World's cheapest PC ?


Bangalore-based Encore and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) join hands to create a computer that costs Rs 10,000 (USD 232/- ) to Rs 20,000. Will this be the world's most successful cheap PC?



Some features of this computer
*Built-in local language - would be available initially in Kannada, Marathi and Hindi. Soon Telugu and Tamil would be added to that list.

*There is no hard disk. Instead it would thrive on in-built memory. There is always an option to plug in what is called memory cards to add on to the storage prowess.

* You can't play games or do high-speed computing (These are not the target users)

* The target group includes households, small shops, lawyers and chartered accountants, field staff or pharma , insurance and related firms. It could also be a nurse's aide and can be used as an e-book by small educational institutions.

Learn from BatMan.



I saw 'Batman Begins' this weekend at the IMAX (big screen). I liked the movie for the action sequences and for the thought provoking dialogues.There have been a few batman movies in the past but they could not live up to the expectations.The flops proved that audiences do not care about empty computer-generated effects or mind-numbing action sequences but instead need a a smart, character-driven story that has a moral message attached to it.'Batman Begins' has that and I feel it will do well at the box office.

A few dialogues in the movie are quite impressive. Here are a few :


“Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up”

“It’s not just your name. It’s your father’s name. And it’s all that’s left of him.”

"Anger strangles grief until it turns into a self-defeating poison"

“Justice is about harmony; vengeance is about making yourself feel better”

“It’s not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you”

“I’m no executioner”

“I seek the means to fight injustice, to turn fear on those who prey on the fearful”.

Just tag it !



Keeping the the book-blogger tag game started by Linda Abraham alive and thanking Mr Metal and Mr Thought Curry, here are the list of 5 books that I love reading

It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life
by Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins

An inspirational story of Lance Armstrong- who was nearly struck down by cancer, only to recover and win the Tour de France.The best book I ever read on how someone can motivate himself to achieve his goal.


How to Get Into the Top MBA Programsby J.D., Richard Montauk
The BIBLE for MBA aspirants.I enjoyed reading the book.Even after 10 years, this book would be one of my favorites.


The Rising Elephant
Rising Elephant talks about the surprising economic power of the world's largest democracy,India.This book is a sell out in the US and Europe as it talks about the growing clash with India Over White Collar Jobs.


Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide
This book is a must read for any business or information technology (IT) professional who is involved in data warehousing and business intelligence (BI) projects.


You Can Win - Shiv Khera
A great book that has some excellent stories,quotations.Inspires you everytime you read one of the short stories in it.I use a lot of speeches and quotations from these books in my Toastmaster speeches.





The five bloggers I am tagging are:

Thought Curry
Bharani
Metal
Bhavani
Sujayath

A Course on the Golf Course


An MBA degree can get you the job ..but it is the game of golf that will get you promoted.!

Yes,one of the favorite game of the corporate world is being taught to various B schools.Read this article in the latest issue of Businessweek.

When I was in Bangalore (in 2000),a golf course was just a stone's throw away from my house.There were folks who suggested that I pick up the sport then.But,nah..I was a man who loved action..Golf was an old man's game for me! No sweat..No aggression.So,I prefered playing squash to golf.But I guess itz time for me to learn the basics of Golf.After all, I wouldn't want to make a fool of myself when I head to the golf course with my boss.

So,here are 5 reasons why you should learn Golf if you are an MBA student/prospective.

1.Networking:
Playing golf, a favorite pastime in corporate America, is one way to get to know and network with people outside of the office.

2.Play safe:
You don't want to make fool of yourself [on the golf course] in front of the boss someday

3.Showcasing your skills:
Members of the MBA Golf Assn. at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in Austin often invite recruiters to play a round of golf with students who are interested in their particular industry. "It gives students a chance to show their skills, and recruiters can use the time as a behavioral interview," says second-year student Michael Sedlak.

4.Get to know folks
A lot of B schools feel that conducting golf classes for MBA students is way of uniting groups that might not otherwise get to know each other -- from women to international students

5.Golf might help you achieve your goals.
Krannert School of Management at Purdue University has a guest speaker component, which brings successful businesspeople into the classroom to share stories about how golf has influenced their professional achievements.


And for keen observers, a round on the course is a great way to find out if a client or potential hire is on par with you.
So,listen you all B school prospectives and grads ,go ahead and learn the basics of this game before itz too late !.

The Queen's MBA Program offers golf lessons and has conducted a golf tournament in previous years.

Near shoring


Out sourcing:Forget India,let's go to Bulgaria

It is not just distance and timezones that motivate the search for alternatives. India struck gold with US and British Clients in part because of itz workers' English skills and interpersonal ties.But those assets don't hold the same sway for French or German customers.

But Bulgaria,Romania and other locations on the outskirts of Europe are plying a new twist on the craze for sending technology development offshore.They are pushing what pundits call "near shoring",or shifting work to countries that cost less but are only a short hop away.

Finnish companies farm out IT work to Estonia,Germans use contractors in Poland,and Italians ship projects to Serbia.For a lot of European companies,"Indian seems an awfully long way away",says IT services analyst Ian Marriot of reseracher Gartner Inc.

French companies are drawn to Romania,whose latinate language and historic links make it an appealing alternative to Anglophone locales.German companies are likewise lured by the many German speakers in Hungary and Czech republic.

It was access to nearby talent that convinced SAP to set up its Bulgarian outpost,which has turned into a beacon of hope for a country struggling to lift itself out of communist era poverty.But itz not the only one.Scattered around the capital are hundreds of small companies doing projects for an impressive list of clients, including Boeing,BMW,General Motors and Siemens.

Smells like Team Spirit




"Team spirit isn't just a management term at the Queen's School of Business. It's the life force of this School"
Here is the scanned version of the article on Queen's that was published in Business World Mega B school guide.I was trying to get the article scanned when to my surprise
Mr Stacy Kelly, the program manager at Queen's MBAST emailed it to me after he discovering my blog.:)

Please note that this link will expire in 7 days and will be available for a limited number of downloads.(The size of the pdf is 2.8 MB..so had to upload it here).

In case, you would like the article to be emailed to you, feel free to send in a email to me at indianblogger@gmail.com

An article on Queen's in Businessworld.

Prospective MBA students from India should read the recent profile of Queen's MBA for Science & Technology entitled "Smells like team spirit" that appears in the recently released BusinessWorld Mega B-School Guide.

The two-page article, written by a 2005 Indian graduate, highlights the team ethos at Queen's MBA.

I'll try uploading the scanned article.

A quotation that I read in the morning today and still remember it at this late hour.
Nice one. When you sit back and think about it, you'll definitely agree to it.


You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.
- Plato [ (c. 427 BC – c. 347 BC) ]

Queen's MBA launches student blogs


Wow !! I had been waiting for this for some time now.

Queen's MBA is pleased to announce that prospective students can now enjoy regular student blogs from the Class of 2006 .
Click here to access the student blogs. Mind you, the students have just started blogging...So,you gotta follow it closely for the next few months to get an idea of how life at Queen's is.

There is also a new photo gallery, which will grow and change periodically, giving prospective students a taste of a year in the life of the program.

MBA Olympics


The annual MBA Tournament, a multidisciplinary sports competition involving 12 Top European Business Schools, took place on May the 27th on the campus of HEC School of Management at Jouy-En-Josas, near Paris.

During the 3 days, 2000 participants representing more than 70 nationalities from LBS, INSEAD, IMD, HEC, RSM, Oxford, Cambridge, MBS, Bocconi, ESADE, IESE, IE met, networked and exchanged experiences through more than 30 sports and social events (theme parties).

This was one of the the biggest gathering of MBAs in the world.

This year, there were 2 guest teams: NYU Stern and KOC University - Istanbul.
The over all rankings are dispalyed here:
but if you want to know who were the top three, here is the list:

HEC MBA Tournament 2005 (15th edition) - final result:

1) IESE

2) LBS

3) HEC

The fair play prize went to Cambridge

The team from INSEAD managed to get the 12th position. Ouch !

Why B schools need the Tech Edge


Read this interesting article(http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/may/31guest1.htm) by Sudipta K Sen ,CEO and MD of SAS Institute (India) where he suggests that a basic knowledge of technology will be helpful to new recruits looking to make their way in this dynamic and competitive marketplace.

"The IT industry itself is a fast-evolving one, with newer concepts and technologies being introduced regularly and older technologies becoming rapidly obsolete. B-schools need to train students in all these aspects of business.

The ability to harness the capabilities of business intelligence and other enterprise applications lies in practical knowledge of these technologies.

There is no substitute for experience, but if it is made available as anecdotal teachings, it will prepare the students to face the ground realities of the corporate world. It is, however, important for students to be groomed to handle technology as well as the change management techniques that go with technology adoption and implementation."