Thought Garage

Having spent almost 4 years in Bangalore during the peak, I have seen it growing from Green to an outrageously polluted city. A 15 minutes enjoyable commute in 1999 grew to an alarming and smoking 1 hour 35 minutes by 2003 (at the time I finally left Bangalore).  Real estate prices outpaced the salary hikes of Software engineers by a multiple of 100s. Imagine the life of non-IT middle class natives of Bangalore. Good in some aspect, the worst in some aspects, Bangalore has never paused growing. Here are some pics I received in an email that shows some of the picturesque spots of Bangalore. Atleast for a moment, we can forget about all worries and just enjoy being there. (Click on pictures to view larger versions) At the outset of Diwali Celebrations Architectural Marvels : Iflex   Infosys Campus TwinTowers Trinity Tower UBCity  Stadium My favorite hangout, Brigade Road Bird's eye view   MGRoad State Assembly   ...

A short Video with pictures from weekend visit to Dallas Arboretum for wonderful Dallas Blooms. If you haven't visited yet, hurry up. I thought I should have visited a week earlier. Original Pictures here:  Dallas Blooms Photo Album . DallasBloo ms Technorati tags: dallas , dallasblooms , dallas arboretum , inspions

Time's Cover Story for Holidays and almost the Retrospective Climax for year 2006 is all about YOU. It named 'YOU' as the Person of the Year 2006. The YOU behind the explosion of Web2.0. That means, I am the Person of the Year 2006. (:-)) Time for celebrations !!! All the Video I shared, all those videos I watched, all those posts I blogged, all those comments I have ever written, all those social profiles I have created, all those people I met online, all those pictures I shared, all those bookmarks I shared, all those blogs I read, ................................. deserves a big pat on the back and the Award as 'Person of the Year'. Thank you Time for the Award! America loves its solitary geniuses—its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses—but those lonely dreamers may have to learn to play with others. Car companies are running open design contests. Reuters is carrying blog postings alongside its regular news feed. Microsoft is working overtime to fend off us...

Frontier Visionary and Leadership Interviews for hardware, software, system related business and academia : Past, Present and Future. For some of the interviews, MP3s are also available.   Source: Frontier Podcast - Frontier Visionary and Leadership Interview for hardware, software, system related business and and academia

I asked "Would you like to carry an iPod, a Sony recorder, a Palm PDA, a cell phone, a digital camera, a gaming console, a GPS navigator, a jump drive, a laptop, …………….. OR a cool smart Cellular phone?" at my blog, " The Cellular Life Style ". I stongly believe that Smartphone will rule the markets and also posted my thoughts why it is so inexpensive to buy a multi tasking phone than buying individual gadgets that can do one thing better ( Busting The myth of Smartphone Market ). NewYorkTimes reports about some surprsing skills that new cellphones are equpped with this Christmas, indicating the trend towards Multitasking phones instead of plain old cell phones, that can just do one thing better. You don't need to own a smartphone or a blackberry to do multiple tasks. Almost all new phones are like smartphones that can do whatever you need.    [Source: Link to Surprising Skills - New York Times ] The illustration is what caugh...

The Mercury News is running a notable series about the return to India by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as venture capitalists. It gives you a taste of the “India rising” excitement, but also of the country’s daunting cultural, social and infrastructure challenges. >> Link to Audio Presentation : " INDIA 2.0 : The Elephant Starts to Dance "     It features Vani Kola, who returned this summer to begin investing a new fund into Indian start-ups, NEA IndoUS Ventures (size targeted initially at $105 million), which we mentioned earlier here . It also features Rahul Khanna, pictured below, director of Clearstone Venture Advisors, who returned last year to invest a $205 million India fund, and Bob Kondamoori, pictured bottom, who is reportedly launching a $100 million India fund, Sandalwood Partners. The key stat: VCs have invested $355 million during the first nine months of 2006, nearly twice as much as the two previous years combined. Source: Venture Beat ...

How frequently do you use Camera on your cell phone? Except on planned trips and vacations, I use my cellphone to take pictures. Here is a stat on how frequently a picture is taken using mobile phone.   Taking Pictures With Your Camera Phone Source: MMA Global - Taking Pictures With Your Camera Phone

Zyka Restaurent in Atlanta GA. I have never seen such a crowd in any of the Indian/IndoPak restaurents so far. It just reminded me my days at Bangalore and made me instantly homesick. I visited Zyka in Richardson, but it was quite different. The differences are quite striking with the Zyka in Richardson,TX. First and foremost is the crowd. In Atlanta You have to wait atleast for 15 minutes at any point of time to get a seat. Many people easily give up their search for seat and eat standing or take home. In Richardson, there is no such problem. I never waited for more than a minute to place order. Seating is always avaialble. It is slightly bigger, looks like. But there is far lesser crowd here. You see people come of the shells and be truly Indians for some time. I mean... you know. While getting to the counter to order or getting an empty table, if you wait in line like an obedient child, you are good to stay in line forever. I mean, quite frankly there is no line. Pe...

Some times it doesn't make sense to buy just one. Or quite expensive to buy just one. Found at a Old Navy outlet in Grapevine,TX. Perfect Tees, now 2 for $10. Or $10.50 each. Is it a typo or perfect marketing trick to get rid of their stock? 

It is not uncommon to see Firefox users producing short films, designing ad campaigns, logos, creative captions, and all kinds of merchandise to show their love of their browser. And Linux Users Group at Oregon State University found yet another creative manifestation of their love of Firefox. The FireFox crop circle . Here we go! Planned in under two weeks and completed in under 24 hours, the crop circle had a final diameter of 220 feet. We constructed the circle in an oat field near Amity, Oregon, where it was completely invisible from the road but unmistakable from the sky. Our team consisted of 12 people, mainly OSU students, and we carefully stomped down oats from 3:30pm Friday afternoon until 2:30am, putting on the finishing touches between 7:30am and 11:00am Saturday, August 12. The team that are posing the trillion dollar question "Does the sudden appearance of a Firefox crop circle imply which browser extraterrestrials prefer?"

632 feet The Gateway Arch, St.Louis The Gateway Arch in shades More to come.. Tags: St.Louis , The Gateway Arch , inspions , coolpics , pictures

Another cool feature from snapfish. Now you can turn your photos to US Postal stamps. Turn your photos into real U.S. Postage ...