The internet is wonderful. There is no question about that.

However, thanks to a random comment on my blog contact page, I have come across this link:

http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html

I would recommend a view, and a read of the comments underneath as well if possible. It comes with subtitles and everything, so hopefully it should not be a problem.

I was also asked my comments on the matter.

I grew up in Pakistan, and it is almost common knowledge that most you are told there is what you are ‘supposed to know’ rather than ‘entitled’ to know. History has been written by the rulers of the country, religion has been mixed with culture, and culture has been made this big thing, and aah well, I better not start.

So, yeah. In a weird way, I am used to being presented filtered information. Luckily perhaps, I have also learnt to notice the signs, and possibly filter the information out, and look at false information as a cynic.

Does that mean all this is correct? Of course not. It isn’t. Does it restrict our quest to gain knowledge? Yes it does. Is it fair? Of course not!

What to do about it though? I most probably don’t have the answer to that, but it is sometimes easier than we think it is.

Keep your eyes open. Make sure you have more than one source. Be open to different ideas. Be a sceptic. Question everything. I know it is a lot more effort, but hey, the internet is controlled by the same people all other media are controlled by. It may seem more open and honest, but hey, internet is what created all those old pervert men pretending to be innocent girls on chat rooms. Internet gave lying a new platform. And sadly, it is around us. And then there are the internet trolls, the people who are intent on blindly making everyone sharing the same opinion as them, or be condemned to internet hell.

A disappointing verdict, I am afraid, but hey, this is how things are. Be careful of what you absorb. And be safe!

Let’s be honest, a big block of text simply isn’t as interesting as a cool video. As someone in her mid-twenties, I know that my generation is YouTube crazy and video game insane, but this fascination with video is only going to get more intense as the years continue. As a former High School English teacher, I think I know this better than anyone. Do you think my students read the books I gave them? Or do you think they watched the movie? Their test scores would say the latter.

People are getting tired of the traditional article, so many blog editors are doing everything they can to keep the way they relay information exciting. Many have decided that video blogging is the way to go, and although the idea is somewhat new, all the evidence supports its success. For those who are unfamiliar, video blogging is a blog that uses videos as its primary mode of content delivery. The content is generally similar to the content you would find in an article on a blog, but it’s shown through a video.

Videos work great for a few reasons:

Top 5 Benefits to Video Blogging

1. Increase Traffic – Videos are typically more appealing to readers, so more people will want to continually visit your site. You will be able to gain credibility with readers much easier than if you had a piece of text looking identical to every other piece of text on the web. Videos will also improve your marketing efforts because search engines will often features videos at the top of a results page. Although as video blogging becomes more and more popular this may change, it’s currently a great way to increase traffic.
2. Opportunities – You have more opportunities to get your point across to readers if you’re using video. First, videos can help you explain a dry or complicated topic without losing the readers’ attention. Second, videos can show someone how to do something much easier than if they were reading it in an article. This solves the “it’s hard to explain” problem for bloggers.
3. Easy to Create – Many bloggers get nervous about video blogging because they think it is difficult to create. However, creating a video blog is actually quite simple. All you need is a digital video camera or a webcam to start recording. Although the most professional video blogs use software and video editing, most use a basic camera to start. Visit For Bloggers By Bloggers to learn how to upload your video onto your blog.
4. Websites – You can video blog through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and of course YouTube, so you are not bound to a specific website. This same ideas works for sharing your content. Social networks generally only allow you to link back to your piece of content, but a video can be uploaded virtually anywhere—a Facebook fan page, YouTube, StumbleUpon, etc.
5. Saves Time – Video blogging saves everyone time. You can almost always fit more information into a video than you can into an article, so it’s faster for the reader and the writer. This also goes back to the idea that videos are more appealing to readers. After all, why wouldn’t someone want to save time?

Video blogging would certainly be a big change for most of the blogs on the web, so I advise you to start slow. Create one or two videos per week and see what your readers think before going to an all-video blog. Most blog editors end up creating an entirely new video blog that is separate from their traditional blog. Although it’s a little bit of extra work, I think you will find that it will pay off in the end.

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to small business loans. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including 401k limits to small businesses and entrepreneurs for a b2b lead generation company, Resource Nation.

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A must to attend event for developers, IT professionals, in Doha Qatar.

Click here to visit the website

Open Door Qatar 2012

This is something which we are missing at Doha, Qatar.

When i come here, i come with a vision to establish the community development system in Doha. I must say that Microsoft Qatar is quite supportive, and we are working on this agenda.

We had an initial meeting in this regard with Ahmed Khairy, Allay Ahmed Hussain, Islam last week at Costa Coffe.

We are planning to have the user group activity followed by Microsoft Qatar Open Door 2012 in Feb.

So lets roll the ball.

This post was due from last 3 months, and due to my laziness, i didn’t write it yet.

Anyway, when i joined KalSoft Qatar (QDS), this was one of the project which was going on from several months.

Al Sadd Club is one of the most famous club of Qatar, in fact middle east, and with the launch the club is quite renown all around the world, they just won the Asian Cup for Football club, and also secure position in Club WorldCup in Japan, probably this is one of the blessing of the launch of the website

I was lucky to have a wonderful teamwork on this. Initially Adnan Khan worked on this, and then Samim Khan and Haseeb Ali put their best effort. Sibtain did excellent graphics.

The client Ahmed Al Ansari was an excellent person, and we really enjoyed working with him. And Mahmoud Al Batarni was the consultant, he also provide his experienced advise.

At the end , the developed site was an excellent SharePoint 2010 internet implementation, and it was highly appreciated in Qatar. There was a press release to launch the website.

Click here to view the website.

Al Sadd Website

Today i delivered my project 6 speech at Professional Toastmaster Club, meeting at The Next Generation School.

I selected the topic “Prisoner of Thoughts”. I have the idea about the story so developed it by my own. The topic was appreciated by the audience.

The meeting was unique, as it was not arranged in the hotel, like regularly PTM arranged it hotel in Shatir Abbas, however today meeting was arranged at The Next Generations kindergarten school, Doha, Qatar.

The Toastmaster of the day role was played by Warda Ali Khan. She did a wonderful job in managing time, and kept the audience intact with the meeting.

Then there was project speech one delivered by Miss Nazia. And then i was called to deliver the prepared speech.

I started my speech with a note, that its a coinsedence that today my son also went to a head-start kindergarten for school admission, and i also visited a kindergarten school, not for admission, but for the meeting though

Well my speech was more on the philosophical thought, and i shared an article in which he compared the slavery of 150 years back with the modern slavery. The writer compares it with that the old slavery was to control our body, and get the work done from us. However the current slavery is of controlling mind and thoughts.

The story was quite appreciated by the participants, and then my evaluator Mr. Noman Ali Khan, a seasoned, and senior toastmaster provide his evaluation. Overall he was satisfied with my speech, and provide some improvement areas as well, which i will definitely work on.

I must say thanks to the school administration for providing such a nice venue, and would like to thanks the Teachers as well, as they listened us very carefully, and act a very supportive role.

I hope that I’ll be delivering my next speech project 7 on Feb 11, 2012.

New Year resolutions have never been quite my thing and every year as friends and colleagues have put together their resolutions, I have had my “bah” “humbug” moments – telling them there’s no point in making resolutions that they had no intention of keeping. This year too just before the clock struck midnight heralding the onset of a brand new year, I wondered about the many people who would be wasting their time making resolutions only to break them the very next day.

Then something occurred to me. What if I made resolutions the week after New Year’s? Maybe they wouldn’t be jinxed and there would be a better chance of living up to them. Why make them at all you might ask? There is a loony rationale to it actually. When you focus on what you need to do to improve your personal and work life, your relationships, the way you function as a human being, you actually take the time to stop and think, to highlight in your mind your priorities and ways to better lead your own life and impact the lives of those around you.

So I relaxed on my beanbag, closed my eyes and thought of things I would like to change. Here is a list of 10 resolutions that I came up with.

1. Try and be more patient – God do I need this!

Take a deep breath before reacting in annoyance to anything that happens. There are any number of times one reacts in anger to something someone may have said or done. Regrets are of no use later so might as well ponder before reacting.

2. Focus on a few things, make them happen first and then embark on other activities

Passion and excitement are great but they often lead to total chaos if one is not careful. Balance is important, and the ability to recognize how much one can execute during a given time frame.

3. Get back to blogging more regularly

I enjoy writing/blogging so much but of late I have let life get the better of me – and have neglected my blog. That is just not on. I need to get back to regular blogging. It is one of the things that has kept me sane over the years (yes yes it may be hard to believe but I am quite sane )

4. Take a day off every week

The rollercoaster ride I have been on 24×7 for the past few years has turned me into a workaholic and is beginning to take its toll. Need to take at least a day off every week to unwind, laze, just chill!

5. Save Energy

No no not mine! Energy as in power. Make sure all switches in the house are off when they are not in use, that all lights, fans, ACs in the office are off when the team heads out for lunch or when i go out for meetings. Emphasize on household and office teams of the importance of saving energy.

6. Eat more sensibly

This doesn’t mean I am going on a diet. It only means that I will eat oily or deep fried foods, sweets, etc less often. Concentrate on lunches which comprise of soup and/salads and the day I have a heavier lunch, have the soup/salad for dinner. So eating healthier as often as I can without depriving myself of food I enjoy.

7. Start some sort of regular light exercise

This is to keep the body from rusting and getting squeaky. Needs to keep functioning if I am to do all the things I want to.

8. Start a P@SHA show online

Have been thinking about this for so long. About time I stopped procrastinating and actually did it! This is the year!

9. Document … document … document!

Ensure all initiatives are documented and shared. Blowing your own trumpet (in so far as the organization you work for is concerned) is actually a good thing and is in fact essential good practice.

10. Plod on! Ignore the negativity!

Don’t let the insensitivity and negativity of a few individuals weigh you down. Best to focus on the positive, do what needs to be done and march on.

Do not be surprised if I say that more than half of today’s bloggers started off to satisfy their creative urge though an overwhelming majority of these writers look to monetize their blogs down the years (or shall I say down the months?). There are no two opinions about the fact that people read blogs to have fun, and occasionally to get free tips and advices on matters that matter to them. But it is also a fact that in time, they start to like the writing style of the blogger, and believe him to an extent that they are prepared to follow the recommendations and advices of the blogger. Of course all this happens subconsciously though there is a conscious effort made by the blogger to take the readers to this stage.

You are Ready to Take Off and Make Decent Money From Your Blog

Once you are sure you are perceived as a friend and guide who is there to help solve problems of your readers, you know that you can make money from your blog by suggesting products and services as your readers know that you will only recommend things and companies that they can believe with closed eyes. But remember that your readers wait for your blog as you have appeared as honest friend and guide and not as a pushy salesman.

Companies Have Come to Realize the Power of Blogs

All that companies making products or providing services want is higher sales by converting more people into their customers. They advertize, offer discounts and use many promotional events and schemes to lure customers into buying their products. But sometimes all this fades in comparison to recommendation by a blogger to use their products. Why? Because readers know that the blogger would not suggest a product or service until he is sure of its efficacy and usefulness for them, such is the power wielded by a blogger who becomes more convincing than a celebrity in this regard.

Top Blogs of Today Are written by Many Bloggers and Not Just One

Blogging has come of age, and the most successful ones are written by a group and not a single blogger. What this suggests is that there are many blog jobs available if you happen to be talented and have a creative writing style that has the power to convince and convert the readers into what you want them to believe.

Do Check: Making Money Online with Proven Techniques

Look for a Job in Your Area of Expertise

You have your own small blog and are happy with the results as the number of readers is increasing with every passing month. But if you want to make money as a professional blogger, you need to apply for a job in the very niche that is the topic of your blog. You cannot hope to land a blog job without your own small blog as any employer would be interested in looking at your style of writing to see if it goes with ideas in his mind.

Blog Jobs are Plural in Nature

You can get blog jobs from as many sources as you can; as long as you can meet deadlines and keep up the standard of writing. This means you can continue with your own blog and write for others who are paying. If you can manage your time well, you can write for as many as 20 blogs generating more than an average 9-5 job.
There are many ways to secure a blog job these days. You can apply on many outsourcing site, advertise about your intention on your own blog, or ask other bloggers to recommend you in case they are neck deep and cannot find time.

Author bio:

Sirangi Kalpana Guest Blogger and writes lots about technology related articles which includes rack cable management and cable tidy and many more.

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• do not be surprised if i say that more than half of today’s bloggers started off to satisfy their creative urge though an overwhelming majority of these writers look to monetize their blogs down the years (or shall

Successful Writing Online and You

Many people are very successful writing online for a living and you can be the next to start making money from your writing. Whether you write for your own website or blog or you write for other people, you can make a living with online writing. There are many ways to go about doing this and you don’t even have to be a great writer.

Of course, it helps if you already have a passion for writing and you already love to put words together into an article, book, guide, or any other form of writing. However, online writing is something you can certainly learn. If you want to make money with successful writing online, then you must use these five keys to help you.

The Top Five Keys for Successful Writing Online

1. Reader Comes First

No matter what you read about search engine optimization (SEO), marketing, or anything else, you have to make sure the reader comes first. As you sit down to write an article, blog post, how to guide, or anything else, think about the person who will be reading it. Does your writing answer their questions? Does it help them with the problem they are trying to solve? Have you provided them with the information they are so diligently searching for online?

If you take the time to put your reader before any SEO technique or anything a marketing guide has told you to do, then you will achieve more success with your writing then you can even imagine.

2. Just Write

Many people try to be so perfect with their writing instead of treating it like what it really is. Writing is a form of communication and your main goal is to communicate your message to the reader. If you spend hours proofreading and going back through every last sentence you will never get your writing in front of anybody.

Instead, sit down with your computer, and just write. You may be surprised how good your writing is when it just flows. Of course, you want to do a spell check and a bit of proofing for typos, but you don’t want to spend all day trying to get the grammar right. Most of your readers will not catch your grammar mistakes anyway.

3. Research

Probably the biggest mistake writers make when writing for others or for themselves involves researching the subject. The most successful writing online is done after plenty of research. Make sure you get your facts straight and make sure you are not just rewriting another piece of content that already exists. A good rule of thumb is to use at least three different sources for your research.

4. Read

This may seem silly since we are discussing writing, but if you want to produce successful writing online, you need to read. Writers need to understand what else is out there, learn about new subjects, and continually expand their vocabulary. Reading provides for all of this and a little bit of reading every day will go a very long way.

5. Find your Passion

The best part about being a writer is you get to choose what you write about. You can start your own blog or website or you can write for others. Either way you get to choose what you write about. If you freelance, you can choose the projects you work on and turn down the ones you don’t think you will enjoy. The most successful writing online is always produced when the writer truly enjoys what they are writing about.

Successful Writing Online Takes Time

Don’t think that you can just sit down and produce thousands of words of content every single day. Some writers can do this, but they are seasoned professionals and have been at it for quite some time. It also makes a difference if you can type fast. Either way, you will probably struggle more with your first piece of writing than with anything else you write.

Understand the more you write, the better you will get at it. Just like anything else you have ever decided to do, practice is necessary. It is always a good idea to balance your writing time, clear your mind, and sink directly into what you are working on. If you follow the above five keys and you truly find a passion for writing, you will be able to produce successful writing online.

The Author, Benjamin Ehinger, is a highly skilled writer providing tips to those looking to make a living online from article marketing. Go to www.MasterArticleMarketer.com to claim your Free Article Marketing Guide and start earning your online income Today!

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Glen Bickenstaff, a seasoned entrepreneur, wrote these beautiful (and completely relatable) lines at Inc.com: Someone once asked me what it was like going out on my own as an entrepreneur. I told them it was like jumping out of an airplane with all the materials needed to build a parachute. An entrepreneur must be willing [...]

So, during my morning online business reading session, I came across a very interesting article (originally posted at Business Insider) about how Twitter, the company, has an exorbitantly high…



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No, not the movie.

But yeah, thanks to some research, found out that some people use SMOOTHDRAW to draw their doodles and comics. So I downloaded it, and gave it a go. It is definitely a very user-friendly software.

My attempt at drawing something Quentin Blake inspired

Using it, I created this last night, and loved it so much did I, that I thought it shall be my new avatar. So it is on my blogger now, as well as on my twitter account (http://twitter.com/smacula).