This is the reason I like iPhone..

Pure and simple baniya reason.. almost all Android phones looses their value in couple of months whereas iPhone still keeps its value not only as new phone but most importantly it's resale value.. Even now, unlocked used iPhone 4 which would be minimum two years old will sell in secondary market easily for $250.. enough to cover subsidized cost of new iPhone 5 from AT&T. If you have iPhone 4S you may easily get $360-$370.. All the models I am talking are base 16GB base models.. New iPhone 5 with contract costs $199+tax. Without contract off course will cost you $599+tax.

More importantly, they like hot cake.. at least in our company mailer alias they do.. Where as, Android phones.. I tried only once and had hardly any response..

Whatever people may say.. I am still big fan of iPhone franchise.. best part of these phones is that they deliver what they promise without any flaw.. and user experience is ultimate.. there is no doubt about that.. I am still very much upbeat on Apple for just this reason.. I still feel that most of the surge in recent Android phone sales in US is mainly because of people's desire to change.. Most of the folks I have seen getting new Android phone come back to iPhone after their use. Android phones may have tons of additional features as compared to iPhone.. but.. but...............

AT&T

Price of ‘Facebook phone’ cut to 99 cents

AT&T has cut the price of the HTC First phone, which is preloaded with Facebook applications, to 99 cents from $99.99 less than a month after the phone’s launch. AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider, said the price cut took effect Wednesday. The company is the exclusive U.S. wireless carrier for the phone, made by Taiwan’s HTC and launched April 12.

An AT&T spokeswoman said price-cutting promotions are not unusual. But operators typically wait longer than a few weeks after a launch before discounting phones.

Richard Windsor, an independent analyst, said in his Radio Free Mobile blog that the price cut was a worrying sign for social network Facebook and its future in mobile.

“The final verdict on Facebook Home was brutally handed down yesterday with AT&T slashing the price of the HTC First from $99 to $0.99,” Windsor said.

This is only going to kill innovation in France..

Come on France.. What's wrong with you... what are you thinking? this is nuts.. you don't want your "ONLY" successful start-up to an American Company? How stupid you can be? One success story like (including sales to Yahoo) this will create hundred other start ups in your country.. there is no better motivation for innovation than money.. pure and simple money.. lots of money..

Moreover, this Daily-motion is distance second cousin to YouTube . I really don't see any major innovation (feel free to educate me if there are any major innovation ideas in Daily-motion)... it is surviving because some people are afraid of Google.. that is it.. There can be ten other companies like this who can really scale and do better than it.. it is, at the best ME-TOO version of YouTube which is popular in your country somehow.. and generated some good traction which resulted in $300M valuation.. I am sure it was peek.. or not.. nevertheless, let capitalism take its own course and if you want innovation and growth in your country try not to interfere with business.. just leave them alone..

Overall, I feel that Yahoo shareholders are lucky that they were spared few hundred million dollars from this acquisition.. which I see as buying users at the best.. I don't think that they will miss anything..

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-30/yahoo-discussions-over-dailymotion-stall-french-official-says.html

Are you ready for Virgin Galactic Space Trip!!

Seems that dream of commercial space flight is nearing!!! If everything goes well, we should be able to buy ticket to space trip and have fun and come back to our beloved earth.. Just pay 200K and you will be added to the waitlist of 530 already registered for this flight. I don't know how soon they will be able to clear this waitlist. Passenger capacity is 6.. So theoretically if they take one flight per day they could fly 1800 passengers per year (assuming 300 flight days per year) with just one single Galactic spaceship.

Will they take my airline miles? If not, then either I need to start buying lottery or make some couple of millions fairly quickly.. or my company' stock goes to $100 or may be $500 or so.. $100 still won't cut in ;-)

200K!! Wao.. it is lot of money for few hours of fun trip but then I am sure it will be well worth it..

Branson’s tourist spaceship a step closer

Test pilot breaks sound barrier in rocket motor craft

By W.J. Hennigan and Adolfo Flores

Los Angeles Times

British billionaire Richard Branson’s commercial space venture Virgin Galactic got one step closer to carrying tourists into space Monday when a test pilot cracked the sound barrier over the Mojave desert.

For the first time, the company’s SpaceShipTwo engaged its rocket motor, sped to Mach 1.2 and reached 56,000 feet in altitude.

The flight is the latest — and largest — milestone in Virgin Galactic’s testing of technology it hopes to use to carry scores of paying customers into space multiple times a day.

“The first powered flight of Virgin Spaceship Enterprise was without any doubt our single most important flight test to date,” Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, said in a statement. “Today’s supersonic success opens the way for a rapid expansion of the spaceship’s powered flight envelope, with a very realistic goal of full space flight by the year’s end.”

The test flight took place shortly after sunrise Monday beginning on the desert runway at Mojave Air and Space Port, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. During the test, SpaceShipTwo was taken to about 46,000 feet by a carrier aircraft and dropped like a bomb.

After a short free fall, test pilots Mark Stucky and Mike Alsbury engaged the hybrid rocket motor, powered by nitrous oxide and a rubber compound, for 16 seconds, at which point SpaceShipTwo reached Mach 1.2 speeds.

The idea of Virgin Galactic routinely taking passengers to space this way was developed by retired maverick aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and his Mojave company, Scaled Composites.

Until now, astronauts have reached space packed tight in a capsule or shuttle attached to a high-powered rocket.

Instead, Virgin Galactic will use a WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft that will fly with the reusable Space-ShipTwo rocket plane under its wing to 50,000 feet, where the spaceship will separate and blast off.

When the rocket motor engages, it will power the spaceship to nearly 2,500 mph and take the pilot — and up to six passengers — to the edge of space, or more than 60 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Once they reach that suborbital altitude, passengers will experience weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth. Then they will re-enter the atmosphere and glide back to the runway. The price for the experience: $200,000.

Virgin Galactic, founded by Branson, hopes to make its first passenger flight sometime next year from Spaceport America in New Mexico, where the company plans to conduct routine operations. The company said it has taken about 530 reservations for the ride.

The WhiteKnight-Two carrier aircraft, which resembles a flying catamaran because it has two fuselages, and SpaceShipTwo are still in the midst of a test-flight program that will continue in Mojave until Virgin Galactic believes it can begin commercial operations.

Virgin Galactic’s commercial space launch system is based on Rutan’s SpaceShipOne, the world’s first private manned spaceship, which successfully flew a test pilot to space and back three times during 2004 to win a $10 million X-Prizepurse.

Information age - Consumption Vs. Production

I have been thinking a lot about this issue.. about impact of practically infinite amount of information, content availability at dirt cheap price on the internet.. or I should say primarily on internet as there are still some avenues left to consume information and content outside of internet..

Important thing is that, now a days, kids so young in age start consuming information and content and pleasure and fun from so many indirect / non-human sources that it literally makes them addicted to this consumption pattern of information.. The same tools also gives us opportunity to produce information or content or media.. but the way I see it.. it is mostly becoming one way street...

iPhones/iPads are taking over baby sitter roles and keeps kids (and to some extent adults as well) really busy... It is great.. there is nothing wrong in easy access to content from these new delivery mechanisms.. but.. does it leaves any time for kids to produce something out of their brain? or I should say.. how much time kids day dream and imagine and build some creative games using their own imagination.. I don't know about you.. but I feel that brains have hardly any time left to produce and create content. This content need not go out to the world in some form or other.. first thing is that some content is produced by sheer imagination of individuals.. they themselves should be able to enjoy this original authentic content and grow on it..

Some of you will argue that all these new delivery mechanisms and tool sets are the reason all this content is coming out in exponential proportions.. so there is definitely up-tick in more content production.. However, this content usually is coming out of adults.. commercial companies usually for profit organizations.. Content production facility inside human brain, in particular inside kids brain has come to almost halt.. How this is going to impact in future is yet to be seen.. I am sure ultimately we will continue to become more creative and our content product will continue to grow.. but this content production is coming really from very few and these "very few" will become  more and more extinct..

It could be just my perception looking around my own personal life and circle.. don't know.. but after observing all this I started trying question... rather than simply absorb "gyan" (knowledge) from others and many times stopped following others "gyan" and started trying to think about issues with independent (whatever independence I can exert) mind.. I still find results of this new approach more or less mixed.. or same as earlier.. actually to be honest, slightly better than before as I started getting satisfaction of testing my own hypothesis and enjoying results.. irrespective of good or bad results..

Now a days.. I feel that I am going towards other side of the spectrum.. I don't know.. either way.. one thing is sure.. if something gives happiness to me... then I simply don't care about rest of the world.. as long as no one else gets physically or mentally hurt by my actions..

and that is one purpose of this blog.. I am expressing my own views on the any kind of information I come across... if I get time to think about it and come up with my views.. I document it whenever possible .. and lot of time I hear back from you all.. some times praises but mostly I hear back when people have different views than mine or when they don't like it.. which is good.. I think it helps me further.. so please keep letting me know your views and feedback.. 

Einstein is proved right... yet again..

This article beautifully explains Einstein's General Theory of Relativity along-with explanation of another extreme test to test this theory.. So far Prof. Einstein is proving right..

Though, I still wonder, there has to be some fundamental explanation of Gravity itself.. and there has to be more explanation of relationship between time, space, energy and gravity etc....

Definitely recommend reading this article. Hopefully WSJ won't remove this link..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324743704578444913060125542.html?mod=djemTEW_h


Here is another link which is slightly more technical..

http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/71221-einsteins-theory-of-relativity-highlighted-by-pulsar-and-white-dwarf

This is one Crappy Old law which only creates monopoly and generates inefficiency

I was listening on somewhat similar issue in NPR as well. Most of the states have these type of laws on car dealership. Once upon a time long long ago these laws were needed to protect dealerships when Cars were hot commodity and Car manufacturers dictated really harsh terms and conditions on dealers. Now a days, these type of laws and rules are just archaic laws which just gives dealer association huge amount of leeway in close association with local politicians.

I think it is time to revisit such laws and change them to reflect new level playing field for both Manufacturers and Dealers..

Virginia says no to Tesla dealership

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Virginia officials have rejected a request from Palo Alto-based electric carmaker Tesla Motors to operate its own dealership at a Tysons Corner mall.

State law requires manufacturers to sell cars through a dealer, unless the manufacturer can show that no dealer is available.

Tesla sought an exception, saying its unique model for selling cars would not be attractive to a traditional dealer. The showroom would be more of a “design studio” where customers would use touchscreens to customize options. No inventory would be on hand, and customers would wait up to six months to receive the vehicle. There would not be a service department.

The Virginia Automobile Dealers Association objected to Tesla’s request.

In a ruling Monday, Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Richard Holcomb said he was unable to say definitively that no dealer could meet Tesla’s needs.

Holcomb ruled against Tesla even though a DMV hearing officer had twice recommended that Virginia grant the company’s request .

Tesla has the opportunity to appeal Holcomb’s ruling in state court or resubmit its request with evidence that no dealer is available to operate the franchise in a manner that would benefit the public interest.

Tesla is waging similar campaigns in other states.

The War of Next Big thing Between Apple and Samsung

As per this article on WSJ.. nothing extra ordinary.. WSJ Author/reviewer in-fact urges customers to check out HTC-one instead defaulting to S4!!! That is biggest slap in a way for S4.. especially from my perspective.. couple of months back I had written off HTC as a company all-together.. Now.. it seems that HTC is emerging back.. So far I have heard great reviews about HTC One.. yet to read any single bad or below average review about HTC One..

In fact HTC was one of the first good, cheap smartphone manufacturer.. even before the launch of iPhone.. iPhone really spoiled their market.. But it seems that they are going back to their roots and building great phones and capturing some market back from both Samsung and Apple. I think even their alliance with FB is also helping them.. I am definitely going to test it.. one of my very good friend has bought HTC One recently and I would definitely borrow it for few hours... I am sure many of my friends will also get S4 as well :-)

Good news is that, this smartphone market pie is so big that there is room for many players at the same time and they can satisfy different type of customers with varied needs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578440824138699526.html

However, USA Today's review seems to be much more favorable.. Author/reviewer liked in particular Dual Action camera mode.. Capturing your own reaction for the event happening and also some drama mode where you can focus and follow one particular person..

Seems that they have fixed Display issue.Apparently, S3 had little bit dimmer screen.. This time S4's display has all the great reviews..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2013/04/24/samsung-galaxy-s4-review/2104959/

Both the authors complain that S4 has lot of features and it seems overly complex and confusing. I think in a race to compete with iPhone, Samsung is injecting all kinds of features into their flagship phone.. Which may be true and applicable to many customers.. especially in Asia.. which is still solid stronghold of Samsung. They have really made it big screen and I would love to use it more as iPad mini kind of.. If I go with S4 or its equivalent, my primary reason would be screen size which I can use it as my iPad mini replacement.. So far I am okay..

However, in race to prove themselves better than iPhone.. they miss the whole point of iPhone's popularity.. it is simple and whatever feature they put in there.. it works and it works beautifully.. and most of the customers (including your truly!!) love it.. I am sure there must be many other customers who like all kinds of features offered by Samsung and HTC.

So far, I am still iPhone fan and have no plans to go back to Samsung or Android for that matter. However, I am really happy to see great phones from iPhone's competitors.. as it definitely raises bar for iPhone 5S and I hope to see super great iPhone 5S in near future..

Height of Social Network Data Mining!!!

This is typical example of relying too much on Social Media Data Mining and let Computers and Algorithms act on their own without human intervention.

In case you haven't caught up.. yesterday Dow lost almost 250 points in matter of few minutes wiping out almost 200 billion USD worth Market Cap. For some reasons, there wasn't enough liquidity in market (I can't understand this.. please review link from WSJ below) so it couldn't go further down. Otherwise, it could have easily triggered chain reaction and invoked all Computer Algorithms supposedly designed to safeguard respective portfolios.

The tweet responsible for this came from hacked twitter account of AP. As per tweet, there were some 2 bomb blasts in white house and President Obama was hurt.. Just one fake.. fraud tweet can clean up $200B!!!

I think, given the relative immaturity of Social Media Mining and associated Business Intelligence.. it was bound to happen.. However, it will be matter of time when algorithms will become even more mature and resilient to such actions.. at the same time hackers will also.. so this cat-mouse game is going to continue forever..  Only new angle we need to be aware is that this new area of reliance on Social Media for news and security breach.

All this may not effect your inbox or add new fraud credit card charges but it may impact you in your retirement accounts or brokerage accounts.. The added cost of securing and building defense against such attacks is definitely going to impact you in some form or other for sure..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578441201605193488.html

Love focus of this Company

I am yet to see LinkedIn doing something else than their core business. Simply, one pony trick but they are doing it well. As long as our technology or intellectual property based jobs are there, LinkedIn will be there. Yet to see any other better business model..

Biggest threat to LinkedIn is still gorilla's of Social side which are FB and Google++. But for them to come into this area which is more or less niche will be tough.. Moreover, trust is really low on these guys (FB & Google++) when it comes sharing or accessing your personal information for commercial advantage.. LinkedIn has still maintained that trust level with their customers.

LinkedIn thriving by being less social 

Revenue, profit, share price surge as others struggle

By Brandon Bailey

bbailey@mercurynews.com 

MOUNTAIN VIEW — One of the most successful social networking companies in Silicon Valley saw tremendous growth last year, primarily because it’s not a place for posting vacation photos, rating restaurants or playing online games with friends.

While Facebook and other “social” companies struggled with uneven stock performance and other challenges in 2012, LinkedIn saw its revenue, profit and share price surge by 80 percent, thanks to its membership of 200 million professionals and the prospective employers who pay to reach them.

LinkedIn’s “main product is selling access to talent,” explained Michael Pachter, an Internet business analyst at Wedbush Securities.

And by doing so, experts say, the networking site has turned the world of recruiting and hiring on its head. As more people post their resumes on LinkedIn, corporate headhunters are increasingly using the site to identify potential employment candidates — including people who aren’t actively looking to change jobs — rather than wait for them to submit an application. 

“It has absolutely changed the way that we do everything,” said Martin Millington, senior vice president for human resources at Quantros, a Milpitas-based health care technology company. Instead of just posting openings and hoping for a response, he said, recruiters use LinkedIn to search for prospects who meet their criteria, view their professional connections and even contact them discretely. 

Went public in 2011 

LinkedIn, which started 10 years ago and went public in 2011, promotes itself as an online network for people who want to post their resumes and maintain professional contacts in a more business-oriented format than Facebook or other social sites. 

The company makes some of its money from showing ads and selling premium features to members. But more than half its nearly $1 billion in annual revenue comes from employers and recruiters who pay for what LinkedIn calls its “Talent Solutions,” including job listings, corporate pages and online software that can perform sophisticated searches of LinkedIn’s member database. 

LinkedIn recently upgraded that software, adding algorithms that “recommend” potential job candidates — based on such factors as experience, recent promotions and even where they have lived — and other tools to help hiring executives keep tabs on prospects they may want to recruit in the future. 

Those changes won’t be apparent to most LinkedIn members, who are more likely to notice the recent redesign of individual profile pages and new features that let members “follow” well-known business leaders and other public figures. But the recruiting tools are a key to the company’s future. 

“Talent Solutions is our largest and fastest-growing business,” according to Parker Barrile, a LinkedIn senior product director, who said more than 16,000 companies currently use the tools. While declining to discuss growth targets, he added, “We think we have a tremendous amount of headroom to reinvent the way people hire.” 

Added 1,340 workers 

LinkedIn did some hiring of its own last year: The Mountain View company added 1,340 workers, bringing its payroll to 3,458. Along with a planned second campus in Sunnyvale, CEO Jeff Weiner recently told analysts the company is expanding in Hong Kong, Brazil and Europe. 

Weiner, a former Yahoo executive recruited in 2008 by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, has also pushed the company into new lines of business and beefed up its service for smartphones and tablets. 

LinkedIn recently began offering additional content to members, including business news and expert blogs. It’s experimenting with a subscription service to help salespeople find customers through their contacts at other companies. LinkedIn is introducing that service slowly to make sure it doesn’t come across as too “spammy” or annoying to members, according to Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia. 

That’s been a concern with another new program that aggressively encourages LinkedIn members to endorse each other’s skills. While it spurs activity on the network, said Macquarie Securities analyst Tom White, the program risks diluting credibility by encouraging people to give endorsements too freely. 

LinkedIn had some growing pains in June when it confronted a data breach and theft of 6.5 million member passwords. The company said it contained the breach and increased security before members suffered any major harm. 

Analysts say the biggest threat to LinkedIn’s future is the prospect of a larger company, such as Facebook or Google, launching a competing service. But as LinkedIn continues to grow, White said rivals may face difficulty convincing people to move their resumes and contacts onto a new platform. 

Unlike Facebook or Twitter, many people don’t see a need to visit LinkedIn every day, Pachter noted. But in a world where no job is guaranteed forever, he added, “a lot of us value being on LinkedIn, just in case we need to be.” Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey 

“ Talent Solutions is our largest and fastest-growing business. We think we have a tremendous amount of headroom to reinvent the way people hire.” 

— Parker Barrile, LinkedIn 

Boston Marathon Bombing

I am still not able to understand rationale or logic of these bombings. I think lot of answers are yet to come, but still why will anyone from Chechnya will support or sponsor this operation.. is beyond my comprehension. Two suspects of Chechen origin are/were good kids with more or less flawless record. Don't know how they got into this mess. It has to be extremely powerful brainwash to recruit these kids.

Moreover, Why will any Chechen rebel group support this? They already have big and strong enemy in Kremlin. why will they create another powerful enemy who is known to be ruthless when it comes to protecting themselves. Politically it doesn't make any sense.

I can understand Al-Qaida's support behind this operation.. If somehow, they get Chechen rebels involved into this mess or their mess.. and US goes behind Chechen rebels as well.. it will give or rather gift Chechen rebels to Al-Qaida.. But for Chechen rebels.. it is loose loose situation..

Either I am too naive to see the bigger picture here..or there is something wrong with entire story so far.. I simply can't understand logic for Chechen support behind these bombings.. I am sure there is someone else behind this who wants either Chechen Rebels to work with Al Qaida or simply want Chechen rebels to be finished.. there has to be more on this.. I strongly feel that these guys were used as front to do such heinous act.

Lastly, let us say if these two brothers didn't had any support from any terrorist organization and they pulled this entire thing on their own.. then there is fundamentally something wrong with system out here.

If two kids can create such big scare and following events like complete shut down of a city like Boston.. then Congress needs to act and clean up this mess they have created.. If this is the case, then this is even bigger event than Connecticut school shooting incidence couple of months ago. That had more sentimental value but this has even bigger strategic value in terms of scare and terrorism any one can create with available guns and ammunition.. If Congress/Senate failed to pass any gun measure and can ignore the Connecticut School shooting incidence, they definitely can't ignore this event. I hope that they are getting this message loud and clear..