Welcome Little Riley

For those of you that haven't heard... We are thrilled to say Hello Riley James Minutella!

Here we are arriving at the hospital. Gotta love the funny t-shirt Dave got me when I was pregnant with Chloe. Figured it would be my last chance to wear it... My belly was SO much larger before my water broke 4 hours earlier.




Many contractions, and 2 pushes later...



Hello little Riley! And not even a day old yet - amazing!!!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Welcome Little Riley

For those of you that haven't heard... We are thrilled to say Hello Riley James Minutella!

Here we are arriving at the hospital. Gotta love the funny t-shirt Dave got me when I was pregnant with Chloe. Figured it would be my last chance to wear it... My belly was SO much larger before my water broke 4 hours earlier.




Many contractions, and 2 pushes later...



Hello little Riley! And not even a day old yet - amazing!!!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Digitalization: Effect of it on the eco-system

The recently concluded Copenhagen summit on climate change and non-conclusion of the countries on any accord made me wonder what could be the thing that can bring about a change in the eco-system… The answer was staring on my face. Digital.

The growth of Internet and Mobile has been so phenomenal; I guess today most of us cannot imagine a life without this two. Most of the stuff we do in our professional or personal life is eased due to the use of these technologies. Some of the areas that will have direct impact of digital would be:

- Travel & Transport
- Automotive
- Entertainment
- Shopping & Banking
- Media

Trends rising out digitalization of our world:

- We will travel less for work or personal reasons. In fact most of my work can be done Out of Office. Similarly, as we shift more and more into services economy from manufacturing economy…. Digital would help in fulfillment thus reducing the need of physical presence. Video Conferencing especially in the personal space – From Home2Home or Mobile2Mobile would drastically help in reducing travel
- The fewer face2face interactions would mean that people are not too worried about the way they dress. This would mean fewer spends on buying Clothes, and cosmetics :)
- Lesser use of paper – With e-readers becoming a norm, soon there will be lesser demand for paper, and fewer trees would be felled
- Acceptance of e-money: One of the prime reasons for people to visit the stores happens to be ‘experience’ the shopping… seeing and feeling the things are of prime importance. Or so we are made to believe. The actual reason why traders want us to ‘come’ to their shop is they want us to be in their premise (and in a way under their influence) & more importantly the possession of physical money on transactions. But more and more people making up their mind of buying a specific item by searching for the info on the net (current trend) – will soon be getting onto the next stage of making payments through e-money
- The need for lesser travel would mean that the dependence on personal mode of transport would be lower. Hence the need for buying multiple vehicles per household would decrease
- On personal front, I realize that watching movies in theatre is only for ‘experience’… while most of the movies I watch are on the TV (Movies on demand) – this would mean that lesser movie prints, lesser trips to theatres, etc
- Recycling of existing materials – this would mean that extracting the limited resource from the earth would reduce

I’m sure there would be many more that can be added to the above list. Your inputs on the same are welcome

However, there could be down-side of this digitalization of our world and works… some of the things I can think are –

- Increase consumption of electricity… this would mean increase in consumption of coal (I’m told that most of the electricity production in the world is thermal)… while I am sure that alternate sources of energy would increase in the years to come (mostly Nuclear, Hydro sources, and very less of solar and wind energy source) but burning coal would have a huge impact on the climate
- Health & wellness – Most the digitalization activity would mean that your physical activities would come down, which could have a negative impact on health. Obesity might increase :)

I’m sure that slowly and surely, the digitalization of our world would have a positive impact on the climate.

Cheers

Santosh

Digitalization: Effect of it on the eco-system

The recently concluded Copenhagen summit on climate change and non-conclusion of the countries on any accord made me wonder what could be the thing that can bring about a change in the eco-system… The answer was staring on my face. Digital.

The growth of Internet and Mobile has been so phenomenal; I guess today most of us cannot imagine a life without this two. Most of the stuff we do in our professional or personal life is eased due to the use of these technologies. Some of the areas that will have direct impact of digital would be:

- Travel & Transport
- Automotive
- Entertainment
- Shopping & Banking
- Media

Trends rising out digitalization of our world:

- We will travel less for work or personal reasons. In fact most of my work can be done Out of Office. Similarly, as we shift more and more into services economy from manufacturing economy…. Digital would help in fulfillment thus reducing the need of physical presence. Video Conferencing especially in the personal space – From Home2Home or Mobile2Mobile would drastically help in reducing travel
- The fewer face2face interactions would mean that people are not too worried about the way they dress. This would mean fewer spends on buying Clothes, and cosmetics :)
- Lesser use of paper – With e-readers becoming a norm, soon there will be lesser demand for paper, and fewer trees would be felled
- Acceptance of e-money: One of the prime reasons for people to visit the stores happens to be ‘experience’ the shopping… seeing and feeling the things are of prime importance. Or so we are made to believe. The actual reason why traders want us to ‘come’ to their shop is they want us to be in their premise (and in a way under their influence) & more importantly the possession of physical money on transactions. But more and more people making up their mind of buying a specific item by searching for the info on the net (current trend) – will soon be getting onto the next stage of making payments through e-money
- The need for lesser travel would mean that the dependence on personal mode of transport would be lower. Hence the need for buying multiple vehicles per household would decrease
- On personal front, I realize that watching movies in theatre is only for ‘experience’… while most of the movies I watch are on the TV (Movies on demand) – this would mean that lesser movie prints, lesser trips to theatres, etc
- Recycling of existing materials – this would mean that extracting the limited resource from the earth would reduce

I’m sure there would be many more that can be added to the above list. Your inputs on the same are welcome

However, there could be down-side of this digitalization of our world and works… some of the things I can think are –

- Increase consumption of electricity… this would mean increase in consumption of coal (I’m told that most of the electricity production in the world is thermal)… while I am sure that alternate sources of energy would increase in the years to come (mostly Nuclear, Hydro sources, and very less of solar and wind energy source) but burning coal would have a huge impact on the climate
- Health & wellness – Most the digitalization activity would mean that your physical activities would come down, which could have a negative impact on health. Obesity might increase :)

I’m sure that slowly and surely, the digitalization of our world would have a positive impact on the climate.

Cheers

Santosh

Digitalization: Effect of it on the eco-system

The recently concluded Copenhagen summit on climate change and non-conclusion of the countries on any accord made me wonder what could be the thing that can bring about a change in the eco-system… The answer was staring on my face. Digital.

The growth of Internet and Mobile has been so phenomenal; I guess today most of us cannot imagine a life without this two. Most of the stuff we do in our professional or personal life is eased due to the use of these technologies. Some of the areas that will have direct impact of digital would be:

- Travel & Transport
- Automotive
- Entertainment
- Shopping & Banking
- Media

Trends rising out digitalization of our world:

- We will travel less for work or personal reasons. In fact most of my work can be done Out of Office. Similarly, as we shift more and more into services economy from manufacturing economy…. Digital would help in fulfillment thus reducing the need of physical presence. Video Conferencing especially in the personal space – From Home2Home or Mobile2Mobile would drastically help in reducing travel
- The fewer face2face interactions would mean that people are not too worried about the way they dress. This would mean fewer spends on buying Clothes, and cosmetics :)
- Lesser use of paper – With e-readers becoming a norm, soon there will be lesser demand for paper, and fewer trees would be felled
- Acceptance of e-money: One of the prime reasons for people to visit the stores happens to be ‘experience’ the shopping… seeing and feeling the things are of prime importance. Or so we are made to believe. The actual reason why traders want us to ‘come’ to their shop is they want us to be in their premise (and in a way under their influence) & more importantly the possession of physical money on transactions. But more and more people making up their mind of buying a specific item by searching for the info on the net (current trend) – will soon be getting onto the next stage of making payments through e-money
- The need for lesser travel would mean that the dependence on personal mode of transport would be lower. Hence the need for buying multiple vehicles per household would decrease
- On personal front, I realize that watching movies in theatre is only for ‘experience’… while most of the movies I watch are on the TV (Movies on demand) – this would mean that lesser movie prints, lesser trips to theatres, etc
- Recycling of existing materials – this would mean that extracting the limited resource from the earth would reduce

I’m sure there would be many more that can be added to the above list. Your inputs on the same are welcome

However, there could be down-side of this digitalization of our world and works… some of the things I can think are –

- Increase consumption of electricity… this would mean increase in consumption of coal (I’m told that most of the electricity production in the world is thermal)… while I am sure that alternate sources of energy would increase in the years to come (mostly Nuclear, Hydro sources, and very less of solar and wind energy source) but burning coal would have a huge impact on the climate
- Health & wellness – Most the digitalization activity would mean that your physical activities would come down, which could have a negative impact on health. Obesity might increase :)

I’m sure that slowly and surely, the digitalization of our world would have a positive impact on the climate.

Cheers

Santosh

What makes social networking sites ‘click’

As we approach the end of another year, there would be multitudes of new people who would have joined some social networking site or other.

Well, there are dime and dozen reasons for the success of Social Networking Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Orkut, etc…. but is there any common thread or insight that binds the success of these SNS sites?

We humans spend most of our waking hours in building and maintaining ‘relationship’. This behavior is embedded in our genes. The activity of ‘grooming’ in primates, a human child crying for attention, the activities we, as adults, do in our day to day life – like the friendly greeting to colleagues, the discussion over cup of coffee, meeting the client deadlines too :) - All these actions is related to building and maintaining relationships.

One of the core objective of building and maintaining relationships is to create an opinion about oneself in others mind. The way we talk, what we speak, the way we dress, the way we walk, all communicate things about us. We spend our energies ‘branding’ ourselves, so that people form a specific opinion about us.

This exercise of opinion creation and spreading it far and wide is facilitated by the use of technology (Internet). Social Networking sites, thus becomes a platform for people to broadcast their personality, and thus spread the opinion.

The core value proposition these popular SNS sites lies in our day to day behavior of opinion creation and opinion consumption… For example in college campuses across the globe a general way of greeting would be – Wassup?? Or a normal conversation (especially a telephonic conversation) would consist of this question – so, what are you doing?...Now you know where Facebook or Twitter got their Value proposition from :)

How popular these SNS and other Social Media sites are? You can take a look at this link and see the stats for yourself. http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/2009-social-network-analysis-report/

Cheers

Santosh

What makes social networking sites ‘click’

As we approach the end of another year, there would be multitudes of new people who would have joined some social networking site or other.

Well, there are dime and dozen reasons for the success of Social Networking Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Orkut, etc…. but is there any common thread or insight that binds the success of these SNS sites?

We humans spend most of our waking hours in building and maintaining ‘relationship’. This behavior is embedded in our genes. The activity of ‘grooming’ in primates, a human child crying for attention, the activities we, as adults, do in our day to day life – like the friendly greeting to colleagues, the discussion over cup of coffee, meeting the client deadlines too :) - All these actions is related to building and maintaining relationships.

One of the core objective of building and maintaining relationships is to create an opinion about oneself in others mind. The way we talk, what we speak, the way we dress, the way we walk, all communicate things about us. We spend our energies ‘branding’ ourselves, so that people form a specific opinion about us.

This exercise of opinion creation and spreading it far and wide is facilitated by the use of technology (Internet). Social Networking sites, thus becomes a platform for people to broadcast their personality, and thus spread the opinion.

The core value proposition these popular SNS sites lies in our day to day behavior of opinion creation and opinion consumption… For example in college campuses across the globe a general way of greeting would be – Wassup?? Or a normal conversation (especially a telephonic conversation) would consist of this question – so, what are you doing?...Now you know where Facebook or Twitter got their Value proposition from :)

How popular these SNS and other Social Media sites are? You can take a look at this link and see the stats for yourself. http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/2009-social-network-analysis-report/

Cheers

Santosh

What makes social networking sites ‘click’

As we approach the end of another year, there would be multitudes of new people who would have joined some social networking site or other.

Well, there are dime and dozen reasons for the success of Social Networking Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Orkut, etc…. but is there any common thread or insight that binds the success of these SNS sites?

We humans spend most of our waking hours in building and maintaining ‘relationship’. This behavior is embedded in our genes. The activity of ‘grooming’ in primates, a human child crying for attention, the activities we, as adults, do in our day to day life – like the friendly greeting to colleagues, the discussion over cup of coffee, meeting the client deadlines too :) - All these actions is related to building and maintaining relationships.

One of the core objective of building and maintaining relationships is to create an opinion about oneself in others mind. The way we talk, what we speak, the way we dress, the way we walk, all communicate things about us. We spend our energies ‘branding’ ourselves, so that people form a specific opinion about us.

This exercise of opinion creation and spreading it far and wide is facilitated by the use of technology (Internet). Social Networking sites, thus becomes a platform for people to broadcast their personality, and thus spread the opinion.

The core value proposition these popular SNS sites lies in our day to day behavior of opinion creation and opinion consumption… For example in college campuses across the globe a general way of greeting would be – Wassup?? Or a normal conversation (especially a telephonic conversation) would consist of this question – so, what are you doing?...Now you know where Facebook or Twitter got their Value proposition from :)

How popular these SNS and other Social Media sites are? You can take a look at this link and see the stats for yourself. http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/2009-social-network-analysis-report/

Cheers

Santosh

Impatiently Waiting...

Sometimes I feel like so many people all at once...

And if you have ever been pregnant, you probably know what I'm talking about...

You feel crazy, not yourself, overwhelmed, severely hormonal, and super clumsy just to mention a few of the emotions that can occur at the same moment...

I am SO happy that we have officially hit 36 weeks in this pregnancy!

37 weeks is even better...

I've been dealing with Braxton Hicks for over a week now,

Every other night for hours on end...

It's having all the pains and contractions of going into labor without actually producing a baby...

And I'm wiped! Seriously - all I do some days is sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, and sleep some more... It's been a week of this, although it seems now like a lot longer...

I can say now - and this will probably change, because the pregnancy isn't over yet...

I get why some women love being pregnant (I had a GREAT pregnancy with Chloe) and why some women think it's the worst time in their life, and why they would never do it again by choice...

Even during this pregnancy, for as hard as it has been - physically difficult and painful at times, I have my days where I think "I would do this again"...

Then I quickly change my mind as I experience one of those things that has made this one so difficult. I could probably count the really good days of this pregnancy on my two hands.

Well, at least I will have those. And it will most likely be those days that I remember as I look at this little expected baby... this new life that I'm hoping will bring us as much if not more happiness that we have experienced with having Chloe in our lives... We just love being around each other, and having one more person in our family unit has got to make it that much better...

So as I am impatiently waiting to be done with these false contractions that feel so real...

Waiting to be able to breathe normally again...

Waiting to be able to walk normal, bend over, lean over the sink to wash dishes or my hands without pain, load my kilns, sit for hours to glaze or work on new pieces, pick up Chloe and hold her on my lap or rock her at night without having her so far away, hug Dave without feeling so awkward (this belly ruins that perfect fit thing we have going on)...

And so many other things...

I am most impatient about meeting our little Riley!

I can't wait to see what he looks like, to hold him in my arms, cuddle with him and take care of him, and to see Dave and Chloe with him...

I've gotten to know him quite well so far from the inside, it's their turn now...

And Peeves... you don't even know the terror coming your way...

Rest up now kitty because if you thought Chloe was bad, just wait to meet our little Riley.

He's going to come out running says one of the Doctors (after measuring his heartbeat at the last appointment)...

And I'm sure, he's going to be going right for you...

Which makes me think - maybe we need to get a dog!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Here's one of the best pictures we got with Chloe and Santa this year...

Yes, she had her finger up her nose or in her mouth the entire time...

Stage fright or something (she loves Santa, but I think is getting to an age where too much attention and adult encouragement without her wanting to do something on her own just makes her shut down).

Oh, well... what can you do but laugh about it, cuddle her and wipe the boogies away (and send out her Christmas Card with this as her picture)

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Will keep you posted on Riley's arrival...

Impatiently Waiting...

Sometimes I feel like so many people all at once...

And if you have ever been pregnant, you probably know what I'm talking about...

You feel crazy, not yourself, overwhelmed, severely hormonal, and super clumsy just to mention a few of the emotions that can occur at the same moment...

I am SO happy that we have officially hit 36 weeks in this pregnancy!

37 weeks is even better...

I've been dealing with Braxton Hicks for over a week now,

Every other night for hours on end...

It's having all the pains and contractions of going into labor without actually producing a baby...

And I'm wiped! Seriously - all I do some days is sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, and sleep some more... It's been a week of this, although it seems now like a lot longer...

I can say now - and this will probably change, because the pregnancy isn't over yet...

I get why some women love being pregnant (I had a GREAT pregnancy with Chloe) and why some women think it's the worst time in their life, and why they would never do it again by choice...

Even during this pregnancy, for as hard as it has been - physically difficult and painful at times, I have my days where I think "I would do this again"...

Then I quickly change my mind as I experience one of those things that has made this one so difficult. I could probably count the really good days of this pregnancy on my two hands.

Well, at least I will have those. And it will most likely be those days that I remember as I look at this little expected baby... this new life that I'm hoping will bring us as much if not more happiness that we have experienced with having Chloe in our lives... We just love being around each other, and having one more person in our family unit has got to make it that much better...

So as I am impatiently waiting to be done with these false contractions that feel so real...

Waiting to be able to breathe normally again...

Waiting to be able to walk normal, bend over, lean over the sink to wash dishes or my hands without pain, load my kilns, sit for hours to glaze or work on new pieces, pick up Chloe and hold her on my lap or rock her at night without having her so far away, hug Dave without feeling so awkward (this belly ruins that perfect fit thing we have going on)...

And so many other things...

I am most impatient about meeting our little Riley!

I can't wait to see what he looks like, to hold him in my arms, cuddle with him and take care of him, and to see Dave and Chloe with him...

I've gotten to know him quite well so far from the inside, it's their turn now...

And Peeves... you don't even know the terror coming your way...

Rest up now kitty because if you thought Chloe was bad, just wait to meet our little Riley.

He's going to come out running says one of the Doctors (after measuring his heartbeat at the last appointment)...

And I'm sure, he's going to be going right for you...

Which makes me think - maybe we need to get a dog!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Here's one of the best pictures we got with Chloe and Santa this year...

Yes, she had her finger up her nose or in her mouth the entire time...

Stage fright or something (she loves Santa, but I think is getting to an age where too much attention and adult encouragement without her wanting to do something on her own just makes her shut down).

Oh, well... what can you do but laugh about it, cuddle her and wipe the boogies away (and send out her Christmas Card with this as her picture)

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Will keep you posted on Riley's arrival...

Christmas and Baby Countdown Is On!!!

Ok, so I've been thinking in my head that the countdown to baby #2 arrival is on...

I know Riley's due date is officially January 13 (was January 1, but we weren't sure, so an ultrasound early on was needed, and thus: January 13th).

About 3:30am yesterday (Thursday) I woke up and couldn't get comfortable and fall back asleep.

Usually getting up to pee, then drinking some water, and getting back into bed to lay on one side or the other does the trick, but not yesterday...

I thought, hmmm... maybe something I ate?

Maybe bloated or gas?

Being extremely tired, all I could do was toss and turn...

I found myself trying to stretch out my legs, my hips, my back, anything to relieve the pressure,

but nothing helped.

Our one cat Stinker just sat there staring at me, softly meowing, and pawing at me...

By 7:30am I got my butt out of bed and into a nice warm shower.

By then I knew something was up...

Mind you, in my last pregnancy I was induced, then had an epidural, so this kind of cramping is not "that" familiar to me.

It had to be contractions...

My entire stomach was seizing up, and it would last, then stop, then start up again...

So Dave and I frantically (I think he was the frantic one) got things together for Chloe and the cats...

He took a small amount of time to let work know he was going to be busy for the day, took a few calls, and then dashed about getting Chloe to school while I just sat and dealt with the contractions.

When we got to the hospital, they monitored me to see what was going on for a while...

And it turns out that I am slightly dilated, 40-50% effaced, and was having irregular contractions.

The doctors seem to think that I may be delivering early again - around 37 weeks, if not 36 weeks (36 weeks is next Wednesday).

Just not right now... 35 is too early... We want a baby with developed lungs and as little complications as possible.

I know I am getting tired of being pregnant, but yesterday was a big wake up to me thinking that he may arrive early. So now I'm really just taking it easy and drinking lots of water in hopes of holding onto the pregnancy for at least one more week, if not a little longer...

And of course, a picture of our little Chloe with her countdown to Christmas all over the world calendar (from her Nonna... it was Dave's favorite thing when he was young). I loved that she had her little slipper/boots on, and still decided to step into my shoes to try to reach up even further.

So if you don't hear from me for a few days and have emailed me, there is a good chance I may be in the hospital with our newest little one...

We've got up to a month to go... But we'll see...

Hope you all have a Great Holiday Season!

Christmas and Baby Countdown Is On!!!

Ok, so I've been thinking in my head that the countdown to baby #2 arrival is on...

I know Riley's due date is officially January 13 (was January 1, but we weren't sure, so an ultrasound early on was needed, and thus: January 13th).

About 3:30am yesterday (Thursday) I woke up and couldn't get comfortable and fall back asleep.

Usually getting up to pee, then drinking some water, and getting back into bed to lay on one side or the other does the trick, but not yesterday...

I thought, hmmm... maybe something I ate?

Maybe bloated or gas?

Being extremely tired, all I could do was toss and turn...

I found myself trying to stretch out my legs, my hips, my back, anything to relieve the pressure,

but nothing helped.

Our one cat Stinker just sat there staring at me, softly meowing, and pawing at me...

By 7:30am I got my butt out of bed and into a nice warm shower.

By then I knew something was up...

Mind you, in my last pregnancy I was induced, then had an epidural, so this kind of cramping is not "that" familiar to me.

It had to be contractions...

My entire stomach was seizing up, and it would last, then stop, then start up again...

So Dave and I frantically (I think he was the frantic one) got things together for Chloe and the cats...

He took a small amount of time to let work know he was going to be busy for the day, took a few calls, and then dashed about getting Chloe to school while I just sat and dealt with the contractions.

When we got to the hospital, they monitored me to see what was going on for a while...

And it turns out that I am slightly dilated, 40-50% effaced, and was having irregular contractions.

The doctors seem to think that I may be delivering early again - around 37 weeks, if not 36 weeks (36 weeks is next Wednesday).

Just not right now... 35 is too early... We want a baby with developed lungs and as little complications as possible.

I know I am getting tired of being pregnant, but yesterday was a big wake up to me thinking that he may arrive early. So now I'm really just taking it easy and drinking lots of water in hopes of holding onto the pregnancy for at least one more week, if not a little longer...

And of course, a picture of our little Chloe with her countdown to Christmas all over the world calendar (from her Nonna... it was Dave's favorite thing when he was young). I loved that she had her little slipper/boots on, and still decided to step into my shoes to try to reach up even further.

So if you don't hear from me for a few days and have emailed me, there is a good chance I may be in the hospital with our newest little one...

We've got up to a month to go... But we'll see...

Hope you all have a Great Holiday Season!

is the Yahoo! advertising campaign working in India?

The Yahoo! ad campaign in India is on for about 4 months... (Its You campaign)... I was wondering how successful this campaign has been in terms of increase in users of Yahoo! India, and also in terms of visitors to the site...

While I have no authentic data on the above, a quick glance into Google Trends for Yahoo India website gives a very sorry picture..



The chart shows a steady decline in the Unique visitors to the Yahoo website since starting of 2009... While one thing to note is that Google Trends do not consider sub-domain, and will only be tracking the TLD (Top Level Domain).. it still is not a good sign for Yahoo!

This resonates with my thoughts that Internet Time is a limited resource for the users in India... The growth in usage of social networking sites is cannibalizing into the usage of other Internet websites.. A Google trend chart (given below) on Facebook & Twitter would confirm its rising popularity.



While I wait for authentic source of information - I would go with the belief that Yahoo campaign is not working wonders in terms of conversion..

What say??

Santosh

is the Yahoo! advertising campaign working in India?

The Yahoo! ad campaign in India is on for about 4 months... (Its You campaign)... I was wondering how successful this campaign has been in terms of increase in users of Yahoo! India, and also in terms of visitors to the site...

While I have no authentic data on the above, a quick glance into Google Trends for Yahoo India website gives a very sorry picture..



The chart shows a steady decline in the Unique visitors to the Yahoo website since starting of 2009... While one thing to note is that Google Trends do not consider sub-domain, and will only be tracking the TLD (Top Level Domain).. it still is not a good sign for Yahoo!

This resonates with my thoughts that Internet Time is a limited resource for the users in India... The growth in usage of social networking sites is cannibalizing into the usage of other Internet websites.. A Google trend chart (given below) on Facebook & Twitter would confirm its rising popularity.



While I wait for authentic source of information - I would go with the belief that Yahoo campaign is not working wonders in terms of conversion..

What say??

Santosh

is the Yahoo! advertising campaign working in India?

The Yahoo! ad campaign in India is on for about 4 months... (Its You campaign)... I was wondering how successful this campaign has been in terms of increase in users of Yahoo! India, and also in terms of visitors to the site...

While I have no authentic data on the above, a quick glance into Google Trends for Yahoo India website gives a very sorry picture..



The chart shows a steady decline in the Unique visitors to the Yahoo website since starting of 2009... While one thing to note is that Google Trends do not consider sub-domain, and will only be tracking the TLD (Top Level Domain).. it still is not a good sign for Yahoo!

This resonates with my thoughts that Internet Time is a limited resource for the users in India... The growth in usage of social networking sites is cannibalizing into the usage of other Internet websites.. A Google trend chart (given below) on Facebook & Twitter would confirm its rising popularity.



While I wait for authentic source of information - I would go with the belief that Yahoo campaign is not working wonders in terms of conversion..

What say??

Santosh

Jangles Blog Open Studio Tonight!

Tonight from 6-10pm EST visit my friend Jen's blog for her business:

Jangles for her holiday open house.

Here is a picture from her blog of some of her holiday pendants and beads...

If you are in the holiday spirit or would like to be...

Make sure to swing on by for lots of fun and beads for sale.

She even has some ornaments you can have made with custom names on it!

Here is a link to her Etsy Shop Listing (if this one "sells" convo her for a custom listing or request for the pieces).

These are ONLY available today/tonight!!!

I'm totally going to be ordering some for my little ones!

See you over there tonight!

Jangles Blog Open Studio Tonight!

Tonight from 6-10pm EST visit my friend Jen's blog for her business:

Jangles for her holiday open house.

Here is a picture from her blog of some of her holiday pendants and beads...

If you are in the holiday spirit or would like to be...

Make sure to swing on by for lots of fun and beads for sale.

She even has some ornaments you can have made with custom names on it!

Here is a link to her Etsy Shop Listing (if this one "sells" convo her for a custom listing or request for the pieces).

These are ONLY available today/tonight!!!

I'm totally going to be ordering some for my little ones!

See you over there tonight!

December Art Bead Scene Challenge

While I don't plan on doing much between now and January...

Well, not much other than giving birth to a 2nd baby sometime by mid January...

(keep your fingers crossed for the week between Christmas and New Years - he's getting too big for me to carry or to be able to breathe or move without becoming exhausted instantly)

I have donated some small pendant sets and 2mm silk knot bundles to a winner of the

December Art Bead Scene Challenge based upon this painting by Lee Krasner [Lenore]:

Untitled (1948) © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

See Art Bead Scene Blog for more information...

Not familiar with ABS? Take a moment to become inspired...

Artists work inspiring Artistic Jewelry and Bead Making...

In amongst other things to amuse your visual and intellectual senses...

The community there is just amazing!

December Art Bead Scene Challenge

While I don't plan on doing much between now and January...

Well, not much other than giving birth to a 2nd baby sometime by mid January...

(keep your fingers crossed for the week between Christmas and New Years - he's getting too big for me to carry or to be able to breathe or move without becoming exhausted instantly)

I have donated some small pendant sets and 2mm silk knot bundles to a winner of the

December Art Bead Scene Challenge based upon this painting by Lee Krasner [Lenore]:

Untitled (1948) © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

See Art Bead Scene Blog for more information...

Not familiar with ABS? Take a moment to become inspired...

Artists work inspiring Artistic Jewelry and Bead Making...

In amongst other things to amuse your visual and intellectual senses...

The community there is just amazing!

Google Zeitgeist for India – 2009

Google has released the latest Zeitgeist for 2009. While the overall results shown are predictable (basis the different headers)… there are some things which were interesting.

Let’s have a quick recap of important happenings in India over the past one year –
- General Elections (by far the biggest event)
- Indians win at Oscar
- The Budget presentation (during the time of recession)
- Interest in the Economy (the ripple effect of the global economic scenario)
- And of course: the staple diet of most Indians – movies, cricket, celebrities



Google search queries correlate to the above happenings with Budget 2009, Election Results, Slumdog Millionaire etc., all being the top search queries of the year. However, some interesting search queries too were to be seen. ‘Bhuvan’ too was seen to be the fastest growing search query. Launched in Mid-August, Bhuvan, the ISRO’s Geo-satellite, which can zoom to 10 square meter (similar to Google, or Wikimaps), would have been of interest to many. I have not tried this yet… but I’m sure, looking at the popularity of its search, there would be at-least hundred thousand installations on desktops across the country.

Search for Michael Jackson has been a global phenomenon. In fact, Google had initially presumed, looking at the surge of searches happening on MJ on its website that it was some sort of malicious virus attack.

An interest on Twitter in India could be attributed to 2 personalities and the media coverage they had given to Twitter – Barack Obama, and Sashi Taroor. I have sure the number of people who have joined the twitter bandwagon after this from India would have been multifold. Interesting to note that Sashi Taroor has close to 470K followers!

The most interesting piece was the “how to” category. Going through the queries, it is safe to assume that most of the ‘How to’ queries comes from the younger audience – How to –kiss, date, flirt… etc would be the teeny-weeny people’s eternal quest and Google (therefore the Internet) is their guide, companion, and philosopher. How to – Meditate, concentrate, study….all would have been from students before exams searching for the panacea for improving their examination performance.. The other set of How to – Chat, download… shows that people are searching for the basic Internet usage…which means that more and more new users are getting online.

Overall, the Google Zeitgeist 2009 for India has very much reflected what is happening around us. While most Indians (internet using) are interested in movies and celebrities, it is heartening to know that these users are also keen to expand their horizons beyond movies & celebrities.

While I wait for the next year Google Zeitgeist, I am also eager to know what you think of this year’s.

Cheers

Santosh

Google Zeitgeist for India – 2009

Google has released the latest Zeitgeist for 2009. While the overall results shown are predictable (basis the different headers)… there are some things which were interesting.

Let’s have a quick recap of important happenings in India over the past one year –
- General Elections (by far the biggest event)
- Indians win at Oscar
- The Budget presentation (during the time of recession)
- Interest in the Economy (the ripple effect of the global economic scenario)
- And of course: the staple diet of most Indians – movies, cricket, celebrities



Google search queries correlate to the above happenings with Budget 2009, Election Results, Slumdog Millionaire etc., all being the top search queries of the year. However, some interesting search queries too were to be seen. ‘Bhuvan’ too was seen to be the fastest growing search query. Launched in Mid-August, Bhuvan, the ISRO’s Geo-satellite, which can zoom to 10 square meter (similar to Google, or Wikimaps), would have been of interest to many. I have not tried this yet… but I’m sure, looking at the popularity of its search, there would be at-least hundred thousand installations on desktops across the country.

Search for Michael Jackson has been a global phenomenon. In fact, Google had initially presumed, looking at the surge of searches happening on MJ on its website that it was some sort of malicious virus attack.

An interest on Twitter in India could be attributed to 2 personalities and the media coverage they had given to Twitter – Barack Obama, and Sashi Taroor. I have sure the number of people who have joined the twitter bandwagon after this from India would have been multifold. Interesting to note that Sashi Taroor has close to 470K followers!

The most interesting piece was the “how to” category. Going through the queries, it is safe to assume that most of the ‘How to’ queries comes from the younger audience – How to –kiss, date, flirt… etc would be the teeny-weeny people’s eternal quest and Google (therefore the Internet) is their guide, companion, and philosopher. How to – Meditate, concentrate, study….all would have been from students before exams searching for the panacea for improving their examination performance.. The other set of How to – Chat, download… shows that people are searching for the basic Internet usage…which means that more and more new users are getting online.

Overall, the Google Zeitgeist 2009 for India has very much reflected what is happening around us. While most Indians (internet using) are interested in movies and celebrities, it is heartening to know that these users are also keen to expand their horizons beyond movies & celebrities.

While I wait for the next year Google Zeitgeist, I am also eager to know what you think of this year’s.

Cheers

Santosh

Google Zeitgeist for India – 2009

Google has released the latest Zeitgeist for 2009. While the overall results shown are predictable (basis the different headers)… there are some things which were interesting.

Let’s have a quick recap of important happenings in India over the past one year –
- General Elections (by far the biggest event)
- Indians win at Oscar
- The Budget presentation (during the time of recession)
- Interest in the Economy (the ripple effect of the global economic scenario)
- And of course: the staple diet of most Indians – movies, cricket, celebrities



Google search queries correlate to the above happenings with Budget 2009, Election Results, Slumdog Millionaire etc., all being the top search queries of the year. However, some interesting search queries too were to be seen. ‘Bhuvan’ too was seen to be the fastest growing search query. Launched in Mid-August, Bhuvan, the ISRO’s Geo-satellite, which can zoom to 10 square meter (similar to Google, or Wikimaps), would have been of interest to many. I have not tried this yet… but I’m sure, looking at the popularity of its search, there would be at-least hundred thousand installations on desktops across the country.

Search for Michael Jackson has been a global phenomenon. In fact, Google had initially presumed, looking at the surge of searches happening on MJ on its website that it was some sort of malicious virus attack.

An interest on Twitter in India could be attributed to 2 personalities and the media coverage they had given to Twitter – Barack Obama, and Sashi Taroor. I have sure the number of people who have joined the twitter bandwagon after this from India would have been multifold. Interesting to note that Sashi Taroor has close to 470K followers!

The most interesting piece was the “how to” category. Going through the queries, it is safe to assume that most of the ‘How to’ queries comes from the younger audience – How to –kiss, date, flirt… etc would be the teeny-weeny people’s eternal quest and Google (therefore the Internet) is their guide, companion, and philosopher. How to – Meditate, concentrate, study….all would have been from students before exams searching for the panacea for improving their examination performance.. The other set of How to – Chat, download… shows that people are searching for the basic Internet usage…which means that more and more new users are getting online.

Overall, the Google Zeitgeist 2009 for India has very much reflected what is happening around us. While most Indians (internet using) are interested in movies and celebrities, it is heartening to know that these users are also keen to expand their horizons beyond movies & celebrities.

While I wait for the next year Google Zeitgeist, I am also eager to know what you think of this year’s.

Cheers

Santosh

Bead Show in Delaware This Weekend!!!

My friend Darlene of D7Studio has told me that this weekend she has picked up some table space at the North East Bead Extravaganza Bead Show here in Wilmington, DE at the Millcreek Fire Hall on Kirkwood Highway.

See bead show website for discount admission coupon...

We're talking 15 minutes off of Interstate 95...

That's about 45 minutes from Philadelphia and an hour from Baltimore...

And Delaware is home to tax free shopping - so swing by and stock up!!!

There will be lots of great vendors there - a small, but good show!!!

Means less overwhelming, visual overload, brain-suckage going on...

Saturday, December 5, 2009

10am -5pm

Sunday, December 6, 2009

10am - 4pm

Darlene carries a lot of my pieces as well as a wonderful selection of other artist beads, jewelry making supplies and hand painted silks...

Here are some pictures from Bead Fest Wire back in May 2009...

Darlene busy working...

And a selection of hand made beads and focal pieces...

Nolly Gelsinger Glass Beads (Nolly's Folly)...

Hand Painted Silks...

Various Ceramic artist pieces which may include:

Jangles, Gaea, Mazet Studio, Off Center Productions, CAR Ceramics, Earthenwood

And a selection of Marsha Neal Studio textured porcelain pendants, decal pieces, shards, cabochons, buttons, etc...

Make time to swing by!!!

Bead Show in Delaware This Weekend!!!

My friend Darlene of D7Studio has told me that this weekend she has picked up some table space at the North East Bead Extravaganza Bead Show here in Wilmington, DE at the Millcreek Fire Hall on Kirkwood Highway.

See bead show website for discount admission coupon...

We're talking 15 minutes off of Interstate 95...

That's about 45 minutes from Philadelphia and an hour from Baltimore...

And Delaware is home to tax free shopping - so swing by and stock up!!!

There will be lots of great vendors there - a small, but good show!!!

Means less overwhelming, visual overload, brain-suckage going on...

Saturday, December 5, 2009

10am -5pm

Sunday, December 6, 2009

10am - 4pm

Darlene carries a lot of my pieces as well as a wonderful selection of other artist beads, jewelry making supplies and hand painted silks...

Here are some pictures from Bead Fest Wire back in May 2009...

Darlene busy working...

And a selection of hand made beads and focal pieces...

Nolly Gelsinger Glass Beads (Nolly's Folly)...

Hand Painted Silks...

Various Ceramic artist pieces which may include:

Jangles, Gaea, Mazet Studio, Off Center Productions, CAR Ceramics, Earthenwood

And a selection of Marsha Neal Studio textured porcelain pendants, decal pieces, shards, cabochons, buttons, etc...

Make time to swing by!!!