End of Year Message!

A Few Airtel Jokes

Airtel is known for its dumb servers. It commits foolishness very often, either it's 90 years old or due to an ultra-complex algorithm written by "experts" that even a computer cannot understand.

I've been using Airtel mobile since I bought my first mobile in 2006. Airtel Friendz was the best offer available in my hometown. When my work took me to Bangalore, I got another Airtel Students connection.

To call my parents and friends in my hometown, I used to recharge my mobile monthly for Rs. 89 to avail STD calls at Rs 1/min(normal charge was Rs 2.25/min). After a few recharges, I was not able to recharge for STD offer again. Didn't know what happened. Called customer care. They said my offer on my mobile is not yet expired and I can't reactivate the offer only when it's expired. Fine. I waited for two days and tried to recharge. Recharged? Nope. One week. Recharged? Nope. One month. Recharged? Nope,! Nope!! Due to some technical reasons at Airtel servers, the STD offer was not reset every month, and I'm still enjoying STD calls to all numbers at One rupee, even now!

While enjoying these STD calls, I heard of Airtel GroupCall from my friend who has an Airtel connection. It's actually meant to make conference calls for Airtel postpaid customers (monthly rental of Rs. 99). You need to activate the service first, download & install the Airtel GroupCall software on your mobile, make calls using the software. I tried activating the service on my prepaid mobile. Got activated. Got it downloaded and installed. Tried a few calls... What's the money balance? Unchanged! What? Oh, let me try a few more. Balance still unchanged. Calls and sms made using the software were not charged. Thanks again to Airtel servers. Unfortunately, this didn't last so long. Nearly after two months, Airtel noticed the loophole and fixed it. :(


June 25, 2009 - What a sunny day! Took my N95 8GB to greet my friends a great morning. What the #*%$@!. Text message cannot be sent. Check network serivces. But I didn't change any settings on my mobile. Let's wait. Maybe it's some problem with Airtel. Tried after an hour, noon, evening, night. All STD sms still failed. Called customer care many times. They gave some silly settings which I had already tried out. Finally they registered a complaint and gave a resolution time. They closed the complaint without informing me They later said there is no issue at their end. Called customer care again, talked to a supervisor named Anita. Sweet voice. But she too made me nuts. I registered another complaint on July 7th, which they closed on 8th, without any intimation. I had asked to make a callback before closing the complaint. They didn't. Called the customer care today. Another supervisor reopened the complaint and told me that it will be *resolved* in 8 working hours. For Airtel, resolution means closing the complaint even if the the issue is solved or not. Engineers at Airtel say the problem is at my side. But if the problem was with my side I would have found it out in less than an hour. The sim was put in several other handsets and all showed the same error.

I don't know what sort of idiots Airtel employ as engineers. Also, I can no longer be a victim of Airtel servers' craziness. I switched to Vodafone. Though freebies can be a compliment, a fair and transparent service is what a customer expects.

Google Chrome Available in Malayalam

Google Chrome, the web browser from Google, is available in Indian languages, including Malayalam. Initially you may find it a bit difficult to use it due to funny translation of English words but it's worth a try.

Download it here: http://www.google.com/chrome/?hl=ml

For other languages, go to http://www.google.com/chrome, select the language from the box in the top-right of the page and download the file.

Sony Vaio VGN-CS24GH/Q Review

Yesterday I bought Sony VAIO CS24 series laptop. Bought it through a Sony employee and got 20% discount. The laptop is priced Indian Rupees 49,990. After discount, I got it for Rs. 39,992.




I was thinking of buying Dell Studio 15 or Dell Studio XPS 13. I read somewhere that Dell Studio 15 doesn't have Power/HDD/Capslock status indicators. Also it doesn't have media keys. Dell Studio XPS 13 was a perfect machine for gaming and entertainment but it's over-priced. It also has over-heating problems. You'll need some extra cooling mechanism while using it. I wanted a stylish machine with good configuration for casual gaming and entertainment. Sony VAIO CS24 meets my needs with Core2 Duo 2GHz processor, 3GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Intel GM45 Express, Windows Vista Basic. If you have an extra Rs. 12000 ($200), you can go for vaio CS27, which comes with Geforce 9300 and Vista premium.



The package contained the laptop, power cord, instruction manual, and warranty card. That's it. Sony doesn't ship any CDs (OS Recovery, motherboard drivers, etc). You need to create a recovery disc yourself and download the drivers from Sony's website. The laptop is preloaded with everything but in case of system failure at any time, you shouldn't be in trouble.



As there was no CDs or DVDs, all the softwares were already installed. McAfee Total Protection 90 days trial, MS Office 2007 60 days trial, and many other Sony VAIO applications - Media player, Video editor, DVD burner, etc etc and even MS SQL Server 2005!

The body is glossy so it's vurnerable to fingerprints. Keypad is great but would have been better with backlight. The touchpad seems to be made of some hard metal but it's very sensitive and works great. Media and volume keys are also very sensitive. Just drag your finger from - to + to increase the speaker volume. The audio quality is also excellent. It supports HD audio. I haven't got to use it in a proper way so I'm not sure of the battery backup but should be providing at least 2 hours on a normal usage.

Well, this is all I have right now. I'll update once I start using my vaio. :)

UPDATE: I feel that it's better to go for a Sony Vaio with Windows Vista Home Premium or higher. You'll get a free upgrade to Windows 7. Details here: http://club.vaio.sony.eu/clubvaio/gb/en/windows7/order.htm
But, I'm not disappointed. I managed to get it upgraded, don't ask me how. ;)

Reinstalling Microsoft Office Document Imaging Printer

Whenever I have to print a webpage (e-tickets, transaction details, etc.), I use Microsoft Document Imaging printer that comes with Microsoft Office. It’s a virtual printer that saves the page in .mdi format on the computer so that it can be printed later. This virtual printer will also be helpful f you want to know how the documents will actually appear in the paper. Recently, I had installed updates to Microsoft Office but later found that the printer is missing from Printers and Faxes.

Did a lot of Googling and at last I found the trick!

1. Go to Control panel – Printers and faxes

2. Add Printer – select local printer attached then manual.

3. In the port option select Document image printer writer port

4. Install a generic text only printer.

5. Right-click on the generic text/only printer driver and select properties.

6. Click on ports and select "Microsoft office document imaging driver port"

7. Click on the advanced tab and change the driver to Microsoft office document image writer

8. Click on apply and OK

After the printer is created, do the following:

1. Go to Control panel – Printers and faxes. Right click on the newly created printer, select Properties.

2. Select Advanced tab.

3. Select Print Processor.

4. Choose Modiprint.

Done!

Note: Some websites asked me to reinstall MS Office, but I didn’t have Microsoft Office setup.

Hello World!

Hello Reader,

Just created a space on the Internet to post stuffs/ideas that worked for me. :)

Thanks,
Deepak Varier