Consumers willing to trade Privacy for Personalized Experience via Social Media this holiday season

The Consumer attitudes are changing a lot!  In a recent Accenture survey [http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Interactive-Survey-Results.pdf] , near 2/3rd participants said that would trade increased privacy for more personalized offers – which means that people are willing to give their personal information to have a more personalized

What’s in a name? A LOT!!

When you are starting off your business venture, one of the first thing you need to do is to have a name of the company or organization.  The exercise is sometime excrutiating in the way it taxes your mind, if you doing it with some sense.  There are many ways

Business in US targeting Indian Americans

Indian Americans are now being looked at by the local media in the US.  In the last many years, specifically from the late 1990s to now, the Indian Americans have grown in numbers but more so in wealth and consumer influence. There was a strong rush into the US, during

TiE – an organization that charted a new path

The Indus Entrepreneurs [http://www.tie.org/] (TiE) is a unique organization.  Its roots are in the “Indus” region – or South Asia primarily.  Founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley, it has by now opened up 53 chapters across 12 countries with over 11,000 members and over 2500 Charter members.

India wins second test by 10 wickets – does clean sweep

India won the second test today by 10 wickets.  Thus doing a clean sweep of the series.  It was the 7 wicket haul by Zaheer that set the stage as Bangladesh were skittled out for 312 in the second innings.  India needed 2 runs to win the match, which came

India wins second test by 10 wickets – does clean sweep

India won the second test today by 10 wickets.  Thus doing a clean sweep of the series.  It was the 7 wicket haul by Zaheer that set the stage as Bangladesh were skittled out for 312 in the second innings.  India needed 2 runs to win the match, which came

First Test Match with Bangladesh – End of Day 3

Strange test match it has been until now with Bangladesh.  With a team that can beat the best on any day, here is a team which won everything except the finals in the ODIs. And then, in the walkup to the match, Sehwag suggested that Bangladesh were an ordinary side.

First Test Match with Bangladesh – End of Day 3

Strange test match it has been until now with Bangladesh.  With a team that can beat the best on any day, here is a team which won everything except the finals in the ODIs. And then, in the walkup to the match, Sehwag suggested that Bangladesh were an ordinary side.

Are Men more Efficient Shoppers than Women?

I still remember going shopping for dresses for my sisters in Lucknow with my colleagues (Chikan Salwar-Kameez).  The ladies would keep looking at one dress after another and end up buying something that I thought was not the best design or dress.  I would stay sitting down either dozing off

Large SAP project coming up at UN

That’s a fairly big SAP project out there to be won!  I wonder who will end up getting the development work for it.  Support/Backup support work may go to some Indian IT majors, but I guess the front runners for the meat of it may end up being

Bad customer service losses of Indian companies about $2.5 bn a year!

Indian companies have very little idea of how to use the web.  Honestly.  Most of the websites of the top papers and portals in India have been SO POOR!  Pop-ups and unnecessary ads abound.  The e-commerce stuff either doesn’t work or are just too clunky.  Check out even the

McDonalds advertising in Desi Community in US

McDonalds is trying big time to woo the Desi population in the US.  How do I know?  Well, a local desi event in Houston has just been sponsored by McDonalds.  I thought maybe that was  mistake of the advertising person, who didn’t know what he/she was upto. But

How the Famous Companies were named?

Ever wanted to know how the different companies were named?  Here is an interesting primer. Mercedes: This was actually financier’s daughter’s name. Adobe: This came from the name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of founder John Warnock. Apple Computers: It was the favourite

Miandad argues against India's safety for 2011 Cricket World Cup

“God, if you can’t do anything good for me… at least hit the rest of the world as well!”  seems to be the prayer that Javed Miandad (director-general of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Father-in-law of Dawood Ibrahim’s son – one of the most dreaded terrorist in the world)

Afridi used Sachin's bat for his 37-ball record century

Did you know that when Shahid Afridi scored his first and the fastest century in One Day cricket in Nairobi against Sri Lanka (in 37 balls)… he used Sachin’s bat?  Yes, in an interview, he said that the bat was given to him by Waqar Younis to try out.

India's first cricket match

India had yet another test cricket series win yesterday – this time against the Kiwis.  If the Indra deva (or the rain god) was not so partial towards the Kiwis, then India would have scored yet another win in the series – probably one of the biggest win against any team in

Tons of Phelps branded Kellogg's cereal lands in a food bank

A California Food Bank has a windfall.  2 tons of cereal – Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes cereal with gold medal winner Michael Phelps photo on the cover landed at the facility.  They were suspicious at first, but in these tough times, it was a welcome donation for the hungry! The

Madoff is in Jail – Ponzi comes to a close

Madoff is in jail today.  He has put millions of dollars of many hard working people into oblivion. I guess the expression “Laughing away to his bank” was actually made for Madoff… as he “Made off” with the hard earned money of his victims. And what was his scheme?  Well

Today's Business Brew from Indian Papers

* Nifty slips below 2600; BPCL, HUL, TCS down (ET) * The Sensex opened 67 points lower at 8,259. The index is at almost the day’s low, down 111 points at 8,215.  Hindustan Unilever has plunged 3% to Rs 217. Jaiprakash Associates has shed 2.5% at Rs 68.

Will Selectivity in Recession help or hurt the Indian IT majors?

It is one thing to be the flavor of the day and quite another to last a lifetime.  Somehow there is an element of risk involved in living a lifetime and not just scrape through.  These are those times.  Many American and European companies are finalizing plans for offshoring their

Netflix – Oasis in the stock tumbling desert

In the midst of all the economic crisis and downfall in the stock market and tremendous layoffs.. there is one stock that seems to be shining.  And when you look at it.. you almost say “Duh”! Well, the company is Netflix (NFLX). In februart it surpassed a major milestone – 10

Investing advise from India

Gautam Khandelwal helps his clients and friends with advise on stock trading, mutual funds, and investment.  With online stock trading [https://www.sofi.com/invest/] becoming so popular in India, there has been a great proliferation of ordinary people investing everywhere.  Which has meant big stock losses as well.    Here

Top 20 All time best Indian Test Batsmen

I have often wondered who were the All time best Indian batsmen in test cricket.  I formulated my own stat comprising Runs per innings and a combination of no. of 50s and 100s one scored with no. of Not outs per innings average added and the ducks deducted.  After all

Cricket India gets a makeover

Cricket India got a makeover!  New Jersies and a new style.  I thought there wasn’t a whole deal of change… and its not that much jazzier than the last one anyways.. what do you think?

GR Vishwanath, the artist batsman turns 60 today

India was 41 for 4, soon after he entered.  Farokh Engineer, Eknath Solkar, Anshuman Gaekwad and MAK Pataudi had already gotten out.  Now, it was largely left to this artist and Ashok Mankad to dig India out of the hole.  Mankad was never the best player of pace and West

Layoffs and Supply Glut in the Market

Last two weeks have been terrible for jobs around the world! As the Satyam fiasco started, by last Friday (Jan 10) 20,000 resumes had been posted on the net, according to one source.  In fact other Indian companies are making a bee-line for the resources of Satyam – specially who

Satyam CFO: I paid no attention to the Balance Sheet

> In 2002, I tried (without success) to induce Stanford University to retract my MBA. Here’s why: The dean of the business school when i got my degree there was Robert Jaedicke.  He was also an accounting professor, and I took advanced accounting course while I was a student.  I

Introduction to the APPLIKOM project

This very useful program was born after many hours spent joyfully searching for reliable methods to help humanity using our immediate environment; home, workplace, public parks, streets, blocks, neighborhood, city, state, country, cultural background etc. Slowly, step by step, developing a special language composed of symbols, having in mind the

Aussie-sissies start whinning after losing to India: Cricket

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ponting.jpg] Image via Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ponting.jpg] There is something desperately wrong with the Australian cricket today!!  They lost a series so badly that they had never experienced in many decades. So, what do the Aussies do?    Aussie-sissies

Revival of the three auto makers

The total job losses will be: Automakers: 239,000 Dealers: 975,000 Other industries (finance, advertising etc): 1.7 million Roughly 2.5 to 3.0 million job losses are expected. If we assume the average income earned by each of these jobs to be ~ $40,000 a year (and

14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas

ChangeThis.com [http://www.changethis.com] is a wonderful site which has these short papers called “Manifestos” – where people (and very accomplished ones!) share their thoughts in a succinct way with everyone.  The Manifestos can be downloaded and are very useful for all.  Here is one that I really liked.

Insurance sector of India – a very informative report

Insurance is a rising sector in India.  In fact it is one of the hottest in the country right now.  Not many really do understand the intracacies of all the components of the industry.  This document – “Lloyd’s Report on General Insurance in India” – does a very good job of

Top Stock Analysts in India

If you’re wanting to start stock trading uk [https://learnbonds.com/uk/trading/stock] then this list might interest you. I got this list forwarded by someone and the write ups.  Its a list of analysts who have been rated by Business Today (based on inputs from various fund

Long term investing is a smart option!

Picking stocks and investing is not as easy as it seems. There are many who go around thumping their chests because they think they can pick winners (yours truly included!). But real winners are few and far between for anyone. Only very few investors and the top ones do it

Is Multi-tasking good?

The ability to be able to multi-task is great!  Right?  WRONG!  So say the studies.  For starters, the US economy loses USD 650 billion a year in lost productivity.  Basically its information overload and the effect of inertia.. it takes time to get off the attention from that phone call

Popular and irritating corporate expressions

Have you been on the corporate roller coaster for sometime?  Then you may have come across many expressions that for some reason have become very popular…. and irritating at the same time.  Are you on the same page as me?  Ok.. there I go… 🙂  Enjoy.. and share yours as well.

Service and the Economy

By Bob Livingston author of How you do…What you do (with special permission) ======================== We are a service economy.  Close to 80% of our GDP is service based.  In a marketplace wrought with problems and concerns over the economic downturn, one must wonder how we will pull ourselves out of

Boys will be boys after all!

Sent by my friend, Girish.  The picture says it all!  It shows a few youngsters from the new look Indian cricket team…

Ausissies… Grow up you aging tantrum throwing kids!

“We believe it is possible to make intelligent, thoughtful and even provocative public comment without descending to personal abuse.” Is what the Chief Executive of Cricket Australia [http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/09/2184465.htm] (CA) says in a letter to the BCCI (Board of Cricket

Cricket's demise?

Finally, the Indian team is coming back after a rather acrimonious tour of Australia.  Many things happened – specially to the spinner Sardar – Harbhajan Singh.  He was slapped a racism charge and soon every pseudo and his brother in India started self beating and denounced India and our culture.  As if

Best Batsman India has ever produced?

Empty Oxygen tanks, a death and normal becomes extra: Mess of US Domestic Airlines

This is a drill that bothers every business traveller in the morning but one has endure thinking that announcing the security and safety measures is a necessary thing.  And it is assumed that everything that is announced in that safety pitch will work.  Oxygen masks will fall and oxygen will

Loser Aussies, High Handed/Crude BCCI and the fate of Cricket

I am not a great fan of Australians and their cricketing spirit.  I think if there has been a team of talented but thoroughly un-gentlemanly players with zero sportsman spirit in Cricket – it has to be Australia.  From that infamous ball by Trevor Chappell to the messing up with Murlitharan

Managing Information, the life blood of an organization

Information is King it is said.  However, rarely is information even obtained within most major corporations.  Most only reach the level of having huge piles of data.  Data that is not even verifiable or in a form that could be used.  There are multiple sources for the same data sets

Microsoft + Yahoo = Microhoo or MicroWho?

Today, Microsoft announced a bid for Yahoo [http://www.techmeme.com/080201/h1815] of ~ USD 45 billion.  These are indeed bad days for Yahoo as it is laying off 1000 employees and its stock is falling down.  Well, the record of blunders by Microsoft in the Internet world has been

Viral Animations: advertising power to the individual and her idea!

These days viral animations give advertising power into the hands of ordinary individuals with an idea, a pen, a scanner, an open-source free “photoshop” clone on pc.. so that this person can take on the might of larger ad behemoths.  The Game for advertising is changing, guys!  I wonder if

The racist Mike Proctor's secret fuzzy logic is now out!

By now there have reams and reams written on the Harbhajan-Symonds’ monket incident and Bhajji’s ban.  A lot of hue and cry over the hypocrisy of Indians and the technicality of whether he said “Monkey” or “Maa Ki” or anything else. None, except Sunil Gavaskar [http://www.patheos.com/

Villains of the Aussie Series

A very interesting take on the villains of the Aussie series: (click on the image to make it larger)

Vikram Pandit's $18 million purchase of an apartment

Amit [http://www.blogjunta.com/] writes about Vikram Pandit, the new CEO of Citigroup and mentions Pandit’s purchase of an apartment near Central Park for ~$18 million in September 2007. > …..he (Vikram Pandit) and his wife Swati reside at Central Park West and 81st Street , an apartment he purchased

Vikram Pandit's $18 million purchase of an apartment

Amit [http://www.blogjunta.com/] writes about Vikram Pandit, the new CEO of Citigroup and mentions Pandit’s purchase of an apartment near Central Park for ~$18 million in September 2007. > …..he (Vikram Pandit) and his wife Swati reside at Central Park West and 81st Street , an apartment he purchased

Benefit of Dividends to Stock Investing!

Joshua Kennon [http://beginnersinvest.about.com/b/2007/12/13/john-burr-williams-on-dividends.htm] says in his Investing blog this about dividends: > In his classic 1938 text The Theory of Investment Value, John Burr Williams published the following poem: > “A cow for her milk, a hen for her eggs, And a stock,

Benefit of Dividends to Stock Investing!

Joshua Kennon [http://beginnersinvest.about.com/b/2007/12/13/john-burr-williams-on-dividends.htm] says in his Investing blog this about dividends: > In his classic 1938 text The Theory of Investment Value, John Burr Williams published the following poem: > “A cow for her milk, a hen for her eggs, And a stock,

Stock Advise from Texas Prison serving Life sentence

A friend told me about this blog of a prisoner [http://prisonproxy.blogspot.com/] serving life in the Texas Penitentiary (Prison) for something he had done.  This guy writes stock/investment analysis that are amazingly detailed and useful.  He has a lot of fans/people who follow his blog!  He

Stock Advise from Texas Prison serving Life sentence

A friend told me about this blog of a prisoner [http://prisonproxy.blogspot.com/] serving life in the Texas Penitentiary (Prison) for something he had done.  This guy writes stock/investment analysis that are amazingly detailed and useful.  He has a lot of fans/people who follow his blog!  He

Even Buffett Copy Cats would have prospered in the last 30 years!

It is amazing how the Mutual Fund managers and others in the investment world dont even care about the one guy who has had the best track record in investing over the last 30 years.  Well, one would say you need his intelligence to do what he did – right?  Hmm

Even Buffett Copy Cats would have prospered in the last 30 years!

It is amazing how the Mutual Fund managers and others in the investment world dont even care about the one guy who has had the best track record in investing over the last 30 years.  Well, one would say you need his intelligence to do what he did – right?  Hmm

Bullish Analysts shoot all over on the Banks and finance!

The financial markets are in bad shape and things aint getting better. Today Merrill Lynch slumped to the biggest loss in its 93 year old history! It was pummelled by almost an $8 billion liabilities from the subprime credit mess in the market. Look at this video and see how

Are stock tips in finance mags worth it?

Many of the small investors follow the recommendations and tips of fancied stock analysts.. but are these tips of any use? Well, here are the results from an objective test…. these highly-paid guys failed miserably! The conclusion [http://www.cxoadvisory.com/blog/external/blog10-16-07/]: the buy recommendations of columnists in

Stripper, Hedge Funds and Breasts

Street advice on Wall Street is: When your cab driver starts giving you tips it is time to sell. And when your cab driver turns out to be an ex-Wall Street analyst, it is time to buy stocks! These days hedge funds are in a really bad shape. In order

Investment Advice from Gurus: 15 things to look for in a Stock

I would like to start a series where I bring the investment advice of the gurus of stock investment to my readers. These are the gurus who, I believe, were the greatest ever. Investing isn’t easy and there are often times of downfall but this advice might just make

Common Stocks and Uncommon common sense!

I had posted two stories on Stock Markets (One [http://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/?q=how_does_the_stock_market_work_1] and two [http://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/?q=how_does_the_stock_market_work_2]). But really speaking stock markets are really not such gambling dens

How does the Stock Market work – 2

Here is the second one – sent by Sudhir Rao: It was autumn, and the Red Indians on the remote reservation asked their New Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a Red Indian chief in a modern society, he couldn’t tell what

How does the Stock Market work – 1

Here is the first of two “How does the Stock Market work” series – sent by my IRMA alumni to the entire yahoogroup: Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs10. The villagers seeing that there were

How Microsoft lost $18 billion!

There are times when an organization or person just cannot get it wrong!  And then there are times when the same person just cannot get it right!  Microsoft and Bill Gates is one such example!  Until the 1990’s whatever Gates and MSFT touched became gold!  What happened afterwards is

Top 100 Personal Finance blogs

Here is an informative list of personal finance [http://firefinance.blogspot.com/2007/09/top-100-personal-finance-blogs-ranked.html] blogs.  Worth keeping for interesting reading. Here are the top five… 1GetRichSlowly [http://getrichslowly.org/]2MyMoneyBlog [http://mymoneyblog.com/] 3TheSimpleDollar [http://thesimpledollar.com/]4FiveCentNickel [http://fivecentnickel.com/]5BankDeals [http://bankdeals.blogspot.com/]

Conservative Investing versus Safety in Investing.

Women are conservative when it comes to investing… so says a study [http://cfainstitute.org/aboutus/press/release/07releases/20070724_01.html] according to a study published in the July/August edition of Financial Analysts Journal.: > In addition to finding that women are inclined to invest more conservatively than men,

Recruiting through Facebook!

So this is where the world of recruiting is going towards?  If the Gen Me is in these places and the companies need to get their attention… then it does make sense to target the "water holes" where the new folks come and meet. > "Generation Me." That’s one term

Woolmer was poisoned by a weedkiller.

New evidence says that Bob Woolmer was poisoned by a Weedkiller.  So, maybe it wasn’t aconite then.  This case is going all over the place!  I wish if the authorities could be a little thoughtful and not release half baked information every now and then.  Wonder if even this