This is one of the simplest videos I’ve seen which explains the current credit crisis.
19
Nov 09
Why Apple products sell
The market is flooded with hundreds of laptops and mobile phones, each one claiming to be the latest, the fastest and the most feature rich. Choosing the right one is a difficult thing. Some people would rather prefer to stay out of the chaos and be happy to pay a premium to help them decide what is the best for them.
Apple targets exactly this segment of customers, which by the above description, fall under the “exclusive” category.
Here is Apple’s simple mantra:
1. Make your users feel they have a great product. Obsess over aesthetics or whatever that works.
2. Don’t confuse your customers by giving them too many choices. If you have to give a choice, keep the options easily distinguishable through features like screen size, storage capacity etc.
3. Don’t obsess about hardware specifications. Most users don’t really care how much CPU and RAM they have if their computer is fast enough for their work.
4. Don’t introduce products too quickly. Give your users enough time to boast about their new toy. Nothing works like word of mouth. Let the novelty fade away before you hype up and introduce the “next big thing”. Keep this cycle predictable.
5. Don’t leave any opportunity to bash your opponents. TV ads or whatever that works. People love to hate.
No wonder we call it the decade of Steve Jobs.
05
Nov 09
How to turn off the display on your Mac
You often need to turn off your laptop’s LCD display to save on battery power, but don’t want it to go on sleep. This used to be fairly easy on a Windows PC but I had a hard time figuring out how to do this on a Mac.
Just try this useful but not very commonly known keyboard shortcut:
CTRL + SHIFT + EJECT
I bet you didn’t know this 
19
Sep 09
Indian celebrities on Twitter
Indian celebrities usually leave no stone unturned to keep their popularity ranking high, whether it is by creating controversy, endorsing brands, appearing on TV shows or even owning an IPL cricket team.
I noticed that a few of them have also adopted Twitter, which upto now was only for the creme-de-la-creme of the tech community. The ones listed below are the “real” celebrities, since all of them have “Twitter Verified Accounts“, which I believe is trustworthy. Here’s the complete list-
Priyanka Chopra – @priyankachopra
Karan Johar – @kjohar25
Barkha Dutt – @BDUTT
Shashi Tharoor – @shashitharoor
Mallika Sherawat – @mallikala
Gul Panag – @gulpanag
For the sake of completeness, here are some Internationally known celebrities too:
Arnold Schwarzenegger – @Schwarzenegger
Britney Spears – @britneyspears
Oprah Winfrey – @Oprah
Janet Jackson – @JanetJackson
David Blaine – @davidblaine
Al Gore – @algore
Heidi Montag – @heidimontag
Richard Branson – @richardbranson
Pamela Anderson – @PamelaDAnderson
Serena Williams – @serenajwilliams
Venus Williams – @Venuseswilliams
Ricky Martin – @ricky_martin
Paris Hilton – @parishilton
If you come across anyone else who deserves a mention here, please leave a comment and help me keep the post updated.
15
Sep 09
Why most people don’t understand Twitter
Despite being well connected with a lot of my friends and colleagues online, only a handful of people I know use Twitter. Ask the others and I often get to hear “I just don’t get it!”. This got me thinking – I have never heard such a reply for any other website! Then what is it that people find so mysterious about Twitter?
The answer was right on Twitter’s homepage.
Check out Twitter.com. All I see is – “Share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world. Join the conversation. Sign up now”
There is not a single word on why and how you can start using Twitter. Anyone who comes to Twitter.com for the first time will most certainly have the following questions in mind -
- what is a tweet? How do I start twitter-ing?
- what does @someone mean?
- Why do people say “RT @someone” and what does it mean?
- Why do I need to “follow” someone and how is it different from adding a contact on a social network?
- What does a #tag do?
- What is twitter search and why is it useful to me? What exactly is a trending topic?
and none of them get answered. No wonder. In essence, Twitter needs it’s “missing manual”.
13
Sep 09
Entrepreneur magazine now in India
Entrepreneur magazine has been launched in India from September 2009. I got my first issue and found it totally worth it. This is a great addition to a fantastic line of products by the Network18 group in India.
Also worth checking out are T3 and the recently introduced Forbes India magazine.
04
Sep 09
Apple seeking divine blessings for iPhone 3GS launch in India?
Rumors of the upcoming iPhone 3GS launch in India might be true this time. The iPhone was supposed to launch in more than 30 countries in the final phase, and it seems that the iPhone is already out in Argentina, Brazil,
Chile, Egypt and Peru.
Going by the latest rumor, the iPhone is set to launch on 19 September 2009 in India. 19 September also happens to be the first day after the end of Sharad (which is considered an inauspicious time for buying) and the first day of Navratri.
Is this a mere coincidence? Or, are Apple/Vodafone/Airtel really seeking divine blessings to boost their sales in India?
Related post:
Top 10 reasons why iPhone 3GS will be a success in India
03
Sep 09
Why tweets are more social than Facebook updates
“Status updates”, though meant to share what one is doing, are not really taken by their literal meaning. People use status updates in a variety of ways, including sharing links, breaking news etc. However, I observed a fundamental difference between how Facebook and Twitter updates spread on the web. An interesting comparison can be drawn between the two:
1. On Facebook, the “Share” link is only present for status updates which include a sharable resource (say, a URL, video etc.) and not for simple text-only updates.
Why did Facebook choose to do this? Why isn’t there an option to “re-feed” someone else’s status update into your own feed? Comparing this with Twitter, quite a lot of re-tweets are not necessarily about sharing video, URL’s etc., implying that this use-case definitely exists.
2. I generally post a lot of interesting videos and URL’s into my Facebook feed, because I surf a lot and often come across interesting content which is worth sharing. But, anyone can “Share” my post with their own network, without giving me any credit as the original source of the content.
I feel hurt, I feel cheated… almost as if someone “stole” it from me. If I’ve posted something interesting, you’re supposed to “Like” it or post a comment on it. If you must steal, the least you can do is credit the source! If you can be a good boy on Twitter (by including “RT @gauravgupta” in the tweet), shouldn’t you be able to do this on Facebook too?
Comments and feedback welcome.
30
Aug 09
Share iPhone apps with multiple iPhone’s
If you have more than one iPhone or iPod touch, you need not purchase the same app twice to use it on both devices. Here’s a quick How-To from CNET on how to share your apps (and other media) between multiple iPhone’s and iPod Touch’s.
You always wanted this but never knew this was possible, right? I know. 