Key Features of Indian Union Budget 2010 – 2011

Computers and Mobiles

The Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD) of 4% on imported mobile handsets has been fully exempted. This should lead to a slight fall in mobile prices if the manufacturers decide to pass on the benefit to the consumers.

The budget has also proposed to remove the 24% import duty on components imported for manufacturing batteries, chargers and other mobile accessories.

On the other hand, the central excise on all non-petroleum products has been increased from 8 to 10%, which may end up eroding the tax savings on technology products due to the above mentioned points.

IT

There have been no specific announcements made which should affect the IT sector directly but the UIDAI (Unique ID Authority of India) project has been approved and Rs. 1900 crores have been allocated to it. The project will most likely be handled by Indian IT companies so this should be good.

Also, Rs. 31000 crores have been earmarked for school education reforms in 2010-2011; which will probably be a boost for the IT sector in the long term.

One of the best things about this budget seems to be that both the GST and the Direct Tax code will finally be applicable by April 2011.

I’m still browsing through the whole budget document. Will update this post if I find anything relevant.

To Enable Tethering on your Android phone:

1. Install the TetherBot application on your phone -

2. Install the Android SDK on your PC. Also install the device driver bundled with the SDK.

3. Now go to Menu > Settings > Applications > Development and enable USB Debugging on your phone.

4. Connect the phone to your PC; start the TetherBot application and press the Start Socks button.

5. On your PC, go to Command Prompt (Run > CMD) and navigate to the \androidsdk\tools directory.

6. Type this command and execute it
adb forward tcp:1080 tcp:1080

This starts a SOCKS proxy on Port 1080 using which you can connect to the internet.

You can now use this proxy to access the internet using any browser which allows you to set up a SOCKS proxy like Opera or Firefox.

For example, in Firefox, go to Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Connection > Settings > Manual Proxy Configuration >

Type: SOCKS
Host: localhost
Port: 1080

Android is a free operating system for mobile phones developed by Google. I’ve always been a huge fan of it; most probably my next phone is going to be an Android. It is mostly run on smartphons powered by ARM chips, though it is being ported to various platforms and architectures, including X86.

LiveAndroid is a Live CD for Android running on X86 platforms. You can use it to run Android directly on your PC.

To Install Android on your PC,

Just download LiveAndroid

Live Android – Part 1
Live Android – Part 2

After downloading these files, just join them using HJSplit.

You can also download it via the LiveAndroid torrent.

Next, burn the ISO (disk image) to a CD using any CD burning application like Nero, Magic ISO, Power ISO etc.

You can also use W32DiskImager to copy the image to a USB drive.

After this step, just reboot your computer and boot from the CD or USB drive. You should be greeted by the LiveAndroid startup screen.

Alternatively, you can also load the ISO in any virtualization application like Microsoft Virtual PC or Virtual Box.

This is a tutorial to try Android as a Live option. To install Android on your EEE PC or netbook - How to Install Android OS on EEE PC

Airtel

The Airtel Net PC is powered by Microsoft and Nivio Companion. It runs a customized build of Windows XP which connects to a backend Linux-based server and provides access to various applications and storage through Nivio Companion. The Airtel Net PC will be available at Airtel outlets for Rs. 7999 for Airtel broadband customers in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida. It comes with 10 GB online storage and Microsoft Office Premium.

Airtel Net PC Plans:

Airtel Net PC : Rs. 7999
Airtel Net PC Without Monitor: Rs. 4999

It comes in 3 flavors:

Home – Rs. 699 / month
- 256 Kbps Broadband
- 3 GB data transfer cap
- 10 GB online storage
- Microsoft Office Standard

Professional – Rs. 899 / month
- 256 Kbps Broadband
- 3 GB data transfer cap
- 10 GB online storage
- Microsoft Office Standard with Admin rights

Business – Rs. 1199 / month
- 256 Kbps Broadband
- 3 GB data transfer cap
- 10 GB online storage
- Microsoft Office Premium with Admin rights

In my opinion, all the 3 plans are total bullshit! A 3 GB data transfer limit is just ridiculous. When all your data is in the cloud, 3 GB can vanish into thin air in a matter of days, even for the most basic users. Airtel seriously needs to roll out some Unlimited plan if it hopes to make this a success.

More details to be updated soon.

Moblin is an open source project focused on developing software for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs). It is jointly being developed by Intel and the Linux Foundation. It is optimised for Netbooks powered by the Intel Atom processor. Moblin v2.0 Beta was launched very recently.

Official Site – Moblin.Org
Moblin – Wikipedia

Download Moblin

You can download Moblin v2.0 beta from the official Moblin site – Download Moblin

It’s a 670 MB IMG which you can then burn on your USB drive or a CD and then install it on your Netbook or Laptop.

Here are the Official Download Links -

Moblin Download

Moblin Torrent – MD5

Install Moblin

To install / run Moblin, just burn/write the downloaded image on a USB stick or a CD drive.

To burn it on a Windows PC, download Win32 Disk Imager. Run it and select the Moblin IMG file, then select the USB drive and Write.

To burn it to a CD, use any ISO burning tool like Nero, Magic ISO, Power ISO.

Then insert the USB drive / CD in your netbook / laptop and boot from it. You may need to change your boot preferences and change your boot device order. Just follow the instructions and you should have Moblin running live from the USB drive on your netbook.

It works fine with most netbooks including the Asus EEE PCs, Acer Aspire One, MSI Wind, Lenovo S10, Samsung NC10, Dell Inspiron Mini etc. Here’s a list of the tested platforms.

Here’s a detailed guide to install Moblin – Test Drive Moblin and a Detailed Review of Moblin by Arstechnica.