Random Thoughts

i just watched the movie what's your number, and it got me thinking about the direction of my life and future possibilities, what i realized what , the future is flexible, and i can mold it with my own mind,  i do not need to follow when i can lead my life with my own hands.

i currently work at a job that takes care of my basic necessities and allows me tools to expand my knowledge vastly and express myself in newer and newer ways, all my exploration and research and inner reflection have made me believe that i am destined for something in the future, and i hope and pray that i am able to achieve what i feel i can achieve, i hope to be looking back on this post someday and be humbled by my achievements, and my meager starts.

most of us seek purpose in our lives, there are few who believe in great destinies, i wish to include myself in the latter, and i want to say one thing to anyone who reads this post, solitude shapes your soul and defines you, company keeps you sane and refines you. make it your life motto as it has made me see clearly my purpose, all i lack is the path.

i am prepared to walk , willing to make a sacrifice, willing to risk it all to make my mark upon the pages of humanity's history.

i can only hope and pray to succeed in my goal

pray that i achieve.

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Reflections

Those Jewels that lie in secret cove

 of heart and mind immortal soul

 those silent treasures often kept locked

 and lost within one's breast

 they shine on bright and light the way

 in dark and light of night and day

 they form our thoughts and form our place

 those secret, silent beautiful rays

 memories of love and joy and pain

 all within such silent lie

 shine on bright in our reflection 

when we pause to give them light !!!!

Back to Grim's Poetry Collection

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Zipping Along on the Fly

the FlyKly is the ultimate must have mode of transportation for the Eco friendly citizen of today. powered by an ion lithium battery and with all the functionality you would find on a regular scooter, the realization of fossil fuel dependency has make us acknowledge the fact that we have to make a change, not just because of the fact that fossil fuels are perishable, and will end one day but also because of the consumption of fossil fuels is contributing to global warming permanently damaging the environment.

The FlyKly provides a perfect solution with the battery getting a full charge in 4 hours and giving you a travelling radius of 40 miles additional the pedals are also functional and serve to charge the bike on the go truly making the FlyKly a versatile mode of transportation.



There is no registration or licensing required to own and ride a FlyKly as it does not fall under the motor vehicle category, although it does look much along the lines of an electric scooter it is much more closer to being a bike. It comes equipped with both front and back disc brakes that stop it on the drop of a hat, or a pin as it were since it makes less noise than a bike going down the street.

all in all the FlyKly is a great product and does wonders for the environment, i wish it were a bit more friendly to the wallet as the $1990 Price tag kind of hit us on the soft side of the wallet, still you could really make a saving on the bus fare and gas in the long run.

Ultimately it is an investment in a greener and cleaner future and those who find that valuable enough will invest in one and be proud of their contribution, and it doesn't hurt that you save up thousands on gas and fare.

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Fieldrunner App for Android

for those of you who love tower defense games the fieldrunner app for android is just the thing for you, after the immense success with the original iOS app that came out in October of 2008, the developers over at Subatomic Studios released cross platform versions for fieldrunner on Nintendo DSi, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, the app found it's way to the Android platform in July 2011, on the Amazon Appstore and Android Market.

in as few words as possible the game can be described as a visually stunning, highly addictive time sink, although a very played our genre where apps are available a dime a dozen this title stands out and really give the value for money that it promises

following is the video of the actual gameplay



the game is an amazing addon to the android store and a must have app for all the die hard tower defense genre lovers out there, you would do yourself a disservice by not having this in your arsenal of android apps.

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Introducing Hedgewars

Hedgewars is a side scrolling turn based strategy game similar to the popular worms franchise that packs a severe punch if you dont believe us watch the trailer below.



if you want to try it out just CLICK HERE to start the install, the game is freeware and totally free to play, although beware the game being in the development stages is in the process of a lot of upgrades so bear with the glitches as the interface is totally awesome.

best thing about the game is the ability to create custom maps, players can make their own maps using the inbuilt map editor.

this game deserves 8 out of 10 on the munarshable playability index. we hope to see this game playable on one of our favorite social platform someday, it would be an immense pleasure taking turns blasting our friends avatars into oblivion, we can only hope that the Hedgewars team makes the game social someday.

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Grooveshark Displays Echoes of Napster

Grooveshark the brainchild of a one time down on luck economics major Sam Tarantino, is being sued for copyright infringement by Universal Music Group, the lawsuit stated that Grooveshark maintained on its servers illegal copies of Universal's pre-1972 catalog, causing apple to roll back their iPhone app, the android app was similarly rolled back.

Grooveshark started as a paid music download service in 2007 and grew enormously, the Grooveshark radio was the innovation that made all the difference, functioning similar to the video recommendations that pop up at the end of a YouTube video, the Grooveshark radio allowed users to get similar music to their likes played on the radio with the choice to like or unlike the track using a smiley face or a sad face.

interfacing with social websites and the ability to interact with other users and import and exchange tracks with users let many people to fall in love with the service and because of all that On the 9th Of May 2011, the Grooveshark team did a countdown to 35,000,000 registered users.

what will happen now to Grooveshark is what we all wonder, Grooveshark’s Sr. VP of External Affairs Paul Geller released the following statement in defense

There is a distinction between legal and licensed. Laws come from Congress. Licenses come from businesses. Grooveshark is completely legal because we comply with the laws passed by Congress, but we are not licensed by every label (yet). We are a technology company, and we operate within the boundaries of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). Some would have you believe that those of us who use the DMCA to innovate are inherently infringers and that claiming Safe Harbor under the DMCA is as good as admitting guilt. Not so.

while the statement may be true it still is weak when we think of another large service that went broke in the blink of an eye after being hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit, Napster faced an almost similar problem and they lost and eventually had to file for bankruptcy on june 3rd 2002, we hope this time around this doesn't happen and hope that the matter can come to terms for the benefit of all and especially the music hungry masses.

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Google Plus an Initial Observation

The Cat is Finally out of the Bag, it has been a while now since google plus was launched and now that the initial hype has died down we see the real google plus emerge from the dust of the stampede a little bruised but none the worse for wear.

Google Plus was headed for a collision with facebook ever since the big execs started calling it their social platform, and people started called it the facebook killer, a hype that the company persisted hoping for instant mass appeal, which we now know has failed to break off the scores of facebook users from their home platform.

taking a look at the google interface we feel that the whole offering is decidedly google, containing elements of minimalism and accessibility in perfect balance, since not a lot of people are on google + at this point in time more developed services cannot be truly felt and people take it at face value, which compared to facebook's current offering falls somewhat short.

granted the Circles interface is highly exiting and very useful, but after the initial creation and successive maintaining there are not many things that you will be doing with it.

the Sparks leaves much to be desired, aggregating all news on the web around your particular search term, sparks combines the power of google's massive search engine coupled with the power of social media allowing you to share content with you followers.

the Huddle the least talked about and from personal experience the most exiting service that is being offered by google, the clarity is amazing, it blows away the Skype experience clean out of the air, and the ability to Multi-conference with people from the other corner of the globe is totally amazing.

google games are really exiting we loved teaming up with our friends and pwning rival alliances or destroying maar confedaracy bases on Edge World, but when we went back to facebook we found war commander by kixeye we were blown away be the superior interface through it felt a bit less social than Edge world which allows real time chat in the game with other team members.

all in all google + is a great package, something that people will come to love, as we have said before google came out of the first collision with a few bruises but we know that google + is made of sterner stuff and will survive.

the stage is set for the next collision of the Titans as facebook prepares to come out with Timeline, a bold step by facebook which could swing in favor or either platform, either driving traffic away from facebook or by taking back the subscribers that facebook lost at the time Google + was born to the world.

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Twitter Can Help Graph Social Trends

who knew that one little bird could have the power to change the world, when twitter first launched people were pessimistic of the ability to share and explore content in the limit of 140 characters, but the flexibility of use and the high speed ability to share information with everyone, and the ability to create customized news feeds from subscribing to the people who's tweets you liked became an instant rave.

the reason that twitter rose to meteoric heights was the simple fact that most international celebrities jumped on the bandwagon instantly and used twitter as a tool to communicate with their huge fan bases, and as people started coming on board twitter to follow their idols, they started learning the flexibilites that twitter allowed thereby contributing to a snowball effect that steamrolled the social media platform.

where do we stand now, look around you, i can assure you if you are in your office right now there are at least 2 colleagues out of 10 who tweet religiously. for most it has become a lifestyle, a hobby, even an obsession, yet others have made it their livelihood. Yes people are earning money from tweeting. departmental stores tweet the prices of their discounted products to all their followers, who can give instant feedback and place orders online, concerts are promoted using tweets, even humanitarian efforts are organized in the twitterverse.

with over half the world's population tweeting, the twitterverse has undoubtedly become the largest online resource of information on the web, consequently it has turned from a nerdy contraption to a thing of actual value for mega corporations and consumer oriented organizations.

you may be asking at this point why would mega corporations be interested in your tweet, well i have to say they are not directly interested in your tweet or the millions of other individual tweets for that matter, they are interested in the aggregates, the hash-tags they want to know what is trending and where it's @t; Twitter provides the ultimate solution.

By Introducing a graph to the system large organizations would be able to see huge consumer trends and align their products and services in response to the growing demand. this holds unlimited potential, and is a very exiting phase in online development for corporations that are focused on customer satisfaction.

ultimately it is a win win situation since we tweet about things we want to inform others about and using that same information to provide us products and services oriented towards our needs. all we can say about this is never underestimate the power of the little blue bird.

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YouTube Celebrities Get the Limelight

we have known for a long time that evolving tech trends would switch our ideas of celebrity eventually, ever since YouTube came out and allowed an independent platform for expression, there have been scores of people who took the task to making their channels and uploading fresh and innovative content, some chose to sing, while others chose to rant, still other's chose to upload entire travelogues and how to videos on all subjects under the sun.

it was easy to expect the outcome, most of the people who remained original became overnight celebrities, by having their content go viral through social media, most got exited by the fact that YouTube was allowing partnerships, and a lot of people made it their aim to become YouTube partners,

YouTube Partner roughly defined means a person who is not a brand or company gets money from the ads people click while on their channel.

what started out as a way to find some use for the webcam other than periodically chatting with friends has become a full blown occupation and lifestyle for lots of people worldwide. with YouTube Conventions happening now, it's going to take time but i believe that we will be seeing channels on out TV dedicated to the Most Viewed YouTube Videos or YouTube channel videos of local celebrities.

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Dentists Join the Social Media Bandwagon

it is not only small medium enterprises and consumer brands that have joined the social revolution, the latest addition to the ever growing family of businesses is the Dental Experts, yes, it is now possible to tweet with your favorite dentists and discuss that latest tooth decay, or that gum infection that you may be having.

A Leading Dentist in Lombard Il, Recently launched a Twitter account and Facebook Page for their Practice for the purpose of interacting with clients and staff.

more and more businesses are realizing the worth of going online and interacting with their clients through social media, a social layer of interaction around the business comprising of twitter, facebook, google + and additional Social media websites could potentially create great exposure for local brands and their offerings to the masses, early adopters of the trend stand to have a greater edge and more leverage compared to competitors in gaining the trust of their clients.

if the current trends of online promotion hold common users can expect to feel like islands adrift in a sea of solicitation in social media, still as trends progress they evolve so we can still hope for the best. till then keep crossing out all those ads in your facebook inbox or google circle or that random solicitation on your blog post.

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Facebook Timeline

we at Munarshable have been in a love hate relationship with the steady stream of updates that facebook has been coming out with, the early change in the interface aggravated us to the extreme, the news feed had us up in arms, but the thing about facebook updates is that the more you are annoyed by them in the beginning the more you come to love them in the end.

i think it is because we already like facebook so much that we feel that it cant really get any better, but kudos to Mark Zukberg, on being daring enough and bold enough to innovate an already innovative platform further.

here we would like to take time to introduce the latest innovation being offered by facebook called timeline, the Promo video of timeline is really exiting.



what's gonna happen after it comes out is anyone guess, here is an article about the history of the development of timeline. the interface is going to totally revamp the look of the average profile, and i am sure it will be met with the same criticism as all facebook updates are.

for those of you interested in having a go at the updated interface , all you have to do is CLICK HERE and follow the steps mentioned in this article to start your own timeline experience.

We believe that introducing timeline is a terribly bold move considering the recent launch of google plus, if too many people get irritated by the somewhat less than friendly interface of facebook timeline, facebook just might find that they pushed the envelope to far when it came to the balance between functionality and user friendly interface, and suffer by losing out on their hard earned die hard fan base.

What happens after timeline is launched is still a debate, although we do feel that the interface has potential. perhaps facebook might find this time they went a bit too far.

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Travel Website Expedia to Go Social

We at Munarshable have recently come across news of the fact that the enourmously popular US based travel Website Expedia has descided to go Social, we consider this another step in the advent of the Social Revolution where all our services will be available on social cloud platforms, you can learn more about Expedia Going Social HERE .

Expedia apparently realized the potential of their presence on social media platforms and how it brought them qualitative interaction with their clients, their decision to go social was prompted by need to create a greater engagement with their brand, by including a social layer to their brand, by allowing users the ability to like content on their landing pages they hope to increase user awareness, having successfully launched campaigns in the past like the FriendTrips Facebook® campaign and having huge success with that, was another reason that prompted the people over at Expedia to take the step onto the social bandwagon.

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Google Labs the Secret Google X Project

At Google, X really does mark the spot.

Search-engine giant Google has a secret product lab called Google X feverishly developing blue-sky projects such as space elevators, driverless cars and Internet-enabled household devices (coffee pots? clothing?),

The labs are reportedly run "as mysteriously as the C.I.A.," according to unnamed sources familiar with the project, and housed in two facilities -- one in California at the company's headquarters and one in an undisclosed location elsewhere in the country.

“They’re pretty far out in front right now,” Rodney Brooks, a professor emeritus at M.I.T.’s computer science and artificial intelligence lab and founder of Heartland Robotics, told the Times. “But Google’s not an ordinary company, so almost nothing applies.”

The lab is largely filled with robotics engineers, according to The New York Times, in spite of the software engineers more commonly employed by the company. But don’t get your hopes up: The types of projects cited aren't the sort of thing the company will be releasing any time soon.

Space elevators, for example, are a concept common in science fiction stories and movies. The idea is simple: Ditch the expensive, dangerous, limited rockets mankind has traditionally relied upon to ferry cargo and crew to outer space in favor of an elevator, a giant platform that tows anything and everything up a tremendous cable to a platform orbiting at a fixed location around the planet.

While discussed widely by researchers and developers, a space elevator is no more than an idea, at present. Likewise, robot cars and interconnected home products are probably not destined for our homes and car ports anytime soon -- Google did not officially comment on the status of projects or even the existence of the Google X labs.

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Popular Superstitions

throughout the course of time, there has been a collective growth in human knowledge, we have the insatiable desire to give reason and logic to all things that happen around us, even though sometime the real reasons may elude us entirely. this is in part the reason that there are so many myths and superstitions around us. though created for various purposes and intents, to explain various happenings.

undermentioned are some of the more persistent superstitions that have endured through the course of human history.

1. It is believed that if you collect nine different flowers on a midsummers eve and put then under you pillow before you go to sleep for the night you will dream of the person you will marry.


2. It is believed if you catch the first dalling leaf of autumn you will never catch a cold the whole winter


3. most people believe that the candles of a birthday cake if blown out at once will make a wish made before blowing out the candles come true.


4. It is believed that if two people break a wishbone , good luck will come to the person with the bigger half.


5. It was believed through celtic tradition that if you ever speak of bad luck, you should always knock on wood, consequently when you speak of good luck, it is generally thought that it brings more good luck


6. Nokia has not launched a series of mobile starting in 4 in the southeast asia region beacuse it is a less commonly known superstition that the number 4 is believed to be unlucky in many parts of Southeast/East Asia.


7. It is believed among pirates that piercing ears with silver and gold had the potential to improve one's eyesight


8. It is a common superstition that it is bad luck to leave the house through the same door you came in through, this is the same reason that exits are usually situated separate from entrances in most major institutions.


9. It is believed that amber beads can cure colds and protect against illnesses.


10.  It is believed that if you put an acorn on your window your home will not be hit with lightening.  Is is believed that an acorn if carried can bring luck and ensure long life,


11. It is less commonly believed that keeping an acorn will help in saving one from getting struck by lightening.


12. It is believed among motorcycle enthusiasts that hanging a bell from the bike would ward of evil road spirits.


13. Sailors have a lot of superstitions , such as, bringing anything that is of the color blue will result in a bad voyage, sailing on a Friday is also considered bad luck, leaving the cover of a hatch upside down is also considered bad luck or to eat walnuts on board the deck.


14. It is believed that removing a wedding ring after you have worn it will bring bad luck.


15. It is less commonly believed good luck among Russians to sit on luggage before taking itout of the house


16. Putting newly bought shoes on a bed or a table is believed to be bad luck in most parts of the world.


17. It is very less commonly believed that placing keys on the table will bring the one who owns the keys bad luck.


18. It is widely believed that keeping an open umbrella in the house will result in 21 days of bad luck. especially if you place it over your head


19. Walking under a ladder is also believed widely to be the leading cause of bad luck, although it is also widely know that walking backward through the same ladder can nullify the effects.


20. Breaking a mirror is also considered bad luck as it is thought that mirrors are windows to the soul and breaking one would break the person's soul


21. There is dispute among different people about the black cat superstition, some people believe that it causes bad luck while other's believe that it brings good luck. some people also believe that black cats are familiars, the source of a magician's power.


22. An upright horseshoe is thought to collect the good luck a person has, although if the horseshoe is turned upside down, it is thought that the luck drains out of it.

 

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How to Create Viral Content

Creating Viral content is the Holy Grail of Bloggers and content marketeers everywhere, people are always looking for the best way to showcase their offering and creating innovative and offbeat content so that people will like and share it, what is the secret of sharing, what makes people want to share something, there is no exact manual out there or foolproof way that i have come across that covers all the bases and helps you create amazing and dynamic content, but using the tips will improve visibility.

Creating viral content is more about being consistent and focusing on your reader more than anything. if you dot your i's and cross the t's , and make sure you understand the how's, what's, when's, where's & why's. you are well on your way to create Viral content already.

if you take the time to read seth godin's post what makes an idea go viral you will get a very good idea of what it takes to make an idea go viral.

here is a list of 5 things you can do to ensure your ideas get shared

• Consider your message before creation

you should take your time before the creation to think what goals you wish to accomplish, are you intending to create a video or some article, will you be promoting a product or service or is it just a simple blurb of information,( be resigned to the fact that it will take more effort to promote products than some piece of information, on the other hand if the product is a monopoly and has practical use nothing would be easier to make viral).

 

• Eye catching introduction

nothing helps to an idea or content to go viral more than having an eye catching introduction, it involves both the visual effect and the manner of the offering of information, if it is unique and innovative, people will be more inclined to actually follow through on your content. people hate reading long boring academic titles and actually actively shun those that seem too salesey, do dial down the genius and the salesman in you and make the title sound exiting and friendly and i assure you, you will get the clicks that you are looking for.

 

• Dynamic Content

dynamic content means the creation of content that is flexible and urges the reader to contnue, things that keep the reader's attention generally are.

• Concise Segmented Content

you should break your content into smaller chunks of digestible informaiton this applies to articles that have a length more than 300 words

 

• proper spelling and punctuation

nothing would annoy your readers more than having to wade through a sea of spelling mistakes and gramattical errors

 

• logical content structure

people are more likely to read through your content if it is structured well enough, the chain of logic should have a steramlined flow, nothing should feel out of place or awkward or irrelevant , but here there is a contradiction some times being offbeat wins out in the end, so this step is most iffy at best, if you can make the reader stop and think about something that would be a plus point, not have them retract from continuing through to the end.

 

• The WOW factor

if you write something know that the hook always has to be there that makes the person want to share your content further, it could be a spin job or it could be something that instigagtes an emotional response. that makes the reader connect with your words. but that WOW factor has to be there to make them want to share it with their peers

 

• Perseverance

Commitment to the work will make you achieve your viral goals faster than anything, if you can stick to it and keep on making newer and fresher content there will be a greater likelihood of achieving success in the long run.in the immortal words of Bill Gates. Content is King, so be original be creative and see the magic happen

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Greenpeace or Green Please !!!

how times change and how fleeting is the collective conscious of humanity, i remember a few years back Davis Guggenheim and his eye opening documentary of Al Gore's campaign to educate the world about the effects of global warming,aptly titled An Incovenient Truth, made a huge statement that caught everyone's eye, and people started paying attention to their individual decisions and the effects of their decisions on the environment, but where do we stand now.

A recent survey conducted by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and marketing research firm Synovate found that almost one-in-ten respondents declared they are "not at all concerned" by climate change, which does not seem like all that much but when you compare that to last year it's almost a hundred percent increase.

my opinion is that economic conditions globally are forcing us to rethink our priorities, safeguarding the environemnt will always take a back seat to feeding your children i guess, and when you are laid of from work because the business went broke, you are still less likely to join the latest Greenpeace protest, and more likely to submit your resume to the same environment unfriendly factory that is still giving out jobs in time of recession.

there will always be die hard supporters of mother earth out there but i fear that their numbers are dwindling and the trend in times of recession will not be Greenpeace but Green Please, as in the kind that can help you gas up your car and feed your children.

we need to stop and consider the implications of our actions, we need to realize that the actions that we take now will effect the coming generations, and in a really big way. i personally feel that we should strive to create a balance between the nurture and nature and here i mean nature in the literal sense, as in safeguarding the environment, if we cannot take direct actions at least we can teach our children how to take decisions that will safeguard the future of successive generations.

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Economic Global Implosions

Fill the banks with cash people recession is again rearing up it's ugly head and we are no more in control of the situation then we were in 2008, in fact if you take the time to look at the facts and figures we are no more in control of our beast of an economy anyway you look at it, all we can do is plan out the best contingencies and hope they are able to sustain us in the colossal dip that is looming ahead of us ensuring that we can keep moving on ahead with a level head, this advice is great for corporations but what will it mean for the average Joe.

expect torrential unemployment, the average person will have much more time on their hand to complain about the failing economy than usual, thereby increasing in the green house effect by contribution of a lot of hot air, which will no doubt ruin the environment as well as speeding economic degradation by making more and more people ineffective at their livelihoods, through the mutual sharing of depression and the loss of job phobia.

also expect thunderous inflation, the average person can expect to limit their spending by as much as 50 % in the better cases, in the worst case scenario expect to live of instant cook noodles for months at a time.

when you stop and look at the big picture, we cannot draw a particular conclusion as to why we are suffering periodic global economic meltdowns, if at the micro levels we all plan and structure businesses to great effect, and at the national level the dynamic is more centered toward providing a sustainable growth to new and existing businesses, where does the fault lie exactly, these are profound questions we must ask ourselves standing this close to the abyss, how will we survive this fall, how long will it take to recover, and how long will it take for us to realize the weak links or the proverbial leaks in our economy.

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More Virtual Than Visual

"Hey Waqas how are you"

"yeah i'm really great"

"you look like you've lost a lot of weight"

"no that's my old Display pic, i actually have put on a few pounds since that pic was taken (declares sheepishly with a smiley), "you know eid and all" (uploads Pic to FB)

"yeah really looks like you went to town on more than a few plates of quorma actually"

"yeah, " Virtual shrug, "you know how it is"

"how long have we seen each other in the real world"

"umm i think more than a year"

the above is a general extract an online conversation with a friend, and looking back i think that since the advent of the social universe, with which i mean to say google plus and facebook and the twitterverse, our presence in the physical world had diminished and our presence in the virtual world has increased tenfold.

i think the reason is that since we are so interconnected through every second of every day that we dont really feel the need to interact with each other on a more personal level. the desire to connect and socialize being satisfied with the availability of online platforms we are now able to devote more time to our professional lives, and other additional tasks, i find i have the freedom to indulge in my hobbies of writing and communicating now more than ever, and i dont even feel the need to text after getting Skype which allows me the same feature from my laptop. why take the time to put my hand in my pocket and take out my cell phone wasting precious milliseconds when i could just click out a text through skype ?.

but all through that one thing that i feel we have lost is the need to go stop and smell the roses, most of the people who lead virtual lives feel a real wonder when they step outside in the sun, it feels so new and exiting and interesting, which leads me to believe that we are becoming increasingly more virtual, and losing touch with the real world by degrees, where will this lead i wonder.

there are so many things that are wrong with this that a complete discussion would fill volumes of books and still it would not make a difference, we are all caught up in this great wave of change that is determined to sweep us along for a ride leaving us eventually cold and alone in isolation connected more virtually that visually with our lives.

only time will tell what good will come of this, as for now, i do believe that you must have some notifications to get back to , and we will leave this discussion here for now.

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The Future of Social Media

imagine waking up one day to a prearranged alarm on your cell phone, and as soon as you hit snooze, your friends from the other corner of the world can comment on how lazy you are. get dressed and zoom out and swipe your phone on a display screen on your door and you home locks up automatically, you go to your car and swipe your cell and the car door opens up and allows you entry, you select a prearranged destination from your cell and hit go and the car starts driving automatically,while you tune in your favorite music, and start working on your most important emails, while drinking from the in car coffee maker, and throughout all this all your friends are updated to each and every instance of your waking moment.

from the analysis of the song that is playing in the in car entertainment system to the analysis of the sound that your laptop keys make signifying that you are working and not to be disturbed till you log in to your social media account from your laptop. to reporting your destination and making sure you get there by communicating with your car and giving directions, the gadgets of tomorrow will do it all.

we are moving towards a social media revolution and the next logical step is cloud apps that will help perform those day to day functions and provide us with a friction-less method of updating our friends to the lives we lead, weather every person would opt for such a life is another question, but there is no denying the power and impact such applications could have in out lives. imagine an automatic distress call from your handheld device the a sign of an emergency to your entire social networking circle or a select group as defined by you and the local authorities, imagine the significance of such a thing and how powerful it could be in saving lives.

social media is only as invasive as we allow it to be, and there could be a lot of exploration as to how we can use the invasive nature of social media to our advantage, i do admit to some point the whole reason for social media is to bridge the gap between buyers and sellers, to provide the people with a platform to put in their data and the corporations to view and create targeted products that would have great long term appeal, but it is also my belief that someone will someday realize the long term significance of the impact of social media and how it can be used as a lifeline and a safeguard against unwanted circumstances, a veritable virtual shield providing security and protection. and a means to safeguard, preserve and improve the quality of Human Life.

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The Desperate Like Beggars Seeding Hate

What they wont do for a Like

i was reading an article about Facebook Timeline, and it got me thinking, the dynamic of social media and how much we share really has changed a lot in the last few years,

Gone are the notions of privacy we once adhered to , and now there is a new phobia emerging in the teenagers of today, the LIKE Phobia, the incessant need to create compelling and exiting content, to get appreciation from peers, the more a person has likes on their facebook status or that new video that they have posted the more they are considered to be popular and in the "IN CROWD".

As long as it could be just the narcissistic need to express individuality and get appreciation from peers there could be nothing to worry about, the worrying aspect is that there is a new dynamic emerging in the creation of the most engaging, exiting, and interesting content that others will like.

people spare no stone unturned in creating content to get a like, some might exploit gender, others Race, still others employ religion, the trend is not altogether apparent and outright but the element is slowly creeping into our social circles, very prominently noticeable when we take a look around us. social media has been a revelation, and a beatific innovation for humanity, but one has to wonder if is not turning into a two edged sword, concerns for privacy aside the bigger concern is now how people are being singled out and how new groups of like minded individuals can be formed just by punching out a new thought or an idea into the social web.

One has to think on the darker aspects towards the availability of a tool for mass recruiting, or the organization of a hate campaign.

We saw in the not too distant past the persistence of many anti religious hate mongering in the social web specially centered on facebook, through the creation of anti-religious groups and anti-social groups targeted at various minorities and races, though newer policies were implemented that allowed a group of people to combat against anti-social content and woke up the creators of the platforms to the concept that not all things are meant to be publicly shared. But one has to wonder. What will be the future for the consumers of social media. Will these small things lead to big things. Will our likes and dislikes lead to social war zones. These are questions that we must ask ourselves in the pursuit of the ultimate satisfaction of our ego's

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Making Money from Photography

Are you a Photographer ?

The First thing you really have to ask yourself is are you a photographer or just a Camera Jockey, photography is a tough business and you need to have all the tools of the trade before you begin thinking you will make it big. 

Taking a few shots with friends just wont cut it, and posting to facebook is really not the best way to get acknowledged as an artist.

And investing in creating a studio just at the beginning stage wont be the best thing for you either as in the long run you will have to incur huge marketing expenses to get the right clients through your doors.


even after reading all that you still think you have what it takes to become a professional photographer and if you are really interested in developing a photography business in Pakistan , then read on.


A Simple List of Things you Need !!

• A Camera
• Imagination
• Business Sense

Is That All !!!

Yes Trust Me that is All you need to start your business, now first things first, be prepared to invest a little in a good camera as it will make all the difference, and your Genre will define what equipment you ought to get.

before you invest in a new camera i would recommend you select your Genre of photography and the way you can do that is by joining This Forum, it has a brilliant list of genre's and a lot of members that can help you make a decision of how to start work. till that time use the same one you have or it that is not up to par then get a reasonable Digital camera anything above 3 MP will do at this point.

Before you Join the forum i will request you to kindly collect all the photographs you have ever taken and place them in one place, do not collect them and put them in a shoe box, put that shoe box down. i meant collect your work online.

 Online Presence !!

Collect your work online in a blog, every single picture you take is in a separate post write a few words on your experience in taking that particular shot, if you have some poetic ability i would advice you to polish it now by writing a few words for that awesome pic you took. it will help make the reader's experience more exiting and dynamic, be sure to label your posts properly, for E.g all black and white in one place and all family photos in one place and then the artsy in one label.

i would highly recommend you use Blogger Dynamic views Template as it is totally awesome, the flip card or snapshot view will really help showcase your work.

i am well aware of the fact that Blogger Dynamic Views currently has no S.E.O value, but that is irrelevant at this point since the important thing for you right now is to have your work in one place to get suggestions on how to make your work better, later we will discuss WordPress blogs but for the time being at this stage of your development a Blogger Blog will do. Oh and did i mention Blogger Blogs are Free :-).

  Make New Friends !!

After you have made the blog and learned all there is to learn in creating blogs and managing blogs along the way, start hopping on the photography forums and start chatting with the regulars, ask them to look at their work and comment on their work in turn, make sure you keep at it, talk to as many people as you can make facebook friends, devote real time into creating affiliations and strong friendships with the great names in photography internationally. 

you must be wondering at this point how this will help you, allow me to explain, once you have bought your camera, ( and yes we will be heading there in due time ) and once you start taking professional pictures, the time you have spent looking at other people's work will reflect on your photography in the long run, 

learning the tips and tricks, watching the experts will go a long way in helping you define yourself as an individual artist, if you are really serious about photography you will really enjoy this phase of your development.

i would recommend that you keep at this phase for at least 6 months or 50 new facebook friends whichever comes first. as soon as you reach this milestone look back at what you have achieved so far.

Be Proud of your Achievements !!

Reflect on how well that pic you took got appreciated by those internationally celebrated photographers, how many comments you have gotten and how much you have learned, once you feel confident that you have refined yourself as an artist, take the bold step and  SELECT YOUR GENRE. once you have done that, you will know by this point what equipment would be best suited to your requirements.

use your imagination and creativity and go wild, express the world and your emotions through visuals, show everyone a new world through your viewfinder.

Making Money !!!

Once you are setup an in the groove of things now is the time to start making money, please do me a favor and do not quit your day job at this point in time, keep on going with that and do your photography on Sunday's in your spare time, there are actually 2 streams of income you can create , both are effective and both can help you in making a really good solid income, you can choose to 

• SELL YOUR WORK ONLINE
• SELL YOUR WORK OFFLINE  

Both methods have their pro's and cons, establishing yourself as a photographer will require a mix of both.

For the international readers of this article i would recommend you pursue both because you can, for the people who are reading this article in Pakistan know the fact that since we do not have Paypal there will be no direct transfers from online purchases, and since the sites that i will be recommending will be mostly related to Paypal accounts you would do well to start working on the offline ideas till such time a solution becomes apparent for the Paypal accounts.

Selling your work Online !!!

Selling your work online is not difficult at all. in fact it is the easiest thing in the world to do, there are a lot of websites out there where you can become a registered contributor and the websites will do the selling for you, if the images you put up are good enough, you will get buyers, since more and more people are getting websites developed, more and more people require content and images, if you make that you niche market you are in the gold. the website will take their cut of the sale and the remaining goes to you.

think of this as creating a product and having it on sale on a general store, people walk in browse for stuff they stumble upon yours they like your work they wanna buy the pay the guy who owns the store, the guy gives you your cut. listed below are a few websites that can help you setup online accounts where you can sell your work.

• Shutter Point
• Shutter Stock
• Photo Box Pro Galleries

these are 3 out of hundreds of websites out there. that provide this service. eventually when you do get developed as a photographer and make a residual income strong enough i would like to recommend you think of starting a website similar to the ones listed above for their fantastic income value, remember the golden Recipe for creating a successful business ( Competitors strengths + your Innovation = Recipe for Success ).

Selling your work Offline !!!

Selling your work offline is a different thing altogether

first thing you need to do is create a presence in your local market. i will give you as many ideas i can , take one and run with it, but before i start spouting of random ideas i would like to take the time to say something

success depends more on consistency and a passion to succeed more than creating brilliant art and taking amazing photographs. be consistent, and keep leaning and eventually you will achieve the success that you wish to achieve.

Get Some Business Cards !!

First thing that you need to do is have a business card, i would recommend having something innovative, ( for the Pakistani Market ) , they key to success in local marketing is being memorable and having a great impression, what you hand to your client will show how professional you are. so card needs to be attractive in look and feel. do not be cheap when it comes to creating a business card.

Have a website !!

• This step is not really necessary if you already have a good looking blog but the the interest of creating a really good impression i would like to recommend that you take the time to create a professional looking website to showcase all your work.

Get the Word Out !!

• Let your Friend and family know that you have started photography professionally and before you get the word out take some time to create charge sheet for your services. hand out cards to your friends, direct them to your online showcase of your work , start meeting people and getting the word out.

• start posting individual pictures from your blog on your facebook profile showcase your work and define yourself as a photographer in your online social media circle.

Coffee Shop Displays !!

• This is something new i that i would like to share with you. this is an idea that i have not yet seen explored. whenever you go out to your local cafe's and restaurants, initiate a link with them, ask them if they would like to earn additional income from their wall space, when they ask you how, direct them to your blog and original artwork, ask them if they would be interested in creating a better ambiance using your photography. ask them to share on the profits from sales. 

Gallery Displays !!

• Contact your local art galleries and have a showing, create a deal based on share from sales, invite all your friends to the shows and thereby create hype among your friends allowing you to get more and more clients for your work, as well as generating some income through direct sales.

Last Word

I have tried my best to provide the most logical steps of how you can make an income from your Hobby, it is not impossible, and do not think for a moment that you will be wallowing in riches in a few weeks time, this is not a get rich quick manual, this is a get rich eventually manual, to put you on the right track and give you some direction in your life. hopefully my words will serve to guide you and inspire you.

i will be creating successive material. to guide how to make more income, keep checking back to find more updates. you can feel free to email me anytime i would be more than glad to provide you feedback and guide your steps to success

also feel free to look around my blog. you will find my poetry as well as my forays into music, i would really appreciate your feedback on my work .

Thank you for the time you spent
i hope i made a positive impact on your life

Live strong. Live Long

You'rs Sincerely

Waqas Rabbani.

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Problems Making Money ?

Problems Making Money ?

if you are having problems making a good and dependable income and are searching ways to have a higher income, you only need some time and reflection, i wont tell you that reading what i have written will magically provide you with thousands and millions in a few days, that would be a lie, all i can do for you is what was done for me, when i asked the same question, a while ago when i was broke and down on luck.

What's the Solution you Ask !

I have been researching a lot of methods of making income. and the best thing that i found out is that do what you like doing. seeing as though i love writing. the thing that i can do is create a bucketloads of content and make ebooks and publish them online in one place. i think if i am consistent enough someone will come buying, i can promote using social bookmarking and social media websites, and if i optimize my content titles those who are looking for my work will be able to find it easily. but this is just me. what do you think is your niche !!!

The real secret behing thousands in hours !!

see every one of us thinks in the beginning that there is some magical money tree. the holy grail of the uber couch potato.. people want to make something by doing nothing.. and some people are good at that.. it is not a dream.. yes there are people who get hundreds if not thousands just sitting at home.. do you want to know their secret... they were born with huge savings accounts, all the rest of us i think have to make money buy rubbing our noses raw against the grindstones.

dont take me the wrong way, i really dont mean to say that the only way to make money is by doing hard work, not at all, in fact making money is the most easiest thing in the world if you find the thing you like to work in. if not, nose, grindstone, rubbing.

Finding The Niche !!

well took me a long time to realize that i had a gift with the written word. how i got that, ok i will let you in on my secret, when i was young i read a lot of books, started out with comics, then progressed to novels, then even started reading research papers as a past time, i increased my vocabulary tremendously, started reading multiple newspapers and online Ezines, and any and all kinds of publications. and in the 27 years of being alive on the planet earth i spent an ungodly amount of time amassing this store of words in my mind, utimately as it was bound to happen My Cup Runneth over, and i started creating content,

my first foray was poetry and that has been my central passion, comes most easliy to me, so i did that, eventually i progressed to writing training manuals,and other boring official stuff, international correspondance, i usually got jobs in the marketing department, based on the cover letters i used to submit with my Resume, and even then i never knew what i had, the Gift of Gab.

ultimately on a rainy evening in october i took the final plunge and wrote my first story and that got great inital acceptance, someone suggested why dont you make a whole book and sell the damn thing, and then it finally dawned, i spent so much time looking for my golden goose i never realized i myself was the golden goose, and the words i had the ability to create was my golden egg. i am not that different from you. i am a human being. i turned my hobby into a source of income. and you can do the same too.

What's My Niche you ask ?

Well only you can answer that question. wether it's your stamp collection or your model planes, or your ability to create amazing melodies on the guitar, or your comic book collection, there is one defining ability that makes you special. something that makes you unique. and only you can find that special light withing youself. do not think for a moment it is not there, if you have a soul there is that little spark inside you waiting to turn into a flame, something there inside you is waiting at this moment to come to life, to come into being, that first thought that came in your mind reading these words, could that be it ?? could that be your niche ?? yes it could be !!.. all it will take is a little bit of work to bring it to light. allow me to guide your steps.

Some Interesting Ideas..

 Lets try a small experiment. answer the following questions as truthfully as you can


• what kind of food you like ? write it down



• Now that you have selected a type of food, Italian or chinese, or oriental, start listing out the names of the dishes that you have eaten..



• now list out the names of dishes you havent eaten but know about



• ok now select one that you have recently eaten and write down a few ingredients.



• now select one that you dont know and write down a few ingredients.



• go on google and search if you were correct. ignore minor variations.



• if you were this signifies that you have a good knowledge of food.

how can you make money from this ??

• Create a website to rank all restaurants in your city that offer that food. give them reviews. alongwith advertising their restaurant on your website. initiate a joint venture with the restaurants to promote their business through your website. launch an online discount coupon and have the restaurant honor that. in exchange for your marketing service. or any feasible venture. to make your website more attractive offer periodic discounts, launch a youtube cooking channel and link that to your web. women will love that. fix it so that before the video starts an ad plays for the restaurant you are promoting. the more value you give your customers the more you will recieve. in traffic which in turn will offer you the chance of greater ad placement revenue. just an idea !


• make a website with only recipies of new dishes, create new dishes record videos and sell them online..


• write an ebook of recipies and sell that online


• create a blog with your thoughts on various dishes and interviews of various chefs, have an interview of a chef a week. use adsense to monetize your blog, promote your blog by having culinary gatherings, compile the content of your blog and convert it to a book.

these were all ideas off the top of my head. i am sure that by giving some time in reflection you will be able to find better ideas to implement. the 4 most important questions are always what, when, where, why, the last question is how.

dont worry about means, think of the ways, and start walking, all you need to do is walk the path that is already laid out in front of you.

with these words i bid farewell, i hope my words are able to inspire you to action.

Yours Truly Always and Forever

Waqas Rabbani.

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G+ Vs Facebook Vs Online Privacy

Ever since Google + Came out i have been browsing all around and learning more and more and listening to all the gurus of social media and how they percieve google plus to be. there was a huge hate campaign against Mark Zukberg on the initial stages of the decelopment of Google +, a lot of people screamed UNCIRCLCE and a lot of people made issues about the competition that Google + Posed to Facebook.

where do we stand now. it has been a while since the platform came online , i think they suffered a big blog from the rant made by one of the inner circle of develoopers at google who stated that Google does not know platforms and now most recently it hurts the image and positin they came out with , an article by Bradley Horowitz that says Google + is not a social network at all i am forced to believe that the hype has died, the mega campaign to have people jump from the facebook bandwagon to the google + bandwagon has in my opinion failed and quite miserably.

i will not be a hypocrite i was annoyed when facebook launced the news feed above the chat window and i filpped them the digital bird proclaiming that google plus rocked, but over time using both these platforms i have to say there was never a question of google + winning over facebook in regards to taking it's users; although that was not the win that Google + executives were looking for.

 see what this all boils down to is the big Bucks, the advertizing money, and that is where i think google will win in the end, although how big a victory it will be and at what cost to the privacy of the regular user raises a lot of uncomfortable questions.

According to Bradley the whole concept was to link all the services together, and Google + certainly does that, and combined with their search engine they have a tool that is more powerful the web has ever known for mapping consumer trends. imagine all the searches you make from google, being recorded in your name , and you being provided advertisements based on that, essentially the circles concept will work behind the scenes singling you out for products and services based on your search results over time, it would be a great thing and the worst thing ever. depends on what side you look at it from. i personally dont mind the idea of an intelligent search engine that gives me ad's based on things that i search about. it would totally chage the dynamic. and could theoretically provide a more surgical ad placement that facebook can provide.

for me there are two parts of my online life, one that involves all my activity on facebook and my random search and read and research activity on google +, being a consumer of both services, i am forced to conclude that personally i feel more comfortable with facebook for now in sharing my information. i dont know why the idea of my whole search pattern in the hands of google scares me and exites me at the same time. all i know as in the online war for the big advertising bucks, the bulls will lock horns, and we the consumers will have the ultimate reward against the ultimate sacrifice of our Privacy.

i can safely say the platform that can satisfy the need for securty over the sharing of personal information will be the ultimate winner in cyberspace.

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