Status Czech

GIZMOGEEK

A true-blue BlackBerry addict, Dr Anand Deshpande, founder and CMD of Persistent Systems, is a geek who has checked his emails even while holidaying in Alaska. Betting big on the use of game boxes for business intelligence, Deshpande takes pride in showing off his Nintendo Wii and his latest Toshiba notebook.

Have your gadgets ever come to your rescue?
Yes, I recently was on vacation with my family and was travelling to Europe. I encountered a strange situation where the airport authorities wouldn't accept my family's existing visa to enter the Czech Republic.

Luckily, using my BlackBerry I could browse the website of the Czech embassy in India, which says if an Indian has a Schengen visa then he or she does not require a separate Czech visa. I showed it to the airport people, and it worked.

Your coolest gadget, one that you like to show off, is...
The Nintendo Wii.

What's the geekiest thing you have ever done?
I have checked emails even while in Alaska.

How do you get the most juice out of your gadgets?
I have recently bought the new Toshiba R500 series notebook. We managed to integrate that with BlackBerry and Bluetooth devices on Vista. I use beta versions of products like Office 2007, MOSS 2007 and now I have installed a new product, Xobni, on Outlook.

To play around with all such new products, you need good computing power, and the new Toshiba notebook is all geared up to handle these geeky tantrums.

What would be the perfect geeky gift for you?
A memory stick, perhaps.

Name an ultra-expensive gadget that you have bought or would like to buy in the near future.
The new Toshiba R500 series notebook and a new karaoke system.

Is there a technology that you have been personally interested in?
The use of game boxes for business intelligence, which I believe is going to be the future technology. I am also keen to explore the usage of emails. As a user, I find it very comforting to send and receive emails. Imagine if all of this gets integrated with enterprise applications like web portals or CRM systems.

One good example of this would be the email IDs associated with the lists you develop in SharePoint portals so that the user does not have to log on to the portal to upload the status. Instead, he can send an email to a specific email ID and the report directly gets uploaded.

Which is the most stylish gadget in your arsenal?
LCD TVs in the office and at home.