Indian Westerlies

A couple of months ago, I installed an app named ' wish ' on my phone. While all other e-commerce firms strive to deliver at the earliest, Wish didn't seem to be in a hurry. Most of the products listed seemed ridiculously cheap, originated from China, and showed delivery timeline of around 30 to 45 days. And there was no cash-on-delivery option, just upfront payment. I would have dismissed the site as hoax and deleted the app, but for the buzz it has already created. Items on the site are unbranded and usually cost less than 1000 rupees; and I could sense that their backend AI is pretty good given that it zeroed-in correctly on my interests within a few sessions. I seldom see useless recommendations, and given its Pinterest type clean layout,  the app is a joy to browse. No wonder millions are hooked.  I ordered some stuff, and all of them landed up between 30 to 45 days, except one which came in two weeks. No complaints there. The quality was better than what I expecte...

I had blogged three years ago about the Bitcoin and the associated blockchain technology and how it might be used to create an international currency  in place of the existing SDRs of IMF.  A lot of icecaps have melted since that post and I thought of revisiting the topic of Bitcoin, chiefly relating to the interesting tail of the Bitcoin; the blockchain, and the potential applications that the world has since discovered.  For starters, Bitcoin is a digital cryptocurrency, stored and exchanged electronically to buy/sell whatever can be dealt online. More about Bitcoin  here .  The Bitcoin runs on a public ledger called a blockchain. The blockchain is the interesting part that has applications beyond running a digital currency. The blockchain per se is a dry piece of code that grows with every transaction of the underlying asset (e.g. a Bitcoin). The beauty of the blockchain lies in its ability to generate trust of authenticity of the underlying asset, wi...