Gagan explores thoughts and ideas on technology and business.
It’s happening again. After a continuous downpour last night, the scene outside Takshila once again reminded of the waterworld that was created few years back. Some brave hearts were venturing into the water, letting their mechanical stallions do the fighting and stay alive. There were a couple of people, amongst this lot, who were stranded in the middle of the road blocking further traffic and causing too much inconvenience to the pedestrians. Check out the fresh pictures from today morning:
As another round of talks continue, I would like to share a beautiful wallpaper on global warming. The ideation and design has been done by my colleague Animesh Banerjee. The soothing green color is a refreshing change from the dull black that was my screen wall earlier.
You can download the wallpaper by clicking on the thumbnail.
It is 3.52am right now and I am busy working on a business assignment. This post comes as a break from the last three hours of concentrated effort, wherein I have been trying to assess how a recent strategic move by a telecom operator is going to affect the overall dynamics of the competitive landscape. Amidst the framework that I was developing, the windows suddenly started rustling. And behold! Here is the first drizzle …. and I am counting the first few drops on the window pane. This short shower is the bearer of the announcement that the monsoons are around the corner.
Bye bye hot humid weather! … Welcome monsoons and the new of challenges that it often brings :-)!
Britannica has opened up its online subscription-based access to the blogosphere. In a move aimed at attracting greater traffic and also to counter the increasing influence of user-generated content sites like wikipedia, Britannica is offering free one year subscription to a set of people it terms as ‘web publishers’.
The notice posted on the site reads - “A special program for web publishers, including bloggers, webmasters, and anyone who writes for the Internet. You get complimentary access to the Encyclopaedia Britannica online and, if you like, an easy way to give your readers background of the topics you write about with links to complete Britannica articles”.
If you are a blogger and you have been writing for a significant period of time, click on the link below and get your free access. Britannica takes some time to revert back, as they manually check all blogs to verify and evaluate the acceptability criteria, but if you are eligible, you will get a reply. I got mine in three days.
The global value of private equity buyouts has grown manifold from the start of this decade to the present. As the private equity environment becomes more challenging amidst rising interest rates, the volume of deals that took place in the first quarter of 2008 has plunged, compared to the same quarter last year.
A key takeaway, however, has been the way private equity firms significantly increase the value of their investments, thereby fueling growth. Harvard Business Review lists a number of factors that contribute to the high returns:
As Indian companies start looking at global acquisitions, private equity arms of large Indian conglomerates are starting to show on the horizon. How well does the PE story pan out for these Indian firms will be an interesting study. Over the last one year, cross-border deals and incoming PE funding has seen good growth. In the current tide of events, how well can international and local PE firms flex their muscles remains to be seen. Watch this space.
This weekend would have been just like any other one - sleep late and get up even later. I was slightly miffed with the sudden thought of breaking this (ir)regular schedule by being one of the members of our CSR group that was planning to visit a homeless kids shelter at Mira Road. And of course, given the number of activities that I have participated in the recent past, there were bets in office on whether I will be able to make it ;-). But in the end, I knew that I will go, and so I was awake at 6am, getting ready to be there with the kids. We were scheduled to leave at 8.30am.
Vision in Social Arena (VISA), established in 1997 by Mr. John Abraham, is a charitable trust that looks after nearly 43 homeless children. This is not the popular John Abraham (actor) that we know of and who is covered by our dailies every now and then. Mr. John Abraham of VISA, however, is an icon in his own right. His vision of taking homeless children under his wing and taking care of their basic needs sets him apart from the lot, who are often too tied up with their own individualistic desires. It is heartening to see so much good in the world.
Netscribes, as a part of its corporate social responsibility activities, held a drawing competition for these kids and also treated them with gifts and food. The whole set of activities were not only fun but also fulfilling in their own way for each one of us. It was very different from what I thought it would be. And the kids were amazing - full of energy and fun. There were song and dance performances; and our cheerful gang of Netscribians indulged as well. Needless to say, this was a very humbling experience. It will be very satisfying to see these kids grow up and hold their own in the society. And I am sure, under the able guidance of Mr. Abraham, THEY WILL !!
I came across a new site called mginger that I liked instantly. The business model of this site is based on mobile advertising. The subscriber specifies his/her interests and accordingly a fixed number of ads are sent to the subscriber’s mobile. The mobile subscriber is paid for each ad that is delivered. The model also provides the referral option, whereby a percent of the earnings of the people you refer also get added to your account.
This seems like a workable idea in the current situation. The mobile subscribers are already being bombarded by unsolicited ad messages throughout the day. It would help to make a little money in the process. The site is currently in beta. Check it out.
Here is my referral link: mginger
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