Caught The Virus ? Need medicine ?

Here's what I just received in my inbox:

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Hi,

I am not gonna say u guys to believe me as I have also tried to earn online.

but some time it is fake (some time it is not working)....But after reading article Published in " Economics Times" under name as 'Now, get Paid for receiving SMS ads'.......I decided to sign in and with my amazement it really works so guys it's really easy way to earn with no time and Money to invest....

Check out details.....

<-------Some Site That Pays to receive Ads.----------------->

and Sign in get Paid for receiving SMS ads'get Paid for receiving SMS ads'

and earn Money by simply deleting SMS (message..... as I know u guys are not going to read advertisements... :)...it is very simple)

Economics Times link

<--------------someLinkHereDeletedSinceIDidNotWantToNameNames--------------->

--

Regards
XXXXXX

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Question : is it viral ? Do the companies pushing ads on this actually hope to benefit ? How long will this mode of virality continue to pay off ?

Is it even ethical ? Somehow - no clear answers.

Firefox Search Plugin

Murali, who interned with us recently, added this.

While we're a mobile search engine, this is handy too - often don't want to be bothered with "trying to find" stuff and just fire a query - if the answer's not there immediately I get an SMS, soon, with one. Try it out.

This is how we should scale - eh ?

Scathing post on scalability wet dreams.
Potentially Offensive Language alert, though cut through that all, and there are so many truths.

Hi!

Hi!
नमस्ते
ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ
நமஸ்காரம்

They say the true sign of a popular blog is in its interactivity - and this one gets comments real rarely. The number of page views, while not huge by any standards, has gone up steadily. So here's saying thanks, and Hi! If you're a real person, leave a comment :) Am dying to know who really reads this blog.

Edit: Also - do lemme know if this new template is better/worse.

Mobile Marketing Gotta Happen

Yahoo says so too :)

But 2010 - hmm - thats a long time to wait. Of course, there's usage thats gotta mature first, and availability of apps and content, and connectivity and speeds.

Of course, from our experience, users aren't merely looking for "local" info - but "any info". Of course the information is unlikely to be long research papers or analyses or descriptions, but there's a gap to fill to satisfy the urge of "I wanna know NOW!" for sure.

Edit: The Dhoni Effect nicely sums it up - and is pretty much what we've been seeing.

VAS is the next revenue driver

VAS will decide who wins telecom war

The opening lines are amazing - if, on and average, each user is interested in one bit of info, or one download, or one action that can be enabled on phones, the industry will see huge numbers! Wow.

I didn't know that, but someone did

Some interesting facts users found out on Zook from other people (for questions that did not get answers in the index):

vocabulary meaning of antispam:
An ideal anti-spam system rejects messages which are both bulk and unsolicited, letting pass those messages which are of specific personal relevance to the recipient (not "bulk"), and those which the recipient has expressly requested (not "unsolicited").

duty free amount limit upto which one can import goods into India through online shopping ?
Personal Items imported into India charged at 17.34% , if you declare items as gifts while importing into India on CN 22/23 forms then you get zero duty charged (below 10,000/-) more at http://is.gd/ZLA

how many people are born and die every second?
Worldwide? About 3-4 are born every second, and 2 people die every second. Some stats also point to 6-7 born and 3-4 dead every second.

What is the full name of M.S.Subbalakshmi
Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbalakshmi

Highest peak in Europe
Mont Blanc, 4810 metres, on the border between France and Italy Source: http://tinyurl.com/6gsysl

What is special on march 13th
Uranus was discovered by the British astronomer William Herschel on March 13.

We now need to start recognising and capturing "facts" too - there's a huge need for fulfilling curiosity and not everyone has a comp, or gprs, or even time for web-searching stuff.

Zook has many faces :)

Context, Semantics, Scary!

Thats got to be one of the better takes I've seen on the machines taking over ;)

ICICI smsNcash

http://www.icicibank.com/pfsuser/webnews/iCash.htm

The "phata note" has been replicated! And this is so far the easiest mechanism to pay others from your bank account - even remotely! Sadly, cannot be initiated from a phone - that'd make it ultra cool. It'll beat all the existing m-payment channels hands down.

Powerpoint Tricks - a treat!

How not to PowerPoint!

The data slide bit is especially useful :)

Zookgeist

We haven't got a formal one running yet, but here's a sample of the queries we've been getting:


shraddha vadodara
de taali chennai
sizzlers bangalore
HOW TO PREVENT HEAD ACHE
SHALL MAKE MY MOBILE AS PAID FOR RECIEVING SMS
flambe outer ring road
Chandigarh HR
bial to btm
Who is the leader of BJP
SBI Magnum fund NAV
ENGINEERING ADMISSION 2008 BRANCH WISE VACANCY SEATS
carpenters sarjapura road
ENGINEERING ADMISSION 2008 DEPARTMENT WISE VACANT SEATS
difference between recieve and receive
sun direct introduce Rs. 15 to 140. Channel detail about different pack
Jahnavi college Hyderabad
HBO sat night movies
Nokia Care Behrampore
Reliance GSM helpline

• People have a lot of different kind of questions on the phone!
• A proper matching engine is a must - keywords fail on intent real bad.
• Thankfully, a lot many do NOT think of us as "local search". Its mainly the tech/Bangalore crowd which has this image issue so far. Hmm, need to fix that.
• The community IS playing a crucial role. Need to start involving a large user base next.

In some sense, with the last step, information will get "open sourced" - its not important that is live on our servers, but as long as the one who needs finds the one who knows, we're doing our jobs.

Of course, its imoprtant to keep mining existing/expressed information, such that this traffic may be optimized.

Solve This II: Pub Crawl

Find names of pubs across India - with some help from Zook

http://www.contests2win.com/crosswords/25253/Pub-hopping-on-Zook-in

Zook Updates

Zook Updates Presentation:



We added BIAL bus routes - as a major one for Bangalore folks.

And, btw, the Zook blog is finally alive. Needs some polish, but its up for good, now.

Solve This!

Contests2Win lets you create your own crossie - here's a Zook-powered one. You might need to search on Zook to find answers. Try it:

http://www.contests2win.com/crosswords/24780/FindOnZook

Its not very pretty - but then its auto-generated.

Events! Zook/BuzzInTown

We went live with BuzzInTown events on Zook. We now have really good event coverage thanks to the excellent work BuzzInTown have done is establishing a relationship with all the key players in the industry. We will soon be adding some ticketing options and other useful actions on this as part of the next phase of the rollout.

Got some coverage on Pluggd too. Thanks Ashish!

This is available in 10 cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad Jaipur, Lucknow and Bangalore and BIT is working furiously at adding more. So go ahead and find that concert that'll make this a terriffic weekend...

Changing the world is simpler than you think

http://www.pluggd.in/2008/07/iim-grad-who-wants-to-sell-vegetables

Had heard about this guy from someone recently, and Pluggd confirmed this. Its amazing how rethinking status quo can be so life changing - and when its for stuff like this with a real solid impact, its very heartening. Wishing this venture all the best - the best thing it ensures is more food availability for the same output! And in a very eco-friendly and cost effective manner too.

Post Offices CRM

Am expecting a parcel through Speedpost, and its been a while in transit. Decided to test my luck and try and find out on the phone. Found the number on Zook, and called up.

• Someone actually picked the phone up
• He patiently heard my case, and asked me for the delivery number or some such, which I did not have
• He actually asked someone about it and explained to me that the guy responsible would be in at 10 and if I could please call up then.

Another instance of government machinery working well and being surprisingly pleasant to interface with.

The Address:

Post Office, Hsr Lyt,
No.21,Bda Complex,Hsr Layout,Bangalore- 560102
Ph:+918025720744