Fani Kiran Vulapalli

Sometimes it helps to zoom out a bit in your planning and get a look at long-term family milestones. I created this timeline spreadsheet that gives me a quick birds-eye view of relative ages and important moments. P For me, the key to this timeline is simplicity, so there's not a lot of detailed information recorded there. I have other systems for planning details. But a simple chart like this has proven pretty useful over the years, since it really puts those big moments you want to plan for in perspective. It's also fun to see what ages people will be over the years. P Of course, you should put any information into it that would be helpful to you. This one is just a sample template I put together in Google Docs (not my family's real information) and I shared it, so you're more than welcome to grab it if you find it useful https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgOyUS9UpXDDdElSZ3l6NmFVSXl4SFFYYm16RmktcGc&usp=sharing

What is the best way for your business to go mobile? Mobile optimization is becoming more and more trendy these days and it is no surprise. According to Mashable in August 2013, 17.4 percent of all global web traffic came through mobile devices and this number will continue to grow in 2014. So if you don’t want to lose your piece of the pie, it’s time to step into mobile world. Hoping that industry giants like Google or Apple will adapt your site for mobile devices is not enough unless you don’t mind losing almost every fifth visitor to your site. Which of the following mobile optimization methods is the best for your particular business? Responsive Web Design Mobile Website Native App To answer this question, let’s go through each of them and understand their pros and cons. Responsive Web Design Responsive web design allows you to have a single website that automatically fits the screen size of the device on which it is being viewed. This is achieved by adapting t...

Customer privacy be damned. Virgin Atlantic is kicking off a trial using Google Glass and Sony's SmartWatch 2 to provide its employees with personalized data about its upper class passengers. The idea is to feed service staff custom data which will help them give travellers a more pleasant travel experience. In a rather breathy, enthusiastic press release, Virgin Atlantic explains: "From the minute Upper Class passengers step out of their chauffeured limousine at Heathrow's T3 and are greeted by name, Virgin Atlantic staff wearing the technology will start the check-in process. At the same time, staff will be able to update passengers on their latest flight information, weather and local events at their destination and translate any foreign language information. In future, the technology could also tell Virgin Atlantic staff their passengers' dietary and refreshment preferences - anything that provides a better and more personalized service." The airline w...

There I sat, in a plaid couch in the Writers’ Room in the middle of Coventry, England listening to my peers eviscerate a short-story I had submitted for critique. “I don’t understand why I would continue to read anything about this character.” “I couldn’t even finish it because of all the mistakes.” This went on for another 30 minutes. After class I sulked back to my dorm room and binge-watched  Star Trek  for seven hours. I kept repeating the criticisms in my head. Were they correct? Was I a terrible writer? I found it difficult to write for days—okay, weeks after that. I’ve thought about that particular moment a lot since I left school. So much so that I decided it was high time to go in search of answering the oft- debated  question: Is criticism good or bad? There is one constant to when it comes to criticism — people dislike it immensely. It doesn’t fit in with the perception we have about ourselves. Professor Paul Bloom of Yale puts it this way  Intro to Psy...

Mobile & Emotional Design Sven Lenaerts The process of designing an application, both functionally and aesthetically, has a large impact on how users feel about the final product. Emotional design can help to improve the user experience significantly. In this article, I will talk about what emotional design is, how you can apply it, and give some examples of applications that already implement emotional design. What is Emotional Design? Everything begins with a functional and usable product. On top of that, you can enhance. Aesthetics have become increasingly important for the end user. It’s a common trend in software, hardware, and even for services. Everything begins with a functional and usable product. On top of that, you can enhance to provide a better experience for your users. This enhancement can provide pleasure and that is what we refer to as  emotional design . Remarkable products and services are the result of thinking how pleasure can be embedded ...