tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-357864782024-03-18T11:20:09.690+05:30MediaVideaPramit Singh's blog: 'Question Everything'Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.comBlogger709125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-88765324792120655862023-08-29T20:58:00.006+05:302023-09-01T16:38:44.435+05:30The 21st Century Curriculum: 15 Most Useful Things Everyone Should Know<h5></h5><div>[Note: As you, I founded <a href="https://www.fatskills.com" target="_blank">Fatskills</a>, an online study platfrm. Reproduced below is from a page on Fatskills written by, called '<a href="https://www.fatskills.com/what-should-we-know.php" target="_blank">What Should We Know?</a>'</div><div><br /></div><div>How can we all get a well rounded education to become a full fledged participant in modern civil life? What should we educate ourselves on?</div><div><br /></div><div>You can vote on this <a href="https://honestpage.com/poll/what-should-we-know" target="_blank">poll</a>, which aims to find some answers. But first, quick rundown on what we think are 15 most useful things everyone should know.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIkLf54Gplaj0l8AKzbB9ijm0ZCqk2HE9B1h8pRa9f44lCdm7TBcYha3gqJBGCBc0W7Qjp451kY6OnoYAp1urQJHZWFjTngAk7dD1JTG1_4k_4WLiOweZ5iEw9gqsUUIziEHH1BAqUVetbqEIr_s_DeFU21dx3i72kfV6QUsIAMpRmvScb4auQ/s640/fatskills-what-shall-we-know.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIkLf54Gplaj0l8AKzbB9ijm0ZCqk2HE9B1h8pRa9f44lCdm7TBcYha3gqJBGCBc0W7Qjp451kY6OnoYAp1urQJHZWFjTngAk7dD1JTG1_4k_4WLiOweZ5iEw9gqsUUIziEHH1BAqUVetbqEIr_s_DeFU21dx3i72kfV6QUsIAMpRmvScb4auQ/s320/fatskills-what-shall-we-know.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>A real-world curriculum for the 21st Century in brief:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>1. Modern Home Economics: Adulting, Living On Your Own, Self - Sufficiency, Sustainable Living</div><div>2. Emotional Literacy</div><div>3. Politics: Main ideas & Tactics</div><div>4. Religion & Society</div><div>5. Media Literacy</div><div>6. IT Literacy</div><div>7. Financial Literacy</div><div>8. Basic Business Literacy</div><div>9. Trades Knowledge</div><div>10. History Knowledge</div><div>11. Math Knowledge</div><div>12. Language Skills</div><div>13. Art / Literature</div><div>14. Science Knowledge</div><div>15. Skills For The Apocalypse</div><div><br /></div><div><b>1. Modern Home Economics: Adulting, Living On Your Own, Self - Sufficiency, Sustainable Living</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Level 1: Things to know in order to get through life:</div><div>Cooking (at least how to cook a basic meal)</div><div>Car repair (e.g. what the lights mean what the various fluids do etc)</div><div>Emergencies (power line goes down medical emergencies etc)</div><div>How to connect things (gadgets systems) together</div><div>Sewing</div><div>Basic homemaking & home repair</div><div>Plumbing</div><div>Gun handling and safety</div><div>First aid</div><div>Calorie counts</div><div>Fitness basics</div><div>Healthy living / basic health facts</div><div>Carbon footprint of human activities</div><div>Pollution & consumerism etc.</div><div>Sex-ed (which is a biology lesson, not a moral lesson)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Level 2: Consumer protection</b></div><div>How to effectively file a complaint with both a company and with consumer protection agencies.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Level 2: Surviving office work:</b></div><div>Office Work is 2/3rds politics (Basically keeping the boss happy & keeping your opinions to yourself), 1/3 actual work.</div><div>Quiet quitting.</div><div>Knowing your employer / HR department isn't loyal to you.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>2. Emotional Literacy</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Emotional maturity</div><div>Finding a balance in life</div><div>Finding the middle path</div><div>Knowing that you may like someone but that person may not like you back</div><div>World works on 'give and take'</div><div>Nothing lasts forever</div><div>The golden rule</div><div>IQ vs EQ</div><div>Value of persistence</div><div>Knowing when to finally let go etc.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>3. Politics: Main ideas & Tactics</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Communism, Socialism, Anarchism (People governing themselves)</div><div>Democracy & its variants (representative - first past the post, proportional etc)</div><div>Capitalism & how it stokes over-consumption and base human desires to thrive</div><div>Voting on issues and not on ideologies</div><div>Nation states</div><div>Elites</div><div>1%</div><div>Groupism (Us vs Them)</div><div>Politics vs Statesmanship</div><div>Propaganda</div><div>Argument tactics, Public Speaking</div><div>Pseudo news</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Civics:</b></div><div>How the government works</div><div>Paperwork, forms, procedures</div><div>Checks & balances</div><div>'Letter of the law' vs 'spirit of the law'</div><div>Workings of the legal system - progress of a case.</div><div>What to do do when stopped by a cop.</div><div>The benefits of knowing people in the right places</div><div><br /></div><div>Question the competence and judgment of the political leadership. They work on your dime.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>4. Religion & Society</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Atheism</div><div>Organized religion</div><div>Religion's role in politics and government</div><div>Difference between faith and reason</div><div>Main ideas from famous atheists</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>5. Media Literacy</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Fake news</div><div>Paid news He said, she said kind of news</div><div>Astroturfing</div><div>Sock puppets</div><div>Cliches</div><div>Buzzwords</div><div>Content analysis</div><div>Recognizing disinformation</div><div>Recognizing the ads - they are everywhere. Most of the entertainment is advertising.</div><div>Movie business</div><div>Video games business</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>6. IT Literacy</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Level 1: Basic computer use. Basics of folders / files organization. How to format documents/text.</div><div>Touch-typing</div><div>Word processing</div><div>Spreadsheets</div><div>Internet search</div><div>Social media "hygiene"</div><div>How cloud storage works</div><div>Having offline backups of your data / Do not trust Big tech</div><div>Instructions on not believing most of what you read on the internet</div><div>Avoiding malware</div><div>Avoiding spyware (including the advertising variant)</div><div>Online scams & frauds</div><div>Difference between computer science (information theory</div><div>Complexity theory</div><div>Digital algorithms and digital system engineering Website / app programming etc.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Level 2: Basic personal Cybersecurity</b></div><div>Not reusing passwords.</div><div>Understanding the value and risks of one's personal data. How to spot a phishing email.</div><div>How to recognize a scam email.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Level 3: </b></div><div>A little programming so you know how you can get computers to do what you want.</div><div>A little bit of AI and Data Science / Data Analytics basics.</div><div>Knowing that humans make algorithms (at least s far).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>7. Financial Literacy</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Financial planning</div><div>Power of compounding</div><div>Health insurance</div><div>Right kind and right timing for taking debt</div><div>Marriage</div><div>Buying a house</div><div>Getting a mortgage and a loan</div><div>How to do your taxes</div><div>How to calculate future value of an investment</div><div>How to calculate the cost of a loan at a given interest rate</div><div>Both monthly payments and total interest payments)</div><div>Basic investment approaches</div><div>Maintain a proper budget</div><div>Plan for retirement</div><div>Financialization of the system</div><div>Tactics used by banks and financial companies</div><div>Needs vs wants</div><div>Who pays the most tax (salaried middle class)</div><div>Hypes (e.g. crypto)</div><div>MLM</div><div>Financial bubbles</div><div>Credit cards</div><div>Stock market as a business model for modern capitalism / Stock market vs Gambling</div><div>If it is to good to be true it is NOT</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>8. Basic Business Literacy</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Business planning - 1 page business model canvas, product / market fit</div><div>Business promotion</div><div>Business accounting</div><div>Selling</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>9. Trades Knowledge</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Front line essential jobs:</div><div>Electrician</div><div>Mechanic</div><div>Plumber</div><div>Nurse</div><div>Doctor</div><div>Machinist</div><div>Sanitation (society shuts down without sanitation)</div><div>Robotics/ automation</div><div>Jobs that can't be replaced by AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the near future etc.</div><div><br /></div><div>No need for college degrees. 2 years community college at most if needed. Apprenticeships.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>10. History Knowledge</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Nation states / their 'special' origin stories</div><div>Big history (Timelines into the future)</div><div>No such thing as clean narratives</div><div>Victors write history</div><div>History vs propaganda</div><div>Big man theory of history</div><div>Debunking myths</div><div>Process of historical research</div><div>Histories of little things</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>11. Math Knowledge</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Money math</div><div>Consumer math</div><div>Home math</div><div>Business math</div><div>Some linear algebra</div><div>Practical geometry (e.g.. construction)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>12. Language Skills</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Reading</div><div>Writing</div><div>Communicating effectively.</div><div>Using correct grammar.</div><div>2 languages preferably.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>13. Art / Literature</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Classic works / canon (Genre wise)</div><div>Tropes</div><div>Shapes of stories (e.g. a situation - rise - fall - rise fall...)</div><div>Art styles</div><div>Writing styles (Hemingway iceberg, Faulkner / McCarthy Gothic, Markson experimental etc.)</div><div>How to market and brand yourself</div><div>The sad business of art (What really sells, making a living doing art, etc.)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>14. Science Knowledge</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Scientific literacy: </b>Knowing how science works - By asking a lot of Whys. The scientific process. Scientific Literacy is more than just knowing a 'cool' science fact - e.g. number of sand particles on beaches of Earth.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Biology, Chemistry, Math, Physics are all needed in real world jobs & situations </b>- E.g. What do plants and humans need to survive? How much CO2 is produced by burning a given amount of a hydrocarbon / a specific human activity like flying from A to B? How to read a periodic table</div><div>Knowing what elements a compound contains.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>15. Skills For The Apocalypse</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Nursing & farming.</div><div>Prepper / Survivalist, etc - Basic supplies to have in various situations. Bug out bags.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-17112905888470312942021-09-03T17:07:00.007+05:302021-09-03T17:08:33.828+05:30How Byju's Became The Most Valuable Edtech Startup: By Pushing Expensive Education Packages To Parents Who Can't Afford Them<p> </p><p>In my previous post, I wondered <a href="https://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2021/08/can-we-make-online-tutoring-to-go-non.html">if we can make online tutoring go non-profit in India</a>, which would help achieve education equality in India. Now, Akanksha SIngh has written a brilliant <a href="https://restofworld.org/2021/inside-india-edtech-byjus/ ">expose of Byju's shady sales tactics and shoddy work culture</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>A former Byju's salesperson says:</p><p></p><blockquote>“My last sale was to a driver whose boss gave him a phone,” Ritesh, a former sales associate, whose name has been changed at his request, told Rest of World. The driver only had $9 (700 rupees) in his account when he signed up for a subscription for his only child. “[His] boss paid the down payment and deducted it from his monthly salary. … [His wife] said, ‘I’ll work 24/7 for this course.’ That was the day I resigned.”</blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Akanksha's article details other important things you should know about Byju's methods:</p><p><br /></p><p><b>1. Byju’s has partnerships with local lending companies to help finance its expensive education products.</b></p><p></p><blockquote>An investigation by The Ken, which analyzed 110 consumer complaints, found that 54 people were unaware they were being signed up for loans when they signed up for subscriptions. The average ticket size of the loans was $952 (66,000 rupees), and down payments ranged from $15 (1,000 rupees) to as high as $864 (60,000 rupees). Annual per capita income in India is around $2,000 per year.</blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>2. Byju's sales associates are told to ask children tricky questions to make them look “bad” in front of their parents on field visits.</b></p><p></p><blockquote> “If their parents weren’t literate, we’d ask them questions that looked easy, like, ‘Which is bigger: one over two or one over four?’ … [A younger] child would say one over four.”</blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>3. Byju's promises a mentor as part of the package, but parents complain of lack of proper mentoring.</b></p><p></p><blockquote>(a parent) signed up for Byju’s mentorship program, where an academic mentor is assigned to each student but got none. She complained but got nowhere. Eventually, she cancelled the subscription.</blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>4. Byju's pushes expensive tutoring services from its acquired companies.</b></p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>(For example) When she mentioned that she’d been sending her daughter for tuition at a local institute, they instead pushed her to sign up for an Aakash Institute training center, saying a small institute wouldn’t cut it.</blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>5. Byju's has made it hard for people to get refunds.</b></p><p></p><blockquote>Parents find out that when they get to the end of the 15-day free trial they are unable to opt out. </blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>A quick Google search for “<b>Byju’s refund scam”</b> reveals hundreds of customers detailing trouble with getting a refund through the company. </blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>6. A Byju's sales associate has to meet their weekly sales targets of $2,700 (200,000 rupees).</b></p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>Byju's sales associates are under immense pressure to make their weekly sales targets. As one employee put it: “As long as we met our targets, nothing else mattered.”</blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>7. There have been multiple cases of mistreatment of sales associates by Byju's managers/ supervisors.</b></p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>(In a video on Youtube) Several individuals claiming to be former employees commented on the video, saying they’d faced or witnessed similar verbal attacks from their supervisors. </blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>“<b>My manager shouted a lot</b>,” Ameer, the sales associate, told Rest of World. But he never reported the abuse to HR because he was threatened he’d lose his job. “My manager once told me that if I tried anything, he’d make sure I don’t have a career,” he said.</blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p>This is how you make a billion dollar Edtech startup.</p>Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-73526932654954218052021-08-09T16:22:00.008+05:302021-08-09T16:33:38.908+05:30Can We Make Online Tutoring To Go Non-profit In India?<p>The big news is that the State Council, which is China's highest governing body, has passed orders for <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/202107/t20210724_546566.html" target="_blank">after school tutoring companies to go non-profit</a>, and also banning them from going public or raising foreign capital. No company can now invest in or buy online education startups involved in out-of-school teaching.</p><p>To reduce the cognitive burden on school kids, China's rulers have also put limits on tutoring hours during weekends and vacations</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Three reasons</b> have been cited for the new rules. </p><p><b>One, the Chinese government believes that high private tutoring fees are a huge burden on young families</b>, who then are discouraged from having more kids, and China now wants to reverse the adverse effects of 'one child' rule.</p><p><b>Two, the Chinese government wants to put an end to the unethical practices of false advertising and VC capital-induced pricing wars by Edtech startups</b>. For example, most Edtech startups heavily promote cheap trial classes. However, once the trial period is over, Chinese parents find they have signed for expensive courses, which they were not prepared for.</p><p><b>Three, and this is most important, <a href="https://www.protocol.com/china/china-edtech-crackdown-education-inequality">Edtech is doing nothing to address underprivileged children</a>.</b> If anything, Edtech startups go all out to influence impressionable parents from lower income groups, pushing to sign up for courses that are supposed to be the answers to all problems in life. And, the Chinese government does not want an angry populace.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, can we make online tutoring to go non-profit in India?</p><p>We should. But we won't. Read on.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>One, while China boasts of multiple multi-billion dollar Edtech startups, Byju's in India is fast becoming a monopoly</b>, using all the VC money to buy all other Edtech company. As of writing, Vedantu is next up for Byju's greedy kitty, and only UnAcademy seems left in the other corner. Monopoly in any business is undesirable. Monopoky in education, more so. </p><p><b>Two, there is something very objectionable about Byju's pricing.</b></p><p>I tried to look for Byju's pricing for its various products and most of time, Google showed me spammy websites or a web page on Byju's showing the Rs. 2000 first month trial offer. </p><p>Having found the product pages after exploring the Websites, and not relying on Google, I found the answer to 'How much does Byju's cost?'</p><p><b>Byju's pricing:</b></p><p>Class 1 - 3: Rs. 3,333.33/month</p><p>Class 5-10 Math & Science: Rs. 26,000.00 (Rs. 2166 / month)</p><p>Class 11, JEE 2023, English: Rs. 135,000.00</p><p>And so on. pricing for competitive exams is much, much higher. </p><p>And you thought the internet would make education affordable.</p><p>An average city - based parent is paying Rs. 2000 - 7000/ month as school fees already. Tack on the 3-4000/month cost of Byju's. Much has been written abut Covid-19 being good to Edtech companies. No one is writing about the burden on parents and how much benefit online learning can be to young students.</p><p><b>Three, the kind of dog-eat-dog work culture and revenues-at-all-cost business ethic at Byjus. </b>This may or may not be the norm in many Indian startups today.</p><p>But first, you must understand what Byju's really is.</p><p><b>Byjus is a big VC-funded education marketing company, not an Edtech company.</b></p><p>Byju's the education marketing company depends on an army of 40000+ sales people.</p><p><b>The modus operandi is simple: </b>Hire desperate graduates from India's interminable and numerous tech and business schools, promise them Rs. 7-10 lakh packages, train them the basics of sales and push them out into India's dusty streets, making shady deals with school teachers (who force student sin their class to do some quiz, and the Byju's starts to spam you) and guilt-tripping lower middle class Indian parents ('<i>apka bachha bahut kamzor hai math mein</i>') into signing up for EMIs on expensive / overpriced packages of ho-hum quality educational videos, far better quality versions of which are freely available on Youtube and Khan Academy.</p><p>If these poor new grads (who studied IT but are now doing sales) are not doing enough revenue, Byjus then uses highly paid sports and entertainment celebrities to influence gullible parents, who never pause to ask where Shah Rukh Khan sends his kids to study (pssst...it is '<i>phoren</i>').</p><p>To get an idea of Byju's sales tactics, read this Reddit post titled <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/m4ua6x/byjus_bda_feeling_proud_of_putting_a/" target="_blank">'BYJUs BDA feeling proud of putting a lower-middle-class family into an EMI trap</a>'</p><p>From the thread: </p><p></p><blockquote><p>True story: was approached by a sales guy in Big Bazaar while shopping. Saw my lil one toddling around and came upto me to discuss an awesome package for the kid. I looked at him and then at my kid. I told him the kid was a year and half old. He looked as if he couldn't comprehend this info as if why i wouldn't even listen to his scheme. He seemed disappointed.</p><p><br /></p><p>But then i realised, the brief given to them is if you see a little kid, irrespective of the age just throw the bait, let the maa-baap bite.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Another relevant thread about Byju's: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/comments/ifjh95/how_is_byjus_able_to_generate_a_revenue_of_72m_in/" target="_blank">How is Byjus able to generate a revenue of $72m in a country where majority of its population is middle class, and of course a fair share below the poverty line?</a></p><p>This brings me again back to the question: Can we make online tutoring to go non-profit in India?</p><p><b>NO!</b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>The government is on the side of business. </b></p><p>Farmers, students, jobs, migrants, and minorities do not matter. </p><p>The middle class matters much less. </p><p>What will the middle class do? </p><p>Revolt? </p><p>Ha!</p><p><br /></p><p><b>I understand you got to make money. </b></p><p>But, in a post-Piketty,<i> aware-of-the-1%</i> world, it matters <b>who makes the money and how the money is being made</b>. </p><p>According to Crunchbase, Byjus' has received $2.7 billion in funding, which amounts to Rs. 20000 crores. This means, the rich are going to extract Rs. 20000 cr plus interest. All from selling over-priced, redundant videos. </p><p>Media companies, private equity, celebrities, search engines...everyone is making money from the Rs. 20000 cr+ gravy train! India's media will spin the China story as being good for India, which will now become a more attractive target for Edtech investments.</p><p>But, teachers are not going to become millionaires. Almost no one among the 40000-strong sales army will become a a crorepati. No one in the Byju's support center will win the '<i>Kaun Banega Crorepati</i>' lottery either.</p><p>The extraction of value from India's already stressed middle class will continue unabated.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>How much would it takes to create videos on every chapter in every subject across every grade?</b></p><p>Taking an average of 15 chapters for subject, it is about 1200 videos, 1200 chapter, and 1200 quizzes. Let's be generous to our content developers / Subject matter experts and say it will cost Rs. 100 crores. Add in some extra couple of crores for translation.</p><p>I am sure the figure will be less than 0.5% of what Byju's has received in funding. </p><p>What else? Oh yes. Establish a support center for students, answering problems, offering mentoring and so on. Is the 2-3000/ month that Byju's charges for support services? I am not so sure. At Rs. 3 lakh/ teacher per annum (Rs. 25000/month), an army of 1000 teachers would cost Rs. 30 crore/annum. </p><p>So, You can create a comprehensive online learning tool, we need <b>Rs. 130 crore</b> (Rs. 100 cr + Rs. 30 crore Annual cost). </p><p>Or, you can curate all the best videos on Youtube in one place and offer teacher support and tests only. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>What else can we do?</b></p><p>A lot.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>We can create and / or share free / very low cost educational resources</b></p><p> - in multiple languages and made available everywhere the students are.</p><p><br /></p><p>After all this <i>bhashan</i>, what <i>rashan</i> am I bringing in the house?</p><p><br /></p><p>Some of the work I have been involved in</p><p><b>1. Free directory of educational resources online.</b></p><p>For example:</p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-1-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 1 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-2-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 2 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-3-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 3 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-4-math-india">Khan Academy Videos: Class 4 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-5-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 5 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-6-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 6 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-7-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 7 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-8-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 8 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-9-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 9 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-10-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 10 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-11-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 11 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-12-math-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 12 math (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-9-physics-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 9 Physics (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-10-physics-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 10 Physics (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-10-chemistry-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 10 Chemistry (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-10-biology-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 10 Biology (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-11-physics-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 11 Physics (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-11-chemistry-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 11 Chemistry (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/study-resources/chapter/khan-academy-videos-class-12-physics-india" target="_blank">Khan Academy Videos: Class 12 Physics (India)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/answers/onlineeducation/list-of-600-khan-academy-basic-math-video-tutorials-on-youtube" target="_blank">A List of 600+ Khan Academy Basic Math Video Tutorials on Youtube</a></p><p><a href="https://www.fatskills.com/answers/learningresources/the-fatskills-directory-of-online-learning-resources-tools" target="_blank">The Fatskills Directory of Online Learning Resources & Tools</a></p><p>2. <b>Fatskills.com</b>: 12500+ Free <a href="https://www.fatskills.com/">Practice Tests and Quizzes</a>, 1.2 million questions across 700+ Subjects.</p><p><br /></p>Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-90538441634541302492018-08-12T18:06:00.003+05:302018-08-12T18:06:25.299+05:30V.S. Naipaul's Mutinies, Then and Now<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: balto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.25px;">V.S. Naipaul, who wrote some of the best non-fiction in the 20th century, has died. The Guardian describes his non fiction as '</span><span style="font-family: balto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.25px;"><i>gloomy portraits of India, Africa and Islam in a series of travelogues including 1964’s An Area of Darkness, 1980’s A Congo Diary and 1981’s Among the Believers</i>'. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: balto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.25px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: balto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.25px;">He saw the the rage of groups in India early on:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: balto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.25px;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ajDF22oHHA/W3ApL0nt_JI/AAAAAAAAAuo/0ii9ZcXOyQkKBeS-XcyiFWawhyE5qTWXACLcBGAs/s1600/naipaul-a-million-mutinies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="934" data-original-width="960" height="311" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ajDF22oHHA/W3ApL0nt_JI/AAAAAAAAAuo/0ii9ZcXOyQkKBeS-XcyiFWawhyE5qTWXACLcBGAs/s320/naipaul-a-million-mutinies.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: balto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.25px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: balto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.25px;">Some more gloomy writer would say the million mutinies in India would turn out to be the '<b>mutinies of the mobs</b>' against each other.</span></span></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-11311560297013234142018-03-08T11:42:00.001+05:302018-03-08T11:49:26.156+05:30The New Media Diet Pyramid<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FFYwbk_SLKg/WqDUHB640ZI/AAAAAAAAAso/H0t1hwooGfcelEuXVd0pZo86wZHAZBxmACLcBGAs/s1600/suggested-media-diet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FFYwbk_SLKg/WqDUHB640ZI/AAAAAAAAAso/H0t1hwooGfcelEuXVd0pZo86wZHAZBxmACLcBGAs/s320/suggested-media-diet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Faris Yakob has created this "<a href="https://medium.com/@faris/how-to-balance-your-media-diet-a2140c0311ec">Media Diet Pyramid</a>" based on the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid.<br />
<br />
You would modify the tip of this media diet pyramid for Indians and include these highly <b>toxic media brands</b>: Zee news, Aaj Tak, Republic TV and Times Now.<br />
<br />
In fact, barring a couple of TV news channels and a couple of newspapers, you can include most other Indian news media brands into this '<i>wasteful media diet</i>' category.<br />
<br />
'He said, she said', 'He tweeted, she retweeted' , and 'Now I am all angry and shouting and debating about it', is not journalism. TV anchors have mistaken their drawing rooms as the new newsroom. News reporters sit in the OSD to the minister's office and think they are reporting from ground zero.<br />
<br />
You may also want to add 'foreign' brands - the famous '<b>Whatsapp' university</b>' (Thanks, Ravish) and all those '<b>Facebook politicians</b>' to this toxic layer.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-69193265999444559442017-10-12T14:31:00.000+05:302017-10-12T14:31:23.277+05:30Exec's brutally honest pitch to potential investors I wish I had sent<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
Exeq, the New York-based startup founded by four New York City college drop-outs, has taken an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/exeq-ceo-sent-a-brutally-honest-pitch-to-potential-investors-2017-10">unorthodox approach to pitching </a>potential investors. In this email, Exeq CEO Derek Brown, a former engineer at LinkedIn and Addepar, explains the values of his startup, which wants to change the way millennials think about spending their money. The emphasis is mine.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
"At Exeq, we don’t have everything together. <b>We don’t know the future for our product and platform. We don’t know or control the external circumstances around our company."</b></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The point of the app is to help people make more efficient decisions about their spending. It does so by notifying users when slight changes to how they spend can be made. For instance, the app might alert a person who frequents a coffee shop on their way to work that there is a more affordable alternative nearby. <b>The app, which is only available in New York City to iPhone users, has 6,000 users. But, like most startups, their sights are set higher.</b> </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"By combining financial and lifestyle data, we’re able to build a consumer product that enables consumer behavior…responsibly," Brown wrote in the email. </blockquote>
<br />
And also this:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Because you have a fiduciary duty to your LPs to make the best investments you can. We’d fall in that category. ;) On a more serious note, the answer’s simple: <b>if you don’t see the shape of the world in the way that we’ve described above, then you shouldn’t invest in us.</b>"</blockquote>
<br />
I have been working on startups for 10+ years now, with no outside help. I created <a href="http://bighow.com/">Bighow</a> in 2007, a news publishing platform for curating news and listings, before Huffington Post and others took it mainstream. I wrote about my startup journeys in 2006, '<a href="http://mediavidea.blogspot.in/2006/11/startup-is-hard-in-new-delhi.html">Startup is hard in Delhi</a>'.<br />
<br />
I just launched <a href="https://www.truho.com/">Truho</a>, multipurpose publishing / payments, but I am hesitant to knock on investors's doors. I have no IIT/IIM degree. I have entered the fast-passing 40s. So I am hesitant.<br />
<br />
A man without the pedigree of a degree.<br />
<br />
But having seen Exec CEO's email to prospective investors, I wish I could send a similar kind to investors, but then I think what use would it be, other than sheer linkbait.</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-75844633496496214262017-09-06T12:49:00.000+05:302017-09-06T12:49:57.582+05:30A Journalist Was Killed Yesterday<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RVRYj5yNXXU/Wa-gz3xu-QI/AAAAAAAAApE/5A4Bs_8aAV45UBF6zsxXu3tXD4kULTf7QCLcBGAs/s1600/gauri-lankesh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="759" height="178" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RVRYj5yNXXU/Wa-gz3xu-QI/AAAAAAAAApE/5A4Bs_8aAV45UBF6zsxXu3tXD4kULTf7QCLcBGAs/s320/gauri-lankesh.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Gauri Lankesh, a journalist/activist, was shot dead yesterday. A progressive, she spoke and wrote against communal politics, caste system and the establishment. She was a mentor to rising young leaders like Jignesh Mevani (social activist in Gujarat) and Kanhaiya Kumar (Ex-JNU students Union president). She worked in Karnataka, a state in news of late for <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/whose-privilege/article19145872.ece">not being that friendly</a> to journalists, even by Indian standards.<br />
<br />
Are journalists more in danger today? Because they are targets of people hiding behind mobs hiding behind governments? Gauri Lankesh said <a href="https://video.scroll.in/849680/death-threats-have-become-a-common-factor-journalist-gauri-lankesh-she-has-been-shot-dead?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=public">some time ago</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
“We had UR Ananthamurthy, Kalburgi, my own father P Lankesh, Purna Chandra Tejaswi, all these people. They were all trenchant critics of Jawaharlal Nehru, of Indira Gandhi, of Rajiv Gandhi. But none of them were ever physically attacked, let alone [receiving] death threats.”</blockquote>
We know the answer. We know deep inside that we should all be journalists/activists today. That would be the best tribute to Gauri Lankesh.</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-66245614448276841312017-09-01T15:22:00.002+05:302017-09-01T15:30:51.393+05:30We may be killing and hurting less, but are we thinking about it more?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Steven Pinker might have some facts about there being less violence (at least in the developed world) on this planet than before, but I am with John Gray and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-declining">don't believe humans have become peace-minded animals</a>.<br />
<br />
Truth: We are too busy with our smartphones to go out, riot and kill, and too fearful of army-like police and CCTVs everywhere, where even small crimes may result in big punishments.<br />
<br />
Saying '<i>millennial</i>' all the time doesn't mean we all have become more '<i>moral</i>'. Doc Searls writes about the <a href="http://blogs.harvard.edu/doc/2017/08/18/nonviolence/">decline in usage of the term 'non-violence' </a>in searches and books.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BZ1JbAVP4Uc/WaktbTkC0nI/AAAAAAAAAo0/0zpFGNWGr4k9C1qY6rUweS-PVKg6D1KWQCLcBGAs/s1600/violence-nonviolence-books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="832" height="128" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BZ1JbAVP4Uc/WaktbTkC0nI/AAAAAAAAAo0/0zpFGNWGr4k9C1qY6rUweS-PVKg6D1KWQCLcBGAs/s320/violence-nonviolence-books.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Use of non-violence term in books</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-57CnbhhoYaM/Wakta-VtbVI/AAAAAAAAAow/Z8p-SdMIRy4uGRE-ckqcizMUkhkKbocogCLcBGAs/s1600/violence-nonviolence-searchtrends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="876" height="120" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-57CnbhhoYaM/Wakta-VtbVI/AAAAAAAAAow/Z8p-SdMIRy4uGRE-ckqcizMUkhkKbocogCLcBGAs/s320/violence-nonviolence-searchtrends.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Searches of 'non-violence'</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
Does it mean we mean we are not interested in 'non-violence'? Does it mean we are thinking about 'violence' more? Does it mean our language has changed, that we project our anger, frustrations and policies in other words when writing books or searching? I want to go with the third explanation. You?</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-76705416893297814632017-09-01T15:10:00.005+05:302017-09-01T15:32:46.307+05:30Modi Government = Sellers of Vaporware = Pivot Government<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The massive failure of demonetization, one of the worst things done by an Indian government, affected every common Indian citizen. Old men saw their fixed deposit incomes go down. Small businesses shuttered down for months. Millions of workers lost their jobs. The unorganized sector, responsible for most jobs in the country, took a left hook (this government loves big business only). RBI's credibility took a big beating. Farmers couldn't get timely and adequate payments for their produce, resulting in protests and suicides. GDP growth slowed down.<br />
<br />
The Modi government is best at two things:<br />
<br />
<b>1. Sell the public on fancy plans and slogans</b> - They call all this <b>vaporware</b> in the software industry.<br />
Three + years of this talkative ('<i>vachaal</i>') government and all India got was shitty phrases...'<i>smart cities</i>' anyone? Hope your street isn't flooded during this monsoon.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Announce new plans as soon as you learn about the failure of the existing plan</b> - they call it <b>pivoting</b> in the software industry.<br />
The habitually pivoting government explains the demonetization failure as saying it was all about a <b>cashless economy</b> anyway, as if cashless economy would take away all the corruption, and it didn't matter that the consumers and small businesses would have to pay the fees associated with all digital transactions.<br />
<br />
The people of India are gullible and anxious people. They sent a bunch of dubious and mouthy people to power. If only we had acted as smart VCs and tried to see behind their marketing.<br />
<br />
Remember '<i>shining india'</i> of 2004? Actors from the same <b>training institute</b> that time too.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-79408419348906079402017-07-07T11:53:00.001+05:302017-07-07T11:53:12.557+05:30Truho.com: An easy, all-in-one online publishing tool for businesses & professionals<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
How about creating and maintaining a comprehensive online business presence that is as easy as using your email/social media account?<br />
<br />
Meet <a href="https://www.truho.com/">Truho</a>, my latest project. Truho brings you these: Quick and easy online presence, easy online marketing, easy resume, easy lead generation...and soon, easy payments and invoicing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F3rG67y2HtI/WV8oGP3A7EI/AAAAAAAAAnY/qHKLdu3AbXA1XKKprE2EI7Hgoqp2Rw4SwCLcBGAs/s1600/truho-home.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" height="179" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F3rG67y2HtI/WV8oGP3A7EI/AAAAAAAAAnY/qHKLdu3AbXA1XKKprE2EI7Hgoqp2Rw4SwCLcBGAs/s320/truho-home.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Basically, Truho is '<i>Wordpress meets Paypal meets Magent</i>o'.<br />
<br />
I know it is a handful.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qkziLw8KMII/WV8owqZKq7I/AAAAAAAAAnk/GLlGKEAeGQApdCtTfKWySVcd7346y8ASwCLcBGAs/s1600/truho-easy-online-presence.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qkziLw8KMII/WV8owqZKq7I/AAAAAAAAAnk/GLlGKEAeGQApdCtTfKWySVcd7346y8ASwCLcBGAs/s1600/truho-easy-online-presence.png" /></a></div>
<br />
I have been working on the Truho, on and off since 2009, and was able to finish it, working full-time on it for 12months.<br />
<br />
<b>If you are a business</b>, you can use it do a lot of things - business listings, products, services, deals/offers, rewards progams, job posting, other business pages, lead generation pages...and much more. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ffwEhD5zRJA/WV8oUvBLBGI/AAAAAAAAAnc/tOgdWyIv7PsiSTAF6NIMg0WJXKfSZOGuACLcBGAs/s1600/truho-for-business-choices.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="639" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ffwEhD5zRJA/WV8oUvBLBGI/AAAAAAAAAnc/tOgdWyIv7PsiSTAF6NIMg0WJXKfSZOGuACLcBGAs/s320/truho-for-business-choices.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>(Truho for business - screengrab)</i><br />
<b>If you are individual or a professional / freelancer</b>, use Truho to post your resume on a dedicated url, have a'hire me' button to get new job leads, maintain a 'project's page, answer people's questions.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k6CO24GTEpM/WV8obibf0_I/AAAAAAAAAng/DwH08F9hYB4f8ys8sjW5Drm26Qki7J3BACLcBGAs/s1600/truho-for-individuals-choices.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="309" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k6CO24GTEpM/WV8obibf0_I/AAAAAAAAAng/DwH08F9hYB4f8ys8sjW5Drm26Qki7J3BACLcBGAs/s1600/truho-for-individuals-choices.png" /></a></div>
<i>(Truho for Individuals - screengrab)</i><br />
I am working on adding the payments component to Truho. <br />
<br />
Try it out for yourself.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.truho.com/about/help/about-us">About Truho</a><br />
<a href="https://www.truho.com/about/guides/truho-for-individuals">Truho for individuals</a><br />
<a href="https://www.truho.com/about/guides/truho-for-businesses">Truho for businesses</a><br />
<br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-58264610419724986582017-03-08T11:32:00.000+05:302017-03-08T11:33:14.234+05:30Annals of 'Post Truth': Is Rajeev Chandrasekhar The Peter Thiel Of India?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, a rich man in India got the courts to issue a take down order to a news website, TheWIre, even before giving it a chance to explain itself. That most of our media is prostrating itself before the Modi government is not news. What is a bigger news that the rich and powerful people are being able to openly dictate what the Indian people get to read about them in the media. From <a href="https://scroll.in/article/831159/in-highly-unusual-move-bengaluru-court-orders-the-wire-to-remove-articles-on-rajeev-chandrasekhar">Scroll.in:</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Wire took down two articles that (Rajeev)Chandrasekhar. The first, published on January 25, was a report by Sandeep Bhushan on the Republic TV, a news channel Chandrasekhar is set to launch in association with former Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.<br />
<br />
The second, published on February 17, was an opinion piece by Sachin Rao on the alleged <b>conflict of interest</b> in Chandrasekhar being a member of the parliamentary committee on defence and investing in defence companies.</blockquote>
<br />
The offending articles are <a href="https://thewire.in/102650/arnabs-republic-modis-ideology/">here</a> but they show the take down notice instead.<br />
<br />
<br />
All this seems familiar to <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/nick-denton-peter-thiel-plot-to-murder-gawker" rel="nofollow">the way Billionaire Peter Thiel went after Gawker</a>, eventually succeeding in getting Gawker.com to shut down and paying loads in fine, just because Thiel didn't agree with the stuff Gawker was prublishing. In his response to a questionairre sent by Scroll.in, Chandrasekhar replied in an eerily Thiel-like manner:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“This court action is not about a take down, it is about holding those who did this accountable for their actions,” he added. </blockquote>
Of course he meant that the rich and powerful are not accountable for their actions at all, only those in media who dare to speak the truth. <br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-1472139635666572242016-11-12T17:35:00.003+05:302016-11-14T20:01:35.720+05:30Ignore Facebook As Much As Possible<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
What should we do with Facebook, this '<i>glorified Flickr</i>'? Facebook ads (and Mark Zuckerberg) may shout about Facebook being an '<i>agent of change</i>' and all that B.S. but fact is, Facebook has become a powerful force of misinformation, especially in today's polarized societies and nationalist governments, fueling echo chambers and making billions along the way with gloried display ads.<br />
<br />
During the recent US General Elections, President Obama called <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/facebook-creating-dust-cloud-of-nonsense-obama-116110800223_1.html">Facebook a 'dust cloud of nonsense.'</a><br />
<br />
Nieman Lab, which studies media, says <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/11/the-forces-that-drove-this-elections-media-failure-are-likely-to-get-worse/">Facebook has become a sewer of misinformation</a>. Facebook has also been called the <a href="https://t.co/oueWUiydJO">world's leading distributor of lies</a>. Quickly Facebook is losing whatever goodwill it had.<br />
<br />
<br />
What can be done to fix the Facebook problem?<br />
<br />
<b>1. Time for FB to start acting like a media company, and taking the responsibility.</b><br />
<br />
Hire editors to manage what shows up in its Trending section. <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/11/the-forces-that-drove-this-elections-media-failure-are-likely-to-get-worse">Better, hire a team of journalists and charge them with separating at least the worst of the fake news from the stream</a>.<br />
<br />
But Facebook doesn't want the responsibility, and hides like a coward behind the '<i>platform</i>' excuse.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>2. Time for governments to regulate Facebook's walled garden, or at least reset regulations for what so-called 'platforms' are required to do.</b><br />
This is not some poor platforms we are talking about here. Google and Facebook make billions without taking the full responsibility their reach foists on them.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>3. Ignore Facebook itself.</b><br />
Or commit yourself to seeing the latest friends and family update, keeping in mind that Facebook doesn't produce the news, it is your friends etc who pushing the shit down your throat. If you need the news, go to the newspaper's site. <b>The journalist will thank you too. </b>Facebook doesn't pay for the production of good news and opinions.<br />
<br />
Facebook has only made fake news and uninformed opinion easier to spread, and Zuckerberg knows that the market or government/s don't punish it for doing some shitty thing day after day. (If it helps the case, just the other day Facebook mistakenly showed <a href="https://twitter.com/bydanielvictor/status/797176007753105408/photo/1">memorial banners on profile pages</a> implying users were dead. <br />
<br />
<br />
During the current backlash against Facebook regarding fake news stories during the US General elections, Mark Zuckerberg denies all responsibility, only vaguely saying '<i>there's so much more we need to do</i>'.<br />
<br />
Oh great. But it is not Facebook but we who need to do much and stop using Facbeook for our news and helpful information source. When did we loose our common sense?<br />
<br />
All day long, you all are busy refreshing your FB feed. Stop. Take time out and check out the world outside, starting with some news that you don't agree with. Talk to people with views different from yours. Don't let Facebook help you dig your prejudice-lined cave too deep. Even Narcissus would be ashamed if he looked at you right now.<br />
<br />
Whatever happens, for sake of humanity, I hope people use Facebook only what it was meant to do, news and updates from friends and family, not fake news and poison stuff from people posing as friends.</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-61374448309415996112016-10-23T22:29:00.004+05:302021-08-09T14:08:15.681+05:30Introducing Foodglad.com<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I just made live my latest project, foodglad.com, a collection of <a href="http://www.foodglad.com/">food calorie burn calculators, health stats calculators</a> (all on1 page) and healthy food lists.<br />
<br />
Believe me, getting older is no fun when you have no idea of how much your eating is affecting your health.<br />
<br />
I was reminded of a poster I saw, which said<b> "Take the stairs, for one day you will find out you can no longer climb the stairs."</b><br />
<br />
Foodglad contains food calorie burn calculators (choose from a database of 4500+ food items), five health stat calculators on one page and a Mets value search tool (600+ activities) - these are prompts to track what we eat and how much we are doing to keep ourselves active.<br />
<br />
<br />
Screenshots from Foodglad.com:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yAtq3plAGpY/WAzq73DvF7I/AAAAAAAAAlE/gODyS-Gw-EIQ9mREtSi8fZ0W-dRTZLBHwCLcB/s1600/foodglad.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="114" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yAtq3plAGpY/WAzq73DvF7I/AAAAAAAAAlE/gODyS-Gw-EIQ9mREtSi8fZ0W-dRTZLBHwCLcB/s320/foodglad.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.foodglad.com/">Home page </a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V0cJwBi4XZc/WAzq7QgHPTI/AAAAAAAAAk4/CK2LOtYgT1MYyJH2xpPqPF9BbxRs8KxLwCEw/s1600/foodglad-calorie-calc.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V0cJwBi4XZc/WAzq7QgHPTI/AAAAAAAAAk4/CK2LOtYgT1MYyJH2xpPqPF9BbxRs8KxLwCEw/s320/foodglad-calorie-calc.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.foodglad.com/food-calorie-burn-calculator">Food calorie burn calculator </a>(just choose what you ate and voila!)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XylKQwu9qos/WAzq7U8lRZI/AAAAAAAAAlA/MSy6ivAnUhQusGpT5BEyWR0wjmShhu1CwCEw/s1600/foodglad-health-stats.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XylKQwu9qos/WAzq7U8lRZI/AAAAAAAAAlA/MSy6ivAnUhQusGpT5BEyWR0wjmShhu1CwCEw/s320/foodglad-health-stats.png" width="320" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Five Important <a href="http://www.foodglad.com/health-stats">Health Calculators</a> On One Page (just enter your weight, age, height and gender, that's all) </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SE7ptQiqBPE/WAzq7QwSEyI/AAAAAAAAAk8/4ShDbS4BpCAU0gJhgHz_77btO8y1YjMbACEw/s1600/foodglad-mets.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SE7ptQiqBPE/WAzq7QwSEyI/AAAAAAAAAk8/4ShDbS4BpCAU0gJhgHz_77btO8y1YjMbACEw/s320/foodglad-mets.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.foodglad.com/mets-value-exercise">Mets Value Search</a>: Search for Energy Intensity of more than 600 activities.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Foogdlad also has <a href="http://www.foodglad.com/topic/food-list">40+ Lists of Healthy Foods</a>.<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>The future: </b>If I get time, I may as well as add more food and activity tracking features. Right now my next project is to create a comprehensive website for <a href="https://www.fatskills.com/" target="_blank">free practice tests and quizzes</a>.<br />
<br />
I hope you will find this small website useful.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-40411940092174069512016-09-26T12:07:00.000+05:302016-09-26T12:07:00.587+05:30State of the World Series of Polls on Honestpage.com<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have been working on <a href="http://honestpage.com/"><b>Honestpage polls</b></a>, where you can create, share or vote on interesting polls, summaries and pitches. I know, there are many online tools to create and share polls, but there is poll-based community. That was my idea behind Honestpage. It is a work in progress.<br />
<br />
I am especially excited by <a href="http://honestpage.com/topic/stateoftheworld">State of the world</a> series of polls (there are 100+ polls in this section), where I hope to gauge the world's opinion on politics, morality, society etc. It would be great if you check out the <a href="http://honestpage.com/topic/stateoftheworld">State of the world polls</a> and share your views. Thank you.<br />
<br />
Some other interesting polls in 'State of the world' series:<br />
<a href="http://www.honestpage.com/poll/men-and-women-should-have-equal-check-all-that-apply">Men and women should have equal... (check all that apply)</a><br /><a href="http://www.honestpage.com/poll/rank-things-that-are-causing-the-most-stress-in-your-life">Rank things that are causing the most stress in your life</a> <br /><a href="http://www.honestpage.com/poll/most-responsible-for-polluting-the-environment">Most responsible for polluting the environment?</a> <br /><a href="http://www.honestpage.com/poll/most-hated-employment-ritual-choose-all-that-apply">Most Hated Employment Ritual? (choose all that apply)</a> <br /><a href="http://www.honestpage.com/poll/rank-the-50-most-important-problems-in-your-country">Rank The 50 Most important Problems In Your Country</a> <br />
<br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-6202793157802031812016-09-26T11:55:00.002+05:302021-08-09T14:09:42.800+05:30New Online Quiz Types On Basicversity.com: Beat The Clock and Word Of The Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I am convinced of the need of <a href="https://www.fatskills.com/" target="_blank">free practice tests</a> for educational subjects, and I am working on some projects related to this idea. New features on Basicversity, where more than 200,000+ people have taken a <a href="http://basicversity.com/subject.php">free online quiz</a>: Beat The Clock and Word of The Day. Please check out an <a href="http://basicversity.com/browse.php">online quiz</a> and see how many correct answers you can give in 3 minutes!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Khbo7OwE5a4/V-i-8ThJ9SI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/r-Asa2l_viIQhD8L5slmb-bAYqtZfGQTwCLcB/s1600/BV-BTC.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Khbo7OwE5a4/V-i-8ThJ9SI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/r-Asa2l_viIQhD8L5slmb-bAYqtZfGQTwCLcB/s320/BV-BTC.png" width="320" /></a></div>
(screenshot from a Beat the Clock quiz type)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LNtoh3yVFsA/V-i_EiqDoUI/AAAAAAAAAkU/UbJIGuOQUs05sffKY-zZMrLkUuxcrCZDgCLcB/s1600/bv-wod.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LNtoh3yVFsA/V-i_EiqDoUI/AAAAAAAAAkU/UbJIGuOQUs05sffKY-zZMrLkUuxcrCZDgCLcB/s320/bv-wod.png" width="320" /></a></div>
(screenshot from Word of the day quiz type on Basicversity)<br /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-28493989263838231092016-09-16T13:49:00.001+05:302016-09-16T13:49:53.015+05:30Why Facebook advertising is a waste of money<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Came across this smart writeup on how <a href="http://www.disconnectionist.com/blog/why-no-fb-killer.html">Facebook advertising waste advertisers' money</a>. We knew this always, but the explanation is very good:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I once liked a dance company on Facebook because I know the person who made their website. <b>Now I see adverts for dance productions. That's not advertising gold; that's a waste of advertising money.</b><br />
<br />I reckon most people's profiles are like this - a few likes or posts about something that you'd never actually buy and all that ad money is just thrown away. 90% of the adverts could be getting your profile wrong but simple confirmation bias makes us notice that 10% far more than the useless, poorly targeted adverts, so when advertisers survey people they get the impression their profiling is working. Or worse,<b> the ad networks know that the profiling doesn't work but they carry on the myth in order to charge advertisers more.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br />I might well be wrong on this, but while I see adverts for things that have no appeal to me I'll keep suspecting profiling doesn't actually work.</blockquote>
<br />
Seems only internet marketing agencies and Ad networks, with their overpaid 'marketing experts' and their lesser-paid 'army of trolls' push the case for more FB advertising, polishing the turd masquerading as a golden egg (for some, maybe).<br />
<br />
<br />
Also read: <a href="http://mediavidea.blogspot.in/2016/09/can-adwords-help-sell-ebooks-no.html">Can Adwords help sell ebooks? No</a>.<br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-82827933919305611272016-09-16T13:43:00.002+05:302016-09-16T13:43:40.613+05:30When will peak BJP come?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Peak Congress was probably its 2009 Loksabha elections win. Now it is BJP time, which plans to open 500 offices across the country and Modi says <b>'winning elections</b>' is a 'national responsibility' (he said '<a href="http://khabar.ndtv.com/news/blogs/ravish-kumar-quips-about-national-duty-of-winning-the-elections-1449570">rashtriya kartavya</a>', which sounds grand). Smart. Equating fortunes of a political party with what a nation must do.<br />
<br />
Power nourishes hubris. A lot of it. We have seen Congress fail. We have seen the Left getting confused and stumbling. Now, it is BJP hubris time.<br />
<br />
Again, one party claims to have all the right answers. People in BJP are aware of the noise they are making. Nitin Gadkari, a BJP minister, says Modi's achhe din slogan in 2014 is now a millstone, and that the Indian public will always be a '<a href="http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/acche-din-was-manmohan-singhs-quote-we-are-stuck-with-it-nitin-gadkari-1458239">dukhi atma</a>'. Right. <br /><br /><br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-1101516440375296822016-09-09T19:07:00.001+05:302016-09-09T19:07:33.290+05:30The Career Bible: Quick Answers To 100+ Most Important Career Problems<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tB9UxdDd4LY/V9K6_ypCUGI/AAAAAAAAAio/OzHA8d50wYgFoj3pHv891N3Y4qGPhIK9gCLcB/s1600/TSM-Series-Career-Bible-new.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tB9UxdDd4LY/V9K6_ypCUGI/AAAAAAAAAio/OzHA8d50wYgFoj3pHv891N3Y4qGPhIK9gCLcB/s320/TSM-Series-Career-Bible-new.png" width="248" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.thesuccessmanual.in/the-career-bible">The Career Bible</a> is the latest and perhaps my favorite guide in <a href="https://www.thesuccessmanual.in/">The Success Manual</a> series so far. It contains 100+ concise guides on the most important problems we face in our career, at one time or another - finding what we want to do in our career, creating a winning resume, job search, job interview, workplace survival (especially the two headed demon in form of office politics and the boss), and more.<br />
<br />
<b>318 Pages | 107 Easy-to-follow guides</b><br />
<br />
All this for only $5</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-55928409884015889722016-09-08T17:53:00.004+05:302021-08-09T14:12:49.206+05:30Can Adwords Help Sell EBooks? No.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is a quick summary of my 60-odd days of experimenting with Adwords to promote and sell a series of <a href="https://thesuccessmanual.in/">How To/Reference PDF guides on various skills</a> (<a href="https://www.thesuccessmanual.in/tinyskillsforyou.php" target="_blank">Tiny Skills</a>) using Adwords. In the past, I managed Digital Marketing Campaigns for eCommerce companies.<br />
<br />
All this happened in the last two months:<br />
<br />
1. Good CTR (Click Through Rates) mean nothing. I mentioned in the text and display ads that these were PDF guides.<br />
<br />
2. In the 60-odd days period, I got 1500+ clicks, and O conversions.<br />
<br />
3. I posted in the Adwords forums about my problem and the internet advised me that only branded content sells well online. This is something worth thinking over. It needs time, some viral posts...it needs exposure.<br />
<br />
4. Text ads are the worst. I even tried expanded text ads. I got the clicks. Nothing on the sales side.<br />
<br />
5. A lady from Adwords (they call the new customers, and I was using Adwords from my personal account) called. She advised me to use newer kinds of Adwords ads (Gmail ads etc) and promised to check in in 14 days. I started the new ads, got the clicks (the <a href="https://thesuccessmanual.in/">skill guides</a> are really useful), and waited for the lady to call back. When she didn't, I paused all the ads, except the Display and Remarketing ads.<br />
<br />
6. I changed the landing page, A/B tested etc more that 5-6 times in this period. More clicks, but no conversions.<br />
<br />
7. Thankfully, I got conversions from other channels: Links, emails etc.<br />
<br />
What I learnt: Even when I used to do Digital marketing campaigns for ECommerce companies, we knew Adwords/Facebook Ads etc are money-gobblers - good for branding, but if you plan to use these to plan profitable marketing campaigns, after having figured in per-sale margin and all that, you are in for a shock. Yes, yes. Online marketing is supposed to be <i>targetable, measurable </i>and what not...but advertising is advertising.<br />
<br />
So, Adwords doesn't help with ebook sales. How about Adwords' effect on other sectors?<br />
<br />
Google (India) and Facebook (India) are perhaps the most profitable digital companies, making the most money out of ECommerce in India - Google alone makes more than Rs. 1000 crore each year from India. I am thinking of using Facebook to promote the page for the guides, but I am still figuring out the margins, which is foolish, for online advertising doesn't seem to be about margins/unit economics etc at all.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<br />
P.S. The headline should have been '<i>Can Adwords and Facebook Ads Help Sell Ebooks? No.</i>'</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-73195990499277809682016-08-19T12:00:00.001+05:302016-08-19T12:00:34.356+05:30Gawker.com, 2003-2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Univision has bought Gawker Media in for $135 million in a bankruptcy auction. It will <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/18/gawker-is-dead-an-appreciation/">shut down</a> Gawker.com, the flagship website and will run the group's other websites: Deadspin, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku and Lifehacker. Billionaire Peter Thiel pursued his vendetta against Gawker.com, and funded Hulk Hogan's suit against the website, and a jury awarded a $140 million settlement to Hogan, causing Gawker media to file for bankruptcy. Although, the settlement is still to be challenged in higher courts and could be reversed or reduced.<br />
<br />
Three things I thank Gawker for:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. For 'sticking it up' the elites,</b> for 'punching up', and for fully practicing the maxim that no one is above an investigation and the self-important should be brought down a notch or three.<br />
<br />
<b>2. For the good writers:</b> Elizabeth Spiers, Choire Sicha etc left to fidn their own publishing success. I shall miss the writing of Hamilton Nolan, Sam Biddle and many other Gawker writers who provided that rare thing: Good, highly readable writing, with no pretensions. I wish them the best.<br />
<br />
<b>3. For putting the story ahead of the advertising budget,</b> and refusing to Buzzfeed's model of 'lists, fluff, and sponsored writing masquerading as actual articles.' Gawker did the high-traffic sensational pieces to support the good writing elsewhere on the website, which is something other websites must follow.<br />
<br />
Sadly, Gawker will become more famous for being a victim of a vengeful 1 percenter Peter Thiel, a cautionary tale for reporters to not antagonize the rich and the powerful.<br />
<br />
Gawker will keep its archives online and a selection can be found <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/08/18/the_best_gawker_posts_from_the_site_s_14_year_history.html">here</a> and <a href="https://longform.org/archive/publications/gawker">here</a>. I would like to hope this is not the end of news blogging.</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-2477102413284729132016-06-27T13:59:00.002+05:302021-08-09T14:11:08.106+05:30Introducing The Success Manual: The Ultimate collection of the best advice on 200+ important skills<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_HS4ppW6L1I/V3DjxZq1rqI/AAAAAAAAAdk/kqvgAILzZPMrafuLFZzMU6TVYM1utFfdQCLcB/s1600/The-Success-Manual-Cover-636-825.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_HS4ppW6L1I/V3DjxZq1rqI/AAAAAAAAAdk/kqvgAILzZPMrafuLFZzMU6TVYM1utFfdQCLcB/s320/The-Success-Manual-Cover-636-825.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.thesuccessmanual.in/">The Success Manual</a>, my latest project, is an easy-to-follow encyclopedia of advice with everything, yes, everything, you will ever need to know to succeed in any career you choose, starting with how you manage yourself: create a targeted resume, get a job you want, get a raise, get a promotion, manage your boss and the politics, communicate your ideas and messages clearly to the relevant people, negotiate and persuade people, start and run a business, freelance your skills, establish a personal brand and stand out by doing great and useful things... and all the other important things you must do to get ahead.<br />
<br />
There are 290 guides, helpfully arranged across 13 skill categories, on all the skills and tactics a professional will ever need to succeed.<br />
<br />
This all-in-one resource is a must buy for a fresh college graduate or a seasoned professional. There is just so much we all need to know to survive and succeed.<br />
<br />
Note: The Success Manual exists in offline forms since 2004. Now it has been updated massively, and has its own<a href="http://www.thesuccessmanual.in/"> website</a>, where you can read all the chapters and more.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>Note / Updates 2021: </b>The Success Manual has been renamed as <a href="https://www.thesuccessmanual.in/tinyskillsforyou.php" target="_blank">Tiny Skills</a>.</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-78165513060793147082014-07-24T16:36:00.005+05:302014-07-24T16:38:16.134+05:30100,000+ Online Tests taken on BasicVersity.com<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://basicversity.com/">Basicversity.com</a> has crossed the 100,000 test takers milestone. That means, if you create something useful, people do come. So far we have not done any promotion, save a couple of blog posts (such as this one here) for Basicversity.<br />
<br />
I guess I need to more than that now - add more <a href="http://basicversity.com/">online tests</a> to existing 2100 (approximately), do some promotion...<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-58183522229846420552014-06-17T11:56:00.000+05:302014-06-17T11:57:24.454+05:30Who took away my Qwerty Android phone?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Many of us have gone through this. We were in love with our Qwerty/Blackberry phones - we typed and typed on them; we were in love with the tactile feel. Even when the Touch smartphones arrived, we were the last of the tribe to go for them, dreading till the last moment how, in the name of all the phone gods, were we going to type fast on them.<br />
<br />
Much battery juice and data plan bandwidth has flown by till then. Who knew typing on a Touch smartphone was going to be so easy?<br />
<br />
But, tell me this: who knew we were going to miss the soft tactile crunch of the real keyboard? Friends tell me they buy Touchscreen phones for themselves and gift Qwerty phones to their parents, who have always voted for solidity in all things in life, including phones. Some friends see young people chat away on WhatsApp, and they miss their BBM messaging and SMS-chatting days of past. They say typing on Qwerty phones is faster and familiar as they are with working on computers. <br />
<br />
Which brings me to my central point:<b> There will always be a demand for Qwerty phones. </b>Let me correct myself. <b>There will always be a demand for Qwerty smartphones</b> - bringing the best of both worlds of Smartphone Touch OS and the likeable click-clack of real keypads.<br />
<br />
Be that as may, most of big smartphone brands have sort of given up on making Qwerty smartphones. The last big brand model in this corner of the mobile play field was HTC Chacha. That was a cute one, that phone.<br />
<br />
Tentpole launches from big brands give heart to other players to play catch up and launch better-priced phones and then the market is better and more wholesome for it. <i>Where is my Samsung Galaxy Qwerty version</i>, one might ask?<br />
<br />
Thankfully, mid-sized phone brands have not given up on Qwerty phones, and I thank them for it. To be trying to keep a tradition of Qwerty alive, they deserve something of a Nobel prize of Mobility. <br />
<br />
And the market has responded well. It was heartening to see the positive response to recently launched Qwerty Android phones. Take for example, the Stellar 360 from Spice Mobiles, which I hear is selling well. Here's to more Qwertified times.</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-29107221719015324522014-01-03T14:52:00.006+05:302016-06-27T14:01:01.817+05:30How bad TV news is (and what to do about it)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
And I thought TV news was bad only here in India. Here's Jeff Jarvis on the pervasive 'badness' in TV news and how it is sliding surely and noisily into irrelevancy:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
TV news is stuck holding onto its orthodoxy of inanity. It wastes resources trying to fool us with stand-ups at sites where news occurred 12 hours before and where there is nothing left to witness or report. <b>It repeats much, saying little.</b> It adores fires that affect few. It goes overboard on weather. It gives us BREAKING NEWS that isn’t breaking at all but is long over, predictable, obvious, or trivial. It gullibly and dutifully flacks for PR events created just for TV. It presents complex issues with false and simplistic balance.<b> It speaks in the voice of plastic people.</b> It stages reality (no that guy in the b-roll isn’t really typing on his laptop). <b>It has little sense of the utility of what it presents.</b> And did I mention its pyromania?</blockquote>
<br />
Read the whole thing <a href="http://buzzmachine.com/2013/12/31/rethinking-tv-news-part-i-whats-broken/">here</a>. It also covers the innovation being done with news video<br />
<br /></div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35786478.post-79517540305243307532013-12-26T16:46:00.000+05:302013-12-26T16:46:00.657+05:30Twitter as the noisiest medium in history (and what to do about it)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
As this year 2013 ends, I find out I haven't used Twitter much. Maybe just every three months or so to keep the account kind of active. Have no time. Have no inclination.<br />
<br />
Seth Godin puts the supposed importance of Twitter to task - <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/12/noise-tolerant-media.html">all that noise</a> making it useless most of the time:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Do you actually believe that Taylor Swift has 33,000,000 million (and counting) people eagerly waiting for her next tweet, ready to click on whatever she links to?<br />In fact, less than one in a thousand people who 'get' one of her tweets will click. <b>Most of the 33 million won't even read it</b>, making the word 'get' worthy of quotation marks.</blockquote>
<br />
So what do we do with this Social media behemoth, which I suspect is fast becoming a wasteland roamed by shameless self-promoters?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You can play at Facebook and Twitter, and make them work. But they will only work if treat them like a cocktail party, as an opportunity to <b>eavesdrop</b> and layer general connection and value and insight. </blockquote>
</div>
Pramit Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06668528988974177140noreply@blogger.com0