The is a continuation of my previous blog.
All of my predictions came out to be true. Keeping into consideration that I have given myself two choices (for some of the categories) I guess the contest was not even, but who cares. Academy awards are becoming more and more predictable and thanks to the media for nurturing the speculation. Out of all the nominees/categories where I am able to predict the winners, the only movies I saw were Inception, The Social Network, Toy Story 3 & The Town, and somehow I am still able to pick up the winners. If there is any betting going on for these awards I could have made a lot of money (but no big deal).
As for the awards show, it was OK and not up to the hype. The hosts (James Franco & Anne Hathaway) were lousy and boring. I guess some of the things were better be left for the pros (Academy should make a note for it) and both James & Anne were not even close to the likes of Billy Crystal, Alec Baldwin and Steve martin. I guess even Hugh Jackman did a good job hosting Oscars. Anyway, hope we have a better show next year.
So here goes the list again and this time with the winners:
Best Picture:
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech (Academy will pick)
127 Hours
The Social Network (My Pick)
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winters Bone
Actor in a leading role:
Javier Bardem
Jeff Bridges
Jesse Eisenberg
Colin Firth (My pick & Academy’s Pick)
James Franco
Actor in a supporting role:
Christian Bale (My pick)
John Hawkes
Jeremy Renner
Mark Ruffalo
Geoffrey Rush (Academy will pick)
Actress in a leading role:
Annette Bening
Nicole Kidman
Jennifer Lawrence
Natalie Portman (My pick & Academy’s Pick)
Michelle Williams
Actress in a supporting role:
Amy Adams
Helena Bonham Carter (Academy will pick)
Melissa Leo (My pick)
Hailee Steinfeld
Jacki Weaver
Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 3 (My pick & Academy’s Pick)
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Directing:
Darren Aronofsky
David O. Russell
Tom Hooper (Academy will pick)
David Fincher (My pick)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Make a choice - i4 or iPhone ?
Disclaimer: To enjoy, read this as fast as you can. You might be familiar with such disclaimer which often comes after most of the financial investment commercials.
The information and any vital data mentioned in this blog have been obtained from sources which I believe to be reliable, but I do not represent that they are accurate or complete, and they should not be relied upon as such. All opinions expressed are the creation of my mind and the given data provided herein is subject to change without prior notice. Before making any decision to change or alter the path of your career or your loved ones, individuals are advised to review such proposals thoroughly with their conscience, with their mentors, friends and any such person of relevant importance. Also check with your financial advisor who might have nothing to do with this blog or the contents mentioned herein but any disclaimer is incomplete without mentioning the term financial advisor (GRRRRR). Review the disclaimer carefully before reading this blog. Enjoy.
Note to self: Don’t watch more than 2 Family Guy episodes per week in order to avoid preposterous things from happening (like the disclaimer mentioned above).
The i4 phenomenon:
What are the most common qualities or characteristics we have seen in all the super organizations or some of the most successful individuals of our times (be it Apple or Google, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs)? In the quest to find the answer to this question I pondered upon this list of 4 most powerful words which I believe defines the conception and existence of the revolution we are all lucky to be the part of. The phenomenon of these 4 powerful words which I decided to call i4 (Imagine, Innovate, Invent & Inspire) is behind the success of every company and every individual we can think of. Conspicuous and revolutionary products like iPhone, iPad or as a matter of fact Google & Facebook are nothing but the derivatives of i4. According to me whatever we see around us (components both constructive & destructive in nature) in some way or the other are the products of i4. Today we can harvest the benefits of i4 and make this World a better place not for our self but for the entire human race and for the future generations.
The power of i4 in our hands:
These are very exciting times. In these days you don’t have to be a Newton, Edison or Einstein if you want to invent something. Besides people always talk about there is nothing left to invent and hardly anything to innovate, yet more are more startups are mushrooming every year and everywhere. In whatever year it is whatever century it is I guess man is gifted with this amazing gift of using the powers of i4. DIY (Do it yourself) is gripping the whole world like some kind of virus and spreading at a phenomenal rate. With Google at our finger tips, the latest and greatest technology at our disposal and tons of material published on the Wikipedia, we can read, learn and design anything we like. There is a plethora of documents, websites and forums everywhere on the net which can be helpful for a larger group of people from novice to advance, from an amateur to a professional. Inventions no longer happen in labs, they happen in garages (just like Apple & Microsoft), basements, dormitories (Facebook) and school or college projects (Google). I have read somewhere that technology is like a monster and we (human beings) are taming it. The only difference is that in that past the training whip was in the hands of the very few but now we all have our own customizable whip and we all very well know how to tame the monster and make it work to full fill our needs. In these times of open source i4 is not different.
Learn to code (see disclaimer):
In today’s world each and every one of us cherish the life given to us by the sophisticated technology and at the core of this sophisticated technology lies the powerful and sophisticated software code. It is not a request nor a suggestion but if we want to evolve in the field of technology we should all learn to code. You don’t need to be a Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg to code. According to me any person with some interest and time can learn to code.Is coding hard? Sure it is, and so are many things we gave a shot for the very first time. Our resolute determination plus interest helps us in our learning procedure. Writing a software code requires same determination. Programming is not abstruse and there are tons of sites to learn. Parents can make their kids interested in programming from an early age and it is fun to learn. One such fun programming language for the kids is Scratch, which was developed by MIT in order to make coding interesting among kids. One pretty cool thing about coding is that it does not have a prerequisite. Anyone from any educational background can pick up the book and start. For more information from where to start coding (and how) see this link (you will be amazed by the information provided). Technology is a byproduct of i4 and to harness its power we need to make coding public.
Innovate or perish - The Deadman of Sony:
I remember to this day, how excited I was when my dad bought the Walkman for me. Sony is a great company and the inventor of the revolutionary Walkman and the underlying technology. If Sony keeps on innovating on the lines of Walkman then no apple or orange can compete with it, but all of us know what happened. Sony’s walkman became deadman and Apple’s iseries ruined the party for Sony. I am a big fan of Apple and its products (though I am a bigger fan of Apple’s share) and the only reason is somewhere in the heart of this great organization, i4 is hardcoded. Year after year Apple has delivered amazing products. Come March 2nd and if speculations are true iPad 2 will be unveiled to the masses. It seems Apple is in the habit of flexing its i4 muscles and time and again it has demonstrated that in all its products.
Age no barrier:
It started off with a discussion and later turned into an argument when I expressed my desire to one of my friend that I would like to become an entrepreneur. My friend kept on saying that post 30 this is not easily achievable and keeps on giving me the examples of Larry Page and Sergey Brin (the master mind behind Google). I know that it is tough keeping into consideration certain factors like age, job, family & kids to pursue your field of interest, but it is not unachievable. Age is not the barrier to practice i4. Age and responsibilities simply has no control over your dreams. Larry Wall invented the PERL scripting language at the age of 33 and on the opposite side of the spectrum, kids are outdoing each other when it comes to the development of smart phone Apps. 14 year old (West Coast 8th grader), Pierce Freeman developed card sharing iphone application only to be outsmarted by Lim Ding Wen, (9 year old from Singapore) who developed Doodle Kids for his little sister and the app became an instant hit. To recapitulate, age should not decrease your i4 momentum.
i4 or iPhone ?:
In January 2007, Apple changed the face of the technology industry by introducing the iPhone. In April 2010, Apple again proved that they are the true market leaders when they introduced the iPad. Technology is dynamic and it will keep on producing more robust and exciting products. It is us who need to maintain the pace with the technology and its offering. We can only do that by not being the end consumer of the technology, but by sharing and contributing towards it. Instead of buying an app for our kids we should educate them on how to develop one (Objective-C and Cocoa Framework/API, both proprietary Apple development products can be used to develop the iPhone/iPad app for the iOS and Java along with Google App inventor can be used to develop the app for the Android platform). Today, the kids are very smart and they know inside out about all the latest technology offerings like the i-series (iPod, iPad, iPhone….). We can make them smarter if we can help them add 4 more i-words (i4) in their ever growing i-word vocabulary and who knows they develop their own version of Angry Birds (the most popular game on iPad/iPhone with over 50 million downloads).
Time has come for all of us to choose between i4 and iPhone, and we all know their success is mutually dependent. I choose i4 and I might be wrong as I don’t own an iPhone/iPad (not yet). If you want your next iPhone or as a matter of fact your next smart phone to be more sleek and cutting edge, if you want the technology around us to be evolving and rewarding as always, you too will choose i4. Both you and me know that technology becomes obsolete only to be replaced by the new and powerful one and so is the case with our phones and all the gadgets, but what should not become obsolete is i4 (the power to Imagine, Innovate, Invent & Inspire).
The information and any vital data mentioned in this blog have been obtained from sources which I believe to be reliable, but I do not represent that they are accurate or complete, and they should not be relied upon as such. All opinions expressed are the creation of my mind and the given data provided herein is subject to change without prior notice. Before making any decision to change or alter the path of your career or your loved ones, individuals are advised to review such proposals thoroughly with their conscience, with their mentors, friends and any such person of relevant importance. Also check with your financial advisor who might have nothing to do with this blog or the contents mentioned herein but any disclaimer is incomplete without mentioning the term financial advisor (GRRRRR). Review the disclaimer carefully before reading this blog. Enjoy.
Note to self: Don’t watch more than 2 Family Guy episodes per week in order to avoid preposterous things from happening (like the disclaimer mentioned above).
The i4 phenomenon:
What are the most common qualities or characteristics we have seen in all the super organizations or some of the most successful individuals of our times (be it Apple or Google, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs)? In the quest to find the answer to this question I pondered upon this list of 4 most powerful words which I believe defines the conception and existence of the revolution we are all lucky to be the part of. The phenomenon of these 4 powerful words which I decided to call i4 (Imagine, Innovate, Invent & Inspire) is behind the success of every company and every individual we can think of. Conspicuous and revolutionary products like iPhone, iPad or as a matter of fact Google & Facebook are nothing but the derivatives of i4. According to me whatever we see around us (components both constructive & destructive in nature) in some way or the other are the products of i4. Today we can harvest the benefits of i4 and make this World a better place not for our self but for the entire human race and for the future generations.
The power of i4 in our hands:
These are very exciting times. In these days you don’t have to be a Newton, Edison or Einstein if you want to invent something. Besides people always talk about there is nothing left to invent and hardly anything to innovate, yet more are more startups are mushrooming every year and everywhere. In whatever year it is whatever century it is I guess man is gifted with this amazing gift of using the powers of i4. DIY (Do it yourself) is gripping the whole world like some kind of virus and spreading at a phenomenal rate. With Google at our finger tips, the latest and greatest technology at our disposal and tons of material published on the Wikipedia, we can read, learn and design anything we like. There is a plethora of documents, websites and forums everywhere on the net which can be helpful for a larger group of people from novice to advance, from an amateur to a professional. Inventions no longer happen in labs, they happen in garages (just like Apple & Microsoft), basements, dormitories (Facebook) and school or college projects (Google). I have read somewhere that technology is like a monster and we (human beings) are taming it. The only difference is that in that past the training whip was in the hands of the very few but now we all have our own customizable whip and we all very well know how to tame the monster and make it work to full fill our needs. In these times of open source i4 is not different.
Learn to code (see disclaimer):
In today’s world each and every one of us cherish the life given to us by the sophisticated technology and at the core of this sophisticated technology lies the powerful and sophisticated software code. It is not a request nor a suggestion but if we want to evolve in the field of technology we should all learn to code. You don’t need to be a Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg to code. According to me any person with some interest and time can learn to code.Is coding hard? Sure it is, and so are many things we gave a shot for the very first time. Our resolute determination plus interest helps us in our learning procedure. Writing a software code requires same determination. Programming is not abstruse and there are tons of sites to learn. Parents can make their kids interested in programming from an early age and it is fun to learn. One such fun programming language for the kids is Scratch, which was developed by MIT in order to make coding interesting among kids. One pretty cool thing about coding is that it does not have a prerequisite. Anyone from any educational background can pick up the book and start. For more information from where to start coding (and how) see this link (you will be amazed by the information provided). Technology is a byproduct of i4 and to harness its power we need to make coding public.
Innovate or perish - The Deadman of Sony:
I remember to this day, how excited I was when my dad bought the Walkman for me. Sony is a great company and the inventor of the revolutionary Walkman and the underlying technology. If Sony keeps on innovating on the lines of Walkman then no apple or orange can compete with it, but all of us know what happened. Sony’s walkman became deadman and Apple’s iseries ruined the party for Sony. I am a big fan of Apple and its products (though I am a bigger fan of Apple’s share) and the only reason is somewhere in the heart of this great organization, i4 is hardcoded. Year after year Apple has delivered amazing products. Come March 2nd and if speculations are true iPad 2 will be unveiled to the masses. It seems Apple is in the habit of flexing its i4 muscles and time and again it has demonstrated that in all its products.
Age no barrier:
It started off with a discussion and later turned into an argument when I expressed my desire to one of my friend that I would like to become an entrepreneur. My friend kept on saying that post 30 this is not easily achievable and keeps on giving me the examples of Larry Page and Sergey Brin (the master mind behind Google). I know that it is tough keeping into consideration certain factors like age, job, family & kids to pursue your field of interest, but it is not unachievable. Age is not the barrier to practice i4. Age and responsibilities simply has no control over your dreams. Larry Wall invented the PERL scripting language at the age of 33 and on the opposite side of the spectrum, kids are outdoing each other when it comes to the development of smart phone Apps. 14 year old (West Coast 8th grader), Pierce Freeman developed card sharing iphone application only to be outsmarted by Lim Ding Wen, (9 year old from Singapore) who developed Doodle Kids for his little sister and the app became an instant hit. To recapitulate, age should not decrease your i4 momentum.
i4 or iPhone ?:
In January 2007, Apple changed the face of the technology industry by introducing the iPhone. In April 2010, Apple again proved that they are the true market leaders when they introduced the iPad. Technology is dynamic and it will keep on producing more robust and exciting products. It is us who need to maintain the pace with the technology and its offering. We can only do that by not being the end consumer of the technology, but by sharing and contributing towards it. Instead of buying an app for our kids we should educate them on how to develop one (Objective-C and Cocoa Framework/API, both proprietary Apple development products can be used to develop the iPhone/iPad app for the iOS and Java along with Google App inventor can be used to develop the app for the Android platform). Today, the kids are very smart and they know inside out about all the latest technology offerings like the i-series (iPod, iPad, iPhone….). We can make them smarter if we can help them add 4 more i-words (i4) in their ever growing i-word vocabulary and who knows they develop their own version of Angry Birds (the most popular game on iPad/iPhone with over 50 million downloads).
Time has come for all of us to choose between i4 and iPhone, and we all know their success is mutually dependent. I choose i4 and I might be wrong as I don’t own an iPhone/iPad (not yet). If you want your next iPhone or as a matter of fact your next smart phone to be more sleek and cutting edge, if you want the technology around us to be evolving and rewarding as always, you too will choose i4. Both you and me know that technology becomes obsolete only to be replaced by the new and powerful one and so is the case with our phones and all the gadgets, but what should not become obsolete is i4 (the power to Imagine, Innovate, Invent & Inspire).
So make that choice (i4 or iPhone ?) and for the sake of all of us and for the future generations, please make it fast.
Monday, February 21, 2011
My predictions for the Academy Awards
The Academy of motion picture arts and sciences (Academy or Oscars as popularly known) is always unpredictable. I guess the main logic working in the background of Academy awards is the best one should win not the popular one. I remember I was rooting up for Russell Crowe to with the best actor award but Academy thought otherwise and gave it to Denzel Washington. No complains though, as Denzel is an exceptionally talented actor and one my favorites but I guess that year (2001) Russell’s performance in Beautiful Mind was well above as compare to the performance of Denzel in Training Day. Same thing happened last year when Academy gave all the important awards to The Hurt Locker where as I believe that Avatar should win some.
Oscars are just around the corner (27th Feb) so I thought to publish my predictions (for some of the main categories) along with what I think Academy will choose (based on the pattern I have noticed in the past years).
We have seen some very good movies last year and believe me the competition will be really tough.
So here goes the prediction list:
Best Picture:
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech (Academy will pick)
127 Hours
The Social Network (My Pick)
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winters Bone
Actor in a leading role:
Javier Bardem
Jeff Bridges
Jesse Eisenberg
Colin Firth (My pick & Academy’s Pick)
James Franco
Actor in a supporting role:
Christian Bale (My pick)
John Hawkes
Jeremy Renner
Mark Ruffalo
Geoffrey Rush (Academy will pick)
Actress in a leading role:
Annette Bening
Nicole Kidman
Jennifer Lawrence
Natalie Portman (My pick & Academy’s Pick)
Michelle Williams
Actress in a supporting role:
Amy Adams
Helena Bonham Carter (Academy will pick)
Melissa Leo (My pick)
Hailee Steinfeld
Jacki Weaver
Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 3 (My pick & Academy’s Pick)
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Directing:
Darren Aronofsky
David O. Russell
Tom Hooper (Academy will pick)
David Fincher (My pick)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
We will see on Sunday the 27th Feb how good are my intuitions and how good I am at judging academy in picking up the winners.
Oscars are just around the corner (27th Feb) so I thought to publish my predictions (for some of the main categories) along with what I think Academy will choose (based on the pattern I have noticed in the past years).
We have seen some very good movies last year and believe me the competition will be really tough.
So here goes the prediction list:
Best Picture:
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech (Academy will pick)
127 Hours
The Social Network (My Pick)
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winters Bone
Actor in a leading role:
Javier Bardem
Jeff Bridges
Jesse Eisenberg
Colin Firth (My pick & Academy’s Pick)
James Franco
Actor in a supporting role:
Christian Bale (My pick)
John Hawkes
Jeremy Renner
Mark Ruffalo
Geoffrey Rush (Academy will pick)
Actress in a leading role:
Annette Bening
Nicole Kidman
Jennifer Lawrence
Natalie Portman (My pick & Academy’s Pick)
Michelle Williams
Actress in a supporting role:
Amy Adams
Helena Bonham Carter (Academy will pick)
Melissa Leo (My pick)
Hailee Steinfeld
Jacki Weaver
Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 3 (My pick & Academy’s Pick)
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Directing:
Darren Aronofsky
David O. Russell
Tom Hooper (Academy will pick)
David Fincher (My pick)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
We will see on Sunday the 27th Feb how good are my intuitions and how good I am at judging academy in picking up the winners.
Friday, February 18, 2011
The intractable life of Ram Charan
Almost 3 years back out of shear curiosity I try to find out who is the best management consultant of recent times (an individual not an organization)? Google spit out various results and out of those results this is one individual got my attention – Ram Charan (who I will call RC in the rest of this blog). RC is considered to be one of the top management gurus with unlimited access to the boardrooms of some of the major firms on this planet. With his relentless work habits combined with his impressive management chops RC has helped many prestigious organizations in the development of their company’s critical management strategy. The coterie of some most powerful CEOs often turn to RC in using his unparallel knowledge of management consulting. The elite list includes Jack Welch (former GE CEO), Ivan Seidenberg (Verizon CEO) & John Reed (former CEO Citicorp).
No matter how much I read about RC I get this feeling there is still more to read about him and try to uncover as much as possible. RC has this unique quality which makes him different from the professionals in the same league and that one thing is he has devoted his entire life to one and only one thing – Business. He immersed himself in work all the time. As stated by one of his CEO friends, “RC can go anywhere anytime and he never misses an appointment”. His whole life revolves around solving the intricacies of Business. He is indefatigable and is always on the move. Excited? Here is more.
RC is around 72 now. RC never got married and has no children. RC does not own a car or know how to drive one (I guess he found no time to learn driving). He prefers CABs, trains and air planes as his primary mode of commuting. He goes from one country to another one company to another and his typical itinerary looks something like this.
Sunday morning in Beijing. Monday morning in Delhi. Wednesday in Bombay. Saturday in Singapore. Wednesday in Johannesburg. Friday morning in New York. Fly out the same night to Dubai. Dubai on Sunday and Monday, then come back to New York. On Thursday night fly out to Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Then back to New York. Tuesday morning whole-day schedule in New York. Tuesday night off to Chicago. Fly out for a meeting in Philadelphia. Then out to a meeting in San Francico. Monday morning breakfast meeting in New York and then flying out to Perth, Australia. Swooshhhhh !!! Looking at his schedule one of his client’s suggested RC to buy his own private plane which he can very well own. He charges around $20,000 per day (tops) for his services and can own a plane for sure. But he will not buy one, as again he does not have time to get lost in the comforts of his private plane.
With such a rigorous schedule RC figured out that Airport is his first home. He does not have a second home. Yes, that is right. He never bought a house (or rent one) and he used to live in the hotel all his life. Before becoming a consultant he used to sleep in dormitories and before that he used to be in YMCAs. At times his client’s took pity on him and offer their home to spend the night. I was reading recently and it seems he bought an apartment in Dallas but he has no plans of moving there. He does own a small office in Dallas (where he never goes). His secretaries manage his day to day schedule. Now here comes the funny part. Three days a week Monday, Wednesday, and Friday his secretary pack a box with shirts, underwear, socks, suit, and a pair of pants. In the same box they also put in razors, toothpaste, shampoo, shoes and stuff which he might need and send it by FedEx to RC’s hotel (wherever in the World that may be). RC then filled that box with dirty laundry and returned it back. RC is not having the habit of buying things and the only place he knows from where to get his stuff is his FedEx packet(the one sent to him by his secretaries). Now who can live a life that? For one day or as a matter of fact one week or one month is fine, but this man spends his entire life serving the sole purpose of serving his clients. Unbelievable.
RC holds an American nationality but was born in a small town (Hapur) in Northern India near the capital of the country, Delhi. He used to work with his father in the family’s shoe shop. From an early age he got the passion for business and used to count the money at the end of each business day keeping a record of total cash earned in the shoe shop. RC was a bright student, so when all his siblings decided to join the family business full time, RC concentrated on his studies and graduated from the prestigious Banaras University in Varanasi. After the graduation he was given the chance to participate in the student exchange program in Sydney, Australia. He used to work as a gardener during first few days in Sydney and later worked as a draftsman. To refine his business skills RC decided to pursue an MBA and got admitted in the Harvard Business School (HBS) where is graduated within the top 3% of his class. He did not stop here and finished his PhD from Harvard. RC used to teach at HBS and later joined Kellogg’s Northwestern School of Management. More than 30 years ago, RC decided to join full time business consulting because in some point in time he thought he will be better off practicing management instead of teaching it.
RC is so passionate about solving business problems that he never gives importance to himself or his personal comforts. Even owning an iPod and listening to his favorite Indian vocalist Lata Mangeshkar seems to be a distraction for him. Someone who knows RC well says he has no goals and he does not know what his next move is.
RC - business consultant, speaker & writer. He keeps on wandering from airport to airport, company to company because he is only sent from up above to practice business consulting. That’s what he is good at, that’s what he does and that’s what he keeps on doing, day in day out. No one, not even RC has control over his intractable life. He is simply amazing at whatever he does and he knows that.
No matter how much I read about RC I get this feeling there is still more to read about him and try to uncover as much as possible. RC has this unique quality which makes him different from the professionals in the same league and that one thing is he has devoted his entire life to one and only one thing – Business. He immersed himself in work all the time. As stated by one of his CEO friends, “RC can go anywhere anytime and he never misses an appointment”. His whole life revolves around solving the intricacies of Business. He is indefatigable and is always on the move. Excited? Here is more.
RC is around 72 now. RC never got married and has no children. RC does not own a car or know how to drive one (I guess he found no time to learn driving). He prefers CABs, trains and air planes as his primary mode of commuting. He goes from one country to another one company to another and his typical itinerary looks something like this.
Sunday morning in Beijing. Monday morning in Delhi. Wednesday in Bombay. Saturday in Singapore. Wednesday in Johannesburg. Friday morning in New York. Fly out the same night to Dubai. Dubai on Sunday and Monday, then come back to New York. On Thursday night fly out to Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Then back to New York. Tuesday morning whole-day schedule in New York. Tuesday night off to Chicago. Fly out for a meeting in Philadelphia. Then out to a meeting in San Francico. Monday morning breakfast meeting in New York and then flying out to Perth, Australia. Swooshhhhh !!! Looking at his schedule one of his client’s suggested RC to buy his own private plane which he can very well own. He charges around $20,000 per day (tops) for his services and can own a plane for sure. But he will not buy one, as again he does not have time to get lost in the comforts of his private plane.
With such a rigorous schedule RC figured out that Airport is his first home. He does not have a second home. Yes, that is right. He never bought a house (or rent one) and he used to live in the hotel all his life. Before becoming a consultant he used to sleep in dormitories and before that he used to be in YMCAs. At times his client’s took pity on him and offer their home to spend the night. I was reading recently and it seems he bought an apartment in Dallas but he has no plans of moving there. He does own a small office in Dallas (where he never goes). His secretaries manage his day to day schedule. Now here comes the funny part. Three days a week Monday, Wednesday, and Friday his secretary pack a box with shirts, underwear, socks, suit, and a pair of pants. In the same box they also put in razors, toothpaste, shampoo, shoes and stuff which he might need and send it by FedEx to RC’s hotel (wherever in the World that may be). RC then filled that box with dirty laundry and returned it back. RC is not having the habit of buying things and the only place he knows from where to get his stuff is his FedEx packet(the one sent to him by his secretaries). Now who can live a life that? For one day or as a matter of fact one week or one month is fine, but this man spends his entire life serving the sole purpose of serving his clients. Unbelievable.
RC holds an American nationality but was born in a small town (Hapur) in Northern India near the capital of the country, Delhi. He used to work with his father in the family’s shoe shop. From an early age he got the passion for business and used to count the money at the end of each business day keeping a record of total cash earned in the shoe shop. RC was a bright student, so when all his siblings decided to join the family business full time, RC concentrated on his studies and graduated from the prestigious Banaras University in Varanasi. After the graduation he was given the chance to participate in the student exchange program in Sydney, Australia. He used to work as a gardener during first few days in Sydney and later worked as a draftsman. To refine his business skills RC decided to pursue an MBA and got admitted in the Harvard Business School (HBS) where is graduated within the top 3% of his class. He did not stop here and finished his PhD from Harvard. RC used to teach at HBS and later joined Kellogg’s Northwestern School of Management. More than 30 years ago, RC decided to join full time business consulting because in some point in time he thought he will be better off practicing management instead of teaching it.
RC is so passionate about solving business problems that he never gives importance to himself or his personal comforts. Even owning an iPod and listening to his favorite Indian vocalist Lata Mangeshkar seems to be a distraction for him. Someone who knows RC well says he has no goals and he does not know what his next move is.
RC - business consultant, speaker & writer. He keeps on wandering from airport to airport, company to company because he is only sent from up above to practice business consulting. That’s what he is good at, that’s what he does and that’s what he keeps on doing, day in day out. No one, not even RC has control over his intractable life. He is simply amazing at whatever he does and he knows that.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Jeopardy: IBM's Watson Vs Man (Day 3)
After 3 nights of excitement, Watson finally demonstrates it is well above human beings. Does that make Watson or the computers superior to mankind? Well to some extent yes and to some no. Watson does have some serious holes in its algorithm and by now its creator are aware of that. Watson is smart and it does have extraordinary speed while taking decisions, but what it lacks is the accuracy in providing the results (sometimes). I mean who could have imagined that Watson after answering some really tough questions will consider Toronto to be the part of the US.
Anyway, out an out it was a decent competition and both Brad & Ken put up a fantastic fight. Ken proved that though he lacks in the total earning when competing with Brad he does have the power to turn the game around and he does demonstrates that by becoming # 2 in the final standings. In the first two nights Ken was # 3 but last night he played really well and so does Brad.
Final Jeopardy standings:
Watson at # 1 with total earnings of 77,147 (grrrrr)
Ken at # 2 with total earnings of 24,000
Brad at # 3 with total earnings of 21,600
IBM has proved again that when it comes to the contest between man and machine their machines are more superior then any of us. Investors of IBM, should be happy and proud to be investing in a company which is capable of producing such resolute & invincible supercomputers. Jeopardy was one of the primary reasons for the existence of Watson. Post Jeopardy, IBM will be using Watson to make critical decisions in the field of science, medicine and finance. To know more details about the Watson project check out here.
So what is next in line for IBM? Couple of miles from my house, there is a huge facility where IBM is building its new Petascale supercomputer which goes by the name of Blue Waters. UIUC and NCSA (The birthplace of 1st graphical web browser Mosaic) are partners with IBM on this project. Once online (sometime this year) Blue Waters will be capable of handling 10 petaflops (10 quadrillion calculations every second) during its peak processing. I know these numbers are abstruse, but this is IBM and we all know what it is capable of.
Back to the results of Jeopardy, I guess last night though Watson emerged out as a champion but if you look from where I am looking humankind is the true winner. Not only we as human beings, have made computers smart enough we have given the machines their true identity. We have made computers more than a number crunching machine. In return machines have taught us, though we are their creators but we as human beings still had a lot to learn from them and a lot more to learn about them. Whenever I encounter something as interesting as human beings learning from machines (though not relevant in this blog), I recall one of my all time favorite movie quotes from Terminator 2: Judgment day - if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too..
Anyway, out an out it was a decent competition and both Brad & Ken put up a fantastic fight. Ken proved that though he lacks in the total earning when competing with Brad he does have the power to turn the game around and he does demonstrates that by becoming # 2 in the final standings. In the first two nights Ken was # 3 but last night he played really well and so does Brad.
Final Jeopardy standings:
Watson at # 1 with total earnings of 77,147 (grrrrr)
Ken at # 2 with total earnings of 24,000
Brad at # 3 with total earnings of 21,600
IBM has proved again that when it comes to the contest between man and machine their machines are more superior then any of us. Investors of IBM, should be happy and proud to be investing in a company which is capable of producing such resolute & invincible supercomputers. Jeopardy was one of the primary reasons for the existence of Watson. Post Jeopardy, IBM will be using Watson to make critical decisions in the field of science, medicine and finance. To know more details about the Watson project check out here.
So what is next in line for IBM? Couple of miles from my house, there is a huge facility where IBM is building its new Petascale supercomputer which goes by the name of Blue Waters. UIUC and NCSA (The birthplace of 1st graphical web browser Mosaic) are partners with IBM on this project. Once online (sometime this year) Blue Waters will be capable of handling 10 petaflops (10 quadrillion calculations every second) during its peak processing. I know these numbers are abstruse, but this is IBM and we all know what it is capable of.
Back to the results of Jeopardy, I guess last night though Watson emerged out as a champion but if you look from where I am looking humankind is the true winner. Not only we as human beings, have made computers smart enough we have given the machines their true identity. We have made computers more than a number crunching machine. In return machines have taught us, though we are their creators but we as human beings still had a lot to learn from them and a lot more to learn about them. Whenever I encounter something as interesting as human beings learning from machines (though not relevant in this blog), I recall one of my all time favorite movie quotes from Terminator 2: Judgment day - if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too..
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Jeopardy: IBM's Watson Vs Man (Day 2)
Watson hammered both Ken & Brad with the plethora of knowledge running within his silicon veins, the myriad of information it stored within its gigantic hardware. As of now Watson looks invincible. With such as ostentatious performance by Watson it seems only a miracle can help mankind beat the machine in the final round which is tonight.
The final standings of Day 2 is as follows:
Watson at # 1 with his total earnings at 35,734
Brad at # 2 with his total earnings at 10,400
Ken at # 3 with his total earnings at 4800
Watson is fallible, we have seen in the last question which seems not to be that difficult. Both Ken & Brad got it right but Watson failed. If Watson makes such mistakes (which he hardly does) humans got the chance of beating the machine, but looking at the odds it seems that Watson has already beaten its creators, us the mankind.
The final standings of Day 2 is as follows:
Watson at # 1 with his total earnings at 35,734
Brad at # 2 with his total earnings at 10,400
Ken at # 3 with his total earnings at 4800
Watson is fallible, we have seen in the last question which seems not to be that difficult. Both Ken & Brad got it right but Watson failed. If Watson makes such mistakes (which he hardly does) humans got the chance of beating the machine, but looking at the odds it seems that Watson has already beaten its creators, us the mankind.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Jeopardy: IBM's Watson Vs Man (Day 1)
I guess it is the nature of all species to support and promote their own kind. I am no different. That is the reason why (for the 1st time) I want technology to lose in this ultimate battle between Man & Machine. After humiliating human beings in 1997, when Deep Blue defeated chess master Gary Kasparov, IBM is back to business to prove that machines can beat human beings once again. This time the IBM challenger is more harder, better, faster & stronger than ever.
Last night in Jeopardy IBMs super computer Watson played against two of the most successful and brilliant contestants of this game – Ken Jennings & Brad Rutter. Both Ken & Brad are exceptionally good at playing Jeopardy. Ken earned a total of $3,022,700 only to be surpassed by Brad who made a total of $3,255,102 on the show. I would admit that in a long time I have not seen anything that exciting on the national television. This is a 3 night event which started yesterday i.e 14th Feb and on 16th Feb we will come to know how good is Watson in beating human beings at their own game.
The earnings for the first night is as follows:
Brad & Watson are having a tie with their earning at $5000
Ken is on $2000
Good Luck to all man kind for tonight and tomorrow night. May the best one wins.
Last night in Jeopardy IBMs super computer Watson played against two of the most successful and brilliant contestants of this game – Ken Jennings & Brad Rutter. Both Ken & Brad are exceptionally good at playing Jeopardy. Ken earned a total of $3,022,700 only to be surpassed by Brad who made a total of $3,255,102 on the show. I would admit that in a long time I have not seen anything that exciting on the national television. This is a 3 night event which started yesterday i.e 14th Feb and on 16th Feb we will come to know how good is Watson in beating human beings at their own game.
The earnings for the first night is as follows:
Brad & Watson are having a tie with their earning at $5000
Ken is on $2000
Good Luck to all man kind for tonight and tomorrow night. May the best one wins.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Where is my Wallet ?
Man to woman: Will you be my Valentine?
Woman back to man: Of course, if you open your wallet on time.
Another interesting scenario goes like this: In the morning rush hour when the pater familias (I am sorry when the father of the family, my apologies again when the husband) is about to leave for work - “Darling where is my Wallet? I leave that on the sofa last night and you that it is been missing since then.” You know what, the conversation I mentioned in the beginning of the blog and this question about the Wallet is about to get change soon and who knows for good.
NFC or Near Field Communication has making rounds in the tech media and everyone who knows NFC well is swearing that this technology has the capability to make our wallets disappear. Though not a new technology it is in the news and on the internet since early 2004. Technology innovators are waiting for the right time to make NFC widely available for the public and I guess with the dawn of the smart phone industry and the kind of traffic it is capable of handling this is the right moment to introduce NFC to the masses and take the technology mainstream. NFC is another wireless form of technology which responds to the RFID embedded in our credit cards. As the name (Near Field Communication) suggests this technology is capable of exchanging both data and money wirelessly from devices which is near its field by up to 4 inches. On a personal basis I have experienced the technology myself when the NFC device was introduced in the nearby convenience store. The credit card is having the RFID chip and there is a NFC device connected on top of the normal card reader. There is no need to swipe your card in the device, just tap it over the NFC device and the transaction can be completed. In the same week the soda machine in my office got NFC enabled.
Another scenario which can be more interesting is the marriage of NFC and the smart phones. Most of the smart phones these days are NFC enabled including the one which comes with Android. Nokia was among the very first one to introduce NFC standards in their phones. Apple is planning to introduce NFC in their next versions of iPad, iPhone. Though nothing has been confirmed yet, but that’s what the speculation is. Apple hired Benjamin Vigier an NFC veteran and guru last year and since then there has been deluge articles making rounds over the internet. If the iPhone is equipped with the NFC compatible technology then it will act as your credit card. The credit card information will somehow be stored in the phone and you just need to wave the phone near the NFC reader and your done. Pretty cool huh!!!
More and more smart phones apps are making financial transactions hassle free. Starbucks have introduced an app where you just need to put in your strackbucks card number in your iPhone and your iPhone will then act as your Starbucks card. Japan along with some European and Asian countries are pretty aggressive in the implementation of NFC enabled devices and phones and hopefully the technology will become ubiquitous here in the US and all over the world soon. I know many of us has seen or read about this already but it is worth mentioning here. The scenario goes like this soon we will be able to wave our iPhone in front of the RFID embedded movie poster and will get the choice of the theatres playing that movie nearby. Purchase the tickets at the same time using our phone and skip long ticket queues. Our smart phones are on the way to become our wallets, at least this is what the market and the tech gurus are betting on.
There is one more device which sounds interesting as far as wireless financial transactions are considered. The name of this device is Square. Jack Dorsey the founder of twitter is the master mind behind this amazing technology. Square is nothing but a square shape device which can be inserted into the audio jack of the smart phone and is readily available to handle the credit card transactions on the fly. Square will act as the credit card reader and has the capability of charging the credit card wirelessly. Just put the credit card near the Square device, sign on the smart phone and you are done with your purchase. Most of the small businesses and people on the go like baby sitters are now making use of Square very effectively. The technology is pretty new but it got the potential to be revolutionary. Many of the tech industry investors and pioneers are showing interests in the development and production of Square. Initial funding in the project (around $10 million dollars) came from Vinod Khosla the man who invested in Sun Microsystems in early days, Google’s Marissa Mayer and angel investor Ron Conway. Time magazine has included Square in the 50 best inventions of 2010. Square seems attractive as it does not demand monthly fee or require a sign up contract. Square charges vendor 2.75% plus 15 cents per transaction. So next time the downtown cotton candy street vendor told you “only cash no credit cards” just point him in the direction of Square.
Well it is all about the change. Sooner or later these technologies will become the part of our life. What we have to understand is as the technology is becoming smarter day by day so are the people who can take due advantage of this. The ever increasing graph of cyber theft and crime is not hidden from any of us and we also know that it cannot be suppressed that easily. Though technologies like NFC and Square are trying to make our wallet disappear they are also opening the portal for cyber criminals to come near our personal and uncompromisable life, our precious belongings and cherished memories. If tomorrow our phones become our wallet we just cannot have the excuse of losing them. Not in these times or ever.
Woman back to man: Of course, if you open your wallet on time.
Another interesting scenario goes like this: In the morning rush hour when the pater familias (I am sorry when the father of the family, my apologies again when the husband) is about to leave for work - “Darling where is my Wallet? I leave that on the sofa last night and you that it is been missing since then.” You know what, the conversation I mentioned in the beginning of the blog and this question about the Wallet is about to get change soon and who knows for good.
NFC or Near Field Communication has making rounds in the tech media and everyone who knows NFC well is swearing that this technology has the capability to make our wallets disappear. Though not a new technology it is in the news and on the internet since early 2004. Technology innovators are waiting for the right time to make NFC widely available for the public and I guess with the dawn of the smart phone industry and the kind of traffic it is capable of handling this is the right moment to introduce NFC to the masses and take the technology mainstream. NFC is another wireless form of technology which responds to the RFID embedded in our credit cards. As the name (Near Field Communication) suggests this technology is capable of exchanging both data and money wirelessly from devices which is near its field by up to 4 inches. On a personal basis I have experienced the technology myself when the NFC device was introduced in the nearby convenience store. The credit card is having the RFID chip and there is a NFC device connected on top of the normal card reader. There is no need to swipe your card in the device, just tap it over the NFC device and the transaction can be completed. In the same week the soda machine in my office got NFC enabled.
Another scenario which can be more interesting is the marriage of NFC and the smart phones. Most of the smart phones these days are NFC enabled including the one which comes with Android. Nokia was among the very first one to introduce NFC standards in their phones. Apple is planning to introduce NFC in their next versions of iPad, iPhone. Though nothing has been confirmed yet, but that’s what the speculation is. Apple hired Benjamin Vigier an NFC veteran and guru last year and since then there has been deluge articles making rounds over the internet. If the iPhone is equipped with the NFC compatible technology then it will act as your credit card. The credit card information will somehow be stored in the phone and you just need to wave the phone near the NFC reader and your done. Pretty cool huh!!!
More and more smart phones apps are making financial transactions hassle free. Starbucks have introduced an app where you just need to put in your strackbucks card number in your iPhone and your iPhone will then act as your Starbucks card. Japan along with some European and Asian countries are pretty aggressive in the implementation of NFC enabled devices and phones and hopefully the technology will become ubiquitous here in the US and all over the world soon. I know many of us has seen or read about this already but it is worth mentioning here. The scenario goes like this soon we will be able to wave our iPhone in front of the RFID embedded movie poster and will get the choice of the theatres playing that movie nearby. Purchase the tickets at the same time using our phone and skip long ticket queues. Our smart phones are on the way to become our wallets, at least this is what the market and the tech gurus are betting on.
There is one more device which sounds interesting as far as wireless financial transactions are considered. The name of this device is Square. Jack Dorsey the founder of twitter is the master mind behind this amazing technology. Square is nothing but a square shape device which can be inserted into the audio jack of the smart phone and is readily available to handle the credit card transactions on the fly. Square will act as the credit card reader and has the capability of charging the credit card wirelessly. Just put the credit card near the Square device, sign on the smart phone and you are done with your purchase. Most of the small businesses and people on the go like baby sitters are now making use of Square very effectively. The technology is pretty new but it got the potential to be revolutionary. Many of the tech industry investors and pioneers are showing interests in the development and production of Square. Initial funding in the project (around $10 million dollars) came from Vinod Khosla the man who invested in Sun Microsystems in early days, Google’s Marissa Mayer and angel investor Ron Conway. Time magazine has included Square in the 50 best inventions of 2010. Square seems attractive as it does not demand monthly fee or require a sign up contract. Square charges vendor 2.75% plus 15 cents per transaction. So next time the downtown cotton candy street vendor told you “only cash no credit cards” just point him in the direction of Square.
Well it is all about the change. Sooner or later these technologies will become the part of our life. What we have to understand is as the technology is becoming smarter day by day so are the people who can take due advantage of this. The ever increasing graph of cyber theft and crime is not hidden from any of us and we also know that it cannot be suppressed that easily. Though technologies like NFC and Square are trying to make our wallet disappear they are also opening the portal for cyber criminals to come near our personal and uncompromisable life, our precious belongings and cherished memories. If tomorrow our phones become our wallet we just cannot have the excuse of losing them. Not in these times or ever.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Hackerville
Is it possible to start a nuclear war by whistling some secret patterns in the pay phone? Whistling what? That is just stupid of someone to say things like that.
I have the same reaction when I first read that anything of that sort is humanly possible. Enter Kevin Mitnick, the very first of the breed of hackers who with his intractable ways of hacking had cost various companies and government organizations millions of dollars. Kevin practiced the art of hacking when it was not even illegal. In those times, once you hack some company there is no need to give the interview and the company you hacked hire you based on your hacking skills. Bill Gates got his first job assignment by hacking. Wow.
In October 2004, I was working in Research Triangle Park (RTP) the so called silicon valley of the East Coast. Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill (all in the state of North Carolina) are the 3 vertices of RTP. I was working on a 3 months assignment with this telecommunications company based in Raleigh when I first read about Kevin. At first I was amazed with the gift of hacking that Kevin has and on second thought I asked myself why he did not use these skills to his advantage to become a software czar or someone like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? I mean, it was 1970 the start of the computer and internet revolution and anybody with extraordinary skills in computers can gain the benefits from it.
In the late 1970s, Kevin grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. This was the peak of the computer revolution and anyone associated with it was getting proliferated. Kevin was no different when it comes to taking up bad habits. He does have a checkered past and his parents were divorced. In 1979, Kevin was 17 years old, still in high school when he first started hacking. Kevin started his hacking adventures by phone phreaking. Phone phreaking is nothing but cracking or tweaking the phone network to made long distance calls, anonymous calls and gather the information (like name, age, sex & telephone number) about the individuals registered with the particular telephone network. Kevin used to work as ham/radio operator during high school and got introduced to phone phreaking by one of his friend’s. The dad of this friend used to work as a ham operator. According to Kevin this friend of his can do amazing stuff with the telephone network and this attracted Kevin towards this unusual craft. During the late 1970s most of the telephone companies are making a switch from the traditional electro mechanical circuitry to electronic systems and this is where they need the front end computer hooked to the electronic system to monitor it. This is how Kevin transitioned from phone phreaking to actual computer hacking. To continue his nefarious practice of phreaking he now has to learn the art of computer hacking as computers became the primary interface to the telecom network. Kevin was able to interface his ham radio with the telephone system and dial into computers and access them through the touch-tone pad. Once into the system he can retrieve all the vital information from the computer.
The breaking of Bell’s COSMOS (Computer System for Mainframe Operations) in the year 1981 was one of the significant hacks carried out by Kevin. Back then COSMOS was the primary system for the telecom companies to store and maintain all the customer and individual company databases. This was first criminal offense recorded against Kevin and he was reprimanded and sentenced for 3 months. His next arrest came in 1983 when he was caught getting into the Pentagon over the ARPAnet. 6 months was his prison sentence this time. After that Kevin was caught 2 more times for various cyber heist and hackings. Kevin seems to violate each and every warning issued by the law officials but he keep ignoring them and as a result ended up being a fugitive.
Motorola, Sun Microsystems (now Oracle), California DMV, Pentagon and Novell were some of the notable victims of the hacking practices carried out by Kevin. Out of many hacking carried out by Kevin his hacking at Motorola is one that Kevin is proud of. He used his social engineering skills to gain the access in the secure Motorola facility as he want to know the source code for the MicroTAC Ultra Lite cell phone. According to Kevin he became fascinated with MicroTAC as it looks like the communication equipment used in the famous Star Trek series. He also admitted that his only intention to gain access to Motorola was his curiosity to learn the source code for the new cell phone and nothing more. It is something like tearing down the iphone apart to make it work on the T-mobile network instead of AT & T or Verizon. In February 1995, the elusive Kevin was finally pinned down by the authorities in Raleigh (North Carolina). It is just a mere coincidence that I read about Kevin when I was in Raleigh too. Tsutomu Shimomura along with computer journalist John Markoff helped FBI in tracking down Kevin. Shimomura was a computer security expert and his computer and emails were compromised by Kevin. Shimomura wrote a book Takedown based on the real life incidences of Kevin Mitnick and his dramatic arrest. Movie with the same name got made and released in 2004.
After his arrest the authorities want to make sure that Kevin was not going out easily. The law enforcement officials were able to convince the judge about the exceptional talent of Kevin Mitnick and his fascinating hacking skills. Kevin ended up serving 5 years in the federal prison out which 1 year was in solitary confinement as the prosecutor made a statement that Kevin is capable of hacking several defense organizations which in turn can trigger ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) leading to a nuclear war. The judge got impressed, not by the prosecutor statement but by the movie War Games (as it reflects that hacking can lead to a war) and agreed to put Kevin in solitary confinement. Kevin got released in the year 2000 and now running a computer security consultancy. His message for the young hackers, do not follow in his footsteps. There are millions of innocuous ways to learn and explore but that should not come on the cost of exposing vital information and jeopardizing critical infrastructure.
What is hacking? There no solid definition for this. There is always a war of words going on between pro/anti hacking communities. Some try to define it as ethical or unethical, some try to form groups like Red Hat or Black Hat hackers, some call it cracking or hacking. I guess hacking is breaking something in order to make it better. That brings me back to my original question - Is it possible to start a nuclear war by whistling some secret patterns in the pay phone? I guess Kevin Mitnick was not the one to answer this question, but who knows. I assume the answer for this question can be given by Joybubbles or popularly known as whistler. He was the very first phone phreaks. Joybubbles was born blind with a perfect pitch (something which is god gifted and cannot be created of developed). He discovered at an early age that he is capable of whistling any tone he wanted. He discovered his gift accidentally as he used to call unconnected numbers to listen to the error messages. During one such engagement he started whistling and the phone got disconnected, it happen again and again that while he whistles the phone got disconnected. At this point he called AT & T and came to know the phone switch responds to a frequency of 2600 MHz and his pitch matches the same. Truly amazing stuff. I wish Joybubbles could answer this question for me and for all the humanity, but he cannot as he died in 2007.
So does that mean the nuclear war triggered via pay phone got averted? For now I guess but ……
I have the same reaction when I first read that anything of that sort is humanly possible. Enter Kevin Mitnick, the very first of the breed of hackers who with his intractable ways of hacking had cost various companies and government organizations millions of dollars. Kevin practiced the art of hacking when it was not even illegal. In those times, once you hack some company there is no need to give the interview and the company you hacked hire you based on your hacking skills. Bill Gates got his first job assignment by hacking. Wow.
In October 2004, I was working in Research Triangle Park (RTP) the so called silicon valley of the East Coast. Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill (all in the state of North Carolina) are the 3 vertices of RTP. I was working on a 3 months assignment with this telecommunications company based in Raleigh when I first read about Kevin. At first I was amazed with the gift of hacking that Kevin has and on second thought I asked myself why he did not use these skills to his advantage to become a software czar or someone like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? I mean, it was 1970 the start of the computer and internet revolution and anybody with extraordinary skills in computers can gain the benefits from it.
In the late 1970s, Kevin grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. This was the peak of the computer revolution and anyone associated with it was getting proliferated. Kevin was no different when it comes to taking up bad habits. He does have a checkered past and his parents were divorced. In 1979, Kevin was 17 years old, still in high school when he first started hacking. Kevin started his hacking adventures by phone phreaking. Phone phreaking is nothing but cracking or tweaking the phone network to made long distance calls, anonymous calls and gather the information (like name, age, sex & telephone number) about the individuals registered with the particular telephone network. Kevin used to work as ham/radio operator during high school and got introduced to phone phreaking by one of his friend’s. The dad of this friend used to work as a ham operator. According to Kevin this friend of his can do amazing stuff with the telephone network and this attracted Kevin towards this unusual craft. During the late 1970s most of the telephone companies are making a switch from the traditional electro mechanical circuitry to electronic systems and this is where they need the front end computer hooked to the electronic system to monitor it. This is how Kevin transitioned from phone phreaking to actual computer hacking. To continue his nefarious practice of phreaking he now has to learn the art of computer hacking as computers became the primary interface to the telecom network. Kevin was able to interface his ham radio with the telephone system and dial into computers and access them through the touch-tone pad. Once into the system he can retrieve all the vital information from the computer.
The breaking of Bell’s COSMOS (Computer System for Mainframe Operations) in the year 1981 was one of the significant hacks carried out by Kevin. Back then COSMOS was the primary system for the telecom companies to store and maintain all the customer and individual company databases. This was first criminal offense recorded against Kevin and he was reprimanded and sentenced for 3 months. His next arrest came in 1983 when he was caught getting into the Pentagon over the ARPAnet. 6 months was his prison sentence this time. After that Kevin was caught 2 more times for various cyber heist and hackings. Kevin seems to violate each and every warning issued by the law officials but he keep ignoring them and as a result ended up being a fugitive.
Motorola, Sun Microsystems (now Oracle), California DMV, Pentagon and Novell were some of the notable victims of the hacking practices carried out by Kevin. Out of many hacking carried out by Kevin his hacking at Motorola is one that Kevin is proud of. He used his social engineering skills to gain the access in the secure Motorola facility as he want to know the source code for the MicroTAC Ultra Lite cell phone. According to Kevin he became fascinated with MicroTAC as it looks like the communication equipment used in the famous Star Trek series. He also admitted that his only intention to gain access to Motorola was his curiosity to learn the source code for the new cell phone and nothing more. It is something like tearing down the iphone apart to make it work on the T-mobile network instead of AT & T or Verizon. In February 1995, the elusive Kevin was finally pinned down by the authorities in Raleigh (North Carolina). It is just a mere coincidence that I read about Kevin when I was in Raleigh too. Tsutomu Shimomura along with computer journalist John Markoff helped FBI in tracking down Kevin. Shimomura was a computer security expert and his computer and emails were compromised by Kevin. Shimomura wrote a book Takedown based on the real life incidences of Kevin Mitnick and his dramatic arrest. Movie with the same name got made and released in 2004.
After his arrest the authorities want to make sure that Kevin was not going out easily. The law enforcement officials were able to convince the judge about the exceptional talent of Kevin Mitnick and his fascinating hacking skills. Kevin ended up serving 5 years in the federal prison out which 1 year was in solitary confinement as the prosecutor made a statement that Kevin is capable of hacking several defense organizations which in turn can trigger ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) leading to a nuclear war. The judge got impressed, not by the prosecutor statement but by the movie War Games (as it reflects that hacking can lead to a war) and agreed to put Kevin in solitary confinement. Kevin got released in the year 2000 and now running a computer security consultancy. His message for the young hackers, do not follow in his footsteps. There are millions of innocuous ways to learn and explore but that should not come on the cost of exposing vital information and jeopardizing critical infrastructure.
What is hacking? There no solid definition for this. There is always a war of words going on between pro/anti hacking communities. Some try to define it as ethical or unethical, some try to form groups like Red Hat or Black Hat hackers, some call it cracking or hacking. I guess hacking is breaking something in order to make it better. That brings me back to my original question - Is it possible to start a nuclear war by whistling some secret patterns in the pay phone? I guess Kevin Mitnick was not the one to answer this question, but who knows. I assume the answer for this question can be given by Joybubbles or popularly known as whistler. He was the very first phone phreaks. Joybubbles was born blind with a perfect pitch (something which is god gifted and cannot be created of developed). He discovered at an early age that he is capable of whistling any tone he wanted. He discovered his gift accidentally as he used to call unconnected numbers to listen to the error messages. During one such engagement he started whistling and the phone got disconnected, it happen again and again that while he whistles the phone got disconnected. At this point he called AT & T and came to know the phone switch responds to a frequency of 2600 MHz and his pitch matches the same. Truly amazing stuff. I wish Joybubbles could answer this question for me and for all the humanity, but he cannot as he died in 2007.
So does that mean the nuclear war triggered via pay phone got averted? For now I guess but ……
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Golden Eye
Golden Eye, the title of this blog has nothing to do with the famous James Bond movie with the same name. Though the movie is considered to be the first movie of Pierce Brosnan as 007, but apart from that there was nothing extraordinary about it. I guess, the eye of Sauron from the The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) is one of the most popular eye in the business, but was it golden? Who cares? The eye keeps on looking at the ring bearer all the time and nothing could hide from it. One of the most prominent things after the ring in LOTR, the eye of Sauron demonstrates the unfathomable power and unparallel force. Apparently there is one more eye, much more significant and grandiose, considering the events that took place in the recent times.
Dr. Michael Burry entered the medical school to become one of the best doctors and would like to dedicate his entire life serving the humanity. The more he tried to indulge himself in the field of medicine the more he gets attracted towards his passion for investing. They say if you need to excel in the world then you should look at it differently, you should be different from others, you should perceive and implement things which others are incapable of doing. In this story Michael is just what it is required to be excellent, he was different. Michael was diagnosed with one of the rare forms of childhood cancer and lost his left eye during the surgical procedure to remove the cancer. Now with one good eye and one glass eye he is seeing the world differently (figuratively speaking). This deformity has forced Michael to become introvert and socially isolated. He invested all his energy to this studies, got good grades and got admitted to UCLA for his undergraduate and then Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Nothing beats Michael when it comes to performing tasks which requires extraordinary concentration.
Though Michael was pursuing his education in medicine but investing was his first love. Michael made a name for himself during the dot com bubble. When everyone was losing their money Michael was the one who is reaping the benefits. There was this unusual thing with Michael where he was always ahead of the rest of the investors in finding the patterns. Michael started the blog where he explained all his trades in details and slowly and gradually people follow him and made money based on his recommendations. He was working 16 hours shifts at the hospital and blogging in the wee hours. The investing community was bamboozled by seeing his dedication to the field of investing.
The response that came on his investing blog was overwhelming and make Michael believe in himself and his unmatched skills for value investing. Soon Michael recognized that medicine was not the field to pursue and he announced that he is leaving medicine to become a full time value investor. The news was not welcomed in his medical community, but Michael did not turn back on his decision. With 40K in savings plus some money given to him by his family members he officially launched his first venture – Scion Capital. Soon big investors started to pour their money in Scion Capital and were sanguine in its future. The investments started multiplying. Scion was up 55% in the first year and every year the account beat the market. By 2004, Michael was managing around 600 million and shunning away new investors. In 2005 Michael’s fund was gargantuan and rose by 242%. Now who would have imagined that someone like Michael who is socially misfit, communicates without maintaining an eye contact (coz of one bad eye), extremely private in nature is capable of producing such massive gains. Michael’s investment strategy was different from the conventional money manger’s strategy. One thing that Michael confessed was that if you need to become a better investor you need to read a lot. That is what Michael did. He used to sit all by himself in his Cupertino office in California and used to read the financial statements, M&A documents, court rulings and anything that is related to the company’s financial aspect.
In the year 2004, Michael Burry was one of the very few to figure out the decline in the housing loan standards. He was pretty sure that as the lending standards are deteriorating there soon will be a housing bubble and both the lenders and the borrowers will get devastated by its aftermaths. Burry started buying insurances for such companies which he thought will go south when the bubble burst. In other terms these insurances are incomprehensible to common people and in financial jargon called credit default swaps (CDS). Though Burry was fallible in his decision to purchase these CDS on the subprime-mortgage bonds but something inside him was pretty sure of its failure. In 2005, Burry bought $60 million of CDS from Deutsche Bank. To his surprise the bank never cared what bonds he picked up to bet against. In 2007, the housing market crashed and Burry’s was the last one smiling. His predictions turned out to be correct and he ended up making ton of money. Burry made $100 million for himself and around $725 million for his investors. The gross gain of his fund – Scion Capital is around 726 percent. Totally amazing stuff.
If we look around we see thousands of smart people, people who go on the podium and make lengthy speeches. Speeches which are not written by them (thanks to the teleprompter) and common people like us clap and listen to them with our jaws touching the floor. People who graduated from IVY schools, people who got PhDs, Masters and are Nobel laureates. People who invented recondite terms, such as Credit Default Swaps, Derivatives, Collateralized Debt Obligations and many more. These people are so smart that they get paid to generate a problem and they are again paid to resolve the problem. Yet these people are so smart and none of them were able to see what their smartness have brought upon all of us. In the end the only question we should all ask these smart guys is a big WHY? Why they were so smart and yet so stupid by not able to see what Dr. Michael Burry can? If Burry with one good eye and one glass eye, with no financial background can figure out this mess I am pretty sure the experts with both good eyes and who are financially qualified must be able to see and avert this crisis.
They say there were 10-12 people (at most) who were able to predict about the crash of the housing market. From the pool of millions of bright people only 10-12, amazing, isn’t it? Dr. Michael Burry were among those elite group of 10-12 people who saw the storm coming. I am not sure what would be Michael Burry’s career path if he was not having his glass eye. May be he was socially more active, maybe he will not have that power of extreme concentration, maybe he will interact with other investors and might get his thinking polluted. Who knows he will be among those who end up losing millions instead of making them. All in all I guess Michael’s golden eye has sure to play a part in all this and the fortune he made for himself and his investors (at least that’s what I think). Golden eye to see and perceive things differently. People who read Michael’s story will say that his story is his blessing in disguise or in my words Million$$ in disguise.
Dr. Michael Burry entered the medical school to become one of the best doctors and would like to dedicate his entire life serving the humanity. The more he tried to indulge himself in the field of medicine the more he gets attracted towards his passion for investing. They say if you need to excel in the world then you should look at it differently, you should be different from others, you should perceive and implement things which others are incapable of doing. In this story Michael is just what it is required to be excellent, he was different. Michael was diagnosed with one of the rare forms of childhood cancer and lost his left eye during the surgical procedure to remove the cancer. Now with one good eye and one glass eye he is seeing the world differently (figuratively speaking). This deformity has forced Michael to become introvert and socially isolated. He invested all his energy to this studies, got good grades and got admitted to UCLA for his undergraduate and then Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Nothing beats Michael when it comes to performing tasks which requires extraordinary concentration.
Though Michael was pursuing his education in medicine but investing was his first love. Michael made a name for himself during the dot com bubble. When everyone was losing their money Michael was the one who is reaping the benefits. There was this unusual thing with Michael where he was always ahead of the rest of the investors in finding the patterns. Michael started the blog where he explained all his trades in details and slowly and gradually people follow him and made money based on his recommendations. He was working 16 hours shifts at the hospital and blogging in the wee hours. The investing community was bamboozled by seeing his dedication to the field of investing.
The response that came on his investing blog was overwhelming and make Michael believe in himself and his unmatched skills for value investing. Soon Michael recognized that medicine was not the field to pursue and he announced that he is leaving medicine to become a full time value investor. The news was not welcomed in his medical community, but Michael did not turn back on his decision. With 40K in savings plus some money given to him by his family members he officially launched his first venture – Scion Capital. Soon big investors started to pour their money in Scion Capital and were sanguine in its future. The investments started multiplying. Scion was up 55% in the first year and every year the account beat the market. By 2004, Michael was managing around 600 million and shunning away new investors. In 2005 Michael’s fund was gargantuan and rose by 242%. Now who would have imagined that someone like Michael who is socially misfit, communicates without maintaining an eye contact (coz of one bad eye), extremely private in nature is capable of producing such massive gains. Michael’s investment strategy was different from the conventional money manger’s strategy. One thing that Michael confessed was that if you need to become a better investor you need to read a lot. That is what Michael did. He used to sit all by himself in his Cupertino office in California and used to read the financial statements, M&A documents, court rulings and anything that is related to the company’s financial aspect.
In the year 2004, Michael Burry was one of the very few to figure out the decline in the housing loan standards. He was pretty sure that as the lending standards are deteriorating there soon will be a housing bubble and both the lenders and the borrowers will get devastated by its aftermaths. Burry started buying insurances for such companies which he thought will go south when the bubble burst. In other terms these insurances are incomprehensible to common people and in financial jargon called credit default swaps (CDS). Though Burry was fallible in his decision to purchase these CDS on the subprime-mortgage bonds but something inside him was pretty sure of its failure. In 2005, Burry bought $60 million of CDS from Deutsche Bank. To his surprise the bank never cared what bonds he picked up to bet against. In 2007, the housing market crashed and Burry’s was the last one smiling. His predictions turned out to be correct and he ended up making ton of money. Burry made $100 million for himself and around $725 million for his investors. The gross gain of his fund – Scion Capital is around 726 percent. Totally amazing stuff.
If we look around we see thousands of smart people, people who go on the podium and make lengthy speeches. Speeches which are not written by them (thanks to the teleprompter) and common people like us clap and listen to them with our jaws touching the floor. People who graduated from IVY schools, people who got PhDs, Masters and are Nobel laureates. People who invented recondite terms, such as Credit Default Swaps, Derivatives, Collateralized Debt Obligations and many more. These people are so smart that they get paid to generate a problem and they are again paid to resolve the problem. Yet these people are so smart and none of them were able to see what their smartness have brought upon all of us. In the end the only question we should all ask these smart guys is a big WHY? Why they were so smart and yet so stupid by not able to see what Dr. Michael Burry can? If Burry with one good eye and one glass eye, with no financial background can figure out this mess I am pretty sure the experts with both good eyes and who are financially qualified must be able to see and avert this crisis.
They say there were 10-12 people (at most) who were able to predict about the crash of the housing market. From the pool of millions of bright people only 10-12, amazing, isn’t it? Dr. Michael Burry were among those elite group of 10-12 people who saw the storm coming. I am not sure what would be Michael Burry’s career path if he was not having his glass eye. May be he was socially more active, maybe he will not have that power of extreme concentration, maybe he will interact with other investors and might get his thinking polluted. Who knows he will be among those who end up losing millions instead of making them. All in all I guess Michael’s golden eye has sure to play a part in all this and the fortune he made for himself and his investors (at least that’s what I think). Golden eye to see and perceive things differently. People who read Michael’s story will say that his story is his blessing in disguise or in my words Million$$ in disguise.
Monday, February 7, 2011
My favourite Super Bowl XLV Commercials
My favourite Super Bowl XLV Commercials:
#1 - EMINEM with a hard hit message to promote Detroit (Not Chrysler):
#2 - Motorola XOOM. The new tablet from Motorola trying to compete with iPad. Android 3.0 (codenamed "Honeycomb" - is the OS powering XOOM). Time only tell if Motorola will be able to beat Apple at their own game.
#3 - Transformer 3. The background music is cool and my 4 year old seems to like it a lot. Hope Michael Bay has more to offer in this series and this one should not be too loud and boring like Transformers 2.
#4 - Go Daddy. Looks can be deceiving. But this commercial is funny. BTW what are they selling ?
#5 - Cars.com. This is hilarious. Kudos to the marketing team.
#6 - Chevy Camaro. Watch BUMBLEBEE in action.
#7 - Super 8. JJ Abrams is back. I like Cloverfield a lot and it seems Super 8 will be equally interesting.
#8 - Doritos. Another reason for avoiding the Sauna.
#9 - Bridgestone. Think twice before pressing reply all.
#10 - Another one from bridgestone. Funny.
#1 - EMINEM with a hard hit message to promote Detroit (Not Chrysler):
#2 - Motorola XOOM. The new tablet from Motorola trying to compete with iPad. Android 3.0 (codenamed "Honeycomb" - is the OS powering XOOM). Time only tell if Motorola will be able to beat Apple at their own game.
#3 - Transformer 3. The background music is cool and my 4 year old seems to like it a lot. Hope Michael Bay has more to offer in this series and this one should not be too loud and boring like Transformers 2.
#4 - Go Daddy. Looks can be deceiving. But this commercial is funny. BTW what are they selling ?
#5 - Cars.com. This is hilarious. Kudos to the marketing team.
#6 - Chevy Camaro. Watch BUMBLEBEE in action.
#7 - Super 8. JJ Abrams is back. I like Cloverfield a lot and it seems Super 8 will be equally interesting.
#8 - Doritos. Another reason for avoiding the Sauna.
#9 - Bridgestone. Think twice before pressing reply all.
#10 - Another one from bridgestone. Funny.
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