This is an open letter to all the CXXs of the corporate world by Pamela Slim. Definitely a good read.
The website, apparently, also contains lot of stuff for wannabe entrepreneurs.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Simulating Evolution
Am reading 'The Blind watchmaker' by Richard Dawkins. In one of the chapters he explains evolutions as cumulative selection. I wrote a simple java program which finally evolves a readable sentence in the end.
As you can see, it started as a random collection of alphabets. In each iteration only the sentence resembling the most to the desired sentence is selected and it breeds further.
Here the 'desired sentence' can be compared to the most fit characteristics for the environment and only the most fit candidate will be successful in passing his/her genes!
0 : iyrqqqouhwmmqksoqwzfgzercqnwbp v
1 : azxzcoyhawkhldielwjvwvnivhfpokz
2 : ualrpeov sdqvxficjy bxbni htrqwz
3 : calviso usiuoafic kflfnimhtxfbv
4 : waspi owgpwjgpfic oyfitniyhtnkrh
5 : manarvozeotgarfic fsuycnightcorc
6 : hanwojomeutoahfic ls yrnightvurh
7 : yanielogektfadfic fs psnightuurv
8 : ranpmlodeht aafic ns xwnightaqrn
9 : aanntlolebtsapfic hs vjnightwcrq
10 : ganeoloreutoaffic hs ainightvxrv
11 : wanfrloreltoaffic xs aqnightdurk
12 : eanq lorewtmaffic is aqnightbarn
13 : uanlllorevtfaffic is aonightgarp
14 : panahlore tzaffic is arnightuarc
15 : banadlore tcaffic is acnightbarg
16 : bannolore tsaffic is acnightjarc
17 : banptlore traffic is afnightearz
18 : banxplore traffic is arnighteark
19 : ban slore traffic is ajnightzarb
20 : banphlore traffic is aqnightaara
21 : banyalore traffic is alnightaare
22 : banlalore traffic is acnightaare
23 : banralore traffic is asnighteare
24 : banvalore traffic is aqnightmare
25 : banxalore traffic is abnightmare
26 : bancalore traffic is annightmare
27 : bangalore traffic is a nightmare
28 : bangalore traffic is a nightmare
As you can see, it started as a random collection of alphabets. In each iteration only the sentence resembling the most to the desired sentence is selected and it breeds further.
Here the 'desired sentence' can be compared to the most fit characteristics for the environment and only the most fit candidate will be successful in passing his/her genes!
0 : iyrqqqouhwmmqksoqwzfgzercqnwbp v
1 : azxzcoyhawkhldielwjvwvnivhfpokz
2 : ualrpeov sdqvxficjy bxbni htrqwz
3 : calviso usiuoafic kflfnimhtxfbv
4 : waspi owgpwjgpfic oyfitniyhtnkrh
5 : manarvozeotgarfic fsuycnightcorc
6 : hanwojomeutoahfic ls yrnightvurh
7 : yanielogektfadfic fs psnightuurv
8 : ranpmlodeht aafic ns xwnightaqrn
9 : aanntlolebtsapfic hs vjnightwcrq
10 : ganeoloreutoaffic hs ainightvxrv
11 : wanfrloreltoaffic xs aqnightdurk
12 : eanq lorewtmaffic is aqnightbarn
13 : uanlllorevtfaffic is aonightgarp
14 : panahlore tzaffic is arnightuarc
15 : banadlore tcaffic is acnightbarg
16 : bannolore tsaffic is acnightjarc
17 : banptlore traffic is afnightearz
18 : banxplore traffic is arnighteark
19 : ban slore traffic is ajnightzarb
20 : banphlore traffic is aqnightaara
21 : banyalore traffic is alnightaare
22 : banlalore traffic is acnightaare
23 : banralore traffic is asnighteare
24 : banvalore traffic is aqnightmare
25 : banxalore traffic is abnightmare
26 : bancalore traffic is annightmare
27 : bangalore traffic is a nightmare
28 : bangalore traffic is a nightmare
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Chaiwala Vs Coffee day : A case study
We have in front of our office, 2 service providers, for our timely breaks from work. Both of them are very distinct in the services they offer and the customers also have unique. One of them is coffee day and the other is our own Chaiwala. I found it interesting to dissect and see how they differ and what makes the customers chose them.
Branding: Coffee Day is branded hugely and has more than 100 franchisees in Bangalore alone. Chaiwalas dont have any sort of branding, but they also have a huge presence all over the city. You will find them almost everywhere.
Ambience: Coffee Day has a very nice ambiance with some nice music playing in the background and a big LCD screen with one of the music channels ON (muted). They also have a policy that they can only play music and movie channels. This must be a tested and proven strategy which adds some Masala to the whole thing. The seating arrangements are also nice - cushioned and all, mostly catering to a group of 2-4. It will be air-conditioned.
Chaiwala has none of the luxuries listed above. He will usually setup a makeshift table on the road-side, on which will be displayed all his goods on sale. No seating. No A/C.
No Music. No TV. No luxuries.
Menu: Coffee Day serves many types of coffees, flavors usually foreign. It also serves light food like sandwiches, samosas, cakes, and pastries which can easily fill your stomach. They usually have a non-smoking section inside and a smoking one on the outside. You cant buy cigarettes though.
Chaiwala offers cigerettes, paan (tobacco), some 2-3 types of biscuits, bun bread, chakli, kodubale (salty-cpicy home made snacks) and tea. All the eatables will be usually kept in glass jars. There is no coffee served. And the tea will be usually in a very small cup and we usually call it chota-tea(small tea). He also serves some mouth-fresheners for smokers.
Service: Coffee Days are usually small and they don't have too many people to serve. We have to wait till he comes and takes the order. I would tell that the service is OK. But not that too great. Its just fine.
I would say that the Chaiwala service is super-fast. As soon as we land there he will keep our chais ready and hand over the cigarettes to the smokers. He usually learns all this info over a period of time. There is only one counter and only one person serving everybody. The whole thing will end up in just 10 minutes.
Customers: Coffee day customers are people who usually have pre-decided to end up in coffee day and hang-around there for some time. It can include business people who want to discuss some deal, young people on dating, college gang who will end up there drinking some coffee and have a smoke, and people who are just very hungry. You will spend at-least half an hour there.
Chaiwala customers can be anybody and everybody. We usually end up there for our hourly breaks. It usually people who need a quick break. Construction workers also come there to have some chai and bread. children come there to have a snack. Obviously people on a date don't come here. If they come here, most probably it will be their last date. :)
Cost: I find Coffee Day expensive. i dont feel like paying 40 bucks for a coffee. I think you just end up paying for the time that you spend there, ala, rent for real-estate. If you really wanna drink some coffee, you should probably go to Adigas or some other darshini.
Chaiwala is damn cheap. Tea costs 2 rupees and the costliest item is the cigarette which is 4. No service taxes or whatever. you pay nothing extra.
So thats about it. But its nice to see these 2 operate right opposite. Each has got its own USP(Unique selling proposition).
Branding: Coffee Day is branded hugely and has more than 100 franchisees in Bangalore alone. Chaiwalas dont have any sort of branding, but they also have a huge presence all over the city. You will find them almost everywhere.
Ambience: Coffee Day has a very nice ambiance with some nice music playing in the background and a big LCD screen with one of the music channels ON (muted). They also have a policy that they can only play music and movie channels. This must be a tested and proven strategy which adds some Masala to the whole thing. The seating arrangements are also nice - cushioned and all, mostly catering to a group of 2-4. It will be air-conditioned.
Chaiwala has none of the luxuries listed above. He will usually setup a makeshift table on the road-side, on which will be displayed all his goods on sale. No seating. No A/C.
No Music. No TV. No luxuries.
Menu: Coffee Day serves many types of coffees, flavors usually foreign. It also serves light food like sandwiches, samosas, cakes, and pastries which can easily fill your stomach. They usually have a non-smoking section inside and a smoking one on the outside. You cant buy cigarettes though.
Chaiwala offers cigerettes, paan (tobacco), some 2-3 types of biscuits, bun bread, chakli, kodubale (salty-cpicy home made snacks) and tea. All the eatables will be usually kept in glass jars. There is no coffee served. And the tea will be usually in a very small cup and we usually call it chota-tea(small tea). He also serves some mouth-fresheners for smokers.
Service: Coffee Days are usually small and they don't have too many people to serve. We have to wait till he comes and takes the order. I would tell that the service is OK. But not that too great. Its just fine.
I would say that the Chaiwala service is super-fast. As soon as we land there he will keep our chais ready and hand over the cigarettes to the smokers. He usually learns all this info over a period of time. There is only one counter and only one person serving everybody. The whole thing will end up in just 10 minutes.
Customers: Coffee day customers are people who usually have pre-decided to end up in coffee day and hang-around there for some time. It can include business people who want to discuss some deal, young people on dating, college gang who will end up there drinking some coffee and have a smoke, and people who are just very hungry. You will spend at-least half an hour there.
Chaiwala customers can be anybody and everybody. We usually end up there for our hourly breaks. It usually people who need a quick break. Construction workers also come there to have some chai and bread. children come there to have a snack. Obviously people on a date don't come here. If they come here, most probably it will be their last date. :)
Cost: I find Coffee Day expensive. i dont feel like paying 40 bucks for a coffee. I think you just end up paying for the time that you spend there, ala, rent for real-estate. If you really wanna drink some coffee, you should probably go to Adigas or some other darshini.
Chaiwala is damn cheap. Tea costs 2 rupees and the costliest item is the cigarette which is 4. No service taxes or whatever. you pay nothing extra.
So thats about it. But its nice to see these 2 operate right opposite. Each has got its own USP(Unique selling proposition).
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Taare zameen par
Watched it yesterday. good movie. good work by Amir.
It may be just a coincidence. I was reading 'Calvin and hobbes' and happened to find the 6+5 problem (3+9 in the movie), where calvin imagines himself on a spacecraft hurling planet 6 against 5 and only 6 remains the end. So he writes the answer as 6. The same stuff is there in movie as well. Guess Amir is a fan of Calvin.
Now, thats called copying.
Anyways, i think Amir has stuffed a lot of crying into the movie. May be he wanted to move the audience a bit. I was also moved. I dont know why! but Indian Film makers resort to making the audience cry and all... why?!! I guess, the feeling stays for a longer time if u do that... how long ?
whatever, in the end, a good movie to watch.
Applause!!!!
It may be just a coincidence. I was reading 'Calvin and hobbes' and happened to find the 6+5 problem (3+9 in the movie), where calvin imagines himself on a spacecraft hurling planet 6 against 5 and only 6 remains the end. So he writes the answer as 6. The same stuff is there in movie as well. Guess Amir is a fan of Calvin.
Now, thats called copying.
Anyways, i think Amir has stuffed a lot of crying into the movie. May be he wanted to move the audience a bit. I was also moved. I dont know why! but Indian Film makers resort to making the audience cry and all... why?!! I guess, the feeling stays for a longer time if u do that... how long ?
whatever, in the end, a good movie to watch.
Applause!!!!
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