A week after, and thoughts on "selling an experience"

Happy friendship day!

Its been a week since I started blogging - some of you have called me a "blog addict" but I would say this is now officially my "hobby". It also allows me to put my thoughts in writing and preserve it for eternity. I'm rediscovering my passion for writing.

I've been working at making this blog page easy to use as well. There's a search option (but I am waiting for Google to index these pages before its usable), an email alert for those that need to be reminded when this page is updated, the XML feed for those that use news readers like Newsgator or Bloglines, and a blog rating service from eatonweb (rate my blog using the "1" through "5" buttons on the right!). I'm getting nice and comfy with this blog thing. If you have an opinion to share please use the "comments" link at the end of each message to post your thoughts or suggestions.

By the way, the audioscrobbler.com service is cool. It shows you what songs I'm playing right now as well as my favorite songs/artists etc. Have a look at it under the "Music" section on the right.

Speaking of music - I think Pakistan is slowly opening up a jewel box of talented musicians who have been hidden away from the limelight for too long. Groups like "Junoon", "Strings" and "Fuzon" are making their way across the border to India and receiving international attention as well. "Strings" has two good songs which I like - "Dhoor" (released long ago) and a more recent one called "Na Jaane Kyon" (the original soundtrack for Spiderman-2). "Fuzon" has one called "Mora Saiyan" that I like, the lyrics of this song are in Urdu but there's a very good melody that is enjoyable regardless of language.

I'm wondering why record labels don't allow me to select just one or two songs from each album that I like and then roll that into my own custom CD? Or even download it as MP3 files - if I want them "now". This is relevant because typically each album released has only a few songs which any given person likes - you're forced to buy the entire album just to listen to those one or two songs.

Before you protest - I am talking about sites specific to Indian (or even "sub-continental") music. There are tons of sites, like the iTunes Music Store or allofmp3.com (check this one out, I'm sure many of you have not seen this gem of a site that allows legal mp3 downloads for a very low price - just make sure you select the "English" link, the site shows the Russian language version by default!) that cater to the music requirements of those that want English or even some other "phoren" language music. But what if I want to legally download Kumar Sanu's latest single "Tera Mera Pyar" from the album "Partners in Rhyme"? I don't want to go and buy the full CD - I just need that one song. No option but go download the MP3 from one of the millions of illegal MP3 trading sites.

And the record labels crib about music piracy?

OK to be fair, HamaraCD.com is a beginning in that direction. But I think they are not serious about it. One look at that site tells you that you can never get Strings, Fuzon or even Kumar Sanu's latest. The site is pretty restricted in its offerings.

Why not a site for Indian/sub-continental music that will allow you to either create a custom CD or even download a MP3 file (with appropriate "digital rights management" ofcourse) of any song you can think of (within reasonable limits)? Record labels should get out of their preconceived notions and realise that if they want to stay in the game they have to be nimble, quick and partner with each other (and with the customer). Which means seperate singles from albums and letting the customer choose what they want.

The other day I was watching the "Lessons in Excellence" show on CNBC-TV18 that talked about creating an "Experience Network". The topic itself was pretty hi-funda and the presenters made it even more difficult for the layman to understand by using the "American twang" weapon. The "American twang" weapon, by the way, is the use of an American accent to impress upon the audience that you are "MIT material". It is very effective in getting you keynote speeches and speaking opportunities attended by top CEOs (all of whom will hang on to every word you say but will not remember a thing five minutes after its all over). The "American twang" weapon is further enhanced if you throw in words like "customer-centric", "co-creation of values", "intellectual backbone" and "experience transition". In that sense the "Lessons in Excellence" episode was the guru of them all. They had the twang and the jargon to go with it.

But they had an important thought-provoking idea as well - the customer wants to buy an experience and not a product.

What does that mean in terms of music? Well, the basic of idea of allowing selection of single songs (which could then be put on a custom CD or downloaded as an MP3) itself is a step in the direction of allowing the customer to buy an experience. This needs to be further improved by making sure there are a variety of songs available for selection ("enhancing your supplier network" is the jargon for this). The entire experience could then be made available on a website (cheap to deploy, easy to maintain) or there could be brick-and-mortar stores that provide this as an exclusive service.

For example, how about walking into a MusicWorld store and going up to a jukebox that will let you search and listen to songs (there could be buttons for "whats new", "whats cool", etc on the jukebox that allow you to explore) and then select some of them. Once you've made your selection you pop in your credit card and out pops a CD customized with just the songs you selected! The store may even decide to hold competitions on the best CD compilation and have it judged by the music industry elite.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful experience that you would love to buy?

Audioscrobbler, a blog preview and other thoughts

I signed up for audioscrobbler.com and got myself their iTunes plugin today. Its pretty neat, audioscrobbler will send info on the songs you play to its server which then displays it on a page for others to see. See my audioscrobbler page here. You can also get this page by using the link under the "Music" section on the right. That "Click here" link will have to do till I find out how to display my last ten songs on this blog page itself. Audioscrobbler also promises to show you music recommendations based on songs you've played (sort of like how Amazon.com shows you "Customers who bought this book also bought" items).

People are actually asking me what I am going to write about next in my blog!! Ok so for those that can't wait, here's a preview of what's going on in my mind:

• I'm thinking music (like I always do!) and thinking of selling an experience instead of a product

• I'm thinking project management and how hard it is to "under-promise/over-deliver" versus "over-promise/under-deliver"
  

• I'm thinking viruses (the computer variety)

• I'm thinking about the Indian Government's budget offer of education loans without collateral
  

Some or all of this will come out in the open on this blog one day or the other.

Its funny but I think Indians are now colonising the English language (sweet revenge?). This news item says 80 new Indian words including words like "filmi", "bhelpuri" and "swadeshi" have been added to the Oxford Dictionary (taking the total of Indian words in the venerable dictionary to 700). I wonder why they left out out "pav bhaji" (my favorite junk food). How would you like your pappodums today?

Night Shyamalan's next movie "The Village" is out today! There are a range of reviews, but I will have my own opinion to share once I watch the movie. I loved his Signs, Unbreakable and Sixth Sense, by the way.

HTML to Plain Text Conversion in PHP

This PHP class allows you to convert HTML content into formatted plain text - PHP Class: HTML to Plain Text Conversion. This is useful for my team in their web development work, and I thought someone else might find it useful as well.

Microsoft's answer to Google Labs?

Check out MSN Sandbox for technologies and new ideas that Microsoft (via its "MSN" brand) is previewing. The popular "Lookout" email search plug-in for MS Outlook is now part of this Sandbox.

Where is Apple going?

I saw an ad from Apple for its iLife suite on TIME magazine. In summary, the ad claimed that while you had Microsoft Office for your office, you needed an iLife for the rest of your life. The punch line was very good and in "Apple style" (only subtly rebellious this time though). This ad set me thinking...

Apple, for ages, has been promoting its hardware and software bundle as competition to the Intel plus Windows combo. If you wanted the eye-candy and cute OS of the Mac you either got an expensive Apple Mac system or settled for one of the Mac desktop themes that programs like WindowsBlinds offer (and sigh over your bad luck). You cannot get the Mac OS for your Intel PC.

This has allowed Microsoft to dominate the desktop PC market (Apple does not even call its Macs as "PCs" if I am not wrong). And Microsoft has been copying liberally from the Mac OS (one of the posters that Apple used to popularise its newest version of the Mac OS X Tiger says "Start your photocopiers, Redmond"!).

Why is Apple so fanatical about the Mac HARDWARE???

Why cannot Apple reinvent itself as a software company and sell the Mac OS (in addition to bundling hardware and software as proper "Macs" in case they feel sad about letting go of their flagship product)?

Basically the problem here is that Mac hardware is expensive. Like it or not, Intel PCs are far cheaper and more abundant than Macs. But the software that comes on Macs including the Mac OS, iLife, etc is all world-class and stuff that people would drool over and love to buy.

Please don't tell me that the cute graphics, excellent user interface and stability of the Mac OS can be achieved only on the Mac hardware.

As far as I can see, Apple has a great product - Mac software. But its somehow reluctant to make the jump from being a hardware manufacturer to a software provider.

Lets take the example of the Apple iPod (MP3 player, in case you didn't know) and the iTunes software (used to play music files). The iPod has become one of the fastest selling pieces of hardware that Apple has ever released from its stables. Though the initial versions of the iPod/iTunes were only for the Mac, Apple soon realized the broader market that it could access by making it Windows-friendly. So now we have the iPod hardware and iTunes software which work on the Windows platform as well.

In the process Apple is building a cult following (Apple is good at this) that swears by the iPod - and this has not only its traditional base of Mac users but also includes now a large number of Windows users as well.

There are also some isolated instances like the AirPort Express wireless hub (and the bundled AirTunes software) which Apple has released for the Mac as well as Windows platforms.

What prevents Apple from taking that big step and releasing Windows versions of all its software? I would love to get the iLife suite if it were available for Windows (don't Windows users need an "iLife"?).

Let Apple go one step further and release the wildly popular (but rarely used) Mac OS for the Intel platform. I am sure Microsoft will start feeling the heat almost immediately. This is really possible now since Apple has made the move to using a Unix-flavor operating system as a base for its newer Mac OS's.

Over time Apple could even start prescribing hardware standards for the Intel platform like how Microsoft does at its WinHEC conferences (ofcourse Apple already has the WWDC for its Mac hardware).

I think this is a perfect plan and we would then have a world full of color, creativity and fun. Did you know that most people that use the Mac do so because they feel they are more creative when they use one?

A first look at Gmail, plus some memories of the good ol' days

I got Gmail!!! Thanks to a kind soul (who I will not name here, for fear that they'll get mobbed by others to whom they did not send an invite!). Here are some initial thoughts - I have used it for just about one day.

The interface is fast (Google style) but the elements are confusing to start with. The first thing you see is a mail from the Gmail team in your inbox that welcomes you and states that "Gmail is different". It goes on to explain some new features.

I tried archiving the Gmail welcome message and it just disappeared. There's no "Archive" folder. But your message is there (you can check by clicking "All Mail").

You don't have any folders other than "Inbox", "Starred", "Sent Mail", "Spam" and "Trash". Which means all mail you get either remains in your "inbox", gets "starred" (sort of like flags on Outlook), goes into the "spam" box, is "trashed" or is "archived" (in which case it disappears into a blackhole but is still around if you search for it or click "All Mail"). As far as I could see there was no way you could create any new folders. This is a new paradigm to managing your email (atleast I haven't seen this in any desktop or web-based product). And it would take some getting used to. But once you get used to it, you don't need to pull your hair out managing folders and sub-folders. Just archive or star it, don't bother where it is stored, its available for you when you search. And the search is good (Google style, again). BTW there's no "Empty trash", if you want to delete a message or a "conversation" (sort of like Outlook 2003) you need to select that message or thread and then use the dropdown to delete. Once deleted it goes to "trash" from where it is not emptied, unless you really want to remove it permanently (which is "Delete forever").

And if your inbox is empty there's a neat link to "Google News" (got no mail? read news!).

One thing you notice here is that Gmail discourages you from deleting messages. OK so why not delete? Everyone likes to have an clean desk or inbox. But Google's strategy on ads depends mainly on you having as much as mail as possible in your account. This allows Gmail's programs to scan and deliver relevant ads to you over a period of time (like the Adwords ads you get when you search for stuff on the Google site). This also explains why the 1GB - more email for Gmail to munch on, the better the ad targeting that it can deliver.

An interesting thing I noticed was that when I was reading the Gmail welcome message it showed me ads for other services that were offering 1GB (and in one case even 10GB) email space. Ofcourse in this case the ads were all for priced services whereas Gmail is free. But imagine sending a quote to a client that has a Gmail account and that client sees an ad for a competitor's product or service?

Being a new user to blogs as well, I see some similarities between the way the Gmail messages and blogs are displayed (atleast on blogger.com). Some things I find in common are that both Gmail messages and blogger message talk of message times in terms of "x hours ago" (e.g. "1 hour ago"). Which is probably more easily understood than the "mm/dd/YYYY, hh:mm am/pm" that we normally get to see. And when you an email it shows the subject line of that email on the browser window, which probably makes it easier to locate when you have multiple messages open (the "New window" option next to a message is neat, it allows you to detach the current message and display it in a new window so that you can continue browsing through other messages in the main window).

Google's strategy for Gmail seems good. They're first of all making it a privilege. I remember long ago when American Express cards were available only to a select few. You went through strict scrutiny and it was something of a status symbol to flaunt an AMEX card. Ofcourse its different nowadays, I get new credit cards in the mail without even having to ask for it. "Just complete up the form and mail it back to us stating that you wish to use the enclosed card".

So Gmail is by invitation only. That allows Gmail to also test the waters and ensure they don't overload their systems - overloading happened at Yahoo when it recently announced an increase in the email space. But I basically believe web-mail providers should not rush into this "GB" race without analysing why Google is offering so much space for free (see above for my thoughts).

So Google now has search, blogs, email and social networking (orkut.com, is again by invitation only) covered. And it has tons of technologies in its lab. Could it be the next Microsoft? It could be perhaps. The $105 to $138 for the IPO they are contemplating could be the start of it all.

I'm wondering - blogger.com does not seem to say anything about the total space alloted for my blog. Does that I mean I could use unlimited space? (maybe I'm missing something) I could then create private password protected blogs for each person or persons that I want to communicate with and use that instead of email. I would then have gazillion GBs of space plus the other neat stuff that blogs offer. Hmm, thats something that I will experiment with soon.

All this talk of blogs takes me back to the "good ol' days" (someone who will only be known as "dimbu" just set me thinking on this now)

My first brush with cyberspace started in 1991 (or thereabouts) when Compuserve started offering access to its online service in India. I used to visit this book store in Chennai that had access, and download stuff from Compuserve on to floppies (CD-Rs were a distant dream those days!).

Then came the flurry of Bulletin Board Services (BBS) that set up shop to serve modem enthusiasts (Alok Chitnis in Bangalore, Kishore Bhargava in Delhi, Suchit Nanda in Bombay, and so on). PC Quest magazine came out with its own BBS in Delhi. Back then, I got myself a 2400bps US Robotics modem (a gift from my uncle when he came to visit us from the USA!) and started cranking up the STD bills dialing into Bangalore and Delhi.

Then Suchit established the LiveWire! BBS in Chennai sometime around 1993. And I was on it as one of its first users, and soon I found myself managing the BBS node at Chennai. BTW that BBS has transmogrified over time into what I now do for a living.

On these BBS's we had message boards where one could chat on different topics. I cherish those BBS days - chatting and debating stuff with tons of other (interesting) people! Well, now you have websites and we are all zombies browsing from one page to the other - to a large extent the Internet has replaced the TV rather than provide an engaging medium for people to interact and debate. I hope blogs change that some day.

And if you're wondering - I don't have any Gmail invites yet. You can be sure I will announce it here when I do!

A day comes to an end

Well, the day is coming to an end. And I end it the way I do most other Sundays - listening to music (did I tell you I'm crazy about music - music is my soul, blah blah blah?).

BTW if you're into music (who isn't?) then check out the Audioscrobbler. It builds your music profile and then matches it with others who share your musical taste. You can also link to your scrobbler page from your blog.

What is Blogger?

OK so I'm sold on blogs and blogger.com. Here's an article that explains it all in a simple terms:

The Amazing Web Site Machine

Daily Rotation

This is where I get my daily dose of tech news: DAILY ROTATION

What I did yesterday

I'm back from a short 24-hour trip to Vellore. The occassion was inaugration of an e-governance initiative by the Vellore Municipality which we helped develop. The site's not too artsy, but then it is information-oriented and not trying to win graphics design awards (also you'll need the Bamini Tamil font to view the Tamil text). It was fun (and a welcome break from the daily routine).

Check out this site for some creativity jump-starts: www.innovationtools.com

The birth of a blog

Its a Sunday -- a time to sleep, relax, reflect, enrich my knowledge (oh yeah!), and enjoy mom's cooking.

But I get up at 8am and have this urge to visit "the life of an econ junkie" - maybe the author of the blog planted a sublimal suggestion when I was IM'ing him a couple of days back?

OK so I go read his blog and think - "Hey, if this guy can have a blog - I can do better. I can have a blog that will be read by millions of people!". I was helped along in my thought process by the fact that Andy Abramson credits being featured on CNN International to his VO-IP blog.

I could be famous too, let me create my blog!!!

So off I go to BlogSpot.com and started off with the first of the 3 easy steps.

Creating an account was simple enough, I just need to select a username, password, display name and agree to the terms. I've done this tons of times, no big deal.

Then came naming my blog. The Internet has made linguistic jugglers out of all of us. I quickly realized that I could not get san.blogspot.com, santosh.blogspot.com or other nice sensible variations. "Sorry, this blog address is not available".

"Google to the rescue", I thought to myself. So off I went to google.com and typed "name generator". Well well well, tons of sites. I guess I am not alone.

"Drogo Brandybuck" is my Hobbit name, according to this site. But drogo.blogspot.com was not available, someone had the same idea that I had. And drogobrandybuck.blogspot.com was too long.

This site told me that "messiah", "lord" and "poonen" are all related to the keyword "santosh".

And this site gave an interesting expansion for my name - "Synthetic Artificial Neohuman Trained for Observation and Scientific Harm". But I couldn't use such a long name for a blog that I wanted read by millions.

So I finally settled for Nuranto as suggested by The Middle-earth Name Generator. It was short, mysterious and still available on BlogSpot. So off I went back to the registration page and completed step 2 in a jiffy.

The final step wanted me to select a design, which I did quickly (I liked the colors and the layout of this template a lot).

There it was - my very own blog! Now to fill it up with something. So I started writing this - my first blog ever.

So now I have my very own blogging style - long, complicated (often single sentence) paragraphs full of links, my thoughts on thoughts (enclosed inside parenthesis), hyphens, commas and other assorted punctuations. And don't forget the footnotes.


FOOTNOTES:
(yes, this makes it look like an academic paper but I really want to impress you)

(1) I referred google.com gazillion times while I wrote this post - from finding sites, to researching facts, to getting definitions and checking the spelling of words (which I wanted to use to make that favorable impression on you). This is sufficient proof that Google has now become more indispensible than toothpaste (atleast to me).

(2) Note to Google: Please buy g.com, it will make life easier for all of us.

(3) Note to BlogSpot.com: Link to good name generators (or create one yourself) from step 2, follow the example of Network Solutions and other domain name registration sites.

(4) Note to you: You can expect to see random ramblings, notes to myself, insights into me, cool links to websites, suggestions for books/music/movies, my thoughts on technology, info on my work and other odds and ends here. I may post infrequently, it all depends on my mood. I am in a very "creative" mood right now, by the way.