Sometime back I had blogged about Posterous as a really good blogging platform, recently I took a look at Tumblr which has been around quite some time and found it to be pretty awesome! After taking a look at the themes, this platform is something different. A personal blogger can install some really pretty theme, I really don't see why most people go for a Blogger or Wordpress unless if they don't know about other options.
Interesting video by Chris Brogan on how relationships are built on social media. These lead to Serendipity the x-factor that makes business (even personal) deals click!
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There is a lull in my blog posting, tweeting, playing Mafia Wars and other online activies owing to my brothers marriage. Yesterday was the mehendi function and the house is abuzz with relatives who live nearby in Mumbai, those that stay across the oceans in Bahrain and some from Bangalore and Kolkata.
Will put up some snaps soon, I am currently editing, deleting blurred photos and sorting them. So far its been a really colorful function filled with games, food delicacies, religious ceremonies, some emotions roiling around, missing dead ones and general masti!
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The Twitter retweet feature is now available for all the users. Initially the feature was a surprise and many users objected to it for one main reason:
It was an automatic retweet. It did not allow people to pen down their sentiments alongwith with the RT.
This new feature sends the original tweet to all your followers. It will be a tweet from the author him/herself. Not from you, the retweeter. This also causes some confusion and mayhem, when I all of a sudden have to see a new face or read a totally new twitter user in my twitter stream.
Twitter cofounder, @ev released a blogpost about this new feature which is a pretty good read!
Why Retweet works the way it does
I agree with him, cause I myself have come across some of the problems of the organic retweet. Someone RT'ed a tweet of mine that I had never really sent. So definitely an 'official' feature cannot have such a loophole! Moreover often after many successive RT's the original author's name gets knocked off due to character limit! This can also be prevented with the new retweet feature.
On the other hand......
Organic RT's where people forward cool tweets to their followers by putting an RT in front of the tweet have actually become quite an integral part of twitter communication. Almost inevitably there are long RT'ed chain tweets floating along. Moreover its very easy to send out a funny quip or sentiment related to an RT.
Definitely organic tweeting will continue to be used, simply cause its what the people wanted and what they have devised on their own for effective communication! Since it was useful for all it has become so integral.
This also brings forth one more example of the User Generated effect in social media. Many companies are trying to create a business model from it, but these examples where people make stuff happen with social media cause they want that, are very interesting indeed.
I wonder how Twitter clients like Twhirl, Tweetdeck etc.. will integrate the new RT feature. Hopefully both the RT features will be available to the user, cause each has its own purpose.
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Today I came across this new and interesting gaming stuff thats happening quite a lot it seems. Its called Alternate Reality Gaming, which is like a real life role-playing game. Let me quote an article from ARGnet about a LEGO ARG,
Two weeks ago a set of mysterious signals from deep space led to a startling discovery. On November 7th a group of Scientific Researchers from the Bradford Rant Institute of Cosmic Kinesis (B.R.I.C.K.) were the first to intercept and decode the signals, which contained detailed coordinates. Following the coordinates, the researchers soon found themselves within Legoland:BillundThis alternate reality game was played, to create hype and publicity for an upcoming release of a LEGO online multiplayer game!
On similar lines when a guy in New Hampshire wanted to propose to his girlfriend he staged a day long ARG!!
This is so cool! I remember as kids when the boys (girls didn't play that kind of stuff) used to play commando and they were making forts and running around with fake pistols. Those games were a whole lot of fun!For Kiaya Steele, the men in suits and dark glasses who appeared suddenly through the raindrops of a New Hampshire morning were the first sign that something very unusual was going on.
One of the men stood under an umbrella next to the car Steele and her friend Kellin had been riding in moments earlier and delivered a message. As Kelli's sister Jenna was brought out of a second car that had pulled up mysteriously behind them, Steele was told that if she couldn't quickly prove that she was "the real Kiaya," the bomb planted inside Jenna would explode.
And this was just the tip of the iceberg of a day spent driving all around the countryside, complete with vans, staple guns, cameramen in trees, threats, red phone booths, and a series of hidden clues. Read More.
I did not know people were actually pursuing this as a media/entertainment industry of sorts! Reading the various articles about it I find it quite an exciting idea!
Infact Improv Everywhere that I blogged about earlier has this 'alternate reality' feel to it! Killer stuff!
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Recently came across an interesting article about how Internet is badly affecting people's concentration and ability to focus. People are getting used to small snippets of information like tweets, status updates. Instant communications like email, IM chats are simply distracting people for long patches of time. They are not able to read long articles, reports.
I actually don't agree with this, cause in any job, if not the internet distractions then there are other distractions. When there was no computer were there no distractions? Didn't people come and talk to each other? If they did it could be coined as 'distraction', if they didn't it would be isolation. Isn't it?
In a really busy office, I am sure the people were interrupted a LOT with new memos, work, files, personal chats, secretary stuff etc.. Its the same , if a person is busy on the internet they are interrupted a lot by emails, chats, tweets etc... If they are not that well connected then they will not be!
I remember before when I was not into social media, I barely got any emails, tweets, orkut notificatons. Was this less distracting? No. It was because I had nothing going on, in the net world!
When I have made many connections, have work assignments and have connected with a lot of friends etc.. on the net, I do get loads of email and tweets and facebook notifications. I am glad for these, cause they bring me work or a greeting from someone or foster my friendships.
Yes some amount of it is distracting but that needs to managed as other offline distractions are managed.
An interesting video I saw on TED about social networks being used in offices. How it fosters the basic intimacy between loved ones,
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Yahoo has been putting up many billboard ads in prime locations in Mumbai. Is it an attempt at stemming the tide of people opting for Google's Gmail?
India is a rich market to proliferate internet usage due to following reasons
- English speaking population
- leading mobile phone usage
Web access via mobiles is already picking up. Indians large numbers of whom already have mobile phone access, will jump to internet usage via mobiles. Is this ad campaign a start of some big Yahoo campaign to increase its market share in India?
Or is it launching some new service?
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Google recently released some information about its system Chrome to be released in 2010. They have released an interesting video about this OS,
Check out the Google Chrome OS Youtube channel
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Social media is all the rage. The usual computer user now has a way to make his voice heard. Even if the companies don't listen, other usual computer users do! The usual computer user watches MOVIES!
Consequently, when a new movie is a total hit with the first few to watch it, they let their social networks know about it. Reviews spread virally, and usually for aniticipated movies the reviews trend on Twitter. If the movie bombs then the news spreads virally and the ratings fall at a much faster rate than before. 'Before' was when social media was not all a rage.
Twitter also boosts the anticipation levels for an awaited flick. New Moon has been trending from last couple of days. An Indian, I thought maybe it was a more auspicious or inauspicious new moon day than usual. However soon I realised this was about the new upcoming movie New Moon!
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I had blogged earlier about the TED conference which was happening in India for the first time. The venue was the Infosys campus in Mysore. Quite a few people that I knew had gone for the conference. I also read tweets from participants, really exciting affair!
I got a few of the participants to give me a small idea about their TED India experience. These are also the first interviews I have taken for this blog!
So here is introducing Kiruba! I thought he was a blogger and a twitterer with an astonishing 45,000 + followers, but he is also the CEO of a social media consultancy, director of a web development firm and cofounder of a knowledge sharing non-profit! Read more...
Q: Your experience at TED India was...
TEDindia ranks amongst the best conferences I've attended. The reason why I liked it is not just because of the fabulous speakers but also the quality of the participants. The off-conference discussions were very stimulating and great connections made. Almost every person there were very passionate about what they were doing.Q: Your favourite speaker at this event? And why?
The speaker I liked best was Devdutt Patnaik, the chief Belief Officer. He beautifully made the connection between mythology and corporate excellence.Q: Any tips for next time TED goers (me for one) to make the best of the event?
Tips: head to the venue atleast two days in advance. Its brilliant meeting people and getting to know them.Thanks Kiruba!
Introducing Parag Parikh! He is the founder of a highly reputed financial services, PPFAS located in Mumbai. He has also authored couple of books on value investing and finance.
Q: Your experience at TED India was...
It was wonderful. I came back more humble and proud to be an Indian. The type of innovators we have in India is amazing. In spite of all odds we have brave and resilient people in our country. TED enabled me to experience and learn this fact about my own country and countrymen and women.Q: Your favourite speaker at this event? And why?
There were so many good speakers and it would be unfair to rate them in quality. However the one speaker who had a profound effect on me was Sunita Krishnan who is galvanizing India's battle against sexual slavery and end human traficking. She opened our eyes to the darker side of India and also how the society which includes all of us equally responsible for treating the abused as untouchables. This was a big eye opener for me.Q: Any tips for next time TED goers (me for one) to make the best of the event?
Then there was this young Pranav Mistry a genius behind the sixth sense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.A great invention which can make him a lot of money and any venture capitalist would be willing to fund his idea. However the Indian he is, wishes not to profit from it but has a vision to make the technology available to human kind through an open source system.
Yes. Go to TED with an open mind which is willing to learn and understand what is going on around the world. Be prepared for heavy sessions and hence be fit and healthy. I had met a few hardcore tedsters who have attended many TED sessions and they told me that everytime they came back with a different experience and much wiser and humble.Thanks Parag!
Introducing Rajeev Thakkar. He is the CEO of the above mentioned PPFAS.
Q: Your experience at TED India was...
Unique. That is the only way to describe it as it was unlike any other conference / seminar / event that I have attended.
Q: Your favourite speaker at this event? And why?
Thulasiraj Ravilla from Aravind eye hospital. It was an excellent illustration of how a social venture can be scalable and self sustaining at the same time.
Q: Any tips for next time TED goers (me for one) to make the best of the event?
Do not have any preconceived notions. Just immerse in the atmosphere. Catch up on sleep before and after the conference as it can get quite hectic!
So to give you a taste of TED India, here is one of the first talks from the conference that has been released on TED.com. Its also one of the most interesting ones.
Pranav Mistry and his frikkin cool Sixth Sense device!
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I recently found out about a couple of air travel websites for India. When I checked they gave cheaper tickets than my usual websites. I thought of making a comprehensive list of air travel sites, mainly for domestic Indian fliers so we can get the best deals!
I have taken a test flight from Mumbai to New Delhi on 22nd November, so we can see the cost variations in the lowest rate available at the respective site.
- Akbar Travels Online: I was not aware of this website until @aeshang told me about it a few days ago! It really has some substantial discounts for certain routes. For our test flight the ticket costs INR 5045 for Go Air flight.
It offers limited international flight bookings. It also has rail, car and cruise booking facilities.
- Yatra: The rates for our test flight is INR 2699 (!!) for an Indigo flight. They have a lot of deals, discounts, offers etc.. but these need to be read carefully cause often good sounding deals get you only some hundred or two hundred rupees discount.
They offer international flights, rail, bus and car bookings.
- Cleartrip: They have a calendar feature. I find this really helpful, while planning a trip I can see which days in the month give me the lowest fare and I can plan accordingly. The price for our test flight is INR 5320 for a Go Air flight. They also have a mobile application and train bookings.
- Make My Trip: They have a mobile feature, international air booking, rail and bus booking in India. The test flight fare is INR 5323 for Go Air.
- Ixigo: Has limited international flight booking. Indian rail and bus booking possible. The fare for our test flight is INR 5273 for Go Air flight. It has some interesting fare mapping and graph features.
- Rediff: The lowest price for our test flight is here at INR 2525 in Spice Jet!
Updated: This is actually not all inclusive fare (surprising). The all inclusive fare is INR 5274! They have a calendar feature which is really useful for planning a trip. They also have train bookings.
After seeing the rate fluctuations, I think we should always check all these sites before booking... cause there is a lot of cost variations.
My friend just mentioned Ezeego as another option. It has a beta Hindi website.
Do you know of any other domestic air travel options?
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Just made a ppt about Tips and Tricks in Mafia Wars. :p
Mafia Wars Tips and Tricks
View more presentations from Priyanka Dalal.
BTW if you are one of those who has had enough of the mafia wars requests, gifts etc on Facebook and you have deleted the entire application..... then pls bear with me :D
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Dear readers,
Need some suggestions. I am totally confused about the right hand sidebar of this blog. Is it important to keep my photo and About me section on the top because currently it is somewhere in the middle. I recently added a text box that gives an overview of this blog, cause the header really doesn't explain what the blog is about.
Let me know your thoughts!
Warn Regards,
Priyanka
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Being on various social networks, often leads to weird scenarios where I find myself copy pasting my tweet onto facebook! :D Some ways to sync your various status updates on your various social networks.
- Ping.fm
Ping.fm gives the option to choose various networks where you can post your updates. The options are really a large number, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Gtalk, Ning groups, Digg and more!
- Facebook - Twitter sync
If these are the two major social networks you use, its pretty simple to sync them!
Application Twitter lets you access Twitter on Facebook and gives you the option to sync all twitter updates to Facebook too. Replies to tweeple are not published on facebook. Since people tend to tweet a lot more than update Facebook, it is possible that their tweeets would flood FB.
Another selective Twitter application allows you to update Facebook selectively from Twitter. I like this one! Basically you put #fb to any tweet that you want Facebooked. Quite simple!
- LinkedIn - Twitter Sync
Recently LinkedIn and Twitter updates can be synced. There is a check box near the LinkedIn status update box where you can select whether you want the update to be tweeted.
In Twitter settings panel you can selectively pass updates to LinkedIn by putting a #in or #li to the tweet. Pretty Cool! Read more about it.
Twitter API's like Tweetdeck, Seismic, Hootsuite allow sending facebook updates too.. so everyone is looking at ways to reach out onto other social platforms from the same device that is made for only one platform.
These methods of syncing the various networks are useful. On one hand while using social media we want to generate conversations with people across different channels, but we still require some way to collaborate on those conversations and maybe pool them together somehow.
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Socialness brings in many people in our lives. Many of these people become closer than the rest. Many a times its needed to ask ourselves whether we are with the right people. They could be our in-laws or office colleagues or some new friends. These are some insights I got while I was in such a situation, at the Isha Yoga Center. (Read my experiences there). Some signs to look out for....
- Are they promoting the right people?
See which people are being promoted within the group. Whether they are 'right' or not is subjective. However if a lot of the people being promoted or encouraged or liked are not 'right' according to you. Then probably the group is not 'right' for you either.
- What happens after a conversation with them?
Do you feel left out, unheard or disturbed after talking with these people? If you do then it is not a good sign. It is not necessary that you agree with them but even if you don't meetings, talks, conversations should end on a positive note where you have understood the other side. You should feel heard and trustful about their reasons.
-The Unexpected factor
How often are actions by the group unexpected for you? If the things that they are doing are too unexpected then you are not able to gauge these people. Especially if they are disturbing incidents then its a red alert that you need to reconsider being with this bunch of people.
- Can you talk well about them?
Can you easily gush out some positive and interesting aspects of these people or organization? If not then maybe they are not a positive or interesting influence in your life.
- Is there bonding happening beyond your sphere of work or relationship matters?
If it is office colleagues then you should be bonding over a talk of movies or Mafia Wars. With in-laws there are tons of ways to extend the relation into some friendly chit-chat. Go traveling with them etc.. Even with a boss you can bond over a geeky talk abt Google or something. These are the aspects that bring closeness and warmth between people.
However if all or most of the above aspects are simply not happening then the people are not right for you and life is too short to spend with the wrong people! Best thing you can do is wish them all the best and Leave! :)
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zis is so cool....
This game is fully online so no downloads or huge disc space requirements! The people have to 'Facebook connect' for login. It is possible to connect with characters in the game on their Facebook! This is sort of a mix of multi-player online RPG's like Age of Empires, WoW etc.. and pure social network games like Mafia Wars and Fishville.
I had blogged earlier that social network gaming is a good market to start something up. This game is from a company called Ohai. I think it has a lot of potential to be something huge!
Currently it is in private alpha phase. Only invitees can play/test it. I have applied for my invite lets see when I get it!
Apply for an invite here.
(source: TechCrunch)
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Again I got Google Wave invites to send out, and this time it is a large number of invites! Lot of people have asked for invites especially on Twitter probably cause they were searching for tweets on Google Wave invites. Most of these are strangers. I visit their profile before sending them an invite, wouldn't want to invite a spammer. Some tips to make your Twitter profile look genuine and reliable.
- Location: Its really good to read the location. That is something I can instantly connect with. London, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, NZ, Australia, Miami, Bali, Toronto, Hampi... these make sense to me. Not having a location is kinda creepy! It makes me question why you are on twitter! You obviously don't want to connect with tweeple from same location, you are not here for business coz you need location for that etc..
- Following/Followers ratio: If you are following a large number of people and if very few are following you. Then definitely its not a good sign.
-- Tweets: I see whether they are all status updates, RT's, replies or is it too much of rants, swear words, sexual implications..... or are your tweets interesting, sensible and good stuff.
- Display Pic: Your own pic is good, however many people have funky pics so almost anything goes there.
- Web address: Having a blog or LinkedIn profile links are the best options. They have a good interest factor. I often visit these links on twitter profiles to see what their blog/linkedin profiles are like.
- Lists: Now with the list feature out, I look at what kind of lists they have created if at all and are they on any lists.
- Background: Generally anything is fine, either the default twitter background or if you have customized ones. Backgrounds with the website, business address and telephone numbers do make the profile look more genuine.
So all these factors add up when evaluating a profile! Do you see any other aspects to maintain in Twitter profiles?
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Marc Benioff, the CEO and co-founder of Salesforce talks about how essential communications is in his company! Salesforce is a pioneering company providing SaaS applications. It started with an idea in 1999 and is now a 1 billion dollar industry. One of the first SaaS companies that is profitable. The tips are worth not only a read but also implementation!
Commit to transparent communication. Customer relationships take work, and a big part of that work is dedicating yourself to constant communication with customers and prospects, says Benioff. "We invited them to come in and see what we were working on. We asked them to test it, and we made changes based on what they said. Having this kind of inclusive communication—sharing and listening— from the beginning set the tone for our entire company." According to Benioff, salesforce used this feedback to make fast changes—"intelligent reaction."Read More.Tell classic stories. Most reporters don't care about a tiny startup, and that's why Benioff never positioned himself as such. He told a classic David-vs.-Goliath story. "We gave the media something different. We gave them something new. We always positioned ourselves as revolutionaries. We went after the largest competitor in the industry or the industry itself. We made our story about change. We were about something new and different that was good for customers, and good for the community. We talked about the future." Although the media landscape is changing, Benioff believes there will always be a need for content. The delivery model might be changing, but exchanging and sharing stories and information remains as important as ever.
Make your own metaphors. According to Benioff, simple metaphors are a terrific way to communicate your message. "I spend a lot of time creating metaphors to explain what we do. For example, early on I explained what we did with the metaphor "salesforce.com is Amazon.com (AMZN) meets Siebel Systems." Later when we launched AppExchange we called it "the eBay (EBAY) of enterprise software." Anyone can create their own metaphors, says Benioff. "Just remember to test them before you put them out there. Try a few and run them by customers, analysts, and people in your network to make sure they work."
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Mozilla Firefox was first launched today in 2004, since then it has really changed the way we browse the internet. If you are using Internet Explorer, maybe you should check Firefox out! Download for free here.
Interestingly a large number of net users do know what a browser is! Check this you tube video where 50 people in Times Square are asked what a browser is....
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Just upgraded my Ubuntu to Karmic Koala. Upgrade is different from install where I erase everything from the disc and reinstall the new Ubuntu version. In upgrading, the new update system notifier, downloads the necessary files to rehaul the old version to the new Koala version.
The process took around 4+ hours.
I have used Hardy Heron, then Jaunty and now the new Koala. They all have been a pleasant surprise with visible betterments. The invisible betterments I will not know about since, I donot do much below the surface activities (I mean coding and stuff :p).
Some new features with this version of Ubuntu:
- Login screen gives the option to choose the computers language, keyboard style and session. The colours are also different, I like this new Black look!
- Browsing speed of the computer is faster than with the previous versions including windows I think. I can easily get used to this :)
- Hard drive notifications. I am getting a 'hard drive is failing' notification. This is good cause anyway the drive was failing but previous OS's did not give me a notification.
- Wall papers are many and vivid, making it a whole lot more user friendly!
- Music feature:
I don't know whether this was or was not there in the previous version I never noticed it. If I take my cursor next to a mp3 music file a little bubble appears. If I keep my cursor on the bubble, the music starts playing! This playing happens only until the cursor is on the bubble.
Cool!
All in all very happy with the Karma :)
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In the last few days Twitter rolled out a bunch of new features. They are not yet available to all. They are being given out slowly to a small number of people and then a few more and so on..
Twitter Lists:
People can now make lists of other tweeple on twitter. It is pretty similar to blog rolls, except here the list is of microblogs. By following a list, you follow all the twitter fellows listed in that particular list.
Twitter List API's are already out. You can display tweets of a list on your website/blog. This is cool. Some examples of blogs that can use this:
-Company blogs could display the list of all company employees who blog.
-A political news blog displaying a list of all politician tweeple
It may seem that for example, a social media blog like mine could feature a social media twitter list. I do not think that would be helpful unless those tweeple tweeted only about social media. Most often a social media list would have personal tweets by those people, so there would be no usefulness in that.
I think the twitter list feature is really useful and is a good addition to the Twitter as a tool, BUT it needs to be used with some deliberation. One clear sign which shows the list is not useful is if nobody wants to 'follow' the list!
Some articles on twitter lists:
5 ways to use twitter list feature (Rohit Bhargava)
10 uses of Twitter lists (Mashable)
Retweet:
Retweeting is now an official Twitter feature rolled out to only a few. There is a retweet feature next to the reply button. Photo and news source is from Mashable.
There is also an option to select whose retweets you want to follow, which is really good! So tweeple, keep a check on the quality of your RT's!
Semi-Auto Refresh:
This feature will show the user how many new tweets have been tweeted since he last refreshed the Twitter web page. So you can take your time and wait for may be 20 tweets and then refresh (cause twitter web page shows 20 twenty tweets at a time). Photo and news source is Mashable who got the pic from @stephromanski.
Slowly Twitter web is becoming usable without help from another API like Twhirl, Tweetdeck, Hootsuite etc...
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Just watched The Fountain. Got this CD without knowing any reviews. I thought it might be good since starring in it were Hugh Jackman (Wolverine fame) and Rachel Weisz (The Mummy fame). It turned out to be quite unexpected, I thought it was a time travel or immortal life kind of movie.
There were three different lifetimes of the actors, everytime Hugh is trying to get something done, many questions of Life are raised in a mythical way involving the Tree of Life.
It was very abstract! The narration was quite melodramatic at times, the different life times kept over lapping and influencing each other, making one question whether they are different events occuring at different times or is only one story real and rest are psychological imprints in someones mind or maybe time does overlap.
Maybe what we do (or what we are going to do?) in the future affects us right now.
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When CD's came out in the market, they were the new dazzling discs everyone had to have. Many years since they are still one of the most popular ways of watching movies, listening to music and storing data.
Most households have loads of useless CD's lying around. These CD's qualify as eWaste. If you are coming across this term for the first time please read this. Its always a better option to reuse eWaste or give it to an authorized center for recycling. Moreover please do not buy unnecessary CD's cause they are made of plastic and are one of the worst bio hazards.
Some ways you can reuse CD's in your house and make some really funky and unique utility stuff with it!
- A Candle Holder: Ta
ke some CD's and glue them together as shown in the snap. Make a tray kind of thing out of them. Attach it on top of a wine bottle or any other bottle for that matter. Paint over it with some cool color. You will probably have to use some acrylic paint for it to stay on the CD's and bottle. Read more.
- CD Coasters: This is a cool tutorial about how to make CD coasters. It is really simple and I think the results should be good. Take any CD and paste some big, personalized stickers in the middle. In fact I think we can even cover the CD with a colorful paper or cloth! Then put a sticker in the middle... should make a snazzy coaster!
Read more.
- CD light catcher: An interesting thing if your room is dull with little outside light coming in. Cut the CD into small bits and string them up with shiny sides facing the light. They will reflect the light thus increasing the brightness of your room.
Read more.
- CD clocks: This seems a little kiddish, and hence a very fun thing for kids to work at! It can be a fun activity at their school or a lazy Sunday. Re-useful! Read more.
I find eWaste a very serious matter. These electronic discards lie in the dump oozing toxic chemicals and releasing poisonous gases when heated. They are a threat to the health of any people who come across them. Please take interest about what is happening with eWaste in your area!
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Have not been able to write too many blog posts on #communication due to work, brothers marriage and some other responsibilities! its actually a lot easier to jot something down about social media. Communication blog posts need me to take time out and really think.
I recently read an article I thought I should share with you all. This article is from Harvard Business Blogs, which by the way are a place for some good and thought provoking articles! It talks about being at the end of a verbal attack and how to make the best of it.
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.
What do you think? Do you have any ways you deal with such situations?
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TED - As its website puts it "Riveting talks given by Remarkable people". TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.
TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.The first such conference in South Asia is happening from today at the Infosys campus in Mysore. Check out the speakers (Many impressive names, some are a surprise)!
To follow this event on;
Webcast:
Live Webcast, sponsored by the TOI group is available at http://www.ted.indiatimes.com (Really waiting for it to begin!)
Follow @TedIndia @TEDnews and there should be lot of live tweeting by the tweeters at the conference so listen to the #TEDIndia tweets. You can subscribe to it here.
Facebook : Become a Fan of the TED page!
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Some time back, maybe a month ago one of our volunteers at our street school had an unpleasant incident with some of the parents. They called her under a false pretext that one of the kids had, had an accident. When she did reach there, they surrounded her and verbally abused, threatened her for many long minutes. Their mannerisms were one step away from physical abuse. It was shocking, because she is one of the people who is most involved with these parents lives. She visits them in hospitals, arranges doctor meetings, listens to their grievances and of course helps out with the kids a lot!
One of the street guys died from AIDS, despite all our attempts at getting him to take some medicines and get hospitalized. Unbelievably his wife keeps muttering that we did nothing for him!
Due to all such incidents often volunteers working with these people become cynical cause these people do not have the necessary mentality or discipline needed to bring CHANGE in their lives.
The horse can be taken to the water, but how can it be made to drink?
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Had a small talk in office, last Friday about web security including XSS and MySQL injections. Later we watched a video by Dave McClure on startups. It included a fair bit of ideas and tips for social media usage. What I really liked and agreed with was that social media usage for businesses does not end at marketing, generating content etc.. it includes metrics and measurabilities.
I have been hearing many ideas around the web that social media is something that any kid in college can pick up. Many people think its not a REAL job. This is not really true, because using social media for businesses includes not just using the platforms to push your content. I should mention that generating good content is not as easy as it might seem! Moreover it includes measurability, analysis, tracking and then strategizing. These things are fairly technical making this job like any other!
Start-up Metrics that Matter by Dave McClure from Carsonified on Vimeo.
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Recently I used Google Wave for something kinda useful other than chatting, playing sudoku and hangman. We along with other wavers made a wave for a tweetup! If you see the snapshots below...
First we put a poll for those that are coming for the Kalaghoda Festival and Rs 9/- Gelato tweetup. 
Then added the Location via Google map...
Then we had some chat conversations about the time, itinerary of the festival etc...
The wave was started by a friend @mehulved, he added me and a few others to it. Then I added lot of my contacts who might come for this tweetup to it. A few others also added people.. so very possible to make things go VIRAL on wave!
Again the setback was that as yet not too many people are on Google Wave, hence we also made a twtvite, which was more popular. This wave was made using very basic apps of maps and poll. As more and more apps get developed I think we should be able to do a lot more interesting stuff with this tool!
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