Category Archives: Uncategorized

Repair or replace? American or Pakistani?

Sharp, sharp: The American consumer culture is predisposed to replacing a broken product instead of refurbishing it, whereas Pakistan’s consumers demand ingenious repairs to keep products functioning far past manufacturer expectations. Conversely, America’s political culture is inclined to repair any … Continue reading

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Unparliamentary expressions

…which a legislator may not use in the Delhi Assembly: among those expressly prohibited are “haathi ka bachcha”, “smuggler”, “sala”, “andher nagari choupat raja”, “abe chup” and “are doob maro”. No wonder the Parliamentary version of the book runs into … Continue reading

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“Good. Because I refuse to fraternize with men who are afraid to be intellectual heroes”

Any satire is as misleading as it is true. But read it anyway: “I knew Christopher Hitchens better than you”

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But kids, honking is the only thing that gives me a sense of control on these hopeless, hopeless roads

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Miandad recalls his six

This was twenty five – twenty five! – years ago, at the 1986 Australasia Cup final: For starters, batting first, India managed to put on a massive 245 runs on the board. It was the highest score in Sharjah then … Continue reading

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More stick, less carrot = great industry policy

Indonesia’s Industry minister, on RIM’s decision to set up a factory in neighbouring Malaysia instead of Blackberry-crazy Indonesia: “I suggest we impose an additional value-added tax, or luxury tax, for such goods, so that people would choose to invest here … Continue reading

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Ten thousand ponies! or How to build a dashboard

So usually you identify One Key Metric to measure success. Or maybe more. And those metrics are probably the right ones for your product/service – pageviews, signups, app downloads, dollars, ponies. The thing is, when everything’s right and you’re growing … Continue reading

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Everyone remembers their first time

As your teams hurtles towards launch, there’s one thing you may have overlooked. Your new user experience. No? Because you guys live in the product, rough edges and all, it’s been a while since you signed up yourself. Your team … Continue reading

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Synaptics, the goodness of multitouch and trackpad size envy

You know, you’d think the Macbooks were the only laptops with gee-whiz multitouch gestures – they certainly get all the press. But there’s multitouch on those lookallthesamedontthey Windows laptops too. Synaptics, the company that makes trackpads more than plastic skating … Continue reading

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Idea, Product, Business

Your division starts off on a new project with a bang. And months later ends with a whimper. You shut the thing down, your folks are terribly frustrated but you don’t really know what went wrong. From my experience, here’s … Continue reading

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