Pranav Mistry, is a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT’s Media Lab. Before his studies at MIT, he worked with Microsoft as a UX researcher; he’s a graduate of IIT. Mistry is passionate about integrating the digital informational experience with our real-world interactions.

At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data — including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper “laptop.” In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he’ll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all. Watch the video

This technology has finally been commercially implemented by BMW. Watch the video

Truly mind blowing. Hats off to you Pranav. Feel proud to be an indian.

Cheers!!!

Good evening, everyone.

Dean Hubbard, distinguished faculty, honored graduates, relieved parents, family, and friends, it’s a distinct pleasure to be in New York City this evening to celebrate the biggest milestone to date in the lives of you, the young men and women before us: your graduation from Columbia University Business School.

It may surprise you, graduates, but as big a night as this is for you, it’s an even bigger night for your parents. They may look calm and collected as they sit in the audience, but deep inside they’re doing cartwheels, dancing the Macarena, and practically speaking in tongues, they’re so excited. This is what happens when parents anticipate that their bank accounts will soon rehydrate after being bone-dry for two years. So, for everyone here this evening, it’s a very special occasion. And I’m delighted to share it with you.

I am keenly aware that graduates traditionally refer to our time together this evening as the calm before the storm. Some graduates — perhaps those who minored in self-awareness — refer to the commencement address as “the snooze before the booze.” However you describe my comments this evening, please know that I understand. It wasn’t that long ago that I was in your place. And I remember the day well. I knew that I owed my parents — my financial benefactors — this opportunity to revel in our mutual accomplishment. Yet, as the guy at the podium droned on about values, goals, and how to make my dreams take flight, I remember desperately checking and rechecking my watch. I thought, “I deserve to party, and this codger’s cramping my style!”

In one of life’s true ironies, I am now that codger. Well…I’m the female equivalent. A codg-ette, I guess. And I now understand that values, goals, and how to make dreams take flight, really are important. So being a firm believer that hindsight is one of life’s greatest teachers, allow me to make belated amends.

To that distinguished, erudite, and absolutely brilliant man whom I silently dissed many years ago: mea culpa. Big, BIG mea culpa!

This evening, graduates, I want to share a few thoughts about a topic that should be near and dear to your hearts: the world of global business. But, I’m going to present this topic in a way that you probably haven’t considered before. I’m going to take a look at how the United States is often perceived in global business, what causes this perception, and what we can do about it. To help me, I’m going to make use of a model.

To begin, I’d like you to consider your hand. That’s right: your hand.

Other than the fact that mine desperately needs a manicure, it’s a pretty typical hand. But, what I want you to notice, in particular, is that the five fingers are not the same. One is short and thick, one tiny, and the other three are different as well. And yet, as in perhaps no other part of our bodies, the fingers work in harmony without us even thinking about them individually. Whether we attempt to grasp a dime on a slick, marble surface, a child’s arm as we cross the street, or a financial report, we don’t consciously say, “OK, move these fingers here, raise this one, turn this one under, now clamp together. Got it!” We just think about what we want to do and it happens. Our fingers — as different as they are — coexist to create a critically important whole.

This unique way of looking at my hand was just one result of hot summer evenings in my childhood home in Madras, India. My mother, sister, and I would sit at our kitchen table and — for lack of a better phrase — think big thoughts. One of those thoughts was this difference in our fingers and how, despite their differences, they worked together to create a wonderful tool.

As I grew up and started to study geography, I remember being told that the five fingers can be thought of as the five major continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Now, let me issue a profound apology to both Australia and Antarctica. I bear neither of these continents any ill will. It’s just that we humans have only five fingers on each hand, so my analogy doesn’t work with seven continents.

Clearly, the point of my story is more important than geographical accuracy!

First, let’s consider our little finger. Think of this finger as Africa. Africa is the little finger not because of Africa’s size, but because of its place on the world’s stage. From an economic standpoint, Africa has yet to catch up with her sister continents. And yet, when our little finger hurts, it affects the whole hand.

Our thumb is Asia: strong, powerful, and ready to assert herself as a major player on the world’s economic stage.

Our index, or pointer finger, is Europe. Europe is the cradle of democracy and pointed the way for western civilization and the laws we use in conducting global business.

The ring finger is South America, including Latin America. Is this appropriate, or what? The ring finger symbolizes love and commitment to another person. Both Latin and South America are hot, passionate, and filled with the sensuous beats of the mambo, samba, and tango: three dances that — if done right — can almost guarantee you and your partner will be buying furniture together.

This analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents leaves the long, middle finger for North America, and, in particular, the United States. As the longest of the fingers, it really stands out. The middle finger anchors every function that the hand performs and is the key to all of the fingers working together efficiently and effectively. This is a really good thing, and has given the U.S. a leg up in global business since the end of World War I.

However, if used inappropriately — just like the U.S. itself — the middle finger can convey a negative message and get us in trouble. You know what I’m talking about. In fact, I suspect you’re hoping that I’ll demonstrate what I mean. And trust me, I’m not looking for volunteers to model.

Discretion being the better part of valor…I think I’ll pass.

What is most crucial to my analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents, is that each of us in the U.S. — the long middle finger — must be careful that when we extend our arm in either a business or political sense, we take pains to assure we are giving a hand…not the finger. Sometimes this is very difficult. Because the U.S. — the middle finger — sticks out so much, we can send the wrong message unintentionally.

Unfortunately, I think this is how the rest of the world looks at the U.S. right now. Not as part of the hand — giving strength and purpose to the rest of the fingers — but, instead, scratching our nose and sending a far different signal.

I’d challenge each of you to think about how critically important it is for every finger on your hand to rise and bend together. You cannot simply “allow” the other four fingers to rise only when you want them to. If you’ve ever even tried to do that, you know how clumsy and uncoordinated it is.

My point here is that it’s not enough just to understand that the other fingers coexist. We’ve got to consciously and actively ensure that every one of them stands tall together, or that they bend together when needed.

Today, as each of you ends one chapter in your young lives and begins another, I want you to consider how you will conduct your business careers so that the other continents see you extending a hand…not the finger. Graduates, it’s not that hard. You can change and shape the attitudes and opinions of the other fingers — the other continents and their peoples — by simply ascribing positive intent to all your international business transactions. If you fail, or if you are careless, here’s a perfect example of what can happen:

A U.S. businesswoman was recently in Beijing, China, on an international training assignment for a luxury hotel chain. The chain was rebranding an older Beijing hotel. As such, the toilets in the hotel had yet to be upgraded. There were no porcelain commodes, just holes in the floor. Until recently, this was the standard procedure in China.

Now, 8,000 miles removed from the scene, you and I — and most Americans — can shake our heads and giggle at the physical contortions and delicate motor skills necessary to make the best of this situation. We’re simply not used to it. But to loudly and insultingly verbalize these feelings onsite, in front of the employees and guests of the host country, is bush league. And yet, that’s exactly what this woman observed.

In the hotel’s bar, the woman overheard a group of five American businessmen loudly making fun of the hotel’s lavatory facilities. As the drinks flowed, the crass and vulgar comments grew louder, and actually took on an angry, jingoistic tone. While these Americans couldn’t speak a word of Chinese, their Chinese hosts spoke English very well, and understood every word the men were saying.

And we wonder why the world views many Americans as boorish and culturally insensitive. This incident should make it abundantly clear. These men were not giving China a hand. They were giving China the finger. This finger was red, white, and blue, and had “the United States” stamped all over it.

Graduates, it pains me greatly that this view of America persists. Although I’m a daughter of India, I’m an American businesswoman. My family and I are citizens of this great country.

This land we call home is a most loving and ever-giving nation — a Promised Land that we love dearly in return. And it represents a true force that, if used for good, can steady the hand — along with global economies and cultures.

Yet to see us frequently stub our fingers on the international business and political stage is deeply troubling. Truth be told, the behaviors of a few sully the perception for all of us. And we know how often perception is mistaken for reality.

We can do better. We should do better. With your help, with your empathy, with your positive intent as representatives of the U.S. in global business, we will do better. Now, as never before, it’s important that we give the world a hand…not the finger.

In conclusion, graduates, I want to return to my introductory comments this evening. I observed that as big a night as this is for you, it’s an even bigger night for your parents. I ascribed their happiness to looking forward to a few more “George Washingtons” in their bank accounts. While this is certainly true, there is another reason.

Each of your parents believes that their hard work has paid off. Finally! They believe that maybe — just maybe — they have raised and nurtured the next Jack Welch, Meg Whitman, or Patricia Russo.

Don’t disappoint them. Don’t disappoint your companies. And don’t disappoint yourselves.

As you begin your business careers, and as you travel throughout the world to assure America’s continued global economic leadership, remember your hand. And remember to do your part to influence perception.

Remember that the middle finger — the United States — always stands out. If you’re smart, if you exhibit emotional intelligence as well as academic intelligence, if you ascribe positive intent to all your actions on the international business stage, this can be a great advantage. But if you aren’t careful — if you stomp around in a tone-deaf fog like the ignoramus in Beijing — it will also get you in trouble. And when it does, you will have only yourself to blame.

Graduates, as you aggressively compete on the international business stage, understand that the five major continents and their peoples — the five fingers of your hand — each have their own strengths and their own contributions to make. Just as each of your fingers must coexist to create a critically important tool, each of the five major continents must also coexist to create a world in balance. You, as an American businessperson, will either contribute to or take away from, this balance.

So remember, when you extend your arm to colleagues and peoples from other countries, make sure that you’re giving a hand, not the finger. You will help your country, your company, and yourself, more than you will ever know.

Thank you very much.

Cheers!!!

image reference: http://www.nilacharal.com/enter/celeb/images/indra_nooyi.jpg

Now here is a state of the art innovation by my dear friend and partner Shoban Kumar. It is a very simple, 2 minute installation, masterpiece that gives you the power to control your PC from anywhere in the world. All you need to achieve this are

- A twitter id (which am sure most of you have)

- Download and install the application. You can download it TweetMyPC. It is FREE and SAFE.

Steps to install the application.

- Download the application from the link above
- Unzip it and install it
- Click on the icon that appears on your desktop (after this, you will see the icon appear on the bottom right corner of the desktop)
- Enter your twitter username and password and click on Save. It will hide the new window automatically
- You are all set to control your PC from anywhere now.

If you find some problems, then try this alternate option after installing;

- Goto Program Files, open the folder CodeGeeks, then TweetMyPC
- Right click on the .exe file and Run as administrator

How will I control my PC now?

Sign in to your twitter account from anywhere and tweet the following commands and you will be able to achieve the respective actions. You can find your commands here.

It is indeed a brilliant piece of innovation. This is version 3. The previous versions had crossed 18,000 downloads within a mere span of 6 months and with only two commands of shut down and lock compared to the present 30 commands.

Someone has also made a video on this application and uploaded in on YouTube which has earned 32,206 views, 222 ratings and 203 comments. Watch it here

It is that simple. Shoban has developed a series of applications that are up for downloads and if you are interested to know more or connect with him, you can follow his technical blog CodeGeeks.

Let me know what you think about this. For any doubts, you know where to reach me or Shoban.

Cheers!!!

image reference: http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/home/blog_data/5/5/images/PuppetMaster.jpg

Command	Purpose
shutdown	This command will shut down your computer after showing a warning and a wait-time of one minute.
restart	restartsyour computer after a warning and a one minute delay
standby	Don’t want to shutdown? Then you can make your pc go to standby mode with this command.
hibernate	This command will hibernate your computer after showing a warning and a wait-time of one minute
lock	This command locks your Windows pc – TweetMyPC will still continue running and answer to tweets
logoff	Locking the account is not what you want? Try logoff to log off your Windows-Account and close all programs
abortshutdown	You accidentally tweeted shutdown or hibernate? Don’t worry. You still can stop it by tweeting “abortshutdown” to stop it – if you are fast enough!
physical memory	As the name says, this command will let you know the free Physical Memory of your pc
virtual memory	Want to know the free virtual memory of your pc? Just tweet virtual memory
os	This is one of the command which does not have much value. Tweeting “os” will make TweetMyPC to tweet about your Operating System version.
ip	Know your pc’s internal and external IP-Address from anywhere in the world with this command
screenshot	Want to know what is happening in your pc when you are not around? Just tweet screenshot and TweetMyPC will take a screenshot of your desktop and post it to Twitpic.
getprocesslist	This is one of the very useful commands. On receiving this command TweetMyPC will generate a list of running programs, along with the process ID, and email it to a predefined email address.
kill <process id>	This is used along with the above command. Once you receive the process list you can close a program using the kill command.
download <URL>	Want to download an interesting video but you are on the move? Don’t worry – just tweet download followed by the download URL and TweetMyPC will download it for you and it will be ready when you return back. Note: Twitter automatically converts long URLs into short one using bit.ly. TweetMyPC can download files only if the URL is in the short form for security reasons. Please use bit.ly to shorten your URL before posting.
getfile <filepath>	Missed an important document and you are traveling somewhere? No problem. Just tweet get followed by the file path and TweetMyPC will email the file as attachment to a predefined email. Don’t know the path? Don’t worry. Just checkout the next command.
getfilelist <drive>	This command will make TweetMyPC to send you the list of files and folders in a drive. You can use this command to email you a file once you know the complete path of the file.
volinc	Increases the volume of the main speaker by 20%
voldec	Decreases the volume of the main speaker by 20%
volmute	Mutes the main speaker
volunmute	Un-mutes the main speaker
wallpaper <URL>	You found a nice image and want to use set it as background at your TweetMyPC-Computer? Just use this command with the URL of the Image to set it fast and easy from anywhere!
url <URL>	This command helps a lot for example if you find a website, a document or a download-file you want to review it at your computer. Then you can just open the URL by using this command, and see it at the screen when you are back at the pc. (the url has to start with http:// or www
powerstate	This tweets the battery-state (Charging or not, if power-cable is plugged in and how long the remaining battery-running-time is)
ping	When TweetMyPC reads this, it will answer that it is running and checks for tweets – This is really helpful to see if TweetMyPC is working and if your commands will have any effect. +fun link try it!
message <your message-text>	Thanks to this command you can send a custom message to your computer, which will be shown as message-box, so you can communicate with other people sitting in front of your computer or just send a notification to yourself to read them later.
stopscr	This stops the screensaver
darkscreen	darkens/turns off your screen for example to save energy or to hide what the desktop shows
print <URL>	TweetMyPC will download and then print the specified file – currently just .doc, .docx or *.pdf supported
<Custom Command> <optional with parameters>	This is the most interesting feature of TweetMyPC. You think the above list of commands is not enough? No problem! With this new release of TweetMyPC you can start any program or shell-command with parameters just by using twitter and this program! You can start any program you want by adding it in the CustomCommand-Window of TweetMyPC and then tweeting the specified name of it. But also you can just add parameters to the tweets. Thanks to this you can now for example start your torrent-client with the torrent download-url as parameter or you can open Winamp and play a webstream, local file or whatever you want. (Example: add %windir%\system32\cmd.exe in the custom-commands window and tweet “command /K defrag /M /U” – see http://ss64.com/nt/cmd.html

So we hit the party at around 8 pm and we are all pretty much high and blown by midnight and sat down to have a quiet drink and smoke after the 4 hour long, non-stop dancing and howling. Our throats were all croaky and badly needed to sit down for a while. One thing led to the other and topics went whizzing past us, a group of strangers. We were some 8 couples chilling at a friend’s farmhouse and some random guys who joined us. One topic which was discussed apart from work, bosses, business, drugs, relationships, electronics, cars, movies, music….. was porn. That topic kind of lingered in every one’s mind and was something that even after finishing the discussion had lasting side effects on the group.

After the discussion, there would be one guy who goes up to the other and says, dude, I don’t think that can happen or I don’t think this can happen then another one joins in. I too found myself getting deeper and deeper into it, when all the women….in fact the women were not even bothered after the discussion. They all went out to the garden to start munching away, except a few who stayed back to get the inside gossip.

The family of sub-topics that the topic of porn exhumed was surprisingly vast and debate worthy. If porn was a living thing, it would have won the critic award for the most discussed topic that night. We all crashed at around 5 am, out of which this topic devoured 2 hours. It is not because it isn’t normal, but just because this was the first time, at least with me, that people with no inhibitions (owing to the lovely spread of “starters” we consumed) were discussing about a topic that was not, rather never, discussed in a group with an equal demographic quotient (males and females) like the other topics. Porn was just a topic that would be merely brushed upon in private and quickly tucked away or ewwed by a few girls after which the guys would avoid talking about it. Probably later they would get together (only guys) and finish off the discussion. The best part was, this time we had the women pitching in as well and also asking us questions which they seemed to believe, unlocked the doors to what little mystery us males withheld.Pity,we are like open books. All you got to do is read, unlike women which have a book with a flap and a padlock on it with a 16 digit combination that requires a man to spend half his life figuring out the combination, the remaining quarter of his life, asking permission to unlock it and the last few years reading just half of the book and perish with the mystery still buried in the last few pages. And the best part is women are not all that complicated by nature. Its just hormones, all throughout.

It started off with why guys enjoy porn so much. Now there might guys who say, “Porn? Please…I am not one of those kinds”. The truth is, every guy watches porn, if not regularly, sometime or the other. Don’t even bother saying, I watched it by mistake or I was forced to watch it and did not enjoy it. That is like an insult to the twins hanging in between your legs and if Hue Heffner hears you saying that, he will wrestle you to death even at the age of 90. The conversation went on and on and went deeper and deeper to how porn was such a huge business and how much money lay in it. Not actually generating porn content, but merely by starting a website that hosts pornographic content would be a huge hit. The women just didn’t know how big the porn industry was and how badly it had affected so many people and especially couples in India, after the infamous DPS scandal.

For once, we all felt very very mature and learned and imparted knowledge on how some guys are cheap enough to shoot women or click images and upload them onto sites. We told them how they should be extremely careful when they are in public as to how they behave, speak and most importantly what they wear. They still did not get it and refuted us. We were left with no other choice. Yes, we decided to show it to them. Each one of the guys had some information on this. Mind you, the group comprised of corporates, top level managers in MNCs, artists, models and a couple of musicians. All of them had different perceptions.

We open the website to show them and an array of disgust and loathe was portrayed by the women. Yucks, ewwwws, what the fucks?, disgusting, inhumane, terrible, poor girl, why is she letting him shoot him and a guzzillion other remarks. We waited till all the remarks condensed and shut it down and then went on discussing the topic. The women blamed us for watching it and giving it so much importance and thus helping it grow. As if content privacy has been put to an end. We are guys and no matter what you say or do, if something like this pops up, it will be seen. We asked them one question, what if someone came up to you and said they had an MMS of one of Bollywod’s actors butt naked or caught with his pants down, would they watch it. At first, they said yuck, no way, while some of them agreed they would steal a watch and that is all we needed. We had proven our point. Nothing can be done about it. Porn has been the oldest form of craze and still is and will be for generations to come. It’s come to a stage whereby even Bollywood has soft pron movies, its taking over the world commercially.

Voyeurism is growing at an alarming rate and video streaming and pod casts is just acting as a catalyst to this growth. Just like the movie Untraceable, where the killer straps his victims to a contraption and puts it on a website and as more people view it, the faster he dies. It is not that, all the people want to kill him, it is mere curiosity. its human.

- Women have to take the initiative to end this by not letting their boyfriends click pictures or videos of their intimate relations.

- Women should not send semi or fully nude pictures across the internet to whoever it is

- Women should be careful when on bikes, parties, malls, stairways, while sitting, in hotel rooms, bathroom, of two-way mirrors etc

Man I could go on. It is really a shame to see that women have to go through so much, but its necessary if you do not want to end up in one of these sites. It is scary, you have no idea.

What do you think? Never thought I will say this, but professional porn is different from voyeurism and has to be put to an end. That can only happen if women take a conscious initiative. But the worst part is there are women still amongst us, who do not mind all this. They still consider that healthy attention.

Cheers,
Mith

image reference: http://images.dailyradar.com/media/uploads/showhype/story_large/2009/06/23/jennifer_aniston_upskirt_top_copy.jpg, http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cqvQosDKKWk/Sgv4GORpZxI/AAAAAAAABAw/CfHSIz6txBA/s400/Famke_Janssen_Upskirt_top.jpg, http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/06/22/pcporn_narrowweb__300×393,0.jpg, http://izismile.com/img/img2/20090603/two_way_mirror_01.jpg

I praise the lord for James Earl Jones being chosen as the voice. Kudos to George Lucas. But I guess there wouldn’t be a better choice would there now?

For more Star Wars trivia visit Star Wars Trivia

Enjoy!!!

Cheers!!!

If you have the four P’s namely Product, Price, Place and Promotion figured out, then its fun. But if you do not have it figured out, it is even more exciting because you get to work on it. It is like surfing through a wave tunnel. Though you have a vague idea when the wave is going to come crashing down, you still are doubtful about reaching the other side. But one thing you are sure about is, even if it comes crashing down, eventually you have to surface and try and try till you sail through the tunnel to the other side. What are the things that constitute the 4 P’s and what all did we have. I sat down and did some research and found out the following;

Product – Functionality, Quality, Appearance, Packaging, Brand, Service, Support, Warranty or Reliability in our case

Price – List price, Discounts, Financing, Leasing Options, Allowances

Place – locations, Logistics, Channel members, Channel Motivation, Market Coveraage, Service Levels, Internet, Mobile

Promotion – Advertising, Public Relations, Message, Direct Sales, Sales, Media, Budget

Now out of these aspects what all could we harness at Spurr at this time, just 2 months after soft-launch?

Product - Functionality (check, but always room for improvement), Quality(check), Appearance (check, but we required more user beneficial content as well as information on the site), Brand (we were trying to build it, so that was a NO), Service (check, when we start out, that is the only thing we can promise, service. Without good service you will not last in the industry), Support (check), Warranty or Reliability in our case (check)

Product was taken care of and was in good shape. Phew phase 1 complete

Price – List price, Discounts(check, we were ready to give it out for free), Financing (Hmmm…being a self funded firm, money was flowing out of my pockets like anything. We were managing), Leasing Options (currently no, but we could go on a license model later), Commissions (check, we were ready to give out commissions to those who were willing to help us out. That is how it works anyway, initially till we gain traction in the market)

Pricing was  a major issue for us as we were the first in this business approach and we did not know how much to charge. We had wasted a lot of money, effort and time. But then we also had to think from the students point of view and the college’s. I thought, if it was me, let alone pay for it, I would not even use it, unless there was something useful in it for me during exam time which would be there for sure. So that was our next aim, CONTENT. We had to source content from different places somehow or the other. But how?

But regarding the price, we thought we could get away by charging whatever we wanted. We decided an initial set-up fee from the college and keep it free for students as you know they are the essence.

Phase 2 – Believe me, we couldn’t have been more wrong about our notion.

Place – Locations (check, we decided to target the metropolitan cities), Channel members (none), Channel Motivation (none), Market Coverage (check, we were looking at the whole nation), Internet (check, we had created pages on facebook, twitter and spread the word), Mobile (not yet, but was in the pipeline)

Phase 3 – Not impressive at all, but we had to start from somewhere

Promotion – Advertising(couldn’t afford it. But printed some posters, then decided we will use it at a later point in time), Public Relations (way out of budget), Message (check, we knew what we had with us and how it can benefit its users), Direct Sales (check, this was our only option), Media, Budget

Phase 4 – Our promotion phase had to wait a little while more. We wanted to prove our model first.

And so set-out for meetings with a lot of balls, stories and more stories. Met at least 4 of India’s biggest institutes (biggest from a wasting-money-for-branding-the-institute point of view) and told them about this. Two of them showed interest and are on hold now and the other two shot it down that moment. Out of the two who shot it down, one of them went to the extent of saying, “What have you made? Do you think this will ever work? I highly doubt it” and went on criticizing www.eduvis.in

He told me on my face. “See Mithun, all said and done, the reason why I do not see this of any use is because, we can not brand our college with this. We do not care about what the students get from this. We can not pay so much for just uploading videos of our college on a website. If students do not get a chance to do their labs, experiments, it is their fault.” I was fighting a lost cause. I just kept quiet and listened to him with a smile. Because, you cant say which idiot might say something that can help you in future. I believed in my product beyond anything, but maybe from his point of view, it was useless. While he was telling me this and that, the office boy got us a plate of samosas, tea and chips.

As it is, the bum had told me my product was useless and once when I lose interest, I don’t care how shameless I come across. I devoured every bit of it with the same smile on my face. To buy some more time to finish the chips I asked him what else does he think is useless in my portal and that rodent went on giving me more drawbacks. One thing that made me wonder was, “Does he even think before he talks? In the initial presentation, I gave him, I had just mentioned all the answers to his questions and here he was phrasing those questions again, but this time as a drawback”. Bid him farewell and left. But I am looking forward to that day when that very college will come and register with us. Hope it happens. If not, what dya know, that guy was right afterall.

The trip across 4 states was the worst I have ever had. To keep costs at a minimum, I took buses instead of flights. Trains were not available on such short notice. I forgot to pack my warm clothes and I step onto Jaipur soil from a heat of 25 degrees in Pune to a 2 degrees. My nose went numb and my lips went dry. I cursed myself for not listening to Aayush. He had warned me in Pune. The incidents in Pune, Mumbai, Jaipur, Jalandar, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Gurgaon can cover a book in itself. It was the most horrible trip of my life, incidents wise with accidents, delayed bus trips, kids puking, food poisoning and many other cute little “shit”uations one might not want to be in while traveling.

to be continued…..

image reference: http://www.netmba.com/images/marketing/mix/mix.gif,

Being a start-up exactly what we need, people who can work for future benefits that short term costs. Eventually, we finalize on the new design and we get the quote from the new firm…..I nearly popped my bloody balls looking at the quote INR 117,000/- Yes, you read right, one lakh seventeen thousand rupees. I didn’t even bother looking at the detailed proposal they sent and turned it down that very instant. Another moment when you realise that, finding a team that will stick by you and share your dream is a boon. Everyone works for money. All are puppets to the bills. No one works for free, no one works for passion unless they actually feel it is worth it.

These guys though said they were really excited to work on it, didn’t mean it. What the hell. What next? Look for a designer.

Who do I turn to? Nisha. She was amidst launching her own label as shes a fashion designer. Amidst all her work she, without a word she gets to work and within no time we have a brilliant design ready. But since she was not a professional website designer, the CSS part had to be done by someone else. I ring up Arun, another friend of mine who helps me out with quick development jobs. If there is anything Arun hates, its CSS, but the poor guy helps me out anyway and sends the files to Sreenath. A classy design along with some technical layout is a perfect portal. We went to work the very next day and decided to launch the upgrade on the 1st of December. Sreenath is on it, toggling between a part-time teaching job, he ensures that the new portal is up and running by the 27th of November to leave 3 days of day and night testing by 10 professionals. We were working round the clock, reporting bugs, fixing them, re-testing them and testing the portal again.

Everything looked fine and working well other than a few minor technical glitches which could be solved within a couple of days. All that was left was the sales part. We had EOIs from institutes like Symbiosis and IIPM and several engineering colleges in Bangalore. This interest by customers kept us going. At least we were sure, people wanted it or at least were curious about it.

Like they say charity begins at home, I went and approached my college to see what they would say R.N Shetty Institute of Technology. They listened to the whole presentation, fired a few questions, discussed amongst themselves and got back to us within two days with the cheque. They loved it and purchased it. But purchasing alone will not do, they had to upload content onto it. So we aided them to upload videos of lab experiments and the campus etc. All this with the first simple design we had. For a new user, it was not a catchy website at all. But when WE look at the hard work we put into it, it was the most beautiful site.

So far, we had our first client, content on the site, more clients interested. Meetings lined up with well known group of institutes, what and how else could anything go wrong? Keep following my posts regularly to see how life gifts you with the weirdest of opportunities and craziest of circumstances. No matter how beautiful life is, there is always something waiting for you that will turn the whole thing around. So make the most of now, so you can sail through the bad times for there are no regrets. Live your life to the fullest…….

to be continued……

image reference: http://www.gftgroup.com/Petrana_presentation.jpg, http://www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/group_discussion.jpg

How various myths and legends end up in affecting the business methodologies and ways. He delves deep into the fathoms of how mythology in the west preach about ONE and the mythology in the east preach about INFINITY and also a possible explanation to how Indians might have come to invent the number 0 (zero).

In this gripping discourse, there isn’t one moment that you would wonder what he is talking about as every topic and line he touches is executed with the utmost finesse. This video will be a treat for those who have a taste for mythical trivia, facts and theories

I hope you all enjoy this video and gain something from it, after all, we all from the east and we know exactly what the hell he means.

Cheers!!!

the Nokia E-72 is highly user friendly, sleek, handy, and of course the software upgrade, a mammoth 5 mega pixel camera with flash, fading backlight, dictionary, multiscanner, 3D tones, mere 128 grams, Five-way scroll key,  Accelerometer sensor for auto rotate and tap-for-time,  Optical trackpad, wifi, bluetooth, usb, Digital compass, turn to silence a call, a video and audio player that can play practically anything,  Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF),  Flash Lite v3.0, Printing….

And I have been craving for one of these after surviving with my E-61i for nearly 3 years. Eventually I went and got one and man am I in love with it. You get all the accessories you require along with what I need the most which other phones do not provide, a sheath. Superior, classy and stylish.

If anyones planning to buy a new phone try this and you will not regret it. After all its a Nokia

Cheers!!!

image reference: http://www.gsmarena.com