Don't Mess With the Porn Industry!

Last updated on: January 12, 2007 at 12:47 pm By Desh Kapoor

Simple message. Do not mess with the Porn Industry. They set the future trends! "If this is true, it's Beta vs VHS all over again and HD-DVD may be the foregone winner of the format wars. First, Heise reports (summarized from the German by sgknox.com) that Digital Playground, who were committed to Blu-ray last year, are now producing HD-DVD titles instead. No Blu-ray disk manufacturer would make their disks because Sony doesn't want porn on Blu-ray (just as with Betamax). Second, as reported by tgdaily, the porn industry overwhelmingly favors HD-DVD because it's much cheaper and easier to produce. Read more

Outsourcing does not Cost American Jobs: US Software Companies

Last updated on: January 12, 2007 at 12:43 pm By Desh Kapoor

It is finally out! The reason why companies are outsourcing is more because of Growth, Increasing Speed to Market and Improving Productivity. These are the replies of the 114 American software companies. Offshoring of software development by software companies is not costing Americans jobs, according to a report being announced Thursday by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). The association is releasing its Global Software Development Survey Report, which surveyed 114 American-based software companies last year. In a conclusion that stateside developers probably would not find surprising, SIIA found that software companies are increasing offshore software development efforts. However, companies are not looking to displace American workers, said David Thomas, executive director of SIIA. Read more

Favorite MBA Profs in US

Last updated on: January 12, 2007 at 6:15 am By Desh Kapoor

Everyone has their favorite profs... some MBA students were asked who their favorite Profs were in the US. The list is interesting! It tells a lot about what works in teaching and what does not. From the responses, the following things worked: - Humor - High standards of work - Real Life Examples and relevant material - Interesting class that makes learning easy - Mentorship and contact of the Prof with the Students after Degree is over. What other than the above do you think works? Here are top three: Read more

Three Thoughts for the Day

Last updated on: January 11, 2007 at 4:02 pm By Desh Kapoor

Here are three great thought! Couldnt say it better on the negatives of hatred and the relationship of Self and Soul! Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat! ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick True Friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation ~ George Washington Self is the only prison that can bind the soul ~ Henry Van Dyke Read more

Free Educational Course Material from MIT Courses!

Last updated on: January 11, 2007 at 3:33 pm By Desh Kapoor

MIT has an OpenCourseWare - through which it publishes course materials from the courses that its students undertake at the University. (Tip from: Arul) Pretty Cool! It does not require any registration and is free of charge! It however does not confer any degree to you just because you have read through them! So use it for your self development! Here is the official word on what this OpenCourseWare is: MIT OCW is a large-scale, Web-based electronic publishing initiative funded jointly by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation , MIT, and generous support of the Ab Initio software company. Read more

Introducing Carbon Footprints!

Last updated on: January 11, 2007 at 5:37 am By Desh Kapoor

Friends, I have installed a new functionality to include and calculate our "Carbon Footprints" that we leave on this planet as in the amount of CO2 emitted in the process of my living everyday! It is a new concept but something that will help us understand how we are compromising the environment! This module is still in its infancy here at Drishtikone but I will encourage you to try it out to see what damage you are doing to the environment and see how we collectively are messing up this planet! Also you can check the footprints of every blogger (who has added it below the blog post). “Man is a child of his environment” ~ Shinichi Suzuki Read more

India readying for Manned Space Mission!

Last updated on: January 10, 2007 at 10:37 pm By Desh Kapoor

This launch has a lot of importance for many reasons: it was the first after the infamous GSLV launch failure. it helps India to work on the re-entry technology it improves the earth monitoring capabilities of India (euphemism for "spying"!) India took the first baby step towards a manned space mission with the successful launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Wednesday. All the four satellites of the PSLV-C7 were successfully injected into orbit at an altitude of 638.7 km, 949.8 seconds after the lift off.The Rs 300 crore mission launching the 295 tonne white rocket into space is an important milestone for India, given the fact that this is the country's first attempt at re-entry technology, in which a satellite is launched into space and brought back to Earth after two weeks to withstand the high temperatures generated while returning to earth.ISRO chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair said after the launch: "We have done it successfully. We have put all four satellites into the required orbit. It was a textbook mission. Our boys have done well." ISRO hopes that this launch will help erase memories of the failure of the Geostationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV) launch last July.The PSLV C7 carries four satellites - the 680 kg Indian remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT-2 and the 550 kg Space Capsule Recovery Equipment (SRE-1), Indonesia's LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina's six kg nanosatellite, PEHUENSAT-1. India hopes to have the world's sharpest civilian eye in the sky with this launch. Read more

Truth vs Knowledge

Last updated on: January 10, 2007 at 7:21 pm By Desh Kapoor

A Great Story that explains the difference in the best manner possible! A king asked a sage to explain the Truth. In response the sage asked the king how he would convey the taste of a mango to someone who had never eaten anything sweet. No matter how hard the king tried, he could not adequately describe the flavor of the fruit, and, in frustration, he demanded of the sage "Tell me then, how would you describe it?" The sage picked up a mango and handed it to the king saying "This is very sweet. Try eating it!" Read more

The new iPhone – Questions about it…

Last updated on: January 10, 2007 at 1:55 pm By Desh Kapoor

Apple yesterday unveiled the iPhone. This is a new device that combines a Phone, iPod, camera, and Internet surfing with searches from Yahoo and Google, mail from Yahoo and maps from Google! While the Apple shares rose, those of Palm (maker of Treo) and RIMM (Blackberry maker) fell: Apple shares jumped $7.10 to close at $92.57 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, creating about $6 billion in new shareholder wealth. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $50.16 to $93.16. Meanwhile, shares of other smart-phone makers slid: Treo-maker Palm dropped 5.7 percent, BlackBerry's Research In Motion Ltd. lost 7.9 percent and Motorola Inc. shed 1.8 percent. The questions that come to the mind are: 1. If the Palm Treos and Blackberry sales will come down as the falling stocks of their manufacturers testify, then there is enough reason to believe that even the iPod sales would falls - since the new device replaces an iPod too! 2. The device will be offered by CIngular with a 2 yr contract and it will cost $499 and $599. How many will buy an 8 GB device for $599, when the person can buy an 80 GB iPod for $345 and a Treo for about free at times or just over $250? That means in roughly the same money one can buy a larger capacity and lesser contract time with the phone provider - with the flexibility and freedom of choosing your provider, if I may add!! Read more

Environment: Chinese Growth vs European New "Industrial Revolution"…

Last updated on: January 10, 2007 at 1:15 pm By Desh Kapoor

In the rapidly declining health of our planet's environment.. while the Chinese (and Americans) are busy ruining the environment with nonchalance... Europeans are serious about the recent report which pointed to the unbearably high overall costs of a degradation of the environment! The Europeans are planning a new Industrial Revolution! The question that comes to your mind is - given the above contrasts: Is Economic Growth at the Cost of the Quality of Life (at its most basic level) worth it (or even sustainable)?? Read more

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