Technology

Expense Sharing

We all go out with friends for dinners, movies, parties. And at the end of it all, we need to share the expenses. It is pretty inconvenient to share on the spot, especially if the payment is made by Credit Card. And it is much more inconvenient to keep track of multiple occasions and people.

Enter www.billmonk.com –  a simple way to split the bills with friends for free. BillMonk just needs you to enter the total amount of the bill and the no. of persons you want to split it with. Normally, the bill is split equally, but you can also split it manually for whatever amounts you please. You can add the names of the persons too. And BillMonk starts keeping track. BillMonk supports 30 currencies – including Indian Rupees.

So it becomes really simple – sometimes you could be paying the bill and sometimes someone else could be paying. BillMonk tracks the amounts once they are entered and at the end of the week or month, it will do the arithmetic and show who owes whom how much. When a settlement is made, you just enter it and the account is squared. Pretty neat!

Many transactions can be entered by Mobile Phones by just sending an SMS on the move – very convenient after a late night party – just sleep peacefully knowing that the money matters are safely taken care of!

It’s not just money. You could be lending or receiving CDs, Movies, Books to each other. BillMonk allows you to track who has borrowed what from whom and the suggested return dates. This helps track your assets and you will never forget whom you lent them to.

BillMonk keeps track of your money and stuff, so you don’t have to. And remember it is FREE !

Motivations, Networking, News

NASSCOM India Leadership Forum

Conference

The conference would offer a bouquet of tracks to choose from. There would be sessions dedicated to leadership and vision; emerging economies and segments; smart use of technology to further growth; aligning strategies to match customer expectations; importance of marketing and its role in tough times. You wouldn’t want to miss on the chance to be in the company of luminaries who would act as catalysts of change. Register now!

News, Resources

Renewable and Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing get a boost

Recovery Act Tax Credits to Enable More Than $7 Billion in New Manufacturing Projects and Create Tens of Thousands of Jobs Washington, 8 January 2010- Today at the White House, President Obama announced the award of $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for clean energy manufacturing projects across the United States.  One hundred eighty three projects in 43 states will create tens of thousands of high quality clean energy jobs and the domestic manufacturing of advanced clean energy technologies including solar, wind and efficiency and energy management technologies. (…) This effort, along with other Recovery Act investments, will drive significant growth in the renewable energy and clean technology manufacturing sectors and give the United States the ability to lead globally in these markets.  The investment tax credits, worth up to thirty percent of each planned project, will leverage private capital for a total investment of nearly $7.7 billion in high-tech manufacturing in the United States.  The projects announced today address the broad spectrum of manufacturing capabilities needed to support a robust clean energy economy.  The projects were competitively selected through a rigorous merit review process and the companies chosen say they will create more than 17,000 jobs in some of the fastest growing parts of our economy. (…) http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8501.htm

Business Ideas, People / Stories, Technology

This car will cost you just 4 paisa per km!

Byravee Iyer

At 7, Race Course Road, the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, you can find a glittering array of cars. They are all fitted with post-modern gizmos and security gadgets, and their armour is thick as a tank’s.

There is also a small electric car which is used to carry passengers, one at a time, from the high-security gates to the house. It rubs in a subtle message to visitors from abroad:

Click to read entire article.

Motivations, News

National Tourism Awards 2008-09

Entries are invited for different categories – Hotels, Travel Agents, Tour Operators, States/UTs, National Monuments / Parks, Publications, Website, Film Makers and many more …

Nominations are also invited from stakeholders for the award “Pride of India – Atithi Devo Bhava” which was instituted last year.

In addition to the award introduced this year for “Best Civic Management of A Tourist Destination in India”, another new category “Best Wellness Centre” has been introduced.

Additional sub-categories for in-bound tour operators / travel agents and tourist transport operators are also introduced .

For more details please visit our website.

LAST DATE FOR RECEIVING ENTRIES EXTENDED TILL 18th JANUARY, 2010.

For detailed guidelines, log on to www.incredibleindia.org or www.tourism.gov.in

News, People / Stories

Zubin Irani – awarded for environmental leadership

Zubin Irani, Managing Director of Carrier Airconditioning & Refrigeration Ltd.,  received an award, for environmental leadership.

 Following was a news article in India Journal of Dec. 24, 2009:

“Carrier India Wins Award

Carrier Airconditioning & Refrigeration Ltd. has received India’s National Energy Conservation Award in two categories, “Consumer Goods Manufacturing” and “Manufacturers of Bureau of Energy Efficiency Star Labelled Appliances” in the energy sector. Carrier India is a subsidiary of Farmington, Conn.-based Carrier Corp., a unit of United Technologies Corp. “We are truly honored that Carrier’s environmental leadership is being recognized with such prestigious awards,” said Zubin Irani, managing director Carrier India. He received the award from India’s minister of Power Sushilkumar Shinde at a ceremony, Dec. 14. ” 

Courtesy : Maneck Bhujwala

Motivations, News

Bharti Airtel Innovation Fund

Bharti Airtel Innovation Fund (BAIF or the Fund) is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in the field of telecommunication services. The objective of the Fund is to give opportunities to budding entrepreneurs with a vision to build businesses based on innovation . The Fund has an initial corpus of Rs 200 crores. BAIF provides seed money to entrepreneurs who may not otherwise be able to access funds to realize their dreams.

Click Here for More…..

Business Ideas, Resources

Open Innovation

Open innovation is the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively. [This paradigm] assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as they look to advance their technology.”

Henry Chesbrough, Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm

OpenInnovation.net is a portal for the latest research and practice regarding the open innovation. The open innovation paradigm originated in the 2003 book of the same name by Dr. Henry Chesbrough of U.C. Berkeley.

Business Ideas, News, Technology

Tata Swach – Water Purifier

World’s most cost-effective water purifier improves affordability of safe drinking water for millions of Indian families

Pure water is one of the world’s most precious natural resources. With much of India’s population denied access to safe drinking water, the delivery of safe, convenient and affordable water purification is one of the biggest social and technological challenges in the country today.

Responding to this challenge, Tata Chemicals unveils ‘Tata Swach’ – a unique and innovative water purifier. Requiring no energy or running water to operate, an early version of the product first saw the light of day as part of the Tsunami relief efforts. Today, the replaceable filter-based product, which is entirely portable and based on low-cost natural ingredients, delivers safe drinking water at a new market benchmark of Rs30 per month for a family of five.