<![CDATA[Shagun Rekhi: computers, the web, av tech, and business - Blog]]>Sat, 22 May 2010 15:23:41 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Woot's head copy-writer tells about his experiences - Motivational Read]]>Sat, 22 May 2010 15:23:02 -0800http://www.shagunr.com/1/post/2010/05/woots-head-copy-writer-writes-about-his-experiences-motivational-read.htmlI have great genes... one of the best traits my family has passed on to me is that of the bargain-hunger.  I swear its practically genetic, how intense my desire is to find good deals, and then buy them.  One of my favorite sites for bargains (for both the deals, and the entertaining writing) is Woot.com,  I've been an avid follower for a few years now, and I even have attempted to market some products to Woot in the past for sale on their site.  Nothings ever worked out, but I've appreciated having some knowledge of the inner workings of Woot.

What sets Woot apart from every other shopping site on the net is its writing, which I've admired for some time.  Now, thanks to a post on Gizmodo, by Woot's head writer, we get a chance to learn more about what its like to write for Woot... and about how hard work, can be both motivating and fulfilling.

My take-away from the article was that NOTHING replaces hard work.  When I have to sell, nothing will replace the effort that it takes to pick up the phone, and call 25 customers today.  And, at the end of today, even if I wasn't successful in selling, at least I can be confident that I made the attempt.  An attempt today, despite failure, is still motivating, because there's always tomorrow.

See the article at Gizmodo...
]]><![CDATA[REI Lookout Backpack - A great buy today: A great pack for a lifetime (4/5 Stars)]]>Sat, 22 May 2010 13:07:56 -0800http://www.shagunr.com/1/post/2010/05/rei-lookout-backpack-a-great-buy-today-a-great-pack-for-a-lifetime-45-stars.html
Picture
REI has the Lookout Pack (09 closeout) on sale today, at $54.98 + 22% off Coupon.  I have this backpack in gray, and it is durable, water resistant, and madly comfortable.  It doesn't include a water reservoir, but I purchased a Nalgene brand water reservoir from EMS after I bought this pack, and was pleased to find that if fit the pack perfectly (the bag has hose outlet for a water reservoir). 


This bag holds a ton of stuff (2 Days worth of clothes and some extra's) or a lot of items for a long day-hike.  Nice organizer panel on the front, plus nice slim, and large pockets.  Pretty much waterproof zippers.  The back panel is very stiff, and perfectly contoured to my back.  I find that the straps are incredibly comfortable too.  Lastly, I've been able to balance loads incredibly well in this pack, as I hiked some intermediate trails with rock-slides in the Niagara Gorge last year.  Checkout the bag at REI.com while there's still some left.  Use this coupon code today " OUT2DAY2 ", otherwise,  remember to look for others before you purchase it at another time.  A great way to get REI coupons is to subscribe to their newsletter, there's lots of offers in there.
]]><![CDATA["The highest-performing dual-core CPU system we've ever evaluated..." Toshiba Tecra A11-S3540]]>Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:34:42 -0800http://www.shagunr.com/1/post/2010/04/the-highest-performing-dual-core-cpu-system-weve-ever-evaluated-toshiba-tecra-a11-s3540.html
Picture
I'm all excited about Toshiba's new Core-I7 based 15" Tecra A11.  Model Name: Tecra A11-S3540: CRN just reviewed the machine last week (which is brand spanking new within the last 30 days or so), and they had a lot of good things to say...

" The Toshiba Tecra A11 came to the CRN Test Center lab with an Intel (NSDQ:INTC) Core i7-620M, dual-core processor at 2.66GHz, 4 GB of memory and a 320-GB HDD. It was preloaded with Windows XP Professional 32-bit. Using Primate Labs' Geekbench 2 benchmarking software, the Tecra A11 scored a rating of 4,706 -- making it the highest-performing dual-core CPU system we've ever evaluated in the CRN Test Center lab. Performance, frankly, just felt much faster than other notebook systems."

I don't remember the last time I saw a system reviewed with such glowing praise.  Best Part?  The Tecra A11 models start at $899, and this particular model comes in at $1299 from authorized Toshiba Business Notebook Resellers.

See Toshiba's video introduction of the Tecra A11 product series here.a
For the complete review at ChannelWeb (CRN), follow the link.
]]><![CDATA[Interesting Nielson Ratings Figures regarding Superbowl 44]]>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:33:30 -0800http://www.shagunr.com/1/post/2010/02/interesting-nielson-ratings-figures-regarding-superbowl-44.htmlListening to the radio this morning I learned an interesting tid-bit of info.  Superbowl 44 was the most watched television program, in the history of television.  106 million Americans watched the Superbowl this year.  The previous television program to hold the title was the series finale of M*A*S*H which was watched by 105 million.  The previous Superbowl record for viewrship?  98 Million, set during last years superbowl in 2009.  See below for a quote from the NFL.com Wire piece... and then visit the link for the complete article at NFL.com.

"Nielsen estimated Monday that 106.5 million people watched the Super Bowl on average and 151.6 million tuned in overall. The "M-A-S-H" record was an average of 105.97 million.

The viewership estimate obliterated the previous record viewership for a Super Bowl -- last year's game between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers. That game was seen by an average of 98.7 million people, Nielsen said.

Super Bowl XLIV received a 45.0 rating, making it the highest-rated NFL championship game in 14 years (46.0 rating for Steelers-Dallas in Super Bowl XXX, January 1996). It was a 7 percent increase over last year's 42.0 rating."

For the complete article....]]><![CDATA[My favorite Superbowl 44 ad? Google's "Parisian love" commercial]]>Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:59:06 -0800http://www.shagunr.com/1/post/2010/02/my-favorite-superbowl-44-ad-googles-parisian-love-commercial.htmlA Superbowl ad aired in the fourth quarter that I thought was much more effective than any others that aired during the big game.  It was the Google "Parisian Love" Clip.  What you probably didnt know (and that I just found out through a quick google-search) is that the video has been on youtube for 3 months already and was never intended to be a television advertisement.  It turns out Google has put together many videos like this that show their products in use in real-life ways... this one just happens to be the one that has garnered the most positive attention since it was posted on the web months ago.  After this clip was over, I said to my friend watching with me "that was beautiful".... not just because its a wonderful story, but because it so clearly demonstrates google's value to web users everywhere.

Lately there's been a lot of advertising from Microsoft/ bing.com...  Their recent ad campaign for bing portrays web users who have "search overload".. and can never find exactly what they are looking for on the web (and that bing is simpler for finding useful information).  As an example, the ad shows people who were supposed to find out some valuable information on the internet, but then get overloaded with somewhat related but overall useless links....  the ad isn't meant to be pointed towards any one particular competitor (aol search, Google search, yahoo search and so on).. but being that Google comprises over half the searches on the internet, its safe to say Google is a major target for the ad.  To me the bing.com ads are ridiculous because they overstate the opinion that other search engines lead users to less relevant information.  The truth is that when it comes to a search engine as powerful as Google.com.. you just cant list one or two key words in your search... as you'll clearly see in the video below (parisian love google video).  Instead you'll see the person doing the search being very specific about the information they are looking for.... THAT is the secret to google.  You can be a specific as you want, and more than likely, Google has indexed some sort of website that has information about that one little thing your looking for.

Thats enough of for this rant!  Check out the Google ad below, and let me know if you agree, or disagree regarding the value of this ad, or my take on Microsoft's overstating the "search overload" problem.
]]><![CDATA[Past blog posts, linked here]]>Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:12:35 -0800http://www.shagunr.com/1/post/2010/02/past-blog-posts-linked-here.htmlBecause I wont be able to pull-down my past blog posts from my old blog (dashingman.blogspot.com), I've decided to simply link to that page here.  Its not the prettiest way of showing you my past posts, but its the simplest, for sure.  So check it out! My past blog posts can be found at http://www.dashingman.blogspot.com .
]]><![CDATA[New website, new design, simpler updating thanks to Weebly.com]]>Sun, 07 Feb 2010 09:03:02 -0800http://www.shagunr.com/1/post/2010/02/first-post.htmlI've decided to try and move my shagunr.com domain to a better website design/host than officelive.com (which was terrible by the way).  Look for updates soon.  Currently I'm working on having the shagunr.com domain linked to this Weebly site.  For more information on Weebly and how to get a free site of your own, see the link at the bottom of this page.
]]>