e Magus

Who has been spared so far by them? Not me. I get these calls almost everyday. Sometimes 2 to 3 calls from the same organization. They are the most impersonal and impolite people to call you. They are becoming parasites, who thrive on technology. The telemarketers call you - when you are at home - unwinding from a hard day's work, when you are driving, when you are in a meeting (most irritating), when you are at work... just about any time of the day or week. The Do Not Call Registry by DoT is not effective. So what is the best you can do. The old adage - " If you can't beat them, Join them." Amy S. Quinn had sent me this wonderful link. Check it out " Flip the Script: 34 Scripts and Ideas for Getting Back at Telemarketers " Cheers

In this Adage article, Kevin Nalts, explains how you can help your brand thrive online. Online video is changing the way we market, and it requires skill sets they don't teach in business school (at least they didn't a decade ago, but now I'm dating myself). On one hand we have marketers believing their "unique selling proposition" is as interesting as the "Numa Numa" kid. On the other, we have today's ADHD-prone video viewers demanding short entertainment whether it is promotional or not. So the rules are fairly simple: Keep your promotion short, interesting, edgy and give us a surprise that makes us want to forward your clip. After all, it's not a "viral video" if nobody wants to share it. Lesson one: Tap into the video community We online-video creators and watchers are a community that's not shrinking and not growing slowly. Your customers are among us unless you're targeting the maybe 10%-20% of people that haven't wat...

All I wanted was 1 week of pure laziness. Do nothing and just while the time. But that was not to be :( My trip to kerala was all about One Wedding and One Funeral. I started from Bangalore to Palakkad on Nov 8. Left Bangalore around 4.30 AM. Took the inner ring road (Koramangala) and hit Hosur Road at Madivala. The road was busy even at that time. There was a huge traffic of trucks and lorries. It took about 45 mins to reach Hosur... Then the roads cleared :). The road from Hosur to Krishnagiri is excellent. From Krishnagiri, the road to Dharmapuri was bad in patches... but heck, you can still maintain 80-100 KMPH. The hell started once we crossed Dharmapuri... till Toppur the roads are baad... (there is construction work on the National Highway)... and to make the matter worse... a looong line of traffic... i could see vehicles lined up upto 2 kms... it was crawling at snail pace... Once off Toppur.. taking the right towards Mettur... it a beautiful drive, considering that you had be...

I am going to Kerala and the net connection would be intermittent... hence an advance Diwali wishes to all of you - Santosh PS: Shall try and upload some photos from my visit to kerala soon

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, who had recently created a community called ‘Direct a Movie’ on BigAdda.com to encourage the aspiring movie directors and script writers to share their videos and scripts on the social networking site, has selected Siddharth Sengupta as the next-gen director who will get an opportunity to work with Bhandarkar. According to BigAdda, the ‘Direct a Movie’ adda attracted 290 videos and scripts which were uploaded on the site from across the country. More of this article read here

Online shopping has come of age. Due to dearth of time and tedious ways of traditional shopping, customers are increasingly seeking the convenience of shopping from their home. And this Diwali the online marketeers are busy wooing the 37 million strong Indian net users with festival packages and Maha Diwali sales. According to a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI), this Diwali the online sales are expected to go up by more than 100 per cent. In 2006, online business conducted during Diwali was around Rs 115 crore which is expected to cross the Rs 250 crore mark this year, according to the report. Even the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) in its press release said e-shopping is a preferred mode this Diwali as it has already registered a growth of 40 per cent and is expected to register a growth of 130 per cent. As per Assocham, more than 30 lakh consumers in order to avoid security threats and physical movement will be using internet...

I loved this piece. Hope you like it too. Subject: A wonderful Message by George Carlin: The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much , and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the stree...