Being Geek - Must read

The book's cover grabbed my attention instantly. That's me ! Gotta read this one .. is what I said to myself.

The first page made me connect and smile. Through the course of the book I realized that I might believe that I have successfully transformed myself into an management person, but truth be told, I have still not lost my religion !
The book puns on how the structured mind expects every body else in the professional realm to follow a structure too.And how unmet expectations lead to confusion and
frustration. The book comes to aid as a guide to help navigate through this unknown territory.
Dwelling a little too much on how to go about a presentation was a drag but overall, the writer makes one realize that the unstructured world is not difficult deal with.
There are people who follow patterns and can be dealt with in counter patterns. Simple as this formula sounds, it depends too much on one's will to go that mile and enforce an intersection of these patterns.
Must read.

The truth about innovation

People care more about what new they can do as opposed to what problem they can solve.
It's true.We are so smitten by the novelty of things that we staunchly believe innovation to be"creating something new".If it's new, it's cool !
But if you really go subcutaneous on every innovation - they are solving some problems or addressing unmet needs.Picking up some examples from day to day life :
# cup holders, power windows, remote locking, windshield sprayer in cars
# laptops, lighter laptops, smaller laptops, even small laptops with better battery
# modular kitchen
# ziploc bags
# hand blenders
# multiple doors, external display in refrigerators
# split a/c units
# the iphone

.. to name a few. Now just as you scan this short list, what is the most interesting but common thing that strikes you ? Each of these features / products shakes the industry, becomes the coolest thing around and then goes on to be the de-facto standard or even a hygiene factor if you will.
And that's the beauty of solving a problem.Innovation and coolness become an easy beneficial side-effect.

I mean Apple did not go on and say, let's make an incomprehensible portable music device or a ground breaking telecommunication device .. they saw a domain that had some pain points and some unmet needs.I mean Nokia has been making phones for years, for crying out loud and they launched hundreds of models..

It's not what new you create, it's the how that is the separating line..

Google TV - dwarfing IPTV

The Google guys are at it again. Google TV Promises a rich web and TV experience with quick ability to find what one's looking for.
I'd like to see the remote (or keyboard though ;-)

Lucid Lynx is in the house

Thanks to Sameer, I was able to get the Ubuntu 10.04 iso and install the much awaited upgrade.In a wink, this is what's new :
couple of smooth new themes
better icons and all
Gwibber for staying connected to one's social graph (would have liked something for blogging too)
quick boot up
Ubuntu One - free 2 Gigs in the cloud
RythmBox - (on the road to) itunes killer - that allows searching & buying music online
ipod support
Pitivi video editor

Looks good, runs smooth. Everyone behind it - you guys rock. Long live open, long live Free !

Steve jobs says Flash is passé

Finally clarifying why Apple does(will) not allow Flash to run on iphone,ipod and ipad - Jobs says that Flash was invented for PCs with mice and not phones with touch. It's a thing of the past and can not let low powered devices live it up as opposed to HTML5, CSS and JS combined.
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen responds in non-descriptive disagreements.
No doubt Adobe is the one losing out on traffic/usage opportunity - either they should address the reasons laid down by Jobs or prove him wrong by running sweetly with Android on the phone

Linkedin recommendations - MAS

You get a linkedin message saying foo has requested for your recommendation.You hit the link with mechanical compulsion, land on the page, see the profile of the person and ponder - hmm what should i write ? Now being objective and candid is the obvious (and ideal) way to go about it.But, then you get this thought, if I write a complete +/- report on the person, how would that be reciprocated if (when) i seek her/his recommendation ?So you just go for hyperbole +ve attributes.

If you look at the recommendations in your network(Indian graph), most of them tend towards flattery.And the flattery would be working both ways ! So, essentially it is a sort of mutual admiration society. I scratch my back, you scratch mine.