Kiruba.com

5 Reasons Why I Haven't Bought an iPhone Yet.

2008-08-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

About 3 months ago, I made a firm decision that I'm definitely buying an iPhone. Been wanting one ever since its launch an year ago and the latest iPhone 3G at $199 made it mouth wateringly reachable. Apple had a 100% assured buyer in me. So, why did Apple lose me? Here's why.

Reason #1: Promises not kept. I distinctly remember Steve Jobs, during his keynote speech during iPhone 3G's launch, mention that it would $199 and equivalent across all markets. When it comes from Steve Jobs, you believe him. It just rubbed me the wrong way that that promise wasn't kept. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Reason #2: Feeling of getting ripped off. How does it feel paying way beyond the MRP of a product? Feels shit ofcouse. What else explains, paying $750 for a $499 phone?

Reason #3: The Price will eventually drop. It's a classic Apple strategy. Launch it at a higher cost. Milk the fellas who have the money and can't wait. Catch the gadget freaks. Satisfy their 'I-got-it-first' egos. Once this layer is covered, cut the price down and target the next layer. Look at the historical data of iPods and the iPhone in the US and its easy to map it in India.

Reason #4: I'd like to retain my old number. I'm on Aircel and I've had my phone number 98415 97744 for over 5 years now. No way am I going to let go of this number. Has too much professional and personal connections at stake. If I get an iPhone, then it means I'll have to carry two phones with me. The iPhone will at best be a portable interent device and music player.

Reason #5: I'm quite happy with my Nokia N82. It's WiFi is good. Great camera. Nice phone overall. It's a little difficult to justify to myself why I should cough up an extra Rs.31,000 when I'm quite happy with what I have right now.

If you notice, none of my 5 reasons has anything to do with the iPhone gadget. I love the phone and its features. And that's exactly why its such a shame that Apple lost me. It's such a shame that they couldn't convert such great brand goodwill and months of pentup anticipation into solid sales.

I read today's report that there were over 90,00,000 (90 lakh) new phone connections last month alone and its such a shame that only a few thousand iPhones have been sold so far.

For guys like Vodafone and Airtel, it really won't make much of a difference to their bottomline. They'll still get tons of subscribers anyways. However, its an opportunity lost to establish their coolness. It's Apple's loss entire.

India is a land of EMIs. India is a land of volume. Apple clearly hasn't learnt that yet.

Krishna Comes Home

2008-08-23T04:50:00.000-07:00

Its Krishna Jayanthi today and I've always been fascinated by how my wife and Mom make the tiny footprints of the naughty Krishna. I figured its a good idea to make a small photologue of this wonderful ritual.

Step # 1: Get the powdery mix ready. It's rice pounded into flour and mixed with water. Care should be taken not to make it very watery.

Step #2: Dip the side of the hands into the mix

Step #3: Place them on the floor taking care that one hand should be in front of the other to mimic the walking pattern.

Step #4: The feet are done. Here, they aren't very clear because the footprints are still wet. They get brighter once they dry up.

Step #5: Now for the tiny fingers. Dip your fingers again into the mix and make five dots for the fingers. Make sure to start with the toe which has the biggest dot and work yourself to the little finger.

Step #6: This is one naughty Krishna who doesn't care damn about a well laid out kolam and walks right over it. The nerve!

Step #7: He enters home and walks straight into the kitchen where the butter bounty lies!

I remember when my daughters were toddlers a few years ago, we would just dip their feet in the rice flour mix and make them walk!

Flowery Aroma at Office

2008-08-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

One of the activities that I enjoy in the mornings is to arrange flowers at my office. This is the first thing that you see as you enter into our little office and something that I take a lot of pride in.

I buy these flowers from a wonderful old lady who has a small makeshift stand right next to our apartment. Every morning, her smile brightens me up and almost always, she gives me more flowers for the money she takes.

We have a nice Gulmohar tree and a big Bougainvillea climber and they are in full bloom now. Every morning, I pick up the fresh flowers that have withered from the trees, before they get crushed by the cars and bikes.

Pretty soon, we are also planning flower beds inside our apartment where we'll have many potted plants. It'll take a lot of effort but should be fun.

I think this flower in a water clay pot is a strong rub-off from Aurobindo Ashram where flowers is a way of life. It's a small slice of Pondicherry I'd like to carry along.

Looking for a Badminton Partner.

2008-08-08T04:18:00.000-07:00

Photo by b.w.futures

We have turned a few empty plots of land which was misused by the city corporation as a graveyard for broken vehicles, into a fairly good looking garden. As part of the garden, we have two Badminton courts, one cemented and the other with grass.

It hurts me to miss such a fantastic opportunity. Combine that with a guilty feeling of having no physical activity in the mornings and the urge to take up badminton is evident. Will be picking up a pair of good quality racquets tomorrow.

I'm looking for a person or a team who is passionate about the sport as a playing partner. The court is in Virugambakkam, a stone's throw from my home. The place is ideal if you happen to be living in Vadapalani, Valasaravakkam, KK Nagar or the vicinity. There's a very nominal charge of Rs.150 per month which I think is a steal when you compare it with what local clubs charge. What's more, you get to relish good home made coffee that Mom makes, after the game.

If you or any of your friend is passionate about the game and is longing to get into the game, call me at 9841 97744 or email me at Kiruba at Kiruba.com .

In Japan and having a Sushi of a time!

2008-07-31T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I've been in Japan over the last week and will return back to India on August 5th. I'm right now in the city of Sapporo in the Northern Island of Hokkaido, attending the International iCommons Summit 2008 where digital and social technologists from over 64 countries are attending.

As expected blogging on this blog will continue to be sparse. On the other hand, I've been shooting a ton of pictures and producing posts and podcasts on the iCommons Summit website.

I'm leaving Sapporo today afternoon to Tokyo and from there head to Yokohoma and Fujisawa.

Life in Japan has been absolutely fascinating. One of these days, I should jot down my experiences.

For those of you trying to reach me, email is the way to go. If it's absolutely urgent you can reach me at this mobile number +8180 3576 3945.

Terrace Gardening Using Bamboo

2008-07-13T21:46:00.000-07:00

I'm a great fan of Terrace Gardening and I liked what was done on top of this building on Old Mahabalipuram Road in Chennai. The thick foliage of bamboo acts as an effective visual screen from the hustle and bustle of the traffic below.

I've been planning to do a similar thing on top of our apartment terrace. If you know a good horticulturalist who can help guide on the right way to go, please do let me know. Thanks in advance.

Deceptively Helpful Sign!

2008-07-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

I caught this pro-actively helpful sign this evening. You'd think it's out of goodwill, eh? Nah! It's been put up by residents of a small lane who wanted traffic to be diverted to another lane! But quite smart thinking if you ask me.

Taking Colgate & CloseUp, Head On.

2008-07-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

At Pondy Bazaar, one of Chennai's bargain happy shopping places, I saw this guy selling 'tooth lotion'. I've heard of 'tooth paste' & 'tooth powder' but never a 'tooth lotion'. Now, that's an idea for a brand new category for HLL.

I like how he calls his small box on wheels as 'Dentic Poly Herbal Centre'!

The Waiting Death Trap

2008-07-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Chamiers Road in Chennai is one of the busiest roads and part of an upmarket area. It's where the Park Sheraton 5 star hotel and The Times of India office, amongst many others, are located. It's the road that leads to Boat Club Area, the most expensivest residential real estate in Chennai.

Yet, even in such high profile road, I was shocked to see the sheer lack of safety and the danger that commuters are subjected to. These iron rods you see below, jut out like open knifes ready to stab anyone who may just accidently trip over.

These open rods you see stretch for nearly a kilometer on these busy roads and they have been out there for over a month now. And it doesn't look like the construction will be finished anytime soon.

There's a tragedy waiting to happen.

Awesomely Innovative Ad

2008-07-09T03:03:00.000-07:00

The last few times I had been to the Sathyam Theatre, I had been meaning to photograph this and finally got to do it yesterday.

The advertising guys who came up with this concept definitely deserves a pat. They converted a plaid lift into a concept where customers can experience the spaciousness of the fridge.

The wordings on the door as you wait for the lift to open reads, "Just how much space do you think is inside a SAMSUNG - SBS Refridgerator?"

Warning a la Robin Hood!

2008-07-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

Found this message at an office I visited today. Yup, I played safe!

The Tree Planting Initiative

2008-07-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

A bunch of us are planting tree saplings this evening at 3:00 PM. I shot a short video (4 minutes) using my N82 showing the different saplings we have grown. Give it a spin.

As always, a small trick to view smooth video is to hit play and then hit the pause button. Let the video load up for a few minutes and then click play.

The tree planting program takes place at the Garodia Government School at Virugambakkam. It's about 1.5 kms from the Vadapalni bus stand. Anyone interested in greenification of the city is welcome to come give a helping hand. For directions and details you can either call me at 98415 97744 or call Mullai Vanam at 93821 84310. I know its a working day and most of you can't make it. Do help spread the word around.

Here's Mullai, the ever-energetic guy who stays close to my apartment and he's been instrumental in the green drive. Here he is attending to the saplings.

For the tree planting program, I will be there for only about half hour before I head out to the meeting with the students from Michigan State University and then to the SRM University. Wish I could stay longer. If any of you are interested in, buzz me.

Video Review of the Sandisk 8GB Card

2008-07-03T02:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you don't realize some of the good tools you have with you and you always aspire to get stuff that you almost never usually get. Take for example video blogging. I've been planning to get one of those Flip video recorders ever since I read good reviews about them and been scouting around for it in Chennai with no luck. And all this time, I've been sitting around with my N82 which has pretty decent video feature.

So, instead of waiting for the perfect solution, decided to play around with what I've got. And the right opportunity came by. I received the SanDisk 8GB SDHC card and decided to do a video review of it. If I had a little bit more presence of mind (and more patience), I could have done an unboxing video which would've been kinda cool.
Anyways, I took the product out for a walk around my apartment and here's what I felt about the card.

For smooth viewing, hit play and then hit pause. Give the video a minute and then play again.

For you bums too lazy to see the video :), here's my impression of the product.

1) Wow! This tiny thing can hold 8GB?? I still remember the computer exhibition that I went to where I bought a 4GB hard drive. We've come a long way.

2) Love the fact that there's a tiny card reader that comes with the card. Plug it in and it turns into a thumb drive. The thing that I didn't like is that the card doesn't fit into the reader smoothly. You'll have to kinda shove it in and parts of it juts out. Many who don't take the effort to read the manual, would force it in deeper damaging the card.

3) Apparently, the card is quite strong I'm told, though I didn't get around to testing it. It would survive a 10 foot fall. I'll just take their word for it, thank you.

3) In addition to photos and videos, you can store word files, pdf and just about any file.

4) 2000 songs, 20,000 photos, Hours of video. There sure is a lot of space. Again, it just blows me how they could have so much space in such a tiny thing!

5) The card can be used in mobile phones from Motorola, Sony Ericcson, Nokia. Just make sure they are SDHC compatible. You could even use it in video games, GPS devices and DSLR cameras. Didn't know that bit.

6) The transfer rate from the card reader to PC is 4MB per second. That's one song a second. Not bad.

7) Add to the fact that there's no additional software required to install, and this one get a thumbs up from me.

8) Now, the only grouse is that it's so bloody tiny and for a guy like me who has the ability to lose a laptop, I don't see this thing last with me too long! :)

Now for my experience and lessons from doing the video.

1) I put on a very strange accent, especially at the beginning of the video. That's not how I usually talk. And I hate it.

2) I wrote down the key points I wanted to talk, on a Post-it note and stuck it to the side of the phone. That greatly helped me in the flow.

3) I shot this video at noon when the sunlight was directly over me. That created dark shadow and hence had to find a shadowy place. Even then, the buildings around were very bright from the sunshine and that caused the object in front (my mug) to darken. Early mornings or evenings would be a better time.

4) I had to hold the camera horizontally to get the video and that's not a comfortable position to hold the camera. We are so used to handling the phone in a vertical position. Besides, holding the camera in an outreached position for a whole 4 minutes can get a bit painful. I overdid on my pushups exercise and that made it even worse!

5) The surroundings were fairly noisy, yet, quite happy with the sound clarity.

6) Realized that I should never move between a bright sun-lit area and the shadow area. The camera takes a little time to adjust and by that time, all you see is a black silhouette.

7) Realized that video is a powerful tool that helps you communicate certain things that you would never be able to do so in words. Like how the card fits into the tiny card reader to become a thumbdrive.

8) I hate the fact that the video sounded pitchy. Must remember to get more critical! :)

9) I should remember to hold the phone a bit higher. The view up my nose usually isn't quite flattering.

9) And yeah, I should stop that f***ing accent and just be myself.

My New Indian Express Column: Geotagging & A-GPS

2008-07-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

Here's the column that got published in today's paper.

Click here to see enlarged image

Phones that know where you are!

We all love taking photos on our digital cameras and camera mobiles. These are fond memories and would love to treasure. While we store them, what we don't usually do is add information about each photo. A few of us blog or take the effort to give titles to the photos, but the majority of us just do nothing. Let's face it. We're are plain lazy or just don't find it important enough to do it. Hence, the fond memories are consigned to the forgotten corners of our computer's hard disk.

Enter automatic Geotagging. This is the latest feature in some of the latest mobile phones like the Nokia N78 that automatically finds out the location you are in and adds this information to the photo. For example, let's say you shot a group photo in front of the Taj Mahal. The geotagging feature in the phone adds the tags, 'Agra; and 'Taj Mahal' to the photo. How does the phone know this? Because the phone has the A-GPS feature (The Assisted Global Positioning System) and hence knows the latitude, longitude, altitude of the position you are in from the Satellite data. Understandably, you must have subscribed for a GPRS connectivity from your mobile service provider. (This is the feature that lets you access Internet from your mobile)

So, when you shoot a photo from the phone and upload it to photo sites like Flickr, details like the name of city and place are automatically uploaded too. Knowing where your picture is taken acts as a great memory jogger. It also acts as an excellent community tool. If someone wanted to see pictures of The Taj Mahal, your picture will result in the searches because of the automatic geo tag.

There's more to just automatic geotagging in the latest phones. To explain this, let me walk you through an experience. Once, me and a bunch of friends did a cycling trip from Bangalore to Chennai. Being techies, we had a bunch of gadgets. One of us had an odometer fixed to the cycle's wheel to help us with data on kilometers covered and average speed. Another friend had got an expensive GPS device that looked like a walkie talkie that gave information on the altitude and showed us on a map the path covered. And then a laptop with an Internet data card to upload all this information to our website so that anyone can follow where we are.

The Nokia N78 is in essence all these three devices put together. Amazing how technology has advanced. The phone can give the speed of our travel, time taken to cover the distance, average speed, the altitude, the map and more importantly live publishing of all the date online. Not to mention automatically geotagging all our photos.

The next time we go on a cycling expedition, we're going to dump all those expensive paraphernalia and just pick up an A-GPS enabled phone.

An Imaginative Business...err..Wedding Card

2008-06-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

I've seen fancy, decorative wedding invitation cards but this one takes the cake for being different.

I recently met up with my friend Praveen Menon, who heads Sales for BharathMatrimony. When I gave him my business card, he smiled and said how everyone now seems to be getting creative with cards. That's when he took out his wallet and then whipped out a card. At first I thought it was a business card and asked myself, "what's different?" until I read through it! :) Ever seen a wedding invite kept in a wallet?!

The wordings aren't clear in the pics below and hence have written down the text for easy readability.

check out the name & designation: Usha Rohini, Life Partner of Sudhir PR

Text in the card: "Whatever you do, please don't call this yet another startup company. Call this the grand meeting of the two legendary planets, if you will. Or the big bang that'll change both our lives. In any case, do be there with your family. And bring along all the warmth and blessings you can muster. Because it's simply the day of my merger with my Life Partner."

The Economics of Milk Covers

2008-06-30T02:21:00.000-07:00

I walk into the kitchen this morning to find these milk covers stuck on the walls. Questions popped up in my head. What the hell are they doing on the wall? What are the covers glued with?

I preen a little closer to inspect. I peel out one cover to find what's holding it. It's water! Yup, the wet cover sticks to the white tile just like Post-It notes.

As to what they doing on the wall, I gave up guessing and asked my wife. It's a simple drying technique, she tells me. Notice the picture carefully and you'll see that the snipped corners are facing down to let the water drain out.

"Why dry?", you ask. Because wet covers are a haven for fungus and foul smell. So, why not simply discard them? Because those empty covers make some money. The 'old newspaper wallah' pick them for Rs.5 per 100 covers. At an average of 5 covers a day, that's 150 covers a month at a Rs.7.50 valuation! The trouble that folks go through for this!!

The economics of kitchen never ceases to amaze me! I'll file this under 'It happens only in India".

Here's How My Speaking Schedule Looks

2008-06-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

Conversation with students of MSU, Chennai, July 4th, 2008

The Michigan State University annually organizes a Summer Study Abroad Program and this time, select students are visiting South India. Their focus is on 'Culture, Politics and Globalization' and I've been invited to share my views. Technically, this isn't a "speech" as in podium et al. It's a more friendly coffee room discussion. It's informal and I like it this way. Usually turns out much more interactive and productive. The program is organized by the wonderful Swarna Rajagopal, who taught at MSU and currently heads the Chaitanya Consultancy.

New Media Course , Chennai, July 4th till Nov 4th, 2008

Right after I finish the session with MSU students, I have to tackle the T.Nagar traffic to head to the SRM University's city campus to take my first class of the New Media course. My students are the Journalism students who are pursuing their Post Graduate Diploma. This course is spread over 4 months and I teach every Friday

It's the second time I've been invited as a visiting faculty. The first time was to teach SriLankan Tamil Journalists who did their journalism course here. Thankfully, the new course is at their city campus in T.Nagar and unlike the last time, I don't have to travel 80 kms each day to teach at their main campus in Kattangalathur.

India's Premiere Entrepreneurship Event, Delhi, July 18 & 19, 2008

This is one event I'm absolutely looking forward to. With over 500 entrepreneurs, CEOs, VCs, Technologists in one place, it's an event one wouldn't want to miss. Along with Amit Somani, the Head of Search at Google India and a guy who oozes passion for product innovation, I'm organizing the Innovation BrainJam. This deserves a separate post but in a nutshell, its an exciting & pulsating shorter version of an unconference.

I'm also speaking at the event. I'm sharing the stage with Mahesh Murthy, a successful entrepreneur and investor. He is CEO of PinStorm and founder of SeedFund. We are talking on 'The Art of Marketing The Startup'.

The iCommons Summit, Sapporo, Japan. July 29- Aug 1, 2008

Imagine collecting 300 of the most passionate folks in Digital culture and free knowledge sharing from 64 countries and you can imagine the kind of energy and spirit buzzing around. The event brings together activists, change agents and new world social entrepreneurs to chart and reflect on a positive path for a more fair, more just, more creative world in the Information Age.

I'm wearing multiple hats here. As a speaker, I'm participating in the Video Lab and the Open Business sessions. As a Podcaster, I'll interview some of the best minds at the event. As a journalist, I'll cover the event for the Business Standard and The New Indian Express. More importantly, I hope to garner insights and ideas that I can bring back to India and share it with everyone.

The Asia Brand Summit, Mumbai, Sept, 25th & 26th, 2008

It's a 'by invitation' event that aims to get together CEOs and Brand & Marketing heads. About 250 from India and another 250 from various countries. It'll be a congregation of people behind some of the world's most successful and sought out brands. The theme of Asia Brand Congress is "Communicating A Brand That Connects, Engages And Inspires Audiences" and I'm absolutely convinced that the online space plays a substantial role. I've been invited to sit on the 'Advisory Panel' and hope to actively contribute to the event. More importantly connect up with leading minds and soak up on inspiration.

Web 2.0 & Beyond Conference, Mumbai, October 16 & 17, 2008

I'm speaking on 'Corporate Blogging and How can Businesses Benefit from it', a topic that I'll comfortably rattle out even if you wake me up in the middle of my sleep. It's also a topic that I'm passionate about and I hope to impress the folks on the power of conversational marketing and online community building.

If you are coming to any of these events, do touch base with me. I'm available at 98415 97744 adn Kiruba at Kiruba.com. It'll be good catching up.

Waking Up to Blogging Again

2008-06-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

This blog post by Jeremiah Owyang reopened my eyes to blogging. For a long time, I've left this blog unattended. I could put the blame on increased workload, twitter and family but really, there should be no excuse. Especially when this blog has brought me jobs, work, friends, speaking, teaching, writing opportunities and much more.

Here's what Jeremy says and I so totally agree with him.

"I pay myself first. What does that mean? It means before I get bogged down in email hell, and feedreader hell, I focus my priorities on the tools that will maximize my time. A blog is a broadcast tool that let's me communicate to many people at once. It's the most efficient use of my time, and it saves me time. For every email you write, you're likely to get more in in return, and that's not efficient. I look for efficient communication tools, and a blog is right for me"

It's the rap on my knuckle that I needed.

Anil Kumble at a Tech Conference!

2008-06-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

When I first looked at the schedule of the 3 day SAP Summit, one session clearly stood out for its uniqueness. It was a keynote speech on the 2nd day by Anil Kumble and my first thought was, "What is he doing with SAP?" I know other cricketers like Sachin and Sreesanth have diversified into restaurant business and figured maybe Anil Kumble was getting into Enterprise IT consulting. Even if he did, I probably wouldn't be surprised because I read somewhere that his brother is already into some sort of IT business.

I thought wrong. He was there to speak on the topic of "Winning in a Competitive Scenario". At the conference hall ways, there were plenty of jabs at the choice of his title, given his team's dismal scenario at the IPL. One guy said, a better topic would have been, "How to Tide Over Difficult Times".

But Anil silenced everyone with his talk. He spoke about team spirit and a captain motivates a team. He did touch upon and how they should be used to fire up your competitive spirit. He spoke about how the Indian team gives an alternative "Man of the match" decided by the players. I'm trying to get the video of Anil's talk and will have it uploaded soon.

When Anil finished his talk, he had a standing ovation. The crowd was clearly bowled over.

I'm More Active on Twitter

2008-06-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

I've been on a blog hiatus. I've made zero posts in the last 20 days. In the same period, I've published 87 tweets on Twitter.

Most of the tweets would have translated to good posts on my blog but twitter has clearly spoilt me. It's a lot easier to just convey my point in one sentence than sculpting an entire blog post.

Besides, I've started to write professionally for publications and that's clearly taken priority. (I currently author columns for Business Standard, The New Indian Express and IAMAI's official website). And not to mention an increased load on the work front.

All this means, this blog will continue to be sparsely updated. I'd advise you to check out my Twitter instead at http://www.twitter.com/kiruba . Lots more action there.

My Google Card

2008-06-03T04:56:00.000-07:00

This is what I call a 'Google card' . And it's my newest "visiting card". The front side of the card has just the search box with my name. My first set of 100 cards came from the printers today and I'm super impressed with how they turned out. So impressed was I that I placed an extra order for 400 cards.

The idea originated from Japanese ads. For more, go ahead and read my Business Standard column that I reproduce below. Here's link to the story that appeared in print.

Search box replaces URLs in ads.

A recent visit to the Japanese consulate helped me in designing my latest business card. It has nothing but just the google logo and my name in the search box.

Let me walk you through my experience.

While waiting at the reception of the Japan consulate, I picked up a few magazines lying on the table . My knowledge of the Japanese language begins and ends with the word 'sayonara' and that too if its written in English!

While flipping through the magazine whose language was greek to me, I noticed something familiar about the advertisements. Some of the ads had the Google search box while few others had the Yahoo! search boxes as part of their advertisements.

That's when it stuck me. What a wonderful strategy. Instead of putting in the website URL you encourage the person to just search for your company or brand. Its much more easier to remember the keyword as against the URL.

Whoever came up with this concept has actually been paying attention to the way people use the web browser. Most people use the web search to easily get to a website.

That's the same idea I used for my business card too. I love the idea for various reasons. First, its unique. Second, googling for my name not only throws up my website it also shows my Flickr page, my twitter account, my YouTube page, links to my podcast and my writings on the NASSCOM blog. That's like hitting six mangoes with one stone.

I noticed that this idea of putting in Search Boxes is also an excellent mobile strategy. Typing in the full URL in a mobile phone can be quite painful and it becomes easy to just search for a company's name. No wonder most advertisements inside Japanese trains have the search box embedded in them.

Pontiac does this in their TV ads. Instead of the generic URL, they have Google 'pontiac' to find out more." When doing so, you must also realize that you are at risk of losing out the mileage to a quick thinking competitor. At times when Search Engine Optimization is a billion dollar business, there are specialist agencies that work solely on bringing a particular website on top of a web search. So, you don't want your competitor reaping the benefits of your advertisements.

Pontiac made exact that mistake. While they made sure their site came up top, they did not pay attention to the sponsored links section. When one searches for 'Pontiac' in Google, you get its competitor, Honda's ad on the top. Big mistake. Just to play doubly safe, companies are encouraged to buy the top Google 'sponsored adword' so that their link is guaranteed to be on top of the search page.

The UK Government has also used this technique effectively. They recently started a campaign called 'Act on CO2' to encourage people to cut down on the carbon emissions. On their TV advertisements, rather than saying "Visit double-yoo double-yoo double-yoo dot dee eff tee dot gov dot yoo-kay forward-slash act on see-oh-too", they just say "Search for 'act on co2'". The same concept can be effectively used in Radio advertisements.

Its just a matter of time before we see this practice happening in Indian advertisements too.

-----------------End of article ---------------------------

Cerebrate, the Event.

2008-05-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

How do you encapsulate a dream close to your heart? How do you put three months of planning and preparations into words? How do you convey the three wonderful days you spent with some really bright folks? It's always been a challenge. Words never seem to do justice describing things that I'm absolutely passionate about.

One such incident is Cerebrate. Almost a month after the event is over, here I am putting some of my thoughts together.

Cerebrate has been an idea two years in the making. Ever since I learnt about FooCamp and the fantastic people who gather together every year, I have always earned for such an event. Then I come across this fantastic event called TED, and my grouse and longing only grew bigger.

There's no way I would either be invited to such an event as FooCamp or would I be able to afford the exorbitant fees of a TED. I also wondered why don't such events ever happen in India. That's when I decided that instead of waiting and wishing that someone does it, let's roll up our sleeves and get it done ourselves. That's how the event came to be.

So, what is Cerebrate? In simple terms, it's getting the very best minds from different fields together for three days of togetherness, ideating and sharing knowledge. These are folks from Law, Movies, Technology, Theatre, Sports, Management, Photography, Medicine, Journalism, Music.... The only connecting factor amongst the lot is the excellence. These are folks who are driven and have achieved in their own chosen fields.

I'd like to encourage you guys to take a look at the key people who we invited for the first edition of Cerebrate. The event took place at the beautiful Club Mahindra Resort on Varca Beach. Club Mahindra have bought into the idea and have been generously helpful in supporting the event for the long term.

Here's a quick picture log of the event.

The cap

Cerebrate in progress.

Eliciting a point.

The main essence has been the sharing of experiences and learning from one another.

Everyone engrossed in Sudhir's bazooka of a camera. Learning the tricks of wildlife photography.

More togetherness.

Casual hallway conversations.

The outdoors ideation session.

That's the view from one of the rooms. Fabulous pool.

One of the rooms.

Panoramic view of the ground

The Dune Shack on the Beach where we had our dinner.

View of the reception

Group snap before departure

The Chepauk Cricket Stadium Grouse

2008-05-06T00:22:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had the chance to watch the T20 match between the Chennai Super Kings vs the Delhi Daredevils. I was only half interested in the game (mainly because we were losing) and so spent the other half noticing around things of interest.

Disaster Waiting to Happen: The MAC stadium, the biggest cricket stadium in Chennai, is also the WORST stadium when it comes to safety. There are no emergency exits. All the exits have a swirl gate which means only one person can get out at a time. The bamboo barricades makes it even worse. It took me 25 minutes just to come out of the stadium. I had to inch forward in a long dusty queue. Felt like I was in a Tirupathi Tirumala Devastanam queue.

If an emergency evacuation had to happen, there's bound to be deaths by the thousands as more people will die out of stampede and congestion. It's the most ill-prepared stadium and I guess the authorities will only change after a disaster happens.

Crowded cafeteria: Ok, my grouse continues. The cafeteria area is quite pathetic. Overcrowded and heavily under-managed. First, the give out a rule that outside food should not be allowed inside the stadium. Second, there's only a 10 minute break between the innings. Third, very very few food counters. The result: A maddening rush and flying tempers. The powers that be did not realize that the 9:30 pm break is right at dinner time and they should have food counters that offers food. Biscuits, Cadbuyrs chocolates and Cashewnuts are fine but they aren't dinner food. Pathetic organizing.

No Mexico in Chennai: Chennai crowd may be the most knowledgeable cricket crowd in India but they don't know what a mexican wave. There was a group of people who would start the wave and it would quickly die out as the folks in the next stand wouldn't take it up. It took about 20 tries after which the waves caught on. But by then, the chennai team was losing and the crowd quickly lost interest.

Indian Flags: The vendors have not wisened up to the concept of IPL. The bulk of them were selling Indian flags and there were hardly any buyers. You can't blame them. All the international matches so far have been against different countries and there's a reason for showing your partriotism. I guess it'll take a while before they realize that its time to change. But these guys are quick to adapt and I won't be surprised that by the next tournament, there's be yellow coloured bandanas, flags and Tshirts.

Scoreboard Laggards: Both the electronic and the analog scoreboards do not show the required run rate. They do not show the number of balls a batsman has faced. They don't show the number of balls bowled in an over. The boards are still stuck in the Test era.

The Wind-Shadow Area: If you are booking a ticket at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk, make sure to book your ticket in one of the four stands E,F,G,H. Why? Because that's where the sea wind blows into. Book any other stand and get prepared to sweat profusely.

Thankfully, I was in the F stand, and I could see the folks in the opposite stands of the stadium fan themselves crazy trying to keep themselves cool. Even at night, without any wind, it can get quite sultry and uncomfortable. Interestingly, the folks who paid the highest for the Pavilion Terrace seating, suffered the worst.

The Veiled Marketing Tactic

2008-04-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

I got an email from the organizers of The Great Developer Summit saying that they are giving away 100 free tickets for the event. It's on first come first served basis. All they needed was the name, email and phone.

It wouldn't hurt, I figured and so I went ahead and filled in the details. I must've done that less than a minute after I received the mailer. Not that, I had much hopes of getting in. So, it was a pleasant surprise when I got a call from them saying that I might not have made the top 100. I shrugged my shoulders and carried on with my life.

Today, I receive another email from them confirming that I hadn't made it but they are willing to give me an entry at the discounted cost of Rs.3599. The original cost, apparently, is Rs.5999.

And then, it stuck me. Gosh! It's a sales tactic. And I fell for it.

Meeting Ray Ozzie and a Dream Team of Tech CEOs

2008-04-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, the Diya hall at Hotel Leela Palace, Bangalore will have the highest concentration of Intelligence and wealth per square inch. Thankfully, the Law of Averages in the form of my presence, will ensure that it's brought down by half!

A select panel of 10 CEOs have been invited by NASSCOM for an exclusive round table with Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's Chief Software Architect. Or better known as the man who took Bill Gates' place when he retired.

The invitees are:

1. Sharad Sharma, CEO Yahoo! R&D who is also the Session Chair & Moderator.

2. Ramalinga Raju, Founder & Chairman, Satyam Computers

3. Biren Ghosh, CEO Kahani World Inc.

4. Ashish Gupta, CoFounder and Managing Partner, Helion VC

5. Rajiv Mody, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Sasken Communications

6. Anand Deshpande, Founder Chairman and Managing Director, Persistent Technologies

7. Kiruba Shankar, Blogger, Columnist, CEO, Business Blogging, Founder, F5ive Tech.

8. Mohan C M, Chief Scientist, IBM India

9. Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman and Managing Director, Microsoft India

10. Ram Narayanan, Vice President, Yahoo! R & D

The discussion is going to be on the topic, 'Is the Rise of SaaS an Opportunity for India?' To me, the coincidence couldn't have been any higher. Exactly the day before I got the invite (which was two weeks ago), I had scheduled 'SaaS' as the subject for my column in Business Standard for next week. I'll just advance it now. I shouldn't have any problem getting the best quotes!

Being a blogger, I'm the natural choice for being the guy who documents the meeting discussion. With such brilliant minds around, I'm going to be one busy 'note taker'.

The round-table with Ray brings up my memories of a similar meeting with Kevin Turner, the COO of Microsoft. It took place almost exactly one year ago.

One of the big reason why I'm eagerly looking forward to the meeting is because I'll get to meet 8 of the 10 people for the first time. The only people who I've met before are Sharad and Ravi Venkatesan. It's always interesting connecing up with new people who have accomplished a lot in their life. (which has been the motivating factor for me to start Cerebrate.)