Bleisure - Where are we, where do we go? - Article on Economic Times

Economic Times (ET) has always been a very key player in the business and investment media space. Never did I dream I will contribute a business / domain article for them. Glad to share that my article on Bleisure - Where are we, where do we go? has gone live on the Hospitality section of ET. The ETHospitalityWorld.com tracks all media outlets focusing on hospitality industry and brings the most relevant and important news & analysis on the industry. It covers whatever matters in the hospitality Industry in India, aggregating news, opinion and analysis on new launches, Mergers & Acquisitions, FDI, Industry Research, Joint Ventures and other business developments. The website gets 25,00,01,070 page views every month. It was a very enriching effort reading up several industry reports, whitepapers and case studies on Statista. And yes special call-out to the marcomms team for their great review, feedback and helping fine-tune the multiple drafts. https://hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/speaking-heads/bleisure-where-are-we-where-do-we-go/75913859

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mmonish_economic-times-et-has-always-been-a-very-activity-6671813186620137472-gf0O

Happy reading, please share your thoughts.

National Technology Day 2020

May 11 is National Technology Day. This day marks the anniversary of Pokhran Nuclear Tests (Operation Shakti) of 1998 and also India's progress in field of science and technology. As part of National Technology Day, got an opportunity to write a very short post on 'technology changes post covid19' for CyberMedia on CIOL.com. CyberMedia group has some very popular brands including Dataquest, PCQuest, Voice&Data, Global Services, DQ Channels, DQ Week, their websites are led by www.CIOL.com, India’s largest technology business website. I strongly feel along with the perspective I shared, few additional perspectives are that Hiring models will change, Real estate contracts especially in the commerical space will change and health records will become part of passports. I enjoyed penning these thoughts in under 24 hours and trying to stick to a 250 word limit. Please read and share your comments on what do you feel will change.

https://www.ciol.com/the-final-surge-towards-the-cloud/

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mmonish_the-final-surge-towards-the-cloud-activity-6665540928037629952-m011

Videos for kids - COVID lockdown lifesaver

Sharing a set of recommendations on videos for kids to help during the COVID lock-down.

These are from youtube and amazon prime and most of them are free.

Categories

Vehicles (age 3-5 years)

High on my list.

Coilbook - https://www.youtube.com/user/coilbook

It has Florence the ambulance, Sergeant Cooper the police car, William Watermore the firefighter truck, Shawn the train and several more. Go for it even the adults will enjoy this.

Super Wings - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLvjR-bH8y_XUqjavoPGgYw

wheel city heroes - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY-BdiQLjzVeZ5PkNIcrTxQ

Peekaboo Kidz - Binocs Show -  https://www.youtube.com/user/Peekaboo

Educational stuff and very easy to understand by kids.

Super Truck - Car City -  https://www.youtube.com/user/LouieMillimages

Tayo the Little Bus - https://www.youtube.com/user/Tayo

Bigfoot Presents: Meteor and the Mighty Monster Trucks -  https://www.youtube.com/user/MeteortheMonsterTrck

Will keep updating this thread as and when I run into new videos

Books for kids - COVID lockdown lifesaver

Sharing a set of recommendations on books for kids to help during the COVID lock-down.

These are from Kindle and especially if you are on Kindle Unlimited, most of them are free.

Categories

Vehicles (age 3-5 years)

Bo the bear builds a Monster Truck

Bo the bear builds a Race Car

Gecko's Garage

The Big Race

Monsty the monster truck stuck in the apple tree.

Nicky is stanced out

Derek and the Triple Crown

Postman and data driven testing

 

Not sure if you have used this, I recently tried this while trying / testing something for my product and it works great.

My need – to have incremental runs of the same test cases / fire the same request, with different data in the request. The data needs to be driven by a CSV file. Didn’t want to write custom java code for this…

Feature Used – Collection Runner of Postman - http://blog.getpostman.com/2014/10/28/using-csv-and-json-files-in-the-postman-collection-runner/

Findings –

· Environmental variables work great within postman

· You can add custom JS code as pre-test steps / post-test steps.

· Recurring runs, with data driven input like CSV files work well with Collection Runner

· You can have results flow from one test case to another and create test flows / sequences.

· You can parse JSON responses and write to Chrome Console, however you need to enable it - http://blog.getpostman.com/2014/01/27/enabling-chrome-developer-tools-inside-postman/ | http://blog.getpostman.com/2016/08/26/the-postman-console/ | https://www.getpostman.com/docs/postman/sending_api_requests/debugging_and_logs

· There is a standalone desktop version with its own console - https://www.getpostman.com/

Outlook Reset Recover missing folders such as deleted and sent

Outlook Reset Recover missing folders such as deleted and sent

 

I started noticed missing folders and it wasn’t easy to recover them.

 

These two links solved my issue, hope this helps.

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2992093 

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb508857(v=exchg.65).aspx 

 

Enjoy.

 

Monish

Jurys First Runner Up award–Photography Contest

Some glad news.

I had officially taken a break from wildlife photography for 18 months. Eagerly waiting for the monsoon to kickstart the season for 2016.

In the meanwhile participated in the ICICI – Privilege Moments photography contest (http://privilegemoments.com/). Naturally in the wildlife category.

Pleasant surprise when they called me and told me that I had won ‘something’ – later the official announcement and the position was announced on their website.

I won the Jury’s First Runner Award. The Jury is below,

The winners page screen shot below - http://privilegemoments.com/winners/

And the winning image is,

 

Hope I make some nicer images this monsoon… wish me luck…

 

PS: The other special mention award that this image won. - http://www.monishmatthias.com/2014/03/saevus-2nd-anniversary-contest-special.html

New Blog Writing Client

For those who have loved Windows Live Writer and frustrated with the lack of updates, upgrades and the recent login (2FA) issue with Blogger.

 

I am trying this new tool called Open Live Writer - http://openlivewriter.org/

So far very smooth. Hope it stays the same.

Monish

Windows Live Writer Login issue with Blogger sovled

 

Solve Windows Live Writer login issue with #blogger -

 

http://ask.mybloggertricks.com/t/step-by-step-guide-how-to-connect-windows-live-writer-with-blogger/1676/9

 

Works for me.

Farm land for your social events, very close to the city in Chennai

Looking for farm land close to the city, looking for a retreat amidst nature, looking for a camp site your search ends here.

 

An extremely suitable location for Corporate Events, Social Functions, HR Revival Camps/ Revamps,Team events, Team bonding activities, Corporate Conclaves, Barbecue cooking etc. in the midst of Chennai city, just 4 Kms behind Chennai International Airport. Located on the side of Adyar River with copious water supply, excellent vegetation of Coconut Trees, Fruit Trees in a village habitat.

Can also help with other supporting arrangements.

Early booking get a 10% discount. Contact us for booking and reservations,

Ascent Farm.
Old No.1/142, New No. 1/271,
Irattai Malai Srinivasan Street,
Vinayaga Nagar, Pozhichalur,
Chennai – 600 074, Tamil Nadu,
India
Mobile:+91 9940247368
Email your detailed requirements to ascentisaiah@gmail.com

What we all wished for - Seamlessly share content between phones, windows and tablets

 

What we all wished for - Seamlessly share content between phones, windows and tablets…

 

How many times have we had to send emails to ourselves with links, files and content, just to access them easily between devices.

 

Here is the app that is aiming to solve it and it is pretty neat.

 

Article: http://lifehacker.com/pushbullet-now-syncs-clipboard-content-between-android-1624419562 

Android App - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pushbullet.android

Chrome Extension - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pushbullet/chlffgpmiacpedhhbkiomidkjlcfhogd?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon

Chrome Extension Settings - chrome-extension://chlffgpmiacpedhhbkiomidkjlcfhogd/options.html#advanced 

 

What do you think? Any other app’s that you would recommend???

 

Monish

Cover Image of a Novel

Great news coming up.

The Lotus and the Storm - A Novel by Lan Cao and published by Viking / Penguin Books. The book was released on August 14th in a worldwide release.

So what's the great news…

The cover image of the book, a novel is an image shot by me. The lotus candle was bought in Sri Lanka and gifted to Anu. And the photograph was made during a electricity less night in JP Nagar battling boredom, sweating buckets and swatting mosquitoes as well ( with the folded newspaper bundles - the days of no inverter and generators).

Penguin books, USA found this image as a compelling image to complement the great novel by Lan Cao.

 

 

A cover image of a novel by a great publisher - tick.

And yes find a mention on wikipedia as well – tick.

 

Here is the image,

 

http://www.penguin.com/book/the-lotus-and-the-storm-by-lan-cao/9780670016921

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lotus-Storm-A-Novel/dp/0670016926

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lotus_and_the_Storm

(Updated) Wireless Movie Display, Google Chromecast and Media Servers (Updated)

 

Have always had the problem of wirelessly transferring video from my laptop to my TV. In the past have used wired cables and viola the laptop becomes a captive until the movie ends.

Recently read about the Google Chromecast and had a chance to buy one, BTW it is available on Amazon India website - http://www.amazon.in/Google-Chromecast-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00DR0PDNE/

 

Really loved the ease of setup via the laptop and the android phone. Easy to cast from the chrome browser and from apps such as youtube etc.

Right now there aren’t options for screen mirroring, but with the SDK being open to all, guess it is a matter of time before we see some innovative cool games and apps being rolled out.

Also for local media server I am running the Plex Media server and it is quite awesome - https://plex.tv/ 

 

 

 

Update:
Chromecast has added support to cast entire screen - still in beta stage http://allaboutchromecast.com/chromecast-how-to-guide/how-to-use-chromecast-to-share-desktop-screen-and-audio-to-tv/

Some Android apps which are nice to use with Chromecast,

Google Photowall

Plex

All Cast

Jamo (ios)

Rube

Dayframe (Chromecast Photos)

 

Chrome Browser App

1) Videostream for Google Chromecast™ - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/videostream-for-google-ch/cnciopoikihiagdjbjpnocolokfelagl?hl=en To stream several file formats to the chromecast.

Team Outings Around Bangalore

If you have exhausted all the usual team outing places in Bangalore and have visited - http://minmaxmim.blogspot.in/2010/12/places-around-bangalore.html

 

Here are few options which we explored and they seemed very good,

1) http://www.thrillophilia.com/ 
http://www.thrillophilia.com/tours/royal-orchid-team-outing 

http://www.thrillophilia.com/tours/team-outing-at-savandurga

http://www.thrillophilia.com/tours/manchinbele-tour

And they have few options at Bheemeshwari Fishing camp and Kolar Cave exploration.

2) This option was also very good,

http://extremezoneindia.com/camping-a-paintball/manchinbele-bangalore.html 

3) Play – Sarjapur

http://www.playarena.in/

4) Gopalan International School – Hoodi Junction / Whitefield – for indoor cricket / football facilities

 

Finally we ended up at Play and I personally loved it,

Must do activities include,

1) Laser Tag

2) Rifle Shooting

3) Quad Bike

4) Segway

5) Flight Simulator

6) Cricket in closed turf area

7) Beach Volleyball

There are at least 10 other activities, the place is well maintained, the equipment is good. And to top it off the pricing is economical. Buffet lunch at the extreme sports bar was good.

Overall a must visit place and repeat place.

Here is the map,

Google Cached Results

How many times have you wanted to refer to some information on a page but the web editor changed them on the fly.

Or the page you want to see is not available, restricted etc.

Here is the solution,

 

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://example.com/

 

Replace the end URL in this case http://example.com/ with the URL that you want to monitor.

 

And a guide if you want to read more - http://www.googleguide.com/cached_pages.html

 

India Post–Good Service

Why pay hefty charges to private courier services when the government based India Post does such a good job. Very good service at the counter, super cheap charges. Their complaint resolution is also super professional / fast. However the one disadvantage that I see is the tracking website of India Post is very slow in getting updated, for which I have a workaround for currently the USA.

 

I have been sending registered post’s to the USA and they have been reaching on time and safe.

 

 

Tracking postal mails sent via India post - http://www.indiapost.gov.in/tracking.aspx 

 

Even after 30 days sometime the tracking will show as in progress but in reality they have reached the destination.

Work around – go to https://www.usps.com/ and enter the registered post tracking number and voila you can see the latest update on details of your registered postal mail.

 

Complain to get India Post to investigate - http://ccc.cept.gov.in/PCData.aspx 

Location details of your nearest post office - http://www.indiapost.gov.in/Pin/pinsearch.aspx 

 

Overall I am starting to love government offices and their services. Is it just me ?

Link your AADHAAR number with your Gas and Certain Bank Accounts

 

Link your Unique 12 digit AADHAAR number
with your Personal Identification Documents* or Benefit Cards*

*Personal identification Document or Benefit Cards such as:
Scholarships
Pension ID
MNREGA Job Card
LPG Consumer ID
Other such similar identity documents with residents of India.

https://rasf.uidai.gov.in/seeding/User/ResidentSplash.aspx

 

 

Hope this helps.

Tech Update : Multi Browser Testing Options

We have evaluated the following options for Multi Browser Testing with more focus on IE but covers 200 other browser versions.

1)

Freeware : Used in the past
http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
Can test up to IE 10. Currently lots of open bugs which can affect production level applications.

Recommendation: Can ignore for enterprise / production level applications.

2)

Browser based (paid subscriptions) : Completed a demo test and recorded the video.
http://www.browserstack.com/
https://www.browserstack.com/pricing
Can test every single browser available and mobile / tablet platforms as well. 

Recommendation: Good for an enterprise license as we have test capability for multiple OS, multiple browser versions and covers website + mobile + tablets. But paid.

3)

Microsoft’s solution by giving free VM installable’ s 

http://www.modern.ie
User guide and release notes - https://modernievirt.blob.core.windows.net/vhd/virtualmachine_instructions_2013-07-22.pdf

Works on Virtualization principle and apparently can be a VM on a VM. While there are around 5 virtualization solutions (Hyper V, Virtual PC, VMWare, Virtual Box & Parallels). I have completed the test with Microsoft’s Virtual PC.

Virtual PC - http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=3702

I tested running windows XP and IE 6 on my laptop and was able to browse through and run the test successfully.

Recommendation: The BEST for testing IE versions on different OS flavors available today, free and easy to set up and run. 

Android App Update : Dongle Controls

Ever upset why can’t Android especially the stock version have more widgets, more dongles, more control. As the stock version is closest to the OS, even the nexus series have the most boring and non functional dongles.

 

Searched for a Dongle to switch phone internet, to switch between 2G & 3G, to completely close location property, to have torch etc etc etc.

A highly regarded app is Power Toggles

http://www.powertoggles.com/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.painless.pc

 

Control your laptop from smart phones

Want to run presentations, control your media player, use your ph’s touch screen as a mouse, type from your ph and several other features / in built remotes.

Currently available for Android and Windows app store, coming soon to Apple store.

What is Unified Remote ? - http://www.unifiedremote.com/overview

Website - http://www.unifiedremote.com/

Features - http://www.unifiedremote.com/features

Windows machine server - http://www.unifiedremote.com/download

Android App Store for client - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Relmtech.Remote

 

 

I use it and I love it. Go ahead and have fun…