Chinmay. Yet Again.

On measuring the wrong things

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:19:08 +0530

One of the Techcrunch stories last night was about MixPanel, a Google Analytics for Facebook company. Mixpanel allows developers to track user behavior (what they click on, what actions they perform, when and more) more comprehensively than was previously possible.

There is nothing wrong with MixPanel. In fact, it’s a great example of a company leveling the competitive field— after all, the larger companies have been doing the same for long. However, more accurate measurement implies more focused optimization (which is what the companies using tracking tools seek anyway).

Unfortunately, more focused optimization leads to great popularity but not great substance. Long long ago, I started this blog as a joke. I’d draw up a little sketch which I thought was funny and put it up here. Sometimes, it even was.

Then, people told me that I was good; and of course I thought they were pulling my leg. Still, out of curiosity, I added Google Analytics to the blog— and soon, seeing the number of hits per day became a source of joy or sorrow.

One day, someone submitted this to Reddit. And Google Analytics showed me a thousand hits. Wow!

Soon, I began to see what people like. It doesn’t take a genius to guess the patterns in click-data. I realized everytime I drew something “worth talking about”, popularity on Reddit soared. If I drew obscure geek humor, noone liked it. (Yes, on Reddit!)

It’d have been easy to optimize. I could have drawn crass humor that people would love. But I didn’t, because I was lazy. Being lazy, doing something you don’t like isn’t easy (that’s what hard-working people do!), and soon, I stopped drawing entirely, in part because people began telling me what to draw.

But the point of this discussion isn’t my motivations. The point is that once you minutely measure and optimize for what makes your service popular, you slowly slip down Maslow’s pyramid.

That’s why Reddit has crappy posts on the homepage (active-Redditters have figured out which items are likely to be popular and aggressively submit those. It isn’t surprising most of these items lack depth). That’s also why Digg has even crappier items— appealing to larger masses requires slipping further down the Pyramid.

I wouldn’t be the best judge of what is fair for a company and what isn’t; but the consumer in me is afraid of being in a Skinner cage, and the human in me is afraid that pornography and gambling are about the only thing that can survive at the base of Maslow’s Pyramid.

Biking in WA

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 09:33:52 +0530

It’s supposed to be the biking capital of the country, or so I am told. And if you don’t mind hills and valleys, biking here can be fun, as I’ve realized since I bought my bike yesterday.

Like any upright CS student, the first thing I did once I bought the bike was to figure out how to hack the system. Here’s what I’ve discovered so far:

You’re a pedestrian on the sidewalk and a vehicle on the road So, you can ride anywhere you like, including roads that scream “DO NOT ENTER”. Simply enter on the sidewalk. Also useful if you want to make a quick U-turn. Simply get on the sidewalk and cycle the other way. Lastly, useful if you have a pedestrian crossing and when you can’t get the green (because your bike has too little metal for the light to detect)

Using a bike lane is not mandatory So you can use the above hack anywhere!

Seattle has a RideFree Area: There’s no reason to spend any more calories going up Seattle’s hills.

More later.

On comments

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:08:08 +0530

You see, commenting on the Web has a serious deficiency— there’s no incentive to post good comments. Which results in three undesirable species of commentators— the Morons, the Trolls, and the Verbose.

The Morons are the folks you meet on Youtube. The Trolls are them misguided souls on Techcrunch, Digg and other websites who argue venomously, tail people and in general make the Web a painful experience. The Verbose make a (somewhat) valid point, but take all eternity to do so.

(Note to self: XKCD could become a comic wikipedia at this rate!)

What the web really needs is a credit rating system. Post a bad comment, bam, your credit-rating goes down (I think others get to vote on your comment). Post another one soon enough, and it goes even lower. If you learn some discipline, make some regular good comments, slowly and surely your rating will improve. I suggest users should also get free credit reports.

This will solve all our Web’s problems, and this will be an investment succeeding generations of Web users will thank us for. This is our moment… our time to turn the page on the policies of the past.

Car country

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:16:08 +0530

I’m beginning to think that America consists solely of freeways, with some condos thrown in for good measure. Why doesn’t anyone actually walk on the street? Maybe it’s because of these huge cars too big to be built for real people. I’m tired of firing up GPS on the phone just to figure out which way to turn at an intersection.

I also hereby pronounce drive-ins evil. Drive-in restaurants, drive-in banks, even drive-in Toys-R-Us— I’m sick of all of them. I was positively shocked when I saw a drive-in bank— I can’t believe someone would open an account at a branch which doesn’t even have chairs. There’s a drive-in BankOfAmerica down the street, but they don’t have an ATM I can safely walk up to (of course there’s no way to get in, so there’s no chairs to worry about either).

I’m told cars are an expression of America’s respect for individualism, but I honestly think indivisualism is a bloody misguided principle to found a country on. Especially when indivisualism reduces to a narrow focus on the welfare of the self to the exclusion to that of all others. All it gives you are drive-in McDonalds and a 2km walk to buy a carton of milk.

PS: Actually, I also have to mention that some people do think differently— I must blog about Microsoft’s shuttle and Connector service and of the beautiful Building 99 I work at.

First day story

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:04:29 +0530

Today was the first day at my internship at Microsoft Research, Redmond. Lots of interesting things happened today, but I guess everyone has a particular first-day-at-work story. Here’s mine. As usual, it was my fault.

A thoroughly disoriented Chinmay (jetlag + US public transport being the culprits) walked into the long line of interns at Building 92. We were all queued up to get our temporary badges so that, um, we could enter the building to get our permanent badges. As is well-known, time dilates in a queue, and 20 seconds in the line I’m trying to figure out a way to get my badge asap.

Maybe, I could just pickpocket one from a guy who’d got it (it didn’t have a photograph anyway) ;)

Even as I was hatching my evil plans, a volunteer announced they were splitting lines— “A to L this line, the rest form a new line down there”. Ok, got to hurry— I was the second person in the new line!!

Soon, at the head of the queue:

MSR volunteer: Last name please?

Me: Kulkarni

MSR V: How do you spell that?

(Ah, these Americans… unaware of other cultures… blah blah)

Me: K for Kilo, U for umbrella…

MSR V: Um, that’s the other line.

Me: Oh. it is J, K, L.

MSR V: makes a face— Did we really hire this guy??

PS: I still think it’s unfair that A thru’ L have more last names (they do, don’t they?). It’s even worse that I almost made it to the other side!

Brevity: Six developments of a thought

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:24:00 +0530

This is an experiment inspired by Picasso’s Bull (eleven developments of a lithograph). I’m nowhere close to the artist, but here’s an attempt.

I’ve a hunch that brevity in an idea is correlated with how important it is. Take for example the idea that 80% of success is in showing up (attributed to Woody Allen). (168 chars)
In my opinion, brevity of thought reflects how powerful it is. Woody Allen’s quote “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” is an example. (140 chars)
I think, the more succinct an idea, the more powerful it is. For example, look at Woody Allen’s “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” (138 chars)
I think succinctness of thought is indicative of its power. E.g. Woody Allen’s “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” (121 chars)
Woody Allen said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”. Is the succinctness of thought indicative of power? (113 chars)
Is brevity of thought indicative of power? Eg. Woody Allen: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” (102 chars)

"Plug in the headphones. Plug in the second display. Plug in the Ethernet. Plug in the mouse. Plug in..."

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:15:48 +0530

“Plug in the headphones. Plug in the second display. Plug in the Ethernet. Plug in the mouse. Plug in your soul. And we’re good to go.”

- Me about my Vaio

"Most of the time, life is beautiful."

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:10:45 +0530

“Most of the time, life is beautiful.”

- Abhilash Ravishankar

Last weekend in Barcelona

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:22:03 +0530

Last weekend in Barcelona

"My newest hobby: creating weird exceptions in Java. Best so far is TheWorldIsFuckedUpException..."

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:18:41 +0530

“My newest hobby: creating weird exceptions in Java. Best so far is TheWorldIsFuckedUpException (thrown when I have nothing else to throw)”

- Me

"An Indian guy asks an Italian for an address in Paris in Spanish. And of course, the guy answers..."

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:52:00 +0530

“An Indian guy asks an Italian for an address in Paris in Spanish. And of course, the guy answers like nothing is out of place. That’s globalization for you.”

- Me (it really did happen, btw)

Florence is beautiful.

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:08:17 +0530

And I’m having a whole lot of fun. Photographs in the next post. On bed using the free wifi, and too tired/lazy to get up. Hehe.

Life. 24X7

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:40:59 +0530

Me: Omg! 15 evaluative components in 15 days!
Arushi: Yea, that's assuming none of them are postponed...
Me: Hmm... I think I should only sleep on Sundays
Arushi: You can't do that... We have onlines on Sunday.
Arushi: You could sleep in June, though.

Wearable and ubiquitous computing is coming of age. I kid you...

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:32:33 +0530

Wearable and ubiquitous computing is coming of age.

I kid you not…someday, show this doodle to your grandkids. Who’ll tell you that your supposed to pull your nose, not ear. Peace.

"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be..."

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:01:11 +0530

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big.”

- Daniel Burnham

I’ll be updating the blog whenever I think up something....

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:47:33 +0530

I’ll be updating the blog whenever I think up something. (Lots of folks have asked why I don’t update; answer is basically that I can’t think up something great everyday) Save yourself the trouble of checking. Subscribe to the RSS feed. AND DON’T ASK WHEN THE NEXT UPDATE WILL BE! :)

Can anyone guess the focus of the series? Clue: It has nothing...

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:42:26 +0530

Can anyone guess the focus of the series? Clue: It has nothing to do with 9/11.

I’m seriously thinking of migrating to a better blogging...

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:15:30 +0530

I’m seriously thinking of migrating to a better blogging service. The absence of a comments feature pains badly. If you have any suggestions about a good blogging platform, mail me at chinmay007@gmail.com.

And oh yes, an inside story of how I make my doodles is coming soon (with pictures!). I don’t know how interesting I can make it, but do watch out for that. (And if you’d mailed me about this thing, would love to hear what exactly you’d like to know more about.)

Cheers!

First post from Bangalore. A.k.a Home. I’ve been here two...

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 22:36:39 +0530

First post from Bangalore. A.k.a Home. I’ve been here two weeks and haven’t posted anything coz I wanted to start with something positive. (And because it takes time to get a Net connection in India’s Silicon City.)

So, here’s something positive. If you don’t understand what those double exclamations (!!) are doing, ask your nearest C++ or Java code jock.

Full disclosure: this post is partly inspired by a nerd-friend of mine who rued that pretty girls don’t talk to nerds no more. I doubt if there are any pretty girls who read my blog, but well, we did agree to be positive, right?

End of semester at BITS Pilani. Here’s wishing all my...

Sun, 13 May 2007 09:31:28 +0530

End of semester at BITS Pilani. Here’s wishing all my classmates a great summer break.

Btw, this blog will be silent for a week or so, as I navigate my way back home, setup network connections etc.

Thanks for stopping by. Here’s to an exciting weekend!