How Symantec and Mcafee falsely scared the world in wasting money on their useless security software

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 07:05:22 -0500

Using dubious sources, which they might bought off in the first place, and fantasy fiction posing as White paper, Mcafee managed to convince ignorant world l

How Reddit can be an alternative to college

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:54:13 -0500

This is the idea of the week: Reddit as an alternative to college. Lots of like-minded, better-read-than-average people doing a dazzling mix

How social media is destroying useful criticism: Everyone is being nice and dishonest

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:49:24 -0500

In this age of Facebook friends and Twitter followers, and where everyone is trying to build her/his Tribe (or 1000 fans) , nature of most political news on Televis

Big companies are taking over the internet, redux

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 02:02:52 -0500

The relentless march of big companies (who would like to call themselves people now) over muchy of the internet continues. Sample these two news items:

Nicholas Carr on dead-but-getting-richer celebrities

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 01:54:21 -0500

Or, at least their greedy families:

I think it was Nietzsche who

C.S. Lewis's writing advice: useful but hypocritical

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:30:06 -0500

So C.S. Lewis wrote a letter about writing advice, sounding l

How to be a travel parasite (and two other helpful tips for travellers)

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:27:49 -0500

Three most useful tips from a long list of helpful tips for travelers over at Legalnomads

The difference between reading books and watching films

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:26:13 -0500

Don't worry. This is not going to be a long rant on the topic. But, simply consider this: You would watch a silly Harry Potter movie in a cinema, but would y

The myth of the suffering artist: How true in this age of overpaid art and undertalented artists?

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:25:19 -0500

Looking at the current crop of artists, you would say the myth of suffering artists is over - look, for example at Damien Hirst, and all the installataion ar

$200 Micro House: Coffin with a view?

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:23:25 -0500

The the col

The state of Pakistan: 20 years behind the world, and Imran Khan is no solution

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:12:17 -0500

From an interview of noted Af-Pak exper

A short chronology of Indian Civilian-Military Distrust

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:09:15 -0500

The Indian Express story about unexpected troop movements around Delhi in January 2012, on the same that the army chief General Singh took the government to

No. # reason to quit Facebook: Enough of watching activity streams of people who merely floated through your life

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:06:56 -0500

The timeline of insignificant people is the number one reason people will stop using Facebook. 'Mind-boggling privacy settings and inabi

Uncool youth - Part 1: Hunger Games vs Bully

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:02:21 -0500

Global film business is a teen film business. That, I get. But, teens only watch escapist movies like Hunger Games (which itself is a rip off from old movies

Journalists hall of infamy: People who got caught copying, fabricating

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 12:09:34 -0500

So, Mike Daisey might have fabricated some parts of Apple/Foxconn awful factories in China, that doesn

Should you buy the new iPad? Don't waste your money, go for these options instead

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:46:11 -0500

The new, funnily-named Retina screen, is the only thing worth noting in the new iPad. I am not sure what version it is. Will the ipad in 202

Why the friction of paper money defined our lives (and how bad a cashless future will be)

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:35:43 -0500

While the poor (and salaried) like the rise of electronic payments - the direct bank-to-bank money transfers - salary or subsidy, it doesn\

Yes, waitressing is a real job: Wall Street isn't a real job

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:29:54 -0500

Whatever prejudice you might subscribe

Nike's FuelBand: Do we need yet another wearable exercise monitor?

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:24:45 -0500

Will you fork up $149 for Nike's new

11 most important figures about birth control in the United States

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:19:10 -0500

Forget about politics and morals. At end of it, birth and birth control are about money. These are the most important figures on the subject that you must kn

$50 LED light bulb from Philips: A luxury item (cheaper ones already in the market)

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:17:14 -0500

Philips won a $10 million contest run by the US government, the L Prize from Department of Enenrgy, to build the best (theoritically) eco-fr

Adventures in teen smoking: Behind the epidemic is heavy marketing by tobacco companies

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:14:54 -0500

The idea behind all tobacco advertising is that smoking makes you 'cool', without having to do anything 'harmful'. Not surprisingly, 2.6 million teenagers sm

Draw Something: Pictionary meets Scrabble

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:13:10 -0500

Some call the hot new app '

Does beeping out expletives weaken a film's effect: The case of The Bully

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:04:26 -0500

The MPAA slapped an R rating on Bully, a documen

Why global warming may be making us fat: increased CO2 levels affect hormones that stimulate activity

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:16:36 -0500

Danish researchers say carbon dioxide in earth's atmosphere is

The Grass-Mud Horse lexicon: Chinese bloggers' tool to subvert government censorship

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:56:46 -0500

The Grass-Mud Horse lexicon is a compilation of slang that Chinese bloggers are using to subvert government censorship. As reported study claims that sleepy people (researchers s

Do Genes decide who gets to be a free-thinker or a conformist?: Nah

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:39:55 -0500

It is hard to believe American scientists claim in a
Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:25:40 -0500

The story of recycled diamonds in America and how it might the hurt the global industry (as it is, high-quality rough diamonds h

The 'sell anything' age: A list of things you can buy on this planet

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:03:52 -0500

In the 'sell anything' age, you can buy and sell anything. People will get rich by selling all kinds of things. Morality doesn't matter. A f

What government warnings are most useful?: Start with 'politics isn't about policy'

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:59:39 -0500

From an interesting discussion at Marginal Revolution over $2.1 trillion worth of goods and services

India, not a superpower: Only a soft powerhouse (long live Bollywood and curry)

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:29:00 -0500

A study by the reputed London School of Economics says India is not a superpower by

Why Indian organizations ban websites: Objectionable content is just an excuse to hide other motives

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:15:13 -0500

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) reportedly blocked Facebook, on its campus, as it believed the site carried objectionable posts that Muslims would not li

Annals of rich Indian lawmakers: 86% of MLAs in Punjab are crorepatis

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:10:03 -0500

Another evidence in support of the argument that the democratic process is not for the poor or even the middle class. The Association for Democratic Reforms

Finally a sensible rail budget: If you can pay Rs. 250 for a bad bollywood movie, you can pay Rs. 150 extra for rail travel

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:01:23 -0500

Middle class India doesn't need to despair over the

Dear Indian Media, Stop all this SP-praising

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:54:05 -0600

5 years ago, you all were singing same praises for Mayawati, her rainbow alliance, how she ousted SP's goonda-raj from UP. Already a losing SP candidate shot

Start of the end for the India growth story? Rising salaries, slowing growth rate, plateuing demographic dividend

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:21:28 -0600

How long can a country keep growing, fueled by an aspirational demographic dividend? Salaries are rising all the time, making IT-outsourcing firms and others

How to change business education in India: Bhavya Sahni says make internships compulsory for MBA students

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:13:03 -0600

If there is at least one original thing the 'always-copying-the-Americans' Indian Business schools can do to churn out better prepared students, is

Can American style party primaries democratize our dynastic system?

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:07:56 -0600

Why is that people like Robert Vadra, Priyanka or whoever gets to speak with freedom on any issue related to their party when they have never held any politi

Why it is foolish to spend money on virtual goods (and cloud computing), redux: The Sony horror story

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:23:23 -0600

Recently, Sony announced that it would be shutting down t

Apple's excuse for its China sweatshops: We create ample jobs and business for Americans, so just shut up

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:15:41 -0600

Responding to its critics who complain about bad work situations in its China factories (run by Foxconn), Apple chief Tim Cook says that Apple has

How to create a Pinterest clone

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:04:11 -0600

First, why would you want to create a Pinterest clone? The only reason I can think of is to create a mega-affiliate site, with images of ads and the paid lin

Mozilla Collusion: See who's tracking you online

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:57:01 -0600

Mozilla Collusion is a new Firefox browser add-on that helps you track which companies are tracking you on the internet as you browse variou

It is sexist to say Pinterest is only for girls

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:52:13 -0600

The most common story about Pinterest is that it is used mainly by women in the American mid-west. But, this might be a sexist idea, as this post by S.E. Smi

How Microfinance may be the sub-prime loan menace for India

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:44:32 -0600

In U.S., there were the NINJA loans, high-interest loans made out to people with no jobs, no income, nothing. The Indian equivalent of NINJA loans may be the

Whatever the odds, the (real) incredible story behind DLF: How it fudged its books to the top in an unregulated Indian real estate market

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:36:05 -0600

That India needs a real estate regulator, along the lines of TRAI, is stressed once aga

Tablets will begin to outsell PCs by the fall of 2013

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:24:45 -0600

It had to happen eventually. Most users aren't cosumer creators and Tablets are available for $75 in certain markets. It isn't about the iPad anymore. Asymco

Dave Winer's challenge to hypocritical, dubious tech blogs: Practice what you preach

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:19:36 -0600

When a blog that is being financed by a group of VCs who want their investments covered favorably, ran a post mocking Dave's criticism of iPhone-related secu

The real truth about Facebook Fan Pages: Only 16% actually see a piece of your content

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:42:30 -0600

In a presention for its so-called premium service, Facebook revelaed that when a Facebook page owner posts a piece of content to their Facebook page, and tha

How Apple's TV plans will no better than its Appified Internet Walled Garden Plan: cable companies and content providers will be most hit

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:34:32 -0600

Get this thing clear: Apple just wants to sell us its shiny, bauhaus-style gadgets. Apple isn't concerned with better TV experience (which eventually is abou

How Asperger's Syndrome got us the geek culture (and how being obsessive might not be good all the time)

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:09:02 -0600

Aspergher's greatest (or worst) gift to humanity might be the tech culture centered around the Silicon Valley and elsewhere in America, as geek gods such as

Annals of American Healthcare: Medibid, letting medical providers bid for your business

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:00:18 -0600

In a highly dysfunctional American healthcare, where medical premium costs outspeed the rise in people's incomes, comes Medibid, that lets medical service pr

Oprah's Book Club did not help Publishing: Only stole sales from important literature away to fluff literature

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:55:37 -0600

The much vaunted Oprah's book club, long thought to be a boon to book publishing was not that good to publishing at all, according to a why Indian students plagiarize, as explained by an academic P

How Bangalore's Techies might be becoming fundamentalists under RSS influence (and why it might be easy to indoctrinate techies)

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:51:40 -0600

Helped by a BJP government, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is making successful inroads into the Indian IT hub of Bangalore (which many charitably cal

Why Indian government servants should consider a Negative Salary: Pay to have a job

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:48:26 -0600

Indian government servants, not known for being sincere, honest, and hard workers, should take a lesson from their Greek counterparts, who are helping the go

Media comment of the day: CNN should be forced to register as a Republican Super PAC

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:44:17 -0600

News organization should just cover events and report, and not work with any subject that may be part of the news under coverage. Describing CNN's decision t

How Facebook is basically a walled garden Monica Geller would have designed

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:40:33 -0600

Facebook's 'no nipples' rule has upset breastfeeding mothers who think that Facebook's censorship attitude is symptomatic of a

How Google isn't that usable anymore: New mantra is 'copy everything, don't be simple'

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:20:26 -0600

As Google becomes more and more like a content provider, moving away from its origin as an elegant, efficient and effing fast indexer, Google may be losing i

iPhone financials: Apple's margin on each iPhone sold is around 55%

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:13:17 -0600

Apple sells an iPhone for around $650. A report says Apple's cost of Goods sold (COGS) is $293. Of this COGS, the bill of materials (e.g. touchscreen cost) f

The Insta-author trend: Make short ebooks on the latest media sensation and make a killing

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:03:14 -0600

Latest media sensations such as basketball's latest star Jeremy Lin are inspiring content creators to churn up

What we read, is our biography

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 03:50:36 -0600

Leon Wieseltier
Wed, 10 Nov 2010 05:57:37 -0600

It would not be hyperbole to suggest that Do not track is going to be the next big thing in the privacy w

What is the end game for Shashi Tharoor?

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:27:32 -0500

So far, Shashi Tharoor's life has run along an enviable script. Start with writing middling books (usually based on popular topics of the day) that get cover

Bighow User newsguide

How Symantec and Mcafee falsely scared the world in wasting money on their useless security software

How Reddit can be an alternative to college

How social media is destroying useful criticism: Everyone is being nice and dishonest

Big companies are taking over the internet, redux

Nicholas Carr on dead-but-getting-richer celebrities

C.S. Lewis's writing advice: useful but hypocritical

How to be a travel parasite (and two other helpful tips for travellers)

The difference between reading books and watching films

The myth of the suffering artist: How true in this age of overpaid art and undertalented artists?

$200 Micro House: Coffin with a view?

The state of Pakistan: 20 years behind the world, and Imran Khan is no solution

A short chronology of Indian Civilian-Military Distrust

No. # reason to quit Facebook: Enough of watching activity streams of people who merely floated through your life

Uncool youth - Part 1: Hunger Games vs Bully

Journalists hall of infamy: People who got caught copying, fabricating

Should you buy the new iPad? Don't waste your money, go for these options instead

Why the friction of paper money defined our lives (and how bad a cashless future will be)

Yes, waitressing is a real job: Wall Street isn't a real job

Nike's FuelBand: Do we need yet another wearable exercise monitor?

11 most important figures about birth control in the United States

$50 LED light bulb from Philips: A luxury item (cheaper ones already in the market)

Adventures in teen smoking: Behind the epidemic is heavy marketing by tobacco companies

Draw Something: Pictionary meets Scrabble

Does beeping out expletives weaken a film's effect: The case of The Bully

Why global warming may be making us fat: increased CO2 levels affect hormones that stimulate activity

The Grass-Mud Horse lexicon: Chinese bloggers' tool to subvert government censorship

Do Genes decide who gets to be a free-thinker or a conformist?: Nah

The 'sell anything' age: A list of things you can buy on this planet

What government warnings are most useful?: Start with 'politics isn't about policy'

India, not a superpower: Only a soft powerhouse (long live Bollywood and curry)

Why Indian organizations ban websites: Objectionable content is just an excuse to hide other motives

Annals of rich Indian lawmakers: 86% of MLAs in Punjab are crorepatis

Finally a sensible rail budget: If you can pay Rs. 250 for a bad bollywood movie, you can pay Rs. 150 extra for rail travel

Dear Indian Media, Stop all this SP-praising

Start of the end for the India growth story? Rising salaries, slowing growth rate, plateuing demographic dividend

How to change business education in India: Bhavya Sahni says make internships compulsory for MBA students

Can American style party primaries democratize our dynastic system?

Why it is foolish to spend money on virtual goods (and cloud computing), redux: The Sony horror story

Apple's excuse for its China sweatshops: We create ample jobs and business for Americans, so just shut up

How to create a Pinterest clone

Mozilla Collusion: See who's tracking you online

It is sexist to say Pinterest is only for girls

How Microfinance may be the sub-prime loan menace for India

Whatever the odds, the (real) incredible story behind DLF: How it fudged its books to the top in an unregulated Indian real estate market

Tablets will begin to outsell PCs by the fall of 2013

Dave Winer's challenge to hypocritical, dubious tech blogs: Practice what you preach

The real truth about Facebook Fan Pages: Only 16% actually see a piece of your content

How Apple's TV plans will no better than its Appified Internet Walled Garden Plan: cable companies and content providers will be most hit

How Asperger's Syndrome got us the geek culture (and how being obsessive might not be good all the time)

Annals of American Healthcare: Medibid, letting medical providers bid for your business

Oprah's Book Club did not help Publishing: Only stole sales from important literature away to fluff literature

How Bangalore's Techies might be becoming fundamentalists under RSS influence (and why it might be easy to indoctrinate techies)

Why Indian government servants should consider a Negative Salary: Pay to have a job

Media comment of the day: CNN should be forced to register as a Republican Super PAC

How Facebook is basically a walled garden Monica Geller would have designed

How Google isn't that usable anymore: New mantra is 'copy everything, don't be simple'

iPhone financials: Apple's margin on each iPhone sold is around 55%

The Insta-author trend: Make short ebooks on the latest media sensation and make a killing

What we read, is our biography

What is the end game for Shashi Tharoor?