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Category: Ideas & Wisdom

  • JWT’s 100 Things to Watch in 2013

    JWT’s 100 Things to Watch in 2013

    Future-gazing is a challenging exercise which highlights the evolutionary trends and visionary breakthroughs. The new year is a time that brings future-gazing into front and we usually see lot of new predictions. Ann Mac, Director of Trendspotting and his team at JWT Intelligence have produced a list of the 100 Things to Watch, which predict the ideas that could shape our world in 2013.

    According To JWT, the list is based on research across sectors such as travel, technology, food, retail and sustainability and the list reflects the major developments bubbling up. Technology takes the spotlight once more with “appcessories,” digital ecosystems, flexible screens, and responsive Web design topping the list. Other top things to watch include new foods and ingredients like faux meat and chia seeds. There are emerging trends like quiet products, shopping hotels, mindful living, privacy etiquette, and adult playgrounds.

    I reviewed the list and I can see these things clearly unfolding in the world:
    Appcessories
    Instant-Erase Apps
    Medical Smartphones
    Live-Streaming Life
    Mobile-Optimized Goes Mainstream
    NFC Tags
    Online Groceries
    Paperless Education
    Passwords 2.0
    Prime Time for Second Screen
    Responsive Web Design
    Social Media Hacks
    Stress-Monitoring Apps
    Tablet Shopping
    User-Based Insurance
    Tech-Enabled Farm-to-Fork
    Biometric Authentication
    Wireless Charging
    Window Shopping
    Data Scientists: The New Hotshots
    Detoxifying Life

    Check The Slide Share presentation of JWT Intelligence for “100 Things To Watch In 2013“!

    100 Things to Watch in 2013:
    1. 3D Bioprinting
    2. Adult Playgrounds
    3. African Tech Stars
    4. Allergen-Free
    5. Alternative Brand Currencies
    6. Ambushed by Amazon
    7. Appcessories
    8. The Arabic Web
    9. B2C/P2P Partnerships
    10. Bee Venom
    11. Biometric Authentication
    12. Blocking Social Media Bores
    13. Chia Seeds
    14. Click-and-Collect Shopping
    15. “Cloaking”
    16. Coaching Brands
    17. Cool Techie Camps
    18. Crowdsourced Translation
    19. Cutting out the Middleman
    20. Cyber War
    21. Dads in the Aisles
    22. Data Scientists: The New Hotshots
    23. Decline of Chinese Bling
    24. Desalination
    25. Detoxifying Life
    26. Digital Ecosystems
    27. Drones
    28. ecoATM
    29. Egg Freezing
    30. Emotion Recognition
    31. The End of Voicemail
    32. Faux Meat
    33. Fitness Beyond the Gym
    34. Flexible Screens
    35. Food Sharing
    36. Frontier Markets
    37. G20 Devolves to G-Zero
    38. Gender-Blurred Toys
    39. Geofencing
    40. Green Growth
    41. Handwriting = Hieroglyphics
    42. Hotels in Africa
    43. Human-Centered Tech
    44. Humane Food
    45. Hyper-Personalized Customer Service
    46. Impact Sourcing
    47. Imperfection
    48. Individual Attention
    49. Instant-Erase Apps
    50. JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out)
    51. Live-Streaming Life
    52. Low-Cost Robots
    53. Low-Tech Device Charging
    54. Media That Gets to Know You
    55. Medical Smartphones
    56. Menu-Free Dining
    57. Midcalorie Foods
    58. Mindful Living
    59. Mobile-Optimized Goes Mainstream
    60. MOOC Stars
    61. Nature As Antidote
    62. Neurotechnology
    63. New Digital Royalty
    64. News Bites
    65. NFC Tags
    66. Objects With Attitude
    67. Offset Thinking
    68. Online Groceries
    69. Paperless Education
    70. Passwords 2.0
    71. Patchwork Earnings
    72. Personal Data Ownership
    73. Prime Time for Second Screen
    74. Privacy Etiquette
    75. Quiet Products
    76. Reduced-Guilt Candy
    77. Responsive Web Design
    78. Retailers Enable Recycling
    79. River Cruising
    80. Self-Service
    81. Serialized Digital Fiction
    82. Set Jetting
    83. Shopping Hotels
    84. Social Media Hacks
    85. Standup Desks
    86. Stress-Monitoring Apps
    87. Sugru
    88. Tablet Shopping
    89. Tech-Enabled Farm-to-Fork
    90. Teff
    91. Trade School
    92. Trust Ratings
    93. User-Based Insurance
    94. Variable Pricing
    95. Vegetable Boxes
    96. Vertical Farming
    97. Video Games As Art
    98. Window Shopping
    99. Wireless Charging
    100. Yogurt Shops

  • Saptak Music Festival – India’s Finest, Ahmedabad’s Pride!

    Saptak Music Festival – India’s Finest, Ahmedabad’s Pride!

    Saptak Music Festival – The most awaited event for classical music lovers in India and especially Ahmedabad. The thirteen day long festival is the highly anticipated event in the calendar of every music connoisseur. It is the one place where titans and giants of the music industry come and perform to a highly appreciative audience.

    Saptak 2013 started on Jan 1, 2013 and continues till Jan 13, 2013. Saptak 2013 line up includes Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Shaukat Hussain, Shri Rahul Sharma, Smt Manju Mehta, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Smt Shubha Mudgal, Ustad Rashid Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Shri Aman Ali Khan, Shri Anoop Jalota, Shri Ayaan Ali Khan, Pandit Krishna Mohan Bhatt, Pandit Rajan Mishra and Pandit Sajan Mishra, Shri Trilok Gurtu and other legends.

    The show begins at 8 pm and continues beyond 2 am. It is an atmosphere that has to be experienced. Words cannot describe it. Music’s power is to be felt. It can move you ! The legends can take you another world.
    The maximum crowd consists of youth only ! So we are mistaken that youth does not love classical music.

    If you are in Ahmedabad or near Gujarat, take my word – do not miss it ! Come and experience Saptak

    Saptak Schedule

  • Industrial Internet – Changing The World?

    The Economic Times on Sunday carried an interesting cover story today – Dream Machines. It spoke about Industrial Internet or ‘Internet of Things’ as it is popular called. Internet of Things means any physical object can connect to the internet and communicate with other objects to relay information to people. To realize its full impact, three primary digital elements – intelligent devices, intelligent systems and intelligent automation – should merge with physical machines, facilities and networks.

    Popular examples include : John Deere Tractors lets dealers to remotely diagnose prelims using sensors on the vehicles tied to a wireless link. Union Pacific railroad has sensors on its tracks that take 20 million readings a day to predict when a wheel is at risk of failing. Vail Ski Resorts has RFID tickets that track skiers and let them know how many vertical feet they covered in a day.

    Everyday we create data from everywhere: from sensors gathering climate information, posts on social media sites, digital pictures and videos posted online, transaction records of online purchases, customer usage patterns, cell phone GPS signals and machines in the industry, to name a few. Companies can mine these big data to find trends and potential customers to place ads, do predictive analysis, detect fraud, manage risks etc. Collecting and analyzing data will help companies to avert fires, machine breakdowns and air crashes, forecast natural disasters with greater accuracy.

    Data is the key in all of these focus areas and the role of Data Scientist is very important. Data Scientist is the sexiest job of 21st century. A data scientist is someone who finds rich data sources, works with large volumes of data, cleans the data ad makes sure that data is consistent, melds data sets together, visualizes that data and buds tools that enables others to work with data effectively.

    It is indeed an interesting story and speaks of the next level of evolution of IT. Machine 2 Machine is the same thing. There are more SIM cards than human beings.

    The story highlights the importance of using technology to solve more important challenges of the world. Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media comments:
    Thanks to the industrial internet, there is a growing sense in the global tech community that we should be doing much more impotent than filtering social gossip to target ads. Our world has higher priorities and we want to be in involved in solving them.

    He notes that the latest issue of MIT Technology Review has captured that feeling: the magazine has a picture of Buzz Aldrin on the cover with the line, “You Promised Me Mars Colonies. Instead, I Got Facebook”. Wise Words !

    Yes – Today’s IT Wizards should focus on more intelligent and complex solutions. It is like the famous Steve Jobs line to Sculley – Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling cola or do you want to change the world?

  • Forgiveness Day – Michammi Dukkadam

    Forgiveness Day – Michammi Dukkadam

    Forgiveness is the supreme act of courage ! It is an act of faith and humility. It releases both the parties to move on and build a new tomorrow. However, it is very difficult to execute. Equally difficult is forgiving oneself ! However, we need to start somewhere ! And nothing better than the holy day of Samvastari – the last day of Paryushan – the biggest Jain Festival. On this day, all Jains ask for forgiveness by saying – Michammi Dukkadam.


    To all my friends and contacts, I ask for forgiveness, if I may have hurt you, intentionally or unintentionally, by Thoughts, Words or Action.

    Michammi Dukkadam

  • The Essential Sunday Reading !

    The Essential Sunday Reading !

    The Sunday Reading is a joy that is second to none! I really cherish the couple of hours that I spend on reading. It is a big challenge to protect the reading time with all other Sunday demands – a 4 year old energy tsunami, weekend social commitments, office email backlog, unforeseen work etc. A good workaround is to start early morning or use the lazy afternoon time.

    The Essential Sunday Reading for me includes:
    The Sunday Express + Eye
    The Times Of India – The CREST Edition
    The Speaking Tree
    The Economic Times Magazine
    The Screen Weekly
    Fortune / Forbes

    I also try to ensure that I read one to two books in a month. The last read was The Night Of January Sixteenth by Ayn Rand.

  • Can Aamir Khan Change India?

    Can Aamir Khan Change India?

    Trust Aamir Khan to break the mould and challenge the environment. The Marketing Genius with a Midas Touch has once again attempted to change the game. This time he wants India and Indians to change. A formidable challenge – but even if he changes one Indian, it is worth the effort. Atleast he is being a part of change, rather than being an arm-chair spectator.

    Aamir Khan’s foray in National Television ‘Satyameve Jayate‘ has all the right ingredients. A national topic. A problem that is stopping India from becoming a Shining India. The opening topic was the issue of female foeticide. The topic was given complete justice and all perspectives of the issue were covered. The ‘Call to Action’ was the petition and the donation. The huge awareness to the cause is a great service as well.

    Aamir’s marketing mind ensured that all the Star Properties and Doodarshan ensure that India does not miss the message. His collaborations with Airtel, Axis Bank and Reliance Foundation are the best advertisements for the power of marketing. Donate money to the causes via Airtel SMS. Donate Money via Online or Branch Banking at Axis Bank. Reliance Foundation matches the donations of the Indians.

    The idea is great. The causes will be relevant to growing India. He is doing the right thing. Can he bring Jasmine Revolution to India? Can he change the indifferent Indians? Can he change the social thinking? He is using all his prowess, popularity and intelligence Good ideas need good luck and good support. Let us support him in our own way – time, effort, support and money!

  • Coke’s ‘Share A Coke’ Campaign – Marketing Genius!

  • Celebrating The 100 Years Of Indian Cinema

    The Indian Film Industry enters its 100th year ! Time to celebrate and rejoice !

    Cinema was discovered in Europe and developed in the United States into a commercial product. It arrived in India immediately after it was invented at the turn of the 19th century.

    The beginning of India’s film industry can be traced to an advertisement which appeared in the Times of India on July 7, 1896, inviting people to witness “the wonder of the world,” Lumiere Brothers’ moving pictures. Lumiere Brothers showcased the six soundless short films at Bombay’s Watson Hotel on July 7, 1896. The very first Indian film was Wrestlers in 1899.

    The year 1913 marked the production and release of India’s first full-length indigenous silent feature film, Raja Harishchandra. It was made by Dhundirak Govind Phalke or Dadasaheb Phalke, who is also known as the ‘father of Indian cinema’. The film was released on May 3, 1913 at the Coronation Cinema, Bombay and had titles in Hindi and English. He was inspired by seeing a screening of Life of Christ in 1910. This movie not only became a runaway success, it also became the template of future. The film was first premiered on April 21, 1913. Thus today, Indian Cinema enters the 100th year !

    The Indian Film Industry is one of the most unique industries in India. Consider the following facts:
    1. It provides direct and indirect employment to nearly six million people.
    2. It is the most democratic and secular industry in India. The most educated and the least literate work together as a team.
    3. It provides entertainment to millions of people in today’s stressful times.
    4. It has the power to influence the society and its beliefs. Rang De Basanti led to retrial in Jessica Lal Murder case. Madhur’s Blue Saree in HAHK led revival of the industry in UP. Ek Duje Ke Liye unfortunately led to many suicides in love.
    5. It is India’s most famous export and the creator of Soft Power. Across nations and cultures, Bollywood is recalled and relished.
    6. It is the only film Industry in the world, where Hollywood has not been able to make inroads.
    7. It is the industry where talent, creativity and hard work can take you the top of the ladder.

    Let us celebrate the magic of Indian Cinema !

  • Leadership Lessons by Rahul Dravid !

    Leadership Lessons by Rahul Dravid !

    Rahul Dravid – An Icon Retires !

    Rahul was an inspirational leader more than a cricketer. Legends, corporate chieftains and fans across the world have showered accolades and choicest adjectives on him. He has demonstrated some extraordinary leadership principles by example:
    – Courage
    – Dedication
    – Sincerity
    – Team First
    – Passion
    – Hunger For Victory
    – Learning Attitude
    – Perseverance
    – Respect for All
    – Greatest Work Ethic
    – True Professional
    – Grace Under Fire
    – Mr Dependable
    – Dignified
    – Leader
    – Selfless

    Everyone agrees that he did everything that was expected of a great player – and then he did everything that was not expected of him as well. He stretched beyond his potential and delivered. Like keeping wickets for India or opening for India. He put the organizational goals ahead of personal goals and comforts.

    Time and again he rescued his team from miserable conditions. And he was clinical about his job. He never showed the pressure. He frustrated opposition by his sheer dedication to job and application of mind – and opposition like Allan Donald ! He has better average abroad than at home – something that is rarity in Indian cricket.

    He always said the right things. More importantly, he always did the right things.

    As a leader, he had the perfect balance between leading from the front and motivating the fellow-men to excel ! He was never flamboyant but he was always an integral part of the winning cause.

    Rahul Dravid, like his perfect timing of cricketing shots, retired at the right time. Though he has retired from the cricketing field, his intelligent understanding of the game and spirit of sports is to exploited further. I think his best contribution to India lies ahead. He can give great lessons to Indian corporates as well as Indian sports.

    In Harsha Bhogle’s wonderful book ‘The Winning Way’, Rahul mentions that team is like a pot. Some give to the pot. Some take from the pot. Rahul has always given more than what he has taken. And thus has enriched Indian cricket.

    His batting was beautiful – He batted like God said one legend of him. His mind was even more beautiful.

    He was the finest cricketer. But he is an extraordinarily great human being. And that is the biggest and the most important achievement !

    Rahul – We will miss you on the field ! Congratulations on an extraordinary career – your best lies ahead !

  • Professional Success Mantra

    Professional Success Mantra

    Professional Success Mantra:
    Results & Relationships !