[Purchased] - Samsung Galaxy Note S Pen Holder Kit from eBay

• Tried to get this S Pen Holder Kit from Low Yat Plaza but found none. See Youtube unboxing and review video - here.
• Thus, I decided to make this purchase online via eBay (Dec. 24, 2011). Its Christmas Eve and I suspect the delivery gonna be a long time. 
• Price is about USD 52.99 (free postage) and the seller, shimshop, is from Korea.
LATEST UPDATES:
New Post ---> [Received] - S Pen Holder for Samsung Galaxy Note

Lessons marketers can learn from "why this kolaveri di"

Some of my thoughts on Why this kolaveri di phenomenon. With over 24 Million views on the original video, (plus an equal number of views on the various versions of it)this have become a true viral/meme case-study from India. No more reference to the Microsoft-Pankaj Udhas 'viral' or any of those 'foreign' case studies. Added to it are dedicated Facebook pages and millions of search results trying to bask in the glory of WTKD (including this blog :D)



If one looks in deep, this song had all the makings for becoming a viral success. Any digital marketer could learn from the success of WTKD song. Here are some of the recipes that went into making this an success:


Simplicity: A song with least common denominator English words regularly used by the youth with couple of simple vernacular words... the song has the universality of nursery rhymes like, Twinkle, Twinkle Little star.... or a Johnny, Johnny, Yes Papa.. With no music knowledge required, little wonder anybody could hum it completely by listening to it couple of times.

Surprise: Dhanush,is a popular actor in Tamil Nadu... A State known to revere their movie idols. While he is known for his acting and dancing skills... it was a surprise element that made the people check out on his song writing and singing skills. People would have started watching the video curios to see Dhanush in a recording studio, singing the actual song

Similarity: Most of us humans (especially Males) tend to suffer from 'lose-in-love' syndrome. The content (lyrics)is talking about being let down in 'love'. Pain & Healing are wired into any culture. Be it religion, or an individual experience...we all believe that without experiencing the emotions of pain and then the healing we are not complete. The content of the song, strikes the right chord here.

Star-power: While the initial views would have come from people belonging to Tamil Nadu, Dhanush being the son-in-law of a ever more popular Rajnikanth, would have helped in pushing the songs outside the immediate circle of influence. Other than the protagonist, the presence of Rajnikanth's daughter and Shruti Hasan, daughter of Kamal Hasan makes it all the more reason to watch the video


Social power: The social network (especially Facebook & Twitter), has helped popularize this song. Being a trending topic on Twitter and the peer recommendation by sharing the song on their wall posts made it accessible to more and more people who are not familiar with the actors or the region


Support: It was infact the traditional media that gave the song the fillip. Getting on the radar of Television (first MTV and then even the News channels) had raised the awareness of the song so much that more and more people got to know about the song and hence a reason to view the same online


Seeding: Last, if not the least, the spin doctors at Sony Music had made a conscious effort to seed the song. Be it the traditional mediums or online there was a consistent effort made to popularize the song through PR - that seem to look like innocuous trending news item

Now there would be wannabe Managers who would research to understand the reasons for the popularity of the song as part of their business school curriculum... But I say, as Sherlock Holmes puts it - Its elementary, My dear Watson.

Cheers,

Santosh

Lessons marketers can learn from "why this kolaveri di"

Some of my thoughts on Why this kolaveri di phenomenon. With over 24 Million views on the original video, (plus an equal number of views on the various versions of it)this have become a true viral/meme case-study from India. No more reference to the Microsoft-Pankaj Udhas 'viral' or any of those 'foreign' case studies. Added to it are dedicated Facebook pages and millions of search results trying to bask in the glory of WTKD (including this blog :D)



If one looks in deep, this song had all the makings for becoming a viral success. Any digital marketer could learn from the success of WTKD song. Here are some of the recipes that went into making this an success:


Simplicity: A song with least common denominator English words regularly used by the youth with couple of simple vernacular words... the song has the universality of nursery rhymes like, Twinkle, Twinkle Little star.... or a Johnny, Johnny, Yes Papa.. With no music knowledge required, little wonder anybody could hum it completely by listening to it couple of times.

Surprise: Dhanush,is a popular actor in Tamil Nadu... A State known to revere their movie idols. While he is known for his acting and dancing skills... it was a surprise element that made the people check out on his song writing and singing skills. People would have started watching the video curios to see Dhanush in a recording studio, singing the actual song

Similarity: Most of us humans (especially Males) tend to suffer from 'lose-in-love' syndrome. The content (lyrics)is talking about being let down in 'love'. Pain & Healing are wired into any culture. Be it religion, or an individual experience...we all believe that without experiencing the emotions of pain and then the healing we are not complete. The content of the song, strikes the right chord here.

Star-power: While the initial views would have come from people belonging to Tamil Nadu, Dhanush being the son-in-law of a ever more popular Rajnikanth, would have helped in pushing the songs outside the immediate circle of influence. Other than the protagonist, the presence of Rajnikanth's daughter and Shruti Hasan, daughter of Kamal Hasan makes it all the more reason to watch the video


Social power: The social network (especially Facebook & Twitter), has helped popularize this song. Being a trending topic on Twitter and the peer recommendation by sharing the song on their wall posts made it accessible to more and more people who are not familiar with the actors or the region


Support: It was infact the traditional media that gave the song the fillip. Getting on the radar of Television (first MTV and then even the News channels) had raised the awareness of the song so much that more and more people got to know about the song and hence a reason to view the same online


Seeding: Last, if not the least, the spin doctors at Sony Music had made a conscious effort to seed the song. Be it the traditional mediums or online there was a consistent effort made to popularize the song through PR - that seem to look like innocuous trending news item

Now there would be wannabe Managers who would research to understand the reasons for the popularity of the song as part of their business school curriculum... But I say, as Sherlock Holmes puts it - Its elementary, My dear Watson.

Cheers,

Santosh

Lessons marketers can learn from "why this kolaveri di"

Some of my thoughts on Why this kolaveri di phenomenon. With over 24 Million views on the original video, (plus an equal number of views on the various versions of it)this have become a true viral/meme case-study from India. No more reference to the Microsoft-Pankaj Udhas 'viral' or any of those 'foreign' case studies. Added to it are dedicated Facebook pages and millions of search results trying to bask in the glory of WTKD (including this blog :D)



If one looks in deep, this song had all the makings for becoming a viral success. Any digital marketer could learn from the success of WTKD song. Here are some of the recipes that went into making this an success:


Simplicity: A song with least common denominator English words regularly used by the youth with couple of simple vernacular words... the song has the universality of nursery rhymes like, Twinkle, Twinkle Little star.... or a Johnny, Johnny, Yes Papa.. With no music knowledge required, little wonder anybody could hum it completely by listening to it couple of times.

Surprise: Dhanush,is a popular actor in Tamil Nadu... A State known to revere their movie idols. While he is known for his acting and dancing skills... it was a surprise element that made the people check out on his song writing and singing skills. People would have started watching the video curios to see Dhanush in a recording studio, singing the actual song

Similarity: Most of us humans (especially Males) tend to suffer from 'lose-in-love' syndrome. The content (lyrics)is talking about being let down in 'love'. Pain & Healing are wired into any culture. Be it religion, or an individual experience...we all believe that without experiencing the emotions of pain and then the healing we are not complete. The content of the song, strikes the right chord here.

Star-power: While the initial views would have come from people belonging to Tamil Nadu, Dhanush being the son-in-law of a ever more popular Rajnikanth, would have helped in pushing the songs outside the immediate circle of influence. Other than the protagonist, the presence of Rajnikanth's daughter and Shruti Hasan, daughter of Kamal Hasan makes it all the more reason to watch the video


Social power: The social network (especially Facebook & Twitter), has helped popularize this song. Being a trending topic on Twitter and the peer recommendation by sharing the song on their wall posts made it accessible to more and more people who are not familiar with the actors or the region


Support: It was infact the traditional media that gave the song the fillip. Getting on the radar of Television (first MTV and then even the News channels) had raised the awareness of the song so much that more and more people got to know about the song and hence a reason to view the same online


Seeding: Last, if not the least, the spin doctors at Sony Music had made a conscious effort to seed the song. Be it the traditional mediums or online there was a consistent effort made to popularize the song through PR - that seem to look like innocuous trending news item

Now there would be wannabe Managers who would research to understand the reasons for the popularity of the song as part of their business school curriculum... But I say, as Sherlock Holmes puts it - Its elementary, My dear Watson.

Cheers,

Santosh

Apple TV, Entertainment made Simple

When looking for a device that hooks up to your TV that streams movies and other content to the big screen, there are quite a few choices. These devices are called set-top boxes, and there are at least 10 well know and popular devices, with prices ranging from $55 to $299.

So if you're looking for a good set-top box, one that combines a pretty good price with a slick interface and great content selection, Apple thinks they have the device for you.

The Apple TV is a $99 device that allows you to stream content directly from the Internet. Unlike some of the other options, the Apple TV has no built in storage, so, while you can connect via a network to iTunes on your computer and stream content from there, everything else is just streaming it directly from the "cloud".

The Apple TV can access and stream movies and TV shows from the iTunes store. However, there is no way to purchase movies, only to rent them. An update out today allows users to buy TV shows directly, and stream them on demand from wherever they are. Users can also access and listen to or watch free podcasts, as well as access Apple's "Radio" feature.

Besides for Apple's own iTunes content, users can access content from Netflix, YouTube, and with this latest update, Vimeo. Netflix, which we have mentioned in the past, allows instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows, for a price that, at $7.99 a month, is probably cheaper than consuming all of your content via iTunes. YouTube and Vimeo, however, are free to use, and deliver a seemingly never-ending flow of great (and not so great) content.

And, if you aren't already watching way too much stuff, you can also watch every MLB or NBA game live with a subscription to MLB.tv or NBA.com League Pass Broadband. Both of these services are a little pricey, and you might run into blackout restrictions if the game you are trying to watch is available on "real TV" in your area.

Apple TV's Small Size

But of course, there's more. Connecting your Apple TV to your computer running iTunes over WiFi will allow you to stream your entire music collection through your home theater setup. Pictures from your computer can also be viewed on your big screen TV.

To top it all off, the Apple TV can stream content playing on any iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch). To stream this content on the big screen, all you have to do is tap the "AirPlay" button, and, after initial setup, the content will suddenly be playing on the big screen.

At $99, and a 3.9 inch square size, the Apple TV seems like a great buy, and the recent update that adds Vimeo and TV show purchasing definitely makes it even more compelling. If you're in the market for a set-top box, and you have 100 bucks to spare, the Apple TV is a great choice for you.

YouTube adds Movie Rentals, Average Price of $3.99

     YouTube, Google's extremely popular video upload and sharing service, has recently added full length movies to it's millions of videos already on the site. However, unlike the other millions of videos, these movies will not be given out for free.
     The average movie costs $3.99 for a 24 hour rental. However, some movies cost $2.99, and a sprinkle of the 3000 new movies are actually free, but contain some ads.
     This puts YouTube in the same movie-streaming boat as iTunes, Netflix, and even the Gadgetator reviewed Alphaline Entertainment. All of these services stream movies on-demand.
     YouTube is different from iTunes, Netflix, and others because, unlike anyone else, YouTube has many free movies. Netflix does not rent movies, but rather uses a subscription model. YouTube also stands out from iTunes, as it doesn't offer downloads of movies, however, rental prices are similar.
     Overall, YouTube seems like a great way to view movies, at 3000 movies, the library is nice sized, but you probably won't find everything you're looking for. However, if you do find what you are looking for, especially if it's an older movie, there's a slight chance that it'll be free. Another plus is that, since the movies are saved on your YouTube account, you can watch a rented movie almost anywhere you go, and switch off between devices during the movie. Check it out. as the chances are likely that you'll at least find one free movie you'll enjoy.

View the YouTube movie library here.

YouTube Videos - History of Amazing Companies

History of YouTube



History of Google





History of Twitter



History of Apple



The Apple Museum - 30 Years in 2 Minutes

Its amazing to recall that I used to own an Apple II in 1977 and also a Macintosh Classic in 1984.

YouTube Videos - Interesting Facts

History of Internet

The (Media) Empire to strike back

Are we at a cusp of media upheaval? Are we soon going to see a war betting the old (traditional) media vs. new (Online) media??

Rupert Murdoch, speaking at the World Media Summit in Beijing, was mentioning that Search Engines and other content aggregators need to pay for any news reports or articles they currently take for free

He said “The aggregators and plagiarists will soon have to pay a price for the co-opting of our content”. A Media Mogul whose company owns newspapers, other publications and TV channels across the globe, his view comes as ominous. He was particularly harsh on Search Engine like Google, Yahoo! And other websites like Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook

While Mr. Murdoch and other media companies are right that there is a price for the content they create. As content owners they need to be compensated for exploitation of the original content for commercial purpose.

Having started my career with a media company, I have been taught and now know that there is nothing called Free in ‘Media’ business :)

While the new media companies had focussed and invested on technology and interactive features, they had left out information. Information was already available in the offline world, and since the ‘paid’ business model of online information business (News) has not been successful, the information was not available for free for one and all.

The idea of charging the Search Engines, and other website (content aggregators) is justified, it would have a domino effect on the way Internet would function. Broadly, the following are ways a media company would charge –

1) Flat fee for content basis time period
2) Cost per content basis

This would mean that the websites who are not breaking even now (I’m not talking about Google here:)) – will have to shell out more, and get deeper into red. The only option then left for them would be: -

- Tie up with fewer media companies, or
- Fewer content on their sites

Also from advertising revenue perspective the following would happen – Online companies would start charging more for advertisements (to offset the extra cost incurred for content), the number of ad impressions served would decrease (as the content pages decrease, and the user visits to webpages decrease) which means lower ad inventory.

But another truth is that most of the online media company websites get their traffic from the very sites the plan to charge for content. Search Engines like Google / Yahoo!, websites like Wiki, YouTube, and Facebook are the ‘gateways’ who are generating and driving traffic.

If the idea of charging for content fructifies, then there would be drastic changes in the online business models and way the most of the Internet businesses function
I feel while this would take time to happen, and if it does happen it would be with trade-off from both sides. What the trade-offs could be?? Mail me, I’ll let you know :)

Cheers

Santosh

Article reference taken from news.bbc.co.uk

The (Media) Empire to strike back

Are we at a cusp of media upheaval? Are we soon going to see a war betting the old (traditional) media vs. new (Online) media??

Rupert Murdoch, speaking at the World Media Summit in Beijing, was mentioning that Search Engines and other content aggregators need to pay for any news reports or articles they currently take for free

He said “The aggregators and plagiarists will soon have to pay a price for the co-opting of our content”. A Media Mogul whose company owns newspapers, other publications and TV channels across the globe, his view comes as ominous. He was particularly harsh on Search Engine like Google, Yahoo! And other websites like Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook

While Mr. Murdoch and other media companies are right that there is a price for the content they create. As content owners they need to be compensated for exploitation of the original content for commercial purpose.

Having started my career with a media company, I have been taught and now know that there is nothing called Free in ‘Media’ business :)

While the new media companies had focussed and invested on technology and interactive features, they had left out information. Information was already available in the offline world, and since the ‘paid’ business model of online information business (News) has not been successful, the information was not available for free for one and all.

The idea of charging the Search Engines, and other website (content aggregators) is justified, it would have a domino effect on the way Internet would function. Broadly, the following are ways a media company would charge –

1) Flat fee for content basis time period
2) Cost per content basis

This would mean that the websites who are not breaking even now (I’m not talking about Google here:)) – will have to shell out more, and get deeper into red. The only option then left for them would be: -

- Tie up with fewer media companies, or
- Fewer content on their sites

Also from advertising revenue perspective the following would happen – Online companies would start charging more for advertisements (to offset the extra cost incurred for content), the number of ad impressions served would decrease (as the content pages decrease, and the user visits to webpages decrease) which means lower ad inventory.

But another truth is that most of the online media company websites get their traffic from the very sites the plan to charge for content. Search Engines like Google / Yahoo!, websites like Wiki, YouTube, and Facebook are the ‘gateways’ who are generating and driving traffic.

If the idea of charging for content fructifies, then there would be drastic changes in the online business models and way the most of the Internet businesses function
I feel while this would take time to happen, and if it does happen it would be with trade-off from both sides. What the trade-offs could be?? Mail me, I’ll let you know :)

Cheers

Santosh

Article reference taken from news.bbc.co.uk

The (Media) Empire to strike back

Are we at a cusp of media upheaval? Are we soon going to see a war betting the old (traditional) media vs. new (Online) media??

Rupert Murdoch, speaking at the World Media Summit in Beijing, was mentioning that Search Engines and other content aggregators need to pay for any news reports or articles they currently take for free

He said “The aggregators and plagiarists will soon have to pay a price for the co-opting of our content”. A Media Mogul whose company owns newspapers, other publications and TV channels across the globe, his view comes as ominous. He was particularly harsh on Search Engine like Google, Yahoo! And other websites like Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook

While Mr. Murdoch and other media companies are right that there is a price for the content they create. As content owners they need to be compensated for exploitation of the original content for commercial purpose.

Having started my career with a media company, I have been taught and now know that there is nothing called Free in ‘Media’ business :)

While the new media companies had focussed and invested on technology and interactive features, they had left out information. Information was already available in the offline world, and since the ‘paid’ business model of online information business (News) has not been successful, the information was not available for free for one and all.

The idea of charging the Search Engines, and other website (content aggregators) is justified, it would have a domino effect on the way Internet would function. Broadly, the following are ways a media company would charge –

1) Flat fee for content basis time period
2) Cost per content basis

This would mean that the websites who are not breaking even now (I’m not talking about Google here:)) – will have to shell out more, and get deeper into red. The only option then left for them would be: -

- Tie up with fewer media companies, or
- Fewer content on their sites

Also from advertising revenue perspective the following would happen – Online companies would start charging more for advertisements (to offset the extra cost incurred for content), the number of ad impressions served would decrease (as the content pages decrease, and the user visits to webpages decrease) which means lower ad inventory.

But another truth is that most of the online media company websites get their traffic from the very sites the plan to charge for content. Search Engines like Google / Yahoo!, websites like Wiki, YouTube, and Facebook are the ‘gateways’ who are generating and driving traffic.

If the idea of charging for content fructifies, then there would be drastic changes in the online business models and way the most of the Internet businesses function
I feel while this would take time to happen, and if it does happen it would be with trade-off from both sides. What the trade-offs could be?? Mail me, I’ll let you know :)

Cheers

Santosh

Article reference taken from news.bbc.co.uk

Storyofstuff.com

This is a 'must' visit site. You will be amazed to know about the effects of material economics...

Reduce waste, and save the planet.

"Save our world. Good planets are hard to find."

Cheers

Santosh

Teaser #1



Teaser #2



Teaser #3

Storyofstuff.com

This is a 'must' visit site. You will be amazed to know about the effects of material economics...

Reduce waste, and save the planet.

"Save our world. Good planets are hard to find."

Cheers

Santosh

Teaser #1



Teaser #2



Teaser #3

Storyofstuff.com

This is a 'must' visit site. You will be amazed to know about the effects of material economics...

Reduce waste, and save the planet.

"Save our world. Good planets are hard to find."

Cheers

Santosh

Teaser #1



Teaser #2



Teaser #3

Excerpts from interview with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw- CNBC TV18

Watch this video...

Nice stuff

Cheers

Santosh

Excerpts from interview with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw- CNBC TV18

Watch this video...

Nice stuff

Cheers

Santosh

Excerpts from interview with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw- CNBC TV18

Watch this video...

Nice stuff

Cheers

Santosh