Nah! This got nothing to with Razer. THIS! This is what you need to check out! Yeah- another warranty rants. But you see, the reason why I create such threads on the forums is that people get this opportunity to put it out for everyone to see and so that I can show it to everyone. Those who read here? Lamers, crybabies, forum guys, the awesomesauce, company suits and 100% backbone support PR guys (almost most of them anyways). It does work- to a small (but not insignificant extent) way. Atleast it creates a spark in people’s mind to do the needful. There are some companies that I do bash and I admit, I do get….excited but they see the point I see rather than how I deliver it so its pretty cool. I have respects for everyone, but I never let that stop me to keep my mouth shut.

The thread that I am talking about is this. To sum it all up Razer wired mouses have 2 years warranty. 1st year is taken care by the Indian distris but the second is taken care by Razer. In the box it says 2 years (the older ones- I atleast I don’t think I’ve seen warranty period being mentioned on razer imperator 2012′s packaging which BTW- is a con in my books). The problem is that buyers are not being told by the dealers about this. Few months ago when I bought a mecha board for myself in Prime ABGB, I’ve asked them about the warranty period in razer’s wired mouses. They said its 2. I’ve told them NO! Distris take care of it for 1 year only. Ashok had to make few calls- and that’s when Prime came to find out. If a store like Prime ABGB does not know about it, imagine other stores!!! And if dealers do not know, how will the buyers know???

What I really do not like is that if someone pays 2-6k for a mouse for gaming knowing that he has 2 years of warranty period but when he claims RMA on second year, he comes to know the hard part. He then has to email Razer and then Razer sends instructions to do the needful. Bottle did the same but he had to RMA his Deathadder twice. The problem is a lot of time gets wasted. Even bigger (as he indicated) that he was charged by customs to cough up Rs. 600.

I’ve asked one of the Razer Singapore guys about the warranty thing, bit before I came to know who handles Razer India (No! I knew about it before- it skipped my mind or something- sorry about that). When I asked them and they asked guys from their end, the reply came was as funny as a particular distri telling taiwan based memory manufacturer that we do not require anything more than 1600MHz CL9. They said that this is the procedure that everyone follows. OMG!!!! Everyone???? O RLY??? *sarcasm*

Coolermaster storm mouses come with 2 years warranty- and they handle it AFAIK (but its not mentioned on the box and yes its a con). Logitech wired mouses come with 3 year warranty support- and its mentioned on the box. If the older mouses have warranty period mention on it, why not back it up? If products come without mentioning warranty period on it- its a con. You’re damaging your own fanbase. And it does hurt!! If you’re going to say that “We cannot do anything!” then the only thing I can say is that you’ve been warned. Remember transcend!! Prevention is better than cure. Dont let distributors take your brand for a ride because gaining a lost reputation for such hardware is tough!!!

Remember transcend? Back then a lot of people bought 800MHz cl5 DDR2 with powerchip ICs. Here’s the thing some got it dirt cheap, some got it higher than other prices. Then transcend memory kits dissapeared- atleast in main cities. One fine day I listen to a wise-ass who barely picks his calls that there were people whose memory kits had a year warranty, whereas others had 2 years period. Basically its the same hardware under same brand- but different prices and hence different warranty period. This is how distributors plays you around. Then all of a sudden a lot of transcend needs to be RMAed. A major distri backed out, and the smaller ones couldn’t handle it. This damaged the company’s good name. Mind you, transcend was a household name back then. Now- other than small stores and few glimpses of flash drives and class 4 SD memory cards, do you see anything else a lot??? hmm???

Razer, do not give so much power to your distributors and please do make sure you mention your warranty period on the box. People pay a lot of money and if they don’t get atleast the support that they have to get, that’s going to leave a mark. In the meanwhile make an effort to “request” the distributors to give full warranty support. People cutting the USB mouse cable, sending it and getting it back after sometime and then one fine day our good customs guys charge the buyer. With Corsair, CM Storm, Alienware (they started off with boards to say the least) and Thermaltake sports showing few of their stuff in India (through Taiwan excellence)- especially cases and power supplies. I’ve also seen a gigabyte keyboard around too. One fine day they’ll come and if the products is so good they would probably shift there. ROG series from Asus is there. They have a headset to say the least. They’ll cook up an armada of gaming h/w any moment now. You need to buck up that part. Cure the issue rather than preventing it. Food for thought!!!

P.S.: Not a rant, just simply putting 1 of the few points across (second point is that the product lifespan is questioned by a lot of people and its not only talked about in techenclave)- mention the warranty period on the box (not on the imported by sticker please!) so that people will know what they are buying. Also, Coolermaster and Razer, some of your mouses use Phillips twin-eye sensor for the laser tracking on some gaming mouses. A lot of people from a lot of forums said it: They suck. Drifting issues are annoying. I’ve tested 4 mouses that gives an impression that they have the same mouse and the drifting issues are annoying. Surface calibration doesn’t work- atleast on cloth (goes without saying a LOT of people use cloth pad and few use hard surface) and no matter how many frimwares are out there,drifting exists- a lot!! I don’t know about others, but I find it annoying especially during FPS. An optical mouse like MX518 doesn’t even do it.

Yeah, a friend said I should have a notebook however since Hardware BBQ is still “an infant” ((Okay, let’s be realistic even compared to mainstream medias- or maybe compared to many bloggers despite, she’s got a very long way to go)). And despite seeing smooth progress, getting an even better setup for reviewing takes higher priority. No week goes by when I think if BBQ will be productive for me to earn money so that I can take her to another level, hire people, get better resources, learn a lot of things and even push it to a level that only the international guys were able to do it. But its best for now to work on perfecting to do proper reviews so that people can make the right decision and so that manufacturers can get feedbacks and bridge the gap. Yeah, foolish it might sound but for now monetizing will take a step behind because we need to work on making our community stronger from ground root level and I need to work very hard to cater to that crowd. We’ll keep that conversation for another day.

There I was: Conference room. Guys from Australia, Thailand, UAE and few others from APAC region except Taiwan. The stuff that they talked and explained gave me that refreshing “feeling” that no press conferences in India has given me (Power User meets are not press conferences)- yet. It was my first REAL Tech conference. Not one of those where you will see people talking about business expansions and basic specs which usually happen in press conference here in India. In reality, those are probably more suited for “business journalists”. If a brand is more customer centric, I don’t think they care much about Indian economy and all that jazz.

When I came back and when I checked my mails (Yeah, sorry about that) one of the suits “really” wanted to have a massive (yes they used that word) Power User’s meets sort of “indirectly” hinting towards Asus‘ meet not too long time ago. Yes, the eyes are around. I guess few manufacturers like motherboards, memory kits who happen to make SSDs and even PSU/Cooling/Gaming have realized that having a proper power user meet on a yearly basis makes more sense than having press conference. Reality is bad, but its the truth (I think the best to say “from my perspective”). Most (yeah most is the right word) journos come. Out of which TV journos do their video thing and “exclusive” interview at times, print/online journos in reality take few pictures, clear the food and the drink (all are non-alcoholic btw- for good reasons I guess) then just put a press release. There are few bloggers as well. There are very handful of people asking the right questions, most ask questions like “How would your company’s growth contribute to the Indian economy?”, some…welll..they ask exotic questions when people ask series of questions that pretty much stuns everyone.

Yeah- I know. I am drifting away. Reality- the one I’ve attended in Singapore is something I can say with a very high note of confidence that it was my first REAL tech conference/seminar. Nobody said “I will get back to you on this” or “We’ll have to check on that”. They knew what they were saying and they know what kind of questions you will probably ask. And the fact that Shamino did one of the presentations, it was brilliant. He explained everything so well and so precise that everyone was left speechless. Everyone -even the Aussies and Thai guys had to take some time to ask the questions because the entire presentations did not have any vague stuff. Such presentation, in full glory, is something who knows what they are saying, how it works and RnD specialists can only give. I had a hard time containing my excitement that  a guy like me not only met shamino but also being in the same room and listening to his explanations.

Will we ever have such conference in India where even the presence of International Press? Maybe not to press (Most Indian journos expect maybe 3-6 of them) but most likely with End Users- and maybe handful of guys from certain media to “hang around”. Afterall since there isn’t any form of media in India catering to that crowd (I still have a long way to go before calling myself as the media guy) and who can understand it. The forum crowd is small, and compared to the number of people buying h/w on a daily basis, somewhat insignifcant. But hey, we are not ignored. The Indian tech forums (Techenclave and Digit, Indian Broadband forum- and no I haven’t “forgotten” to mention other Tech forum- ouchies!!!!)  makes a lot of noise and I am proud to call myself as “The forum guy”. I haven’t slept for 2 nights and I couldn’t sleep in the plane. But it was very well worth it.

But will we see people from RnD flown in to address such end users? Yes- provided they can get the right users. A time will come when I can say it out loud (yeah- bit premature from my end- proper word would be- I hope) gone are the days Indian mainstream media will say “Oh no! We can’t say that- its too “techie”. By their defination, almost all tech crowd in India are not “technically inclined”.  The fact, however, is pretty much the opposite to a small, but very much visible, extent.

Techenclave, by default, has that ability to do it properly and ethically if the senior guys are willing to invest a lot of time in it (which to a certain extent I doubt it). But I think its best if some people from the community (guys like who selflessly helped the forum without any need to be a moderator) are not only be employed as in-house PR-cum-sort-marketing-and-some-bit-of-a-sales-jack in the box to properly promote the respected brands- provided the respected brand in India is not being a PITA and not letting him do what he does best- and not forcing him to abuse his good name on the forum to help a brand. People ain’t idiots. They can probably be fooled once or twice, mostly because of the herd’s influence. They can smell a sellout when they read it. All you need is one person to point out the obvious. This way the guy does what he’s good at, he’s still an active part of the community he spent years and money (for his hardware upgrades to be “in the zone”), the company will know what to do and what not to do and everyone goes home happy- users and manufacturers. A good help is hard to come by these days anyways and most of them are discouraged/loose interest due to time, family and not able to get something out of it that will justify their full time investment in something they started out of hobby and then converted into real time passion.

Its also best if a thought to be given that people who spend a lot of time in tech forums to get jobs in such companies. Let’s face it: Most of the guys in tech journo either get a good job oversees or eventually hired by the corporates. If community forum guys join companies in a respectable position- like “power user communication specialist” or even a PR executive who has more than the usual influence, they can grow their community by understanding their needs and getting the job done accordingly- and they get paid for it. Remember, community guys learn a lot provided they do it right, but reality is that they do not get anything out of it- maybe a freebie here and there but that’s it. Hiring active community guys for a job makes more sense than hiring tech journos- in my honest opinion- provided that community guys do not abuse their influence over the forums/community to promote a brand blindly. If a product is good enough, all good. But like all people, he should work on feedbacks as much as possible.

Edit (30-10-2011): I’ve had a word with CM India. So they did use it. But they aren’t the only source that used this facility. What’s important is being neutral. If the international media houses that used this facility used it to evaluate products with no biased influence because they used the facility from one of the rivaled brands, its all good- even if the rivaled brand has a history of many bad series of power supplies. Then you might logically ask that if a brand has such sophisticated way to test product in such a manner, why have any room to have bad psu? Well- that’s one question we’ll have in our minds always.

Left: Pics from Toms' hardware Site where they explain testing methodology. Right: Pictures from Coolermaster Europe, during the factory tour. Notice that its the same setup and the same table.

I was getting a lot of requests to test power supplies and I have refused it on the start. Ground reality: None of the mainstream media in India has a proper setup for testing such units, despite their fancy ways of creating a separate page for it and showing off their lab setup. I wished/fantasized (fantasized is the word here) to have a proper test appartus but for that I need lotsa and lotsa money!!! Let’s not forget I live in Octroi land so since such units are pretty heavy and cost $3,000 onwards (without the line conditioner, hot box setup, wiring, the works and a really good fire extinguisher **just** in case the psu is a piece of scrap beyond words), pretty much I have to get Hardware BBQ primed up and ready Big time (and fast) if I want to convert it to realistic goals.

But I found something “odd”. Out of all the stuff, the most “intimidating” and advanced setup was in Toms’ hardware. Then after sometime I got an idea to search for articles who have done factory tours on companies that manufacture power supplies. I am sure it would give some idea about how this can be done- you’ll never know.

And boy, I hit the jackpot. I then bumped into Madshrimps’ article about their factory tour in Coolermaster office, Netherlands. The pictures from this article in madshrimps are same as the one in Toms’ hardware. So is Toms’ hardware pulling a fast one infront of our eyes- or are they using CM’s setup to test power supplies- or worse- are CM guys testing/reviewing the power supplies for them ((I’ll have to admit. Its a theory based on the possibility of this happening is highly likely). I didn’t want to rant about it, because the only thing substancial is the same type of setup and table. Honestly, I needed something concrete and I didn’t really bother finding the cost of such equipments.

Today morning I was “rubbing the salt on the wound” when I asked series of people who held their upgrade plans for atleast a year for AMD Bulldozer, which unfortunately bulldozed itself in performance-power consumption benchmarks in multiple review sources.

So what made me post about it here? I didn’t find anything myself, but I lurked over a thread in overclock.net (credit to the person in Facebook who put it up somewhere but don’t who it is- sorry )and happen to see Phaedrus2129′s signature in one of the posts with the title “Why not to trust TomsHardware (for PSUs at least)“ and this pretty much kills. it. According to the thread, people were talking about this in JonnyGURU forums as well. Oh well. I remember 1 guy in a particular forum defending Toms’ hardware. I am not saying not to trust their reviews- especially psu. Chances are they might have taken it on “a rent” (lame word, I know, or maybe they had an “understanding”).If they are taking it for a rent and/or if there is something where Tom’s hardware will not influence their article just because they’re using their setup. If so, why not be upfront about it??

It could be worse. Like this one. Unless you’re Obi Von kenobi (or whatever his name is) and have the ability to sense “the force” in power supplies, such reviews are nothing more than the work of fiction.

One thing for sure, that itch ain’t my imagination- and I am speaking for myself here.

I read madshrimps, Overclock3D, Hardware Canucks, jonnyGuru and Hardware secrets, and only articles written by Anand Shimpi and to a certain extent: Jarred. Forums? Always!!! Overclock.net, techenclave, xtremesystems and geekhack forums. Digit is where I try to help people and Chip on very occasions, despite the very recent activities of displaying-err-certain tendencies.

Oh well!!! There ya go folks!! The cake is fishy.

Most of you guys know about my opinions about “tech” bloggers …well… most of them. I am the last person who thought I would do this because it’s all….”custardy“. Started by putting reviews of whatever stuff I buy in forums…one thing left to another and then our good friend Harshal sent the first media samples from Gigabyte and then after few months one thing left to another, started krystal projekt blog as a dump for my reviews and then I went “Geronimo” and Hardware BBQ. If all things goes well, Hardware BBQ is going on a major revamp this december…hopefully.

It’s a continuation of Indiblogger thing I posted when it started, where I objected about the contest solely because of this “giveaway”:

It’s not limited to tech bloggers at least it doesn’t say. Okay, so giving 20 tablets is pretty neat. Saying “Samsung will send you all the latest Samsung devices for review” pretty much means you’re banking on naïve reviewers to basically write good things about you. It’s not rare its common. I was offered Rs. 65,000 to do a positive review on the forums some tier 3 cellphone. I not only refused, but I also said that if anyone on the forums post an ass-kissing review, not only the “Attempt to bribe” emails will go public, but eventually people will question the mainstream media reviews. As it is most of us read India mainstream media “tech” content with a pinch of salt. They didn’t apologize, just a “misunderstanding” saying that most of the Indian sources say they will take some stuff for free and/or advertisement revenue should they need an article.

This is wrong. Reviews is not publicity stunt and reviewers are not advertisers. Companies send media samples so that we can test and give feedbacks, at the same time post about it so that if its good enough, people will know about it and turn into sales. We do for the people and we have the keedas for it. Its mutual. But the beauty is that its neutral because at the end of the day, people can read and make a choice if they want to buy it or not. Older and Wiser gen PRs (lets say… mid-to-late 20s-30s. no I am not saying YOU guys are old, it’s just that you guys are pretty chilled out and now it should be done)- after all they are consumers at the end of the day. We all need a neutral entity. Everyone is a consumer even the suits. So why do this?

I did tell Renie, owner of Indiblogger- not to use this as a sad excuse to bump up hype in my own usual sweet words. If this is Samsung’s idea then I am shocked. For a tier 1 brand who also owns Flash NAND and controller business (hence SSD) and hordes of good business in galaxy S2 and tablets doing all this? Now this will make some people suspicious if you’re giving freebies in exchange for favourable reviews. Do you see how this works? You break that cycle and rape review field like this, it’s not only going damage those review sources, but worse its going to hit you back BIG TIME!! Tempting people as a giveaway for review samples is a bad bad idea. You’re being watched by a lot of people. hose whiners will cry but your brand is getting beaten up in the process.
So the results were out. Out 220 people who participated, 20 won. 5-8 tech bloggers went for public whining. I won’t post the links (basically some SEO junkies say creating/writing on controversies generates back links) of their blogs, bu but basically they said Samsung is “Scamming“.

Brilliant, I never heard of a scam where it involves giving 20 real working tablets with each worth 32k on retail as a contest giveaway. Some of the names of these blogs are Tech2Date, Tech Junnons, todayontech and all that jazz. So one of them writes as if they are “representing” the entire community. Like all people who wanna be cool they blogged about it (yeah yeah yeah I couldn’t resist- besides people read the cake blog for the lulz rather than to gather facts!!) and the owner of Indihooters (uh uh…whopps Indibloggers ) written a big-ass speech about it.

So Indiblogger is a punching bag and I bet Samsung suits didn’t expect this. Again, they could have done the same contest with 1-5 tablets but they didn’t. Credit to Samsung. Indiblogger didn’t include this only to tech bloggers and didn’t say it (in flowery language) to kiss Samsung’s ass to win goodies. Tempting people for review samples pretty much creates a doubt which overshadows both of them.

For a blogger who says that, he doesn’t know that you need to benchmark to test notebooks and then write conclusion. It’s as funny as a particular “overclocker” who reviewed a board after destroying it.

Yeah!! We know how this works. People randomly “selected” by the suits to write “reviews”. I remember one case when a product manager of a brand said “Reviews are not supposed to be negative”. Yeah right. Reviews are neutral entity and always should be treated that way. Unfortunately we have a “media pvt. Ltd” and now we have such people to “pucker up!”.

I remember a couple of weeks ago, one of many PRs who is friendly with me (nah…all are friendly..well- most of them anyways) said that they wouldn’t have even considered to be in contact with me if it weren’t for one of the people in their HQ in asking me to be in touch with. She went on and on about how tech bloggers are sending countless emails, sending screenshots of daily views, offering “positive reviews” in exchange of “free stuff” (I am assuming they haven’t said it directly I hope they haven’t said it directly because that’s now how it should work). She is right. It doesn’t matter who because its one of those blogs where we don’t know it exists. Its one of those blogs where it doesn’t matter if you comment or not because they moderate out constructive criticisms. Besides, the so-called reviews that they posted is basically product PR shots and basic specifications written as 100 word essay. Yeah!!! Cakes are salty as it is.

Then we have bloggers who review for money!!!

There are those who will review you, kiss you on your forehead, give you a ROFLCOPTER and even arrange like contest, till the time you stop exchanging hugs with them and then they openly bash your products. That’s another side-effect not being with a neutral entity. But yeah, you’re right. Reviewers, bloggers and journalists need to stop doing that. As PRs you will obviously do what is good for the company at all costs and we as those who do it for the good of the public shouldn’t damage our own field. Indian tech scene has a very VERY long way to go.

Seeing all this, I do not wish to be deemed as a tech blogger. I am only using blog format because its very very very VERY easy to do content management. I don’t even understand how that SEO crap works. It’s basically like chinese (yes, I know it’s either Mandarin or Cantonese but the reason I said that is because there’s no such language). I am just one of those guys who got some resources to review for forums, then used blog as a temporary dump and then something wibbly wobbly happening and you end up running a site for no reason or thought how can you monetize it.

Some people expressed genuine concerns about me and how will I monetize BBQ. Yeah, but then if you see most of the people who started such blogs and went big basically without having any idea how to monetize it.

In any case, reviews and articles will be irrelevant with promotions and all that as far as BBQ goes and will always be independent. I think it’s about time we have a well-deserved neutral review source in India. I will try to help people and few advises to companies who genuinely make an effort and have something great. She’s going to take some time, but I am now confident that I can do it, even though I have a shitload to learn. Full speed ahead, ensign!

Edit: Apparently a lot of people have changed their blog title, but their URL pretty much shows the “review” and “reviewed” word- and on Indivine’s Title. Also some people have put up rather convincing blog posts in a marketing sense- also bashing ipad 2 using the paper specs. Ofcourse Samsung didn’t say you need to “review” it, but it shows how desperate tech bloggers are. If you want the list of the entries, there ya go!

Hands-on impression? If you have actual hands-on experience and provided you’re honest about it its all good. Comparing the paper specs, well as long as you do not judge the soup before its served its all good. Giving reasons to buy a brand against another without testing it yourself properly? its called marketing. Reviewing without actually getting a media sample to review/overexaggerating paper specs/hands on experience into a 100 word essay and using product shots: Dude, the cake is a lie!!!1

You decide.

maxAxe posted on techenclave, digit and Chip at the speed of lightning about the AMD community meet. Suspicion was pretty obvious when MaxAxe said that the even is going to be in smc rather than AMD’s office because (according to what HE said) the space was small. He said clearly that this is sponsored by none other than AMD.

Here’s the link.

MaxAxe. Dude!! What’s up with that eh? Now don’t tell me you “accidently forgot” to mention that its hosted by SMC with Erodov’s usual PR help. Using AMD’s name like this and fooling around to attract people? Asus did their own meet. Same goes for a very very very very small Gigabyte meet. Tch Tch.

Correct me if I am wrong, you’re into forum scene since when? The defunct Kawabonka/Indian Pro league days? How can you know say it, unless its your obvious intention promote your “media company”? See this what why I don’t like a community suddenly claims to be a media pvt. ltd. The cake becomes salty, you see.

You should have said the AMD “community” meet is (in reality) hosted by SMC International, one of AMD’s channel partners.

I had no idea that channel partners (major dealers/official distros) can use a company’s name for a “community meet” like this- that too without letting the PR guys know about it: And its irrelevant to us. What AMD PR said, is infact, relevant:

This is not an event that AMD is hosting directly. It is one of AMD’s channel partners in Delhi [SMC International], who is hosting this event on his own.

IT Depot contest in Techenclave? I am sure “IT Depot” is an “official” channel partner for more than 1 brand, most likely the ones which they gave as giveaways for their contest. You don’t don’t see “Techenclave in association with whatever brands IT depot is giving a giveaway” contest- its associated with ITDepot. That’s how communities work. You are supposed to be clear.

BTW, The AMD India Fanpage is not officially hosted by AMD so they are “spreading the word on behalf of them or for the good of it”, take it with a pinch of salt. Did they mention it in their infomation tab? Nah they blindly left it.There ya go, boyz. Cakes are flying on a ROFLCOPTER!!!1111

For the PRs who ask me “What do you think about Erodov??” There you go! Last rant about Erodov? I hope so. Cakes to all!

You could call it mid end gaming system which they will use it for their personal stuff. The stuff which they get “for free” usually ends up in their test bed system because using the newer hardware (maybe not high-end ones unless it’s compared with a high-end product as reference) when they do a review. As far as how I see things, international PRs know that every review source should do the obvious and mention the test bed setup clearly. Reviewers do it so that readers will know which hardware they’re using and PRs give it because their product is listed there.

If you look at reviews in mainstream medias in India, they don’t really do that. So what do they really do???

In 1 corner, a memory manufacturing company asked me “What can I do for them” when we were talking about media samples. I was confused why he was asking that.

In another corner, a gaming clan called ATE made an announcement that they will start their own review site and make others follow them.

In the other corner, we have the media guys sending hordes of emails to countless people to get media samples and tempting casual users to reviewers (No, I am not saying its wrong, but the way they do it is…lol) with a clause that the content from the people will only post on their forum, and that content belongs to the ones who own the forum. Yeah, community power is commercialised for promoting self interests.

And in another corner we have Indiblogger.

Indiblogger is basically like an interactive community of bloggers where people share their ideas and stuff. When I started posting, some other guys started posting reviews as well. My purpose to join there is to try to tap in the general crowd without reducing the quality of the content. Mainstream media guys said that’s not possible because its not possible for “common people” to understand and I wholeheartedly refuse to believe that. To a minor extent, it does work. Its all on the execution. General users are PMing me via Indiblogger and asking about power supplies, surge protectors and tablets so there you go!

Their business model is sort of like PR , except they use free labour i mean bloggers. Its not really that bad, in fact its good. People will blog to get something for free. But now I feel (I emphasize on these words) that Indiblogger should have thought properly before going ahead with it. To understand how this works, I participated in one of the them, but I really didn’t like it. They’re using bloggers as a PR spin doctor.

They also started this thing with a tablet competition where people will talk about its “unique” features. Here’s the thing: No idea was given about the tablet except the paper configuration, and if you compare that config with others (3 of them) are the same hardware except 1 that comes with a keyboard dock. But they wanted bloggers to write about and make “those people” feel good about themselves and in exchange they get access to review hardware.

There’s something called “Paid Reviews”. Basically, a blogger is paid money by the the company who is providing a media sample to them. I know that by common sense (hopefully) people will question about the legit analysis in that content.

Edit: No. Indiblogger doesn’t promote this. I came to know about this when some people who are in one of those blogs with lot of guest bloggers. You pay them and they will blog on such sources with large memberbase. The blog owner is kept out of the loop because he doesn’t know. Still believe guest blogging is the right thing to do?

But Indiblogger is obviously getting money from brands to tempt bloggers to be used this way. Out of 100 bloggers, 1 wins the goodies. 99 free/cheap labour/bloggers. Imagine even 10 of them doing everything they can to promote one thing in a hope to win something in exchange, and out of 10, maybe the readership of about 2 bloggers is retwitted, shared and promoted via reddit, stumbleupon, forums…list goes on.

Reviewing in India is looked down as another source of PR. Its sad and its something manufacturers and people need to avoid. Why manufacturers? If they can praise your product for an incentive, they can even criticise you in exchange for an incentive you could give or worse if its given by a rival company. I am sure few people know such people. Its best that communication with such samples should be avoided, unless you want a good PR session. You shall reap what you sow!

People? Yeah! They are not going to get anything out of it maybe a chance to get something for 40k- but are you really going to sell out your readers for that? You don’t appreciate such acts by the mainstream media and yet you guys do it. Who is the hypocrite now?

We need to build a system an honest system. We need PR to get access and PR need people like reviewers to promote their product: but at end of the day they want to do it for the good of the people and people refer to your content to search for best stuff money can buy. But if people have completely opposite experience, they’ll not only stop to trust the source, but also the company. Readers are smart people (well most of them), especially if their have the genuine intention to buy.

Edit: Nothing against Samsung- or any manufacturers, as long as things are done in a right way. Whatever criticisms I’ve pointed out I’ve taken care that I don’t bully/troll companies or their people.

Just to make another point clear: No, I got nothing personally against with what Indiblogger does. Yes, I strongly believe that Indiblogger must make a conscious effort to discourge using reviews as a source of PR. Reviews are made for 2 reasons (mostly for 1 reason): To keep people informed how good/bad a product is and hence be a neutral entity so that one he and she can recommend something to the readers for a particular price point. Second is so that certain nitpicks can be highlighted by reviewers (provided they know what they’re doing) and hence if possible manufacturers can improve it ASAP or implement it on newer versions/models. That’s how its always worked- until the point a particular media entity is offering publicity service and now Indiblogger seem to be doing it.

Some of you have that little bag where you cover your mouth with a blast+ rant+ abuse? Well, mine was torn and hence the cake blog was born! A friend yesterday said that the reason I’ve “changed” is because  became a vegetarian. The way I see things, it’s because I stopped venting out. I like venting out here because when I say this to somebody, some people misinterpret me by mistake. But when they read what I write over here, not only the people relevant will read/take a glimpse, but also the message goes across.

Few days ago when I called up these notebook guys where I have a good communication with, this woman takes over the call and says “Oh we never heard of your publication” (duh! I am not running a publication nor I would like to call myself one). Oh well, looks like no Asus notebook/netbook reviews on TE, Digit and Chip forums for the time being. I so wanted to start to post on IVG forums as well for gaming hardware reviews. Oh well . Yall want to send samples, it all good. Don’t want to? It’s still good! I am not one of those guys who will bitch slap good product just because I have to have constant communications with a grumpy executive telling that he or she is incharge of the show. Ironically, the male PRs are more like those who take ownership of their client’s public relations and do a good work. Female PRs in tech fields? Still haven’t the one who does it right- yet. If I find one, she gets a cake!

I asked my friend and she used to be a journalist. She gives me a blank look and told that I should stop being to the point from the start and give a proper introduction. Why the hell would I re-introduce myself. If they don’t know whom to have active communications with before taking over from their counterpart, how exactly they will be good in communications???

To the person I shall not name! No cakes for you . Don’t say that you’re incharge unless you’re really incharge. I sometimes question why HE left there and joined another PR agency. Our interaction was brief (just 1 notebook) but he was to the point and outright. BTW- that particular agency he joined? Well, almost all guys who work there are good what they good at and they’re humble when it comes to listening and doing this.  Clue? Same guys who take care of WD.

And honestly, I don’t care if I am “famous” or whatever fancy word you want to throw. I have a set of readers, followers, trolls, bashers and people to take a glimpse or 2. It’s obvious that we’re in the line that general people won’t show interest so what’s the point in being famous. Besides, not many rely on “technical reviews” from mainstream media. I mean would you call this a review that you want to see in a source?

But throwing attitude simply puts people off. I don’t know why girls in PR so far usually throw that “attitude” via phone or maybe something about me via phone that puts people off(?) This is probably the 4th or 5th lady PR with that “thing” they do. I stopped talking to the first one because, according to her, she was doing me a favour.

I was under the impression girls were usually good in PR. Don’t get me wrong, but a lot of people have that cliché “mindset” that PR is girl’s domain :-/. Most of the PRs I met are usually guys BTW- and all of them are really good and humble to talk to (in a public relation sense of speaking). Trust me when I say it’s not a glamorous, even from where I am seeing.

I have a good level of respect for what these guys do. One goes out, another comes in. Some of us are hooked with AMD? YEAH! Time to make our community strong and put up honest reviews without any burst of attitude circling around like ROFLCOPTER!!!11

BTW, I wouldn’t have not called there if he did not call me 1-2 weeks ago talking about it. It was bad because I called him on his cell, but he gave the phone to someone else without saying it himself. Not that I am whining, but flashing that attitude is totally uncalled for.

It doesn’t end there. There was this groups of girls taking care of 3 tech companies and 2 chinese rebelling phones. They are vague, they are hard to communicate and they behave in a way that they own the product.I asked about optimus support being disabled on 3D mode. After 4 days they give out some bizarre and retarded reply. But when I contacted one of the Nv Global PR I have in my social networking contact, I got a (although non technical) but a relevant answers no flowery language, no B.S., no artificial whipped cream. I don’t get it, how hard can it be to relay that question exactly the way it is???

I don’t like attending press conferences because its annoying. Press goes there to have food that’s it!! That’s why some 5 star hotels have Press transport parked outside. Sit for 2-3 hours and viola! CHOW TIME!!!! I don’t go unless its something….good and relevant.

One female PR hated the fact that I did not attend the product launch of a watch. Yeah, that’s how it is. Also, this woman calls me from Chennai insisting to post about this “press release” contest for coders. The only thing I extract from press release is the MRP, launch date, specs, pics and if its different distributors. But….watch press release and contest for coders? They tried stuff like “Oh we know all about you” and “hardware bbq is a reputed news site!”- stuff like that.

Let’s not forget this as well. Thankfully, their PR is now taken care by a inhouse people.

Here’s what I like in male PRs (most of them). If they don’t know, they will not bother to pretend that they don’t know. They have less time for B.S. and I don’t like filtering B.S. But when I interact with foreign woman PRs, its different. They have less time to spit out B.S. and get the job done, sometimes even faster than the male counterpart. They take criticisms head on and trust me when I say- they remember everything you said.

I posted a part of this message to get a general perspective by some people. They said:

Balanarayan NT: The problem is not with the gender, the problem is with how much they know about their clients and people who use client’s products.
If you get someone who is willing to swim against the tide and figure it all out it’s okay but it’s not practical as most PR agents will have at least 4-5 clients. PR firms in general should hire people with more diverse interests for the sake of the industry at least.

What about others? Well they said the cake is indeed a lie!

But then again, Bala is right.

Gender thing is merely a co-incidence and I am putting it across based on “circumstantial evidence” viz. not ALWAYS right. Once a female PR said that “Intel is the best so you should evaluate only intel boards!” well, if that’s the case then why does your company waste money and resources to make AMD boards? Training how to be a PR is one thing, but doing a tech PR is a different ball game. If they don’t know at least the bare basics or show characteristic that they can learn on the go, then there’s always PR for other companies. I heard a beauty cream company wants PR resources to make white people even more white!!!

Very Important Note: Nothing against girls. But they should tone down that attitude significantly. You’re doing your job- and I am doing mine. We need you guys to get access to hardware for evaluation and other stuff for my readers and you guys want coverage and feedbacks about your product. There’s no need/room for such behaviour.

Thanks for your time to read this.

And also..

• How can you say that you’re a part of the team- even though a lot of people from that team don’t even treat you like one? Or blackmailing you to make you stay on the team?

Yes these are questions. Because honestly they are not going to answered. Even if they are, chances are that will have a transparent “conditions apply” star or it will be changed in some point during the future.

M-Jeri’s issue with The IT Wares/E-lounge started as a query then escalated because of loony affair and series of bombardments even past midnight because of the following example given by Rahul, owner of ITWares:

This is how its done

25k Card – Warranty 36 Months

Divide 25k by 36 = Rs. 694 Per Month

After 6 months the buyer should either get a similar product if not then a CN of Rs. 20836/- (25000 – (694*6)) = 20836

i am not offer 3-5 k against 25 k , if those earphones were of Rs. 25k then the buyer would have got a CN accordingly

lulwutwtf??? He later claims that this is something “everybody” does- and threw in few names, including tirupathi and certain other brands that have or don’t have any official presence in India.

The issue further escalated towards twitter, facebook, erodov, Digit, Chip- heck people have PMed me asking for the link for screenshots of the event. I am not the first one to blog about it mind you, as Shantanu Goel has put up has already blogged about M-Jeri’s issue over here.

Now that “little” conversation that happened was in the section where it can be accessible only to registered users, but I am putting up the screenshots of 16 pages, with 40 posts per page so that non-TE members can access it. My intention is not to damage anyone’s livelihood , but to inform people. Here are the screenshots of the entire mind bobbling conversations and new/unheard warranty policies that will make you skeptical when you’re buying from certain sources, especially who don’t have a history of established business….

…Then again- why do people share their problems only when someone opens up? And do they not make it obvious in the itrader ratings? Food for thought.

If you looking for the screenshots of the conversation, here you go: http://www.mediafire.com/?xb1z31o9p289zzu

The “other” forum is having a contest where you would have to like the manufacturer’s FB page inorder to be eligible for a lucky draw. Okay, it works for them, its their community and if they think such stuff suits their crowd- fire it away. You emailed me about it, okay.. fine. I know about it, but decided not to participate because I haven’t used any of the stuff and honestly if I don’t know about the product and/or if I don’t have any good impressions on them, why would I like it? Contests? Okay but not all the time for any brand and eventually I unlike once the contest is over.

But perving around, sending twitter and facebook messages, then sending 1 more email to “remind” me of this event is practically pissed me off. Because there’s another sample who has this huge gaming team with DOTA, CS, COD4 players under 1 name and who happened to start their own site, associated with a brand that is well-known in Taiwan but just started here. That brand didn’t really branch out to the market yet (atleast most of the good stuff) but they are doing the similar tactics.

There are some contests that we have in the pipeline with some manufacturers. 1 of them wanted an exclusive contest and wondered/asked if we could have “this thing” few days ago. I called up Saiyan, taking the examples of the 2 samples above and decided that irrespective of the brand, its best that we don’t entertain such stuff. We have a manufacturers’ section and if they want, they can join in and under certain minimum restrictions (not like sperming on all sections). They were cool with it, provided that we atleast mention that these guys have a facebook/twitter page.

Fair enough. If people genuinely like the brand, they will like it. If not, its all good man. Just put it up for people to decide.

But using the power of your community and members to promote/like a brand inorder to qualify for a contest? Ohhhh pffft!!!!! I know you’re not forcing it on me, but send a message once. Maybe twice as a “reminder”. Anything more is not cool man. You will eventually be spanked by a dominatrix!!!!

Such community doing such tactics and on top of it spamming and irritating you is the early signs of submission towards the brand leading towards eventual downfall. You’re running a forum- not a media company. Yes, you’re a sellout!

BTW, I am not dissing the company. OFCOURSE THEY WILL DO IT!!! ITS THEIR JOB!!! What’s yours? Sell your memberbase or make most of them to promote brands? I bet you’re feeling proud now, eh???

Take pride in calling yourself as a non-media entity. Media people are crap. Many of them discuss at the back of the conferences, such as quitting this particular review site, joining GSM Arena and working from home, colourful ways to re-write guides taken from online. You want to be in this media? Be my guest!! Stop sending me those lameass messages.

So here’s more (not really concise) way of saying it but in forums it usually gets lost so hopefully people will keep this in mind. This is something a lot of people said it: Eazy, Deejay, Bikey, Saiyan- a lot. Usually the ones who have their hands on aluminium love since Antec Super lanboy days.

Steel is the way to go (assuming its a thick enough steel). This is something that many have said even with experience, so this is more of a brush up as some of the people I know were talking about it.

I have A70F and I usually install the hardware inside the case and not putting it up as an open bench. If you’re one of those who keep on upgrading your hardware, you’re better off grabbing a steel case. Some cases don’t hold the motherboard tray properly, whereas some cases use very thin sheet at the rear. If those sections do get bent, you can’t properly align the board and properly install the cards.

Also, seen a lot of people not using all the screw holes on the board, especially those who are putting up big coolers like TRUE120E/Venomous-X/U12P-SE2. This applies not just for alu, but also steel. Such mishaps, will end up not only bending the board (irrespective of how many PCB layers/copper sheets there and irrespective of the thickness of the motherboard tray), but the tray and maybe the PCIE slots and the I/O panel area on the case, especially if you have large cards. Use all the motherboard holes to secure your hardware properly, no matter how “silly” it might seem. To secure your hardware properly, you need proper screw drivers. Some of those screw drivers out there are crap, not only the screw heads get damaged and rusted/corroded easily, but also damage the screw heads at the same time (equivalent of a hand drill ). If you’re regular when it comes to upgrade- whether for your friends or for yourself, investing in a decent enough screw driver kit goes a long way- a very long way.

Also, when you’re buying a case, make sure the screws are good enough. Some companies make decent if not good cases but the screws and standoff is rubbish. Some of those thumbscrews are good enough to secure the side panels, but honestly most of the thumbnail screws that are used to secure motherboards and graphics make an impression that they might just snap. Having a phillips head on the screws pretty much proves it, that you’re better off tightening it with a screw driver. Don’t tight it that hard, I’ve seen some brilliant minds managing to crack the PCB of the board just because they are forcing the screws. Doing so not only damages the threads on the screws and the standoffs, but could make things worse for you in the long run. Most of those plastic “tooless design” is practically useless, so you’re lot better off using screws. Speaking of screws, make sure you’re using the right screws and standoffs for the right job.

SPACE!!! SPACE IS IMPORTANT!!!! A friend said that buying a case is like buying a house!!

Some of those fancy sidepanel extras are more like obstacles in the long run so there ya go!! Some include the dimensions of the actual frame that can be used, whereas some include everything! Limited only to manufacturers? No. Some products of every manufacturers do this.

If you’re thinking this way, most of the cases are kicked out of your list and most of them are made to appeal gamers.

So far, companies have made an impression that most of the products being made primarily for gamers are scrap.

An unknown company came out of nowhere and was brought in by handful of online dealers and did their own viral marketing thing. Sure, they made the hype: Sponsoring the tournaments, having small contests and giveaways. Obviously such people will have a positive feedback and word of mouth travels around: “X” brand rules!!! Yeah: You know which ones I am talking about.

But if you’re paying money for it and after few months you start getting issues, that’s where it rules you the most. Some people bought a wireless mouse and one of those 5.1 headphones. They died after using for few months. RMA was hell that you would feel that the money you “donated” is flushed down the toilet. Some of those gaming mouse/headphones work the way it should only if you install the firmware. So everytime you’re in for lan tourney, you end up wasting time to install and (few of them?) restarting the system. Some tournaments don’t allow you to do that- OUCH!!! Keeping it clean? How? Only they have given some way to. Some of those cans get damaged easily especially if you sweat a lot.

Then there are hardwares that don’t really make sense to have a gamer label with (unless there’s something great like a good Ethernet port, Low cost but good enough quality,   effective) OC): highly binned memory kits, motherboards and power supplies. One of the company reps for a psu said in an international forum ” trust me, the market size is significant!!” but here’s the thing: A lot of gamers (Lan centre folks usually) don’t really care if its 80-90% efficient psu. It should handle irrespective of the brand, quality, etc. That’s how they see things, unless one is a hardware enthusiast who happen to be a gamer.

Why would a gamer want 8+2 phase? Especially if the chip is cool and fast enough on stock that will probably last 2-3 years easily. Not all will appreciate solid caps (Note: all not of those enclosed caps are Japanese caps) and not all will spend 2-3k on a psu, let alone 2-4k on a case.

A company which has a recent history of making good stuff for the enthusiasts in general jumped in the same well. One of the guys wanted to do “something” in gaming. They made power supply and chassis. I said that those 2 hardware will be somewhere in the side: whether its server or systems used to play: once they go to their usual corner they care a damn.They were silent.

Nobody goes to a gaming tournament just because there’s a big company out there (some might if you’re doing something like 3D Gaming surround sound experience, as I am being told by “someone”). They go for the prize- especially cold hard cash.

Keyboards? Don’t get me started. Some are large with bigger-than-usual keys, some have dedicated buttons and well some have decent “bounce” with USB+ audio ports. Lifespan? Rubbish!! Gaming keyboards worth 3-6k lasting for 3 years at max with regular maintenance. There’s just no way you can remove the keys easily and clean the inaccessible part of the board. Don’t deny it, a lot of us eat food over the board. Even some of them come with drivers and user profiles. Sad part is that there’s no way to let the board to do it for you, so what’s the point?? This is more of a preference but many people feel this way.

—————————————————————

Not all is THAT bad

Logitech MX518 still rules the show. Despite eventual and significant quality drop since the MX510 days, many people are satisfied with it. They can spend more money if they want to, but then again: Why do you need it if you’re satisfied with it? Not that its going to increase your skills to great heights. Older MX518/MX310 are used even till now. Colour is gone and even the rubber coat, but the basic shape and feel still stays.

Mousepads!! Some of those brands put some sort of a softpaper prints on the mousepad that pretty much spoils everything. Why would I pay for a large/oversize pad with a paper stuck on it for Rs. 500 (and they somewhere around 1k). I have Goliathus Control edition since 2007. The colour is gone, there’s a slight “dip” somewhere in the middle (you’ll barely feel it unless you’re concentrating on it) and the edges around the pad starts to show the usual tear: but the basic feel still stands all thanks to the weave. I have used one of those silk and hard pad mouse so someone else can fill you in.

Cyber snipa and Logitech G13: workable concepts. The game profiles for buttons can be saved on G13 so you’re covered. A decently sized rubber/foam pad is there and its pretty nice. Makes more sense than carrying a huge keyboard around.

Some sound manufacturers keep gaming at the back of their head, but don’t really use it to pitch their products. Not all gamers are sound guys (as many said self-proclaimed audiophiles), but they’ll appreciate the extra punch.

While some gaming motherboards are ridiculously overpriced (and not in the same league as its more for overclockers or bare basic users), there are some handful which makes sense. especially after the Bigfoot NIC. Cost is less and the the board is good enough: mission accomplished. Not all even buy it, but there are those who will appreciate it.

So when some of you are suggesting something to gamers: Keep these points in mind. There’s a lot more we’ve discussed but if you’re lazy not to go forum meets then you’re not going to get a lot of info that will be beneficial. Many things are not/never discussed on the forums/online.