Alibaba: A Global Business to Business (B2B) Facilitator!

I am an admirer of Jack Ma and his Chinese company Alibaba-the Alibaba Group Holding Limited, to be precise. If you have not known about this man and his company, you missed some thing. Better click the hyperlinks to read and know more!

From what I have known, in just about two decades, Jack Ma a relatively unsuccessful ordinary man in China played the role in building up this global giant of a company making the company and himself both successful and world renowned.

What is remarkable is that this business model was initiated by some one in China and the founder of the company used the name of a legendary hero of an Arabian folklore as his company name!

Alibaba surely have been opening up the gates of fortune for thousands of business men and traders across the globe ever since its inception. It has made global sourcing and procurement very easy. The company uses the potential of internet and e-commerce to its full advantage making it a win-win situation for itself and its clients!

All kinds of machinery, raw materials and bulk products can be searched, sourced and procured internationally using Alibaba's internet platform in a competitive manner. This is much beneficial for retailers, business men and industries in every nook and corner of the world today. Alibaba has made the world looks smaller, taking advantage of the internet to it maximum. This company has been helping the products of Chinese mainland to reach the nook and corners of the rest of the world with comparative easiness!

Alibaba is perhaps the pioneering company in the world that utilized the new world order of opened up international trade to its highest potential.

Business men and local traders around the world should explore the international online market place as provided by Alibaba for their growth and success!

How to Get Items You Need from Amazon India by Ordering Online?

For some people, shopping is a time pass. They love going to malls and shops not only for buying things that they need, but also for some time pass. For example searching for good books in a bookstall like this is a hobby for many!

But for many others like me, shopping is not so thrilling and it really is a pain. Going to the shop or mall by your two wheeler or four wheeler in the crowded roads and lanes with all that traffic jams is not at all some thing enjoyable.

Finding a parking lot and walking to and from it are all pains. It definitely take time and much effort. And when your professional work is too demanding, how to get the time slot for all these routine buying?

Online ordering and getting all those things you need delivered at the comfort of your home or office is the trend now-a-days and it is getting more and more acceptable in India too. It may not be for the rural India yet, but for those areas that are well connected and urbanized, the trend is on the rise.

But even for those who are quite familiar with online market places like Amazon, there are often situations where you forget to get things you need and order it in time. You are pre-occupied with many things!

This happens with me too. I keep thinking of buying some thing and when I take my mobile phone I get pre-occupied in Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter to such an extent I forget to open and search my Amazon App!

And even when I manage to remember and open my Amazon app, I forget the key search words and my buying get delayed or postponed!

What was that you needed? Something for your kitchen? English or Indian language Books? Electronics such as laptops, mobiles? Toys or games? Shoes? Garments? Luggage? Things for baby? Watches? Furniture? Curtains? 

In reality you can get any thing! Only thing you need to know is the key word to search and find. When you remember the key word, it is quite easy and you can search the Amazon online market place and know much about the item including its price and rebates. 

Without much efforts you can keep studying about the products and order it when you are fully satisfied.

Amazon online buying is best suited for city residents because in the cities their delivery services are much more efficient. In many urban areas including urbanized Kerala, Amazon now has cash on delivery (COD) facility and you need not worry much if your ordered item with prepayment got delayed or missed in transit and the follow up you have to do to get it back.

So in case you forget something to purchase online, you can use the  Amazon India online market search facility given above. It is very easy and simple.

You can scroll the list and find trending books and order what you liked. You can type the name of the the thing you want in the search box and click 'Go' to get to know more and order. It is very easy. You keep clicking and playing with it, and you start learning more and more every day!

If your mobile phone has enough space for installing apps, you can download and install the Amazon India App for the same purpose.

Gionee Elife E8 Smartphone: The 24 Megapixel Camera with A Smartphone Attached!

For those of you who are smartphone and smart camera enthusiasts from India, there is an exciting news. The news is about the launch of the smartest smart camera phone by Gionee, the Elife E8 today in the Indian markets by the company through online retailer Snapdeal.

The product is being launched at a price under Rs.35000/-

Buy Gionee Elife E8 64GB from Snapdeal

(Waiting to be launched anytime with effective from 12th October 2015 in India)

Technology is fast moving forward that cameras and phones of the past are getting obsolete and replaced by superior combos which combine smartest lenses with smartest phones operated through smartest microchip computers.

As customers are looking for convenience and higher functionalities, the manufacturers are designing and producing products that satisfy the tech savvy consumers.

Twenty-five years ago, I remember purchasing a desktop computer with Cathode Ray Color tube of 14 inch size with a hard disk capacity of 4GB and the super fast Celeron processor which clocked a speed of 450 Megabytes per second by spending a sum that was not affordable to many. It costed Rs.45000/-! But I considered it as a windfall gain at that time because some of my friends had purchased PCs with black and white monitors having a processing power one fourth of that at costs that was three times higher just some months ago.

But we had seen technology progressing faster over the years. In these years, tremendous changes have taken place. Even the toddlers are computer savvy now-a-days! It seems that they learn the tricks while still in the mother's womb!

Now these are not any thing surprising now, but we have assumed technological advancements as a matter of routine. A time has now come that we get annoyed when the technology giants are not innovating on a monthly or yearly basis!

The Chinese company, Gionee,  had launched this product in China in June 2015 with a price equivalent to about Rs.41000/- and the Indian arm of the company is now launching it in India at a lesser price for the Indian enthusiasts of cameras and phones.

The noteworthy feature of the Gionee Elife E8 is its 24-megapixel rear camera.  With a matching software this phone camera can stitch pictures together and produce images up to 120 megapixels in resolution. 

Gionee is claiming that the E8 has a six-element lens with sapphire glass, optical image stabilisation, lossless zoom at up to 3x, 4K video recording, a dedicated camera button, dual-tone LED flash, and phase detection auto focus for speeds up to 0.08 seconds. The smartphone also has a ‘biological’ fingerprint reading feature on the back panel, and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Elife E8 runs Android 5.1 Lollipop-based Amiga 3.1 operating system, and is a dual-SIM 4G smartphone. 

This smart slim phone is with a 6-inch QHD (1440×2560 pixel) Super Amoled display with a pixel density of 490 ppi. Powered by a 2 GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 (MTK6795) system on chip (SoC) coupled with 3GB of RAM, it comes with 64GB of inbuilt storage without expandable storage. 

The smartphone is powered by a 3520mAh battery, and it supports fast charging.

Those interested in procuring this phone may also like to get other accessories for this phone as well from SnapDeal. That could be easily done by using the search facility given in this online shopping page which could also be used to find other smartphone models including those of Gionee as offered by Snapdeal, flipkart and Amazon.

In case you are not inclined to spend too much money for your Gionee Elife E8 smartphone I would recommend you try any one of the following smart camera phone models instead. These too are technically superior and available for around Rs.10,000/- from the online shops such as Snapdeal (Click the links to see the details and order online!):

Intex Cloud Swift 4G 3GB RAM/16GB ROM- Buy from Snapdeal

Samsung Galaxy Grand Max 16GB- Buy from Snapdeal!

iPhone 4S 8 GB Black-Buy from Snapdeal!

Samsung Tizen Z3- Buy from Snapdeal

Mi4i 16GB- Buy from Snapdeal

InFocus M2 Dual SIM 3G Mobile Phone: A Cute Handy Masterpiece Now in India!

A couple of days ago, I got the all new InFocus M2 Dual SIM 3G mobile phone delivered promptly at my residence by the courier. I got it in Ranchi by online purchase through SnapDeal.

I paid no money initially and I paid the courier by the Cash-On-Delivery (COD) mode. 

It costed me just Rs.5000/- ( in fact it was one rupee less!) and there was no packing, forwarding and delivery charges extra at my residence in Ranchi.

When I ordered the phone at the SnapDeal site the confirmation message informed that it would be delivered in about 7 days time. Surprisingly, it was delivered on the next day! 

Incidentally, SnapDeal is the only place where this mobile phone is available as on date in India! The new mobile company has given the exclusive marketing rights to SnapDeal, it seems!

The phone is too smart and cute with a very affordable price that I wanted to order one more. Unfortunately, SnapDeal informs me that it is soldout for the time being! It is reported in the media that the company sold 15000 units in the first three days of its launch in India through SnapDeal.

Perhaps they might make it available once the new stock gets in.

Now let me tell you the features that I find very compelling and innovative. [The detailed specification can be seen here!]

First and foremost, this mobile set has two adequately powerful cameras for its front and back. Both these cameras are 8 megapixel ones having independent flash facility.

So you can easily make reasonably good photos, panoramas, videos (even in High Definition or HD) not only what you see outside, but also those so-called 'selfies' of you and your dear ones together! Your InFocus M2 mobile does it all in one go! Reports say that its cameras are quite good. I fully agree.

INFOCUS M370i (4G) : Rs.8190/- ONLY!

BUY Rs. 1000/- LESS!

Most importantly, this is the smartest phone for the selfie enthusiasts because of its 8 Megapixel front camera with face recognition, auto focus and auto flash features. Additionally, it has a unique auto click facility- the camera automatically takes the best picture while you keep adjusting your posture! No need to attempt a clicking and shaking!

The text, image, picture and video quality of this phone is quite good.

EXPLORE ALL MODELS OF INFOCUS 

MOBILES ON SNAPDEAL!

The mobile is as long as any big screen mobile phone of the 5 in sizes, but it is a bit smaller in width making its screen diagonal size smaller at 4.2 in. I would say it is indeed very good because the phone is just fitting your palm and yet, it has a large screen to view your photos and videos in the landscape position!

The back side is a bit curvy and it makes the phone easy to be held. But no such odd curves are there in the front and that is too elegant! The silver monogram of the company at the rear gives a decent look.

The performance is quite alright. I did not feel any sluggishness in its responses so far by operating it with its capacitive type touch screen display.

Very important for any smart phone user is its battery life. This phone has sufficiently big battery with over 2000 mA capacity which can easily go for two to three days with average use. I have actually observed its battery consumption much lower than other smart phones which I have been using. 

It has two SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) compatibility and both support 3G GSM (Global System for Mobile communications). As with the practice in most of the new versions of the smart phones, this phone also uses the micro SIM. Because of this I had to punch and cut my old large sized SIMs to enable them to fit into the flip-in type SIM slots of my new InFocus M2. Incidentally, my local mobile shop fellow did this free for me.

InFocus is an american company. The inexpensive but sufficiently smart phone model M2 now launched in India for the first time, is manufactured in its facility in China. This phone gives hassle-free smart phone experience to the middle income Indian consumers. They have now one more smart phone model to try. 

This phone has pre-loaded help texts which are of reasonably good standard.

For the Indian middle class users in mind, this phone has an additional 'Hinglish' (English of Hindi speaking Indians) facility in addition to its multilingual facilities.

It works with android 4.3.2 version operating system and all of the 'apk' (android application software) files that I downloaded could be installed and operated without any problems. 

I am not a games enthusiast. But, yet I find many of the commonly used game software work fine with this phone.

The phone has 1Gb RAM (Random-Access-Memory) and a built in 8 GB phone memory. Additionally it can support a micro-SD card up to 64 GB, a facility that is only available with the higher end phones now. Additionally, one may also use the cloud storage facility this phone offers.

I have just pushed in an old spare 16 GB SD card to my phone for the time being and it is working just fine.

To sum up, if you ask me whether I recommend this phone to any of my friends or relatives, I would say, yes provided they are not unduly over conscious about brands and do not have any easy money to throw away for the so-called high end branded consumer products!

I hope this product review might be helpful to some of my readers.

Which is the Most Energy Efficient Ceiling Fan in India? How to Get it?

How much electrical energy you use in a month for your very justified needs? How much money you pay to the electricity utility company per month for your electricity? 

Many of us Indians do understand the importance of saving energy, but we really are very reluctant to do something about it.

Ceiling fans are one of the electrical appliances which have come almost an indispensable in Indian homes and offices. In many middle class Indian homes at least one ceiling fan keep running on an average 20 hours a day for almost 300 days in an year.

Ceiling fans are not normally considered as high energy consuming devices. At least that is the general public perception.

A couple of decades ago, it was common that a ceiling fan with its speed regulator used to consume about 80 to 100 watts of electricity an hour.

With more and more energy efficient designs and with the introduction of electronic speed regulators, the average electrical power consumption of a normal sized ceiling fan has come down in the recent years. The best energy efficient ceiling fans as manufactured by reputed ceiling fan manufacturers now come with a wattage in the range of 45 to 60 watts. Ceiling fans now come with Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) star ratings. A few reputed suppliers have now 5 star rated ceiling fans which is considered as the best with respect to energy efficiency. 

For example a five star rated 1200 mm sweep ceiling fan of a reputed make consumes about 45 watts combined with its electronic speed regulator and costs about Rs. 2000/- per set. Larger fans of higher sweep may consume a few more watts per hour and costs a few hundred rupees more.

I was wondering whether there could be any further improvement in this regard and found that one Indian manufacturer has begun manufacturing and marketing a remarkably super efficient ceiling fan in the Indian market. 

This fan is marketed in the brand name-Superfan. It is manufactured by an innovative technology company located in south India called Versa Drives Private Limited, Coimbatore.

click the images for more details and buying them online

They manufacture many models of their super energy efficient ceiling fans in the superfan brand. You may visit this webpage for the technical details and also buying  these models.

These  models have sweep sizes of 1200 mm and 1400 mm and are all with the highest BEE energy star rating of five.

All these models have a maximum energy consumption ranging from 35 to 38 watts much lower than the best efficient models of other Indian manufacturers. 

Unlike conventional ceiling fans superfan models come in attractive colors. These hi tech fans do not require the regulator and are operated using remote controls. They are provided with very interesting and useful features. 

Suppose that you are using a normal ceiling fan which consumes about 60 watts of electrical energy. Suppose that you use this fan for about just one hour in a day.

That means you will use 60/1000 KW x 1 hr x 30 d = 1.8 KWh or units of electricity per month on account of this one fan used for just one hour a day.

Now a good majority of middle class homes in India have 3 to 4 ceiling fans and their combined use could be anything in the range of 10-20 hour in a day or even higher. That means a monthly electric consumption of 18 to 36 units or more on account of the fans.

Now suppose that you replace these fans by these superfans which consume only about 35 watts instead of the 60 watts of your old fans.

The net saving per fan is 25 watts per hour or about 0.75 units in a month for every hour of daily use of the fan.

If on the average your total daily use is 10 hours, your save 7.5 units. If it is 20 hours, you save 15 units.

The electricity tariff in most Indian cities and states are based on slab system. For example, Kerala used to be a state with lower electricity charges of less than a rupee per unit in the past for the domestic consumers whose consumption was less than 50 units per month. But in the recent years this has become more than double and stands at Rs. 2.8 per unit. For a family which uses over 200 units, the rate of tariff is R.7 per unit. [See this news report] 

In some states and in some cities, the rates are higher and the electricity charges is on an increasing trend. In the national capital Delhi, the rates are much higher. The rising electricity charges have become one of the major political issues there.

There are many other hidden charges as well. The commercial rates are much higher. Due to the slab system and the various hidden charges such as meter rent, installation cost, taxes, etc the actual cost varies from place to place.

Effectively, the average cost per unit (KWh) of electricity come out to be to the tune of 5 to 7 rupees as of now. It would keep rising year after year. 

India is becoming a power starved nation as the gross deficit in energy keep rising every year. Again, electricity production enhances various kinds of environmental hazards.

All these are ample reasons for India to find ways to curtail its energy consumption. Conservation of energy should be one of the prime policies for India.

Suppose you are able to save 15 units of electricity in a month by using super efficient ceiling fans. At Rs.5 per unit, you save Rs.75 in a month or Rs.900/- in an year. [You can calculate the savings and see the difference in this superfan webpage]

Due to superior technology, superfan models are costlier than other normally available ceiling fans in India. One may have to spend about Rs. 3000- 3500 for one superfan model while lesser efficient ceiling fans could be purchased at half the cost.

But these fans are worth that cost the additional cost is paid back within two or three years time. Besides these fans are aesthetically good looking and improves the decor of the home or office.

Suppose that about 5 million homes in Kerala state replace their fans with this new fan and save 15 units of electricity per month. With that kind of a saving, Kerala can immediately divert about 100 MW of electric power for industrial production! It amounts to about 16% of electricity production from the states biggest hydel electricity production facility at Idukki! 

I have just given an indicative energy saving potential by adopting a simple step. Energy saving by replacing the filament type electric bulbs with compact florescent lights (CFL) has given much saving in the past. Now, Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs are revolutionizing it. A 100 W filament bulb is more or less equivalent to a 40 W florescent tube which in turn is equivalent to an 11 W CFL. But an LED bulb of 4-5 W has the potential to reduce even that to half or even lesser. But at the present costs, the capital costs involved in saving one watt of lighting power by replacing CFL with LED comes to about Rs.50 per watt. The difference in price of a 5 W LED bulb and an 11 W CFL is about Rs.250. The LED light is costlier by about Rs.250.

A superfan too would be costlier in the same way as compared to a normal 5star energy efficient fan of equivalent capacity. But the superfan saves 25 W of electricity more than any other 5 star rated ceiling fan in the Indian market now.

Some time ago, superfan models were not very much available with the Indian retailers. 

But now the manufacturers of this fan, it seems, have adopted better marketing actions. Superfans can now be procured online from reputed e-shopping sites such asAmazon!

It is indeed a good thing. 

This is indeed a good independent make-in-India initiative, though established before the present 'Make-in-India' campaign  and needs to be appreciated.

While individual citizens can contribute much for energy saving by taking care of those few watts or kilowatts of power they consume for domestic purposes for fans, lights and other domestic electrical appliances, the potential for energy saving by commercial establishments too is substantial.

Imagine the national and individual savings when our offices install energy efficient fans, lights and air-conditioners in place of the old less efficient electrical equipment!

What is needed is a bit more attention to the details of our energy consumption by doing some energy audit and taking corrective actions.

Remember! Every watt of power saved not only gives financial benefits, but also save our environment from becoming more and more polluted. By using energy efficient electrical appliances and using them judicially, you could even save enough to consider taking another bank loan for some other purpose as your monthly energy saving could be equivalent to another loan EMI!

Our industrial design engineers and entrepreneurs should be encouraged to design and produce energy efficient appliances. 

Government should consider giving incentives for such initiatives.  

Crystalline Magnesium Sulfate: Why is it called Epsom Salt? Should We Keep it at Home?

Today morning one of my chemical engineering batch mates of the nineteen seventies, forwarded me a web knowledge piece link which helped me in refreshing some long forgotten facts about the usefulness of a commonly available household ingredient of my childhood days. 

This is magnesium sulfate, which is generally known as Epsom salt. Now-a-days, people do not hear much about this, but it is a common ingredient in many of the value added remedies and skin conditioners marketed by the several pharma and cosmetic companies in various countries. During my childhood days, this name was very familiar for various reasons.

I thought of sharing this information with those of my readers who might be interested to know more.

Epsom salt is called so, because it used to be obtained commercially from the mineral spring waters of a place called Epsom in the United Kingdom.

Magnesium sulfate is a crystalline compound of magnesium, sulfur and oxygen with its chemical formula MgSO4. During crystallization Magnesium sulfate entraps seven molecules of water and hence, the common crystalline Epsom salt has the formula MgSO4.7H2O.

Detailed information about this chemical can be obtained from the Wikipedia article on Magnesium sulfate.

Uses and the benefits of Epsom salt can be obtained from the website of salt works.

The Sea Water is the Source for 

Many Salts Including Magnesium Sulfate

Those who are desirous of using this salt for various house hold health uses, especially as a skin conditioner, can have a look at this web page for the many fold health uses of Epsom salt. More such information can be seen in this wikihow page on the uses of Epsom salt.

Epsom salt can be used for use in float tanks at home for those who are interested in having a dead sea experience at home with the added advantage of stimulating their nerves, body and skin. Float tanks are bath tubs using an concentrated Epsom salt solution in place of water. You can have more information about this in this Wikipedia article on isolation tank (float tank). Float tanks using Epsom salt solution helps people to float in the water tub and it is medically proved to have beneficial effects in reducing body pains, stress and improving skin condition.

There are many advantages if we keep some Epsom salt in ready stock in our homes. Some of the advantages are given in this web page. 

There are several industrial chemical suppliers in India who either produce this chemical or market it. This web page gives a list of such industrial suppliers of Epsom salt in India.

It may be of some use to learn more about this substance and its uses. Now it is possible for us to get this salt and its related items and information books online from online suppliers like Amazon India. [Get Epsom salt and info books from Amazon !]

It may be interesting to know that people in many Western nations use products commonly known as bath salts for mixing with the water they use for bathing. These are nothing but Epsom salt prepared specially with certain colors and perfumes. Unfortunately, the same word is also used to denote certain dangerous recreational drugs. It is there fore important that we know and understand the difference between the two. The former is harmless and desirable substance made out of Epsom salt, while the latter are illegal, harmful and undesirable substances coming in the category of drugs!

Incidentally, it is possible now for those in India also to get the harmless and beneficial bath salts of various scents and colors to enhance their bathing experience. [Click this to get bath salts from Amazon!] 

Did you find this information useful?

Please share your opinions.

How to Get the Best Cost Effective Blood Sugar Monitor Kit Online in India? How to Use it?

Me and my wife both are going to be senior citizens shortly and signalizing that forthcoming event, we both have become marginally diabetic in the recent times.

It is a warning signal for careful living during old age! We have already made certain restrictions in our food habits. Sugary foods with added sugar have become a no-no for us now. We are trying our best to manage with the least pills and also to keep insulin injections postponed to the extent feasible. But sooner or later it would become inevitable. We know it.

We are not alone. There are millions like us, in this country and around the world.

To manage the sugar and insulin balance within the body, it is essential to know the blood sugar levels on a regular basis. It is not practical to go to the doctor or to the medical lab for the blood test on a regular basis.

The modern electronic blood sugar test meter called glucose meter (or glucometer) comes handy for us in such a situation.

The electronic glucometer kit consists of the following:

The main apparatus is the testing meter with the electronic digital display panel which gives the blood sugar level. The unit of blood sugar is expressed commonly in milligrams per decilitre (mg/dL) or millimol per decilitre (mmol/dL) [1mmol/dL = 18 mg/dL] The first unit is what is in common use in India. So if any one says his or her fasting sugar level is 120, it means his or her blood at the time of test contains 120 mg of sugar in a decilitre of blood.

The meter is a life long device which only needs its batteries to be replaced after some 50-100 tests.

The test strips are the next essential item. It can be used only for one test and is a consumable item. Normally the test strips comes in packs of 10, 25, 50 or 100.

Apart from this we need proper needles or lancets to pierce our fingers to get the blood sample. These needles come pre-sterilized in packs of 10,25 or 50. They too are often used only once.

The lancets are to be fitted on to a lancet applicator which is a small mechanism to prick using the lancet mildly and surely without we feeling anything.

So, a normal glucometer kit should contain the meter with batteries, the strips bottle, the lancet pack, the lancet applicator and the instruction book and preferably a proper carry case for all these items of the kit.

There are now various manufacturers who supply these glucometer kits in India. Some of these names are 'One Touch', Johnson, DrMorepan, etc.

I was using one model by One Touch earlier. But for this, it was extremely difficult to replace its button cell battery. After I got its battery replaced, the meter started giving error readings. I had to throw it out.

I tried various medical shops in the city. They all had these meters and the strips. But the costs were very high. The meter was costing anything between Rs.1200- Rs.1800 with 10 test strips and ten lancets as initial supplies. Additional strips costed any thing between Rs.600-850 for a pack of 25.

Then I tried Amazon India and searched for the options. After some online research, I decided to give a try for this, TysonBio make JCB AC200 model of glucometer. It was the cheapest and the best buy option which costed only about Rs.1200 for the entire kit with 50 strips and lancets. 

 TysonBio AC200 Glucometer Kit Pack with the Test Strip Pack

The User's Manuals and  Log Book as provided

The carry case, the meter, the lancets, strips, lancet applicator

The Kit arranged in the carry bag

So, I ordered it online making payment through net banking. Though they indicated about a week's time for the delivery, it was delivered in three days.

I was delighted by the quality of the product. It was absolutely good and easy to use. The pack contained the meter with replaceable batteries (a pair of alkaline cells), 2 numbers each of 25 strip packs and lancets, a good quality lance applicator, the instruction book let, a booklet for recording the readings, a carry-case, all in a good pack.

I am sharing this for the benefit of those health conscious diabetic patients in India who are thinking of buying this meter. 

Now, a few tips for using the TysonBio AC200 Glucometer as shown in the pictures above. Its use is very simple and all instructions are provided in the user's manuals. In the original pack, the alkaline batteries are given separately. Take the meter, open the battery cover at its backside (slip the cover out) and insert the two cells with the correct polarity. (if you place the cells incorrectly, the meter will not work!) 

After inserting the cells, close the battery cover and then reset the meter by pushing a small pointed object (a ball point pen refill would do) inside the reset button hole at the back side. Then press the M-key at the front to put the meter on. When you first make it on, the first task you have to do is to set the date and time, sequentially. You can do it using the up/down arrow keys. There are more functions. It is better you read the user manuals and try it yourself for testing your blood sample.

If you find any problems in using the meter you may ask through the comments column.

You may also share your experiences with such glucose meters for the benefit of others.

Note dtd 08/02/2016: I found my instrument TysonBio AC200 got damaged due to leaking batteries. It was my mistake as I forgot to remove the batteries from the meter (a facility this brand has) when not in use for a long time.

I had a stock of the test strips and I wanted my instrument back. I found that this meter is no longer available with Amazon India. But fortunately, I found it on Snapdeal that too at a very low price as compared to any other model or offer anywhere. Today  I ordered it: the meter + 50 strips + 50 lancets just for Rs.990/- from Snapdeal.

Some Green Camcorder Pictures From Ranchi!

More than an year ago, I purchased a camcorder online from Flipcart. I am not a photography enthusiast or hobbyist. But I do like good pictures. Incidentally, now you can do that from world renowned online suppliers, Amazon too, in India.[Search for camcorders in Amazon search box on the bottom right panel]

In fact, good color photographs actually enhance the visual appeal of any natural scene. When natural events keep passing before our eyes routinely, we forget to notice and appreciate the beauty of our planet!

In the past, color photography used to be an expensive affair. With the advancement of digital photography technology it has become affordable to common folks like me. 

We should really appreciate our scientists and engineers working in the leading consumer product companies of the world whose brilliant minds make all these happen for us.

I could not get enough time to experiment the possibilities of my camcorder all these days. It was lying almost unused for several months.

A couple of days ago, I remembered about it. I thought I should do some thing with it. At the least, I should learn how to use it for taking pictures and videos.

The easiest thing to learn was video recording. There is another wonderful feature too. This camera has an amazing 67x optical zoom. 

It was really amazing to find the distant objects smoothly and effortlessly coming clear on the view finder. The technique the cinematographers use with their expensive cameras! It was a joy to find that I could also do it without being a cameraman! 

This small camera has innumerable functions and I might take so many days to master all those effortlessly. That may not be possible because I am not addicted to any thing.

The camera being a camcorder is firstly for taking videos. But it has facilities for still pictures as well. But I find that taking videos and making stills from the videos using my PC software would be much easier for a layman like me.

My learning experience was on the roof top of my official residence in Ranchi where my wife has attempted creating a green space including an yielding kitchen garden. It is a different kind of joy for both of us when we make some delicious dishes out of the vegetables we grew ourselves in our roof garden.

Here you will see some green shots, both of and from, our roof top in Ranchi.

All these are still jpegs from the Sony Camcorder video clips, including zoom clips.

Hope you would tell me your opinions!

Online Shopping in India- Things to Know for those Who Haven't Done it Yet!

Online shopping in an activity that is on the rise in India now. More and more people are finding it convenient to buy those items such as books, DVDs, laptops, tablets, e-readers,  mobile phones, cameras, electronic gadgets, shoes, clothing, furnishings, utensils and kitchenware, perfumes and toiletries, medicines and health products, car care items, etc., etc which otherwise would have taken a lot of their time actually locate and buy. The online retailers provide the fastest solution to locate the item with all those details one would perhaps like to know such as the costs, specifications, appearance, etc.

For many items of regular use and consumption, it might be better to go to the retail shop physically and enjoy your shopping as a leisure time activity.  But for some people, shopping is indeed a troublesome activity. They have to first locate the store which sells the item and go to the store physically which might involve driving through the hopelessly crowded and congested roads either by public transport or by your own vehicle. In the latter case, one has to find the parking space for your vehicle. In both cases, one may have to walk quite some distance to actually reach the shop concerned. If the item is not available, you have to walk around for locating other shops.

One may spent the whole holiday in this process and it is indeed not a very pleasurable activity, especially for the menfolks!

Online shopping becomes a boon for such people. In the comfort of your office or home, the items you need could be easily located, compared, evaluated and finally decided for purchase. And the purchasing activity is completed within few minutes with the some clicks on your PC, laptop or tablet.  

The world's largest online retail company, the US based Amazon.com has entered the Indian scene nearly an year ago. To visit the Amazon India website, click on the amazon logo on the top right and the bottom left of this page. Alternatively, you can find the availability of any item in Amazon. For this you may click the drop down arrow of the search box below to select, say computers and then type the item that you are interested, say tablet or laptop in the next box and click 'GO'. The whole of available products in this category would be displayed for you to view, select and order online. It is that simple.

But before you purchase any item, it is essential that you may register your name with the online retailer. 

For registration, one should click the 'sign in' tab on the top right which is for customers who have already registered their names. But while clicking this one can see, the button or drop down indicator which shows the tab for the new user. When you click it, you are presented with the new registration page. Here one has to enter the name, e-mail address and a password (not the password of your email, but a password that you would like to use whenever you visit this online retailer (say, Amazon). To avoid possible errors in typing, your email and password may be required to be typed twice. Once you have done this, you may have to go to your email inbox to see the mail from the online retailer which gives you some directions including the activity that you should do for email verification.  

India has many other online retail companies such as the eBay, Flipkart, Snapdeal, HomeShop18, IndiatimesShopping, RediffShopping, FutureBazaar, myntra, tradus, etc. Most of these companies have established their reputation in India in one way or the other and are mostly reliable. All of them have almost similar registration formalities. The registration involves in giving your e-mail id, your name or user name, setting up a password for you to open the shopping site, verifying your email id by clicking the verification link that the online shop has sent to you and completing your other details such as address etc by updating your profile.  

Many of these online shopping websites also provide handsome rebates on many of their merchandise. Online shoppers could avail such rebates by entering the rebate coupon codes while they finally place their orders online. However, it may not be so easy to find out the details of all rebates that the various internet shops are offering. I have recently found another new Indian online venture called 27 Coupons which lists almost all online shopping firms active in India now and giving all details of rebate coupons as offered by each of them. 

It is a better idea to note down your registration details lest you forget it. After you are registered, use the sign in facility to log in to the online shopping site. You can search and select the items conveniently by moving around the site and with some practice one would become so conversant about the many features that are available on the online shopping site.

If you are located in some select cities, many shopping sites offer the Cash on Delivery (COD) facility. To check whether COD facility is available for your city or town, you may have to give your postal index number (PIN) and check whether it is applicable for your place. COD is a very safe method to order things as you don't have to pay any thing while ordering. The money is payable to the courier who delivers the item at your office or home. Remember, to fill up your delivery address properly with your contact telephone or mobile numbers before you place your final order.

But it is also convenient to pay in advance using either your debit card, credit card or internet banking facility. Use these only if you are familiar with online banking transactions. There is nothing to fear when you deal with reputed companies such as Amazon. But at the same time, one should be careful to read all the online instructions carefully and act on the basis of those instructions. It is not wise to act in haste and commit errors.

The online shopping companies provide much guidance through email and SMS regarding the order position and status. There are also provisions for making complaints. Your order positions are also reflected in your account which is available once you log in to the shopping site.

It is a good idea to shop for small value items first and develop your confidence first. High value items may be tried after you develop your confidence with the online retailer.

It should be remembered that the items you have ordered on the online retailing companies are delivered through various couriers. Reputed companies dispatch the items through reputed couriers and the reputation of the courier company is a very important factor in the success of the online shopping business. Substandard couriers may employ lowly paid delivery boys and staff who might do some mischief at times. The online retailers realize this mostly and they try to do their best to select dependable courier companies often.Yet there could be human errors and mistakes happening at times. One should be prepared to pursue the online retailer in such cases and the reputed companies normally take up the customer complaints seriously.

So, happy online shopping. Explore the huge stores to find those things that you may find useful or interesting. Get those interesting books that you like to read either as paper backs or as digital. Amazon is perhaps the largest online bookstore in the world. Happy reading!