Random Ramblings..

Design treasures from Amazon

biswaroop — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:06:14 +0000

Nice talk about how innovative design principles at Amazon helps their business.

Engage through content
Negative operating cycle
Innovation process: Willingness to fail

http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2009/06/01/presentation-revealing-design-treasures-from-the-amazon/

Startup triplets

biswaroop — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:52:52 +0000

Great post at http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/11539/Startup-Advice-In-Exactly-Three-Words-StartupTriplets.aspx

Startup Triplets: Startup Advice In Exactly Three Words

1. Watch your cash.
2. Pick founders carefully.
3. Hire generalists early.
4. Hire specialists later.
5. Invest in culture.
6. Avoid tempting distractions.
7. Support customers maniacally.
8. Avoid business plans.
9. Write a blog.
10. Never fudge numbers.
11. Encourage diverse thinking.
12. Guard your time.
13. Defer renting space.
14. Get enough sleep.
15. Delay raising capital.
16. Persist through downturns.
17. Decide with data.
18. Improve product daily.
19. Recognize revenue consistently.
20. Start charging early.
21. Reward early adopters.
22. Sell something today.
23. Say “NO” often.
24. Accept imperfect data.
25. Recruit with zest.
26. Nurture your best.
27. Treat vendors well.
28. Believe in yourself.
29. Respect your competitors.
30. Try something new.
31. Build a brand.
32. Focus, focus, focus.
33. Iterate more often.
34. Use your product.
35. Live your vision.
36. Encourage rational debate.
37. Make decisions swiftly.
38. Face harsh realities.
39. Don’t break laws.
40. Protect your health.
41. Celebrate your successes.
42. Cancel unnecessary meetings.
43. Improve emloyee’s resumes.
44. Beware big bullies.
45. Share the experience.
46. Maintain your relationships.
47. Keep it fun.

My experience with the GMAT

biswaroop — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:07:38 +0000

I have sent emails to friends about how I went about preparing for my GMAT. This was very effective for me (I ended up with a 760) and I thought that sharing it more broadly might help others. Below is a summary of what I did.

Sections:
Quantitative
Verbal
Essays.

Quantitative:
Not very tough. High school math. Need to brush up some formulas, and practice a bit to rule out silly mistakes.

Verbal: This was the tough section for me. Practice helped a lot in this section.

I found Sentence correction to be the trickiest part. I spent a lot of time understanding the typical sentence correction cases given on the GMAT. Primary References: Kaplan GMAT, Princeton GMAT, Spidey’s notes (this
one is a pdf file
http://www.sentencecorrection.com/forums/index.php?s=f9fe5dd7b308d3a5a03c21857f941258&act=attach&type=post&id=8)
Spidey’s notes is amazing, but you need to read the chapters from the books to really understand what is mentioned there.

Reading Comprehension..Is not tough, but requires a bit of practice.

Logical Reasoning..again refered to Kaplan GMAT and Princeton GMAT chapter summaries. Then it was getting some practice questions done.

For practice I used these:

Few questions in Kaplan and Princeton.
GMAT official guide, 11th edition. This book is awesome. It is by the people who conduct GMAT and has real past GMAT questions. This alone is sufficient for practice. However it has no notes, hence the other books are required.
GMAT Powerprep .. The best and most accurate test and is given free when you register for the GMAT. It has 2 tests. Best to take them in the last week. I practiced tests from Kaplan as well…but these are way tougher than the actual GMAT.

Regular 1 hours each day, for about 5-7 weeks is more than sufficient for the GMAT.

And now the Google Zeitgeist

biswaroop — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:25:06 +0000

Following Amazon’s list of highest selling items, here is the list of most searched words. I am surprised that I hadnt heard of quite a few of them..

Fastest Rising (Global)

michael jackson
facebook
tuenti
twitter
sanalika
new moon
lady gaga
windows 7
dantri.com.vn
torpedo gratis

Fastest Falling (Global)

beijing 2008
euro 2008
heath ledger
barack obama
amy winehouse
kraloyun
dailymotion
bebo
wii
emule

Best of 2009 according to Amazon

biswaroop — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:21:27 +0000

The zeitgeist according to Amazon: The following is a list of the bestselling products on Amazon.com in 2009 by total units sold:

Electronics: Kindle Wireless Reading Device
Books: “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown
Kindle Books: “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown
DVD: “Twilight”
Video On Demand: “Twilight”
Music: “I Dreamed a Dream” by Susan Boyle
MP3 Album: “No Line on the Horizon” by U2
MP3 Song: “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas
Video Games: Wii
Computers: ASUS Eee PC 1005HA 10.1-Inch Black Netbook
Software: Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
Home & Garden: Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator
Grocery: Coffee People, Donut Shop K-Cups for Keurig Brewers
Gourmet Food: 50′s Decade Box Gift Basket
Health & Personal Care: Omron HJ-112 Digital Pocket Pedometer
Beauty: Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation
Toys: Scrabble Slam Cards
Baby: Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether
Clothing & Accessories: Levi’s Men’s 550 Relaxed Fit Jean
Shoes and Handbags (Amazon.com and Endless.com): Crocs Cayman Sandal
Jewelry: Sterling Silver Marcasite & Garnet Glass Heart Pendant
Watches: Casio Men’s Sea Analog Illuminator Dual LED Dive Watch
Sports & Outdoors: P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program
Home Improvement: Toro Ultra 12 Amp Variable Speed Electric Blower/Vacuum
Automotive: Battery Tender 021-0123 Battery Tender Junior 12V Battery Charger

Loop videos on youtube

biswaroop — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:05:01 +0000

I play songs on youtube all the time, and sometimes have wanted to play an entire song in a loop. However this feature is not present directly on youtube. I just found this tool which allows you to play a youtube video in a loop: http://www.endlessyoutube.com/

You need to take the youtube video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se9rfWucgeY

Copy the VideoID (the highlighted part in the link above) and paste it onto the box at endlessyoutube. Now you are all set to listen to the video in a repeat loop.

Landmark based navigation: Google Maps, India

biswaroop — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:01:12 +0000

Google just released a new version of map-directions for India. If you have ever navigated your way through a new city, you know how difficult it is and how often you need to stop to ask people about the right left turn you need to make. Google maps now does just that. They provide directions emphasizing on landmarks instead of street names. This is a really practical way of adapting to the needs of a region. Awesome feature..

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/go-thataway-google-maps-india-learns-to.html

Here is an example of how the directions from MG Road to Forum look:

Google provides augmented reality

biswaroop — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:10:01 +0000

Google introduced a new product “Goggles” some time back. I personally think its awesome. It uses some cool visual search technology but also implements augmented reality features like getting the information of a local business when viewing it through your phone’s camera. Given the state of visual search technology, I am sure this will take some time to come out of beta mode, but it does provide an awesome leap to the technology at present. View a demo at: http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/#landmark

Mercenaries vs Missionaries

biswaroop — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:29:24 +0000

Great talk by KPCB’s John Doerr about company cultures, KPCBs investments, Greentech and career advice.

There are essentially two types of cultures in companies

Mercenaries	Missionaries
drive,paranoia	passion
opportunistic	strategic
sprint	marathon
obsess on competition	obsess on customers
aristrocacy of founders	meritrocracy
financial statements	mission statement

Killing Google!

biswaroop — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:57:08 +0000

A very interesting video talking about how content publishers can decide the fate of the search engine wars by ganging up. The idea is that the publisher (say NYTimes) preferentially allows one search engine (say Bing) to index its content. If people dont have access to NYTimes on Google, they will migrate to Bing, as they wont be left with much choice.