Orkut Updates!

Well, we all know Orkut has undergone a "supposedly" phenomenal changeover with respect to their look. As part of the new feature-set, they have included the 'updates' section where one is notified of the updates made by anyone in the friend's list. As a result of the same, your page will invariably be cluttered with updates. Heck, I tried to disable this thing, but apparently its 'not possible' right now..

Is it really called for to make this damn thing mandatory?

Revisiting Iron Man

I just found this video on YouTube, and the event dates back to March 2006, when Black Sabbath was inducted into the hall of fame by Metallica's James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Metallica paid a tribute to the legendary band by playing 'Iron Man'. Well, generally such covers aren't good enough, but then this is Metallica for you. If the riffs in the original were heavy enough, Kirk Hammett and Roberto Trujillo don't do a bad job emulating it either.

Indeed, as the lyrics go -

Iron Man Lives Again!

Future Trends in Web

A silver convertible Audi zooms past me as I write this post making even a shiny black Mazda Protege and a host of BMWs look pretty ordinary. Damn, its not an illusion while I'm going to school in a bus! Okkkkkkkk am back.. its time for a context switch!
Arun Radhakrishnan points out an article originally published in ReadWriteWeb.com by Richard McManus, where he tries to analyze the 10 future trends of the Web. Read the original post here, and Arun's comments here.
The one thing that really caught me in the entire article was 'Attention Economy'. Well, he says that its been thriving since Web began, but I'd like to differ on this slightly. Attention grabbers were always there, but to generate monetary benefits out of it is something thats perhaps yet to gain momentum. There are several websites that get launched, primarily in the zone of video streaming, social networking, search engines (Ujiko, etc) which have served as attention grabbers but we are yet to see of any prolific site (atleast I can't recall any) which is generating significant revenues through such a model. Citing Google in the super profitable zone is attributed more to the fact that they brought about an entirely new model of generating economics - through advertisements. So the transition from 'Attention Grabbing' to 'Attention Economy' is something which is going to take quite a bit of an effort.
It was surprising but I didn't see Online Advertising in the list, perhaps that's one thing which is 'the' money grabber. What say?
Meanwhile, the 2007 trend is picturized pretty well below, though this pic only takes the brands into account, but still gives a fair bit of an idea. Thanks to BrandCurve for this.

Resurgent Indians.. and 'master'ful 90s continue!

Sometimes life and events take a full circle, and you come to know that when scenes from the past flash again in the present. Obviously, there'll be subtle changes but the picture is so reminiscent of what you have already seen, and more importantly.. cherished!
Lords, 2002; India were facing a daunting task of chasing 325 in the grand finale.. The rest is history.
Oval, 2007; India were again facing a stiff challenge of 315 in a match which would have otherwise sealed the fate of the series. India won.. again!
The reason that I cite these as similar is because how often have we seen our superstars falling when it really mattered! Make no mistake, I still believe that its our stars who took us to that stage that really mattered (WC 2003 being an example) but then on the real big stage, they somehow just didn't tick.
So at such times, when they do it just sticks on to the cells in the memory forever, and perhaps that is why that such matches are so special.
Almost 2 decades of doing one of the most demanding jobs in the world, and then he still shows up with the kind of enthusiasm for another day at office which even the freshers draw inspiration from. That's what separates the great(est) players from the great ones.
Cover Drives, lofted shots, cheeky paddles, brutal pulls - these things never look so beautiful and at the same time audacious as they do when the master shows them how to play it. Mortals watching can only emulate, but its the master who shows the way. Brilliant yet Brutal, thats how I'll term Tendulkar's innings at the Oval, and when they come in unison with one of the most elegant left handers India has ever produced - that's like icing on the goddamn cake. They played as though with the least respect for the opposition, they played as though they just wanted to win, they played as though they were the kings!
Getting out in the 90s is becoming as much of a trend for Tendulkar as was making 100s a few years back. Well, it was another matter that folks like me were still gruntling when he got out, I just wanted to see him play forever. But its alright, he doesn't need to prove anything. If at all that he can do anything now is to re-inject his energy into this team, which now has a lot more promising and 'fighting' youngsters who probably will take the Indian Cricket to its pinnacle some day and reflect back on this Little Master who kept on giving every ounce of his energy for the game he loved.

Outsourcing - An American Perspective..

Check this video out, which is a realistic account of Chris Jobbins, who loses his job to outsourcing. He then travels to Bangalore, India to find out more about this nature of business. An interesting account indeed.. Watch it here.