Google adds Robotics to it’s portfolio. But wait….

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By now we all heard about this news and wondering how Robots would invade your life in future. This is a time to reflect back the science papers, novels and imagination of the +Issac Asimov, a biochemistry professor and author at Boston University. His work on the “The Positronic Man”, “I,Robot” among the best gave the impression on how AI Robots can learn from humans and behave like humans. Remember that these novels are from 1970s.

Looking forward from today, the science fiction of the past is becoming a commercially viable product of future. Automated cars, Robot driven cars, Robot helpers at home, Robots doing surgeries, Nano Robots in the body to monitor health is nothing but a reality.

Very excited to see this rate of progress in the CS / AI / Engineering.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/technology/google-adds-to-its-menagerie-of-robots.html

http://mashable.com/2013/12/14/google-acquires-boston-dynamics/

 

LEAP Motion – my final comments

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I am one of those early adopters who was very excited about the LEAP Motion technology and the potential. I started playing with LEAP on August 14th 2013 and finally i returned the device today. LEAP Motion is a good device but probably not for me at this time.

Here are top 3 reasons for me to return the device.

1) Free Apps: There are 23 Apps on the LEAP App Store (called AirSpace) for both Windows and Mac. I would not use some of them and I don’t want to buy apps. I have spent $70+ for the device and I am not ready to pay for the Apps. My favorite game “Fruit Ninja” is $2.99 on Windows. Unfortunately, in the era of the iOS and Android Apps ecosystem, I never paid more than $.99 for an App. I enjoy most of the Apps for FREE. In that context, paying anything more than $.99 is a burden on me.

I believe LEAP (or partners) should have created more Apps before this launch. I like to explore but without lot of FREE Apps, my options are limited.

2 )New HCI Paradigm : Of course, LEAP is all about the new human computer interaction that potentially creates multiple opportunities. It took me a while to get used to the hand gestures and how i control the screen.

No wonder, Steve Jobs is the genius to understand the users as well as the business sense when he introduced the iPhone and iPad. The user interaction is pretty intuitive, starting from 2 year old kid to 90 year old grand ma. The usage of the finger to accomplish any task on iPhone/iPad is the trick. Everything just works.

With LEAP Motion, I was not able to get the same intuitiveness and it just feels odd. Also, i work mostly on the laptop and it becomes very cumbersome to keep Leap on your lap and do hand gestures. Perhaps this is designed for people using the desktops.

3) Usecases : After playing couple of FREE games, I did not know what ELSE to do. Can i control my whole Windows 7 experience? probably not. Unless, i launch the AirSpace to start the App, I cant not do anything. Perhaps, I may have tried to explore more if i had more Free apps????

So ???? : As a Computer Science engineer and a MBA, LEAP Motion is freaking cool technology and has some cool usecases. Usage of the cameras, infrared sensors to create the 3D space and manipulating the apps is great. But, I (as a user) was not too sure what i can do with this device.

I would definitely imagine there are lots of use cases in the 3D modeling space. Especially in the Construction Industry, this can be used to do the BIMs (building information models) and model them collaboratively. I can also imagine the use of LEAP Motion in Education/Schools/Medical Schools, for kids to touch and interact with the virtual body parts. In addition, they can build great FREE Apps for kids. My daughter would love to interact with the objects in the air and dress up Dora and all her favorite princesses.

I will definitely re-visit LEAP in couple of months and hopefully I can find some compelling usecases. But for now, it’s not for me!

Gesture Recognition Leap In Action Leap Motion App Gallery

LEAP Motion – Interesting HCI paradigm

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OK, finally i was able to play with my new Leap Motion . Pretty cool technology that detects your hand motion and transfer it to your computer screen.

Some notes on Day 1:
* Setup is freaking simple! Plug it in, install the Leap Motion and go!
* Leap Motion is small in size and fits on most desks
* This is a new way of interacting with the applications
* Current FREE Apps are *NOT* enough to explore.
* I would like to see more FREE Apps. I don’t want to buy Apps! No way!
* Hopefully I should be able to control the whole desktop (not just the Airspace App) with hands.

Am I excited now? Yes. Will I be excited the Day 10? Not sure yet.

Leap Motion and USB Connector Leap In Action Gesture Recognition Leap Packaging

Now you have an MBA. So what? and what’s next ?

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This is a classic question many people kept asking me in the past 3 months. Its a frustrating question to react to but a very valid question that must be answered by every graduate. Some people asked my directly on how i am going to use my MBA at work and others asked me very politely that they assume that I have a promotion or a pay rise in the coming months. Many felt there is no use of my MBA degree if i don’t do that “next” thing. This blog is like my journal and I thought of reflecting some thoughts on the big question of what’s next.

Why I did my MBA : 

  1. As a technology guy with computer science background, I worked in various industries and not always understood how it “all worked together”.
  2. I had no idea why economists, accountants, financial analysts and statisticians are critical to businesses and organizations. As silly as it may sound, I never understood difference between Accounting and Finance topics 🙂
  3. I could talk and think about the technology and i felt it might give me a good chance to succeed if I knew how to talk and think business.
  4. I could not make much sense of the technology, business models, innovation, customers, markets, international marketing, micro and macro economics, marketing mix, M&A, org. behavior, HR and CRM.
  5. I had 2 opportunities to go independent and start a company and i did not have the confidence to do so (and of course, i did not understand if MBA would help)

What I learned from my MBA :

  1. Think; Decide; Do it; Get the results; Learn; Move on.
  2. How to ask right questions and connect the dots with the answers.
  3. I don’t need to have all the answers but i should know all the people who can answer my questions
  4. How you decide and what you decide are equally important. Use the right set of tools and methods appropriately and practice the decision making process repeatedly.
  5. A right or wrong decision is not absolute. Decision making process is relative to what information, data and goals you have at that time.

Is it worth it ?

It could be a million dollar question. But to make it simple, i would say an affirmative and positive YES. When i look at what I learned in my MBA class, they are applicable to personal as well as professional life. They build confidence that I know how to connect the dots and problems can be solved one way or the other.  While the take home lessons from an MBA degree could be different to different people, I think its mostly to do with how you apply your lessons from MBA and make them a habit in life.

“Knowing and not doing is not knowing”

Not talking too technical here, I feel, I can better analyze and solve problems, find my way out, understand the power dynamics, understand the customers and markets that everyone serves to.

So what ?

This question is hard to answer. If a third person does not feel a difference with you before and after MBA then there is a problem. The problem many people face is when they try to “showoff” business degree knowledge when they talk to others. Instead, i have seen many successful people who mixes business knowledge and human touch to the problems.

Hopefully the MBA graduates do better in their jobs and think about the business responsibility to the society. Ultimately prevent any future Enron, Worldcom, Freddie Mac and likes and hurt the confidence on the economic systems in our society.

What’s next ? 

I have no idea at this point of time on what’s next. I am currently on vacation in India and really not thinking about this next thing in my career. But i am sure I will think about it eventually and do something. I still don’t know what, why and where. I have lots of unanswered questions. While this phase of my life is the most difficult and frustrating one, this probably has meaningful end result.

“Keep looking and don’t settle” 🙂

I definitely hope to write a Update to this story and see “What i did next ?”

Why take the time and pain to blog?

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I started blogging about year 2006 and since then I take time to express my ideas, opinions and reviews in this blog and ultimately enjoy the experience. In 7+ years of my blogging experience, I learned several cultural, writing, technological and emotional aspects of blogging.

All blogs on internet are subjected to random viewers (strangers) looking at the content and reviewing it very critically. They probably do not care that you posted the content out of your passion and you spend time to create that content.

The beauty of the internet is you consume and contribute (mostly for free).

A different dimension of blogging is that it provides a way to structure my thoughts, express them to wider audience and in the worse case it is my journal.

Each blog on an average takes about 30-45 minutes of my time to structure the thoughts and then self-review the content and post. That’s a lot of my personal time per blog. While I love to contribute to the world with the little i know, I am also deeply saddened when people copy the content and don’t attribute the material. Recently my friend brought to my attention 2 different blogs that took the content and just changed the names. While I have no problem in people using my content, it dot not sound right to treat my content as YOUR content 🙁

Don_t-Copy-Paste

My request to everyone on the internet is “You can Copy but do Not Paste”! Content creators take enormous about of time to create the original thoughts, reviews and ideas. Copying them and using them as a owner is “not fair” (as my daughter says).

I love blogging and I will continue to do this. Most bloggers don’t do it for money, they do it because they love it.

Please be respectful and be responsible.

Image Credit : Google Image Search.

Is it love or branding?

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I have been stacking up the iPhone and iPad packaging for a while. Each time I take them to throwaway, I am so in love with the packaging, I keep them back. That’s called Branding and emotional attachment 🙂 How can companies make products and dreams that would make you keep the packaging? The more I think about it, the more I appreciate Apple to lead the way for other retailer and tech companies.

For any product manager, this is a very complex problem to solve and everyone wants to live up to create that brand. In my view, there are couple of things that Apple does very effectively.

  • Focus on 80% of the use cases and find simple solutions (not on the other 20%)
  • Manufacture the need and love for users (be it iPhone or iPad)
  • Do something audacious (market research is not always the answer. Market research can only provide ways to incremental innovation)
  • Provide integrated marketing experience (emails, Apple Stores, Apple Website, TV Ads, Billboards, Blogs)
  • Provide the human aspect of the problem (and don’t focus on the product itself)
  • The end-to-end user experience counts (product information, demo, packaging, website, buying process, insurance, warranty, service and others)
  • Provide use cases that user has not thought about (provide endless possibilities and make customer appreciate the design and thought process that has gone into the product)

I follow Google very closely and I use many internet products from them. I think What Apple if for Hardware, Google is for Software. I really hope there are more companies who takes care of the customers, design and the integrated experience.

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Be mindful of types of people and behavior in your life!

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People are people! We deal with variety of people in our community, work place, family, friends and many other random places. While we know some people close enough to get around the unpleasant nature, with others we get into trouble because of unmet expectations. A topic of interest for me is how people behave and why they behave in a certain way.

Why should you care? Each of our tolerance levels vary and we all are vulnerable to ill treatment by others. We want others to treat us with respect and dignity and vice verse. While we can not totally avoid “bad behavior” people, realizing them early in the game helps us to minimize the losses (emotional, psychological and economic).

Below is a summary of types of people that I encountered. Of course, some people might have a mix of several characteristics embedded in them, but for the sake of clarity, I want to distinguish each. If you see other types of people not in this list, please contribute. I want to learn too.

1) People who are always with you no matter what happens to you
2) People who are with you only when you are happy (or celebration time)
3) People who are always with you when you are in need. These people give you emotional help. They are there with you days and nights when in need.
4) People who are always with you and want to see you regress (or downfall)
5) People who are praying for your downfall from behind you; You don’t see them. But they are watching you.
6) People who puts you in trouble. They are smarts who always know how to escape a situation to put you in the hot seat.
7) People who brings you out of trouble. These people differ from #3. They suggest you what to do and may also work with you to bring you out of trouble.
8) People who praise before you and bitch about you from behind. These are dual personality people who you would not even think tal bad about you. But shit happens.
9) People who always hates you no matter how nice you are to them. Dont know why but they are there.
10) People who think you are good and want to see you grow personally and professionally. They believe in you and they stand by you.
11) People who are role models for you in some categories of life.
12) People who use your relationship (with them) to get their work done. They neither like you nor hate you but you are a means to their end 🙂

Surprisingly there are many good people who pass around the positive aura. So, don’t get depressed about negative people. Remember that just you being positive is not enough and will not sustain for a long time. You need to choose your company (of people) wisely.

Stick to your values; Be Happy; Do Good;

Observations from my daughter’s spring break

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Now that I am done with my MBA, I have weekends for myself. More than anything else, I am happy to spend time with my family and learn many things that I missed in these 2.5 years. In the last couple of weeks I observed many kids playing in my neighborhood and parks which helped me develop a perspective on their behavior.

I have observed enough kids to categorize the sample as below.

Leaders: These kids wants other kids to follow them. They don’t care what other kids think. Unconsciously they show direction, they lead and there are “some” who follow them. These kids often are very assertive and they do stuff no matter what others think.

Followers: Clear…! These kids follow the leaders. Not because they like them because they need someone to show the path. They want someone else to entertain them. So, the leaders take this opportunity and take the followers for a ride. Followers simply can’t decide or they need some assurance from others. So, they fall pray.

Observers: Observers pretty much sit beside the Leaders and Followers and jsut relax. They are not very dynamic in nature and they like watching the action from outside. They have the most fun because they do not get involved in any action directly or indirectly. If a kid falls down, they laugh; If couple of kids are fighting, they still laugh; Pretty annoying to see such kids.

Discoverers: These kids are explorers trying to understand themselves and others. They want to try, understand what they like and what they don’t like. They lead based on the situation but not necessarily a leader personality. They usually don’t get into fight, because they want to learn and experiment. They don’t care about the cool kids.

Haters: No matter how kind and gentle a kid is there is always a kid who hates him/her. These kids usually try to be a leader, fail and then start blaming the other kids for unsuccessful attempt. They induce poison to other kids and instigate some wrongdoings. The hate in the minds of these kids so sophisticated that these kids are pretty hard to identify for the first time.

Now, think about these kids and fast-forward their lives for 20 years. Do these kids remain the same with their traits? What re-shapes them when they are growing? Does parenting influence a LOT? or is it just a personal trait that does not change over time?

While it is easy to push everything that a child behavior on individual traits and parents, there seems to be lot more factors that influences what they turnout to be as an adult. Did we not hear parents saying that my son/daughter is “very intelligent” at young age and then they turn out to be real “hope less human beings” as adults? It would be pretty interesting to study some of these factors that drives a child’s future. I will write more on what i find and when i find.

Startups in India – a report

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A country’s culture and background (a predictor of course) pretty much decides the direction of the growth in this modern world. India is a risk-averse country and people are not ready to take risks. The younger generation is coming out being more entrepreneurial but still it lacks the big impact on the society. I only wish that the politics and government policies become more open to embrace the modern infrastructure and standard of living. This will hopefully encourage the brain drain and helps smart people to stay back and for Indian origin people elsewhere in the world to go back to India. I am hopeful!

Below is a wonderful study and results on the Startups in India.

UC Davis GSM : Classes that made a difference to me!

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OK, now I am done with my MBA, many current students asked me about my personal preference of classes at UC Davis GSM. I have posted all of them in “UC Davis Class FAQs” and for those who like to see it in a single place, see below 🙂

Markets and the Firm (Victor Stango) – I never studies economics before and Victor brings in many many practical examples in the class from various industries. I only wish it was a case study based class but never the less, his class really was my foundation for future classes and I apply the basics everyday.

Data Analysis for Managers (Roger Edelen) – Simply put this is a statistics class. But with a twist of how to represent the numbers in spreadsheets and present it to senior management. I like the practical aspect of using the spreadsheets and getting things done. Don’t miss the Bayesian concepts : it just becomes so important as a manager.

Organizational Strategy and Organizational Behavior (Gina Dokko) – Covers the fundamentals of the strategy and human behavior and biases. This class is case oriented and this makes it much more lively and enjoyable. Everyone in the class has a different opinion. That’s OK. There is tons of reading and there is a lot to learn in this class. In my view, this strategy class is foundation for anyone going into (or planning) general management.

Negotiation in Organizations (Joseph Radzevick) – Negotiations is part of everyday life and this class makes you aware of various techniques. Irrespective of who is teaching this, the material and the class interactions makes it worth. At least when i took it, every class had at least 2 negotiations with fellow members using the techniques that i learned in previous class. I highly recommend (again, if you don’t practice it’s of no use).

Mergers and Acquisitions (David Petroni) – My time and money was well worth for this class. David is a industry veteran with a lot of M&A experience and brings in the financial, organizational, cultural, legal and industry aspects to M&A. He brought in many speakers who lived through M&A and that was very insightful. Most interestingly, I was involved in two M&A teams after that.

Executive Leadership Seminar (Jim Wundermann) – This class is very different compared to what we have in GSM. This class has two parts to it. First part is to make you realize your strengths and leadership style. Second part is that you get a perspective on various industry leaders. CEOs from various industries (DELL WYSE, PG&E, Virgin America, Silicon Valley Bank, Citi Bank California, etc…) talk about their leadership challenges and experiences and you get a chance to ask them questions too.

Product Management (Marcus Lowe) – This class needs a *lot* of work. Pick a good group that you can work with. This is a highly analytical and quantitative class and a must for anyone who wants to do product marketing, product innovation (R&D) and new product introductions. Though i do product management for work, the markstrat simulation puts you in various phases of product life cycle that one many not always gets exposed to.

Multi-Channel Marketing (Rubel, Olivier) – Olivier is very knowledgeable and one of the very few professors who presses you to think “as a decision maker”. I have got a lot out of his multi-channel marketing class.

International Marketing (Peters, Kay) – This is a very interesting class for people working with international firms and looking for global expansion of products. This is a one unit class and Kay provides a wonderful framework to think about the international product marketing. This could be a three unit course and get into more details of the nuances of the international marketing.

Technology Competition and Strategy (Hemant Bhargava) – People get what they want to get out of this class. Due to the inherent nature, the class discusses a lot of technology companies and products. This is a must class for anyone building the technology products in startups or corporations. The modern nature of the platforms (internal or external) and network effects makes it much more challenging for the survival of the technologies and this class addresses exactly that. This class provides a framework to think about when building products. Its difficult to appreciate this class if you have not faced any challenges to promote your product or standard in your firm.