Whats in Web 2.0

Blogs (short for Web logs) are online journals or diaries hosted on a Web site and often distributed to other sites or readers using RSS (see below).

Collective intelligence refers to any system that attempts to tap the expertise of a group rather than an individual to make decisions. Technologies that contribute to collective intelligence include collaborative publishing and common databases for sharing knowledge.

Mash-ups are aggregations of content from different online sources to create a new service. An example would be a program that pulls apartment listings from one site and displays them on a Google map to show where the apartments are located.

Peer-to-peer networking (sometimes called P2P) is a technique for efficiently sharing files (music, videos, or text) either over the Internet or within a closed set of users. Unlike the traditional method of storing a file on one machine—which can become a bottleneck if many people try to access it at once—P2P distributes files across many machines, often those of the users themselves. Some systems retrieve files by gathering and assembling pieces of them from many machines.

Podcasts are audio or video recordings—a multimedia form of a blog or other content. They are often distributed through an aggregator, such as iTunes.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows people to subscribe to online distributions of news, blogs, podcasts, or other information.

Social networking refers to systems that allow members of a specific site to learn about other members’ skills, talents, knowledge, or preferences. Commercial examples include Facebook and LinkedIn. Some companies use these systems internally to help identify experts.

Web services are software systems that make it easier for different systems to communicate with one another automatically in order to pass information or conduct transactions. For example, a retailer and supplier might use Web services to communicate over the Internet and automatically update each other’s inventory systems.

Wikis, such as Wikipedia, are systems for collaborative publishing. They allow many authors to contribute to an online document or discussion.

Work Matrix ...

why, mr. Vijay, why? why, why do you do it? why, why get up? why keep meeting? do you believe you're meeting for something, for more than your appraisal? can you tell me what it is, do you even know? is it higher pay or promotion, perhaps learning - could it be for impression? illusions, mr. Vijay , vagaries of perception. temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an execution that is without meaning or purpose. and all of them as artificial as consulting itself. although, only the super boss could get something as stupid as this project. you must be able to see it, mr. Vijay you must know it by now! you can't win, it's pointless to keep meeting! why, mr. Vijay, why, why do you persist?

-agent Ramu

this is one of the mails a frustrated Ramu sent to his immediate boss. It has been inspired from the movie Matrix Revolutions

Existence ...

I found this interesting dialogue from the movie 'Dead Poets Society' .....

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

What will your verse be ...
What will your verse be ...
the dialogue has so much of passion built in the words... even the ppl who havnt seen the movie nor the clip can get the feel of it ... amazingly well composed ...

Collections ...

I am not sure since when i got interested in quotes... i had my share of likings for cool quotes, motivational quotes, inspirational ones and so on ...

i started searchin for books on quotes in bookstores, on google... i wuld be subjected to plenty of them... few of them appealing ... but the problem was i couldnt remember quite a lot of them
and i culdnt go back and have a look at them too.. since i wuld hav forgotten the source too... i wuld just know the jist of it or what it related to ... but not the quote

then... i started collecting qu0tes so that i culd go back and look at them and try memorizing them... i have collected a good no. since my MBA days .... but the usage has been limited as of now... the collections are not just quotes... any sentence or a statement which i feel is appealing at that point of time ....

with time i guess will keep posting few of them...

Ships ....

Ships are safe at the harbour... but thats not what they are built for

Marathon

After i posted my 'Om Shanti Om' post... i realised that i havent updated my Marathon post....
i did run the marathon on Oct 28th in Delhi .... takin my marathon tally to 3 in 3 diff indian cities...

i managed to finish the 21.092 km run in 2h 16min ...

managed becoz.. had sprained my leg on friday, 2 days before the marathon, durin a practise run...
yes .. u can call me a psycho... since i ran...things were fine ... till i hit the seventeen km mark... then the leg gave away... the last 4 km was more than a walk and less than a jog ... and finally i was able to clear the finish line ....

Om Shanti Om

Saw the movie just an hour back in one of the very old theaters of Delhi... the movie is pretty decent ...
movie is watchable once
but Deepika any no. of times....
she looks absolutely gorgeous in the movie ...
SRK is still giving fabulous performances year after year, movie after movie...

the movie spoofs few of the old actors in the first half...
second half has most of the new actors .....

the story line is a bit let down...
but given the powerful performances of the actors, one is always captivated to whtevr tht is happening on the screen....

if u havnt watched it yet... its time for u to go thru the experience ....

A city life ...

As some people know, i have moved from one small city to another big city. In the small city i used to be an hitech engineer for a large organization, travelling 22 km daily. In the big city i am a consultant for a small organization, travelling for 22 min daily. Both distances are one - way.

What makes me wonder is in both places, i get frustrated during the journey. Vehicles are everywhere, too much of smoke, everyone keeps honking, no one cares for the rules, the list goes on and on... but by the time u reach ur office or home, u will be completely drained.


What i fail to understand is, why do we have to put up with all that, the kind of work what i was doing before and now, are different but they have one thing in common. Given the telecommunication network we have, 80% of the work can be done from any location. If thats the case, why do we have to put up with all this. Why cant we work in a place where we have some peace, where the mere thought of going to the office or home, doesnt make the hair raise, where the decibel and pollution levels are low.

For my current job, i have to travel a bit, when i have to meet up with clients but in a IT setting u dont have to do that. I am not suggesting u sit at home and work, but we can leave the hustle and bustle of the city and move to quite and peaceful sub urbs and work from there. Since majority of the people working in these kind of companies migrate from different places, relocation should not be a problem as long as basic amenities are present. This way there will be less irritation and frustration among the employees. What a nice thing to happen to all of us.

Why cant the people who take a call on the location see what most of us see.

Demanding Sport

This discussion happnd in the winter of 2006, when we were practicing for the marathon. It was about what was the most grueling sport. After you have run for some 27 km, the first thing that comes to one's mind is the marathon. We moved to Decathlon and Triathlon. We agreed upon triathlon as the most demanding sport. But what we missed out that day was Tour de France. Arguably, the most demanding, most challenging sport in the world today.

Here is an excerpt of an amateur cyclist who cycled only a single stretch of the tour. He has expressed his experience in a wonderful way. After running the marathon, i couldn;t agree with him more.

Marathon time !!

yup...
i am running the marathon again.. but only half this time.... as far as runnin is concerned ... this year has been a fruitful year for me .... starting with StanC mumbai marathon in Jan and Bangalore midnight marathon in May .. it has been a wonderful experience. Going on the same note i am planning to take on the gruelling delhi circuit this time around... the marathon is scheduled on 28th of October and i have barely moved out of my 8 month slumber .... its been 3 days since i have started to wear the running shoes again .... lets c how things go on from here.....

My personal times of the marathon

Stan C full marathon - 42.195 km ... 4h 40min
Blore half marathon - 21.097 km .... 2h 30min

well as u can see there is an aberration in the times here.... for StanC marathon .. i had put in 4 months of practise ... for the blore one .. not even 4 hrs ...

hopefully will improve on my half marathon timing this time around ....

running is one thing that keeps me going ... atleast i found something to pursue in Delhi...

-Raghu

Another Links URL

Sergey Brin's page on Stanford....
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~sergey/

Larry Page's page
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~page/

Technical paper on Google search engine
http://infolab.stanford.edu/pub/papers/google.pdf

Stanford technical reports
http://infolab.stanford.edu/TR/

Elements of Style
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strunk_and_White

Back again !!!

Think there are more posts abt me cumin back than actual posts ...

some update...

did my first international travel last fortnight..
was in 4 different countries in 4 consecutive days .. :) ...

it has brought in some difference in the way is see things in India..
wht exactly i am not sure...

one thing is for sure... w.r.t some countries we are not just 1000 kms far but 1000 yrs far... with the rest we are still behind ...

have a vague idea about certain things... will pen down when the vagueness vanishes but not the idea ...

Coming back after a long time !!!

Not that i was too busy or something ..
not that i didnt have any thoughts to pen...

thoughts were plenty...
time was at hand ...
but what i lacked was the enthu ..

Its been a long time since i hav worked with enthu...
i cant remember when was the last time i had enthu...
may be my TI days... never durin my MBA days...

but yesterday i worked with enthu...
the long lost enthu.... not to the true potential...
but there was passion in what i was doing...

An Irony ....

Our country is driven by monsoons, but when ever monsoons hit the country, everything comes to a standstill.

The economy slows down if there is a slight delay in the monsoons, once the monsoons hit the cities slow down.

Strange are the way things are !!

Dimension

All these while, i have been thinking about lots of stuff to a great deal. All this thought have contributed something to my life. But where it takes a back seat is when it comes to work. I have been thinking specifically about general things and generally about specific things, well when it comes to work a general thought will not do any good. I think its time for me to reduce my indulgence is thinking about things that are way too general and start thinking more about the work i have.
Atleast, it pays.

Motivation !!

This week i had a discussion with the CEO of the company. The interaction was to know and understand what was happening with us, what we were up to, are our expectation being met, so on and so forth. As expected, the discussion revolved around our current assignments, how r v faring, what are the expectations, etc. Then there was a bit of management gyan. Well, if u interact with the top mgmt, you cannot escape the gyan sessions. I don't know whether it makes sense or not, but as i see it now, it doesn't.

Then came the topic, which is the inspiration for this post, well it was about self inspiration and self motivation. The CEO wanted to us to be self motivated and not try to imitate any of the existing employees. If one is interested in the project and he/she sees it as his/her own brainchild, then the inspiration and the motivation comes to get up everyday in the morning and go and give it your best for the work. There will be no boredom. One has to look "inward" for all the inspiration and the enthu.

Well, i would have brushed this off as yet another gyaan, but what stopped me from doing so was the imitating part. It didn't seem to be logical, hence an objection was raised by yours truly.

My ideas and thoughts about motivation are different. To start with, most of us do not have much clarity in what we need to do or want to do. Without this clarity, one falling in love with the project or the work is not possible; if it is possible, it is not sustainable. Therefore this route towards self motivation doesnot work with us.

Years back, i had seen a movie called "Enemy at the Gates", yes, this is the Jude Law one. In this movie, the reporter says to the general that if you need civilians to fight for you, you cannot do so by pushing them on to the battle field. We need heroes who will inspire them to go and fight. Thats what i am talking about here.

What we need in an organisation are heroes. People who are excellent at what they do, people whom others want to imitate. By looking at these people, one gets the desire to be one among them. Once the desire sets in, it will give rise to rest of the things. Others start looking at the qualities the heroes possess. They look inward and assess the qualities they have. They see the difference and try to cultivate what they lack and fine tune what they already have. Through this process, they know more about themselves, they will be aware of their limitations and their talents. Then the rest will be history.

Essentially the point being, one needs heroes for inspiration, with this inspiration, motivation follows. Once you start looking inward, slowly self motivation will follow suit.

I dont hav much clarity about lots of things, but here and there i hav a bit of clarity on the rest.

Thats' Success

I came across this beautiful poem today through mail. Thought it will be good to have it on my blog since i intend to post my thoughts on success and our pursuit of excellence.

That's Success!
By Berton Braley

It's doing your job the best you can,
And being just to your fellow man;
It's making money - but holding friends,
And being true to your aims and ends.
It's figuring how and learning why,
And looking forward and thinking high;
And dreaming a little and doing much,
It's keeping always in closest touch.
With what is finest in word and deed,
It's being thorough, yet making speed;
It's daring blithely the field of chance,
While making labour a brave romance.
It's going onward despite defeat,
And fighting staunchly, but keeping sweet;
It's being clean and it's playing fair,
It's laughing lightly at Dame Despair.
It's looking up at ! the stars above ,
And drinking deeply of life and love;
It's struggling on with the will to win,
But taking loss with a cheerful grin.
It's sharing sorrow and work and mirth,
And making better this good old earth;
It's serving, striving through strain and stress,
It's doing your noblest - that's success

The below post ...

The below post on Dehradun was written when i was too sleepy. I noticed myself dozzing off while writing the post. Don't know why i pushed myself to complete the post. I haven't read it again to check whether it makes any sense. Whtevr it is let it be the way it is.

I had plans of writing few blogs during the weekend. But was caught up in shopping and setting up home on saturday and British GP , Wimbledon on sunday. I tried to make a list of it but i feel it is better to post when one is in the flow.

Yet another Dehradun trip !!

Yup, I had been to Dehradun yet again. This time around i was fortunate enough to visit Mussoorie too. I tried to convince three of my friends to take sick leave to accompany me to Mussoorie, and i was successful with one of them !, but as fate would have it i had to travel alone. Well, during the journey i became friends with the driver and we had a nice conversation through out and he narrated some of his experiences to him. It was different but it was interesting.

This time around the journed was awesome. It had rained the previous night. Early in the morning, dew drops had settled on the grass and it was reflecting the golden rays of the sun. It was a wonderful treat to the eyes. Then came the pine trees, with their long brown tree trunks and the dark green leaves and the lush green carpet around them, it was a sight worth watching. I was very much ecstatic looking at the very sight in front of my eyes. I was happy that i came to this place at the right time.

I set out in the morning at around 2:30 in a Innova. The driver was good, the road was clear and we were in Dehradun by 7 types. Then our little hunt for our little place started and instead of doing the southern leg i ended up doing the northern leg first. Well Mussoorie at 8 in the morning is a wonder by itself. At around 7000 ft above sea level, one can look at the clouds below. The mist on the green tops of the mist will play hide and seek, simply exaggerating the beauty the mountains hold.

There was a wishing well on my path. I stopped the car and looked into the well. At 6500 ft, how can one expect the well to have water within 50 ft. Guess there is some sort of an imbalance in the table.

Whtevr it was, this was one of the most wonderful short trips i had.

Pirates of Caribbean ...

Its 2 in the morning of July the 5th and i came back to my room just now. I had been to Noida to watch the third in the series of Pirates of Caribbean. I have not watched the first two parts, and the people who understand the movie would have confidently guessed by now that i wouldn'y hav understood a thing about the movie. Well their guess is bullz eye. Even though my friend had watched the earlier parts, he had difficulties in understanding the storyline of the movie. The action scenes are competing with our bollywood ones. It had been a long time since i had seen a movie with miserable and disgusting action scenes. Johnny Depp brings in some fun into a boring ordeal and Ms. Knightley breathes life into the dead souls. :) ...

Overall a movie worth avoiding.