Author: Prasad Ajinkya

Prasad Ajinkya is the Big Fat Geek and often he spends his time working on the WordPress or Google eco-system. He loves to solve business problems with technology.

D-Wars

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If you think IMDB is just a collection of people trying to manipulate people into watching movies they want them to watch, then think again.

Yesterday, I bought tickets for D-Wars (Dragon Wars) the movie released today. Just when my tickets were confirmed online, I checked out the IMDB rating .. 3.8 !! No worries, I reassured my friends into thinking that IMDB does not fit into the “Indian context“.

Today, I have seen the worst sfx movie ever. One question to the movie crew … Why?

Highly recommend give this movie a skip. You wont live to regret it.

PS – Check out the user comment on the imdb page of this movie. Its so apt, that I wish to copy paste it here!!

5 years hence

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When I was an engineer, the campus placements were on full swing … well, not so full … it was the Dot Com Bust of 2002, remember?

So a new firm had come to campus – IRIS. And I was intent on getting placed. The interview was going well and I seemed to have the technical part of the interview clinched (whew!). Now the hard part … the HR round. Some weird questions were thrown in, but I got them or dodged them safely … then the head HR (Jayaraman, as I would soon find out) asks me, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”

I had not thought of this question (I was green under the gills, cut me some slack here!!). The smart alec inside me wanted to blurt out … “On the other side of the table” … I did not. I gave some simple minded answer and that was that.

5 years hence, I am taking interviews … and I AM on the other side of the table.

Taxes as Perks

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The end of the fiscal year and I am waving goodbye to what the taxman has taken from me. Just another gloomy evening when I came across this link.

Is it not great how companies can twist pain to feel like pleasure? Everybody hates paying taxes, so do CEOs. And now a perk to their job is that the firm will bear the brunt of their taxes.

Suddenly, I feel that I want to be a CEO.

Nostalgia

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It has been 2 years (and 2 days) since I have left the campus on the molehill. All the spirals are lying safely packed in my room, the strategies and ideas have given way to the practicalities of real life. Nonetheless, when I was reading Sumedh’s post on CounterStrike … a stream of memories rushed forth. Those hours of insane midnight gaming, those supercharged competitive section matches, those mid-game strategy sessions and counter-attack theories.

Sat today and played CS with a friend and some bots. It was not that great, but the nostalgic feeling is being rekindled with a fuzzy warm feeling about how we used to play CS in 2004-2006.

Sigh! Heres to days gone by.

My life is a Beatles Soundtrack

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Hell no, I am not a Beatles fan. Or at least was not until I saw the movie Across the Universe. The entire movie is scripted in such a fashion that atleast one Beatles song would be applicable in that scenario. The movie talks about how an irishman comes to New York searching for a meaning to his life, falls in love with his best friends sister, only to loose her to the revolution. And then how love conquers all bringing the two people together. In the middle it meanders between the Flower Power of the sixties and the seventies, to protesting against the Vietnam war, to facing the horrors of the war, psychedelic music and love.

The movie is a refreshing concept with around 60% of it being songs of Beatles and the like. What I am trying to say that its not like a conventional movie … at one point of time I was thinking … ye kya ho raha hain. But it cleans out nice in the end and love conquers all. You know what?? That’s the third english romantic musical that I have seen in the last month. All of them being good hits on IMDB. This one is a 7.7. Definitely a sign that film goers have started warming up to musicals and romance. The good vs. evil formula seems to have gone out, and now its love wins all.

Would it not be cool to have the songs which go on in the background … I get by with a lil help from my friends … I love you yeah! yeah! yeah! … I am walrus! Koo-koo-kachu … what’s your song?

BMW

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When I was a programmer in IRIS, I always used to dream of starting my own technology firm. One of my very good friends always used to kid around that I would have to hire her as a CTO for my firm. The moment I would oblige her by saying, why not … she would come to the topic of remuneration (smart one, yes she is). So one day I gave in and say magnanimously … bol bachha, kya chahiye tumhe … pat would come the answer … a BMW.

The answer would more or less have me confounded. Why a BMW? Of all the things … BMW? Today I took a test drive in a BMW. Now I know why. Smart choice girl.

The managing director of the firm for which I work (eYantra) was in the process of evaluating a BMW … needless to say, most of the core team was invited for the evaluation. Why would I say no? And on the D-Day, the car came … a black shimmering sleek 320i BMW. A statement. A 35 lakh statement … look I am here … here, I am. The interiors were upholstered leather with wooden panelling. The entire car is packed with so many engineering marvels that its a small wonder its so small and sleek.

Whilst I was raving to my friend Phani, he asked me a simple question … would you put in 35L to buy a BMW??

Fortunately, I am not going to start a technology firm :-)

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Came across this after 10 years, after starting and stopping a technology firm!

Advertising is the new Content!

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Got to read this from here.

In the new web savvy world, catching the attention of users is getting more and more difficult for advertisers. Gone are the days when unsuspecting users would click on banners that would say Click here! in bold letters. Google came up with the concept of inconspicuous ads with Google Ads. Added to that the context sensitive Google Ads ensured that the customization factor was there.

Now, Google has gone one step further … widget based ads that actually draw the attention of the user to it. Not only drawing the users’ attention, but also ensuring a healthy level of interaction with the ad itself! Be sure to check out the Intel ad in the link I have provided. The way new features of the processor are highlighted are just too good. At one point of time I was just playing the game to see which feature comes up next. The ad was the content I was interested in.