spremkumar

Ted Fisherman’s China, Inc., emphasis on the world we deal with today. He concentrates on one of the country China which is rapidly emerging as a most powerful economy.The author has compiled an impressive array of facts, figures, and anecdotes about China's business economy. He has also made the book a lot more interesting with interviews with real life people, like shop sellers in a Shanghai knick-knack market to Patrick Lo, chief executive of networking equipment giant Netgear Inc.
But while Fishman's range of reporting is impressive, his book could have benefited from an overriding argument. Occasionally Fishman lets an opinion seep in, but only in the most cursory of terms. For instance, in his discussion of the Three Gorges Dam, the government's massive effort to block off a Lake Superior-sized reservoir along the Yangtze River, he laments briefly that the project will destroy much of the gorges and several cities, while displacing over a million people.
By avoiding more controversial TOPICS, Fishman reduces heated political debates to endless contemplating dialogues .In his discussion on piracy, Fishman says that China's vast counterfeit market constrains business innovators because they know any good idea will be ripped off. But he stops short of outright condemnation of piracy, explaining that the underground economy also provides an influx of much-needed cash to China. Then, moments later, he concedes that China's piracy robs the world of wealth.
This is not to claim that any of the complex issues raised by China, Inc. can be shoved into easy either-or paradigms. And Fishman does provide a good introduction to China's economy. But rather than sprawling so widely over such broad area, he might have focused on a few other parts and developed arguments about them. What should be done about China's rampant piracy? Should the yuan be pegged to the dollar?

Posted by Sunaina Premkumar at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mark S. Walton‘s Generating Buy-in portrays the leadership ability to influence people’s thoughts and feelings, to generate their buy-in. The book provides the readers with a uniquely powerful communication method that emphasis a language of buy-in and leadership.
These communication skills will empower the readers to produce the results they want and need with greater simplicity, speed and efficiency.

The author Mr. Walton also emphasis on Understanding the Language of Buy-In. To understand such factors the author talks about Strategic stories, of a positive future that has been the most powerful Communication skill of buy-in since, if not before, the beginning of recorded time. The route to real buy-in is to generating people’s understanding, dedication and eventually is to have an impact on their action not just in the sense of there thinking, but also their emotions. This is precisely what the “stories” imply.

Generating Buy- In presents a language of leadership common to the most masterful influencers in business, politics, law and other arenas. It offers examples of individuals and organizations that have used this method, including Jack Welch, Ted Turner, several U.S. Presidents, Coca Cola, and the U.S. Army. The book features valuable information’s including sample business scenarios and a design process for creating custom buy-in exercises and transferring the lessons of the book to actual workplace settings.

Posted by Sunaina Premkumar at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

THE SEARCH

John Battelle’s The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture is a whole lot of information
The book clearly explores what does it mean to search, what is the ideal search, and how is it evolving in relation to the human culture. The beginning of the book does an excellent job of explaining the history of Google and a very good job of explaining the history of search engines on the whole. The second part of the book looks at how Google has grown from a private company to the public money making machine. Additionally, Battelle also addresses many of the privacy concerns associated with search and the Patriot Act.
John Battelle details Google’s history in a manner that plays out like a good movie. Battelle addresses how Google, while being a lifesaver when it comes to meeting our technical and personal needs, also tracks our every move creating a massive database of everything we search. Battelle criticizes Google’s privacy policy, which allows Google to share clicksteam information with law enforcement if needed (page 203). Battelle criticizes their policy basically saying it contradicts their “don’t be evil” motto because of the language used which allows Google to make the decision to share user’s search information instead of being forced to by law enforcement.
Battelle also talks about Google’s relationship with China. Google chose to give into Chinese censorship rules by censoring its news site. According to Battelle, “by working with China to omit certain sites, Google had seemingly become an accessory to evil,” (page 206).
Google, in the short time it has been around, has shot up to become the leader in search. The word Google is not only the name of a company but is used by many as an adjective to describe the meaning of search. Battelle also makes it a point to touche on what the future of search could be. According to Battelle, search will be everywhere & in every application that is digital will have the ability to search. In addition to the future of search Battelle also looks at the financial impact of search, not only on companies such as Google and Yahoo, but also small Internet-based companies.
The final part of his book focuses on the potential future directions of Google and its products' development. In what Battelle himself acknowledges might just be a "digital fantasy train", he describes the possibility that Google will become the centralizing platform for our entire lives

Posted by Sunaina Premkumar at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There was a great increase with regards to Music with the general public during the Renaissance period. Music was a huge part of spiritual and civil life during the Renaissance. This period of the renaissance is considered to be the start of the modern age. All of the events that took change during this period had a major effect on the change in styles of composing. The new essence of music was also achieved from new instruments. The most essential music during this time would have to be the music composed for churches. The Renaissance consists of European Music composed during the 1400s through 1600s. European music progressively started retrieving Renaissance characteristics. During the fifteenth century, music was conquered by certain English and Northern European Composers.
The Burgundian Court is the main attraction during this period. By 1550, music was dominated by Franco-Flemish composers. In the sixteenth century, there were tons upon tons of changes in music. One of the first changes that took place would be when the first set of polyphonic music was heard at the time.
This also made way to the development in music printing in places like Germany and England. Before “music printing” most music was written by hand and learned by ear & the books were only owned by churches. After the invention of music printing, music books were available to everyone and were very inexpensive. The problem of music books then became that people were unable to read and understand them. During this time, new inventions of new instruments were also available.
Instruments like the “wind instrument” gained a lot of attention & was used mostly by the army from Europe. Wind bands became used during various periods over the years such as the Baroque period and also the Romantic period. Early Renaissance last from 1400 through 1467, leading the Early Renaissance period was Guillaume Dufay, a composer who established music during the early period of Renaissance. The Middle Renaissance music lasted from 1467 through 1534. The Late Renaissance music was from 1534 through 1600. The Renaissance Period ended in 1600, while a manneristic style forms.

Posted by Sunaina Premkumar at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are lots of increased interest in the growth of Web2.0 space at present and the underlying technology supporting this. In understanding the work of leading web entrepreneurs and innovators we get an elevated perspective across many web-based products and service domains, and thereby get to see trends and common themes that may not be obvious to somebody working from a single perspective. From here we’re seeing the convergence of a number of trajectories;
• 3D virtualization of space & real-time shared experience
• Increasing richer User generated content
• Social Affiliation & Identity expression
Where these trends meet are a number of interesting product & service possibilities where compelling social and entertainment experiences can be virtualized and brought to life. Over the last year we have been building a technology platform that supports the next generation of web-based products in this emerging territory.

Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use webs. According to Tim O'Reilly, the term “Web 2.0” is described as:

" Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an "architecture of participation," and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences."

Posted by Sunaina Premkumar at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Communication is treated as the center of human life. Every aspect of our daily life is affected by communication (Little John, 2005)

Communication as a named and unified discipline has a history of contestation that goes back to the Socrates period, though studied systematically since antiquity the significant of this topic created more interest only during the 20th century. As Little John would perceive it – the period of “revolutionary discovery” largely caused by the rise of technology

Human communication and technology begins with the invention of writing, it includes pigeon training, ink, woodblocks, 16th century books, and 17th and 18th century pamphlets. As Ms.Srivatsan quoted “Any kind of communication follows certain protocols or guidelines.” (Ms.Srivatsan, 2007). One of the most important aspects of work in the 21st century is that it is becoming more and more distributed. People can work from any place on earth, accessing their data and interacting with their colleagues/friends from anywhere and anytime.

Being an Information and Communication scientist, I strongly believe:

Ideas lead to Innovation and Innovation leads to technology

Hence, I am going to discuss the growth in technology in relevance to communication. “Communication is the verbal interchange of a thought or idea” ( Little John , 2005) Communication on the technology median can be occurred using Mobile phones, social network, blogging, Skype, video/voice conferencing.

MOBILE PHONES: The deep integration of mobile phones into modern life has been a necessity in day to day lives. In most of the developing countries, mobile penetration is strongly correlated with economic growth and social benefits. For instance, India, a developing country in South Asia with a population of over one billion people, has low telephony penetration of just 18 % of the population, but has now become one of the high volume, high growth telecommunication services market in the world. This proves the involvement of technology into the communication industry.

SOCIAL NETWORK: These create a great platform for communication. For instance, MySpace – one of such social networks that provide something simple called the “wall”. The wall is nothing but a messaging area of a user’s profile page, where any “friend” of the user can post comments and thoughts. The value of the wall points to a very important dimension of building and running any web property that’s driven by community… that communications ultimately serves as the anchor feature and the driver of maintenance and growth.

BLOGGING: The process of penning down our thoughts and expressing our views to the open pubic. It is to be a place where such (thoughts/expressions) are made and then people can read through them and leave in their comments. Example of one such place is BlogSpot, on such medians the commentator can critic on the writer and displaying their identity or being anonymous is his/her preference. Generally blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject & sometimes even used as an online diary.

SKYPE: A software program that makes communicating with people around the world easy and fun. Skype is available in 28 languages and is used in almost every country around the world.
It works by moving your use of voice from telephony to a kind of intercom where rather than closing a line down you just temporarily mute it. Such social net reflects a revolution in the way that we use our tools. By using Skype we can call different countries landlines/mobile for a specific amount & call computers for a free with video (live). We can also enable such technology in the business environment where the users/ entrepreneurs are mobile and try to work from where they are at a specific moment. For instance, imagine that an online meeting is scheduled to start at 10am. The user is currently moving and the user’s personal support system allows him/her to join the meeting via a mobile phone instead. The user would not have to initiate the call but the support system will automatically call the mobile phone & when the user reaches office a dialog window might be shown at his/her desktop screen asking if she wants to transfer to an audio to the computer or to his/her desktop phone. This enables a proper mean of communication and for today’s fast moving life style it is very much a necessity to stay connected always.

As quoted by Ms. Archana Balasubramanian “Today our society is so overpowered by the power of technology that most of our lives revolve around machines rather than people”. Hence, I would conclude by saying Human Communication can always be altered depending on different factors but in today’s lifestyle technology plays a vital role in determining our way of communication. It was always said that, tension constantly persists in using a communication technology to get things done, but NOW communication technologies are the ONLY field used to connect, to create communication…….

Posted by Sunaina Premkumar at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Folks might think that I suffer from anachronism or something because the topic I am going to discuss about today is PANDORA...that too in 2007 but the reason why I do so is quite simple & different. A couple of days back, when I mentioned Pandora to a friend, a passer-by didn't get who she was and looked at me with inquisitive eyes.Thus,this comes to tell people about Pandora and her box of troubles means.

According to Edith Hamilton in Mythology the source of all misfortune was Pandora's curiosity.The Gods presented her with a box which she was not supposed to open.Then they sent her to Epimetheus, who took her gladly although Prometheus had warned him never to accept anything from Zeus.Pandora was stung by the wasp of curiosity and hence opened the box.Through the lifted lid came out immense sorrows,plagues and mischief for mankind.In desperation,Pandora clapped the lid but the damage had been done.The only good element to come out of the box was Hope.Hope as they say is the potion that has kept man strong in times of failure and disaster.
"Nothing in this world is black or white, there are shades of grey.” I write this as Pandora's act of opening the forbidden box has always been termed as misfortunate.But, is it justice? Don’t we covet happiness because we have suffered the bitter sorrows? Don’t we treasure health because plagues have pained us? Don’t we honour humanity because mischief and barbarious acts have created havocs? A fruit tastes sweeter with a pinch of salt.Think about it!

Posted by Sunaina Premkumar at 12:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Its time that we emphasise girls to learn kung fu,silambam or some other handy self-defence techniques. Such skills must be made manditory in todays world. My intention is not to promote feminism but to equip women to protect themselves.

Not convinced???? Consider this. In India, a women is mudered every 22nd minute, raped every 32nd minute, molested every 15th minute and experiences domestic violence every 11th minute. We hear about incidence of eve- teasing, acid attacks and rapes in running cars. "We feel a momentary sympathy for thie victim and then forget the incident, beleiving its not likely to happen to us". But the reality is every women s a potential victim.

Self- defence strategies:

- learn self defence moves.
- build stamina through a fitness regimen
- learn to recognise the danger signs
-never go to obscurve places.
-never allow anybody to handle your drinks.
-project a confident persona
-be assertive and firm, not arrogant
- be alert even when you are among men you know well too.

Posted by Sunaina Premkumar at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is what happens….if I think too much!!!! Memories slay me. Completely, totally. And try as I might, I can't block them or reconcile myself to the fact that they are just, memories. I find myself succumbing ever so often to those memories. Of times when I was more secure, when life was less complicated and one had people who cared and who one cared about nearby, when I was in a better place literally and figuratively. We all move on, adapt, live life as we have to, but we always carry along memories of what was, what could have been, what might have happend...
We always try to come to terms with the fact that the past, beautiful as it was, will never be back. For a while we let our minds drift back to those times, those faces. We allow ourselves to clutch at straws, consider improbable what-if scenarios, hope against hope. And then, once we calm down and learn to accept reality, we build mental barriers to carefully file away what was strictly in the past, and concentrate on the present and the future...

I thought I had accepted reality. I thought my defences were in place. But they are no match to the flood of memory. Closure, in so far as I had achieved it, has been shattered in an unsettlingly easy manner.
People, emotions,places, activities, experiences. Some of them, I took for granted and never accorded the special status in my mind and heart they deserved. Others, I assumed naively would either be with me throughout my life, or could be dealt with easily when they ceased to be a part of my life.

Well, I am missing my home/ friends a lot today & it just felt good to pen this down!!!! `

Posted by Sunaina Premkumar at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)