Sukshma

Several positions have opened up in my network and are begging for talented Software Developers.

BookEazy Technologies, Pune:

BookEazy Technologies is a year old, Pune based startup in technology, media and entertainment. We are looking for an ace software developer with 2 years of experience with web application development and/or in-depth knowledge of databases. Only those hungry for work with a true pre-funding startup need apply. I can promise you that you will be working with a great team which has already marked up one major release. A Bachelor’s, good communication skills and strong work ethic is a must. Your knowledge of scripting languages, object oriented programming and databases will be put to the test.

Leave a comment here, or e-mail me if your interested.

The BookEazy contact page.

LiveMocha, Greater Seattle area:

LiveMocha has set some pretty lofty goals and is looking for Developers who are familiar with web services and web applications. Since the startup is still in stealth, I cannot give away much except that the startup is very “web 2.0″ and is located in Bellevue.

Have a look at the LiveMocha careers page if your interested.

Also, have a look at CEO Shirish Nadkarni’s blog.

Rediff, Mumbai:

Sure, Rediff is hardly a startup - nevertheless, I’ll put down what all I have right now. Rediff is looking for an experienced technologist who is familiar with the management landscape (P & L, project management etc.) and has a strong background in web application development. The position is in Mumbai.

Drop me a line if your interested.

Jeff Barr recently posted some wonderful pictures of Seattle city and Mount Rainier on his blog. Must see.

Beautiful Morning in Seattle.

Mount Rainier from the Air.

Do I miss the place? Seattle and greater Puget Sound are the most enthralling sights in the Summer.

Trends are clearly indicating a device with data (connectivity) is just as precious as a device with voice for many different reasons!

T-Mobile customers in the US are trading up from ordinary phones to the BlackBerry pearl. The BlackBerry Internet Service is a primary driver of this trend. It allows users to receive their personal e-mail instantaneously on their handhelds. It is very easy to setup and works well with GMail, Yahoo! and other free e-mail providers.

How repeatable is this trend in India? Yesterday, as I walked with the crowds in Mumbai, I could not help notice the number of folks who were carrying data-enabled handsets, for example - the Nokia 6030, 6230 and so on. I promise more on that later. It looks like there is a sizeable customer segment just waiting for the right spark to flip the demand for mobile data services.

At the Dadar ST bus stand - vendors (street) were selling cheap versions of mobile FM receivers with headsets. This is an oh-so obvious prediction - Mobile Entertainment, Television, Movies will be the next big wave to carry mobile data services into India. Perhaps not e-mail.

Bollywood films are now a click-away.

Regional content to drive rural mobile market.

3G GSM Summit Held in Mumbai with a Focus on Ecosystem around Mobile Value Added Services.

BlackBerry pearl proves consumers want smartphones - Fast Company.

T-Mobile has this to report about it’s BlackBerry Pearl users:

• Nearly 3 out of 4 T-Mobile customers who upgraded to a BlackBerry Pearl traded up from a regular phone, rather than another converged device.
• The majority of T-Mobile customers using the BlackBerry Pearl are using it for personal e-mail rather than staying connected to corporate servers.
• Approximately 80% of all T-Mobile Blackberry Pearl customers to date have signed up for BlackBerry Internet Service only, to take advantage of personal e-mail accounts like gmail, Yahoo! mail, etc. (rather than Blackberry Enterprise Service for corporate e-mail).
• 96% of T-Mobile Pearl customers send personal e-mail from their device weekly.

More trends on Sukshma.

Some time this year, the plug was finally pulled on the web service TeamOn.com. The service was backed by web startup TeamOn systems and a competitive, fast-paced team in its peak years 1999 - 2002. I joined them fresh out of college as a software developer with an overseas, outsourced team. TeamOn was acquired by RIM in August 2002, on the downside of the dot com blow out.

Do forgive the sentiment, this post is in remembrance. TeamOn was my first taste of startup life, business, and technology.

TeamOn had an e-mail aggregator way back in 2000 - users could aggregate their hotmail, AOL, MSN, CS2000, RPA, POP3, IMAP e-mail all in one teamon account. GMail has that feature in place now under “Get mail from other accounts”.

TeamOn had a hosted e-mail solution in place. You could have teamOn receive, store and send all e-mail for a domain you owned.

TeamOn also had virtual folders, conversations, document store and a bunch of other pretty cool features.

Here is a screenshot of a pretty old version.

My first reaction to Second Life was very typical. I thought it was yet another massively addictive virtual reality. I might have to revise that. Second Life is addictive, Google Trends shows interest in Second Life is climbing sharply. But Second Life is more than that. Corporates are beginning to take Second Life seriously and are planning applications and products to capitalize on the time folks are spending in this new virtual world.

Reuters has begun to employ a full-time reporter to report Second Life news and activities.

The Reuters Second Life News Center reports several developer and design shops are taking an active interest in working on Second Life.

IBM is aiming to use Second Life as a platform for V-Business (a fancier word for VR E-Commerce?).

Jimmy’z Blog: Making Money in Second Life.

I paid my first visit to the Second Life world today. I had heard of the Dell Island and that is where I headed first. There I could sit down and design my own Dell. According to this article on ZDNet, I could order a PC for my real life in exchange for real dollars, or design a virtual PC for use in my Second Life in exchange for Linden Dollars. Unfortunately, I could not begin my design due to network connection issues.

Now the question is - can I get a job in my Second Life before I can purchase my virtual PC :)? I would need one since the Rupee to Linden Dollar conversion seems prohibitive. What is a Linden by the way? Apparently, the currency and other things are named after Philip Linden, CEO of Linden Labs and creator of Second Life.

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I read it first at: “Why smart people are no longer at the big companies” - NewDelhiTimes.org, Gaurav Bhatnagar.

Imagine your pet project being sidelined due to investor (Wall Street) pressures. Unfortunately, that is more common-place than you think.
From Niall Kennedy’s blog,

What do you do when the market responds to your 6 month-old online services strategy by reducing your valuation by 1.5 Yahoos? Windows Live is under some heavy change, reorganization, pullback, and general paralysis and unfortunately my ability to perform, hire, and execute was completely frozen as well.

Niall was hired by Microsoft in April this year, to create a new team around syndication technologies for Windows Live. He has decided to leave Microsoft due to what I perceive to be lack of faith in his vision for data publishing and syndication.

Interestingly, I left my first job for a Masters in Computer Science. The hope had always been that I would realise my vision and get my execution right while working towards my Masters. I found that the priorities there too are different.

The only real lesson one can draw from this is that at some point you have to stop waiting for others to believe in your vision and begin believing in it yourself.