If you are wondering how much a H1B will cost for an organization, USCIS has offered the details of H1B filing fees for H1B 2009. Applications will be accepted from 1st of April, 2008. ( just 33 more days… look at the count down timer at the top of the page)

>>  Link to USCIS Page

Base Filing Fee : $320

ACWIA Fee: $750 (1-25 Employees) or $1500 (more than 25 Employees)

Fraud Fee: $500

Premium Processing: $1000

Note that these are the fees to be paid to USCIS. Many organizations will incur other expenses towards the filing like Attorney fees.

USCIS has also offered helpful information for Organizations that are looking to file for H1B petitions this year.

• Helpful Hints for Filing a FY 2009 H-1B Cap Case: Quick Tips

• What are the main errors in an H-1B petition that can cause USCIS to have to reject or deny the petition?

• Frequently Asked Questions on Completing and Submitting a FY 2009 H-1B Cap Case

• Condensed Q and A For Completing and Submitting a FY 2009 H-1B Cap Case (56KB PDF)

Though many are expecting a similar rush as in last year, going by the initial indications from top consulting companies, we may not see such a mad rush this year.  Last year this time, many firms did not accept any new application beyond February. But this year, firms are still looking out for prospective Professionals.

Google acquired Jotspot on 10/31/2006. Google’s world class data centers, huge audience and a team of incredibly smart people…. supposed to make JotSpot a better software. But what happened to it? Still closed to new users. Software doesn’t work anymore. Joe Kraus busy with Google OpenSocial. Is JotSpot dead?

This is quite the same screen even today. Closed off for new users and uninterrupted access to existing users.  It has been quite the same from the moment the announcement (that Google acquired JotSpot) came in on 10/31/2006 to today.

So, What happened to JotSpot?

Google’s world class data centers, huge audience and a team of incredibly smart people…. supposed to make JotSpot a better software. But what happened to it? I had an account before Google acquired. I was trying to reach the support team for a long time as I had a few issues but no reply so far. Is JotSpot officially dead?

If you are wondering, its not a big deal. The first announcement of Google acquiring Jotspot came in on 10/31/2006.

10/31/2006

Spot on - 10/31/2006 Joe Kraus, JotSpot

OK, I can finally blurt it out: JotSpot is now part of Google, and I couldn’t be more excited.

It was pretty apparent that Google shared our vision for how groups of people can create, manage and share information online. Then when we had conversations with people at Google we found ourselves completing each other’s sentences. Joining Google allows us to plug into the resources that only a company of Google’s scale can offer, like a huge audience, access to world-class data centers and a team of incredibly smart people.

Our first order of business is to move JotSpot to Google’s software architecture. While we’re doing so, we’ve turned off new registrations. But if you’re interested, sign up for our waitlist and we’ll keep you posted.

I did not see any thing, absolutely nothing after that. I happened to see what Joe Kraus the founder of JotSpot doing at Google. Just a few months back.

11/02/2007

OpenSocial makes the web better - 11/02/2007 Joe Kraus, Director of Product Management

That’s why today we’re excited to introduce OpenSocial, a set of common APIs that make it easy to create and host social applications on the web. OpenSocial allows developers to write an application once that will run anywhere that supports the OpenSocial APIs.

Is Joe Kraus done with JotSpot completely as he appears to be quite busy with openSocial? Is there a plan for JotSpot at Google?

Update: Not officially announced by Google yet, but it looks like JotSpot will have a meaningful contribution to Google pretty soon.

First, Google Sites, an evolution of Google Page Creator, will launch in 2008. Google Sites will be based on JotSpot collaboration tools and will allow businesses to create intranets, project management tracking, extranets and other custom sites.

Google Reveals 2008 Plans For Google Apps

This is pretty cool and unbelievable stuff. Watch the Youtube video at the bottom for more to the beauty.

Anand Agarawala presents BumpTop, a fresh user interface that takes the usual desktop metaphor to a glorious, 3D extreme. In this physics-driven universe, important files finally get the weight they deserve via an oddly satisfying resizing feature, and the drudgery of file organization becomes a freewheeling playground full of crumpled documents and clipping-covered "walls." Worried your laptop’s desktop will descend into the same disorder as its coffee-mug-strewn real-life equivalent? Fear not: BumpTop has a snappy solution for that messy problem, too.

TED | Talks | Anand Agarawala: BumpTop desktop is a beautiful mess (video)

“I am the first Toastmaster from Asia to win as well as the first person whose second language is English, My hope is that my winning will encourage people who are shy or have an accent to realize that they can do it, too.” - Vikas Jhingran 2007 World Champion of Public Speaking (Toast Masters International).

“There’s really no rocket science involved. It’s all about being true to yourself, tapping into your strengths and working hard,” says Jhingran, 34, a native of Morabadad (a suburb of Calcutta), India. His award- winning speech, “The Swami’s Question,” combined humor with a personal tale of being a not-so- motivated student in India.

A Toastmaster since October 2002, Jhingran completed his first 10 speeches within eight months, and entered speech contests soon after joining.

Jhingran grew up in a country where public speaking is not encouraged in the educational system. Soon after coming to the United States for a graduate degree at Texas A&M University, however, he learned how beneficial speaking up for yourself can be.

“I picked up some very important lessons as I prepared for the championship contest,” says Jhingran. “For instance, I discovered that the process of getting and giving feedback is highly underrated, but very critical to the speech crafting process. Toastmasters teaches you to spot your weaknesses and ask for specific feedback and then maximize that feedback by identifying what will work for you and applying it.”

“Many speakers never really spend the time to understand what their speaking style is, and as a result they don’t understand what their strengths and weaknesses are,” he says. “There are many ways to get to the top. My question is, What is your way? An effective speech has to be written to your strengths. For instance, for someone like me, the strength is in the writing and the content of the speech, not so much in the dramatics and moving around the stage.”

When you know your strengths as a speaker and the best style for you, you are comfortable enough to establish a connection with the audience, which is your most important task, Jhingran says.

Source: Toastmasters International - Profile: Answering the Swami’s Question

I was an excellent speaker until I joined Toast Masters last year. After I joined and competed in Area Humorous Speech Contest, I realized, I am one of the best eligible speakers to start learning to become a better speaker.  There are many aspects of public speaking we can never learn by reading or watching but only by just doing it and having a coach to continuously monitor and give us feedback. Toast Masters can do it and a lot more than that.  It has been quite a journey so far. I have recently completed my first 10 speech projects. I feel quite confident now and know for sure that I have a lot more to learn.

Its wonderful to know a Toast Master from India winning the World Championship. Considering the fact that for many Indians English being a second language and equipped with highly accentuated pronunciations, I thought it would be very difficult to translate our ideas to native English speakers clearly and with impact. I realized with the help of Toast Masters and unconditional support and feedback from club members, it isn’t such a difficult task. And, Vikas proves it beyond a doubt.

Cricket finally goes Franchise style in India. Not only the format has evolved in to a quick and spicy 20 overs style to gain more market acceptance, but now bringing in more teams and more games in the franchise style.

Much like the NFL and NBA, Indian Premier League (IPL) created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, is a Twenty20 cricket competition.

I love Cricket. I used to play a lot and watch a ridiculous lot. But its so painful to watch cricket games as each game is played for about 8-10 hours. Then came a Twenty20 match style where the game is reduced to 2-3 hours game. While it is fun to watch the twenty 20 game, you will miss so much of the class and elegance of cricket strokes in this short form of the game. Well, for some, it doesn’t matter at all. In fact, for many the game looks spicy now in this short version.

Franchise model will definitely do much better for the Marketing of the game and generating revenue out of a proven cash cow and the only game watched across whole country. Obviously Players get paid a whole lot better now.

All these IPL games are in addition to international series that Indian team plays normally. So if you are a cricket lover, you will have lot more games to watch.

I am not sure what will happen to the domestic cricket teams and all those Ranji trophy series. I don’t see any significant role being played by those any more.

As it appears, Cricket itself is changing its game.