Thoughts in Three

Opinion vs Advice

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 14:57:00 +0000

Opinion: As per Wikipedia, “an opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement.”

Opinions are mere views. Different people have different opinions, which can help widen one’s perspective, letting us see things from different angles which we might be blind to earlier.

It’s important to have different opinions, you know. Opinions can be of relevance but not helpful for all given micro scenarios/situations of our lives. Opinions might be influenced by each other, but people would generally give advice (suggest/recommend) from their own experiences, what they have observed, seen or felt – not heard.

That’s my opinion.

Advice: Here’s my advice. Don’t go for opinions. Seek advice. At the same time, be your own judge.

- co-written with Omkar Terdal

For the love of nature, 25Lamp by Kovac Family will help develop sustainable light

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 13:11:00 +0000

From using certified eco-friendly paper, tote bags to organic coffee, Kovac Family is well known for incorporating green solutions in everything they do to help conserve energy and contribute towards lesser CO2 emissions. Sustainability being the core motive, the Swedish folks have come up with a new product this time. It’s called 25Lamp.

You might wonder why such a name? Because 25Lamp is part of a collection called Numbers where all products are named after the number of parts used in making them.

Made up of 25 pieces of locally produced and handmade FSC certified sustainable wood, 25Lamp is a flat-packed lamp with armadillo shell like design. The elegant structure gives a warm and gentle glow that is bound to make you look twice.

The flat packed lamp is easy to transport, assemble and disassemble. It measures 30cm in height and 23cm in width when unfolded completely.

Available in different materials, Oak, Ash and Birch, the lamp also comes in different styles and colors, Whitened, Freckles, Ebonized, Striped and Blueberry – either linseed waxed or unwaxed. Price ranges from 215 to 323 euros and you can get yours here.

On top of this, good thing is that you get to choose between wall and ceiling plug with your purchase and the bundle ships with a 2.5m - 3m textile cord (beige or white in color) which can be extended up to 5m upon request. The lamp cord needs to be dissembled when recycling as it is made of plastic, cooper and textile.

Their commitment towards improving everyday life and the environment is seen from the fact that entire revenue generated from 25Lamp will be used to support and fund Kovac Family’s own ambitious research project on sustainable light.

Believing that nature’s well-adapted strategies can teach us to create more sustainable human approach to lighting, their Biomimetic Light Project aims at producing light in a wallpaper thin, flexible material using a biomimetic method – which means light is generated completely from nature without electricity.

The idea comes by studying nature and realizing that for so many years, life organisms like marine sponges, beetles, and tropical butterflies have been producing light naturally, economically and efficiently.

Using biomimicry, this project is a great step towards inspiring the world to create more sustainable systems and making us conscious about the impact we can have on mother nature by reducing CO2 emissions and costs.

About Kovac Family:

Founded in 2012 by Camilla Kovac, Kovac Family is a multidisciplinary studio from Stockholm that design and create products using eco-friendly materials and methods with as minimum impact on the environment as possible.

To know more about Biomimetic Light Project, visit their website.

What My Boss Taught Me Before Leaving the Organization | The Secret to Achieve Anything

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 07:34:00 +0000

Some things we don’t want to do or plan for in the first place, but it happens anyway. Similarly, I never thought I would be working in the advertising industry – and here I am, having completed my first work anniversary at Exponential Interactive recently.

In the past eighteen months, I have learned a lot and grown more so. Credit goes to my manager, Chandra. He taught me a lot of things – but one of the most important and useful stuff was how to achieve anything by setting up goals.

Before I knew about it, I wondered how big businesses are built. How successful people lay plans and achieve what they want to. I used to think there had to be a genie behind all of this – some kind of high-level strategist.

Turns out it’s no rocket science, there is no secret. It is actually pretty simple: convert and break your goal statements/objectives into numbers. What it means is turning your objective statements into actionable sub-goals which you can track and make efforts accordingly.

Key here is to make things quantifiable because you know, making mere statements like, “I want to save more money” for instance (or put your own life goal here) doesn’t work practically. You would want to see yourself making progress towards your goal.

Let me give you a quick example. One of my work responsibilities is to acquire ad inventory for spending ad budgets we secure for our publishers. At times, we get more ad bookings than what was earlier expected. My job is to support demand with adequate supply. For this to happen, we need to know the exact demand and inventory requirement. We set goals for this – we put numbers in place.

For instance, we serve 1.5 BN ad impressions every quarter in a particular market and say it needs to be increased by 50%, i.e. 2.25 BN per quarter. That means 750 MN per month (2.25 divided by 3) against 500 MN we already have (1.5 BN divided by 3). So, we need additional 250 MN every month (750 MN – 500 MN). Here’s a little chart (you can make your goal sheet too):

We further divide it into number of publisher partners we need to acquire the deficit – 10 publishers each with 25 MN capacity or 5 publishers with 50 MN each. Rest is up to us how we achieve it. In the next few weeks, we would track our progress to know where we stand and adjust things accordingly.

This makes objectives easy to realize. And it pretty much applies to everything we want to do in our lives:

“I want to lose weight.”

“I want to save more money.”

“I want to finish this book.”

If you want to lose weight, measure what you weigh now and set a target weight you want to achieve, say you’d like to cut it by 9 kg. Then decide on a time frame, 3 months? So, 3 kg every month. Now, go on to decide how many meals you need to take every day and nutrient quantities (again numbers here) per meal. Track your progress in between to check if you’ve lost 1.5 kg by mid-week or 3 kg at the end of the first month. You’ll see a new version of yourself after 3 months.

Similarly, for saving more money, measure how much you want to save and put numbers in place. For saving 50,000 by the end of 2017, how much you have to save every day, every month. Start saving and keep track of your progress.

Finish the book you were thinking of reading for a while now? Count the pages and decide by when you want to finish reading it. 200 pages in 20 days? That’s 10 pages every day. Then depending on your reading speed, how many hours you have to put per day to finish 10 pages, 2 hours? There you go.

You can use the same process over and over again to plan and achieve the things you want.

This post was pending due my first anniversary at Exponential. But, there could be no better time than now to publish it to show my respect and gratitude for Chandra. He has been a great mentor and friend to me – and will always remain to be so.

Chandra used to ask me to write something related to ad tech every now and then. I haven’t written any new blog post in the past one year. I am writing one now, because of him. May be this is my parting gift to him.

Chandra resigned few days back and today is his last day at work. During work transition, I had few doubts and whenever I used to ask him or wanted to discuss something, “Boss, what about this?”, he always corrected me with a smile, “Ex-Boss.”

You’ll always be the BOSS, Chandra.

P.S.: Enuf said. If Chandra is reading this, he’ll get the reference.

5 Things You Should Stop Doing Right Away To Retain Your Mobile App Users

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 20:08:00 +0000

Okay, let’s get to the point:

Your app is getting million downloads per month, but only few users stick with it thereafter
Your DAUs (Daily Active Users) are not happy with the overall app experience and are giving you bad ratings on app stores
Your mobile app users are not satisfied with your customer support & service

Sounds familiar? Yeah, we too have heard thousands of these stories.

There’s no denying that every company and app developer try and do their best to make their app a success when it’s launched in stores. Those with big budgets would do marketing magic shows, advertise on all possible and appropriate channels to increase visibility and create a buzz. Whereas, indie and small developers mostly rely on organic discovery and downloads to start with. Nonetheless, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t lose on their user base.

A recent study shows that apps on an average lose around 80% of their users over the course of 90 days since App Install and there are million apps launched every month – around 1.6 MN android and 1.5 MN iOS apps were launched in July only this year. It’s quite evident that at the end of the day, there are very few apps which finally make the cut and are able to engage and retain their users in addition to acquiring new ones and having millions of downloads every month.

Whether you’re a small developer or an established startup, if you’re losing a major chunk of your user base, it’s because you probably are not paying attention to small & simple, yet the most important things. You know what you should do but perhaps ignore what you shouldn’t.

Acquiring new users is easy – retaining existing ones is hard, but not impossible. Here are 5 things you should stop doing right away that’s costing you your valuable user base:

Make an app with bad user experience: This has to be on the top of the list. An application with bad user experience is a nightmare. We humans crave for something that’s beautiful to look at, intuitive in nature, quick to grasp and easy to use. Your users go through a horrible experience with your app, they are never going to forget it and probably never use your app again. In contrast, give your users a 10/10 holistic experience and they will be your marketing megaphone. Research indicates that mobile app users are going to reach 4.4 billion mark by the end of 2017, which holds a lot of potential if you get your app’s user experience right.
Create an app that takes light years to load and have loads of issues: Performance matters. People don’t install and check apps to learn to be patient. Users need fast responses and they need it now – that too without any technical glitches. If your app has sluggish performance, make tweaks right away or say Sayonara to your new hard-earned users. A study by MarketWatch last year found the same - users don't have much patience for poor-performing apps. 86 percent deleted or uninstalled at least one mobile app because of problems with its performance.

Same research shows that from the US adults surveyed, 38 percent try another app when faced with a problem, 34 percent stop using the app, and 19 percent complain to friends and family. Now, don’t complain, you’ve been warned.
Send push notifications, in-app messages and pop-ups every few hours: One of the most common mistakes that can force users to abandon your app even if you give them a superior user experience is sending endless push notifications, in-app messages and pop-ups. Though opt-in rates vary from industry to industry, games, especially strategy and role-playing ones have more success in engaging users because of their addictive nature. But even so, multiple pop-ups or too much notifications eventually irritate users who then start losing interest in your app and ignore any notifications you send in future – however relevant or beneficial those notifications might be to them.

Worst case would be getting popups when they least want or expect it. Quick example: user has two applications to do online recharge, Application A and B. User opens Application A and fills required information but realizes that he has entered wrong details while checking out. To correct it, hits the back button in a hurry. A pop-up comes up, “Do you like our app? How about giving it a 5 Star Rating?” NO!

Action taken – UNINSTALL Application A. Switch to Application B. Period.
Send push notifications and in-app messages all at the same time without user permission: Know the difference between them and their purpose and use accordingly. Push notifications are for luring users to engage with the application and drive some action. Whereas, in-app messages are best when user is inside the app and actively interacting with it. Plus, users want to be in control. They would like to choose how and when they get notified. You should not just send notifications without hinting or setting context. Instead, it’s a good practice to educate or show your users. Otherwise, users are bound to opt-out of push notifications.
Ignore what your users are saying: Don’t give a shit about what your users say? Stop doing it. NOW! Listening to your users’ feedback is as vital as creating an awesome user experience. In fact, working on feedback is the only way you can enhance user experience. Without your users’ voice, you wouldn’t exactly know what they want from your app, what’s bothering them or if they need any support.

Denys Zhadanov, Director of Marketing at Readdle, knows how important it is to listen to customer feedback. “We respond to every support email, talk to them on social media in a very friendly way, release updates often and listen to their feedback,” says Zhadanov. Readdle is a Ukraine based startup which makes productivity apps and has 40 million downloads and five million monthly active users (MAUs).

At the same time, you also don’t have to be very nosy and bombard user’s attention with feedback questions and surveys. Use intelligent engagement platforms to communicate with your users without being intrusive.

That’s it folks. To wrap up things up, just try not to:

Get labeled as someone developing apps with bad user experience and terrible performance. People have good memory when it comes to remembering their experiences with others – be it good or bad.
Fire notifications like an Uzi. Rather use it like a Sniper Rifle, one bullet at the right time with max impact.
Ignore what your users say. Instead, take their feedback seriously, for it could be Holy Grail for your app’s overnight success.

Hope you don’t miss out on these 5 powerful app-saver checkpoints and your users are to stay with you. :)

Are you lost?

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Sun, 04 May 2014 12:45:00 +0000

Did you ever think or feel like you’re lost? Like you don’t know what to do next, where to go to, where to head now or what next you should be doing with your life, career, debts or relationship.

You are in the middle of this crowd, everything around is blurred to you, you can’t think straight, you’re getting random mixed thoughts about everything else but not of that one thing which is the cause for your worry, you have this fear inside of you of being lost (or mostly of failure) and it seems like everything around you is falling apart or will fall apart.

Yes, right. Welcome to the lost zone. I have been there too – couple of times.

Whenever I had that moment I used to think what’s happening, is it going to be like this forever?
But, I noticed every time, just after 10-15 mins, that it would go. It just passes away.

Now a days, whenever if anything bad happens or something worries me or I feel like lost, I know it will pass away. Nothing is forever. Right? It’s just a matter of time.

And, if you compare your situation before and after you were in that lost zone, you’ll find that:

you are more rational than before,
you know what you want,
what you need to do,
you know that one thing that you now have to focus on.

Getting lost is good, I guess. It’s a way of finding and knowing things we really didn’t know or we thought we didn’t know - but most of the time, those things which were right in front of us the whole time but we could not see.

Ever seen a traveller saying he is lost? Actually, he is not lost. He is just on his way to find a direction (may be a new one). A new arrow sign saying yes, that’s where you should head.

That’s what life is about. Getting lost and finding a direction (not on purpose). So, the next time you think or feel like lost or really get lost, remember this:

We are never lost. We are only on our way to find a new direction. And sometimes
in life, it’s good to be lost. :)

Let Me Know Android App Re-Design

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 11:35:00 +0000

I worked at Let Me Know in the rainy season of 2011 as a blogger. For those who don't know, Let Me Know is a unique portal that helps students across India find opportunities of various kinds. And it was fun. I learned a lot of things from a group of enthusiastic people who believe in “breaking the Information barrier”.

A year later I saw they launched their Android application for on-the-go users to search for opportunities from anywhere. It had a very basic interface - quite like when android first rolled out.

But, in today's modern world, where simplicity and minimalism is the new trend and applications are developed on contexual information delivery grounds, I thought the app needed a re-design.

So, here it is: The New Let Me Know Android App. Take a look and "let me know" your views and feedback. :)

Disclaimer: This design is just a concept. Images copyright with Shaleen Sinha.

Old LMK Android App Splash Screen

New LMK Android App Splash Screen

Old LMK Android App Home Screen

New LMK Android App Home Screen with color-coded cards

Homepage Side Drawer for more options - Stacked Sideways

Homepage Side Drawer for more options (variant 2) - Stacked on Top

Old LMK Android App Event Listing Page

New Event Listing page with upper navigation bar color-coded according to the category selected
with better & equal spacing within and around the cards, and relevant icons to quickly grasp
critical information. This is a screenshot of the 'Technology' events listing.

Similarly, upper navigation bar is color-coded with green for 'Social Sciences' events listing, (if someone opens
'Maths & Science' opportunity category listing, then the upper navigation bar will be black in color and so on..).

While listing all the opportunities, the cards are color-coded sideways with vertical line stripes according to
the category they belong to, so that the user knows which opportunity is from which category.

Old Event Details Page

Event Details Page of the New LMK Android App. Here also, information is divided by
equally spaced lines and whitespaces and with relevant icons for quick information grasping.

In addition to all that, contextual options are included for taking quick actions without leaving the page.
Like an 'Add to Calendar ' button is included right beside the 'Timeline' information for adding the event to
your calendar application. A 'Notify Me' button will automatically remind you of the deadline a day before
via email, phone or the alarm clock application.

All these contexual buttons are included with the aim to make user experience convenient and easy,
and to integrate information right into the device's native applications like Calendar, Clock, Email etc.
'Apply Now!' had to wear a big and bold look for better visibility for the user to take quick action
and apply at the moment, right from the app without going anywhere else.

This is a variant to the Event Details Page. Contextual buttons have been shifted upwards and are merged with
the navigation bar. 'Share' button is an add-on. You can now share opportunities with your friends
via email, social networking sites, whatsapp, and lots more.

This is an another variant of the Event Details Page. Contextual buttons are completely placed within a
color-coded bar at the bottom. The color of this bar changes according to the opportunity category selected.
For example, Blue for 'Technology', Green for 'Social Sciences', Black for 'Maths & Science', and so on..

New LMK Android App Search Interface. As you search for keywords, the app will suggest
opportunities with its respective color-coded category symbol on the left so that the user
knows which opportunity belongs to which category as he searches.

© Copyright 2014 Shaleen Sinha. All rights reserved.
Images may not be copied, printed, or otherwise disseminated without express written permission.

SACHIN | THE GOD OF CRICKET | MEDIA RELEASES

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 13:43:00 +0000

Wondered what it would be like to have Sachin's autobiography book published? How would it look like if it ever published? Or if the complete DVD footage of Sachin's last test match released? His last play, his last message, his final moments - people would crave to have thier copy. Or what if a biographical movie based on his life comes out in the near future. Well, that wouldn't surprise me, at all. He deserves this.

So, I tried my hands at it. Here's what I got: Sachin's autobiography book cover. DVD of his last match with complete footage, behind the scenes and exclusive interviews. And, a movie poster.

Sachin's Autobiography Book "THE GOD OF CRICKET" Cover

Sachin's Autobiography Book "THE GOD OF CRICKET" Full Cover | 499

Sachin's Last Match DVD Optical Disc Cover
"AN END OF AN ERA | SACHIN'S FAREWELL MATCH"

Sachin's Last Match Standard DVD Case | 699
"AN END OF AN ERA | SACHIN'S FAREWELL MATCH"

Sachin's Last Match Limited Edition DVD Case with Sachin's Signed Lifetime Booklet
"AN END OF AN ERA | SACHIN'S FAREWELL MATCH" | 999

"THE INDIAN GOD" Movie Teaser based on Sachin's Biography

"THE INDIAN GOD" Movie Poster based on Sachin's Biography

Disclaimer: These media releases are neither official nor sponsored. Should be considered fan made.

All trademarks and logos used are the property of their respective owners.

Multi-tasking is a lie

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 16:39:00 +0000

Multi-tasking is a lie. At least in case of humans, it is. We have been fooled into believing that we can multitask and we should be doing so. Big advertisements and banners advocate this aloud. 1.5 Ghz Dual core, 4GB RAM, blah, blah and blah.

The false promise

Companies invest heavily in the idea of multi-tasking so that they could sell whatever they want and customers fall into vicious cycle of the need to buy more luxurious cars, secure devices, faster smartphones and what not – even if they don’t need it!

But who really even cares! They sell so that they could benefit and we buy because we can afford. That’s it. Instead of worrying about if we would really use the product, we measure whether buying that is within our financial reach or not. Usability of products has been replaced by affordability and one’s social status. And buying habits are now driven by the parameters to fit into the society.

Well, that’s how business and marketing is done in this world. And we will continue to consume in the same way until we pause and reflect.

Back to multi-tasking

If you are wondering how multi-tasking an illusion in case of humans is, you have to understand what multi-tasking really is and how it differs.

Simply put, it is the ability to execute more than one task at the same time. A/c to Wikipedia, “In computing, multitasking is a method where multiple tasks (known as processes) are performed during the same period of time, i.e. simultaneously.”

The system quickly switches between each computing task to give the impression the different applications are executing multiple actions simultaneously. [source]

The computer can have multiple CPU or cores to handle a number of tasks at a time. Therefore, computers have multi processors capable of doing many jobs at one time. But, note that even the computer processes one thing at a time by switching over from one task to another over a period of time to complete the requests made by the users.

Multitasking does scheduling of tasks as to which task will be the one running at any given time, and when another waiting task gets a turn and this is achieved by using a concept of threading.

Say you are working in MS Word, doing web browsing and listening to music, all that at the same time while eating mouth-watering Chocolate Cupcake. The CPU handles these processes in time slots with each application accessing a separate processor core simultaneously.

So, if two tasks are handled at the same moment, then it is by two different cores or processors. In case of single core/processor only one task runs at any point in time and the CPU is actively executing instructions for that task, having done the scheduling of a number of tasks to be performed after another. So in one second it is executing an MS Word instruction and in the next, it executes the processes to handle web browser instructions. Therefore, in real sense we are actually doing only one task at a time (handled by multi-processors).

Multi-tasking in humans

However, multi-tasking in humans is different from that of computers. Instead of an impression of doing multiple jobs at the same time, we, humans can only fast switch between jobs with our attention. We don’t have multi processors to handle a number of processes having access to each different processor to execute different processes.

Let me clear this with an example. Suppose you are reading something, listening to music, and checking your facebook notification on your phone all at the same time. Another common example that we all usually do can be taking phone calls while typing an email (or doing something else) or driving and listening to music or washing dishes and talking.

We think we are multi-tasking. But, if we really think over it for a second we are not actually multitasking. We are only doing one task at a moment (uni-tasking). To clear this out, let’s take the above mentioned situation. When you are reading a book for, say, 1 minute, all your focus is on the text; not on anything else. And during that time music also kept playing in your earphones but your focus was only on the text of the book, not on the music. When you listened to music, you aren’t reading (focusing) on the text anymore. That’s switching happening there, not processing (doing) two tasks at the same time. It’s a very minute and subtle process that we barely notice. Happens in microseconds.

And didn’t you ever notice when you were talking on the phone while doing something else at the same time that you only listened to what the other person was saying in chunks – not the whole conversation? That’s because your mind was processing something else at moments. Your attention was sought by that other thing you were doing. And whenever you switched your attention back to the voice on the phone line you processed what the other person was saying.

Conclusion

Needless to say, our mind can only do (process) one thing at a time. Think of it as working in time slots. In human context, there is no such thing as multitasking at a given moment - it can only be realized for a span of time. So, you might say we multi-tasked for a period of time but in real sense we focused only on one thing given at one time.

At last, multitasking in humans can result in time wasted due to human context switching causing more errors due to insufficient attention. So…

Apparently, we are practicing distraction in multitasking. We switch back and forth between things with our attention. And the more we multi task the less efficient we will be.

Truth Revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 09:37:00 +0000

Editor's Note: This is a guest post by my friend Siddharth Bansal.

What is "Truth"? Is it a misconception? In a way, it is! But, does it rise to a more subtle and psychological level or does it represent just a plethora of facts?

No. The "truth" does not comprise of facts alone. It is an attribute, an ability and most importantly a concept waiting to be understood. It is "acceptance". The moment we accept something, it becomes the truth to us.

To explain things in a better way let's consider this example: When Charles Darwin first came up with his evolutionary theory he was almost put to death for the crime he never committed which was blasphemy (devil's worship). It was totally absurd for people to react so aggressively. But in the end it all came down to acceptance. And it always has been like this. Disagree? Pick any case, you'll find out. What you accept, becomes the truth for you.

The Resemblance

Anger is an outcome of lack of patience, which makes it a derived entity - not an independent one. Same is the case with truth. It is highly dependent, varying and an outcome of acceptance. What is true to me now may be the biggest lie of my life in near future. Truth is like time, shifting and moving as you and I breathe. While we all breathe.

Truth is the biggest lie.

So, deceivingly, truth is a misconception of the highest order. Truth is a lie well accepted. And, do not be confused between facts and the truth. Osama bin laden has been behind many mass murders, this is a fact but considering him a terrorist is again a matter of truth and acceptance.

The truth tends to weaken us, it veils our vision. In our quest to find the truth what we actually seek is solace and term it as truth. It corrupts us. It is addicting to a point of no return.

The Application.

Magicians use this weakness of ours as their biggest weapon, they are the masters of a very specific kind of art. The art of playing with our ability to accept things. We see what they want us to see, we accept what they want us to accept which eventually turns into PoooFFF!!! Magic. The real meaning gets lost somewhere far behind amidst religions and superstitions. It all started there.

Now, do you think you accept the things I just told you? What would you say if I tell you that what I just told you, was the truth? Would you believe that?

Rise and reason because, "The truth is the biggest lie waiting to be accepted." Isn't it?

Analytix Mobile Handset Usage (MHU) Survey 2012-2013

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 15:36:00 +0000

Today, almost everybody has a mobile phone. We use it to make calls, text people, click photos, make videos, listen to music, play games, surf the internet, connect socially and what not! In fact, it has become an indispensable tool. Without it, life seems worthless.

So, we asked mobile phone users about their handset usage. Our motive was to study the usage of mobile phones among the users, analyzing and providing mobile phone usage behavior data. How often are they using their mobile phones? What they use it for? How much addicted they are?

But, the main question is, can they really live a day without their mobile phone? Let’s find out.

Here is an awesome infographics of the survey designed by Sankalp Sinha:

You can also download the whole report of the survey (pdf version) which contains detailed information of the sample size, methodologies used, mobile handset market scenario, other key outcomes and consequences of using mobile phones. And at last, an appeal from Kartavya, a Non-Governmental Organisation which is helping many underprivileged children living in slums and villages realize their dream by providing free and high quality education near college campuses.

Download the whole Analytix Mobile Handset Usage (MHU) 2012-2013 report (pdf version).

Download

A Tasty Holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 13:11:00 +0000

At last my holidays are over. I have stayed almost three months at home this time and enjoyed a lot. It's time to head back - this will be my final year under graduation.

During the last few weeks I was outing a lot and eating a lot. :D But, there were two food items I consumed on a regular basis, Bihari Momo (there's a reason why I call it Bihari) and Litti Chokha - I just love them.

This would be my last post from Patna and today, I would like to share my eating experience with you and give a quick intro of Litti Chokha and we will talk about Bihari Momo some other time.

Litti Chokha is one of the most famous food found in Bihar. Basically, Litti is atta (flour) dough balls filled with sattu (dry powder mixture of ground pulses and cereals which itself originated in Bihar) and eaten with Chokha which is mashed potato mixed with baigan ka bharta (roasted brinjal). Many also prefer dhaniya (cilantro) chutnis. The Litti is dipped in butter or ghee.

We visited one of the best shop we knew in Patna, near Hariniwas besides Maurya Lok. As per our taste,

Manoj Litti Bhandar makes the most mouth-watering and finger-licking Litti Chokha in town. You can find in a plate, two pieces of Litti dipped in ghee, Chokha, salad, and some chutni which we finished every bit of.

It was damn tasty and belly filling. If you ever visit Patna, do come here and taste the shaan of Bihar.

Image on Flickr

It's Time

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 13:09:00 +0000

It’s 6:39 in the evening.

In case you are out, go home. Get fresh.
Have a cup of coffee or tea or whatever you like to have.
Open the door and go out in the balcony. Lean over the grill with the support of your elbow while holding that cup with both your hands.
Is the weather amazing? Great! Look up. Look around. Witness the world. Take in the surroundings.
Be thankful to what Mother Nature holds for you. The clear blue sky. Light orange color of the dusk gradually scattering all over above you. Take it all in.
And hold the cup easy; as it is a part of you. Feel the warmth. Let it flow inside out. Feel it. Don’t rush. Let the world as it is. Still. Things won’t go far.
Let your thoughts flow freely. Notice where your mind and heart takes you and enjoy the moment. Feel the joy. Embrace it.
Listen to smooth steady music. Be free from all the noise (for a few minutes though). But, it’s okay. You deserve a break. You need it – some quite time for yourself.
Go on. Assign a time slot for yourself. For you alone – just you and your thoughts. And enjoy that moment. Every single day, for the rest of your life.

Image on Flickr

Harmonious Independence | Guest Post from Colin Wright

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 06:30:00 +0000

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Colin Wright of Exile Lifestyle.

It’s said that if you want a relationship to succeed — to last — you have to make sacrifices.

I strongly disagree.

It’s important to bend when dealing with other people on any level, sure, but that doesn’t mean you should break. If you have to give up what’s important to you in order to be with someone else, it’s very possible you’re with the wrong person. This applies to business relationships, friendships, and more-than-friendships equally. Why on earth would you want to give up what makes you, you, in order to be with someone? And why would you want anyone else to do the same?

There’s a phrase I use to describe what I look for in relationships: harmonious independence. It means that you are you, with or without anyone else. You are complete.

At the same time, your independent spirit plays well with others. You don’t expect anyone else to give up what makes them happy in order to be in your life, nor would you want them to expect it of you. Instead, you support each other in all things. Their personality traits, goals, idiosyncrasies, and other relationships are the reason you want them in your life.

Each of you being whole, independent people is what makes the relationship worthwhile in the first place. You have your own lives, but you meet in the middle because you want to. Your completeness supports their completeness and allows you to become an even better version of yourself in the exchange. As a result, you can be tied as loosely or closely as makes sense for your situation — in either case, you contribute to each other’s lives in a positive way.

"A relationship worth having does not require you to be anyone
but the best possible version of yourself."

Colin Wright is an author, entrepreneur, and full-time traveler and his readers decide where he will go next every 4 months. Know more about Colin here.

Odyssey | Music Album

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 13:13:00 +0000

For the last few weeks I have been travelling a lot. Changing transports, visiting places and meeting relatives. It had been quite a time. And while travelling, my best time pass has always been music (I avoid reading while travelling - extremely straining for eyes). Whereas music can help boost our mood, relieve stress, reduce muscle tension, improve body movement and coordination, also reliefs pain.

Without the vibration of guitar strings, sound of the snare drum, notes of piano, it is hard to think of travelling or working - and travel+music kind of go together. I plug my earphones when am:

travelling
going to places
reading something light
doing mathematical operations
working on some project
resting
sitting and enjoying the moment

In short, music occupies a major part of my daily routine and life.

Whenever I am travelling, I am either sleeping or listening to music. But, one day I thought it would be great if I compile a list of travel songs. Something from the back of my mind asserted too that I should. So, I started taking notes for songs which are most apt for travelling. Songs that set your mood and make you feel like travelling, which make you enjoy the scenes, appreciate your surroundings, watch trees sped by, wonder where these roads would take you, embrace delightful moments and after all, enjoy the journey. I even asked members of Art of The Muses - an open facebook group for music lovers and enthusiasts, to help me out and suggest some good travel songs. Thanks for their contributions!

So, here it is. Launching a compiled list of best travel songs that you would listen to many many times while travelling. The album is called, Odyssey, meaning a long exciting adventurous journey on which a lot of things happen. It consists of 13 tracks and 2 bonus tracks. First 13 are slow to medium tempo soothing music and I highly recommend that you listen to them with your earphones plugged in and the latter two bonus upbeat tracks. My cellphone, home printer, Google Docs, Trello (great tool for organizing things) and few publishing tools came handy in compiling and organizing the list. Hope you enjoy it. :)

"Odyssey"

Odyssey Album Art - Cover

Odyssey Back Cover - Track Listings

Tracks

I’m Yours - Jason Mraz: Starting the list with I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. One of the most soothing and beautiful songs I have ever heard. From the first note up to the last, you won't regret listening to this song while you are on the move - instead you would wonder why you haven't had this before until then. If you are driving along the open fields, country side or across the streets, this is your song. Nominated for Grammy Award for Song of the Year (2009), this should be a must in every travel song list in the planet!
Dead Man Walking - The Script: Fit for every road, highway, city. This is one of my favorite since I started listening to The Script. These guys are amazing and so are their songs - composition is damn great! Listen to this just one time and I bet you will listen to this everyday for it's that addictive!
All the Way/4U - Poets of the Fall: Slow tempo. Soothing to the ears. Poets of the Fall will always be one of my favorites!
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day: "I walk a lonely road, The only one that I have ever known, Don't know where it goes, But it's only me, and I walk alone." This song doesn't need an intro. If you travel a lot, usually long distances, then this had to be in the list. One of the signature songs by Green Day, was ranked #1 on Rolling Stone's Reader's Choice: Singles of the Decade list in 2009.
Hey There Delilah - Plain White T’s: This one was submitted by one of the Muses. I didn't know about this track before; but kinda liked it afterwards - it's good. The lyrics is about a boy missing his girl who is thousand miles apart doing her school. Am sure you'll like it while travelling. Also, topped the Billboard Hot 100 (July 2007).
Why Georgia - John Mayer: Why Georgia is John Mayer autobiographic, and touches on Mayer's experience of having a 'quarterlife crisis' - a period of life after adolescence in which a person begins to feel doubtful about their own lives, brought on by the stress of becoming an adult. In the song, he questions his actions of moving to Atlanta after dropping out of Berklee College of Music, and while pursuing his dreams had doubts if he’s living his life right and whether he would be successful or not. Sets your mood like travelling from the moment you hit play - you'll enjoy the moment. Plus, its very relaxing. Recommended that after a heavy work schedule or busy stressful day, you plug it in while you are going back home. It will ease up your mood. :)
Paradise - Coldplay: A tale about a girl who dreamed of paradise in a difficult and hard struggled life. You could comprehend and relate more why it's in here in the travelling list, if you have seen the video. Life is also like a journey. In its ups and downs or storms and clear sky, we seek a smooth ride. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award and also featured in the trailer of Life of Pi.
Extreme Ways - Moby: Yes! It's here. Those who have seen the Bourne film series would be very much acquainted with this track - used as the end title theme in all the movies. Thrilling track (click for Bourne Ultimatum version of this song)! After listening to this once you will get to know why it's there in the movie - perfectly describes the protagonist, Jason Bourne (I love the character played by Matt Damon). I always listen to this at least once when am travelling somewhere. "Extreme ways are back again, Extreme places I didn't know..." You are to a new city? Or you are new to a city? Doesn't matter - this always fits in when you are walking down a city block and merging with the crowd. There will be a slight smile on your face. And you will start recalling a lot of strange past memories - memories of your living places, cities you have been, things you have seen and all that have happened to you. :)
If Ever I Could Love - Keith Urban: From one of the best country music singer I have heard till date, comes a song so harmonious that you will feel it all in and move with it. You will be able to relate this more with a rural expedition cause it has typical tastes of country side themes. Damn melodious! Complete 5 stars on my playlist. Best suited when you are travelling from cities to cities through the rural/countryside areas and landscapes in between. See an awesome live video of Keith Urban performing this song with John Mayer.
U.F.O - Coldplay: Again, one of my favorites. Love the notes played by guitar strings. It's about uncertainty about which way we might go. Just like travelling, going to places, but still, a long way to go. Sit next to a window, if you are riding a bus or train and listen to the lyrics carefully. All this while, take a look out of the window - see the trees, long roads, landscapes pass by... Trust me. You'll get lost. Sigh!
Storm Warning - Hunter Hayes: Turn this up when you are out for an adventurous ride. I like this line from the lyrics: "Have you ever noticed every hurricane gets it's name from a girl like this."
I Still Haven't Found What I’m Looking For - U2: I have been a big fan of U2 since I started to listen to English music. In every song there would be something that I can relate myself with. It tells a story about how a man has climbed mountains, run through the fields, scaled big city walls but still haven't found what he is looking for. Similar to our world someway - we have known a lot, seen a lot, gone to a lot of places, traveled a lot, but still haven't found what we are looking for! Here is a live version you would regret missing - this is the power of music!
Tu Compania - Keith Urban: Fun track! Groovy! Your body will move with it, I bet. Whether you have just entered a city (familiar or a new one) or have just started exploring it and enjoying the whole surrounding, the customs, its people - here's the song. And... if you got a company as well, that's fine too my lady! Tu Compania! Sorry, couldn't get a better link for the song - please download it from somewhere.

Bonus Tracks

Feel The Love - Rudimental: I asked one of my friends to suggest some tracks (Nishant is a DJ and he is good at it. love what he does with the tracks - big fan!). Being a DJ, he follows electronic music like techno and trance. He could have suggested me plenty of great trance tracks but I don't prefer listening to trance while travelling (preferably may be while working). What do you prefer? Still... there is this, that I think you should keep in your playlist if you like playing fast tempo songs in your car stereo while going somewhere (or in case if you are a fan of Rudimental - like I am). I heard this song first on Need For Speed Most Wanted (2012). See, playing games isn't that bad after all - I couldn't have known this song otherwise. Thanks NFS! BTW, have you felt the love?
Leave You Far Behind - Lunatic Calm: "I wanna take you to a roller coaster... I want to push it right over the line!" Heard when I was in 8th standard (2006) - was in the soundtrack listing of Test Drive 6. It has also been featured in a number of game and movie titles. This should be out of the wishlist, in terms of tempo (fast), as compared to what I have included in the top 13 tracks - slow to medium paced tempo, soothing music. But this is different. Like electronic music with big beats (break beats)? May be rock or hard rock sometimes? Then, you should try this. Or like to play loud music in car stereo when you feel like racing or driving or travelling at a fast speed? Play this! It will boost up your energy and adrenaline levels.

That's all folks. You may use Songr to search and download songs. Wait for Side B - it's coming soon. For now, I hope you like the list. Tell me how you enjoy the tracks or what else would you like to add to your own travel playlist in the comments section below. Thanks!

MSSN

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 13:37:00 +0000

Simplicity and Minimalism. It means keeping what’s important and removing the rest. I truly believe in this and follow people like Joshua Becker, Leo Babauta, Courtney Carver who also write about the same.

Recently I launched an MSSN (short for Minimal & Simplified Social Networking) Clean-Up mission in which I removed 100+ friends from my facebook account. I unfriended people:

who were inactive for most of these years
who were not that important
whose presence didn't matter much
whose updates I didn't necessarily need to know
who sent me virtual invitations
who shared crap
whom I didn't actually liked/loved
who were not creative
who were not productive
who were not making an impact on my life

Really. What would I do by knowing what the hell others are doing with their lives – what they are eating, where they are at, check their ridiculous photos (which I won’t personally like from heart so I won’t be able to honestly appreciate it) and that too especially from those who didn't matter much? Instead why not focus on my own life and try making the best of it? Makes sense, sounds considerable and seems the right thing to do. Isn't it?

But you may ask what its benefits are. These are the few advantages of MSSN:

Mindful Space: After I accomplished my mission, I found more mindful space across my social network – surrounded by more like-minded, creative, energetic, curious people. And my decision didn't bother those I deleted at the first place. They either never got to know or even if they did, they didn't mind/care and never messaged me back asking why.
More Time: Earlier I used to ~~devote~~ waste my time on updates from people I cared less about, who didn't add much into how I am, what I am, what I can learn and what I can become. Now, I have more time for the things I love to do for the unnecessary stream of information is gone. I have more time to invest on myself and spend with my loved ones. I saved more than half an hour each day!
Peace of Mind: Now I can care less about stuff that I don’t need or want to see in my news feed that could distract me from my goals and affect my life in any manner (mentally or emotionally).
Increased Productivity: I can redirect more of my extra time, energy and resources (freed from those who were stealing it gradually) to something real and good. All this has indeed contributed to my productivity, even if a little.
Abundant Energy: Things that are not necessary consume a lot of your energy. And they sucked mine too. With energy, money is complemented. I had to pay electricity bill, internet bill for checking things which didn't matter or which I didn't want! That might be a minute loss if considered comparatively. Still, money saved is money earned.
Meaningful Relationships: I strictly do not add people I don’t know outside facebook however in few cases exceptions are made. Obviously there is a fixed place for family members, friends and co-workers. But, at the end of the day it’s about making genuine connections – honest ones. It’s about keeping what is important, what is necessary. And wiping out the rest.

I am not completely anti with the huge presence of social networks on the internet today. In fact, apart from spoiling your time and sucking your valuable energy and resources, social networking sites are still great tools to be in touch with each other – your relatives, friends, co-workers. They can be a platform where you or your business can grow, if you let them.

And am sure few of you reading this must have already cleaned up your list, some thought of it and many never did. It’s time.

Shadows

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:00:00 +0000

We live under the shadows. Because it’s cozy there. We can lie lazy there for hours and procrastinate work (doesn't matter personal or professional, important or insignificant, big or small) most of time. We put things off for the later, reschedule agendas and push to-dos ahead in the calendar that we should be attending or doing right now.

Shadows keep you away from achieving what you have always dreamed of, what’s in your to-do list, what you can become, what you can serve and the change you deserve. We read a lot of help books. We search for how-tos. We say we have put our efforts. But we know that’s not enough.

"Easy never lead to an easy and happy life. Difficulties do."

And it’s not that we are afraid to work - sometimes we are only afraid to take the first step. For we fear. We fear what would happen (what lies in the future). We fear failure and from all that comes worries. A lot of worries. And then Bang! We put all that our mind, hands, legs and muscles have created up till this moment in a nearby black trash bin. Next second, we again lay there in a 36 x 75 well cushioned – fascinating about a brighter, more successful and happier life.

But the real thing has always been outside the shadows. It’s under the Sun – where you move, sweat and work. When you mind-boggle a lot, generate ideas and work upon them. That’s where the light is. You just got to move your ass out of your comfort zone to get things done, to achieve the biggest and become the happiest. There is no other way to it.

Image: Rajiv Kumar Solanki/Follow him on Flickr!

With Power Comes Responsibilities

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:38:00 +0000

You know why I love to watch children play? Because, they only know innocence, happiness and fun. When I look at them and think how young they are, how innocent they are - they don’t know what is happening out there and they don’t even care. And that care-free mind-set I envy the most about them. They can do whatever they want without caring about submitting assignments, completing projects, getting a job, next-minute meetings, meeting deadlines, buying a house and paying bills, sabotaged relationships, health issues and everything else that is in this world.

Summer break has arrived with the completion of third year of my graduation (one more to go) and temperature here exceeds bearing level – 43 °C. Guess it’s time to head home now.

Before leaving, I was spending an evening sitting in my Hostel Veranda, watching small children of slum workers play. They had a poorly ragged, small baby carriage; riding it one by one. After 15 minutes of running, riding, playing and expending energy they eventually became thirsty. And fortunately, there was a gardener nearby watering the plants with a pipe. To no surprise, they ran to quench their thirst and the gardener helped them in having enough drinking water.

The minute children were finished drinking, the gardener didn't stop there. He had a little fun instead – he splashed water on the ground near their feet that got sprinkled back on them and then played with the kids with water. Who doesn't love playing with water in a scorching heat and that too when we are talking about children!

Undoubtedly, the kids enjoyed it too. They sure had fun. There were smiles on everybody’s faces – on the gardener, the three kids and mine. An ecstasy. :)

By now, you may ask why I am telling you this. For, I learnt something that day. What did I learn? I learned that when you have power of something, you can use it to help others beside your prime responsibilities that come with that power. It can be power of anything. Can be power of money, power of politics, power of authority, physical power, power to extend emotional strength, power to simplify someone’s life or power to quench someone’s thirst.

In this case the gardener had a power; power of access to water and his prime responsibility was to water the plants. But he also used it to help others (quench little ones’ thirst). At the same time he found a way to had fun, though for a very short period of time in this so big busy world. And I see no harm in it. :)

So, the next time you possess a power, doesn't matter which power, just a power of anything, even for a little time, use it to help others beside the prime responsibilities you have because of that power. And what’s magical about your powers without moments of enjoyment and fun! Add fun around with your powers if you can (there’s no harm in having a little fun). And with it, create moments of happiness that bring smiles on faces – no matter what the age is ! :)

Well Done Is Better Than Well Read | Actions Matters The Most

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:58:00 +0000

I love reading what Chris sends to me over mail. He writes about productivity, motivation, success, being brave, willpower, habits, decision making, social media marketing, digital business and a lot more. He has a way of telling impactful stories full of insights and experiences. And whatever he says, you will always find it helpful in some way or the other.

One thing to notice in his mails/blog posts is that they are very personal. In one of his recent newsletters on “action” he wrote, “I have the supreme pleasure and delight of watching people learn. More accurately, I watch how people respond to learning. But what I’m most excited about when observing everyone is the difference between readers and do-ers.”

"Transformation Comes From Action"

“You and I can read all we want. We can “collect ideas” all we want. Until we give it a go, we won’t know how it “really” works.”

He gave it a try and did his first ever HIIT workout (High Intensity Interval Training) – “For instance, I’d read about it for a while, and it sounded ouchy. Do something really intensely for 30 seconds, for instance, and then rest 1 minute. Repeat for about 30 minutes. From all I read about it, I worried that I couldn’t do it.”

“When I gave it a shot, I learned rather quickly how it works. I can explain to you what I learned, but until you try it, you’ll have knowledge but not experience.”

In his experience, information is not enough. Information with references or extra resources helps more in comprehending the matter. Whereas, actionable information has the most impact on our thought process which asks to take action instead of just reading and thinking.

Well, it’s simple and makes sense. What if I read about something that I want to do; say, learn cooking and I don’t take any action on it? What if I don’t practice what I have read - go to the kitchen and make a food item or two? Only reading and thinking of cooking a great recipe won’t make me learn cooking in real.

To my experience as well, to understand things in a better way, we need to put our knowledge to work. And by taking action we have a deeper understanding of how things work. Eventually, if you really want to learn something, action becomes more important than just reading. You have to step out of your comfort zone and act, if you really want to achieve what you desire.

No doubt, reading teaches us a lot. It gives us the knowledge. But it doesn’t give you the insights of self-explored experimental learning process. It is only by doing that you will learn the real thing and gain valuable experience. For that, you got to not just read and think but also beat procrastination, clear distractions and start doing. Today.

So, when you are finished reading this post, go take action and do whatever you want to learn to do!

Chris Brogan is CEO and president of Human Business Works. Chris aims at helping professionals work better, do the work they want, and to be brave while building a strong, sustainable, relationship-minded business. He helps businesses grow and believes in delivering great value to his customers/clients. He is also a consultant and frequent keynote speaker. His clients include Google, Microsoft, Dell, Sony, Panasonic, GM, Coca-Cola, Pepsico and many more. Besides that, Chris is the New York Times bestselling author of The Impact Equation and Trust Agents. Read more about Chris here.

Everything Has A Center | Goodwill Theory

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:12:00 +0000

One of the things which I am not ashamed of accepting is that I am not much fond of studying or attend classes either. Reason: they are boring. If they are made more interactive and participative, that would somehow interest me. But, that's another thing.

What I am writing here is just about an another day in college. Third lecture was Antenna & Radar Engineering (ARE) - which surprisingly I liked over the rest and that too probably because of our professor. He makes the class interactive and studying fun while emphasizing more on the learning approach of teaching. And that day, we were to study dipole antenna. The professor drew an antenna electromagnetic field region on the white board. It looked something like this:

Dipole Antenna EM Field Regions

When he was done drawing the diagram, he said pointing at the middle of the circle, "This is the center." To be honest, I wasn't paying enough attention to what he was saying but that phrase struck me - I stopped for a moment, gave it a second and thought over it. I thought it wasn't just that field region drawn there that has a center.

For the next few days, I was thinking: how come only a circle has a center. Thinking in the classroom, while surfing, while eating, while walking... and I kept thinking about it all the time. And, I came to conclude that not only a circle, but other arguable geometrical shapes also have a center. For examples:

A Circle: Has a center.
Straight Line: The midpoint of a straight line is its center.
An Arrow: Center towards where its head is directed.
Triangle: Centroid, Incenter and Orthocenter are different centers of a triangle.
Different Line Segments: Any random line can be differentiated at different points of time and in each case the segments represent basic geometrical shapes having their own centers.
Random Shapes: Take any random shape. Take differential lengths. At each curve, each length can be seen as a geometrical segment and has a center of its own. For example, a serpentine line. It will have semi-circles with centers followed by straight lines having midpoints and then at last an arrow. Hence, at each point and segment there is a center.

Postulate #1: At any point of time any considerable object has a center.

However, that's not just it. This can be fairly extended to other phenomena of the universe as well, be it the nearest or the farthest, the smallest or the largest, living or non-living:

An Atom: Has nucleus as its center, a very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom.
Physical Forces: Forces like centripetal and centrifugal force has a center around a curvature.
Gravitational Pull: Masses are pulled by the Gravitational Force towards the center of gravity.
The Earth: The inner core of the earth is approximately 1,220 km (760 mi) from the surface and primarily consists of iron-nickel alloy, temperature nearly comparable to the Sun - 5430 °C!
Any Quantifiable Mass: Every object has a center of mass.
Solar System: Our own solar system also has a center - The Sun.
Galaxies: The Galactic Center is the rotational center of the Milky Way galaxy, located at a distance of ~27,000 ± 1,000 light-years from the Earth! The existence of a supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way is strongly believed.
Love: We all experience love. And in this case, the center is the person we love - our loved ones. The whole emotional and psychological behavior shifts towards this center.
And Whatever You Are Doing: Yes! Whatever you do, you always have a center and that depends on your focus - where you are focusing at that moment. The center would be then, the thing/work you are focusing on. Even if you redefine your goals or change decisions or take different paths in life, you will always have a center. What is yours at this moment?

Postulate #2: Everything has a center.

This theory is called Goodwill Theory ; named after the professor whom we were talking about - who made me think about the centers. Thus, based on these two postulates, Goodwill Theory states that : "At any point of time every considerable object or thing has a center."

Fear

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:05:00 +0000

We all fear something. We encounter something fearful everyday. And fear limits the way our lives are meant to be lived: fearfully.

How can one ask a farmer not to expect when he has worked too hard for the surplus? How can one ask a student not to hope for good grades if he has studied well all semester? How can one ask a investor not to expect decent return? With hope and expectations, comes fear. Fear is natural. It's inevitable.

"Fear is nothing but the product of thoughts we create."

Everybody has their own version of fear and hence definition of fear differs with demographics. A seven year old may fear spiders, a 18 year old teen may have a stage fear or an adult working in an MNC may have fear of career failure.

Out of all, these are the most profound fears we have:

Fear of failure
Fear of losing someone or something
Fear of not-being-good-enough
Fear of rejection
Fear of missing out (FOMO)
Fear of what lies in the future
Fear of uncertainity

But, you have total control over your mind and thoughts. Nobody else other than you define the things you fear. Your fears have the power to hold you back from doing what you love, what matters most to you, what is important to you, what you desire to do, what you have been putting off for days, weeks or even years. It eventually stops you from living and enjoying your life to the optimum as you should be by stealing your peace and happiness.

Whatever your fear may be, you can either authorize these self-created-fears-of-yours stop you from living your life to the fullest or you can take on them one by one and live a more bold and braver life cherishing every moment. I recommend going with the latter one.

What should you do?

Be strong: You have to be strong. It is a must. There is no other way to this. There cannot be a should. You have to say to yourself repeatedly all day long out loud, "I can do this. I must do it. I will not fear you." I do this all the time and vouch for this as it is extremely helpful in any situation you can imagine of. Trust me.

Make a list of the things you fear: I made my own and named it as "Black Chart". Start with the small things you fear like spider or heights or darkness and then step down to the big ones. Highlight the important fears which you think need the most of your efforts to be put upon.
Face them - one at a time: Take on the fears from your things-you-fear list one by one. Start with small fears. Work on them. Analyze why you have that fear. Ask yourself if you really need to be afraid of it. Is that thing a necessity for your happy living? Mostly the answer will be a negative. For example, if you have fear you might miss out on important notifications or news feed if you don't log in to your facebook account try asking yourself if you really need to check shitty updates from people whom you don't know or people who don't care about you. Does it really matter what are they doing with their lives? Instead why not focus on your life and try making the best of it. You yourself create and decide your life priorities, goals and needs. You can make or break any of it any second. It's all up in the mind. Move on to next step if the answer is otherwise.
Suppress them and move on: This is the "action" step. If you don't execute this, you will always fear your fears. Once identified try to fight your fears. Suppress them. Simply say, "I will not fear you!" For the above case, you can limit your logins into facebook. Say no to shitty updates and unnecessary distractions for a more fearless and happier life. You will not die. I didn't. In fact I reduced my social networking footprints and am still alive, writing this post! And to be very frank, you have no reason to be afraid of anything. You can also seek help from your family members, friends, peers or even me!
Do things you have been putting off til now: Time to do things you have been not doing because of the fears you had. Fears that have been holding you back.
Shatter every boundary: You know no limits. No boundaries. It's just you and your fears. No one in between. And in the end it will only be you living a more braver and happier life.
Claim things which are rightfully yours: Haven't got what you deserved? What you thought should be yours? Success, Love, Fame, Money, Happiness. You name it. And your fears always stopped you? Huh! Kick them out.
Achieve the goals you have been setting offside: Had a long list to-dos which you haven't struck out? Wanted to start a learning class? But didn't do because you feared that you won't get enough admissions. Wanted to pass an interview? But feared rejection. It is time now.
Make your dreams come true which you have been wishing for: Don't just dream. Get out and make them come true. You have nothing to fear about.

Go, grab things. Especially those you fear the most in the first place. Think how wonderful your life would be if you didn't fear what you do. Once you overcome one of your fears, you will be more confident than before in everything that you do afterwards. You will start to feel this energy of accomplishment; the energy you get after overcoming an obstacle. Cherish that feeling. Hold it for it will compel you to achieve the unachievable. And go for the next in the-things-you-fear list.

Let me know what you fear and how you overcame it.

Minimal Lite

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 04:16:00 +0000

Today I am re-launching my personal website after a re-design. Here's why I am doing it.

My aim was to design a site minimal in approach with the least possible distraction, noise and clutter. Prime purpose was to let readers focus more on content instead of being distracted by multi-block layout, cluttered design, advertisements, buttons that beg to click, lots and lots of unnecessary links, too many widgets and more... Creating a memorable experience for the reader.

Result: A simple, pure and clean minimalist website!

In order to achieve that, the site had to have:

A good-sized readable font
Column width optimal for reading
Pure white background for clear content visibility
Light color schemes
Minimal navigation with less clutter

What it has and what not?

Minimal Lite is characterized by:

A header
Single coloumn body layout
And a footer
Nothing else!

It does not have:

Navbar
Sidebars
Multi-layout footer
Unnecessary widgets and links

Brief description about the design

Green is the color of nature, balance, growth, hope, learning, harmony and life. It also happens to be one of my favorite colors. So, I chose it. Color hex code is: '#88c34b' and corresponding RGB code is Red: 136, Green: 195 and Blue: 75. You can convert hex color code into RGB and vice versa here. Font used universally is 'Segoe UI' and body font-size is 14 pixels. Content width is 780 pixels wide and I think this is the perfect dimension for the design.

Want to download this Template?

More details about the template

Header

1. Get rid of the annoying Navbar:

Install the template.
Edit in Blogger template editor.
Find 'navbar'.
Delete the widget.

2. Horizontal Green Line at top:

Add this code just after the closing head tag </head>:

<div style='top:0px; width:100%; position:fixed; height:10px; background-color:#92D050; z-index:100;'>
</div>

If you don't want this horizontal line to be fixed, delete 'position:fixed' name value from the code.
You can also change the color, height and other variables as desired or even remove the whole code if you don't want it.

3. Header Image:

700px wide by 233px in height.
Color used is '#88c34b'.
Font used for the text in the image is: 'Rockwell', Bold.
Description font is: 'Adobe Arabic', Italic.

4. Blog Title:

Search for group description 'Blog Title' under variable definitions of <b:skin>.
Title color is #88c34b.
You can change other values as well:

Body

1. Content Width:

It is 780 pixels wide. I think this is the perfect dimension.
But, in case you are not satisfied, look for 'content.width' in the template editor.
Change the value here:

<b:variable default='960px' name='content.width' type='length' value='780px'/>

2. Links Gadget:

On the top you will find the links gadget which can be added and edited from the layout section of your blog settings.
Letter-spacing is 4px for clarity.
Font-size is 17px for better visibility.
And individual font-color is #71625A to match the design and color scheme of the site.
Added as HTML/javascript gadget below the header.
You can edit as per your requirement:

3. Post Title:

Change this under body css after variable defnitions of <b:skin>.
Find 'post.title' variable name under group description 'Post Title':
Color is the same as that of the blog title; #88c34b.
Font size is 26px.

Note: I have also changed the post title footer. Search for 'post.title' where css is written. You will find these definitions:

margin-top:21px;
margin-bottom:22px;

Alter the values as desired.

4. Body Text Font & Color:

Find the variable name 'body.font' under group description 'Page Text' at the begining of the variable definitions of <b:skin>.
Default font size is 14 px.
Font family is Seoge UI.
You will find all the values you need to change, if you wish:

5. Page Title:

The page title appears in the body/content of every page and sometimes gets repeated.
To stop displaying the page title in the content section/body, first search for ']]></b:skin>'.
Add this code just after it:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "static_page"'>
<style>
.post-title.entry-title{
display: none;
}
</style>
</b:if>

6. Links:

Default link colors have been defined under 'Links' group description.
Search for 'link.color' followed by other link variable names:
Link hover color has been assigned the theme color of the site: #88c34b so that if hovered over a link the link color changes into green.

6. Other variable definitions:

Similarly, you will find other variable names like body.background.color, description.text.color, date.header, post.footer, image.background.color, widget.title, etc. which you can edit as per your preferences.

7. Remove Border And Shadow From All Images

Search below similar code in your template:

.post-body img, .post-body .tr-caption-container, .Profile img, .Image img,

.BlogList .item-thumbnail img

{

padding: $(image.border.small.size);

background: $(image.background.color);

border: 1px solid $(image.border.color);

-moz-box-shadow: 1px 1px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, .1);

-webkit-box-shadow: 1px 1px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, .1);

box-shadow: 1px 1px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, .1);

}

Replace the entire piece of code with the code given below:

.post-body img, .post-body .tr-caption-container, .Profile img, .Image img,

.BlogList .item-thumbnail img {

padding: none;

border: none;

background: none;

-moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent;

-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent;

box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent;

}

Footer

1. Post Subcription Links:

Delete unnecessary footer post subcription links.
This will remove 'Subscribe to: Posts Comments (Atom)' from the posts' footer.
Find 'post.feeds' in the template editor.
Delete this whole section below:


<div class='post-feeds'>
<b:loop values='data:posts' var='post'>
<b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'>
<b:if cond='data:post.feedLinks'>
<b:include data='post.feedLinks' name='feedLinksBody'/>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:loop>
</div>

And boom! They are gone forever.

2. Body Feed Links:

This will delete 'Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)' from the body footer.
Find 'feed-links'.
Delete this whole section:

<div class='feed-links'>
<data:feedLinksMsg/>
<b:loop values='data:links' var='f'>
<a class='feed-link' expr:href='data:f.url' expr:type='data:f.mimeType' target='_blank'><data:f.name/> (<data:f.feedType/>)</a>
</b:loop>
</div>

DONOT delete the line above this section i.e.: <b:includable id='feedLinksBody' var='links'>

3. Attribution:

Be free of the default traditional attribution and add your own custom attribution.
Search for 'attribution' until you get this code below.
Delete the attribution widget.
And add this code below as a HTML/javascript gadget at the bottom from the layout settings of your blog:

<div id='footer' align='center'>© 2013 <a href='http://www.yourdomain.com/'>Your Site Name</a>
<br/>
<a href='http://www.shaleensinha.com/'>Minimal Lite</a> designed by Shaleen Sinha
</div>

Make appropriate changes like your domain url, name and text accordingly.

4. Comment Box Width:

Within “Blog1” widget, expand ‘comment-form’ and ‘threaded-form’ includable.
Find ‘comment-editor’
Go for the “width='100%'”
Then find this code:

<iframe allowtransparency='true' class='blogger-iframe-colorize blogger-comment-from-post' frameborder='0' height='410' id='comment-editor' name='comment-editor' src='' style='display: none' width='100%'/>
<b:else/>

Change the value of width from % to your desired length in pixels.
I have kept it 690px.

Note: You need to follow the above instruction four times (4) wherever you find height='410' because the comment box appears in various div sections.

Extras

Archives Page

1. Search Function:

Centrally aligned.
Searches your site for keywords entered through Google.
Look for 'var domainroot'.
Type in your domain name:

<script type="text/javascript">
var domainroot="yourdomain.com"
function Gsitesearch(curobj){
curobj.q.value="site:"+domainroot+" "+curobj.qfront.value
}
</script>
<div style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 4px; text-align: center;">
<form action="http://www.google.com/search" method="get" onsubmit="Gsitesearch(this)">
<div class="search">
Search this site:<br />
<input class="texta" name="q" type="hidden" />
<input name="qfront" style="height: 14px; text-size: 12px; width: 180px;" type="text" />
</div>
</form>
</div>

You can also change the dimension and look of the search box or text by tweaking with the style attribute.

2. Others:

Search by labels are added manually and so are the links to the posts, using <ul> lists.

Change the links in the subscription section to have your RSS and email subscription links.

Connect Page

1. Email Subscription Box:

It is centrally aligned.
Form box is 300px wide.
Input box is 170px in length:

<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: 20px;">Subscribe via Email</span>
<br />
<form action="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify" method="post" onsubmit="window.open('http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=YOURFEED', 'popupwindow', 'scrollbars=yes,width=560,height=550');return true" style="border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-top: 5px; padding: 4px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" target="popupwindow">
Enter your email address:<br />
<input name="email" style="width: 170px;" type="text" /><br />
<input name="uri" type="hidden" value="ThoughtsInThree" /><input name="loc" type="hidden" value="en_US" /><input type="submit" value="Subscribe" /><br />
Delivered by <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/" target="_blank">FeedBurner</a>
</form>
</div>

You can individually change the attribute values for fonts and form dimensions.

2. Others:

No image has been used for how-to-connect options like rss, email or facebook.
The link-texts are manually coded using css for their individual colors.
Here's a great site for color selection from any picture or logo: ImageColorPicker

Download

You can download this template. It is for free! Yes! You can download, install and tweak it for your own website without asking for permission:

Download Minimal Lite

Note: Do backup your previous template before installing. Proceed at your own risk. I am not responsible if you don't find your dashboard next time in case anything goes wrong. Still, if you have problems/questions regarding this template and need support, then email me.

Enjoy!

Take me higher

Songr | Review

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 06:49:00 +0000

Now-a-days music lovers have a bunch of options to download music tracks/albums via p2p sites, sharing sites, hosting sites and a lot more. For a newbie, it would be hard to search over and find such direct-linking sites. Even though, if someone has a list and access to a number of such hosting and sharing sites, they would have to go through a longgg time-consuming hectic process which may include clicking through endless URLs, skipping ads, passing CAPTCHAs and other unnecessary steps in order to get their download started. Shouldn’t be there one stop portal for searching, streaming and downloading music tracks/albums at once, for all?

Well, there is a solution: Songr! - Freeware desktop client used to search, stream and download music. Songr does not index nor host any mp3 files; it only searches the string entered in various search engines and returns results. Created by Andrea Martinelli, it is available in more than 27 languages, Songr works on Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac.

"Searching and downloading your favorite tracks was never this easy!"

With its simple, minimalistic interface and an integrated search box, you can search for your favorite tracks from 16 different third party mp3 search engines. Search for single tracks, artists, full albums (in ZIP/RAR formats) or even get the best result automatically and it’s easy to filter your results according to needs using Intelligent Sorting (displays high quality mp3s on the top of the list).

Songr 2 Preview

Artist Search: Playing Summmer of '69 by Bryan Adams in Songr 2. Songr loads the artist information instantly.

Songr 1.9 Stable Artist Search Interface

Songr 1.9 Track Search: Searching for One Republic's Good Life. You can either Play, Preview or Download tracks

Songr 1.9 Album Search: Searched for Linkin Park's Living Things album. Here's a list of download links and track listing

Searching through "Artist" displays information from Wikipedia about the artist searched along with a media player of the artist's songs. Plus, it also searches songs by their lyrics (powered by Bing). So, don’t get amazed while discovering music by typing some words in the Search by Lyrics panel and get an audio preview (powered by Amazon) instantly. You can also play music stored in your local hard drive! And, when you do that, Songr automatically loads the artist information and the lyrics – just like that.

Songr 1.9 Search by Lyrics: Searched for Adele - Rolling in the Deep through lyrics

Lyrics shown while playing music in Songr 2

One can also switch to Songr 2 Preview, which was launched on 31^st October 2012. It has a new clean interface (still simple and minimal in nature) and fluid navigation for discovering new music and updates separately from the current stable version.

And just think how cool it would be if you could not only download YouTube videos but also extract audio files? Yes! Songr lets you do that. You can download HD YouTube Videos and can even extract/convert mp3 out of them. It also includes automatic conversion of results to direct links to listen straightaway in Windows Media Player. Though downloads cannot be paused, users can preview songs before downloading.

Download YouTube videos directly or extract mp3 file

In addition to all this, Songr gives you an option to buy music from popular online stores like Amazon, eMusic, Rhapsody and Zune.

Songr is more useful to non-torrent users who don’t have access to p2p sites/applications or to those who waste thousands of minutes searching for tracks all over the net. Hence, at the end of the day, the only thing that comes to mind for Songr is: Get hassle free music directly to hard drive without any mindboggling ads or restrictions!

You can download Songr from here.

The Dark Knight Rises | Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 04:00:00 +0000

"Deh-Shay Deh-Shay, Bah Sah Rah Bah Sah Rah. Deh-Shay Deh-Shay, Bah Sah Rah Bah Sah Rah. Deh-Shay Deh-Shay, Bah Sah Rah Bah Sah Rah! "

"The Batman has to come back." He has to. "He must."

After eight year exile? Will he? "Is he back?"

Yes! He returns and rises again! :)

No words. EPIC! Ultimate conclusion to the trilogy. If you ask me whether you should watch it or not, then be prepared to be buried. You can watch it as many times as you wish! This is one of the best films I have ever seen in my life till now and one of the best from the Legendary director, Christopher Nolan who has the capacity to deliver beyond your imaginations and expectations every single time. And also, one of the best Batman films and a trilogy of its kind for ages. There will not be a Batman movie and a trilogy like this ever again in any sense. It has everything: Story line, Editing, Direction, Action, Sound, Score, Visuals and what not! The dialogues are very much moving and believable. Films need not be full of action, multi-superhero cast with a pinch of comedy in order to entertain you. TDKR proves it. A true cinematic experience! :)

The Dark Knight Rises Poster

With this finale, Christopher Nolan has become the first director to complete a full trilogy of Batman films. And, Christian Bale the first live action actor to portray Batman/Bruce Wayne in three Batman films. At 165 minutes long, this is the longest Batman film released to date as well as the longest film that Christopher Nolan has ever directed!

Though all the three films were dark themed; this is a bit different from The Dark Knight which was based on fear, distrust and breaking-the-spirit thing. This one reminds you of the Batman Begins. The story reconnects the plot with Batman Begins introducing Ra's al Ghul's principles and the return of the Leauge of Shawdows to fulfill Ra's mission, with the help of Bane, to destroy Gotham in order to restore balance from injustice and the corrupt. Nolan very cleverly introduced new characters, Robin and Catwoman who very well suitably blended in. There were many climaxes and twists but the end was amazing.

When the lights go off you can shout. When there is darkness, you can anticipate. When he rolls, we clap. And the cops say they will catch The Dark Knight; what a joke! :D

His entry: You can feel the goosebumps! Thanks to Hans Zimmer, as the music is simply outstanding!

While Lucius Fox always has something new to give away every time, even without any unusual request. BTW, who the bloody hell calls The Bat, a rat! :D The name is pretty appropriate though, for, The Bat could fly. And, yes, forgot to add that now-a-days, everything comes in black. :D

His psychological and intellect style of direction is worth watching as he used the conventional method to shoot the film rather than opting for the digital format to make this the biggest blockbuster on screen. No doubts, it will break many records at box office. It has already outdone everything! Absolutely 11/10

But the question remains... Who is he? A symbol? An element of trust? A man with a cape? A hero? A watchman? A guardian? The Dark Knight? But as Gordon just says it over and over again...

He is The Batman! :)

Ready for the next gen iPad? | Review

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Thu, 31 May 2012 07:17:00 +0000

In just a less than a year with almost 15 million devices sold, Apple unveiled the second-gen of the iPad phenomenon. And this time the design is outstandingly brilliant and the aesthetics gets an improvement. iPad 2 seriously raised the bar through its sleek, sexy, lighter, nimble and mobile hardware.

The Next-Gen iPad 2

The first thing you'll definitely notice about the iPad 2 is that it's unbelievably thin (33% thicker). At its thickest point, the tablet is just 0.34-inch. The plastic plate makes it 15% lighter than it’s been ever before even if the back is carved of metal, demanding a protective case (Smart Cover). The device is slightly shorter than the previous model (at 9.5-inches tall), but also slightly less wide (just 7.3-inches versus the iPad's 7.47-inches). It looks and feels amazingly sleek - quite a feat considering what's packed inside the slate.

Talking about the soul features, while the iOS 4.3 holds its position, Apple has replaced last year's A4 CPU with a new, 1GHz dual core chip called as the A5. Memory has been increased from 256 MB to 512 MB DDR2. The screen is identical to the previous model, a 1024 x 768, stronger 9.7-inch IPS display with LED backlighting and a fingerprint and scratch-resistant oleophobic coating. The iPad has a 25 watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery that lasts 10 hours, like the original iPad. The battery is 2.5 mm thick, 59% smaller than the original and has three cells instead of two. It is charged via USB or included 10-watt, 2-amp power adapter.

This time iPad's mono speaker got relocated to the back of the device. The sound is clear; thanks to its Dolby Digital 5.1 stereo surround sound. Other specifications include 5x digital zoom VGA Dual cameras for video chat, HD video recording and stills, Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 3G cellular HSDPA, 2G cellular EDGE, Geolocation, Assisted GPS, Apple databases, Improved AirPlay features and HDMI output (via optional adapter). And it should be noted that under the App Store over 65000 Apps are ready and waiting to get your hands on.

Apple offers both white and black versions of the iPad 2 in every price and configuration. The base model starts at Rs. 24,500 giving you 16GB of storage and a Wi-Fi. If you want more storage for all your applications, photos, music, and videos, you can jump up to the 32GB (Rs. 29,500) or 64GB (Rs. 34,500) models. 3G versions are also available in all the models for an extra Rs. 6000-7000.

New Launch: Motorola XOOM | Review

noreply@blogger.com (Shaleen Sinha) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 07:25:00 +0000

Given Moto's partnership with Google, the big launch of CES 2011 and the first Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet on the market; Motorola XOOM has got to live up to anything and everything if it has to make the much assumed inevitability of Apple’s iPad a very serious false reality. And let me tell you that this new toy in the market possess the potential to give a tough head-to-head fight to other established brands.

It has got a 10.1-inch 1280×800 widescreen display and is 12.7 mm thick. Packed with 5 MP Camera for HD recording and 2 MP in front Dual LED Flash, it features Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Performance can be expected gentle for its 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM and 10 Hrs. of battery backup.

The device also merges 720p Playback, 3D graphics acceleration, HDMI, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, GSM/EDGE Class 12, UMTS/HSDPA.