Nokia Apptasting IndiBlogger Meet: A Punny Evening

Many nights ago, I received an email regarding the Nokia Apptasting IndiBlogger Meet. Not being the type who'd miss out on free food a bloggers' meet, I instantly registered for it. Also, it being the first Mumbai meet where "drinks" would be served, you really can't say no, right? If I didn't know better, I'd think that Indiblogger.com was trying to create anarchy; a drunk person with a blog at his disposal - can you possibly get a more potent combination? Turns out, Indiblogger & Nokia were just being gracious hosts, and were serving drinks so that everyone can have a good time. Also, there are unconfirmed reports that one Mr. Wild Phoenix who trolled the Indiblogger team for organizing the Mumbai meet on 15th August, issued a "Fatwa" against Indiblogger team, warning them not to organize any more meets on dry days. Finally the meetup was scheduled on 19th August, and to make sure the hungry people coming from as far as Thane, Ethopia & Sierra Leone (It's a country, you idiot; not Sunny Leone's sister) can get a ride back home early, the timing was adjusted such that the event would end by 10.30pm.

The day before the meet, I got a call from Vineet who wanted to confirm my attendance. Being a good friend that I am, I volunteered to reach early and help them empty the bottles with the event. When I reached the venue - Taj Lands End, it was familiar sight. Nostalgia, I was welcomed with the same "freeloader" look from the guards, that I received at the Hotel Sea Princess on 15th August, 2010. That's because, the only person who is less looked down upon than a guy who gets down from an autorickshaw and makes his way to the entrance of a 5 star is a guy who's sitting at home on a Tuesday afternoon writing a blog about an event he attended on Sunday. Erm... nevermind. You see, when you WALK in to 5-star hotel wearing jeans & tee with a backpack, and tell them you're there for a bloggers' event; the doorman doesn't let you inside the hotel fearing you'd steal flower vase from the lobby. Instead, he'll direct towards the banquet through an outside entrance. As a social experiment, go to the same hotel in a car, wearing a blazer; a gorgeous lady with the sweetest smile will welcome you, and you'll be given a seat next to a 1700 year old vase from the Ching Dynasty. Bloody clothists.

After the wardrobe discrimination, I reached the Ballroom entrance and found myself in company of Indiblogger staff. After exchanging pleasantries, we made our way in the Ballroom which was lit up in Nokia Blue. As more and more people started coming in, the conversation more-or-less revolved around one topic - "Apptasting." While the foodies thought they're in for a treat with hoards of appetizers, the tech+grammar nazis were frowning at what they thought was a typo. Some people just don't get the f(p)un part. (You saw what I did there? Did you? No? Okay.)

Soon the evening kickstarted with chants of "Hurr Hurr Hurr", which sounded more like the mating call of ring-tailed Lemur found in Madagascar. Indiblogger's Anoop (who was a bit tipsy) took the center-stage along with the Indiblogger team and gave a brilliant tribute to the city of Mumbai. After hi5's and warm hugs, everyone got seated and embraced for an evening of fun & frolic. Masterchef & Gadget Guru are two adjectives that have been used a zillion times for these learned men but there's really no better way to describe the 'Masterchef' Vikas Khanna & the 'Gadget Guru' Rajiv Makhni. One makes makhni, while the other one is himself Makhni (okay, I stole that line from Vikas). Guys who couldn't get a seat next to a girl were regretting, but once Vikas & Rajiv took the stage, those who actually managed seats next to a girl(s), were regretting even more since all the ladies couldn't get enough of giggling and drooling at the hosts. Can't blame them given the fact that one was voted the hottest chef in New York and the other, hottest anchor on Indian television.

It being a Nokia event, the duo showcased the new apps and technology developed by Nokia in recent times. Being a Nokia (Windows Phone) user, I've always been interested in the new apps being developed in Nokia's labs. Must say, with the technical expertise of Microsoft and Nokia, some the new apps that are being developed are simply spectacular.

This event was attended by 3 types of people - 1. Tech freaks 2. Foodies 3. Free-booze lovers. Knowing this, Nokia had developed apps that would interested all three cults.

One of the apps showcased was Nokia City Lens. I'm familiar with this app ever since Rajiv featured it in his show few weeks back. Since then I've been waiting for it, and from the Nokia sources I've learnt that it'll be available from 28th of this month. Finally. Using this app, you can simply point the phone in any direction and can get a list of places nearby in that direction. You can even get the address and phone number of the place. Sounds great. Now I can get the phone number of that hot chick living down the lane by simply pointing my phone towards her apartment. Heck, why stop at her, I can even get Katrina & Deepika's phone number. In which case, I'll give this app 5 stars.

As far as foodies are concerned, there's a Food and Wine Pairing app which will help them pair their food with wine. IMO this app will be particularly useful for people like me who swear by their beer & whiskey but doesn't know a thing about wine except for their color. It's apps like these that lets you sit next to a 1700 year old Chinese vase. 

 

When Vikas & Rajiv asked the audience about their dream apps, people went berserk with their thought process and came up with apps ranging from a politically correct app that can enable one to vote to an app that can find the perfect man; and everything in between. Yours truly suggested an app that can determine how drunk you are. Thankfully, Nokia already has an app for it called Alcohol in Blood. 

Obviously, I was the lab rat to test the app and since Rajiv thought I was too drunk to drive home, I was given a consolation gift - a Portable USB Charger by Nokia. 

And when you get a prize, you always have that one friend who will ask you something totally dumb and irrelevant. Looking at this charger, an Indiblogger friend (name withheld on request) asked that if he connected that USB at the top with micro-USB at the bottom, will it charge itself? No points for guessing that he's single and desperate to mingle.

I hope others who won prizes didn't went through such torturous questions. Oh yes, I said prizes. There were many, many prizes. '30 seconds of fame' - one of the quintessential sessions of every indiblogger meet was given a new twist this time around. Randomly, bloggers were called up on the stage and were required to choose a side - foodie (Vikas) or techie (Rajiv), and tell everyone why they're foodie or techie. Wittiest ones won prizes. This session was allotted 45 mins and when Indiblogger team learnt that when you give 30 seconds to 250 people, in some cultures, that takes more than 2 hours, they decided that only a handful of lucky people (randomly selected by computer, or so we think) will get a chance to showcase their witty side. One question that Vikas & Rajiv asked every blogger who came to the stage was, "What do you think connects Food & Technology?" I'm surprised no one could come up with the right answer. It's simple.
What connects Food & Technology? - Instagram.

Another contest included chopping onions in a particular fashion as displayed by Vikas. While a female won it hands down, few guy participants made the onion look like Hiroshima. As they say, 'the hand that chops the onion, wins the prize.' It's difficult not having a quiz competition when you have the quiz masters in house. Rajiv & Vikas hosted a hilarious quiz consisting of 4 teams. This was the first quiz witnessed by me (and probably, everyone) where you'd get extra points for dancing and where a True or False question, if answered incorrectly, can be passed on to the other team. At the end of tons of falling-off-the-chair laughter and a blind fold guess-the-ingredients test, an all-girls team won this tech+food quiz. They won Nokia Lumia handsets. Not bad for guesswork.

This meet also marked 5th year Anniversary (I wonder why it's not called 5th Birthday?) of Indiblogger. Everyone celebrated this occasion with a huge cake (Indibaby thought this was a football pitch made of chocolate) and a group photo.

After the cake, it was time for a stampede to get photographed with Rajiv & Vikas. And then dinner, which was delicious. Had a fun post-event interaction with both - Vikas & Rajiv; it was great to see how down-to-earth and humble both these guys are, despite their stature. 

In short, it was an evening well spent courtesy Indiblogger, Nokia, Rajiv Makhni & Vikas Khanna; despite the fact that I wasn't allowed to go near the 1700 year old vase.

A - Z of G+

A – Another Social Networking site – Another social networking site, or should I say, another social networking site from Google. *phew* After Google Wave failed to create any waves and everyone asked Google Buzz to Buzz off, this is Google’s third attempt at taking Facebook head on (not considering Orkut as it was developed before Facebook became famous).

B – Businesses (separate acc. Strategy) –Google doesn’t want any company, business or product to have an account on Google+. Not right now, at least. They’re completely clear with their strategy and currently, all the accounts are only for Homo sapiens. Google+ has a separate strategy for businesses and they’re right now busy refining the last bits. In Product Manager, Christian Olsten’s words, “We have been watching Google+ take shape over the last week and we’ve seen some really great companies get involved. But frankly we know our product as it stands is not optimally suited to their needs. In fact, it was kind of an awkward moment for us when we asked Ford for his (or was it her?) gender!”

C – Circles – Google+ lets you add all your friends in different circles hence you can safely post that NSFW video and share it with your College Circle without worrying that your aunt from Amritsar will see it. You can also tell all your friends that you’re chilling in Goa while keeping your boss who’s in the Do-not-share-anything-with-Boss Circle, under the impression that you’re down with viral. Here are some other circles you can possibly use to categorise your friends. Facebook friends circle, Twitter friends circle, Real life friends circle, Colleagues-to-be-included-in-conversation-while-ranting-about-office circle, Family-members-you-can’t-tell-you-like-DK-Bose-song circle.

D – Direct Messages – One of the most unique feature of G+ is how to Direct Message or Inbox someone. Technically speaking, there is no ‘Inbox’ feature. You never go in that shell where you feel safe, secure and private to make personal conversations like Facebook, Twitter & Orkut. Everything stays on the Timeline. Only difference is, you share the post only with that particular person(s) instead of sharing it with ‘Public’ or a circle. It can be classified as Direct Message in a way, but it will take some time and plenty of near-misses getting used to it, as that security of conversing in private folder cocoon is out of the window.

E – Equinox – Here, equinox can be referred to as that site which has found a balance between Facebook & Twitter and have engineered their way in combining best (functionalities) of both world, which in a parallel universe caters to the entire spectrum of users.

F – Following/followers – “People in your circles / People who’ve you in their circle” sounds more like “People you’re following / People who’re following you”. Google+’s friend list resemble Twitter more than Facebook.

G – Gtalk – Users have faced awkward situations where they’re being pinged on the Gtalk by people they’ve never added in the first place. Turns out, when you mutually add each other on G+, they get automatically added to your Gtalk. Given the fact that Google already has Gtalk, you don’t really expect them to program a new chat server, do you?

H – Hahaha gifs. They logged on, they uploaded and they left. Since the first day, G+ has been littered with gifs and jpgs of how G+ has kicked FB’s butt. It’s either a cheap marketing ploy by Google where they’ve asked their employees to circulate these images or they’ve been created by anti-facebookers who’ve been waiting for someone to do come up with something that can rival FB.

I – Invitation – This yawn-worthy marketing tactic have now official earned a ‘cliché’ status. Like every new website/product wants you to think that they’re going to let only a select few mere mortals have the honour of testing their new thingy and to earn that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you will be required to cry out loud on Twitter and Facebook a million times to gain a so-called ‘invitation’ which will catapult you to Megatron levels of stardom and will change your life forever, even Google+ created the same noise where people were ready to give up their one limb to earn that coveted invitation to be one of the first people to have an account on Google+. Google+ created hype by giving out only a few thousand invitations in first few days which have now swelled to millions. In fact, Google did the same with Buzz and Wave. Grow up Google, instead of using such tactics, just make a great product, user base will take care of itself.

J – Joke’s on MySpace – MySpace which was acquired by News Corp for $580 million & valued at $12 billion at one point of time, was recently sold for a mere $35 million. We all know that Google silently prays to Santa that Facebook also spirals down like MySpace. Whether Facebook goes down MySpace’s path or Google+ meets its cousins Buzz & Wave in hell, remains to be seen. But, as it stands today, MySpace is a Social Networking joke.

K – Kleptomania – Maybe. Although, G+ has tried to stay away from the Facebook structure as much as possible and despite using terminologies as different from Facebook as possible, similarity to FB is pretty obvious. It's evident that G+ is nothing but a lovechild of Facebook and Twitter from features point of view.

L – Links – As of now, for an average user there is rarely anything to do on G+ apart from checking out tons of links that everyone is forwarding on G+. There are hardly any photos or any unique updates about friends which you haven’t read before on FB and/or twitter. It will take some time till the site gets populated and one can actually think of spending (read wasting) substantial amount of time on Google+.

M – Mute – All those people who’ve regretted congratulating a friend on his new relationship status after being bombarded with half a million notifications, will love this feature. In short, all of us. Mute allows us to mute notification about comments that people post on the same updates which we’ve commented on, hence, you will no longer feel shy to comment “RIP” on your friend’s “Getting married next week” update.

N – No thanks, not interested in Auto Upload – That’s what the users of Android App for G+ seem to be saying. It seems that Auto Upload ON is the default setting for the Android App and hence ever single photo clicked from the phone gets uploaded to G+, which at the end of the day is hurting the user in terms of data usage and money. It isn’t necessarily cool to see even your blur and just-to-kill-boredom photos being uploaded. So, if you’re an Androidian, be sure to turn the feature off.

O – Orkut - The fact that Google decided to develop a new site altogether to take on Facebook despite having Orkut in its arsenal says scores about Google’s faith in Orkut. It seems Google also agrees that Orkut is just that, ‘Orkut’ aka. A poor man’s Facebook.

P – Plus one – Plus One or +1 is equivalent to Facebook’s ‘Like’. But +1ing on Google+ won’t make it appear in your +1 section, so you needn’t worry that your family will come to know that you’ve +1ed Tara Reid’s Wardrobe Malfunction video unless you +1 it anywhere on net.

Q – Quintessentially minimalistic – Like everything Google, G+ too followed Google’s classic design philosophy and kept the site to bare minimum. Let’s enjoy the neatness and spaciousness that the site offers, till Adwords fills up the empty space.

R – Reality Check – Google+ is the fastest growing website but still it’s far from catching up with Facebook’s 750+ million users. And Facebook is just one step away from Gmail once @facebook.com mail id starts working in its full fledged avatar.

S– Sparks– There are no fan pages on G+ instead they have something known as Sparks which is essentially RSS feed of things that interests you, which may range from anything from “Aston Martin” to “Hot pics of Katrina Kaif”. Google seem to have employed some complex algorithm which probably takes into consideration page hits/rank from a little know search engine known as Google.com, to decide which news/links to throw up for your Sparks

T – 25 Million users – Google+ has already crossed the 25 million user mark is the fastest social networking website to reach this mark. Don’t get impressed by the fastest-social-networking-site-to-reach-25m-mark award, yet. Given Google’s might and the fact that it only took a Gmail account to register for Google+, it’s no surprise that they’ve achieved that feat in only a month’s time. The so-called “by invitation only” was only a marketing gimmick.

U – Unlimited photos – 1 album = 1000 photos. Unlimited albums = Unlimited Photos. Wohoo!!!

V – Video Chatting – Video Chat or Hangout as they call it, has to be G+ ‘s “deal maker”. The fact that one can video chat with up to 10 people at the same time is for sure a big plus.

W – Why should I be on G+? What’s the point? – That’s question you will be left asking yourself…So, what’s the point of G+? Well, let me ask you, what’s the point of any social networking site? Photos, Connectivity, News, Interaction, Staying in touch, Status Updates…. ? It’s the same with Google+. It’s just a case of old wine in new bottle. Facebook or Google+, or both. Whatever you suits you.

X – Chromosome X – Google+ does seem to have that air of prejudice where it already considers itself better than anything else. But, despite everything, it seems, Google has finally found that Chromosome X lying in some corner of their Mountain View Office which can possibly make G+ capable of throwing a serious challenge at the reigning Heavy Weight Champion - Facebook.

Y – Young – G+ is still in its early days, almost an infant from a social networking point of view. Although, initial signs may point at G+ to be a prodigy but it’s premature to call it a “Legend Killer”. Give it some time and let the kid breath and stop jumping to conclusions yet. Let the time speak…! 

Z – Zuckerberg Mark – Mark Zuckerberg has been added in circles by highest no. of people 461698* on G+. This figure is more than the combined strength of Google founders Larry Page (272604*) & Sergey Brin’s (184897*) followers. That’s like someone crashing in your birthday party and becoming the most popular guy in the house. It seems Mr. Zuckerberg, whose bio reads “I make things”, is keeping an eye on the competition. No harm in being a little cautious, right Mark? 

*indicates follower count at the time of writing this article