TRAI To Fine Telemarketers Rs. 2.5 Lakhs for Unwanted SMS and Calls

Looks like the unwanted calls from telemarketers is finally going to end soon. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has published the new guidelines for telemarketing companies who call you for anything from a house loan to sell a credit card.
According to the new guidelines published by TRAI, telemarketers will be provided with a new set of numbers which start with "70". This will make it easier for users to identify telemarketing calls before they even pick the phone up.
Also telemarketers will have compulsorily register for the new numbers or else they will be fined anywhere between Rs 25000 and Rs 2.5 lakhs. Also you will not have to worry more about late night calls, since the new TRAI regulations state that there should be no telemarketing calls between 9PM and 9AM.
Overall the new TRAI guidelines will definitely provide relief to consumers who are subjected to unwanted calls. The new guidelines will go into effect start January 2011.
If you do not want to receive any calls at all you can register yourself for the Do Not Call service with your mobile operator.

Track Santa Claus With Help from NORAD and Google

Google today announced the kick-off of this years Christmas countdown at noradsanta.org, a partnership between North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Google.

If you have been following the tradition of tracking Santa Claus, you can do it this year too by visiting http://www.noradsanta.org/. According to Google kids can play holiday-themed games with a new one is released each day and get updates from the North Pole as Santa prepares for his big sleigh ride.
So go ahead and have fun this year tracking Santa. You’ll find more info on this at the Official Google blogs. By the way watch a video of NORAD tracking Santa in 2009 embedded below.

Apple iPad Comes To India, Officially!

Apple has quietly started shipping it’s most celebrated tablet device – iPad to India. And if you still thought Apple iPad is yet to be available officially in India, better check again! Many Apple’s franchisees in India have just started selling iPads. However there is a catch to it – you have to buy the iPads in bulk.

The Economic Times did it’s own follow ups and found out that an Apple reseller at Delhi’s Connaught Place has already supplied bulk orders to corporates like HCL, IndiaBulls, Protiviti and Bajaj Hindustan.  The price currently quoted is Rs 33,000 for a 16GB model and Rs 54,000 for a 64GB 3G model. This includes with warranty and the pay invoice. The dealer also said that they supplied 25 pieces to IndiaBulls. In order to place the bulk order, you have to give the dealer a two days notice period and an advance payment.

The fact that Apple resellers in India are currently selling the iPads to corporate customers and that too in bulk became more  concrete when The Economic Times got in touch with another store at Noida’s Sector 18 which initially  said that iPads haven’t been launched in India. But when the same store was approached later as a corporate customer  the store said they will source the iPads from Hong Kong through an importer.