January 2001

Excerpts from Nathuram Godse’s statement.

More layoffs: AT&T, News Corp, Gateway and Motorola. But the find of the day is TheStandard’s layoff tracker.

“Studies have shown that…” idiosyncratic risk in stocks is higher. So, have 30 stocks in your portfolio.

Good: CRISIL | HDFC | ICRA | IDBI | RBI | SEBI | SHCIL | SICOM | UTI Bad: CARE | ECGC | HUDCO | IFCI | SIDBI

Amazon is handing out stock options to laid off employees. That’s a good one!

Self-organising websites. If I had the time, I’d make mine one, like Slashdot or Plastic. Any takers at IIM-B?

Recession. Daimler Chrysler slashes 26,000 jobs. Disney cuts 400. Amazon may have cut 20%. It isn’t nice (1 2). But dot-coms might still do well, since software, labour and real-estate costs will start falling?

The MouseDriver Insider: life at a startup.

Wouldn’t mind investing in Israeli tech stocks. But we’ll have to wait for FEMA to replace FERA.

Investors are smart. Disney kills Go.com. Stock rises. Sega kills Dreamcast. Stock rises. Lesson: kill it if it won’t work.

Investor Guide: pretty good on news.

Full credit to Joseph for introducing me to chatting. I decided to conduct a series of experiments in chat rooms, and document the results. After that, I pretty much got hooked. Here’s a log of some of my more interesting conversations, where I adopt a 6-year old (I’m anand_m26blr) I learn that guys want to speak to girls (I’m root_node) I learn that girls can be very confusing (I’m anand_m26blr) I have a virtual date at London with a Canadian (I’m root_node) I help a guy in Texas propose to his love in Hindi (I’m root_node) I am befriended by an Oriyan with strong opinions (I’m root_node) I help a guy pick a [college in Mumbai](/I help a guy pick a college in Mumbai.html) (I’m root_node) I talk to a [business consultant at London](/I talk to a business consultant at London.html) (I’m ME) I appreciate [mahomedyaseenkhan](/I appreciate music.html)’s and his sister’s music (I’m anand_m26blr) I try to fall in love with a [magic crystal ball](/I try to fall in love with a magic crystal ball.html) (I’m root_node) I learn that [robots](/I learn that robots are patient but infuriating.html) are patient, but infuriating. (I’m root_node)

A chat with Business Consulting on chat.rediff.com as anand_m26blr. Right through this conversation, Business Consulting keeps pumping in news about the world to everyone. anand_m26blr: Hi! How come you call yourself Business Consulting? business_consulting: Why no***** just another name anand_m26blr: Fair enough. ASL? business_consulting: Male here. You? anand_m26blr: M, 26, Bangalore. Still want to chat? :-) business_consulting: Sure, what do udo inBangalore? anand_m26blr: I’m studying at IIM-B. And you? business_consulting: IIM-B? which year? anand_m26blr: Second. What about you? business_consulting: Hey do you have any news from IIM-A? like how’s the scene at the campus and are they ok? anand_m26blr: Sure. One of our profs gets regular updates on IIM-A. Only one person is hurt, and no one badly. One dorm (D, I think) is pretty much wiped out. Otherwise, things are fine. Want me to mail you the updates? business_consulting: 2nd year..Finance-Marketing or Systems? anand_m26blr: None. I just picked the courses that looked good. Come on, you’re asking all the questions. What about you? business_consulting: Sure mail me anand_m26blr: What’s your e-mail ID? business_consulting: Basically in to systems-ERP. I work on Peoplesoft. anand_m26blr: Neat! I used to work at IBM myself. Never worked on Peoplesoft products, though, but we were planning to integrate it with Lotus Notes at one point. How long have you been here? business_consulting: ok.. u can mail me at [email protected] anand_m26blr: Mailing you… business_consulting: Here? are u in London too? anand_m26blr: I didn’t know you were in London. No, I’m in Bangalore right now. I was in London a month ago at LBS on an exchange programme. How come you’re in London? business_consulting: IBM That’s business_consulting: Wow that’s great LBS @ CanaryWarf anand_m26blr: No this is London Business School – near Lord’s. business_consulting: IBM that’s good. My Bangalore friend is doing his PG at IIM-A. After hearing aboutthe earthquake Imailed him and so far no news from him. business_consulting: So are you specializing in finance? anand_m26blr: Nope. I’m interested in technology still. So looking at any IT consulting firms that are coming along. Where did you study? business_consulting: I did all my education inBangalore. Are u from Bangalorean as well? business_consulting: Sorry, from Banglaore not Banglorean!! anand_m26blr: I’m from Madras, basically. Studied there right through. You might know some of my classmates, though. When did you finish your undergrad? Was it from BMS? business_consulting: It was way back in 95 mate. Long time 6 years now.. Just thinking of CFA as well.. anand_m26blr: Not all that way back. I passed out in 1996 myself. Where from? business_consulting: So youwere @IBM Bangalore or somewhere else? IIM-Btied up with SAP long ago I think anand_m26blr: I was at Bangalore most of the time. Yeah, IBM tied up with SAP, but I was with the Lotus Notes division, and we were integrating will all the products around. business_consulting: You can do that since its doing pretty well in the US right now. And later onu can shift to CRM too anand_m26blr: That’s probably the plan right now. So you’ve been working for Peoplesoft at London all along, is it? business_consulting: Have you done the LN certification ? anand_m26blr: Yeah, I’m a certified Notes instructor. business_consulting: Currently , are u working @ IBM or studying PG @ IIMB?? anand_m26blr: Studying. I left IBM in June 99. business_consulting: Thanks mate, Igot your mail just going through it anand_m26blr: No problem. Do you chat here often? business_consulting: I do come here quite often, But Iw ill be inBangalore onthe 10th. Moreover I will be at the campus to meet my friend. Your senior though anand_m26blr: Oh… whom are you coming to meet? Fair chance I might know him. business_consulting: Am coming on a 3 weeks holiday. We can meet at the campus too anand_m26blr: That would be nice. My name’s Anand. What’s yours? As in, I get the HSChandra, but what does it stand for? business_consulting: Yeah U will definitely know him- he is Narendra Bansod- 99 batch anand_m26blr: Oh, then he’s two years senior to me. Haven’t met him. Anyway, it’ll be good to meet you. business_consulting: I think he still comes to the campus ontheweekends. So am planning to come there on a weekend. Do you stay in the campus or at home outside? anand_m26blr: I stay on campus. Room C-42. Feel free to drop over. BTW, didn’t get your name… business_consulting: am Chandra Hassan. What’s dorm? anand_m26blr: No dorms. The block is C, and room number 42. That’s it. business_consulting: Chandra Hassan. Chandra for short. anand_m26blr: OK Chandra, great chatting to you. Do mail me at [email protected] when you’re coming over! business_consulting: And you are Anand right anand_m26blr: Yup, this is Anand. Let me know when you’re here. You can reply to the mail I sent you. Bye for now! business_consulting: Sure Anand,I will meet u up at the campus.. Nice talking to u. and Good Luck business_consulting: sure I will on the 10th Feb(Sat) @ around 11:30Am. I might come and meet the next day on Sunday anand_m26blr: That’ll be just after exam time. Should be fine! business_consulting: Also I will be coming and meeting my friend he said he is inroom# J308 ...

Freedrive closes public storage space. Along with Napster, that’s a nail in the coffin of free software. But what about the argument that code is speech, and hence “free speech”?

Nasdaq will open in Bangalore.

zeroTV: good TV-like entertainment for free. World Bank’s B-SPAN has World Bank seminars online. Yeah, the computer is becoming the TV.

Earthquake. We were in class this morning. We started off with 2 minutes of silence for the earthquake victims. At about 8:15AM, we felt a slight shake. We quickly ran out of the room and down the stairs. By this time, the tremors got fairly strong but they lasted only 7-8 seconds. At around lunch time, the estate officer said we were expecting more tremors at noon, so we lined up at the open air theatre, but nothing happened. ...

Consultants’ role this year will be to convert old economy companies into new economy ones. Old economy strategy consultants will gain.

Websense proposes. Anonymizer disposes. Websense monitors employee Internet usage. Anonymizer scrambles it.

Recession? GM shuts 14 plants. Boeing: 1 plant. AMC: 548 theatres. WorldCom lays of 10-15%. HP: 2%. Delphi & Visteon: 10,300. Lucent: 10,000. Sara Lee: 7,000. JC Penney: 5,000. AOL: 2,000.