adding to all the buzz on ebay's regrets over skype

The Economist points at Meg Whitman's role in Skype's less than acceptable financial performance in this article from the print edition. Isn't it amazing that popular and bright ideas (services) like skype are succeeding in getting the perceived value of the idea in the marketplace? Bidders are intent on grabbing the opportunity and regretting later rather than passing it up. Hotmail's story also comes to mind in this context, and many more like twitter, second life, facebook, etc. are aspiring for that position. Whether or not they make money and if so, whether it's up to expectations, remains to be seen. They say and I quote, “the price of inaction is far greater than the cost of a mistake" for such firms.

the intriguing book arch

I found this image on a bookmarking site, but on searching flickr, three owners turned up who have given no clue about the why and how of this intriguing image!

Book pointer: Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"

I have decided to call my comments on books as 'book pointers' rather than book reviews, since sometimes I might not have read the book I am talking about. However, I feel like discussing the work simply because I like the author or the theme etc.

Which is the case for this book: Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" (Metropolitan Books, 446 pages, $28). Tyler Cowen, in his review of the book says that Naomi Klein has yet again tried to make it a best-seller banking on the shock-quotient of the book. Which is why I like to read the author - what fun is politics, commerce and policy if its told as it is - drab statistics and ambiguity of businesses. One must find an aberration in the bigger picture to simplify the broad agenda and to attribute motive to the characters. Naomi does just that, as I found in her previous book, No Logo.

norah jones - dont know why

music i like

little wonders

music i like

Our weekend trip to alibaug, murud, kashid & janjira

Today in some news item, timout's founder remarked that people are not used to the idea of a time-out here in india! He was in mumbai for some event related to timeout's circulation figures. I concede that he's partly true, to the extent that we never make timeouts a regular affair. It is not a must-do event in our weekly or monthly schedules.


But this last weekend, by some curious turn of events, 8 of us found ourselves in the picturesque surroundings of alibaug, murud, kashid & janjira, for a change.