[{"content":"When my wife was pregnant with our son, we received a goodie bag. You know the kind. Every expecting parent in Sweden gets one. It\u0026rsquo;s stuffed with freebies: diapers, baby cold creams, shampoo, discount coupons at baby ecom sites. You open it, you flip through the stuff, and most of it ends up in a drawer.\nBut one thing didn\u0026rsquo;t end up in a drawer.\nAmong the trail packs and samples was a Libero diaper starter pack. And next to it, a small butterfly remote toy. The kind you hang from a stroller or a car seat so the baby has something to look at. It had big eyes, a smile, and tiny wings. Cute. Minimal Libero branding. You wouldn\u0026rsquo;t even notice the logo unless you looked for it.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s the thing: as parents, you don\u0026rsquo;t overthink a toy like that. It\u0026rsquo;s harmless, it\u0026rsquo;s colorful, the baby likes it. So up it goes on the stroller. And then on the car seat. And then it becomes part of every outing.\nMy son grew up watching that butterfly.\nHe used to call it \u0026ldquo;big bati.\u0026rdquo; Bati means butterfly. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t say the full word when he was small, so he made his own. And every time we stepped out, he\u0026rsquo;d look for his big bati. Every car ride. Every walk. Every trip to the park.\nThat butterfly became a character in our family. Not a product. Not a brand mascot. A character.\nSo when it came time to buy diapers, what brand do you think we picked? Libero. Obviously. We didn\u0026rsquo;t even try another brand. Not once. Not Pampers, not Bambo Nature, not any of the 15 other options on the shelf. We were already emotionally locked in, and we didn\u0026rsquo;t even realize it.\nAnd that\u0026rsquo;s the genius.\nLet me explain. Most baby brands spend their marketing budgets on ads. TV spots showing happy babies. Instagram campaigns with influencer moms. Discount wars on ecommerce platforms. All of that is fine. It works. But it\u0026rsquo;s forgettable.\nLibero did something different. They gave us an object that created an emotional memory. Not for the parent. For the child. The parent is the buyer, but the child is the one who forms the bond. And once your kid loves something, you\u0026rsquo;re not switching. You\u0026rsquo;re just not. No coupon is strong enough to compete with your child\u0026rsquo;s emotional attachment.\nThink about what they actually did:\nThey turned a freebie into a Trojan horse for brand loyalty. The butterfly costs them almost nothing to produce. It ships inside a goodie bag they\u0026rsquo;re already distributing. But its emotional ROI is insane. Because that butterfly sits in front of your child\u0026rsquo;s face for months. Maybe years. It becomes familiar. Safe. Loved. And the brand behind it inherits all of that warmth.\nThey branded it with restraint. This is the part most marketers would mess up. The instinct is to slap your logo everywhere. Make the butterfly scream LIBERO. But they didn\u0026rsquo;t. The branding was minimal. Almost invisible. And that\u0026rsquo;s exactly why we kept using it. If it had looked like an ad, it would have gone in the drawer with everything else. Because it looked like a toy, it stayed.\nThey targeted the right moment. Pregnancy is when brand preferences are formed. You\u0026rsquo;re a first-time parent, you don\u0026rsquo;t know what brand to trust, and you\u0026rsquo;re overwhelmed with choices. Whoever gets to you first with something that feels genuine, not salesy, wins. Libero got to us with a butterfly. Not a banner ad. Not a sponsored post. A butterfly.\nIn my humble opinion, this is one of the most underrated marketing strategies I\u0026rsquo;ve seen. It\u0026rsquo;s not flashy. It won\u0026rsquo;t win a Cannes Lion. But it works at a level that most marketing never reaches: it creates emotional lock-in before the customer even makes their first purchase.\nMy son is older now. He doesn\u0026rsquo;t call it big bati anymore. But that butterfly is still in our home. And if you ask me which diaper brand I trust, I won\u0026rsquo;t even hesitate.\nLibero didn\u0026rsquo;t sell us diapers. They gave us a butterfly. And we gave them our loyalty.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s it. That\u0026rsquo;s the whole strategy.\nThanks for reading.\nIllustration by Sonika Agarwal\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2026/04/libero-butterfly-effect/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen my wife was pregnant with our son, we received a goodie bag. You know the kind. Every expecting parent in Sweden gets one. It\u0026rsquo;s stuffed with freebies: diapers, baby cold creams, shampoo, discount coupons at baby ecom sites. You open it, you flip through the stuff, and most of it ends up in a drawer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut one thing didn\u0026rsquo;t end up in a drawer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmong the trail packs and samples was a Libero diaper starter pack. And next to it, a small butterfly remote toy. The kind you hang from a stroller or a car seat so the baby has something to look at. It had big eyes, a smile, and tiny wings. Cute. Minimal Libero branding. You wouldn\u0026rsquo;t even notice the logo unless you looked for it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The butterfly that made us a customer for life"},{"content":"7 years ago, on 14th December 2013 Sangeeta and I looked at each other and said, \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s do it\u0026rdquo; before hitting the publish button.\n10 seconds later, the first ever article on Storypick was live.\n5 months later, the CEO of one of India\u0026rsquo;s largest media companies flew us to his office \u0026amp; offered to acquire Storypick. We passed.\nWe passed not because the offer was low (we weren\u0026rsquo;t making any money then, but we had millions of readers) but for the opportunity: the opportunity to grow Storypick on our own terms, while getting our hands dirty, learning entrepreneurship the hard way.\nAnd boy, did we get our hands dirty! From hiring talent to buying sugar for employee\u0026rsquo;s coffee, from meeting clients to negotiating with real estate agents, from managing people to managing unit economics, from understanding each row of a balance sheet to editing articles, from realizing that rats were eating up our AC pipe to getting it fixed, from a dingy apartment to switching offices thrice, from shifting base from Pune to Mumbai, we wore hats of a CEO, COO, CFO, HR, Editor-in-Chief, product manager, housekeeping, office boy, and everything in between.\nAnd somewhere between all these, we never realized that while Storypick was growing, we grew with it too. And that\u0026rsquo;s the craziest realization, in retrospect.\nAfter working with 400+ top brands, publishing 25,000+ articles with millions of readers monthly, bootstrapping from zero to million dollars, there\u0026rsquo;s only one lesson I want to share: it\u0026rsquo;s super hard, but it\u0026rsquo;s worth it.\nThey say, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. They are right.\n#Happy7th\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/12/storypick-7th-anniversary/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e7 years ago, on 14th December 2013 Sangeeta and I looked at each other and said, \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s do it\u0026rdquo; before hitting the publish button.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e10 seconds later, the first ever article on \u003ca href=\"https://www.storypick.com/\"\u003eStorypick\u003c/a\u003e was live.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e5 months later, the CEO of one of India\u0026rsquo;s largest media companies flew us to his office \u0026amp; offered to acquire Storypick. We passed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe passed not because the offer was low (we weren\u0026rsquo;t making any money then, but we had millions of readers) but for \u003cstrong\u003ethe opportunity\u003c/strong\u003e: the opportunity to grow Storypick on our own terms, while getting our hands dirty, learning entrepreneurship the hard way.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One takeaway from 7 years of building Storypick"},{"content":"My morning ritual consists of making tea and spending at least an hour reading on my phone. The calm ambiance of the morning makes for probably the best time of the day to soak in quality knowledge. My experiments with super productivity keeps evolving with time; for instance 5 years ago my daily productivity schedule looked very strict. Here\u0026rsquo;s a sneak peek into my recent focus on outcome based outlook. I have also shared my current productivity bundle.\nOver time, I\u0026rsquo;ve set up different utilities to aid my morning reading routine. Now, I don\u0026rsquo;t have to spend time trying to discover what to read, it\u0026rsquo;s already served on my plate every morning. Thanks to some nifty little tools. Below are the details:\n1. Pocket reminders I keep saving interesting content throughout the day on my laptop and mobile to Pocket. But Pocket doesn\u0026rsquo;t have a reminder functionality. So I created one, you can follow this simple tutorial to enable it for yourself.\n2. Newsletters I used to subscribe to newsletters using my Gmail id. But it\u0026rsquo;s a tedious way to read email newsletters; you will have to sift through a barrage of emails to find the relevant newsletters. You can use filters to sort them, but I found this nifty product called Stoop. (Update: I am using another app now, named Slick) It\u0026rsquo;s like a Podcast app - but for email newsletters. The best part is that it provides you with an alternate email address that you can use to subscribe to all your favourite newsletters. That keeps your primary Gmail neat and tidy, while making newsletter reading experience a thing to look forward to in the morning.\n3. Business, startup, tech \u0026amp; entrepreneurship news Daily email digest: I have setup a few IFTTT recipes that curate and deliver the best content to my email every morning at 7AM. E.g. If a story on Hacker News makes it to Top/Best, it gets added to the daily email digest. **Manual browsing:**I usually start with Techmeme and follow any link/tweet that grabs my attention. While they do provide a daily email newsletter, I like visiting the site for no apparent reason.\n4. Telegram messages Few of my IFTTT recipes are setup to notify me with important events throughout the day. It sends me a message on Telegram with the link. These messages get piled up while I sleep at night. So I go through them in the morning.\n5. Books, if time permit On rare days when the content volume is low, I continue reading books on my phone. Currently reading: The Elephant in the Brain.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s not perfect, but it works. How does your morning routine look like?\nCover photo by Maliha Mannan\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/11/morning-reading-ritual/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMy morning ritual consists of making tea and spending at least an hour reading on my phone. The calm ambiance of the morning makes for probably the best time of the day to soak in quality knowledge. My experiments with super productivity keeps evolving with time; for instance 5 years ago \u003ca href=\"/2015/08/my-experiments-on-how-to-be-super-productive/\"\u003emy daily productivity schedule\u003c/a\u003e looked very strict. Here\u0026rsquo;s a sneak peek into my recent focus on \u003ca href=\"/2019/10/productivity-experiment-with-ticktick-trello/\"\u003eoutcome based outlook\u003c/a\u003e. I have also shared my current \u003ca href=\"/2020/10/my-personal-productivity-bundle/\"\u003eproductivity bundle\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Let technology assist you in your morning reading ritual. Here's my setup."},{"content":"In the first part of the \u0026lsquo;Think like an entrepreneur\u0026rsquo; mini-series, we learned to think of pain-points rather than ideas.\nIn entrepreneurship, much like life, we shouldn\u0026rsquo;t try to do everything ourselves. You might think that it\u0026rsquo;s cheaper to DIY, but we\u0026rsquo;re losing time (which is costly) trying to do something that can be done better \u0026amp; quicker by an expert.\nObviously, if you\u0026rsquo;re the expert yourself, by all means do it yourself. But let\u0026rsquo;s be real, we all have our limitations.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s opportunity cost too. You could very well be doing something that can give you higher ROI (return on investment), rather than saving 50 bucks by spending hours to learn it \u0026amp; then doing a crappy job.\nWe are in the gig economy and we should take full advantage of it.\nNeed a logo? Crowdsource it. Need a website? Get a freelancer to do it. Need a marketing campaign? Get a part-time growth-hacker to run it. Need a video setup? Rent it. Delegate. Delegate. Delegate.\nNow that you\u0026rsquo;ve delegated most of the auxiliary stuff, focus on your core competency. You need not delegate that because you can do it better than 90% of people out there.\nIt might be tempting to fix the leaking sink by yourself, but if you want to think like an entrepreneur, call a plumber. It\u0026rsquo;s not worth your time.\nCover photo by Roselyn Tirado\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/11/how-to-think-like-an-entrepreneur-2-when-to-diy-when-to-delegate/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn the first part of the \u0026lsquo;Think like an entrepreneur\u0026rsquo; mini-series, we learned to think of \u003ca href=\"/2020/10/how-to-think-like-an-entrepreneur/\"\u003epain-points rather than ideas\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn entrepreneurship, much like life, we shouldn\u0026rsquo;t try to do everything ourselves. You might think that it\u0026rsquo;s cheaper to DIY, but we\u0026rsquo;re losing time (which is costly) trying to do something that can be done better \u0026amp; quicker by an expert.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eObviously, if you\u0026rsquo;re the expert yourself, by all means do it yourself. But let\u0026rsquo;s be real, we all have our limitations.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to think like an entrepreneur #2: When to DIY \u0026 when to delegate?"},{"content":"Pocket is a read-it-later application that takes your bookmarks to the next level. It lets you save content for future reading, listen to them (if you\u0026rsquo;re too tired to read), save them for eternity (even if the original source goes offline), tag by category, highlight sentences and much more. Best of all, its Freemium plan works for most light readers.\nBut any heavy user of Pocket will realize, sooner or later, that a reminder functionality would be a great addition. Because, let\u0026rsquo;s admit it: we find a fantastic article, save it to Pocket, and then forget to go back to it on a later date.\nIn fact, reminders are one of the most requested features for Pocket. But Pocket has no plans to implement it because they \u0026ldquo;don’t want Pocket to feel like another To-Do list to get through.\u0026rdquo;\nThat\u0026rsquo;s fair too, I guess.\nHaving said that, there\u0026rsquo;s nothing stopping us from hacking a reminder solution of our own. So without further ado, let\u0026rsquo;s get started.\nI will be using TickTick ToDo app to set automatic reminders for every new Pocket article. You may use your favourite ToDo app. I will also show you a way to set reminders using tags, if you don\u0026rsquo;t want reminders for every new article.\n1. Create an account with IFTTT.\n2. Click \u0026lsquo;Create\u0026rsquo; - If This \u0026lsquo;Add\u0026rsquo; button 3. Search \u0026lsquo;Pocket\u0026rsquo; and click on it. It will ask you to authenticate Pocket, just login using your Pocket username and password. 4. Now it will ask you to choose a trigger. If you want a reminder to be set for every new Pocket article, choose the first option. Choose the other options to filter by tag, favourite and archive triggers.\n5. Now click the \u0026lsquo;Then That Add\u0026rsquo; button to connect your ToDo app. 6. Click on Add Task and fill in the details and save it. I have set Due Date as 3 days later, which means TickTick will remind me three days after adding a new article to Pocket. You can tailor it to minutes, hours, days, weeks etc. as per your reading style.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s it. Your very own personal automatic reminder system for Pocket is now live!\nSave now, get reminded in 3 days, read, repeat.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/11/how-to-enable-automatic-reminders-for-articles-in-pocket/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://getpocket.com/\"\u003ePocket\u003c/a\u003e is a read-it-later application that takes your bookmarks to the next level. It lets you save content for future reading, listen to them (if you\u0026rsquo;re too tired to read), save them for eternity (even if the original source goes offline), tag by category, highlight sentences and much more. Best of all, its Freemium plan works for most light readers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut any heavy user of Pocket will realize, sooner or later, that a reminder functionality would be a great addition. Because, let\u0026rsquo;s admit it: we find a fantastic article, save it to Pocket, and then forget to go back to it on a later date.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to enable automatic reminders for articles in Pocket"},{"content":"In TGIF#1, we realized that most people don\u0026rsquo;t want to retire, they just want to do things that make them lead a more fulfilling life.\nWith the next instalment of TGIF, I decided to go deeper into the human psyche. Personally, I believe most people have a \u0026rsquo; positive outcome, future oriented\u0026rsquo; perception about themselves. It simply means that people have plans for their future and they strive everyday to be the person who would turn those dreams into realities.\nSo they have a future oriented outlook with a person in mind (themselves) who\u0026rsquo;s standing tall on the positive outcome.\nE.g. if you\u0026rsquo;re working to become a CEO someday, you already might have developed a positive mentality that makes you believe that you\u0026rsquo;re already X way there. (X = half, 30%, 20% etc). Other people might not know anything about it.\nSo my hypothesis is that people\u0026rsquo;s perception of you will rarely match your own perception of yourself.\n92% of voters felt \u0026ldquo;people\u0026rsquo;s perception didn\u0026rsquo;t match their own\u0026rdquo;.\nAnd that\u0026rsquo;s a beautiful result to have. It means people have plans and they\u0026rsquo;re working on them.\nEven 8% people who voted \u0026ldquo;Mostly yes\u0026rdquo; are people who have made sure they send all the right public signals so that the perception matches. These signals can be the way you present yourself in the public domain through social media, in-person meetings, through ideas, through friends, family \u0026amp; acquaintances.\nAll in all, a feel good TGIF with feel good conversations. 🙂 Cover photo by Chase Clark\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/perception-of-yourself-matches-with-peoples-perception-of-you/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/2020/10/retirement-and-money/\"\u003eIn TGIF#1\u003c/a\u003e, we realized that most people don\u0026rsquo;t want to retire, they just want to do things that make them lead a more fulfilling life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the next instalment of TGIF, I decided to go deeper into the human psyche. Personally, I believe most people have a \u0026rsquo; \u003cstrong\u003epositive outcome, future oriented\u003c/strong\u003e\u0026rsquo; perception about themselves. It simply means that people have plans for their future and they strive everyday to be the person who would turn those dreams into realities.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Does your perception of yourself match with people's perception of you?"},{"content":"If you\u0026rsquo;re on Android and love customizations, you probably are already using a 3rd-party launcher. But there\u0026rsquo;s a reason why Nova Launcher is often considered as #1; it\u0026rsquo;s because of its extreme customization possibilities. The tricks mentioned in this tutorial are meant for power users who use Nova to make themselves more productive.\nWithout further ado, let\u0026rsquo;s jump straight in.\n1. Gestures + Activity = #1 reason why I love Nova Nova has eleven gesture types, from simpler ones like \u0026lsquo;swipe up\u0026rsquo; to complex gestures like \u0026lsquo;Double tab + swipe down\u0026rsquo;.\nYou can assign each gesture to Nova actions, Apps or Shortcuts. But what makes gestures powerful are activities.\nUnder Shortcuts, click on Activities\nHere \u0026lsquo;Activities\u0026rsquo; of all your installed apps will be visible. To explain it in simple terms, most app contain multiple screens and each screen represents an \u0026lsquo;activity\u0026rsquo;. E.g. your SMS app will have an activity of \u0026lsquo;Composing new SMS\u0026rsquo;.\nYou can assign, say the \u0026lsquo;swipe up\u0026rsquo; gesture to directly fire \u0026lsquo;Compose new SMS\u0026rsquo; activity. This way you save at least two taps (tap on SMS app, tap on compose button).\nCaution: Activity names won\u0026rsquo;t be descriptive since these are class names, so if you\u0026rsquo;re not sure of an activity, play around until you get it correct. Or not.\n2. On Icon Gestures Apart from the usual gestures, you can achieve more by assigning \u0026lsquo;swipe action\u0026rsquo; to App Icons in the homescreen.\nLong press any icon to open context-menu. Select Edit icon. Now select Swipe Action.\nE.g. I use swipe up on call icon to call my wife directly. Saves me two taps.\n3. Hide unused app icons Most Android phones (even flagships) have their own share of bloatware viz. apps that come pre-installed on your phone. Nova enables you to quickly hide them from your app drawer so that you can maintain a minimal clean list.\nOpen Nova settings -\u0026gt; App Drawer -\u0026gt; Hide apps\nNow select all those extra junk like inbuilt-calendar, alternate app store, SIM toolkits etc you want to hide.\nI believe a great product should upgrade its users \u0026amp; Nova Launcher is a prime example of it. A product, without which power users would feel less powerful.\nPro tip: Nova Prime is worth every dollar (It\u0026rsquo;s $4.99) but it\u0026rsquo;s on sale on few occasions every year. E.g. I bought it on sale in 2015 for Rs. 10 (~14 cents)! Probably my best purchase till date.\nWould you like to know more tech tips? Do leave a comment.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/nova-launcher-tricks-for-power-user/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIf you\u0026rsquo;re on Android and love customizations, you probably are already using a 3rd-party launcher. But there\u0026rsquo;s a reason why Nova Launcher is often considered as #1; it\u0026rsquo;s because of its extreme customization possibilities. The tricks mentioned in this tutorial are meant for power users who use Nova to make themselves more productive.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWithout further ado, let\u0026rsquo;s jump straight in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"1-gestures--activity--1-reason-why-i-love-nova\"\u003e1. Gestures + Activity = #1 reason why I love Nova\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNova has eleven gesture types, from simpler ones like \u0026lsquo;swipe up\u0026rsquo; to complex gestures like \u0026lsquo;Double tab + swipe down\u0026rsquo;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"3 Nova Launcher tricks for power users"},{"content":"When you realize that most people are risk-averse, the path to success seems almost obvious: embracing calculated risks.\nIn life, to start a journey, nobody waits for all the traffic lights between their home and destination to turn green.\nIf you know the destination, you simply acknowledge that there might be traffic jams, detours, red signals on the way. You check Google Maps and decide to take calculated risks.\n\u0026ldquo;Oh, that\u0026rsquo;s not it. I actually have too much at stake if I lose.\u0026rdquo;\nMore often than not, what people hold on to (\u0026rsquo;too much at stake\u0026rsquo;) \u0026lt; the reward waiting for them on the other side. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Because the riskiest thing is to take no risks at all.\nCover photo by Tommaso Fornoni\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/the-riskiest-thing-is-to-take-no-risks/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen you realize that most people are risk-averse, the path to success seems almost obvious: \u003cstrong\u003eembracing calculated risks.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn life, to start a journey, nobody waits for all the traffic lights between their home and destination to turn green.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you know the destination, you simply acknowledge that there might be traffic jams, detours, red signals on the way. You check Google Maps and decide to take calculated risks.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Oh, that\u0026rsquo;s not it. I actually have too much at stake if I lose.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The riskiest thing is to take no risks."},{"content":"Two months ago, I started an experiment on Instagram.\nI wanted to check if my friends (and followers on Instagram) would engage with deeper questions on life. My assumption was that most people love to have these discussions around deep philosophical inquiries. Hence, one Friday I decided to test it. Branded it as #TGIF ( T onmoy G oswami\u0026rsquo;s I nteresting F ridays) because hey, let\u0026rsquo;s be real\u0026hellip;who would want to pass an opportunity to create an acronym. ;)\nWhat started as an experiment 8 weeks ago has turned into a weekly regular now.\nThe first question of #TGIF was:\nPeople who answered \u0026rsquo;no\u0026rsquo; believed that we live to produce our best work, which in turn helps the world get better.\nPeople who answered \u0026lsquo;yes\u0026rsquo; unsurprisingly were actually changing their definition of work, instead of retiring in its traditional definition.\nSo almost nobody said they are going to cease work and do nothing. They might continue the same field of work, or change it in some drastic way. (say, from tech to farming)\nThe answers led me to an insightful conclusion. (that incidentally matches with my world-view)\nIrrespective of financial freedom, you won\u0026rsquo;t retire if you enjoy doing the work.\nBecause money is always an optional by-product. Cover photo by Sharon McCutcheon\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/retirement-and-money/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTwo months ago, I started an experiment \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ton.moy/\"\u003eon Instagram\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wanted to check if my friends (and followers on Instagram) would engage with deeper questions on life. My assumption was that most people love to have these discussions around deep philosophical inquiries. Hence, one Friday I decided to test it. Branded it as \u003cstrong\u003e#TGIF\u003c/strong\u003e ( \u003cstrong\u003eT\u003c/strong\u003e onmoy \u003cstrong\u003eG\u003c/strong\u003e oswami\u0026rsquo;s \u003cstrong\u003eI\u003c/strong\u003e nteresting \u003cstrong\u003eF\u003c/strong\u003e ridays) because hey, let\u0026rsquo;s be real\u0026hellip;who would want to pass an opportunity to create an acronym. ;)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"If you get $1 million dollars today, will you retire?"},{"content":"If you are trying to find solutions to a problem in your life, you may consider adding the below approach to your strategy (among other methods):\nAsk \u0026lsquo;What if the reverse happened\u0026rsquo;. And try to answer it.\nE.g. The problem is: You want to test drive a car, but due to (insert your unique situation) you\u0026rsquo;re unable to visit the car showroom.\nApplying the reverse approach: Instead of you visiting the car showroom for a test drive, what is the dealership sends someone to your home with the car?\nInstead of me going to the grocery store, what if the store delivers to my place? Say hi to grocery delivery apps. Instead of me waiting under the sun for a taxi, what if the cab comes to me? Say hi to Uber. Instead of me writing this blog, what if the blog wrote itself? Say hi to GPT-3.😅\nWell, we\u0026rsquo;re getting ahead of ourselves, but you get the drift.\nCover Photo by Timothy Perry\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/creative-problem-solving-trick/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIf you are trying to find solutions to a problem in your life, you may consider adding the below approach to your strategy (among other methods):\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAsk \u0026lsquo;What if the reverse happened\u0026rsquo;. And try to answer it.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eE.g.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eThe problem is:\u003c/strong\u003e\nYou want to test drive a car, but due to (insert your unique situation) you\u0026rsquo;re unable to visit the car showroom.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eApplying the reverse approach:\u003c/strong\u003e\nInstead of you visiting the car showroom for a test drive, what is the dealership sends someone to your home with the car?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A simple trick that produces surprisingly creative solutions"},{"content":"There\u0026rsquo;s a lot hidden in this seemingly simple saying.\nTo win, you will have to figure out the game. But remember- it\u0026rsquo;s a stupid game. The rules are not predefined.\nThen, where to start?\nStart by taking a detour.\nIf you play the game like everyone else is playing, you can\u0026rsquo;t expect different results.\nNeed more hints?\nObserve your behaviour, list down the things you do in a week. Then compare it with the activity of your peers, colleagues, family, friends, relatives, extended circles and beyond.\nYou will find a couple of things that\u0026rsquo;s unique to you. Even one is enough.\nStart there. Everything else will fall into place.\nCover photo by Erik Mclean\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/play-stupid-games-win-stupid-prizes/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere\u0026rsquo;s a lot hidden in this seemingly simple saying.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo win, you will have to figure out the game. But remember- it\u0026rsquo;s a stupid game. The rules are not predefined.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen, where to start?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStart by taking a detour.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you play the game like everyone else is playing, you can\u0026rsquo;t expect different results.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNeed more hints?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eObserve your behaviour, list down the things you do in a week. Then compare it with the activity of your peers, colleagues, family, friends, relatives, extended circles and beyond.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."},{"content":"As clichéd as it may sound, ideas are dime a dozen.\nAlthough rarer than opinions, they are aplenty.\nYes, plenty of ideas.Inside people\u0026rsquo;s heads.\nSome really good ideas. But still safely locked inside people\u0026rsquo;s heads. Some are even paranoid that others will steal their golden ideas.\nBut unless someone executes on those ideas and turn them into reality, the idea itself isn\u0026rsquo;t intrinsically valuable.\nDoers \u0026gt; Ideas\nIf you fail while executing an idea, you learn. If you succeed while executing an idea, you win.\nEither way, you lean something that can\u0026rsquo;t be taught.\nAnd that\u0026rsquo;s an unfair advantage in life.\nCover photo by Roman Kraft\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/doers-have-an-unfair-advantage-over-idea-generators/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs clichéd as it may sound, ideas are dime a dozen.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough rarer than opinions, they are aplenty.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYes, \u003ca href=\"/2020/10/how-to-think-like-an-entrepreneur/\"\u003eplenty of ideas\u003c/a\u003e.Inside people\u0026rsquo;s heads.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome really good ideas.\nBut still safely locked inside people\u0026rsquo;s heads.\nSome are even paranoid that others will steal their golden ideas.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut unless someone executes on those ideas and turn them into reality, the idea itself isn\u0026rsquo;t intrinsically valuable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDoers \u0026gt; Ideas\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you fail while executing an idea, you learn.\nIf you succeed while executing an idea, you win.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Doers have an unfair advantage over Idea-generators"},{"content":"There are 7.8 billion people out there in our world.\nThere are limited skills. There are limited jobs.\nSo only a limited number of people will be \u0026rsquo;the best\u0026rsquo; in the world for a particular skill. Does that mean, everyone else, will have to settle for the 2nd best or B-team, B-companies, B-jobs, B-pay, B-lives?\nThe answer is NO. And we already know it because we see almost innumerable successful people around us, every day. Then what are these people excelling at? If they are not \u0026rsquo;the best\u0026rsquo; in this world at a particular skill, how are they achieving?\nThe answer lies in the intersection of skills.\nYou may be the best coder in the world, but can you also sell your software? (intersection of coding skills \u0026amp; sales skills) You may be the best gamer in the world, but can you also entertain an audience while live play-streaming? (intersection of gaming skills \u0026amp; entertaining skills) You may be the most honest politician in the world, but can you put your thoughts into words in front of millions of people? (intersection of honesty, ethics \u0026amp; oratory skills)\nHope you get the drift.\nAll of us have had varied life experiences, developed different skills, honed our talents distinctively, learnt life-lessons individually. And our unique success lies in this intersection of skills.\nNot convinced yet? Think your unique talent and skills are not worth a dime on the market? Think again.\nTyler \u0026lsquo;Ninja\u0026rsquo; Blevins earned nearly $10 million dollars in 2018 just by live streaming himself playing video games.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a three step cheat-sheet: 1. Embrace your true self. 2. Create value. 3. Be successful.\nGo, win the world.\nCover photo by JESHOOTS.COM\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/how-to-win-amongst-7-8-billion-people/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere are 7.8 billion people out there in our world.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are limited skills. There are limited jobs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo only a limited number of people will be \u0026rsquo;the best\u0026rsquo; in the world for a particular skill. Does that mean, everyone else, will have to settle for the 2nd best or B-team, B-companies, B-jobs, B-pay, B-lives?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe answer is \u003cstrong\u003eNO\u003c/strong\u003e. And we already know it because we see almost innumerable successful people around us, every day. Then what are these people excelling at? If they are not \u0026rsquo;the best\u0026rsquo; in this world at a particular skill, how are they achieving?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to win amongst 7.8 billion people?"},{"content":"Our shared belief is that success in life is a subjective concept. And the definition varies from person to person. But can we break the concept down to its most basic constituents?\nHere\u0026rsquo;s my attempt:\nIn my world-view, A truly successful person has freedom.\nThis freedom manifests itself in three different ways:\nThe freedom to positively impact others. (after taking care of oneself) The freedom to pursue dreams. And financial freedom. From Bill Gates to my mother, I could fit in every successful individual in this definition.\nIn my above definition, dreams can be passion, chosen field of work, hobby, specialization, and other pursuits. Anything that is meaningful to you and leads to a more fulfilled life.\nSo where does popularity and money fit into the picture? Popularity and Money are two of the many optional by-products of being successful. Optional because say, parents successfully raising their kids won\u0026rsquo;t usually be popular. But they are successful nevertheless. (they chose to positively impact their kids)\nThe more people you touch, the more popular you would be. E.g. artists/actors, politicians, social workers, philanthropists, influencers etc.\nSimilarly, money is also an optional by-product. It comes from financial freedom. Optional because you still can be successful (and wealthy) without a lot of money. A wealthy person has enough to sustain her current (or planned) lifestyle. It might not need a lot of money.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s my definition. [wpdiscuz-feedback id=\u0026ldquo;t2fuo8n9gm\u0026rdquo; question=\u0026ldquo;Please leave a feedback on this\u0026rdquo; opened=\u0026ldquo;1\u0026rdquo;]Do share your views.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]\nCover photo by Xan Griffin\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/money-popularity-success/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur shared belief is that success in life is a subjective concept. And the definition varies from person to person. But can we break the concept down to its most basic constituents?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere\u0026rsquo;s my attempt:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn my world-view,\nA truly successful person has freedom.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis freedom manifests itself in three different ways:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe freedom to positively impact others. (after taking care of oneself)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe freedom to pursue dreams.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnd financial freedom.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Bill Gates to my mother, I could fit in every successful individual in this definition.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Money, popularity and success. How do they fit together in an equation?"},{"content":"Our world view (and most opinions) are based on the Company we keep. In short, the media we consume (books, tv, internet, social media) and the people around us (friends, family, mentors, colleagues, neighbours).\nAnd more often than we realize, our world-view is mostly a simple mashup of the opinions, principles, world-views of our Company without us actually analysing them, filtering them, connecting them to our existing understanding to form independent views. Because it\u0026rsquo;s easier, we simply accept the way others think and adopt them as our own.\nThis approach leads us astray when facing unique circumstances. Because our mind is rusty (without independent thinking muscle power), it gets bewildered, it seeks guidance, a framework to use as a crutch, a reference to think correctly.\nGood news is that independent thinking is like a muscle; it can be developed if exercised properly.\nThe exercises are:\n1. Listen without judgement. 2. Seek out the trunk, not the leaves.\nTrunk and branches first, then leaves Building a solid foundation to base our world-view is important. The internet is full of deep, highly focused topics (consider them as leaves of a tree). If we seek the leaves, they won\u0026rsquo;t have any branch or trunk to stand on. They will blow off at the slightest force of a breeze.\nInstead if we seek out knowledge that\u0026rsquo;s basic, that forms the core understanding of why \u0026amp; how things function the way they function. That\u0026rsquo;s the tree trunk and the solid main branches.\nWithout it, seeking leaves is like learning by rote or memorizing frameworks.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t take my word for it. Think about it. 😉\nCover photo by Ben Sweet\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/how-to-develop-independent-thinking/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur world view (and most opinions) are based on the \u003ca href=\"/2020/09/what-person-will-you-be-in-5-years/\"\u003eCompany we keep\u003c/a\u003e. In short, the media we consume (books, tv, internet, social media) and the people around us (friends, family, mentors, colleagues, neighbours).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd more often than we realize, our world-view is mostly a simple mashup of the opinions, principles, world-views of our Company without us actually analysing them, filtering them, connecting them to our existing understanding to form independent views. Because it\u0026rsquo;s easier, we simply accept the way others think and adopt them as our own.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"2 exercises to develop Independent Thinking"},{"content":"I was in my early teens when I read my first self-help book. It was the classic \u0026lsquo;You Can Win\u0026rsquo; by Shiv Khera.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t really remember how I got hold of the book (probably from the school library or maybe someone gifted it on my birthday) but one particular story left such a deep impression on my mind that I can still quote it.\nHere it goes: Scenario 1: Your friend calls you up in the morning and praises you to no end. \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re the most generous, most talented, most humble person in my life. Thank you so much.\u0026rdquo; You feel elated, the call makes you happy. You go to your office smiling with your chin up, pretty proud of yourself.\nScenario 2: The next day, your friend calls you in the morning only to scream at you. \u0026ldquo;You scoundrel, you don\u0026rsquo;t deserve my friendship, you\u0026rsquo;re a talentless piece of waste.\u0026rdquo; You feel miserable. Your day is ruined. You keep regurgitating the dreaded phone call. You start questioning yourself.\nIn both these scenarios, your friend is controlling you, your day and your self-esteem.\nThis simple yet powerful example from the book clearly shows when our life is externally driven.\nPeople who are internally driven have high self-esteem. They understand and identify with their own true self. They know where they stand.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re an 8, then you\u0026rsquo;re an 8. Someone praising you won\u0026rsquo;t magically make you a 10. Someone hating or cursing you won\u0026rsquo;t make you any lesser than 8 either.\nAs Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, \u0026ldquo;No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.\u0026rdquo; Cover photo by Randy Jacob\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/are-you-internally-driven/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was in my early teens when I read my first self-help book. It was the classic \u0026lsquo;\u003ca href=\"https://shivkhera.com/\"\u003eYou Can Win\u003c/a\u003e\u0026rsquo; by Shiv Khera.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t really remember how I got hold of the book (probably from the school library or maybe someone gifted it on my birthday) but one particular story left such a deep impression on my mind that I can still quote it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere it goes: \u003cstrong\u003eScenario 1:\u003c/strong\u003e Your friend calls you up in the morning and praises you to no end. \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re the most generous, most talented, most humble person in my life. Thank you so much.\u0026rdquo;\nYou feel elated, the call makes you happy. You go to your office smiling with your chin up, pretty proud of yourself.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to identify if you're internally driven or not?"},{"content":"Entrepreneurs are creators.\nThey create value, they spot business opportunities, they break out of linear work.\nTo begin thinking like an entrepreneur, there\u0026rsquo;s one simple approach:\nDon\u0026rsquo;t think of ideas, think of problems.\nReal problems faced by real people.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t think: If I create this, many people will buy it. Think: If I can solve this problem for them, people will pay me.\nAnd before you know it, you will start spotting problems to solve everywhere you look. Trust me.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s a good place to start.\nCover photo by Brooke Lark\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/how-to-think-like-an-entrepreneur/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eEntrepreneurs are creators.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey \u003ca href=\"/2020/10/how-to-create-value/\"\u003ecreate value\u003c/a\u003e, they spot business opportunities, they break out of linear work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo begin thinking like an entrepreneur, there\u0026rsquo;s one simple approach:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDon\u0026rsquo;t think of ideas, think of problems.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReal problems faced by real people.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDon\u0026rsquo;t think:\u003c/strong\u003e If I create this, many people will buy it.\n\u003cstrong\u003eThink:\u003c/strong\u003e If I can solve this problem for them, people will pay me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd before you know it, you will start spotting problems to solve everywhere you look. Trust me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to start thinking like an entrepreneur?"},{"content":"First things first, one can\u0026rsquo;t be more productive just by using a few apps. The way we use it matters more than the actual products themselves. Having said that, some products are better designed to nudge us in the right direction. Again, what suits me might not suit your style of working.\nThe motive of releasing a list is to help each other discover products that we might actually need but aren\u0026rsquo;t using already.\nSo without further ado, here my list:\nEvernote: For everything unstructured e.g. random note taking, book summaries, recording micro-thoughts, journal entries, bills, receipts, web-clipping notes/quotes and so on. It\u0026rsquo;s like my 2nd brain. Search to find when necessary. No structure needed. Although I use notebooks to segregate on a higher level. TickTick: The only ToDo that suits my style of work. Add tasks, add reminder, get things done. Just keeps my mind off smaller tasks. Also contains weekly/monthly/yearly reminders. Trello: To track bigger Objectives/ Goals in life. Loop Habit Tracker: Open source, free Android app that keeps you going. Tracks my progress on a daily basis on habits that I\u0026rsquo;m working on the improve incrementally. Highly recommended. Pocket: Better than bookmarks. Maintains my personal repository of the articles I need to read later. Notion: Although it\u0026rsquo;s meant for teams, the personal free plan serves me really well to take structured notes with a lots of inner pages, links that look neat \u0026amp; structured. Amazon Kindle: Contains all my ebooks. Great for looking up words, taking notes, marking interesting quotes. Audible: Contains all my audiobooks. Google Calendar: Keeps track of all birthdays, events, scheduled calls etc. Nova Launcher: The best launcher you can get on Android that can make you more productive. (again, \u0026lsquo;best\u0026rsquo; is subjective) Microsoft Swiftkey keyboard: Again, the best keyboard for Android? For me, yes! Google Assistant: Beats typing when you\u0026rsquo;re multi-tasking. Still exploring how it can make me more productive. Maybe a micro-tutorial on it later. Twitter bookmarks: I use Twitter to bookmark amazing tweets (mostly book recommendations) and quotes for future reference. IFTTT Pro: I pay for IFTTT because it\u0026rsquo;s that good. I\u0026rsquo;ve made personal applets that fire on \u0026lsquo;If This Then That\u0026rsquo; formula. There\u0026rsquo;s much more to it actually, maybe a tutorial later. Bixby Routines: Much like IFTTT but tailored for (and by) Samsung. I don\u0026rsquo;t use Bixby as an Assistant but its routines are really nice. E.g. automatically disabling mobile data when WiFi is enabled and vice versa, automatically putting the phone on battery saver mode while I go to bed at night and much more. Microsoft SMS Organizer: It\u0026rsquo;s text messages on steroids. You can mute/block spam messages, it segregates your messages into folders like Primary, Promotional, Transactional etc. It also reminds you to pay your bills on time based on the texts you receive, quick OTP copy-paste and a bunch of other useful features. Phew! That\u0026rsquo;s it, I guess. What are your favourite apps that help you stay productive?\nCover photo by Jonathan Kemper\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/my-personal-productivity-bundle/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFirst things first, one can\u0026rsquo;t be more productive just by using a few apps. The way we use it matters more than the actual products themselves. Having said that, some products are better designed to \u003cstrong\u003enudge\u003c/strong\u003e us in the right direction. Again, what suits me might not suit your style of working.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe motive of releasing a list is to help each other discover products that we might actually need but aren\u0026rsquo;t using already.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A sneak-peek into my personal productivity bundle"},{"content":"One fundamental tenet of life is that you cannot extract value without creating it first.\nE.g. nobody\u0026rsquo;s going to pay you if you don\u0026rsquo;t offer something of value in return.\nIt applies in every sphere of life.\nIf your presence, your advice, your thoughts, your blogs, your tweets, your Instagram stories, your Facebook posts, your emails, your products, your services, your work, your job doesn\u0026rsquo;t create any value for someone, then you can\u0026rsquo;t expect to extract value in return.\nMost people often overlook this simple fact \u0026amp; expect rewards without creating. Makes it easy to understand why the concentration of wealth is in the hands of just a few. A few get it, but still don\u0026rsquo;t create.\nOnly few actually create.\nWhy? Because it\u0026rsquo;s hard to create unless it feels like play to you. And what feels like play? Being yourself \u0026amp; doing things that come naturally to you.\nWhat comes naturally to you, makes it easy for you, creates value, and makes you unique.\nCover photo by Andrik Langfield\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/10/how-to-create-value/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne fundamental tenet of life is that \u003cstrong\u003eyou cannot extract value without creating it first.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eE.g. nobody\u0026rsquo;s going to pay you if you don\u0026rsquo;t offer something of value in return.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt applies in every sphere of life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf your presence, your advice, your thoughts, your blogs, your tweets, your Instagram stories, your Facebook posts, your emails, your products, your services, your work, your job doesn\u0026rsquo;t create any value for someone, then you can\u0026rsquo;t expect to extract value in return.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to create value?"},{"content":"A weekly email newsletter containing micro stories with unique insights and life-hacks to lead a more productive and meaningful life. ⚡\nBe Better, 1% a day.\nNeed more convincing? Check out sample micro stories.\nSubscribe for free below:\nYour subscription could not be saved. Please try again.\nCongratulations! Your free subscription to Micro-thoughts is successful.\nEnter your email address to subscribe\nI respect privacy. You can unsubscribe any moment.\nSUBSCRIBE\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA weekly email newsletter containing micro stories with unique insights and life-hacks to lead a more \u003cstrong\u003eproductive and meaningful life\u003c/strong\u003e. ⚡\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBe Better, 1% a day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNeed more convincing? Check out \u003ca href=\"/blog/\"\u003esample micro stories\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSubscribe for free below:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYour subscription could not be saved. Please try again.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCongratulations! Your free subscription to Micro-thoughts is successful.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEnter your email address to subscribe\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI respect privacy. You can unsubscribe any moment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSUBSCRIBE\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Subscribe to 'Be Better' Newsletter"},{"content":"Someone wiser than I once said that the person you will become in five years depends on two things viz.\na. the books you read\nb. the people you spend time with\nWe can actually summarize it by saying: it depends on one thing: the Company you keep.\nCompany (Capitalized to distinguish from the usual word \u0026lsquo;company\u0026rsquo;) can be books you read, people around you, movies you watch, blogs you read, social media (or specifically the kind of accounts on social media) you consume and so on.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a powerful mantra to lead a meaningful and fulfilling life.\nOne may wonder how to choose good Company! Is there a criteria? How do I know if I\u0026rsquo;m currently spending time with great/good/bad/toxic Company?\nIn my opinion, there\u0026rsquo;s a clear yardstick. And it\u0026rsquo;s embedded in one of my favourite quotes of all time.\nGreat minds discuss ideas.\nAverage minds discuss events.\nSmall minds discuss people.\n~Eleanor Roosevelt\nIf you can keep a minimum ratio of say, 70:20:10 then I feel you have a positive force in your life.\nBut if you notice that most Company you keep are busy gossiping, busy discussing events/news, then you may choose to consciously make an effort to tilt the ratio by including forces of good so that you are net-positive.\nSo, what person will you be in 5 years?\nCover photo by Danielle MacInnes\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/what-person-will-you-be-in-5-years/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSomeone wiser than I once said that the person you will become in five years depends on two things viz.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ea.\u003c/strong\u003e the books you read\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eb.\u003c/strong\u003e the people you spend time with\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe can actually summarize it by saying: it depends on one thing: the \u003cstrong\u003eCompany\u003c/strong\u003e you keep.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCompany (Capitalized to distinguish from the usual word \u0026lsquo;company\u0026rsquo;) can be books you read, people around you, movies you watch, blogs you read, social media (or specifically the kind of accounts on social media) you consume and so on.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What person will you be in 5 years?"},{"content":"Almost every communication tutorial will tell you to speak less, and listen more. Be a good listener, they say.\nSo you try shutting up.\nAnd try to listen. You try to be a good listener.\nOnly to be distracted by your brain that starts fidgeting, trying to instantly judge every sentence, trying to form responses to every argument made, waiting impatiently for its turn to finally speak; to finally tell the other speaker how she\u0026rsquo;s wrong, how you don\u0026rsquo;t agree to her opinions/observations, or how you agree completely to her perspective but have a few more intelligent points to add to her statements.\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s wrong? This is supposed to be a valuable life hack, then why is your brain acting weird?\nThe problem is our brain is evolutionarily wired to speak more instead of listening. It\u0026rsquo;s called signalling. By speaking they can advertise (signal) their knowledge, their best traits to attract mates, friends and allies.\nOur brain is wired for a society of hunter-gatherers where our survival depended on attracting mates, friends or allies.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s almost counter-intuitive to not listen to someone when he/she\u0026rsquo;s is providing free useful information by speaking. But our brains don\u0026rsquo;t care, it wants to speak, double-up, add more information, sound smart, disagree/agree, feel important; all the while trying to earn brownie points from the other person.\nIf that is so, then how to be a good listener? 🤔\nIt takes regular practice, but it\u0026rsquo;s completely possible to overpower this stupid impulse of our brain. Our intention should be to listen without judgement.\nAnd the trick is simple too- just delay judgement.\nSo every time someone speaks:\nPrepare your brain, tell yourself, \u0026ldquo;Okay, I\u0026rsquo;m going to give this person my complete undivided attention.\u0026rdquo; Then tell yourself, \u0026ldquo;I am not going to judge while he/she\u0026rsquo;s still speaking. I will judge the information, only when the speech is over\u0026rdquo; Delaying judgement gives us an opportunity to:\nActually listen and soak in the information provided by the speaker, without judgement. Consider is as raw data. Doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter if you agree or disagree, doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter if it fits with your world view, doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter if it\u0026rsquo;s right or wrong. It gives us an opportunity to better ourselves. Because we process the raw data only when the speech is over, we get time to introspect, question our own world view, judge the raw data, test it against first principles, weight it against your ethics and values. After running the raw data through your value/knowledge/opinion/worldview system, you\u0026rsquo;re now free to accept it, reject it, partly agree to it, change your perspective to accommodate it and so on. Just by delaying judgement, we reap all the benefits of being a good listener.\nShut your mouth to listen. Shut your judgement to be a good listener. Cover photo by Adam Solomon\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/how-to-be-a-good-listener/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAlmost every communication tutorial will tell you to speak less, and listen more. Be a good listener, they say.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo you try shutting up.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd try to listen. You try to be a good listener.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnly to be distracted by your brain that starts fidgeting, trying to instantly judge every sentence, trying to form responses to every argument made, waiting impatiently for its turn to finally speak; to finally tell the other speaker how she\u0026rsquo;s wrong, how you don\u0026rsquo;t agree to her opinions/observations, or how you agree completely to her perspective but have a few more intelligent points to add to her statements.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Be a good listener, they said. It'll be fun, they said."},{"content":"How do you judge a person you\u0026rsquo;re meeting for the first time?\nNon-verbal cues, body language, dressing sense, social manners, behaviour, mobile phone(!) or something else? While some of these are legit ways of forming a first impression, personally I follow just one principle: punctuality.\nPunctuality means being on-time. And being on-time means being 15 minutes early.\nBeing 15 minutes early shows that you respect and value the time of the person you\u0026rsquo;re meeting. It also give you the opportunity to:\nGet yourself used to the new environment. Calm yourself down, take a washroom break, have a glass of water. Rehearse the agenda for discussion, revise your pitch, if any. It is clearly the easiest way to gain instant credibility and ace a meeting. Hence I call it the 15-minute Rule.\nIf the person you\u0026rsquo;re meeting asks, \u0026ldquo;Would you like a glass of water?\u0026rdquo; then it means either of the two things viz.\nhe/she\u0026rsquo;s being polite it shows on your face that you just managed to be \u0026lsquo;on-time\u0026rsquo; (probably still panting from your commute) Now you know what it takes you to answer confidently, \u0026ldquo;Hey thank you, I just had a glass while waiting outside.\u0026rdquo;\nCover photo by Chris Liverani\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/how-to-earn-credibility/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHow do you judge a person you\u0026rsquo;re meeting for the first time?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNon-verbal cues, body language, dressing sense, social manners, behaviour, mobile phone(!) or something else? While some of these are legit ways of forming a first impression, personally I follow just one principle: punctuality.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePunctuality means being on-time.\nAnd being on-time means being 15 minutes early.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeing 15 minutes early shows that you \u003cstrong\u003erespect\u003c/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003evalue\u003c/strong\u003e the time of the person you\u0026rsquo;re meeting. It also give you the opportunity to:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The 15-minute Rule to earn instant credibility"},{"content":"Every successful _________ in the world is good at communication.\nYou may fill up the blank with any job title, position, career choice, occupation and still the statement will stand.\nBecause to be successful at something, one not only needs a canvas to draw their ideas on, they also need to sell it. By selling, I don\u0026rsquo;t mean the usual exchange of money against goods/services.\nA piece of art won\u0026rsquo;t gather an audience by itself. It needs a story. A new reform bill won\u0026rsquo;t pass by itself. It needs persuasion. A LinkedIn profile won\u0026rsquo;t get you a job by itself. It needs an interview.\nAt school, anything related to art (including communication skills, or the art of rhetoric) is surprisingly tagged under \u0026lsquo;soft skills\u0026rsquo;. And that has always irked me.\nCommunication is not a soft-skill.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a mandatory life-skill for success.\nCover photo by Headway\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/communication-is-not-a-soft-skill/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eEvery successful _________ in the world is good at communication.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou may fill up the blank with any job title, position, career choice, occupation and still the statement will stand.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause to be successful at something, one not only needs a canvas to draw their ideas on, they also need to sell it. By selling, I don\u0026rsquo;t mean the usual exchange of money against goods/services.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA piece of art won\u0026rsquo;t gather an audience by itself. It needs a story.\u003c/em\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eA new reform bill won\u0026rsquo;t pass by itself. It needs persuasion.\u003c/em\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eA LinkedIn profile won\u0026rsquo;t get you a job by itself. It needs an interview.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Communication is not a soft skill"},{"content":"Jio recently announced new postpaid plans with three major OTT providers bundled with it viz. Netflix (single-device, mobile plan), Amazon Prime and Disney+ Hotstar. Bundling OTT providers with postpaid plan isn\u0026rsquo;t a new concept. Airtel and Vodafone Idea (recently co-branded as Vi) had been offering such plans for quite some time now.\nWhile bundled OTTs is a no-brainer strategy for Jio (it gets new postpaid users, who are highly valued in telecom), if you\u0026rsquo;re wondering how will it benefit Netflix, Prime and Disney+, it\u0026rsquo;s not that complex either.\nIn business terms, it\u0026rsquo;s called B2B2C strategy.\nB2B is a business selling its products/services to other businesses. e.g. Schindler selling its elevators to construction companies. B2C is a business selling its products/services to customers directly. e.g. Netflix selling its services to customers like you and I. B2B2C is when a company (say B1) partners with another company (say B2) to reach an already activated customer base of B2.\nNetflix (B) partnering with Jio (B) to reach customers (C) of Jio. Hence B2B2C.\nWhile Jio benefits by marketing an attractive postpaid bundle, OTT players gain access to new/existing users of Jio. So it\u0026rsquo;s a win-win situation. The OTT players hope that customers acquired through this route will eventually be activated on their platforms directly, rendering the intermediary business (Jio) useless. While Jio will hope that once acquired customer won\u0026rsquo;t eventually switch to a competitor even if OTT bundle is removed later.\nIn fact, Netflix subscription was available with Airtel\u0026rsquo;s postpaid plans. Not anymore. It can also be a long term strategy, like Amazon Prime Videos. It\u0026rsquo;s still available with most postpaid plans. So you never know.\nAt the end of the day, customers win. So enjoy the benefits while they last.\nCover photo by Caspar Camille Rubin\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/how-can-jio-offer-netflix-amazon-prime-disney-hotstar-with-its-postpaid-plans/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJio recently announced new postpaid plans with three major OTT providers bundled with it viz. Netflix (single-device, mobile plan), Amazon Prime and Disney+ Hotstar. Bundling OTT providers with postpaid plan isn\u0026rsquo;t a new concept. Airtel and Vodafone Idea (recently co-branded as Vi) had been offering such plans for quite some time now.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile bundled OTTs is a no-brainer strategy for Jio (it gets new postpaid users, who are highly valued in telecom), if you\u0026rsquo;re wondering how will it benefit Netflix, Prime and Disney+, it\u0026rsquo;s not that complex either.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How can Jio offer Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hotstar with its postpaid plans?"},{"content":"One of the fondest memories from my childhood is when my cousin, Mausum and I learnt to ride a bicycle within a day.\nIt was the first bicycle of my life, and it didn\u0026rsquo;t come with a user manual. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯\nFrom morning till the sun went down, we tried to master it; we fell, got scratches all over our limbs. But we returned home victorious, finally getting the art of pedalling while maintaining our balance. What a jubilant feeling that was!\nIn retrospect, when I look back at my life so far, one life lesson stands out: The best way to learn something is to act, to create, to build.\nWithout any prior experience in WordPress Theme Development, it took me 15 days to build a theme for this website from scratch. While I\u0026rsquo;m sure not many would pay for this theme yet, the point is we usually underestimate our potential to create.\nWe are scared to create fearing it might highlight our weaknesses, our lack of finesse, our lack of perfection, our lack of complete knowledge.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a little secret: Because fear keeps most people entrapped, there\u0026rsquo;s actually little to no competition at all on the other side.\nYour first product will be a mess. Your 50th won\u0026rsquo;t be. Photo by Alice Dietrich\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/the-best-way-to-learn-something/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne of the fondest memories from my childhood is when my cousin, Mausum and I learnt to ride a bicycle within a day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was the first bicycle of my life, and it didn\u0026rsquo;t come with a user manual. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom morning till the sun went down, we tried to master it; we fell, got scratches all over our limbs. But we returned home victorious, finally getting the art of pedalling while maintaining our balance. What a jubilant feeling that was!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The best way to learn something is to create"},{"content":"Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s law states that \u0026ldquo;Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.\u0026rdquo;\nIt basically means that when we have more than enough time to complete a task, we almost always end up making the work \u0026lsquo;stretch\u0026rsquo;.\nE.g. if we need to prepare a presentation and have a month to do it, we will somehow make the task more complex, procrastinate, work at a slower pace than usual, have more \u0026rsquo;let me first have a cup of coffee\u0026rsquo; breaks, watch 3 seasons of an obscure crime series on Netflix and finally complete the task on the penultimate evening.\nIn fact a corollary of the law states, rather amusingly, \u0026ldquo;If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.\u0026rdquo;\nProductive people get over Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s Law by using a simple trick viz. Timeboxing.\nIt means allocating fixed time periods to tasks.\nFor instance, if you\u0026rsquo;re supposed to do your taxes, you allocate (say) 1 hour time and add it to your calendar on (say) Monday, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s my method:\nAdd task to ToDo ( I use TickTick) Add a timebox (max duration, say 15 mins, 30 mins, 1 hour etc) Set a reminder (say 10AM, next Monday) You can always snooze the reminder (and move the timebox to another date/time) in case you get engaged with something unforeseen at 10AM on Monday. You may also add a Pomodoro timer to step 2, if it helps.\nThe more you practise this method, the more proficient you will become at timeboxing just the perfect amount of time for any particular activity/task.\nHappy productivity! 🚀 Photo by Mitchell Hollander\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/parkinsons-law-productivity/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law\"\u003eParkinson\u0026rsquo;s law\u003c/a\u003e states that \u0026ldquo;Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt basically means that when we have more than enough time to complete a task, we almost always end up making the work \u0026lsquo;stretch\u0026rsquo;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eE.g. if we need to prepare a presentation and have a month to do it, we will somehow make the task more complex, procrastinate, work at a slower pace than usual, have more \u0026rsquo;let me first have a cup of coffee\u0026rsquo; breaks, watch 3 seasons of an obscure crime series on Netflix and finally complete the task on the penultimate evening.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Is Parkinson's Law getting in the way of your productivity?"},{"content":"You must have experienced a variation of the following situation:\nWhile travelling home, you notice a billboard of a brand (say, Toyota\u0026rsquo;s latest car); you make a passing remark about it to your partner.\n\u0026ldquo;Toyota Glanza looks eerily similar to Baleno, isn\u0026rsquo;t it?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;They are basically the same car.\u0026rdquo;, replies your partner.\nThe next day at office, Toyota Glanza ads are all over your Facebook, Twitter, Google, Gmail etc.\nYou don\u0026rsquo;t believe it!\nMany people experience the \u0026lsquo;my phone is listening to me\u0026rsquo; moment when they encounter advertisements targeted to them online.\nBut here\u0026rsquo;s a little secret- Your phone isn\u0026rsquo;t listening to you! It\u0026rsquo;s the billboard ad that\u0026rsquo;s tracking you.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s how it works:\nEvery smartphone (Android/Apple) has a unique Advertising ID(or Identifier for Advertisers on Apple products) attached to it. Ad IDs are like a tag against your \u0026lsquo;profile\u0026rsquo;. They don\u0026rsquo;t know it\u0026rsquo;s you, but they know it\u0026rsquo;s someone who owns a Samsung S20 phone, has Zomato app installed, uses Google Pay, shops on Amazon, works at Andheri (thanks to location tracking), travels to Versova often, uses Chrome browser, so on and so forth. The more you use your phone, the more data your \u0026lsquo;profile\u0026rsquo; against the Ad ID contains. Ad IDs are used by marketeers, brands, advertisers to anonymously identify and target people. So when a brand (say Toyota) puts up a billboard at Lokhandwala, they can later target phones that were near their billboard in (say) the last 7 days. Understood, now tell me what to do about it! 😠\nThere\u0026rsquo;s no full proof way of avoiding it completely. But to have some sense of control, you can reset the Ad ID on your phone on a regular basis to keep resetting your \u0026lsquo;profile\u0026rsquo;. Here are the steps on Android:\n1. Open Settings - search for \u0026lsquo;advertising id\u0026rsquo;\n2. Click on \u0026rsquo; Reset advertising ID\u0026rsquo; and enable \u0026rsquo; Opt out of Ads Personalisation\u0026rsquo;\n3. Your Ad ID will be replaced with a new random number.\nPro tip: Setup a repeating weekly reminder on your ToDo app to reset it every week.\nCover photo by Fox\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/how-do-billboard-ads-track-you/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYou must have experienced a variation of the following situation:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile travelling home, you notice a billboard of a brand (say, Toyota\u0026rsquo;s latest car); you make a passing remark about it to your partner.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Toyota Glanza looks eerily similar to Baleno, isn\u0026rsquo;t it?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;They are basically the same car.\u0026rdquo;, replies your partner.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe next day at office, Toyota Glanza ads are all over your Facebook, Twitter, Google, Gmail etc.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou don\u0026rsquo;t believe it!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How do billboard ads track you \u0026 what to do about it"},{"content":"There are two major ways to truly soak in the knowledge present in good books viz.\nWrite book summaries Discuss/teach it with/to someone who can comprehend Finding someone who\u0026rsquo;s really interested in the same topic, share the same mental wavelength, have the intellectual prowess to comprehend/question/add their own independent thinking to the discussion is not always possible.\nThankfully, you don\u0026rsquo;t need another person to write book summaries. And even if you find someone to discuss, book summaries are so powerful that you can\u0026rsquo;t possibly not write them.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s the process I follow:\na. Whenever I pick a new book/ebook/audio book, I create a new note with the book name under my \u0026lsquo;Book Summaries\u0026rsquo; notebook on Evernote.\nb. After completing each chapter, I keep the book aside and summarize the key concept(s) from my memory into short easily digestible sentences. I make sure the wording is completely mine while reproducing only great quotes/sentences, if any.\nc. Read next chapter. Repeat.\n\u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t complete bad books\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Always write book summaries\u0026rdquo; are the two most powerful hacks anyone seeking to gain knowledge from books should follow.\nVoracious book summary writer \u0026gt; Voracious reader. Photo by Sincerely Media\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/do-you-write-book-summaries/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere are two major ways to truly soak in the knowledge present in good books viz.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWrite book summaries\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDiscuss/teach it with/to someone who can comprehend\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFinding someone who\u0026rsquo;s really interested in the same topic, share the same mental wavelength, have the intellectual prowess to comprehend/question/add their own independent thinking to the discussion is not always possible.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThankfully, you don\u0026rsquo;t need another person to write book summaries. And even if you find someone to discuss, book summaries are so powerful that you can\u0026rsquo;t possibly not write them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Do you write book summaries?"},{"content":"One of my favourite quotes is by James Clear and it sums up life goals perfectly in just 6 powerful words:\nhttps://twitter.com/JamesClear/status/1297189305023107072?s=20\nWhile the first two are relatively easier to understand, how does one decipher an artist\u0026rsquo;s soul?\nIn my humble observation, there\u0026rsquo;s one clear difference between an artist and (say) a business person/logical thinker/normal practical everyday person- the soul of a great artist will often defy logic.\nLet me explain.\nFour years ago, a photographer took this amazing flawlessly straight, no splash picture of a kingfisher diving.\nhttps://twitter.com/AlanMcFadyen/status/674823492915826689?s=20\nIt took the photographer 6 years with over 7,20,000 photos to get this perfect shot!\nAlan McFadyen, who captured this photo said, \u0026ldquo;There are not many people in the world who have got this shot. Kingfishers dive so fast they are like bullets so taking a good photo requires a lot of luck - and a lot of patience.\u0026rdquo;\nA lot of people have a lot of patience.\nBut 6 years!\nThat\u0026rsquo;s a lot of logic defying patience.\nFew people even left snide remarks on Twitter belittling the achievement, questioning what the photographer got in return? It\u0026rsquo;s not like he was awarded the Nobel prize, got world recognition, or became a millionaire.\nOnly an artist can appreciate what Alan achieved. He wasn\u0026rsquo;t after fame, money, business anyway.\nIt satiated his soul.\nThe soul of an artist.\nPhoto by Ilya Shishikhin\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/whats-inside-an-artists-soul/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne of my favourite quotes is by James Clear and it sums up life goals perfectly in just 6 powerful words:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesClear/status/1297189305023107072?s=20\"\u003ehttps://twitter.com/JamesClear/status/1297189305023107072?s=20\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile the first two are relatively easier to understand, how does one decipher an artist\u0026rsquo;s soul?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn my humble observation, there\u0026rsquo;s one clear difference between an artist and (say) a business person/logical thinker/normal practical everyday person- \u003cstrong\u003ethe soul of a great artist will often defy logic.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet me explain.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What's inside an artist's soul? A photograph that took 6 years to shoot holds a clue"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Why are millennials so lazy?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Have you stopped hitting your pet?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Will you still vote for this stupid politician?\u0026rdquo;\nThese are few examples of a loaded question. Such questions are \u0026rsquo;loaded\u0026rsquo; with an unjustified presupposition and it tricks you into answering in favour of the person questioning.\nThe above questions assume that millennials are lazy, you hit your pet and the politician (in question) is stupid.\nAnd that\u0026rsquo;s the trap to avoid.\nYou answer it by, either\nnot answering at all questioning the question or breaking it down in simpler questions E.g. Are millennials lazy? (Yes/No/Not Sure)\nIf yes, then why are they lazy?\nIn everyday situations, such questions aren\u0026rsquo;t easy to detect. In fact, people around you might be using them regularly to manipulate your thoughts and behaviour. [wpdiscuz-feedback id=\u0026ldquo;2dh7w5wurs\u0026rdquo; question=\u0026ldquo;Do you agree with this?\u0026rdquo; opened=\u0026ldquo;0\u0026rdquo;]Because we\u0026rsquo;re trained since childhood to simply answer questions, we rarely take a step back to question the question.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]\nExamples are abound.\nActive conversations: Salesmen, politicians, employees, employers, investors etc.\nPassive broadcast: News anchors, advertisements etc.\nSo the next time a salesman tries to push a sale by asking a loaded \u0026lsquo;card or cash?\u0026rsquo; question even before you deciding to make the purchase, a smart response in your head would be, \u0026lsquo;Beta, tu rehne de\u0026rsquo; Photo by Kenny Luo\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/loaded-questions/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Why are millennials so lazy?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Have you stopped hitting your pet?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Will you still vote for this stupid politician?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese are few examples of a loaded question. Such questions are \u0026rsquo;loaded\u0026rsquo; with an unjustified presupposition and it tricks you into answering in favour of the person questioning.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe above questions assume that millennials are lazy, you hit your pet and the politician (in question) is stupid.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd that\u0026rsquo;s the trap to avoid.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to answer a loaded question"},{"content":"What does it take to be a great artist?\nCreativity? Talent? Practice? Inherited \u0026lsquo;gift\u0026rsquo; from parents in your genes?\nMaybe none of the above.\nThere are two things that separate a good artist from a great one. And surprisingly, the answer is hidden in plain sight in one of the episodes of the popular sitcom \u0026lsquo;The Office\u0026rsquo; (US). Incidentally, most people would have overlooked this part of the episode because the dialogues are delivered by a side character; but it has stuck with me since.\nIn Season 3 Episode 17, Pam invites her co-workers to her art show. At the show, Oscar (her co-worker) and his partner Gil starts criticizing her work without realizing that she\u0026rsquo;s standing right behind them.\nAnd that\u0026rsquo;s exactly where Gil reveals the \u0026lsquo;secret\u0026rsquo; to being a great artist. The conversation goes something like,\nOscar: \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s her first try\u0026rdquo;\nGil: \u0026ldquo;On Van Gogh\u0026rsquo;s first try, he drew the hands of the peasants\u0026rdquo;\nOscar: \u0026ldquo;Meaning what?\u0026rdquo;\nGil: \u0026ldquo;Meaning\u0026hellip;real art takes courage and honesty.\u0026rdquo;\nOscar: \u0026ldquo;Well, those aren\u0026rsquo;t Pam\u0026rsquo;s strong points.\u0026rdquo;\nReal art takes Courage and Honesty.\nOuch, that must have hurt. But let\u0026rsquo;s be honest, it\u0026rsquo;s something to ponder upon.\nThe more we try to be someone else, the more we move farther from being a great artist. We may still be good. But great? Well, that would need courage and honesty.\nI\u0026rsquo;m sure most people would only remember this episode because Michael appreciates Pam\u0026rsquo;s work and buys her art. But that\u0026rsquo;s just a feel good ending. The real life lesson, in my opinion, is hidden in Gil\u0026rsquo;s brutal critique.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/09/how-to-be-a-great-artist/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhat does it take to be a great artist?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCreativity? Talent? Practice? Inherited \u0026lsquo;gift\u0026rsquo; from parents in your genes?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaybe none of the above.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are two things that separate a good artist from a great one. And surprisingly, the answer is hidden in plain sight in one of the episodes of the popular sitcom \u0026lsquo;The Office\u0026rsquo; (US). Incidentally, most people would have overlooked this part of the episode because the dialogues are delivered by a side character; but it has stuck with me since.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The secret to being a great artist is hidden in an episode of 'The Office'"},{"content":"Since you\u0026rsquo;re reading this tutorial on how to convert a Sitemap to RSS, it\u0026rsquo;s safe to assume that you already know about Sitemaps and RSS feeds. Here\u0026rsquo;s a quick primer:\nA sitemap is an index of webpages of any website. It\u0026rsquo;s mostly there to help web-crawlers (think Google search bots etc.) crawl your website effectively and discover new (or old) content. Mostly for search engine ranking \u0026amp; discoverability.\nAn RSS feed is a standard XML file that contains a web-feed of any website. Why standard XML? So that any application can easily read it to display in any format it wants. Why web-feed? So that an application (or an end user) can keep track of updates to a website. E.g. keeping track of a news site using an RSS feed.\nWhy would you want to convert a Sitemap to RSS feed? There could be many reasons. Maybe you\u0026rsquo;re developing a website from ground-up. Maybe you want to keep track of a competitor website.\nBut won\u0026rsquo;t that competitor website have their own RSS feed? Mostly, yes. But since the world has moved on from using RSS readers (notable exceptions: Feedly users) to news aggregators, many website admins have started to disable their RSS feeds. This is to discourage mindless scraping of their original content and republishing it without permission.\nSo, let\u0026rsquo;s get started.\nYou would need the following: Any server with PHP enabled. I\u0026rsquo;m using an Ubuntu $5 server at DigitalOcean(you get $100 in credit over 60 days if you sign up using the referral link) MySQL (or a database of your choice) Scheduling mechanism. I\u0026rsquo;m using cron. Step 1: Setting up the database Create a database named \u0026rsquo;test' Create a table named \u0026lsquo;article_counter\u0026rsquo; with a counter column. CREATE DATABASE test; CREATE TABLE article_counter (article_id INT(1), last_known_url_count INT(6)); Step 2: Find the target sitemap It\u0026rsquo;s critical to understand that every website may not follow a standard Sitemap structure. Hence the second step is to find the Sitemap and understand its structure. Tip: One way is to type in sitemap.xml at the end of the website name. E.g.\nwebsite-name.com/sitemap.xml This will redirect you to the actual sitemap structure. It might redirect you to sitemap_index.xml with a bunch of child sitemaps. Now find out which sitemap you want to convert into RSS. It might contain month names, numbers, dates etc. We will have to convert those into variables in our code.\nStep 3: Convert Sitemap to RSS pseudocode You can take help from my pseudocode below:\nrun every 5 minutes { form sitemap link (as described in step 2 above) open the link count number of \u0026lt;loc\u0026gt; new_loc_count compare with last saved loc count (last_known_loc_count) if (new_loc_count \u0026gt; last_known_loc_count) { //find how many new loc (total_new_articles = last_known_loc_count-new_loc_count) for i from 1 to total_new_articles { extract the new loc text (which is actually the url) add to rss feed } } save new_loc_count as last_known_loc_count against month in DB } Here, we\u0026rsquo;re counting the number of nodes in the XML file. The nodes contain the URLs.\nStep 4: Write the code and enjoy! You\u0026rsquo;ve got the database structure and the logic. Now it\u0026rsquo;s time to get your hands dirty and get to coding. I did it in plain simple PHP, scheduled a cron to run it every 5 mins, plugged in the output RSS to IFTTT which notifies me on Slack every time the website I want to track publishes a new article.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2020/03/convert-sitemap-to-rss-feed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSince you\u0026rsquo;re reading this tutorial on how to convert a Sitemap to RSS, it\u0026rsquo;s safe to assume that you already know about Sitemaps and RSS feeds. Here\u0026rsquo;s a quick primer:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA sitemap\u003c/strong\u003e is an index of webpages of any website. It\u0026rsquo;s mostly there to help web-crawlers (think Google search bots etc.) crawl your website effectively and discover new (or old) content. Mostly for search engine ranking \u0026amp; discoverability.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn RSS feed\u003c/strong\u003e is a standard XML file that contains a web-feed of any website. Why standard XML? So that any application can easily read it to display in any format it wants. Why web-feed? So that an application (or an end user) can keep track of updates to a website. E.g. keeping track of a news site using an RSS feed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to convert any Sitemap to RSS Feed"},{"content":"ToDo apps actually work well if you figure out your own personalized way of using it effectively. Unless you’re living under a rock without an internet connection, no responsibilities, no recurring thoughts, no tasks to complete, no goals to chase, no motivation or the need to actually ‘do’ anything, in my humble opinion, you must use a ToDo app.\nHere’s why everyone should use a ToDo app Need more convincing? Let me share the biggest reason why everyone must be using one.\nIt clears your mind of unnecessary junk.\nThat’s it.\nIt’s the only sales pitch that’s required.\nHuman brain is not so good at storing \u0026amp; recollecting micro thoughts. The fleeting thought that comes to your mind vanishes without even you realizing.\nI should change the car oil.\nI should buy toothpaste.\nI should call up the relative whose mother just passed away.\nI should pay the credit card bill before its due date.\nWell, the reality is that most of us will constantly try to keep up with this barrage of low, medium and high priority tasks in vain.\nSo yeah, at 11 PM when you’re about to pick up your toothbrush, you’d realize that you went to the store twice but still missed to pick up the toothpaste.\nAll because you relied on your brain a little too much.\nThe brain is not to be blamed, to be honest. It was probably involved in your office work, debugging code, designing things, making the next big app and so on.\nIt didn’t consider buying milk as important. So it didn’t bother.\nEnter ToDo apps.\nThe moment a micro thought/task strikes you, note it down on your app.\nHere’s my process: 1. I use TickTick. I have a tab pinned on my desktop browser. And I have double tap gesture on my Android phone to fire up ‘New Task’ popup.\npsst. Email me at t[at]tonmoygoswami[dot]com to get 1 month free TickTick Premium gift code as a token of thanks for reading my blog.\n2. So whenever a micro-thought/tasks strikes my mind, I immediately fire up either the desktop or my phone (whichever is closer) version of TickTick and enter the task.\n3. Then I set time and date. Set recurrence, if required. And I’m done.\n4. The thought is free to disappear. My mind instantly becomes clean and ready to process other important tasks and focus on what’s important.\n5. You will get a notification on your phone \u0026amp; desktop when your task is due. You can also set location triggers. You can either start working on it, or snooze it for (say) 15 mins, 30 mins, next day etc.\nIt’s not that only minor tasks go into my list. Even major tasks are a part of it.\nNow your ToDo app has your back. It’s like an extension to your brain, it’ll keep reminding you to complete your tasks.\nAnd over time, without even realizing you’ll turn a lot more productive. You won’t miss any task, you will be more dependable.\nBut here’s a caveat, If you don’t set a time and date to all your tasks, you’ll eventually end up with a huge list that’ll only grow bigger with time. And one fine day, you’ll be so bogged down by its size (and disappointed in yourself), that you’ll silently uninstall the app and declare to yourself, “Ah, ToDo apps don’t work for me. My life is too complicated.”\nI went through the same frustration before figuring out the magic of setting deadlines \u0026amp; constant automated reminders.\nThen, there’s a bigger trap So after mastering this process for years, I can confidently recommend this process to everyone. But as an advanced follower of a ToDo list, I came to realize that it has one disadvantage: you can get too caught up in it.\nLet me explain.\nI create and complete tasks like a Ninja.\nAnd I’ve been doing it for years.\nBut once you master it, you may reach a stage where you’re simply completing random tasks on your list but losing focus on your main objectives/goals in life.\nWe all have a couple of broad objectives in our mind. E.g. Training for that Marathon, Preparation for the next career opportunity, Getting lean and fit in the next 6 months, Building your personal brand etc.\nThe difference between Objectives and Tasks These are not tasks. These are goals that require planning. Planning will eventually lead to actionable tasks.\nE.g. ‘Preparing for the next career jump’ Objective might have tasks like,\nRead industry blogs, news regularly Join relevant Slack communities to stay up-to-date Spruce up your LinkedIn profile Pick up new skills/tech that’ll add value to your profile Shortlist prospective companies to apply to Research on those companies, their products and services, their competitors, their industry etc. Make customized resumes for each company and so on. And these tasks may contain sub-tasks.\nYou can’t keep track of your Objectives with a ToDo list. You need a companion app. That’s when it struck me to introduce Trello into the mix.\nTrello will keep note of my Objectives, while TickTick will take the burden off my brain by keeping track of tasks.\nHere’s the method I use, feel free to customize it as per your needs:\nCreate a new board ‘Main Objectives’ Create Two Lists, ‘Backlog’ and ‘Today’ Add all your Objectives as new cards into the ‘Backlog’ list. I use a variation of the MoSCoW method to prioritize my Objectives. Simply put, MoSCoW method has 4 prioritization categories viz. Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won\u0026rsquo;t have.\nI tag my Objectives with Must, Should and Maybe.\nMust: Objectives that are must to my personal/professional success. Can’t be skipped and are time-critical.\nShould: Objectives that should be completed. Can be snoozed since they’re generally not time-sensitive.\nMaybe: Good to have Objectives. Not necessary for my success but it’s good to include them if time permits.\nNow every morning, I pull one (or two) of the Objectives from the ‘Backlog’ list to the ‘Today’ list. And I start work by keeping those Objectives in ‘Today’ list in mind. How this method helps: This method helps keep focus on the Objective(s) of the day.\nYour ToDo list will remain unchanged. It’s just that you’ll automatically get better in prioritizing your tasks in realtime. Is this task in-line with my Objective of the day? Is this tasks really important and urgent? Can this task wait?\nWhat if your objectives are just a couple, and easy to remember; would Trello be an overkill?\nWell, in my opinion, it’s always better to write them down.\nMoreover, planning your day by moving cards from the Backlog to Today forms a positive habit. On the contrary, planning in your head seldom happens properly. It only leads to a muddled outlook and eventually a haphazard way of spending your productive hours.\nAlso, you can quickly capture micro-thoughts on Objectives as and when they strike your mind. Just add a comment in the relevant card.\nWhat’s next? A bit of automation, maybe. I will connect Trello with TickTick with an integration service like IFTTT or Zapier so that as soon as I create any subtask within Trello, it gets added to my TickTick.\nIn the meantime, do share your thoughts on this method. And tweet to me your hack to stay super-productive.\nCover image source\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2019/10/productivity-experiment-with-ticktick-trello/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToDo apps actually work well if you figure out your \u003ca href=\"/2015/08/my-experiments-on-how-to-be-super-productive/\"\u003eown personalized way\u003c/a\u003e of using it effectively. Unless you’re living under a rock without an internet connection, no responsibilities, no recurring thoughts, no tasks to complete, no goals to chase, no motivation or the need to actually ‘do’ anything, in my humble opinion, you must use a ToDo app.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"heres-why-everyone-should-use-a-todo-app\"\u003eHere’s why everyone should use a ToDo app\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNeed more convincing? Let me share the biggest reason why everyone must be using one.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My experiments with super productivity: TickTick plus Trello"},{"content":"Introduction If you’re using a mobile browser to read this article, chances are high that it’s either a Chromium based Blink engine powered browser on Android or a WebKit engine powered browser on iOS. In fact, all browsers on iOS are actually WebKit based because Apple forces all third party browsers on iOS to use WebKit, essentially making them just re-skinned versions of Safari.\nUnless you’re among the 0.35% of the world’s mobile users who prefer Firefox on Android.\nWell, don’t get me wrong here. I’m a Firefox user myself, but only on desktop. Sadly on mobile, the picture is quite different.\nAt this point, you may ask, “What’s wrong with Chrome? I’m happy with it. Why do we need to discuss Firefox?”\nWhy is it necessary to have a competitor to Chrome The question demands a comprehensive article in itself, but instead of digressing (yet to understand the context), let me attempt to lay down briefly why it’s necessary to have strong competitor(s) to Chrome.\nEveryone using Chrome is not healthy for the industry.\nMonopoly is unhealthy. Web developers are forced and encouraged to code and optimize their applications specially for Chrome. Why optimize or even code for a small number of people who use non-Chromium based browsers? It’s reminiscent of pre-Firefox era when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was the dominant player. It stifles competition and innovation.\nAnd after Microsoft too embraced Chromium to build the next generation model of its Edge browser, there’s only one non-Chromium based browser in the market today.\nNo prizes for guessing, it’s Mozilla Firefox.\nThe current state of things at Firefox Realizing that its Android browser offering weren’t going anywhere (although Firefox Focus was a decent effort), the team decided to rebuild Firefox for Android from scratch.\nThat’s right.\nThrow everything out of the window. Start with a clean whiteboard.\nAnd they code-named it Fenix. (Publicly available for testing as Firefox Preview)\nThe new application is powered by GeckoView, an Android wrapper around Gecko browser engine that fuels its popular Firefox Quantum desktop version.\nEventually, it’ll replace Firefox for Android app on the Play Store.\nReimagining the browser of the future: Firefox for Android I have been using Firefox Preview long before it was available in the Google Play Store by acquiring a build through its repositories. They are making good progress and are expected to launch the polished version shortly.\nHaving sent them a couple of long- ish emails on features to add/remove along with general feedback, I’ve decided to put my product manager hat on to reimagine my version of Firefox for Android.\nSince I don’t have access to their Telemetry data (Firefox collects non-personal performance and usage info to improve their products), my suggestions are based on years of personal experience using web applications, mobile apps (specially on Android), feedback noted from users on their app store, feedback and issues mentioned on their repositories, best user experience practices implemented by competing/non-competing products and assuming (from comments) their current product team’s psychology \u0026amp; roadmap.\nI want Firefox to succeed.\nI want more people to embrace or go back to using Firefox. They should have a choice to switch. And the choice should be a good one. Not just a decision based on principles or ethics.\nI want more people to be delighted while browsing the web, feel fast, feel safe, feel private.\nBut it’s easier said than done because there are a lot of factors involved. E.g. how do you make a product loved by both average internet user and power users? How do you win in a market dominated by a big competitor who also pays your bills. (discussed later below)\nThat’s the reason I’ve divided the next section into three equally important sections:\nDesign Market Challenges Design Anyone who’s ever been involved in Agile methodology of development would agree that there’s no better way than to design, build/test, feedback and iterate.\nTalking of design, there are 4 sets of feature groups I would love Firefox to focus on:\n‘Permission to play’ (P2P) features Bare minimum features of a mobile browser provided by your biggest competitor that people are used to. Without these features, you can’t have ‘permission to play’ in the market. USP features Privacy/better control over privacy (a core differentiating value of Mozilla, to be discussed shortly below under ‘Market’) Modern intuitive UI Good to have features Features for Power Users Features to remove Features from the current iteration of the product that are redundant or don’t add value. (to be discussed shortly below) At present, here’s how Firefox Preview looks like:\nFew notable features:\nBottom address bar for better thumb only operation \u0026amp; bigger screens. Collections, which is a nifty new way to manage tabs into groups that can be named, shared, deleted. Tracking protection is on by default. Dark mode (not that important at its current iteration but nevertheless, it’s there) If you want to give it a spin, download the nightly build from here.\nSince the product is in its active development stage, the product guy itch in me couldn’t resist but suggest changes to its current design and interaction.\nDesign \u0026amp; interaction suggestions: 1. What/Requirement: Pull down to refresh page\nWhy/User Benefit/User Problem: Users are so used to pull-to-refresh feature that it has become a P2P feature. Save a tap.\n2. What: Main menu can be grid layout\nWhy: The motive of moving the Address Bar (also referred to as the Awesome Bar) to the bottom is to enable better usability using the thumb. Moreover, mobile phones have become taller than earlier, hence stacking things at the bottom helps.\nHence, the menu can also be a horizontally stacked grid (closer to bottom), rather than the current vertical layout.\n3. What: URL need not show https/http and www\nWhy: The shield icon to the left of the address is already a visual indicator of secure or insecure connection. Furthermore, the current implementation is unlike the desktop version where it’s colour-coded in green for https and grey for http. (which in itself isn’t very helpful for partially/full colour-blind users)\nA user survey can be done regarding this. Moreover, nobody cares if there’s www in front of the website URL or not.\nIt will clear up costly real-estate in the Navigation Bar to fit other more meaningful items/icons.\n4. What: Tab-switcher need not lead you to the homepage. It shouldn’t leave the context of the page. A new design is proposed below that’s in line with the intention of moving towards a more intuitive bottom-stacked, easily accessible design.\nHow: (Design Idea #1)\n1. On tapping on the tab-switcher icon, a window will slide-up from the bottom of the nav bar revealing the open tabs and collections as rows stacked on the top of each other (latest tabs to oldest sorted bottom to top) without the user leaving the current page.\nThe current page can be blurred/overlay/clear behind the slider.\nEach row will have a close button. Collections can have share button, as well.\n2. The bottom-most row will have an address field to open a new tab directly thus saving another tap. The address of the current page can be greyed out to clearly maintain the difference.\n3. Collection rows will have a down-arrow icon to indicate that it has more content collapsed within it. User can tap it to reveal the tabs under each collection just like an accordion.\nIt will also show the number of tabs within it numerically. Each tab within a Collection can also have a close button. (not shown in my mockup above)\nUsers can tap on the name of the collection to edit its name.\n(Design Idea #2: Alternate approach for horizontal preview) How:\n1. On tapping the tab-switcher icon, a window will slide-up from the bottom of the nav bar revealing the open tabs and collections in small-square previews (referred to as squares from now on) scrollable horizontally.\n2. Bottom-most row to remain as mentioned in Design Idea #1 (not shown in the mockup above)\n3. Collection squares can be tapped to reveal a slide to top vertical square previews of tabs within in as shown below.\nWhy: The current design leads the user to the homepage where tabs and collections are stacked top to bottom defeating the purpose of bottom accessibility. Moreover, you lose the context of your current page.\n5. What: On scroll-up of webpage, hide the bottom nav bar.\nWhy: More real-estate, intuitive. P2P feature, IMHO.\n6. What: Swipe left/right on Address Bar to move to prev/next tab mimicking Chrome.\nWhy: I believe it’s a good use of a phone’s swipe ability. It’s quick, it’s productive.\n7. What: If a tab within a Collection is open, give the user a quick way to move to other tabs within the Collection.\nThere can be two ways to achieve this. Both can be implemented together or individually.\n1. An arrow-up indicator in the Nav Bar tapping which will reveal the other tabs in the current Collection. (similar to open tabs feature #4 discussed above)\n2. Swiping left/right on the webpage open to move to next/prev tab in the Collection. The left/right chevron in the mockup above is just a swipe indicator, it won\u0026rsquo;t actually be visible on screen.\nWhy: Items within a collection should be easily accessible requiring the minimum effort.\n8. What: While entering text to search or entering URL, helper buttons can be introduced in a new bar.\nThe buttons can be the often used, .com, @, /,www etc.\nWhy: Although, these are accessible on the keyboard, it will save time since these buttons are usually not available on single tap.\n9. What: Tab-switcher and Home Button should be separate\nWhy: Currently, the tab-switcher icon takes the user to the homepage. It creates back button ambiguity, wherein pressing back exit the app. In a homepage scenario, it’s the expected behaviour. Whereas, if the user’s intention was to switch tabs, but decided against it, back implies leading the user back to its original page. This is where the current version creates an ambiguity.\nIf tab-switcher (as discussed in #4 above) is implemented, this issue gets resolved. Then we just need a new home button as shown below.\nHome button can have the search bar, most visited sites, bookmarks (from desktop + mobile), then collections, then open tabs.\nIf Firefox really wants to keep the present design intact, implement double confirmation on exit. E.g. Press back again to exit. Or popup asking, ‘Do you really want to exit?’\n10. What: Remove the + sign in the new tab page.\nWhy: This is redundant. Pressing it only moves focus to the address bar, fires up the keyboard. In fact, the keyboard is right next to the + sign. There’s no need for it. Save a tap.\n11. What: Reopening already opened tabs in collections shouldn’t show them again in open tabs section and shouldn’t increase the tab count in the tab-switcher.\nWhy: A bug in the current iteration.\nA lot of feedback on the Play Store mentions the lack of add-ons, bookmarks and the ability to move the bottom bar to top. While add-on support will be introduced, I’m assuming, after a stable release, the team can surely consider adding bookmarks and option to move the Address Bar to top (for smaller screen devices and for people who prefer it that way). But they’re not deal breakers, as of now since it’s a preview release.\nMarket Anyone who has ever built any product knows fairly well that it’s not always the best product that wins. While we discussed adding/removing features in the previous section, it’s a fact that you need more than just the best product in the market. You need to market it, promote it, brand it, amplify the emotional quotient of it, increase its perceived value.\nThe price of a browser can be free, but it should be valuable.\nThe price of a shirt can be Rs. 500, but as soon your grandmother gifts it to you on your birthday, its value almost touches infinity.\nIn my opinion, companies should have core values that should reflect in their product communications. Thankfully, Mozilla already has a big one: privacy.\nBe bullish on privacy (core value) In this age of blatant disregard for privacy, Firefox might just have the perfect recipe to succeed. While more and more people are waking up to the reality of their privacy being compromised, we can assume that a cohort will look out for alternative products that promise them more privacy. Mozilla just needs to make sure (through the proper marketing channels) that Firefox’s narrative is discoverable when people are looking for it.\nAppeal to paid/unpaid power users A major section of current Firefox users are power-users, developers, tech-enthusiasts and early adopters. In June 2019, during an interview Mozilla CEO Chris Beard mentioned that paid subscriptions will be launched with Firefox. As per reports, they’re testing VPN services and cloud storage and I feel that’s a good strategy.\nThey can easily partner and bundle services like VPN, faster \u0026amp; secure internet DNS routing like Cloudflare’s WARP+, secure email service providers like Proton Mail, premium Password Managers etc. and offer them at a cost-effective price. Users can have a la carte option to cherry-pick services to subscribe to.\nNon-paying power users can be retained with better developer tools, freemium services etc.\nWhen you don’t have money to be on TV, find a way to be on TV When you’re competing with companies with big pockets, you need to be creative to get that extra media attention. You simply can’t outsmart them with PR and paid marketing campaigns, you’ll have to be creative.\nYou’ll have to find a way to reach large audiences with minimal investment.\nIf you can’t pay to be on TV, you need to do something that makes your story irresistible for reporters and journalists.\nIce Bucket Challenge, Kiki Videos are few examples.\nChallenges It’s easier to write a 3000 word blog than to actually execute things to succeed. Because, well…as Monica from F.R.I.E.N.D.S famously said, “Welcome to the real world. It sucks! You’re gonna love it.”\nThe real world sucks and it’s riddled with challenges. But we love it nonetheless.\nFirefox is no exception to this rule.\nChrome comes pre-installed on most Android phone There are 2.5 billion active Android devices. And most of them have Chrome pre-installed as a system app, you can’t even uninstall it. Even the thought of competing with such a behemoth is upsetting.\n89% of Mozilla’s income comes from search engine royalties Google is the default search on Firefox browser and it pays Mozilla royalties to keep it that way. In fact, 89% of Mozilla’s $562 million income in 2017 came from Google and other search engines like Yandex in Russia and Baidu in China.\nThe contract with Google will expire in November 2020. While there are chances that Google will continue paying Mozilla to keep a competitor in the market, but just in case, if it has other plans, Mozilla might find itself in a financial soup.\nTechnical issues If you’ve ever used Firefox on mobile, you would have surely noticed how horrible Google search results look, in spite of Google being its default search engine. This issue has been pending since the last 5+ years. Go figure, if you’re curious why.\nToo little, too late? Firefox could have partnered with handset makers like Samsung early in the game to become the default on their phones. But that ship has already sailed. Samsung builds its own browser (based on Chromium) and is doing pretty well keeping up with latest trends and understanding user need and behaviour.\nIt can still partner with newer companies, but a potential problem could be a conflict of core values. Handset makers might not be too keen on privacy as a feature. They might want to optimize it for more profit say, by adding paid content widgets into the browser, tracking user behaviour to capitalize on the insight and so on.\nHas Firefox already lost the game?\nProbably not.\nThe only thing constant in this world is change. And if Firefox keeps reinventing itself to become relevant, it will never be out of the game.\nAfter all, there comes a time when people cheer for the underdog because even after falling down seven times, it always stands for a fight for the eight time.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2019/10/reimagining-firefox-preview-android/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"introduction\"\u003eIntroduction\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you’re using a mobile browser to read this article, chances are high that it’s either a Chromium based Blink engine powered browser on Android or a WebKit engine powered browser on iOS. In fact, all browsers on iOS are actually WebKit based because Apple forces all third party browsers on iOS to use WebKit, essentially making them just re-skinned versions of Safari.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnless you’re among the \u003ca href=\"https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/mobile/worldwide\"\u003e0.35%\u003c/a\u003e of the world’s mobile users who prefer Firefox on Android.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I reimagined Firefox Preview for Android (with wireframes)"},{"content":"Who you become in the next 5 years depends on two things:\na. The kind of people you hang out with, and\nb. The kind of books you read\nThankfully, both options are in everyone\u0026rsquo;s control. But it\u0026rsquo;s easier to pick good books than good company.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a list of insightful books that have shaped my thought in some way of the other. (Disclaimer: This is not a definitive list, it\u0026rsquo;s a work-in-progress collection)\nMade to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath\nA Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink\nZero to One by Peter Thiel\nHooked by Nir Eyal\nThe Lean Startup by Eric Ries\nPrinciples by Ray Dalio\nSapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari\nHow to Sell Yourself by Joe Girard\nYou Can Win by Shiv Khera\nGood To Great by Jim Collins\nNever Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss\nInfluence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini\nWork Rules! by Laszlo Bock\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/book-recommendations/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWho you become in the next 5 years depends on two things:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ea. The kind of people you hang out with, and\u003cbr\u003e\nb. The kind of books you read\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThankfully, both options are in everyone\u0026rsquo;s control. But it\u0026rsquo;s easier to pick good books than good company.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere\u0026rsquo;s a list of insightful books that have shaped my thought in some way of the other. (Disclaimer: This is not a definitive list, it\u0026rsquo;s a work-in-progress collection)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Book recommendations"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/blog/","summary":"","title":"Blog"},{"content":"📧 Email: t[at]tonmoygoswami[dot]com\n✉️ Twitter: You can slide into my DMs on Twitter.\n📷 Instagram: You can leave me a message on Instagram.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/contact/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e📧 \u003cstrong\u003eEmail:\u003c/strong\u003e t[at]tonmoygoswami[dot]com\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✉️ \u003cstrong\u003eTwitter:\u003c/strong\u003e You can slide into my DMs on \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/isTonmoy\"\u003eTwitter.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e📷 \u003cstrong\u003eInstagram:\u003c/strong\u003e You can leave me a message on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ton.moy/\"\u003eInstagram\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Contact Tonmoy"},{"content":"Hi, my name is Tonmoy Goswami. I\u0026rsquo;m a computer engineer by education, entrepreneur by spirit, tech enthusiast by passion, artist at heart; a lifelong student in the school of life. 🙏\nWhile some of the products I\u0026rsquo;m involved in building are used by millions of people every month, some of them were\u0026hellip;well, good learning experience for me.\nI share/retweet stuff I find interesting on Twitter. You may follow me at @protonycle. If you\u0026rsquo;re more of a visual person (and ❤️ travel pictures), say hello to me on Instagram at @tonmoy.jpg\nA few of my memorable projects so far:\nStorypick Media Private Limited (2013 - present) Storypick is one of India\u0026rsquo;s leading internet news and entertainment companies.\nImpact: Millions of readers every month, hundreds of brands trust Storypick to amplify their marketing campaigns.\nFun fact: Bootstrapped from zero to million+ dollars revenue.\nQonversa (2012) A conversation platform for long-form discussions with the ability to invite participants from different social networks.\nImpact: Got some traction, got selected into The Morpheus Gang program.\nFun fact: I quit my job to work on this full-time.\nMy Audition Dates (2011) An audition classified portal. A platform that bridges the gap between Talent seeker and Talent. The talent seeker (production house, TV channels, modeling agency, casting directors etc.) could post \u0026amp; monitor auditions. The talent (actors, models, singers, dancers etc.) could search \u0026amp; apply for auditions.\nTalents could also showcase their skills through photos and videos on their profiles.\nImpact: More than 600+ talent, agencies and casting directors signed up.\nFun fact: Apart from email, we used to send free SMS notifications to all registered users alerting them of upcoming auditions.\nFeedbackyard v2 (2013) Real-time mobile feedback utility for public speakers/events.\nProduct walkthrough\nImpact: This bombed.\nFun fact: Learnt never to add features to your MVP before validating the riskiest assumptions.\nFeedbackyard v1 (2012) Mobile feedback management system for restaurants.\nImpact: Two prominent restaurants in Pune were our pilot clients. Malaka Spice, Koregaon Park was one of them. We pivoted to v2 (mentioned above) after our pilot didn\u0026rsquo;t yield positive results.\nFun fact: The first feedback our pilot restaurant received was about a rat!\nCloud Admin Theme (2013) An intuitive, feature-packed and well-documented dashboard admin+frontend theme built on the top of Bootstrap 3 \u0026amp; powered by more than 70+ plugins.\nImpact: More than 1200+ buyers, 100+ comments, 4.69 avg rating. Over $ 33,000 (~25 lakh INR) in sales till date.\nFun fact: The theme ranked among the weekly top-sellers across the entire Envato marketplace.\nGorilla Quiz Wordpress Plugin (2014) A viral personality quiz plugin built in PHP, used exclusively by Storypick.\nImpact: Social media engagement and reach of Storypick went through the roof when we launched this plugin.\nFun fact: The most \u0026lsquo;viral\u0026rsquo; story of 2014 was a quiz built on this plugin with a total pageview of 3.3 million+ and 500k+ social shares!\nFind-a-nator (2009) While working as a Programmer Analyst Trainee with Cognizant Technology Solutions (my first job right out of engineering college), I noticed that domain knowledge was concentrated with few senior members, while the rest of us struggled to find explanations to jargon/terms.\nHence, I created a nifty auto-suggest search tool made in Java+MySQL+Javascript. One could simply search and instantly find explanations of product/project/domain specific concepts.\nImpact: My team lead was impressed and showed it to our Project Manager. The PM then asked me to give a demo to our Account Manager!\nFun fact: I got a rating of \u0026lsquo;Exceeds All (EA) Expectations\u0026rsquo; (EA is the top most rating) during my performance review that year, just because of this tool.\nClassified website for Guwahati city with Chat Rooms (1999) During Yahoo Messenger era, I decided to compete with a Guwahati (my hometown) based chat room website by building my own classified site + chat room by integrating free utilities/services available online.\nImpact: Got some traction but couldn\u0026rsquo;t sustain; the competitor copied my chat room widget and implemented it on their site.\nFun fact: I was 14 years old \u0026amp; everything happened over dial-up connection. What fun!\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/about/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi, my name is Tonmoy Goswami. I\u0026rsquo;m a computer engineer by education, entrepreneur by spirit, tech enthusiast by passion, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/TonmoyGoswamiComicSpace/\"\u003eartist\u003c/a\u003e at heart; a lifelong student in the school of life. 🙏\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile some of the products I\u0026rsquo;m involved in building are used by millions of people every month, some of them were\u0026hellip;well, good learning experience for me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI share/retweet stuff I find interesting on Twitter. You may follow me at \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/protonycle\"\u003e@protonycle\u003c/a\u003e. If you\u0026rsquo;re more of a visual person (and ❤️ travel pictures), say hello to me on Instagram at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tonmoy.jpg\"\u003e@tonmoy.jpg\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"About Me"},{"content":"Who we are Our website address is: http://tonmoygoswami.com.\nWhat personal data we collect and why we collect it Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.\nAn anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.\nMedia If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.\nContact forms Cookies If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.\nIf you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.\nWhen you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select \u0026ldquo;Remember Me\u0026rdquo;, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.\nIf you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.\nEmbedded content from other websites Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.\nThese websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.\nHow long we retain your data If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.\nFor users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.\nWhere we send your data Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/privacy-policy/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"who-we-are\"\u003eWho we are\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur website address is: \u003ca href=\"http://tonmoygoswami.com\"\u003ehttp://tonmoygoswami.com\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"what-personal-data-we-collect-and-why-we-collect-it\"\u003eWhat personal data we collect and why we collect it\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"comments\"\u003eComments\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: \u003ca href=\"https://automattic.com/privacy/\"\u003ehttps://automattic.com/privacy/\u003c/a\u003e. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Privacy Policy"},{"content":"After my last post on super productivity, a few people were curious about waking up at 5 in the morning. The common question was, “How to wake up early?” Well, there aren’t any tricks per se, but a few things from my own experience/reading might help you fine-tune your biological clock, get you motivated \u0026amp; achieve super productivity.\n1. Go to bed early A good deep sleep of around 4-5 hours is sufficient for an adult. So, if you’re planning to get up at 5, retire early. 10:30 to 11:00 is the ideal period.\n2. Track your deep sleep Use a cheap (or costly) wrist-band activity tracker to track your sleep. I bought the cheapest Mi Band at Rs. 999. It does a decent job at counting your steps and tracking your sleep patterns. Although the mobile app is not that great, it gives you a fair picture of your sleep. Else, you can use apps like Sleep as Android and keep your phone near your pillow while going to bed. (but there’s a catch, read point #3) Update (2016): I\u0026rsquo;ve since moved on from Mi Band to Fitbit Charge. Update (2018): Fitbit Charge stopped working.\n3. Keep your alarm clock (phone) away from bed That’s right. Make snoozing a difficult affair. Pressing snooze is second nature, and if your alarm resides near your pillow while you’re trying to build a habit, all the best, you’re never going to wake up early. So keep it at a place where you’ll have to get up from bed to shut it down. Now that you’ve already risen from bed, it’s much easier to convince your sleepy mind.\n4. Track your habit I use an app called 7 weeks to track my perseverance on forming a new habit. According to various research, it takes anywhere between 7 weeks (49 days) to 66 days to form a new habit. Apart from the obvious benefit of visualizing your performance, 7 weeks app motivates you to keep moving towards your goal.\nUpdate (2017): I\u0026rsquo;ve since moved on from 7 weeks to Loop Habit Tracker.\n5. Stay away from TV, Laptop, Mobiles at least 15 minutes before going to bed Your bed should be a no-electronics zone. Don’t tax your brain with new information, social media clutter, chat sessions or the blue light of playing a game while laying down. It will hamper your deep sleep. In the end, you’ll end up sleeping more and waking up tired.\n6. Use a smart alarm Apps like Sleep as Android have a feature to schedule your alarm according to your sleep patterns by finding optimal wake up moments. Quoting directly from their documentation: Waking up in light sleep feels natural and can be compared to waking up on a weekend, without any alarm. In contract, deep sleep wakeup (which is common with ordinary alarm clocks) leads to an unpleasant wakeup experience accompanies with feeling of being tired, sleepy, disoriented etc. In other words, it’ll fire the alarm the moment the sensor (in your wrist band or mobile app) notices that you’re in light sleep.\nUpdate (2018): I\u0026rsquo;ve since moved on from Sleep as Android to Samsung Health.\n7. Go to bed planning to get up early I’ve no scientific evidence backing up this personal experience: going to bed thinking positively about getting up early actually makes me wake up without much difficulty. In contract, if I don’t plan it, either I snooze or have a really hard time convincing my sleepy brain the next morning. I intend to keep adding new insights, tricks and tips to this post. I would like to end with a quote I read somewhere,\n“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do.”\nPro tip #8: While trying to convince your sleepy mind to get out of the bed, try reciting the above quote. It works for me. Welcome to the 5AM Club!\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2015/09/how-to-wake-up-at-5am-everyday/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter my last post on \u003ca href=\"/2015/08/my-experiments-on-how-to-be-super-productive/\"\u003esuper productivity\u003c/a\u003e, a few people were curious about waking up at 5 in the morning. The common question was, “How to wake up early?” Well, there aren’t any tricks per se, but a few things from my own experience/reading might help you fine-tune your biological clock, get you motivated \u0026amp; achieve super productivity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"1-go-to-bed-early\"\u003e1. Go to bed early\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA good deep sleep of around 4-5 hours is sufficient for an adult. So, if you’re planning to get up at 5, retire early. 10:30 to 11:00 is the ideal period.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to wake up at 5AM everyday"},{"content":"Lately, I\u0026rsquo;ve realized that I have read a lot of material on two topics viz.\na. How to stop procrastinating b. How to be productive\nAnd I was wondering if it would make sense to share my progress with the world so that I get more inputs \u0026amp; suggestions from people who\u0026rsquo;re trying something similar. So here\u0026rsquo;s the plan: I will keep sharing life hacks, tricks, tools, utilities, apps, habits, daily regimes, factoids, scientific findings and everything in between on how to be more productive in life.\nSo here are the things I follow at present:\n1. 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM - The holy hour The one thing that\u0026rsquo;s common between successful people around the world is that all of them are early risers. It gives you enough time to headstart \u0026amp; plan the day instead of simply rushing to your office.It also gives you a moral edge of being at \u0026lsquo;work\u0026rsquo; (working on yourself) while the rest of the world is still asleep.\n2. The 20-20-20 morning regime After trying out different regimes, I\u0026rsquo;m happily following Robin Sharma\u0026rsquo;s 20-20-20morning routine.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s what I do in 20-20-20\n5:00 to 5:20 - Get up, brush, make tea, simple exercise \u0026amp; stretching 5:20 to 5:40 - Open my todo app and plan the day. (e.g. what\u0026rsquo;s the frog of the day) 5:40 to 6:00 - Read one or half chapter of a book (Currently reading Imagine -how creativity works. Wonderful book)\n3. Pick a ToDo App I\u0026rsquo;ve found this super useful. Instead of processing multiple threads in my mind, I jot down everything that\u0026rsquo;s to be done \u0026amp; set reminders. Again the rule I follow is to identify the most hard/tedious job at hand as the \u0026lsquo;frog of the day\u0026rsquo;. I eat the frog the first thing in the morning at work. After trying out multiple apps (that work seamlessly on mobile and desktop) from Any.Do to Wunderlist to Todoist, I finally found the one that suited me best: TickTick. Nice Android app and I like their desktop version too.\n4. Keep track of your micro-thoughts Micro-thoughts are the moments of insights that we think we\u0026rsquo;ll be able to recollect later but alas! that\u0026rsquo;s the biggest lie to tell to ourselves. You can never recollect a micro-thought. Take my word for it. So note it down. I use Evernote as my default note taking app. It\u0026rsquo;s on my phone, on my desktop as a Windows application and on my browser as a web clipper.\n5. Check email only twice a day This was a tough one and it was eating all my time without even me realizing. Never ever start your work day with email. I\u0026rsquo;ve formed a habit of reading emails at 10:30 AM and 3:00 PM and I\u0026rsquo;ve TickTick reminding me when to check the email.\n6. Use Pomodoro technique at work Earlier I used to work for hours at a stretch and gradually realized that post afternoon, I didn\u0026rsquo;t have enough mental energy to process anything that demanded attention or creativity. In short, my brain muscles were all tired and used up with the ruthless work marathon since the beginning of the day. Then I read about Pomodoro. In its classic form, you work for 25 minutes, then take a break of 5 minutes. Repeat. I use Clearfocus Android app to work for 45 minutes and then take a break of 10 minutes. (I generally take a brisk stroll)\n7. Stop thinking about what to wear everyday Wear the same thing everyday. The logic behind wearing a uniform is simple: stop using your brain to make mundane decisions that are going to tax your brain. Steve Jobs, Mark Zukerberg and a lot of other successful people follow this regime. I decided to give it a try after years of \u0026ldquo;I have nothing to wear today\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;I have nothing neat/ironed/new to wear today\u0026rdquo; mornings. It works for me. I bought these 6 nice solid deep blue tshirts that are comfortable \u0026amp; keep switching. Trust me, it\u0026rsquo;s a headache off my list.\n8. Getting shit done I\u0026rsquo;ve found the only trick that works if you\u0026rsquo;re fighting procrastination: get shit done immediately. When I started with my todo app, tasks kept on piling up because I kept clicking \u0026lsquo;Snooze\u0026rsquo;. Don\u0026rsquo;t. If you\u0026rsquo;re supposed to buy a bulb but you forgot \u0026amp; now you\u0026rsquo;re comfortably sitting on your couch, don\u0026rsquo;t create a task on your todo; get up and go to the market, get shit done. I\u0026rsquo;ll be honest, I\u0026rsquo;m still trying this one very hard. But the kind of results I\u0026rsquo;m getting, I\u0026rsquo;m sure I\u0026rsquo;m going to stick to getting shit done.\n9. Experimental: Report to yourself At Storypick, since there\u0026rsquo;s no one asking me questions on my progress, I\u0026rsquo;m trying to play around with the idea of reporting to myself at the end of the day. After some quick search, I stumbled upon IDoneThis, which basically is an awesome team performance management tool. It has a free plan for individuals. So here\u0026rsquo;s how it works: It sends you an email at the end of every workday asking one simple question: What did you do today?\nAnd I can just reply to it via email. This is the best part. More often than not, it dawns upon me that while replying to this simple question, there are days when I\u0026rsquo;m ashamed to cheat because I wasn\u0026rsquo;t as productive as I intended. It\u0026rsquo;s been a few days, so this is experimental.\nDo let me know if you happen to try anything from this list. Do share your progress, tips, habits and productivity hacks.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2015/08/my-experiments-on-how-to-be-super-productive/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLately, I\u0026rsquo;ve realized that I have read a lot of material on two topics viz.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ea. How to stop procrastinating\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eb. How to be productive\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd I was wondering if it would make sense to share my progress with the world so that I get more inputs \u0026amp; suggestions from people who\u0026rsquo;re trying something similar. So here\u0026rsquo;s the plan: I will keep sharing life hacks, tricks, tools, utilities, apps, habits, daily regimes, factoids, scientific findings and everything in between on how to be more productive in life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My experiments on how to be super productive"},{"content":"There is no formula for success, but the formula for failure can be avoided, hence the comic. Enjoy.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/09/startup-chronicles-test-of-an-idea/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere is no formula for success, but the formula for failure can be avoided, hence the comic. Enjoy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/1.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/3.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/4.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/5.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/6.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/7.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/8.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/9.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Startup Chronicles - Test of an Idea"},{"content":"Staying in Pune, Maharashtra, I don’t need a Hindu calendar to know the date for Ganesh Chaturthi. The drum rolls and the festive mood tell me that today is the day.\nI was born on Ganesh Chaturthi. (Now my birthday rarely coincides)\nAlthough, I’m an atheist, I find deep gratification in questioning, discovering and understanding the reasons behind mythology/religious doctrines. The stories revolving Lord Ganesh are no exception. I would like to share two moral lessons that are neatly woven into Ganpati folklore.\nCircumnavigating the globe Everyone knows the story where Ganesh triumphs over his younger brother, Kartikeya, in a race around the world, by circling around his parents, Shiva and Parvati, while his brother flies around the actual globe on his peacock.\nThe key moral lesson conveyed beautifully through this mythology is respect for one’s parents. The story leaves a strong impression on the mind and reinstates the truth: one’s parents are ought to be one’s world.\nIn my humble opinion, this comparison tries to draw our attention to another key psychological idea or concept: mind over matter. The point is you cannot treat everything ‘objectively’; to truly understand the mind/body/spirit complex one needs to contemplate ‘subjectively’ on many matters.\nSymbolism of Ganesh’s vehicle: the mouse One of the most subtle yet powerful symbolisms hidden in the Lord Ganesh mythology is his vehicle: a mouse. The moral lesson behind this symbol is that the largest and powerful things often depend on the smallest and trivial things.\nGreat people don’t achieve greatness by jumping ladders. Morever, the media never glorifies or covers the small achievements that eventually enables a person to make her mark. Greatness emerge from the interaction and interference of seemingly trivial and tiny things.\nIn other words, his mouse is a reminder to the fact that no person, however strong and powerful, should harbor personal ego and take full credit for her brilliance or greatness. We should recognize that small events manifesting from time to time woven together finally make the whole big picture.\nSimultaneously, it also teaches us that if we want the stupendous power of Lord Ganesh behind us, then the small and humble processes of the mouse are our vehicle.\nMay the force be with you. Ganpati bappa moriya!\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/09/what-can-lord-ganesh-teach-us/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eStaying in Pune, Maharashtra, I don’t need a Hindu calendar to know the date for Ganesh Chaturthi. The drum rolls and the festive mood tell me that today is the day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI was born on Ganesh Chaturthi. (Now my birthday rarely coincides)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough, I’m an atheist, I find deep gratification in questioning, discovering and understanding the reasons behind mythology/religious doctrines. The stories revolving Lord Ganesh are no exception. I would like to share two moral lessons that are neatly woven into Ganpati folklore.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What can Lord Ganesh teach us?"},{"content":"In an earlier post, I wondered about a wearable security/safety device that can be triggered at times of personal danger esp. in cases of molestation, rape, risk to life, burglary, robbery etc. Now that Samsung has launched Galaxy Gear smart-watch, which basically is the first crude version of a wearable device that lets you interact with your phone without pulling it out of your purse or pocket, my thoughts are on a roll again. Coz that’s exactly what is needed in times of sudden danger: something that can quickly help us raise an SOS.\nThe idea So here’s the refined idea: an app for the Galaxy Gear that will do the following –\nQuick trigger: There should be some quick actionable trigger on the watch. E.g. a huge icon that can be tapped in case of emergency. To prevent accidental tapping, we can make it ‘swipe and tap’ or something similar.\nActions: The following parallel actions can take place\nNotification to SOS contacts: SMS \u0026amp; call (to family, friends \u0026amp; police), update on social media. Notification to nearby volunteers: Every app owner can volunteer to help out if someone needs help. Since traditional help (in terms of police etc) won\u0026rsquo;t be able to make to the scene of crime quickly to prevent the crime, a band of networked volunteers nearby (on getting the alert) can raise an alarm, assemble a mob and rush to the spot for help. Video recording: Galaxy Gear has a small camera attached to its band. Immediately, audio-visual recording should start. In the background, data service should be activated \u0026amp; compressed videos (in bursts of say 5, 10 seconds) should be uploaded directly to any connected cloud storage. E.g. Dropbox, Google Drive etc. Alarm: Maybe a high pitched sound/alarm can be triggered to ring from the phone. I’m not sure if it’ll act as a deterrent or provoke the attackers further. Possible feature. Samsung has not released the Galaxy Gear SDK yet. I’m planning to build a minimum viable version 1 once it is out. What do you think? Please share your concerns, ideas \u0026amp; features to include.\nCover photo by Adrien\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/09/can-a-smartphone-save-your-life/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn an \u003ca href=\"/2013/06/technology-against-crime/\"\u003eearlier post\u003c/a\u003e, I wondered about a wearable security/safety device that can be triggered at times of personal danger esp. in cases of molestation, rape, risk to life, burglary, robbery etc.\nNow that Samsung has launched Galaxy Gear smart-watch, which basically is the first crude version of a wearable device that lets you interact with your phone without pulling it out of your purse or pocket, my thoughts are on a roll again. Coz that’s exactly what is needed in times of sudden danger: something that can quickly help us raise an SOS.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Can a smartphone save your life?"},{"content":"INTRODUCTION At the outset, let me clarify that I’m not a freelancer. Then why did I write this post? Who is this post intended for? Well, this post is a result of an experiment I successfully pulled off recently. (More on that shortly) And this post is intended for anyone who’s struggling to get started with freelancing. (Read: haven’t grabbed their first project yet).\nI wanted to pick up AngularJS and learn LESS. So I decided to put myself in a situation where there would be an incentive to learn and a constraint to perform. In short, I was thinking how can I get paid to learn, how can I work on real life use cases to experiment. I decided to give freelancing a shot. My stint lasted for 10 days after which I returned to my startup life.\nIn the said 10 days, I made close to Rs. 45,000 working on 4 low risk projects and picked up LESS.\nWHY THIS POST? There are barriers to entry in the freelancing arena. I saw many freelancer profiles that are yet to clinch their first project. Since I hacked my way through it and managed to keep getting project offers, I decided to share what I have learned.\nCONTENTS Getting Started Grabbing your first project Working on your first project Withdrawing your first payment Parting Shots GETTING STARTED Choose a platform There are many freelancing websites. Each one has its own pros and cons. While Freelancer is full of low risk small to medium projects, Elance mostly has medium to high risk bigger projects. You may also check out oDesk, Guru etc. I started with Freelancer since I wanted to work on low risk projects.\nCreate a profile Choose the free plan and get started. Creating an impressive looking profile is of utmost importance since every prospective employer will surely scan your profile before offering you the job.\nHacks Display Name: You can simply state your full name. It seems like no brainer. But most of the times, employers will look out for teams so that they can get their work done faster. So even if you’re just an individual, it doesn’t hurt to have your display name as something like, “Your-name and Team” etc.\nTagline: Have a crisp and compelling tagline that highlights your credibility and expertise. E.g. if you’re going to work only on PHP, then a tagline like, “10+ years of PHP experience” should be sweet. If you’re going for all kinds of projects, you can try something like, “Our promise: Quality + On Time Delivery” (btw, that’s what I used)\nDisplay pic: Now, this is very important.\nA high quality smiling headshot of your own – Smile is the key. Show some teeth, you’re not at a funeral. If you look too young, then use 2nd option. A high quality image/art of a cult personality – I don’t know why it works, but it works. Maybe because there’s already a personality attached to the image. Being a Big Lebowski fan, I chose a vector image of The Dude. It looks geeky, calm and the red shades make him look like a psychedelic saint. I would want such a person to handle my project, won’t you? Let me handle your project. Description: Fill it up to the brim. Mention every technology, language, library, tool, software you know about. There goes a saying that “There’s no lie big enough not to fit in a resume”. This is not unethical because no one’s going to expect you to know all you brag about, but our motive is to shine in front of other freelancer profiles. Don\u0026rsquo;t overdo it. Strike a subtle balance.\nSkills: In Freelancer, you can include upto 20 skills if you’re a free member. Use them judiciously. This is where you don’t lie. Mention every skill that you want to get work on. Go to “Browse Projects” and get a hang of projects that interests you. Then check the skills they mention as mandatory. Note them down on a notepad. Later, shortlist 20 out of the list.\nPortfolio: This is the heart of your profile. Leave it empty \u0026amp; wait for eternity to get your first project. Freelancer provides 5 slots to build your portfolio. (For free users) That means you can create 5 folders with 5 files each. But in case of videos, one folder can contain only one video. The trick here is to make 4 folders with 5 pics each (that cover the best of your previous work) and 1 folder (with 1 video) that will showcase your whole portfolio. Put related works in each folder. E.g. “Logos and corporate identity”, “Website design”, “Bootstrap templates”, “Cartoons, Sketch, Animation” and “Complete portfolio” can be perfect for a web designer.\nYou should make a short video with all the screenshots of your previous work and mash it up like a slideshow. I used Windows Movie Maker to make a quick video and uploaded it to a folder named “Complete portfolio”. This will enable you to hack your way through the folder constraints. Another hack is to create a public folder in your Dropbox account and upload everything from your portfolio there. Make sure you include your best work at the beginning of your folder. (Rename them as 1, 2, 3 etc.). Keep the link handy. (More on it below)\nHourly Rate: This is very important. The common logic prevalent among newbie freelancers is that if we state a very low hourly rate, we’ll get hired. Not true at all. The hourly rate displayed on your profile has nothing to do with your bid on projects. You can still quote a cheap price on a project even if your hourly rate mentioned on your profile is high. But it is very important to have an hourly rate north of $30. Why? It’s sad but most employers from US and Europe have had very bad experiences with freelancers from the sub-continent (read: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc.) maybe due to a multitude of problems: careless non-professionals, miscommunication (or lack of communication) etc. Hence, when 60 freelancers (say) bid for a project, employers tend to filter out cheap workers first. There’s a filter in Freelancer that can hide freelancers that has a very low hourly rate. So anything below $25 or $30 is not worth looking into. The logic is if you’re an Indian freelancer and your hourly rate is $40, then you must be good. Faulty logic, but why not work it in our favor. So pimp up your rate.\nTest: Take the free Freelancer Orientation Test. On completion a shiny little badge will be displayed along your bid. Adds credibility. (Tip: To get an idea of the test, Google it; you’ll find historical dumps easily)\nGRABBING YOUR FIRST PROJECT Choosing projects Now that you’ve created yourself a robust profile, it’s time to go hunting. Freelancer provides 10 bids for free account holders. So we’ve got 10 attempts to grab our first project. So utilize your bids judiciously.\nHacks Go to “Browse Projects” – “My Skills”. This will then filter out projects based on your skill-set mentioned by you in your profile.\nFor your first project, look out for something small that can be completed in a matter of days so that you get your first feedback. Feedback is important since it shows up on your bid and adds hell lot of credibility. It also allows you to skip all those first timers who haven’t yet clinched a project. Also look out for project by US or European employer only. (Why? Because they can pay you handsomely)\nBest bet is to choose a project with a budget of around $100. Either bid for $99 or $109. Ending your bid in ‘9’ increases your chances of getting picked.\nNow there are three things that will get you your first project\nSpeed– Speed is your weapon when you don’t have a glorified profile/past history to show off. By speed, I mean, the speed of bidding on a project and getting the conversation started with the employer. The trick is to impress the employer before everyone else bids. Keep refreshing “My Skills” page (sorted by “Most Recent first”) and wait until a project shows up that matches your skills and is doable in a couple of hours/days. If you’re the first, second or third bidder, chances are good. Place a bid. Now comes the tricky part, what to write and how. Writing Skill – If you can’t communicate crisply, you can’t get a project. Period. You can read my favorite book, “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath to learn the art of rhetoric. The art of persuasive writing is important because that skyrockets your chances of getting a project. In fact, I believe your message to the employer while placing a bid is the most important factor that decides if you’re going to get the project or not. The trick here is to write a short and crisp one liner public message and a crisp (but a bit longer) private direct message. Let’s break it down: a. Read the project description completely and never bid unless you understand it properly. (This is important as some smart employers use description to filter out bots and habitual serial bidders. They will ask you to start your sentence with some keyword and whoever doesn’t get it, ends up being dumped. Simple.) b. Do your homework: If the project mentions any existing website, visit it to get a hang of the quality of work expected. Note colors, note defects that can be solved, note things that can be done better. c. Now leave a very simple public message with your bid.\nE.g. Hi there, We have done Twitter Bootstrap customizations for all our projects. Please check private message for details. My team can start on this immediately.\nd. Now it’s time to leave a persuasive private message that should include/address the following questions:\nHave you understood the expectations properly? Have you done your homework? Have you done similar projects in the past? If yes, where are the links? Why are you the best person to do this project? Any other value addition/advatage? E.g. a sample private message for a blogger template for an existing blog can be:\nHi there,\nFirst, I went to your website (http://www.example.com) to understand the quality of the site \u0026amp; to get an idea of the work expected. The site can be improved tremendously. We have done several Blogger templates recently and we are well versed with the new Blogger interface. You can check out our past work on our Freelancer profile or visit this gallery before making your choice. https://www.dropbox.com/yourLink We\u0026rsquo;re a perfect blend of artistic mind armed with technology. We are a small close knit team of computer engineers and graphic designers. Waiting for a positive response. Please don\u0026rsquo;t hesitate to ask any queries you might have. And we can start working on it immediately. I\u0026rsquo;m always available on Skype so communication won\u0026rsquo;t be a problem too.\nBest Regards, Myname and Team\ne. Be online after bidding: Keep the tab open. When you’re among the first few to bid, most employers would be online too and would probably reply to your private message. The routine gets messy after a few dozen of bidders. So speed is important. Get them talking to you early. Now it’s upto you not to screw up the chat interview, my only tip would be to act like an introvert in front of an introvert and be an extrovert to an extrovert. But don’t sell yourself short, write judiciously.\n3. Strategic bidding price – Don’t give the impression that you’re a cheap freelancer. Every employer expects her project to be treated with care and wants premium results. So acting cheap might get your small and petty projects, but you can always strategically place your bid between the average bid and lowest bid. If you’re charging premium rates, back it up with solid persuasion it in your private message.\nWORKING ON YOUR FIRST PROJECT Now that you’ve won your first project, time to get to work. Wait, not so early!\nPrecautions Freelancer is full of scamsters who will try to squeeze free work out of you and walk away without paying you a penny. Good news is that it can be prevented.\nWhile accepting a project, always request a ‘Milestone’ creation. After accepting the project, this is the first thing you should be doing. Create 2, 3…N number of milestones depending on the number of deliverables. E.g. if you need to deliver 2 logos for $200, then ask for two milestones $100 at 50% and $100 at 100% work completion.\nNever ever start any work unless you get a notification from Freelancer that employer has created a milestone. Don’t fall for sweet talk. Unless there’s a milestone created for a project, you can’t raise a dispute too.\nShare your alternate contact id (Skype etc) but make sure to re-post important discussions/announcements/file transfers through Freelancer messaging console. It’s always good to have an official record.\nHacks Make a note of your employer’s time zone. Try to mutually decide on a time when you’ll provide her feedback, clarify doubts or report progress. Always keep your employers updated.\nDuring chats, try to understand your employer’s business or make suggestions on how their project can be further improved etc. Propose your availability for any related projects or future projects. Repeat hires are important because there’s an indicator (or score) displayed on your profile for repeat hires. Boosts credibility of your profile.\nWhen you’re on the verge of completion of the project, ask your employer to leave you a good feedback. If you’ve done a job well, don’t be shy to ask for a favorable rating.\nAlways leave 5 star ratings for your employers.\nWITHDRAWING YOUR FIRST PAYMENT You’ll find numerous blogs over the Internet claiming Freelancer to be a scam website. Many people face problems with their withdrawal. I was very skeptical of the process too. Hence I read a lot and took some measures. Here are the things to note:\nYou need to have a paid account to withdraw money. Choose any paid plan before proceeding. You should have a minimum of $30 in your account. Opt for Express Withdrawal if you’re in India. For the first time, the withdrawal will take upto 15-20 days. So be patient. Keep tracking the status in your withdrawal dashboard. I took some time to understand what might be the cause of delays and cancellation of withdrawals and had a long chat with one of the support agents. Sometimes, employers use stolen credit cards to pay freelancers. Hence Freelancer double checks each transaction before releasing it to the freelancer. A bit harsh on the freelancer, but rules are rules.\nHacks If your withdrawal fails for some reason, raise a support ticket and pray to God that your problem gets solved. In most cases, it won’t. So, it’s time to take matters into our own hands. I had no problems with my first withdrawal. But my second and final withdrawal failed for no reason. I raised a support ticket but alas! Nothing happened. Frustrated, I shot an email to Matt Barrie. Who is Matt Barrie? Well, he’s the CEO of Freelancer. I’d written twice to him on two different occasions \u0026amp; both the time the person handling his email (or himself) replied back with a very polite email that not only solved my problem but also tried to pacify me by offering free credits and free upgrades. Attached is the screenshot of one of his replies.\nSo when nothing else works, shoot an email to the CEO. It works. PARTING SHOTS My short freelancing stint was fun and it allowed me to pick up and learn something new. I chose low risk projects and thankfully, the gamble paid off. My employer repeat hired me for two more projects and was very happy with the deliverable.\nThat’s the crux: Build your reputation by delivering quality stuff. You cannot hack your way to the top. I might have missed a few things, please feel free to add your own observations. You can reach out to me on Twitter.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/09/getting-started-with-freelancing-heres-the-ultimate-cheat-sheet/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"introduction\"\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the outset, let me clarify that I’m not a freelancer. Then why did I write this post? Who is this post intended for? Well, this post is a result of an experiment I successfully pulled off recently. (More on that shortly) And this post is intended for anyone who’s struggling to get started with freelancing. (Read: haven’t grabbed their first project yet).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wanted to pick up \u003ca href=\"http://angularjs.org/\"\u003eAngularJS\u003c/a\u003e and learn \u003ca href=\"http://lesscss.org/\"\u003eLESS\u003c/a\u003e. So I decided to put myself in a situation where there would be an incentive to learn and a constraint to perform. In short, I was thinking how can I get paid to learn, how can I work on real life use cases to experiment. I decided to give freelancing a shot. My stint lasted for 10 days after which I returned to my startup life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Getting started with freelancing? Here's the ultimate cheat sheet"},{"content":"Give the Perfect Elevator Pitch\nHow to use the Hedgehog Concept to compete with massive competitors\n\u0026ldquo;Tim Cook doesn\u0026rsquo;t send you a hand-written note after you buy a laptop. He can\u0026rsquo;t. But you can.\u0026rdquo;\nDaniel Kahneman: The riddle of experience vs. memory\n\u0026ldquo;The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem.\u0026rdquo; - Jack Sparrow\n— Movie Quotes ❤ (@itsmovies) July 11, 2013\nMarissa\u0026rsquo;s first year: How Mayer became Yahoo\u0026rsquo;s best CEO yet\nScript for success \u0026ndash; what a football coach can teach us about engineering\n\u0026ldquo;What are the best/most humorous Dilbert cartoons?\u0026rdquo;\nThis Theory On Pixar Movies Will Blow Your Mind (original analysis HERE)\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/07/8-stories-to-read-this-weekend/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://tonm.in/15nJkTU\"\u003eGive the Perfect Elevator Pitch\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://tonm.in/1161Fp4\"\u003eHow to use the Hedgehog Concept to compete with massive competitors\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://tonm.in/1bQJ6tq\"\u003e\u0026ldquo;Tim Cook doesn\u0026rsquo;t send you a hand-written note after you buy a laptop. He can\u0026rsquo;t. But you can.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://tonm.in/15UhBMU\"\u003eDaniel Kahneman: The riddle of experience vs. memory\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem.\u0026rdquo; - Jack Sparrow\u003cbr\u003e\n— Movie Quotes ❤ (@itsmovies) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/itsmovies/statuses/355468375230656512\"\u003eJuly 11, 2013\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://tonm.in/1b1r1uM\"\u003eMarissa\u0026rsquo;s first year: How Mayer became Yahoo\u0026rsquo;s best CEO yet\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"8 stories to read this weekend"},{"content":"15 TED Talks That Will Change Your Life\nHow Startup Valuation Works\nChrome 27, Firefox 22, IE10, And Opera Next, Benchmarked - and the winner is\u0026hellip;.\n\u0026ldquo;Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow\u0026rdquo;. -Ralph Waldo Emerson\nHow do I install and use cURL on a Windows machine?\nStartup Investing Trends\nComparing Canada and U.S. startup visas\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/07/6-stories-to-read-this-weekend/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/ROY0hcCm9w\"\u003e15 TED Talks That Will Change Your Life\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/Kf9UP6mKSa\"\u003eHow Startup Valuation Works\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/chrome-27-firefox-21-opera-next,3534.html\"\u003eChrome 27, Firefox 22, IE10, And Opera Next, Benchmarked - and the winner is\u0026hellip;.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow\u0026rdquo;. -Ralph Waldo Emerson\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/rXF0P38dBM\"\u003eHow do I install and use cURL on a Windows machine?\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/Iaqm5Iwu1F\"\u003eStartup Investing Trends\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/IAZv3R538H\"\u003eComparing Canada and U.S. startup visas\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"6 stories to read this weekend"},{"content":"Lately, I\u0026rsquo;ve been following the advent of the Smart TV phenomenon. At first glance, connected TVs (with or without a net-top box) do seem like the future of home entertainment where you can stream your own content, subscribe to original series instead of the whole channel, watch movies on demand and enjoy YouTube from your couch. But there are challenges.\nChallenges to mass adoption 1. Market is fragmented Apple TV, Roku, Google TV, Boxee (now part of Samsung) and dozen others (find full list here) are currently trying to break into the market. While smaller startups will eventually be merged with bigger players, the market is currently too fragmented and nascent. Consumers are particularly worried about the fact that their choice of vendor might suddenly be acquired and shut down. (see Boxee). Although, there is enough room for smart new entrants and nimble incumbents, the space will finally be ruled by bigger companies who has clout and influence. Why? This brings us to challenge two: content.\n2. Content The reason this space needs a biggie like Google, Apple or Amazon is the fact that they have the capacity to influence, partner and rope in cable networks in the near future. Let\u0026rsquo;s admit it, we\u0026rsquo;re not going to pay a monthly subscription for a box that doesn\u0026rsquo;t include some of our beloved shows from cable networks. E.g. travel shows, discovery, Nat Geo and particularly kids shows (remember, today\u0026rsquo;s early adopters will be young parents in the near future). There\u0026rsquo;s no reason we will look at Smart TVs as a secondary screen. Who wants to pay for two subscriptions. Cable and Internet has to merge.\nMoreover, bigger companies can more easily partner with multiple streaming content providers and already has a perfectly laid out content distribution channel.\n3. Incumbents How can you make someone your channel partner when they themselves are selling a product that competes with your offering? Why would a DTH provider promote a Roku? They have enough reasons not to. When people are paying for a whole channel to watch only a particular serial, why would any business want to offer pay per series package?\nWhy would any company who has invested millions in designing, developing and marketing set-top boxes team up with another box company? Maybe they can partner and come up with a combo sister offering. Maybe not. I don\u0026rsquo;t know. It\u0026rsquo;ll be interesting to watch how things unfold in the future.\n4. Broadband penetration You need atleast a minimum of 1.5 to 2 Mbps broadband speeds to properly stream using a smart box. In countries like ours, where broadband penetration is comparatively less and broadband speeds are costly and limited, we\u0026rsquo;ll have to wait till India catches up with the world.\n5. Product support Hardware is a costly investment. So most consumers expect to get product support for several years. Even for software, Microsoft will be ending their support for Windows XP (launched in 2001) somewhere in 2014 (a cool product support lifespan of 13 years). Recently Boxee had to bear the brunt of the media and consumers when they failed to maintain support for older models.\nIrrespective of these challenges, I see opportunities. There is ample space for new startups to fill the voids in the ecosystem. Imagine a future where you can tap your Smart TV remote (which is nothing but your smart phone) and instantly buy a pack of detergent, right after the detergent commercial is aired, while you stream your favorite sitcom in a split screen. Win!\nWhat are your thoughts?\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/07/the-idiot-box-is-getting-smarter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLately, I\u0026rsquo;ve been following the advent of the Smart TV phenomenon. At first glance, connected TVs (with or without a net-top box) do seem like the future of home entertainment where you can stream your own content, subscribe to original series instead of the whole channel, watch movies on demand and enjoy YouTube from your couch. But there are challenges.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"challenges-to-mass-adoption\"\u003eChallenges to mass adoption\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"1-market-is-fragmented\"\u003e1. Market is fragmented\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApple TV, Roku, Google TV, Boxee (\u003ca href=\"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-03/samsung-acquires-startup-boxee-to-add-connected-tv-set-top-boxes.html\"\u003enow part of Samsung\u003c/a\u003e) and dozen others (find full list \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_notable_Smart_TV_platforms_and_middleware_software\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e) are currently trying to break into the market. While smaller startups will eventually be merged with bigger players, the market is currently too fragmented and nascent. Consumers are particularly worried about the fact that their choice of vendor might suddenly be acquired and shut down. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.tuaw.com/2013/07/06/boxee-team-joins-samsung-will-shut-down-cloud-dvr-service-on-ju/\"\u003esee Boxee\u003c/a\u003e). Although, there is enough room for smart new entrants and nimble incumbents, the space will finally be ruled by bigger companies who has clout and influence. Why? This brings us to challenge two: content.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The idiot-box is getting smarter"},{"content":"The redBus story\nJust Say No: VC terms that can really hurt via @ venturehacks\nA Chance to See Saturn, For the First Time in 7 Years\nTop 10 Marketing Books of All Time\nI don\u0026rsquo;t believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be. - Ken Venturi\nHow Google, Yahoo, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon track you (infographic)\nWikiLeaks Volunteer Was a Paid Informant for the FBI\nTop 25 attractions in the world\n\u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;poor people would rather buy a used, higher-end car than buy a Nano, which would mark them as poor\u0026rdquo;http://t.co/Jdwjh16tNJ\nIt’s Live! Now Book Railway Tickets With SMS, USSD or a Java App\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/06/9-stories-to-read-this-weekend/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/ZFDtjvXfLS\"\u003eThe redBus story\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/TyBgghvlXv\"\u003eJust Say No: VC terms that can really hurt\u003c/a\u003e via @ \u003ca href=\"http://www.twitter.com/venturehacks\"\u003eventurehacks\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/o8ABhzC9vy\"\u003eA Chance to See Saturn, For the First Time in 7 Years\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/0JqhZgRIZ8\"\u003eTop 10 Marketing Books of All Time\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be. - Ken Venturi\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/snh4jKuejp\"\u003eHow Google, Yahoo, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon track you (infographic)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"9 stories to read this weekend"},{"content":"Licenses Over Data: A Case Study with Github v BitBucket\nMeet The Hackers Who Sell Spies The Tools To Crack Your PC (And Get Paid Six-Figure Fees)\nThe Anatomy Of A Failed Startup\nFacebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest – Complete Social Media Image Size Guide [INFOGRAPHIC]\nWhen Someone Says They Don\u0026rsquo;t See the Point in Twitter Show Them This\nThere is a difference between knowing the path \u0026amp; walking the path. -Morpheus\nTesla Motors\u0026rsquo; 90-second battery swapping tech is faster than filling a gas tank (video)\nStrangling Innovation \u0026ndash; When Rent-Seekers and Startups Collide\n\u0026lsquo;A badass list of frontend development resources I collected over time.\u0026rsquo;\n46 Things We\u0026rsquo;ve Learned From Facebook Studies\nOld Ideas Are Better Than The Idea You Just Thought Of\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/06/10-stories-to-read-this-weekend/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/RmllXMIkjr\"\u003eLicenses Over Data: A Case Study with Github v BitBucket\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/CYU7B7nJX7\"\u003eMeet The Hackers Who Sell Spies The Tools To Crack Your PC (And Get Paid Six-Figure Fees)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/6SOypdSWxz\"\u003eThe Anatomy Of A Failed Startup\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/bGouaWeZOO\"\u003eFacebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest – Complete Social Media Image Size Guide [INFOGRAPHIC]\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/D4u6jYU9Zd\"\u003eWhen Someone Says They Don\u0026rsquo;t See the Point in Twitter Show Them This\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a difference between knowing the path \u0026amp; walking the path. -Morpheus\u003c/p\u003e","title":"10 stories to read this weekend"},{"content":"How about a wearable computer (maybe a wrist band) that tracks your location and not only send out SOS notifications to pre-defined end points (relatives, patrolling police, nearest police stations etc) but also sends out alerts to nearby sister/affiliated devices?\nIn layman terms: a smart wrist band that tracks your location \u0026amp; on one panic button press, it notifies the whole neighborhood of wrist band warriors + your relatives + police.\nAfter the unfortunate Delhi gang rape incident, me and my partner discussed similar concepts. We weren\u0026rsquo;t sure of a mobile app. Cowards generally strike from behind and you don\u0026rsquo;t really have the time to grab your phone, open the lockscreen, open the app \u0026amp; press the panic button. Specially not when someone\u0026rsquo;s after your life. So we discussed something that\u0026rsquo;s wearable, maybe a chain (but it can be snatched), maybe a bangle/wrist band (but it should be designed to avert accidental activation of panic mode), maybe a smart contact lens. But it has to be wearable \u0026amp; tamper resistant.\nIt can also have video/audio recording facility when in panic mode. The data can be saved locally (when out of mobile range) and automatically uploaded to a cloud storage once network is available. (something like Memoto but only when triggered).\nSo in addition to the typical pepper spray, this will be a strong armor for crimes against women, for the old and young, for just about anyone who feels threatened.\nMy fried asked, \u0026ldquo;If this device gets popular, wouldn\u0026rsquo;t criminals try to get rid of the device first\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;That can be a good deterrent too. In some cases, maybe the victim can scare her assaulter by showing off her device\u0026rdquo;.\nMaybe, I don\u0026rsquo;t know. Maybe I\u0026rsquo;m getting too paranoid. Maybe we just need to teach our men to respect women. Maybe we just need to infuse ethics and principles into a generation of men and women.\nBut till then, we need someone to make this wrist band. I\u0026rsquo;ll pay for it.\nUpdate You can read the next part of this blog HERE.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/06/technology-against-crime/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHow about a wearable computer (maybe a wrist band) that tracks your location and not only send out SOS notifications to pre-defined end points (relatives, patrolling police, nearest police stations etc) but also sends out alerts to nearby sister/affiliated devices?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn layman terms: a smart wrist band that tracks your location \u0026amp; on one panic button press, it notifies the whole neighborhood of wrist band warriors + your relatives + police.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Technology against crime"},{"content":"Hacker Faces More Jail Time Than The Convicted Steubenville Rapists He Exposed\nDmitry Itskov wants to help you live forever by swapping your body for an android avatar\nClaudia is Worried I Will Be Killed for Posting This\nLearn more about Google\u0026rsquo;s Project[X] - Project Loon | Google Balloons Offer Free Wi-Fi, Internet | Photos\nDiary Of A 5,000-Hours-Per-Year Internet Troll\nThis Time It\u0026rsquo;s Real: Google-Waze Deal on the Way\nThe design of iOS 7: simply confusing\n500 Startups’ Dave McClure talks innovation and cockroach startups\nContact Lens Computer: Like Google Glass, without the Glasses\nHow To Download And Install Apple\u0026rsquo;s iOS 7 Beta\nIf you are an entrepreneur \u0026amp; your first venture wasn\u0026rsquo;t a success - welcome to the club!\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/06/11-stories-to-read-this-weekend/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/ZiuERtRt2P\"\u003eHacker Faces More Jail Time Than The Convicted Steubenville Rapists He Exposed\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/NvumvEpjnI\"\u003eDmitry Itskov wants to help you live forever by swapping your body for an android avatar\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2013/06/claudia-is-worried-i-will-be-killed-for-posting-this/\"\u003eClaudia is Worried I Will Be Killed for Posting This\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/SqIEQLnmVo\"\u003eLearn more about Google\u0026rsquo;s Project[X] - Project Loon | Google Balloons Offer Free Wi-Fi, Internet | Photos\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/15/diary-of-a-5000-hours-per-year-internet-troll/\"\u003eDiary Of A 5,000-Hours-Per-Year Internet Troll\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/WSY38YT90r\"\u003eThis Time It\u0026rsquo;s Real: Google-Waze Deal on the Way\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"11 stories to read this weekend"},{"content":"Cowards\nThe curious case of disappearing HTTP referrers and how to get them back\nAstronomers Find First Evidence Of Other Universes\n5 Reasons Professionals Are Switching From SEO to Content Marketing\nProduct \u0026gt; Strategy \u0026gt; Business Model\nDell\u0026rsquo;s advice to entrepreneurs: Experiment, Test, Go-fast, Fail Fast and learn as much as possible\nDon’t make the mistake of overlooking your Minimum Viable Segment\n5 HTML5 Features you need to know\nLeading expert says we\u0026rsquo;ll have the technology to communicate with our pets within 10 years\nWhich tech companies are looking out for your privacy?\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/06/9-articles-to-read-this-weekend/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/25UI25echY\"\u003eCowards\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/cQsyPLwMkA\"\u003eThe curious case of disappearing HTTP referrers and how to get them back\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/kArRNKkv9w\"\u003eAstronomers Find First Evidence Of Other Universes\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/cs4IGqw9bZ\"\u003e5 Reasons Professionals Are Switching From SEO to Content Marketing\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/TluAVtJB8E\"\u003eProduct \u0026gt; Strategy \u0026gt; Business Model\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDell\u0026rsquo;s advice to entrepreneurs: Experiment, Test, Go-fast, Fail Fast and learn as much as possible\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/EgdRVeNVU2\"\u003eDon’t make the mistake of overlooking your Minimum Viable Segment\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://t.co/jzxG8rTq8g\"\u003e5 HTML5 Features you need to know\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"9 articles to read this weekend"},{"content":"Recently one of my friends shifted to a new apartment. It\u0026rsquo;s a nice windy place on the 7th floor of a tall building with a spacious balcony. There was only one problem: two pigeons.\nOn the other side of the frosted window slides of the bathroom were two pigeons. When we tried to scare them away, one flew to a safe distance while the other would just \u0026lsquo;coo\u0026rsquo; and shiver. On closer inspection, we realized that the \u0026lsquo;coo\u0026rsquo;- ing one was hurt on its head. But the wound was not fresh and there were no visible signs that it was hurt in its wings. My friend noticed that the unhurt pigeon would fetch food for the other bird.\nTwo days passed and my friend was pissed off with the litter the pigeons were making. But the \u0026lsquo;hurt\u0026rsquo; bird wouldn\u0026rsquo;t just fly away.\nPissed with the litter, my friend asked their maid to throw water and scare them away. The maid replied, \u0026ldquo;I guess the hurt one will fall and die\u0026rdquo; To that my friend replied, \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m sure it can fly. It\u0026rsquo;s just that it hasn\u0026rsquo;t yet got the push to make the leap of faith yet. And the other pigeon is not helping it. So throw water at them.\u0026rdquo; The maid obliged and guess what: the pigeon flapped its wings and flew away.\nHave you ever wondered at the fragility of some young adults in your family? I had.\nIn all the cases the young kids are spoilt by their over-protective (or may I say obsessive, possessive or worried) guardians. The young ones are so overtly protected from the natural environment that the kid never grow out of their shadows. Over the time, they become very fragile. Have you seen 19 year olds sleeping with their parents? Have you seen 13 year olds who has never ever been to the nearby market alone? Have you seen 16 year olds who\u0026rsquo;s always escorted by someone from the school bus to home (a distance of 300m)? I\u0026rsquo;ve seen them all. And it\u0026rsquo;s sad that we can\u0026rsquo;t go up to their parents and ask them to stop.\nThe opposite of fragile is not tough or robust. It\u0026rsquo;s anti-fragile (a word coined by Taleb). In his own words,\n\u0026ldquo;Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better\u0026rdquo;.\nLike the pigeon who made a transition from fragility to anti-fragility, we should push our loved ones to open their wings and fly. Just give them a push. Let them fly alone.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t worry, they might return with a little bruise, but that\u0026rsquo;s how they\u0026rsquo;ll get better.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/06/the-pigeon-that-wouldnt-fly/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eRecently one of my friends shifted to a new apartment. It\u0026rsquo;s a nice windy place on the 7th floor of a tall building with a spacious balcony. There was only one problem: two pigeons.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the other side of the frosted window slides of the bathroom were two pigeons. When we tried to scare them away, one flew to a safe distance while the other would just \u003cem\u003e\u0026lsquo;coo\u0026rsquo;\u003c/em\u003e and shiver. On closer inspection, we realized that the \u003cem\u003e\u0026lsquo;coo\u0026rsquo;-\u003c/em\u003e ing one was hurt on its head. But the wound was not fresh and there were no visible signs that it was hurt in its wings. My friend noticed that the unhurt pigeon would fetch food for the other bird.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The pigeon that wouldn't fly"},{"content":"Ten news/articles worth reading this week.\n13 Critically Important Lessons from Over 50 Growth Hackers http://t.co/4IqONRZjPi\nThe Future Of Technology Isn’t Mobile, It’s Contextual http://t.co/tMZHTRTA2j\nWhat Steve Jobs And Bill Gates Really Thought About Each Other http://t.co/oKZGJqPV3K\n[List] India\u0026rsquo;s most prolific angel investors http://t.co/5sROJT6L4q\nPrinciples of Flat Design http://t.co/AqoCkyLBmx\nOpera launches Next, the Chromium-based browser for Windows \u0026amp; Mac http://t.co/NY0El6PKcb\nAnatomy of a hack: even your \u0026lsquo;complicated\u0026rsquo; password is easy to crack http://t.co/n3lpbrWtoU\nAccelerator Tandem will start funding mobile startups in India http://t.co/1EQdHkQ72G\n60+ Investors Band Together To Form BitAngels, The First Multi-City Angel Network \u0026amp; Incubator For Bitcoin Startups http://t.co/Wke5SbOuyS\nKPCB Internet Trends 2013 http://t.co/HOKnj1v8GA\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/06/10-stories-to-read-this-weekend-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTen news/articles worth reading this week.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e13 Critically Important Lessons from Over 50 Growth Hackers \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/4IqONRZjPi\"\u003ehttp://t.co/4IqONRZjPi\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Future Of Technology Isn’t Mobile, It’s Contextual \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/tMZHTRTA2j\"\u003ehttp://t.co/tMZHTRTA2j\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat Steve Jobs And Bill Gates Really Thought About Each Other \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/oKZGJqPV3K\"\u003ehttp://t.co/oKZGJqPV3K\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e[List] India\u0026rsquo;s most prolific angel investors \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/5sROJT6L4q\"\u003ehttp://t.co/5sROJT6L4q\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrinciples of Flat Design \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/AqoCkyLBmx\"\u003ehttp://t.co/AqoCkyLBmx\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpera launches Next, the Chromium-based browser for Windows \u0026amp; Mac \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/NY0El6PKcb\"\u003ehttp://t.co/NY0El6PKcb\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnatomy of a hack: even your \u0026lsquo;complicated\u0026rsquo; password is easy to crack \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/n3lpbrWtoU\"\u003ehttp://t.co/n3lpbrWtoU\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccelerator Tandem will start funding mobile startups in India \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/1EQdHkQ72G\"\u003ehttp://t.co/1EQdHkQ72G\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"10 stories to read this weekend"},{"content":"I consume a lot of news on a daily basis. Most of them revolve around technology, startups, the Internet and entrepreneurship. I make it a point to share the best reads on Twitter. Why keep the knowledge to yourself, right?\nTo take this motive (of spreading insightful news) a step forward, I did a little tinkering and now I can easily curate a daily archive of my selected articles on Evernote. (hint: It\u0026rsquo;s as simple as attaching a hash to my tweets \u0026amp; \u0026lsquo;favoriting\u0026rsquo; others)\nI\u0026rsquo;ve decided to make it a habit of sparing a few minutes every Sunday and blog a short consumable list of the best reads of the week. Here\u0026rsquo;s the first \u0026lsquo;Sunday Must Reads\u0026rsquo;. Enjoy and if you like my selection, do follow me on Twitter.\nSelling Your Software To Businesses [TwilioCon 2012 presentation]\nThe Definitive Guide to Influencer Targeting\nWant to make money \u0026amp; change the world? An idiot’s guide to ‘social entrepreneurship’\nE-commerceis a bear\nWho needs investors! Why many startups should bootstrap instead\nThe future of Web design\nGmail reportedly receiving new tab-based user interface for web and mobile version\nWhy we’ll never meet aliens\nWhy Real Businesses Don’t Charge $5/month: Part 2\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/05/9-stories-to-read-this-weekend-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI consume a lot of news on a daily basis. Most of them revolve around technology, startups, the Internet and entrepreneurship. I make it a point to share the best reads on Twitter. Why keep the knowledge to yourself, right?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo take this motive (of spreading insightful news) a step forward, I did a little tinkering and now I can easily curate a daily archive of my selected articles on Evernote. (hint: It\u0026rsquo;s as simple as attaching a hash to my tweets \u0026amp; \u0026lsquo;favoriting\u0026rsquo; others)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"9 stories to read this weekend"},{"content":"I was on my bike riding back home, the summer heat of Pune burning my fingers, as the hot breeze pass through the narrow opening of the helmet. Although it was hot, I had my jacket on; home is not far.\nGreen\u0026hellip;.Orange\u0026hellip;..RED. Just missed the green traffic signal at the East Avenue - North Main Road junction. What do you do when you\u0026rsquo;re on a bike and you\u0026rsquo;ve 40 seconds to spare: I stare and observe people: people on bikes, on cars, pedestrians, beggars. Time seem to quickly pass by.\nBikes and cars started lining up next to me, some behind too. Mostly behind. There was not a single traffic police at the junction, probably due to the heat. I had always wondered the reason(or the lack of it) behind having both traffic signal and traffic police at the same time. A beggar was limping around. I looked at him.\nThe countdown of the signal was at about 15 seconds. I can sense the urgency on the faces of the people around me. Someone kick started his bike. Some raced their accelerator. Some even shifted gears but held on to their clutches. I was still on neutral: both by gear and urgency.\n10..9..8 The guy who has been holding onto his urinary bladder couldn\u0026rsquo;t wait any longer. He vroomed past everyone at high speed. The herd followed. It was still 7. I held on. There was a huge honk behind by back. I turned and my image reflected on the shiny bonnet of a BMW X1. I didn\u0026rsquo;t look at the driver. He kept honking continuously.\nI was still on neutral. I sighed, wondering if the people at the opposite end were enjoying the moment. I looked at them \u0026amp; then at the signal.\n4..3 The car tried to turn around my right but kept honking. By the time he managed to, it was 2..1..GREEN.\nGears shift \u0026amp; I start riding. The X1 driver zoomed past me at close proximity and a guy sitting on the front seat, next to the driver, probably, yelled something about his mother.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s something I learnt in Germany, where the costliest of cars are driven by classiest of men/women who wait for pedestrian to cross, who respect traffic signals and obey road rules.\nYou can buy a BMW, but you can never buy class.\nCover photo by Taneli Lahtinen\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/05/you-can-buy-a-bmw-but-can-never-buy-class/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was on my bike riding back home, the summer heat of Pune burning my fingers, as the hot breeze pass through the narrow opening of the helmet. Although it was hot, I had my jacket on; home is not far.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"greenorangered\"\u003eGreen\u0026hellip;.Orange\u0026hellip;..RED.\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust missed the green traffic signal at the East Avenue - North Main Road junction. What do you do when you\u0026rsquo;re on a bike and you\u0026rsquo;ve 40 seconds to spare: I stare and observe people: people on bikes, on cars, pedestrians, beggars. Time seem to quickly pass by.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"You can buy a BMW, but can never buy class"},{"content":" \u0026ldquo;Start a business, not a startup\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Ah, the startup. It\u0026rsquo;s a special breed of company that gets a lot of attention (especially in the tech world). The startup is a magical place. It\u0026rsquo;s a place where expenses are someone else\u0026rsquo;s problem. It\u0026rsquo;s a place where that pesky thing called revenue s never is issue. It\u0026rsquo;s a place where you can spend other people\u0026rsquo;s money until you figure out a way to make your own. It\u0026rsquo;s a place where the laws of business physics don\u0026rsquo;t apply.\nThe problem with this magical place is it\u0026rsquo;s a fairy tale.\u0026rdquo; - from the book \u0026ldquo;Rework\u0026rdquo;, from the founders of the trailblazing software company 37signals.\nGaurav started off his interaction by reading off this awesome book which he also recommends for every entrepreneur. I was attending the event \u0026quot;Art of pitching to angel investors\u0026quot; organized by Indian Angel Network(IAN) in association with Pune Open Coffee Club (POCC) and by Gaurav I mean Gaurav Mehra, co-founder of Saba Software Inc.(NASDAQ: SABA) who is currently the Managing Director of Saba\u0026rsquo;s Indian operations\nKey takeaways from the event: Build a business, not a startup. Don\u0026rsquo;t raise money too quickly. Do you actually need external money? Read the book \u0026ldquo;Rework\u0026rdquo;. There are two types of business viz. the ones that can be invested in and the ones that can\u0026rsquo;t be. It\u0026rsquo;s perfectly okay for a business to be self sustainable yet provide no exciting opportunity of an exit to an investor. Usually, investors won\u0026rsquo;t put their money on those type of businesses. Do your math first. Prepare an elevator pitch - it should be as crisp as possible yet should provide an insight into the problem you\u0026rsquo;re trying to solve, your product, its USP and achievements, if any. 5 minutes max. If you\u0026rsquo;re allocated 40 minutes to pitch to an investor, you actually have 5. Utilize the first 5 minutes to pitch your product. If the investor is interested, she\u0026rsquo;ll ask questions that will eventually cover your whole pitch deck. But don\u0026rsquo;t waste everyone\u0026rsquo;s time by pitching to an investor who isn\u0026rsquo;t \u0026lsquo;wow\u0026rsquo;ed in the first 5 minutes. If she\u0026rsquo;s not interested in the first 5 minutes, odds are that she\u0026rsquo;ll hate you after a 40 minute long presentation. Read the book \u0026ldquo;Rework\u0026rdquo; by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. The first thing I did was to grab a copy of \u0026ldquo;Rework\u0026rdquo; from the nearest bookstore on my way back home. It\u0026rsquo;s a breezy read and can be completed within a couple of hours. It\u0026rsquo;s by the rockstars from 37signals and after reading the book, I can now understand why Gaurav laid stress on everyone reading it. It\u0026rsquo;s one of the best, most practical and crisp business books I\u0026rsquo;ve ever read.\nCover photo by Joshua Ness\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/05/start-a-business-not-a-startup/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Start a business, not a startup\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Ah, the startup. It\u0026rsquo;s a special breed of company that gets a lot of attention (especially in the tech world).\nThe startup is a magical place. It\u0026rsquo;s a place where expenses are someone else\u0026rsquo;s problem. It\u0026rsquo;s a place where that pesky thing called revenue s never is issue. It\u0026rsquo;s a place where you can spend other people\u0026rsquo;s money until you figure out a way to make your own. It\u0026rsquo;s a place where the laws of business physics don\u0026rsquo;t apply.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Start a business, not a startup"},{"content":"Before I quit my job, I worked for two software companies for 4.5 years and I followed one rule throughout: reach and leave office on time. Six \u0026lsquo;o clock and shut the lid of my laptop, pack my backs, pick my helmet and stroll away gently as most of my colleagues look at me in awe. Most would often say, \u0026ldquo;Tera sahi hai yaar, time pe nikal leta hai\u0026rdquo; ( \u0026ldquo;Your life is set mate, you leave on time\u0026rdquo;). Some would even consider me gutsy.\nGuts? Why guts?\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t use to leave office because I had less work or I had lesser respect for the job.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re spending more than 8 hours at your workplace and soak in the glory of being a busy workaholic ideal employee, then it\u0026rsquo;s time you come out of your whimsical ignorance.\nMost people stay in office late due to two reasons:\nThey are inefficient. They fear the status quo. Let us quickly go through the whole process of how a few inept men spoil the whole work culture of an office:\nStage 1: The inception One inefficient person is enough to get the loop started. And if that person is at a mid-managerial level where she has a bunch of subordinates, then the process speeds up. At the beginning the person(let\u0026rsquo;s name him Pranay) reaches office almost on time. (say 10:15 AM). Due to his inefficient work habits, he has to stretch beyond 6 PM. So, being a bachelor and no or less life outside his cubicle, he happily works till around 7:00 PM)\nStage 2: The loop The next day, Pranay reaches office a bit later than usual(say, 11:10 AM so that he can proudly boast that he worked late the previous day) and leaves office at around 7:15PM). The loop starts off with a little delta and over the time, Pranay\u0026rsquo;s usual office reaching time becomes 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM. And he leaves by around 8:00 PM.\nStage 3: The herd Obviously, Pranay schedules his meetings late and his subordinates starts to follow his time pattern. Most of the subordinates, being young and relatively new to the industry with less work experience, try not to upset their manager (Pranay) and some even try to impress him by leaving only after Pranay had left office. So on an average, the leaving hour of Pranay and his team stretches way beyond 6PM to around 9:00 - 9:15PM. Most of them don\u0026rsquo;t actually do any work of relevance \u0026amp; just warm their seats lest they might be tagged as an unmotivated, disinterested employee. (Appraisals are nearing)\nStage 4: The magic of compounding The pattern soon compounds itself to encompass the whole team. This is mostly because most teams work together. At a point, there\u0026rsquo;s no one in office to appreciate your punctuality. So damn you, if you reached office at 10:00 AM; no one\u0026rsquo;s there to work with you, or notice you or appraise you for your punctuality.\nBut when you leave office on time, almost everyone would be there to judge you.\nStage 5: The status quo So the normal working hours of the whole team soon becomes 12:00 PM to 9:30 PM and beyond. And the status quo is set. Anyone not following the pattern will be tagged as a rebel \u0026amp; disinterested worker. Congratulation, your work culture is now fucked up; all thanks to one inefficient employee.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve heard stories where some great companies don\u0026rsquo;t let one black sheep spoil the whole herd. They shut down all operations on time.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re spending more time than allocated for a task, then be sure that you\u0026rsquo;re doing it wrong. Or perhaps, you\u0026rsquo;re not the right person to do it. Period.\nWhat is your opinion?\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/05/why-dont-you-leave-office-at-6pm/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBefore I quit my job, I worked for two software companies for 4.5 years and I followed one rule throughout: reach and leave office on time.\nSix \u0026lsquo;o clock and shut the lid of my laptop, pack my backs, pick my helmet and stroll away gently as most of my colleagues look at me in awe. Most would often say, \u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Tera sahi hai yaar, time pe nikal leta hai\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e ( \u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Your life is set mate, you leave on time\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e). Some would even consider me gutsy.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Why don't you leave office at 6PM?"},{"content":"Follow these steps to enable gzip on Amazon EBS\nStep 1:\nCreate a top-level directory named .ebextensions in your source bundle. And create two files in it as shown below. The contents of enable_mod_deflate.conf\n# mod_deflate configuration \u0026lt;IfModule mod_deflate.c\u0026gt; # Restrict compression to these MIME types AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml+rss AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/javascript AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/png AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/gif AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/jpeg # Level of compression (Highest 9 - Lowest 1) DeflateCompressionLevel 9 # Netscape 4.x has some problems. BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html # Netscape 4.06-4.08 have some more problems BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4.0[678] no-gzip # MSIE masquerades as Netscape, but it is fine BrowserMatch bMSI[E] !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html \u0026lt;IfModule mod_headers.c\u0026gt; # Make sure proxies don\u0026#39;t deliver the wrong content Header append Vary User-Agent env=!dont-vary \u0026lt;/IfModule\u0026gt; \u0026lt;/IfModule\u0026gt; The contents of myapp.config\ncontainer_commands: 01_setup_apache: command: \u0026#34;cp .ebextensions/enable_mod_deflate.conf /etc/httpd/conf.d/enable_mod_deflate.conf\u0026#34; Step 2: Connect to your EC2 instance Restart Apache server with the following command $ sudo /etc/init.d/httpd restart Step 3: Head straight to HTTP Compression Test to check if your server is sending out compressed data.\nKick ass.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/05/how-to-enable-gzip-on-amazon-elastic-beanstalk-with-tomcat-and-apache/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFollow these steps to enable gzip on Amazon EBS\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStep 1:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qu_MsG4PYTI/UZOSAnMhjAI/AAAAAAAACC8/_hxNEAmlLts/s1600/Snap+2013-05-15+at+19.15.56.png\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qu_MsG4PYTI/UZOSAnMhjAI/AAAAAAAACC8/_hxNEAmlLts/s1600/Snap+2013-05-15+at+19.15.56.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCreate a top-level directory named \u003ccode\u003e.ebextensions\u003c/code\u003e in your source bundle.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e And create two files in it as shown below.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/modmod.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe contents of \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eenable_mod_deflate.conf\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"highlight\"\u003e\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\" style=\"color:#f8f8f2;background-color:#272822;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4;\"\u003e\u003ccode class=\"language-gdscript3\" data-lang=\"gdscript3\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#75715e\"\u003e# mod_deflate configuration\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e\u0026lt;\u003c/span\u003eIfModule mod_deflate\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e.\u003c/span\u003ec\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e\u0026gt;\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#75715e\"\u003e# Restrict compression to these MIME types\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003eplain\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003ehtml\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003exhtml\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e+\u003c/span\u003exml\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003exml\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003exml\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003exml\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e+\u003c/span\u003erss\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003ex\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e-\u003c/span\u003ejavascript\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003ejavascript\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003ecss\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003epng\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003egif\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003ejpeg\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#75715e\"\u003e# Level of compression (Highest 9 - Lowest 1)\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDeflateCompressionLevel \u003cspan style=\"color:#ae81ff\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#75715e\"\u003e# Netscape 4.x has some problems.\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBrowserMatch \u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e^\u003c/span\u003eMozilla\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#ae81ff\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e gzip\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e-\u003c/span\u003eonly\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e-\u003c/span\u003etext\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003ehtml\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#75715e\"\u003e# Netscape 4.06-4.08 have some more problems\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBrowserMatch \u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e^\u003c/span\u003eMozilla\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#ae81ff\"\u003e4.0\u003c/span\u003e[\u003cspan style=\"color:#ae81ff\"\u003e678\u003c/span\u003e] no\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e-\u003c/span\u003egzip\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#75715e\"\u003e# MSIE masquerades as Netscape, but it is fine\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBrowserMatch bMSI[E] \u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e!\u003c/span\u003eno\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e-\u003c/span\u003egzip \u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e!\u003c/span\u003egzip\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e-\u003c/span\u003eonly\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e-\u003c/span\u003etext\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e/\u003c/span\u003ehtml\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e\u0026lt;\u003c/span\u003eIfModule mod_headers\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e.\u003c/span\u003ec\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e\u0026gt;\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#75715e\"\u003e# Make sure proxies don\u0026#39;t deliver the wrong content\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHeader append Vary User\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e-\u003c/span\u003eAgent env\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e=!\u003c/span\u003edont\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e-\u003c/span\u003evary\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e\u0026lt;/\u003c/span\u003eIfModule\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e\u0026gt;\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e\u0026lt;/\u003c/span\u003eIfModule\u003cspan style=\"color:#f92672\"\u003e\u0026gt;\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe contents of myapp.config\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to enable Gzip on Amazon Elastic Beanstalk with Tomcat and Apache"},{"content":"The 7 hour long bus journey of a cancer patient On Wednesday, 2nd Feb, 2011, a cancer stricken patient got on a State Transport bus from Guwahati to start a 7 hour long journey to reach Numaligarh, a small town near Golaghat, Assam. After reaching Numaligarh, he walked for 20 min, under the sun, to finally meet my father. The first thing he asked for was a glass of water. He was all alone. But, for what purpose?\nThe background I would like to share my fathers’ story first.\nMy father a chemical engineer by education and has dedicated his entire life to serve Numaligarh Refinery Limited, a public sector Oil Refinery in Assam. From the very inception of the refinery, my dad has been instrumental in building up the whole company. Just a few days back, on 31st Jan, 2011, he retired from his glorious \u0026amp; meticulous service life as the General Manager of the Refinery. In 2009 my grandmother (Mother’s mother) was diagnosed with Esophagus cancer (cancer of the food pipe). Our whole family tried their best to give her the best of known treatments.\nChemo-therapy was painful \u0026amp; expensive. And as the food pipe was infected with cancer cells, she could barely eat. My mother and my aunts used to serve her food. The sight was heart breaking. But my grandmother was a strong lady, she never complained. Silently, she expired, in the later part of 2009, in her sleep. My mother used to sleep with her and on that fateful morning, she woke up to find her dear mother exist no more.\nThe experience was so powerful that it infused a rebellious passion in my father’s heart.\nThe research The year was 2009. My grandmother was still alive. My father started to read books and pe deep into the infinite whirlpool named The Internet looking for missing strands of solutions for cancer. After dozens of books and months of self-study, he realized that not only cancer can effectively be cured but also proactively defended against.\nIn medical terms, his answer is Alternative Medicine. The word alternative is a misnomer. Any treatment method, medicine which is not approved by the Medical Association of America isn’t treated as mainstream medicine/method. Hence the name alternative. But alternative doesn’t mean any tantrik magic. My father’s research shows that cancer can be cured with a variety of natural methods which involve intake of vitamins, herbs and other naturally available items.\nBut the question arises that why is the medical fraternity shying away from accepting these solutions. The answers can be many. E.g. Vitamins can’t be patented and sold for profit. Are herbs expensive? I’m not going to discuss any of these reasons here because that’s a different discussion (\u0026amp; controversial too) altogether.\nDeclaring war My father decided to raise a crusade against cancer and influential medical organizations/institutes/entities who has purposely decided not to approve of various proven techniques. He started to publish a series of articles in an Assamese daily and named his articles ‘ Canceror Answer’ (translation: Answer to Cancer). The articles created a furor in the medical world in Assam. It was an instant hit. My father started receiving multiple calls and visits for suggestion/ help. Let me remind you that he ain’t a doctor. So he used to carefully study the patients history and current situation, research on the same and suggest supposed remedies.\nThe vitamins were supposed to be ordered from Mexico \u0026amp; online payment is the only way to make a payment. My father took the pains of ordering the medicines by himself and handing them over to needy patients. “What are you going to do after your retirement, dad?”, I asked him one day, while traveling in our car.\n“I’m going to serve the people”, he replied, looking out of the window at random people walking down the streets.\nA few good men The reach of the local Assamese daily was limited to only a particular group. Hence to spread the message to everyone, my father decided to consolidate every article in the form of a book. One of my dad’s good friend and a great Samaritan volunteered to share the publishing price. Since the motive was to make the book available to even the poorest of the poor, my dad decided not to draw any royalty from the book sales. The book was launched in December, 2009 at a very affordable rate of Rs. 25 only.(approx 0.46 USD)\nThe pattern There’s a common pattern among cancer patients. The family members seek mainstream medical suggestions/treatments. Chemo-therapy etc. follows. Doctor gives up and discharges the patient while asking the family to take good care for the remaining days. It’s then that the family/patient fancies an alternative treatment. So most of the patients who sought dad’s advice were mostly on the verge. Still, my dad’s initial motive was to relieve the person from his pains so that he can at-least die peacefully.\nPatients, on whom, even the doctors had given up, started recovering. But as they approached dad at a very later stage, were so severely affected with cancer cells, that it was difficult to recover them fully. But yes, the medicines were working.\nIt takes time It takes almost 7 days to get rid of even common cold. Hope you can imagine the situation with cancer. The number of patients seeking dad’s advice swelled to large numbers. Calls on his mobile, visits to our home, to his office increased. Most of his patients were getting results. The word spread like wildfire.\nWe were all having our lunch when dad received a call from an middle aged cancer stricken lady. As the speaker phone was on she stated her desire to meet dad, but dad clearly told her that he ain’t a doctor.\nShe replied, “The real doctors have given up hope on me. You’re my doctor. A person who fights till the end to save a life is a doctor, not someone who gives up”.\nThe 30 year old lady A 30 year old lady was diagnosed with cancer in the early part of 2010. She refused to believe it and went to Mumbai for a second investigation. There too she got the same results. Indeed, she was suffering from cancer.\nThe joy of saving a life On 7th Jan, 2011, my dad received a call from the brother of the same 30 year old lady. He called to convey the news that his sister’s latest reports claim that there’s no evidence of cancer cells in her body. She had been consulting and taking medicines prescribed by my dad since the past couple of months. My mother, sister and I smiled and probably grandma looked upon us silently. And probably only dad felt the joy of saving someone’s precious life. That was dad’s first success story.\nThe story has just begun Today dad attends to visitors from all over India (mostly from Assam \u0026amp; North Eastern states). He has translated his Assamese original book into English \u0026amp; has offered it as a free e-book (get it here: Download e-books). Many of those who consulted Dad for alternative medicines are getting results \u0026amp; recovering slowly. He has a total of 10+ success stories of complete cancer recovery under his belt. He has formed an NGO named Po’ritran and recently laid the foundation of a non-profit Alternative Therapy Hospital where remedies and medicines are provided. He’s busy these days nurturing the NGO so that funds can be collected to help the poor cancer stricken. You can learn more about his vision at his personal website: Dilip Kumar Goswami\nA motivational video I saw sometime back left a deep impression on my mind. It showed Mahatma Gandhi during the famous Dandi March\u0026amp; the subtitles read, “One man can make a difference”. My dad just proved it to me.\n","permalink":"https://tonmoygoswami.com/2013/05/why-did-a-cancer-patient-travel-260km-all-alone-to-meet-my-dad/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"the-7-hour-long-bus-journey-of-a-cancer-patient\"\u003eThe 7 hour long bus journey of a cancer patient\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Wednesday, 2nd Feb, 2011, a cancer stricken patient got on a State Transport bus from Guwahati to start a 7 hour long journey to reach Numaligarh, a small town near Golaghat, Assam. After reaching Numaligarh, he walked for 20 min, under the sun, to finally meet my father. The first thing he asked for was a glass of water. He was all alone. But, for what purpose?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Why did a cancer patient travel 260km all alone to meet my dad?"}]