Wednesday, October 9, 2013

How to Embed a YouTube in a Blogger Blog - Steps

Posting a video from YouTube

YouTube has added the ability for its users to "link" just about any content on the web and have that video posted to the users' webpage. This facility lets you share video more readily and also gives you a chance to showcase your readership your creativity. This article provides step-by-step instructions on how to add the "YouTube" video to your Blogger (BlogSpot) blog, one of the more commonly used blogging services.



Steps

  1. 1
    Go to the YouTube website.
     Go to the YouTube website.
    Go to the YouTube website.
  2. 2
    Search the video you want to add to Blogger.
     Search the video you want to add to Blogger.
    Search the video you want to add to Blogger.
  3. 3
    Once you found the video, click on 'embed video' button.
     Once you found the video, click on 'embed video' button.
    Once you found the video, click on 'embed video' button. After making your selection, copy the embed code. The code changes based on your selection.
  4. 4
    Now go to your blog at Blogger.
     Now go to your blog at Blogger.
    Now go to your blog at Blogger.
  5. 5
    Sign in and go to posting section and in Edit HTML mode, paste the embed code as provided by YouTube.
     Sign in and go to posting section and in Edit HTML mode, paste the embed code as provided by YouTube.
    Sign in and go to posting section and in Edit HTML mode, paste the embed code as provided by YouTube. Press compose button to see the look and feel of video. That's it, you are done.
  6. 6
    Now see preview and publish your post.
     Now see preview and publish your post.

















Ref: http://www.wikihow.com/Embed-a-YouTube-in-a-Blogger-Blog

Cheers
Vijay

Thursday, August 29, 2013

What is Anatomic Therapy - The Art of Self Healing

Our body contains a gland that secretes a fluid inturn possesses the ability to cure all ailments within our body. On an average our gland continues to secrete this fluid for as long as 120 years of our lifespan.

What is this Gland? Where this gland placed in our body? What this phenomenal fluid called? How we make our body to secrete this fluid with ease? Irrespective of your gender, religious beliefs, and social status Healer's Baskar will enlighten you how you can make 'your body work for yourself' to generate this fluid thus walking through a healthy living.

This treatment as preached by 'Healer Baskar' does not require you undergo any medication, painful injections, processes nor any form of yoga, acupuncture or reiki. All you would learn at the end of this treatment is that following Baskar's guidance you can make this gland secrete this fluid the next 48hours which can help relieve from any form of physical ailment within 120 to 360 days.

This treatment of curing any of your physical illness diseases though own body defense mechanism is what 'Healer's Baskar' calls 'Anatomic Therapy' also known as 'Sevi Vazhi Thodu Sigichai' in its native origin of Tamil language. Entire treatment would take as less as 6 hours and most pleasing is at the end of the treatment you are free for intake any form of your favorite food without any hesitation and infact neither would you be required to undertake any of second session of this treatment.
 

REF: http://anatomictherapy.org/WAT.html

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

GM Diet Plan - Full Details

DAY ONE

All fruits except bananas. Your first day will consists of all fruits you want. It is suggested you consume lot of watermelon and rock melon (cantaloupe).
Note: And drink lots of water [At least 20 cups/12 glasses of water –> 3L to 4L].

DAY TWO
All vegetables. You are encouraged to eat until you are stuffed with all the new and
Cooked vegetables of your choice. There is no limit on the account or type. Avoid oil
And coconut while cooking vegetables. Have large boiled potato/sweet potato for breakfast.
Breakfast: One [IF BIG], Two [If small] potato/sweet potato – boiled and cooked in frying pan
Lunch: Broccoli fry with onion and little bit oil salt [very very less oil].
Dinner: Make a soup using Cabbage, Broccoli and baby corn.
Snacks (Vegetables) - Carrots, Lettuce, cucumber, beetroot slices, Baby corn
Note: And drink lots of water [At least 20 cups/12 glasses of water –> 3L to 4L].

DAY THREE
Any mixture of fruits and vegetables of your choice. Any amount, any quantity. No
Bananas yet and no potatoes today.
Breakfast: Eat 2 apples and 1 pear and some water melon/rock melon
Lunch: Broccoli fry with onion and little bit oil salt [very very less oil]. And some fruits
Dinner: Make a soup using Cabbage, Broccoli and baby corn.
Snacks (Vegetables) - Carrots, Lettuce, cucumber, beetroot slices, Baby corn
Snacks (Fruits) – Grapes, apple bits, pear bits, cherry, blue berries,
Note: And drink lots of water [At least 20 cups/12 glasses of water –> 3L to 4L].

DAY FOUR
Bananas and milk. Today you will eat as many as eight bananas and drink three glasses of milk. You can also have I bowl of vegetables soup.
Breakfast (around 7 to 8 AM): Eat 2 red banana (Sevvalai) and 1 tumbler boiled milk (Use Meji milk)
Lunch (around 12 to 12:30 PM): Eat 2 red banana (Sevvalai) and 1 tumbler boiled milk (Use Meji milk)
@ 4 to 4.30 PM: Eat 2 red banana (Sevvalai) and 1 tumbler boiled milk (Use Meji milk)
Dinner (around 7 to 8 PM): Eat 2 red banana (Sevvalai) and 1 tumbler boiled milk (Use Meji milk) and also have a cabbage soup
Snacks – Strictly nothing

DAY FIVE.
Today is a feast day. You will eat 1 cup of rice. You also have to eat six whole tomatoes and drink 12 glasses of water today to cleanse your system of the excess uric acid you will be producing.
Breakfast (around 7 to 8 AM): Take 4 tomato cut in to round slices. Fry in a pan with few drops of sun flower oil and little bit salt. And cool it and have half of it. And keep the remaining half for lunch with rice.
Lunch (around 12 to 12:30 PM): Eat 1 cut of rice and tomatoes slice gravy [same.
@ 4 to 4.30 PM: Eat 2 raw tomatoes
Dinner (around 7 to 8 PM): Eat 2 raw tomatoes and have a veg soup [less quantity]
Snacks – Strictly nothing

DAY SIX
Today is another all vegetables day. You must eat 1 cup of rice today and eat all the
Vegetables you want cooked and uncooked.
Breakfast: Raw or cooked vegetables
Lunch: 1 cup rice and vegetables (raw or cooked)
Broccoli fry with onion and little bit oil salt [very very less oil].
Dinner: Make a soup using Cabbage, Broccoli and baby corn.
Snacks (Vegetables) - Carrots, Lettuce, cucumber, beetroot slices, Baby corn
Note: And drink lots of water [At least 20 cups/12 glasses of water –> 3L to 4L].

DAY SEVEN
Today your food intake will consist of 1 cup rice, fruit juice and the vegetables you care
to consume.
Breakfast: Drink water melon/rock melon [Fresh cut fruit or juice]
Lunch: 1 cut rice with Vegetables [very very less oil]. Cooked or raw vegetables
Dinner: Make a soup using Cabbage, Broccoli and baby corn.
Snacks (Vegetables) - Carrots, Lettuce, cucumber, beetroot slices, Baby corn
Snacks (Fruits) – Grapes, apple bits, pear bits, cherry, blue berries

Tomorrow morning you will be five to eight kgs. Lighter than 1 week ago. You have your system under control now and it will thank you for all the purging and cleansing you just gave it. Even more than a diet program it is good to follow this diet once in a while to clean your digestive system and remove toxic substances that have a accumulated in the system.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
·         The most important element of the program is the 10 tall glasses of water a day.
·         You can also flavor the water will some lemon to make the drink easier.
·         While on the program, take only black coffee and never more than one teaspoon of oil.
·         Preferably do not use oil because the high calorific content.
·         No fruit juices before day seven.

Here is what happens to your body while you are on this program and how and why it Works.

Day 1: You are preparing your system for the upcoming program. Your only source of  Nutrition is fresh fruits. Fruits are nature's perfect food. They provide everything You can possibly want to sustain life except total balance and variety.
Day 2: Starts with a fix complex carbohydrates in the form of a boiled potato. This is taken in the form of a boiled potato and taken in the morning to provide energy and balance. The rest of the day too consists of vegetables which are virtually calories free and provide essential nutrients and fiber.
Day 3: Eliminates the potato because you get your carbohydrates from fruits. Your system is now prepared to start burning excess pounds. You will have cravings, which should start to diminish by day four.
Day 4: Bananas and milk. You are in for a surprise. You probably will not be able to eat all the bananas allowed. But they are there fore the potassium you have lost and the sodium you may have missed the last three days. You will notice a definite loss of desire for sweets and you will be surprised at how easy this day will go.
Day 5: Rice and tomatoes. The rice is for the carbohydrates and the tomatoes are for the digestion and the fiber. Lots of water purifies your system. You should notice colorless urine today. Do not feel you have to eat one cup rice, you may eat less. But you may eat six tomatoes.
Day 6: It is similar to five. Vitamins and fiber from the vegetables and carbohydrates from the rice. By now your system is in a total weight loss inclination.
There should be a noticeable difference in the way you look today compared to day one. Motor than one cup of coffee with milk is especially forbidden.
Milk and oil add empty calories to your diet.  Avid coffee lovers can console themselves with black coffee.
However, after the first week, it will help your digestion and set your stomach. The key think to remeb4er is that if you are hungry at any time, then you are not following the diet correctly. Almost all people give up the diet when they are hungry because of dieting. The secret of this program is that you should never hungry. If it is a vegetable day, eat so much vegetables so that you are never hungry. If it is a fruits day, eat so much fruits that you are never hungry. You may be bored of eating vegetables all day, but you should not be hungry.


You can take any amount of General Motors wonder soup on any day.

GENERAL MOTORS WONDER SOUP

The following soup is intended as a supplement to your diet. It can be eaten any time of the day in virtually unlimited quantities. You are encouraged to drink large quantities of this soup.
23 oz water
06 large onions
02 green peppers
03 whole tomatoes
1 cabbage
1 bunch celery ­ add herbs and seasoning as desired.
This program is highly recommended for women and men above 40 for whom excess weight is especially dangerous. Excess weight for women aggravates arthritis problems and leads to rapid joint decay. Pain and joint deterioration can be lessened by weight loss as weight loss removes the stress on the knee joint. Excess weight is the most critical factor in keeping good health and excess weight is responsible for the most problems including coronary diseases, heart problems, arthritis and cancer among other serious life threatening diseases. Most serious health problems can be avoided by the single function of maintaining an ideal weight. Daily mild exercise of 20 minutes is also essential. Do not tire yourself out, but being regular in your exercise and maintaining an ideal weight goes a long way in ensuring a happy, healthy and long life.

Enjoy...Happy Healthy Living.....Vijay

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

A tale of two smartphones SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 Vs APPLE IPHONE 5





Smart: The screen reacts to movement, and a video will automatically pause if you're not looking at the phone
Smart: The screen reacts to movement, and a video will automatically pause if you're not looking at the phone

3 Ways Social Media Can Help You Land a Job (And Keep It)

Currently, at my company, our HR team receives an average of 850 applications a month, and that number just keeps rising. Although recent reports suggest that the US job market is bouncing back, the reality is that many talented people out there are still struggling to land the careers they want.
Hitting wall after wall in the job hunt can be especially frustrating for new graduates and those in the early stages of their careers, who are chomping at the bit for the chance to channel their passion and ambition into something real.
While traditional tactics for boosting hireability are still invaluable, (like attending networking events and polishing up your resume), an increasingly critical tool for standing out from the crowd is social media. If you're not incorporating Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn into your job search, you're missing out on a key competitive advantage.
Here are three ways to put social media to work for you:
1. Use social networks to boost your networking power ... and your chances of getting that foot in the door.
It's common knowledge that most jobs come about as a result of networking, not through responding to job ads or sending out countless resumes. Nothing will ever beat a face-to-face meeting for instant rapport.
But what social networking has done is open up access to key decision makers who used to simply be out of reach. As Lars Schmidt, head of talent acquisition & innovation at NPR recently told me, "You can imagine social media as a big virtual conference where you have an opportunity to start making connections."
Perhaps the best way for job seekers to take their traditional networking efforts to the next level is to start following people in their industry on Twitter and to connect with them on LinkedIn. Through these networks, research employers and reach out to them through trusted friends and colleagues who might be able to make introductions. In particular, LinkedIn Groups are a great way to start conversations with like-minded people. Look for groups that focus on job searching and career topics to expand your own knowledge and contact base. Also, find your desired employers' Twitter profiles or company blogs and follow them, or like their Facebook and LinkedIn company pages. This way, you'll have a chance to connect more intimately with them and can show off your knowledge and passion when the opportunity rises.
Overall, I find it's helpful not to expect a set outcome from these encounters, rather to be open-minded. Learn things; get to know people. The best part is that communication doesn't have to be all that formal. Even just talking about common interests or sharing an interesting article can build trust and open doors.
2. Leverage social media to create a professional and attractive brand online and woo prospective employers.
A 2012 study showed that more than one-third of employers (37%) now use social networks to screen potential job candidates. This means many companies are now making hiring decisions based on what peoples' online personas say about them.
The great thing about social media, of course, is that you control what others see and know about you. Start with LinkedIn. At my company, we like it when candidates invest time in their LinkedIn profiles. Highlighting team projects or emphasizing volunteering and sports shows you can work well in groups. Recommendations are also great ways to add credibility. Ask people who've seen you shine—whether former teachers, bosses or colleagues—to write one out for you. On Twitter, share information and links to resources that you think will be interesting or valuable to others in your desired field, and have meaningful public exchanges.
Another integral part of using social media to build a professional personal brand is to, well, stay professional. A few years ago, a promising candidate for a job here tweeted this from his personal Twitter account: "going to a phone interview with @hootsuite and I am drunk after a few hours in the #congress2012 beer tent." Needless to say, he was not hired.
3. Become a social media skills guru.
At HootSuite, all 300-plus employees are actually encouraged to use social media at their desks, on the job. And this isn't just because we're a social media company. It's because social media enables people to do work better, whatever department they're in.
Our salespeople are using social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn to research and reach out to people more effectively. Our HR department uses social media to hire better, including having a dedicated Twitter profile to connect with candidates. Our customer support team connects with users on Twitter and Facebook, allowing for much faster responses than via phone or email. And the list goes on.
My point is that as social media becomes incorporated more fully into business (and it will!) being savvy about Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will become a critical skill set. In today's business landscape, jobs are becoming less specialized and more general; the more you know, the more hireable you become.
That's part of the reason we created a program called HootSuite University, which helps graduates and young professionals grow their social media skills and gain formal certification. Courses range from 'The Dos and Don'ts of Social Media Etiquette,' to 'An Introduction to Social Media Across an Organization.'
Social media isn't just for sharing funny cat photos with your friends, or telling them what you had for breakfast. In the right hands, it's a powerful tool — in the job hunt and on the job.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Big Data?

Big Data?

Big Data is THE biggest buzzwords around at the moment and I believe big data will change the world. Some say it will be even bigger than the Internet. What’s certain, big data will impact everyone's life. Having said that, I also think that the term 'big data' is not very well defined and is, in fact, not well chosen. Let me use this article to explain what's behind the massive 'big data' buzz and demystify some of the hype.
Basically, big data refers to our ability to collect and analyze the vast amounts of data we are now generating in the world. The ability to harness the ever-expanding amounts of data is completely transforming our ability to understand the world and everything within it. The advances in analyzing big data allow us to e.g. decode human DNA in minutes, find cures for cancer, accurately predict human behavior, foil terrorist attacks, pinpoint marketing efforts and prevent diseases. Take this business example: Wal-Mart is able to take data from your past buying patterns, their internal stock information, your mobile phone location data, social media as well as external weather information and analyze all of this in seconds so it can send you a voucher for a BBQ cleaner to your phone – but only if you own a barbeque, the weather is nice and you currently are within a 3 miles radius of a Wal-Mart store that has the BBQ cleaner in stock. That's scary stuff, but one step at a time, let's first look at why we have so much more data than ever before.
In my talks and training sessions on big data I talk about the 'datafication of the world'. This datafication is caused by a number of things including the adoption of social media, the digitalization of books, music and videos, the increasing use of the Internet as well as cheaper and better sensors that allow us to measure and track everything. Just think about it for a minute:
  • When you were reading a book in the past, no external data was generated. If you now use a Kindle or Nook device, they track what you are reading, when you are reading it, how often you read it, how quickly you read it, and so on.
  • When you were listening to CDs in the past no data was generated. Now we listen to Music on your iPhone or digital music player and these devices are recording data on what we are listening to, when and how often, in what order etc.
  • Today, most of us carry smart phones and they are constantly collecting and generating data by logging our location, tracking our speed, monitoring what apps we are using as well as who we are ringing or texting.
  • Sensors are increasingly used to monitor and capture everything from temperature to power consumption, from ocean movements to traffic flows, from dust bin collections to your heart rate. Your car is full of sensors and so are smart TVs, smart watches, smart fridges, etc. Take my new scales (which I - as a gadget freak - love!), they measure (and keep a record of) my weight, my % body fat, my heart rate and even the air quality in our bed room. When I step on the scales they automatically recognize me, take all the measurement and then send them via Bluetooth to my iPhone which gives me stats on how my Body Mass Index etc. is changing. This information is then also synced with the data collected by my Up band, which tracks how many calories I have consumed and burnt in a day and how well I have slept at night.
  • Finally, combine all this now with the billions of internet searches performed daily, the billions of status updates, wall posts, comments and likes generated on Facebook each day, the 400+ million tweets sent on Twitter per day and the 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute.
I am sure you are getting the point. The volume of data is growing at a freighting rate. Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt brings it to a point: “From the dawn of civilization until 2003, humankind generated five exabytes of data. Now we produce five exabytes every two days…and the pace is accelerating.”
Not only do we have a lot of data, we also have a lot of different and new types of data: text, video, web search logs, sensor data, financial transactions and credit card payments etc. In the world of ‘Big Data’ we talk about the 4 Vs that characterize big data:
  • Volume – the vast amounts of data generated every second
  • Velocity – the speed at which new data is generated and moves around (credit card fraud detection is a good example where millions of transactions are checked for unusual patterns in almost real time)
  • Variety – the increasingly different types of data (from financial data to social media feeds, from photos to sensor data, from video capture to voice recordings)
  • Veracity – the messiness of the data (just think of Twitter posts with hash tags, abbreviations, typos and colloquial speech)
So, we have a lot of data, in different formats, that is often fast moving and of varying quality – why would that change the world? The reason the world will change is that we now have the technology to bring all of this data together and analyze it.
In the past we had traditional database and analytics tools that couldn’t deal with extremely large, messy, unstructured and fast moving data. Without going into too much detail, we now have software like Hadoop and others which enable us to analyze large, messy and fast moving volumes of structured and unstructured data. It does it by breaking the task up between many different computers (which is a bit like how Google breaks up the computation of its search function). As a consequence of this, companies can now bring together these different and previously inaccessible data sources to generate impressive results. Let’s look at some real examples of how big data is used today to make a difference:
  • The FBI is combining data from social media, CCTV cameras, phone calls and texts to track down criminals and predict the next terrorist attack.
  • Facebook is using face recognition tools to compare the photos you have up-loaded with those of others to find potential friends of yours (see my post on how Facebook is exploiting your private information using big data tools).
  • Politicians are using social media analytics to determine where they have to campaign the hardest to win the next election.
  • Video analytics and sensor data of Baseball or Football games is used to improve performance of players and teams. For example, you can now buy a baseball with over 200 sensors in it that will give you detailed feedback on how to improve your game.
  • Artists like Lady Gaga are using data of our listening preferences and sequences to determine the most popular playlist for her live gigs.
  • Google’s self-driving car is analyzing a gigantic amount of data from sensor and cameras in real time to stay on the road safely.
  • The GPS information on where our phone is and how fast it is moving is now used to provide live traffic up-dates.
  • Companies are using sentiment analysis of Facebook and Twitter posts to determine and predict sales volume and brand equity.
  • Supermarkets are combining their loyalty card data with social media information to detect and leverage changing buying patterns. For example, it is easy for retailers to predict that a woman is pregnant simply based on the changing buying patterns. This allows them to target pregnant women with promotions for baby related goods.
  • A hospital unit that looks after premature and sick babies is generating a live steam of every heartbeat. It then analyses the data to identify patterns. Based on the analysis the system can now detect infections 24hrs before the baby would show any visible symptoms, which allows early intervention and treatment.
And these examples are just the beginning. Companies are barely starting to get to grips with the new world of big data. In conclusion then, big data will change the world. In terms of language I prefer to talk about the ‘datafication of the world’ in relation to the ever-growing amounts of data and ‘large-scale analytics’ (or simply ‘analytics’ because what is large now will be normal tomorrow) in relation to our ability to analyze and harness big data.
At the moment I am spending a lot of my time helping companies understand the massive potential as well as big threats of big data. I work with executive teams of companies spanning all sectors and sizes to help them develop strategies to harness big data and find each of these discussions and projects amazingly fascinating because they all open up new opportunities. Here, I would love to hear from you. Do you see opportunities for yourself or your business? Does this new world of big data scare you or excite you? Have you already started harnessing big data? Or have I failed to convince you and do you believe big data is just hype? Please share your views...

Ref: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130527063838-64875646-what-the-hell-is-big-data

How Google Search Engine Works?

How Google Search Engine Works?

Ever wondered how Google works? How does it shows the most relevant results when you type in the query? The web has billions of web pages and websites so how the search engine gets us the result within fraction of seconds? Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how it searches for our query from such a huge repository of data? Google came out with a couple of good resources including a infographics and a video by Matt Cutts. So lets get started into world of “How Google works”.
1) Crawling and Indexing
The journey of a query starts before you ever type a search, with crawling and indexing the web of trillions of documents.
Whenever you search for something on internet(web), search engines (eg:Google) send out bots which are kind of algorithmic software to browse through its huge index to search for the most relevant result as per your query. This process is called Crawling.
Google use software known as “web crawlers” to discover publicly available webpages. The most well-known crawler is called “Googlebot.” Crawlers look at webpages and follow links on those pages, much like you would if you were browsing content on the web. They go from link to link and bring data about those webpages back to Google’s servers.  —– Google definition
These crawlers create a copy of the websites that are most relevant to specific keywords (entered by the user). It creates an index of all the web pages relevant to specific keywords to reduce the amount of time if the same query is entered again by some user. This process of indexing sites on basis of keywords is called Indexing.
Google essentially gathers the pages during the crawl process and then creates an index, so we know exactly how to look things up. Much like the index in the back of a book, the Google index includes information about words and their locations. When you search, at the most basic level, our algorithms look up your search terms in the index to find the appropriate pages.
Process
  • Google navigates the web by crawling.
  • It follows links from page to page.
  • Sort the pages by their content and other factors.
  • Keep a track of all things in index.
2) Algorithms
You want the answer, not trillions of webpages. Algorithms are computer programs that look for clues to give you back exactly what you want.
For a typical query, there are thousands, if not millions, of webpages with helpful information. Algorithms are the computer processes and formulas that take your questions and turn them into answers. Today Google’s algorithms rely on more than 200 unique signals or “clues” that make it possible to guess what you might really be looking for. These signals include things like the terms on websites, the freshness of content, your region and PageRank.
Process:
  • User types a query to search.
  • Algorithms get to work looking for clues to better understand what you mean.
  • Based on these clues it pulls relevant documents from the index.
  • Rank the results based on various factors (like: safe search, site quality, user context etc.)
3) Fighting Spam
Every day, millions of useless spam pages are created. We fight spam through a combination of computer algorithms and manual review.
Spam sites attempt to game their way to the top of search results through techniques like repeating keywords over and over, buying links that pass PageRank or putting invisible text on the screen. This is bad for search because relevant websites get buried, and it’s bad for legitimate website owners because their sites become harder to find. The good news is that Google’s algorithms can detect the vast majority of spam and demote it automatically. For the rest, we have teams who manually review sites.
Google is always looking to fight spam to keep the results as relevant as possible.The majority of spam removal is automatic. Google examines other questionable documents by hand. And if they find spam they take manual action which is followed by a informing to the site owner. So site owners can fix and let Google know.
Conclusion
Overall a great resource from Google for people who are new to this. This gives the very basic idea about how search works. It can be very helpful for people who just want an overview of the process instead of going deep into technicalities.

Ref: http://etechdiary.com/how-google-search-engine-works-get-to-know/

How Google Works

How Google Works






Ref: http://ppcblog.com/how-google-works/

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

5 Money-Saving Tools for the Cheap Traveler

5 Money-Saving Tools for the Cheap Traveler
Take a look through them below. Are there any must-use tools we missed? Share your favorites with us in the comments!

1. CouchSurfing

CouchSurfing.org is a hospitality sharing platform that's been around since 2003. Its goal is exactly what it sounds like: to set you up with a couch to "crash" on. To use it, you need to register and fill out a basic profile, with your name, location, hobbies, etc. Once your profile's public, you can indicate how many travelers you're willing to accommodate (it's a rule that you need to be open to hosting if you'll be surfing.)
If you're looking to travel out of town for a week — say, to London — you can search the city for hosts who's accommodation information lines up with your request. From there, it's up to you to contact them and set up and time and place to meet.
There are, of course, understandable hesitations about meeting and staying with complete strangers. The website allows users to leave comments on a host's page — generally speaking, then, the more positive comments a user has, the more likely it is that they're trustworthy. But still be cautious and use your best judgment.
Other sites, like Global Freeloaders, Servas and The Hospitality Club are similar to CouchSurfing, just on a lesser-known scale.

2. WorkAway

We told you about WorkAway back in November, but it's worth mentioning again. In short, it's a website that connects you to participants abroad who are willing to provide food and accommodation in return for work. The site's database consists of more than 4,500 participants from 115 countries. The type of work varies — building, gardening and teaching all pop up on the front page — but the understanding is that you'll work four or five days each week, then be free to travel on the weekends. If you find work in a city you'd like to explore, it gives you the opportunity to save on costs while still experiencing both the environment and culture.
3. WWOOF
Similar to WorkAway, the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is an exchange program that pairs volunteers with hosts in different parts of the world. The niche here is "organic farm," which is where you'll be working. The typical workload consists of 4-6 hours a day for a full day's worth of food and accommodation, so like with WorkAway, there will still be time to travel.

4. HelpX

Similar to the previous two, HelpX is an online platform that connects travelers to hosts willing to provide food and board for work. Locations include farms, bed-and-breakfasts, ranches and hostels, among others.

5. WeHostels

This iPhone app describes itself as a "combination of CouchSurfing and Airbnb." It's free to download, and you can use it to find hostels and book beds at the last minute wherever you're traveling. Once you check in, you can use it to meet other travelers who are staying at the hostel as well.

Ref : http://mashable.com/2013/05/20/traveling-tools/

Friday, April 26, 2013

The Insanity Workout - 20 Minutes to Totally Toned

The Insanity Workout: 20 Minutes to Totally Toned

1. Cue the Madness

What we know: Track stars have amazing bodies. What former 400-meter hurdler Shaun Thompson knows: how you can get one! The trainer, aka Shaun T., designed Insanity, a 10-disc DVD series ($120; BeachBody.com), so successful that it turned a word for lunacy into a synonym for sculpted. The magic behind the routine comes from plyometrics: explosive, full-body exercises that rev your heart rate and ratchet up metabolism to torch megacalories and build lean muscle. We asked Thompson to pick his top multitasking moves to help you get an insane body in only 20 minutes. In as few as two weeks, your sleek physique will be what's causing the mania. You're only six moves away from getting totally toned!
You'll need: Zilch. Unless you count a wardrobe of size-smaller clothes.
The plan: Do each sizzler for 1 minute without stopping between exercises. After you've completed one round, rest for 60 seconds, then go again. Perform the circuit three times (20 minutes and done!), two days in a row. Take a rest day, and repeat. To turn up the burn, put as much oomph as you can into every movement. Hustle!

2. Diamond

Stand with feet wider than hip-width apart. Squat until thighs are almost parallel to floor, then jump, touching hands together above head with elbows bent as you tap heels together, forming diamonds with arms and legs (as shown). Land with soft knees. Repeat quickly for 1 minute.
  • works shoulders, abs, butt, thighs

3. Stace Jacks

Stand with feet together, arms raised to chest level, elbows out, fingertips touching. Jump into a wide squat, pushing hips back as you reach left hand toward right foot, right arm extended behind you (as shown). Jump back to start. Repeat quickly on opposite side. Continue alternating for 1 minute.
  • works shoulders, abs, obliques, butt, thighs

4. Hit the floor

Stand with feet shoulderwidth apart, arms down. Crouch, placing right hand on floor near left instep, left arm extended behind you (as shown). Jump, reaching arms overhead and landing in crouch position with left hand near right instep, right arm extended back. Continue alternating for 1 minute.
  • works abs, butt, thighs
5. Power jump

Stand with feet hip width apart, knees soft, arms down. Squat, extending arms behind you, then jump, bringing knees toward chest as you touch hands to thighs (as shown). Land with soft knees. Repeat quickly for 1 minute.
  • works abs, butt, thighs

6. The Heisman

Stand with feet hip-width apart, elbows bent, arms close to body. Hop on left foot, bringing right knee toward chest as you drive left arm forward, right arm back like a sprinter (as shown). Quickly hop onto right foot, reversing motion. Continue alternating for 1 minute.
  • works shoulders, arms, abs, butt, thighs

7. Switch Kick

Sit with knees bent, feet flat, palms behind you, fingertips pointed toward heels. Keeping hands and feet planted, raise hips off floor and alternate kicking right leg (as shown), then left leg, as high as you can for 1 minute.
  • works triceps, back, abs, butt, thighs

Thursday, April 11, 2013

How to Effectively Use Twitter in Job Search

How to Effectively Use Twitter in Job Search


In the age of social media, we have countless outlets for job searching. Platforms such as LinkedIn are the first to come to mind, but can candidates use Twitter to find jobs as well? This past Thursday the HR teams at Twitter and NPR collaborated in the first live #NPRTwitterChat aimed at helping job seekers use social media as a job search tool.
The chat was centered on six questions that received over 800 tweets from industry professionals all over the U.S., and even some from New Zealand and the UK. Below is a recap of the topics covered in the chat as well as tips you can use in your own job search.
To see a cool Storify roundup of the live chat, check out Amplify Talent, the blog run by NPR's Senior Director of Talent Acquisition and Innovation, Lars Schmidt.

How to Find a Job Using Twitter

The live chat started with a general inquiry into how to use the Twitter platform for job searching. Most responses touched on being an engaging member of the industry in which you want to work, and contributing content to build a social following. NPR's Schmidt talked about Twitter as a job search resource during an interview with Mashable: "Through Twitter you can learn from your peers in whatever discipline you're in, or use it as a platform to share content so you can build awareness of you as a professional, and ultimately position yourself as a thought leader in a particular expertise. Because it is an open network, it affords the opportunity to do that in a very public way."
The following are some of the other themes that came up during the live chat.
  • Follow the industry you are interested in, and participate in communities you care about.
  • Don't just retweet what others are saying; create meaningful content that people care about. Be a thought leader.
  • Use Twitter as a jumping-off point to your more detailed online profiles — a personal blog or LinkedIn profile, for example.
  • Many companies have job-related Twitter handles. Following those is a great way to keep tabs on job openings, rather than searching the company's website.
  • Build your network before you need it; engage with people who do what you want to do.
  • Don't be overly professional. Twitter is a great way to showcase your personality and talk to people about your interests.

Benefits of Twitter Over Other Social Networks

Twitter isn't the first social network someone typically thinks about when applying for a job, but it does have some unique advantages over other social platforms. The lack of barriers to connect with thought leaders was one of the most-mentioned advantages during the live chat.
  • Twitter's openness makes it a useful platform for showcasing your talents, personality, style, and interests. Recruiters can get an idea of who you are, and if you would be a good fit at their company. It's not just transparency of candidates, but companies as well.
  • It is great for connecting meaningfully with people and companies you don't already know, which is much more difficult to do on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. You can develop a rapport with people you may not have access to in real life.
  • It's easier and more convenient for a recruiter to reply to your tweet than to pick up the phone. Twitter facilitates quicker responses.

How to Be an Engaging Candidate on Twitter

Just having a Twitter handle isn't enough to attract the attention of recruiters. They're going to be looking at what kind of content you share on your account. You want to share a good mix of interesting and thought-provoking content, as well as tweets that give a taste of your personality.
  • Show what you are passionate about, give recruiters an idea of your personality and interests outside of your career.
  • Recruiters know that if they hire you, they also inherit your network. So make sure to build a solid network of people both inside and outside your industry.
  • Interact and respond to the people in your networks. Add value to your community.

How to Network Effectively on Twitter

There are best practices of use with any social media platform, and they become even more important when you're looking for a job. Schmidt elaborated on this issue: "Use social media to help others and to contribute your expertise to the communities where you work. If you do that, you'll be building up a lot of capital in those networks. So when you need a favor, people will be much more apt to help you out — because they know that you've contributed a lot to that network. You're not going to build a very good network if you just promote yourself."
  • First impressions are just as important on social media. Make sure you have a great online description and photo. Be professional but interesting.
  • Don't just use your Twitter as a means of self-promotion — be interested in what other people are doing and engage with them. Share others' stuff before your share your own.
  • Actually network. Build lists for people across different disciplines. Join chats. Interact and start conversations. Initiate discussions with people who inspire you. It's okay to step outside of your comfort zone.
  • Share content that is valuable. The more relevant contributions you make, the more others will want to continue to follow you.

The Future of Recruiting

At the end of the Twitter chat, the conversation turned to online presences replacing resumes. The overwhelming opinion was that resumes won't become obsolete, but candidates' online presence will enhance their resumes. Resumes are still useful for screening a large batch of applicants, and not every industry is well-represented online.
Schmidt added that although he doesn't think online presence will replace resumes completely, it is important for discoverability to have some presence online. "There are certain skill sets that aren't necessarily as active on social media," he says. Companies offering blue-collar jobs aren't as actively involved in social media, so that hiring is going to look more traditional. But having an online presence whether it is a blog, through social networks, having a social presence with links to your work to supplement your resume definitely enhances your offerings as a candidate. You want to have a digital presence on the web — you want recruiters to be able to find you."
How do you utilize Twitter as a job search resource? Let us know in the comments.

Ref: http://mashable.com/2013/02/09/twitter-job-search/