Today we live a stressful life and movies have become an integral part of our entertainment. I remember few years back I could watch a movie for Rs 30 which was quite under budget. No one really bothered about watching a pirated cassette and none made noise about pirated movies.

But these days people are willing to buy pirated movies than watching the movie in a theater. There are several reasons for that . I was thinking what should be done to reduce video piracy. Here are some of my thoughts.

1) Reduction in Actor Remuneration

How can a hero charge Rs.16 to 20 crores per film? If the cost of production comes down people can afford watching the movie in theaters. I see top bollywood heroes and heroines preaching against piracy. If 50% of the money I paid for watching for a movie goes into paying to lead actors, what right do they have to talk about piracy? . If they charge less production cost would come down and so would be the piracy.

If producers have right to earn Rs.250 crores by making a movie like Ghajini, actors have right to charge more than Rs.15 crores per movie, multiplexes have the right to charge me Rs 150 for each ticket, Rs 60 for a pop corn and 50 for a coke, every spectator will have right to buy a pirated DVD for Rs 30 on a pavement. Folks reduce your profits and reduce the piracy.

2) Improvement in Movies’ Quality

I made the mistake of watching couple of movies by watching the amazing trailers that were played in the break time. Trailers were superb but when I went for the movie it was as stupid as it could be. Why should I spend 1000 rupees for a family on a movie and get stranded with stupid movies, which was not even worth 10 rupees. So come out with good movies instead of coming with silly remakes.

3) Understanding Market Conditions

When market is not ready to pay more, cheap products find place. It is the producer’s job to deliver his product at the right price. Since the prices are exorbitantly high for movies, piracy has seen flourishing. The very fact that a person buys a pirated DVD for Rs.30 to 50, is a clear indication of the acceptable price range for the masses.

When a DVD player costs only Rs 3500, why should a DVD cost Rs. 500+. The cost of a blank CDs and DVDs has reduced considerably but there is not much reduction in the original CDs and DVDs. Producers and Distribution companies should reduce the cost of CD/DVD thereby encouraging people to buy originals.

If an original good quality DVD did not cost more than Rs 50 then there would be no piracy. If the production house distributes its content close to the prices of pirated ones, piracy will have to take a dip. Moserbaer’s initiatives in the right direction is worth emulating. Instead of selling 10 DVDs for 500 each, sell 1000 DVDs for Rs 50 each and you will make the same profit. This network of pirates cannot be wiped out in a few months’ time as it has become their reliable source of income and there is a need to convert them into legitimate distribution centers of entertainment products

4) Availability Of Original DVDs

Production houses should release original DVD to the market as soon as the movies are withdrawn from theaters. The window between theatrical release and the home video release is too wide a gap for people to wait and watch them at home. People don’t have patience to wait for a good movie and they would rush to the pirated dvd vendor or will download a copy from the net. So release your DVD as soon as the movies are taken off the theaters.

I hope the movie makers realize this soon and come up with ground breaking strategies that would help everyone – the movie makers, the audience and the middlemen.

Anyone listening ?

Image Credit: Jacob Botter

Popularity: 18%

Geo Tagging in simple terms is adding geographical information to photos, videos etc. Usually this information is represented in longitudes and latitudes, but sometimes is also expressed in altitude as well.

Geo tagging your photos has many benefits such as showing your albums on a map, and remembering the places where they have been taken. These photos when uploaded on services like Panoramio, Google Earth or Locr, will show up on respective locations on the maps.

Usually there are GPS (Global Positioning System) devices that you can attach to your cameras, which will record this information directly on the photos taken. While the information will be very accurate, that comes at a cost. GPS devices of Sony and Nikon are in the range of $160 to $280.

GeoSetter, the application I am talking about, helps you set the Geo Tags, at no cost. Well the level of accuracy is a little less and you might perhaps set the nearest location, but it is definitely better than nothing. In fact if you have a bit of patience you can actually navigate to the actual location and set the position.

GeoSetter presents a very easy to use and intuitive interface to do this. It uses Google Maps to find the locations, and then lets you transfer the locations to photos, as shown in the picture here:

Steps to Geo Tag:

1) Start the application. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, please use “Run as Administrator” option.

2) Select the folder containing the images

3) Point to the map, search for the location using the search box.

4) Select the location and click assign location button on toolbar.

5) Save… and you are done!

Sounds simple, isn’t it? Yes it is simple. Why don’t you give it a try? You can download GeoSetter from here.

Popularity: 20%

It’s time to review another product of Windows Live, after my previous reviews.

I have been using various online storage options for quite sometime. Before Yahoo shutdown its photos service and moved to Flickr, I was using Yahoo for my online photo storage. I later switched to Shutterfly, which offers unlimited photo storage.

For my document storage, I have mostly used my Hotmail and Gmail accounts. But sharing those documents stored there with someone actually meant forwarding them.

Windows Live Sky Drive (WLSD), might just help addressing such problems.

To begin with WLSD, like all Windows Live applications needs a Windows Live ID. As you soon as you have your ID, you already have access to 25 GB of online storage, free of cost.

You can visit WLSD at Sky Drive . The following are the features that WLSD provides.

• 25 GB of Storage
• File sizes up to 50 MB
• Folders, Permissions at folder levels
• Permissions at file levels
• Shared Folders
• Public Folders
• Access permissions within people network
• Photos Can be added directly from Windows Live Photo Gallery
• Order prints Directly from Sky Drive through HP Snapfish.

You can add files to the folder on Sky Drive Share them as single files, folders or for photos you can share them as album. The online slide show rendered in Microsoft Silverlight is excellent.

The best reason to switch to Sky Drive is its integration with Windows Live Photo Gallery. You can pick any photos folder on your computer and upload it to the Sky Drive directly. I will write more about Windows Live Photo Gallery in a separate post.

If you have multiple Windows Live IDs, you can link them all to avoid logging in and out multiple times and keep viewing all the files.

So say if you have two Windows Live IDs then you already have 50GB of online storage. Definitely worthwhile, while rest of the services like Picasa and Flickr are offering paltry 1GB and 100MB Monthly limits.

Go Explore!

Popularity: 21%

In my earlier posts I have introduced you to the Windows Live Applications Family and have reviewed Windows Live Writer.

In today’s post I would like to write my views on Windows Live Sync (WLS).

WLS was earlier called Windows Folder Share in its Beta. WLS uses a Windows Live ID and helps keep folders in sync between different computers. This is especially useful when you have multiple computers at home and need few files to be available on all of them, especially photos, videos and your CVs perhaps in these turbulent times .

What particularly enticing about WLS is that none of the biggies Google, Apple, Yahoo or others have a similar service available at this time and it is available for both PCs and Apple MACs.

Anyway, what WLS does is, helps you configured folders on each computer that can be shared and synced with other computers. What’s more, it also allows you to access these files from Internet, if the selected computer is online and you have granted the permission to do so. Cool ain’t it?

So, here’s how you can configure it:

1) Go to WLS software from Live Sync

2) Install it on the PC or MAC, once installed you will be prompted to enter your Windows Live ID. Enter it and you are set. You need to do this on all computers that you want to sync.

3) Go the sync website

4) Select a folder from the computer to sync

5) Then add computers which need this folder to be synced

You can also enable remote folder access, which means you can access contents of your hard drive from anywhere via Live Sync .

Sounds very simple and cool. Yes it is. As it stands I have 3 of my home computers on sync and web access enabled.

But is there a catch? Not really but a few limitations.

• Can sync up to 20 folders
• Each folder can only have 20000 files
• Max file size 4GB

Now I don’t exactly call those limitations for personal use.

Happy syncing!

Popularity: 15%

Before we get started a quick dope on Microsoft’s status in today’s Web 2.0-3.0 era. Google clearly had a head start. It is (un)common knowledge that Microsoft could not catch up with Google’s search when Google was still new, because it was busy sorting things out with DOJ (Department of Justice) regarding its lawsuits and was banned till 2007 from any anti-competitive behaviour.

By the time Microsoft was ready, Google was an Internet Goliath, which made a PC Goliath like Microsoft become David in this Internet war.

Microsoft appointed, Ray Ozzie, as it’s Architect for future and Live services is his brainchild. Live set of services are designed to complement PC functionality in Web 2.0 Era. All the applications in Live Services are Internet aware and designed to enable accessibility and get users into the center of cloud computing.

The Windows Live applications that Microsoft offers are following:

• Hotmail (Email)
• Messenger (Instant Messenger)
• Writer (Reviewed earlier)
• Photo Gallery
• Movie Maker (Vista and above)
• Toolbar
• Family Safety
• Sky drive (Online storage)
• Spaces (Blogging)
• Sync (File Sync Solution)

All of these are available as a single download from Live Home . All of these services need you to have a Windows Live ID, which is free.

As it stands today Live stands 4^th top used website after Yahoo.com (1^st), Google.com (2^nd), Youtube.com (3^rd). (source: Alexa.com)

I will share a review on many of these products and a comparison with a similar tool available in my next posts.

Popularity: 15%

Microsoft just announced Windows 7, a successor to Windows Vista. It has been about 2 years of unpopular time for Vista and Microsoft is quickly readying its successor to cleanup its tarnished Image.

Windows XP is touted as most successful operating system ever. It has been in use since October 2001 and continues to dominate as the PC Operating System. Microsoft perhaps was a victim of its own success; yes I am talking about Windows Vista.

As a successor to XP, Vista had huge expectations. While it delivered on Security, Refined Interface, Ease of use and Application Compatibility, many users felt the same to be issues with the system, which made it unpopular:

> Security – Annoying User Account control

> Resource Intensive Aeroglass Interface

> Updated Menus – Confusing at times

Apple thrived on this fact with its “I am a Mac” campaign. Result, Vista disaster. While Microsoft is trying hard to revive the image with “I am a PC” campaign, it has quite some ground to cover.

Enter Windows 7. I have just downloaded the 64 Bit Beta and have installed it on my HP Laptop running AMD Turion. For a Beta version, I am pleasantly surprised with the way it has been performing:

Installation time was 20 minutes and was exactly 6 clicks (Thought it restarted couple of times, it did not require my intervention. As soon as the OS loaded, it prompted me with my wireless connection and I quickly configured.

The moment I logged in, it suggested installing an Anti-Virus solution and took me to a recommended page. I have however installed my favourite, Avast. It ran with no issues at all.

Quickly I added my favourite applications; Windows Live Applications, Google Picasa, Skype, Google Talk, Flock and Firefox. All of them functioning very well with no compatibility issues. It also downloaded drivers for my latest nvidia card and gave me a preview of its slicker interface than Aero of Vista.

For the User account control, Microsoft seems to have now incorporated different levels so that you can customize, unlike Vista, which seemed a very nice move.

Another striking feature is the new taskbar, which replaces miniature icons with giant ones. Even the applications current running would be minimized into icons on this task bar.

I strongly recommend you to give it a try; however as this is in beta, please do take full backups of your systems before you install it. If you have a spare laptop or desktop on which you can try it, even better.

You can download a copy of Windows 7 Beta from here.

For now, it looks like Microsoft seems to be very much in control and would take every step to avoid repetition of Vista debacle, and from what I have seen of Windows 7 so far. It looks like they will succeed.

Popularity: 13%

Adeona is the first Open Source application which helps you track the location of your lost or stolen laptop. It is free utility available for Windows, Mac & Linux users. All you need to do is install its client in your notebook and it does the rest.

Adeona client runs in the background and will upload the IP address of the notebook on to the web whenever it is connected to the internet

Adeona on a Macbook can also upload photograph of people who use that computer via the built-in camera.  Adeona is named after a Roman Goddess of “safe return”, is developed by researchers at the University of Washington.

Popularity: 14%

If you are not using Firefox, its time you gave it a try. Once a hardcore IE fan, I have now switched after Firefox 3.0. There are hundreds of Firefox 3.0 add-ons. Here are 5 of my favourites. 

Adblock Plus 0.7.5.5 by Wladimir Palant

Ads and banners on the internet that often take a long time to download and hog your bandwidth.

Install this add-on and get rid of them. Usage is easy: right-click on a banner and choose “Adblock” from the context menu – the banner won’t be downloaded again.

You can also select a filter subscription when Adblock Plus starts up the first time. This will block most advertisements fully, automatically.

Flashblock 1.5.6 by Lorenzo Colitti, Philip Chee

Hate those annoying Flash animations that suddenly block your screen?  They too hog just as much bandwidth!

This add-on blocks Flash, Shockwave and Authorware animations. 

It shows simple placeholders for each blocked animation.

If you want to see the animation, just click on the placeholder.

Simple. Really!

All-in-One Sidebar 0.7.6 by Ingo Wennemaring

Enjoy a clear browser window, more toolbar space and much more with this wonderful add-pn.

Simply click on the left edge of your browser window to open the sidebar and get easy access to all your panels including downloads, page properties, add-ons and more.

You can set the orientation, minimum, default and maximum width and the behavior on browser startup.

It includes a slide-out button and a toolbar, all of which can be extensively customized.

ColorfulTabs 3.3 by Varun

A beautiful yet simple add-on that makes a strong colorful appeal.

It colors every tab in a different color.

The colours can be customized to a certain extent.

Pretty neat looks and helps you visually identify multiple tabs

Fast Dial 1.90 by Telega

Makes you wonder what you did all this while…

Fast Dial replaces “about:blank” page with a panel of thumbnails of your favorite sites. Sites can be added by clicking on an empty cell.

Also add sites opened in browser or existing bookmarks by right-clicking them and choosing “Add to Fast Dial” from the context menu.

You can also create groups of nested thumbnails, change thumbnail’s position by drag-n-dropping it, refresh thumbnails, use Alt+number keyboard shortcuts and customize Fast Dial page colors & font preferences.

Popularity: 23%

One of my pet peeves with operating systems has been the Microsoft domination of the OS market. People just dont seem to realize that they have so many things around them for free. There has been a research on how people tend to pay for something advertised rather than use something which is free and might actually work much better than the one paid for! Linux is one of such ‘geeky’ operating system termed as geeky due to its non GUI mode of functioning with its roots firmly entrenched in the best OS the world has ever known, Unix.

Such ‘terms’ usually mean the alienation of the crowd in general and for people who find the ‘point and click’ interface of Windows so easy in comparison would never think about transitioning to something as robust as Linux. If you think point and click gets your goat, then go for Ubuntu 8.04. You get support, you get a lot of beauty (even on a low end computer), you get a lot of things you never have to pay a penny for, and you get a 3 year security update cycle.

There are some things you might not know. MP3 as a technology is licensed, so when you encode music from your CDs make sure you encode it in FLAC or OGG VORBIS. The sound clarity is better and ofcourse you are in a way contributing to the open source movement. So whatever you pay for and whatever you don’t, the ROI calculation would be very different when you look at it from the open source angle.

I made the transition around 2 years back and love every moment with my Ubuntufied (Mint 4 currently) computer. No viruses, no hangs, no spyware/adware. Though there are somethings for which I would need to revert to Windows XP (would be a sycophant if I won’t). My office work has to be done on the legendary MS OFFICE (Open Office jumbles my formulae up). I would not get into the technicality of things at this juncture. You need a HD Video Player Linux (read Ubuntu) has it, you need a browser (Firefox), you need a CD/DVD burner linux has it. There are many more such reasons why a regular/advanced joe would want to go for Ubuntu. Give it a whirl and believe me this is one OS you can never have enough of.

More about this…later !

Popularity: 9%