education, why settle for less.

Recently, I overheard two people (presumably researchers at Stanford) discussing a new idea in train. Couldn’t make much sense of it, but was not related to IT and that’s for sure. What caught my attention was, how easy it was for people to discuss about funding, how much governmental support (mean funding) is available.

 The university eco-system in US is far more improvised than in India. We like to compare the valley here in US to the valley we have in India, but the support from govt on education is not, definitely not, available. Look the budgetery figure, the expense on secondary education has increased from 1,837 crore to Rs.3,794 crore. The rise may seem in relative terms to really high, but how many of us believe that less than a billion dollar is sufficient for producing quality engineers, doctors etc.

We need reforms, not budget. Spend on education, more and more money on education. It is imperative that we act but not make hollow noise. BusinessWeek pointed out in its online article about India’s IT labor quality. What is worth  noting is that it has stated what we already know. The government knows the problem, but it simply refuses to do anything.

It is high time that we start contributing towards education. Draft some good policies. Implement them and create an ecosystem for everyone to contribute. 

new laptop

bought a new laptop , Toshiba Satellite A135-4427. got the delivery yesterday. It has Vista Home premium installed, so just exploring with it. so far it looks good. works silently, not much of heat generator.

dada, sree and SA

It happened only at Wanderers few minutes ago. What a return of self-belief in a team. India known to falter not only with bat, but also with mind games, played a different game. Whosoever is responsible for this turn around, I can single out, two single factor – Saurav Ganguly and Sreeshanth.

Ganguly had everything at stake. His career, his fortune, his attitude but the amount of self-confidence and belief he instilled in the team is for all to see. He is one important factor, I think, who would have made a difference had he been included in the one-day series also.

Sreeshanth displayed the grit and attitude that Ganguly displayed after the finals of Nat-West trophy. He danced to a six off Nel. He took all important wickets and made us win.

SA, did few things right. Started the match with a controversy for pitch doctoring. Bowlers bowled right, but Indians batted with a little more application. I think, they would have done a little better if they would have played with slight common-sense, but then, dada and sree have little more then them.

google patents is out… nothing yet on Indian patents

Markets drive innovation, protecting those innovations call for the need of patents.

Today Google announced the release of their new product – Google Patents, but restricted only to US patent office.

Now it seeds out a new idea.

We have long had a copyright law (Copyright Act, 1957), and the Indian Patent (Indian Patents Act, 1970) which governed the IPR in India. So far the IPR and its search is out from the reach of ordinary user realm. One needs a lawyer to even find out the existing patent/copyright.

Google patents present a unique oppurtunity – work with the Controller General of Patent (CGP) Office in India and catalouge the entire information on the web, in searchable format. It is simple, but i believe the data is huge, and to present it in user friendly format is a big task.

I think, the most competent authority to speak on the subject is CGP only. He knows how much data is available, how much can be presented to Indian public, when a particular patent/copyright expires, etc. This would atleast allow an individual to implement an idea and also respect the IPRs.

Let’s see how far does the system really takes care of itself.

social software

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/dec/13fast.htm – interesting article

barcamp and beyond

It seems like barcamp turned out to be a real networking event, with few meeting with like minded people, people trying to work with the similar thought process. I am still loving it.

By the way the next event coming up is momo. There are few things that need to be done for momo, so I am planning to take up a few. Let’s see. There are few things coming up on personal front also, so it looks that the next week is a bit tied up.

I was thinking recently that I should use this blog, to communicate my ideas, as to what I am thinking with zeroqueue, and how it can help me charting few clear themes. I don’t know, but the thought and the concept looks very promising. It is not about a business or something technical just plain vanilla idea.

Barcamp 2 – Bangalore

Barcamp 2 is a big hit with me. Seriously. I was floored to see the battery of laptops (they tell me it was less this time, but it was my first), so many people with so many ideas, the place was exuberating with energy, I am just simply in love with the idea.

The venue (thoughtworks) was great. Actually I liked the concept better than anything else, open big hall, conference rooms, card & wall concept. It surely was supercool. I liked it, and pretty sure other campers liked it too.

Another thing that hit me was the energy, right from start of day 1 to end of day 2. Everyone was full of ideas. Everyone wanted to contribute. VC’s were there (Sequoia and The Chilli), ideas were there, products were there, almost everyone who was something or wanted to be something was there. I believe any one who aspires to be something today, was there in Bangalore. That is the spirit of Bangalore.

I am looking forward to BCB – 3 where I believe will have lot more to contribute and gain.

Looking forward.

The most difficult thing is

to think.

Believe me, people who think are leaders. Guys like you and me, if we could just think about a year down the line, then you are venturing in an unchartered territory. Who would have thought of about You Tube making the kind of money they made. People like you and me could have thought of it, but we didn’t.

What I have realised is, to make things work, to think disruptively, don’t think too much, don’t try to hard, just be observant, watch and pen down as much as you can. If you think everytime and are online, then google notebook is a better option for you. I use it. Just jot down whatever you think and then whenever you are done with thinking, visit those items, that you have keyed down. Eventually something obvious, but oblivious to eye will emerge. Then start thinking.

I don’t know, but it may help.

Write now, I am seriously thinking about creating a image, and how why what, are the various thoughts going on in that order.

Wish me luck ..

rolling along

Things have started falling in place. These are still early days, but I am hopeful that by end of the month, atleast some vision, some clarity would exists and the direction to move in would allow some right steps to be executed.

Right now, it is difficult. Getting the right set of people, convincing them, asking them to part-away with their time, is a challenge of sorts. What I need is a partner, not an employee, because I am exactly not that. I want a person who thinks, and is ready to devote himself. I hope I’ll find one

I am thinking, almost at a break-neck speed. Many things hit the shores of mind and then just like waves don’t leave an impression and wash away, but a few stick around, and it is with those waves, I am wandering.

Blogging is a new wave to hit me, social networking another, mobile phones enthuse me, and just about everything about mobile is a fantastic. So let us see, where do I really go from here.

getting started

Just started. Given myself a name @ wordpress. Now need to get things in order.

By the way, I was reading on BusinessWeek today and found a good a interview of Vinod Khosla.

So getting into the groove, let’s get going from here.