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?

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.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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

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

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!

About four years ago, when I managed to successfully pay for a set of Tintin comics on Indiatimes, and saw them getting delivered well wrapped, my faith in man-created mechanisms increased manifold. I made a few more book purchases through the site but after several unsuccessful searches, I felt compelled to revert to my trusted Oxford bookstore in Qutab Plaza or Midland in the Shopping Mall in Gurgaon.

Then, about a year ago, I got conned into paying India Today for a set of Britannica cds that was supposedly bundled with a free kit-bag. More than a year and several reminders later, I haven’t got either. What I did get in abundance were their colourful paper catalogues that attempted to entice me to lose more and more of my money to them, but the company didn’t realise that they had lost a kind-hearted customer for good! Now they spam my mobile relentlessly and earn my wrath even more, and I’m so upset with the brand itself that I don’t consider it deserving of any more business from me.

More recently though my trust in online shopping skyrocketed when I managed to procure a good brand of 4GB MP3 player from Ebay. At a little over Rs2400, the gadget was priced very competitively, and using a discount coupon from one of their mailers, I couldn’t believe my luck for getting it for some Rs1800 or thereabouts. This well-packed hardware arrived a few days later and worked smoothly. Since then, Ebay’s regular mailers have uplifted my spirits further and I’m sure glad they’re around despite several online businesses having disappeared. They will continue to find me as their faithful customer provided the same service continues.

And yesterday, while browsing one of the blogs at MINT, I was happy to know of more options for buying books. The one that appears to top that list is flipkart. On a test of their collection, searching for books by a photographer author that Kishore thinks highly of — Bryan Peterson, I saw at least 10 titles whereas other sites showed only a couple. Shipping was said to be free for orders above Rs100 and the time required for most books was 18-20 days — but also 2-3 months in some cases. I know that’s long but at least one can now sit tight and get these books delivered at home instead of making a trip to Singapore or the U.S to buy them.

Aren’t we glad to be living in times when we can experience the technology (and trade) affecting our lives so positively?

]]> http://jdesignlab.com/technology/online-shopping.html/feed 0 http://jdesignlab.com/technology/easy-computing.html http://jdesignlab.com/technology/easy-computing.html#comments Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:07:30 +0000 jyoti http://jdesignlab.com/?p=406

After much thought over the last few months, I bought myself an Eee PC 1000H. It’s tiny, shiny black, clad in a nice neoprene cover and it works. My specs of a small sized machine that slips into a shoulder bag; enables wordprocessing, browsing, emailing; and looks presentable without burning a hole in my pocket are closely met by this Netbook. And, boy am I excited about owning it? I’ve named it Chotu. Lillipute was a close contender but Chotu would come to mind quicker so won the contest.

With Gurgaon’s electricity nightmares continuing unabated, having a long battery life portable machine with wifi felt more like a necessity than an option for a compulsive surfer and emailer like me. And, even when this last week has been haphazard and busy, each time I’ve looked at Chotu, it’s brought a smile to my face. A relief too that now I’ll remain connected to the world with or without electricity from DHBVN. Asus claims to give 7 hours of backup in this 2-cell battery model in Windows and surprisingly less in Linux. But this less is more in Gurgaon.

The machine has come loaded with Windows XP Home at its price of Rs20,400 from a dealer in Nehru Place but being determined to do it right and go the open source route this time around, with Kishore’s hands-on help, I’m running the Ubuntu based Easy Peasy as the OS, Openoffice for wordprocessing, Evolution for email/calendar/task management and Firefox for browsing. For now, I’m missing Photoshop and Fireworks but hoping to get used to Gimpshop that I still have to install. I find Pidgin a very sensible way to manage various IM accounts. And, the  machine’s 80GB hdd comforts me that it’ll easily hold my current and future data and applications. A missing cdrom hasn’t been a problem till now but I may look at an external drive at some point. Its wifi takes rather long to connect but when it does establish the connection, it remains rock solid on and I can seek any corner of the house to crouch and surf.

There are some issues though. The keyboard, with its right shift key way too right for my reach, poses a learning curve that I’m trying hard to cover. Its mouse pad is giving me some grief but I’m determined to win over its affection. Evolution is playing strange tricks on me by sending off my messages half way through, but now I’m mindful of keeping my mouse cursor away from the Send button after some goofups. I wish it behaved respectfully like Outlook and queued up my mail in the Outbox to wait for a forced Send/Receive but well, life could be worse. After all, picking up email straight through an email client has been a liberating experience after worrying about viruses in Windows – it’s amazing to know that virus infected mail needn’t be a huge concern as long as I keep teaching Evolution to separate clean mail from spam.

My music is on it but the soothing sound of BBC Radio or last.fm is keeping me amply happy and away from Worldspace or my personal library. Am sure enjoying this journey from a desktop to computing anytime, anywhere. Thanks to Amit Kalra for accompanying me through a breezy scan of various Netbooks in Nehru Place, Kishore for showing his magic with machine configuration and data transfer to appease my computing needs, and Supreet Sethi for endorsing Eee PC by showing off his own on the visit to KNMIET.