E-books overtake paperbacks finally

It is (mostly) good news that e-book sales has overtaken paperback sales finally. But my gripe with e-books is that it throws out hundreds of years of accumulated typography craft knowledge in favor of a choice of 2-3 fonts. The e-book is not beautiful. And sometimes you need the book to be beautiful to get started.

#win

My telephone company sends me this message when I recharge my account.

Your account has been refilled with success.

Instead they should just say

Your account has been refilled with #win

I could use some #win in my life.

Execute it

Coming up with a great idea means nothing if you don't prove that it works. The world is filled with people who believe that they carry the next-great-idea in their head. To standout in a crowd you have to do what most people won't - execute it. So the first step isn't coming up with a great idea, but resolving to execute it. And it really is the harder of the two. In the overall scheme of things, a great idea that doesn't get executed is far lesser than an ordinary idea that is executed well.

With apologies to AS, SC.

Even better browsing & battery life with Google Chrome.

If you are using Google Chrome, you can make your browsing experience even better. Type "about:flags" in the omnibox and enable "Click To Play" option for plugins. Then type "chrome://settings/content" in the omnibox to open your browser settings page. Change the settings for Plugins from "Run automatically" to "Click to play". Now plugins such as Quicktime and Flash won't load until you want them to. Better battery life is just bonus.

There are some other interesting options that can be switched on in "about:flags". Play around if you like.

Protests in Egypt

The protests in Egypt show that the time of dictators in the Middle East is over. It appears that this was triggered by the Tunisians. Bless them!

Mobile Number Portability in India

Mobile number portability, or MNP, launched in India yesterday. That means that you no longer have to tell your friends, and more importantly, your banks, etc. that your phone number has changed. The phone number can become your identity. MNP is not yet possible for cross-circle porting, viz. you can't take your Delhi number to Bombay when you follow your dreams. So it not yet your national identity number, but it is close enough! :-)

Yesterday's Delhi issue of the HT had a very interesting infographic on the front page. It said that more than 50% of the people who plan to port their number want to take it to the established operators, viz. Airtel and Vodafone. I would have expected that the new operators would gain the most with their attractive offers and new services. But this proves that the people who are porting their numbers are not motivated by price plans or non-basic services. In India, voice still rules.

New blog with Sahba

Head over to http://sahbawedsadnan.wordpress.com/

Sahba and I are writing this blog together. So it promises to be twice as interesting! ;-)