Apr 30
The following post is a column I wrote for the Hindustan Times, a leading daily in India. You can access its web version by clicking here. It has a strong Indian context to it though.
Rohini Sharma wanted to go on a family holiday over the Easter weekend to Lansdowne, a hill station in Uttarakhand. The family was all set to go with accommodation tentatively booked at the Retreat Anand at this charming, colonial hill station, when the plan was changed to stay instead at the Bird House in Dehradun. Why? Because reviews and images posted on the Internet by other travellers did not paint a pretty picture of Lansdowne.
Instances like these are becoming more a norm than an exception as travel planning enters the Web 2.0 era. The Internet is full of reviews and opinions posted by travellers, and many people are using these as a key reference source when planning any trips. Such User Generated Content (UGC) is being seen as mostly credible and trustworthy, with the ‘authoritative’ voice of a professional writer no longer the last word when it comes to deciding one’s holiday. Continue reading this trend story
Apr 29
EmPower Research is conducting a consumer survey about Social Media in India. They are trying to find out people’s understanding, attitudes, and usage with regard to current Social Media in India and their thoughts about the future. Should you be interested in participating in the same, click here.
Completed responses would qualify to possibly win an Apple iPod.
Apr 28
I have been pleasantly surprised at the relatively high number of e-books I have sold of my book, Let’s Connect: Using LinkedIn to get ahead at work despite being available as a paperback too. I was thus prompted to ask around if people have started enjoying e-books over the paper versions, or are there some other reasons prompting them to go for e-books? Here is a summary of some of the responses I got: Read on for some interesting perspectives; even the comments below are worth a look
Apr 09
This feature was published in India’s leading daily, The Hindustan Times, and can be accessed online here.
There can be no substitute to enjoying the Olympics in Beijing later this year than being inside the arenas as a live spectator, a possibility only for the lucky or the privileged. But the next best option for the billions of others may no longer be television broadcasts but rich, interactive access on the Internet.
Log on to NBCOlympics.com this August to view the games like never before. You can watch any of the events live on the site, of course, but this is only for starters. You will be able to open up to six windows on your desktop for simultaneous viewing, somewhat like the PIP (Picture-in-Picture) option that some television sets come with. You can listen to live commentary on any of these, and receive alerts for other live events even when these are not showing on your screen. You can replay any missed action. Video-on-demand will allow you access any of the archives of more than 2,200 hours of recordings of the games captured over 17 days. Continue reading »
