Author Archives: Rakesh Agrawal

Unknown's avatar

About Rakesh Agrawal

Rakesh Agrawal is a 0-1 product leader. Ex-Amazon, Ex-Microsoft, as well as a number of startups. He tweets at @rakeshsfnyc

Googling all the news that’s fit to correct

Posted on August 29, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

The New York Times public editor writes this week about an increasing problem: incorrect information from the Times that lives forever in search engines. The Times has started surfacing its archived content in a way that search engines can crawl. … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers, research, search | 1 Comment

Mooving beyond the boring business card

Posted on August 28, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

After leaving AOL, I decided to get some personal cards printed. Instead of going the conventional route, I went with Moo. It’s a great little company out of the UK that lets you print cards with full-color pictures on the … Continue reading →

Posted in flickr, fun, photography | 1 Comment

How satisified are you with…?

Posted on August 28, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I find that increasingly companies are asking me to answer surveys after speaking to their call center agents. Whether it’s a credit card company, insurance company or travel provider, they want to know how satisfied I am. Many times, I … Continue reading →

Posted in customer service | Comments Off on How satisified are you with…?

Cutting the cord on the home phone

Posted on August 27, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

The Times reports today that the percentage of homes with cell phones and no landline now exceeds the percentage of homes that have a landline and no cell phones. It’s been about four years since I paid a landline phone … Continue reading →

Posted in statistics, wireless | 2 Comments

Let Google Maps do the walking

Posted on August 27, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Matt Cutts points out a great mashup for apartment hunters: Walk Score. One of the most important criteria I have when looking for a place to live is whether I can walk to (or stumble back from) places. Walk Score … Continue reading →

Posted in city guides, google, local search, maps, mashups | 2 Comments

The strategy of the Feud

Posted on August 26, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

One of my guilty pleasures is watching the Family Feud. Those who know the show can skip the rest of this paragraph. The Family Feud is an American TV show that pits two families (in teams of five) against each … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, random | Comments Off on The strategy of the Feud

NY Times launches My Times

Posted on August 24, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

The New York Times has opened its My Times customized home page to the public. (via Techcrunch) Anyone who has used My Yahoo!, Pageflakes, Netvibes or iGoogle will find the look and feel very familiar. The default modules include Journalist’s … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers, rss, web 2, web 2.0 | Comments Off on NY Times launches My Times

iPhone as your social network

Posted on August 23, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I had a chance earlier this week to try the new Facebook application for iPhone. The app, developed by Joe Hewitt, is a version of Facebook optimized for the iPhone. Many of the core features of Facebook are available on … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, facebook, iphone, social networking, wireless, wireless data | 4 Comments

Brazen highway robbery in Nebraska

Posted on August 22, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

You see a sign advertising gas at $3.09 a gallon. You pull in and fill up. After filling up, you realize that you were charged $3.59 a gallon for the same grade of gas. Bait and switch? Sounds like it. … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, fun, random | 1 Comment

Google introduces embeddable maps for your Web site

Posted on August 21, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

In the latest incarnation of widgets that let users slice-and-dice content, Google Maps is now allowing users to embed maps on Web sites. Several of Google’s other properties allow users to embed content, including YouTube’s embeddable videos and Picasa’s slideshows. … Continue reading →

Posted in google, maps, mashups, web 2, web 2.0 | 2 Comments