5 Reasons, No one will steal your idea

I have been worried about this thing that if I share my idea with some developer, he or she will copy that or may steal that and execute on their own. But after two years of struggle, I reached the conclusion, that no one can steal your idea. Here are some of the reasons:

1. Its not as close to their heart as it is to you: 

Recently, I went to start up weekend and my idea could not go to the next stage but 18 others did. I worked with another team over the weekend which stood second. I know, what the team lead wants to do, he is not even a technical guy but I am not going to steal his idea. In fact, I am not going to steal any of those ideas or rather I can not because those are not as close to my heart as those are to their creators/inventors. All of them are doing big thing and that's not my thing man, I won't do that.

2. Big companies think, you are stupid:

Big companies or investors think, every best thing comes from their stores and whatever you are doing is worthless. I heard Mark Zackerburg talking at world economic forum to the question, "If you had not done Facebook, what you may have been doing?" He said, "may be something similar" and he extended his reply by saying, the reason why he did Facebook but not Google or Yahoo or any big name despite their abundant resources and workforce was "we felt the need for such a network more than any body, it was more close to our hearts than someone else." The response was amazing.

3. No one will pursue it leaving what he or she is doing:

On events like startup weekend or similar competition, every one who attends is involved in something. They just won't leave their stuff and start messing up with your idea while no body knows it will fail or succeed.

4. You think, you have found what is next big thing but let me know, you have found an average problem: 

When I proposed my idea, I thought it is solving amazing problems and people will get to relax, save their time and blah blah. But the matter of fact is, you have thought an average idea which some one else is capable enough and with a high probability may be working on already. So get the word out of your mouth to the people to get feedback and know the worth of your thinking. Do not fear of getting idea stolen by some peer or someone.

5. Only similar ideas may get inspired: 

Well in true sense we can not call this stealing but this is the only scenario which comes to my mind when talking of idea stealing. For example, I have this idea of attendance system, which sends an email to parents cell phone on each marked attendance of a student. I checked online and found some solutions in market, so I did not pursue that for this reason. At first I thought I have found an amazing idea which have not been identified and solved but it was not like that. On this weekend, I found a project which was RF based student attendance system that is closely related to my idea. Hence, if I implement my concept in near future and someone says that I have copied their idea, it will be wrong but since things are related so they can say. This is the only scenario when people may adapt someone's idea but its very rare.

So go out there speak loudly and see if you can hear echo, if you can, you are amazing.

3 Reasons for falling Oil Prices

The falling oil prices are not just the function of demand and supply. In last six months oil prices had fallen upto 40% in global market. In Pakistan, we have seen reduction in oil prices by approximately 20%. Where on one hand, I think people should get as much relief as possible and on the other I wanted to know the reasons for falling oil prices. This search lead me to an amazingly simple article at The Economist(TE). What I learned is, there are three main reasons besides many different variables for price reduction:

1. The sluggish global economic situation, where consumption of oil is less than anticipated.

2. "America has become the world’s largest oil producer. Though it does not export crude oil, it now imports much less, creating a lot of spare supply" (TE).

3. "Finally, the Saudis and their Gulf allies have decided not to sacrifice their own market share to restore the price. They could curb production sharply, but the main benefits would go to countries they detest such as Iran and Russia. Saudi Arabia can tolerate lower oil prices quite easily. It has $900 billion in reserves. Its own oil costs very little (around $5-6 per barrel) to get out of the ground" (TE).

This means if Gulf states reduce their production/pumping to get prices on previous states, it won't benefit them but other producers like, Iran and Russia, while Saudi's production cost is the lowest in world, so they are still making huge profits even on reduced prices. Saudi Arabia had tried to reduce pumping oil in mid 1980s to take prices higher but instead lost its market share.

Bullying and Bullies

Bullies would never give a place to you which you deserve. Its their nature, its how they had grown up. They would not tolerate any shortcoming in anyone but here is the good news, they won't climb the success ladder too high. they can not, this is because how they are brought up. They won't give you a chance. If you are going to play a sport and want to learn they won't let you do that. If you are too heavy or lack muscular weight, they won't let you do gym. They will always laugh at you. I remember, one of my friends from BS program was under weight and too slim, he tried to go to gym for couple of times but people just won't let me do that. They would laugh and shout "it is not going to help you". How can he build body if you would not allow him to. Somehow, he went abroad for masters program and when he returned, his body was in marvelous shape. He was looking great and had put on some weight but all that happened only when he was not laughed at, he was not mocked by people.

One of great classical singer of subcontinent was Ustad Badey Ghulam Ali Khan, but to your surprise he was not singer from the very beginning, he used to play instruments with singers and once he invited all those singers to dinner but they refused telling that they could not attend an invitation of an instrument player who was belittle and incompetent and of less stature. This was when that he decided to sing and today world knows only him and none of his bullies. So, this is good lesson, just chill as bullies will be sucking their ugly, cunning minds at a stage in life when you will be on top in the same very area where they used to bully.

Amazing Research Practice, I learned at SNU

NETLAB: group photo

When I was working at NETLAB, Seoul National University, there were many things to motivate me. Professor, told me that lab had two sub-groups, and I may attend meeting with both initially to decide about the research area. I obeyed and that really helped me. Another interesting method was paper seminar by lab members. Every week two to three lab members would present some good paper from their area of interest and that was a great experience, this practice not only increased the confidence and presentation skills but also increased knowledge in the latest topics. It also generated discussions and I learned how to present and defend an idea. This also laid the foundations of writing papers and also how people think in science. This intrigued a whole thought process. I believe this single practice was amazing way of training among peers and fellow researchers.

In their Shoes

I searched for his email address but could not find. I wanted to apologize him and also thank him for, he was my master and I was his slave. But I could not find his contact details. He taught me a class in my undergraduate program and he was one of best teachers, I have ever met. In one of the exams, I scored full marks on all questions but one, which was scored a zero. I argued with him and thing ended in a rude way. I am sure he would never remember that or even he may not had felt anything at that point but I feel shameful till this day.

Recently, a student verbally misbehaved with a teacher at the university, I am currently teaching. When I heard of the event, I gave my verdict, "no matter what, the situation was, the student should not have done that". Yes, its easy for me to say as I am a faculty member but if I get into student's shoes, I could realize it's so immature age, people do non-sense things all the time, we may forgive where ever we can. 

Importance of Color in Advertising

You may read many articles about the importance of colors for brands and things like that. Today, I wish to discuss importance of brand color in advertising. Once a brand choose a color it uses that intensively in their advertisements. A telecommunication company has red color as representative and they used it in their ads showing a shop in red color, the actor's clothing was red and a red color car he drove. Next, was a bathing soap ad which has blue color packaging so they used this color depicting class rooms of a school, shown blue sky extensively and when they showed kids washing hands, the taps were also blue color. Another ad of cooking products whose brand color is red, showed carrots while showing vegetables and also tomatoes. Similarly, a telecom brand with yellow color, always have models wear yellow color clothes and use yellow color dominant backgrounds. The goal is to have a lasting effect on the mind of a viewer and believe me it works.

Unjust system creates Frustration

I was travelling to attend a summer research fellowship at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST). As soon as, I reached at immigration officer's desk, I started to hate myself and the society, I belong to. The behavior of officers was too casual, they were laughing and mocking people. In front of me was a guy from some rural area with simple clothes on, who was probably travelling abroad to find employment. First, the officer abused him, literally, he did and then in rude manner asked him to pose in the camera. He was treating him like an animal. It was my turn, when he considering me as young looking vulnerable prey asked the friend of him in a funny way that the visa looks fake and asked him for cross checking. His friend asked me, what was my occupation? I told him that I was a lecturer at a university. He said, let him go but the other officer was still of the view that I should be treated bad, ultimately bribing them but I think his friend was intelligent to know, I was a difficult person to deal with. Meanwhile, besides the counter , I was on, another poor rural guy was being treated badly. The officer said to him that your visa is fake. Later, I met that guy in departure lounge where I learned that they were teasing him to get their pockets filled. Another fellow on the same research program as I were in GIST, told him, how immigration officer abused him, while he was travelling to Korea. He was graduate engineer from the best university of Pakistan, yet humiliated and literally abused at the airport by a C class employee/clerk at the airport. What more shame, you need for a society like that.

I also, remember my first time travel to South Korea via Beijing back in 2010. I was allowed 20 Kg in luggage and 7 Kg as hand carry. I put my hand carry and luggage both on weighing machine and it weighed 25 Kg. The person dealing told me its 5 Kg above and I had to pay for that. I told him, I will take my hand carry with me and he can weigh, the rest of luggage. His response was unexpected for me, He told that I can not do that. I asked, why could not, as this is my choice and right to take hand carry with me. He said, no you can not do that and you need to pay for extra weight. I stayed and argued with him for about fifteen minutes. It was my first international travel and what kind of farewell, I was having. Do you still wonder why people would not return back to this country?