Starbucks economics
Starbucks economics. Why Starbucks has a better, cheaper coffee that it keeps a secret.
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dots not google
dots not google. An interesting Java animation that reminds me of Michael Crichton’s Prey.
Meditation helps
How to get smarter, one breath at a time. Time magazine on the benefits of meditation.
Python vs Perl
Python vs Perl. Sums up my feelings perfectly: Python may be better for larger projects, but for my meddling, I’ll stick to Perl. It’s served me well for 10 years.
Until 1999, I used Perl a fair bit, but no more than Java or C or anything else. My first “real-life” use of Perl was in 2000, when I was processing 600MB of IBES data. Access and SPSS couldn’t handle the load. Perl slurped all the data in a few seconds, though. A few years later, when processing bank data (3GB worth, this time), Perl again was the only saviour. In fact, between Excel and Perl (and CPAN), I think I have all the data analysis power I’ve ever needed. This blog, for instance, is written in an Excel spreadsheet, exported to XML, and converted into the blog format by Perl.
In search of Bill Watterson
Len goes in search of Bill Watterson, the author of Calvin and Hobbes. He visits Bill’s home town, and manages to interview Mom. Apparantly, Dad is quite like Dad, but Bill is more like Hobbes than Calvin.
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The qualified Yes
The qualified Yes. Somewhere between saying “no” to a new project or taking on something in an open-ended type of way, be clear from the start on what you can commit in concrete terms.
So, what used to be “Sure, I’ll do your web site” is now more often “Sure, I’ll give you 10 hours and 3 calls over the next month to use however you want.” If nothing else, it helps everyone understand that time is a precious commodity, but it also gets me out of being the de facto manager for every aspect of a project I touch.
Google search trends
Google search trends. Here is an interesting piece from my search trend. What I don’t understand is, where did thiep and amway come from?
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Market emergence – prepaid phones
Reliance Infocomm, after launching their prepaid business in India, introduced an new scheme. Pay Rs 4,300, and get a mobile phone PLUS prepaid vouchers worth Rs 4,300. Effectively, you’re getting a mobile phone for free. The scheme made good financial sense for Reliance. With a million subscribers to this scheme, they could recover Rs 430 cr of their upfront capital investment and retire their debt. Besides, the Rs 4,300 would have normally been bought over a period of around three years by prepaid subscribers, making its present value around Rs 3,600, at an interest rate of 12%. Add to that the reduction in distribution cost due to bulk selling, and possibility of non-usage, etc… the economics might work out.
But after the scheme was launched, Reliance was puzzled. Why did the sale of their normal prepaid cards dip? Any new prepaid customers would obviously go in for the new scheme. But old prepaid customers would still need prepaid cards, and should have bought them from the dealers. The dealers should have come back to Reliance to stock up their prepaid cards. Why didn’t they?
What happened was, they hadn’t anticipated was the ingenious market. Many new customers didn’t need the full Rs 4,300 worth of talk-time. Spotting this need, dealers would repurchase these prepaid vouchers at a discount.
Dealer: “Look, if you don’t need the entire Rs 4,300 worth of vouchers, I’ll buy some of them back.”
Customer: “I just need Rs 1,000 of talk time. Can I return Rs 3,300 worth of vouchers and take Rs 3,300 from you?”
Dealer: “I’ll take Rs 3,300 worth of vouchers, but I’ll pay you only Rs 3,000.”
Customer: “Well, I’m effectively paying Rs 1,300 for a mobile phone plus Rs 1,000 worth of talk time. Sounds good!”
The dealer now has Rs 3,300 worth of vouchers. So he doesn’t go back to Reliance to restock. When regular prepaid customers come in for prepaid vouchers, he’d offer some from the repurchased stock. The customer benefits (lower cash payment), the dealer benefits (higher margins), and it’s only Reliance left wondering why the sales dropped.
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Folder Size 2.1
Folder Size lets you see the size of folders in Windows Explorer. Useful to find out where all the junk is hidden.