FIFA World Cup 2010

Mint had a list of the greatest World Cup goals in their "Business of Life" section. This list is available at http://www.livemint.com/2010/05/26195435/The-cup-of-joy.html.

My personal favourites are the Carlos Alberto and Maradona goals.

I think the 1986 World Cup (which Maradona's goal was a part of) is the one I watched with the most interest. The quarter final between Brazil and France was one of the best matches I have ever seen. My other memories of that World Cup were of the Belgium - Soviet Union match (which I thought Soviet Union should have won) and the finals (where Argentina managed to hold on despite a late rally from Germany).

I didn't really keep track of the 1982 world cup (we didn't have a TV at home and anyway it was all black & white Doordarshan everywhere in India at that time). I later watched the movie on the 1982 world cup (Goal!) and really liked it - especially the part about how Brazil couldn't play defence even though all they needed was a draw against Italy.

What I remember most of the 1990 world cup was the heroics of Argentina's substitute goalkeeper Goycochea (their first choice got injured in one of the initial matches) and how he got them through a number of penalty shoot-outs. It was almost as if Argentina was playing for a draw and hoping that they would win via the shoot-out.

I don't remember much about the 1994 world cup, except that the finals were very boring. The 1998 world cup was better - the finals between Brazil and France was a good game. I was in US at that time and didn't get to watch most of the games as they were held during US office hours; also all the matches weren't telecast on the TV channels available at the service apartment I was in.

My most vivid memories of the 2002 world cup were of Ronaldinho, especially his goal against England; the finals between Germany and Brazil did not live up to expectations. I was supporting Portugal at the 2006 games but wanted France to win once they got to the finals against Italy; it was sad to see Zidane's career ending the way it did - sent off with a red card.

Google TV

One of the more interesting events last week (at least it was "last week" when I first started writing this post..) was the Google I/O conference and the announcement of Google TV. While there have been some efforts towards integrating the Internet into the TV viewing experience (for e.g. Apple TV, integration of the Yahoo widget engine into TVs), Google's initiative seems to have the potential to have a far more significant impact on the TV market. There is a good post on Google TV at http://blog.louisgray.com/2010/05/while-apple-slept-on-their-hobby-google.html

I wonder how long it would be before this integrated experience will be available in India. In the mobile industry, I do not think that consumers in India are at a big disadvantage compared to their counterparts in the US. Operators in India may not have rolled out advanced services comparable to operators elsewhere (for e.g. the mobile TV / video solutions pushed by various operators in the US); however users possessing the latest handsets can enjoy the device-only features (e.g. a cool new user interface) and the features created by integrating with services on the Internet (e.g. integration with Facebook, a Twitter app etc). Also given the absence of operator-subsidized devices, users do not need to overcome the temptation of getting a operator recommended device available at a lower price (with a contract).

The situation in the television industry is different as set-top boxes are given by the service provider (cable or DTH). Therefore I cannot purchase Google TV enabled box and start using this service until it is offered to me by my service provider. I could probably create a setup that allowed me access to Google TV (e.g. have two set-top boxes , one of which would have Google TV) but this would be a poor imitation of the real thing.

Another question to consider is whether DTH operators (such as Tata Sky, Airtel or Reliance Big TV) or cable operators (like Hathaway) are more likely to offer Google TV enabled boxes? While the DTH camp seems more technically capable and organized, they also seem to have more to lose than the cable operators. This is because video content on the internet may reduce subscriptions to premium channels: while this is a big thing for DTH providers, cable TV (at least in Bangalore) is available at a fixed price that includes all channels (however this may change once Conditional Access System (CAS) is implemented).

Availability of Quality Talent

Aakar Patel writes a column titled “Reply To All” in the Mint newspaper on alternate Saturdays; these are available online at http://www.livemint.com/Articles/Authors.aspx?author=Aakar%20Patel&type=wa. His writing on 29th October on “Why educated Indians are only half-literate” had a number of interesting points on the available talent pool in India for the IT industry and the English media business; reading this column brought to mind a number of related points that I had wondered about in the past. I will cover some of them in this post and hope to do the rest fairly soon.

The article talks about the poor language skills of a majority of the reporters in the english media. I think that apart from language, there is also an issue of content; I suspect that many of the reporters and anchors are (to misappropriate a phrase from NDTV) incapable of “going beyond the headlines”. In the aftermath of the 26/11 attack on Bombay, a regular feature of the 9 o'clock news on NDTV was to have the anchor talk to someone from Pakistan. The anchor would try to get the guest to agree on some point or the other; if the guest (often a print journalist or a member of the Paksitan establishment) chose to be non-cooperative, the anchor was often at a loss since (s)he was no match for the intellectual and debating skills of the guest. Also I don't know whether it was because I was more impressionable and less cynical at that time, but I do think that the participants in some of the current affairs discussions I've watched on Doordarshan in the eighties and early nineties were more knowledgable than the rent-a-quote types that show up on the private news channels.

I suppose this focus on english language skills could be criticized as being “elitist”. But then, if the person's primary task is to communicate a story in english, is it wrong to expect/demand above-average proficiency in the language?

In any case, I don't think the problem in the media business is because of the lack language skills alone; if that were the case then what explains the state of the Hindi news channels? It is not that the Hindi channels or the channels in other local languages offer more substance than their English counterparts.

Is it that the tabloid approach of all the news channels simply reflects what we the audience want? Is this the obvious outcome of our fascination with sound-bites, executive summaries and information in 140 character tweets?

The article mentions that “in India quality thins out very quickly” in connection with the availability of talent for the media industry. This scarcity of quality holds true in a number of other areas as well; for e.g. in education, there is a significant chasm between the top-tier and the next. I guess the increased participation of the private sector in education has meant that there are more good quality schools and colleges now than say twenty years ago; at the same time the private sector has contributed more than its fair share of mediocre institutions. Also while some of the new private schools are comparable to the “colonial institutions” mentioned in the article, these are often very expensive.

Android Initialization... and the advantages of blogging

I was looking at android system startup and found some useful material on the ENEA Android blog. Look at the various posts starting with http://androidenea.blogspot.com/2009/06/android-boot-process-from-power-on.html.

I think blogs are a useful mechanism for companies to publicize their expertise and start a conversation with interested parties - prospective customers, potential employees etc. Of course it needs to be done right to avoid appearing as a cheap attempt at publicity. I wonder how many companies in India have successfully integrated blogs into their public communication...

Individuals too can use blogs to showcase their expertise. I believe that useful to have externally accepted proofs of achievement, especially when looking to change jobs; things like patents, papers, participation in standards or open source communities are good examples of such proofs. Blogs too can serve a similar purpose if you can build a track record of meaningful posts..

LinkedIn Recommendations

I have been spending some time clearing up some long pending items on my

to do list. I was able to tick off one item over the last few days – respond to the

recommendation requests I've received on LinkedIn over the past two years.

The reason that this has been on the to-do list for a while is not because I have

received lots of requests (the number is in single digits); it was because I was

against this idea for quite some time for a number of reasons. Firstly, a lot of the

recommendations were filled with hyperbole and therefore writing in my usual

(bland, though I would prefer to call it 'under-stated') style would make the person

look quite ordinary; secondly, many of the recommendations seemed to be cases

of “i'll scratch your back if you scratch mine” with two people writing glowing

recommendations for each other; lastly, not writing any recommendations gave me

a convenient excuse to avoid writing recommendations for people I may not be too

keen to recommend (i.e. “as a matter of policy, I don't write LinkedIn

recommendations”).

On thinking some more, I began to feel that maybe the above reasons though

somewhat valid, were also excuses. Maybe the real reasons were my aversion

towards expressing opinions in public and good old-fashioned laziness; also I am

certain that there are good things that can be said about anyone (though it may

require more effort in some cases :-)). On a selfish note, I think that a well-written,

thoughtful recommendation reflects well on the writer. Lastly, it would be quite rich on

my part to publish recommendations that I receive while declining to write them for

others.

Another item on my to-do list is to write a blog post at least once a week. I hope I

am able to do this over the next few weeks; if I can post at least twelve times before

the end of the year, this task too can be considered done.

Our Affection For Things British

Back again after a long break. ..

A few days ago I read an article on the BBC website about a group of British men being arrested in Greece for offensive behaviour because they dressed up in nuns' habits (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8067280.stm). The article reminded me about a conversation I had with a friend some weeks ago comparing the British and Americans – we were in agreement that you would find more “characters” among the British than among Americans. I doubt we would hear about a group of American men doing something similar! Then there is the recent You Tube sensation Susan Boyle – I doubt someone like her could be anything other than British.

I guess this affection (preference?) that a number of us (late thirties and older) have for things British is a product of our experiences when growing up. A number of us went to schools with British influences (e.g. Anglo-Indian schools or schools run by missionaries where many of them were from the United Kingdom or Ireland), read Enid Blytons and the only english comedy serials we saw on television were British: “Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em”, “Fawlty Towers”, “Yes Minister” etc. (there was no Cable TV at that time). I suspect the younger folks (i.e. early thirties and younger) are more American in their tastes or at least not biased towards Britain.

I personally prefer understated comedy to the over-the-top variety; it is easy to think of Hugh Grant as being representative of the former and Jim Carrey as epitomizing the latter and to then generalize this to label all American comedy as being loud but that would be unfair. I've enjoyed watching American sitcoms such as “Caroline in the City” and “Frasier” and like Steve Martin and Bill Murray. However the cult status Sienfeld acquired puzzles me, even though I liked quite a few episodes. There would be a small clip of him doing a stand-up routine at the end of each episode. I think he was trying hard to do some understated humour (if that is actually possible..) but actually came across as being rather smug (especially that slight smile accompanied by the nod of the head).

For an enjoyable description of Britain and British idiosyncracies read Bill Bryson's book “Notes from a Small Island”. Its been a while since I read it but I still remember its gem of a start where he describes how the British (wrongly) believe that Britain is a big place.

Peter Drucker's "Five Deadly Business Sins"

I found an old classic when browsing the web this morning – “The Five Deadly Business Sins” by Peter Drucker (http://www.bmacewen.com/blog/pdf/WSJ.2005.11.29.DruckerFiveDeadlySins.pdf). These sins (in order of prevalance) are:

• Worship of high profit margins and premium pricing (e.g. Xerox's focus on feature-rich copiers and American car companies' focus on big cars provided opportunities for their Japanese competitiors to capture the rest of the market)

• Mispricing new products by charging what the market will bear (e.g. American firms' pricing of fax machines)

• Cost-driven pricing (rather than price-led costing)

• Slaughtering tomorrow's opportunity at the altar of yesterday (e.g. IBM forbade its PC division from approaching its Mainframe customers)

• Feeding problems and starving opportunities (i.e. assigning stars to fix problems)

Sins 1 and 4 are very similar to the issue Clayton Christensen addresses in his famous book “The Innovator's Dilemma”.