Amazon Kindle Display/Screen Issues

Posted on October 6, 2012 by ameyam

I bought a Kindle e-Reader from Amazon in October 2010. I was extremely happy with the device and used it quite a bit for reading. I got this device shipped from the US to India and it got delivered in 2.5 days. Was absolutely delighted and have been an Amazon fan for quite a while now. I have bought and read multiple books from the Amazon website paying in dollars (and with the additional 2$ Whispersync charge they levy for international customers). I probably had not used the device over the last 2-3 months and since it was out of charge, i decided to charge it. As i charged the device, i noticed the Display only showing 1/3rd of the home screen. The upper 2/3rd of screen still showed the out-of-charge message while the lower 1/3rd seemed OK.I tried rebooting multiple times, searched amazon and followed instructions on resetting the Kindle, yet no luck.

I tried reading the forums and found many similar complaints. I decided to chat with the customer service guys at Amazon. On describing the problem, the CS guys mentioned that the device was out of warranty and since it was a display issue, there was nothing that they could do about it. I expected to hear more but it was just that, they couldnt do anything. So essentially the device i had was of no use as Amazon wouldn’t repair it and couldn’t replace it as it was out of warranty. Amazon doesn’t even offer extended warranty on those devices. Now that sounds to me like a completely 1 sided deal. I buy a product from a company and the company offers me 1 year of warranty and if something goes wrong after an year, the product needs to be trashed. This seems completely unacceptable and probably unfair as well. The CS people did offer me to give a discount on a similar product. Why would i buy another product when i know it wont get serviced and they dont have extended warranties and the device has the history to fail. During the chat the CS guy mentioned that only about 2% of Amazon customers have hardware complaints. WOW, i think 2% is a huge number of disappointed customers (millions actually!!)

So i am now stuck with a wireless e-reader which is of no use to me. Absolutely disappointed…Amazon!!

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Unique things in Japan

Posted on September 29, 2012 by ameyam

In many of my business trips to Japan, i often come across very interesting concepts and products that are often unique to Japan. Have always wondered why these products/technologies have never made it outside Japan. Probably Japanese companies have never looked at serving international markets with these products. Here are a few things that are unique to Japan

1) Hands Free Toilets/ Washlets

This is actually an exhaustive topic because these Toilets are the norm in Japan and i have hardly seen/heard them being used anywhere else. There are multiple version of these products  from known companies like Toto, National and yet you hardly find them in use outside Japan. Washlets are electric toilet seats which can have a range of featuresfrom washing, blow drying, adjustable angles, heated toilet seats etc.

2) Stationary

Japan is a country of cute things. They use the word ‘Kawaii’ so often. Stationary include Pilot Frixion Ball Pens (Erasable Ink), Harinacs Staplers (Staple without a pin)

3) Plastic Food for Display

Plastic food is an industry in itself. Every restaurant has a display of food which looks delicious and looks so real that you wouldn’t think it was made of plastic.

4) Vending Machines

This is a country of Vending Machines. They have more vending machines that probably most of the world put together. You can buy hot and cold drinks, food like noodles, Ramen, Ice cream, Tickets, Cigarettes and a huge list of other stuff. Vending machines are integral to Japanese lives.

5) Electronics

There are a whole lot of electronic products which you probably get only in Japan. Its mind boggling really. All you need to do is visit Akihabara and spend the day there and you’d then get it!!:)

6) The Tweeting/Chirping Bird on Train Stations

Been to Japan many times and suddenly on one of the trips realized that there were Bird sounds on stations at regular intervals. I was sure i heard them earlier as well but it never really registered. I am yet to find a guy who has a genuine explanation of why those sounds are played. Some say, for the ‘natural nature effect’, some others talk about ‘help you keep calm (and maybe not attempt to suicide)’. But yes, next time, keep your ears open!!

I will probably add more…Will keep this post updated.

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History of the WWW

Posted on September 23, 2012 by ameyam

This History of the Internet and the world wide web here

 

 

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Twitter Lifeline for Japan

Posted on September 23, 2012 by ameyam

Twitter launched Lifeline this week, currently restricted to Japan. This will help people during emergencies. People can search based on their postal code, looks at tweets from the area and get information from utilities that tweet as well. I guess this will soon be expanded to other countries as well.This is a of course useful especially during crisis times.

This can also be a double edged sword as it can be used to spread rumors and can cause fear mongering. This should not hold true in Japan though, and maybe that’s why its a good place to pioneer this feature.

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Useful iPad Apps

Posted on September 19, 2012 by ameyam

 

These are the apps that i use almost on an everyday basis

- Gmail

- Flipboard

- LinkedIn

I also use the Twitter app a few times. Now this gets me to wonder, how many apps does a person usually use on an everyday basis. I cant imajine anyone using more than 5 or 6.

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Will iPhone5 with LTE work in India?

Posted on September 13, 2012 by ameyam

The unfortunate answer is NO! Indian telecom operators use the 2300MHz frequency band. The iPhone 5 does not support this band. LTE is a mish-mash of multiple frequency bands specific to countries. So there is no 1 phone that supports global LTE frequencies.

 

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My First WordPress Blog

Posted on September 13, 2012 by ameyam

Yes!

I have moved on from bondiblogs.blogspot.com and have started my own blog at http://ameyablogs.com. I don’t know what hit me but yesterday spent about Rs 4000/- and bought a domain name (yes in my name :) ) ) and spent more money in buying space to host my website on GoDaddy. I took the decision in about an hour after spending some time on GoDaddy, HostGator, SpeedHost (India based), BigRock (India based), Laughingsquid and a few others.

Why i chose GoDaddy? Seemed to me that they offered a better deal, yes they had a 1-click wordpress installation and they charged in INR. The last probably was the one that really did it for me. As for the India based ones, BigRock was the one i preferred but did not really investigate too much into stuff like where their data centers are. I did open a few of the websites that they cliamed were their customers and they did open a little slow. Could have been an issue with my internet connection but it probably played on my mind and in favor of GoDaddy. Find their ads vulgar though!

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Why Amazon Kindle Fire will be a success

Posted on September 28, 2011 by ameyam
IMHO there will never be an iPad killer. *Ever*. That out of the way, the Amazon Kindle fire will in all likelihood be a winner. Here are my reasons

  • Price – All said and done, the price matters a hell lot. If Kindle Fire is priced right around $250 it will sell well. There are a whole lot of people who cannot afford the iPad but need a good alternative and Amazon can plug that hole. It was ridiculous of everyone else to price their tablets anywhere close to the iPad and well some of them are already history
  • Content – Content is the king and at this point of time apart from the Appstore, the only content worth consuming is from Amazon. They seem to have a sound strategy around ebooks, magazines and their own app store which will grow leaps and bounds once their devices start selling.
  • Online sales – Some nifty offerings to people who buy content from Amazon can lead to a whole lot more of sales and i am sure Amazon will exploit that to the hilt. I do not believe that the tablet strategy will be independent of their other offerings (e.g Amazon prime, Music Streaming, Cloud Storage, Kindle reader will all be tightly integrated in the tablet and will be a seamless experience for the user)
  • Distribution – They need to have stores around the world for them to really take off. This is a sore point for Amazon. They dont have the stores like Apple has and if they can work out a distribution strategy for non US/Europe countries (read BRICS), the price point will be a significant factor in ensuring the sales take off

 The next few weeks should clear the air. I don’t own the iPad but not too far in the future, i see myself owning both the iPad and the Amazon Kindle Fire.

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WD Live Hub Review – India

Posted on September 21, 2011 by ameyam
I bought a Western Digital (WD) Live Hub media streamer a month back. I got it from the Golcha shop on SP Road, Bangalore (www.golchhait.com/) for Rs 9500/-. It was a good deal becuase it seemed to mirror the prices in the US and about 3000 cheaper for the same box in Croma. I dont own an LCD TV as yet and was a bit apprehensive about Live Hub working with my old Philips 21 inch TV. I unboxed the unit, connected the power cables, powered on, put the ethernet cable from my wireless router to the Live Hub and voila! got the neat and clean Live Hub UI running with the network configured and ready to go. it was one seamless installation and i dint face a problem. Tried youtube and some internet radio stations and they work beautifully. i get lags on my laptop while watching youtube video’s but have never experienced a buffering issue in the tonnes of video’s i have watched so far. Every feature works neat and i only wish WD has more local content. They should bring bigflix and other local content as apps. having a blast of a time watching my favorite content on the Live Hub. The 1TB HDD that comes along with the Hub should last me for the next couple of years at least. 


The WD Live Hub is definitely value for money.
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Amazon Android App Store in India

Posted on September 20, 2011 by ameyam
Amazon’s android app store is now available for android users in India. Hope this signals the intentions of Amazon to launch amazon.com in India as well. A recent report suggested India being the 3rd largest economy and its time Amazon sat up and took notice.

 Interestingly the price point of Amazon tablet is something which would find a lot of traction in India as well. At 250$ or about <12,000 INR, the sub 35 year population in urban India will find it affordable and enticing. iPhones, iPads are still extremely pricey and not really affordable.

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