Management, Marketing, Events, Leadership, Fun and some Useless Stuff...

Wind Turbines for better crops

2012-01-09T07:05:00.000-06:00

Wind turbines not only generate free energy, they also divert more CO₂ toward crops and result in highly productive crops. Read more:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/12/111219-wind-turbines-help-crops-on-farms/?fb_ref=.TwYe_oUTEwY.like&fb_source=timeline

Politicians are never wrong

2012-01-09T06:42:00.003-06:00

"Two elements of successful leadership: a willingness to be wrong and an eagerness to admit it." - Seth Godin

Nawaz Sharif & Asif Ali Zardari (L to R)

Above title and quotes are extracted from Seth Godin's very interesting post about admitting mistakes. Click the link below to learn more:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/01/i-was-wrong.html.

Biggest achievements of General Pervez Musharraf

2012-01-07T03:44:00.000-06:00

Pakistan economy and business, unfortunately grows and flourish during the tenure of military dictators. However, they have some institutional weaknesses that probably come from their training. They are completely incapable of handling many sensitive issues with the required maturity, diplomacy and consensus. Judicial crisis and Lal Masjid operation are two best examples of why we should keep army away from ruling the country. All military persons needs to be trained to have the courage to admit mistakes and challenge the wrong decisions of superiors

Did Allama Iqbal really support Two Nation Theory - TNT ?

2012-01-06T04:02:00.001-06:00

اس دور میں مے اور ہے ، جام اور ہے جم اور
ساقی نے بنا کی روشِ لُطف و ستم اور
مسلم نے بھی تعمیر کیا اپنا حرم اور
تہذیب کے آزر نے ترشوائے صنم اور

ان تازہ خداؤں میں بڑا سب سے وطن ہے
جو پیرہن اس کا ہے ، وہ مذہب کا کفن ہے
یہ بت کہ تراشیدہء تہذیبِ نوی ہے
غارت گرِ کاشانہء دینِ نبَویؐ ہے

بازو ترا توحید کی قوت سے قوی ہے
اسلام ترا دیس ہے ، تو مصطفویؐ ہے
نظّارہء دیرینہ زمانے کو دکھا دے
اے مصطفوی خاک میں اس بت کو ملا دے!

ہو قید مقامی تو نتیجہ ہے تباہی
رہ بحر میں آزاد وطن صورت ماہی
ہے ترک وطن سنت محبوب الٰہی
دے تو بھی نبوت کی صداقت پہ گواہی

گفتار سیاست میں وطن اور ہی کچھ ہے
ارشاد نبوت میں وطن اور ہی کچھ ہے

اقوام جہاں میں ہے رقابت تو اسی سے
تسخیر ہے مقصود تجارت تو اسی سے
خالی ہے صداقت سے سیاست تو اسی سے
کمزور کا گھر ہوتا ہے غارت تو اسی سے
اقوام میں مخلوق خدا بٹتی ہے اس سے
قومیت اسلام کی جڑ کٹتی ہے اس سے

Radical Ideas about Managing People

2012-01-06T03:43:00.000-06:00

Majority of Senior Leaders and Human Resource Executive will reject following ideas as senseless and not achievable. However, these innovative and disruptive ideas are successfully implemented in some companies and help those companies attract the best talent and keep the engagement levels high.

1. Give Your Employees Unlimited Vacation Days

Red Frog Events allows its employees unlimited vacation days. According to Joe Reynolds:

"Through building a company on accountability, mutual respect, and teamwork, we've seen our unlimited vacation day policy have tremendous results for our employees' personal development and for productivity. There. I said it. I think Red Frog is more productive by giving unlimited vacation days."

2. First, Let's Fire All the Managers

Self management is the exact opposite of bureaucracy, and bureaucracy means a large number of people hired on high budgets only to make sure other people produce results. According to Gary Hamel

"Management is the least efficient activity in your organization."

"A related problem is that the most powerful managers are the ones furthest from frontline realities. All too often, decisions made on an Olympian peak prove to be unworkable on the ground."

"Wouldn’t it be great if we could achieve high levels of coordination without a supervisory superstructure? Wouldn’t it be terrific if we could get the freedom and flexibility of an open market with the control and coordination of a tightly knit hierarchy? If only we could manage without managers"

Morning Star is the success story mentioned in this article. Over the past 20 years, Morning Star’s volumes, revenues, and profits have grown at a double-digit clip, claims Rufer. Industry growth, by contrast, has averaged 1% a year. As a private company, Morning Star doesn’t share its financial results, but I was told that the company has funded virtually all its growth from internal sources, which suggests it is robustly profitable. On the basis of its own benchmarking data, Morning Star believes it is the world’s most efficient tomato processor.

3. The Case for a Four-Day Work Week

"How much more innovative and exciting would your business be if every single team member spent one full day each week devoted to research? What insights, new ideas and energy would be pumped into your business?"

"In our case, Thursday nights after work become an even bigger chance for team socialization and fun. This also seems to be vital to retention rates. A recent study indicated the No. 1 reason for a person not to change jobs is based upon having a close friend at the same company. Sort of makes sense, right?"

PTI plans to deal with energy crisis - by Dr. Farid Malik

2012-01-05T07:59:00.000-06:00

Dr. Farid A. Malik, PTI spokesperson on Science & Technology, in this video, stresses that the coal is the only feasible solution to deal with the energy crisis faced by Pakistan. He also claims to start digging coal within 60 days of PTI getting into power.

A good thing to note about this video is that PTI has a Science and Technology division and watching someone from the original PTI team speaking on the media. PTI should have brought similar unknown people forward and should have tried to present them to mainstream media instead of recruiting rejected heavy weights from other corrupt political parties. The only reasonable heavy weight they have secured so far appears to be Javed Hashmi though.

Rajnikanth's super duper popularity on Facebook

2012-01-05T06:16:00.000-06:00

Check how popular Rajnikanth, the super duper hero of South Indian Movies, is on Facebook

Why not have a dictator?

2012-01-04T08:30:00.000-06:00

This chart shows how democracy has screwed up the economy of Pakistan in several decades. The GDP growth rate during Zia ul Haq era is specially remarkable considering the negative impact of Bhutto's senseless Nationalization that still keeps the major businessmen from investing appropriately in the country and has encouraged formation of cartels.

Inflation rise figures in PPP Government from 2007 to 2011

2012-01-04T06:35:00.004-06:00

These are the inflation figures someone posted on Facebook today. Some of these figures look exaggerated while the person who posted the chart claims that it represents the average prices throughout Pakistan.

I have just verified the prices of CNG at the end of 2007 & 2011 in Karachi to be Rs. 33.50 and Rs. 70 which is over a 100% increase.

The truth, however, is that inflation has increased at a far higher rate than the income of lower and middle class while the feudal landlords have made a lot this year due to better crops. This change in inflation also requires changes in Income Tax rates since the value of money has decreased.

Another bitter truth is that CNG is still not available readily at the inflated prices and many analysts attribute this gas shortage to profits of the oil companies rather than the real shortage. As a matter of fact, Government earned around Rs. 250 billion last year from GST and levy on petrol.

References:
http://archives.dawn.com/2008/03/21/ebr1.htm
http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/01/zardari-orders-review-on-petroleum-price-hike.html

US lawmakers target Pakistan aid, Iran central bank

2012-01-02T08:09:00.000-06:00

This is the title of a news story published in Dawn on December 14th, 2011. I just wish they stay true to their words and stop every single dollar of aid to Pakistan. They should also pass some legislation to recover the previous aid from the Swiss bank accounts of all Pakistani politicians.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/14/us-lawmakers-target-pakistan-aid-iran-central-bank.html

Indian Social Entrepreneurs into Clean Energy

2011-12-29T04:32:00.000-06:00

I was inspired by an article by Esha Chabbra published on inc.com today . This is another of the remarkable achievement by our Indian friends with a vision to grow and support the under-served and low income population of India. This is also an example for Pakistani businessmen and entrepreneurs to learn and execute in this way to deal with the current energy crisis.

Unfortunately, no political party in Pakistan talks about clean/alternative energy or environment or even have thought about setting up a committee or division to look into these important issues that actually matter for the masses.

Simpa Networks, is a Karnataka based Solar Energy provider started by Microsoft ex-employee and social entrepreneur, Paul Needham in 2010. Simpa builds solar electricity systems that range from $150 to $450 (approx 13,000 to 40,000 Pakistani rupees, with special thanks to current democratic leadership), which is not affordable to be paid by their target market in one bill. Therefore, Simpa has created a installment payment model that not only pays for the consumed electricity but also towards the system ownership. As soon as the system is completely owned by the consumer, which usually exceeds a year, the electricity becomes free.

The equipment also comes with a micro-controller to disable the unit if the bills are not timely paid by the consumers. Following pictures are taken from the website of Simpa Networks of an installation in the home of a cricket bat producer in rural India.

Inspired from: Navigating the Developing-Nation Solar Boom

Imran Khan & Javed Hashmi

2011-12-28T03:00:00.001-06:00

Imran Khan, Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto

2011-12-27T12:33:00.000-06:00

Here are some popular pics captured from Facebook:

Asif Zardari giving Sharjah Cup to Imran Khan over 20 years back from now

Zaradari angry about Bilawal's Facebook Status

Senior .NET Software Engineers required at Constellation Software

2011-11-22T07:56:00.001-06:00

Majiq Inc., a division of Constellation Software Inc., is looking to add Senior .NET Software Engineers to its team at the Karachi/Contour office.

SSEs work under the close supervision, guidance and direction of product engineering managers in developing OLTP applications, including framework and user interfaces. Our main product is an n-tier, enterprise-level, international Sales Order Processing and Manufacturing system for the pulp and paper industry running on the .Net platform. We are a process driven group using model and test driven development processes, including agile techniques and test driven design. Experience with complex data sets, WinForms, and complex web services experience highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Work under the supervision of the development team in Redmond to assist in the maintenance and extension of a large OLTP application
Troubleshoot, correct, and document software defects reported by internal and external sources
Develop working knowledge of our customers core business and apply this knowledge to the development of software solutions
Follow all established software development processes, practices, and standards set forth by the development team in Redmond

Required Knowledge and Skills

Strong understanding of OOP principles and concepts
5 years experience developing Windows applications in C# or Java and .Net 2.0/3.5/4
5 years experience in analysis, design, development, and testing of complex OLTP applications.
Experience in developing ADO.Net and WinForms based applications.
OOAD, XML, XSD, MS-SQL
Excellent grasp of software development life cycles.
Analytical approach to requirements gathering and problem solving.
Good communication skills, both written and oral.

Preferred Knowledge and Skills

Experience with Oracle RDBMS.
Experience with IIS/ASP.Net.
Experience in developing Windows web services.
Experience with medium to large software development projects.
Experience maintaining and extending software in a manufacturing environment.

Qualifications

BS in Computer Science or equivalent industry experience.
Ability to work in a dynamic team environment.
Strong interpersonal skills and an orientation towards customer satisfaction.

Interested candidates should send their application/resumes to talha.anwer@majiq.com as soon as possible and ensure the vacancy applied for is mentioned in the subject line.

Technical Writer required at Constellation Software

2011-11-21T11:31:00.001-06:00

Constellation Software (Contour Software - Karachi) needs a Technical Writer responsible for writing technical as well as user documentation. The opportunity will expose the individual to an ERP suite being used by hundreds of companies worldwide.

Key Responsibilities

Initial responsibilities will be to work closely with Karachi office developers, to document a new product platform, and all modules written on it.
Future responsibilities may include performing documentation tasks for the core ERP system, and its various modules, for ongoing releases and patches. This will require increasing amounts of interaction with the main R&D team in Canada.

Skills Required

The ability to write technical and end-user product documentation.
Expert-level capabilities in MS Word, and Robo Help.
The ability to learn and explain software in written form - excellent written English capabilities.
Strong verbal communication skills - a great amount of interaction with North American team members will be necessary.
A self-starter attitude

The ability to learn and become an expert on the product will require a self-starter; a person who can take provided materials and input, and work on their own in order to learn an application and industry domain, with minimal supervision.

If you enjoy working in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment and possess the ability to fulfill the specified requirements, this role is a great fit for you! Candidate must have atleast 2 years of experience in same domain.

Interested candidates should send their application/resumes to talha.anwer@majiq.com as soon as possible and ensure the vacancy applied for is mentioned in the subject line.

The Future of e-Learning and Instructional Design

2011-11-09T10:00:00.000-06:00

I am going to share the notes from panel discussion held at The Future of e-Learning and Instructional Design event organized by ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) on October 27, 2011. These notes were sent by Karen Wade to the participants and shared by Ed Sattar with all 360training employees.

Panelists:

Ed Sattar – CEO and President, 360training

Bjorn Billhardt – Founder and CEO, Enspire Learning

Kenneth Dublin – CEO and President, The Learning Pad

Sanjay Nasta – CEO, MicroAssist

Pick one challenge facing us in the field of e learning. What opportunity do you see nestled within that challenge?

Bjorn Billhardt – We live in a time of the next step of how technology will influence the learning field. Interactive and social media are ways in which you can now collaborate with other people. Technology is there before the applications catch up to it. That’s the opportunity – to use this interactive face-to-face media and figure out how to best create learning environments that take advantage of this. The challenge is that there’s always a lot of hype. Separating what actually will work and make people learn from what is not going to work is the challenge.

Sanjay Nasta – I’ll agree with Bjorn. Our customers are getting more and more focused on the business value and effectiveness of learning. Learning for the sake of learning and learning purely for information is dying. I’m a huge proponent of social learning. Also, the availability of learning anytime anywhere. The idea of an eight-hour class, while it will still be around, is going away. I learn from YouTube. I originally come from the software development field. Everyone wanted to make their own accounting program. Quickbooks killed that.

Ken Dublin – Our companies overlap and they each have very distinct end users. The challenge I’m facing as a vocational education institution is the lack of computer skills. My end users haven’t heard of a podcast or wiki. So we can have all of these great tools but if the end user is not able to use the software…there’s an opportunity in training them to use technology. I believe in blended learning for vocational education. Another challenge is making sure the assessments are being taken by the person taking the class.

Ed Sattar – We deal with consumer-based and corporate-based compliance training. The first is realtors, broker, cosmetologists, etc. pursuing some sort of certification. The challenge we see is that there’s a huge margin and price erosion. There’s relentless price pressure from corporate decision-makers to drive the prices down. However, they demand interactivity—moving objects and video, which is very expensive. The other thing is the challenge of demonstrating that elearning leads to behavior change. You can assess if people understand the rules, but does this lead to behavior change? Internationally there’s the ROI issue. In the U.S. that used to be more of an issue than it is now.

Are you seeing more opportunity for e learning in the U.S. or Global companies?

Ken Dublin – From the spam I get from all the companies in India and Brazil, it definitely is global. When you see companies who have a global workforce, you need to provide them with tools. Global Industry Analysis Inc. expects global learning to reach $107.3 billion by 2015.

Ed Sattar – From a compliance perspective, the U.S. will be the main market, due to Sarbanes-Oxley, Medicaid, etc. That will continue to grow. They’re expecting Asia to be the second largest market behind the U.S., surpassing the U.K. I see more opportunities in leadership training vs. compliance training. I was in Manila recently and they wanted leadership training. The reason is that in Asia, educational programs are very focused. You don’t take electives. So you come out of school not very well rounded. You need these leadership training courses to supplement that. Most of the people that run these global companies are ex-pats from the U.S. or Europe. Middle management in global companies is not yet well-groomed.

Are there particular industry sectors where you anticipate greater growth than others for e learning?

Sanjay Nasta – Government’s on the decline for us. Health and energy, even within government agencies, is thriving. We’re doing a lot of training around health awareness. In our particular company, we do a lot with law enforcement, which never seems to dry up.

Bjorn Billhardt – We do a lot of leadership training. Internationally, there’s a huge thirst for leadership training especially China & Indonesia. More and more of our employees are traveling internationally to deliver both in-person training and online training. The brand of American education (i.e. getting a degree) is so powerful still across the world. I’m from Germany and it’s still the case, even there. From a leadership training perspective, the opportunity is where the knowledge workers are. The amount of information they have to process and put to productive use in their field is tremendous, in a much deeper way than it used to be when companies were more hierarchical. You need to understand as a knowledge worker what the company’s goals are and how you can contribute to them. Financial services, technology, the medical field. Soft skills, business skills, communication skills. Those things will continue to grow.

What kinds of skill-sets would you like instructional designers to have?

Bjorn Billhardt - Cross-functional, higher-level thinking skills. There’s of course the product knowledge, which is critical, but above and beyond that, what our clients are looking for is for us to understand their business. Not just the learning objectives but their business objectives and why the HR department was tasked with creating this training. We need to understand what the business is about, what their strategy is about, what the CEO is trying to accomplish. Showing that you have the ability to think on a higher level as to why a course is needed. And then thinking creatively outside of the box.

Ed Sattar – I would definitely second that. Someone who has the mindset of a product manager. Who thinks strategically. Who has the ability to interact with stakeholders and C level executives. Prices are dropping, so the cost of e learning has to drop. A lot of the tactical stuff has to be off-shored. How do we build better tools into our content management system so that even a layman can use them? Also project management skills.

Ken Dublin – Most of the instructional designers I know start out as teachers or trainers. That helps them know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to learning. I’m a proponent of KISS, keep it simple. I’ve seen some instructional designers use open-source software and design fantastic stuff. Don’t break the bank. You can use CamStudio and Skype.

Sanjay Nasta – I’ll agree with Bjorn and add that things are changing so fast…the ability to acquire new information quickly. We want to be able to speak with authority to our clients about how to create a course using instructional design principles, but the technology changes so fast. Flash is dying to HTML5. Instructional designers have to be able to absorb the rate of technology. I think learning is behind in absorbing technology. We are about to start catching up, though. I think the next three years are going to see a rapid change in technology and you have to be flexible.

Bjorn Billhardt – Mindy Jackson is one of the best IDs in Austin if not the U.S. and really delves deeply into people’s background in hiring. Mindy, what are you looking for in talent?

Mindy Jackson – A trans-disciplinary person. Someone who can integrate the learning sciences with the business acumen. Speak the language of business and synthesize a lot of information very quickly. Pull information from many different sources and make sound decisions from this.

With the proliferation of mobile devices, why are we lagging behind in creating mobile courses?

Annette Priest – The cost. The customers are driving the prices down. Right now there is a fractured playing field. When you develop for mobile, you need to develop for different devices and the apps are not consistent. As HTML5 takes off, it will get better, but there will still be differences on different devices. We’re getting to a better place.

Bjorn Billhardt – I don’t think we’ve figured out how to use mobile devices for learning. We have a webinar on our site about mobile learning. There’s a misunderstanding among clients that we can take a two-hour e learning course and transform it easily to mobile.

Annette Priest – Context is really key and is complicated. Who’s using the device? What type of device? Is the environment loud, bright? How much time do they have? Are they being interrupted? This requires a totally different thought process.

Sanjay Nasta – We don’t have an enterprise mobile device yet. Companies are working on that. We need to resolve affordability & infrastructure issues. Intel’s development will help. The government issue is accessibility.

Ed Sattar – There’s a mindset of, “let’s do mobile learning for the sake of mobile learning.” And then there’s the ROI mindset. Then there’s whether there’s a way to apply mobile learning to a company’s objectives.

Laura James (360training.com) - For the compliance industry, a mobile device is useful, because you can be practicing for your exam when you’re waiting in line, etc. It’s great for reinforcement and practice during small chunks of time we have throughout the day. But we do thousands of hours of training a year. Maintaining that on multiple platforms is a huge issue.

Ken Dublin – K-12 students are already doing their homework on their smart phones. Kids have better eyesight than adults.

We’d like to hear your take on IDs doing less technical instructional design and being in more of a consultant role.

Bjorn Billhardt – The Khan Academy is brilliant. Sal Khan explains very complicated subject matter in very easy terms. As the mediums change to more modular quick content and SMEs are becoming more familiar with the medium…it used to be there was very clearly defined “classroom” training. And then Sal Khan comes along with his little screen doodles that are incredibly effective. It goes back to thinking of how an instructional designer can be a consultant to the expert. Bring the expert on-screen.

Laura James (360training.com) – We’re working directly with a lot of SMEs. Some are very good at training, but a lot of them don’t have that background. I’m looking for IDs who are good coaches to help the SMEs be more self-sufficient.

How do you make decisions on the tradeoff of cost versus quality?

Ed Sattar – Compliance training that used to cost the student $139 now costs $39. We decided to do crowd sourcing. We brand our site as an “Amazon” of training and education. We drive traffic leads and call out to trainers and content experts. We syndicate that content with classroom training. That was our counter-strategy. You can upload SCORM content. And we have moderators behind the scenes: our instructional designers. They look at if the course is instructionally sound.

Participant – For vendors like Dell, the development cycle is getting shorter. There’s a question of how to modify the e learning process to keep up with shortening development cycles.

Ed Sattar – Regarding quality, when we’re out there pitching to corporate clients, they say different things. Some need interactivity, some want a barebones course. We’ve created an option for PowerPoint submissions.

Are there new ways to assess proficiency that are more compelling than traditional ways?

Linda Warren – Medical simulators are a good example. They track what you’re doing. In the end, you have output showing what you’ve accomplished. So the assessment isn’t based on a test but how well you’ve done the task.

Where are the credible studies demonstrating that learning actually takes place in an e learning course?

Sanjay Nasta – Can I reframe that? It’s performance taking place.

Linda Warren – We’re a vendor. We create the training and see how it works. Our relationship ends when we deliver the training. It’s up to the client to engage us to do that follow-up study or to do it themselves or with a 3rd party, unless a pilot study with testing is part of the process.

Is there a journal study or citation that tracks the effectiveness of e learning?

Annette Priest – I did some work for the Army and they’ve done research on it. If you dig into the ASTD Yearbook (compilation of studies) I’m sure you can find some more detail. The Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) has that.

Participant – Look particularly at the US marines.

Bjorn Billhardt – The dearth of hard evidence that e learning is truly affecting behavior may relate to the fact that it’s really difficult to measure this. The question is asked more about e learning than classroom training. It’s just as hard to measure it for a day-long lecture or an MBA program as it is for e learning. You have to know what you want to measure first. Maybe it’s more of an art than a science form. When a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) says “this is what I want” to the CEO (say, for a Superbowl ad), there are so many factors going into it. Marketers speak the language of ROI and they understand that you can’t really measure things. CMO’s reframe it in terms of anecdotal trends. You can piece together a preponderance of evidence that a course is effective. They use both credibility and marketing communication.

Looking at the ADDIE model, which part is the easiest to compromise to get the product out there faster/cheaper?

Mindy Jackson – It’s a very important model because it keeps us attuned to the important aspects of designing learning. For the advanced practitioner, once you’ve used that model many times, it helps you in your work. You get a lot from your training partner, and then you have to decide what’s missing that will inhibit the construction of the learning. Sometimes they’ll give you what you need and sometimes they won’t.

What kind of social learning has been effective and what do you see on the horizon?

Sanjay – We run a peer-to-peer group called Elearning Council. It’s a very “try and see what succeeds” structure. It’s very experimental.

Birgit Schultz – At the panel yesterday, they talked about the “control and command” vs. “encourage and engage.” One argument for building social media in is that if you let the learners create content, it may not be accurate. But the rest of the group will mediate that. The outcome of using social media for learning is a more self-reliant individual who will think outside the box and be a more well-rounded employee.

Sanjay Nasta – In social media, people check the facts, which creates a more active and engaged learner. The Horizon Report outlines what they call near-term, mid-term and far-term technologies that will have an impact on learning: mobile, ebooks, augmented reality, game-based, gesture-based computing, and elearning analytics. That’s one place to keep a finger on a pulse of what is changing. Where else can we go to keep a finger on the pulse?

Ken Dublin – Tapping into organizations like ASTD. Other national agencies: salt.org – look under Resources on their site. osalt.com shows all of the commercial software and open-source alternatives. I work with a company is looking at working with using 3D technology/iPhone camera to train employees on physical structures they encounter in the workplace. Other individuals who have been on that spot where the structure is located can add information to the 3D modeling again. This was from salt.org.

Bjorn Billhardt – Our industry is often very myopic. Let’s go outside our industry. TechCrunch and Gigaohm are great sites for looking at technology. A lot of their stuff will fade, but some will stick.

Sanjay Nasta – I’m creating a personal learning network. I have a Twitter group called “Best of Learning.” You can create a flipbook on your iPad of your Twitter feeds.

Laura James – The Elearning Guild. Looking at other fields can add a different perspective. Books on creative writing and storytelling. Demographics, audience, and psychology books. Branching out a little bit and picking out a book from a completely different field.

Ed Sattar – LinkedIn’s Instructional Technology group.

Participant –There’s a saturation of information. [The panelists agreed.]

Karen Wade – Austin ASTD has a group called the Cliff Notes Club. If you want a great reading list, go back on our calendar and look at the books.

What did we miss tonight? What questions we should have asked?

Ken Dublin – What I tell my staff is to be a lifelong learner. As a learning professional, you’re always giving. What are you taking? Always replenish yourself. Take care of yourself and it will keep you creative and thinking out of the box. Be learning other areas so that when one area dries up, you can transfer to another.

Sanjay Nasta – When I go through an airport, I’ll buy a random magazine and get inspired. Yes, entrepreneurs have a nasty habit of looking everywhere (the shiny penny syndrome), but every once in a while it pays off.

How has the competitive landscape changed your business in the last few years?

Bjorn Billhardt – I truly think we’re just at the beginning of this interactive revolution. In 10 years, we will be learning completely differently from how we’re learning today. As learning designers, you cannot relent on thinking, “How can we use this new technology?” Maybe the killer app of mobile learning is using the iPad in the classroom, for instance. Don’t just get enamored with the technology but think about how it can be used to improve learning.

Sanjay Nasta – How people learn about their hobbies is very different from how they learn about their professions. For instance, people use YouTube. There are lessons in that.

Karen Wade – Tonight my big goal was to start a conversation. At ASTD, we have a LinkedIn group, a Yahoo group and we communicate on Twitter. This is our last eLearning SIG for 2011 but we have a great line up for 2012 that you can access on the Austin ASTD events calendar.

Suzette Conway – Use the Twitter hashtag #el2012 to continue this topic. Clay Leben will be editing the video he recorded of tonight’s talk and we’ll be posting it on YouTube.

PS: Taken by Tracy Jones during the event. Not a verbatim transcript.

Web Development Manager required at 360training/Softech Corporation Karachi Office

2011-10-17T10:48:00.000-05:00

360training, karachi office immediately needs a Web Development Manager (WDM) for its Channel Sales and Marketing department. The WDM will be required to manage the team of web developers working on Company’s product websites/ customer portals etc. He/she will be required to analyze the performance of the team while evaluating KPIs and ensuring that all marketing strategies are implemented properly.

Key Responsibilities

Primary responsibility will be to manage the web development team and direct their efforts in regard to the following:
- Portal site maintenance
- Managing the efforts of the Web Dev team and ensuring that they are on time for project ETAs.
- Portal site migration (from other CMS to WordPress)
- Migration efforts in regard to moving from one shopping cart system to another
- Re-skinning entire sites, including the application of style guides.
- Ensuring that campaigns and promotions are constructed properly onto the sites.
Individual KPI scoring for each of the team members.
Work with IT Teams and cart teams to ensure the success of projects

Position requirements

A good knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript
Excellent management skills
- The ability the measure KPI’s
- Time manage your team
- Put into process (or keep) good practices within the team
- Be able to manage expectations by giving accurate ETA’s that can be relied upon
Have a good knowledge of Word Press and understand how to:
- Migrate to Word Press from another CMS
- Apply proper plug-ins
- Properly use databases
- Create and manage page templates
- Manage proper release protocol to insure site integrity
Ensure that proper Google Analytics Tracking code (and other analytics coding) is applied by the dev team.
Ensure that SEO Metadata is properly applied to our sites.
Needs to have experience working on eCommerce sites.
Other useful but not required skills:
- Know the adobe suite
- jQuery
- Ajax

Qualification & Experience required

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science (minimum) + Other areas of study providing similar skill sets and experience considered

Timings: 1200 – 2100 PST (1500 - 0000 Preferred)

This is a full time position with a complete benefits package upon hire. The position offers a base salary with quarterly bonuses, medical and life insurance and paid holidays. Interested candidates should send their application/resumes to talha.anwer@360training.com by October 30th, 2011 and ensure the vacancy applied for is mentioned in the subject line.

Technical Lead required at 360training/Softech Corporation Karachi Office

2011-09-06T05:13:00.000-05:00

360training, karachi office immediately needs a Technical Lead (TL) for its Channel Sales and Marketing department. TL will be required to develop cross browser, standards compliant, high performance websites using modern web development tools and techniques. TL will maintain existing web sites by modifying content and creating new pages. TL will also interact with SEO team to create search engine friendly content and links and will also be responsible to interact with BULS (Business Unit Leaders) for clarification regarding the tasks assigned. TL will collaborate with Austin team members for Release Process as well

Key Responsibilities

Develop and maintain cross browser, standards compliant, high performance websites using modern web development tools and techniques.
Interact with SEO team to create search engine friendly content and links.
Maintain sites developed on any platform like PHP/Wordpress, Classic ASP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion etc.
Create / Modify Wordpress Themes and Templates
Manage web developer(s) and keep track of their performance
Follow Release Process and bring ideas for improvement
Effectively prioritize tasks to enhance results
Provide daily KPI reports

Position requirements

Proficiency in any one programming language including C#, JAVA, PHP, CFML etc.
1+ years’ experience of coding in PHP
3+ years’ experience in coding with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, jQuery and Web2.0
Excellent English writing and conversation skills
Object Oriented Programming & SQL Skills (for MS-SQL & MySQL)
Experience with MVC & ORM Frameworks preferred
1+ years Wordpress development knowledge preferred
1+ years’ experience with offshore development environment preferred
3+ months Experience with ColdFusion preferred

Qualification & Experience required

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science (minimum) and at least 3 years of experience.

Timings: 1200 – 2100 PST (1500 - 0000 Preferred)

This is a full time position with a complete benefits package upon hire. The position offers a base salary with quarterly bonuses, medical and life insurance and paid holidays. Interested candidates should send their application/resumes to talha.anwer@360training.com by September 30th, 2011 and ensure the vacancy applied for is mentioned in the subject line.

Selecting a Durable, Scratch Proof Kitchen Countertop for your Kitchen

2011-05-10T04:53:00.004-05:00

Selecting the most suitable countertop is a crucial activity in kitchen design. You have to consider a lot of factors to decide what is best for your kitchen, which includes cost, durability, maintenance, aesthetics, colors and overall beauty, of course. You can select from a variety of Granite, Stainless Steel, Laminate, Marble and wooden countertops for your kitchen.

These days, in majority of Interior design projects and showrooms in Pakistan like Habitt, you will notice the abundance of attractive laminate countertops available in colors that go very well with the kitchen furniture and design. However, the smooth surface of laminate is made from a plastic-coated synthetic, requires impractically extensive care and is a great burden on your pocket.

In my opinion, Granite gives you the best value for money (reasonable quality and color costs around Rs. 550-600 / sq. feet) and is the most suitable choice due to following reasons:

Tough & Durable

Granite is strong and scratch resistant. You will still admire the beauty of your natural stone five years down the road. You can even have your kids dance on the counter.

No extraordindary care needed

I have literally seen homes that had to built a hidden small kitchen (often called dirty kitchen) to maintain the shine of their laminate countertops and PVC cabinets. Granite countertops, however, can be easily cleaned and maintained. You can cut meat and vegetables on it and put hot items such as griddles, fryers, and oven toaster without fear of leaving leave char marks or burning the surface of your kitchen countertop.

Cost

The cost of Granite is higher than marble. However, you will have to regret after a few months if you select marble to save even Rs. 100/sq feet.

Beauty & Availability

Granite counter tops are naturally beautiful after a good lasting finish. These are available in a variety of patterns and colors, from various shades of popular beige and brown to red, white, green, blue, and black.

That was all about the kitchen design, if you are looking for great website designs, take a look at my website, http://cssexpression.com/gallery

U.S. President Barack Obama killed in Suicide Attack

2011-05-04T05:40:00.004-05:00

LONDON (Wednesday 04/05/2011 04:20pm GMT): US President Barack Obama has been killed in a suicide attack launched using Adobe's Photoshop. This news has shocked the world since the same sophisticated "kill anywhere" technology was used by U.S special forces to kill the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin laden, hiding in Pakistan.

Pentagon is investigating how the technology got into the hands of terrorists. However, one authentic resource on the condition of anonymity told Reuters that the technology was apparently transferred by a US soldier frustrated with Obama Administration policies.

Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, has said that they are looking to shutdown the Internet for two weeks and destroy the suspected hard disks using a virus to prevent similar assassinations.

US Senate has demanded the trial of Adobe CEO, Shantanu Narayen, who was also selected to serve for President's Management Advisory Board, for creating this deadly weapon and not adapting necessary precautions to avoid it's abuse by terrorists. Shantanu, however, has commented that he was totally unaware that his software could be used for counter terrorism activities and he deserves appreciation for that. He said those responsible for training terrorists on photoshop should be blamed instead of Adobe. Adobe also plans on releasing a photoshop update to identify the images of high profile figures to avoid bloodshed.

President of Pakistan, Mr. Zardari told media that he had indicated to Obama to avoid being photographed a couple years back since he had found crucial evidence about terrorists learning Photoshop.

News Update (6:00 pm GMT): Pentagon has issued a statement that Mr. Obama is well and alive and the news of his assassination is fake. However, Tehrik Taliban Pakistan has claimed the responsibility of the attack and mentioned they had buried the original president Obama into pieces according to his family traditions and replaced their own trained person as Obama just after first Photoshop attack on Osama bin laden. Michelle Obama was contacted to verify if she found any changes in Obama on which she stated that she did not find any changes, however, she's excited to see how strong and romantic he has become for the last two days. Weird????

Director of Operations required for Netsolace Islamabad

2011-04-18T10:46:00.001-05:00

Netsolace is looking for Director of Operations for their Pakistan Office.

Responsibilities

Planning: Overall company strategy, Strategic Plan, Operational Plan
Organization: Organization chart; Job descriptions, Authority levels
Management recruitment and development: Succession planning, in-house training, outside training, promotion from within, human resource plan, new positions, active recruiting
Policy: Corporate policies, new policies, management input, review
Standards of performance and performance reviews: Standards of performance, performance reviews, performance improvement plans
Controls: Monthly reports, quarterly reviews, supplemental action programs
Management morale: Involvement in planning, salary discussions, access to CEO, management turnover
Product development: Overall strategy, quarterly priority meetings, status reports, new products, development expense
Profitability and growth: Profit objectives, results compared to industry, sales objectives, dependency on single product/customer, market share, profitability by product line
Will report directly to CEO but will work in coordination with VPs and other Directors.

Desired Skills & Experience

Candidate must have software development experience and 5-10 years of experience in a leadership role for a large division or company.
Candidate must be highly qualified preferably with Masters Degree in Business Administration.
Experience in strategic planning and execution. Knowledge of contracting, negotiating, and change management. Skill in examining and re-engineering operations and procedures. Experience in formulating policy, and developing and implementing new strategies and procedures. Ability to develop financial plans and manage resources. Ability to analyze and interpret financial data.
Work requires professional written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills. Ability to motivate teams and simultaneously manage several projects.

About Netsolace

Netsolace is a technology company that develops Operations and Relationship Management software for franchises. East Haven, Connecticut based Edible Arrangements and Margate, Florida based Salad Creations are two of their major customers. The company has strategic alliance with MSA (Michael H. Seid & Associates), the franchise industry’s leading consultant.

Netsolace offers a suite of software solutions that enables better monitoring, communications and data management at each stage of the franchise lifecycle. The application suite is web-based applications and can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

Source: Posted by Andrea Yelle on LinkedIn, URL: http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1536562&goback=.nmp_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1&trk=nmp_rj_job

Mubarak Village: Best Fishing Spot in Karachi, Pakistan

2011-04-15T08:40:00.002-05:00

Around 20 kms far right from Hawksbay within the mountains is a beach area, Mubarak Village, definitely one of the best fishing spots in Karachi. Some of my colleagues went there last year in September, caught around 11kgs of fish, an exciting average of 1kg per person. This time it was planned on April 9, and I was part of the team for this off season fishing trip. We took with us more prawns and mayya (to catch more fish) but had to give away that to villagers since most of the people became sea sick and vomited in deep sea and just wanted to get back to the shores.

The best part of the trip was that we carried life jackets with us that we had bought for Rs 650/- each from lighthouse sports market. The jackets went very well with the sloppy shore that was over 10 feet deeper just after a couple meters into the sea and we could easily float and move in around 20 feet deep water without risking our lives.

Attack on Biryani after fishing and vomiting

The rent of the boats for around 22 guys was Rs. 5,000 for the three boats and we could even visit Charna island in the same cost that's clearly visible from Mubarak village and is a few kilometers away.

Interestingly, the largest fish we caught was not from deep sea but the shore. Two of our guys decided to follow the local children who were fishing there and finally caught a fish around 1 kg in a couple hours.

Fisherman from IT Help desk

By the way, this place is not only good for fishing. You can collect some precious sea stuff, like corals and colorful stones from Mubarak Village

Fisherman from Engineering Support

Tell me about yourself - One of worst Interview questions

2011-04-15T06:27:00.001-05:00

Why is this Bad? It's a loaded question, and oftentimes the responder goes off on a tangent about aspects about themselves that are unrelated to the true point of your question. The responder typically doesn't know how to respond and may very easily venture off into providing answers that truly can lead to other illegal questions (Well, I'm a 32 year old female, I enjoy spending time with my 2 kids...". Sure career coaches would say to the responder that you shouldn't venture beyond your professional self, but not everyone knows this is the direction of the question, just too broad.

A better interview question: "Tell me about some of your major accomplishments in your professional career?" or "What are some things in your professional career that you are most proud off?"

It sets the tone that you aren't going to venture into "illegal" land and because it is open-ended yet specific to your professional career, you're able to start a conversation from there.

From: Katrina M Harrel, CEO of Your Simple Bookkeeper, an Virtual Accounting Services company focused on Micro Business Education

Source: http://ask.inc.com/besides-anything-that-could-be-seen-as-discriminatory-what-are-some-bad-job-interview-questions#answer-f866ab187771e7855ff311befe16396e9aa9aa6d8868b82c22b695e2827dde39

Higher Education Commission (HEC) being dissolved for Corruption

2011-04-06T07:29:00.003-05:00

HEC is being dissolved for corruption based on the message published by Dr. Atta ur Rehman on facebook.

Giving more authority and responsiblity to provinces is an efficient way of administration, however, this is being done only in areas that suits corrupt politicians and not for the general welfare of the common citizen.

Based on the current political scenario, it was better for Dr. Atta ur Rehman not be strict on the issue of fake degrees. The destruction of HEC will not only punish HEC big shots but also negatively impact the performance of many universities and the quality of education.

You can sign the petition targetting government of Pakistan at http://www.gopetition.com/petition/44458.html

Senior Java Developer required in Dockland Technologies

2011-03-25T05:40:00.001-05:00

Dockland Technologies is looking for a Senior Java Developer with 2-3 years of overall experience having worked on Struts, Spring & Hibernate frameworks.

Dockland Technologies, a member of Dockland Group, a rapidly growing custom development and software outsourcing company specialized in the design, development, customization and implementation of custom software applications with headquarters in Dubai, UAE. The company carries out Microsoft SharePoint, HIMS, HMIS, desktop application and customize mobile application covering iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Windows Mobiles.

Please send your resumes to Farman asap: farman.ali[at]docklandtechnologies.com

Youtube to use Lord of the Rings video improvement Technology

2011-03-16T05:16:00.001-05:00

Youtube is now going to use the video quality improvement technology used in Lord of the Rings, X-Men, Spider-Man etc. to sharpen the image, reduce visual noise and render higher-quality, steadier videos on their website.

Youtube announced the acquisition of Green Parrot Pictures, a Irish digital video technology company founded by Associate Professor Anil Kokaram at the Engineering School of Trinity College based in Dublin on March 15, 2011.YouTube says the 6 year old company has built "cutting-edge video quality improvement technology that helps make videos look better while at the same time using less bandwidth and improving playback speed."

Top Funny Tweets in honor of Kamran Akmal

2011-03-08T07:55:00.004-06:00

Kamran Akmal and Ross Taylor are trending top twitter right now. Here are some funny tweets for your enjoyment:

Ross taylor should give two hugs to Kamran Akmal and then take him to dinner for sushi.
Source: https://twitter.com/AliZafarforu/status/45084437377056768

Kamran Akmal should try for football..He might have some luck with bigger ball!!!
Source: https://twitter.com/SMustehsan16/status/45116042267201536

Wishing u a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to dear frnd Rose Taylor. I ve dropped ur catches as birthday gift hope u like it. from: Kamran Akmal
Source: https://twitter.com/RizwanHabib1/status/45116204620328960

kamran akmal just cut ur balls and keep in ur pocket or u will drop those toooooooo
Source: https://twitter.com/itssufi/status/45116178229755904

Happy Birthday my dear friend Ross Talyor! I droped your catches as a gift - your "JUWARI aur 2 takay ka PARCHI keeper" friend Kamran Akmal
Source: https://twitter.com/MuhamadAlbouqri/status/45116125738041344

What does Kamran Akmal have in common with Michael Jackson? They both wear gloves for no bloody reason.
Source: https://twitter.com/AltCricket/status/45114540991594496

One man changes history and one Kakmal spoils the mood of 180 million . # Kamran Akmal you suck , chicken catcher
https://twitter.com/dr_zahid/status/45115790072090625

Ahmed Shehzad checked with Kamran Akmal about getting a review done on his LBW Decision. Kamran Akmal then made him DROP the idea !!!
https://twitter.com/iam_a_myth/status/45118017876672514

Amjad Sabri caught in Illegal Narcotics Trade - Funny

2011-03-07T11:43:00.001-06:00

Funny video directed by Yaseen Vohra for the program "Aisa bhi hota hai" on Dhoom TV. In this clip, Amjad Sabri has been targetted from Hidden Cameras inside a police station and is being investigated for involvement in illegal Narcotics business.

Monal Restaurant Pir Sohawa Islamabad

2011-03-02T04:18:00.001-06:00

I got these beautiful pictures of MONAL Restaurant, Pir Sohawa, Islamabad from a facebook profile on my friends network.

Monal Restaurant Pir Sohawa Islamabad Landscape Exterior View (click to enlarge)

Source: I have not mentioned the name of the person and the people due to privacy reasons.

Teradata Pakistan hiring Account Directors (Sales)

2011-03-02T04:06:00.003-06:00

Teradata Pakistan is urgently looking for Account Directors (Sales) at Teradata Pakistan. Good benefits.

Please send your CVs to taimur.ahmed[at]teradata.com and CC rao.hamid[at]teradata.com.

Team Talent Unlimited hiring Head of HR & Administration

2011-03-02T03:59:00.001-06:00

Team Talent Unlimited is looking for Head of Human Resources & Administration With at least five years of HR experience in the Banking Industry. Admin experience would be an added advantage, the position is based in Islamabad.

Interested candidates can email their CVs at talent.unlimited[at]ymail.com or catchalvi[at]hotmail.com

Halcrow Pakistan hiring Fresh Engineers in Environment Department Karachi

2011-03-02T03:55:00.001-06:00

Halcrow Pakistan is interested in Hiring Fresh Engineers to support their operations in Environment department - Karachi. Candidate must have an outstanding academic record and preferences will be given to Position Holders.

Please apply or refer at: hasansk[at]halcrow.com

Pakistan International Education Exhibition - PIEE 2011 by WLB

2011-02-28T08:30:00.000-06:00

World Learning Beaurau has organized 21st Pakistan International Education Exhibition PIEE after Dawn Education Expo 2011 organized in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad that occured during the first two weeks of February.

Education Institutes from all over the world are participating in the exhibition while major participants are focusing on Education in Malaysia, North Cyprus, Australia and New Zealand.

Venue and Timings:

Lahore - Pearl Continental Hotel - Marquee Hall

March 7, 2011: 2pm to 8pm

March 8, 2011: 11am to 2pm, 4pm-8pm

Rawalpindi- Pearl Continental Hotel - Marquee Hall

March 9, 2011: 2pm to 8pm
March 10, 2011: 11am to 2pm, 4pm-8pm

Karachi - The Karachi Expo Center

March 12 - 13, 2011 11am to 7pm

Tel: 0213 481 8177, 0321 2310002
Email: info[at]educationexhibitions.com.pk

Pakistan International Education Exhibition (PIEE) 2011

Sadhu playing with Sri Lankan Cricket Team

2011-02-28T08:29:00.002-06:00

A different king of player is playing with Sri Lanka cricket team this year to help them win ICC Cricket World Cup 2010. Looks like the new player also got caught behind the wicket in the match on Saturday February 25,2011. Check the youtube video below for details:

Raymond Davis imitating Gilani Zardari & Musharraf in Khabarnak

2011-02-28T08:29:00.000-06:00

Check this very funny video featuring Raymond Davis imitating Yousuf Raza Gilani, President Asif Ali Zardari and General Pervez Musharraf and cracking jokes over the audience and commentators. Excellent acting by the fake Raymond Davis in this Geo News talk show, Khabarnak, broadcasted on February 27, 2011.

That was just part 1 of the program, part 2 could not be posted within this category.

Real Picture of Raymond Davis (For Thumbnail)

Entertainment Center for Kids in Defence/Clifton near Bilawal House

2011-02-27T10:22:00.001-06:00

Wanna take your kids to a different hangout? Here's Monkey Business in Karachi. It's not like Black Eyed Peas ventured into kids entertainment in the name of their popular album. It's a local entertainment center for kids opened recently in Clifton/Defence near Bilawal house.

Monkey Business is spread over an area of around 5,000 square feet. It boasts a jungle gym with an indoor three story play place of 900 square feet, a ball pit, maze and slides. There is also an ‘arts and crafts’ section for activities such as baking, designing and painting, a movie theatre for children.

The center also includes a specialized hair salon just for kids, to a fully serviced cafe, all the way to a state of the art movie theatre playing kids movies all day.

Monkey Business also has a cafetria for parents where they enjoy coffee while watching their kids having fun.

Hours
Tues - Thurs:12:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Fri: 12:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Sat: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm
Sun: 11:00 am - 8:00 pm

Cell: 0321 828 0741
Land: (0213) 5835153
monkeybusinesskarachi@gmail.com

Old video of Karachi by a British soldier between 1942 & 1947

2011-02-26T02:52:00.000-06:00

Elphinston Dyeing & Cleaning Co.

The old video of Karachi as seen by a British soldier sometime between 1942 and 1947: lively street scenes, animals, buildings, life in the Karachi Cantonment, followed by the journey back towards Britain on a troop ship through the Suez Canal. The author of the film obviously developed a liking of Karachi and its people.

How an Accountant increased Click-through rate & Direct Marketing results

2011-02-11T06:58:00.002-06:00

Have you ever thought that an accountant could make a significant impact on your direct marketing results? Here's a case study published on inc.com that highlights the importance of brainstorming and idea generation in the work environment.

The story starts with a company looking for ways to engage its employees in social media in order to get its message to its target market. The entrepreneur asked groups of employees from different departments to conduct meetings and brainstorm. One employee from accounting department mentioned that the company sent out dozens of invoices each week, and that most of the page was blank. Why not use the blank space to engage customers? So the company began publishing in that space links to its white papers and blog posts from members of the company's senior management.

The impact!

Click-through rate for the links on the invoices hit 20 percent.
It turned a one-way conversation ("balance due") into something more useful and meaningful for the customer

Source: A Hidden Social Media Opportunity

Dawn Education Expo 2011 organized in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad

2011-02-04T03:58:00.005-06:00

Looking for latest information about new fields of education and learning opportunities throught the world?

Attend Dawn Education Expo 2011 to connect with representatives from the world's best colleges and universities from Pakistan, as well as Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, UAE, UK & USA and get access to first hand information about new fields of education.

Venue and Timings:

Karachi - The Karachi Expo Center

February 6 - 7, 2011 11am to 7pm

Lahore - Pearl Continental Hotel

February 9 - 10, 2011 11am to 7pm

Islamabad - The Jinnah Convention Center

February 12 - 13, 2011 11am to 7pm

Log on to dawnexhibitions.com for more details and free registration online.
Check the following videos from last year exhibitions:

Sumair Shakir's comments on Dawn News:

Straddling Buses - A Green innovation by China's Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment

2011-02-02T06:28:00.002-06:00

Do you need faster uninterrupted roads? A chinese company, Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment, has come up with an innovative idea about a bus that straddles roads. A fuel efficient, low carbon alternative to all other means of transport.

This huge straddling bus allows the traffic to pass below it and requires slight modification on roads to keep the bus in line. This 18-foot tall public bus straddles two road lanes and can carry up to 1,400 passengers. This partly solar powered bus is equipped with electrical batteries that are charged quickly using super capacitors.

This straddling buses take 30 percent less time and 10 percent less funds cheaper to build than underground subways. The buses are also equipped with alarming systems to alert oversized vehicles trying to pass beneath this bus.

See the following video for more details:

Devrim II - Pakistan's first hybrid gasoline car

2011-01-26T04:17:00.000-06:00

PakWheelers, a group of NUST engineering students dedicated to designing and manufacturing of high fuel efficiency vehicles, have introduced Pakistan's first hybrid gasoline car that covers around 110 kms for 1 liter of petrol. Devrim II is a successor to the Prodigy and named after the first car ever produced in Turkey. The first Devrim, however, could not be sent for mass production due to the lack of buying potential at the time in Turkey.

Below is the video clip from GEO News that covers the salient features of the hybrid car developed in Pakistan.

Some of the notable things about Devrim II are:

Electric gasoline series hybrid vehicle
Regenerative braking system
EFI and VEMS
Efficient Driving assistance module EDAM
Independant 4 wheel suspension system
Steerable lights
Hydraulic disk brakes
Carbon fiber body
Aerodynamic design and light weight chassis

Avoid focusing Employee Weaknesses

2011-01-15T06:42:00.001-06:00

According to a Gallup Survey:

Managers who focus on employee strengths have 61% engaged employees and 1% actively disengaged
Managers who focus on employee weaknesses have 45% engaged employees and 22% actively disengaged
Managers who ignore their employees have 2% engaged employees and 40% actively disengaged

Source:
Strengths, Weaknesses, Ignored: How Are You Recognized at Work?
Driving Engagement by Focusing on Strengths

Complaining Customers - Your Most Valuable Asset

2010-11-19T06:55:00.002-06:00

Another excellent video blog by Bob Parsons with practical advice about Customer Relationship management for ecommerce companies. Important points in the video:

Every interaction with Complaining customers is an opportunity for improvement
Customers are a great source of New Ideas!
Forget you are an internet company
Keep your Customer Service department overstaffed
Give your Customers something they don't expect

Five Quick tips for Effective Meetings that yield Results

2010-11-03T06:53:00.002-05:00

This post is in continuity with Managing Expectations and Staying on Track with Meetings and here are some quick tips to conduct meetings that yield results in order of priority

Set Agenda

Make sure it's set before you meet. It could be associated with recurring objectives or project at hand. For example, 1. Quarterly Goals 2. Improve Portal Conversion

Stick to Agenda

If any million dollar idea just hit your mind. Just note that down, do some homework and then discuss that in a different meeting or notify participants in advance.

Reduce Participants

Keep distractions and the time to reach a decision to minimum by reducing participants. Never invite people just to keep them in loop.

Assign Action Items

Before the meeting is over. Every participant should clearly know the Action Items, the tasks to be completed (or achieve decided progress) before the next meeting.

Follow up on Action Items

Make sure you start your meeting with the follow up of prior meeting and flag items that were completed during the time

Managing Expectations and Staying on Track with Meetings

2010-10-29T06:49:00.004-05:00

I have historically been among the people who consider meetings counter productive and an investment of time that bears no fruit. However, I have realized that conducting effective meetings is an skill, which, if learned and used properly can yield great results in minimum time.

I recently got a chance to report directly to Ed Sattar, CEO of 360training.com who is so obsessed with managing meetings that asking about meeting frequency is usually his first question in seeking a resolution to a problem or completion of a project.

Regular meetings does not only improve a person's managerial skillset, but also enhances the team's ability to manage expecatations. In the initial days, you will find that your team will usually overcommit about the deadlines and tasks, you should just keep a note of the dates and add some reasonable percentage of time for your final expectations. If the same process in repeated in rythem, your team will be able manage expectations well and get more appreciation from your customers, superiors and peers.

See Quick tips for Effective Meetings that yield Results

Strategy into Action - SIA Workshop by Raja Asif manzoor

2010-04-19T08:48:00.011-05:00

Raja Asif Manzoor is one of my favorite instructors at SZABIST and he definitely has good grasp on topics like Strategy, MIS development, Business Planning, Supply Chain and Operations Management. I have participated in a similar workshop as part of the course requirements in one of his courses and I would recommend every senior manager to attend this workshop.

Date: May 5-6, 2010
Venue: Regent Plaza, Karachi

Imitation with Intelligence & Imagination - Becomes more Valuable than Innovation

2010-04-19T06:45:00.002-05:00

Do you want to cut down your innovation costs while also staying quick to respond to market trends? Look out for something you can intelligently and imaginatively imitate. The essence of success either in Imitation or Innovation is Greater Value for the Customer.

Inspired from: Defend Your Research: Imitation Is More Valuable Than Innovation

Free Shipping Deals win more Consumers

2010-02-11T06:02:00.000-06:00

Online consumers in US spent over $39 billion in Q4 2009 raising total eCommerce spend up 3%. This was revealved by comScore, a Marketing Research company based in Reston, VA. According to the Q4 report:

Nearly half of consumers logged on to shop because of free shipping deals
The number of online shoppers increased
The average spend per consumer decreased slightly

comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said, "As we head into 2010, there is reason for guarded optimism for online retail spending to continue to gain share of consumers' wallets. At the same time, I expect absolute growth to be stymied by continued high unemployment and the deleveraging that is occurring in the economy as consumers exercise their new-found propensity to save."
Source: comScore: Q4 ecommerce spend up 3%

Wateen adds Dark Orbit, Sea Fight, XBlaster, Soccer Manager, Mafia 1930 & Damoria

2010-02-08T07:11:00.001-06:00

Wateen brings more thrills on Wateen Online Gaming Service by introducing 6 new exciting multi player online games in partnership with Arvato Middle East, under their brand name Getmo. To electrify online gaming adventures Dark Orbit; Sea Fight; XBlaster; Soccer Manager; Mafia 1930; Damoria have been added to the list.

Without the hassle of additional software or upgrades, Wateen's Multiplayer Online Gaming can be played with and against your friends no matter where they are. With no restrictions on the gaming experience, one can play from any computer, anywhere in the world as long as it is connected to the Internet. Here are brief overviews of the games added:

SEA FIGHT

Become a swashbuckling pirate and take the helm of your own ship to become the terror of the Seven Seas

DARK ORBIT

Stock up your ship & watch it transform from a simple Star jet to the universe's most feared battle cruiser!

XBLASTER

There are multiple arenas and opponents awaiting you and your war robot in this browser game. Equip your mech and make it invincible

SOCCER MANAGER

The original and the most popular online football manager game. It's free to play - everybody deserves their own football team!

MAFIA 1930

Go from rags to riches and fulfill your dreams........... to become the most powerful mafia king that ever lived! Click below to get in the action!

DAMORIA

An exciting construction and management simulation game: Settle adjoining lands, trade materials and attack enemy castles of real players.

Source: Wateen brings more thrills on WOG

Control Diabetes and Reduce risk of Cancer with Guava

2010-02-08T04:58:00.001-06:00

Guava is a fruit of high medicinal value. It's rich in astringents, dietary fibre, Vitamin A, B & C, iron and potassium. The astringents found in Guava are alkaline in nature and have disinfectant and anti-bacterial properties, thus helping in cure of dysentery. Further, other nutrients in guava, such as vitamin C, carotenoids and potassium strengthens and tones up the digestive system and disinfect it. Guava is also beneficial in gastroenteritis.

Guava helps control diabetes, protects prostrate, its lypocene reduces the risk of cancer, the juice of leaves cures toothache, swollen gums and oral ulcers, heals wounds when applied externally, convulsions, epilepsy, bacterial infections and keeps skin glowing, free from aging, wrinkles and other disorders.

Source: Guava — a fruit of high medicinal importance

Mango Festival in Germany by local Fruit Exporters

2010-02-08T04:26:00.000-06:00

All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable exporters association has decided to held mango festival in Berlin, Germany in the mid of 2010 after successful exhibition at Fruit Logistica 2010. According to the association chairman Abdul Wahid, visitors had shown great interest in Pakistani Mangoes and the exhibition provided an opportunity for Pakistani exporters to learn advanced ways of mango packaging and processing.

Source: Express News

Build your brand without huge marketing expense

2010-02-04T05:38:00.000-06:00

Do you think huge marketing budget is necessary to become top of mind?

Two tech executives with no food experience and no marketing budget launch a product called

Bacon Salt

.

Next, they search for people on social networking sites who profess a love for bacon, then friend them. Among a small percentage of those people, enthusiasm begins to spread about Bacon Salt. What began as a tribe quickly multiplies into 37,000 fans on Facebook and MySpace.

Months later, the buzz spills over into newspaper articles,TV interviews and the holy grail of PR, an appearance on Oprah. Two guys who knew nothing about the food business and had no marketing budget now had a certifiable cult hit. Inspired, they create several other bacon-flavored products. It’s the birth of a brand.

Their success began with a small – very small – group of self-identified fans of a category. Even if social networks have millions of members, it will never translate into millions of buzz-spreaders. the Bacon Salt story illustrates that it’s usually a small percentage of the tribe within the larger tribe who spread the word—usually about 1 percent.they are the

One Percenters

.

The

One Percenters

are not the usual suspects of name brand tech bloggers, mommy bloggers and or business bloggers. the One Percenters are often hidden in the crevices of niches, yet they are the roots of word of mouth.

Source: 70 Words of (Unconventional) Wisdom for 2010

Linux for Desktop Applications - Presentation by ATRC

2010-01-19T09:03:00.000-06:00

Applied Technology Research Center has organized a presentation on Linux Desktop Applications on Saturday, January 23, 2010.

The presentation covers how to use Linux for common tasks like : Browsing, Email, Instant Messaging, Editing office documents, photo editing, watching multimedia videos, DVD Writing, scanning, printing, data backups, sharing on the LAN etc.

Details can be found on http://atrc.net.pk/

First Electric Car in Pakistan developed by Faraz Khan

2010-01-19T07:24:00.000-06:00

Faraz Khan has developed Pakistan's first cost effective, super efficient and long range electric car - Elektra 1. Faraz has converted his old Suzuki Mehran car into an electrically charged vehicle that runs on the power stored in the 12 deep cycle batteries attached to an electric motor that replaces the engine and requires no lubrication mechanism like conventional cars.

Elektra 1 costs almost 10% in fuel as compared to petrol cars and very much environment friendly.

Faraz Ruknuddin Khan, who is co-founder & Chief Architect at Emergen Consulting, is also working on Elektra 2 - A purpose built fiber body electric car with more power and long range than Elektra 1.

Read more at http://www.elektraautomotive.com/

Paypal discriminates against Pakistan

2010-01-15T05:48:00.000-06:00

Pakistan has suffered more humanitarian and economic losses than United States in its war against terror. US diplomats repeatedly and frequently state that Pakistan is their most crucial non-Nato ally. However, this does not change the minds of US media, law enforcement agencies and corporate companies who still discriminate against Pakistan in any way they can. Read the story in Faisal Khan's blog - PayPal Saga: A Shocking Statistic

Recognizing & Encouraging young Entrepreneurs - Shell Tameer

2010-01-13T04:39:00.000-06:00

Shell Tameer encourages young Pakistanis aged between 18-32 years to consider starting a business as a desirable and viable career option by providing free information, counselling, support and training on entrepreneurship. Tameer is committed to helping youth from all four provinces of the country, irrespective of socio-economic, educational, religious backgrounds; in Pakistan, this involves a lot of work at the grassroots level. Tameer does not create entrepreneurs, it identifies them and provides them with the tools to start a business: from preparing for the risks involved to providing them access to avenues of business and financial support. Following resources are available on the official website of Tameer:

Resources

Essentials of Business Writing
Be your own Boss
Five Stages of Small Business Growth
Women Entrepreneurship in Pakistan
Writing First Business Plan
Marketing Research for the first time
Marketing for the first time
Unlock Your Potential

Under the Influence of Drugs

2010-01-13T03:40:00.001-06:00

Dubai court will set you free for any crime if you prove that you were under the influence of drugs at the time of the crime. Read Behind the glitz to read the full story.

Behind the glitz is an inteteresting article by Rafia Zakaria exposing crude injustice, hypocrisy and gluttony that lies beneath a glitzy façade of Dubai with Reference to the inauguration of Burj Dubai, renamed as Burj Khalifa and videotaped abusing of an Afghan grain merchant by President's Brother - Sheikh Issa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

What Really Motivates Workers - Power of Progress

2010-01-07T06:38:00.002-06:00

Here's an excellent study conducted by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer about what really motivates employees, published in the Jan-Feb issue of Harvard Business Review - The HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for 2010

The Problem.

Ask leaders what they think makes employees enthusiastic about work, and they’ll tell you in no uncertain terms. In a recent survey we invited more than 600 managers from dozens of companies to rank the impact on employee motivation and emotions of five workplace factors commonly considered significant: recognition, incentives, interpersonal support, support for making progress, and clear goals. “Recognition for good work (either public or private)” came out number one.

Unfortunately, those managers are wrong.

Having just completed a multiyear study tracking the day-to-day activities, emotions, and motivation levels of hundreds of knowledge workers in a wide variety of settings, we now know what the top motivator of performance is—and, amazingly, it’s the factor those survey participants ranked dead last. It’s progress. On days when workers have the sense they’re making headway in their jobs, or when they receive support that helps them overcome obstacles, their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak. On days when they feel they are spinning their wheels or encountering roadblocks to meaningful accomplishment, their moods and motivation are lowest.

This was apparent in vivid detail in the diaries we asked these knowledge workers to e-mail us every day. In one end-of-day entry, an information systems professional rejoiced that she’d finally figured out why something hadn’t been working correctly. “I felt relieved and happy because this was a minor milestone for me,” she wrote, adding that her efforts to enhance a specific version of software were now “90% complete.” A close analysis of nearly 12,000 diary entries, together with the writers’ daily ratings of their motivation and emotions, shows that making progress in one’s work—even incremental progress—is more frequently associated with positive emotions and high motivation than any other workday event. For example, it was noted on 76% of people’s best days, when their reported moods were most buoyant, and on only 25% of their worst. (The exhibit “What Happens on a Great Workday?” shows how progress compared with the other four most frequently reported positive events.)

The Breakthrough Idea.

As a manager of people, you should regard this as very good news: The key to motivation turns out to be largely within your control. What’s more, it doesn’t depend on elaborate incentive systems. (In fact, the people in our study rarely mentioned incentives in their diaries.) Managers have powerful influence over events that facilitate or undermine progress. They can provide meaningful goals, resources, and encouragement, and they can protect their people from irrelevant demands. Or they can fail to do so.
This brings us to perhaps the strongest advice we offer from this study: Scrupulously avoid impeding progress by changing goals autocratically, being indecisive, or holding up resources. Negative events generally have a greater effect on people’s emotions, perceptions, and motivation than positive ones, and nothing is more demotivating than a setback—the most prominent type of event on knowledge workers’ worst days.

The Promise.

You can proactively create both the perception and the reality of progress. If you are a high-ranking manager, take great care to clarify overall goals, ensure that people’s efforts are properly supported, and refrain from exerting time pressure so intense that minor glitches are perceived as crises rather than learning opportunities. Cultivate a culture of helpfulness. While you’re at it, you can facilitate progress in a more direct way: Roll up your sleeves and pitch in. Of course, all these efforts will not only keep people working with gusto but also get the job done faster.

As for recognition, the diaries revealed that it does indeed motivate workers and lift their moods. So managers should celebrate progress, even the incremental sort. But there will be nothing to recognize if people aren’t genuinely moving forward—and as a practical matter, recognition can’t happen every day. You can, however, see that progress happens every day.

Teresa M. Amabile is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Steven J. Kramer is an independent researcher and writer based in Wayland, Massachusetts

Source: The HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for 2010

Marketing and Sales Management Conference in Lahore

2009-11-10T08:13:00.005-06:00

Peace Learning Resource has organized a conference on Marketing and Sales at Royal Palm, Golf & Country Club, Lahore on Saturday, November 14, 2009. Kamran Saeed, Director Marketing at Schazoo Lab is leading "Managing Sales in Tough Times" and Airf Ijaz, Consultant Kohinoor Maple Leaf Group and ex-CEO Adamjee Insurance will discuss "How companies can change their self from B2B to B2C".

Details: Marketing and Sales Management Conference

Ufone nominated in The Telecoms World Awards - Middle East

2009-11-06T10:46:00.004-06:00

Ufone has been shortlisted among the top 5 Best Telecom Brands of The Year Award for the upcoming The Telecoms World Awards - Middle East. Ufone is the only company in Pakistan that is selected in any category of the Awards. Although it is a remarkable achievement for Ufone, Ufone along with other Telecoms must try to be nominated among other categories next year.

Links:
Telecoms World Awards Middle East

Ufone nominated as Best Brand of the Year at the Telecoms World Awards Middle East

Matthew Kovacs in Lahore: From Australia to Pakistan

2009-11-05T10:17:00.003-06:00

Matthew Kovacs is an independent photographer and traveler who travels around the world and writes interesting comments about his travelling experiences. Recently, he travelled to India and now staying in Pakistan. See, what he has to say about Pakistan in his post Welcome to Pakistan, India finished.

Mindshare Pakistan successfully runs web marketing campaign on Yahoo, MSN

2009-11-04T06:32:00.003-06:00

A new web marketing campaign by Mindshare Pakistan on Yahoo, Hotmail and MSN has generated over 10,000 clicks and over 5000 registrations by female audience for an offer of a free facial at various beauty salons in Pakistan.

Salman Mir, Senior Media Planner at Mindshare appreciates the unexpectedly higher results and attribute those to the Urdu Logo used in the impressions. Click following links for more details:

Pond’s banner on Yahoo! attracts 10,000 Pakistani Females

Asia's Largest and Modern Food Street

2009-09-28T09:00:00.008-05:00

Asia’s largest and most modern food street - Port Grand Food Court & Entertainment Complex - being built at a cost of Rs1 billion (around $12 million) and spread over nine acres would be inaugurated by the end of November this year in Karachi near Mereweather Tower.

Master plan of this food court includes Baywatch Food Court, Art Lane, Festival Boulevard, Children Play Area, Grand Movie Theater and many other attractions. For pictures and details, see the following links:

Port Grand

Asia's Largest Food Street in Karachi

Modern food street to open in Karachi

Karachi Port Trust

What Alienates Top Performers

2009-09-02T05:07:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to agree loudly with Ellie Behling for his comments on the following blog post by Steve DeMaio on harward business:

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/demaio/2009/08/how-to-alienate-a-top-performe.html#c053494

The idea is to reward top performers better than average performers and give more value to the achievements of top performers than seniority achieved through spending time at office.

Asia - World's fastest growing golf market

2009-08-20T09:55:00.003-05:00

Yang Yong-eun, of South Korea has become the first man to win PGA Championship from Asia who overtook Tiger Woods to win the PGA Championship at Hazeltine. The Sunday's PGA Championship victory makes Asia more attractive to sponsorship of more major golf events.

‘This is a fantastic win not only for Yang but also for golf in Asia,’ said Asian Tour chief Kyi Hla Han.

While the impact on youngsters taking up the game may be limited to Yang's native country, rising Japanese talent Ryo Ishikawa said it would make a difference to how Asian players were perceived. ‘His victory has changed people's view of Asian golfers,’ the 17-year-old said.

‘I haven't suddenly thought I can win a major just because he did. But it will give us all added motivation to try to be in contention at the big tournaments.’ More...

Links

Retail Business at Beijing Airport

2009-08-20T07:48:00.005-05:00

Beijing Capital International Airport has said it will soon allow interested businesses to bid for a slot at one of the airport's three terminals. Hundreds of well-known enterprises have already expressed an interest in bidding for floor space, especially in the airport's ultra-modern Terminal 3. The bidding will cover retail space in all three terminals, with a total area of 100,000 square meters.

Perhaps well known brands in Pakistan like ChenOne and Ideas should consider bidding for a retail space at the Beijing International Airport.

Source:http://english.cctv.com/program/bizchina/20090820/101421.shtml

Worldcall wireless broadband's pathetic customer service

2009-08-13T05:48:00.004-05:00

People say a lot of things about the reliability, speed and coverage issues about the Worldcall EVDO service. But the worst thing I have encountered is their customer support. It all started when my USB device stopped functioning suddenly while connected to the internet back in July. To get it repaired or replaced, I first called their cutomer support who just logged a complaint number and advised to contact any Customer Service center in karachi. I tried two of their centers and finally came to know that I have to take the device to their Shara-e-faisal service center. Our IT department managed to drop the device at their center and after a couple days, they told the IT guy that they will update us after some lab test that will take another 4-5 days on August 3rd. Since then our IT and Admin staff has been trying to approach them without getting any appropriate response.

In short, the service just sucks. If you are planning to become one of their customers make sure that you don't have to face all these problems.

Pragmatic Marketing Framework 2009

2009-08-11T11:49:00.006-05:00

is one of the best resources for Product managers and Product marketing managers. They have developed a model that covers everything from market identification to strategy, go-to-market, product profitability and support. The model is called Pragmatic Marketing Framework and is specially focused towards Technology Products.

They have recently released some changes to the framework. Jim Foxworthy, Pragmatic Marketing's Product Manager calls it Pragmatic Marketing Framework 2009 and explains it in a video on the following page:

http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/seminars/files/pragmaticmarketingframework

A must watch...

Karachi University produces Industrial Enzymes worth $10mn/year

2009-08-04T03:55:00.006-05:00

Dr. A.Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE) of Karachi University has produced industrial enzymes that cost nation around $10 million every year to import. The current global market of industrial enzymes is over $2 billion, and is expected to top $2.7bn by 2012 with an average growth rate of 11% per annum.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/16-breakthrough+in+enzyme+research+at+ku-hs-10

Links:

Build Asia 2009 - Construction, Property and Furniture Exhibition

2009-07-31T04:54:00.006-05:00

5th Build Asia 2009 Exhibition incorporating 5th Property Asia, 5th Furniture Asia and 2nd Stonefair Asia Exhibitions starts tomorrow from August 1-3, 2009. Build Asia offers the International and Pakistani business community a strategic launch-pad to access the vibrant South and Central Asian Markets that includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, UAE, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan etc. The Event aims to focus on the immense potential of the Building and Construction Industry in Pakistan and will display latest Technological Advancements of Equipments, Materials, Services and Techniques in the related fields, providing opportunities to Overseas Exhibitors to interact with local entrepreneurs for joint ventures, transfer of technologies and appointing Agents / Distributors / Partners.

The event is organized by Ecommerce Gateway Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd and provides a networking platform for engineers, contractors, builders, consultants, government officials, bankers, policy makers, stakeholders, other practitioners & professionals of Housing & Construction Industry.

Source:http://www.buildasia.net/
ECG (Ecommerce Gateway Pakistan) Events Calendar: http://www.ecgateway.net/ecgevents.htm

Line Extension - Popular but over-utilized Business Strategy

2009-07-30T08:58:00.007-05:00

Product and Service Line extension appears to be the most logical business strategy to most senior managers and executive all over the world in order to increase revenues. The idea behind line extension is always the same, "You sell more when you target more people, serve more industries". The popularity of this business strategy is obvious from the research (Taylor 2004) which says "Over 80 per cent of marketing directors in a recent brandgym survey said that brand extension would be the main way of launching new innovation in the next two to three years".

However, in reality, majority of line extension endeavors fail. The idea that seems most logical creates disasters for even the well established brands. A recent post - The Classic Mistake - by Laura Ries explains how Pizza Hut is inviting trouble by changing its name to "The Hut" just to add Chicken Wings and Pasta to its menu.

Inspired from: http://ries.typepad.com/ries_blog/2009/06/the-classic-mistake.html

360training Career Center v2.2 Released

2009-07-15T09:16:00.005-05:00

The Latest version of 360training Career Center has been released with the following major features:

Search Jobs and Resumes on Career Center with powerful keyword searching using Sql Server 2005 full-text search catalogs.
Search Jobs on Indeed.com using Seamless Integration – Most popular Job Search Engine
New page with List of All Approved Employers
List of Featured Employers on Homepage
Search Engine friendly URLs for Categories, States and Employer Profiles
Refer/Email Jobs to a Friend
View Resume Statistics by Category, State and Date

URL: http://www.360jobportal.com/

First e-Commerce Payment Gateway in Pakistan - Raseen

2009-07-10T06:20:00.004-05:00

Raseen Technologies is about to launch Pakistan's first eCommerce Payment gateway as appears in the following post:

http://jehanara.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/raseen-payment-gateway-launched/

When launched successfully, it can provide a cost effective and hassle free alternative to individuals (knowledge workers) and businesses (offshore professional services) to receive payments for the services rendered anywhere in the world. It can also enhance overall ecommerce trade in Pakistan and bring new pure-click businesses while converting several traditional brick-and-mortar businesses to click-and-brick.

Arena Skate-free Billboard Promotions

2009-07-08T09:57:00.007-05:00

Arena has spent a lot of money on billboards at several locations in karachi apparently running a promotional campaign. However, it looks like their marketing team did not bother to update the Arena's official website with the details.

Although the number of internet users is rapidly growing in Pakistan, many businesses still do not understand the importance of web marketing. They can get better ROI on Web Marketing rather than running ads on conventional media like billboards, newspapers, TV channels and FM radio.

Think about it...

General Musharraf faces Corruption Charges

2009-06-30T06:21:00.006-05:00

NAB has submitted a report to Supreme Court of Pakistan about the wrongdoings it says have been committed by the former president General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and oil industry people in the pricing of petroleum products causing a loss of Rs.83 billion to the nation over a period of five years. Read More...

The report, however, only indicates the direct impact of the policies. It does not cover the indirect impact caused due to higher transportation costs which will add a few billions more to the total loss.

Media & Entertainment Expo 2009 at Karachi Expo Center

2009-06-25T02:57:00.007-05:00

Media and Entertainment Expo & Coneference is starting tomorrow at Expo Center Karachi till Sunday June 28, 2009. The expected participants include TV Channels, FM Radio, Record Companies, Multimedia Education, ISPs, Telecom Companies, Software Houses (ISVs), Production Houses, Operators of Multiplex Cinemas, Theatres, Hotels and Resorts, Manufacturers of Professional AV systems and Home Entertainment, Food Franchises, etc...

Official website of the event: http://mex.com.pk/index1.html

Kids Safety in Car Accidents

2009-06-22T10:13:00.004-05:00

PARIS: Parents should keep their children in rear-facing car seats at least until the age of four, according to a British study released Friday...

A review of US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data on crashes between 1998 and 2003 involving 870 children concluded that rear-facing seats were better at protecting kids up to 23 months across all types of accidents.

Read the complete article "Rear-facing seats safer for bigger kids too" on dawn.com.

Solar Thermal Power Generation in Pakistan

2009-06-18T06:08:00.009-05:00

Basics of Solar Thermal Power Generation

Solar Energy for Sunny Pakistan

Utilizing Solar Energy in Pakistan

Solar Powered Pakistan

Solar Powered Products

Akhter Solar PLC

Warid, Ufone went Green with Solar BTS

Image Source: http://www.ubergizmo.com/photos/2007/5/solar-tower.jpg

Conversation Starter - Blogs for Business World

2009-06-14T10:37:00.001-05:00

Read blogs on this Harvard Publishing website from Management gurus around the world on topics like Leadership, Innovation, Managing People, Marketing and more..

URL: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/

SZABIST Business Students Alumni - LinkedIn Group

2009-06-14T05:37:00.005-05:00

I have created this LinkedIn group for all students who have either completed or are about to complete their BBA / MBA from SZABIST (Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology). The reason for creating this group is to share articles, post jobs, post news about relevant Marketing, Activation, Business & Academic Events etc...

URL: http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=682907&sharedKey=2146CB234A80

Make Post Titles on Blogger Search Engine Friendly

2009-06-08T11:02:00.005-05:00

I have always disliked the way Post titles appear on Blogger.com posts, which is neither user friendly nor search engine friendly. Following post from Atif Zain solves this for all the Blogger fans.

http://seosemkarachipakistan.blogspot.com/2009/03/blogger-post-title-then-blog-title.html

Brand Activation Agencies in Pakistan

2009-06-08T03:44:00.011-05:00

Here's another list from BrandSynario. I have excluded the Agencies without working websites:

Contact Plus

Contact Plus belongs to "The Interflow Group" and is headed by the man behind NTM, TV1, Radio1, Tahir A Khan. Their clientele includes Shell Pakistan, Tapal, Caltex, All cellular companies except Mobilink and Engro Foods.

Contact

D-91 Tipu Sultan Road, KDA Scheme 1, Karachi
Tel: 0213-4314286-89
Email: info[at]contactplus.com.pk

Direct Consumer Contact

a rapidly growing company known for innovation and excellence in the development of BTL & Out-Of-Home media, established in 2003 by Mr. Asif Awan, one of the pioneers of BTL & Outdoor Advertising in Pakistan.

Contact

103-G, 2nd Floor, Commercial Area, DHA Lahore.
Tel: 0423-5747448-9

Hyeworth Pakistan

The largest, most widely spread brand activation agency with 8 permanent and 7 field offices spread around the country. Their clientele includes GlaxoSmithKline, LG, Habib Oil, LU biscuits, National Foods, Reckit Benckizer, Nestle, Mortein, 3M Pakistan and Mobilink.

Contact

Hyeworth House, 40 G-1, Block 6, PECHS, Karachi.
Tel: 111-312-312

iris communications

Iris focuses on result orientated activations and has more than Ten years of Creative market research, Brand activation, Merchandising & Event management services

Contact

Lahore: 1st Floor, 176-Y, Commercial Area, DHA
Tel: 0423-5727346/5726859
Karachi: C-78, Block-2, Clifton
Tel: 0213-5291626-27
E-mail: contact[at]iriscommunications.com.pk

If you belong to a Brand Activation Agency and don't find it here. Please write the details of your company in the comments section of this post.

Also check http://talhaa.blogspot.com/2009/06/creative-agencies-hotshops-pakistan.html for a list of Creative Agencies in Pakistan

Creative Agencies and Hotshops in Pakistan

2009-06-05T08:44:00.005-05:00

Here's the list of Creative Hotshops and Agencies in Pakistan

If your creative agency in Pakistan is not listed here. Add your company details in the comments section of this post.

Source: BrandSynario

Brand Activation Agencies in Pakistan (on Internet)

Karachi - Events and Trade Shows

2009-06-01T04:57:00.003-05:00

The following two links are very useful to find events and trade shows information in Karachi:

Trade Shows in Pakistan
http://www.biztradeshows.com/pakistan/karachi/

Events at Karachi Expo Center
http://events.hellotrade.com/venue/karachi-expo-center/

Great Home Decor Models and Pictures

2009-05-18T08:25:00.001-05:00

http://www.myworldinthreedimensions.blogspot.com/

Career Center v2.1 Beta

2009-05-06T10:40:00.003-05:00

The latest version of Career Center went live today with the following:

Domain name is now http://www.360jobportal.com/ instead of http://careercenter.360training.com/
ASP.NET URL Rewriting
robots.txt
Improved IE6 Compatibility
Improved Administrator features
More content
Resume Statistics

In next version. I expect to release better keyword searching and sending jobs to friends.

When Economic Incentives Backfire

2009-04-22T07:40:00.001-05:00

I came across this interesting article by Samuel Bowles on HBR. Economic Incentives and fines definitely trigger desired behavior in many cases and backfire as well in several situations. An effective Incentive system requires careful consideration before implementation.

Situational Impact

The motivational and performance impact of economic incentives often varies based on personality and situation differences. A same individual might consider economic incentive more attractive for a certain desired behavior while having negative perceeption of it for another desired behavior. For example, a person will be more attracted to an economic incentive for delivering a project, milestone or achiveing a revenue target while the same person might consider it negative for helping and coaching coworkers which is also a desired behavior from an organizational perspective.

Many people in the beginning of their career prefer acceptance, recognition and appreciation over economic incentives while those same people begin to prefer monetary rewards at later stages in their career.

Personality Impact

This mostly relates to the level of engagement people have with their organizations, products, teams and managers. Employees with high level of engagement just love making contributions and celebrate challenge and achievements more than the short economic incentives.

Link:http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/03/when-economic-incentives-backfire/ar/1

360training Career Center

2009-04-09T06:20:00.001-05:00

Career Center got it its first Job Post on April 1 and has three Job Posts to date. It's very exciting for me to see it growing as it has provided me the first ever opportunity to work as a Product Manager. I am not only doing the marketing and promotions but also managing the product development to make it the best Job Board for the niche Industries we serve.

Career Center serves our 2,000,000+ licensed/certified students to find the right jobs. Our major target Industries are Real Estate, Insurance, Food Services and Hospitality, Healthcare and Safety, Power Generation and Cosmetology.

Take a look at Career Center Website for more details.

How to get your Final Transcript from SZABIST

2009-04-05T07:54:00.001-05:00

If you have completed a degree from SZABIST, you need to perform the following steps to get your final transcript:

Get Final Transcript Request Form and Security Deposit Refund Form from the Reception.
Fill the forms and go to IT, Finance and Library one by one to clear your dues and get verification.
Make sure that you have library card, Intermediate Certificate (For BBA, BS) or Bachelor's Degree (For MBA, MCS, MS), Internship Letter or Experience letter from your employer or your Visiting Card at the moment.
Submit the completed forms with clearance from the above mentioned departments and attached documents to Admin.
Wait for 30 days to receive your final transcripts.

Good Luck!

New title for this blog

2009-04-04T08:38:00.000-05:00

I have decided to move all the Technology related posts to my Wordpress account:
http://tanwer.wordpress.com/

The new title for this blog will be "Management and Marketing Blog" instead of "Technology and Marketing Blog". I plan to post comments on various articles about business and management while trying to relate those with my own experience.

Week of GONGS!!!

2009-01-27T06:15:00.001-06:00

We have a culture of celebrating each milestone with a GONG! in 360training

This week, Technology team released their long awaited LCMS (Learning Content Management System) - .NET + Flash - that will replace our legacy ICP (Interactive Course Player) - ColdFusion + Flash. This new player is fully SCORM compliant while also supporting our proprietary course delivery format.
This release is only for internal UAT (User Acceptance Testing) so far.

Marketing is not behind anyone and we also launched our new portal for online Environmental Training.

URL: http://www.epacampus.com/

Anti-spam Image Generator - reCAPTCHA

2009-01-26T10:50:00.002-06:00

If you are looking for some free Anti-spam image generator, then try the following URL:
http://recaptcha.net/

reCAPTCHA works as a web service and plays sounds as well. They state that they are helping digitize the books and putting the effort of recognizing and typing the correct words to a good cause. Google anounced the acquisition of reCAPTCHA on September 16, 2009 in their post Teaching Computers to Read

If you believe reCaptcha looks ugly, you can customize the theme of reCAPTCHA with Client API. However, you are still required to have text on your website which states that you are using reCAPTCHA with theming API in a way that suits your site theme.

There are many plugins available for different programming languages and scripts like PHP, ASP.NET, Classic ASP, Java/JSP, Perl, Python, Ruby, ColdFusion &WebDNA etc. and applications like WordPress, MediaWiki, phpBB, FormMail, Movable Type, Drupal, Symfony, TYPO3, NucleusCMS, vBulletin, Joomla, JSP Mailhide, bbPress, ExpressionEngine, FlatPress, PHPKIT etc. that makes integrating reCAPTCHA flexible and easy.

Build Your Premium Brand through Marketing, Sales and Service Delivery

2009-01-22T02:45:00.001-06:00

If you're interested in the key elements of branding, take a look at free Branding eCourse at the URL below:
http://www.zee2a.com/branding/

My Favorite Quotes

2009-01-21T02:52:00.001-06:00

Leadership
The pertinent question is not how to do things right, but how to find the right things to do, and to concentrate resources and efforts on them - Peter Drucker

Marketing
If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse' - Henry Ford

Sending Email with PHPMailer library

2009-01-20T05:25:00.001-06:00

If you want to quick learn how to send an email using PHPMailer library with SMTP Authentication, just click the following link to Brinkster Support Portal:

How do I send email with PHPMailer for Windows Hosting?

CSS

2005-10-23T21:54:00.001-05:00

I was looking at some templates at blogger.com... Found a header with a background image without save option..

In the code. it was an html DIV section and stylesheet classname was same as div id preceding with "#"... So u can apply a CSS class based on element's id.

Smokkiinnnnnnn!!!

M$ Shared Computer Toolkit (WinXP)

2005-10-23T21:11:00.000-05:00

Shared computers are commonly found in schools, libraries, Internet and gaming cafés, community centers, and other locations. Often, staff members who lack technical training are asked to manage shared computers in addition to their primary responsibilities.
Managing shared computers can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Unrestricted, users can change the desktop appearance, reconfigure system settings, and introduce spyware, viruses, and other harmful programs. Fixing damaged shared computers costs significant time and effort

Tools Summary

Windows Disk Protection
User Restrictions
Getting Started
Profile Manager
Accessibility

Command-line tools

Accounts
AutoDemo
AutoLogon
AutoRestart
AutoRunOnce
CriticalUpdates
ForceLogoff
SCTReport
SleepWakePC
Welcome

More...

Interface vs. Abstract Class

2005-07-28T09:09:00.000-05:00

Abstract Class	Interface
Cannot instantiate.	Cannot instantiate.
Can only be used to derive.	Can only be used to derive.
Can contain data and/or implementation in the form of concrete methods.	No data, no implementation. (All methods/virtual functions must be abstract/pure.)
In C#: declare both class and abstract methods with abstract keyword.	In C#: declare class with interface keyword. All methods become virtual.
In C++: declare at least one pure virtual function using "= 0" syntax. Can use destructor, too.	In C++: no concept of interface built into C++; interface is a design pattern you must follow.
Use when you want to provide a partial implementation with some functions omitted.	Use when you want to define the abstract qualities of a thing, the methods a class must implement to "be" that thing.