“Beijing's only principle is power, and its only legitimacy for that power is economic growth. That's the implicit social contract it's struck with its people: you'll get rich, but you won't get rights.”

Said : Matt O'Brien, in his blog in The Washington Post of August 12, 2015. 

According to Matt, China's slowing economy has caused an exodus of $800 billion out of the country in 2014 alone. "This has made the yuan "want" to weaken," he writes, adding that the decline in the yuan was arrested by the government as it could easily afford to "spend some of its $4 trillion in reserves to keep it from falling."

Matt feels that China has been manipulating the yuan down for decades. But now, when the slow down in the economy has made the yuan "want" to weaken, Beijing wants a managed decline in the currency. A drop of 10 percent is not ruled out in small installments. The government is preventing the yuan from falling too far too fast. "China wants a weaker yuan, but on its terms," added Matt. He quoted Bloomberg economist Tom Orlik's observation in a note : "Our calculations suggest a 10% depreciation of the yuan would boost export growth 10 percentage points, but risk more than $400 billion in capital flight."

"In the technology industry, where revolutionary ideas drive the next big growth areas, you need to be a bit uncomfortable to stay relevant."

Larry Page

Said : Larry Page, Co-founder of Google Inc., while announcing massive restructuring of the company in his blog on Monday, August 10, 2015, 'G is for Google.' 

Larry stated his blog with : "As Sergey and I wrote in the original founders letter 11 years ago, “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” As part of that, we also said that you could expect us to make “smaller bets in areas that might seem very speculative or even strange when compared to our current businesses.”  "From the start, we’ve always strived to do more, and to do important and meaningful things with the resources we have."

Larry and Sergey have shifted to Alphabet Inc. from where they plan to monitor all their group companies. As per the new operating system of the Alphabet Inc. which is a collection of companies, Larry wants to have a strong CEO for each business. Sundar Pichai will be the new CEO of Google whereas Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will shift to Alphabet. All Google shares will now be traded as shares of Alphabet. As CEO and President of Alphabet, Page and Brin will oversee Google and affiliated companies that include Calico (life-extension project) and Wing (a drone delivery venture, part of X lab). Alphabet will also direct Google's Capital and Ventures.

Praising Pichai, he wrote : "Sundar has been saying the things I would have said (and sometimes better!) for quite some time now, and I’ve been tremendously enjoying our work together. He has really stepped up since October of last year, when he took on product and engineering responsibility for our Internet businesses."

"Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet. Our two classes of shares will continue to trade on Nasdaq as GOOGL and GOOG," he added.

Good Luck to Larry and Sergey for this bold initiative taken at this stage of their career. Wish a huge Calico success to you both and to your Alphabet. 

"This is not Narendra Modi's government"

(Source : wikipedia)

Said : 77-year-old Rahul Bajaj, top industrialist and Rajya Sabha member, who also happens to be an admirer of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview with NDTV. 

"Recalling BJP's historic election victory, he compared Modi with an emperor who was crowned as India's Prime Minister on 27th of May 2014," reported NDTV. 

Bajaj further opined that the Modi government was losing the sheen it came with in power. He added that he is saying "what everybody is saying". "This is not Narendra Modi's government," NDTV quoted him saying.

Bajaj expressed his reservations about the government's new black money bill that offers a three-month window, or compliance period, to declare undisclosed foreign assets. 

According to him, the business community feels that the harassment by tax officials will continue even after the declaration and future prosecutions can't be ruled out despite government's promise that there will be no harassment by ITO and Enforcement Directorate.

Top industrialist and Rajya Sabha member Rahul Bajaj had strong words for the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, saying it was losing the sheen it came with after the historic win in the Lok Sabha polls last year. Watch him on NDTV show below.

"$1000 Apple Gift Voucher, if you bought an Apple Computer before 1st Jan. 1990"

Said : GD Jasuja, Editor of F4Fnews, in his blog quoting key Apple watchers camped in Cupertino.   

There are hundreds of websites in the United States that process, manufacture, distribute and even recycle rumours exclusively related to Apple products, services and company's workplace. Some of them, somehow, have managed to win the trust of hundreds of thousands of die-hard Apple fans who have been twitterified as #Mad4Apple.

F4Fnews, which segregates 'fake news for fun' from the serious rumours, has reported a serious rumour that is nearly impossible to dismiss as 'rumour,' considering the logic behind it and also the track record of the world's most valued technology company.

If F4Fnews is to be believed, an historical offer from Apple is on its way for the company's oldest customers. Apple is giving away $1000 gift vouchers to all its customers prior to 1st January 1990. Of course, the offer is not without any rider. "The customers, located in any part of the world, will have to ship their old Apple computer back to the company HQ in Cupertino, USA." "Shipping charges will be paid by Apple, is another good news," says the F4Fnews post. 

“Even if this is a rumour, I think it’s a good idea for Tim Cook to implement this scheme as a reward to Apple’s 25 years old customers. Customers may not be the share-holders in the company but they certainly are the stake holders. And what a better way can be to reward such stake holders who posed trust in your product by investing their valuable resources 25 years back.” GD Jasuja   

Our sources, permanently camping near Apple HQ, inform us that they have verified this 'rumored offer' with the owner of the printing press who confirmed an order received by him for printing 100,000 gift vouchers of $1000 each. This indicates that Apple has allocated $100 million for their customers who bought company's computer 25 years ago. Apple's decision not to print the gift vouchers in China is too obvious. F4Fnews says: "This Apple related rumour can safely be elevated to the 'news' category because it is 99.99 percent true without any doubt. "The 0.01 percent is indicated in case the company cancels the offer before its announcement itself." 

F4Fnews, through its sub-contracted sources, has also given a likely list of Apple computers that would qualify for the $1000 gift. The offer could be limited to 100,000 customers on first come first basis or it might have some cut-off date (March 31, 2016, rumored).

Undoubtedly, this appears to be a rumour. But there has never been a good time for Apple to implement such a brilliant idea to give this sort of return-gift to those who became customers during company’s formative years. If Steve Jobs was the commander-in-chief, it would have been unthinkable but Tim Cook is quite a generous CEO. We can expect him to make this possible.” GD Jasuja

Tim Cook is expected to make the announcement of $1000 Gift offer on the eve of their customary September event, held every year to launch new products. This is going to be Apple's greatest announcement honoring their forgotten customers who contributed to the company's success by buying Apple computers when the company was still a child. The child has now grown up as the world's most valued and effluent adult who knows that the payback time has arrived.

Keep your old Apple computer ready for free shipping in exchange of $1000 gift voucher....

Thank you, Apple, for your generous offer. Finally you found some smart way to spend your some cash meaningfully.

Note : Writer of this piece wishes to clarify that he has two apple computers that would qualify for the above offer, hence stands to gain if the offer is really made. One Macintosh Plus and another Macintosh SE bought in 1987 & 1988 respectively. But this piece has been written without keeping in mind self interest of any kind. Readers are advised NOT to rush to buy used Apple computers in the hope of profiting from the offer which may or may not be announced. Not responsible for any speculative trading in old Apple computers in any way due to this piece of writing. Verify facts at the nearest Apple store before taking any action or making any decision.

"Making 'Digital India' is like changing all four tyres of a moving car that is fast running out of fuel."

Said : Aashish Chandorkar, a Management Consultant based in Pune and working in Mumbai, in his article published in the Swarajya Magazine.

According to Chandorkar, the undue delay to start the work on laying the fiber-optic cables by Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), a special purpose vehicle created by UPA-2 in the year 2011, has led to the current situation which the job very difficult for the present government. The UPA II had the target to cover 2,50,000 villages, spread across 631 districts, with broadband connectivity by 2013 under its National Optic Fiber Network (NOFN) initiative.

Quoting official data, Chandorkar writes "BBNL website demonstrates the sloppy pace of work between 2011 and 2015 with just over 1% of the connectivity targets achieved thus far after a time overrun of 2 years."

"Under Digital India, the government has now set the target of laying the fiber-optic cables for BharatNet – the new avatar of NOFN which involves improved technology, multiple access modes other than fiber and improved quality of fiber – by March 2017. The work involves laying almost 600,000 kms of cables in just about 21 months or an average of 950 kms of cables every day starting immediately. This is what has been achieved in the past four years in total!" 

'Digital India' is yet another dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The program was launched recently at an event attended by government officials as well as industry leaders. The programme aims to make all citizens digitally literate and bring internet and e-governance to all sections of the society. 

Here is a tweet in praise for Aashish Chandorkar's article. 

Great piece by @c_aashish on weak foundation (tks to UPA legacy) on which Govt has premised its #digitalindia plans http://t.co/UnOsIe0pIM

— Prasanna Viswanathan (@prasannavishy) August 3, 2015

My response to the above tweet : 

I wish the article was written without involving any politics in it so as to provide the correct picture of the mission and it's challenges. By holding responsible and blaming the (dead) UPA II for the delay in implementing what was targeted under (NOFN) initiative, thereby not getting the digital foundation right for the current government is of no use at all.

Comparing implementation of the Digital India programme with changing all four tyres of a moving car is highly absurd. The punchline ("changing all four tyres of a moving car....") mocks the importance of sincerity and, in its own way, the author's own statement.

BTW, here is a video showing you how a person can change tyres on a moving car! 

Good Luck to you and PM Modi for the work ahead.

"We routinely confuse celebrity for authority." - NY Times

— Patrick Meier (@PatrickMeier) August 2, 2015

"When Donald Trump entered the race on June 16, skeptics thought he would struggle to make the debate stage at all. Instead, he will be its focal point, not only because of his braggadocio but because he is leading in many national polls."

Niall Stanage

Said : Niall Stanage, Associate Editor at The Hill, in his post analysing the rules of the first Republican presidential debate to be held on August 6 in Cleveland on Fox News cable network. 10 of the 17 candidates will be selected for the main 9 p.m. debate. The positioning of the candidates on the stage is supposed to be one of the favourable factors because contenders at the center generally benefit at the expense of those confined to its edges.

Veteran Republican strategist Charlie Black, who served as senior political adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign was quoted as saying : “If [Trump] or anybody else violates the rules, it will hurt them. I’ve been focus-grouping these things for many years and people don’t like it when you keep breaking the rules." 

According to Charlie, Donald Trump has been going over the time limit.