I’ve seen or heard of very little Google marketing (the only thing that comes to mind is a hoarding they put up for job seekers…)
But if we see today Google seems to have one of the best known brands on the Internet. And I think there are some really clever marketing ppl behind this. I’m really coming around to the view that Google’s slow roll-outs of Gmail and its newer versions and invitation-only betas to new products are all smart marketing tactics to create buzz around these things. Further, I refuse to believe that Google has no hand to play in all the speculation that happens around their upcoming launches.
Take for example the two most recent releases - OpenSocial and the Android/OHA mobile phone OS. I must have read hundreds of blog posts (on what else but Google Reader 
) about these 2 over the last couple of months. Should I really believe that this is all speculation and is not being fuelled by Google? I find it a little too hard to believe that.
Gmail was the first “big” launch that I remember from Google. I can still remember searching all across the Net for an invite to Gmail till I finally got one. The amount of buzz that was generated then was awesome and I think Google has successfully re-created that around OpenSocial and Android/OHA.
But whatever you say I like the things these guys are building. And if you missed the update that is being rolled out across Gmail accounts now, look out for my next post. My wife’s Gmail has been updated to the new version and as a result I spend more time in her mailbox than mine 
Posted by mobile phone:
We finally changed our two year old mobile phones. I bought a sony p1i and s an htc s710.
I’ve taken this opportunity to make my blog mobile ready and this post is coming from my phone!
With the Sensex scaling new heights today and India’s real estate in a boom, someone forwarded an email today. It contained this absolutely hilarious story about markets and bubbles. Some excerpts:
“I eked a meagre living, exploiting a fundamental structural discrepancy in the price of Goats.” He looked me in the eye.
“So crucial to the economy were goats now, and so fatal to our people any collapse in the goat market, that the UN appointed a Unicef Official with Special Responsibility For Goats. Around him swiftly sprung up a bureaucracy. A well-meaning man, his attempts to stabilise the goat market were well-intentioned. However, this intervention by the authorities was, as ever, late and ineffectual, indeed, counterproductive. Reassured that the UN wouldn’t let the market collapse, prices soared higher. It had become a one-way bet.
Takeoffs were being delayed while the bodies were removed from the runways, which lowered the number of flights and thus the potential revenues generated for all. This was solved by bringing in an electronic Goat Accident and Compensatory System to replace the cumbersome physical system. Now, instead of herding your one, then two, then four, then eight, then 16 goats on to the runway each afternoon, each of which then needed to go through the labourious process of being hit by a landing aircraft’s undercarriage, wingtip or propeller, you simply input your goat numbers into the GACS.
A must read: The Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble
Found this interesting site today. It lets you store your passwords online and then you can log on automatically to your sites right from the password manager. Since its online you can (obviously) access it anywhere and they’ll also walk you through how to safeguard your passwords on other, esp. public and shared, computers.
Setting up the account and storing the passwords takes a little while and isn’t very intuitive, but definitely not confusing. Once you’re all set up its a breeze to log on to your accounts.
Check it out at PassPack.com
Work’s pretty much put a halt to photography so I’m thought i’ll start writing about other stuff now…
Work has started to become extremely busy - I haven’t had a single day’s break in the last 10 days now - nope not even Sunday and Dussehra! Its fun though, lots of challenges…
Been getting a chance to meet up with a lot of ISB alumni and current students when they head down to Apollo. It was also great to be back to ISB for the dandiya night. A lot of people from our batch turned up so it was great. (Got a chance to dust off my camera, will post the pics soon!)
I’ve also decided to start blogging about new interesting stuff that I read/find on the Net/etc. Look forward to that…
