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This is going to be an evolving post looking at the style of life, the joys and the difficulties of living in India, with particular experience coming from living in Delhi. If you are a ‘western’ national and are being sent to work in India, or are considering a move, this perspective will serve as a useful insight into the realities of life in India in 2010.

Check back tomorrow for more, but as always, please share your experiences or opinions in the comments, as it is in the communicative nature of the web that we all gain knowledge. If you have some experience in the area, if you disagree with my perspective, or if you have some advice to share, write your contribution below.

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Looking at the comments of any major tech blog, and many a mainstream newspaper website one would think that as soon as Apple’s exclusivity contract with AT&T runs out (thought to be in 2010 sometime), the California-based computer firm will leave the mobile network behind. I would be wary of over-speculating about AT&T being in a headlock from an Apple tough-guy position. I think the danger to AT&T of losing exclusivity has been exagerated by some commentators.

Take the following example Megan Lavey’s position in a recent TUAW post:

AT&T has long been the subject of grumbling from the community of US iPhone users who want to use their phones legitimately. Ever since the original release back in 2007, it feels like AT&T has been trying to play catch-up when it comes to service and tower availability. But, the release of the iPhone 3G S might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

The ramifications for AT&T will come when it sits down at the negotiation table with Apple to extend its current gig as exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the United States. Apple won’t forget that AT&T didn’t have key features in place when they needed to be there. If Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, or any other carrier can convince Apple that they would be ahead of the game while AT&T lags (and, believe me, it wouldn’t be that hard of an argument to make), Apple will take its toys and go elsewhere.

I don’t think this is going to happen, and here’s why. Just by chance I watched Steve Jobs’s interview with Walt Mossberg at 2007’s All Things D (D5) Conference, and I was struck by the sense of loyalty that Jobs expressed when referring to how Cingular took a risk on Apple in accepting the iPhone to their network while Verizon (we hear) wouldn’t give them access. The quote arrives just before the two minute mark:

“I think Cingular invested in us, they took a gamble on us, and likewise we took a gamble on them. So, I will never forget that.”

Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the Wall Street Journal and Walt Mossberg’s ‘D’ Conference in 2007

AT&T, at the time called Cingular, may not be the strongest network, but as CEO Randall Stephenson mentioned in this year’s D Conference, the top complaint for all mobile phone networks in the US is signal; it’s not unique to Cingular. There’s no saying there will be any less of a mob decrying Verizon signal strengths were Apple to release an iPhone CDMA version. I imagine Apple could likely keep a level of pragmatism and institutional memory in its decision making process – it wants the best business result but it also wants a carrier in the US that it can actually deal with, and back in 2007 (let alone 2004 when they started working on the iPhone), Verizon was so locked up in their own software packages, network restrictions and carrier lock-ins, I can’t imagine how a pairing of such companies would have worked.  The cultures are, ironically, too similar; both Apple and Verizon want to have full control over their ‘product’ and thus a melding of minds just wouldn’t have worked at the time.

This is not to say that there is no possibility of Apple adopting Verizon as a partner, but I think the importance of institutional memory and personal relationships is incredibly within Apple, evidenced by the number of times that key employees have been hired and rehired again after any attempts to jump ship, taking people like Jon Rubinstein and Craig Federighi as obvious examples.  Who knows whether Verizon will care about Apple’s products once they’ve got them. For the moment the iPhone is AT&T’s golden egg and thus they work to retain it. Once it’s gone how will that relationship with Apple play out? Will AT&T remain accommodating? Verizon might be added as a carrier, but it won’t be without considerable fight and, I’m guessing, significant anguish.

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GAY = SIN from Matthew Brown on Vimeo.
Matthew Brown has made a video which he shares on Vimeo, looking at how some people are so thoroughly opposed to the ‘gay lifestyle’ – which I interpret simply as opposition to the fact that gay people exist – that they feel compelled to share their distain for others in a as public a forum as is possible. He overlays critical audio over images captured of friends sharing special times together. The sounds so awfully contrast with the clement, benign and thoroughly gregarious nature of the images portrayed – pictures that could not be further from the audio that accompanies them. The result is artistic and thought provoking, as well as not just a little bit beautiful.
Check out the video link for an High Definition version which, through its clarity, renders the images yet more poignant and meaningfull.

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A certain popular road-warrior, Wes Streeting, on the way to being elected NUS National President. I wish I’d had a chance to meet him. Perhaps in the future. This speech doesn’t seem as impressive as it was at the time. In the hall as he was speaking there was a buzz of energy and of possibility. It’s very easy to sound angry on the podium, but to be angry with a passion and with direction is what’s powerful. Wes, for one, certainly has that power. I couldn’t be more pleased that he was elected.

Absolute comedy pisstake joy at the NUS conference. Ross Stanley is someone to watch out for, he made a number of coherent contributions during the course of the three days and came across well in all of them. Then he came out with this at the end of day two, showing one CAN do politics with a sense of humour.

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I’ve been working for a great little Architecture firm in Birmingham that specializes in restorations and conversions of old properties into modern dwellings and offices – a perfect niche to be in where they’re based because there are so many old factories and warehouses that are laying empty and crying out for redevelopment. The company has many buildings in progress that were formerly industrial or municipal sites, for example, a council building or industrial mill that are being repurposed into apartments. They’re a small practice but quite creative and the collective office temperament is one unity and they focus on quality work. My role for them is small; while their practice secretary is on leave I run the office. It’s not a flashy job but I feel it’s important and if done well it can make everything the practice does run more efficiently and therefore makes the whole team more effective. I have really enjoyed my time working for them.

My unexpected act of kindness came yesterday when I talked to my agency, informing them of my returning to University for the year. On my starting with the company in the middle of the summer I’d been informed several times of how they weren’t looking to take on students. I had been bracing myself for an angry discussion with the representative I work with. I’d missed her on numerous personal calls to their office and therefore emailed with my update, wanting to get her the information as early as possible. I didn’t want her to set up more interviews that I wouldn’t be able to attend. Two days later I finally got through and, to my great surprise, she was as kind and complimentary as could be. It made me think of how effective she was as an employee for the firm. Had she been disappointed and factious I would likely have not returned to work for them, and they’d have lost the HR investment in finding me. However, with such an irenic and conciliatory response, I’m happy to return to to the firm when I’m next in the country.

Best of all, her compliments really made my day.

Frontpage image curtsy Scott Beale / Laughing Squid.

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I’ve implemented a little update for the ‘Related Content’ that’s found at the bottom of each post. While all posts will continue to link to other posts on a vaguely similar theme, longer posts will show a ‘Sphere It!’ link.

These links show content from all around the web and particularly the ‘blogosphere’ as bloggers like to call it. I think of the ‘blogosphere’ just as I would ‘the media’ but with the simple difference that content is written by normal people and perhaps not a professional production. The Sphere link opens an onscreen box which links to this other aggregated content. Just as the ‘Related Posts’ links are generated automatically and without any input from me (in their case, by Yahoo), Sphere content is linked via the company itself and I have no control over what it shows your or how or why.

Other examples of Sphere links can be seen below:
Walt Mossberg
TechCrunch

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The next day, at the rally here [in Colo Iowa], Mr. Obama described the encounter for the crowd. The woman, he said, had asked if her son’s death was the result of a mistake by the government. “And I told her the service of our young men and women — the duty they show this country — that’s never a mistake,” he said.

He paused carefully as he reflected on that encounter. “It reminds you why you get into politics,” he said. “It reminds you that this isn’t a game.”
NYTimes: Two Years After Big Speech, a Lower Key for Obama

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Just thought I’d point out two or three features of the site that may not be initially noticable. First is the RSS Feed of the page – like a self updating bookmark of all the posts that I’ve been writing. You can drag the link below onto your Safari/IE7/Firefox toolbar and it will show an alert when a new post is published. RSS Recent Posts Feed.

The other thing is the ‘Asides’ posts on the right hand side. Something I’ve been looking at doing for a while – these miniposts allow me to post little bits of info/news without writing a whole lot about them. You can comment on asides just like on a normal post. Click on the number (normally a ‘0′) at the bottom of the ‘aside’ and that will take you to a full-post style representation of the content. It’s like a normal post but, smaller! Think of the hierarchy of posts as; full post, asides, then ma.gnolia bookmarks.

Oh, and there’s the ‘related posts’ thing. I just added that last week or so. Half for me to see what else is related, half in case the thing that’s related is interesting. It works by analysing the words of a post and linking to similarly themed posts. Clever!

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This triggered a heated discussion during which the Brussels Airlines representative suddenly ran off, leaving the passengers to their fate. Brussels Airlines leaves 200 passengers to fend for themselves in Dakar

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