Life is a Celebration

Krishna Reddy's website

2011-07-15T23:42:00.001+05:30

Hello friends,
I have updated my website - krishna-reddy.com . Please check and give your feedback!

Yess! Media Website

2011-07-15T23:40:00.000+05:30

Yess! Media Website has been updated! Please check!

నీ నగ్న స్వరూపం, అడ్డు గోడలు

2011-06-28T22:07:00.000+05:30

దీపమా! నల్లటి చిమ్నీలో బంధించబడ్డ ఓ శుద్ధ దీపమా!!
నీ బాహ్య తొడుగులను (అభిప్రాయాల) తొలగించి నీ నగ్న (ఆత్మ) స్వరూపాన్నితప్పక దర్శిస్తాను.
నీ నిజ రూపాన్ని వెలికి తీసి నీలో దాగి ఉన్న నన్ను నేను చూసుకుంటాను.
Yess! You explore YourSelf through a partner, your soul mate, to know your true inner 'Self'.

Janlokpal Drafting Committee Meeting - India for an honest and sincere governance

2011-06-16T02:44:00.000+05:30

Here is the news from today's discussion at Lokpal Drafting Committee Meeting shared by Mr. Gitesh Devhane on the cause - India against corruption.
Do your bit to spread the movement and get people to make a missed call to 022-61550789.
.
यह अधिक से अधिक स्पष्ट होता जा रहा है की केवल नागरिक दबाव और एक जन आंदोलन से ही हम भारत के लिए एक मजबूत भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी बिल प्राप्त कर सकते हैं. 022-61550789 पर एक मिस कॉल कर अपना समर्थन दें, कम से कम १० लोगों को यह बात समझाएं.

The government’s intentions became very clear today. It wants to kill Lokpal before it were born. They want to create a Lokpal without any administrative or investigative machinery – an emaciated and disempowered Lokpal.

Government says that it would be an eleven member body. Benches of these eleven members would take all decisions. Government says that Lokpal would have powers to receive public grievances from ordinary people. So, if an income tax officer demanded a bribe to give an income tax refund in Bangalore, the citizen will have to make a complaint to the eleven member body in Delhi and come to Delhi for hearings. “There would be thousands of complaints from across the country. How will these eleven members deal with it?” asked civil society members. The government did not reply. They just announced their decision. This is a sure way of killing Lokpal before it was born. We wanted a Lokpal with officers working under it at district level, who would have powers to deal with cases at local level. Government refuses to accept that model.

It was clear today that the government had already made up its mind. The talks were just a formality. Inside the committee, the civil society members keep arguing strenuously on each point and the government ministers simply announce their decisions, even if they do not have arguments.

In the end, the government nominees suggested that we bring our version of Lokpal Bill in the next meeting, they would bring their version of Lokpal Bill. In the next meeting, they would see whether there could be consensus on any more issues. Finally two Bills will be sent to the Cabinet.

We demanded copies of audio tapes of the proceedings so far. They refused. We said that we were committee members and should have a right to take copies of audio tapes of the proceedings. They said they could consider it after all the meetings were over. We said – “do you promise to give us copies of all tapes in the last meeting?” Again they were non-committal. It is really surprising why is the government hesitating in making the discussions public? Perhaps the world would come to know that the government has vetoed on practically all points without having any valid arguments.

It is getting more and more apparent that it is only citizen pressure and a mass movement that can make sure we get a strong anti-corrutpion bill for India. Do your bit to spread the movement and get people to make a missed call to 022-61550789. Only one call per person please.

Also invite more people to this Movement so that we can get Jan lokpal.

Posted By: Gitesh Devhane

Posted In: India Against Corruption

Yess! Media facebook page

2011-06-14T19:00:00.001+05:30

Now we have got a cool new facebook page for Yess! Media.

Rang De Basanthi could be inevitable

2011-06-12T04:53:00.000+05:30

With the current situation in India a Rang De Basanthi could be inevitable to rid the system of its evils.

Here is an interesting conversation between me and my friends on the present anti-corruption movement in India.

Roshan D'Silva Really ridiculous what is happening in India. Whatever nonsense the baba was upto the government has clearly over reacted and behaved stupidly.

Krishna Reddy Dude, I feel that we surely need a 2nd independence war (It could be of a Rang De Basanti type.. we need not only Gandhis now but also Bhagat Singhs and Netajis) to cleanse the Indian society, political system, legal system, bureaucracy etc from corruption, red tape in order to enjoy a true independent and happy and prosperous India. Peace alone is not a solution. We probably need some rebels and RDB kinda revolutions and complete reorganization of some of the systems - political, legal, education, social etc - for a faster growth in India. I think that this change is inevitable and imminent. What do you say? Pl check one of my previous posts n share your opinion.. http://blog.krishna-reddy.com/2011/05/injustice-in-india.html
June 5 at 10:35am

Pratik Das Agree with you, Roshan - the planned protest was excessively dramatised and disingenuous. Nevertheless, this Congress led government has no legs to stand on. The growth of the Indian economy has been surpassed only by the growth of corruption and there seems to be no lack of imagination in the scale or scope of corruption either. I was a huge fan of Dr. Manmonhan Singh but this coalition government has paraded the flaws in the Indian democratic system - that one good apple in a basket full of rotten fruit is no delight to behold.
June 5 at 12:16pm

Pratik Das: Until very recently I'd never heard of a lakh crore in the media, although I'm sure many Indian governments have had projects of that scale. The first I came to hear of it was in the context of the telecom scandal.
June 5 at 12:17pm

Pratik Das: Krishna, I admire your passion, but I'd urge you to ponder over something. The collective efforts of so many Indian heroes steered India to independence and, despite the subsequent civil riots, wars, insurgency and the Emergency, their efforts conceded to the Constitution every time. Yet, the foundation of morals and behaviours which rallied the nation was slowly but surely forgotten to give way to corruption before that leading generation had even faded away. What went wrong? If another revolution were to happen, what would keep corruption from taking root once more? What really needs to change?
June 5 at 12:51pm

Krishna Reddy: @pratik, I agree with you.. Yess! we need to ponder on this and analyze the past & learn from it lest the system fails again. Here I am using revolution in a broader sense that includes the ones like we witnessed in the past - green revolution, economic revolution of early 90's, internet n telecom revolution of late 90's, dotcom bust to name a few. I forecast we will witness a few revolutions soon, probably, in a much larger scale - most of them for good. A revolution has already started (by Anna Hazare, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Kiran Bedi etc with active or indirect support of most of us) and it had to start.. the time has ripened. When a system reaches a collapsing point, drastic changes will happen in it or the system will vanish. I think we have reached that point now. People now think that enough is enough and no more. It is at this kind of time that massive revolutions happen as history tells.. it might lead to great upheavals resulting in completely different - political, legal, education, cultural, religious, scientific, technological, power generation etc - systems. I believe this is bound to happen in near future.. we could witness massive change(s) (whether we call it revolution(s) or something else) in 2 to 8 years from now. As you said Yes, we all, collectively as a people, need to ponder what needs to be changed and how. All of us could be part of this change....
June 5 at 6:16pm

Live Webcast: Shraddhanjali (prayer meeting) for Acharya Sri Ratnanandaji, Sri Sri Ravishankar's father

2011-06-09T16:13:00.000+05:30

Tears roll down my eyes as I think about Acharya Sri Ratnanandaji, a humanitarian, who has gifted the world our beloved Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, a great man who has made this planet a better place to live in.

The ART OF LIVING family in obeisance, expresses its sincere gratitude to Pujya Pitaji for his selfless service and his gift of Gurudev to us.

He was a true Gandhian and joined the freedom movement.

A scholar, educationist and social worker, he served tirelessly for woman empowerment and education. He dedicated his life to service.

He remains our eternal inspiration.

Join the prayer meeting for Pitaji at the Art of Living International Center, Bangalore at 6:30 pm (Indian Standard Time) on June 9.

You can watch the webcast on www.artofliving.org/satsang

Here are some news links:
Deccan Herald: Sri Sri's father passes away
Times of India: Sri Sri bereaved

DNA: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's father dies

We must fight injustice in India

2011-05-25T02:35:00.006+05:30

Enough is enough! We need a second independence war in India now

Inefficiency, incompetence, and ineffectiveness of the system

I am feeling intensely angry, frustrated and helpless.... frustrated over Indian legal system, corruption unethicalness in police, government administration politics and general public. We are extremely helpless about the... incompetence, inefficiency, ineffectiveness, red tape and unnecessary delays (and then expecting and forcing us, the hapless citizens, to respect and follow "Honorable" judges' orders and (dis)"Honorable" courts without caring for your convenience of dates, for delivering justice.). Many judges autocratically misuse their "authority" by simply dictating and forcing you to attend at a date of their choice without caring for your request for an alternative date. Most of the court work is wasted just to give you "another" date.. but you are forced to attend the court "hearing" where they give you very little time.. just a few seconds to few minutes every time; so wasting your valuable time, money, efforts leaving behind your urgent appointments, meetings etc. A very small, minor and trivial civil problem that could be easily sorted out just in 2-3 hours of logical, legal and clear discussion/questioning/counseling are enough in most cases. But such a trivial case typically takes 3 -10 years to receive final judgment, and at the end, there is no guarantee for for justice.. due to inefficiency, red tapism (and judicial corruption in some cases). There are false matrimonial (divorce) cases that have run for more than 15 years only to be dismissed or granted, in which case the justice is no longer relevant and it is not justice any more, some times when the couple's ages will be over 50-60 years! So when the legal system and judiciary are so inefficient why should we, hapless citizens, respect and follow such an anarchic legal system? India needs a massive revolution.. a second independent war. The only beneficiaries in the case are your incompetent lawyers who will have brought a plush flat from the legal fee you pay them for lying, cheating, misleading, wrongly advising the clients, colluding with the opponent parties. Of course there are a few exceptions.. competent good, honest and sincere lawyers exist; but very few of them are there.. they are like an oasis in a desert; but their services are too costly for a common man to afford. Typically a judiciary which is supposed to handle 300 cases has 2000 cases. So the judges themselves acknowledge the such incompetency of the courts. Most of the cases are evidently false and illegal ones and they could be dismissed at the beginning itself so it will save the time of courts and the parties involved and avoid the agony caused and the victims could be saved from unnecessary agony. I have a few ideas and solutions to problems facing Indian legal system.. which I will share later. The problem is not just with legal system. It is with many other systems.

Solutions to the problems facing India

So what are the solutions for the problems facing India, the spiritual light of the world?

We must fight a second independent war.

Be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
The change happens from the ordinary citizens like you and I.

India against corruption: Anna Hazare with Sri Sri Ravishankar, Kiran Bedi and Swami Agnivesh

Mahatma Gandhi in Dandi march.

Friends, please share your views/opinions/ideas/solutions to tackle this monstrous problem?

Heaven is a place on earth!

2011-05-23T00:24:00.000+05:30

Will you see Utopia - a happy, beautiful & heavenly world - in the near future or sometime in your lifetime?

1: Yes, I am sure :)

2: Yess! Let us create it now!

3: No, not sure.. Is it is ever possible?

4: Hey, Life is already beautiful on this planet!

Are you a spiritual person?

2011-05-23T00:21:00.000+05:30

Are you a spiritual person?

1: Yess! I am spiritual!

2: No, I'm 10 0 % materialistic person.

3: I love both - physical and the unseen but 'felt' beauty!!

4: Dude! I have no clue at all what spirituality is all about?!

Holographic Nature of universe by Gregg Braden

2011-05-19T14:53:00.001+05:30

Holographic nature of the universe is very interesting.. worth giving a thought to. Such concepts have been well known to our ancient Rishis for thousands of years. Our ancestors have discovered and documented (in our Hindu scriptures) some of the most intriguing laws of nature much before the modern science (i.e. Relativity and Quantum Physics) discovered them!! Gregg Braden's art work gives a wonderful insight into some of the Indian spiritual and scientific wisdom. India has gifted great wisdom to the world for millenniums. Be proud of our rich heritage and culture. We need to do more research and uncover many of our ancient Shastras (more than 27 thousand scriptures i.e. Vedanta, Upanishads, Vedas, Puranas etc are there.. many of them are not known to us) and bring them into public consciousness through mainstream media and education channels for the betterment of the world we live in. Guys n girls, could you please comment & share this video. Thanks :) - Krishna Reddy.

Is this believable?

2011-02-01T15:40:00.003+05:30

Does anybody have the guts to believe or make this happen:

10+10+10 = ₁₀ 10 ¹⁰

~~10+10+10 = 101010~~

~~10+10+10 = 10x10x10~~

~~10+10+10 = 30~~

Uhopea flagged off!

2010-12-06T02:12:00.001+05:30

Uhopea.com website has been started with the launch of the sub-domains utopia.uhopea.com.

Well what is "uhopea"? Uhopea is Yess! Media's flagship product that is going to be launched soon.

Canine Innocence

2010-11-05T19:39:00.001+05:30

In this video a bunch of cute and innocent puppies enjoy their natural freedom.

Happy Diwali

2010-11-05T01:26:00.000+05:30

Now Ur Utopian Hopes realized!!

2010-10-09T21:19:00.000+05:30

Have you ever dreamed of a Utopian World? Well, here is your chance to voice your dreams.
Just started blog.uhopea.com, a blog that dares to dream a Utopian World!

Blog on Telugu comedy!

2010-10-09T20:33:00.000+05:30

Just started a Telugu comedy blog !

Great comedy is coming up here!!
So watch out this space regularly..

Rajnikanth can do anything!

2010-10-04T19:50:00.000+05:30

Rajinikanth can delete the Recycle Bin!!

A nice website on meditation

2010-07-30T14:03:00.000+05:30

My friend Chander has started a nice blog "Journey with Breath" on meditation.
Do visit it.. It has lotsa useful info!

Problem with Make My Trip - Never user their bus booking service

2010-05-13T18:54:00.000+05:30

A few days ago I booked a bus ticket through makemytrip.com.

The bus not only did not stop at the boarding point but also makemytrip.com has one of the worst services I have ever had.

Following is my email to their customer support to which they have not even bothered to reply till now.
I am planning to take a severe legal action against them in case they do not respond properly soon.

Krishna Reddy

Please Cancel & do the needful - Re: Your MakeMyTrip bus e-ticket for booking id:BUS50009116874053 (Hyderabad-Anaparthi)

Krishna Reddy

Sun, May 9, 2010 at 9:08 PM

To: Busservice@makemytrip.com

Cc: admin@makemytrip.com

Hello,

I have booked a bus ticket (Make My Trip Id: BUS50009116874053) through your portal makemytrip.com.
The journey was from Hyderabad to Anaparthi and boarding time was 10:40 pm at Panjagutta in Hyderabad.
Other ticket details can be found in your email below.

However, the bus did not stop at the designated boarding point mentioned in the ticket.
The bus passed by the boarding point but did not even slow down there, let alone halting.
This despite my being present at the boarding point much before the boarding time and waving at the bus when it was passing through the boarding point.

Then I consistently kept calling up all five contact numbers of the bus operator (model travels) mentioned in the ticket.
There was no response at all from 4 of the five numbers you have mentioned in the ticket.
Upon calling the fifth number, I was given another phone number and was asked to call that number.
This sixth number happened to be a wrong number.

Then I called up your call center number and Mr. Jitendra picked up the call. I explained him the problem then he said that he would check with the bus operator and would call me back within 20 minutes.

However there was no call from your end for a long time.
So frustrated at this, I had to call you back; this time I had to explain the whole problem again to Mr. Fareed Ahmed, who picked up the call.
Then he said he could neither help or arrange for an alternative.

This whole episode caused me utter inconvenience and severe mental trauma as there was no alternative way to travel to Anaparthi, where I had to go to urgently, nor did I have a place to stay in the midnight.

So hereby I request you to kindly
1) Do the needful to compensate me for my loss
2) Take a strict action against the bus operator and
3) Remove the bus operator from your service list.
4) Please escalate this issue to the highest level of your customer care and other concerned departments.

Anticipating your appropriate response at the earliest.
Thanking you...

Best regards,
Krishna Reddy
Mobile: +91-9987375860
Homepage: Krishna-Reddy.com

On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 9:03 AM, <admin@makemytrip.com> wrote:

Book return trip bus tickets and get 10% cash back on both the tickets.
*T&C Apply

Booking Details
From: Hyderabad Bus Operator: Model Travels Make My Trip Id: BUS50009116874053
To: Anaparthi Bus Type: Non A/C Seater (2+2) Operator PNR: TC6668637834
Journey Date: 8-May-10 Passengers: 1 Ticket Number: MODEL147521-MT 901
Boarding Time: 10:40 PM Total Fare: Rs.340.0

*Please reach your boarding point 15 minutes before the scheduled boarding time
Passenger Details
S.No Name Seat Seat Type S.No Name Seat Seat Type
1. Mr Krishna Reddy J1 Seater

Boarding Point Details
Boarding Point: Panjagutta
Location: Panjagutta Landmark: Petrol Bunk
Address: Punjagutta,Civil Supplies Building, Petrol Bunk,
Bus Operator Contact Number: 040-64615555,64566555,23150378,23154599,9246191955

Frequently Asked Questions

What documents I need to board my bus?
Please carry a print out of this e-ticket along with an identity proof with your photograph on it. Failing to do so, you may not be allowed to board the bus.
Do I need to reconfirm my booking?
No, your booking is confirmed and there is no need to re confirm the same.
How do I cancel my ticket?
Please mail us at Busservice@makemytrip.com or call us at 0124-462-8765 (Standard Charges Apply) or 1800-103-8765 (Toll Free) to cancel your e-ticket.
MakeMyTrip would not be able to process refunds for cancellations done directly with the bus operators.
Can I do partial cancellations (e.g. cancel only 2 passengers out of 4 booked)?
Partial cancellations are not allowed. You would need to cancel the entire ticket.
What are the cancellation charges if I cancel my e-ticket?
A cancellation fee will be levied on every bus ticket cancelled. Applicable charges are:
- Cancellation more than 24 hours before travel - 25% of the fare paid (Refund amount will be Rs 255)
- Cancellation within 24 hours before travel - 100% of the fare paid (Refund amount will be Rs 0)
How do I contact MakeMyTrip.com?
For your boarding point or departure time queries please call Model Travels directly at 040-64615555,64566555,23150378,23154599,9246191955 .
To get in touch with MakeMyTrip.com, mail us as Busservice@makemytrip.com or call us at 0124-462-8765 (Standard Charges Apply) or 1800-103-8765 (Toll Free).

Important Terms & Conditions

Agency: MakeMyTrip (India) Pvt. Ltd (hereinafter 'MMT') is only providing the services as agent of various tour operators (hereinafter 'Operators'). MMT's obligations are limited to issuance of ticket, providing information as made available to it and processing refunds. MMT is not responsible for the provision of services by the respective operator. MMT assumes no responsibility or liability for the actions or omissions of the operators including non-adherence of the scheduled timings, behavior of the operator's staff, conditions inside the buses, loss of life or property, delay, breakdown or inconvenience suffered by the user or passenger.
The primary passenger is required to furnish a print out of the e-ticket and an identity proof with the passenger's photograph on it at time of boarding the bus. Failing to do so, the bus operator may not allow boarding.
The bus e-ticket booked is non transferable.
The bus operator reserves the right to change the seat number(s) of the passenger(s).
The bus operator reserves the right to change the boarding point and/or using a pick-up vehicle at the boarding point to take customers to the bus departure point
The departure and arrival timings mentioned on the e-ticket are only tentative timings. The same are subject to change.
The bus trips may be delayed, postponed or cancelled due to unavoidable reasons.
Provision of video/air conditioning or any such other services is the responsibility of the bus operator. Any refunds/claims due to non-functioning or unavailability of these services needs to be settled directly with the service provider (the bus operator).
In the event of cancellation of a bus/service trip, MMT's liability will be limited only to the extent of refunding the sum paid by the passenger for the price of the e-ticket.
In case the bus operator changes the type of bus due to unavoidable reasons, MMT will refund the differential amount (difference in fare between the bus type booked and bus type provided, where a lower bus type is provided) to the customer upon being intimated by the customer within 3 days of the journey.

High Google Pagerank Link Directory

2010-02-24T23:20:00.000+05:30

Here is a directory of webpages with high Google PageRanks:
High Pagerank Google PR Link Directory - Transops.Net

Jyoti Basu passes away

2010-01-17T21:10:00.003+05:30

Former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu's body being taken to his residence from the hospital on Sunday afternoon

Marxist patriarch and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, who was battling for life in a hospital in Kolkata for the last fortnight, died on Sunday. "I have to give you the sad news that Jyoti Basu is no longer with us," Biman Bose, the chairman of the Left Front coordination committee, told reporters around 1230 IST.

An emotional Bose said Jyoti Babu is no longer in this world.

Basu, 96, who had suffered multi-organ failure was on a temporary pacemaker since late Saturday night.

Basu's personal physician Dr Ajit Kumar Maity said that the veteran leader breathed his last at 11:47 am at the AMRI Hospital where he was admitted with pneumonia on January 1.

He was put on a ventilator on January 6. Basu, who strode the political arena like a colossus for over six decades, is survived by son Chandan. His wife Kamal pre-deceased him four years ago. The Communist Party of India leader was the longest serving chief minister in Indian political history. A founder member of the CPI-M politburo from the days of its inception in 1964, Basu was regarded as many as the 'cornerstone of Bengal politics.'

Born on July 8, 1914, in an upper middle class Bengali family in Kolkata, Basu's father Nishikantha Basu was a doctor. After attaining school education from St Xavier's Collegiate School and graduation from Presidency College Arts Faculty in Kolkata, Basu travelled to the United Kingdom to study law, where he was introduced to the Communist Party of Britain.

Basu returned to India in 1940, and after qualifying for the bar, he became a full-timer in the Communist Party of India. Basu was elected to the Bengal legislative assembly in 1946, contesting the railway constituency.

When the Communist Party of India split in 1964, Basu became one of the first nine members of the Politburo of the newly formed Communist Party of India-Marxist. In 1967 and 1969, Basu became deputy chief minister of West Bengal in the United Front government.

From June 21, 1977 to November 6, 2000, Basu served as the chief minister of West Bengal for the Left Front government. In 1996, Basu seemed all set to be the consensus leader of the United Front for the post of prime minister of India.

However, the CPI-M politburo decided not to participate in the government, and Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Deve Gowda instead became the Prime Minister.

Basu resigned from the chief ministership of West Bengal in 2000 for health reasons and was succeeded by fellow CPI-M politician Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.

Source: rediff news
Jyoti Basu is a fan of Swami Vivekananda - Sri Sri Ravishankar

Why sms'es are limited to 160 characters

2010-01-16T22:29:00.000+05:30

Credit: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles TimesAlone in a room in his home in Bonn, Germany, Friedhelm Hillebrand sat at his typewriter, tapping out random sentences and questions on a sheet of paper.

As he went along, Hillebrand counted the number of letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces on the page. Each blurb ran on for a line or two and nearly always clocked in under 160 characters.
That became Hillebrand's magic number -- and set the standard for one of today's most popular forms of digital communication: text messaging.
"This is perfectly sufficient," he recalled thinking during that epiphany of 1985, when he was 45 years old. "Perfectly sufficient."
The communications researcher and a dozen others had been laying out the plans to standardize a technology that would allow cellphones to transmit and display text messages. Because of tight bandwidth constraints of the wireless networks at the time -- which were mostly used for car phones -- each message would have to be as short as possible.
Before his typewriter experiment, Hillebrand had an argument with a friend about whether 160 characters provided enough space to communicate most thoughts. "My friend said this was impossible for the mass market," Hillebrand said. "I was more optimistic."
His optimism was clearly on the mark. Text messaging has become the prevalent form of mobile communication worldwide. Americans are sending more text messages than making calls on their cellphones, according to a Nielsen Mobile report released last year.
U.S. mobile users sent an average of 357 texts per month in the second quarter of 2008 versus an average of 204 calls, the report said.
Texting has been a boon for telecoms. Giants Verizon Wireless and AT&T each charge 20 to 25 cents a message, or $20 for unlimited texts. Verizon has 86 million subscribers, while AT&T's wireless service has 78.2 million.
And Twitter, the fastest growing online social network, which is being adopted practically en masse by politicians, celebrities ...

... and news outlets, has its very DNA in text messaging. To avoid the need for splitting cellular text messages into multiple parts, the creators of Twitter capped the length of a tweet at 140 characters, keeping the extra 20 for the user's unique address.

Back in 1985, of course, the guys who invented Twitter were probably still playing with Matchbox cars.

Credit: Friedhelm Hillebrand

Hillebrand found new confidence after his rather unscientific investigations. As chairman of the nonvoice services committee within the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), a group that sets standards for the majority of the global mobile market, he pushed forward the group's plans in 1986. All cellular carriers and mobile phones, they decreed, must support the short messaging service (SMS).
Looking for a data pipeline that would fit these micro messages, Hillebrand came up with the idea to harness a secondary radio channel that already existed on mobile networks.
This smaller data lane had been used only to alert a cellphone about reception strength and to supply it with bits of information regarding incoming calls. Voice communication itself had taken place via a separate signal.
"We were looking to a cheap implementation," Hillebrand said on the phone from Bonn. "Most of the time, nothing happens on this control link. So, it was free capacity on the system."
Initially, Hillebrand's team could fit only 128 characters into that space, but that didn't seem like nearly enough. With a little tweaking and a decision to cut down the set of possible letters, numbers and symbols that the system could represent, they squeezed out room for another 32 characters.

Still, his committee wondered, would the 160-character maximum be enough space to prove a useful form of communication? Having zero market research, they based their initial assumptions on two "convincing arguments," Hillebrand said.
For one, they found that postcards often contained fewer than 150 characters.
Second, they analyzed a set of messages sent through Telex, a then-prevalent telegraphy network for business professionals. Despite not having a technical limitation, Hillebrand said, Telex transmissions were usually about the same length as postcards.
Just look at your average e-mail today, he noted. Many can be summed up in the subject line, and the rest often contains just a line or two of text asking for a favor or updating about a particular project.
But length wasn't SMS's only limitation. "The input was cumbersome," Hillebrand said. With multiple letters being assigned to each number button on the keypad, finding a single correct letter could take three or four taps. Typing out a sentence or two was a painstaking task.

A GSM document outlining the definition of SMS. Credit: Friedhelm Hillebrand.

Later, software such as T9, which predicts words based on the first few letters typed by the user, QWERTY keyboards such as the BlackBerry's and touchscreen keyboards including the iPhone's made the process more palatable.
But even with these inconveniences, text messaging took off. Fast. Hillebrand never imagined how quickly and universally the technology would be adopted. What was originally devised as a portable paging system for craftsmen using their cars as a mobile office is now the preferred form of on-the-go communication for cellphone users of all ages.
"Nobody had foreseen how fast and quickly the young people would use this," Hillebrand said. He's still fascinated by stories of young couples breaking up via text message.
When he tells the story of his 160-character breakthrough, Hillebrand says, people assume he's rich. But he's not.
There are no text message royalties. He doesn't receive a couple of pennies each time someone sends a text, like songwriters do for radio airplay. Though "that would be nice," Hillebrand said.
Now Hillebrand lives in Bonn, managing Hillebrand & Partners, a technology patent consulting firm. He has written a book about the creation of GSM, a $255 hardcover tome.
Following an early retirement that didn't take, Hillebrand is pondering his next project. Multimedia messaging could benefit from regulation, he said. With so many different cellphones taking photos, videos and audio in a variety of formats, you can never be sure whether your friend's phone will be able to display it.
But he's hoping to make a respectable salary for the work this time.
-- Mark Milian

Source: Why text messages are limited to 160 characters

Site traffic is shooting up!

2010-01-16T21:47:00.001+05:30

My blog traffic is shooting up doing well in traffic for the past few months!
It is a combined traffic of several blogs/ websites which includes krishna-reddy.com, blog.krishna-reddy.com, blog.artoflivingyoga.info, interesting.krishna-reddy.com, artofliving.rediffiland.com which now redirects to blogs.rediff.com/artofliving etc. Though it is a combined traffic of several sites, it's good enough given that I don't spend much time blogging. Aiming to cross 1000 page visits soon!

Testing Blogger API!

2009-12-28T23:14:00.001+05:30

Posting this post using blogger API!

Blah Blah Blah....