WSJ PhotoWall - Year 2008 In Pictures Powered By CoolIris

WSJ.com published its 2008 year-end photos, and in addition to the regular slideshows, there’s a cool implementation using the CoolIris embed wall - the WSJ PhotoWall.

CoolIris brings clickless browsing or pageless navigation to photos and videos, and that’s what makes the PhotoWall fun to play with. Anytime a user is required to click to navigate, there’s a drop off after the first couple clicks. CoolIris eliminates the click and helps surface the long tail. Now only if Apple could take the CoolIris iPhone app and use it to power the app store, they wouldn’t have to worry about the sales performances of apps in the long tail.

Check out the WSJ PhotoWall and let me know what you think?

Following The Mumbai Mayhem On Twitter, And The Role of Twitter In Breaking News

Since the news of the Mumbai attacks first broke yesterday afternoon, I have been switching between live video streams on Indian news channels CNN-IBN and NDTV. I have also been closely following the #mumbai room on Twitter, new tweets are coming in at a furious pace. There’s an ongoing idealogical debate on whether Twitter is a real source of news, especially with the backdrop of the unfortunate terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The tweets are a mix of people expressing their opinion, relaying conversations with friends and family in Mumbai, repeating what they’re seeing on TV, and lot of retweeting. So even though the signal-to-noise ratio on Twitter is pretty low, and hard to tell facts from rumors and speculation, Twitter is still a key source of real-time update aggregation to stay on top of all the news.

While a majority of big media organizations have already developed or acquired a citizen journalism platform, #mumbai room on Twitter was where all the action was yesterday and given Twitter’s adoption that’s not going to change anytime soon. So to all big media companies betting big on Citizen Journalism - it’s hard to change consumer behavior, so hoping users will come directly to you and provide news and assets is hoping for a bit much. Full credit to CNN TV in covering the Mumbai terror events -  without waiting for assets to flow into iReport.com, it was apparent that CNN staffers were actively monitoring the twitter streams yesterday and in fact invited some active twitter users to speak on TV from Mumbai.

I was speaking with a WSJ blogger last week, right after the Motrin incident on Twitter, about the relevance and significance of Twitter. In his daily quest for breaking news, he said he’s now closely monitoring Twitter - following several people on Twitter and keeping a close eye on trending topics. The stream of data on Twitter is just that (raw data), and it’s upto the mainstream media given their resources and creditworthiness to mine this data and filter the signal from noise.

Masala Dosa On Wheels [Banana Leaf In Newport]

It was only a few months back, that I was chatting with my friend Sri about the competitive advantage of Raaz, the only Indian restaurant in Newport/Pavonia, NJ — big market (hundreds of Indians live in the area), good foot traffic (lots of office and residential buildings) and light competition (only Indian restaurant, and a handful of other restaurants within walking distance). Well, that has changed very quickly (sort of).

There’s a new Indian take-out place in the area. it’s called the “Banana Leaf”, and its run by 3 brothers originally from Tamil Nadu, India. It’s basically a converted van, looks likey an ice cream van except it has a stove and a dosa pan. While this is not the first mobile van in the area that sells Indian food, there’s another one called “Taste of India”, the Banana Leaf has quickly become popular. There were only a handful of people the first couple days, but more recently people have been queuing outside the van waiting for 15-20 mins for their food order. Banana Leaf sells variety of dosas, rolls and curries, and they’re parked in Newport by the PATH station every evening from 6PM to 10PM.

It’s an ingenious idea - low investment, very low fixed cost, mobile (not constrained by location). I’m not quite sure if they have to pay taxes or a parking fee. They don’t have a fixed parking spot, so my guess would be they don’t pay anything. I’m still waiting for a slow day so I can talk to the Banana Leaf owners and find out more. Know more about the owners and/or the mobile van business? Feel free to share in the comments section.

Forsche: Taxi Service In Mumbai for Women By Women

I watched this short piece on Current TV a while ago. While I was intrigued by it, I wasn’t blown away with the business model. First, it’s hard to scale and secondly, there are no barriers to entry. If this takes off, there will definitely be new entrants. But looks like Forsche has had a great run - they raised Rs 14 lacs to fund the venture, and with 18 taxis, has managed to break even in less than six months

CUSTOMER NEED (high) - There’s definitely a need, as the working women population keeps growing and as safety on the road becomes a concern for women of all ages.

WILLINGNESS TO PAY (medium/high) - Forsche charges Rs 200 per hour, according to this Hindu article. Our services are 20 per cent higher than other taxis, claims the founder of Forsche, Revathi Roy.

ATTRACTIVE MARGINS (medium/high) - While this is a CAPEX intensive venture, upfront investment to purchase the cabs, the ongoing fixed cost is not very high. Each driver takes home Rs.9,500 per month. As a 24 hrs operation and assuming each driver works a 12 hr shift, Forshe should breakeven on the salary expenses within the first week of each month. I’m guessing the second biggest expense would be gas/petrol

But something hit me recently about Forsche - this is not just a novel cab service concept. Imagine the thousands of female passengers that get on and off the Forsche cabs everyday, and right there you’ve a very niche, targeted demographic. They can be directly targeted with samples/products in the taxi, and through magazines and TV screens. Forsche has managed to create a new vertical for direct marketing to an affluent, female demographic and a secondary revenue stream (in the form of advertising) for the venture!

Remembering R.D.Burman…

I had a bunch of R.D.Burman tracks, and I found a couple videos on YouTube - so wanted to package it all together into a post. June 27th was R.D.Burman’s 69th birth anniversary. Popularly known as Pancham (fifth note in Hindustani music) to his family, friends and fans, his music has been enjoyed by more than 2 generations of music lovers since first his independent composition for Chotte Nawab in 1961. .

After his best years in the 70s, Pancham was overlooked by the Indian film industry in the late 80s and early 90s. Arguably, he was ahead of his time. I remember talking to Manohari Singh, his music assistant and saxophone player, in 2003 long after Pancham’s death. Manohari Singh said, “Pancham knew we were back in the game when he had finished composing the music for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 1942: A Love Story. Pancham told us be ready for good times again.” Unfortunately, Pancham passed away on 4th Jan 1994, just weeks before the release of the film.

Vishwas Nerurkar writes in his book on Pancham, “My assessment of a great composer is that he should fulfill three criteria: 1) timeless compositions, offering the same freshness of melody years after their period or lifetime; 2) originality; and 3) trend-setter in the industry. On each of these three vital conditions, Pancham emerges in bright colors and honours.”

During his peak in the 70s, Pancham claimed he was composing 4-5 songs/day. A couple songs from lyricist Gulshan Bawra’s tribute to Pancham. In a heavy Punjabi accent, Bawra introduces these songs with anecdotes on how they were composed.

Kasme Vaade Nibhayenge Hum (the sarson saga)

Jane Jaan O Meri Jane Jaan (the newspaper influence)

Samandar Mein Nahake (the monsoon magic)

Pancham has collaborated with many western musicians, but his work with Jose Flores to produce ‘Pantera’ is commonly known. Though the Pantera songs are not among Pancham’s best compositions, they’re very rare. So I’ve uploaded the Pantera title here, and the hindi version he used for Priyadarshan’s Gardish.

Pantera (with Jose Flores)

Rang Rangeeli Raat (Gardish)

Pancham was a genius in inventing new sounds - rubbing a comb against plastic tube for Mere Samnewali Khidki (Padosan), blowing into an empty ‘Thumbs Up’ bottle for Mehbooba Mehbooba (Sholay), tapping glass with a spoon for Chura Liya Hai (Yaadon Ki Baarat). These are Pancham’s original musicians demonstrating his talent for composing and inventing new sounds.

And in this one, his musicians are jamming away to some of the old classics.

Mumbai-Pune Expressway Among World’s Fastest Roads

Wired features the world’s fastest roads in its latest edition of the magazine, and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway is one of the five fastest roads.

Writes Wired, “These are well-engineered roads with sporadic law enforcement and a high straightness index. They’re in places where fairly consistent temperatures prevent car-tossing pavement buckles and there’s no danger of road salt corroding your $200K engine-with-wheels. In these pace havens, speed limits are just a running start.”

Wired’s list:

1. I-75 (Alligator Alley), Florida, US — Distance: 82.9 miles
2. A81, Gottmadingen to Weinsberg, Germany — Distance: 121 miles
3. Mumbai-Pune Expressway, India — Distance: 55 miles
4. Goudies Road, Reporoa, New Zealand — Distance: 9.1 miles
5. Attiki Odos, Greece — Distance: 35.6 miles

While stories of accidents due to speeding on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway are fairly common, I didn’t realize drivers were doing 200kmph on the expressway.

India: A Services Based Economy

More Kiran Karnik, who as I mentioned in my previous post, was the closing keynote speaker at the Indian Business Conference 2008.

As the former President of Nasscom, Karnik focussed on IT and its benefit to society and also on India’s attempt at shifting from a service based economy toward manufacturing.

India’s GDP: 22% agriculture, 54% services

IT-BPO exports = 40 billion dollars = 5.5% of GDP

Distribution of exports by region: Bangalore 36%, Delhi/Noida/Gurgaon 17%, Mumbai/Pune 15%
How is IT benefiting the Indian society?
* Gender Equality: Young women earning at par with male counterparts.
* Good work ethic: Long working hours in a professional work environment.
* Application towards public service and social causes: NGO emergency services, online payment of bills, online rail reservation, etc.
Total organized labor force in India = 15M; IT accounts for nearly 2M direct jobs, and 7-8M indirect jobs (support/household services).

As a services-based economy, India is losing out on its two competitive advantages:
* Rupee getting stronger against the dollar.
* Wage inflation - salaries rising 15-20% every year.

Problems with the education system in India:
* Individualized - no group projects or class discussions; the only team work is when students decide to collaborate during exams (cheat)!
* Poor talent pool - Only 25% grads are suitable for direct employment, the remaining 75% varying degrees of training.

Photo courtesy: NYTimes.com from a recent article about debt collection services moving to India.

Insurance Against Ticketless Travel In Mumbai Trains

Kiran Karnik, former President of Nasscom, was the closing keynote speaker at the Indian Business Conference 2008. Karnik said, Innovation will the key to India’s future. And good innovation doesn’t just mean product innovation (new products coming out of India), but could also include process innovation. For e.g.

For anyone that has traveled in a crowded (understatement) local train in Mumbai, where there’s hardly any breathing space, what are the chances that a TC (ticket checker) walking into the train and checking for tickets. Not to mention, the serpentine queues at the ticket window in case you’re not a regular monthly pass holder. So an Indian entrepreneur came up with the ingenious idea of providing insurance for getting caught traveling without ticket. You pay 500 rupees to get insurance, and if you do get caught traveling without a ticket, you pay the 250 rupees fine to the TC and then turn in your receipt for a full refund.

You can run the numbers to figure out the value proposition for the traveler and whether this is a profitable venture. But on the surface it sounds like an unethical business practice – the venture is encouraging people to travel without ticket. Well, here’s the twist – if you’ve ever been caught by a TC, you probably also know that there’s a pretty good chance you can bribe your way out of it without having to pay the full penalty. Hence, the Indian Railways doesn’t see a dime. However, this venture insists you pay the fine in order to get a receipt. Therefore, it discourages you from bribing the TC. Less corruption!

This story was originally published on this blog and was later even picked by Freakonomics.

Photo courtesy: WSJ.com. View the complete slideshow here.