The Life's Way: December 2015

Thursday, 31 December 2015

A Memoir - Year 2015 for www.TheLifesWay.com #Blog #AashishRai (600 Post)

Hi Guys,

It's time to connect the dots and look again at some of the important activites that happened for The Life's Way blog in 2015. There has been many achievements and great things happened to me which I shared from time to time on the social media channels and also on my blog. The best part of the year came in when I became the winner of Samsung's Blogger Challenge Grand Finale for 2014. I am thankful to the brand for the same and I love watching all the movies and TV series on Samsung's 65inch curved UHD TV.

In the third year of it's existence The Life's Way blog started from 100k pageviews on 01 Jan 2015 and reached 740k pageviews on 31 Dec 2015, that's a massive 640,000 pageviews in a single year. I am thankful to Tweet Jukebox for helping me reach this mark along with more than 219 blogposts in a single year. The followers on all social media channels are increased with time spend on that particular channel.

I am also thankful to Indiblogger for their Happy Hours contest which allowed me to get several Flipkart vouchers so that I could buy myself a Nikon Speedlight SB-910. The device is really expansive and I did some sponsored blogposts to reach the milestone. I was very happy to spend all my vouchers and sponsored blog posts money on something I always wanted to have. Thanks to Indiblogger and PR's for sponsored posts.

I am so grateful to Aramex Global Shopper for giving me a chance to work for them which helped me buy my favorite Momentum On-Ear headphones from Sennheiser, Social Beat to work on their several paid campaigns to allow me to buy SB-910 Nikon Flash.

I am also thankful to MonteCasino's PR team for the invites to their special events from time to time giving me a chance to take photographs to post on my Instagram channel. I am thankful to them for sending the Christmas goodies being my first one ever received from any brand. Thanks once again!

I am also thankful to Savanna Cider and GC Communications for all the invites to their events and sending me samples from time to time. I really loved the Beats Solo HD headphones from one of their events and will continue to enjoy music via them forever.

I am also thankful to 48hoursinJoburg's - Imran Khan, Chat Factory's - Jodene Shaer TechSmartMag - Robin-Leigh Chetty, MyEyeOnTheWorld's - Namritha Sivasankar, TechGirl's - Sam Wright and Anne Doli, Jarred Doyle from JDC, TechnoBok's Jason Mayo, CapeTownGuy's Ariel and Jared Stokes from Disney Africa for always supporting in me in all my endeavors.

I am also thankful to Cerebra Communication for Huawei to invite me to all their events and for sending me their devices to review. I am thankful to Epic MSL Group for sending me Samsung devices and inviting me to their launch events. Craving Novity for inviting me to Sony launch events and Bang & Olufsen too. Fleishman Hillard's for Microsoft did invited me to some events for the first half of the year and I am grateful to them too.

I am extremely grateful to HTC for sponsoring me HTC One M8 and to Idea Engineers for sending me their latest devices from time to time. I am sure I have provided them the reach they wanted on instagram and twitter along with several blog posts from time to time.

I fell in love with Peugeot Active #208 car which I took for a weekend drive to Pilanesburg and thanks to the brand for sponsoring me to do so. I really loved the same and shared a lot of photographs on my instagram/photoyatra channel.

The new year I want to achieve Tier 3 for Instagram, Twitter and Blogger profile based on the calculations done at Webfluential. I am thankful to the team for giving me my first job for twitter this year for one of their campaigns.

I want to cross 3000 posts on Instagram (1630 posts so far), Blog to cross 1000 posts (600 posts) by 31 Dec 2016 to take my pageviews to cross 1 Million mark in 2016. I am also thinking of migrating to Wordpress to change the look and feel of my blog along with enabling several other features. I will continue to participate in all the blogging contests from Blogadda and Indiblogger once again.

Overall, it was a great year where it was awesome to work with new PR companies and sending/receiving proposals. I was not able to work with all of them but I hope in 2016 I will be able to do so. I hope this new year, I can earn some money to buy myself membership plans for some of the things which needs to be taken care of by the blog to automate stuff especially Tweet Jukebox. I also want to buy a Prime lens Nikon 35mm most probably to take some awesome portrait shots or Samsung's 45mm lens for NX300 Mirrorless camera. Brands do contact me if you see my profile fits the products you have and contact me on email - thelifesway@gmail.com

Looking forward to The Life's Way in 2016 and Have A Great Year to each and every readers of my blog!

Cheers!!!

Aashish Rai

Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway
Email - thelifesway@gmail.com for invites to launch events / sponsored posts and product reviews!
Checkout my Instagram (araijain) page
Checkout my photo blog - www.photoyatra.blogspot.in

Like The Life's Way Page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheLifesWay

Tuesday, 29 December 2015

Product Review - www.TweetJukebox.com @Alphabetsuccess #TweetJukebox

Hi Guys,

As the year 2015 is ending and I am thinking about what and how I was able to generate 630,000 pageviews in the 3rd year of my blog www.TheLifesWay.com I would love to give all the credit to the Tweet Jukebox which got launched at the start of the year by Tim Fargo. I used to follow him on twitter as he is Master of the Social Media art and science. He is 2x Inc 500 Winner and tweets on a lot of topics. I started using Tweet Jukebox when it was started in April or May and since then the number of pageviews have increased on my blog. Though some efforts are also required at my end to get to that numbers but it's a tool that provides value for money as the services have evolved a lot.

Tweet Jukebox website is easy to use and you just need to link your twitter handle which you need to maintain as an entrance to this website. No separate registrations and password remembrance any more as just with a single click after twitter authentication, you will be on your dashboard. The website has launched it's paid version in three categories along with a very restricted free version which allows you to save upto 300 tweets which you can schedule at 5 tweets per day maximum.

Though this policy (5 max tweets on free account) was launched in December only, I have used the free version till that day to get my pageview count increase daily by re-tweeting about all my old blog-posts from the last three years along with my Instagram posts.

Talking about the categories which you can buy membership of are - Advanced / Pro / Business enabling you to check your usage and enroll for the same.

Let's talk about the several features that Tweet Jukebox provides to it's enrolled members -

Jukebox is a single group of tweets which can have n number of entries/tweets that you can upload using csv file or txt file also. This jukebox than can be scheduled for all seven days within specific timelines or as per your convenience. Options tab gives you settings to schedule them in 3 ways - Regular, Once and Done & Date Range. You can also set the frequency that any tweet which has been used can't be repeated till 1-30 days.

Regular keeps on processing your tweets time and again based on the frequency you set and there is no limits on paid accounts as off now. Once and done if applied on Jukebox will stop once all the tweets from the Pandora box has been tweeted. I have used this to promote various campaign tweets or to increase particular blog posts page views.

There are so many features that has been added to the website since the first time I started using it. Download tweets allows you to save your tweets for later use. Jukebox Library has a lot of pre-set tweets uploaded and shared by several users which you can enable within your account range and you can schedule them also. It has a great collection of tweets from several sources and various celebrities along with Quote's etc. I have used Social Media tweets/ Robin Sharma Quotes and various other jukeboxes to increase my followers base in twitter.

Visual Schedule will help you see your tweet as scheduled for your various Jukeboxes. It can help you to plan your twitter presence online. Scheduled Tweets allows you to write your tweets as per your influencer marketing campaigns which will be tweeted at the mentioned time without any hassles. Works perfectly well when you get paid to tweet for a lot of brands. Recent Mentions displays your tweets being retweeted by whom and also shows you unique users who have retweeted your tweets based on reach and frequency.

I am really missing on the free account which has been restricted a lot now as the paid version of Tweet Jukebox has been launched. I hope to earn some money from my blog so that I can pay and take the one year membership of the Advanced version of Tweet Jukebox. If any brands wants to sponsor me the same, I will be eager to accept this opportunity in lieu of mentioning their handle in tweets related to their products on all my social media channels.

In the end, it the most user friendly tool to increase your twitter base and also to schedule your tweets at regular frequency without you looking at the screen of your mobiles/laptops all the time. It is fun as it is still evolving platform and brings a lot of surprise elements to increase your online presence. I really adore Tweet Jukebox and Thanks to Tim Fargo for this really cool invention.

Cheers!!!

Like The Life's Way Page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheLifesWay

Monday, 28 December 2015

#AwakenYourForce with HP #StarWars Special Edition Notebook @Indiblogger

Hi Guys!

Yoda, Jedi Grand Master once told that, “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny” and so can be said about the latest special edition Star Wars Special Edition Notebook from HP. I am sure you are never going to leave it out of your sight as well as your heart will be filled with proud to have something like this Star Wars Notebook machine which will enable you to control the whole universe with your fingers.

The great looks of the machine matters to those who love things much beyond they love themselves and their lives. HP Star Wars notebook will inspire your dark side to take over the creative aspect with full force and you can create whatever you want as the processing powers of this machine is the best that’s available in the milky way galaxy. It has sixth generation Intel core i5 processor which can handle multitasking as commanded by the emperor of the machine.

The black and red themed notebook will bring your blood to boil whenever you see something which doesn’t have as much power for the price you pay for it. With HP Star Wars Notebook, there is something you can always do to keep your adrenalin running in your blood vessels. I am very much hopeful that I create something unique always, be it managing my DSLR raw images using Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom or creating Visio diagrams for my professional assignments. Be it developing a new Android/iOS app or Microsoft app this is capable to handle all the data you can think of.

My fun way to use this machine is to watch the first six parts on DVD/Blu-Ray versions end to end to initiate myself into the world of creativity to bring the galaxy far far away closer to home. Then to celebrate the success of buying myself this Notebook, I need to go and watch 3D of the latest version of movie The Force Awakens. In the end, I want to read all the Wikipedia pages about the movies and characters along with fun facts search on google to complete the journey. This is I consuming all the matter created by my ancestors and my evoking my hidden powers to learn and think about what to do next?

The next part of the journey is up to me to create the new content and share it with all forces of nature so that they can appreciate the beauty of the same. Dark side needs to be discovered and it can only be done, if you explore unlimitedly each day of your like on the Green planet. I can plan my travel, book tickets, hotel and plan to stay with local families all on this notebook. I can share the exclusive content with my newly found friends when I carry it around and definitely it is going to be a conversation starter. www.hpshopping.in/starwars #AwakenYourForce

When this notebook starts on its B&O play speakers then even clouds lose their thunder as the sound is so deep that it brings our your worst fears alive. For me the party starts anywhere I have this machine and some people around. No need to buy something else for the parties anymore.

As the dark forces always believes in revenge so it is the memory capacity of 1TB on this notebook to keep all your content on the machine in reach and 8GB of RAM to faster process it also. 2GB graphics card makes me look ever darker in space with lot of detail on the display which is worthy of my eyes.

All of this is wrapped in the special software created to carry me towards my destination even when the times are light and walking is tough. I can get inspiration from other worlds as themes can be configured and downloaded. I am so living in the fun that now neither friends nor enemies matters to me as I belong to the HP Universe and they belong to me. My dark side has become the saberlight for the world to carry in their hands till the end of time.

In the end, I am sure of the fact that “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic — before the dark times. Before the Empire.” But now it is my time and I am making the most of it day and night with HP Star Wars Special Edition Notebook.

Cheers!!!

Like The Life's Way Page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheLifesWay

Tuesday, 22 December 2015

@HuaweiZA - A #Brand To Watchout For In 2016 #Smartphones

Hi Guys,

The Huawei Consumer Business Group announced it has shipped over 100 million smartphones worldwide in 2015, cementing its position as one of the top three consumer device companies in the world. Over the last five years, shipments of Huawei's smartphones have increased more than 3,000 percent, from 3 million in 2010 to 100 million in 2015. This year’s performance represents an important achievement as Huawei continues to grow and launch several global flagship devices each year that are focused on the premium market and integrate the best in creativity, design, fashion, photography and performance.

Steady Growth in Smartphone Shipment

“Huawei’s success is not accidental. These results directly reflect the consumer demand for our products, and we’re proud to deliver premium smartphone devices to people around the world,” said Kevin Ho, President, Huawei Consumer Business Group Handset product line. “The smartphone landscape is constantly changing as people look for devices that let them extend the boundaries of what’s possible. We look forward to continued growth in 2016 as we expand our product portfolio and partner with some of the world’s top brands to bring the best devices to market.”

In 2015 Huawei recorded a 30 percent increase in its mid-to-high-end smartphone shipments, including:

Through September, 4 million P8 smartphone shipments, 7.5 million P7 smartphone shipments, and 6.5 million Mate 7 smartphone shipments.

The launch of Huawei’s Mate S smartphone, which was sold in 48 countries across Asia and Europe and Europe.

Huawei’s Nexus 6P smartphone made in collaboration with Google, which made headway in North America.

The Mate 8 smartphone, which was launched in China in November.

This success is a result of Huawei’s extensive research and development efforts, diversification across markets, omni-channel strategy and the brand loyalty inspired by its products.

Research and Development:
Huawei’s expansive R&D efforts set the standard for the most unique and innovative consumer devices to hit the market in 2014. Last year Huawei invested 14.2 percent ($6.3 billion USD) of its annual revenue in R&D while securing 76,687 patents, 18,000 of which apply to Huawei devices. Huawei has established 16 research laboratories in various countries including China, Germany, Sweden, Russia and India. Each R&D center is chosen for a strategic purpose. For example, Huawei’s research institute in Japan focuses on materials and technology, utilizing Japan’s spirit of pursuing perfection. In Paris, Huawei collaborates with the Paris Aesthetics Center to consult French luxury designers to ensure its smartphones reflect the most cutting-edge fashion trends. With R&D as its foundation, Huawei has achieved an important balance constantly improving its product concept, hardware architecture and EMUI user interface.

Diversification and Omni-channel Strategy:
2015 marked a significant shift in Huawei’s market strategy. While Huawei experienced excellent results in the mid-to-low-end market, this year it launched a series of premium smartphone to expand its portfolio into the high-end market, attracting attention from consumers across the globe. To meet the growing demand for Huawei devices, Huawei established over ten thousand experience centers and franchised stores in China and will open 1,000 additional stores in 2016. By leveraging brick-and-mortar establishments where consumers can hold and try using the devices, quality online and offline retailers and streamlined distribution channels, Huawei is expanding the reach of its devices to people everywhere.

Looking Forward:
Huawei employs the world’s most elite engineers and developers to deliver exceptional results. Driven by their passion for perfection, the Huawei team works tirelessly to provide consumers with the best experience and develop products that are truly worth pursuing. 2015 signifies an important milestone for Huawei, with its record-breaking domestic smartphone shipments and recognition as a top-three smartphone brand worldwide. Huawei is confident that it will continue to disrupt the global smartphone market in 2016. For more information, please visit: http://consumer.huawei.com/cn

Congratulations and All the very best to the brand and I hope I will be using one of their smartphone devices as my day to day phone. Follow the brands on twitter and facebook.

Cheers!!!

Like The Life's Way Page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheLifesWay

Photo Walk - Radhey Shyam Mandir #Marlboro #Jozi #Indian #Temple

Hi Guys,

As an Indian born into an Hindu family, temples are the first thing your parents take you for seeking Almighty Lord's blessings. Indian Temples always gives power and hope to those who goes looking for the same.

I have been lucky to see a lot of them all around the country in India as well as in London, UK, Singapore and now Johannesburg, South Africa.

Every temple will have it's own decorations and deities. The people governing them will do the daily prayers in the mornings and evenings.

Indian Temples in foreign countries never stop any person who wants to enter if they can keep their shoes out. Hats off to B.A.P.S who has kept the Indian traditions alive in all the countries where they operate the Indian temples. I have seen Neasden Temple in London, and here in Laudium, Marlboro and Lenasia.

There are always celebrations during the various festivals from Diwali to Dusshara, from Hanuman Jayanthi to Janmasthmi, every occassion is celebrated with full enthusiasm.

These photographs are taken using Nikon D7000 (18-105mm lens) on the occasion of Diwali in 2015. Do visit the temple whenever you get the time, the peace it gives to your heart is immense and you stay connected to roots wherever in the world you belong to.

Cheers!!!

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Monday, 21 December 2015

Photo Walk - Santa Rosa @SpurRestaurant Jean Village #Centurion #SouthAfrica

Hi Guys,

I never went to Spur Restaurant in my two years here at Johannesburg and one fine day I was invited to a kids birthday party at Santa Rosa Spur in Jean Village, Centurion.

I was so impressed by the colorful atmosphere that the restaurant has as if it's decorated especially for the birthday party.

It felt like you are somewhere in the rural cultural heritage of South Africa. All the wall hangings to items placed on the tables reflected the rich cultural heritage.

A separate kids section and menu made the life of parents easier as kids can order their own food and enjoy the play area. Kids are even given some coloring papers along with crayons to enjoy the Spur and keep revisiting the same.

The roof also has design which reflected the Spur's culture of giving authentic South African taste of food.

I simply loved this because earlier in my childhood, my grandparents had windows on one side of the house in different colors and this wall hanging light reminded me of that time. It used to look so beautiful in afternoon when different colors of lights used to fall inside of the room.

Go check out the venue and enjoy the delicacies at Spur. All the photographs are taken by me using the Nikon D7000 with 18-105mm kit lens.

Cheers!!!

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Photo Walk - Macaw @MontecasinoZA #BirdGardens @TsogoSun #Jozi

Hi Guys,

MonteCasino in Johannesburg is an entertainment powerhouse with so many fun activities to do for all age groups. They have a Bird Garden along with small Zoo enclosure having Snakes, Monkeys and many other reptiles. Here are some pictures of the Macaw Bird which catches everyone's attention.

These Macaw birds looks so cute and colorful that you immediately fall in love with them.

Montecasino Bird Gardens allows you to take photographs of all of the birds without any extra charges towards entry fees for camera etc.

They looks like Parrots but a lot bigger in size.

It's a must visit whenever you have 1-2 hours to spend in Johannesburg especially when you are in Montecasino.

I have been there twice and really love going there with my family for some wonderful moments as kids have a huge play area near the Cafe inside the Bird Gardens. All photos are taken by me using my Nikon D7000 with Sigma 70-300mm lens.

Cheers!!!

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Saturday, 19 December 2015

Photo Walk - Pied Kingfisher in #Pilanesburg National Park #SouthAfrica

Hi Guys,

Restarting the Photo blog posts for all the travel I have done in the year 2015. Recently I went to Pilanesburg National Park which is around 150kms away from Johannesburg, South Africa. It was also a trip sponsored by Peugeot South Africa as they gave me their #208 Active vehicle to drive and to #feelPeugoet.

Here are some of the moments captured of the Pied Kingfisher and this post is dedicated to my best friend - Kuldeep Singh who is an avid bird photographer. I clicked these photographs using Nikon D7000 with Sigma 70-300mm lens.

The Black and white bird is really beautiful to look at and I immediately fell in love with the same.

He was aiming at the little fishes and insects and used to go dip in the shallow water to kill it's prey.

I hope you will enjoy these photo walks as I will continue to share them with all my readers. I will post 4 of the best snaps from all of these photo walks in one post.

Cheers!!!

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Thursday, 17 December 2015

#TheForceAwakensSA Biggest Opening Wednesday in #BoxOffice History #SouthAfrica

Hi Guys,

The Walt Disney Company Africa is having some proud moments as they announced that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has broken the record for the biggest opening Wednesday in South African Box Office history, replacing the previous title holder, Marvel’s 2013 release of Iron Man 3. The film grossed R4726865.00 on Wednesday 16 December, its first day of release, with over 70000 fans flocking to cinemas.

“We are thrilled at the reception South African fans have given Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” says Christine Service, Senior Vice President and Country Manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa. “As the next instalment in the Star Wars saga, the release of this film means that every generation will now have their own Star Wars story to experience.”

Fans across the globe have certainly embraced the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with many holding their own celebratory fan events – South Africa included. Yesterday Star Wars fans of every age met at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, Johannesburg, to celebrate the film’s release in true cosplay style.

Lucasfilm and visionary director J.J. Abrams join forces to take you back again to a galaxy far, far away as Star Wars returns to the big screen with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Max Von Sydow. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk are producing with Tommy Harper and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. The screenplay is written by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now playing across South African cinemas in all formats.

Follow the action on social media #TheForceAwakensSA

Website and Mobile site: http://www.theforceawakens.com

Like them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StarWarsMovies

Follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/StarWars

Follow them on Instagram: http://instagram.com/StarWarsMovies

Photo Credits - Greg Reynolds / eImage for The Walt Disney Company Africa, Disney 2015.

Cheers!!!

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#SouthAfrica Sixth IMAX @SterKinekor Opens up with #TheForceAwakensSA

Hi Guys,

Following the ongoing success of The IMAX Experience® at five popular Ster-Kinekor sites – Gateway in Durban, The Grove Mall in Pretoria, Cape Gate in Cape Town, Baywest Mall in Port Elizabeth and Cradlestone Mall in Krugersdorp – the country’s leading cinema chain officially launched its sixth IMAX® theatre on 15 December.

Star Wars super-fan on the black carpet

Joburg movie audiences can now enjoy the world’s most immersive cinematic experience in the 375-seat IMAX® theatre, which forms part of the new Ster-Kinekor state-of-the-art, ten cinema complex on the rooftop of Eastgate Shopping Centre. Built as a bespoke IMAX theatre, this cinema boasts the biggest screen of all six IMAX theatres across South Africa.

The IMAX theatre played host to the Official South African Special Event Screening of the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens: An IMAX 3D Experience. The more than 300 attendees – VIP guests, celebrities, media and Star Wars ‘super fans’ (suitably dressed for the occasion) – settled into the brand new IMAX seats and marveled at the impressive, ceiling to floor and wall to wall screen. Following speeches by the film’s distributor, The Walt Disney Company Africa, Ster-Kinekor and IMAX Corporation representatives, the audience was treated to a movie experience of inter-galactic proportions, as the audience travelled back to a galaxy far, far away…

Wanda Matandela CEO of Ster-Kinekor Theatres & Giovanna Dolci VP Theatre Dev EMEA of IMAX Corp

”At the end of business on Tuesday (15 December), pre-ticket sales for the film across all Ster-Kinekor cinema experiences – IMAX, Cine Prestige 3D and Ster-Kinekor 3D and 2D cinemas – had amassed to 63 200. This figure makes Star Wars: The Force Awakens the film with the second most advance bookings for Ster-Kinekor in recorded history,” says Wanda Matandela, CEO of Ster-Kinekor Theatres.

Fans of The IMAX Experience® at Ster-Kinekor Eastgate are in for a treat over the next few months with the release of a variety of movies for the whole family to enjoy: The Finest Hour; Deadpool; Divergent Series: Allegiant Part 1; Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Jungle Book.

For more information about Ster-Kinekor Eastgate, visit www.sterkinekor.com or sterkinekor.mobi. Download the Ster-Kinekor app on your smart phone for the latest information and to make bookings. To find out about other exciting offerings and promotions, or follow @sterkinekor on Twitter or on Facebook at Ster-Kinekor Theatres. For queries, contact Ticketline on 0861 Movies (668 437).

Cheers!!!

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