Godly to Chaotic

 It funny & interesting the way media transforms its opinions about (read makes and/or breaks) brands, companies, products… Just a couple of years after a headline in New York Times which asked “Is Google God?“, its time to crash it down with a cover titled “Chaos @ Google” in Fortune.

Here is my dependency on Google…

• Text Search (define: is one of my fave)
• Image Search
• News Search
• Orkut
• Blogger
• PicasaWeb
• AdSense
• Maps
• Search APIs

And the rest:

• Email - Yahoo
• Chat - Predominatingly Yahoo
• Online Music - Pandora, Yahoo Messenger
• RSS Reader - Attensa
• Calendar - Yahoo
• International Finance - Yahoo
• Indian Finance - MoneyControl, ICICIDirect

 Since long I strongly feel Google lacks a roadmap for it products. Froogle has been in BETA since ages. GMail, Google Reader, Google Video all in BETA! Would like to hear how Google defines BETA.

Posted in Computers & Technology | 12 Comments

Weekend @ Ooty

Most visitors to Ooty would say “Oh… its got commerical”! Here are our memories from the trip to the beautiful hill station and trust us, its still a lovely place. You just have to go the extra mile to reach out.

Highlight of the trip was the 28km tough drive to Avalanche & the 4km track trekking from Lovedale to Ketti. Not to miss the hotel we stayed called Sherlock, part of Littlearth group. Their hotels would be my strong recommendations to anybody visiting Ooty

The next few weeks my desktop will be adorned with Ooty flora. At this point, it is this: 

From Weekend @ Ooty

Posted in Travel & Hotels | 2 Comments

That’s Me

Here is the original shot in front of a tunnel during the track trekking in Ooty. Increased highlights & saturation in Picasa for the effect.

Posted in Other Categories | 4 Comments

Slight Problem?

ICICIBank online says “There is a slight problem in the system”! A problem is a problem is a problem and I am not able to access the bank online! What is “slight” about it? Frustrating…

Posted in Computers & Technology | 3 Comments

Fun with codes

Google Source Code Search is coming! Though the official launch is yet to happen, its up @ http://www.google.com/codesearch. The concept itself is not entirely new. Koder.com & Krugle.com do similar jobs.

Time for some fun. Developers always love to take a peek into others code! What can be more fun that to search code for “interesting” comments! Following are a few from my dirty mind:

http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl=en&lr=&q=fuck&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl=en&lr=&q=%22I+hate%22
http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl=en&lr=&q=%22i+love%22&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/codesearch?q=%22i+swear%22&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=
http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl=en&lr=&q=%22this+sucks%22&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/codesearch?q=holy+crap&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=
http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl=en&lr=&q=screwed&btnG=Search

Posted in Computers & Technology | 2 Comments

SMS : Super Money Service

 3 participants… Average about 2,50,000 SMS votes from each of the 4 zones of India for every participant! That totals to 3 * 4 * 2,50,000 = 30,00,000 SMSes! All this in approximately a week from just 1 show - Sa Re Ga Ma little champs on Zee TV!!! Even without an effort of having to consider the per SMS rate, this number throws a picture of the scale of the market. With GSM subscriber base adding over 4 million new subscribers in September and at the similar rate every month, a great market is in the making. Nokia, HP & Radio Mirchi have already recognised this potential market. This is evident with the launch of visual radio (what is visual radio). As FM stations struggle to make money with advertising, this could just be the unseen revenue stream! The Airtels and Hutchs of course, would not mind this extra money too! Short Messaging Service or  Super Money Service!

Posted in Computers & Technology | No Comments

Vishnu’s Life and Death

My colleague and good friend, Vishnu started blogging with a scarely title “Life and Death“. I like his contra thoughts and instant reactions which are honest but funny at times. Hope with time these reflect in his blog.

He says, “I wrote it because I want to write it… and not because I want someone to read it“. I am sure he meant that. However, I wonder how easy (or tough) it is to practice this. I can run a long list of those who started and then with time stopped. They might have stopped blogging for a number of reasons but I generally believe its lack of audience. People love to see comments to their blogs. Even envy blogs those that get lot of comments. When comments are dry, you wonder why the feature to add the comments, then you wonder why blog…

Meanwhile, here is a short yet insightful relationship between blogging and human nature.

Posted in My Life | No Comments

MBA - The divorce degree

Alicen Spaulding
and her husband, Steve, decided to pursue their graduate degrees at the
same time—she her Master’s in public health at Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore, and he his MBA at the University of Michigan’s Ross
School of Business. While she knew living apart for the first year
would be a huge sacrifice for them both, the heavy load of her
husband’s outside-the-classroom obligations caught her by surprise.

“I wish I would
have been more mentally prepared for how intense the experience was
going to be for Steve, compared to my graduate-school experience,” she
says. “I don’t think I was really ready for just how scarce his time
was going to be.”

Much is written and spoken about the MBA entrance exams and salaries. Can Your Relationship Survive B-School? - is an off-beat article in BusinessWeek on how the toll an MBA takes on one’s relationships.

Posted in Education & Reference | 1 Comment

DesiCritics

 I now write at DesiCritics. My long wish to post my article titled “Job Interviews: An Opportunity To Build A Brand” in a place which would get more eye balls seems have been served. That was my first at DesiCritics. Subsequently 3 more:

• Sabeer Bhatia and his latest toy on the internet.
• Supply Chain Management for Beginners
• Truth in Advertising - Indiatimes Shopping - Is It Reliable?

Next in the pipeline will be a thumbs down review of “The Job Show” on CNBC. Part II of “SCM for Beginners” will surely happen but it will take a while. What is really good about DesiCrictics is that they actually encourage cross posting between blogs and them. This makes it all too simple that having to make a complicated decision! Thanks to Geniusoid, one of the authors at DC for a nice icon he created on my request. I wanted one to post to my blogs which are also on DesiCritics. Thanks for Feed2JS, I got this sidebar which lists the latest articles at DC and my articles at DC.

“Subcontinental Drift . Fresh News . Fresh Opinions” … Thats DC.

Posted in My Life | 12 Comments

What it takes to build a web app

 An excellent talk by Ryan Carson on “What it takes to build a web app” based on his experience with DropSend. I was blown out with its simplicity yet contentful nature the first time I heard it. Some of my takeaways:

One more from that which may not apply to many but surely to me: “dream but dont become obsessive“. This talk was part of a one-day summit called “The future of webapps”. The other speaker talks are available here which I am yet to listen to.

Posted in Events | 1 Comment