The world is flat, and I'm on the other side of it.
I was eating lunch at the Google office in Bangalore, India.
"You look familiar," said the engineer across the table from me. I suggested that he might have watched an archived video of a talk I'd given. "No, that's not it," he said. We continued with our lunch. Fifteen minutes later, he mentioned he once lived in Madison, Wisconsin. I mentioned I had went to school there. He said he did as well, as a grad student for two years. He recognized me because I was a coordinator for the Undergraduate Projects Lab.
I've read, maybe, the first third of The World is Flat (I found the book needlessly verbose, geared more for someone knowing little about technology and globalization), but the beginning of the book talks specifically about Bangalore. This was part of my interest in coming here. It feels as if large, imposing, metallic office buildings have dropped from the sky to accompany the similarly airlifted shops among the older buildings: grand and elaborate homes, shacks, seedy shops, and neglected and garbage-covered vacant lots.
Interestingly enough, I found a copy of The World is Flat in a bookstore in the Garuda Mall.
But what struck me most was that while, outside the office, the environment was exotic and foreign (walking along the uneven slabs laid down as a sidewalk and dodging the chaotic stream of cars, scooters, and autorickshaws when darting across intersections), inside the corporate confines, I might have well been working in a office off University Avenue in Palo Alto. Before leaving, I had copied my files to Bangalore, and, when I got there, I sat at an empty terminal, logged in, and was just as productive as I would be in my chair in Mountain View, California (and more productive in my dealings with the other Bangalore engineers, being able to spin around in my chair rather than send an e-mail and deal with the time difference).
Anyway, the next leg of the trip is a flight to Delhi (I'm actually finishing up this post in my hotel room), and then visits to Agra (to see the Taj Mahal) and Chandigarh (to attend a coworker's wedding).
"You look familiar," said the engineer across the table from me. I suggested that he might have watched an archived video of a talk I'd given. "No, that's not it," he said. We continued with our lunch. Fifteen minutes later, he mentioned he once lived in Madison, Wisconsin. I mentioned I had went to school there. He said he did as well, as a grad student for two years. He recognized me because I was a coordinator for the Undergraduate Projects Lab.
I've read, maybe, the first third of The World is Flat (I found the book needlessly verbose, geared more for someone knowing little about technology and globalization), but the beginning of the book talks specifically about Bangalore. This was part of my interest in coming here. It feels as if large, imposing, metallic office buildings have dropped from the sky to accompany the similarly airlifted shops among the older buildings: grand and elaborate homes, shacks, seedy shops, and neglected and garbage-covered vacant lots.
Interestingly enough, I found a copy of The World is Flat in a bookstore in the Garuda Mall.
But what struck me most was that while, outside the office, the environment was exotic and foreign (walking along the uneven slabs laid down as a sidewalk and dodging the chaotic stream of cars, scooters, and autorickshaws when darting across intersections), inside the corporate confines, I might have well been working in a office off University Avenue in Palo Alto. Before leaving, I had copied my files to Bangalore, and, when I got there, I sat at an empty terminal, logged in, and was just as productive as I would be in my chair in Mountain View, California (and more productive in my dealings with the other Bangalore engineers, being able to spin around in my chair rather than send an e-mail and deal with the time difference).
Anyway, the next leg of the trip is a flight to Delhi (I'm actually finishing up this post in my hotel room), and then visits to Agra (to see the Taj Mahal) and Chandigarh (to attend a coworker's wedding).
Why are we still arguing about physical media?
Hey kids. I'm killing time in the dentist's waiting room. Why not write a blog post?
I broke down and bought a big LCD TV the other day (I've never really bought a TV before — I don't watch that much TV and a roommate has always had one). But the recent price drops, the HDTV switch, and my Wii-initiated return to video gaming prompted the purchase.
When I was home for Christmas, I spent some quality time with my brother's Xbox 360, and was quite taken with it (and its HDMI outputs). While I'm naturally skeptical of any Microsoft product, I'd certainly purchase an Xbox 360 before a PS3. There are some great Wii-exclusive games (most of them from the Nintendo franchises), but most anything released on the PS3 is released on the Xbox 360 and vice versa (save for some glaring omissions — damn you Konami). In addition, the Xbox 360 is cheaper and PS3 adoption in the US has been anemic.
Years ago, when my brothers were gifted a PS2 (I was in college), my mother was swayed to purchase by the fact that it also functioned as a DVD player. The PS3 functions as a Blu-Ray player, but the Xbox only plays HD DVDs with the addition of a $179.00 add-on drive.
Why there are two different HD formats is beyond me. At some level, it's greed, as each format has the backing of industry players (read: licensers). It's VHS vs. Betamax again.
But in the age of iTunes, why are we delivering content on disc? Even Netflix, with its giant Sneakernet (190,000 discs a day, times 4 gigs or so per DVD is roughly 8.8 GB a second — roughly an OC-192, though one that's connected to more than a million mailboxes), is moving to network delivery. They already do in-browser streaming, and just announced plans for a set-top box.
Anyway, as of late, Blu-Ray seems to be pulling ahead. It's good for me in that I can finally drop some green on a player, but my vindictive side wants to see both formats get whupped by networked media devices.
Of course, that's a source of disappointment as well. Why can't my Wii, Xbox 360, or PS3 access Netflix or the iTunes store? Why is the Apple TV so absurdly overpriced?
Stupid walled gardens.
Obviously, given the timestamp, I finished up this post in the evening and not at the dentist's. Poor guy broke his foot the other day.
I broke down and bought a big LCD TV the other day (I've never really bought a TV before — I don't watch that much TV and a roommate has always had one). But the recent price drops, the HDTV switch, and my Wii-initiated return to video gaming prompted the purchase.
When I was home for Christmas, I spent some quality time with my brother's Xbox 360, and was quite taken with it (and its HDMI outputs). While I'm naturally skeptical of any Microsoft product, I'd certainly purchase an Xbox 360 before a PS3. There are some great Wii-exclusive games (most of them from the Nintendo franchises), but most anything released on the PS3 is released on the Xbox 360 and vice versa (save for some glaring omissions — damn you Konami). In addition, the Xbox 360 is cheaper and PS3 adoption in the US has been anemic.
Years ago, when my brothers were gifted a PS2 (I was in college), my mother was swayed to purchase by the fact that it also functioned as a DVD player. The PS3 functions as a Blu-Ray player, but the Xbox only plays HD DVDs with the addition of a $179.00 add-on drive.
Why there are two different HD formats is beyond me. At some level, it's greed, as each format has the backing of industry players (read: licensers). It's VHS vs. Betamax again.
But in the age of iTunes, why are we delivering content on disc? Even Netflix, with its giant Sneakernet (190,000 discs a day, times 4 gigs or so per DVD is roughly 8.8 GB a second — roughly an OC-192, though one that's connected to more than a million mailboxes), is moving to network delivery. They already do in-browser streaming, and just announced plans for a set-top box.
Anyway, as of late, Blu-Ray seems to be pulling ahead. It's good for me in that I can finally drop some green on a player, but my vindictive side wants to see both formats get whupped by networked media devices.
Of course, that's a source of disappointment as well. Why can't my Wii, Xbox 360, or PS3 access Netflix or the iTunes store? Why is the Apple TV so absurdly overpriced?
Stupid walled gardens.
Obviously, given the timestamp, I finished up this post in the evening and not at the dentist's. Poor guy broke his foot the other day.
Christmas Card 2007
This year, instead of sending out purchased Christmas cards, I drew one up and had it printed.
