The premier Special Interest Group of the IT-BPO companies in Belgaum, ITBelgaum’s initiative of doing technical seminar and workshops was over again exceedingly gratified by the students and the faculty of Vasantrao Potdar Ploytechnic Tilakwadi Belgaum.

The IT Belgaum group has been contributing its bit to the society by disseminating the latest information of the industry and know how with the students of various colleges of the city.

Today Dr.Aadil Bandukwalla, Chief Evangelist Talent Onions gave a mind blowing introduction to IT Belgaum. R K Patil of Vavvaya Labs spoke on embedded systems.

tDash is a Browser-Based Dashboard for Twitter.

http://tdash.org/

Twitter is the most talked about site by even the media, and how can AAB get left behind. From Lalit Modi to Sashi Tharoor all make their comments on twitter. Day is not far when Pranab Babu will make his budget presentation on twitter. (eg. No tax hikes for this current fiscal other than a 20% increase in excise and direct taxes)
tDash has been developed by Belgaum based Harshad Joglekar who wanted to tweet but in a easy manner and not in the regular Twitter format. And the best thing this gentleman is part of the ITBelgaum initiative.
The developers of tDash designed it to look similar to that of the Google Reader interface.

The key features of such an interface are:
The ability to mark tweets as read, and thus to narrow down the user’s attention to tweets that are as yet unread.
Sort incoming tweets into nice folders automatically
In-line expansion of conversations!
Support for Twitter lists
Automatic URL shortening via Bit.ly
Ability to upload images.

Plus it has Keyboard shortcuts to make it fun and easy to use and is safe because it allows you to sign in using the OAuth. No need to give out your password. It is great too that you will not be required to install any software it is web based.

So if you are looking for a new tool to use, try it out and let us know what you think.
It’s an experiment, an attempt, to take Google Reader’s organizational ability and apply it to Twitter.

It has been designed for Tweeple who continuously read Twitter. Developers have strove for a minimalistic design and for ease of use. There are keyboard shortcuts for just about everything; no more frequent lunges at the poor mouse.

It is entirely web-based. No need to install anything. For that matter, no need to uninstall anything if you get bored of it.
Apart from these there are many little gems hidden in tDash, such as,

Mark a tweet as Read. As soon as you select a tweet it gets marked as read and then it magically gets out of your way the next time you view that folder. (If you still want to read it again, there is an option for that).

Support for Twitter Lists. It’s a great way to organise them tweeple. Too big to explain here.

Login via Oauth. Play safe. Enough said.

URL shortening.

Keyboard shortcuts
Here is a quick reference to the keyboard shortcuts available to you. What squeak? Oh yes, that was your mouse sighing a relief.

A small Interview with the developer Harshad Joglekar: He has done his schooling from St.Pauls High School and his engineering from GIT.

What really inspired you to make this app?

Call me selfish, but I am most inspired by ideas that directly solve some problem affecting me. Of course, in the process, I also hope that the idea solves a similar problem that others might have and hence serve a wider audience. The idea for tDash followed the same pattern.

2009 was the year that Twitter became really popular outside its early-adopter circle. I was hooked immediately after trying it for few days. The best thing about Twitter is that it is quick and easy, and it forces you to write short, succinct messages (max 140 chars), unlike other social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook and the latest one on the radar, Google Buzz.
As I used Twitter more I realized that it would be more useful if messages (or Tweets as they are popularly called) would be organized in some way rather than as a long flat list.
tDash is a result of my experiment with that problem.

You have a out of the box thinking, what do you eat or drink for that?

Do I think out of the box? Now that you mention, perhaps I do have that tendency.. But hey, I can’t reveal what I eat or drink for that. I will be lynched at home!
I do like to read a lot of books, both fiction and non-fiction, classics as well as page-turners, especially humor. Perhaps that provides some food for thought
Oh, and one more thing. I have a lot of interest in observational astronomy. Apart from the great time we have on field trips which we call star parties, I think it also shapes a person’s perspective.
This app looks good but what about monetization?

I develop tDash as hobby project. Other than my time it doesn’t cost much to keep the service running. So, I am not worried about monetization at this stage.
Ad based revenues is an obvious option to monetize but I think it is tricky to keep the user experience intact with Ads.

Who else has helped you develop this app?

Mayank S, has helped me with coding the client side of the app. His contributions are available as open-source here: http://github.com/mayanks/persist-js
Apart from that, I get a lot of ideas and feedback from users of tDash themselves.

What are your future plans?

Converting some ideas that I have into products (mainly software), and in the process, helping solve some problems that the common man encounters. And having a good time along the way.
There is one idea already in the pipeline, but I can’t talk about it until it’s completely ready.

The premier Special Interest Group of the IT-BPO companies in Belgaum, ITBelgaum’s initiative of doing technical seminar and workshops was over again exceedingly gratified by the students and the faculty of KLES’S COLLEGE OF BACHELOR OF COMPUTER APPLICATION.

The Lamp was lit by all the members of the IT Belgaum group along with Principal Mr.Kottrappa.

Rajendra Pai, a freelance advanced Excel trainer, gave the introduction to ITBelgaum.

Manoj from Dot Cord, spoke on websites in 10 minutes with emphasis on Wordpress platform.

Swapneel Patnekar of eTH1 network solutions enthralled the audience with is spell bound presentation on open source software.

ITBelgaum group has been conducting workshops in colleges and creating awareness amongst the students and telling them a path ahead for a career. The group mainly aims at spreading the knowledge and creating awareness about IT companies in Belgaum.

AllAboutBelgaum.com has been a scout in the formation of this group and has got on board all these IT-BPO companies from the city under one roof and spreading the word about IT.

ITBELGAUM.com

Source: ITBelgaum.com
One of the most common questions I – as an entrepreneur – get is: “Why did you choose Belgaum? Why not Bangalore?”. Yes. It is true that Bangalore has established itself as the IT hub aka the Silicon Valley of India. Indeed, Bangalore today is known the world over for the IT presence in the city and not the numerous gardens it hosts. So why did I choose Belgaum? or rather why would anybody choose Belgaum over a much better alternative i.e. Bangalore? This article attempts to help our readers understand the IT industry the way it is today and in the process eradicate some of the myths surrounding it.

Is location important?
Everything in this world today is wired. Over the years internet technology has matured so well that one can not live with out it especially in the IT industry. Any offshore development done is delivered via the network. Software like any other commodity item can be sold online through websites. So then the question: Is location really that important? Absolutely not. There are companies in Belgaum whose employees virtually work in the UK and USA while physically they are still in Belgaum.

Cost Factor
For a company/business that has just started it is important to keep its running costs as low as possible. Belgaum being a second-tier city provides the low-cost advantage over other major IT hubs such as Bangalore. Cost of leasing/renting an office in Bangalore compared to one in Belgaum is way too high. Such higher running costs builds up pressure on a small startup to start making profits. Pressure is not good for business.

Time Factor
Bigger cities provide loads of facilities to people living there. These include access to ultra-modern shopping malls, cinema houses, international airport, etc. However, all this comes with one major problem and that is heavy traffic. Such cities are overly populated and their roads full of vehicles plying each way. My friend’s working in such bigger cities take at 2hrs on a average to go from home to their offices. That amounts to 4hrs in the traffic each day. In addition to this, they have to start early in the morning else it take even longer.

Time is an important factor of growth in a early stage startup. One has to give it the maximum time and attention. You cannot afford to feel tired because of all the day-to-day traveling. Working in a smaller city like Belgaum saves a lot of travel time. Today you can reach from one end of Belgaum to the other end in about 30mins in peak traffic. If you choose to have you office closer to your house like I have, thats even better. You can afford to have a good sleep, wake up fully rested and give your best to your working day each day all year along.

Business Opportunities
People seem to think that if a company is in Belgaum then it only caters to local customers. This is not true. These people need to open their eyes and wake up and embrace the new age, the new technology, and the new ways of global businesses. Another common myth is that if you are in a city like Bangalore you are more likely to get new customer leads. This totally depends on what service one has to offer in the business. If you have established good networks all around leads can fall in place from anywhere on this planet.

Career Prospects
This one is particularly for the young and hungry job seekers. The feeling is that if you work in a city like Bangalore that hosts thousands of companies you are more likely to progress faster in your career than by working for a company in Belgaum. In the IT industry the way people progress in their careers is by changing their jobs i.e. switching companies for a better offer. This is good for the bank accounts but not so good for the bad days that are now coming around every so often. By jumping jobs one becomes “the Jack of all trades and Ace of none” kind of a person. During a recession period this is the guy a company will look to get away with. Unfortunately, except a few the whole IT force in India falls in this category today.
My advice to the youth coming out of college is to look for that one thing in IT that interests you, go for it, learn it and master it. Be an Ace not a Jack and you will see employers flocking to you (not the other way around). Go for the knowledge rather than money. Go watch the movie – “3 Idiots” if you haven’t got it yet.

Belgaum startup or any startup for that matter might pay a lower salary but there is a huge potential to learn. You are going to be a core member of a team where your say really matters unlike being one amongst several thousands an MNC or a big service giant already has. Initially you might feel left behind by comparing their friend’s salary which could be 2 or 3 folds more than yours. However, unlike your friend’s, your career growth is directly proportional to the company’s growth. You put in more effort, the company does well and in turn you do well in the company. Your work will be much much rewarding. Being small allows the company to share its profits with its employees easily. That is to say if the company makes millions in profit you make millions too! It is always better to join a company which is small and be counted.

I think I made my point. Having said that please do comment if you have anything to add to this or you feel otherwise. Please note that I in particular have nothing against Bangalore or people living in Bangalore. This article was an attempt to show the reader what lies beyond Bangalore in a place like Belgaum.

Author:
Dr. Ameet Patil founded Spundhan Softwares Pvt. Ltd., a software company, in the year 2008 in Belgaum, Karnataka, India. Ameet is an expert in Embedded Real-time Systems particularly in the area of hardware design, software timing analysis and real-time operating systems. Ameet is keen to promote IT in Belgaum and the surrounding region and is always willing help budding entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to the real world. For more information visit: http://www.spundhan.com or http://www.ameetpatil.com. For job related queries please email your resume to jobs@spundhan.com

The premier Special Interest Group of the IT-BPO companies in Belgaum, ITBelgaum’s initiative of doing technical seminar and workshops was once again exceedingly gratified by the students and the faculty of Gogte college Commerce BCA and BIMS.

The group conducted two sessions today the first one being at Gogte college of Commerce BCA and the second was at BIMS (Belgaum institute of Management studies).

At the Gogte BCA event, Sandeep Hegde from DotCord IT solutions told a wholesome crowd of about 180 the importance of IT Belgaum and its initiatives. Following which Swapneel Patnekar of eTH1 network solutions enthralled the audience with is spell bound presentation on open source software. A lot of questions were asked and his session was extended over. Purshottam from Mabansoft technologies spoke on web 2.0 and its technologies.

The faculty at Gogte BCA were happy to the interaction of the students with the industry and appreciated the work of the group and assured all their support for the cause.

This was for the first time that two sessions were held on one day and the enthusiastic members made the second event also very interesting at BIMS.

R K Patil of Vavvaya Labs gave the introduction to IT Belgaum and Aadil Bandukwalla from Talent onions in usual captivated way kept the audience spell bound. A lot of questions were asked and Dr.Ameet Patil Spundhan answered them along with Mr.Santosh from TiE Hubli.

ITBelgaum group has been conducting workshops in colleges and creating awareness amongst the students and telling them a path ahead for a career. The group mainly aims at spreading the knowledge and creating awareness about IT companies in Belgaum.

AllAboutBelgaum.com has been a scout in the formation of this group and has got on board all these IT-BPO companies from the city under one roof and spreading the word about IT.

ITBELGAUM.com

The premier Special Interest Group of the IT-BPO companies in Belgaum,ITBelgaum’s initiative of doing technical seminar and workshops was again exceedingly appreciated by the students and the faculty of Jain College Belgaum.

The presentation was made to students from BBA & BCA on topics which they can make use of in their lives.

R K Patil of Vayavya Labs Pvt. Ltd. gave an introduction which enthralled the audience all time. His way of presenting IT Belgaum was an eye opener to many when they came to the existence of so many IT companies in Belgaum. IT Belgaum concept was well received by all and the idea of ITBelgaum were appreciated.

Dr. Aadil Bandukwala, Chief Evangelist Talent Onions spoke about Orbit shifting Innovation. Aadil’s flashy style of getting his concept through the audience was a pleasant surprise for the audience.

Mr.Uday K, Editor AAB took an unusual topic, Social Media. The topic seemed out-of-the-way but the same is very essential in this net Savoy and lighting fast life. He tried to emphasize and share his points on the use of Social media site for growth of a site or for that matter a business.

ITBelgaum group has been conducting workshops in colleges and creating awareness amongst the students and telling them a path ahead for a career. The group mainly aims at spreading the knowledge and creating awareness about IT companies in Belgaum.

AllAboutBelgaum.com has been a pioneer in the formation of this group and has got on board all these IT-BPO companies from the city under one roof and spreading the word about IT.

IT-Parents!

By R K Patil

Does the title sounds strange? May be, many of you might say ‘yes’. While we are all aware of the much hyped “IT-professionals” or “IT-people” or ‘software engineers” I wanted to highlight some of the under currents in our society. The reason to write about this to expose a social evil that is driving the middle class and the upper-middle class folks crazy.

If one were to attend any social gatherings, functions, marriages, birthday parties etc I am sure you will come across lot of parents who want to boast that their daughter/son is working for one of those big IT/software names at places most likely to be Bangalore, Poona, Hyderabad, Noida etc.

If you stick to the party conversation a bit long I am sure they will tell how their children make frequent trips abroad, how cosmopolitan she/he is in their behavior. If the listening party also happens to be a proud parent of IT-Kid then you can imagine how the conversation steers.

So it is a kind of playing one-up-man ship in social strata for the folks. However there is another part of the story that one will come to know, if the conversation ends up in a friendship and one gets to share more information about their “IT-kids”. This time the story revels how the parents are missing their kid’s presence at home or during festive season. If the It-parents happen to be nearing 60 years of age then there is a chance to hear how even grand-children company is also missed. Some of them will complain about how their kids are staying away from family traditions, how their daughter-in law enjoy the new-found freedom at the expense of being an obedient “ghar-ki-bahu”. In most cases parents end up complaining more than what they have at present. One can sense somewhere the hollowness in spite of having everything!

If one were to sit back and analyze, it is these same parents who encouraged their sons/daughters to take an IT job and nothing else. The sole reason being one gets paid like nobody’s business and of course they can have lots of stories to share in their social gatherings! These very parents made sure that their daughter/son’s natural likings (for career) are systematically sacrificed and set him/her for an always-winning-shining world. By the way I am not against a materialistic world however a balanced life is always cherished.

I come across a lot of budding engineers who happen to be influenced and continue to be guided by their parents dictates for their career choice. In many cases parents go to an extent as to which company their child should work for! It is a story that many a times these very own parents are really IT-illiterate (I am not joking… You can test this out). The parents do not know anything about what their ward is doing in their profession. They simply happen to see the name of the firm/company for which their ward works in a paper advertisement or might have heard in their social gathering or some of them happen to own few shares of the company J

The result is we have youngsters hopping jobs even for paltry salary hike of one thousand rupees or for a short visit (read it as on site project) to a customer who is in Thailand! While this kangaroo hop of jobs continues for few years (by the time they have achieved some maturity in their career) one realizes that they have gained no real knowledge of their domain. Sooner one becomes a victim of global recessions as markets are never known to be kind to non-skilled IT-people!

I do come across a lot of IT-folks who have dared to challenge the dictates of their parents and opting for a sensible career path… but alas it is very difficult to sustain a social pressure to look for greener pastures when the parents and fellow team mates are busy in counting rupees/dollars and shopping in malls.

If only the “IT-PARENTS” look at reality and try to help their sons/daughters to make a sensible choice without being over-bearing parents then we can see some bright spots in the IT-generation coming of age.

The author RK Patil, CEO of Vayavya Labs has over 17 years of industry experience in the domain of Telecom, Embedded software and Semiconductors. For the last eight years he was co-founder of two starts ups in the technology domain where he has held various positions in engineering, marketing and management.

Urbanbuzz.in provides retailers and businesses to reach out esteemed and new customers via SMS as well as personally deliver promotions and get free Live Scores of Cricket, Football and movie information for Belgaumites.

For e.g.: To obtain FREE LIVE CRICKET score send CRICKET to 9742558800

How it all started:
When eth1 Network Solutions founder Mr. Swapneel Patnekar started a new flagship venture under the banner of eth1 Network Solutions, Open Source Project Mentorship 5 months ago, there were hardly any takers as it was an initiative in untested waters.

The basic goal of “Open Source Software Project Mentorship” is to promote and encourage the use of Open Source Software and Linux in the engineering projects domain.

Who is behind this:
Under the mentorship of Swapneel Patnekar, Urbanbuzz.in was started by a horde of engineering students from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering as their project for the final semester. The engineering geeks behind this innovative venture are Mr. Mikhail Sharma, Mr. Anup Kalburgi, Mr. Pratheek Totiger and Miss. Priyanka Samant. Urbanbuzz already has a flurry of customers under their belt and are expanding exponentially.

Mr. Mikhail Sharma, Mr. Anup Kalburgi, Mr. Pratheek Totiger and Miss. Priyanka Samant

Their product provides retailers and businesses to reach out esteemed and new customers via SMS as well as personally deliver promotions, Happy Birthday/Marriage Anniversary wishes etc and customer feedback. Urbanbuzz provides customized messaging solutions using the SMS platform.

Urbanbuzz also provides free Live Scores of Cricket, Football and movie information for Belgaumites.

To obtain FREE LIVE CRICKET score send CRICKET to 9742558800

Other keywords providing information for FREE are:

For Live Football BPL/Champions League score: FOOTBALL

For movies in Hindi: HMOVIES

Movies in Kannada: KMOVIES

Movies in Marathi: MMOVIES

Movies in English: EMOVIES

Note: All the keywords should be in upper case.

When this blog asked the budding engineers how it all started, their experience this is what they said-

Initially, we had no belief in ourselves to flow against the stream, learn alien languages and design a project from the scratch.  The will of our team and the intense urge to do something fresh as budding engineers landed us to eth1 Network Solutions. Where in we not only learnt the technical know how but also were guided morally by Mr. Swapneel Patnekar. There has always been unconditional support and co- ordination by our mentor Prof. Umesh M Kulkarni lecturer Computer Science and Engineering.

At eth1 Network Solutions, we learnt through experience and committing our own mistakes rather than the conventional black board and chalk piece approach, under the thorough professional approach of this company.
The outcome was a little slow in the beginning but we are picking up at a steady pace and happy to see our dreams turn reality. Reaching out the public was the key to the growth of our ideas, taking their suggestions, thinking in terms of providing solutions to their practical problems through our small yet effective SMS advertising/ marketing campaign.

New innovations are currently in the pipeline and make sure you check http://urbanbuzz.in for keyword additions and product advancements.

Retailers/business owners wanting to run product promotional and advertising campaigns can contact Urbanbuzz at:

UrbanBuzz, c/o eth1 Network Solutions, Radhakrishna Complex, 1^st Floor, Above Pai Medicals Email: contact@urbanbuzz.in Office: 0831 4205679

Here is a presentation given in an engineering college recently.

If you answer affirmative/yes for any of the below, then contact eth1 Network Solutions for not only implementing a project but also going entrepreneurial!

Got a project idea?

Want to implement it in the Linux/FOSS platform?

Looking for mentorship?

Contact: Swapneel Patnekar (Founder) eth1 Network Solutions

Email: swapneel@eth1.in

Recession! A word certainly everyone knows and is the talk of the town. It meant jobs were lost, people got laid off from top companies, salaries were trimmed etc.

Since its inception last year, one of the companies that has withered the storm and has surprised everyone is Redhat, the vendor which is behind the profitable Redhat Linux Operating System.

“Over the three months to the end of August, Red Hat made net profits of $28.9m (£17.8m), up 36.9% year-on-year, while sales also ticked up a healthy 12%, hitting $183.6m.” Source

and

“Meanwhile, sales bounced up 11% over the same period to $174m” Source

This clearly indicates Open Source Technologies are in demand and companies are more so in the lookout for experts and professionals in this field.

Seeing this increasing demand for Open Source professionals, eth1 Network Solutions has launched an exclusive hands-on training state-of-the-art lab in Belgaum.

Students getting a Hands on learning experience

eth1 Network Solutions provides variety of technical and advanced professional courses on Open Source subjects such as PHP, MySQL, Ruby on Rails, Linux, Server Management, Python, Perl, Ethical Hacking, Wireless Networks and Security Hands-on practical training is provided along with course material such as Books, DVD (Operating System etc) and further mentorship is provided even after the course duration has completed.

With an experience of managing and securing 400+ servers and certifications from Redhat and Oreilly School of Technology( Institute of Illinois ) , Web Applications, in the industry and in using Linux and Free Open SourceSoftware and technologies the students/engineers are taught on best practices/do’s and don’ts ‘s plus real world scenarios as in an Enterprise.

Mentor Swapneel during a class session

eth1 Network Solutions also promotes and provides mentorship for students wanting to do projects in the Open Source/Free Open Source Software/Linux domain.

For details contact:
eth1 Network Solutions
Radhakrishna Complex, 1st Floor (Above Pai Medicals)
Belgaum 590001.

Mobile: +91 98866 37820 Office: 0831 4205679

Here is another baby from the DotCord stable and this time it is again interactive and user-friendly and Belgaum related.

After the success of Belgaumpages.com (after the initial hitch up) the company has launched its own Digg like site dedicated for Belgaum, namely BelgaumMirror.com.

The best feature is that it’s User-Generated. That’s right!

It means you are the boss. You get to choose what news gets’s on it and vote accordingly.

You found something interesting about Belgaum just submit on BelgaumMirror and see how many others also liked it. It can be just any link.

In this site you will find features such as

1>. Live
Imagine getting news about Belgaum to the minute, to the very second! Impossible? Check out the “LIVE” section in BelgaumMirror. In this section, you can view news being uploaded in Real Time even as it happens!

2>. Upcoming News
This section will basically get you the info on the up and coming topics in Belgaum that are making news. That’s right! Get informed even before it’s published.

3>. Vote the Hottest Topics
you finally have the power to control the news. For decades, printing presses and online news website just publish what they have found useful. Now you can too! Vote for the news that you think everyone should know about and get it on the front page.

4>. Comment
BelgaumMirror gives you the chance to express your own views about the news article that you read. We find it fair that everyone who reads the news has a comment and it should be heard. Now you guys have the platform. Don’t miss out on it. Comment on articles and give your opinion!

5>. Subscribe
Perhaps you are interested in the developments of a particular story or just prefer having the hottest news about Belgaum delivered right to your mailbox? Then just hit the Subscribe Button. All you need is an e-mail address and we’ll do the rest!

6>. Earn some Cash
Vote for your favorite stories and GET PAID! Yeah…you heard right. Can it get easier? It basically works in this way: You submit interesting news/articles related to Belgaum and as the users read your news and vote on its popularity, you get paid accordingly.
For further details, you can check out the link

http://www.belgaummirror.com/faq-en.php

Not only that. BelgaumMirror has got loads of other features which are very useful.
So get over there right now!  Go Submit, Vote and Earn! BelgaumMirror.com.

Kiosk: booth: small area set off by walls for special use

The traditional usage of a kiosk for business in any event or conference has been a bunch of people from the company distributing brochures/business cards or pamphlets etc.

Defying all traditions, eth1 Network Solutions (www.eth1.in) has taken this a one step further with a unique approach towards practicality, they’re going to help, solve all problems on the spot and mentor students in the Linux/Unix domain on the 31^st of October at Gogte Institute of Technology for a State Level TechFest organized by the Information Science department.

This by all odds gives hands on experience to the students and gives an opportunity to students for getting all their questions/doubts answered practically.

So, if you are an engineering student and would like to know why Linux file systems do not get fragmented or why a virus/worm/malicious program cannot affect a Linux system when logged in as a normal user?
Then here is your chance to get all your questions answered. You got a question? Just Ask.

If you’re having problems installing Linux on your machine/laptop, then you can bring it along on the 31^st, eth1 Network Solutions team will help you in installing Linux and show you how it’s done!

Here is the best part, new to Linux? Want to try it out? Get a free copy of the most polished version of Ubuntu ,9.10 Linux (Karmic Koala) CD on the 31^st.

Take part in a Linux contest and one lucky winner stands to win a free Linux training course from eth1 Network Solutions, the very guys who manage more than 400+ Linux servers from Belgaum.