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What does it take to be a great artist? Creativity? Talent? Practice? Inherited ‘gift’ from parents in your genes? Maybe none of the above. There 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 ‘The Office’ (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. ...

Since you’re reading this tutorial on how to convert a Sitemap to RSS, it’s safe to assume that you already know about Sitemaps and RSS feeds. Here’s a quick primer: A sitemap is an index of webpages of any website. It’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 & discoverability. An 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. ...

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. Here’s why everyone should use a ToDo app Need more convincing? Let me share the biggest reason why everyone must be using one. ...

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. Unless you’re among the 0.35% of the world’s mobile users who prefer Firefox on Android. ...

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 & achieve super productivity. 1. 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. ...

Lately, I’ve realized that I have read a lot of material on two topics viz. a. How to stop procrastinating b. How to be productive And I was wondering if it would make sense to share my progress with the world so that I get more inputs & suggestions from people who’re trying something similar. So here’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. ...

There is no formula for success, but the formula for failure can be avoided, hence the comic. Enjoy.

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. I was born on Ganesh Chaturthi. (Now my birthday rarely coincides) Although, 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. ...

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. ...

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). I 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. ...