About all things unimportant Comments http://codecutter.blogsome.com Keep coming back, you might find something useful Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:25:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: Amit Sharma http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/11/10/in-elevevator-advertising-continuation-post/#comment-138 Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:01:34 +0000 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/11/10/in-elevevator-advertising-continuation-post/#comment-138 Nice line of thoughts on elevator ad. One example of this is in building where my office is (in Gurgaon). Nothing fancy. A simple poster advertising the ongoing happy hours scheme at a nearby pub or a italian food festival in a resturant in the nearby mall. Not awesomely effective but atleast does put in some bias into thought of a team going out for a small but frequent team event & is still contemplating on which resturant to go to. But yes, the impact is very local. & yes, I did get your ph no. Will be calling you. Nice line of thoughts on elevator ad. One example of this is in building where my office is (in Gurgaon). Nothing fancy. A simple poster advertising the ongoing happy hours scheme at a nearby pub or a italian food festival in a resturant in the nearby mall. Not awesomely effective but atleast does put in some bias into thought of a team going out for a small but frequent team event & is still contemplating on which resturant to go to. But yes, the impact is very local.
& yes, I did get your ph no. Will be calling you.

]]> by: Ragu http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/11/10/upscale-movie-magazine-continued/#comment-137 Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:31:32 +0000 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/11/10/upscale-movie-magazine-continued/#comment-137 Thanks for replying to comments and adding your view points. I really appreciate taking your time out and such healthy discussion is really useful. Content syndication is definitely a good idea. More targetted syndication to overseas companies like Yahoo and Google and other media giants which eventually would start localising content for each country and region. Yahoo movies for e.g. would be more and more localised in future. These companies have to keep growing in Wall Street and they cannot ignore other countries for a long time. I completely agree with you when you say no idea is good or bad, what matters is the people executing it. When an idea as simple as 'video sharing website' can be sold for 1.x billion dollars, its only the execution and criticising our own ideas that matter. On a different note, how long do you think that it would take for printed magazines in India to be challenged heavily by the advocation of many online magazines? It is already happening in US with printed magazines and newspapers making heavy losses...read: Tribune, LA times etc. It might even be an option to have this magazine idea as an online magazine....agreed, there arent many people in India who would read magazines online. But its going to change. And keeping it online lowers the cost terribly, think about the margin we can make with no printing and supply chain costs!! And serving to an NRI market through online would also be helpful. What I have seen is that once indians come to US and see the more quality magazines here about movies and art, they would be more willing to subscribe to a quality magazine on Indian movies and art. With increasing interest in Indian affairs with US universities, art schools in US universities can be a market as well. For all these, online is the way to go (probably in addition to a printed magazine). Tamil magazines like 'Vikatan' have made decent money serving just a small proportion of Tamil NRIs through online. Inviting user reviews of movies, in addition to the expert reviews (withough diluting quality) would attract more audience and all these are very easy to do online. With increasing bandwidth, video interviews can be added (they are already available in sites like indiaglitz.com). All in all, I agree,the idea is definitely worth attempting. Thanks for replying to comments and adding your view points. I really appreciate taking your time out and such healthy discussion is really useful.

Content syndication is definitely a good idea. More targetted syndication to overseas companies like Yahoo and Google and other media giants which eventually would start localising content for each country and region. Yahoo movies for e.g. would be more and more localised in future. These companies have to keep growing in Wall Street and they cannot ignore other countries for a long time.

I completely agree with you when you say no idea is good or bad, what matters is the people executing it. When an idea as simple as ‘video sharing website’ can be sold for 1.x billion dollars, its only the execution and criticising our own ideas that matter.

On a different note, how long do you think that it would take for printed magazines in India to be challenged heavily by the advocation of many online magazines? It is already happening in US with printed magazines and newspapers making heavy losses…read: Tribune, LA times etc. It might even be an option to have this magazine idea as an online magazine….agreed, there arent many people in India who would read magazines online. But its going to change. And keeping it online lowers the cost terribly, think about the margin we can make with no printing and supply chain costs!! And serving to an NRI market through online would also be helpful. What I have seen is that once indians come to US and see the more quality magazines here about movies and art, they would be more willing to subscribe to a quality magazine on Indian movies and art. With increasing interest in Indian affairs with US universities, art schools in US universities can be a market as well. For all these, online is the way to go (probably in addition to a printed magazine). Tamil magazines like ‘Vikatan’ have made decent money serving just a small proportion of Tamil NRIs through online.

Inviting user reviews of movies, in addition to the expert reviews (withough diluting quality) would attract more audience and all these are very easy to do online. With increasing bandwidth, video interviews can be added (they are already available in sites like indiaglitz.com). All in all, I agree,the idea is definitely worth attempting.

]]> by: What-a-kutty http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/30/in-elevator-advertising-is-not-cost-effective/#comment-136 Fri, 10 Nov 2006 05:53:20 +0000 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/30/in-elevator-advertising-is-not-cost-effective/#comment-136 Hi Ragu, have posted my comments as a new post. cheers Chandrashekhar Hi Ragu,

have posted my comments as a new post.

cheers
Chandrashekhar

]]> by: Ragu http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/26/ideas-are-dime-a-dozen/#comment-135 Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:45:29 +0000 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/26/ideas-are-dime-a-dozen/#comment-135 An upscale movie magazine is a good idea but we need to remember we would be targetting a very niche market. There arent many film buffs who would want to read about the technicalities in film making. I am not discounting the idea of serving a niche market, it can still turn out to be profitable. For e.g. many architecture magazines which talk about interior designing etc still make handsome profits. But those magazines have the libraries and other architecture schools + more affluent students studying there as target market. Whereas film institute students in India live on a shoestring budget and we need not even talk about assistant directors. The problem in India is that, with not much organization to film making in India, it is difficult to maintain even a subscription of 100000. Think about the cost of obtaining such highly technical articles, we need highly paid journalists to write them! An upscale movie magazine is a good idea but we need to remember we would be targetting a very niche market. There arent many film buffs who would want to read about the technicalities in film making. I am not discounting the idea of serving a niche market, it can still turn out to be profitable. For e.g. many architecture magazines which talk about interior designing etc still make handsome profits. But those magazines have the libraries and other architecture schools + more affluent students studying there as target market. Whereas film institute students in India live on a shoestring budget and we need not even talk about assistant directors. The problem in India is that, with not much organization to film making in India, it is difficult to maintain even a subscription of 100000. Think about the cost of obtaining such highly technical articles, we need highly paid journalists to write them!

]]> by: Ragu http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/30/in-elevator-advertising-is-not-cost-effective/#comment-134 Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:39:02 +0000 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/30/in-elevator-advertising-is-not-cost-effective/#comment-134 The way elevator advertising can work is to have a company handle the infrastructure requirements of setting up the audio system and other needs and then leasing out ad time for advertisers just like the television or radio does. This is similar to companies buying or setting up banner boards in the city roads and then leasing out the space to advertisers. The cost of setting up the elevator ad system can be prohibitive to one advertiser but for the company which leases out such a system, the cost is offset by the longer term revenues it would earn. just my 2 cents. but still the effectiveness of elevator ads are in question. Elevators are becoming faster by the day and ads have to be really short and to the point to ensure the traveller gets the full ad before he steps out. The way elevator advertising can work is to have a company handle the infrastructure requirements of setting up the audio system and other needs and then leasing out ad time for advertisers just like the television or radio does. This is similar to companies buying or setting up banner boards in the city roads and then leasing out the space to advertisers. The cost of setting up the elevator ad system can be prohibitive to one advertiser but for the company which leases out such a system, the cost is offset by the longer term revenues it would earn. just my 2 cents. but still the effectiveness of elevator ads are in question. Elevators are becoming faster by the day and ads have to be really short and to the point to ensure the traveller gets the full ad before he steps out.

]]> by: Amit Sharma http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/30/in-elevator-advertising-is-not-cost-effective/#comment-132 Mon, 30 Oct 2006 18:15:50 +0000 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/30/in-elevator-advertising-is-not-cost-effective/#comment-132 Chandra, can I have your no. ? Chandra, can I have your no. ?

]]> by: What-a-kutty http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/17/want-to-retire-at-35/#comment-131 Wed, 18 Oct 2006 13:38:15 +0100 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/17/want-to-retire-at-35/#comment-131 Hi Amit, i guess it is a fatigue thingy. If people look at their daily work life and very few people can say with confidence that they can visualize themselves doing the same thing for next 30 years and not getting bored. It is also a good way of planning careers .. set intermediate milestones that are reasonable and you can then see if it is going somewhere or you need to take corrective action. For me it is simply a case of trying to see give me a goal post .. like a lot of people .. i might move this goal post as i approach it. 35 might become 38 might become 42 ... cheers chandra Hi Amit,
i guess it is a fatigue thingy. If people look at their daily work life and very few people can say with confidence that they can visualize themselves doing the same thing for next 30 years and not getting bored.
It is also a good way of planning careers .. set intermediate milestones that are reasonable and you can then see if it is going somewhere or you need to take corrective action.
For me it is simply a case of trying to see give me a goal post .. like a lot of people .. i might move this goal post as i approach it. 35 might become 38 might become 42 …

cheers
chandra

]]> by: Amit Sharma http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/17/want-to-retire-at-35/#comment-130 Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:50:04 +0100 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/17/want-to-retire-at-35/#comment-130 Why do you want to retire from work at 35? Have heard this from many people. Is it that because most of us work well when driven by deadlines so you want to set up an overarching deadline for yourself? Why do you want to retire from work at 35? Have heard this from many people. Is it that because most of us work well when driven by deadlines so you want to set up an overarching deadline for yourself?

]]> by: What-a-kutty http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/12/y-is-hiring-where-is-the-next-youtube-going-to-come-from/#comment-129 Mon, 16 Oct 2006 07:42:55 +0100 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/12/y-is-hiring-where-is-the-next-youtube-going-to-come-from/#comment-129 Adarsh, coming to think of it .. Google was rumoured to have been planning a BIG sez in hyderabad where they wanted to set up a datacenter .. SO it might just happen that you have a large 200 acre campus betweem bangalore and Mysore which might house a big server farm dishing out www.google.com or www.live.com or www.yahoo.com. cheers Adarsh,

coming to think of it .. Google was rumoured to have been planning a BIG sez in hyderabad where they wanted to set up a datacenter .. SO it might just happen that you have a large 200 acre campus betweem bangalore and Mysore which might house a big server farm dishing out www.google.com or www.live.com or www.yahoo.com.

cheers

]]> by: What-a-kutty http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/12/y-is-hiring-where-is-the-next-youtube-going-to-come-from/#comment-128 Mon, 16 Oct 2006 07:39:16 +0100 http://codecutter.blogsome.com/2006/10/12/y-is-hiring-where-is-the-next-youtube-going-to-come-from/#comment-128 I think it is a little bit more than access to markets. I used to work for a startup called Strand genomics and they did have this model where there Sales function ( and to some extent - Marketing ) were based out of US( target market ) and the engineering was done out of Blore. We were successful but no where near where we wanted to be. It is something more than just access to markets. You have had a lot of Indian founded companies that have this Onsite ( marketing and Sales ) and Offshore model ( engineering and customer support ) and are doing well ( Though not on a scale where they become a consumer phenomenon like YouTube or Facebook or so on). Wrt to Indian markets, i think a few concepts like YouTube would make sense only when the Indian broadband consumption has reached certain threshold levels. There are way too many Indians for whom a simple ajax interface itself doesnt work .. forget a video on the internet ( coming to think of it .. during diwali i will have to live off a dial up connection at my native place). An idea's time has to come. Coming to think of it .. what would be the next biggest idea ... any thought's anyone. A good topic for the next post. I think it is a little bit more than access to markets. I used to work for a startup called Strand genomics and they did have this model where there Sales function ( and to some extent - Marketing ) were based out of US( target market ) and the engineering was done out of Blore. We were successful but no where near where we wanted to be. It is something more than just access to markets. You have had a lot of Indian founded companies that have this Onsite ( marketing and Sales ) and Offshore model ( engineering and customer support ) and are doing well ( Though not on a scale where they become a consumer phenomenon like YouTube or Facebook or so on).

Wrt to Indian markets, i think a few concepts like YouTube would make sense only when the Indian broadband consumption has reached certain threshold levels. There are way too many Indians for whom a simple ajax interface itself doesnt work .. forget a video on the internet ( coming to think of it .. during diwali i will have to live off a dial up connection at my native place).

An idea’s time has to come. Coming to think of it .. what would be the next biggest idea … any thought’s anyone. A good topic for the next post.

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