Roo on Video

Have you seen the Webaroo product tour? If not here's a YouTube video that tells you a little bit about Webaroo.

The index for this quarter

Since quarter 1 of 2007 has almost ended, let's take a look at the storage price trends over the quarter. The index is prepared by taking the best prices available on pricegrabber for various storage devices.

Flash memory prices have shown a downward trend that is quite heartwarming. A similar downward trend is expected for USB drives, hopefully in the next quarter.

The showcase of the best prices currently available:
(26th March 2007, 0930 hours)

Disk Drive - Cavalry 500 GB for 143 USDs (Index 0.29)
Portable Drive - Western Digital 120 GB for 90 USDs (Index 0.75)
USB Flash Drive - Transcend 4 GB for 31.85 USDs (Index 7.96)
Flash Memory - Crucial SD Card 2 GB for 12 USDs (Index 6)

If you know of better prices, do let us know - feedback@webaroo.com.

Webaroo News Headlines

Yes, we have upgraded Webaroo again, but that's not the 'news' we are talking about.

If you have downloaded news web packs with Webaroo, you get the latest news as and when the packs are updated. This all happens in the background and you only see a small alert above your system tray. See the pic below for a sample alert. If you find the news interesting, you can click the alert and read the complete news.

And it's available for all languages you use Webaroo in. Download new version to try it now.

A new way to browse the Web

Have a 5 minute break? Browse the web. That's how simple it is. And it can all be done on your phone with Webaroo for mobile phones.

Read your daily news or access your favorite blogs and sites. You can also access your web services like Orkut and Gmail and perform basic tasks like checking your messages and replying to them.

It's fast as the content is optimized for viewing on your phone and resides on your phone itself. It can be accessed anytime, once it is downloaded.

All you need is a phone that supports Java applications and a wireless data plan . There are no extra download charges apart from the data plan itself.

Try it.

When you are not feeling lucky

The size of the Web continues to increase in breadth and depth. So how do you SEARCH for a needle in this haystack? How do you eliminate the spam and how do you avoid the results that don't seem particularly relevant?

The fact is that we are still using the traditional ways of searching. We don't really use specific search terms and also search engines don't provide intuitive means of refining searches.

One of our teams was working on creating a tool that attempts to solve this problem. We have one ready now and it's on our Labs page. It's called the Search Radar and it is just the tool that lets you refine your search query and get relevant search results.

Try it out and send us your feedback. Your comments and suggestions will help us make it better.

Here's an interesting example for searching "Gandhi" using a search engine and refining with Search Radar:

1. Using simple search for "Gandhi" -- gives many diverse results including the movie made on him
2. Using the Search Radar for "Gandhi" -- gives a tag cloud like view of refined search terms with the more relevant terms made big and bold
3. Refining and using "Mahatma Gandhi" Instead -- got more relevant results than just using "Gandhi"
4. Further refining for Satyagraha -- (suddenly felt the urge to read about the principle)

The index for this week

A great deal at Buy.com for a Fantom 500 GB external drive and that is not considering the extra rebate they are offering. That just makes it better. Also the Crucial SD card that's been featured for the last two weeks has further dropped in price.

	Feb 26, 07	Mar 05, 07	Mar 12, 07
Disk Drive	0.32	0.32	0.30
Portable Disk Drive	0.79	0.83	0.81
USB Flash Drive	7.00	7.00	8.12
Flash Memory Sticks	6.88	6.75	6.30

The showcase of the best prices currently available:
(19th March 2007, 0930 hours)

Disk Drive - Fantom 500 GB for 150 USDs (Index 0.3)
Portable Drive - Maxtor 160 GB for 130 USDs (Index 0.81)
USB Flash Drive - Transcend 4 GB for 32.5 USDs (Index 8.12)
Flash Memory - Crucial SD Card 2 GB for 12.6 USDs (Index 6.30)

If you know of better prices, do let us know - feedback@webaroo.com.

Hard Rock Packs

Webaroo gets you up close with your favorite Rock musicians, with its latest offering.

There are the guitar gods -- Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Joe Satriani. And then there are the cult rock bands -- The Doors, Deep Purple and Guns ‘N Roses. And joining them in the party are the masters of heavy metal -- Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica. We can't leave out Pink Floyd from this list, can we? So we also have created packs for Roger Waters and David Gilmour and alongside them is Kurt Cobain from Nirvana.

Hope you download and enjoy them and let us know how you liked them.

Wikitravel's Travels

I am a big fan of Wikitravel. It prepares me for a new place. I get to know about the places where I can eat and sleep, sights I can see and best ways to move around. The simple Wiki interface makes its easy to assimilate and use the information. If like it too, have a look at our Wikitravel web pack. It's a great way to keep all the information at hand and access it whenever you want to. No more inconvenience of carrying prints.

The index for this week

The storage prices this week have climbed a bit. The products available last week are still available but as I was going through various sites, the prices for most brands seemed on the higher side.

	Feb 26, 07	Mar 05, 07	Mar 12, 07
Disk Drive	0.32	0.32	0.32
Portable Disk Drive	0.58	0.79	0.83
USB Flash Drive	7.00	7.00	7.00
Flash Memory Sticks	6.88	6.75	6.75

The showcase of the best prices currently available:
(12th March 2007, 0700 hours)

Disk Drive - LaCie 500 GB for 159 USDs (Index 0.32)
Portable Drive - Western Digital 120 GB for 100 USDs (Index 0.83)
USB Flash Drive - Matsunichi 4 GB for 27.99 USDs (Index 7.00)
Flash Memory - Crucial SD Card 2 GB for 13.5 USDs (Index 6.75)

If you know of better prices, do let us know - feedback@webaroo.com.

Cricket World Cup 2007 is Packed

The mega event of cricket is around the corner and to celebrate it we have released two new web packs. This world cup is being hosted by the West Indies. A place that's synonymous with fun and fanfare. It sure is going to be a non-stop party for more than 40 days. The cricket will gently mix with the calypso and the effect will be heady.

A great way to keep all the information at hand is the Cricket World Cup 2007 pack. Has all the information you need. Fixtures, statistics, build-ups, game reviews and more.

There's also the Cricket World Cup 2007 News pack that is updated every 8 hours and keeps you updated with scores, results, and in-depth analysis.

Australia, the two time defending champions are the favorites, but we Roos will be rooting for India.