Knowledge is worth as much as gold!

Came across this article and just couldn't resist reposting it. It teaches us lot but most importantly the moral it conveys...

During a robbery in Guangzhou, China, the bank robber shouted to everyone in the bank: "Don't move. The money belongs to the State. Your life belongs to you." Everyone in the bank laid down quietly. This is called "Mind Changing Concept” Changing the conventional way of thinking. When a lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her: "Please be civilized! This is a robbery and not a rape!" This is called "Being Professional” Focus only on what you are trained to do! When the bank robbers returned home, the younger robber (MBA-trained) told the older robber (who has only completed Year 6 in primary school): "Big brother, let's count how much we got." The older robber rebutted and said: "You are very stupid. There is so much money it will take us a long time to count. Tonight, the TV news will tell us how much we robbed from the bank!" This is called "Experience.” Nowadays, experience is more important than paper qualifications! After the robbers had left, the bank manager told the bank supervisor to call the police quickly. But the supervisor said to him: "Wait! Let us take out $10 million from the bank for ourselves and add it to the $70 million that we have previously embezzled from the bank”. This is called "Swim with the tide.” Converting an unfavorable situation to your advantage! The supervisor says: "It will be good if there is a robbery every month." This is called "Killing Boredom.” Personal Happiness is more important than your job. The next day, the TV news reported that $100 million was taken from the bank. The robbers counted and counted and counted, but they could only count $20 million. The robbers were very angry and complained: "We risked our lives and only took $20 million. The bank manager took $80 million with a snap of his fingers. It looks like it is better to be educated than to be a thief!" This is called "Knowledge is worth as much as gold!" The bank manager was smiling and happy because his losses in the share market are now covered by this robbery. This is called "Seizing the opportunity.” Daring to take risks! So who are the real robbers here???

How to uninstall Hangout and rollback to talk (GTalk) on Android devices

I feel sad to write this but Google has recently done a very stupid thing - "They replaced Google Talk app for Android (and iOS) completely with the new Hangout app".

I am sure there must be few Hangout fans who might like it but I have my reason's to hate it:

1. I can not see which of my friends are online..In Talk, I used to see a green/red/yellow icons next to their names so that I know their status (available/busy/idle, respectively). With the new Hangout app, I am completely blind about this ..heck, I don't have any idea about who’s online.

2. I can’t set my status (available/busy) in Hangout. Forget about being invisible – that’s not at all possible which means you are exposing yourself to that nagging friend/co-worker of yours!

3. The interface is such that you easily inadvertently move your conversation to archive (left / right swipe).

How do I get back my Talk app?? I can’t find it in Play Store..
Interestingly, this is what some of the people at Google had to say about this. Read it, it is very funny:
“We’re upgrading Gmail video chat to Hangouts for all Gmail users over the course of the next few weeks. If your account has already been upgraded, there isn’t a way to return to the old video chat, as we are now going to be using a more modern video calling technology.
Thanks for your understanding!”
Here’s another one:
“I’m sorry to say but Hangouts is going to replace talk at all once it has been rolled-out globally.
Don’t worry that much about who’s online or offline, the great thing on Hangouts is, your messages are delivered for sure – no matter if the person is online or offline!
However, on your mobile you see friends that are currently not “online” at that time grayed out. Online members are displayed in “full” color and on the web extension you’ll see a green line below their photo.
Hope that helps.”
Yeah, really that was ‘really helpful’.
So, THIS is WHAT you SHOULD do TO GET BACK YOUR TALK APP in ANDROID phone. BTW, I am using and HTC device.
1. Go to Settings and then to Applications.
2. Select Manage Applications
3. Select ‘ALL’ to see the list of all the applications installed in your phone.
4. Scroll down and find the ‘Hangout’ app.
5. Click it
6. Select ‘Uninstall’
7.  You will be asked to confirm your command, say yes.
8. That’s it!!!
Now, go back to where you saw ‘Hangout’ app in your device and voilà!! there the old Talk guy sitting!!

UPDATE:
It is really vexing to see what Google has done with regards to Hangout/gtalk. In Android version Jellybean (4.2.2) and above, the gtalk is completely replaced by Hangout, leaving users without much option to switch back to gtalk. Thus, the option above (uninstall will not really work if you have upgraded your Android).
Then how to get back the gtalk?
1) Go to App manager and, kick out Hangout (disable it). There is no option to uninstall it.
2) If you are rooted then, you can uninstall it using Titanium backup app.
or If you don't have SU rights (not rooted),
2)you can download 'SuperManager' app for free from Playstore. Then, goto settings - "Enable root", then goto apk manager, find Hangout and uninstall it.
3) Download the attached gtalk zip (this is the one am using on 4.2.2).
4) Install it using CWM or TRMP.
or If you don't have SU rights (not rooted),
4) Extract the gtalk APK from the zip and install it...

Enjoy!!!

Whisky - on the rocks please!!!

I am almost two patiala pegs down as I write this...
I've had so many different spirits from various parts of world but, whenever I have "Whisky on the rocks", it just feels like home. Probably because this is one drink that we have often at home (well not on the rocks at home ;))

What is Whisky/whiskey?

It is a type of liquor basically made from grain mash.
Scotch, Bourbon, Rye, whisky are all of same family - Whisky.
There are three main factors which determine the type of whiskey:
1. Where it is made.
2. The type and proportion of grain used.
3. How it's aged/matured.
So, if you see someone drinking Johnny Walker Black Label or Dewars White label and says, "whisky", that's correct. But if someone asks you, "if you'd like a bourbon", and pours Bushmills or Johnny Walker (JW) then he doesn't know about whiskies. Because, Bushmills is Irish whiskey and JW is scotch!.
P.S: Whisky and Whiskey both are valid spellings. In U.K it's spelt without -e and in US with -e.

What is a Scotch whisky?

For a whisky to be called as scotch, it has to be distilled in Scotland and then aged for a minimum of three years in oak casks.
Typically scotch is a malt whisky rather than a grain whisky. Which means malted barley is the main ingredient and not any other grain like corn, wheat or rye. Typically the malted barley used to make the scotch is dried over peat fires, which gives scotch a distinct, smoky flavour you don't find in other whiskies.

What is a bourbon whisky?

For a whisky to be called as bourbon, it has to be made in the U.S and then aged for a minimum of two years in oak casks.
Bourbon is a made from mash which consists of at least 51% corn
Like Scotch, there is blended bourbon and single-malt bourbon, however it's not called as "single-malt", instead it's called "single-barrel".

What is an Irish whisky?

For a whisky to be called as Irish, it has to be made in Ireland and distilled for a minimum of three years in wooden casks.
Like scotch, Irish whisky is almost always malt whisky (i.e. made from barley) but unlike scotch, it isn't roasted over peat. Instead it's roasted over charcoal or in gas kilns, which leaves a cleaner, sweet malt taste.
Also, Irish whisky is triple distilled and scotch is double distilled, which also yields a clearer taste. 

What is a Canadian whisky?

For a whisky to be called as Canadian, it has to be made in Canada and aged for a minimum of three years in wooden barrels but, there is no rule regarding the type of grain.

what is a Rye whisky?

For a whisky to be called as bourb, it has to be made in the U.S and then aged for a minimum of two years in oak casks.
Bourbon is a made from mash which consists of at least 51% corn

Another aspect when we talk about whiskies is, "Single Malt" or ''Blended'.
Every kind of whisky, be it, bourbon, scotch, rye or whatever, can be either single malt/barrel or blended.

Single Malt / Single Barrel:
Single malt and single barrel whiskies come from the same batch at one single distillery. Thus, scotch is single-malt scotch when it is made from a single batch of 100% malted barley, and the same goes for Irish whiskey.
With bourbon it’s slightly different. Like scotch, they call it single-barrel bourbon when it’s from the same batch; however, since bourbon by definitely only has to be just 51% corn (the rest of the mash can be any mix of other grains), single-barrel does not mean it’s 100% corn.
Nevertheless, single-barrel bourbon and single-malt scotch are advanced whiskies. Because they come from a single batch from a single distillery, single-malt/barrel whiskies are very unique and distinctive. The type of water used, the character of the soil in which the grains are grown, the flavors imparted by the wood used for the casks—all of these come through in unblended whiskies. And this is even more the case for single-malt whiskies than for single-barrel bourbons, since they also use only one grain.

Blended:
Blended whiskies are the most popular in the world. All the brands you are most familiar with, are blended: Jameson, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker, VAT69, Chivas Regal, Crown Royal, etc.
Basically, these are whiskies that are made by combining multiple single-malt or single-barrel whiskies. The reason for blending? To create a well-rounded, balanced whiskey that is both lighter and smoother, and thus easier to sip.
Blended whiskies can be either a blend of whiskies made from the same grain but from multiple distilleries from different parts of the world, or they can be made from whiskies made from a variety of grains. Johnnie Walker, for example, is a blend of mostly wheat and corn, while, Seagrams is like the cornucopia of whiskies — a little bit of everything.
The important thing to remember is this: although the term single-malt scotch has come to be considered the epitome of whiskey in recent years, there aint nothing wrong with blended whiskey — so long as it’s the good stuff, like Johnnie Walker or Chivas Regal. Like I said, they blend whiskies to make them balanced and cover all the whisky flavor bases. So if it’s done well, then blended whiskies will give you everything the spirit has to offer.

Last but not the least
Before sipping your whisky give it a sniff, believe me you will love it!
When you sip, don't just throw it inside and swallow. It is not supposed to be taken at one shot! Instead try to keep it in your mouth for a while or make like chewing it, you may get the flavour of sweet, spicy, dried fruit, leather, wood, smoke, earth... you may feel stupid but it works.

2012: The year that was

The leap that made me 30 years of life. Not my best, but an eventful one nevertheless.

A very unusual start…
It's not that often, that I spend my new year's eve away from my family and without booze ;).  However, it was an amazing experience watching the fireworks at the City Hall Square, Copenhagen. for the first time I felt there are people living in this city!

It has been more than a year living in Europe and working for one of the big banks. Did some nice work, not awesome, but am not sulking about my professional life. Made some decent money. Well, now a bit boring though err... not the money making ;), the typical job!

Tough times…
Both my India visits were terrible. Just couldn't imagine how all that happened.

Good times...
The only but blissful vacation to Legoland, Mons Klint, Odense with friends and how can I forget Stege (gosh... that pretty place ;))
First time driving on the right hand side of the roads and shifting gears with right hand haha... (Thankfully the pedals were in the same sequence)
Made some very good friends, learnt lot of interesting card games.
Met some brilliant people round the globe. Inspired.

The way ahead…
If/when my current gig ends, I’ll have worked in most of the areas I’m interested in -technology, finance, strategy, smartphones etc.
New role. Interesting work.
In 2013, I’ll definitely start working on my big idea. One way or the other. In my own startup or someone else’s. Probably the latter. Hopefully the former ;)

2013 to-do:
Keep  myself fit - Physically and Mentally.
Work on my idea/startup.
Travel more round the world.
Sky diving, bungee jumping, ...

Capitalism vs Socialism vs Communism

During one of the debates recently, I learnt that, commonly people are confused with the terms Capitalism, Socialism, Communism and Democracy. Thus, I thought of putting things here explaining (trying to explain) the difference between these in layman's term.
Capitalism, Socialism, Communism - these are commonly known as economic models and entirely independent of political models like Democracy, Anarchy...

Capitalism - An economic system based on the "Survival of the fittest".
Example: I own the cow. You buy the milk. The government gets its taxes. Or, more generally, everyone owns a private property but the government can tax us.

Socialism - An economic system based on the "You get your share no matter what your contribution is".
Example: The government owns the cow. You buy the milk. You pay the government. Or, more generally, government owns the resource production (farms, factories,...) but the people can own private property.
Want to read my view on socialism, click here

Communism - An economic system based on the "you put in your fair share you get your fair share".
Example: The government owns the cow. The government owns the milk. You are allowed to drink the milk, but only as much as you really need. The government owns everything, but everyone shares the resources.

Financial crisis - the ticking timebomb...

This post is an advanced version of one of my earlier post, How the Bubble burst.

What is the credit crisis?

It's a financial fiasco including:

• Sub-prime mortgages
• Collateralized debt obligations (CDO)
• Frozen credit markets
• Credit default swaps (CDS)

The credit crisis brings two groups together, Home owners and Investors. There is common place for either of these groups to suffice their respective needs - a bunch of financial institutions commonly known as Banks.

It is these banks which actually initiate the process of creating this time bomb.

How does it actually work?

1. Let's say, a family A wants to buy a house and needs some money. 

There is another group called Z who is financially well off and has stash of money which it would like to invest.

2. Now, A goes to this bank B in need of money and the bank B lends them in return of an agreement to pay EMI (equated monthly income). A is happy because he knows the house that he bought at x amount is appreciating in terms of value and doesn't mind paying the EMI. B lends mortgage to many such home owners.

3. People from group Z would like to invest their money and want to become richer so they go to bank B for deposit, but, bank B pays a very low interest rate. So, not all investors from group Z are happy. In fact, very few park their money at low interest rate in the bank B.

This is observed by another investment bank 'IB' (probably of higher magnitude) and approaches small bank B. IB buys out these mortgages from B at a very good price and B is happy as it sold off its risk at better price! 

4. IB collects many of these mortgages and bundles them in one box. This box receives EMI monthly from all these mortgages. Now, IB does financial analysis and splits this box into three parts viz, Safe, Ok and Risky. This is called, 'Collateralize debt obligations' (CDO). A CDO works like cascade with Safe block at the top, when the money flows in, it first fills in the Safe block, then in the Ok, and finally in the Risky block. This means, in case if there is some family which defaults to pay their EMI then, first it will impact the lower most i.e Risky block.

To compensate this, the bottom block has the highest rate of return and the top most block has the lowest but still better rate of return as compared to bank B.

To make the top most block more safer IB will take a small fee usually called, 'Credit Default Swap' (CDS). Usually the CDS fee is charged by the insurance firms to protect the investor. Credit rating agencies will give the rating AAA on it. Credit rating firms have nothing to lose and they get money to rate the risky CDOs as AAA.

(Credit rating AAA is considered as the safest investment area)

Thus, Group Z investors are interested in these top block of safe CDOs which pays of better than normal bank B deposits.

IB sells of the rest of the CDO blocks to other high risk taking institutions like hedge funds, etc... thus, IB sold it risks and makes millions and is obviously happy!

Everyone is happy, in fact the Z group investors are so happy with the return on their investment that they demand for more of such safe CDOs. So, IB calls up bank B and asks for more mortgages. But bank B has no new mortgage as there are no more home buyers.

Now, as we know that prices of house are ever increasing so bank B thinks, if the home owner defaults then his house can be sold as collateral. Thus, bank B starts adding risk to the mortgage like, no down payments, no income checks etc... This is called 'Sub-Prime Mortgage'.

This is where the time bomb actually starts!

The above process, from 2 to 4 repeats. unsurprisingly, few the home owners start defaulting. Which stops EMI from the home owners. So what! Bank IB sells of their houses as house prices are high and covers up the default. But slowly and gradually as more and more home owners start defaulting, a situation arises where there is more supply then demand. Obviously, the housing prices will not increase in fact they plum.

Now the family A which is still paying the EMI thinks, "why we are paying so high value of EMI for house which is not worth that much?", and even they put up the house for sell and don't want to pay EMI. 

This increases the default rates and further diminishes the value. So now the question is, IB had taken a lot of credit from other countries to make the CDO boxes which is now worthless and IB cannot afford to pay back the money it borrowed. This situation is not only with IB but also, the family A, bank B and group Z. This is known as 'Frozen Credit Market' and eventually they go bankrupt. 

...BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!

Professional dilemma at 30

 It’s been exactly 8 years since I graduated, so I have quite an idea of what the world after getting out of college feels like.

Don’t be a fucking drone!
By this, I mean never join any of the lame companies coming to your campus for bulk recruitment. This includes all IT sweatshops which offer the normal training-bench-mind-numbing-job routine, bulge bracket investment banks which work you like a dog for meager pay (which may seem high at first to some, but you’d eventually realize that it’s not worth it), and every other shitty company which pays like shit, and more importantly, robs you of some of your most productive years by forcing shitty work down your throat.
This is the worst way in which you could possibly start your professional life. You may not realize this then, but you will regret this when you turn 30 and have a mid-life crisis wondering why you aren’t filthy rich, why your job sucks and how your life didn’t quite turn out to be the way you imagined it would when you were a kid.

Steer away from the herd!
Don't just fall for any big company which is talked by most of your friends and folks.
Don’t study further just because every other clueless idiot is doing it. I know idiots who have gone abroad for their Masters or MBA just because their friends were doing it and they wanted to have fun for a couple of years. If you do that, never take an educational loan for that, because it’s highly likely that you’ll end up asking “Would you like fries with that?” or work in some shitty job there just because you want to recover your investment. You might feel great when you convert your dollar salary to rupees, but ultimately, you’re still just a drone. If you have a rich Dad who is willing to splurge on your education, then by all means, do it. Better still, just go for a world trip and then come back and take over your family business. Cheaper, more fun and a better use of your time.

The after MBA journey...
It's been 2 year since I did my PGDM in Finance and it is comletely different then what/how I expected.
If you do an MBA just because you want to “get into finance” since you can’t code for shit, then you need to know that most post-MBA jobs are very fucking boring. And the interesting ones are so few that only a fraction of the top students at the top colleges will be able to get those. The chances are so low that it’s not worth studying like a dog to get a good CAT/GMAT score, and then again for two years to get good scores in your MBA tests. Rather just work at interesting startups in related profiles, and jump on to the job you want without studying further.

Start/Join a startup - It is wroth taking a chance!
In your first couple of years after college, you probably aren’t going to make a shitload of money, so your opportunity cost is the lowest that it will ever be. This is the best time for you to experience the startup way, because "you don’t really have much to lose". If you don’t have a great idea or team or aren’t sure that you can do it, then join one.
Start something, work on side projects, freelance and do whatever it takes to diversify your income sources, so you aren’t dependent on a job, and don’t lose much even if your startup fails.
If your startup takes off, you’ll get to the 'fuck-you-money' point in a few years, and won’t ever need to work again just for money. You can then pursue something you’re really interested in — your passion — which improves the odds of success significantly. This Passion/Talent otherwise is unfortunately smothered in need of basic necessities.
And, even if you fail in the startup, you’ll have learned a lot more than you’d have at any lame job at a BigCo, and you’ll easily be able to get back in a better role at a BigCo than your peers (so its not really a failure). But you won’t want to. Because once you’ve worked at a startup, you’ll never ever want to work at a BigCo again. You’d rather want to build one from scratch.

Wonders of milk - Jo kheer piye so veer thiye...

This post is dedicated to all my sindhi folks out there...


During my childhood days my mother was obsessed with qualities of milk and just like most other kids I hated it too but she gavage me. I still remember, she used to recite a very nice poetry when I refused drinking and am sure most of the sindhi kids must have heard too. It goes like...

Jo Kheer Piye
So veer thiye
Dand zor vathhan
Daadha sunhira lagan
Akhiun ji jyot vadhe
Dadhi sunha thiye
Vathe zor badan
Lighan chust thiyan
Kheer safa sutho
Wah dadho mitho
Baaro acho piyoun
Bhare khir vatiyoun
De khir amma
Pee Parhan Vanya :)

Non sindhi folks, I know you must have stopped reading it after the second line... It means:

The one who drinks milk

Becomes brave/heroic

Has Strong teeth

Looks very handsome

The glow in his eyes increases

Develops strong limbs

Milk is so good

Oh so sweet

Come children

The bowls are filled with milk

Give me milk mother

So that I drink and go to study

As I grew older I started liking it and I like milk till this day. In fact I still prefer milk over coffee or tea. 
I don't know why, today while drinking milk, this poem came to my mind and how my mother used to recite it.
Here is the audio if you would like to cherish your old memories 

Jo kheer piye

Money is not Wealth

Most of us wake up in the morning and go to a place called 'work' in order to earn money.  And most of us surely spend money every day.  In essence, money is a medium of exchange that helps us get the things we want and need.  In other words, you provide your labor in exchange for this medium called money, which you can then exchange for others goods or services you want. However, it’s important to note that money has no intrinsic value (unless it’s commodity money).  Is money, then, really the thing we want?
The father of modern economics, Adam Smith, once wrote: "All money is a matter of belief."

Wealth is not the same thing as money. Wealth is as old as human history. Far older, in fact; ants have wealth. Money is a comparatively recent invention.

Wealth is the fundamental thing. Wealth is stuff we want: food, clothes, houses, cars, gadgets, travel to interesting places, and so on. You can have wealth without having money. If you had a magic machine that could on command make you a car or cook you dinner or do your laundry, or do anything else you wanted, you wouldn't need money. Whereas if you were in the middle of Antarctica, where there is nothing to buy, it wouldn't matter how much money you had.

Wealth is what you want(both tangible and intangible), not money. But if wealth is the important thing, why does everyone talk about making money? It is a kind of shorthand: money is a way of moving wealth, and in practice they are usually interchangeable. But they are not the same thing, and unless you plan to get rich by counterfeiting, talking about making money can make it harder to understand how to make money.

Money is a side effect of specialization. In a specialized society, most of the things you need, you can't make for yourself. If you want a potato or a pencil or a place to live, you have to get it from someone else.

How do you get the person who grows the potatoes to give you some? By giving him something he wants in return. But you can't get very far by trading things directly with the people who need them. If you make violins, and none of the local farmers wants one, how will you eat?

The solution societies find, as they get more specialized, is to make the trade into a two-step process. Instead of trading violins directly for potatoes, you trade violins for, say, silver, which you can then trade again for anything else you need. The intermediate stuff-- the medium of exchange-- can be anything that's rare and portable. Historically metals have been the most common, but recently we've been using a medium of exchange, called the Rupee/Dollar/Euro..., that doesn't physically exist. It works as a medium of exchange, however, because its rarity is guaranteed by the respective Government.

The advantage of a medium of exchange is that it makes trade work. The disadvantage is that it tends to obscure what trade really means. People think that what a business does is make money. But money is just the intermediate stage-- just a shorthand-- for whatever people want. What most businesses really do is make wealth. They do something people want.

Startups are hard!

Startups are hard. No, startups are damn hard.

Contrary to popular belief, there are no clouds of money that float around and rain on anyone that utters the phrase, "I'm a founder!" Unfortunately, starting a company and raising money is just as hard as ever; it's just that the investors don't have as much leverage as they used to, but they still have a lot.

Most reporting on startups suffers from a terrible case of success bias. Nobody wants to report on a dying startup unless it is to highlight another company that has come along to kill them, but that actually turns into a piece about the better company and not the dying one.

Startups that die, rarely talk about it publicly because it is frustrating, embarrassing, and most of the time the people involved want to forget the whole mess and move on rather than sit around talking about the fact that they failed.

Most people don't want to admit that startups are hard, either, because to admit something is hard is to admit that you don't know everything there is to know about a certain topic and to display weakness. If there's one thing you do not want to do as a startup, it's appear weak. Only the strong survive.

But guess what: startups are hard. At times they are soul-crushingly hard. I am not afraid to admit this anymore. I am not afraid to talk openly about it with peers anymore. So, this post serves as a counterpoint to all the recent postings alluding to the fact that anyone can suddenly decide to be a founder and the next week find themselves swimming around in a kiddie-pool full of money.

Excellent Quotes by Warren Buffet

On Earning: "Never depend on a single income. Make investment to create a second source"

On Spending: "If you buy things you don't need, soon you will have to sell things you need."

On Savings: "Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving."

On Taking Risk: "Never test the depth of river with both the feet."

On Investment: "Do not put all eggs in one basket."

On Expectation: "Honesty is very expensive gift. Do not expect it from cheap people."

Why HTC One X over Samsung Galaxy S3!!!

When I bought my beast, I very well had an option to wait for a month and go for Samsung's flagship Galaxy SIII. Keeping aside my love for HTC here are some reasons which made me again inclined towards the great One X.


1. HOX has beautiful sense 4.0 where it has lot of features whereas, gs3 is touchwiz which looks crappy.
2. HOX has better build quality whereas, gs3 is poor quality (cheap shiny plastic).
3. HOX looks pretty and stylish whereas gs3 is look like 1990's phone.
4. HOX is Tegra 3 powered where you can find lot of tegra 3 game whereas, gs3 is exynos which is also a powerful processor but yet to discover its capabilities.
5. HOX screen is tougher than gs3 , google for some videos on youtube many guys using HOX as hammer to put the nail in woodden bench.
6. HOX is playstation mobile and it is certified now for getting playstation mobile. If you are an gamer then you should get it. I just love playing 3D games on this beast!
7. Last but not the least, BEATS AUDIO!!! how can I not mention this. For all those music lovers out there, it is a sheer pleasure listening to music with Beats.

And I have seen people saying that HOX has 1800mah battery and GS3 is 2100mah battery and removable. Which makes no sense.
HOX is tegra 3 powered where it saves a lot of battery when in standby. I have experienced my phone is in 100% even after 6 hours of standby and many people who bought GS3 crying that it is loosing battery upto 30% in 10 hours of standby time, so whats the use of 2100mah battery???? HOX last longer than GS3 in every aspect, even if it has less capacity battery. And if you plan to carry extra battery then you can just carry a travel charger instead.

And for those saying gs3 has additional storage , do you carry data more than 32gb ??? If you carry more than this then you should buy a laptop not a phone. 32gb can hold most of the movies and songs where you can use it for atleast a week. If you need more delete it and add the rest. Be more managed!

BTW, what new thing samsung has done to its new flagship phone??? They just copied all the thing which HOX has; And done some changes to show some difference to it new flagship phone. They just added additional storage, which to me is not really required.

Popup play, it not an samsung feature. You can get that using "Stick it" app from play store any way you are not going to use this.

S-voice - "GS3 hears what you say !!!" every phone hear what we say. You can have many alternatives for s-voice and also s-voice is ported to HOX too.

Smart eye - definitely an app can do this. And also I have seen people using it, but I forgot the name. I will add the app name soon as soon I get to know again.

GS3 - "Inspired by nature" who needs the crap phone inspired by nature?? I need the best phone and am inspired by HOX!!!

Share your thoughts if you agree or disagree!

Source : http://www.forumhookers.com/topic/1192-why-to-buy-htc-one-x-over-samsung-galaxy-s3/page__p__5319#entry5319

UPDATE : just another update to show the power of my HTC One X

How to ROOT your HTC One X

Now, once you have successfully unlocked your boot loader, the next step is to ROOT your device so that you can install custom ROMs and MODs.
If you haven't unlocked your boot loader yet then follow this.
There 2 methods to ROOT your device:
Method 1: (Noobs follow this)
This considered the safest and the easiest - Flashing ClockWorkMod Recovery and then flashing the SuperSU.zip through recovery.
You should need Android SDK Installed on your machine or Download Fastboot from here. Create a folder called Fastboot on your C: (C Drive) and extract the files into that folder.

1. Download latest ClockWorkMod recovery.
2. Now download latest SuperSU.zip file.

3. Place both these files on your phone's sdcard.
4. Place the clockwork recovery file in the C:\FASTBOOT folder.

5. Open command prompt (Type CMD in RUN or windows7 search and ENTER) and point to Fastboot folder.

6. Turn off your device.
7. Turn on while pressing Power button + Volume down key to get into the bootloader.

8. Use your volume key to scroll down to "Fastboot" and press your power button to select it.
9. Type in "Fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-5.8.3.1-endeavoru". Once this is finished.
10. turn off the phone and restart in boot loader mode.
11. Goto recover and hit the powerbutton. You should have ClockWorkMod Recovery installed :).
12. Use the ClockWorkMod to install the SuperSU.zip.
13. Restart phone normally and ENJOY!!!

Similarly you can install any custom ROM zip using ClockWorkMod Recovery.

Method 2:
This method you can flash the Pre-rooted Kernel directly to acquire root. This method you will not have Recovery it’s just root.

1. Turn off your device
2. Power Button + Volume key to get into Bootloader
3. Use your volume keep to scroll down to “Fastboot” and Press your Power button to select it.
4. Download the Boot image from Doom’s Advance Stock Kernel
5. Open command prompt and point to Fastboot folder
6. Type in fastboot flash boot boot.img and press enter and reboot your device
Now you have acquired root.

List of Custom ROMs and Kernels

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Disclaimer:
I am not responsible for any kind of damage you make to your device while following the above post.

How to UNLOCK bootloader on HTC One X

I know many of you out there who have this beast (HTC ONE X) would definitely want to try its real power by going out of the boundaries and installing the custom ROMs. However, you may not be aware of the procedure on how to do it and / or scared on bricking your phone or losing warranty.

TAKE IT EASY GUYS!!! I've been doing this for years now and will guide you on how to root, flash and mod your device safely!

Now, the very first thing you need to do is UNLOCK your boot loader.

NOTE: To access Boot loader, Press the Power button + Volume down key.

As of now, the safest and easiest option to unlock your boot loader is through HTCDev.com.

1. Go to HTCDev.com website.

2. Firstly, you need to register yourself there. Go ahead and complete the registration.

3. Click on the Unlock Bootloader option.

4. Select "All other supported models" (One X is not listed yet)

5. Follow the steps as shown on screen. (It is pretty straight forward)

You can refer this video for better understanding:

In case you are stuck or need more info post comments here.

If you are done with unlocking your boot loader, Congratulations! follow the next post, How to ROOT your HTC One X.

Working at a Startup vs Big Company

Quite often you hear people boasting about their employer(or themselves), "I am working with Infosys..., I am with Wipro..., Cognizant...". I've been working for more than 6 years now and of-course, I have my own reasons for vouching on Startups compared to these big companies. My career started in a small start-up where the CEO/MD of the company knows every employee by his/her name; and every employee knows his CEO not just by name!
A year ago, I linked up with one of the big organisations and the professional and cultural difference made my mind think and compare my present and past experiences. It tried to create a poise but I was more inclined towards the Startups for many reasons:

1. Responsibility, Accountability: 
At a startup it’s unavoidable to have lots of responsibility and accountability. There’s no doubt, too, that being at a startup will put you in a position to make a huge impact. If you do amazing work the entire company and all of its customers will benefit from it. And you’ll be loved for it. You’ll get notes from the CEO and other leaders complimenting you on how awesome your work is. On the flip side, if you make a big mistake, the whole company pays for it. But keep in mind that most startup cultures prefer agility and speed to cautiousness. It’s likely that your mistake won’t actually get you in trouble, as long as you were trying to do the right thing.

2. Risk: 
working at a startup is riskier. The startup likely isn’t profitable, and probably only has at most 12-18 months worth of money in the bank (this is called the startup’s runway). If the company does very well, the CEO will raise more money and extend the runway. You’ll still have a job and each round you’ll get a salary closer and closer to market rate (more about this later). If the startup doesn’t do well, you’ll be out of a job when the startup runs out of money. But you’ll be forewarned if the CEO is transparent — most of them are in earlier stages. A startup is risky because you’re building something from nothing. You’re doing something ridiculously hard because you believe in it and want nothing more than to see it succeed (this part I love the most). You’re not failing even when all the odds are against you. You’re the underdog in many ways.

And by the way, if you’re a good engineer you’ll have zero issue finding another job. Zero. Every company in software, big and small, needs more good people. This trend won’t change for a long, long time, either.

3. Opportunities for generalists (This point perhaps is more focused on me): generalists don’t do well at big companies. Big companies want you to be really, really good at that little thing you spend all your time on. Not at a startup. Although specialization is still important at most startups, there are far more opportunities at startups for generalists. I’m defining generalists as people that have interests in one field or many fields. For example, if you want to be an engineer and work on the website, the data infrastructure, and the mobile app, you’ll love a startup. Similarly, if you’re an engineer and want to get your hands dirty in marketing or recruiting or whatever, a startup is also a great place for you to learn and grow. To be totally clear, I’m not saying specialists don’t do well at startups — they do incredibly well. Generalists, however, don’t do well at large companies. 

4. Ownership and leadership: 
At a big company you need to wait years and years to become a true leader with big ownership. Not at a startup. If you’re awesome you’ll be able to grow and move up in your career far faster. Mark Zuckerberg would have never been given a CEO role at a big company he started working for after college. The only way he could find himself at the top of an organization is by starting it, or in the general case by joining a super small team. Your career will be accelerated in a major way by joining a startup.

5. Transparency: 
Startups usually have far more transparency than big companies. You’ll know why the CEO decided to raise a new round of funding, or why a VP of marketing was hired, or why the company decided to open a new arm of business, or how the CEO did the recent round of investment. There will always be information that isn’t shared, though, for example salaries and equity compensation, certain board meeting information, and certain sensitive investor information. But in general every other decision made about the company will be transparent. You’ll get to see how the company grows, why certain decisions were made, and how the company reacts to competitors and business plan changes. All of this will teach you about business and prepare you to do your own startup one day.

6. Company culture: 
You get to help define it. A company will be, for the most part, an extension of the founders’ personalities. But especially in the early stages you’ll have a huge impact on the culture of the company as well. You’ll be in a position to define company-wide celebratory goals, or traditions that the team rallies behind. At the end of the day a startup is just a few people in a room. If you’re one of those people your personality will rub off on everyone else and you’ll help create a company that is as much a part of you as you are of the company.

7. Hiring: 
You’ll probably do a lot of interviews, and you’ll be part of the decision to hire or not hire someone. I interviewed candidates more experience then me. Even if you’re right out of school you’ll still be asked to interview. Of course, if you don’t like interviewing, you’ll only need interview potential team mates. If you’re an engineer you’ll only interview other potential engineers.

8. Financial incentive: 
In general your salary will be lower than at a big company, but your equity, or ownership in the company, will be significantly bigger. Depending on the stage of the company you join, you’ll be granted anywhere from a few percentage points to a micro fraction of a point. If the company is bigger, you’ll get fewer shares and your salary will be more inline with the market rate. If the company is smaller, your salary will be smaller and your equity will be far greater. Equity has a long, long tail, meaning the first 5-10 employees get significantly more equity than all other employees that follow, with certain exceptions for executives. This is especially true for the first and second hires, though.

A little more about stock: if you join a company that is already doing incredibly well, you probably won’t get enough stock to retire unless the company turns into the next Facebook or Google. In most cases, you’ll only get retirement money if you’re one of the first five employees. Otherwise you’ll get a large down payment on a nice house, assuming the startup does well of course  . Let me say that all again: except in very rare occasions like Facebook or Google, you can’t expect to join a company that is already killing it and hope that you’ll retire on the money your equity brings.

9. Politics: 
I’ve never heard of a company with more than 50 people that didn’t have politics. Politics are a necessary evil whenever a company reaches a certain size. The point of no return is when the first middle manager is hired — or when the first job opens up that is about controlling people and nothing more. Small startups can have politics, too, but in the early days there’s generally too much camaraderie and too much daily work to worry about power or any other bullshit like that. Oh yeah, and while I’m here, unless the leaders of a startup are lame, there won’t be any bullshit. Everything is pragmatic at a startup, or at least should be.

10. Be a part of something bigger than you: 
At a startup you’re a part of something much bigger than just what your job asks of you. Sure, you need to write code, publish blog posts, whatever, but you’re doing much more than that. You’re building a company. It’s hard to describe what that feeling is like, though. Being a part of a small company is somewhat like creating a community or finding new best friends. You’re making something from nothing, with people who are in it for the same reasons you are. You’re at the apex of what might become something big, something meaningful and different. And the excitement is amazingly powerful.

Disclaimer:

The post above is purely based on my personal experience and understanding. It is in no way meant to offend any person or institution what so ever!!!

A Chronicle of Sindh and the Sindhi

INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

Sindh, as of today, is one of the province of Pakistan. Sindh was home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, the Indus Valley civilization which included the cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa at least 7,000 years old. The remains excavated in Mohenjo-Daro depict the state of affairs from civilisation point of view at that period. The region got it's name "Sindh" from the river sindhu (Indus) and the people living here are called as "Sindhi". Since the time of indus valley civilization this region is called as sindh and the people as sindhi. The term Hind and Hindi is derived from word Sindh and Sindhi as the ancient Persians pronunciate "s" as "h" e.g. sarasvati as harasvati, the same way they called the people of this region as Hindi people their language as Hindi language and the region as hind, the name which is used for this region since ancient times and later for whole northern part of Indian sub-continent even today India is also known as Hindustan the name which has nothing to do with hinduism, but related more to a people and their language named after the main river flowing through this region sindhu (Indus).
Indus valley civilization was one of the most developed and advanced city in South Asia, during its peak. The planning and engineering showed the importance of the city to the people of the Indus valley.

The Indus Valley Civilization encompassed most of Pakistan, extending from Balochistan to Sindh, and extending into modern day Indian states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab as we know today. When the Aryans came to India and stood on the banks of the mighty river Indus, they exclaimed in sheer wonder, "Sindhu! Sindhu!" The word 'Sindhu' appears in a number of hymns in the oldest Scripture of humanity, the Rigveda. And India was originally called, "Sindhustan" the " Land of the Sindhu". These Aryans in Sindh virtually the Indus Valley are mentioned in history of having played role in the battle of Hastinapur when King Jaidrath took his army to support the Kurus. The Sindh time line:

• The Sindhis rule the Sindh : 3300 BC - 1700 BC.
• Achaemenid Empire : 522 BC
• Macedonian and Greeks under Alexander the great : 326 BC
• Mauryan empire led by Chandragupta : 305 BC 

And from that time onwards they played the role of refugees. My regret is that many Sindhis - scattered, as they are, all over India and the world, are unaware of rich heritage which belongs to them. In the recent past, after partition in 1947, we left our home and spread out in every part of the world. And we still continue to be refugees. Though we are refugees driven away from our home we are again with our own Aryans who had spread out in parts of the country. The brother Aryans kept the banner of Sindh alive by including our identity in the National Song and recognizing as a positive community whose future lies in recovering the land of our birth and supporting the country as we did in the battle of Hastinapur. For at that time, we learnt that we were part of the central government ruled by Duryodhana. After the partition of India, Sindhis were dispossessed of their lands and properties (as my grandparents told me), they did not give into despair. Leaving their properties and possessions in Sindh, they migrated to India, bringing with themselves their enterprising sprit, their faith in God and their many qualities of head and heart. In Sindh, "there was never a Sindhu beggar". When they came to India, "they resolved that they would starve rather than beg". Little boys attended school during the day and in the afternoon, kept themselves busy hawking on the streets or in railway trains. Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region and is spoken by the Sindhi people over the world. Sindhi has various dialects:

• Sireli : Spoken in upper Sindh
• Vicholi : Spoken in the Centre
• Lari : Spoken in delta of Indus (Sloping grounds)
• Tharri : Spoken in the Thar
• Lasi : Spoken in Baluchistan

Sindhi Surnames: 

Derived from place of origin, caste, title... 1) Many Sindhi's have their surname ending with "-ani" (like mine, "Lalwani") Famous Sindhi scholar Professor Bherumal Advani even claimed that "-ani" surname dates back to Rigveda, According to him, pronunciation of Sanskrit suffix ayan and ayani have changed to -ANI in Sindhi and its meaning is "a descendant of". This means a surname "Lalwani" will mean descendants of Lalchand. 2) Surnames based on place, like from "Aror" has "Arora" or from "Shikarpur" has "Shikarpuri".. 3) Surname based on caste: Thakur, Bhatia, khatri... 4)Surname based on title: Mukhi(head of panchayat), Choudhary(head of village) 5) Surnames based on Nukha (totem): Chawla, Kukreja... 6) Surnames suffixed with "PAL"(protector): Rajpal, Nagpal... Similarly most other surnames...

The ever-changing technology

Recently I had a discussion with my friends on, "How dependent are we on Technology". Few days later, I came across this article on Facebook.

Why Day Trading in Capital Markets is waste of time!

As discussed in my earlier post, How to make money in Stock Market that, it is not so easy to make money in capital markets, am sure you must be thinking, "What a loser I am!"
So, most of the investors today are trying to become rich by either "Active" Investing or Investing in "Passive" instrument.

There are two basic ways to invest your money in stocks:
1. Active
You invest your money in select stocks or in funds which try to beat the market and continually monitor and adjust your portfolio in order to get good returns.
2. Passive
You invest your money in a passive index fund or ETFs which track the index, thus incurring the minimum investing fees and just trying to achieve market returns.

Why Active Investing is a Waste of Time
To be able to consistently beat the market in terms of risk adjusted returns, you have to be either
1. A fucking genius
2. Very fucking lucky
The probability of you being a big fucking genius or at least smart enough to beat the market is very low, tending to zero. There are many very intelligent people who have tried to do it, and have failed miserably, including ME!
There is one who has done very well – Warren Buffett, and he definitely isn’t a proponent of active investing, at least not in the form that most of you practice it. Buffett swears by the power of passive investing, even though he doesn’t do it himself.
Buffett can be considered to be the most successful investor on Earth, and he has always believed in value investing and passive (indexed) investing. If he says something, I’m surely inclined to believe him. Even history shows that passive investing is the best way to invest in the long term.
Coming to the second point, the probability that you will make a good amount of money by just being lucky is also quite low. There are seven billion people in the world. Assuming that there are 10000 people who will be able to beat the market by sheer luck, the probability that you will be one of them is 1 in 700,000. The odds are just too low to even try.
Buffett is probably both – a genius and very lucky, and as you can see, there is only one of him. If you believe that you are smarter than him, or the many smart people who have tried to beat the market, and failed, you need to read this.

The only easy way to make a risk-free killing in the market is to have some informational advantage (inside information), which I assure you, that you as a normal investor, never will.
Here are some other ways to make money in the stock market.
Stop trying to beat the market by acting on ‘sure’ tips by your broker or your grandmother’s neighbor’s watchman, just because someone you know got lucky and made some money in the market, and now you feel that if that idiot could, you can too. Instead, invest in some equities or commodities index, and divert your energy to something productive, and actually create something of value. You will have a much better chance of getting rich that way.
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Note: I know that you probably think that you are the next Warren Buffett, and that you are smarter than all the idiots who couldn’t make shitloads of money in the stock market, including me, and that you are going to take a shot at it anyway. Here’s a tip: You aren’t. And don’t.

How to make money in the Stock Market

It has been quite some time now, I've been working in Capital Markets and not that I know much but, whatever I have acquired working for one of the Europe's biggest bank (refrain the name).
Here are some foolproof ways to make money in the stock market, since, obviously, investing your own money isn’t a very good option.

1. Start a Broking Firm
Get some idiot investors to buy and sell stocks daily and earn brokerage on their transactions. Convincing them that they are the next Warren Buffett or Rakesh Jhunjhunwala might help.

2. Start a Research Firm
Convince other idiot investors that you have the ‘key’ to becoming rich instantly – your valuable ‘research’ which will point them to the next multibaggers, and sell it to them. It works better if you are also their broker.

3. Start a Hedge Fund
Start a hedge fund, preferably a closed-end one. Convince people that you are the next Warren Buffett, and get them to invest in your fund. Once you have their money, invest in the riskiest securities you can find. Your bonuses are tied to the performance of your fund, and you are playing with other people’s money. Is there any better way to get rich? You have tremendous upside, limited only by the amount of risk you can take, and zero downside. Even if you fail miserably, you will still get a 2% fixed fee. If you do well, you will get the 2% fee + a 10-20% share of the profits.
Note: This will work only if you can convince other people to let you handle their money.

4. Start an Investment Bank
First of all, try to become as big as possible, by actually doing all the boring stuff that investment banks are supposed to do – IPOs, underwriting etc. When you become “too big to fail”, put all your clients’ money in the riskiest shit you can find. Start a proprietary trading division to invest your clients’ funds, and create synthetic instruments no one can understand easily. By the time they do, the world will have collapsed and the system will have to bail you out.
Even if they don’t, and your firm goes under, you still have your multi-million dollar bonuses, right?
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Disclaimer
The post above is purely based on my personal experience and understanding. It is in no way meant to offend any person or institution what so ever!

The Dumbest Idea In The World: Maximizing Shareholder Value

The real market vs the expectations market
In today’s paradoxical world of maximizing shareholder value, which Jack Welch himself has called “the dumbest idea in the world”, the situation is the reverse. CEOs and their top managers have massive incentives to focus most of their attentions on the expectations market, rather than the real job of running the company producing real products and services.

The “real market,” Martin explains, is the world in which factories are built, products are designed and produced, real products and services are bought and sold, revenues are earned, expenses are paid, and real dollars of profit show up on the bottom line. That is the world that executives control—at least to some extent.

The expectations market is the world in which shares in companies are traded between investors—in other words, the stock market. In this market, investors assess the real market activities of a company today and, on the basis of that assessment, form expectations as to how the company is likely to perform in the future. The consensus view of all investors and potential investors as to expectations of future performance shapes the stock price of the company.

“What would lead [a CEO],” asks Martin, “to do the hard, long-term work of substantially improving real-market performance when she can choose to work on simply raising expectations instead? Even if she has a performance bonus tied to real-market metrics, the size of that bonus now typically pales in comparison with the size of her stock-based incentives. Expectations are where the money is. And of course, improving real-market performance is the hardest and slowest way to increase expectations from the existing level.”

Continue reading : The Dumbest Idea In The World.