The unique project will see Google flying down a team from California to interact with the Kashmiri youth to tap its potential. Google has partnered with Mercy Corps, an American based NGO.

The team will consist of eight members and will be led by Mary Himinkool, the head of Global Outreach division of Google. The programme will start on the 3rd of November in Srinagar and will go on for five days.

The youth from Kashmir have been extremely tech savvy from the past couple of years, specially after the social media boom that started in India. The event, called G|Kashmir has already gained massive popularity in the state.

“The response was great. We are booked to capacity. There are hundreds of youth who want to be part of the sessions but we lack the capacity now”,

said Usman Ahmad from  Mercy Corps.

Under the event, Google plans to talk about the various opportunities available online for future entrepreneurs. The potential of Google services like AdWords and other Google related products. A seminar which covers both technical as well as non technical opportunities will also be discussed.

Google and the mercy foundation have also created a website for the  G|Kashmir event.

With Kashmir being under constant pressure from both sides of the border, this new development by Google comes as a ray of light for the Kashmiri youth.

The show, which starts from the 27th of September, will have Indian IT companies putting up various software and hardware solutions they have for offer.

The Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), an Indian IT Trade promotion organization will be representing the country.

In a statement, the ESC said,

“The Middle East region is one of the fastest growing IT markets in the world. High growth prevails across all segments and the market is driven by economic diversification and various e-government initiatives including finance, communications and manufacturing, the UAE is currently spending USD 11.4 billion on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and that figure is set to rise to USD 14.8 billion by 2011”

A special section called as the ‘Indian Pavilion’ has been set up by the ESC for the Internet Show. Many IT companies will be expected to be part of the event.

Participation in the show is important for India as it lets them explore opportunities in the lucrative Gulf market while getting attention from other International firms at the same time.

This is not the first year that the organization has participated in the exhibition. From the past couple of years, ESC claims to have received favorable response at the Internet Show.

As part of the show, the Indian Pavilion will have Search Engine Optimization, Software solutions in PHP and ROR, CRM Solutions and other IT services as part of their display.

With India coming up as a booming Information Technology force, this new development will be a significant step towards entering the Global IT market.

‘A Decade of Difference‘ is a concert which celebrates ten years of the William J. Clinton Foundation,will be streamed live on Yahoo on October 15, 2011. The concert is going to feature artisits like Usher, Lady Gaga and U2 along with other notable names.

The live concert will take place at the popular Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, but can be seen anywhere in the world on the Yahoo Clinton Concert Page

Yahoo expects millions of viewers to watch the concert live. Apart from the live streaming, the concert will be available on-demand where special features like interviews and highlights will be available.

In order to raise funds for the event, Yahoo will send some fans to the live concert based on a sweepstakes. A sum of $1 from each sweepstakes form will be donated to the foundation. Yahoo plans to collect at least $50,000 through the contest.

Ross Levinsohn from Yahoo said,

”It’s an honor to support the work of the William J. Clinton Foundation and for Yahoo! to be a part of this special event, consistently, when news and events happen in the world, hundreds of millions of people turn to Yahoo! as the place to be informed and entertained. We’re proud to deliver an exclusive ‘only on Yahoo!’ moment to our users globally.”

After the sacking of Carol Bartz which put Yahoo under bad light, this new attempt by Yahoo may help them recover some much needed goodwill.

Intelligent Advertising
Its time India had “intelligent ad projections”. Well if you are ignorant about intelligent ad projections then Ooha is the answer. They basically design interactive kiosks which offer advertisers matchless possibilities. The LCD monitors at Ooha stations will run ads almost 24×7 depending on locations. Users can send/receive e mails, chat, transact, book tickets ( Movies /Air / Rail ) or simply browse (for a max of 15 minutes undisturbed) all for FREE.

Rich Content for the Common Man
While everyone argued about Fachak’s similarity with Slideshare I really fell they have a unique proposition. Fachak.com. Currently the alpha version offers customers a platform to share rich content (docs, ppts, videos and pictures). Fachak.com currently is compatible with YouTube, Flickr and Slideshare. My only regret is the lack of content. I guess the team should have collated and compiled a larger data bank before officially launching the products. Fachak is a great product but would need a USP which is currently not evident. The service is by invitation only.

You can Wear My T-Shirt
How exciting is creating and running a t-shirt business? Does it have longevity? How are the profit margins? Well ask Kashyap Dalal from InkFruit.com. This unique website does not have a team of designers; in fact their designers are from different parts of the globe. InkFruit.com is a domain for people to submit, discover and buy amazing custom t-shirt designs created by artists from around the world. They organise varied theme based t-shirt contests wherein users vote for the best t-shirt and the winning designs are put to print.
InkFruit.com is a wondrous interactive platform for designers and t-shirt lovers. Priced at Rs. 349 you will find InkFruit t-shirts in over 25 outlets. Kashyap told us that they sell around 5000 t-shirts a month which is a brilliant figure for a nation that loves cheap, imitated roadside t-shirts.

Confusion Galore
The final startup to present was Taroby. It is a web based messaging system and that is the only information I could grasp. The Taroby team and the audience were equally confused about the product offering.

The speakers for the day were Ashish Gupta (Helion Ventires), Sandeep Singhal (Nexus Capital), Ashwin Mahesh (IIMB) and Rajiv Dingra (WatBlog).

Our Proto.in experience was awesome. I hope even you had a great time reading this piece!

Though we managed to reach the airport on time and board our flight (we are both infamous for turning up late) our journey from Bangalore airport to the NIMHANS Convention Centre, where the event was being held, turned hectic.

We missed the keynote and inauguration session we managed to make it on time for the startup showcase. Well, Proto.in is not just about online startups and there were many enterprising teams showcasing products and ideas from varied genres. Here are a few online startups that presented on the first day:

Community Gaming has a New Name:
IndiaKhelo.com came up with an interesting proposition that propagates and promotes a variety of sports at the grass root level. To put it in simple words, IndiaKhelo.com is a destination where children and adults can share their scorecards for games played in their respective school or local tournaments. As an online platform IndiaKhelo.com is aiming at initiating and encouraging local sports. They would be targeting schools, colleges and corporates for an affiliation program which indirectly would help them create a bigger base. In fact they are even planning on creating a team, which would be attending schools, and monitoring games conducted during the Physical Traning (PT) sessions.

I did check the website to discover a rudimentary design and a few copy mistakes. In the end it is a good idea but execution is the key. I am eager to know how they go about with the project as it demands lot of networking and ground work.

Health is Wealth … Literally!
LifeMojo.com has a unique proposition and even the audience agreed with a loud response to their presentation. Mentored by Morpheus Venture Partners, LifeMojo.com is surely a breath of fresh air in the startup clutter. For starters LifeMojo.com is a unique online platform aimed at providing complete and continuous wellness to millions of Indians. I would proudly tag LifeMojo.com as the best startup at the 5th edition of Proto.in. Take a look at our interview with the CMO Himanshu Khurana.

The first day had Bharat Goneka (Tally Software), Amit Ranjan (Slideshare), Allwin Agnel (PagalGuy.com), Alok Kejriwal (Games2Win), Suresh Sambandan (Orangescape) and others sharing “gyaan” with the attendees.

But I was really impressed with the session conducted by Abhishek Sinha from Eko. The “Conversation” (as Proto terms it) had Abhishek showcasing his product. Eko is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) that aims at extending banking facilities in untapped / unbanked areas through the use of existing branch network and new technology. Eko enables mobile phone based transactions which offer far more convenience and accessibility than a traditional financial institution.

The microcredit model will help individuals debit and credit their account by using their mobile phone. To make things easier they have routed the service via short codes in turn making it simple for rural Indians to make transactions.

Eko has partnered with SBI and will be rolling out its service in Bihar and Delhi on 2nd February. We are eagerly awaiting the launch.

The first day of Proto.in ended with the WATBlog Panel titled “Lessons Learnt from the Failures of Startups” followed by a mixer and dinner.

Heart Felt
The BlogCamp Mumbai sponsored by iBibo Blogs kicked off with blogger Harish Iyer (who calls himself AHAM) sharing his experience during the devastating Mumbai terror attacks which pushed him to create the blog MumbaiTerrorHelpline. In fact he has now initiated a group by the name of GAP (Group Altruism Proactive) that apparently would “identify the various ‘GAP’s in our administration and society…and bridge it”. While Harish Iyer ran us through his experience he pressed on the fact that “blogging can save lives” and how we should use our clout as bloggers to create a whole new ecosystem in troubled times. Even DigiMouth had featured an article on the impact of online media during the Mumbai terror attacks. Have a look.

And I thought Only Nitrous Oxide Caused Laughter
Blogger Abhishek Thakkar surely knows to start a laughter riot. His topic “Blogging Stories” was entertaining, engaging and edgy. He took us through various online fads that got him blogging. From ego searches on good-old Google to photo blogging, and podcasting in Hindi; Abhishek Thakkar enjoyed them all! His tips to bloggers:

- Sanitise your blogs or your parents will catch you
- Have fake names and IDs
- Pamper Windows by reinstalling it twice a year

Other than propagating his desire to marry nubile girls, Abhishek emphasised on the fact that Hindi podcasts worked wonders in terms of online traffic.  We are waiting for another round of Abhishek’s jocular session in future BlogCamps.

Did You Read the News?
Next in line was DNA Money correspondent Arcopol Chaudhari who had an interactive session with a barrage of questions about the connect (or void) between journalists and bloggers. This was a refreshing session with varied views and debates.

How to Kill a Blog!
The next session titled ‘Pappu Can’t Blog Sala’ was conducted by blogger Dinesh Soni who pointed out the common blunders that murder a potential blog. Here is a list of the familiar goof-ups:
- Cluttering ones blog with Google Ads in a bid to get rich
- Extensive use of SEO keywords for higher Google ranking
- The use of ‘shrt wrds’ (which he termed as SMS language) while writing
- Enforced jargon. Everyone does not like looking up the dictionary. So keep it simple!
- No consistency in posts
- Constantly switching WordPress themes
- Majority of the bloggers stay aloof (in their fictitious cocoons). Networking is the key. Attend BlogCamp!

Google Can’t Answer My Questions. How About Asking God!
Rohan Babu tried initiating an interactive session termed “Reflections” that questioned the relevance, role and responsibility of bloggers. The end result:

- Guys spoke about truth, maya, knowledge and everything that would make a wondrous Osho or Sri Sri Ravi Shankar session.
- We even discovered ones girl’s fascination for Salman Khan and her fears of being surrounded by members from the SRK cartel.

The session came to an end with the revelation that “truth is philosophical” and that humans are “constantly looking for facts and not the truth”. We thank Rohan Babu for a soul seeking session (I delved deep into my soul for answers).

What About Job Security?
Skyn3t (born on earth as Neeraj Pattath) updated us on basic security measures to be followed while blogging. In fact he gave us a lowdown on varied tweaks and cheats that would help us while communicating in this ‘big-bad-world’. My colleague Siddharth Basrur was fancying the coffee machine during this session (I don’t blame him).

Pehchaan Kaun
A long title with a lateral thought always works. IdeaSmithy chose “Anonymity is a Game of Identity”. She talked about a colleague who hounded her while she was busy creating 10 blogs under 4 different ID’s. Currently with 2 popular blogs IdeaSmithy found herself dealing with an online alter ego that helped her vent her feelings. This session was a mix of fun, fetishes and fundas. I wish I could have recorded her session and updated it as a podcast (damn Microsoft).

The Freebie
The final session hosted by Hardik Shah was inclined towards introducing the audience with Windows Live Writer. This free product from the house of Microsoft lets you extend your blogging experience offline. With the Windows Live Writer you can create content and collate data while you are offline. In fact Windows Live Writer comes with a bouquet of features for bloggers. Get your copy right now.

After all the gyaan, networking, caffeine and the free veg pizza BlogCamp Mumbai was worth the wait. In fact the DigiMouth Team congratulates and thanks Hardik Shah, Moksh Juneja and Asfaq Tapia for organising a successful BlogCamp in Mumbai.

Eagerly awaiting the next BlogCamp!

“Start-Up Evening” is open to 10-15 founders of start-ups from the MVP portfolio, partner portfolios and other founder startups “by invitation only”.

In case you have any queries mail nandini@morpheusventure.com or log on to the MVP blog.

The event will be held on 23rd-24th of January 2009 at the NIMHANS Convention Centre. You could register for Proto.in right here.