iRomin

February 20, 2012

Thakur Village residents have erupted in joy. In an unprecedented declaration, the International Group, Astronomy Divine, that has the sole responsibility of all lunar affairs on earth has declared Thakur Village as the first officially sanctioned recipient of the tag “Satellite Township” of the Moon.

Various other neighborhoods were in the fray for this honor, but Thakur Village beat them hands down. Mr. Dig-It-All-Kar, the chief supervisor of the civic work currently in Thakur Village said “I took the responsibility personally to ensure that I do not let the residents of this locality down. I could sense that there would be tough competition from other neighborhoods, so I ensured that we got along a few extra diggers and we took inspiration from the Shiv Sena slogan for the BMC election “Karun Dakhavla”. The Congress Party however has taken exception to the fact that the supervisor got inspiration from the Shiv Sena slogan. They have in fact hijacked it by saying that their symbol the hand was what the workers used to dig and dig and dig. And hence they want the credit.

The Chief Minister has congratulated the neighbourhood on this stupendous achievement and is confident that with this achievement, Maharashtra will be able to get additional Foreign Investment. When a puzzled reporter asked him why, he was quick to retort that various countries have expressed their interest in setting up the Space Training centers in Thakur Village. There are already proposals from various countries to setup their moonwalk practice sessions for their astronauts who are working on the “Mission Moon” program for their respective countries. In fact, Mr. Limbstrong, one of the foreign astronauts had even come down and done a test run. “I have practiced the walk in so many simulators but I must say this ranks right up among all of them”. Speaking to reporters backstage, Mr. Limbstrong even remarked to a few reporters in private that he fears losing his job to outsourcing. He said that he found Thakur Village residents walking so skillfully in and around the giant crater sized holes and that too without any formal training, that he feared that his space program may terminate all of them and simply outsource it to any local resident of Thakur Village, given their skills at walking and dodging anything without even a hitch.

As a pleasant side effect of this development, Parents have noted that their children are revolting against the idea of a white-skinned “Bob The Builder” in their favorite television serial. They have now got together and are going to petition the Cartoon TV Network to introduce an Indian looking Bob the Builder and some of them have even clicked the local supervisors as possible makeover faces for the popular character. One of the residents, Mr. TodFodWala remarked that in protest his kid has stopped watching TV and that allows him to watch the channels that he wants to see.

This is not all. This sudden achievement has also fostered innovation among various local entrepreneurs. Mr. Physicaldas, who owns a Fitness Gym in the neighborhood has just announced his latest fitness plan called “Reduction-Guaranteed” which is ideal for lazy people who wish to shed their extra kilos. The fitness plan involves walking up and down the main stretch of Thakur Village for 30 minutes in which you will end up consuming around 100 grams of dust subconsciously. Once that set of exercises is complete, it is rounded off by sitting without any seat belts in a 1980s Maharashtra State Transport Bus, which they have specially acquired. This bus will make the rounds of Thakur Village and will ensure that it gives every part of your body a wholesome exercise and best of all, you only have to sit.

Finally, the happiest among the Thakur Village residents are the kids. They are finally convinced that if there is any place that all the Ben10 Aliens shall call home, then it has to be Thakur Village. They are waiting for them to land …..

Note: All organizations and persons mentioned in this blog are fictional and are the result of the author’s poor imagination. In case your name has been mistakenly quoted in this blog post, be happy that you have finally made it.

This post is a collection of points around the iPhone 4S Pricing and some observations around them, specifically in the Indian context. Its been over a month now that the iPhone 4S was announced in the US but India has been kept waiting for both the hardware and of course, the pricing. India is a price sensitive market and hence there are bound to be reactions (in fact more from people who anyways were never going to buy this phone).

But first the facts. Officially, the low end model of the iPhone will be available at Rs. 44,500 (approx $870 at the current exchange rate of Rs. 51 to a US $). The next set of models, 32GB and 64GB are going to be sold at Rs. 50,900 ($998)and Rs. 57,500 ($1127). Compared to the current prices available at the Apple Store for iPhone 4S , the prices are atleast $200 more.

The most striking part of the price is that the $200 more for each model that I am talking about is for the Unlocked models, whereas in India, it is currently tied to the operator. Similar models with 2-3 year plans in the US are much cheaper. For those who have been following Apple for a while in India, it is not surprising. I do not think that anything has changed so the hue and cry is a bit I must say, not really needed. Every time, a new model comes out, people get most of them from the US or the gray market, get it unlocked and the world goes on.

I would like to classify several categories of users vis-a-vis the iPhone:

1) I love the iPhone: The number of people in India who really care for the iPhone in terms of its iconic status, its design, its path breaking UI features AND who will purchase the phone, no matter what the price is very small in number. This is a different segment and increasing at a small but steady pace. I do not have any numbers to back my claims but it is based on keeping my eyes open as I meet people everyday.

2) I develop for the iPhone : The other segment is that of the Companies who do iPhone development will get it anyways for themselves, no matter what the price since you can recover the costs easily in your first project itself .

3) I wish my company gave me the iPhone instead of the Blackberry : Here I am talking about the Enterprise users, who secretly and badly wish that their company breaks the shackles and goes with the iPhone/iPad.

4) Everyone Else: Here I am clubbing together the following: users who want to buy it for the first time, iPhone haters, Apple haters, “Android is going to fucking rule this world” fans, the Press, those who cannot afford the iPhone or do not see a need for it. Hopefully I have covered all but you can add them if I missed.

So does all this mean that the iPhone is doomed in India and that it is never going to see the upswing? That is exactly what most people are saying (or should I say reacting!) but I have a different point on all of this and it pertains to point (3) above. And here it goes:

1) Apple has validated this great product of theirs in the biggest consumer markets of the world. No one can dispute that.

2) The next battleground is that of the Enterprise users. We all know where Blackberry is heading to and it does not make for great reading the way that they are stumbling in delivering new models.

3) The situation is ripe for either Apple or Android to come in and take this pie that Blackberry assumed was theirs for a long time to come.

4) Given the fragmentation in the Android market, it is going to be a nightmare for any IT head of an Enterprise to make a decision on which vendor and model of Android to go with. Mind  you, this is not a consumer sort of a thing, where the decision rests with an individual, his buying power, his choice. We are talking here about Enterprises where thousands if not hundreds of devices have to be purchased.

5) The Pricing of the Apple iPhone therefore to me looks absolutely fine when it comes to Enterprises, who are debating to equip their executives with iPhone instead of the Blackberry. If you have any doubt if this is just a pipe dream, stop dreaming and read this. Just look at the numbers. The trend has already begun and I do not see why Indian corporates will not adopt this phone. All it needs at times is someone to make that first step and then the herd mentality will take over.

So in summary, if you are unhappy about the iPhone pricing — a) Chances are you were never going to buy the iPhone anyways b) The iPhone was always at the high end of pricing c) Apple, in my opinion, wants to court the Enterprise market not the consumer market.

You can say that I do not back up any of this with numbers. But if numbers were the only thing in the world, Apple should not have even contemplated making a music player a decade back.

I’d love to hear what you think about this? Let us keep the talk on pricing and if you see the iPhone making inroads into the Enterprise segment in India.

P.S:

1) I do not own an iPhone. I own an Android Phone and I teach Android. I am bullish on Android. And I am glad that there is the iPhone in the market, competition and choice is very important for us to move forward.

2) By the way, I did not talk about security in the Enterprise. This one line is all that it deserves.

There are reports that TweetDeck, the popular Twitter client has been acquired by Twitter for a price reported to be around $40-$50 million. That is fantastics news for TweetDeck (the people behind it and their investors) for surely a quality product that they have kept enhancing over the years. Some thoughts ran through my mind on this acquisition and I decided to write them up. They are in no order of preference.

The Early Mover Advantage

I do not need to dwell upon how Twitter has become mainstream media for us. Users started flocking in droves about 2 or 3 years back and since then there has been no stopping the Twitter train. TweetDeck and a host of other Twitter clients (Thwirl is another example) were some of the first off the blocks in providing Desktop clients to interact with Twitter. So it is really not a surprise that being among early adopters of a platform and building tools on it is important. The barrier to entry for any new Twitter client is really high. But TweetDeck has been there for a long time, has constantly kept improving and adding features.

Listening to Users

Is Tweetdeck the most complete Twitter client? Does it provide all the bells and whistles ? The answer varies depending on whom you ask that question to. But one thing that TweetDeck has done is that it has taken in scores of feedback from its users, put down its product roadmap and kept releasing feature after feature in its product. It has expanded the reach of its product to mobile devices and its associated platforms too. The TweetDeck product that you see today is vastly different from what it was in terms of features. And a large part of getting the product to where it is today is listening to users and implementing features requested.

Using the Right Tool for the Right Task

TweetDeck is now on a variety of platforms. But there was a time a few years back when there was a sudden spate of Twitter Desktop clients that everyone wanted to download and try out. And one thing that was common across most of them was their choice of tool/technology/deployment mechanism. And that was Adobe AIR, an excellent platform that took the pain out of developing desktop applications and brought with it several features like Auto Update of client applications, that was a sore point when you considered thousands (or millions) of clients installed on Desktop applications and wondered how you would push your updates to all of them. I think Adobe AIR did several things for these new breed of clients. It bought all the goodness of Flash, slick interfaces, storage, auto update features and much more to desktop clients. The moral of the story is use the right tool for the right task and even though there might be Flash bashers reading this, I still stand my ground that AIR is an excellent tool if you apply it right.

Dare to Dream

TweetDeck if I am not incorrect was initially the work of only one person (Iain Dodsworth). And then they moved on to small team. I might be wrong with the information but what is clear is that they are not a large established company or anything remotely close to that. If you are an individual, have the right product in mind and are willing to go about your work, sky is limit. Given the changing dynamics of the workplace and the elimination of various barriers, anyone is in with a fair chance of making it big. There is no recipe for success but surely there is nothing today to prevent you from planning and wanting to make it big.

Know Where The Audience Is

Facebook and Twitter are today known as sites where the audience is. It is not just a passive audience and vendors of all types are now beginning to tap into this humongous amount of people and sell them applications or items. It is not a bad strategy to understand these people, see what their needs are and build something around it. No amount of research will get you the correct answer for a product that will be lapped up by millions of users. You will have to try out something, see the feedback, tweak a bit more, release it and the cycle goes on. The fact is that people are there in these networks and are more than willing to try out something that could make sense to them. The important thing is to clearly answer in your product what value it will bring to them or what is the pain point you are addressing. That makes things much more easier to send the message across especially when every vendor wants a piece of the pie.

Concluding Notes : Assuming that the report is true and that Twitter will own TweetDeck in the near future, it is to be seen how well they integrate this and what this means to the entire ecosystem of other Twitter clients that are out there. It might even mean some sort of an unfair advantage to its own Twitter client since Twitter is well know for its API changes frequently. It might even mean a sort of scrambling for other good Twitter clients like Seesmic, Destroy Twitter and so on, by other companies. But thats not the point of this blog post.

I am sure there are a lot of other points of what we can learn about positioning our product for wider acceptance and then eventual acquisition but I thought of capturing the essence in the above 5 points. The big picture still missing to me in the above is how, if at all, Twitter plans to commercially exploit TweetDeck and that should make for interesting times this year.

I look forward to your feedback and feel free to add your points in the Comments section.

The FIFA WorldCup 2010 has garnered a significant mindshare in the recent weeks. It has thrown up an interesting set of results with favourites getting knocked out early in the tournament. At the time of writing, there are 4 teams remaining and I prefer to look at the results in a slightly different way. I believe that the tournament results have a lot of lessons that we should apply to Project / Product Management ( I will use the word “Project” or “Product” interchangeably for the rest of the article). I hope you like the list and I look forward to learning more observations from all of you. I am neither a football expert nor a project management expert and not everyone may agree with my views here, but I hope you look at the bigger picture. If some of my examples illustrating a point are not palatable, please bear with me.

I have listed down the points in no particular order of importance and each point demonstrates a particular area of Project Management:

• Do not depend on a star performer in your team

We expect a lot from star performers. The same applies to current greats like Rooney, Kaka, Ronaldo, Messi (who performed below expectations) and most likely you have some star performers in your project team too. Do not expect them to bail you out everytime. You need to build backups who can take over from them on off days or simply when they are not there. In a football team, your star performer could be red carded and you will have to do without him. Similarly in a project, a person could be ill or simply put in his resignation; you need to be prepared for any eventuality.

• A great technical person does not necessarily make a great or good manager (coach)

Diego Maradona and a host of former great players are currently managers of their respective national teams. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they were great players. They have demonstrated football skills that have delighted us, when they were at the peak of their playing prowess. However, it is important to note that they do not make good managers. Managing a team calls for a completely different set of skills. There is strategy, team analysis, people management, dealing with the press, etc. It is no wonder that there have been very few instances of a person repeating his triumph, both as a player and a manager. The only one who comes to mind is Franz Beckenbauer (player of the winning team in 1974 and manager of the winning team in 1990). The same scenario applies to project management. The best technical person should be left to do what he does best, solve and address the technical areas. Instead look out for a manager as someone who has more all round skills. If the technical person does demonstrate those skills, then by all means go with that otherwise you are running a great risk.

• There is no substitute for planning

We have seen several teams that were doing real good and then all of a sudden they got caught by a team that seemed to have analysed them inside out. The result : A demoralizing and one sided defeat. What prevented the losing team from doing the kind of planning that the opponent did? We are not sure but it could be complacency or simply not considering some factors. When we relate this to Project Management, it is important to emphasize that good planning at every stage is required, no matter how well you might be doing at that stage. A key arsenal to planning better is to constantly measure what is going wrong (and right) and see how you can tweak some processes to improve the results. In short, planning should not be compromised and the results should be measured to be fed back into the next stage of planning. If planning for a Product, make sure you have looked at all areas, right down to your marketing channels.

• To Err is Human

Mistakes happen all around us. We have seen some horrible mistakes performed by both players and referees that have completely changed the complexion of the game. This is not the first time it has happened and it will not be the last time. As the wise man says, “This is all part of football” and it does not get simpler than that. The same applies to Project Management. Mistakes will happen. People will make them. If possible try to address them to reduce the damage but be cognizant of the fact that some of them cannot be reversed.  They might even get repeated.  But do consider human error as part of the process.

• Address the root cause of the problem and not the symptoms

England must be feeling cheated for not being allowed a second goal against Germany that would have tied the match at 2-2. Fair enough! So should we still blame the referees for that result (which would be treating the symptom) or should we blame the poor performance of the English team and understand the root cause. Anyone, who watched that game, could have seen how England failed at all levels to match the better team on that day. In other words, it is important to understand the root cause rather than blaming issues that are at best, peripheral ones. The same applies to Project Management and issues that you may face. Try to understand why a certain set of problems are happening. For e.g, the code is not well written. Sure, but there could be a whole lot of other real causes: insufficient use cases, incorrect requirements, lack of best practices usage by the developer, lack of unit testing, etc. So analyze deeper and treat the root cause, not the symptom.

• Everyone needs to perform and know their role.

A football team comprises of 11 players (though some might say 12/13/14 .. if the referees decisions go your way!). Still, except in rare occasions everyone needs to perform as a team. There might be a streak of invidual genius that could get a goal but the team still has to defend the lead. Working in a team is no different, all individuals (Project Manager, Coders, Leads, Testers, etc) need to perform and the objectives should be clear to all. The forwards in a football team are fed by the midfielders, who in turn depend on the defenders and goalkeepers. Similarly, the project team too needs to have clearly defined roles and what they need to do in the overall scheme of things. A defender in a football team should be good at defending 99% of his time. Occasionally he can move forward to feed the forward line or even take corners or an odd header or two from a corner kick. The same applies to your project team. Even if you are a developer, do some more integration testing, learn the tools that the integrators use, etc. They will come in handy. No matter what your role is, be a team player first.

• Past performance is no guarantee of future performance OR Overconfidence can be your biggest enemy

Before the World Cup started, if you asked people about whom they think would win the World Cup, a majority would end up saying Brazil. So what if they cannot even name the 11 players that make up the Brazilian team. Brazil has the best record among all teams but that does not count for anything. If anything else, it puts additional pressure and sometimes even a bit of overconfidence, if you start believing the noises around you, that you are the champions. The same applies to successful Project Teams. Every successful project undertaken by the team should remain just that – a successful project. When a new project starts, the slate is wiped clean and you must get down to business without a hangover that the past performance is going to get you through this time too. For all you care, your past triumphs could have seen some lucky breakthroughs, which could be absent this time around. So always be on your guard and a little bit of paranoia helps too.

• Ring Out the Old , Ring in the New

There is a time and place for everything and everyone. Some teams relied on old timers simply based on their experience. Experience is a valuable asset but only if it is applied to the current generation and trends. Old methods always give way to new and more efficient tactics/methods. Change is a constant and investing in the youth is another risk which can pay really well. Germany has one of the youngest sides and when moulded by experienced managers/support staff, is performing well. The same cannot be said of teams that packed themselves with old timers, who were just out of sorts when confronted with the new methods and strategies. In Project Management too, time trusted methods need to be looked at to determine if they best suit the current trends. Agile methods are much more prevalent now, since they allow teams to be more dynamic and responsive. Apply this at all levels i.e. processes, people, tools, languages and frameworks. Look out for newer ways of doing things but do your homework first. New technologies come with significant risks but those who can harness them and mould them to suit their project can reap the benefits for years to come.

• You need to have luck on your side sometimes

Football is a game after all. You need luck too to get a break in the game. It could be a mistake on the opponent’s part that gets you a goal. In most cases, the luck favors the team that has been working hardest in the field or has done a lot of work in preparing for the game. It is almost a sort of poetic justice, when it happens. While doing a project too, concentrate on the tasks and work harder, especially when you are facing a problem. Luck is usually defined as “When opportunity meets preparation” and this could not be more true. So keep working and lady luck will pay you a visit.

• Early setbacks can be a blessing in disguise

Germany has done well in this World Cup. Spain has also resurrected itself after a stunning loss to Switzerland. Germany too lost to Serbia in their group. Both these teams received an early jolt that made them fight for survival. And they have taken those jolts and come out strongly, much more mentally prepared than the others. The same applies to a Project. It is good to know about problems early enough in the project development cycle rather than when you ship the product and the customer reports about it. Even architectural issues, if found out in the beginning of the cycle should be addressed early enough to set the pace for the rest of the project phases.

• Listen to criticism but choose whom to ignore

Critics are everywhere. Experts are everywhere. In this internet age with mutliple channels available to every human being to voice their views, it is difficult to figure out whom you should listen to, when the chips are down. A general view is to ignore all those who criticise and look to those who give suggestions. That is sound advice at times but the best advice might come from those who are criticising you. The best thing is to know whom to listen to. Some teams in the World Cup have not fared well because the team players starting criticising the coach, their methods, etc. The Coach/Manager at the end of the day has the final say. The same applies to Project Management, listen to criticism from those whom you trust and who have a stake in the proceedings. There might be something that you are clearly overlooking but because of the way you perceive it, you simply brush it aside as mindless criticism.

• Respect your opponents (competitors)

You could be the best player of your era or you could be the best technical person in the project. Your team is probably going great guns in the tournament so far (Argentina) or you could have a product that is selling like hot cakes and eclipsing all competiion. That does not mean you stop respecting your opponents. You should defer from bad mouthing or belittling them in the press because when the tables get turned, you end up cutting a sorry figure. All the teams have qualified through a gruelling qualifying phase and at the end of the day, simply qualifying itself shows that the team can compete, give and take a few. The same applies to your competitors. They could have something in the works, which could stun you when their new product is released. So respect everyone and let your team (or product features) do the talking for you.

• You need support at all levels and from unexpected quarters

No team is going to be successful if you do not get support from every level. In a football team, there are players, managers, support staff, etc. In a Project Team, you have developers, managers, testers and so on. Everyone needs to provide support in their quest of their target. It is also easy to overlook that support needs to come even from outside of the team. For the football team, it would be their federation, their fans and even support inside the stadium (why not!). For the project team, never undervalue the support that Top Management can give you to ensure that the project will be successful. Some of them may not look like direct contributors but their contribution is important.

• Play to your strengths

Brazil is known for its beautiful football. We did not see much of it this time. Some theories doing the rounds is that the coach wanted them to play more like the other teams. I do not know how much of this is true but it brings up an important point. It applies to Project / Product Management too. There will be competitors in your space and they will have features that are different or better than yours. When faced with such a problem, it might just make more sense to play to your strengths and see how you can make that strength so compelling to the market that it becomes the norm and makes your competitors then play catch up. The strengths that we are talking about could be anything. It could be customer support, your documentation, a specific algorithm, almost anything.

I hope you can relate to the above points and do have a lot more points to add. I look forward to your comments. I leave you with an interesting statistic: The last time someone successfully defended their title was almost 50 years back, when Brazil won back to back titles in 1958 (in Sweden) and 1962 (in Chile). This surely means that if you are the leading firm in your industry, do not relax even one bit. Those who are down and out today or those who are just beginning could be the next winners!

Update: Patrick @Chanezon has posted links to his presentation. Thanks Patrick.

Please find them here:

• Google App Engine
• HTML5/Open Web

____________________________________________________________

I went to the Google D3vF3st held in Pune on March 3,2010. I had several goals in visiting this event. These included learning something new, getting some pointers on the several topics that were lined for the day. I had the advantage or experience of knowing most of the material covered during the day but then I was sure that I would get some important points or that somethings dramatic would be shown, etc.

I came back with a mixed feeling. I picked up several tips, inputs, web site links, etc that I can now go back and look in detail. It will surely help me moving forward. The larger disappointment had to do with the way it was organized and I will get to that in a while. I hope that this blog post finds a similar resonance with other folks who visited the event and maybe Google can use some of these points to put up a more stellar performance next time.

First, let me cover the topics as they were covered through the day

Session 1 : Developing Google Chrome Extensions by Rajdeep Dua.

This session covered an overview of what Google Chrome Extensions are, along with how to develop one. I thought this was a good session and if the network had not played tricks, this would have been the standout session of the day. The session covered quite clearly the 3 types of extensions that one can write: Browser Action, Page Action and Content Scripts, how to package them, the gallery, etc. A few architectural slides on the Chrome Browser were good and gave some insight on what is going on behind the scenes.

Several other points that I noted down and which are worth a mention are:

• The Local Storage is a good fit for storing your extension data rather than cookies. I agree.
• Remember that there is a possibility that you will get the latest extension feature support in the Beta version (DevChannel) of the Chrome browser rather than the current released version.
• In incognito mode, you will not see your installed extensions.
• The  image shown for the Chrome Extensions in your toolbar or inside the Address Bar is 19×19 pixels and you have a maximum of 3 characters that you can show on them.
• You can overcome the cross-domain fetching issue by giving the appropriate permissions in the manifest file.

I felt that the Q&A time for this session went on for too long and with irrelevant questions at time. Maybe this was the first session and the organizers wanted to take as many questions as possible but I guess there needs to be a line drawn somewhere because we had started the day late too due to network issues.  But overall, I felt that this was the best session of the day.

Session 2: Google App Engine by Patrick Chanezon

I was really looking forward to this session. Several reasons for that. It was by Patrick (@chanezon) whom I have been following on Twitter for the tons of useful links that he has given. This was my first chance to hear the man in person. Also, I have a deep interest in GAE Java (http://www.rominirani.com/category/cloud-computing/google-app-engine/) having published a free book for all a few days back (http://gaejexperiments.wordpress.com/gaej-experiments-ebook). Sorry for the brief marketing plug here.

Patrick started off with a few quotes from the Upanishad and comparing the quotes to Cloud Computing. That was quite original. Due to less time, Patrick could not cover as much as he would have liked to. I felt a bit sad over here since GAE Java (and I am serious here) is a great platform and it would have been good to cover how to build->deploy a simple application using App Engine. I think this opportunity was missed over here. The choice of the sample application (Bloom Tweets) was good but the language selected was wrong. Not that I have anything against Python but the majority of the crowd was into Java and not Python.

Important points to take away:

• We got a glimpse of different companies using AppEngine today. Best Buy, SocialWok and the two partner companies : Orangescape & Impetus.
• Secure Data Connector is a good way to connect your App Engine into your internal network. The example given was of Best Buy, who used SDC to connect to their internal LDAP Serer. That way, the users were authenticated by the AppEngine application vis-a-vis the LDAP Server. Nice to know that.
• The 30-second response time limit is quite challenging for a lot of applications out there. If you are facing that, it is time to look at some great points mentioned by Nick Johnson in this blog. Read that article over here.
• Another company to look at as mentioned by Patrick ishttp://code.google.com/p/appscale/. They allow you to take their servers and host your App Engine applications locally. Should be quite interesting to look at this.
• We also got a glimpse of Open Data Kit (ODK). I had come across this product several months back and was excited to see it getting covered. What ODK provides is the infrastructure to create data collection/aggregation/reporting applications. They have married Android + AppEngine to create all tools necessary to help field personnel collect and report data. If you are looking at creating applications of a similar kind, this is something that you should look at seriously and base your product on top of.
• Big Table is more read friendly than write. So architect your applications as per that.

I think what a majority of the participants missed out in this session is to see clearly how easy it is to start with the Google App Engine Eclipse plugin and develop–> deploy a simple application. Several folks that I came across were just starting out or had not seen much of this, so it would have been good to have demonstrated that first.

Session 3 : Google Maps API by Rajdeep Dua

This was a good session and due to less time, it was focussed more on version 3 of the Google Maps API. Version 3 of the Google Maps is a serious improvement over the earlier version (v2) in a variety of ways:

• It is geared to the ever expanding mobile web. The Maps fit as per device screen size restrictions, etc. There is also a meta tag for a full screen display.
• v3 was written with performance in mind. The v2 Javascript was 195KB v/s just 35KB for the v3.
• v3 is based on the MVC model. There was a code snippet that showed the differences in programming between the v2 and v3. In short, while you are in v2, we place the markers on the map. In V3, we pass the map to the marker object and tell it to draw itself on the map.
• Interesting to learn about Tiles and how Google Maps Control breaks down the map into different tiles depending on the Zoom Level. Note : Zoom Level 0 is the whole world map in a single tile
• v3 does not need a developer token while developing/deploying your application. I wonder how Google will track the quotas usage since the quotas are still in effect.
• Reverse Geocoding was good to see along with Directions, Multiple Directions, etc.

Session 4 : HTML 5 by Patrick Chanezon

This was an interesting session. We could not cover some of the HTML5 specific features in terms of code but we got to see ample HTML5 demos. I think the demos gave a good idea of what HTML5 can do and the possibilities for a developer to start creating those experiences today with HTML5. I am sure Patrick would have liked to cover more of the technical stuff but due to less time, we had to do with the demos. But I still think the point was driven home and it was clear i.e. HTML5 is going to be a serious challenger to Flash as and when it comes around.

Key points to take away:

• You can start using HTML5 today with newer versions of Firefox/Chrome/Opera, etc. IE is still not there.
• Some great demos are present at http://mozbox.org by P. Rouget. You must take a look.
• There are some cool things we can do with the LocalStorage support in HTML. I believe this will be really key since offline model is quite important if we need to standardize on the browser as the main interface.

Session 5 : HTML 5 Panel Discussion : Featuring Patrick, Rajdeep, a moderator from PC Quest Magazine, Orangescape + Impetus representatives

There was a short discussion on AppEngine, HTML5 and its viability/availability. I think it was a balanced discussion. Orangescape & Impetus gave us a few points about their experience using AppEngine + HTML5. I think all the participants seemed upbeat about HTML5 and the promise that it will bring. As far as I am concerned, I am happy to have a choice and do not want to get dragged into whether HTML5 is better than Flash or not. Some of the questions from the audience were more like Flash is better, has 98% penetration,etc. But really who cares? It is not Google or Adobe or anyone who is going to decide that , though each camp has its preferences clear. The onus is on us, the developers, to pick and choose what is right / appropriate for an application and create applications. The more killer applications, we create .. the more the choice will become clear to all.

Session 6: Introduction to Android by Rajdeep Dua

This was a brief session on Android and the capabilities of this mobile platform. We got to see how Android address multiple applications and the communication between them. A brief note on how to surface your application via Launcher, Notification Bar, Widgets, Quick Search Bar, Live Folders and Wallpaper. This session was too short for anyone who has not seen Android before. Maybe it was just about enough to explain to all that Google does have a mobile story also.

Session 7: Social APIs by Prashant Tiwari

Another brief session on Open Social and related APIs. The focus was on seeing some of the Orkut APIs in action. Key points to take away:

• Orkut has a larger marketshare than Facebook in India and Brazil. Facebook seems to be ahead in other areas.
• Development of a Orkut Gadget seemed similar in style to that of a Wave Gadget.
• There is also an Orkut Client library that folks can start using today.
• A demo of sending your images as a scrap to your friends was demonstrated.

Session 8: Partner Presentations

• Lepton Software : This was a totally uninspiring session. The speaker was not really interested and simply rushed through the presentation.
• Impetus : This was an excellent presentation. Impetus are the folks who create an AppEngine port (Python) of Shindig (Open Social Container). They gave some excellent points on what their experience has been about the AppEngine and the problems/solutions. They covered each of the services like Task Queues/ Cron Jobs/ Datastore service, etc and gave Dos and Donts about them. If you were an experienced AppEngine developer, this information was really useful to validate your own experiences and/or to set the right expectations when you start creating these applications.
• Orangescape: They have created a platform on top of AppEngine to rapidly create business applications. The session looked interesting but I had to leave at 5:30 PM since I had a train to catch. But since this was the last session, I do not think I missed too much. But their premise looks very interesting on paper but how well it will work in a real world where everyone would like their own custom business rules is to be seen.

Overall

I would rate it as 3/5. The main reason for this being that I had certain expectations in terms of the demos that I would see, etc. Here are some serious suggestions from my side:

1. Q & A session needs to be monitored and kept short. I think the prime reason for some of the delays apart from the network issues were the Q&A sessions which took up valuable time. I think Google should take the lead here and provide an interesting thing which I will describe here. Why not create a kiosk or two (Put those shiny Macs there!) with a simple application that allows any attendee to ask 1 or more questions. All the questions are then in the database with the Google organizers, who can then do a nice thing by answering them in a week or so after the conference. Wouldn’t that be nice ?

2. Here is my big suggestion to future DevFest’s. I think all the sessions were disjointed from each other when actually Google could have combined them all in single application to create a more compelling presentation and flow. What I am suggesting is an application like this:

• Create a Attendee Registration system that can be broken up as follows:
  1. Create an AppEngine application that provides a simple form that people can fill up and register. Datastore API can be used to persist objects.
  2. Create an Android Application that allows people to visit the site and register too. They can also see Google Maps on the phone, get driving directions, etc.
  3. Create an HTML5 page containing canvas, video tags that can play the videos after the fest is over.
  4. Create an Orkut App that can allow folks to send scraps to their friends about DevFest. Integrate Twitter too over here. Show OAuth too over here.

What do you think ? Please contact me at romin.k.irani@gmail.com for any feedback.

Internet Bots are in fashion these days. They seem to be doing a lot of tasks these days and it seems almost human like in the kind of responses.

I thought of coupling together an Internet Bot along with Instant Messenger application that we use on a daily basis to provide useful information to you.

The result: Mumbai Blood Bank Locator Agent — A friend of yours that will give you details on Blood Banks in Mumbai.

Let us go through how you can add this useful bot as your friend and see it in action.

What does this Bot do?

The Mumbai Blood Bank Locator Agent is an automated agent that will respond to certain commands. It requires Google Talk and you need to add it as your friend. Once that is done, you can ask it for Blood Banks in particular areas of Mumbai and it will respond back with a list. For e.g. here is a screenshot of a conversation where I have asked it for Blood Banks in Ghatkopar and it has responded as shown below:

Allright! Sounds interesting and useful — let us set it up.

How do I set it up?

Follow these easy steps:

1. You need to have a Google Account (Gmail) and Google Talk set up on your computer.
2. Add bloodbanklocator@appspot.com as a contact/friend/buddy in Google Talk. The agent will automatically add you as a friend and you should see the bloodbanklocator in your contact list in Google Talk.
3. Start a Chat Window with bloodbanklocator and start conversing.

Wow! That was simple — but you ask if my bot can understand anything that you throw at him?

What commands does it understand?

Well – it turns out that this bot/agent is there to help you with locating Blood Banks in Mumbai and so its vocabulary is fairly restricted at this point to enable it to do what it is supposed to do.

Here is a list of commands that it understands:

1. You type arealist and it will respond back with a list of areas in Mumbai where blood banks are present.

2. You type the specific area i.e. Parel or Mahim and it will respond back with the list of Blood Banks in the area, as was shown in the previous paragraph. In case there are no blood banks, it will tell you that

In case you type something it does not understand or the area that you mention does not have any Blood Banks then it will let you know that too. An example is shown below:

3. Type help to get a list of commands that the Bot understands.

Support this

I am looking for interested individuals to please let me know if some data is currently wrong or if some Blood Bank is not mentioned. I would really appreciate if you come forward with that. Just write me an email.

Calling all interested people

Here is the first of my services that I will be releasing over the next few months. I have several services in mind that are both humanitarian in nature and also informational. Some of these services include:

• Get list of Chemists in your area
• Police Stations, Ward offiices, etc
• Traffic Updates
• Weather
• Passport status updates
  and more…

If you are an interested developer or simply wish to volunteer in collecting/providing information and testing some stuff out along the way, please contact me. Just write me an email stating what you can do and I will respond to you. I would also like to hear your feedback on what you think of this.

Please share

If you like this bot — please share it with your friends.  Thanks for looking!

For Technical minded folks

For those interested in learning how this was built, an upcoming blog post will provide details on that. At this point it is sufficient to say that behind the scenes is the Google App Engine for Java along with the shiny new XMPP support.

In the concluding part of my trilogy on Nargol, I would like to cover the natural beauty of Nargol. Along with that I would also like to cover some points about Nargol that make it unique in its own way.

If you have not read my earlier two parts, you can read them here : Part I and Part II.

Before I begin I would like to acknowledge my father-in-law Mr. Sudhir Vaidya, who has kindly provided me with photographs for this post. All the photographs have been captured patiently and with attention to detail. I thank him for that. He also runs an extremely informative website called Spandane and I recommend the site highly.

Let me begin first with a summary of points that I believe make Nargol unique in its own way. This is my own personal opinion and they are listed in no particular order of preference:

• Nargol is just 145 – 180 kms from Mumbai (depending on where you are located in Mumbai). There are several trains that stop at the nearest rail junction (Sanjan). At most either by train or by car, the journey is a breeze and is about 2-3 hours.
• Nargol is a sleepy coastal village that is caught in a time warp. This I think is a good thing. Time passes slowly and allows you to reflect.
• Nature abounds in plenty. So if you are looking for that – you will not be disappointed.
• It has a beautiful beach (almost secluded) that has not been inhabited by vendors. As a result it is clean and is able to avoid all the ills that has happened to popular beaches when drinks, snacks, panwallahs and pani-puri wallahs take charge.
• There are no hotel/restaurants in Nargol. Yes you read that right. You either make your own food or order it from several homes at nominal rates.
• All forms of night life or fun/revelry are absent in this village. This is a positive point in my opinion and it makes sure that you come here for a rejuvenating break indeed and not to tire yourself with partying.
• The village has a lake that fills itself up during the rainy season.
• Its narrow winding lanes are perfect to walk amidst lush green surroundings for hours.
• The realty rates are reasonable too and what you see is what you get.
• Several interesting places like Daman, Silvassa, etc are about an hours drive away.

Nargol, I believe is an unknown destination for most folks but a trip to this place is recommended if you simply need a rejuvenating break or have run out of weekend options (especially since most of the others simply cater to mass entertainment appeal).

I leave you with a variety of photographs that illustrate the different areas of Nargol : Its beach (coastline), the lake, sunrise/sunset, the lush greenery and what not.

Hope to catch up with you one day in Nargol. And thanks for reading up this trilogy.

This is Part 2 of my trilogy on Nargol. In my first post,  I discussed the destruction that man caused to the beautiful beach of Nargol via the oil spill. In this post, I shall focus on Nargol again but discuss another kind of silent destruction that is taking place.

For those who do not know, Nargol is a sleepy coastal village in Gujarat. It is just north of the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. Some of the earliest Parsee’s settled down over here. The wikipedia page for Nargol is over here. The Parsees have long established themselves in Nargol and one can imagine that at one point in time, it must have had its aura along with a lot of activity. However what remains today are remnants of an era. I have not been a part of era, so I can only imagine. But a stroll around the village is enough for you to glance at the large villas, cottages, bungalows (whatever you wish to call them) and wonder what life must have been like in these houses.

What is more disturbing is the state of neglect that most of the houses, once owned by the Parsees are in. Several of them do not look like they have been visited since years. Broken windows, walls ruined by the elements of nature, creepers grown all over the walls and doors tell a sorry tale of neglect for the houses which at one point in time must have been the pride of their owners. I accept the fact that owning an independent house (most likely a second home) in these times and maintaining it is also not easy. It requires time, money and most of all, a sincere devotion to something that you deeply care for. I am also not blaming anyone but simply stating what the reality is today in this village. My regular visits to this place and walks in and around the narrow twisted lanes constantly reminds me of why nothing is being done about these houses which are getting ruined every passing day.

Should we be blaming the owners (who are either not there, dont care or do not have the means any more) or institutions  or the government or I do not know whom?

I leave you with the ruins of Nargol: [Click on the pictures to magnify them]

I do not want to paint a sorry picture of Nargol because the best part of it I have reserved for the last part of my trilogy. In the concluding part, I wish to highlight Nargol in a more positive way in terms of its natural beauty and of course the wonderful houses that are still well maintained. The positive aspects of Nargol still and I can confidently claim far outweigh some of the depressing photos that I have highlighted over here.

Hope to cover the final part of the trilogy soon…

In India we have all been consumed with the media coverage around Swine Flu. Yes it is tragic indeed for lives to be lost even though experts claim that it is a minor blip in terms of numbers. However that is not the topic of this post.

Another disaster that will have far reaching consequences and which has largely gone unnoticed is the oil spill that has happened around the coastline in the state of Gujarat. The Gujarat coastline is an often unexplored but beautiful part of the country. Recently a mysterious oil spill has ravaged around 100km of the coastline and the source of the spill has not yet been confirmed by the Government. The official reasons have ranged from a ‘rogue’ ship to a leaking pipeline, etc. But the fact of the matter is that the coastline has been destroyed beyond recognition in several parts. One cannot even fathom the ecological damage that it must have done to marine life and the environmental and economical hammering that the people living around the coast will suffer due to this.

It took a good 10 days of dilly-dallying for the Government to first confirm that it was indeed an oil spill. But the source still remains a mystery. As I write this, it seems that cleaning operations have begun in some areas which were hit the hardest but so much still remains to be done in terms of cleaning the beaches, identifying the culprits and bringing them to book.

I regularly visit Nargol, a sleepy town just north of the Maharashtra border inside Gujarat. The beach at Nargol is beautiful and countless hours have been spent there lapping up nature at its best. I went to the beach at Nargol this time hoping for the worst in terms of the oil spill. They claim that the beach is not among the worst hit in terms of oil spill. However when I reached there, not a soul was present and I could see why. The beach has been ravaged completely and it is impossible to walk without stepping your feet in crude oil (yes you read that right!). Reading it in the papers is one thing but when you actually see the destruction that it has caused, it leaves you wondering how fucked up we are as a human race.

I am sure that in due course of time — the beach will get cleaned up. That is the simple part of the postmortem. The painful effects of this human crime will be the possibly permanent damage to marine life along the coast, the economical hardships that will be thrust upon people whose livelihood was dependent on the sea and the adverse health effects on people living along the coast.

I personally do not care about the punishment because that will be treating the symptom and not the disease. The disease that has spread far and wide and in our very veins is complete disregard for nature and systematic destruction of it for the sake of commerce.

I have no idea how bad the scene is at places which are worst hit, since a coastline of nearly 100km has been affected. But if Nargol is not the worst hit, then I am afraid of even seeing the places where it is even worse. I leave you with disturbing pictures of the beach at Nargol…. (click on individual images for a larger picture).