Kapil Tundwal's Musings

One of Apple's strengths

2011-08-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

Following post on PCWorld talks about even though Sony and Dell had laser thin notebooks way before Macbook Air hit the market, they never gained traction. This snippet sums it up.

“Our customers told us this is what they want, and our market research says this is what people are buying, so we made this great product to address that market!” There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but you’ll never set any trends that way. If you want to make the product that everyone else compares their product to, you have to go outside the envelope. You have to take a risk to build something nobody has told you they want, because they don’t know they want it yet, and then you have to invest in it and stick with it until you get it right. The real irony here is that their marketing departments are constantly striving to find differentiators: ways to set their products apart from the pack. If every company is building products to address the same set of market research data, you’re not going to get differentiated products. src

I think this is where conventional business strategies break and it take guts to do this.

"Switch" book : Rider and elephant

2011-08-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

I am reading this book nowadays. It talks about long and short term goals. i have always struggled how to find balance between the two. One of the things that has picked up from it is "some is not a number soon is not a time"

WSJ Review Amazon

What I want on Google+

2011-07-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

An ability to have informal video chat with my colleagues who may be in the building as I am, working from home in same city or are offshore. But video chat never caught mainstream for all the good reasons.

I started pondering on the creating solution myself: www.remoteoffice.me. And right then Google announced WebRTC. It was a happy co-incidence and I thought this would do it.

Now that Google+ APIs are in the pipeline I am looking forward to build an app that would allow meeting rooms, white-boarding, taking/assigning actions items, sending status updates, knocking on the "door" to see if you are available for a minute ...

Stay tuned.

EDIT: Chris Brogan on 50 things that are with Google+

Google+ invite

2011-06-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

By now you’ve probably heard of Google’s latest effort in the social space – Google+ (pronounced “Google Plus”). You can read more about this ambitious project on the official blog post.

Thanks to David Webb I was able to get an invite and I am offering one to everyone provided you do following

Follow me @ktundwal
leave your email address in comments below.

Have fun.

Lesson learned from CircleDoc project

2010-09-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

CircleDoc started as a hobby, born out of frustration with inability to work with others collaboratively when one team member has opened the "file". I was impressed with Google Docs and thought what if such a feature would be available in widely used application such as Microsoft PowerPoint. Using open source technologies such as Openfire Jabber server and IKVM (thank you), product quickly started taking shape. I launched it and LifeHacker picked it up which resulted into decent number of signups.

One lesson I learned from the entire process was that before launching a product, give a serious thought about how you are going to acquire your customers. Technical folks tend to ignore this and go with "build first and they will come" (read Vivek Wadhwa's Entrepreneur: You’re No Steve Jobs, So Look Before You Leap).

Having launched CircleDoc, this is what I am doing, listening to my early adopters and iterating.

Startup idea: Personal Dr.

2010-09-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Real world application I would pay for. Meet Michael, your personal Doctor. Michael knows lot about your lifestyle, your medical history and your goals. If you are about to feel sick or just wanna know about a disease you heard of, pull up Michael and get your questions answered. Frequently Michael comes up in between your TV programs to suggest may you should go for that run.

Designing Business Model

2010-08-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

In his talk about Why Accountants Don't Run Startups, Steve Blank highlighted Alex Osterwalder's work on 1 page business model. Its very similar to design patterns in software development.

Here is my initial take.

Idea is to have many of such business models sketched out. It helps keep all moving parts within context.

Download business model template from slideshare.net.

Download 1st chapter of Business Model Generation handbook (Amazon)

Business Models for Startups

2010-08-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

I was always confused by the notion of business model/plan as it applies to large companies versus startups.

Steve Blank has an excellent post about it.

A startup is a search for a repeatable and scalable business model. As a founder you are testing a series of hypotheses about all the pieces of the business model: Who are the customers/users? What’s the distribution channel? How do we price and position the product? How do we create end user demand? Who are our partners? Where/how do we build the product? How do we finance the company, etc.

Also check out this excellent talk about Why Accountants Don't Run Startups he gave at Startup Lessons Learned Conference in San Francisco on April 23, 2010 on Customer Development 2.0.

Too inexperienced to do a startup?

2010-06-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

“So, paradoxically, if you’re too inexperienced to start a startup, what you should do is start one. That’s a way more efficient cure for inexperience than a normal job. In fact, getting a normal job may actually make you less able to start a startup, by turning you into a tame animal who thinks he needs an office to work in and a product manager to tell him what software to write.”
Paul Graham

2010-06-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

Recently read Rework and agree with majority of the points made. Here are the best business as compiled by BusinessInsider

Go: Less mass
Competitors: Who cares what they're doing?
Takedowns: Planning is guessing
Hiring: Resumes are ridiculous
Hiring: Everybody works
Productivity: Long lists don't get done
Productivity: Meetings are toxic
Damage Control: Speed changes everything
Promotion: Marketing is not a department
Promotion: Build an audience
Promotion: Go behind the scenes
Culture: Decisions are temporary
Culture: Sound like you

CircleDoc 7th in Google search results

2010-06-05T16:24:00.001-07:00

Google search for "Powerpoint collaboration"

Idea evaluation worksheet

2010-06-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

I prepared idea evaluation worksheet during idea & vision session at Founder Institute. Motivation was to come up with a formula to kill bad ideas.

Download it from Google Docs. PDF, XLS.

CircleDoc explained

2010-06-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

Mentored by Bruce Dines

2010-05-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Bruce Dines, VP & MD of Technology Investments at Liberty Global Ventures (LinkedIn) was the mentor for week 4 session of Founder's Institute.

Bruce talked about all the questions an entrepreneur should be working on to get the clarity in mind, because if you dont have it, than its going to show up in front of a VC or in the market.

I think pitching an idea to a VC is in best interest of an entrepreneur, especially for a rookie like me. Besides the obvious (walking out the door with a check), VC is the first line of defense. If I can convince a VC to put their money into my venture, I should be able to acquire a paying customer as well.

I ran my pitch after the session with him and he said "so its knowledge management". It helped me understand how VCs have buckets in mind and put ideas into them. Also he gave me a thumbs up for my idea.

Thank you Founder Institute to get Bruce to mentor us. This session was invaluable. And thank you Bruce.

Web app vs Native app

2010-05-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

Customer doesnt care what technology functionality is developed upon. Customer wants

Performance
Usability (fluid, intuitive UI)
Offline ability (unreliable networks),
Sense of ownership (my files, my apps - I may be wrong on this but currently this is the perception right now)

Way I see it is following and I am all for Native apps, at least in short term.

HTML5 apps - addresses developer's pain
Native apps - addresses customer's pain (all of the above)

Couple of relevant quotes from Google IO 2010

"These models are likely to converge in the future. And not the too distant future" - Sergey Brin

"Five years from now this question wouldn’t be a relevant question because it’s going to shift again" - Brad Feld

Google Gears as 1st HTML5 implementation

2008-06-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

Today Techcrunch posted an article about whats the game play behind Google Gears. Some interesting points:

The choice of Ajax may be because it is simply the best solution, but it may have more to do with the fact that almost every alternate web development technology stack is produced and controlled by a direct competitor (read: Adobe and Microsoft)

To this point however much Adobe claims that AIR supports both Flex and HTML and that they are complimentry, I am sure they know internally that they do compete and any web app (presentation editor, website editor) done in pure HTML and javascript and NOT using Flex is a loss for Adobe.

The idea [Google Gears] was simple: bring forward the features of tomorrow’s web technologies into today’s browsers.

The shortcut was to skip past the browsers and add a new layer above them – the Google web layer. ... Browsers would now do all the boring bits: rendering HTML, presenting an interface, user options etc. while Google leveraged what was there and dashed ahead.

I have decent share of web app development using both HTML/Javascript and Silverlight and I know what it takes to develop against them. A part of me agrees that client framework for cloud computing should be non-proprietry yet supported by a big company. This promises low cost of development from tool and deployment standpoint. Although I would argue that lack of a good development tool seriously hurts adoption of HTML, Javascript and CSS as programming environment.

I am looking forward to such a tool from Google (who else has best interest) that would reduce the cost of entry for new developers into HTML/Javascript world.

Google Gears Presentation from Google IO

Bioanalogy of an agile team

2008-04-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

(If) firms are breaking up into smaller, agile units, the economy will resemble the human brain - dense, dispersed clusters of small inter-related units (neurons!) forming transient, agile patterns, constantly being remodelled.

There are 4 components to the system you could copy:

be a neuron - basically small firms, startups, road warrior consultants and creatives;
be a synapse between neurons: the service that lets neurons talk to one another, form temporary networks and memories;
be the extracellular matrix - half incubator, half director, it's the YCombinator of the brain on which every neuron finds its position and develops under its occasional signals.
be the blood supply - the main supply of resources (multimillion VC?), but *not* directly involved with neurons. Often aligned with the neurons via the extracellular matrix. 5
be the skull (i think government's already got that one figured out pretty good)

This century, if the economy is edge-bound, is certainly going to need some damn good synapses and extracellular matrix. A shakeout is also needed to weed out the underperforming neurons.

src

What if semantic print were to exist?

2008-03-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

Today's news about Yahoo embracing Semantic Web got me thinking. What if semantic print were to exist?

From Techcrunch post:

"Yahoo’s support for semantic web standards like RDF and microformats (hCard, hCalendar, hReview, hAtom and XFN) is exactly the incentive websites need to adopt them. Instead of semantic silos scattered across the Web (think Twine), Yahoo will be pulling all the semantic information together when available, as a search engine should."

What I mean by semantic print is application of RDF & microformats like standards applied to components that make up a print publication (flyers, brochures, newspapers, magazines, etc...) Just like semantic web promises to make search engines and mash ups better among others, semantic print would allow content repurposing, new packaging/print products and cost efficiencies in print production.

Google's interactive ads is also a step in this direction where by content also carries intent/action. On the production side there are a lot of print content management systems (Alfresco, Quark Publishing System, Documentum) out there promises this, but no clear winner exists yet in this space.

I guess evolution happens out of chaos only and not every information in the world can be structured.

What if newspapers go purely "distribution" model

2008-03-12T14:22:00.001-07:00

After my initial comment about distribution vs destination, I realized what if such a theory is applied to traditional print media?

Traditional print houses have a lot of investment in infrastructure to support editorial, product and delivery. And report after report suggests news print market is shrinking. Idea is to leverage that investment by offering that infrastructure to bloggers, influencers (if there is such a thing), evangelists, what not whose primary channel is web and would like to add print as well.

Advantages:

Independent journalists add another medium to their work > reach more masses
Opens the door for content monetization besides ad based revenue. Posts/articles that cost less to produce and are time critical may be delivered via web while ones that need lots of research, has high quality editorial analysis and is not time critical may go purely print for which customers have to pay.

Distribution vs Destination

2008-03-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

After reading about new YouTube API and Hulu launch, I guess I realized difference between distribution & destination.

As I understand it, a web service is "destination" where people stay there, like yahoo.com. It essentially is a portal which have original editorial and may aggregate external content. Techcrunch noted with new YouTube APIs there is a strong indication that YouTube wants to be in hosting and distribution business as opposed to destination.

On the "distribution" side, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar notes that he is happy to know that that somebody who’s consuming the full episode of 30 Rock was within Yahoo. I guess the main motivation behind "distribution" business model is it is hard to create new destination. a good analogy from physical world is how many malls one can open. So it is in best interest of content providers that they keep open mind towards having somebody else host their content. Of course, one needs to make sure that balance doenst tilt all the way like what Steve Jobs did to music industry.

Half-Assed Startup: Work on a startup while working full time

2008-03-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

Excellent points to consider from Venture Hacks. I can attest to most of these.

You need a co-founder and some cheerleaders < you'll hit a motivation wall
Pick a day or two per week where you always work, ideally in the same room as your co-founders < keeping a fixed schedule helps
Have a boat-burning target - a goal when you can go full steam. < dive in full-time?
Pick an idea that is tractable < No extraneous features
Understand that your first version is probably going to suck
If you’re going to screw off at work (everyone does), spend it getting smarter about the stuff you don’t know < stealing time
Be sure you own your startup

My work @ Quark Labs

2008-03-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

Wanted to send out a quick note. 2 of the the projects that I conceived and developed are live @ Quark Labs. I will be adding more information soon. Stay tuned.

Shared Picture Map for QuarkXPress 7:
Shared Picture Map is a QuarkXPress XTension and Apple Aperture/iPhoto plugins that allows both the applications to exchange images and layouts.

QuarkViewer for QuarkXPress 7:
QuarkViewer is an XTensions module for QuarkXPress 7.3.x that allows users to export QuarkXPress layout pages for viewing in Microsoft Silverlight player. QuarkViewer may run as a pure desktop application or a Web application.

Hello World App using iPhone SDK

2008-03-07T14:09:00.001-08:00

Got my hands dirty with iPhone SDK. Here is the code to display Hello World.

UIView *mainView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame: [[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]];
UITextView *textView = [[UITextView alloc] initWithFrame: CGRectMake(10.0f, 10.0f, 320.0f, 480.0f)];

[textView setEditable:YES];
[window addSubview: mainView];
[mainView addSubview:textView];
[textView setText:@"Hello World"];

Download code

What if newspapers were delivered electronically on weekdays and in print on Sunday?

2008-03-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

Being entrepreneurial, I keep thinking about ideas to solve current and future problems. I thought its high time to document those and hence I am starting "what if" posts with this one.

What if newspapers were delivered electronically on weekdays and in print on Sunday?

Of course problem I am trying to solve is dying print media. How many of us read newspapers any more? Google News, blogs, aggregators (such as Techmeme) are where we get our news from. Recently I got to hear from an IT director at a leading print magazine - he mentioned that they are trying to be a media company. This was the first for me, but it does make sense. Now-a-days audio, video is at par with print and is a must.

Coming back to solution. I must add this is inspired by Scott Karp's post on Publishing 2.0 blog. What if publishing houses deliver more of editorial edition and less of news (late breaking :) and that too either saturday or sunday? This product would be somewhere in middle of editorial section of a daily newspaper and a weekly/bimonthly magazine. Ads would be more for brand awareness as opposed to "call for action". This way one can get some time on weekend to take a step back from internet news world and see it from pure editorial perspective. Further such a product should be customizable by the end user. Say I would like to read more about technology and health. Even better if they can let one pick the writers. Say for example I like to read Scott Karp and Michael Arrington, so have their blogs included in this product.

Tips for building Facebook apps

2008-03-03T23:07:00.001-08:00

It's never too late to create a winning app
Simplicity & clarity are key to app success
Aim for speed & flexibility in launch and iterations
Community cooperation leads to success (in other words, the most successful students shared the most)
Individual opinion about apps are worthless, you need to get out there and see what happens
Copying success is a cheap / fast way to succeed
Metrics do matter, but today's tools are too weak
You CAN learn to create a winning app
Success comes from the CHAOS / CONTROL Cycle
Mass Interpersonal Persuasion is finally here

From teachers @ Stanford

Brian Lara Cricket 2oo7 Xbox Controller Map

2008-03-02T01:08:00.001-08:00

I own Xbox 360 in US. Of course its NTSC format and Brian Lara Cricket 2007 isnt released here. Being a cricket fanatic, I so desperately needed to play it that I bought PC version, put it on my MacBook Pro (Vista via Boot camp) and used my Xbox Controller (via wireless gaming receiver) to play the game. Now I had no way of knowing which controller key does what so I asked a friend of mine in UK to send screen shots of the Xbox game. Posting them here for future reference.

	Batting	Bowling	Fielding
LS/Arrow	Aim	Aim	Catch
A	Attacking shot/Abort run	Run up/Normal delivery	Change field type
B	Lofted shot	Right-breaking delivery	Change field type
X	Defensive shot	Left-breaking delivery	Throw to keeper/Field variant
Y	Run	Slow delivery/Top spinner	Throw to bowler/Field variant
LB	Move left/Attacking sweep	Swing left
RB	Move right/Lofted sweep	Swing right
LT+X,B,A	Dance down wicket	Special delivery 1
RT		Special delivery 2

Hindustan Times Google Gadget

2008-02-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

Add this gadget to your iGoogle page to view Hindustan Times front page.

Zero click folder browsing via Mac OS X Dock

2008-02-18T13:45:00.001-08:00

I am primarily a windows user and had hard time finding my way through files and folders by just using mouse.

I was pleasantly surprised when Mac OS 10.5.2 allowed me to set display of folder (in dock) as "Folder" and "List" for "View Content as". Now I have a way to keep browsing folders using mouse without switching to finder.

Six principals for making new things

2008-02-18T11:34:00.000-08:00

I like to find

simple solutions
to overlooked problems
that actually need to be solved, and
deliver them as informally as possible,
starting with a very crude version 1, then
iterating rapidly.

Read this piece by Paul Graham and coudnt resist shamelessly copying it here. By the way I discovered it via Techmeme, which I am using frequently to get good tech articles.

For my 18-year-old self

2008-02-18T08:50:00.000-08:00

Marked the ones that I most believe in.

How to control impulse spending.
You gotta stay active.
How to plan finances.
Junk food will come back to bite you in the butt.
Smoking is just dumb.
Fund your retirement, son. And don’t withdraw it.
All the stuff you’re doing that seems hard — it will be of use.
Don’t buy that used van without checking it out closely.
That guy you’re going to sell your car to? On a gentleman’s agreement? He’s not gonna pay you.
Make time to pursue your passion, no matter how busy you are.
All that stuff that’s stressing you out — it won’t matter in 5 years, let alone 15.
The people you make friends with are so much more important than your job or the things you buy.
All that time you spend watching TV is a huge, huge waste of time.
Your kids are going to grow up way faster than you think. Don’t waste a minute.
Forget the drama. Focus on being happy.
Pay more attention to blogs when you first hear about them. They’re more than just journals.
Speaking of which, keep a journal. Seriously. Your memory is extremely faulty.
Tequila is seriously evil.
Yes, you can do a marathon. Don’t put this goal off — it’s extremely rewarding.
All these mistakes you’re going to make, despite this advice? They’re worth it.

From Zen Habits.

Are you right brain or left brain?

2008-02-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

From funderstanding

This theory of the structure and functions of the mind suggests that the two different sides of the brain control two different "modes" of thinking. It also suggests that each of us prefers one mode over the other.

Experimentation has shown that the two different sides, or hemispheres, of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking. The following table illustrates the differences between left-brain and right-brain thinking:

Left Brain		Right Brain
Logical Sequential Rational Analytical Objective Looks at parts		Random Intuitive Holistic Synthesizing Subjective Looks at wholes

Indoor cricket

2008-02-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

Finally, after college, I found a bunch of guys who play cricket religously. 6 months ago I started playing with them and now I am playing a tournament as part of this team - Crazy Cricketers.

This is a variant of regular cricket and played inside. Check out FAQs here.

I call myself a bowler who is handy with bat. In this tournament I have done fairly ok with both bat and ball. We have had 2 matches so far - 1 loss, 1 win.

I am going to work hard and concentrate to help take Crazy Cricketers to semifinals.

Flying alarm clock

2008-02-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

"When the alarm goes off, a helicopter flies into the air, carrying the key to turn off the alarm. The only way to silence the alarm is to get out of bed and find the key! The true late sleeper has finally met their match!"

Whats next? A shower? All those funny scenes from cartoon channels coming to reality.

Evaluating Silverlight technology

2008-01-30T17:53:00.001-08:00

At Quark Mohan and I have been working on Silverlight for a while now.

For those who dont know, Silverlight is a technology similar to Flash. Currently it is at 1.0 version. Runtime that enables silverlight has a small footprint (5MB) and is cross platform. Technology looks promising and I am really counting on Microsoft to get it mainstream.

Recently we sat down with Warren from Microsoft to talk about it.

http://www.podtech.net/home/4892/whats-new-quarks-using-silverlight

Mythological significance of my birthday, Jan 14th

2008-01-27T15:43:00.001-08:00

Fox31 Show: House

2007-12-10T21:02:00.001-08:00

Startup

2007-12-06T11:11:00.001-08:00

While searching for "startup" Paul Graham's article showed up and l was able to relate to most of it. Here are some of the key points:

In particular, you don't need a brilliant idea to start a startup around. The way a startup makes money is to offer people better technology than they have now.
Hire people who could be described as an animal
Produce something that customers want. Authors gives a restaurant example.
Word "business" is not that difficult to understand in a technology startup.
Spend money wisely. Burn it slowly.
Are you a "startup" material?

Another great article by Loïc Le Meur on the rules of the game.

Don’t wait for a revolutionary idea. It will never happen. Just focus on a simple, exciting, empty space and execute as fast as possible
Share your idea. The more you share, the more you get advice and the more you learn. Meet and talk to your competitors.
Build a community. Use blogging and social software to make sure people hear about you.
Listen to your community. Answer questions and build your product with their feedback.
Gather a great team. Select those with very different skills from you. Look for people who are better than you.
Be the first to recognise a problem. Everyone makes mistakes. Address the issue in public, learn about and correct it.
Don’t spend time on market research. Launch test versions as early as possible. Keep improving the product in the open.
Don’t obsess over spreadsheet business plans. They are not going to turn out as you predict, in any case.
Don’t plan a big marketing effort. It’s much more important and powerful that your community loves the product.
Don’t focus on getting rich. Focus on your users. Money is a consequence of success, not a goal.

MBA Admission Blogs

2007-11-16T11:03:00.002-08:00

Here are some of the blogs I am reading in preparation for applying to MBA Schools.

Live India TV, NDTV News

2007-10-21T07:51:00.001-07:00

Recently came across live feed of NDTV. Its a flash feed.

B4U Channel link (play in wmp): http://64.72.122.248/idesitv-b4umovies-st2323d?WMContentBitrate=400000

Animator vs Animation

2007-10-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

From deviantART

Startup commandments

2007-10-08T20:59:00.001-07:00

Funny, albeit true commandments (more here). My picks:

Your idea isn't new. Pick an idea; at least 50 other people have
thought of it. Get over your stunning brilliance and realize that
execution matters more.
Your software sucks. So what. Everyone else's does also, and
re-architecting is the kiss of death for a startup. Startups are no
place for architecture astronauts.

Pakistan down on its knees

2007-09-24T23:24:00.001-07:00

src: indianexpress.com

India - T20 World Cup Champions

2007-09-24T17:01:00.001-07:00

src: hindustantimes.com

I am so lucky to witness this miracle. After 24 years, India have won world cup, if somebody downplays the feat by saying its just T20 and not "proper cricket" - that person is being naive. One needs to know and think "cricket" to achieve something like this.

As per Cricinfo commentator, the shot from which Misbah got out was a bit too cute. When you need 6 from 4, that's not the shot one should pick. Another thing to note, Joginder's ball lacked pace and hence ball didn't cross the boundary; Joginder's lack of pace is criticized about, but this time it worked in our favor.
It was disheartening to see Sreesanth getting hit badly in one single over. He is a good bowler and I hope he will get better with experience.

All in all, good thing for us is that

Team played like a team (no big guns) and
Dhoni has got just the right start with his captaincy (which Ganguly and Tendulkar publicly supports). All the best to him.

How can we help Indian team win more matches? - Expect less from them :)

India Team produced an absolute beauty

2007-09-22T13:07:00.001-07:00

India has beaten Australia in T20 semifinal match. Australia are the reigning champions of both Test and ODI format, but doesnt matter what people say about T20, its still a valid cricket format. Champions are champions.

India completely outdid Australians. Indian batsman put up more than decent score on board and bowlers did amazing job. When Hayden and Gilchrist were going strong in the middle of innings, it looked like the match has slipped away - but Indian bowlers turned it back.

What happened there? What caused Indians to put out such a performance?

Is it no pressure, as Dhoni mentioned at the end?
Is it team overhaul, with big three vacating their spaces?
Is it Dhoni's fearless leadership which asks boys to have fun?

Whatever it is, it seems it worked at least in T20 world cup tournament. I mean, 3 straight wins against good teams cant be fluke - can it?
I wish new India team all the best for upcoming tournaments.

My Mother & Father

2007-09-20T22:42:00.001-07:00

My father, Mr. S L Tundwal, was born in Bhiwani, Haryana, studied Textile Engineering at Textile Institute of Technology.

I am so proud of him to get professional education with very limited means. My grand-father, G R Tundwal, was the only support he had and he did very well. It was because of his education that my brother, Nikhil Tundwal and I got good education.

My father is calm, very thoughtful, and understanding. I know he can fix things up for our family and I look up to him when I am down.

Currently he is Vice President at RSWM Textile mill in Ringus, Rajasthan.

My mother, Mrs. Indra Tundwal, was born in Delhi, studied at Delhi University and married my father in 1972.

She gave up her career to raise us. She has gone through lot of hardships early on and she chose to fight them all.

She was one person who made sure we excelled in our education, as a matter a fact, in all matters of life. She wouldn't settle for less and instilled the same fighting spirit in us. On the other hand she is a very loving and caring woman. One has to work up to gain her trust, but once you do, she will support you no matter what happens.

She is a teacher in Ringus.

I will forever be indebted to my parents. They made me what I am and I am so proud of them.

mint.com - hard sell

2007-09-20T08:31:00.001-07:00

Mint is a personal finance application that lets users track and monitor their financials in one place without the need of routine maintenance or accounting knowledge. It requires users to put in their username/passwords of banks/credit cards to pull down customer info. It does necessary number crunching and reports analysis of spending/savings and suggests ways to save money.

I decided to give it a test and half way through, I backtracked - I am not sold out on security. Yes, they use similar security measure as other big financial institutes - but its not just technology that helps customers gain trust - its the brand value of the institute itself. And Mint being new kid on the block no where compares to mentioned names like Fidelity and likes in brand value.

My lovely wife

2007-09-15T21:56:00.001-07:00

Her name is Kavita, she is pretty, way cool, and contrary to yours truly, have a lot of patience.

We got married on Feb 6 2003 in Delhi, India

She is from Ahmadabad, India where she completed her Masters in Microbiology. Currently she is pursuing her PhD in Immunology from

National Jewish Medical and Research Center (Univ. of Colorado Health Science Center).

Besides her studies and lab work she finds time for cooking and sewing. She wants to be a best baker.

College Days

2007-09-15T16:06:00.001-07:00

Found an old picture from college days. I am on extreme left. Picture was taken @ Kasauli, I guess in 1997.

Indian Happy Hour @ DC10 / Sept 15

2007-09-15T15:12:00.001-07:00

Where: DC-10 (940 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO 80203)
When: Saturday, September 22, 07
Time: 7.00-9.00 p.m. (club will play their own music after 9.00 p.m.)
Dress Code: Dress to impress
Music: Bally Sagoo, Rishi Rich and loads of floor tapping music

Absolutely wonderful match

2007-09-14T19:09:00.001-07:00

What a match we had today. India played against Pakistan in its first Twenty20 world cup match today - it was a do or die situation. Will all the right ingredients, match made up for its hype - a 20-20 format and on top of that arch rivals playing against each other.

There were lots of ups and downs and all it came down to who can hold their nerves when both teams have equal chances at winning it.

The thing that amazes me is Dhoni's consistency - you can bet on him - he will play according to match demands - hats off to him.

T20 / 1st match / WI vs SA

2007-09-11T09:20:00.001-07:00

Sopcast link: sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/10912

Rules of Twenty20

2007-09-10T21:52:00.001-07:00

FIELDERS

As the tournament's format suggests, each side gets 20 overs.
From the fielding side's point of view, restrictions will apply for the first six overs of the innings. Only two players will be stationed outside the area of restriction at the time of delivery.
Once fielding restrictions are off, not more than five players will be allowed outside the area of restriction.

BOWLERS

They will get to send down four overs apiece.
In case a match is tied, a bowl-out will determine the winner. A similar method can be resorted to in the final if there is a no-result, weather permitting.
For the bowl-out, five bowlers from each side will take turns to bowl at the stumps.
If the deadlock persists, another set of five deliveries will be sent down by the same bowlers. This shall continue till one team gains superiority.
In the event of overs being reduced for both teams or for the team bowling sec ond, no bowler can send down more than one-fifth of the total overs.
If play is suspended after a match com mences, the number of overs will be revised to a number lower than the orig inally allotted minimum of five overs.

BATSMEN

Following a no-ball due to a foot fault, the ensuing delivery shall be declared a free-hit. If it turns out to be a no-ball or a wide, the next delivery will become a free-hit.
For a free-hit, the batsman can be dis missed only under the circumstances that apply for a no-ball.
Field changes are not permitted for free hit deliveries.
The umpire will signal a free-hit by extending one arm straight upwards and moving it in a circular motion.

FORMAT

The first round of the championship will be contested by 12 teams who have been 'seeded' and divided into four groups.
Group A will comprise South Africa, West Indies, Bangladesh. Group B has Australia, England, Zimbabwe. Group C is made up of New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Kenya while Group D comprises Pakistan, India and Scotland.
In the group stage, each team will play the other team in its group and a win will get the victor two points while a no result will have the contestants splitting points.
The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super Eights which will consist of eight teams ranked into Groups E and F based on their seedings in the first round. While A1 (the top ranked side of Group A), B2, C1, D2 will constitute Group E, B1, A2, C2, D1 will make up Group F.
No points from the group stage will be carried forward and the top four teams from the Super Eights will advance to the semi-finals.

PLAYING CONDITIONS

A revised target using the Duckworth/Lewis method will be set for the number of overs which the team bat ting second will have to face.
If the side batting second has faced at least five overs and play is suspended and it is not possible for play to be resumed, the fate of the match will be decided by the D/L method.
If the team fielding first fails to com plete the stipulated overs within the scheduled time, play shall continue till the overs are completed. The interval shall not be extended.

src: hindustantimes.com

Chain

2007-09-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

"Its better to start a new chain than be a link in an existing one"

Lisa Simpson
The Simpsons

Practical tips on how to rise through ranks

2007-09-09T17:12:00.000-07:00

Came across this posting from a Microsoft employee.

Most notable are:
- understand how your company makes money
- being an "individual contributor" doesn't cut it
- while executing, brainstorming/asking questions/challenging hurts
- have your boss champion you
- grow horizontally
- be a "go to guy"
- prioritize
- stand out from the crowd

These are practical advices on how to jump from an average, albeit important, employee to a "the one", indispensable employee. I found these very realistic and agree with most of them.

Cricket live chat

2007-09-08T03:10:00.000-07:00

View shoutbox

Permanent link: http://denvercricket.googlepages.com/shout.html

A human being should be able to ...

2007-09-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

Cute baby

2007-08-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

Found this picture at local Asian store. Speaks volume.

Cricket in Downtown Denver

2007-07-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hi all cricket players in Denver,

We at Quark are kicking off 2007 summer season with cricket on every Saturday at 11AM for 3 hours.

Around 7-8 of us are regulars and we could definitely benefit from more. We play with tennis balls, so everyone is welcome.

We use Google Calender to manage and organize the plays. Click on following button to check out our schedule and show your interest.

Looking forward to some good plays,
Kapil

2007-07-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

Hiking on Flattop mountain trail in Colorado

Why havent I started a company yet?

2007-06-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

I came across this interesting document on www.scribd.com. It contains very concise, too the point, honest and realistic notes about start ups. Since I have been bitten by startup bug I knew I need a right partner to get started. This document confirms that this indeed is very much required.

From Y Combinator Startup School 2007 Notes

Bollywood hits

2007-05-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Very good stats work

2007-04-04T15:36:00.001-07:00

Check out The real culprits article by S Rajesh. His analysis of Indian batsman clearly shows where we have been failing.

He compares batsman scorecard in good and bad conditions. Good conditions consist of favorable tracks and mediocore bowling attack. Note how Dhoni's performance drops.

Author makes a note of how Kaif actually performed consistent in either of conditions and yet failed to make into World Cup squad.

Article concludes with the note that its bowling which have performed better than our batting in past 2 years while we still call us as a strong batting lineup.

Also checkout Manjrekar's thoughts on Chappell contribution to Indian cricket.

Test blog using Windows Live Writer

2007-03-26T13:27:00.001-07:00

test posting.

NDTV & CNN IBN Live

2007-03-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

NDTV (premier news channel in India) recently launched broadcast of their TV feed over the net using flash.

Quality is not that great but gets your news as seen by TV audience. I minesweeped their page for direct link. Good thing about direct link is that it will resize as per window height and width.

Also note that CNN IBN provides similar feed though they use Windows media streaming technology as opposed to Flash and feed quality is superior. Here is the direct mms link.

Enjoy

Please be calm

2007-03-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

Everyone of us goes through rough times, least we want at that time is another bad news. That's what Indian cricket team is going through right now. Please show the institution support if not to the team players. We know in our hearts we as a cricket playing nation are very good if not at the top of our game. We will come back very strong.

Its human to be disappointed, to be angry, but act of violence, pelting stones, burning effigies, destroying properties, hurting someone or their family is totally unasked for and completely ridiculous. No reasoning can justify it. I pray for well being of entire cricket institution.

Having said that I sincerely think that one of the reasons we fail to performe is due to immense pressure and expectation we have put on our team. I bet they spend more time thinking about cricket fans as to how they are going to react "in case", as opposed to how to tackle opposite team. But I know nobody cannot fix this, cricket is part and parcel of India. Its just that Indian cricketers have to be mentally strong.

An ardent cricket fan and a strong Indian cricket supporter.

Way cool

2007-03-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

Kavita's birthday, Dec 27

2006-12-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Dec 27, was my wife's birthday. We started the day with brunch at Masala (best south Indian food), spent all afternoon with Amit and Aradhana Chabbara at Fatcity, played bowling, laser gun tagging, skated on concrete rink - it was fun.

Later in the evening my wife and I moved on to Buell Theater for All Shook Up, play - musical comedy based on Elvis's top songs. It's amazing how they can enact a story in such a beautiful way with light and sound effects, creative sets and needless to add some very good theater acting.

We ended the day with a cheese cake @ Cheesecake factory. It was fun all together.

Dinner with Asheesh Biyala

2006-12-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

Out of the blue, Asheesh and I got together for Dinner in Denver on Dec 23 2006 after 20 years!!! Thats something.

We used to go to same school (Grasim Vidya Mandir, he told me now its called Aditya Vikram Birla School) in Nagda, India. We parted ways in 1991 when I moved to Delhi after completing 10th. He found me over the internet while planning vacation to Copper Mountain and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

It was literraly walking down the memory lane. We remembered all our common friends and teachers-

Anant Gupta - he did MBA (Fin), and is in academics in Symbiosis
Anant Sharam - he is a doctor and runs his dad's hospital in Nagda
Mitesh Sharma - he is doing masters in medicine
Devinder - I remember his since he used to catch fishes in nearby pond for his acquarium
Manoj Ramchandran - cartoon charater
Manoj Gupta - always fighting
Ritesh Jain - Jammu, my next door friend
Ritesh Tiwari - last I heard about him was from my mom - he is somewhere in Singapore
Atul - another next door friend
Ankur Shrivastav - lived in BCI, one of my friends
Mita Pandit - Another BCI resident
Sunil Baby - I connected with him over yahoo groups - I owe him a call.
Binoy Joseph - recently made a trip to USA?
Jayant Surana - ??
Sunil Pachlangia - my cricket buddy in BCI
Arun Mishra - he was Madhuri Dixit's fan, had pictures of her all over her house secretly hidden from her father, Mishra sir, who taught us Maths. A bunch of us happen to get notes (which his father had granted him exclusive access) from him in exchange of keeping our mouth shut. Rest is history (I scored 100 in finals)
Palwankar Sir - taught physics, Asheesh mentioned he is still there
Gautam Sir - our principle, passed away a few years ago
Chanchala Raju Madam - taught hindi and Sanskrit
Kolekar Madam - taught Mathematics
Sharma Madam - English teacher
Bharagav Madam - Biology
Itiyara Sir - Civics, once told us to watch some Hitler movie on Friday night @ 10PM, boy it had some scenes, I was so embarrassed watching it along with my parents. Asheesh mentioned he had similar experience - so I now know it was just not me.

more later...

Holiday Blizzard 2006

2006-12-22T11:44:00.000-08:00

Unexpected white powder in Denver Metro. My wife and I had some snow time. My car is still snowed in. Hoping to dig it out later today.