Author: cafearjun

I'm Arjun, live in London, UK, and ever since I've left India, I miss it even more. I'm an entrepreneur, a creator, and strive for new ideas. Have been lucky to put a few in place and make them work. This is a blog about everything I love and think about!

Categories
a man's struggle inspiration

Good Parenthood – Why The World Needs It

If we break it down to the basics then its easy to see where it all begins – our world begins with people being born. People who grow up to do different things that make our world what it is. Some become not-so-renowned silent workers, some grow up to become great leaders; some are feared for unleashing terror while some are hailed as wonderful philanthropists. Whatever a person becomes and does in life is influenced by what he sees and experiences and the most significant impact of these influences hits him when he’s still a child. Childhood is a soft, malleable phase that can be shaped easily for permanence. Good parenthood hence, stands as an inevitable part of a happy childhood that promises of a successful future. (And by successful here I mean, a future throughout which the child bears a good self-esteem and regards others and himself in a respectful and kind manner.)

When parents genuinely care and work to raise their children, the children notice the attention that they’re receiving. They may not always listen to their parents but they always secretly observe the kinds of efforts being made to help them grow better, they observe how their parents behave in different situations and sub-consciously take up from what they see. Good parenthood can mold the children into becoming successful people and most importantly good human-beings. American author, H. Jackson Brown said, “Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you.” Hence, let us try to set examples for our children by monitoring our conduct and enriching our behavior with qualities like patience, forgiveness, respect and love so that they grow up to become good humans who benefit the world and make it a beautiful place!

Categories
Internet Money reviews

Mobility Aids and Rollators

When do you require a mobility aid?

There are many reasons why mobility devices like walkers rollators are needed. They’re a combination of age-specific and ailment specific reasons. Here are the top 3:

  • The body-weight bearing ability of a person may decrease due to conditions like arthritis, fracture, surgery etc. in which case support may be required.
  • Respiratory problems, aging or prolonged illness can result in fatigue.
  • Dizziness or neurological problems can lead to poor balance.

It’s difficult, both physically and mentally not being able to walk independently without external help. However, the use of rollators can make you feel independent and self-reliant. Rollators ensure safety of the user by reducing the risk of falling, making it easy to get around and even providing extras like a seat, cup holder, tray and/or basket to carry stuff around.

What Is A Rollator?

A rollator is basically a rolling walker or a walker with wheels. It has wheels and brakes to make movement easy and smooth and to provide control during walking pauses. Most good ones have brakes that lock, so users can lean on the rollator slightly or even sit if the rollator has one built in. Rollators with big wheels do well with slightly uneven surfaces. Many people use rollators both indoors and outdoors. Unlike the traditional walker which needs to be lifted with every step you take, a rollator just moves with you as you only have to push it forward in order to move. Rollators are the perfect mobility aid for those who want to remain active and move quickly. 

Difference between Rollator and Walker

Both rollator and walker are for those who have difficulty in mobility. However, there are a few differences between both.

  • The first difference is that the walker has four legs and the rollator has either three or four wheels attached to the legs.
  • In order to move forward the user has to lift and set down the walker with each step, on the other hand the rollator have wheels to move forward and a brake system to control the speed.
  • Walkers are suitable for those people who are mobile enough but are not able to bear weight on one or both legs for any reason such as some sort of surgery. Rollators are suitable for those who have balance and stability issues.

Reasons to Choose Rollators

There are many reasons to choose a rollator for your mobility aid. People, who want to remain active despite of their mobility challenges, should best use a rollator. Those who travel a lot or those who want to spend time outdoors should consider buying a rollator.

  • A rollator is more stable than a walking cane and provides greater support.
  • A rollator is more convenient to use than a walker and provides greater mobility.
  • It provides better support to those who have less endurance and cannot stand for a longer period of time.
  • It is suitable for those who have weak arms or cannot lift weight.
Categories
Google India Internet reviews

Google Plus: Hours Wasted, Listings/Reviews Removed!

Here’s a Google Plus – Page & Local Listing Nightmare!

After noticing my Google plus page on the local listings, I decided to start sharing the URL with my customers so the page could get some reviews. We got some excellent reviews so I thought why not update a nice profile pic, add some pictures, a description and make sure the marker location is precise.

I did that and BOOM! My account got suspended with a message saying “Your page is disabled and won’t appear on Google.” So I went through the entire guidelines page and without any hint whatsoever, was made to figure out, what out of the 100 things I’ve may’ve done wrong. So I removed the links from my description, removed pics that may’ve contained text etc. and it emerged that I had changed the address to match another local listing of my business that someone else had created.

Google Plus Page & Local Listing removed!

Now because 2 listings with the same address aren’t allowed, I started trying to verify the other listing. Despite that having the correct phone number (a mobile number with a preceeding 0), Google couldn’t make a call to verify that listing and said “call failed” after multiple attempts.

When I woke up this morning, this is what I saw for the listings of the 2 centres of my business:

Google Local Business Page Disabled

Both the listings have been Disabled despite having clearly distinct addresses and being two disconnected centres.

The 5 hours I spent last night deleting a listing, writing emails to people to remove the local account so I could remove duplicate accounts – all gone into the trash can.

We have hidden your page and removed it from Google Maps due to changes in our system.

All customer reviews gone!

Yes, all reviews that my lovely customers had written for the business, the hours they had spent writing those – all GONE!

The message points me to https://support.google.com/business/answer/6003589?p=page_hidden&hl=en&rd=1

check back on this article for updates

 

I’ve now put a weekly reminder on my phone to check back this page. Next, I’ll quit my job to follow through this. Why not, what better use of my time anyway!

A tip for Google

The Google Plus product that you have is fantastic, the unfair advantage you give it on Google rankings is also awesome! If only you could get some real life businesses to test it and for them to be able to reach actual people in the Google Plus team, you’d realise that its working would improve overnight. I just feel that the products aren’t tested by actual people and when your systems change, you probably don’t account for the “genuine, on the ground” hassle that the business owners go through. We have 2000 reviews/ratings on Facebook and we know those are safe. Google Plus is a “touch me not” where everytime you try updating your profile to make it better, you risk losing all your data and the page. Why would a business owner spend time on G+ then?

I am open to speaking with someone from G+Page & Local Listing department regarding my experience and I’m happy to recommend some ideas that I think will make the whole G+ experience way more valuable than it is now. If someone reads it and cares, please get in touch. 9910222770 India.

Also, what’s with this “remove all other listings with the same address” impossibility? What if they weren’t created by me and have wrong phone numbers or slightly incorrect addresses? For example, someone has created a listing with a slightly mismatched address and a wrong phone number with my Business name, what do I do about that?

Jaao, pehle uska sign lekar aao jisne woh listing banayi thi! :p

Why don’t you remove them based on the one that has more genuine reviews or based on the “more recently verified Local listing”? To think about it, that listing came from an old yellow pages directory in the first place, and a newer verified listing with the same name should be allowed to over-write that. I understand that practically it won’t be that easy.

I love the Google plus page and I want to really work on that, I hope Google Plus guys will soon figure out these glitches and allow business owners like me to use the G+ page and Local listings for the actual benefit of my customers.

Categories
a man's struggle Internet

iPad 2 Eye Strain and Migraine Headache

Enough! I’ve tried looking online for a solution to this headache and tremendous eye strain that I get when using the iPad. Initially when I Googled this problem, I found no results which led me into believing that I was the only one suffering. That was 2 years ago and I had to stop using the Apple iPads to the extent that even looking at a quick video that someone else showed me, or reading a quick line started to give me that weird eye strain and migraine feeling.

Eye strain and migraine headache caused by Apple iPad 2
Eye strain and migraine headache caused by Apple iPad 2

Lately, that’s after 2 years I realised that it wasn’t just me!! I was in conversation with my sister in law and she said her father couldn’t use the iPad because of eye strain and headache. That’s not all, another friend complained of the same a few weeks ago. With my most precious purchase at one point being completely useless for me, I was obviously not very happy about it. But when you think of the number of people unhappy with the device’s screen, can you imagine what a widely sold health hazard this iPad is!?

The screen of the iPad 2 is pretty crap, very pixelated and throws this sharpish radiation. I also use my laptop almost the entire day, the Google Nexus 5, my latest gadget love and even the iPhone 5. They’re all okay. Infact even the new iPad retina displays seem to be okay as I did use one for a brief period.

Once bitten twice shy. I’m never buying an iPad again! If you too are getting a headache after using the iPad, I suggest you return that piece of agonising machinery back to Apple and ask for your money back. I promise you, you’re not alone, there are thousands suffering from this and in loneliness. No one seems to be writing anything about this or acknowledging it either.

Categories
Google Internet

2nd August 2012 Google Pagerank Update Confirmed

The latest Google PR update has taken place today, on the 2nd of August 2012.

The last Google Page Rank update was in May and I have been expecting a PR update for a few weeks now. I first noticed it today at around 23:00 IST. While checking one of my old Internet Marketing websites Modulus Systems, I noticed the change in PR and then on visiting a few others and Google-talking a few friends in other countries, it was confirmed that there was a pagerank update.

This PR update has come in just about 3 months from the previous Google Pagerank update – which is the approximate frequency that Google also mentions in its webmaster guidelines. With the recent Pandas and Penguins and the constant threat of them two, this PR update will make things clear for a few webmasters.

Google Pagerank and its importance now a days: Go back 2-3 years and SEOs used to check their PRs everyday and telling someone you have a PR 7 site was a statement that needed no explanation. All that has changed in my view – Pagerank isn’t the defining factor for topping the SERPs anymore. Its importance with respect to ranking for your finest key-phrases isn’t the same anymore. It is still something that webmasters and SEOs check frequently and it continues to be an important factor when determining the authority and popularity of websites linking to you.

This PR update has been really beneficial for Kapil, a friend of mine who is into internet marketing and high PR link building and has seen a significant PR increase in most of his ongoing projects. Have you seen an increase in PR too?

Categories
India Internet

Letter to Matt Cutts: Google’s Panda Update for India – Case Study

Dear Matt,

We’ve interacted in the past on various platforms which you may/may not remember but that’s not very important right now.

I thought Google may be missing out on providing the highest quality of search results in India that it’s known for, based on what I’ll mention in the next couple of paragraphs.

The Panda update, although great for search experience for the general English speaking world, is not the best idea for a country like India because English is not the native language of most of India’s citizens. English is a secondary language for Indians (you probably noticed the grammatical irregularities during your recent visit to Hyderabad) and therefore, expecting very high quality of written English from “user driven” (not editorial) websites in India is futile. You won’t get that here.

In fact, most users write such bad English that we spend considerable time correcting grammar from their comments on our clients’ websites worrying that these sites might be penalised for bad English. However, this can’t be done for forums or other user generated content.

Examples from an Indian university Q&A website :

Image
   Example above: Bad grammar

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   Example above: Use of Hindi or another native language between text 

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Example above: All CAPS and sometimes very little content on one page.

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Example above: A mix of all CAPS, bad grammar, but very useful information for other visitors

Very Brief Case Study:

The result of these updates is that most websites that are based on user-user interaction with indexable content have disappeared off Google (or at least that’s what I’ve been noticing recently). A good example perhaps is: http://www.madras-university.in/ (no longer exists as of October 2015) – a site that I built a few years ago because the official university website provided little or no information and a website that has now been adopted by the university and is one of the few reliable sources of information for students of the University of Madras (now Chennai). Every question is answered as accurately as possible by someone from the University but what are you going to do about the quality of English written by the question posters? This site has lost its ranking and so have innumerable others that are based on user content.

You’ve probably had this information before but I thought you needed to know in case you hadn’t.

My suggestion would be applying a milder version of the Panda to countries that have English as their second language so as to put it simply.

Best regards,
Arjun

Categories
business idea Internet UK

Google “good to know” ads on London Underground (tube) in association with CAB

Google is now advertising on London Underground or Tube as it’s popularly known. I saw these ads on a central line train in London today. Here are a couple of images taken from my iPhone. The advertisements in the Tube are about security, data protection and family protection mainly. Google have teamed up with the Citizens Advice Bureau and more information can be found on http://www.google.co.uk/goodtoknow/. Google is not new to advertising on the tube and we’ve all seen those Google Chrome browser ads, but this time, it’s more philanthropic.

Google Good to Know Ad on London Underground - Sign out
Google Good to Know Ad on London Underground – Importance of signing out
Google Good to Know Ad on London Underground - Strong Password
Google Good to Know Ad on London Underground – How to keep a really strong password

I was very surprised to see these ads on London trains. Why would Google be so kind? Google has been taking the UK more seriously recently with recent news of Google investing in an East London tech zone. Also, with Google’s purchase of of UK businesses like Beat that Quote, this may be an attempt at being seen as a household name, “not just for search”.

Have you seen these ads?

Categories
health

Electronic Cigarette – Any good? Do Electric Cigarettes Help Quit Smoking?

This is my first hand review of Electric Cigarettes – If you or someone you know is trying to quit smoking, then read on:

Right, so first of all you need to make your mind up to quit. Unless you have the motivation to quit, it’ll be hard – whether it’s fear of lung cancer (chances of which increase massively after the age of 34), fear of having an unhealthy baby, fear of bad skin, low stamina, fear of any other form of cancer (mouth, throat) or even fear of low sexual appetite or whether it’s a sudden awakening where you just want to be healthier, or you want to quit for a loved one – anything! To quit smoking you need motivation and once you have that, there are many things that can help you quit. Electric cigarettes are one of them.

Today I will review E-Lites – the electronic cigarette I have been using for some time now.

Once you decide to quit, it is natural for you to have nicotine cravings. Nicotine is the substance, found in tobacco that gets you addicted to cigarettes, whereas TAR is the substance produced when tobacco is burnt that gives you cancer. In order to deal with that nicotine craving, you may want to give your body nicotine in ways other than smoking real cigarettes and reduce its quantity gradually to completely lose nicotine addiction. Following are some popular nicotine replacement products:

  1. Nicotine patches – These are good, and I’ve tried these, but they give me a constant lump in my throat and when I do see my colleagues taking a cigarette break, I cannot resist. So for me – Nicotine patches fail.
  2. Nicotine chewing gum – Better, much better than nicotine patches. reason why nictone gum is better than nicotine patches is – you chew it when you feel the craving. Once you’ve chewed it, you know that you’ve taken some action to substitute for smoking. With a patch, you do nothing, it’s glued to your body and you’re constantly thinking of smoking (or at least that’s how I feel). So go ahead and buy some nicotine gum and see if that works for you. When your colleagues go for a cigarette break, you take your gum and go out for that break that your body is so used to. Nicotine gum – pass!
  3. Nicotine lozenges – same as nicotine chewing gum, except you don’t chew it, you suck it like a toffee.
  4. Nicotine inhalers (nose inhalers and mouth inhalers) – A very quick way of getting nicotine into your body using your lungs, in stead of mouth lining, which is used in case of gum and lozenges and your skin which is used in case of nicotine patches. Pass – you take action, take your attention off whatever you’re doing, take out your inhaler, inhale and you feel you’ve done what’s required to give your body nicotine.
  5. Non nicotine based quitting techniques like acupuncture, yoga etc – I can’t comment on these as I haven’t tried them, but I have a friend who found great success with acupuncture.
  6. Nicotine Mouth Sprays (you may have heard about Nicorette – for every cigarette, there’s a Nicorette) – I have used Nicorette and I can tell you it is one of the worst tasting nicotine replacement products. A big FAIL, I’m afraid. Many of my friends couldn’t use it after the first spray and if you have a slight cut in your tongue, (as I did once) God help you bear the pain.
  7. Electronic Cigarettes – Electric cigarettes are battery operated gadgets that have something called an atomiser and a nicotine carrying gel. The atomiser breaks the gel into very fine smoke-like gaseous particles that can be inhaled and look like smoke. This is probably not the most accurate definition if you’re looking to get in to the science bit – please Google it. The atomiser and battery remain, but the nicotine gel runs out and needs replacing once in a while. I have only tried E-Lites and I have to say – E-cigarettes are the easiest and most innovative solution to quit smoking. Here’s why:
    1. It takes time to smoke – When you smoke an E-cigarette, it takes you 2-3 minutes until you start feeling you’ve had enough. Most of us smoke cigarettes socially – smoking gives us a break, an opportunity to get away from work, talk with colleagues, just an overall better feeling. All forms of nicotine replacement change that. With electric cigarettes however, you can still go out for that little break without giving yourself cancer.
    2. It gives you that “back of the throat” push like real cigarettes do –  I did try one non-electronic tobacco-less cigarette once and the main reason why I couldn’t stick to it was – it didn’t give me the smoke punch that a real cigarette does. E-Lites are miraculous because these guys have been able to generate smoke thick enough to give that back of the throat push.
    3. It is cheaper – Don’t know by how much etc. Please go to E-Lites website to see their packages, but this is way cheaper than buying a 20 pack for 7.50 pound sterling.
    4. It feels like a real cigarette – You hold it like a real cigarette, it gives out smoke like a real cigarette. It is about 5 times heavier though (because of the in-built battery).
    5. These usually come in various flavours – Although E Lites only do normal cigarette and menthol flavours, other E-cigarette companies do various other flavours like apple, grape, clove, menthol, coffee, cherry, blueberry etc.
    6. Leaves you with no excuse to continue smoking – People who continue to smoke, to me are just losers. This is as close as you can get to real smoking without getting cancer – what else do you want!! Excuses like “It’s not the same” are just loser talk. Of course it’s not the same, it’s an electronic representation to help YOU live longer! lol!

Electric Cigarettes – PASS!

As I said, first find the motivation to quit and then go ahead and buy yourself an electronic cigarette (don’t buy the disposable ones, buy the rechargeable ones) and quit smoking. Please! Do yourself and your family this favour – live! Quitting smoking has never been this easy. Good luck!

Categories
India

Corruption in India (via Jago India)

Going through this post and reading the comment at the bottom, it makes me realise how deep rooted corruption is in India. It is a shame how every common man is forced to participate in it. Good post – very simple question – do you have the answer?

The law which says that the one who pays bribe is also an offender is the biggest promoter of corruption in India. People are pushed to the wall to pay bribe, naturally against their will. And when they have paid it, they cannot complain because paying a bribe is also an offense. This is the reason why the morale of those who openly demand bribe is so high in this country. Imagine a situation. You are on a railway platform at 2am on a winter nigh … Read More

via Jago India

Categories
business idea

Home Office Furniture Collections – Home Office Furniture

In the age of globalization offices do not have boundaries and time zones. One has to be present 24/7 and the sun never sets as the other part of the globe is working. Hence it has almost become a necessity to have a home office workspace. A basic home office will need home office furniture collections to make your work comfortable and organized. Read the article to know more about home office furniture collections.

Home Office Furniture Collections

When people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their hearts at home.  ~Betty Bender. There was a time when people would go to offices, do their job and come back home happily.  But in this day and age, things are different, globalization has changed the way people work, with limitless working hours and deadlines to be completed at odd times. It requires employees to go that extra mile, and hence almost everyone carries office work to home. It is thus practical and ideal to have a home office where one can work in the vicinity of their comforts and also enjoy quality time with family. To make your home office functional and comfortable you will require home office furniture collections. The basic things required for home office is the space and home office furniture collections. These include a table, chair and cabinets. If you have enough budgets for your home office furniture collections then you can add more luxury and higher end fittings according to your choices. If you think you want to invest sensibly in comfortable and functional home office furniture collections then you can opt for budget furniture.

How To Buy Home Office Furniture Collections

A home office sounds very exciting and one cannot include a typical office décor at home. It is different in the sense that home office furniture collections have to be designed in such a way that the home office matches up with the rest of home décor. Home office furniture collections must as well as provide structured and comfortable working environment. A professional design of the home office will surely bring out the sincerity and organized way of working at home. Home office furniture collections will include a chair, computer desk, storage cabinets and maybe a bookshelf to make it functional and complete. One vital thing that you have to keep in mind when buying home office furniture collections is the space that you have for a home office. A small space area would require sleek and foldable home office furniture collections as bulky and heavy crafted furniture will mar the look of the room and will be overwhelming with regard to space. You might find yourself tempted to buy attractive and higher end designs for home office furniture collections but budget, size and space might held you back. There is nothing to get gloomy as you have wide range of home office furniture collections for every budget, taste, design, patterns and sizes to choose from. You can either buy home office furniture collections from malls, local markets, used furniture sellers, classifieds or online shops.  To increase the efficiency and productivity of work from home it is important to keep the color and design of the home office furniture collections to gel with home décor as matching colors and ergonomic design will help the home office provide an effective visual outlook and also keep your general health in check. Home office furniture collections should be of ergonomically standards as too much of heighted furniture items can cause back ache or too wide a table or too near might cause strain to your eyes. Proper lighting at the work space area of the home office is an important factor as you do not want to doze away due to dim lights or cause undue strain to the eye because of light directly falling on the eyes.

Home Office Furniture

  • To set up a home office the first important thing is decide the space in your house and décor it with comfortable home office furniture collections. It can be a corner of your bedroom, a garage, a store room, or simply an extra unused room. Whatever be it first have a layout design of the space for you work area.
  • Eliminate all the clutter and unwanted and unused things from the working space. Once you have an area to set up a home office, it is time to decide for your home office furniture collections.
  • A lot of people use the dining table and chair as computer table, but in the long run it is not comfortable and the environment is unsuitable for office work as lot of activity and disturbances can happen. Important papers and files might get displaced from moving from place to place and it makes sense to have a workspace to you with complete home office furniture collections.
  • A proper desk, chair, storage cabinets and bookshelves form the basic items of the home office furniture collections. Keeping the home office furniture collections in place makes your work from home more organized, productive and efficient.
  • Invest in ergonomically designed furniture or the ones that suit your body comfort. Home office furniture collections come in various styles, shapes, patterns and designs. Select the furniture size and shape according to the area of the workspace. If you are using a corner of the room then invest in sleek and functional furniture. If you have a larger space you can go for higher end, high crafted furniture collections for your home office designs.
  • Material that you select for your home office furniture collections is also of vital importance, although wooden furniture is an all time favorite with people, you can check out on steel, plastics, lather, glass and fiber material for your home office furniture collections.
  • You can choose budget furniture to higher end costly home office furniture collections items. It is always advisable to buy home office furniture collections items at best deals offer during holiday seasons, festival seasons, sale clearances, local markets classifieds and online stores.
  • The color of the home office furniture collections plays an important role in keeping your motivation and spirits high. Dark and bright colors are good for creative fields of jobs and light colors are good to calm you down and release your stress. Also keep the home décor in the house when buying home office furniture collections as matching sets will uplift the total look of the house.
  • In the end it is your home office, take liberty with your imagination, budget and creative ideas and make a functional, practical and compatible work space area for your home. You can also take professional help and consultants to make your home office realty. Maintain the quality of the furniture collections as this will be useful when you decide to sell or replace or move the home office furniture collections in future.