In search of wisdom...

Egypt- Life after Hosni Mubarak

2011-12-27T15:23:00.000-08:00

To begin with, I do not want you guys to assume anything or may be reach to any conclusion. This post is based on the experiences of my friend who is an Egyptian living in Nairobi since last 2 years. Just like his fellow Egyptians, he also abhorred Hosni Mubarak to the core for whatever injustice he did to the whole nation. He even told me an instance when Hosni Mubarak's wife actually called up the Cairo Museum (which houses some of the most exquisite and precious jewelery ever) and asked them to give her one of the necklaces from the museum so that she could wear it in a party. Obviously the museum's manager never asked it back and Mrs. Mubarak never bothered to return it. Wow! The luxury of 'RULING' a country, that too Egypt.

Anyways, coming back to doing justice with this blog's title, here are some of the facts that my dear friend told me about 'life in Egypt' after the debacle of Hosni Muabrak-

1. The internal law and order has deteriorated so much in the country that more than 35,000 cars have been stolen in the last 2 months.

2. A second hand Toyota Corolla which used to cost them around $5000 earlier, costs them nearly $28,000

3. I am taking the liberty to repeat the exact words of my friend here, "Earlier the shopkeepers were very friendly and there was a lot of room for discussions (Negotiations) but now they just tell you, take it or leave it. A shopkeeper even cried in front of me saying, 'its 5pm and I haven't sold anything since morning, what do I take home with me?'. Now the shopkeepers and vendors are scared to keep their shop open after 5 pm because they think once its dark, someone might come and loot their hard earned money."

4. This one is more of a democratic problem for them. Christians who are a minority in Egypt (Close to 5%) are now demanding that the 'Egyptians' (read Muslims) be thrown out of the country and Christians should take control. Problems that democracy brings along with it.

5. The Muslim radicals who during the reign of Hosni Mubarak were never given a platform to voice out their opinions, are coming out loud and aggressive with their demand that 'Women should not be allowed to work'. Not only this, their bigger demand is so outrageous and audacious that I would mention it as a separate point down here.

6. They want the 'Pyramid Area' to be banned for public viewing. Why? Because of sculptures like Sphinx. As per the Islamic Ideology, Idol worshiping is forbidden and some of the Islamic scholars took this rule to another level by banning Idols completely for Muslims. So sculptures which represents any living being should be veiled according to them.

7. A normal 3 feet sheesha (Hookah) which he used to buy for $4 around 8 months back is now being sold for $20 because the factories are closing day by day and supply is less.

8. Since January 2011, the govt has changed 11 times.

9. A room (bed & breakfast) in a 5 star hotel which used to cost close to $180, now costs $35 ONLY. This rate is for Cairo as I am not aware of Sharm al Sheikh and other areas. However, based on the reduced rates don't even think of making a plan to visit Egypt. The situation is really bad.

As I said in the beginning, I am not an expert when it comes to International politics and these are some of the points that I picked up from the conversation that I had with my friend, However it is important to note that sometimes it is very dangerous to tamper with the ecosystem. I recently saw a sci-fi movie called 'In-Time' in which the assumed villain says, 'For some to be immortal, many have to die and if you ever try to change this balance, everyone would die'. I don't want to be politically incorrect here but I guess its actually true that sometimes the balance between the powerful and weak needs to be maintained for the whole ecosystem to be in harmony. May be I am wrong? May be I am confused? but all in all, its a thought to be explored.

Shattered dreams production presents "the Bharti Airtel - Zain flop show"

2010-09-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

One of the best penetrating opportunities for the global telecom players is the telecom market in Africa. In Asia, Europe, North America, the telecom sector is approaching a saturation point. The growth in these areas will be comparatively slower. The companies always look for the maximization of profit, whether it may be through cutting down of cost or increasing the sales. If the market reaches a saturation point then there is no opportunity to increase the sale. And if the company cannot decrease the cost then it will try either to diversify or to expand it grip in the global market. If the areas like North America, Asia and Europe are already in a saturation point then the next growing market for the global player will be Africa continent. Some of the major players in the telecom sectors of Africa are MTN, Safaricom, Zain, Vodacom, STC etc.

Since the processes of liberalization and privatization have been taken into consideration by African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, The Sudan, South Africa and Kenya, their telecommunication infrastructures have improved drastically. Many African governments have developed their telecommunication infrastructure by privatizing their former state-owned enterprises. So these open up the stage for global players to perform in it. Africa has become the fastest growing mobile-network market during last five years. The mobile user base has increased to more than 82 million in Africa. A survey by Ernst & Young shows that between 2002-07, the industry grew by 49.3 percent as opposed to Asia which recorded a 27.4 percent growth. This report’s estimate growth of the industry almost doubles that of Brazil which stood at 28 percent in the same period and is almost seven times the growth of France which grew at 7.5 percent over the same time. Even there was a report by The World Bank in which it mentioned that Afro-nations like Kenya have 95% of mobile network penetration and coverage gap of only 5%. Thus making it an attractive market to lure some of the major player from the world. Let’s think a bit over this scenario. Why the Afro mobile market is developing so late and faster than any area that used to be at the same period of time. In 2004, only 6% of the African citizen owned mobile. The supply side was much higher than the demand side. And the prices dropped, but made the African mobile network market a huge potential market for the global players. They produced low cost and user-friendly phones and network plans to attract more and more customer so that the company can increase its customer base. But there some other criteria or which we also call as external environment of a company which affects a company to operate in that area. The Law of Land also affects the company to design its operation in a country. They may be the tax-policy, the FDI policy of the government, the policy regarding and regulating the telecom sectors etc. Because of these regulations, there are many Afro-nations like South Africa which hold a huge potential market. In South Africa, there are only three players in telecom network market.

The heavy tax burden on both the operator and consumer is the major challenge for the industry, with an average taxation on the operator’s profits standing at 30%. For example, in Kenya, people pay tax of 26% on mobile communication and the operator pay the remaining 4%. The total tax paid is 30%. But still the government of these nations opines that the industry is highly profitable, despite of the fact that return on investment could be delayed due to poor infrastructure. The Afro-nation doesn’t have the apt infrastructure or the geographical hindrances as well as the population is scattered. The main problem lies with the electric infrastructure. The company has to keep more than 2000 standby generators because of frequent power failure. On of the company operating in Kenya, Safaricom spends over KShs 171 million on diesels due to lack of power supply. This makes the cost of investment much high in comparison to the other area. The operating cost of the company is high in this area because of frequent power cut and even the tax rate is also high, thus bringing down the profit of the company. But it may be the future scenario of these countries which lures the global players. The company may sustain the loss in the short-run but it may earn profit in the long-run. Because the economy of Afro-nations are growing at a remarkable rate and the infrastructure are also gradually increasing. So it may in the long-run be aptly developed so as to favor the network industry. Moreover this is the entry level of the network sector in Africa as it is developing but once it get saturated the threat to entrants decreases because if they enter in to the segment, they will not find any extras to lure the customers.

Bharti-Zain Deal

“Zain’s profitability is lower than Bharti despite average higher spending by its users. However, as per an estimate only one in two Africans holds mobile phone and with Zain having a strong presence in most of the countries in Africa, Bharti is well set to dream big in terms of global ambitions.”

On 11th February, 2010, Sunil Bharti Mittal, on behalf of the management of Bharti, confirmed that it is in an exclusive talk with Zain Telecom for buying the African asset of Zain (excluding Sudan and Morocco) for $10.7 billion. He declared that the company is going to raise a debt of $9 billion to finance its acquisition of Zain’s Africa operations. And the rest amount of $1.7 billion would be met from the cash reserves of the Bharti. The share price of Bharti- Airtel was Rs.311.85 on 11th February, 2010 on the date of declaration of this deal. The investor became pessimistic on this deal and with the bearish mood they sold out their holding shares. This behavior pushed the price of the Bharti-Airtel down to Rs. 272.8 in the first week of March. When asked by a Media Person about this reaction of shareholders, Mr. Mittal replied that it is obvious that when a company makes an acquisition, the share price of that company falls who acquire and the share price of that company rise which is acquired. Now let us analyze this behavior of share-holders. The company when acquire another company, it not only become the owner of the assets of the company but also he become liable to pay-off the debt or the liability of the company. So the acquiring company has to pay the liability from his own pocket and thereby decreasing the Profit and the EPS. So the share holders feel insecure of their holdings of shares and they try to sell out their holdings. Whereas on the counterpart when a company is acquired, the shareholder feel secured that the outstanding liability would paid off, a new and better management is going to run the company and bring it back to track. The company will earn profit in the hand of new management and give a better return on the investment. So the shareholders show a characteristic of bearish on the shares of acquired company. For this reason the share holder are bullish on the acquired company and bearish on the acquiring company.

After the declaration by the company of this deal, there were many rumors that rolled in the market and the printing media as well as the electronic media. Many analysts termed it as a forced marriage or this deal has black futures etc. They were of this view because they felt that the Bharti- Airtel is paying much higher than the actual value. Even the S&P revised its rating on the Bharti- Airtel share price. Some of their views were:

It felt that there is higher rate of business risk on the Zain Deal which Bharti may have to bear.
It revised the ranking of Bharti share and rated as negative credit watch.
With the product portfolio of Safaricom, Zain is bound to make losses in the longer run.

The impact of this rating by S&P on the share price of Bharti would that the rate on borrowing by the Bharti Airtel may increase. But after the rating provided by the S&P, Anand Sharma, Minister for Trade and Commerce, on behalf of Government of India said that if an Indian Company is trying to take the essence of Indian Trade to world market then GOI would back such acquisition. Coming back to the point that whether the Bharti groups is over-paying for Zain deal? And because of this will the stock come under more pressure?

Niko na Safaricom.. I am and will always be with Safaricom.. Why??

2010-08-26T02:32:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days, we have witnessed a major turbulence in the Kenyan market. With the CCK guidelines and backing to lower the calling rates, Zain slashed it rates by flat 50% along with the messaging rates. And that took the market with storm, even though for a short while. There were people who started calling Safaricom names and some even said that Safaricom has a very capitalistic approach and has exploited the Kenyans with its high rates. We even saw Zain stooping down low and playing the ‘bendover’ song right in front of the Safaricom HQ, which to me was in a bad taste because you don’t expect dignified companies to react like this. During all this, Safaricom maintained the decorum in a dignified way and without disappointment to its users, even slashed the calling rates.

However we as Kenyans need to look at a bigger picture and analyze the whole situation. When I say that I am and always be with Safaricom, I do have my own valid reasons. I would write them down in just 3 points and expect you people to respond with your opinion on the same.

1. Quality and Coverage: -

I have been on both Safaricom and Zain for more than 3 years now and the kind of service both the companies provide is drastically different. Even when I have been on my wild Safaris around Kenya, I have always remained connected with my folks and friends via Safaricom. Zain’s customer care and network coverage are still an issue and I wonder if they grow in number of subscribers, how would they maintain their existing standards, forget improving them, given that they were already in loss and with the present tariff they would be doomed in a longer run.

2. Safaricom is seriously Kenyan, just like us: -

With 35% shares owned by the Govt. and 25% shares owned by Kenyans like us, Sh 4.8 billion out of the total Sh8 billion dividend is actually coming to Kenyans itself. Safaricom has always and is continuing to invest in the Kenya itself with new and improved products.

3. Owned by the people, not by a person: -

Unlike the competition, Safaricom is a public listed company and is the biggest firm by capitalization on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Safaricom is answerable to its shareholders which includes the common people and the Govt. It cannot price the calls below the cost, not because it can’t afford but because Safaricom understands very well that a price war is not at all good for the whole Kenyan ecosystem which includes us the common people.

Now, I leave this conversation open for you people to take it forward and give me your opinions about the same… What do you guys think? Niko na Safaricom, what about you?

Scammers eying the TWILIGHT- NEW MOON craze to suck your computer's blood

2009-11-21T22:15:00.001-08:00

Women flocked by the masses to see Twilight's New Moon last night, dragging along the occasional unlucky male with them. All the while malware purveyors were taking advantage of the latest big thing. Oblivious Twilight fans casually wander about the web and happen to fall into these well placed traps. Probably making quite a few parents of teen girls absolutely crazy. If instead of going to see the movie in theaters you decided to go to google and type in "Watch New Moon Full Movie" you may have ended up with more than you really wanted.

Instead of getting to pine over Edward or drool over Jacob's abs, you could end up with a hefty dose of spyware, trojans and viruses. Once you're drawn in by the bait, you get bombarded by pop-ups warning of virus infections. Then when you click to install very fake anti-virus software you end up letting all the viruses in. A lot of people naturally don't trust pop-up ads, but I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few still fell into the trap. Leave it to a vampire movie to suck the life out of your computer.

(Source: SWITCHED)

15 things about SOCIAL MEDIA that your DAD won't teach you!

2009-11-19T19:19:00.001-08:00

15 things, Brand and Agencies need to understand about SOCIAL MEDIA.

Never underestimate the resources, time, dedication and passion it takes to engage and cultivate relationships across multiple communities. It's just not the same for any two networks.
Just like other marketing medium, Social Marketing requires a dedicated strategy, goal, metrics, and a tactical plan.
Always remember to ask yourself two questions, "Why do we want to participate?" and "What do we want to achieve out of it?"
Not the entire social media shall be relevant to you, instead there are hubs across social media that should be of prime focus to you like in case of a Bollywood celebrity the prime focus can be Facebook, MySpace, Orkut and their own blog whereas Digg, BigAdda and others can be taken care later.
Social Media marketing is not an overnight process; it takes time, sincerity, focus and cultivation.
Participate as a member and not a marketer.
Relationships are based on mutual benefits, so think about what you bring to the table and why before you jump in.
Social Media isn't a catalyst to summon marketing for marketing's sake. It's an opportunity to engage with groups of people by tapping into conversations that mutually serve the benefits of the very people we wish to reach.
This isn't broadcast marketing. This is one-to-one discussions that can provide incredible value back to you and your company as long as the rules of engagement are clear and not manipulated.
It takes time, patience, sincerity, and value. This is about relationships and it's much bigger and more relevant than just you and the company you represent.
Conversations are taking place online and it will continue to take place with or without you. It's better to be there and take active participation in it.
There are tools available to do so; these tools are more than you would ever know, with more tools introduced every week.
Social Media is much more than user-generated content. It's driven by people in the communities where they communicate and congregate. They create, share, and discover new content without our help right.
In Social Media, communities take the form of social networks and the communal groups within them. People establish associations, friendships, and allegiances around content, objects, products, services, and ideas. How they communicate is simply subject to the tools and networks that people adopt based on the influence of their social graph - and the culture within.
As marketers you need to decide who you want to concentrate on, the Influencers or the easily influenced.

I hope these would help us all in improving our efforts and practices on the social media platform.

Happy ~~Consumer~~ Engagement!!

30 eBooks on Social Media Marketing and Networking

2009-11-16T21:38:00.003-08:00

A collection of 30 most interesting and useful eBooks for people who want to understand WTFAQs about Social Media Marketing and Networking. Some of these books helped me immensely while writing my thesis on Social Media Optimization.

Social Media from Spanner Works

Geeks Guide to Promoting Yourself With Twitter - Geekpreneur

The Zen of Blogging - Hunter Nutall

What is Social Media - iCrossing

A Primer in Social Media - SmashLab

Effective Internet Presence - Effective Internet Presence

Introduction to Good Usability - Peter Pixel

Increasing the Response to Your Email Marketing Program - CRM Transformation

We Have a Website. Now What? - Craig Rentmeester

Blogs & Social Media - PRSA

The Podcast Customer Revealed - Edison Media Research

Social Media and Social Networking Starting Points from Chris Brogan

Social Networking and The Employer's Dilemma

Anti-Social Networking from Release 1.0

Social Networking, the "Third Place", and the Evolution of Communications from New Media Consortium

Sales 2.0 - Leveraging Web 2.0 to Sell from Genius.com

Cheater's Guide to Social Media from shift communications

Social Media Policies- A collection of Social Media Policies from Dave Fleet

The New Rules of Viral Marketing - David Meerman Scott

Marketing Apple - MarketingApple.com

Masters of Marketing - Startup Internet Marketing

Podcast Marketing eBook - Christopher S. Penn

Google Adwords Secrets - SEOBook

Get Viral Get Visitors - Stacie Mahoe

Marketing With Case Studies - Dynamic Copywriting

How to Write a Marketing Plan - Geisheker Group

SEO for WordPress blogs - Blizzard Internet

Social Web Analytics - Social Web Analytics

Social Media for Small Business sponsored eBook from Microsoft Office live for SMEs

Story Listening through Social Media

Don't stop yourself if you want to thank me by bookmarking this post or sharing with your friends on Facebook. In case of any ERRORS, please blame the authors :D :D

Cheers!! Happy Networking!!

Follow me on twitter- http://twitter.com/shahzadkhan

Google Wave- Commands and Shortcuts to make your Wave experience better!!

2009-11-15T04:23:00.001-08:00

After a month of receiving the invitation to experience GOOGLE WAVE, I have now understood this new platform to a comfortbale extent. I take NO credit for the information that I'm providing below. These are few things which I have learnt and known from my fellow WAVE surfers. Hope this would be useful to everyone.

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Search Cheat Sheet

This is a quick guide to the operators and restricts supported by wave search.

Keywords

about:[keyword] - finds waves which have [keyword] occurring anywhere. Same as [keyword].

title:[keyword] - finds waves which have [keyword] in the title.

caption:[keyword] - finds waves which have an attachment where [keyword] occurs in the caption.

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Status

is:read - finds all read waves.

is:unread - finds all unread waves.

Note: you cannot currently do a search like "-is:read" by itself and get reliable results due to an outstanding restriction on megastore queries

is:mute - finds all muted waves.

is:unmute - finds all waves not muted

is:active - currently the same as is:unread.

is:note - finds all waves which have you as the only participant and contributor

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Participants

from:[address] - finds waves from the participant identified by the address. Special case of from:me identifying waves from yourself.

by:[address] - same as from:[address].

to:[address] - find waves which are a dialogue between you and the participant identified by the address.

with:[address] - find waves that have the participant identified by the given address explicitly listed.

owner:[address] - find waves by person, that they created.

only:[address] - finds waves to which only the participant specified by the given address contributed.

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Date Search

Currently, there are a few restricts:

past:[date term] - finds all waves in the last period.

previous:[date term] - finds all waves in the period before the last period.

before:[date term] - finds all waves before a certain period.

after:[date term] - finds all waves after a certain period.

which can be combined with date terms:

day

week

month

year

So you can have past:week, past:year. There is also support for

past:N[date term] where N > 0. So you can have past:3days (today, yesterday, the day before yesterday).

Also you can have

past:Ndays

past:Nweeks

past:Nmonths

past:Nyears

Finally, you can abbreviate days, weeks, months and years to a single letter (d, w, m, y). Thus you can write

past:3d

past:2w

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Folders

in:[folder name] - find waves in the folder with the given name. For example, in:inbox.

in:[search name] - find waves in the saved search with the given name.

is:unfiled - find waves which have not been moved to a user folder.

is:filed - find waves which belong to some user folder.

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Attachments

has:attachment - finds waves with an attachment. This changed from "is:image".

has:document - finds waves with an attachment which is a document. (coming soon)

has:image - finds waves with an attachments which is an image. (coming soon)

caption:[keyword] - finds waves with an attachment with caption containing [keyword].

filename:[keyword] - finds waves with an attachment with filename containing [keyword]. (coming soon)

mimetype:[keyword] - finds waves with an attachment with mimetype containing [keyword]. (coming soon)

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Tags

tag:[tag name] - finds waves with the tag [tag name].

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Gadgets

has:gadget - finds waves which contain a gadget.

gadget:[keyword] - finds waves which contain a gadget with name containing keywords. e.g. chess, fridge, map, risk, sokoban.

gadgeturl:[keyword] - finds waves which contain a gadget with urls containing keyword.

gadgettitle:[keyword] - finds waves which contain a gadget with a title containing keywords.

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Expressions

foo & bar - match waves with foo and bar.

You can use AND, or skip the operator altogether, as the logical and is the default.

foo | bar - match waves with foo or bar (or both).

foo OR bar - match waves with foo or bar (or both).

-foo - match waves that do not contain foo. (There is an outstanding bug that causes searches with only negative terms to fail. To get around it, use to:me -foo)

"foo … bar" - matches waves that contain the exact phrase "foo … bar" (There is an outstanding bug for live search not working with phrases)

foo & (bar | -baz) - matches waves that contain foo and either bar or do not contain baz.

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Phrases

"[multiple terms]" - match waves with one or more terms in sequence:

"hot dog" catches waves with the terms hot and dog in sequence. This is also required for other operators such as in:"new inbox" where say "new inbox" is a saved search.

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XML Search

tags:subtag - find all waves which have this combination.

tag:[tag] - find all waves which have this .

attribute:[value keyword] - finds all waves which have < …. attribute=value …> where keyword is a token in value.

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Wave ID

id:"" - find a wave with a specific wave id.

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Zero Inbox

If you want to zero inbox, you can hack this temporarily by saving a search "my inbox" with the query:

in:inbox is:unread this:week. You can then use the menu option "Mark as read" in the wave panel.

Alternative zero inbox: in:inbox is:unread past:7days -is:mail

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Saved Searches

A search can be saved using one of two methods:

Create a search in the search box and then press the Save search button at the bottom of the Digest panel.

Add a search using the searches Add button on the Navigation panel. Then add the search query and name of the search in the Saved Search popup panel.

Saved searches can be edited and managed using the pop-up menu which shows when hovering over the saved search in the searches section of the Navigation panel.

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Filters

Filters are saved searches which also have an action to apply to all waves which match the saved search. The actions supported are

skip inbox - removes the wave from inbox. Whilst this wave continues to match the search, it will continue to stay out of the inbox. Skip inbox will shortly be renamed archive.

mark as read - Whilst the wave continues to match the search, it will be marked as read.

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Folders

You can add a folder by using the Add button on the folders section of the Navigation panel. A folder is added by typing the folder name in the text box given and hitting enter.

Folders can be managed using the pop-up menu that shows when hovering over the folder on the Navigation panel.

Add folder - A subfolder can be added under the current folder.

Rename - rename the current folder.

Delete - delete the current folder.

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Language Filter

Much thanks to Geoffrey Spear for the help and insight:

The problem is that these tags aren't exclusive; if a Wave has any English in it at all it will show up under "lang:en" even if it's mostly in another language. This is particularly a problem since the search terms themselves are all English so a Wave in, say, Portuguese about using Wave will tell people they need to use "with:whatever" and the system will see "with", an English word and suddenly the Wave is in both lang:en and lang:pt.

"group:public@a.gwave.com lang:en -lang:es -lang:fi -lang:hu -lang:pt -lang:nl -lang:ja -lang:he -lang:fr -lang:ru -lang:sv -lang:zh -lang:de -lang:no -lang:da"

… is fairly effective, although you basically need to keep adding more as you find Waves not in one of these languages. Not a really good solution

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In addition to the above commands, the following keyboard shortcuts may also be use to some of us.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Arrow keys: Move up/down within a list of waves, and left/right from inbox to open wave panel with your arrow keys.

Spacebar: Go to the next unread wave in a list

Ctrl+E: Edit a selected wave

Shift+Enter (in edit mode): Finish editing your wave; equivalent to clicking the "Done" button

Enter: Add a reply to a selected wave directly under it

Shift+Enter (in view mode): Add a reply to the bottom of a list of waves

100 Online Apps and Tools to make your life easy!

2009-11-09T15:12:00.000-08:00

Below are the top 100 Online apps and tools which I have collated according to my own experience and usage. If you think I've missed on any of the tools that you've been using, then kindly mention it in the comments along with a link.

Aggregation & Collaboration

Newshawker - one of the leading blog aggregators out there; check out the entrepreneurship section as a good example
Basecamp - an oldie, but a goody - online project management made easy (37Signals, the company behind Basecamp, makes several online apps that you'll want to check out)
Digsby - get your IM, Email and Social Networks all in one place, that's what Digsby is all about
Tinychat - create chatrooms on-the-fly; BackNoise is another good one for this
Gist - one of my favorite apps of the day, Gist helps you learn more about the contacts you've made - all in one place
Google Apps - by far the most popular toolset with this crowd, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs all get the nod for making your life easier. Of course, I have to mention Google Reader or Google Wave in this category either
SpringPad - one of the latest online notebooks, this one is worth a test drive
MindMesiter - collaborative, online mind mapping; I've yet to catch on to the whole mind-mapping craze, but those that use it love it - maybe it's for you?
Instapaper - a fast, easy, and free tool to save Web pages for reading later
Utterli - another online chat tool you can use to start discussions via the Web or your mobile device
Skribit - let your readers suggest topics for you to blog about, and put an end to writer's block

Monitoring & Analytics

ConvoTrack - a bookmarklet that enables you to see the entire conversation surrounding a post (see comments from Twitter, FriendFeed, Digg, Reddit, etc.)
TweetBeep - you've probably heard of this one, but TweetBeep is the "Google Alerts" for Twitter - monitor keywords in Twitter and receive email summaries for free
Google Analytics and Google Alerts - I know you've heard of these, but they are among the most valuable tools for monitoring and analytics today
SocialMention - a free, real-time social media search and analysis tool
Monitter - real-time, live Twitter monitor - lets you monitor Twitter for keywords, similar to features in some Twitter clients
TweetGrid - another free Twitter monitoring tool, but this one lets you decide how many windows (or active searches) you want in your "grid"
TweetChat -allows you to create chats around Twitter hashtags - a popular tool for following #journchat discussions
Twitterfall - my tool-of-choice for following #journchat, though it's really a more powerful Twitter monitoring tool that displays tweets in a "waterfall" window

File Utilities

YouSendIt - easy way to share large files online
Twitpic - easy way to share photos via Twitter

Multimedia

UStream - Free live video streaming
Qik - record and stream video from your mobile device

Online Research

Zotero - easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage and cite your research sources.
Addict-o-matic - if I had a "super cool" category, this one would be in it - instantly create a custom page with the latest buzz on any topic

Online Journalism

Publish2 - this one's on my "ones to watch" list now - Publish2 bills itself as the Web's largest newsroom, where journalists collaborate to curate the news
Slinkset - this wasn't mentioned in the chat, but it's a cool tool for creating your own online news site

Research

There's no one software tool that will satisy all your research needs, but start with some of the following

Ottobib for research paper bibliographies.
Google Reader for subscribing to your favorite web feeds.
Spreeder to help you do all your reading faster.
Dictionary.com to look up definitions.
SpellJax to make sure you're speling is grate.
Google Video and even YouTube for some learning via web video.

Books

Internet Text Archive: This open source site has books in American, Canadian and universal libraries.
Google Book Search: View entire books on this site, including non-fiction reference guides, literature, fantasy, poetry and more.
The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania's book page provides listings for over 30,000 books, including author information and special lists for prize-winners, women authors and more.
Authorama: This public domain books site publishes free books categorized alphabetically by author last name.
ManyBooks.net: This smart site has books that can be viewed on your iPod, PDA or eBook reader, from poetry to romance to biographies.

Public Access Libraries and Research Centers

Even if you don't live in a major city, you can take advantage of research materials and more from resources like the Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art and others.

Library of Congress: Browse exhibitions, access educational resources, check out the American Folklife Center, copyright office, braille reading materials and more.
Internet Public Library: Besides the reading room and reference resources, this site also has exhibits, a special collections site, and plenty of information for those interested in business, computers, science, health, government and more.
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Art enthusiasts can access the collection database for information about over 51,000 paintings and works inside the Met.
MIT Libraries: Browse the collections and get information on how to borrow or order materials here.
Musee de Louvre: Check out the collections, exhibitions and other educational resources online from one of the world's most famous museums.
PublicLibraries.com: Find public libraries in all 50 states by searching this site.
Mayo Clinic: Learn all about diseases, symptoms, health care and more on this site.
LibWeb: Use this tool to get connected to academic libraries, public libraries, national libraries and other centers around the world.
Library Spot: Follow links to libraries and reference sites, or use the Library Spot to look up information, ask the experts, look up genealogy questions and more.
Questia: This online library promises "faster, easier research." Browse by subject category or keyword to access book profiles, journals, magazines, free books and more.

Podcasts

Listen to these podcasts for academic lectures, NPR shows, speeches, interviews and more.

iTunesU: Listen to lectures from professors at Stanford and other colleges using this platform.
University of Cambridge podcasts: This site offers a limited number of podcasts.
"HyperManyMedia" Platform: The WKU distance learning podcasts and videos are offered in poetry, drama, fiction and more.
American University Washington College of Law: If you want to brush up on your understanding of American law and justice, listen to these classes.
The Education Podcast Network: This network has podcasts in the following areas: theatre arts, computer and technical skills, music education, information skills, math, second languages and a lot more.
OpenCulture.com Free podcasts: Check here for free podcasts from universities like Columbia, Georgetown and the London School of Economics.
Podcast Alley: Find podcasts on virtually any subject, from the environment to health, here.
VoIP Free Calls Guide: Use this guide to set-up free voip conferences or interviews to include in your podcast.
Classics Podcasts: Listen to the news, get vocabulary lessons and listen to textbooks in Latin and Greek.
Digital Podcast: Find podcasts on books, music, the news, religion, technology and other subjects on this site.

Learning a New Language

If you want to learn a new language, these web tools can help you with pronunciation, vocabulary, and even planning a trip abroad.

StudySpanish.com: Access free resources for Spanish vocabulary, verbs, grammar, pronunciation and more, at three different levels.
Language Homework Help: MSN Encarta's resource helps you translate, find verb tenses, spell correctly and learn about history.
iLoveLanguages: Find links and resources for dictionaries, translators, language lessons and more.
BBC Languages: This is a great site for learning about different cultures and planning a trip abroad. Get updated news and weather information around the world, as well as vocabulary lessons and other activities in languages like Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Greek and Chinese.
Virtual Language Tutor: Here you can be tutored in any language from Japanese to Texan Spanish to Canadian French to Russian to Swedish.

Government Sites

For authoritative information on science and technology, U.S. history, consumer information and more, visit these government sites.

Consumer.gov: Besides getting consumer alerts and news about recalls, health care and other issues, this website can be studied to gain insight about the U.S. economy.
U.S. Census Bureau: Get economic and cultural information about Americans here.
The National Archives: Find all kinds of educational resources, including a research catalog, online exhibits and U.S. Declaration page, right here.
Science.gov: Browse scientific topics like biology and nature, astronomy and space, earth and ocean sciences, computers and communication, and others.
USGS: Check out the interactive map to learn about the country's geologic history and more.

Reference Guides and Dictionaries

This list features a medical dictionary, historical references and facts, global information, math help and more.

AMS Books Online: Read math textbooks and theory books on this site.
Free Tech Books: Read computer programming and computer engineering textbooks and lecture notes for free.
The World Factbook: Look up history references, geography, government questions, economics, transportation information and more about every country.
Dictionary.com: This site also includes a thesaurus, encyclopedia and other resources.
Medline Plus Medical Dictionary: Look up confusing medical terms here.
EPodunk: Get information about U.S. cities and states, including city tours, festivals and more.
The Original Farmer's Almanac: Get information on the seasons, weather, astronomy, gardening and more from The Old Farmer's Almanac.
Meteorology: If you've ever wanted to learn more about meteorology, you'll find lots of helpful guides on this site.
Specialist Online Dictionary: Find all types of resources, dictionaries and reference guides for specialties like computers, the law, religion, philosophy, word games, writing, translation and more.
RefDesk: RefDesk compiles lists of links and references for those who want to look up history, weather, maps and atlases, the news, movie times, lottery numbers and everything else.

Reference Sites

Head to these sites when you want to learn more about poetry, the environment, gardening, or scientific research.

Poets.org: Whether you're an aspiring poet or a poetry enthusiast, listen to poems, learn about writers and more on this site.
Discovery Channel: Watch videos, read articles and play games to learn about history, science, health and more.
The New York Times: Get the latest news, delve into the archives, and gain insight into the world's culture, economy and politics.
EPA.gov: From acid rain to human health to recycling, educate yourself on environmental issues from the EPA.gov.
PBS: PBS is another fantastic site for catching up on politics, learning about history and culture, and playing educational games.
National Gardening Association: Learn everything there is to know about gardening, from picking seeds to planning around the seasons to pest control right here.
NYSE: Trade and learn about stocks, read about investments, the economy and finance here.
Council for Higher Education Accreditation: Those wanting to go back to school will find this guide to accreditation a great help.
Wikipedia: For a quick reference on anything from Pulp Fiction to Rakhi Sawant, use Wikipedia.
ScienceDaily: Catch up on "the latest research news" here.

As I wrote above, I might have missed on applications/tools which you think might be useful, so kindly feel free to mention them along with a link below in the comments.

This proves that the world is coming to an end now.. lol

2009-10-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

The world is officially coming to end, you can get wigs for your cat(s). lol...

Top Ten online tools for the year 2009

2009-10-26T13:04:00.001-07:00

Every year there are hundreds of new online tools and applications that come and go. Some of them make great impacts on our online experience and many of them go unnoticed. At Conversations, we analyzed more than 100 online tools and came up with the following top 10 online tools and applications that can make a difference to your digital experience.

Follow the links to find out more about the tools and the comments learning professionals have made about them.

Prezi

is the highest ranked newcomer on the list. It's a Flash-based app that lets you build amazing, non-linear presentations where you can zoom in and out of a visual map containing words, links, images, videos, etc.

Cost: free and paid for plans

Evernote

lets you capture things (web pages, screenshots, photos, note, etc), which you can tag, store and find again fast . It works across many different (Windows and Mac OS) computers and phones (iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, Palm Pre) that are used in daily life:

Cost: Free and premium accounts.

Dimdim

is a web conferencing tool that lets you deliver synchronised presentations, whiteboards and web pages while sharing voice and video. It's already a winner of a number of awards, and offers remarkable value when compared to other commercial web conferencing systems.

Cost: Free for 20 users, Pro accounts start at a low monthly charge.

Etherpad

is the only web-based word processor that allows people to work together in really real-time. Unlike other online documentation or wiki tools, Etherpad updates each document every half a second, which means that a number of people can work together and see each other's updates immediately.

Cost: Free and paid for professional and network plans

myUdutu

is course authoring software that lets you build a course very quickly and easily online either on your own or collaboratively with others. You can easily import existing content, e.g. PowerPoint presentations.

Cost: The authoring tool is free to use. You can build your courses, pilot and modify them, all for no cost. There is a small per screen charge if you want to host the course on the Udutu site.

Screenr

is an online screencasting tool. A number of these have come onto the market recently, but this tool from the Articulate stable has quickly become a favourite. It lets you record on your Mac or PC, and then play on the Web or on an iPhone.

Cost: Free

Posterous

is a very simple blogging system. If you haven't yet got into blogging this is by far the simplest way to start. Just post to your Posterous blog using email and attach any type of file - photo, MP3, video, document, etc - if you want to include it. If you already have a blog elsewhere (e.g. Blogger, Wordpress or Typepad) you can also auto-post to it, or even auto-post to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr.

Cost: Free

Yammer

is a private micro-blogging service. If you like the idea of Twitter but are concerned about the updates being public, then Yammer provides the same functionality as Twitter, but for in-company use. Only individuals with the same email domain can join a given network. In addition to microblogging there are discussion boards and users can form/join groups. There are also Yammer iPhone app and Blackberry clients.

Cost: Free, but companies can get admin rights to their company networks for a small monthly per user fee.

Wordle

is a small, fun and quite versatile little tool. It is a word cloud generator. Input or copy in some text and generate a visual cloud of the most frequently use words. You can then tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts and colour scheme.

Cost: Free

Flip Video

Finally, this one is not software but a tiny little camcorder that lets you easily take videos and upload them (using the inbuilt USB) to the PC as well as YouTube, Facebook and other sites.

Cost: this varies depending on size and record time of the Flip.

Twitter Tools for business, research and ease!!

2009-10-22T04:33:00.001-07:00

Twitter is a phenomena in itself. There are hundreds of companies that have used its API and come up with their own 'Twitter Enhancement' tools. But in midst of these hundreds of tools which tools do you want to use or which tools are the best is a big question. At Conversations, we analyzed most of these tools and came up with our own list of the best tools in each class.

Following are some valuable tools segregated according to their functionality. Most of them are free but some advanced ones, especially in the CRM arena are not but nevertheless worth a click.

Desktop Twitter Clients

Many people use the Twitter homepage for tweeting. Indeed I do often as well but for many tasks, especially in a business context an advanced client indispensable. I have tried a dozen of them and these three are among the best for professional users.

TweetDeck, perhaps the most popular professional Adobe Air client for Twitter. Supports, searches, groups, multiple accounts

SeesMic is like Tweetdeck but less buggy and with a more polished interface. TweetDeck never really worked on my system.

Statuzer is similar to the above but with added multimedia support

Web Based Twitter Clients and CMS

Even with a desktop client like one of the above working in teams is difficult. Web based tools offer even more features for teams and companies

HootSuite, a web based Twitter CMS for companies

coTweet (Twitter CRM?) - coTweet has been hailed as a Twitter CRM app but it's basically a Twitter CMS with very basic CRM features

Twaitter allows team accounts, scheduled tweets, RSS integration etc.

Tweetvisor is a horribly cluttered but very powerful Twitter interface or web based Twitter client

CRM/Social CRM/TRM (Twitter Relationship Management)

In case you are serious about business you most probably use some kind of CRM tools for customer relationship management. Both CRM software makers and new kids on the block attempt to harness Twitter conversations to get more leads and organize a better customer service. CRM solutions supporting Twitter are still rare though. At least one, Axopt already disappeared.

CureCRM - Twitter and Email bases CRM

Salesforce Service Cloud supports Twitter

IGOpeople Twitter CRM business suite

Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers a Twitter "accelerator" integration

Twitter Directories

One of the most common questions people new to Twitter ask is: Who to follow on Twitter? In order to some quick overview of who might be the right person to follow in your industry or niche you should check out Twitter directories like Twellow.

Twellow - Twitter "Yellow Pages", one of the oldest and most reputable Twitter user directories

JustTweetIt is a clean and web directory with many users, some of which I recognize. The top result for SEO, Dev Basu is a well known local SEO expert.

Geofollow - Location based Twitter directory covering the whole planet

Twibes is not really a directory it's rather a collection of Twitter groups based on interests

Twitter Enhancements

Twitter has only ver basic features, even Twitter clients offer only a few more. there are literally thousands of tools that enhance Twitter in one way or another. here I can mention only some notable among them that are ideyll suited for busines people.

TwitterLocal allows you to address local audiences via Twitter, ideal for small businesses

Social Oomph (formerly Tweet Later) is a tool with multiple features, some of clients some of extra tools, scheduling and automating tweets are just two of them

Twaitter is like Social Oomph but with less features which doesn't mean it's less useful

PingFM allows to submit links to Twitter, Facebook and numerous other services at once

PeopleBrowsr is a very powerful suite of tools for creating and addressing groups and beyond

Twitter Search and Monitoring Tools

Twitter users produce huge amounts of data you impossibly can be digest or overview as a human being. Even your followers tweets are too much in most cases. search and monitoring tools make sure that you don't miss something important.

Topsy finds and sorts most of your brand's mentions, tweets and links

Yahoo Sideline is a Adobe Air based desktop search tool for Twitter. It also displays current trends

Twilert - Like Google Alerts for Twitter mentions, catches most of them

TweetBeep - Similar to Twilert but less reliable. Good to find additional mentions Twilert overlooks but not enough on it's own

Radian6 - This is an advanced social media analytics suite with some Twitter tools also useful for CRM

Twitturly - shows the most popular Twitter links in a social news like interface

Tweetreach - Find out who really is your friend, or at least who spread your message the most

Blog Tools

Being on Twitter is good for business but integrating it into your website or rather blog is even better. Many tools attempt to do that but only a few of them are good enough for business users.

Twittercounter - A Feedburner like counter showing you the number of Twitter followers, SEOptimise uses one

BackType Plugins allow you a seamless Twitter integration into your blog

Twitter Tools by Alex King allows almost complete Twitter integration into your WordPress blog

We hope you find this relevant and useful to your business or work. Feel free to share it with your colleagues and peers.

Database of Social Media Policies

2009-10-21T13:15:00.001-07:00

A list of Social Media policies of some of the biggest players in the online platform. I hope everyone finds it useful.

Organization	Title
About.com	Template: Blogging and Social Media Policy
About.com	Template: Internet and Email Policy
American Red Cross	Social Media Handbook for Local Red Cross Units
American Red Cross	Online Communications Guidelines
Associated Press	Social Media Policy
Australian Public Service Commission	Interim Protocols for Online Media Participation
Baker & Daniels	Social Media Policy
BBC	Editorial Guidelines, personal use of Social Networking
BBC	Use of Social Networking and other third party websites
BBC	Online Services Guidelines in Full
BBYO	Staff/Volunteer Presence on Social Networking Sites
BT	Forum Guidelines
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)	Facebook Policy
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Guidelines
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Guidelines for Consultation
Children's Hospital Los Angeles	Share Your Story - Use and Access
Cicso	Internet Postings Policy
City of Hampton, VA	Social Media Policy
City of Seattle	Blogging Policy
Cleveland Clinic	Social Media Policy
Dell	Online Policy
DePaul University	Social Media Guidelines
Dow Jones	Social Media Interaction Policy
Easter Seals	Online Community Guidelines
Electronic Frontier Foundation	How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
ESPN	Social Media Guidelines For ESPN Employees
eWay Direct	Social Media Policy
Fairfax County, VA	Facebook Comments Policy
FedEx	Blog Policy
Feedster	Corporate Blogging Policy
Fellowship Church	Personal Website and Weblog Policies
FINRA	Guide to the Internet for Registered Representatives
Fudder	Netiquette
Gartner	Public Web Participation Guidelines
General Services Administration (GSA)	Social Media Policy
GM	Blogger Policy
Greteman Group	Social Media Policy
Harvard Law School	Terms of Use
Headset Brothers	Social Media Policy
Hill and Knowlton	Blogging Policies and Guidelines (selected extracts)
Hill and Knowlton	Collective Conversation Code of Conduct
Hill and Knowlton	Social Media Principles
HP	Code of Conduct
IBM	Social Computing Guidelines
IBM	Case Study: The Impact of Corporate Culture on Social Media
InQbation	Government Policy Guidelines
Intel	Social Media Guidelines
International Olympic Committee (IOC)	Blogging Guidelines for Persons Accredited at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008
Iowa Hospital Association	Commet Policy
Jaffe	Template: Social Media and Social Networking Policies and Procedures
Judith Lindeau	Template: Social Media Policy for Associations (Real Estate)
Kaiser Permanente	Social Media Policy
Kodak	Social Media Tips
Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center	Comments Policy
LiveWorld	Social Media Content Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	For Mayo Clinic Employees
Mayo Clinic	Participation Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	Comment Policy
Media Law Resource Center	Compilation of Legal Actions Against Bloggers
Microsoft	Channel 9 Doctrine
Microsoft	Tweeting Guidelines and Blogging Guidelines
Missouri Department of Transportation	Post A Comment - Use Policy
New Zealand State Services Commission	Principles for Interaction with Social Media
New Zealand State Services Commission	The Guide to Online Participation
Oce	Social Computing Guidelines
Opera	Employee Blogging Policy
Plaxo	Communication (Blogging) Policy
Porter Novelli	Our Social Media Policy
Powerhouse Museum	Communication Using Public Facing Museum Blogs - Policy
PR-Squared	Corporate Social Media Policy: Top 10 Guidelines
Razorfish	Employee Social Influence Marketing Guidelines
Rhetorica	Blogging and Comment Policy
RightNow	Social Web Employee Policy
Roanoke County, VA	Social Media Policy
Roanoke Times	News Standards and Policies
Robert Scoble	Press FAQ
SAP	Social Media Participation Guidelines 2009
Sentara	Social Media Policy
Shift Communications	Top 10 Guidelines for Social Media Participation
Smithsonian Institution	Web and New Media Strategy
Social Media Business Council	Disclosure Policy Toolkit
SpareBank 1	Rules for Blogging
State of Delaware	Social Media Policy
Sun Microsystems	Guidelines on Public Disclosure
Sun Microsystems	Alumni Blog Aggregation Additional Terms
Telstra	3 Rs of Social Media Engagement
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center	Blog Policies and Guidelines
Thomas Nelson	Blogging Guidelines
U.K. Government	Template Twitter Strategy for Government Departments
U.S. Air Force	Air Force Blog Assessment
U.S. Air Force	New Media and the Air Force
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Jacksonville District	Social Media User Guidelines
U.S. Coast Guard	Social Media - The Way Ahead
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Blogging at EPA for Greenversations
U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)	Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) Office of Citizen Services (OCS)	Blog Policies
U.S. Navy	Web 2.0: Utilizing New Web Tools
UK Civil Service	Code for Online Participation
University of Maryland Medical Center	Comments Policy and Blog Participation Terms and Conditions
Wake County, North Carolina	Web 2.0 - Guidelines for Use
Wal-Mart	Twitter External Discussion Guidelines
Walker Art Center	Blog Guidelines
Washington Post (via PaidContent.org)	Newsroom Guidelines for Use of Facebook, Twitter and Other Online Social Networks
Webtrends	Social Media Guidelines
Wells Fargo	Community Guidelines
Workplace Fairness	Off-Duty Conduct
Yahoo!	Personal Blogging Policy

Don't forget to tweet about it or share it, if you find it useful.

Cheers!!

Common steps to troubleshoot Visual Studio 2008 setup problems

2009-05-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

Following are the steps to troubleshoot Visual Studio 2008 setup problems: -

1. Download the FREE VSTS software from- http://bit.ly/OxdIK
2. Ensure that all of the pre-release (Beta or CTP versions) components on your machine have been removed:
3. Install the latest Windows updates from the Windows Update site: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
4. Check if there are any anti-virus or antispyware applications running. Make sure they are turned off during installation.
5. Make sure that the installation media is healthy. If the installation from disc drive is not working well, you can try copying the contents of the disc to the hard disk and installing from the hard disk.
6. Complete or dismiss Windows Update before installation. (and don't forget to turn it on later)
7. If the installation fails, you can collect the setup log file and analyze them.
Clean up the temporary folder (Open the menu “Start” “Run” and run “%TEMP%” without quotation marks) and reproduce installation failure. The log files will be generated in the temporary folder.
You can also utilize the collect tool from here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/heaths/attachment/8483493.ashx

Note - After running the tool, you can go to your %TEMP% folder to find the file vslogs.cab by clicking on the “Start” menu, choosing Run and running “%TEMP%” (without quotation marks). It may take some time for the tool to collect log files on your machine. Please be patient.
For more information, see: Visual Studio and .NET Log Collection Utility
http://blogs.msdn.com/heaths/archive/2008/05/09/visual-studio-and-net-log-collection-utility.aspx

8. Try using Process Monitor to track whether there is any file/registry access related issue.
Process Monitor:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/processmonitor.mspx
The log can be large and you can make use of “Filter” feature to filter the result.
If you liked this article, please tweet about us or digg this article.

BUY or TRY the Microsoft Visual Studio Team System now. For any queries, feel free to contact us.

How to test jQuery enabled Apps using JSON with Visual Studio

2009-05-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Visual Studio Team System offers a nice Web- and Load-Testing Feature that allows you to easily create tests to verify your web application’s functionality as well as verifying how it performs under load. Web Applications that make use of AJAX Frameworks like jQuery execute additonal web requests to request information from the Web Server without causing the browser to reload the complete page. JSON is one of the formats that is used to exchange information between the Web Server and the AJAX Framework running in the browser.

Challenges with AJAX in Web- and Load-Testing

Asynchronous calls executed by AJAX frameworks can be very hard to deal with for web- and load testing tools? Why? Because those requests can most often not easily be correlated to a Page Request done by the browser and therefore its not easy to create a nice script that shows the sequential logic of all user interactions.
The next problem with AJAX requests is that its hard to verify if the simulated request produced the correct result and whether the result of one request needs to feed a subsequent request. An example for this would be a login call that returns a user id. This user id needs to be used for subsequent calls. If the testing tool doesn’t understand JSON and is not able to automatically detect the dependency between those calls its up to the test engineer to add parsing statements for the first call and use the parsed value in subsequent calls.

How to test JSON with Visual Studio?

I’ve downloaded the following ASP.NET MVC Sam ple App (KIGG) that uses jQuery and JSON. My task was to create a web script with Visual Studio that creates new user accounts. In order to do that a user needs to sign on to the page with username, password and email. The user account can then be activated by following an activation link that is sent via email.

Necessary steps for the Test Script

Execute the request to sign up a new user by providing username, password and email
Get the information about the activation link
Execute the request to activate the user account

The default procedure for the activation uses an email that is sent out. As I didn’t want to bother with email during my web testing I extended the JSON message that is returned when signing up a new account to include the information about the activation link. Having that information as part of the response allows me to finish all the steps.

How to deal with JSON messages?

Here is the JSON message that is responded by the user signup request:

{"isSuccessful":true,"userId":"9JU51KDxp0-3Llw1BU2h7w","errorMessage":null}

The userId is the value that I am interested in. This is the value I need to use to call the Activate page. Another interesting value is the isSuccessful property. This allows me to add additional logic to my web script. I can verify if the sign-up request was successful. In order to do all this I need to extend Visual Studio Web Testing by writing my own Extraction and Validation Rule. Visual Studio offers an interface to provide custom implementations for value parsing and validation. Here is my implementation for the ExtractorRule using a helper class that parses the JSon string:

public override void Extract(object sender, Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.WebTesting.ExtractionEventArgs e) {

NameValueCollection jsonProperties = JSonHelper.ParseJSonString(e.Response.BodyString);

string propertyValue = jsonProperties.Get(JSonPropertyName);

if (propertyValue != null) {

e.WebTest.Context.Add(ContextParameterName, propertyValue);

e.Success = true;

} else

e.Success = false;

}

In a similar way I implemented the ValidationRule. Using it all in my web test allows me to specify the Extractor and Validation Rule in my web test.

Using JSON Validator and Extractor in Web Test

Conclusion

With Visual Studios extensibility mechanisms it’s easy to build support for those emerging technologies like jQuery and JSON. Let me know if you need the library that implements the two extension Rules.

For free trial download of VSTS, CLICK HERE

Visual Studio Shortcuts- Lets make coding easier!

2009-05-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

Visual Studio is the leading developer tool on the market, and I would like to share with you some tips and tricks that will make this great tool even more powerful. Getting familiar with a tool is crucial to getting the most out of the tool, and development tools and IDEs are no different.
Following is a list of tips and tricks which I have aggregated from my own knowledge and different online forums.
I hope they all be useful to us. For a free trial of the new Visual Studio Team System, Click here

Keyboard Shortcuts

F5:- Debug Start
F10:- Debug Step Over
F4:- View Properties
F7:- Toggles between design and code views.
F9:- Toggles breakpoint.
F12:- Go to definition of a variable, object, or function.
Ctrl+Shift+7Ctrl+Shift+8:- Quickly navigate forward and backwards in the go to definition stack.
Shift+F12:- Find all references of a function or a variable.
Ctrl+M, Ctrl+M: - Expand and collapse code outlining in the editor.
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+CCtrl+K, Ctrl+U: - Comment and uncomment line(s) of code, respectively.
Shift+Alt+Enter: - Toggles between full screen mode and normal mode.
Ctrl+I: - Incremental Search.
Ctrl+Shift+ - View AutoCloseTagOverride
Shift+F7 – View Designer
Ctrl+PgDn - ViewNextView
Ctrl+PgUp – WindowPreviousTab
CTRL + SHIFT + B - Build.BuildSolution
CTRL + F7 - Build.Compile
SHIFT + ALT + A - File.AddExistingItem
CTRL + SHIFT + A - File.AddNewItem
Ctrl+M,Ctrl+M - Will collapse the Code block, when you do the reverse (again pressing the same Key-pairs) then it will get expanded.
Ctrl+Shift+. - Auto close Tag override
Shift+F7 - View Designer
Ctrl+PgDn - Next View
Ctrl+PgUp - Previous Tab
End- Document End
Shift+End- Document EndExtend
Home- DocumentStart
Shift+Home- DocumentStartExtend

If you guys have some additional shortcuts, please feel free to add in the comments section. Thanks.

For a free trial of the new Visual Studio Team System, Click here
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Semiotic and Anthropological Analysis of Mountain Dew's Marketing!

2009-04-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

Mountain Dew, Males, and Outcasts.

Sometimes organizations, including food organizations, deliberate and pick groups of people in whom to advertise to. In regards to soda pop that should be easy right? Everyone loves soda, so why not advertise to everyone? Yet, the picking of demographics is taken much more seriously than that. Some companies may chose to have a wide audience-- such as all of the general population--while other’s have a desire to settle into a much narrower demographic. Sometimes these demographics fit into the group in which they are advertising, while at other times the demographics seem to have nothing to do with the product. Mountain Dew is one of those drinks that has a very unique audience in whom they try to persuade. Mountain Dew’s main targets, in a nutshell, are men from the ages of 13-30, and who are social outcasts. This audience has been relevant from the very beginning of its creation.Mountain Dew was created during the 1940’s by two young men from Tennessee—Alley and Barney Thompson. The drink was similar to today’s version in that it was a wonderful lemony and lime concoction; different in that its purpose was to be a mixer for whisky ( Mountain Dew Company, 2009). The constant use of all aspects of Mountain Dew advertising—targeting young male outcasts—was perfectly done in its very first commercial and print. On the can was the drawing of two hillbillies who were trying to comically shoot a revenuer that was fleeing from an outhouse (Associated Content, 2007). Themes, such as this classic one, would make its way through the ages by the reinvention of Mountain Dew advertisements--even into the 1990’s and Millennia.In the 1990’s new advertisements from Mountain Dew were swamped with images of crazy, rebellious, and danger loving young men. Dare devilish scenes would be shot in pristine locations such as the top of mountains, oceans, volcanoes, and other thrill seeking areas. In one commercial three men are on top of a mountain. One sees a ram that is defending its territory, which happens to have a Mountain Dew that is also protecting. The ram is obviously angry, and wishes for the young men to leave. Instead of running for safety the young men are intrigued by the animal. They think it would be fun to fight it for that Mountain Dew in which it is protecting! The ram—now kicking the dirt up behind him—begs for a fight. One man accepts its request. Kicking the dust behind HIS back that man charges, and bucks the ram. With success the ram is overcome, and the young man gets his cherished Mountain Dew. Methodically comical, the director was able to get the theme of Mountain Dew by portraying the male stereotype of wanting to protect his territory, and showcase his strength. This thrill seeking behavior, as portrayed in the commercials, encouraged Mountain Dew to also seek advertising in other ways such as through sponsorship’s (YouTube, 2009).During the 90’s Mountain Dew was a huge sponsor of the X-games—the Olympics of extreme sports. During these function’s athletes from often obsolete and weird sport choices would come together to compete. These sports included sky diving, blading, BMX biking, etc. Mountain Dew, picking a function which hosts non-traditional sports, again shows the main demographic in which the company wants to reach out to—young males from an outcast population. During the Millennia this theme of physical extremeness wore off as Mountain Dew re-invented itself for the new generation ( Mountain Dew Company, 2009).During the 2008 election Mountain Dew came up with Dewmocracy. Dewmocracy was a competition in which residents of the United States could go online and create a pop with a unique flavor and name. After the results were in three designs would be chosen and voted on. A theatrical three minute commercial was also created for this campaign. The commercial showed a man (again in his early young adult life) living in a big urban city. The city was depressingly homogenous as a result of its lack of cultural and artistic awareness. Soon it was revealed to the young man that he was the chosen one in which to bring change. Having a Mountain Dew bottle in hand he ran away from the big capitalistic police who were chasing him. Running from building to building he soon boarded an elevator, which took him to the top floor. Upon arrival his elevator mate, a Native American, opened the door to a mountains serene place, and told him that “He was the chosen one”. Taking this advice he ran, and then jumped into the ocean-- a symbol of bringing back artistic expression ( Mountain Dew Company, 2009).Many things struck me about this advertisement. First, that a multi-million dollar company was promoting anti-capitalism within one of their commercials. It was also interesting the manipulation of the Native American icon within the ad. It truly was an odd character to be in the commercial, but understandable if they want to get their ambiance across as being environmentally and culturally aware. One last thing that I found interesting about the commercial was that they felt the promotion of freedom could only be achieved by a white young male. Another sub-culture that has been influential during the millennia are those that practice green living. The Mountain Dew Company, a few years back, created a record and art label promotion company called Green Label Sound. Here marginalized genres of music-- rap, alternative rock, and techno—were given the ability to showcase their style. Many music videos were showcased online, and specially made “art” bottles were sold in stores. The name of the label obviously was created to blend in with the new organic loving, green living groups within the United States. This was an ingenious idea as this certain group would have been hard to reach with a drink product that goes against its very core. Instead of using the drink as a way to promote green living, the company instead invested in other cultural aspects such as through music, and art in which the sub-culture also partakes. They then incorporated this back into their product. If they did not do that then I feel their advertising campaign would not have been successful. The very drink that they are selling is anything but green. It has sugar, caffeine, and many other chemicals that one seriously labeled as being green would not even dare touch, let alone be seen with. So my question after these two “modern” advertisements is why are they advertising to groups that both go against their core (capitalism), and product (carbonated junk drink) ( Green Label Sound, 2009). Why not actually sell your product to people that drink it such as gamers? Wait they do that too!The internet site was also heavily geared toward the video game crowd. Mountain Dew had many non related video games on their web site in which the visitor could play. I tried some of them and they were actually pretty dang fun, though, they really did have NOTHING to do with the drink. Yet, this AGIAN shows their bias towards young males, who are often stereotyped as the ones playing video games-- not females. They are also, as re-iterated many times above, seen as outcasts. Now back to my point as to why I think gamers are better population to advertise to. You see, video gamers are known as couch potatoes that love to eat un-healthy products. They are stereotyped as being sluggish, dorky, having tons of zits, and a lack of girlfriends. Hmm, actually from reading this description it does become quite clear as to why mountain dew would not want to advertise to them. Because they are unattractive! So just as with beer companies , that try to stay clear of the actual result of drinking a lot of beer--beer belly-- it is much more effective to portray a healthy attractive and affluent man. So I suppose it is still true that Mountain Dew likes to put most of their money into advertising to young male outcasts. Yet, find it most profitable to advertise only the good looking outcasts, not the ugly ones ( Mountain Dew Company, 2009).While doing this research I was not expecting to uncover as much as I did. I always knew that advertisers tried to appeal to certain people, but I did not realize how by doing so many actually go against their core. It was interesting that Mountain Dew would pick a population that in many ways seems so against the drink. To me that would be like pulling a tooth. Yet, it appeals to someone out there whether the intended audience or not, as seen from its popularity. How does it works? I do not know, but it does and it is fascinating.

1970's Mountain Dew Logo

Analysis done by:- Brittani McLeod.

Brittani McLeod is a friend from the West coast of the USA. She is an anthropology student at a Universty there. For one of her assigments she wrote about Mountain Dew. Here it is.

What happens to your online Assets when you die?

2009-04-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

Ever thought what will happen to your facebook account, twitter profile, your blog, your paypal account, your followers.. when you DIE!!

Well, if you haven't thought of it till now.. dont painc! there are a bunch of people out there who are seriously thinking of this gap and trying to come up with a product that is suitable to cope up with it. The very first service that comes to my mind is Legacy Locker! It passes on your online 'legacy' to your family or loved ones, once you die. Sounds Absurd!!!

Might be absurd at the first thought but on second thoughts it looks practical. Imagine your friends, fans, followers sending you regular updates, mailes, messages etc unknowing that you're no more in this world. None of this poses an insurmountable obstacle for your loved ones, but it'd all be a lot easier if the appropriate usernames and passwords were automatically handed over at your demise.

Do check out.. Death Swtich as well...

Comments??

***** Vital Lock is another website which I analyzed after a peer suggested me the same in the comments. Its equally good as Legacy Locker, if not better. The UI is intuitive and simple. I don't know how well they function after the real process starts (After somebody's demise) but I hope that's also hassle-free and smooth. Here's a screenshot for people who want to see how the site looks like- Cheers!

The Conspiracy theory!! (Pakistan, Taliban and Uncle Sam)

2009-04-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

For every incident, accident or event in the world that has affected the mankind, there has always been a conspiracy theory. At present, the only news that is occupying prime space across the news channel in the globe is 'Pakistan Under Attack'.

Pakistan is dying. Pakistan is being bombed, bombed by nobody but talibans who used to use Pakistan as a hiding shelter. I am not an expert, I am not a political person who can judge things but this is just a wild theory running deep inside within me. It might be true, it might not be true. But definitely, worth giving a thought.

What if! What If, the attacks in pakistan are being done by nobody else but US itself. How can we forget what happened in Iraq and Iran. What if, this is just an act to sensationalize the world of the fact that the Nuclear Missiles of Pakistan may come in 'Evil Hands' and just to make the world a 'Safer' place, uncle Sam might invade pakistan and take everything in their control. That would not only expand their territory in Asia (Read Afghanistan) but also would place them in a geographical location that would have a sea route as well. If US invades pakistan just to get rid of the TALIBANS, it might capture the land forever and that would give them a prime location in mid of the Asia from where they can control every other neighbouring country including China, India, Saudi Arabia and others.

I won't be shocked if leaders from both pakistan and taliban are a part of this conspiracy along with the US.

Comments!!!!

Love, Hate and Religion!!

2009-02-23T06:32:00.000-08:00

When I reached Mumbai, I was well recieved by my dear friend, Manthan who was equally excited as me, if not less, on seeing each other. I had taken a couple of days off from my work and flown down to Mumbai to meet friends. We had decided that I would be staying with Manthan in a flat where he was staying as a Paying Guest. But there was one problem. The lady who owns the flat would never in her life entertain a muslim to stay in her flat and manthan was not ready to let me stay in a hotel or elsewhere (For those who don't know me, I am a Muslim by religion). So he came up with an idea of rechristening me as 'Sameer', a hindu boy from Delhi. I was also game for it because I wanted to experience how things differ with our religions.

We reached quite late in the night to the flat so after talking for a while we slept. In the morning when I got up, I asked manthan as to what religion does the land lady follows and what am I expected to greet her as. He told me the whole family follows the SwamiNarayan' sect and I was expected to either greet the lady as 'Jai Shri Krishna' or 'Jai SwamiNarayan'. Finally the moment came when the lady and I were face to face. I was a bit nervous and amused at the same time and what came out of my mouth was a disaster, I said 'Jai Radha Krishna'. It was neither of the options given to me. To my luck, she didn't hear it right, so she smilingly replied, 'Jai Swami Narayan'. She then asked me where do I stay in delhi and whether I have visited the AKSHAR DHAM temple in delhi. I said, 'I visit it religiously every sunday'.

Her eyes widened with glory and happiness. I could actually feel the pride in her eyes when she told me that it has been made by the people of her sect. She was so elated with my response and dedication to their temple that she took no time in introducing me to her daughter (who had come for her operation) and her husband. All of them were equally happy to know about my visits to the Akshar Dham Temple.

Later on that day, the landlady asked me to attend their sunday BHAJAN and GYAN session at the nearest Swami Narayan temple. She also told me how one of her GURU has taken a task in hand to convert as many as 800 saadhus by the birthday of their MAIN GURU. I could read in her eyes that she wanted me to be one of those 800. The way she was propagating the whole idea in front of manthan & me and given the fact that I was actually a muslim, made both Manthan and i laugh out uncontrollably. The lady had no idea as to why we were laughing and within no time I said that due to mumbai climate I got something in my nose which makes me laugh randomly, and having said this I rushed to the bathroom and laughed out my heart and lungs and whatever...

The day I was leaving, I couldn't meet the lady but she made sure to offer her greetings to me via Manthan. When manthan came to bid me farewell, he said, BAA said 'Jai Swami Narayan' to you. I replied the same... 'Jai Swami Narayan'...

I am amazed the way religion teaches us hate and love at the same time. While we love people in our own organized sect, we hate people outside the organization. Shiyas don't like Sunnis. Jews don't like Christians. Catholics don't like Protestants. Brahmins don't like Shudras. (Vice versa to each)
I think chaos works better than organizing things. Peace, Love and Brotherhood shouldn't be organized but spread like a wild fire.. completely chaotic..

Online Advertising HORROR! 'LK Advani for PM' running on a porn blog

2009-02-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

HAHAHAHA!!!

This is what I call a perfect example of a contextual ad :P... Whats extremelly funny in this ad is that it even says, 'ITS possible'. I was left amused thinking whats possible for him in this age..

Sorry, friends no offense to anybody but just a bad show of digital advertising.. whomsoever the company is.. just check it out with your ad network and correct this blunder.

End of a glorious resource pool... Mag.nolia, we shall miss you!

2009-02-05T12:01:00.000-08:00

For those who don't even know what Mag.nolia is, well, it used to be one of the top social bookmarking websites in the globe. Personally, it was the best amongst the all. The user interface, sharability, rich features and soothing graphics all made it even more preferrable to use. But what happened to Mag.nolia is nothing less than shocking. Overnight, its date store crashed and everything lost. The bookmarks, profiles, resources... everything..

I dont know about others, but I had invested a huge amount of time on this website and built an intellectual and social capital over this time. Its a great loss to thousands of people like me. Ma.gnolia was approaching the third anniversary of its public launch and suddenly everything lost. Larry, the person behind Mag.nolia in midst of all this, showed a lot of courage by answering our mails and queries. He even answered all our twits on twitter. I wish he had not written that 'I don't want to raise expectations about our prospects' on the homepage. It simply broke my heart.

Hey Larry, this is my tribute to the wonderful work you had done. Cheers! May God bless you and we all very soon see the launch of Mag.nolia2 in the near future. Let the phoenix rise from the ashes....

Social Media Consumption and User Behavior in India

2009-01-30T01:35:00.000-08:00

Recently, I carried out a survey on ‘Social Media’ scene in India and the results are mixed. Some are expected and some are very strange. For ex: Among the sample size of 248 respondents, not even one person is active on Fropper and 100% of them are on Orkut.

Anyways following paragraph is a summary of the entire survey.
“A young Indian netizen has been active on the social media scene for more than an average of 4 years. She/he joined social media because of an invitation to join from a friend. The most common social media website for her/him is Orkut and Facebook follows the trend. A Netizen visits these websites at least once a day. On an average, she/he has an average of 120 friends on each of the social media website they are registered. The most visited blog genre is Movies followed by world news/politics, incidentally only 11.8% admitted to be visiting sex blogs on a regular basis. The activity which they enjoy the most over the social media platform is Scrapping.”

SAMPLE SIZE- 250 Respondents (248 responded)

Because it was an online survey, these respondents are essentially people who use internet quite often. The questionnaire had 10 questions.

Following are the demographics of the respondents: -

Since how long you have been active on the social media (Includes blogging, social media websites like Orkut, facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc)
- Average 4 years

What made you join the social media scene?

How satisfied are you with the present social networking sites you are using?

Which of the following Social Media networking sites are you present on?

Other responses included Indyarocks (5.7%); AsianFanatics Forum (2.9%), Mylot (2.9%), Sparkspeople(2.9%),

How often do you visit these websites?

On an average, how many friends do you have per website?
- An average of 120 Friends on every website

Which of the following category of blogs do you search the most?

Which is the most engaging activity on the social media according to you? (For ex: Scrapping, Games, Applications, Uploading pics etc)

The survey was conducted by me with my friends helping me in getting the responses on the basis of their networks. I am not a PROFESSIONAL MR guy so kindly excuse if you find some mistakes in the approach, the whole idea behind the survey was an attempt to understand the social media consumption and user behavior on the same.

Top 10 Facebook Applications

2009-01-29T22:04:00.000-08:00

Based on the number of daily active users, here is the list of top 10 facebook applications..
Cheers!! If you like this, feel free to use the data but dont forget to 'Digg' it. :) Here we go...

THE WINNERS ARE: -
1. Pet Society 1,925,740
2. FacebookÂ® for BlackBerryÂ® smartphones 1,453,600
3. Causes 1,345,760
4. Texas HoldEm Poker 1,318,050
5. Bumper Sticker 1,070,930
6. Top Friends 995,946
7. (Lil) Green Patch 975,549
8. Slide FunSpace 959,516
9. Mobile 952,264
10. We're Related 852,071

I know many of the marketers would have their own thoughts and ideas to make use of this information, however, my suggestion is to analyze these applications and understand the reason for their success.

Cheers!

Comprehensive list of Social Media and Web 2.0 businesses!

2009-01-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

A Comprehensive list of Social Media and Web 2.0 businesses that are changing the way internet was ever used. Here is the list,

Advertising
Google AdSense
Advertising management
Google AdWords
Search advertising
Microsoft adCenter
Online advertising services
UrlTrends
Link tracking and search optimization
Wordtracker
Search engine optimization services
Yahoo Ads
Online ad management
Yahoo Search Marketing
Search advertising platform
Answerbag
Questions and answers service
Blogwise
Blog and feed search service
SplogSpot
Database of spam blogs

Blog Search
Blogwise
Blog and feed search service
SplogSpot
Database of spam blogs
Tailrank
Blog search and news aggregation service
Technorati
Blog search services

Blogging
Akismet
Blog spam prevention service
Blogger
Blogging services
FeedBlitz
Blogs by email service
FeedBurner
Blog promotion tracking service
LiveJournal
Blogging software
Performancing
Blog management
TypePad
Blog management
Weblogs
Blog ping service
Windows Live Spaces
Blog services

Bookmarks
Blogmarks
Social bookmarking
del.icio.us
Social bookmarking
linkaGoGo
Social bookmarking service
Ma.gnolia
Social bookmarking service
OnlyWire
Social bookmarklet service
Shadows
Social bookmarking and community
Simpy
Social bookmarking

Calendar
30 Boxes
Calendar service
Google Calendar
Calendar service
Spongecell
Online calendar service

Chat
AOL Instant Messenger
Instant messaging chat service
AOL Presence
Online presence service
Google Talk
Chat application
IMified
Instant messenger buddy
Lingr
Online chatroom services
MSN Messenger
Chat and messaging
WebAIM
Web based instant messaging
Yahoo Messenger
Instant messaging

Community
Blue Dot
Content sharing community
coRank
Distributed user reviews service
Facebook
Social networking service
PartySpark
Social events service
RockYou Super Wall
Content sharing platform within Facebook
Twitter
Community site

Email
Email Address Validator
Email address validation service
ExactTarget
Email delivery services
IntelliContact
Email marketing service
JangoMail
Bulk email service
Mailbuild
Email forms and templates service
Publicaster
Email marketing management
StrikeIron Email Verification
Email verification service
Vertical Response
Email management services
Webmail.us
Email hosting service
WhatCounts
Email management services
Yahoo Mail
Web based email system

Enterprise
Employease
On-demand human resource management
Google Provisioning
User provisioning for Google Applications
Lokad
Time series forecaster
NetDocuments
Enterprise document management service
NetSuite
Business application suite
Salesforce.com
CRM services
WebEx
Conferencing and collaboration services

Events
Eventfinder
Events calendar
Eventful
Events discovery and demand
Spraci
Events and clubs database
Upcoming.org
Collaborative event calendar
Zvents
Local events search and community

Financial
Blinksale
Online invoicing services
Currency Rates
Currency rates
Dun and Bradstreet Credit Check
Credit check
FreshBooks
Online invoicing and time tracking
KashFlow
Online accounting software
Moneytrackin
Expense tracking
NetAccounts
Online accounting service
Prosper
Peer-to-peer network
StrikeIron Historical Stock Quotes
Stock price quotes for US equities
StrikeIron Mutual Funds
Historical mutual funds
StrikeIron Stock Quotes Basic
Real-time stock quotes
Wesabe
Personal finance management and community

Government
Cicero
Lookup service for US elected officials by address
Civic Footprint
Political geography lookup for Illinois
Democracy In Action
Advocacy services for nonprofits
FedSpending.org
Database of US government spending
Follow The Money
Database of US campaign contributions
GovTracker
Rhode Island state data services
LOUIS
US federal documents database
Open Patent Services
European Patent Office web services
Sunlight Labs
US Congress database service
TheyWorkForYou
Track the UK Parliament
Who is my Representative
Database of US congressional representatives

Internet
Alexa Site Thumbnail
Thumbnail images of web site home pages
Alexa Top Sites
Web site traffic rankings
Amazon EC2
Elastic Compute Cloud virtual hosting
Clicky
Web site analytics
Compete
Internet web site metrics and analytics
Cordurl
Geo coordinate translation
Dapper
Service for API creation
Domain Tools
Internet domain name lookup
Durl.us
URL shortening
Ecommstats
Web analytics
Hostip.info
IP lookup
HTML2PDF
HTML to PDF conversion
Internet Archive
Non-profit Internet library
IP Address Lookup
Determine IP address from domain name
Mint
Web site metrics and reporting
Mon.itor.us
Web site monitoring services
MyNotify
Feed publication
Nenest
Web forms and application framework
Outune
Web map engine
Pingdom
Web site monitoring and reporting
Qurl
URL redirection
SoftLayer
Systems management and monitoring
UnAPI
Proposal for web clipboard
W3Counter
Web site metrics tools
Webride
Attaches discussions to any site
WebThumb
Thumbnail image generation
Windows Live Custom Domains
Web site administration
Yahoo Site Explorer
Web site analysis service

Job Search
Indeed
Job search services
SmashFly
Job board posting service

Mapping
ArcWeb
Mapping and GIS services
BigTribe
Location based advertising
deCarta
Location-based services
EarthTools
Web services for geographical information
FeedMap
Blog geo-coding
Garmin MotionBased
GPS services and mapping
geocoder
Geocoding services for US
geocoder.ca
Geocoding services for Canada
GeoIQ
Geospatial analysis and heat mapping service
GeoNames
Geographic name and postal code lookup
GetMapping
Aerial photography and mapping service
GlobeXplorer
Mapping services
Google Maps
Mapping services
HopStop
Mass transit and walking directions
iShareMaps On Demand
UK Postcode Geocoder
Map24 AJAX API
Mapping services
Mappr
Photo mapping
MapQuest
Online mapping service
Mapstraction
Mapping API abstraction layer
MetaCarta
Location and geotagging services
Microsoft MapPoint
Mapping services
Microsoft Virtual Earth
Mapping services
Multimap
Global online mapping service
NASA
Satellite mapping images
Naver Maps
Korean mapping service
Nearby.org.uk
Geocoding service for UK
Ontok
Geocode any US address
OpenLayers
Mapping API abstraction layer
OpenStreetMap
The Free Wiki World Map
Platial
Collaborative geographic service
Plazes
Location discovery service
Poly9 FreeEarth
3D mapping service
Pushpin
Mapping service
Urban Mapping
Urban geo-spatial data services
USGS Elevation Query Service
Determine elevation based on latitude and longitude
ViaMichelin
Mapping, directions, and travel booking
Wayfaring
Map creation and sharing service
WHERE GPS
Mobile GPS widget platform
Where Is Tim Web Service
Location tracking
Where2GetIt Geospatial
Non-mapping geospatial services
Where2GetIt SlippyMap
Online mapping service
Whereis
Australian and New Zealand mapping service
Wigle
Wireless network mapping
Yahoo Geocoding
Geocoding services
Yahoo Map Image
Map image creation service
Yahoo Maps
Mapping services
ZeeMaps
Embedded maps and international geocoding
ZoomIn
Australian mapping service

Media Management
BBC
Multimedia archive database
Grouper Video
Video sharing service
Orb
Digital media remote access and management
Phanfare
Photo and video sharing service
Streamload
Online media storage

Medical
cPath
Medical database lookup
Kegg
Bioinformatics data services
NCBI Entrez
Life sciences search services
SeqHound
Bioinformatics research database

Messaging
411Sync
SMS, WAP, and email messaging
Aql
SMS solutions portal
Clickatell
SMS Messaging services
Jaiku
Social messaging service
Mobivity
SMS marketing messaging service
Movil
SMS messaging
PartySync
Messaging services
Sabifoo
IM to RSS conversion service
SmsBug
SMS messaging services
StrikeIron Global SMS Pro
SMS messaging services
StrikeIron Mobile Email
Mobile email messaging service
Textamerica
Moblogs
Trekmail
Messaging services
Twittervision
Location based data for the Twitter service
Userplane
Communication software for online communities
Vazu
SMS messaging service

Music
AOL Music Now
Music playlist management
Digital Podcast
Podcast search
Faces.com
Photo and media sharing service
Feedcache
Feed caching service
Freedb / CDDB
Online CD catalog service
Last.fm
Music playlist management
MP3Tunes
Music services
MusicBrainz
Music metadata community service
MusicDNS.org
Music fingerprinting service
MusicMobs
Social music service
OpenStrands
Music recommendation and discovery
Rhapsody
Online music services
SeeqPod
Music recommendation service
SNOCAP
Digital music marketplace
Soundtoys
Visual artists works repository
Tunelog
Music metadata management
WebJay
Music playlist management
Winamp
Customizable music player
Yahoo Music Engine
Desktop music player

News
AmphetaRate
News aggregator
ClearForest Semantic Web Services1
Natural language processing tools
Daylife
Online News Service
Digg
Crowdsourced News Service
Findory
Personalized news aggregation
Macromedia News Aggregator
Data access service
Moreover
News delivery
NewsCloud
Social news service
NewsIsFree
Online news aggregation

Office
Backpack
Online information manager
Big Contacts
Web based contact management
EditGrid
Online spreadsheet
Google Documents List
Document management services
Google Spreadsheets
Online spreadsheets
Numbler
Online spreadsheet service
SlideShare
Presentation sharing community
Zoho
Online office suite

Photos
AOL Pictures
Online photo management
Buzznet
Photo sharing
Flickr
Photo sharing service
Fotolia
Royalty free stock photos
Google Picasa
Photo management and sharing service
imageLoop
Animated slideshow service
Panoramio
Photo upload site with organizer
Pixagogo
Online photo services
Riya
Photo search
ShutterPoint
Stock photography service
Smugmug
Photo sharing service
Snipshot
Online photo editing service
WebShots
Photo sharing service
Yahoo Photos
Online photo service
Zoto
Photo sharing service

Recommendations
Criteo
Distributed recommendation service
EasyUtil
Recommendation service
RapLeaf
Portable ratings system
Yelp
Local user reviews and city guides

Reference
Aonaware Dictionary
Dictionary lookup service/td>
City and State by Zip Code
Address lookup service
Dun and Bradstreet
Research company background data
Bussines Verification
Business research services
FUTEF Wikipedia API
Third party Wikipedia web service
ISBNdb
Books database
Library of Congress SRW
Information database search
Microsoft MSDN
Technical reference library
OpenDOAR
Academic research repository
PhoneVal
Phone number validation service
RealEDA Reverse Phone Lookup
Lookup address and name via phone
SRC Demographics
Demographic reference data
StrikeIron Address Verfication
Global address verification service
StrikeIron Do Not Call
Telephone number verification
StrikeIron Insider Trading
Insider trading transaction information
StrikeIron Phone Number Enhancement
Adds address and statistical data based on phone number
StrikeIron Residential Lookup
Residential directory lookup and validation service
StrikeIron Reverse Phone Lookup
Reverse phone lookup services
StrikeIron Sales Tax Basic
Sales and use tax data service
StrikeIron Super Data Pack
APIs for variety of reference data sources
StrikeIron US Census
Census data information service
StrikeIron Zacks Company Profile
Corporate profiles web service
Talis
Library 2.0 reference services
UrbanDictionary
Slang dictionary lookup
US Yellow Pages
Telephone directory
Yahoo Answers
Community driven reference service

Search
Alexa Web Information Service
Web site information and traffic data
Alexa Web Search
Web Search Engine
Amazon A9 OpenSearch

Gigablast

Google Ajax Search
Web search components
Google Code Search
Code search service
Google Desktop
Desktop search and gadgets
Google Search
Search services
Kratia
Democratic search engine
Naver
Korean search engine
Vast
Structured web search
Windows Live Search
Internet search
Wink
Social search service
Yahoo Image Search
Image search services
Yahoo Local Search
Local search service
Yahoo My Web Search
Personalized search services
Yahoo Related Suggestions
Search suggestion service
Yahoo Search
Search services
Yahoo Term Extraction
Contextual search service
AOL Open Auth
Authentication services

Shopping
Amazon eCommerce
Online retailer
Amazon Historical Pricing
Historical product sales data
Authorize.Net
Internet based payment gateway services
AvantLink
Affiliate marketing network
CNET
Shopping services
Commission Junction
Online affiliate programs
DataUnison eBay Research
eBay pricing and sales trend data
Direct Textbook
Book price comparison service
eBay
Online auction marketplace
GoodStorm
Online retail ecommerce
Google Base
Platform for structure and semi-structured data
Google Checkout
Shopping cart services
PriceRunner
Shopping comparison engine
Shopping.com
Online retail shopping
SwapThing
Community driven swapping site
UPC Database
UPC lookup service
Windows Live Expo
Online classifieds service
Yahoo Shopping
Shopping services
Zazzle
On-demand product creation service

Storage
Amazon S3
Online storage services
Box.net
Online file storage
MoveDigital
File delivery and management services
Omnidrive
Online storage services
Open Xdrive
Online data storage service
Openomy
Online file system
Tagalag
Email tagging
TagFinder
Tag extraction service
Tagthe.net
Tag recommendation service
TagTooga
Tag based Internet directory

Video
Truveo
Video search
Blinkx
Video search
Dave.TV
Video distribution network
LiveVideo
Video repository and user community
Revver
Video services
Veoh
Virtual television and video network
Video Detective
Film trailers, cast, images, and related information
Yahoo Video Search
Video search
YouTube
Video sharing and search

Widgets
ClearSpring
Widget creation, distribution, and tracking services
Google Gadgets

Netvibes
Personalized home page with widgets
Pageflakes
Personalized start page and widgets
Serence Klip
Desktop gadgets
SpringWidgets
Widget platform
TagWorld
Social web services
Windows Live Gadgets
Online gadgets service
Windows Sidebar Gadgets
Desktop gadgets
Yahoo Widgets
Desktop widgets
Yourminis
Personalized start page

WIKI
DBpedia
Structured query interface to Wikipedia
JotSpot
Wiki-style collaboration tools
PBwiki
Consumer wiki farm
WikiMatrix
Wiki search and comparison service

Future of Social Media

2009-01-16T04:54:00.000-08:00

Future of Social media it seems... When we grow old, our grand children shall ask us to tell them stories of how any person with a 'hep' website or blog could claim their fame to the SOCIAL MEDIA...

Cartoon Source: Rob Cottingham

Gaza: Residents waving white flags 'shot dead as they flee their homes'

2009-01-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

Israeli forces said they had pushed deeper into Gaza City amid heavy fighting, with some units within a mile of the densely populated urban centre. Terrified residents were said to be fleeing from many homes which had been set alight.
At least three Palestinians in Gaza were shot dead yesterday after Israeli soldiers fired on a group of residents leaving their homes on orders from the military and waving white flags, according to testimony taken by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. The testimony was rejected by the military after what it said was a preliminary investigation.
The thrust by Israeli ground forces into Tel Hawwa was the furthest the Israelis had gone into Gaza City since military operations were launched on 27 December. Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, declared that he would press forward with an "iron fist". While his government in Jerusalem is claiming that Hamas's military capabilities have been severely damaged, its senior intelligence sources have revealed that only a "few hundred" of the movement's 20,000 men have been killed, including several of its key leaders. The officials also stated that Hamas still had significant supplies of rockets left in their arsenal despite firing several hundred of them into Israel since military operations began.
However, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, the Israeli chief of staff, told Israeli MPs: "We have achieved a lot in hitting Hamas and its infrastructure ... but there is still work ahead." Israeli aircraft carried out 60 raids yesterday.
As Palestinian hospital officials revealed that the death toll has risen to at least 952, half of them women and children, John Ging, the UN Relief and Works Agency's director of operations in Gaza, called on the international community to protect civilians in Gaza; he also wants a full investigation into allegations that Israeli military forces have used illegal weapons.
On the relatively peaceful West Bank, a Palestinian man was killed after he tried to grab a gun from an Israeli soldier in Hebron and a 15-year-old boy was shot near the city of Qalqiliya while throwing stones at a road used by soldiers and settlers. Palestinian officials said a settler had fired the fatal shot.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, is heading to the region for talks with leaders in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria. He said: "My message is simple: the fighting must stop. To both sides, I say: Just stop now."
In Gaza, Munir Shafik al-Najar told B'Tselem that members of his extended family started trying to leave their homes after the Israeli army began demolishing buildings in the area of Kuza'a, close to the Israeli border with south-eastern Gaza. Mr Najar said the Israeli soldiers were using gunfire to signify that residents should leave, but then started shooting "indiscriminately".
He testified that his relative Rawhiya had stepped out of the family-owned building, one of whose walls had been destroyed by a bulldozer, expecting her family to follow, but she was shot. The military subsequently attacked another group escaping leaving two more of his relatives dead. The military said late last night that it had found the claim to be "without foundation".

Source: - The Telegraph (UK)

Why doesn't My SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING work??

2009-01-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

Because I neva gave it a thought... I met a nomad at the downhill who tried to download the following GYAN unto me.. Might as well work for you...
o Never underestimate the resources, time, dedication and passion it takes to engage and cultivate relationships across multiple communities. It’s just not the same for any two networks.
o Just like other marketing medium, Social Marketing requires a dedicated strategy, goal, metrics, and a tactical plan.
o Always remember to ask yourself two questions, “Why do we want to participate?” and “What do we want to achieve out of it?”
o Not the entire social media shall be relevant to you, instead there are hubs across social media that should be of prime focus to you like in case of a Bollywood celebrity the prime focus can be Facebook, MySpace, Orkut and their own blog whereas Digg, BigAdda and others can be taken care later.
o Social Media marketing is not an overnight process; it takes time, sincerity, focus and cultivation.
o Participate as a member and not a marketer.
o Relationships are based on mutual benefits, so think about what you bring to the table and why before you jump in.
o Social Media isn’t a catalyst to summon marketing for marketing’s sake. It’s an opportunity to engage with groups of people by tapping into conversations that mutually serve the benefits of the very people we wish to reach.
o This isn’t broadcast marketing. This is one-to-one discussions that can provide incredible value back to you and your company as long as the rules of engagement are clear and not manipulated.
o It takes time, patience, sincerity, and value. This is about relationships and it’s much bigger and more relevant than just you and the company you represent.
o Conversations are taking place online and it will continue to take place with or without you. It’s better to be there and take active participation in it.
o There are tools available to do so; these tools are more than you would ever know, with more tools introduced every week.
o Social Media is much more than user-generated content. It’s driven by people in the communities where they communicate and congregate. They create, share, and discover new content without our help right.
o In Social Media, communities take the form of social networks and the communal groups within them. People establish associations, friendships, and allegiances around content, objects, products, services, and ideas. How they communicate is simply subject to the tools and networks that people adopt based on the influence of their social graph – and the culture within.
o Many have incorrectly viewed the process of social media as “build it and they will come.” Companies simply create profiles on Facebook and Myspace, blogs on wordpress, upload videos to YouTube and images to flickr, and simply hoped for a mass wave of friending and interaction. We can’t simply walk into the CP inner circle, plant a sign behind us with our name, interests and affiliations and expect real people to come up to us for meaningful and long-term dialog. This is the equivalent of setting up camp next to a village because you have the tools to do so and expecting the village to integrate you into their society.
o Advertising over the routine spots on Facebook and Orkut won’t help you attract much of eyeballs, instead focus where every user focuses on, the News Feed section. A single ad in the news feed section will grab more attention and also you wont have to fight with competitors for attention.
o As marketers you need to decide who you want to concentrate on, the Influencers or the easily influenced.

The corporate world... in true sense!

2009-01-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

And we thought there are more than a million companies who own the corporate world.. they are just handful...