June 2001

Having seen a bit of it from the inside, I agree with Consulting Central’s ranking of consulting companies.

I’m in Bangkok. Not planning to update this site for a week. Incidentally, it’s almost time for my site’s first anniversary – a year since 28 July 2000, when I started updating it regularly.

Will OggVorbis beat MP3 Pro? Will Netscape 6.1 beat IE 5.5? Will OpenBSD 2.9 overtake Linux? Unlikely. But should be interesting to watch.

Nuke the Hamptons: a very interesting site.

Guys want to speak to girls, not guys. (I’m root_node) ra_sun74: hi root_node: Hi ra_sun74, ASL? ra_sun74: m/26/dehi ra_sun74: u root_node: M/26/MUM. Are you a Delhi-ite? As in, born in Delhi? There ends the conversation. ra_sun74 doesn’t even say Bye. He’s not interested. root_node: Hi Sanav. Where are you from? s_sanav: asl root_node: m/26/mum. Still interested in chatting? Clearly not. rosesaif: hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii root_node: Hi rosesaif. ASL, please? rosesaif: 19m rosesaif: u root_node: 26/M/Mumbai. Where are you from? rosesaif: mum rosesaif: bye root_node: Bye. ...

Feed is dead. Suck is dead. Thankfully, Plastic is alive. Demise of a Net Magazine.

Danny Yee’s micro-advertising experiment indicates that weblogs like Robot Wisdom (which is quite impressive) may be more effective than Google.

The US Copyright office has come up with a Copyright search engine.

A review of Spielberg’s A.I. with lots of spoilers.

Intruiging, but Collins (author of Built to Last) finds that the most successful executives are filled with self-doubt and humility.

The Gartner Group, which focused on IT strategy, has launched GartnerG2, which will talk about business strategy.

A note from my friend Ashish: “To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Should your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset. So even if the thief changes the SIM card your phone will be totally useless. If everybody did this, there would be no point in stealing mobile phones.” ...

Envisionet filed for Chapter 11 (they’re bankrupt), and sent a reassuring e-mail to their employees, telling them it was business as usual.

Keep up with Yahoo’s buzz.

Changemakers.net is a journal/portal for social entrepreneurship. That is, people who’re changing society in a new way. Normally, I wouldn’t have given this a second thought, but the site appears so extensive, and the concept so intruiging, that I think it’s worth a browse. DigitalDivide.org is based on a similar theme, except for the Internet world.

BCG New Delhi is now officially on the BCG world map.

This morning, for the first time, I saw what the waves crash over the rocks on Marine Drive. I did see some spray on Friday as we were walking along Marine Drive, but nothing like this. It was raining, and torrentially. The previous evening, my umbrella broke. I was walking out of office, which is directly in front of the sea. The breeze blows towards office. There’s no way for the wind to go except through the door. So when I walked out of the door and opened my umbrella, the breeze inverted it, and broke a couple of the rods. It’s still usable, but won’t stand another strong wind. ...

If you don’t believe in online theft, read the diaries of hackers who make six figures, or stores of junk-mail hoaxes. If you’ve already been had, share your sorrow at Card cops.

Vishnu and I tried out Indian Summer, opposite to Gaylord. It looked like one of those ‘classier’ places, so I wasn’t expecting the meal to be any good. The variety was impressive though, so sticking to my policy of ordering dishes I never had, we tried Shahi shorba (soup), methi tikki and simla mirch besan ke sath, with makai roti and reshmi paratha. For Rs. 550. I recommend every single dish – especially the soup. The service was good, too, and I’d rate it as excellent, except for the fact that the waiter walked up to us and asked us if we’d ordered Shahi Shorba. True to my form, I stared at him cluelessly, looked around, and said, “Who me?” ...

Here’s a new one. A study shows that unhappy workers are better than happy ones. Throw the Hawthorne effect out of the window.