YouthKiAwaaz aka Voice of Youth is a great platform for the people to express their views on any issue. This strong social media base was founded in March 2008 and now it is fast emerging as India`s number 1 youth centric website. It is regarded by its developers as a nice place for spreading awareness among the youth.

The site is aimed towards the development of society, rules, and policies as it believes that youth has unprecedented power of speech and it can surely make the world a wonderful place to live in.

Over here, you will find opinions, comments, views and articles on a numerous issues, be it related to society, technology, policies or health. Feel free to express issues and views that matters a lot to you and YouthKiAwaaz will make sure that your voice reaches millions of people around the world.

Currently YouthKiAwaaz has over 800 writers and over a million views in a month. It is indeed a nice platform for expressing your opinions.

However, while writing one needs to be careful and cannot just write anything. It is not a place for abusing or taking out personal grudge against somebody.

Google sidewiki is new way to tell all internet users visiting any site page that they are important and there vision is appreciated. A browser sidebar that enalbles users to contribute and read helpful information alongside any web page they are visiting. Google sidewiki is with us since 22nd of September 2009 but I am not sure how many of us are really making the most out of it.

Google has always valued its users with tools and information that is most relevant and usefult for the user. That is what has made google the search engine king.

The very step to enable users to contribute for the any site page gives confidence to user not to only have the information what the site owners wants to tell rather its like giving all page ownership to the users also who can come and add or contribute information and things that will help others and making the page more informative and as its a public opinion so its well social too.

Google has given it to contribute and share. Hats off to the great brains working with sheer brilliance. Out of the box thinking and giving all powers to its users. You can share it on facebook, tweet it email it or just share the link.

Happy sidewiking people… the powers is in your hands…

Getgoaling.com is a new web start-up from Delhi, India providing platform that enables users to set goals and action plans necessary to achieve those goals. It enables sharing of experience among users having similar goals. Users can share goals with only few members of their choice who can support and motivate them, or with the community at large. They can maintain regular record of their progress on the goals with help of daily or weekly journals.

Members having similar goals can come together by searching for goals tagged with relevant keywords. A user can have multiple goals and a user can authorize people of their choice to view his/her goals and comments by using the ‘authorize’ link on the Goal details page of that particular goal.

The web based application has got simple yet pretty clean interface unlike to its website getgoaling.com though I would emphasize once more that UI could have been more better for simple reason of persuading more user base.

The app has got few interesting features with unique USP of setting/ sharing goals. The app has ‘Goal chest’ which is a summary sheet of all active goals and their corresponding action plans. It also provides option to launch a number of other functions such as Log Progress, View log, View and Edit goal.

The web start-up from Delhi in its initial phase is appreciable though have long improvement plans to be in line with best ones in year 2008. The concept, interface and USP is just right what it needs is few tweaks and tunning.

Taroby, a SaaS based messaging and collaboration suite from Kochi, India based software firm Advanced Millennium Technologies. Taroby enables sharing of email accounts among team members and here
“Sharing” implies that emails are accessible to all team members working on a particular assignment or project, with the possibility to assign messages directly to individual team members.

Taroby can be used online through internet browser for private and professional use, serving Clients, individuals, SME businesses, international companies and other global teams & work-groups. One can take a Test Drive of demo web app.

In company’s own words – “In traditional email clients, the inbox is a mere interface to read and write emails. Taroby however is something different: Through its innovative functions, it makes the inbox much more powerful than ever before, providing new strategies and a competitive edge to the user for working more efficiently and productively. It empowers normal inboxes with a complete work flow, task management and ticket system and thus helps organizations to holistically improve their internal and external communications. It is ideally suited for SMEs or work groups of any kind.”

Other than sharing of email accounts with others and assigning of messages to members in the team the other interesting features of Taroby to note are:

• Access & restriction rights management (e.g. read / write / delete)
• Attaching of comments per message (e.g. working instructions etc)
• A complete overview of all incoming message streams (Unified Messaging: Faxes, SMS,
  E-Mail, Postal…)
• Usage of predefined filters and rules for automatic message delivery
• Sharing of folders, text- and design templates
• Complete transparency and tracking of any message (who received, read, forwarded,
  answered, deleted, assigned, comments left, moved etc)
• Free definable automations (e.g. Follow-up, email and sms reminders, send at a
  particular time/date, send after authorization and so on)
• No installations on the client necessary.
• Automatic updates on central server (SaaS, no need to install any upgrades on local computers in the future).

Ghajini is one big thing these days among hindi movie freaks and the producers and a digital marketing company for the first time in India has come up with such kind of plan. With few user-involving online promoting tools and websites Ghajini makers are reaping the benefits of web and internet.

The trick is its engaging official website – RememberGhajini.com to create maximum visibility for the movie. However in addition to the extraordinary website are the two viral application cum websites (below) that grip the user and give him an experience like the movie, over the Internet.

The creators of Ghajini and Hungama took this initiative to attract the online audience to the theatres. Exclusive videos of Aamir Khan have been shot and used for the so called viral application www.findghajini.com. In this application, the user plays the lead role of movie which is played by actor Aamir Khan and tries to find Ghajini through the clues provided. After the user finds a clue, he/ she is given a hint about where one might find the next one. After one finds all the clues, the user needs to dial a phone number on which one can hear Aamir Khan talking to them.

In other viral app cum website In www.wallofsuspects.com users can upload their own photograph or that of their friends, much like the Aamir Khan’s wall of suspects in the film. Once they have done so, they receive a code which is required to view the entire wall of suspects.

The websites & tools are brought via Hungama, an aggregator, developer and publisher of Indian entertainment content. The makers of Ghajini with Hangama are capitalizing the potential of the web along with Hungama to create maximum visibility for the film

Driveme.in is a new startup from Pune that let users view the streets with driving like experiences and can also let them share, find and explore their favorite places online. One thing to clear here in this application is that it has nothing to do with Google maps or its API support. Its completed independent application.

Driveme.in, however in contrast to Google maps actually capture the street images of cities in India and render them in an interface (ActiveX control) that closely resembles the experience of actually driving a car through the streets. At present the service is for Pune city only.

The application comes in online version and anticipating for release of its desktop version and is very much in testing phase as the app works only on Internet Explorer 6+ and Windows along with few issues with Windows Vista. Although Firefox users can alternatively use IE tab plugin in Firefox for experiencing Driveme.in in Firefox.

This imagery application also encourage user community base to share information through flags and photos on the application street view along with advertising option and listing business on respective street that is being viewed over application.

Although, there has been one more Indian startup Mapunity, a GIS/ MIS and mobile based technology company that provide a ‘real time’ traffic details in form of Maps in contrast to Driveme.in which has driving snapshots of streets instead and not ‘maps’.

A new video on block just showcasing Top 25 Web companies in Indian internet realm, the video has been prepared by AppAppeal, a web based applications review website. If one has to take my opinion the companies lined up in video are very much close to the top web companies in India.

Fotoflock.com has launched today as India’s first comprehensive website exclusively for the Indian photographic community by Epson in Bangalore. Fotoflock is conceived as a platform for anyone who is interested in photography in India to gather. Be it the amateur photographer, professional photographer, enthusiast, photo studio or anyone.

The portal can be described as being for ‘all things photography’ – anything and everything about photography for Indians who are passionate about the craft, the science, or even the business. There will be an exhaustive collection of articles, news, interviews, forums, tips & tricks, contests, event listings, photographer profiles, resources and much more. There’s something for everyone with an interest in photography.

Perhaps one of the most exciting features is the interactive photo Gallery for registered users to create a personal portfolio, showcase their work and critique the work of their peers. The interactive Forum allows not only exchanges on displayed work but also sharing of experiences and expertise on a regular, open basis. The site is also designed to allow content to be generated by its users, giving it a true open-community structure.

Apart from the latest advancements and news, the site will also showcase exclusive interviews with some of the luminaries of the global photographic community. Leveraging on its global resources, Epson will also be bringing in contributions from reputed specialists around the world. Currently, in just its first month, the portal already has the presence of an impressive group of professional creative photographers from different parts of the world. Amongst others, there’s the much sought-after celebrity photographer Jay Silverman and reputed landscape photographer David Zimmerman, along with a selection of India’s finest and most exciting professionals.

Epson says that over a period of time it hopes to build a dedicated community of like minded people around the site. With the realm of photography today being so vast, there is content that’s useful for anyone who wishes to learn something new, starting from the basics to advanced techniques being practiced by only a few around the world. Since the site is for enthusiasts, studio photographers and professionals alike, photographers of varied backgrounds get the opportunity to establish one-to-one contact with others in a manner that is seldom seen.

About Epson & Epson India

Epson is a global leader in imaging products including printers, 3LCD projectors and small- and medium-sized LCDs.

Epson India Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in the year 2000. Present in every major city in the country, Epson products address the needs of the entire computer peripheral market as also those of consumers with specialised needs. Headquartered in Bangalore, Epson India today has an enviable reputation for quality and value.

The company markets and supports Epson Dot-Matrix Printers, Inkjet Printers, Inkjet All-in-Ones, Laser Printers, Point of Sale Printers & Systems, Scanners and LCD Projectors. In most of these categories Epson is either the No. 1 or No. 2 brand or growing fast.

www.fotoflock.com officially describes itself as “The home of all things photography. Built with a passion that celebrates the still image. A companion to the seasoned professional and the budding enthusiast. With revealing interviews and red hot reviews, the latest news and the newest trends. Share an image or an opinion and even get one. Because there’s a photographer in all of us.”

Zahdoo has launched as first of an interesting concept website among social networking and cognitive websites that deals with people’s daily activities on internet. The portal has been launched by Hyderabad & Atlanta based IT company at Web 2.0 Expo in NewYork.

With context awareness, semantic linking and a range of planning and networking features, Zahdoo delivers an engaging and productive social experience to online users.

The portal is an efforts towards everything at one place portal that would bind all the online activities such as social networking conversations, information search, content tagging, online planner, personal website, reminder & alert services, sharing pictures, audio/ video with your friends and semantic search along with auto content suggestions via semantic analysis.

Zahdoo enhances social awareness and cognitive abilities by linking and processing users information, activities and relationships with social circles and external context and gain access to the most relevant information and intuitively understand and process the information in users’ own context.

The portal is in private beta for few months is probably to enhance the portal and could even inculcate more features when go public, moreover the site is more like flash driven site rather than user and search engine friendly XHTML. I would love to see such kind of concept based website in down to earth format when it comes to any website’s front-end part.

Entrip, new entrant in travel utility websites and yet another Pune startup that allows its users to plan or map out your entire trip, using its intuitive map-based interface, capture the experiences and vivid memories that make up a trip, within their geographical context and then sharing them with friends and relatives.

EnTrip.com has map-based interface that allow users to plan and chart out any trip on a full-screen map, and place notes, photos or videos – familiar elements from old-fashioned travel blogs etc. onto the relevant locations of your trip.

EnTrip also facilitates sharing trips and adventures with your friends & family through Entrip website itself or through its Facebook integration. One can invite their friends to view trip, easily send them updates or they can subscribe to your trip’s RSS feed. Either way, with EnTrip, all the experiences one has capture are more meaningful to, and are more easily appreciated by those who follow your trip.

The website is also anticipating to allow users to Book Trips as well along with getting localized information of the place. This service if released could give users in India first of kind experience to Indian online users as presently the website providing such booking facility doesn’t have map based, social interaction feature namely MakeMyTrip or Yatra.com.

The website is actually catching up buzz in crowd with ramping traffic from across the globe. But for being base in Pune, India, I would suggest to focus extensive Indian geographical mapping as well and sharing over maps along with features for visitors from other parts of world, doing this it would be first of its kind website in India.