Thoughts @ Amit Gupta » Internet & Mobile

Why I would recommend Flipkart

Amit Gupta — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:24:41 +0000

My personal online shopping is more or less restricted to travel, web products, movie booking , Bill pay etc which are very standardized products/services. I have made most of my online product purchases on non indian ecommerce sites (google, amazon , bestbuy etc) though I have few transactions in my name in erstwhile baazee.com (now ebay.in) way back in early 2000.

Why ? I think the primary issues being TRUST. Trust on the service provider and the product itself. In name of discounts and deals most of the online sites are selling cheap imitation of real products. Moreover the vendors also don’t have any great reputation. You have have no where to go incase the buy goes wrong.

The notion of buying online is looked only as buying cheap and not as an alternate market place which offers you choice of products at competitive prices. A place which will bring price and product advantage beyond the geographical boundries of your local market.

Offlate there is spurt in number of ecommerce sites and the way they are positioning themselves in the market. They seems to be taking onus of the business and are strongly backed by brick and mortar support.

I just bought a HP mini 8 Gb pendrive from Flipkart. It was such a nice and smooth shopping experience. So what is flipkart doing right or different in still nascent indian eCommerce space , so many other players are jostling for the market share.

What flipkart is doing right according to me :

24×7 toll free helpline (Build faith that you have human support in case something goes wrong online ; my transaction failed once)
Delivery by Flipkart own network (Enhanced reliability)
Shipped by Flipkart (Vendor is identified)
30 days return guarantee (Eliminate the fear of being cheated or duped with damaged product)
Almost real time tracking of shipment (Timely delivery)
Cash on delivery (Most Important as fear of using credit/debit card online is the biggest deterrent in the growth of online shopping)
Promise less and deliver more (2 day delivery against promised 3-5 business days)

PS:

The packaging was sturdy enough to withstand any transit
The customer support staff is very polite and helpful. They refer to customers on first name basis and come across as very friendly ; infact I have spoken to them thrice in these 2 days.

Integrating FB social Plugin Like and Comment

Amit Gupta — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:37:00 +0000

Facebook has made integrating of ‘Like’ , ‘Send’ and comments really a simple process with social plugin. I have implemented all three of them without using any plugin in my wordpress blog or creating an application ID on Facebook. You can find the complete documentation of the three social plugin on Facebook developer’s Page for social plugin.

Facebook like : You can customize the like and send button for your blog. The customization include format , width , color , font and option to hide / display facepile (Thumbnail of friend’s photo). You can generate the code from here.

Similarly you can generate the code for FB comments plugin from here. This is really social plugin as this enable comments by logging in from Facebook, Yahoo ,AOL & Hotmail.

I have implemented both of them on the individual post. The default setting for both Like and Comments is the top level domain or URL. The problem with implementation is that the like and comments on any post are reflected on all pages.

This works for Like to a extend where visitors can like your website or blog but comments is a big fail in default installation. All comments across site might get jumbled up.

Here the fix I found working for me for both the codes.

1. Replace href=”domain name” with expr:href=”data:post.url” for Facebook Like

2. Replace href=”domain name” with href=”” for Facebook Comments

The result is the following implementation :

Google +1 for your blog

Amit Gupta — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 05:45:35 +0000

Google launched +1 recommendation button for publishers yesterday. This could possibly be the turning point in the Google vs Facebook war to control the web. Facebook has taken a lead by share and like button but google +1 is a bigger counter to all this.

With Google controlling the major portion of publishers organic traffic they would be more than willing to install the recommendation button on their blogs and sites.

The implementation is really easy and even easier for wordpress blogs.

Step : 1 Select the desired size of the button. There are four option to pick from.

Step : 2 Copy and paste the code in your blog post or website.

The first part of the code goes just before the end of tag in your blog /site. and the second part need to be inserted where you want the button to appear.

Fast Tube by Casper

Voila! you are done.

Google will display the +1 next to search results.

How would Google +1 help your blog :

a. Provide authenticity to your blog content

b. Crowd recommendation will boost your search engine read Google rating

c. For users ; they will get more refined and recommended results (Less of spam / ad page blogs)

If you’re a webmaster, you can get the +1 button code and learn more about implementation on Google’s +1 webmaster site.

What is QR code

Amit Gupta — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:14:42 +0000

There is so much buzz around the QR code recently. Frankly I initially thought its some feature available with Blackberry phone , when I purchased one last year.

So what is QR code ?

By definition its Quick Response Code and look like a square bar code. The information stored on the QR code can be decoded or read by Bar code reader and mobile phones. Qr code can be used to add contacts to list, display text, image or open a webpage by connecting to mobile web.

All mobile platform supports QR code by native applications or multiple free application available. Blackberry has build in a complete campaign around QR code. Ease of adding contact to BB messenger. I love the concept and ad.

Fast Tube by Casper

But the QR code can be used for more interesting use. Few examples :

1. Talking Resume (Combination of print resume and QR code redirecting to youtube ) . Watch the creative way to use QR codes on a intern resume. www.victorpetit.fr (Sup de Pub Student, Lyon, France).

2 . Profile Photo on Social Profiles (Business promotion by @mayank)

3. Link to download applications (Android Market ) – One click Download

Android market offers one click download to almost all applications. The same code can also be extended to print and online campaigns. Check out the QR code for Facebook app

And many more ….

Interestingly term QR code itself is a registered trade mark of Denso Wave Incorporated and Denso Wave owns the patent rights on QR codes, but has chosen not to exercise them. Kudos

One last thing and most important thing. How to get a bar code for you ?

QR Code for http://amitguptaz.com

There are ample of online QR Code generator which offer this service for FREE.

a) http://www.qrstuff.com/ Customize the foreground color of the QR code and get a printable code. The site also give option to get QR code on various products like mugs, t-shirts etc.

b) http://www.quikqr.com : Simple interface with option to create a QR code for a webpage

Go ahead get a QR code for yourself.

Update : A mailer today suggest one more utility

Incomplete map of India on google

Amit Gupta — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:23:16 +0000

Totally condemn the way Google repeatedly treat the map of India. J & K is and will remain integral part of India.

And , not showing it part of any other country also is not solution. Correct your maps Google.

upgrading of my blackberry 8520 firmware

Amit Gupta — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 06:11:20 +0000

Few months back I joined the Blackberry train and bought a 8520 for myself. I found the phone quite handy and feature loaded even without subscribing to blackberry plan. The handset works smoothly using the standard mobile internet (GPRS) connection except for the push mail.

Following application are seamless on blackberry 8520 on GPRS , practically every application which is NOT made for blackberry only

- Gmail

- Google Maps

- Google Search

- NGpay

- FourSquare

- UberTwitter

- Gtalk

Fantastic phone !!!

I am now subscribed to the Basic Blackberry plan with Idea (email only plan). The only difference is the push mail of enterprise mail (NOT enterprise solutions plan)

Only one issue I faced is regarding the up-gradation of firmware. I got the handset with firmware v.4.6.1.314 (You can check the version Main Menu > Options > About) pre-installed on it. There is an option to check for any updates being released for the handset (Main Menu > Options > Advanced Options > software update). It showed that the firmware is updated ; whereas all the new blackberry boys and girls ion my office got v5.0 installed on the handset.

Solution : A quick search on internet leads to few links.

Blackberry official site with details of the most recent firmware version releases for the handsets (https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/browseSoftware.do)

BlackBerry Handheld Software v5.0.0.1168 (EastAsia)

Package Version: 5.0.0.1168
Consisting of:

Applications: 5.0.0.681
Software Platform: 5.2.0.67
File name: 8520wifijEastAsia_PBr5.0.0_rel1168_PL5.2.0.67_A5.0.0.681_Singapore_Telecom_Mobile_Pte_Ltd.exe
File size: 116.41MB

Some more search and the steps for installation were posted all over the net

1. Download the file to PC (with blackberry desktop manager) and install the same.

2. Deleted the VENDOR.XML file located at: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader\VENDOR.XML

3. Disconnect PC from the internet

4. Connect the handset to PC and run the Blackberry desktop manager

5. Voila! 20 -25 mins and the firmware upgraded to v 5.0.0.681

6. Enjoy !!!

Only thing missing on screen is the lock screen button in menu. The phone can be locked by a long press of ’A’ key or the pause button on the top of phone.

I am loving the new interface.

Birthday celebration

Amit Gupta — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 06:35:33 +0000

what a day… celebrations round the clock literally. cakes ..yes three cakes , chocolate facial, party , outing and full dhammal and masti. This was one of the most memorable birthday celebration.

Thank you everyone for all your good wishes and making my birthday so special. Have look at the video featuring
Archana , Pushpinder , Varun , Manraj , Rahul (the cinematographer with his TamTung loaded with Android 2.2) and everyone from team communities.

Fast Tube by Casper

The celebration extended to well late into the day with Vikas, Neha , Priyanka, Vihaan , Tisya and My dear wify.

Some of the photos are uploaded here

one year at indiatimes

Amit Gupta — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:18:15 +0000

29 September 2010

oh just realized it’s been a year i have logged out of makaan.com and signed into times internet limited. The year has been full of excitement and challenges. I pulled my self out from a state of non working and retirment and had a stupendeo fantabulous time working with team communities.

Its been an amazing experience and fun to work in the socialbookmarking and email space and much more. And as a mayor of Indiatimes :) i thank everyone for the encouragement and the support extended to me.

errr… do this starts looking like a farewell mail to you…..then you are wrong, picture abhi baaki hai mere dost.

Installing canon sx200 IS zoom ex browser without CD

Amit Gupta — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 11:14:58 +0000

Hard disk crash or OS re installation is a nightmare I have gone through innumerable times And the worse part to it it restore the all the previously installed software (and off course the saved password on browsers). Anyways most recently I have gone through this last fortnight.

Now there are several of the softwares available (freeware obviously) of the shelf from respective sites and that’s the best way to get the updated version. And then there are many which come in form of CD with the products. They are the biggest pain point if you loose the CD’s over a period of time and they are not available on product sites. One such instance is Zoom ex browser (image management software for Canon powershot SX 200 IS). The official canon site only provide a upgrader software ~120-30 MB which requires the original (any version) of the software to be installed. An hour of soul searching with google baba leads to numerous workaround including creating and changing registry entry in system. But this was big #fail for me.

Finally , got a very old version of zoom ex uploaded on http: // foto-freeware.de / zoombrowser.php (Added space before and after every / to delink. Also download on your own risk , it worked for me though. ) Once I installed this , rest was a cakewalk as the updater from Canon (http://support-in.canon-asia.com/contents/IN/EN/0200106601.html) did the rest.

Update : For windows 7 user . Pls download update from here

But it still confuse me why can’t canon provide the drive support on the site itself , as in any case the software is a freeware.

Getting Birth certificate for our baby in Gurgaon

Amit Gupta — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:55:55 +0000

The Cradle provided a birth certificate for my daughter. Little did I realized that it only has a emotional and ornamental value and no legal validity. So we got it framed it nicely (Thanks to Tushina) and it occupies a place of pride in our bedroom.

I was told that as a procedure hospital has already send the notification to the municipal authorities about child birth. The birth certificate can be collected after 21 days from the MCD office, Gurgaon situated opposite civil hospital Gurgaon (See Map Below).

View Larger Map

I went there after 2 months to collect the certificate. I was told to submit an application again on plain paper (hospital has already send in the notification) and collect the certificate 21 days post that. The application has a simple format capturing Name of child , parents, date and place of birth, address and number of copies of certificate required. Not so simple…

The application format was pasted outside the clerk window in both English and Hindi, but he would accept the application only filled in Hindi and that too without child’s name. Once a certificate without name is issued then a affidavit needs to be submitted stating that child name will not be changed in future to get a birth certificate with child’s name. I tried to convince him that we had already spend two months in finalizing the daughter name as Tisya and have no intention to change it.

I got the birth certificate without child’s name and wrong address. On inquiring I was told the birth certificate will carry details as shared by hospital and can’t be changed (I thanked heaven they have only put in wrong address and not wrong parents name).

On my next visit I submitted the affidavit for the child’s name, Birth certificate (without name) and the same stupid application (remember they would only print details as shared by hospital) and fee of Rs 17 (+Rs 52 for additional 4 copies). I was asked to come again in 7-8 days to check the spelling on certificate before printing. They issued the certificate this time with name but in Hindi. Every action of theirs is covered under one blanket statement ‘yehi process hai’.

Now as a final step, I have again submitted the application (same futile details) and attached a copy of certificate (hindi) and fee of Rs 17 (+Rs 52 for additional 4 copies) for a new certificate. I have to visit the municipal office again to ensure the name is punched in right before the printing of the certificate.

Google sites not opening with BSNL broadband

Amit Gupta — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:36:12 +0000

Getting BSNL broadband connection is one thing and then make run is another big task. Its not that BSNL dataone connection was my first choice but as they say beggars are not choosers. With limited option to pick from (precisely two BSNL and Tata Indicom) I reluctantly picked the state owned giant.

I also have a hidden agenda behind the same (No its not to please my father in law who works with another former state owned telecom giant MTNL), the bill generated for BSNl act as a legitimate address proof. Many of you would be aware of my plight while trying to reissue my passport where i run from pillar to post to prove my identity.

Anyways, BSNL connection started throwing tantrum from the day of installation only (including by the linesman who would ask for regular chai-pani for activation). The connectivity was erratic and connection tag slow. I relied on the internet god to check the connectivity. But little did I realize that there more to internet beyond google. Everything will work but for Google and related sites.

Here enters the Internet ka Baap, BSNL dataone, which for reasons best known to him don’t gel with google. I resorted to other search engines and realize this is a very common problem for all BSNL broad band users who tries to access google, orkut, gmail and other google sites.

Doing some more research it suggests , i found following stuff on internet.

“DNS stands for Domain Name Server. When you type www.google.com, the DNS server converts the name into an IP address of Google. Then it follows the IP address to fetch you the webpage.

Now, due to a defective DNS server system, your typed address can not get resolved into IP. So you reach nowhere.”

This was really frustrating as life seems to be standstill for me on internet without google. But surprisingly this complicated and widespread problem has a quick solution.

SOLUTION (Simple) :

BSNL DNS is the root cause of the problem, so simply change it to DNS that works.

IMPLEMENTATION (Simpler) :

a) Double click the LAN icon on your system tray

b) Go to Properties > Click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

c) Choose “Use the following DNS server addresses”

d) Update 208.67.222.222 as preffered DNS server and 208.67.220.220 as alternate DNS server

e) You’re DONE

These DNS are provided by OpenDNS . I have actually experience a better connectivity and page rendering using these settings. HAPPY SURFING….

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

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…

No related posts.

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

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

Safeguard your SIM card against misuse

Amit Gupta — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:32:32 +0000

There seems to be a perfect synergy in the marketing and sales department of cellular companies. Both departments are supplementing each other in growing the subscriber base (And possibly redcuing ARPU).

The telesales ladies pushes hard to sell complementary ‘Golden’, ‘Platinum’ and matching/similar numbers to your current Mobile number in ever sweet voice. I have recd two such calls since morning. Good I have recieved two call in morning itself and now I can chill (My average incoming telesales call stands at 2). I am sure you want to know how have I managed this. Follow these simple rules to avoid telemarketing calls.

‘Amit Gupta : With the amount of free numbers offered by Idea cellular. It seems I can run a telephone exchange.Tell them I am happy in my job’ via my facebook and twitter update.

On other hand, marketing team is generating demand for new sim card in very innovative way. My latest bill from Vodafone displayed the ‘SMART’ way of safeguarding sim cards in 3 easy steps (This is the most prominent and colorful element on the page).

1) Go to nearest Store
2) Break the card in two
3) Hand it over to store employee

and then what…get a new sim card or connection Can’t believe what is the message Vodafone is trying to deliver with this creative. I found this message very confusing and misplaced.

My new mobile Nokia E63

Amit Gupta — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:01:14 +0000

It has been now three days, and initial euphoria has died down. I feel this is a good time to write about my new possession a Nokia E63.

There are three small stories behind my new mobile.

- Deciding on the mobile

- Moving from Touch screen to Keyboard based phone

- Joy of learning

Deciding the mobile: This is the most difficult part of the complete process. My previous mobile, good old pal for close to 3 years was a Windows based iMate Jam (Now this model is discontinued). A touch screen based yet very sturdy device. I bought this from US (no, it was not company sponsored trip, I went there on self paid family holidays). Few pics of that memorable trip are posted here. I seem to be drifting too much, so coming back to my mobile. Now this mobile of mine was in very bad shape, so much so that it can’t even handle meager 9 calls I received daily (2 Business calls, 4 Marketing calls and 3 missed calls from my wife ). So finally I gave into the business pressure.. On second thought peer pressure I decided to move on and buy a new handset for myself.

The hunt was spread evenly on online media (google, gsmarena, gadetsguru, compareindia), peer discussion, online reviews cutting across brands like (htc, Nokia, Samsung, Asus, iMate). The last round was between Asus 522w (better processor), htc touch viva (Full touch windows mobile) and Nokia E63 (Non touch but my trusted brand for 4 initial years 5110 & 6110) and this was also the order of personal preference. Asus 522w and HTC touch are windows 6.1 touch based mobiles and Nokia use Symbian platform. In this round Asus lost, as this cool gadget was way over my budget (Cost approx INR 19000 in Delhi).

So the final round was played between HTC and Nokia (INR12-13K), wherein Nokia won by overwhelming majority on features and trustworthiness (Thanks friends, and a special thanks to facebook which fasten the process of feedback). The next dilemma was to choose from the three stunning color offered by Nokia (Red, Blue and Black), so I went back to facebook and asked friends. The winner turned out to be Nokia E63 Ruby Red (BTW if you notice the poll was hacked by my wife, she has ordered err…voted for RED. )

Moving from Touch screen to Keyboard based phone : Before that I forgot to mention the features of E63. This is primary a form based business phone and pack most of the essential features. Some of the highlights being ;
-        QWERT keyboard
-        EGPRS and GPRS
-        110 MB internal memory
-        1GB Micro SD card (Included in the box)
-        USB Cable (Included in the box, wonder why don’t they use standard mini USB port)
-        WLAN/WIFI support (Work well with my Linksys WiFi @ home)
-        Open office & Acrobat reader
-        2 MP fixed focus camera with flash

For more detailed specifications check out Nokia’s official site.

Primarily, I had to move from a full touch screen based mobile to full QWERTY format. Few initial hiccups

- By instinct I tap on the screen to click.

- Look for stylus to write J

- Have to deal with 47 buttons on Nokia instead of 4 on iMate

- No single button to lock/unlock the screen

- Go to webbed clicks to reach the folders

But But But….now I am coming with terms to this. I now able to figure out where to reach out on keyboard.

And finally Joy of learning : I was overwhelmed to see my mom learning how to click photo from the mobile. She tried couple of times and managed decent images. But the best part was when I clicked her. She quickly removed her spectacles and posed for the photo shoot. I have not posted the image anywhere as she has asked me not to share it.

Google Wave – a new wave of communication

Amit Gupta — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:38:52 +0000

Google announced to launch Google wave later this year. This is bound to create a wave across the Internet world. So what is exactly is a wave. In a simple words Google wave is a real-time communication platform. It’s a hybrid of email, instant messaging, web chat, social networking, micro bloging, file share all build into one interface.

Features of wave :

You can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process (contextual suggestions and spelling correction).

It supports the drop and drag attachments from desktop and thus enable the real-time file sharing to anyone in the conversation.

It’s also embeddable, so you can embed Google Wave conversations on any blog.

This could very well turn into a project management tool with all concerns sharing the progress realtime.

It’s also an open-source project with a lot of API integrations. So the possibilities of growth and integration with various web products are unimaginable.

There is more information which will flow in but as a user we have to wait for some more time to swim in the wave. But this will surely bring a mega shift in the internet communication and more. So beware Twitter and FB of the world there is a strong wave coming soon….

Image Credits and official page : Google Wave you can also sign up for Google wave update here.

Makaan.com property survey on CNBC

Amit Gupta — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:59:17 +0000

Makaan.com conducted a National survey ‘My Vote. My Makaan’ in leading Metros and Tier II cities of India. The survey was conducted on the portal between 22nd to 30th April 2009 and saw participation from over 3563 property seekers nationally.

The survey results can be found at http://makaan.com/electionsurvey. The survey findings were also covered on CNBC Awaaz.

Rules of life

Amit Gupta — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Rule of life from an email doing rounds (Claiming these are actually delivered in a high school speech by Bill Gates). Whatever they sound very realistic and the best is kept for the last.

Rule 1: Life is not fair – get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

The Seagate FreeAgent and I Contest

Amit Gupta — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:51:45 +0000

There is a interesting contest running on Indian Blog and new Media Society http://ibnms.com/2009/03/03/seagate-contest/#more-31 .

The Contest
You have to write a blog entry on the following topic: Seagate FreeAgent Family and I: What would be the most creative use I could put it to if I had one? And what would I expect from Seagate’s storage solutions that will enhance my content management experience?

So here are my thoughts on the use of Seagate FreeAgent external storage drive (This is my wishlist).

I am looking for “my space” to be myself and do what I want to do and be what I want to be. For my kind of space there should be no boundries and limitations to the imagination and the performance. My space should be like open to the world like me. It should be able to handshake with everyone and adabtable to available technologies. Should grow and learn with me and my requirements (upgradable software and intelligence). It should be with me and move with me like my shadow (nice, compact and portable).

Now what would I do with if all of the above come true:

It would be nice to have only computer screens (laptop and desktop) and a place to plug and play your own drive. So there would be no dependency and boundries of sytems and places. So everyone can just move around freely and still carry one’s own world with them

No related posts.

Abuse of Cost Per Click (CPC) Marketing?

Amit Gupta — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:28:04 +0000

Cost Per Click better known as CPC advertising is one of the most popular ROI (return on Investment) driven model in online world. Google has build in a complete empire revolving around this model.

This model provides a win-win situation to publishers (websites), ad-networks (like Google, Komli etc) and advertisers (sellers). Advertisers pays to the ad-networks only when a visitor (prospective buyer) clicks on the advertisement (thereby presumed he expresses interest in the advertiser’s services) on the publisher’s website. Thereby justifying the advertising cost as paid by the advertisers. On the same hand ad-networks are in position to calculate and display the ROI and compensation for publishers.

Now in a fair game, a visitor will click on the advertisement to know more about the services and contact the buyer subsequently (If he is interested). On every such click publisher get paid certain amount by ad-networks and advertisers are charged for that click.

Wonderful concept, so where is the abuse?

Now few advertisers are abusing the ecosystem by removing/reducing the requirement to click the advertisement in order to know the contact info etc. Thus avoiding the charges payable to ad-network and subsequently the publisher.

This short-term strategy will surely have long lasting impact on the ecosystem of publishers, advertisers and ad-networks. I am sure ad-networks would have all the systems and checks in place to avoid such content going live in the advertisement. Ad networks would spend more energy on building more checks to stop abuse, which would have otherwise gone in more constructive activities. All said and done, I believe there is an equal responsibility to be shared by the advertisers also for not abusing the product.

PS : I just found one more and this one is interesting. Skype installed on my system prompt me to call on the number displayed on ad for FREE and again without even clicking on the ad.

Everything I Know About Startups by Dharmesh Shah

Amit Gupta — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:12:45 +0000

This is an absolutely great presentation by Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of HubSpot, that was originally posted at OnStartups.

Bar Camp Delhi 6 (#bcd6)

Amit Gupta — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:49:24 +0000

I attended my first bar camp which happens to be sixth edition for Delhi. The event is being hosted at MDI Gurgaon. It was quite an interesting experience to attend the sessions in the daylong event. Anybody and everyone was free to pick up a available slot of 30 min to present the topic of their choice.

The day started with introduction of Bar camp and followed by a three word introduction by all the campers (mine being “Google for amitguptaz” :p ). BTW Bar in Bar Camp is acronym for BAY AREA REJECTED. This was followed by many interesting topics being discussed throughout the day.

The best discussion on Day 1 as per me were by
Pankaj Jain, CEO, Teknatus solutions on “Financial Crisis in India ”

Piyush, Co-founder, Routeguru.com on “Location Based Search

Pawan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court on “Legal issues in blogging”

I tweeted live during the event. Catch up with the updates on http://twitter.com/amitguptaz

Meeting Matt

Amit Gupta — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:17:51 +0000

I met Matt Mullenweg last saturday @ wordcamp India. I must say , I am damn impressed by this young champion of new media. He is such a nice and down to earth guy with no air about giving world a whole new medium of expression in way of WORDPRESS. He shared his journey so far and his vision for the product. He was full of energy on podium and it was flowing across the audience. He was very enthusiastic talking about every update and new features to be introduced in wordpress. Matt’s philosophy of making life easy for the users in terms of product, interface, upgrades and features is very well transalted in WordPress as a world class product. Hats Off !!! Related posts: WordCamp India (India’s first WordPress Camp) A Decade of Relationship My new mobile Nokia E63 Rules of life Related posts:

WordCamp India (India’s first WordPress Camp)

Amit Gupta — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 07:04:25 +0000

I’ll be attending the India’s first WordPress Camp to be organised on 21st and 22nd February. To know more and register for event visit :

http://wci.eventbrite.com

PS : Event is Co-hosted by Mayank Gupta. An internet freak , wordpress fan and my sweet little cousin. I’m proud of you.

Best of Luck …

10 Years of Google

Amit Gupta — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:32:06 +0000

Many many happy returns of the day. Google always stands for innovation and usability. I wish you many more successful and innovative products.

Google Chrome – First look

Amit Gupta — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:28:08 +0000

I have downloaded Google chrome today. I am impressed in the first glance. Though it will take some more time to understand how will the brower perform. BUt few features which make it stands out are ; a) Neat and clean look : A new browsing experience and the window seems to gain that extra screen space. The tabs and search bar are intelligently integrated in the browser. Every pixel is optimally utilized. b) One stop shop : Search , Address bar, suggestive search all integrated in one box. Google makes me LAZZZZY c) Most visited site : Hmmm… nice tool. I would not say amazing but useful (advertisers will love google for this) d) Browsing history : Smart way to display history along with time of visit. More to come …. Related posts: Google and Tom Sawyer Google +1 for your blog gmail going social with google buzz Life in Google Age 10 Years of Google Google Street Map Incomplete map of India on google Related posts:

Product offsite at Karjat (Mumbai)

Amit Gupta — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:00:36 +0000

Off-sites trainings are fun and this is my second off-site training camp in People Interactive within six months. Now this is advantage of managing multiple portfolios and slogging. I got to go out with both software and product offsite to take break from work at makaan.

My last visit to Daman with software team was close to sea and this one at beautiful Karjat near Mumbai. The weather was awesome and it almost rained for our entire stay at karjat.

We had a training, presentations, Jam session, treasure hunt all squeezed within two short days. We were literally awake for two days.

This is a very memorable trip for me to Mumbai itself also. After so long I really got the chance to out and see mumbai city. Before this mumbai to me was only our office and road to airport. This time round Me and my team decided to extend our stay in city for a day more.

Our city tour in taxi include visit to Sidhivinayak, Hazi Ali, Gateway of India, Marine drive and Nariman point.

Waiting at airport for the flight back to Delhi. The guy with lappy is me tring to finish this post

Makaan Chowdhary

Amit Gupta — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:14:12 +0000

My fond childhood memories of Chacha chowdhary , Sabu , rocket (Chacha’s pet dog) are back. Chachaji can solve all the problms in the world cauz ”Chacha ka dimaag computer se bhi tez chalta hai” . Watch him in new avtaar making Rajnikant and Mithun da the superstar. [Amit Gupta]5F3QoOqdf1o[/Amit Gupta] Related posts: Logging out from makaan.com Makaan.com property survey on CNBC Makaan.com TV Commercial Makaan Mobile Makaan Property Show one year at indiatimes Hi from Amit Gupta ! Related posts:

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1

Amit Gupta — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:13:32 +0000

I have just checked out Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 version and Firefox3. I would not be comparing them but there are certain new feature I liked about both of them.

But the most exciting feature to me is Actiities in IE8. I lets to do certain activities on the webpage you are working on. Its like talking to many other application from one page (uff.. internet making me lazzy and more demanding every day). Though the application integrated are few but all are worth mentioning.

See how useful a Live Map application can be for a real estate site. No clicks , No tabs and you get what you want. I have tried looking for Noida and a map was there (That too fairly close).

There are many more activities which can be done on a click like Google search , Blogging with Live Space and define with Encarta. Microsoft keep exploring…..

No Gates for Windows

Amit Gupta — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:51:54 +0000

Bill Gates call it a day at Microsoft , the giant software empire he has founded and build over last 33 years. A richest man on the world for many years will now focus on philanthropy.

Time will tell the impact of this change on Microsoft.

3G in India

Amit Gupta — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:56:13 +0000

Bharti , Vodafone to bring Apple 3G iPhone to India later this year and with Bharti on verge of launching 3G services (Subject to all statuary clearance) .

Hmmm… so would we get to see a revolution in the way people get to use mobile and mobile internet in India. The success will largely depend on the cost of acquiring the technology (Handset + Service). Indian consumers are very price senstive and to an extend slow adapter in terms of mobile innovations. Still we have very limited usage of GPRS and related applications.

Mobile services were launched in India by Airtel but the credit goes to Reliance to bring mobile phones to commener. Their runaway success can be largely attributed to attractive (read unbeliable low priced handset and call rates) offers they throw open to customers. And with 3G hanset promised to be priced sub 10K , I think there will be many takers.

I am of belief that Internet and Mobile are deadly combination and way for next generation of business. 3G will offer the speedy internet and open avenues to offer range of product and services directly to the mobile device.

Looks like tring tring time.

Thank You Yahoo !!!

Amit Gupta — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:42:15 +0000

Hmmm… very true . Thank you for reminding me of this. I surely need a break of of couple of days. And all you workaholic check out the cool mailer from Yahoo and you might find your dream holiday…

Yahoo Local (India) has much more than a holiday destination search. It is a local search engine as of now limited to Delhi, Mumbai , Bangalore and Chennai. And has features like rating, maps etc … But Once it comes to local search engine My vote will be with justdial.com for the sheer database and asklaila.com for the use of technology.

Anyway now I want to plan a break Yahoo!!!

Makaan Mobile

Amit Gupta — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:33:45 +0000

Know your customers and the environment in which they operate. At Makaan we found out that our customers (property providers) are not very tech-savvy and don’t have regular internet access, infact only little fraction of our total customer universe are internet friendly. But the irony is that thier customers (Property seekers) are more and more depends on new age mediums for the needs.

So the challange was to build a product which will bridge this gap and property seeker & providers can be brought closer. The answer was in mobile phone which is a integral business requirement of people in property business. So through Makaan Mobile benefits internet is brought to people with no access of Internet.

Makaan Mobile application is a First SMS based application which enable property provider to advertise for the property and recieve responses directly to his mobile. The application also manages all the listings and the responses of the advertiser.

To know more about Makaan Mobile visit www.makaan.com/mobile . This application is supported on all GSM networks in India. You can also download the application from the link below :

Makaan Property Show

Amit Gupta — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:10:20 +0000

Hey Last week was very busy. Makaan.com is organizing the first property show in North India. After successful shows in Hyderabad and Pune , saddi Dilli seems to be the best choice. In couple of months there are many more to come across nation.

Today was the day one of Delhi Property show. And it was quite a show as the show was simultaneously held at Noida and Gurgaon. I covered both the centers though it become a bit too tiring … So See ya Gud Night

Google and Tom Sawyer

Amit Gupta — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:08:32 +0000

You have not heard the famous story of Tom Sawyer getting his fence painted by Mark Twain. The smart chap get the fence painted by the friends and even get rewarded for it. He makes the painting job felt like the most interesting thing on the planet earth.

Now Google has set a perfect example of how to get things done the right way. What better way to get the matching results than getting the indexing done by the end users themselves.

Google Image labeler is a online module where users can tag the images with the words they feel most appropriate. The module works like a time bound game where users are paired as a team and they earn points on matching tags. (Amazing isn’t it , you get agreement from two different unknown users and time bound activity ensures top of the mind tagging).

Google will use these tags to throw the image search results. This will certainly help in generating most relevant search results. Good Going Google…

Makaan.com TV Commercial

Amit Gupta — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:43:18 +0000

After 7 months of launch makaan.com has come out with a TVC. And as an associated sponsor to the Extra Innings during IPL. I hope Makaan will generate loads of brand recall.

There are various factors what make this commercial stand out including a very well executed and co-ordinated performance of animated Mouse Character and human actor. This commercial has a very peppy and hummable background score.

Catch this throughout the telecast of IPL. As of now check this out :

Google Street Map

Amit Gupta — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:00:56 +0000

Jinke ghar sheeshe ke hote hain, unhe kapde parde daal kar badalne chahiye (One who have glass windows, should put curtains before changing the cloths.). Now you have all the more reason to fear. Google has ventured into street map and to what precision.

I was just exploring trulia (A real estate portal) who have implemented the Google street Maps. I clicked on the sample map provided on the homepage for San Fransisco. I was amazed to see the details of the streets. I can actually read the number plate of the car standing outside the apartment.

Now that’s taking property to your desktop literally. Though I am a staunch follower and devotee of Google but this feature has put me in thinking mode. You can put image of your house on site for sale but how can we allow anyone to peep into neighbors house. Say in the ad below the house no. 510 on sale is and we can zoom to the balcony of House No 511.

To me that is a bit too much. There need to be limit to this invasion of privacy.

How to stop telemarketing calls

Amit Gupta — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:16:07 +0000

I just come across an Interesting email doing rounds.

Ten ways to stop those credit card sales, mobile companies, insurance calls from irritating you:

1 After the telemarketer finishes speaking, ask him/her to marry you.

2 Tell the telemarketer you are busy at the moment, and ask him/her, if he/she will give you his/her home phone number so you can call him/her back.

3 Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times.

4 Tell them it is dinnertime, BUT ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speakerphone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation.

5 Tell them that all business goes through your agent, and hand the phone to your five-year-old child.

6 Tell them you are hard of hearing and that they need to speak up…. louder… louder… louder!

7 If they start out with, “How are you today?”, say “I’m so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems………….”

8 Tell them to speak very slowly because you want to write every word down.

9 Cry out in surprise, “Helen, is that you? I’ve been hoping you’d call! How is the family?” When they insist they are not Helen, tell them to stop joking. This works especially well if the telemarketer is really MALE.

10 Tell the ICICI call center guy to call on your office number – and give him the HSBC call center number.

TRY THEM OUT…

Fun @ work – Offsite to Daman

Amit Gupta — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:23:22 +0000

Fun @ work takes a new dimension when People Group engineering team has strolled out for the picnic last week. The gyaan sessions seemed to be the coolest thing around. Day one: We headed for resort in Virar (Suburb of Mumbai) for tech presentation to be made by engineering teams. The event gave opportunity to everyone to come on stage and speak up about the work they’ve been doing and their learning’s. We achieved the very purpose of the get-together KNOWLEGE SHARING. And we end the day with jump in the pool and late night cricket.

Day 2: We headed for Daman after a light breakfast. The three and a half hour long journey seemed nothing with everyone having fun on board. Many of us were singing and dancing while quite a few catch up with Ajay Devgan’s flick “Halla Bol”. After having a filling lunch at the beachside in Daman we all rushed to the water park. It was amazing to soak our self and enjoy in thrilling rides of the park. The evening attraction was the wave pool and the rain dance. The day ended with dinner against the vast Arabian ocean as a backdrop with live orchestra playing the hit numbers. We shook our leg till we drop.

Day 3 : It was the day to relax and chill out. After a lazy morning breakfast everyone wanted to take maximum of the last day of our trip. We headed back to Mumbai after the lunch. The spirit doesn’t seem to die though all of us were dead tired. We reached Mumbai late in the evening and everyone carried sweet memories of the trip with them.

Job Hunt 2.0

Amit Gupta — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:02:07 +0000

Mediums are changing and so do the people. Snail mails to email and still evolving. The way employees and employers are connecting to each other has seen a marked change over period. Both are trying to woo each other with innovative means. Resumes on CD have now moved to online space in form of Videos and presentations. Sites like Youtube has impressive number of such video resumes. Organizations have created separate dedicated career sections on their websites.

There are jobsites like Monster, Naukri etc which has brought a radical change in the way job market works. Job market has become open and transparent for employees and employers. Job seekers have access to jobs across the globe and similarly organizations have large pool of prospective employees to choose from.

But I feel Social/professional network sites are now become the latest hotspot for Job hunt. Professional network sites like Linkedin has a definite advantage in the game. This site not only offers you a platform to connect to professional across globe but give access to uncalculated jobs within your network. Features like recommendations of your work are the definite advantage in establishing job seekers credibility.

So mantra for Job Hunt is networking.

Image Credit : www.cib.uk.com

A Decade of Relationship

Amit Gupta — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:18:09 +0000

This day 10 years ago, I owned something which to many was of no use. I got myself an e-mail id. Though now I am maried to gmail but my first love is my hotmail id “yaaden at hotmail dot com.

10 years ago people used to ask me , who will send you an email. Only handful of people used to have internet connections in India and I remember paying Rs2/min ($1.25/ Hour) to access the internet from cyber cafes. And set was simple 4-5 machines getting the internet feed from a single dial-up. It used to take me 20 min to check my mail account.The email on the CV used to be the most decorative thing at that time.

Now 10 years down, the way we communcate and interact has changed. Internet as a medium is access to a lot more population. People are using the medium for things which may not be thinkable even few years back.

I always wanted to be part of the internet revolution which has changed our lives. I wanted to create something which will bring internet closer to people. Today I am proud to work as a Product Manager with People interactive ,one of the leading Internet organization of the country. I have seen Makaan.com (A real estate portal) the latest venture of my organization taking shape in last one year. This has given me a feeling of empowerment of creating a online product which is making life simpler for the world.

Let’s go shopping. Yahoo!

Amit Gupta — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:21:09 +0000

Three more days of agonizing wait when I’ll get to see my bank account buzz with my monthly funding (My Salary But of course). On my shopping list would be grocery, vegetables, household stuff and woof… my account will be looking like a desert by 10th of the month.

This left me wondering what people with fat balances have on their shopping list. Many like to sprulz on themselves, some like to go on world tour, few will buy private planes and liners and for fewer it will mean real serious business.

So when I heard that Microsoft is planning to go shopping . I knew that they gonna spend some cool money. The company in question is none other than the internet giant Yahoo. And $45 Billion for the bargain is no small money by any chance. If this deal goes through it would be the largest transaction in the online world after the Times Warner-AOL deal.

But think of the synergies of the merged entity. And all of this to combat GOOGLE. Google has been the biggest headace of both Microsoft and Yahoo since early days. Google has changes the rules of the games and in style. Whatever they have planned , made sure they executed it to perfection. All their creations and acquisitions are ruling the internet.

Future will tell what would be the outcome of the deal or the merged entity but one thing for sure that internet is not meant for the weak hearted shoppers.

Life in Google Age

Amit Gupta — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:48:35 +0000

The above image may look a bit funny or a bit too exaggerated but I believe that we live in Google Age. To me Google is synonym to Internet. Google as homepage tells me that I am connected to rest of the world and my system is breathing.

It’s the nerve cell of information for millions like me. From finding a store next door to information on stars millions of light year away everything can be goggled. I like to Google myself and would feel on top of the cyber world the day googling Amit Gupta will show me on top of Google search. To me that is the symbol of being arrived on Internet.

Can’t think of a life without Google. Happy Googling!!!