BSNL offers free dialup Internet service
It’s common knowledge that Internet penetration in India is miserable.
In order to make Internet more common place, BSNL has launched a scheme of free dialup Internet service for two months. All you need is a valid BSNL telephone connection and you can use it to access the free dialup Internet service. No registration is needed and local call charges still apply.
All in all, sounds great. However, 3 weeks since launch and only 1000 users have signed up the service yet.
What do you think ? Will this fly ? Will this scheme help more folks to get online ? Or just a fancy marketing gimmick ?
BharatMatrimony issues C&D to TamilMatrimony.co.in
Consim Info Pvt. Ltd, which owns BharatMatrimony.com and other umbrella sites like MarathiMatrimony, TamilMatrimony, GujratiMatrimony etc, has issued a cease and desist to Anand Sanwal, who owns and operates the domain TamilMatrimony.co.in.
In a recently filed claim with NIXI, the National Internet Exchange of India (www.nixi.co.in), Consim Info Private Limited has filed a claim against Anand, alleging that his website, www.tamilmatrimony.co.in, is infringing on the use of the term “Tamil matrimony,” which Consim claims as its own.
As per Anand, “the idea that you can allege a generic term like Tamil matrimony which has been around and used long before the internet is synonymous with BharatMatrimony is dubious at best”.
While I’m no expert on trademark and copyright law, I agree with the underdog, Anand in this case. The terms “Tamil Matrimony” are pretty generic enough to warrant a copyright infringement. Unless, they have a trademark issued for the very specific term, alleging a violation wouldnt be justified. Going by the logic above, Shaadi.com folks should issue a trademark violation to SecondShaadi, MusicIndiaOnline should act against CATIndiaOnline and so on.
My gut feeling is that NIXI will most likely rule in Consims’s favor, which might not come as a surprise to many of us.
What do you think ? Is Consim justified in their act or are they simply being the big bully here ?
Did Google AdSense just screw you up ?
Google Adsense seems to have goofed up & messed up the exchange rate for Indian publishers.
Seems that instead of reporting an exchange rate of 1$ <–> Rs. 46.55, the payout reports are listing an exchange rate of 1$ <–> 1 Rs.
A glitch no doubt - but significant enough to screw up your minds 
via SEORoundtable
The Big Picture features India
The Big Picture from the Boston Globe has become one of my daily must-visit sites. Recently, they featured a series on India.
Check it out here.
Startup jobs added to the site
After suggestions from several folks, I finally got a chance to add a startup jobs section to the site. You can access it from the main navigation from any page or you can access it from www.startupdunia.com/jobs . No registration, no hassles and complete FREE !!
Thanks to the folks behind Jobberbase for such a great open source job board.
If anything doesnt work as expected, please drop me a line at contact@startupdunia.com
When Food beckons - FoodieBay, NeedGrub answer
Food - restaurant - home delivery related portals seem to surprisingly popular in India. Joining the genre of other startups like OrderMonger and HungryBangalore, are FoodieBay and NeedGrub.
FoodieBay is a new startup by IIT D alumni, which lists about 1200 restaurants and food joints from the Delhi - NCR region. Each listing also includes actual scanned menus, aggregated r
ating from other sources like HT, ToI, whether the restaurant does home delivery and what the average cost for a meal for two would be. The site has a simple navigation and UI and has been categorized pretty well according to the localities.
Entrepreneurship event - Eureka! 08 at IITB
The submission date for IITB’s business plan competition - Eureka ! is fast approaching.
If you are a startup looking for mentoring, incubation and access to funding, I suggest you submit your application to the competition. Total prize money is about Rs 20 lacs, not to mention the other benefits.
Check out their website here.
Khojguru - an interesting approach to local search
Khojguru offers an interesting take on local search by marrying it with social features like friends, profiles etc. At the surface, Khojguru appears to be just like any other local search site - you can search for restaurants, movie theaters, coffee shops etc in your city. Alongwith the regular fanfare like reviews, ratings etc., Khojguru offers some interesting new features. You can join a fan club for the particular service, view the menu / catalog online as well as talk to the merchant directly via a click 2 call feature. The listing also features coupons / discounts, which can be sent directly to your mobile via SMS.
Uncover Mumbai bus routes with m4mum
Navigating your way through Mumbai’s bus service can be a daunting task, especially if you are new to Mumbai or new to a specific Mumbai locality. And unfortunately, if you live in Mumbai, there’s no escaping it. The only solution is to ask other folks at the bus station about the bus route and cross your fingers hoping that the information provided is accurate.
M4mum hopes to change that by launching a Java based mobile app for bus information in Mumbai. Enter the ‘From’ and the ‘To’ fields and the app will help you navigate through the myriad bus routes frenzy. No longer do you need to ask around for information or carry a route booklet in your pocket. Since no GPRS - SMS is involved, end users do not incurr any expenses for using the service.
The idea is awesome - it solves a common painpoint for regular commuters and considering that about 4.2 million commute via bus in Mumbai, the potential market size is pretty large too. Now that they’re in beta, I’d suggest getting the word out to fellow Mumbaikars and increase the user adoption.
Check them out here.
FunPiper evolves into an event planning site
FunPiper, which I reviewed earlier, has evolved into an event planning and collaboration service. Earlier, the focus of the site was to get users to answer one simple question - “How was your weekend?”. Now, you can create an event, notify your friends, track RSVP’s and manage other aspects of event planning from the website. A dedicated page is assigned to each event and invitees dont need to sign up for an account in order to collaborate on the event.
This evolution is good sign - the sooner you can identify whats working and what isnt, you can innovate and evolve into a different concept. Most of the startup ideas start with one thing and at the end of execution, have evolved into something completely different.
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