On Feb 10, Google launched a new social networking product – Google Buzz, right inside Gmail. After that there have been scores of blog-posts regarding the privacy flaws in Google buzz. Clearly the transition from something as personal as Mail to another thing as public as buzz wasn’t going to be simple. The latest update on this issue is that Google has admitted that testing of Buzz was insufficient. continue

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An avid cricket fan, say Swami was watching the India-Pakistan cricket match in Mumbai at his office. Since it was a long weekend, he had to catch a flight to reach his home in Bangalore. So, he left the the small TV sets in office albeit reluctantly. But, Swami was keen to stay in touch with the scores all through. So, while he was waiting for a cab, he sent an SMS to an cricket-SMS channel about latest scores. In the car, he asked the driver to put on the live radio (and cursed his luck for not getting the FM mobile connector with him) Then, at the airport he enjoyed the match on a flat screen plasma TV. In the plane, he enjoyed live satellite TV (note: he had booked a KF flight knowing that there would be a match on) . Next, after alighting at Bangalore, he called up his friends, for expert commentary on phone - who in turn advised him to go to this new cool website on internet for live commentary. So, he checked the mobile internet on GPRS for the match. So, finally he reached home, where he quickly put on his LCD tv and logged onto the internet for a detailed scorecard as well! Clearly, Swami had not missed a moment of the match!! continue

The idea is not new, the concept is also not really new but the execution is new! Location based services are now capturing the world at an amazing pace!

To think of it a mobile phone was a location based service. It provided a moving point of contact for a person. Now with the launch of iPhone apps and similar adaptation into other phones, the location based services are becoming more and more popular. In the iPhone you have AroundMe, Yelp!, Google Maps, Twitter, and UrbanSpoon using your current location. Moreover the latest service by Google called Latitude is an amazing addition. continue

Hrishikesh Thite is a second year management student at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. This unabridged article was originally written as a term paper for a course on Analysis of ICT Markets. It is fairly long, so consider yourself forewarned. There is a summary of sorts, at the end, for those who want to briefly visit the gist of the paper. continue

As much as I like watching movies, I like to watch movie trailers too. Sometimes, unfortunately, the best part about a movie is the trailers that run before it. The main aim of the trailer is to raise the viewer’s interest in the movie. If the trailer is successful in garnering the viewer’s interest and pulling him towards watching the movie, its purpose is served. Teaser trailers which run for like 15-20 seconds generally pique the viewer’s interest. However the longer trailers, which usually run for 2-2 ½ minutes, tell much more about the movie. These should not give away too much lest it might ruin all the fun. Nor should it be so ordinary that it completely bores the person and he/she loses any interest in the movie. continue

There was a time when the professor’s word was the final claim. There was no point in refuting it. It had to be accepted, unchallenged and unbiased. Information was concentrated in a few heads and it was held there steadfastly.

But slowly came in a wave that shook the ground beneath the professors. It was a silent competitor, but a friendly guide, a genie that answered all questions put forth. It was unbiased, truthful and it never forgot once the piece of information that was stored between the HTML tags. It simply knew just about everything. It was omniscient. The wave was the tsunami of data that Google unleashed at the click of the button. continue

This is written by Shantanu Gangal. Read his first post here)

• All leading newspapers, on Monday 17th, carried advertisements on their very first page questioning the Reliance Industries (RIL) – Petroleum Ministry nexus. When the ADA group realized that the three way conflict might degenerate to the other 2 parties ganging up, it decided to go public – with a difference.
Another ad was released today (18th) on similar lines. The quarter page advertisement ends by asking the reader to send back comments using email or SMS.
• Earlier this year, Idea mobile carried a campaign with Abhishek Bachchan as a civil servant who involves the junta in decision-making – regarding bridges, SEZ and so on. Taking a lesson from this, the BMC sent out SMSes asking parents whether schools should be shut as a precautionary measure against swine-flu. continue

Ding Ding Ding:

Round 1:
Microsoft and Google enter the ring. Microsoft has been the reigning heavyweight champ for years. But Google has grown in size and strength rapidly and has become one of the top rivals to Microsoft.
Microsoft needs to make a move. It tries to beat Google by taking over Yahoo’s search engine, but fails badly. Now it jabs at Google with its own search engine: Bing. Microsoft scores some points with that one, but the young and strong Google parries the blow and seems unaffected. Instead some competitors in the search engine business to both MS and Google are affected. Microsoft manages to gain some respect in this round but things largely remain unchanged. continue

Web 2.0, particularly the social aspect of it has lead the gross changes in the way the world uses the internet. In the coming years, this serengeti called the social media would become a very important determinant of profitability for the organization. However, how will the corporate world react to this new avenue of understanding the pulse of its consumers is the big question. I try to address that particular issue using the presentation attached below. continue