Most Popular Social Websites & Their Office

Have you ever wondered the office environment where the young and zealous engineers of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, and LinkedIn work in? Today we present to you guys the awesome compilation of “Inside the Offices of the Top 6 Most Popular Social Websites

1. Facebook

With over 400 million registered users and more than 60 million status updates posted each day, Facebook is currently touted as the world’s most popular social networking website, beating arch-rival MySpace. The social networking juggernaut is co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz, who were roommates and fellow computer science students at Harvard University.

Designed by the folks over at Studio O+A, the engineers at Facebook are now working in a really cool office located at Palo Alto, California, USA. Before the redesign and construction of the 150,000-square-foot office, each of every Facebook employees were consulted to find out what they wanted and what would their work experience better and more productive. Based from the photos taken below, the new office is indeed much more cozy and colorful. I personally love the DJ set and the bender on the wall!

2. YouTube

Acquired by search-engine giant Google in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, YouTube is currently the world’s most popular video sharing website. On 9 June last year, YouTube video stream top a massive 1.2 billion in that single day. The video-sharing platform enables users to upload and share videos of different genres be it comedy, news broadcasts, music, etc. The YouTube headquarters is currently situated at San Bruno, CA, USA.

3. MySpace

Headquartered at Beverly Hills, California, USA, where it shares an office building with its immediate owner, Fox Interactive Media (owned by News Corporation), MySpace was once crowned as the world’s most popular social networking website but lost to Facebook, which has been experiencing ever-rising popularity in both Asia and Europe.

4. Twitter

Twitter is the world’s leading micro-blogging platform with over 54 million users, beating rival Plurk by a relatively huge margin. Twitter has recently moved into the sixth floor of 795 Folsom St., a 184,000-square-foot building, previously used by another social-networking firm, Bebo Inc., which is owned by AOL. Evan Williams’ wife Sara Morishige Williams was the brain behind the interior design of the 31,000 square foot office. So if you happened to past by the place, you can probably drop by and say ‘Hi’ to the Biz Stone, Evan Williams or Jack Dorsey, the co-founders of Twitter.

5. Flickr

Acquired by Yahoo! in March 2005 for an undisclosed fee, Flickr is one of the world’s largest and most popular image and video hosting website with over 3.6 billion images as of June 2009. Flickr is situated at 470 Sansome Street, San Francisco, USA.

6. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003 mainly used for professional networking. As of July 2009, it had more than 43 million registered users, spanning 170 industries. Its really cool office is located at Mountain View, CA, USA which is where the Googleplex (Google headquarters) is situated at.

Google logos - Do u know who makes them????

Google doodles, the drawings that are designed on, around and through the Google logo on our home page, have long been part of Google's history. As a Google intern in 2000, Google Webmaster Dennis Hwang began celebrating and marking worldwide events and holidays with doodles. Since then, the work of the doodle team has been seen by millions and reached cult status, with fans waiting with bated breath to see the next creation on the Google homepage. We spoke to Dennis about doodles and how he got a job that combined his two passions: technology and art.

Most people have to choose only one of their interests to pursue. How did you get such a cool job that meshes computers and art?

"I had an internship with Google in college. I was given the task of helping with websites creation, and I soon became an assistant webmaster. Before I joined Google, the founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were already thinking about holiday logos…and when I joined, they knew I was studying art and suggested I should give it a shot. While being Google Webmaster is my main job, I've been doing doodles since then as a part-time project."

Is the doodle team constantly trying to keep up with current events and holidays?

"How far we work in advance depends. Sometimes, we react really quickly to current events. Some logos are created in less than 24 hours, such as the Mars Rover landing doodle. For different countries across the globe, if there's a special day and we think it's in line with the Google brand, we want to commemorate it."

Do you get suggestions from Google users?

"We get quite a lot of suggestions from users. We're really open to user feedback and having ideas sent to us because our users are really creative. For example, a French astronomer had emailed us about the Venus Transit, in which Venus casts a shadow on the sun every 122 years. During the transit, you'll see a black dot moves across the sun, so here is the logo we did."

How do you decide on the design of the drawings?

"First, we do a lot of brainstorming, search for images on Google, and absorb all the research. Then we apply a design that interacts with shape of the letters. I find that a bit more interesting."

Do you have favorite doodles?

"I have several personal favorites. Usually, artists' birthdays are the ones I spend the most effort on, like Magritte's birthday."

How difficult is it to reinvent recurring holidays?

"It's definitely a challenge, but it's one we look forward to. We're constantly looking for ways to be innovative with fresh ideas every year. There's only so many ways to draw a turkey or a pumpkin!"

Dennis' Top Ten Tips

1. Make sure your design complements the shape of the letters in the Google logo, but don't let that restrict your creativity.
2. Experiment with different media to see which one works best for your design (you can even create your doodle on your PC).
3. Don't over-complicate your design – simpler images often have the most impact.
4. Remember that your design could end up on the Google homepage, so imagine how it will look on screen.
5. To find inspiration around the "What I Wish for the World?" theme, try thinking about the future and how you would like it to differ from the present.
6. Remember to use color well and think about how it interacts with a white background.
7. Avoid commercial or copyrighted images.
8. Think outside the box – try to create a doodle that's different from your classmates and hasn't been done before.
9. Feel free to use the space behind and in front of the Google letters, but try to maintain your design's overall balance.
10. Have fun! "Doodle 4 Google" is all about creativity and enjoying designing fun things. Think about how you want to change the world.

Sample Doodles

To help spark your imagination, we've put together a few favorite doodles created by Google Webmaster Dennis Hwang, whose designs celebrate worldwide events and holidays by incorporating images into and around the Google logo (you can also check out these winning doodles from last year's competition). We hope these designs will help you create your own doodle, but remember: creativity is key. Your doodle should be as unique as you are.

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  Australia Day

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  250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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  Earth Day

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  Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday

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  50th anniversary of discovery of DNA structure

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  Vincent van Gogh’s birthday

• 

  Albert Einstein’s birthday

• 

  Cricket World Cup, 2007

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  FIFA World Cup, 2006

• 

  Louis Braille’s birthday

• 

  St Patrick’s Day

• 

  Michelangelo’s birthday

• 

  Pablo Picasso’s birthday

• 

  Valentine’s Day

• 

  Claude Monet’s birthday

• 

  Andy Warhol’s birthday

IPL 2010 Schedule - Indian Premier League

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The Tribes of Babel

On March 1st2010, Motherjane released Tribes of Babel for Amnesty International’s
worldwide compilation album on something that man has always sought –PEACE.

Here’s MOTHERJANE’s account of their song “The Tribes of Babel” & why music for peace.
How do people view their differences? After all, aren’t most of our wars and disagreements about the fact that He,She or They, worship a different God, speak a different language , wear different clothes etc etc ? The list is endless and for a very brief moment one wonders, would peace be easier to find in a world with one view, language or culture and why aren’t things made that way?
Well, according to legend, man lived like that a long time ago. This song finds its birthplace in the city of Babel, a land where all men spoke the same language until they decided to build a tower to reach the heavens. As the tower rose, God realized that if mankind were to go on like this, there would be nothing that they couldn’t do and sent his angels to confuse the tongues of the people. Without a common language to bind them the people abandoned Babel to be scattered all over the world.
Now if you (like me), believe in a benevolent God wouldn’t you wonder, why were we scattered?
Could it be that God/the universe/life (depending on your ‘belief system’) was just ensuring that man spends life enjoying the earth? Heaven (if we deserve it ), will come in its due time.
I’m tempted to believe God sent down with his angels, the real stairs to heaven-the 1stand 5thnote in every song. Something to bind all tribes, a beauty forever highlighted by our differences of language, culture, creed etc.
After all a world with only 1 song, raga, mode or scale, no matter how great is was, is one we would all reject.
Maybe it is time for humankind to learn that the real path to peace is in cherishing our similarities and perhaps more importantly, in celebrating our differences.
Come to think of it, maybe that’s what we do every time we sing together.
So sing, my brothers and sisters. Sing!

Suraj Mani
Motherjane

The Tribes of Babel
We’ve learnt to ignore oceans
Wake up to changing times
To rediscover with innocence
All boundaries are thin lines
Born under our different flags
Wrapped up in belief systems
Pain body, Pride, Psychic bags
Good, Bad, We’re all of them
The tribes of Babel, the angels sent on
With the 1stand 5thnote in every song
To paint graffiti without walls, in the air
Stairways to heaven, for the truly aware
To raise our sights and tear walls down
To tempt us to look within & all around
Facing strangers to find ourselves
Singing out loud, in someone else
We’re the tribes of Babel, the angels sent on
With the 1st& 5thnote, the soul of a song
To paint graffiti without walls, in the air
To celebrate all Earth while we’re still here

This song Tribes of Babel is streaming on Motherjane Site as of March, 1st
and will be available for exclusive download through PEACE on April 12th.
Please view the Lyrics and Motherjane’s Suraj Mani’s account of the song here.
Review of Tribes of Babel by Shikhar Chaudhary of Rock Street Journal.

Free Vector Image Resources

There are literally hundreds of sites promoting stock vector images. Many of the best ones are actually 100% free. I’ve compiled a list of some of the best places to find free vector images anywhere on the web. This is not an exhaustive list but some of the best of the best when it comes to creating and distributing free vector art. Use these seven sites as a starting point for your search for vector images.

Best Vector Resources

Here is my top of amazing and free vector resources:

Vecteezy

BittBox

Vector Portal

Blog.SpoonGraphics

I Heart Vector

Cool Vectors

deviantART

These are some of the best providers of free vector art that I’ve seen around the web. However, if you can’t find what you’re looking for here, I’ve included even more free vector resources (quality may vary).

Other Free Vector Resources

• Free Vectors
• Vectorgraphics.info
• Go Media Arsenal
• Dezignus
• QVectors
• Creativosonline
• Webdesign-Easy
• Brands of The World
• Vectors Workshop
• Createsk8

Benny Dayal talks about struggle and success

“You will never be a playback singer,” an established music director screamed, shutting the door on the young singer. The young man didn’t say anything. He just went home quietly. He couldn’t sleep for nights. He slipped into depression.

Life over the last few months had been hell. It had been an uphill struggle after college. Benny had been the cultural convenor of Madras Christian College and as long as he was singing and winning inter-college competitions, he was a hero. As long as he was playing with his bands, he was a rock star. But our story begins after those wonder years when Benny Dayal had his first taste of the real world. Every single music director he met had nothing to offer. He would plead to get a chance to sing, at least in the chorus. No breakthrough.

Cut to Amethyst, earlier this week. Benny is running late for this interview, stuck at a recording. He has another appointment later that afternoon. He needs to be in Ethiraj College on invitation. They would make him sing a song or two and he was prepared. Just a week ago, a few hundred boys and girls from NIT Trichy went crazy during his concert. And the incident involving the music director telling him he would never make it was now a distant memory. How did he cope with the struggle, we ask as he sits for the interview. Apparently, he would sit and brood at home for hours. “My father had just had an open- heart surgery,” Benny recalls. “My parents had to shift back to India from the UAE.

I couldn’t ask for money or tell them anything. My brother was just settling down into his job. There were days, I didn’t have money for rent or to eat three times a day. There are certain things I cannot talk about.”

With no money to cut a demo, Benny had little choice but to take his senior’s advice and shelve his dream of becoming a singer. He signed up to work with a BPO. “My offer letter said I should join on September 11, 2006 but my senior Pavan wanted me to join on September 3 because they were short-staffed. So, it came out of the blue, when three days into the job, I got a call from Rahman’s office. They wanted me to sing harmony later that night. I was hoping it was not a prank.”

Incidentally, A.R. Rahman was the only music director he had not approached for a chance because he had heard it was too difficult to even meet him. That late night recording was the first of many. Rahman changed his life and took his voice to millions of homes and his name flashed on playlists around the world.

And, Benny has only Pravin Mani to thank for that. “Pravin Mani is like my Godfather. He’s the one who imparted knowledge about professional singing. Before that, I was singing only in culturals. He taught me a lot of the technical stuff. My first song was for his composition for S5, the band launched by SS Music.”

Early days

Benny had been performing ever since his schooldays in Abu Dhabi. “I joined MCC in 2002 because it was well-known for its culturals.” MCC gave him a lot of confidence — be it literary events, JAM or the performing arts. Benny wouldn’t think twice before signing up for competitions.

After his graduation in MCC, he did a diploma in journalism from the same college because it would keep him connected to the band scene. He continues his association with bands till date because he believes he’s always learning while performing live with other musicians and singers.

The Hit List

Yes, we know he was part of Rahman’s brat pack that sang ‘Pappu Can’t Dance Saala’ and ‘Delhi 6’. But the first songs he ever recorded for Rahman were for “Varalaaru” and “Sakkarakatti”. “It was during Ramzan; it happened around 4 a.m. Rahman wanted something in Arabic and Spanish and called me to sing ‘Chinnamma Chilakamma’.”

“When I started singing regularly, Rahman sir said I should quit my job. Finally, I had to leave the company because someone did an article about people in dual careers. My song from ‘Azhagiya Thamizh Magan’ had become a hit by then. So, it became a policy violation. The same night, I got a call from Rahman sir for a recording and later that night, he said: Shouldn’t you leave early or you’ll be late for work tomorrow. And, I told him: No sir, I quit. He shook my hand and said: Congratulations.”

“I like being single because I am focussed right now. Marriage is not on the cards anytime now,” says the bachelor boy who lives with his brother. His parents live in Kerala and are happy that their son finally made it. Did Benny ever meet the music director who told him he wouldn’t? “Yes, definitely. I even recorded a song for him. I have learned from my parents to not keep grudges. I don’t think he even remembered saying it,” he smiles.

Benny’s Bands On Vibrator Mode

A rock band he started during his MCC days with Akash, Themsu, Zuala, Chuba, Ajung

S5

The pop band launched by Southern Spice Music and Pravin Mani. Not functional anymore.

Hexachords

A light music band consisting of his buddies from MCC that won Saarang 2006 and today does pro-shows in colleges around the country.

Subject to Change

A recent pop band he formed with his rivals from Stella Maris College, Anjana and Anisha.

Rainbow Bridge

Sanjeev Thomas’s band that plans to bring out an original album soon.