The Broad Mind Knows No Limits!

While English has conveniently become the linguae francae today, percipient to other languages will no doubt broaden your horizons. My journey in this regard began in the late nineties. While I appreciate the six languages I am fluent in today, the seventh Spanish is rusty due to a lack of exposure. Hindi/Urdu greatly broaden one's horizons and in my opinion, this is essential to understanding paradigm shift today in world interest toward the East. Arabic is no less important and is evident in the number of colleges offering Arabic courses. 


Hindi films have become a popular gateway towards exposure to the language and culture. I recently found a great song that I first heard in the Sinhala language. It was sung by the late H.R. Jothipala, the inimitable singer from Sri Lanka. Here is the link to the original, sung by the late Mohammed Rafi whose work needs no introduction:


Chale Aj Tum by Mohammed Rafie


Here is the lyrics to it that I have transcribed. Please advise of corrections/suggestions. Thank you for visiting. Let peace and love prevail!

How to Choose a Credit Card

With many a comrade to most of us in debt with the recent credit crunch, I thought this would be a great read. Needless to say more - hold on to your liquidity and play it safe out there. Here is how to deal with your credit cards:

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/09/09/credit-card-basics-how-to-choose-a-credit-card/

Downloading your Favorite Youtube Video

Ever wondered how to download a video from Youtube? One of the most fulfilling aspects of being a technology professional is the ability to help society, in this case a friend of 15 years. She wants to know how to download her favorite video from Youtube. Here's how you do it:

1. Click on this link to download a software called Tooble. While there are many ways to achieve the same, we will stick Tooble for now. For one, it works great on the Mac (personally tested on OS X - Leopard and Snow Leopard) and it is very simple piece of software that hardly takes up a foot print of your precious computing resources. Select your version (Windows or Mac) download and install it.

2. Once installed, go to the youtube video you want to download, click on its URL - then copy it (Hold down CONTROL and press C).

3. Now go to Tooble. On the top left hand corner, look for "Enter a URL". Click on it and paste the URL you copied from your youtube video.

4. You are on the way to your own, off-line copy of your favorite Youtube video!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and the pleasure is mine to see you succeed.

New Gmail Themes

Gone are the days of spam and Gmail has consistently provided spam free email. This is as good as it gets folks! Persistent innovation has led to Google's successful approach to spam control in Gmail. Switch from yahoo or hotmail and the first thing one notices is the drop in the rate of spam. One hardly ever runs into a spam mail and if you do encounter one, just mark it as spam and Gmail will handle the rest! Spam discussion is not the intention here, I wish to share with you happy Gmail users some new themes that were recently posted on the official Gmail Blog. Enjoy Gmail and kudos to the folks at Google!

Virtual Box - Summary Review

Here is a summary on my VirtualBox installation. The download itself was a small foot print while the installation was a breeze. You could literally be up and running in a few minutes! Yes, this is powerful in that the spirit of open-source collaboration has brought us free virtualization right to the desktop on the Mac! The scope of my testing was limited to Mac OS X (Leopard) desktop, I look forward to sharing my experience on the Snow Leopard implementation next. I did see inquiries from curious users about Snow Leopard, and all I can say for now is - it looks great and has worked well so far for the pioneers. I will try and share my experience on it soon. For now, Windows has been jailed into a virtual machine on my MacBook!

For those not familiar with the rambling here, VirtualBox is an open-source software that allows you to say run Windows on your Apple MacBook. You may ask "why would you want to run Windows on Mac?". The answer is, there could be something that is only available on the Windows platform (the list is lean) and virtualization using VirtualBox software is a great way to run it within your Apple environment. This is the current trend in computing and is in keeping with the green initiative of a low carbon footprint, low energy consumption and a smart way to do things.

I remember running about six different servers in my lab in 1999, with every one of them running a unique operating system. While most of it was to do with testing, the advancement in virtualization now enables us to do it all and not mess up your running PC. In other words, you could be sitting in your favorite coffee shop and virtually be in your lab. Dating back to the same time, I remember some of us running back home after an evening at Barnes & Noble, to begin the lab sessions we awaited all day for.

Smart computing you say, sometimes we tend to take for granted the benefits of smart computing. Imagine the convenience, portability, virtualization, efficiency, accessibility, availability, modularity.... the list goes with the benefits that change our lives for better. Even more interesting are the brilliant minds behind this and how their dreams have given us hope. I foresee opportunities in the realm of virtualization and connectivity, where the triple domains of our phone, notebook and TV need to be in sync to make life easier. While you may choose to have multiple profiles, imagine the clutter and mess of managing and maintaining multiple profiles on these three devices? Software will play an even bigger role in the near future. Lots of job opportunities for creative programmers that think outside the box and outside of conventional frameworks, while promising ideas will still find the venture capital they deserve. The market corrections globally will ensure quality funding and that is good for the consumer. Mr. Gates and Steve Ballmer, along with all the other entrepreneurs will always be remembered for their contribution and persistent effort that changed life for the better. Their stories are being compiled for the history books and we hope generations to come will be inspired towards a better world for all.

Be Humble - Advance in Wisdom

It is not uncommon to bump into people that are so into themselves that they hardly observe the others. The greatest downside to this is wisdom; it really suffers! You may be good in what you do but progress beyond that really does not get the sustainable ration if you are not humble enough to learn from others and realign yourself.

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. - Marilyn vos Savant

Be agile - I love this word and was inspired to ponder over this after a reference made by a coworker, Chris Batchelder during a brainstorming session. In fact, this is the first lesson you are about to learn (Ideas come from everywhere) from the embedded video I have for you today by Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience at Google. Google has always been a winner for me ever since one of my beloved old bosses, David Fossler got me hooked on it. Enjoy the video and do share your comments. Healthy discussion is always welcome on this site. Thank you for visiting and enjoy!

Sri Lanka - Land of Paradise!

Much has been said and lot has been published about this enchanting island that is unique in many ways. Here we share an article from The Hindu, that provides a nice synopsis for the astute holiday hunter. Well, there is more than an opportunity to get away here - it is one of investment and you pick the area. Sri Lanka has recently been liberated from a long spell of terrorism that gripped the island. The government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the country is geared towards post war success.

An U.S. Fund recently invested $875 in treasury bonds last week. We believe this is the beginning of unique opportunities at a time your once favorite locations of investment appear uncomely.

Switching to Mac - Time Bas Been Right for a While!

I finally made my switch from Windows to the big Apple. It has been a while now but here is why you should consider the same.

Six months would not pass without my having to reinstall Windows! With time, the windows registry rapidly collects clutter and the performance graph begins to nosedive. For more than a year now, I am running on Mac without a hitch in performance or messy reinstalls. I would say stability was the first benefit to me in the migration (or graduation shall we say?) from Windows to the Mac.

From the discerning user to the beginner - Mac can be your reliable companion. One of the biggest show stoppers for the majority of users that made the switch over from Windows to Mac has been software compatibility. This can be annoying even for the technical user. With the persistent hard work of the brilliant folks at Apple under the able leadership of Steve Jobs, an era of possibilities had dawned!

The Mac operating system (current version is code named Leopard and Snow Leopard will be available from August 28, 2009) is one of the most stable end-user operating systems available today. It is based on the BSD (a UNIX like) platform. In the world of enterprise computing, servers that perform intensive computing run on some flavor of UNIX. This should be the first reason for you to start placing your faith on your Mac book. Moving on to more pragmatic things, your Microsoft Office needs are taken care of to say the least. While Microsoft does have a version of its Office suite for Mac, it is worth exploring Apple's own productivity suite - iWork '09. This consists of Pages (Word), Numbers (Excel) and Keynote (Powerpoint). While it is not a copy of Office it is compatible with Microsoft Office, and in my humble opinion produces better documentation than Office! Just try Pages and you will find in it a more advanced and powerful word processing application. Interestingly, you no longer need Adobe Acrobat as the PDF reader comes free with Mac operating system. To take things a step closer to your heart, you can save your documents as PDF files in Pages!

Next we discuss one of the most annoying issues notorious with all Microsoft operating systems - the virus menace! You would be surprised to know that this is no longer an issue, although there is anti-virus software for the Mac. I did run anti-virus on a short trial but have since uninstalled it. If it ain't broke don't fix it, goes the famous IT tech rule of thumb. I get further value in my Mac's built in backup that works like a breeze. Just plug in an external USB hard drive and let Time Machine do the rest! It automatically maintains multiple versions of your backups with no hassle of technical configuration and you can always revert to an earlier state in time with the simple restore feature.

Well now we've covered your Office, taken care of virus issues, a slow machine that freezes no matter how much memory you throw at it; I guess we still need a mechanism to bridge with the world of Microsoft. Simple! I used to run Parallels and then VMWare Fusion which are all paid purchases but not any more with the arrival of Sun's VirtualBox. All of these are virtualization software that allow you to run Windows on your Mac. Any experienced techie would tell you that Vista was probably the worst operating systems that made it to the market, while agreeing that Windows XP ran better on their PC's (No offense meant in any way towards Microsoft). At least I can tell you that I actually purchased XP Retail CD's to run in one of my production environments even after Vista was forced on every laptop that shipped! So now you have the option of running your old Windows XP using VirtualBox just in case you have that odd piece of software that was only made for the Microsoft platform. I have had to use XP on very few occasions and one of them was to run CBT's which are mostly aimed at the Windows user market. I activate my virtualization software (yet to test VirtualBox and look forward to sharing my experience on it soon!) and run XP right within my Mac OSX (Leopard) and put it away into suspend mode with a click when I'm done. This is also a safer and more stable way to run Windows as Mac is in control of the hardware as opposed to resource hungry Windows.

Music, podcasts and videos are taken care so don't you worry. For the occasional Windows Media Player requirement there is Flip4Mac and other free solutions out there that will play Windows media right within your Mac. Apple's iTunes takes care of your audio/video including podcast requirements and this works seamlessly with your iPhone.

Well, I think we've covered most of our bases and I invite you to visit your nearest authorized Apple dealer. While Apple does not pay me for writing about their product I am glad to share the success story of what I consider one of the greatest products of the century. More power to computing and peace to all. Do not forget to include Steve Jobs in your prayers.

Importance of Organizational Structure and Project Based Delivery

The global recession and chain of events that are typically associated with one have all but taught us valuable lessons we could not afford to ignore. One the most important aspects of the recession that affected the masses in general is value, i.e. what was taken for granted, available and was of benefit was suddenly gone! Either jobs were lost, projects were called off, solutions to challenges and issues that were coming along the pipeline were suddenly on hold, with no promise of delivery or no delivery schedule. This became unconceivable to the masses as seen through the experience of thousands of project workers in the Middle East. When time was ripe and projects were competing with each other in a race against time to deliver value, it was the masses that dedicated their lives to project work and this meant the same to the families and countries of these workers. What we need to agree and acknowledge here is that anything of value as in projects mentioned here must be appreciated and protected - this is called value management. The biggest argument for this is the example of a hedge fund capable of funding projects or generating venture capital or a funded project itself suddenly finding itself bottom side up!

This has generated immense interest upon the tireless effort undertaken by the Project Management Institute (PMI) of the US to study project management and outline the metrics, concept and methodologies that enable us to manage value in a transparent, accountable and acceptable manner. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) in its fourth edition at the time of writing this article is a result of years of research and collaboration by project management professionals and practitioners in the field. It is quite common now in the Middle East to find a renewed and heightened interest in qualified project managers. The need to 'project manage' the delivery of work (projects) has now been realized across the board. You ask any experienced recruiter/head hunter involved in Middle East recruitment, they would tell you the same. In the case of small to medium projects, the same sponsors that pushed you through delivery and violated the fundamental theories of project management have now learned the hard way - after a loss venture capital, time and a negative balance sheet.

Moving on, I would like draw a parallel to the concept of 'projectized delivery' as highlighted above to matrix organizations. Traditionally organizations were hierarchical and had a manager for each division (or product), as in FMCG, healthcare products, food divisions. With the diverse nature of projects requiring diverse of expertise, an era dawned for collaborative effort between diverse lines of service. This meant the traditional forms of management could no longer cope with the handling or efficient coordination of resources when faced with these projects. This led to the progressive thought of management, one with a fundamental shift of focus from organizational structure to organizational culture. This led to the matrix organization structure. This is ideally a best of both structures - combination of the product type organizational structure and the functional structure. Functional structure is similar to the product structure, except in this case the division of labor in the organization is grouped by the main functions that need to be performed.

While matrix structure is the most complex of the organizational structures discussed so far, there are three types of matrixes:

1. Weak/Functional Matrix - A project manager (PM) with limited authority oversees the cross- functional aspects of the project. Functional managers retain authority over their resources and project areas.

2. Balanced/Functional Matrix - Authority is shared equally between project manager and functional managers bringing best aspects of functional and projectized organizations. This is however the most difficult as sharing power is a delicate fine line that may bring its own challenges. This is very common in large organizations.

3. Strong/Project Matrix - Project is primarily responsible for the project while functional managers provide expertise and assign resources as required.

Successful outcome of the implementation of the above matrix in any organization largely depends on its purpose and function. You map out the ideal structure and strategy, you are set for success! This is a specialized area and consultation with best of breed management consultants and project managers combined with an intelligent study of similar organizations and their approaches would be the best way to approach it.

According to the A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) - Fourth Edition, a project is temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. Even third world nations have realized the value of project management as a discipline and science that would transparently and responsibly manage their investment and this is clearly evident in the case of ICTA, The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka.

An Agile Project for the Educator

Ever realized how rigid in inculcation some of the eastern and former British colonial education systems tend to be? I have no doubt that it served its purpose back in its day. We now see the influence of modern ideas and concepts in education systems let us say, in South Asia and the Middle East. One of the new kids on the block that is rapidly gaining market share in the UAE is Bon Education. An educational leadership mentoring program as I would like to call it, that aims at teaching educators to exploit the vast resources available on the internet like the Open Education Resources (OER's) to improve classroom education. This is an extension of the digital bridge (as discussed in one of my previous articles) into the education systems in our countries. This inevitable revolution holds the key to the improvement of future masses!

Think about it. Some of the countries in Asia where poverty is rampant are home to millions of people that do not even have access to basic education. Bon Education is one solution that is cost effective and capable of transforming the way we teach and learn. It opens out a whole new world of collaborative education where the parents can be involved in the day to day advancement of their little ones. Imagine a parent at work that is able to connect with the school system, particularly the classroom and the teachers right from his/her desk at work! Open Education Resources like peer-reviewed curricula to recommended reading and interactive learning tools and resources, all for free!

Explore Bon Education initiative and contact them for a free brainstorming session on how Bon Education could help you improve your teaching and get you on the road to innovative minds and an educated populace.

http://boneducation.com/home

Future is here! A Business Plan for the Discerning.

What started off as a desert ranch in the land of beduins has now arrived in Sri Lanka! Packed for business and ready for deployment - check out the idea:

Holiday Ranch Biz Plan

The Digital Bridge

The thought came to my mind as I was pondering over an interview given by Amitabh Bachan, (known as the 'Big B' of Bollywood) that I had watched a day ago. I remember back in the early 90's in the US, when people would make fun of Bollywood movies - of the couple running around trees, dancing and this included my own wife. Now Mr. Amitabh Bachchan correctly points out that the West no longer sees it as this. In fact, Bollywood is huge in the West, and especially the States where south east asian communities emulate Indian customs mostly influenced by Bollywood movies and songs in their wedding socials. Bollywood has given an identity to those without one. I know for example of Sri Lankan girls that do not even speak Hindi yet consider it cool to hang around their Indian mates, while emulate quite a bit of their contemporary customs. Now this reminds me of Ibn Kaldoon, the great Sociologist's words of wisdom, "the weak always imitate the strong..". He said this in relation to nations.

Here is the interview by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan - impressive eh!
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/07/14/amitabh.bachchan.bollywood/index.html

Now to expand on the title here, I think that the digital revolution has significantly contributed towards the social progress outlined above, which in my opinion is positive. A misunderstood culture has now come to be respected and emulated. So what is this digital revolution? The development of digital media has connected all parts of the world to where one can easily and cost-effectively get access to elements of a far away culture, as in music, film, speeches, events, documentaries, distance learning, political developments as they unfold as we have seen lately in Iran, etc. The internet remains the backbone of this marvel. First came the introduction and proliferation of compact discs (CD's) followed by successive development of portable media such as flash drives. The free internet remains the propeller of this revolution. I remember missing the old days of the world as seen through memories of my grandfather. I started getting on the internet and stumbled upon old Hindi movies, the golden age of Indian cinema as it is rightly known. I downloaded songs that melted my heart and this ultimately led to my fluency of the Hindi and Urdu languages! Imagine someone from a totally different country gaining the ability to speak fluently like its inhabitants, now isn't this unity? What a great case in defense of the internet and its positive effects on society!

I remember years ago, some of the Muslim clergy used to claim that mobile phones were a tribulation and a bad innovation. I found in the UAE for example, that some of the imam's of mosques had better phones than the one I owned! Positive innovations change our lives and our opinions follow. This is almost always true especially when the applicable opinions are negative at first. It would be foolish to think that opinions are rock solid and carved in stone. Opinions are in reality (and should be) progressive, and evolve with our knowledge, experiences and broadening of horizons.

There was an imam who in my opinion is 'cool' in the true American sense. He was in Tampa, FL and positively used his influence with the youth of the community and his sermons on Fridays were filmed to be published on his web site. Most people did not know about this but I knew the man was headed towards positive territory yet to be appreciated by the masses. He ultimately moved to another community in Texas and now runs his own blog, complete with audio, video and very useful information to all. In fact, I give him credit for mastering the art of blogging way before I got into it. I am not sure if I can share this blog with you right this moment for I have not consulted him, but trust me when I tell you that this is a success story I am happy to share to say the least.

I am glad and elated to share and declare that technology and the internet have contributed towards better understanding and love among people. For a moment in my IT career I was wondering if I was headed the right direction, studying abstract information that was far off from social sciences and day to day human life. Now I have a reason, a good one to continue unabated. Most of what we do fits into the big picture of social progress, prosperity and peace - at least let us strive towards this, right?

Life is a little more than each of us selfishly clinging on to partisanship and opinions. What about getting to know the world and broadening our horizons? Welcome to the age of digital bridges, you are now able to do exactly this, right from the comfort of your desk at home.

Broaden horizons and become a better global citizen. Wisdom is the key and it only comes through observation and this is directly related to one's access to information and phenomenon.

Television, CD's, karaoke, internet, computers, flash drives - all of it come under the concept of digital bridges, like the leaves and branches of a tree where the tree itself is the internet that runs to the roots of KNOWLEDGE, open-minded sharing of opinions, studies, research and exploration. Power to the world! Let us remember the inventors and celebrate the inventions of technology, right from the days of semi-conductors, transistors to all that became catalysts of the digital bridge - a great place to take a regular stroll.

Peace!

Here are more pictures from the project in Puttalam. This was an area previously neglected with hardly any attention from the elite. Now it has everyone talking about it. I thought I was impressed with the drip system irrigation in the UAE, where as I found drip and sprinkler system irrigation in people's houses here in Puttalam! Granted they are largely an agriculture based population, yet the sophistication and progress with times is impressive in Sri Lanka. It is key to note that HE The President Mahinda Rajapakse has done much to promote home gardening and agriculture among the people.

A Project for the Future.

The hut on the right is a project someone has embarked upon to rent out to tourists as a possible side business. It is on the beach in Kalpitiya, Noricholai area of Puttalam, Sri Lanka. I was taken aback by the beauty of this place when I visited it in 2009. It is a 5 acre plot of land on the beach front. Fortunately for him his ranch watcher is skilled in agriculture. He grows various seasonal crops and sells them every few months. The entire property had a great irrigation system with the use of PVC piple distribution lines, a pump house with a rig and the works. I was impressed, for this is similar to my project in the desert. I said to myself this is something I would like to explore as an investment property in the future. Wouldn't be great to take an excursion once in a while and chill out in a property like this?

Workout - the routine missing in your life.

I have been a fitness buff from the military days of special training and all that fun, yet it is a shame it took me years to make this a habit. Well, here I am and working out is an inseparable part of my life now. I know this generates a load of interest yet find many people doing the wrong things to obtain the results they intend.

One friend noticed positive developments in me and phoned me the other day to ask what I do for a workout. I asked him what he does and he replied he works out every day, lifts heavy weights to gain muscle mass and totally skips his dinner to avoid getting a pot belly! Put me aback for a moment here... I inquired what his breakfast and lunch consist of and the reply was normal meals. I asked him how he plans on obtaining the required protein to build the muscle mass he is after and how he gets the energy without the carbohydrates. He was dumbfounded and admitted he now suffers from a lack of energy!

Well what do you expect? You need to get carbs for energy. I mean you need to still eat some carbs about an hour or two before a workout. He said his fat stored in the body will provide it. I said that is only a small percentage. When you work out some of the fat stored in your body is burned as fuel but not all of it. If you do not eat sufficient carbs your muscle will be burnt for fuel! Oops! This is the trick and the delicate area people fail to understand. So work out but make sure you eat intelligently and healthy!

Karaoke - Rediscovered!

I noticed karaoke was set up on certain days in the hotel where my gym is and could not help but walk in one day.. that changed my life! I have been naturally inclined towards goodies from the golden age of India, like songs from Mohamed Rafie, Lata Mangeshkar and a line up of artists from the yesteryear, along with Sinhala oldies from Sri Lanka. I listened, collected and compiled my own little collection and ultimately learned some of these songs. So here I am with an opportunity to sing along - wow! This is like blogging for the amateur publisher. I think it is a relaxing way to spend an evening or two a week with your friends especially when you are no longer in your teens. This is one of those activities you could take your family along and avoid the nags about how you abandon them for friends. A unique way to enjoy yourself with family.

A Great Country in an Imperfect World - America!

It is interesting how experience and education combined with exposure can refine our thoughts and opinions. I always knew that in the US was a great example for the world to follow but the years I have been out of the country has made me realize that there really is no other place that comes closer! Now let me justify before making broad statements here. For one, the tools in the legal system one has at disposal, i.e. the checks and balances as we call it in America. This in itself is a source of hope and confidence for everyone across the board. This is great to begin with after all, what is more important than your job - it means everything in todays world. Everyone has the opportunity to make it in America, granted of course that they are willing to plan one's life, set goals and work to achieve them.

On the other hand, we have countries that could be literally way ahead of the US considering the cultural and religious depth they possess but all that has been sidelined for reasons best known to them. The comparison here without digging too deep to sleep, highlights the early American spirit. This is a story of evolution and progressive effort. Untiring effort to build a nation from rags to riches. A story of work ethics, hard and dedicated labor towards sure success. The settlers fought the odds and united to build a great nation. God bless America!