Conversations with Dina (http://dinamehta.com)
Though labelled under technology, this isn’t your average how-to-fix-it blog. Instead, as the title says, it’s all about conversations, taking forward what has been said but has missed the limelight. So the blog often picks up information from other blogs and takes this posted argument forward. For instance, though ‘qualitative research’ is a subject fit to trigger memories of boring maths classes, but explained through the Nirma washing powder and Wheel detergent advertising campaign, the nerdy lingo begins to make sense. That’s the site’s USP: deeper understanding, lucid text and minimal kitsch make it worth a read. Even the basic layout echoes this. With a simple white background and blue banners, the emphasis is not on all the things that can be done with Web2.0 but on the text. Even the pictures are small and the tag cloud is placed in a manner that it doesn’t distract. The option of jumping on the same topic from one blog to another provides direction to aimless surfing.

Vantage point (http://gauravsabnis.blogspot.com/)
Simple layout, text in the centre, all links on the right and no annoying ads. Welcome to vantage point—literally. It’s the site from where news stories and their repercussions are dissected, displayed, explained and cast away. Be it Inzamam-ul Haq’s retirement or the fizzling out of the N-deal, it is explained with caustic, often humorous, writing style of the author. With five different authors, there are styles ad flavours that will keep you coming back for more. It’s not just the writing, but the sheer breadth of topics that make the blog an interesting read. From Nandigram to bowling in Twenty20 and Symonds ‘monkey chants’, every issue brings a smile. But the not-so-fancy layout has nothing to do with tech illiteracy. Where the posts need extra boost, videos are placed to bring a bang. When you get bored of the analysts’ rehashing, just head here; the view from this new vantage point is amazing.