TATA, India’s largest car manufacturer, has done it again!  First with the World’s Cheapest Car, and now with the world’s first AIR fueled car.  Our bets are on TATA for coming up with the world’s first flying car….but i guess that will be a blog post for later.

TATA is being credited with delivering the first AIR fueled automobile, titled the MINICAT, for mass production, which will hit the US in or by 2010.  The MINICAT should be hitting the streets of India in late 2009, and should run about $8100 USD, or 3.5 Lakh rupees, which is not bad considering the price of gas we pay these days!

Here are some of the specs on the car:

• tubular chassis that is glued not welded and a body of fiberglass powered by compressed air
• There are no keys - just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket
• Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car
• The car has a top speed of 105 kmph
• Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air (which should cost about 2 bucks! …that is unless the price of air goes up…)

So do you think this car will make it to the US, and if it does, will it be as popular as we think?  Let us know your thoughts. 

It doesn’t matter who you are, you need to be on LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is the Facebook for professionals and is growing faster that you can ever imagine.   Generation 1.0 social networking sites like Facebook and Friendster have provided awesome opportunities and platforms for friends to connect, share pictures, post events, share videos and more.  Now, the social networking phenomena has given birth to professional networking sites such as Linkedin, which gives you the opportunity to network with professionals within your industry, or even branch out and connect to professionals who can be of benefit to your business or service.  And best of all, Linkedin can help you land your next job!

Linkedin allows you to import your entire email contacts list, and therefore enables you to quickly build your professional network.   We recommend you definitely spend the time necessary to fully build out your professional profile, as that is what recruiters and other professionals will be seeing about you.  Linkedin also allows you to post questions and ask for advice from other Linkedin members, who are usually very quick to respond.

South Asians are flocking to sites such as these becuase it allows us to quickly connect and find different opportunities for business and employment.  Linkedin currently hosts a very large South Asian population which spans from the US to India.  South Asians offer a unique opportunity to other users on Linkedin as they provide key insights into industry trends and business advice as they relate to the South Asian community.  Many users of the Linkedin website turn to South Asian business leaders for creative advice on how to tap into a South Asian market.  Advice that turns out to be very useful and valuable for many.

If you would like to visit the Linkedin website, or learn more about it, click the link below:

Visit Linkedin!

P.S.  Want to join SABAsearch.com’s LinkedIn networking group?  If you would like to be a part of our Linkedin networking group, please shoot us an email at Support@SABAsearch.com or look for us on Linkedin under the name “SABAsearch.com - South Asian Businesses of America”.  Enjoy! 

BMW has released a new concept car they are calling the BMW Concept CS. They are not revealing too many secrets about it but you can check out some pics below and read more about it at the Motor Trend blog. Be careful not to drool on your keyboard…

So here is the romantic story of Microsoft and Yahoo as it stands today:

Microsoft was walking through the hallway of Internet High, when all of a sudden, it sees Yahoo through the corner of its eye.  Yahoo was looking mighty fine that day, especially because rumor had it that she was becoming more “easy” to get.  When Microsoft walked by Yahoo, Yahoo gave Microsoft a nice little wink to show Microsoft that she was interested.

A week goes by, and no word from Microsoft.  Not even a phone call!  Yahoo was upset, when finally, Microsoft (Steve Ballmer) called up Yahoo and asked her out on a date.  Yahoo obliged.

Microsoft took Yahoo to McDonalds, where Yahoo was severely dissappointed.  “You takin me to this cheap ole’ place!  I deserve some better lovin from you!” said Yahoo.  Needless to say, the date wasn’t as nice as Microsoft had expected.  After the date, Microsoft had this to say, “She ain’t worth more than Mickey D’s meal…don’t worry, she’ll be back!”. 

The next week:  Microsft notices that other jocks are trying to hit on Yahoo in the school hallway.  TimeWarner, Google, and other big Internet players are all eyeing Yahoo with the interest to take her on a date and score.  Yahoo doesn’t seem interested, as her mind is still set on Microsoft.  Yahoo goes to Microsoft and tells him, “You can have me, but you’ll have to treat me better, and wine and dine me next time.  Otherwise, you’re not gettin’ any of my lumps.”  Microsoft, as cocky as he is, looks her up and down and says, “I don’t need you woman!  I’m not desparate!  I got plenty of Search Engines that wanna get some Microsoft lovin!”

So that’s where we stand today.  Microsoft is trying to woo Yahoo with their mind games and Yahoo is playing hard to get.  Is this just another internet crush, or will this turn into true love? Vote Below!

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Read the latest Love letter written by Steve Ballmer to Yahoo. 

I drive a truck and its roughly $70 for a full tank which needs to be filled roughly, every 3 to 4 days…. Needless to say, I’m not a big fan of the gas prices now-a-days… Because of these crazy gas prices, car manufacturers are getting smart and making more fuel efficient cars to compensate for the increase in gas price. I’ve heard sooo much about the new “Smart” car… how its tiny and can get an estimated 40/45 (city/hwy) miles per gallon! It also has a low starting price of $11,590! Now, hearing all that makes it sound like the car of choice in a time of extremely high gas prices, right? well… not completely….

I’m driving into work a few days a go and there it is… parked on the side of the road in downtown Houston… a Smart car! If you’ve ever watched “Family Matters” this Smart car has many similarities to Steve Urkel’s first car! I’ve never felt sooo ashamed of a car in my life, and I dont even own it! It looks like a Hummer took a dump! OK, that might be kind of harsh, but its not the most attractive car out there…. After a little bit more research I discover that the Smart Car is a product of Mercedes-Benz Cars! Now, I’m not a huge fan of Benz, but they make a pretty beautiful looking car. Why would they go and make something like this? Why cant we get fuel efficiency in a sleek design and for a reasonable price? Am I asking for too much?

As I read this over, I’m realizing that this might be pretty insulting to those who own a Smart Car (all 2 of ya’ll in the USA), but please believe me when I say….. its not you… its the car….

Readers, I’m totally kidding… Although I might not like the design of the Smart Car, I am very happy to see car manufacturers actually taking steps in making vehicles that are friendly to our environment and our wallets as well… Who knows… maybe one day you’ll see me rolling in a Smart Car! If you want more info on that Smart Car, or even just wanna see what it looks like, check out the link: http://www.smartusa.com/index.aspx

Are you interested in getting FREE itunes?  Well, rumor has it that Apple is working out some partnerships with all of the media companies to help you do so.  So what’s the reason?

Nokia just came out with a phone that allows you to prepay a certain premium amount for the phone and then receive FREE downloads for an entire year thereafter.  Yes, you do pay a little bit more in the beginning for the phone, but compared to the amount of music you can dowload, it’s quite a bargain.

So, Apple, being the competitive giants they are, want to top the Nokia phone scheme.  They, on the other hand, want to offer consumers the ability to pay a premium for the iPod on a monthly basis and then have the ability to download unlimited free iTunes.

Now, before you wet your pants, this is not confirmed yet.  These are only rumors leaked by the Financial Times.  From what we’ve heard, this is their desperate attempt to keep up their record sales so that their stock price won’t dip any further.

But let us know what you think - if this does go through, will this be beneficial for us or do you think this is just a way for Apple to scheme more moeny away from the consumers?  Will you participate in this scheme?  Let us know what you’re thinking.

Here is an article about this topic.

Houston’s very own, Adil Jafry, CEO of Tara Energy has his eyes set on the Moon.  Yes, that’s right, Adil Jafry is set to lead one of the 10 teams competing for the Lunar X Prize, sponsored by Google.  This famous competition lures in the most impressive scientists and engineers, and we are proud to have Adil Jafry leading this iniative from the Houston area.

The Lunar X Prize is set to change the way we think of this world and what we can do within it.  Sending humans into space is the Lunar X Prize’s core competency and goal.  To learn more about this innovative competition, you can watch the Lunar X Prize Youtube Video.

Adil Jafry has named his team Chandah, which means “moon” in Sanskrit.  Here is an excerpt of Adil’s comments, which was published as an article on the Lunar X Prize website:

“The Google Lunar X PRIZE caught my imagination in January of 2008 just like deregulation of energy had done in January of 2002. It was challenging, required unlimited faith in oneself and his/her team, and a lot of ingenuity in solving the financial and technical challenges that would come ahead. Finally, the allure of undertaking the inordinately difficult task of flying a vehicle from Earth to Moon is itself an attraction – creating excitement that is hard to describe.

It was rare in 2002 for a no-name immigrant entrepreneur (myself) with very little to his name to launch an energy company with little more than a group of well-qualified young energy industry professionals who were driven by the desire and ambition to prove themselves against all odds. This team was required to singularly work hard and stay focused on their mission. In the end however, the TARA team prevailed against all odds – even as half the entrants in the deregulated energy industry in Texas disappeared.

I believe that the Google Lunar X PRIZE, much like the Orteig Prize, will create many future Charles Lindberghs. It will spawn new space technologies and products, and markets surrounding these products will ultimately emerge. In the end, Google Lunar X PRIZE entrants and competitors will have done more to evangelize and popularize opportunities in space for the masses than what could have been achieved by any one company, industry, or a government – and all this on the backs of private initiatives and private funding.

I am an entrepreneur and strongly believe in personal initiative, human ingenuity, hard work, and the abilities of individual private citizens with collective indomitable spirits to achieve the unthinkable. Particularly if lucky breakthroughs emerge as the initiative unfolds. As a student of Finance and Math, I have also been fascinated about how chance favors those who are bold, persistent, and have the staying power to continue tinkering (or rolling the dice) on the margins. Above all I enjoy the thrill of participating in probabilistic plays, where chances of success are limited and can be dynamically adjusted through preparation and innovation.”

SABAsearch.com wishes TARA Energy and Adil Jafry all the best for this competition, and we hope the entire South Asian community in Houston will also support this brave and beneficial effort by offering your thanks and best wishes to the entire TARA Energy team.

About TARA Energy:

Established in 2002 just as “Electricity Deregulation” was being set in motion by the Public Utility Commission, Tara Energy is a Houston-based Retail Electricity Provider (REP). The company provides “value” based electricity services to commercial and residential customers in Texas. The company is the leading affinity-based marketer of electricity in Texas with endorsements from numerous trade associations representing over 1.5 million members who trust Tara’s ability to offer superior value with impeccable customer service.  

Tara Energy is a grass-roots company that is growing rapidly through referrals from loyal customers who enjoy paying less for electricity and trust Tara to provide service with honesty, integrity and respect. By putting its customers first, Tara Energy enjoys one of the highest retention rates in the industry.

Tara Energy allows customer to choose and customize the offering that best meets their business needs. With products ranging from balanced billing and interval data-reading solutions, the Tara Energy team is bringing to fruition the true promise of deregulation and “Customer Choice,” with competitively priced electricity and highest service standards. Further, Tara Energy’s proprietary risk management tools allow mid-market customers to cap their price and consumption risk, obtaining certainty of cash flows.

Most business and website owners have heard of the term SEO, but what does it really mean?  SEO, an acronym for Search Engine Optimization, is defined as the process for improving website traffic through various strategies, which are aimed at ranking your website higher in each of the major search engines most commonly used by Internet users.

In Lehman Terms:  SEO helps bring you TRAFFIC!  It’s your website’s secret weapon.

But, it’s not as easy as it sounds.  There are many ”SEO Gurus” out there - some are actually capable of modifying your site to rank higher in the search engines, and some are there just to pull a scam.   Watch out for companies that guarantee 1st page results, they are big phonies!  Nothing is guaranteed in SEO.

Our teams recommend Concept Infoway, which is an Indian based company who have a proven track record in SEO.  They are experienced and better yet, affordable.  Mention that the SABAsearch guys sent you, and you’ll recieve a 10% discount!  But, they are not the only vendor around, so if you do choose to venture off to find your own SEO developer, please make sure you do your research and comparisons.

So, what do you need to know about SEO to make sure you are on the right track?  First, you need to know the basics:

What will an SEO developer do to your site?
An experienced SEO specialist will do a good job of seamlessly laying the SEO tricks on top of your current design, which will minimize the change experienced by the user.  Some of the following tricks can be utilized by an experienced SEO specialist:

Tailored Content:  An SEO specialist may recommend you redraft the static content on your site to be more targeted and “keyword” heavy.  This is a creative art that has a contains fine line between reward and risk.  Sites that are too keyword heavy and use keyword-stuffing techniques are demoted in search engine rankings (this is a way for search engines to regulate false websites).  Make sure your SEO specialist is not using these “black hat” techniques.

Restructure your site:  Your site may be a great dynamic site, but some of those dynamics may be prohibiting the search engine robots from indexing your entire site.  This is because your site structure does not allow the robot to easily flow through your site without requiring to enter certain conditions.  Keep your site easy flowing, and the robots will reward you!

Strategic Links:  Every website has links that link users to different areas of the website, but are they being used properly?  Your SEO expert should review the links and determine whether or not the “anchored text” is being utilized efficiently.  The name of the link is key within this strategy!

Keyword Submission:  Your SEO specialist will submit your targeted keywords to Google and Yahoo for a small fee.  This fee is worth it and will drive a desired target market towards your website.  Try to develop and submit keywords that may be searched by your potential consumers.  Walk in their shoes and you will find your keyword answers!

URL Re-Writing:  Highly experienced SEO specialists will recommend that you re-write each of your website URLS to be more keyword heavy.  The url of your website will actually contain the title of the webpage, instead of just displaying a content key (i.e. asp?=363). If you have a large dynamic site containing pages that generate content based on certain criteria, you’ll definitely need to implement this strategy.

Recommended Content:  Recommended content is not just for the Amazon.coms and the ebay.coms.  This tactic is widely used by SEO specialists as well, which give them a unique opportunity to repeat a particular keyword or product multiple times via multiple links, which help index your site on Google and Yahoo for that particular content.  If you’re doing this sort of stuff, you’re in the elite SEO website class

Other Strategies:  There are an ever changing laundry list of strategies that can be utilized to make your site a strong SEO site.  Make sure your vendor has the resources available to keep up with the everchanging search engine rules. 

What will it cost?  This depends on your website.  Generally, a small website should cost anywhere from $1000 - $2000 dollars for SEO, with a potential re-occuring yearly fee.  A larger website with many dynamics could cost around $10,000 for SEO, but your returns will be well worth it if performed correctly. 

IS SEO right for your website?  Does a human need air to breathe?  YES.  SEO is something that can provide strong ROI, with little manual effort.  It is quite costly, but if you care to have your website be an integral part of your business, SEO is a MUST.

SEO can be a confusing are for many, and we understand that.  Please feel free to contact us at Support@SABAsearch.com or Rikin Shah of Concept Infoway at Rikin@conceptinfoway.net for more information on this topic.  We would be glad to help out.

The battle between Toshiba and Sony is almost over.  Toshiba will most likely be ending its HD DVD business soon (as early as this week), which will make Sony’s Blu-Ray technology the winner of the next generation DVD format war.  A lot of consumers have been confused on which technology would prevail, and have resisted on committing to either one.  Now the choice seems to be clear. 

Toshiba recently slashed its prices (selling HD DVD players for as little as $100) in hoping to take over the market, but that still was not enough.  Toshiba lacked in the marketing department when compared to Sony.  It goes to show you that even if you have a great product for a great price, you still need to go out of your way for marketing.  Wal-mart and Netflix also announced last week that they will no longer carry the HD DVD technology and only carry Blu-Ray.

So, what do you do if you already bought a HD DVD player?  I would not throw it out of the window just yet.  These are still very good players and produce the same quality as Blu-Ray, so I would still hang on to it and buy more HD DVDs after they slash those prices.  Can you imagine if you could get a HD DVD for under $10?  Who knows, maybe it will even be a collector’s item in years to come. 

On the other hand, I wouldn’t run out and buy a Blu-Ray player just yet either.  The prices for Blu-Ray players are unreasonably high, and I assume that in the next year or so, these prices will have to come down.  Congrats to Sony for finally putting an end to this format war and condolences to everyone who went out and purchased an HD DVD player; especially if you spent a few hundred dollars on it.

Source

India has the right to claim that they now have the world’s cheapest car.  Tata Motors has recently introduced the Tata Nano which has a price tag of $2,500 USD (1 lakh Rupees).  The basic car can accommodate 5 people (supposedly), has no radio or air conditioning, and has only one wiper.  If you want air conditioning (which is probably a must in India), you will have to upgrade to the deluxe model.  We must give credit where credit is due and applaud Tata for being able to produce a car for such a low price.

Even though this seems to be a great achievement, it has caused a lot of controversy.  There are two sides to this argument. 

One side thinks that:

• This accomplishment gives less fortunate people the opportunity to be able to purchase a car.
• The Tata Nano allows for another means of transportation, which is a necessity in everyday life.

The other side thinks that:

• India’s roads are already very crowded and introducing this car will cause more congestion.
• The pollution in India is high and having more cars on the road means that there will be increased pollution.
• Having a car for this kind of price must mean that safety standards were compromised.

At this time, the Tata Nano will only be sold in India, but Tata says that eventually they may decide to export it.  Competitors are already thinking about how to contend with the Nano.  Will America soon have something similar?

The video clip below is the unveiling of the Tata Nano from last week.  We would like to hear your perspective on this topic, so please feel free to leave comments.