Google Is Better At 'Re'invention, Not Invention

I just got a Google+ account and was looking through it; and it seems quite preliminary right now.  Nothing stands out as a strikingly different feature that I was dearly missing.  However, I'm sure that as I explore the service further and Google starts adding updates to the Plus services, things will take a turn - for the better.

'Coz that's how Google always does it!  From the way it looks, Google is better are reinvention rather than invention:

• Yahoo!, Altavista and AskJeeves were already around when Google launched its flagship search services.  Google improvised search and has remained the market leader for over a decade now.

• Hotmail came up with the idea of free web based mail, and Yahoo! gave it a run for its money.  Then Google reinvented free web based email and is still giving everyone a run for their money.  Even today they're adding new interesting features when everyone else is trying to catch up with the original Gmail.  The latest 'Priority Inbox' in Gmail is absolutely a charm!

• Android is an awesome open source technology, but it had a predecessor - the I-Phone OS.  Google took what the I-Phone OS already offered, reinvented it, open sourced it, and launched it world wide.  And today, Android is about to beat the I-Phone or it already has according to some statistics.

• Blogger was doing a great job but losing out to Wordpress already when Google took over and converted Blogger into a super-user-friendly web based engine.  Professional users claim Wordpress' greatness when it comes to plug-ins; but everyone else swears by the drag and drop features in Blogger.  And Blogger plug-ins are catching up for sure!
  

Yes there are some exceptions like Google Earth and a few others, but Google's best services have come when they were reinventing; and not when they were inventing.  Some inventions like the 3-D chat, disappeared just as quietly as they appeared; most people haven't even heard about them.

Orkut couldn't move Facebook's market when Google took over, but then Google was dealing with a legacy app and Facebook was already facing humongous popularity from its technology and the ability to connect people and provide interactive updates.  Orkut remained clumsy, and privacy was always an issue.  

Google+ is purely a 'reinvention'.  Facebook has existed for many years now, it has a strong market base and the number of users give it more population than most other countries around the world.  Just like Hotmail, or Yahoo! search, or the I-Phone; all torch bearers and market scorchers; but losing wind to Google once this company got going.

Google+ is Google's new latest reinvention baby.  It might as well be called Facebook+, I guess.  But this time, the foe is extremely formidable and threatens to push the new G-baby into oblivion and make it an unsuccessful mutiny into the F-hunk stronghold.  

Only time will tell where the battle leads, but Google is reinventing again and Facebook needs to take notice.  The competition is super hot, and as Google adds new features to G+, it will only get hotter.  Let's see if Google wins the reinvention game yet again!

From Today Into Yesterday

Where do they come from,
These desires of today,
To relive the golden memories of yesterday.

Why do they come,
When I did not call them here.
And why did they then leave,
When I did not send them away;

Leaving me with a void,
One moment empty,
Another moment heavier than I can lift,
Choking me on both counts.

Once that which gave me life,
Beckons me to call out again,
But gone is the sunlight that used to feed it.

Be gone, sweet memories, halt your dreams,
You can no longer be brought back to life.

K V Kamath Joins Infosys

K V Kamath becomes K V Come-eth for Infosys. 

Infosys hopes to sail again with ex ICICI honcho K V Kamath joining the organisation.  

Toon - Nitin Nohria becomes Harvard B-School Dean

Nitin Nohria becomes the first Indian Dean at the Harvard Business School !

Toon - Sachin Tendulkar Joins Twitter

My tribute to Sachin uncle joining Twitter!!

Victoria's Secret Rival Brand

My Toondoo toon creation adventures continue...

Toon - Institute of Controversy Creation & Management

Found this great new site Toondoo.com. It allows me to create toons, and fulfill my all-time 'toony' creativity, without the knowledge of drawing them.

Yay! for tech and Yay!! for Jambav team to create the Toondoo.com engine.

Here's the first one I created:

The Psychology of FB Updates

And why exactly is FB such a big hit? What is the magic behind that irresistible urge for updating statuses?

Been thinking about it, and the only thing that comes to mind is - the Need for Attention, for Social Validation.

Uploading new photos, writing witty status messages, or commenting - everything finally leads to the child in our heart that desires attention.  FB is such a fantastic tool to study psychology, really!  Researchers, anyone??

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's Prayer before Landing in America (September 1965)

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), landed in America in 1965. He was not sponsored by any religious organizations, nor was he greeted by followers. He had embarked on that journey as guided by his Guru.

The wikipedia page on Swami Prabhupada summarizes his achievements in the final 12 years of his life, beginning since he landed in New York - without money or supporters (He came to New York with 8 dollars in his pocket):

• Circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents
• Directed the founding of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, which claims to be the world's largest publisher of ancient and classical Vaishnava religious texts
• Authored more than eighty books on Vedantic philosophy, religion, literature and culture
• Watched ISKCON grow to a confederation of more than 108 temples, various institutes and farm communities

Huh?!? Sounds like a feat doesn't it? In just 12 years, he went around the globe 14 times across 6 continents, authored 80 books, and influenced the construction of 108 temples in over 11 countries? Almost a supernatural feat.

But why I am writing about this, is because his prayer caught my notice. Some time ago, I was mired by my life situations. And I landed up at an ISKCON temple as if I was being guided there (I had never been to one before, or was never specifically a Krishna devotee). For the first time in my life, I prayed into submission. When I came across Prabhupada's prayer, the one he told Krishna right before he arrived in New York, it was for me a sense of deja vu. I don't feel competent to compare myself with Prabhupada yet, but it kinda makes me believe I'm on the right track.

... as he neared his destination on the ship, the Indian freighter Jaladuta, the enormity of his intended task weighed on him. On September 13, 1965 (Again unbelievably, Today - the day I chose to write about this prayer - is the eve of the 44th Anniversary of his prayer) he wrote in his diary, "Today I have disclosed my mind to my companion, Lord Sri Krishna."

Prabhupada's Prayer:

"I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me. But I guess You have some business here, otherwise why would You bring me to this terrible place? How will I make them understand this message of Krishna consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified and most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own."

Hare Krishna.

Best Definition of Non-Confirmism

This is, by far, the best definition of Non-Confirmism I have come across.  It is by a guy whose ideas I've really liked - Tim Ferriss.  Tim has a path breaking book called The Four Hour Work Week, and he talks about concepts such as mini-retirements, maximum work with minimum effort and living to realize dreams rather than living to work!  

I have usually been unable to explain to people what exactly I mean by non-confirmism; and that there is a certain logic to non-confirmism and it is not just for kicks.  Tim Ferriss does an excellent job of explaining it in his book, and I hand it over to him...

 

"Most people walk down the street on their legs.  Does that mean I walk down the street on my hands?  Do I wear my underwear outside of my pants in the name of being different?  Not usually, no.  Then again, walking on my legs and keeping my thong on the inside have worked just fine thus far.  I don't fix it if it isn't broken.  Different is better when it is more effective or more fun.  If everyone is defining a problem or solving it one way and the results are subpar, this is a good time to ask, What if I did the opposite?  Don't follow a model that doesn't work.  If the reciepe sucks, it doesn't matter how good a cook you are."