideas has been towards a pull-based model where customers are given discounts on expensive products like a LCD TV to an apartment in Mumbai. Here are the sites which are working in the non-mainstream deal domain:

  • Groffr – They give both real estate deals as well as deals on lifestyle products like electronic products like LCD TVs, etc. Groffr gives real estate deals in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Goa, Kochi, Nagpur and Pune. Groffr has been in the news recently for getting funding from IAN
  • Mobstreet.in – Acquired by Groffr.
  • GrtDeal – 15 days ago they were functional in the real estate domain in only Mumbai. Now, on seeing their site, one can see offers listed for not only real estate but other high-priced categories like cars, bikes, electronics, and travel in as many as 8 cities- Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa, and Thane.
  • Runpapa – An Ahmedabad-based startup applying the pull-based model to cars and bikes, including insurance and loans for automobiles.

This model of generating value to the consumers through aggregated deals is going to be very beneficial for the common man in this time of exceedingly high rates of interest in loans, esp. housing loans. As far as I can understand, this domain cannot be limited to online marketing but will need an offline lead generation strategy as well. Thus, the need for large investments.

Sunday, August 6, 2023

SMS Spam regulations to be Applicable from 27 September in India |

SMS Spam regulations to be Applicable from 27 September in India |

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) most recent policy against blocking spam messages will finally be inculcated in all the 23 telecom circles of India after a week i.e. on September 27, 2011. This policy was issued by TRAI long back on December 1, 2010 and has been postponed and amended as many as six times. The Telecom Minister of India, Mr. Kapil Sibal announced last month that unsolicited ‘mobile marketing’ through Bulk SMS sending will surely end within six weeks and it looks as if he has kept those words.

You can download the detailed Regulations regarding the same from TRAI here.

Major Features of the SMS spam regulation (Current Issue)

  • ‘140’ Series Number: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has provided a series of number starting with 140 which will be exclusively allocated to Telemarketers. This will be an effective step as it will make it clear for the users to recognize Telemarketing Calls easily.
  • Opt-in Categories: The Customers will have the facility to opt in or out of Marketing Messages on the basis of types. In the current Issue, Seven categories assigned are:
    • Banking/Insurance/Financial products/Credit Cards
    • Real Estate
    • Education
    • Health
    • Consumer Goods and Automobiles
    • Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT
    • Tourism and Leisure.
  • Time limits: Every Access Provider will ensure that all kind of Commercial Communication of Mobiles other than Transactional Messages is sent to customer in a period of 12 hours a day which is between 0900 Hrs to 2100 Hrs.

*Maximum Limit for number of SMS sent: All access providers will ensure that no one is permitted to send more than 100 messages per day per SIM or 3000 messages per month per SIM.

Mobile users will now more or less be immune to spam SMSes due to the much-applauded new regulation. However, customers who are used to sending more than 100 SMSes per day have started to feel uneasy as well.

Impact on Bulk SMS Marketing

According to a Medianama report, the following are the impacts on mobile marketing which might also affect the bulk SMS business of companies like NetCore, 2ergo, Way2SMS:

  • Shift of trend towards WAP advertising
  • Smaller database set available for bulk marketing
  • Higher cost to send a sms for a company
  • Risky for companies as one SMS which goes wrong may lead to legal action

Most of the features seem to be really good for the common man, I wonder how the youth of today will cope up with a limit of 100 SMSes a day. I think apps like WhatsApp might be the best solution.

It’s TRAI is going to come really hard on the bulk SMS marketing companies who fail to follow the rules. They are now prone to more risks while they send SMSes. Wonder whether the government should listen to their side as well if someone complains. Also, a popular Indian app SMS Blocker has been instrumental in blocking most of my spam messages. I’ll suggest you download this till the time the new regulation comes.

Saturday, August 5, 2023

Aakash Tablet: Product Review, Specs, Pics, Price and Insights From theMaker Himself |

Aakash Tablet: Product Review, Specs, Pics, Price and Insights From theMaker Himself |

There has been much fanfare and buzz surrounding the launch of Aakash Tablet. Luckily we at Hungry N Foolish managed to get our hands on the device. Here is our review:



Hardware:

First glance: Impressive. The device we have is black in colour on all sides. Actually, black is the only colour the device is going to be maufactured in. There are absolutely no buttons anywhere on the front side except for a thin elongated one at the left end. This single button is used for multiple purposes such as sleep mode deactivation and navigating back to desktop. If you hold it up for a few seconds it’ll display options of switching to: previous folder, recent places you visited or the desktop.

The overall look is aesthetically clean and pleasing to the eye. The back side which as of now is covered with stickers of Aakash and Datawind maufacturers, has a speaker output and a tiny reset button hole. The screen is protected by a dual layer of plastic, possibly for reducing the gloss.

There are two Standard USB ports, a feature that we are yet to experience in an iPad. A microSD card slot is available on the top edge. A microphone and a 3.5mm stereo Earphone jack are provided on the two sides of the lower edge of the device and the power button and charger slot occupy the left side. Overall, build-wise the device feels solid and durable. As the trainers from IIT Rajasthan elaborated, it can withstand slight mishandlings and quite a few falls!

256 MB of RAM is provided, which might sound pretty less initially but since the Tablet is aimed for educational purposes only, it might just have enough on it to cope up with the functionalities. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a 512 MB RAM. A 2 GB internal flash storage and up to 32GB external storage is supported. Aakash runs on a Conexant 366 Mhz Processor with a Graphics accelerator and an HD Video processor.

Screen:

The major point of debate surrounding the launch and probably even in the coming months would be its screen – which is TFT resistive unlike other higher end tablets which have a capacitive touch screen. So, the feather like movements in a capacitive screen that the smartphone and tablet users have got accustomed to, won’t be possible with Aakash.

Its 7 x 3.5 inch wide display while offering a resolution of 800×480, looks somewhat dull as compared to tablets currently available in the market which have a more glossy look and feel.

We talked to Mr Tuli about it, and he explained how it was one of his prime areas of concern while developing the Tablet:

The price for a resistive screen when imported in the quantity that the government required came about $4 each. Whereas, the same would have gone upto $22 if capacitive ones were used instead.

However, he assured that the Datawind team is working on creating economical capacitive touch screens which when manufactured in large quantities would almost cost the same as the resistive ones.

Software:

The Operating System is Android 2.2 Froyo OS. Not much to be said here. We all know what Android is and it’s usage. What would be interesting to see would be how upgradation to a newer version of the OS would be implemented by the makers with time.

The Basic functionalities and Apps:

WiFi connectivity is supported by the tablet. The Bluetooth application has been listed but is currently not working on the device. Perhaps we will see it functioning in the public release. There is no accelerometer, a camera app is provided but again it is useless since the tablet doesn’t come with an in-built camera.

Mr Tuli mentioned that Aakash tablet might include a possible SIM card inclusion in the future:

Further development process includes the possible inclusion of sim card for 3G services and enhancing its capability to work as a mobile telephonic device too. The GPRS connectivity is yet to be achieved as well and is high on the priority list.

The built in apps, which are shipped with the device, are quite basic. There is an Advanced Task Manager with Applications, Services and Systems tabs and options of killing or ending them. For an avid reader like me, an app like Aldiko Premium is a must. It has a cool interface with customizable wooden touch shelves, depicting your recently read books. This app will also come in handy for the students, as it will enable them to read quite comfortably on the tab.

The Android Office should be the primary app as far as educational services of the tablet are concerned. Its loaded with spread-sheets, text, presentations and Database features and a file explorer for browsing saved files. There is also an APG encryption app. Some basic apps like a web browser, calculator, calendar, clock, converter, quick search, contacts are there. There is a Facebook and an E-mail app for internet users. There are two apps for picture viewing namely gallery and Quickpic, the latter being Mr Tuli’s personal choice.

The FDroid app shows the installed Android apps, the list of available apps that can be downloaded and updates of newer versions for current apps. Three gaming apps namely Mini Golf, ZumZum and Open Sudoko complete the Tablet. The Speech Recorder has been included for use once the 3G sim services have been included for voice calling.

The OS supports multiple desktops. Videos can be played directly from the pen drive plugged into the USB slot. There is a touch and hold feature which shifts the app onto the desktop, or wherever intentioned. There are developmental tools and a packet Manager provided by Datawind itself. The internet browsing experience is quite satisfying indeed. The browser is quick and responsive and the onscreen keyboard seems pretty well integrated and easy to use.

Performance and Battery Life:

Since the device has limited RAM available, running multiple apps simultaneously will not prove to be a good idea. The device has not yet hung up while running 6 simultaneous apps that I had a test run with. But I would suggest that users keep minimal apps running, to improve the functioning of the device.

As far as battery life is considered, the battery backup is 180 minutes or 3 hours as listed on the pack. How much of it will it be able to retain with constant use is yet to be seen though.

Our Take

We would come up with more analysis of the Aakash tablet as soon as we are able to test it more. Meanwhile, we’d like to say just one thing: A lot of pre-launch and post-launch talk has been about how the tablet is Chinese-made and how it is a no-use piece. Our take:

We feel that coming up with such an initiative is in itself something big. You shouldn’t expect an iPad killer from a $50 tablet. The tablet has the potential to provide a low-cost platform for accessing the internet, which if used in the right manner will go a long way in creating awareness amongst the youth of the country. It is poised to provide a useful source of information to students of India, where sometimes basic infrastructure like libraries are lacking.

It is being said that the the tablet is being built in Datawind’s unit in Secunderabad, India. The price of Rs 2200 for a tablet is still extemely less, and I hope that the tablet will be bought by many across the country. The government and the team behind Aakash should be lauded for such an initiative. After using it, all I can say is that the device can have a wide reach, and probably see more rural penetration than any other device due to its low cost.

Could it be India’s answer to provide education to students (urban and rural) using the internet at a low price? What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

eBay releases finding from Census of India 2011 | Hungry N Foolish

eBay releases finding from Census of India 2011 | Hungry N Foolish

eBay India had unveiled the eBay Census Guide 2011 sometime back. It confirmed that India is on the second position in terms of e-commerce. Mr. Kashyap Vadapalli, Director-Category Management, eBay India released the fourth edition of the Annual eBay Census Guide in Mumbai. This guide shows all the latest trends in selling, importing and online buying across the country. They’ve revealed the export trends to all the 189 Countries and also the import trend from 120 countries. Here’s a screenshot trying to depict the same:

The following are the important points from the eBay Census Guide 2011:

  • India have more than 3300 e-commerce hubs from all the 28 states and 7 union territories.
  • Top 5 states with maximum online transactions everyday are Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu,
    Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh respectively.
  • 1 out of every 10 online transactions is done in a rural area. This is quite a significant number, which shows that e-commerce and internet have really taken off in India.
  • The metro cities of the country contributed nearly 51 percent in all kinds of e-commerce transactions whereas Tier 2 and 3 cities (of India) contributed a little less around 40 percent. Rural India might be lagging behind with 9 percent, yet it is a positive sign showing the bright side of things to come.
  • Top 5 brands purchased online are Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Apple and Reebok with Sony leading the race.
  • Women lead in online purchases with 55 percent of the total.
  • Electronic gadgets continue to be on the top with 50 percent of the online buying Share.

I found out an infograph-like image on the report. It’s worth giving a look as it tries portraying an average day for eBay India:

The eBay Census Guide 2011 is worth giving a look. You can access it here.

 Ankit is Co-founder of HungryNfoolish. A student of Software Engineering. He is a passionate writer who loves writing about anything and everything related to Technology. Ankit aims to be at the top in every field he is involved in.Catch him on Twitter @techpil

Monday, July 24, 2023

ZipDial, Helping Marketers to Reach Customers on Mobile inspite of TRAIRegulations |

ZipDial, Helping Marketers to Reach Customers on Mobile inspite of TRAIRegulations |

With TRAI’s SMS spam regulations in effect from today, the telemarketers have started devising innovative ways to sustain their business. The strict measures against telemarketing and SMS spam are taken to ensure that people don’t get frequent messages from companies promoting their brands. Also, all the marketing Calls between 9PM – 9AM will be banned.

I know many services which totally rely on SMS systems. Some of them are: 160by2, Way2SMS, SMSGupShup, etc. They all have to start thinking innovative ways of making the customer know of a product without making it look spammy. I think the era of SMS marketing is bound to almost end with this new regulation and the companies will have to come up with something unique, which is perhaps a little not too intrusive as SMSes are.

A perfect example of proper telemarketing and lead generation for companies is a Bangalore-based startup named ZipDial.

ZipDial’s model is based on missed calls. If you are a company and sign up for Zipdial, your customers can leave a feedback or register a vote by giving a missed call on ZipDial’s assigned number.  When someone calls on the number, the call gets disconnected automatically and the user gets an SMS depending on the campaign to which the customer can again respond through a “missed call’.

The whole process means that users get the service without requiring to make a call and it is also ensured that only those customers are called who show an interest – thereby it also does not violate TRAI’s norms of spam. I like their model where the customer won’t be charged a penny and it will totally depend on him whether he wants to be involved in the process of interacting with a brand, thus making the system the least intrusive, unlike the SMS campaigns which used to fill my phone’s inbox earlier.

The company has already recieved clients like LG, Videocon, KFC, and Procter & Gamble, to name a few. Colleges are employing the ZipDial method to gain feedback on college fests. TV shows are using it to poll votes for a contestant and so on.

I am sure that with the passage of time, this service is going to be  a huge success!

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Should Colleges Restrict Web Access to Students Because They Sleep inClass? |

Should Colleges Restrict Web Access to Students Because They Sleep inClass? |

If you study in an engineering college or for that matter have any friend in one of the IITs, you for sure would know what they mean when they tell you that they had a night-out. Night-outs could be any fun activity undertaken at night, and can happen both inside the college campus and outside. A night when the whole wing sat together to watch a whole season of Friends, or an epic movie the umpteenth time or a gaming extravaganza of clan mathces in Counter Strike?

For day boarders in colleges, a night-out is actually restricted as they live in their homes. But, for IITians and IIITians, it’s the night-time when they have all the fun. All this fun has also has after-effects, most of them on the study-habits, paticularly in classes in the day.

The After-effects of Night-outs

Here I list out some common after-effects due to waking up at night or the night-outs:

  • Students tend to wake up late or for that matter wake up around lunch time. They miss classes, and get involved in attendance issues. Most of the colleges have a minimum requirement of attendance and missing out on it leads to either scrapping of grades or in worst cases – prohibition in giving exams.
  • If students reach the class, they tend to sleep there. Some even sleep on the front bench when the professor is busy teaching algorithms.
  • Academic scores go down and as said in this article, some even commit suicide. (Done by IITians mostly and I don’t think they do it just because of a poor academic showing).
  • Many of them start taking drugs, drinking and smoking weed, because of frustration piled up due to the academic pressure.
  • So many students play sports in school, and when they enter college only a handful can be seen sweating on the grounds.

List of Institutes – Enemies of the Internet

The following is a list of institutes who are either thinking of shutting down internet during the night hours or have banned social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter:

  • IIIT Allahabad: Has been banning Twitter and Facebook at regular intervals but student protests get things to normal everytime. Inside sources in the college told us that 2 proxy servers each with bandwidths of 150 MB and 50 MB respectively are functional and so the net is slow. The students are not left with much options and they have to shut their systems after sometime. Such poor net speed in an IT college!! :O
  • IIIT Hyderabad: Internal sources say that discussions have been going on how keep the students woken up in classes. Potetial solutions which have been discussed by the panel are shutting down the internet at night, banning social networking sites.
  • IIT Kanpur: They want to shut the internet from 12 am to 6 am. Here’s what the registrar Mr. Sanjeev Kashalkar was quoted saying:

    The campus is wi-fi enabled and it has been found that students use Internet throughout the night on their laptops due to which they are sleepy during classes and it adversely affects their academic performance.

  • IIT Bombay: These guys have a restriction in place already. Students were surprised when the net stopped functioning at night according to this Times of India report.

Do they need to cut the internet though?

I am a student and understand that in today’s world all of us are more connected through the internet than anything else. All my friends and professional contacts are on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. The internet has given me the power to be connected with them on a regular basis, some of them live in far-flung places like New Zealand, where I can’t even call them. I Skype with them. Now, if the authority will shut down internet or restrict on the bandwidth just because they think that it is a potential reason for sleeping in classes then I’d not be able to keep in touch with my friends and family.

Nowadays, the study patterns have also changed. Google has become an intrinsic part of any class assignment – be it an engineering project submission or studying for the exams. The internet helps students if they really know how to utilise its power. Shutting it down is not the right solution. Rather, authorities should think of more ways of engaging students in class than dreary lectures. People will go and buy data-cards if the authorities cut the internet connection, and then what will they do – cut that as well? Lol. Also, I feel sports activities should be made compulsory if people are not playing enough sports. Regarding suicides, which has always marred the IITs image, I think a proper communication channel which is not too formal will help students in coping with pressures of life. But, shutting down internet is not a possible solution. We shouldn’t be thinking of doing that if we plan to really be one of the super-achievers in the world economy.

We need to groom our talent, and the internet as always will play a major role in it. Yes, even Facebook!

If you happen to read this article, share it, and comment on what you think of the whole notion of shutting down the internet at night. What methods do we need to keep our students awake and aware?

Thursday, June 8, 2023

SIMRAN: No, she's not a girl - She'll Help You Track Your Train |

SIMRAN: No, she's not a girl - She'll Help You Track Your Train |

When I sat down to write about SIMRAN, I was thinking how well i could relate to this topic! Here’s how well: My morning train usually gets delayed by 3 or so hours which I have to catch on my way back college from my hometown. Last time I travelled, I didn’t want to leave my cozy bed to wait at the station for a delayed train in the least but couldn’t help it as during the odd hours of the morning as no one picks up the phone at Railway enquiry counters. The railway officials are too busy snoring on their comfy chairs.

This is a problem which happens with most of us. Time immemorial, technology has played a significant role in our lives and has contributed towards the betterment of mankind solving its enormous problems. I guess the same thought has struck the mind of the officials of Government of India who now are on the path of launching a new satellite-based technology which would track the exact location of trains by capturing their images and hence telling the commuters whether they could board the train on time or not. This project is called Baby Simran.

What is SIMRAN?

Said to be a Rs.100 crore project, it is based on the principle of Global Positioning System (GPS) and radio frequency and is going to be launched soon. All you have to do is dial a number or SMS and you would be informed about the exact location of the train. Indian railways plans to launch this project known as Baby Simran which stands for Satellite Imaging Rail Navigation (Simran) in Rajdhani express trains.

Here’s what a Railway official was quoted saying:

“The Research Designs and Standards Organisation and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) have been working on the project, which will be launched soon. Four trains would initially be installed with Global Positioning System equipment.

The 100 crore project involves GPS navigation and radio frequency, with digital mapping of stations. Through this, a passenger will be able to know the exact location of his train, henceforth making him plan beforehand.

I just can’t wait for SIMRAN to open for public use. I’d get a better sleep this time around. It’d definitely help all of us to know when we have to leave for the station. Here I’d like to mention Pyka, an Indian startup which is also helping Railway passengers a lot. By sending an SMS to Pyka’s number, you can assign the station where you wish to alight from the train. Pyka will call you 20 minutes before you are about to reach your destination.