Blog
Words. Wisdom. Winners.
THIS is utterly insane!
IF this is true…this has got to be the sexiest thing ever!
PhotoSketch: Internet Image Montage from tao chen on Vimeo.
We present a system that composes a realistic picture from a simple
freehand sketch annotated with text labels. The composed picture
is generated by seamlessly stitching several photographs in agreement
with the sketch and text labels; these are found by searching
the Internet. Although online image search generates many inappropriate
results, our system is able to automatically select suitable
photographs to generate a high quality composition, using a filtering
scheme to exclude undesirable images. We also provide a novel
image blending algorithm to allow seamless image composition.
Each blending result is given a numeric score, allowing us to find
an optimal combination of discovered images. Experimental results
show the method is very successful; we also evaluate our system using
the results from two user studies.
Google Wave – is up for sale!
Flashback 2003! A concept named Gmail had launched and I was a strong Hotmail follower back then. But then, remember that those were days when there was no facebook, orkut, twitter and Mark Zuckerberg was still under-age (almost)!
So moving email addresses was no big deal. It just meant an auto forward and it wasnt that I had some 1,000 friends that I had to update on my email change!
So I moved…to GMail (thank god for that!). And within some 3-4 months of use…I noticed something. There were some 4 free invites in my accounts, for the service (it was, for the longest time ever, an invitation-only service!)
As a kind gesture, I sent one to a friend of mine at MSU, only to be told later that he has auctioned that invite for a crazy USD 80!! on ebay!! holy friggin shit…!
Well…I am still friends with that guy (infact I gave him another invite…after what he did…what was I thinking!) and auctioned one more for 45 dollars myself! :)
And today…I smile and see the same happening to Google Wave – its up for sale on ebay! :)
for those clueless about Google Wave, here is what you need to see
Some things are better when they’re not free
its human tendency to consider things that are free, as fishy!
Consider yourself..in normal life. While almost all of us would jump in joy if someone offered their services free…would we also not have that edgy feeling “why would they do it for free…whats the fine print”. Cynicism is fundamental to the human nature
Yet…its fascinating how the same individual doesn’t blink an eyelid when services are offered for free on the Internet. Its the done thing…everything on the Internet is FREE. Google is…facebook is…twitter is (well almost!)…! People would much rather go for free services on the Internet than pay for stuff…! As if suddenly, FREE on the Internet is not fishy anymore.
They are not entirely wrong. There are several ‘brands’ that offer themselves free on the Internet. Brands that people would trust and have trusted. So if an NYTimes or a ToI offers its news for free…people dont consider it fishy. Its not as if ToI would give stale (or worse still, untrue) news for free members and the ‘real’ news for paid members. It cant.
But personally…I treat ‘Paid’ as a form of commitment. Think about it…SecondShaadi can also be a free service. But would it be a better one at that, if free? Leave aside the revenue problem…the bigger problem will be the nuisance that will get created because of this “free” service. Across fake profiles, spam profiles, spam forums and worse troubled genuine members.
So payments is a form of self selection. The system is selecting the genuine ones from the non-genuine ones. Not that all free members are not genuine…maybe some never really feel the need to pay because of several reasons (too expensive, no matching profiles etc). But the fact that you have paid…has to reflect genuineness.
Even that is not an easy step. Pricing the service too low can also mean the same problems as that of free services. But second guessing what’s the users threshold of “just perfectly priced that I can actually pay and yet not be genuine” is very tricky!
Only last week, we had a member pay up to upgrade her membership on SS. It became obvious in a day that she meant trouble. Spamming! So clearly even out highest priced product was worth it for her to upgrade and spam. She saw value even in that amount! Could we have guessed that..! No..!
Seth Godin has this excellent piece on the same issue. He suggests that money creates a sort of friction that is important for some services. Because it reflects commitment! Recommended read
This sums it up – Commitment slows things down in the short run, but ultimately aligns interests.
Indians love to get married…
or maybe…there is someone who wants them to…get married!
Matrimonial sites comprised the highest share of online advertising between June-August 2009! Followed by Travel and Education
SecondShaadi has a big(!) role to play in this :)
16 girls to woo Rahul Mahajan! 16 girls to who????
WHO are these girls…why…why…why would they do this to themselves…AND to the world around them! I wanna meet these chicks man…
actually…nevermind!
Brilliance of the article is captured in this one statement
“Swayamvar Season 2 while following a similar format as its predecessor will have a complete unique spin. 16 men were wooing Rakhi, now will 16 ladies woo Rahul or will Rahul woo 16 ladies?“
The IIMs finally concede…IIPM is better
This is indeed historic…and needless to say…had to happen…the IIMs were never a match for the full-page ads…(and OMG…a FREE trip out of India…AND a FREE Laptop…just too much to handle!)
i love democracy…
…i especially love how it makes itself so flexible that the very rights people have, become their weapons to play around with the system!
What the F*** is Nalini thinking????
Ummm…hang on…just a minute…! Was it you who ummm…was involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi?? Huh..? Yes? Oh ok…! So what is it that you are demanding now? Ohhh…an early release…oh thats why you are on a fast…! Aaahh….makes sense..! Please go ahead. Please!
“cattle class” has just lost its humor
Cattle
1. Large rudimentary animal that are bred for slaughter and processed into food products
2. Short for ‘cattle class’ which pertains to flying economy class (or ‘coach’ in America) on a flight. It is called this mainly because many people are crammed into such a small space for an extended period of time and most of the time are treated like animals.
In other words, Cattle Class is not a reference to the people travelling in economy, rather a reflection of the apathy of the service provider towards such people! Which, if you really ask me, is true, especially of the Railways (and nowadays also of airlines!). We have all been a victim of stinking toilets, torn seats, dirty linen and kullad dahi
So I really fail to understand the big shit about Tharoor’s remarks on twitter. I might be conservative here, but I am on that side of the country today which suggests that Politicians need to be politically correct all the time! That by definition is a politician! He cant be insensitive to the masses.
But my contention here is that Tharoor wasnt! The friggin INC is suggesting that he was! No…wait…let me rephrase that…the INC is holding Tharoor by the throat, blocking his nose, opening his mouth…and making sure he gulps the fact that he was insensitive in his remarks! He WASNT!
And now….he goes to Soniaji to beg for mercy…amidst demands of his resignation! Holy friggin shit..! He has been told to be careful
Tharoor’s tweets from now on, will be such
cattle class in solidarity with all our holy cows
(Twitter HAS to be flexible enough to allow dashes in its tweets, from now on! Government can friggin fail)
What’s ironical is that all this tamasha could not have come at a better time! Duronto…madam mamta (not kulkarni) non-stop trains project…has reintroduced the 3-tier system (long disbanded) in the side berth!
INC – do you now understand who is being referred to..in “cattle class”
Well…atleast someone has a sense of humor in the party…!
What…he has been asked to resign…!!??? Had to be…!
karachi se…karachi se…karachi se…!!!
This is one of the funniest unedited news reporting I have seen….can we please have similar ones from AajTak…!
How the Internet defines new boundaries for customer service
I am a sucker for high quality customer service. And I am an Internet guy…! This combination makes me realize (not necessarily before anyone else) that in the world of Internet, customer service acquires a whole new meaning.
Recall the days when companies had a customer service number (not even toll-free) that was rarely attended to, or even if it was, would sound as if it was a favor? Remember how in those days one didn’t really have any outlet to crib about companies that were indifferent to their customers? Recall the times when you were put on an “your call is important to us. Please wait for the next 39 minutes because..really..do you have a choice?” hold!
Not anymore. The Internet has allowed people to come together, share their crib…and make companies respond to their customers in a never before manner. Yah…forget the fact that some companies still dont…and I honestly dont know what they are upto. But most discerning companies today are responding to customer grievances, which mostly get solved by a simple apology and the display of an effort not to repeat the situation again, with any other customer.
Which scares me…because I am now handling both sides of the coin. At one hand I continue to be a customer…and I cant even begin to recount how often I have written to the CEOs of corporates (and big ones huh…Jet, Maruti, Toshiba, Jumeirah, Starwood at last count!) and actually got them to move their ass…and on the other side…I am today a service provider too. Through Accentium, we are serving a large section of the Indian Internet population and there are bound to be mistakes we make. And there are bound to be grievances that customers raise.
I shudder to think of times when our customers get together and complain about our products. I hate to think of such a possibility…but I am guessing it happens. Which always keeps us on our toes. We, on a normal day, recieve anywhere between 5-10 customer emails about our services. Some are happy news (we received 2 success stories for SecondShaadi yesterday!!)…some are general emails (I need to change my listing. How do I do that)…and some are feedback mails…good rarely..bad mostly…(why is this not working…why are you sending me random profiles when I asked for only this this this)
All of this gives us immense insight into how our customers operate. And we make it a point to respond to all…without fail…such emails. Because we want them to know that we care…and while we have done what we thought was best for you all…but to really make us the best…we need your feedback. We need to know what are we doing wrong..more than the right.
I personally treasure these emails. Because I know that most customers are not even bothered about sending in an email. They will simply move on…most probably…to our competitor…and its scary to think how many would have. So such emails are a fantastic find..because they take the pains to give me feedback. And we try to hold on to them as much as we can.
And angry customers are really really bad people…! go to this site Consumer Complaints. It is nothing but thousands of customer complaining…! Nothing else..! There are no resolutions to these complaints in an official manner (the only way is if the companies are actually tracking the posts there…but are they)…! But look at its power. You search for “HDFC netbanking” and complaints from the site are there on Page1. Search for “Airtel Prepaid” and same result…search for “online sbi” and same result.
Thats the power of the site. Some..atleast some…potential customers when searching for these queries will catch the complaints too. Imagine…the corporate website is the first result and the complaints is right there on the same page! The company has friggin spent their life building that brand and a single customer’s complaint has now come at the same level. Thats the power of the Internet!
I love the openness of the Internet. I love the fact that it dissolves boundaries and it creates communities…where people can share! Ironically…these are the same things that makes me scared now.
Addition
Matt Cutts recently blogged about his bad experience with US Airways. Imagine how powerful that is. He could have simply written to the CEO of US Airways…am sure he can figure that much out. But he close to blog instead! Turning the entire world into a community…of people complaining about similar experience. You have to read the comments on the post…! Whats worse is that not even a single comment seems to be from someone at US Airways, trying to offer an apology…or atleast an explanation! Sad!
Subscribe to warikoo wanderings