Ajay Juneja

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So I've only just begun to read "Naked Conversations" by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel and already the impact is setting in (yet I'm still getting through chapter 1!).

Authenticity counts. Actually its more than that -- authenticity is essential for any successful business. If you mislead your consumers, the press, or anyone in your chain about your product and its capabilities you're screwed. However, this goes both directions -- if you strive to do your best and create something wonderful -- and then not only do you let the product speak for itself, people around the world start raving about it and before you know it, you product becomes known and a success. Blogging is about that, and it's funny that I've had this blog for years now, and at first I was dabbling in the medium, and slowly the power of the stories hit me, but then just beginning the book, everything that I was acutely aware of with respect to blogging, authenticity, being accessible to your customers -- smacks me in the face as the most important thing you can do for your company.

Everyone has been burned by a product that didn't live up to expectations in the past. Everyone has seen premature press releases from companies claiming they are going to release the next great wonder product well in advance of something actually solidly working. Blogging, and most importantly, direct, honest, conversations with your customers at all levels, from the partners you interact with to the people who may buy the product is very important in producing good products.

And then to transition from a good to great product -- take the risk.

I just read this article in Stereophile and found out about this Berkeley startup called Magnatune that is functioning as an online, independent record label of sorts -- that sells DRM free, uncompressed music!

Applaud! Finally someone that gets it! This is what consumers want! Quality and freedom are two things desperately lacking in the online music business, and this is definately a great path to breaking down the barriers!

Now this, makes a music lover like me very very happy! Ok, back to grooving to some tunes... trying to figure out what to buy...

So I yanked out my old cassettes today, and they sound fabulous! I suppose a factor in this is having the right deck (Aiwa XK-S9000) and having it calibrated properly -- and it's just yet another reminder of why I can't stand lossy compressed digital music. Analog is great. Digital uncompressed or lossless can be very good too -- especially at high sampling rates and 24 bits of resolution (PCM) or DSD recordings.

It leads me to think the downloadable music revolution has caused us to step backwards in time. I for one, could never get myself to pay for compressed music. I want to hear the real thing -- I still buy CD's and records. Uncompressed or lossless compressed music without DRM nusiances, I would consider buying.

Over the summer, my roommate had an iPod which I connected to the stereo. I played the same song, on tape deck, and then on the iPod. The cassette creamed the iPod. I am not surprised at all -- it's hard to stick good op-amps and a high end DAC into an iPod. It would simply be too expensive.

I don't understand how today's kids seem to have not heard better than the fidelity of say, an iPod or say, their computer speakers. I know people like small things, but there is some major joy in hearing a true hi-fi system made up of components. You could assemble a better sounding system off of components on ebay for less money than the bose sound dock costs.

Consumers have been demanding high end video via HD video and DVD -- when is the demand for high quality audio that needs to go with that going to happen? If kids grow up not knowing that there is more fidelity available, then I fear the world will no longer have as high quality music as the past, and music is one of life's greatest joys -- so that will be a shame in my book.

The iPod is a portable device, meant for convenience. It is not the epitome of high quality audio. It is the epitome of high convenience. If they ever make a 100GB "Gold" iPod with 24 bit Burr-Brown DAC's, and a digital output, I'll start to change my mind... till then I am sticking to my tapes and cds and records for my good stuff!

Walk the Line, a movie about the early years of Johnny Cash, is one of the flat out most awesome, amazing movies that I have seen in years. Why?

It's not shy. It tells the hardship, the mania, the obsessiveness, that leads Johnny through some very rough times, and it takes resiliance, grit, and a little love to overcome it all.

Some say greatness takes obsession and mania. I think there is some truth to that. In order to overcome all odds, and see that your dreams come true, you must have the resiliance and determination to see through all the hell that you either put yourself into, or others try to drag you into. When you do, and can finally be true to yourself, is when the greatness starts to happen.

Johnny Cash, in my mind, has one of the all time greatest voices. I found his story very moving - this movie struck a personal chord, as I've seen both myself and some of my dearest friends bounce back from some very difficult situations, and all of us became stronger, better, and more compassionate people as a result.

Compassion & Resiliance is the new greatness. That's what will change the world.

At my last job as editor of a tuner magazine I used to deal with a lot of car clubs from all over the country. During the daily grind of running Autoblog I don’t get the opportunity to pow-pow with these guys and girls much anymore, but a recent email from a group out in California that goes by the name of Team Transport reminded me why I have so much respect for car clubs and their members.

On December 11th Team Transport will be hosting its 2nd Annual Toys for Tots Car Show in City of Industry, CA. Registration is only $15 per car before Nov. 15th and one new unwrapped toy valued at over $10. (Full info here)

So Mike Arrington and several others today blogged about the Windows Live announcement yesterday. Way back in 1997, there was something called Internet Explorer 4 that was just being finished, with a little feature called Active Desktop, that was, slightly ahead of its time. Most people didn't have the bandwidth to adopt it then, I personally quite liked it, and it goes down in my book as one of the most innovative things ever to come out of Microsoft.

Unfortunately, it was not a market success, despite the fact that some of the smartest people I know (Hadi Partovi, Mark Hammond, several others) were working on it. I see Windows Live, heck even RSS to a degree, is almost like a new implementation of the vision that old IE4 team had back in 1997. Talk about ahead of its time. Who says Microsoft doesn't innovate? They started as a platform and programming tools company, and always have shined in that arena.

Windows Live says something very politely: We're still a platform company. And, we're going to make a damn good one!

I am personally quite pleased to see that Microsoft found its mojo again!
I'd love to hear everyone's opinion on Windows Live as an extension to the old Active Desktop dream!