Redundancies in Life

Another picture depicting what I always tell my juniors, do not fall into the sheep-walk trap. Do what you think is right even if it is not the norm, because being right is more important than being accepted.

Luck, is it? No, Its Hardwork! - Research

Something that I always say, & has now been proved in this research article. Reblogging from NY Times. Written by Jim Collins & Morten T. Hansen

BETTER to be lucky than good, the adage goes.

And maybe that’s true — if you just want to be merely good, not much better than average. But what if you want to build or do something great? And what if you want to do so in today’s unstable and unpredictable world?

Recently, we completed a nine-year research study of some of the most extreme business successes of modern times. We examined entrepreneurs who built small enterprises into companies that outperformed their industries by a factor of 10 in highly turbulent environments. We call them 10Xers, for “10 times success.”

Inspiring Video - Never Give Up!

• Determination
• Belief
• Persistence
• Hope
• Fighting Harder
• Staying in the fight
• Giving Everything you have
• Endurance
• NOT GIVING UP

Amazing video by Glory Catalysts about these virtues that every human being should have. If you are entrepreneur, these are your basic survival skills - Stay in the Battle. As I like to say, the war isn't over until I've won.

 

TRAI - I Am Fucking Pissed Off

Right now I'm so pissed off at TRAI for their STUPID SMS POLICY. Are they totally out of their fucking mind?
I mean what the hell were they even thinking?

I was sms chatting with a friends a few minutes back & we were having a very meaningful conversation & suddenly this fucking SMS limit sets in!

I mean What the Fuck dude! It is totally crazy. Do they even have a customer feedback section?

I don't know & I cannot find it, The.

I just sent an email to TRAI at ap@trai.gov.in & secretary@trai.gov.in, I think you should too.

If you are pissed off with the sms limit too, email them so that they can fucking change the shitty rule!

Crazy Indian SMS Policy : TRAI

Telecom regulatory Authority of India has come up with an amazing-ly stupid SMS spam control policy for the country, & I must tell you they could not have been stupider!

What was the problem?
Unsolicited Promotional SMS (read SPAM) were wreaking havoc throughout the country. Something had to be done (they realized it, & this was the only part they got correct)

What they did?
Very Very Weird.

Help me choose a laptop

12.5" Lenovo Thinkpad X220 - $836 or 13.3" Toshiba Portege R835 P70 - $729


Why the hell could Lenovo not put a USB 3.0 on that X220! The choice would have been made.

5 Tips for Filtering Sales Resumes for a Startup

Most entrepreneurs & founders will admit that hiring for startups tends to be among the top 3 most challenging tasks. The problem of hiring sales people is more acute in India given that “startup ready” and “risk ready” employees are far and few between. In the initial stages of most startups you tend to hire people with some experience or connections, because they need to get up and running quickly.
The most difficult part of the hiring process I have personally seen in India is the resume (CV) screening process.
Our process at Jivity is similar to most companies. We aggressively try to hire from our network, but that’s often insufficient. I personally believe that most (if not all) resumes are written by only one person in India. After that they are all “copy and paste” or “R&D” – rob and duplicate.
The most important part of the resume filtering process first is to understand the type of sales person you want to hire. Depending on the stage of your company, hire the right person for the role.
There are 3 types of sales people according to me: hustlers, relationship sellers, and process junkies.
Hustlers will get you deals, but not necessarily ones that fit your product or service 100%.
Relationship sales professionals have a good rolodex, but will need a “technical sales consultant” to explain the “details”.
Process junkies are best when you have figured out your sales process, but not great at coming up with new types of customers or new uses of your solution for adjacent markets.
Most companies need to hire hustlers early, then hire relationship sellers and finally at a more mature level, hire process folks.
Here are some of my quick tips for filtering sales resumes if you are hiring for technology startups:

In memory of fast internet at IIT K

IIT Kanpur was known for its speed of internet since before time started, it was faster than neutrinos, anti neutrinos & the brains of people who used it.

Alas, all things come to an end, so did the legacy of this wonderful mystical creature of IIT Kanpur.

Many (hopefully I'm not alone when I think this) think is a conspiracy to free IITians of their addiction of internet, which assumes that people will not use internet if it is dead slow. What they forget is, most of the people have worked on DSL internet (max. 256 kbps) at some point of time.

They created a creature of black magic clad in iron armor, known to the world as, Iron Port. It lashed & sapped the bandwidth until bandwidth & speed were no more.

RIP Fast Internet At IITK

Or is it the first step to The Great Jedi Purge?


UPDATE : For the IITK alumni who graduated recently & cannot connect the words slow internet & IITK, think of webmail taking about 45 seconds to load, you'll know what I mean.

Why finding your passion is important?

I found this image circulating on facebook. I find it very amusing as it portrays the very message I have been trying to convey to my juniors lately.

The Image :

The Message :
Find your passion & work hard towards it. Otherwise you will end up living someone else's life, your whole life.

Nostalgic - Mall Volunteer, all over again

Mall Volunteer, brings back memories.

Right now, 3 A.M. I am sitting with bacchas at the Mall (now known as Informals) stall, really missing my own 1st year team, Amit Nayak, Kandoi & everyone else. Vineet is getting his ass kicked on the mall stage, as usual (haha)

Troopp.com - Empower an NGO Today

Troopp.com is a startup by an alumni of IIT Kanpur, with a noble mission. Actually, it is my senior's (& a recent friend :) startup.

Before , talking about the startup, let me tell you why am I writing about it. The reason is not, because he's a senior, not even close. About a month back, we  had a conversation that started about TedX IIT Kanpur.We got to talking about our ventures & it was a conversation that inspired me. I don't what part of it, but what Rishabh is trying to doing at Troopp.com was really an inspiration. That inspiration made me write this blog post, which I am finally completing after a month. (Yes, this post has been pending for a month, that is the price you pay as an IITian :-P )

All images posted here are taken from troopp.com with Rishabh's prior permission. Please do not reproduce the images without consent from Troopp.

Troopp.com

• What?  

Helping, rather empowering NGOs with the best talent available. What Troopp does is it pools human resources & talented individuals (Trooppers) & connects with NGOs. Troopers can take up tasks or projects for these NGOs & help them out with their work.

• Why Troopp?

Contact lenses Do Not Melt due to barbeque heat

Contact lenses do not melt due to barbeque heat. They would, if you put your face on the grill, but then I think contact lenses would be the least of your worries.

Jugnu, satellite made by Indian students launched!

Jugnu, Indian Nano Satellite created by the students of IIT Kanpur (my friends, batchmates, seniors, juniors) under the guidance of our Professors here at IIT Kanpur, is in orbit! :D

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C18) put Jugnu along with 3 other satellites into orbit yesterday. The other satellites were : Megha-Tropiques, an Indo-French satellite to study the weather and climate in the tropical region of the world; SRMSat built by the students of SRM university, near Chennai; Vesselsat from Luxembourg.

Back to Jugnu, as the Jugnu website puts it, the development of the Jugnu started in the year 2008 with a team of 3 students. With time, the team has grown to the size of more than 50 students ranging from 1st year

undergraduates to final year postgraduates and 14 professors from different disciplines, & finally the satellite is in orbit now!

Why am I so excited & blogging about it?

Engagement beoynd facebook fans

There are more users engaged than the total no. of fans on the page, that says something! (Achievement) :D

Ivy Leagure & Consultancy/Finance

Just read this article at Yale Daily News. It talks about why 25% of Yale graduates opt for a job in the field of consultancy or banking/finance.
I find the article highly relevant in context of IITs too! (Having seen so many of my friends prepare for Mc Kinsey & Deloitte!)

Check it out at http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/sep/30/even-artichokes-have-doubts/#c54183

Facebook's most talked about brands!

With the new facebook metric finally people are understand what me & other social media marketers have been trying to tell for years (2 years in my case lol), engagement is more important than the number of likes. Below is a list of the top ten facebook brands sorted by engagement :

1. Starbucks: 508,526
2. Coca-Cola: 220,867
3. Victoria’s Secret: 145,125
4. Skittles: 137,558
5. Oreo: 114,454
6. Red Bull: 112,051
7. Playstation: 104,837
8. Converse: 52,866
9. Pringles: 50,488
10. Converse All Star: 40,858

Now, for the traditional metric folks, below is a list of brands sorted by no. of likes.

1. Coca-Cola: 34,511,504
2. Starbucks: 25,446,846
3. Oreo: 23,092,391
4. Red Bull: 22,427,254
5. Converse All Star: 20,780,055
6. Converse: 20,141,021
7. Skittles: 19,348,317
8. Playstation: 17,420,065
9. Pringles: 13,602,128
10. Victoria’s Secret: 15,343,727

iPhone 4S : Special Feature for India?

IPhone 4S Siri Demo.
If you have seen the IPhone 4S Siri demo, click here to skip the video & read the post, but if you haven't seen the demo yet, you should see it before reading the post.

 

Special Feature for India : What is the one feature you think should be added to Siri to make it a sure shot success in India?

Sony VAIO VPCSC1AFM/S v/s Toshiba Portege R835-P70

Time for Laptop Reviews

Sony VAIO VPCSC1AFM/S v/s Toshiba Portege R835-P70

Sony Vaio VPCSC1AFM/S machine has great specs, weighs just 3.9lbs (1.769kg), has a 2nd gen. core i5 processor, Blue ray drive, Bluetooth, backlit keyboard & what not for 999$ or 949$ (day before it was 999$, today it is 949$). It is a Best Buy Blue Label laptop. Full specifications at Sony Vaio VPCSC1AFM/S

Toshiba Portege R835-P70 has good specs (not as great as the Sony Vaio, but still very good specs) & amazing customer reviews! Full specification of Toshiba Portege R835-P70 at Toshiba Portege R835 P70

I don't own either of the laptops but I think, like most of the people reading this post, you are planning to buy an ultraportable, lightweight, super powered laptop. If you are, you might find this post useful, otherwise, skip to another post (to your left)

P.S. : You might also want to checkout the Apple MacBook Air 13 inch, that might be a useful product too!

The differences

Sony VAIO Sony VAIO VPCSC1AFM/S	Toshiba Portege R835-P70
Blue Ray player & DVD+-RW	Only DVD+-RW
500 (5400 RPM)	640 GB SATA hard disk
4GB Solid State Drive = 50% faster boot up & application loading	NO SSD, only SATA drive
512 MB dedicated AMD Radeon HD 6470M graphics	No dedicated graphics card
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR	No bluetooth
Weighs 3.9 lbs	Weighs 3.7lbs
Price : 999.99$	Price : 729.99$
Average User Reviews	Amazing User Reviews
No sleep & charge	Sleep & charge USB port for ipod & other devices
Good Expert Review (CNET, PCMAG.com)	Recommended in Expert Reviews (CNET, PCMAG.com)
Backlit keyboard	Simple keyboard
All Aluminium design	Regular Plastic Design with some parts in metal

I don't know if you got that, but the most important part is the User reviews! The specs of the Sony Vaio VPCSC1AFM/S are way better than the Toshiba Portege R835-P70 but when it comes to user reviews, Toshiba Portege R835-P70 is way ahead.

Which one would you prefer or suggest? Tell me your comments below

Pre-crime detection in US! Minority Report?

I recently read this post on CNet about Pre-Crime Criminal Intent Testing experiment going on in the US. Reminds me of Minority Report. Freaky!
The only difference between this experiment & the movie is, in the movie it was Psychics who were helping detect crimes before they happened. In the experient, they are using algorithms. (Using Psychics sounds way cooler!)

US Homeland Security is building a "prototype screening facility" that it hopes will use factors such as ethnicity, gender, breathing, and heart rate to "detect cues indicative of mal-intent." They call this project, FAST, Future Attribute Screening Technology.

Steve Jobs : Tribute from all over the World

News of Jobs death and quotes from famous admirers flash in Times Square Wednesday night.

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET)

In the memory of Steve Jobs

If you do not bother to read this memoir, you can directly go to, What about Steve Jobs inspired you the most? Post your inspiration in the comments & reactions


The memoir by Dr. Tim Bresnahan of Stanford University.

Jobs: A Vision of American Entrepreneurship

Steve Jobs has died. We should remember his accomplishments and the vision of American entrepreneurship he embodied.

The PC business was founded by a ragtag band of outsiders. Steve, a lotus-eating less-than-successful Atari employee, was as much an outsider as any entrepreneur ever. But he and the more techie Steve (Wozniak) brought us a usable computer, the Apple II, you didn’t need to solder together, moving the industry from hobbyist kits towards a real business. What a powerful commercialization idea that was, and what a great collaborator he was, not only with the very different Woz but with all the different people writing applications. Most of the kids in the industries made technologies they themselves would like to use. Steve Jobs made a computer real customers could use and went to work to sell it, yes, to SELL IT to us.

Steve Jobs, master commercializer, thought the PC was going to be mostly important for customers as consumers at home. But Apple didn’t try to control applications developers, leaving things open to developers. It wasn’t so much that Steve was committed to open systems, but it was real entrepreneurship and they had no resources, so they had to rely on others. The most important applications developers invented the spreadsheet and the word processor, setting the PC on a grrowth path to be used mostly at work. Rather than viewing this change as a disappointment, Steve pushed his company toward making machines that white-collar workers could use to run those applications.

He didn’t quail when the switch to a work PC gave IBM the opportunity to enter and compete with him. His balls and bravado were right out there when he put “welcome IBM” in huge type in the Wall street Journal. And but for a tiny problem of computers overheating and microchips popping out of the Apple III, IBM would have had no chance, and we’d have an Apple PC standard today. Entrepreneurs in those days had no resources, had to do it all, design, build, sell, recruit applications developers. One better quality control decision in manufacturing ….

In the IBM PC era, Steve drove innovation forward with the Macintosh. This, like the Apple II, was squarely aimed at expanding the use of PCs to everyone, the “computer for the rest of us.” Everyone now knows that this was innovating too fast, and that cheaper, duller IBM machines running Microsoft’s dull clone of an earlier operating system would become the standard. But do you know how Steve changed when he realized that “the rest of us” were not going to buy the Mac? He learned that the most important early customers for Macs were corporate marketing departments (those graphics!) and worked hard to create, as he told me not long after, “the best computer company for those corporate marketers we can.” Real entrepreneurs don’t wallow in vision, they sell product.

There’s so much loose talk about “entrepreneurial vision.” Steve Jobs was the real deal. When his vision for the Mac didn’t work out, he responded to what the market wanted. Earlier, when his vision for the Apple II didn’t work out, he responded to what the market wanted. It is one in a billion humans who can both drive forward a vision — like his vision for the Mac — and then flexibily adapt to what customers want. The floor is littered with visionaries and marketers, it is the rare individual indeed, Steve Jobs, who can do both who is the one in a billion.

After losing the standards war to IBM — and worse, after the super-cool Steve Jobs lost the race for PC industry leadership to the super-geek Bill Gates, came the dark night of the soul. You’ll read a lot about “being fired from Apple,” but as Steve later said, that was a blessing in disguise. The real blow was losing the standards war.

Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives. Steve Jobs had the most American of lives, and created his own second act, at first more or less by accident. Having lost the standard-setting war to Bill Gates — what a bitter thing, the overheated chips popping out, innovation not being the answer, then the super nerd beating his own super cool self — he made a huge fortune more or less by accident in, of all places, the movie business. And that funded the best second act of all time.

At last, in our century, it was technically possible to design and sell a cool device to “the rest of us.” It was anything but easy, for, while there were some consumer-oriented innovators running on the Web, like Google, the direct distribution of PCs to consumers was blocked. A direct attack on Fortress Microsoft would not work. But Microsoft was not the only dinosaur to slay. What a briliant indirect route to take back the PC Steve designed! He started, innocently enough from the perspective of the computer powers that be, with a portable music player. He’d noted how lame Hollywood’s reaction to the Internet era was, and took the opportunity. Then he morphed it into a smart cell phone, also an enterainment device and something of a computer. He’d noted how lame telephone companies’ reaction to technical change was, and took the opportunity. And now, last, he’s built — and SOLD — a tablet which is both an entertainment device and a real computer, launching an assault on fortress Microsoft. Once again, the insiders did not take advantage of technical change, and Steve Jobs seized the opportunity.

Steve died before that final assault could be carried out — hell, he dragged himself back to work from his deathbed to launch that final assault — but he can rest with the knowledge that in his second act he came from the outside and made a huge change to three industries. Platform innovations are extremely difficult and extremely rare. No one, not Watson, not Gates, not Zuckerberg (though there remains hope for that pup) has made as many brilliant platform plays as Steve Jobs.

Reblogged:http://www.digitopoly.org/2011/10/06/jobs-a-vision-of-american-entrepreneurship

What about Steve Jobs inspired you the most? Post your inspiration in the comments & reactions

Best Appl Ad Ever - Macintosh Launch 1984

I personally think this is one of the best Apple Mac ads ever. What do you think?

30 reasons to be Vegetarian - PETA

Amazing video by PETA. Video courtesy : www.goveg.com

Posting on blog, because I want to have this video for a very long time.

Are you a vegetarian? answer in the comments below

India at Harvard Business School : Titan

Three Innovation Lessons From India's Titan Watches

"We were too busy being strategic to do something obvious," said Mr. Harish Bhat, the COO of the Time Products division of Titan Industries Limited.

That was just one of many choice lines I heard when listening to Bhat talk about Titan's efforts to create new growth businesses, including two new and successful watch lines: RAGA, for women, and Fastrack, for younger consumers.

Titan is about a $1.5 billion unit of The Tata Group, a massive Indian conglomerate. The world's fifth largest watchmaker, it owns 60% of the Indian market, and has been growing robustly. As Bhat went through his presentation, I wrote down the following lessons:

Indian way to One Night Stands

Indians have an amazing idea to a one night stand, its a pretty long one night stand, in most Indian cases, lifelong!

How?

2 people who have no fucking idea about each other, they don't even know how to spell each others' name, get married, have sex, enjoy a honeymoon, then they try to figure out each other for the rest of their lives

Who said Indians are not adventurous when it comes to sex?

Photo Courtesy : CartoonStock

No way an Indian could do this!

Some guy in Pennsylvania sent over 200,000 sms in a month & no Indian can beat this record, no matter what.

TRAI has made sure of it. - 100 sms/person/day limit imposed in India.

29year old deaf woman hears her Voice for the first time - Beautiful Video

Sloan Churman was born deaf. For 29 years, she has relied on reading lips and, to a very limited extent, hearing aids.

Two months ago, she received Envoy Medical’s Esteem Implant, which utilizes ear drum vibrations to bring hearing back to its users. The reaction, captured by her husband on video, is nothing short of extraordinary. Her pure joy is contagious.

Here’s what she said on her YouTube page:

“I had an implant put in 8 weeks ago called The Esteem Implant by Envoy Medical. I was born deaf and have worn hearing aids from the age of 2, but hearing aids only help so much. I have gotten by this long in life by reading lips. This was taken as they were activating the implant.”

When I saw this video, it set me thinking about the beauty of voice & sadly how we abuse it.

I'd love to know your reactions in the comments below.




Video & news shared via Mashable

Innovation - Energy Saver Eletric Board

A long time back, there was this Save Electricity message going around.
It went something like this,

"Remember how you feel when someone turns you on & leaves . .

Exactly,

Save Electricity!"

Some smart ass created this amazing (read innovative) way to spread this message & (read painfully) remind people of it. Check it out