BOKU.com – NO Plastic – Mobile based online payment system!

BOKU.com, mobile payments made easy, NO Plastic Needed.

Today morning I was munching my breakfast after a solid gym routine and while scanning through my feeds, chanced upon an article on Watblog by Maneesh about mobile payments system by a company called BOKU.com where you DON’T need any credit card, debit card, bank account etc to make a payment.

I just jumped in the air and got glued to this post and quickly pounced to check out this site BOKU.com. And YES, they are offering direct payments through mobile phones without any card plastic / bank account.

If BOKU.com continues to expand their partnerships with more and more service providers like, there is nothing which stops BOKU to become the World’s most trusted and easiest online payment system.

BOKU.com is funded by Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures. VC’s investments includes high-profile start-ups like Infinera, MySQL, OpenTable, PureDigital, Second Life, Tellme, Twitter, Yelp, and Zillow, and franchise companies such as eBay, Juniper Networks and Red Hat.

BOKU.com’s strong management team comes from web, payment and mobile companies like Amazon, AT&T, Apple, Bank of America, GE, Google, mBlox and Paypal.

They claim to have a strong fraud management systems from their strong experience in managing risk in top notch companies like Amazon, PayPal, Google, Bank of America, and FirstUSA and they claim that Mobile phone is a different story as its used by only you… lets hope that’s the case.

This is how the payments work in BOKU.com, citing an example via @watblog a payment test they did in Facebook on Texas Holdem Poker application.

This can be the NEXT big thing to fuel online business growth with over couple of billion handsets across the world. The 3 step easy process just makes it so lucrative for customers to go ahead and make a quick payment.

As a publisher we are up-beat about this service and I personally am very optimiztic that this system will completely revolutionize the online payments in the coming time.

If this is increasingly adopted by more telecom providers, this will basically revolutionize the online payment systems in India as well as worldwide. I had written about one application of such system (to book local train tickets through mobile) on my blog last year. This is super exciting news for many online businesses. However, what would be interesting to note is, how telecom providers cope with managing the Post-Paid customers with bills and recoveries and charge-backs.

Anyways, this is Fantastic, I being in a online games company where we handle daily online payments… this will help us boost our conversions significantly. I think all online publishers will welcome this as a booster for their sales.

Looking forward to a close collaboration with BOKU.com.

#BPL #BFOI Are you the BARCLAYS FAN OF INDIA?

Twitter Trending Topics - #BPL #BFOI


BARCLAYS LAUNCH SEARCH FOR ‘THE FAN OF INDIA’

Win a trip for two to England to see Premier League team of choice for India’s top football fan

Mumbai, May 11, 2009: Football FANS in India get ready to meet your favorite teams. Barclays today launches its search for the Fan of India as it seeks to find the most passionate supporter of the Barclays Premier League in the country.

From Kerala to Kolkata, Mumbai to Mohali and Goa to Guwahati, India has some of the most fervent fans of Barclays Premier League football in the world. The Barclays Premier League is the most popular domestic football tournament anywhere in the world, with over 4.77 billion people watching it in over 200 countries. It also has many of the top players including World Player of the Year, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Barclays want to find fans that go to extraordinary lengths to support their favourite Barclays Premier League team or player. Do they practice the Cristiano Ronaldo step-over, create their own club anthem, or maybe perform wild somersaults like Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins?

Fans are required to explain in no more than 100 words why they are the Barclays Fan of India and can include slogans, videos or photographs to support their entry. Entries can be submitted by post, by drop box in selected Malls and Café Coffee locations, e-mail, or uploaded online by visiting www.barclaysfanofindia.com.

All entrants in the Barclays Fans of India competition have the opportunity to win:

· A trip for two to watch their favourite Barclays Premier League team play ‘live’ in England during the 2009/10 season. This will include flights, 4 star hotel accommodation, tickets and transfers.

· 10 runners up will also receive a Barclays Premier League team shirt of their choice

Manchester United’s legendary midfielder Bryan Robson, a judge and ambassador for the Fan of India Contest, said: "I know that representatives from Manchester United have visited India several times in the not too distant past and are always amazed at the level of interest there is in the Barclays Premier League. It really is a hotbed of football. I think the speed and intensity of the league appeals to the Indian population, and I am looking forward to seeing how this is reflected in the entries for the Barclays Fan of India competition."

Liverpool’s Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Reina said: “Barclays Premier League supporters are the best in the world and will go to great lengths to follow their favourite team. Liverpool have a

huge following on the sub-continent so I'm hoping the Barclays Fan of India will be a Reds supporter and get the chance to come over to England and see me in action!"

The competition will run from May 12, 2009 through to June 2, 2009 with the winner of Barclays Fan of India announced in mid June, 2009.

Fans can log on to http://barclaysfanofindia.com for more information on how to enter.

How long will you wait to get your product after payment?

In today's fast paced world, how long do you think you will wait to get your product after you have made the payment?

I have waited over 17 days already to get my Reliance Broadband Wireless Internet connection and its still not active. While the channel sales partner of Reliance - Vriti Infocom is doing something (which I am not sure what) and Reliance customer support department is also working hard to improve it's image (though their actions don't seem to say anything of that sort).

Placing your trust in a company to buy their product is a decision which everyone takes on a day to day basis. I took this decision and I am repenting. But does this affect the company at all?

Doesn't seem to...

But this makes me wonder does social media in today's time (while helping to build awareness) can build Negative Awareness too about the companies and their policies and the way they handle customers?

Reliance Broadband Netconnect - HORRIBLE | HORRENDOUS

Reliance Broadband Netconnect - New 3.1 MBPS - HORRIBLE CUSTOMER EXPERINCE and SERVICE

I had BAD experience with them till now...and it’s still going on...

Last month I was just browsing in my office and saw this Ad which said Reliance Broadband 3.1 MBPS new USB based connection. 20x high speed etc.

I got excited and clicked on the ad and went to a website where they asked for the contact details and there was an option to BUY NOW or Pay on delivery.

I thought let me buy it right away as I was waiting for some some high speed internet connection and I had tried their previous 2 MBPS one and the speed was OK. So I thought this one would be better...

Now, this is how the story unfolds:

1) March 17 - I attempted online Booking. Result transaction failure.

2) March 18 - I get a mail from reliance for Booking Confirmation.

3) March 25th and 27th two more Emails on Reliance Netconnect promotions

4) Also, I get calls in the middle which I don’t remember on which days asking me that if I confirm that I want to buy reliance netconnect broadband.

5) Then considering it had been over 2 weeks, so I again clicked on one of the ads and this time chose the option on Payment on Delivery. This time again I get a call and the Sales Executive says please go to this URL and make a payment.

6) The sales executive calls me 2-3 times on 29th to make a payment and I made a payment on 29th March and I do not get any confirmation email. Then I call up the same number from where I got the initial calls to make payments. And they confirm that yes they have got the payment. And they also inform that someone will come to my office in 2 days to deliver the product and collect the documents.

7) I didn’t hear from anyone and I tried calling but couldn’t go through...till 2nd April and nothing happens. I again called and they tell me that the status is showing POD. Then the Sales executive asks me to send all the details in the most broken english as they can...and after sending the proof of payment they started processing.



From: [mailto:@connectindia.in]

Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 11:51 AM
To: @yahoo.com
Subject: INFORMATION
Dear sir,
sir pleas send me the oll details --
Regards
(Sales Advisor)
Reliance Net Connect Team
Online Deals
Noida8) After this I get a confirmation that in 1 day my card will be delivered and I got the card on 3rd April. The guy asks for couple of documents and pictures and goes away.

9) On 4th april some guy from this company calls me and tells me that one document is missing. Then he gets that document collected on the same day at 4 Pm. He couldn’t submit my documents the same day as it reached him at 9 PM.

10) 6th april he stop taking my calls and the customer support centre says they dont have any of my details...7th April the guy picks my call for 5 secs and disconnects in a moment saying he is in reliance office and docs have been submitted.

11) However, till today nothing has happened, no one seems to be responding, customer service says call the company from where you purchased. The company from where I purchased dont pick up calls and dont respond. No response on email too.

12) I called the local reliance webworld and the guy there tells me contact the same company where you purchased it from ... we cant to do anything... or wait for 3 more days....

It’s been 9 days since I made the payment and the device is till not active for me! Now I am just thinking what will happen next...

I am also thinking, that when reliance is not selling this directly from their reliance web worlds then aren’t they responsible for their channel partners? How stupid is this way of running operations? I am extremely unsatisfied with the way their highly unprofessional sales channel and support has operated till now. Is someone listening?????????

Subscribe - Games24x7.com Youtube Channel - How to Play Rummy and Win Cash

http://www.youtube.com/user/playgames24x7

Jhatpat Tournaments are Coming Soon

ProteinLassi - Healthy Lassi Always!

Protein Lassi - My new recipe to good health!

Today morning when I returned home from my daily gym routine, I noticed that I forgot to bring milk yesterday. It was 9 Am, the nearby shops were still closed. So I was wondering how to satisfy my hungry tummy...

While I was fiddling with stuff in my refrigerator, I saw this container of Curd and the bulb lighted, Lassi, is what I decided to have. However, I thought of getting innovative. I made a concoction, for which the secret formula, is going to patented ;-).

3 Portions Curd + 1 Portion Water + Ice Cubes + Protein Powder = Protein Lassi

Have a chilled glass and enjoy...

Mumbai Local Trains Stopped by Protestors

4th Feb 2009: 10.00 AM - This is a 1st hand account where I have seen and recorded the Mumbai Local Trains breakdown.

Protesters have stopped Mumbai Local Trains today morning and thousands of daily commuters have been stranded and they are walking to nearby stations and there is an utter chaos all around the city. News is coming from various local railway train stations in mumbai. Protestors have blocked Western Line, Borivili, Kandivili, Malad, Goregaon, Andheri, Bandra, Dadar, and many more Railway Stations affected. Watch the Video coverage here.




Apparently people are demanding for more trains to be started because of massive rush in all the local trains and the inconvenience it causes people every day morning.

The local trains are jam packed and there is not even enough space to breathe. People are subjected to so much inconvenience that literally people punch and push you. Not to mention that people who have paid over Rs. 1000 for their passes for First Class compartments they also have to travel like a general class dabba as the number of wagons for 1st class is very limited.

This kind of poor service of the railways has highlighted earlier, however, today morning suddenly commuters have decided to take the situation and government to the task.

Today morning's scene was horrible and so many people have been affected and so much of inconvenience has been caused to the daily commuters. People have got late to their offices, many appointments have been canceled and there is complete chaos and unruly behaviour at stations. Especially women passengers who had to walk down after getting down from trains, all sorts of people are taking cheap advantages.

This also makes me wonder, why always people have to take things in there hand and the government doesn't seem to take it up on there own?

M-Seva SMS based Mobile Ticket Booking System for Local Trains

Digital Playgrounds

Online Games have provided the new playgrounds to the world which has no limits, no boundaries and no times to close. The Digital Playgrounds have actually strengthened the social fabric of India and brought the same old days of people sitting together in a choupal back.

The other day, my friend and I were discussing how we missed the joy of being able to just run around and play all day long. When we were kids, we looked forward to the late afternoon – early evening period. This was when we would forget about all our childish problems like homework, cleaning our rooms, fussing over vegetables etc., and rush out to the playground to start the all-important task of choosing teams and deciding on the game we would play.

As we grew up, it became tougher and tougher to avoid the huge amounts of homework we got in school. Plus, we had to go and ‘hang out’ at all the ‘coolest’ places. All through college most of us were half-dead trying to keep up with the never-ending amounts of research and assignments that seemed to just keep piling up. Then came the crazy routine of sending out our resumes to literally thousands of firms, hoping we would get a call from one of the most prestigious companies telling us, “Congratulations. You’ve got the job!”. And before we knew it, we were full-blown adults, with jobs and real-life bank accounts!


We didn’t even have time to catch up with old friends anymore. Most of my friends had gotten jobs in different parts of the country. We went from talking to each other every single day, to calling each other maybe once a month.


So there we were, my friend and I, grumbling about how drastically life had changed for all of us, in the blink of an eye. But at least there was some respite. At least we had the wonderful world of Online Gaming for some recreation. There were no time-constraints or even border-limitations for that matter – these were the new-age playgrounds : Digital Playgrounds! We could play whenever we had the time or inclination to play, with anyone who was online at that moment – whether they were in Bangalore, Kolkata or Mumbai.


And the best part was that I could beat my friend, who was, according to herself, unbeatable in Online Rummy. Every night, after work, I would settle down in my favourite chair in front of my laptop and begin my winning streak. It was my way of unwinding after a long day of work. This was the time when we went from being friends to competitors – for 3 long hours.


My friend and I came to the conclusion that life wasn’t all that bad after all. Sitting in our own apartment, with hot steaming bowls of soup, and an entire night of gaming stretching in front of us, life seemed pretty darn good!


Co Blogger- Duhita Jagtiani

Games24x7.com Announces Multi player Online Tournaments

Games24x7.com Press Release

Experience the thrill unleashed with Multi Player Tournaments on Games24x7.com, India's 1st Online Tournaments portal. With over 15,000 Online Tournaments and over Rs. 3 Lakh won in cash prizes, Games24x7.com today announced the launch of their multi-player knock-out tournaments platform.

“The new tournament engine will help us expand our tournament offerings rapidly. Now we will be running 32, 64, 128, 256 multiplayer tournaments and our technology backup allows us to scale it to any number, given the demand. This will reduce disappointment for late enrolments. And now we are all set to offer the most unique winning experience to thousands of players across India.” explained Mr. Vishnu Ram, CTO, Games24x7.com.

Our research also indicates that www.games24x7.com is India’s 1st and only online tournaments portal that gives real cash prizes. The real-cash knock-out tournaments in rummy and chess are a daily attraction and have helped the portal to grow rapidly.

“Today we are proud to be India’s 1st Online Tournaments Portal which is earmarked with these important milestones. We are happy to see the good response to our existing “Jhatpat” and “Trump” tournament series. We look forward to expand our online tournament offerings and continue to hold our leadership in online tournaments in India.” concluded Mr. Sachin Uppal, Marketing Director, Games24x7.com.

What is most interesting about games24x7.com is that as a special introductory offer, there is no tournament entry fee. Anyone can just log-in, play tournaments, and if sufficiently skilled at the games, laugh all the way to the bank. Surely it makes sense to say play more and win more at Games24x7.com.

Games24x7.com is India’s 1st online tournament company. Founded by a group of entrepreneurs from IIT and IIM backgrounds, Games24x7.com is set to bring forward the Indian competitive spirit in online games by offering real cash prize tournaments.

Games24x7.com - 3 Lakh in Cash Prizes, 15K LIVE Tournaments, 1 Lakh Seats

Games24x7.com, India's 1st Online Tournaments Portal 

has hosted over 15,000 LIVE Tournaments with over 1,00,000 Seats for players and given out over Rs. 3 Lakh in Cash prizes!

Online Games industry is so hot amidst recession and job lay-offs that daily over 1 Lakh online users visit Indian online games portals like Games24x7.com, Zapak.com, Games2win.com, Kreeda.com, Ace2three.com and more. On the online games front, recently India has seen various companies running championships and tournaments, however, only Games24x7.com has India's 1st and the most unique knock out tournament format where they host LIVE tournaments everyday and give out daily cash prizes.

In the recent past thousands of players across India have joined Games24x7.com and players have started playing their favourite games of online chess and online rummy non-stop. It's so exciting to play on Games24x7.com because there are limited seats and real cash prizes as give aways. The best part is the knock out tournaments format which gives the feeling of playing next to each other, like people play social community games.

The uniqueness lies of Games24x7.com lies in the knockout tournament format which is identical to the skill-based competitions like Wimbledon, T-20 Cricket and French open tennis tournaments. Winners in one round move to the next round and so on till a final winner emerges. This allows players to match wits at multiple skill levels in fast paced competitions where winners earn actual cash prizes. Games focus less on manual dexterity and more on mental challenge, while at the same time requiring quick reaction and decision making.  

I recently came across this article where Zapak Corporate Gaming Championship was held and over 4500 corporates and 50 organizations participated. The final participants included executives from Mindshare, Convergys, Hotel Le Meridian, Hotel Grand Hyatt, ICICI Prudential, NIIT, WNS Global Services, Group M, Aricent Technologies, Indigene Lifesystems, Cambridge Solutions, Mindtree, Hotel Royal Orchid Orchidaceae , Sparsh, Taj Wellingdon and Mindshare, across cities. It was full of fun and excitement and people took a deserving break from the mundance work routine and this also strengthened the social fiber of corporate bonding amongst employees.

The only dampner was was that people won some Holiday packages, Shirts, Flash Drives, Game CDs and Game Packs...un-fortunately no one still knows what to do with those packages and prizes. Also, why should you be given some gift and all if you can get real cash prizes and decide what you want to do with that cash. May be you want to Travel and you got a stupid flash drive, what on earth are you going to do with it? Another thing to look at is, you spent so much of your valuable time and what did it result in, some coupons and vouchers??? 

India's 1st Online Tournaments Portal, Games24x7.com offers real cash prizes for daily online tournaments in fast paced games like Online Chess Tournaments and Online Rummy Tournaments with monthly Cash prizes over Rs. 1 Lakh! I was super impressed by the way they have been hosting daily tournaments and the tournaments are joined by people all across India. They have done a fantastic job in reviving the social fibre of community games in a multiplayer knock out tournament format.

Win Real-Cash Prizes up to Rs. 1 Lakh only at India's 1st Online Tournaments portal

The online games space is set to see more fun and excitement with www.Games24x7.com announcing the New Trump Tournaments in rummy and chess. These tournaments will have real cash prizes up to Rs. 1 Lakh. This is happening for the 1st time in India!

Expanding its tournament offerings, www.Games24x7.com today announced the all NEW Trump Tournaments series 24x7. Games24x7.com offers fast paced competitive games like Online Chess and 13 Card Online Rummy.

“Keeping in mind the company’s philosophy to offer online tournaments 24x7, we have launched the New Trump Tournaments. Now players can log on to Games24x7.com at any time and play their favourite game of Chess or Rummy in a fast paced tournament format. There is up to Rs.1,00,000 to be won in cash prizes every month at Games24x7.com. As an introductory time offer all players can Play Free Online Games and win cash prizes on Games24x7.com.” said Mr. Sachin Uppal, the Marketing Director of Games24x7.com.

“Looking at the success of our existing Jhatpat Tournaments, we will continue to run them and they will be our key customer building strategy. This success has also given us the confidence to expand our tournament offerings for existing players and to provide them a platform 24x7 where they can enjoy their games whenever they want.” continued Mr. Sachin Uppal.

“I am very excited with the expansion of our real-cash prize tournaments. The launch of New Trump Tournaments is going to help us provide our customers with their favourite online games of rummy and chess 24x7. This will help us enhance relations with our existing customers, while building new relations.” said Mr. Bhavin Pandya, MD, Games24x7.com.

“Games24x7.com looks forward to change the way Online Games are played in India and we are proud to be the 1st Indian Online tournaments portal.” concluded Mr. Bhavin Pandya.

Reliance, TATA, Airtel Retarding Broadband Internet growth in India?

Are the three BIGGEST Telecom giants in India who are blinded by their short term company revenues are the real perpetrators of retarding the Growth of Broadband Internet in India?


Premise: Reliance Communication, Bharti Airtel and Tata Indicom all three are offering their wireless datacards for laptops and PCs. These datacards offer various connectivity speeds. However, it's very apparent that the bad wireless infrastructures, poor dataspeeds and over all un-satisfactory customer service is retarding and shooing away the customers from Internet. People get a very poor user experience and the overall confidence in the online media as the main stream media gets distorted completely. Day-by-day poor online experiences just adds to the frustation of new and existing users and end up making people anti-online. What could become as one of the biggest strength of India in uniting and bringing education and more jobs to the country may just go down the drain if appropriate steps are not taken.

A country like India where people plan months ago to buy their next gadget and save money meticulously and buy their dream gadget get fooled by buying such stupid datacards for better Internet connectivity.

The Proof: The Internet by its own nature of bringing the Voice of each customer to one common platform shows the PROOF of pathetic service, speed and connectivity issues which came along with these Wireless Data Cards from Reliance, Airtel and Tata Indicom.

Mouthshut.com an Online user generated content company which provides a platform to Indian users to post their personal experiences in terms of product reviews is just filled with BAD reviews about all these three service providers.

Reviews on Reliance Wireless Data Cards
Reviews on TATA Indicom Wireless Data Cards and USB Modems
Reviews on Bharti Airtel Wireless Data Cards and USB Modems

If this isin't proof enough, do a simple google search and over 50,000 review related search results will show up...mostly people crying out loud at the bad service or drivers or connectivity and bad user experiences.

Strategic Flaw or The Time is not right?
Well a lot of top honchos sitting in those top management plush seats would want to argue that this is not a strategic fault and they do offer Broadband Internet services but people are not ready to take those services up. Well obviously if you produce those stupid Datacards in BULK and push them through a marketing plan, people are bound to get driven. However, it's a SHORT term retarding growth strategy for overall Internet Adoption Strategy for the country. In a way the Datacards and USB modems etc are detrimental to the growth of the Internet adoption and widespread in India. And the best part is both Broadband and datacards are coming from the same Telecom company (Irony Simplified)!

When over 4 Millions users have adopted broadband internet (refer to TRAI report, July-08) there are very few reasons why others wouldn't want to adopt it. The reason (primarily) is high bandwidth cost and lesser education and awareness. Well if you have to shell out Rs 999 per month to get a decent broadband connectivity per month, obviously you are discouraging people from adopting Internet. When Mobile recharges come in small pre-paid values, why don't we allow the users to have low cost flexibility for a LONG Term Internet penetration and growth in country.

Conclusion: The short term revenues of organizations which are blinding them for providing poor infrastructure and bad connectivity should be overcome quickly. The Broadband Internet services should be provided at cheaper rates fueling the Internet demand in India. Improvement of Wireless Broadband, Cost reduction and better infastructure can really contribute to the fast paced growth. Public Private Partnership based Awareness and Education sessions to masses about the benefits of internet should be conducted to help promote the Internet growth in India.

Online Games Are Recession Proof

Here is an interesting article from Christopher Cummings of Dailygame.net

All year long, journalists, bloggers and various analystsYes! No! Maybe! have wondered, "Are games recession-proof?" The consensus seems to be:

DFC analyst David Cole puts it best, noting that the fizzling economy doesn't appear to be affecting game software sales. "Consumer spending on software is at record levels," he says, "and the game business seems to actually benefit from a recession, because games are a relatively cheap form of home entertainment."

If you go back to the Depression, obviously times were tough -- even tougher than they are today -- but people still needed to be entertained. They needed to escape their everyday lives and forget their problems. So what did they do? They went to the movies, read books, listened to the radio, played card and board games. They did everything we do today, and they had to do it cheaply, because money was in short supply.

Know something that's not in short supply? Computers. I know, I know, you probably don't even consider the PC a viable game platform since everyone knows the PC as a gaming platform is dead. Except, it's really not -- and that could be gaming's great salvation during these tough economic times.

The PC Gaming Alliance estimates there are 263 million online PC gamers. And according to DFC's new Online Game Market Forecasts report, PC online game revenue alone passed $7 billion in 2007, not including retail sales. Total PC game revenue is expected to reach $19 billion by 2013. Those are impressive figures for a "dead" gaming platform, and they add an exciting wrinkle to the question of games being recession-proof.

As times toughen economically, will consumers continue to shell out $30 to $60 for a console game? Will they back off the higher-priced games in favor of budget-oriented Wii titles? Or will they fire up the PC to play free casual games online?

Of course, there's a very real danger that shrinking consumer spending will affect advertising buys, which will negatively impact the free casual games market, which is largely ad-supported. However, while ad spending may slide in TV and the offline world, analysts predict inexpensive media types, such as the Internet, will weather this economic downturn relatively well. So maybe free online games aren't such a bad place to be, for consumers or for game developers/publishers.

My money, as always, is on online bingo. If you have a few minutes to kill, why wouldn't you go online, play a free game that you know with people you like, and try to win a few bucks? As gas prices rocket up and down, and the stock market sits and spins, family night with Dickie the Bingo Caller looks better and better.

Games24x7.com launches New Jhatpat Online Tournaments for Real Cash prizes!

Exciting new Indian online games group www.games24x7.com has announced the launch of its New Jhatpat Tournaments in Online Rummy and Online Chess. Though fairly innovative online gaming models have made their way into the Indian market in recent times, there is none yet to match the latest entrant www.games24x7.com.

www.games24x7.com offers exciting fun filled skill based competitive gaming. They have added two very unique dimensions to the space of competitive gaming. First, all their games are played in a knock-out tournament format adding a level of excitement to online games not yet seen in the Indian space. Even more significantly, they are the first and only online games site to offer and payout real cash prizes to their tournament winners.

Recently they launched an online real cash tournament campaign called Jhatpat Tournaments. These tournaments were launched with a Jhatpat Tournament funny teaser Video, 1 the day before and received an over whelming response.

Details about JHATPAT Tournaments – With these tournaments, www.games24x7.com have launched what can only be summarized as a “cash prizes to all” campaign. Jhatpat tournaments are fun and fast-paced competitions with real cash prizes paid out and No Entry Fee! Tournaments are offered on a daily basis at pre-fixed times with registration for these tournaments often closing in seconds. There are over 100 Jhatpat Tournaments a month with up to Rs. 30000 in cash prizes offered every week.

At www.games24x7.com, in addition to cash prizes in the daily free online rummy tournaments and free online chess tournaments, top players qualify for the weekend MEGA Tournament with Rs 10000/- in cash prizes. In sum, over Rs. 1.5 Lakhs is being given out in cash prizes in the Jhatpat tournaments and the best part is there are no entry fees! Keep on competing! Keep on Winning real cash prizes!1 m

- End -

Games24x7.com is an Indian online games start-up, founded by a group of entrepreneurs from IIT and IIM backgrounds, who have seen both eastern and western cultures are bringing the competitive spirit to win cash prizes in local Indian games to the masses. Games24x7.com is India’s first and only online games company to run daily skill based competitive tournaments with real cash prizes in online rummy and online chess.

Why India is stiill a Developing Nation?

Modern twist to an old tale

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Indian Version:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
-Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.
-Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
-Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.
-Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
-The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .
-Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
-CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.
-Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
-Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.
-Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.

The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.
Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.
CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '
Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later...

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley, 100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India.
AND.... As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers,
India is still a developing country!!!

List of Winners for ICA Chess Championship 2008

List of Winners for ICA Chess Championship 2008 organized by www.games24x7.com and Innovator's Chess Academy.



ICA Open Chess Championship Winners

1st Place Rahul Shandilya (5.5 pts)

2nd Place K.V.Sripad (5.5 pts)

3rd Place R.Nagesh (5 pts)

4th Place Prachura P.P (5 pts)

5th Place Vinod V (5.5 pts)

ICA Under 7 Chess Championship (Boys) Winners

1st Place: Vasishta (7 pts)

2nd Place: Avinash Raj (6 pts)

3rd Place: J Ashwin (5.5 pts)

4th Place: Prajwal Shet (5 pts)

ICA Under 7 Chess Championship (Girls) Winners

1st Place: Ojasi Gopikrishna (4 pts)

2nd Place: Sai Bhavana (3 pts)

3rd Place: Tanisha Dighe (2 pts)

4th Place: Smrithi Suresh (2 pts)

5th Place: Pritha Jaipal (2 pts)

ICA Under 9 Chess Championship (Boys) Winners

1st Place: L.S.Prabhanjan (6 pts)

2nd Place: Dushyanth Raju (5 pts)

3rd Place: Sanjeev (5 pts)

4th Place: T.Vikas (5 pts)

5th Place: Sachin Jajoo (5 pts)

ICA Under 9 Chess Championship (Girls) Winners

1st Place: Prannita (6 pts)

2nd Place: Sharanya (5 pts)

3rd Place: Hanan Rouf (5 pts)

4th Place: H.K.Aditi (4.5 pts)

5th Place: Srishti Moorthy (4 pts)

ICA Under 11 Chess Championship (Boys) Winners

1st Place: Arjun Govind (6 pts)

2nd Place: L Manas (5.5 pts)

3rd Place: Vijeth T.A.(5 pts)

4th Place: Chirag Ramesh (5 pts)

5th Place: R Parthasarathy (5 pts)

ICA Under 11 Chess Championship (Girls) Winners

1st Place: T C Meghana (4 pts)

2nd Place: V Srilakshmi (3 pts)

3rd Place: Priyanka Bharadwaj (3 pts)

4th Place: Namratha G.M. (3 pts)

5th Place: Amrita Narayan (2.5 pts)

ICA Under 13 Chess Championship Winners

1st Place: Sudhanshu Nath Mishra (5.5 pts)

2nd Place: Goutham S (5 pts)

3rd Place: Srikanth S (5 pts)

4th Place: V Uttej (5 pts)

5th Place: Sindhu Shekar (4.5 pts), Girls 1st Place

ICA Under 15 Chess Championship Winners

1st Place: Augustine (4 pts)

2nd Place: K.S.Harikrishna (3 pts)

3rd Place: B S Swarnesh Rao (3 pts)

4th Place: Pallavi Bharadwaj (3 pts), Girls 1st Place

5th Place: Amrita Suresh (2.5 pts), Girls 2nd Place

ICA and Games24x7.com successfully host 4th Annual Chess Championship 2008 in Bangalore

2nd October 2008, Bangalore: Mr. Sushruta Reddy, National Arbiter and Secretary, Innovators Chess Academy (ICA) in association with Games24x7.com hosted the 4th Annual ICA Rapid Chess Championship 2008 and the 3rd Innovators Chess Academy Inter-School Chess Championship on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti in Bangalore.

The ICA Championship 2008 saw a massive response with nearly 350 players participating from the south of India including Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore and neighbouring cities. There was an active participation from young, up-coming champions of chess and their parents in various age categories. The open chess tournament saw a very strong response with the veterans and cream of the top talent participating.

Mr. Sushruta Reddy who is the ex. Jt. Secretary of United Karnataka Chess Association and a chess coach and founder of the Innovators Chess Academy has been a very active arbiter and a strong proponent of promoting the skill based game of chess and taking it to the masses. In recent times, people have shown active interest in participating in a completely new online blitz chess tournament model where people can play online tournaments for cash prizes and the game of chess is now spreading to the masses.

www.games24x7.com was the official sponsor for the ICA Championship 2008 where Mr. Reddy himself is an active player. Mr. Bhavin Pandya, co-founder and managing director of Games24x7.com said, “We have an active association with Mr. Sushruta Reddy right from the starting days of Games24x7.com and he has been an active player and a strong contributor to the development of the chess game on our website. We offer online chess and rummy tournaments catering to the local needs of Indian gaming enthusiast. When Mr. Reddy approached us with the opportunity for being part of ICA Championship, we were very enthusiastic and immediately confirmed our support in his noble initiative to expand chess tournaments in the southern part of India."

Rahul Shandilya won the ICA Open Chess Championship 2008 when he defeated R Nagesh in the final round. Although Rahul tied with K.V.Sripad for the first place with 5.5 points apiece, the former finished ahead due to a higher tie breaker score.

The detailed list of winners of the ICA chess championships 2008 can be seen here.

About Games24x7.com – Games24x7.com is an Indian online games start-up founded by a group of entrepreneurs from IIT and IIM who have seen both eastern and western cultures and wish to bring the spirit of local Indian games to the masses. Games24x7.com is India’s first online games company to run skill based competitive daily tournaments with real cash prizes in rummy and chess.

About Innovator’s Chess Academy – Innovator’s Chess Academy (ICA) is one of the premier and most Active Chess Organizations in Bangalore. The Academy has organized nearly 50 Chess Tournaments since early 2005 besides providing Coaching to children in various parts of the City. The Academy also enjoys strong support from the United Karnataka Chess Association (UKCA). ICA founded by Mr. Sushruta Reddy, and supported by Vice Presidents, Mr. Durgesh and Mr. Karthik Shetty has now branched to Muscat and Oman.

For any further information please contact:
Sachin Uppal, Marketing Director,
Play Games24x7 Pvt.Ltd.
Mumbai, Maharashtra


Sushruta Reddy
National Arbiter and Secretary,
Innovators Chess Academy
Bangalore, Karnataka

Shafqat Amanat Ali Debuts with Album TABEER in India

Tabeer Launch Party - Tabeer, Shafqat Amanat Ali’s Debut Album in India

ITC Grand Central, Ball Room, Mumbai, India 20^th September 2008 evening 7.30 PM – 11.00 PM

Shafqat Amanat Ali, the former lead vocalist of a Pakistani pop band known as "Fuzon" today released his first solo album TABEER with a big bang and huge media presence in India. Strongly supported by Mr. Mahesh Bhatt and under the flagship of Music Today (part of India Today Group) launched this album. The launch party was a fun-fan-fair at the Grand ball Room of the ITC Grand Central in Parel, Mumbai.

The room was jam packed with fans standing all around the ball room mesmerized by the scintillating performance by Shafqat. In a very friendly approach Shafqat interacted with audience well and kept moving all around the room and involved the audience by asking them to sing with him and even to the extent that he brought couple of people on stage to sing.

JK Tyres, India Today, Antiquity, Rajshri.com were some of the key sponsors of the event. Interestingly the rajshri.com which was the digital partner is also promoting this event heavily through Tabeer contests on their website and facebook campaigns. Much credit goes to Roli Chaturvedi the Marketing and PR head for Rajshri.com.

Shafqat belongs to the Patiala gharana of classical music. The gharana is famous for its concentration on intricate taan-patterns and sargams. With his family, he has been part of the Pakistani classical musical tradition for eight generations.

Shafqat Amanat Ali – the Rockstar Ustad (A term coined by Bollywood music director Salim Merchant who couldn't be present at the launch function) promises to be the biggest singing sensation to hit the subcontinent in recent times. He is highly respected among music circles due to his classically trained voice and his command over modern music as well. While he is one of the best current singers in Pakistan, Shafqat is also highly respected in India after performing the vocals for the song Mitwa from the Indian film Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Interestingly this song was performed live in front of the audience on a special request by a female fan from the audience and the entire crowd just swayed on the tunes of their favourite song. The songs were well received by the audience as well as the critics. He was also the voice behind the critically acclaimed song Yeh Honsla from the Indian film Dor. The songs - "Mora Saiyan" and "Tere Bina" are also featured in Nagesh Kukunoor's Hyderabad Blues 2.

The music is a beautiful mix of classical vocals with music that fuses classical influences with modern instrumentation. yes there's electric guitar riffs, but there are also layers of classical percussions and winds.

You can DOWNLOAD Shafqat Ammanat Ali’s Tabeer the entire album here from a torrent file or you can listen to the entire album online below:-

01. Khairheyan De Naal – Play Now
02. Naina
03. Dum Ali Ali Dum
04. Rang Le
05. Bulleh Shah
06. Pagalpan
07. Rohi
08. Kartar (Darbari)
09. Manqabat (Ya Ali)