What is News Worthy

  • Is Musk the new Murdoch?
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  • FTX & Bankman-Fried: Is Silicon Valley Responsible?
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  • Google Search Result: A cluttered Maze
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  • Stanford Hospital Acquires Fremont based Washington Hospital - Obamacare effect?
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  • Bond King is Back and Has a message to Powell: STOP RAISING RATES!
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  • Average selling price of GM has reached BMW, Benz Territory- Legalizing Cannabis effect or just another bubble market?

Silicon Valley Vibes!

  • Tesla & SpaceX didn’t listen to WS and Pundits …Should Twitter & Musk Now?
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  • Would you allow Siri to drive you around?
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  • Finally Adobe is Discounting its products and services
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  • SalesForce departure….is it voluntary or…?
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  • Dot Com burst brought Java Programmers to earth…..are we there yet?
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  • Contract Workers: Secret for Google & Apple not reducing headcounts?

FANG News:

  • Not A Royalty …Just the Benefits, Please! Harry, Megan & Netflix
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  • Where is Bezos….enough Romance & Honeymooning..Amazon shareholders need you!
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  • Is Google missing Eric Schmidt?
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  • World minus USA wedded to WhatsApp more than any other platform.. should FB reap the benefits soon?
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  • When Microsoft drops its subscription fees will it feel the pain? As the new generation does not know Office, Really!

Thursday, October 29, 2015

What is Amazon?

Is it a Walmart Killer?

An ecommerce juggernaut?

A Netflix wanna be?

Also ran Apple?Google....and Microsoft, Oracle...and on and on and on.....

here is a new twist and maybe the fact!

A Frictionless Logistics and Transportation Enterprise which knows hoe to optimize sentiment, capital and assets deployed!

A less publicized list of facts:

- From UPS/FedEx delivery mechanism AMZN has gone from Drone to USPS to white label carriers to Social WorkForce! ( FDX and UPS are missing estimates and shrinking because of these actions; USPS might even be profitable soon!!)

- Creating Lucias and Malkins(names of MailBox locations)  and hundreds and thousands  of Amazon Mail boxes from Seven 11s to grocery shops

- Amazon Robots and drones inside P&G inventory locations picking and shipping directly

- Amazon makes more money from third party sale than from its own sale: An eBay inside only that the inventory and processing is within Planet Amazon leaving less and less control to seller ....thus becoming the super distributor!

- Using Big Data differently than what most retails and entities do.....has the capability (and uses)to increase prices on products based on end user vulnerability (unlike most retailers who using patterns give special discounts to attract and retain customers)

- with anonymity established in most transactions: the network can be used for trafficking products not normally allowed legally


And now if you still think Amazon is a AWS play or a Wal-Mart killer or a threat to MSFT or ORCL or GOOGL or AAPL...think again!




TOP10 TRUMP Presidential Agenda



10- Presidential Apprentice: You're Impeached!
09- World Beauty Pageant: First Ladies Edition
08- Licenses Limited Edition Golden Toupees to Foreign Presidents
07- Moves WH to Central Park, NY
06- Air Force One renamed Trump Air
05- Relaunches Taj Mahal Casino as Trump Mahal in DC
04- Buys FOX and changes it to Trump's FOXY Channel (Kelly joins MSNBC)
03- The Great Walls of Trump Phase II around Dem States
02- Tries Wiping out US Debt by filing for Bankruptcy
01- White House Renamed Trump's House

Mr Zuckerberg and Taj Mahal!

Not so many weeks back - Mr Modi, Indian Prime Minister,  embraced Mr Z in Silicon Valley!
Mr Z stunned everyone by revealing that upon Steve Job's recommendation he visited a temple in India to get clarity before FaceBook became what it is today!

And then came the picture of him looking at TajMahal - posted by Mr Z in his FB page!

I was stunned at reading the news and seeing the Photo at WSJ! My immediate reactions aside ...I was impressed with the photo for several reasons...before I rattle off those take a look at the photo (Courtesy Wall Street Journal) just see what comes to your mind.....



the reasons being

- how familiar we have become with Mr Z's profile that we can recognize him even in this pose!
- an appreciation from Mr Z and the camera person : looking at the picture it is clear the intention is to have attention to Taj Mahal and not at anything else.....and with Mr Z looking at it makes this a dynamic picture with the picture posing many questions and imagination as to the intention/purpose etc ....especially being posted on the Most powerful site on earth today!

So immediately spammed it by sending it to a few .....and the answers that I got amazed me .....as what everyone saw was not the same......making  me wonder if the mode of communication that we are headed to leaves a lot to imagination and creates a new dynamics in the communication industry!

some of the responses are:

- yes saw this as it was plastered on all news outlets as his visit is the HOT topic
- of course India is the largest market for FB and Mr Z realizes what touches his customers more
- Posting it on FB makes more people visiting FB
- with next door China still evasive for Mr Z.....this is one way to make China blink
- its so cool that Mr Z wanted people to see Taj Mahal and not him...

and I was floored how different the reaction could be for an ordinary photo with extra-ordinary subjects and an emerging medium!


Tuesday, October 20, 2015

IBM - Ready to learn and Innovate ?

Several years ago with Ms Rometti inheriting IBM from Palmisano - a handful of people knew the day will come when IBM will have to pay for Mr Palmisano's profit churning machine! As what he did was to go generic on their skills keeping pace with the Indian based emerging SIs  - like the Tatas, Infosys, Cognizants and the likes who were hiring 20,000 to 30,000 freshers a year and dumping them at ridiculous rates. Mr Palmisano decided to wave the magic wand- replace the high cost IBMers with low cost programmers and techies from India - like their competitors. With Blue Stripes ont eh contract papers nad badges- he felt that customers will pay the price premium. And the margins will keep coming for years to come. That it did and the share holders were happy as the profit more than tripled during this head turning transitions as IBM actually became jokingly  Indian Bodies & Machines at the Indian college campuses - with over 50% of IBM employees based in India.

Profit and dividends kept increasing year after that it even attracted Mr Buffet- a person who refused to invest in Technology till then!

And then came Ms Rometti- who hopefully will realize that IBM is not her father's IBM anymore - with the mass layoffs of talents and skills it does not have the capability anymore to have the bleeding edge! ( which made the CXO's keeping coming to Big Blue for innovation and Technology!)

Can they change and start innovating anymore? With so much of Installed base and cash - yes they can.....only if they understand that low cost labor is good for margins....but only for a while as it does not breed innovation!

The Oprah Effect!

Watching your weight is not the same as watching your wallet!

Weight Watchers stock at this rate will bring in more than your waist could handle...with Oprah's 10% stake and two years commitment- it might just be the beginning if one looks at the fortune her endorsement has brought- From Dr Phil to Mr Obama to a less known Billionaire - Spanx founder Blakely....whose product was so good Ms Winfrey proudly went on national TV that she gave up on panties and only wore Spanx!

The catch this time is......would Oprah be brave enough to report on her progress from adopting the WeightWatchers weight reducing program? Does she need to in the first place?? Given the two year lock in period I am sure the Oprah effect will last a while!

Monday, October 19, 2015

Amazon goes after Reviewers!

Its funny that Amazin and Jeff Bezos would do this...given the fact... the early years of Amazon it was reported that all book reviews were done by Amazon shipping/receiving and other employees of Amazon without ever reading them! Oh well ......may be they realized that it is wrong ...so they just want others to not make the same mistake??? And yes.....they now have a gazillion dollars!

while talking about Amazon - now that they have started using USPS , OnTrack and other cheap means of shipment (tapping into Uber like share economy)....you not only miss your shipments but its so strange to see utterly unorganized and strange people loitering around neighborhoods...digging up cluttered truck load of packets....! Not to mention FDX and UPS to compensate for lost revenue are jacking up the already ballooned rates of theirs!

The good news is.....USPS might finally break even in a couple of years!

Bringing PowerPoint and Spreadsheet to Old News!

How do you make an old news or a poorly received news flaming hot and attractive?

Add the usual management style- Ask Business Insider's Henry Blodget!

Take a third party news and dont just sugar coat them but make it more glamorous and outright sexy!

- Bring in a Bold and Loud Headline ( relevancy is not necessary)

- pick a cheap but eye catching picture for the headline ( again no relevance to  news or headline)

- then the content based on how much time the copy and paste reported of BI has - make a powerpoint with lot of colorful graphs or just reduce the content and give a link to the original author!

If it does not work = come back after 2 hours and change the picture or the headline....repeat this exercise till you have milked the ad engine!

if You are wondering how this works? Well HB's bubble wrapped Bezo's invested in BI only to see his investment zoom in just a few months when it was sold at a TheStreet.com type of bubblitious price!

Alphabet Soup??

Alphabet - The post Eric Schmidt Google is slowly dying and we don't know yet! Ability of Eric Schmidt  to convert a search engine to an Internet Juggernaut is less appreciated by the media and the analysts...and the effect of it is felt in the current faltering of management style and may not be felt for several years!
Slowing to Smell....!

After going through several blogs I came to the conclusion that it is very difficult to write about your day to day life!

Fascinating to see how creative people are and how so many people around the world are able to choose a variety of topic and pour their heart out and paint something so wonderful- full of life and color!

Need Humor! Need Depth and more than anything need perspective! I found it is easy to write about something substantial in which a person is well versed in. It made me think - I went around the last few days looking around and paying attention to everything from nature to relationships!

Now curiosity started posing a question - what is more important to writing? Chosing a topic or having the patience to research and articulate about the impressions that every day events brings to a person?

I thought I will try this every day! For 30 Days!

Impulsive and spontaneous
!

No research - just type as the feelings flow and as the words can portray! Thanks to the Blackberry - now I can try doing that the moment the urge happens without waiting!

As I was deciding on this I found myself in a shop - decided to pull my Blackberry and type what I saw around me...so begins my first piece.

PS. Since Blog has major restricitons on how many posting and what kind of flexibility one can have using the standard template I will try to find a work around using a couple of gadgets to display a couple of days posting at any given time till I figure out a way to display the history!

To avoid dilution of this site I have moved the experiment to another blog under

http://dailylifesigns.blogspot.com

The following is a sample on content with no photos- the Daily Life Signs posting will be more of a pictorial experience!






Walking around a woman's shop!

Looking at the colors in a woman's shop is like peeking into a kaleidoscope. However, one doesn't have to change to feel the vibrant mood.

Amazing styles and fascinating fashion! Trying to coordinate gives the several option that is needed to meet the day to day lifestyles of varying moods and differing ages.

Age appropriate colors! Shades for fading moods!

Bold red!

Sober red!

Flashy red!

Bland red!

Blood Red!

Romantic Red!

Decisions! Decisions! and Decisions!

Deciding the color at the time of shopping gives the option to choose and refine to the various rainbow moods that a person possibly can go through in a fast paced connected world!

Sizes and fits to match every form and need.

Having a choice helps in refinement!

And helps!

In Decisions! Decisions and Decisions!

Startup Wisdom!

May be there is a reason they want a Money Man to run the venture- but the following tip will save a buck or two! This will list a couple of grey hairs to keep!

  • Success is contageous- start it immediately!
  • Share the Vision but not Leadership!
  • Smart money is great - but Lucky Money is even better. Get some!
  • Being passionate is essential - but only after motivation to make money.
  • Establish the TRUE Pecking Order!
  • Let Sales be part of your core strategy- everything else can be bought!
  • If you havent done Selling START DOING IT NOW!

Building your 2nd Million!

Skip the first million and go straight to the second- as the first one is the most difficult one to bring home! The second one can be as tough as the first one but is never tougher than the first one! You can make money - working - investing in stocks/etc - real-estate - starting a business - others Choose your area of interest first as this will help you identify the opportunity and make you easily motivated to work on the 2nd million!

Not in any particular Order!

  • First lets know the facts: 1) Your work life is 40 something years (even at conservative estimate) so lets make sure we plan that Properly
  • 2) Lets identify opportunity to make money with out too much effort- living for Today is Good but lets not lose today's free money in the process like - benefits, tax breaks, sale,coupons,etc
  • 3) Lets not try to make ALL THE MONEY in the same way! Lets break the objective into smaller chunks and assign different ways to make them individually
  • 4) Put the 1st Million in Auto-pilot and set a 10 Years plus Time table
  • Convince yourself that you need the Money
  • Set a time line to achieve the goal.

Relationships - Learning to enjoy them!

Do we retain relationships? Expectations out of frienships vary from society to society & age group to age group. How long do we carry them? Some of them bring fond memories- and some not so pleasant! Here you can expect to see nuggets from my experiences and analysis!

Family & Friends: We spend less time with family than with friends- yet we feel more comfortable with family than friends- Why? Is it because we dont have expectations with family members but we have some on friends?

Allowing the other person to finish their train of thought builds a very long lasting relationship - as it makes you understand the other persons point of view fully & also to respond being aware making even an opposing point of view reasonable.


  • Cherry Pick your arguments - Left or Right Brained!
  • Make every encounter a transaction - this will make leaving baggages behind easy!
  • Qualify the type of relationship - however strange it might be
  • Chasing friendship is not always helpful as it leads to compromise.
  • Family circles - define it and accept it whether you like it or not!
  • Its ok to do different activities with different people!
Prof Dr Peik A Monie's Corner

  • if being number two is not enough go to a lower market
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  • proceeds from a street dog dont bark
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  • shooting the papparazi dont break cameras

DIGITAL IRIS - An inexcusable view of the photograpic world!

Let me see if I can add a few lines every week highlighting my 2 cents on photography- my experiences and desires

Things that make good photos -

- excellent and expensive set of lenses; in this digital era spend less on the body and keep investing in the high end lenses as the lenses will not lose value and the body is still under construction!

- accessories and the right tripod; never underestimate your advantage with a tripod

- plan & choose the subject and the location

- know your subject well!

- look and follow the calendars; simple things like a night with a Full moon- we dont realise that it does not happen every day - if you narrow it to the summer when the sky is still blue - I guess it becomes a couple of times a year- and if you factor n the location and your availability at that location and time...so Knowing the calendar and season helps for a good but not so common picture

- Take some luck with you!

  • Print and Enlarge Some Too
  • Delete Bad Pictures from Storage
  • Isolate Subject's color
  • Assess various profile
  • Add a subject to the frame
  • Take Nature after rain - they look better
  • Transparent Objects like flowers have creative effect with light behind them
  • If you want to enjoy the trip - leave the camera behind!
  • Define the subject for the shoot out trip
  • Take a survey trip before the real shoot out
  • Learn & Buy the Best Tripod
  • Always take a handy utility camera
  • Use Multiple exposure & shots in action oriented moments- this will help you pick the ideal snap - as even a fraction of a second makes a HUGE difference in photos.
  • Know your camers settings!
  • Understand Shutter Lag
  • Understand the camera shakes

AfterMarket Pulse- The boring Services Industry!

Keeping it inefficient is good for every one- A success story and why it will be restricted to a handful in the services Industry- A serious look at the Service Industry and my views on improving them. As a society we have accepted that everything breaks down and needs periodic maintenance. We are willing to pay both money and time to accomodate such services. What we have not done is define what is the service level that is needed for every such incident. From household appliances to industrial equipments we are forced to accept the cost and quality that the market offers. In such a sellers market room for mediocracy is enormous- giving way for opportunities. Yes predicatability is not always easy when it comes to failure or repair - or for that matter to identify what is wrong once the item is broke as it is not always possible to run the equipment ot see what is going wrong! And there are companies that can afford stupidity & those that cannot- if you want to change choose wisely!

  • Three steps: 1) Localize Failure 2) Response to Events 3) Time to Life
  • Inter-dependency at a higer level accelerates return
  • Resposiveness is rewarding - even if it is just to show on site of event!
  • Failure Prevention is difficult - yet possible
  • Know your Industry problems: Inventory, Turn time, Forecasting Failure, Estimating Cost, Finding Talent, Automation tools
  • Know your industry Practices- Swapping parts, using refurbished items, penalty
  • Define Quality of service
  • Attract talent - as service industry does not attract fresh talents
  • Innovote service packages

About Me

Seen me go through cycles driven by Age, Money, Deception, Affection, Success, Failure, Fear- etc. The current cycle puts me in a middle aged bucket with sculpted bitterness trying to tame it to embrace the sweet crime of success and affection.