Today after some sleep and some breakfast, I got down to business. The reason why I have travelled to Gurgaon is that I am working with a company who need to decide whether they need to stop outsourcing their tech support to a third party company and do it in house or not. My analysis of the situation indicates the they should pull the plug on the outsourcing company and do it in house. But I am going to look at the situation first hand and make my recommendation based on what I see. Now, I’ve had a few e-mails asking questions that I’d like to address before I move on to what I was up to today.
The first e-mail that I got asks about the security of my hotel given that I have written about the fact that Indian hotels have a lot of security. The answer is that Le Meridan in Gurgaon is no different than the other hotels that I have stayed at in this country. Let me show you the front gate:
If you look closely at the opening in the center of the picture, you’ll see three pillars. They slide into the ground to let cars in and out. Just to the right of that is the way in and you’ll be stopped there while your car is searched, presumably for explosives. Then once you get past that, you will get driven to the front door where your bags will be x-rayed and you will be put through a metal detector. Then you are allowed into the hotel.
The next question is how well is Rogers Roam Like Home working in India. Well, I have no complaints thus far. When I landed at Indira Gandhi Airport, I took my phone out of airplane mode and got this text:
Thus I am guessing that all is fine on this front. Though as I have said before, to get the best deal for your mobile phone service, travel with an unlocked phone and buy a SIM card at your destination as they will be much cheaper than the $10 a day that you pay with Roam Like Home on Rogers. If you want to know how to do that in India, here’s what I had to do on my last trip to India. Now let me show you the view that I have from my hotel room:
There’s a garden just below my room. Plus if you look behind and up, you’ll see a Delhi Metro train going by. By the way, the haze that you see is pollution and not fog. That is further validated by this weather report from my iPhone:
You’ll note that it says “smoke” which is likely not good for my lungs. And no, it did not rain today.
Another question comes from someone who wanted to know what I did on the flight to India and do I have jetlag. I watched three movies. Specifically Jason Borne, Suicide Squad, and Star Trek Beyond. I also got about 90 minutes of sleep. While I am still adjusting to the time difference, I am not really suffering the effects of jetlag.
Now the company that I am working for is located in the Gurgaon Cyber Hub where companies like Microsoft and HP are located. I’ve been here before, but never in the daytime. Thus I decided to get these pictures of the place for you when I went out for lunch:
And one at night:
After a full day’s worth of work, my client and I went to this place for beer and food:
The beer was great and so was the food. If you ever come to the Gurgaon Cyber Hub, I highly recommend it. I also went to lunch in the Cyber Hub at an Italian place called Olive Bistro. That’s another place I highly recommend.
Any negatives thus far? Traffic is hell as usual and the WiFi in the hotel is problematic as I had massive problems posting this story. But in just over 24 hours, those will be non-issues as I will be flying out to Germany.
Tomorrow is a very long day as I have to finish up what I am doing here and then pack up and head to the airport in the middle of the night. I will update you once I am on the ground in Germany.
Introducing Brightspark: The Latest In Bicycle Lighting & Safety
Posted in Commentary with tags Brightspark on January 24, 2017 by itnerdFor the safety of both cyclists and drivers, bicycle lights are essential. Yet technology in this area hasn’t changed much for decades, and the simple bike lights that have been available do not catch enough attention from drivers. For the last two years, Brightspark, a new start-up company, has been developing a more innovative and adequate product, and has announced that it will be available this year.
Brightspark’s features are numerous and unique. The USB rechargeable headlight set can easily attach to a bicycle’s handlebars with quick release grips. They may be detached easily also, allowing users to pack the product and take it with them, thus preventing theft. Simple to recharge, the light set’s lithium ion battery holds charge for approximately five days of typical use.
Each unit includes a headlight, which can put out 300 lumens, creating up to 600 lumens of light per pair. A blinker set is incorporated in the product, with a flashing orange light located on the front and back of each unit. The flashing lights resemble vehicle or motorcycle turn signals, and can be viewed from virtually every angle. While the signal indicator is in use, the handlebar vibrates, which lets the rider know that it has been activated. It continues vibrating, reminding the cyclist if it’s still on after the completion of a turn. The sophisticated addition of red roadway lasers is the neatest function of the product. Projecting bright red arrows on the road, the lasers let other travelers know the cyclist is turning.
Brightspark will have a booth at The Bike Place at Silverstone this year. The exhibit will take place January 29-31, 2017. Visit http://www.thebikeplaceshow.co.uk/exhibitors.asp to view a list of exhibitors for the convention. Later in the year, they will be present at the Interbike International Expo 2017 in Las Vegas, for the second year in a row. Last year, the bike accessory gained a lot of attention from attendees. In February, the company will launch a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.com to make the bike lighting indicators available. Cyclists can back the campaign and become some of the first to use such an advanced bicycle safety accessory.
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