Revel in Rebel

QOTD

Tarun — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:32:25 +0000

Even when you’re doing nothing but good, fear of change is going to cause a lot of people to object.

Just Dialled?

Tarun — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:44:07 +0000

I have been a frequent user of JustDial ever since the time it was called “Talking Yellow Pages”. This was long before it got re-branded as “JustDial” and entered into the internet play. In fact, I am often found evangelizing this service among my friends Not because its the best “local search” one can ask for, but because it definitely is the pioneer in India. It is a big first step in a category of services which is all set for huge growth and without which it might become difficult for us to imagine our lives few years down the line. However there is no doubt that to maintain their leadership in the long run, they will need to continuously evolve and keep improving their offering. The database edge wont suffice for long. There are a number of gaps still wide open which will allow competitors to get in and pose a challenge.

Reminds me of an incident. During a recent trip to Kolkata, I messed up with my bookings and was left looking for a hotel at 10 in the night. I decided to get into a restaurant and zero down upon a hotel over dinner. As I would usually do, I called up JustDial and asked them for few hotels in the Park Street area. They sent me a list and I started calling.

Me: Hi! Do you have a single a/c room available for next 2 days starting from tonight?
Hotel Guy: Yes Sir. We do have.
Me: Oh gr8, how far is your place from Park Street?
Hotel Guy: Sir, it will be around 250.
(Now some people have this habit of using strange metrics for distances. I thought that this guy means that reaching there will cost me 250 bucks by a taxi)
Me: Oh, so you mean that it will cost me 250 bucks by taxi?
Hotel Guy: No Sir, our hotel is around 250 kms from there.
Me: Huh?
Hotel Guy: Sir, we are actually a resort located in a neighboring district of Kolkata.
Me: Oh ok! Thanks!

I did eventually ended up getting a hotel but they could have obviously given me a better list of results. Now this is one aspect in which JustDial fails almost always. Query it for a certain area and you can be sure to receive results scattered all over the city ( and at times from even outside the city ) Now I never expected them to be using any spatial indexing (not yet at least) but they can definitly do better than this even with some primitive techniques.

After all, users like me stick. But only till there is something better in sight

The power of inexperience

Tarun — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:54:35 +0000

well summarized in a single sentence:

We didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so we just did it.

Quoted from here. Pretty nice book!

Finally giving in…

Tarun — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:45:42 +0000

…to the temptation!

Just hoping that I don’t get addicted

Contrast…

Tarun — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:13:34 +0000

This is the view I get to see each day from the balcony of my apartment. Shacks of the construction laborers in the backdrop of the grand ISB campus. Quite a contrast!

Reminds me of the India Poised campaign.

And finally,

Tarun — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 09:44:13 +0000

Google gets it spot on!

Time to bid adieu to Bloglines, guys!!

20th November, 1984 :D

Tarun — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 21:33:31 +0000

2 days of Twittering…

Tarun — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:09:09 +0000

Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing. On the web or on your phone.

After the first glance, many would think of it just as a group SMS sending application. But the real essence of twittering is best described by the phrase “present tense blogging“. I have been receiving twitters from some friends since last couple of days and the experience of sharing moods and moments is unprecedented. Neither email nor instant messaging comes close. It simply redefines what staying in touch means!

Though its presently in a very crude form and lacks certain must-have features but should improve with time and feedback. Most importantly, SMS delivery works like a charm, atleast for now. Hope it stays the same with the increase in traffic. And yes, it works here in India too Though I am not sure of the rates applicable for the outgoing messages. But you dont need to send any SMS from your cellphone unless you want to.

So, game for twittering?

(I like the above logo much more than their present one. Wonder why they changed…)

This is what …

Tarun — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:08:35 +0000

… a lil’ master inning does to you:

A friend writes a post just after the awesome Sachin innings today. And he ends up writing this -

The above pic is from Today’s India Vs Srilanka match, where sachin is waving to the crowds after reaching his 50, by the time of writing this post, sachin has gone to make a centure and is still playing.

Now, when sachin is in such a mood, who the hell cares whether the poor souls on the receiving end are from West Indies or Sri Lanka

Right, rocky? )

Its Showtime!

Tarun — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 20:08:28 +0000

September 12, 10:00 AM, San Francisco

And the whole world is waiting once again…

And all sorts of rumors are doing the rounds once again …

This time the rumors range from an all new movie download service to a bigger screen iPod to an iPhone

Whats your take?

Update:

The event is over and was full of announcements, the biggest being a preview to iTV.

A nice coverage here.