THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 26, 2014
Drop the ‘I-me-myself ’ syndrome and show concern for others P8
10 ways to save on mediclaim P 14
Google paid $1.65 billion to purchase Youtube on October 9, 2006, although they had an in house product called Google Video.
City Blogger Of The Week
ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
‘Blogging has given me friends, taken me places’
Fashion blogger June Biswas’s styling tips have been a hit among college students and young professionals. Her blog, ‘junewantsitall’ provides simple and realistic fashion advice BY ANJALI SHETTY @shetty_anjali “Hi, my name is June, but I was born in May!” is how fashion blogger June Biswas starts a conversation. A free-spirited cat-lover with a personal style of glam, boho, edgy and crazy, June’s journey online has been exciting and interesting. An avid reader of blog and features online, June decided to document her ideas in 2008. “I started blogging when I was pursuing my graduation from Symbiosis College. I used to read and follow fashion blogs. During that time, I decided to start documenting my ideas and interests with the world,” says June, who comes from an Army background and has lived all over India. Qualified with an MBA in ma rketing, J u n e , who has spent a
substantial 10 years in Pune works in social media. Her blog ‘junewantsitall’ has recorded about 3.5 lakh views but what really gets June up and going is that she has made a lot of friends from around the world. “The blog has given me some very close friends despite the fact that we’ve never met in person. On a professional front, it’s fantastic because I get to work with numerous international brands who regularly approach me for collaborations,” says June. She believes that the high of being a blogger is when people actually walk up to you and tell you that they read your blog or recognise you as a blogger. “It’s even better when publications feature you and write about you as it is very encouraging. Unlike most fashion blogs, I don’t do outfit posts very frequently. I love writing so my blog is a mix of my thoughts about fashion, beauty, lifestyle and of course, shopping.” Her blog has links to various images and immediate suggestions, does this help in the popularity of it? “Yes, it definitely helps to link to other stories and sites as, in the end of the day, someone out there wants to read a blogger’s opinions and experiences. At the same time, it also acts as goodwill since we bloggers promote products
and sites which appeal to us.” Sharing her experience she adds,”Blogging has been a very interesting journey for me as a person because I would blog occasionally during my day job in a corporate firm in Mumbai when I was approached by a well known international high street brand for a collaboration, completely out of the blue. Within a few months, I was invited to attend and cover Lakme Fashion Week. Fast forward to a year and I won a blogging contest along with an all expenses paid trip to Dubai where I attended the Splash fashion show. So yes, blogging has taken me places.” June finds inspiration just about every where. “Right from the Internet to movies I watch, to books/ magazines I read to things I see on the street. Blogging is a wonderful platform to express yourself and you never know where it might just take you. There is no right time as such, once can start a blog any day irrespective of how old you are,” she says. There is another side to June too. When she is not obsessing about fashion and shopping, you can find her wearing nerdy glasses playing video games and tinkering with computers! anjali.shetty@goldensparrow.com
App to save precious data Smartphones to drive future cars Here comes an app that can help you save your precious smartphone data even if it is lost or destroyed. The app called “PicAway”, uploads all content from a smartphone to “the Cloud” - internet based storage that is accessible by multiple devices immediately without saving it on the actual device itself. The new feature replaces camera interface with a working browser. It gives an impression as if the user is surfing the net while he/she can upload pictures directly to the Cloud if stuck in
tricky situations. “We want to empower users with the ability to take photos and videos without the fear of those photos and videos being deleted, removed and/or lost,” app codeveloper Pedram Afshar from Australian firm 5.5 Degrees was quoted as saying. By uploading the photos directly to the cloud, the app ensures that there are no missed opportunities as there is no question of “No Storage” message being popped up, reports added. IANS
Luxury car, Bentley has come up with a slick remote control to configure seats
Hold on to that steering. Cars of the future are set to get rid of traditional controls like buttons and switches and have a touchscreen smartphone for your driving comfort and overall safety. Back-seat passengers will have the touchscreen to control automotive accessories such as airconditioning, infotainment and navigation. Th is will not distract drivers, media reports said. Towards this, luxury car maker Bentley has come up with a slick
remote control which whirrs up from the rear of the centre console. The device, the size of a cigarette packet, is fitted with a touch-screen. It manages audiovisual equipments like twin TV screens, a navigation system, a stereo and even a fridge. The remote also allows passengers to configure the seats and adjust interior temperature. Th is kind of control will soon pass on to cheaper cars, reports added. For example, the new
Volkswagen Passat will have an app that owners can download on a tablet. Using the car’s Wi-Fi, the tablet will let passengers surf the internet as well as interact with the infotainment system. Audi has gone a step further. It has come up with an Audi-brand tablet: a 10.2-inch display introduced as a remote control for a range of vehicle functions. The tablet gives occupants access to the web, media and navigation systems, reports added. IANS
How great Leaders inspire action “There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us. Whether they’re individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead, not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves.” In an enlightening talk, Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action explores how leaders inspire cooperation, trust and change. Fascinated by the leaders who make impact in the world, companies and politicians with the capacity to inspire, Sinek has discovered some remarkable patterns in how they think, act and communicate. He calls it the Golden Circle, “a naturally occurring pattern, grounded in the biology of human decision making, that explains why we are inspired by some people, leaders, messages and organizations over others.” He talks about why Apple Inc. is a computer company with a difference and makes a very compelling argument to prove his point. “If Apple were like everyone else, a
WHAT ARE TED TALKS? great computers. Want to buy one?” “What it proves to us is that people don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it” says Sinek. He uses the analogy of Martin Luther King to say, “In the summer of 1963, 250,000 people showed up on the mall in Washington to hear Dr. King speak. They sent out no invitations, and there was no website to check the date.” And yet, 250,000 people turned up. Sinek goes on to explain how Dr King had a gift that made him tell people what needed to change in America. “He went around and
This is an interactive column. Like today, every week, we will be replying to technology and internet related queries sent in by readers. You may email your questions with the subject line ‘Tech Guru query’ to tgstechguru@ gmail.com
How to add a kick to your smartphone battery BY SORAB GHASWALLA There’s this joke going around on the Internet: I used to have a mobile phone whose battery used to last seven days. Yup, I am talking about a phone that I owned several years ago when phones were, well, just phones used only for making calls. Grabbed your attention, didn’t I? Smartphone owners today can only dream of a batterylife of seven days. Sorab Ghaswalla Most mobile devices’ bats drain out in a day. I saw a graphic on Facebook the other day which depicted the three things that today’s teenagers were extremely nervous of: Call dropping, slow Internet connection and their devices running out of power. So, that’s that. I shall first list out some common tricks you could deploy to save battery life, and also to eke out every ounce of potential juice from it, irrespective of the phone you own. Then, I shall give you a lowdown on power banks. General tips: 1. Dim the screen, dummy. That’s right. Most of you do not know this but a simple thing like turning down the brightness of your smartphone screen helpssave battery life. And, no auto-brightness, please. Don’t be lazy, set your screen brightness manually to lowest setting (not always the thumb rule, though for some phones like the latest iPhone).Also, set your screen to turn off after a minute of inactivity. 2. Apps make your battery snap. They are the biggest battery drainers. Not only will excessive usage of apps drain out the power, not shutting them down in the correct fashion means they continue to run in the background. Bet you didn’t know that? Same with radios. Turn off the radio when you done, whether it’s Bluetooth, WiFi, whatever. Android, iOS and Windows phones each have different ways of shutting down apps in the background, so read up your manual. 3. App updates and software updates are friends. Many a time, they contain power management updates, so don’t give their downloading a miss. 4. Here’s more: If your phone has an AMOLED screen, use a dark colour background since such screens only light up coloured pixels. The black pixels remain unlit, so logic dictates that the more black pixels on your screen, the less use of battery. 5. Vibrators are better off on massagers, and some such. Get your phone unhooked from the vibration mode. Power banks A power bank acts as a second battery for your phone or doubles up as an external charger. You need to charge it outside your phone, using the latter’s charger or a USB port. When your mobile has drained out, plug in the power bank, and voila, it comes back to life. The power bank business in India, though relatively new, is growing by the day. There are power banks, and then some. Each has its own positives, negatives, phone compatibility issues, price range; then there are branded ones, the ‘Made in China’ ones, and the generic ones. You need to do a whole lot of homework before buying one. These gadgets cost anything between Rs 350 to as much as Rs 4000.
• The Samsung 600 mAh power bank EB-PG900BWEGIN. Available on HomeShop 18 for approx. Rs 2869.
told people what he believed. “I believe, I believe, I believe,” he told people. And people who believed what he believed took his cause, and they made it their own” says Sinek. According to Sinek, all the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world (whether it’s Apple, Martin Luther King or the Wright brothers) all think, act and communicate the exact same way. “And it’s the complete opposite to everyone else. All I did was codify it, and it’s probably the world’s simplest idea.” https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_ how_great_leaders_inspire_action
marketing message from them might sound like this: “We make great computers. They’re beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. Want to buy one?” And that’s how most of us communicate. It’s uninspiring. Here’s how Apple actually communicates. “Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make
TGS Tech Guru
Power banks update
British author, Simon Sinek, has a straightforward but powerful prototype for inspirational leadership, all beginning with a simple question ‘Why?’ Ritu Goyal Harish presents a synopsis of his presentation at a Ted Global Conference. BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh
PUNE
TED is a global platform where people from different fields come together and speak for 18 minutes or less about their respective disciplines. It was started in 1984 by a nonprofit organisation called Sapling Foundation, under the slogan — Ideas worth sharing. Initially it organised conferences where matters related to technology, design and entertainment merged, but today it includes varied topics such as business, photography, art, science and the like.
• Eveready UM 22 Power Bank for Smartphones. Available on Flipkart for approx. Rs 899. • Croma 2600 mah Power Bank.Available at Chroma Retail for approx. Rs 990. Some tips before you buy one: 1. Check what’s called the Real Capacity of the power bank. Mostly found in branded ones. The generic type has what is called as Marking Capacity. The difference: The first gives you the true picture of the charge it can deliver to your phone, the second over-promises but under-delivers. 2. Go in for Li-Polymer batteries, though slightly expensive. They are safer, more durable and have a low dis(Sorab Ghaswalla is a former old-world journalist who now wears many hats, entrepreneur, Internet consultant, Online Marketer, new media and technology journalist, and the Editor/publisher of four sites of his own, all related to the Internet, smartphones, Startups and the Internet of Things. You may find him at www.newagecontentservices.com) (Disclaimer:The Tech Guru column is more in the nature of a reader-initiated, advisory feature. Readers are urged to check or confirm for themselves the features of all hardware/software mentioned here before making a purchase. Prices quoted are indicative and not final, and subject to availability of product/ service. This newspaper nor this column shall, in any way, be liable for any physical, personal or monetary damage/losses arising out of advice given herein).