Bejeweled Blue : Tanzanite gemstone

Tanzanite is a variety of zoisite mineral which comes in spectacular specimens of blue , bluish purple and bluish violet colors. Discovered in the 1960s ,Tiffany called it as the “ most beautiful blue stone to be discovered in 2000 years”. Embedded in jewelry , the price of Tanzanite stones ranges from $100 to $10,000.

Prices for small sizes of Tanzanite typically lesser than 1 carat is around $100 -$200.

Prices of original 3 - 5 carat size range have been seen at between $550-$700 per carat.

Adorned with other metals and jewelry the price of 3-5 carats can be as much as $900.

The US alone buys 80% of the Tanzanite produces in the world and the prices at high-end stores can be up to $1000 per carat.

You can buy a decent 3-5 carat size in the range of around $600 per carat. This price although is on the lower side in Tanzania , the country being the source of this stone. The stones are however sent to Thailand for finishing from where its is exported to other countries.

There have been constant rise and fall in the price of Tanzanite stones due to limited number of mines and restricted available geographical locations for extraction of this mineral stone. Back in the late 90's prices were as low as $200 per carat. In the early 2000's, this value surged to the $700-$800 per carat range. With modern mining techniques and a control over prices , the prices of Tanzanite is however now stabilized.

What makes Tanzanite so special and popular is its dazzling colors ranging from blue to blue with hues of purple and violet . The most remarkable color however is blue mixed with purple which has a beautiful effect in sizes over 10 carats. It is a also rare stone considering its is found only in Mererani Hills near the city of Arusha in the country of Tanzania. Owing to its limited availability, sparkling and unique color and exceptional aura the stone was promoted by the New York based Tiffany and company and thus became one of the most coveted gemstones of our times.

Tanzanite is available with many brands and jewelers . Toptanzanite is however the world leader with its expertise in designs and stone sizes to suit everyone and every occasion.

This blue color magnificent stone is calibrated into various shapes like Cushion , Marquise , Pear , Round , Emerald Cut , Oval , Princess and Trillion with A ,AA, AAA, AAAA, D and SD grading.

Implanted with the rich blue colored stone , various jewelry items like rings , earrings , pendants and studs are available. Rings are the most popular form of ornament orchestrated with Tanzanite stone .The price for rings range from $ 175 to $11,000.

For a pair of designer earrings the price starts from $ 200 and can go up to $6000.

Pendants can be brought for as low as $30 and the price can go up to $ 14000 depending upon the size and clarity of the stone.

Tanzanite studs can cost from a humble $100 to a whopping $17,000.

Project Management Simplified : Hive Home

Overview Presentation

Hive is project management and portfolio management platform that enables business and users to form an interaction between messages , action list and files. Hive provides a integration of all tools on a single platform without the need to switch windows. Hive also automates team workflow for the enterprise.

Features, Benefits, Product Strengths

• Portfolio management
  

Hive provides a single dashboard view for all messages , actions and files in a glance . The actions and files can be easily exchanged in a conversation by just clicking on the icon and dragging and dropping into the message window.

• Resource management
  

Hive enables the ease of actions assignment to the team . You can also add labels , attachments and comments for every action. Hive also provides a cockpit view using the project calendar. You can get updates from the other tools you use. You can create groups for different projects and people and can communicate with them using the computer or the phone.

• Workflow management
  

For tasks with same set of actions , you can create a template of the steps involved along with the name of the person the task is assigned to and the date of completion. It can be triggered as per need from other tools too.

Pricing

Hive is offered as a free software with features including Unlimited messages ,Unlimited actions , All your content available,Mobile and desktop apps and Two integrations.
The professions version is available for $8 per user per month and included add on features like Unlimited integrations, Single sign-on,Data export and Priority support.
The Enterprise edition comes with more advanced features including Custom integrations ,Compliance exports,Consolidated billing,Custom reporting and 24 hr response line with 2 hr SLA

Social Network Presence

Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/hiveteams
Twitter - https://twitter.com/hiveteams
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/company/hivetechnology

Target Market

Hive is an ideal project and portfolio management tool for any organization which works on multiple projects , tools and line of business . Resources , actions and projects of any number and magnitude can be managed easily through Hive.

Supported Languages

The Hive software supports English language.

Some of their Clients

Since its available as a free download with features like Unlimited messages and Unlimited actions , the client base is huge. Our other clients include Envato.

Why Hive

With Hive's all-in-one dashboard, team members have their actions , files and messages at the same page and can prioritize their tasks. Hive automates team workflow for the enterprise. It pulls all your team's actions from across all the tools you use, and automatically creates & manages actions lists for your team
Hive also Integrates with over 90 popular tools, like Hubspot, Google Apps, Salesforce, Marketo and WordPress. It also supports integrations for files from Box, Google Drive and Dropbox. It is also available for Mac , IOS and android.

Company Info

Founded in 2015 , hive is a privately held organization which operates from New York ,USA . With an ever growing but dedicated team , Hive specializes in SaaS, Collaboration, Mobile and Team Management.

How to track your lost Mobile Phone

A mobile phone is undoubtedly one of the things people cannot function without these days. Apart from being a handy solution to umpteen everyday problems and tasks , it is also the black book of our lives. Personal conversations , emails , bank details , credit card details , photographs , contacts all reside safely under the umbrella of this device. Now imagine a scenario where you are no longer in possession of your mobile phone . In other words you have lost it and cant find it anywhere.

However disheartening the event maybe be , thankfully there are ways by which you can find your phone. Read on the top 5 ways to find a lost phone.

1. Call

When you cannot find your phone around , then the first step is to place a call to your phone to track it. If you don't have another phone around then you can use websites like wheresmycellphone.com or make a skype call to hear your phone ring. If you are lucky enough then either your phone would be around and you will hear it ring or your phone call would be received by someone from whom you can know the whereabouts of your phone.

2. Contact service provider

Service providers can track your phone's location through your sim. If your phone is switched on and active , then with the help of your phone number or sim number , they can easily track the location of your lost phone.

3. Find my phone app/Device Manager

If you have an apple phone or an android phone then there are some apps using which you can track the location of your phone. Using apples's “Find my Phone” app you can find out the location of your phone , ring your phone , display a message on your phone and also lock the phone and delete all data from it . For android users , “device manager” comes to rescue. Its is similar to the find my phone app except that you cannot remotely lock your phone.

4. Anti-theft apps

Apart from the above mentioned free apps some paid anti theft apps by Avast , AVG , Bit Defender and Gadget Track provide continuous anti theft security. These come with add on features like force the phone to get answered , email pictures when phone is accessed trying incorrect passwords or remotely wipe the contents of your phone using a SMS command.

If you do not have any of these pre-installed apps then you can make use of Plan B. Using your Google play account from your computer you can install this app on your phone. You then have to SMS “locate' to your number to know the latest position of your mobile phone.

5. Track through IMEI number

If none of these things work or your sim is on longer in use in the phone for you to call or SMS to track , then its best to lodge a complaint with the police department. Each phone has a unique IMEI number which can easily be found on the box of the phone in which it came or by dialing *#06# from your phone. You can save this number and provide it to the authorities in an unlikely event like this. This number will help them to trace your mobile phone.

Be your own boss!!!!!!!!!!!!

Being a software engineer and slogging for 10 hours a day at work , I found Freelancing as a way to liberate myself. Writing is one of the things I always wanted to do. What better way than painting the canvas of an A4 sized sheet with the colors of your imagination and thoughts.

Like any kind of work , freelancing comes with it share of demons. There are times when I am completely out of work and there are times when I'm brimming with it so much so that I have to stall other life activities to meet deadlines. Having said that , there of course is uncertainty when it comes to freelancing but it gives you an opportunity to connect with a host of people which in turn gives you stories to write about or characters to get inspired from. And most importantly doing something which you love doing makes you feel all the more alive.

Do you have similar experiences or stories to share ? Do comment.

Relationship Management for the Customers : A quick Insight into CRM

The central focus of any business or industry is customers. A happy and satisfied customer doesn't only ensure customer retention but also helps in increasing the customer base.

CRM or Customer Relationship management helps in analyzing existing and potential customers data and interactions which in turn improves business relationship with the customer. Today a business of any magnitude needs a CRM system to facilitate smooth sales , marketing and customer support throughout life cycle of business with the customer. There are umpteen number of reasons why business needs CRM today. From being cost effective to providing a central data repository enabling automation pf processes , future prediction and analysis, CRM has become an key component in business. There are many CRM solutions available in the market today as per needs and complexity of the business . One such solution is Salesforce which provides a cloud based enterprise cloud computing solution. Insightly is another a strong and affordable customer and project management tool. The are a host of advantages of using CRM solutions. Some of the essential ones are ;

1. Centralized repository of customer data – CRM enables you to keep all your customer data at one place which can further be grouped on basis of location , business , priority etc. It also reduces the dependency on a particular sales representative who knows the customer's needs. Salesforce takes the centralization up by a notch by using the cloud based system thus making the usage independent of machines or networks.

2. Future prediction and analytics – With the historical data of current and future customers in hand , it becomes easy to predict the future needs of the customer and analyze the market trends as well. With all the necessary information at hand , the efforts in assessing the requirements and needs of the clients are reduced.

3. Tracking of tasks and events – The tool not only keeps customer's data handy but also keeps a track of status of contracts and interaction with the customers. Relying on a person or spreadsheets for this information would lead to some slippage and human errors but CRM tools provide a platform for information and error free updates.

4. Integrates and automates sales and customer support - Since the customer data and analytics are centralized , the process of sales , marketing and customer support for a product life cycle is automated through these tools. It targets on business objectives and a clear overview of the ,market needs and demands.

5. Cost effective -Since there is less need of manual work and resources involved, the solution is cost effective. With the system being automated , there is minimal chances of human errors thus eliminating risks .Once the solution is implemented ,the technologies used are economical in a long run.

Traditionally , CRM was used as a sales and marketing tools but customer service are a focus now. With the increased presence of customers on not only the real world but also the social media platforms , CRM enables handling of data and managing customer needs across platforms thus becoming a vital player in business today.

Spring Sprints - Paris Day 1

If you are a movie aficionado like me (or as people call me -”Filmy”) , then after seeing movies like Dil Chahta hai , Zindagi na milegi Dobara , Dil Dhadakne Do ,Queen etc etc ( I can literally go on and on ) you would have either planned such a trip umpteen number of times in your mind ( without the desired execution of course ) or would've wondered how could a trip change someone's life ( Hindi movies anyways exaggerate life :P)

I was no different. Ever since my college days I wanted to go trekking and camping with my friends but nothing really was materialized as per the plan. Fast forward life and I had a chance to visit the fashion capital of the world , the city of lights : Paris. And yes it did affect my life in more than one ways. 

It was a four day tour by one of the very popular tour operators among Indians for tours in Europe : Star Tours. You can visit them at : http://www.startours.co.uk/

The splendor and magnificence of Paris cannot be penned down in a single writeup and hence this would just be the beginning.

Our trip started on the 29^th April 2016 at around 5:30 AM . We boarded the bus from Wimbley , London , picked up passengers on the way and were off to Dover.

Dover is a coastal town in England. It’s a major port for ferries to Calais, in France. Built to repel invasions from across the English Channel, medieval Dover Castle overlooks the town and houses the extensive Secret Wartime Tunnels. The iconic White Cliffs of Dover are symbolic safeguards at Britain’s closest point to continental Europe.( That's what Wikipedia says but trust me I had the same feelings :D )

From there we boarded a ferry ;we as in the passengers and the bus. While the bus rested in the parking lot of the ferry , we made our way to the shopping mall , food court and the deck.

We treated ourselves to the shopping experience of the Duty free goods in the mall. Perfumes , chocolates , cosmetics , head phones ,speakers , electronic gadgets , the shop had it all.

We then made our way to the food court and enjoyed some English breakfast overlooking the English Channel . < Treat for the tummy and eyes :* >

The ferry then unloaded us at Calais, France. From Calais , it was a 3.5 hours to Central Paris.

The smooth roads, mustard fields , cherry blossom trees , tulips and 3 idiots on the Coach TV made the otherwise long ride effortless and unnoticeable.

In no time we were in Central Paris. To get a feel of the city and its abundance and magnanimity we took the river boat cruise in the pristine Seine River.

The cruise had provisions for lunches , dinners and a live commentary citing the monuments and landmarks as we crossed them. The boat passed through umpteen number of bridges including the romantic Alexander Bridge and the wishful locks bridge .On the way we crossed the Louvre , Notre Dame , Assembly Nationale , Grand Palais and ofcourse the Eiffel Tower.

The long day ended with a much needed sumptuous Indian Dinner at Bhojan.

It was time to conclude the day and gear up for a long fascinating and convivial trip to Disneyland the next day.

Stay tuned because the fun has just begun :D
Details on Day 2 Coming soon :)

A for Apple or Android?????

However inconspicuous it might sound , the decision of which mobile device to buy cannot be undermined in its worth and value. In the OS world of smart devices full of blackberries , Jellybeans , marshmallows and kit kats , two broad categories of Operating systems have endured the tough test of time in the ever changing digital world and have stood out : IOS and Android.

If you look at the 2015 market share of the two OS s in consideration , Linux based Android captures a whooping 85% of the market and Mac OS/Unix based IOS mere 13% ( stats rounded off to nearest whole no)

The debate on which is better however cannot be determined only by the market share.

The very distinctive feature which differentiates the two is the hardware-software match making.

IOS is restricted to Apple devices whereas Android is free and open source and hence caters to a large variety of devices.

In terms of pocket friendliness , Android scores over IOS by a significant margin. However , the whole user experience and ease of use is far better in IOS devices. IOS “takes care of itself” in that aspect giving the user limited control over file systems. The downside of this is of course restricted customization by the user.

Both IOS and Android have a come a long way since their inception in 2007 and 2008 respectively and have their loyal set of consumers. It'll be unfair to compare the two in strict senses but the next time you wish to buy a device your research can be based on the following:

1. variety in devices
2. budget
3. Control over customization
4. User friendliness