Category: Technology

Top 10 Impressions From Mobile World Congress 2015

Mobile World Congress Is The Mecca Of The Mobile Industry. Nearly 90,000 People Landed In Barcelona For The 2015 Edition. It Was The Fifth MWC For Me.

As You Know There Is Lot Of Usual Stuff – New Device Launches, New Buzzword, Old Wine In New Bottle Etc. But It Helps To Know The Overall Trends. It Is Also A Great Event For People To Get Together – The Entire Eco-System Is There. Crack A Couple Of Deals And You Have Got Your ROI. Plus The New Knowledge Is Always Helpful.

The Best Way To Enjoy MWC Is To Attend Parallel Conferences, WIP Sessions, Networking Events Etc.

So What Were The Highlights This Time?

1. Digital Transformation: The New World Is A Place With Multiple Devices And Wearable, Connected Homes-Cars-Cities And M2M Transactions. There Are New Opportunities In Connected World For All Players – OEMs, Telcos, System Integrators (App Developers). The Digital Transformation Story Is More Compelling Than Ever Before. The Players Who Clear Their Baggages, Learn The Emerging Themes And Present A Compelling Story Will Move Forward. The New Winners May Arise.

2. Incremental Innovation: The MWC Saw Continual Ascent Of The Wearable, IOT And Connected Themes. More Refined And Defined Use Cases, More Tangible Evidences, More Clear Positioning Emerged. But Nothing That Can Shake The World.

3. Google Vs FaceBook: Google Announced Its MVNO Plans. It Was An Important Step Towards Further Control On Customer Lives In A Mobile First World. FaceBook’s Mark Zuckerberg Preached About internet.Org And FaceBook’s Vision. FaceBook And Google Are Watching Each Other Closely. (Mark Gave Hiring Mantra For Business Leaders – “only hire someone to work directly for you if you would work for that person.”)

4. 5G: 5G Discussions Start At Mobile World Congress. KT Telecom Will Offer 5G At 2018 Olympics – Cool – 2GB Per Second. (But Let The World Experience Good Quality 3G – Forget 4G)

5. Fusion Of Smart And Real World. WPP Group’s IkonMobile Had Some Of The Best Showcases Of Fusion Of Existing Products And New Technology. Mirror, Oral-B Toothbrush, e-Bikes Etc.

Ford Showcased A Great Example Of Adoption Of New Era With e-Bikes. It Showcased Two Bikes – For City Travel And For Delivery Purposes. It Had A Companion App That Showcased Pending Orders For Delivery Person, Route Etc. It Even Monitored Heart Rate Of The Rider.

6. Good Showcases:

– Runcible: Most Interesting Device From Monohm. A Watch For Generations Like A Family Jewel. It Is To Out Last Smartphones. It Has All The Cool Features But It Is A Round Jewel That You Can Handover To Kids And Grand-Kids
– HTC VIVE Was An Impressive Example And Showcased The Maturity Of Virtual Reality
– BabyMe Demonstrated How A Pre-Mature Baby Can Feel That It Is In The Womb Of The Mother – Nice Idea Worth Taking Ahead. The Motherly Comfort Can Aid Faster Development For The Baby
– LG Showcased Magic Mirror – Mirror That Can Analyze Your Face And Suggest Different Make-Ups For Office Party, Casual Look, Formal Event Etc. It Can Even Suggest Products Based On Your Skin Type.
– Different Use Cases Of Beacons, IOT, Wearables And Overall Trends By S K Telecom.
– Supercharger From StoreDot Charges Phones In 2 Minutes. That What We Need !
– Smart Luggage Tags – Location Enabled
– Eye Tracker. Last Year I Played Fruit Ninja With Eye Trackers. This Year, The Smart Watch Is The Focus Of Eye Tribe. Control Smart Watch With Eye Movements
– Wearables For Kids, Pets, Senior Citizens. Smart Kid Shoes With Mediatek Chips For The Kids Were On Display. They Had Chips – So Track The Child, Geo-Fence Them…2 Days Batter Power. Nice Shoes For Naughty Kids !
– Krystal Liquid Screen Protector – Create A Nano Layer On Screen In 2 Minutes And Prevent Stratches On Phones
– S-Disk 300GB SD Card – X Times More Space Than My First Computer ! A Year Of Movies In One Card – Even If You Watch A Movie Daily !
– Credit Card Sized Phones
– Smart Clothing – AiQ

7. The Usual Big Launches: All Major OEMs Launched New Devices. The Big Launch Was Samsung S6 – Its Bet On High Design And Finish. But I Was Surprised That Samsung Kept Its New Baby S6 Under Wraps For Crowds At MWC – While LG, HTC Clearly Showed Their New Labour Of Love – HTC One M9 – Just More Features, Nothing Breakthrough To Earlier Versions. In The Perspective Of Slowing Superiority, Greater Competition, Xiaomi, And ‘No Apple Dying’ Scenarios, Samsung’s Move Was Indeed Very Surprising. Blackberry Showcased Its New Phone – Leap. Microsoft Showcased New Lumia And Portable Foldable Keyboard. Sony, Lenovo, Alcatel, ZTE, Huawei, Blackphone And Many Others Announced New Devices. But The Most Interesting Launch Was Runcible From San Francisco Based MonoHm – Heirloom Product !

Chinese Device Makers Climb The Ladder – The Device Space From China and South East Asia Gets Crowdier And Crowdier As Outsourced Manufacturers From Schengen Move Up The Value Chain And Build Their Brands. You Get Phones With All The Latest Specs At USD 29.99. The Commoditization Of Devices Looks Complete With So Many Samsung Killers. And Xiaomi Was Not Even Present!

8. Commoditization At Birth: Smartphones And Tablets Took A While To Get Commoditized. But The Growing Aspirations Of Chinese OEMs Has Ensured That Smart Watches, Wearable Bands, Fitness Bands, Weighing Scales And All Other Devices Are Commoditized At Birth. It Was Interesting To Note That We Had FitBit And Garmin At Corridors Near Entrance, But All Chinese OEMs Dominating The Main Halls At MWC. How Will Fitbit Survive? I Guess The Answer Lies In First Mover Advantage, Overall Experience, Superior Branding, Allied Services, Software Etc!

There Are Wearables And Embedded Devices For Every Purpose – And Every Body Part!

9. Mobile Payments: Samsung Pay Got Announced. Mobile Payment Companies Were In Herds!

10.Apple: Apple Was Not There But Was There – Apple Cannot Ignore Mobile Mavens Shaping The Industry. Apple Was Present – But Not Directly.

Trivia:

Walked About 60,000 Plus Steps In 3 Days. Wow !
Jai Shri Krishna Heard In Even Super Uber Hotel W’s Chic Parties
Another Mahatma Gandhi Restaurant Serving Non-Veg Food Spotted!
The Future Of Mobile Was At MWC But One Shop In Barcelona Promised The Future Of Sex With Gadgets! Even 50 Shades Of Grey Merchandise Was There!

March 6, 2015
The Mobility & Technology World In 2015

Mobility:

1. Smart Mobility will continue to increase its influence over daily life. Service schedules, ordering groceries, controlling appliances, school updates, managing finances – mobile will influence our lives in versatile ways.

2. Enterprise Apps and Platforms will mature as CIO drive “Mobile First” strategies. Mobile Application Programs will manage scalability, security and analytics amongst the portfolio of enterprise apps.

3. The world is becoming mobile-centric and app centric. Amongst plethora of Apps, apps with simplicity, refreshing clean UI and intelligent context will emerge as true winners.

4. The smartphones pecking order will change. Xiaomi has already broken into Top 5 smartphone sales. Samsung will be challenged. Rise of niche phones and purpose-driven phones. Flexible displays.

5. Local Language Apps and Specialist App Stores will be the next big thing. Curated App Stores and Curated Content will be the first call of the masses.

Technology:

1. The Top 4 Enterprise IT spend areas for 2015 will be the same as last year: Mobility, Security, Cloud and Big Data (The Big Four)

2. Wearable Technologies will get a big boost with Apple Watch and several Health and Fitness trackers. The first versions are already out but the refined version will determine the direction for future. Basis is a smart evolution over initial watches.

3. Mobile Wallets will be a reality. Managing expenses, rich analytics, money recommendations – things what credit cards cannot do will be possible now!

4. Smart Cars, Smart Homes, Smart Offices, Smart Cities – Our world will driven by technology like never before. Even TVs and Passwords will move to next level – think Biometric passwords.

5. Big Data has been the over-used & over-heard term. But it is the technology that will impact our daily life. The world is generating and gathering data at a maddening pace. Tools, technologies & people around big data will be in big demand!

6. Industrialization of Innovation for everyday and human challenges will matter more. Like waterless toilets, quick housing materials etc. Like the “Le Chal” shoes by Anirudh Sharma – shoes that use haptic signals and Google Maps to guide the visually impaired people. Can these innovations achieve success like Narayana Hridalalaya or Arvind Eye Hospital? IT Giants need to help them.

7. Innovations and business models from East will inspire West and Tech world.

8. Data Scientists, Data Architects, Mobile App Developers, Social Media Specialists, Business Analysts, UX visualizers, Mobile Testers – Top Job roles that will be in demand!

Photo Credit:Anders Adermark

January 3, 2015
The Top 3 Out Of Office Replies

Its Holiday Season for a many colleagues and friends in Europe as well as US. Hence your passionately created email or thoughtful pitch can hit the robot in charge of the email and activate an automated “Out Of Office” (OoO) reply. Most of us delete the OoO replies without bothering too much about it. Similarly many of us just create a standard OoO that comes in MS Exchange or copy from somebody else’s OoO. I am told that many companies always have a template and a thick guideline book for creating OoO (Hope nobody is reading at my office!) But there are creative souls who break the monotony and compose a thoughtful OoO. It speaks volumes about themselves – their approach to life and work, not following the beaten paths, adding humor and intellect to the most mundane task, expressing creativity and finally courage!

I invite you share your best received OoO or composed OoO. And I encourage you to create a creative OoO. Please find the Top few OoO received recently – mentioned here randomly and in no order. .

1. Janne’s OoO Reply

“ Greetings, human of Planet Earth.

Janne has requested me to regrettably inform you that he is currently on holiday. You know, the thing that humans do, where they plant their feet in sand and soak in the sun like, well, other vegetation, all the while we robots work on their menial and boring tasks, like responding to email. It’s not that Janne doesn’t appreciate your email, oh no! It’s just that at this moment he appreciates the freedom to not read your email a bit more. So he left me, his faithful robot, in charge. And here I am, responding to every email that comes in. Well, not all of them, of course. You would get really bored if I responded to every single one, ‘cos let’s face it, I’m not a very creative robot. I’ll just send you a periodical reminder that Janne is on vacation, maybe every few days, just often enough to make you feel a bit jealous that he is away and you’re not, but not often enough for you to get all worked up about it. That’s the kind of tiny little faithful robot that I am, yessirree. Always thinking about only the best for my human masters. And, sometimes, just a teeny-weeny bit about world domination.

Enough digression!

Now, Janne will be reading his emails (assuming the little #%”&!/ hasn’t burned his squishy brain in the sun again), though he does not guarantee any swift response. If you have a generic question about <Janne’s Organization>, please drop a mail to for a faster response. If you need to talk tech to a human (who wouldn’t, ‘cos they’re so adorable and cuddly), contact Otherwise, please resend your email when Janne has returned from vacation.

Yours,

Eugene, The Robot In Charge of Email.”

(Janne is a CTO at a leading Finnish startup – Thinglink. Janne is a tinkerer, dreamer, geek and a dad and maintains his blog since 2003. ThingLink is the leading platform for creating interactive images for web, social and advertising channels. Follow his blog: http://www.ecyrd.com/ButtUgly/ )

2. Mike’s OoO

“Houston, we have a problem. We all love the power of email connecting people across continents. But… we’re drowning in it.”

So began an amazing blog post TED’s Chris Anderson posted earlier this year (http://bit.ly/oojA20). And I’m sure you, like me, are facing the same problem. Emails reproduce and spiral out of control much faster than we can keep up, creating a never ending death loop of messages. And before you know it, we’re doing what other people want us to do and not what we should be doing.

Why am I telling you this? Simple. I used to pride myself in getting back to emails within an hour or two, or at most, a day. But that hasn’t been happening for a while. And instead of letting that fact eat at me, which I have been tending to let happen of late, I have decided to try to tackle the problem and spread a solution I outline below.

The time I take to respond to you is in no way related to my interest in talking to you (it COULD be, but in most cases, it’s not.) I like to connect more than anyone else I know (other than potentially my friend Gary Vaynerchuk://bit.ly/pSjrcX) And I know that having this autoresponder on adds one more email to the system. But my goal is to use this one autoresponder to fix the problem not only for me, but for you as well. Yes, I’m adding another email to your box. But I hope to be taking many, many more out of your box by doing so.

The problem, you see, is one that we all share. It’s a “commons” problem and a problem that will only get better if we all want it to get better. The first step is to check out and internalize Chris’ email rules here: http://emailcharter.org/index.html.

As Chris writes, “To fix a ‘commons’ problem, a community needs to come together and agree on new rules. That’s why it’s time for an Email Charter. One that can reverse the escalating spiral of obligation and stress.”

The second rule is my favorite, and one I hope you understand as well: “Let’s mutually agree to cut each other some slack. Given the email load we’re all facing, it’s OK if replies take a while coming and if they don’t give detailed responses to all your questions. No one wants to come over as brusque, so please don’t take it personally. We just want our lives back!”

Of course, I’m not perfect. I’m sure I’ll continue to violate each of these rules. And some will be violated daily, or weekly. But we can only fix this problem if we all try our best.

Lastly, if this is an emergency and you need to reach me right away, please contact . Otherwise, I’ll do my best to get back to you. I promise.

Thanks for your understanding. And here’s to a world of more efficient emailers.

Best,   MML

(Thanks Chirag for sharing this OoO)

3. Oliver’s OoO

“I am out of the office until . Thank you for your email.

If you are reading this, the train wasn’t able to push the Delorian up to 88 miles per hour, and I am stuck in 1885. I won’t be able to respond to emails until exactly 09:00 on

If there is an urgent matter that needs attention please contact . Alternatively, kindly follow-up with me regarding your email (if your email still requires my attention) once I am back at my desk.”

(Oliver is an eternal optimist who loves combining commercial and innovative solutions to solve real life problems. He is the Data and Distribution leader at one of the world’s leading re-insurance company, Swiss Re. I highly recommend to read his LinkedIn posts – “The 9 unwritten rules of men’s bathroom decorum” and “7:1 lessons business can learn from the Germany vs. Brazil football match”. Follow him: uk.linkedin.com/pub/oliver-werneyer/2/269/825 )

Good One – Eric Rozenberg’s OoO

The following is another good example. I did not receive it my in Inbox but got this via Yogesh. He came across Eric’s post and was inspired by it. Here it goes !

“Thank you for your email. I’m currently testing a new revolutionary App called “Holidays with the family.

With one click, it switches off all electronic devices, social media tools and internet connections. I know it’s like being back in the 20th century but it is only a few days experiment so I know I can count on your support and understanding until . I will revert once I am back.”

(Eric wrote a post about this as well and it was a big hit. Check It Out: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140501214450-451934-my-favorite-app-holidays-with-the-family?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0 )

There are many articles and blog posts on this topic. Even one on Linkedin Post – But I have tried to capture the real OoO that I experienced in last two weeks. For more on this topic, visit the Google machine – the favorites you will land up will have these top 3:

1. I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position.

2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.

3. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged AED 25 for the first ten words, and AED 10 for each additional word in your message.

What do you think? Please send your favorite OoO.

August 20, 2014
Ruling The Corporate World

Young Professionals and Fresh Graduates often write and ask for advice on surviving the corporate jungle. My view is simple – Continue the journey with the same passion and energy as college life. Do not stress too much – things will fall in place, as young blood is smart, talented and resourceful – forget surviving, you will rule the corporate world.

The following are the things that I have often repeated and worth listing today:

1. Learning

Life is about learning and moving ahead. Young professionals need to focus on acquiring key skills that will differentiate from the rest of the crowd. Even senior executives need to learn, unlearn and learn – constant renewal is a key requirement. If you have nothing to add to your resume every year, think hard! Today is the world of multiple skills.

Money is important but learning is more important. Seek opportunities to learn. Volunteer to assist on organizational initiatives. Ask for responsibilities and more work. The pace of learning will decide the rate of financial returns!

Be a lifetime student!

2. Focus On Fundamentals

Focus on the business fundamentals. Help the organization to achieve its goals and needs. Learn the flow of money in the organization. Study the executive leadership speeches and industry expert analysis to determine the strategic priorities. And then focus on excelling in these areas. You will rise faster in the organization. And will be more visible as well! No matter what the challenge, never loose sight of the business fundamentals and things should be fine.

3. Flexible

Not every work that comes your way will help man to land on the moon. Sometimes watering the plant and ensuring lights on is important. The point is that be flexible to work outside your comfort zone. Be flexible to adapt to changes and new assignments. Leaders emerge and thrive on changes where normal executive fear change. Risk taking is very important.

Finally, no work is strategic or stupid. It is our approach that makes the work stupid or strategic.

4. Excellence

Be the best gardener in the world. Be the best designer in the world. Be the best chef in the world. Pursuit of excellence wins! Always!

It requires lot of hard work, dedication and persistence. But the results are always sweet.

Keep attending industry events. Ready magazines and blogs. Discuss ideas with people. Lead small experiments at work!

5. Accept Failures

Failure and success are the two sides of the same coin. Sometimes despite the best-planned efforts, there is a failure. Learn from failure. Failure is an important part of the journey to success. Do not get disappointed or stressed due to failure. Analyze failure and find opportunities to learn from it. Just do not make the same mistake twice!

As they, if you are not failing enough, you are doing something wrong. Jeff Bezos said recently: Failure comes part and parcel with inventions – it is not optional.

6. Team Work & Interpersonal Skills

The modern workplace demands huge amount of teamwork and interaction. Learn to be a good team player. Understand that everyone has an important role and organizational goals can be achieved only through pooled efforts. Learn to work in teams and support team members. If people do not collaborate or do not know how to work together, it is going to affect their individual as well as group performance. Lack of interpersonal skills is a recipe for extinction.

Ordinary or extraordinary times – nothing works like teamwork.

7. Shun Politics

When people do not have anything to show, politics comes into picture. Corporate politics is a reality but it is something that will hit you back – mostly at the time when you don’t want it to be. In large organization with walls of silos and layers of bureaucracy, people may have lot of time at disposal. But it is best invested in learning and self-growth rather than politics. Corridor chats or little gossip does not harm but when people spend most of the time on others and not self, it is a problem. The world and organization usually gets the wind of performers as well as non-performers – so it is better to focus on job at hand. And for people at the start of the career or planning to rise the corporate ladder, politics could be career-killer.

8. Seek Feedback

People do not give unsolicited advice. So seek feedback in formal and informal ways to enable further improvement in work. Seeking feedback is a good sign of confidence and self-improvement. Of course, do not get defensive or judgmental about feedback. Take it with a pinch of salt but analyze it and act on it if appropriate.

9. Health & True Wealth

In the pursuit of corporate journey, never neglect the two important aspects of life – Health and Family! Life is beyond designations, material success and killer resume.

Family and Friends are critical bases in our journey of life. Not only they give celebrate our success and ease our burdens but they are our mirrors. The glories and happiness of life will be less exciting when you are alone!

Similarly, Health is your best friend. Neglect health only at your risk. Today’s jobs are demanding with lot of travel and long hours – if you cannot cope up and keep good health, it could slow you down. Basic fitness is required for a sharp mind and top gun.

10. Fun

Finally, the most important is to have fun and continue to enjoy the journey of life. All work and no play create dull managers and leaders. So keep the passion and energy level high. Not only you will have less stress in life but also it will act as a great bond in the team. A good sense of humor and the curiosity of child will always be your good friends.

Finally, just believe in self. Be natural. Continue to have innocence of child and zeal for excellence. Love what you do and success will follow. Enjoy!

August 13, 2014
How Big Data Is Changing The Entertainment Industry!

Big Data is here – The latest buzzword of the Information Technology Industry !

The world is generating humungous amount of data every second. Rapid advances in technology is making analysis of such data a cake-walk. Big Data is influencing every aspect of our lives and will continue to grow bigger and better. Retailers will push us to buy extra chips and soft drinks from the nearest outlet as we will watch the T20 match with our friends and our favorite teams are playing. They will even recommend our favorite party songs CD and encourage us to donate a dollar to our often visited charity. Preventing diseases, share trading, marketing efforts and lot of other use cases are emerging.

Big Data is changing the sports and the entertainment industry as well. Sports and entertainment industry are driven by fans and their word of mouth. Engagement with audience is the key and Big Data is creating opportunities for driving this engagement and influencing audience sentiments.

IBM worked with a media company and ran its predictive models on the social buzz for the movie Ram Leela. According to the reports, IBM predicted a 73% success for the movie based on right selection of cities. Such rich analysis of social data was conducted for Barfi and Ek Tha Tiger. All these movies had a runaway success at the box office.
Hollywood uses Big Data big time ! The social media buzz can predict the box office success – more importantly based on the trending of the movie, strategies can be formulated to ensure favorable positioning of the movie. All science !

Netflix is the best case study of analyzing user behavior and hitting the jackpot ! Netflix original show The House Of Cards’ was commissioned solely on the basis of the big data results of the preferences of its customers.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Chennai Express, one of the biggest box office grossers on 2013, used Big Data & Analytics solutions to drive social media and digital marketing campaigns. IT Services company Persistent Systems helped Chennai Express team with the right strategic inputs. Chennai Express related tweets generated over 1 billion cumulative impressions and the total number of tweets across all hashtags was over 750 thousand over the 90-day campaign period. Persistent Systems CEO Siddhesh Bhobe said “Shah Rukh Khan and the success of Chennai Express have proved that social media is the channel of the future and that it presents unique opportunities to marketers and brands, at an unbeatable ROI (return on investment)”

Lady Gaga and her team browse through our listening preferences and sequences and optimize the playlist for the maximum impact at live events. Singapore based Big Data Analytics firm Crayon has worked with leading Hindi Film industry producers to understand the kind of music to release to create the right buzz for the movie.

Sports is another area where big data is making big impact. FIFA 2014 champion Germany have been using SAP’s Match Insights software. It has made a big difference to the team. Data was crunched relating to player position ‘touch maps’, passing ability, ball retention and even metrics such as ‘aggressive play’. Even Kolkota Knight Riders, an IPL team, to determine the consistency of the players based on 25 data point per ball. It helped in auction as well as ongoing training.

Big Data can definitely be a boon to the entertainment and sports industry. It can improve the profitability of the movies – always a high risk business. The green-lighting of the story to the cast selection to the timing of release can be determined. It can help to pick the right players for the sporting leagues – allowing talent to win !

Entertainment Industry leaders need to collaborate with the leading big data startups and visionaries to create new uses and deliver new success stories !

July 30, 2014
Xiaomi Shakes Wearable Device Space With USD 13 Mi Band !

Bill Gates famously said that we always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten !

Xiaomi has shaken the wearable market with the introduction of its latest wearable device – Xiaomi Mi Band. It has been aggressively priced at USD 13 !

Xiaomi Mi Band attacks the personal health and fitness space. It focuses on tracking the user’s fitness and sleeping routine.

It boasts of a standby life of 30 days, is water resistant and comes in attractive colors !

This is truly taking wearable device to the mass markets ! It shows that, with further R&D and innovation, governments and public health organizations can redefine public health and universal care by leveraging such innovations.

July 23, 2014
Gujaratilexicon Unveils A New User Interface

Gujaratilexicon.Com Unveils A Cool New User Interface

Gujaratilexicon, the most comprehensive Gujarati language portal on the internet, unveiled a cool new user interface. The new avatar of GL is a complete redefinition with new logo, attractive design and enhanced features. The new design is a fusion of contemporary user experience trends with Gujaratilexicon’s strong content.

The salient features of the new site are:
1. Easy To Use User Interface: The new Gujarati Lexicon design is an efficient interface that offers priority to most used features of the module. The frequently performed tasks are to be made easier in the new UI with reduced steps or by enhanced priority on the module – in terms of pages navigated, clicks used and time required to perform the task. The easier flow of gathering information also reduces the unwanted time in gathering the information.
2. Enhanced Look And Feel: The UI redesign brings forward a fresh look and feel of the module. This includes new brand identity for Gujarati Lexicon as well as building new elements in design which are in coherence with this new identity.
3. New Logo: The new logo brings forward a modern touch with color and vibrancy. The logo is an experiment with typography that depicts building bridges between languages and cultures. The english alpahabets G and L are used to form Gujarati letter ‘અ’.
4. Specialized Dictionaries

The Project Gujaratilexicon started as an individual and humble effort to contribute to Gujarati language. Founder Shri Ratilal Chandaria’s love for mother tongue has today taken the shape of the most global and popular Gujarati Language initiative – Gujaratilexicon has thousands of users visiting it daily from 100 plus countries!

Dr. Ashok Karania, Mentor of Gujaratilexicon.com said, “The new design is a tribute to the Gujaratilexicon Founder Shri Ratilal Chandaria’s zeal for continuous improvement. He always believed in staying ahead of the technology curve and ensured that Gujarati language user always accessed the most modern and world-class technological innovations. The new site is optimized for all devices including latest tablets and smartphones. The Gujaratilexicon movement is spreading and attracting new users across the globe. People from all walks of life have adopted, loved and recommended Gujaratilexicon. GL Mobile Apps, Games and Bhagwadgomandal continue to made rapid strides in the Gujarati hearts. “

Ms Maitri Shah, Director said: “ Gujaratilexicon is committed to provide the Gujarati computer user with all the latest tools in Gujarati and reach all the Gujaratis in the world. The Phase 2 of the new design will connect all Gujarati lovers through a community portal. We are also working on new initiatives like Swahili Dictionary and new Mobile Apps. We have also revamped our customer support through better ticketing system and responsive support. Gujaratilexicon ensures that Gujarati Language is as Vibrant as our Vibrant Gujarat state.“

Gujaratilexicon’s vision is simple: Preserving, Nurturing & Promoting Gujarati Language & Lexical Resources Through The Use of World-Class & Contemporary Technological Tools.

July 18, 2014
The Netlfix Culture Document – A Must Read !

I came across the “Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility” document on Sunday evening. It was a good revisit of the Netflix values and philosophy of excellence.

Sheryl Sandberg even called it “the most important document ever to come out of the Valley.”

It’s a living set of “behaviors and skills” that the Netflix management team updated continuously and fastidiously. And it drives toward a single point: a company is like a pro sports team, where good managers are good coaches, and the goal is to field stars in every position.

There are lot of good insights:
1. Like the expense policy – Act In Netflix’s Best Interest !
2. Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled – Makes sense
3. Pay top performers the top salaries – no bell curves or standard increment
4. Honesty and top severance packages

A Must Read for sure !

[slideshare id=1798664&doc=culture9-090801103430-phpapp02]

Source: First Round

Also Read Harvard Document on Netflix – How Netflix Reinvented HR by Patty McCord

July 14, 2014
Amazon Fire – The Smartphone With A Purpose !

The crowded and the unkind Mobile Handset Market has a new arrival – Amazon’s Smartphone ‘Fire’. Will it herald the arrival of specialized devices or will it be Amazon’s biggest mistake?

The online shopping giant Amazon has been wanting to launch a smartphone for quite some time. It is late. But it has clear intentions. The phone is a e-commerce device. According to SRG, about 56 per cent of online Americans either browse or buy something on Amazon weekly via PC, laptop or mobile phone. It is trying to ensure and evolve more engagement with these American shoppers and also attract new users.

The phone’s most significant feature, called “Firefly,” employs audio and object recognition technology to identify products and present the user with ways to purchase the items through Amazon. Users can simply snap a photo of a book, for instance, and Firefly will offer up its title and author, give more information about it and provide ways to buy it. Thus it is a phone with purpose. With the phone able to scan and interpret printed text, identify songs by listening to them, or recognize movies and TV shows by watching them, it could become the sort of visual search engine that other phones don’t have as a core function. The Fire also has four front-facing cameras that create a 3D-like effect on its screen, which allows users to pan their views by tilting the device. And it has a “MayDay” button that can be pushed to get nearly-instant tech support.

The phone does not allow Google’s popular apps like Maps or Gmail and hence may not cut much ice with normal consumers. The price is also on higher side. The phone has all the standard features but it does not have too many Apps on its Amazon App Store. Though Blackberry has tied-up with Amazon Android Appstore as Blackberry also has similar problem – fewer apps on its App-store.

The phone is clearly on a mission – engaging Amazon shoppers and drive e-commerce. Will consumers put shopping over normal features? Unlikely. But who knows !

June 20, 2014
InfoStretch Is Hiring !

InfoStretch Is Hiring !

A Career Opportunity Full Of Learning, A Workplace That Is Exciting, A Culture That Is Stimulating & A Company That Is None To Other ! Fancy A Job That InfoStretch – Lot Of Job Openings Now Live ! Multiple Opportunities Across US and India.

Please visit our Careers Page !

June 18, 2014