AoL Google Gadgets
Today I will share my Art of Living related IGoogle Gadgets with you. If you like these gadgets, you can start using them from today. You can gift the knowledge to yourself, on this new year.
Just add these IGoogle gadgets at your IGoogle homepage, or Google desktop, or Windows Vista/Windows 7 side bar.
Have a look at today's screen-shot.
Here is the list:
- Question Answer with Sri Sri: This is ever green, most popular IGoogle gadget among all the gadgets developed by me. It randomly selected one dialogue with Guruji Sri Sri Ravishankar from a huge collection of question answer. Guruji's answers are full of wit, humor, wisdom and knowledge to deal our practical life. Just try it out.
- On Tour with Sri Sri:Guruji keep traveling across the globe. Here the Google Map has been used to indicate His location on planet earth, along-with His tour schedule.
- Yoga Pose for Today: Yoga is for every body. Learn a new Yoga posture daily.
- Daily DARSHAN of Guruji: This gadget display daily a new photo of Guruji. We have a large collection of Guruji's photos on Picasa. Click here
- Spanish Castilian Daily Sutra. Wisdom Perls by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Click here 1, click here 2 and click here 3.
- English Daily Sutra: Wisdom Perls by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.Click here 1 and click here 2
- Art of Living Blogs: An RSS reader for few interesting Art of Living related blogs.
- Wisdom from Sri Sri: An RSS reader for the official Art of Living blog. "Wisdom from Shri Shri". Available in languages: English, Marathi, Spanish, Russian, Hindi and Portuguese
- Sri Sri Pictures : A slide-show of Guruji's picture. WOW! You need to see it to experience the bliss !!
Share your comments/feedback. Click here for my earlier article about Swaminarayan IGoogle gadgets. And yes, wait for few more articles about my IGoogle gadgets at your own blog Express YourSelf !
Jaydeep Swadiya
Voice of Bangalore - 2010
Venue: Garuda Mall, Bangalore
Time: 6 to 9:30 Oct 10, 2010
- A live talent hunt show by Garuda Mall and Radio City
- 7 intermediate rounds since August 2010,
- More than 6000 participants.
- The auditions at various colleges — including the Jain University, National College, Jyothi Nivas College, Vijaya College, the RV Colleges, and PES Institutions — and also at corporates Infosys and Tesco.
- The 6 finalists : Yaamini, Shwetha, Apoorva Shridhar and Pareekshith Kumar, Krishna T V, Deepak
- Three rounds: Compulsory Kannada song, Hindi song and then duet song.
- Judging panel : Playback singer Udit Narayan, Kannada music director Gurukiran and playback singer Rajesh Krishnan.
Now look at the show, performance, comments from judges.
- O My Love (Apoorva)
- Krishna Mi Jeevan (Yamini S)
- etc.
- Janeja, is dil me tum hi samaaye ho...(Apoorva)
- Is pyaar ko main kya naam du? (Parikshit)
- Man-Mohana from movie Jodha Akabar (Shewata)
- (Krishna)
- Teri Niyat Kharab Hai (Yamini)
- Tu Hi Tu Satrangi re... from movie Dil Se (Deepak)
- Kannada song by Apoorva and Krishna
- Albela Sajan Aayo Re from movie Ham Dil De Chuke Sanam
- Zoobi Doobi from movie 3 Idiots
Udit Narayan sang
- Zee TV, M TV, ...., Bari Holu Bari Holu,
- Papa Kehte Hai (Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak)
- Chand Chupa Badal Mein (Ham Dil De Chuke Sanam)
- Ham Hai Ek Pal Yaha...
- Kunidhu Kunidhu Baare, (Mungaru Male) My favorite song. :-)
- 'Voice of Bangalore' honor.
- Maruti A-Star car,
- Gili diamond jewelery
- Watches
Look at some still photographs here and here
- The Hindu: Yamini and Deepak are the voices of Bangalore
- Deccan Herald: Singing away to glory
- Deccan Herald: Choosing the best
- TV9: Click here and here
- Social Media Facebook
HR Session
Express YourSelf !
All these layers body, breath, mind, intelligence and memory give a unique identity to us. That forms ego.The positive ego is self-esteem. However, ego also creates boundary, separations, non-belonging. Behind all these six layers, you exist. Your core part. The self. Aatma. Spirit. Consciousness. Love. Peace. You are that. It is common between me and you. It is omnipresent. And let me express myself. Myself and yourself are same. Ourselves.
So today, this blog is completing two years. The effort to express myself. However this self is not expressible. Life is an exercise to express the InExpressible. How? I will write sometime about it.
Voice of Bangalore - 2007
Venue: Garuda Mall, Bangalore
Time: 6 to 9:30 Sept 14, 2007
- A live talent hunt show by Garuda Mall and Radio City
- 9 weeks of auditioning, commenced from July 26,
- More than 5500 participants.
- Auditioned by eminent personalities from music industry like, Chandrika Gururaj, Praveen Godkhindi, Pallavi, Sangeetha Katti, Ganesh Desai, Supriya Acharya, Sunitha S, Fayaz Khan, Jimmy Raj, Satyaprakash, Biju Nair and others.
- The auditions at the Garuda Mall, ITPL, WIPRO (Electronic City campus), National College and M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology.
- 17 singers for Semi finals
- The 6 finalists : Shakti Prasad, Divya H, Priyanka Gaharwal, Aniketh Prabhu, Raghupathi and Supriya
- Three rounds: Compulsory Kannada song, Hindi song and then duet song.
- Judging panel : Bollywood singer Kumar Sanu, music director Guru Kiran, Kannada director Indrajit Lankesh and film producer Ashwini Ramprasad.
Now look at the show, performance, comments from judges and winner announcement.
- Ek Radha Ek Mira...Dono Ne Shaam ko Chaaha
- Tadap Tadap Ke Is Dil Se Aah Nikalti Rahi
- Satyam Shivam Sundaram...Title song
- Na Jaane Kabse...Nind Kam Aati Hai...
- Tere Bin Nahi Jina..Nahi Jina...
- Naino Ki Mat Suniyo
- Jai Jai Shiv Shankar. Kanta Lage Na Kankar
- Jane Ja....Dhundata Fir Raha...Main Tumhe Raat Din..
- Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyar Ke Charche Har Jabaan Par.
- 'Voice of Bangalore' honour
- Music Director Guru Kiran also signed them for his next movie
- An exciting opportunity to sing in Indrajith Lankesh's next Hindi venture, 'Life' starring Shiney Ahuja
- Gili Diamonds worth Rs 1,00,000
- Free stay packages from Country Vacations
At last Kumar Shanu has message for all the participants, who could not win : "Ruk jana nahi tu kahi harke...". Kumar Sanu and Guru Kiran also performed at the show.
Look at some still photographs here
Times of India had covered this event. Click here
Sahyadri Adventure : book launch
One can find more about Mr. Deepak Dalal and his books by googleing. This article is more about expressing myself. What I thought after attending this event. I always attend such events, thinking one day, I will also release my book...
One thing I noticed and appreciated about the author. He was just speaking with his heart, being in the present moment. He did not care, weather his speech would influence people to buy the book or not. He just talked. He talked about his efforts to write this book. He spent hours in the libraries of universities and referred old books. They were dusty and causing sneezing. He himself traveled a lot. Manytimes, he traveled by walk, to mingle with local people, understand them and capture them into these books. He shared all this experience. His face was glowing with joy of putting his 100% efforts to write this book, to create story. The result is such wonderful books. A fantasy story is nicely woven with historical facts of a specific location.
Deepak Dalal has been writing adventure books for children for over a decade now. He has also conducted various workshops at schools across the country, where he showcases his numerous journeys. These books addresses the teenagers. The teenagers are used to read Harry Porter stories. They read some popular stories with foreign character and foreign background. Somehow, Such adventures stories are missing in our culture. Deepak is filling this gap. He wrote story with Indian characters and Indian background. He researched about Indian history. He developed Indian characters in his book, who lived in that history. The young generation can identify those characters with themselves. They can learn history. They can appreciate that, every place has history. There is a past, behind the present. That past has contributed for the present shape of any place. I recommend such books for school library, for extra - curricular readings.
His books talked about various geographical locations. Lakshadweep, Ladakh, the Andaman Islands and Ranthambore etc. One book is about Ladakh. We saw Ladakh in some patriotic movies. He visited those places. Lakshadweep and Andaman Islands are just few dots, in the ocean, at our Indian map. No !!! They are beautiful places to visit. They have history. He also talked about his book "The Snow Leopard Adventure". The snow leopard is a typical animal. Its color matches with background color of Himalayas. Deepak waited for three days to watch the snow leopard. One more book is about jungle. He is concerned about decreasing strength of tigers. Now, it is illegal to decorate drawing rooms with tiger skin. Still hunters kill tigers to get theirs bones!! Deepak explained the reason. Tiger bones has some health value in Chinese health therapy. The Chinese people has killed all its tiger. Now China is importing tiger bones from India. The greed of people and failure of enforcement of law by government are major concerns.
"Sahyadri Adventure" book is about Mumbai / Bomaby of 1850. When I think about Mumbai, the first things come in my mind is: running people to catch local trains. The 'selfish' people, I think 'focused' is batter word compare to 'selfish'. Focused for money. They are money oriented. Mumbai is business capital of India. Today, Mumbai means a place with stock market, Chopatty, Local trains, Bollywood, Bal Thakare… This same Mumbai was completely different in the history. It was just a group of Irelands, that no one wants to keep with them. Someone gave other party as dowry. Finally it came to East India Company. They realize its potential due to port. He saw some sketch of jetty. Those days, no vehicles. People used to carry the imported cartoon in hand lorry. Even people used to travel abroad only in steamer. So they traveled in small boat to and from big steamer to jetty. And then they have PALAKHI. He wants to rekindle the curiosity particularly in children and youngsters about history. He told, "As a kid, I would travel to Fort (Mumbai) to visit my father's office. I realised there was no fort there, yet the name survived. ...."
We just wondered when he showed us some sketch of Church Gate, Narimon Point etc. It was unbelievable yet, we do not have a choice!! We convinced ourselves: those days, population was less, infrastructure was not developed fully. So yes, Mumbai should be as like this sketch. Have a look to these pictures, where he is sharing those sketches with power point presentation. Also see this video. Click Here. He thanked a kid, who drew all these sketches for his book.
The author, wrote a story around this place and time for teenagers, to teach them our Indian history. Let the teenager realize that history is not such a boring subject. It is not about remembering events and its year. It is much more than that. Someone from the audience commented that these books teach geography too.
It reminds me a mail with similar sketch about old Bangalore. Once upon a time, "Nimma Bengaluru" (our Bangalore) was different. Our Kannada teacher explained, how the different areas get different names. Once RJ Vashanti also initiated similar discussion on her radio show on Radio City. She asked people to share name of Bangalore area and history behind it. Bangalore has rich history. King Kempa Gowda, poet Kuvempu etc. So yes, we should have such stories to address teenagers. It should be with our local history. Gujarat has rich history of Girnar, folk stories, Somanath. Even my native place Mithapur has history. Mr. R.M.Lala captured it in his book "Creation of Wealth". The young generation will remain unaware from local history, if we force them just to score high in exam, to remain competitive.
This book was thought provoking to me. We are just presence here on this planet earth for a duration of time. Here everything is changing. Even once upon a time, we had ocean at the place, where today we have Himalayas. This event also reminds me, my visit to a small museum at famous Vishala hotel of Ahmedabad. I thought, our next generations will laugh at us, as we are using some old technology 2G, 3G, 4G (LTE) mobiles. Our latest Android based phones will be in such museum.
I also realized that yes, we should learn local language, local culture to mix with people, perticularly if one is intended for social service or politics. HDH Pramukh Swami Maharaj many times, address the local people with specific way. E.g. Bhvanagar people are with feelings (BHAV), Jamangar is CHHOTE KASHI (small Kashi. Kashi is a pilgrim place for Hindu). Even he made comment about me and my native place, during our personal interaction. Guruji Sri Sri Ravishanakr talks few words, sentences in local language, wherever he goes. He knows many languages.
In short, a place has not only geography. It has history. It has culture. It has literature. It has folk songs and fold stories. A shared belief of people about Dos and Don’ts. A language. A local leader. A local sports. A local celebrity. A local source of inspiration. Probably we cyber citizens have forgotten this fact. We worships Google like a God, but we are unaware about local mythological stories. So let’s be aware about it. I will write sometime about my Kannada learning efforts at our own blog. “Express YourSelf !” Yes, once a upon a time, in my college days I too researched about history and geography of Nadiad city. Sometime, I will share it with readers of this blog.
At the end, we had interactive question-answer sessions with the author. We had concern that such books are only for rich teenagers. Poor kids do not get exposure to such books, who are studying in the Government school, Kannada medium school. One enthusiastic person had some plan, project for social service, he asked for Deepak’s time for discussion.
I wish all the best to Mr. Deepak Dalal for his book.
Ref:
1. http://www.livemint.com/2010/07/02201110/Deepak-Dalal--Indian-Hardy-Bo.html
2. http://www.buzzintown.com/delhi/event--books-launch-sahyadri-adventure-anirudhs-dream-sahyadri-adventure-koleshwars-secret/id--247222.html
3. http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/kids/article406029.ece
4. http://www.mid-day.com/whatson/2010/jul/030710-Deepak-Dalal-fiction-1850s-Bombay-Sahyadris.htm
Poems + Paintings
I attended one such event by "Shabd.." and Dheer weekly on 6th June. Mr. Hullas Jain released his book "Vyangyaarang" and exhibited his painting "Rangarang". You can find all the details below.
Hullas has expressed very well his thoughts in his new book of poems "Vyangyaarang". It was offered as complementary gift to the audience. We had some formalities for welcoming guest and some formal speeches. The speakers appreciated his writings.
"Rangarang" - the painting exhibition - had diversified themes, like natural beauty, Patriotism, Bollywood heroines etc. Have a look to his selected paintings here. I have captured them with my mobile specially for you - readers of "Express YourSelf!" blog. Just click here
Stay tune to this blog, for more such events reports. And yes, let's all wish Hullas Jain "All the best" for his future progress in art field and "Congratulation" for this event.
World Environment Day
On this day, I request all the readers of this blog to become aware about our responsibility to our planet – the mother earth. Let’s cultivate environment friendly practices in our day to day life. I have added this line to my e-mail signature. “Print Less. Go Green”.
Let me end my this post also with same line. :)
YAH CHINGARI BANI JWALA
The Art of Living different courses with different focus. DSN is one of such courses that makes you very strong, dynamic leader with goal to create a divine society. I attended DSN course during Christmas of year 2008. Our DSN teacher Sri R.R. Naickji instructed us to convince the smokers to quit smoking. Normally, many such exercises are given to the course participants during the DSN program, by the teachers for some purpose. But this exercise created a difference… We approached to strangers in group. They were wondering about who we were! Why we were concern for their health, their family! We had many unique and amazing experiences during those few hours. Most of those strangers welcomed our concerns with smile. They gave excuses to smoke. They superficially agreed to quit smoking to get rid of us. Some people even insulted us. It does not matter to us. At the end of day, we achieved many positive results. We made difference in lives of many people. So this was spark. DSN course was over, with excellent learning.
However, this process of talking with strangers, made us aware about our social responsibility for the people, who are misguided and wasting their life, their health due to bad habit of smoking. What can we do for them? Some of us gathered and under guidance of Art of Living teacher Sureshji we continued to work. Sureshi started a blog to share experience. Stop Smoking!! Start Living ! We had brain storming discussions about how to approach a stranger smoker and convince him to stop smoking. Many more volunteers joined with us. We prepared banners. We started campaign to bring revolution and make smoking free society. As such our goal is not to close tobacco companies. Our goal is to create healthy society. We approached many smokers on new year day and they took new year resolution to quit smoking. We have lit a lamp and given a name to it - "Stop Smoking Start Living" campaign. So now, spark got air and fuel. It become flame.
So far, this campaign was happening only at one part of Bangalore. That area is recognized as HAL, MurugeshPaliya, Old Airport Road. Yes, we got many encouraging e-mails from across the globe, that we posted on our blog. We expand the reach of our campaign. We approached other near by Art of Living center. The same campaign replicated by Art of Living volunteers of other centers. Koramangala Art of Living center took it forward. Probably, Sri Naickji’s DSN course students were holding that spark of “Stop Smoking” campaign, at Koramangala also. We all approached Guruji Sri Sri Ravishankar. He blessed this campaign. We identify some useful tools like specific breathing techniques, some processes, some specific medicines etc . All these tools, scientifically strengthen will-power and reduce tendency to smoke. We put all these tools in a package and created a week program. Now, our approach was well-structured, equipped with necessary tools and more result oriented. Art of Living teacher named Ujvalji has conducted many such week-long programs for last more than 1 year. We received many messages, research papers and video testimonials about effectiveness of past programs.
Today, after successful running this program at Koramanagala, we want to replicate at other part of Bangalore. The flame is blazing up now. This campaign is, now, no longer specific to any geographical area. Next week, this program is happening at Bellandur area of Bangalore. Bangalore is IT-hub of India. Bellandur is IT-hub of Bangalore. As, many IT professionals have settled in this area. We have observed many IT professionals have cultivated this not-so-good habit of smoking over the time. We want to make them free of this smoking habit. IT means Information Technology. Guruji adds, “IT also means Inner Transformation. :-) ”So I request your support to bring this transformation. Weather you are IT professional or not, if you are smoking just join this program. It is good for you, your health, your family and our society. If you are not smoking then just spread awareness for this program. Can you do that? I am sure you can. So let this flame grows, blaze up and become a sacred JYOTI which can burn bad habit of smoking. Let’s all light more and more lamps from it, and take the mission forward. We can make a difference to the lives of people and our next generation.
Stay tune to this blog “Express YourSelf !” one more such inspirational story about “Yeh Chingari Bani Jwala…”
Mobile Developer Conference
Declaimer: This note is not verbatim of speech. I have tried to cover the essence, as per my understanding. It may not match sometime with the speaker's original message due to my mistake. So any corrections are welcome.
“Developers say app, Consumer say experience” keynote address by Mr. R N Prabhakar from TRAI. Mr. Prabhakar was glad to be with many young people. He shared some numbers and statistics. In last 3 years, Indian telecom market has grown with CAGR of 45%. By June 2010, India will have 581.81 million broadband data connections, out of them only 38.76 million connections will be wireline. Rest all will be mobile broadband connection. This telecom development has significant impact on society and life style of people. People now, immediately call their relatives after reaching to destination while traveling. Businessmen prefer SMS over phone call to avoid informal talk. We can have applications related to video, social network, remote access of network, advertisements, location based services etc. VAS market is at very nascent stage in India. It has no any proven business model. TRAI has issued guidelines for VAS development in India. He explained on deck and off deck model and emphasized for marketing of mobile applications. Market research is very much required to idenify reasons for non-adaptability of mobile applications. It cannot be only price. It can be also ease-of-use and attitude towards mobile application. It is difficult to sell 3G service even at low price.
Here are few important points from Mr. Prabhakar's speech.
• Mobile applications should be aware about majority mobile Internet has slow speed in India.
• Rural market will see more growth in telecom market of India. The Indian market is not only price sensitive, an average rural person will buy a mobile application, only if he sees any direct/indirect benefits out of it.
• For example rural youth may like application related to education. Agriculture market, healthcare, regional language and e-governance related applications also can be popular.
• ARPU decreases so, now consumer has money to buy mobile applications.
• Only 30% of global handsets are smart phone.
• We need to educate people for advantage of 3G and our mobile applications. Consumer should PULL applications instead of service provider PUSH them.
As per news, Indian mobile operators may use 3G spectrum to provide voice capacity. So one person has concern for mobile applications without 3G data connectivity. Mr. Prabhakar replied if your application is good, innovative and you do enough marketing for it, then you should not worry.
My Comments: Yes, his speech reminds me, my experience about VAS and mobile applications. It is not so good. I used to download wallpapers and polyphonic ringtone. However, many times I got charged, even my download fails. Sometime, we get charged for clicking a link, where no charging information is mentioned. I had a mobile application to book movie ticket for PVR cinema. It had bug. At last step, I can enter only 12 digits out of 16 digits of credit card number, in the given edit box!! Only AirTel provides Twitter service in India. I found, AirTel implementation of Twitter keywords is not, as per documentation on the website and there is no technical assistance from AirTel about that !! Free SMS offers often change without prior notice. So I have cultivated a bit skeptic attitude towards the GPRS, VAS and mobile applications.
Next keynote session was by Mr. Atul Chitnis. I know him, for his FOSS annual event. “Mobile Applications: The Next Billion Users” He shared his experience as an end-user about mobile devices starting with digital diary of early 90s'. “One can take a device, install third party application and go beyond its original capability.” This started a revolution. Atul identified the potential of such mobile applications, much earlier. As per him, we all are already late. Now we cannot afford to be late to address the need of billions of end-users. They are not sitting here. They have neither used computer, not they want to use. We developers have experience of developing GUI for desktop applications only, so far. The mobile device has small screen and people wish to operate your application with just one hand and without stylus. Even today, few popular air ticket booking websites do not have mobile friendly version. The market for mobile applications is huge, if we target the lower middle class. They just want to stay informed, connected and entertained. We should have applications for traveling and TV programme guide. We should promote, mobile applications as necessary accessories like wrist watch, wallet, pocket combs, spectacles and pen. He showed us a small device without any connection. No USB, no WiFi, no GPRS, no 3G/4G. It has touch screen. It has entire wikipedia. Very useful.
My comments: Dr. C.K.Prahald is also mentioning about addressing the bottom of pyramid. Yes, probably mobile applications for many low-end mobiles can generate more money compare to fancy applications for smart phones. I have vague idea for few applications for mass public and even applications that do not need GPRS/3G connection to operate. I will share those ideas, applications, algorithms on this blog. Stay tune to “Express YourSelf !”
Next we had technical sessions in parallel tracks. Mr. Prshant Zaveri shared some useful development tools and concepts to get start with Android application in his speech “Porting Applications, Drivers & OS”. Mr. Egipsy Souza emphasized on user specific GUI in his interactive talk on “Building Usable User Interface”. Mr. Lalit Bhise talked about his product to build “Mobile Web Applications and Services”. Mobitop provides APIs to build applications using HTML and Javascript that can run on Android, Symbian and Windows mobile He listed four development options for VAS. Value added services can be based on interactive voice (IVR), SMS, Mobile web/WAP site and mobile applications. Social networking based Internet applications have many APIs. If we have such APIs of some mechanism to access address books of all mobiles, then we can build some social networking applications for mobile cloud.
We built our network during lunch break. I met few ex-colleagues and friends. We visited stalls by sponsors of this event. “Forum Nokia” was running a quiz contest. Teleca gifted us a key-chain, which has calender for 25 years. I met one gentleman from US. We shared our views about mobile market in US v/s India, Google's entry in ISP market, Qualcomm bidding for 3G/4G spectrum in India etc. He was wondering about few facts mentioned by Mr. Prabhakar for Indian mobile market.
Mr. Mohit Saxena and Mr. Sandeep Choudhary talked about market for mobile advertisements and their product to embed advertisements in mobile applications. Their topic was “Nuances of Mobile Advertising Based Apps”. Mr. Nilesh Maheshwari explained advantages for “Automated Mobile App Testing” and few tools like “Monkey UI” and “CTS” for Android applications. One of my ex-colleagues liked the talk by Mr. Mukul Joshi on “Casual Games on Mobile”. He gave some useful tips. One has to test the application/game on all the mobile handsets, as each one has different screen size. We need to choose appropriate coordinate systems in our game. Device Anywhere is useful, but costly tool. It is good idea to distribute your mobile applications/games to youngsters may be college students and let them report back to issue they faced on their mobile. Each device/platform needs different code for same applications. We can only re-use, the design, requirement and the skill/knowledge we gain, across the device.
Mr. Edwin Moses – MBA from IIM-A presented some simple but thought provoking facts, in his talk “A Changing Paradigm in Mobile Application Space”. He raised many questions. First he addressed us as future owner of some successful company like Facebook, Google. One can use technology for hobby or business, ultimately it should create money. So far mankind has evolved by monetizing the ideas. He encouraged us to build a successful business model from this changing mobile landscape. All entrepreneurs believe that they have created a right product/service at right time and so they will succeed. It may untrue sometimes. We should always “user promise and over deliver”. What can be reason for broadcast service provider to enter into telecom industry? This telecom industry is highly unpredictable. The top management of big players also not confident about where the industry is leading. If it is predictable, then it will have pattern. So you can write algorithm or formulate business strategy. Here our strategies have short life span. One needs deep understanding of technology, business dynamics and customer to become successful. Yes, during 2000, dot com boom time, many dreams were destroyed, but few companies come out as hero. We are again at the same point. Mobile operators do not want to remain provider of merely dumb pipe. The content is becoming commodity. The definition of smart phone is changing. Earlier, management used to present smart phone as perk. Now it is lifestyle and life style enabler. Device is just silicon chips by vendors like Texas Instruments and Qualcomm. Hardware is no longer competitive advantage. It is now commodity. The service and applications have money. Edwin listed out evolution of players. Mobile operators, device companies, ISPs, Technology companies, Content and marketing services. They all have common dream. “I want to own the consumer”.
After presenting this big picture for telecom market, he talked about mobile applications. Yes, application stores are platform. They are growing. Apple, Aircel, AirTel, Verizon, Samsung, Android, Vodafone all have application store. They are real. Today such technology exist, that enable such distribution channel. Developers can get all necessary support from the community. However, there are few not-so-good aspects, that one should be aware of. The developer always thinks about lowest memory consumption and MIPS CPU cycles. Sometimes, he forget the customer. When elephant dance, we should not support any one party. We are not sure, who will survive in long run. Same way, we need to build expertize to work on multiple platforms. This is crowded market place. How a consumer will locate your application among thousands of applications. In spite of all these facts, few key questions have not change. They are: Who is my customer? What is my value proposition? How my offer is different? What is my business model? What is my distribution channel? What is my sustainable competitive advantage? It is not easy to answer all these questions for young budding entrepreneurs.
Winston Churchull made a nice statement: “The longer you look back, the further you can see future” Mobile application is not among list of 10 inventions that changed the mankind. They are wheel, fire, Internal Combustion engine, Printing Press etc. So here we need to focus few key points.
(1) Recognize the trends, as in the history, people earn huge money from big trend.
(2) There is always a cycle. Technology first, second invention and third need. The inventor of mobile handset would never have think that one day, we all will gather here to discuss about mobile applications. At the time of invention, often need is not clear. Like today we have application store, but we are not fully clear about need of end-user for mobile application.
(3) Right timing is everything.
(4) Complexity is compelling, simplicity is power. Yahoo v/s Goolge serach engine is the best example. He refer one more incidents about dedicated IC chip for MP3 playback in mobile handset.
(5) Profit and Loss statement, balance sheet, top line, bottom line they all are still relevant.
(6) The appropriate strategy is vital to become successful.
(7) This is 'win-win' world. Let's all make money. When a company is growing and want to control whole world, then nature has its own mechanism to destroy it. Look, today the dynasores do not exist.
(8) Focus on customer.
At the end we had panel discussion on “Appconomics – Traps for an App”. The panelists discussed different goto market strategies and its significance of economics of mobile application building. I missed that due to other priority. Overall, I found this one day conference as useful and informative. So I shared the key take away points with all of you – the readers of this blog “Express YourSelf !”. Comments are welcome, as usual.
Coming up: Mobile Developers Conference
Even after datacom, Internet merged to telecom, the need for perfection is as it is. It ensures by thorough testing for telecom equipment, before it got deployed. The emerging telecom standards are becoming complex day by day. Now, to implement such complex standard and that too with perfection, needs a specialized skill set. The firm having such skill set, (OEM) can also demands very high price for its product. This is not consumer market, it is industry market. So high price paid by service provider, is distributed among millions of end consumers like you and me. So far so good. All are happy. All are getting quality product/service at right price.
A software engineer working for OEM, got surprise by knowing the deal amount. He wonders, the piece of code which he wrote is so... much valuable that his employer got this much money? A young man, with so many dreams. Finance market has many Venture Capitalists. So now, this young man wants to become entrepreneur. He knows, the complexity part. He can concur it. He can form a team. He can develop a product. A quality product. He can get funds from VCs. However this is not sufficent to become successful in telecom industry. We have many such failure stories. The service provider generally does not trust such new company. The young man, does not have network with CxO of telecom firms. So even telecom industry is quite lucrative, it has intrinsic entry barriers for such new comers.
Over the time, open source community took some initiative like OpenClovis, OpenBTS, OpenBSC projects for network side. For handset side, Google came up with Android OS. In year 2007 Apple's iPhone changed the rules of game. Probably Apple is aware that even though iPhone is an excellent phone, the hardware is no longer competitive advantage. The consumer will pay for applications. It opens up the telecom industry for such new players, young entrepreneurs . Still it is not open for network equipment. Now it is open for mobile application development. Mobile application development does not need any big infrastructure, test lab setup that OEM needs. Apple invented a good hardware piece called iPhone, which has full potential to become popular. Apple has two choice. Employee iPhone developers, train them and make sure, they utilize all the features of hardware. It was not feasible. So they opened up the development tools for general public. First time, in the world history, any handset manufacturer provided the whole eco-system to developers community to build mobile application and getting paid for it. They deploy the online distribution channel for mobile applications. And it works ! The individuals were happy, as they got larger share in price of application. Apple was happy, as it got large number of mobile applications that helped Apple to make iPhone popular. It created history.
Thus the entry barrier for new comers is broken. So now, many young persons become entrepreneurs. They developed iPhone applications. They sold it. They made good fortune. They got rid of office, boss, performance review and all those corporate formalities. They are their own boss. They got work as per their interest to develop mobile application and getting paid for that. Later on many mobile manufacturers and even service providers followed the trend set by Apple. So over the time, many application stores emerged on Internet. All want to tap the potential of self-motivated individuals to make their brand popular.
The story is not as bright, as it looks like. Again many failure cases. Many youngsters just want to jump into mobile application development. They simply lost into so many options like many application stores, many platforms, many development tools, many design ideas, many jazzy GUI, many bugs, many interoperability issues. They are confused, how to make money? Which application will click the market? How to build a successful, popular mobile applications? Should they target latest smart phone or entry level phones? Which one will be more profitable? What are the tricks, tips? How to optimize the application for smart phone? Should they target enterprise users or consumers? Should they develop games or applications? ......They all collaborate to share ideas. At Bangalore, Mobile Monday provided that platform to share views and gave expert insights by organizing a whole day event called “Mobile Developers Conference”
I attended this event last Saturday. My next article will provide glimpse of the event. So stay tune to your own blog: “Express YourSelf !”
Ref:
http://momob.in/mobile-developer-conference-post-event-note/
http://picasaweb.google.com/momobdotin/MobileDeveloperConference
LTE EPC - 4
After hiatus, ALU re-enters 3G core market
Valentine's Day : Poems
- One can refer wikipedia for a long article on Valentine's day.
- There is a funny story about Valentine's day, which claims Valentine's day celebration started in Gujarati Patel cast. :) VelanTime-Day
- This year, I read an inspiring story on Valentine's day by Dr. Sharad Thakar. Here, the author narrates a story of a career oriented young boy, who focused on his study and after getting admission at IIM-A, he proposed the most beautiful girl of his college.
And now, let me share some of my romantic poems today with you all. Most of them are written in Gujarati.
- The first one is like an "open source" love-latter. :) It is in Hindi. "MERA UNSE YAHI SAWAAL HAI" I want to ask her that only.
- "That Rose". The first half of poem is about description of a beautiful flower rose. Second half is about struggle by rose to compete with her. That rose is nothing in front of her beauty.
- "Mukt-Keshi" A description about a beautiful girl.
- What happened when such beautiful girls cook? A humorous picture, of girl-friend who removes the outer skin of hot potatoes. "BATEKU CHHOLATI PRIYA"
- Sometime back, I posted a poem about "communication evolution" among the lovers! "Ashaadhsya Prathame Divase"
- And let me conclude this list with a last poem. It is also about communication. Lovers follow "Heart Protocol". Please do NOT mask me, at which OSI layers, this protocol works !!??!! Earlier blog, I addressed: "GTP is on Layer 3 or Layer 7 ? " For Hear Protocol, find out yourself. click here.
Waiting for YOUR comments about MY poems.
LTE NAS - 4
OK, so I am back with LTE NAS next episode. After EMM and ECM, we discussed some basic concepts about ESM. So now, we can have a look on ESM procedures.
ESM procedures also have two categories. However these categories are quite different from EMM procedures category. In case of EMM, the specific procedures are optionally made up of common procedure. So first, an EMM specific procedure starts. Then it optionally invokes one more EMM common procedure(s). Then EMM common procedure(s) get completed and finally the EMM specific procedure also get completed. ESM case is different. ESM also has two categories. (1) “Procedures related to EPS Bearer Context”. These are ESM procedures used for EPS bearer. So this category makes sense. (2) “Procedures related to transaction”. Generally the former one is invoked by network and later one by UE. What if, UE want to manipulate EPS bearer context. No. UE cannot do it directly. UE can invoke specific “Procedure relate to transaction”. In the response to that network invokes “Procedure related to EPS Bearer Context”. When network invoke corresponding “Procedure related to EPS Bearer Context”, then at UE end, the “Procedure relate to transaction” is declared/assumed as completed. These both categories of procedures are in sequence. So indirectly UE can also invoke EPS procedure !!!
Ok whenever network starts any “Procedure related to EPS Bearer Context” in the response to UE initiated “Procedure related to transaction”, it uses PTI in first message. Its value is same as UE have used in its earlier “Procedure related to transaction”. So that UE can co-relate about incoming ESM message to its ongoing transaction procedure. Till that time, PTI is used to co-relate the procedures for a particular (default or dedicated) bearer. Later on EBI is allocated to that bearer (default or dedicated), by network. So both start using EBI to mention about that bearer. UE and network both use LBI in “Procedure related to dedicated EPS Bearer Context” to point to default bearer for that particular PDN.
This table provides a relationship among UE initiated “Procedures related to transaction” and network initiated “Procedures related to EPS Bearer Context”
| Procedures related to EPS Bearer Cxt --> | Default EPS bearer context activation | Dedicated EPS bearer context activation | EPS bearer context modification | EPS bearer context deactivation | ||
| 1 | Procedures related to Transaction | PDN connectivity | x | |||
| 2 | PDN disconnect | X | ||||
| 3 | Bearer resource allocation | x | x | |||
| 4 | Bearer resource modification | x | x | X | ||
| 5 | ESM information request | x | ||||
| 6 | ESM status message |
Yes almost all transaction related procedures are invoked by UE with two exceptions. (1) ESM Status message can be sent by anyone UE or network. (2) “ESM information request” is always sent from network to UE. UE responds with “ESM information response”.
Almost all “Procedures related to EPS Bearer Context” can also be invoked by network, in response to UE initiated transaction related procedure, with two exceptions. (1) EPS bearer context modification (2) EPS bearer context deactivation. For such cases, obviously network skips PTI IE in messages and EBI IE becomes mandatory.
So now, we have enough building blocks about EMM, ECM and ESM. So next article will be some real scenarios. We will see, bundled EMM+ESM procedures. Yes, in practice, EMM and ESM messages goes as a single message. It’s implemented first time in LTE. It has its own challenges. We will see that in next post.
LTE EPC - 3
- Yes he is right, as per OSI layers, GTP is above L4 (UDP). So it is application layer L7 protocol. However, when one says GTP is at L7, we are only considering two nodes (MME and S-GW) of EPC. (SGSN and GGSN of 3G core network.)
- Just expand the horizon and consider the whole network.
- It is the GTP protocol, who helped for proper routing of user data packets.
- For UL data, GTP routes user data packets to appropriate S-GW by establishing tunnel with it. (For UL data it route user data packets from SGSN to GGSN and from RNC to SGSN. )
- For DL data, GTP route user data packets to appropriate MME . (For DL data it route user data packets from GGSN to SGSN and from SGSN to RNC. )
- For mobility case, “Modify Session Request” changes the route to new MME and new eNB. (For Mobility case, “Update PDP context request” changes the route to new SGSN. )
- Yet the exit gateway P-GW is the same, the common anchor point. (Yet the exit gateway GGSN is the same, the common anchor point. )
- So thus, GTP helps to route the user data, to appropriate node, and it also change the route for mobility case.
- Routing is done by network layer So GTP is L3 within PLMN.
- Again, if you expand the horizon further, end to end from mobile till content server in Internet cloud, then The whole wireless network (GPRS, UMTS or LTE) is just L2. It just carries the user IP packet towards ISP (Internet cloud).
Now let me recap, this L2, means the wireless network has its own stack (OSI layer), where GTP is used to route, within different nodes of core network or EPC. So GTP is L3 within L2
Again this L3 GTP is between 2 nodes. It has its own stack (OSI layer). GTP over UDP over IP over L2 over L1. So when we consider only these 2 nodes, within core networks, then yes, GTP is L7 application layer protocol.
So one line summary of long answer "Just perform: Zoom in and zoom out" :)
LTE NAS - 3
So far we have explore, EMM and ECM aspects of NAS. EMM and ECM apply to per UE. So UE has single entity for EMM and ECM. This is not the case for ESM. At least theoretically... I mean to say, practically the earlier implementation may restrict one bearer per UE and connectivity with single PDN. However theoretically a UE can have multiple bearers per PDN and also connectivity with multiple PDNs. ESM is per EPS bearer. Each bearer has its own ESM FSM.
PDN is some network external to operator’s LTE infrastructure. LTE infrastructure includes eUTRAN and EPC. Ultimately LTE or any other wireless network provides layer 2 connectivity for a mobile UE. So that end-user can transfer its layer-3 user packets (most likely IP packets) to some external network (most likely Internet). UE has layer 3 user data IP packets, that go (and come also from) beyond LTE infrastructure to PDN. The ‘name of PDN’ is ‘APN value’. Internet, corporate intranet, MMS, IMS etc are popular example of such PDN. P-GW is at boundary between EPC and PDN.
UE needs an EPS bearer starting from UE to exit gateway (P-GW) of LTE network. Generally UE has one default bearer per PDN. Default bearer does not have neither QoS treatment nor TFT filters for user data. It just provides a basic connectivity between UE and P-GW for a single PDN. Some mobile application like VoIP call needs QoS treatment for user data. Dedicated bearers are meant for that. Here UE can demand QoS and TFT, but not new UE IP address. UE has single IP address per PDN. If UE and PDN both support both IPv4 and IPv6 dual stack, then only UE can have two default bearers and two IP addresses (IPv4 address and IPv6 address) per PDN.
If UE and network both capable to provide connectivity to multiple PDNs, then UE can have multiple default bearers and multiple IP addresses. It is like your desktop PC has multiple Ethernet cards, so you can connect your PC to multiple networks and configure it with multiple IP address. UE has single invisible OFDMA based LTE air interface towards network. However still it can emulate like two different Ethernet cards. At user plane UE can have multiple Layer 3 IP layers, with common Layer 2 LTE network. Each layer 3 connected to different PDNs. So UE have multiple bearers from UE to across LTE infrastructure till P-GW. Within single layer 3, UE can have default bearer for best effort treatment and possible dedicated bearer(s) for QoS treatment.
All EPS bearers (i.e. default and dedicated) have EPS Bearer ID (EBI). Network assigns its value. Earlier in 2.5G GPRS 3G UMTS network we had NSAPI, for EBI. So at UE few EBI values are used for default bearer(s) and rest are for dedicated bearer(s). UE can have one default bearer and zero or more dedicated bearer(s) per PDN. With EBI value, one can not discriminate whether it’s for default bearer or dedicated bearer. LBI plays important role to link them and bundle them together. All dedicated bearer related messages contain LBI IE. Its value is EBI of default bearer for that PDN.
UE may have static IP address configures with OTA for per APN/PDN. Most of the case, P-GW acts as DHCP server and assign dynamic IP address to UE at the time of default bearer creation. Yes in some P-GW implementations, it consult radius server to allocate IP address for UE. Dynamic IP address allocation happens during default bearer allocation. This IP address remain same and valid for all other subsequent new dedicated bearer(s) for that PDN.
The following tree makes this concept clearer.
- LTE layer 2 connectivity with eUTRAN+EPC
- Layer 3 IP (IPv4 or IPv6)connectivity to PDN1, UE IP = IP1
- Default bearer. No QoS, EBI = EBI1
- Dedicated bearer 1 with QoS1, EBI = EBI2, LBI = EBI1
- Dedicated bearer 2 with QoS2, EBI = EBI3, LBI = EBI1
- Layer 3 IP (IPv4 or IPv6)connectivity to PDN2, UE IP = IP2
- Only single default bearer. No QoS, EBI = EBI4
- Layer 3 IP (IPv4)connectivity to PDN3, UE IP = IP3
- Default bearer. No QoS, EBI = EBI5
- Dedicated bearer 1 with QoS3, EBI = EBI6, LBI = EBI5
- Layer 3 IP (IPv6)connectivity to PDN3, UE IP = IP4
- Default bearer. No QoS EBI = EBI7
- Dedicated bearer 1 with QoS4, EBI = EBI8, LBI = EBI7
- Layer 3 IP (IPv4 or IPv6)connectivity to PDN1, UE IP = IP1
Here PDN1, PDN2 and PDN3 all are different, having different APN values. IP1, IP2, IP3 and IP4 may or may not be different. QoS1, QoS2, QoS3 and QoS4 may or may not different. EBI1 to EBI8 all are different values, not necessary they are in sequence.
Practically the minimum implementation without QoS lookes like:
- LTE layer 2 connectivity with eUTRAN+EPC
- Layer 3 IP (IPv4)connectivity to only single PDN 1, UE IP = IP1
- Only single Default bearer. No QoS, EBI = EBI1
- Layer 3 IP (IPv4)connectivity to only single PDN 1, UE IP = IP1
It looks like this article about NAS ESM is becoming lengthy. So let’s have break after some details about PCO IE.
PCO IE is used to carry UE address. It also carries Primary and Secondary DNS addresses for that particular PDN. So the application can query and resolve any domain name to IP address by contacting the DNS server, within that PDN. All these three IP addresses can be IPv4 address or IPv6 address or both. It depends. If UE already knows their values, it mentions them in PCO, to confirm. Else, UE mention value as 0.0.0.0 (for IPv4 case) to request network for new assignment. PCO IE contains, PPP. PPP contains IPCP for all these IP addresses. PPP can also contain PAP and/or CHAP protocol(s) for user authentication. PCO and TFT are IEs, that are initiated at UE, transparently carried by intermediate nodes (eNB, MME and S-GW) and reached ‘as they are’ at P-GW.
Recap: This article covers, some important concepts about bearer and few important IEs like EBI, LBI, APN, PCO. I will continue ESM in next article and we will explore various ESM procedures.
