Knowledge Cornucopia

How to Dry Cricket Pitch

2006-04-09T15:07:00.000+03:00

A helicopter tries to dry the pitch at a waterlogged Nehru Stadium, India v England, Guwahati, April 8, 2006

Nokia's India strategy

2006-04-07T19:38:00.000+03:00

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/03/28/1510361.htm

[quote]
In January 2006, India added 4.7 million mobile telephone connections, an average of 105 a minute. That took the total number of mobile telephony subscribers in India to 81 million.[/quote]

Rs 50

2006-04-03T13:18:00.000+03:00

Rs. 50/-

A little boy wanted Rs.50 very badly and prayed for weeks,
But nothing happened.

Finally he decided to write God a letter requesting the Rs.50. When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to God ,India ,they decided to forward it to the Finance Minister of India as a joke.

The Finance Minister was so amused, that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy Rs.20. The Finance Minister thought this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy, and he did not want to spoil the kid.

The little boy was delighted with Rs.20, and decided to write a thank you note to God, which read:

Dear God,
Thank you very much for sending the money. However, I noticed that you sent it through the Finance Minister of India, and he deducted Rs.30 in taxes ..."

Thanks & Regards
A Little Boy.

Google Fights on..

2006-03-11T23:05:00.000+02:00

Google Inc has bought the maker of Writely, an online word processing programme that gives the online search engine leader another potential weapon in its escalating battle with Microsoft Corp.

Google Buys Wrtitely

writely is quite good for taking online notes. Takes away the need for saving and emailing documents from public computers. And collaborative function was real efficiency booster for me when i was wrinting my thesis!

How to make complex decisions?

2006-02-18T15:37:00.000+02:00

Simple, Sleep on it!....

"when you have to make a decision, the first step should be to get all the information necessary for the decision. Once you have the information, you have to decide, and this is best done with conscious thought for simple decisions, but left to unconscious thought - to 'sleep on it' - when the decision is complex."

New Kid on the block

2006-02-05T21:14:00.000+02:00

There is new clustering based search engine online (kosmix)more the merrier! especially now, when google is getting ineffective for some search queries- There are already few well known clustering engines like clusty. But they lack the reach of Google in terms of popularity and the depth of search result, hopefully Kosmix will be able to change that.Only time will tell how well does Kosmix fair against the old boys. Kosmix is running Health search as a demo and it looks really promising. Healthline is another healthcare targeted search engine. Clustering based search engines are good tools for Market/Competitve Intelligence folks, so pray that they will add your business domain to their clusters-

Few more interesting links
www.digg.com (Rumour is that Yahoo will acquire digg.com )
www.dumbfind.com (cluster based search engine+ google like ad sponsors)

Warm Wishes

2005-12-31T23:09:00.000+02:00

Let us all gather round and cheer,
With a drink of wine or an ice cold beer

Maybe this world seems harsh at times,
Or it's just that most of us just like to whine.

I'd say that this is a great place to be,
It all depends on how we can see.

True we've had bad things in the past,
But we know in our hearts that these will not last.

If we try our best to be simple and pure,
There's nothing our hopes and dreams cannot cure.

So, I don't know the value this is worth,
But lets all try to be happy and heal Mother Earth!

Have A Joyous And Prosperous New Year 2006!

Edubuntu (ubuntu)

2005-12-26T20:56:00.000+02:00

at noon , Edubuntu install was still stuck at partitioning. I thought there are better ways to spend Xmas holidays then troubleshooting linux install. so i finally ditched that sucker Ubuntu distro and got myself plain vanila Debian. I think its much more easier and sensible to fetch all the edu pakages included in Edubuntu than trying in vain to install the distro itself besides that it also saves you from the ugly Edubuntu GUI.

I opted for Netinstall (under 100 mb download) thanx to my 1 mb Cable conenction the installation was smooth as skating on ice. It also bought back memories from my Eng college, the good old days of Xterm! probably my young niece will not be too happy with it...so m in the process of installing KDE...and all the educational packages available!

Edubuntu install

2005-12-23T23:05:00.000+02:00

From past 4 hours i have been struggling to install Edubuntu on my niece computer, this is so far the worst Linux Distro i have ever come across from installation perspective. first installation hanged in the middle of identifying drives...later on while checking partitions..and now its been one hour since i am stuck with formating drives (13% in 60 minutes!!)...atleast its doing something instead of hanging , so i am give to leave it like this for the night...letz c what it brings up in the morning. If its still not done m going back to my trusted Suse and install Educational packages from KDE..and other kid stuff manually.

How much you worth in Saudi Arabia

2005-12-18T18:33:00.000+02:00

How much is your life worth in Saudi Arabia

see the Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_money (or The Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2002): In Saudi Arabia when a person has been killed or caused to die by another, the perpetrator has to pay blood money, or compensation, as follows:

100,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man

50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman

50,000 riyals if a Christian man

25,000 riyals if a Christian woman

6,666 riyals if a Hindu man

3,333 riyals if a Hindu woman

I wonder why UNHRC or Amnesty international doesnt campaign against saudi brutaility, perhaps they are too afraid of uncle SAM refusing to give them their alms.

Peter Drucker--the Legacy

2005-11-23T21:55:00.000+02:00

The visionary, Management Guru, social ecologist ,The most enduring management thinker of our time. BW tribute to him---RIP

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_48/b3961001.htm

World's biggest Display (225m², 126,000,000 pixels!!!)

2005-09-30T22:14:00.000+03:00

What a beauty! The Reliance Infocomm National Network Operations Center, Navi Mumbai[/b] as first reported on Bharat-rakshak. Thanks Singha for sharing :)

http://www.barco.com/controlrooms/en/pressreleases/show.asp?index=937
http://surajsphotos.fotopic.net/c709592.html

New ax domain identifier for Ahvenmaa Islands

2005-09-30T12:55:00.000+03:00

From March 2006 companies in Ahvenmaa will have option to apply for ax domain names.

http://www.taloussanomat.fi/etusivu/4607295.asp

Kick terrorists a** with Six Sigma ! (forget Ju-jitsu) :D

2005-09-30T12:22:00.000+03:00

Six Sigma : Can it be a tool against terrorism??

At a time, when fighting the war against militancy has become arguably the most important issue facing the World, experts are looking into an unlikely weapon to aid their fight: Six Sigma. Six Sigma is nothing like a laser-guided smart bomb but rather a statistics-heavy regimen of analysing problems that has saved corporations billions.

We all know that, Six Sigma is a set of statistical and management tools that can make leaps in improvement. When something reaches Six Sigma, it has a failure rate of 3.4 per million, or 99.99966% accuracy. However, being just 99.0% accurate can sometimes spell disaster. It means: At least 200,000 wrong drug prescriptions each year. Around 2 short or long landings at major airports each day, 5,000 incorrect surgical procedures every week. ,50 dropped newborn babies each day and so on. So question is "can an arcane management process save lives by helping prevent militant attacks"?

Mikel Harry, the father of Six Sigma, says it can, in a major way. He estimates the World would be safer from terrorist attacks by a factor of hundreds or thousands. Six Sigma is "powerful stuff" that could work even in the sprawl of the governments, Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell says.

Consider the mountain of information that flood into the Intelligence agencies, such as intercepted phone calls, applications to pilot schools, etc. Suppose e-mail is intercepted that includes a disguised threat on an important target. A quick decision must be made to discard the e-mail or take it seriously. Discarding bad information is crucial because useless data can paralyse decision makers further up the line. There may be 50 points where such pass-fail decisions must be made about the usefulness of a piece of information. In Six Sigma talk, these points are called "decision nodes." If each of those 50 nodes passes judgment on 60 pieces of information each day, there are 300 opportunities for a decision error each day as intelligence moves up the chain to Security Chief and Head of Govt.

If decision nodes average 99.38% accuracy, they are at Four Sigma, which is about the accuracy of services such as prescription writing by doctors and airline baggage handling. If improved to Six Sigma, accuracy is 99.99966%. That means only one of about every 294,000 pieces of vital information would be erroneously discarded. At Six Sigma, there is a 99.9% chance that all 300 decisions are accurate on a given day. There is a 97% chance all decisions in a month will be right. Where there is only a 15% chance that all decisions are right on a given day at Four Sigma, there is a 15% chance that all decisions will be right over a five-year period at Six Sigma. Such efficiency would be invaluable when lives are at risk. That's how attaining Six Sigma in the war on terrorism could make the World 1,800 times safer.

Deploying Six Sigma against terrorism would be little different than when it was used to determine that most steps in a Japanese patent system's application process were wasteful. The cost of each filing was slashed to $1,200 from $48,000. Communication satellites are rented out by the seconds and are not always used efficiently. General Electric used Six Sigma to make sure its satellites were being used 97% from 63%, adding $1.3 million a year in revenue. Former CEO Jack Welch, who drove Six Sigma deep into GE's culture before his retirement, counts himself among the cautious optimists that Six Sigma could work against terrorism.

But Things are not so simple. Even diehard fan like Michael Dell warns that it could take years for intelligence agencies to fully implement Six Sigma but adds, "It's possible." Fighting terrorism isn't really much different than marketing, Harry says. Marketing executives, like intelligence experts, must digest mountains of mostly useless data, analyse the fraction that is important and persuade decision makers to get the right product on the shelf just as consumer tastes are changing. At its best, marketing influences consumer tastes, which like terrorists, are a moving target.

Even after hearing about the billions saved at companies like GE, others have abandoned the Six Sigma effort in frustration. Companies that don't stick it out for at least five years soon revert and lose all progress. That doesn't bode well for the governments, where attention spans often don't survive election cycles. Also, there will be "a gantlet of pain" to get it implemented.

Experts say it won't work without an "obsessive, compulsive" leader behind it, someone like Jack Welch. "Who in the Government can claim to look similar", there lies the whole crux.

Knowledge Creation for Global Competitiveness Workshop in Helsinki

2005-07-29T15:45:00.000+03:00

CKIR Workshop in Helsinki 18-19 August, 2005

Main Sessions:

New Organizational and Managerial Tasks for Global Competitiveness
The Nature of Knowledge-intensive "New Work"
Governing and Organizing of Innovative Regions with a Global Profile
Human-centric Design Rules for Technology and Technology Platforms

Most of the emphasis is on to creating innovative culture that will lead to competitve advantage.
www.ckir.fi

Nokia N-Gage

2005-07-14T00:14:00.000+03:00

Nokia seems to have learned from its past mistakes. They are working on better device design and more improtantly decided not to compete with Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, atleast not for now. The startegy is to introduce Games that appeals to the busy people that they can enjoy playing in short work intervals and the games that has the same appeals to someone curled in her comfortable couch , the titles that doesnt demand too much devotion but are interesting! IF it sounds too much.. ..then just wait for upcoming Racing titles like "Glimmerati" and startegy Games like "Catan". It's interesting time for mobile Entertainment...lets c how things get unfold! will Sony PSP include Voice Communication capabilities? or Will Nokia sacrifice Phone features for entertainment..Only market will determine...but one thing is for sure... Mobile enterntainment(streamed and static) are sure thing..and Nokia is on right track with its 7710 Smart phone .

Mobile domains

2005-07-14T00:05:00.000+03:00

ICANN has just approved .mobi domain suffix for mobile related websites. We will see first of the sites like Nokia.mobi from 2006. I think it was about time that they introduced domain specific to wireless communications, the whole scene is going to get crowded in about 5 years when we will have better smart phones and workable Revenue model for selling mobile software. My suggestion to ICANN is to start working on .game domain suffix..thats where the growth is going to come from...it will sell like hotcakes :D

Mobile ID's

2005-07-13T01:18:00.000+03:00

We already have SMS enabled parking machines, coke vending machines, smart card for bus tickets NOW Mobile Id's are here ..Actually Uncle SAM will luv this tech..trace everyone anywhere! I wonder what consequence will it have when you loose your Mobile phone..
************************''
SIM and smart card manufacturer SmartTrust today announced that it is working with the Finnish government to allow mobile users in Finland to securely identify themselves and sign for goods and services across a range of public and private sector providers using their mobile phone.

SmartTrust has incorporated the country's current ID card, the State Citizen Certificate, into a SIM card, turning the mobile phone into a personal trusted device able to remotely authenticate an individual, protect identities and create a legally binding digital signature.

SmartTrust has signed agreements with three Finnish operators, including Elisa, to issue new SIM cards, containing the State Certificate, to subscribers.
******************

Wireless Wellness

2005-07-12T16:09:00.000+03:00

These dayz there is lot of buzz surrounding imminent marriage between IT and healthcare services. Wireless wellness being the latest one. Now there is lot of room for improvements in healthcare processes and companies are working fervently to come up with inovative ideas that can reduce costs and make health services more reliable and efficient. There are already US based companies like bodymedia who are developing systems that will actually predict any untoward health related incident that might take place based on physiological data collected in realtime! (atleast this is what they r hoping for!!)
Now as i understand this sudden rush to implement end-to-end health care system..complete with integrated healthcare portal, real-time wireless diagnostic devices, panic buttons and even those fancy CDMA LG phone with glucometer (along with personal korean nurse! :D :D) all these companies are actually banking on catering to millions of Baby Boomers who will require medical attention in near future. They (PEOPLE, baby boomers) are the main reason investors are pouring millions into new start-ups in a hope to make killing when these services get implemented!
These company and Healthcare institutes can ignore PEOPLE factor on their own perill, they are doom to failure if they do so. without much consideration given to People factor; the main cornerstone that will fund this whole industry gradually, these implementation will be fancy and c00l gadgets to have but without providing any real ROI and use. So far the solutions i have seen look promising but there is still long way to go before i can say that they are people friendly, an Old guy wouldnt like to trouble shoot his wireless router or computer to send his Physio stats to centeral HEalth Portal in normal condition setting aside when he is under heart attack!!
There is lot of research going on in Intel and GE about People factor, so we can all hope to see friendly solutions in near future! :)

2005-03-10T21:52:00.000+02:00

This is one c00l gadget with 640 x 320 pixels screen,
Internet browser, integrated MP3 music player with stereo audio, a set of video features, mega pixel camera with 2-x digital zoom, presentation viewers, Word and sheet converters, FM radio and a touch screen.

The phone has 128 MB internal memory (80-90 MB for user) and 128 MB external memory on the included multimedia card (MMC). It also has personal information management features, an on-screen keyboard and handwriting recognition. The connectivity options for the Nokia 7710 include a Pop Port connector with USB and Bluetooth wireless technology for easy data transfer and PC synchronization. It runs on Symbian OS.

2005-03-10T21:50:00.000+02:00

Nokia 7710

Mobile TV!

2005-03-08T22:34:00.000+02:00

According to Finnish Financial newspaper Kauppalehti

Pixoff is test piloting Mobile TV in Finnish capital. this is the tech Platform behind mobile Tv.

And if i understood correctly, Mtv3 newsreader mentioned that Nokia phone could also be used as stand alone Digi- box when connected to TV, now that would be c00l! why spend extra bucks on basic digi-box!