Off Technology, People and Governance - Reckon a Change!

With a world that's fast changing, it's inevitable that one may have to do and undo things in an attempt to betterment. Today's world has seen lot more diversity than it was about a decade or two ago. With the technology making news every hour, every minute and every second, it is getting tougher to think of a world sans this wonder invention of mankind - Technology.

With the citizens of the world and the businesses across every street taking advantage of the technology wave, the world has definitely started to look better. From the age of the pin-hole camera to the age of the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) televisions, mankind has gotten to see the world with an increasing touch of reality. From the days of Morse code to the day of the broadband internet and the T1/2/3 lines, mankind has gotten to know happenings across the globe in near-real time.

So, here comes my question - How have these inventions changed You and Your society? As I type this on my laptop, I do realize that in less than 5minutes from now, there are going to be a good number of readers across the globe reading my writing and commenting on the same. Such is the speed of communication. Technology and mankind have shared a very interesting relationship - A Love-Hate Relationship. Interesting? Read on...

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, the whole world applauded and patronized the invention. Soon, telephones became a common product in every household. When the Global Positioning System (GPS) was invented, the world loved it and it soon became a common feature in most cars and homes. Countries laid down laws that took into account the different types of communication, technology, etc.

With the growth and evolution of technology, the world has become more closely tied to technology today than ever before. This calls for a basic understanding from the citizens of the world that we will need to start looking at technology as one of the key constituents of social and community life too.

For example, Google's Street View service has provoked a lot of citizens on the privacy front. When this first cropped up in August 2008, I thought it was handled appropriately. But then, I saw this happening again just a few days back. Has there been a real solution to this problem? While democracies have always stressed on freedom of speech, freedom of action, etc, it's also important to respect people's privacy.

How can these things be handled? The governments of the world need to revisit their constitution and amend some of these privacy related statements and clauses. It's also important for the governments to have a constant update on the technology progress and accordingly make amendments to the countries' laws to eventually help mankind enjoy the luxuries of technology while getting to have their share of privacy.

Motionbased to become Garmin Connect soon!

It was in July 2007, when I decided to get 'marry' running to my life. Having said that, I decided to track my daily runs, and found Motionbased to be offering a nice platform. I had signed up for the Motionbased Standard account by paying $95/year. I had to face a lot of questions from my parents on my decision to pay an amount as steep as $95 per year to track my runs.

I think Motionbased heard me! I received an email two days ago from Motionbased with a 'good news'. Here is what the email read -

Hello MotionBased Subscribers,

While we have posted the update on the release of Garmin Connect and MotionBased subscriptions to our MBlog, Forum and the MotionBased web site, we wanted to send you the information directly to you so you would know what is happening with your account as we come closer to the migration.

As you may know, we've been working on building Garmin Connect to replace MotionBased. We're making strides in improving performance and fixing bugs that we hope will enhance your experience. You've been a great customer and we wanted to thank you for making MotionBased the community that it is.

Unfortunately, our anticipated date to complete the migration of MotionBased to Garmin Connect is delayed. We're making sure that Garmin Connect is faster, more stable, and provides an even better user experience than MotionBased. As we ramp up toward migrating over 4.5 million activities that you've contributed to the TrailNetwork, we are making fixes and new improvements to Garmin Connect every 4 weeks. In the meantime, out of respect for your patronage and recognition for your patience, we've decided to grant additional privileges to paid MotionBased subscribers.

According to our records, you purchased an annual MotionBased Standard subscription before September 30, 2008. You will continue to have access to MotionBased Standard and be granted free access into Garmin Connect Plus for 2 years starting from your original expiration date. As a result, you will no longer receive any subscription charges from MotionBased and your account at Garmin Connect Plus will not auto-renew at the end of the free access period.

Again, we apologize for the delays and thank you for your support.

The MotionBased Team

The first thing I did was to calculate "Ah! So, effectively, I've paid $95 for three years...which is $32 a year". Thats not bad at all...especially for the fact that I get to use all the features of Motionbased Standard for three years, an also get to enjoy Garmin Connect Plus for 2 years (this actually costs $40 per year). So, net-net, I've paid $95 and I get to enjoy services worth $175!!! Thats a deal!!

I'm still wondering what are those 'advanced features' that Garmin Connect Plus is going to offer. How different is this going to be from those offered by Motionbased Standard? I guess the waiting period has now been extended to December 2008! That's moved by three months, as opposed to their first planned release on September 2008.

Innovation in the GPS space...

GPS is going to be one of the areas where the world is going to see a lot of innovation happening. From devices to services, being GPS-enabled is going to be eye-catching for both - utility and fad. Here is a very nice slide that one of my running mate Vigneshwaran Chandran shared. Very interesting...

Even Garmin has come out with its new Forerunner 405 now. My Forerunner 305 is forced to take the second place. This is one thing....one needs to be able to set aside a certain amount of money for just these devices...they are really tempting!