Thoughts @ Amit Gupta is a blog by Amit Gupta on india, internet , mobile, marketing and life in general.

gmail going social with google buzz

Amit Gupta — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:22:50 +0000

Its time now for gmail to go social. In these times when every application is geared for real time collabration, sharing and uploading how come mail be left behind. Google has launched buzz for gmail both on web and mobile.you can upload and share all interesting conversation , images ,link and status messages from the gmail itself.

But what about google wave wasn’t that also suppose to change the way we communicate and share. In-fact it looks promising at first go and there was huge mad rush to grab those few initial invites. Heard that the invites actually got auctioned on eBay.

On the other hand the google buzz seems to be available for larger audience and is not following the invite mode. I believe this shold make it a clear winner over wave. As Google Buzz give an advantage of a ready friend network to share and communicate.

I visited http://buzz.google.com to get started. The buzz appeared as a label on the left menu on gmail. It automatically made me follow people with whom I communicate more (not sure what to call this google intelligence or violation of my privacy / follow discretion). Being very true to the open social it allows me set my twitter and flickr account for updates (Not sure on exact integration, and its yet to integrate facebook).

As per google Official Blog

“We’ve relied on other services’ openness in order to build Buzz (you can connect Flickr and Twitter from Buzz in Gmail), and Buzz itself is not designed to be a closed system. Our goal is to make Buzz a fully open and distributed platform for conversations. We’re building on a suite of open protocols to create a complete read/write developer API, and we invite developers to join us on Google Code to see what is available today and to learn more about how to participate.”

Would I be using this ???? Not really…. (Except for the auto pdates which will reflect on my google profile.

Why ???? This may be a great tool but still not available for hosted domain. For me my network is not on gmail but my own domain. And you need to reach to your audience where they are and not ask them to come to you. So best of luck Google….

image credit : http://www.computerworld.com

Google official Blog

3 IDIOTS और वर्ष 2009

Amit Gupta — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:21:51 +0000

अब बताओ ये क्या कनेक्शन है और मैं हिंदी में क्यूँ लिख रहा हूँ. नहीं ये बिंगो चिप्स की नई एड भी नहीं है. वो हुआ ऐसे की मैं हिंदी में न्यू इयर ग्रीटिंग टाइप करने का ट्राई कर रहा था और गूगल लिप्यंतरण (Transliteration) टूल एकदम मस्त लगा. और भाई लोगो गूगल लिप्यंतरण(Transliteration) और गूगल अनुवादक (Translator) दो अलग चीज़े है मुझे आज ही पता चला. आप लोगो की जानकारी के लिए भी बता दूं - गूगल ट्रांसलेटर (Translator) का काम है अनुवाद करना मतलब की आप जो भी लिखेंगे उसे किसी और भाषा में उसी मतलब ले साथ लिखना. इसके द्वारा आप ५१ (51) विभिन्न भाषाओ में translation कर सकते है. जैसे की happy new year का हिंदी भाषा में ट्रांसलेशन होगा ‘नया साल मुबारक हो’ लेकिन गूगल ट्रांसलिटरेशन (TRANSLITERATION) happy new year को लिखेगा हैप्पी न्यू इयर.

समझ आया या नहीं . आया तो ठीक नहीं तो भाई मतलब की बात सुनो ३ बेवकूफों (3 Idiots) और इस बीते साल का कनेक्शन.

वैसे तो मैं सिनेमा बहुत कम देखता हूँ (वैसे ज्यादा दखने लायक फिल्मे बनती कहाँ है) लेकिन भाई मानना पड़ेगा आमिर खान को मस्त काम करता है , जान लगा देता है . वर्ना मजाल है कोई और हमसे इस मंदी के दौर में १००० रुपये खर्च करवा दे वो भी फिल्म देखने के लिए. 3 Idiots चेतन भगत के नोवेल five point someone पर आधारित है तो भैया हम पहुंचे अम्बिएंस माल , गुडगाँव जानते तो होंगे आप एक किलोमीटर लम्बा एक फ़लोर और ऐसे चार फ़लोर. अब बताओ इतनी जगह में तो लो फ़लोर बसें चलनी चाहिए (अबे नहीं रिक्शे ज्यादा सेफ है, बसों में तो आग लग रही है और कीमतों में भी ). दिन का पहला शो देखने का फायदा है की सीटे साफ़ मिलती है और मूवी से पहले के सारे एड देखने का मौका

फिर भटक गया … वापस चलो ३ idiots पर

मूवी शुरू से आखिर तक उतार चड़ाव से भरी हुई , अचानक से नए नए मोड़ और भावनाए. शुरू होते ही सस्पेंस , कौन है यह ranchoddas shyamaldas chanchad उर्फ़ rancho जिसकी तलाश में दोस्त लोग निकल पड़े है. फिर शुरू होती है दोस्तों की कॉलेज की जिन्दगी की कहानी , जिसमे है एक दूसरे से आगे निकलने की होड़, बिना सोचे समझे रटने और पास होने की दौड़. साथ में में है उम्मीदों पर खरे न उतरने और हार जाने का डर. इन सब के बीच तीन दोस्त इन सब डरो से लड़ते हुए अपने ही अंदाज़ में जीते जा रहे है. Rancho अपने दोस्तों को जीने का एक अलग ही ढंग सीखा कर एक दिन गायब हो जाता है. उसके दोस्त आपनी आपनी जिंदगियों में सफल हो जाते है मगर अपने दोस्त को नहीं भूल पाते है.

साल २००९ भी कुछ इस तरह ही शुरू हुआ लेहमन बैंक की मेहेरबानी से जो मंदी का दौर शुरू हुआ था उसका असर पूरे जोर पर था. नौकरियों का कुछ पता नहीं था, बड़ी छोटी सभी कंपनियों में धड़ले से छटनी हो रही थी. तन्खाओं में कटौती आम सी बात हो गई थी. साल के पहले छे महीने तनाव व अनिश्चितता से भरे हुए थे.

मगर शाहरुख़ भैया ने कहाँ था अगर सब कुछ ठीक न हो तोह समझो की पिक्चर अभी बाकी है मेरे दोस्त.

तो इंटरवल के बाद मतलब के बाद के ६ महीनो में इकोनोमी में सुधार आने लग गया और २०१० आते आते लगता है वो सब एक बुरा सपना था. अच्छा है की वो वक़्त बीत गया. मगर जाते जाते बहुत कुछ सीखा गया.

२००९ को मेरी ओर से धन्यवाद :

तुमने दिखा दिया की जो बलात्कार करने की क्षमता तुममे थी वो संसार में किस्सी में नहीं है. जो बलात्कार पर बलात्कार तुमने किये , वैसा दुनिया कोई नहीं कर सकता. उम्मीद है आप आगे ऐसा कुछ नहीं करेंगे.

मेरे लिए तो 2009 मेरा दोस्त Rancho या funsukh Wangroo ही रहेगा. जिसने हर वक़्त में fun और sukh से रहना सिखा दिया.

जहाँपनाह तुस्सी ग्रेट हो , तोहफू कबूल करो.

Mumbai Marathon 2009

multi-utility – this happens only in india

Amit Gupta — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:39:24 +0000

Interesting images captured on road.

Maruti Suzuki launched a new multi-utility vehicle to cater to specific indian requirements. This was launched without much fanfare but was spotted on gurgaon roads

This guy is wearing helmet for protection from ???

It’s time to retire now

Amit Gupta — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:19:07 +0000

I am announcing my retirement today from active working life. I have spend quite a lot of my quality time and effort in building a retirement estate for my self. And now i feel like a chilling out and enjoying the fruit of my efforts well spend.

It was not an easy decision to quit. The ever lasting greed of earning more and more & never ending race to beat the world keep pulling me back to it. But then I set a target for my self and determined to stick to it. I wanted to retire in style and man i think i have achieved it.

My dream estate boost of a retirement villa with orchid , vegetable farm , stud farm, dairy , chicken and pig farm, small pond with lots of swans. Oh did I forgot to mention a entertainment arena with elephants and much more for my visiting friends and family.

Looks like a self sustained ecosystem , jealous… huh wanna see.

Click on the image above to have full view

Isn’t this beautiful, ok stop admiring it now.

But retirement is also not that easy a job, it’s now time to feed the cattle and pluck some ripe fruits & vegetables.

So catchya later.

BTW you need to be invited to visit my farm. Invitations can be sought at http://facebook.com/amitguptaz or tweet me @amitguptaz

why am i not working

Amit Gupta — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:57:25 +0000

don’t ask why i am writing this post just one week into the new job. Oh btw did i i tell you that i have joined the communities team at times internet limited. I’ll be working out from their swanky office on golf course road in gurgaon on a social bookmarking site http://hotklix.com

Coming back to the post, there is no fault of mine , its actually how life plays dirty games with you. Now you tell me what will a child of lesser god like me will do if struck in my position.

i am all confused in choosing between luxuries of mortal world , spirituality and the work. Now sitting here on my desk this is what i look around.

Office Machaan Temple

in office, i have all my colleagues slogging hard for the next performance review a year ahead , which will get them the next car or a house or a wife

looking at the temple, people are trying to get moksha to get rid of all the troubles in life. but i don’t want to die now to get it.

the last option is the machaan across the road, let me exggagerate for you, its a strip down version of swarg (the heaven) where you are served sura (wine) with live music. you pay for it with money and not your good deeds.

tell me what to do ? days are just passing by and i can’t decide…

Logging out from makaan.com

Amit Gupta — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:32:47 +0000

Now when i am logging off as a product manager for makaan.com after two and a half year, i am tempted to peep into the past and relive some of the moments that i’ll cherish for life. My session with makaan begins with an email request (typical web 2.0 style) to aditya verma (business head & vp, makaan.com ) and i got the invite to join in the core team to build a real estate portal.

First day @ makaan My Laapy

We started out with a small team in a makeshift office in south extn before moving to beautiful building in gurgaon. We started in a typical start-up environment with a daunting task of going commercial in the least possible time. But this gave me a rare opportunity to work and understand every aspect of setting up a new business and felt like an entrepreneur.

The proud moment arrived on August 15, 2007 when we formally launched makaan. I lived so many sweet and sour experiences during my stay with makaan. Few of them become part of my blog and can be read below and rest will stay etched in my memory for ever.

- Offsite visit with makaan tech team (& family) to Chamba, Tehri dam and Mussorie.

- Endless wait in aircrafts for takeoff.
- I become a jealous economy class traveler (I pass it of as austerity).
- Been an alien in my own country.
- I spend a night at airport terminal.
- Completes 1 year @ Makaan
- Offsite to daman with software team
- Launch of makaan mobile application
- Launch of makaan 2.0
- Offsite to karjat with product team

Some more unforgettable moments captured on camera

Team makaan on second anniversary

What next ????

I’ll be logging into the domain of social bookmarking. To know more details keep watching this space or add this page to your favorite (web 1.0 style) or better bookmark this page

Plan trip to vaishno devi – online

Amit Gupta — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:55:29 +0000

My weekend trip to vaishno devi, so what is different from my last trip in december. This one was a completely arranged online for every step of journey. I had the mix experience bad one with irctc (online booking for indian railways) and Indian railways but excellent experience with official site of vaishno devi shrine board.

I booked my rails tickets on JAT express tatkal basis. They charged me fare from originating station (ajmer) to the destination (jammu), almost double in my case and 150 rs tatkal charges extra + irctc charges. But they treated me as no show because we boarded the train from gurgaon. Once we boarded the train then we realized TC gave our seats to someone else. We were told that we need to get our boarding station changed 24 hrs in advance by giving written request at railway station which irctc tatkal faq clearly failed to tell us. So pls be extra careful while booking tatkal tickets. This is least expected from the site, which has the lion share of indian online transaction. This was the only ugly instance on the whole trip. Indian railways shame shame…

On other hand, shrine board site offers host of online services on simple registration.

a) Yatra parchi slip: It is mandatory for every yatri to register himself before starting the yatra. A online registration saves a lots of time at katra (starting point of yatra, some 40 km from jammu). Online booking cost rs 50 per yatri and entitles you to collect prasad from govt souvenir shop at katra.

b) Room Booking: Site offers you rooms at Jammu, katra and bhawan at very reasonable rates. These rooms are generally short in supply and its advisable to book well in advance (booking opens 30 days in advance). We got the booking at vaishnavi bhawan (rooms are allotted on random basis online, this can be improved).

c) Helicopter Booking: This service is provided by Deccan and pawan Hans

And last but not the least if all these services seems less to you click here for online darshan and pooja.

Weather at katra not as what is seen below in photographs. It was hot and humid there with temprature touching 38-40 degrees but this change as we go high up on a long 14 km trek on the mountain.

We made some friends on our way (the center pic not on the right). And as the luck was on our side they had extra VIP passes for darshan. The normal waiting time for darshan was around 4-6 hours. (Advice : plan your trip in winters and avoid weekends. There is less no. of devotees and old holy cave is also open to devotees).

Enroute to bairon mandir, the weather here was awesome and one can feel the true beauty of nature.

This is me gulping desi ghee ka halua. Most yummy halwa i ever had.

This is one intersting signboard in center pic seems to be inspired by Sholey like ‘Ramgopal varma’ producing disasterous ‘Sholey’ . And finally the journey back to gurgaon with indian railways and this time thankfully we got our seats.

My new N95

Amit Gupta — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:24:21 +0000

Now why have I got a new N95 without having a poll on facebook and asking for opinion on model on make. Couple of reasons, firstly I have done it very recently for my Nokia E63 and more importantly why would my friends spare time for it. But on second thought they might have its better than stupid facebook applications to find out what flower, color, actor, emotion, ghost. But that’s a different story… coming back to my N95.

This white beauty come with certain exclusive privileges. Just flaunt it and you get preferential treatment at almost all outlets. I have experienced it at bank, chemist and the grocery shop today. All the experiences are worth sharing.

My first encounter with royalty was at bank today. Being saturday branch was only open for half day and there was a long queue. But as soon as I entered the branch, an executive escorted me to the teller and my job was done in less than a minute. I was the center of attraction and maybe jealousy (I can see in their eye). This was my shortest stay in a bank branch in last 15 years.

My second stop was a chemist shop. Needed some medicine for my viral fever. And surprize surprize I was the first one among the 10 odd aspirants to be attented to. I was through with my transaction and out of shop in flat 5 minutes again.

Last but not the least , same treatment was dolled out for me at the gracery shop. Everyone paved way for me to the busy cash counter. My daily shopping was never so convinient but thanks to my N95 , I was feeling like the king.

I am down with viral and wanted to wear a mask as a precaution. My brother in law got me N95 out of love , affection or fear, God knows.

PS : N95 is the mask I am wearing in the above photos to prevent spread of virus. Any resemblence of name to mobile is purely dilebrate.

Jeff Bezos about Amazon and Zappos

Amit Gupta — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:43:32 +0000

“Every thing I know” by Jeff Bezos (Founder Amazon.com). This is an exellent presentation about Amazon and Zappos but hold true for any organization specially startups. This also highlights the advantages of being ‘obsessed on customers’.

Source : Youtube

Neemrana Fort palace, Rajasthan

Amit Gupta — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:22:50 +0000

Few months back, we picked up Neemrana Fort Palace for a weekend get away trip from Gurgaon. I have some kind of facinations for the Palaces & forts and Neemrana is the closed fort in Rajasthan from Gurgaon, some 80 km from IGI Airport.

We booked a stay for a night there in Hari Vilas (Lord Vishnu’ adobe) , one of the rooms being offered from the heritage property. The deal – One night stay @ INR 5000 excluding the buffet lunch (INR 600) and dinner (INR 700). We opted for this room for three primary reasons

a) This room is part of the original fort (There are many additional new rooms and facilities being constructed as an extention to the original fort palace.)

b) The room have extended balcony and private roof top terrace.

c) This fits into our budget

We started a cool ride on NH-8 towards Jaipur. Our first stop was at Mc’donald close to manesar for brunch. We picked up usual burger and coke. The ride was very smooth and took us less than 2 hours to reach neemrana. Road to the fort is from within the Neemrana town is still in shape the last king must have left it. We followed a camel cart patiently to reach the fort.

We certainly had some high hopes of staying in a heritage fort palace which was once home to decendents of Prithviraj Chauhan. Neemrana fort is magnificiant and well maintained property but the room was bit of a disappointment. Its actually a heritage property (no fancy floors and ceiling, tv, intercom and even room service). My wife insisted and actually checked on couple of same room but found this to be best.

Infact if we ignore the room per say rest of the experience was lovely. There was huge balcony attached to our room and we have access to two level of roofs. The room offered excellent view of both fort and neemrana town from balconies and roof top.

Nights offer even better view of the fort (My camera though couldn’t captute it) . The fort has 10 stepped level and whole fort was illuminated at night. Fort also has a common room with television, library and few indoor games. But we decided to explore the fort after dinner. We covered most of the levels and but at times it was really scary to be roaming in the narrow staircases.

Next day we decided to have breakfast out on restaurant terrace and explore some more of fort.

and then we discovered the most coverted mahal(palace) in the fort. It was just a chance discovery as the way to this palace is told by fort authority until you have the pressing need. Look for yourself…