tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70013562107232510392024-03-13T16:01:22.190+05:30Tic...Tac...Toe...Cosmic RamblingsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-84411636563415641632014-05-14T08:46:00.002+05:302014-05-14T08:46:23.829+05:30State of Me, Life and Others today<div style="text-align: justify;">
On a surprising turn of events, yesterday I found myself relatively free. Attending a function at a relative's office can be quite... well not so entertaining. Sitting there and staring at people's faces and the funny things pandit's do can definitely give time to a person to think. Another surprising event - I was able to stop worrying about work and accounts and accept that whatever happens, I'll be able to somehow manage. </div>
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Both surprises together gave me ample time to think and ponder about the state of my life, its direction and the state of people in this worlds or atleast here in India. While the direction and state of my life is a whole other novel, in this post lets focus on the state of atleast some people in India if not everyone.</div>
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So what do I think? Lets face it, with my generation & the incoming generation, the virtue of patience has deroded. Everyone today wants things now and immediately. What normally would take 5 years, they want it in 2. While the need to be speedy is true in some areas like starting up a company and stabilising it with regular revenues.</div>
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At the micro level or an individual level there is still need to be detail oriented and have the patience to think, analyse and execute properly so as to ensure a complete and proper execution. Any execution which is very speedy will not be thorough enough and will need a 3nd round of execution which will degrade its value and the people involved will also get bored.</div>
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Most things today are superficial in nature. For e.g. the MBA course. Its target population was present after the world wars and during and after the cold wars when people were experts in their fields with little management experience. The course is designed to teach a management overview so as to make them quick managers and enable them to pick up required skills on the job.</div>
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Today this course is obsolete. The people doing this course are not experts in any field resulting them in becoming poor managers as they manage a team of people doing work they know nothing about. One cannot manage effectively and optimally unless one knows the field in and out. Which is why every Founder of businesses surviving 5years or more are very effective in managing and performing as they spend enough time understanding the depths of their product/service and the target markets.</div>
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What people need to learn today is to have patience, and to keep at it and learn more and more. The 1st 3-5 years of a perons' career life should be spent working in and learning one field or domain. Be it coding, marketing, music, directing, acting etc. It is only after you know the field at depth that can you as a manger contribute optimally to it.</div>
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The current societal and corporate structure is optimal from the sense of office productivity and optimal profit levels, but it is a model which is unsustainable.</div>
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It will become sustainable, only when society allows individuals to have enough time to learn and become experts and develop intrinsic skills to benefit companies and the society in a larger sense. And when corporates stop demanding individuals to spend 90%-100% of their life and time at work and allow people to grow at an individual level as a person and as well as a resource.</div>
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Society will soon break down if we continue at the current speeds at the micro-level. The impatience of being better than the previous year and the previous generation is already eating up people and everybody wants things to change for constant growth. Sustainable growth is possible only through patience, planning, perseverence and hard work.</div>
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There is no solution or medicine that one can drink and learn everything. Similarly none that one can drink and become successful. Success comes to those who remain patient and persevere- trying, learning and experimenting all the time.</div>
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Whenever you do some work or task. Take a moment, think about what is required and how to get it. Think about what problems you can face and how you should counter them. On finishing, take another moment and do a thorough check of the work done ensuring there are no mistakes. (1) this allows for perfection (2) learning on what all went wrong and how to fix (3) understanding of what is being done, why and how to do it better.</div>
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We are all humans and humans tend to make mistakes more often than not. A thorough re-check will allow for proper execution and time to think on what was done, why and how to improve.</div>
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So please, work in what you are interested in and dont jump from domain to domaain. Spend a few years working in the same field and get exposed to possibilities. Practice makes perfect, it also makes experts. </div>
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Stay and learn!</div>
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All the best!</div>
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-> SJ</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-26883801920610528382014-05-08T22:11:00.003+05:302014-05-18T22:03:47.008+05:30Coupons: Indian's Need For Discounts<div style="text-align: justify;">
The offline world moves online and the buyers shift to purchasing items in cyber space. Selling was more about advertising the presence of a shop and the availability of products in the area.<br />
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Online shopping is turning out to be a boon for everyone. You can now shop from home / office. No longer must you travel from place to place in serch of a shop and from shop to shop in search of prices. Searching though google gives you a long list of online websites.<br />
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Advertising has now also become easier. Banners all over the net on all types of websites spread the awareness and build the brand for the shopping websites. After Flipkart opened doors 7 yrs back, many other companies have now come up. Mostly marketplaces though as that model seems to be working in India at the moment. Indians want a sign of trust from the seller still. If a 3rd party provides a guarantee Indians are ready to buy.<br />
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One of the things Indians love is a good deal. Paying a price less than what the market value really is. What used to be local ads and discounts have now gone online by way of coupons and discounts. Coupon sites have now come up which list down the coupons and discounts offered by these online e-commerce companies.<br />
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Startups like Coupondunia, 27coupons, CouponNation, Pennyful and Cashkaro among others dominate the coupon distribution space. Recently we wrote about Cashkaro growth. The Gurgaon-based startup had driven sales of Rs. 25 crores for its partner retailers in the past six months.<br />
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According to a study by CupoNation, close to 85% of Indians used vouchers before online shopping. “This explains why the Indian market for online coupons already accounted for more than $2 billion in 2013 and is expected to grow by further 30% by 2017,” adds Sharique. The study reveals that over 70% women use CupoNation vouchers to buy fashion, jewellery and shoes while 67% of men are using travel and electronics coupons.<br />
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The below Comscore report shows the growth in unique visitors on websites from 2010 to 2011. The visits have been growing since then.<br />
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<a href="http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/12/comscore-chart1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/12/comscore-chart1.jpg" height="320" width="261" /></a></div>
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The number of searches for coupons has been growing every year hitting a max of 82K a month in Dec 2013. The growing trend shows that more and more people are now searching and buying online. Being Indians we cant help but look for great deals.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAGpQ9Zym2w/U2uywy_AYGI/AAAAAAAAC7k/oiYzZojJRzk/s1600/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAGpQ9Zym2w/U2uywy_AYGI/AAAAAAAAC7k/oiYzZojJRzk/s1600/Capture.PNG" height="153" width="640" /></a></div>
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Tradus.com is one such company. Its a marketplace with many many products. Its has apparels for men and women, home decor, kitchen products, footwear, watches, mobiles, computer, beauty products, grocery and even cars and bikes. With such a wide range of products and providing a guarantee of delivery, Tradus is on its way to becoming one of India's topmost e-commerce websites with such a wide range of products. They also have tonnes of discounts running and all of you should search for <a href="http://www.flipit.com/in/tradus-com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tradus coupons</a> and get awesome discounts to buy at an awesome store.</div>
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-> SJ<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-26175630053073670992013-09-30T11:40:00.003+05:302013-09-30T11:40:54.910+05:30Quote BlastIt is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.<br /> <i><span style="color: #999999;">-J.K. Rowling</span></i><br /><br />-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-24802817635355944342013-05-02T21:00:00.000+05:302013-05-02T21:00:53.880+05:30Convergence of TV, Telephone & Internet<div style="text-align: justify;">
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I've been doing some research on phone systems over the internet for a proposal for a prospective client and I couldn't help wondering why we shouldn't switch all communication to over the internet.</div>
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Currently we have Television through cable and satellite, phones and broadband services are tansmitted through the same lines yet they currently are 2 different technologies.</div>
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But why do we NOT transmit everything together over the same lines? A coaxial cable or a copper wire has enough capacity to transmit high bandwidths (we currently use a very small amount). With FTH or Fibre To Home currently coming in, each fibre has enough capacity to transmit extremely high bandwidth to 50 homes per fibre, while a cable will have many fibres woven together. So there will easily be enough capacity to allow atleast 50-70mbps per fibre per home (this is a guesstimate. Generally speaking its a lot).</div>
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We can easily shift the phone technology onto VoIP systems thereby increasing call quality and reducing cost as we will have 1 system in place for internet instead of 2.</div>
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Come to think of it, we can shift TV, Broadband and telephone to be transmitted over IP over FTH or satellite. In which case 1 system will handle all 3. This will increase quality of service for the consumer at reduced prices. It will also increase the control over all these systems for the consumer.</div>
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How you ask?? Its very simple. Since everything is digitized, request for VoD, Games on Demand and channels shown is pushed to the consumer. He/She can log onto the account over the web, select which channels or products he/she wants and at a click of the button the same can be transmitted or blocked. Similarly with phones and call also, the control at the hands of the consumer increases. Blocking numbers, diverting calls, listening in and call costs all become available to the consumer.</div>
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Service Providers need not have the headache of creating special packages for marketing, or migrating old account to new packages. The consumer is charged on a per unit basis and he/she can then set the limits and control his/her spending and services availed.</div>
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The Service Providers reduce the headache of managing each customer's account and pass on the headache to the customer who will be more than eager to gain control of their own spending. Currently activating / de-activating any service needs a lot of headache and research for the consumer, who intern has to inform the service provider who undertakes the switching on and off requests. <b>Automate everything and pass on the headache to the consumer I say!</b></div>
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This increases transparency and reduces cost for the service providers who can pass on the benefit to the consumer. With reduces prices the consumer will spend more thereby leading to increased revenues and profits for the Service Providers.</div>
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<b><i>Its a Win-Win situation for all the parties involved.</i></b></div>
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<i>p.s. If anyone is interested in building this, please contact me! :)</i></div>
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-> SJ</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-33231811974873573512013-04-30T07:50:00.000+05:302013-04-30T07:50:23.183+05:30Follow your passion and avoid blundersSome blunders are strong enough to follow you to the ends of the Earth.<br />
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Be careful of the decisions you make right from a young age. If every you are unsure of what to do please go to a professional career counsellor and ask for help. A career counsellor will know enough about how things work and also what opportunities exist.<br />
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If you are a parent, please remember that it is your job to guide your child into the right decisions. Always guide your child into exploring all types of field so that he / she can try his / her strengths and interests and realise what they are good at. Go to a career counsellor and help your child realise what field he / she will be good at. No age is small enough to start exploring.<br />
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Don't do something which is feasible. Identify and follow your passion. Its your passion that will bring you success.<br />
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-56631448844464819412013-04-28T16:25:00.001+05:302013-04-28T16:25:26.406+05:30Become a Creator or a Fixer NOT an Enabler<div style="text-align: justify;">
Addition to the original post: <a href="http://www.sushant.co/2013/04/why-not-to-do-mba.html" target="_blank">Why NOT to do an MBA</a></div>
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I've been promoting this post on my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sushantjaipuria" target="_blank">Facebook Timeline</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/sushantjaipuria" target="_blank">Twitter Timeline</a> with headers stating that the world is echoing with this mantra. To support my claims this post is dedicated at bringing more information from some credible sources to help you (the reader) think on the topic and take it seriously.</div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">A) The Wall Street Journal: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324296604578175764143141622.html" target="_blank">For Newly Minted M.B.A.s, a Smaller Paycheck Awaits</a></span></b></div>
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<i>".........Recently, more companies have indicated that "they are moving away from an emphasis on M.B.A.s" and are instead hiring more undergraduates at lower salaries that they can then train in-house, says Camille Kelly, vice president of employer branding at Universum, a firm that advises companies on how to attract and retain the best employees. Companies, she says, "still will do M.B.A. hiring, but it won't be to the same extent they have in the past."</i></div>
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The article says that the pay package received by students fell about 62% at 186 schools. People find it difficult to survive in the weak economic state and go in for higher studies to boost their hire-ability, thinking it would be the formula to success and a high salary. But to what end? The job market for MBAs has become smaller and the pay has decreased.</div>
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<i>".......A weak economic climate is only partly to blame for the M.B.A.'s plight. The changing nature of B-school programs, evolving corporate needs—as well as the perceived value of the degree—have all helped dilute the M.B.A.'s allure...."</i></div>
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The key statements to read from the above excerpts are: (a) "Evolving corporate needs" (b) "perceived value of the degree".</div>
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<b>In my humble opinion</b>, the WSJ has tried to dilute the problem by putting part of the blame on the weak economy. Its when the going gets tough that we 1st cut off the luxuries and MBAs were always a luxury as these people know how to manage and look at things in a superficial light, which will not help companies survive as their employees need to get their hands dirty to understand the business in a thorough manner.</div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">B) Quartz by Jay Bhatti: <a href="http://qz.com/42233/if-you-cant-get-into-a-top-five-mba-program-dont-even-bother/" target="_blank">If you can’t get into a top-five MBA program, don’t even bother</a></span></b></div>
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Jay Bhatti is an investor and advisor to start ups in NYC. Ex-founder of Spock.com and a Product Manager at Microsoft. He completed his MBA in 2002 from Wharton Business School. He has seen the heights of the demand for MBAs and is currently seeing the lows as well.</div>
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He says:<i> "The sad reality is that an MBA is not as valuable today as it was 30 years ago. Stanford University published data stating that from 2005 to 2008, over 94% of graduates had jobs by graduation. However, since then, only about 75% of graduates had jobs lined up at graduation. Stanford is a top MBA program, so you can imagine it being worse at other schools. In fact, 21 schools that are ranked by US News & World Report said that for the past few years, nearly 50% of their graduates did not have jobs at graduation."</i></div>
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Like all MBAs he has also analysed this problem from a superficial point of view, saying that only the top 5 schools will get you an ROI. He says that the MBA course was designed in the 1950s when the top companies saw that the employees lacked management skills and wanted to hire managers to enable the employees.</div>
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Reading in between the lines, applying my own experience and mixing it up with the WSJ article, I see a deeper problem. Today most people can naturally learn the skill of management and with the recession and a weak economy companies want to hire only those candidates which can help them grow from the foundation to top. Its like any building, make a strong foundation and the building stands strong.</div>
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<b>In my humble opinion:</b> The demand for generalists has just disappeared as they do not help the company grow. Generalists just manage what they have. They do not innovate the product, or invent a new product- that is done by scientists or engineers (aka creators) or the true professionals. MBAs are not professionals but are managers aka enablers.</div>
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Today the companies want creators to help create new assets that can generate more revenue.</div>
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As an MBA pass out and as a person involved in a start up I see things at a level where employees of big corporations and students can not. I have always believed in the view that to learn something you need to start from the foundation and build it strong. This is what is required today also. People need to have a strong foundation to be hire-able. Foundations can only built with skillsets. MBAs do not give you the skills for building a foundation, they build on top of the foundation.</div>
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My advice to all students or employees who have not yet or are thinking of an MBA- DON'T.</div>
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Think of a MS or an MSc or an MTech. Become a Master of One field. </div>
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Excel in One Field any field, and you shall get hired.</div>
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-> SJ</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-4727888790710747262013-04-20T11:27:00.003+05:302013-05-14T07:59:36.357+05:30Why NOT to do an MBA.<br />
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I finished my MBA in 2011 from a tier II institute in India - Got a mediocre job for peanuts at a 1500Cr company with 2000+ employees which is run in a non-professional manner. All my dreams of getting a HUGE package post MBA, living in style, being able to afford all sorts of gadgets per month and traveling around the world was shattered.</div>
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I adjusted to reality, reset my expectations, reset my goals and carried on with life. Today of course I'm not with the same company (trying my hand at entrepreneurship); I see many people from my institute joining and graduating, struggling to find a job after paying insane amounts of money, and I wonder what was the benefit of doing the course? You spend 2 years away from friends & family, rejecting invaluable corporate experience... but what do you get from it?</div>
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I spent 2 years of my life at a hostel, enjoying, having fun and learning a little bit only from the few exceptional teachers we had. Today, 2 yrs post that I often question myself: </div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">What did I learn from MBA? Did I learn anything? How has MBA shaped my life?</span></b></div>
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A person with 7-8 years experience would probably not learn anything from an MBA, which is fortunate, as I did learn something. Although nothing spectacular. I delved into the depths (to a certain extent only) of finance and learnt a lot about how the corporate world works from the PoV of money matters.</div>
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But did this help me at all? Not really, I'm a finance geek. I understand how investments work, I understand the intrinsic and extrinsic value of things. I understand how companies are valued and some of the factors which are taken into account. I understand the details of mergers & acquisitions. I did my internship in banking and I understand how banks also deal with things.</div>
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But ultimately I, a person who studied finance all his life, am now working in marketing and alongside learning product management. This is not a rare occurance. There are many such stories where people have changed functions post an MBA. So its safe to say that most of the time what you study is not what you apply.</div>
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Most of the people who apply what they learn especially when it comes to banking or finance have had to do a professional certification like CFA, CA or in Banking to convince the companies that they can be hired. </div>
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This leads us to another question: <i>If we do not apply what we learn why should we do an MBA? If we need another certification, why an MBA to begin with??</i></div>
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I keep asking myself that. The whole point of me doing an MBA was to get focused learning in finance so that I do not have to do a certificate course as a degree would be better than a certification. But, as I discovered later, a certification is more important than a degree called MBA.</div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Then why-oh-why should we do an MBA?</span></b> I can become a banker and a finance expert by just doing a certification for 2-3Lacs, why should I spend 10Lacs+ to do an MBA which will take me nowhere??</div>
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Where is the benefit of doing an MBA? Just to become a good manager?</span></b> I can learn that better in the real world by trial and error.</div>
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Many people today are still looking to do an MBA thinking it similar to a magic pill which will solve their money & job problems. Get real people! The only thing that will solve your problems is you. An MBA is mostly preferred by engineers who do not want to continue on the tech side and they are whom it is most suited for. Being technical people, they have learnt the depths of their fields and need to broaden their view and diversify into the softer aspects of corporates (management).</div>
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The last question that we need to answer is: <b><span style="color: orange;">Is MBA worth it?</span></b></div>
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Well to be exact, not really. Its better to go do an MS or a course specializing in 1 field- Finance, Economics, Computer Science, Marketing etc. it does not matter. A specialist is what companies want or need. A generalist is a overhead used only to do the dirty work passed on by others.</div>
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What I mean to say is that an in-depth knowledge in a certain field is much better than to be a jack of all trades and master of none. It helps us develop a special skill set which is what companies require. Its this skill set which helps us generate value for society.</div>
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As an MBA graduate my only advice to people currently pursuing or planning to pursue an MBA is that.. <b><span style="color: orange;">THINK BEYOND AN MBA</span></b>... don't get fooled, go for a technical degree and specialise, develop a skillset and an intrinsic value rather than do an MBA.</div>
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You can learn all that an MBA can teach you on the job but an MBA can not make you into a specialist in a field.</div>
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-> SJ</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-16250449025841072952013-04-15T08:00:00.001+05:302013-04-15T08:00:34.388+05:30Getting on with it!Worrying about how everything will get done or whether I am capable of doing it limits my ability to respond to challenges considerably. The less I think about doing something and the faster I just get on with it, the fewer problems I cause myself. Good planning is always helpful, but time spent fretting and procrastinating is a major drain on my energy. The more willing I am to respond positively to opportunities, the more my capacity will grow.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-13831876507867380872013-04-07T04:16:00.001+05:302014-03-19T17:50:29.911+05:30 Project Management Is All About Converting A Thought Into Action<br />
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If one can transform his/her thought into concrete action then success is not a far-fetched dream. Of course, transforming thought into action is a giant leap, agreed it is difficult but it is something which is achievable. During that giant leap many risks are undertaken. One has to plan for all sorts of eventualities and lay down concrete steps which have to be completed to reach the final goal. This visualization of ideas and planning of execution of idea is what makes up project management. The project is the execution of the idea and achieving goals and the management is the analysis, strategizing and planning required to execute the idea and convert it into action.</div>
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Even in project management there are a lot of uncertainties which a project manager has to guard from. A big part of project management depends on the identification and factoring of risks in the planning to prevent any kind of delays in execution. Despite the risk factor, the project manager has to ensure the smooth execution of the project work.</div>
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For this a proper and detailed plan of execution is required. The project manager should start by first setting the motive, goals and targets that the project should achieve. Once done, a high level strategy of how the target is to be achieved should be outlined, identifying the various channels which would be used. This high level strategy serves as a road map towards the achievement of the goals, this then needs to be broken down into smaller milestones and targets with tasks that need to be completed along with a timeline. All these put together makes a strong project plan and will help the project manager ensure that the targets are achieved and the project runs as scheduled.</div>
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Throughout the process, there is several Project Risk Management faced by an organization. Each decision maker should be well prepared for any outcome and take the risk. Certain Risk factors include costs, delay in schedule, shortage of raw materials, shortage of human resources, lack of infrastructure and political uncertainties. Amidst all this, a Project Manager must implement the project work as it is critical for a company’s reputation. In this the project plan established will help and guide the project manager.</div>
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In any economy, there are several wants and needs that arise amongst the government organization, people or other clients. They include demand for infrastructure, new product or services, scientific machines etc. These projects can be of varied strengths. The project plan established will ensure the conversion of ideas into action and help in project management by ensuring completion of work in a timely fashion.</div>
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One of the best ways to become good is to understand the nitty-gritties of Scrum Master and the working environments of Prince2.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-81844680106617595492013-02-17T16:44:00.000+05:302013-05-09T16:42:12.621+05:30Quote BlastAnd think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.<br />
<i><span style="color: #666666;">- Khalil Gibran</span></i><br />
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-51486986287770218112013-01-07T11:01:00.000+05:302013-01-07T11:01:15.499+05:30How do Indians spend time online?<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">How much time in a day do you spend online?</span></b></div>
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Indian's are said to spend an average of 8 hours per day on the internet. Most of the time spent online is on communication, entertainment and social media.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Stats on India:</span></b></div>
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India has a population of 1.2 Billion</div>
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934.1 Million (78%) have mobiles</div>
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137 Million (11%) are internet users</div>
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60.5 Million (5%) on social networks</div>
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31% of the population live in Urban areas and 69% in Rural areas. 56% are under the age of 30 and 30% are under the age of 15.</div>
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What this says about the future is that 10 years from now there will be 26% of the population (factoring growth at 1.33%) which would be between the age of 15-25 reducing our new available work force to just 1/4th of the population.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Internet usage in India:</span></b></div>
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Now lets talk about the internet users in the country. Number of internet users in India is growing by 150K every month or 1.8 Million new users every year. India is the fastest growing online market in the world with 75% of the users being below the age of 35. Unfortunately the sex ratio (like the population) is very skewed with only 39% of the users being women.</div>
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11% of the populace are currently online leaving a scope for the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to expand by 89%. E-commerce yet has a very large untapped market. Which is what attracted investors and VCs to invest in e-commerce in India. The number of middle income houses here is larger than the population of USA.</div>
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The main question which remains is what are these new and old internet users in India doing online. The average urban Indian is looking for communication and social networking rather than browsing or purchasing while the average rural Indian uses the internet mostly for entertainment and communication.</div>
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What is the future of internet in India?? Is wired broadband the future in India or is it wireless broadband or is it Mobile internet??</div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Read the complete post @ Source: <a href="http://blog.hiveminds.in/2013/01/internet-usage-in-india/" target="_blank">All Things Marketing</a></span></i></b><br />
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-6231680767432875732012-09-07T11:25:00.000+05:302012-09-07T11:25:02.361+05:30IF - A poem for everyone<br />
IF<br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;"><i>by Rudyard Kipling</i></span><br />
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If you can keep your head when all about you<br />
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;<br />
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,<br />
But make allowance for their doubting too;<br />
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,<br />
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,<br />
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,<br />
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;<br />
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If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;<br />
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;<br />
If you can meet with triumph and disaster<br />
And treat those two imposters just the same;<br />
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken<br />
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,<br />
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,<br />
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;<br />
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If you can make one heap of all your winnings<br />
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,<br />
And lose, and start again at your beginnings<br />
And never breath a word about your loss;<br />
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew<br />
To serve your turn long after they are gone,<br />
And so hold on when there is nothing in you<br />
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";<br />
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If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,<br />
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;<br />
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;<br />
If all men count with you, but none too much;<br />
If you can fill the unforgiving minute<br />
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -<br />
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,<br />
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!<br />
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-68432766601014749942012-08-18T13:19:00.001+05:302012-08-18T13:19:08.764+05:30Quote BlastHistory will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. <div>
<i><span style="color: #999999;">- Martin Luther King Jr.</span></i><br />
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-> SJ</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-6763351868664056992012-08-18T13:15:00.001+05:302012-08-18T13:15:41.226+05:30Quote BlastFor those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible. <div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><i><span style="color: #999999;"> - Stuart Chase</span></i></span>
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-92014410511916575502012-08-15T09:27:00.002+05:302012-08-15T09:28:03.450+05:30Quote BlastReason is not automatic. Those who deny it can not be conquered by it.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #424242;"> </span><i style="color: #999999;">- Ayn Rand</i></span><br />
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-> SJ</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-18301206267462648972012-08-11T23:54:00.002+05:302012-08-11T23:54:29.179+05:30Guns, Guns & More Guns...<div style="text-align: justify;">
Extra! Extra! <i>"Every minute someone is killed by a gun!"</i></div>
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This really great infographic came out in today's Economic Times claiming the above.</div>
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I'm not disputing the claim infact i'm surprised it isn't worse.</div>
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We have come to believe that we live in the most peaceful of times in the last 200-300 years... Do we really??</div>
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Think again. For the last 11 years majority of the superpowers have been fighting terror in Afghanistan and then in Iran. The Ghaza Belt is also active and keep shelling each others. India and Pakistan have set times to fire their Bofors Guns at each other across the border and aim to miss (what they want to achieve by missing is beyond me!). Pakistan's ISI plots against Indians by using USA's tactics of breeding terrorists, which by the way is what led to the rise of Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda. Btw the Taliban is making a come back in Afghanistan and Pakistan.</div>
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Not to forget the random killings in the USA itself. The citizens go around schools and colleges randomly and mindlessly killing other innocent children. Iraq is still under oppression and looks prime to become another failed state like Pakistan and Afghanistan.</div>
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With so much violence everywhere the statistics should have been worse! </div>
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With 1 gun per 7 people worldwide how long is it before we get shot?</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GIUOvRm8pZ4/UCaizvw-BsI/AAAAAAAAAr4/-oh-qEiEzIo/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GIUOvRm8pZ4/UCaizvw-BsI/AAAAAAAAAr4/-oh-qEiEzIo/s640/photo.JPG" width="476" /></a></div>
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-62950366241637121542012-08-05T23:14:00.000+05:302014-01-08T19:01:59.454+05:30Indian E-Commerce Space: Discounts & Drugs!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Being at the forefront of the Indian e-commerce space and working with e-commerce start-ups has given me a unique perspective. As of this month I'm not new to this industry but I'm not old to it either, which gives me a view from a halfway point. I see this space as an insider and also as an outsider.</div>
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In my short journey, I'm seeing the long term & the short term bets that companies make and how it can effect their life. For example: offering too many discounts. This may seem like a great way to increase traffic and sales, but its like cocaine. Long term use of the same will make your customers addicted and when the discounts are cut off the traffic to your website will drop as the erstwhile customers are all pouting due to the effects of detox. Before you know it the brand would have disappeared.</div>
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Take the example of Jabong.Com. When they launched they came with a bang. Screaming televisions ads (Mainly responsible for traffic), SEO and SEM. They Offered the lowest prices and great discounts. Everything on their website seemed to be on sale. Once they burnt through their investor money; the discounts decreased, the TV ads disappeared and the traffic they developed in the short term has started to fall.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-143b1oLg-6g/UBib4DnkAnI/AAAAAAAAAoA/gyAnR3gMOs0/s1600/jabong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Traffic Trend for Jabong.Com" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-143b1oLg-6g/UBib4DnkAnI/AAAAAAAAAoA/gyAnR3gMOs0/s1600/jabong.jpg" title="Traffic Trend for Jabong.Com" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #999999;">From Google Trends: Jabong Traffic in the last 12 months</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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They came with a bang and curiosity caught the better of people, but now that the curiosity has died down the marketplace corrects itself as Jabong's traffic falls and the whole buzz related to it is digested.</div>
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On the other hand we have e-commerce companies which do not resort to such discounts. One may think that its foolish, in a market full of discounts it would be important to match the competitors in order to survive... but discounts just erode the bottom line and delay breaking even. Ultimately the companies which offer less number of discounts but better quality goods and service are the ones that will survive. Discounts will become common place and customers would rather pay a little extra for quality thereby shifting the business from being price sensitive to quality sensitive.<br />
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Companies in the baby care & <a href="http://www.babyoye.com/" target="_blank">baby shopping</a> space like Hoopos.com and in the <a href="http://bigbasket.com/" target="_blank">online grocery shopping</a> space like BigBasket.com are going to perform exceptionally well over time as they offer relatively less discounts but superior quality of service.<br />
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Why I say overtime is because, as with Jabong, in the initial stage the crowd will go with discounts but after a few months as people adjust to the numerous discounts and as the discounts per site lessens, the market will shift towards being quality centric.<br />
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The crazy number of discounts also distorts the market for everyone, the customers and the competitors. It lowers profit, increases expectations and delays break even points making it difficult for companies to survive.<br />
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Lets face it, discounts while attractive are more of a drug which eats up the system from within.<br />
Go for quality and not price.</div>
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-> SJ</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-15849669133452606872012-07-30T11:19:00.002+05:302012-07-30T11:19:46.190+05:30Quote BlastThe reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.<br />
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<i><span style="color: #999999;">- George Bernard Shaw</span></i></div>
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-83239343101851471712012-07-26T11:29:00.000+05:302012-07-26T11:29:04.135+05:30The Power of Religion & Faith: Hypocrisy<div style="text-align: justify;">
As I've mentioned in an earlier <a href="http://www.sushant.co/2008/11/such-waste.html"><b>post</b></a>: I think religion is an unnecessary evil. We all should instead put faith in ourselves and try to live better and purer lives. This will make humanity into a better civilization and bring peace to the world and everyone's lives. </div>
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Human faith in religion is such that it can make up stories to prove that religion is important ... BUT... it can also make up stories to disprove it.</div>
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Below we see an unconfirmed case where devout Christians try to prove that religion is a sham so as to protect their real religion: Money!!</div>
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Human faith put in wrong places can lead to such gross errors of judgement.</div>
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Happy reading!</div>
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In a small town in America, a person decided to open up his bar business, which was right opposite to a church. The church & its congregation started a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayed daily against his business. </div>
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Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the bar and it was burnt to the ground. The church folk were rather smug in their outlook after that, till The bar owner sued the church authorities for $2million on the grounds that the church through its congregation & prayers was ultimately responsible For the demise of his bar shop, either through direct or indirect actions or means. </div>
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In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons to the bar shop's demise. In support of their claim they referred to the Benson study at Harvard that inter-cessionary prayer had no impact ! </div>
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As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork and at the hearing and commented: </div>
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'I don't know how I am going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, we have a <u>bar owner who believes in the power of prayer</u> and we have an <u>entire church and its devotees that doesn't</u>.' </div>
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<i><span style="color: #666666; font-size: x-small;">Case Example credited to a friend on Facebook.</span></i><br />
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-> SJ</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-87726454942469275962012-07-07T08:56:00.001+05:302012-07-07T08:58:11.702+05:30Quote Blast<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.</span><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> - William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream</i></span><br />
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-472973071616748982012-04-30T09:56:00.000+05:302012-04-30T09:56:11.713+05:30Inter-Device Connectivity: Deep Cross OS & Platform Integration<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Nowdays we talk about deep twitter and facebook integration for mobile / tablet operating systems but no one is talking about deep integration in the laptop and desktop operating systems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When Apple came out with iOS 5 and over the air (OTA) syncing with iTunes, everyone was thrilled! I was thrilled! The little known yet amazing tweak that apple did to iTunes with OTA updates was that whenever my iPhone logged onto the same network as my laptop, iTunes would pop open. This allowed me to easily connect to my laptop over wifi and access my music library. I do not keep music on my phone. No, i'm not a fool to do that. This gives me more space on my phone and allows me to access ALL 26GB of music present on my laptop. And Airport makes connecting very simple. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So lets say I enter home and I want to listen to music. I log my iPhone onto my wifi network (which is always on), this starts iTunes and I can then connect to my laptop (which is always on) and switch on the music through my iPhone. So my phone becomes the player, my laptop is the library and the Bose system attached to laptop becomes the speaker. I now have the ideal music system and I'm not tethered to a single position. I can access my music library wherever wifi network is available at home and thus making my life a lot easier and a lot more mobile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But there was a public outcry to the auto popping open of iTunes as people claimed it used a lot of resources and as a result apple switched off the auto opening of iTunes, so now I'm virtually tethered to the laptop as whenever I want to sync my phone or access the music I have to go over to my laptop and switch on iTunes and wait for it to recognise my phone. This makes my life a whole lot tougher. Apart from that 90%-95% of the times when I start iTunes, it fails to connect to the iPhone over wifi, effectively reducing over the air update feature redundant (what a waste! STUPID Apple).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Why Apple chose the other extreme rather than giving the feature as an option is beyond me and a whole different blog post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Getting back to topic: This litte feature introduced (and then recalled), elightened me to a whole new world. Steve Jobs by introducing the iPhone & iPad thought ahead towards the future. but after realising the potential, the thinking stagnated to thinking only about revenues and profit which is a major reason why we have not seen any major ground breaking updates in the past few years. With idevices needing iTunes, Apple can effectively think of deep OS integration with Mac and Windows devices.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Deep OS integration: So whenever my iPhone is on the same network my computer knows it’s online and my device can recognise the computer. This opens up a whole new dimension to inter-device connectivity. It'll allow me to access my iPhone and control its features from the comfort of my laptop. I'm at work and my iPhone is my pocket or kept separately on the table. Suddenly I receive a message. I would have to take my eyes off the screen, reach for phone and read the message. But with deep integration there'd be a tiny pop up on the comp, like an email receival alert for outlook or chrome. Now I'll have the choice to dismiss it, read it or even reply to it straight from my laptop. Same thing with a call. I can then answer the call reject it or put the ringing alert on silent, also allowing me to route the call over wifi from my phone to the laptop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now isn't that convenience? It’s also something which is allowed by today's technology but somehow nobody is using it. It’s something which was possible when Motorola released its Razr back in early-mid '00s. Installing the software provided along with the phone allowed me to charge as well as use my phone through my computer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So if we could do it back then why can’t we do it with the smartest phones produced by mankind till date??? Would the manufacturers please stand up and reply?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Inter-device connectivity is something which is definitely going to happen. If not now, then at a max of 2 years from now. Windows already allows its Windows Phone 7 (WP7) OS to connect to windows 7 and to answer alerts over bluetooth even without any extra software installation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The much awaited and soon to be released Windows 8 is a big step forward with extremely deep cloud and device integration and connectivity and will certainly make networking with other computer and other windows devices much easier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">People today have not given this deep device integration much thought. This is why many people complained about the resource drain with OTA’s auto open feature. Resulting in Apple removing that feature from iTunes (a definite backward step).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">There are ofcourse some major concerns for this kind of technology:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">First and foremost is security. How do you keep so much data being transferred over the air secure? Isn't it possible that the phone logs onto a different comp when it logs onto the network? ... There is a very simple fix for this. Let the phone be recognized by iTunes only if the iTunes account is authorized to be used for that phone... the same way it’s done now. Apple currently allows upto 5 computers to be authorised to be used with and sync with any iDevice. The same principle will keep the data being transferred secure and also prevent any other iTunes account / computer from recognising the iDevice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The next problem is of battery drainage. If the phone is constantly on the network even in sleep mode, wouldn't the wifi drain the battery? Ofcourse it would.. but there is another fix. After the recognition let the comp and phone ping each other with 3-4 pings at regular intervals. This will ensure that when the phone is not being used, both the devices still keep the connection active. Similarly when the phone is being used and is taken out of sleep mode it can send a ping to the comp indicating that it is awake and changing the connection mode from passive to active. This solves the problem of power drain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Lastly, Apple is trying to make each device independent of each other. This is a good aim and needs to be done. But lets face it; the Earth works only because of the interdependence of the existing species and environments. While each species is independent on their own and in their culture, they are also interdependent with each other. While Bees have their own society they also depend on flowers for food and while flowers are independent of bees they rely on bees for reproduction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Similarly we need a network of devices which are independent in their own rights yet interdependent to make our lives easier. What do I mean?? I mean that Apple did a good thing with mobile based app store, OTA updates and syncing which made the devices independent in their own rights allowing each device to function on its own. But we need the device to network and to be accessible to each other to increase the efficiency and comfort of our lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Something, which is bound to happen in the greater scheme of things. What do I mean again? Well our lives have become largely dependent on gadgets and technology and at some point these devices have to start speaking to each other and allow cross access functionality. This is where automation systems come into play be it Home, Office, car or a public place. Devices talking to each other independently, and not relying on commands and requests from a human has to happen. Look at Google Glasses, it’s trying to do that to a large extent by integrating all the features into 1 device, but it’s a long way to perfection and mass adoption. And that requires a whole new blog post (which is coming soon)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This is one area which Apple and other OS manufacturers have to enter fast. I'm expecting this to be one of the bigger updates for iOS 6.0 in June atleast for Macs if not Windows. If Apple misses out on this then WP7 suddenly would have a large advantage in gaining market share for professionals and the corporate market considering RIM Blackberry's performance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My post is slightly tilted towards Apple & iOS because 1st, I'm an iPhone owner and 2nd, come on lets face it, iPhone rules this market. Android has greater adaptability only coz of the cost. It as well as Windows follows Apple to a large extent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Stay tuned for more on related topics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">-> SJ</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-87426690346371221242011-11-21T01:04:00.001+05:302011-11-21T01:07:17.602+05:30Quote Blast<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For one human being to love another; </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks..</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The work for which all other work is but preparation.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">- Rainer Maria Rilke</span></span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-> SJ</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-74000577041830556952011-05-10T23:47:00.000+05:302011-05-10T23:47:55.902+05:30Why Facebook will become the center of the Cyber Universe<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">What Zuckerberg intended when he established Facebook was totally different from what he intends to do now. At that time Google's Orkut was the social networking provider leader and social network sites used to go in and out of style like fads. (Remember Hi5, Yahoo 360??). Zuckerberg just saw an unsaturated market and decided to play his hand and earn a quick buck. He never knew that Facebook would actually become so big and spawn such a big industry and his site would actually become on of the hottest things in cyberspace.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So Zuckerberg became a multi-billionaire overnight and Facebook beat other sites so bad that it now has a monopoly in the social networking space. The design of the site has undergone many changes since the 1st avatar. So many and so fast that the users actually became frustrated by unlearning and re-learning their profiles and the website.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Facebook also has a slew of security issues with security breaches occuring often and people's accounts getting hacked into. Apart from that, Facebook also has a problem with its apps. Due to a lesser degree of control there are a lot of fake apps and phishing apps which use your account to send messages etc.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">But apart from its problems, why Facebook has succeeded is because it gives the user a great amount of control over what he/she can do on the site. Also the whole concept of apps has made this the ultimate place for passing time. So much so that companies like MindJolt.Com, Zynga etc have ballooned up. These companies make apps and other games which run over Facebook. Zynga has taken the world by a storm with its FarmVille and CityVille games. They allow interaction with yout friends and peers and provide quite an experience. Many of my friends are addicted to it. My brother too has become an addict which is saying something about the game as he normally never plays games, yes not even the ones we can install like Call of Duty!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It has also spawned many groups and places of interaction, for example there are groups which hole photography contests online, spiritual groups which interact over Facebook, companies now have a good place to set up their online presence by setting up pages. These pages now form a more personal bond with their consumers, right from the most loyal to the ones who hate the brands.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Facebook has given the users a user-friendly environment and lots of tools to share and interact. Users can put up photos, videos, notes/blogs, even their calendar or links from other sites from across the web and choose to or not to share or share only privately. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Another revolution that Facebook brought about was the "like" button. So a person can see what his friends like and comment on that or discover something he/she likes too. It just made sharing things easy. The old styled "Groups" were now dissolved unless its a private moderated one! and made into pages, which one can join just by liking it and discuss that particular topic/interest/brand/thing or whatever it is with known as well as unknown people.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It also provided an easy to see "newsfeed". All your friends' recent activities came up on the newsfeed and you can see what everyone has been up to and join in the fun if you want. With notifications, easy sharing, user friendly site and lots of places to interact, Facebook became the ideal site to spend your time. Thus its users started to spend most of their free time on Facebook and the rest was history.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">But all this doesn't yet answer the question of why Facebook will become the centre of the Cyber-Universe. Well its all pretty simple. From the way things are moving the world is getting smaller and smaller and people are connecting more using social networking sites, sharing everything over the net with their friends and family. And everyday hundreds of people join Facebook. As the world connects to the web more and more people will join Facebook just because their family and friends are on it and Facebook will grow more.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It already has a chatting feature and recently converted its messaging system into an email system, which is quite cool really (but nowhere near a real email provider). SO I can now surf Facebook to get the news through pages of news publishers which i "like" (follow/subscribe) check out what my friends are up to, stream tv through Facebook (many people at the hostel streamed the world cup matches live through Facebook), and chat with friends, check out companies and products, read stories etc just on Facebook.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Along with this comes shopping!... Shopping on Facebook?!? ... YES! I kid you not!.. Facebook has shopping on its site. For example you can pay and watch The Dark Knight || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/darkknight">LINK</a> || through Facebook! Pampers was one of the first to open up shop on Facebook with Amazon.Com's help. Since then more and more shops have opened up and the concept is getting popular. This has amazing real life applications and can be used very innovatively to increase business. It can be so well harnessed that consumers wouldn't want to go to any other e-retail site than Facebook, but that’s a whole new blog post, which incidentally you can read here || <a href="http://sushantjaipuria.blogspot.com/2010/10/evolution-of-e-retail-store.html">LINK</a> ||</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Along with the shops, Facebook has started something called questions, which allows people to ask each other questions. Now this tool can be used very effectively by companies to conduct surveys. The problem is that it does not allow for specific targeting but I'm sure that with a few tweaks that can also be enabled.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So now we have a Facebook which does so much, but soft, with the latest Microsoft purchase of Skype once can be sure that Facebook will get ready access to that [Microsoft is an investor in Facebook] and son we'll see video chat enabled through Facebook much as Gmail has it in its inbox. But a lot depends on the quality of Skype now that Microsoft has it.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Facebook integration is also something which is important to note. There are phone concepts which are working at Facebook integration and will be called Facebook phones. All new models which use GPRS or Mobile internet have apps which allow easy access to Facebook. Facebook itself has started free access to its mobile website "0.facebook.com" through multiple carriers and thereby increasing accessibility manifold. A browser called Rockmelt has launched, based on the Chromium platform, has deep Facebook integration. The user has to log on to even launch the browser, and ready-made feeds for Facebook news, notifications as well as twitter. Rockmelt will be a different blog post but I must say it was the 1st browser in the past decade that made me shift from Firefox.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So now we have a Facebook which is a whole lot more than just social networking. It effectively integrates peoples’ lives and lifestyles with each others. Its user-friendly "sharing" options is what has made this site grow so much. As Zuckerberg realizes the application of such a site, it will grow even more and integrate more and more of peoples' lives. There might even come a time when people search the web using "Facebook Search" right from inside the website.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So one possibility of the future, if Zuckerberg plays his cards right, is that Facebook instead of Google becomes the centre and the whole of the cyber world revolves around it with deep Facebook integration. All companies will have to integrate Facebook, like Rockmelt has, and they will use Facebook to conduct surveys, to generate business, to sell online, to interact with consumers. As it is Facebook beat Google in 2010 to be the most visited site on Earth and it also has the capabilities to become exactly like Google and maybe even bigger.</div><br />
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-1058300664085226592011-04-26T23:06:00.000+05:302011-04-26T23:06:32.055+05:30Biggest problem for a tech product company<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Today, we live in an age dominated by technology. Our lives are getting more and more integrated with technology. Many of us check our email and twitter feeds even before we get out of bed in the morning. We have started e-banking, replaced post with email, shops with e-shops, telephone with VoIP and introduced new things such as video calling etc.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The computer and the laptop has played a big part in this progress and today slowly these products are being replaced with smart phones and tablets as the world is introduced to mobile computing. But as each advancement takes place, with it comes an increased problem of keeping up with these advancements. The world is now taking a larger and keener interest in technology. 6 years ago this was not the case. Technology companies used to take their own time in R&D and release new tech in their own time. But in recent years this has changed. With the advent of the iPhone and Apple publicly refurbishing its products every year. The speed of development of new tech has increased. The competition in the tech industry has increased and tech companies are now under greater pressure to do better. Not only are they competing with other manufacturers but they now compete with themselves. Apple changes and upgrades it products each year, and to keep pace with Apple other companies have to follow suit. Microsoft on the other hand, apart from trying to catch up is also taking the lead at a few places. For example, with the Kinect. MS terribly underestimated its power and lost out hugely as it saw hackers hack the Kinect and turn it from a gaming console to gesture computing.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Now MS has new ideas and is transforming itself into a new age company, one which is fast paced and is open to new types of ideas and products. IE 9 was a revolutionary improvement over its previous releases and Win 7 was the best MS OS released after Win XP. But after being branded as a bully, the consumers are still sceptical about MS. I believe this will change in the next few years as MS turns a leaf and takes on a new avatar, one that is consumer friendly, open to suggestions and can make good quality products (but thats yet to be seen).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">With the development of products and keeping up with advancements, tech companies, have the problem of planning out their product strategies 3 years in advance, and on top of things these strategies will need to be dynamic in nature. I mean, today they are planning, strategising and designing (upgrading) a product and while they do this they will have to think 3 years in advance and plan out how that product is going to develop and how it will advance through its life cycle. And this will have to be done every year. As a result the previous year's planning and preparation might just turn out to be an effort in vain as the competition might have changed or over taken, or new tech was invented or innovated that needs to be introduced or planned for, or consumers' taste or preferences or needs might turn out to be something other than what was predicted in the previous year.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So product companies like Apple, MS, Samsung, Sony, LG etc seem to be in a pickle. Every year they have to take a gamble on product design for their present plans and their future plans. Until now Apple seems to be the only one with a plan and everyone else played follow the leader, but that's fast changing, Samsung and MS seem to have developed (ing) their own plans and products designs. While 2 big behemoths (Sony and LG) are being left behind.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In the past 4 years of Apple being the limelight, things are taking a turn. Apple is now running out of ideas. This year's iPad 2 release says it all. The upgrades are far reaching but nothing spectacular. Apple's momentum of product redesign and innovation seems to be slowing down (the WWDC will comfirm this). When Android was released, I doubt Google had thought out the product life cycle plan thoroughly, but it seems to have developed a plan while developing Honeycomb. What these product plans are are a whole different blog post.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">But, whatever said and done, the whole dynamic planning is a big problem for companies. Apart from keeping its products upto date, the companies' culture will also need to be a dynamic one. Tall hierarchies and a closed door type of culture will not succeed in this new type of industry. Flat organisations with open cultures and transparent thought processes will be required and a more democratic approach with a strong knowledge of consumer behaviour is required. Developers being the end users themselves can select those options which they would use a lot, but the average consumer also needs options that developers don't normally use, need or like. So the design of the products have to a harmony of knowledge and preferences of the developers and employees who know the product and the product plan best, with a thorough knowledge of what the consumers want and will accept.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">We seem to have a perfect solution for the same, a concept called crowd sourcing, but its a difficult task to achieve considering the type of security and secrecy needed while developing a product. So as you can see the tech product companies are in a pickle. While analysts' and consumers' expectations increase, matching those expectations while keeping in line and developing a product plan can be a herculean task.</div><br />
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-> SJUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7001356210723251039.post-73468552544817847432011-03-29T14:00:00.010+05:302011-03-29T14:25:10.247+05:30A tale of 1 country: Brothers in arms!<div style="text-align: justify;">I stand at my balcony and watch the unfortunate (no not unfortunate) events unfold 2 floors down. Dadi (grandmother) has fallen to the ground and is crying, my mother has a face of steel, its frozen into a blank stare; I know this state, I have seen it before, she is controlling herself showing a brave and proud wife to the world. She is helping dadi. Uncle keeps pointing past the gate and is shouting something at dada (grandfather). Dada has just locked the gate and is walking back to the house.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Past the gate I can see a group of people all clad in white, surrounding something lying on the ground covered with a white cloth. My governess Shobhadi stands next to me holding me, afraid that I'll run downstairs into the scene unfolding. She and and the servants have been given strict orders that I can not be allowed downstairs. Dada thinks I do not understand what is happening, he thinks I cannot comprehend what is going on, but I do.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The year is 1940, my name is Sandip, I'm 10 years old. I think My father just died.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yes, I'm sure of whats happening. I know enough of the alphabets, I read and understood the headlines in the New India Post today morning, I also saw my father's name mentioned. I do not know my father. Dada said he died 6 years ago in an accident, but from what I've understood from overhearing my mother's and dadi's discussions, my father is.. no, was.. a patriot and joined the independence movement. He strictly instructed my mother not to leave the house or go against my dada, he couldn't force the 2 of us to live like refugees nor could he bear to take me away from my dada. Father loved and respected his family, and most of all my english loving dada.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I look down at the unfolding scene trying to understand what I feel. Am I sad or am I indifferent?? I don't know what to feel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I look down and see the huge crowd shouting and screaming angry slogans ready to kill and be killed. Bapu, standing a few paces away from me, he raises his hand and the crowd falls silent as they listen to his voice, hear what he says and they calm down. In those last few days, Calcutta was the only peaceful city in the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The date is 14th August 1947, I'm at my best friend Ornob's place where Bapu is staying. Ornob's sister and my love interest Deepa stands next to me hugging my hand. I feel the tension and uncertainty radiate from her. Ornob, standing inbetween me and Bapu, looks at me and says "Sandip, do you see what's happening here? The English have broken our India into 2 so that we and now our brothers the Pakistanis can never unite against the west. They have divided us such that we can never outdo the west". I nod as I see the sadness in Ornob's eyes, we are all sad to witness this unfortunate event. Brothers have been separated and pitted against each other. I'm afraid the results of the day's events will reverberate across generations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The date is 29th March 2011, all I hear about is the upcoming cricket match between India and Pakistan. My grandson Abhiroop, keeps on about how "India will win and destroy the Pakis!". I look at him and try to tell him that we are brothers, one nation divided artificially into 2 by the west who till today plan and scheme and foster the hatred such that we can't unite. There is a photo of Pakistani tourists in the newspaper today. They have come to see the match. Standing beside Indians, they look like us and we look like them. We all dress the same way, look the same way, talk the same way. Yet, we hate each other's guts and keep fighting and bickering over trivial matters. Kashmir, a sensitive issue for the countries, but will the issue exist if Pakistan and India united and became 1 country? Pakistan wants Kashmir and India wants Kashmir. If we are 1 country we both get Kashmir!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I look forward to the day when we can unite as brothers, India and Pakistan should take the step forward, dissolve both the countries and make it into one big nation of peaceful people who work towards each other's betterment, Hindus mixing and matching with Muslims and Muslims with Hindus; like it was before the partitions, like it was before the English came to this land, like it was in ancient times, like it should be.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But instead these children they fight and bicker and waste their energies. People want to split up states, like India was split up. My question is what will you get by doing that? Independence? Like India and Pakistan? We have been fighting each other ever since. If we had solved our problems and become one we would not have wasted so many resources fighting each other but would have developed our economies and homes, eradicated poverty, illiteracy, infanticide and so many deseases! Isn't that better than fighting?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Imagine the Pakistani and Indian cricket team as one. SO much talent! We can easily become the best team / nation in the world. A beacon, a bright and shining light, a model for the world to follow.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Where knowledge is free</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Where the world has not been broken up into fragments</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>By narrow domestic walls</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Where words come out from the depth of truth</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Where the mind is led forward by thee</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Into ever-widening thought and action</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
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-> SJ<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;"><i>*Disclaimer: Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental</i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0