Idle/Random/whatever Thoughts of a Demented/Idle/Whatever Mind

If you’re looking for proof that the future of Indian innovation is bright, look no further than the NAIN 2.0 project. I recently got the chance to serve on the jury for this Karnataka government initiative, judging pitches from PES Mandya and JSS College Pharmacy, Mysore.     Huge shoutout to the team at IIIT Bangalore for inviting me into this incredible program. It was a masterclass in spotting talent, and honestly, I was blown away. The energy on the ground was electric. I was consistently impressed by how cleanly the students framed their problems. They didn’t just talk about ideas; they presented meticulously structured solutions. Many of these startup concepts aren't just viable but  are genuine game-changers waiting to hit the market. But the real highlight was the vision. I got seriously amused and inspired by the cohort tackling challenges in the rural sector. Their focus on building solutions for the farm and related industries shows a deep, gen...

1. How Major Indian Apps Are Bypassing Google’s Policy to Spy on Your App Drawer? - Report reveals that many major Android apps on the Google Play Store are allegedly bypassing Google's privacy policies to access a list of other apps installed on users' devices. Apps like Swiggy, Zepto, and HDFC are among those seemingly "peeping" into users' app drawers. While some argue this access might be needed for core functionality (like fraud detection in banking apps), the report suggests it's being used for fingerprinting and user profiling. Analysis of AndroidManifest.xml files shows apps use methods like querying by package name or intent signature to extract this data. Concerns are raised about apps like KreditBee, which appear to be profiling users based on the presence of specific apps, including those related to religion and astrology. The report questions Google's enforcement of its policies and the lack of user consent or awareness regarding this data co...

  1. How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need? - This article explains that even for NASA's highest accuracy calculations, such as interplanetary navigation, only a small number of pi's decimals are needed. For example, JPL uses pi to the 15th decimal place (3.141592653589793). The article illustrates this by calculating the circumference of Voyager 1's distance from Earth, the circumference of Earth, and even the circumference of the known universe, demonstrating that only a limited number of decimal places are necessary for accurate calculations, even at vast scales. My Take : We often get super excited about accuracy and going to crazy lengths to achieve it. But, honestly, for any everyday functional use of pi, having 3 digits after the decimal gives you really good accuracy, which is usually within the range of error from other stuff anyway. In fact, that article mentions 37 decimals would be enough to calculate the circumference of the observable universe with the ac...

1. Complaints are a gift: Seth Godin writes that complaints should be viewed as opportunities rather than nuisances. While they may seem like mere whining, they provide valuable insights for improvement. In the medical field, for instance, doctors often dismiss complaints if tests are negative. However, the true goal of medicine is to enhance patient well-being, not just to pass tests. Though we aren't obligated to heed every complaint, engaging with them can uncover underlying issues. Addressing these problems is essential to our role. Thus, complaints, when taken seriously, can lead to meaningful solutions. My Take :  While Seth Godin often highlights what may seem like obvious problems, they're often the ones we overlook. Complaints can be a goldmine for understanding user pain points, which are key to finding solutions. In fact, I used to find inspiration for improvements in the feedback from various apps I've worked on. It's amazing how many improve...

Well it all started with a small revolution called Mobile Monday, Bangalore . It was an initiative of some minds behind the mobile technology in Bangalore(Keshav, S R Raja, Rajan & Rajiv). It was actually a success. The reason behind the success of the Mobile Monday has been its unique concept. The community meets every 3rd Monday of the month. They have a set agenda and people with passion. So much so that many communities in Bangalore are planning to adopt a similar approach. Like all good things he success of this has lead into a next step, which make use of Saturday. Now what rhymes best with Saturday, well one of thing is Startup. So here we have Startup Saturday . An interesting concept building momentum. What I expect next is the following, Testers Tuesday, Web Wednesday, UX Thursdays, FOSS Friday, Startup Saturday and finally Sleepy Sunday. Guys at least Sunday deserves a break :-) Anyways I dont see this thing not materializing. For a very simple reason, the community ...

With so many things happening for the engineers Bar Camp, OCC and now D Camp . Sure we are going to see the next MS or Google from India very soon. D Camp or design camp was held a Yahoo office in EGL. First presentation was by Muthu from Sun Microsystems. He started with demo on how to use CSS and Javascript. Next how to use it to get ' Your Kind' of a look for your webpage. Then we had the demo for YUI Javascript Library. And the usual corporate bashing was kicked off but Muthu cleverly moved the controversy out by saying that YUI is his favourite thats all and the ultimate call to use is on the developer themselves. Joe Arnold from Yahoo! was next to make a presentation with an unusual title " Learning to Fly ". Rather actually it was a great one. Interesting way to explain how to design, using the Wright brothers experience on how to build invent a plane. Some interesting thought on what it takes to build or rather invent a good product. You need ...

The Wall street Journal reports with this as its headline How a Muslim Billionaire Thrives in Hindu India Mr. Premji Has Wealth And Clout as Wipro Chief; The Imam Disapproves. What bullshit is this. Hindu India??? Was it Mr Praveen Togaria or some stupid Hindu Fundamentalist who gave this view. India is not Hindu first of all and it was not he being Hindu or Muslim that made the difference. It was his hard work and vision that saw him make that mark in the International space. More than Mr Azim Premji I feel its former President of India APJ Abul Kalaam who is looked upon a role model than anything else. And if the report is to suggest anything, its the fact that Wipro has made its mark because of its secular policies. I dont know of any Indian Hindu billionaire who would not be secular. Although you are a pious Hindu like the Birlas building a temple in every city in India, but when you do business you cannot constrain yourself on the people front. I dont think its true....

Well last Sunday I again happened to be at the Open Coffee Club of Bangalore. A whole lot of interesting ideas on marketing and all were tossed up. The big question that's always in my mind was answered during this session. Yes what is my ideal startup. I think what would make up my ideal startup would be some ideas taken from Hari and Venkat (Venkat has a startup named OutSmart, so guys be ready to expect something). Here are the something's a startup should do. Be positive about your idea and more importantly show it. Have a long term plan, something like 2 years. Be ready and plan up to flourish in those two years, not just survive. This should be planned before you get your hands wet. Waiting for VC may not be the best bet. Keep ground realities in check. More often than not the power of idea is so strong that one can loose track of customer expectations. Be firmly stitched to that ground. Make employees feel that ...

Last time around I had promised Ramjee about writing a post on Open Coffee Club and my thoughts on how to improve it. So here it is. Well I feel that OCC is a good concept. I think there may be some other similar motived events happening in Bangalore itself. But surely many do not know about it. One thing could be we could coordinate with those people, if any. Another thing is that if we are meeting fortnightly then its better we meet with a theme. Lets plan for whats going to be discussed at the meet. The interested audience would definitely be present there. Also it gives the member time to prepare themselves with ideas and questions before hand. This I think is also necessary considering we are going to meet a lot more often. I loved the one to one discussions that we had as a group after the initial talks. Though they are fruitful but then a starter is required by means of the initial talk. I will give you the example that the introduction laid ground for further discussions at the...

Well this was one event I was skeptical about. I thought may be 10 odd people will turn up. To add to it a few startup people, and probably a VC. But when I reached there, 30mins late, I saw there was a large group. 60 around, thats what Ramjee told me. Anyways after the introductions there was that useless debate on how to take it forward. So many people saying the same thing, in different words obviously. Instead of taking the current thing forward people got lost in future, not very different from what all startup guys look at. Anyways the real fun started right after the event was over. People actually split into a number of groups. There was more of one to one interaction rather than a formal one. I think that was one of coolest thing out of the entire event. Well I did have interaction with a lot of people. Some of those really stuck out. One was muziboo by Prateek Dayal. I think its off to a good start. Probably he does not make mistakes that most startups do, not having a lo...