On a sabbatical

For a short period of time. Blogburnout, I don't know. Last few evenings, I did not log-on to my machine either. I found it to be very relaxing. I am adding to my collection of books. I have bought over twenty new titles, in the last couple of weeks; enough reading material for the next six months or so.

Till I return, cheers!

Next YouTubes???

The recent issue of Time has a story, about the YouTube and it also profiles a few web2.0 companies that have the potential to be the next YouTube (???)

The companies profiled were the Farecast.com (direct competitor of Kayak.com, my favourite),Yelp.com, Doostang.com, 37Signals.com (another favourite of mine), 30boxes.com and Pandora.com.

Of all these companies, I am very excited about 37signals. The team and the products they have developed are truly amazing. Almost, all of the products were developed on RoR. Which company would acquire 37signals.

I will be there

Do plan to attend the PodCamp (Pittsburgh). More details can be found here

Technorati:PodCamp Pittsburgh

Any plans for the Second Life

The Second Life is getting populated. More and more corporations are setting up shop in the SL, the print world are setting up SL bureau / news desk. Heck, there is even a law suit, seeking damages for SL land usurping.

I am not bitten yet, though I have been in-and-out of it, last few months. For more info about the SL, check out the, wikipedia

What is your experience , so far in the SL?

Technorati:Second Life

Anoushka Shankar in Pittsburgh

Anoushka Shankar is performing on :
Venue: Byham Theater
Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 7:30 PM

GooTube

I am glad, this is finally over. Last few months, we are hearing stories about the possible suitors for YouTube. I am glad, it is Google and nobody else. Why am I excited about google? YouTube exemplified the "disorganized, lets enjoy it and everything else will fall in place" culture of Google.

This is an all-stock deal. If the GOOG goes north, YouTube shareholders will be more richer.

What is interesting in the deal, is the possible involvement of Sequoia Capital in making this deal happen. Sequoia is an investor in YouTube, have led two rounds of financing and own thirty-percent of the company. They were also an early investor in Google. Talk about "warm-introductions", and this is a classic example.

I am glad, Google is maintaining the YouTube brand. YouTube literally created a cottage industry; there are now, over two hundred fifty video uploading sites. They created a culture, encouraging people to share videos, encouraging corporations to announce their new product/service lines as short films. A great success story, the founders should be proud of.

At 1.6bil$, overvalued? possibly; an example of an inflated Web2.0 bubble? Seems like it.
Do the founders deserve those $$$, in my world, YES, absolutely. I wish them all good luck and hopefully they will invest part of it in venture philanthropy.

Other than the YouTube founders, the other winner is, the car dealers; The looser?
Om Malik. It will be interesting to see, Om loose those 40 pounds. A trim Om, is a sight to behold.

Technorati:Google YouTube GooTube Om Malik Gigaom

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and an unforgettable sunday

(Pic Courtesy: Sri Bala)












Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra invited the Pittsburgh Bloggers to attend the symphony concert of Dmitri Shostakovich, the great russian composer, who lived during the reign of Stalin.

Jonathan Mayes (from PSO) was our host for the evening. He gave us a quick tour of the backstage, the rooms where the muscians practise, the private rooms of the conducutors and most importantly the library.

It was a rare glimpse at the library, place where the notes are prepared and archived. The contemporary notes are borrowed from other symphony orchestra. To get the notes in shape, they use an electric eraser, to remove those notes / marks, people make.

The concert itself was unforgettable. My favourite was the Symphony no.5 in d minor, opus 47. Shostakovich made the fifth symphony as a vehicle for his artistic rehabilitation during the Stalin era. The very eloquent Largo, was heart wrenching and satirical. During the crescendo, I could feel my eyes go moist. Compare the Largo, to the Allegro non troppo and you will find yourself exhuberant and see yourself muttering "Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing". The piece made me ecstatic.

The conductor Vassily Sinaisky was at his best. His body language was all "Oh, What a joy, it is", and he did a great job in bringing out the very best from the orchestra. This was Vassily's debut performance with the PSO.

After the concert, the entire concert hall gave a standing ovation, that possibly lasted about 15-20 minutes. It was a tremendous performance and they deserved every bit of the standing ovation

A big thank you to Jonathan (PSO) and Mike, Cindy from the Pittsburgh Bloggers, for making this happen. What a sunday, it was. Totally unforgettable.

Do check out Sri's blog, for more pics and the post about the symphony. Good stuff.

Technorati:Symphony Pittsburgh Dmitri Shostakovich
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra