lOOney dOOdle

Is Google making us stupid? NOT.

// October 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Blog

There was this interesting article on the Atlantic about Google and how it is  making all of us who use it stupid. Honestly, i read it only because it was a part of my reading task for the Media Organization class. But, in retrospect i think it is a good thing i did read it when i did. Although, i thought the author had done a lot of homework and read a lot of history books before writing the article.

I did not think all his views were correct. All the arguments were based on the thoughts of a lot of people cleverly pieced together to make a sound logical argument. I agree to Nicholas Carr’s view that the Internet has changed the way people think, but i do not agree that it is google that brought about the change. Google revolutionized the change. People evolve, in the way they think, in the way they work, in the way they search, in the way they live. All google did was to act as a platform to facilitate the change.

It has in no way made people stupid. If someone wanted to read a book, they would just go out there and get one. I read books, i turn to google when i need specific information about anything.  Someone said “I do not memorize what i can find in a book” and say “I don’t need to remember things i can find out from google (like, the weather!!!)”. But i know where to draw the line. Everybody does,  no one looks for each and everything online.

Looking at the evolutionary aspect of things, man started out by drawing symbols and then assigned sounds to the symbols. Sounds started getting personalized to the regions and hence languages came about. Then came the writing, then the books, then the radio, then the television, then the computer and then the World Wide Web. At one point, the only information sources were books or news channels on the radio. Now that there is this huge platform to share literally anything one wants the whole world to have access to, people have a problem with it. Of course it is going to change the way you look at things, but it is not going to essentially change how you process the information you gather from various sources.

Moreover, we do not tend to forget things very easily unless we have selective amnesia or any other disorder of that sort. Think about it, your neighbours cat got stuck on the roof, would you forget all about it after you see all those people trying to help the poor dear out? You go to google, you look for something, 99999 times in a million, you get what you are looking for. End of story. You don’t keep going back to it unless you need to.

All that said and done, google has become a way of life. There will not be a day of life without someone telling you to “google it” at least once. It only goes on to show how much we rely upon the search engine for information and it has absolutely no relation with the mental status of people. But that is one man’s view.

Melanie Notkin, the Savviest of em all

// September 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Blog, new york

The other day, Beth had Melanie Notkin come in to give us a talk about her startup for the very first Media Organization class. In walks this very energetic lady who is full of enthusiasm about talking to us. I did not realize that I was in for one of the most informative and meaningful talks ever. Here are some her pointers that i think every entrepreneur needs to know.

SAVE FOR YOUR DREAMS – Just because there is this new gadget in the market, or the new house is for sale, you don’t have to go out and start buying them. At some point in life you will come up with this idea which will have a light bulb glowing above your head. That will be a total turning point in your life where you will want to have some(read ‘a lot of’) cash on you.

ALWAYS BE POLITE AND HELPFUL – You never know when you might need the help of someone you never thought could help you. Never ever swear in public. Help anyone who asks your help. Your favor will not go unnoticed.

NETWORKING, NETWORKING, NETWORKING – Attend all those breakfasts and meeting that you get invited to. If someone comes up to you and asks a question, try to answer it or point out the person who can answer the question.

READ – This is perhaps the important of them all. You need to know what is happening out there. Look into views from different people. Take part in discussions and know the lay of the land in general.

ASK, AND IT WILL BE GIVEN – In most cases all you need to do is ask. You want to work with the multinational organization, ask. You want someone to advertise on your website, ask. You want someone write a post on your blog, ask. The bottom line is ASK. And hey, be nice when you do it.

MANAGE YOU TIME – This one is obvious.

Now, a little about Miss. Notkin and SavvyAuntie.com – her startup. One fine day, her niece wanted to talk about Dora, the cartoon character. Well, she had never heard of dora so she was totally at loss about what to tell the kid. Then it struck her as a business idea. She started up the website which specifically caters to Aunts and its all about their Nieces and Nephews. Gift ideas, diet plans, cartoon characters, game ideas, some old fashioned ranting, its all there. And it is growing in a very healthy pace.

SavvyAuntie.com – A brilliant idea with an absolutely brilliant person executing it. Take a look.

So, I set off the smoke detector…

// September 28th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // new york

I was wondering when i was going to do that and at last, a couple of hours back – Mission Successful!!!

We had chicken in the oven, Ashwin opened it so i could spread some more gravy on it and lo, a thick fume of smoke came out, and then – CHAOS. There was this beeping i had never heard before, it kept going on and on and on and then i realized it was the smoke detector!!! Had to take a towel right to it and fan off the smoke around the detector. It was crazy!!! But once we got it to stop beeping, we sat down, had a good laugh and well, started eating the chicken hoping the FDNY would not turn up at our place.

All said and done, i realized the underlying effectiveness of the Fire Department of New York. There are a number of times when i’ve seen or heard their trucks racing down the street to attend to some distressed person with a fire in the apartment or just a smoke alarm going off in some random place. Their quick and effective response only tells one about how seriously the US Government takes people’s lives. Its interesting how everyone is polite here. You walk down the street and you ll get at least two people asking how you are doing. This one time, the very first time actually, we were walking down the 3rd avenue with all my luggage and the guys stopped to get some supplies. I stood outside the shop and a guy came up to me and asked ” comin or goin ?” And i replied “Comin” and he said “Welcome Back” and he was off.

The best start to a year and a half , i wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.