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Go Green and Save Money

Anuj — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:14:50 +0000

This blog features 10 basic things that one can to do to contribute towards the long journey of saving the earth. Besides being green it is cost effective way of living:

a. Walk as much as possible. It not only improves health but also saves the planet from vehicular pollution.

b. Check the tires. A study recently highlighted the fact fully inflated tires can help USA save 4 million gallon of oil every day. Think of the impact it will have on the world. Besides it improves your car’s performance.

c. Drive slow and smooth. One can improve the efficiency of a vehicle by around 20 percent by driving at 45 kmph.

d. Use energy saving bulbs. Move to energy saving bulbs like CFLs or LED based bulbs. A CFL lasts 10 more than a normal bulb and consumes around 75 percent less electricity.

e. Use lights judiciously. One 60 Watt bulb switched off for one hour saves 22,000 Watts per year. Switch off the light when moving out of the room.

f. Recharge the batteries. Batteries if not disposed correctly are a major cause of acids and metals in the environment. Since rechargeable batteries last longer use of rechargeable batteries is better, cheaper and safer for environment.

g. Don’t open the refrigerator frequently. It takes a refrigerator 3 minutes and a freezer 30 minutes to cool down after being open for one minute. This means additional energy consumption. Also, don’t put hot/warm food in the refrigerator; let it cool down to room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator.

h. Check the taps. Dripping wastes around 5 liters of water a day. Also we should turn the tap off when brushing your teeth and shaving as a running tap losses around 10 liters of water every minute.

i. Put a lid when cooking. Putting a lid on the a pan re cooker saves around 20% of energy.

j. Print on both side of the paper. Printing on both sides of the paper reduces the paper consumption by around 40 percent. Pay your bills online and reduce paper, prefer bank statements, electricity bills, credit card bills, mobile phone bills being e-mailed to you rather than paper based bills.

Please remember this is just a beginning of a long journey that each one of us has to take.

PLEASE ACT NOW

Infrastructure as a service

Anuj — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:37:26 +0000

Amazon had launched S3 , the Amazon’s on demand storage service in 2006. In July’ 06, S3 held 800,000 million objects. Now it has the number 5 billion. The best day so far is 920,847,345 objects added and the peak second record is 16,607 objects.
Now Amazon is making good on its claim to handle the muck, the undifferentiated heavy lifting at Web scale-infrastructure as a pay-by-the-drink service-10 cents per CPU hour. Customers for Amazon’s various infrastructure services include many startups, and even Microsoft.
“Seventy percent of creating an application is things on the back end, and it is similar in almost every Web scale application. None of this stuff helps your idea get any better or gets your product to market faster, but it has to be done at a very high quality level. If not, it can torpedo your successful product...it’s the price of admission.” You also have to loop through cycles, he added, revising products and the infrastructure.
Though Amazon is not making money yet on its infrastructure services. “We are already rapidly deploying new infrastructure, disks and servers, to support [growth]. EC2, for example, is completely capacity constrained and invite only. For S3 Amazon is taking all comers” Bezos says.
He added the Amazon would like its current customers to get good service before taking on new customers. They are also trying to get themselves into position where they are demand constrained rather than capacity constrained
Regarding where the infrastructure business fits in, Bezos said, “This is a new incremental business. Our retail and seller facing businesses are doing very well and have very large market sizes.”

Conference calls made easy

Anuj — Thu, 31 May 2007 07:53:36 +0000

Unattended calls typically require that you hand out dial-in numbers and PINs to participants, and use a separate PIN to join as the conference moderator. Often people are late, or simply don’t show up for the call. Operator-assisted calls are expensive and time-consuming. Online booking is either non-existent or confusing and clunky, and for anyone who’s grown used to efficient, lightweight web-based services, the experience feels ancient. Gaboogie is different. Gaboogie combines the latest IP communications technology and a lightweight AJAX-enabled web interface for booking, scheduling and managing your call. Best of all, Gaboogie makes life easier for you and your conference attendees. No need to remember dial-in numbers or PINs. At the time of your call, Gaboogie calls YOU and all of your attendees. No operator, no digging through your inbox for the email invitation. Start every conference on time. Because Gaboogie calls everyone automatically, there’s no waiting for late attendees to show up.
When Gaboogie calls, each of your attendees is prompted with a simple menu: press 1 to join the call, 2 to defer or “snooze” or 3 to decline. If an attendee drops the call, she can re-join simply by dialing the Gaboogie number that just called. No more hunting for dial-in numbers and PINs. Great for attendees who are on a cellphone. If an attendee doesn’t pick up the Gaboogie call, the system will redial automatically until it connects, and it can even dial multiple numbers in sequence. During the call, you have access to the Moderator Console, which indicates who’s joined, who’s declined and who’s going to be joining later. During the call you can use the Console to monitor the status of all attendees, including adjusting the volume of any line, muting lines, even ejecting attendees. Attendees can use their dialpad to “hand raise”, which you’ll see next to their name in the Console. Clicking the hand creates a private connection to that attendee so you can talk out of earshot of the other attendees. Gaboogie makes busy lives easier because it makes something that used to be complicated simple.

via: Gaboogie

Dotcoms look to extract maximum out of other media

Anuj — Tue, 29 May 2007 08:37:41 +0000

In the recent time there has been a rise in companies adopting web as a media channel. Be it communications, promotions web is increasingly playing a critical role. On the other side dotcom companies are also leading there innovations, one such recent popular innovation is Audio/Video profile at vault.com or timesjobs.com. Even the matrimony websites are starting to encourage people put an audio or a video profile.
The innovations have not stopped here, companies are looking forward at other medias to promote there websites. Timesjobs.com recently started a dial in service where you can dial at the given telephone numbers and search for a job. Then there are sites like blogtv.com and woki.com which let you broadcast your weblogs. Similarly some chat companies are toying with the idea of giving a voice chat facility over telephone. These options create a ‘win-win’ for the end users and the companies. The end-users get to exploit situation not only give the end users benefits of getting the maximum out of all existing media channels and the companies are generating additional revenue channels. There are advertisements playing in the background of the voice chats. There are video companies willing to sponsor the video resumes. And then there is always a satisfaction amongst the users leading to increased traffic.

And the best tourist award goes to...

Anuj — Thu, 24 May 2007 06:43:01 +0000

Japanese have been rated as the best tourists in the opinion of hoteliers across Europe.
They are followed by Americans and the Swiss. Japanese have been lauded for their polite behavior and tidiness. They scored 35% more votes than Americans. The Swiss have been appreciated for there considerate nature.
The worst tourists are from France followed by India, China and Russia. British have been rated as the fifth worst tourists. They are considered to be rude, miserly and noisy. British have also been rated as second worst dressed tourists and Germans are the most frugal according to the 15000 European hoteliers.
The survey was conducted by Expedia

Now a button-less mouse

Anuj — Mon, 14 May 2007 04:15:27 +0000

The most innovative company for three years in a row, Apple computers, and the manufacturers of several innovative products like iPhone, iPod and Mac, keeping with its tradition of aesthetic innovative solution has gained another amusing patent of a button free mouse.
The mouse will work is touch sensitive buttons instead of buttons. The patent related images show that the mouse does not have a scroll ball or a wheel. The device resembles the mighty mouse of Apple.
The company has more plans of carrying out innovations in the future like Apple’s new iPhone to control the company’s television set-top box via Bluetooth

Via: Earth Times

Summers highlight the need for alternate sources of Energy

Anuj — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:30:27 +0000

The advent of summers not only brings the heat wave in North India but also adds to the vows of the citizens through the problems on Electricity and Water front. With taps running dry and no power in the fans and coolers to dry your sweat it’s a tough life.
This year with record braking temperatures, we are set to face another year of miseries. The industry is even worse hit. The peak power shortage would go beyond 20-25% in May and June respectively from 15% in early April. The worst affected states are Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. There are places in these states that go without power for 12 hours in a day. The situation, although is better in Delhi, Himachal and Rajasthan but it is also far from satisfactory. In total India faces a power shortage of 70,000 MW
It’s high time we start relying on Non conventional means to generate power. There are lessons to be learnt from developed countries on this front. The potential for hydro electric power in India is 1.5 lakh MW but merely 20% of it is being exploited

Output Based Pricing: Bringing Accountability in the Internet World

Anuj — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 05:35:36 +0000

The world of Internet has seen many kinds of pricing frameworks. It started with the fixed cost based pricing to pay per click. While the former lead to the creation of artificial traffic on the website, the latter (Pay per click based advertising) had lots of companies resorting to exercises of hiring ad clickers. These ad clickers would click on specific ads on the web and earn a specified sum for this clicking exercise.

The sanity in this kind of advertising is lost and as a result customers’ faith in this kind of advertising is gone. To reinstate the faith of the customers something concrete needs to be done. One method to do this is to introduce Output based Pricing. In output based pricing a customer pays for an advertisement on the basis of out put it generates for her. For example, an online merchant advertises on a website. In a pay per click scenario he will pay for as many clicks on the website leading to her website. In a Output based pricing he will pay only for those clicks which lead to actual sales for her. The output may vary such as completing a registration form or ordering a catalogue.

This would make the measurability of an advertisement plan more transparent.
This step may not completely rule out the traditional measures of advertising. The companies whose ultimate objective through this advertising program is branding may not still stick to the traditional pricing format but this mode will answer the prayers of many marketing managers.

Lessons in why things cost what they do--and how to use that knowledge to get a better deal

Anuj — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:40:52 +0000

Unless you have a degree from a top B School, even if you do-retail prices often don’t make a lot of sense. If nobody pays list price for much of anything, what’s that term even mean? How come some things always seem to be “on sale”? And what’s up with ending prices in 95 paise? Like they think you can’t round up?
The technical people will say that price is what a buyer and seller agree will be exchanged for a good or service. But in practice, you, the buyer, want to make sure that you’re not agreeing to overpay the seller. And that depends on understanding some of the more opaque facets of “the market,” such as the politics between manufacturers and retailers, the life cycle of a product, even the long arm of the law.
LESSON 1: LIST PRICE IS JUST THE OFFER PRICE AND SHOULD BE NEGOTIATED UPONCalling the manufacturer’s suggested retail price the “list price” makes it sound like an item’s carefully considered fair cost. In actuality, it’s the maximum makers expect a retailer to charge. To the extent that manufacturers do suggest a fair price to their retailers, it’s the maximum retail price (MRP). This usually isn’t public knowledge. Manufacturers want to give retailers a chance to sell for more, and retailers certainly don’t want to tell you when they’re charging above what they have to.
Can stores sell below MRP? Sure.
Can I do better? Maybe. Check smaller stores, which have less to lose by irking the supplier.
Watch for rebates at big-box stores, which generally stick to MRP in their ads. And online, look for sites that say “click through for sale price.”
LESSON 2: MRP ISN’T FOREVER. AS THINGS AGE, THEY GET CHEAPERNearly every product has a life cycle, whether correlated to season, changes in technology, fashion tastes or other factors. As products move through this cycle, manufacturers reduce MRPs. Jonas Tanenbaum, a marketing V.P. for Samsung, says that these days it’s not unusual for the company to lower the price of a TV three times during its year-long life cycle vs. once or twice in years past.
How do you put this info to use? “You’ll get the best bang for your buck when a product has been around for a while and there’s competition among manufacturers and retailers-basically, when the product is ‘mature,’” says Rajneesh Suri, a professor . Pinpointing this can be tricky, but patience will be rewarded. See what an item is being sold for at its launch, then check back periodically. When the Nokia phones are launched it is priced at a very high price but slowly and gradually the price goes down (Skimming strategy in terms of marketing).
LESSON 3: AND THEN THEY GET REALLY CHEAP Exploit end-of-life-cycle pricing by shopping for a product when its new version has launched. Today some of the Nokia cellphones cell for around the 6000 Rs mark when the initial price was Rs. 15000 to Rs. 18000
Shopping at discount retailers like factory outlets can also help you capitalize on life-cycle decline.
LESSON 4: SOMETIMES A “SALE” ISN’T A SALE You’ve no doubt seen an ad like this: “Was Rs. 250, is Rs. 150!”
A study published last year in the Journal of Marketing found that this tactic-called reference-price advertising-succeeds in making shoppers feel like they are getting a deal. Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t.
Many a times what happens is the price are escalated before reducing them. An item on a normal day was available for Rs.215 /- is hiked to 250/- and then reduced by 30%. So be careful when you go on a shopping spree in a Sale
LESSON 5: PRICE-MATCHING “GUARANTEES” MAY COST YOU MONEY Some of your favorite retailers may offer to meet or beat a lower market price. Sweet, huh? You’re wired to think so: A study in the shows that people generally perceive sales man with price guarantees who gaurntee that they would foot the difference if you get an item for less price as compared to prices offered by.
LESSON 6: HIGH PRICES CAN HIDE IN BUNDLES Retailers often group items together to sell as a package. Sometimes these “bundles” hide prices above MRP . You may see a low base price advertised, but there’s rarely a vehicle on the lot for so little. They all come with “extras.”
Your strategy? Separate good bundles from bad ones. Identify the components and see what others charge for them, then subtract that from the total to reveal the price of the main item. And of course, ask yourself if you really need all those extras.
LESSON 7: THAT 95 paise TRICK REALLY IS TRICKY
What’s the big secret about ending prices in 95 paise It’s simple, Research shows that people process information from left to right. In other words, the “1″ in Rs.1999.95 is more appealing than the “2″ in Rs.2000. You may not be able to stop that “1″ from attracting your eye. But you can avoid pulling out your wallet until you’ve reminded yourself that you’ll be parting with a 2000 plus taxes

RBI keeps key rates intact, trims GDP growth rate to 8.5%

Anuj — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:26:29 +0000

The RBI tried to keep the markets happy and that reflected as the markets ended firm.Banking was the most impressive sector today as the RBI left all key rates unchanged and maintained a status quo on its monetary policy stance. The only negative was a lowered growth forecast to 8.5% from 8.5-9%. The reason for this decline is an expected decline in Global GDP in 2007.
Inflation stayed th key focus for the RBI. Inflation fighting seems to have been the predominant stance this time as inflation targets were revised downward to 5% from last year’s targets of 5-5.5%. RBI’s medium term inflationary target is now 4-4.5%. Reacting to the announcement, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that it is RBI policy to curb inflation without hurting growth and the Government has no view on rupee exchange rate.

via: Moneycontrol.com