Thermo Fisher Scientific Launches Exclusive Website for its Chemical Business Offerings in India

Equipped with customized search, customers can explore on-demand seminars and technical literature.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, announced the launch of a new website for its chemicals business offerings. This website will serve as a dedicated platform towards an extensive range of Laboratory and Production chemicals. The new website will bring all major chemical brands from Thermo Fisher Scientific including Alfa Aesar, Acros Organics, Fisher Chemicals, Qualigens, Fisher Bioregaents and Maybridge under one umbrella.

Qualigens, the locally manufactured brand in India, will have its first online presence through this website. This will enable customers to explore the chemicals portfolio and have a consistent digital experience.

Thermo Fisher invites customers from various segments including educational institutions, research and development, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, food & beverage and environmental sector, to get acquainted with the capabilities that the new website will offer. The website is equipped with customized chemical search capabilities like structure search and element search and options to view availability and pricing for specific brands. The website has also been designed to cater to distinct purchase lifecycles of buyers and customers, who can also explore on-demand seminars and technical literature.

"At Thermo Fisher, we offer a robust portfolio of chemicals that are used from bench to production spanning across industries. I am delighted that this website is getting launched at a time when our customers need us more than ever digitally. Customers can now access our chemical brands and experience our entire portfolio offering, all in one place.With this new platform we are now one step ahead in serving our customers better.” said Amit Chopra, managing director, India and Middle East, Thermo Fisher Scientific

“The global coronavirus outbreak is a powerful reminder of the importance of our mission- to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We are profoundly aware of our obligation towards our customers as essential partners and these initiatives reinforce our commitment to serve our customers”, said Amit.

The website is exclusive to India. Login to the new website to explore the company's solutions at https://www.thermofisher.in/chemicals/en/home.html

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue exceeding $25 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, improving patient diagnostics and therapies or increasing productivity in their laboratories, we are here to support them. Our global team of more than 75,000 colleagues delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services and Patheon.

PMS Bazaar, EbixCash Fintech partner for India's 1st All-in-One PMS & AIF Investment Portal

PMS Bazaar & EbixCash Financial Technologies have partnered for a strategic collaboration, to introduce all-in-one PMS & AIF tracking portal for investors. Now investors can seamlessly analyse their entire gamut of investments in a click. The comprehensive platform offers a very safe, easy accessible various PMS & AIF investment reports in one go.

PMS Bazaar partnership with ECFT's is historic as it will leverage the comprehensive offering to cover its entire wealth management functions across its various business units, replacing multiple legacy systems and improving efficiency.

The newly introduced portal lets investors look into their PMS & AIF dashboards comprising different investments with comparison charts, analytics metrics and other information combined with expert investment advice.

"We cannot expect the field force of today, to work effectively with our Clients & Partners while dealing with a ton of paperwork. We need to unburden and empower them with the latest tools. MoneyWare was an easy choice for us because their suite allows PMS Bazaar to bring forth the technology advancements, we need to keep us competitive and enable business growth," said Hameed Rahman, Director - PMS Bazaar

Milan Ganatra, Managing Director ECFT adds, "MoneyWare Wealth Management is a proven solution with high scalability and flexibility. We are sure with this deployment the PMS Bazaar is well poised to leverage its existing investments in technology & it will also help them to enhance the ease of doing business with their Clients & Partners. ECFT will also be partnering with PMS Bazaar in its foray into utilising emerging Client Portal to the fullest.

In February, one of Ebix Inc's subsidiaries in India acquired 80% controlling stake in Delhi-based Zillious Solutions Private Limited for an undisclosed amount. Last October, EbixCash subsidiaries has acquired a 67% stake in Routier, a Delhi-based B2B Marketplace for Trucking Logistics.

PMS Bazaar, India's first online portal for investors looking for PMS & AIF comparisons, investments, information, analytics and investment advice. PMS Bazaar covers nearly the entire range of PMS & AIF avenues available in India. PMS Bazaar currently serves 8000+ Registered Investors, with 100+ strategies and supports investors across 10+Countries.

Four Govt Websites Hacked/Crashed in A Single Day

The website of the Ministry of Defence was 'hacked' on Friday evening, reported PTI, quoting officials. According to officials, there were Chinese characters on the website, indicating that Chinese hackers may be involved in it.

Moreover, to everyone's surprise, three more websites of -- home, law and labour ministries, also crashed this evening around the same time, which raised suspicion that these had been hacked. But a top cyber security official emphatically denied any hacking and blamed the issue to be a hardware problem. The home ministry also denied that its website had been hacked.

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) also denied reports of hack of Defense Ministry website, instead terming the matter a "technical issue," reported ANI. "Ministry of Defence website is not hacked. There is some technical issue since 2:30pm today," said NIC manifesting the ignorant approach.

Later, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to Twitter to say that "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( http://mod.nic.in ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi,” Sitharaman tweeted.

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

Eventually, websites of defence and labour ministries have been restored, although sites of home and law ministries are still down till writing this story.

The above news was taken from reports of NDTV.com and Times of India.

The National Informatics Centre, which maintains all these the government websites, is apparently using an in-house developed CMS (Content Management System) which is named as Content Management Framework a.k.a CMF, which was launched as part of the 'Digital India' programme, and is primarily directed towards making government Websites more usable, user centric and unusually accessible. Security feature is perhaps missing from the CMF features list.

Unlike to India, the US however do not use any in house built CMS at all instead they use the same CMS/software that are already available in market and mostly open source software such as Drupal, WordPress, IBM WebSphere WCM and Documentum, among others.

Drupal powers more than 150 sites for the US federal government, including the White House; the House of Representatives; NASA; and the departments of Education, Energy, Commerce, Health, Defense, Justice, Transportation, Homeland Security and Agriculture. It was perhaps the 2009 decision to move Whitehouse.gov and its associated sites to Drupal that gave the open source platform its biggest boost and gave other government agencies the confidence they needed to follow suit. To date, 34 state and territory agencies also use Drupal, with every new adopter solidifying the offering and creating new avenues for innovation. [Read More Here]

Earlier in March, a report in PTI stated that over 22,000 incidents of hacking of Indian websites were reported between April 2017 to January 2018. The report also mentioned that 114 government portals were hacked over that period. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Electronics and IT K J Alphons had then stated, “As per information reported to and tracked by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a total of 22,207 Indian websites including 114 government websites were hacked during April 2017 to January 2018. A total number of 493 affected websites were used for malware propagation."

In February, IndianWeb2 reported that how a security analyst discovered that the official website of Start-up India was --or probably still -- infected with a hidden Trojan virus.

Last October, an IBM study report warned India that despite talents and tools, the country is still unprepared to protect itself from a big cyberattack.

Last year, India's billion dollar valued startup Zomato was hacked and passwords of about 17 million users were stole, however later the company managed to brought every thing in right place. Prior to that, in 2015 cab-hailing startup Ola website got hacked however the company denied any breach.

Four Govt Websites Hacked/Crashed in A Single Day

The website of the Ministry of Defence was 'hacked' on Friday evening, reported PTI, quoting officials. According to officials, there were Chinese characters on the website, indicating that Chinese hackers may be involved in it.

Moreover, to everyone's surprise, three more websites of -- home, law and labour ministries, also crashed this evening around the same time, which raised suspicion that these had been hacked. But a top cyber security official emphatically denied any hacking and blamed the issue to be a hardware problem. The home ministry also denied that its website had been hacked.

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) also denied reports of hack of Defense Ministry website, instead terming the matter a "technical issue," reported ANI. "Ministry of Defence website is not hacked. There is some technical issue since 2:30pm today," said NIC manifesting the ignorant approach.

Later, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to Twitter to say that "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( http://mod.nic.in ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi,” Sitharaman tweeted.

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

Eventually, websites of defence and labour ministries have been restored, although sites of home and law ministries are still down till writing this story.

The above news was taken from reports of NDTV.com and Times of India.

The National Informatics Centre, which maintains all these the government websites, is apparently using an in-house developed CMS (Content Management System) which is named as Content Management Framework a.k.a CMF, which was launched as part of the 'Digital India' programme, and is primarily directed towards making government Websites more usable, user centric and unusually accessible. Security feature is perhaps missing from the CMF features list.

Unlike to India, the US however do not use any in house built CMS at all instead they use the same CMS/software that are already available in market and mostly open source software such as Drupal, WordPress, IBM WebSphere WCM and Documentum, among others.

Drupal powers more than 150 sites for the US federal government, including the White House; the House of Representatives; NASA; and the departments of Education, Energy, Commerce, Health, Defense, Justice, Transportation, Homeland Security and Agriculture. It was perhaps the 2009 decision to move Whitehouse.gov and its associated sites to Drupal that gave the open source platform its biggest boost and gave other government agencies the confidence they needed to follow suit. To date, 34 state and territory agencies also use Drupal, with every new adopter solidifying the offering and creating new avenues for innovation. [Read More Here]

Earlier in March, a report in PTI stated that over 22,000 incidents of hacking of Indian websites were reported between April 2017 to January 2018. The report also mentioned that 114 government portals were hacked over that period. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Electronics and IT K J Alphons had then stated, “As per information reported to and tracked by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a total of 22,207 Indian websites including 114 government websites were hacked during April 2017 to January 2018. A total number of 493 affected websites were used for malware propagation."

In February, IndianWeb2 reported that how a security analyst discovered that the official website of Start-up India was --or probably still -- infected with a hidden Trojan virus.

Last October, an IBM study report warned India that despite talents and tools, the country is still unprepared to protect itself from a big cyberattack.

Last year, India's billion dollar valued startup Zomato was hacked and passwords of about 17 million users were stole, however later the company managed to brought every thing in right place. Prior to that, in 2015 cab-hailing startup Ola website got hacked however the company denied any breach.

Maharashtra CM Launches MintageWorld.com - World's 1st Online Museum For Coins, Stamps & Currency Notes

With an objective of reintroducing the joy and fun of coins, currency notes & stamps collection to modern India and its youth. www.mintageworld.com - the world’s first online museum for Vintage & Current Coins, Stamps & Currency Notes was launched by Maharashtra State Chief Minister Hon. Shri Devendra Fadnavis.

Mr. Sushilkumar Agrawal, CEO, Mintage World & Hon. Chief Minister unveiled it on the momentous occasion of the 25th (silver jubilee) anniversary of “Shukla Day” – India’s largest annual exhibition on coins, currency and stamps, being held at the World Trade Centre. Several prominent personalities, collectors and celebrities graced the launch

Mintage world is a wonderful way to educate contemporary India and the world about our rich historical heritage, tradition & culture. This online museum will impart rare information such as detailed catalogue of stamps, coins and currency notes all under one roof. Fascinating & interesting history section on coin issuing authorities, dynasties and rulers will be one of the major highlight of this site.

The sole vision behind this initiative is to provide a single point of access to seek and share information and knowledge of these three fields along with its global updates. It brings together experts and researchers to share their experience with the lovers of these rare collectibles. This initiative will help reemphasize the glorious history, arts and cultural legacy of India and put our country on the global map of collectors.



The sole vision behind this initiative is to provide a single point of access to seek and share information and knowledge of these three fields along with its global updates. It brings together experts and researchers to share their experience with the lovers of these rare collectibles. This initiative will help reemphasize the glorious history, arts and cultural legacy of India and put our country on the global map of collectors.

After the launch Honorable Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Devendra Fadnavis said “I congratulate Sushilkumar for creating a dedicated online museum to us and Shukla Day organizers forgiving such a wonderful chance for collectors. If we want to know our history culture and tradition then it needs to be known thru its stamps coins and currency notes. Through mintage world & shukla day we can preserve the collections and also put it up for auction. Once you see this you can travel into history. I love history and this is a wonderful way for me to revive my love for history.”

Maharashtra CM Launches MintageWorld.com - World's 1st Online Museum For Coins, Stamps & Currency Notes

With an objective of reintroducing the joy and fun of coins, currency notes & stamps collection to modern India and its youth. www.mintageworld.com - the world’s first online museum for Vintage & Current Coins, Stamps & Currency Notes was launched by Maharashtra State Chief Minister Hon. Shri Devendra Fadnavis.

Mr. Sushilkumar Agrawal, CEO, Mintage World & Hon. Chief Minister unveiled it on the momentous occasion of the 25th (silver jubilee) anniversary of “Shukla Day” – India’s largest annual exhibition on coins, currency and stamps, being held at the World Trade Centre. Several prominent personalities, collectors and celebrities graced the launch

Mintage world is a wonderful way to educate contemporary India and the world about our rich historical heritage, tradition & culture. This online museum will impart rare information such as detailed catalogue of stamps, coins and currency notes all under one roof. Fascinating & interesting history section on coin issuing authorities, dynasties and rulers will be one of the major highlight of this site.

The sole vision behind this initiative is to provide a single point of access to seek and share information and knowledge of these three fields along with its global updates. It brings together experts and researchers to share their experience with the lovers of these rare collectibles. This initiative will help reemphasize the glorious history, arts and cultural legacy of India and put our country on the global map of collectors.



The sole vision behind this initiative is to provide a single point of access to seek and share information and knowledge of these three fields along with its global updates. It brings together experts and researchers to share their experience with the lovers of these rare collectibles. This initiative will help reemphasize the glorious history, arts and cultural legacy of India and put our country on the global map of collectors.

After the launch Honorable Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Devendra Fadnavis said “I congratulate Sushilkumar for creating a dedicated online museum to us and Shukla Day organizers forgiving such a wonderful chance for collectors. If we want to know our history culture and tradition then it needs to be known thru its stamps coins and currency notes. Through mintage world & shukla day we can preserve the collections and also put it up for auction. Once you see this you can travel into history. I love history and this is a wonderful way for me to revive my love for history.”

ZupiterG Is One-Stop Online Shop For Hand Crafted products

Working on contemporary designs and getting them manufactured using traditional Indian Craft, with focus on cost optimization and quality, ZupiterG (a name without any pre-conceived notion and fresh just like their products), wants to bridge the gap between modern lifestyle and traditional Indian Craft. Through their process they educate artisans and enable them to produce efficiently, while their customers get unique and designer hand-Crafted products at best price possible.

“The original seed of idea was sown, many years back in our home where we did a lot of experiments with home decor. Also, there is a huge gap between demand and availability of Good Quality home decor. Later, we explored fairs and exhibitions, and found that the quality and price of these products can be improved and modern and contemporary designs can be used to give them a new look while maintaining the beauty and appeal of hand- craft, and so came the idea of contemporary hand crafted Items.” says Avi Jain (Co-founder, DCE alumnus), who is a finance and supply chain enthusiast and had helped a few start-ups before taking up ZupiterG full time. He adds "home decor is more about your style and personality, telling your story. So we wanted to give home decor a new touch, while maintaining its uniqueness through handcrafting techniques."

Based out of Noida, the company started operating in year 2014 only, though it has been working since past 1 year on designs and product development.

They are one of its kind platforms in country, having designer hand-crafted and home decor products with their exclusive designs and assured quality. All their products are manufactured using international standards and are ROHS certified. When compared to other websites catering in same domain, their prices are 40-60 % less. So in a way due to re work on supply chain they have been able to reduce the prices, thus in process making Indian-Craft more accessible to people.

Currently not partnered with any other organization, ZupiterG reaches out to artisan group directly. They would love to partner with other organizations around the globe and showcase the Indian Craft, provided they follow standard quality and Process parameters. They are team of 4-7 guys, with two people working exclusively on Quality check and product designing. The company started with shipping Pan India and will start shipping internationally soon, wanting to reach out to as many people and geographical locations as possible, and showcase rich Indian Craft. They are currently bootstrapping and have raised a small amount from friends and family.

Avi recollects from his initial struggle and says “We have just completed three months of operation, and initially it was difficult to convince people of the new and different kind of home decor products, and available at such good prices. But since second month we are receiving an overwhelming response and orders. Due to heavy demand and traction on our website, we are planning to double our product range by the end of 2014. We are also planning on introducing more art-forms with focus on North-East India very soon. There were moments when we were not sure on how to go ahead with this venture in home decor and handicraft segment, but I guess it is the interesting people and places, and their stories which always kept us going. The joy of watching a design converted to reality and the passion with which these artisans work on every piece is something that makes this journey interesting.”

Mrs Rima Gupta and Mr Ramesh Thakur are the mentors of the team at the organisation. With a strong message of “never giving up as you never know when the tide gets in your favour” for future entrepreneurs and having to live up with the entrepreneurial spirit every day, hope of discovering something new the next day, joy of touching a life, and witnessing a product from its inception to its final resting place are some of the motivating factors which keeps the team at ZupiterG going along strongly. We wish them all the success.

Biotecnika Labs Catering To The Needs of Bio-Industry in India

Biotecnika Info Labs Pvt Ltd is an eight year old organization which effectively caters to the needs of Bio-industry in various forms such as job portal, coaching, magazine and web TV. Started by Shekhar Suman and his sister, Dr Neha Suman, the company aims to strive towards making 'life science' sector a better and a more hopeful sector for graduates.

"I still remember the day when I had to convince my father that my soul lies in being an entrepreneur. I was still pursuing my Bachelors from Krupanidhi College of Pharmacy. Belonging from the bio-science sector I completely understood the intricacies woven around the biotech employment sector. I wanted to bring in a solution to this prevailing problem," says Shekhar. This is when he came up with the idea of Biotecnika. While Shekhar was still pursuing his studies in pharmacy, he made a team of 14 people. This entire team composed of research fellows and scholars working from different places across India to make the best portal for life science students.

8 years ago, there was a dearth of services which could help the bioscience students to be on par with the sector. Shekhar dedicated the initial 12 months just to letting people know about Biotecnika. "As the entire domain was looking for a resource where they could browse for bio-jobs, we received commendable response from all quarters. The philosophy was simple. Being a doctor myself, I wanted to dedicate myself to the sector and extend support for its unfaltering progress," says Neha.

Biotecnika's CSIR NET coaching, runs all around the country, in the form of online classes, a unique feature making them stand out of the many competitors. "We, at Biotecnika, see to it that no bioscience individual who come to us, either seeking for mentorship or guidance, leave in disappointment," says Shekhar, proudly.

A team of 30 members is dedicated towards maintaining and improvising the services that they offer. Biotecnika is based out of Bangalore, a city which is popularly considered to be the ‘heart’ for biotechnology sector. Throughout these eight years in the industry, Biotecnika has aided the bio-community and have recently expanded their reach to the city of Noida.

The company plans to expand to all the corners of the country and help out every biotech individual seeking our assistance at every level. As a message for future entrepreneurs, Shekhar says, “Measure your stamina and then jump. Swimming in the entrepreneurial pool is awesome.”

Mechjunction, India’s first mechanical engineering platform for students and professionals

Mechjunction was founded in year 2013 with an intense vision of helping mechanical engineering students and professionals in best possible ways. A platform which is a job portal, provides Industrial training, skill development programs, online magazines etc. all for Mechanical Engineering Students. In a conversation with the 3 founders, Satwik Mishra, Abhinav Kishore and Harsh Vardhan we learn about the journey of this startup.

“Being a mechanical engineer, I faced many problems during and after my college life. I had to waste considerable amount of time to get my educational requirements fulfilled. Hence I planned to develop a platform where all the requirements can be furnished at a single platform for mechanical engineers. This led to the foundation of Mechjunction,” says Satwik, who got rewarded as a fellow by SAM Global Organization.

The website provides the following services to the mechanical engineers:

1) Projects
2) Opportunities Information/ Job Openings
3) Software Guidance
4) E Books
5) Video Tutorials
6) Info about related organizations
7) Discussion Forum
8) Recent Updates
9) PSU Exam's Details

They have partnered with many organizations for the workshops and opportunities. Few of them are Letonyx Technologies, Fyrsta, Unmanned Engineeria, SourceNXT. They are a team of 3 co-founders with a few interns. Though they are not yet funded, they have conducted workshops, partnered with events and benefited over 8000 students from their webpage. They have an internship program in the pipeline starting in December.

They are looking to launch book publication in coming days. "We are looking forward to set up publishing industry in the same domain, under same brand name. We are also planning to start production of robotics related parts and instruments," says Abhinav, a passout form VIT, Vellore. They have been conducting workshops with trainers from Italy providing international exposure to the students. They plan to tie up with colleges and provide training t students on a regular basis.

As a message for future entrepreneurs, Harsh says, “Don’t think much about the consequences, just start up! Either you win or lose, you are going to achieve something positive in both the cases. Don’t wait to get the perfection before you start. If you do so, you are late in this world. Just start up and keep on running until and unless it becomes the perfect one.”

Microsoft Unveils First Look of New MSN in India

Microsoft today unveiled a first look of the new MSN in India. Designed from the ground up for a mobile, cloud first world, the new MSN combines premium content from the world's leading media outlets with personal productivity tools that help you do more. Built around the insight that the knowledge and information that enriches your life should be accessible regardless of where you are or what device you are using, the new experience is available on the web and will soon be available across all major device platforms, including Windows, iOS and Android.

Starting today, Microsoft is inviting people to try out the new web experience at New MSN Website.

The new MSN focuses on the primary digital daily habits in people’s lives, helping them complete tasks on the web and across all of their devices, roaming data and personalized settings to keep users in the know wherever they are.

Most Popular and Complete Content

MSN is partnering with some of the world’s best and most authoritative sources, including The New York Times in the U.S., Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun in Japan, The Guardian and the Telegraph in the U.K., Le Figaro and Le Monde in France, and Lance and Estadão in Brazil, and many more.

"Microsoft has re-written MSN from the ground up for a mobile-first, cloud first world. The new MSN brings together the world's best media sources along with data and services to enable users to do more." said Sanjay Trehan, Head, MSN India, Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. “Microsoft has partnered with top local content partners from India for the new MSN, including Hindustan Times, NDTV, India Today, Indian Express and Network 18.”

Spanning multiple sections including sports, news, health & fitness, money, travel and video, the new MSN provides a global perspective from thousands of publishers across the world. Information ranges from the latest statistics on over 200 global sports leagues, reviews of over 1.5 million bottles of wine, to over 300,000 gorgeously photographed recipes and more. MSN’s expert editors are able to draw from the over 1,000 sources to hand-curate content for individual markets and cultures.

"With an audience of nearly 425 million people coming to over 57 markets around the world available across the three major device platforms, the new MSN presents an enormous opportunity for publishers" said Adam Anger, General Manager for Asia Pacific, Microsoft Advertising "With over 50% of people accessing content on dedicated apps, this release is in lockstep with where usage is happening."

Know More, Do More

The new MSN brings actionable information and the opportunity to act directly at the point where people are actively engaging, from personal productivity tools like shopping lists, flight status and savings calculators, to integrated access to popular sites like Outlook.com, Facebook, Twitter, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype. At the top of the page, there is a personal stripe allowing you one click access to top services so you can stay on top of what’s happening in your life.

These integrated tools cover eight categories letting you explore, plan, do, and track the activities you care about. You can set up topics to follow about the news you care about. You can track “Game of Thrones spoilers” or "Wolves in Yellowstone" and MSN will stay on top of relevant articles. When you’re searching for recipes and find one that you want to prepare, in one click you can convert the ingredients into a shopping list which will roam from the web to the mobile apps so you have it when you need it in the grocery store not on the printer at work.

Personalized and Available Across Devices

A clean, fresh design makes it easy to find and enjoy content that interests you. You can organize categories and interests making the layout your own.

The new MSN makes it simple to personalize what you want to see regardless of which device you use. In the coming months, we will release a suite of MSN apps across Windows Phone, iOS and Android. You only need to set your preferences once, and your favorite stuff will always be there. In the finance section for instance, when you setup your stock watch list (e.g. DIS) it will show up the same way on the corresponding apps and website. If you prefer to get your content from a specific source, you can set that as a preference (e.g. more stories from The New York Times.)

And it works the same way if you set it up on your phone – so no matter where you start, you don’t have to set it up all over again, changes and updates work the same way. So setup your favorite cities for weather or pick your favorite sports teams and those things will be with you at your PC at work, on your Windows 8.1 tablet in the living room, or on your iPhone when you are on the go.

New Opportunities for Brands

For brands, MSN will continue to offer its loyal audience with a personalized web experience with the added benefit of the best-of-the-web publishers and the engagement of applications across all mobile operating systems. The new MSN is an ideal environment for seamless brand storytelling across devices.

Though the face of MSN has transformed, the process of buying ads is simple. Brands can still enjoy ease of purchasing through similar IAB standard units available on previous versions of MSN.

"With premium content and productivity tools, we're thrilled to offer a new experience to both advertisers and consumers that help people do more,” said Ken Chang, Commercial Director for Asia Pacific, Microsoft Advertising. "Our daily lives have become increasingly busy and with that comes more screens to interact with to make our days make sense. MSN streamlines this experience to the benefit of all people and allows advertisers to be in more moments and to capture consumers at the right mindset during the day."

iitiimshaadi.com - New matrimony site for people passing out from IITs & IIMs

Always dreamt of studying in IITs and IIMs but ended up missing the bus just by a small margin. Worry no more! You still have a chance to be indirectly associated with these esteemed institutions. IITIIMShaadi.com, a matrimony site can make your this dream come true by finding a prospective bride or groom from these institutions or any other top rated University or College all around the world.

The website has so far registered over 1800 people and some 120 people have already connected or met each other though the website.

The website is a platform to explore matrimonial alliance among alumni of premier educational institutions.  This website is an off-shoot of Rural Management Consultants Private Ltd., which is an organization founded by Dr. Ajay Gupta in 2011. Dr. Gupta has a PG from IRMA and Doctorate from the Delhi School of Economics. The organization is a leader of the market for executive search in the Food and Agriculture Industry.

The portal fundamentally invite registration from alumni of top few Indian and Global Institutions irrespective of the field of study. In coming days portal will also cover Engineering, Management, Architecture, Medicine, Finance, Law, Fashion Design, Theater, Media Communication, Psychology, Sociology, Music, Dance , officers of Senior Government Administration etc.

Nowadays, the issues of caste, religion etc. have taken a back seat in matrimony associations and people are becoming more and more open minded and looking for people who match their intellect or educational background and this is exactly what iitiimshaadi.com is offering them.

According to Ajay Gupta, the founder of the website, match making of the well placed and educated people is like an executive search.  The site gets queries not only from India but all around the world. Parents often end up sending the professional CVs of their kids and ask the website’s help in making a profile of their kids on the site. The website receives a lot of registrations on daily basis. The team then filters all these registrations for the “right candidates”. In order to register, the candidates have to submit a scanned copy of their degrees.

Dr. Gupta is very confident about his website doing well in the country considering the need of specific requirements of people contemplating marriage in the country.

The website became functional in April 2014 and provides high search quality by using pre-filters, such as willingness to attend office parties, late working hours, and frequent relocation etc.

Our verdict

The website doesn't look very professional and the UI of website is also lacks basic elements. Keeping in mind the kind of specific people that the matrimony portal wants to target, the website supposed to be very engaging with some really good interface elements which is by the way missing in the portal, rest the idea is good.

iitiimshaadi.com - New matrimony site for people passing out from IITs & IIMs

Always dreamt of studying in IITs and IIMs but ended up missing the bus just by a small margin. Worry no more! You still have a chance to be indirectly associated with these esteemed institutions. IITIIMShaadi.com, a matrimony site can make your this dream come true by finding a prospective bride or groom from these institutions or any other top rated University or College all around the world.

The website has so far registered over 1800 people and some 120 people have already connected or met each other though the website.

The website is a platform to explore matrimonial alliance among alumni of premier educational institutions.  This website is an off-shoot of Rural Management Consultants Private Ltd., which is an organization founded by Dr. Ajay Gupta in 2011. Dr. Gupta has a PG from IRMA and Doctorate from the Delhi School of Economics. The organization is a leader of the market for executive search in the Food and Agriculture Industry.

The portal fundamentally invite registration from alumni of top few Indian and Global Institutions irrespective of the field of study. In coming days portal will also cover Engineering, Management, Architecture, Medicine, Finance, Law, Fashion Design, Theater, Media Communication, Psychology, Sociology, Music, Dance , officers of Senior Government Administration etc.

Nowadays, the issues of caste, religion etc. have taken a back seat in matrimony associations and people are becoming more and more open minded and looking for people who match their intellect or educational background and this is exactly what iitiimshaadi.com is offering them.

According to Ajay Gupta, the founder of the website, match making of the well placed and educated people is like an executive search.  The site gets queries not only from India but all around the world. Parents often end up sending the professional CVs of their kids and ask the website’s help in making a profile of their kids on the site. The website receives a lot of registrations on daily basis. The team then filters all these registrations for the “right candidates”. In order to register, the candidates have to submit a scanned copy of their degrees.

Dr. Gupta is very confident about his website doing well in the country considering the need of specific requirements of people contemplating marriage in the country.

The website became functional in April 2014 and provides high search quality by using pre-filters, such as willingness to attend office parties, late working hours, and frequent relocation etc.

Our verdict

The website doesn't look very professional and the UI of website is also lacks basic elements. Keeping in mind the kind of specific people that the matrimony portal wants to target, the website supposed to be very engaging with some really good interface elements which is by the way missing in the portal, rest the idea is good.

Bizarre, Indian Govt. wants IT revolution by launching eGreetings portal

The government's IT wing is doing odd things in the name of digitization and IT revolution, yesterday Ravi Shankar Prasad, Communication and IT Minister of India, unveiled the egreetings.india.gov.in portal yesterday as a part of the new government's Digital India initiative. The eGreetings portal has an aim of propagating eco-friendly ways of sending greetings by government officials and ministers to friends and colleagues.

The portal which looked like a retarded portal of 90's era was unveiled on the eve of the country's 68^th Independence Day celebrations. Govt. claimed that it houses a grand collection of designs made by people from all over the country.

At the launch, the Communication and IT Minister lauded the efforts of the IT department and its officials for coming up with such a novel idea of having this kind of IT greeting card, as if they have invented ground-breaking internet technology by developing egreetings portal.

Although there are plenty of e-greetings portal in the country, the objectives of launch of such portal and that's too by govt. is unclear, instead they could have made a portal where the reports of all inquiry comissions on incidence such as communal riots, corruption charges etc. are available for public view and this is kind of portal could have been example of good digital transparency initiative by new govt. However they chose making egreeting portal which gives impression of very childish thoughts of new govt. and doing formalities on the name of digitization.

According to Prasad, this initiative by the IT department is in agreement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to ensure a proper IT revolution in the country followed by connectivity. On a second thought a large area of Indian geography is still untouched with basic internet connection, dont' know how come govt. IT department bring out IT revolution by launching egreeting portal.

Advice to IT minister - An IT revolution comes in any nation by strengthening its internet connectivity in both rural and urban areas and building broadband infrastructure and cheap computer peripherals and not by launching egreetings portal, what would 60% of Indian population will do with egreetings portal when they dont even have basic internet connection nor the computer to operate from.

IT minister Prasad also said that, enhancing Internet connectivity by launching the eGreetings portal on 15^th August was a great idea and by cooperation of the citizens of the country through crowd sourcing, this could prove to be a huge success.

Prasad further hoped that the portal will not only be used by government officials and ministers but also by the people of the country although there are plenty of egreetings portals in the country already don't know why would common people will choose govt. egreetings portal which doesn't look good in comparison to existing egreetings portal.

According to R S Sharma, who is the Secretary of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, the department had received 3,572 entries in total for the greeting card designs and out of these entries, the best 14 were selected. The Department of Electronics and Information Technology has made six greeting cards in total.

All the selected 14 entries will be awarded by the department. They would be given a cash prize so as to encourage more and more people to make designs for the portal.

The eGreetings portal also provides the option of selecting a quote of Prime Minster Narendra Modi which would then be sent as a part of the greeting.

In order to use the portal, the user is required to be a registered user of MyGov platform or the government’s email service or the India Gov platform.

The NaMo government has a plan of spending around 5000 crore this fiscal under the Digital India initiative, bizarre isn't it ?, if 5000 crore of money will be spending on craps like egreetings portals only God can clarify that will this bring our IT revolution or utter waste of money.A question arises does a egreetings portal needed that badly by Indian public.

Bizarre, Indian Govt. wants IT revolution by launching eGreetings portal

The government's IT wing is doing odd things in the name of digitization and IT revolution, yesterday Ravi Shankar Prasad, Communication and IT Minister of India, unveiled the egreetings.india.gov.in portal yesterday as a part of the new government's Digital India initiative. The eGreetings portal has an aim of propagating eco-friendly ways of sending greetings by government officials and ministers to friends and colleagues.

The portal which looked like a retarded portal of 90's era was unveiled on the eve of the country's 68^th Independence Day celebrations. Govt. claimed that it houses a grand collection of designs made by people from all over the country.

At the launch, the Communication and IT Minister lauded the efforts of the IT department and its officials for coming up with such a novel idea of having this kind of IT greeting card, as if they have invented ground-breaking internet technology by developing egreetings portal.

Although there are plenty of e-greetings portal in the country, the objectives of launch of such portal and that's too by govt. is unclear, instead they could have made a portal where the reports of all inquiry comissions on incidence such as communal riots, corruption charges etc. are available for public view and this is kind of portal could have been example of good digital transparency initiative by new govt. However they chose making egreeting portal which gives impression of very childish thoughts of new govt. and doing formalities on the name of digitization.

According to Prasad, this initiative by the IT department is in agreement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to ensure a proper IT revolution in the country followed by connectivity. On a second thought a large area of Indian geography is still untouched with basic internet connection, dont' know how come govt. IT department bring out IT revolution by launching egreeting portal.

Advice to IT minister - An IT revolution comes in any nation by strengthening its internet connectivity in both rural and urban areas and building broadband infrastructure and cheap computer peripherals and not by launching egreetings portal, what would 60% of Indian population will do with egreetings portal when they dont even have basic internet connection nor the computer to operate from.

IT minister Prasad also said that, enhancing Internet connectivity by launching the eGreetings portal on 15^th August was a great idea and by cooperation of the citizens of the country through crowd sourcing, this could prove to be a huge success.

Prasad further hoped that the portal will not only be used by government officials and ministers but also by the people of the country although there are plenty of egreetings portals in the country already don't know why would common people will choose govt. egreetings portal which doesn't look good in comparison to existing egreetings portal.

According to R S Sharma, who is the Secretary of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, the department had received 3,572 entries in total for the greeting card designs and out of these entries, the best 14 were selected. The Department of Electronics and Information Technology has made six greeting cards in total.

All the selected 14 entries will be awarded by the department. They would be given a cash prize so as to encourage more and more people to make designs for the portal.

The eGreetings portal also provides the option of selecting a quote of Prime Minster Narendra Modi which would then be sent as a part of the greeting.

In order to use the portal, the user is required to be a registered user of MyGov platform or the government’s email service or the India Gov platform.

The NaMo government has a plan of spending around 5000 crore this fiscal under the Digital India initiative, bizarre isn't it ?, if 5000 crore of money will be spending on craps like egreetings portals only God can clarify that will this bring our IT revolution or utter waste of money.A question arises does a egreetings portal needed that badly by Indian public.

Predict the confirmation of your train ticket with ConfirmTkt

ConfirmTkt is a tool which assists the users in predicting confirmation chances of their train tickets with an unbelievable accuracy. With a mission to make Travel Simpler, Sripad and Dinesh came up with the idea of ConfirmTkt while working together at IBM. Sripad and Dinesh already have an android app in the market by the name 'Meterup'. Meterup is Auto fare, Taxi fare, Cab fare app in India.

Before boarding your train, you can check the status on Android devices as well with their ConfirmTkt app.

We asked them how it all started, and Dinesh said "We personally experienced the difficulties of getting a train ticket to travel to our native places. Whenever we try to book a ticket it would show waiting list. Sripad used to book tickets by analyzing the past trends manually. So we both thought why can’t we build something which can analyze and tell you whether to book or not."

ConfirmTkt is backed by a unique and efficient algorithm which predicts the future status of PNR's in seconds based on historical trends. It also assists you in deciding whether to book or not if the train is in waitlist.
At ConfirmTkt you will be able to

• Predict your ticket confirmation chances if you have a waitlist ticket.


• PNR status check.


• Subscribe for the PNR confirmation notifications.


• Search trains between a desired source and destination pair.


• Compare all the ticket confirmation chances for the trains on a single screen and decide on the travel options.

"All you need is a valid PNR. Enter the PNR and click 'Get status' button to get all your PNR information instantly. ConfirmTkt shows the ticket confirmation chances with in a fraction of seconds,” says Sripad. Once you have finished your PNR status check, if your ticket is in waitlist/ RAC and you want to be notified when your ticket gets confirmed. Then just enter a valid email ID to subscribe for PNR confirmation notification we handle the rest. Once your PNR gets confirmed we will send you an email notification with the detailed PNR information," added Dinesh.

The intelligence behind the ConfirmTkt PNR predictions is very close to how humans think. We humans predict and act on the future based on past experiences. ConfirmTkt prediction algorithm is highly efficient and trustable. It has been thoroughly tested on about 2500 trains and achieved an overall accuracy of 88%. It took them 2 years to develop an algorithm with such an accuracy. “Do not worry about the accuracy, we will take care of it,” they say. The ticket confirmation chances may vary from a holiday/weekend to a normal day. As a result this 2 person team maintains ticketing trends for holidays /weekends separately and predict accuracy based on that.

The algorithm interprets these numbers by comparing the current availability with the ticket confirmation thresholds. By seeing these numbers, users can easily mitigate the risk involved while deciding on the ticket booking.

This is how the algorithm interprets ConfirmTkt status:

• If the confirmation chances are above 70% then we interpret it as 'Confirm'


• If the confirmation chances are between 30% and 70% then we interpret as 'Probable'


• Anything below 30 % is interpreted as 'No Chance'

They are not using any third party software’s for big data analytics. They have built the software on their own ad plan to improve and put new functionalities to the product soon. We see it becoming the most innovative ticket search tool that can show all possible ways of getting a ticket for any mode of transport. As a message for future entrepreneurs, they said "Don't be afraid to take risk. If you want to solve some problem that nobody else dared to solve and are passionate about it then just do it."

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPkBs9xCjkk]

BuzzingBubs ensuring that parents spend the best time with their kids

As parents, I am sure you have all done your share of endless research – whether it’s finding the right toys, fun things to do on weekends, where to holiday or planning the perfect birthday party. And we know that each time, you wanted to do more with our kids. “We created BuzzingBubs for parents like us who want to make our kids’ days more fun and memorable. Our goal is to be your guide whenever you’re looking for ideas for things to do with your kids," say the founders Sunena Saigal and Priyanka Sehgal.

Launched on April 23, 2013 in Bangalore, Buzzingbubs.com is a platform to serve the interests of parents with kids. The contributors on this wesite are from different walks of life and have helped to create a holistic, well-rounded content. “Our aim is to give emphasis to quality over quantity while we explore every area of relevance in this domain.We wish to cut out the noise and curate information which is useful from a parents' perspective. Whether it’s recommending the most kid-friendly restaurants or the best children's parks in Bangalore, we've captured and highlighted information that parents care about and give’s them a clear picture at a glance,” says Sunena. Their website contains that local and personal touch which makes a big difference.

They are currently in talks with certain collateral brands exploring synergies. Currently using wordpress on their website and have made it mobile friendly. “More than 60% of our users are accessing our content on their mobile devices,” says Priyanka. Apart from a content editor and designer on board, they have more than 15 contributors. Their contributors are super mum’s and dad’s that keep the website buzzing with great articles.

They plan to cover the needs of parents in Bangalore in depth and thereafter take it to other major cities in India. Priyanka suggests the future entrepreneurs to ‘Believe in their idea no matter how simple it is.’ “An idea, executed well is what makes a difference,” she says.

IIT Roorkee students to keep the spirits of new bloggers alive

Shaumik Daityari and Kshitij Awadhiya are building a blog directory of different kind where you can share and discover blogs. "The Blog Bowl" as it is called encourages the non-bloggers to join and participate in the regular contests that keep happening on their website.

We asked them the idea behind starting up and they said, "On one hand they were giving a lot of preference to the sponsors, and on the other hand, the bloggers were being exploited at the end of the day. Even though bloggers came up with blogs on time, when it was the time to distribute prizes, the sponsors would take months." They realized that few bloggers won prizes due to the blind praise of sponsors but few new bloggers with innovative content (including humor/satire) were rejected. "This was basically killing the spirit of new bloggers", says Shaumik.

What keeps the bloggers hooked to the site are regular contests. Sponsors of these contests try and promote their product or service through the bloggers and the best blogs are given prizes. The participants are offered significant amounts of talk times and the prizes are shipped off one day after the results. ‘Another point of difference is that you don’t need to have an established blog to be a part of our family. If you just have a wild idea to write on, go ahead and do it on our platform, aptly titled Your Voice’ says Kshitij.

They have partnered with Cognizance (tech fest of IIT Roorkee) to hold Blogomania, the yearly blogging contest. "This was a big event and our user base increased significantly due to combined popularity", they say. Based out of Roorkee, this team of founders with a designer do everything from backend running on Python/Django to front end working on JavaScript/jQuery.

[caption id="attachment_93057" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Co-founders of TheBlogBowl (L to R) - Kshitij Awadhiya, Shaumik Daityari & Kumar Animesh[/caption]

The team now plans to expand into Picture Posts and launch an app so that people can take pics and instantly write few lines about it and post it to our website. As a message for future entrepreneurs the founders say, ‘There can be scope even for an existing product if one closely identifies commercially exploitable flaws in the existing ones.’

Go share your wild idea on http://theblogbowl.in/your_voice/feeds/

MacSlatch is India’s first online exclusive store for Apple products

India’s first online exclusive store for Apple products, MacSlatch.com, has been launched. Unlike other web platforms selling gadgets like mobile phones, laptops, personal computers, and tablets, etc., MacSlatch’s exclusivity lies in selling gadgets from one brand – Apple, bringing the international buying experience of Apple. Macslatch has been a pioneer and the first online store to provide services to both existing and new Apple buyers. The focus on premium brand is the soul of business at MacSlatch with additional bonus of providing the necessary and unique Apple experience.

This one of its kind e-commerce venture has a team of Apple experts to provide technical assistance in a remote way including phone, e-mail, Teamviewer, and FaceTime, etc. for configuration, data transfer/migration, setup, network, and printer set up, among other important assistance. The sales support areas like option for deciding on various in-built specifications to suit the buyer’s specific needs, experts at MacSlatch help the customers to customize the various Apple devices before purchasing. The build to order specifications for various devices include upgrades of RAM, Hard Drive, partitioning drive, extra add ons, and Apple Care, among others.

Taranjeet Singh Slatch, Founder and CEO of MacSlatch.com, is confident of adding to the sales numbers by providing an efficient pre-sales guidance and after sales customer service. He said, "A premium brand like Apple has an increased scope in India but many potential customers are wary of the services related hassles regarding this premium international brand." He added that a correct Apple experience is important for India, which has recently shown significant growth among the BRIC nations." It is pertinent to note that Apple Inc. is yet to have its own retail presence in India."

Besides selling the entire range of products from Apple like Mac desktops and laptops, iPhone’s, iPod’s, iPad’s, and Apple TV, etc., Macslatch stores a comprehensive collection of various company-owned and third party accessories for entire range of products from Apple. Being a one stop shop for Apple buying, MacSlatch offers online tech support without any cost, which includes expert assistance on installation and usage, data transfer, and other related assistance. The benefit of online technical support by MacSlatch provides the necessary and hassle free experience of buying, unlike other e-retail platforms that concentrate only on selling the products. All the products sold on MacSlatch come with Apple warranty.

Taranjeet feels electronics and gadgets are specialized products and need expert sales and service support to guide the potential customer, especially in an online selling platform. Unlike physical multi-product and multi-brand stores, wherein niche brands have their executive in-stores, exclusive and single-product or single-brand online stores would be able to meaningfully service the customers with customer care executives having complete knowledge of the product to correctly guide the potential customers, he added.

While MacSlatch’s several customized marketing schemes are attracting potential customers, the company is constantly working in researching the behaviors and buying patterns of existing and new customers to develop innovative service and knowledge-oriented products to meaningfully engage the growing number of Apple customers in India. The idea is to constantly educate and update the existing users, repeat customers, and potential buyers with correct knowledge and product features, thereby increasing the sales volume, explained Taranjeet. MacSlatch has plans to focus on transformation of various industries like education and health, etc. that have been observed to use various devices from Apple. Taranjeet’s experience of working with various companies including one of the oldest dealers of Apple in New Delhi would help him provide the necessary product knowledge to the customers for an informed purchasing.

Taking inspiration from Apple website, MacSlatch.com is well designed, easy to navigate, and user friendly. Despite the customized specifications to the various devices, the online store has provisions to deliver within 48 hours of booking an order with free shipping facility. Currently, the geographical focus of this e-commerce store is pan India.

Huffington Post & BuzzFeed to launch India specific news websites

As a favourable demographic location, India is set to be the most promising country for world's prominent news/aggregator websites. Currently, the Huffington Post and BuzzFeed both are planning to launch India-focussed website and both are planning to open offices in India later this year.

As per speculations Huffington Post is expected to launch its Indian edition next month (June 2014) and currently in negotiation with two media companies for same stated NYTimes

The Huffington Post aka Huff Post is a liberal American online news aggregator portal and offers news, blogs, and original content and covers politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media and much more. The Huff post is already have its edition in countries such as US, UK, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Germany, Portugal and Korea. India will 11th country for the website.

Buzzfeed is a popular social news and entertainment website and is all set to launch Indian edition portal and also have plans to open an office in Mumbai. BuzzFeed produces an average of 378 posts a day featuring the work of staff reporters, contributors, syndicated cartoon artists, and community.

Rather than foreign correspondents both the websites will hire local correspondent from India itself or partner with local media agencies as its is hard to find local journalist and expertise in India. Last year in september Business Insider, launched India-focussed website partnered with the Times of India.

As per Comscore, in year 2013 online news readership in India grows to 9.4 million daily visitors mostly on their mobile phones. Among the Indian news websites, The Times of India continues to be the clear leader with 12.7 million unique visitors in August, 2013.

India's First Gay-Dating website launched for Women

Wonderful Things Happen is India's first gay/same-sex dating website and exclusively for lesbians and bisexual women in India. The website was formed into existence in February 2014 and currently serving only Women of Indian origin across the globe.

The website offers professional matchmaking service in very private way, the interested women's information are kept privately in the website database and unlike to other normal matchmaking services where users can see photos and details of other users, here in this case no photos and details are shown to public.

Interested women has to drop an email to connect@wonderfulthingshappen.com with a brief intro about themselves. Within 48 hours, personal matchmaker will get in touch with them and schedule a 45-60 mins in person consultation via call/Skype. After understanding and determining the needs, candidate profile will be created and stored in website database and of-course privately.

Connecting and creating profiles is absolutely free, however thereafter there are customize pricing option for matchmaking services. Once the matchmaker has qualified interested ones as a serious candidate, he/she will start screening a potential matches. Notably, the website does not entertain married women but only singles.

Priyanka Singh is website's founder, a 30-year old married woman and NRI based in the US. Priyanka wanted to start such website after the Supreme court of India made section 377 of IPC sustained where under this section same gender sex relationship is an offense in India. The bold decision to build such website in India is being welcomed openly by Indian society so far, although such topic are much a taboo for society like India.

Apart from professional matchmaking the website also offers a Lounge area which is discussion forum where the website encourage lesbian/bi women and their families & friends to engage, discuss and support each other through shared experiences.