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Showing posts from 2006

Greed..

As someone said, "God has provided resources for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed". While I was in India, I used to feel really great about one of the very few Indian CEOs in an MNC IT firm like Computer Associates. May be, I was too innocent then to understand the other-sides of a leader like him. Having seen the verdict in the accounting fraud , which he has pleaded guilty and getting a 12 year sentence along with $8m fine.. is really disgusting. Is it the "greed", that causes people to go to such extremes?. ps: There have been several such accounting frauds and sentences, but this case in particular is different for me for the reason that, he is an Indian CEO (after all, we are all humans).

Andhra turns 50

Though Andhra Pradesh (AP) has a history more than 2000 years, its the Andhra Pradesh we live in free India (India got its freedom British colonial rule in 1947). That Andhra Pradesh has turned 50 today. Its the first state to be formed on the basis of language in 1956. Though, there are other states (Karnataka, Maharashtra, etc) to be formed so on the same date. Looking at the progress, that the state has made in the past 50 years, is certainly good. But, it could have been lot better. More than three decades of continuous administration by the Congress party (a nation level party which was supposed to be dissolved after India got its freedom), the emergence more regional parties like Telugu Desam , more recently Teleganra Rashtra Samithi is fueling lot of regional sentiments (some true and some are articulated by politicians for the advantage). But, these regional parties are certainly helping the local population to fight for their rights and compete in the world's largest

CDN: Content Delivery Networks

I was wondering, how much bandwidth might be consumed by giants like youtube.com . I came across this site http://willy.boerland.com/myblog/youtube_bandwidth_usage_25_petabytes_per_month Some interesting statistics of youtube around July, 2006, estimated at least 25 petabytes/month consumed by youtube and then noted that, youtube's muscle power for bandwidth is given by a company called limelightnetworks . Just take a look at their content delivery map . Is this the future akamai?

esnips.com (promotion)

I've been using eSnips to share and store my files, and I thought you might like to use it, too. I have 1GB of space and I can upload any file type I want and post it in any of my folders, which can be private or shared with my group or with the world. In short, I think you should join. Using eSnips is free and signing up takes a few seconds. To join eSnips go to: http://www.esnips.com/r/tg

Hollywood.. Bollywood.. and the influence

I have been in Germany during the past six months or so, several times in Germany (on business visits). Most of the times, the taxi drivers I encounter are from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and few other countries of that geographic region. Certainly, by my colour of skin, they feel that, I am an Indian atleast south Asian. On telling them that, I'm fron India, the next reaction I encounter is, aaah.. Movies. Most of them have been great fans of Indian movies. This is partly the reason that, those countries do not have many movies made indigenously. So, they get to see the movies made in India. Slowly, I started to contemplate my past encounteres. Some of my friends went to Egypt on a small tour. Same situation there as well. The first thing the local Egyptians recall when they were told that my friends were from India, Amitabh Bachhan. So, is the case with Europe (principally industrially developed nations). They have been watching so many movies from Hollywood. I have als

Ja, Yeah

So, what makes this american affirmation, come into existence. For the past few days, I have been reading quite a bit on America [you can call it random reading, because I follow the hyperlinks ;-)]. I used to feel that, there must have been a sensible reason on why this German word became so common in America. Today, I have discovered that, that 60 million Americans (according to 2000 US census), have German ancestry.

West goes 'East' again

This is not 17th or 18th century where Europeans wanted to grab the treasures from East. Young Americans finding it more appealing and challenging for their career. As this article states, several Americans esp from Texas are going to India in the light of rapid economic development in India. This has really made me to think again? Do all Indians and Americans agree with this? I am really optimistic on the progress of India. India along with China are going to be the economic superpowers of 21st century. Either we can wait and see whats going to happen or be a part of this revolution. The good part of the article is it does state some of the radical changes an American would face.. whether it be bargaining with a local auto-driver or how difficult is to find a date.

Layout Engines: Which OS has the most compatible ones?

The layout engines are the rendering engines (or the core) of most of the web browsers we have been using. Wikipedia has an excellent article on the Layout Engines I have discovered that, Mac OS X has more compatible rendering engines than any other OS (amongst Windows, Mac OS X & 9, Linux, BSD, Unix). The article has very informative comparison of these layout engines.

Who said water goes only downstream?

Scientists in US have proved water can flow upstream without any external force over metal sheets scored with a carefully designed array of grooves. They've lot more expectations out of this to drive coolants through overheating computer microchips. Apparently, it also mentions that the effect was described in 18th century by a German scients Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost. More at BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Scientists make water run uphill

3D view of the mess we've created underground

One of my dreams, is coming true. I have been thinking for a long time, whether any of the governments/organisations know what all the pipes are under-ground. British govt. is attempting to map all of the pipes in 3D, in UK. The project is funded with a 2.2 million pounds. BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Pipe network to be mapped in 3D Its very obvious to see, how beneficial it would be to have such a system in place. I wonder, when would Indian folks take these footsteps. I'm recalling one of the advertisements show by Times of India.

Japan's humanoid robots | Better than people?

One culture has been a great fascination for me : Japanese. Whether it be their technological expertise, or their ability to excel in almost any manufacturing practice in which they're part of. As most of us know, Japanese are world-leaders in Industrial Robots. But, how many times we thought, why?. Here's an insight article on Economist, looks at why this unique community favours Robots so much. Japan's humanoid robots | Better than people | Economist.com Interestingly, it also contrasts the Japanese way of thought towards living and non-living things from the perspective of Shintoism. How're they immune from robophobia. Nevertheless, I've come across an interesting discussion /. is it the necessity or the choice that Japanese have so much interest in Robots. The article also discusses at not so pleasant view of racism in Japanese society and a reader indeed made a comment referring to the article from Economist with the following comments. The article had an

Bangalore talent lures start-ups in high tech - Business - International Herald Tribune

Is Bangalore losing the ground or revitalising all its strengths?. Here's an article on IHT (International News Paper from NY Times), discussing how Bangalore is becoming the incubation center for the young graduates. Is it the city's atmosphere that has developed over the past twenty years or so with so many technology and research companies. Bangalore talent lures start-ups in high tech - Business - International Herald Tribune The new firms are drawn by the region's big pool of engineering graduates, many of whom have expertise in esoteric new technologies. That advantage, coupled with labor costs much lower than those of Silicon Valley, is starting to turn Bangalore, long a center for lower- end outsourcing services, into a center of higher-end innovation. I sincerely look forward to see the Desi Silicon Valley. Way to go!

If Google calls it Labs, Yahoo goes Next

Keep looking into some of the very innoative and amazingly useful things from the two giants of search. Google Labs : The technology playground for Google. Yahoo Next : The cutting edge of what Yahoo!'s doing today and working on for tomorrow! Not all of these innovations go into the mainstream, but give a new dimension to the way look, organise and store information. Its quite interesting to see this race between Google and Yahoo. Irrespective of who would win the race, the end user will certainly get a lot of comfort.

Vital Statistics of the two most populous nations

Here's are two interesting and very informative articles from McKinsey Quarterly. Checking India's Vital Signs (Registration required) [ The article is supposed to be accessible only for premium subscribers, but in the light of the visit of US President to India, it has been kept for free till March 7, 2006. ] Checking China's Vital Signs Instead of long descriptinve text with few illustrations, these articles are just presented with full of illustrations. Very easy to understand, about the Overview of the nation, Economy, and Challenges that lie ahead. Shouldn't we get benefit from this knowledge? Thanks to McKinsey Quarterly.

Brilliance Beautifully Communicated

How many of us really use the full potential of the enormous information and knowledge from BBC ?