What follows is the lessons I have picked up along the way while working for multinational corporations during the last 10 years. Most of these are a complete opposite of what we are taught during our formative years, but believe me each one of them fits 100%. If I weren’t the “dead brain” I’ve become lately, I’d write down the reason for believing the way I do.
Continue reading “Corporate Lessons: Anything but Fun”
Plagiarism: Up Close and Personal
While in college, I used to dream of writing for the largest selling technology publication in India of that time. Therefore, when I got an offer from them, I was overjoyed at getting this honor. From the moment I got off at Mumbai’s Borivali station, I was eager to get started, determined to make a mark for myself, and show to colleagues what this 22-year old was capable of! I was sure of finishing my assignments well within the deadlines. However, during the first few days at CHIP, something happened; something that could have ended my dream of a career in technical writing, and something that I rate as the most embarrassing moment of my life.
Nokia E71: The iPhone Killer
To be honest, I had every mood to buy the Apple iPhone 3G when it launched in India, but the price of Rs.31,000 for the 8GB and Rs.36,000 for the 16GB version was a definite put off. Especially when you compare it to the price of Rs.8,500 ($199) if purchased in the US. But I needed more reasons to heal my now bruised ambition of not being able to buy an iPhone. Googled it and came up with aplenty ; on an iPhone, transferring contacts from the phone to the SIM card and selecting multiple contacts isn’t possible, neither is can one forward or copy-paste text are also non-existent in the iPhone.
No longer was I nursing a bruised ambition. On the contrary, I was rather proud of myself for not having spent hard earned money on the iPhone.
Continue reading “Nokia E71: The iPhone Killer”
CNN-IBN Gets It Wrong
Do you have any clue why an American citizen Keith Heywod would use “alarbi_gujarat@yahoo.com” as his e-mail address? Neither do I! But our friends at CNN-IBN led by Rajdeep Sardesai seem to agree that alarbi_gujarat@yahoo.com is indeed Heywod’s e-mail address which was hacked into and used to send e-mails giving advance warning of the Ahmedabad serial blasts.
Only if CNN-IBN had bothered to check the facts before blurting out this ugly concoction, they would have known that in fact, it was Heywod’s IP address that was spoofed and not his e-mail address. Watch the video from IBNLive.com and see for yourself:
Update Aug 26, 2008: The video has either been removed from the website, or the permalink has been changed. Guess you’ll have to trust me on this one!
Though the ultimate premise of this story was to warn viewers to safeguard themselves while on the Internet, the reasons for doing so was totally incorrect. This story makes us believe that the terrorists hacked Heywod’s e-mail address and sent e-mails illegally. In reality, the American presently staying in Navi Mumbai told the police that either his computer was hacked into or someone used his wireless connection to illegally send an e-mail via his network. The IP address is what helped the police raid the American’s house within hours of the serial blasts.
Yes, an e-mail address can be hacked, people have their identities stolen all the time, but in this case this isn’t what really happened. Here’s hoping that CNN-IBN will check and recheck their facts before airing such news reports.
Happy Father’s Day Papa
Silly me! Yes that’s what I’m telling myself right now! This past week I kept reminding myself that today (Sunday, June 15th 2008) is Father’s Day, and that I must wish Papa first thing this morning. But come Sunday and I seemed to have lost any recollection of the occasion. Its only now when I called Papa that he only reminded me that today’s Father’s Day.
No excuses to give so time to end the post! Good news is that Papa’s coming to Hyderabad on June 24th so I’ll get plenty of opportunities to make amends.
Silly me!