Globonomics!

“Focus is key; everything else comes later.”

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Eco_Fin/

When I started out to form my peer networking group above that bears the same name as my blog – EcoFin, in November 2003, I had three very simple objectives that I believe I achieved with phenomenal success.

1. To leverage on the members’ strong/solid knowledgebase in the segments of economic/financial/accounting/consulting/stock markets/banking.
2. -To enhance the knowledgebase of its members’ using its own members’ intellectual prowess and harnessing on the collective knowledge of its members’ and truly enable free flow of ideas using the various media and in-person meets.
3. -To ensure globalization of group.

Now, I have added my interests in gadgets and automobiles to the above interests in EcoFin and have been blogging non-stop from the time the focus shifted from EcoFin as a peer-networking medium to a more personally managed blog entity since October 2006.

Moreover, I have increasingly started realizing that while I try to limit the focus of this  blog to Economics, Finance and Management topics, I am unable to do so; simply because there’s so much to blog about all those cool gadgets out there and I blog because blogging is my passion!

Obviously, one does not try to inhibit one’s passion so I will continue blogging on these topics on this one common medium.

I apologize to my readers if they felt things have strayed in last 1-2 years as they have. I understand that there have hardly been any topics of substance taken up for a healthy economics/finance debate and there is no proper follow-up from my side either on topics I say I will touch upon on these core items.

It’s not about trying to write about daily acitivities – that’s not true but simply that I am a gadget/automobile/IPR freak and instead of channeling it to some other alternate technology/automobile/IPR blog and maintaining four separate blogs as a result, I can concentrate content of all four (otherwise) separate blogs into one single entity and present it under proper categories under one blog with this main brand name retained – EcoFin. It took me a lot of effort back then in 2003 when I personally did a lot of brand marketing to my peers for EcoFin and I will call it (the EcoFin brand) a branding success – this was before my MBA so I used EcoFin as a selling point to gain admission to my IIFT EMIB course as well back then.

My EcoFin peers have sent me notes congratulating the deep diving we did back then and the kind of powerful network we built around EcoFin- it truly was a world class information brand with a deep mindshare among my peer circle and this blog stands as a by-product of that information product/platform created back then. All this is governed by Intellectual Property Rights. Read the rest of this entry »

Buy Original Microsoft software

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Source: http://www.amazon.com/

amazon.com released a major software update to the kindle2 which I installed on my kindle2 today.
This one will help my kindle2 do the following below but the one I liked most is this:
- Support PDF’s natively without all those hassles of sending emails to @kindle.com etc. – this is a big plus. I can now read all my e-books which are PDF’s as well on my kindle2! So far, this was a feature available only on the kindle DX. Read the rest of this entry »

This was a great program that appeared on television on CNBC America. Very interesting to hear from my guru – Warren Buffett and the legendary Bill Gates – who is Buffett’s favorite Bridge partner, close friend and confidant since 1991. This event was organized at the Columbia Business school which is where Buffett got his degree under the aegis of Ben Graham and Dodd.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33940689/site/14081545

Who says Elephants can't dance

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Says-Elephants-Cant-Dance-ebook/dp/B000FCKL6G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258177332&sr=8-1-catcorr

I read this book on my kindle and it was the first book completed and was really a good reading experience overall – no frills, just does the job – effectively.

Lou Gerstner turned around IBM in the 1990’s before the current Chairman and CEO, Sam Palmisano, took over. IBM was a goliath that was being eaten raw by the huge Microsoft’s and the Intel’s and all the other David’s back then and it led to his historic turnaround which in many ways reminds me of reading up Jack Welch’s book on GE’s turnaround (I read it in 2002).

Scintillating book filled with common sense, candor, facing reality and a clear book on how strategy decisions can be taken to make even ‘Elephant’s dance’ and turn the big Blue to a nimble footed giant. This is a must read for Manager’s and aspiring CEO’s.

I highly recommend this book!

Watch this space closely as I collate information and present an analysis on this shortly. Someone left a feedback for me that I was totally deviating from the primary objective of this blog – Economics and Finance and I think their point is indeed valid. I have been all over the place again. I need to refocus my priorities on this blog’s original objective with which it was setup 3 years ago and that is to concentrate on Economics and Finance.

Just look at the competition in this field:

1. amazon.com kindle e-book reader

2. Barnes and Noble Nook e-book reader

3. iRex, (a Royal Philips spin-off in 2005) e-book reader

4. PlasticLogic e-book reader

5. Sony e-book reader

and many more!

This will be an interesting analysis.

Time truly flies! It’s 1 year since I migrated to a Mac from a PC and it’s been a well deserving switch! Apple has since introduced some revolutionary new products in the form of it’s iPhone 3G-S, the new iPod range with video, the new range of Macbook Whites with the unibody enclosure and a new lineup on the iMac’s for the holiday season, and of course, the return of the iconic Steve Jobs! Windows 7 is yet to launch here in India for me to move my desktop – a DELL Vostro – from Vista Ultimate to it’s successor – Windows 7 Ultimate.

Coincidentally, last week, Fortune magazine named Steve Jobs as the CEO of the decade!

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/04/technology/steve_jobs_ceo_decade.fortune/index.htm

The Presentation secrets of Steve Jobs – Source: http://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Secrets-Steve-Jobs-Insanely/dp/B002NPC0QC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257221443&sr=1-1

Steve Jobs is my business guru after Jack Welch and Warren Buffett and I count him as among my top favorite business leaders who can make insanely great products and better still, showcase them insanely. I must have seen his 2007 iPhone keynote at least a dozen times and have memorized the sentences – such is his aura! Anything he does only adds to his charm! This HAD TO be the first book on my kindle book reader. Reviews follow.

The nook - Barnes and Noble e-book reader

Source: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp

Just read on the launch of the awaited Barnes and Noble e-book reader. This is touted as the closest in competition to the amazon.com kindle2 with similar features and characteristics including the e-ink technology but the B&N reader also comes with some snappy features such as LendMe (TM) technology and the ability to use a touchscreen at the bottom to get the coverflow. I looked up the reviews of this reader and it clearly has what it takes to take on the kindle2 though a lot of the reviewers claimed they had not got to feel the device yet. Read the rest of this entry »

amazon.com kindle2 (India)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/26/amazon-kindle-2-review/

amazon.com listened to me as I prayed for an International version of the kindle as Jeff Bezos wrote what sounded like music to my ears (rather what looked like a treat to my eye – since I was looking at the screen as I read it!)

This is not the first time that such customer centric companies such as Google, Apple, amazon.com have listened to our concerns and addressed them!

I had blogged earlier here, here and here on how and why the amazon.com kindle is not available for purchase in India and who it’s competitors were and what were the tricks of the trade one had to adopt to lay one’s hands on one of them albeit with access to less than half the features. Now we have ALL the features PLUS an affordable kindle almost at our fingertips! How cool can it get?

I did some quick checks and here are some bare facts before we start counting the chicken before they hatch: Read the rest of this entry »