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Re: http://g9sanov8d6ul01n3v2pf9r3ucdj564n1-a-sites-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/ifr?v=fffbf927a01c1573ec0acdcadfbfe574&container=enterprise&view=default&lang=en&url=https://sites.google.co...

abcxyz1234 — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 05:44:13 -0000

Here is one comment from the comment admin.

Let's see how long does this comment last here!

Re: India: The World's Secret Silicon Valley - Atlantic Mobile

abcxyz1234 — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:35:08 -0000

Unfortunately, a lot of people do not understand the meaning of true innovation.

Contrary to popular belief, innovation actually is not a domain (only) of engineers. In fact, it is driven by customers (the people who want new ways of doing things), followed by investors (who put money at something that could potentially fail), legal system (who assures the investor that the innovation continues to belong to him) and then finally the engineer/scientist who creates it. Innovation is also supported by the general open and progressive and supporting environment.

Almost everything of the above is missing in India, except for engineers on hire.

Re: India Seeks Access to the Broadband Highway - Businessweek

abcxyz1234 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:01:09 -0000

Notice that there is very little 'pull' for internet or broadband in India. Why is it that it is the government that has to take up the challenge of increasing broadband penetration, and why is the market not asking for it?

I think a major reason is lack of support for Hindi and other regional languages on computers. A huge majority of websites, computers, software and content exits only in English. The elite propose teaching English to some 90% of population but would not deliver the services in Hindi.

It would be unbelievable for people outside India that almost all computers sold in India have only English keyboards. An Indian language keyboard is meant only for special users (like those working in Hindi newspapers, for example). Almost none of the computer users even know how to type in Indian languages.

An average Indian citizen stands completely foxed in front of a computer. He just doesn't know what to do with it. One major reason is that he simply can't understand what's written on the screen.

Re: India: The World's Secret Silicon Valley - Atlantic Mobile

abcxyz1234 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:58:29 -0000

Kinshuk, you are shockingly and remarkably accurate!

As another resident of India, I can second your observations.

Re: Nokia scientist predicts telepathy phone

abcxyz1234 — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 01:14:21 -0000

Dear Dr Leo Kärkkäinen, and Nokia,

I came up with the concept of 'thought communication' (or telepathy phone) and described it over three years ago. Please see http://ankurexpert.blogspot... and let me know what you think. The page above has my email id.

Best regards, Ankur

Re: What I Don't Want in the iPad 3

abcxyz1234 — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:07:28 -0000

What do you have against 3D? We have to stop seeing 3D as some sort of unnecessary novelty and see it more like a natural evolution of displays. 3D will be as common as color displays. There is no debate today if we should have continued with monochrome or should have 'needless' color. If 3D is done well in hardware and software -- and I think if anyone can do it well it would be Apple -- iPad would make for a great product.

Aside from gaming, 3D will be a great boost to education and shopping. We could even have 3D data charts for finance, science and maths! And then you of course have photography, sports and movies that stand to benefit from 3D. Even the day to day UI will get a new look. The UI windows will be truly stacked over each other. The buttons today get a 3D feel by way of shading but then with 3D displays they will look more realistic.

Re: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Delhi-to-witness-disaster-management-mockdrill/Article1-811625.aspx

abcxyz1234 — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:45:04 -0000

Very good and well done.

Re: Hang me if I'm guilty: Modi on Gujarat riots - Hindustan Times

abcxyz1234 — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 05:38:18 -0000

"Hang me if I am guilty: Narendra Modi"

Isn't it kind of stating the obvious?

Re: India’s $82 Million Mission to Mars Orbit Planned for 2013

abcxyz1234 — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 01:49:42 -0000

It is not such a bad idea if you understand the country a little more. Indian population can be divided into three distinct groups: the bulk of 85% (hungry, naked sorts), 14% (middle class) and 1% (super rich, including the corrupt). My numbers could be a little off but that's the broad picture.

The bulk is hungry and naked not because India doesn't have money, it is because the politicians and government officers are thoroughly corrupt. They just don't work. If they are given another $82 million, nothing will happen and that money will end up in the corrupt's pockets. The middle class sees itself as part of global community and identifies itself more with people across the world than with those living in slums. Sending a machine to Mars is certainly a worthy achievement for them and spending $82 million on it is a far more productive use. The middle class in India wants to contribute to global pool of knowledge about space as much as the middle class in US.

The upper 1% are anyway least bothered about all this and they are as brain dead as the bottom 1% :-)

Re: Baba Ramdev should do yoga not lead anti-corruption campaigns

abcxyz1234 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 08:58:55 -0000

Why do we have to ban 500 or 1000 rupee note? Instead, why don't we just change the designs of these notes and make the old design notes illegal? The corrupt will either have to throw away their cash or will be forced to come to the bank to get their notes changed where they will be questioned about the source of cash.

Re: If Olympics gave medal for corruption, India can win gold: Ramdev

abcxyz1234 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:06:54 -0000

I have doubts with regard to every anti-corruption fighter. The corrupt lobby is so strong that it would be really ambitious to think that anything can be achieved. The real question is, should we sit quiet and accept it or stand up against it.

Re: ‘Small rape’: Let’s cut Kiran Bedi some slack, please!

abcxyz1234 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 02:32:36 -0000

Good article. But now the media should really answer her question -- why is it that you guys have not yet investigated and covered the corruption charges against those 15 ministers?

Re: Thud! Mamata falls off Katju’s pedestal

abcxyz1234 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 02:45:32 -0000

I don't understand why this article on Katju's comments about Mamta's incident. There are thousands who have commented about Mamta, why did you have to pick on Katju? Instead, why don't you cover Mamta's incident?

Re: Canada’s startup visa program in ‘hyperdrive’ but U.S. is ‘dysfunctional’ (interview)

abcxyz1234 — Sun, 19 May 2013 07:54:47 -0000

Thanks Venturebeat for covering this. Could you please also cover a sample of Canadian VC funds who are open to fund companies under this program?

Re: Shashi Kant Sharma is new CAG

abcxyz1234 — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:55:05 -0000

From the comments of other government officers (which tend to appreciate the conservative approach of Sharma) it seems that they all prefer people who don't rock the boat. Everyone in government is looking for meek leaders who keep their mouths shut while the politicians loot the nation.

Re: Chinese institute develops 100-megapixel camera

abcxyz1234 — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 02:25:23 -0000

Mindset and all the brave talk are all fine, but look at the contrast between us and the rest of the world. While our attention is getting consumed by things like rapes, corruption, naxalism, casteism, socialism, exploitation, etc., rest of the world is making great progress in technology setting the direction for the future generations. Here we don't even know, even after 65 years, how to govern ourselves.

Re: Chinese institute develops 100-megapixel camera

abcxyz1234 — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 02:12:16 -0000

No need to show your anger. What makes sense to me may not make sense to you, and that's OK.

I am not saying that the other countries have no problems or India has zero achievements. But look at the picture on the whole. We are still struggling with the most basic issues. For example, our government is more worried about how to protect the the right of a convicted criminal to continue in the parliament as an MP. We might have a false sense of achievement as we are using cell phones and driving more modern cars or using internet (all these things are imported and none from India), but what improvements do you see in broken roads, electricity shortages, water shortages, poverty, corruption, policing, railways, disaster management, diseases, nutrition, discrimination/casteism/communialism, and such areas over the last 20 years? How did we spend that time?

In that time China turn around completely. US/Europe were already at the leading heights. Today the difference between the lives of an average citizen in US and an average citizen in India is only marginally better than the difference between the life of an average Indian and life of a caveman in stone age.

Re: Potholes as death traps: Why should the civic body go scot-free?

abcxyz1234 — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 13:14:22 -0000

I imagine for every road segment in a particular area there must be a specific officer incharge and responsible for its maintenance. These officers must be in the municipalities. Who are those officers in the municipalities? Their names and contact information should be publicly available.

For cases of accidents not only they should be held legally responsible, they should be personally ashamed publicly on social networks by everyone.

Re: Congress workers, angry over bill, force Mumbai restaurant shut

abcxyz1234 — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 09:39:33 -0000

What was that line? Livemint is afraid of publishing the line lest Congress should shut them down! :-)

Re: Intellectual gluttony: Starve food security, chew on gold

abcxyz1234 — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 08:24:56 -0000

What a mind boggling article!

There are lots of holes in Mr. Chikermane's logic.

First, the subsidies going towards the rich are redundant because it is they themselves who are funding it in the first place. Ideally there should be no subsidies for the rich and even if you can remove the subsidies for the rich, it will be the rich only who will benefit as their taxes will (or at least, should) reduce. The root cause of subsidy culture is not someone's welfare -- there are 100 better ways to ensure welfare for the poor -- it is for the neta babus to get opportunities to pilfer. The tax payers are all for foregoing the subsidies if they get to pay lower taxes.

Second, you have enumerated several subsidies in the form of foregone tax revenue. Have you read the story of 10 friends going to bar where four were very poor and one was very rich. The beer was free for the poorest and the richest bore 59% of the cost. Now, the bar offers a discount of 20%. How does that discount get divided among all 10? If the richest gets the maximum share of discount, would you call it injustice to the poor as the rich is getting the maximum subsidy? Google 'ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100'

Third, you are talking about using diesel for generating power for malls and telecom towers. If the government had done its job in the last 65 years, wouldn't we have sufficient power generation capacity? It is because of misgovernance that we continue to have power shortages even now.

Fourth, any talk of subsidies in petroleum (diesel) must first take into account inordinate taxation. If a rich man uses so called subsidised diesel for his SUV, isn't he paying double/triple in taxes on petrol and aviation fuel? And what about the taxes on the SUV itself?

Fifth, how does it make sense for a fraction of population who pays taxes to bear the burden of 67% of the population? I can understand the case for subsidies for the bottom 10% or may be even 20%, but 67%??? Please don't prove Benjamin Franklin correct when he said democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to eat for dinner.

Finally, I am reminded of an article by Chetan Bhagat in TOI. If you think subsidies are good, why limit them to only 67%, let them go to 100% population. And while we are at it, why don't we include cooking oil, fruits, spices, all vegetables, milk, meat, etc. too in it? And Rajiv Gandhi himself is on record that only 17% of government subsidies actually reaches the poor. The rest is all stolen by the system. In this kind of situation there is totally no case for subsidies.

Amrtya Sen is at best, a theorist. The theories work when the rest of the environment is ideal. Here the governance -- the environment and the infrastructure -- is so badly broken that if we could correct it, most poor people will become rich on their own efforts and will not need any subsidy. Economists' theories are not applicable in the environment of thievery. 80% of India's problem will be solved if we could do something about corruption. For now, the only hope is getting in people like Arvind Kejriwal in place. Not this subsidy.

Re: Intellectual gluttony: Starve food security, chew on gold

abcxyz1234 — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 08:28:52 -0000

It should be flatly illegal to attempt to win elections on the back of taxpayer funded huge subsidy schemes. This is bribery at a completely new level at someone else's cost who has no say in it!

Re: How Job Candidates Lie, and the Best Lies They Always Seem to Tell

abcxyz1234 — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 15:51:59 -0000

“When you said Java, I thought you meant experience making coffee.” I doubt if this is a real experience, it sounds like it is made up or someone in recruitment goofed up big time. No individual, having anything to do with software (even if he has no knowledge of Java language), will mix up between Java being a coffee or a programming language.

Re: Union of states? Telangana is just one of many demands

abcxyz1234 — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 03:26:14 -0000

The key reasons for all these demands for the new states are not about the local sentiments but a few local leaders wanting to gain state power. These local organisations and their leaders just want to divide the country into small personal fiefdoms as there is not enough space for more politicians in existing government machinery.

The day, if it ever comes, corruption gets eliminated from all levels of government, all of these demands will vanish in thin air as there will be no incentive in ruling.

Re: Why Cong might sacrifice Durga Shakti Nagpal for ally SP

abcxyz1234 — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 00:28:44 -0000

Is there any such thing today called Congress supporter? I haven't heard of anything like that for a long time! But I know there are crowds hanging around their netas, and those are nothing but the accomplices.

Re: Why Cong might sacrifice Durga Shakti Nagpal for ally SP

abcxyz1234 — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 03:09:03 -0000

Right, but those are paid pappus posting comments in Congress's favour. Congress has carved out a big budget for manipulating social media. They are going to spend crores on fake commenters.