Shrunk Syntax

I recently read an article about how younger people were no longer using emails to communicate but instead chose text or short little messages understandable by only those who text short messages. Suddenly formulating and constructing sentences has become a burden for everyone just until recently when most of us though we had arrived if we were using email. Forget snail mail, it's really hard to remember when i sent a personal email to someone and got back a reply. Most of my friends no longer stay in touch with email. "You should have texted me" or even "scrapped me" (oops) they would probably say. I fail to understand whether communication has shrunk or worst, have the ideas and thoughts shrunk that one can express only in teeny weenie little messages on facebook, orkut, twitter etc. Blogging is already considered passé and tweeting is in. Schools who used to ask their wards to write an essay in no more than 600 words would be soon asking kids to tweet their creative ideas in, say a dozen words. The whole trend is turning out to be a gadget makers convenience as the opportunities for them are as clear as the trends. It just takes someone to figure out how to serve the public's falling attention span with the ever shorter and more perfunctory communication, itsy-bitsy sentences, sentences without verbs, dropped vowels. People want information in smaller packets today and very soon twitter and texting will be too prolix for the evolved. The apps that drive the market and the devices  will shrink the human expression to down to a nub that can be hosted on a touch screen no larger than the size of a biscuit. Don’t be surprised if you are not heard if you cannot express something in a single character...K? Very soon, each letter of the alphabet will have assigned words..

watdya thnk? cmmnts pls?

Choices and FDI in retail

A signboard at a home furnishing retail outlet screaming Buy 1 get 1 free caught our attention this evening more so because the brand that was being advertised and was on sale was Bombay Dyeing bed spreads which normally is never marked down. Following the instincts, and of course the prospect of striking a cool deal, went into the store to be greeted by a salesman who began pulling out neatly packed packs of bed spreads. It had been a while since we had this kind of a shopping experience where we were standing across the counter( in a now vanishing Kirana or Mom & Pop corner store) and waiting for the salesman to pull a dozen or so designs for us to choose from. While we were fortunate to find something that we could pick from the limited options we were allowed to choose from. We picked the bags and left immediately after paying. I keep wondering if this model of business will sustain any longer as consumers would like to look, touch,feel and evaluate before buying any product. One of the easiest ways to chase me out of a store would be for sales man to ask if I needed help (sorry! But I can manage myself) and often try to politely say, no, thanks, just looking around. I am not a believer of window shopping but definitely want my share of peace and privacy at any store and I am 10 on 10 times sure of what I need or not need. I always wonder how people manage to still enjoy shopping when being confronted by enthusiastic sales personnel (unless they are security guards in disguise shadowing suspect store lifters). Retail has been kind to me and has fed me and my folks for years and I am a supporter of FDI in retail including multi-brand retail. You will agree with me if you have shopped at a Dick’s Sporting Goods, Sports Authority,Target , JC Penny or even Big Bazar here in India. Any attempt so far in India to allow FDI in retail has been met with stiff resistance and the argument has been that large multi-nationals would sound the death knell for the corner store thousands of which today form the retail horizon in India. Developing economies have successfully built efficient supply chains (the recent onion crisis was largely due to the agricultural supply chain deficiency and the role of the middlemen) and reined in inflation by allowing multi brand retail.

As a consumer, choice, efficiency and easy availability and stable pricing is all people care for  and many are realizing this and the poor corner store bloke may be soon left with no patrons unless, he innovates to provide an experience to his shopper who has turned towards the large organized and glitzy retailer ( look at the crowds at Big Bazar and you will know what i am talking about). In an age when even Idlis and Dosas are franchised and soon, the small shop at the corner of the road could be left to fend for himself with his bags of unsold onions…How would a  whole generation of micro entrepreneurs innovate to take on the mighty?

A 100 years of IBM

IBM is marking the 100-year anniversary of its founding on June 16, 2011 with a year-long initiative that engages local communities and thought leaders around the world on the theme of changing the way the world works. Over its century of existence, IBM has played a leading role in transforming business, science and society. These dimensions form the basis for the three themes driving IBM’s Centennial: Reinventing the Modern Corporation, Pioneering the Science of Information and Making the World Work Better. Together they provide a basis for understanding how the rise of information technology has changed society and the world.
IBM Centennial celebration highlights will include:
IBM Lecture Series IBM will partner with leading universities around the globe to engage the next-generation of leaders in a discussion about driving change and innovation. The lectures will offer an instructive view of the role IBM has played in transforming the dimensions of the modern era over the past 100 years, based on our key learnings about leadership and progress in an increasingly integrated and technologically enabled world.
Digital Experience IBM will create a new digital experience to celebrate IBM’s Centennial with rich, interactive experiences. It provides a destination for IBMers, clients, partners, alumni and friends around the world to engage in IBM Centennial-related programs. The site will feature 100 Icons of Progress – signature stories that describe IBM’s impact on the world during the last century including archival assets and the opportunity, where relevant, to engage IBM experts about how the past is going to propel IBM into the future. The Web site URL is: www.ibm100.com
100 Marks, 100 Stories IBM has created 100 unique visual “marks" to represent the 100 Icons of Progress. Each mark incorporates the number 100 plus illustration and photography to represent a key breakthrough or milestone, such as the First Salaried Workforce, the Punched Card and Space Exploration. They are designed to be shown individually to tell a single story or as a collection to tell multiple stories about the richness of IBM's history. Each week, IBM will publish new Icons of Progress. The design work was lead by VSA Partners in collaboration with Ogilvy & Mather and SYPartners.
IBM Colloquia Through a series of business and academic forums around the world, IBM will convene key influencers to share insights and spur conversations about future advances in science and technology and how they will affect such fields as health care, natural resource management and the IT industry. The colloquia will bring together scientists, academics, business and government leaders at IBM Research laboratories around the world to discuss how these emerging trends will impact business and society.