Do anything.
But as you do it, keep saying, "I am doing the right thing".
And then do it well...
Also do it more often....
More often than not, it would turn out to be right, correct and successful.
Reason : Cos you did it well, and more importantly avoided having doubts about it in the process of doing it.

Let's face it. Passwords are a pain.

Especially for the majority of Internet users who have the need to maintain anywhere between 40 to 60 different passwords, some for work and some for personal use and not to mention the lover-passwords, and/or friends-passwords. The latter two are more like a set of shared passwords which friends and/or couples share. More like a sign of trust and faith. Great going!

So we all kinda know what we are talking about right now. You know what to expect out of this blogpost. "A password strategy" that will not be a pain on your memory neurons and at the same time does not compromise your online security and privacy. You are reading the right write-up.

What kind of Passwords do systems require these days?

Password requirements vary depending on what you intend to use the password for. Windows password can be a simple word. Whereas, a bank password should not be a simple word, or it could be the other wat if your Windows OS has all our crucial data, but the bank account has nothing-to-lose! So categorize your requirements and plan your unique ways in which you will put this three-level strategy to work.

First Level

A simple password. In short, anything that you can remember. This will be the 'word' on which the complexity will be added.
Eg. loudspeaker : A simple non-guessable word.

Second Level

A password that requires atleast one caps(Uppercase alphabet), and one number.
Eg."Loudspeaker5"

Third Level

This is becoming the standard slowly, and this is where you can be at your creative best. A password with atleast one caps, one numeral, and one special character!

Eg. "Loudspeaker5%" or "Loudspeaker5^". That is, any special character above/next to the number you choose to suffix.

So essentially, you use the same word, which now is the only thing you have to worry about now. Make sure other's can't guess it.
Let it be not these:

"Mom / dad / girl's / pet's / bike's name
Years which you think only you know about...
You get the idea right?"

"Not guessable" is the keyword.
"If guessable" it's not a password.

What if my employer/organization wants me to change password every 15 days??

Do this...

1. Loudspeaker5%
2. Loudspeaker6^
3. Loudspeaker7&
4. Loudspeaker8*

and keep re-cycling your password.

It would be far more efficient if you can also change the 'words' often. And they too must follow a pattern. A pattern, that you are comfortable remembering.

Eg.

1. Himalaya1!
2. Clipper2@
3. SilverStar3#
4. ClassicMilds4$ etc. 

Also, please add your password ideas/problems in the comments.

 

"I am now on cloud, doesn't matter if it is cloud 9. We don't care about the specifications."

The year, five years ago. Age of specifications.

It was in my college times, when a girl I knew, when asked about her computer's specifications, did not know it. She just used her comp. That day, which was five years ago, and she seemed to be stupid. Today she seems all the more correct. No wonder I had a latent crush on her!

The un-definable years of computing.

This is 2012 and the world is being woken up to think beyond the specification of its computers. This change is being fueled by all the IT Titans nowadays, with the first being Apple, followed by Linux and now recently Windows. To write a blog post like this has become really difficult, as the definition of personal computer is changing, often crazily. The definition now includes anything from a Desktop PC, to a laptop, to a netbook, ultrabook, ipad, tablets, iphones and all other smart phones which seem to be using the same processors as our computers a year ago once did. 

This spec, that age.

My first laptop had 256 MB RAM, my present mobile, a Motorola Backflip has 512 MB RAM. But we are not here to cribb about this, are we?! The point of the post is that, we don't care what's in the device. All that we care about is what can the device do, and how well can the device do it. That's what smart means, isn't it?

Apple, past specification.

When I bought my Apple iPad, the seller convinced me not with specification, but only with what the device can do. It did make sense. Why would I bother which MegaPixel my camera is, when I can be sure to have a crisp photo from it, every time. The problem started with literacy, when after completing Engineering (or any technical degree), we needed a purpose or scenario to put that knowledge to use. And so the specs! Aaahh...engineering finally.

In the process we forgot that we were consumers, who should not give a damn as to what's inside. All that we need is.. "will the device live upto it's promise." If it's retina display, I don't care to know the exact pixel count, the only question is, "do I feel happy looking at it?". Simple.

Even Windows does it, these days.

I am typing this, as the windows 8 consumer preview is being downloaded, it is currently at 72%! But one thing that inspired me to write this post was this, unlike how it used to happen those days, my computer was not bothered to ask me, "___ these many data are to be downloaded,____ it will take this long, ___close all other applications etc". Instead, the download is happening happily, and the message says "Feel free to use your computer!". Very unusual, but very very sensible. 

Windows phones, rethought. 

I don't have to access facebook "app", do I? Simple as it may seem, this architecture must have caused headaches and costed million of Ramen noodles, coke and cigarettes for the designers and engineers. In the end... everybody happy! The OS is integrated with facebook, twitter and other such usual "app" stuffs. I feel this is more like a positive mutation, rather than an evolution. Evolution is what Apple does.

Whatever be it, we are diving deeper into ubiquitous computing. And I am happy, cos I am a guy, and technology for us is raison d'etre! I am now on cloud, doesn't matter if it is cloud 9. We don't care about the specifications.

 

Receptionist : (Fake smile) Thank you for the Stay sir. Hope you liked your stay here. If there was any inconvenience, we are sorry. But please let us know and we sure can serve you better the next time.

Customer : (Sarcastic smile) Electricity, water, soaps and shampoos and Air conditioning were not asked for, but provided to me as a basic and default service. I am here in this Hotel, and obviously not carring my Internet around. You must have provided me with Wi-fi. 

 

It often amazes me when I see public spaces like malls, cafes, restaurants, gyms etc spend huge sums of money on Interiors, chairs, tables and sofas, lighting, water temperature, soaps and its fragrances, AC temperature, ergonomics, Newspapers, magazines and a few hundred other factors, to win the customer's heart. But they miss the most easy and catchy form of service a company/institution can provide to its customers - Internet Access.

 

 

 

 

Hobbies are important, no wonder generations after generations, our resumes have been carrying the information about our interests and hobbies. Ever wondered why you feel fresher after a brief period spent on your favorite activity? A lot has been said on the energizing nature of hobbies. But brain activities don't create energy, they consume it. Entropy rules! Then why or how do hobbies re-energize?

"a penny saved is a penny earned", a very old proverb. In fact the proverb here is so out of place that this discussion just lost its charm. But the saying says a lot. When read as "a calorie saved is a calorie earned", it makes sense, at least in this context. So getting back to how hobbies work, Hobbies are those activities that we choose to do, since we love or cherish doing them. Or better, passionate about doing those activities. Be it by nature or nurture, we all develop our unique interests and there is a part or module of our brains that is very capable of handling certain activities better than other people can.

Some paint, some sing, some write, some dance and some solve sudoku and crosswords. Not all can do everything. We do what we do best. But our jobs don't necessarily have to be the kind of activity that we might relish doing. You might be a painter working as a Sales person. Now this is tough, at least until when your brain learns new ways to efficiently form neuronal patterns that can handle new activities better, like remembering names (memory), mailing, thinking, decision making and calling, all at the same time (multi tasking) etc. Most of which are something not generally the kind of things that introverts do. So in the process of doing these new stuffs, our brains consume huge amounts of energy, simply put, more glucose and oxygen. So after a while (until the stamina gradually increases with practice) we are bound to feel tired. That's just normal and fair. For the brain needs rest now and then, to re-energize and form better patterns. In order to make something out of the gathered information, we humans need rest.

Hobbies, on the other hand, are activities our brains are better capable at handling. The patterns of neurons that makes a painter a painter, is unique to him/her. Your unique thinking patterns process data more efficiently and effortlessly. Passion fuels these activities. This makes the brain exercise a different part of the brain, which is already well designed to handle that specific and unique favorite hobby or hobbies of yours. So, you spend lesser energy as you indulge in your hobby, and by this time, the tougher job's data has been sorted and you are good to go again.

Not to mention that you are emotionally charged again and the hobby facilitated dopamine and endorphins are doing their magic. Congratulations, you just got more productive.

I had to answer a question. I loved to answer the question, too. I was just glad that I now stay with friends who ask me such questions. The question was...

What do you really want to become dude? When will you consider yourself a success?

It made me think for two seconds, not because I had to generate the answer, but because the processing speed of our brain is much more faster than the flexibility of our tongue muscles. The sentence got compiled in those two seconds. I answered...

Success is a relative term. And going by that definition, I am already a sucess. But if a goal were to be attached to quantify the success... then I want to be a "Thought Leader".

Now a friend who asks such a queston, is sure a serious question shooter. He was, and he went on...

So is it like you want to be a CEO or something? A business entrepreneur kind of??

Now this question demanded more of my processing potential! I had to phrase it properly, I had to deliver the answer with accurate precision. The entropy of the information had to be minimised as much as possible. I went ahead and replied...

A thought leader is one who makes it his responsibility to innovate, which requires a deep understanding and conherent thinking across many domains, to create a holistic and innovative concept/product/anything that was previously undone, but that which needs to be done with an urgency more than ever.

In short, if you think CEO's are the cream layer, a thought leader is one who lays the framework/model by which the CEO's think, and hence the term thought leader. He/she does what a scientist does to science. Science and scientists are in a symbiotic relationship. But, a thought leader and management science are in a mutualistic relationship.

By the end of the answer, the pulses of neuronic firing that existed in my brain embodying these concepts, gained a crisp clarity and identity in the more universal and Generic language of English. 

 

Wikipedia too talks on such stuffs, it would be a lot more easier if you could read about "Thought Leaders and Thought Leadership", using the link below. For in wikipedia, thousands of thought patterns converge to form an article, and at times such crowd-wisdom's co-creation is easier to understand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_leader

Related articles

• Introducing the Oracle Social Business Thought Leaders Webcast Series (oracleidentity.wordpress.com)
• The Thought Leader Interview: Meg Wheatley (bjconquest.com)
• Dr. Liz Alexander on Thought Leadership (rajeshsetty.com)
• A New Definition of Thought Leadership (lovestats.wordpress.com)
• A Thought Leader Networks with Intent (driven.pkmenon.com)
• Thought Leadership Marketing: The Basics (distributedmarketing.org)
• Awakening the Leader Within: A Story of Transformation By Kevin Cashman (lugenfamilyoffice.com)

The Sunday could not have been any better. It started with over sleeping, followed immediately by over eating. Then comes Steffi, after her phase of over sleeping and under eating!

We wanted this Sunday to be a little beyond that, and so we head out to Phoenix city mall; the newest and the largest Mall in Bangalore. This was my second visit, and this time I wanted to capture as many things that happen inside the mall. A brief list of happenings would be these...

People drinking over priced coffee at Gloria Jeans, couples and coochicoos, KFC crowded as usual, but above all some art and artists distributed here and there. Being an artist, this is what I wanted to capture, naturally. So here they are, for your eyes too.

I also met a person who does "Installation Art". His name I do not know 'yet', be we will be in touch. That much I know. For art is a strong glue that holds this world in shape.

And yeah, Steffi likes Gloria jeans coffee, & I like the way they arrange the mannequins in Zara clothing store. So added those pics too!