On My Mind ...

Who's minding  your AI? I think it's beyond question that the single biggest buzzword cutting across the tech landscape today is AI. From the tech giants in Silicon valley and beyond,  to 1-person startups on the other side of the world, everyone is investing in AI and trying to deliver software that's smarter and more intuitive. The cloud has enabled the compute necessary for the work. The algorithms now come in nice packages just waiting to be deployed. Every single day, I see proof of concepts doing incredible things with just a few lines of code. Object recognition and tracking now seems almost easy. Route optimization, why I'll have some of that.  Of course, when I call AI a buzzword, I do it a disservice. It's not a flash-in-the-pan annual marketing gimmick that will be forgotten next year. In fact, over the last 10 years, I would say, the cloud and AI have been the 2 paradigm shifting events in the technology landscape and they are very real . ...

Note to federal workers: Sick of all this yet? Like the idea of being dependent on the whims of politics? Then step up? There's 800,000 of you not getting paid this time? Theres' 3 million of you. Use your strength. Organize. Threaten to Quit. En-masse. What do you think when the clock starts ticking on losing all of you forever? Who wants to take on the task of replacing 800,000 people? How long will that disruption last? No politician can take on that threat. Take the power back. While you're at it, might be a good idea to demand changes that solves the problem long term. Some suggestions: Legislation passed immediately to the following effect: Loss of 1 year pay for every elected government official for every week of government shutdown. If the amount crosses the expected pay for the official for their entire term, the rest is a fine they get to pay in the future.  Disqualification from the ability to stand for re-election if more than 2 shutdowns ...

I've spent a significant amount of time trying to hire in India lately and here are my personal observations, maybe my sample set is poor or maybe there is a wider problem: Almost all resumes and associated candidates I come across seem hell bent on defining themselves as narrowly as possible. I get an avalanche of technical jargon that’s supposed to impress me with the candidate's knowledge and not much else. Ignoring for a moment that even this supposed knowledge is usually heavily embellished, there is almost no emphasis on their wider selves. Who is the person behind all the technology speak? What drives you? What motivates you? What is the special attribute that will make you an asset when the technology landscape inevitably changes? What makes you interesting? Are you trustworthy? Do you have emotional intelligence? Do you know how to lead? What are your goals? What is the culture you're comfortably with? What are your values? Almost no one is even prepared to h...

I have to admit, the thought of a family trip to Switzerland had me drowning in cliche' induced misery. Growing up on Bollywood staples, Switzerland represented an ever present, over used and completely cliche'd destination of choice. I had serious reservations about visiting the Yash Raj land, Afraid all the spots worth seeing had already been reflected in one Bollywood pot boiler or another. So it was with much inner turmoil that I agreed to go along to the cheese capital of the world. And yet, surprise surprise, the natural beauty of the place seen in flesh and blood surpassed anything I could have imagined even if I was enthused about the trip. I've tried to capture the sense of the place in a few images that continue to leave me in awe ... Truly a magical place. Needless to say, the trip served up a welcome reminder to not let cliche's rule my world.

Tim Cook has just launched the Apple Watch. His first new product category launch post Steve Jobs and all it did was highlight just how important a role Steve played at Apple. For such a large company, it's incredible just how reliant they were on Steve's Autocratic, all encompassing control. To me, the Apple watch launch is the definitive example of how they're missing his leadership and decision making. Here's why I believe this product would not have launched in it's current shape under Steve Jobs: Technological Overreach - Steve was great at understanding the technological trends and leveraging them at the right moment to stay ahead of the curve while never letting the customer experience suffer. The dropping of the floppy, Flash and the CD drive are but a few examples. Apple consistently made gutsy calls on what didn't go into their products based on technology trends. In each case, their decision was ground breaking but also based on availability of...

It was reported in the last couple of weeks that India successfully launched a new satellite into orbit. The accompanying news report mentioned that the satellite, named the GSAT-12, would aid television broadcasting, tele-education and tele-medicine programs and village resources. It went on to list mundane details like the satellite's apogee and perigee and it's exact weight. This is where the report ended. A routine report of a routine satellite launch. I'd seen dozens of nearly identical reports before and didn't give it much thought. And yet, somewhere in the back of my mind, the monotony of the report and it's unchanging content bothered me. Yes, we are in the 21st century and satellite launches are routine. Yes, we are approaching the dawn of private space exploration and tourism. However, space is still the sole preserve of a handful of nations and a satellite launch is still an extremely expensive endeavor. Each individual launch is planned for a specifi...

It's been a long time since I've really been here. As I wipe the fog off of mirrors and try to reconnect, I feel a vague sense of being lost in my own house, not fully recognizing my own reflection. I know it's my house and I know it's me in the mirror, but the pathways and the lines feel somewhat unfamiliar, unclear. Is this growing up? Is this feeling a measure of time or is it a measure of the distance travelled? More importantly, what does it say about me if the overall accompanying emotion turns out to be a vague sense of grief?