davewinerabttwtr As  @DaveWiner , tweeted about twitter's innovation stalling because it closed its API than open it, another friend of mine emailed me asking about which Social Bookmarking service I use. To put it in context, in 2008-9, I too had started to build a social bookmarking application Bloozle , which was aimed at sharing links (bookmarks) by users, tagging them (to create 'folksonomies), enable sharing and finally presenting a technology curated 'magazine' for end users to browse. What we envisaged as bloozle, is today available as a combination of Twitter / Facebook based link sharing (with #hashtags acting as tags) and Flipboard based 'curation' of those links for you to read. Long story short - this friend of mine was a part of the team for Bloozle and hence, we share the love to hate Twitter-Flipboard combo for 'stealing' away our success! :-) My friend commented (sic)- "i am just back on delicious and find it way b

This post by Seth Godin made me think back about a post I made 10 years ago in context of India. Here's what Seth says: If you're moving forward and moving fast, you've no doubt heard it: People who look like you aren't qualified to do this work.  I'm not sure you're a good cultural fit.  I once knew someone your age/race/demographic and they let me down.  I wrote this : ... castiesm manifests itself not just in form of ancestral caste but also in new found castiest approaches like lobbying and groupism. The mindset of preferential treatment to a set of people at the cost of others while violating the principles of fair play and meritocracy is wrong and needs to be uprooted. Seth claims that today is the time when we can all challenge this with " Now, more than ever, attitude trumps background! " Caste also represents 'typecasting' individuals based on their background - in India background may mean birth (i.e. caste), regi

The IT geek world is unequivocally undivided since more than a decade on the superiority of the Command Line Interface over the GUI! For the uninitiated, Command Line is the black screen, that comes up when you go to 'Start Menu' > 'Run' and Type 'cmd', which you often use to do a 'ping' or 'ipconfig'. GUI expands to Graphical User Interface, a technical name to the point-and-click interface we all use in computers today.  The geekdom has had debates  on why we haven't evolved from a purely textual entry mode into something better, a debate which always concludes accepting that Command line is a superior form of human-computer interaction . With introduction of Siri, Google Now and Cortana - while we have added voice commands also to the debate; its uses are currently limited to searching, giving pre-ordained commands like calling someone in your contacts list. For performing complex tasks such as say formatting your hard disk, ch

India start-ups at risk as investors close taps, Modi fund falls short http://flip.it/W._CM India will step up as China's economy slows, says Josh Frydenberg http://flip.it/nt3uI

 तरकश से मिली आज़ादी का हश्र मुकम्मल कहाँ होता है? वही होता है जो मंजूर-ए-खुदा होता है । अब तो इस ज़िद को छोड़ दे ऐ बन्दे की मज़हब तेरा मुझसे जुदा होता है । हमने तो कभी बोला न था तुम्हे इस चमन के टुकड़े करने को तुम्ही केहते थे की अल्लाह की मर्ज़ी पे एक मुल्क खड़ा होता है| अल्लाह ने तो अब मुल्क के मेरे टुकड़े को भी तर्रक्की से नवाज़ा है, अब बता कैसे तेरे टुकड़े को पाकीज़ा मैं मानू समझा दे मुझे काहाँ से रब तेरा और मेरा जुदा होता है?  तरकश से मिली आज़ादी का हश्र मुकम्मल कहाँ होता है? वही होता है जो मंजूर-ए-खुदा होता है । My reaction to this news item from yesterday:

An interesting counterpoint to the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's decision to ban management quota in Delhi Schools is that it attacks autonomy, and also that it reduces incentive for private players to open schools. This old article on RTE gives similar arguments for that law as well. https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/delhi-nursery-admissions-meets-the-rte/ "Is it not likely that by taking away private incentives to open schools, in which the management quota is one attraction, he too will end up closing more schools than making the admissions process more rational. Even laws like  RTE will shrink capacity, undermine property rights, equal protection, and freedom of occupation." However, the point to ponder is that by allowing elite 'Ivy league' schools to have huge management quotas, aren't we allowing the principle of equality to be breached? Having said that, would you be comfortable to allow your kid to be educated alongside

The photograph below is a scene from the incredibly buzzing and busy Tier 2 city - Ujjain - in India; a center of religious tourism in central India. The precise location - a service lane to a otherwise important highway connecting the city of Ujjain to three other nearby cities of Bhopal, Indore and Gwalior. A marriage procession ( Baraat, बारात ) on its way blocking the whole road while the car (silver grey, Maruti Suzuki WagonR) patiently awaits passage. An impatient lady on the scooter tries to manoeuvre from the gap on the side, when an unchivalrous biker coming from the opposite end blocks her way. While in this logjam, the lady's mobile phone rings and without regard for the cacophony she is in, she decides to take the call. Moments later the procession will move on, the car will find its way forward and both the woman and the biker shall hurry towards their respective destinations. The ensemble cast in this photo will reach their respective destinations and discuss

Seeing a lot of people ridiculing Laloo's son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav for merely being a 9th grade pass - in my view this is an insult to the democratic institutions we live in and a complete misunderstanding of the educated gentry! Education is not the right barometer for intelligence! Steve jobs was not even a graduate, neither was Edison. But in the western society which is driven by technology, they are both paragons of hi-tech for their respective generations. The Indian society is a typical eastern society where relations and not technology define your social status, and the Yadav family has just shown us a brilliant use of their political brains to win in this relationship based society. What is despicable is that Laloo and may be his family are going to use this power not for the upliftment of Bihar but for their personal gains. If you want to oppose that, you have a right to do so - but do not scoff at Tejashwi Prasad Yadav merely because the traditional educational s

Watched PK today on Sony TV; I hadn't seen the movie when it was released. Firstly, I haven't been watching new releases of late anyway, secondly I had gotten bored of patronizing tone of Raju Hirani's movies. But on watching the movie, here are my thoughts. Overall, an average movie for 3 reasons: 1. Predictable story: the movie takes the same twists as Munnabhai MBBS, all the way down to the style and positioning of the climax. 2. Poor and unrealistic storyline; blatant directorial missouts. This is surprising as Hirani's previous productions have never had directorial missouts. The movie also lacks the depth of Munnabhai series; the sub-plots are poorly researched and realism which marked earlier ones is missing. 3. Blatant copying of the core concept from Paresh Rawal's "Oh My God!". Before I end, a praise for Anushka Sharma for her work; Amir doesn't need praise - he played the part well; the others were all cast in the same type of characters

In my previous post , I outlined why the bookstore, even if inefficient in selling books, has reasons to exist beyond mere 'sales'. If the bookstore is to continue to exist, without the inherent value of selling books, it needs to find other ways of generating cash flow, and that too while it serves the other purposes outlined. But let me first recap the purposes which a book store should serve: Serendipity and discoverability of books  Browse a book before buying  Meet like minded people One key element which is implicit to the above is quiet surroundings. The list sounds more like the requirements we have from community libraries than from bookstores, but indeed good bookstores are no less than libraries! So let's start in the reverse order: To satisfy #3, the bookshop needs to have sufficient real estate which should be utilized through a combination of large seating area - preferably a coffee shop - and enough room between the aisles for customers to