Life gets in the way of blog. Will be back from the hiatus soon.
Blogging Hiatus
January 16th, 2010Adieu Bill !
June 24th, 2008As you may know , this Friday (June 27, 2008) Bill Gates will step down from Microsoft’s payroll as an employee and moves on to his second act—Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Although Microsoft is a company many love to hate, Bill Gates will go down in history as someone who profoundly changed millions of lives by the proliferation of PC and all that MSFT has to offer.
And as if that wasn’t enough, he’ll go on to change billions of lives across the globe through this charitable Foundation focused on health care and learning with a whopping $40 billion as its assets endowment.
I will have the privilege of attending his farewell at Microsoft on June 27th, and even that humbles me beyond description.
Here’s to a great man, whose life is measured by the difference he has made in others’ lives !
Adieu Bill !
Blog Break
July 4th, 2006Life gets in the way of blog! I’m trying to get my life organized, and will be back soon.
The Scoble-Effect
June 12th, 2006It’s offical – Robert Scoble, the poster boy of blogosphere is leaving Microsoft, for a startup – PodTech. I met Robert in Pittsburgh, earlier this year, and the guy rocks! Scoble put to rest all the rumors about his Microsoft exit, when he corrected the record himself.
Good luck Robert! Hope to see you again.
Internet Toll-Booths: Ka-Ching!
June 9th, 2006If you can’t beat ‘em, well run to momma. Exactly what the wimps – Whitacre of AT&T/SBC, Seidenberg of Verizon, Comcast & dozens of other telecom czars have done.
The Internet as we know it is facing a serious threat. There’s a debate heating up in Washington, DC on “net neutrality” – and it’s a debate that’s so important to the future of the Internet (The House just rejected Net Neutrality rules, but it’s not too late).
The big phone and cable TV companies want Congress’s permission to create a new, unprecedented regulatory bureaucracy on the Internet – a private bureaucracy of broadband monopolists with the power to determine what content gets to you first and fastest.
Forcing people and companies to get permission from the “Secretary of Internet Access” (yeah baby!), and pay special fees to, the phone and cable companies to connect with one another online is fundamentally counter to the freedom and innovation that have defined the Internet.
The venerable Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee say:
“Allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success…A number of justifications have been created to support carrier control over consumer choices online; none stand up to scrutiny.” – Vint Cerf [PDF]
“The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy, by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true. Let us protect the neutrality of the net.” – Tim Berners-Lee
That’s right—anything less than net neutrality would be a loss for freedom and innovation on the Internet!
Skilling & Lay laid to rest – RIP!
May 25th, 2006Finally the prosection rests. After the Scrushy case, I was wondering if these crooks would get off the hook with just a slap on their wrists. See my previous post on good ‘ol Bernie, now in the coolers.
Obviously the jury did not buy the “ostrich defense” espoused by the defense team. The justice system’s sanctity has been preserved and I can check off 2 more from my s*it list.
Justice served, justice upheld! Amen.
But then, what if they really didn’t cook the books?
VOLKSWAGEN’s Car Stack Awe
May 14th, 2006The 2 photos below were taken at Volkswagen’s new storage facility in Wolfsburg, Germany. The actual space that the facility occupies is approximately only 20% of a comparable facility with the traditional design that is used primarily in the US. Not only is the German structure less expensive to build, but vehicles are also “retrieved” in less time and without the potential of being damaged by an attendant. Collecting your new car is an event in itself. “In a fully automated procedure, your new car is brought down to you from one of the 20-story Car Towers. Large signboards in the Customer Center show you when your turn has come. Then, you’re handed the keys, your picture is taken, the glass doors open and your brand-new car appears. You’re all set to go”. says Billy T
E3, Guns, Gals, Gore & Wii
May 14th, 2006I know – it’s been a while since I blogged; given my travel, work & a new baby, that’s the best I could do (unless I moblog!). So, I was at E3 in LA last week—it was exhilarating ! The best part of it of course was the “game fix” you could get, amidst crazy business meetings, gameplays, art-speak, tech- mojo etc. The worst part is that every game and every kid on the block wants to blow off somebody’s head off with an assault rifle or a bazooka or even a rusted wide sword. I met with some of the top execs at THQ, VU, Sony, EA, WB, Microsoft & just about everyone – Trust me when they say, the game’s on! It’s a huge business opportunity & will be even bigger in the coming years.
The big bad machines are o’course – PS3 & XBox 360. My surprise favorite though is the Wii (pronounced “we”) from Nintendo. They were down but not out, and I think Nintendo (long considered the underdog) has come back with a venegance & have a great product in the Wii. It doesn’t promise to be everything like the big boys do – from DVD player to coffeemaker. Rather it’s a simple game device & promises scads of fun & entertainment, even appealing to the beginners. The Wii uses a motion-sensor enabled game controller that resembles a TV remote and allows users to direct action on the screen by wielding it like a sword or swinging it like a baseball bat, tennis racket or golf club. They call it the Nanchuk Controller. Cool eh – check this out.
Get this – I saw a group of booth babes outside the convention protesting; no not protesting against “exploitation”, rather they were upset that the ESA clamped on their bikinis. Booth Babe Protest: “I’m Rated E For Everyone” and “Bikinis are better than Bullets.”
More Wii pics – 
Silk Screen 2006 Trailer
March 31st, 2006Here’s the latest Silk Screen Trailer designed by the uber-creative Wall-to-Wall Studios (these guys are real good!)
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses!
March 29th, 2006When Emma Lazarus wrote this famous poem, little did she realize the immortality it would achieve or the notoriety of its modern-day (mis) interpretation—Yeah right, give me your hungry, your poor and your huddled masses from just Mexico, and by the way it’s perfectly alright to break the law of this land by jumping over the wall and protest in all temerity against the law itself, while rest of the sucker “legal” immigrants from elsewhere in the world, get a second-degree by the INS (or the USCIS whatever), at the port of entry any time (with a valid Visa or even a Greencard).
One of my old friends from India, pointed this out to me today, saying, “...I can’t understand how you guys who are recent immigrants be annoyed that further immigration is made easy….I dont remember the line …..something like this…...’give me ur poor, ur hungry and the tired…....’ show some spirit guys…”
Sure, I can give it to him for not fully understanding the (il)legal issue of this whole thing and economics behind the numbers.
Yes—We are a land of immigrants, and that’s perhaps what makes this country so great since the Roman civilization, however make no mistake—the sovereignty of a country is not protected as long as its borders are porous and as long as immigrants sneak in ILLEGALLY (yes that’s the key word). Heck yes, the Statue of Liberty would forever on be considered a beacon of welcome for immigrants leaving their mother countries, but hell no it was never meant for ILLEGAL immigrants !
Now let’s see if this definition of sovereignty applies to India & Kashmir.
Amen!
By the way, here’s the complete poem from “The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”