Cheating at Big Bazaar

It was 26^th January 2013 the “Republic Day” in India and a bank holiday too. As it is a government holiday and people start their day with flag hosting and spend rest of the day with family, friends, go out for shopping as many retail outlets have offers on this day, or do some social work by visiting and donating money or useful things to Orphanage.

Just like others I also had planned to go for the flag hosting ceremony which was in our residential compound and spend the rest of the day with my family. But as had seen an offer at the Big Bazaar(BB) – Sabse Saste 5 Din hence we went over there at around 1 pm and did the shopping till 3:30pm.

We had bought a lot of things as lot of the items were at very cheaper rates. Finally after waiting at the counter for approx 20 minutes due to long queue in making bill payment comes my turn to make the payment. The bill payment went up to rs.4924/-. Me and my wife were happy with the offers we got from Big Bazaar. As a normal routine, to check the bill before leaving the place, we found that there were some items which were charged at the normal rate rather then discounted price.

I went to the counter once again and wanted to confirm about the price of Parachute Hair Oil product code: 00000000030057568501 which was displayed as rs.114/- however was charged at the rate of rs.180/-, then Yardley Legend 150ml product code:00000000030087688401 was having an MRP of rs170/- and had a discount of rs.25/- however was charged full amount, JO Almond & cream8*100g product code:00000000030069035801 was having an MRP of rs.99/- displayed as rs.80/- but was charged as rs.99/-, then some ladies hanky were at rs. 65/- MRP with a discount of rs. 26/- but was charged at rs.65/- only.

So this how we were billed some rs.230/- extra which was returned by the Customer Service desk only after we found the glitch in the bill or else would have gone home by paying those 230/- to the BB. It was not only with me there were 2 more customers along with who had came for the bill dispute. I clearly remember one guy had bought 2 shirts which was having an offer,“get 2 @ rs.499/-” but when he checked his bill, he too was charged rs.499/- for another shirt which was on the discount.

Being an alert customer, we always check the bill and then leave the outlet because of wrong transactions. There are almost more than 1 million customers who would have visited the Big Bazaar outlets across the city to avail such offers and even if I assume 50,000 customers with wrong bill or getting cheated and charged approx. rs.200/- extra then such outlets are making approx 1 crore extra profit from the loyal customers.

No doubt Big Bazaar has a good reputation around the country. Also they have good and branded products. But once a wrong impression stays a wrong impression throughout your life. I have got a bad impression of the BB outlet now, so next time “IF” I visit not only Big Bazaar but any other outlets will always make sure to recheck the bill before leaving so that I am not cheated again. I have already submitted the feedback to them on future bazaar website about the cheat so now lets see where does it leads too.

The New Sony Xperia Z with dust and water resistant

The new Sony Xperia Z which is also known as Sony Xperia C6603, C6602, Xperia Z LTE and Z HSPA+. It has 1.5GHz Quad core with Android OS v4.1.2(Jelly bean), internal memory of 16GB with 2 GB RAM. I have not seen such configuration for any mobile yet. The Mobile is also dust and water resistant with water proof upto 1 meter and 30 minutes.

It has HTML5 browser, standy time upto 550 hrs for 2G mobile and 530 hrs for 3G, Talktime upto 11 hrs for 2G and 14 hrs for 3G, also it has music play upto 40 hrs. The rear Camera is of 13.1mp with autofocus, LED flash, and front camera of 2.2 mp. The cost of the Xperia Z in the Indian market would approx rs.35,000/-. Sony will be launching this mobile in India by end of March 2013.

Below are the specification of the Sony Xperia Z

General :

2G Network : GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - C6602, C6603

3G Network : HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 – C6603

HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 – C6602

4G Network : LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 – C6603

SIM : Micro-SIM

Announced : 2013, January

Status : coming soon. Exp. Release 2013, March

Body :

Dimensions : 139 x 71 x 7.9 mm (5.47 x 2.80 x 0.31 in)

Weight : 146 g (5.15 oz)

- IP57 certified - dust and water resistant

- Water proof up to 1 meter and 30 minutes

Display :

Type : TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

Size : 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.0 inches (~441 ppi pixel density)

Multitouch : Yes, up to 10 fingers

Protection : Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass

- Timescape UI

- Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2

Sound :

Alert types : Vibration; MP3 ringtones

Loudspeaker : Yes

3.5mm jack : Yes

Memory :

Card slot : microSD, up to 32 GB

Internal : 16 GB, 2 GB RAM

Data :

GPRS : Up to 107 kbps

EDGE : Up to 296 kbps

Speed : HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.8 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL

WLAN : Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot

Bluetooth : Yes, v4.0 with A2DP

NFC : Yes

USB : Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL)

Camera :

Primary : 13.1 MP, 4128x3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

Features : Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, image stabilization, HDR, sweep panorama

Video : Yes, 1080p@30fps, continuous autofocus, video light, video stabilizer, HDR

Secondary : Yes, 2.2 MP, 1080p@30fps

Features :

OS : Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), planned upgrade to v4.2 (Jelly Bean)

Chipset Qualcomm MDM9215M / APQ8064

CPU : Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait

GPU : Adreno 320

Sensors : Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

Messaging : SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email

Browser : HTML5

Radio : Stereo FM radio with RDS

GPS : Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS

Java : Yes, via Java MIDP emulator

Colors : Black, White, Purple

- SNS integration

- TV-out (via MHL A/V link)

- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

- MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player

- MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV/Flac player

- Document viewer

- Photo viewer/editor

- Voice memo/dial

- Predictive text input

Battery : Non-removable Li-Ion 2330 mAh battery

Stand-by : Up to 550 h (2G) / Up to 530 h (3G)

Talk time : Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 14 h (3G)

Music play : Up to 40 h

I hope people will like this mobile and go for it. Sales will boom up high for Sony Xperia Z and will beat all the Samsung and Micromax models.

image source: http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/products/phones/xperia-z/, http://api.sonymobile.com/files/xperia-z-black-1240x840-fc46866d549b883db7ff0ee3d7329e77-opt.png

Micromax Canvas HD A116 with Android Jelly bean 4.1 OS

The first ever Smartphone by Micromax with 4GB internal memory. Yes thats true, Micromax will be launching its first ever Smartphone with 1.2GHz Quad core processor, 8mp camera, 1GB RAM and 4GB internal memory.

After the success of the Micromax Canvas 2 which is the most popular mobile and in demand till date. The company is launching another one i.e. Micromax Canvas HD. Its a dual sim phone with 5 inches long. It runs on Android 4.1 Jelly bean(with a 4.2 update to come), with 8 mp rear camera and VGA in front. The connectivity is handled by 3G GSM, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth and GPS. It is likely to be launched in February 2013 with a price of rs. 15000/- or below.

Below are the specification of the Micromax Canvas HD a116:

GENERAL

Name: A116 Canvas HD
Brand: Micromax
Price: Expected to be below Rs. 15,000 [India]

NETWORK

Network Service 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100

BUILT

Form Factor: Bar
Dimensions: 144 x 74 x 10.7 mm
Colors: Black, White

DISPLAY

Size: 5 inches
Type: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen
Features: Multitouch
720p HD display
~294 ppi pixel density

MEMORY

Internal: 4 GB, 1 GB RAM
Card Slot: microSD, up to 32GB

CONNECTIVITY

GPRS/EDGE: Yes
Wi-Fi (WLAN): Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth: Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
USB: Yes, microUSB v2.0

SOUND

Alert Type: Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker: Yes
3.5mm Audio Jack: Yes

CAMERA

Primary Camera: 8MP
Features: Autofocus, LED flash, Touch Focus, Geo-Tagging, Face Detection
Video: Yes, 720p@30fps
Secondary Camera: Yes, VGA

FEATURES

Operating System: Android OS v4.1 Jelly Bean
CPU: 1.2GHz Quad-Core
Chipset: MediaTek’s MT6589
Sensors: Accelerometer
GPS: Yes
Browser: HTML
Radio: FM Radio
Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Java: TBD


Other Features

• SNS integration
• MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
• MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
• Organizer
• Image/video editor
• Document editor
• Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
• YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
• Voice memo/dial/commands
• Predictive text input (Swype)
  

Battery

Type: Standard battery, Li-Ion
Capacity: 2100 mAh
Talktime: approx upto 5 hrs
Standby time: approx upto 300 hrs

image source: http://images.fonearena.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Micromax-A116-Canvas-HD1.jpg

How to increase user engagement for a website?

As there are so many websites available online, it is very hard to assume how much time a user or a client will stay on your website. There are many ways to increase the engagement of the user or client and its easy too even if you do not have an SEO expert.

Here are some ideas where you can make sure that the users or client get engaged and won't leave your website:

1. 
   Search box: Keep a search box in your website so that it will be easy for the client or user to navigate rather than getting lost or searching for the post or article they want. If there is a search box it will be easy for the user to navigate and find the exact post or article what they are looking out for. Search box indirectly gives some weightage to your website.
   
   
   
   
2. 

   Social media buttons: Just as you like sharing the best photo, video or any informative things to your friends, colleagues and so on to social media sites the same way your user or client may want to share, tweet or like it and then share it to their friends, colleagues. Hence it is always recommended to have “like”, “share”, “tweet” or other social media buttons on your website pages ready so that the client or user can share it across the social media sites.
   
   
3. 

   Comments: As we all know how important it is to post a quality article for your website. It is indeed equally important to have comments box below your post or article. The comment is a way where the user can express their feeling or likes or dislikes about the article or post they read on your website. Always recommended to have the comments box at the bottom after the post or article ends. Many users might look out for some answers by commenting on your post hence it is always good to carry out the conversation with them and solving their queries.
   
   
4. Uploading Videos: It is not easy for the user or client to every time go to your website and read the content. Sometimes its good to have videos on the website so that whenever the client feels bored of reading the posts, they might like to watch informative videos explaining the post or for entertainment. This way the will be engaged or give more time to your site.
   
   
5. 

   Popular post widgets: Say that you have good number of followers who visits your website on a daily basis and hungry to find something new. But what about the user who is a first time visitor. How would he come to know about your website or blog, how many visitors have liked your post, how many are followers and so on. So depending on this you can add the Popular post widgets on your website. This will guide and help the user by what are your posts and which one is the most popular one. If they see that your particular post has good number of visitors, followers then its likely that he too may spend more time in reading that post.
   
   
6. 

   Email box: Many users must be checking their emails on a regular basis. Hence place an email opt-in box in your website so that the user will get an alert by an email and is aware what's new on your blog or website. It is very difficult for the user to search all the website on a daily basis hence if they subscribe to your website and find your email about the relevant or interesting topic, they will definitely check out your site and read the new article.
   
   
7. Surveys: It is amongst the tried and tested method as far as research or collecting information is concerned. It is suggested to frequently have surveys or set questions relevant to your client. This will not only help to know your client better but can serve them better. You can also give some gifts to those who take the time and completes the survey.

There are many ways where you can try to run your online business which work for you and your clients. Make sure there is no compromise on efficiency and quality for beauty. These tips will surely help you to increase engagement of users on your website but you should know whats better for you.

Image source: http://www.deehoseo.com/images/New%20Content%20Images/user-engagement.jpg, http://media02.hongkiat.com/search-box-ui/search-box-design.jpg, http://blog.pgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/social-media-icons.jpg, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjergVEciBDAXuCv_YqNLPSD_2rQPEi1bsGLXBzkbE2h6t481nc3Yt4h4bJgaJft-DQpz8TZ3FWccUUX_S2YDoDBw3xjlx4aUndO4xMd_RGebaTbFDoOolQxeMJItQkfdexb1-iZS0SOg/?imgmax=800, http://www.welie.com/patterns/images/comment-box-okcancel.jpg, http://ceblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Get-Email-Updates.jpg

Makar Sankranti - the kite flying festival

Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan is one of the biggest celebrated festival after Navaratri. Its celebrated on 14^th January of every year. This festival remarks us that its the end of winter and the start of summer. The people celebrate it by flying kites, making delicious sweets like laddoos, chicki, and undhyu etc at home.

People get ready early in the morning and go to their or friends terrace or ground where they are comfortable and fly kites. Kids who find difficult to get up early for their school, college or classes manages to get up at 5am on 14^th January and starts flying kites. Its very wonderful scene where you will see the whole family on the rooftop of the building and enjoy this festival by eating laddoos, undhyu and surati jamun. This festival leads to social gathering of family and friends.

It looks like a “war in the sky”. There is huge sales of spool, kites, special kite-string coated with glue and glass to be sharp as possible for cutting strings of the rival kites. The kite and string seller are seen on the street from December till 15^th January. The kite flying festival does not end after sunset. People fly white kites so that can be seen in the darkness. The Lanterns are attached to the Kites and are flown high in the sky, looking like bright stars.

Ahmedabad will be celebrating 25 years of International Kite Festival. They have been conducting this competition since 1989, which is participated by the masters of kite makers and flyers at Sardar Patel Stadium. Kite Flying Experts from Japan, Italy, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, the USA, Malaysia, Singapore, France, China, and many more visit Gujarat to participate in this competition.

Its sounds very interesting right?. It is interesting indeed when you gather with your family and friends enjoy the festival whole day. I too will go to Gujarat my native place and enjoy the festival.

Image source: http://www.spacearkstudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/children-illustration-kites-flying-high-into-the-clouds.jpg, http://www.1000lonelyplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Kite-Festival-Gujarat-India5.jpg,

http://www.iahmedabad.com/images/kite-festival-in-ahmedabad-india.jpeg

New Year Career Resolutions

Here are some few tips you should do to focus your resolution on your career.

Take a long break: Plan your breaks accordingly and take it without guilt. Its always good to take break not only for you but for your employer too. Working for long hours daily and taking no holidays apart from your scheduled leaves put you into the mental stress, hence its always better to take a long break go out with your family or friends. Such breaks will work good for you as it will not only keep you away from mental stress but also helps you to recharge yourself so when you join the office you will be very optimistic and always ready with new ideas.

Be happy with your job: Many of them just cant stop from complaining about their boss or colleagues. Remember, constantly complaining will lead you no where. Its always said to sort out the issues with your boss or co-workers by talking to them. If you find that something is not going right then try to speak to them and sort it out. Look for the new job only if you think nothing can be changed so that you are out of the negativity.

Use of mobile in meetings: Most of the people do fidget with their mobile by sending messages during the meeting and think that they are not noticed by anyone. Fidgeting with your mobile shows that you are least interested in the meeting and others might feel insulting. Always try to be attentive during your meetings, that shows your positive attitude towards your work and personal approach.

Increment: You always think that work very hard and are paid peanuts for your work. If this is the situation and you have actually changed a lot of good things in your company then why not ask for an increment. Many of them feel shy in asking for a raise but if you feel that your value to the company has increased then why not ask for it?

Social Media: Social media plays an imperative part for the employee and employers both. Get involved with people who are in the same field or join the professional community where you can express your ideas and take suggestions from others. This will help you in expanding your network, you will raise your visibility and can get an additional accomplishments for your resume.

Get rid of bad habit: Interrupting people, getting offensive or defensive when received a feedback, or resilient are the common bad habits seen in people. Actually this bad habits shows who and how you are but this are the things you need to overcome in 2013.

Feedback: Feedback is the best thing which is seen in all the sectors. Many of them just wait for their boss to call them up for their feedback or are scared to get the feedback as it can be negative. Its always good for you to take the feedback on monthly basis rather than waiting for the boss to call during your review or appraisals. This will help you to improve on many skills or can learn lot of new things from him. Remember always be positive to take a feedback not only from your boss but also from your peers.

Job Career: Make 2013 a very happy year for you and your work life. If you are unhappy with your job then change it. Find the better one and if you are planning to change your field then should figure out how much that will cost you in terms of your career and money.

Image source: http://cloudfront4.bostinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Technology-to-help-achieve-your-new-years-resolution.jpg

Lost your Wallet? Things to do quickly

Many of us must have faced a lot of distressing moments by getting their wallets lost or stolen by robbers. You have many valuable things in your wallet and you don't want to loose them. Here are some simple steps you can do to minimize the damage that will be caused by wallet getting stolen or lost.

Plastic Cards: As soon as you come to know that your wallet which carries Credit and Debit cards has been stolen or lost, you should immediately call the customer care service of your bank and cancel all your cards. Such immediate reaction will help you to lower the damage. Though you may not be charged for the fraudulent charges that are made on your cards but taking it as a responsibility to report the cards missing or stolen.

Reporting to Police: You should always report the Police about the loss of your wallet. There might be a possibility that others might use your personal details or cards for various things hence if you report to the police and get the complaint number or a copy of police report that might help you a lot in many things. Also suppose if your credit card is misused then the police can intervene and stop the frauds that might happen in future.

Intimate the Financial company: Do intimate your bank about your wallet been lost or stolen. They will update their records and see to it no fraud happens on your account. Also monitor your bank accounts daily activity for some period of time till every thing has been taken care off. Also request for the new PIN as you might need to change it if you have left such things in your wallet. Also inform the Insurance company about the theft or loss of wallet as that might keep you insured if something wrong/ fraud happens on your account.

Credit Bureau: It is very important to call and inform the credit bureaus if you had left any personal information or SSN or Social Security card inside your wallet as you wont like to be a victim of identity theft. The Credit Reporting agencies(Equifax, Experian or Transunion) will place a restriction on your account. Suppose if the financial institutes gets any request for credit card or opening an account with your personal details, they will first call you to check or verify whether it was you or not who made such request.

Carry less: It is always said to carry less things in your wallet so that you don't loose everything at once. Suppose if you have all the photo identity proof along with you in your wallet and it gets lost, then you might loose your identity. It will take a lot of time and money to get all your photo identity cards back. Hence its always suggested to carry less or just carry whatever you needed at that particular time rather than carrying everything and loosing it. Government documents actually requires to go through a formal application where you have to provide a photo id. For such reasons its good to carry not carry all the identification along with you in your wallet.

Finally its very essential to carry less and note everything you have in your wallet if you loose your wallet. The loss of Wallet is very stressful hence take the necessary steps as seen above which might help you in future. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, so carry your wallet in a safe place like a wallet or keep it in your bags or inside a purse for women where they are not easily reachable.

Image source: http://www.iclickfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/stealing-wallet.jpg,

http://australia.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/images//cancel.jpg,

http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/472488-12428-7.jpg,

http://nation.foxnews.com/sites/nation.foxnews.com/files/styles/dv1/public/636_062912_fx_wallet.jpg