Logitech Rally Bar Huddle and Sight AI camera Brings Equitable Meeting Experiences @Logitech

Hi Guys, 

Logitech Rally Bar Huddle and Sight AI camera brings equitable meeting experiences to small rooms and makes hybrid work meetings more equitable for remote participants.

This week, South Africa got a taste of the future of equitable meetings with the launch of the Logitech Rally Bar Huddle and Sight AI camera. As the newest additions to Logitech’s family of conference cameras, the Logitech Rally Bar Huddle and Sight AI are designed to deliver equitable video conferencing meetings with ease.

Huddling up:

As companies redesign their office spaces to create more collaborative spaces for their hybrid workforce, huddle rooms have become more popular. According to research firm Futuresource, 68% of companies plan to invest in AV technology for small meeting rooms and huddle spaces.

“Huddle rooms are popping up faster than companies can video-enable them,” said Charis Nicholas, Head of High Touch and End User Video Collaboration in Southern Africa. “We designed the Rally Bar Huddle from the ground up to have the optimal AI functionality for modern equitable meetings while coming in at a price point that is affordable for any and every single huddle room out there."

Designed with built-in AI video intelligence, 4K image quality, and AI-based noise suppression, the Rally Bar Huddle is the gold standard for organisations looking to enable equitable meetings. Adhering to the highest sustainability standards, the plastic parts in Rally Bar Huddle include a minimum of 42% certified post-consumer recycled plastic. It is also quick to set up, simple to manage, and comfortably integrates with Tap IP through CollabOS.

The Rally Bar Huddle is specifically designed for rooms of up to six people to ensure every participant is seen and heard in 4K clarity. Using built-in AI video intelligence, meeting hosts can welcome remote participants to the conversation without compromising engagement. The newly improved ported audio system gives Rally Bar Huddle twice the audio quality of the Logitech MeetUp. It is partnered by an advanced sound pickup via six beamforming mics and AI-based noise suppression that creates a natural meeting experience for remote employees.

A Sight to behold:

Logitech Sight is an AI-powered tabletop camera that works with the Rally Bar or Rally Bar Mini to intelligently capture the best perspective of meeting participants and track their conversations as they move around the conference room. Currently, more than 43% of remote employees report not feeling included. The Logitech Sight helps solve this by giving remote workers an “at the table” experience when meeting with in-office colleagues.

Logitech Sight AI camera makes hybrid work meetings more equitable for remote participants. By extending audio and video into larger rooms, using the Rally Bar or Rally Bar Mini camera at the front of the room, Sight AI gives participants access to a range of alternate perspectives.

“We’re no longer all at home in equal-sized video boxes like we were during the height of the pandemic. In a hybrid work world, a mix of in-office and remote workers increases the challenge of delivering equitable experiences to everyone, “said Charis Nicholas.

With dual 4K cameras and seven beamforming microphones, Sight captures conversations and nonverbals as they naturally happen. This, in turn, enhances employee participation and engagement by helping remote attendees feel as if they’re in the room. Coming later after launch, Sight will enable RightSight with Smart Switching, adaptive intelligence that selects the best view between the tabletop camera and front-of-room camera, intuitively switching between views of in-person interactions and tracking conversations naturally.

By integrating with leading video conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet, Sight makes it easy to use hybrid-friendly meeting layout features like Zoom Smart Gallery and Microsoft Teams dynamic view. Compatibility with popular platforms also assures IT teams that their smart room technology will continue to meet the evolving needs of their hybrid workforce.

About Logitech

Logitech helps all people pursue their passions and is committed to doing so in a way that is good for people and the planet. We design hardware and software solutions that help businesses thrive and bring people together when working, creating gaming, and streaming. Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, Logitech International is a Swiss public company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI). Find Logitech and more of its business products and enterprise solutions at www.logitech.com/business, the company blog, Logitech Business or @LogitechBiz.

Aum Namah Shivay!

Till next time...Aashish

Thanks! Cheers!!!

https://linktr.ee/thelifesway

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Your Lifestyle and Technology Blog for the Last 11 Years!

I am #TGSavvy, Are you?

Hi Guys,

Tech Girl is an upcoming technology website where all content is written by women for women and everyone else. This is written from the angle of how a women looks gadgets and feels about the same.It's the brainchild of Sam Wright who has been blogging since many years and found the gap in tech content writing and thought of filling the same.

She wanted to share whatever she learned all these years and came up with the Tech Girl #TGSavvy Bloggers meet to help fellow and new bloggers from Johannesburg and nearby areas.

Mustek Limited offered their conference and presentation room for the 60+ bloggers meet along with a lot of goodies for all the bloggers. Mecer is one of their Android & Windows tablets/laptop brand which is gaining a lot of popularity because of it's value for money.

The tablets looks great and offers a lot of capabilities considering it's price. Some of the tablets comes with earphones, 3G and leather covers.

The day started with the breakfast being served along with coffee, tea and cold drinks. Soon afterwards, we were all given goodies bag as we entered the conference hall at Mustek office in Midrand. 

The various sponsors for the goodies bag and breakfast/lunch are - Samsung (Notepad), Intel_Africa (Pen), Nedbank(Pen & tool kit with torch), Joburg Style (magazine), Macaroon (gift vocuher), Anni King (Gift voucher), Scoin Shop (Nelson Mandela Coin), Snapp Cab (Gift Voucher), Trinket Trove (3in1 bands) & Paint Night (Fizzers and gift voucher) and Mustek/Mecer (Small notepad, water bottle, Handy Tool kit).

Here is Sam with all the Mecer tablets on display for bloggers to check out. They also offered discount vouchers on the already value for money tablets. If anyone wants the voucher and wants to buy Mecer tablet, they can email me.

Tech Girl Editor started the presentation catering to both the Blogger and Wordpress users. I resonated with her knowledge about blogging but was totally unaware about the Wordpress thing. I tried to use wordpress but even posting a photograph makes me crazy whereas it is so easy on Google's Blogger. This workshop really took some of my fears of wordpress away and gave some real insights into both the worlds. 

Sam covered a lot of topics ranging from domain names, storage, content, customizations, ad sense & affiliate programs, themes, designs, plugins, hosting issues, web designers, c panel, backing up your blog, white screen of death, exporting your blog, migrating to other domains, security, hacking & Google Analytic. It was a lot of information that was shared for everyone to consume and think about. She also shared some of her secrets to increase traffic and make your blog interesting. 

Ultimately, Sam said that - Content is King, if you write well, then you are bound to succeed. Keep learning and keep asking for help from fellow bloggers. It's a community and it's meant to stay together and help each other improve on their skills as a blogger. 

After the presentation lunch was ready and bloggers enjoyed the lovely food spread containing vegetarian options also which are generally not available anywhere else I go for a launch event or party. 

Overall, I came home with a lot of learning and reflections that I thought of but missed them considering in this day to day job and work environment. It was a morning well spent and received some useful goodies too. I met some lovely bloggers Katchie from SA Bloggers, Meruschka from Mzansi Girl, Namitha from My eyes on the world during the meet and above all Sam Wright. I came to know about her during the #MissionSamsung second blogging challenge for #SamsungSmartTV as she was the chosen Top 10. Thanks to @SABloggers 's Sandy Nene for tweeting about this workshop and supporting this worthy cause. I definitely believe in the motto of #weblogforlove.

Follow Tech Girl & Sam Wright on twitter. For those who missed this workshop, Tech Girl will do special posts on all #blogging advices shared on their website soon. 

Cheers!!!

Contact me for your product's review on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway or email - thelifesway@gmail.com

Indiblogger DID4 Meet - #DanceItOut for Women Security

It was the time to #DanceItOut as Dance India Dance Season 4 has to start in another three days and the new judges and ZEE TV chose Indibloggers as their partners. I was very excited to meet all the blogger friends after a lot of time and also as it might be my last meet this year as I am travelling to other country for sometime. Just like everytime, the event location was awesome and this time it was The Oberoi, Delhi. With the amazing food, snacks & drinks being served everyone was sure to follow their passion to dance and to blog. Again it finally came down to the moments of truth which again became the meet theme. The social issues we are facing today was the theme to #danceitOut and finally blog it out after the meet. 

The safety of Women- a topic that called for heated discussions and massive protests throughout the country. India has witnessed a huge uproar, a revolution against lecherous members of the society who have caused immense shame to the entire country through their heinous acts.

The question on everyone's lips… the question that has been echoing around the globe, which has been blaring out of televisions and radio stations worldwide – “What is wrong with Indian men”?  Why is it that there are incessant incidences reported almost every day and even after numerous claims and promises by the government, police and judiciary nothing seems to have improved? Infact, the situation has worsened over time. Who is responsible for the safety of women in a country of 1 billion people?

The answer lies within each one of us, the only problem is we do not realize it. It needs a lot of brainstorming to identify that WE are responsible for all that is happening around us. Eve teasing, molestation and rape are the draconian forms of everyday petty incidences at our homes that we ignore. Each time a couple repents the birth of a girl child, however secretly, a shameful sin transpires. Each time a family favors their son over their daughter, the seed of superiority is sown in the mind of the little boy. The family gives fuel to this fire of superiority everyday by showing preferences towards the boy. It can be as trivial as letting him to go out and play while refraining his sister from doing so or dividing the responsibilities of household work among siblings in such a way that the girl gets to be holed up in the kitchen while the boy can go out to the market. As Mahatma Gandhi has said, for the first seven years of their lives, children are like clay. They will mold into respectful, responsible and honest citizens if you teach them to. This is the time children need to be taught equality and respect towards the opposite gender. We have to nip the mere thought of gender inequality in its bud.

The momentum gathered by the fight for a woman’s safety reveals a sad and bitter truth about our society. I believe that this issue cannot be solved superficially by shouting slogans or amending a few laws. After all, it is upto us to either follow the laws effectively or to flaunt them. If every father stops feeling the burden of his daughter’s marriage, if every mother seeks pride in letting her daughter make important decisions of her life herself, I bet the problem is solved there itself.

The situation we face today is not because of a man’s libido. Nor does it depend on the clothes of the girl or how late she chooses to come back home. The problem lies in the eyes of the beholder. The problem is the lack of respect given to women in this patriarchal society, by men and women alike. If every individual recognizes that a girl is not an object, that her place is not reserved in the kitchen, that she is not merely meant to cook and make life easier for her husband, that she is someone who has her own priorities, ambitions and dreams, we will triumph over this problem.

A major lesson that we all need to learn is that the Indian man is not solely responsible. At a time when everyone is ready to jump down the throat of every man they see, we must not forget the brave men who stood up to protect their friends, girlfriends, sisters or even complete strangers. Many men, like Keenan and Reuben have lost their lives fighting to stand up for the equality they believe in. Let us not forget that women are equally responsible. A few days after the Delhi gang rape, a woman sensitization program was being conducted by a senior woman scientist. In front of a large audience comprising of policemen, the public and senior government officials she lambasted the victim .In her opinion the gang rape victim should not have fought back while being raped since that may have ‘saved’ her intestines. She also wondered what she was doing at 9 PM alone with a boy. When powerful women are actively participating in victim blaming, how do we expect to change the mindset of boys who are brought up by these women?

Let us not forget that the responsibility of keeping a woman ‘safe’ is not merely restricted to protecting her from rape. It encompasses protecting her dignity and self esteem even after she has been raped. It means to never, ever blame the victim or make any excuses for the crime. It implies never questioning her intentions of staying out at night or wearing what she wants to. Would we question our sons if they wanted to wear shorts and go out for ice cream at midnight? Protecting her safety signifies protecting her from discrimination at every single step of her life.

Today, when the entire nation is clamoring over the problem, cribbing over the rules, criticizing the judiciary, the police and the government, I appeal to the people of India, dig deep into your family, because you have the capacity to bring about a change in your family and your neighborhood. Feel proud to be the father of a girl, don’t curb her freedom. Instead teach your son to respect his sister. Teach your daughter to be fearless and independent. Teach your children equality. Do not let their genders guide what you teach them. 

Irrespective of their sex, teach your children to cook and to play cricket. Teach them to sew buttons and to plan for their future. If your son is interested in fashion, send him to an art class. If your daughter is an athlete, coach her for the Olympics. While many have labeled this period in India as a fight for woman empowerment, I believe this is a fight for equality.And whatever medium we choose to communicate this feeling we need to stop this degradation of the society. Dance is the best medium to bring out your inner emotions and I feel that I could make a change in the society by changing myself and others with whom I come in contact with. We are all humans and should behave like one. 

Thanks to Indiblogger and ZeeTV for bringing out this theme of #DanceItOut and giving us a chance to meet all the judges Mudassar Khan and Feroz Khan to share our feelings with them. They are the true carrier of these feelings when they express the same on TV, more and more audience will listen and will take a stand on women security. 

Cheers!!! 

Get connected to #DanceItOut on https://www.facebook.com/ZeeTvIndia

NIKON #ThroughTheLens Blogger Meet Delhi 19 Oct 2013

Hi Guys,

@NikonIndia is a very active handle on twitter and is always rich in contests and great photography tips. Saturday morning after my breakfast and tea, I saw a tweet mentioning various famous people inviting for something happening in Delhi. No idea about what that was all about but I too took my chances of promoting my blog and asking about the invite for myself. Soon after three tweets, I got the follow back and the invite to the event which was about to start in another one and half hour at b-bar Saket. I took Delhi metro from Iffco Chowk and reached Malviya Nagar and finally the destination by 145pm. Finally took the desired lift and this is what was there to welcome me.

b-bar is an awesome place and the location has zen like quality and perfection in everything from decor to placement of tables, chairs etc. I got welcomed by the Nikon team and handed over a goodies bag. While walking towards the stage set, I recognised a person whom I have never seen in live but always respected and loved his work. Mr. Raghu Rai was there and chatting with Nikon team. I felt inspired and thanked Nikon team instantly for the invite. I surely knew that this is going to be a knowledge of lifetime by listening to an ace photographer. Meanwhile, we waited for some time and met other fellow bloggers and photographers. Finally, the program started with Raghav Mandava taking the stage and doing his standup comdedy act. Everyone enjoyed his comic timing and jokes through out the event.

It was time to listen to the legend Mr. Raghu Rai, and I was all ears. He started with telling us about how photography has become a religion for him and he feels himself in meditation whenever he is out there in the streets with his well planned gear capturing people and moments. He loves Street photography much more than any other because it's an extended reflection of his own life. He feels that he is a common man himself and then captures the beauty of everyday changing streets across India and world. He said, if you want to take good snaps, empty your mind first and then set your foot on the street. It took him a lifetime to reach a place where he is now. 

I felt, he really had this Zen like calmness and humbleness imbibed into his personality and the perfect place chosen by Nikon India really made all the difference. I really learned a lot listening to him for ten minutes what I could have not learned reading thousand of books.

After this we were welcomed by Mr. Hiroshi Takashina, MD Nikon India to the event. He presented some unknown facts about the Nikon and his personal stint of traveling 92 cities across India. He is one of the most humble guys I have ever met. My love for Nikon brand became much more positive after this meet and meeting with the team behind Nikon India. 

Finally, it was time to take the stage by Nikon India technical team as they took us through various facts and aspects of DSLR photography and breaking myths every minute. 

 The team started presenting by taking us through DX vs FX cameras and the fact that F mount has not being changed ever since the inception of DSLR camera by Nikon. 80mn NIKKOR lenses have been manufactured by Nikon in 80 years of their opening the shop. Every lens is made with precision it demands and to the best of quality possible.

The difference between ED lenses and normal lenses. Some more diffraction differences between Nikkor lenses and those who are not using that technology.

They took us through various small presentations about DSLR cameras, range, types of photography, the events and Nikon School and some video's shot using DSLR cameras.

The team took us through various genre of photgraphy and I took these images of the slides for one of my friend Kuldeep Singh whose D600 camera got me invited to this event in the first place because I blogged about that camera and various shots I clicked using that camera on our Khajuraho trip.

Wildlife Photography - 1. Get the Range

Wildlife Photography - 2. Get the Sharpness

Wildlife Photography - 3. Get Closer to the Wild

Wildlife Photography - 4. Get the Speed

 I received some awesome goodies from the team as NIKON DSLR strap and a 4gb Lexar SD Card along with a tshirt. My DSLR has started coming to me in parts though but I felt very happy that finally it started it's journey towards my hands! :-)

Thanks a lot to Nikon India for the invite and looking forward to more such events happening in Delhi NCR. Oh forgot to tell you all that this event marked the launch of D5300 and D610 DSLR cameras in India. D5300 has some features added into the D5200 like GPS and Wifi built in capabilties.
More info on http://www.nikon.co.in/en_IN/products/categories/dslr.page?


A twitter competition to win a book by Mr. Raghu Rai was won by our @ArvindPassey with a perfect Street photograph he took in the recent @SoDelhi Tweasure hunt we participated last week. Heartiest Congratulations!

I really felt jealous as I too has that kind of snap but couldn't apply logic that Raghu Sir will like street snap much more than others showcased by everyone else. Meanwhile, I was able to click a snap of his signature on his book on Delhi.

Thanks once again and really felt great to be a part of this event. Looking forward to having Nikon DSLR camera in my hands sooner than ever!!!

Universe....Are you listening? I am sure, you are!

Cheers!!!

Contact me for your product's review on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway or email - thelifesway@gmail.com

Indiblogger Goodies - ZoomIn Indi Mug

Hi Guys,

Thanks to Indiblogger for making me a winner in one of their after meet blog contest where I won this amazing black coffee Mug from my favourite online store for photo prints ZOOMIN.com

I am so grateful to Indiblogger for all the contests that happens on their network.

Become a member of this network at www.indiblogger.in

Cheers!!!

Virtual Escape Into Freshness - An Indiblogger Meet

Hi Guys,

Indiblogger planned another meet on the occasion of Renie's birthday in the city where he can enjoy the same with all his blogging community and friends. This time the sponsor was AmbiPur Mini Vent Clip and turn smelly air into smiley air and join the “Smelly to Smiley” movement! Febreze CAR is the first car product to use Febreze Odor Elimination technology to eliminate odors and leave nothing behind but freshness.

I was not in Chennai and neither registered for the event as I stay in Gurgaon but I wanted to join the event somehow and social networking channel Twitter fulfilled my wish of being there in the meet. The tweets started flowing on the hashtag defined for the event by AmbiPur #AmbiPurFreshNHappy 

I started following the tweets based on the hashtag, the Ambipur & Indiblogger twitter handles. It really kept me live in the meet with all the fellow blogger tweeting so as to win Samsung S4 and other goodies.

The Admin of AmbiPur was really active and responded to my tweets also, so the interaction was really great on this virtual meet for me.

Here are some of the tweets I sent - First of all birthday wishes -
@AmbiPurIndia @renieravin many many happy returns of the day! Enjoy your day!

#AmbiPurFreshNHappy @indiblogger my fav road trip was 2500 kms of Drive from london to lake district, highlands, inverness, Edinburgh! Wow

Based on this snap, my reply was -  

Nice looks great context for the meet RT @AmbiPurIndia: The #AmbiPurFreshNHappy meet set up looks like this. http://po.st/6TxG9y






Just like the Microsoft meet, this time also a choosing of number games was also played at this Chennai meet and people won various prizes along with a Rock. 

The other game that was played was - 

Game of tables seems great! Do all on table get Goodies? RT @AmbiPurIndia: Wait, you couldn't make it to the event? #AmbiPurFreshNHappy

I asked them if all on the table wins to which they replied - 

@araijain if you win, yes :D #AmbiPurFreshNHappy

Other tweets - 

So much wanted to come to chennai gor this event from gurgaon RT @AmbiPurIndia: Our centurions at the #AmbiPurFreshNHappy meet. 200 bloggers

Oh great! I am on a virtual table of twitter just like aroma of ambipur fragnances! RT @AmbiPurIndia if you win, yes :D #AmbiPurFreshNHappy

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy really ambipur fragrances made my 4 years old car free of bad smell & awesome freshness for a great drive!

The admin of AmbiPur asked me to try the new Mini Vent Clip and try for myself to which  I replied- 

@AmbiPurIndia I hope to get one from you guys soon! #AmbiPurFreshNHappy else I will be happy to buy once my stock of 3 new ambipur ends!

During the presentation round by AmbiPur technology behind keeping the car fresh, the various challenges were posted like - 

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy yes, smell of socks n farts are the biggest challenges ambipur faces each day!

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy what a day for Chennai! One Indiblogger meet, one bday to celebrate, one MATCH to see, one CUP to lift!

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy I m virtually enjoying the meet through tweets n pics from fellow bloggers! :-)

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy just saw a slide of technology behind freshness of Ambipur! Awesome is the word!

#AmbiPurFreshNHappy tweeples & indibloggers of Chennai will definitely win goodies on my behalf from @AmbiPurIndia

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy if you are fresh, you feel happy automatically! Ambipur brings in freshness in difficult situations also!

 

There were some skits that were prepared impromptu by the teams then and there and I really missed this one because all the tweeple bloggers were engrossed in the act so no tweets flowed.

 

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy prizes makes me happy and keeps me fresh but so far on the other side of the country, i can only wish! ;-)

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy I think I crashgated @indiblogger meet in Chennai through my tweetroid tsunami! Enjoy the fun! ;-)

What's your favorite road trip? Tell us using #AmbiPurFreshNHappy & you could win a Samsung Galaxy S4!

#AmbiPurFreshNHappy @indiblogger my fav road trip was 2500 kms of Drive from london to lake district, highlands, inverness, Edinburgh! Wow!

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy @indiblogger a bike trip from Haridwar to rishikesh with my fiancée! Awesome drive & evening to remember!

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy @indiblogger road trip from London to Wales! Awesomeness at it's best!

Finally back to business -

@AmbiPurIndia #AmbiPurFreshNHappy @indiblogger finally getting back to home and glued to IPL FINALS between CSK & MI!

@indiblogger #AmbiPurFreshNHappy @AmbiPurIndia thanks a lot guys! Enjoyed the meet via twitter from Gurgaon! Thanks to all bloggers! :-)

I hope that you guys got the feel of the event but I really enjoyed the event on twitter very much. 

Thanks a lot!

#HPCONNECTEDMUSIC - Me Myself and Music

Hi Guys!

Music has always been an integral part of our lives. It starts from the time when our moms used to sing lullaby to make us sleep during our childhood. As we grow older we came across the music through Radio, TV channels, Music concerts, movies and various other platforms. I have seen myself running to  
music stores every sunday to check on any new cassette tapes released for the upcoming movies. Those were at that time priced around Rs. 20-25/- and after discount I could buy three of them in Rs. 50/-. For that Rs. 50/- I need to work hard on my studies so that mom allows us to spend the same on cassettes.

When I was doing Engineering during 1997-2001 years, my mom dad gifted me a personal walkman and I cherish it throughout and it really made my travel comfortable. I used to purchase blank cassettes and then ask local music shop to fill in my favorite songs into the same. In those days, whosoever has the cassette and the latest songs asap was considered the COOLEST among his/her peers. I used to stay on the top and used to lend my cassettes to my friends and family. I have innumerable number of cassettes still today and I bought a special Sony Walkman from London to play all my oldies. The same is with my father who is easygoing in terms of technology to play his religious music early mornings with attached external speakers. In between I spent some time in Delhi NCR for some training so I bought this FM tuner small radio which really made me glued to box of songs – you never know what you are gonna listen to next kind.

As the number of years increased, desktop computer became more popular in households and I too bought one with good speakers. There started the path of MP3 CD's made available in the market at Rs.  25-50/-. It will have atleast 10 movie songs and I collected a lot of songs. I shared my Hard disk with other computer holding friends and put all the songs in 80gb hdd. It was a regular routine fetching songs from people all over in my city. Finally HDD crashed and all my data was lost.

As I entered the years of job as a lecturer I had this personal stereo from Philips accompanying me wherever I worked. As I entered my MBA college in Hyderabad in 2005, my brother, mom dad came to meet me and brought me a Nice MP3 – 256mb player operating with AAA size battery. This one really helped me with my docs of MBA and also could play music as and when required. The same only worked for a year with replacement.

I went to Singapore to meet my brother & he gifted me Motorola Rokr phone basically meant to play great music. It was an awesome phone and I really loved all my favourite songs on the same. Meanwhile, my brother reached USA and came in touch with Apple iPOD Nano 4gb and purchased the same with engravings on my bday. I had to pay Rs. 2300/- in Hyderabad to FEDEX for the customs duties. Apple device was awesome and it played continuous music for 14 hours at a stretch. All my train journeys from Hyd to Delhi – the music was always available.

As I joined the job in 2007, my Motorola Rokr died and I was gifted Nokia N73 Music edition by my soon to be Brother-in-law. The phone is still one of the best music phones with good speakers. As I grew older changed several mobiles to reach Nexus One and iPod Shuffle but music has been with me throughout. Ipod Nano gifted by my brother on my 26^th bday was lost last year by my wife. I felt immensely sad and devastated.

This is the journey of my life which has been made very easy with Music. It has been an important part of my life. With the growing storage capacities of the memories inside the mobile/MP3devices my memories too grew immensely. Music makes life live as the Aashiqui logo goes and it remains my favourite album till date. As the music of Aashiqui 2 is picking up so is the love for music.
I still remember the time when I was preparing for the MBA exams and used to listen to movie - Lakshay – haan yehi rasta hai tera, tune ab jaana hai! for all the motivational aspects.

When I was hurt in love or separated from my gf, I loved to listen – Musafir – zindagi main kabhi koi aaye na rabba.

When it's raining – Tip Tip Barsa paani – Mohra because of Viju Shah's music. I always loved the music of Viju Shah in many of his movies.

The album which I can listen to again and again is “Yeh Vaada Raha”. I feel great to listen to all the songs from this movie.

My other favourite songs are -

1.        Tujh mein rab dikhta hai – Rab ne bana de jodi
2.        Haal-e-dil tumko sunata – Murder 2
3.        Chehra hai yaa chand khila hai – Saagar
4.        tu jaane na (unplugged version) – Ajab Prem ki gazab kahani
5.        Chak de India – Chak de India
6.        Kal ho na ho – Kal ho na ho
7.        Isq risk – Mere brother ki dulhan
8.        Pehli Nazar mein – Race
9.        Give me some sunshine – 3 Idiots
10.      Yunhi chala chal – Swades
11.      Tu jo Nahin – Woh Lamhe
12.      Roobaroo – Rang De Basanti
13.      Mitwa – Kabhi alvida na kehna
14.      Pehla pehla pyar hai – Hum Aapke hai kaun
15.      Kahe toh se sajna – Maine Pyar Kiya
16.      Aaja meri jaan – Aaja meri jaan

The list goes on and on.

My favorite artist has been Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and I loved his album SALAAM very much. I can listen to Mera gham aur meri khushi / Yeh shaam phir nahin aayegi many time a day.

As my interest in music increased I also felt that I am inclined to love Earphones and Headphones a lot. I have bought a lot of earphones and headphones (Sony, Sennheiser, Panasonic, Philips etc) but the search to find the best one is still far as I have not used Beats or Bose or Ludicrous etc.

But as I look backwards I do realize that knowingly or unknowingly I have been part of Music Piracy. As in this new world where you have thousands of websites offering free music to download and increasing libraries of songs we need to come in terms with this and stop this misuse of music services.

HP has come with HP Connected Music service in partnership with Universal Music & Hungama where they are offering unlimited download to users who have purchased their new laptop HP ENVY 4 – 1105TX Sleekbook. This service will even let you listen to songs offline on your devices. This music library has wide collection of various genres from Bollywood films and regional films & international music too. I hope these steps will definitely reduce Music Piracy and will make people aware that they are doing theft in case they are downloading songs from the sites offering them at no cost.  More details are available at https://ssl.www8.hp.com/in/en/ad/hp-connected-music/overview.html

We say Music is our life and when we ask ourselves, have I ever bought any song online or have bought OST CD/Cassette? The answer will be very less number of time. I will say that I don't download myself, I take it from my friends through NFC/Bluetooth/data cable or whatsoever communication medium but the truth needs to be faced that we don't respect the creativity of all the people involved in creating the same. Thanks to all the online stores which now have made it easy to purchase the music online and jobs that are paying us good amount of money to enable us to either buy our fav Artist online or wait for the song to be played on TV/Radio.

HP has launched a great service with more than 1 Million songs with 20000+ artists of your choice and you can have this service at no charges for the very first year with no limit on downloading. May be in the future the app will be available on various devices as we now run in this world of 3G/4G and always connected & then we will be #HPCONNECTEDMUSIC. Moreover this app will help you see your favourite artist live and a lot of goodies from the one you listen to most. Winning is an art and not a science and few will be lucky ones who will really keep themselves connected to their passion of life - MUSIC.

I hope to live my dream of music through whatever I can do and to enjoy at the upcoming live Indiblogger meet with #HPCONNECTEDMUSIC to learn more about the same. 

It is really gonna be fun as PSY takes on the Indiblogger stage with Gentleman in Gangnam Style on Chikni Chameli or Fevicol se songs! Oh...Balma...

Thanks All!



Update:- This post is a prize winning entry #HPConnectedMusic 
Indiblogger meet at Gurgaon.  Thanks a lot to all from HP India as well as Indiblogger team for this HP Laptop. I am very happy to won this with an year of subscription to #HPConnectedMusic App to download all my favorite songs for free! 

Contact me for your product's review on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway or email - thelifesway@gmail.com 
 
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My tryst with Indiblogger Microsoft Office 365

Hi All,

I started blogging on 27 Dec 2012 and thought that I will make it a photo blog. Same day I relogin to Twitter account and found out that there is different world out there & I am missing on all the fun. To make short story more short I got approved by Indiblogger after I wrote 15-18 posts & my twitter tweets picked up too. Since that day I was wanting to attend the meets organized by the IB team and was going through all the earlier events and what people experienced at the events with lot of free goodies, wins along with entertaiment and laughing their hearts out! But yes a LIVE experience is required to know what blogging is all about and what IB meets are like...several quotes coming to my mind but let them rest in books! :-) You got them in your minds what I was about to say! LoL

Why I am talking about Twitter also? You will come to know by the end of this post. :-)

I was all set to leave for the Blue Frog, Mehrauli on my bike & I did reached the venue before time and found a place to park my bike just outside the premises helped by security guards.

Finally, I entered the hall to see Mr. Arvind Passey with his wife Sangita. It was great to see him though I didn't had a chance to interact with him. I did met Aditya Pranav at the gates where we took some photographs with the posters. I made it to the registration desk and got my FIRST INDIBLOGGER TSHIRT & that was the moment of joy and happiness. The interiors of the Blue Frog was awesome with Orange posters and neon lights. It was heavenly feeling as eyes could not capture all the beauty.

We did chose a seat near the stage as it will give us more visibility and we will feel more closer to prizes. We because I had Aditya Pranav with me throughout this meet to accompany. We sat near a person whom we talked to  & he turned out to be a prestigious movie blogger with all the movies he reviewed were Classics & European Cinema. APOTOFVESTIGES explained us about his blog and we too shared our blogs with him. Got several new ideas that I will be implementing in my blog soon. We all met Ramit Narang, a blogger with 10 years+ experience and running his own US firm. He has taken social media to another level and gave us all great tips & tricks of the business.

Ali & Aditya were nice fellows and we became a trio of new friends. Time flew away till the time meet started with Aroop taking the stage. He started with applauding for all of us for making it to the meet. The best thing that I liked about the guy is the NAMASKAR pose he did several time to appreciate all the love showered by all the bloggers on him during the meet. It was a small gesture but I noticed it dude!

Receiving Cash Prize of Rs. 1500/-

Started off with a game to choose numbers between 1 to 10 and people started raising hands and the first number chosen turned out to be a Stone procured from the surroundings. People won random prizes in that round with cash prize of Rs500, Microsoft Arc Mouse & Microsoft Tshirts. Finally the lady luck did shine on me as last number left was number 10 and it has the cash prize of Rs. 1500/- associated with it. I was jumping with joy. Wow! Awesome my first ever meet and I have cash prizes to take back home. Thanks.

After that there was a 30 seconds of fame for bloggers where prizes were given to all who's blog url was displayed on the screen. It was a nice feeling to know what people are and have achieved in their lives and what they are passionate about? My blog didn't passed the lucky draw test there. 

Microsoft 365 India Director Ms. Ritu Chaturvedi walked us through the features of the package with a video presentation of Mr. Steve Balmer, CEO, Microsoft Inc. Ritu explained to us about all the features of the package as it's based on 4 pillars i.e. Devices; Social; Cloud

& Control. This package was available across all devices no matter which one you are using as you just need internet connection. By Social it meant that all your social profiles will be displayed from Facebook, linkedin and others in a single timeline. All your data will be saved on Cloud and you could access it anywhere any device limited upto 5 just like Kindle app. Control is the security and other features that protects your business and important data from theft and risks. Overall it was a great presentation and I did bugged her a lot with my queries. Airtel too has to show some slides as they tied up to make the bundled package available for all types of users. The pricing of the product suits all types of businesses.

There was one benefit of using this new Office 365 that you can write it offline and it will automatically post to your blog. It has Skydrive features to store your files in Cloud and Lync to have an online meet with other people via IM/Chat & video chat too. A game was played with all who wore Striped clothes and was given Microsoft Tees. A booze break was announced immediately after this. There was a Microsoft stand to change your extra large sizes tees and get them replaced with right sizes of your choice & pick up extra tees if you want them.

During the break I got to meet Karthik and came to know how and why Indiblogger was created? It was a nice concept and really I felt that entrepreneur feeling all kicking inside me. While writing this blog a googling to check the spelling of Aroop's name brought me to a link to be shared with all you guys! - http://yourstory.in/2011/08/our-community-has-been-growing-at-close-to-around-80-yoy-vineet-rajan-indiblogger/   I came to know that there is no Wikipedia page for the Indiblogger team or it might be the case that I could  not google enough.

Booze Break

Microsoft Team did organized some contest there under the sun and a lot of people won Rs. 1000/- cash prizes. A lot of non-veg snacks was served with various Mocktails and Beers. I could not find any veg snack & didn't put effort also to get them. At that moment I was busy talking to other people and drinking Coca Cola.

Microsoft Arc Mouse

In the final part of the event we all returned to our seats as the numbers of bloggers got reduced. Many of them travelled from places like Nainital, Chandigarh, Muzzafarnagar which were more than 200 kms away. Aroop initiated the Twitter contest and started reading tweets with lot of MS Arc Mouse to giveaway. After a long ordeal he noticed my tweets and complimented me that "Man you have been tweeting since morning and you deserve it". I was elated as I always had a dream to hold the curved ARC mouse in my hands. Thanks a lot Indiblogger and Microsoft team. Now you all know why I was talking about twitter? It pays to have an account on twitter, this Blue Bird is always chirping. :-)

One of the luckiest tweet did win NOKIA LUMIA 820 and that was grand. She wrote amazingly great tweet by virtue of working in the publishing industry; she catched the nerve perfectly and got paid for the same. Kudos! :-)

 

Finally it was the time to say Goodbye as we departed for the photograph session outside the premises. We made promises to meet again at the next meet and enjoy ourselves all over again. I am really happy and reliving the time while writing this blog. Finally a video to say thanks all! 

Contact me for your product's review on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway or email - thelifesway@gmail.com

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