Like i said, I am not disputing the wage or salary as such. However with respect to a custom project it makes it costly. Again compared to having your own people do it using help from the net. As they may not be experts themselves.
true i agree on the threshold principle. A minimum time slot or billing is reasonable. But as a client let's say thats just a slice of the entire web-project. And if this simple stuff takes $10/hour x 34 hours. It is steep.
Secondly we never could get anyone to do cURL stuff. In house we did a splendid job using online help and tech blogs. So my point is also there are gaps in web design agencies. Either they provide something with a premium cost. Or there is no one to take up custom projects.
Consider another aspect- agency costs. I recently asked for a quotation for some custom work in php. To generate pdf and zip files from database with a dashboard. Agencies quoted it as roughly US$ 340. That is steep.
So its good that a lot of help is available at sites like stackexchange. We completed the stuff ourselves.
That's a very good point. Facebook, google+ and twitter, Whatsapp groups to an extent have made a mass market for small business websites. There is a creche (children study/play school) next door and the lady simply encourages ever parent to visit her facebook page which has all photos and information.
Consider that it is so easy and fun to create a facebook page for your firm. So convenient to maintain it. On the other hand every time a change is required the firm will have to go through the agency route to update its website. Also if you look at the supply side there wont be as many agencies to take up the work for mass markets considering also the delivery and cost parameters.
Firstly, the two best investments you could start with are Mutual funds and Bank Term Deposits. With mutual funds choose the fund house first and then their scheme.
As far as books are concerned I'd always fall back on 'The Intelligent Investor' by Ben Graham. Another handy book is 'One up on wall street' Peter Lynch.
Although investment runs concurrently with tax breaks. So if you find a good book informing on where the income tax credits and breaks are allowed etc. it would be handy.
The important thing in spending is to be unrestrained when it comes to a subject close to your heart. The best things come with a price to pay.
Working in the financial industry from 2007 to 2009 the time when recession was at its deepest, i can tell you consumers had their hands burnt and fried to ashes after the markets tanked. So much that talking about investments would get their eyes wet and they would swear never to put money in the markets.
But just as markets revived post 2010 people again blindly started writing checks as per what their consultant advised. Although by this time I had moved out of the industry.
The malady is that individuals never show interest in actually learning how to make investments. And they go by heresay and greed.
I got offers to set up a financial trading terminal but as i fundamentally don't believe in trading as opposed to investments, I refused and preferred to relinquish my consultancy job.
But did you actually read beyond the first few lines: 'On 2 February 2012, the Supreme Court of India ruled on a public interest litigation (PIL) related to the 2G spectrum scam. The court declared the allotment of spectrum "unconstitutional and arbitrary", cancelling the 122 licenses..'
In short the malpractice was arrested and licences of telcos cancelled.
My personal experience (India) has been good as far as the telco regulator is concerned. They take personal interest in ensuring that telcos behave as per requirements and mandates as far as consumers are concerned.
True in states near the Himalayas like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh the water is drinkable and pure. Down below at the plains it gets contaminated.
Organized shops charge here an extra for the plastic bag. Majority of grocery shops hand out ultra thin plastic bags which will choke the rivers and environment. But important thing is public attitude. The attitude now is to collect as many of these bags as one can. So there you go. If the municipal corporation enforces a separate charge or ban, things will shape up. I do use a reusable bag. I've stopped using plastic bags.
India, Calcutta. But now all over India hardly one will be drinking tap water straight away. Some filter process is always done at point of drinking.
These days its so sad to find every shop ordering a container of filtered drinking water. Earlier it was available through taps. Now no one trusts tap water.
Indeed its India, Calcutta I'm talking about. True 20 years back (1996 and before.. vaguely) that's when we were children the Ganges water was clean. It is too polluted now to drink it straight away. And nobody really drinks it taking it straight from the tap. There were times when NGOs offered large earthen pots of cool water free on the streets. In my home we have a non-electric Ceramic water filter. But the current norm is electric RO +UV filters.
Arsenic is present in ground water in south Calcutta and is a health problem. Municipal water is arsenic free. It is treated with Chlorine.
Much/All of this pollution is self created by polluting the rivers. Individually, industrially and socially.
I believe that using bottled water should be an exception and availability of tap/filtered water at public places should be a norm. But bottled water has become a necessity and a fad today.
I do admire the places mentioned where you enjoy pure water still. I know that in New York the water comes from upstate reservoirs. I also think many places water fountain is available at public places/streets for drinking. If you know the cities you've seen this let me know I'll make a note of it.
Windows XP and its search feature- Win7 above does not have it.
Yahoo Geocities- simply miss it. and also Yahoo in general. My current yahoo mail is chock a block with spam mails. plus their ads.
Xerox Ventura desktop publishing software- that was cool when book publishing was required.
Motorola T90/91 basic mobile phone. superb and handiest phone used. Current Moto is smart but not unbeatable.
Most importantly old BSNL (India) Landline tariffs- you could talk for hours and still the billing would come per call-wise. Simple unbeatable !!
Non- Microsoft Keyboards- here they are out of market. THe MS keyboards go out of tune/get stuck over time.
Softwares that would never needed to update- These days it is a harassment to see every software on my PC requiring to update. Now its gone to mobile phones. God knows what is it that they do in updates.
Tap water- 2 decades ago we would drink water straight from the tap or just plain filtered. Its impossible now. The water is too contaminated and needs added filtration devices at home/work. or bottled water.
Paper bags at the grocery shop. They've vanished giving place to cheap plastic bags. And many products are now using plastic wrappings that would come with paper ones.
A more silent neighbourhood- these days its high intensity horn blaring.
I've always wondered at the real value of a person's earnings. Is earnings an end in itself ? No, it is a means to obtain the worth of money one has with himself.
Be it financial or mental satisfaction, material acquisitions, name and fame, respect and prestige.
Keeping this in mind, I don't think Mr. L.T. is any less in his possessions than a star IT billionaire. Although he would far outdo everyone else when it comes to winning respect and a name for himself. He does not need to declare his life's earnings will go to philanthropy to win people's respect. He already has it. Something for which billionaires are willing to spend their entire fortunes.
i'm using papaly.com. its a bookmarking app. Categories within topics and then the link. The link allows you to add a note also. best is the developers take in all feedback and come out with better options.
But i rely on the chrome bookmarks also. And organize folders as and how my work or line of thinking moves.
But i guess many of us want much better bookmarking services than perhaps available presently.
I do meditation in the morning and go for work. Which is lot of concentration on the computer. Mid day sometimes I see articles on HN, ma.tt etc. To relax. In late evening look at these news sometimes on my tab.
I do have an issue with organizing imp websites for future reading, and am looking for a good bookmarking app that syncs with all my computers!