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When you have Technologist for spouse, your birthday present would likely be an iPod Touch and a wedding Anniversary could well bring a Kindle… Am I complaining? Not really, for these gadgets keep me feeling younger than my age…probably by doing to the brain what solving crosswords helps achieve. New gadgets and their convenience also perpetually invoke feelings of gratitude in me for living my life in the present times instead of my great grandparents…

A gadget such as iPod Touch could however mean different things to different people. It could remain a portable music player or video viewer for many or become a dependable link to most of one’s resources—as it is to me. The difference is in the hands it reaches…you as the user or your tech spouse (or daughter or another relative) whose vision of any application or device is its seamless integration with its user’s life. So while Kishore was polite to let me be the first one to open its seal, it’s only after he’d spent some hours with it that it appeared a great device to have.

Two months of its ownership, and here’s what my iPod Touch facilitates for me—and hopefully, the list will get longer as I get more ideas:

Email client: I’m using the Mail app to read (or send) mail from my 3 different email accounts without anxieties about losing any of it as the incoming mail eventually pops into my Netbook’s email client.

Twitter client: Using Echofon on it to see (or send) my Twitter feeds.

Blog/website aggregator: Newswire is letting me read my subscriptions made from Google Reader, and leaves the updates on Reader too.

Browser: Safari lets me browse sites of interest even while my Netbook is booting–or resting after long use.

LinkedIn updates: A free app brings on it my LinkedIn mail and updates.

Facebook updates: Same as above, and this mobile interface looks cleaner than the web interface.

Calendar: A precious tool to me as I depend on my Calendar’s reminders for most regular of my tasks, it’s synchronised with the Google Calendar app of my gmail account.

Contacts: Again, synchronised with my contact database on Google, I’m seeing them getting updated without forcing a ‘hot sync’ as I had to do for Palm.

Notes: Some useful data and checklists of various kinds have been neatly brought into this free app.

Documents: Useful bird sighting trip reports, region checklists of birds, some spreadsheets and other text files are available for me to dip into by directing the free Document reader to Google docs.

To-do lists: Awesome Note allows me to track my to-do lists and any ideas worth jotting down. I’d been feeling quite out of sorts till I found this app (again free) for daily and long term tasks.

Ebooks: Stanza allows me to read ebooks saved on the device for those offline situations that I constantly find myself in as I leave the wifi zone of home or Linkaxis office.

Music: 2 GB music on the device comprises of some unheard and oft-heard audiobooks and Hindi/western music.

Internet radio: Tunemark helps access lots of varying music through internet radio channels for states of mind when my own collection feels inadequate.

Photos: Have just 30 or so treasured pics of people and places that I can use as wallpaper.

Youtube: One of my least used apps, it gives me a direct search and use of videos on youtube.com.

Videos: Interestingly, an otherwise overly used app, I’m still to use it for any movies or videos I want to travel with.

Weekly weather: Weather helps make a judicious choice of clothes by giving max/min temp for the day and the next 5 days!

Currency converter: Currency allows conversion between 2 chosen currencies and I find it useful instead of calculating in the air by using a vague conversion rate.

Time zones: Clock permits 4 different time zones in a glance—useful for planning those international phone calls, set an alarm or use it as a stopwatch.

Calculator: Works like any other calculator.

I’d been thinking that an instant messenger client would make every sense on the device but before I went around checking if the idea was possible, this read came my way declaring ebuddy as a good multiservice IM client, so I’ll be clubbing my multiple accounts with that.

Some of my favourite games on iPod Touch are Scramble2, Hangman, Checkers, Dots, TickTacTouch, eSudoku, Chess, all of which are available free and the uninitiated need to experience the ease of download to believe it.

This brings the tally to 22 apps without the games…isn’t this impressive for something just labeled as a multimedia player and for a non-techie user like me?

Now your turn to tell me if this list:

1. tempts you enough to wish for it as a gift or
2. pushes you to use your existing Touch for any of these functions or
3. gets you to share with me any crucial uses that still escape me?

Recently, a friend expressed interest in ‘going social’ for his new HR technology product and asked if I’d help chalk out a plan by first showing him any products that had attracted an unprecedented fan-following in the last couple of years. That set me off on an intense exercise to scour the Net and extricate success stories, and later to draw my lessons for the product in question.

At the end of a couple of days of fierce reading and mulling, I presented him the fruit of my labour in the form of some b2b and b2c product success stories where companies had proved that by engaging with their customers through their websites, focussed discussion forums and social networking channels, they’d succeeded in allaying fears for new technology or using a new idea. I’ve listed out those case study links at the end to help those wading through Netoceanic waters for similar pearls. My takeaways from these case studies are specific to the HR technology product so I’m not including those.

However, these cases are global and not India-specific.

I know that a lot of us would like to figure how a social media initiative by a company or an individual in India managed to broaden its customer base or in the very least connected with its audience. While I’m looking out for such successful programs, I’ve got a small but significant personal experience to share.

Less than two months ago, I’d goaded a friend in Goa into opening a Facebook group to broadcast his store’s product range. I gave him some ideas on getting members for the group and shared with him an article from Mashable on how 5 small businesses had seen success through social media. He was excited at the prospect of making sales without making a huge investment into advertising but so nervous was he about entering untreaded tech territories that I’d to find him this short article on opening a Facebook group. He didn’t just open a group, but he took a cue from the Mashable read and some days later, put up pictures of some colourful but expensive leather boots as new entrants in his product range. A new ‘Facebook friend’ of his from Gurgaon, who’d joined his group through a t-shirt designer’s group they shared, messaged him to enquire about the available sizes and their prices. He responded with details through Facebook and asked her if she’d like any pair couriered but didn’t get a response. What he did get some days later was a visit to his store from an acquaintance of her’s with hand-drawn foot sizes to buy all 3 shoes displayed on his Facebook group!

For some time, the friend could hardly believe what he’d witnessed – a buyer for expensive merchandise in the still non-peak sale period of Goa and that too in the form of an Indian and not a dollar-rich foreigner! His faith in all things technological has elevated since then and he’s all for rustling up resources for a well-designed and populated product gallery on his website, and of course for having a direct hand in promoting it through his new found social networking methods

They’re right in saying that social media is for anyone with a clear set of objectives and a plan to follow. And, it sure helps that it’s an enjoyable way to further a cause.

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Case Studies

Agilent Technologies
http://signal-integrity.tm.agilent.com/
http://www.webinknow.com/2009/08/colin-warwick-shows-how-a-b2b-company-makes-the-first-page-on-google.html

Eloqua
http://illuminate.eloqua.com/
http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2009/10/winners-of-the-2009-forrester-groundswell-awards.html

MetricStream
http://www.groundswelldiscussion.com/groundswell/awards2009/detail.php?id=124
http://complianceonline.com/cms/cms/Offline/index.html?category_id=20013&ind=/Offline/Industry/HR_Compliance/

SAP
http://www.engagementdb.com/downloads/ENGAGEMENTdb_Report_2009.pdf

Zappos
http://mashable.com/2009/04/26/zappos/
http://www.zappos.com/

Ford Motor
http://mashable.com/2009/05/18/ford-social-media/

Apple
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/next/archives/2009/07/jonathan_ive_th.html

Dell
http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2009/10/02/how-dell-took-social-media-mainstream/
http://www.engagementdb.com/downloads/ENGAGEMENTdb_Report_2009.pdf

Enough is being said about engaging audiences through social media channels to create friends and followers. My experience of Twitter even shows me that users are vigilant of feedback to their tweets in that space and making an effort to revert in real time. They don’t always succeed but where a DM (direct message) is possible, it usually gets one a quick reaction.

In LinkedIn group conversations too, where groups are moderated well and don’t see noise in the form of job postings or ‘invite me’ posts, discussions are being read, valued and considered relationship-forming. Facebook being a ground mostly for bonding with friends, family and fans also sees a reasonable degree of promptness in feedback.

However, the social media channel that is suffering due to neglect by some is my long-time favourite online conversation tool – a blog. My concern isn’t so much that many erstwhile active bloggers aren’t blogging regularly anymore. But it is that many bloggers were always sluggish about responding to their commenters, and even now when avenues of information for online readers are multiplying at a breakneck speed and comments on their posts have dwindled, these advocates of social networking  DO NOT respond to feedback coming in as comments to their posts. And, I wonder why they believe that despite that attitude, they’ll maintain their fan-following. For, as the online reader gets more mature, s/he would shun those spaces that are not civilised enough!

So, if you’re reading those comments to your blog posts—as I believe most bloggers enjoy doing whether they’re negative or positive—please consider them precious and connect with your readers by responding to their feedback. This case study of Boeing has many interesting elements to it, but I’d draw your attention to the second last paragraph on the blogger’s advice on interacting with one’s readers to create useful conversations.

A recent read on twitter-etiquettes leads me to share my own pet peeves on behaviour I come across, in the hope that it reforms some attitudes. I find that as we’re forming digital communities, it’s only fair that we adopt the right etiquette in our interaction on them, as we do in our life otherwise, so here’s my 3-point list on what we could avoid on 3 popular social networking channels:

LinkedIn

1. Use the single sentence template offered by LinkedIn to invite people. Some individuals have amazed me by saying that they use the impersonal single sentence invite instead of personalising their request because they fear the latter would bother people! Unless people have no idea of objectives of professional networking or they completely mistrust their ability to write two personalised sentences, I’d like to know how it’d disturb anyone to know why this individual is interested in connecting? The sole purpose of forming connections on this professional forum can’t be as mindless as seeing one’s network get populated superficially, so I’d say it makes every sense to use the invite to highlight how directions are aligning hence a request for connection.
2. Keep sketchy data on one’s profile. I realise that it can be time-consuming to complete one’s profile on LinkedIn—especially arranging recommendations for it. But please do not open a LinkedIn account just to put your name, a vaguely worded professional interest full of typing errors, and expect that people should know you enough from it to accept your invite. At least desist from sending invites to people till you fill your school/college education, work history and a few lines as your profile summary. It can remain work-in-progress after that but would still convey some basic background data on you for broadening your network.
3. Missing photo. I don’t plan to judge my professional connections on the basis of their looks nor do I want to be judged on mine, but I consider it plain bad manners for people to leave a gaping hole in place of their profile photo and reach out to all and sundry to make connections. The LinkedIn profile is like an identity document on an individual and built in to support the virtual handshake one is attempting with several people so please ‘paste’ your photo on this ID.

Twitter

1. Tweet and RT (retweet) quotes on a regular basis. While one or two inspiring quotes can have an uplifting effect on one’s thought process, I come across individuals tweeting them as if their life depends on that exercise! Don’t they realise that the Net is bursting at its seams with resources of that kind and they’re just irking their followers with those tweets?
2. Tweet Jokes. Same sentiment applies as above. Please use the tool to connect with people but why fill their timeline with untimely humour repeatedly? If you do not have an original view to share, please wait till you do for reading of myriad viewpoints and blog posts is sure to bring in thoughts of your own to tweet. In any case, responding to tweeted questions is a great way to add value to interaction on Twitter and do that till you get fresh ideas of your own.
3. Tweet your meal and bodily routines. This one really gets me to unfollow individuals, and makes for a reason for my low ‘following’ number! Really, who’s interested to see a crowded timeline with tweets on when one is sleeping or having lunch…unless one is broadcasting a great eating place or food item. When you’re awake, inform your followers of your wakeful state by tweeting coherent and helpful bits of information, and that would help everyone’s cause.

Facebook

1. Friends writing on a friend’s wall instead of sending a private message. To educate friends on using the two mediums sensibly has not been easy for me. Most just feel inclined to fill the visible empty box of Wall than seek out the option of ’send a message to friend’.
2. Friends sending invites to frivolous applications. I can appreciate a friend’s need to reinforce common characteristics but new users of Facebook get too enthusiastic about all the colourful applications they come across and not only get stuck with them, they also get other friends trapped into them. Please exercise self-control when you’re prompted to send an invite to the last quiz you attempted.
3. Individuals putting their family photos as their profile photo. Why do people do that? To ward off unsolicited advances? Why don’t they just mention their relationship status appropriately to send the right message? I can’t think of another reason for putting the whole family or a couple’s photo as one’s own. Everyone has a unique face and should be represented through his/her own here too.

I can think of a couple more things but I promised to stick to a 3-point list so over to you to share yours on making social networking a pleasant experience

Today’s post from Seth Godin is just one among many notes I’ve come across today on the need to maintain a positive outlook. The interesting revelation that Godin’s post makes out of all those, however, is that we think negative because it feels good and is a lot more fun! He helpfully adds that negative thinking feels realistic, soothes our pain, eases our embarrassment, protects us and lowers our expectations so we engage in it more. I agree with him that we end up choosing negative thinking over positive because the former is easier. It’s been easier for me to think negative because I heard my father say all my formative years that ‘he thinks of the worst!‘ What he meant, and continues to, is that in life he prepares for the worst scenario. He wouldn’t clarify the crucial facet of his philosophy that he maintains a positive thought process while conditioning himself to face even the opposite. I just imbibed what I could from his declarations and grew to expect the worst in life.

Over the years, I’ve met some positive-minded people as also sheer karamyogis who’ve simply believed in doing their best and enjoying the process while doing so. And, thankfully, some of that thinking has rubbed off on me. What has also helped tremendously is a regular feed on positive thinking from various online channels. And, I’d be happy to share some of those resources to see if any helps direct anyone towards positivity too:

. Weekly, or sometimes more frequent, posts from http://www.lifesupportsystem.com/ usually have a story to tell that correlates to something that most of us can visualise. The website had changed its colours when I visited it earlier today but I know its writer, Steve Goodier’s teachings just from his simple text email that I’ve been reading in the last 4+ years.

. http://www.thecalmspace.com looks different in Google Reader where I read its posts, and I quite liked this recent one on the link reminding us that we were all meant to shine.

. http://stresstopower.com will provide you with your weekly dose of comics with some words that would resonate with you.

. Even The Universe looks different today from a couple of weeks ago when I enrolled for their ‘customised’ words of upliftment! Their messages have been fun mostly because they have carried my name (entered while enrolling) and some situations have matched – like when a message said something about life being okay even with coffee being weak after I’d finished cleaning spilt coffee (strong one, actually) from the bedspread!

Over to you all for any online resources that have had a calming effect on you.

Thanks to the tech atmosphere around me due to Kishore, I find that I might delay adopting some technologies but I can’t stay immune to them. Even if I try.

I resisted but finally gave in to self-induced pressure to blog about a year ago. And, I remember trying hard to stay convinced of the view that I didn’t know enough to actually say anything of consequence. One year down the road, I’m still unsure if anything I write actually matters tremendously, but I’m still glad that I overcame the fear of seeing my words ‘published.’ In the process I seem to have inspired some visitors to acquire the title of a birdwatcher as through my posts they got to know of places to go watch birds and connect with other birders.

Then came the switch to free and open source software only about four months ago. I’d been up to my head into the reasons for moving to FOSS, but there was a huge hesitation to let go of the familiar. Especially, my beloved Fireworks that I’ve used for years for image editing. But am I glad that I decided to make a clean start when this neat and compact Netbook came into my hands. And, in retrospect, it hasn’t really been an earth-shaking move. It’s just been a learning process and hopefully will stay that way as I’m going about my computing business.

Then, I’ve been a big time advocate of real time learning and have been engaged in advancing my human resources management thought process for a couple of years. That has meant reading several blogs on a regular basis, and in any case online reading for me has gone beyond HRM and included other interests. I’d been somehow coping with this diverse reading in an arbitrary manner but about a month ago, I moved to Google Reader to thread together most of my frequently visited websites. And, oh, what a total luxury it is now to just open the Reader instead of navigating through several bookmarks.

Recently, I also decided to make more determined efforts to connect with online communities and the result has been encouraging when I’ve had useful discussions going among the Kendriya Vidyalaya alumni group on LinkedIn – some recounting early experiences but most looking at present and future. A group of alumni had been working on the design of a global alumni website that I’m getting to help refine. Delhi based members have even managed two small meets where we’ve had students with a difference of 30+ years in their passout years. Then, a new group that I’ve started on LinkedIn envisions knowledge exchange and mentoring among KV originated human resources professionals. I’ve to see if I’ve the patience to help people stay connected there when, interestingly, now I find scores of people who’re more shy than me to speak up…

A new experiment has been with Twitter. Kishore has been on Twitter for over 2 years so that tells me the will power I’ve exercised to stay off it Well, I gave in to the lure last evening and today have had Vir Sanghvi respond to my view on the private airlines’ confrontation with the government. How cool is that?

It’s sheer delight.

And, I hope this tech journey continues!

It had to take the recent much-advertised total solar eclipse to get my family of 3 and 2 other friends to Bhopal last week. And, on seeing Bhopal, we all wondered how was it that a green place as that, and one that close to Delhi, had never appeared on our travels before!

After making this trip by Shatabdi that left the New Delhi Station at an unearthly hour of morning but got us to Bhopal around 2 pm the same day, I’ve concluded that to be the best way for Delhites to get there. Post-Agra, the train traverses some really green landscapes of the country

and Shatabdi’s nice, wide windows give a clear view of this greenery. The ride is interspersed with a flow of food and drinks, making the experience of looking out of the window akin to watching a pleasant movie in an audi with a constant refilling of the food tray in hand. Really, what more could one ask for from one’s mode of transport? Except, may be clean toilets for no matter what the level of our trains or the place of our journey, the cleaning of Indian train toilets always leaves much to be desired. However, the landscapes outside and the airconditioning inside made up for that irritant.

If one has a choice, the right way to experience Bhopal is by hopping into an auto from the station and heading straight to the Jehan Numa Place. We did just that, and the ride gave us a preview of this busy city with not just water-logged and broken roads, but also a lot of character in the form of its Upper Lake and Moti Masjid that showed up on the way. The hotel at the end of it all though gave a bigger visual relief. The Jehan Numa Palace hotel is not only famous for its food, it’s also located on a hill and possibly in the cleanest and greenest part of Bhopal. Its location is ideal also if one is out sightseeing as several important sites are in close vicinity. Be open to getting fleeced by the 2-3 autos parked outside its gate though!

This trip being short, we knew that we won’t be able to cover all the sites listed on the MP Tourism website but it helped to have the Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya close enough and accessible by an auto. This tribal museum kept us fascinated for 2 hours with its wealth of tribal tools, artefacts, vessels, paintings and craftware in its multiple galleries. On stepping outside after this careful scan, however, I was aghast to learn that there were at least 50 showcased dwellings strewn around a 200 acre hilly  terrain and  formed part of the museum. Sadly, we didn’t have time for those so we promised ourselves to revisit the place on our next travel. A few sobering words on the museum – it was clear that it could do with some sprucing up, plugging of several leaks in its roof, fixing of seepage on its ceiling and walls, and most certainly with a more sensible layout in grouping of various regions – it just didn’t make sense to have Tibetan tangkas, Nicobar installations and Maharashtra’s wedding mandap all together in a single hall — granted that it was all lovely to take in and offered a great experience.

Another high point of the visit was a drive to Sanchi – a world heritage site. The drive took about an hour in an SUV and was worth the effort and expense. The main stupa, its toranas and temple ruins around it were well connected through pathways and green expanse of manicured grass. The place had a serene feel with its clean grounds, monuments, painted metal benches, and it sure helped that the afternoon was breezy and cool for walking around. On the way back, our crew stopped to capture the Tropic of Cancer through its collection of 4 cameras. It was quite interesting to stumble upon such an important landmark of our globe without making a special visit to see it.

The prime event of our stay in Bhopal—the total eclipse—turned out quite different from our collective expectations…as the overcast skies prevented the sun or moon to show their anticipated magic. What was beautiful to witness from the rooftop of Jehan Numa though was the transition between light and dark and light again, the quiet of that moment and the delayed bird activity after the light resurfaced. It was also inspiring to meet Philip Ransley and Jeeta Dhillon on the hotel roof. They called themselves ‘the Eclipse Chasers’ and had made a special trip from London to witness this event. It was marvellous to learn that it was Philip’s 11th eclipse experience — going by that, most of us felt truly enthused about covering the next total eclipse expected on 11 July 2010, wherever that may take us!

No travel of ours is complete without figuring the food of the region. Our walks around the old Bhopal market, Chowk on the very first day introduced us to Bhopali chaat — which I found too sweet for my liking. In contrast, all the Indian dishes at Jehan Numa’s highly popular restaurant Under the Mango Tree were spicy and worth all the calories they amounted to. Jehan Numa’s buffet breakfast was also fantastic with its fresh dosas and an array of food options. We missed the kababs and biryanis from the Chowk, giving us yet another reason to plan our next visit to Bhopal at a slower pace.

Our exit out of Bhopal was expected to be smooth what with my organising skills, finding out about radio taxis well in advance and booking one to take us to the station. Except that the booked taxi never arrived, and our group of 5 loaded ourselves and our luggage in 2 autos at the tenth hour and chugged along to the station — when that unhurried drive through Bhopal’s roads wasn’t a luxury we could afford. We made it to the station and inside the departing Shatabdi just in the nick of time, making this trip memorable for more reasons than one

Today is Kabir’s 13th birthday. He believes it to be an important milestone as now he starts his tryst with teenage years. I’m more concerned than ever because already for 2 years he’s been exerting his right to keep long hair, walk with a swagger, speak with a heavier voice and more. All that tells me that parenting him over the teenage years is going to get more engaging than ever!

In the last couple of years, Kabir has made us greeting cards with simple drawings but with special, topical poems. I plan to type them up one of these days so I don’t lose any of them… Meanwhile, here is a quick attempt by Kishore at presenting one of our typical scenarios poetically and a customised virtual cake from me in celebration of this important day.

Kabir a young lad of thirteen
Wanted all day to watch a screen
The TV, the PS, the gameboy to fill his head
Till Mom’n Dad said, now off you go to bed
But he stayed back and made a scene

Enjoy your 13th Birthday, Dearest Kabir, and have a super year ahead…love, Mamma & Papa

There is much being said about how as an employee, you could add value to your job by doing some more and making your inputs more tangible. In a way, I’m glad that the economic slowdown is reducing complacency among people, encouraging them to appreciate what they have and pushing them to frequently assess their output. I used to come across many high earners who’d it easy just by the virtue of their long tenure. On the other hand, I’ve always met many for whom striking a work-life balance has remained a concept discussed in office retreats as they have always put in 12+ hours of work per day, worked 6 days a week and in the present times are returning home only when exhaustion doesn’t allow them any more wakefulness.

So, is it justified to ‘live it up’ at work because one is mostly at work? Is it alright to make one’s social phone calls from work or, these days, complete one’s social obligations by constantly checking and responding to the goings on in their friends’ lives on Facebook or IM? Or, for that matter, intersperse one’s work day with regular reads of RSS feeds?

I don’t think so.

I believe that a work place is for making your contribution towards your organisation’s business and productivity, and reading for self-development or relaxation is best kept for hours when you ought to be relaxing. With myriad avenues for social networking through the Net, there is a higher need for us to exercise self-regulation rather than have the HR and IT devote their resources into analysing employee usage of IM or entertainment sites from work. I also believe that regular self-development is essential and employees must be encouraged to leave their work place early enough to read, blog, tweet and generally do what they must to refuel for the next day. And, if employees find their supervisor’s watching over (MBWA) demeaning, they must exercise self-regulation and, while at work, use social networking to advance their company’s interests.

Here’s some more from Steve Tobak and his commenters on the subject.