Andorid vs iOS – Fight of the giants

All of us are faced with choices in our daily lives some are small choices and some are grave ones. One grave one that each of us face today is with regard to which mobile handset to pickup – To be a Apple loyalist or to venture in the exciting word of android..

Yes I am serious and the choice is that important. Although there are a number of parameters that make me feel that this comparison itself is not fair as it is almost like comparing apples to oranges but then again if you look around you the choice of Android vs iOS is one of the most talked about topics.

I have taken my own stab at the situation and this is my analysis:

Why should you buy iOS – Apple has been and probably wi8ll be the stalwart when it comes ot quality of construction and ease of use. If Apple has done nothing right they have still been able to integrate the Iphone experience seamlessly into millions of lives. Most of pals whom have an Iphone say that they do not use it because of numerous benefits but simply because they do not see how they can use any other mobile once they have hands their hands on Apple. So iOS is all about the seamless integration and less about fancy features it is for people whom do not have the time or sometimes patience to explore and enjoy sometime with their cell phone !!

Why should you buy Android – I am myself an Android users and would try my best to keep the prejudice towards Android out of this article!! For me Android platform as always been about freedom and the opportunity to make your phone do exciting things without investing a fortune to buy apps as one would need form the Apple appstore. Android is a multitenant OS and is full of fancy and complex options but once you get a taste of the freedom it offers right from Bluetooth file transfers to monitoring and changing your CPU usage after tooting is truly endless. I can see the appeal that iOS has but will never give up my freedom as a cell phone user that I get with Android.

Search Engine Optimization – Do you how they work?

Not a day goes by when I do not receive an email about an individual or an organization working towards the next strategic breakthrough towards “Search Engine Optimization”.

I grew curious about what all is the noise about and decided to venture in unexplored waters. This is what I did find about Search Engine optimization and how to achieve the same…

SEO Factors Work In Combination

There is no single SEO factor that can guarantee search engine rankings. You may have a great hTML title but crappy content. One may embed many links in a search engine but if they are all low in quality.

On The Page Ranking Factors

These are ranking factors that are entirely within the publisher’s control. Deciding on the type of content you publish? Do you have the ability to provide important HTML clues that help search engines (and users) determine relevancy? Does your site architecture help or hinder search engines?

Off The Page Ranking Factors

These are the ones that the publishers do not directly control. Search engines use these because they learned early on that relying on publisher controlled signals alone didn’t always yield the best results.

With billions of web pages to sort through, looking only at ‘on the page’ clues isn’t enough. More signals are needed to return the best pages for any particular search.

SEO Violations & Ranking Penalties

One thing is clear search engines want people to perform SEO because it can help improve their search results. Typically Search engines would provide help in the form of guidelines, blog posts and videos to encourage specific SEO techniques.

However, some techniques by search engines can be called “spam” or “black hat”, which could result in your pages receiving a ranking penalty or, worse, being banned from the search engines entirely.

Violations are generally tactics meant to deceive or manipulate a search engine’s understanding of a site’s true relevancy and authority.

Although there is a lot more to talk about when it comes to Search engine optimization I believe that before charting into unknown territories the least one can do is to arm him with the right information. One thing is for certain as the amount of information flowing all around us increases the dire need to make sense of that information and filter it down to the required set will be a paramount task.

Facebook – Time to detoxify..

As I sit around looking at my friend list in facebook I cannot help but wonder who are all these people. I stress hard trying to push my already tired brain further to squeeze out when I met these individuals. After a while I realized that I really do not know these people I just know of them. Sounds strange right.. There is a clear difference. Take a minute and look at your facebook friend list and count how many people have you met in the real world and soon my misery would dawn on you as well. I am not sure when and why but facebook has turned from a platform to make new friends and connections to collecting crap. Refusing anyone’s facebook friend request is regarded nothing less than a hate crime and it would not take long before you have hundreds or even thousands of facebook friends with no essence of the word friend in them. 

There are other interesting problems that come bundled with having so many friends. Instead of accessing facebook to post something, upload my picture or read a message I end up spending countless hours reading through piles of junk that my “friends” have posted. The topics are most fascinating ranging from children diaper rash to airplane models for your drawing room. I will not pretend to think that I have a sane way to organize my facebook friends into real friends and acquaintances neither am I brave to fight against the huge notification gladiator in facebook to stop getting all the spam mail I get. I am going to do the right thing – “Unfriend” . Yes you heard it right I am risking it all but I really cannot help it. I do not dislike you at all it is just that I do not know you enough to begin to like you and then transition to a real friend and while there is a chance of that happening I am not counting on that!!. 

I believe that it is time we detoxify our social networks to make an attempt to go back to the sole reason why we registered with them in the first place. I know that after this article I will see a lot of angry facebook posts about me as well as a few fans sharing my write-up with their disapproval ratings. What can I say “A man has got to do what a man has got to do…”:

First steps is always difficult

Have you come across a situation where you feel that your need to participate is outweighed by the fear of failure. 

I believe all of us come across such situations where we realize the rewards to be reaped if we take a step forward face the challenge head one whether it is a Client presentation at office or a difficult task/decision at him. At the same time we feel almost paralyzed by the pressure to perform and succeed and very often let the opportunity slip away as we feel that we are not up to it.

My life experiences and the years spent in the IT industry has taught me one thing “You are always up to it”. It is only a matter of overcoming the fear/ nervousness /anxiousness surrounding a challenge at hand. Of-course this is easier said than done and any of us can recall the anxiety while we are sitting in audience gathering the courage to raise the hand.

“Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is startled, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance.”

- Robert Collier (American author of self-help, and New Thought metaphysical books in the 20th century)

What is that feeling??

Recently I was shooting a video to promote an organizational event and had a recurring experience. While I sat waiting for my turn to face the camera and was trying to phrase my sentences in my mind I felt my mouth go dry and my heart pounding. 

What really worried me was not this feeling but rather a self-assumed fact that since I have done this several times I should not be anxious any longer. As I sat with my mind racing to recollect all similar occasions where I have faced the camera or addressed a large group to convince myself it is going to be alright, I had an epiphany.

Maybe this feeling of anxiousness is actually a blessing in disguise.

If you take a moment and think about it one would realize that being anxious before a critical meeting or when presenting to a large audience is something we all would have experienced. What we seldom fail to realize that being anxious is not a sign of weakness but actually an indicator of the fact that you really value the task at hand and hence are concerned about giving a solid performance.

I actually fear the day when I would not be anxious going into a meeting, while giving a presentation, addressing a large group because it would be an indicator of the fact that “I do not value the task at hand as much as I should”. While seasoned speakers would tell you that stage or camera fright gets better with experience they also mention that some form of anxiousness before attempting a critical task is nothing but natural.

Remember that being anxious is nothing more but your mind reminding you that you have to give your best. Take a deep breath, go in with a positive attitude and get the job done !!

If I ever completely lost my nervousness I would be frightened half to death.

Paul Lynde ~ An American comedian and actor.

Lower the Defense Shield

Are you aware that there is a Defense shield around us that is enabled at all times and protects us constantly from Constructive criticism, Peer feedback and any kind of Good advice for our future endeavors?

As you might have figured out by now I am talking about our “Defensive behavior pattern” when it comes to taking feedback from our peers, leads, managers and senior management so that our actions and endeavor are in line with the firm’s vision and policies. It is always an uphill battle to control one’s “Defense Shield” as it pretty much behaves as an evil twin trying to hit any piece of advice or feedback that comes my way out of the park.

Consider a situation, One your peers comes up to you and starts to talk about how you could have handled a Client call in a better manner or how your deliverable had a major bug. More often than not within a few minutes of the initiation of this dialogue we close down our audio channels and mind to receive any part of such feedback and raise our shields fueled by ego, pride, superiority complex and other forms of fuel that stops us from accepting that more often than not each of us could be less than perfect and the feedback coming our way is just what we need to get back in line.

Over the years I have realized that one has to “Lower the defense Shield” as this works contrary to our belief and ends up just pushing us two steps backwards in the task at hand. By not accepting any form of feedback we limit ourselves to our very own cocoon and end up being left behind in the race to professional and personal growth. This does not just apply to workplace environment but applies to our home as well. Any of us can think of countless instances where we have refused a good piece of advice/ feedback coming from our parents, spouse or even our kids.

What does this behavior result in ??

An initial feeling of winning a self-waged war followed by a defeat in our endeavors and finally one’s mind would be clouded by feelings of sadness, anger and self-contempt on the inability to listen and understand what was the correct path all along.

This idea was wonderfully put in words by one of Senior leaders in my workplace.

“Do not let your short term ego come in the way of your long term career”.