Kudithipudi.Org

January 9, 2009

Why SouthWest gets it..

Filed under: Rantings,Travel — Vinay @ 8:45 am

Another reason to fly SouthWest.. Look at the picture of the chairs they are providing their customers at the Midway airport in Chicago.

This is good marketing and customer care. Not only did Southwest take the time to put in comfortable seating at their gates, but also took the extra step to provide power outlets and listen to this.. USB charging outlets. How many of you have had to run around airports looking for a power socket to charge your dying battery? :-) .. I am going to fly SouthWest moving forward.. whenever I can.

Yes.. that is my laptop getting charged :-) .

December 13, 2008

Stephen Colbert.. I envy you.

Filed under: Fun,Rantings — Vinay @ 2:09 am

I thought long and hard before writing this post.. but finally thought,  the topic was too funny not to share it with others :-) . Warning that this post contains sexual content and is NSFW..

I was browsing (I swear) through the channels on my TV, the other night, and came upon a program called “Katie Morgan’s Sex Tips” on HBO. And yes, it was purely coincidental :-) .. So anyways, one of the viewers asks Katie about multiple orgasms. Katie brought a guest on the show by the name Marenna Lindberg to answer the question. Apparently this women can experience an orgasm in a few seconds!! Katie asks her to give a demo on screen and voila.. Marenna whips out a picture of Stephen Colbert.. yes, The Stephen Colbert :-) .. looks at the photo for a few seconds..closes her eyes and in a few seconds whimpers out an orgasm!!! I was literally rolling on the floor as I watching this :-) . And Marenna attributes this to her diet and her crush on Stephen Colbert. She even wrote a book about it.. “The Orgasmic Diet”

So ladies.. start eating fish oil, stop drinking and smoking. Make the “not-so-better” side of you happy :)

December 2, 2008

How does the iPod touch detect your location?

Filed under: Mac,Networking,Rantings,Technology — Vinay @ 12:50 am

If you are the proud owner of an iPod touch, you would have noticed that the Google maps application on it identifies your current location with scary preciseness. Every wonder, how the touch manages to do that without a GPS or cellular receiver? Apparently, Apple uses a service from a company called Skyhook Wireless to do this. And how does Skyhook achieve this? They drive around in vehicles scanning for wi-fi signals and create a database that matches the SSID and MAC Address with the physical address. Put on your tin hats folks!! :)

Some interesting links

Apple’s use of Skyhook : http://www.skyhookwireless.com/inaction/apple.php

How Skyhook does it : http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/wps.php

November 24, 2008

What next??

Filed under: Rantings — Vinay @ 1:00 am

I ran across this report from BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7743312.stm) about some clerics in Malaysia issuing a fatwa against Yoga. Why?.. To quote the reason…Yoga would “destroy the faith of a Muslim”.

Excuse me?? Even though Yoga started out in India as an Hinduism practice, most know that Yoga is practiced today mostly as a stress reliever and workout. I just wonder, what goes through the minds of these so called enlightened gentlemen, when they come out with such ridiculous decisions.

P.S : This note has nothing to do about Islam or Hinduism. We have “enlightened” people like these in all walks of life. It is more about how we let crazy decisions like this divide us.

November 23, 2008

Note to self : Audio conference providers

Filed under: Rantings — Vinay @ 3:41 am

If you you are ever looking to deploy an audio conference solution, make sure you go with a solution that doesn’t have more than 7 digits as the conference passcode. The human brain is not capable of remembering anything longer without writing it down!! :-) ..

November 1, 2008

Another great star fades away..

Filed under: Rantings — Vinay @ 10:04 pm

Jacques Piccard, the hero who showed us the depths of the oceans, passed away today.. I was always mesmerized by his programs on Discovery. His son, Bertrand Piccard, said it well..

One of the last great explorers of the 20th Century, a true Captain Nemo who went deeper than any other man, Jacques Piccard passed away on Saturday

If you don’t know who, Jacques Piccard is.. check out the entry on Wikipedia about him at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Piccard

October 31, 2008

Saints and IT Professionals..

Filed under: Fun,Rantings — Vinay @ 9:40 pm

My friend sent this to me today

I think this applies to you.

Long back, a person who

  1. sacrificed his sleep,
  2. forgot his family,
  3. forgot his food,
  4. forgot laughter

were called “Saints”

But now they are called..”IT professionals”

October 26, 2008

Response to “Is this the end of affordable flying in India?

Filed under: Management,Politics,Rantings — Vinay @ 2:19 pm

My friend, Ravi, responded via e-mail to my ranting about the end of affordable flying in India and the note that we might be slipping back to socialism..

I understand that there will be no Rs.99/- deals in future (Yes, Rs.99! + Taxes, which are close to 20 times the price of the ticket). There should not have been such deals in the first place. Many airlines to gain market share have priced their fares dirt cheap and are now facing the consequences. If they are not even making money to pay the salaries, how are they going to become profitable by bearing operating costs and considering all loans they are unable to repay even after 5-10 years of starting their operations.

In a way I feel it is good that the airline sector is making some adjustments at-least now but the managements made some blunders in implementation of their ideas. If you followed the story of Jet employees getting sacked, it looks ridiculous and shows how stupid the management was. This is a perfect example as to how a company will have to take back it’s decisions due to social pressures if it makes decisions without proper implementation plan. People like Raj Thackeray making comments like the Jet airways will not be allowed to land if the employees are not taken back, etc and his previous hatred comments against North Indians shows how narrow minded politicians are able to speak whatever they want and can come to limelight and ENJOY their actions.
Read the below article which describes how a CEO of a company was attacked and killed recently in India. There may be various versions of the same story but what bothers me most is people get away with no one being held accountable for the crime.
Also, there are so many political games in all states in India that it has become difficult to feel secure to do any business though you abide by the law, unless you have local support. Recent move of Tata Nano plant from Singur in W.Bengal to Gujarat is a perfect example of how things can turn due to political gains.
Yes, there is corruption anywhere in the world but in India you can get away with relatively easily, even if caught. This is a major setback and I fear things will get much worse before some radical decision comes out later to tackle such situations.
Sorry for going into social aspect of the problem rather than financial aspect.
Anyways, we need to have political power to do anything better for the society on the large scale and to get there we will face the same issues of combating corrupt and dangerous politicians who are ready to do anything to regain their position.
I will go back and spend money for the betterment of the system if I win BigGame :)

October 18, 2008

I want them..

Filed under: Mac,Rantings,Technology — Vinay @ 12:11 am

This is what I am drooling for now a days..

October 17, 2008

Is this the end of affordable flying in India?

Filed under: Politics,Rantings — Vinay @ 11:52 pm

The Indian airline industry went through explosive growth for the last 4-5 years. Not long ago, Indians had to deal with only one state owned airline (Air India) to fly around India. With the free market reform of the Indian economy by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, back in the late 90s,  a lot of private air lines opened shop.

Flying has historically been relegated to the rich and influential in India. But with the opening of these private air lines a lot more people could suddenly afford to fly. These air lines initially offered cheap rates to grab market share. They were so successful that the state owned Air India had to start getting it’s act together and a new air line was opening shop ever day. There was King Fisher, Air Deccan, Go Air, Indico, Sahara and the list goes on..

Cheap Rates, Explosive Coverage Growth, Competition.. what more could the Indian customer ask for? Life was good :-) ..

The Government finally got off it’s back end and started building new airports (they should have done it back in the 70s) and privatizing them.. India was going to enter the group of “developed” countries.

And then came the fuel cost increases of 2007/2008 and the credit crunch that is currently affecting every economy on this planet. These airlines have started to raise prices, merge with competition and lay off people (gasp!!) And customers, being the fickle ones :) , are going back to the cheaper and trusty railways [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7669301.stm]. This is a crucial period for this nascent industry in India. They just showed ordinary people the joy and productivity of flying. They created a new customer base. But if this economic slowdown continues for another year or so, I am afraid, we are going to go back to the old way of high prices, bad service and monopoly..

P.S : I followed this interesting story about some lay offs at Jet Airways and wonder if we are are moving back from capitalism to socialism in India..

While I am happy for the folks that got their jobs back.. I don’t know if this will allow the company to tighten it’s belt and survive the economic slowdown.

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