i.am.sagar

Tres Generaciones - This picture was taken in front of our...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:28:00 -0500

Tres Generaciones -

This picture was taken in front of our ancestral home with three generations of Lala Jaswantrai’s descendant’s. Dhruv is the oldest to carry our lineage forward.

Dhruv in front of his ancestral home in Meerut, India

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:31:00 -0500

Dhruv in front of his ancestral home in Meerut, India

The boys in Siena, Italy

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:44:54 -0500

The boys in Siena, Italy

The boys in St. Peters Sq.

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:37:52 -0500

The boys in St. Peters Sq.

View from our hotel in Rome

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:35:55 -0500

View from our hotel in Rome

Arjun keeping it low-key as a pumpkin.

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:06:12 -0400

Arjun keeping it low-key as a pumpkin.

Dhruv dressed up as Pooh bear who in turn is dressed up as a...

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:05:09 -0400

Dhruv dressed up as Pooh bear who in turn is dressed up as a bumblebee. So meta!

Dhruv @ 18 months

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:20:26 -0400

Dhruv @ 18 months

Double Trouble

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:34:54 -0400

Double Trouble

Photo

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:45:43 -0400

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish"

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:33:42 -0400

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”

- Steve Jobs

I know my library is trying to modernize, and I appreciate being...

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:14:29 -0400

I know my library is trying to modernize, and I appreciate being able to check-out books right to my Kindle. I never thought that day would come. My only issue is that when the book that I’ve checked out is due back in 1969 (before I was born), I sort of feel like I should worry about late fees and all.

Countdown Begins

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:03:50 -0400

Countdown Begins

This is insane! Bad Lip-Reading does it again!!

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 22:30:00 -0400

This is insane! Bad Lip-Reading does it again!!

Who I envy :-)

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:10:44 -0400

This post comes before the thoughts I promised in my previous post, but that’s life - isn’t it? I want to write about who I envy, and why.

For Mac users, Alfred is a must have app that you can get from the App store. The creator, Andrew (@preppeller on twitter) who recently quit his day job to work full-time on Alfred. I enjoyed reading his most recent post on his blog Andrew’s Hot Chocolate talks about what he is able to do now that he is developing Alfred full-time. He write:

“One of the best things about me developing Alfred by myself is how agile I can be in reacting to the changing landscape, honing* Alfred to the needs of the users and the needs of the OS”

When you think about it, it’s so true. As an independent developer, you almost have to follow the Agile methodology but more than that, just’re a agile developer (lower case agile) in that you can shift directions very rapidly to adapt. Agile doesn’t work well at companies like some I know all too well that focus on enterprise software - and one can argue why or why not. The reality is that it just doesn’t happen.

I follow a lot of the recent upstarts in the tech industry and its fascinating to see is how individual developers today can reach a global audience with their kick-ass apps/ideas/concepts etc. What’s better than working on something you enjoy so much that you can’t stop working on it. It’s also very gratifying when people adopt your idea, who ‘get it’ and give you ideas that can take things to the next level. I’m sure it’s frustrating when people diss your idea, but eventually you get to realize that that goes with the equation. So, I envy that. In the past, when I worked on my own ventures, I could work all night and loose track of time and get that tremendous sense of gratification at the end of the day. When you’re working on your own project, you’re never done because you never get to a point where you feel like you’ve exhausted all you can do with it.

So, there is only one way to fix that, and so I will. Stay Tuned!!

Some things I want to write about soon:

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:50:11 -0400

1) Why Apple may offer a hosting service for App developers that currently may be using the Amazon cloud.

2) Ideas for making email an obsolete technology (the next killer app)

3) Creative Ideas

Stay tuned - I just need some time to write these up.

The Nokia Paradox

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:31:11 -0400

Rumors about Microsoft buying Nokia have been surfacing for some time now. I can’t say whether there is any merit to it or not - i’m not an insider. What I can do is analyze the situation from an objective point of view and throw in my two cents worth. So here goes:

I think Nokia picked a bad partner in Microsoft. For Microsoft to succeed with Windows Phone 7, they have to convince customers to pick them over the iPhone, or the large variety of Android devices. Microsoft has to also work against the negative perception that people have of the older generation Microsoft mobile operating systems starting with CE and all the way to the latest incarnations of Windows Mobile. It’s a software game that Microsoft has played many times in the past - but it’s not one they’re guaranteed to win. It’s one thing to compete with Apple. It’s another to comete with both Apple and Android. Apple gives it’s customers the fit and finish whereas Android gives it’s users the carrier diversity, device diversity, and openness that Apple haters complain about. Both platforms have worked on developing a healthy eco-system of app developers. The race has been on, and Microsoft is late to the party. My point is that a partnership with Nokia does not give Microsoft any more or less of an advantage. However it doesn’t really hurt Microsoft either . It gives them a dedicated hardware manufacturer with an established reputation and name brand in the global marketplace. Their other partners like HTC, Motorola, and Samsung (to name just a few) are not betting the farm on Microsoft and have an established pipeline with Android devices.

For hardware manufacturers like the ones I named above, it’s reasonable to diversify and offer both Android and Windows Phone 7 devices, especially since there is such a large overlap in hardware and the inner workings of the devices. The game makes sense to play. Nokia however is not Motorola, not HTC, not Samsung - or Sony-Ericsson for that matter. Nokia is different! Here is where i’m going with this. When Palm first introduced the Pre, and I got my hands on a showcase model, my thought was; “Hey, I like this - it reminds me of my old Nokia 8210”. The compact size and the finish were reminiscent of the tiny device that almost was too tiny for my pocket. After the Pre launch, and watching the Palm OS not really gain traction, I know an acquisition (or worse) was inevitable. HP (while a logical player) seemed like not the best fit. Rather, I felt Nokia’s DNA fit well with that of Palm. I think Nokia should have bought Palm to replace the Symbian OS on their next generation of handsets. By owning a new OS that was built from the grounds-up to compete head-on with Apple’s own OS, they would have at least ended up with an OS that was built from the ground-up to be extensible and revolutionary. Palm’s problem wasn’t that they didn’t build a good device. Their problem was that it was too little, too late for a player their size to get into a suddenly crowded space. While HP is going to try and really milk WebOS - just the thought of having it running on a printer makes me sick to my stomach.

HP does not have the focus and sheer desperation to put every ounce of their resources into making WebOS successful. Nokia is a mobile phone player at it’s core, and WebOS and Pre devices in their portfolio would have created a compelling third alternative. If you own the OS, you build a tightly integrated device that does all things well. You make a few product lines that can all run WebOS, and you remove the concept of a dumb phone. With WebOS Nokia could have standardized on one operating system for all their devices. For the very low end of the market, they could have still gotten the highly customizable OS to fit onto a smaller screen with limited functionality that meets the needs of the dumbphone customers. Foe the mid-range of the market where heavily subsidized devices crowd the carriers shelves, Nokia could have offered the likes of the Pre-like devices. But here’s the icing. For the premium market, they could have gotten into the highly integrated software/hardware devices that were like no other. High-density composite metals with glass, sharp edges, distinctive branding, and super high-definition displays, that would turn even the Apple fanboy into admirers. Your margins need to come from your premium devices, yet you don’t need a lot of models to have a healthy business. You need to fill the market segments that make you a viable choice for all segments without going crazy.

I think Nokia could have helped WebOS realize it’s full potential, but unfortunately that’s a moot point today. The way I see it, by partnering with Microsoft, Nokia is forced to compete with the HTC’s and Samsung’s of the smartphone world, and unfortunately those guys offer both Windows 7 and Android devices, so they are already out-competing. How do you get a competitive advantage if you don’t own the OS? You don’t - you just phone that your devices are more compelling to the consumers than the other guy’s, but in the end, you start competing on processor speeds and screen sizes, and it goes downhill from there fast. Rather, Nokia should have thought of building the Software/Hardware/Eco-system based business model that has multiple revenue streams.

Ironically, I feel the same way about Nokia as I do about Microsoft. They both lost their way, and they both badly need to re-invent themselves - or they will perish. When it comes to Mobile OS’s, you don’t want to come to the party late - it’s better not to show up. I’m eagerly watching Nokia for the next 9 to 12 months. If i’m wrong, and Windows Phone 7 saves the company - good for them. I just am hardly ever wrong.

S.M.

Some thoughts on iCloud

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:03:09 -0400

As we (the tech folks at least) eagerly await the announcements made at WWDC next week, I wanted to present my thoughts on iCloud. Obviously I have no idea what iCloud will or will not have, but I desperately want Apple to blow my mind once again. So what’s it going to take to do that? Here goes:

First off, a locker for my music collection is not going to do it for me - and many others. My music collection is large, dates back to the 90’s when I first started digitizing my music collection, and most importantly, not something I really want to listen to that often anymore. What I prefer is the Pandora paradigm where i’m listening to a ton of new music based on stuff I already like. So from that perspective, iCloud as a locker for my music collection is going to be frankly disappointing. I take comfort in the fact that Apple is not building a data center in NC solely to house peoples music collections. Obviously iCloud is going to have a very major music component supported by the fact that Apple has been rumored to have signed deals with the four large music studios - something that in itself is a big deal. But it’s not the end-all-be-all that people will get excited about. For iCloud to blow my mind, it has to tie my MacBook, my iPhone, my iPad, my Apple TV, and even things like my Time Capsule together. With the AirPort/TimeCapsule product lines reporting shortages, it’s very likely that these products are going to get refreshed, but there is no guarantee they have anything to do with iCloud. I’ve read rumors that Apple could use the new devices to cache things like Apple updates so that when you plug into your network, the data is local to you. If they do that, the natural next step will be to cache purchased content like Movies. That device is likely going to be static and have the most direct connection to your ISP, so why not do that. I think taking MobileMe and rolling it into the service also makes a ton of sense (just stop with the i and Me already though Apple!). If the rumors have any merit to them, expecting people to pay $25 annually for a service that does a good job of being the primary cloud service for most Apple product owners is very reasonable. I think most people who pay for an Apple device are already comfortable with paying a premium for a product they really want. The current MobileMe service however doesn’t offer a compelling case at it’s price point. If integrated with all their devices, iCloud at $25 will do it for me and I will happily sign-up for an annual subscription and abandon Gmail (over time).

Now, let’s get to the part that really will do it for me - Virtualization in the cloud. Imagine being able to run your MacOS in the cloud using a Web Browser (Safari) such that you have a 100% replica of your MacOS in the cloud. Imagine being able to sync your iPhone with the cloud without having the MacOS actually running anywhere. I know MobileMe lets you do the sync with the cloud today, but i’m talking about actually having the MacOS accessible via the Browser! If you own a Mac, you get a Virtual OS in the cloud that is a representation of your Mac based on the last sync. That’s basically also addressing the issue of backups and extending Time Machine to the cloud - in a way.

Your large data never really needs to be on your hard drive. Really what you need is access to it at all times, but it doesn’t have to be local. If I can completely remove my pictures, music, videos and other large files from my local drive, I am more likely to settle for an SSD and realize the performance benefits and everything else that comes along with it. I want my pictures to be available to me on all my iOS and Mac OS devices without having to worry about where they are, what I’ve backed up, and what’s been synced. Apple is a company who’s DNA forces them to think about a problem like this. Just think about a simple device like the Time Capsule. It does a great job of being a dormant device that I never have to touch, but yet it provides an invaluable service for me that I can’t quantify until I need to restore a file from backup. Going into Time Machine makes that experience real, and the ease of use always blows my mind.

With a large data center, Apple better have something kick-ass up their sleeve. Announcing three major product together (MacOS Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud) to me sounds like the three share something. If i’m wrong, boy will I be disappointed. Now to be clear, the Virtualization in the cloud is a bit of a radical idea that I don’t actually think Apple will announce. But what I do expect to see at the end of the day is a better iOS integration with iTunes in the Cloud and with iOS such that I never have to use my white USB charging cable to sync my iPhone to iTunes. I expect that to just work, wirelessly, seamlessly, and fast.

On the iOS front, I think it’s fair to assume that Peter Hajas has joined the Apple team and will bring iOS notifications to the level that they need to be at. I’m not sure if iOS 5 will include any sort of widgets for the home screen, but I can imagine that Apple will want to at least give the locked screen a face lift, if nothing else. All that being said, iOS 5 psychologically feels like it should be a blockbuster release. I mean, why not. iOS 3 was a big deal from what I recall, but iOS 3 needs to be a game changer. While I hate to admit it, Android is giving Apple a run for their money - and it’s tough to argue some of the points.

The other big question in my mind is - what does iOS 5 mean for the current generation Apple TV’s? In theory, we all know that the new Apple TV’s can support Apps, and there is probably a whole market that can be created just for that platform. It’s also a safe assumption to make that most people who own an Apple TV probably also own an iPhone, iPod Touch, or/and an iPad. They may not own a Mac, but I would find it hard to believe that there are more than a handful of Apple TV owners who don’t own another iOS device. So you put that together, and try and figure out what iOS means for Apple TV, and you can come up with some very interesting theories. If your Apple TV is basically a front-end for your iCloud; you all of a sudden have a very simple way to consume your digital content in the living room. In fact, an Apple TV can almost become an extension of, or replace an AirPort device if Apple wants it to. I mean, why not just let an Apple TV be the router and Time Capsule also. The one reason might be that your may not want to terminate your internet connection in the same location as your digital hub. But you may be fine with that if all your devices are leveraging a WiFi connection. Apple is very good at the overlap and the current generation Time Capsule is a good example of a dog that knows many tricks.

All the speculation aside - I still want to believe that Jobs is going to end with a hardware announcement and I hope it’s the next generation iPhone. I want it to be more than just an iPhone 4S, but who knows. That may be wishful thinking. Does apple need a device that makes the current iPhone 4 obsolete? I argue they need the OS to catch-up with the hardware. I’m already sort-of resigned to the idea of an A5 based iPhone 4S with some cosmetic changes. If they can give me an inductive charger, i’ll be happy to have waited and not gotten the iPhone 4 after my 3GS was brutally murdered by my 14 month old. What would surprise me the most is if they go LTE or SIM-free. That would be unlike Apple, and I expect that to be one of the big things people complain about once the dust settles.

Phew, that’s a lot off my chest and I think what I’ve tried to do is think about things from an Apple perspective. Again, I want to be blown away on Monday and I would be surprised, knowing Apple, if that doesn’t happen.

S.M.

Headin’ back from vacation.

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:56:43 -0400

Headin’ back from vacation.

Dhruv had a blast, and fell asleep in the pool! Now...

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:55:13 -0400

Dhruv had a blast, and fell asleep in the pool! Now that’s life.