Farecast - Scaling new heights

Indeed I am not on a spree to make too many review blogs for websites but this one has to be there.
Being a frequent traveller, I have a great need for good deals for air tickets and that led me to commercial websites like www.orbitz.com , www.expedia.com and www.travelocity.com. However, there was always this thought that whether this is the best deal or not. Talking to people... never helped. I do not want to be too critical at this point about the 'desis' in US, this is not what this blog is about. Both me and my wife have a good habit of reading. Since newspaper subscription is of a more expensive option in US, we have opted for the weekly Time.

It was in this magazine that we came across about this great website www.farecast.com
Farecast - the twist from the word 'forecast', is the most sophisticated airfares website that I have explored ever. The website if already on the 'look-out' list for orbitz and travelocity. Farecast has a very sensible algorithm.
It gives you multiple options for chosing fare. However, what stands out is the 'buy-or-wait' feature.

What 'buy-or-wait' means is that for any dates of travel that you choose, the website will give you the best fares available across airlines and then would tell you whether it is a good time to purchase the tickets at that best fare or not. There are mutliple slabs for this decision making - the lowest being 'BUY' i.e. the fare will increase in the next 7 days so it is the best time to buy the tickets and the highest being 'WAIT' i.e. the fare will decrease in the enxt 7 days. It has multiple intermediate levels of confidence that help to determine what are the chances of fares going up or down. This is backed up something called 'Confidence'. The website gives a confidence level in its prediction that the fare will go down/up. It would give numbers like 100% confident, 82%, 60% so and so forth.

Another interesting feature is the rate chart for the last 62 days. This gives you a fair idea of what the lowest rate was in the last 62 days and makes (at least for me) decision making even more interesting.

In addition, the webiste does feature if any additional miles would be attained if the tickets are bought from a particular airlines on a given date.

One feature that can be found in other websites is about the date grids where the predictore will tell you what are the best travle dates for any destinations. This feature is available in many other sites so did not appeal to me much.

On the whole, www.farecast.com has re-defined the rules for online air ticketing.
Way to go.... farecast!

IBN Live - Reliving Indian Journalism

This article is in no way a marketeer for the website www.ibnlive.com but it surely is about my personal observations about this great website. IBN Live is the result when CNN shook hands with one of greatest icons of modern Indian journalism - Rajdeep Sardesai. I happen to be a fan of Rajdeep from his initial days in NDTV. He is not only astute, smart and confident in thoughts but also extremely articulate in his thoughts. Probably he realised that he cannot surpass Dr. Roy on NDTV, so moved on. But what a great move!!!!

Although I hear that there is a news TV channel as well by the same name, my current geographical constraints have restricted me to savour the internet part of this initiative. I had been a devoted follower of http://www.ndtv.com/ until my room-mate from Mysore sent a blog from this IBN Live. Thanks Nanda for that.IBN Live is fresh, intriguing, sensational, commercial and rational in news. Some of the true characteristics that are needed to portray the image of new India. The website has realization of brand building and brand equity. It keeps most sensational news as the main item of the page and rest of the news is easily searchable. Knowing that you cannot have a sensational news everyday, the editors keep a topic/article of mass appeal always ready that forces you to spend more time on the website.

Some may disagree that the website does too much of masala news and is too commercial in approach. At times you are given unnecessary news articles on Bachchans and Khans of the film industry. But its when this feeling starts to grow that this website demonstrates its greatest strength - the free flow of thought. At any point of time when the front page is all gaga about some celebrity or some burning issue, the blog section will have an article from an expert that diffuses this notion. Take the example of Big B coverage, it was delightful to see that the front page had both - a poll of who is better star icon SRK or Big B and a blog by Jha 'Kaun Banega Conpati'. While the poll talks about the greatness of Amitabh Bachchan and his star power, Jha gives a final verdict through his plausible scribblings that Big B is nothing more than a fad and a hypocrite. I was just too delighted to find both these links side by side. And this is not just by chance, if you are a devout follower of this website then you can see that it is an intentional proposition.Now, comparing the two comaprable websites - www.NDTV.com and www.IBNLIVE.com, I find that both have their own style and appeal. NDTV relies on pure journalism. It is terse, simple and very direct in news reporting. The website is non-glamorous. It gives all the information that you can live with on the front page. On the contrary, IBN LIVE as I said earlier, is more commercial yet thought provoking.

I feel too delighted to be able to witness this great mix of journalism at the click of my mouse.

The frame of Time

Indeed it has been a long enough for me to think and then pour all that I have stored in my mind. Alas, as always you stumble and then you fumble with words.... however, it is important to realise the importance of Time. I had always wondered on how this amazing concept of Time occurred to the mankind. It is this that has changed everything around us or at least is in process of changing NOW and will FOREVER. Many times I wonder that the moment that is now is not going to happen again ever.... never... WOW!!! It is the great concept which has put the entire human race into a never-ending rat race. Unfortunately, this rat race is against the driver of it. Its like the boggey trying to overtake the engine of a train.... it is this race of time. It was not long ago when I was just out of my college. All my veins has young blood and I was out to venture out the world.... to conquer it. But today when I stand 4 years from then, I feel the same... lot is still left and lot is being created. And I end up in this quest of how to beat up time.

Of course, this article is turning into banal. Of course, what I am saying is what all of us feel. But I really wonder what if this concept was different. Say instead of time being a constant forward concept, was like a can of milk. It would reduce after you start pouring out of it and will eventually end. Then you have to refill it. It is indeed difficult to imagine how things would be from what they are... more so what are very significant but commonplace for us. But one thing is for sure that the ongoing rat race would be split into smaller portions till the 'time-potions' end. Another interesting aspect could have been the way the trade was done. Say we could trade in and trade out these 'time-cans'. The one with the maximum number of these cans would be the richest person.... for he will have all the time in the world for his use.