TJ's Kaleidoscope

IE 6 is not supported. I wish.

If you haven’t noticed already, CallFire is going through a major site redesign. It’s a redesign that’s very much a work in progress for it’s not just the look & feel that’s changing but we’re also laying the foundation for what we hope to be the next stage of explosive growth. But I digress.

One of the biggest challenges from a UI perspective has been keeping the site universally accessible. This is of course a breeze in FireFox & Chrome, but as any web designer will know, Internet Explorer, in all it’s flavors is a bane of any website’s existence. So, we we’re having quite a few issues with IE 6—that archaic browser that should never have seen the light of day—and yours truly decreed that we shall no longer support IE 6.0. Wishful thinking.

I got inspiration for this brilliant idea from YouTube’s message (shown above) and figured, if Google can do it, why can’t we? Small problem. Unlike YouTube, almost all of CallFire’s visitors are paying customers using computers that have software installed by change-resistant IT departments that were flooding our support lines. So as much as it would be fun to lay down the law, I’ll have to grudgingly acquiesce to reality. Influencing Change , it turns out, is hard for it seldom happens on your timetable.  Back to the testing cycle folks!

Quote of the Day

They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.     

                                                                              —Andy Warhol

I Switched!

Well, long story short, my BlackBerry, much loved I might add, died a very ugly death. T-Mobile was going to charge me $177 for replacing an end-of-cycle phone with a replica on an archaic network (EDGE). I figured, better than that would be to get on a super fast network (3G) on a cutting edge phone (iPhone). So I made the switch. I am now an iPhone user and an AT&T customer. One thing the is true, the iPhone has a phenomenal interface, and the other thing is true, nothing beats the BlackBerry when it comes to email.

Three Things I Love about the iPhone:

1. 3G Network Connectivity: This is the deal clincher, surfing at speeds of most home wireless networks is a major upgrade.
2. Amazing Interface: The famed interface is every bit as good as they say it is, and then some more. Nothing beats full-feature web browsing.
3. Media Integration: I never thought I'd miss media integration until the iPhone. One click and all my music is now on my phone and I don't have to keep two gadgets, one cell phone and one iPod. One exception: The gym; I don't trust it staying in my hand when I'm running on the treadmill.

 

Three Things I Miss about the BlackBerry:

1. Push Email: Yes, the iPhone claims to have push email, but BlackBerry's email network is unbeatable. Simple: To get my iPhone to get all the emails my laptop gets, I have to tweak server settings, however, at no time I had to tweak any settings anywhere either on the BlackBerry or on my server/laptop to get my push email by the minute.
2. Keyboard: People will live without a live feedback keyboard, but yet nothing to beat a full QWERTY push button keyboard. Plain and simple.
3. 3rd Party Support: There were so many clients for the BlackBerry that were well integrated into the BlackBerry. For example, whenever my Google client got an email, my BlackBerry light would blink. Right now, for the iPhone only Facebook as a better client. To check anything that's related to Google I have to open up Safari. No google talk client, no mail client. What's up with that Google?

All in all, I think it was reasonable purchase. For those who thought I sold out, I really tried to look for a BlackBerry comparison, but no one would give me a straight up answer on when the Bold is coming out. So, here I am, joining the masses.

Quote of the Day

So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.

                                                                   --Ben Branklin

BlackBerry Bold: The Bold That Isn't

First, I will state that I love my BlackBerry, in fact, I'm glued to it. It goes everywhere I go, I even go to bed with it. I started using my Titanium curve back in February, and it already feels like I've had it forever. Never mind it cost me couple of hundred to get one, not to mention the unlimited data plan, I'm spending significant amount of my limited monthly income to be always on, always connected.

Now, in my search for a truly smart phone, I will admit I was very very tempted by the Apple iPhone. From the hip factor to its amazingly intuitive interface, it is a great buy, but I found that the BlackBerry was better for the simple reason of a QWERTY keyboard, push email that is phenomenally fast and an OS that is by far the leader in mobile computing. Having said that, I was looking forward to the next generation BlackBerry, the one that would be the Apple killer, the one that would tell Apple, "Welcome Kiddo, Mobile computing doesn't come easy, let me show you how its done!". The new BlackBerry Bold I must say is very disappointing. Instead of breaking new ground in innovation and technology, instead of redefining the market segment it has come to dominate, it got stuck in the "me too" race. Let's see their feature highlights:

1. Bluetooth 2.0 Support: The Curve and the 8830 already had that.
2. Full-Function Browser: Nothing Opera Mini couldn't do.
3. GPS: The Peal, the 8830, the Curve all have that.
4. BlackBerry Maps: Free download of Google Maps has been available for months!
5. Multimedia: iTunes sync. This may be a good feature, but still too little too late.
6. Wi Fi Integration: No biggie, most email clients can be configured to do so.
7. Razor Sharp Display: So a brand new product launch for a new display? No touch screen?

All in all, the BlackBerry Bold isn't so bold at all. Let's hope the next generation comes by fast. For now I'll continue my love affair with the Curve Titanium.

Quote of the Day

I look at my BlackBerry to get a sense of my life.

                                                 --Quoted in Forbes

Vista Blues

Quote of the Day

A great car (Thinkpad) when matched with a stupido, idiotic, dodo-like, moronic, dumbkoff, bevkoof driver (Vista) will invariably crash.

                                                            --TJ Thinakaran

Shoutouts to Friends

Two of my buddies started blogs of their own. I would like to think that I was their inspiration, and would like them to emulate the tremendous success that I have had in the blogosphere.

The first one is Dinesh with his DET blog. Dinesh is what I call the Bill Clinton type, he's smart, intelligent, and you just know up to no good, and yet, you invite him for lunch. Dinesh also serves as the de facto CEO and Sales lead for CallFire, and is responsible for our sales, relationships with VCs and general business development.

The second friend is Vijesh. Vijesh and I go way back when we were teaching assistants for the introductory class in UC Irvine's school (then department) of ICS. Fast forward to seven years later, and here we are in the same fox hole, trying to make something of our lives by creating value in the VOIP phase. Vijesh is the CTO of Callfire. Vijesh's blog reflects his passion, he is a technologist at heart, loves being around people who know what they are doing and has little tolerance of BS or BSers. 

Let the popularity wars begin!

Quote of the Day

Popularity? It is glory's small change.

                                             --Victor Hugo

Update on the Google Reader Flap

Well, it turns out the flap was because of TypePad messing up its feeds. They have since fixed the issue and life is back to its happy self.

Many thanks to Kartik and Dan for offering their insights into this problem.

Quote of the Day:

A refund for defective software might be nice, except it would bankrupt the entire software industry in the first year.

                                                                        -- Andrew Tanenbaum

Help! Google Reader's Got My Feed Messed Up

Like many people, I use Google Reader to check all my feeds, and it does a pretty good job of it. But I got a shock, when I saw feeds tagged as coming from my blog but had nothing to do with me:

 

First I thought someone had broken into my account, but I saw that my web site was good, then I thought someone had hacked into my feed, but I added my feed to my Google homepage, and that too was fine:

 

To have a sanity check, I subscribed to my feed via Outlook 2007, and it too got the correct feed:

 

I cleared the cache of my browser, and yet the same feeds show up. I am at a loss, I'm going to start knocking some virtual doors, and let's see if something turns up.  For those of you who subscribe to my feed, rest assured, those posts are not mine, nor am I endorsing them in anyway.

Quote of the Day:

We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.

                                                               --Douglas Adams

Too much political freedom? WTF!

From Stanford University's Jackson Blog:

Rajiv Singh, vice chairman of DLF, India's largest developer, questioned whether a 9 percent plus growth rate is sustainable without corresponding infrastructure improvement.

 

Mr.  Singh mentioned too much political freedom, too many legal rights, and too much media as the major deterrents in the system to support infrastructure fixes.

 

What the #$%^&! Too much political freedom, too many legal right? What does he think India needs? A dictatorship? Yet another proof that just because you're a billionaire doesn't mean you know what you're talking  about.

Quote of the Day

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money it values more, it will lose that, too. - W Somerset Maugham

Irving's Latest Post

Finally, Irving and I have something in common, if I don't share his tremendous intellect, at least we share the status of being former IBMers. I'll write more on my transition later, but the point is how we think alike on immigration and how Lou Dobbs in his efforts to pander to a specific community ends up making the truth the casualty.

Anyway, I highly encourage you to read the post in its entirety.

Capturing the Email Monster

I am enjoying my latest victory over office email. I've gone, in one night from 138 emails in my inbox to five, and can't help but snicker as Lotus Notes works fervently to sync with the server. 138 emails in an inbox may not be big, but given that I treat my inbox as a To-Do list where if it's in the inbox that means I have to act on it, it is a big achievement for me. Usually I'm pretty good at following the RFFD (Reply, File, Forward, or Delete) within 24 hours rule, but lately I've fallen behind.

I do know that this would be a short-lived victory because as the new work week starts, people will start responding to my responses and this is just my IBM email, I still have my client's email client and my personal email to work on.

I need an assistant.....

When Not to Hire Management Consultants

I'm going to break a personal rule and try and talk about something work related without giving any details away. Let's see how I do.

I've had to deal with management consultants a lot lately, and after prolonged exposure and protracted with these specimens, I have a word of advice for executives who hire them.

Don't hire management consultants to do any of the following:

Figure out what's wrong with your business

That's you're job! If you need someone else to figure out why you're not hitting numbers, do data analysis, or ask questions, then perhaps they should be in your seat and not you. Leaders master the essential skill of their organization, managers delegate it. Lead!

Do your dirty work for you

If for some reason you want to get rid of an under performing team member, or cut the funding on a project, or ask the penetrating questions about the viability of a product, that's your job! Imagine you're the General of an army division, and if one of your battallion commanders isn't giving you straight answers. You're not going to delegate asking the questions to someone else are you? 

Fire your gun on their shoulders

That's your job. If you want to foster a culture of transparency and optimism, you have to be the example of being forthright and forthcoming. If you want to use some consultant's report to hire or fire someone or jettison a project, then that shows you aren't ready to take the shoulder for tough decisions and then you shouldn't have the job in the first place.

 

Bottom line is, don't hire them to do your job. If you do, then something's wrong with you and your company that encourages such outsourcing of personal responsibility.

Anderson Cooper & the illusion of mediocrity

For those of you keeping tabs on CNN (yes, the other news channel) you might have heard that the understated, reserved but very funny Aaron Brown has been replaced by the folksy Clinton-like youthful charm of Anderson Cooper. Like Clinton Anderson too has a ivy-league degree (Yale), yet comes across a average Joe, non-threatening neighbor. For better or worse, people in general feel threatened by intelligence. Anderson-like Clinton-is intelligent enough to hide his intelligence, and put the point across in simplistic terms. While I don't watch his show, his columns have enough evidence of this. In this week's column his touches on a facet of his life not many know of: he is the son of Gloria Vanderbilt. I'll let you read it for yourself.

My personal favorite is his take on vacations. His basic premise is that you get ahead in life when others go on vacation. If you are hungry enough, or love your job well enough you won't take a vacation. Take Jay Leno for example, the man hasn't been on a vacation for 15 years. His reasoning, "Let's say you go on a vacation, and you enjoy it, now what? you come back to work and already know there's something better". I hear you Jay...now if only I could had that multi-million pay package :-)

I myself have not been in a true vacation in four years and have resorted to mini-breaks, taking off early on a Friday and going to catch a movie, hanging out with friends etc. My first vacation is going to be this December when I go on a whirlwind two week tour of India. I haven't been back in eight years, so this is going to be fun. Even then, I'm taking with me my laptop, hoping to find some Internet cafe somewhere where I can connect and......check email! You never know, perhaps the Donald may need my expertise.

Human Nature

I have nothing much to add this week, except my wonderment about the uniqueness of human nature. If you took away the machinations of life, the only way we seem to manifest who we are is through relationships, our relationships with family, friends, coworkers etc. and how we manifest them sometimes boggles the mind. For example, you'll find sometimes loyalty in one relationship manifests itself as malice in another. For example, some people may think the only way to show loyalty to someone they cherish is by bringing harm (or bringing down) another. And sometimes (sadly pretty rare), you'll take a bullet for someone who'll never even hear the shot. Why does this all happen? I don't know, sometime you just have to take a deep breadth and say "that's life!"

New Delhi Blasts

I am stupified, dumbfounded, angered, flustered over what happened at New Delhi this weekend. From ten thousand miles away, sixty people dying may not sound much (this year alone, natural disasters have taken hundereds of thousands times that), yet this cannot be overlooked. The terrorists struck on the eve of the festival of deepavali (The Festival of Lights--a hindu festival meant to celebrate the victory of good over evil). For the uninitiated, deepawali (or diwali as it is more commonly known) is India's Christmas and 4th of July all rolled into one. The whole nation joins in the celebration, and like Christmas takes on a secular persona where people of all walks and faith join in the festivities. Diwali is celebrated by buying new gifts (preferably clothes) for every member of the family, decorating home and places of work with elaborate lights, distributing mouth-watering sweets among friends, and best of all (and close to every Indian boy's heart) the lighting of fire-crackers. For two days cities, towns and villages across the nation come alive with the sound of fire crackers and the night feels like day.

Understandably, diwali also ends up being an hectic shopping season and much like christmas, as the day approaches the shoppers are increasingly just last-minute shoppers or bargain-hunters. Many of the bargain-hunters aren't the socially well-off kind (the outsourcing boom hasn't helped all sections of society yet), but people who live on a daily wage, sometimes on less than $1 a day trying to look for a deal. These are everyday wage laborers trying to buy little trinklets for their family, looking forward to celebrate the best way they can. Among all this chaos and din, come these bomb blasts that not only rip apart bodies, but tear down dozens of lives with them--all because someone wanted to make a statement.

My Dream Car

Those of you know know me long enough know of my secret love affair with the BMW 330 CI Convertible with the TJ package. My dream car would look something like this:

The TJ package is something like this:


Download dreamcarspecs.pdf (90.7K)

Yep, the price. A lease is $690, that's a little less than double of what I pay for my current car (and paying that too sometimes gets tough), so I guess I'm still far away from my dream car. Someday, perhaps I'll be able to call this baby mine (and hopefully it will be a performance hybrid by then). If any of you get to it before me, perhaps I can get a test drive? (and don't mind the drool) =)

Duty to show due dilligence

I am a believer, that once put in a position of power, men (and women) should go the extra mile to show due diligence in dispensing them, and ensure transparency and fairness in all their decision making. Not only will this create a positive energy in the organization, but the example would trickle down to all members of that organization encouraging everyone to have the same standards of fairplay.

I bring this up because the US government, despite the rancour that the no-bid contracts for Iraq reconstruction, has gone ahead and awarded contracts to the same companies all over again. Now, its easy to attribute this to the power of the military-industrial complex and the unholy relationship between political campaigns and their financiers. However, even if it turned out that Halliburton is best equipped to reconstruct New Orleans, shouldn't the gov't to ensure the perception of fairplay and go through a bidding process so as to allay fears that big business has taken over the government?

Boneheaded Management Decisions

You have to really wonder if GM is being managed at all. For example, here is an executive that has given you overwhelming market lead in one of the fastest growing markets by understanding what the customer wants and then overdelivering on that want. Do you empower him and give him more responsibility? do you promote him and make him head of country operations? Of course not! You take away his autonomy and where he was operating independently for 10 years, move in next door so you can keep a closer watch on his operations (as if 48% increase in sales requires further microscopic management). End Result? The executive leaves. The way a company treats its top talent says a lot of what kind of company it is...and sadly GM's future really doesn't look too bright if this is how they reward talent.