Future Technology Trends in Recessionary times

Last updated on: January 30, 2009 at 9:28 pm By Desh Kapoor

It is a tough climate out there in the corporate world, specially in the IT market. Currently, ERP market is dominated by the two giants - SAP and Oracle. These two, between them, really own the majority of the market. But is that how it is going to be in future? For the big guns, probably SAP and Oracle - one of these two - will remain the only viable options. But in the downturn - recession or more appropriately Depression really, things will change. Whenever, such times come, new things emerge and change the game. I believe the same will happen now as well. Some trends are waiting to happen: Convergence: Desktop and Online, Laptop and PDA/phone, Fun and Serious... all sorts of convergence frontiers are waiting to happen.... or are happening as we speak! For example, if you look at iPhone and the applications being built for it, you will notice that we are really looking at a device that is perhaps more powerful than a laptop! Ok, the speeds and some connectivity may not be there.. but there are lots of things that will be added soon.. and storage is only becoming cheaper, if anything. If you look at Google Gears and Zoho, you will know a lot of companies are moving down that path.. though we are still in the infancy of that revolution. However, there is one company, that is building up its product repertoir - Zcubes.com - is at the frontier of that revolution. I have seen at what it offers closely, and it makes Adobe, MSFT look like kid-stuff! I will share more on this work later.. with some more insights Read more

Why Twitter? Benefits and Uses

Last updated on: January 30, 2009 at 7:39 pm By Desh Kapoor

Suresh asked me yesterday - what are the benefits of twitter other than reading to the little blurbs which are often nonsensical.. or so they seem. I wanted to write on areas that I feel are the best uses and how I have benefitted. News Source: During the Tsunami, one blog tsunamihelp brought in the new era of citizen journalism - where totally unrelated people were blogging about the various aspects of Tsunami - help needed, death toll, injured, missing, charity etc. It was an instant hit and probably the best source of news. During the Mumbai Attacks in November, Citizen Journalism turned another corner - tweeting the news. The Twitter updates were at most times almost 10-20 minutes ahead of the fastest News media (CNN-IBN most often). The updates were incredible and I was following them closely as well as contributing to it... using the #mumbai hashtag. Yes, all the news was not always correct and lacked the rigor and the credibility of a CNN newscast, but almost 90-95% was! And, that is good enough! In fact a lot of times, people who made mistakes used to come back to post an update and/or apology! The fact that you can send in your tweets using phone calls (via Jott), or via email (Twittermail, mail2twitter, Outtwit) or via Google Talk* - makes it very user-friendly. If updating is the issue - then it really cannot get easier than this! Read more

More fun for the weekend

Last updated on: January 30, 2009 at 6:28 pm By Desh Kapoor

Here are some great jokes I got from a friend.. don't be offended if you are on the receiving end.. its just a joke. 1. The prime Minister of China called President Bush to console him after the attack on the Pentagon: 'I'm sorry to hear about the attack.It is a very big tragedy. But in case you are missing any documents from the Pentagon, we have copies of everything.' ======================== 2. Musharraf calls Bush on 11th sept: Musharraf: Mr President, I would like to express my condolences to you. It is a real tragedy. So many people, such great bldgs.. I would like to ensure that we had nothing in connection with that... Read more

The Goldmine

Last updated on: January 30, 2009 at 6:00 pm By Desh Kapoor

A Husband and Wife were very happy over the twelve pound baby boy that was born to them. Mr. Brown who could not conceal his delight, called up the editor of a famous newspaper and reported that he became the proud owner of a twelve pound nugget of gold. The editor upon hearing the seemingly extraordinary news was rather hesitant to accept it at its face value. So he sent his star reporter to interview Mr. Brown. When the reporter came, Mr. Brown was away and his wife was alone at home. The following interesting conversation took place between the reporter and Mrs. Brown: Reporter : Does Mr. Brown Live here? Mrs. Brown : Oh! Yes. Reporter : Is he in? Mrs. Brown : Why no, he went somewhere. Reporter : Is it true that he owns a twelve pound nugget of gold? Read more

Unemployment rates and Web Search trends

Last updated on: January 30, 2009 at 5:51 am By Desh Kapoor

These days when the unemployment is running real high, the anxiety in the population is going up as well! When anxiety rises, so do the searches for those areas. Google has given the trends in search for "Unemployment" and how it has gone up almost 3 times this year! It clearly shows that people are looking for stuff that is linked to unemployment - benefits, coaching, ideas, thoughts, help etc. And these are not the times when one can easily move from one job to another and hope that things will be hunkry dory. It wont be! Things will take time to get better. When? is anybody's guess. I am predicting that this will go worse for next 1 year at least, before it has any hope of improving. Here is another chart from Technorati - the aggregator for the blogs. As you can see, people are also blogging more on this topic!! Read more

Indian religious, cultural and spiritual influences on China

Last updated on: January 29, 2009 at 8:13 pm By Desh Kapoor

China and India today may not be seen as friends and have fought a war in 1961, while China uses Pakistan to hit India.. the relationship goes back a long time. And it is amazing how the two cultures - oldest in the world - have affected and been affected by each other. China finds several mentions in the Hindu Epic Mahabharat - a war in which Bhagwad Gita's message was given to Arjun. Here are some examples:[1] Book 6, chapter 9(MBh.6.9) (mentioned as one of the Northern Kingdoms): Among the tribes of the north are the Mlecchas, and the Kruras, the Yavanas, the Chinas, the Kamvojas, the Darunas, and many Mleccha tribes; the Sukritvahas, the Kulatthas, the Hunas, and the Parasikas; the Ramanas, and the Dasamalikas. Pahlavas and the Daradas and the various tribes of the Kiratas and Yavanas and Sakas and the Harahunas and Chinas and Tukharas and the Sindhavas and the Jagudas and the Ramathas and the Mundas and the inhabitants of the kingdom of women and the Tanganas and the Kekayas and the Malavas and the inhabitants of Kasmira were mentioned at (3,51) as bringing tribute to Pandava king Yudhisthira. The Yavanas, the Kiratas, the Gandharvas (from Afghanistan), the Chinas, the Savaras, the Barbaras, the Sakas, the Tusharas, the Kankas, the Pathavas, the Andhras, the Madrakas, the Paundras, the Pulindas, the Ramathas, the Kamvojas were mentioned together as tribes beyond the kigdoms of Aryavarta. The Aryavarta kings had doubts on dealing with them. (12,64) Mahabharata book 3, chapter 176 (MBh 3.176): Leaving the place called Badari (Badrinath in Uttar Pradesh) and crossing the difficult Himalayan regions, and leaving behind them, the countries of China, Tukhara, Darada and all the climes of Kulinda, rich in heaps of jewels, those warlike men viz the Pandavas, reached the capital of Suvahu, the king of Pulindas (Kiratas). [Chinas was ostensibly located in the higher reaches of Himalayas as per the epic] Bhima mentiones about a China king Dhautamulaka, who caused the destruction of his own race (5,74) China's Name - from Sanskrit?[2] According to French art historian, Réné Grousset, the name China probably comes from its Sanskrit name for the regions to the North in the higher reaches of Himalayas. Read more

25 Most Useful Twitter Applications

Last updated on: January 29, 2009 at 4:45 pm By Desh Kapoor

Twitter, as we discussed earlier is a great tool out there and its popularity seems to keep growing all the time. I have found this 25 apps, that I found most useful. I have used some and find them great (Trackthis and Xpenser are two of the best for their use!). If you have used any other apps that you have found to be really useful, please do share it with us as well! Enjoy and manage your life with a bit of brevity as you go along. Twitter search - This is the only search function actually hosted by Twitter. It's extremely easy to use and offers comprehensive results. Twellow - An application similar to Twitter search except that you can search by categories (which makes results more targeted). TwitDir - I like TwitDir because it offers a search function and breaks Twitter users into categories like the top 100 people followed and top 100 updaters. TwitterMail: It offers basic email interface and a post to the future feature. MessageDance: integrates your Twitter mail into your MySpace, FaceBook and other social networking accounts InnerTwitter: Reminds you to stop and listen to chime to take your mind off the work and be closer to meditation. TweetStats: Graph your Twitter stats and keep in touch TweetScan: Sifts through the thousands of Tweets for search words. Read more

Eating less leads to better memory

Last updated on: January 29, 2009 at 8:42 am By Desh Kapoor

Eating just enough is a smart thing. Eating more just because you can - given the wealth and access - doesn't mean you are healthy. But that is how the society is progresses. Prosperity somehow, inexplicably directly translates into overeating and obesity (remember the Roman Emperors?). Now, a study suggests that eating less - or low calorie intake - and foods rich in unsaturated fatty acids (commonly found in Olive Oil and Fish) leads to significantly better memory in the elderly. Read more

A Very Practical Contribution

Last updated on: January 29, 2009 at 12:10 am By Rev. Dr. Todd Littleton

HOW TO REGAIN EASILY OUR UNBALANCE There are times when unexpectedly life situations affect our sacred balance. We wonder. Is there a way to regain our equilibrium? What you are about to read is my contribution to the effective technique I've used for some time now. Like most of my blessings in life, the solution came as an inspirational thought, much like the way the T.V character Gregory House finds the proper solution for his patients. Some years ago, I bought some Chinese metal spheres to relax, because I have small hands I had difficulty playing with them, suddenly I stared thinking. Why couldn't I energize it with pure positive energy during one of my solar days? Read more

Personal Review Plan: Frameworks to Evaluate Yourself

Last updated on: January 28, 2009 at 11:40 pm By Desh Kapoor

These are times when people are looking at their lives and the surrounding chaos and some are seeing their jobs disappear. It is not a good situation. If one is in that period of mid-life where one starts re-evaluating one's life that has been and that would be, the imperatives and benchmarks are often different. How does one look for a direction forward? I will share with you two "frameworks" that I have used previously in my life. Economy and My Direction should Synergize It is important that one does what one feels one enjoys doing. But we also have to be mindful of where the world is going to? We cannot simply enter a new field or plan our future direction along a direction which the world is moving away from. So, I have found that it helps to sit down and analyze the future "sun-rise" areas. These are areas that are growing and will keep growing on for some time. It will help if you can position yourself in those areas and enjoy the ride as it all grows on. Jumping on the bandwagon? Well, you can say.. but it is more than that.. it is anticipating and forecasting the "bandwagon" of the future! For this one needs to carefully interact, listen, read up on, and think on areas totally unrelated to what one does. Because if all you know is your area, the chances are you wont know anything else! And that is the key here - to think outside of the box! This has served me well. When I was starting out in my career and 3 - 5 years into, I realized that I was a strong generalist with strong skills in analysis, so I moved to consulting. And once in consulting, I realized that ERP and technology will grow rapidly and I entered those areas as I moved on. That has helped me a lot in shaping my career over the years. What will I do next in the coming future? Good question! That is what I am evaluating currently. Read more