I just tried signing into my Flickr account and it kept giving me ‘wrong id/password’ message, making my heart skip a beat each time. But after five minutes, I was able to sign into My Yahoo! and now another 10 minutes later, into Flickr.com.

Did they just have a hiccup?

As per Business Standard George Soros has picked up a 3% stake in Reliance Entertainment for $100 million effectively valuing the company for $3 billion. ContentSutra got a confirmation of the same from Rajesh Sawhney, President of the Rs. 400 crore investment.

Zapak, Big Adda, Big Flicks, Jump Games and the whole BIG thing (Movies & Music) are owned by the company, which may be heading towards an IPO soon. This is definitely big news for the Indian industry and the value this market holds for the next little while.

I have had which I had only heard about. A really ‘meh’ day, or to be more eloquent - a ‘blah’ day! I guess I am just going to chill out in front of the one-way-meant-for-boobs tube and read some of the latest on ContentSutra and UX Magazine.

Erick Schonfeld over at Techcrunch.com details the Venture Capital funding for 2007 based on a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and National Venture Capital Association. It’s been the craziest year since 2001. Ok, so it may not be a bubble as far as this report goes, but I find myself wondering about its existence in India. Lot of hype, lot of trades, not many revenue models - that’s a bubble right? Some interesting facts:

• $4.6 billion in internet deals -> + 12% y-o-y
• $5.27 billion in software - biggest sector
• $7.2 billion or 1267 deals - first time financings
• $6.3 billion or 1410 early stage deals -> + 11% y-o-y
• $12.2 billion or 1168 later stage deals -> + 41% vs. 37% in previous year
• Study represents 480 venture capital and private equity funds
• $2.2 billion in clean tech - fastest growing sector

Hello You,
You know who you are - the angry young, old man and woman. You, who’s always in a rush to get into the airport, to breathe down my neck till I move aside and let you go. You, who throws your luggage onto the security scanner and runs around and look into the darkness of the machine as if you were searching for your mate in the abyss of life. Please tell me why do you need to stand next to me when I am checking in, with your tickets pulled out and yelling on your phone as if your life depended on it. Is there an ‘An Amazing Race’ episode being filmed that I am not aware of?

Why do you never smile? Why are you never thankful or regretful? Why do you deserve to get everything before everyone else and without any gratitude for the hostess? Are you the reason that Indian Airlines has given up on hospitality? Are you the reason Jet Airways charges more for making sure their people are paid well enough to pretend to care?

Do you ever take the time out to enjoy your travels? The plane will take-off when it’s meant to and will land when it should (for the most part). If you get your bags ready and cell phones humming your latest gratuitous downloads, do you believe we will get to disembark any quicker? Maybe all of us will get out of your way cause you seem to believe you are more important than us mere mortals. Maybe if you push a little bit more we will retreat to our Gandhian roots and selflessly retreat to our seats. Maybe your luggage will get it’s own conveyor belt and we will cheer you on your way to a record-breaking exit.

I know that I will applaud the departure of this depraved indifference to your co-passengers and people in general. I like to believe that we all want friendlier flights.

Hey you, o roamer of the Indian skies, please chill the fuck out.