• Snow Crash

    Neal Stephenson

    It’s really difficult to write a review of this book, because I’ve never read anything like it before. All I can say is that its extremely engrossing and while a lot of the stuff he has written about like avtars and virtual worlds are real now, it must have been quite original in 1992, when he wrote it. The originality is not so much in the concepts itself , because though not commonly used, they were prevalent then, it is the way in which he weaves it into the story and the detailing.
    The wonderful thing about the book is that it leaves so many thought bubbles in its wake, from Sumeran Myth to the future of the world – real and virtual, neurolinguistic viruses and so on. The other good part is the humour – this guy is pure evil, as far as satire goes. There are puns everywhere, right from the name of the central character – Hiro Protagonist.
    It is a thoroughly enjoyable read, especially for those who enjoy virtual worlds, science fiction, and Stephenson’s unique blend of myth and future

  • Mass among the Niche

    An interesting post here sparked off an even more interesting discussion on twitter, which made me think about online entities’ relationship with mass media in general.

    The above post talked specifically about the 2 gaming entities –  zapak and games2win and their contrasting styles. What interested me was the part about the surge that happened (in number of users) when zapak started using mass media for brand visibility, and the fact that a few months later, G2W is catching up, without having used mas media.

    So, the question I’d like to pose is how relevant is mass media to pure play online entities, say an Ibibo or Seventymm for example. It is increasingly becoming a trend for offline entities whether it be media companies or cola giants or watches to have an online presence. While social media and the search for conversations have played their part in recent times, this need to be online started way back from the time that plain vanilla banners and site takeovers became available. This could be mainly due to the understanding that a filtered and discerning audience exists on the net, and this audience is quite likely to be an early adopter and an influencer in his peer group. But does it also work the other way around?

    At this juncture, we have an internet penetration figure of 4.5%, but in absolute numbers it is about 49 million net users. ( Juxt Consult 2008 ) Thats quite a good number.  But yes, compared to the total population, it is fair to think that we miles to go. Perhaps that makes online brands look for offline brand visibility, to get the scale that they seek. But will it work the way it did for zapak?  A surge during advertising and then a drop, which clearly means that they got the ‘wrong’ kind of users, which necessarily means spillage.

    Going forward, the net will become increasingly fragmented. Services and products would start catering to the niche and the long tail would really be exploited to the hilt, online. It would also become easier for new users to figure out how to get what they need on the net. In such a scenario, how relevant would a presence in mass media (in the form of advertising or content or any other association) be for a pure play online entity? As an awareness creator? But once the guy is online, wouldn’t he come to you anyway if you’ve done your work online well?

    Having said that, it makes sense for say, a Holiday IQ or even a makemytrip to be present in say, an NDTV Good Times or a Discovery Travel & Living. There are great ways to work in sync. The other scenario is where you have a direct competitor and the service/product that is being offered is for mass consumption, so mass media gives you the additional advantage. The third and last option I can think of is when the service/product being offered has so much of potential that a no internet user is dragged online.

    But in general, if the net is going to be conversation based with WOM and specific user communities playing a major role, then the efforts and money would be better spent online than offline. Would love to have your view on this, as always. 🙂

    until next time, organic offline and inorganic online?

  • Train of Thought

    Social media enthusiasts are often quizzed on the ROI that it delivers, and in many cases,  ‘conversation with customers’ is met with a lot of skepticism. which led me to wonder about the kind of ROI this activity would generate.

    “Max New York Life Insurance has signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) pact with the Indian Railways. From July 8, Chennai, Bangalore and Trivandrum Rajdhanis will sport Max New York Life advertising on its exterior.” It would provide upgraded services like high quality flooring, soap dispensers, tissue paper dispensers…. and so on. Great, I have always wanted that in those Harappan age railway compartments, though I always had a feeling Max was into insurance.

    I can understand SBI having a co-branded card with IRCTC, Citi having a card for Delhi Metro etc, but the revenue/communication model that this venture of Max falls in, I fail to understand. Unless of course, Max will send an insurance advisor in the compartment. The ‘potential customer’ is trapped with him for the entire journey, and might buy a policy just to get rid of him.

    Meanwhile, a couple of thoughts came to me when I read this post on Mumbai’s local trains. Every now and then, there is a horror story of how a gruesome accident occured in one of these trains. Doesn’t it make a lot of sense for an insurance company to do some contextual communication here? How about tapping this entire community which is so prone to such occurences?

    The other thought that came to me was from a conversation on twitter on how religion is one massive social network. Unlike schools and colleges, which have a real life basis for networking, religion is spread across geographies with most users unaware of each other, and even has user generated versions springing up every now and then. Even the local trains in Mumbai offer a platform for a social network (no pun intended). I guess there are vertical networks like that all around, the only trick is to satisfy a set of needs and then be able to monetise it.

    until next time, maximising social media

  • You have a message

    … and the song that was playing on TV when i switched on the comp to check the feeds happened to be Joan Osborne’s ‘One of Us‘, a personal favourite, mostly because of the lyrics. And one of the feeds that popped up first linked to this, a mail from God.
    Now its very rarely that I have posts that links to things that make a good forward but there are times when that cool line from The Matrix Reloaded, which i keep mouthing regularly, is made believable – “We have not come here by chance. I do not believe in chance. …….. I do not see coincidence, I see providence. I see purpose. I believe it our fate to be here. It is our destiny.” And so, I thought i should do my bit by spreading the message.
    The reason I like that mail is because it keeps things simple, and brings up a point that I’ve increasingly come to believe in – the overbearing influence of money, on society.
    Before you write it off as a pro-socialism tirade, I do believe that as a tool, money has immense amount of benefits, but when the accumulation of money becomes a purpose in itself, we become the tool, and that’s what’s increasingly happening.
    Meanwhile, on a sidenote, the message also perhaps answers austere’s recent question. Death is quite possibly God’s way of saying ‘long time, no see’

    until next time, counting my blessings

  • More than Paranthas

    A review at burrp informed me that there’d be no point in trying to reserve a table after 7.30, so we walked in at around 7.45 and got a table easily. Ah, but before that, this is a new outlet in Koramangala 80 ft road. If you’re coming from the Indiranagar side on the intermediate ring road, take a right at the Sony World junction ( in the direction of National games Village) and you’ll find it on the left (opposite Dal Roti). I thought I saw valet parking and for two wheelers, they have ample basement parking. (steep slope though!)

    Ok, flashback over, so, we got a good window side table, quite comfortable though the sofa could have been a bit higher, because your partner will seem to be looking down on you. Ahem! The ambience was good, but what could’ve been avoided is that red lighting, which gives it a bit of a dingy bar look. We ordered a Murg Galiana Shorba (by two), meanwhile, they have a separate menu card for soup, starters, drinks, mocktails, and its quite exhaustive, though priced a bit on the higher side.

    For the main course, we had another menu card from which we ordered a Rara Murg Punjabi, a Magaz Masala, a Mirchi Mushroom Masala, and a Bharwan Aloo parantha. You noticed the first bread? Hatke, right? And thats the specialty of this place, there are a few pages of parathas to choose from. The disclaimer on the price remains. We were told that the Magaz masala would be dry. Okay, noted.

    When the first soup bowl was kept on the table, I blinked. It was as a big as a full portion. When the second bowl was kept, I blinked again, it was empty. Apparently the kitchen does not serve by twos, so they brought us an extra bowl!! The Murg Galiana shorba is a thin soup flavoured with herbs, coriander and boiled rice. It was quite good, though a bit salty.

    The Rara Murg is chicken cooked with Kheema in Punjabi style, and the magaz masala is goat’s brain cooked on a tawa with ginger garlic paste, spices, and topped with coriander. The guy who took the order obviously forgot to tell the chef that the latter was a dry dish, because we got a gravy, albeit a thick one. The chicken dish was done well, but the magaz masala would actually have been better off dry. They really meant business with the Mirchi Mushroom Parantha, and the Aloo Parantha was also on the spicy side.

    We ordered an additional Naan as soon as they served the main course, and there started the nightmare. They took more than 25 minutes to bring the naan, inspite of my rude reminder (after about 15 minutes) that we’d like to have it as part of the dinner, and not the next day’s breakfast. The service can also be gauged by the fact that on noticing that we were sitting idle with half filled plates (after the paranthas got over) about 4 different people asked us what we’d like to order, and after being told that we’d already ordered a Naan which we’d been waiting for, for quite sometime, each of them promised to check it out, never to be seen again. No, sorry, after about 20 minutes, one person came to tell us that the rice we ordered was on its way. ??!!! The air conditioning works. No, its not out of context, we noticed it from the state of the dishes when the Naan finally arrived!!!

    Since we’d noticed the people at the next table waiting for the same time (25 mins) for the bill, we asked for the finger bowl and bill as soon as the naan came.  All of the above cost us a bit over Rs.1150, thats including a 10% service charge (not tax) and taxes. They would have known no one would leave a tip for the service. Surprisingly the bill came on time, with an apology regarding the naan affair. They learn fast, or so we thought. After we gave the card, we waited for another 15 minutes, and since there were ‘Sale’s happening all around, I was worried sick that someone might have gone shopping with my card!!!

    More than Paranthas, but definitely less than decent service. But the wife says its a great place to visit………. if you feel like fighting.

    No:610, 6th block, 80 ft Road, Koramangala, bangalore-95. Ph: 41724630

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