Sunday, June 27, 2010

School, Ethics,Anonymous,

I was saddened to read in newspaper that a school kid was crushed to death by her school bus here in Bangalore. It was a just an irresponsible act. I recollect the school bus in western countries take so much care. Wonder when the responsibility will take over.

I keep telling my overseas friends when I travel there that in India we progress in-spite of our government. The corruption, irresponsibility are so much. The resignation  here in Bangalore of Mr Santosh Hegde is a classic case. In this connection the open letter written by Mr Rajah Iyer to the PM is worth going. I follow Mr Iyer's blog very closely and lot of lessons to learn.
Some of the articles I came across this week.
1) Taking criticism personally wont help you; It will retard growth. 
2) Why I returned my Ipad HBR Blog. Peter Bregman
3) Inside the mind of an anonymous online poster.  How emotions flare up as response to events. 
4) Japanese folktales. Very interesting.


I am back to regular podcast listening and catching up. Would post links from next week. The Worldcup football is reaching fever pitch. 


Till next week, Take it easy and take care; Live consciously.
Regards

Karthik.


 

Sunday, June 13, 2010

K'naan, Schools, Twitter,

It is the time that comes once in 4 years when everything is set aside to focus on the action on the field and watch through television. It is truly the world cup  with 180 teams reduced to 32 exciting stuff not to miss. I am spending as much time as possible to watch action. I also blocked as much time in my outlook calendar to coincide the match timings as out of office.Luckily most matches are after office hours, yes some calls needs to be multi tasked. My four teams to quarter finals are France, Brasil, Uruguay/ Argentina and Germany/ Italy. Let me see. Already some exciting stuff with South Korea and England goal keeper making action.
The world cup Theme song has caught my imagination and I have been singing it umpty times as well as in the head. The singer K'Naan from Somalia just catches your imagination.

Came across this interesting post on testing your 1)focus and 2)Multitasking on the Newyork times tech page.


I was appaled by this news on attack on school in Bombay by some political activists. Where are we heading? It is sheer act of terrorising young children. There could be issues, but this is not the way. A far cry from the west where even presidential motorcade stops for school bus. When we will learn to be more civic! I wonder. On being Indian, I felt the resonance with PriyaRamani on the Indian way of thinking and interaction, her thoughts are very valid.


Here is an intersting cartoon on Remote conrol a woman might want! Hmm. I have not shown to my wife so far.(Now showing her!!).

With Twitter getting more and more part in our lives(Looks like 2 Billion tweets and counting), you need a client to handle. I came across Journotwit which helps to create column and manage contacts and behavior. My Handle is @karaikudy.
OK, It is short post, Will come back more next week. Till then take it easy and take care. Live Consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Success; Rewards; Social Media; Zakumi

It is good to be back to blogging after 4 weeks. I must apologize for this sluggish frequency over the last 3 months. This was due to travel, Construction work at our apartment as well as serious discussions on children education/ admissions as well as catch up on periodicals. Yes, it is also laziness to some extent. Moreover I was also more in to Twitter.(@Karaikudy); I love blogging as Chris Brogan's post and would posts more frequently. Needless to say my podcast activity is also at all time low. Should work that out too; So my excercise... It's time for serious review!!!

Glad to let all know the children are done thro school admissions, Daughter got in to St. Joseph college, with 93% she had walk in interview and done with. Son also made it in to NPS in science group 11th, having secured 99.5% in 10th CBSE. So it was not much of an effort chasing admissions which can be a nightmare for parents. Thankfully the kids spared that. Credit to them and my wife for having made them realized that education is the key asset for middle class to come up in life.
So with all good performances, son's favorite team Chelsea winning the EPL and his God Drogba winning the golden boot, I had fulfill his demand for an IPHONE 3GS. So that was given to him as a gift. He enjoys it, I also get a chance to work around it once in a while and I find the APPS amazing and user friendly and reliable as well enlightening.
Ok; Enough of personal info;
1) As indicated Twitter micro blogging site has lot of useful add on applications. This helps you track followers, find people with common interest. Here are 27 apps; some links
2)I am also in to GOOGLE BUZZ, which is 4 months old, cant believe, so much happening. It is also a good social trend and helps you to stumble up on new aspects in tech/ social/ every aspects. Buzz, I sense is more personal then twitter. Up on using them I came across so many acronyms that I was required to get a ref page for all symbols, short forms.
3) Here is an excellent article on Managing virtual teams posted by Economic intelligence unit. A very practical aspects in this cross knowledge/ functional/ frontier of managing work place. I am aghast at some of the goof ups / Faux-paus that happen when cross cultural interactions. 
4)One of the tough task is to register every webpage for freebies or product info, download and it is a tiresome task. I came across this site which helps to capture data and auto post to a temp email account which wont cause spamming of your genuine email in box.
5) Here are some good productivity hacks and Myth; This is a good site that allures the myth associated with. 


With the world cup foot ball starting this week; it is time to spend must time in front of the idiot box to capture the real world cup where 180 teams fight for a cup. I look forward to a fascinating, non eventful (safety, peace) football with ZAKUMI. The timings are also right. My 4 teams for semi final Brazil, France/Italy, Germany, Uruguay. Let's see.!!!..


Till next week, take it easy and take care. Live Consciously.


Regards
Karthik.