Keep Walking!

Having talked about Google's Philosophy, here are interesting things that many of us didn't know about Google! The prime reason the Google home page is so bare is due to the fact that the founders didn't know HTML and just wanted a quick interface. Infact it was noted that the submit button was a long time coming and hitting the RETURN key was the only way to burst Google into life. Due to the sparseness of the homepage, in early user tests they noted people just sitting looking at the screen. After a minute of nothingness, the tester intervened and asked 'Whats up?' to which they replied "We are waiting for the rest of it". To solve that particular problem the Google Copyright message was inserted to act as a crude end of page marker. One of the biggest leap in search usage came about when they introduced their much improved spell checker giving birth to the "Did you mean..." feature. This instantly doubled their traffic, but they had some inte...

Courtesy: Future Google by Battellemedia.Com I read this list of " Ten things, Our Philosophy " on Google home page! Worthwhile, for any one who wants to succeed!! 1. Focus on the user and all else will follow. Take care of your customers. Customers will take care of you. Study what your users needs and deliver them without comprimising anything! Once you build loyalty, they will follow you until death! 2. It's best to do one thing really, really well. Do one thing. Prove it. Be the best in it. Then, everyone will think that 'If you are good at this, then you are good at everything possibly!' 3. Fast is better than slow. Everyone want their works to be done faster. Just provide the users what they need quicker than they can expect. Google says, 'it may be the only company in the world whose stated goal is to have users leave its website as quickly as possible'. Sounds funny? 4. Democracy on the web works. People power. If you want to make a successful bus...

It began with an argument. When he first met Larry Page in the summer of 1995, Sergey Brin was a second-year grad student in the computer science department at Stanford University. Gregarious by nature, Brin had volunteered as a guide of sorts for potential first-years - students who had been admitted, but were still deciding whether to attend. His duties included showing recruits the campus and leading a tour of nearby San Francisco. Page, an engineering major from the University of Michigan, ended up in Brin's group. It was hardly love at first sight. Walking up and down the city's hills that day, the two clashed incessantly, debating, among other things, the value of various approaches to urban planning. "Sergey is pretty social; he likes meeting people," Page recalls, contrasting that quality with his own reticence. "I thought he was pretty obnoxious. He had really strong opinions about things, and I guess I did, too." When Page showed up at Stanford a ...

Starting today, we are going to explore Google Inc. for the next 5 days. The questions like, How did they start Google? Did they ever imagine this success, What things are driving them, How to end their party (If you wish to) What takes to really beat them in their own game etc. Come and join me in this fascinating journey to explore the G industry! Note: I take freedom to choose some news articles (which I enjoyed over the years). I guess you will enjoy too.. regards, Thiru

While I went to a laundry I read this article about "Democratising Innovation" . Don't worry about it, I will tell what it is. Usually, the companies do the market survey, do their product developments in the labs and come up with the final product in the market. Now, it's time to change the approach says, ERIC VON HIPPEL - Professor and Head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He talks about 'lead users' - who are about 10 to 20% of the normal users (consumers) - who can innovate and improve to suit their convenience. If you can extract ideas from them and mass-produce their customisations - you can win a big market. For example, ages before the companies started thinking about "Mountain Bikes", some mountain hiking specialists customised their bicycles and used their 'mountain bikes' with added gears etc. Now, you can see Google..which does similar kind of thing..uses people to innovate for i...

//But it's her singles game that has truly taken off in the last 12 months. A series of stunning performances has pushed her world ranking from 326 to 37, which means she has risen faster and further than any other player this year—male or female. Besides the last 16 of the U.S. Open, she won her first WTA title on home ground in Hyderabad in February, and made the final of the Forest Hills Classic in New York in August. "Her best tennis is incredible," said U.S. Open victor Kim Clijsters during a press conference. "She's probably hitting the ball a lot harder and cleaner than a lot of the top girls." Unbecoming, perhaps, for a traditional Indian Muslim girl. But cute, in a way.// Text and Image from http://www.time.com/time/asia/2005/heroes/sania_mirza.html

Hi, I have published the results of the Independence Day Poll (Remember  Independence Day Poll – a small survey on the theme of 'Bribery / Corruption in India'?) at http://wethinkasonenation.blogspot.com/2005/10/poll-results.html Thank you for your participation. You may write to me if you would like to know any related things. Thanks and regards, Thiru

Courtesy: Cricinfo, Getty Images The world looks upside down. Rest of the World (ROW) XI is down under. Australia literally on top of this Planet as far as Cricket is concerned. (Enough Blabbering, Let’s come down to business!) Here are my observations: 1. No matter how great the players are, you can’t build a great team (ROW) with them in few days. 2. ROW Players from same nationality seemed to have worked in tandem. For instance, Sangakkara takes a stunning catch off Murali (3nd Match, Symond’s dismissal), whereas he missed an easy one off Daniel Vettori. 3. ROW Players took pride in their own achievements not necessarily about the team’s. Lara went for his own shots and never played for the team. (Team, what?) 4. There were few occasions (excitements) when the Rest of World players admired and complimented each other and enjoyed playing side-by-side. 5. Finally, in the 3rd and final ODI, Mike Hussey showed the ‘missing element’ in the Rest of World team. Commitment for team’s cau...