26 September 2008

Going Green ?

A grandfather used to say "When a product does not sell well, the usual tendency is to bundle it with something else, and re-brand it. Never fall prey to that. More often than not, you would not even need a majority of those items in that bundle."

This reminds me of it.

Shyam

PS: What's this fascination with green and crap ? Coming from American's, that is just hogwash when California alone uses the amount of petrol that India does.

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Posted by Unknown at 9:25 AM 2 comments

24 September 2008

My next phone

Without doubt, this is going to be my next phone.

Shyam

Posted by Unknown at 7:49 AM 0 comments

19 September 2008

Luz

There is this Luz corner in Madras. And there's also this Luz church. Now, does someone know whether the Luz church is actually the "Our Lady of Light" church ?

I am thinking on these lines because Luz in Spanish means light.

Shyam

Posted by Unknown at 10:45 AM 2 comments

12 September 2008

Stupidity

Whoever designed the Microsoft advertisement needs to be spanked thoroughly. Do they not know that an average viewer's time span towards an advertisement is just 20 seconds ? What is the point in creating an advertisement that is almost a minute long ?

Secondly, what's with all that comedy crap ? Aesthetics has never been Microsoft's forte and it shows in this advertisement.

I stand by my earlier view. The only thing that can come out of Redmond that is good is a vacuum cleaner.

Shyam

Posted by Unknown at 10:00 AM 4 comments

11 September 2008

PR Spin

I have always believed that if the public face of a company does a good job, then half the problem of getting publicity, recognition, e.t.c., is solved.

Here is a perfect example. Google's Marissa Mayer, first gives an interview to LA times. In a moment of hubris or whatever, she proudly claims that search is 90-95% solved. Many people take up the rant against her, including Techcrunch, which posts a nice article debunking her.

So what does she do ? She puts up a lengthy post where she maps it to a 90-10 scenario and says that to solve the remaining 10%, 90% of effort is needed.

Looks like the spin doctors and PR folks over at google are in for a big raise ;-)

Shyam

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Posted by Unknown at 12:17 PM 0 comments

Rajini Robot - Enthiran



One hopes that Shankar would not throw away this golden chance to make a meaningful movie. He did make a colossal mistake with Sivaji.

As the saying goes, "Every man makes a mistake, none but a fool repeats it". Let's hope that Shankar is no fool.

One hopes, and that could be a fool's hope, that Rajinikanth has a role that is a throwback to his Mullum-Malarum days.

Shyam

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Posted by Unknown at 10:02 AM 3 comments

09 September 2008

Crazy bugger

As I read the news that Mega-Star Chiranjeevi has launched his political party, I could not help but thinking that he is a fool to promise socialism. While one could argue that it is nothing but a political gimmick, it still raises doubts on the level of intelligence that his think-tank possess to take any proper decisions.

Even after fifty years, the stupid politicians are unable to realize that socialism coupled with democracy is a failed experiment.

Shyam

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Posted by Unknown at 6:50 PM 1 comments

02 September 2008

Power Crisis

The people who seem to be most affected by the current power crisis in TamilNadu are the ones who voted for Karunanidhi on his promises of freebies. It does serve them right. Hopefully, they would have realized that he does not have the political will to tackle problems that stare at his face.

My mother's domestic help tells me that the rice that is being provided through the public distribution system for two rupees, is worse than the ones that were being provided by the previous government. The difference in cost was just a rupee and the quality was much better it seems.

That is Karunanidhi for you, Ladies and Gentlemen. A spineless politician whose only intention is to make sure that he remains in power for as long as possible.

Shyam

PS: In case you want to start a flame war saying Jayalalitha was no good, please refresh your memory as to the manner in which she tackled three crisis situations; the total lack of water in Chennai in 2005, the Tsunami, and the 9cm rain in a single day.

Posted by Unknown at 10:25 AM 1 comments

Google Chrome

Make no mistake in this, this is google's salvo against Microsoft. Given the fact that the world seems to be moving towards software as a service thingy where the web becomes more important, if google sets out to do what they promise, it is indeed a war cry against Microsoft.

Shyam

Posted by Unknown at 10:23 AM 0 comments

GiveLife Chennai Marathon ??

1. Solid political and financial backing for the Marathon. Check.
2. Huge media blitz. Check.
3. Unprecedented prize money. Check.
4. Organizers who seemed to be responsive to e-mails from Chennai Runners. Check.
5. Organizers who changed the start time from 8.00AM to 6.30AM. Check.

But

1. Late arrival of VIP's delaying the start. Check.
2. Lack of water points along running route. Check.
3. Over enthusiastic college kids aiming for prize money without sufficient practice. Check.
4. Lack of communication to public as to the rigors of running 21kms without enough practice. Check.
5. Total confusion at the finishing point. Check.
6. No proper mechanisms to distribute certificates to finishers. Check.
7. Incorrect trail, Check. My GPS watch tells me that we ran a good 500mts less that what we were supposed to.

That's how the Givelife Chennai Marathon was held this weekend. Sadly, it took away the life of one of the participants. So, Givelife actually became take-life.

Any member from the Chennai Runners group would only be more than willing to help the organizers conduct a Marathon. After all, if we do not do this for the city that we love, whom else will we do it for ?

The Madbulls (Royal Enfield motorcycling group) guys must be thanked for volunteering to help with water and acting as pilots for the run.

Shyam

PS: I completed the 21k in 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Posted by Unknown at 8:45 AM 0 comments