Life is a game !

The players have taken their places, the pieces are set, the cards dealt, the dice tossed. It's time to see who will win, and lose, in this version of the game of life.

Jesse Schell, the 40-year-old game designer and Carnegie Mellon professor had sketched out something radically different, something he titled "Beyond Facebook." His premise is that a real-life game could be stacked on top of reality. You'd get points for, well, just about everything you normally do in the course of 24 hours. This was already happening, he explained, and the games were altering human behavior. What were American Express points and frequent-flier miles but games that reward loyalty? Weight Watchers? A game. Fantasy football? A game stacked on top of a game that influences the way you watch a game. In the Ford Fusion, a virtual tree is embedded in the dash. The more gas you save, the more the tree grows. They put a virtual pet in your car, he marveled, and it actually changes the way people drive!

Jesse Schell: "Advances in technology will soon make all of life a game. Or has it happened already?"

Sensors have gotten so cheap that they are being embedded in all sorts of products. Pretty soon, every soda can and cereal box could have a built-in CPU, screen, and camera, along with Wi-Fi connectivity. And at that point, the gaming of life takes off. You'll get up in the morning to brush your teeth and the toothbrush can sense that you're brushing. "Hey, good job for you! Ten points" from the toothpaste maker. You sit down to breakfast and get 10 points from Kellogg's for eating your Corn Flakes, then grab the bus because you get enviro-points from the government, which can be used as a tax deduction. Get to work on time, your employer gives you points. Drink Dr Pepper at lunch, points from the soda maker. Walk to a meeting instead of grabbing the shuttle, points from your health-insurance provider. Who knows how far this might run? Schell offered psychedelic scenarios, like the one in which you recall a dream from the previous night where your mother was dancing with a giant Pepsi can: "You remember the REM-tertainment system, which is this thing you put in your ear that can sense when you enter REM sleep, and then [it] starts putting little advertisements out there to try and influence your dreams." If the ads take hold, you win big points for discounts at your local grocery store. Then there's your office mate, and he's like, "Check out this new digital tattoo" that he got from Tatoogle AdSense, and when you show him yours, you realize you're both wearing Pop-Tart ads. You get paid for the ads, plus 30 additional points just for noticing.

After work, you go shopping. Points. Your daughter gets good grades in school and practices the piano? More points. You plop down on your sofa for some television, and "it's just points, points, points, points," because eye sensors ensure that you actually watch the ads. In the meantime, you chat with other viewers, play games designed around the ads, and tally more points. Sure, it's crass commercialization run amok, Schell conceded, but "this stuff is coming. Man, it's gotta come. What's going to stop it?"

Check out the complete article here.

Philippines to turn call centre capital of world

The Philippines is set to overtake India as the world’s back office for voice-based customer support and sales this year, as firms such as Cisco, HSBC, T-Mobile and BT Plc shift work to the nation to avoid India’s high staff turnover, and build an alternate support hub. 

Better affinity with the American culture, lack of competing industries for skilled workforce, higher tax incentives and an overall strategy to de-risk from a pure India-based call centre model are among top reasons for this shift. 

Of India’s total BPO exports, nearly 45% comes from voice-based work, which is expected to be around $5.58 billion this year. However, the Philippines BPO industry will post almost $5.70 billion of pure voice-based revenues in 2010, higher than its bigger outsourcing rival, research firm Everest and the Business Process Association of Philippines (BPAP) say. 

“In standalone voice business, the Philippines will undoubtedly beat India this year to become the call centre capital of the world,” says Nikhil Rajpal, partner, Everest Research India . 

Companies such as Cisco and BT are increasingly outsourcing handling of customer queries and support to cheaper locations, including the Philippines. Every time a user of, say, Cisco’s router dials a toll-free customer support number, his call gets diverted to a customer support executive sitting in Manila who is paid less than a quarter of what it would cost to hire somebody with similar profile in the US. 

Experts point out that at this pace, the Philippines can even overtake India’s $12.4-billion BPO industry in five years. The $9.5-billion Philippines O&O (offshoring & outsourcing) industry grew at a compounded 27.6% in the last two years. 

Philippines ties to US a big draw 

On the other hand, India’s BPO industry has showed a CAGR of 11.92% in the last two years. Going by exactly the same rate of growth over the next few years, India will lose to the Philippines before 2015. “We will grow at least by 20% annually in BPO exports over the next five years,” says Oscar Sanez, the man spearheading the BPO association of Philippines. “But we don’t take India as a competitor, as there is business in the market for everybody,” Mr Sanez adds. 

Is a zero-carbon, zero-waste, zero-car city on the horizon?

Masdar City: Vision of an ecological utopia

The Gulf state of Abu Dhabi, which sits upon eight percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, has caught the world’s imagination with its ambitious plans to create Masdar City, a carbon-neutral community.

With the backing of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince ruler, the Masdar Initiative commissioned a team of architects led by Norman Foster to develop the conceptual design of a new city that will house 50,000 people.

In what was until recently desert by the sea, Masdar City will provide employment in business and education, powered entirely by solar or other renewable energy sources. The Initiative is owned by the Abu Dhabi government through the Mubadala investment fund.

After an initial investment of USD 15 billion, the plan calls for Masdar to be self-supporting, in large part by selling the technology and services that it develops along the road to energy self-sufficiency.

Thin-film photovoltaics, spherical PV, beam-down solar towers and thermal storage for solar power are among the technologies expected to emerge as academia and industry bond in pursuit of a renewable energy market valued at USD 6-8 billion in the Emirate alone. Abu Dhabi has pledged that green energy will account for at least seven percent of the country’s total power generation by 2020.

“Masdar will be at the forefront of the research, development and deployment of solutions that will enable governments around the world, including our own, to meet the targets they are setting for the adoption of renewable energy,” says Dr. Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company.

Overall responsibility for the Masdar Initiative lies with Jabar, a University of Southern California, Los Angeles educated chemical engineer and MBA who also holds a doctorate in Business and Economics from Coventry University.

To attract entrepreneurs the world’s first zero-waste economy will offer a zero-percent corporate tax rate, supported by a legal structure that protects intellectual property while keeping paper work to a minimum.

Masdar will eliminate the need for cars by combining public transport with an urban planning scheme featuring narrow walkable streets. The city’s design will, according to Foster + Partners, give the world a model to combat low density sprawl, a major cause of energy inefficiency. In many environments buildings have been the responsibility of architects while urban planners have overseen infrastructure. The separation of these two areas of responsibility is now seen as incompatible with sustainable development.

“Masdar looks at the bigger picture, acknowledging that you cannot divorce the issue of energy from architecture and urban planning,” says a representative of Foster + Partners.

The firm sees the project as a blueprint for changes far beyond the Gulf. “Crucially, Masdar’s design springs from the recognition that to survive, we have to change, and with that change can come a better way of life,” she concludes.

Words: Davrell Tien

Living Dead - Ghost or Reality ?

Ghaziabad in India, July 2010

Living man declared dead by hospital

In a shocking case of medical negligence, doctors at a government hospital here declared an accident victim dead and kept him in the mortuary but when his relatives came to take away the body they found him alive.

21-year-old Sanjeev, an MCom student, was on his way to the market to buy books when his motorcycle was hit by a car on Sunday evening. Police rushed him to the MMG Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

However, when Sanjeev's family members arrived at the hospital and rushed to the mortuary they found the youth to be alive and crying painfully.

They raised a hue and cry over the incident demanding stern action against the negligent doctors at the hospital. Chief medical officer A K Dhawan said an inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Later on, family members of Sanjeev shifted him to Yashoda Hospital where he continues to be critical.

From Capay Valley to Silicon Valley - Farm Fresh to You !

Fresh fruits and vegetables travel from small farms to corporate cafeterias

One peach, two valleys. The delicious taste of summer begins its journey here in the bucolic Capay Valley on a small family farm and ends, slightly more than 24 hours later, in a modern Silicon Valley cafeteria.

Through a new "FarmShares" program, the plump peach delivers an explosive flavor to an eager corporate worker — and returns precious dollars to this region's struggling farms.

"Our employees get fresh local food — and we support farms. It's a win-win," said Chad Kromm of Adobe Systems, who introduced the Capay Valley Farm Shop program to the modern glass-and-granite Cafe Adobe in San Jose, where employees pick up their preordered boxes. "We're developing strong regional connections."

Welcome to Farm Fresh to You !

As people are becoming increasingly interested about where their food comes from and how it was grown, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is becoming a popular alternative for getting high quality food from a trusted local farm. Currently over 6,000 families are participating in our family farm's CSA, Farm Fresh To You. By joining our CSA these families are connecting directly to our farm, Capay Organic, and are receiving regular deliveries of nutrient rich, mouth watering, organic produce delivered directly to their home or office. 

Customer Friendly, Flexible, Convenient

• Cancel Anytime - No Commitment.
• Home Delivery - We deliver directly to your home weekly, every other week, or monthly.
• Customize your delivery - exclude items you do not like and add extra of items you do.
• Receive deliveries starting at only $25.00 per delivery.
• Satisfaction guaranteed.
• Speak with friendly customer service Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.

Rethinking water

Innovative Water Technologies, Inc.'s Solar-Powered Sunspring™ Water Purification Systems have been utilized in remote areas around the globe and are now being sent to Haiti for disaster relief.

The Sunspring™ is a portable, self-contained, solar-powered water purification system that can process water from remote rivers, creeks, lakes, wells and recycled rainwater, producing bacteriologically safe drinking water. The Sunspring™ physically removes bacteria, virus, cysts, particulates and turbidity from the water source, with each system providing purified drinking water for up to 5000 people per day. The systems are self-cleaning, efficient and easy to maintain - perfectly designed for disaster relief.

The Barkers -- Jack, 47, is the inventor; Carmen, 50, runs the business -- are behind the Sunspring, a portable, solar-powered water-purifying system.

Jack: "Everyone was shipping in bottled water to Haiti, but that's not a sustainable option. The Sunspring produces more than 5,000 gallons of water per day, every drop microbiologically safe to drink. The unit is constantly storing energy and can run at night or on a cloudy day. We installed 17 units in Haiti, 10 of them donated by GE."

Carmen: "A natural disaster was never in our business plan. We're working with Artists for Human Rights to install 100 more units in Haiti."

Jack: "One Sunspring costs $25,000, but it lasts for 10 years. If you sell the water at just 4 cents a gallon -- 20% of what water is going for right now in Haiti -- the payback period would be four months. You can create a local microfinance model; NGOs can help support hospitals, community centers, or schools. This can be sustainable within itself."

Original interview was published here.

Yes, you too can help Cure AIDS, Cancer, and World Hunger

The next time you step away from your desk for a quick latte at your local coffee bar, your computer can get to work....doing calculations for AIDS research. Or genome comparisons for drug development. Or sample analyses for better cancer treatments. In fact, your computer can do the calculations while you’re actually using it for something else. It’s possible when you volunteer your PC or laptop’s unused time to World Community Grid (WCG), created by IBM. Grid computing joins together thousands of individual computers, establishing a large system with massive computational power equal to a supercomputer. Because the work is split into countless tiny pieces and done simultaneously, research time shrinks from decades to months.

So why not donate something you don’t need, use or even think about-your idle computer time-and help make the world a better place? Here’s how it works.

Ready to be a volunteer ?

Your first step is to go to worldcommunitygrid.org and download a free, small software agent onto your PC. It is similar to a screensaver. An icon will appear in your lower right-hand icon tray. Your computer is ready to go to work. Then, this agent will request a set of data-or an assignment-from World Community Grid’s servers, located at an IBM facility. These servers send out the “job” assignment (in the form of a data packet) in triplicate-to three separate PCs-as a security measure.

Turn your PC into a tireless volunteer

When idle, your computer performs the calculations and sends the results back to the servers. An average task runs 10-20 CPU hours. The servers wait for the other two sets of identical data to be returned. The results are compared to ensure that they are identical and no hacking has occurred. The servers then send out a new work unit to your PC. Only when your computer is turned on, and the agent senses it’s idle, will it
be “volunteered” for research work according to the guidelines you set. Even when your applications are up, your system is idle about 80% of the time and this power can be used. You’ll know when your computer is being used for research because a screen saver appears, charting the progress on your current task.

Power in numbers: the Grid

As of early February, about 255,000 individuals from 200 countries have registered some 500,000 devices, contributing 75,000 years of run time to the Grid. It ranks among the top five supercomputers worldwide.

The brains of the Grid

Fourteen IBM servers serve as “command central” for WCG. When they receive a research assignment from an organization, they will scour it for security bugs, parse it into data units, encrypt them, run them through a scheduler and dispatch them out in triplicate to the army of volunteer PCs. As results come in, they are  scrubbed, validated and assembled into a file. When all the calculations are returned and the assignment is complete, the data is packaged and sent to a directory for retrieval.

Check out IBM's website for more details.

Mistakes ... I'm thinking of making few more !

If you think you can get through life without taking risks and making mistakes, think again!

Do you remember the first time you rode a bicycle? Can you relive the exhilaration of riding free, the sense of triumph as you broke free of the crutches of support? Now step back. How many times did you fall off the bike before that first ride?

All through school, a mistake indicates the prospect of lower grades. Good students don't make mistakes. At home, mistakes lead to admonishments. Good children follow the rules. At work, mistakes have serious repercussions. Good workers get it right the first time.

But, in those very schools and organizations where we are marked down for making mistakes, we also learn that people often stumble upon great inventions. There's growing evidence to suggest that innovation flourishes when people are given the space to make mistakes. Even Mahatma Gandhi attached value to experimentation; he believed that "freedom isn't worth having if it doesn't include the freedom to make mistakes."

Life is full of risks and it's only when we no longer have a pulse that we avoid risk altogether. Risk is an inevitable part of life, so we simply have to accept the existence of risk.

Even so, there are people who go out of their way to avoid all risk and frankly, they are doing far more damage than good. Risk adverse people often turn down great opportunities for fear of making a mistake and bringing about some sort of stress on themselves.

Too many people for instance, will opt to stay in their comfort zone and complain about a lack of friends, a lack of money, a lack of opportunity - or whatever it might be - rather than go out there and DO the stuff necessary to change their situation for the better. They don't want to make a mistake! They don't want to 'fail'!

Talk to any successful person about this approach to life and they will tell you straight out that if it wasn't for their willingness to go out there and have a go - and make the necessary mistakes and take the necessary risks - they would NOT be successful. They would NOT be where they are now.

Mistakes play a key role in this self-discovery thing. We have to make mistakes when we DO the stuff that helps us become the person we want to be. We have to be willing to make mistakes, in order to create the life we want. Because it won't just fall into our laps. We do have to get out of our comfort zones every once in a while and make things happen.

Sophia Loren, the Italian actress made a brilliant statement once that illustrated this point beautifully. She said,"After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It's better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life."

So don't be afraid to take risks. Mistakes Are the Guides to Future Success. Don't be afraid to make mistakes! It's what you simply must be prepared to do, if you really want to have a full life!

India unveils $30 laptop (tablet)

July 23, 2010, Courtesy of Times Of India -

India on Thursday unveiled a Rs.1,500 (around $30) laptop designed specifically for students. The device, no bigger than a conventional laptop, is a single unit system with a touch screen and a built in key board along with a 2 GB RAM memory, wi-fi connectivity, USB port and powered by a 2-watt system to suit poor power supply areas. The device would be made available to students in 2011.

"If more companies decide to manufacture a similar device, prices will come down automatically," Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said after unveiling the low cost-access-cum computing device here. When the ministry floated the concept of a low cost laptop some years ago, officials said it would cost Rs.500 ($10). It will now cost about three times the initial projections. The ministry expects the prices to drop to Rs.1,000 ($20) and reach Rs.500($10) as innovations are introduced.

The ministry started its efforts by holding discussions on this concept with a group of experts at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Bombay, a ministry official said. The low cost laptops will be distributed in institutions by the HRD ministry. The final price will depend on the transportation cost.

Chetan Chen, Deepika Fang, Rajeev Yao, Deepak Xu

Huawei India execs take Indian names to be more culturally acceptable

Chetan Chen is into technology, Deepak Xu handles marketing, and Deepika Fang is a network systems pro. And when their company needs to reach out to the public, Rajeev Yao gets into the picture.

Welcome to the charm offensive of Huawei India, a firm that is on the radars of the Indian security establishment by virtue of its place of incorporation, the People’s Republic of China. As its top brass prepares to walk extraordinary miles to get its operations going on in one of the world’s biggest telecom markets, the Chinese equipment maker is nudging its Mandarin staff to mind their names.

Ergo, this cultural revolution with a telecom twist has Chen Tian Siang, a top consultant with Huawei India, introducing himself as Chetan Chen; Ling Yong Xu, a top management executive in its customer care division, is Deepak to his Indian colleagues; Liu Fang, a senior executive with its networks division, goes by the name ‘Deepika Fang’; Li Gin, a coordinator with Huawei India, is called ‘Rosy’; and Zhao Bing, in charge of the company’s warehouse division, is just Amit. To top it all, Huawei’s spokesperson in India, Weimin Yao, is known as ‘Rajeev’ to media colleagues here.

Huawei executives carry their Indian names even on their visiting cards. Suraj, Amit, Arvind, Ravi, Rajesh and Rajeev were some of the popular names adopted by their Chinese executives in India, says a Huawei staff.

The company reasons that since Indians find it difficult to pronounce Chinese names, the Indian nomenclature helps in daily operations. This also makes Chinese executives more culturally acceptable not just to their Indian colleagues, but also to their clients and business associates in the country.

“There is a conscious attempt as part of our India localisation strategy that Chinese and Indian employees understand and encourage each other’s customs and mores and develop a healthy understanding and appreciation for both the great countries’ traditions and cultures,” says the company spokesman.

Being online: identity, anonymity, and all things in between

We barely exist anymore if we don’t exist online. As we move towards a more exposed global community, with increased information exchange online and decreased division between personal, professional, and student lives, shouldn't we be redefining the boundaries of acceptability? It is time we acknowledged the truth that modern technology has made evident: all those identities are us and we are more than the sum of our identities.

As students, we’re advised to exercise discretion over information revealed online: Don’t write anything offensive. Don’t be photographed drinking if you’re underage. Don’t “friend request” your boss. Keep a low profile; your online sins will come back to haunt you.

As young professionals, we’re pressured to do precisely the opposite: Develop your presence online to establish credibility. Create a profile on LinkedIn. Make a Facebook Fan page for your organization. Use Twitter to publicize your brand. Make lots and lots of “friends.”

How am I to deal with the (now permanent) online implication that I do? Do I clarify each “tweet” that references my username so readers on Twitter don’t misinterpret my character? Do I delete each post written on my Facebook wall that may unintentionally imply something incriminating? Should I remove each photograph with a drink in my hand, because that image may be accessed by a potential employer? And then there’s the issue of online appropriateness. Who should we share our online profiles with, and who shouldn’t we?

It’s exhausting and counter-intuitive to tailor our online profiles to suit each individual who connects with us online—former professor or otherwise. However, it would be naive to believe we can express ourselves freely online without repercussions. Anything we do has the capacity to end up on the Internet, and we must be mindful of this reality while making everyday decisions.

Of course, I know employers “Google” potential employees, and that anything I say or write on the Internet is forever archived online. And I know my parents and relatives scrutinize every online photo album I appear in.
Regardless, I refuse to spend my time carefully constructing an identity that perfectly pleases whoever sees me online. I’m just trying to keep it real—both online and offline.

Here are some useful resources on this subject -
1. India Currents article where above thoughts were expressed originally
2. Wikipedia - Online Identity, Online Identity Management
3. Mashup - 25 ways to manage your online identity
4. Oreilly Radar
5. Reputation Defender Blog

Are you ready for IPv6?

They thought 4 billion would be enough. Wrong, said the Internet.

They're response: 340 trillion, trillion, trillion. We're not sure just how many zeros that is, but it can be written as 2 to the 128th power (or 5 times 10 to the 28th power).

Of the 4 billion addresses possible under IPv4, only about 7% are left. They'll probably all be used by early 2012.Every device — computer, cell phone, utility meter — connected to the Internet needs its own address in order to communicate back and forth. The addresses are bundled into what is called Internet Protocol version 4, released in 1981.

That might cause some problems, but don't panic. IPv6 is taking over. It offers 128-bit numbers, as opposed to IPv4's 32 bits. Most people don't know or care about their IP address, but most computers have fairly easy ways to find yours. Your ISP or business assigns them. Currently, your address would look something like this: 123.45.678.9. With IPv6, the address might look like this: 3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf. (The Web site whatsmyip.com can find your IP number for you.).

Check out more info at -

1. Wikipedia

2. MOXA

3. CAIDA

Whats your carbon footprint ?

Many of our daily activities contribute to climate change. Using energy in our homes and offices or driving a car generates greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO2). These greenhouse gases act like a blanket, trapping heat near the Earth's surface and warming the planet.
 
If the Earth's warming continues, scientists predict potentially extreme climate changes - causing more frequent and intense heat waves, rising sea levels affecting coastal areas, and other serious impacts.

But there is good news: working together, we can make a difference.

Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

?
Your Footprint	Country Average	World Target

Your "carbon footprint" is a measure of your impact on the environment, in terms of the carbon dioxide emitted as a result of your daily activity.

Inevitably, in going about our daily lives — commuting, sheltering our families, eating — each of us contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. Yet, there are many things each of us, as individuals, can do to reduce our carbon emissions. The choices we make in our homes, our travel, the food we eat, and what we buy and throw away all influence our carbon footprint and can help ensure a stable climate for future generations.

Use one of the calculators at following sites to measure your carbon footprint -
1. carbonfootprint
2. nature
3. US EPA
4. PG&E

Meet the 12-year-old Indian headmistress!

A 12-year-old Indian girl, who was abandoned at a railway station in Bihar as an infant, has become the head teacher at a school in Kusumbhara, her adopted village. 

Bharti Kumari teaches Hindi, English and maths to 50 village kids who would otherwise receive no education. She gives them lessons every morning and evening, under the shade of a mango tree. In between, she attends a state school in Akhodhi Gola, a two-mile walk away. In her school uniform, she passes on the knowledge gleaned from her lessons to the village children, aged between four and 10, in her own class.

"I have a long day. My school is from 10am to 3pm and I study late. This is what I love doing. I enjoy teaching children their ABCs as well as the Hindi alphabets," Times Online quoted her as saying. Kusumbhara is a poverty-stricken village 87 miles from Patna, the state capital.

Rampati, Bharti's adoptive father, an impoverished farmhand, said he would not follow the rural tradition of pushing girls into early marriages but would allow her to continue her studies.

Can we imagine how the world would be if we had more Bharti kumaris and Rampatis ? If each one of us can do even a fraction of what they are doing ..

Sustainability - small things each one of us can do in everyday life

“We have not inherited the world from our grandfathers - we have borrowed it from our children” -Kashmiri Proverb

Check out the passion and efforts from one of my friends and get involved. I hope we can reach out to as many people as possible and help empower everyone for global change.