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Archive for May, 2008

When rich gets hungrier, poor sleeps without food?

May 31st, 2008 No comments
When the inflation is on a rise world over, the largest economy in the world is looking the face of recession and the food prices are rising on global level its all natural for a specialists like Amartya Kumar Sen to put forward their arguments on all this. And as judgmental creatures we are, we end up criticizing present rather than propose a future in form of a action.

For introduction, Amartya Kumar Sen is an Indian economist, philosopher, and a winner of the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences (Nobel Prize for Economics) in 1998, “for his contributions to welfare economics” for his work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, the underlying mechanisms of poverty, and political liberalism.

In his blog post he has explained the food mismatch citing example of a country with a lot of poor people who suddenly experience fast economic expansion, but only half of the people share in the new prosperity. The favored ones spend a lot of their new income on food, and unless supply expands very quickly, prices shoot up. The rest of the poor now face higher food prices but no greater income, and begin to starve.

He also takes a dig on the use of ethanol as fuel. Produced mainly from corn in US, it routes the food production for different consumption, and its the poor who has to pay for it. Logic is simple, countries like India, China, Vietnam and Argentina are experiencing rapid development; people move up to better and processed food; the food consumption per person rises and the food export which was coming from these nations earlier lessens or stops. The inflation rises and food prices shoot up, the poor who already were surviving on cheap and small food quantity are forced to hunger. The world’s poor are themselves divided between those who are experiencing high growth and those who are not; and the number of the latter is quite high.

This reminds me of a small game every new batch in FMS, Delhi (India) was made to play in Induction session by the faculty of organizational behavior. Crux of the game was that you may register a high growth or spikes of it in short run on your own. But to maintain growing in the long run, you need the co operation from all others. Same holds true for global economy and with more and more countries on development phase, it is going to hold more and more true for the world economy.

Categories: Economics Tags:

GTalk now provides the invisible model option

May 30th, 2008 4 comments
Probably one of the most important features I saw in chatting apart from chatting was the option of ‘invisible mode’. It lets you to have an important chat without everybody bombarding you with pings and hence your screen. It has been a strong feature that was missing in Gtalk and I know about many people who didn’t used to come online on Gtalk, me included, as everybody would be seeing you and hence it ends up a time consuming thing, especially when you have come online for some work on Gtalk.

But then voila, Google has now brought this option in its latest version of Gmail chat. For the people using AIM in Gmail (Google allowed AIM clients to be Google chat compatible few months back), invisible mode also makes them appear signed out on the AIM network. Invisible mode is one of the most requested chat features and so it’s a much awaited addition, starting in Gmail Chat, and in the future all Talk clients.

But at the same point Google’s official Gmail blog has mentioned that the chat may not be useful if lot of people go off line. So do give a feedback to them in case you have any opinion on this…

Categories: Technology Tags:

HTTP -> Web -> Web 2.0 -> Shift

May 28th, 2008 5 comments
Internet has been seen as an invention as significant as discovery of uses of fire. These inventions/discoveries change the entire path on which the future of not only humans but also of the earth. But then with every such discovery/invention is attached the front runners, the laggards and the ones who doesn’t want the new change at all or may desire to be in oblivion of it. Fate of internet has been no different.

Web2.0 has brought in as much confusion as the benefits. It is changing the habits of the people without them knowing if that is a health practice or not. Recent studies have shown that more and more number of people have been discarding the newspapers as the source of news/info. People have started going to blogs and social bookmarking sites for the same. Its fast, it’s visually appealing, tangible, customized and interesting. But then there is what I call a ‘baggage attached’. When one decides to search for a news on such platforms, one is actually going to a mega mall of news to pick the things one likes. There will be many brands (read source) of the item (read story) wanted and one gets to choose various brands of same item, or maybe with different flavor – say spicy, Page 3, thriller etc. But what baggage that is contained is that you end up spending more time, looking at the variety, additional flavors. You may never be able to find the actual item you wanted and may end up buying/consuming the one that is flashy and catchy.

And not only habits it is also the understanding that is yet to mature. The older websites were ranked on the parameter of page views. You may see huge amount of money being pumped in various web2.0 startups. But in middle of this Web2.0 craze people are forgetting to check the feasibility of revenue. Page views won’t give a real picture of the success/ following of the website. Technologies like Ajax, Rich Media and widgets are making this parameter a loser.

The technologies today are trying to make the communication between server and communication low while making the change /page load on customer end minimal. All info requested is loaded on the page asynchronously and without letting user have to reload the entire page. So effectively there was a zero page load over here when user looks for additional information. Hence companies like AC Nielson have already started looking at other indicators like unique visitors, time spent on site per visit, no of clicks per visit etc as better metrics to drive the business goals.

As they say, shift happens!
Categories: Technology Tags:

Putinomics rocks!

May 12th, 2008 2 comments
Putin has stepped down as president and stepped up as prime minister now. The Russian economy has gone through a lot of changes and the baton has been passed now. The steel man Vladimir Putin’s administration appears to have left Russia’s economy in a rosy state. Economic growth averaged 7.2% between 1999 and 2008. Foreign reserves stand at 30% of GDP and are the third highest in the world in absolute terms. The stock market has increased twenty-fold. The middle class is buying foreign cars, vacationing abroad, and dining at sushi restaurants, and surveys show that life satisfaction has increased across the board.

As project syndicate reports, Russia’s economic success is partly attributable to high oil and commodities prices. But oil is not the whole story. The tax reform of 2001 improved incentives to work and decreased tax evasion by introducing a flat 13% income tax – one of the world’s lowest. Liberalizing the procedures for corporate registration and licensing, and limiting inspections, improved the climate for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Conservative macroeconomic policy and financial-sector reform lowered interest rates and fueled an investment and consumption boom. Real wages tripled, and poverty and unemployment fell by half.
Source: Wikipedia

Inequality and corruption are going to be the main obstacles now. Despite Russia’s recent economic achievements, both remain at alarmingly high levels. According to Forbes magazine, there were 87 Russian billionaires, with combined wealth of $471 billion, a figure second only to the United States. Yet their net worth accounts for roughly 30% of Russia’s GDP, whereas America’s 469 billionaires are worth only about 10% of US GDP.

More importantly, inequality of opportunity is very high as well. According to a recent survey, a majority of Russians believes that acquiring wealth requires criminal activity and political connections. Only 20% believe that talent matters. These beliefs are self-fulfilling prophecies.

Categories: Economics Tags:

Yahoo all set to GLUE you to its new search

May 12th, 2008 4 comments

Yahoo has released a new type of search result for India called “Glue Page.” Instead of the usual text listing, some queries – like blog, Taj Mahal or asthma – will now trigger a comprehensive and very visual result page. This page contains different elements laid out in boxes; there’s “normal” search results, encyclopedic information from health sites or Wikipedia, news results, YouTube videos or Google blog search results (yes, they’re integrating results from competitors, though Google is also a partner of Yahoo in some areas) and more.

This is a very interesting prototypical service; part meta search engine and part original results from Yahoo, and a bit like Google’s universal search approach that brings in results from images, videos, maps, news, or other sources as appropriate. It is also similar in appearance to Ask since its redesign last summer.

What is interesting is that the option is available only in India, maybe because its result of Indian development center. Also its not available for all results but is only triggered in the “glue” approach when the topic is broad enough to yield lots of results from diverse services.

Yahoo Glue only works for certain categories of searches (sports, travel, entertainment, health, stocks, and tech), but it does produce a more satisfying experience than the traditional list of blue links. The only issue is that the results take a little bit longer to load. But humans are visual creatures and we respond better to the visual display of information. Yahoo Glue brings in results in three different panes, both from Yahoo and elsewhere. They can be images, videos, Wikipedia entries, HowStuffWorks entries, sports stats, and news, and results from other sources.

And the dynamism is the beauty of it. Search for the “Taj Mahal” and you get pictures and videos of the Taj Mahal, and a link to the Wikipedia entry. Search for Angelina Jolie and you get a bio, pics, YouTube videos, music charts, news, and results from Yahoo Answers. Search for “soccer” and you get league tables. The traditional link results are still available in the narrow left-hand column, but you almost ignore them.

Categories: Technology Tags: ,

Vodafone pug gets new avtaar

May 5th, 2008 3 comments
As any marketer would swear, brands are made in years and it takes lot of toil and sweat to maintain one. The kind of the effort and streamlining that it takes to develop a successful brand pushes the brand manager in later years to go by what remains basic to the brand identity. Now it may be the color, the packaging, the association with some event or person or any strong identity or a jingle (remember “Kya aap close up karte hain” or “Raamu tumhare daant to motiyon jaise chamak rahe hain” or music of “You and I… in this beautiful world…”?)

Problem is once a strong brand is built, it produces a drag effect wherein the brand manager would not dare to change any constituent of the brand lest it loses the brand recall; hence he is dragged by the already set associations. One has to always remember that brand exist not physically but only in the mind of consumers. So if there is decline in recall then the brand manager just eroded the brand! But at the same time a brand can’t exist eternally without a change. There has to be an innovation to make sure the brand connects to the present need of consumer and that is the reason why the drag effect can kill.

Now a very valid question may arise – If the brand can’t be changed for fear of losing on brand recall and then brand has to be changed to make sure that it is relevant to today’s consumer needs; it’s a dead end as both are complementary! The answer lies in making the change slowly, in steps and most important of all making the consumer to learn the change. It was best shown lately by Sony Erickson mobile phone ads in India where the logo of company was put between various sentences like, “I (logo) music”. Here the sentences were shown with logo at the places where our mind would automatically put the word as “love”. And then the use was further expanded once people learned to replace the logo with that word.

Coming to Indian telecom market again, Hutch (now Vodafone) is one brand that has tinkered a lot with the brand elements. It is one really successful brand that has kept its customers although it changed some very basics of its brand. Few years back it changed its strongest identity – Orange color. But then there were extensive campaigns which made customers learn the change and accept it. (Many times loyalists won’t accept the change to the brand as they are emotionally linked to it). Then last year after its controversial take over by global giant Vodafone, it was decided to change a series of things – Pink was changed to Red (it clashed a bit with Maroonish Red of Airtel, the market leader in India in same domain), its boy was out of the famous duo of a boy and a pug and its jingle gave way to just the music of the composition.

If you see the latest ad campaign (see video below) that is being shown extensively; even the jingle has gone. Guess whom do they upset with this change… it’s me! Always been a fan of the way the pug was used and how the jingle or even its music was used in ads to join the dots between the changes ; it surely was disappointing to not hear the tone anywhere. Although I also like the new song “…be my side” but then … :)

Here is the latest ad:

Categories: Uncategorized Tags: ,