Think Big, Act Small ?

Sometimes to think big, you have to act small.

I read an article on BusinessWeek that mentioned this and I couldn't agree more with it. This was spoken in the context of Yahoo's renewed efforts to regain it's foothold in the search market place. Yahoo, a few years back was a technologists dream, but the fizz ran out faster than it started and the reason was Google? Not true..the reason lied within, as it always does..

It was because Yahoo became a "big" company and had lost it's passion to do better. When you are small, unknown and bubbling with ideas, all that you need is direction to become big and when you become big, the number of directions that you get makes it impossible for you to move!! Exactly what happened to Yahoo !! Google is still a little far from where Yahoo was and luckily they almost operate like a college (well, till now atleast technically..) to even be considered a company.

So, what do you do if you are Yahoo. You have to think the same way that you had been when you were small with all those heavenly aspirations. Yes, you have to think like a small company. Yahoo has realised this and has started something that it calls a Brickhouse, a place where developers can unleash their creative potential and the products from which would be launched "off brand" initially to minimize damage to brand and identity as much as possible..a place where developers dirty their and receive rewards for the same...a place where they are allowed to take risks and a place which is very different from the current Yahoo and very similar to Yahoo of yester years!

Pipes, Yahoo's latest success is from Brickhouse and is an example of what one can do with a startup mindset!!

Google Blooper!

I never was really impressed with Google Maps, well except for the satellite image part that was later on adopted by every website showcasing maps...I come from a school that likes to "see" Google Maps, but follows Yahoo Maps. Last weekend, I decided to do otherwise and a lesson was learnt :).

My wife and I were on a mission to buy some stuff for my sister's newborn and some stuff for our own new apartment and so we decided to go to ToysRUs and GardenRidge. Both these places were in locations I was not very familiar with and so we dug 'mechanically'.

We had to start at 2412 S Stemmons Fwy, Lewisville, TX 75067
and go to 2512 S Stemmons Fwy, Lewisville, TX 75067 AND !!!!



Google came up with a map that made us travel round and round for 3.6 miles as is evident from this map.



Yahoo as always came up with something that was more "efficient" and easy. But, even this was 1.8 miles :) as u can see from the picture..

The funniest part was this!! GardenRidge and ToysRUs were right next to each other and we really went about our task so 'mechanically' that we didn't even realise that till we came back to GardenRidge. So much for trusting technology blindly and so much more for following the pied piper Google...

YAHOO =====| |===== PIPES

Yahoo ends my sabbatical! Was busy with some personal issues the last couple of months coupled with an extended vacation mindset and habituated prolonged silence and the results were quite obvious. Well, there were none :)..till today...
Yahoo came up with "Pipes" today! Pipes is all about aggregating content feeds from different sources, re-mixing them to create new mashups and feeds for the same...Almost like a disc jockey! And all this using a visually appealing environment..

Was this all unthinkable? Well, no...was it unique..YES..Is it useful? YES YES. Did Yahoo gain brownie points over Google? YES YES YES!! Well, I can't remember when Yahoo came one up on Google, so this day should really be special to them..especially after the Garlinghouse thingie.

Coming back to Pipes, it is an innovative idea coming into existence at the right time. People are suffering from an information overload now. Feeds/Apps built on Pipes might just be the answer to clarity. I open up my Google Reader with nervous fingers every day fearing blog inundation. Pipes a few years back might just have been "an" idea, but now it is just a new dimension to how we organize our information. Goes to show how timing is so very important in this world!

I have been thirsting to get my fingers/hands on those pipes, but I get a message from Yahoo that says "their pipes are blocked". Don't know if they are proud or unhappy for the clogging today :)...Wish them all the best!!!!