Indiapendent

29/11/2019

29/11/2019

06/01/2016

FREE BASICS AND NET NEUTRALITY

Oh snap! Another outlet with another opinion. Should I add something comical (*cough AIB) to make it more appealing? Should I present a list of facts? Or should blatantly tell you guys what you should be thinking?

I'm not going to do any of those things, well, I might list a couple of facts. But mostly I want to pose a few questions.

Here's my problem, The more I read about Facebook's "Free Basics" and the more pages I peruse around savetheinternet.in I keep telling myself to wait a bit longer before I post something. Maybe I'm missing some key element in this argument...

Why are so many people against this service?

Why are they singing to the tune of Net Neutrality?

So I thought I would give you my informed opinion about this whole issue (not that it makes an impact for TRAI's Dec. 30th deadline) and pose a couple of questions.

I really have no opposition to Free Basics. It's an age old idea to seemingly offer something for free to get people hooked on to a service. This form of marketing is utilised EVERYWHERE. IN EVERY STINKING PLACE ON EARTH. Facebook is offering its service and a couple of other websites they deem suitable for Free Basics on Reliance's network.

I think the only problem some people have is that Facebook is marketing it in a way that's basically saying they are providing internet for free. NO, THEY ARE NOT. If they had just, from the bat, said they were offering Facebook for free on Reliance and a couple of Facebook partners, no one would loose their marbles.

And honestly, I do see benefits to "Free Basics". Whether people want to admit it or not, there is an entry barrier for internet usage. There still exists a large chunk of the population that will not subscribe to monthly data charges simply because of that reason, it costs money. And in that way, many of these people have not experienced ANY FORM OF THE INTERNET, curated or otherwise. So will exposure to "Free Basics" get some people to start using the internet and explore? Yes. Will "Free Basics" get some users to subscribe to a monthly data charge? Possibly. Is "Free Basics" being forced down the gullets of rural India? Psh, no. Use it if you want to. Don't if you don't want to. Sound good? Any reason to loose your "internet minds" over? No.

So to all those who think they can provide me with more insight, I have a couple of questions:

1) WHAT IS FREE BASICS TO YOU?
I think its just offering Facebook and a couple of Facebook partners on the Reliance network. If you have a better answer, let me know.

2) HOW DOES THIS LIMIT THE INTERNET? Last time I checked, "Free Basics" doesn't prohibit you from subscribing to a monthly data plan, which is your only current way of accessing the internet...save for free coffee shop WIFI (WOOT WOOT!)

3) WHAT DO YOU THINK NET NEUTRALITY IS? Because if you think the internet is this free vast wonderland, where anything can happen, and anyone can become anything they want to be, IT'S NOT! The internet is not free. Last time I checked, it costs money to own a website. It costs money to post content to the internet. And it certainly costs money to use the internet. The internet, like everything else in life, favours the fortunate. It favours people with more money. It favours people with more resources. If you want me to elaborate, let me know in the comments, and I'll post another article about it.

4) Here's clearly a loaded question: HOW IS FREE BASICS GOING TO AFFECT YOU? Our government offering subsidised food may or my not affect you. But I don't see you going to the streets screaming that the quality of the free food and the limited types of food are affecting Food Neutrality. Why not offer all food for free, just in limited quantities?? FREE BIRYANI! FREE BIRYANI! (FYI I would totally get behind that). Or if TATA wants to offer a car for 1 lakh, are we screaming that offering a cheaper car influences non-car owners to buy a sub-par quality automobile? THINK ABOUT IT! FREE MERCS FOR EVERYONE!

Once again, THANK YOU

01/01/2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2015 was a great year. It was a great year for us at The Indiapendent and we hope it was a great year for you as well. We took a break from publishing any material and spent some time learning. We spent time experimenting. And we spent time making mistakes. Whatever the scenario, we gained experience, and that's our arsenal for 2016.

So welcome 2016 with what you've learned from 2015. We ask you to:

CONTINUE LEARNING

CONTINUE MAKING MISTAKES

CONTINUE TO LIVE LIFE

CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE EVERYTHING AROUND YOU

SET SOME GOALS AND DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO ACHIEVE THEM. DON'T BE AFRAID OF NOT ACCOMPLISHING WHAT YOU SET OUT TO DO, TAKE COMFORT IN KNOWING THAT ATTAINMENT IS MINUSCULE COMPARED TO THE JOURNEY GETTING THERE...

13/06/2015

- The Beginning audio out now on Check it out!

21/03/2015

INKA FIX AVALEDU CONTEST!

FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A FLIPKART GIFT VOUCHER WORTH RS. 1000

Here's What You've Gotta Do:
1. Watch "Inka Fix Avaledu" on The Indiapendent YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/theindiapendent
2. SUBSCRIBE to The Indiapendent YouTube Channel
3. In the comments, tell us your most memorable/funniest moment while trying for your partner or a memorable/funny moment during your "Pelli Chupulu"
4. At the end of the contest, we will select what we think is the best story, so don't hesitate to get into the details!
5. ONE LUCKY WINNER will win a Rs. 1000 FLIPKART GIFT VOUCHER

***See NOTES on The Indiapendent page for Contest Rules***

A platform to help nurture creative minds. We are always looking out for interesting ideas & love promoting the arts. Let us be a part of your next concept!

21/03/2015

21/03/2015

https://youtu.be/2u3mM2eeOWA

Go ahead and watch our first collaboration. We want to help bring your short films to life, just like Virinche Creations
Send us your ideas, or pitch your film. Let us be your platform.

Contact Us:
[email protected]

The Indiapendent presents "Inka Fix Avaledu" a comedy Telugu Short Film about the struggles of trying to get married in your late 20's. Two guys...a couple o...

17/03/2015

After a very very very long time, we are proud to finally tell you guys that we are realizing a dream. That dream has always been to create a platform for content production. Whether that be in short films, art, music, stories, or novels, we want to help you bring your works to life! So here's a little teaser to our first collaboration. We thank the whole team for their hard work and determination! And thanks to everyone who's supported us!

13/03/2015

Have you seen the trailer for Mani Ratnam's ? If you haven't, check out the link below: http://youtu.be/2mBG4vlhcCc /// We are very excited about this movie, especially after seeing Usthad Hotel

12/03/2015

Wow, I think this is the first time in a while his tag actually fits: "Stylish Star" Lookin

11/03/2015

Get ready for something exciting! Finally revamping The Indiapendent

05/01/2015

SAAVN PRO: Why it pays to pay for music...

This is a short review of a music service that I hold dearly. No, it's not perfect, no where near. But it's the only Indian music service that provides a robust collection of relatively good quality music at such a cheap price. For Rs. 120 you can have almost all the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayali music you could possibly want.

Did I mention there's a free version?

PROS:
1) Decent app with frequent updates: that's always nice to see, it means there's an active team involved
2) Available on your mobile device (android or iOS), tablet, or computer through their website www.saavn.com
3) Great selection of music, almost all of the latest songs are available almost immediately
4) The free version gives you unlimited song skips
5) SAAVN PRO has an offline mode, playlists are simple to create
6) App interface is relatively clean and simple to use

CONS:
1) SAAVN (Free Version) ads are annoying (but I mean common, it's free)
2) Glitches are still present, like when you go out of an area of WiFi and your data kicks in, sometimes it'll skip to the next song
3) Limited customization options in playlists
4) Meticulously have to add individual songs to playlists
5) Player is very basic

And my biggest gripe with SAAVN is that the "Queue" becomes redundant, you'll notice that quickly. Every song you want to play appears on a general queue, and you tend to accumulate songs quickly. Then you have to individually delete every song that you didn't like off the queue. I just wish the songs would play without having to be included in some general playlist.

But apart from this, overall, I enjoy the experience of SAAVN, and recommend paying rs. 120 and getting SAAVN pro. Having offline playlists saves a ton of money on data and just makes sense. Keep in mind in India, it's capped at 3GB of downloaded content. If you live in the USA it costs $3.99 and you get unlimited downloads.

It's getting popular these days, and I really really hope they don't increase the price. That would be a major bummer.

THANK YOU

Stream your favourite hindi songs for free online. No need to download, create your playlist & listen to old, new, latest Bollywood music anywhere, anytime!

02/01/2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Film-wise, we don't know if we have a lot to be thankful for this year. In the past week, we've been catching up on some movies to potentially add to the list, and we have a few more movies to watch before we can properly round off the list. But we thought we could at least share some movies in our "watch-list", movies that we here at The Indiapendent will be taking into consideration:

1) PK- We've heard a lot of good things about this movie, let's see what we thinking about it.
2) UGLY- really looking forward to this watch. Some reviewers tout this movie as being their top pick for 2014
3) HIGHWAY- Although some in our panel have seen this movie, it's still on the catch-up-list on a few others. So we'll just have to wait and see if it's made the list.
4) DRISHYAM- (the malayalam one, we don't take too kindly to remakes)
5) KATHTHI- never thought I would be including a Joseph Vijay movie to a watch list
6) HAIDER- does this movie need an introduction?
7) PRATHINIDHI & ROWDY FELLOW- we've heard decent things about both
8)KARTHIKEYA- Just because some of us have a lot of time on our hands

So as you can see, we've got quite a bit to finish off before we compile our list of the BEST INDIAN MOVIES OF 2014. Get ready for some surprises and hopefully you'll be able to find a couple of movies to watch as we finish off our holidays. Once again we wish everyone a very happy new year, we hope 2015 brings you loads of joy and good fortune.

THANK YOU

25/12/2014

WHAT HAPPENED TO MOVIE CRITICS IN TOLLYWOOD???

I think one of the most popular Tollywood sites has to be Idlebrain. They have been around for more than 10 years. Idlebrain Jeevi has been in the game from the creation of the website. So, to me, he has been one of the pioneers in Tollywood movie critics that definitely reaches a wide audience. But in the last 4 to 5 years, the site has lost almost all credibility. He just will not post a lower score than 3/5. In fact, I've had to readjust my scale, so that if I see a 3/5, I know that it's mediocre or worse.

What are some film critics that you guys respect in Tollywood? Feel free to share.

THANK YOU

10/09/2014

LET'S TALK ABOUT MUSIC AND MOVIES...THAT'S WHAT THIS PAGE IS ABOUT RIGHT?

We have always been using portable music devices aka the iPod. Even long after the iPhone and Android phones took the market by storm, we still stuck by our iPods. Why? Because they were small, easy to use, and had great battery life.

Where's my iPod right now? I HAVE NO IDEA.

Honestly, it's probably dead somewhere behind a desk. The same goes with my dvd/bluray player. Well, those are still under the tv, but they are definitely gathering dust.

WHY?
THIS IS THE AGE OF STREAMING...

I don't remember the last time I downloaded music...legally of course...ehem.

With great streaming apps like Saavn for all my regional music, Spotify and SoundCloud for everything else, it makes no sense to have to go through the trouble of downloading music and then transferring them to a music device. It's sad to say, but the iPod has become almost obsolete.
The same goes with movies. YouTube has such a great selection of regional movies, and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu have changed my life. They still haven't penetrated the Indian market, and quite frankly, we're ready.

And all of this really happened only in the last couple of years. DVD rental shops have vanished in India. I remember there used to be one a couple of streets down, but p**f! It has long been gone.
I'm surprised they even make audio CD's anymore. It's been at least 6 years since I've bought one of those.

I think this is a great starting point from our hiatus because it hints at our direction. Get excited people!

10/09/2014

After a very very long hiatus...we are back. And it'll be interesting to see how things turn out. A lot has changed in the last one year...well at least almost a year.

22/11/2013

TRIPLE 'H'
That's what we're going to throw back at our lovely metropolis. We all deserve a healthier city, and as a Hyderabadi, we DEMAND a better Hyderabad.
So what's 'Triple H'?
Hyderabad Health Hazards...
Do you know a place that's completely unsanitary? Have you been to an area that makes you want to vomit? Voice it out! Awareness is the first step to change.
So send us your Triple H posts, pictures always help. To get started, we'll post a few so you get the hang of it.
Email, Facebook Messages, Twitter, they all work
Email: [email protected]
Twitter:
Thank You

10/11/2013

Bored? You're not alone. This Diwali has been pretty dry in Tollywood. Check out the audio of Prema Ishq Kaadhal. It's not necessarily an audiophile's dream, but it's an interesting soundtrack and definitely more original than anything SS Thaman has churned out recently.

05/11/2013

There's no denying that Krrish 3 is a box office hit. Should it be, is an entirely different question. But I couldn't help but ponder whether I should take this positively or castigate it some more. I honestly didnt expect collections to increase over the week, but it did 35+ crores of business on Monday!
Here's the thing: I don't like the Krrish franchise. It's cheesy, the story behind the character is feeble, and he just doesn't feel like a super hero. What he can do and cannot is undefined, it just seems like the creators threw in whatever they could find in hollywood and reused it here.
But you can't blame them for not trying. I'd like to think the glass is half full for a moment. Because the Krrish franchise is so successful it shadows failures like Ra One and Drona, bringing confidence to production houses to maybe try something new and risky.
Hollywood super hero movies in 80s and 90s sucked, but some of the movies Marvel and DC comics are coming out with now are splendid.
So I can look positively to the future and overall I'm happy Krrish 3 is successful. In the meantime I'm just gonna sit back and wait for the good stuff...

09/10/2013

Actor Srihari died today at the age of 49 undergoing treatment in Mumbai. My he rest in peace. Such a memorable actor...

14/07/2013

Atharintiki Daaredi trailer - Pawan Kalyan, Samantha and Pranitha. directed by Trivikram and produced by BVSN Prasad. Devi Sri Prasad music.

11/07/2013

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag promises to be exciting, heart touching, and eye opening. It tells the story of the ever famous "Flying Sikh" with Farhan Akhtar playing the lead role romancing Sonam Kapoor. Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, this has been a WTF choice for months now. So please go watch tomorrow and tell us what you think.

08/07/2013

City Light Hotel, an 80 year old building in Secunderabad, collapsed today morning. 12 people were killed, many more are injured. Surprisingly, City Light wasn't on the list of buildings issued safety notices this year. Lets take a moment to pray with the family of the victims.

28/06/2013

This was a no brainer...
Directed by Gopichand Mallineni, this flick promises to be an all-round entertainer. Ravi Teja, after a series of flops comes back with Shruti Haasan and Anjali at his sides groovin to beats by Thaman. No promises here, but come on, films don't always have to be a critics delight, go with your friends, have a blast! YOLO

27/06/2013

India topples Japan to become the third largest smartphone market in the world, with the largest growth per quarter: 163% vs the global average of 39%

25/06/2013

We wish the best of luck to The Indiapendent's very own Dr. Varun Pulugundla and Dr. Amrut Sagar who will be traveling to Uttarakhand on Thursday as part of AP's response team. Our prayers are with you, come back safely...

15/06/2013

Just when you exhaled a sigh of relief that the monsoon rains would wash away summer's political filth, we can always depend on a certain faction to once again pollute our beautiful city

21/02/2013

Two bomb blasts in the Dilsukh Nagar area, near the bus stand (Konark and Venkatadri theaters) killed 22 people (initial estimates, many more may be injured). Lets take a moment and pray for the families of the deceased. And please, if you have family or friends nearby, ask them to go home and stay off the streets.

06/02/2013

After the cult classic, 'A Wednesday', Neeraj Pandey directs his second major film, 'Special Chabbis' starring Akshay Kumar, Manoj Bajpai, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergill, and Kajal Agarwal. This film hopes to bring back the must needed genre of heist films with a twist, it's based on true events. The story is inspired from the real-life heist of March 19, 1987, where Akshay Kumar's character poses as the CBI officer Mon Singh who recruited 26 men and executed a daylight raid on the Opera House branch of Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri in Mumbai, and disappeared with jewellery worth lakhs. So don't miss 'Special Chabbis' this Friday...you might actually get to see Akshay in a decent role for once!
'WTF' FYI: Neeraj Pandey waited 3 years for Akshay Kumar's dates, so either he has a man crush on Akshay, or Neeraj knows what he's doing.