Patina vs. shine

Yet another interesting piece from Seth Godin.

Patina vs. shine:

Shine is fresh and new and it sparkles. Shiny catches the eye and it appeals to the neophiliac, to the person in search of polish.
Patina, on the other hand, can only be earned. Patina communicates trust (because the untrusted don't last long enough to earn a patina) and it appeals to a very different audience.
The old guy at the gym in spandex, taking steroids and brutalizing himself on the big machine--he's trying to be both and accomplishing neither.
Brands and organizations face the same choice. A book like Permission Marketing could be updated weekly, in a vain attempt on my part to keep it shiny. But that makes no sense, as the ideas in it are important because they've been right for a decade, not because they're new. That's what a new title is for.
The challenge, then, is to let your classics thrive precisely because they've earned the right, because they have a patina of quality--but not to rest on those laurels, but to get busy inventing the new shiny thing for those that demand it.

Wikipedia vs Quora

It was a casual conversation and the question of why quora when wikipedia exists came up. So let me  make an attempt at answering this question. Is quora any different from wikipedia? Why should I, as a consumer of knowledge and information, go to quora instead of wikipedia?

I think the fundamental difference between wikipedia and quora is the distance between the producer and the consumer of information. While wikipedia is a library or a collection of facts scrutinized by a committee, quora is a question and answer site where answers are voted up or down, or in other words, a consensus is achieved through crowd-sourcing. While wikipedia articles can be flagged by users and taken down by members of a committee, the information displayed is often times interpreted as factually correct and sacrosanct by consumers, largely due to its presentation. In contrast, quora rank orders answers to a question based on the number of votes received.

It is this social layer and process through which the most preferred answer to a question emerges that makes quora more suitable to emerging, lesser known or new topics. Quora is better suited for consumption of information as it gets created while the wikipedia repository is more factual in nature.

The Transit of Venus

Something to look forward to this week:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/the-transit-of-venus/263090-60-119.html

It will happen next in 2117.

Internet side effects

A friend came over today. We were talking until I got the internet set up at my new home. And then there was silence. Makes we wonder:

• How has the internet changed attention span?
• Are social networking and the internet sufficient to replace "offline social experiences"?
• Do power users of the internet burn out quicker at jobs that require extensive use of computers i.e. most jobs?
• Can digital ever match or supersede the serendipitous discovery process that happens offline?
• Are power users of the internet asocial in face to face settings?
• Do power users of the internet have withdrawal symptoms when they are away from their devices? (Compulsively checking email, facebook, twitter what have you)

Politics = weekend entertainment

Sometimes politicians also get what they deserve:
Sorry Ma’am, but I am not a Maoist

Excerpt of the condign punishment :)

"You have spoken of the brain drain from Bengal so many times. I hold offers from the University College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies to study development and administration. I too will probably leave, and now you know the reason why."

Contentment

So the return from the US of A to India is finally complete. Now that I have graduated from business school (and likely to stay away from full time school) and am a month old at work in Bangalore, I feel content about where I am at this point.

I freaked out most about the thought of wearing formals and business casuals and all that jazz - doesn't work for me, gets in the way, I can't think right with all of that on me!

Bangalore is an awesome place but for the traffic. Cliched I know, but true. To set things in perspective, I ate at approx. 25 restaurants over the last 30 days, mostly within a 5 km radius from where I live. Did I mention that this is without counting breakfast & lunch at the office?

Book Review: Games Indians Play

The book is written by V. Raghunathan, ex-chairman of the PGP programme at IIM-A (http://www.vraghunathan.com/home.html) and impressed on me. Business school made me cognizant of systematic cognitive biases and heuristics in decision making (read shortcuts). This book takes it one step further and qualifies the generalization in the Indian context and attempts to explain "why we are the way we are".

I like the book because it works its way up from first principles to identify the root of all inefficiencies, bureaucracy and red tape in India. The author uses an economics 101 Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) setting and game theoretic framework to make his point.

Read more on PD here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

Below is an example of the payoff matrix in a PD setting:

The equilibrium in a PD setting, is defect-defect. While A & B's actions are individually optimal, the collective result (defect-defect) is socially sub-optimal or inferior. The author claims that real life scenarios are akin to an iterative PD problem where a defect-defect loop will spiral into systemic chaos due to negative reinforcement.

The 'intelligent Indian' interpretes real life scenarios as a one-shot PD. Say A & B refer to people waiting on either side of a traffic light. On both sides, people stray to the wrong side of the road to rush past the rest. In other words, they defect. And so do the others on the opposite side. When the light turns green, the only possible result is a traffic jam.

When results or consequences depend upon actions of the past and the present, a defect strategy will not work. We see this today in the parliament and in most day to day situations in the country.

The book is a good way to educate oneself to do the right thing because it tells you the consequences of not doing so. So it answers the why question. It's an easy read and is only 150 pages.

The 'intelligent Indian' will continue to exhibit defect-defect behavior and won't bother with this book and will question the generalization that it makes sense to do the right thing without worrying about others' actions. I hope he doesn't.

Marketing tidbits

Just returned after a quick trip to Chennai. The idly shop at the Shamshabad airport (Rajiv Gandhi Intl) did something that surprised me. The price of what I ordered was listed as x and when the cashier rung up my order, I saw a y on my receipt (y = x + Rs.10) against the item. This was before VAT. I asked him why and he pointed me to a footnote on the menu board which read "* All price excluding state taxes". The second instance on the Jet Airways flight was less of a surprise, but was interesting nevertheless. Water, which is provided for free, was served by a male while food and other items one had to pay for were served by an attractive air hostess. Wonder whether in flight sales would take a tumble if a guy tried selling food and other trinkets.

Consumer surveys in India

Just got back from a two day trip to Bangalore where a friend and I conducted consumer surveys in colleges, malls and IT parks. Interesting lessons learned. Some of the below are specific to India and have cultural underpinnings.

- There are a zillion biases in surveys. There's no perfect survey. If you think a survey is perfect, you just haven't thought hard enough.

- Smokers are easy fish. They are your best friends. Be prepared for a lot of passive smoking if you are on the road asking people questions. I think this one has to do with a person's mindset when he is smoking. Simply put, he is much more relaxed compared to a person who isn't smoking.

- If you want to get hold of working professionals who don't smoke, an option is to find them while they are on their way to work. They'll come to work at noon but won't have a couple of minutes to spare for your earth shattering survey. And yes, you are to blame for them reporting late to work so save those arguments even remotely hinting on logic for later. There's a simple solution. Walk 100 yards away from the entrance and get their inputs by walking with them to their workplace. Works well.

- At malls, we made a conscious effort to survey a healthy proportion of women. Pretty challenging if you are a guy and are there by yourself. The first thought when you approach the fairer sex is "Here comes another one. Dream on...sucker!" or a toned down equivalent. It's difficult to get them to think otherwise and they aren't to blame entirely for this behavioral paradigm. The ISB branded notebook that I carried helped rid this bias to a certain extent. Also, get a girl to accompany you or try interviewing couples.

- At the least, appear to be comfortable and in control. A smile goes a long way. You're poking yourself in the eye if you appear disconcerted or uneasy. Key word is "appear".

N-i-ro

I've seen and listened to Niro, the one with an 'i', the one that doesn't burn and one whose lectures are brilliant! We were fortunate to get two standout professors for the OB course this term.

The first impression

Yet again I witnessed how important the first impression is and how, on occasion, it can blur people's objectivity. A great first time success story at an act not easy to pull off will result in continued adulation for durations longer than the act merits. If one can make a good first impression, people respond by giving more credit than is due.

The Rajni cult !

A couple of weeks into term 4 and the faff courses are actually starting to get interesting! Is it really the courses or is it just me getting indoctrinated?

The OB professor had us indulge in a fun exercise in the session about culture. We formed the Rajni cult!

Sustainable Marketing - Really?

As an engineer by education and profession, it's not surprising that I am at ease with quantitative content and am a fish out of water in marketing. Marketing comes across as a bunch of paradoxes, too fluid and amoeba like to put any meat around anything or have any sort of structure, sometimes too obvious and sometimes brilliant too. For instance, I came across this line "Marketing questions the assumption of rationality by classical economic theory by factoring in fairness". Often times, I also see that it relies on "fooling" the customer or creating a misplaced perception. This in my opinion, is not something that is sustainable. Even if it can't be said that people are getting smarter every day, one can't deny that mankind is advancing every day and with increased computational power at the disposal of a customer (read internet, mobile phone yada yada...), marketing will become an increasingly harder game to play. Numerous pricing models will break down if there is information sharing amongst customers. With word of mouth advertising in social networking and increased technology penetration in everyday life, the game just gets harder. With the non-linearities that exist today, can marketing successfully factor in consumer behavior and be sustainable?

And some more...

In some kind of weird bacchanalian orgy, I have decided to write after quite some time. For the next year, I will mostly be writing about my time at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Yes, student life ishtarts again.

There, I said it, now, Google, do your thing and make sure you direct traffic to this page.

Golden temple at Sripuram

On the way back from Yelagiri, I stopped with family at the Golden temple at Sripuram. The usual followed - tickets for a fast lane and a regular lane, information about more pujas for pay etc. However, it wasn't hard to notice that this temple was a little different from the rest once I walked in. The temple was spic and span with a nice wide walk way and neatly trimmed grass all around and very quiet. What impressed was the first billboard to the right of the walk way which in effect said one might question building a temple as opposed to a school or hospital and went on to say that the temple provides the wisdom to build many schools and hospitals. Though I don't necessarily subscribe to the logic, what impressed me was that they were willing to accommodate questions about the construction of the temple. Many more billboards I mostly rated good to impressive followed and touched upon integrity, hard work and the importance of giving. I enjoyed the 20-30 min stroll to the main sannidhanam and back the most. The founder also runs a correction centre, a hospital and doles out water from the temple to the city of Vellore during summer months. I haven't seen his balance sheets or any of that kind of stuff online, so I can't say much more than this - When people are willing to accommodate questions about their own faith, it discourages extremism and promotes peace.

Silver Strand Half Marathon 2010

All my limbs and joints held up okay after I ran slightly shy of 13.1 miles the other day. I think I can go ahead and update this space now.

Please consider supporting me as I run my first half marathon and more importantly the bigger cause - AID San Diego's many projects in areas such as education, women's empowerment, agriculture and much more. I tell myself that a 2 hour session in "pain management" is not in any universe commensurate with the throes of the underprivileged. I am grateful that through AID, I have found an avenue to contribute and make a difference.

Visit AID San Diego's project page for a list of projects and initiatives supported.

All donations to AID are 100% tax-deductible, under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code.

Ranga.

Esam Al-Amin: Who Killed Hariri?

Esam Al-Amin: Who Killed Hariri?: "America's Best Political Newsletter."

Dr.Wreck’s take on Mobile Devices and IC Convergence

Dr.Wreck’s take on Mobile Devices and IC Convergence: "

We love consumer electronic tear-downs, we’ve seen and performed a ton of them. In the past year we’ve seen a pretty considerable level of convergence in multi-use/multi-function IC’s.

A few notable corporations have played a major role in what we’ll call “hardware convergence”. One company that really stands out for leading this front is Qualcomm. Founded in 1985, these guys have definitely withstood the test of time.

Their “do everything mobile reference designs” cover everything a mobile device needs – BaseBand, AppCore, PMIC and even radio tranceivers. This makes it super easy for ANY run-of-the-mill ODM to build state-of the art smartphones. All you really need these days is Google and Qualcomm – save some special extra boutique devices we come across from time-to-time.

We can trace similar HW convergence to what happened with age old PC architecture (leading to the X86 design of modern PC’s). Combining all functionality into a tiny package ARM based processor core is very attractive from a cost and PCB design perspective. Unfortunately, these do-everything IC’s are often met with heavy power requirements. For perspective, each new BlackBerry device that get’s launced is met with reduced charge longevity. Of course, LCD screens are getting brighter and larger but these devices get really hot with use. This has to be related with packing a 1GHz Baseband/App Core/Kitchen Sink under the hood.

Is hardware convergence really even a good thing? In our opinion, yes and no. On one-hand, it should open the space for smaller companies to develop market ready and attractive smartphones. On the other hand, if every device uses the same HW and OS, the only differentiating consumer factor is overall physical design. Building that top-of-the line do everything well device requires custom hardware configurations. We’re talking Capacitive touch screens, Laser-navigation devices and even devices that boost USB transfer speeds.

We can compare this convergence to a Toyota Corolla – it’s reliable and get’s the job-done but doesn’t include the bells and whistles. Our dream device is more comparable to a BMW M5. It’s fast – (maybe not so reliable :S) but allows us to tweak our experience with more options then we’ll probably ever use. Sure, most of those options can be enabled at the Firmware level, but having the supporting Hardware is absolutely required for the optimal, Dr.Wreck approved experience. Let us know what you think!

@DrWreck

"

Lula and the Brazilian moment

Lula and the Brazilian moment

Steve Jobs' letter explaining Apple's Flash distaste + Apple's aggressive tactics | Deep Tech - CNET News

Steve Jobs' letter explaining Apple's Flash distaste | Deep Tech - CNET News: "Apple's CEO doesn't like Flash. Here's the full memo explaining why the company is keeping Adobe Systems' software off the iPhone and iPad. Read this blog post by Stephen Shankland on Deep Tech."

A short history of Apple's aggressive legal tactics | Circuit Breaker - CNET News: "The investigation into the missing iPhone is only the most recent example of Apple taking a more muscular legal approach. Read this blog post by Erica Ogg on Circuit Breaker."javascript:void(0)