Microsoft, on March 28th 2007, announced the new, long awaited Xbox 360 Elite edition. It contains a 120 GB Hard Drive and a HDMI port for full HD functionality, as well as a better cooling system.. But these will later be incorporated to the Xbox Premium system. The main selling point here is the fully Black colour system cover of the 360 Elite. This is unique, as the entire body, not only the faceplate, is black. The system will be available from April 29th onwards in limited numbers, priced at US$479.99. Bit too expensive. Maybe, maybe not. At least the cooling system is useful, because by 360 is going to fry up one of these days.
But unfortunately the new Elite does not have support for some other features that customer awaited, such as Streaming IPTV and a cooler (temperature-wise), cheaper 65nm processor. These features will probably be made available later this year, or even next year.
Yet, the Xbox 360 Elite is still US$20 cheaper than the basic Playstation 3, and $120 cheaper than the premium PS3 at the moment. Therefore I recommend that customers who want an all-round entertainment experience should buy the Xbox 360 instead of the PS3. I say so because Xbox 360 currently has some features yet to be released by Sony for the PS3, and also has some good features coming up soon. Otherwise people can wait for the PS3 price to go down.
In Sri Lanka - Oh, didn't I mention that Xbox 360 Elite will only be available in USA. Thats bad. But on the bright side, shops like Galaxy and Nastars are likely to get hold of two or three systems from somewhere. Of course they will be twice the price in Sri Lanka. I prefer buying from Singapore or Dubai, but in this case there is no choice.
Manufactured and Packaged in Sri Lanka with the Finest Sri Lankan Material.
Xbox 360 Elite
Adobe says: No Vista Compatibility. Wait for new versions.
Adobe recently informed its customers that they will have to wait for new versions of their expensive products for problem-free running on Windows Vista. This is because Adobe is not placing any interest on upgrading their latest professional applications such as Photoshop, Flash (Studio), InDesign, etc. for Vista compatibility. This is a major inconvenience to customers as they have to wait a while for the new versions of these applications to be released. Also, they will have to pay hundreds of dollars to buy the new versions. Adobe is making use of the situation to sell and earn more.
However, free and cheap products like Adobe Reader 8 and Photoshop Elements 5 will receive free updates. Lucky for them.
In Sri Lanka - This will not make a difference to Sri Lankans as majority (around 95%) of customers buy cheap pirate copies. But if Adobe launches an anti-piracy movement in Sri Lanka(not likely), we too will go down with the rest of the world. Lucky Asia, for the moment.
Nokia N95 with GPS: Now Available
Nokia has recently began shipping out their new N95 mobile to Europe and Asia. The phone sports a 5 megapixel camera, DVD-like quality video recording, built-in GPS system and more. It is likely to be Nokia's most advanced phone released so far. And it comes with a US$ 700 price tag to match. Also Nokia's priciest N Series mobile phone.
The N95 also has the ordinary N Series features, such RealPlayer, Bluetooth, Visual Radio, Infrared and WiFi connectivity. But the major attraction in this phone comes from its built-in GPS (Global Positioning System) software. The GPS is able to find your current position anywhere in the world within 20-40 seconds. Over 150 maps are stored in the phone, to be utilised by the GPS and by the Nokia Maps application.
Nokia treats the N95 as the son of computers; what computers have become today. The reason for this is that Nokia has packed in a high resolution camera, complete GPS system, mobile phone, organizer and much more in to 120 grams of plastic. However, it is yet to be seen how this computer will score in the mobile race, especially with a high price compared with other phones. But this phone defintely scores well in Looks, Functionality an Portability, three fields that are taken in to consideration when choosing a phone or a PDA.
In Sri Lanka - It is yet to be seen if the new N95 will have GPS support for Sri Lanka. If it does, wow! We are eagerly waiting for this supernova phone to get to Sri Lanka...
MTV Networks Sri Lanka: Our country's top Cheater and Loser
MTV Networks Sri Lanka, what is said to be the premier TV network in Sri Lanka, is up to their usual tricks of getting publicity and money, as well as having a few major failures. Why Maharaja Organization jumps straight on to the road to failure is still a mystery. Before coming to the latest topics relating MTV Networks, let us look at their history of cheating and failure.
The Satellite Sirasa
Sirasa TV launched its satellite service to the U.K. in December 2002, begining their service by announcing election results of that year's election. Maharaja spent much on advertising on local newspapers and setting up their agreements with Sky (BSkyB U.K.). Finally the service was launched, with Sirasa TV and Shakthi TV broadcasting on Channel 816 of Sky Digital. After 3 months of free trial, Sirasa encrypted its signals and charged 10 sterling pounds to view the channel.
Unfortunately, Sirasa's programming consisted of the same programs being repeated three times a day. No proper market research was done. The entire system ran on a computer, without any professional studio in the U.K. itself.
Soon Sirasa began to suffer financially, and introduced more Tamil programming in a move to survive. It only made the remaining customers sick. Why should a Sinhala channel broadcast more Tamil than Sinhala programming, especially when there were plenty of other better Tamil channels on Sky Digital itself.
Sirasa stopped its service soon and cancelled all plans to extend out further to the world. By their "Sirasa International" project, Maharaja had only lost money and popularity. They never truly reached out to the Sinhala people in the U.K.
The Sinhala Channel which shows mostly Hindi programming
Sirasa is well known for dubbing Hindi programming in Sinhala and broadcasting it on their network. Why? Who knows. Probably to attract viewers. But only the younger generations were attracted. Older generations stayed back with the local tele-dramas, even though boring and all repeating the same storyline, instead of praising India for good entertainment. In case you have not noticed, most of the programming on Sirasa today is Hindi programs dubbed in Sinhala. In the afternoons you see
News First, but Biased too
Who wants biased news. Maharaja thinks that the people want it. Maharaja always puts in a pro-Enemy and anti-Government view whenever possible. This was very common in the past, but reduced significantly after the new president came to power. They expected the current opposition to win, but after the H.E. they were scared to attack him immediately. They are probably hatching up some new plan to fool the people in the next elections. Unfortunately, there still remains a group of people who praise Maharaja's News 1st and its biased reporting.
All the TV stations in Sri Lanka probably provide biased news reports, but Maharaja's are the worst.
Copy Cats and Bad Subtitlists
Whenever Sirasa broadcasts its own Sinhala programming which is not a news bulletin, it is sure to be a copy of an existing cable tv program. They think that they can fool people saying that it is their original Sirasa Nishpadanayak (Production). The people too fall for it.
E.g:- Just for Laughs: Gags on Pogo (cable tv) = Hina Hina on Sirasa TV
Exactly the same style of recording and playing tricks, with the trickster pointing at the camera at the end of each trick.
And also, "Channel One" MTV provides Sinhala subtitles on their English programming. This is a great inconvenience for people learning English, as they automatically read the subtitles rather than learn from the audio feed. The subtitles often tell a different story than what is said on the audio. I've compared the two and found large differences in what is said and what is written. This too is greatly misleading the unsuspecting public, except for those who can understand English well.
Superstars
This is probably Maharaja's greatest cheat in their history, which they got away with. They are even repeating it today for more and more money, in both Sinhala and Tamil.
First, Yes FM Superstar was held in 2004 in an attempt to copy the American Idol show. But the show gained little popularity. Immediately the next year, Maharaja launched a new Musical Reality show named Sirasa Superstar, copying exactly the same style from American Idol. The public were allowed to vote for their favourite singers, but the SMS charge was four times the normal charges. Another money gaining project by Maharaja.
Maharaja also added spicy rumors of murder attempts and controversy to raise reputation of the show, even going above the level of Americal Idol's reality. Finally, Ajith Bandara emerged as champion. I believe he was a good singer, but Sirasa kept him standing and sweating on stage for a good 45 minutes before giving him his price. Then they overloaded him with flowers so that he could hardly walk. His mother was in tears, most likely from seen all the trouble her son went through to end up waiting for a small price and a large shield It is possible that Sirasa rigged the results that he won, because some singers were better than him.
Today, singers like Ajith Bandara are used by Maharaja to earn truckloads of money form the young people who fall for such fake shows. The older generations once more turn a blind eye to it.
Poisoning the Young
MTV Networks are definitely bent more toward attracting the younger generations than showing some good quality, educative programming for everyone. For example, MTV removed Classic FM, a very good radio station with oldies, to launch the new Y FM (Youth FM, as expected). Y FM broadcasts mostly Sinhala rap from modern local artists. Poisoning the young. At least can't they broadcast something useful and valuable to the lives of the younger generation they attract?
Ignoring the Public Opinion
MTV Networks recently launched their Channel One MTV on a new frequency and separated it from Shakthi TV. Now the public in Colombo can watch Shakthi TV clearly but not MTV. That is because MTV's new transmitter is situated far from Colombo. All you could get is a heavily distorted image with no sound. And Maharaja still ignores the viewer's opinions that they should relocated the transmitter to a place within Colombo. They just tell people to buy a new antenna a turn it the opposite direction to which we turn our other tv antennas. What a waste of money. People are now missing their favourite English language shows, and are turning to Pay Television as the answer to their problems.
This problem still remains unsolved. Maharaja tells the people to call them on an hotline for instructions to get a clearer reception, but no one can even see the hotline at the bottom of the screen clearly!
IPTV
The latest step towards international fame and income is to launch an IPTV service. What is available in Sri Lanka for free viewing will be available to watch at a high price on the internet. Meanwhile, channels like Rupavahini can still be viewed for free over the internet. This promises to be another flop for MTV Networks.
Laughing at Pay Television
MTV really did so, many times during various interviews. But this was only a dream for them. Knowing that this dream would not come true, they began to reach out of Sri Lanka and slowly drop the local market.
Final Thoughts
I truly hope that someday soon the people will understand the danger of watching channels by Maharaja. It is real poison for the mind. They are real dogs and cheats, and also supporters of our enemies in many ways. They run for money, not for providing good entertainment.
I have now erased their channels off my television sets, and hope they will never hop aboard our pay television network. It is a shame that LBN has their channels, especially after they laughed at the concept of Pay Television.
Someday soon, MTV's English network will curl up and die with pay television becoming more common. Pay television will provide a complete English entertainment service, opposed to MTV's bits and pieces of English and what-nots. What will happen to the Sinhala and Tamil channels is yet to be seen...
New job vacancies at Dialog TV
- Sales Co-ordinator
- Administrative Executive - Wattala Office
- Billing Executive - Colombo Office
- Recoveries Executive - Colombo Office
- Telecommunicaions Executive
- Technical Officer - IT
- System Design Engineer
- Computer Draftsman (CAD)
- Secretary
- Technician
- Channel Development Co-ordinators
- Technical Officer
Applications should be sent within the next Seven days to:
Head of Human Resources Management and Development, Dialog Career Centre, Level 29, West Tower, World Trade Centre, Echelon Square, Colombo 01.
Email: careers@dialog.lk
Online applications: www.topjobs.lk
Source: Page 28, Sunday Observer - 11th March 2007
Dialog TV provides the full ICC World Cup experience
SET Max - All main cricket matches, warm up matches and special events in the World Cup
SET SAB - Multi-cast of SET Max matches in Hindi commentry
SAT Pix - Certain minor matches
However, the problems on SET Max and SAB were solved yesterday with the reported use of a microwave link from another Dialog centre (thanks to Dialog Broadband). SET still remians to have freezing problems, but does not catch the customers' eyes as it is not frequently watched. Dialog TV customers should have a fun and exciting month coming up with the ICC World Cup lasting till April 28th. Best of luck to all teams participating in the World Cup, and hope we customers will have a good time.
Unfortunately, VH1, the only 100% English Music and Lifestyle channel, was removed from the current Dialog TV channel lineup to give room for SET Max and SET SAB. This is a real blow for Dialog customers as it is one of the most imprtant channels on the platform. We sincerely hope that Dialog will replace some other unimportant channel with VH1 soon.
Meanwhile, LBN and Comet Cable customers are criticising Dialog TV for not sharing their SET Max and SAB feeds with them. However, it should be noted that Dialog would have to pay an enourmous extra fee in order to share the rights with others, and in turn Comet and LBN would have to pay back Dialog.
Lanka Internet shuts down services - Thousands of employees and clients left in the dark
One of Sri Lanka's first ever Internet Service Providers, Lanka Internet, was unexpectedly shut down at the end of February 2007 after filing for bankruptcy twice in the previous year. Lanka internet was one of Sri Lanka's few trusted Web Hosting and Internet Access service providers. The company was established in 1994 by a group of Sri Lankans living in the U.S.A. Afterwards, ownership and management of the company was continuosly changed.
The company soon began having financial troubles. SLT too filed a case against Lanka internet regarding unlicensed providing of IDD services. However, the company survived even after filing for bankruptcy in 2006, until it shut down services without warning. Employees suddenly became unemployed, and thousand of clients lost internet access and hosting facilities. Until today, no one has yet been able to find the management of Lanka Internet who disappeared after stoping services.
See Lankan ISP goes Bust.
PS: This same story could repeat itself in the near future. Most of you can guess what it is. Comet Cable is on the verge of bankruptcy and will soon have to shut down their services, having money or not. There is hardly much hope left for customers. The higher management will disappear leaving customers and employees in the dark.
Microsoft Expression Web
Xbox 360 TV
- Download Television Shows and Movies
- IPTV (Internet Streaming Television)
Download TV Shows and Movies
Xbox Live already provides this service for registered users. Users first purchase Xbox points from Xbox Live. Then they use the points to purchase a TV Show or Movie. Quite similar to iTunes Online Store. The videos may be downloaded in the background while playing a game or doing something else (using the 2006 update).
IPTV
This was first a rumour, but now is confirmed by Microsoft. Microsoft will be offering streaming television through Xbox Live. This service will launch in the 2007 holiday season or later. Channels available will most likely be those which already use Microsoft TV IPTV Edition to distribute their channels. Features of this service will include recording tv shows in the background whilst playing a game, as well as a guide which sorts out channels according to your taste. The price and system requirements (larger HDD, etc.) of this service are yet to be announced. See IPTV on Xbox 360 is for Real.
Unfortunately, Xbox Live is currently not available in Sri Lanka. The closest country with Xbox Live services is Singapore. But knowing that Microsoft is eager to get a piece of the South Asian market, Xbox Live can be expected in Sri Lanka and neighbouring countries quite soon.
Edit: Sorry, wrong information. Xbox Live can be accessed in Sri Lanka thorugh the Singapore service or the service of any other country. ONly thign is that you have to enter false information about you living in the country of the service.
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