The Pune Rails meeting that we reported yesterday, has been postponed to 19th December. All other details stay the same. See the original post for details.
All posts by Navin Kabra
Pune Rails Meetup – Dec 19
What: Pune Ruby on Rails Meetup
When: Saturday, December 19, 4pm-7pm
Where: ThoughtWorks Technologies, Tower C, Panchshil Tech Park, Yerwada
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Register here.
Event Page: Link
Details
Hang out with other Rails geeks in Pune, discuss what’s hot, learn about the bleeding edge and find other like minded people on Rails!
Sessions:
- Introduction (conducted Session introducing practicioners and their apps on Rails)
- BlankApplication (Vincent – ThinkDry)
- my experience at Lone Star Ruby Conference (Gautam, Josh Software)
- Engine Yard Cloud (Anthony, Sapna)
- General Open Forum – ask questions to other rails practicioners
- other spontaneous talks
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Training session on Microsoft Azure
What: A full-day event by the Pune (Microsoft Technologies) User Group (PUG) on Windows Azure
When: Sunday, December 13, 10am to 4pm
Where: Venue details will be mailed to registered participants
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all. Register here
Details
The theme of this training is to allow the participants to understand the value proposition of Windows Azure. And hand holding to deploy applications on the Azure platform. All participants will get a certificate of completion.
To be able to understand this session you need to be familiar with the
- Basics of the .NET framework platform
- Basics of C#.NET and the Visual Studio IDE
- Understanding of WCF (Windows communication framework)
This event is free, but you need to register: http://www.qsitglobal.com/qsitmailers/november_2009/azure/azure_ugform_nov30.htm
Venue details will be mailed to registered participants.
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- Microsoft extends Windows 7 and Azure to open source developers (infoworld.com)
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Correction: 6 Pune blogs (including http://trak.in the “India Business Blog”) nominated for IndiBloggies
Earlier, we reported that 5 Pune blogs are nominated for the IndiBloggies awards. Unfortunately, due to an oversight, we missed the fact that one of Pune’s most read blogs, Trak.in, is also nominated in the “Best Business IndiBlog” section (#13). Please check that out also.
That brings the total Pune nominations to 6. The full list is:
“Creative Writing by Vikram Karve” in the “Best Humanities IndiBlog” (section #4).
“Without Giving the Movie Away” (aka wogma.com) the Hindi Movie Reviews website by meetu (aka meetumeetu) in the Best Entertainment IndiBlog (section #8).
In the “Best Science and Technology” category (section #11) there are two Pune nominees. Dhananjay Nene’s /var/log/mind about programming and architecture and Brajeshwar, who writes about technology, and programming and linux.
Trak.in by Arun Prabhudesai in the “Best Business IndiBlog” (section #13). Please note that it is listed as “India Business Blog.”
And finally in the “Best New Indi MicroBlog” (i.e. best twitter account) PuneTech is nominated.
The link for voting is: http://multivote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/21900
The IndiBloggies blogger awards, Pune blogs, and visibility… Please vote
Quick summary: The IndiBloggies awards, started by Pune’s Debashish Chakrabarty, are, in spite of flaws, India’s top awards for blogging (and now for twittering). From thousands of submissions 6 Pune blogs have been nominated by a panel of prominent bloggers – which means that these blogs are worth checking out. And, to determine the winners, voting is in progress, so check out the nominees and vote for the ones you liked – the last day for voting is Thursday, 10th December. (Disclaimer: PuneTech is one of the nominees in the ‘Best MicroBlogs’ category & and I’m also connected to wogma.com one of the other nominees.)
Background
The blog world (or the blogosphere), by its very nature, is gloriously disorganized. Thousands, if not millions, of new blogs are born everyday, and probably an equal number fall into disuse. Most blogs are drab and dreary “Dear Diary” types, which are of no interest to anybody other than the author and a few close friends. But even if a very tiny fraction of a percent are good, insightful, informative, interesting blogs, that’s still a very large number of good blogs worth reading. There is everything from deep science, insights into technology, snippets of literary brilliance, and in-depth analysis of current events. It’s better than newspapers – trust me.
While some people enjoy the process of discovering great new blogs, many others would prefer that someone else did the searching for the needle through the haystack. That’s where blogging awards come in. And the most venerable one in India right now is IndiBloggies, started in 2003 by Pune blogger Debashish Chakrabarty. In recent times, they’ve been having trouble – there were no awards in 2007, and the 2008 awards are delayed until the end of 2009. There are other problems – it is a travesty that @sandygautam‘s The Mouse Trap did not get nominated, and instead a blog that is just a bot reposting a feed got nominated. And other glitches. But, almost by nature, all awards have such problems. In my mind the question isn’t whether they managed to find the best or not (although that would be great), but whether they managed to give visibility to good blogs, especially ones that did not have much visibility before. In this department, I think the IndiBloggies still score.
Pune Blogs nominated
“Creative Writing by Vikram Karve” find a nomination in the “Best Humanities IndiBlog” (section #4). Vikram blogs about a wide variety of topics, including a number of short stories. If you’re interested in literary writing, you should check it out. Even otherwise, you might want to check out, since he writes about cooking and technology and various other things.
“Without Giving the Movie Away” (aka wogma.com) the Hindi Movie Reviews website by meetu (aka meetumeetu) is nominated in the Best Entertainment IndiBlog (section #8).
In the “Best Science and Technology” category (section #11) there are two Pune nominees. Dhananjay Nene‘s /var/log/mind about programming and architecture is one of our favorite blogs and has been extensively covered and republished in Pune tech in the past. If you don’t know about it, you’ve not been paying attention. Brajeshwar, who writes about technology, and programming and linux, was until recently a Bombay blogger, but has recently moved to Pune, so now qualifies as a Pune nominee. They reason we’ve never covered anything by him in PuneTech is because he wasn’t in Pune. But check out his blog, its one of the more popular blogs in the tech world in India.
Trak.in is nominated in the “Best Business IndiBlog” (section #13). Please note that it is listed as “India Business Blog.” Trak.in by Arun Prabhudesai is probably Pune’s most read blog with a huge readership of hundreds of thousands from all around the world.
And finally in the “Best New Indi MicroBlog” (i.e. best twitter account) PuneTech is nominated.
(Note: since I am personally connected to both “PuneTech” and “Without Giving the Movie Away” I have refrained from giving my opinions on them.)
Of course, there are a number of non-Pune blogs there which are worth following. You should check them all out. Honorary Punekar Preeti Shenoy (who now lives in UK) is also nominated for Just a Mother of Two. The Ribbon Farm, by @vgr, is a must read if you’re into technology or business.
Vote
The final winners are going to be decided by a democratic poll over the internet. The url for voting is here: http://multivote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/21900
Check out the blogs, and vote. Most bloggers (at least most of those in the nominees list) are writing because they’re passionate about the subject. They get little or no tangible rewards other than appreciation of readers. And recognition in the form of nominations and awards helps keep them motivated. And, of course, the visibility results in increased readership, which is a good thing for both the readers as well as the bloggers. They don’t have any marketing budgets and don’t have ads on TV, but often their content is better than the rediffs of the world. Give visibility to deserving blogs – Vote.
IEEE Innovation Symposium: Engineering Pune’s future via Education, Employability, Entrepreneurship, and Environment: 5 Dec
What: IEEE Pune subsection presents an Innovation Symposium with a Panel discussion & an open house on “Innovation: A perspective for engineering Pune’s future via Education, Employability, Entrepreneurship and Environment
When: Saturday, 5th December, 9:30am to 4:30pm
Where: Hotel Deccan Rendezvous, Apte Road, Shivajinagar
Registration and Fees: Rs. 250 per person (includes lunch). To register send mail to ieee125.pune.symposium@gmail.com
Details
The session aims to bring together people from academia, industry and the NGO fraternity to share their perspectives. The whole day is spread over 4 sessions on each topic viz. education, employability, entrepreneurship and environment.
The panelists are Padmashree Dr.Vijay Bhatkar – Scientist & Fellow of IEEE, Mr. R G Deshpande – MD, Vishay components, Dr. Anupam Bhide – President and CEO, Calsoft Inc., and Dr. Anand Karve – President ARTI. The Sessions are an hour each. First half an hour will be for views sharing by each speaker and the next half hour will be for open house discussion.
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Pune’s SMSONE gets techcrunched: Mirco-local news to make Silicon Valley Jealous
Pune-based company SMSONE (see previous PuneTech coverage) has just been covered by TechCrunch, one of the most influential and widely read tech blogs in the world (as a result of an introduction by PuneTech).
Sarah Lacy, editor-at-large at TechCrunch was in India for about a month in November, and she was in Pune for a day, hosted by Abinash Tripathy. During her Pune visit, PuneTech introduced her to a bunch of local companies, and SMSONE was one of them.
Excerpts from her article:
But every once in a while I find a company that hits the trifecta: It’s addressing a big problem locally, it’s something I don’t think is offered in the US, and…. I want it. And when a product in undeveloped, chaotic, messy India can make someone in Silicon Valley feel jealous, you know that entrepreneur has come up with something good.
I’m talking about SMSONE Media, a company I met in Pune about a week ago. Like most of the impressive companies I saw in India, it’s aimed squarely at the base of the pyramid and is using basic SMS to deliver services to people some of India’s most unconnected areas. It was started by Ravi Ghate, who proudly points out that none of his core team graduated from high school, much less attended an IIT or IIM. (Typically not something you brag about in India.)
Later, the article quotes Ravi Ghate, CEO of SMSONE, on their future plans:
Right now Ghate’s operation is in 400 communities, reaching roughly 400,000 readers. He just got an investment from the government of Bangalore to boost that reach to five million readers in the next four months.
Ghate is clear that the money will be used strictly to reach more people. The company already breaks even and Ghate makes enough to pay his basic living expenses. He doesn’t care about fancy cars or clothes. It wasn’t too long ago that he was one of those disadvantaged kids, selling flags and berries on the side of the road and being told to go away. He still regularly travels between villages by bus and stays in $5/a night hotels
FYI: There’s one detail that her article gets wrong. The article says:
The economics work out like this: Out of a 1000 rupee ad sale, 300 of it goes to the reporter, and Ghate pays him an additional 50 rupees for each news story. That adds up to a nice income for a village kid
Actually, of the Rs. 1000 that an ad earns, Rs. 300 is kept by SMSONE and the rest goes to the reporter. But other than this inaccuracy, the article does a great job of capturing the essence of SMSONE.
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Designing Democracy for better eGovernance – Anupam Saraph – 26 Nov
What: Talk on ‘Designing Democracy for better eGovernance’ by Anupam Saraph, CIO of Pune City
When: Thursday, 26th November, 6pm onwards
Where: ThoughtWorks Technologies, Tower C, Panchshil Tech Park, Yerwada
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Register at: http://www.thoughtworker.com/banyan-tree-talk-anupam-saraph-register
Dr Anupam Saraph, CIO of Pune, will speak at Thoughtworks’ Banyan Tree Series of Talks. Dr Saraph will be talking about IT strategies that have the potential to revolutionize eGovernance not just in our city, but the whole of India.
About the Speaker – Anupam Saraph
Anupam Saraph has served as advisor to CM of Goa, lectured at Lally School of Management and Technology at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and has been advisor to various international and national organizations including UNESCO, Lead International and the Asian Dialog Society. Today he holds the unique position of CIO of Pune, a post envisioned by our city for the first time in India. When not in this seat, Dr Saraph is a consultant and leadership coach to individuals and organizations around the world.
Some of his accomplishments while in office include Pune’s contributions to the Giki, and Design For Pune which won him mention in CIO Magazine’s CIO 100 listing.
See Anupam Saraph’s profile on the PuneTech wiki for more. Also check out his PuneTech article giving his vision for e-governance in Pune.
About the Banyan Tree Series
The Banyan Tree Series are a series of talks where ThoughtWorks invites luminaries from other fields in an attempt to learn from their experiences.
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SPIN Talk: Role of IT in Clean Tech (Anil Paranjape) & Carbon Mgmt (Shreenath Shanbhag) – 26 Nov
What: SPIN (Software Process Improvement Network) monthly meeting featuring ‘Role of IT in Clean Tech’ by Anil Paranjape and ‘Quality issues in carbon management industry’ by Shreenath Shanbhag
When: Thursday, 26th November, 6:45pm onwards
Where: Hotel Ambassador, Shivajinagar
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. No registration required.
Clean Tech and Sustainable Business are probably today’s biggest buzz-words. By all accounts, this is the industry that is likely to spur the next wave of growth in the global economy. As IT professionals we must be aware the challenges of this industry, the gaps that exist in the IT infrastructure for this industry, which are the big opportunities for all of us tomorrow, if not today!
This month’s SPIN meeting features two talks on Clean Tech
Topic I: Role of IT in Clean Tech and in making businesses sustainable
Businesses the world over are waking up to their critical role in society and their practices that have led the world to the brink of massive upheavals on environmental and social fronts. These changes are making consumers more aware of their plights and rights and they are demanding that businesses act more responsibly. Needless to say, the governments are responding to their voting constituencies through increased regulation and legislation that is forcing the businesses to be more sensitive and responsible towards all stakeholders, not just their shareholders. On this uncharted, unmarked and often even undeveloped road to sustainability, businesses are increasingly finding a severe lack of appropriate frameworks, tools, experts, theory, research and empirical data to help them do a better job with their triple bottom-line: profits, people, and planet. This talk aims to explain why we are where we are, what role businesses play in it and then focus on how and where IT can help businesses be more responsible towards the world.
About the Speaker: Anil Paranjape
Anil Paranjape is a renowned technologist and now a successful Venture Capitalist. Originally from Pune, he has completed his BE in Electronics and Telecommunications from University of Pune. After finishing his graduation he earned his degree in Biomedical Engineering from University of Texas. In his working career of 20 years, he was associated with Intel Corporation in Oregon where he helped Intel to develop their flagship microprocessors starting with Pentium Pro. He has also worked on complex Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software tools and methodologies for Intel’s flagship prototype microprocessors including Pentium-4 and the recently introduced Core i7. In 2005, he completed his MBA from Wharton School of Business and then joined Intel Capital where he was responsible for developing new business opportunities.
Last year, he shifted back to India and has been mentoring entrepreneurs and startups to active participation in social impact ventures and tending his prior investments in hospitality business. These days Anil is helping companies with cleantech investments, business incubation and evangelizing sustainable ways of doing business
Topic II: Quality issues in Carbon Management industry and the Early error Detection methodology
First Carbon is a brand new start-up in the Clean Tech industry. Their product helps companies measure and manage their carbon footprint.
In today’s competitive market, quality has become the hygiene factor in every organization. Especially for a product organization, occurrence of bugs at a late stage would be quite costly and it may even impact existence of the product organization. Catching errors in the early stage of the development life-cycle could well be the key to success for a product.
In a brand new industry, getting the requirements right is an even bigger challenge. This talk presents the Early Error Detection methodology used by First Carbon to build Quality in their product up-front. This includes validation of the requirements to catch defects right at the requirement stage and generate test cases in a formal way from the validated requirements to ensure Quality.
About the Speaker: Shreenath Shanbhag, First Carbon
A technically proficient manager with rich IT experience and sound project management knowledge of over 18 years, he has worked in both Product and Projects environments. Shreenath has been involved in various phases of software development including requirements analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and has demonstrated Process design and implementation skills for very complex business processes. At present, Shreenath is actively involved in developing a product in the niche of Carbon Management
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How to build a ‘sustainable’ startup: by Samir Patel – Nov 28
The Pune Open Coffee Club and Venture Center, Pune presents a talk by Samir Patel, on what are the characteristics of a startup that will ultimately become an enduring company. The talk is on Saturday, 28th November, from 10am to 12noon, at Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park, Pashan Road. Map. (To reach Venture Center, go past NCL towards Pashan, pass the cricket ground adjacent to NCL and then you’ll find NCL Innovation Park / Venture Center on the right hand side.) This event is free for all to attend. No registration required.
Elements of Sustainable Companies
Start-ups with these characteristics have the best chance of becoming enduring companies.
Clarity of Purpose
Summarize the company’s business on the back of a business card.
Large Markets
Address existing markets poised for rapid growth or change. A market on the path to a $1B potential allows for error and time for real margins to develop.
Rich Customers
Target customers who will move fast and pay a premium for a unique offering.
Focus
Customers will only buy a simple product with a singular value proposition.
Pain Killers
Pick the one thing that is of burning importance to the customer then delight them with a compelling solution.
Think Differently
Constantly challenge conventional wisdom. Take the contrarian route. Create novel solutions. Outwit the competition.
Team DNA
A company’s DNA is set in the first 90 days. All team members are the smartest or most clever in their domain. “A” level founders attract an “A” level team.
Agility
Stealth and speed will usually help beat-out large companies.
Frugality
Focus spending on what’s critical. Spend only on the priorities and maximize profitability.
Inferno
Start with only a little money. It forces discipline and focus. A huge market with customers yearning for a product developed by great engineers requires very little firepower.
About the Speaker – Samir Patel
Samir Patel founded SearchForce that helps manage search marketing campaigns in a burgeoning $6 billion yearly online advertising market with its algorithmic trading platform. At iPIN, later acquired by Valista for $50+ million, he designed the world’s first open scalable mobile payments platform. Samir also crafted the go-to-market strategy for eBay‘s apparel division, which is now a $500 million business unit and growing. He devised efficient systems for Stanford Graduate School of Business in the area of analytics, courseware management and security.
Much quoted in CNN, BusinessWeek, Reuters and Mercury News, Samir has a B.S. in Computer Science and an MBA in Brand Marketing from Cornell University. He teaches entrepreneurship and new venture creation courses at the University of California at Berkeley and at the Small Business Administration.
During his 2009 sabbatical, he walked solo for a 1000 kilometers in the wild Himalayas and along the Narmada river with two pairs of clothes and little money. He heads various projects at Manav Sadhna (http://www.manavsadhna.org) and GramShree at Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati, Ahmedabad.
About Venture Center
Entrepreneurship Development Center (Venture Center) – a CSIR initiative – is a not-for-profit company hosted by the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. Venture Center strives to nucleate and nurture technology and knowledge-based enterprises by leveraging the scientific and engineering competencies of the institutions in the Pune region in India. The Venture Center is a technology business incubator specializing in technology enterprises offering products and services exploiting scientific expertise in the areas of materials, chemicals and biological sciences & engineering.
See the profile of Venture Center on the PuneTech Wiki for more information.
About Pune Open Coffee Club
The Pune OpenCoffee Club was started to encourage entrepreneurs, startups, developers, startup advisors and investors from Pune to organize real-world informal meetups to chat, network and grow. Our members also include lawyers, accountants and freelancers who work with startups.
POCC is different from other organizations aimed at Entrepreneurs (like CSI Pune, SEAP, TiE Pune, NASSCOM Pune) mainly because of the informal format, and also because of the fact that it is free (i.e. there are no membership fees, and there are no entry charges on individual events). In other words, anyone could announce and arrange a networking event at the cafe round the block. Thanks to the informal approach, the group allows wacky ideas like the startup lunch initiative to be popularized.
See the profile of POCC on the PuneTech Wiki for more information.
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