Thoughts @ Amit Gupta

Why I would recommend Flipkart

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.

Tags: ecommerce, Internet & Mobile, online shopping

Integrating FB social Plugin Like and Comment

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=”<?php the_permalink(); ?>” for Facebook Comments

The result is the following implementation :

Tags: facebook, Internet & Mobile

Google +1 for your blog

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 <head> 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.

Tags: +1, facebook, Google, Internet & Mobile

upgrading of my blackberry 8520 firmware

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.

Tags: blackberry, Internet & Mobile, Mobile

one year at indiatimes

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.

Tags: indiatimes, Internet & Mobile, Job, Makaan

Installing canon sx200 IS zoom ex browser without CD

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.

Tags: canon, canon sx200 IS zoom ex browser, Internet & Mobile, software, zoom ex browser

Safeguard your SIM card against misuse

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.

Tags: Amit, Internet & Mobile, Marketing & advertising, Mobile

Google Wave – a new wave of communication

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.

Tags: Google, Internet & Mobile