9 Ways For A Healthier Lifestyle

The hectic life we lead nowadays often take a toll on our health and well-being, especially when we have little or no time to exercise and don't take the initiative to eat healthy. But don't fret. There are a few healthy habits that you can easily incorporate in your daily routine to ensure that you are leading a well-rounded life.

1. Take five deep breaths before starting your day 

Before your day starts to spiral out of control, step back, relax, and take five deep breaths. You can do this in bed as soon as you wake up, in the shower, or even while you're having your morning cuppa. These deep breaths help reduce the stress and ease the tension that the new workday brings with it. Incidentally, stress and tension are responsible for more than 90% of our illnesses. So it is wise to keep them under firm control.

2. Take your vitamins immediately after brushing your teeth

We all have trouble remembering those vitamins pills that we should take every morning. But here's a neat and nifty trick to remember them. Keep a bottle of water and your vitamin tablets near the toothbrush stand. That way, you are sure to remember them every single morning. You can do the same with other medications that you need to take on a daily basis.

3. Wear workout gear that makes you feel good

When it comes to exercising, we often think of the sweat and the grime, and don't feel like investing in stylish clothes. What's the use of them, especially when you are not likely to look your best after a strenuous workout? Might as well dig out those torn track pants and that faded, oversized shirt - is that the way you think? But that should not be the case. If working out is something you don't dread but look forward to, skip the ugly clothes and choose outfits that will make you feel good about yourself. Get them out the night before if you're an early-morning exerciser. This means you won't have to rummage through your cupboard in the morning and put on the moldy old thing that comes out first.

4. Swap the coffee for a cup of cocoa every morning

That's the best option, of course. But in case you can't possibly function without your brew, why don't you try and choose 'mocha' as your morning cuppa? Keep a little pot of cocoa powder nearby, so that you get into the habit of stirring in at least 1 tablespoon of it into your coffee every morning. This way, you are getting the caffeine that your body is craving while you are keeping your heart healthy. Cocoa contains flavanols, which happen to be the source of powerful antioxidants and promote heart health by improving blood flow to the heart and the brain.

5. Walk around when you're on the phone 

You probably spend a lot of time talking on your phone. So the next time it rings, make it a point to stand up and walk around as you hold a conversation. When you sit on your chair for more than 30-60 minutes, it lowers your calorie-burning dramatically, even though you exercise regularly. Sitting for too long will also add pounds to your waistline and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

6. Don't skip breakfast

Most of us choose to sleep longer and give breakfast a miss before going to work. But skipping breakfast is literally the worst thing you can do to your body. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day as the food helps you break the fast that your body underwent while you were sleeping. Skipping breakfast leads to fatigue and low level of alertness throughout the day. On the other hand, even a piece of fruit or a quick cereal can go a long way in keeping your body and mind nourished.

7. Don't eat out too often

Our hectic life leaves very little time for anything, let alone cooking. That is why most working people tend to eat out. Most of us go out for lunch but some will dine out as well. Well, that pizza you have just ordered may hit all the wrong spots and make you feel unwell. Food from outside, especially junk food like pizza, samosa, burger, etc., tend to be oily and can make you collect the ungainly kilos. Also, eating such heavy food for lunch will make you feel lethargic and sleepy. If you have no other choice but to eat out, try a salad or a vegetable sandwich instead.

8. Avoid excessive salt intake

Salt contains sodium, which raises blood pressure and leads to hypertension. This can cause quite a few health problems for you in the long run. Too much of salt in your food can also cause dehydration and water retention. If your body isn't hydrated properly, the sodium will steal the water away from your cells, causing a variety of health hazards such as stomach cramps, nausea, and more. So control your salt intake. If you do have a craving for that extra zing, squeeze some lemon juice on your food.

9. Don't eat while you are working or traveling

Do you have a deadline looming or are you scared of missing your bus to the office? But that's still no excuse to grab and gobble a sandwich while you are working or traveling to work. According to latest research, people tend to overeat when they are not focusing entirely on their food. If your attention is elsewhere, you tend to ignore your body's signals telling you that you are already full. Consequently, you may just keep on eating and that's hardly good for your health. So take some time out, even if it is just 15 minutes, and sit down to a relaxing meal. Also, avoid eating too quickly. When you eat slowly, your saliva helps break down the food and it aids digestion.

4 Things You Should Do When Putting Together A Counter-Offer

Picture the scene: you’re having a normal day at work then all of a sudden your star employee takes you by surprise and hands her notice in. Stunned, you ask her to reconsider and quickly throw together a counter-offer that might just convince her to stay.

But it’s no good. She's made her mind up and you’ve now got a month to find someone new to replace her. So, what was your mistake? Was your counter-offer not up to scratch? Could you have thrown more incentives in there that might have made her change her mind? Would any counter-offer have been enough?

It’s hard to say because it all comes down to the individual employee and situation… but the subject of counter-offers has always been a tricky one for a couple of reasons.

First, the problem with counter-offers is that they’re… well, a counter-offer. Your employee has already had her head turned by one amazing offer — so you’re always going to be playing catch-up with any offer you put forwards. The bar has already been set by this new company, so it’s now up to you to meet it, and even beat it, if you want to hold onto your employee.

Second, sorry to break it to you — but your employee must have already been unhappy at your business if she's been looking elsewhere and reached the point where she now has a formal offer of employment elsewhere. This means that you’re actually on the back foot, because, for whatever reason, your employee has had some bad experiences with your company or doesn’t feel like there’s enough opportunity at your business.

In comparison, the idea of working for a new company that seems to have lots of promise can definitely be enticing, even if it’s not actually that great in reality. In some cases, it definitely can be a case of the “grass is always greener” syndrome… 

Third and finally, the problem is the nature of the counter-offer itself and the fact that things have come to a point where you’ve had to put a counter-offer together. Think about it; your employee is unhappy, finds a new job, tries to hand her notice in then you suddenly come back with an amazing counter-offer that she's always dreamed of. Rightly or wrongly, the fact that you’re only putting a counter-offer together now can suggest to the employee that you only care now that you’re at risk of losing her. Would you have offered her the same deal if she hadn’t wanted to leave? Probably not… and therein lies the issue.

When you consider those points and the fact that, according to some sources, most employees that accept a counter-offer leave within six months anyway, it can feel like putting together a counter-offer is a waste of time and effort… but that’s not always the case.

In some cases, the employee might not really want to leave but they might feel like she's a bit stuck at your business and not really progressing. In this situation, it’s possible to put together a counter-offer that reminds her that she's still a valued member of your team and there’s still lots of room to progress and develop within your business — in this case, it’s just about giving her the reassurance and information that she needs.

Similarly, there are times when the employee feels like she doesn't really have any option but to leave because the situation has changed and she doesn’t feel like there are opportunities for her at your business. If this isn’t the case, with a counter-offer it can just be a matter of setting the record straight and finding the right new position for her within your business.

That said, when it comes to putting together an effective counter-offer, there are a few things you need to remember:

1. Be honest.

In situations like this, it’s best to be completely transparent and honest with the employee. If you feel like the new opportunity would be better for her, tell her. Similarly, if you’re shocked by the offer and didn’t realise she was unhappy, tell her. Remember, honesty counts for a lot… and it might even be what she's looking for.

2. Discuss the situation with them.

When someone hands their notice in, it can be easy to take it personally and not want to discuss the details with them, but you really need to. Find out why she wants to leave, what she feels is missing from her current job and if she'd be willing to stay if you offered the right incentives. In some cases, the employee might have already made her mind up… but as I said earlier, sometimes it can be less clear cut. What’s more, if you discuss the situation with her, you might uncover a major issue within your business that’s upsetting all your employees — and one that’s easily fixable.

3. Put together a unique offer.

The most effective counter-offers are successful because they’re unique to the employee and really meet their needs and expectations. Remember, employees want to feel valued as an individual — and a unique counter-offer is the perfect way to show them that you’ve listened to them and acted in response. Yes, putting together a unique counter-offer can be time-consuming but if it leads to a commitment and a better working relationship with your employee, isn’t it worth it?

4. Don’t forget your other members of staff.

When it comes to putting together a counter-offer, you need to think carefully. Yes, you might want to pull out all the stops to keep this employee — but you need to be careful not to annoy every other member of staff in the process. Remember, people talk… so sooner or later if the employee decides to stick with you, details of the offer are going to get out… so make sure you can justify the details if questioned.

So there you go; a few things to consider when you’re faced with the task of putting a counter-offer together.

Indian Railways: What is the basic reason for the IRCTC website to be so slow and unpleasant to use?

Contrary to popular belief IRCTC is perhaps a compounded problem.

Sheer volumes and complexity 

• They are the biggest E-Commerce Site in the country, about 2x the net sales of Flipkart.com the next name on that list AFAIK. The sort of demand they see in the peak tatkal booking hours I suspect is orders of magnitude higher than what flipkart can handle. For instance something as small (relatively) as the recent Moto-E launch in India took down flipkart infrastructure ( Flipkart server crashes as Motorola Moto E goes on sale ).
• Over 8 billion trips per year are undertaken in Indian Railways and bulk of the booking happens through this system. Even on a record-breaking day, Amazon only sold 13.5 million items worldwide, whereas Indian Railways on the whole sells more than 21 million tickets on any average day. The electronic system was put in place in the 80s and has since received multiple incremental updates.

• Of these, IRCTC books around 250 million tickets per annum. It operates just the outermost web layer. So, while webserver configurations, website architecture, and other improvements will play a role, problems with booking a ticket are spread across every layer up to the database. Moreover, the failures at each stage of booking compound because a person who failed at the last step will start afresh right from log in.
• The problem is not just the insufficiently responsive ticketing interface, but the huge demand-supply ratio. Even if the whole process was totally seamless, we would’ve only ensured that the first 20 million or so people got their tickets every day, but 3 times as many people will still be left without a reservation.

Bottlenecks and solutions

Technical - 

Seat selection

• Also the railway system is far more complex then say a straight forward purchase from amazon or a Google search.Tickets are commodities, while seats and berths are not! This adds to the complexity. Let’s say Amazon had an inventory of a million toothbrushes and 2 million people try to buy the same item. I’m assuming they’ll just need to decrement the counter and complete the transaction with buyers on a first-come first-served basis, without worrying about which exact toothbrush will go to whom (at the time of sale). In contrast, Indian Railways offers a precisely labelled berth or seat to a ticket buyer.
• In database terms, a row-level lock is obtained on the berth, while thousands of transactions compete for that! A better way would be to sell tickets first and allot the berths later. If passengers can handle the sophistication, they can even do a check-in later, but I think we’re still quite some time away from that. The current logic for berth preference can be retained, but applied as a separate step. In reservation centres, there can be a separate berth allotment counter for confirmed ticket holders.
• This could use a stateful precompute algorithm that generates the next candidate seat and provides it dynamically. Then generates the next one as a background async process.

Payments

• Another huge bottleneck is in processing payments. It involves a series of menu selections by users each causing pages to load followed by complex handshakes between IRCTC, third party gateways, and the banks, security checks and so on. Each step is prone to failures too. On the whole, 29% of attempted payments failed.
• Why not deduct money before ticket booking begins for the day and return it if booking is unsuccessful? Actually, IRCTC is instead considering a smarter move by which passengers can keep prepaid cash with them. Apart from the obvious performance improvement, the economic implications are huge. Imagine crores of rupees lying with them without a need to pay interest? Already, Indian Railways benefits from having an Advance Reservation Period of 4 months. Together, effectively, passenger money is deposited several months in advance. Remember Dell?
• Possibly they could have credit cards on file . Google Play, Itunes and many others already do this, your next ticket could be a couple of clicks away, EVEN ON MOBILE !

Database

• It becomes apparent a lot of this is to do with their database architecture they perhaps could implement a beefier database cluster with ample replication and sharding. A lot of the work is read bound and this could most certainly be improved.
• If the database and application layers are appropriately coupled it should be possible to implement some sort of active caching, thus minimising rapid read impact without losing out on data validity.
• A lot of the sporadic load comes around the tatkal tickets. This is a tiny fraction of the huge data open to booking. A good architecture would be to to shard this critical hot data into highly optimised database that would be tuned for concurrent locks and writes and offer high availability for read throughputs. Also tune your application to handle this separately optimised for  the job at hand. Use beefy hardware for the same (plenty of ram,cpu network bandwidth etc)

Application Design and Architecture

• Toss out the monolithic web app and validation system
• USING A CMS for this scale is  (IRCTC uses BroadVision’s CMS) an epic fail
• Ditch the Windows Stack , Move to Unix based environments, enable Gzip compression , use stuff like Flashcache, HA-Proxy, Docker dynamic scaling deployments depending on the time of the day. For instance add 5x the power during peak. Use a combination of Cloud on demand and self hosted infra for best results.
• Remove banner adverts, they as the railways should not need this , keep a clean minimal interface that does the job.
• Move the session handling into another layer and should be much more graceful. The load of the 10 min timeout in a mainloop for instance is perhaps one of the main reason for many screwups.
• Break up critical parts into modules that are designed to scale horizontally provided the right hardware.
• CDN for static content with multi host and redundant bandwidth across locations in the country,
• Revamp the core api to be data driven, off load client logic into the web browser using something like Backbone or Angular  - this achieves 2 things, api can be rigorously tested and hardened. Ui can be offloaded to another team that specializes in it , get better UI , easier to extend and open up possibilities for a much better api driven mobile client

Hardware & Networking

• Update the database cluster for sure and most of the architecture that can no longer support these workloads.

• Add edge points in all major cities and aptly geo located centres to minimise the response time (this would need a decoupled app imho for best results)
• Sorry EC2 is no magic word like a lot of people suggest , EC2 would be a poor choice for IRCTC given where their traffic and business is based off.
• Perhap at certain time use a Cloud hybrid deployment, you can use the elasticity of the cloud to meet peak requirements that are sporadic. If the demand is consistently at similar levels, add new physical hardware to your DC not to the cloud.
• Add an Peakflow/Arbor and handle DDOS mitigation abilities as i suspect the railways site is victim to plenty given their importance. I would choose a device over other techniques as the 2x latencies introduced to mitigators/scrubbing centers (none in India) would just kill the purpose.
• Dedicated redundant Bandwidth from multiple ISP , possible multihost.They always seem to choke on this, besides DDoS mitigation requires plenty of it. They are a sizable organization and should be able to get that from govt and non govt players

NON TECHNICAL

Yes IRCTC is at the end of the day a public sector body, here are some of the usual suspects

• Bureaucracy in every step - delays getting the required people, hardware and technical expertise to fix the issue once and for all
• Lack of political will to fix the irctc system to create a bias for the chap at the counter .
• Possible corruption that benefits from a bad IRCTC experience such as the network of travel operators and agents with political connections/lobbies to ensure they stay in business.
• Lack of funds
• The top down culture could have put some people averse to change and ones lacking the technical inclination required so this may not feature on their priority list or could be fooled by the software vendor into sub standard software CMS running on a windows stack.

10 Things Really Amazing Employees Do

Here are ten traits that any Great Employer should recognize and Reward Instantly.

Here are 10 things amazing employees seem to do effortlessly. Here's how to help your great employees be even more amazing.As a longtime employer of dozens, I was always grateful to have good employees. It takes a lot to recruit and maintain top talent. Every once in a while special employees come along that just really seem to get it. They drive the entire company forward in ways that were unimaginable. Advancement and reward is never an issue for these rock stars because they understand the power of cause and effect, and only a worthy company can retain them and afford them.

1. Enthusiastically Learn All Aspects of Business

They understand they're part of something bigger and more worthwhile than just their job. They look to learn other areas of the business and be fluent in finance and management so they'll positively impact multiple areas of the company.

What you can do: Invest in material and seminars on business basics like accounting, marketing, and management so all employees have easy access to learn and grow.

2. Steward the Company

They treat the company as if it were theirs. They look to make prudent decisions about expenses and opportunities with the long-term future of the company in mind. They easily assess risk vs. reward, selflessly when making decisions.

What you can do: Be transparent in your business. The more you share your financials and philosophy, the easier it is for employees to make the right decisions.

3. Generate Viable Opportunities

You don't have to be in sales or marketing to help a company grow. Strong networkers from all divisions see company growth as a collective effort and constantly keep their eyes open for ways to more than pay for themselves.

What you can do: Make sure all your employees understand your value proposition and can easily identify opportunities. Then reward them openly for their efforts.

4. Resolve Issues Before They Are Issues

My favorite days running companies are when I notice positive change in procedure when I was totally unaware of the need for change. Amazing employees are always looking to improve systems proactively, and they do.

What you can do: Communicate a clear written vision of where the company is going and encourage initiative so people feel safe and empowered to make change.

5. Tell It Like It Is

Amazing employees understand that hiding bad news helps no one. They find kind ways to bring uncomfortable information to the surface, but they DO bring it to the surface. They tell people what's necessary before major damage is done.

What you can do: Foster an open communication environment where people are not only given permission to tell the truth, but also absolutely required.

6. Demonstrate High Standards, With Low Maintenance

I always feel relaxed when I can trust an employee to perform a task to the same high standards I would expect from myself. Not all can do this without constant attention or difficulty. Amazing employees quietly drive their own high standards.

What you can do: Set the example and the tone for high performance with minimal drama. Publicly reward those who can execute in the same manner.

7. Grow Themselves, and Others

They not only drive their own career but they inspire others to do the same. These employees lead by example in how to advance without creating animosity or resentment. They see and create their perfect future, and also bring others along.

What you can do: Encourage personal development and peer growth through dedicated group time and learning for career advancement.

8. Research, Apply, and Refine

No employer expects people to know everything. In this fast changing world, I choose employees who will learn over those who know. The best employee proactively explores options, takes action and then improves without direction from the top.

What you can do: Invest time in exploration and expansive thinking. Encourage people to explore deep visionary projects with time and reward for the findings.

9. Stimulate Happiness

Amazing employees aren't always sunshine and roses. They do know how to keep it real. But they understand the dynamics of people, stress, and the blend of work, life and friendship. They are self-aware and able to direct their own path that brings out their best with family, friends and career. They exude positive energy even in stressful times and share it around, making for a happier office.

What you can do: Create an environment where people can openly express themselves. Encourage them to work hard in fulfilling ways and achieve their dreams.

10. Facilitate Amazing Bosses

Amazing employees make me grow as an employer. They self-confidently get their value and help me get mine. They make me want to be worthy of working with somebody of such high caliber, without ever saying it directly of course.

What you can do: Make effort to genuinely show appreciation for any of the behaviors above so people feel their value and will grow to full potential. Then they will do the same for you.

12 Ways To Get Things Done So You Don't Feel Overwhelmed

When life feels chaotic, it’s easy to be overwhelmed with everything that’s going on around you.

What used to be simple and scheduled and formulaic now seems cluttered and uncomfortable — and you’re not sure you can get anything done right now.

But when you stop moving forward, you lose momentum.

Everything you’ve worked for in the last few months and years get stopped. Put on hold. Sometimes, that hold can be deadly to your dreams. To your mission. To your cause.

So what can you do? How do you get things done when there’s so much to be done you’re not sure where to get started?

Here are a few timeless suggestions for managing when life gets chaotic:

1. Take the time to build a list of everything that you need to do. 

Build priorities. Label contingencies. Describe the outcomes you want to see. You can delete stuff later. Just get it all together so you can look at it.

2. Use smart technology to remind you of key events.

 Tools like Wunderlist and Google Calendar make it easy to set up alarms in repeating events. Things get a lot less chaotic when you are reminded of the most important things that you need to be doing.

3. Build a “Minimum List.” 

Tag the items on your list that make up the bare minimum that you need to achieve right now. You’ll be surprised at how few items stay on the list — and you’ll be motivated to do even more.

4. Hire the help you need.

 Instead of trying to do everything yourself, find key tasks, or parts of tasks, that you can hire someone else to help you with. Use Fiverr or Elance or oDesk to get the support you need to be amazing.

5. Take time to get physical. 

Instead of eliminating regular exercise from your schedule, protect the time you work up a sweat. In those moments of burning calories you’ll find that you think of solutions you wouldn’t have thought about before. And you’ll return to your tasks with a renewed clarity.

6. Don’t waste time on regrets or worries. 

It’s easy to spin out of control when you think about what you could have done or should have done. Replace those negative thoughts with clear strategies for moving forward from where you are right now.

7. Stop watching so much TV.

It’s amazing how distracting media can be. Instead of working toward success, your brain goes to mush when you tune up the latest episode of your favorite TV show.

8. Be clear about what you want to achieve. 

A lot of the time, chaos is from uncertainty — not knowing exactly what you want but feeling dissatisfied with where you are right now. Hire a coach or a therapist — or find a new set of friends .

9. Get enough sleep. Most human beings need 6 to 8 hours of sleep each night to operate at peak potential. When you exercise more or stress more you need even more sleep. Don’t overdo it — but don’t think you can cheat by sleeping even less. It’ll backfire on you.

10. Give time and attention to others. 

When you give time and attention to others, your brain tells itself that you have more time then you need. That sends a signal to the rest of your body to calm down — that everything will be ok. You’ll actually feel more relaxed and do better work.

11. Pay attention to the details. 

Getting things done isn’t the same as getting things done well. Don’t just check things off your list. Make sure you’ve done the best that you can do.

12. Apologize when things don’t go the way you want them to go. 

When things are chaotic it’s easy to make mistakes or hurt peoples feelings. Instead of letting that negativity linger, make the smart decision to apologize early. And mean it. Then move on.

Each day matters. Your reactions matter. Each opportunity to move towards where you want to be matters.

Just because things are chaotic and spinning out of control doesn’t mean that you can’t still get things done.

In fact, that’s the time when you really need to get things done.

So fight through the confusion. Get past your frustration and your sense of uncertainty. The more you get things done, the less chaotic you’ll find your world.

Which is what you wanted all along anyways.

The Streaming Media Way Back Machine – My Strategy for Broadcast.com from 1999

Found this as I was cleaning up some backups from almost 15 years ago. Thought it would be interesting to let people see what my goals were for our merger with Yahoo back then.

Strategic Issues for Yahoo Broadcasting Group

June 18th 1999

General Strategic Issues:

Historically we have built value by adding content, expanding our network, building new business products, whether biz svc or advertising, before anyone else. Because we were first for all of these , we had a huge advantage and there was not a significant cost beyond hardware , people and bandwidth to accomplish these.

I think we are getting past this stage, as an industry. I think we can expect that people will look at throwing money at content providers in order to try to play catch up. In order to still be attractive to all of our partners, biz svcs, advertising, and content, we must find new ways of adding value. That new way is via proprietary software

We have always said that software would be the last thing we added . We have taken this tact because there were so many other variables that were still evolving. From software being re-genned every 3 months from Microsoft and Real Networks, the network, and learning what we can sell and what customers wanted to buy. We have reached the point now where our key value adds and differentiation have to come from software we produce in house.

We have to be able to demonstrate to our partners that our 4 years of experience have given us the base upon which to build applications that create unique opportunities . Our competition is falling into a trap thinking that internet based radio is a key offering. The real key offering is monetizing all digital offerings, regardless of whether its audio/video/flash or on the outside and pushing down costs so that everything we do can happen in a lights out , no touch environment driven by software.

My feeling is that going forward, our biggest challenges will be

1. Hiring Quality SW developers and Project Managers
2. Developing and Supporting Leading Edge products that give us a sales and productivity advantage
3. Having the balls to be willing to take chances and sell products and services that people don’t know they need yet.
4. User Generated Content
   1. Ability for users to deliver live or on-demand content to a bcst server in native streamed protocols (non-HTTP)
      1. Build or Buy Software
      2. Subsidized hopefully by Microsoft
      3. License of Real Producer or modify encoder from Real Networks
      4. Possible license of WebKapture.com Software
      5. ability to provide low cost easy to use devices for digital encoding (dazzle)
      6. ability to provide streaming server plugins that automatically find an available server and host the content on that server

5. Ability to monitor usage and enforce limits in real time

1. Ability to bill based on usage, length, subscription basis
2. Ability to report on usage and users
3. Music detection for copyright protection via comparisonics or getmedia

6. Lights out complete automation of encoding and serving systems

1. Automation of Investment to provide a single port on Piso Audio/Video Matrix Switch for EVERY source of live content
2. Ability to control any port to any port (or multiport) automation in realtime with realtime reporting
   1. 1. With time based event triggers
      2. With tone (commercials) event triggers
      3. With Scene Transition event triggers (Islip)
      4. With Music to Voice to Silence Detection event triggers
      5. With Quality Control via noise tolerance detection
      6. Report within a programming matrix what programming is playing from which port to which encoder to which server, in text and graphical model with double click drill downs

7. Quality Control reporting

One thing we don’t do, that would be a marketing goldmine, is to track the quality of our user connections. It would be very simple. All of our servers report the number packets, delivered/lost and buffering. We should be using this information in real time to show our users and our customers the confidence we have in our systems and how they are actually better.

1. With complete database integration of all programming for programming guide and personalization purposes.
   1. A user will be able to select from the programming guide of live and on demand content. The guide will know the source of the content and create using asp or cgi programming a personal station
   2. This will be a drag and drop system where a user will be able to chose from thousands of programs, or content items, and drop them in their personal schedule/calendar at a specific time, or chose a Network of preselected programs and modify that.

a. User will have the option to download to their choice of devices if the content is eligible and they have paid for the right

1. There will a database of user selections for each user, and a user history of activity.
2. Advertisers will be able to select the demo or psychographics of users and have their commercials inserted in to the user stations
3. For pre programmed stations, or over the air stations, the advertiser will be able to insert commercials using the same user profiles through the use of Windows Media trigger driven switching or for real media, a plugin will have to be written the recognizes the trigger and inserts the media feed into the user specific stream
4. Realtime reporting of usage with user name/email, by content type, by geography, by psychographic demographics for the purpose of providing advertisers the ability to monitor and SWITCH their ads in realtime. This
5. would mean an advertiser, or even a network programmer could program and ad in realtime based upon the number of viewers.listeners, and their response to an ad.
6. All clicks and movement throughout the site would be tracked and maintained in a user movement database for data mining, not for sale

Bottom line is any content available to any user, with any other content interwoven inside of it., with complete user selectability and every click tracking and user identification

1. Corporate Self Reservation and Broadcast Systems

The key to 99% margins in this business is the ability to allow corporate users to schedule , produce and broadcast their own audio/video based events, and to allow them to create and manage their own Programming guides , quickly and easily. This requires a very easy to use system, comparable to audio teleconferencing systems, with additional integrated Portal Style Programming Guides and complete backend reporting and billing.

1. To do this we basically need to reinvent how we produce events to make them a single hardware and software package. This package must be something that any idiot can use on their own. From a complete camera production kit, toaudio couplers, to switches. We need to package a completely integrated system that is a leave behind hardware system

2. We need the same solution from a network perspective. We must be able to go in to a client, just as an audioteleconferencing company installs an audio bridge and a T1 with X ports, we must also install the hardware, and the T1 with X capacity, along with encoders and servers, all prewired, and a control server that acts as a host, either locally or at bcst that manages everything and communicates back to us

3. We can start this, as phase one by offering it audio only. A customer sets up an audio conference call using traditional means, and we integrate it into a webserving environment by dialing in a coupler, connected to a Pisa port, or by having a 24×7 hardwired connection to the port, and just having it “ join the call”

There are some packages that do this, Vstream, some TelSoft apps. I would prefer to see us buy before build if the price is reasonable and focus on adding video to the app.ication rather than trying to start from scratch

First step is to hire a project manager who is an experienced programmer, preferably from the video teleconferencing industry

We need this to spec out and define roles and manage to completion.

We also need programmers dedicated to this application and its maintenance

1. We of course must get to video as quickly as possible , offering a turnkey solution for companies to put in conference rooms, AV rooms, or on their desktops, and even for laptops
2. Part of the solution must include indepth reporting in realtime. Companies must know who is using. The cost, who is attending and in depth information on the quality of service of the broadcast. Was there buffering at all, for who, where, how can it be fixed
3. All information must be able to be distributed to 3 party applications. Companies must be able to let their HR systems or marketing systems know who attended, how long, did they interact, where did they watch, at what bit rate, etc.

1. Media Management – Indexing

1. A core competency for BCST Group is to manage and index large quantities of audio and video in a search, choose and download manner.
   1. Video content can be searched by indexing the closed captioning that comes with TV content, or with content , such as biz content, where it is financially worthwhile to add closed captioning.
   2. Video and audio content that is talking head , no background noise can be indexed through trained speech recognition (trained for a specific show where the voices are consistent), can be indexed
   3. Video and audio content that doesn’t have a transcript of any sort can only be indexed by setting metadata at the time of the encoding. We have an opportunity to set standards for how this data is indexed and encoded if we move quickly. This allows users to make searches on an unlimited number of inserted key words
   4. The challenge is in creating a low cost system that can scale to Thousands of PETABYTES of data. Just as BCST has created space between us and the rest through scaling our streaming infrastructure, the ability to create a system that uses off the shelf hard disk storage to reduce costs, and that scales will create a competitive advantage in terms of the cost of hosting, and the ability to add content
      1. We need to have at least one person who works on developing and implementing this hardware and programmers who work on using access information on developing the appropriate content distribution architecture that integrates the hardware and storage management software with reports of usage. This will allow the amount of MB of content delivered to be in balance with the distribution variables that act as constraints, throughput of the serving app, throughput of the network segment, throughput of the disk storage system and throughput of the file serving mechanism

1. Index content grows in value much like network usage. The more nodes to a newtork the greater the value of the network, the more indexed , searchable video, the greater the value of the catalog of video.
2. Content volume, traffic volume and scalability of infrastructure are the key to success, and first mover creates the magnet for new content and users
3. An additional marketing need will be to productize this so that business services can sell Hosted solutions or self service solutions to corporations and so that we can leverage the value of all the content we have to offer content on a subscription basis for viewing and/or downloading

MetaData Search Tool

Internet TV Stations

User programmed

Pre programmed

Download with copyright protection

Subscription Service

Custom Player

User Created Broadcast Network

Getting Wide via Content acquisition

Broadband video acquisition centers on the network

Digital TV Broadband bandwidth

CNBC Killer

CNN killer

Political TV/Pres Debates

Movies with Trimark

Quality Control of user streams – integration to routers

Active Directory Integration of files and users into 2 directories

20 Statistics That Will Drive 2014 Marketing Strategies (Infographic)

Next year’s trends highlight the importance of social media marketing.

As 2013 draws to a close, marketers are looking ahead to next year when social media marketing will begin to take center stage. No longer a luxury, it will become a must-have in 2014 marketing strategies. Digital asset management firm WebDAM found that marketing on the social Web will move toward critical mass over the next few years as more budget is allocated by brands, and custom content will become increasingly import as companies fight to develop awareness and win customer mind share in the marketplace.

In 2014, marketers will use dynamic content to deliver targeted, highly-personalized experiences to the right audience at the right time.

What to expect

• 78% of CMOs think that custom content is the future of marketing.
• Marketing teams will spend $135 billion on digital marketing collateral.
• Internet advertising will account for 25% of the entire ad market by 2015.

Trends in the marketing mix

• Social media: Social marketing marketing budgets will double over the next 5 years.
• Content: Nearly 50% of companies now have content marketing strategies.
• Email: Email with social sharing buttons increase click-through rates by 158%.
• Events: 67% of B2B content marketers consider event marketing the most effective strategy.
• PR: 73% of reporters think press releases should include images.
• PPC: 72% of PPC marketers (those who use pay-per-click advertising) plan to increase their PPC budget in 2014.
• SEO: SEO (search engine optimization) is vital — 33% of traffic from Google organic search results go the first item listed.

What to consider for your digital audience

• Inbound marketing delivers 54% more leads than traditional outbound marketing.
• 52% of marketers have found a customer via Facebook in this year.
• 43% of marketers have found a customer via LinkedIn in 2013.
• B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads than those that don’t.
• 55% of marketers increased their digital marketing budget this year.
• Visual content is processed by the brain 60,000 times faster than text.
• Videos on landing pages increase conversion by 86%.
• 65% of people are visual learners, so there will be an industry-wide shift toward to employing visual content in marketing initiatives.