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Tumblr - A Faster and More Organised Method of Sharing Content


TL;DR Version: Follow my new Tumblr blog at www.abhiroopbasu.com.

Almost exactly a year ago today, I set-up my Posterous blog. At the time I felt as though my needs were not being served by Twitter or Facebook. The former limited my poetic voice and the latter was not an ideal medium for sharing interesting content with anecdotes. In any event I felt that I wanted a central source for all my content. Anyway, over time I just stopped using the service because it was too much of a hassle to maintain yet another social media platform.

Recently, I have started sharing a lot of content and most of the time I am unsure whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, or somewhere else. Additionally, if I share something on Facebook or Twitter it becomes harder to find later on. Hence, once again I wanted to have a centralised location for all my “shared” content.

To this end I started a new Tumblr blog at www.abhiroopbasu.com. TechComet still remains the primary blog for all my long-form articles and opinions, however, I have actively started using Tumblr for sharing links, videos, quotes, images, and all sorts of other quick bites.

I have been sharing content on Tumblr for the past few months and one of my most recent posts was a live blog of the 2011 Wimbledon Men's Final, which Djokovic won confidentially.
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I WON the Noise to Signal Caption Contest


Exactly a month ago I entered the Noise to Signal caption contest with the caption:
When Biz Stone called to say he would have me picked up, I assumed he meant a limo.


I entered the contest through the dedicated Facebook app on the N2S Facebook page and earlier this morning I was notified by @RobCottingham himself that I had won the competition!

As someone mentioned perhaps I should have put @biz instead of "Biz Stone".

Thanks to @RobCottingham and Noise to Singal.
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How Not To Pitch For VC Funding


Every entrepreneur needs to obtain funding for their project. However, a buzzword-laden product pitch is usually not the ideal way to make a good impression.



Source: Mashable
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Facebook Profiles - An Alternative To The Wayback Machine


I was alerted today to an interesting archival project taking place on Facebook.

The Singapore General Election 2011 came to an end in the early hours of Sunday, May 8 2011 when the results for the last constituency was revealed. From nomination day, which was held on April 27, till the votes were cast there was an abundance of political commentary flooding my Facebook news feed. Everyone and their non-voting friend had become an armchair political pundit during this brief period.

To capture this moment in time the architects of the Facebook Archiving GE2011 project aim to collect (not analyse) all your Facebook comments, wall posts, notes and other data created during this period. Their means of doing so are explained in a detailed note and the method is striking for its simplicity. All you have to do is save your Facebook profile as a webpage and mail it to their dedicated email address.

This project raises a number of interesting questions which arise out of using Facebook as a means of data archival. Firstly, the issue of data portability permeates the project as there is no clear method of collecting the information. Secondly, the use of Facebook as a tool for political commentary is an interesting notion in itself. Finally, the relevance of archival itself is questionable.

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Unplugged


In a connected world what happens when you have to unplug?

Many GTD experts have pontificated on the benefits of switching off. Is that really what it should take for us to find ourselves or at least feel as though we were connected to the rest of the world? By disconnecting ourselves?

Your life is your own. Rise up and live it. 
-- Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen)
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Soundstage Replicates the Sounds of Warfare


Is it ever possible to simulate what a battlefield feels like? Steven Grant of the Missouri University of Science and Technology has attempted to do so by building a soundstage that accurately recreates the sounds of warfare.


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There is a World Outside the United States of America


A couple of days ago I was chatting with my Android Police colleagues on HipChat when one of the contributors gasped that the "music.google.com" page was LIVE!

To the uninitiate Google has recently announced that they will be creating an online music market/storage platform for users to buy music and store their already purchased music. Details on the exact workings of this new service are light, however early previews appear to be positive.

Read the multitude of (p)reviews of the service if you are interested. Frankly, I am not. I lost interest a couple of minutes after trying use the service. Since I wasn't located in the grand ol' US of A, I was blocked from even registering.

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Watches Are No Longer Obsolete


With smartphones becoming ubiquitous fewer people choose to wear watches. The sole purpose of a watch is to tell the time, and if there is an equally capable device of doing so already on your person the usefulness of wearing a redundant gadget diminishes. In fact for most people today wearing a watch is merely a fashion statement.

Not so, says Fossil the creators of the Metawatch. No longer will the watch be a footnote in the annals of tech history.
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Parag Khanna Redraws the World [TED Talk]


TED Talks are an inspiring way to pass the lunching hour, and this time it was no different. I treated myself to an interesting talk by author and geopolitical expert Parag Khanna.


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Noise to Signal - Caption Contest


I am a big fan of Rob Cottingham's Noise to Signal cartoons and today I noticed he was having a caption contest for the following cartoon:


Being a bit of a literary wizard I decided to submit an entry of my own:
When Biz Stone called to say he would have me picked up, I assumed he meant a limo.
Unfortunately, only one entry per person was allowed, no matter I just dropped Rob an email with some of my other ideas.

  • "I promise not to build any more third-party Twitter clients"
  • "Is this company owned or leased by the hour?"
  • "“Axis of Awesome weren’t kidding about the birdplane”
  • “Of all the times to get the fail whale”
  • “Sesame street called, they want their big bird back. Next time don’t paint it blue”

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Are Social Media Experts Relevant?



The 2010 BrandZ report outlines the usefulness and impact social media tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, can have on a marketing campaign.

Excerpt:
Clients today don’t want their agency’s presentations to open predictably with a TV campaign. TV remains central to the mix, but clients also are looking for something that even the “Mad Men” of only a few years ago couldn’t contemplate—social media.
Integrated, multi-media campaigns must include impact on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and with smartphone apps or any other digital media that individuals use to connect.
Delivering on this expectation requires some wizardry, however, because of the revolutionary and dislocating impact that social media has had on the protocols and manners of traditional communication. Speed limits, access barriers and language inhibitions have been lifted. Passion and genuine expression are in; caution and circumlocution are out. The result is the purest anarchy or democracy or both.
See pages 22 to 29 of the report.

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Contributor for Android Police


ap

With exams, holidays and a whole bunch of other stuff I had forgotten to mention that I had started contributing on Android Police.

Android Police is a web blog dedicated to everything related to Android, including the latest Android news, tips, tricks, tutorials, videos, and podcasts, reviewing devices, apps, and games, and keeping track of custom ROMs and hacks.

I am blogging quite frequently on AP, so check it out!

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