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Return of the e-warriors
PACESETTER Sairee Chahal
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Return of the e-warriors
Three
decades after their apparent demise, video games have been re-incarnated. Earlier, it was the video parlours, then came the gaming consoles; today it is the hand-held smartphones, tablets, phablets and many other portable electronic devices which have built-in screens and speakers and are powered by the internet. Electronic gizmos like iPads, Kindles, Lumias, Xperias and other mobile devices are holding sway not just over urban teenagers but many young executives who can be seen playing games on their touch screens. With the boom in the sales of smartphones and tablets and the emergence of local game developers like Reliance Games, Madrat Gaming, Bash Gaming, 7Seas Entertainment, Gameshastra, Milestone and others, India’s nascent hand-held gaming industry is poised for a vertical growth trajectory having already seen its business double in the past five years. Most of these leading video game makers are scrambling to adapt to digital technologies even as tens of millions of people now play games on the iOS platform (operating system for Apple devices like iPhones and iPads), Android (Google operating system for Samsung, Sony, LG, Motorola, HTC and many others), NOS (Nokia), BOS (Blackberry) and Windows. Amit Vohra, 24-year-old Gurgaon-based software engineer, spends most of his free time on his mobile screen. He is a games junkie and has successfully broken the code for his favourite game Delta Force. Apart from working professionals like Amit, a large number of schoolchildren are seriously into video games like Phantasy Star, Chu Chu Rocket, Spitball Sparky, Virtual Fighter and Crazy Cars on iPhone 4 and Nokia Lumia.
Smartphones and tablets
Though the digital generation is marching ahead with hand-held devices, the video game parlours still exist in smaller towns where an estimated 10 million Indians spend well over Rs 90 crore every year. Add to these the two million-odd consoles and that makes video games a versatile industry where the old (as in parlours and consoles) is giving way to new in the form of smartphones and tablets. At around Rs 800 crore, the Indian gaming industry is less than one per cent of the global turnover, but it is being buffeted by winds of change with the introduction of high-end mobile phones and tablets and is likely to touch a figure of Rs 3,500 crore by the end of 2015. Almost 80 per cent of this business is still coming from big cities, but soon the gaming industry may penetrate into small towns and villages even as the sale of smart electronic devices registers an year-on-year hike in rural and semi-urban areas. Interestingly, at present a majority of the business comes from push-based games where the consumer has to pay upfront to download a game. However, industry experts say that this segment is already declining and is being fast replaced by the freemium model where games can be downloaded free but gamers would have to pay for value-added services inside the game.
Top-grossing games
Some of the world’s leading games successfully use this clever marketing strategy to rake in millions. Candy Crush Saga, rated as one of the most popular and top grossing games, has over 400 levels. Though this addictive puzzle adventure is free to download and play but once you are hooked, more advanced stages will require payment. American blogger Ashley Feinberg describing her experience of playing this game, writes, “I became a slave to the unstoppable force of Candy Crushing micropayments. It didn't even feel like I was spending money. Most of it was spent on new lives when I would get in the zone and couldn't accept the defeat.” There are a number of similar free-to-play games with micro-transactions which include Plant Vs Zombies, Littlest Pet Shop, Star Wars, the Old Republic and thousands more, that require players to shell out real money for in-game content. However, these micro-transaction games have been facing resistance in India from an unlikely source — the average Indian’s reluctance to use his or her credit or debit card for online transactions. This is a challenge that Indian game developers are facing but they are confident that once credit and debit cards become more secure, gamers will shed their inhibition of sharing their details online.
New gaming software
Once these small hindrances are out of the way then there is nothing stopping the Indian gaming industry. That’s because with the advancement of technology there’s a boom in software and it is now available on the latest digital hand-held platforms. New gaming sites are launched every month. Reliance Games, the country’s leading developer of mobile games, introduces between eight to 10 games every year. Its success can be gauged from the fact that its recent smartphone game World Robot Boxing both on iOS and Android platforms had 2.5 million downloads in its very first month of release. Bingo Bash by Bash Gaming has become the world’s leading bingo game with more than a 1.5 million users. Since it can operate across platforms, gamers can play with each other across iPhones, iPads and Android. Little wonder then that the company, owned by two Bangalore-based brothers Sumit and Vikas Gupta, expects to post revenues of $55 million (around Rs 330 crore) this year. Another big success story is that of Madrat Games created by three IIT graduates. It is a pioneer in learning games and has to its credit, the world’s first Hindi game called Aksharit (Hindi version of Scrabble) that has reached 3,000 schools and is being used by more than 300,000 children. Its younger version, Junior Aksharit helps children above the age of four learn Hindi in a fun way. Nokia, Intel and Google have partnered with the company to launch the digital versions of Aksharit. Though some cynics say that renewed interest in games will die down as it had earlier on in the 1980s, but a majority of the industry insiders are confident. And so are the gamers. Anyone who had played Space Invaders or Asteroids in their earlier avatar in a gaming parlour would surely love to have a go at them again on their smartphones. In the second coming of these games, adults are as keen about the games as kids. That’s because many of these games require high-end smartphones and tablets. That is why the world’s biggest developers are launching an array of games like those based on Hollywood and Bollywood movies and on sports like soccer, golf, F-1 racing and snooker as well as management games, brain teasers and problem-solving to all-time favourite kiddie games. But no matter, in whatever fashion the games become popular, the wave of colours, shapes and sounds have started to bedazzle Indians even as the craze for hand-held digital devices sweeps the country.
Games people play
In the digital age, electioneering is no longer just about fiery speeches, posters and face masks. It is also about fighting political opponents on touch-screens of smartphones. Games and apps developers are helping two prominent politicians break new ground by taking the battle for the ballot into the virtual world. After a China-based company launched an Android phone called Smart Namo named after the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, an American games and apps developer Dexati Mobile Entertainment has released a game called Modi Run which can be played on mobiles with Android 2.2 or higher. Akin to Temple Run, the game which can be downloaded free, urges players to help Modi run through states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Madhya Pradesh and gather votes to win the election and become the Prime Minister of India. In Aam Aadmi Runner, launched by Indian games and apps developer Greedygame Media, players are encouraged to help activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwalof the Aam Admi Party to navigate the streets of Delhi wielding a broom. Though both the apps and not endorsed by the respective candidates or parties, it is a sign of times that they are finding phenomenonal support by followers of both the parties.
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Ringing back memories A
few months ago when the curtains came down on the telegram service in India, a crucial part of the communication mode of the 19th and 20th century was consigned to history. It was double deja vu for old-timers who had earlier witnessed a similar death of the classic telephone at the hands of the mobile phone. Today, in the wireless world of smartphones, tablets, Twitter and Facebook, the iconic black telephone may be gradually disappearing from homes and offices in big cities but it has earned its rightful place in the annals of nostalgia. It is even attracting investor interest because it has a cult classic status owing to its period looks.
Sought-after antiques
As in the case of stamps and coins, a passionate fan following is emerging for antique phones as well. There is a great demand for the black bakelite phones from the 1940s and 1950s that represented a golden era in telephone design. However, even relatively newer phones from the 1960s and the 1970s are now becoming sought-after antiques and commanding premium prices. Hardcore aficionados know the true value of old phones which they cherish for a lifetime and pass on to future generations. Perhaps, this is what makes these such coveted items of memorabilia. For collectors, it can be a pursuit that can take years of painstaking patience, time, and sometimes money, yet the value and pleasure remain forever. Such is the following for vintage phones that there is an Antique Telephone Collectors Association in America with thousands of followers from all parts of the world. There is also a Telephone Collectors International, which is an international organisation of hobbyists and historians. They are helping to preserve the history of the telecommunications industry through the collection of telephones and telephone-related material. England’s Telecommunications Heritage Group, too, is involved in similar activities. In these associations, members exchange information about old phones, which are also traded and exchanged.
Restoring old phones
In countries like America and England, there are numerous outlets devoted to restoring and selling antique, vintage and classic telephones that have been completely restored and are ready to work on modern phone lines. In cases where some internet-based VOIP providers do not support rotary dialling, they even sell rotary-to-tone converters that will allow a vintage phone to operate on modern phone lines. Interestingly, even as the demand for genuine antique phones is on the rise in various countries, it has also spawned an industry of replicas. The reason for this is the collectors’ desire to have old style working models of antique phones. Since many are beyond restoration because of the non-availability of spare parts, the replica market is booming. Leading websites like www.ebay.com and www.amazon.com and dedicated sites like www.oldphoneworks.com, www.customphones.com and many others have large varieties of vintage phone replicas. Some of these reproductions are of phones that were in use over a century ago. You can get lookalikes of early 20th century phones like the 1907 wooden wall phone, the 1921 candlestick phone, or even the 1928 Antique Rotary Western Electric Telephone. There is also great demand for phones of the 1950s and 1960s decades led by the black bakelite classic phone, Ericofone, Trimline phone, Retro Princess phone and the cordless phones of the 1970s. Websites sell replicas ranging in price of around Rs 3,000 for a desk phone circa 1937 to Rs 4,500 for an ornate Paramount vintage style phone by Ericsson dating back to 1892 and made of brass, iron and ebony. There are also buyers for the 1950s coin-operated public telephones which are used for ornamental purposes in drawing rooms.
Decorative appeal
Though all these phones work on modern telephone lines but they are used more for their decorative appeal than for any communicative needs. Replicas of vintage phones are reproduced in mint condition and usually become the centrepiece of a living room and usually are great conversation starters. However, if there is a thriving replica market there is also a burgeoning demand for genuine antique phones. A number of companies and online retail stores sell real vintage phones many of which can be bought between Rs 8,000 and Rs 2 lakh depending upon the date of manufacturing and also the condition of the telephone. Obviously those in mint and workable conditions will fetch a far bigger price than those that are bought just for their vintage appeal. Not many know that a number of the early-day mobile phones too fetch a decent price in auctions. Reproductions of the vintage Motorola Brick Cell and flip-open mobiles of the late 1980s sell like hotcakes on all major online retail stores at prices ranging between $25 and $100 (between Rs 1,500 and Rs 6,000) a piece. Even though they do not have much of a utility in today’s digital world they form a part of a serious collector’s portfolio and come up in important auctions. If you too have the flair for the dramatic bring home a replica of the classic Wood Cradle Phone with clock available on many online stores for around Rs. 3,300. It is worth its weight in gold because of its fine craftsmanship. It will add class to your decor and make it your pride and the neighbour's envy!
EIFFEL TOWER SKELETON DESK TELEPHONE
Price:
Rs 90,000
TRIMLINE ROTARY PHONE
Price:
Rs 4,000
SOUTHERN BELL CIRCULAR PHONE
Price:
Rs 17,400
VINTAGE ERICOPHONE
Price:
Rs 13,500
While this beautiful recreation of the 1920’s Crosley Country kitchen wall phone has the charm of the classic original, it is also a perfectly workable phone. It features a crank handle that actually turns. It even includes a compartment, volume controls for ringer and hold-and-speaker phone
features. Price: Rs 5,400
Price:
Rs 4,500
This nostalgic style table phone is a charming reproduction of a mantel clock and phone with modern features. The mahogany colour wooden base has a touch tone dial. It also has a redial facility, flash button and a ringer volume switch. Its wood base is complemented by the antique brass receiver. Price:
Rs 3,300
RETRO CARRINGTON PUSH BUTTON PHONE
Price:
Rs 3,500
LOBBY DESK TELEPHONE CHROME
Price:
Rs 6,000
ANTIQUE ROTARY WESTERN ELECTRIC TELEPHONE
Price: 22,500
BLACK BAKELITE DIAL TELEPHONE
Price:
Rs 12,000
TRIM PHONE
This black American diner style telephone from the Wild and Wolf classic collection can be mounted on the wall to add a 1950s feel to the home. The phone was first introduced in the 1950s and remained virtually unchanged until 1965. It features pushbutton technology with authentic rotary look. Price:
Rs 6,000
BLACK GPO SERIES WALL TELEPHONE
Price: Rs 27,000
This reproduction of the Paramount wooden wall telephone of 1907 vintage can be a great addition to any room. Available on www.ebay.com, it is made to exact specifications. It has hinged compartment for pens and notepads,
a classic felted handset cord, push button dialling in a rotary fashion and volume control.
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She makes it easy for women to work Sairee Chahal’s Fleximoms provides options to women who are unable to work full time due to familial compulsions Swati Rai delhi-based Sairee Chahal, 37, founder-CEO of one of its
kind portal called Fleximoms, provides flexible work options for the
corporate world. It is a boon for women professionals managing myriad
roles who wish to explore work-smart options. With around a 100 thousand
subscribers, Fleximoms is India's largest platform that connects
companies that value women and their familial commitments. Fleximoms was
set up in April 2011. Now it is the largest community for women in India
who get a plethora of professionally curated jobs to suit flexible work
dynamics. Sairee, literally means “One that belongs to Syria,”
owing to her birth in that country. But she is very much Indian and is
the brains behind this unique business model that she chooses to call
“a start-up with a business objective that creates a social impact.”
An M.Phil in Russian from JNU, she did not opt for academics. Sairee
says, “I have always found it difficult to fit into cardboard boxes of
set expectations and so I started young and was ready to explore
early.” In 1999, Sairee started a company called Newslink Services,
which was the world’s first newspaper for mariners. “The idea was to
cater to the crew of 15-20 different nationalities on board in any ship
at a time. It was a novel concept with our stringers and wires spread
all across the world. We developed it into an organisation with over a
100 employees.” Later, Chahal did a stint with the CII in Delhi and
later at Heidricks and Struggles, the Chicago-based leadership firm. In
2007, along with a partner, she set up India’s first general
management consulting firm focusing on small and medium businesses.
She says, “The seeds of Fleximom were sown while working in that
firm. It was a response to a growing need.” She received over a 100
resumes for jobs from well-qualified, deserving women. Sairee noticed
this trend. “One look around and one sees a host of talented,
qualified women whose talented is underutilised.”Fleximoms offers
community mentorship advice, career resources and the much-appreciated
“Sheroes Summit,” held annually at select cities. On this platform,
business heads, leaders and entrepreneurs, irrespective of their gender,
come together to discuss career-related queries of women participants.
Fleximoms, says Sairee, has already “changed the conversation of women
in the workforce.” She adds, “We have been successful in
mainstreaming the issue of women workforce and its sorry numbers in
everyday dialogue.” Quiz her about the future of work flex options for
women and her venture, she says, “I see my association with Fleximoms
as a continuous journey and that’s great because if there is no
challenge in a task one loses interest. What’s interesting is that we
do have many stay-at-home dads and men on a sabbatical approaching us
which is a heartening sign!” Mother of a seven-year-old, she herself
has to juggle work and home. She plans to continue with the same
momentum, fine-tuning processes and aims at reaching out to more and
more women and to men. Though, she is clearly not up for a change of
name of the company in order to to include ‘dads’ in it; perhaps
therein lies the challenge!
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A HOTEL TO CHILL IN
Prices
start at Rs 30,000 ($500) for a basic snowroom
INDOOR ROCK CLIMBING
PENMANSHIP
OPEN SESAME
Price:
Rs 3,600 ($60)
BUGGY FIT FOR A ROYAL CHILD
LONDON SKYLINE IN CRYSTAL
RUNAWAY WALLET
WONDER TABLET
Price: Expected to be
Rs 30,000, Rs 36,000, Rs 42,000 & Rs 64,000 ($500, $600, $700 & $800) for 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 138GB variants respectively.
FOLDABLE HELMET
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Divisha Saran
This intricate beauty was personally designed by one of the world’s leading pioneers in telephones, Lars Magnus Ericsson in the early 1900s. The telephone has two
black-lacquered inductor magnets ingeniously curved and twisted into a stand. The crank mechanism still rings a loud bell.
Most of us have seen this 1970s phone called TRIM (Tone Ringer Illuminated Model). The phone from Western Electric was the first to use a modern electronic warbler in place of traditional bell mechanism. This orange replica has the style and features of the original but with modern push button dialling.
The model 202 telephone was a desktop telephone produced by American company Southern Bell from 1930 through 1936 with refurbished units appearing into the 1950s. The phone consisted of a circular desk top set with a dial and handset on a cradle with integrated receiver and transmitter.
Though the Ericofone with the dial pad at the bottom was first introduced in 1955, it was popular till the turn of the century and is considered an important industrial design of the 20th century. Created by the Ericsson Company of Sweden, it was the first phone to incorporate dial and handset into a single unit. 
CROSLEY COUNTRY KITCHEN WALL PHONE
The deluxe classic die cast Paramount phone with realistic magneto generator is an exact replica of the 1892 Ericsson telephone. The timeless beauty has modern features with a dark charcoal bakelite body, brass die cast finishing, rotary-look dial with push button dialling convenience and a redial facility.
CLASSIC WOOD CRADLE PHONE WITH CLOCK
The Retro Carrington Red Telephone is based on the vintage bakelite telephones of the early 20th century and feature push button dialling, pull-out notepad tray, authentic bell ringing and a solid, weighty construction. It’s a British design classic, yet brought up to date with modern technology.
This replica of the original lobby phone by British telephone company Wild & Wolf captures the essence of 1930s European style telephones. The phone was seen on big hotel lobby desks in most European cities. The silver stunner features swooping edges and a chunky base and receiver linked by a black cord. 
This telephone introduced in 1928 by the US company Western Electric was the first widely distributed phone which adopted the use of a single handset rather than a separate speaker and ear set. This particular model was available till the 1930s and is characterised by a round base and raised dial. 
The classic black bakelite phone that most of us are familiar with was first introduced in 1930 and became a communication benchmark well into the 1960s. It has twin gong bells the likes of which were heard in so many old films. It also has a writing pad tray to store your important phone numbers.
Designed in the 1960s in England, the Trim phone was positioned as a more fashionable alternative to the standard GPO telephone models. It had illuminated push-button dial. It went on to become one of England’s most popular phones with more than 1.5 million pieces in use by 1980.
WILD & WOLF BLACK DINER PHONE
This is a wonderful example of England’s GPO (General Post Office) series wall mounted telephone. Back in the 1930s, it was nicknamed the rams head due to its appearance. Many of these genuine antique phones have been stripped down and rebuilt. These still have the
full-bodied double gong ring.
1907 WOODEN WALL TELEPHONE
If you have money to burn—or rather freeze---take a trip to Jukkasjärvi, a tiny little town in Sweden 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle and stay at the Ice Hotel for an experience of a lifetime. The “hotel” which is built from scratch every winter is made of pure ice. The room you will sleep in too is made of ice and snow. There is an ice church and also an Ice bar to warm your spirits quite literally. If you’ve ever wanted to see the Northern Lights, there’s no better place to go to as the hotel’s inspiration comes from the natural beauty of the Swedish Lapland. The creatively designed suites and deluxe rooms are simply the icing on the hotel!
Do you like adventure sports but don’t have the time to take a trip to the great outdoors? Fret not. Now you can experience extreme fitness in the comfort of a gym. American fitness company Brewers Ledge has combined the treadmill and rock climbing and come up with the Treadwall, which is an indoor rock climbing wall but acts more like a treadmill. Akin to an escalator, you won’t be climbing very high as the treadwall keeps moving. It is as great an exercise as real rock climbing without ever getting up there. This new device promises an awesome work-out and the results are amazing. An LED display shows time elapsed, distance climbed and calories burned. With this device you can go rock climbing in the comfort of your bedroom!
‘Our pens create magic’ goes the logo. And when you use this pen you will know why. California-based company Livescribe’s new Bluetooth-enabled Sky Smartpen outdoes every other writing instrument. It records what you’re writing as you write it and can then connect with a computer to deftly blend the convenience of an analogue form with the benefits of a purely digital medium. Though a bit chunky, the wonder pen works in combination with special dot paper to capture your handwriting via an integrated infrared camera to a computer/iphone/tablet format and save it for posterity.
If you are one of those who find it an ultimate challenge to uncork a wine bottle, then your troubles have just ended. The electric wine opener by online retail lifestyle store Hammacher Schlemmer is an effortless way to remove the cork from a wine bottle. The battery-operated opener comes with two stoppers and a wine preserver that removes air from unfinished bottles. The device which includes a foil cutter opens up to 50 wine bottles in one charge which should comfortably last the entire evening even at big drinking events!
Strollers are no longer what they used to be—elementary buggies in which a child was wheeled to a nearby park. Keeping with the times many of today’s strollers are technological marvels and have an element of luxury and opulence. Take, for example the 4Moms Origami Stroller. A masterfully executed device it is a state-of-the-art power-folding stroller and comes with a speedometer, thermometer, head lights to illuminate the road ahead and USB plug-in for smartphones and tablets. Believe it or not it also has four-wheel suspension alongside a reclining seat to keep your prince or princess charming comfy.
It's a collection inspired by the London skyline at night. A collaboration between iconic British crystal company Waterford and London-based celebrated designer Jo Sampson, the dazzling collection of crystal has a stunning interplay with light. The collection's signature piece is the London Desktop Bar which contains everything necessary for a great home bar. It has crystal side panels and a removable top that also doubles as a serving tray. The illuminated mirrored interiors hold two decanters, two pairs of drinking glasses and a set of coasters all made from top quality crystals for an evening of elegant drinks.
Do you sometimes get the uncanny feeling that you are A spendthrift and opening your purse strings far too often? If yes, then you need the Living Wallet which simply rolls away on motorised wheels when you try and live beyond your means! Roll away? Yes, you read that right. Invented by a Japanese company it syncs with a smartphone app called Zaim and has two modes--Save Mode and Consumption Mode. If you forcibly try to take cash out when the wallet is in the Save Mode it will cry out aloud Don’t Touch Me! much to your discomfiture. If that doesn't freak you out enough, the Living Wallet has another trick up its sleeve. It will call or email your mom or wife for a resounding dressing down for your squandering ways!
For some years now Apple Inc. has been surprising the world with one innovative product after another. Soon after iPhone 5S and 5C that sold over nine million in the first three days of their launch, the company has come out with iPad Air that is lighter and thinner than all earlier Apple tablets. Weighing just around 450 grams it comes in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 138GB variants. With the A7 chip, advanced wireless, and over 475,000 apps — all integrated with iOS 7— iPad Air lets you do more than you ever imagined—far more than iPad 4 which it is replacing making it the undisputed leader in the market. 
A survey has relieved that many of two-wheeled drivers don’t wear helmets as they find them cumbersome. Now professional British cyclist Jeff Woolf has solved this problem...well, nearly. When it is finally launched in 2014, Morpher will be the world’s first fold-flat helmet that meets all safety standards and can be carried in a briefcase. Initially aimed at all two-wheelers it will also be a useful accessory for skaters, horse riders and all others who indulge in high-risk sports...though with Morpher the risk is guaranteed to be minimised.