finally i’ve moved

I’ve finally moved over to WordPress.. I’ve been wanting to do this forever…

My last post as u can see was in April or something last year.. Actually I wrote a couple of posts after that but I haven’t migrated them over from my previous blog yet..  Meanwhile, I haven’t been completely idle either.. Check out laid back for some comic relief

Now that I’m done with college n all, I think (and hope) i have more time to write..

Update

If you’ve noticed, I’ve finally moved to the new Blogger. I was using the old template until now, only because I had no time. Moving over to the new template requires you to redo all the changes you’ve made, including the little bits of Javascript you’ve added here and there… Well, I’ve now done it finally.
The new Blogger really isn’t all that great. I for one, didn’t find anything too special in it except for the new post categories. I’m now contemplating a move away from Blogger itself… to WordPress or something. I don’t really know the pros or cons of WordPress over Blogger, but all the cool bloggers seem to be on WordPress

Prashant.

A free mobile phone carrier?!

Blyk, a Helsinki-based startup may soon become the world’s first free mobile phone carrier. Yes, you read that right! A free carrier! No more mobile phone bills!



And how exactly do they plan to do that, you ask? Well, how else… Blyk, which launches in UK this summer, will be completely supported by advertising.



Now, these guys are not traditional mobile phone operators a la Starhub or Singtel… These guys are actually MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators). What this means is that they resell wireless services under their own name, using the network of another operator. This usually allows MVNOs to focus on providing other value added services. What is different about Blyk’s approach is the fact that MVNOs like Ampd Mobile have tried to position themselves in the upper end of the market by providing premium services, whereas Blyk seems to be doing exactly the opposite. Blyk will be focusing on the 16-24 year old market and they hope to provide advertisers a way to reach out to this group of people through an “innovative mobile media channel“.



According to Red Herring, Blyk has signed up some major advertisers for its service, including Coca Cola. However, I am still doubtful if this service can actually be supported completely by ads. Take me, for example. I pay a monthly bill of about S$50 to Singtel. Now, assuming that Singtel makes a tidy 40% profit on that, the cost of providing that service to me is about 30$. If ads were going to replace my bills, then companies like Coca Cola are going to have to pay at least 30$ per person per month to keep a company like Blyk alive. Now this would mean that the advertiser expected me to purchase something valued at much >30$ from that company (else the advertising would be a waste). Right?! Isn’t that a bit of a long shot?



Well, I’m not too sure if that logic up there is correct. In any case, I’m a little bit sceptic about how Blyk might pull this off. And if it does, I couldn’t be happier (no more phone bills!).



Prashant.

Google Homepage Themes

When I opened my browser this morning, I had a pleasant surprise waiting for me. I’ve been using Google personalized homepage for a while and today they finally did something about their painfully crappy UI. They’ve finally announced Themes! Right now, there are only a handful of themes, but all of them are quite nice. One little extra feature I really like is a dynamic wallpaper that actually portrays the real weather in your city! So if its raining outside, for eg., your background will show rainfall too. Nice

There are scores of personalized homepage websites out there – Pageflakes, Netvibes, My Yahoo, Google Personalized Homepage, AOL something, MSN something, etc etc. All of them are cool in their own little ways and compete with each other on features. And among these, the Google and Yahoo one were pretty much the crappiest looking… boxy, old-fashioned, themeless… Yet, they are the market leaders in this segment. This makes sense, considering the fact that (almost) every Internet user has a Google/Yahoo account. I, for eg, had to choose Google over the rest coz that’s the only one that gave me access to all the Google services. I have my Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, weather, todo list, etc all in one place

Until now, the only thing that sucked about this service was the look. By adding themes, I guess they’ve made it perfect

Prashant.

Interactive mirrors! Now we’re talking :)

Wow, I can’t believe that no one thought of this until now!

Bloomingdale’s New York has just debuted the first interactive mirror! No, I’m not talking about a Snow white kinda mirror which talks back to you when you ask questions… This, in fact, is even better

This new mirror actually functions as a high-resolution digital display which shows images of selected clothes on it… which means… you don’t have to keep changing clothes again and again at the shop when you wanna try them on! All you have to do, is choose the outfit you like and stand in front of the mirror. It’ll show you how you would look with those clothes on. Neat!

Well that’s not all. It will also upload a digital image of you ‘in’ those clothes to a website where you’re friends can comment on it and tell you whether it looks good or not… Hmmm, not bad. But then again, as Josh Spear points out – ‘Women go shopping together for a reason! What woman would want to sit behind a computer screen and give her friends fashion advice?!’ True, but I really can’t comment on that coz I don’t fit into the target demographic (I hope…).

In any case, the basic idea is cool. Not having to repeatedly change up to try clothes on at a store may just be a need that’s strong enough to propel this technology on. If this test turns out to be a success, Bloomingdale’s plans to install similar setups in its other stores across the US as well.

This kinda reminds me of TryEmAll… Wondering what that is? Well, don’t worry, you’re not supposed to know anyway

Prashant.

Image courtesy: www.joshspear.com

5000 :)

No, that’s not a new movie with 5000 Spartans fighting off 5 million Persians…

That’s the number of unique visits this little blog of mine has gotten so far!!! 5000 unique visits! Cool, right?!

Yea, 5000 doesn’t look that big, but when you consider the lengthly blog-winters I’ve subjected this blog to and the random crap that I’ve written about, it’s not too bad either…

Hmm, lets do some math here… there are 136 posts on this blog (that’s it?!) and that would mean that each post has been read close to 37 times! (I get the feeling that there’s something terribly wrong with that calculation back there )

Anyways… as always, I hope I can keep the current blogging streak alive for as long as possible… And 10,000 might not be too far away

Prashant

Photo: Screen shot from Google Analytics showing visits and page views over

Want Joost Beta invites?

Ever heard of Joost? Well, they’re the new Interactive Internet TV Startup founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis (the founders of Kazaa and Skype). Joost offers a downloadable client that uses P2P technology to stream TV content to you on demand.

Notably, these guys managed to sign a deal with content providers Viacom (the guys who own MTV and Comedy Central) recently.

I’ve tried out their software and it’s pretty cool! The UI is really slick and the video quality is great! And mind you, Joost is not like the Democracy player or the Metacafe player where the videos are downloaded to your computer in the background and then play from your hard disk. Joost actually streams the content to you over P2P. I’m not talking about puny, low quality vids like Youtube. Joost gives you what looks like TV quality video.

The amount of content is not that great right now, but that’s understandable as they’re on beta. They should be adding a lot of good quality content soon.

So, any of you interested in a Beta-invite? Let me know in the comments and I’ll send you one. Hurry up, coz my invites expire by Mar 22…

Prashant.

Apple at it again!

Haha! This is a good one I found on Digital Inspiration…

I guess you must be familiar with the M$ Vista ‘Wow’ campaign. At least M$ hopes you are coz they apparently spent over $500 million on it! (if you can’t get the word around with that kind of money… you can’t get the word around, period.)

Well, just as the Marketing dudes at M$ are getting prepared to explain where they threw all that money, the folks down at Infinite Loop (aka Apple) couldn’t resist having some fun!

Check this out…

Prashant

Photo courtesy: Digital Inspiration

Shift happens!

Huh?!

“If you have love stray dogs, you should take responsibility for ensuring that they do not bite people”

This was a ‘concerned’ Bangalore resident complaining about the fact that Animal Rights Activists all over India condemned the indiscriminate killing of hundreds of stray dogs in Bangalore.

What amuses me is the clearly flawed logic in what Mr Santosh is trying to say!

Does this mean that just because you love/like something/someone, you need to take responsibility for their actions?!

What if we were talking about tigers here? I love tigers! But does that mean that every time someone around the world gets killed by a tiger, I should be put in jail?!

I understand Santosh’s concern for the residents of Bangalore and I definitely value the safety of all of them. But going out and ill treating these animals and indiscriminately killing them is definitely not the solution.

Prashant.

Blogger troubles?

Have any of you had problems lately with Blogger.com? I’ve been finding it really hard to post anything new out here for a while! Every time I try to upload an image, it gives me a weird HTTP error… It looks like its a bit better now.

Prashant.

Bezurk to power TODAY hotel search

Starting today, Singapore based travel search engine and former E27 presenter, Bezurk will power the TODAY newspaper’s online hotel search service.

According to this post on Channel News Asia, Bezurk will provide Todayonline with a database of dozens of hotel suppliers, allowing users to search for the latest information including availability and pricing on over 100,000 hotels worldwide. After comparing multiple deals and making their selection, users will be redirected to the Bezurk site to make their booking.

This deal is clearly an ace for Bezurk. Inspired by the success of travel search engines like Expedia and Priceline in the US, Bezurk hopes to recreate this experience for frustrated Asia Pacific travellers. According to their website, Bezurk comes to the aid of numerous people who go “berserk” searching for travel information on the Internet.

Having initially focused on hotel search, Bezurk seems to be building a new Flight search engine as well. Not too long ago, I was looking for some cheap tickets to India. Normally, I would’ve just called my travel agent and booked the most economical ticket that he would offer. This time around, I decided to try Bezurk. While not expecting much from a Singapore site in terms of user experience, I was pleasantly surprised by the simple and intuitive interface. It had all the things I needed and in the right places. They had also added just the right amount of AJAXy goodness in the page to make it feel like it was always a step ahead of me. Bezurk also allowed me to tweak things like desired flight times, currency type and price range.

However, the results turned out to be pretty disappointing. The minimum price that Bezurk’s search returned was almost S$200 above what my travel agent offered. Of course, it wasn’t the same airline, but that wasn’t one of my considerations. I was simply looking for the most economical way to fly home. And I couldn’t find it using Bezurk.

Well, to give them a break, Bezurk’s flight search engine is still in Beta and they are perhaps in the process of adding more airlines to their database. I will definitely return to the site the next time I need tickets. Hopefully, I am not disappointed again.

Prashant.

Recommended Reading: Larry King on Speaking

I just finished listening* to How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: The Secrets of Good Communication by Larry King…

Its pretty good and I highly recommend it. For those who don’t know, Larry King is a famous TV and radio personality in the US known for his show “Larry King Live” on CNN. And those who have seen him will tell you that he knows what to speak, when to speak and how to speak!
In this book, Larry King pens down some of the things he has learned in his life about speaking. He talks about all kinds of speaking – speaking at parties, speaking at meetings, speaking to members of the opposite sex, speaking to sell, speaking to negotiate, speaking to your boss/employee, speaking at an interview, speaking to an audience… he covers almost every thing you need to know about speaking. Being a powerful speaker himself, he is able to get his point across in a very powerful manner. And keeping in line with his own advice on brevity, the whole (audio) book is just about 90 minutes long!
Very well written – precise, to the point and enjoyable reading (listening)!
If you’re in/around NUS (Singapore), do drop me a note if you’d like to borrow the book/CD.

Prashant.

What’s so special about India and China?!

Another question on the SGE Forum:

Yes, yes. The two great upcoming superpowers. So what? What is available there that you can’t have in Singapore?

My reply:

Hmmm… Haven’t we all asked ourselves that question – ‘What’s special about India/China?’

Well, I’m from India and I can safely tell you that it is much easier to start a business in Singapore than it is in India. It is much more straightforward, and nowadays there is a reasonable amount of capital available as well (as long as you have a good idea). In India, on the other hand, you’ve got a million other things to worry about. Right from the high(er) levels of corruption to the pitiable infrastructure (it takes >1 hr to travel 16km from my home to the airport at Chennai) you end up sucking it up to a million people just to get your business started. So why India?

Well, its simple (I think). The opportunity. Business goes where the opportunity is. Business goes where the customers are. Business goes where the money is. With a burgeoning middle class and increasing amounts of disposable income, this billion-strong market is ripe for business – almost any kind of business. I think this is the single strongest reason for this sudden love for India/China. Of course, the large pool of professionals, increasing penetration of broadband, etc are contributing to this trend as well. But its the market and the opportunities that top the list. So much so that entrepreneurs and businesses are overlooking the disadvantages of corruption, bureaucracy and infrastructure to get to this market.

With that said, I must say that I wasn’t really impressed with the state of the web startup sphere in India. There are a few web startups here n there… a few Youtube clones, a few digg-clones… all of them virtually unknown. The only really popular web-destinations are the matrimony sites. Isn’t that unusual, especially considering the fact that India has the single largest population of web developers in the world?! Why is it that India’s ‘upcoming-super-power-brother’ China paints a whole different picture as far as web startups are concerned? Hmmm… There could be a number of interesting reasons for this. But that warrants a whole other discussion

Any thoughts?

Prashant

Is Silicon Valley passe? Nah!

Gwen asks on the newly launched SG Entrepreneurs forum:

Is Silicon Valley passe? Way past its prime? Going down and getting replaced by India as the next IT hub?

This was my reply…

Well, I don’t think so…
It really depends on what one means by ‘past its prime’ actually.
Yes, its true that among all the clutter of new startups in Silicon Valley, very few are really promising. The last time a ‘Google’ happened was… well, Google itself.
However, in essence, Silicon Valley today is what it always was – a great place to start a technology business. As an entrepreneur, one can still find all the people, resources and support they might need to get their business going in Silicon Valley. SV VCs are still investing in Big Hairy Audacious dreams… smart people are still aplenty in the valley… and Wall Streeters are still willing to bet their hopes on Silicon Valley. In all those respects, Silicon Valley is still Silicon Valley. And its probably going to stay that way for a while.
I say that because it ultimately boils down to one thing – the spirit of innovation and enterprise. And that spirit, like knowledge, cannot be given or taken. It can only be shared.
In Silicon Valley, the moment an opportunity arises, people pounce on it with smart innovations and smart ways to make those innovations into businesses. Now, another group of people in another part of the world are learning to do that. And they are targeting “local” opportunities that lay untapped until today.
Today, Indians and Chinese from Silicon Valley are going back to cater to the opportunities back home. And by doing so, they are just spreading this spirit. They are making another part of the world aware of the opportunities that exist. The only thing that is going to happen is that more problems are going to be solved.
India and China are now witnessing their own little nirvana with all the attention being focused on them. And we all can see them growing into strong hubs of innovation and enterprise (India has already been an ‘IT’ hub for a while now). But, I don’t think this will happen at the expense of Silicon Valley.

What do you guys think? Is Silicon Valley slowly losing its importance? Is this initial trickling of money to the Asian superpowers going to turn into an avalanche soon? Will it drain Silicon Valley? Or will it rejuvenate it?

Prashant.