Netizen

Sunday, July 31, 2011

One House Got Trashed

Image via WikipediaIn one of the greatest novels of all time - One Hundred Years Of Solitude - there is this village that is so new that not one person has died yet. And then one day that first person to die dies. That is what I am getting reminded of with the Airbnb scandal. It is not even a scandal. Have perspective, people. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. The important thing is the right follow up takes place. The police get to do the follow up. Airbnb does the right follow up. And next.

USA Today: Plot thickens in Airbnb vacation rental horror story: a San Francisco blogger named "EJ" wrote a riveting account of how she returned from a week-long business trip last month to find that her home had been ransacked and trashed by a paying guest she'd connected with through the online rental agency Airbnb

Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Early Stage Idea

Sean Parker talks in this video of a time when "four people" believed in Facebook. That was early, but that was not so long ago. The guy spotted Facebook early, and became a billionaire in the process.

I guess you have to be in the right place at the right time and in the right mindset. To be able to grab the opportunity.

A Facebook size opportunity does not show up every month. But plenty of mid level opportunities do. Maybe not every month. But often enough.

Sean Parker, Billionaire, Was Really Poor Once

A Google Lunch, A Google Tour

All I asked for was a tour, but looks like I am also being given a Google lunch. Should happen the second half of August. I am so looking forward to it.

Android Has To Be Kept Free

Am I allowed to take pictures? My style would be to take many, many pictures.

Thanks to a Senior Software Engineer..

Google Bought The Building

Twin Sister

So I Did It
Little Flickers Of Racism
Race, Gender, Tech

Race is like health care policy, it is like foreign policy. It is primarily for the politicians to work on. Gender is the same way. And so in tech I try to talk about the two topics as little as possible. It is not the best arena.

My Web Diagram

On the other hand group dynamics is the number one thing I bring to the table for work. And there gender is just this outstanding, outstanding topic. And I don't even mean that in a political way. I most certainly don't mean that in a "women and children" way. If I were an astrophysicist, the stars might similarly fascinate me. But I am not one. Gender holds that kind of fascination to me. Race and culture are also grand topics, but gender is out there. Staying fascinated with gender keeps me sharp.

The Police: Every Breath You Take

Now playing on the cafe sound system.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

NYC Tech Talks MeetUp: Google 20% Projects

I don't mean to be bragging about it, but I walked two hours to the venue. And I walked back.

1400 situps Friday, 1500 tummy muscle bicycles Saturday, 1500 pushups Sunday, 2000 situps Monday. #hellomichelleobama http://t.co/yGWK5ugless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

Tuesday. Walk from Union Square to Woodside to Sunnyside to Jackson Heights to Forest Hills to Sunnyside #hellomichelleobamaless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
paramendra

This was at Google. The Google building is the Empire State Building lying on its side. It is big. I think the last time I was at this particular venue was the second day of Social Media Week back in February. It is a nice venue. And they had food. I really like that part. Especially when it is healthy, as it was today.

Three Google engineers talked about their 20% projects. They were prominent examples. One guy had turned Google Spreadsheets upside down. Another had got Google to get into doing the Google Street View thing inside museums and art galleries.