Welcome to another episode of Techie Interviews where we interview some of the top Asian tech bloggers. In this episode we will be interviewing Narayanan Hariharan from Tech Spikes, he also has couple of other blogs not related to technology . They are Hangout Digger and The Movie Analyst.

Introduction

Can you Introduce yourself and your blog to our readers?

Hey guys, I’m Narayanan and I blog at Tech Spikes (http://www.techspikes.com). I started this blog in April 2007 and it’s been a roller coaster experience so far. Before I started this, I used to blog at Blogger and that was a total time pass. I decided then to venture into professional blogging and that’s when Hangout Digger(HD) came into being. Tech Spikes(TS) is actually my second proper blog even though my favorite still is HD!

I do have another blog on very crisp movie reviews (not the long ones you are used to ) – The Movie Analyst (TMA) Apart from blogging at Tech Spikes I also run a small marketing management & PR firm called The Mantra Consulting and dabble with both online and offline markets.

Personal Preferences

Operating System Preference: Windows, Linux or Mac?

Windows! I’ve tried Ubuntu, but Windows has always been my primary OS.

Browser Preferences: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, Google Chrome or any other?

Firefox, if I have to use an alternate browser then it is IE8 (not any other version of IE – the rest are pathetic!) Google Chrome as of now is a big no no. It crashes Firefox The rest I’ve never tried!

Being a Tech Blogger, you would definitely have some favorite softwares, can you share them with our readers?

Outlook for mails, Firefox for browsing, the complete MS Office bouquet of softwares for whatever they are used for, Winamp for music, VLC to play movies, GTalk for chatting, Twhirl for twittering, Mindjet MindManager for mind-mapping (can’t do without this one! – damn useful!), Team Viewer for screen sharing.. that’s all I can remember for now!

What gadgets do you own as of today?

I use a Dell Inspiron 6400, recently spoilt my SE K750i and I’m targeting the SE XPERIA, I use an iPod nano 2G to listen to music and I guess that’s it!

What Feed Reader(s) do you Use?

I use Feed Demon.

Do you have any favorite Tech Blogs you read on a daily or regular basis?

Tech Crunch & RWW – this one is a must read.

BlogTalk

Why did you decide to blog about technology?

Aaah.. TS came into being because I realized that people around me (read that as people from my previous work place) did not know much about internet, various technologies n so on and they continued to be ignorant. I wanted TS to be a one stop shop for such people. That’s how it began!

What tools do you use for Blogging?

Firefox for browsing, Smart Capture for screenshots, WLW for blogging (sometimes), coreFTP or FileZilla for uploading/downloading files.

What analytic tools do you use to track traffic on your blog?

Google Analytics, pMetrics (paid version), reinvigorate and now Woopra too! That’s one too many!

Is the technology niche saturated today? What are the things you do to keep your blog unique from others?

I don’t think it is saturated. In many parts of the world people are just beginning to use the internet. There’s always space for beginners. But then for all new blogging enthusiasts – Do start ASAP!

How do you react to a product/software release? Do you feel the urge to blog it?

I love to check out new product releases and try them immediately. I do feel the urge to blog about it but then there’s always no time I’m going to try make some time for new releases though.

What are the features, qualities you look in a product / software before you blog about it?

Only one – whether it is of some use to me or not!

Don’t you think readers get a overdose of content with new product/software releases?

Yes.. but it is unavoidable. There are just way too many bloggers out their to give their opinions on new releases!

Past / Future and Some Advice for Readers

Going into the past, would you have liked to take up another niche? Please elaborate.

I did dabble on two other niches like I told you guys earlier – food and entertainment with HD & movie reviews with TMA.. However people seem to be more interested in technology than other niches.. Or I’ve got it wrong and made all the wrong moves! If you think you can come up with a better idea for my other two blogs, I’d love to hear some feedback!

Going into the future, what would you do to stay in the higher bracket of tech blogs?

I will coax myself to churn out more posts per day. There’s obviously a lot to write on, time is the only constraint!

And finally, before signing off, any special advice on blogging about technology for our readers?

Read a lot and give honest opinions. If you are going to give your opinion based on other bloggers, the readers are better off reading the original ones!

And that was Narayanan Hariharan for you don’t forget to visit his blog Tech Spikes to follow his take on technology.