Pakorakorner

Pick a vertical, sign up a top VC investor, create some buzz, generate traffic, and eventually cash out (hopefully) by selling to one of the larger more established companies. Is this just me or have the dot com days returned? Are the days of the first mover advantage back? Revenues don't matter anymore? Monetizing eyeballs is a challenge for the future? Registered users are more important than business models? This was the formula in the ...

I attended Linuxworld this week for the first time. I wandered around the expo floor and also took a peak at a session or two. In fact, it was my first ever visit to a Linux conference. I must admit I was underwhelmed by the response. Frankly, I expected a better turn out and more enthusiasm. Instead I found it to be pretty low key. The big wigs like IBM, Oracle and others were present probably to reinforce their commitment to ...

There is little doubt that Google has a virtual monopoly over search and search based advertising. Even the mighty Microsoft is running helter-skelter trying to mount at least a challenge to Google. The WSJ reported today about a bay area startup - Cuil, Inc. Cuil said it won't collect personal information about its users, such as the addresses of their computers and their individual search histories -- although it does track the terms people search for overall. While all major search engines ...

I had read and heard so much about how Linux has improved over the years. I have also been endlessly postponing my plan  to take Linux on a test drive with no help whatsoever. Recently, I came across Linux Mint and decided I was going to take the plunge. Installation I downloaded Linux Mint , then I "burnt" it on a CD (not copy it on to a CD) and went through the installation process on a regular Windows ...

Of late there have been a host of articles about an "overdose of the Internet" in general. I am not sure which of these articles/posts started it all but here is a list of a few that I came across over the last few weeks and snippets from them. Maybe its a sign that many are being gripped by an overdose of the Net? Fundamental questions are starting to be asked about the long term implications of browsing and ...

Firefox 3 has been released recently with a lot of fanfare as usual -- Record breaking downloads , data about increasing market share , the admiration and praise for the open source movement, among other things. I have been an active user of Firefox ever since its launch. IE 6.0 was great but IE 7.0 was awful. Thus my preference for Firefox has been further strengthened over the years. So when Firefox 3.0 was released I promptly downloaded it and ...

Yahoo! is shooting in all directions hoping that something falls from the heavens. First it was Google, then it was News Corp., then it was AOL. In short, anyone but Microsoft. But as the deadlines nears and Microsoft and Yahoo try their best to outsmart each other, the battle lines appear to be re-drawn all of a sudden. The mighty News Corp. appears to have joined hands with Microsoft while Yahoo has teamed up with AOL and simultaneously announced an ...

Singapore Airlines is now flying some new aircrafts in the SFO-Singapore sector. These aircrafts appear to be a a little more spacious and better designed. For instance, the acrobatics needed to shut the bathroom doors has been reduced significantly. At the back of the aircraft the staff has a U-shaped area where they can hang out and chit-chat with their colleagues without having to get in the way of passengers hurrying to the toilet. The passage way and the ...

Here is an innovative use of the Internet. Visit this site to improve your English vocabulary. Thanks to sponsors every time you answer the meaning of word correctly, the site donates 20 grains of rice to the UN. Cool idea!

Google appears to be upgrading its Gmail version behind the scenes. You will notice a link at the top for New Version/Older Version. Unlike Yahoo! which gives you a choice right upfront about whether you would like to upgrade to its new email or not, Google chooses to upgrade users behind the scenes without any prior notice. The good news is that the new version is not dramatically different. The bad news is that the end users automatically becomes a ...