Thought Garage

Earlier this year, I tried to gather What Indians are searching for .  The results I found were quite interesting and a few are little surprising too. Over the last 6 months I have observed a clear change in that trend. More Indians are increasingly looking for Investments, Auto and Digital gadgets. Entertainment is no longer in the top of the list towards the end of the year of those elite few who access Internet regularly. See the top 10 gaining queries as in November 2007. The November numbers clearly consolidates the trend that I have been trying to predict for some time.   (Source: Google Press Center: Zeitgeist )

Apple's iPhone is without any doubt has been considered as the "Best Gadget" of 2007, for it has dramatically changed our Cellular Lifestyles. It would be unfair if we limit iPhone to just that. It has completely changed the meaning of a Cellular Phone. Time's Invention of the Year and Top 10 Gadgets of 2007 No wonder, it has been named Time Magazine's Invention of the Year 2007: iPhone . And also, Time Magazine's Top 10 Gadgets of 2007 gives iPhone No.1 slot: The iPhone changed the way we think about how mobile media devices should look, feel and perform. The design is exceptional inside and out: NPR's Best Technology Innovation of The Year NPR's Morning Editions cites iPhone as the Best Technology Innovation of the Year Tech guru Mario Armstrong claims the iPhone as the best technology innovation of the year. The iPhone's touch-screen technology, visual voicemail, and integration of the digital camera, iTune software brough...

Watch Today's Top Video Reviews on YouTube.   Your Zune isn't as good as my iPod! LG Shine AT&T Review Samsung Giorgio Armani Review Samsung BlackJack II Review    Samsung FlipShot Review

If you haven’t noticed, Mobile or a cell phone is no longer just a phone that we knew. Today, we CAN take pictures, record video, access email, browse internet, download music, watch TV, use cell phone as a smart card, pay at a shop, listen to podcasts, write your blog and the list goes on almost endless. NPR's Eric Weiner wrote an interesting summary of how Mobile phones are changing our lifestyles here .  Few interesting snips: Americans spend, on average, seven hours a month talking on their cell phones, but that figure doesn't capture how much the cell phone has become a part of our lives. It is, as one researcher put it, "a second skin"— itchy at times and prone to blemishes but something that increasingly we can't imagine living without. 2007 will likely be the first year in which Americans spend more on cell phone calls than land line ones. In other ways, too, cell phones are changing how we relate to one another. On the other hand,...

Listen to this 5 minute special on how Mobile phones are changing the lifestyles in India: All Things Considered , December 24, 2007 · In India, people use cell phones for more than just talking and texting — they're entertainment tools, as well. Partly because broadband Internet access isn't widely available for computers, Indians use their cell phones to download and share music and watch videos — especially swapping MP3s and watching musical numbers from Bollywood movies. Listen Now NPR : Cell Phones Do Double Duty in India

Read NPR's report on Animation Industry's increasing reliance on Indian Designers to produce stunning animations for Hollywood. Both The Golden Compass and Alvin and the Chipmunks used digital animation that was created in Mumbai. India is rapidly becoming a player in the global cultural marketplace, and animation is no exception. Los Angeles-based animation company Rhythm & Hues worked on the films from their Hollywood offices — and from the offices that they have opened in India. Employees stay in contact through daily video conferencing, bridging 12 time zones and 13,000 miles. NPR : Frame by Frame, Animation Moves to India Also read  " Ancient Indian Tales Inspire a Modern Indian Art " .. in a building on a quiet residential street downtown, an army of Indian animators is working to export their culture to the rest of the world. Their source material: The elaborate pantheon of Hindu mythology.

TCS released results of a survey conducted by Dynamic Markets on behalf of TCS recently. Folks from TCS suddenly think that they uncovered something new. I am not sure I understood the revelation part of their press release. 1 in 3 companies’ IT projects fail to perform against expectations. Yet despite these worrying levels of failure to deliver, 43% of organizations say that their business managers and the Board accept problems as the norm. This attitude is especially common in Europe (44%) and Asia-Pac (48%). ( Source ) Consider the snip, I understand, released in 1995 revealing something about IT Project failures. According to the Standish Group ... ... only about one-sixth of all projects were completed on time and within budget , nearly one third of all projects were canceled outright, and well over half were considered "challenged." Of the challenged or canceled projects, the average project was 189 percent over budget, 222 percent behind schedule, and c...

The unusual name dimdim attracted my attention when I was searching on the web for free web collaboration alternatives to webex.  dimdim is the world´s first free web meeting service based on the open source platform. dimdim is a browser-based web 2.0 service that allows anybody to share their desktop, show slides, as well as talk, listen, chat, and broadcast via webcam. dimdim´s hosted service is available for free and can be easily used for small gatherings, to seminars with hundreds of attendees. With absolutely no software to download for attendees, dimdim gives everyone the opportunity to hold Web meetings and to customize and brand these meetings. Welcome to dimdim I finally found dimdim on moodle discussion group.  I looked it up and visited the dimdim web site and watched a demo and wanted to try out but little disappointed when I saw limited beta only by invitation. Then I saw Open Source Community edition that I can download and install on my own s...

Mobile Web is increasingly gaining momentum in US and more Americans are now using Mobile devices to quickly search web.  While most men eagerly look up Sports on their Mobile devices, weather concerns most women followed by News and Entertainment. About 23 Million Americans have been reportedly using Mobile web. As per M:Metrics, here are the top 10 categories of news and information accessed by Cellular Subscribers in US: Weather News Sports Entertainment News Maps and Directions Movies Information Finance Information Business Directory Financial Account Access Travel Source: M:Metrics News

India, a Stirring Giant, Is the New Place to See and Be Seen - New York Times A soaring economy and crumbling trade barriers are making India a “must visit” destination for foreign politicians and executives. The crush of visitors, often first-timers but also companies seeking to expand their existing operations here, lands daily. They all hope to sign deals, find local partners, sell their wares or just soak up the contradictions that characterize the world’s largest democracy, a singular melding of chaos and opportunity. Bald demographics make India impossible to ignore, and the slowdown in the United States economy adds to its appeal. About half of the country’s 1.1 billion people are under 25, and its rapidly expanding middle class is already estimated to be as large as the entire population of the United States. A rocketing stock market and a fast-growing class of the superrich add to its appeal. Powered by ScribeFire .

 

In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones. And early adopters, not the mainstream's bell curve, are the new sweet spot of the market. TED | Talks | Seth Godin: Sliced bread and other marketing delights (video)

Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase 's investigation into the ways we interact with technology has led him from the villages of Uganda to the insides of our pockets. Along the way, he's made some unexpected discoveries: about the novel ways illiterate people interface with their cellphones, or the role the cellphone can sometimes play in commerce, or the deep emotional bonds we all seem to share with our phones. And watch for his surefire trick to keep you from misplacing your keys. TED | Talks | Jan Chipchase: Our cell phones, ourselves (video)

User generated content is good in more ways that we can think of. They give fresh, honest and raw opinions of real users instead of biased and often cooked up reviews done by well known media houses. Well, I found quite a few video reviews of all latest and hot mobile phones. Enjoy the gut feelings of mobile phone subscribers and while you are there at it get to know little more about the phone itself. Most interesting thing we can all learn from these videos is lot more that what the phones do. But what really people are looking for and what they really like in a  mobile phone. Have a blast. Bookmark this post as the play list gets updated every hour or so. Here we go.