Before we get into further details, it is important to understand that the Parliament in India was designed in 1919 to have Legislative Supremacy over all other political bodies in the country. Well, the British would have loved that anyways! It appears that the Indian Government is also enjoying the supreme status as of now.

The problem as I see is that the people in power do not represent the majority of the country. Out of 550 odd members, 73 have serious cases registered against them under CRPC and over 150 Lok Sabha MPs have cases against them. I refuse to believe that a third of the country is made up of criminals! No political party in India was able to get over 50% popular vote in the 2009 elections. Is this a case of Highest Acceptance of the Least Despise?!?

The State is different from the Statesmen. This is one of the reasons that all parties accept that the Prime Minister should be included under the ‘jurisdiction’ of the Lokpal, on the post according the JanLokpal, and after stepping down, as per the Govt. Lokpal. No individual is above the law and that is the point that the Civil Society wants to make. If the Prime Minister is and will be honest, there is no reason for anyone to fear the law! There have to be reasonable checks in place to ensure that there are no frivolous complaints, and that should solve the purpose.

That said, the people of the country understand that the Parliamentary processes are right, and they will take time. ‘How long’ is the question. Is there a reasonable time limit to present and pass the bill in the Parliament? What would motivate a parliamentarian to approve of an authority that will question him? This is like asking the inmates of the prison to approve of a warden!

Parliament is the supreme authority on law making. All bills should be tabled in the Parliament, discussed and passed. Well that happened – way back in 1968! (Source – HERE)

Team Anna should respect the authority of the Standing Committee. Which one, the one formed in 1996, 1998 or 2001?!? Or the most recent one, that was formed after Anna Hajare threatened to fast in April?!? (Source – HERE)

There may be numerous arguments in favor of or against the Team Anna or the Jan Lokpal bill. The core issue is that whether the Government, the Opposition and the Bureaucratic fraternity of the country are motivated to bring a Lokpal that will have the fangs and teeth to allow a common man to be able to resort to an authority that will help and support him against corrupt practices of the office bearers.

Once again, this is not a fight between the Office and the Civil Society, this is between the Office-bearers and the common man on the streets.

For the iPad 2, this jailbreak was pretty late. Apple had secured iPad 2 pretty well and some even said that the iPad 2 jailbreak may never come. Not until a couple of days ago, when @comex announced that it was ready, after the glitch where a beta tester had leaked the unfinished Jailbreak to the world.

For the iPad 2, here are the steps:

1. Ensure that you have Internet connectivity on your iPad, via WiFi or 3G.
2. Go to Settings -> General -> About and note the ‘Version’ from there. It should be 4.3.3. If Yes, skip to step 11.
3. If the Version is less than 4.3.3, please search Google for ‘Download iPad 2 ipsw 4.3.3‘. The first search result that you find should be good enough, (limera1n.cc or redmondpie).
4. Choose the File corresponding to your iPad (WiFi, WiFi+3G, CDMA/GSM). Remember, selecting the wrong file may result in another download! No other harm will be caused as iTunes will not restore it to your device.
5.  Connect your iPad to your computer and start iTunes.
6. iTunes will connect to your device. iTunes will tell you that an update for your device is available. Ignore this advise at the moment.
7. Right click on the device in the left pane and select backup, just in case something nasty happened.
8. Once the backup is complete, select the device once again in the left pane. You will see the home screen of the device, with the option to ‘Check for Update’ and ‘Restore’.
9. Press ‘Shift’ and click ‘Restore’ of you are on Windows, or ‘Option’ and click ‘Restore’ if on Mac. Choose your recently downloaded ipsw and let the restore begin.
10. Once the restore is done, eject your device from the computer.
11. Check that Internet is active on the iPad.
12. Open Safari and type http://www.jailbreakme.com in the address bar.
13. You will see a button ‘Free’ on left side of the screen.
14. Touch the button. It will turn in a green Install button. Tough it again.
15. Safari will automatically close at this time. Don’t Worry. Your Job is done!
16. Somewhere on the Home Screen, you will find the Brown Cydia icon, installed or downloading.
17. You Are Freed!

Post questions if you have and I will be glad to assist where I can.

This information is posted as is, and is for educational purpose. Please check your local laws before you Jailbreak your device.

For those who just joined in, I have a small account of my issue on ranaonline.com. I was frustrated enough to create a website for it.

I was among the unlucky few who ported their number and were left hanging between the two service providers, old and new. It was strange that the providers were same in my case, Reliance Communications. I applied for number porting on the 2nd Feb, and when nothing happened, I enquirer on the 15th Feb by calling the Customer Care. The trouble started then.

The super excited CSE marked my number for porting, which means he shut the service from Reliance CDMA end. I could not have known about it till the 16th Feb afternoon because I was able to make calls and send messages from my CDMA set, but wasn’t receiving any SMS or calls. I thought this was one of those lucky days when the marketing guys forget that you exist!

I tried to call everyone since then. Customer Care was the first step, calling them every day to find out the status of the process. Their favourite answer was that we have escalated your request and it will be processed ASAP. There was no one who was willing to take the onus of getting it done ASAP. I tried to speak to the Managers but that didn’t work. I wrote the the Customer Support email address but no one answered.

I realised that I had to do something beyond that. I wrote to the Nodal Officer. No Response. I wrote to the Appellate Officer. No Response.

I didn’t know what could I do beyond that. I tried to call the Nodal Officer and the Appellate Officer. Their numbers were answered by a lady who said that the email queries were handled by a third person and gave me a number that was not answered.

It had been about 20 days. While I had another Vodafone number that was working fine and I could be reached by those who I wanted to reach to me, it was the messages that I was more worried for. I had this Reliance number since last 8 years. I had given this number to all the institutions who wanted to send messages to me. This list included all the banks, credit card companies, mutual funds, marketing companies, insurance companies, stock brokers, exchange and depositaries and I don’t know who else. Not receiving any messages meant that I could not transact online, I didn’t have any update on my portfolios, I couldn’t make most bill payments or do anything that involved an OTP, a One Time Password.

What could I do?!? I searched the Internet for someone who I could trust in the company. Who could be better for this job but the CEO of the company!!

I wrote an email to the CEO, mentioning my problem, attaching the mail trail, requesting him to take the onus of the task of getting my number activated. Somewhere in my heart I knew that this was a waste, the CEO of one of the largest corporations in the company had more things to do than oversee individual customer problems. I was wrong!

I wrote this at about midnight on the 7th Feb. On the morning of 8th Feb, I received a call from the CEO’s office, acknowledging the mail and assuring me that they were working on it. After that, I received almost 5 calls from the Gujarat office of the company, asking me various details of the account of these 20 days, telling me that they were really working on it.

By 5 in the evening of 8th Feb, I received a call from the local Reliance Web World telling me that they had a SIM for me. This had the number ported and activated to it, and they wanted to deliver it to me!

At 6PM, I was receiving calls and messages on my Reliance GSM number, and browsing the Internet at 3G speeds.

It was shocking for me to believe that the CEO of a company would bother to read the mail from a customer, one in a hundred million, and act on it.

I love the company!

After reading the story, it is clear that the company has lost what they one had, Leadership. It is both, in business and in company HQ. Nokia is facing the lender’s syndrome, you have invested so much in someone or something that you can’t let go of it now. Nokia has built a system around symbian. With the Ovi store, they tried to replicate Apple App Store and Android Market. They failed probably  because they didn’t realize that the people who are buying their phones are not the ones who are interested in applications. The typical Nokia customer now is one who wants a phone with basic features, a device useful for voice communications.
Someone who has the money to spend on applications may as well buy an iPhone or a phone running Android, something that has an established ecosystem. Windows Mobile 6.5 with Titanium and what not was a flop because it didn’t have all that I want from my HD2, and more. I run Android on my phone because it gives me the power to write this post, something that I can’t do on Windows Mobile. Despite being a Windows mobile fan, I had to choose Android because it has the flexibility and expandibility to adapt to my needs.
Nokia needs to rethink and probably drop MeeGo and symbian.

If you can’t beat them, join them!

This means that the mobile phone subscriber can now say goodbye to bad customer service, call drops, unwanted services, spam sms, marketing calls etc from their existing provider and move to a new and better (!) service provider.

“Now you can leave the pirates and join the thieves!” is what a user pointed out on twitter!

I think it is true to a great extent. All the service providers are marketing their 3G services. It is almost impossible to find out if your city is covered in their list (important if you live in a small city), except one provider that has a list, surprisingly Reliance! They are all promising high-speed internet and giving you an option to check if your handset supports 3G, but none of them tells you that your city may not yet be covered with 3G service. So much for their Advertising Standards!

Well, for all those who are still planning to move to a new provider, or planning to change between CDMA and GSM, here is the information. And yes, you can port a CDMA number to a GSM provider, which means that a number from Reliance/Tata/Virgin/MTS can be used on Airtel/Vodafone/Idea/Tata/Aircel etc. and vice-versa.

SMS –

PORT <10 Digit Mobile Number>

to 1900.

You will receive a UPC, Unique Porting Code, which you will use as an identifier with your new provider. Walk into the store of the new provider of your choice, ask for a Customer Application Form, fill in the form and provide the UPC. You will need a Photograph, Address and Identity Proof.

Once you have done this, you will receive a new SIM card and you will have to clear the complete billed/un-billed outstanding with your old provider. Your new provider will let you know once the port is ready. You will get an SMS on the old SIM, to inform you to replace your old SIM with the new SIM in the phone. This process should take no more than 7 working days.

Remember, you will need a new phone if you are changing your service from GSM to CDMA or vice versa.

Happy Porting and Calling on the New Provider!

I am writing this post on the iPhone 4 WordPress application. The good part of iPhone is that the app-store has so many applications that the device is much more than a phone. Actually, sometimes I think that the phone part of this device is less important than everything else here. I can say this because I am still using a locked phone and the only connectivity I have is via wifi at home or in the office. I am still unable to part with this device!!
More updates with tech and other issues later.. Now that I have the device, it should not be difficult!!

Commonwealth Games Federation
10th Floor
16Piccadilly
London W1J 7NR
United Kingdom.
Date: Thursday October 08th 2010 draw no. 1537

CWG Winning No.02 20 33 40 43 46 BONUS 14

Dear Winner;

Your e-mail has won you $750,000.00 (SEVEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND
U.S. DOLLARS ) from Commonwealth Games Promotion on our 2010 charity bonanza.The winning
ticket was selected from a Data Base of Internet Email Users, from which your Address came out as the winning coupon.You are therefore requested to
All details should be submitted to the address below

send your Bio-datas to presenter (Prize Administrator) via Bellow
Information:
Claims infomation
Name: Mr.Godwin Best
E-mail: commonw@europe.com

Kindly provide us with the below.

Full Name………….
Address…………
Phone Number…
Occupation…..
Sex…….
Age…….
Amount won……

Take note that all our winners from Asian (China,Indian,Pakistan e.t.c) ,you should claim there Winning amount in our UK office,also this is not a scam. you can only win once.

Mr.OJ Borg
Award CO-ORDINATOR.
COMMON WEALTH GAME FEDERATION.

Please don’t forget to congratulate me in comments!

This is about the software that I installed on the machine. I have heard a lot of people complain that there aren’t enough software for Mac. I had similar apprehensions about the Mac when I bought it. I have been using it for a few days now and I now know the most important software that you may want for your Mac.

Begin with MS Office. No doubt there is no other application that can even come close to it, even on a Mac. I downloaded the trial version of iWork and instantly realized that this was not what I could work with. I am used to working with my words, numbers and presentations in particular manner. I cannot change it instantly. I think I found it easier to work with iWork but simple things like different common shortcuts made me download and purchase the Office for Mac instantly. Highly Recommended.

Browsers. You cannot ignore Chrome. Google may be called evil or anything but the browser works flawlessly in Mac. However, if you are a download junkie like me, you will have to get another amazing browser, which is the most extensible and safe browser, Firefox. I didn’t find any good extension like FlashGot to pass all the RapidShare links to PSD.

Downloader. Progressive Downloader is the best application to download large files. It is like any other download manager for Windows, integrated very well with Mac. I like the interface and the ease of use. The best part is that it monitors clipboard and will start download automatically when a link is clicked at.

Compression. While there are inbuilt mechanism for unarchiving files, get The Unarchiver. It makes life a lot easier. I would say a must have.

VLC Player. No explanation needed, but if you still want one – the best audio video player available out there, IMHO. Yes, it plays avi!

uTorrent. If you don’t already know, stay away from it.

Instant Messengers. While Adium is a good option, I would also recommend Nimbuzz. I use Nimbuzz on my phone and I have been very happy. It connects to all popular services, with the option to make calls to Landline and Mobile phones.

EDIT: With inputs from Shishir Sharma

If you are on Twitter then you can follow me @ranaonline and also install Tweetie for Mac. This is one of the best applications for using Twitter on Mac. The other options like Tweetdeck or Twitterrific are also worth a look, however if you want simplicity, Tweetie should be your choice.

If you miss your note-book while working on your notebook, you can save some paper with SlidePad. It is a simple application, which slides from the left side of the screen once installed. It helps you take notes in the meetings without any distraction and without eating any screen space. The only problem may be that it might stick out when you don’t want it to, but that’s a small price to pay for a free and very useful tool!

Thanks Shishir for introducing me to these two!

‘All New Experience’! Well the thought caught on me and I decided I WILL use a Mac, even if it was a low powered one, unlike my current quad-core 6 GB 16″ HP laptop. I was now looking for an opportunity to buy a Mac and one such presented me when I was in Canada for a family vacation. The family friend we were visiting had not one but two MacBooks. They had recently released a compilation of their music, working solely out of Garageband. I was impressed.

I decided to pay a visit to the nearest Apple Store, which was in the huge West Edmonton Mall, and I was amazed. The Apple store was pretty and full, usual, I was told. We entered and started to explore our options. There was the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. I has already started liking what I saw. I decided that I will buy the 13″ as I was planning to use it primarily as a mobile device and not as a replacement of my desktop. Also, I was not sure if I would be able to use it very well and so I thought I would spend only a reasonable amount on it.

The machine was for CAD 1250 and Apple was kind enough to give a CAD100 discount to students. The Genius, who was helping us buy our Mac also told us that we could get an iPod worth CAD219for free if we applied for the rebate. I didn’t refuse!

So here I am, with my all new MacBook Pro, working with all new set of software and still trying to come to terms with things like multitouch! I am sure with a little training and some googling, I will be able to use this as my primary machine. I will also post more from this experience, starting with the list of software that I installed first on the Mac to port my work from a PC.