A comment

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.A note to myself is never underestimate the value of any gesture that is positive and spreads cheer.The least I will do is smile and spread hope and cheer.

May the Almighty help me and everybody else do the same.

This Blog is 1 year and 5 months old now

Come to think of it - this blog is 1 year and 5 months old now and people are steadily referring to this blog for information on whatever I write about!

A simple website today is featured www.preople.com - I have claimed my name Parvez Ahmed on it with due apologies to people who have similar names.Being the first to become someone is also a first-this just goes to show a thought matters and followed by swift execution to get customers a business or movement is started.It is simple ego that made me do it - so what - one (the ordinarywebsurfer) should know about you - only then will you get known among anybody worth knowing!

I am a fan of www.gizmodo.com - cool gadgets are profiled in the same.A good source of business and tech leadership info explained in simple english and a critical source for business people who understand business and not tech is www.cio.com - I am reading many articles from CIO and rating the same too so that people assess for themselves - the stuff I read and what type of a person I am.Today it is nice to know a lot of information that will come in handy to people and the fact that one can say refer to my blog to know more is a cool statement to make.

Job websites & people

3 websites caught my eye today and they promise a lot for candidates and headhunters-I think these websites should be must looking up for the job hunting business.
www.recruiting.com
www.simplyhired.com
www.jobster.com
Recruiting.com gives the overall picture for headhunters and SimplyHired get candidates the job they really need.It is a sad thing that most offerings are US centric only however with more jobs coming to India and China I expect the same to change.

Companies there will keep key technologies or something like that in their own countries - they will find out that entrepreneurs are the same everytime and everywhere - they create newer and more compelling opportunities for the parent countries to look at-a great example is www.skype.com - who thought it would become so huge and sell out to www.eBay.com !
Fact is people have a way to judge the performance and good qualities of companies and countries too today - many good people walk out to make amends if they do not like the companies they are in today and some just start their own as they are simply fed up with the society they live in - we must do more to keep good people wherever we are.

MelissaData and Software Selling

Today 2 websites caught my interest and I think the sites will help sales and give a foundation for trustworthy data.

I am talking of www.melissadata.com and www.upload.com - both are great websites and will be used more and better in my opinion.The question is am I going to use the information better or not.

One needs to be careful and create and grab opportunities that come as a result of knowing where to search on the net and how to create and then commoditize the same next.The money will follow soon.Amazon's (www.amazon.com) "giving away the store feature" is just great and gives a way to measure.

Persistent Systems

Another company that has caught my eye is www.persistentsys.com - I will literally call the company persistent as it is always innovating and a very creative company.It has won numerous awards nationally and recognition globally.Really good at databases and does outsourcing work too for clients.
Founded in 1990, Persistent develops software products for its customers, which include many startups and some Fortune 500 companies. The firm has recently added maintenance and services to its product offerings.
Be persistent and keep on innovating,make mistakes,acknowledge what the firm does not know, outsource whatever you can and minimize risks by concentrating on core competencies,spread risk around many customers or get a big customer and keep that customer satisfied and always post testimonials - that will give confidence to potential clients.The company makes a wonderful case study as a sartup.I am sure it will find its way to textbooks of top B schools worldwide real soon.Persistent innovation focus makes makes the difference.Build products that customers will actually pay for and innovative services around the same-that is the secret to becoming successful.!Now you have it-be Persistent!

Squidoo

Sometime ago I found a company called www.squidoo.com and signed up to be a beta tester-I really like the results and well now that the company has opened up to the general public I am blogging about the same.The idea is a great one and as my readers you will find the site wonderful so sign up and start squidooing and use this as your competitive advantage.It is another that will differentiate you my readers from the ordinary surfers on the net.Get more business and remain excited and hungry all the time.Continuously grow by innovating and making the best from innovations.

Founders Frustrations Blog

http://founderresearch.blogspot.com/ - A blog by a professor of entrepreneurial management from Harvard Business School.A must reference site to find out how founders deal with problems and some ideas on how they can be solved are presented there.

A six sigma blog

See www.treqna.com an awesome 6 sigma blog.

Smile,attitude and sales

I ask people what percentage of their day they think they smile. Most people think they smile more than half their day. Most people smile no more than 5% of their day. See your workplace and calculate the average - it will be more or less near this figure.How sad is that? That's only 48 minutes per day. Max will be about an hour a day!

When do you think most people use those precious minutes of smiling? When they ask for the business? When they get their first cup of coffee? When they go home?
Look around your office. I'll bet most people aren't smiling.

Why is there such a difference between people's perception of the amount of time they smile and the reality? As soon as we start discussing smiling, almost everyone starts smiling. As with so many things, people need to be reminded.

What you say to yourself and others has a huge impact on how people perceive you. The average person has more than 1000 random thoughts per day. Sadly, more than half are negative.

Doubt it? What were the first words out of your mouth when the alarm clock went off this morning? If you're like most people, we probably can't print them. What did you think about next -- the traffic, your meetings, the to-do list, the tasks at hand,the meetings with clients ahead,the boss,whatever,... ? So many negative thoughts, and you hadn't even made it to the shower yet.

Negative thoughts produce negative attitudes, negative actions and poor performance.
Increasing your enthusiasm and positive outlook will raise your productivity, your spirits and the spirits of those around you.

Be positive and cheer up people around you from the time you get up and see what a difference it makes - make your own coffee and inspire your family members pet your cat or dog ,hold your spouse or child or someone you care for and smile.The link below will make you smile.

http://www.itsalestraining.com/

Remember - the advise is good and can be modified and used for Non IT sales too and one has to be patient and open to new ideas and listening to customers,friends and well wishers.Go and get the deals.Some things take that little longer - to make the time period short,

1. be prepared while meeting a potential client.
2. ask for references and give references when requested.
3. show figures and important targets met.

Be not hard on yourself and people around you - appreciate enthusiasm shown by youth and seniors alike and guide when neded or accept help if needed.Attitude always makes a difference.

Smile - it spreads hope and cheer.

Lots of search engines

I came across the website below-it is full of search engines and being pasionate about searching and finding stuff of interest I will add here that please know what you are searching for and know when to stop looking at the crazy results.

http://www.philb.com/engines.htm

Most searches may just end up wasting time.Go to a person or co that is good at finding information on the net and save some time for all.Maybe your result can be had in different ways that you may never think about.Consider the fact below and remember your goal is the number 10.A statement like

5+5=10 is what most people accept in general - however 10 can be arrived in any number of ways like 10=3+7 or 10=50-40 or any other combination of numbers.The result has to be 10 -it does not matter what method you use to reach the desired conclusion.

The object here is not to throw people off track but to get them to think that there are other ways to get the job done.The easiest way - entrust it to an expert - think of using ask a librarian service being offered by many universities in the world today - most good ones are free!.

Looks to good to be true!

An offer looks too good to be true right!

Know what to do next before you get ripped off?

See www.LooksTooGoodToBeTrue.com and find out about the offer.There is a way out and it is be careful and in case you get conned be not afraid to ask for help.People are good and many help out so giving up is not an option.

Atiki,Textually and thesmsguide

I really like www.atiki.com and www.thesmsguide.com - the info is relevant and reaches an audience very quickly.

Atiki allows you to specify search words.This tests your brains and creativity and one gets results from websites and sources not even imagined.The SMS guide keeps you updated about what is happening as a result of the usage of the mobile internet.

Another website on the mobile internet that is really very good is http://textually.org - I have been using this too for a very long time and it is worth the time you spend on it. See these websites yourselves.

SJCE in the news

My former engineering college has made it to the news in India.Students of Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE - website: www.sjce.ac.in) won't have to run around the campus to check attendance, timetable, mess and exam fees, semester or internal assessment marks anymore.

All they need to do is just insert a 'smart card' into card readers on touch screen kiosks and they will get all the information they need. The College is planning to introduce 'e-purse' where the administrative block and bank will be networked through the LAN (local area network). With a view to ensure discipline among teaching and non-teaching staff, the management has also installed radio frequency identifier to keep track on them.

"We have already received 27 cards so far, which will be issued to the non-working staff, who will flash it on the identifier. We can easily check their attendance", our present principal has informed.

The cards will also contain residential addresses, contact numbers and blood groups of students.

Smart cards will be used for many purposes. Students can also pay mess bills, exam fees and others.

This is the first time such stuff is being tried out in India.It is really nice to read and learn more about such things.The other links for today are www.simpy.com and www.scienceblog.com -I am trying these out.The sites are great full of info that I think is awesome.Keeps me updated on whats going on.

A small time saving tip

Save time by hitting the return key instead of clicking on "search"

The website for today is www.inorder.org - I am figuring out how to use it better.

Next Billion

www.nextbillion.net is an awesome website from www.wri.org - I keep checking stories from these 2 websites-some are really good ideas and ideas can be used to benefit all including oneself.Try it.

Digg

I should have written about this some time back-most are familiar with this but a few who are not are always there.A really great source of tech news is www.digg.com - the best feature about the website.
"Digg is a technology news website that employs non-hierarchical editorial control"

www.MOUSE.org and media sites

I found this not for profit interesting-hope many people are making use of the information on this website.

http://www.mouse.org/

The Indian or Desi (translated as "local") Version of www.paidcontent.org is found at
www.contentsutra.com - when will the kind of jopbs advertised in Paid Content find their way into Content Sutra!.I would say faster than usual as "word of mouse" spreads and the seal is closed when people find it really useful.

Time Saving tips

These are tips which are time tested and will hold good as long as we need to communicate and do things more efficiently in an eco-friendly way.

1. Systematize - Stop reinventing the wheel and recreating the same things over and again. Create systems to handle repetitive tasks. For example, I have standard letters all created and saved in my computer along with standard documents such as directions to my office and various articles I share with others. Be sure to have adequate supplies you can readily access. Use one calendar to keep track of appointments. Work with a clean desk and have most frequently used items within arm’s reach. Schedule maintenance for your equipment and yourself.

2. Plan Adequate Sleep - You can have a great to do list for your next day but if you are tired, your productivity will be adversely impacted. Schedule a sufficient amount of sleep. The amount is different for each of us. Some need eight hours, some more, and some less. Your body knows the answer.

3. Attend a Speed Reading,typing and writing Class - The average person reads at about 200 words per minute and spends a couple of hours each day reading.The writing speed is lesser and typing speed is even lesser. What if you could increase all 3 speeds?
What takes 2 hours can now be done in 1 hour or you can continue to spend the same amount of time reading, but read twice as much.
Sign up for a speed-reading,typing and writing class.It helps.

4. Develop Your Communication Skills - A lot of your personal success in the future will be in direct relationship to your ability to competently and confidently communicate what you know both orally and in writing. Make it an ongoing commitment to continue to improve your speaking and writing skills. You’ll save time and have a more successful career.

5. Develop Your People Network - Personal productivity in large amounts has to do with the good cooperation of other people. Someone who does not enjoy the good cooperation of others can surely be productive but not as productive as one who enjoys that cooperation. On an on-going basis, develop your list of personal contacts, your networking list. Always offer to help everyone on your list whenever you can. (“To have a friend, first be a friend.”) Do it right and your network will be there for you when you need it.Social Networking websites like www.ryze.com , www.linkedin.com , www.orkut.com , www.stumbleupon.com , www.smallworld.net and membership of a few industry bodies like www.tie.org, www.inplasin.org (Indian Plastics Institute - in my case-I am a Plastics Engineer) all help to get more business and help to do good.I helped out people without expecting anything in return and it has paid back-what works for me will work for you too.Be positive in your approach and value friends and friendship.

Read the morning paper for knowing what is going on - some executives do not do it and companies suffer because of it.Local knowledge is critical and it helps if you know local problems and are able to give best of breed solutions for similar problems.

I am trying to save power in India by using a solution developed in the US-the only thing that helps today is focus on a real existing problem and then brainstorming and meeting the people who are known experts in that field and get solutions that work.To really make the other person believe one has to act sincerely in the other person's or company's interest.It has been done earlier and will continue to be done in business and personal life.

Another example is SPAM - a genuine problem for many executives- one solution to spam can be a password protected wiki page for employees.

Be creative in your thinking and solutions will follow & know how to make the best use of technology and communication-these are the key to growth.

Focus on building a business

These days all I care about is what my service or product does, why it is valuable to the end user, why it is uniquely different from the competition, what the barriers to entry are, and how I will reach my end customers and how I will ultimately make money.I too am trying to answer these questions and will find the answers sooner rather than later.
http://www.yourelevatorpitch.com
This is what I am reading so that I do more business and make more money and benefit everybody.

JetEye

www.JetEye.com has launched a beta version of a shared search platform that combines user generated search results from any engine for blogs, photos, links (whatever) and piles them neatly into self-organized packets called "Jetpaks." The personalized Jetpaks are wiki-ready and can be set up to be edited, commented on, or added to by other Jetpak owners (at the users discretion). Like blogs, you can link to other Jetpaks you like. These are all indexed, of course, and made available, through user submission, on the Jeteye search index.

The results are interesting to say the least and some really are useful topics which I never even thought about.My thumbs up for JetEye.

Ning and Zend

I like www.ning.com and www.zend.com for their innovative ideas which you can bild on.

The ability to triumph

The ability to triumph or succeed no matter from which field you come,what background you come from starts from just one person - ONLY YOU.Money will always help but who is going to give you money on a silver platter? and even if you manage to get that on a silver platter will you be able to hold on to it - a fool and money soon part company is something one must always remember.Find genuinely good people interested in your welfare and know that such people exist even today - you really have to struggle to find such people and you have to create your own opportunities whether it is starting your own company or applying for a job or getting someone to manage what you have and grow the same.

It is really very tough and creativity helps you a lot in finding people like these.Be creative have fun and do the right thing-it really helps.Find someone who can really inspire you and give yourself a break too by not being too harsh on yourself.Do something kind which nobody will come to know.For some great motivational quotes see www.woopidoo.com

Take care of your health too as being in good health always helps.At the end of the day it is you vs everybody else so be the change and live it-it just takes one person to change the world and make people sit up with their eyes glued and ears perked and soon you will get what you want.
I believe in it.Do you?

A testimonial and thoughts on scaling and innovation

Thank you very much for the info and emails, many of them i
have found very useful!

Sent by a user of the info given to him by me.These are real users and the fact is some people
are definitely benefiting and reading the information I give out.I just hope I have made
some lives easier and have highlighted whats the worse that can happen - the world will
not eat you or your,friends & family alive if you don't deliver owing to circumstances
beyond your control!.

I am following a story on scalability and blogs - my take on this is the internet is
going to grow and people will always keep creating and offering opportunities! what
are you doing to even be prepared?

I try to be rational and take only what can be measured in real term-ie stuff that
gives me financial benefit immediately or in a short period of time,I try to save
lives or make the same more comfortable,minimize the expense of resources for co's
and people and save time - many face a lack of the same and many do not pay the
attention that is needed to their business.

http://www.technorati.com/weblog/2005/09/45.html

Find a link to the story I am trying to learn from above.It is important from the point
of view of scaling and doing it right.A quick note about innovation I think is ok
over here.

If a process/product or a service or both is not one of your core processes, outsourcing innovation there should be a no-brainer. And if you happen to innovate yourself in those spaces - try selling the innovation. But don't let it go to waste as most companies do - or try to build on it yourself.Imagine the amount just being spent to maintain a patent nobody uses but may use 10 years later!Ask is it really worth it and if not then why not open up the patent and bring it to use faster-atleast someone will benefit and that will actually give rise to a new business from which at least a few will benefit.

Even if a process is core to your business, say product innovation for products that you bring to market, you should still try to involve outsiders - customers, partners, suppliers, competitors, etc. - into your innovation processes. Ask why not?And you should constantly be on the lookout for outside innovations that could be bought or innovations from within that may not fit some of your minimum business criteria - i.e., minimum market size - but that might have value for outsiders.Or you have a hobby and not a potential biz opportunity.I like the link below for innovation.Has a nice name too!

http://www.thinksmart.com/index.html

That is all for now.

Code Quality

Want to the check the quality of code your software engineers write well one company which has a product that allows you to do the same is www.enerjysoftware.com
Check it out and get the people who just talk and perform below par-I have seen any number of people like that - just loudmouths with no substance in them - the fact is many people do not just care - they expect their companies to cover up for their performance,recognize these type of people and your company is safe if you know how to deal with such people.

Rate your professors

www.ratemyprofessors.com
My prof will cry literally if I tell him how boring and dry his subject is!
Seriously my profesors expect me to do well - I expect them to bring out the best in me!How do you solve a problem like this? Will a Business Plan for such a rating website do rounds in IIM's and IIT's - the top institutes of India!Surely some IIM and IIT Grads will be looking at my SU Blog for ideas.
for more gyan (knowledge) on IITs and IIMs visit www.iitiim.com

This is the home of a few among the smartest people on earth and now that you - my blog readers know this it is time to make the best use of the info - use and gain,misuse and lose - it is that simple.Info holds the key to whatever you want to do - learn to use the same.A blind person cannot be equal to a person with a single eye - a person who knows to use info is definitely better than a person who does not know to use the info.However look for the capacity to pay attention to and an eye for detail among the candidates.Do not bother with people who do not show interest - it is not going to work ,the next better offer will make the person leave.Read the latest Business Week (Oct 10 2005) issue to learn more about how to keep the people who matter. The info makes a lot of sense.Oops I let out a secret about what magazines I read and what I think - well just put it to good use or lose out on the gyaan!

11 Questions and Answers

Here’s what I have so far…

1) What do I do well?

List out all areas in which you are the best.For eg I am somewhat good at searching the net and finding info.I use www.google.com/alerts to keep myself updated.I use www.eurekalert.org
to keep myself updated on technology advances.I use http://freshnews.org to get a good overview of tech happenings.I keep track of the latest patents www.freshpatents.com . I also use www.primidi.com to know what is the latest trend that will come in - in the near future.

2) What could I do better?

Make more meaning by actually being able to use the cutting edge stuff I have read.By realizing better cash returns from the knowledge I have.

3) Where do I participate?

I participate in forums,entrepreneurship meetings,group discussions with people from diverse backgrounds,investment related forums,KM forums,etc

4) Where could I participate more?

In more focused forums and personal meetings with important individuals.

5) What else could I do to delegate better?

Find a good partner and build a team with core competencies that complement mine.

6) Do I suffer from attention deficit trait?Am I really paying attention and understanding the implications?

Need to find out.ADT is being unable to pay attention due to preoccupations with minor things - like getting calls on the mobile that are not relevant.Being preoccupied with work at hand and not being able to plan a future course of action for the company.

7) Am I sucessfully being helped by members of team and company (or by the people I contact)?

Yes

8) How have I made their lives easier?

By helping them analyze information faster and better.

9) Where is my sense of humor,my ability to deal with unknown situations?

I still have it and am able to laugh and smile and ease tensions.

10) Am I or people I know suffering from ADD (Attention deficit disorder)-are all members in my team and company aware of it?

I do pay attention but have to work on it.I may one day take memory enhancement pills to remember if needed.

11) Am I keeping track of major changes in my own industry and otherindustries?How are these changes affecting team members and company?

I use www.changedetection.com and www.watchthatpage.com and being good at search and able to stay on top of trends.

Cut energy bills and work smarter

Energy costs a lot of money and waste of energy is avoidable to some extent.Majority of energy is consumed at home nowadays.To see how you can reduce energy consumption at home visit http://hes.lbl.gov and my guarantee is money is not all you will save.That apart you will actually help the city.Electricity will be better distributed in return for your selfless contribution.Now surely there must be other websites too that have tips to save energy?
Yes there are and some of the same are:

www.energystar.gov
www.energy.gov
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/efficiency/energy_savings.htm
www.fypower.org

Try to keep costs minimum-get the maximum benefit.Spare a thought for the less fortunate too and do more whatever possible to help.Collaborate and cut down on needless travel.Wikis are an excellent tool to help you do just that and make the best use of available stuff.Find out the best shared articles on energy us http://del.icio.us/tag/energy - popularize them through your blogs,forums,websites,emails whatever and use www.stumbleupon.com to rate their quality and further spread their usage and act in the interest of one and all.IT will get more than whatever you bargained for and knowing you have done good really helps and it really comes back to you ways you have never imagined.It has happened to me and it will happen to you also.

Be cautious and have ready policies - even for ignorant employees

Are you even aware what your employees or enthusiastic net savvy friends are doing to you.Everybody with some knowledge and common sense will tell you a little caution is better than remorse later!.

Let's face it, if you knew you wouldn't have been caught pulling the fire alarm at school so that you could postpone that math test would you have done it? The same moral dilemma faces those who use their PCs at work. Employees (particularly in larger corporations) don't see the real harm of network downtime--it's just a paid break. And if they don't see people getting fired for abuse (I'm not talking about porn here, but shopping, blogging, gambling, etc., etc.) what risk do they really take in abusing their Internet access? Besides, if you do happen to infect the network with the latest worm you're just a poor, little end-user and you're really, really sorry. And how many IT departments are actually going to track the thing down once the fire's been put out? Not many--the standard e-mail reminder to be more careful will have to suffice (oh, and remember to attach a copy of the corporate e-mail/Internet policy).

Make the policy if you do not have one already.Big companies be shocked to find out few people care and small companies be really cautious-only u will have to fend for yourself when the going gets tough.

While I am not excited about big companies, et al taking a stronger oversight role when it comes to internet,workstation and network security, businesses (particularly smaller ones) really do need help against their own worst enemy--themselves.

First and foremost search for email policies,review the same,add your own safeguards and make sure everybody knows.Put the disaster recovery plan too in place.Any search engine will tell you the relevant links and articles.Ignorance costs a lot and who will really sympathize with you if you slip off a lying banana skin on the ground.Folks will laugh and learn at your expense.Know that-period.

Kids for future

I have found this awesome site which shares tips to help us think about the environment and how children are doing the next to impossible task-driving sense into adults and making good money.

http://www.kidsforfuture.net/

This is an initiative of www.japanfs.org

Keep up the awesome work.

Raw Sugar and Youtube

I have not blogged for sometime now.I found www.youtube.com and www.rawsugar.com to be awesome and well both sites are like my favorite website http://del.icio.us and do not forget to check the tags by different people who knows what you will find out there.The only way to make progress is to make good use of available resources and scale the same up at minimal costs.Increase your audience too by networking with key people offline and online too and see the difference.

I am also using Stumble Upon toolbar to spread awareness about hurricane Katrina's innocents and want to help unite people by directing the people and their well wishers to websites that are relevant in the hope uniting missing people and their friends and relatives.Another way is I am actually popularizing the message that people are helping out and one has to hope for the best-in times like these hope is the only strength giver and one who has hope will do better than one who has no hope-it is important to keep spirits up and energize the whole community and all those trying to help-the best way to do this is by smiling and working against all odds to survive and make a difference.

To see my Stumbles see http://parvez.stumbleupon.com and note that my Stumbles are being seen as I appear within the top 50 - 100 results for the keyword "parvez"- think about what you are doing to make a difference and be the difference you want to see in society.Think about it and may Allah (the Almighty) have mercy on all of us.Aameen.

2 Secret weapons not known to many entrepreneurs

Here are two secret weapons that will make your international dealings much smoother, especially where time and money are concerned!

Time and date .com
Have you ever tried to coordinate a conference call with people in two or more time zones, or made a call only to realize that you were reaching out to say “bonjour” in the middle of the night? This very simple but incredibly useful site has helped us time and time again to successfully coordinate calls and meetings with people in multiple countries and time zones. Sometimes it's hard enough keeping Pacific Standard Time (PST) straight with Mountain Daylight Time (MDT). But what if daylight savings is in effect? And what's the difference between UTC or GMT time?

TimeandDate.com shows you where any major city is by pointing it out for you on a map. It also tells you in real time, the time of day and day of the week (don't forget the international date line!) and provides international dialing codes and more.

http://www.timeanddate.com

FXConverter
Even if you officially swore off number crunching after that ego-crippling statistics class in college, The Foreign Exchange Currency Converter makes the complicated world of international currency as simple as dollars and cents, pounds and pence.

This multi-lingual converter couldn't be easier to use, either. With a few clicks you can instantly figure out how much a U.S. ten spot is worth in 164 different currencies. (If you're curious, ten bucks is worth 8.02 Euros, 5.52 British Pounds and 56.37 Seychelles Rupees.)

In the immortal words of all those late night infomercials... "But wait, there's more!" FXConverter also gives you historical rates, bid/ask prices and can even display the results in different languages. With this tool you'll make any cents make sense.

http://www.FXConverter.com

The teen market

These are some general statements I am making today after seeing a lot many websites that have statistics

• About 25 million teens use the internet and half of them say they go online every day.Mainly to check email and write something or the other on their blogs,forums or to chat for the fun of it.
  
• 51 percent of teens have access to broadband connections.This is mainly in developed countries.
  
• 81 percent of wired teens play games online, which is 52 percent higher than four years ago.This is mainly because teens get bored easily and always want something new and videogames give this experience to them-a word of caution has to be put here as games are very addicitive-a few people have actually died as a result of playing online games continuously.Everything needs to moderated and one should keep emotions under control and let off steam occassionally.
  
• More than 76 percent of teens read news online, which is really high.This true for developed countries and using technology to solve real world problems are being looked at.
  
• Approximately 10- 15 percent have made purchases online, which is really high.Ask any portal and retail firm on the net and get the statistics-the numbers could be higher.
  
• ABout 3-10 percent use the internet to get health information, which shows teens want to take care of their health and be informed about the bees and the birds.
• A large no of teens are helping parents find solutions to general problems by using the internet.This is being fuelled by companies who are encouraging students to write essays and poems on topics they like and some suggestions given by these students are actually used and spun off into products and services which are used by companies-Science and tech events in the top colleges are favorite hunting grounds for many companies.
  

Many are using services like say www.google.com/alerts to keep up with trends and keywords are usually games,filesharing,streaming video,technology, news, etc.Auction are always a hit and many a bargain are found on auction sites like eBay and Yahoo auctions.
Many teens are members of social networks too like Ryze,Orkut,linkedin etc.this fills their need for making friends all the time.

One of the best websites to get info on what teens want is www.teenresearch.com .The messages from this post are:
1)Understand teens better
2)Help teens be moderate in whatever activity and correct wherever needed.
3)Do not promote stuff that can be harmful to teens (eg violent videogames).
4)Know that the teens are powerful and influence many a decision maker.
5)Ignore teens at your own risk

Pharmacy Jobs in US

I can perhaps help really great people from the Pharma Industry get jobs worldwide-the people have to be really good and willing to trust me.They should also have the best interest of patients in mind first and foremost.for more details please email me at ahmedparvez@yahoo.com

I am not going to guarantee this and all I am going to say I will try.

B Plan Archives

learn from mistakes already made and add your unique mistakes.Surely one has to give back to society.

http://www.businessplanarchive.org/

This is a comment I hope you will agree with on try and try again till you succeed.It is a take on it and I find it funny yet true.

If at first try you DO Not SUCCEED then Skydiving is not for you!

Carbonxt

http://www.carbonxt.com/about.html- should keep a track of this company.This too uses www.utilipoint.com reports.

Not blogged for a long time

I have been busy and have made some progress in the venture I plan to start in the area of clean energy.A prof and a friend from IIM Bangalore are looking into the same and have said they will help me out if possible.

The websites I will post today are about energy and infrastructure:
www.indiacore.com
www.utilisenergy.com
www.utilipoint.com
www.enr.com
www.usgbc.org

True power of social networks and dialogue

The success stories are there regarding jobs,startups and business arising out of contacts and further dialogue that happens due to the advent of blogs and Social Software startups.One just has to look hard enough and with a bit of luck one does find them and gets inspired to do something more and it is for the better of everyone in the neighbourhood and the world.
Today I read a story which narrated how social networks were helping to cure schizophrenia in developing and for the poor in developed countries.It just goes to show open dialogue almost always works when done sincerely and all concerned win-the care provider,the patient and the community win.
Even the conservative Business Week has started blogging and spreading hope and giving ideas and that goes to show what blogs and social networks can do-I found a tenant for a flat through a social network and made a commission so all can do it provided they access the net and use their initiative.
I also like http://blo.gs
It has been gobbled up by Yahoo and is reaching many web users right now too.

My gripes against the richest 1%

There are times when we need to act and this is because more the things change - the more similar they are:

1. It does not make any difference to the top 1% of the population globally as these people are really rich and most are cursed with a disease called INDIFFERENCE.The rich are not really bothered about how much some blokes down in the street pay for smallest of neccessities like food and water.All thee people care about is that is/are my interest(s) safe.
2. The really powerful are really headstrong and are seldom willing to listen to the voices of ordinary people.
3. Governments toe the dictats of such people 99 % of the time.

Today another fuel price hike is likely to happen in India and prices of all commodities are likely to increase and on the other hand the government is providing free power to farmers and the less said about the price of water for the rich and famous in India the better as the world will never see a more skewed picture of how pricing goes wrong and why nodoby is held accountable.Bureaucracy,police,politicians and judiciary are equally to blame for this sorry state of affairs and all forget the one basic fact of life-everybody dies and has to give an account of whatever one has done in life.

The rich and famous will not escape this accountability and neither will members of the oil cartel who are rolling on the floor and laughing at the ease with which they get higher oil prices never mind anything else in the world the rich people have to get more money and luxuries-the best you know-nothing short of it.

Maybe rarely these people act kindly and do something for satisfying their own guilty conscience but it is a very rare event!.if you feed a poor person once and insult that poor person everyday what is the really great thing that you have done?

I would openly appeal to people who read this blog to act on the opportunity to reduce energy prices in India once for all and change the dream called India-by actually making it come true!learn to accept people as they are and be ready to put your money where your mouth is or forever get used to being cheated by hypocrites.

This is why I appreciate companies like www.ebay.in - at least they really try to bridge the distance between a buyer and seller.

A few really good sources on info on energy are:

www.sunwindenergy.com
www.solarbuzz.com

Act to reduce the cost of energy before more people die and kill for energy and the right to live a decent life.

Developing science and Tech in India

We all should remember here that the ink of the scholar who does the best he can for common people is really better than the blood the martyrs for a cause.All R & D should benefit common people and not cartels that merely fix prices and indulge in favoritism and are least bothered about other people.Such people also exist and people from such cartels too have been known to change for the better when the realization comes.

It is essential to have an assured career in science for a certain number of high quality committed scientists with aptitude towards research. There should be a minimum annual intake of about 300-500 M.Sc., and 100-200 Ph.D. scientists with proper emoluments and assured career growth in the organisations such as ISRO, DRDO, Atomic Energy, CSIR, DST and the Universities. The private and government funded universities must be encouraged to appoint M.Sc., and Ph.D. who have been selected through a nationally coordinated competitive selection process.

I would love to see true fairness in recruitment here.When will the government deliver on promises made-speedy implementation is the key here.It has to be measured.

The experienced scientists and policy makers of the organisations must recognize the talents available in the organisation irrespective of the position and empower the young scientists to create state-of-the art laboratories once they have concrete thoughts and vision.

These people in power must be held accountable for the salaries drawn and the reporting has to be to a body of professionals who will act in the interests of society.

Kindly do your bit instead of playing with careers of students and faculty alike.Sincerity does make a difference and a single person can bring about change-the will has to be there.
Even a single person is able to bring change-what is needed is belief and conviction and most important of all support.

Universities and Research and Development institutions must encourage and facilitate the young scientists to write quality research papers in frontier areas and in prestigious journals. They should also facilitate the youth to present the papers in national and international seminars and symposiums which will enable them to assess their standard against international benchmarks.

Why publish and sell our ideas for free-I would love to see us making money from our ideas or do we need foreigners to tell us how to make money too.Surely we should extract our pound of flesh.

The youth must be made to understand the beauty of doing science, the pleasure of doing science and the ultimate bliss when the results of science make them understand the nature, master it, control it and finally make things that improve the quality of life of the human kind. Every one of us, scientists must pledge that we will at least spend sometime visiting the schools to ignite the young minds by recounting our own experiences.

Beauty does not feed hungry mouths-there is a need for jobs entrepreneurs and people with guts to follow through and go the whole 9 yards.Get prominent members from industry to drive our research and development and make these people accountable to tax payer with jail terms if needed.

Make sure the police do their jobs and so do the lawyers and policy makers.Reduce and later eliminate corruption.That is what will work. For a great example on how to reduce corruption and still get good work done from people look at the Indian Railways-it is continously minimizing corruption by reducing contact points between people and managing to increase technlogy usage in Indian Railways.

Another email that makes the info I give worthwhile

Thanks for valuable information and if you want to share this kind of information you can directly send them to the yahoo waterclean group. By this way more people can get benefit or if the material is very long then you can send the link for people.
This is from a PhD in US.For joining the Yahoogroup please send me an email and I will send you the link.

Books and magazines

Some of you may wonder just how do I get the ideas for articles and the website addresses I post over here and the secret is very simple-I read and surf a lot and subscribe to magazines like Business Week, Business2 and Technology Review.Just renewed the subscriptions today from www.readerspoint.com - I used to work there earlier and still have an excellent relation with the firm.

Presently I am reading 2 books-Google the Missing manual and Authentic Business.Why-Google for searching the net and Authentic Business for ideas on how to build an authentic business.

Will post more websites tomorrow.

Free Courses on Starting your own Business

Some of the best things in life are free and so are the courses being conducted by a co I really respect.I love McGraw-Hill and the magazines it publishes.

The venerable Business Week has free courses on entrepreneurship and business planning and related stuff and yes it does help if you are a subscriber to the print magazine as you have access to all the archives free! and you do have bonuses like the neatly hidden ones below:

See www.bwcourses.com

LifeStraw

"Interesting device. I've passed it on to about a dozen people. You should probably start a thread in a forum if you really want to get the idea out tho... that will get even more people seeing it."

http://www.index2005.dk/Members/dafude/bodyObject

Send the link to as many people as possible.It will help save lives.

Above is an actual comment from a very influential person who has the interest of people and I am really happy to know I am making a difference to the lives of people.

Do the needful and at the earliest.I am trying my best and so should we all-whatever we do we should not crib later and should enjoy doing the same.

On making a real difference

“If you come only to help me, you can go back home. But if you consider my struggle as part of your struggle for survival, then maybe we can work together.”

I hope all who read this blog understand me and work with me and make my struggle to make real difference their own struggle too and that is before I give up!

Make Poverty history and Ryan's Well Foundation

I am all for it and am doing the least I can to make a difference - popularizing the website and the movement on this blog which full of interesting info and websites.

I also want to add here that I have been able to make a difference in trying to make a difference in increasing the sugar production of the world as I am sure people will use the information I provided to an influential Yahoo Group of which I am a member.

Giving information about tried and tested products and solutions is the least we can do for benefiting everyone we know and in a way I am doing it and writing about it here.Today I also found the website of Ryan's Well foundation - I had read about the story in Readers Digest when I was a youngster and had always admired the courage and tenacity of Ryan who set out to make a difference by providing drinking water to an entire community by digging a well in Africa.

Both the websites are mentioned here and will urge all of us to do something more for everybody we know and do not know as well.Why I have not bothered about really popularizing this website-well because I use it as a personal reservoir of websites and information that my friends,well-wishers and I care about & not every one has these same interests.I know if people like the info presented here the info will spread and make a difference and one life made easier is a big difference.

Think and do something more is my only request.

1) http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/

Every single day, 30,000 children are dying as a result of extreme poverty. This year, 2005, we finally have the resources, knowledge and opportunity to end this shameful situation.

That's what this website is about. Join the band of people who are taking action to make poverty history. It only needs to take you a matter of minutes every month, but it will help us to literally change the world.

If this is your first visit to the site these are the 3 things you should do - join us now, get a white band & find out more.

2) http://www.ryanswell.ca/index.php

Ryan has always been a very sensitive boy. His parents and those around him have tried to nurture this characteristic. His grade one teacher, Mrs Prest was able to inspire Ryan. He decided that raising money for wells for people who didn't have clean water would be a good thing. He worked for four months in order to earn his first $70.

It grew from the $70 collected by doing simple household chores, to the support of non-profit organizations such as WaterCan, CPAR, CIDA and Free the Children. It grew to over $1,000,000 in support of people in Africa who need clean water.

"I'm just a normal boy," Ryan says when anyone asks about his achievements. Although many people would disagree with this statement, it is very true. He plays soccer, basketball and hockey. He enjoys reading, playing Nintendo and swimming as well. He has friends in the elementary school he attends, including dedicated volunteers like Jack who, like Ryan, plans to be a water engineer when he grows up. He loves to visit his Nana and his cousins in Ontario's Niagara region and his Grandparents near Deep River, Ontario. Ryan plays with his brothers Jordan and Keegan and with dog Riley. He has been writing to his African pen pal Jimmy Akana, who you may have seen with him on the cover of Reader's Digest.

Throughout, Ryan's family has been very supportive of his efforts to get clean water to Africa. Older brother Jordan sets up most of Ryan's audiovisual presentations and little brother Keegan has licked hundreds of stamps for thank you letters and notes that have been sent around the world. The Hreljacs live in a country home in North Grenville, just south of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Helping out Start ups - in the hardest step!

First identify the hardest step - the idea stage idea to business plan writing to the forming of the company.

Then comes the hardest step - finding the first client and adding real value to the client so that all come back for more!

I have found a company that actually does the same and it invests mostly in computer-related ideas. It does it because it is full of technology and net savvy people, it prefer groups that have a lot of technical depth. It actually cares more about how smart a person is more than how old the person is, and more about the quality of your idea than whether a formal business plan exists or not.

Yup such a dream company exists and I honestly wonder when individuals especially the ones who really want to help start doing more and talking less!

www.ycombinator.com

The link is given only to prove such a company exists and we should do more.I am doing my bit my writing this blog and giving examples - why?

It is only in the hope that good people come forward to help me out!

Anyway ... with or without help I will always try to do whatever I can to help out people by giving examples and doing what I can and Inshallah I will succeed sooner rather than later!

I hope the example has inspired readers of this blog to do whatever they can and now!

Madagascar Technology: Proven method for boosting rice yield

I am actually being able to help people try out ideas and measure results!.

So I am beginning to make a difference and so can you-if I can do it through the net so can you.I found tenants for my flat through the net and I did not have to pay a real estate agent and now I am getting a decent rent for the flat I have in Bangalore.

The only things you need are confidence and a smile.For more info on this topic send me an email.You all do know my email address by now and it is there in the archives also so make it a point to search the blog or the net and I am sure you will find stuff you can use.

Madagascar Technology: Proven method for boosting rice yields

Thanks dear, for providing such imp. note on SRI (SYSTEM OF Rice Intensification) method.
I will try to agree some farmers of Madhya Pradesh to adopt this method and
result sent to you.

Yellow pages,ideas and VC Ball

1. www.vcball.com
2. www.insiderpages.com
3. www.springwise.com
4. www.venturewiki.com

Hop you all benefit and yes I do keep using technorati tags (www.technorati.com) to keep upto date.The key words I use Startups,technology,ideas and Venture capital.

Think about doing the same and yes you too can be successful few tips here are:

1. Built trust in your family and friends and persuade them to help out.Ask and thou will be given.
2. Always be frugal with money and use it ony when absolutely essential.
3. Be willing to give up equity to the right people.
4. Find out as much info as possible about the business you want to enter into from friends/colleagues/consultants etc. and learn by yourself.

Use tools to save time and money and enable others to do the same - charge for the same and you are in business.For example you can always request your friends who use Windows 2000 to download an internet accelarator from Google-it works.That is how one can save time.

get paid for your job search

You have been taken for a ride for too long. Recruiters, online job sites and middlemen make millions of dollars, selling your Resume. It's not fair! You do all the work. You deserve a piece of the action.
For the first time, Employers pay you to contact you. Make money selling your resume... whether or not you take the job!

yes such a firm exists and these are types that will make a difference in my opinion.Do not say later you did not find my blog useful.

www.g2bay.com

This is no joke!

Even if I knew that the world would go to pieces tomorrow, I would
still plant a tree today!

I am genuinely trying to get an innovative power company to India which promises to increase the efficiency of existing thermal power plants by 20-25% using wasted heat..

For more details please email me.My email is ahmedparvez@yahoo.com

Ndiyo-means yes in Swahili

www.ndiyo.org

This is an awesome effort.Support the same by doing whatever possible.I have shown my suppot for this by writing about it on my blog.
I have shared it also with my audience on Stumble Upon too-I think it is awesome.

solutions for existing problems

this post is just to remind and draw attention towards the basics and build on that foundation by informing of innovative solutions to existing problems which are also mentioned here:

1. Problem : Infrastructure is under a great strain to meet the demands for oil security, roads are inadequate, ports are not really being modernized, power situation is horrible Solution : The spending has to be done by government and private companies and people alike and merelip service is just not going to satisfy the ordinary people as everybody wants results and sooner or later.A difference has to made and progress needs to be seen A cartel that sort of fix prices for coal and ntural gas will be formed and if the money comes from governments and individuals after a little grumbling well so be it..These things have been seen earlier and we all know what the cement companies and oil companies did earlier in the name of progress and coming together to improve technology and all that crap.
   
2. Power: Technology and companies exist that can reduce costs of energy.Sooner rather than later cartels. Solution: Use innovative services for minimizing the cost of power by really helping out people who are doing a lot for energy conservation-these are basic in nature:for public lighting find out about the use of LED's.These indeed consume a lot less power than ordinary lights or CFL's.Architects have to be told to design energy efficient buildings that use less energy (see www.thevospad.com for a model).Computers need to be switched off when not in use. (see www.verdiem.com). Using a motor of the correct size for the application will reduce consumption by almost 20%.Compressors and pumps which have variable speed drives are available today or they can be made-we need to use the same. Transmission losses in India can be reduced by changing over to 400 KV transmission voltage.

I want to end here by saying by hook or crook we will end up paying the government or private players the money which we can rightly save and keep as our legitimate income-private people use asset recovery agents and we all know the type of people they are and the governments just tax the citizens and do not act adequately in the interests of the people.There will be more on these problems and a few innovative solutions will be suggested however all solutions should begin with a will to implement the same an for this a change in the attitude of people is need and for this ideas have to be presented and executed well-the best idea is to increase the morale of a failure by facilitating and making the failure believe that it is possible to do wonders and then even if the failure is ditched after sometime (making the failure a true believer)-the fire in the belly will be there to make a difference and that is going to get a lot of innovation and will spread it to ordinary people-the process will become irreversible.
This is what the cricket series played between India and pakistan have done and people to people contact has indeed increased by leaps and bounds and no person is in a position to reverse this trend.The warmth between people seen on both sides of the border during the test and one-day cricket series had to be seen to be believed and reflected a gfenuine desire for peace and cooperation in helping the region grow.
More will follow on these topics later.

Yet another 3D company-Ya3DC

www.lightspacetech.com
is yet another 3 D company I have found on the Internet.The co has been featured in the latest issue of IEEE Spectrum.

what makes Silicon Valley so conducive to creating startup companies

what makes Silicon Valley so conducive to creating great startups?

The things that makes any area conducive to business creation (the Bay Area or Boston or Austin or wherever) are an entrepreneurial culture and a supportive ecosystem of institutions and professionals.

While it is certainly possible to create great businesses without those things, it is far more challenging. Places like the Bay Area tend to have a disproportionate number of individuals who are willing to bet on risky ventures. And they have a disproportionate number of lawyers, bankers, investors, accountants who have an expertise in business creation. In combination, all these things are self reenforcing and create an even stronger startup culture, which in turn creates a stronger drive towards business creation, which in turn fuels an economy of startup-focused service providers, which in turn lubricates the funding process, which in turn promotes startup growth, which in turn creates an even stronger startup culture, and so on.

Bangalore too has many people but many if not all have a stupid herd mentality and nobody gives a damn to people who have failed earlier in their previous ventures.To be a true winner really take a bet on a large number of companies and invest small sums only.A small sum of US $10,000 gets a lot of work done here (in Bangalore or a good city in India) and the fact is people here normally charge only on actuals (I am not talking of the big companies here).

The best type of people exist here too but these are really well hidden and one has to really search a lot and maybe these type of people will think of helping out-unlike in Silicon Valley where say a KPCB will offer you a check to just try out your concept.The check will be just enough to meet your expenses but hey it comes without the delay and immediately trust is established.It is this faith people show that spurs on these entrepreneurs who have spotted an opportunity and have had the guts to present their idea to a VC fund or Angel fund.

That said what further needs to be emphasized here is recognize the potential of an idea when you hear it and act after the same and not keep an entrepreneur waiting-the waiting period destroys whatever little trust an entrepreneurs has in an investor.

Tips to build a company are:

1. Listen to the idea patiently
2. Help the entrepreneur build a team
3. Incorporate the company
4. Write a business plan with the help of all stakeholders
5. Cut down costs to the barest minimum
6. Give visibility to the idea by giving a freebie
7. Use the net extensively to promote
8. Win the trust of team members and potential clients.

All this is done in Silicon Valley and the atmosphere there is a state of mind and people actually teach others what they do not know-it does not happen a lot here however it is changing and it is for the better.

The link I have seen today is www.innovations-report.com
Some credit for this article goes to www.ventureblog.com and to Dr Sadagopan's blog.

An enterprise accelaration company

If you have a special server-based application with a half-second response time in the United States, and a five-second response time in India, it's a big problem. Companies that can optimize the performance of WAN-based applications to make acceptable response times without costing more will do well.

Swan Labs, a company that participates exactly in enterprise-application acceleration. It designs and builds appliances to perform these services for large enterprises.

I am beginning to like the talk about such companies with innovative products and services.When will people learn to love saving time better by using better technology.I think companies in the Enterprise accelaration space will do well.What needs to be done is see how we can use technology better.

The URL www.swanlabs.com

Become better and faster and differentiate yourselves if you can afford it or barter-it still works,just find out the pain points of the other company/person whose need you can aticipate and complete.

NewsBurst

I love www..newsburst.com an excellent way to get the news you are interested in and the sources that have been recommended too are among the best news sources for techies.
ww.NextAris.com too is good and gives you great results

A link for skin specialists

The link below is for skin specialists and I found it and it has been appreciated by a really good skin specialist.

http://rms.nelh.nhs.uk/skin/

I am getting approvals for my website findings and this information is being used by real people in real places.

Free Internet hotels

such hotels exist and the site where you will find them is below and the number is growing all the time.

http://chainhotels.com

Know your hotel better.

C++Reference

the 2 sites below are among the best for C++ and C programming and a very good programming magaine is Dr Dobbs Journal (www.ddj.com)

www.cppreference.com
www.cuj.com

I hope you readers like the websites and more importantly use them well!

The Power of Dreams

Believe in yourself-in the power that you have to control your own life,
You know yourself best & the fact is the situation at home and at work is full of strife

What is there in front of you is a very big task
Breaking it into doable bits is not a very difficult ask!

Day by day, believe in the strength that you have deep inside
Your faith will show the direction forward and do it with pride

Believe in tomorrow and the joy it will bring,
Show you are making a difference by doing your own thing!

Matters will get sorted out so keep your dreams alive
Things always work out and in tough times only do tough people thrive!

There is absolutely no limit to what an individual can do
So go confidently in the direction of your dreams and make the same true
I want all to take inspiration from these words and chart their own success stories too!

Have fun blogging

The golden rules for blogging and gaining popularity in the blogosphere are written below for reference.

• Post consistently
• Post frequently
• Write about what interests you--within reason
  
• Share and give credit
• Have a point of view
  
• Listen to everything--and everyone
• Have fun

Not to mention that whatever you do have fun,be helpful and be productive,try not to hurt sentiments of people and see how things can be done most effectively at the least cost to yourself and it is nice to indulge in some ego-surfing once in a way.One should try to find out why one is popular and what is the real reason behind the same - and a bad name is also a name as the saying goes in Urdu

Nafrat hi Sahi -Ulfath Na Sahi - Usko bhi Mohabbath kehte hain

Translated

People hate me - Cetainly do not love me - That is also love (of a different type)

I have signed up for http://360.yahoo.com Yahoo's new initiative in the social software space

Overcoming lack of knowledge & experience

Knowledge and experience of the type of business you are starting or buying are certainly important to have. But, a lack of either, or of both, can be overcome.One has to be pragmatic and find a solution that works at a low cost.

What I am doing to overcome the drawbacks I have in me:

1. Learning from the best people,companies,websites and books I know.
2. Trying the whole process out for myself .
   
3. Build on the gains from the learning experience.
4. Keeping myself updated on what is happening in business, R & D and the impact on markets.
5. Being as frugal as possible
   

One has to keep the past of individuals and friends and companies in mind and not neglect the oldest proverbs in business and life-I ignored a proverb and paid dearly for it and in future I will be really cautious.

The link for today will be http://forum.belmont.edu/cornwall/

It is the among the best links I have found to date and the good professors thinking has influenced me quite a bit and there is still a lot to be learned about creating new opportunities and finding customers and as always hard cash is king for any business venture.Enough said.

No longer working-quit my job

Yes I have quit my job and will blog more from now on.

Save taxes worldwide

Use the link below to save taxes globally.

http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/Home

Got Amazon.com Invite

Yes I got the invite and am going to the function organized by Amazon.com in Bangalore.The talk is titled
"Building Blocks of Innovation" and yes I want people to know-to make innovation actually happen one has to be creative.Ideas are fleeting moments from which we can capture value - provided we write/register the idea some place for future reference and subsequent action.

My recipe for converting ideas into products/service or a combination of both is below :

1. Know the costs of implementation and making a prototype.
2. Show the prototype and demonstrate the product/service to people you trust for evaluation.
3. Release a trial version
4. gather feedback from actual users
5. Price the product/service properly
6. provide a no questions asked return guarantee/warrantee
7. Introduce a subscription based following

Have been travelling a lot and thats why was unable to write more on this blog.Today's websites are:

1. www.entreworld.org
   
2. www.emkf.org
   

NRI's rejoice

All NRI's who read this blog-rejoice.Read the small snippet of news below and remember you read it here !

www.rediff.com/money/2005/feb/28bud54.htm

Why India?

Many of you may be wondering what is real charm of India.

It is the passion with which we do things.It is truly inclusive and in most cases (not all) merit alone decides the capability of a person as even today a manager can fire or keep people on the bench (without actual work to do).

And what is life without Passion ?


Also look at the facts below too.


Human resources

India has over 1.2 billion people with its colleges graduating over 3,000,000 students a year. This has created a large resource pool.And these people are young too.

Advanced Education

India has an ancient tradition of education. Its 250 public universities, 1500 research institutions and over 10,000 colleges graduate over 300,000 master level students and 180,000 PhD and MD level students a year.Should more be said!.
Quality is relative here but the base is there and it can be built upon.

English

Almost all college and graduate level course work is conducted in English. India has the second largest pool of English-speaking college graduates in the world, second only to the US. Let the world know that we speak english,laugh english,walk english and talk english too (Amitabh's filmi dialogue).

Prevailing Wage

The prevailing wage in India is lower than US or developed country wages for a similar job.

British based legal system

India’s legal system, like the United States’, is based on the British model. Now we are shortly going to allow product patents too!

Quality

India is the pioneer in Information Technology and there is a place and brand called Bangalore which is beginning to look like what Silicon Valley was once upon a time.The only way is forward from here It is also the world leader in ISO and top level CMM certifications. The focus on quality has permeated the country’s business.

Ideas and direction - India gives these to the world in my opinion.Think about it.Are not Indian blogs popular.At times I do wonder how this blog is doing but then who has the time to really bother about ranking and all that nonsense.I am sure that many people do read what is written here though!

How stock markets work

Below is a joke I enjoyed a lot.

It was autumn, and the Red Indians on the remote reservation asked their

New Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a Red

Indian chief in a modern society, he couldn't tell what the weather was

Going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his

Tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members

Of the village should collect wood to be prepared.

But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He

Went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked

"Is the coming winter going to be cold?" "It looks like this winter is

Going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service Responded.

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more

Wood. A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it

Going to be a very cold winter?" "Yes," the man at National Weather

Service again replied, "It's definitely going to be a very cold winter."

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect

Every scrap of wood they could find.

Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you

Absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?" "Absolutely,"

The Man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."

"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, "The Red Indians are collecting wood like Crazy."

This is how stock markets work!!!

I love Oceans-doing my bit to clean the same

Are we really bothered about our oceans or we actually want a new Tsunami?

Ocean Futures Society believes that environmental education should emphasize our need to be better stewards of natural resources and teach us how we can do a better job in living more sustainably on this planet. Addressing these critical issues requires a new approach to how we think about the future.

I am requesting all not to be indifferent and do whatever we can for the sake of our own future.It is traumatic get swept under a wall of water and see not a single soul that can help you or for that matter anybody else.Let us not put plastics into the seas,oceans and other water bodies.Use plastics wisely!

http://www.OceanFutures.org

Do more - think for yourself what more can I do for everybody else and how I can get rid of the waste in my operations.Do it and get noticed and help your own company.

Importance of Collaboration,reading and sharing

Companies and inviduals collaborating more than ever today.
Reading more than ever today.
Sharing their aspirations with the whole world more than ever today.

Today's global market requires partnerships across the supply chain,information sharing and dissemination among employees and to the public in general to get the right economic, social and environmental benefits and it is needed more than ever.

Need further proof-almost every software company and any company with a look on the future will tell yes we do it more than ever and we do have :

1. more business
2. literature/notes we use to make business decisions
3. blogs-internal and external
4. plans to collaborate with other companies/bodies and organizations
5. more uncertainity than ever

All this is a result of all the three activities above.Today the main tasks for companies are:

1. Minimizing risks
2. Reducing costs
3. Preventing misuse of available resources
4. Investing wisely where there is a genuine potential for growth.Can be in unrelated industries too.
5. Using IT and the Internet and devices like mobile phones, PDA's,smartphones,SMS,Wiki,blogs,Lawyers and law firms,consultants and government information wisely.
6. All this needs to be done at the min. cost to the company.
7. Exploring opprtunities that are created as a result of advances in research and development within the company and outside the company.
8. Integrating all this together for a minimal cost and presenting the same to the people who need to know

Examples of companies that are doing collaboration well are plenty and one just needs to search the web.Sharing information is something companies are not doing well although many are just starting to understand the importance of sharing information-the fact is even by sharing information these companies have and are benefiting beyond their wildest dreams and no one really wants you to know as many companies are scared!

One of the best collaboration based exchanges between individuals and companies & organizations and vice-versa on the net is http://www.experts-exchange.com

The next questions that arises here is are we using this or not or is the person or company we hired doing it or not?

This is a time to be truly creative and creativity will result in disruption or improvement and both create opportunities.So grab your opportunities while they last.

A site that eliminates software errors before they happen

You should be wondering now what is this non-programmer talking about.Surely we write the best code and we seldom make mistakes-right.

Most software errors happen by chance and they happen without the code writer knowing about it and when the error does come to light - then it becomes too late and too expensive to do anything about the same!.

Now without wasting your time further I will inform that I have come across a website that eliminates coding errors before they happen (languages are C,C++ and Java right now).So without further delay check out

http://www.Klocwork.com

And try to reduce your mistakes.

A couple of Interesting companies

I think this company has it going for them

IT companies need a powerful, easy-to-use software platform that business analysts use to quickly and effectively visually communicate with to managers,stakeholders,decision makers.

The company is fast growing and provides developers an opportunity to test drive their web applications before writing software code.

The criteria I use to evaluate companies are:

1. Do they save time
2. Do they save resources (including Human resources,coputer resources and internet resources)
   
3. Do they do things on time (meeting set targets, are projects completed on time,..)
4. Do they capture a market really fast
5. Do they have the smarts to get the best people
6. Do they know where to source stuff from at the lowest cost (without getting into a 0 sum game)
   
7. Do they respond well to customers and potential customers
8. Do they keep themselves on top of trends (IT and Non IT)
9. Do they care for their customers and their environment
10. Do they innovate - if yes how regualrily

The company meets many of my criteria and is interesting alright.Without wasting further time here is the name
http://www.irise.com

Of course I do not have all the answers for each and every question I have been able to raise through this blog and many people will have these questions too but hey all of us should find our answers and play our part.I do my bit by letting all know and do prod you all to do yours from time to time and yes believe in yourself - if you don't who will?

I believe I am doing the right thing and do not want to be judged - in any case I am being judged by whom I am not going to tell and yes I am on my way up only. I did get the feedback from an IIM B graduate who knows I am good and I do get visits to this website from many different people including from people who just type in my name to see if they can see what I am up to and yea some of these are people who know me from engineering college,seminars,school and not for profit bodies too so I am being judged all the time - there is no escape at all for me.

I got an invite to the ET Knowledge forum in Bangalore to listen to the founder of www.nVidia.com and I am really excited about attending the presentation.I think nVidia too has it going for the company.I am sure the company does all the things mentioned above too.

Thanks ToI and ET.Really appreciate your gesture.I will make sure some business does happen and/or gets simplified due to my presence there.It will help out my country and company.Think about it many people are indeed coming to India to get new customers and knowledge.Even developed countries are worried about the pull of Bangalore and India to a large extent.

Doing my bit for the lighting industry

The fact is present forms of lighting in many developing countries and developed countries too consume tremendous amounts of energy.The biggest culprit is the Tungsten Filament light bulb which just emits heat and gives light.NO wonder an ordinary light bulb is very hot to touch-as far as possible we all must try to reduce the electricity we spend on lighting our homes and for minimizing this expense which all of us end up paying for with our pockets we can really ask governments and industries to actively explore less energy consuming bulbs like CFL lamps or tubelights.What is new here - as some of you expect me to provide something truly relevant over here apart from the ordinary right!

Well you will not be really dissappointed although a few among you will know about it but the message is for those who do not-ask people who you know to make the difference and be thecome the change you want to see in the world and the links are below for reference:

1. http://www.energystar.gov
2. http://www.thevospad.com
3. http://www.lightcongress.com

The last link is for those will spread the info about the conference and encourage the people who make a difference to participate in the conference-it is bound to light up the future and well I had read about the Vos Pad in http://Slashdot.org

Happy energy saving and lighting up the world.

My Yahoo appearance

today I checked out my yahoo appearance by typing parvez in the search bar-I was the first to appear due to my Stumble Upon reviews and when I tried Interesting websites I visit on Yahoo I was still no 1 on Yahoo too so it does mean that my views are spreading to people and are raising eyebrows alright!

All this is really inspiring me to keep on blogging more and more till I really do someting significant like save or improve a life-instill hope into the millions of bloggers who are really trying hard to prove a point or make a living or whatever but yes some people are looking up no doubt about the same!.

thats all for now !

todays links

Today I want to inform you all about a few really good links I am sure that will be really helpful-so here goes nothing:

http://www.seekingalpha.com
http://www.doc-online.org
http://www.strategiy.com

Those of you who really wonder how I manage to find so many websites and relevant information and post it here well just know this some of the best things in life come free and one must really try to help out all possible to do the right thing and that I have found really pays back in many ways more than one-the payback comes in forms of ideas that can be used almost immediately.

A life that is saved or made more comfortable and enriching gives back more to society and the people who made the same happen-all of us improve and at times may not be able to give our best and feel guilty about that and yet we should accept that it is a passing phase and snap out of it at the earliest and often I achieve the same by smiling.Try it out-pour your hearts out and wash your face with water-it helps to get you into a better mood and try out some essential oils or light up some incense sticks-these have been known to help.

So long for now and yes keep a note on this blog as I am going to keep on adding useful stuff and more websites almost daily from now on.