So i started writing this post while listening to this, and I am originally supposed to put this on facebook, but i am too lazy to switch tabs and do that. (Update: this is this). Now as I write, I see that my sweet little sis is complaining that I havn’t posted anything psyco (did I spell that correctly?) (cares who.. jaane do), like this since a long time. (Update: This this is this, or perhaps something else) Yes I am now a little sleepy aswell. So what happened at Barcamp? Well I stole this T-Shirt from @sengupta, took 2 under tree sessions along with @priyankawriting and @vivekk (or rather stuck my foot in their undertree sessions),

btw the food was yummy. Imagine what would have happened if I would have okayed that food from the SPJIMR MESS (@vivekk saved you’all the horror). I also hijacked 2 sessions  or rather hijacked one for 2 mins with permission, helped @farrhad hijack one and stuck my foot / or ws it my tongue? in @monikkinom’s super cool session. OOPS this was about me at barcamp, so what happened at barcamp6 actually? Well when you are on my page, you better look for me and what i did, not bcm6  – shame on you. OK silly. Whtever!

• Human brain is an unique bastard. It silences its conscience for all the sins, but holds the other person accountable for what they did, planned to do, what they could do and even what they never did

• I striked out the the word impossible from my dictionary. Subsequently the words easy and shortcut were also lost…

• Friendship is not built with a deck of cards with lie written all over it

• Be more concerned with your conscience than your character, Coz character is built only after you answer your conscience. What matters is what you think of yourself

And the older ones that I have published before:

• Life is a ‘tug of war’ between truth and facts. Your Fact is your truth and my fact is my truth Now when facts differ. truth differs and that’s where the mother of all problems arises !! But what prevails is the actual Truth and Fact (that everyone sees in a different light )…

• Human brain is the most outstanding thing, actually its the most dreadful criminal in itself. It makes you do things based on your perceptions and acts on the reflexes of past, yet it helps you convince yourself that you are fresh every morning, sacred and free from all that has happened in the past !!

• Entrepreneurs are the riders of Storm who venture out into troubled waters to bring glory to their land!

If you cant see the video click here

More BCP2 videos soon

arpit105: “Good enough tech” Awesome article! http://tinyurl.com/ljsy2c (via @ankeshk @annkur)

annkur: @arpit105 @ankeshk this is the entire funda behind Wespro and chinese mp3 players.

ankeshk: @arpit105 hey buddy? hows work and Pune et al?

arpit105: @annkur I agree. I wonder what it takes to strike such an opportunity. How do I find one? @ankeshk Any clues?

annkur: @arpit105 @ankeshk I always put myself as the consumer n see. Bt that can be so wrong as we r power users,visualize the mass market consumer

arpit105: @annkur True. Being power users, we tend to think everything is mandatory. So, for which areas/products are we mass-market customers?

annkur: @arpit105 thats worth a thought. But todays power user, tomorrows mass market.

ankeshk: @arpit105 Find any industry. Select the top 1 and 2 product. List their qualities. Come up with the anti-product with opposite qualities.

@arpit105 Make sure the anti-product has the potential of a mass market. Or switch the industry…

@arpit105 Basically – a co. can distinguish only on price / product features / service / accessibility / overall experience… (contd)

@arpit105 Dominoes didn’t go for product differentiation. They went for accessibility differentiation.

@arpit105 Starbucks focused on the ambience and the overall experience to distinguish itself

@arpit105 And walmart went for product range and price differentiation

arpit105: @ankeshk I differ. If you select top 1/2 products, you may miss the opportunity of trying out a completely new approach. Think Pepsi/Coke

@ankeshk It is not so simple. ‘Anti-Products’ may never become market leaders. The point is to satisfy few needs that top products don’t.

@ankeshk Question is: How does one efficiently find out a big enough opportunity of solving such a need? Ethnography is one way. What else?

ankeshk: @arpit105 the goal is not becoming market leaders. The goal is creating new markets. No?

@arpit105 With Pepsi/Coke – you do the anti-product thing. And come up with Vitamin Water. And sell to Coke for $$4Billion.

@arpit105 Ethnography and research not really a good way of doing things as Steve Jobs tells us. People dont know what they want.

@arpit105 But if you want to start with consumers and not product positioning then this quote helps “Todays extreme is tomorrows mainstream”

arpit105: @ankeshk No. Creating new markets cannot lead to a market leader. You have to be mainstream-with-a-difference. iPhone is a phone too.

@ankeshk Vit Water story may work when the incumbents are desperate enough to buy anything they can’t kill. Oligopolic markets are not so.

@ankeshk Agree. If people knew what the want, product would be already be there in market na?

@ankeshk “A disruptive technology, often enters at the bottom of the market, Then grow in power and sophistication to eclipse old system”

ankeshk: @arpit105 A disruptive technology is almost always an anti-product technology… iphone is as anti-nokia as possible…

annkur: @arpit105 @ankeshk this discussion reminds me of victor maniackam’s speech at #ssmum. Remember the bit where he said .. reading a gals mind?

ankeshk: @annkur missed that ssmum – but I agree – if @arpit105 can read gals minds he can easily find a few big ass opportunities

arpit105: @ankeshk Well, if only I could read girls’ minds!! I read in 10th “Wherever women are concerned, unpredictable always happens”

annkur: @arpit105 @ankeshk request your permission to publish this conversation of ours on my blog plz

ankeshk: @annkur hahaha sure – no problem with me. But if @arpit105 learns to read gals minds – I want in!

ankeshk: @arpit105 I’m a big fan of Maslowing too. But I’m at a loss at how to use it to come up with a big opp. The choices are vast…

arpit105: @ankeshk Even I can’t fathom that. People say that the most innovation occurs when founders are users. How many products can one use?

ankeshk: @arpit105 There are more systematic approaches to innovation too. Eg: TRIZ. But users will know more about problems that need solving…

arpit105: @ankeshk I never heard of TRIZ. But this looks interesting. Of course, this doesn’t solve the problem too. Otherwise we wouldn’t be discsing

annkur: @arpit105 @vivekk @ankeshk tweaking and tweaking until it gets through. No hanuman will come in my dreams and tell what will work

arpit105: @annkur Of course, no Hanuman will come. But if tweaking could alone suffice, it would be trivial. Question is: how to shift the paradigm?

annkur: @arpit105 oh you need to have some vision and direction to begin with. Dunno how to define that, but you never know where you end up…

arpit105: @annkur Vision and Mission can be about mundane things. Here we are talking about breakthrough innovations, that too ones which work

annkur: @arpit105 reminds me of the Paymate guy who got the idea when he had to make a small payment to a friend but had no chq, cash or atm

arpit105: @annkur Awesome example! That’s the thing I am talking about. That’s the origin of most innovative products. #ssmum rocks!

ankeshk: @arpit105 Oh TRIZ is very interesting. Very technical too. I got a book on it if you wanna read…

arpit105: @ankeshk Is it? Then I would need to read it. It did seem interesting on Wikipedia. Will borrow on thin book from you when we meet.

ankeshk: @arpit105 you know the story of how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was made?

arpit105: @ankeshk No I don’t. Read the Wikipedia entry just now. Not much clues there of anything very deeply interesting.

ankeshk: @arpit105 The artists asked: which are 4 hot current trends?

@arpit105 1. Cerebus the aardvark was a cult classic comic of the time. Its about a pig superhero who drinks and cusses. Misfit animal.

@arpit105 2. Ronin is a hit comic by Frank Miller. Ninja movies do well too. Ninjas.

@arpit105 3. Daredevil is a hit too. Its about a blind mutant whose other senses are heightened because of radio active exposure. Mutants.

@arpit105 4. The New Mutants is another comic doing very well. Its about teenage mutant super heroes under going training. Teenage. Mutant.

@arpit105 Mix the 4 trends. And you have teenage mutant ninja misfit animal undergoing training. Create it and voila – you have a hit.

@arpit105 Mixing already existing hits = recipe for a big hit opportunity too.

arpit105: @ankeshk Wow! Thanks for so much gyaan. Seems great products are built by deriving from strong social trends/changes + tech to enable it

@ankeshk completely agree. Mixing is origin of innovation. iPhone = touch tech + need for intuitive UI. So what trends are you mixing today?

ankeshk: @arpit105 oh my startup is all about mixing 3 ecommerce apps out there right now with 1 more twist. But too early to talk about it in public

arpit105: @ankeshk Awesome! Am curious to know! Will discuss in private!

ankeshk: @arpit105 (The authors of TMNT did send out 180 PR kits after their first issue too. Hit product needs aggressive marketing to succeed too!)

arpit105: @ankeshk Disagree. Disruptive products cause disruptive usage. They would do best through WoM: “I used it, found it great. Would you try?”

@ankeshk Landmark Education is an example of a disruptive technology. People who have gone through it, can’t talk enough about it.

annkur: @ankeshk @arpit105 WoM cn be backed with some nice media. Making good into Killer!

ankeshk: @arpit105 WoM can totally be hacked. Tipping Point + Made to Stick = WoM. No disruption necessary.

@arpit105 Also – Landmark Education does follow Toastmasters / Tupperware model to add fuel to WoM – no?

@annkur I think media is an essential element in WoM – they are still the biggest influencers out there!

…. certainly not the end

I was left as a mute spectator for most part of the conversation …. Arpit, Ankesh – you guyz rock!

Love it or hate it, after watching a James Cameron movie, there is always an extreme reaction. In this case, ‘Avatar’ got me really enthusiastic about it, and this was only after watching a short preview in a special screening yesterday in Mumbai, India. You can imagine my reaction after I watch the complete movie!

It took more than 12 years for James Cameron to bring this visual buffet to the movie screen for the benefit of us mere mortals. Granted, you might have heard of  the plot before, but what makes this movie more enjoyable is everything else surrounding the story. And of course, the 3D effects made the live-action scenes just flat-out fun to watch. I don’t know – and don’t pretend to know – the technology that goes behind 3D movie-making, but watching the scenes in 3D definitely made a lot of difference. Some of the differences were more subtle, while others were of the 3D kind but at a higher-than-expected standard.

Some of the scenes definitely felt like I was watching a slickly-designed game being played out. (Yes, I may be considered a noob since I wasn’t aware that Mr. JC recently previewed the 3D Avatar video game.) Throughout the screening, and at the end of the movie, everyone found themselves instinctively cooing the “oohs” and “aaahs” along with other appreciative noises. I was completely caught up as the characters went through the different emotions of curiosity, awe, caution, strength, and triumph.

It makes the regular movie watcher – or those who don’t usually find themselves on strange new moons fighting “a heroic battle to save a civilization” – truly feel like they are actually there in the labs side-by-side with Sigourney Weaver’s Dr. Grace Augustine (Ripley has had a promotion. Cool!) as the transformation takes place for Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully from a crippled soldier into his larger-than-life avatar. For those not in the know, Sigourney Weaver starred as Ellen Ripley in the 1986 sci-fi funhouse ‘Aliens’, and Sam Worthington latest endeavour is ‘Terminator Salvation’.

Four of my all-time favourite movies have been directed by Mr. Cameron himself, so you might think I went into the screening being completely biased for the director. Truth be told, I hadn’t heard of the movie until a month ago. This shouldn’t be taken as an indication of the impact (or lack thereof) of the Avatar publicity. To be doubly sure that my goldfish-like attention span doesn’t miss out again, I have the flyer from the screening pasted on my wall right at my desk.

Thanks to the Avatar India team who offered up some invites to OnlyGizmos readers and science fiction fans. I can’t wait for 18 December to roll on by so that I can run out and buy my ticket to watch this flick in an IMAX theatre.

And also to all my friends who are Social Media fans… An amazing video!

If you are unable to see the video – Go Here

and more….

Having sold my Avenger a little over a month back, I am getting used to a new lifestyle depending on public transport. After 4 years of non stop biking adventure, here is a new turn to life; Life without a Bike

A motorcycle is an amazing companion and as I always realized it adds a lot of flexibility and efficiency to ones movement in a crowded city like Mumbai. Though it has its own share of risk, troubles in rains etc etc … its still the coolest thing I ever owned: A bike

So what does this Life Without a Bike bring?

• Autorickshaws: The amazing three wheelers of Mumbai are my best companion now. Something that bikers truly hate on roads. As a biker I rarely had to take an auto, but things have changed now. This post can well be titled on ‘Life traveling in an autorickshaw’

• .. I actually discovered some weird auto rickshawas. Like one with a TV? yeah!! More on that in a future post.

• Previously on occasional trips in an auto, I used to hand over a 10 rupee note to the rickshaw driver even for minimum fare (that’s Re1 Tip). But since I now make 2-5 trips daily in an auto rickshaw now, I stopped doing that.

• The best part of traveling in an autorickshaw is that now I can actually watch all the girls on the street, without the fear of crashing. And as I now notice, there are pretty gals in my around my area

• I can also attend all calls while traveling, check my SMS and Tweet from my mobile (along with reading blogs) . Interestingly during the initial days in a rickshaw I would let the phone ring in my pocket, before realizing that I can actually answer it now … (unlike the bike where I had no option to answer calls)

• Another habit I have developed is of texting unnecessary (now being replaced by mobile twitter). So things that can be discussed on the Instant Messenger, email etc, I would actually sit in the rickshaw and compose SMSes for those things. Killing time ….

• I have learnt about this new cool autorickshaw by TVS. It has nice plastic dashboard, different gear switching technique, 250cc 200cc engine (hope my memory is serving me right on this), mobile charging points etc.

• I have now started to plan my travels. With a bike there was a unique convenience to drop in anywhere any time. So if I am to visit 3 locations between Vile Parle and Jogeshwari, I could cover them in any order on the bike. But now I need to consider the traffic, time, routes etc. >> at the same time –  (During rains when getting autos is a pain) … Rickshawalas are usually used to hearing one place as destination before accepting or denying, but I might be the only one who gives asks them for 2-3 destinations at a time.

• Catching a rickshaw is an art. You need to realise that there are other people around you looking out for an auto. You need tactfully place yourself and wave to the rickshaw wala.

• Over the past few days with problems catching a rickshaw, I have realised that whoever taught these autowalas how to say ‘NO’ is probably the best teacher on planet earth!

• I occasionally remind rickshaw-walas that there is a GAS station near my place. So if they are running low on CNG, they should go there for a refill…

• I have also noticed that my love for friends who own a car has suddenly increased

And if you are wondering why I sold the bike … here are a few speculations (choose your favorite ):

• My girl didn’t like bikes (I am planning a car)
• Recession
• The sprained shoulder / ankle
• It wasn’t sold, it was stolen
• I got bored
• mere sapne mein raat ko maa santoshi aayi, aur bola beech de

(This post was composed in parts on my mobile …. while traveling in auto-rickshaws)

We went to the highest point on the terrace entering via a small window.

But weather played a spoil sport… Though we did felt complete darkness of the Eclipse, we missed the sun which was not visible in the cloudy climate. While many of you would term it a #Fail, we are satisfied that we gave this once in a life time opportunity a fair try (with super adventurous driving to Surat over rocky roads and rains). To give you an idea of how dark it became during the eclipse, here is a before and after pic!

Click the image to enlarge

To get such stunning shots (and this aswell), we do need to be a little crazy… I am proud that we (I +@ankeshk @thakkar and @netra) went ahead with this trip!!!

More pics from the pic coming up on my Picasa album