Piracy Legalized!

Does anyone forget Napster? Kazaa? Weren't they ripped off their business for ripping & sharing some protected music between peers? Well, have things changed in 5 years? Pretty much yes, I guess! It's time to see things a bit different! The current business outlook is like 'Why do we stand as opponents, when we can be more effective as a team?'!

People are not talking about music downloads anymore. It's a much faster market, broader bandwidths, high speed internet and we are for bits & bytes of whole movies in our computers. When Napster can be pulled down, when free music downloaders can be arrested, my thoughts were like its going to be the same case with this new Video download market too! I mean, if someone is supporting free download of Protected Videos, they will eventually end up facing copyrights charges! Right? Wrong!

From last month, MovieLink.com started selling the latest movies of Universal, MGM & Sony as online downloads. Sweet! Likewise, Fox started using iTunes to help watchers downloads its TV shows. Cool! Now, the other Hollywood Productions have to catch up to get their movies into the download world. So, what did Warner Bros do? Something I, rather no one would have anticipated I guess. A great business move - A partnership with BitTorrent! Now, haven't things changed a lot? Make the online video market more copyright friendly but don't pull the Anti-CopyRight BitTorrent servers off the network!

BitTorrent has a great user base of Video downloaders and watchers. So, what Warner Bros have done has excellent value. But, are the target audience ready for this? I doubt it! The user base we are talking about is the one who want red-tagged video downloads marked 'FREE'! They never wanted the DRM copies to crawl in their systems attached with someother price tag. They are guilt consious too but who cares! This move sure is going to turn away some customers from BitTorrent, but this initiation is done in the right direction and has a long way to go!

It's a wait & watch market, Bros!

Cool Song! Cool Character!

Most of you should be knowing about this new campaign by USA Network - Show Us Your Character! It's in fact fun to watch different characters that show up in the TV Channel.

Ofcourse, I don't wait to watch these commercials in the TV. But, can something grab my attention? Ofcourse, if I hear an Indian language or music! Well, we have (I guess) one Indian character in this whole bunch named Hill Krishnan - An interesting Hip-Hoper! Lol. Any guess on the song? It's the song from the Mega Blockbuster Tamil Movie Gillie.

Isn't it just great to hear a Tamil song in a USA TV channel? Just check it out!

Too Cheap - Play & Ray System!

PS3 prices went public yesterday. I have seen enough cry about the price and how it compares to XBox360's. Does XBox really have an advantange on this price?

Please! Allow me to explain. XBox's $299/- version has no hard drive. So, put that aside. Lets see the comparable version (the more popular one too) - The $399/- one! This has a 20GB hard drive just like the PS3's $499/- version. Just by going that, XBox sure has a vantage. But, who would not consider the High End Blu-Ray DVD player coming along with PS3? The HD-DVD Players are at $500/- & $700/- and we can expect an equal priced Blu-Ray player. So, who wants to buy a seperate DVD player worth 500 bucks, when the same comes along with Sony's PS3 - that too for just 100 bucks more compared to that of XBox 360?

Also, just for 100 bucks more the $599/- version of PS3 is offering 60GB hard drive which is like 40GB more and is a more comparable-reliable console for a 35GB+ Blu-Ray DVD itself.

I'm sure, PS3 60GB is a Home Run unless... some other issue pulls the strings!

AOL makes Another Louder Cry!

It is just 7 months after a number 700 was announced by AOL. Now, the number has increased to 1300. Big numbers, if you know what they represent!

Well, the numbers counts the total number of heads who have been shown their way to the door. This is something expected after reporting below expected revenue for first quarter. It is also a known fact that AOL has been losing its share to all its competitors. But, you got any idea what is the reasoning behind these layoffs - Where the layoffs are? Who are the competitors?

WE. It's US. Just imagine, what consumers are doing over the internet. Chatting, writing, blogging, forums - We end up solving most of our techie problems & issues. The daily count of people calling up for customer support is reducing. So, is it worthwhile to have those many resources in Call Centers? As predicted, Call Centers are the targets.

We always make a difference in the market! We just took a new direction!

'Adieu' Pentium

Looks like AMD has really touched the Core of Intel! Well, the other way to put it is, Intel is trying to regain the market share from AMD by doing some changes to its Core Architechture. So, the word is out - Bye to Pentium. Welcome, Core 2 Duo - A common 65-nanometer Core Microarchitecture design for their consumer, gaming, notebook, and business desktop lines.

Intel got to address its pressure from AMD on power consuming chips. So, is this new word going to do the magic?

Chip vendors such as Intel and AMD have designed their latest processors with multiple cores in each chip as an energy-efficient way to process more software code without increasing clock speed, heat, and electricity demands. Just like cars, faster chips are generally less efficient.

-- PC World.

At the same time, I guess Intel is trying to make a statement to all the computer gaming freaks. Well, we know Dell's Gaming System XPS M1710 is hot out in the market and everyone understands that this X-gen market is growing. Is Intel giving a specialized chip for this sector alone? Well, Intel made a different move - Name the chip as Core 2 Extreme with the same architecture behind. Won't it be great to chit chat with friends "Hey, I got Core2X!"?

So, names have been making some difference lately. Lets see how far these names reach the Intel Inside audience.

Do Your Funds Reach?

The very first line in a news article reads like this -

United Nations peacekeepers, aid workers and teachers are having sex with Liberian girls as young as eight in return for money, food or favours, threatening efforts to rebuild a nation ruined by war

-- IOL

Do we need to see anything more in this? UNICEF keeps asking for funds every now & then to help suffering children all around the world. Is this the way they are helping the eight year olds to rebuild their lives? There was a time when I used to feel proud that even thet little bit of charity I do to UNICEF, will reach some kid in some place like Liberia for his/her living. When I see such reports, I just feel what a waste of money, time & efforts. Why should we donate to such big organizations, who use our donations for administrative purposes, for paying people, who eventually end up spoiling the lives of suffering children with such kind of nasty activities.

When disasters like Tsunami, Katrina & Rita came, there was one organization to which everyone turned their respect, trust & belief to - Red Cross. I'm not saying, they didn't do their duty. But every one of us know, how slow & sluggish their reaction & response was and how people suffered for long time. People were pouring money over when these disasters hit and what finally happened is the resignation of Red Cross CEO.

Why? Why? Why do these responsible organizations act irresponsibly?

Y! Reviving Its Googling!

So, Yahoo is revamping & reviving its Googling! Nice way to put it, isn't it?

Google have made its mark and quite a lot of profit from its AdSense business, but why didn't Yahoo deliver? Yahoo ofcourse had a leadership in its search advertising and after its initial surge it slided behind Google and never turned back. Is the revision required? Its high time Yahoo do something. MS has already come up with its new Search Ad program. It seems Yahoo's single most & largest investment this year is on this Search Advertising.

So, what revision has it done? Well, till date Yahoo gave preferences to those links as search results which paid them the most without any other logic behind it. But, if the links made no sense for the consumers, they end up not clicking on the links and hence, less revenue for Yahoo. So, a simple logic is to track the clicks made by consumers and accordingly give preference to links which will pay Yahoo hefty from companies for every click from search results to the respective website. Is this logic enough? Yes! Sure enough to get more funds and set the Advertising from Search in the right '+' direction.

Added to that, my preference is, any search engine has the responsibility to report back its finding to its business partners - in other words, the companies which pay the Search Engines for links and clicks. Its a sinple feedback mechanism. All Yahoo, Google & MSN got to do is to report back to the companies the possible words the companies should be paying for and how that will make sense for their business and hence, bringing more consumers to their site.

Well, at the same time, if the search giants can also think about giving preference to those sites which run their advertisements, then you are thinking about & welcoming more business and more profits.

Having said the above opinion let me link the same context to my site. I just included Google's AdSense into my blog to get a feel of how AdSense works. I actually expected the advertisement to be more closer to the topics I have written. But, my expectation infact isn't met. The ads on the top of my page I feel, have less relevance to what I write. But, there is always this chance that whoever comes to my site may also click on the Ad. So, doesn't it make sense to give preference to my site too, when related words are 'searched' for?

Lets hope Yahoo search business too will see some light & grab some market share from Google. We never want a single leader in any business, right?!

'Light Weight' Version!

Q1 - Does it ring 'Quarter 1'. Hmm, may be. But the hot product out now is Q1 from Samsung and (I guess) it comes out as the first product representing the MS version called Origami.

Yeah, Yeah! It doesn't have KB & some CD drives. And more to it, it just weighs like 1 Pound 11 Ounces. Mouse is by using touch screen So, all these new(old) stories keep coming up. But, what does this stand for? Do we have a concern that this is going to be another Tablet?

The major concern for people walking around with Tablets is the weight. So, having that concern addressed, will Origami take over the market? Tapping the keyboard keys on the screen or writing to make the software understand your hand writing just like any other PDA on the market, will be some constraint initially.

The 2 USB ports may also be standing out as another issue but not that much. Origami is for roamers and not stand still. Ain't it? No CD Drive is stands like a wall - for instance how do we install softwares. Copy to a different system & copy to our Q1. Hmmm, Sounds easy enough! Lol!

What else? The screen - The smaller it gets the tougher its for us to play around. The number of programs we can open, the amount of scrolling we got to do for any open window like when we browse through websites and the list grows. Think about all the images and those small, cute buttons in different programs which act as tools for ease of use.

We know this a roamer's model. So, we should atleast expect a greater battery life. Not sure how far this is true, but the stats are - this gives like 2 hours 30 minutes for full music play, 2 hours 50 minutes for internet browsing - Not enough for a full 4 hour long meeting too.

Anything more - Ofcourse a lot more. Just think about any PC and you know the problems - viruses, spyware & adwares - We need to have all the protections and maintenance. Well, keep over loading and soon, you'll feel the heat and you'll also hear how tough the fan is trying to cool off the system.

For all these issues, do we make a tradeoff to the price? Well! Its new technology & a new small sleek product for ease of use. Isn't it basic that this product should be priced more atleast when it is introduced into market. It should set a bechmark for all the other products on their way. How dows $1100 sound? Great for the PC makers but is a sad story for the consumers.

MS! Hear consumers cry "Give us a break & try to help us".

Marriage @ Technology Heights?

Well, we know technology has been bringing people together! Make them come closer in mind & heart even though they are miles away from one another. I guess, something that happened in India supercedes everything else with technology.

In fact, technology has made the statement on 'heart & mind' come true literally. It has helped to start a new relationship. So, how did all these happen? Its because of the communal clashes that have been going on in Vadodhara. A guy has to travel out of Ahmedabad to this place inorder to get married. But ofcourse he can't risk his life and at the same time, people don't want to cancel the marriage.
End result! The bride & groom exchanged their vows over Telephone with their relatives hearing the same over speaker! Wow, that doesn't happen daily and that sure has taken the usage of technology to a new height! That is the good part.

Sad part (Hate to say this) - When is India going to get out of such communal clashes?

Are you paid for extras?

I ran into this website of Shapiro Haber & Urmy. You know why? Because, I have heard lots of Indians in the IT sector crib about their employers asking them to work lots of extra hours without the required pay. That interesting fact, made me take a look at this law firm which is taking up such issues on companies like Sony & Activision!

People slog like dogs day & night, nearly 14 hours officially/unofficially and still get paid only for the regular hours. There has been so much of complaints going on around in India, that working on computers has been putting people under strain - mental & emotional, body aches & stress, eye problems etc. Well, reasons for all these are people are over killing themselves. Employers take certain things from their engineers as granted and employees dare to raise their concerns. Why in India. Even in US, I have heard my friends talk about these kind of work environment.

Its basic common sense! Health is wealth! Hey guys, take care of your health & then think about your jobs.

Its All About "Power"!

Let me start this with some hints. This company 'A' is great in its technologies and it sure has excellent potential, but it has a huge competitor 'I'. 'I' never allowed 'A' to come up in the market. But lately, 'A' has been gaining a lot of market share like from 16% end of '05 to more than 22% last quarter. So, got any idea what are the companies and what "power"?

Enough of some riddles! Getting to the point, A is AMD, I is Intel & Power is all about Electricity. AMD has been rdiculing Intel and now its taking the attacks seriously - Power Consumption by Intel servers! Billboard in Times Square, NY put up on May 2nd. The number in the billboard represents the amount companies have spent using Intel Servers since April 03 till now and counting. More than a billion dollars?! That sure sounds huge!

Does AMD has a real advantage over Intel in this?

The typical Intel Xeon or Pentium 4, based on the Netburst architecture, has been using 120 to 130 watts when running full speed, and when lightly loaded drops to about 70 watts. When an AMD Opteron is running at full speed, it's using about 90 watts, and when the load is lighter, that drops to about 25 watts.

--BusinessWeek Online. Looks like this is for real, because Intel CEO Paul Otellini, is serious about addressing this issue and that too by the 2nd half of this year - Sure, the new architecture name WoodCrest sounds interesting to me!

I really would expect AMD to go on offensive and get things under its control before Intel gets too close to AMD servers' power consumption! (-- BusinessWeek Online Referred)

Cool Mac Ads, But Timing?

I was aware Mac is coming up with this new ads this week and I think, I did get a chance to watch them on TV during the Suns-Lakers Playoff 6th Game (BTW, Suns pull out an incredible win & equals 3-3 with Lakers! Lakers, you lost a winning game).

Is it cool? Its just great. With complete white backgroud, a bit old guy suited up & with spects says he is PC & the other guy is young, T Shirt & Jean and says he is Mac. Well, that sums up the outlook, the perspective of both systems.

How is the content? PC hangs, it restarts, the viruses, the crashes - All these messages stand up very well. The expressions by the PC guy is awesome. Every 30 sec ad is just cool.

The one I liked is the Virus one, where it warns Mac not to come closer to it, because PC got caught to like 114000 viruses last year. And the way, PC crashes without any warning. Message with actions does deliver.

But my point is, why to put this ad, especially the above one, at this time when Apple openly started supporting Win XP in its Mac? What marketing strategy is there behind this timing??!!

Hey Kid! Will You Drink Water When Thirsty?

I just don't get this. The public schools kids won't be getting the regular soft drinks which they usually like to get. But they'll be left over the diet versions of the same.

There are some things which took my attention. First of all, its X-Pres. Bill Clinton's involvement in the deal. I always used to wonder what these US presidents do after they walk out of White House besides going around the world, making speeches & getting paid millions for every 15 minutes. What Pres.Clinton has done is something to be appreciatd and has its worth.

The other thing is the acceptance by the soft drink manufacturers and the snack owners - Coca Cola, Pepsico, Cadbury. Don't they have a big market at the schools? Well, Pepsico has commented that they'll lose less than a percent of their total sales. I doubt it. I'm assuming there is something going on back stage with the goverment showing some helping hands to these companies (as if they require) to finalize this deal!
I'm sure, the companies would have thought about the long terms imapcts but I still feel, once they lose some market at these early ages, they will undertake quite a bit of imapact when these kids grow. I means a simple logic on human mind set - If they get a liking to diet products, they will start avoiding the "filling" versions. Isn't it?

Having talked about both the parties involved, lets think about what is the motto behind this. To nip in the bud - try to reduce the over obese US market by stopping the kids from getting into a habit of eating snacks/drinking sodas at their school days and early ages. Lol! Is this some kind of joke? I feel, if the kids won't get what they want in school, they get things from outside. And won't you agree, that the obesity has much more to do with the hormones and the way people are being brought up in their house & people around them rather than availability of some drinks & snacks!

May be this is a good initiative and in the long run, hopefully people will try to avoid the caloried food items & help, build a fit America!

Master Blasts 'Sixer Deal'

Wow! A $40mil deal for commercials for next three years by the fourth largest advertising group Saatchi & Saatchi! & this can be extended for three more years.

Any idea who I'm talking about? Well, the hint is in the title. Its the Little Master Blaster - Sachin Tendulkar. The numbers went up by 23. His previous deal of $17mil ended last year. --Referred

Is this a good deal? With his age of 33, probably we can expect 3-6 more years of cricket from him and so, the time frame for the deal is an apt one. But, is spending that much sum on him worthy? I doubt it. Even though, he is the most celebrated batsman for the past 15+ years, he is almost seeing the end of his career. Isn't he? Though, he is showing his experience, his classic touches are gone. He is not in that great form and much more to that, he is no more a match winner. His shoulder injury has been in news for past 2 years and he is still in & out of the team for his treatments. He is getting ready for his last World Cup journey and most probably, he'll call it a day after that. I feel, the advertising company would have made a better deal if they have roped in Yuvi - who is in his career's peak/Dhoni - A almost reliable match winner/Pathan - A good all rounder who gets the break whenever he wants.

Sachin! You are of a different class! I hope, you too won't meet your end just like Ganguly!

N Gadget!

Now, what and all do we expect to be at the tip of our hands - I mean some of the tech gadgets? Think about everything. Don't leave anything to 'May be s'.

Well, my guess will be a
- cell phone (as a base unit - allow me to start)
- PDA (Notes/Tasks/Schedules/Contacts)
- email checking capabilities by connecting to MS Outlook
- internet browsing
- chat messengers
- download musics & hear audio
- see videos
- picture some videos
- take digital pictures
- Edit videos & pictures with some softwares
- upload those pictures & videos online
- have search capabilities
- install which ever software we need
- connect the device to printers, fax machines
- have satellite connections
- GPS capabilities
- play network games like PSP
- Make phone calls using VOIP...

Is that it? Do you think the market is not ready for a device with all these features? You are wrong, dude! In July, Nokia in introducing its high end N93 series (referring BusinessWeek) handsets with "almost" all the above features.

The next big question is, is this expensive? Well, for all the features, I guess $650 is not that expensive! Won't you agree?

Like any customer, I'm too worried about how things are going to work together. Also a bit concerned about the reliability of the product and the security aspects! Once it is opened to the internet, any device and its OS are susceptible to attacks. I doubt, if Nokia has taken care of all possible hiccups & unforeseen issues.

Sure this is a welcome move and will act as the trend setter! But are the service providers "ready" for this?

MS & Y! - Is this for true?

Is this for sure? Is there fire behind this smoke? Don't you think, this tech world is too hot to handle? They are trying to make some impossible things, possible - Well, atleast for my thinking, I never expected this to happen. Still wondering, what I'm talking about!

Take a peek. Can you believe this?

Microsoft, Yahoo, Google are giants in the tech market and have you ever felt that two of them will work together against the other! For sure, Google is the big winner because both Yahoo & MS are not able to handle the pressure they are upto from their shareholders. Competition in business segments is great and these healthy attacks on each other will eventually turn up good for us.

Microsoft always comes up with some solution or the other. If MS lost the battle of capturing AOL to Google, it is getting into a bigger market segment with Yahoo.

Can this be just a news digest? No way!

Apple's Bite - Market or Self?

There have been too many concerns on the security issues with Mac systems & the slow response & reaction from Apple for all the security flaws which on an average, it seems, takes like 90 odd days. With all the boasting that Mac systems are stable compared to PCs and doesn't have much of security issues don't hold good any longer.

Why is this sudden change and why people are taking a look into this aspect of Mac very suddenly? Has this anything to do with the problems Mac is facing after it started supporting Windows XP? My guess - there have always been security issues in Mac systems too but hackers, adwares, spywares, viruses weren't much prevelant for Mac, well compared to that of PCs. Windows OS is the much targeted software package for all the bad boys till now. And so once Windows entered into Mac, it is slowly bringing the security issues into bright light.

Mac users haven't been using special security softwares till date and few security patches from Apple comes their way once in a while. But, once they start their Mac with Windows, they will get the whole idea. The worms are sworming all over the network just to find one hole in a PC and Macs on Windows are showing them the way. Once a Mac is affected, that'll show how or rather, where the Macs are weak enough to be exploited.

Apple eventually has been forced to write the disclaimer that it won't support the mishappenings to the system because of starting Macs in Windows. Apple! If you want an extra bite in the market share, you better make sure you don't bite yourself or your customers.

FIT is go or Is Fit to go?

Have you been watching TV ads in US? Did you see something on FIT is go the past week - some very short like 5-10 secs commercial? If you have missed, may be you'll end up in that ad very soon, because its here in US. 'Fit is Go' is the tagline of the product. Any guess?

It's the Honda's new model into US (a highly successful model in Asia) - for the Smaller car segment.

Sure the vehicle has got to be good, priced right and competitive to start. But the brand with the most distinctive, unusual, unique, intriguing, involving, creative, comprehensive and targeted marketing, advertising, promotional, merchandising and publicity program (and a good car) that is backed with a mega-bucks budget is, I predict, going to emerge as the big winner. Fair is fair.

- Business Week. Priced right - like around $14K? Hmmm, thats upto us to decide! I think, this is closer to that of Corolla & Civic segment and not sure, if this is the price I want to give for a small car.

Why now, into smaller car? When can it be much more better than now - the time when the market is looking for alternatives to those gas sucking SUVs. So, I feel Honda is turing the heat on to the smaller car segment in US and sure, the competitors are here to follow. Honda is now initiating the trends like the new & superb ( I mean cool) exterior design of Civic Sedan/Coupe, the new Accord and now the FIT. And everyone knows, Toyota is too following with a new 07 Camry. Lets see in what direction & how far Honda can drive the whole US auto market!

By the way, doesn't Honda Fit look very much like Hyundai Santro - One of the successful small cars in India.

That reminds me. Hyundai Motors! Where are you headed to after your CEO's arrest? Any new developments?

Hey Kiddo, You healthy Enough?

The worst-affected states in India are UP, Rajasthan, Orissa, Bihar and Maharastra. Over 50% of children in some of these states are malnourished.

- TimesOfIndia (TOI)

I wrote a para in my previous post on the below poverty line in India and now I end up seeing another article which shows the statistics of unhealthy Indian kids against the world's, as released by UNESCO - That India beats sub-Saharan Africa to top chart in MALNOURISHED children.

The report says 27% of children in South Asian countries - around 146 million - are to be underweight, many to a life-threatening degree. More than half these children live in just three countries - Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

- TOI

If someone reads the above statement - see that number 146 million - won't they feel pained? I feel it - pain, pity, sympathy. The people who are supposed to help them don't feel it. Don't you agree? Otherwise, India won't be in such deteriorating position. Instead, they end up riding in expensive cars & SUVs, do more & more of corruption and make their status better.

Its a bond that should be felt. Bond of humanity, bond of being Indian. The pledge, which every school kid takes - All Indians are my brothers & sisters, should be felt in heart and not just in words.

Keep Running... Gump

Its something to be proud of, not just for Budhia Singh, but for every Indian. Its not only just a matter of pride but also something a low morale person can look for.

See this photo and you'll feel your depression become weightless. (Photo from WashingtonPost.com).

Budhia Singh, 4, runs along with soldiers in Bhubaneswar, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Tuesday, May 2, 2006. Cheered by thousands, Singh ran 65 kilometers (40 miles) Tuesday to enter the country's foremost record book. Singh, a slum resident from Orissa whose talent was discovered by a local sports coach, was escorted by doctors and 300 paramilitary cadets of the Central Reserve Police Force which plans to sponsor his upbringing.

--WashingtonPost.com

Well, adding to being in slum, Budhia was about to be sold by his mother 2 years back for she wasn't able to maintain her family. Now, what to say? At one end, this shows the below poverty line conditions of India and how families are suffering. At the other end, here is Budhia who when 2 years old wouldn't have even had the knowledge that he was being sold.

All credit should go to Biranchi Das, "the coach". I'm not sure how this worked out - buying Budhia 2 years back for Rs.800, joining Budhia for Judo class under Mr.Das and Mr.Das realizing his skill based on a 5 hours running punishment - but sure Mr. Das (& his new father to some extent) gets all the credit. Without his backing, his realization, his training, his contacts, his efforts on making this news/record public, this great skill from slum India wouldn't have come to light.

Hats off to you, Mr. Das & Budhia - Indian Forrest Gump:)

I hope this skill of Budhia will be encouraged by the Indian government - instead of using this for cheap politics & corruption - sponsor his skill building & training and help India come up with a running marathon world champion.

By the way, what happened to Kuttraleeshwaran? Hope, he is building on his skills of swimming & his way to becoming a champion!