Five strangely named websites that made it big

Finding a great domain name doesn't necessarily translate to a popular website; quite often, strangely named websites have struck gold. Here's a list of 5 such companies

1. Google
It doesn't get any stranger - or bigger - than this. This Mountain View-based search giant's name is seemingly based on the word 'googol' which, btw, has as little to do with search as google does. But who cares? It's the world's most popular search engine.
2. Yahoo!
Once again, what has the name 'Yahoo!' got to do with any of its services (or anything at all)? Nothing.
3. Youtube
Probably one of the world's most popular websites, this video-sharing site. Another strange name, but who cares? (I repeat myself, but that's the whole point behind this post: the name doesn't matter!)
4. Digg
Although Digg is often used as both a noun and a verb on digg.com, the word itself has no inherent meaning nor does it serve any purpose, as such.
5. Flickr
Okay, arguably flickr does mean something (i.e. Flicker) but it's totally unrelated to the site. And that's the list. 5 weird names. Extremely successful, despite the names.

The success is ofcourse due to something: innovation. All these sites brought something new to the table and established themselves, their brands and got away with some strange names. But then, that's life.

The list of such companies/sites is endless. Reditt, Odeo, Kanoodle, Zoomr, etc.

I'm sitting in my car when I see a magazine salesman coming up to the window, trying to sell me a copy of "Good Housekeeping". Another of their lot was trying to sell a copy of "Maxim" to my mother.
We didn't buy either. There was nothing wrong with the products; both are excellent, world-class products (I can certainly vouch for Maxim ;) though I'm not too sure about Good Housekeeping).
This is what happens when you've got a great product but you don't identify a target audience: no sales. Period. Marketing your product is thus as important as having a great product. Maybe even more important.
Contrary to popular belief, Marketing is not just about making awesome ads. The first step is to find a target audience and then create a campaign that will convince it. Just having a great campaign probably won't result in a sale either (unless the customer is an idiot).
You can't sell a garage-lock to a guy that doesn't have a garage, even if you've convinced him that you have the finest garage-lock in the market.
Take a look at some successful products around you. Most of them have done well because the marketers identified a target audience and worked to sell it to that very audience by developing a great sales pitch.
This applies as much in the online world as it does offline. Websites (blogs included) have to identify a target audience and sell themselves to it. Of course, this stage comes only after you have something worth selling (please note that I am not using the word sell literally). For a website that something is either great/unique/quality content or a great services.
The reason that most blogs (mine included) aren't too popular is because:-
1. they don't have anything unique (most are personal blogs)
2. they don't have great content in addition to being non-unique
3. they don't have a target audience
Who are you writing for? Why should people read your blog/website? Will it make any conceivable difference to them if they didn't read it?
The answers to these questions most often are: dunno, dunno and no (these are also my own answers). And the result is obvious.

P.S. I have no idea why I wrote this. It's a strange post, admittedly, but quite relevant to most bloggers. And I'm not writing this to discourage anyone from blogging. And yes, I have written a rather meandering post where I've been moving back and fort between marketing, target audiences and great products.

What's with the world?

250 applicants, out of the total 5000 (approx.), were accepted and admitted to the nursery school of DPS. The acceptance rate is about 5%.

5 %.

Wait. Do you know what Harvard's acceptance rate for undergraduate students is?
Ans: 9%

Conclusion: It's harder to get into the Nursery School of DPS than Harvard.
Ridiculous.

Cheers,
Dhruv

Nokia's Aeon

Okay. I know this is just a concept phone, but nonetheless it is beyond doubt one of the coolest phones that I have ever seen in my life. Orgasmic is the right word to describe this phone.

If this phone is ever made, I'm going to drop my K790i like a hot potato and buy this, even if it doesn't have any features (Heck, I'd buy it even if it didn't make phone calls).

And this is an image from the official Nokia site. Skeptics, click here.

Samsung

So I was unpacking the so-called Samsung Hero. A phone that costs a mere 3500 bucks (I got it for free btw). I was pleasantly surprised.
The build quality of the phone is superb. The keys are big and have a good feel. Tactile. Easy-to-use. The quality of the plastics used in the phone is phenomenal. It has a nice velvety feel to it. I'm mighty impressed with Samsung. I had expected a cheap, low-quality Korean product but was surprised to find a value-for-money, high quality product from Samsung.
I am, btw, a stout Nokia supporter when it comes to phones for alot of reasons but after using this phone, I'd say I'm pretty open to buying a Samsung phone, in particular one of those slim Ultra edition phones.
Sony-Ericsson is a strict no for me, due to reasons, namely:-
1. It's a Sony
2. I don't like the memory sticks. Proprietary shit.
However, they're walkman phones are pretty good. The quality is great and they have some neat features. However, the lack of a real OS is at times annoying.
Motorola? Awesome looking phones but an equally horrible User Interface. The standard UI used for the RAZR, KRZR, SLVR, etc. look like they've been ripped off a 5 year old colour phone. It's absolutely shocking that a company can get away with something so disgusting.
That's why Nokia is the best. Great build quality. Symbian kicks ass. Feature packed phones. Legendary ease-of-use and user interface. However, they don't do to well in the looks department.
Samsung looks to be almost as good as Nokia and with the kind of money they're pouring into R&D, they'll probably trounce SonyEricsson and Motorola in the near future.

An update was due, and here it is.

As everyone knows, Exun took place on the 11th and 12th November, 2006. Went well. It was also my last Exun. Ironically, the end-of-school and similar such sadness shit hasn't sunk in yet.
The Exun sweat shirts, I feel, will take a while coming but it will be done if all the juniors are "helpful" ;)
During my absence, the PS3, the Nintendo Wii and the Zune have been launched. Here's my take on them:-
Sony PlayStation 3
A Waste of money. Spend it on the Wii instead if you want to play good, fun games.
However, there are certain good things about the PS3. If you want a powerful machine with an awesome processor (read: the Cell) then go for the PS3. The PS3 will let you install PPC based Operating Systems. Yellow Dog Linux and Fedora Core 5 have been successfully installed on it. It also comes with a BluRay drive. All for 600 dollars. A pretty good deal if you think of it as a Linux desktop, though I don't see what you'd do with one.
Bottomline: Sony looses big bucks on every PS3 they sell. So go buy it, if you want Sony dead!
Nintendo Wii
It was codenamed "Revolution" and, if you ask me, it has done just that: revolutionized the gaming console industry. While the X-Box 360 and the PS3 pushed for more number-crunching power and High-Def graphics, Nintendo has stuck to the basics: better gameplay. The revolutionary controller, the Wii-mote, is one of the most endearing features of the Wii. The price, $250, is also welcoming and is unlikely to burn a hole in your pocket.
Zune
The Zune hath arrived. And it's darned good. Put aside Apply fanboyism for the moment, see some pics, read some reviews and check it out. It really is good. The Zune might not, and probably WILL NOT, hurt the iPod much right now, but I suspect the second iteration of the Zune will give Apple's iPod a good run for its money.
Oh, and if you thought the iPod had a good looking user-interface, then check out the Zune's UI. You'll probably drool over it.
Microsoft doesn't suck that much, now, does it?
More later.

Firefox 2.0

Firefox 2.0 is really good. I've been fiddling around with it, and I've concluded that it's a worthy successor. The User Interface also looks marginally better. However, my favourite new feature is spell check. Its quite useful when you're writing blog entries and emails.

Those arrogant IIT aspirants in our class were damn wrong. They dont know shit.
Let me explain: Fermat's principle does not explain refraction. Read wikipedia's entry on Fermat's principle and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Undoubtedly, Fermat's principle proposes a result which is true, but bear in mind that it is a result, and not an explanation. I pointed this out to Tuteja and company but, as always, my words fell on deaf (and extremely arrogant) ears.
Anyway, presently I'm inundated with work. I have no time at all for anything. So see ya around.

Reverse Image Search

I like Google Image Search and in addition I'd like something like a Reverse Image Search. Let me explain:-
You copy an image into the engine.
The search tells you stuff about it.
Simple as that.
I have a lot of images lying around whose source I'd like to trace - and know more about. Wouldn't it be cool if I just copied an picture of say, a park in Delhi into this Revearse Image Search and it would tell me that the park is Shri Malwari Lal Park and the pic was taken by Mr. Harnam Singh?
Yanyway, more later.