Tech News Beats

Surfing the net was a luxury once upon a time. When surfing at a browsing center used to cost anywhere between Rs 80 – 100. I remember paying around that sum at CMC center, Silchar, Assam in 1999. In Bangalore I remember paying Rs 40/hr in the early days. But later when I moved to Ulsoor, surfing used to cost Rs 30. The first low cost surfing I experienced was in Delhi in the summer of 2002. They used to offer Rs 15/hr then. And there used to be even discounts depending on time like happy Hours. I heard in Delhi most of the browsing centers offer Rs 10/hr. In Bangalore still in many browsing centers charge Rs 20/hr. Through there are few place which have come down to Rs 15/hr. But Rs 10/hr is very rare or unlikely. Its been a long time I have been to any browsing center. Well, hourly based browsing center was never going to meet my appetite. So I went for a broadband connection in 2006 after I bought a desktop.

I took a BSNL connection after availing a Airtel connection failed. As there was no point left in the hub in my area. BSNL claims 256 KBPS but you may get a download seed of upto 40 KPBS and upload spead of as low as 15 – 20 KBPS. In urban areas internet penetration is increasing but still the density is low. Most working professionals surf the net while they are in office. I can say this because of the traffic fluctuations. During weekends traffic will be at its low, particularly Sunday. As on Sunday all offices are closed including Indian offices. Now a days browsing is not just limited to computers. It has now moved on to mobile phones. If you have GPRS enabled mobile phone, you can browse on your mobile phone.

Google voice search is available since last year. It started with iPhone and mobile phones using Google Android OS. But Google is expanding the service to other manufacturers quickly. Recently, they have added Nokia phones. However it works only Nokia S60 series models. If you have N/E series Nokia phone then you have S60 compatible phones. It seems the phone can also recognize Chinese Mandarin. The phone can also detect where you are located so as to give customized local info.

Earlier when Google first introduced voice search in 2002, it was used as follows:

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