What to do next?

Now that I am done with school, I am at a point in my life where I have to figure out whats next..its an exciting as well as a stressful time...At my age (I am not telling), I have to make the right choice...there aren't going to be many more chances to make changes...
Of course one of the biggest things is that I am doing a career change in the middle of a very bad economy with a bit too much experience...
Well I am trying to do what I think is the most effective way to find something...talking to my contacts..trying to get them to get me more contacts and talking to them as well...its not natural for me but I think its the right approach...after the initial awkwardness, its gets easier to talk to folks and get their advice, leads etc.

One other thing I want to start is to look at some stuff in the social space...I definitely want to try something on my own...have a couple of ideas..just need to execute them...One of the best things I heard recently was that if you want to do something on your own...just do it! Too much thinking causes paralysis...

Want to leave you with an interesting website for social discussion /inspiration...
www.socialedge.org

Winter

This was the wonderful weather on my birthday!!!

Puzzles

The cool thing is that the puzzle pieces were a video that kept
playing even when it was in it's seperate pieces.

Playing with pictures

Multi-touch

MS Surface

This is the initial screen which entices users to come use it.. Has
cool ripples effect when u touch it.

Microsoft Surface

As part of my "Immersive Media and Intensely Interactive Environment" (phew!) class, we had a field visit to see the Microsoft Surface at Manifest Digital. Founder Jim Jacoby was kind enough to show us what they are doing with the surface. It is a very interesting product - essentially a Windows Vista machine with 4-5 cameras that capture any gestures (optical vs. capacitive like iPhones) with a form factor of a table. The idea of the table is to be able to get people to collect around it and interact with each other (Here are some FAQs from Microsoft about the surface)

We were also shown a demo of some stuff that Manifest Digital created to show at an IxDA conference. Neat stuff.

It did get me thinking about the business value /business driver for a company to adopt this technology (atleast in its current format). I asked Jim and he too was not sure. His thought was that the technology is so new that we will have to wait for some more user research to figure how best to use it. The surface has been installed at hotels, ATT stores and some bars/casinos. I guess it works for those locations but other than the wow factor, unless it drives up business or increases brand affinity /loyalty, I suspect this technology might just remain cool....I will post some pics tomorrow of the surface....

What is Kem Cho!

Just occurred to me that if anyone were to read my blog (not counting my family), they might not know what Kem Cho! means....Well "kem cho" is a Gujarati phrase that means "How are you?"
Now what language is Gujarati you ask? Its one of the many official languages of India and happens to be my mother tounge.