Idea, Execution, Profit !

Stariwell as abstract painting

2010-05-03T01:47:00.001-07:00

Edge
Originally uploaded by Tailer Ransom

Only on flickr!

Sky and steel Interesting photo

2010-05-03T01:12:00.001-07:00

Agora, Complex Olimpic Osaka, Athens, Greece
Originally uploaded by jmhdezhdez

Came across this while on flickr.
Nice pic for illustrating cloud platforms.

Sim-OnDemand - personal virtual world server, OpenSim on EC2

2009-03-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

Idea:Sim-OnDemand - Personal Virtual World Server on Demand, on pay only for what you use billing.
Execution: Use the resource and bandwidth abundant Amazon EC2 infrastructure to deliver OpenSim on EC2 infrastructure. OpenSim opensource software packaged as ready to use Amazon Machine Image. The Sim-OnDemand comes with a GUI based launcher, making it easy for non-geeks to make use of Awesome Amazon infrastructure. No need to know Amazon API to use it.
Profit: The Amazon billing model of pay only for what you use and pass-through billing via DevPay are used to make it profitable for the user, publisher as well as Amazon.

Cædras iPhone Native Application Developer Course

2008-04-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

Yet another unsolicited email, yet intersting enough to blog about it:

Thank you for your interest in the first ever Cædras iPhone Native Application Developer (iNAD) course offered in Bangalore. We are truly excited to offer this world-class learning experience to seasoned IT professionals, such as yourself, looking to broaden their horizons beyond the humdrum of current technologies and platforms. We hope by the end of this message, you'll share in our excitement around iPhone native application development.

The Cædras iNAD experience

The Cædras iNAD course is a two-day immersive safari into the exciting world of iPhone application development. First, you will be introduced to the fundamentals of the iPhone architecture and terminology to quickly gain access to the exclusive club of iPhone developers around the world. We want to emphasize here that this course is not about Web Apps, a somewhat limited method of bringing regular Web applications to the iPhone. This course is actually, as the name would suggest, all about developing native applications using Objective C, an objected-oriented language similar to SmallTalk. We have carefully designed the course in such a way that you will get full advantage no matter if you have a C, C++, C#, Java or Visual Basic background.

Next, you will witness first hand how to setup the environment for developing native applications for the iPhone. We feel this is the most exciting part where you begin to understand how to unlock the potential of the Apple iPhone OS platform. You will appreciate the various user interface elements and techniques unique to the iPhone platform using a complete example application - cradle to cradle. But, we don't stop there!

We continue the journey by looking at an application that Caedras Software is developing for the market. We didn't think we could do justice by sharing with you trivial examples and snippets of code. You will not only learn about advanced techniques to build truly innovative applications but also appreciate how to successfully transform your ideas into market-ready applications that millions of iPhone users would line up to buy.

At Cædras Software, we believe in bringing extreme value to our customers. We, therefore, are offering the Cædras iNad course at an unbelievably low fee of only Rs. 10,000/-. The course fee includes exclusive benefits such as:

- iPhone Open Application Development: Write Native Objective-C Applications for the iPhone by Jonathan Zdziarski (a Rs. 1750 value)
- Cædras iNAD Essentials DVD (filled with all the tools you need to start development right out-of-the-box)
- Subscription to the Cædras iNAD newsletter

You will also be treated to a sumptuous outdoor lunch buffet and snacks on both days of the course. Don't forget when you signup for the course before May 1, you will automatically be entered into a drawing for an iPhone (a Rs. 25,000/- value), which will be presented to one lucky Cædras iNAD course graduate on May 18th. We would like it to be you! Don't forget to ask us about our early bird special.

We want to help you make an informed decision. Please do not hesitate to contact us with your questions.

We hope to see you soon.

Cædras iNAD in a nutshell

Date: May 17th & May 18th
Venue: 1st Stage BTM Layout, 20th Main Road,
100 Ft Ring Road, Near Friends Restaurant,
Bangalore-560078.
Outline: Session 1
Understanding the iPhone lingo
Unboxing the iPhone
Understanding the iNAD environment setup
Introducing Objective C
Touch interface basics
Exploring Cocoa fundamentals
UIKit - a deep dive
Session 2
Advanced graphics and other multimedia control
Next generation UI design
Dissecting the Cædras Remote Control
Taking your idea to the market

Cheers,

Arun Ramasamy

President,
Cædras Software
Cædras Software

98-TO-BE-STUDENT (988.623.7883)
info@caedras.com

You have received this communication because we sincerely believe you would benefit from it. At Cædras Software, we value your privacy. You will not receive further communications from us to this email address unless you specifically respond to this message asking for more information. If you would like to be removed (opt-out) from our mailing list permanently, please send an email to info@caedras.com and type "Remove" in the subject line. This message complies with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (S. 877). As specified in Sec. 5, paragraph 5 (A), this message cannot be considered spam as the recipient has been given the opportunity to decline from receiving future transmissions from the sender.

SQL Server Guru Status, now easy!

2008-01-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

SSWUG.org's SQL Server Virtual Conference
Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday, February 19 - 21, 2008
http://www.sswug.org/conference/special.asp?i=30A

SSWUG.org brings the conference to your desk-top with more than 36 technical sessions presented over three days, a half-day each day. To accommodate SSWUG's global base, you'll be able to attend regardless of time zone. You can check out the session schedule by going to http://www.sswug.org/conference/special.asp?i=30B and click on the sessions link in the left navigation.

SSWUG invites you to join the conversation and interact with speakers, exhibitors, and peers. We encourage you to click on this link for complete information on the Virtual Conference

http://www.sswug.org/conference/special.asp?i=30C

What are the fault tolerance options you have available to you?

Do you fully understand installation and configuration options?

Do you want a solid look at TSQL elements and how to use SQL in your application?

Do you want to learn about setting up user accounts for your server?

Do you know how to integrate Word, Excel and Access with SQL Server?

Do you know how to get started protecting the data in your server?

http://www.sswug.org/conference/special.asp?i=30D

The sessions are designed to answer everything you want to know about the fundamentals of successful database operations by asking questions during presentations or post session, or by participating in the general chat rooms.

Sessions include:
. Fault Tolerance Options: Overview of features and techniques
. Installation and Basic Configuration
. Creating a Database, Options, Filegroups, Best Practices
. Much, much more

Most exciting for many of you will be the A SQL Server 2008 track presented by Microsoft SQL Server Engineers about their favorite SQL Server 2008 features!

Registration for the event is $100, all inclusive.

http://www.sswug.org/conference/special.asp?i=30E

As an added bonus, all attendees will receive
- A subscription to CoDe Magazine

- $150 Discount Code to Attend SQL Connections - The definitive in-person SQL Server conference in Orlando later this spring with advanced topics and sessions.

- The ability to submit question in advance for specials sessions where we'll specifically be addressing YOUR questions.

If you're interested in bringing the Virtual Conference to your conference room, please contact us at swynk@sswug.org for group rates and the group registration form.

If you don't agree that the SSWUG Virtual Conference is everything we've said it is, we'll refund the cost of your registration. No questions asked.

Register now to reserve you place in the SSWUG SQL Server Virtual Conference:
http://www.sswug.org/conference/special.asp?i=30F

See you online!

Stephen Wynkoop
SSWUG.ORG Editor and Founder
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Swynk@sswug.org

Register today:
http://www.sswug.org/conference/special.asp?i=30G

SSWUG.ORG, www.SSWUG.org
8987 E Tanque Verde, Ste 309-269
Tucson, AZ 85749

Email settings: (Just turn off member bulletins)
http://www.sswug.org/acctmgt.asp?mode=4

Six Sigma Green Belt

2008-01-02T01:35:00.000-08:00

I got a mail from Sethu(Example Consulting) on Six Sigma Green Belt Course in India:
Hi,
I trust this mail finds you in good health and cheer!!

eXample Consulting Group is pleased to announce forthcoming series of
immensely practical and superior value country wide Six Sigma Green Belt
Training and Certification public workshops. This could be of relevance and
interest to you, colleagues / friends, members of your organization,
clients, partners and associates to participate and benefit.

Both Indian and International candidates (Individuals or Organization
sponsored) with 2+ years experience can enroll and benefit.
Participants also have an add-on option to obtain "INTERNATIONAL
CERTIFICATION" from "eXample USA" through this unique program. Please find
details below.

SIX SIGMA FOCUS
Six Sigma enables organizations to drive business growth and profitability
with breakthrough performance improvements in customer satisfaction,
operations, quality and service excellence, time to market, asset and
resource productivity and business cost structure. It enables professionals
to acquire structured performance improvement competencies and realize
accelerated career growth prospects in India and globally.

The program schedule is given below. For past program highlights, Click Here

SIX SIGMA GREEN BELT TRAINING AND
CERTIFICATION - PUBLIC WORKSHOPS
Program Schedule

Program Name City Venue Date/Time Program fees (INR)
per person
(Indian Nationals) Program fees (USD)
per person
(Foreign Nationals)
Six Sigma Green Belt Certification Gurgaon
Windsor
Castle (DLF Phase - II) 11 - 13th Jan 2008
(3 days - Fri/Sat/Sun) 11,490 (Individual)
13,490 (Company sponsored) 450 (Individual)
550 (Company sponsored)
Six Sigma Green Belt Certification Mumbai
Hotel Park
View (Andheri-W) 19 - 21st Jan 2008
(3 days - Sat/Sun/Mon) 11,990 (Individual)
13,990 (Company sponsored) 450 (Individual)
550 (Company sponsored)
Six Sigma Green Belt Certification Bangalore
12th Avenue
(Indiranagar) 25 - 27th Jan 2008
(3 days - Fri/Sat/Sun) 11,490 (Individual)
13,490 (Company sponsored) 450 (Individual)
550 (Company sponsored)
Six Sigma Green Belt Certification Chennai

Hotel Chariot (T.Nagar) 8 - 10th Feb 2008
(3 days - Fri/Sat/Sun) 11,490 (Individual)
13,490 (Company sponsored) 450 (Individual)
550 (Company sponsored)
(Please Click on city to
open (or) Rt. Click / Save the program brochure).

Program fee is inclusive of:
* Course Materials,
* Training services,
* Lunch/Refreshments,
* Use of laptop with Six sigma s/w,
* Green Belt Certificate (Participation and Course Completion) and
* Service Tax (@12.36%)

Please visit http://www.examplecg.com/services/lean_sixsigma.htm for program
details, downloadable brochure and view past program highlights
For queries and registration assistance, Call or SMS
Mumbai / Pune - Mr. Ram (M: +91-98201
58537 (or) T: +91- 22- 4015 9748)
Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon (NCR) - Mr. Sethu (M: +91-99862 73363 (or) T:
+91- 80 - 4128 1482) (or)
E-mail to sixsigma@examplecg.com with participant name, city, organization
and designation

Top companies and Participants have
benefited from our consulting, advisory and training programs.
Clients and Participant
representation
Consulting / IT /
Telecom / Media ITES / BPO / BFSI Manufacturing /
Distribution / Others Consumer Goods/ Retail / Pharmaceuticals
Hutchison 3G
Accenture
Avaya Global Services
BNP Paribas
Ciber
DCS BPO
Deloitte
DPS Software
DirecTV (USA)
Emerio Corporation (SGP)
FAS (Nigeria)
GTS (UAE)
GFT
GSA Infotech
Hewlett Packard
Vodafone (Hutch)
iApps Consulting
IBM Global Services
Infosys Technologies
Infotech Software
Intel
Kaveri Telecoms
L&T Infotech
Manthan Systems
Motorola
NCR Global services
New Wave Computing
Nortel Networks
Omnisystem (Korea)
Oracle Corporation
Patni Software (UK)
Safran Aerospace
Shining Universe
Slash Support
SQL Star Software
Symphony E-Services
Synergy Software
Tech Mahindra
Transworld Infotech
TVS Infotech
Zenith Software Aviva Shared Services
Bank of Baroda
BNP Paribas
DCS BPO
GE Money
HSBC
JP Morgan
Nittany BPO
Optimus (Polaris)
Respondez
RSM Mcgladrey
TCS (BPO)
Templeton Investments
Tesco India
WNS Global Services Al-Ghurair group (UAE)
Almoayyed group (Bahrain)
Alshaya (Dubai)
Arabian Centers (KSA)
Atlas Copco
BeBig (Ezag)
BVQI (India)
Chandan Steels
Chrysler Group (USA)
CIPY Polyurethanes
DHL Danzas
DOTY Scientific Inc. (USA)
Emirates National Oil.
Genesis Stones
Hyundai Motors
Johnson Matthey
Kamino Int'l Logistics
Kerns Aerospace
Kyocera Wireless
Maersk Logistics
Midas Tyres
Reliance Navi Mumbai SEZ
Proteck India
Reva Electric Car Co.
Shapoorji Pallonji
Siemens Building Tech
Taj Hotels
UNDP (International)
Uttaranchal Police Al-Hokair (KSA)
Baxter Healthcare
Bisleri International
Cadbury India
Covalent Lab
General Mills
Hindustan Unilever
HJ Heinz
Kelloggs
Khimji Ramdas (Oman)
Marico
Nicholas Piramal
Pepsico (Frito Lay)
Pidilite Industries

Corporate / Institutional Programs
Besides Six sigma public workshops, eXample Consulting group has deep
expertise in assisting leading companies across industry sectors to
strategize, plan, implement and institutionalize Six Sigma and Lean
Excellence culture and deliver breakthrough performance improvements. For
Corporate Six Sigma programs (Directly or via Industry chamber /
associations), please reach us at sixsigma@examplecg.com or speak to the
undersigned.

Register early as there are limited seats!!

For our country wide Six Sigma program schedule, please visit
http://www.examplecg.com/services/lean_sixsigma.htm

To UNSUBSCRIBE, Click Here
and send the mail to
sixsigma@examplecg.com .

Thanks for your time, interest and consideration.
We look forward to participant nominations for the forthcoming programs.

Best Regards,
Sethu
Practice Director

(An International Business company)
Bangalore, India
Mob: +91-99862 73363
Tel: +91-80-4128 1482
Fax: +91-22-2287 2708
E-mail: sixsigma@examplecg.com
(Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do)
USA * UK * Kenya * India

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
______________________
About us,
eXample Consulting Group (www.examplecg.com) is a Solution Consulting firm
offering Strategy, Process and E-Business consulting, training and Offshore
Advisory services to global clients in Americas, UK/Europe, Middle
East/Africa, India and Asia Pacific regions in Oil and Gas, Banking and
Finance, Manufacturing/Logistics, Consumer goods/Retail, Telecom, IT and
Shared Services sectors. eXample has presence in USA, UK, Kenya and India
and works through partners in Canada, South Africa, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Sri
Lanka, Singapore and New Zealand.
_____________________________
Heather Smith of Active Strategy writes to Add:
Active Strategy offers courses on
Six Sigma and Green Belt.

Outward Bound Learning

2007-12-16T22:09:00.000-08:00

M R Sreesha of Pegasus Institute for Excellence says....

Pegasus Institute for Excellence is one of the premier institutes in India offering comprehensive Outward-bound Management Learning and Organizational Development services. Our Learning Center nestles in a picturesque valley and is located around 60 km north of Bangalore (beyond Doddaballapur). Our expertise in consulting & training combined with the beautiful location managed by skilled staff makes for a totally refreshing learning experience.

Pegasus started its operations in 1997 to offer Outward Bound Learning (OBL) courses to leading organizational teams in India and the Asia Pacific region. The innovative programs, skilled faculty, robust infrastructure and facilities have since then catapulted Pegasus into becoming one of India’s leading outbound organizations in the field of leadership & team development. In the last nine years we are richer with the experience of having worked with over 47,000+ participants from over 280 companies. Some of our elite clientele includes top names such as ABB, Accenture, Bharti Group, Cisco Systems, Dell, Dr Reddy Labs, GE, IBM, ICICI, Infosys, Intel, ITC Group, HLL, L&T, Microsoft, Motorola, Muragappa Group, Oracle, Robert Bosch, Samsung, SAP, Standard Chartered Bank, Toyota, Tata Teleservices, Texas Instruments, The World Bank, Volvo, Wipro, Yahoo etc.

The success of Bangalore centre propelled us to establish a pan India presence and today we have our own full fledged delivery centers in Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Pondicherry & Dehradun ( 2007 )

We bring in the collective experience of our team in the area of human behaviors, group dynamics, psychometrics, management, outdoors and hospitality. Our 80 person years of experience as organizational development consultants and program facilitators have made us leaders in the leadership development & teambuilding industry. Our core training and consultation services involve helping our clients in:

* Transition from campus to corporate
* Building teams faster and better
* Improving alignment with organizational mission, vision, and values
* Developing highly effective leaders
* Reducing process inefficiencies
* Inspiring participants to achieve the seemingly impossible

Approach and Methodology

The uniqueness of the courses we offer lies in our approach and methodology. OBL is based on the principles of David Kolb’s “Adult Learning Cycle”. Participants are put through activities simulating back home business situations that help them discover their “self” and group. Through these activities the participants also learn the gaps if any, that exist between “knowing the way” and “going the way”. OBL programs are conducted in a completely risk free, non-threatening environment, where the consequence of all action is only Learning. This innovative learning technique is based on the popular axiom “Experience is the best teacher”.

Pegasus Outbound Learning (OBL) programs helps to increase teams effectiveness in the real world work environment. In addition, our client engagement model ensures that every program that we conduct is customized to meet your objectives & expectations effectively and consistently.

All programs commence by subjecting participants to an activity that simulates a back home business scenario or situation. This activity is followed by a reflection process, which focuses on the happenings during the activity. Our faculty members facilitate these reflection sessions to help participants identify traits that are enablers or disablers. Applying the same in another activity then validates this learning and throws up fresh learning.

Activity Reflection Learning Application Activity (New)

The process continues in a spiral throughout the program.

The Pegasus Team

The faculty at Pegasus is a multi skilled team comprising of behavioral experts, psychologists and outdoor experts and is a vital element in the Outward Bound experience. The team has over 80 person years of organizational development consultantancy and program facilitation. Their collective knowledge in practical outdoors, client business processes and human behavior, enables them to design & deliver programs effectively and consistently.

In addition to technical expertise in their respective fields, the team is a highly motivated group of people equipped with a blend of empathy, insight, sensitivity and patience, characteristics that are of utmost importance while anchoring programs containing real physical and psychological challenges. In fulfilling the role of program anchor, trainer, facilitator or consultant, these experts initiate and engineer diverse situations and experiences, and provide individual and group counseling and feedback as appropriate.

The teams also comprises of dedicated support staff, well trained in all aspects of hospitality and are equipped in providing outdoor support for all types of OBL programs.

Key Differentiators

Pegasus success does not just lie in its unique approach to learning and delivery excellence, other distinctive aspects of the organization are:

* Is the only structured OBL institute in the country with pan India presence
* Has successfully used OBL to address a variety of organizational needs such as Strategic Thinking, Visioning, Leadership, Team Building, Service Quality Improvement, Customer Orientation, Effective Communication, Mentoring, Conflict Management and many others
* Time tested program engagement & delivery model simulates real time business scenarios and processes in the outbound environment facilitating quicker connects by the participants with back home issues & challenges.
* Having successfully addressed needs of diverse industry segments such as IT, ITES, Telecom, FMCG, Pharma, Manufacturing, BFSI, etc… Pegasus has productized its offerings to meet unique & specific needs of industry verticals.
* Having successfully addressed Leadership competency development at different levels, across industry verticals using OBL methodology, Over the years we have a established a credible mindshare in the industry in this space. So when IIMB runs MDP programs today, Pegasus is their natural partner.

They do have an impressive client list to back their claim:
1. 24/7 CUSTOMER
2. ABB LIMITED.
3. ABS INDIA PVT. LTD
4. ACCENTURE
5. ASCENDAS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SERVICES (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
6. ADAPTEC INDIA PVT. LTD.
7. ALCON LABORATORIES (INDIA) PVT. LTD
8. ALP MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS PVT. LTD.
9. AMAZON DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
10. AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION PVT. LTD.
11. AMERICA ONLINE MEMBER SERVICES INDIA PVT. LTD.
12. AMP SANMAR ASSURANCE COMPANY LTD.
13. AMSURE INSURANCE
14. ANZ INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
15. APCOM COMPUTERS LTD. (CHENNAI)
16. ARVIND BRANDS LIMITED
17. ASHA KIRAN SCHOOL
18. ASTRA ZENECA PHARMA INDIA LTD.
19. AUDCO INDIA LTD. (CHENNAI)
20. AUMA INDIA PVT. LTD.
21. AXA BUSINESS SERVICE CENTRE
22. AZUL SYSTEMS
23. BALMER LAWRIE & CO LTD.
24. BCCI (INDIAN CRICKET TEAM)
25. BEA SYSTEMS INDIA
26. BFL SOFTWARE LTD.
27. BHARTHI TELESONIC LTD (DELHI)
28. BHARTI INFOTEL LIMITED.
29. BHARTI MOBILE LTD (AIR TEL)
30. BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD.
31. BHARTIYA VIDYA BHAVAN (M P BIRLA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT)
32. BHORUKA POWER CORPORATION. LTD.
33. BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION
34. BIRLA 3M LTD.
35. BPL TELECOM LIMITED.
36. BRIGGS OF BURTON PVT. LTD.
37. BUSINESS OBJECTS SOFTWARE INDIA PVT. LTD.
38. CABLE & WIRELESS
39. CAE VISUAL SOFTWARE PVT. LTD.
40. CANARA BANK
41. CAPGEMINI CONSULTING
42. CAPTRONIC SYSTEMS PVT. LTD.
43. CARBORUNDUM UNIVERSAL (CHENNAI & COIMBATORE)
44. CELSTREAM TECHNOLOGIES.
45. CGI INFORMATION SYSTEMS & MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS PVT. LTD.
46. CHEMPLAST SANMAR LTD.
47. CIENA INDIA PVT. LTD
48. CISCO SYSTEMS LTD.
49. COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS INDIA PVT. LTD
50. COMMIT TECHNOLOGY.
51. COMPAQ INDIA LIMITED.
52. CONVERGYS INDIA SERVICES PVT. LTD.
53. CORE OBJECTS.
54. COLEHAAN INDIA LIASION.
55. COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT
56. CSR INDIA PVT. LTD.
57. CUSTOMER OPERATIONAL SERVICES BUSINESS
58. CYBERCASH (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
59. DATA CRAFT INDIA LIMITED
60. DELL INTERNATIONAL SERVICES
61. DELPHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS PVT. LTD
62. DEUTCHE BANK
63. DHARMA COMPUTERS PVT. LTD.
64. DIGITAL EQUIPMENT LTD.
65. DR. REDDY’S LABORATORIES LTD.
66. DSL SOFTWARE LIMITED.
67. EDS TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.
68. EDUQUITY CAREER TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.
69. F F E MINERALS
70. ESSILOR SRF OPTICS PVT LTD
71. EUREKA FORBES LIMITED.
72. EPSON INDIA PVT. LTD.
73. FIDELITY BUSINESS SERVICES INDIA PVT. LTD.
74. FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL
75. FISHER SANMAR LIMITED.
76. FLEXTRONICS TECHNOLOGIES (I) PVT. LTD.
77. F L SMIDTH LIMITED.
78. FORBES GOKAK LTD (GOKAK FALLS).
79. FREESCALE SOFTWARE INDIA PVT. LTD.
80. FUTURE TECHNO DESIGN PVT LTD. (TOSHIBA)
81. G E CAPITAL HYDERABAD
82. G E INDIA
83. G E HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGIES.
84. GENERAL MOTORS INDIA PVT. LTD.
85. GENISYS INTEGRATING SYSTEMS INDIA LTD.
86. GENPACT SOFTWARE
87. GLOBAL EDGE SOFTWARE LTD.
88. GODREJ AGROVET LTD.
89. GOOGLE
90. GUHRING INDIA PVT. LTD.
91. HAL STAFF COLLEGE.
92. HARITA INFOSERVE LIMITED.
93. HCL PEROT SYSTEMS.
94. HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD. CHENNAI.
95. HENKEL LOCTITE INDIA PVT. LTD.
96. HERBALIFE INTERNATIONAL INDIA PVT. LTD
97. HEWITT OUTSOURCING SERVICES INDIA LTD.
98. HINDUJA TMT LTD.
99. HINDUSTAN COCA – COLA BEVERAGES PVT. LTD.
100. HINDUSTAN LEVER LTD.
101. HLFPPT – SWAGATI PROJECT
102. HONEYWELL SOFTWARE OPERATIONS LTD.
103. HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES INDIA PVT. LTD.
104. HUGHES SOFTWARE SYSTEMS LTD.
105. HUTCHISON ESSAR SOUTH LIMITED
106. ICICI ONE SOURCE
107. ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE CO. LTD.
108. ICODE SOFTWARE PVT. LTD.
109. IFLEX SOLUTIONS
110. IHS PARTS MANAGEMENT PRIVATE LTD
111. INATECH INFOSOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.
112. INDUS TRUST.
113. INDUS LEAGUE CLOTHING LIMITED.
114. INFOCOM SOLUTIONS LTD. (SOCRATES).
115. INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
116. INFOTECH ENTERPRISES LIMITED.
117. INFOTRONICS PVT. LTD.
118. INGERSOLL-RAND (INDIA) LIMITED.
119. INSIGHT TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.
120. INTEL TECHNOLOGY INDIA PVT. LTD.
121. INTUIT TECHNOLOGY SERVICES PVT. LTD.
122. IONIC MICRO SYSTEMS PVT. LTD.
123. ITC LIMITED (HYDERABAD)
124. JET KING INFOTRAIN LTD.
125. JINDAL ALUMINIUM LIMITED
126. J K ORGANISATION
127. JOHN F WELCH TECHNOLOGY CENTRE (GEI)
128. JOHNSON & JOHNSON LTD. (MUMBAI).
129. JUNIPER NETWORKS
130. JWT
131. KANBAY SOFTWARE INDIA PVT. LTD.
132. KENNAMETAL WIDIA INDIA LIMITED.
133. KESTONE RESEARCH PVT. LTD.
134. KIRLOSKAR SYSTEMS PVT. LTD.
135. KIRLOSKAR TOYODA TEXTILE MACHINERY PVT LTD
136. KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK LTD.
137. KSHEMA TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
138. L G SOFT INDIA
139. LM GLASS FIBER (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
140. LOGICA SYNECTICS PVT. LTD.
141. L&T JOHN DEERE PRIVATE LIMITED.
142. L & T LIMITED
143. LUK INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED.
144. MADRAS ALLUMINIUM CO. LTD.
145. MADURA GARMENTS.
146. MAHINDRA HOLIDAYS AND RESORTS INDIA LTD.,
147. MAX HEALTH SCRIBE
148. MCAFEE SOFTWARE (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
149. MERU NETWORKS
150. METLIFE INDIA INSURANCE CO. PVT. LTD.
151. MERITOR LVS INDIA PVT LTD
152. MICROSOFT INDIA DEVELOPMENT CENTRE. (HYDERABAD).
153. MOOG MOTION CONTROL S PVT. LTD.
154. MOTOR INDUSTRIES CO. LTD.
155. MICROLAND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT CENTER
156. MILLIPORE (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
157. MIND SPEED INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.
158. MINDTREE CONSULTING PVT. LTD.
159. MISYS HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS.
160. MODERATION GROUP OF INDIA.
161. MOTOROLA INDIA LIMITED (BANGALORE & HYDERABAD)
162. M. S. RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT.
163. MURUGAPPA GROUP.
164. MISYS INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SYSTEMS PVT. LTD.
165. NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
166. NATURAL TEXTILES PVT. LTD.
167. NESS TECHNOLOGY
168. NEULAND LABORATORIES LIMITED.
169. NOKIA INDIA PVT. LTD.
170. NOVELL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT (I) LTD.
171. NOVELLUS SYSTEMS INDIA PVT. LTD.
172. NOVO NORDISK PHARMA LTD.
173. NT5 SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
174. ORACLE INDIA PVT. LTD.
175. OWENS CORNING.
176. P.S.I.DATA SYSTEM.
177. PEOPLE ONE CONSULTING.
178. PHASE 1 WORLD
179. PHILIPS SOFTWARE CENTRE PVT. LTD.
180. PIVOTAL BANGALORE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PVT. LTD.
181. PK4 SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.
182. POLARIS SOFTWARE LAB LIMITED. CHENNAI.
183. PONDI AURO SERVICE CONSULTANTS PVT. LTD.
184. PORTAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDIA PVT. LTD.
185. PRICE WATER HOUSE COOPERS PVT. LTD.
186. QUALIHYDRON
187. QUALITY ENGINEERING & SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.
188. QUICK LOGIC SOFTWARE (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
189. RAMBUS CHIP TECHNOLOGIES INDIA PVT. LTD.
190. RAMCO SYSTEMS
191. RCI INDIA PVT. LTD.
192. RMZ CORPORATION
193. ROBERT BOSCH INDIA LTD.
194. SAINT – GOBIN GLASS INDIA LTD.
195. SAMSUNG INDIA SOFTWARE OPERATIONS. (SISO)
196. SANDISK INDIA
197. SAP INDIA PVT LTD (MUMBAI).
198. SAP LABS INDIA PVT. LTD.
199. SASKEN COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
200. SATYAM INFOWAY LTD.
201. SATYAM VENTURE ENGINEERING SERVICES
202. SAPIENT
203. SELLA SYNERGY CHENNAI
204. SHANTI BHAVAN SCHOOL (GEORGE FOUNDATION)
205. SHELL INDIA MARKETING PRIVATE LIMITED.
206. SIEMENS PUBLIC COMMUNICATION NETWORK LTD.
207. SIERRA ATLANTIC SOFTWARE SERVICES LTD.
208. SINGULARITY SOFTWARE (INDIA) PRIVATE LIMITED
209. SNECMA AEROSPACE
210. SONATA SOFTWARE LIMITED.
211. SPECTRUM PLACEMENT & MARKETING SERVICES PVT. LTD.
212. SPHERIS INDIA
213. SPICE TELECOM
214. STANDARD CHARTERED BANK.
215. STAR INDIA
216. STEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIA LIMITED.
217. ST.JOSEPH COLLEGE
218. SUBEX SYSTEMS PVT. LTD.
219. SUNDARAM FASTENERS LTD. (CHENNAI)
220. SUN MICRO SYSTEMS INDIA PVT. LTD.
221. SYKES ENTERPRISES INDIA PVT LTD.
222. SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES INDIA PVT. LTD.
223. SYNOPSYS INDIA PVT. LTD.
224. T. JOHN COLLEGE
225. TAEGUTEC INDIA LTD.
226. TAJ HOTELS
227. TALISMA CORPORATION PVT. LTD.
228. TARANG TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.
229. TATA CELLULAR LIMITED (HYDERABAD).
230. TATA ELXSI LIMITED
231. TATA IBM LTD.

232. TATA LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES LTD. (BANGALORE & HYDERABAD)

233. TATA TELE SERVICES LTD. (BANGALORE, HYDERABAD & KERALA)
234. TAVANT TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
235. TCI FOUNDATION
236. TEAM PRODUCTIVITY CONSULTANTS LTD.
237. TECHNOLOGY MEDIA GROUP PVT. LTD.
238. TELELOGIC INDIA PVT. LTD.
239. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS.
240. TEXTRON
241. THE ACTIVITY
242. THE WORLD BANK
243. THE VYSYA BANK LTD.
244. THINK 3 DESIGNS INDIA PVT. LTD.
245. THOMSON (PRIMARK INDIA PVT LTD.)
246. THREE HEAD DESIGNS
247. TITAN INDUSTRIES LTD.
248. TORRY HARRIS BUSINESS SOLUTIONS (P) LTD.
249. TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR AUTO PARTS PVT. LTD.
250. TOYOTA KIRLSOKAR MOTORS PVT. LTD.
251. TRANSWORLD SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.
252. TSI VENTURES (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
253. TYCO ELECTRONICS SYSTEMS INDIA PVT. LTD.
254. T V S ELECTRONICS LIMITED. CHENNAI
255. UTI VENTURE FUNDS MANAGEMENT CO. LTD.
256. USI NETWORKING SYSTEMS
257. UXL TECHNOLOGIES
258. VALTECH INDIA
259. VISTEON AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS INDIA PVT. LTD.
260. VOLVO INDIA PVT. LTD.
261. VIDESH SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED.
262. WATERS (INDIA) PRIVATE LIMITED.
263. WAY 2 WEALTH SECURITIES PVT. LTD.
264. WEB METHODS DEVELOPMENT CENTER (I) PVT. LTD.
265. WEIR MINERALS (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
266. WELCOME GROUP GRADUATE SCHOOL OF HOTEL ADMINISTRATION MANIPAL
267. WENDT INDIA LIMITED.
268. WILCO INTERNATIONAL LTD. (HYDERABAD)
269. WIPRO CONSUMER CARE & LIGHTING.
270. WIPRO ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS.
271. WIPRO EPERIPHERALS LTD.
272. WIPRO INFOTECH.
273. WIPRO FLUID POWER.
274. YAHOO SOFTWARE INDIA PVT. LTD.

Nokia Forum wants startup action

2007-12-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

Dear BarCamp Participant,

The huge Indian market potential for mobile applications brings in opportunity to tap into this wonderful new world limited only by your imagination. With over 100 million devices shipped and out there in the market, your mobile application could be used by millions of people in India and globally.

Fuelled by consumer desire for cooler devices, added convenience and greater bandwidth, mobile operators all over the world are looking to find new and innovative applications that will pique the interest of mobile users and generate recurring revenue.

If you’re are a developer/university student and looking at how to get into mobile application development and trying to identify the market channels that could generate revenues then here we’re to support you all through that process.

Forum Nokia has recently sponsored the BarCamp events in Mumbai and Bangalore and is pleased with the interest in the developer community. To give a helping hand to the potential startups and also who are already in the business, we invite you to join Forum Nokia to further boost your opportunities.

Register now to take initial advantage and participate in the Discussions boards, Wiki, Blogs and experience the extensive technical support and development tool kits and go to market channels.

http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/registration/registration.html or http://www.forumnokia-india.com/

If you’re looking at sharing your images/video or thinking of submitting an application for others to use and feel, please visit http://www.mosh.nokia.com/

You can be part of the next growth in India coming in the form of mobile applications and services.

Please write to me @ prakash.sayini@nokia.com to discuss on how Forum Nokia can help you.

Best Regards

Prakash Sayini

Forum Nokia India, Bangalore

What was he thinking?

2007-11-25T06:32:00.001-08:00

What was he thinking?
Originally uploaded by Pandiyan

They said it is greener on the other side?
Yea it is surely greener but it is bitter neem!

Damanhur, Dhyanalinga and

2007-11-25T04:16:00.001-08:00

Hall of the Earth
Originally uploaded by Clan McClarty

It took me a while of reading and rereading to realize that this is a photo and not a painting.
Check out the Damanhur Temple history for its Idea, how it got executed Falco the founder of the temple was driven by intuition and vision to build the temple.

If you are interested in such, Dhyanalinga Multi Religious temple, by Isha Yoga Center will be of interest. Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev was intuitively guided by his guru in establishing the Dhanalinga.

It is very interesting to note how the two contemporary visionaries went about gathering support for their project.

311: To be a giant

2007-11-10T00:42:00.001-08:00

311: To be a giant
Originally uploaded by Turtblu

Cannot resist blogging this at the pic was good and there is 311 mentioned as in 311pm.com

311: To be a giant

This is Bobb, one of the 42 newly hatched children of Bob and Lusy (sic), two of the land snails that my students are raising in their miniature ecosystems. In this particular ecosystem, all 42 are named Bobb, except one, who is Fred. Go figure.

Oh, and that is my pinky finger, so...Bobb is really really small.

Uploaded by Turtblu on 8 Nov 07, 8.05AM IST.

Tokyo Linux Users Group meeting featuring S3

2007-11-10T00:34:00.001-08:00

Tokyo Linux Users Group meeting featuring S3
Originally uploaded by labsji

Tokyo Linux Users Group meeting featuring S3

Restless Avatars.
Lars Kotthoff giving a presentation on a Ruby script he has developed for backup using Amazon S3 . The presentation in English was presented with the voice feature of SL.

The Second Life portion of the meeting took place in the Conference Center on the Amazon Developers 1 Island at 9 PM Second Life Time (that's the same as Pacific Standard Time) onwards on Friday, November 9th.

The RL portion at Tokyo on November 10th at 14:00 JST at the following location:

Cerego Japan Offices
Ninomiya Bldg, 4F
18-4 Sakuragaoka-cho
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Avatars attended from across the globe from Japan, Seattle, Vancouver, Colorado, Chennai etc.

Edmund Earp(Lars Kotthoff) presenting S3 based backup at Amazon Dev Island, SecondLife

2007-11-10T00:31:00.001-08:00

Edmund Earp(Lars Kotthoff) presenting S3 based backup at Amazon Dev Island, SecondLife
Originally uploaded by labsji

Edmund Earp(Lars Kotthoff) presenting S3 based backup at Amazon Dev Island, SecondLife

Lars Kotthoff giving a presentation on a Ruby script he has developed for backup using Amazon S3 . The presentation in English was presented with the voice feature of SL.

The Second Life portion of the meeting took place in the Conference Center on the Amazon Developers 1 Island at 9 PM Second Life Time (that's the same as Pacific Standard Time) onwards on Friday, November 9th.

The RL portion at Tokyo on November 10th at 14:00 JST at the following location:

Cerego Japan Offices
Ninomiya Bldg, 4F
18-4 Sakuragaoka-cho
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Avatars attended from across the globe from Japan, Seattle, Vancouver, Colorado, Chennai etc.Edmund Earp(Lars Kotthoff) presenting S3 based backup at Amazon Dev Island, SecondLife

Lars Kotthoff giving a presentation on a Ruby script he has developed for backup using Amazon S3 . The presentation in English was presented with the voice feature of SL.

The Second Life portion of the meeting took place in the Conference Center on the Amazon Developers 1 Island at 9 PM Second Life Time (that's the same as Pacific Standard Time) onwards on Friday, November 9th.

The RL portion at Tokyo on November 10th at 14:00 JST at the following location:

Cerego Japan Offices
Ninomiya Bldg, 4F
18-4 Sakuragaoka-cho
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Avatars attended from across the globe from Japan, Seattle, Vancouver, Colorado, Chennai etc.

Chennai Photo Snapshot 03 Nov, 3:11pm

2007-10-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Idea: Take a photo samples of a city at a specified time(3 Nov 3:11pm), consolidate in one pool, make snapshot of city life forever.
Execution: Ask a anyone and everyone to take a photo and submit it to a photo pool in flickr. Pre and post moment support garnering through every communication channel including blogs, news item, sms, etc. Coordinated by website 311pm.com.
Profit: Snapshot for posterity. Community bonding.

Update: Now, remote participation via SecondLife is possible.
From Remote participation via SecondLife:

Not in Chennai on Nov 3, 03:11pm?

Not to worry, SecondLife and Avatar Voodo to the rescue. Labsji has setup this amazing facility to help you participate in 03:11 PM campaign virtually via SecondLife. Visit SecondLife Sim Treepu. While there, launch a virtual balloon with your request for a photo shoot at a particular location, as if you are taking it! Some kind natured 03:11 PM enthusiast might take your request seriously and shoot a snap exactly as you requested. Your requests are actually queued as Human Intelligence Task request in Amazon Mturk.

Want to help someone wanting to participate from afar?

Log on to http://mturk.com and search of HITs titled AVooDo. Fulfill the HIT as requested and make someone’s day! As a token of appreciation your good natured gesture, there will be small inconsequential (yet fun!) rewards that you will be able to claim against your successful HIT completion.

Help spill the fun from Virtual to Real and vice versa.

More details can be found here: http://treepu.in/wp/chennai-311pm-photo-freeze-event-now-from-anywhere-via-secondlife/79

Extending SecondLife Avatar Action to Real Life with Mturk

2007-10-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

Idea: Avatar Voodo: Extending Avatar Action from SecondLife to Real Life
Execution: Avatar Voodo, Avoodo for short, is a mashup of SecondLife with Amazon Mturk. Avoodo is a way to extend/spill Avatar action to real world. The way it is done is, Avatar action is set to trigger posting of Human Intelligence Task(HIT) in Mturk market through Linden Scripting Language(LSL) scripts. The Linden dollar based micropayment mechanism is bridged to the Mturk based micropayment to make the HIT enticing enough for Mturk worker to complete. The HIT can be geographically targeted so that the SecondLife as geography barrier basher can be further enhanced.
Profit: One of the biggest complaint about SecondLife as a marketing medium is that it is just toyland and activities there and transactions there cannot be linked to real world and revenue generating commerce. With Avoodo, it is possible to engage the user in mixed reality play which can be a very effective marketing tool. For the seocndlife developers, they don't need to huge budget to create a mixed media experience like the CBS CSI:Virtual that involves huge hype and fanfare to work. As an illustrative case of the profit,

Teepu is an use case that uses Avoodo to give opportunity Avatars to participate in mass tree planting movement despite geographic barriers. In short, Avoodo, Treepu makes (digital/real) tree a social object for participation and conversation!.

New Cartoon: Getting Drowned in Search Engine Alphabet Soup!

2007-10-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hat Tip to Hugh MacLeod of Gapingvoid.com for inspiring me and making me try cartooning.

Dawnkey's MyFridj: Cartoons as Social Objects

2007-10-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Idea: Cartoons as longtail tradable social objects. Dawn Douglas through MyFridj is adding a new twist to User Generated Content. She is creating scarcity mechanism for the content( cartoons and animations) through the virtual goods route. An interesting aspect of the idea is that the virtual goods are user tradable.
Execution: Just like people are ok with the idea of buying songs, people will get used to buying cartoons and animations to enhance their online presence. Slowly saying it with a cartoon will be easy and fun way to express yourself - Just as saying it with flowers or saying it with your dress. Slowly when the supply and demand equations work out, this long tail syndication mechanism will gain momentum as investment opportunity. Yet the success of MyFridj depends largely on the scale of execution, choice of platforms that will make the micro-payment frictionless and more importantly how mashable and developer friendly it emerges.
Profit:

Wisdom of Crowd Weather Prediction

2007-10-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

Idea:Weather as a source of profit! Much of economic activity in some form or another is a response to Weather and its cycle. With economy becoming more and more knowledge centric, weather information and weather related prediction( knowledge) becomes source of profit. Hackshaven Harford of NOAA build in Secondlife has an interesting idea for the complex compute intensive weather prediction biz. He is proposing to simply ask the crowd. Let the wisdom of the crowd work for the prediction!
Execution:Amazon Mturk with automated script that rewards bonuses based on accuracy of prediction post fact. The script could be coupled weather derivative market through a mashup with WeatherBill like service.
Profit: Predicting weather( or the lack of it) is a big biz. Weather is something where everyone participates already. Market linking it and wisdom of crowd linking it will widen the market and thereby widen the opportunities.

This could be a good way to widen the base of Mturk Workers on a world wide basis. This will engage the workers on a daily basis. The variable reward makes it very sticky.

Shel's SAP Global Survey: Push vs Pull

2007-09-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

As for a survey by big corporations goes, typically, suites decide what market intelligence they need. Then they charter an internal or external market research team to do the market research/survey. They churn out data, charts, and reports and the Suites further decide on their course of action.
Shel Isreal spearheading the SAP Global Survey is approaching the Social Media survey in a When In Rome approach. It is a clear demonstration of shift from Push to Pull.

This video/machinima was part of Survey Answer by K G Prasad, Universal Print System, Chennai. He is going ga ga about Mashups and Wikis:

There is a lot SAP can help to make doing business through Social Media sustainable. There is a lot of drudgery in engaging with multiple social media. For instance, uploading photos and tagging each one of them takes a lot of time. SAP with its tight involvement with the internal and external ‘business process plumbing’ can make Living the Business Aloud easy and drudgery free. For example, workflow could auto generate a draft of a blog post summarizing the work done for a customer, with pictures and link to relevant customer public profiles, relevant tags, etc. This draft could be further embellished with human interest elements by a human and published.
I have high hopes on SAP in helping SME businesses ride two significant trends, viz., Mashability and Serendipity. Let me explain.

Make Our SME Business Mashup Ready. I believe judicious exposition of capacity through mashup(interface) is a good technology antidote for technology driven rapid commoditization. I believe mashup is an attractive channel to graduate cold calls into revenue generating relationships. An ERP with built in support for mashup exposure: a doorway that knows both sides – the internal business process, as well as the Wild Wild Web, will be very attractive. I believe mashup is a potent strategic tool to increase capacity utilization as well as a low cost business development method.

Enhance Serendipity for Our Network of Suppliers and Customers. When Geography is History, Serendipity is the new Geography. This, I believe, again is a strategic tool that will prevent premium erosion. With our continued practice of Living our Business Aloud, our social media engagements will increase the findability of whoever that has done business with us. In other words we want ‘Doing/Done business with UPSL’ as a social networking factor just like musical preference, interest in books, pet ownership, etc. And of course the ERP will have to help in achieving it in a sustainable manner.

The machinima is of course whipped up in SecondLife, and Incidentally, SAP is all set to open their Sim featuring their clients and partners soon( Oct 1?).

Autotwit: Making mundane automatic

2007-06-24T01:21:00.000-07:00

Idea:AutoTwit - Unix Cron job like twittering service.
Execution:

Tired? Stressed? Overworked?

No time to keep Twitter informed about what you're doing?

AutoTwit takes the effort our of updating Twitter.

Simply write a post and schedule an update.

It's that easy!

Key Benefits:

1. Make you wealthy
2. Improve your appearance
3. Help you to be more well-liked by your family or friends
4. Make you live longer
5. Attract members of the opposite sex
6. Update Twitter automatically

About AutoTwit

AutoTwit is the rather hare-brained idea of Toby Hede.

In no particular order:

1. AutoTwit came together in a Friday lunch break and Sunday afternoon.
2. It's made with Ruby on Rails and Love!
3. It's dedicated to Scoble in the interest of making Twittering much easier.
4. Toby lives in Melbourne, Australia.
5. He works as a software engineer for a small web company in between hacking things and creating games.
6. He is increasingly obsessed with Rails, Prototype and Scriptaculous.
7. He is available for project work.

Contact: tobyhede {a t} autotwit

About AutoTwit

Most things © AutoTwit 2007

Twitter posts probably belong to the people who write them

AutoTwit: Automatically Pointless! Now with 50% more Web 2.0.

Made with Ruby On Rails and a pinch of love

Profit: A washing machine does the washing for you, a VCR watches TV for you, similarly AutoTwit will twitter for you! Yet another playful profitable idea out of twitter ecosystem like TwitterLit. How small thing can make big leverage.

Advantages of Blogging

2007-06-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

Idea:Five Advantages of Blogging
Execution:When I talk to students I tell them these five benefits:
1)Blog can improve your communication skills: By blogging your clarity of thought improves. Reinforced by written communication, the overall communication skills improve.
2) Blog is great way to keep your network of family and friends posted: Only if you keep them posted they will be able to add value to the relationship. Cluttering them with email is a bad idea. Inbox overflow is a major problem for many people.
3) Blog can be a good way to increase your network of family and friends: What you write about may not be relevant for your family and friends. But your writing gets found by people who are interested in it. They start interacting with you and becomes part of your network. Serendipity works!
The above three are personal benefits. Here are the biz benefits.
4) Blog can be a wonderful marketing tool. Many people simply google anything and everything. If they find you in google, your ideas have reached them before you. That is marketing. Google, 'paper file tracking' and reach me! Enough said.
5) Blog can be a good sales tool. If you are into selling low value item where people trust that it will be shipped. You can sell off your blog itself. Blog +paypal will just do wonders.

As an added bonus blogs by itself can make money. You can feature ads( like google ads) and make money off your blog. There are people like Amit Agarwal( http://labnol.blogspot.com) that pay highest tax bracket due to earnings from single blog.

Nuf blog sermon.

Profit: Make money with blog. Make money because of blog.

Unconference the Book

2007-06-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Idea: Unconference The Book
Execution: Wiki
Profit: Fun!

TwitterLit: Terse teasers that kills the cat, milks AZ

2007-06-11T06:07:00.000-07:00

Idea: TwitterLit?
Execution: Interesting first line of an interesting book, twittered!
Profit: Amazon referral fee.

Online Backup software

2007-05-11T04:35:00.000-07:00

Idea:Online Backup service DataDeposit and a book by David B Little)
Execution: With DataDeposit it is much easier to implement suggestions made in the book Implementing Backup and Recovery: The Readiness Guide for the Enterprise (Paperback) And it is a good deal at $2/GB month.
Here is an overview from the site

Online Backup Features
Easy to Set Up

* Register online for our secure online backup system
* Installation is easy and takes less than 5 minutes
* Backups are instant and will never interrupt your work

Extremely Secure

* Bank grade encryption protects your data
* All data is encrypted before it leaves your PC
* Only you have the key to access your web storage data

Affordable Price

* With our online file backup system you can store as little or as much as you need for just $2 per GB per month.

Ideal for Small Business

* Backup as many computers as you like with our web backup system!

Fast Recovery

* Restore lost files from your secure online file backup system in a matter of seconds.

Web File Sharing

* Share files or entire folders with others by emailing password protected links.

System Requirements

* This web storage system runs well on any Windows PC with an Internet connection.

Profit: Data is more valueble than money. A backup can save a lot of angst!

I, II, III Life, Kitkat video

2007-04-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

Via aTTa boy Rajat

Of incompetence, innovation and cashcow

2007-03-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

Nitin Borwankar has an interesting post on how companies 'settle down'
The Peter Principle of Innovation

He also talks about why potentially viral innovative ideas dont take off due to self created containment:
Virus in a Petri Dish and instantly illustrates it with an alive example on the post itself.

Interesting!

Intent Signals With Twitter Enabled Devices

2007-03-13T02:37:00.000-07:00

Intent Signals with Twitter.
Twitter the new fad in town 2.0 - dubbed the prom queen of SXSW - all the top geeks are at it. Even if they hate it. I'm trying to figure out what the hell the fuss is all about. I guess a good way of figuring out is think up cool applications for twitter. Here you go: I'm fascinated by the shift in economic paradigm from scarcity based economics to surplus inundation based economy( Just 10 years back I had to wait for a phone connection, now the telcos are queuing up to give me connection along with value added packages like mobile, broadband etc) . In this new market, the customer is the real king. Just grabbing the attention of the potential buyer is not enough. It is not just enough to fulfill the potential buyers requirements. Appealing to his/her ego is a good strting point. To cut a long story short, paradigm is shifting from Attention to Intention. Being tuned to Intention signals of the market becomes the key. My conjecture is, twitter like tools can become Intention signalling mechanisms.

Twittering, in combination with Intent Economy based tools like roots.net could make it a way to signal intents. With tools like yahoo pipes, the intent could be responded by other players - possibly a supplier of a product or a service that will facilitate the intent.

My biggest complaint with Twitter is that I have to actually do it: The lack of automation. If smart devices around me are able to pick up my intent and my activities and post it to twitter, then I can fill in the gaps with more quirky stuff. With so many geeks becoming fans of the Twittering, we can expect a horde of gadgets tuned to twittering soon. And in the mid term, everyday objects becoming twitter enabled.

In a way, Metaverse like SecondLife is striving to do.

Today Twitter looks like a useless waste of time and a fad that will fade. Yet it has lot of potential as a enabler in the conquest of the plenty. Accelerating the era of attention/intention as new currency.

2007-03-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Idea: Secondlife as a business tool
Execution: Secondlife, the online 3d game that is fast evolving as a mini economy is an active breeding ground for innovations. IBM alumni meeting has proved that it can be a wonderful way to convene a meeting. It has good potential as an unconference medium. Recently it is being experimented as a recruitment tool: a place to hold job fairs and such. With the membership base zooming beyond a million, online money spent per day at a million dollars, it will be taken seriously by innovators. The avatar can be more expressive than a chat or an IM making in the process reducing the travel expenses and lost time in travel.
Profit: Richer interaction.

Better Retirement Plan = Better Productivity?

2007-02-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

Idea: Better Retirement Planning for Employees using a professional Specialist
Execution:Today I came across a unique service company called Retirment Capital Group. They offer executive compensation seminars in the changing dynamic world of retirment planning. Retirement is a constant nag in every employees back of the mind. If this constant nag can be addressed effectively, it gives peace of mind to the employees and productivity for the employer. Defined contribution, and custom design of plans are hot areas that can differentiate an employer and improve their chances of retaining talent. The Retirment Capital Group's offereing and Knowldege Centre are worth checking out!
Profit: Retirement worry taken out of the employee's mind => better productivity!

Wikicamp.in Video made with SecondLife

2007-02-21T07:23:00.001-08:00

Amazon Mturk earnings now in Indian Rupee:: Tap the housewife resource pool

2007-02-21T06:33:00.000-08:00

Idea: Tap the housewife resource pool
Execution:There are a lot of household with a PC and internet connection sitting. Just decorating the living room. Where the kid plays the 'educational' game. And the grown ups use it for email and google. Now with mturk earnings available in Indian Rupee, the housewife glued to the TV serials, sob soaps can be given a gainful alternative. Mturk is part of suite of services opened up by Amazon Web Services as part of Jeff Bezeos strategy of increasing the utilization of Amazon installed capacity. To quote the Amazon FAQ on Mturk:

What is Amazon Mechanical Turk?

In 1769, Hungarian nobleman Wolfgang von Kempelen astonished Europe by building a mechanical chess-playing automaton that defeated nearly every opponent it faced. A life-sized wooden mannequin, adorned with a fur-trimmed robe and a turban, Kempelen's "Turk" was seated behind a cabinet and toured Europe confounding such brilliant challengers as Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte. To persuade skeptical audiences, Kempelen would slide open the cabinet's doors to reveal the intricate set of gears, cogs and springs that powered his invention. He convinced them that he had built a machine that made decisions using artificial intelligence. What they did not know was the secret behind the Mechanical Turk: a human chess master cleverly concealed inside.

Today, we build complex software applications based on the things computers do well, such as storing and retrieving large amounts of information or rapidly performing calculations. However, humans still significantly outperform the most powerful computers at completing such simple tasks as identifying objects in photographs—something children can do even before they learn to speak.

When we think of interfaces between human beings and computers, we usually assume that the human being is the one requesting that a task be completed, and the computer is completing the task and providing the results. What if this process were reversed and a computer program could ask a human being to perform a task and return the results? What if it could coordinate many human beings to perform a task?

Amazon Mechanical Turk provides a web services API for computers to integrate "artificial artificial intelligence" directly into their processing by making requests of humans. Developers use the Amazon Mechanical Turk web service to submit tasks to the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site, approve completed tasks, and incorporate the answers into their software applications. To the application, the transaction looks very much like any remote procedure call: the application sends the request, and the service returns the results. Behind the scenes, a network of humans fuels this artificial artificial intelligence by coming to the web site, searching for and completing tasks, and receiving payment for their work.

All software developers need to do is write normal code. The pseudo-code below illustrates how simple this can be.

read (photo);
photoContainsHuman = callMechanicalTurk(photo);
if (photoContainsHuman == TRUE) {
acceptPhoto;
}
else {
rejectPhoto;
}

In a nutshell, Mturk is a way to give out tasks to the crowd and get the task done by a human. Typically, the task are too difficult for computer, but effortless for the human. The person accomplishing the task, gets paid. The Amazon's ecommerce system takes care of the trust, reputation, transaction etc.

Thus mturk can be used to give out work to housewifes, and the housewifes can do the task and get get paid, all risk free for both the work giver and the work doer.
Profit: The housewife of India are a talented lot. They give up pulme jobs to become housewife. They may be well qualified educationally. They can be meticulous in their work. Tapping this talent pool in a risk free way could be wonderful way to gain competitive advantage for businesses.

Electric Scooter Available in Chennai!

2007-02-09T01:35:00.000-08:00

Idea:Electric Scooter/Bicycle is a reality in Chennai.
Execution: Sometime back I wrote about Electric Bike maker survival guide. When I went to a Motor Show at Chennai recently I came across an interesting company displaying electric scooters for sale. The bikes are called Petra and they are made by EPL Technologies Pvt Ltd( Ph +91-44-6453 3333) The bikes are pricey but it will fall whne there is enough demand( A scooty like version costs Rs 27,000 while a luna like version costs 22k and a electic bike like version costs 18K). If someone can bulk buy them, and make them available on short haul rent/lease, it will make them popular and because of the voluem effect bring down the prices and create a demand spiral.
Profit: Apart from attractive gains in running such an operation, the social goodwill earned will go a long way in boosting up the valuation of the leasing/operating company. With the economy very upbeat, I will not be surprised if someone is already thinking/executing this in stealth!

Photo Courtesy Snazzo

Making Text Link Ads Work With Blogger Beta

2006-12-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

Idea:Text Link Ads as Feed for seamless integration with Blogger Beta
Execution: Slap Text Link Ads on your Blogger beta blogs. Earn extra ad revenue. Blogspot blogs were not able to host text link ads mainly due to lack of PHP or other language support needed for Text Link Ads to work. Adding a Javascript wrapper around the PHP code does not cut the ice. Javascript is not indexed by search engines so it is not much of use for TLA advertisers. But the Blogger Beta changes everything. In blogger beta there is a Feed widget that accepts any feed. I have converted my Text Link Ad offering(Inventory) into a RSS feed and plugged the RSS URL on to a Blogger Beta Feed widget, viola! Text Link Ads work in BlogSpot! Here is the Text Link Ads as Feed is simple script hack by me. I'd rate it as early beta. Feel free to get your TLA inventory converted into a feed. And start displaying TLA in your Blogger Beta site. Rake in extra cash through Text Link Monetization.

Profit: For a change, here is an idea that has some tangible benefits! So far all my ideas were featuring abstract profits. Here is something, that will put real cash in your pocket(paypal a/c :)) ) immediately.

PS: The feed widget has a limit that display only 5 results. If there is a good response to using the text link ad as feed service I'll come up with ways to fix it.

Cash in conquering the plenty through likeness search

2006-11-09T07:14:00.000-08:00

Idea: Likeness Engine Optimization/Marketing

Search Engine Optimization and Marketing are beaten to death. SEO/SEM is passe! Welcome to Likeness search engine( like like.com , I liiiKkkee it :) ) optimization. It might as well be the cash machine for this Christmas shopping season. The folks at Riya have really figured out a nail for their visual search hammer. It is uber cool and it spells cash, cash and more cash for riya all the way. If riya1.0 lacked stickiness beyond techcrunch, Riya2.0( aka like.com) is full of glue for the target audience( it is all about women!). And multiple revenue streams for Riya of course.

Social networks have brought in a sea change in the search landscape( as in del.icio.us), Riya1.0 with face recognition was inherently social network driven. The social network aspect is aparently missing in like.com, but that is just the present day. When women flock a site, men will too and the social potential will finds its own level.

Execution: The likeness search, with all its might indeed conquers the plenty in an interesting way. Yet the 'plenty' is not fully conquered, and there is a lot of scope for recommendations( read social netowrks) to be incorporated in the search. I was suggesting some form of outline based search will be a good idea. Now I guess it will be much much earsier than that. A set of 'meta product images'( similar to the celebrity selection box features in like.com) that will serve as a good starting points for product seraches will be welcome by searchers.

Profit: Search is moving beyond text. And visual search for products( like the like.com) is the new frontier with demonstrated revenue potential. There is lot of cash to be made in Likeness search engine optimization. Spruce up your photoshop skills. Get to know what is an alpha channel. Plain old ecommerce is becoming very very interesting indeed!

Intent Gratification; Pay attention to your Attention

2006-09-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

Idea: Intent as Commodity
Execution: ROOTS Exchange
Profit!: A whole new evolution awaits!

This week something game changing and interesting happened and as expected went unnoticed! I'm talking about Chicago Board of Trade's small investment of $1 million in ROOT exchange a marketplace for 'Internet generated consumer leads'.

What is (Chicago)Commodities Market?

When people need things and they go buy it in the neighbourhood shop. And where did the shop buy it from? A: The shop got it from the distributor who in turn buys form the manufacturers who in turn buys form a series of vendors; Creating a chain of supply and demand in the process. A commodity market injects liquidity( read money; equals gratification) into this chain so that the players in the chain need not wait forever to be gratified. More the scope( geographic, political boundary) of the market, more sophisticated and complicated the market becomes. Chicago Board of Trade is one of the most sophisticated and highly influential commodity market breathing the pulse of the global economy. The world oil prices and prices of key supplies are determined by the sentiments of the Chicago Exchange traders. Thus prices of things in your neighbourhood shop is tightly coupled to action in the Chicago Exchange trading floor. Chicago Board of Trade, founded in 1848 predates the American Civil War and a pioneer in 'Futures' contract(In simple terms it is glorified, regulated, information based speculation bordering scientific gambling.) Such an entity is investing in ROOTS markets( not just money, more importantly CB T's CEO Bernard W. Dan is joining the board of ROOTS, spearheaded by Seth Goldstien. Which brings up the question: What is ROOTS? and Why should I bother?

Intent as Commodity

The most innovative aspect of ROOTS is they are trying to make 'Intent' a commodity. Without going into the merits of it or morality of it, the idea is refreshing and daring. How they are approaching it is interesting and seems very viable.

With our the increased dependence on the Internet, we validate, amplify and gratify our intent online. Several online services facilitate, intermediate our trips through the intent origination to intent gratification process. ROOTS approach is to simply capture the intent gratification 'history' or Karma. Then it is a question of standardization to make it into a commodity. Once characterized as commodity, it can be integrated with the financial(or whatever) markets.

The first Intent commodity is going to be 'online mortgage leads' which is simply brilliant considering the almost zero resistance in the path.

By combining the direct response capabilities of the Internet with the transparency and integrity of a commodities exchange, ROOT Exchange has transformed the lead generation marketplace. Buyers can now create quality filters and receive real-time quotes while Sellers can set ask prices and increase their sales pool instantly.

But why should I care?

Just like currency system facilitated easy exchange of things( that inspired a planet full of awesome man made things) the new Intent currency will create unimaginable ways to interact with each other with our Intents.

It is said that Water is the cohesion that binds this universe. Money, being a reflection of liquid(ity), indeed is a binder that holds 'The Market'. ROOTS intent to increase liquidity of Intent, is more like adding life on to the Water: A whole evolution is hatching!

Parkade Ventures; mashup of Retail, Realestate, Autoclub

2006-09-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

Idea: Recently multi-level computerized parking spaces got Infrastructure status. This makes investing in parkades attractive as it is an intersection intersection of organized retail, real estate, and access to automobile owning yuppy populace.

Traditionally Gold and Real-estate were the only investment avenues available for rich to grow their wealth easily. All other avenues required spending some time or effort and needed a lot of smarts and street savvy. Now there is a retail boom in-turn pushing up commercial realestate prices. And the automobile population is ~~increasing~~ exploding day by day. Urban parking facilities is increasingly a concern. Adding an interesting twist to the situation, recently, multi-level parkades became tax shelters due to their status as Infrastructure. Put everything together, then investing in creating a national retail chain of multi-level computurized parkade is an attractive proposition.

Execution: Buy land in by-lanes of congested business and shopping districts of congested urban areas. They will appreciate given the urbanization trend. Constructing multi-level parking facility is simple considering that it hardly needs major interior decoration like a retail space. There is no AC to be installed. And the power requirements are minimal. Thus the 'depreciating asset' capital expenses is attractive.

The running expenses and manpower requirements are even more attractive.

Computerization and customer management is the most interesting aspect of the investment. And the scale lends itself very well to create national retail chain. Here some smarts needs to be applied. This is what will differentiate the boys from the men.

With parking charges by the hour cash flow will be attractive. Smart way to bill the customer: half yearly or annual billing with 'subsidy/underwriting' by retail brands and credit card operators etc.

Profit: Retail space is set for consolidation and M&A action 3-5 years from now on. There is a lot of venture money being pumped in to India. This kind of safe ventures are good ways to create good return on exit. And venture funds investing in such ventures will also support a small innovation( GPS/GIS map, travel integration, etc) ecosystem around it. With so much talk about venture money chasing deals stable investments like these will make venture ecosystem sustainable. This will be the McDonalds of emerging India.

AOL Private Data Release Fiasco: Daffy Duck Did It

2006-08-07T05:40:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Reasons why AOL Proudly released search and clickstream data

Overheared near the research.aol.com watercooler:
10) Daffy Duck Did It.

9) This is our cool new way of proving to the world that AOLer are not dumb. They *do* search all kind of intelligent things.

8) We want to reassure our users that you can do idiotic things in the Internet and still get by.

7) We want to try out this opensource thingy. Maybe this is the way to do it.

6) We want to be pro-active with DOJ.

5) There is no such thing called free lunch. We are free service from Aug 2 2006. This is our way of saying there is no free lunch.

4) We want to bring it to the notice of the world what Google, Yahoo, Microsoft can do with your data.

3) We just want to quickly show that our API is better than Amazon AWS A9, or GYM's. And we are anyway sinking, and we would love to take Google( 5% Stake holder) along.

2) We are experimenting with he Wisdom of Crowds Thingy that is so popular these days.

1) We wanted to kill Digg. That is not happening, at least let us be on the Digg's top for a while.
PS: Stay tuned for a statement by Bugs Bunny....

Update: Greg Yardley of RootsExchange a pioneer in the area of Intent Economy is going gaga with the data:
You never had privacy anyway

Get your AOL data on
A funny one at:
AOL user says "just kidding" about searching "How to kill wife" 30+ times

TIE-ISB Connect:Venture Market Warming up in India

2006-08-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

I came to know about TIE-ISB Connect Seminar through Interpid's Everyday Entrepreneur. It is a serious effort to connect the entreprenurs with VCs and other support services.

Shishir Bhate's interesting article at Rediff Have a biz plan? Here's how to get VC funding

Who can participate?

"Whoever has a bright idea that can make wealth," Sarma puts it succinctly.

To elaborate, basically three categories of enterprises can participate:

* Growth-stage enterprises seeking capital infusion (may be even second round of funding) to ramp up their businesses;
* Early-stage enterprises that have a great idea, put together a good team and are seeking capital to build their businesses; and
* Idea-stage entrepreneurs, who have a great idea and have proof of concept that a viable business can be built around it.

Even if you are not planning to present a business plan it is a good networking opportunity:

Great networking opportunity

TiE-ISB Connect will be a great networking opportunity for entrepreneurs with over 500 delegates expected to participate in the event.

Some of the keynote speakers at the event include serial entrepreneur Kanwal Rekhi, Air Deccan chairman Capt G R Gopinath, rediff.com founder and CEO Ajit Balakrishnan, Headstrong Corporation chairman and CEO Arjun Malhotra, Naukri.com CEO Sanjeev Bikhchandani, and Satyam Group chairman Ramalinga Raju.

Among the venture capitalists to be present at the event are Carlyle Group, Sequoia Capital, DFJ, Helion, August Capital, NthOrbit, Comcast, Sherpalo Ventures, TSI Ventures, ICICI Ventures and Actis Partners.

If you are averse to seeking venture money: Convert your 2 cents to $20m with almost zilch

See you at ISB!

Alexa Thumbnails, darn Why I did'nt think it up!

2006-08-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Today I came across the new Amazon Web Services: Alexa Thumbnail Service. For a really small fee, you can get thumbnail image of the site you specify. This will be useful in showing preview of sites say in a search result.
Ad sites like Text Link Ads, show site preview for potential link buyers. A quick preview of the site's look and feel will be useful for making an ad purchase decision. Site thumbnail could be a good way to link sites in blogs.

I see lot of opportunity for creating widget services around this: A S3 based permalink thumbnail that gets updated as the site content changes. This permalink image can be used as a profile image in social networks.

I was kicking myself why I did not think up this service. Looking back, AWS has all the crawl data available. They just have to render the html as a NxM pixel image to generate the thumbnail. It is simple and cool.

As an extension, if sites can be converted into small flash animations it will be cool.

If you want to enhance the search experience with site thumbnails it will burn a hole in the pocket with 20 cents for 1000 thumbnails.

Your Opinion Counts

2006-07-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

Tezaa is a quick way to know opinions on serious and trivial matters. You can instantly creat a poll if opinion you are seeking is not already there.

Jul 15, 2006

by Balaji Sowmyanarayanan

Tezaa Opinion Search

★★★★☆
I got to know about Tezaa through my BarCamp friend Amit Rajan's Webyantra. I was curious to know that it is a Chennai based Web2.0 startup.

I gave it a try and found it interesting and potentially addictive. With Tezaa you can search for opinion on topics by keyword. If you are not satisfied with the results you can create a opinion poll of your own. The active community picks up the poll and votes.

There are provisions for running the poll through your blog as a widget.

The business model is not obvious from the site. Yet there are multiple ways to make money out of the play. The generated content increases in value with time and community participation. I will not recommend a ad based revenue model for this play. Carigslist like community growth is needed. At that point a profit sharing model will evolve.

Beginner's Guide to Blogshares!

2006-06-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

Blogshares is a fantasy sharemarket for blogs. It is an addictive game.
Here is a guide for getting started to the game/Monitoring your/other blog's popularity.
Beginner's Guide to Blogshares!

Text Link Ads

XOXO for Riya Filter Templates?

2006-06-19T06:48:00.000-07:00

Idea:
Riya Filters, way to search pictures. Munjal of Riya.com is involving the community to revamp the home page design. It is in the larger context of making Riya to be a visual search company rather than just face recognition joint. I have outlined an idea for one way of doing it. Here are some more implementation details to add to it.

Execution:
Use standardized formats to create Riya Filters. This will go a long way in internally generating the templates and also generation of templates by the ever active Riya user community. Without giving much thought, I'm mulling XOXO as a possible candidate. These templates will be named well and will be searchable/discoverable easily. The quality of the search output will be a direct function of the content in the filter. Which is the incentive for the community to create it and possibly self promote themselves. Which will lead to new revenue models too.

Profit:
We are shifting gear from text, form submission so characteristic of Web1.0 to structured content submission. This will create some chaos in the beginning, but eventually lead to new innovation opportunities. Widespread adoption of microformats, more microformats will be a side effect. (PS: Am I missing the whole MicroFormat concept all together here? )

Followup: I have submitted a more general version of this idea to to Cambrian House: Content Membrane: Mashable Content Search Filters Cambrain uses Wisdom of Crowd and the power of Lisp/ Lisp like language to deliver software projects rapidly. A very interesting site, business model, technical platform etc. Worth watching.

Robots that trade game score and game artifacts

2006-06-01T01:15:00.000-07:00

Idea: There is an interesting contest run by Microsoft called MSN® Messenger and Windows Live™ Messenger Invasion of Robots The cool prizes worth $40,000 are to be won. Here is a small idea for contest entry robot:
There are many multi player game sites all over the net. Many of them like BlogShares allow players to gift/transfer game artifacts to other players. The idea is to establish an exchange/trading floor for such game scores/artifacts to be bartered. And make a MSN messenger BOT do automatic trading for the busy user based on user specified criteria!
Execution: ??? There is a lot of prior art in terms of Real Money Trading, but what we are doing here is Barter
Profit: This trading site will attract immense traffic from all kinds of users - an obvious profit is to generate ad revenue. Giving users more time and mobility across many games enhances fun! In due course this will overtake the Chicago commodity exchange!

MirrorZen, an Innovative question generation search

2006-05-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

Idea: Tired of the endless irrelevant search result of Google, Yahoo and MSN? What if a search engine generates relevant questions that matches what you have in mind? MirrorZen is a planned search engine on these lines. Going by the popularity of Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ) MirrorZen might be welcome evolution in the search scene.

Execution: From the website of MirrorZen:

With MirrorZen, when a User puts in Boolean Queries similar to what they would have done with regular search engines, the engine then generates questions perfectly related to the keywords. The Engine generates highly specific questions related to the boolean keywords. The obvious benefit the user has with MirrorZen is that there are questions staring at the user instead of links to over 100,000 pages. The user could derive a meaning out of the Question and if he feels that the question is what he was looking for, he goes ahead and clicks on the question to come across the ANSWER and links to pages describing them.
MirrorZen does perfectly well with Natural Language Questions and provides composite answers to the questions as a normal human being would.

As an aside, in the famous Tamil Movie ThiruVillaiAadal, Nagesh says: I will ask questions, that is what I know best; I don't know the answers!
Here the page ranking is going to be based on not just the link analysis, but on the content also. With questions acting as a pivot/magnet to the right content.
I was wondering what kind of features will be good for a white hat comment based blog traffic enhancement plugin. A question generator that will scan a blog post and create a relevant question that will stimulate a conversation will be a killer plugin. Especially for the longtail Z-listers. Saves people time, and increase the return on effort for bloggers.

Such an algo taken to industrial grade server farms generating multiple questions for the whole web content is what MirrorZen is aiming.
Good luck MirrorZen, I wish you good talent, funding, good initial customer base and lot of fun all the way!

Profit: Democracy is about markets. Or markets are about democracy. Democratically voting out the Google, Yahoo, Microsoft stornghold using them as the base is vibrancy of markets/democracy. It is not about money or jobs or fame, it is about advancement of the human civilization. Amen!

Update: I got a chance to take the Mirror Zen search for a spin. I am convienced that this is a very promising technology. It is a good sugar coating for the plain old text search. And there is lot of scope for adding colour and flavour to the candy. With adoption all that will evolve: In to a fairytale. At this stage they are worth giving all the backing and support.

Buying Realestate Property at Nanganallur, Chennai

2006-05-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

Nanganallur at the suburb is emerging as a middle class to upper middle class locality. The real estate prices are increasing steadily. The infrastructure is also keeping up with the growth to some extent. Is Nanganallur, Thilliganga nagar, Madipakkam, Ullugaram, Vanuvampet, Moovarasanpet, Palavanthangal, or Purithivakkam a good destination to setup your new home?

The decison depends on few important factors viz.,

Schools
Water
Transportation
Resident mix
Access Cultural and other activities
Locality Profile Improvement over next few years.

Let us attack them one by one:
Schools: There are a lot of good schools at Nangnallur. Modern Senior Sceondary School is a good School with good record. Other schools with different mix and match are available. There are vans to far off schools like the Ashram at Vellachery.
While at the topic of schools, most engineering colleges operate bus route via Nanganallur so access to such colleges is also not a problem. The middle class aspirations are centered around schools and colleges Nanganallur populace fits this profile and the type of people flock Nanganallur.

Water: Till recently, ground water level and ground water quality were the pride of Nanganallur. Yet with the increase in the number of flats, and appartment complexes, the wate level is going down at an alarming rate. In the summer season, the sigt of water tanker is a very commonn sight. There is metro water supply through 'pipe and pump' system. It is fairly regular yet inadquate. Buying water has become a norm.

Transportation: With its proximity to the suburban train line near Pallavanthangal, train is a popular mode of transport. You ride up to the station, park your 2-wheeler at the bike stand at the station and take a train to the city, etc. Busses are very infrequent. Yet it is imporving day by day. Most popular transport is private transport. Recently, the road infrastructure has undergone a improvement for good. The traffic situation is slowly getting busier.

Resident Mix: Middle class with aspiration is the mix of people at Nanganallur. Particularly, salaried class with their wards at schools and colleges with big hopes of making it big through education, employment is the majority. Now the things are changing, there is a good level of north indian population Thanks to the BPO and IT employment boom. And the cheap rental rates at the well connected areas of Nanganallur. A lot of Brahmin Non Resident Indian family population is also here. This is evidant from the ICICI bank customer profile. Much of the business to the bank is due to the Sons and Daughters and Son-in-law and Daughter-in-law who choose to spread their wings from Big time Sydeny Australia to Small time Ceder Rapids Iowa. A good mix of Conservative middile class values with the willingness to experiment with the trendy consumerism characterizes the Nanganallur resident mix.

Access to Cultural and Other activities: There is a plenty of activity choices especially if you are religious type. There are a plenty of temples which are very unique. For example the 32-feet Anjeneya Swamy Temple is centre of many cultural activities. So is the Sri Lakshmi Narashima Temple, or the Sri Hayagriva Temple. These are the Vishnava temples. Vishnava is a dominant sect in Nanganallur. The Shiva temples include Ganesh Mandali, The Ardhanariswarar Temple, Dharmalineshwarer, Sri Iyyapa Temple and innumerable other locality temples. Apart from temples there are cultural shabas like the Ranjani. If you are yoga, meditation type, you will see that Isha Yoga, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar classes are thriving at Nanganallur area. Churches, Mosque and other religious activies are also available at Nanganallur.

Locality Profile Improvement in the Future: You can see that most software companies like TCS, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, Patni etc operate buses to Nanganallur. This fits well with the aspirations of Nanganallur populace to land in a plum job that has a chance to go abraod. The BPO employees profile is evident from the number of SUVs that ply in the night. These people are going to spend money/invest in Nanganallur. These people will raise their kids here at Nanganallur. They will need for services and care for their elderly at Nanganallur. Apart from the high disposable income categories, the traditional jobs like Ashok Leyland, The Hindu, Banks, Central and State Govt employees form a majority chunk of the Nanganallur mix. Indeed it is ofsprings of theres traditional job holders who are getting into hi-tech high disposable income IT/BPO jobs. Many ways the profile is set to imporve in the futere. There is rampant construction all over the main roads and the side roads. Branded shops are set to paly a vital role in increasing this profile. The Medavakkam main road becoming a 4-lane road is also going to boost the profile in a major way. The proposed extension of MRTS from Vallechery to St Thomas Mount will increase the transport infrastructure. There is a lot of scope for developing the parks and public places at Nanganallur. If you aspire to buy realestate property at Nanganallur, invest in interior places which are supposedly remote now, yet will be well connected in the near future due to the above connectivity!

IXP on GapingVoid of Hugh McLeod

2006-05-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

Idea: Reject Main stream media and marketing; Set the new marketing trend by inventing one using blog power.
Execution: Hugh did not sell his cartooning creativity to publishers or copywiring agencies. He simply used his creativity to find a new niche - cartoons drawn on back of business cards. He blogged for several years. Then he partnered with English Cut and mad it into a Global Microbrand. He wrote his model as Hughtrain motivated by Cluetrain manifesto. Now he is targetting geeks be it Wine from South Africa or Yatch. Execution in one line is: Be on top of the heap by creating the heap. Central to his method is 'Indirectness'. So he put his creative work under creative commons license. So that there it becomes more widespread. And removes any 'firction' for his fans to relate to it.
Profit: Biggest profit to Hugh is he is happy to explore Freedom at his terms. On the side: He gets a cut in the wines sold by him, yatches, and the SAP killers sold. Technology is empowering individuals in a major way: he a good case and a leading light on how things are going to be in the future. His Global Microbrand is there for anyone interested to emmulate.

Update: Now I see that Hugh's site GapingVoid.com headline is Make Money Online with gapingvoid blog tips. Did you know that there is a service called PLR Pro that write (adsense) targetted articles and supplies to you for a throwaway fee. The idea is simple: eliminate the middle men! Make SOE tuned content and make it human compatiable too!

Idea, Execution, Profit - Listed at Blog$hares

2006-05-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

For exciting stock options on, stock giveaway, leave a coment with BlogShare User page reference.

Cheers.

Getting Started with Angel Funding In India

2006-05-08T01:38:00.000-07:00

Sanjay part of Band of Angels an angel funding network, and an avid contributor to Venture Woods is lementing that he is not getting good quality proposals. His complaint is more about the lack of necessary homework by entrepreneurs his suggestions are:

I keep getting approached by entrepreneurs who have not done the basic steps before trying to raise angel funding. I thought it may be useful to put down a basic checklist. My checklist follows.

1. Incorporate the company that is seeking funding
2. Get a good law firm and have basic documentation in place
3. Put some of your own/friends/family money in the company
4. Use that money to build something, get advisors, customers or atleast expressions of interest
5. Build a team. Part of the team may be angel employees
6. Be clear on how much money you want to raise and how will you use it to get to the next level
7. Think and articulate possible exits
8. Put yourselves in the shoes of the angel investor and make a pitch to yourself

I have yet to see a pitch for angel investing that is excellent but I am sure I will see some soon.

I also see that there are a lot of folks very clueless about the bisics of venture funding. They are starry eyed and dont understand the dynamics involved. They are not even aware that cost of capital is highest with VC funding. They ask what is cost of capital!

BarCampMumbiai:Bindaas Geeks | Hackin' Over Vada Pav

2006-05-07T01:01:00.000-07:00

After successful BarCampDelhi, BarCampChennai, BarCampHyderabad, BarCampMumbai now it is time for BarCampMumbai They are going to be hacking and talking about all things geek at the famous Kenwal Reki center at IIT Mumbai. They have landed hep sponsors too.
Atul Chitnis is going to launch a rocket out there - Just kidding He will be tallking about mobile computing. There is going to be interesting talk by Prayas on Art and technology.
And a talk onCreating Wealth on Blogging+Business Networks - Ajay Sanghani, ITVidya.com which says:

IT Events in India

You are not authorised to see IT events, Click here to register

Tags: india it events

Rock on Mumbai with Vada Pav, And dont forget the hot and spicy chilli that goes with it!

Cheers.

IXP: Demat Art, craft, antiques make it available in Amazon like platform

2006-05-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

Idea: If art and craft can be demat it will be possible to buy and sell it in fraction.
Execution: Just like commodities can be demat and traded electronically, art, craft and antiques can be demat and traded electronically. The inventory holder will have to be part of a certified network - just like certified warehouse exist for commodities. Private museuems and art gallaries are perfect candidates for participation. Onec a piece of art is demat, it will be listed in a Amazon like platform. Infact amazon platform itself can be used to list, trade the demat art forms. Only addition is it must be possible to own, buy, sell fractional ownership of the art and artifacts. The long tail dynamics of artists, critics, art buyers, valuers, inventment portfolio managers and market forces will take care of sustaining the market.
Profit: Better market linking of art. Making it easy for artists to make their art available to their audience. Art as an investment and art for art sake are not in conflict but works in tandem.

Electric Scooter maker survival guide

2006-05-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

Recently I saw an ad for electric scooter on TV which said the cost per km is only 10 paise. I was not able to look it up on the web or anything. I was totally at loss. It is going to be tough for these guys to survive with the heavy weights like the Hero Honda, Honda, TVS and Susuki well established in the market. With deep pockets and good dealer and service networks. Remember Reva the electric car, they ended up exporting cars for the enviro geeks overseas.
Way for electric scooters to survive is to get bulk orders and approach consumers indirectly. A model like

Bicycle as Urban transport and Unifier

is best suited for the electric scooter maker to survive.
I suggest they fit their scooters with a GPS tracker and make it trackable. That way it is easy for anyone to rent it. That way it will be easy for insurance co to underwirte the high risk involved in renting out a movable asset to public at large.

They will have to organize urban self help group network to buy and rent the electric scooters to public at large. USP for consumers: Mobility where you want it, When you want it.

IXP Bicycle as Urban transport

2006-05-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

Idea:Bicycle as Urban transport and Unifier
Execution: Create a network of urban self help groups. Give them loans to buy and rent the hi-tech bicycles.
Slowly graduate the bicycles to electric scooters. In the urban areas when bicycles are available for rent at every place hassele free, no one will be lacking mobility.
Profit: Sense of belonging ownership to the commons of the road. Cleaner greener roads. Excirce for everyone - healthier urban life. Transprot infrastructure that does not need huge investment and long periods of uncertainity.

IXP on Jawwad's Book Blue Screen of Death

2006-05-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

Idea: Blue Screen of Death - by Jawwad; A book on what not to do on road to success in the startup path.
Execution: Leave a good career based on Ivy League MBA. Chase your startup dream. Secure venture funding, and revise your business plan several times. Fail slowly and steadily. Repeat it for couple of more ventures. Burn 3/4 of a million in the process. Return back home. Startup on a shoe string. And succeed on the learings and wisdom. And then write a book and failure. Sprinkle with humour and wit. Promote it over the Interent. Use the windows metaphor so that it becomes easy for people to relate. It will not hurt the SEO efforts too. Price is a whooping $15.77; Wait for the wannabe to pay up. They are saving themself a lot of trouble and other people's money risk.
Profit: Wisdom for the wannabe. At least as a hindsight people will be able to relate and quickly recover from the blue screen of death. Reboot and get rid of blue screen of death all together just like how microsoft did.

Update: Now the book is available for downloand/distribution under creative commons license.
Thanks Jawwad for the quick response!

IXP: Amazon Shorts

2006-05-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

Obviously I am impressed by Amazon Shorts.
Idea: Make (short)electronic books available for throwaway price.
Execution: Use the word of mouth power of Amazon Review infrastructure, the payment infrastructure and the amazon shopping experience to make the short and sweet content available. In addition to download, it is availalbe at the digital vault of your amazon account.
Profit: More and more people have less and less time. And they want it online - and want to consume it on the go. Amazon wants to create a iTunes like economy for short digital content.

Now how do you sell your content to be listed in Amazon shorts?
Here the plot becomes thicker. You need to be an author who is already listed and selling at Amazon.com. Then you can submit your shorts. It will be reviewed by the Amazon publishing team and will get listed in weeks. It has to be exclusive listing with Amazon at least for 6 months.

The idea execution profit format is taking shape every post. Put up with me till I get my hang of it.

Cheers.
PS: Here is an Idea to get started on the shorts in India. There is enough longtail economy to sustain it.

Failuer Stepping stone of Success?

2006-05-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

Update: Tara Hunt, proponent of the BarCamp and a staunch unconference evangelist is proposing a LooserCamp, an unconference on failures and such. Making strong stepping stones heh?
Bonus Update: Seth Godin's new book The Dip is a must read!
Blue Screen of Death is a electronic book on a stupendous failure to note worthy success experience of Jawwad a Pakistani entreprenuer with a Ivy league MBA and a history of 3 failed stattups.
Here is a go at it by the author himslf:

Dear Friends

At the business school orientation for new arrivals, a fellow student asked me why I was at Columbia. My response drew a look of confusion – “I always wanted to write a book, run the New York Marathon and do a play on Broadway, the MBA is just for cheap subsidized housing.”

This of course was January 1999. As of 22 April 2006, I am proud to report that I am too fat to run and that though there were multiple attempts to produce Harvey, a Mary Allen Chase Play about a six foot tall invisible rabbit, all were sabotaged by a six foot tall invisible rabbit.

On the book front there is good and bad news. The good news is that no trees were cut down or killed in the final production run of the ebook “Blue Screen of Death – A desi’s misadventure in the land of opportunity”. Initial reviews are promising (read: not as bad as I expected), encouraging (no multi million dollar advance offers, but there is always hope for that call from Oprah or Ellen) and detailed enough to provide material for my next book “The Blue Screen - Reloaded”

The bad news is that you now have to buy a copy (more on that later) and read it (not at all mandatory if you pick a few hundred e-books online.) The book runs at 250 odd pages and is a schizophrenic mix of an email diary /memoir and a do it yourself guide to failure. For the non desi’s among my friends, the word “Desi” refers to some one from the Indo Pakistan subcontinent – the wedge of land squished between the Himalayas (on top), the Indian ocean (bottom), Oil (left) and the rest of Asia (right). It is home to the Indus Civilization, 1.5 billion souls, balti, chicken tikka, great music, really bad movies and me.

Written during five years of soul searching the book has a simple premise. To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must fail. Avicena the e-education venture I started in New York, while at school, and buried in California two years later, provides context and back drop. The last chapters summarize questions and answers I am asked on a daily basis by other entrepreneurs, friends, peers, students, wannabees and the friendly local neighborhood alien:

a. Was it worth it?

b. Will you do it again?

c. Did you learn anything from the stupid mistakes that cost you US$ 880,000?

d. Were you out of your #$@*(&! Mind?

Unfortunately till this note and the book went to press, I still hadn’t figured out the answer to the really important questions in life (What’s for dinner, What are we watching, Why me, Where did all the money go and Why am I up at this ungodly hour.) So if you are looking for universal truths, don’t buy this book. On the off chance that you do, and in the equally improbable event that you actually like it (you have to read it first,) send me a note. As an unappreciated and till recently unpublished author, it will make my day. Oh and I promise to stop returning your phone calls as soon as I become rich and famous. Till then.

Yours

Jawwad Farid

The book website: http://bluescreen.alchemya.com

Reviews so far: http://bluescreen.alchemya.com/reviews.html

Buy the book: http://bluescreen.alchemya.com/buy.html

Jawwad’s alternate manifestation: http://www.alchemya.com

Google Jawwad Farid

IXP on Unconference

2006-05-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

Idea: Unconference
Execution: Make it known in the Blogosphere that there is going to be an event. Use wiki and othere tools to do all the formalities. Organize volenteers. Make it as unstructured as possible. Add fun, geekiness. Add sugar , spice and all good things like power puff girls :) . Get goodies like geektoys and iPods as give away to attendees. Get sponsor(s) to underwirte the minimal expenses.
Profit: A forum to seed viral marketing is alive and kicking.

Repeat the event with improvement at every step of the way, it is a runnaway success.

Case in point:
BarCamp
Pinko Marketing evangalized by Tara Hunt

Many such ideas based on the clutrain momentum are emerging! Watch out and surf on them!

Cheers.

Seed funding in India; Prove your idea with a prototype

2006-05-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest myth amids wannabe innovators is the lack of seed funding in India. I was a true follower of this myth untill I got funding from TIFAC for my idea. The (funding)program is running for several years now from mid 1990s. It is successfully reviewed by the (National)planning commision, and the program is now extended/expanded. Now the funding quantum(per innovation) is expanded and the total allocation(whole program) is also enlarged. So there is more funding available. Unlike private seed financing this goes though a government evolved process. It is all done by an expert committee, there is a bit of process and steps involved due to it, yet it is faster.

The particular program I am talking about is for barefoot individual innovators/inventors. It is called Technology Entrepreuner Promotion Program - called TePP for short. It is administred by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research(DSIR) jointly with Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council(TIFAC) of Department of Science and Technology(DST). In the expanded regime, funding up to Rs 10 lakhs is available to seed innovations. For that the idea must be new, innovative and useful. The scope of the funding is limited to proving the concept- possibly through a working prototype.

If you have an idea, and you want to develop a prototype to prove its viablity, here is your chance. Just apply for the funding. And rock on. It might take up to 6-8 months to go thoough the clarification, proposal refinement process. So be ready for that.

The funding program is going through a rapid growth. Proposals are sought from NGO and other frontal organizations involved in the innovation ecosystem to give a helping hand. Watch out for such announcements and make your proposals.

More than the funding, it takes you thoough a process. And in the end it offers a lot of credibility to your innovation.

Rock on.

Bonus Links:
Example of a funded Idea: Devesh's Car Jack on the Go Soon Mahindra & Mahindras vehicles will come with these factory fitted!
Atta boy RajAT GupTA has a post on TePP
DSIR's page on TePP Program.

Perpetuating Microsoft: Scoble's way; What is in it for Indian IT/Software industry

2006-04-30T23:06:00.000-07:00

Understandably I am deeply touched by Scoble's nudging of Microsof t to get a quick recap from Tom Raftery's blog

What are his five suggestions?

A guaranteed Terabyte of Internet-based storage space for EVERYTHING and for EVERYONE running Windows in the world.
buy every [Microsoft] employee a top-of-the-line Dell machine with dual monitors running Windows Vista. And do it now.
Change employee behavior through public compensation change logs.
Get rid of corporate speed bumps.
Force marketers to explain their decisions — in public on their blogs.

It is a fascinating post and certainly one which will generate a lot of discussion within Microsoft - any one of those changes would certainly change perceptions of Microsoft for the better.

Here’s hoping he doesn’t fall foul of the ‘corporate speed bumps’ he referred to when trying to move this agenda forward.

Now how can this perpetuate Microsoft:
Microsoft is famous for spicing up the technology wave to greate a decade long gorund swell for the technology. It re-created the good old 'point-and-click' based graphical user interface and created the windows madness. It fed the fire with Moore's law and Intel's obsession with growth.
Now flat screen TFT monitors are falling in prices. There is a emerging HDTV market that will see more multi-bullion dollar investment into display making. Now Robert Scoble is paving the way for 3-headed Vista as "productivity" and this frenzy will catch on and perpetuate the nexus, like the Intel-Microsoft nexus for another half a decade. In my opinion, at such a short distance 3-headed displays are a major health hazard and delink form the real world.
And Microsoft lost its battle in search to Google. And wants to start the war afresh with an offer of a TB for everyone and everything. More than anything, the challenge value for the Microsoft employees will make this work. To get such a thing working needs a lot of smart talent. And converting it to revenue will also need smarts. Once figured out, there will be market domination - which is the goal indeed. Nice try!

Ok that is immensely thoughtful and smart considering that he is attacking the top management and the mini-microsoft with single stone.

But what is in it for the Indian Software and IT sector.
First, is there anyone or any institution setting the agenda for the IT industry here like this. Challenging and teasing?
Even in the choosen domain of excellence - outsorrced IT services, is the Indian IT good enough to perpetuate itself with grace. Is the Indian IT majors like Infosys, Wipro, TCS happy to recurit hapless freshers our of shady engineering colleges and convet them into farm animals doing the oursourcing Charade.
Poster child success venturist like Sabeer Bhatia are too happy to settle for investing in travel portals.
While the long tail folks like Gaurav and Ashish fo Tekriti or happy to complain about Infosys Vacum cleaning the market for IT engineers.
Is there an agenda, is there a stragegy, is there a plan? Will it start from the top, bottom or from the middle?
Where is the damn discourse happenning?
Anyone any clue?

Update: Robert Scoble has left Microsoft. Bill Gates is leaving Microsoft in 2007. On hindsite, it is clear that this agenda(high/borderening impossible) setting by Robert Scoble is an indication that leaving Microsoft was in his mind while writing this.

Scooble's Idea: What is the proof of the Pudding

2006-04-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting post by Rob Scoble on how to shutdown mini-microsoft
Now let me illustrate the concpet of this blog with Rob's idea
Idea: Rejuvinate Microsoft with new challenges. Or actually test the market waters for the new bold direction.
Execution: Rob went on a blogging holiday for a week. For people used to the feeds it would have created withdrawl symptoms. And then bang, come out with a bold initiative for microsoft to rejuvinate. Now you got the attention of the market waiting for something anything.
Profit: The response to the ideas and suggestions from internal and external will be carefully analyzed and new course taken. Everyone is tentatively happy. Conversation has started - as salwarts in Blogosphere will put it - a snowball is rolled downhill.

On the second look. This concept of idea, execution, profit is in a muddle within me. I will contemplate on it and give a clearer picture as we go. Meanwhile get your comments pouring in.

Cheers.

Update: Civilizations controled water flow along the river and thrived. Like that businesses that have an handle over the information flow will be able to thrive in the future. Giving away one Terra byte of free storage is a very good way to control the information flow at its source. Good idea Scoble!

Musings of a solopreuner

2006-04-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

There is a divergent view that Idea is everything and execution can be 'arranged' and another school of thought that idea is dime a dozen and execution is everything. Here is my musing on the topic.
I am experimenting on the premise that proof of the pudding is eating it. I want to extend it to the concept of startup and business success.
The analogy goes like this:
Pudding Recipe -> The blast Business Idea you thought up/Dreamin for several days/week/months/years
Pudding making -> Execution of your business idea and making it a reality in the world/market
Eating -> Making a decent/big/small/obsenen profit out of Business

I will probably illustrate it with my own experience of experimenting with my pet extended Edison moment ideas.

Interesting Spam: Financial Market Traderr special pr news release

2004-05-10T01:15:00.000-07:00

Interesting Spam

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Houston Blount <jxc@0733.com>
Date: Two, 9 May 2006  1: 1:48  -0480
Subject: RE: Financial Market Traderr special pr news release
Infinex Ventures Inc. (INFX)
Current Price: 0.75
Is this an Undiscovered  Gem that is Positioned to Go Higher? Pleasee R e a d the Following Announcement in its Entirety and Consider the Possibilities... Watch This One Trade tomorrow!

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Aggressive and energetic, Infinex boasts a dynamic and diversified portfolio of operations across North America, with an eye on international expansion.

Grounded in natural resource exploration, Inifinex also offers investors access to exciting new developments in the high-tech sector and the booming international real estate market. Our market based experience, tenacious research techniques, and razor sharp analytical skills allow us to leverage opportunities in emerging markets and developing technologies.

Identifying these opportunities in the earliest stages allows us to accelerate business development and fully realize the company's true potential. Maximizing overall profitability and in turn enhancing shareholder value.

Current Press Release

Infinex Announces Joint Venture and Option Agreement Extension
LAS VEGAS, May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Infinex Ventures Inc. (IFNX:OB - "the Company") and its Board of Directors are please to announce that the Company has been granted an extension of 120 days to fulfill its contractual obligations under the Joint Venture and Option Agreement dated June 14, 2004 on the Texada Island "Yew Gr0up" Mining Claims:

             Yew      Tenure Number 399712
       2.    Yew 2    Tenure Number 516724
       3.    Yew 3    Tenure Number 399714
       4.    Yew 4    Tenure Number 399715
       5.    Yew 5    Tenure Number 516721
       6.    Yew 6    Tenure Number 516735
       7.    Yew 7    Tenure Number 345340
       8.    Yew 8    Tenure Number 516730

The Yew Claims are located on Texada Island, B.C. This region has a long history of mining dating back to 1876. Several high grade copper gold skarns were mined in the area. The geology of the Yew Claims can be found in MINFILE 092F/516.

Interesting Spam

2004-05-10T01:07:00.000-07:00

Subject: The next step.
Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 19:55:19 -0600

Bac helors, Mas ters, M B A and/or Doc torate (PhD)

NO ONE is turned down.
Call Now 7 days a week.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, with the following deg rees,
here's how much you can
expect to make in your lifetime:
High School Diploma: $1,100,000
Bachelor's Degree: $2,100,000
Master's Degree: $2,500,000
Doctorate: $4,400,000
You Need a Better De gree, and we can Help!
Obtain degrees from Pres tigious non-acc redited
Univers ities based on you life experience.
NO ONE is turned down.
Call Now 7 days a week.

Interesting Spam: Request for investing cash stash

2004-03-01T04:32:00.000-08:00

This is what I got in my spam box: I wish Mr Alhmed Asan very good luck in getting the money from the security company and finding the right investor!
My Dear,

I am Mr.Alhmed Asan from Sudan.I am 25 years old and presently residing in Dakar-Senegal because of the political crisis in my Country. I got your contact in strict confidence through Senegal Chamber of Commerce.
I would Honestly want to seek for an immediate assistance from you, I have $16Million US dollars belonging to my late Father Mr .Conel.A.Asan who was held bondage by the Rebels during the crisis and was letter killed.

I ran to Senegal refugee Camp when I Discovered danger to my life untill the death of my beloved father he paked the above mentioned Amount in a METAL TRUNK BOX and deposdit it with a SECURITY COMPANY in Europe for safe keeping i have every Documents regards the transaction I have contacted the SECURITY COMPANY and confirmed the safety of the money/inheritance,

As it is, I have the intention of investing the money oversees and however needed a Foreigner who is capable of giving adequate assistance to me by the way of clearing the money from the SECURITY COMPANY and thereafter forwarding it to your Account for investments.
I have nice percentage of the money for you. If Necessary, Please do feel free to ask me questions on this as I wait for your reply soonest.

THANKS
Salnu Suru.