Postie Patrol is back in action! PART 3!

Hey all,
    The PayPerPost Postie Patrol is back in action, and this time, they hit the streets of Chicago in the freezing cold! Yep, there was Ted Murphy, as usual, and an HP guy named Michael, and they hit upon Robyn Nykaza in a mall for one of the most hilarious postie patrols I’ve ever seen(all three of them ;) ).

    They briefed Robyn, and her family, they got into a cab, and they hit dirt! Lol. Or rather, they hit the streets of Chicago on a hunt which seemed a never ever one… :) And what was at stake? An HP camera+video gear, and an HP Photo printer! And ofcourse, $1000!!! Watch -

    How was it dudes and gals? What was your personal favourite part? My favourite was where Ted stripped off his slacks to reveal a pair of shorts, and posed like a crazy punk, while Robyn took his pic ;) Hey Ted, you sure dont look the age you actually are :D And ofcourse, while Robyn took a stranger’s autograph, Ted says “Caatfiiish” and does an on the spot catfish with a glass door ;)

    Boy oh Boy, wouldnt I LOVE to participate in a PPP Postie Patrol like this one! One of THE most HILARIOUS! Robyn, congrats… Ted, keep it up… :)

    Oh, by the way, this post was sponsered by HP(as if I wouldn’t post it anyway if it werent sponsered ;) ) Ofcourse, as we all know HP is one of the pioneers in Digital Photo Printing. Their digicams are cool, so are their printers…


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December 29, 2006 | Filed Under General World, Humour | Leave a Comment 

New Year Resolutions… What the world is saying…

Hey all,
    ACNielson, the world’s leading market research company had done a massive net survey on what the world resolving to do during the next year… And today, CNN IBN reported the results in a quite interesting post!

New Delhi: Guess what is the most popular resolution for the New Year among the Indians!

With less than few days to go before the
end of the year, over half (59 per cent) of the India’s online
population has already decided on their New Year’s resolutions, with 67
per cent of them promising to exercise more and 74 per cent planning a
better home/work balance, according to ACNielsen, the world’s leading
market research and information company.

The ACNielsen Online Consumer Opinion
Survey, the largest half-yearly survey of its kind, was conducted in
late October/early November, surveying 25,408 Internet users in 46
countries from Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America, the Baltics and
Middle East.

The survey found Indian men to be more in
favour of having a New Year Resolution (60 per cent) as compared to
women (54 per cent). Another interesting finding that the research
shows is that people in India (74 per cent) surpass their Asia-Pacific
(61 per cent) counterparts in their desire to strike a better work-life
balance in the coming New Year, Sarang Panchal, Executive Director of
Customized Research at ACNielsen South Asia, said.

The third most popular (50 per cent) resolution among Indians was to ’spend more time with the family’.

‘Exercise more’ is the most popular New
Year resolutions for Indians in their 50s (68 per cent) and it changes
to ’spend more time with family’ as soon as they cross 65 (70 per
cent). For younger generation in their 25s, ‘work-life balance’ is the
most sought-after New Year resolution (82 per cent). Over 67 per cent
of online Indian consumer under the age of 20 would like to ‘quit
smoking’ in the coming year.

“People make New Year’s resolutions to
make up for the things they should have done but didn’t in the past
year,” says Panchal. “Judging by our survey findings, there is a strong
connection between the top three most popular New Year’s resolutions
among global consumers – ‘Exercise more, better work-life balance and
go on a diet’ – are all designed to set us on a path to a better and
healthier 2007.”

Though there is always a common complaint
that New Year resolutions are hard to keep, most people participated in
the survey expect to keep it. In fact, over 99 per cent of Indians who
made a New Year’s resolution said they expect to stick to it.

The Nielsen online survey, involving 25
408 web participants in 46 countries, also found many respondents who
wanted to lose weight and stop smoking in 2007, while 26 per cent were
planning to take up a new hobby.

Here is a summery of the findings of the survey in some other parts of the world:-

New Zealand: Kiwis plan to
exercise more, achieve a better work-life balance and spend more time
with their families in 2007. In fact, 71 per cent of those surveyed
said the plan to exercise more. The next most popular resolution was to
achieve a better work/life balance (49 per cent), then spending more
time with family (29 per cent), taking up a new hobby (25 per cent) and
going on a diet (23 per cent). People were more worried about cutting
down or giving up smoking (18 per cent) than wanted to cut down or stop
drinking alcohol (8 per cent). More cryptically, 13 per cent of people
wanted to avoid disastrous personal relationships, while 10 per cent of
New Zealanders wanted to change jobs.

United States: One in three US consumers — who have the highest rate of obesity in the developed world — planned to go on a diet.

“Consumers have realised a healthy
lifestyle is not about the latest celebrity diet or trendy exercise
fads, but is simply about having a balanced diet and lifestyle,”
ACNielsen Europe President Patrick Dodd said.

South Africa: The most popular
single resolution in South Africa is to exercise more. Over 62 per cent
of respondents worldwide want to burn off the kilojoules and 51 per
cent want to achieve a better balance between work and personal life.
About 60 per cent of South Africans who took part in the survey had
considered or made New Year’s resolutions, and 54 per cent of them
thought that they would stick to them.

Vietnam: Nine out of every 10
Vietnamese want to turn over a new leaf next year. In fact, Vietnam
topped the world with most people seeking a better work-life balance
(84 per cent), spending more time with family (54 per cent), avoiding
disastrous personal relationships (50 per cent) and a change of job (28
per cent).

Thailand: Thais top the world with
most people planning to take up a new hobby (58 per cent) and cut down
on alcohol (18 per cent) in the New Year.

    Its interesting to note the changes in the aptitude of people. Two years ago, people resolved to stop smoking, to work harder, and to promote peace. This year, they are resolving to exercising, better home/work balance, and spending more time with the family. Is our world becoming more selfish? Are we bothered so much about our own problems, that we don’t have time for the world?

    Well, I hope that there are atleast a few people in our midst who think for the world. Apart from these selfish creatures who have eyes for no one but themselves, the world needs good people! Ladies and Gentlemen, lets join hands! Speak out, by emails, by comments, by scraps, by shouts, by calls, or by letters! Let me hear you speak! And let the world hear your ideas!

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December 29, 2006 | Filed Under Action Alert, General World | 2 Comments 

Ahoy! PayPerPost to acquire Performancing!

Hello all,
    Shocking news just in! PayPerPost (PPP), the website which lets me, and a million others, get paid to blog, is going to acquire Performancing - the online blogging community, whose free products include Performancing Metrics, Performancing Community, Performancing FireFox(Firefox blogging toolbar), Performancing Partners and Performancing Exchange.

    I’ve been using most of the Performancing features for over 8 months now, to run BlogForPeace. The Performancing FireFox extension is a special favourite of mine :) But it seems like PPP isnt acquiring the plugin as such. The plugin is going to be spun off under a different brand.

    I’ve also been using Peformancing Partners, but it was my tough luck, that I didn’t get any sponsors!

    I’ve used Performancing Exchange in the past, and I’ve found it to be quite effective. Very useful in getting readers to your blog. And I mean true, genuinely interested readers. It was quite a good move by PPP to acquire this feature.

    Aaaaand Performancing Metrics. The cool service which counted your visitors, no. of blog post reads, no. of comments etc etc etc. Another favourite of mine, and acquired by PPP…

    See the news at - http://blog.payperpost.com/2006/12/payperpost-acquires-performancingcom.html

    See the TechCrunch blog at - http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/27/payperpost-in-the-news-again/

    I think that these acquisitions will help PPP soar to greater heights. I’m not very sure about the features though. I would have preferred if all the features were still under one name, under the same management. I wish PPP had acquired the whole of the Performancing network, and crew :) Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened, and isnt likely to happen, so I resign myself to praying for the best…

    This post was brought to you by PayPerPost… But that hasn’t in any way affected my views, or comments.

    As I’m typing this post from Performancing FireFox, I hope to see  better results coming out of the Performancing community and network. Meanwhile, PayPerPost is yet again basking in the glory of its triumph! So much is happening over what was to be a dull vacation…


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December 29, 2006 | Filed Under Net News, Tech | Leave a Comment 

Kalam’s views on IITians

Hello all,
    The President Of India, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, has expressed his views on IITians not helping out their motherland.

Mumbai: The fresh young graduates
of the Indian Institutes of Technology are the toast of the engineering
world, both at home and abroad.

They are India’s hottest export and it is
said that the IITs have produced more millionaires per capita than any
other undergraduate institution in the world.

However, the elite IITian now finds himself in the dock, placed there by none other than the President of India himself.

At the IIT’s Global Convention held in
Mumbai last week, President APJ Abdul Kalam said, “The value addition
of IIT is very low for its students. The knowledge products and
intellectual properties added by IITians are minimal.”

The President’s uncomfortable observations
about the IITian’s contribution to his country - or the lack of it -
brings into focus disturbing trends in the institute.

Get a load of this:

  • IIT-Bombay sees around 1,500
    graduates every year, but it is estimated that over 50 per cent of them
    go abroad to work, mostly to the United States.
  • There were an estimated 25,000 IIT alumni in the US in 2003. That number is expected to be higher now.
  • A University of California study
    found that 10 per cent of all start-ups in the Silicon Valley between
    1995 and 1998 were by Indians, most of whom had come from the IIT
    system.

Not surprisingly, IITs are far from
forthcoming about the number of their alumni who go abroad to study and
work, even though the IIT clique knows that this is an open secret.

Says an IIT alumnus and now the editor of Financial Express,
Sandipan Deb, “That is a failure of the Indian industry. You know all
these things and then you are hired to look after a boiler or
something. That is highly frustrating.”

There’s no denying the country’s IITs have
almost single-handedly put India’s intellect on the global map, but
when the country’s President thinks it is sorely underrepresented on
the Indian one, it may be a reminder for the IITs to put their
achievements in perspective.

    NEWS COURTESY : CNN IBN BLOG
   
    Dr. Abdul Kalam’s message has been met with guilty silence among the IIT community. These very same views were expressed by me during late April 2006 - the reservations issue. Since no one was bothered to listen, I left the topic. I’m honoured to even think that Dr. Kalam thinks in the same way I do… Eventually atleast… ;)

    Lets hope for a radical change! India’s youth, what are we waiting for?

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December 29, 2006 | Filed Under General World | 1 Comment 

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