Netizen

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Internet Week Fail Whale

Ignite NYC Premonitions
Excited About Internet Week

@rayramon Get me on your @internetweek panel http://goo.gl/fb/GaNTN I am building a social network for businesses.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

@nahurst Get me on your @internetweek panel. My tech team, 50 strong, is in Kathmandu. http://goo.gl/fb/GaNTN @vacanti @alexahirschfeldless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

@cranberryliz Get me on your @internetweek panel. My microfinance startup could not be anywhere but NYC http://goo.gl/fb/PlGaEless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

@rikuniaku97 Get me on your @internetweek panel. I participated in #Nepal's 2006 revolution almost completely digitally http://bit.ly/f1C2fxless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

@racheljo I am an authority on political revolutions in Third World countries. Get me on your panel for @internetweek http://bit.ly/f1C2fxless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

I do some comedy at my blog http://bit.ly/elbw4U Put me on your @internetweek panel @TheComedyStore cc: @amyblogschowless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

Another rejection.

@hmason I urge you to come in as a 5K angel into my startup http://goo.gl/fb/PlGaE Do it for the women of the world http://goo.gl/fb/TAdyFless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

I had a few Direct Messages from Tikva this morning. Looks like I did not make it in the first round of Ignite NYC slated for Internet Week. None of the panel people I reached out to on Twitter reached out to me either. How does this work?

Excited About Internet Week

In Tikva's case she said my description of what I was going to talk about was incomplete. So I sent her an email. She wrote back. Other than the fact that you are suggesting you are a gift from God to the world I still don't have a description of what you are going to talk about.

So my newest mail goes something like this.

The first major revolution of the 21st century happened in Nepal, and
Paramendra Bhagat was the only Nepali in America working full time for
it. In April 2006, over a period of 19 days, about eight million
people out of the country's 27 million came out into the streets to
shut the country down completely to force a dictator out.

"There is a concrete mathematical theory called the butterfly effect.
A butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon forest could be the
reason a cyclone hit Bangladesh. What happened in Nepal in April 2006
was a political cyclone. I was the butterfly flapping my wings in New
York City."

http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com http://democracyforum.blogspot.com
http://technbiz.blogspot.com
@paramendra

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBaseThat was rather fast. Tighten your seat belts. This drama is just getting started.

Watch Out For Steve Ballmer

Mashable: Unfazed by Facebook, Google Rolls Out Social Search Globally: Launched in October 2009, Social Search is a feature that combines regular search results with publicly available data created by your friends’ social media activities. ...... Your “friends” are quite loosely defined and include people in your Google Talk friends list, your Google Contacts, people you’re following on Buzz and Google Reader and other networks you’ve linked from your Google profile or Google Account. Google can also find your friends on public networks such as Twitter and Facebook and gather the data from their public connections as well.

Google probably wants more people to use Facebook like I do. My privacy settings on Facebook are for "Everyone." Anyone can drop by and see all my pictures. I have uploaded more than 10,000 pictures of New York City on Facebook.

1. Self
2. Family
3. Close friends, close relatives
4. Close colleagues
5. "Friends"/Acquaintances/Distant Relatives/Corporate Team Members In Large Organizations
6. Customers/Voters
7. Fans
8. Humanity

Fractals: Mandelbrot
Is Location The Fifth Dimension?
18 Months Ago GroupOn Did Not Exist
The Google/Facebook Of Microfinance
Microfinance: Post Obama Race Talk

Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe: Odindu Nyuliba

(Via Fuck Yeah Africa)

Microfinance: Post Obama Race Talk

A screengrab from President Barack Obama's fir...

Image via WikipediaRace has to be talked about. Gender has to be talked about. That was the angle I came from. And I was Barack Obama's first full time volunteer in New York City, perhaps the country. And the guy absolutely refused to talk about race. Then one day he said "Race matters powerfully" and I thought, okay, now he is going to start. But no. The guy just did not believe in singing Kumbaya. The you-love-me-you-love-me-not race talk just was not for him.

Then he became president and pumped billions of dollars into inner city schools. And that act was more meaningful to me than any race talk he might have initiated.

Barack Obama Proved Me Wrong On Race And Libya

Robyn: Indestructible

(Via Soraya Darabi)

There's an ABC in Australia too looks like. Brand bias. :) Best summary of @sorayadarabi's Australia trip http://t.co/SGC4QnQless than a minute ago via Tweet Button Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

A "female @billgates" might not be a coder, likely will not http://bit.ly/iRXhjC @sorayadarabiless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

#pcmobile foodspotting says she stopped using color b/c she couldn't figure out what it didless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet ReplyJosh Wetzel
jwetzel

Fuck Yeah Africa http://goo.gl/fb/xnBHjless than a minute ago via Google Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

Mike Hudack Wearing Makeup http://goo.gl/fb/iggg4less than a minute ago via Google Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

@hugh's abotabadless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

Sai Baba (2)

@paramendra
I am always inside you, above you, below you, in front and behind you and i am watching you now. Why fear when i am hereless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplySathya Sai Baba
Satya_Sai_Baba

Sai Baba Is Back

Fuck Yeah Africa

Last Chance: Goods For Good

(Via Pop Tech)

Asa: So Beautiful
Prince Nico Mbarga: Sweet Mother
J Martins: Iva
Tiwa Savage: Kele Kele
Fally Ipupa: La Jungle
Peacocks Guitar Band: Eddie Quansa
The Parlotones: Funny Face

Kushner Honored
"Where Was This Google All This Time?"

Mike Hudack Wearing Makeup

Caro, Get Off The Summit,That's A Volcano

On Tumblr

Just Found Out Mike Hudack Is Also A High School Dropout
Blip.TV: How Do They Ever Get Anything Done?

The Economist: Sai Baba: Sathya Sai Baba (Satyanarayana Raju), one of India’s most controversial gurus, died on April 24th, aged 85

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Namaste Nepal

Namaste Nepal from Arpan Regmi on Vimeo.

(Via Samir Shrestha)

Meme Pas Fatigue: Magic System

(Via Fuck Yeah Africa)

Cabo Snoop: Windeck

(Via Fuck Yeah Africa)

Why Jack Dorsey Invented Twitter

I think Jack Dorsey invented Tumblr, sorry Twitter, is because so he could claim and hog the Twitter handle Jack. When you are on Twitter it feels like Jack Dorsey is the only Jack in the world.

Nothing could be further from the truth. There is Hugh Jackman. There is Jack Nicholson.

Digital Efforts Have To Be About Transforming NYC Into A Small Town

I don't know Kirk Love. I have never met Kirk Love, although I hope to some day. The guy shows up in my Gchat window on and off, and it is because one day I pitched him to come in as an angle investor. Why not? He said, no thank you, I can't, but nice meeting you too. (The Google/Facebook Of Microfinance, My BusiCopy Cofounder Anuj Bikram Thapa)

I started following him on Tumblr because he was on David Noel's list of people to follow. David Noel is out of Berlin. (My Tumblr Just Got An Upgrade) Just from following Kirk on Tumblr I had seen many, many pictures of his wife.

Lilian Riveros met Kirk on an online dating site. Apparently they clicked enough when they met in person to end up married. Lilian is a New Yorker, of course, a Paraguay native.

Roadmap For Digital New York City

Watch live streaming video from nycgov at livestream.com

26 Best Cities
Rachel Sterne: CDO
To: CDO Sterne
To: CDO Sterne (2)
Pitch Mike

NYC ODC 90day Report 5-15C

Watch Out For Steve Ballmer

en: Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. Camera: N...

Image via WikipediaStepping into Bill Gates' shoes was going to be a tough act to follow for anybody. It just was not possible. Bill Gates ruled the industry for a decade and a half. 1995 was the high point. Windows was the only game in town. And then the guy went into philanthropy where he has been as amazing as he was in software. It has been a second career to him.

Microsoft pretty much missed out the smartphone and tablet trains. But then competing with Steve Jobs is as hard as succeeding Bill Gates. Steve Ballmer has had to do both and I feel for the guy. He was an Economics major at college. And there is a cultural bias against fat, bald people. So people end up thinking he is less smart than he actually is. And he is a non coder in a coding business.

There is this story from the mid 1990s. Ballmer returned back to Redmond from one of his trips visiting with customers. And he got a group of his engineers together and said, "I don't know what TCP/IP is, I don't want to know what TCP/IP is. Just make the pain go away." Everywhere he had gone people had been talking about TCP/IP.

Could Skype Be Microsoft's YouTube?

My BusiCopy Cofounder Anuj Bikram Thapa

Me In The New York Times

A few weeks back Anuj and I became Cofounders at 50% each to BusiCopy, a social network for businesses.

Before I came to America I was renting a place near the largest library in Nepal. Anuj was friends with the landlord's son. And we got to know each other. I came to America and kind of lost touch for the most part. He went to Japan. He was there for seven years doing hotel management. We might have exchanged an email or two along the way.

He returned to Nepal. The country was going through the final phases of a decade long civil war. And so going into tourism, his first choice, was not an option. To that point his only experience with computers was that he had used them for personal use.

In January 2006 he decided to go into IT. He, his brother in the US Amit Thapa, and that brother's friend Ujjyol Raj Singh teamed up. Amit was studying IT in Texas. He dropped out. Little knowledge is dangerous. You end up becoming an entrepreneur.

Image via CrunchBaseYou pay 30 bucks a month, and that is your data plan. And it is good for your smartphone, it is good for your tablet, it is good for your laptop, one data plan for all. The data plan should cover voice and text messaging. Skype ought to morph, Google Voice ought to morph into smartphone apps that make irrelevant the traditional phone number. Landlines are gone, phone numbers should go too.

Could Skype Be Microsoft's YouTube?

Image via CrunchBase
The plan should be 30 bucks a month. And if your speed does not double every two years, the company providing the data plan should declare bankruptcy. The only calling plan that should be allowed is the unlimited calling plan, and that too for a limited period.

Image via CrunchBaseI installed a new theme for my Tumblr blog a few days back, and it has been such a pleasant experience. You should go check it out.

I seem to have a thing for the color black. I really like the color. The color black to me feels like is inclusive of all colors. There is this inner glow to the color.

My Tumblr Just Got An Upgrade
David Karp: Tumblr Or Hipstr

I am not black, so it can't be a black pride thing. I am not white, so it can't be a remnant guilt over slavery and segregation thing. People who know me know I am very, very political. But I'd like to believe for me it really is about the color. I really like the color.

Image via CrunchBaseThe New York Times is Twitter's new best friend. I have cultivated a new habit. Now when I see a link to a New York Times article even on the New York Times website itself, I copy the subject line and feed it into the Twitter search engine. Twitter has never failed me so far. There is always some soul out there, usually a whole bunch of souls, that have tweeted out that particular New York Times article. It is called crowdsourcing the need and desire to not pay the New York Times a dime.

Me In The New York Times

Visualization of the various routes through a ...

Image via WikipediaThe UN is not it, the US is not it, the Internet is it.

I have made that statement a few times at this blog.What do I mean?

I do not imagine a future where the UN as an organization has been dissolved, and the US federal government no longer exists. But I do imagine a future where the Internet has fundamentally altered the very fabric of what the UN is, how it functions, how far it reaches, how well it functions. I imagine a US federal government transformed by the forces unleashed by the Internet.

The Internet is transformative technology. But it does not operate in a vacuum. You take away people and you end up with computers. It is adding people to the equation that gave us the Internet. And so human institutions are very relevant to what the Internet is all about.

Image via WikipediaWork is picking up, and that might mean I might have to slow down the blogging a bit. But I don't want to. Blogging is working out for the mind, and it makes no sense for a knowledge worker to slow down on blogging.

But one post a day is the goal, and anything more is bonus. Or at least that is what I thought. I have been blogging several times a day for months now.

Blogging several times a day feels like this.

2000 Squats
Freehand Exercise: 1000 Push-Ups, 1000 Squats, 1000 Crunches

Some people have asked me, how do you make time for blogging? Implicit in that question is the suggestion that blogging is something you do on top of work. I don't see it that way. Blogging is part of my work. And, no, I don't mean AdSense peanuts. I mean blogging is like my online resume. My blog allows me to do a lot of work related socializing online. I have entered into credible conversations because I have an active blog.

Because I am an active blogger, I believe I am a more active reader of tech news.