[TED] Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts

Great talk by Susan Cain on the power of introverts, and how they shape our personal and work lives, as much as extroverts do.

[TED] On Intelligence of Crows

With ever increasing urbanization, we oft fail to realize the impact this has on our surrounding, including on the other living creatures from insects to birds and more. This amazing and thought provoking experiment shows some very interesting insights into the intelligence of, yes, crows!

Watch it - it will wow you!

[TED] The Magic of Fibonacci Numbers

Mathemagician Arthur Benjamin explores hidden properties of the wonderful and weird set of numbers - the Fibonacci series...

It's sure to tickle your mind.

Maths Secrets - Multiplication Tricks You Didn't Know

Paul Raj in this short video teaches you an amazing trick to multiply numbers - something none of us would've ever learned in school! It's seriously awesome. Have a look.




Having trouble watching this video? Watch it here.

Airplane Boarding Ways - MythBusters Busts Age-old Myth

Airplanes have been boarding passengers pretty much the same way for decades now. One would believe, that they have thought about it, and use it because it's, well, efficient. Turns out, it's not really the case!

Mythbusters.com examined this, and other aircraft boarding ways, and found some interesting results.

Or read the post here.

Well, hopefully, most airlines can improve and make travel for the passengers better, especially the wait at the boarding gate!

Innovation for Better Airline Seating Experience - The Paperclip Armrest (and more)

One of the most common grouse of airplane travel, and more so, if you are left with no choice but choosing an economy cabin seat, and more so, a middle seat in a row, is that there's hardly any room to place your arms! (We're not even talking of the leg space here). It's a constant tug, between your two neighbours and while most folks are polite enough to not start a brawl, it's an experience they would rather not have.

Well, after years of noticing this, a team of creative designers, have apparently created a new design for the armrest - the Paperclip Armrest.

The unique, patented design of the two-level armrest is smart, and once you've seen it, you wonder why it wasn't thought of years ago! Anyways, kudos to the team from HongKong which designed this, and we wish them the best, as well as hope that the next generation of aircraft (and potentially other transportation means) could see this form in the near future.

And, if you thought this innovation was smart, here's more that aim to improve the overall airplane experience for travelers.Happy flying, once more.

Making Great Presentations - Tips and Lessons from the Best

Presentations have become a way of life for many today, and though the primary intent is to help get your message to the audience as easily and smoothly (ooh, the dreaded 'death-by-powerpoint' is anyone's nightmare!), there's a lot more to it, than putting together slides with bullet lists.

It's a subject apparently examined by many to understand and identify what works and what doesn't. While the content is important, there are other key aspects that one needs to bear in mind, to leave that lasting impression!

Here's a great presentation by HubSpot on how some of the best presenters do (or did) it - it's definitely worth a look at. Also, included are some useful links to resources that'll come handy. So, pass this one on.

[We apologize - there seems to be something wrong with the embed here - please use the link below. We think this may be a temporary issue - and will resolve itself. Thanks for understanding]

What Would Steve Do? 10 Lessons from the World's Most Captivating Presenters from HubSpot

How to Choose the Best Colors for Your Presentations
blog.slideshare.net/2014/03/17/how-to-use-colors-in-presentations/

Serif vs. Sans: What’s Right for Your Presentation?
http://blog.slideshare.net/2014/03/10/serif-vs-sans-whats-right-for-your-presentation/

4 Design Tactics to Take Your Deck From Good to Great
http://blog.slideshare.net/2013/10/28/4-design-tactics-to-take-your-deck-from-good-to-great/

[Color Tools] ColorScheme Designer:
http://colorschemedesigner.com/

[Color Tools] Kuler:
https://kuler.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/

[Top of the Mind] Suggestions to LinkedIn (or Google+, or facebook or ...)

This is just a top-of-the-mind thought...

Social Networks like LinkedIn, Google+ and facebook continue to be heavily used the world over today, if one were to go by the sheer volume of users claimed. And, while the tech world is awash with innovations every day due to the emergence of social media, cloud and the almost ubiquitous mobile, it can be a challenge for the companies themselves to innovate and get users to engage more with these channels. While the growth for these social channels happened rapidly in the initial stages, it's obviously not that easy to maintain the same kind of growth rate. (Well, there are only 7 billion humans on the planet today, so how many more can really be added...).

While each of these companies have been creative and innovative thus far, there is also a key fact of the information age: the explosion of the information that's flowing through the world at any given moment. And, while all these channels have each got their means to stream it into the user's timeline, so that this can be 'liked' or '+1'-ed or

shared with your friends and who-knows-all, it's clearly a problem in itself. There's (if you're like me) a ton of things you may find interesting, and it's practically impossible to see and read/review/examine each such article or post. Now, because of the transient nature of this streamed information through these media, every refresh of the screen, shows you something new. And, with 10s or 100s of posts streaming through per minute (oh, or is it per second in some cases?!), it's practically a lost battle even before you begin to tackle this deluge. And, it's lose-lose for everyone here, you see.

So, based on this, here are some suggestions, if you may to these media, to help make this a better experience. (Each can go about it the way they want to):
a. 'Save for Later': We have the 'Like' or 'Share' or '+1' option, but often, I wouldn't want to click any of these unless i've had a chance to read through that link that my friend posted or watched the exciting TED video in my stream. It would be oh-so-nice to be able to save this for later - right there, and when I login the next time, I can effectively "catch up" with what I want, rather then be flooded with 20 new seemingly interesting links or posts. (Hmm, now that leads to a possibility of 'queueing this stream of information flowing onto my page or wall and allowing me to decide the rate at which this comes through: that's a thought too).

b. [LinkedIn] My Shelf +Affiliation: Now, this one's probably something for LinkedIn, since facebook already has something close to it (though not quite).
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to put together a bookshelf (ala Shefari) on your profile for people to see what you have read, would like to, etc.

In the case of books, since you can now have more visual impact with including the book cover, wouldn't it be awesome, if the bookcover now included a "Buy now" which also automatically included an affiliate-kind means, so if someone bought the book you listed via your shelf, you'd get paid (a well, teeny) amount of the sale? Users would like it, and so would booksellers, I'd think! But, it's the long tail, and someone could get rich!

Well, there's more - it need not just be about books, it could be a "my shelf" - with interesting stuff one would like to add into their profile like blogs, links, music, mobile apps...

Like I said, this is just top-of-the-head: if someone thinks this is likely to be a good idea, feel free to go for it. As with anything, there will be pros and cons. Do post your comments on this post, if you want to.

Note: While i've titled this for LinkedIn, I don't have a bias towards it in a particular way at all. It's just that this struck me while I was using LinkedIn the other day!

[TED] Feats of memory anyone can do - Joshua Foer

Interesting talk by Joshua Foer:
[Excerpt]: There are people who can quickly memorize lists of thousands of numbers, the order of all the cards in a deck (or ten!), and much more. Science writer Joshua Foer describes the technique — called the memory palace — and shows off its most remarkable feature: anyone can learn how to use it, including him.

[Infographic] Definitive History of BitCoin

The BitCoin has emerged as the foremost virtual currency in the world today. Mt. Gox has been in the news on many occasions, and more recently too, and while there are seemingly many in the cyber - and real - world who transact in this new 'digital currency', the average person may not know what this might be.

The infographic here provides a simple and effective understanding to what and how this new currency came into being. Worth having a look - for who knows what the future may hold!

(ps: this is a large infographic - click on it to view in full size)

See also: BitCoin: The Secure, Digital Currency (of the future?)

[TEDx] Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?

Excerpt:
What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn't just money. But it's not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely presents two eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and nuanced attitudes toward meaning in our work. (Filmed at TEDxRiodelaPlata.)

This interesting and inspiring talk sounds so "why didn't we realize it before", but is what great organizations probably have going for them to keep their workforce happy. 

Read the blog post for this at: http://blog.ted.com/2013/04/10/what-motivates-us-at-work-7-fascinating-studies-that-give-insights/

Great talk - thanks Dan Ariely!