Verified By Visa

Mastercard Securecode

In case you have not registered it yet, you will find that when you try to use the card, you will be transferred to a site where in you can register for same. You can also directly register by accessing the respective bank site

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Citibank, HSBC Bank, Standard Chartered, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank,

Inspite of its benefit (Secure transaction), people using it on international payment gateways will be not cheering the move. If you try using your Debit Card/Credit Card on international payment gateways e.g Web hosting payments, paypal,Google checkout, etc then the transactions will be declined. Process for authenticating transaction by “Verified by Visa” is given below (from hdfcbank website)

1. Select the goods or services you want from a Verified by Visa/ MasterCard SecureCode online store and proceed to the payment page.
2. Enter your HDFC Bank Debit/ Credit Card number and the online store will connect with HDFC Bank to check whether your Card is secured with Verified by Visa/ MasterCard SecureCode.
3. HDFC Bank initiates a Verified by Visa/ MasterCard SecureCode pop-up window on your computer screen that includes your Personal Assurance Message (PAM)/ Personal Greeting.
4. Look for and confirm your PAM/ Personal Greeting then enter your password. HDFC Bank will then confirm your identity to the merchant.

Problem is at Step 3 as international payment gateways cannot redirect to Indian bank’s for “verified by visa” or “securecode” key/password and without this “password”  transaction cannot be authorized. Any site which is not  registered for “Verified by Visa” / “Securecode” transaction will not be able to use the card. What can you do?? May be call up American Express  :)

Happy upgrading

WP-Cumulus plugin

Tags/Categories are easier way of marking blog posts, so that Blog readers can easily read the articles based on a particular tag/category.They can also be used to provide a separate feed. WP Cumulus provides a dynamic tag cloud which respond’s to mouse movement. (Much better then static tag’s with wordpress themes).

Installation

1. If using WordPress 2.8 , go to Plugins –> Add new -> Search with WP-cumulus and click install. Then activate the plugin.
2. Make sure you’re running WordPress version 2.3 or later ( i Hope you on atleast 2.7)
3. Download the zip file from here and extract the contents.
4. Upload the “wp-cumulus” folder to your plugins directory (wp-content/plugins/)
5. Activate the plugin through the ‘plugins’ page in WP.
6. See “Options->WP Cumulus” to adjust things like display size, etc…

You can tweak the WP-Cumulus setting from “Settings” section of wordpress admin dashboard, though the default should be fine. To place the widget , go to widget section under Appearence and place the widget on the sidebar. You can find more information here

I got this message after approximately 20 mins , so you can send sms well in advance. This connection is available for 1 hour and timer would start once you login.

Beijing 2008 Closing ceremony Fireworks

Michael Phelps (USA) and Usain Bolt (Jamaica) have been the two outstanding performers for Beijing Olympics 2008. As far as total medal tally is concerned USA secured 110 medals against China’s 100. But with 51 Gold Medals China secured First Rank in Beijing Olympics 2008.

Beijing 2008 Final Medals Tally

India got 3 Medals (1 Gold and 2 Bronze medals) which by now is our best performance till date. Hats off to Abhinav Bindra (Gold,Shooting),Sushil Kumar (Bronze,Wrestling) and Vijender Singh (Bronze,Boxing) for wining these medals.I hope that now Government of India gives more importance to Sports (other than Cricket) and provide Funds so that our Sportsperson have proper facilities for training.

Airtel is giving 500Mb Free usage for all PrePaid and Postpaid Customers for next 12 months. Charges after free usage are Re. 0.30 / 50 KB.

Airtel iPhone Data plan

You can find the details on Airtel website by clicking the image.

Vodafone has separate plans for Postpaid and Prepaid Customers. Prepaid Customers do not get any free Data Usage and after paying a monthly fee of Rs 100, they will be charged 25p for 50 Kb. Postpaid customers have different plans .Karnataka subscribers can check it here .

‘WE’VE JUST IDENTIFIED THE PERFECT SOLUTION TO ILLITERACY. – YOU’

This initiative was started in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkatta , and has now reached Bangalore.

How Teach India works??

Times of India has partnered with NGO’s and interested people need to Join on Teach India website. After this you will be mapped to a NGO based on your area preference and time commitment. You will go through a basic orientation program and can then start the teaching sessions. Aamir khan has been chosen to endorse the campaign and features in one of the advertisement. May be below pics might motivate you to join this Wonderful initiative

There are also video ads which can be downloaded from here. Many Corporates,NGO’s and Schools have joined this campaign. UN Volunteers is also one of the partners of this initiative.

So Come on India..Lets Do it and remove Illiteracy from our Country..

Most of the people were expecting it to be priced around Rs 15k-20K but Rs 31k is way too much. If you search internet , you will find lot of articles which tell that iPhone lacks many of the basic CellPhone functionalities like forwarding sms , has only 2 MP camera,FM Radio. Anyways I have decided against buying iPhone. I think buying a decent Nokia Phone and iPod Touch will be a wise decision rather than investing in iPhone. Note that we still have not received details about data plans which Vodafone and Airtel will be releasing for accessing internet and other data services. But be assured that this will not be less. Both companies are expecting to sell 100,000 phones in next 1 year (by pre-registration) but after the price release, I do not see this happening (unless they cut prices drastically)

You can read more about it in below mentioned links

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=331955

http://www.vodafone.in/iphone/Pages/iPhone_details.aspx?cid=kar

UPDATE!!

Vodafone has announced the prices for the iPhone in India. 8 Gb model is priced at Rs 31000 and 16 Gb model will cost Rs 36,100. It will be available from Aug 22, 2008

iPhone is a product from Apple which seves as a Cell Phone, iPod and Camera (2.0 Mega Pixel)

Till now it is still not clear about the iPhone 3G pricing in India.It is priced at $199 i.e RS 8000 in US but according to analysts , it would be 20K+or more. In any case if it even touches 12-16 K , it would make a serious dent in sales of Sony Erricson and Nokia phones.

iPhone 3G is based on the 3G technology which gives fast access to the Internet and email over cellular networks around the world. It also allows you to surf the web, download email, get directions, and watch video — even while you’re on a call. It is not clear whether Airtel and Vodafone will provide 3G facility.

Vodafone has till now announced to provide following facilities

1)8 Gb and 16 GB models

iPhone 3G comes in two models with space of 8Gb and 16 Gb.

2) Assisted GPS

GPS (Global Positioning System) helps you to find your location, get directions, and see traffic — all from your phone. As of now few Nokia model provides these facilities in India.

3)New Applications

iPhone3G includes many applications like Youtube, Calendar, Scientific Calculator, Safari Browser.

4) Microsoft exchange

This feature will provide the users to check emails through the phone. We have to see if it can compete with Blackberry.

Along with this , Apple also introduced Mobile Me for your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. It allows you to keep everything up to date.

One of the key application which I feel will be missed by most of the people is a Radio!! This does not have a FM Radio Facility in it.