thinking simple

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The world was always small

Last weekend, I traveled to Washington DC with my relatives visiting me from abroad, for a tour.

As we entered the Rotunda of the US Capitol Building, I saw this oil painting "Surrender of Lord Cornwallis", depicting British Major General Charles Cornwallis who lost a major battle during American revolutionary war in the eighteenth century.

The name Cornwallis rang a bell as I have read the History of India.

Did a quick check on wiki and yes, he was the same Charles Cornwallis who was later appointed as the Governor General in India, by the East India Company !

Online networking event

A business networking concept is as American a concept as Baseball.

Here, people affiliated to an industry or business gather to meet others with common interests. One tries to meet maximum number of people and get their contact details for a follow up later. The discussions are pretty straight forward as people ask direct questions and express their needs.

I was recently invited to an online writers' networking event, and I decided to participate out of curiosity.

As I logged into the event's website, it immediately connected me to another person for a chatting session and displayed his background details to me. The person was very direct in what he was looking for. After I completed my discussion with him, I clicked the "Next Person" button. As all other people were busy chatting, it took the software engine a few minutes before it could find another person and connect me to that person.

Overall, I found the concept to be a very viable concept as it saves you from traveling for such events. The feeling was almost the same as a real networking event. The experience can be enhanced using video and sound, but perhaps the text chatting is more effective.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Social networking appliance

There is a tug of war going on between internet users who want to guard their privacy and the social networking sites that want to profile these users. Any internet based website would be utilized for profiling.

An alternate model for social networking would be a plugin device, with high degree of security features. This would provide direct user to user interaction, removing the need for any middle tier or the hub from the hub and spoke architecture.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Can we switch between the number of cylinders in the Car Engines

The difference between lighter and heavier cars (tare weight) could be between 1500 to 3000 pounds.

Most gasoline based sedans have between 3 and 6 cylinders and the mileage per gallon (highway) varies between 25 and 40 and can carry around 5 passengers.

A sedan carries upto a 1000 pounds more when carrying 5 passengers instead of a single passenger.

With the advances in technology, new car engines could be designed that would switch between the number of cylinders being utilized, based on the number of passengers in the car. Such cars would run with higher mileage when only a single passenger is in car.

A concept similar to this one, has been tried previously, though not very successfully.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Flush less Toilet design for Bill and Melinda Gates foundation

Mr Bill Gates spoke to Indian news media in New Delhi recently and said "One of my ultimate dreams now is to reinvent the toilet - find a cheaper alternative to the flush toilet that does not require running water, has smell characteristics better than the flush toilet and is cheap.". The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has invited proposals for new design of such toilets by Aug, 2012 this year.

Using principles from '5 Core Methods of Innovation', I have identified that the material "LIQUIGLIDE" could be a key to creating such a toilet requiring no flush/water. Liquiglide is a structured liquid, it is rigid and can be applied like a solid, but has a surface like a liquid.

A coating of Liquiglide inside a plastic or glass container ensures that the surface becomes completely non-sticky. When it was applied inside a ketchup bottle, there was not even a drop of ketchup that could stay inside the bottle once the bottle was turned upside down.

(
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/mit-harvard-battle-create-life-changing-product-non-170117941.html
)

(News source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-01/india/31958462_1_new-toilet-flush-toilet-practice-of-open-defecation )

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

5 Core Methods of Innovation

My ebook '5 Core Methods of Innovation' has been one of the top 10 bestsellers in many categories during many days in June 2012.

I have tried to explain the 5 Core Methods that have been used in almost any innovation. I identified these core methods while writing this innovation based blog and utilizing my experience in the last few years.

As explained on Amazon.com:
"

There are only 5 main methods that have been used in almost all innovations. The book "5 CORE METHODS OF INNOVATION" explains how these methods have been applied in products, processes and industries as wide ranging as finance, Information technology, mechanical tools,consumer electronics and internet. Sanjeev Sharma gives examples of innovative products and explains the methods that have been used in creating these products. He has explained how products ranging from simple household items to cutting edge electronics and telecom products, all utilize the same basic methods of innovation.

The author shares his ideas on how these methods can be applied to solve the existing needs of consumers and new products can be designed. The author explains what would make an innovation desirable by the consumer and the step by step process of applying these innovation frameworks.

Sanjeev Sharma draws on his two decades of experience working in finance, venture capital and technology roles in USA and Asia, sharing insights into the strategies of many companies and also explains the workings and problems of the venture capital industry.

You can get it to read on a kindle device, on an iPad using 'kindle app for iPad', or on your PC using 'Kindle for PC' app.

https://www.amazon.com/author/sanjeevsharma

Saturday, February 4, 2012

What's wrong with social networking sites of today

Social networking sites of today have a design flaw, besides having the known privacy issues.

Though these sites may make a person feel like a star, they make all his friends listening to him as his "followers" or his audience.

The one-to-one relationship which friends crave in a friendship is changed to one-to-many relationship where previously close friends find themselves as just one-in-many.

This may not be acceptable to many people. I suspect that it would lead to other competing sites to spring up which can provide both better privacy as well as the feeling of a close relationship with your friends.