The Geek Afterglow

Last year, I had a lot of fun doing this post about  Cooking tech  : the kind of vessels that it is safe to use in your kitchen. I have replaced a lot of my non-stick vessels with anodised aluminium, and some with cast iron. But now a new factor has entered the picture - induction cooking. In the last year, the market has been flooded with induction stoves, really cheap (some are available at price-offs for under Rs.2000). They are popular with consumers for a variety of reasons - a back up for when you run out of gas, a safe cooking method where naked flame is not allowed, and a light and portable gadget to carry on trips. However, induction stoves work only with compatible cookware - and when I bought an induction top, I realised that manufacturers are making a killing on this front. Non-stick pans with induction base are priced at least at a 30% premium over regular ones, and it's extremely hard to find anodised induction cookware. I imagine that most people will not want

One of the advantages of being a multi-billion dollar conglomerate, is that you can fashion a much longer rope to hang yourself. You can afford many more failed experiments, you can pour much more money down the drain of innovation and new product development, you can hare off in many directions. You do not have to actually bet on the one big thing that will define the future and then stake your future on that. Google's very philosophy of innovation involves investigating multiple and fascinating avenues including Google Fiber, Google TV, Glass and such bizarre things as wireless balloons that provide internet connectivity to remote rural areas. Some will work, some will never see the light of day, other projects may work patchily and be shut down after a short duration of operation Microsoft too has extended its innovation in many areas - including search engine tech (Bing), gaming and entertainment (XBox Live), hardware (Kin, Zune and more recently, the Surface) and Win