Microsoft stuns with their tablet, ♥ Surface!

Microsoft Surface | Source: Surface.com

June 19. Today, I completed six years in Mumbai ever since I first came to this city of opportunities as a young student. Mumbai holds a special place in my heart and I'm thankful for everyone who made my adventures at aamchi mumbai truly awesome!

Talking about awesome, today I saw Microsoft's launch of their new tablet named 'Surface' and within fraction of seconds after seeing it on youtube, I fell in love with it. The feeling is ♥ Surface! Very few would have expected something awesome from Microsoft, but they stunned everyone, even the Apple fanboys with their new tablet. As usual, all the tech blogs, websites, etc got into the race of reporting it first, the specs, the memory, and even the pricing.

HTC's direct call-to-action FB status scores big!

HTC | Source: Facebook.com/htc

Everyday we hear, see, read a lot about Social Media. A lot of detailed articles are written on Facebook strategies, twitter campaigns, etc. This field is such that there's no end to your learning as it all depends on how much time you can give, and how much you can grasp. In order to learn the nuances of digital marketing, I feel it's important to first of all have an open mind. One can read numerous published posts on leading social media blogs but the real learning happens when you are sharply observing the little details. On twitter, I converse a lot but at the same time I also keep an eye for what I call - 'patterns'. It's like picking up numerous small insights from diverse sources and then bringing them all back to my learning incubator so that I can brew new ideas from them! It takes time but gradually you can become a master.

Digital Analytics India Symposium 2012 - Takeaways

DAIS 2012 | Source: DAIS

Analytics. What comes to you mind when you hear 'analytics'? Numbers? Data? Mining? Trends? Patterns? Forecast? Well, if any of these buzzed in your mind, then you're thinking in the right direction. Basically, there are two parts - the data itself and the insights one derives from the available data sets. Today, data is available in abundance but still many professionals struggle to make sense out of it. Some find it too demanding, some find using basic tools like Microsoft Excel cumbersome to work with while I've also come across some individuals who perceive it as boring (of course, they don't know what they're missing!). Irrespective of the field you are in, the ability to crunch numbers and derive insights will give you an edge in today's competitive environment.

Storify: What is Creativity?

Image Source: Gigaom

I still remember the days when we used to go to our Dadi's (grandmother) home and sleep on the terrace. Every night after dinner Dadi would come next to us and tell us a story. Lion - the king of the jungle, the tortoise and the hare, the crow and the water pot are some of the stories that I've heard numerous time and every time my Dadi would narrate it with some unique element of surprise. Now, I've grown up and as I a Marketer, I still feel 'stories matter'. Whether people discuss, praise, rant, cry foul - almost everything has a central story. I always look out for unique stories which can take me to a different world. Remember the movie Avatar and Inception? How beautifully they took to you to another world which you would have never thought of. It was all because of someones story.

KKR's IPL5 victory was sweet - 5 takeaways for fans

Image Source: KKR.in

Five years. It took 5 years for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to become the IPL Champions after KKR's Brendon McCullum smashed an unbelievable 158 runs powered by 13 sixes off just 73 balls in the inaugural match of IPL (April 2008). McCullum's 158 had been rated #1 in an all time top 10 IPL batting performances and made fans believe that KKR would win the IPL1. Unfortunately, KKR went on a downward spiral from there onward and couldn't even make it to the Play-offs during the first three IPLs.

Refresh 1.0

Image Source: ArtistsValley

The last I blogged was on April 4, maktion blog's fourth birthday and I was very excited and had big plans to continue the momentum by writing on a lot of stuff revolving around creativity, on my experience in my new field - Digital Marketing and some stuff on Educational guidance. The very next day, we faced a personal loss which is beyond words and that incident took me back. I felt as if life paused. Sometimes, some events take place which make you sad but also give you strength and bring maturity. I guess, I matured in those odd days - I really did and I can feel the change in me in the last 2 months.