November 20, 2007

Kindling the Android

Amazon launches Kindle. Jeff Bezo's announcement!

The game(or is it a war???) between Kindle vs Publishing industry (print media) is going to be something that is worth watching now. The arena has been thrown open and i cannot but see the gladiator winning.

Android is interesting. My first rendezvous with Android SDK was interesting.

Is someone thinking along both the lines ;)

November 12, 2007

yada..yada..Yedda

It is sometimes amusing when you see your business idea being implemented by some other firm (and also making money from that). One such thing happened today.

"AOL Gets Into Q&A Business, Acquires Israel’s Yedda"

When i saw this news in my reader, i jumped to read the entire story. Apparently, Yedda's modus-operandi is something similar to what myself and my friend Shravan had thought of 2.5 years back(Wednesday, June 22, 2005 7:40:44 PM to be precise). The idea was baptised as "Gyaan.in" and the idea behind that was :

"Gyaan.in deals with the questions that anyone in the world could have about India, and would employ a group of well read researchers in order to send authentic replies to these questions. Through this, we intend to increase knowledge about this wonderful country, increase opportunities for investment in the country, and hence impact most spheres of the economy in the country."

It was a self-sustaining model with an investment of less than 1Lakh. After careful deliberations and some self-introspection we did not go ahead with the idea and dropped it. I do not repent on the decision made and am sure that there are zillion other opportunities to be tapped.

Gyaan.in inspires me even today as it was my first rendezvous with a good business plan and the passion to start "something-of-my-own". This idea was later converted into a Quiz Blog by me which is totally dormant as of now - this was an attempt to bring in all the quizzing cirles in India under a single banner and promote quizzing as an innovative way of Knowledge Sharing.

November 11, 2007

Mechanism of action

I was watching a show in BBC (10-11am IST,Sunday) on climate change and the host was showing some examples of how we can conserve our environments..humanure...and blah..blah...the usual Greenpeace stuff...But he also claimed that Animals account for 10% of the gas emissions - the Nitrous oxides, methane..etc etc.. He was trying to record the burps and the farts of the cattle :) and observed the statistic.

Now that's what is called as some exploration!! GreenPeace activists -- where r u!!! Alloooooo!!! Is the next slogan going to be "Kill the Cattle-Save the World" ???

For more read this : Flatulence.

Acc this link : "ALASKA - Public flatulence carries a $100 fine. " lol

The Art of Downplaying (Part -1)

It is interesting to see when you let a person win over you, though you know that you can easily win her/him.

One knows that the other person is cheating him , but he still allows the person to cheat him. The cheater is fascinated by his abilities and the bovineness of the victim; the former is elated at his win. But what lurks in the minds of the 'downplayer'!!! No one knows! He loses to win again - return back with a greater impact and totally vanquishing the opponent. Like the phoenix that burns itself to reincarnate.

The Art of Downplaying is a fascinating field of human psychology that amuses me a lot. The complex calculations of a downplayer is very crucial, as his stakes are very high in this strategy. A single mis-calculation can lead to disastrous consequences with zero tolerance of returning back in the game. It is a very fragile and contentious issue and has to be trudged with utmost care.

I also forsee this as an excellent marketing and design strategy - again, with CARE. One announces market for a product , and the same person creates a dumb product (though, he has an excellent one waiting to ambush the market) and leaves it open in the arena. Many new competitors enter the arena. They fight among themselves building more dumb products and creating a huge market in the process; but our strategist lurks in the dark - he is outcasted by others for entering the market with a dumb product and is equally ridiculed. Suddenly, he turns around and announces the advent of the next big thing and creates a market upheaval. (Timing of the launch, type of launch, period of dormancy, timing and type of the re-entrance are the most important parameters here)

Its a check-mate :)

November 07, 2007

Birth of 'EYB'

(05:05:51 IST) Roshan: no way
(05:05:52 IST) Roshan: bye
(05:05:56 IST) Venkat: this game is good
(05:06:00 IST) Venkat: u say something and say bye
(05:06:06 IST) Venkat: we should p[atent it
(05:06:12 IST) Roshan: yes. :P
(05:06:14 IST) Roshan: but now
(05:06:14 IST) Venkat: bye
(05:06:15 IST) Roshan: bye
(05:06:19 IST) Venkat: surebye
(05:06:20 IST) Venkat: bye
(05:06:23 IST) Venkat: bye bye
(05:06:33 IST) Venkat: and 2 consec byes means end of conv.
(05:06:39 IST) Roshan: oh, if you add another bye to that you can be the backstreet boys
(05:06:46 IST) Roshan: prepubescent girls will go nuts
(05:06:50 IST) Venkat: ahhhh!!!
(05:07:07 IST) Venkat: i prefer both pre and post!
(05:07:16 IST) Venkat: so wat should i do!! [eternal damnation]
(05:07:21 IST) Venkat: >>
(05:07:29 IST) Roshan: well think away
(05:07:30 IST) Roshan: bye
(05:07:34 IST) Venkat: we think.. and thinking leads me to say
(05:07:38 IST) Venkat: "eyb"..
(05:07:48 IST) Venkat: we just reverese it.. but its great.. no one will understand it
(05:07:55 IST) Venkat: it will be like ajax...
(05:08:05 IST) Venkat: u say "eyb" and generate user's interest...
(05:08:21 IST) Venkat: ppl will ask u for the explanation and u can give a real prolix interpretation of the same
(05:08:26 IST) Venkat: eyb eyb
(05:08:30 IST) Roshan: wow
(05:08:38 IST) Roshan: the millions in consultancy fees!!
(05:08:40 IST) Roshan: eyb
(05:08:47 IST) Venkat: u got it !
(05:09:01 IST) Venkat: i will give u a 20% stake in it... u may even opt out of it...
(05:09:17 IST) Venkat: lemme check if the domain exists
(05:09:31 IST) Venkat: ahhh!!!
(05:09:45 IST) Venkat: Etobicoke Youth Band ... :(
(05:10:02 IST) Venkat: but still we patent it and sue them
(05:10:39 IST) Roshan: :P
(05:10:43 IST) Venkat: eyb eyb
(05:11:05 IST) Roshan: haha .... :)