Random Thoughts, Cricket, Movies, Music ...

Moving on to Wordpress

2006-12-13T16:54:00.000-08:00

From now on, i shall be blogging at Wordpress - met me there :).

-- Thyaga

Damien Martyn calls it a day

2006-12-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

I am not a big fan of Damien Martyn - but i really liked the manner in which he called it a day - leave when you are at the top.

Here is his quote:

"I also said to myself that if I stayed doing what I was doing I may equally lose respect for myself and the friendship of those around me."

Its really tough to leave at the top - hats off to him.

-- Thyaga

Is this my "calling"?

2006-12-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Only time will "say" :).

Cheers,
Thyaga

Fall is here ...

2006-12-06T10:41:00.000-08:00

View from our bedroom window - classic FALL colors!

-- T

Yahoo! - MSN joint collaboration?

2006-12-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

Well, the Valley has always loved the news of a Yahoo! - MSN union. So, when Yahoo! andMSN had announced that their IMs could interoperate, it was the first signs of 2 giant foes coming together to fight against a common enemy (Google) :).

Anyway, here is further proof of this effort:

(1). When i was upgrading to the latest version of Yahoo! IM - it told me to close Firefox specifically - i have always seen programs which tell me to close all Microsoft stuff - this is the first time i found an application which is asking me to close Firefox - interesting :)!

(2). The final screen after i upgraded - not much for me to say, eh ?

-- Thyaga

List of coupons ...

2006-12-01T14:16:00.000-08:00

Got this link from a Marketing Blog that i regularly read. This has coupon code that you could use for your shopping needs this year.

Cheers,
Thyaa

India powers on ...

2006-11-30T14:06:00.000-08:00

9.2% GDP growth in Q3 2006 - Lage Raho India !

-- Thyaga

Krugle ...

2006-11-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

If you have used Google Code Search and liked it, then u will definitely like Krugle

Search has now touched the "developers"

-- Thyaga

Google Answers went no where

2006-11-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

So - it looks like Google Answers never took off. Recent reports suggest that Yahoo! Answers is far ahead than Google even though it was a late entrant. I think it is primarily because Yahoo! is great to create a community and maintain it - thats what worked for it.

What do ya think?

-- Thyaga

What happened to me?

2006-11-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Long time - no post !

Just an update - I have been terribly busy preparing for the end term exams and presentations and documents at Santa Clara.

Things are easing up now - me happy now amigo !

--T

What happens when you upload a .docx file into Google Docs ...

2006-11-13T21:48:00.000-08:00

This :)

BTW, shouldn't the message say "Google Docs" and not "Writely" - hmmm !

-- Thyaga

Intel's foray into Web 2.0

2006-11-11T22:54:00.000-08:00

So you thought that Intel was a hardware company and had nothing to do with Web 2.0 - ha! - check this out - Suite Two - Intel's foray into Web 2.0 - this is going to be interesting to watch.

-- Thyaga

Google's Risks

2006-11-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

In its latest Quarterly Report, Google talks of the various competitive threats that is facing the company in the future. This has been well documented here - so, i shall spare myself the hard work :).

The one thing that i have always felt - 99% of its revenues come from Ads - now, doesn't that tell u that it could become a 1-trick pony - it desperately needs ways to generate some more super-hits.
Knowing Google, i am sure that they will soon have one.

-- Thyaga

Been a bit busy ...

2006-11-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

I have been horribly busy - class, work, assignments have just kept me too busy - shall Blog as soon as i get my time and sanity back.

-- Thyaga

Going green can also get you "green" notes

2006-11-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Is it a myth that if you are going to be a company that is doing something good for the environment, then there is no way you can make money. Naah - not anymore. Read this Green 50 article and you will see for yourself - going green will get you green $$s too :).

-- Thyaga

Google snaps up Jotspot

2006-10-31T13:31:00.000-08:00

Google is on a massive buying spree. After snapping up YouTube less than a month ago, they have gone ahead and bought Jotspot, the online Wiki company. Though this deal will be lesser than what they paid for YouTube, nevertheless, it clearly indicates Google's growth and expansion policy. They definitely are moving ahead rapidly in the Office 2.0 space and the Software as a Service model (SAAS) will not be far from reality. This is going to be an interesting battle with Microsoft pitching for its Office/Vista 2007 versions and Google luring away more and more customers to a free online platform.

The battle has just begun !

-- Thyaga

Changes needed in the Indian team

2006-10-30T13:06:00.000-08:00

Do people like Viru, Pathan, Raina still deserve a chance in the Indian team? What is surprising is that even in spite of non-performances by these players in the recently concluded Champions Trophy, they have retained their places. What I find a little apalling is why performances in the domestic circuit is not taken into account? - lets bring in some fresh legs and lets see what changes that they can do.

At this rate, our World Cup dreams are just slipping by.

-- Thyaga

Google's new tool for Webmasters

2006-10-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Google has come up with a really cool tool for webmasters - it is called the Website Optimizer. The best part of it is that you can do various combination of pages to see which of the pages gets you the highest ad conversion. I haven't played around with it - but there seems to be quite a buzz in the Blogosphere about this.

If you have checked it out, I would like to hear from you about it.

-- T

Web 2.0 - for real?

2006-10-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

If you thought that Web 2.0 is not for real, then you will love this site

Enjoy
-- T

Google Docs and Spreadsheet

2006-10-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I had posted on Google's neat marketing trick of promoting Firefox - you can read more about it here. Today, i realized that they are doing it for their latest product innovation - Google Docs & Spreadsheet. Check out their home page now and see the link that I have highlighted:

Its amazing how Google manages to do these small but neat marketing things.

Cheers,
Thyaga

How to make meetings more effective?

2006-10-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today, i came upon a link about how to make meetings more effective - it is very good and it has some of the important points, which i always feel that a meeting should have. My company's website also has a great course (FREE) on how to conduct great meetings - check it out if you can.

-- T

Alternative to Sgstream

2006-10-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine pointed me to this site - for watching live cricket over the Internet at a fraction of the price that other sites charge. It is http://www.desicricketlive.com

I haven't used it yet - so don't know about the quality. If you have used it, then do leave your comments here - would appreciate it a lot.

I plan to use it during the Champions Trophy though ...

-- Thyaga

Omkara - was it worth it?

2006-10-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

I am beginning to wonder what the whole hype about Omkara was about. Was it because it was adapted from Othello - i know many movies that have the same theme but presented differently. Was it because it was directed by the talented Vishal Bhardwaj who was the music director, script writer and director of this movie? - or was it because it had a good star cast of Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi et. al. ?

I really don't know what the fuss was all about - i thought that the pace of the movie was quite slow - probably, it was just me but i definitely felt that the movie needed to move on at certain places. The music is good but the songs are also too many. All in all, IMHO, the movie was not worth the wait - i would give it ** */2 ;-)

-- Thyaga

My famous prediction - Yahoo! will buy Zoho

2006-10-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, you might think that i am out of my mind to predict something so drastic. But i really believe that Yahoo! will soon snap up Zoho simply because it has no visibility in the Office 2.0 space. We have already seen Google snap up YouTube to improve its footprint in the Online Video product category. However, Yahoo! does not need to worry about Online Video because it seems to be getting some good traffic numbers if Comscore's data and Techcrunch is meant to be believed.

In today's Web 2.0 world, the other area where there is a lot of competition but still no market leader, it has to be the Office 2.0 space and Zoho is appearing to be quite ahead of its competitors including Google. Yahoo! is yet to create any buzz in this space, Google is already doing acquisitions in this space and Microsoft already is doing some kind of online Office thing with its Windows Live platform. So, it is a perfect opportunity for Yahoo! to come in and snap up Zoho and nosedive ahead as the leader.

As for the price, i would put it anywhere from $35-50 million and that should be really sweet deal for Zoho.

Any takers? :)

-- Thyaga

Rentometer

2006-10-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

How many times have you asked your friend during a party the following:

"So , where do you stay?" ... "So, what 's your rent in your Apartment Complex?", "Is it a 2 bed room or a 3 bed-room", "2 bathrooms or 3 bathrooms" etc. Once you got answers to all your probing questions, you must have run a mental check on whether or not your friend was getting a good deal or was your friend getting ripped off :).

But now, thanks to a wonderful mashup tool called Rentometer, you just need to ask him/her - "So, whats your address" and you can find out whether or not the deal is good by comparing "visually" with the other properties nearby. Check it out - it is really cool.

Cheers,
Thyaga