causeries

Power of "Free"

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:24:00 +0000

Got link to this article on Wired from Ajit's blog. One of best article I have ever read!!!

Between digital economics and the wholesale embrace of King's Gillette's experiment in price shifting, we are entering an era when free will be seen as the norm, not an anomaly. How big a deal is that? Well, consider this analogy: In 1954, at the dawn of nuclear power, Lewis Strauss, head of the Atomic Energy Commission, promised that we were entering an age when electricity would be "too cheap to meter." Needless to say, that didn't happen, mostly because the risks of nuclear energy hugely increased its costs. But what if he'd been right? What if electricity had in fact become virtually free?The answer is that everything electricity touched — which is to say just about everything — would have been transformed. Rather than balance electricity against other energy sources, we'd use electricity for as many things as we could — we'd waste it, in fact, because it would be too cheap to worry about.

All buildings would be electrically heated, never mind the thermal conversion rate. We'd all be driving electric cars (free electricity would be incentive enough to develop the efficient battery technology to store it). Massive desalination plants would turn seawater into all the freshwater anyone could want, irrigating vast inland swaths and turning deserts into fertile acres, many of them making biofuels as a cheaper store of energy than batteries. Relative to free electrons, fossil fuels would be seen as ludicrously expensive and dirty, and so carbon emissions would plummet. The phrase "global warming" would have never entered the language.

Today it's digital technologies, not electricity, that have become too cheap to meter. It took decades to shake off the assumption that computing was supposed to be rationed for the few, and we're only now starting to liberate bandwidth and storage from the same poverty of imagination. But a generation raised on the free Web is coming of age, and they will find entirely new ways to embrace waste, transforming the world in the process. Because free is what you want — and free, increasingly, is what you're going to get.

Japanese cellphones to turn into 'robot' buddies

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:04:00 +0000

This is really interesting... Soft-bank's latest mobile line looks like small humanoid with attached arms and legs and screen showing various face gestures. Arms and legs do not move but cellphone have enough intelligence to detect some of your habits, like calling frequently a person, and interact with user with some AI algorithms.

Arms and legs won't move but can be set in particular position. These kind of mobile phones look like enhanced version of current dolls to me, with knowledge of some of your personal information and some AI algorithms. So, this "Pretty Doll" is kind of dangerous as if someone gets hold of "her", he can pretty much get some aspects of your personal habits!.. so be careful!!

Great Book: Games Indians Play

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:52:00 +0000

We hear many times that there is something different about being "Indian", many management gurus talk about how people(non-Indians) can deal effectively with their Indian counterparts. Few days back, some people were discussing on a forum that how Indian workers differ from non-Indians, the point was, Indians can not say “No”, in general Indian’s get offended very quickly.. And so on...

V Raghunathan in this book tries to explain some of these “unique” characteristic of being Indian in context of behavioral economics and game theory. Very cleverly he explains that how Indians are “privately smart and publicly dumb” people, how defaulting has been deep rooted in our thinking and behavior. V Raghunathan makes a point that, every Indian is in some kind of “prisoner’s dilemma” and how every Indian thinks that “defaulting is best way” for himself to get benefited more, which in fact is not true and even though gains might be true at individual level, we, as a society fail to succeed in long term. V Raghunathan also argues that Indians are second to none in intellectual capabilities in fact Indians undergo more extensive intellectual exercise in every situation but only to “default” with others and hence resulting in “more publicly dumb” behavior.

V Raghunathan also talks about why we lack in self regulating and punish the defaulters, our extensive intellectual exercises in “iterative prisoner’s dilemma” context, he talks about different strategies such as “tit-for-tat”, “never-again” to deal with situation and right strategy to adopt for “publicly smart” behavior which in reality results as more beneficial for society.

While many of above terms seem to more theoretical than practical, all of us see many real life examples of problems that V Raghunathan is talking about around us.

There are many examples to talk about where what V Raghunathan says is applicable. I would say this is most Practical book I have ever read and I feel what V Raghunathan says holds 100% true. More interesting stuff to think about is, how to get most out of such “systematic chaotic” situation and flourish your businesses and bring out more “publicly smart” behavior? What strategies one should adopt to build successful business around “systematic chaotic” situation?

Al Pacino's Inspirational Speech

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:10:00 +0000

".... In any fight, it's the guy who is willing to die, who is going to win that inch... and I know if I am gonna have any life anymore is because I am still willing to fight and die for that inch.. because thats what living is ... "

Penguin India Partners with Mobifusion to Make Books Available on Mobile Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:47:00 +0000

I think this is one of important event for Indian mobile consumer. Books delivered to mobile are already a big hit in Japan and was $82 million business a year ago, India promises a great prospect! Content will play a big role here. Traditional books in e-format will not be preferred stuff to read on small mobile screen( and that's where I doubt how much Penguin will be successful here), rather a small sized content relevant to Indian context will make a big difference. Good development to keep watch on!

India wireless subscriber's addition touches new peak of 8.77 million per month!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:53:00 +0000

8.77 million wireless subscribers were added in January 2008, as compared to 8.17 million added in month of December 2007, highest ever addition in a month till date! Total wireless subscriber base stood at 242.4 million at end of January 2008. On the other hand wire line subscriber base has decreased to 39.22 million as against 39.25 million in December 2007. Broadband (>=256Kbps download) subscriber base has reached to 3.24 million by January 2008 end as compared to 3.13 million at the end of December 2007.

Our cell phones, ourselves

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:55:00 +0000

Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase investigates the ways we interact with technology -- a quest that has led him from the villages of Uganda to the insides of our pockets

Follow this link to watch the great video!

zzzPhone... A Beginning of New Era in Cellphone Industry?

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:32:00 +0000

Ever wanted to customize your phone the way you could do it with PC either on Dell or with your local computer retailer shop? Turn on and off the features you like or you don't need? Wanted to have your own logo ? Well its all possible... You can customize many features of this zzzPhone and often with less money than what similar products in market would be priced at along with 30 day service guarantee! See image below to check out all the features that you can customize!

Active infrastructure sharing and Indian mobile subscriber

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:56:00 +0000

In a important move Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has approved Trai's recommendation to allow service providers to share their active infrastructure, which is going to help service providers to reduce their infrastructure expenditure drastically directly benefiting the Indian mobile subscribers. The move will certainly help to reduce tariff rates but beyond that, its boon for new spectrum licensees who will piggy back on larger service providers for most of their infrastructure and will launch services quickly and probably with less investments. Another interesting outcome will be nation's "largest network" advertisement, and Reliance Communication's "No Air" advertisement will not hold true going forward. Situation will be interesting as, if for a given geographical region, there is cellular coverage, all networks will be present there... This "everyone or no one" situation will fuel competition and further tariff wars..... Rural areas will get benefited. All in all very important move!

11 Digit Mobile Numbers in India?

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:09:00 +0000

With Indian mobile subscriber base increasing by approx 8 million per month, Government and regulator are thinking of 11 digit mobile numbers in India. Currently in India we have 10 digit numbers and India had around 237 million mobile subscribers by end of 2007. 2008 will be interesting year for India as it will have second largest pool of mobile users after China as India will surpass USA's 257 million pool.

Nutrition on the Go

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:25:00 +0000

They say that new year resolutions are broken even before 31st January! But now you might be able to keep that resolution for all 365 days if its related to controlling your calories intake! Nutrition on the Go service from diet.com allows you to send restaurant name and menu item name as SMS and will send you reply back with SMS message indicating calories in specified menu item!! Won't your decision to choose right menu item will be more informed decision then? Cool!

Chute: A cellphone with cover made of bamboo!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:33:00 +0000

Michael Laut has designed a cell phone, Chute, which is quite interesting. Chute does not have familiar plastic, metal or glass body cover, rather it's body cover is made with bamboo! As he describes on his website 'Chute: Chute is a bamboo-faced smart phone designed to give consumers a new experience with regard to mood and style that are expected from a cellular device. The wood creates a warmer, more relaxed feeling than the current "cold" materials used in typical devices.'

Well that's really interesting!

Nationwide network of cellphones to detect radioactive dirt?

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 05:28:00 +0000

This is interesting idea... ubiquitous nature of cellphones making researchers at Purdue University to think of nationwide network of cellphones to act as intelligence system to report unexpected radiation in crowded areas such trains, theatres, etc. A sensor in cellphone will detect the radiation along with location information obtained from GPS, will be reported to security officials using cellular network over Internet. Looking at radiation report and location information, officials can take action quickly! Good stuff!!

Check out details at here.

Mobile "Love Detector"

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:36:00 +0000

The "Love Detector" service from mobile operator KTF uses technology that is supposed to analyze voice patterns to see if a lover is speaking honestly and with affection.
"We created this service because we thought people would want to know what others were feeling about them," said Ahn Hee-jung, a KTF official.
Users who speak by pointing their mobile phones at themselves for video conferences can see a "love meter" bar on the screen of their handset during a conversation.

Question on my mind - Are people becoming slaves to technology?

Source: Reuters

Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:27:00 +0000

A young boy selling roses waits for customers at a waterfront on Valentine's Day in Mumbai February 14, 2008

Source: Reuters

Barcamp 5 @Google, Hyderabad

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:01:00 +0000

This is going to be my first barcamp... Pretty excited to see some interesting people... If you are interested in participating, register yourself at http://barcamp.org/BarCampHyderabad5 .

A great advertising!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:44:00 +0000

I always had been fan of Hutch advertisements on TV... and I think Vodafone has kept the spirit of great advertising even after Hutch sold its stake to Vodafone... Check out one of my favorites!

A Video that explains Web best!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 05:54:00 +0000

Indian Marriage!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:53:00 +0000

Couple of days back I was having discussion with one of my colleague about management issues that we see commonly in many organizations... and the one which we were discussing profoundly was "lack of clarity in many of the things".

I was on one end trying to convince him that the most important thing that a manager & his team should be aware of is clarity of his project and benefits the organization is going to get from his (or his team's) work. He had slightly different view that, in Indian way of managing, manager would never like to give clarity of many of aspects of project, and in many cases he would not be informed well by his manager providing clarity of goals or benefits of a particular effort.

For me, it was a big surprise that it could happen in that way. To convince me, he gave numerous examples from both Govt and private organizations about how managers work there and suggested that there exists a book on this topic..

Well.. after giving much thought to discussion, I think its Indian way of doing things... I remember a beautiful analogy given by Edward Luce in his book to Indian marriage.. "its like a group of honeybees who are flying, if you look at each individual bee, it would appear that its going nowhere and flying in random direction, but if you look at whole group of honebees, you would certainly realize that they are flying in one particular direction."

Congrats Team India!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 07:16:00 +0000

Superb performance by both teams! Proud that we witnessed this thrilling and historical moment!

Photo source: rediff.com

Renew Driving Licence Every Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 07:53:00 +0000

It was very interesting to read in today's ET that Ministry of Urban Development is proposing to make renewal of driving licences every year mandatory. If implemented Govt feels that it will improve law & order compliance.

Doesn't it sound stupid? I mean Ministry of Urban Development should focus more on developing urban transportation infrastructure, reduce pollution and develop more green areas in cities? Everyday when I get to my office, I have to ride my bike through big pools of clogged rain water in middle of roads and I am sure thousands of others are facing similar issues.

To Dear Smiley!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:38:00 +0000

Belated Happy Birthday :-)

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/smiley/

Its time for break again!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 06:37:00 +0000

Its been long time since my bike trip to Dharwad-Hampi completing almost 1200Km in 3 days. Its time for break again, we will be visiting Madikeri and Coorg on September end... Time for chill out in coffee plantation covered hills and waterfalls!! Coorg Coffee was like cherry on ice-cream!!!

I should be making my travel and lodging arrangement now.... more on trip and photos later..

Back With Bang!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:48:00 +0000

Well its very long time since my last post on causeries! And giving reasons for that is not going to change anything.. so let me warm up by posting a great quote from Sir Richard Branson,

"If you're embarking around the world in a hot-air balloon, don't forget the toilet paper. Once, we had to wait for incoming faxes!"- Richard Branson

And I am sure you got what SRB wanted to convey here!....

Keep reading!

Hum Hai Na!

noreply@blogger.com (Pravin) — Fri, 11 May 2007 12:40:00 +0000

I was quite impressed with ICICIDirect until I saw variation in purchase value & actual value of NAV of a certain mutual fund's systematic investment plan (SIP) in my monthly statement. The actual (AMC’s published at the closure of business day) value was X and ICICIDirect had used a higher value Y. I went through SIP details to check out Entry Load but as usual there was no entry load for SIPs and 2.25% for normal purchases. Upon contacting customer care, lady on other end revealed that, ICICI uses “Sale Price” published at AMFI. To my surprise, Y was same as “Sale Price” on that particular day. Going through, AMFI I realized that “Sale Price” is includes actual (AMC’s published at the closure of business day) value plus appropriate Entry Load as decided by AMC. That means unknowingly (unless they have read this article or got information from ICICIDirect) everyone on ICICDirect is paying Entry Load for SIP of that particular mutual fund.
Now, I won’t say whether it’s right or wrong to charge Entry Load when you tell zero Entry Load while subscribing, but certainly its misguidance to investors. They should have made it clear, that they will use “Sale Price” published by AMFI for SIP purchases. But unfortunately no one at ICICIDirect seem to care about the confusion to its users and hence this article. I hope someone will benefit from this article.