Security Vs Comfort

After the recent attacks , Security had been tightened in few important places and in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary date. But there are few people who think that these security checks are of an burden rather than something to bring in safety and security to the social life.

I was wondering are we putting comfort infront of security, Is safety and security of our homeland secondary to our own personal comfort?

Netizens you will have to tell me what you feel about it.

Lovely new eReader - I'm Sold

Just something i was looking for similar to iRex but less bulky with more battery life. I wonder what would be the price of this product. More over will have to wait till first half of 09 to see this on the shelves.

3D Experience from 2D pictures

Reconstructing the 3D world for sets of flat photographs, isn't amazing. Microsoft once again comes up a nice project. Just finished having my fun with Photosynth. Attached below is a small demo of the collection they have.

Another interesting feature of this project is that we can create our own photosynth by uploading our image of a region.

Now where did i keep my Sony Cybershot, i cant wait to try my own pics.



If you want to have more fun. try this site.

Low Cost Interactive School Board using Wii Remote

I was floored after watching video and its simplicity in creating such a high tech experience with low cost.

Just a quick thought of implementing this solution to schools in india for an interactive learning experience and exposing the kids to the latest technology all this with just about Rs3000/- ($40 for the wii remote and $5 dollars for the infrared pen and some extras) is amazing.

Will think about developing my prototype soon.

If you feel the download is freezing you can download it and watch it

Video source from http://www.ted.com/, visit the site for more inspirational ones

Time for differnt price bands for oil

Oil prices may have receded from the peak levels. But this is temporary. OPEC expects the oil prices to go $200 per barrel. Given our countries huge oil import bill it just makes matters worse.

The Government cannot subsisdise the oil marketing companies at this level, it would time for Government to rethink it strategy. One suggestion would be to make oil costlier for personal use like car, bikes etc, forcing them to look at public transportation systems and car pooling kind of ideas.

Meanwhile to keep inflation under control, make oil little cheaper for commercial use.

Above all, strangely only in our country diesel is cheaper than petrol. This needs to be fixed as well.

Will ponder more when i get more ideas on this. Welcome your comments Thanks for Reading.

Nice wooden Mobius Strip

Mobius strip had always fascinated me. I even once wondered to make a ring out of it and wearing it. Would it really slip of my finger my knowledge or would it stay there? Dont know . Should to fun to have one

If you still wonder what so special about these things, they are 1-Dimensional.

Solar Farms

Its time we rethink our strategy towards energy independance from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Unlike the americans , who are sounding for off-shore drilling we can take an more sensible approach. Lets focus on Solar energy first

Why dont we construct large solar farms in our large arid and semi-arid lands which are not suitable for agriculture and harvest the solar energy.

This should provide lot of employment of it own to youth and add to the economy. We might have some problem in adding this power to the national grid as we may need a DC grid. But considering the benefits of this one time investment, we should probably give this idea some steam in the coming months when oil is threatening to soar to $200.

What do you say?

Utility Bill Pay Services :

• Are the companies making us more lazy but making us pay those bills without even moving from your seat.
• Luring us towards their services by marketing them as time savers.
• Are they indirectly causing obesity by taking away all the errands which may need some physical acitivity.

Bad Guy - Georgia or Russia ?

I would say this cartoon summarizes the entire story and my audience can make the pick of who is the bad guy.

Its now Hummers time

Quite recently we were discussing about the future of Land Rover and Jaguar brands. Now it seems like the turn of oil loving hummer had come.

Hummer brand is on the anvil now and as usual the Indian Auto Makers are queueing up to grab this big baby.

It would be interesting in the coming future to find out who wins this monster and how they (hopefully) turn it into a profitable brand.

10$ per Barrel - Unbelievable

Do you know that it takes as little as $4.50 in India to produce a barrel of oil which costs $138 in the international market? Cairn India, which operates the Ravva (offshore Andhra Pradesh) and Cambay (offshore Gujarat) oilfields, spends just that much to produce a barrel of oil equivalent (The term “oil equivalent” includes gas output, which in the case of Cairn, is minor).

The price inches up to $7.50 a barrel if you include royalty and cess that are statutory levies payable to the government. In fact, the field cost (salaries of all the production staff plus consumables) for a barrel of oil equivalent is just $1.5 for Cairn as revealed in its Annual Report for 2007. It builds up as you add other administrative, finance and general expenses.
Three observations

These numbers have to be read in the context of three observations. First, Cairn is one of the lowest cost producers in India today given that the Ravva field is just a few kilometres off the coast; the cost of oil produced by ONGC, the biggest producer in the country, may be higher than this.

Second, the Ravva field contributed just 48,000 barrels of oil a day to the country’s total consumption of 2.7 million barrels a day. So, the benefit of production efficiencies will not be felt at the overall level.

Finally, oil companies continuously spend on field redevelopment to enhance output. Cairn was no exception as it invested in redevelopment of the Ravva field to maintain plateau output at around 50,000 barrels a day. This expenditure will also have to be considered for determining the final cost of production. For instance, Cairn’s average cost of production was $10.50 a barrel in the fourth quarter of 2007 and this included a work-over cost of $ 4.25 a barrel.

Cairn’s Annual Report for 2007 also reveals that the company realised an average price of $74.50 a barrel last year with the fourth quarter seeing an average realisation of $90.20 a barrel.

Now they should share of that with me being a honest share holder throught all their lows :)

Contemplate this : Mobility restrictions for skilled labour

China still follows the "Hukou" system that discourages graduates and
skilled or semi-skilled labour based in remote provinces from working in more
developed areas. For example, a graduate from a second-tier city who wants to
work in Shanghai will have to overcome considerable obstacles, including
mobility restrictions. In general, employers are discouraged from hiring workers
from other regions. As a consequence, many employers tend to hire mostly local
graduates — a phenomenon that seriously compromises their search for the best talent

Now seriously that is little strange for me, Never heard of those things until i read it today. Cant even think of such a thing being implemented in india, even the policy level decision would not have consensus.

Shall i say, Hail democracy. He,He :)

Made in China at what Quality?

We all like to crib about how Indian made products are costlier when compared to cheap chinese products. Here is a small fact for some of you to explain you the real story.

William Loft an leading economist contacted 12 Companies and asked for quotes and then went back later asking for quotes but making it clear that an independent quality inspector would be employed to check the quality of the goods produced.

So what happened to the quotes? In 10 out of 12 cases they increased.

On average, Chinese manufacturers increased pricing 20% when told a 3 part inspection process was required. Williams Loft president, Will Robertson, reacts “It’s surprising, but not unexpected. We know that very fine products can come from China; we just need to have a system in place to guarantee quality.”

Possible answers for the price rise includes these

• These Companies usually cut corners allowing them to undercut rivals - an example of quality fade. Because the buyer is signalling its serious attitude to quality the firm provides the “real price” for a given level of quality
• The firm, by signalling its intention to employ independent inspectors, that it can afford to pay more and thus the price is hiked up on them. and
  
• The sellers increase their quotes as they see the buyer as “trouble” that will induce additional internal costs of monitoring and the potential for damage to its reputation from any returns or failed inspections. Thus the price rises to compensate for the extra hassle.

Do you still think India Inc. is doing too bad?

Future of Jaguar and Land Rover.

Ford today officially announced the tranfer of sale of the most prestgious brands Jaguar and Ford. Now its upto the Indian car maker to decide upon the fate of these brands.

Truly speaking these brands with their loyal supporters and TATA's expertise running things on a shoe-string budget augurs well for a bright future.

We also need to see what good things the Indian maker can bring to the table and what technology it takes back to its Indian stable.

Interesting times ahead.

++=

Sad state of Famed Indian Education System

Here is the quote from a senior scientist Madhavan Nair, ISRO Chairman

"We are not able to compete with these countries because here many
educational institutions are teaching these subjects with a commercial mind and
no attention was given on practical side of these advanced studies."

He was referring to cutting edge technologies like Nano Technology,Gene Manipulation etc.

Do we still need some more prodding to wake and up question the system?

Pizza for discount

Today i ordered a pizza over phone with pizza corner. The guy at the other end said, the pizza would cost me 149Rs. I asked him are you sure its just 149rs nothing more or nothing less. He assured me its just 149Rs.

After an hour the delivery guy , gave me the pizza and i gave me him150 (feeling like god to tip him 1Rs he he), he informed me i have pay to 201Rs . On further inquiry he said that i was all the offer stuff added and subtracted for my medium size pizza and with taxes it had gone up to 201Rs.

I told him, i ordered a pizza for 149rs and i will only pay that much. If not you can take the pizza back. Pity the delivery guy. As he was involved in the first conversation, i called them up again and asked for the same person (luckily today i remembered the persons name and my order number, yes we do have an order number).

I just asked him only one question "Did you inform me taxes will be extra?" His answer was a "no". Then i said i cant pay anything more then if you cant deliver me pizza then take it back. If you are unable to make a decision give it to your manager.

The manager apologized for the error on his employees part, but i made him very clear i wont pay for the mistake of his employees either take it back or i pay what i ordered for. Finally i got my pizza for 180 as a compromise solution.

Its not that i am against these people, Just that why don't they say it all clearly and why should i pay for their mistakes.

Bangalore - Hi Tech city with Low Tech power supply management

The energy demand/supply situation in bangalore is getting worse. Given that this is the summer peak load season, there is virtually power cuts of 3 to 4 hours per day during day time. This is been observed in residential areas like indira nagar.

The situation becomes worse on weekends. Figures the new government has a lot of work to do to keep the techies quiet in the hot summer.

Name boards in Native Script

I have seen quite a lot of people complain about the name plates in bangalore buses being in native kanada script.

when thinking about it from a socio-political angle i find that this method achieves two interesting goals

• Keeps the language alive in this silicon valley
• Forces non-natives to take auto as they don't understand which buses go where thereby forcing them to pay hefty fares to those drives and giving them livelihood.

Now , does'nt that look like a good suggestion to annoy Non Natives. Probably a pleasing idea to some mumbaikar!!!! :)

Private Banks - Telemarketeer Nexus Exposed

Recently i got a call from a tele marketer , hawking for credit cards. After the initial monotony of dialogues i dragged that person from their comfort zone and made them answer my queries regarding where and how they got my number.

Pity that person, they were giving so much of insider information which astounded me. I present some of them here.

• India's largest private sector bank sells its customer data or doens't protect confidential information like (name, mobile number, address, their Employee ID if they have corporate account) in a manner it should.

This is how i figured out the above, The tele marketer was able to give specific information which i had shared with only my banker and no one else in the world.

• Tele marketers sometimes forge proof documents like, salary slip, address proof, PAN Card Number etc. (Thanks to technology easy to create fake ones than obtain an original)
• These people(tele marketers) re-sell your mobile numbers and other information worth a penny.

So the next time you get a call from any one of these guys show them the door.

Power Of Internet

The ability to research 10 books at the same time for the same topic

Immigrants Vs Natives

This problem is nothing new in any free country. America has its own share from mexico. Australia from east asian countries. India from Srilanka and Bangladesh.

But Immigrants bring with them a lot of new things to the native society.Their culture in food, clothing, social bonding etc. This add more spice to life. Societies and nations have progressed with the mix of immigrants.

And i do agree that there should be some policy to limit the percentage of them getting into your country, But extrapolating this to local level is little uncomfortable to think off. This is exactly what is happening in mumbai now.

With political parties demanding preferential treatment for local when compared to immigrants, i suppose we are moving towards a more regressive society. This essential means that the immigrants have brought in lot of skills and made the market more competitive. A free market economy should be free to draw its resources based on its own requirements rather than based on origins.

The political parties should rather be trying to upgrade the skill level of the natives comparable to that of the immigrants there by creating a competitive environment. This can be achieved with the help of the immigrants itself, creating an inclusive society. Once the natives skill level are comparable to that of other immigrants, the market will have enough resources within the native population itself and will be more willing to employ them. More over the immigrants will rather face the heat of competition and the benefits of immigration will be lot lesser for them in this case. This would be one of the ways forward.

Recession , IT Companies & Employees

I feel its time to write the Part 3 in this series. Part 1 we saw how the indian IT companies were hedging to minimize their losses due to rupee appreciation. Part 2 was the continuation of the same. Companies forced by the ever demanding investors to re-think their corporate strategies including employee benefits. Now we are in stage three.

With the US Recession being very much real and Global economic slow down IT companies are forced to act again. This time they have taken up the time tested weapo "Lay Offs".

• Yahoo Lays off 700 in Jan 2008
• TCS cuts slack by 500+
• IBM shows the door to 500

Many more unpublished stories are there about small companies asking their employees to re-sign or take leave without pay.

If you are in a niche segment in the industry then dont worry you wont loose your job, people with average skill sets have to upgrade and differentiate themselves or else there is always an chinese and philipino ready to take up your job. No time to be complacent. Time to act. Anyone listening?

For a Greener India

Recently paris the french capital won the environment award for its green initiatives. The most significant among them is the "Paris Cycle Scheme" . Where citizens can travel short distance within the city in bi-cycles and park them in their bays. How does this save the environment?

• First, Right away it takes few cars(small or big) from the already congested roads.
• Emission from these vehicles is avoided.
• Parking space problems are reduced considerably.
• Of course keeps the citizens healthy and reducing the health cost the government has to pay for these people
• and lots more.

Commuting by car to office is the most inefficient way of travelling unless you are car-pooling. A single individual travels in a car designed to transport four people. If you think small cars are an alternative that makes the matter still worse with more emissions. So why not replicate the same model as paris.

I was thinking why not we try these in Indian Metros, especially in Bangalore where a one hour commute at peak hours takes almost 3 hours. Already Infosys is having this initiative within its campus. But why not extend to larger areas of the city. Create dedicated cycle bays and parking slots. This w

Obviously one can the problem of theft coming into picture. we can completely avoid that by using technology. Embed each of those cycles with RFID tags . Make the tags hard to remove and the only way to remove them should be to destry the cycle, there by making the whole idea of stealing the bi-cycle pointless. These tags will also enable the police to nail the culprits right away. All to these alloy tweels instead of just wheels, you avoid the problem of puncture because of bad roads.

This will reduce pollution and traffic congestion at important places. If anyone of you have a different opinion or any better suggestion leave your comments. :)

Google Search Bug

Even google seems to have some bug once in a while. Look at the picture below with the search box and button below extending for quite a distance.

DNC - Do they really not call

We all know that there is an DNC (Do Not Call) Registry in india. But is there is a mechanism for advertisers and marketers to run a check of their number list against this DNC to have a sanitised list. Something like an API to check their number lists?

Telecom companies should be customer friendly, and by default they should put all customers in the DNC list and let the customers to opt out (if they want to get those calls).

I would like to know a different opinion?