Its actually free, most of the time. Anyone can read your source code if you have a web application. Indeed thats how alot of us work now, there is no harm in extending other peoples code (as long as you respect the license). Its called Open source. Linux was built this way, so are many other apps. Vertical expertise on platforms, yes there is some demand there. We do not need php developers anymore. We need wordpress experts, linux experts, facebook application experts, and iPhone/Mac coders. Coders with deep, geeky knowledge of one platform.

There are facebook clones, twitter clones, clones of clones. What does that tell you? It tells you that there are enough developers out there who can build your application or idea (which is usually the first, and simplest problem).

So Mr tech entrepreneur, while you are hip, cool, geeky, techie,etc , your problem eventually is never going to be the technology. You’ll figure that bit out. You need a guru marketer(s), and amazing, honest, decently dressed sales guys. Sell, sell sell, share, sell, market market market. Your brand, your domain, your service. That is the cycle you want to establish right after your beta is out there. So, whats your barrier to entry once your app is out there in beta? How will you make money (please dont say just advertising!) , kill the competition and build your brand? Not a very techie problem, but one you need figure out before version 3, nonetheless.

Then wait for it all to dissapear. Just like you use email, if your users use your app/service/product, and once it fades away into daily life, its timeless. And so is the revenue  

Popularity: 24% [?]

Emergen moves KESC to an asterisk based IP-internal voice/phone exchange. Hey, atleast now their phones might work

more here:

http://cyrenity.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/kesc-deploys-asterisk-across-hundreds-of-sites/

Popularity: 13% [?]

Orgoo has been down for more than a week. Not good news for the fledging internet startup, but let this be a lesson to everyone using the internet. Its a jungle out there! be careful with usernames, user policies and checks. Orgoo went down because one of their users misused their video feature and eventually forced their ISP to shut the site down. Now the ISP is not releasing any of Orgoo’s assets.

For a small startup, its very costly to run a datacenter, hence it makes sense to go to an ISP/hosting provider. But what does one go when a user goes rogue? How do you ‘fire’ a user effectively? How do you control massive amounts of data that can contain questionable material? Youtube, google, microsoft, everyone has this problem. Orgoo’s only fault really was that it was small, without its down datacenter. Orgoo is not and should not be held responsible since it acts as a middle-man to displaying content a certain way….

Maybe someone can offer a “co-op” datacenter to startups, or build software that scans user databases for questionable materials? An opportunity I smell, oh yes I do….smells like fresh muffins… yum!

Popularity: 13% [?]

Its (almost) over. The deplorable and horiffic Mumbai terrorist attacks are under control and the last of the militants has been killed, according to reports. Our prayers go out to everyone in Mumbai, and especially those directly effected by these attacks. Mumbai will come out of this, but now India is dealing with terror on a massive scale, just we are in Pakistan.

Fanatics are all over South Asia, using religion as a false basis for violence. First in Karachi, then in Islamabad and now Mumbai. This is now a regional problem and can be solved with government and intelligence agencies putting aside fears and cooperating. A strong willed population and determined authorities=a militant’s worst nightmare (esp since they were told that would never happen.) 

In this entire saga, one must notice the important role of blogs, tweets, flickr uploads, and other social media (Mahalo, Wikipedia) where ordinary citizens have been more proactive and sometimes have facts more helpful than the networks like CNN, BBC,etc. Citizen journalism that one can argue went mainstream in India after the Asian Tsunami has now come of age in South Asia, and interestingly much faster than in the US, Europe,etc. Maybe this has to do with our fundamental mistrust of state controller and large new networks  . The People’s voice is now digital.

As South Asians we have too many times been lied to by those in power, we would rather listen to each other than the authorities,right? and Web 2.0 tools let us do that. twitter, flickr, wordpress,blogs, these are now fundamental tools that allow for greater, faster communication than a television.

Popularity: 10% [?]

For all the news of US drones attacking targets inside Pakistan, many might think that the country lacks a strong, powerful UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) fleet of its own, which is quite contrary to reality. Also, I do not see why we asked for US predator technology. With Wired magazine taking notice, and the Air force already having 2 UAV squadrons with 4 more on the way, why do we want imported super expensive US drones when stuff like that is being built right here in Karachi and Islamabad: (see pics below)

      OR this :   

A UAV is the epitome of integrated engineering. Building a strong platform demands high software development skill, EE skill, mechanical and aeronautical engineers. You have to build a plane essentially, put it an robotic brain (software), advanced sensors and make sure all the motors and long range controls work.Build ground control stations that can operator off a laptop and do enough signal processing to make sure the video comes across clean and in focus. All at the same time. Not easy at all to do. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 15% [?]

I like Microsoft. I like Google. I use Google’s chrome , apps on top of MS’s Windows daily.  I’ve been to the Microsoft Campus, I’ve worked with people from the company and know more about it’s insides than I do about Google. So when Microsoft has “syncing” issues across its teams I can understand and appreciate why. But from Google, I would not expect this , especially given that they are much smaller, leaner, meaner. And we love to love Google and love to hate Microsoft, right? 

So imagine the puzzled expression on my face when i saw this : (screenshot below)

I’m using chrome with Google’s custom search engine. Google’s browser not compatible with a Google service? And it then recommends a Microsoft browser as an option too (of course that is good error messaging by the Google CSE team but funny nonetheless). Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9% [?]

The Apicta awards attracts hundreds of companies, from all over the asian region. Each year companies from all over the Asian region come to display their products, give presentations and undergo a gruelling judging process. And this year (drumroll please…) three of our companies won the Apicta Awards! Shock and awe aside, this is the best news of the year! TPS, Pixsense and Kraysis have won the coveted awards and are among the best in Asia. (Pixsense also won last time) Congrats to the winners and the industry as a whole, we must be doing -alot- right to have gotten here….. picture below and on-the-scene coverage on Jehan’s Blog here.

Popularity: 6% [?]

“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant dangers, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” 

Advertisement placed by Earnest Shackleton in 1914. This was for an exploration mission to the Artic. 5000 people responded to the ad. 

Reminded me of the promise a startup holds today. A startup in many ways is more than just working on your idea. Its an exploration of yourself as a person, an exploration into a knowledge economy.  Quite similar to being an explorer in the early 1900’s ? Ofcourse, you might crash and burn, lose your shirt, make no money in real terms. But thats the price of a shot at glory and your own thing. 

You also might end up being the founder of the next Apple computer, or YouTube, or Digg. But you wont know that till you get out of that cublicle you’re so comfortable in, will you? 

Popularity: 7% [?]

Youtube loads up -very slowly- on Worldcall most of the time. I dont know why, but (large) video streams over http  generally on Worldcall cable are very bad. DSL providers do not seem to have this issue. So if 80% of what you do is web video, then you should probably be on DSL

Popularity: 11% [?]

Popularity: 9% [?]