Discovering NPR

Recently at a client meeting, the client mentioned an interesting idea he heard about. Using Captcha to digitize books. That was an amazing idea. And on checking he told me he heard it on NPR. A few days later, another friend mentioned NPR. I was curious. What exactly was NPR ?

I tuned in, and was hooked. One of the issues I had about most of the US radios and television channels was that they were partisan. They has a definite ideology and were either right or left, democrats or republican, capitalist or socialist. That meant you never got the news, just biased opinions.

NPR which is National Public Radio, is completely unbiased. They have opinions, but they are not guided by ideologies, but based on the events. It was refreshing to hear unbiased news and interviews.

I was sold. I now almost always listen to NPR and am contentiously surprised and impressed by the quality of the programming. Its not only the News, but also the other programs. Interviews, Opinions, Discussions.

NPR is a self funding non-profit. It is funded by contributions from listeners. It seems that not only can non profits compete with commercial companies, they can out-beat them.

Mumbai gets a Metro - Finally

Mumbai's first Metro service opened for commuters today. It was flagged off by Maharashtra's chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

The Metro project was commissioned and work started in 2007. It was expected to start services around 2011. However the same was delayed by several years. Ironically not only did the company not have to pay any penalties, they were able to collect almost twice as much as the original estimates. Given that there is no incentive for completing on time but a huge reward for delay, its little wonder that the project was majorly delayed.

Rinfra has built the 11.40 km Metro Rail running east-west between Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar. The cost of the project originally won at Rs. 2,356 crores has increased to Rs 4,321 crores.

The Mumbai Metro has fixed a slab Rs 10, 20, 30 and 40, depending on the distance, but the state government is insisting on a minimum and maximum fare between Rs 9 and Rs 13. The impasse is still on and for now the introductory fare of Rs. 10 has been accepted by both sides.

Each of the metros has four coaches with a capacity of around 375 commuters or around 1,500 commuters per service, zooming above the city between the two points — Versova-Ghatkopar with a total of 12 elevated stations en route.

The company has said that it will operate 200-250 services a day, carrying around 11 lakh passengers. The system will initially handle 7 lakh commuters per day and eventually up to 11 lakh. There will be as many as 270-280 services per day from Monday, when the trains begin operation from 5.30am to midnight.

The biggest benefit of the Metro is to the Mumbaikar. The Metro will reduce travel time on the 12-km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor to 21 minutes as against the 1 to 2 hours that it takes to cover the stretch by road.

Read Books : In 15 minutes

Several years ago, I was speaking with Freia and mentioned that it would be cool if there was a way in which you could read a summary of books. Last week Freia sent me an email saying, "looks like what we were talking about is now available. Check it out : www.blinkist.com".

I checked it out and it was exactly what I wanted. As the site nicely summarizes:

Learn something every day.
Read the key lessons from nonfiction books in 15 minutes or less.

Solve your reading problem.
The best knowledge from nonfiction in powerful, memorable packs.

Blinkist positions itself as solving 3 problems.

1. Read Smarter
Books in blinks are a new format that gives you the key insights from nonfiction books in just 15 minutes.

2. Get Sharper
Mastery happens in inches, not miles. With Blinkist, you can hone your skills by learning a little every day.

3. Learn Wherever
Blinkist was made for your mobile lifestyle. Read on your commute, waiting in line, or anywhere else on any device.

   
The product is reasonably priced at around $5 / month.

And what I love about Blink is the fact that its not created by computers, but by people. They explain their system better than I could.

Great books. Smart people. No algorithms.  We comb bestseller lists, review user suggestions, and solicit thought leader input to find the most intriguing reads out there. Next, our readers and writers dive into the selected texts and surface with the most valuable insights from each work. The resulting blinks are proofread and lovingly polished by human hands. By the time a book in blinks makes it to you, we trust that it is a skillfully, mindfully made bundle of mind-changing insights – and you can, too.

Gotta go and catch up with my Blinks.

A billion aspirations

Tomorrow Narendra Modi takes over as Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy. His sweeping victory at the elections is based on the hopes and aspirations of millions of people.

All of them have extremely high expectations and are hopeful that Narendra Modi will deliver. Mr. Modi has said in his speeches, "You've given the Congress 60 years and seen what has happened. Give me 60 months and see what can happen".

I have just 5 things on my wish list for Mr. Modi and am hopeful that he will not disappoint at the end of the 60 months that we have now given him.

5.
Accelerate the economy
A vibrant economy ensures prosperity for everyone.

4.
Improve infrastructure
Infrastructure is directly co-related and has a direct impact on the personal and economic health of a nation.

3.
Ensure effective non corrupt government
Minimum Government. Maximum Governance. This was one of the slogans that Mr. Modi used during his election campaign. Fulfilling on this commitment along with ridding the rot of corruption will have a direct impact on millions of Indians.

2.
Provide food, electricity and education to every Indian
These are basic rights that every citizen has. Unfortunately after 67 years of Independence we have been unable to provide these basic amenities to a large number of our people. Mr. Modi has been able to provide these amenities in his home state of Gujarat. Lets hope he can replicate that success across the country.

1.
Eradicate poverty
Every party has been talking about "Garibi Hatao", i.e. "Eradicate Poverty" ever since Independence, way back in 1947. We are nowhere close. This would be the most difficult task for Mr. Modi. It will require all of the above and then some. I'm hopeful that this task would be one of the top priorities for our Prime Minister as he takes oath as India's 15th Prime Minister tomorrow.

6 Flags - Thrilling Rides

Yesterday we went to the Six Flags theme park with a couple of friends, Salil and Vanya who were visiting. We were planning to go to the New Jersey Six Flags when we realized that there was a New England Six Flags and it was closer. We also figured it would be less crowded.

We wanted to be there before opening, so we could avoid the rush at least for the first few rides. We got there at 10 and luckily there were no lines. In the first couple of hours we had gone on all the recommended rides.

We then took out the park map and started going to every single ride. The one ride that was excluded from the Park ticket was the Slingshot. This seemed quite exciting and was separately priced at around $30. Reia seemed to be in a mood to do it all. And offered to pay from her pocket money to get launched straight into the air 240 feet at over 80 mph, in an instant. And what goes up that fast, must come down even faster. Reia and her friend enjoyed the experience, and labelled it "One of the best rides ever".

We didn't miss even one ride. We circled the park multiple times and made sure we covered all the rides. Except for the ones which had an age barrier. Those that were just for kids, and we weren't allowed in.

And finally, we managed to do all except one. A new ride was being premiered. The "New England SkyScreamer". This was advertised as the "World's Tallest Sky Screamer". Unfortunately this ride was only for Season Pass Guests and since we were day visitors, we weren't eligible for the ride.

Reia was very keen on taking the ride. We realized that to upgrade to a Season Pass would be just $19 and even if we came just once more, it would be totally worth it, since the entry was around $50. We got the season pass and as luck would have it, the ride broke down. We decided to hang around for a bit and almost everyone had left the area. That's when we noticed that they were trying it out. Guessing that the ride could open soon, Reia and her friend rushed to stand at the start of the line. They got lucky and when the ride restarted, they were the first to get on. They experienced the last ride left, the New England Screamer.

Heading home, we realized that Reia who was a little scared of rides, even at Disney had allowed peer pressure and pure determination overcome fear and go on rides that she would normally not dream of going near to.

Overall although I got on to all rides, except the slingshot, and had a great time, there seemed to be something missing. I'm not sure what exactly that was. It seemed that although the rides were far more thrilling than the ones at Disney, they did not have the finesse of the Disney experience. And therein lies the reason that Disney is Disney.

Digitizing the world. One word at a time.

At a recent meeting with a client during our presentation, the client made an observation. "These seem so simple and so beautiful. It reminds me of Luis von Ahn. We thanked the client for their kind words. And tried to put on our most knowledgeable face, hoping he didn't figure out we had no idea of who Luis von Ahn was.

The moment the client dropped us off at the airport, I started my research to find out about Luis von Ahn. I Googled. And there was tons of data on the gentleman who also happened to be a genius.

What was most informative and impressive was what he's done in his own words. Suffice to say now that we've helped digitize the world, lets learn new languages for Free, whilst translating the world wide web.

Code for America

Most of us have spent a good part of our lives talking about how ineffective and inefficient the government is. Code for America is a non-profit that does something about it.

Its tag line, "Bringing together local governments and technologists to make better cities for everyone." The beauty of the project is its simplicity and how so few doing so little can make such a huge difference.

Have a look. And hopefully some of us will be inspired enough to stop talking and start doing.