Hip hop ho!
We have released the CityEvents portal for Bangalore. With a lot of anticipation to this release we have set ourselves a strong vision of being truly local.

CityEvents is a dedicated portal for all the events and happenings around the city (currently Bangalore.)

You can search for events based on Area or your neighbourhood, based on the category of interest, based on the date and even with the combinations above. With the CityEvents our enduring commitment is that we are can create a platform where local events can be showcased and accessed.

A ‘jaatre’ to a wild party, an exhibition to a graduation day, sports to discount sales our users will be able to find them all. Also we have the subscribe option where in you can subscribe to the category/interest of events and we will keep you updates via SMS or mail!

You will also find useful information about the venues, the approx auto fare, the Bus routes to the venue, parking details and so on! On a larger view we want your experience of attending events to be comfortable and quick!

As a user you can add any event, edit any event, add a venue and even edit an existing venue!
We believe that as CityZens you are equipped with accurate and extensive information about the happenings of the city.

Looking forward to your feedbacks and comments on the latest offering from Yulop.
Get going! Let’s spot you at an event. (www.cityevents.yulop.com)

- Yulop Team

Namaskara,
Ever wanted to send a local seasonal card? Ever wanted to see Santa in an auto rickshaw?
Swami brings to you the essence of Bengaluru in a variety of e-greetings. Send them now to your loved ones to leave them humbled with the Bengaluru spirit!

Also if you have a wacky idea or a design for a local greeting please post it here in the comments or drop a mail to support@yulop.com

We would love to put them up & share it. Am sure there are people all across the globe to whom Bangalore is a paradise!

Vandanegalu!

It’s the December time of the year! Am sure all Bengalurians look forward to it as well. Santa and Swami together are ready to help you explore & discover ‘Namma Bengaluru’.

While we are set to introduce few really good features in coming days, we at Yulop too are looking for a brand new year 2008! There has been quite a colourful start with some really Bengaluru istyle illustrations thanks to Girinath (he weaves designs!!)

Apart from that we would like to acknowledge “You all” for having taken us so far. If there is anything that you think can be improved or anything new that can be added to make your lives simpler, please do write to us: support[at]yulop.com

You can also leave a comment so that we can get back to your honest feedbacks.

Wishing you all a very “Swami-Santa” filled Christmas. Jingle times are here again!

Inspired by the richness of the local culture, literature and exuberant heritage of Kannada, we bring to you a unique online books portal dedicated exclusively to Kannada, the language which has produced 7 GnanaPeeta Award Laureates for literature work.

This would just not be yet another online store which just sells what is there on the shelf, but lets you explore, discuss and share your knowledge, opinion and passion about the literature, authors, and their master pieces.

As we all talk WEB 2.0 and the buzz, it is important to note it is the USER who is important and nothing else matters!

The ever increasing number of WEB 2.0 companies is really baffling sometimes. Everybody is out there building scalabe and so called WEB 2.0 applications… but how many have actually made an impact. Initially it was the ‘Social Networking’ fad and then moved up to things like mash-ups, API’s and integrated web services. Everthing so wonderfull it might sound but somethings were missing. How Usable were the things to the user? How Important were the services to the user?

Key Web 2.0 prospects

1. User Driven Content:

‘I am what I am!’ says the user.
Give them the framework and freedom.. you’ll witness them pouring in content thats exciting, content thats local, content that has 1000 perspectives, content thats purely original.. (I assume Plagarism does not exist!)

Best Examples: Digg.com Yelp.com YouTube.com Wikipedia.com

2. API’s and Marriages

People dating is out, web-app dating is in!
Rich interfaces, brilliant web application services, small & neat web apps are all the part of the mash-up emergence. The age of marrying one application with another has come, today we find multiple services, apps residing and sitting within one domain to give user the best of all!

API’s are like windows to the large castle which let you see and use important part of an application without actually visting the castle..
Allow different applications to talk to each other, date all web services, let user define his choices and bingo.. you’ll hit the iron while its hot!

Best Examples: Google Api’s NetVibes Api’s Twitter Api’s

3. Usability

Cannot be defined but felt!
One of the toughest thing a developer/designer has to face is the USABILITY issue of web. In simple terms it implies how easily a ‘novice’ web user can access the information/application the portal is driving. You might feel its a ‘No Big Deal’ thing but trust me it takes the hell out of any developer to actually stand in users shoe and develop anything.

Usability covers the navigation, the application design, the user interface, the colours, the help & support, data blocks and every other tiny thing that a user SEES!

Best Examples: CSS Beauty TradeDoubler Stikipad

These being corner stones of next generation web with WEB 3.0 (supposed to be web sematics) there are are a whole lot of intricate details to come in following posts. Also I have a huge bookmark lists of great tricks/blogs/css/libraries .. will be letting them out in phases.

The bottom line remains.. when developing anything for the web just keep in mind start from the USER, not from the REVENUE model! I know it will sound a little stupid to the VC’s but user is what drives everything.. including revenue generation.
Keep them kicking and your sure to hit some success!
Cheers!

Measuring the driving distance using asphalt roads, but sitting here trying to figure out if I can Take a walk from Jayanagar to J.P.Nagar , these tools were pretty useful.

Distance Measurement help you View route distances in Miles, Yards, Feet, Kilometers, or Meters

View latitude and longitude of points clicked on the earth, Create dynamic routes by clicking on the map

Im sure a lot of people are going to love figuring out this one!

YTech stands for Yulop Tech Team.. What you see is what we write.. So ultimately the tech team is responsible for all the WOWs and GoofUps(Of Course it is our job to cover up these)..

So the Team is :

Sri : The person who has handled every single module and bit of code so far.. From Abhi’s words and my experience, he motivates and guides damn well.. Talks too much!

Abhi : The other new kid on the block.. Picked up where Sri left off in the development side and is taking the modules beyond where they were..

Jay : Fresh out of college and a character who gels with one and all.. (Aargh : I cant write about my self!)

WIP defined as WORK IN PROGRESS,

You dont believe me? This was some Intense work that was going on late!

Since Monday was officially the start of Operations, Ideas have been flowing in.

So we had our First-Firsts.

1. Our first ever meeting was held yesterday with 6 people

2. Our first idea was discussed with some obvious direction

3. Our first module/code was written today

As you can see, We also Smile!

And so the journey begins….To Overcome Obstacles.. To Innovate..

The Quest to bring the web to the world.. So i’ll jusy give you an idea of things so far….

1. We got an Air Cooler and a Water Dispenser..

2. We got Chairs, Furniture, Stationary..

3. We got people to work on different stuff ..

4. We got Sid and Sri!

On a serious note, None of the above(Except ofcourse Point No. 4) matter much..

We got what we need.. PASSION, IDEAS, ENTHUSIASM, EXCITEMENT!

As this weekend fades into a new week, We Begin.. We Develop!