Sia in Seattle — a new designer boutique run by my wife, Sakshi. It offers Indian designer wear for any occasion, from wedding lehengas, designer sarees, kurtis and churidar suits to salwar kameez and kids designer wear. She customize any designs base don demand.
Some of her collections:
Designer churidar kurtas – http://on.fb.me/Up7tUS
Gorgeous Sarees – http://on.fb.me/SzHxWV
Pink collection – http://on.fb.me/VGQcr9
I’ll be talking about some of our experiments in the Social Space at Amazon in this talk.
Time: September 26, 2012 at 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Location: The Matthan, Next to Manipal Hospital, Old Airport Road, Bengaluru
Other details: http://events.linkedin.com/techtalk-bangalore-by-amazoncom-1107982
to RSVP, please email: gunas@amazon.com in the following format,
Your Facebook Account has Three Passwords
Do you know that you can log into your Facebook account using three different passwords? Just change the case of your main password to get the new one!
This is interesting. You can log into your Facebook account using three passwords – one is the main password that you created and the other passwords can be constructed by toggling the case of characters that form your original password.
For example, if your Facebook password is operati@nGeronimo!, you can convert the uppercase characters to lowercase (and vice-versa) and the toggled password string – OPERATI@NgERONIMO! – will also get you into Facebook.
There’s another variation as well. If the first character of your Facebook password is in small case, just change that character to upper case – like Operati@nGeronimo! – and Facebook will gladly let you in.
You may try these variations with your own password on the Facebook login screen available at facebook.com/login.php.
Multiple Facebook Logins
You don’t just have multiple passwords on Facebook, you can log into Facebook using multiple usernames as well.
The default username is the email address that is associated to your Facebook account but you can also login using your Facebook username (that’s in the vanity URL of your Facebook profile page). Similarly, if you have associated your mobile number with Facebook (which you should for security reasons), you can use that mobile number as your username on the Facebook login screen.
A Stack Exchange thread pointed me to this ZDNet story that explains why Facebook allows users to login through multiple passwords. According to Facebook:
We accept three forms of the user’s password to help overcome the most common reasons that authentic logins are rejected. In addition to the original password, we also accept the password if a user inadvertently has caps lock enabled or their mobile device automatically capitalizes the first character of the password.
Thus, if you have accidentally enabled CAPS Lock on the keyboard, the toggled password would still work on Facebook.
Moneyball, The story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.
Here are 17 quotes from the movie and their interpretation to the startup world by Dharmesh Shah
1. He passes the eye candy test. He’s got the looks, he’s great at playing the part.
Spectacular startup success often becomes a game about scouting and recruiting. A common mistake entrepreneurs make is recruiting team members early on simply because they look the part. In the long run, it doesn’t matter if on paper, someone’s perfect. You want people that can actually do the job. That VP of Sales candidate that has 15 years of experience at Oracle? Likely not worth it for you. They’ll look the part, but they’re not guaranteed to be able to actually do the job. And, like Johnny Damon, they’re going to be expensive. Get good at seeing talent where others don’t.
For example, at HubSpot, most of the early team did not look good on paper at all. Most of us had little or no prior background doing what we were setting out to do.
2. You’re not solving the problem. You’re not even looking at the problem.
Identify a fundamental problem and then focus, focus, focus on solving that problem. Don’t get distracted by all the the things that are swirling around the actual problem. Don’t listen too closely to those that have deep industry expertise and are emotionally attached to the status quo — it’s possible that they’re part of the problem. Figure out what the actual issue is, and solve it.
For example, look at Dropbox. Drew set out to solve a really hard problem — getting data to synch across different devices. He had many people (including me) that were telling him that this particular idea had been pursued so many times before. He didn’t get distracted by all that noise. He dug in and fixed the problem. Today, Dropbox is valued at billions of dollars and has millions of happy users.
3. We’ve got to think differently.
Reminds me of Apple. Only, Steve Jobs wrote it as ”think different” (intentionally going with the grammatically incorrect version because it “sounded better”). Like the Oakland As, your startup too is working under constraints. Often, big constraints. Often, unfair constraints. If you’re trying to disrupt the status quo and beat competitors that are much bigger and better funded, you’re not going to do it by playing their game. You’ll need to think differently. Playing the old way when you’re at a disadvantage is a sure-fire way to lose.
This is one that I’m personally very passionate about. When we started HubSpot, everything we had learned about startups — and the convention wisdom was “do one thing, and do it very, very well.” Generally, that’s really, really good advice. Except when it’s not. Like in our case. The problem we saw was not that there weren’t great marketing apps out there — the problem was that none of it was integrated or worked well together. So, we thought different. We decided to do the crazy, crazy thing of doing it all. Why? Because that’s what we believed the problem was.
4. First job in baseball? It’s my first job anywhere.
Experience is often over-rated. Some of the most successful startup teams consisted of people that lacked relevant experience at the time they joined. But, what they lacked in experience, they more than made up for in sheer talent and hunger. In the early days, hire athletes. People with raw talent and a propensity to get things done. Don’t be resistent to recruiting people that are early in their careers. You’re looking for arbitrage opportunities. You’re looking for the future stars — because you likely can’t afford or convince the current stars.
5. Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins.
I’m going to illustrate this point with a quick paraphrasing with a conversation I had with an entrepreneur last year. It went roughly like this:
Me: What do you need?
Them: We need to build a management team.
Me: No, what do you actually need right now?
Them: Well, right now we need a VP Engineering.
Me. What for?
Them: Well, we need head up our product development effort.
Me. No, you actually need to write code and release a product. You need to respond to customer issues. You need to iterate quickly so you can learn quickly. You don’t need a VP of anything, you need a doer of stuff that needs to get done. Don’t think about buying titles — think about buying outcomes. Think about plugging gaping holes in the company. Signing up customers so fast that you can’t respond to all the support emails? Don’t hire a head of support, hire someone that helps you tackle the support issue. Someone that’s maniacally committed to customer happiness. They can become your head of support some day.
6. He really needs to accept this as life’s first occupation, a first career.
This statement was made to the young Billy Beane when he was trying to decide between the full scholarship to Stanford and a career in Major League Baseball. Billy’s mom asked if he could do both. The answer was, he couldn’t. And, that’s true in baseball, in startups and just about any hyper-competitive activity. You can’t straddle the fence, because you will get your ass kicked by someone who’s almost as good as you, but much more committed. You can’t take that investment banking joband do a startup. You can’t maintain two feet firmly planted on the ground and take the leap of faith. You have to pick. It’s not an easy choice, but you have to pick. And, if you’re in school, my personal (and unpopular in some startup circles) advice is stay in school . Make learning and building connections your “first occupation”.
But whatever you do, don’t sit on the fence. Commit to something. Don’t hedge. Give it all you have. Make it your life’s first occupation. If you can’t get excited about it — find something else. I’ve made lots of stupid mistakes in my professional career — the stupidest was trying to run two startups at the same time. That’s a story for another day. I’m going to close with a quote from my co-founder at the first startup: “If you sit on the fence too long, your genitals are going to hurt.”
7. Why do you like him? Because he gets on base.
The startup world is filled with superstars that get overlooked or don’t quite make it because they’re “quirky” or otherwise don’t fit preconceived patterns of what you think a person in a given role should look and feel like. None of that matters. When recruiting engineers, find brilliant people that write code that solves the problem simply, effectively and can be maintained without brain damage. When hiring sales people find those that have high emotional IQ and care about truly understanding customer problems — and selling them a solution. Figure out what success looks like for a given role, and ignore the irrelevant details. (Note: Culture fit is not an irrelevant detail. Things that are irrelevant are age, nationality, gender, etc. — things that have no bearing on the outcome).
10. Hey, anything worth doing is hard. And we’re gonna teach you.
Your ability to teach is one of the single biggest levers you have in a startup. Why? First, because it’s one of the biggest benefits you can deliver to your team members. They can get a higher salary somewhere else. They can get better perks somewhere else. But, at your startup, they can learn things. Second, it’s unlikely you’re going to find the “perfect” 5-tool player. Even if you found them, you likely couldn’t afford them. If you’re willing to help people with a specific super-power fill in gaps in their knowledge/experience, you create lots of value.
12. It’s day one of the first week. You can’t judge just yet.
Be a little bit patient. Often, your best people will take a little time to really shine. Don’t judge too early. Determine the context. If someone’s not cranking yet, is it because getting up to speed is hard? Everyone’s too busy to show them ropes? Their lack of early performance could be the context, so be patient
But, don’t be too patient. If someone isn’t at least moderately productive in the first month or two, it’s unlikely they’re going to be super-productive in the following year. The really great people tend to deliver some value almost immediately.
14. Where on the field is the dollar I’m paying for soda?
It is good to be budget-conscious in an early-stage company. Instills the right kind of discipline that will help long-term. But, don’t be a penny wise and a pound foolish. There are little things that don’t cost that much, that makes people happier. It’s not about the money (they can all afford the soda), it’s about the inconvenience and the principle. Remember, deep down inside, people are human. [smile]
One quick example from HubSpot: We launched a book program whereby any employee can request any book they think makes them a better HubSpotter. I personally handle all requests and send out a Kindle version of the book immediately. It’s not that expensive, but it’s been super-well received.
15. These are hard rules to explain to people. Why is that a problem, Pete?
One of the best segments in the movie. Pete is troubled at how different what they’re doing is, and why it’s hard to get others to understand and accept it. But, the point was, when you’retransforming something and making massive change, not everyone is going to understand. The important thing is to be right – and then make the change happen. The best way to convince people that your theory was right is to be right and show them (not tell them) you’re right. Most people will never be convinced otherwise.
16. I’m not paying you for the player you used to be, I’m paying you for the player you are right now.
Hard-hitting advice. I’d extend this to say: Recruit on potential but reward on performance. Customers are not going to be delighted by the code a brilliant engineer could have written. On a related note is the quote “If he’s a good hitter, why doesn’t he hit good?” Or, “If she’s such a good sales person, why can’t she sell?”
17. We’re going to change the game.
And really, that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about exiting for millions of dollars or going public. It’s about changing the game. It’s about seeing something that’s not quite right in the world, and deciding you want to fix it. For me, personally, it was observing that marketing is broken. Most people hatemarketing. we want to transform marketing into something people love. It’s hugely ambitious, but I have this feeling, deep-down inside, that we’re right.
via Startup Lessons From 17 Hard-Hitting Quotes In “Moneyball”.
What is the first image that comes to your mind when you think of a QR Code? A confusing maze of black rectangular patterns arranged on a white background?
True, most QR Codes are available in black and white but they don’t have to be that way.
There’s an excellent online QR generator at qrhacker.com that lets you create colorful QR codes and what makes this tool different is that it provides you can option to embed photographs and logo images to your QR codes. You can even edit the colors of individual pixels that form the code.
To give you an example, here’s a QR code made using a picture of Zuckerberg and if you scan the code with an app on your phone, say Google Goggles, it should take you to Facebook.
Every QR code has a unique URL for easy sharing or you can download the image locally in PNG or PDF. Here are more examples.
QR Code made with a colored picture of Zuckerberg.
Microsoft posted a video on Youtube today — GMail man — the man that reads your email.
Funny thing, its posted on Youtube, which is owned by Google 
Fonetwish lets you access Facebook on your Mobile Phone Without Internet or a Data Plan in India for Rs 1 per day, unlimited
Do you have an old mobile phone, like the Nokia 1100, that has no browser and can do little more than make phone calls? Or are you stuck in some remote place where there’s no Internet or no other form of data (EGDE/GPRS/3G) connectivity is available?
Not a problem. You can still use your Facebook account in India by dialing *325# (or *fbk#) from your mobile phone – this service requires no data plan or Internet and it will even work on phones of the Stone Age. Here’s a quick tour:
Use Facebook without the Data Plan
Facebook India has partnered with Fonetwish to bring Facebook on every mobile phone without requiring any apps or even the Internet.
You dial the *325# number, then enter your Facebook username and password and you are in. You can then send number based commands to access various features of Facebook, chat with friends who are online, add new people to your friends list, and more.
I played with the service for some time and it was a nice experience overall. If there were a Unix-like shell interface for Facebook, it would be much similar. Fonetwish says that this service is currently available for Airtel, Aircel, Idea and Tata Docomo users in India.
It may be too much work to read your Facebook news feed stories one by one but this is a good option to quickly update your Facebook status or for chatting with friends who are online. The price is reasonable too – you just have pay a subscription fee of 1.00 per day for unlimited usage.
via Use Facebook on your Mobile Without Internet or a Data Plan.
Google Launches an AdSense Toolbar for Chrome
Google today released a new extension for Google Chrome that will help you quickly access your AdSense earning reports without leaving the page you are currently reading.
Google AdSense Publisher Toolbar for Chrome
The extension, known as the AdSense Publisher Toolbar, offers a summary of your AdSense earnings for the current day, the previous day, the current month and the previous month. In addition to daily earnings data, it also show revenue data for top channels that you have created in your AdSense account.
There’s an interesting “lifetime revenue” section in the report that shows your total AdSense earnings from the day your account was approved for AdSense.
Once you install the extension, it connects to your Google AdSense account using OAuth and then uses AdSense APIs to fetch your earnings data. You need to authorize only once and thus, if you enjoy checking your AdSense report every hour, this extension could save you plenty of time.
I have multiple Google Accounts (for security reasons) and my AdSense account uses an email address that is different from my primary Gmail address. Earlier, I had to log out of Gmail to check my AdSense reports but with the AdSense Publisher Toolbar now available, I can get my basic earnings data without having to switch accounts.
On a different note, I have no idea why the Google team is calling this extensions the AdSense Publisher Toolbar when it only adds a button near your Chrome address bar and there are no toolbars anywhere. You click the AdSense button and your earnings report are almost instantly display in an overlay.
And if you activate the AdSense extension while you are on your website (that is running AdSense ads), you can turn on the “site overlay” mode and it will display a quick summary of each ad unit’s earnings that are available on that page. Channel names are confusing, especially when you have tons of them, so this visual mode will come very handy.
via The Official Google AdSense Toolbar for Chrome is Available.
“At the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics Aerospace Sciences Meeting in Nashville, NASA engineers unveiled the newly open sourced OpenVSP, software that allows users to construct full aircraft models from simple parameters such as wing span and fuselage length, under the NASA Open Source Agreement. Says the website, ‘OpenVSP allows the user to create a 3D model of an aircraft defined by common engineering parameters. This model can be processed into formats suitable for engineering analysis.’”
via NASA Open Sources Aircraft Design Software – Slashdot.
OpenVSP
OpenVSP is a parametric aircraft geometry tool. OpenVSP allows the user to create a 3D model of an aircraft defined by common engineering parameters. This model can be processed into formats suitable for engineering analysis.
The predecessors to OpenVSP have been developed by J.R. Gloudemans and others for NASA since the early 1990′s. On January 10 2012, OpenVSP was released as an open source project under the NASA Open Source Agreement (NOSA) version 1.3.
We are still in the process of setting up all of the things which allow an open source project to work. In the meantime, get OpenVSP for yourself from the links below.
Facebook has cut a deal with political website Politico that allows the independent site machine-access to Facebook users’ messages, both public and private, when a Republican Presidential candidate is mentioned by name. The data is being collected and analyzed for sentiment by Facebook’s data team, then delivered to Politico to serve as the basis of data-driven political analysis and journalism.
The move is being widely condemned in the press as a violation of privacy but if Facebook would do this right, it could be a huge win for everyone. Facebook could be the biggest, most dynamic census of human opinion and interaction in history. Unfortunately, failure to talk prominently about privacy protections, failure to make this opt-in (or even opt out!) and the inclusion of private messages are all things that put at risk any remaining shreds of trust in Facebook that could have served as the foundation of a new era of social self-awareness.
Jeetu Mirchandani
