Personally Tech With Raj Ramaswamy, Co-Founder ShopinSync

In our weekly column Personally Tech we talk to people from all walks of life to learn about the apps and gadgets that they love and can’t live without. Technology has changed the way we all live and work, in myriad ways. We’ve looked at the gear that the leaders of companies like WinMagic, Little, andDroom, among others.

This week, we caught up with Raj Ramaswamy, the co-founder of ShopinSync, and e-commerce platform that allows you to compare prices across the major online retailers, and chat with friends, sharing product listings with details and prices. In effect, it’s like blending together Amazon’s Junglee, with Flipkart’s Ping. Here’s what Ramaswamy told us about his gadgets and gear.

Describe your technology setup – what computer/ phone/ tablet/ camera/ gaming console/ other gadgets do you use?
Raj Ramaswamy: I use my Retina MacBook Pro 13-inch and my iPhone 6 for most of my work. For the last few months, I’ve been using several Android devices and I am super impressed with the Google Nexus 5X.

I am a big music, movies and news junkie, for which I use my iPad Air, Apple TV, and a plasma TV from Panasonic.

My other big hobby is photography, for which I use the Canon 5D Mark III, which I absolutely love.

What are three apps (mobile/ tablet or PC/ Mac) you couldn’t live without?
Raj Ramaswamy: When I was living in the US, I couldn’t live without Amazon, and on my iPhone I probably use Mail and Messages the most. I also can’t live without YouTube.

Which is the one gadget (other than your phone) you never travel without?
Raj Ramaswamy: For work trips, it would be my MacBook. For leisure, it would be my DSLR.

What is your dream gadget/ technology setup?
Raj Ramaswamy: Smartphones are increasingly turning to be the central hubs, using which we can manage so many different things from the temperature of our homes to monitor health/ fitness. Projecting that trend a bit further out, it’s going to be pretty amazing how much more visibility and control we’d have of our lives in near real time, which can dramatically improve the quality of our lives.

Personally speaking, I’m looking forward to a highly energy efficient smart home, a home theatre with an amazing audio and video system, and a state of the art studio to program and record music.

And while we are at it, I’m really looking forward to self-driving cars. As a father of a three-year-old, and having seen enough self-driving cars around Silicon Valley, it is extremely gratifying to think that my son may never have to drive.

How has technology changed the way in which you work? Raj Ramaswamy: Technology has helped us connect in ways we could not have imagined a few years back. Because of this, we have been able to do so much more across geographies, as a result of which we have been able to be far more productive than ever before.

To see more stories about the apps and gadgets that people love and can’t live without, check out our other Personally Tech articles.