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Showing posts with label Perception. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Perception. Show all posts

Feeling of “being a part of...”

Yesterday was my first day at work as a full time employee of a company. Six months ago I had a similar experience of the first day of work at work but as an intern and not a full time employee. Though both the times I was excited and eager there was a considerable difference in my goals and perception.
Firstly when I joined as an intern I knew this is going to be a short-term assignment. The goal was to make the most of it, try to gain as much knowledge as I can and try to get a full time position if the work and environment is favorable. I was never interested in company structure, policies or internal affairs. I remember when I just joined the company’s vice president left the company which somehow created a panic situation. Everyone was concerned about the company’s future and organizational change it will create. But I was least concerned, I was more focused on the task I was assigned and setting my foot in a completely new area. As an intern you are more focused on solving the current problem at hand (so that you can make that initial impression on your supervisor) and coming up with quick results. As my internship was in the research labs I was also interested in publishing papers and filing patents which will strengthen my resume. I never tried to get a broad understanding of field I was working. Everything was task specific and anything else was categorized as ‘others’.
On the contrary yesterday’s experience was completely different. The excitement level was may be the same but my perception and goal was completely different. I was more focused on understanding the company structure, organizational internal policies and broad understanding of my work responsibilities. I was scheduled for various meetings with “other” departments, meeting with HR and a welcome lunch with my manager. There was a certainly a feeling of “being a part of” as against being a foreigner. Also there was much more respect and importance given (that does not mean that in the earlier case there was no respect) where my whole team welcomed me and there were introductions with some senior members of the company. In the earlier case nobody knew (except my supervisor and core team) that I was a new employee (sorry… intern) in the company. Feeling of “belonging” to something makes you act and think in a different way. I hope I do a good job as a full time employee as I did when I was an intern (which helped me to get this job). Wish me best luck.

Why not an Indian food chain?

In corporate America, we have chains for every retails sector and food is not an exception. There are Italian (Olive Garden, Buca di beppo), Chinese (P. F. Chang), Mexican (Taco Bell, Chipotle and … ) and other American fast food stuff (and possibly junk) like Mac D, KFC, Burger King, Wendy, Arby and tons of other. The fact, which surprises me, is that there is no Indian food chain. Indian food is quite famous among the western world and especially in United States. Whenever I go to some good Indian restaurant, I see more people of non-Indian origin than Indians itself (based on the experiences at SFO, CA, Mountain View, CA, Palo Alto, CA and Cincinnati, OH). So why have not any entrepreneur thought of an Indian food chain endeavor? I disagree to the argument that there is a limited market or a narrow business opportunity in starting a Indian food restaurant. According to me if done in a cost effective way, standardized, cuisine adjusted to the western palate and with proper marketing effort, Indian food chain should be an excellent business opportunity, which for some unknown reason is still unexplored. Any thoughts?

Your attitude can do wonders

Just read through this and think about it ...

Father: I want you to marry a girl of my choice
Son: "I will choose my own bride!"
Father: "But the girl is Bill Gates's daughter."
Son: "Well, in that case...ok"

Next Day Father approaches Bill Gates.
Father: "I have a husband for your daughter."
Bill Gates: "But my daughter is too young to marry!"

Father: "But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank."
Bill Gates: "Ah, in that case...ok"

Finally Father goes to see the president of the World Bank.
Father: "I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president."
President: "But I already have more vice- presidents than I need!"
Father: "But this young man is Bill Gates's son-in-law."
President: "Ah, in that case...ok"


This is how business is done!!

Moral: Even If you have nothing, You can get Anything. But your attitude should be positive.

Thanks to Neha for sending this.

How many best friends do you have?

Interesting question... Huh? Here are the results of a poll on Facebook for number of best friends (1003 participants). According to the poll, 46% of participants have 2-3 best friends. Of course the term ‘best’ friend is loosely defined and depends upon one’s perception. The poll result follows the natural bell curve. Firstly one can observe that age of a person is not an influencing factor in determining number of friends one has. The breakdown of results by age does not show any significance pattern. Another interesting facts is that males seem to be more extreme with 7% male having no best friends and 20% having more than ten best friends. In contrast 50% of females have 2-3 best friends and the percentage goes on decreasing sharply as we go away from the mean in either direction.



The best spam

Email spam is not something new to the Internet world. The early days of internet saw email spam in form of spam links in emails, password hacks, advertisements, marketing, free stuff, prizes etc.. As spamming increased the service providers imposed some good spam control software’s and also the people got smarter to avoid spam. However the spammers also devised new methods and managed not just to survive but to flourish even today. Today I received an email which I consider one of the best spam emails. Instead of getting angry and frustrated I kept my cool and read (for the first time) the whole email. It’s amazing to see the plot and the way spammers and luring you to fall in their trap by making up some real stories with real names and to-believe themes. Now days they start making stories about money transfers, commission, profit etc… and at the end politely ask for your personal information. There is also an emotional edge to capture your sympathy. A well crafted can spam can really work if the user is novice/beginner. Enjoy reading the following spam:

This letter may come to you as a surprise due to the fact that we have not yet met, but it shouldn’t, since we are determined to get what rightly belongs to us anyhow, but soon when everything goes according to plan. The message could be strange but reality will definitely dawn on you, if you pay some attention to it's content. I wouldn’t have notified you but for the sake of your integrity and goodwill. Please accept my sincere apologies.
In bringing this message to you, I have to say that I have no intentions of causing you any personal pains or discomfort. My name is Caron Keon, 23 years of age, living in the company of my junior brother a native of Dabou in Cote D'ivoire.
Our father before his death was a gold merchant and cocoa merchant before his death. Also our father was also one of the casualties of the invasion of the rebels, after their emergence in the capital city, in some parts of the country, of which our hometown was their stronghold. Since the killing of our father by the rebels’ life had been miserable, and we had been living in Abidjan, the capital city of Ivory coast, in a Church meant as a camp for the displaced citizens of my country. The most passionate of all , is the existence of the rebels here in this country since 19th September 2002.
Our mother died when I was just 12 years old, and since then my father took me so special. Before his death on May 25 2003 he called the secretary who accompanied him to the hospital and told him that he has the sum of Eight Million United State Dollars.(USD$8.000,000) left in a metallic trunk box being registered as family valuables.
I am just 23 years old and a high school drop out and really don’t know what to do. This is because we have suffered a lot of set backs as a result of incessant political crisis in Abidjan. The death of my father actually brought sorrow to our life. During my escape, I manage on to get on in my possession the vital documents that relate to the consignment and i have even called on the company for confirmation.
Sir, we are in a sincere desire of your humble assistance in this regards. Your suggestions and ideas will be highly regarded.

Now permit us to ask these few questions:-
1. Can you honestly help us as your son or daughter/.
2. Can we completely trust you?
3. We have decided to offer you 15% of the total sum .
4. How can you assist us also in moving away from this place? Please get back to me on my personal email address.

Please, consider this and get back to us as soon as possible.
Thank you so much.

My sincere regards,

Miss Caron Keon

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Independence Day

India celebrates its 60th independence day tomorrow on 15th August. Here are some quick facts I came acroos today about India'a glorious past.

1.India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.
2.Number ‘Zero’ was invented by Aryabhatta, an Indian scientist.
3.The world's first University was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
4.According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.
5.Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
6.The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
7.The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. In 1999 British scholars officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6 th Century.
8.Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11 th Century.
9.According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.
10.IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
11.The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
12.Chess was invented in India.
13.Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago health scientists at that time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India.
14.When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappa culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
15.The decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

Let's work together to bring back the glorious past and make world a peaceful place to live.Special thanks to Haresh for sending me the facts.

Superpower India: Following the sine curve?

In my earlier article "India the Superpower: Extraordinary or usual?" I proposed that the rise of and fall of any empire, nation or culture follows an sinusoidal wave. In this article I have plotted the changes in the modern state of India on the economic prosperity and development stage dimensions. A flourishing economy in the seventeenth century reduced to an under developed and poor country during the colonist period and the free and shining India today saw all the sinusoidal phases plotted on the curve below. By the current trends and patterns it is estimated that India will become a superpower by 2040.

India the Superpower: Extraordinary or usual?

India and China’s GDP is growing at rate of more than 10%. Both nations are estimated to be superpowers in the twenty first century. Is this change to India which was always perceived to be a country of poor’s, underdeveloped an extraordinary or an usual.



Historically in the seventeenth century India was always referred as ‘Sone Ki Chidiya’ (Country of Gold). Things started changing as the western colonist expanded their trade empire from 1800 till 1947. In that era India was much advanced and richer in culture and economy than even Constantinople and the European superpowers. In 1600, when the East India Company was founded, Britain was generating 1.8% of the world's GDP, while India was producing 22.5%. By 1870, at the peak of the Raj, Britain was generating 9.1%, while India had been reduced for the first time to the epitome of a Third World nation, a symbol across the globe of famine, poverty and deprivation ( reference:- Time- Thursday, Aug. 02, 2007).
Today, India has more software engineers than any other country. The manufacturing, retails, software and for that matter each and every segment is growing at an overwhelming rate. Is this change extraordinary or just of the blue? My Answer: Nope. It just follows the law of equilibrium.

It was Indian subcontinent in the seventeenth century followed by the rise of America and Russia after the worlds wars and now it’s again the Asian subcontinent. The world trade has followed a sinusoidal wave. It increases, reaches maximum, break evens, reduces and then increases again. The history has seen this sinusoidal behavior with the rise and fall of great empires, nation and cultures and this trend also continues in today’s’ information technology age. The interesting parameter is ‘Time’ which is on X axis. This has varied and will continue to vary depending upon the initial conditions, inequality, intrinsic and external factors relating to a nation, momentum or rate of change etc… It is estimated that China and India will surpass the USA GDP by 2030 and 2045 respectively.
Thus the rise of India and China is not that big surprise. With more than 2 billion skilled workers among the two nations it is just a matter of time that these two humongous pieces of land will start dominating the world economy.

Breaking the new iPhone

See the crazy video where a person rips apart his new iPhone minutes after he purchases it at Apple Store, Palo Alto.

Mystery Spot

A couple of weeks back I visited the mystery spot located in Santa Cruz, CA where it is said that the gravitational force does not act in the vertical direction. I knew that there is no proven scientific theory behind this phenomenon and being an analytical science based person was looking to solve the puzzle or at least criticize the hypothesis. The tour guide demonstrated some things, which were certainly mysterious. He showed us

1 > Rolling a Golf ball on a “seemingly” slanted surface which stops in between and rolls back in the opposite direction.

2> A pendulum which needs much more force to make swing in one direction than the other.

3> The height experiment where an individual seems taller than the other at one position and the shorter in the other. The guide then clarified that the surface is horizontal with the use of bubble slide

There is one thing one should note that all the surfaces are tilted which causes disorientation with respect to the horizontal and vertical.

There have been many theories to explain the phenomenon

1> A alien space ship landed here which causes this disorientation (the most weird theory!)

2> There is a large carbon dioxide gas flow nearby which changes the gravitational force

3> A heavy metal deposit which causes the anomaly

None of the theory is sufficient to explain and answer the weirdness of the place weather it may be ‘feeling light headed’, ‘top heavy’ or hanging tilted of an individual at about thirty degrees on a horizontal bar. The honest answer is that I (with all my friends) am not sure weather whatever we saw and experienced there is an optical illusion or in fact a real anomaly. The fact that nobody still has been able to explain; makes me believe that there is something about the mystery spot. If you are in Bay area, you should certainly visit this place to experience all yourself. The Mystery spot is located at 464 Mystery Spot Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95065 (http://www.mysteryspot.com).

Are you Orkuting?

Orkut recently launched the service where you can insert the various RSS feeds in Orkut itself. So now when you visit a profile of a person you can get the complete information with his favorite videos, testimonials, RSS feeds, blog, personal website and the other profile information provided by the user. It has become an ideal place to portray your complete social profile. It also provides functionality to rate a user on dimensions like cool, trusty and sexy, status on Gtalk, recommended communities and latest friends who have login. It has much richer functionality now than it had when I first started using it sometime in 2004 (that is obvious). Still I feel it lacks some features, which can make it richer.

1> The messages in Orkut have little functionality and more looked upon as spam. I personally never read the messages and delete it blindly.

2> The scrapbook does not have any method where I can set rights or preferences. I mean there is no functionality where I can set permission for a certain user to view it and some not.

3> Deletion or selection of scraps from a particular user or in certain time-frame. We need a scrap search engine.

4> I guess there is some limit on the number of photos in the Orkut album, which should be increased.

5> Orkut album should support slide shows from the Picasa web album.

6> Some maps functionality for the user addresses

7> Better analytics features and not just number of users visited in last week, last month and since one year

8> Better server and uptime (some time I am fed-up with the number of donut I get). I agree that the service is much better than the past but still there is a large room for improvement.

9> Better monitoring and filtering of sensitive and spam material on communities (considering the issues in India where some people were offended by some anti material against a group on the website)

10> Support for reminders other than birthdays like anniversaries, some special festivals etc...

11> Some Google gadgets for Orkut

Smell or taste?

The biggest challenge in the cosmetics industry is the need for innovative packaging techniques that can be differentiated from the competition. Has anyone thought of the effect if the vendors stop spending money on packaging and concentrate on the quality? Personally, when I buy goods I look into its quality, reliability, and then cost-benefit. I hardly ever care if that product has an attractive packaging. However, it seems the opposite in the ‘pink’ cosmetic industry. The notion of quality is more tied with the innovative, attractive eye-catching packaging of the product than the actual quality of the product. That means the quality evaluation and perception towards the product is directly influenced by sleek packaging, shape and color. The brand name also plays a big role as in every other arena of products. But can you imagine the cost of the cosmetic products if the manufacturers stop spending and researching on attractive packaging and aesthetics of the products. I mean what will be the effect if one of the big companies like Estee Lauder Companies, Mary Kay, Procter & Gamble Cosmetics or Revlon introduce cosmetic products in two modes one which has all sleekness, color and shape attributes (expensive) and the other in a simple container and a ordinary package (half the price of the first). This will serve both kinds of the customers. Those influenced by the ‘smell’ and the others influenced by the ‘taste’. I was just wondering that could this be a workable business model. Will such a marketing strategy work where the cost of the product is half of the “attractive” product with same quality and “brand”?

Google trying Yahoo model

Yahoo’s strategy to introduce new features or applications is quite famous and effective. Yahoo first introduces a product for some initial period to study the user response and feedback. Then removes the product from the market and reintroduces it with better features and enhancement to satisfy the user expectations (now they know what user wants). Today when I saw the new interface of Google Analytics the point which amazed me was that Google was still providing an option to switch back to the earlier interface. This is similar to the Yahoo mail when they introduced the outlook interface enhancement; where there was an option to switch back to the classic old version. Is Google trying Yahoo model?

The test market of America

Marketing department of any firm always wants accurate results for question like sales forecasts, market reaction to a new product, product sales, revenue generation etc... They often try test market analysis for predicting the above quantities. Deciding upon a where to conduct the survey such that the predicted results will hold good for the entire country or region is always a question of interest. Many marketing evangelist always refer to the term “Will it play in Peoria?” Peoria, IL is considered the test market capital of United States. If the product is successful in Peoria it will do good overall in the country.
Peoria, IL represents a “typical” average mid sized American city located nearly at the center of the county equidistant from St. Louis and Chicago. Peoria depicts the diversity of the United States population in terms of race, income, age, rural and business interests, educational background etc...
Many consumer product companies, movies, plays and even politicians try to get the feel of the market by having a test market analysis in Peoria. In short Peoria is the microcosm of United States.
Other cities considered for test market include Albany NY, Greensboro NC and Santa Barbara CA.

I am a proud Indian and a Libertarian Right








My background: Born and brought up in urban Indian city of Pune for 23 years and then living in United States from past 2 years. I am classified as a Libertarian Right on the political compass (refer picture 4). I believe that it actually depicts the social nurturing of a person and the way he thinks and believes. India being a free, democratic and secular country it was natural for me to land below on the vertical axes (social freedom scale). Indian economy being a mixed economy where there are private industries but some major infrastructural industries like railways under government rule it was natural for me to land somewhere on the centre of the horizontal axes. The “slight” shift to the right can be attributed to the phenomenon of open market in India since 1991, the recent IT boom (India’s GDP is growing at 9.2%) and the fact that I am living in United States for past two years. I strongly urge you to take the questionnaire and assess for your self what you are and where you want to be.
Here are the important links:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/questionnaire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_compass

Contact me if your political compass matched mine.

Top 25 things that shaped the Internet

Internet today has become a daily need and has made an entry into the basic amenities list like food, clothes and house. It’s the lifeline of the industry, businesses and commerce all over the world. USA TODAY recently reported a list of 25 most popular things which changed the Internet we know today. Here is the list
1 World Wide Web
2 E-Mail
3 Graphical User Interface
4 America Online
5 Broadband
6 Google
7 Mosaic/Netscape
8 eBay
9 Amazon.com
10 Wi-Fi
11 Instant Messaging
12 Yahoo
13 CompuServe/Prodigy
14 The WELL
15 Vices
16 Spam/Spy ware
17 Flash
18 Online Mapping tools
19 Napster
20 YouTube
21 The Drudge Report
22 Bloggers
23 Craigslist
24 Myspace
25 Gaming and Virtual world

Video Resume

There has been always a problem in a hard copy resumes where the potential employer cannot judge the applicant’s communication skills, general body dynamics, language proficiency, clarity of thinking and confidence level in expressing one’s views. Recently there is trend where the candidates make a video (video resume) in which they describe about themselves, their skills, qualifications and job expectation. The video is then uploaded to some video hosting services like YouTube. The employer can then just watch the video and screen the candidates according their requirements. This is much better method than just using the hardcopy resumes which are mute and dumb. This will not only be useful for the employers but also the candidates where they can express themselves in action than just few hundred words.
Some online resume service providers are
http://www.workblast.com/
http://mypersonalbroadcast.com/
http://www.hirevue.com/
There are tons of start-ups which are heading to grab their share in this completely new and expanding market. According to USA TODAY, Venture Capitalist invested more than $600 million in video start-ups last year (2006). Here are some tips for job seekers:
1 Dress professionally
2 Say “Cheese”. Keep an energetic and dynamic environment.
3 Try to very clear, loud and precise
4 Keep it short and sweet. Don’t try the employer’s patience with your extracurricular activities, family background or pets.
5 Avoid any specific Accent
6 Shoot the video in some professional background not in your kitchen or house where people going in and out the video.
7 Customize your video according to the job you are targeting.
8 Try to put some company specific information like recent success, profit figures in your video.
9 Please use grammatically correct English