Obama's First Address

Medical Alarm

It is said that old age is like a journey back to the childhood. Falling down, getting lost etc. which are atypical of childhood is common in old age as well. Hence old people also need the same attention that is given to an infant. But generally people tend to forget that.

Innovation in technology such as medical alarm helps people who are busy with their office work or other things to take care of their aged parents. One such, the fall alert detector, can be used inside the house and will alert the emergency personnel whenever the aged people happen to fall.

The GPS tracking bracelet having an in-built two way speaker phone can be used to find the old aged in case they get lost in the streets or backyard. Especially useful if the wearer is found wandering due to diseases like Alzheimer’s. Quite remarkable from the innovators who have used technology for the benefit of humanity!

Compare Creditcards

Credit cards have become so much a part of our lives these days. This efficient and effective substitute for paper money is not only convenient to use but also provide a way of getting credit for shorter durations with almost zero cost, though for longer durations its cost is pretty high.

Due to the popularity of crdit cards, there are a lot of credit card providers in the market issuing credit cards having myriad features; so much so that at one point it becomes extremely difficult for a person to choose from one of these cards. In such situations, sites like this become really useful.

Using the site, one can compare credit cards ranging from CITI credit cards to Household Bank Credit Cards. The credit cards can also be compared based on the brand, the issuer, credit quality and various other factors. The site also has an interesting repository of blogs and articles related to credit cards.

A gold owned by billions

A gold that meant so much for a nation!

I guess, its not just Abhinav Bindra, but a billion people who owns this. Hats off to you man! You made us proud..

Slimming Pills

Obesity is something which is the after effect of our hectic life style; a life style in which we are engaged with our office work most of the times a day and not involve in any physical activities. So much so that we don’t get time to do proper exercise for our body and keep it healthy and fit. That’s probably why people are going after various methods to shred weight and look fit.

Having slimming pills is a way to reduce weight. But there are umpteen pills available in the market; some of which are highly effective while some others are just there to get money out of you. That’s where having a website that reviews and rates slimming pills and gives recommendations as to which one to choose helps. Slimming Pills Review site does just that. They also have a system with which consumers and experts can give feedback on a particular pill, which will be useful for a person who is planning to go for it.

High speed internet connection

High speed internet connection is something that’s quite unavoidable in a modern home. We use the internet for anything and everything. Right from buying grocery to booking flight tickets, internet has become very much a part of our life. Initially all we needed was a low speed internet connection as most of the sites were text based and required only low bandwidth. But today, websites are beaming with content that require very high bandwidth. Thus arise the need of high speed internet connection.

High speed internet connection allows people to browse through the latest the internet has to offer. It allows seamless and glitch free viewing of sites like YouTube that provide rich video content and various other sites that showcase streaming content, which requires higher bandwidth. Charter is one such internet service provider who offers high speed internet connection.

Charter Laptop a Day Giveaway, is its upcoming campaign through which they give one laptop per day for 30 days. For entering the give away, all one has to do is to order one or more Charter services online. Apart from the lucky draw of laptop per day, all those who buy the site’s services online are eligible for a free shell gas gift card. I hope every one of you make use of this fabulous offer.

Of IT and Dieting

I used to be so thin at college that I always failed to manage the BMI requirements. 4 years into working in a job where I hardly move during office hours, I have grown to stay within BMI limits now; with a fat tummy though. Since I have managed the weight requirements only with a fat paunch, I know I still am a failure in the health department. Apparently, that is the case with most of the IT guys, due to the nature of their job!

Few of my friends have joined various weight loss programs like VLCC, Inspirations and Vibes where they have to spend a lot of time in working out and following a strict diet to lose weight. I was wondering what those people would do who can’t take that much time out of their busy work schedule. That is when I heard about diet pills in general and extreme acai berry in particular. Diet pills apparently have some fat burning ingredients in it that will drain extra fat from the body.

But how to know about the available diet pills in the market? Then I came across this diet pill review site that makes the selection easier. With their help a person can find out the exact pill he/she wants.

Web Hosting

Ever since I started blogging, I have been using blogger as the platform. The main reason is that its service is available free of cost, for all you need is a Google account. Besides that, Google provides the basic stuff required for blogging. But being free also means having limited freedom. Apart from changing themes and adding or removing widgets, I am not able to do the kind of customizations I want in my blog.

There is not much of an option I have if I want to do a little more tweaking in my blog that’s hosted in platforms like blogger, word-press live-journal etc. A solution to this issue is to go for a custom domain name (URL) and buy some server space from a private web hosting company and have my blog hosted with them. But then there are a lot of private web hosting companies out there and how to choose the one I want?

That’s when I came across this site that has listed down the top web hosting packages available in the internet. The site gives an option for the user to filter out the kind of hosting he wants depending upon his personal needs. The site also gives the profile of the web hosting company. These entire features would make it easier for the user to finalize the web hosting company he shall go for.

Numerology mania

These days Bollywood films release with strange names. By strange names I mean Singh is Kinng, Kismat Konnection etc. Guess you got it. The English words in these movie names are distorted based on suggestions from certain numerologists, who predict that if king is written as kinng and connection as Konnection, the movie will gross in the box office! Now, that is awful!

I’ve never heard of any film that’s made decently becoming a flop in theatres. If that is the case, I feel film makers, instead of working hard to make good films, are focusing their attention on such petty stuff as numerology and sorts and then making bad films which flop anyways.

Ekta Kapoor’s ‘K’ mania is another example, where all of her serials start with the letter ‘K’. So much so that the great epic of India becomes ‘Kahani Hamaray Mahabharat Ki’ now!

When language, culture etc. are tainted for the inability to make good films/serials, I feel we are on an unscrupulous path. And I wonder; who these numerologists are? Are they linguists? And aren’t these blind beliefs of twenty first century?

Entrepreneurship

I feel very happy whenever I hear that someone has started a company. It doesn’t make a difference to me if that person is someone I know or I don’t know. To me, starting a company and taking it to success gives the same satisfaction that a farmer feels after he sows seeds and reaps produce or may well be that of a father/mother when he/she sees his/her child growing to a youth.

Starting something requires very much courage. It also has a social cause; of giving employment to few people. But I guess the sense of achievement one gets when he starts something and make it big is what that drives one to do that.

I was going through the website of BlogCamp Kerala, especially, through the list of attendees. I could see a lot of such young minds who have already taken the path of entrepreneurship. And it made me happy!

Home Lighting

My friend bought a new flat recently. He and his wife hired an interior designer for arranging their house. They were particular about the lighting of the house. Unlike before house owners nowadays put in a lot of effort on selecting light fixtures to be used in their houses so that their houses appear more appealing.

The couple would have visited about ten to fifteen shops before finalizing the chandeliers they wanted in the hall. Later they told me that it would have been great if there was a single place that had a large collection of light fixtures of various styles, price range and brands and that it would have been okay even if it is an online store.

Home lighting is something to be done with utmost care. And nothing like it when you find a place having thousands of such products available for you to choose from. After all a house is a place where you live and also it is really important to make it look good to your visitors.

Online forex currency trading

Stock markets are a delight of many an investors. There is no other way to get quick and higher returns than investing in the stock markets. Stock markets, in response, have a wide variety of instruments which an investor can do trading on. Forex currency trading is one such option.

Value of a currency varies every now and then, according to the economic conditions and several other factors prevailing in a country and hence exchange rates between two currencies always fluctuate. A foreign currency bought when its exchange rate is low can be sold when its exchange rate is high, gaining the difference as the return. The principle of Forex Currency Trading is exactly the same. In this era of internet, Forex currency trading can be done completely online. Online Forex currency trading enables one do trading from anywhere in the world (geographic independence).

Though currency trading has the same risk as any other trading through stock markets, the risk can be reduced through proper research and inputs. Fabforex.com is one site that gives thoughtful insights on currency trading, insights which really work. They have a huge collection of articles and research reports which give important information on currency trading. New articles are posted frequently, which makes people updated about various opportunities that are present at the moment.

Next generation blogging

Today, with millions of blogs across the internet world, I guess blogging has finally come of age. When I started blogging, it was just an online journal; with out any additional features such as polls, RSS feeds, email subscriptions or anything like that as it exists today. Blogging has advanced so much so that I keep wondering where it would be a couple of years from now. What all features could various blogging platforms adopt so as to make blogs look more professional and feature rich? That’s when I came across thoughts.com!

Thoughts.com allows people to create their own free personal blogs. But what it makes them different from other blogging service providers is that, together with creating blogs, one can also upload photos, videos, pod casts etc. and also do chatting in their site. They also have community forums where people can discuss about a bunch of interesting stuff and access latest news from various geographies.

When it comes to blog posts, they also allow people to be selective on their individual postings; like if they want their posts to be public, private or viewable by selected people. All comes with an unlimited bandwidth for accessing the blog. I guess thoughts.com has taken blogging to the next level, which would be something other blogging service providers can learn from.

Savings Accounts

Savings accounts are used by people to save the extra money they have, after all the expenses are met. Money in savings account can be used at times of financial crisis or may be to save and buy something in the future, without taking a loan. Hence it is a good practice to own a savings account and start depositing in it.

WaMu is one of the institutions that provide customers with various Savings Accounts options such as Online Savings, Statement Savings, Traditional CD, Online CD, Liquid CD etc. Through Online Savings and Online CD, one can open an online savings account and can manage it online; with online statements. The checking account of a person can be linked to the savings account with Automatic Savings Plan through which extra money will be transferred to the savings account which will earn extra interest income on the otherwise idle money.

Certificate of Deposits (CDs) yield a higher interest rate as the deposits are made for longer terms. It also has the option to be managed online, which is through the Online CD. To provide the much needed liquidity to the customer, there is a Liquid CD as well. Thus, CD is an attractive option available to people if they can plan upfront for a huge purchase, as it gives a higher return. Due to the vast range of options available, I guess WaMu Savings Accounts are the best bet for people who want to save and invest.

The Finance Blog

Doing some marketing for my other blog. ;-)

For the financially inclined and the interested, The Finance Blog. Please have a look...

Working the IT way

My company has been acquired by another one and its changes all around. The biggest of all and the one that’s taking a toll on me is the change in office timings. Previously it used to be 8.5 hours per day and now it is 9.5 hours! And considering the traffic in Bangalore which takes almost two hours of my time traveling to office, it wouldn’t be a surprise that I reach home totally worn out.

A couple of year’s back I had a correspondence with my professor, who taught us a course called Legal Aspects of Business, regarding working hours of employees in the IT industry. As you know people in the IT industry (especially fresh graduates) are made to work for long hours in the office. Here, I saw a stark contradiction with the labor laws in the country which prevents employees from working more than 8 hours a day.

Lemme copy-paste here the mail conversation we had. I hope my professor wouldn’t mind me doing it.

Jithu wrote:
Hello Sir,

Hope you are doing fine. My name is Sujith and I belonged to the class of 2006 of IIMA and had attended your LAB sessions. :-). Indeed informative they were.

I had a doubt regarding the labor laws of India and I am sure you can give a comment on it. The doubt is regarding the working hours of employees in IT companies. Is it governed by the same Factories Act of 1948 (http://indiacode.nic.in/fullact1.asp?tfnm=194863) or some amendments have been made to this act for IT companies to follow? Most of the IT companies force people to work till late night (more than 9 hours a day). Isn’t it illegal according to this act?

I hope you are not much busy with acads to clarify my doubt.
Thanks & Regards,


Prof. wrote:
Thanks for the email Sujith.

Please remember that all these labor laws are meant for the ‘labor’ (blue collared) and people about whom you are mentioning (white collared) are not covered under the definition. There is no law to fix hours for the working of executives. Labor laws are enacted to prevent exploitation of poor, whereas executives are capable enough of protecting themselves, hence, there is no law for them.
Regards,


Jithu wrote:
Sir,

Thank you very much for the clarification.

Somewhere feel bad when I see guys who are recruited directly from engineering colleges are put into work up to around 17 hours a day in various IT companies. I strongly feel they also require protection. Executives are supposed to be capable of protecting themselves, but the question is whether they are actually able to do that or not. The question becomes who is being exploited here.

Once again, thank you very much for your prompt response Sir. :-)
Have a nice day..


Prof. wrote:
To take it a bit further.....
Engineers who work for 17 hours have a choice to join a company which pays less and makes them work for lesser hours. It is a choice which the engineers have themselves made out of their own sweet will. Senior management professionals/govt. officers/military officers/business persons, etc. are on the job 24 hours.
For labor, there would be no such work available and employers would exploit them, hence the law.
Regards,


Jithu wrote:
Yeah that’s true Sir, they do have a choice. Can be considered as something they choose for themselves for the handsome bucks they earn.

What you said is true Sir; the act is not meant to put a limit to the working hours, but to prevent exploitation.

Sir, if I could talk a bit about the choice part. Even though they have a choice, most of the IT companies out there, work in the same fashion. Also India is an unemployment high country that most of the times; it’s a matter of getting a job than anything else and people tend to choose the option that’s at hand without thinking much about the working hours and nowadays it has become kind of a norm in IT companies.

Thanks very much for these valuable insights Sir.
It was nice to be in touch with you once again.. :-)

Sujith

So, working for long hours is something which we IT guys choose by ourselves. But my question is how many of us did that by a choice? Did we have options? Somewhere I feel our situation is much more pathetic than the blue collared employees. Do we now need a law for protecting people working in IT?

Hmm.. Guess, I have no other options but to adjust myself to the new timings... So here I am at the office everyday at 9 am till it rings 6:30 pm!

PS: How long will it take for one to complete a short story? Well, for me its two years and is still not over!

From E-Company

E-Company: “The Loot” Marthahally, Bangalore

What my friend had undergone at a shop in Bangalore..

Changing Times

Today, after a long time, I visited this blog and read a few of my previous posts. People say what one writes on his blog is a reflection of his personality. I don’t know how true that is, but the kind of change that had happened to me over a couple of years is evident from the posts I have written, compared to how my thought process goes these days. After all, I guess that’s the purpose of a journal or a blog; to allow for reminiscence and at times, comparison.

Last few days I got some free time to catch up with the latest happenings at my blog network, the ones who were active a couple of years back, the time when I too was in the foray. Sadly I realized that most of them have given up blogging, almost completely, just like me. But a few stalwarts are very much in action. I appreciate the spirit they posses, which I myself lack. But looking at the majority who had almost quit blogging, I feel, blogging also follows a life cycle, where old bloggers disappear in to their priorities and new ones enter into the arena. But blogging would stay and let it stay forever!