A note of thanks to Docstoc as it decides to pull out

Docstoc, a cloud storage service for businesses, has announced that it is pulling out.  With yet another online shop closing down the face of online earning is never the same. A few days ago, I received an email from Docstoc stating that the site is closing down permanently and that we need to pull all our documents before December, 1, 2015, which is when it has decided to be offline completely

“Please make sure to visit the site no later than November 30th, 2015 to retrieve copies of any documents you previously uploaded to your account.” The company says any questions can be asked through email at support@docstoc.com.     

What is Docstoc

Docstoc, founded in 2007 by Jason Nazar and Alon Shwartz, stores and a large selection millions of documents which could be exported/ downloaded. The site was a storehouse of resources such as videos, articles, slides etc. and was competing with likes of slideshare, scribd etc. In 2013, the company was taken over by software giant Intuit. Now that Intuit has decided “to discontinue the products”. Docstoc but has to shutdown.



What it means to me

I have been using Docstoc since 2008. Non-commercial and personal, it was a different platform then. I was uploading funny, light, health related, personal slides and was elated embedding them in my website and blog. I was non conversant with html and short codes and Docstoc allowed easy embedding app which became extremely popular. I had it clipped with Google Adsense and was earning a few cents from it as well. A few years back when it became mostly a business portal I still stuck to the site. If you ask me, Docstoc was more of an emotional episode that I found hard to let go just as all other pages (Helium, myLot, Associated Content, Bukisa, SharedReviews etc) in my life.

I do not quite understand the business issues but I do hope  that Docstoc comes back with another merger in a bigger and better way. So for the hiatus period - thank you docstoc.

Why myLot will be missed

myLot was the one of the very few discussion forums that really paid and in time. Unlike most websites that promise but fail to pay, myLot has lived upto our expectations every time and each time for 7 long years.

Besides the discussions, image uploading and continuing dialogues, myLot had rendered a wonderful earning opportunity through web page browsing. Recently and the times when I was inundated and couldnot visit the forum often, I used to do my research work through myLot web browser. I have (now history) earned around 3 dollars in no time!

Most importantly, the long association from various cross-sections of the world is a lifetime incentive. Today, I am connected to most of them. These are the same people who stayed beside me in times of extreme emotional needs. The survival times, the do-not-wana-exist-kinda states - I attribute to them. They are simply 'heavensent'.

So, why myLot will be missed? You still have the same friends hanging around?

I will stay in touch with my friends anyway, and myLot's been my first love and 'seldom shall it be forgotten'.  However, the webpage will be missed, the beautiful several times face lifted forum with beautiful learned and novice people will be missed. myLot will be missed for all that we did - the hanging arounds, the pokes and pullings, the fun, the candid heart talks, the panda spankings, the togetherness, and not to forget the groups that we had created ( most crazy of all was panda spanking (C) James Hales) etc.

The present myLot theme reminds me of one those novice web page designers who was experimenting in his early days. The whole thing looks shallow, amateurish and not eye pleasing. Technically speaking, lot of space's been wasted and it has a camouflaged old twitter appeal which I do not approve of personally. However, having said this, myLot has a lot of perks (according to the admin) in the cards and I know it will not fail the users in the long run.

Lastly, I appreciate the integrity of the forum to have come up with the whole revamp issue however shocking, so candidly. Not everyone can do that!

And now, with a heavy heart,

RIP dear myLot.

The power of reading shapes the art of writing

Hiatus from internet is only a phase, an interval, time away. Even when you are in one you should not under estimate its power. Besides the endeavor it provides us with to catch up wth our guilt trips and procrastination, it does help us achieve considerable amount of me-time, which, the addictive internet time was not sparing us.

I've been going through a long hiatus. During the period (Shared Reviews being still under work, blogging being little fun, mturk's monotony and my laptop's irritable erratic functioning - the final nail on the coffin), I conveniently dealt with the reality checks. The first one being connecting with family and friends. Let me tell you, I did do a good job. I caught up with my friends, some after 20 long years (incredible emotions). I did enroll mself with the much procrastinated management course (finally) and I did update my bank jobs (became little more knowledgeable in money matters in due course).

And while doing all of this, I was particularly hooked to the book, I was long wanting to finish. The journey was a beautiful one. Not only did I cherish an amazing feeling but also I am, most certainly, a better reader now. I realized that I was regaining the ability of the power to read. The much talked about 'Focus' is just a matter of practice and the more you read the more you become a fast and good reader. The fact that I was intimidated by the hard bound 500 page book, had made me a lousy first page flipper. Halfway through the book though , my level of understanding and the speed of reading excelled magically.

The point is, knowledge begins with reading, reading more and reading good stuffs. But the habit of reading is a mere practice that just needs to be decided on. How and what we read decide on what are we going to write. If you are blogger or have decided a career in writing, read  - just read and then understand and think for yourself. Reading, understanding, free thinking are great warriors. They hand in hand help us conquer amazing contents. The art of writing isn't that unapproachable after all.

Amazon Mechanical Turk (mturk): HIT forever

It's been a very unproductive phase this season. SharedReviews - still in hiatus, myLot - not that pulling with less friends around, the PTP, PTR and the PTP sites monotonous and not quite revenue generating - this has been one of the most unproductive and passive phases. Given the circumstances, I could only concentrate on mturk.com.  mturk is a secure and genuine online earning site powered by Amazon Web Services.

"Amazon Mechanical Turk is a marketplace for work that requires human intelligence. The Mechanical Turk service gives businesses access to a diverse, on-demand, scalable workforce and gives Workers a selection of thousands of tasks to complete whenever it's convenient.

Amazon Mechanical Turk is based on the idea that there are still many things that human beings can do much more effectively than computers, such as identifying objects in a photo or video, performing data de-duplication, transcribing audio recordings, or researching data details. Traditionally, tasks like this have been accomplished by hiring a large temporary workforce (which is time consuming, expensive, and difficult to scale) or have gone undone."

Here, we can enroll ourselves as 'Workers' or 'Requesters' or both. As a worker we get plentiful number of HITs ( Human Intelligence Task). We can accept, complete and submit tasks ( posted by the requesters) and collect rewards for completing them.

The fact that we can get to select from innumerable HITs makes it easier and fun oriented. You are never short of tasks, never short of rewards thus. mTurk has been an oasis in this dry season. I have earned more than $100 in a short span. You can enroll yourself too and see them coming.

Payment procedure is clean and has been streamlined recently. If you are a non-US resident, you need to upload your ID proof. The authentication takes a few days. Once the documents are validated you can request for withdrawal. They charge a shipment fee of $4 for non-US countries. The check reaches you within 15 days.

mturk doesn't want you to bring in referrals or page views- something I like best about the website. It has a definitive structure that works on productivity and knowledge. What you give is what you get back.

The only thing, that mturk can upgrade on is the method of payment. Introducing Paypal - the safest online bank - things would have been easier and faster. However, having said that, I am happy with the current payment procedure. The brand Amazon never fails, I guess.

The New Sharedreviews: Professional, plush and a lot of fun!

I started writing on SharedReviews from January 2008 (if I a not wrong) and since it has been an incredible affair. In between, I have been slow, I have gone into hiatus and some other time SR had. But that was incredibly low a deterrent to keep me off the site. I have seen SR getting a facelift several times in between and every time it was a new development, beautifully done to keep up with the pace of the internet and its increasing number of proactive users, and most importantly the integrity and credibility of the writing site. It would be unfair not to mention Peter the founder member and editor of the site. He is the most decent and most approachable CEO I have ever come across. He goes out of his way to make you at ease, and I salute his endeavor and undying enthusiasm that motivate the users greatly.

SR is going through a major face and organ lift recently. The new SR looks plush, professional and grand. The users just can't login as yet. We are awaiting the day we can dive into the site and discover new things and resolve the issues that bound to come up as a part and parcel of any big metamorphosis.


My SR page here 



The new SR , "the publishing game for the writers" promises to be a  lot of fun! The homepage has the message loud and clear.

Create your contributor profile, develop your writing and feedback skills, and strategize your way through 50 different levels to unlock new abilities, collect fun rewards, and earn real cash each month.

It's challenging, fun, and like no other publishing platform you've ever seen.

A guide to earn cents online

When I started off my activities on the internet ten years back, it was more of fun and time pass and an endeavor to catch up with the fast changing world. The virtual world was an avenue that gave me an opportunity to let go and do my mind. I was proactively participating on various networking sites when I got to learn about another aspect that the virtual world has to offer. It was an avenue that opened my eyes. I never believed that we could actually earn online until I got paid for micro blogging. It was a few cents but overpowering.

How to earn online

Soon, I realized that we get to earn here through multiple tasks, micro blogging, writing articles, networking and through clicking on the adverts, some of which I liked immensely and some I didn't quite enjoy. I prioritized on the kind of tasks I would be doing here on internet. I guess, people have different priorities and different fascinations and getting to know them and sticking to those help them excel here. It worked great for me.

How to earn online

So, I decided to set up a website that would hopefully answer the queries of newbies and for people who want to earn online. This website is essentially for the aspirants who want to earn online in their free time. I will guide you through the websites and the dos and donots of online addiction.

How to earn online

Here, have a look and feel free to ask me anything that you want to know. Thanks for your readership.

Are you using the same password for different account? Then consider this.

Are you the one finds it easier to keep the same passwords for all your online accounts? Do you have the same password for your bank and important accounts? If so, its time you gotten wiser than sorry. It's not unknown now that the weak passwords can be deciphered quite easily and so are the same/ similar passwords that you tend to use for many accounts.

Hackers are trained professionals whose credibility is more than you can think of. If a hacker manages to guess or steal one of your passwords, he could get access to many of your accounts.  He could test your password at different sites, hoping that you use the same password for many or all of the different accounts you have set up.  This is much easier to do than you might think.

You are probably much more careful with your PayPal and bank passwords than you are with say your email and social networking passwords.  But, even if you are equally careful with all passwords, a site that suffers a data breach might accidentally leak one of your passwords.   So if you use the same password across many sites, you are putting yourself at unnecessary risk.

Hackers test minor variations of stolen passwords, too. Don’t forget that most hackers are good programmers, and they can easily write computer programs that try large numbers of minor variations of a password – automatically. So just adding different digits to a core password is not enough.

Courtesy: Amazon