Been really busy shifting cities :(. Landed myself back in india earlier this week. Settled down and rearing to go atlast!! :)
Came across this excellent tool that lets you access your favourite web services at the click of a mouse button. Its extremely simple and neat.
Check it out!!!
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Friday, October 14, 2005
Is this MS Office's Last Mile?
This is in light of some of the events that have happened in the last few weeks, like the Google-Sun Agreement and some applications/technologies that are very much being talked about(like Thinkfree, AJAX Office Suite etc).
Microsofts Key Strength is the popularity of its Office Suite. We have had a number of free Office Suites like the OpenOffice, Staroffice etc who have not been able to make any significant dent on Microsoft.
Microsofts Office formats like the .doc, .xls and .ppt are still very much closely guarded within the walls of the Redmond giant. While the Word 97 format was publicly documented, all updates to those formats have been withheld from the public domain. The format documentation is however available to Microsofts partners.
These formats are Microsofts strength. Their popularity have forced competitors to support these formats(atleast to extent of the documentation openly available).
As long as Microsoft continues to guard these formats, it will be indeed quite a daunting task to displace Microsoft from its pedestal as the Market leader.
Word 2003 however has an option to use a publicly documented schema called WordProcessingML and Microsoft has stated that it will soon be supporting an XML based format on all its Office products.
The rationality behind this move is tough to explain. In fact, its tough to understand. Im sure the guys at Redmond have their reasons. But yes it certainly will give competitors to have a go at the giant.
There is also the danger of a web based application suite (like thinkfree) gaining popularity over a desktop based application suite.
However having had a chance to use Microsofts web interface to its exchange servers(Outlook) and having seen their browser based implementation of Microsoft Outlook, Im sure competition will have to really get their act together to pose any real threat to the giant from Redmond.
Microsofts Key Strength is the popularity of its Office Suite. We have had a number of free Office Suites like the OpenOffice, Staroffice etc who have not been able to make any significant dent on Microsoft.
Microsofts Office formats like the .doc, .xls and .ppt are still very much closely guarded within the walls of the Redmond giant. While the Word 97 format was publicly documented, all updates to those formats have been withheld from the public domain. The format documentation is however available to Microsofts partners.
These formats are Microsofts strength. Their popularity have forced competitors to support these formats(atleast to extent of the documentation openly available).
As long as Microsoft continues to guard these formats, it will be indeed quite a daunting task to displace Microsoft from its pedestal as the Market leader.
Word 2003 however has an option to use a publicly documented schema called WordProcessingML and Microsoft has stated that it will soon be supporting an XML based format on all its Office products.
The rationality behind this move is tough to explain. In fact, its tough to understand. Im sure the guys at Redmond have their reasons. But yes it certainly will give competitors to have a go at the giant.
There is also the danger of a web based application suite (like thinkfree) gaining popularity over a desktop based application suite.
However having had a chance to use Microsofts web interface to its exchange servers(Outlook) and having seen their browser based implementation of Microsoft Outlook, Im sure competition will have to really get their act together to pose any real threat to the giant from Redmond.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Online office!!!
I'd mentioned an AJAX based office suite that'd let you do all your word processing using a browser.
Thinkfree lets you do exactly that. I am still in the process of installing plugins that'll let me use it. But its a wonderful service and will definitely find a lot of takers.
Thinkfree lets you do exactly that. I am still in the process of installing plugins that'll let me use it. But its a wonderful service and will definitely find a lot of takers.
OJOS is on its way
Ojos is here atlast. Almost here!!!
Munjal Shah has posted a few snap shots of whats to come on his blog and it certainly does look good.
Can't wait to get my hands on this one.. :)
Munjal Shah has posted a few snap shots of whats to come on his blog and it certainly does look good.
Can't wait to get my hands on this one.. :)
Yet Another Aggregator
I guess its stale news already, but i thought i'll mention it anyways.
Google seems to want to have a share of everything on the web. And so they have an aggregator. Is it any good? Any different? I dont think so. Its just another aggregator. Whats the idea google???
Google seems to want to have a share of everything on the web. And so they have an aggregator. Is it any good? Any different? I dont think so. Its just another aggregator. Whats the idea google???
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Monday, September 12, 2005
Skype for eBay's Customers
Overnight, Skype has transformed from being the global telephone company threatening major telco's to a communications tool for eBays customer's.
eBay will be acquiring Skype for a whopping $ 4.1 billion.
Why would an online auctions company want to do with a Internet based Telephone Company?
Even if it somehow made sense, they could have developed their own IP based application for communication or bought so many other applications available at a much lesser cost.
Besides if eBay users did get to interact with each other directly, would they need eBay. They could make deals outside eBay too. So whats the idea here??
Somehow, one cant help feeling eBay has made a lot more money in this deal that its paying out :).
That pretty much leaves this space open to the other players like Google Talk, Gizmo, MSN, Fwd Networks , IPTEL etc who will be vying for this space.
However it is highly unlikey that one of these will dominate the scene like Skype did. But whats also important is most of these players are SIP based and do not run on propietory standards like skype or voiceglo.
With many players coming into the picture now services such as xConnect may soon be extremely popular.
eBay will be acquiring Skype for a whopping $ 4.1 billion.
Why would an online auctions company want to do with a Internet based Telephone Company?
Even if it somehow made sense, they could have developed their own IP based application for communication or bought so many other applications available at a much lesser cost.
Besides if eBay users did get to interact with each other directly, would they need eBay. They could make deals outside eBay too. So whats the idea here??
Somehow, one cant help feeling eBay has made a lot more money in this deal that its paying out :).
That pretty much leaves this space open to the other players like Google Talk, Gizmo, MSN, Fwd Networks , IPTEL etc who will be vying for this space.
However it is highly unlikey that one of these will dominate the scene like Skype did. But whats also important is most of these players are SIP based and do not run on propietory standards like skype or voiceglo.
With many players coming into the picture now services such as xConnect may soon be extremely popular.
AJAX Office
An entire office suite will soon be available on your web browser.
AJAX Office suite will be to MS Office as gmail is to Outlook. Cool eh..
Yahoo!! Google!!! could probably hold all our files on their servers, making everything accessible from anywhere!!! It'll definitely give Microsoft something to think about. Just imagine, you wouldnt need the MS Office suite anymore!!!
AJAX Office suite will be to MS Office as gmail is to Outlook. Cool eh..
Yahoo!! Google!!! could probably hold all our files on their servers, making everything accessible from anywhere!!! It'll definitely give Microsoft something to think about. Just imagine, you wouldnt need the MS Office suite anymore!!!
Sunday, September 04, 2005
YubNub
TP just passed on this very interesting link.
Yubnub- Social Command line for the wed, as the site describes itself, is a very simple idea thats in line with our migration to the concept of the WebOS.
Developed by Jon using a new framework thats rapidly gaining popularity called the Ruby on Rails, it is a very simple concept. It lets you create your own commands for the various services being offered on the web.
You can create a command for any web service available on the net.
For eg: g Yubnub : would result in a google search for yubnub. gmap Melbourne would result in a google map search for Melbourne.
Most popular/useful web commands are called Yubnub Golden Eggs. Its pretty cool. Check it out and lay a few golden eggs if possible :).
Unblokt is yet another service that i came across on Jon's blog. It creates a "web" story, by giving you two sentences from a story and allowing you to enter the sentence in between. The end result should be an interesting read!!!
Yubnub- Social Command line for the wed, as the site describes itself, is a very simple idea thats in line with our migration to the concept of the WebOS.
Developed by Jon using a new framework thats rapidly gaining popularity called the Ruby on Rails, it is a very simple concept. It lets you create your own commands for the various services being offered on the web.
You can create a command for any web service available on the net.
For eg: g Yubnub : would result in a google search for yubnub. gmap Melbourne would result in a google map search for Melbourne.
Most popular/useful web commands are called Yubnub Golden Eggs. Its pretty cool. Check it out and lay a few golden eggs if possible :).
Unblokt is yet another service that i came across on Jon's blog. It creates a "web" story, by giving you two sentences from a story and allowing you to enter the sentence in between. The end result should be an interesting read!!!
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Gizmo all set to take on Skype
Michael Robertson of the MP3.com and Lindows/Linspire fame is all set to take on Skype with his Gizmo Project as part of his new venture SIPPhone.
How Gizmo compares to Skype is yet to be seen. A couple of links from the Gizmo site suggest that the argument leans slightly towards the Gizmo camp at the moment.
Where Gizmo does score over Skype is that it uses the open SIP Protocol in comparison to the proprietary technology used by Skype.
Though Gizmo is unlikely to make any immediate dent on Skype, its definitely likely to give Skype a run for its money on the long run.
How Gizmo compares to Skype is yet to be seen. A couple of links from the Gizmo site suggest that the argument leans slightly towards the Gizmo camp at the moment.
Where Gizmo does score over Skype is that it uses the open SIP Protocol in comparison to the proprietary technology used by Skype.
Though Gizmo is unlikely to make any immediate dent on Skype, its definitely likely to give Skype a run for its money on the long run.
Ojos : Revolutionizing Image Search
A product thats likely to be launched very soon, Ojos may revolutionize image search on the web.
It certainly does not sound like a new concept, with many sites like flickr, Picasa already offering services that let you upload, organize and search images.
The key differences seem to lie in the way Ojos is going about doing it. They are relying on two main technologies :face and text recognition. The software according to a couple of blogs that i did get to read, lets you tag your images. It then searches/recognises other pictures of yours and tags them for you.
Aptly named Ojos, which is spanish for "Eyes", it seems to be doing a great job of recognising different pictures of the same person, according to early demos.
It certainly sounds like a product many of us would like to use. What remains to be seen is how much of whats been said is actually going to be made available?
You can catch the latest on the Ojos front on Munjal Shah's blog(the founder of Ojos), which he calls recognizing Deven(his son), seemingly suggesting what ojos is capable of doing.
It certainly does not sound like a new concept, with many sites like flickr, Picasa already offering services that let you upload, organize and search images.
The key differences seem to lie in the way Ojos is going about doing it. They are relying on two main technologies :face and text recognition. The software according to a couple of blogs that i did get to read, lets you tag your images. It then searches/recognises other pictures of yours and tags them for you.
Aptly named Ojos, which is spanish for "Eyes", it seems to be doing a great job of recognising different pictures of the same person, according to early demos.
It certainly sounds like a product many of us would like to use. What remains to be seen is how much of whats been said is actually going to be made available?
You can catch the latest on the Ojos front on Munjal Shah's blog(the founder of Ojos), which he calls recognizing Deven(his son), seemingly suggesting what ojos is capable of doing.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
AJAX
Internet based applications are here to stay, some of them competing and outperforming their rival desktop based applications.
Yeh Dil Maange More!!!
Not being able to use the Google Talk service through my office firewall, I could barely wait to try it out on the weekend.
And when i did get it working at home and a friend with whom i could try the service out, i felt absolutely handicapped with many of the basic features that we've been used to in IM's missing in Google Talk. It has a neat interface and the works. But it does leave you a tad disappointed.
And "Yeh Dil maange more" also from the English Cricket team. We want one more!!!
The Ashes has come live again after a long long time.
The way this series is going we are likely to see yet another mock obituary:
And when i did get it working at home and a friend with whom i could try the service out, i felt absolutely handicapped with many of the basic features that we've been used to in IM's missing in Google Talk. It has a neat interface and the works. But it does leave you a tad disappointed.
And "Yeh Dil maange more" also from the English Cricket team. We want one more!!!
The Ashes has come live again after a long long time.
The way this series is going we are likely to see yet another mock obituary:
In Affectionate Remembrance
of
AUSTRALIAN C R I C K E T,
which died at the Oval
on
12th SEPTEMBER, 2005,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances
R.I.P.
N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to England.
For the uninitiated. It was this mock Obituary in 1982 which led to the legend of the "Ashes"!!
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Clean Bowled!!!
With Australia being asked to follow-on in the Ashes Test, a first in the last 17 years of Ashes, the crowds werent exactly enjoying their Saturday night party. With plenty of booze in the air and some added adrenalin thrown in thanks to the state of affairs on the circket field, we were trying to make ourself as scarce as possible as we made our way back home from Vinayak's place.
As we got onto Exhibition Street from Bourke Street, two aussie girls walked past us discussing some dance steps. They walked past us and the next thing we heard them sing left us absolutely speechless.
"Ude jaise hawaen Sanan sanan, ude jaise parinde gagan gagan...." ... In pretty much flawless hindi!!!
As we got onto Exhibition Street from Bourke Street, two aussie girls walked past us discussing some dance steps. They walked past us and the next thing we heard them sing left us absolutely speechless.
"Ude jaise hawaen Sanan sanan, ude jaise parinde gagan gagan...." ... In pretty much flawless hindi!!!
Where is Google headed?
Over the last few weeks we have seen quite a lot written about Google and Microsoft.
Google Eath Vs MSN Virtual Earth
Google Homepage vs MSN Start Page
Google and Microsoft seem to have their own views of the internet world of tomorrow.
While Microsoft has been consolidating its position in the PC market by bundling a variety of information organisation/management tools along with its OS making the entire package extremely attractive, Google seems to have its own plans for tomorrow.
Google’s mission statement is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. And in keeping with its mission statement it has been coming out with applications that do just that and have been providing these for free. For every application that MS bundles along with its OS, Google seems to have on offer an application that does exactly that for absolutely free.
In doing so, Google is gradually sucking the life out of the Microsoft OS. What it aims to leave behind is just an OS that manages the hardware. With all other services being made available for free by Google and others like Yahoo, Mozilla etc, MS would find it difficult to make the entire package look like an attractive proposition.
Robert Young in a guest post on Om Maliks blog GigaOm, explains in detail what he thinks is Google's Strategy to make Microsoft obsolete.
Jason Kottke in his blog talks about OS Mutations that are likely to happen in the near future.
He talks about an OS based on the Web which he refers to as WebOS.
The System would have 3 main parts
With Yahoo's acquisition of konfabulator and Google's release of its Desktop Search, we certainly seem to be heading in this direction!!!
Google Eath Vs MSN Virtual Earth
Google Homepage vs MSN Start Page
Google and Microsoft seem to have their own views of the internet world of tomorrow.
While Microsoft has been consolidating its position in the PC market by bundling a variety of information organisation/management tools along with its OS making the entire package extremely attractive, Google seems to have its own plans for tomorrow.
Google’s mission statement is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. And in keeping with its mission statement it has been coming out with applications that do just that and have been providing these for free. For every application that MS bundles along with its OS, Google seems to have on offer an application that does exactly that for absolutely free.
In doing so, Google is gradually sucking the life out of the Microsoft OS. What it aims to leave behind is just an OS that manages the hardware. With all other services being made available for free by Google and others like Yahoo, Mozilla etc, MS would find it difficult to make the entire package look like an attractive proposition.
Robert Young in a guest post on Om Maliks blog GigaOm, explains in detail what he thinks is Google's Strategy to make Microsoft obsolete.
Jason Kottke in his blog talks about OS Mutations that are likely to happen in the near future.
He talks about an OS based on the Web which he refers to as WebOS.
The System would have 3 main parts
- A Browser
- Web Applications and
- A local Web Server : which would serve content from the local machine to the browser.
With Yahoo's acquisition of konfabulator and Google's release of its Desktop Search, we certainly seem to be heading in this direction!!!
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Weekend, Athadu and a Birthday!!!
Come weekend and Indianmasti were back in action with a Desi movie in Chinatown Cinema. The flavour of the week was Telugu.
The 'gang' had decided to accompany our 'Golti'(GB's as we TB's/MB's prefer to call them) friend Praveen to the movie. For reasons inexplicable i decided to join the 'gang' though i dont understand a single word of Telugu. Not the brightest of decisions that i have taken. But i have been happy to dismiss it away as one of my 'moments' of stupidity. We all have 'em.
Anyways we did have our share of fun.
The entire hall was filled with GB's. GB's chattering away in Telugu. GB's hooting for Mahesh Babu. GB's whistling away for Trisha. GB's laughing away at Telugu Jokes. GB's taking sly glances at the opposite sex. GB's eating spicy 'molaga bhajji's'. Man, it was a full house.
In the end, we had great fun and Babu!!! movie chaala bagundhi.
Athadu had rocked!!!
Birthday parties seem to get people's blood boiling. I suspect some even managed to do a few extra sit ups that day in preparation for the evening.
Subbu took charge of the evening, preparing a smashing dinner. Despite it being a working day the next day People came, we cut a cake and they kicked ass. We'll go anywhere to kick ass!!! Wont we?? It was a smashing evening. Thanks guys!!
And meanwhile, I managed to turn a year older. Sigh!!
The 'gang' had decided to accompany our 'Golti'(GB's as we TB's/MB's prefer to call them) friend Praveen to the movie. For reasons inexplicable i decided to join the 'gang' though i dont understand a single word of Telugu. Not the brightest of decisions that i have taken. But i have been happy to dismiss it away as one of my 'moments' of stupidity. We all have 'em.
Anyways we did have our share of fun.
The entire hall was filled with GB's. GB's chattering away in Telugu. GB's hooting for Mahesh Babu. GB's whistling away for Trisha. GB's laughing away at Telugu Jokes. GB's taking sly glances at the opposite sex. GB's eating spicy 'molaga bhajji's'. Man, it was a full house.
In the end, we had great fun and Babu!!! movie chaala bagundhi.
Athadu had rocked!!!
Birthday parties seem to get people's blood boiling. I suspect some even managed to do a few extra sit ups that day in preparation for the evening.
Subbu took charge of the evening, preparing a smashing dinner. Despite it being a working day the next day People came, we cut a cake and they kicked ass. We'll go anywhere to kick ass!!! Wont we?? It was a smashing evening. Thanks guys!!
And meanwhile, I managed to turn a year older. Sigh!!
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Google Launches Google Talk
Google followed up its launch of the Google Desktop with the Google Talk, Googles IM Client.
This much talked about IM client as expected supports the popular Jabber IM Standard and can exchange messages with other clients supporting the standard XMPP Protocol like Trillian, GAIM, iChat, Adium, and Psi. Google says it will soon support MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.
Google Talk looks lean and mean. Its clean, with no unnecessary graphics or ads. It looks all set to take on MSN, Yahoo and anybody else.
So guys check it out!!!
Monday, August 22, 2005
Google Desktop !!!!
Google today launched Google Desktop Search with a new componenet "The Google Sidebar"!!!
Ofcourse, it has replaced the "Desktop Sidebar" software that i have been using. Not a change thats going to last for long though or so it seems...
It has a new sidebar component which apparently is inspired by Windows Vista. The sidebar lets you check stock prices, weather, news, snaps et al. It also comes with a plug-in that allows you to check your mail straight from your outlook inbox.
The downside being that the user has very few options or preferences that he can set. I havent been able to categories and view my feeds according to sites. I dont seem to have an option of not checking my outlook mailbox without turning off the "display mail" feature entirely. And ofcourse i can see the weather/stock quotes only in the US of A.
At the end of the day, MS and Google can have their wars, but i think people will continue to use more useful applications like "Desktop Sidebar" that i've been using.
Ofcourse, it has replaced the "Desktop Sidebar" software that i have been using. Not a change thats going to last for long though or so it seems...
It has a new sidebar component which apparently is inspired by Windows Vista. The sidebar lets you check stock prices, weather, news, snaps et al. It also comes with a plug-in that allows you to check your mail straight from your outlook inbox.
The downside being that the user has very few options or preferences that he can set. I havent been able to categories and view my feeds according to sites. I dont seem to have an option of not checking my outlook mailbox without turning off the "display mail" feature entirely. And ofcourse i can see the weather/stock quotes only in the US of A.
At the end of the day, MS and Google can have their wars, but i think people will continue to use more useful applications like "Desktop Sidebar" that i've been using.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Weekend Alas!!
From complete joblessness to a maximum workload, the shift happened smoothly, silently and extremely swiftly, inflicting a killer blow on all my plans, time and everything else.
So Friday was indeed very welcome, with prospects of an AZAADI night at Inflation, an indian disc. But ofcourse it took quite a while before i realised that my plans had been changed. Some issues that cropped up in our testing kept us at work till 2 AM on Saturday.
Things were just as good on Saturday, with me ending up in a theatre in the evening watching "Mangal Pandey".
The movie by no stretch of imagination seemed like a product of 15 years of research and 2 years of production. Aamir khan's splendid acting albeit the movie had little or nothing to offer. It was good in patches, but definitely did not deliver as expected. I probably raised the bar a bit too high. AR Rehman has done a good job as usual, but the songs were mostly unnecessary in the context of the movie and definitely got their timing wrong. So all in all, yet another movie where the less said the better.
Things showed no signs of improvement on Sunday, with me spending a good portion of my time in the office.
On the bright side, we did manage to get ourselves tickets for the AR Rehman show in Rod Laver Arena in September.
So Friday was indeed very welcome, with prospects of an AZAADI night at Inflation, an indian disc. But ofcourse it took quite a while before i realised that my plans had been changed. Some issues that cropped up in our testing kept us at work till 2 AM on Saturday.
Things were just as good on Saturday, with me ending up in a theatre in the evening watching "Mangal Pandey".
The movie by no stretch of imagination seemed like a product of 15 years of research and 2 years of production. Aamir khan's splendid acting albeit the movie had little or nothing to offer. It was good in patches, but definitely did not deliver as expected. I probably raised the bar a bit too high. AR Rehman has done a good job as usual, but the songs were mostly unnecessary in the context of the movie and definitely got their timing wrong. So all in all, yet another movie where the less said the better.
Things showed no signs of improvement on Sunday, with me spending a good portion of my time in the office.
On the bright side, we did manage to get ourselves tickets for the AR Rehman show in Rod Laver Arena in September.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Zopa
"Zopa is a term taken from business theory. It stands for Zone of Possible Agreement and is the overlap between one person’s bottom line (the lowest they’re prepared to get for something) and another person’s top line (the most they’re prepared to give for something). It’s the way people negotiate all sorts of stuff - buying a car, getting a mortgage - even a teenager negotiating with parents about staying out late. If there’s no Zopa, there’s no deal. " - Thats what the Site has to offer in terms of explaining the term Zopa.
Its an idea thats very much in tune with whats happening around us. Its a revolutionary concept which aims at making some of the most basic purposes served by banks redundant.
Here's what they say about themselves :
" Here's the way the world works (and it must be right because it's been like this for hundreds of years...)
Its an idea thats very much in tune with whats happening around us. Its a revolutionary concept which aims at making some of the most basic purposes served by banks redundant.
Here's what they say about themselves :
" Here's the way the world works (and it must be right because it's been like this for hundreds of years...)
People who have spare money give it to a bank. Banks then do whatever they like with it. Some of it they lend to people who need to borrow. Some of it they give to their shareholders. Some of it they gamble on the price of tin, or the dollar going down, or whether there'll be floods in Asia. Banks make lots of money from all this, a fraction of which they give back to their customers.
Zopa though lets people who have spare money to lend it directly to people, like them, who want to borrow it. No bank in the middle, no huge overheads, no unethical investments.
To minimise any risk, the money each lender puts in is spread amongst at least 50 borrowers (and likewise each borrower gets their money from a number of different lenders).
Zopa is, therefore, for people who want to be a part of something new. Who want to join a community of like-minded individuals and lend to them and borrow from them in a trusting but secure way.
Zopa is for people who are looking for a better rate of return. Zopa’s interest rates aren’t squeezed by middlemen (the banks) because there are no middlemen - that’s the Zopa idea.
Zopa is for creditworthy people who earn money in new ways, in ways that banks don’t always recognise. People who are self employed, people who have peaks and troughs to their income, people who would be invisible to a bank’s credit rating system but are seen and validated by Zopa’s."
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
iSkoot brings Skype to your cellphone
With Skype making its code available to other SPs to provide services over skype, the possibilities of services that can be delivered are many. This has pushed Skype onto a new frontier : Mobile phones.
With a $10 a year software rental charges, iSkoot is offering long distance calls to any Skype user for nothing more than the cost of local air time to dial up from your mobile to your broadband connected home computer.
The idea is similar to making a call through your company's conference bridge or VOIP line or a normal calling card. Just that you'll need to dial into your own computer rather than the conference bridge number or calling card number.
The iSkoot founder, Jacob Guedalia, said his vision was to ''enable the individual to become his own long-distance carrier" by routing calls over a home or office computer connection, instead of AT&T orSprint .
More worries for telecom companies!!!
With a $10 a year software rental charges, iSkoot is offering long distance calls to any Skype user for nothing more than the cost of local air time to dial up from your mobile to your broadband connected home computer.
The idea is similar to making a call through your company's conference bridge or VOIP line or a normal calling card. Just that you'll need to dial into your own computer rather than the conference bridge number or calling card number.
The iSkoot founder, Jacob Guedalia, said his vision was to ''enable the individual to become his own long-distance carrier" by routing calls over a home or office computer connection, instead of AT&T or
More worries for telecom companies!!!
The Battle is On
Microsoft has not taken time to respond to Google's Hompage.
Click on the title of this blog or on the links section for the link to their "Start" page, which owes much of its look and feel to the Google homepage. Nothing whatsoever on the page to indicate its a Microsoft page though, but for the small MSN icon on the top corner of your browser window.
Click on the title of this blog or on the links section for the link to their "Start" page, which owes much of its look and feel to the Google homepage. Nothing whatsoever on the page to indicate its a Microsoft page though, but for the small MSN icon on the top corner of your browser window.
Technorati goes Mobile
David Stifry Technorati's CEO informs us in his blog that Technorati has been optimized for mobiles.
For those who can try it out : http://mobile.technorati.com
For those who can try it out : http://mobile.technorati.com
Monday, August 01, 2005
IPTV
The economist has an article on IPTV - a direction in which most traditional telecom players seem to be moving in.
With major cable firms enticing customers with a "Triple-play bundle" of TV, Broadband and telephony services, Mobile operators and thirdly VOIP providers.
IPTV is the last ditch effort from Telecom providers to stay in the race. There seem to be lots of legal and technical hurdles for now between them and IPTV.
But assuming they do provide users with the required bandwidth, will they be able to ensure that the user is not putting the available bandwidth to buy third party services from other providers.
"If you cant beat them, join them.", thats the strategy some others like the indian Telecom giant VSNL are adopting. VSNL plans to buy Teleglobe, the worlds largest VOIP Provider.
"Every big telecoms firm is investing to migrate from old, circuit-switched networks to new internet-based ones, with Britain's BT probably moving fastest."
With BT, Verizon, SBC all taking their first steps towards IPTV. We should hope to hear and see more of it very soon.
Terms to look out for: NGN, IMS ...
With major cable firms enticing customers with a "Triple-play bundle" of TV, Broadband and telephony services, Mobile operators and thirdly VOIP providers.
IPTV is the last ditch effort from Telecom providers to stay in the race. There seem to be lots of legal and technical hurdles for now between them and IPTV.
But assuming they do provide users with the required bandwidth, will they be able to ensure that the user is not putting the available bandwidth to buy third party services from other providers.
"If you cant beat them, join them.", thats the strategy some others like the indian Telecom giant VSNL are adopting. VSNL plans to buy Teleglobe, the worlds largest VOIP Provider.
"Every big telecoms firm is investing to migrate from old, circuit-switched networks to new internet-based ones, with Britain's BT probably moving fastest."
With BT, Verizon, SBC all taking their first steps towards IPTV. We should hope to hear and see more of it very soon.
Terms to look out for: NGN, IMS ...
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Messagecasts
Receive your RSS feeds on MSN Messenger/yahoo messenger or on your mobile.
Now that's really realtime!!!
Had a long lazy weekend. But things continue to move at a hectic pace all around. Its another Manic Monday!!!
Now that's really realtime!!!
Had a long lazy weekend. But things continue to move at a hectic pace all around. Its another Manic Monday!!!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Windows : A Long Journey
An awesome site that traces the history of Windows all the way from QDos to Windows Vista.
http://www.levenez.com/windows/history.html#04
And a sneak preview of the Windows Vista..
http://bink.nu/photos/news_article_images/category1012.aspx
http://www.levenez.com/windows/history.html#04
And a sneak preview of the Windows Vista..
http://bink.nu/photos/news_article_images/category1012.aspx
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Google Homepage : A Class Act
Check the new google homepage out : http://www.google.com/ig/
And click on personalize your homepage.
A panel slides out from the left and Google has it all here. It acts as an RSS Reader. You can add your own RSS Feeds. Just drag and drop feeds anywhere you want on the screen. You dont need to download an Aggregator anymore.
You have your mail, news, weather any other feeds that you want - all in one page.
And they've done it in style.
And click on personalize your homepage.
A panel slides out from the left and Google has it all here. It acts as an RSS Reader. You can add your own RSS Feeds. Just drag and drop feeds anywhere you want on the screen. You dont need to download an Aggregator anymore.
You have your mail, news, weather any other feeds that you want - all in one page.
And they've done it in style.
Cost of Microsoft Monopoly : $10 Billion
A recent whitepaper calculates the cost of Microsofts Monopoly to the industry as $10 Billion.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/26/1434243&from=rss/
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/26/1434243&from=rss/
Monday, July 25, 2005
Microsofts Response to Google Earth
Checkout http://virtualearth.msn.com/ ..
This is to go live on the 25th of July...
This is to go live on the 25th of July...
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Eureka!!!
This could be the reason why normally creative people produce movies like "War of the Worlds". (Im still on the copyright issue!! .. read the blog below)
Ages after movies like "Alien", "Predator" and "Independance Day", all that we get from one of the most Creative Directors in Hollywood is a rehash of the same thing.
The movie had nothing new to offer. Nothing exceptional in terms of thought or technology. Its just another "Alien" movie after all.
Its probably one of the reason why we have so much trash thrown at us and also probably why this trash is consumed silently.
I happened to see quite a few movies released recently that i wouldnt want to waste anymore time writing about, than i already have watching them.
If you are reading this, maybe you should ask yourself, is it because everything else is protected and not available for public consumption and you have nothing better to read.
Ages after movies like "Alien", "Predator" and "Independance Day", all that we get from one of the most Creative Directors in Hollywood is a rehash of the same thing.
The movie had nothing new to offer. Nothing exceptional in terms of thought or technology. Its just another "Alien" movie after all.
Its probably one of the reason why we have so much trash thrown at us and also probably why this trash is consumed silently.
I happened to see quite a few movies released recently that i wouldnt want to waste anymore time writing about, than i already have watching them.
If you are reading this, maybe you should ask yourself, is it because everything else is protected and not available for public consumption and you have nothing better to read.
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." – Issac Newton
For Innovation and new ideas to thrive, previous innovations and ideas should be freely available and shared. In a world where Copyright and intellectual property laws are becoming more stringent, we seem to be moving in the exact opposite direction.
I would presume Copyright laws originally intended to maintain the sanctity of information. Constitutions and courts have repeatedly interpreted Copyright as a means of encouraging the production of creative works for public benefit.
What are we achieving by restricting the audience to a piece of information?
Yes, there are associated monetary benefits to which the owner does have a right. But unlike olden days when copyright was owned by individuals who took it with them to their graves, and had little or no benefit in extending the copyright, today most copyrights are owned by organizations which are formed on the presumption that they will exist forever. The idea of continuing to reap the monetary benefits of an asset for as long as possible is indeed a tempting proposition.
Even Walt Disney classics like “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs”, which are protected by copyright have been derived from previous great works whose copyright had expired.
Are we gradually moving towards a void in innovation?
Sunday, June 26, 2005
The Proverbial Haircut
It was every Desi’s nightmare I was told, when I landed here. But somehow I seemed to have sidestepped it. Rather, I had been amply warned to be able to avoid it. So my decent Indian haircut, albeit ancient prevailed for a few months/haircuts.
But last Monday was a day of mood swings. Monday morning, I decided I was sick and hence decided to stay at home. Was a wonderful day. Got up late. Read a book for a while. Watched some TV. Cooked. Slept. And then, it happened.
At around 4 I decided to go out for a walk. The idea was to go the the City Library. There was some talk on some obscure topic that seemed interesting at that point in time. Anyways, the fact is I never got to the library that day.
On my way there it started drizzling. And all of a sudden, I felt I had a little too much hair on my head. I guess that was when I decided it was time to visit the Barber.
I should have realized the minute I got there that things weren’t going the way they were supposed to. The sweet chick in the shop, had been replaced by some guy. I am pretty much certain that that was when I lost interest in the haircut altogether. Or may be it was the temptation to go for a haircut I wouldn’t want to have back home.
My usually lengthy explanation of the type of haircut I wanted was replaced by a just a number. I was given a choice of 1 to 4. 1 being the shortest and 4 being the longest.
I chose 4. Whats left on my head now is the remnants of my battle with number 4. :)19th June --> Madagascar to Anniyan...
After another Saturday at work, Madagascar seemed to be just about the right way to relax. A nice light hearted animation flick.
But Madagascar does not come anywhere close to Shrek or Ice Age or some of the other animation flicks. But with a walk down Chapel Street on a Saturday night, the trip to Jam Factory was well worth it for more than one reason. The Director has got himself a few animals from a New York zoo and has no clue what to do with them. It was funny and witty in bits and pieces.
Sunday, was the day for ‘Anniyan’.
Much awaited by many, Anniyan was released in Australia just a day after its release in India (Or probably on the same day). Many cinemas in Melbourne ran special shows over the weekend.
The Chinatown Cinema on Bourke had a show at 4pm on Sunday, which we caught up with. Arriving there at around 3:30, we were absolutely amazed at seeing a mini Madras on Bourke Street. Mama’s, Mami’s, Thatha’s and paati’s seemed to have sprouted out of thin air. The air was buzzing with Tamil and all of a sudden we felt at home. Yet it was different.
The movie was expected to be a ‘superhit’ with Vikram in the lead role and Vivek being himself as usual and Harris Jayaraj providing the music.
The show began to a packed audience amidst whistles and howls. We were transported straight back to India.
To say it did not live up to the hype created around it, would be an apt way to sum it up. The music by Harris Jeyaraj, whilst being enjoyable, did not leave any lasting impression. In short, I don’t think I remember a single song in the movie. It just left you with a faint suspicion that Rehman would have done a better job any day.
Like any other B/Kollywood flick, it seems to have been targeted at the masses. But this one strives to convey a message or rather inspire them. The Director seems unsure of whether to stick to the message in the movie or to give the masses what they want. On the one hand he attempts at conveying a message and on the other he provides you with the usual masala and songs at unwanted places. Well, I would advise you to leave your brains behind if you intend to go watch this flick.
This movie has its share of laughs though, with Vivek not missing a single opportunity to entertain. The scene with Vikram singing ‘Manasa Sancharare’ in the train to woo his girl was just too good. It almost had me rolling on the floor laughing…
That brings another weekend to an end. Well almost, there’s still Aus vs Eng and the F1 to catch up with before hitting the office tomorrow.
Aussies are in for a thrashing from England. Tottering at 63/4, after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Bangladeshis, its looking like a double whammy for them.
But Madagascar does not come anywhere close to Shrek or Ice Age or some of the other animation flicks. But with a walk down Chapel Street on a Saturday night, the trip to Jam Factory was well worth it for more than one reason. The Director has got himself a few animals from a New York zoo and has no clue what to do with them. It was funny and witty in bits and pieces.
Sunday, was the day for ‘Anniyan’.
Much awaited by many, Anniyan was released in Australia just a day after its release in India (Or probably on the same day). Many cinemas in Melbourne ran special shows over the weekend.
The Chinatown Cinema on Bourke had a show at 4pm on Sunday, which we caught up with. Arriving there at around 3:30, we were absolutely amazed at seeing a mini Madras on Bourke Street. Mama’s, Mami’s, Thatha’s and paati’s seemed to have sprouted out of thin air. The air was buzzing with Tamil and all of a sudden we felt at home. Yet it was different.
The movie was expected to be a ‘superhit’ with Vikram in the lead role and Vivek being himself as usual and Harris Jayaraj providing the music.
The show began to a packed audience amidst whistles and howls. We were transported straight back to India.
To say it did not live up to the hype created around it, would be an apt way to sum it up. The music by Harris Jeyaraj, whilst being enjoyable, did not leave any lasting impression. In short, I don’t think I remember a single song in the movie. It just left you with a faint suspicion that Rehman would have done a better job any day.
Like any other B/Kollywood flick, it seems to have been targeted at the masses. But this one strives to convey a message or rather inspire them. The Director seems unsure of whether to stick to the message in the movie or to give the masses what they want. On the one hand he attempts at conveying a message and on the other he provides you with the usual masala and songs at unwanted places. Well, I would advise you to leave your brains behind if you intend to go watch this flick.
This movie has its share of laughs though, with Vivek not missing a single opportunity to entertain. The scene with Vikram singing ‘Manasa Sancharare’ in the train to woo his girl was just too good. It almost had me rolling on the floor laughing…
That brings another weekend to an end. Well almost, there’s still Aus vs Eng and the F1 to catch up with before hitting the office tomorrow.
Aussies are in for a thrashing from England. Tottering at 63/4, after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Bangladeshis, its looking like a double whammy for them.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Queen's Birthday - 13th June
At last we had another long weekend. It’s a great concept to shift a holiday to the end of the week so that you get that well needed long break rather than a holiday right in the middle of the week. This time it was the Queen’s Birthay. I’m not sure if it was a co-incidence that the Birthday was conterminous with the weekend or whether it was conveniently shifted. Will need to look that one up. But all that mattered in the end was that it was a long weekend.
So we decided to drive. And it decided to rain.
The rain god had apparently decided to keep us company. And we couldn’t get rid of him the whole day. And when we eventually did, we did manage to find a worthy replacement.
Of course, we had no intention of reaching any place in particular. But I guess someone at somepoint decided we’d be going to bucham caves, cos that’s where we ended up.
The Bucham caves are essentially underground caves (actually they are inside a mountain and not exactly underground) formed by a river that used to flow through it. The water level in the river over the years has gone down several meters leaving the caves as they are now. The special part of the caves were the stalactites and stalagmites that were gradually filling them up. An hour of crouching, crawling, climbing, ‘clicking’( not forgetting to smile) and plenty of dry and wet stalactites and stalagmites and a little bit of geography peppered with some history got us to the exit of the caves.
The rain god was absolutely faithful.
It was then that the GPS system in the car came on its own. The next destination was to be Lakes Entrance, a 40 minute drive from Bucham Caves. But apparently it didn’t find any favour with the car’s GPS System. One and a half hours of driving , and the GPS System maintained that we needed to go another 130 kms in the same direction. And we persisted, proving once again that common sense isn’t so common after all.
Eventually we did end up asking and were advised to travel around 150kms back in the exact opposite direction. It was 6:15 PM and dark as hell.
And that was when the rain god decided to call it a day. But he soon had a replacement – Mr.Fog, who was happy to keep us company all the way back to Melbourne.
An hour’s peering and praying and also driving, got us to Lakes Entrance. And another 4 hours got us back to Melbourne.
It was 2:30 am and we had driven 949.3 Kms. And had managed to see a double rainbow. It was beautiful.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Googly's from google
Figure this one out... a lil late sending this, still... :))
http://www.google.com/googlegulp/index.html
And this one is interesting...
http://yagoohoogle.com/
http://www.google.com/googlegul
And this one is interesting...
http://yagoohoogle.com/
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Horny Indians
I miss the krrrrrrrrrrrr from the autos, trrrng trrrng from the cycles, Pom Pom from the buses, peeeeeeah peeeeeah from the cars and various other varieties of horns and expletives that resonate in Indian roads. Be it men, women, kids , young or old, not a soul hesitates to use the horn. Not without a reason though. You would feel absolutely incapacitated without a horn in your vehicle. I mean, just imagine!!!
I guess its tough to imagine. Just as it would be for an Aussie to imagine someone honking at them for no apparent reason. A horn is the most unlikely thing you’d hear on the roads here. To get honked at is akin to being sworn at.
As far as India is concerned, the ‘People’ factor does inject itself everywhere. Here, Time, Tide and People wait for none. So use the horn and make way for yourself!!
After all rules are meant to be broken and horns are meant to be honked.
I guess its tough to imagine. Just as it would be for an Aussie to imagine someone honking at them for no apparent reason. A horn is the most unlikely thing you’d hear on the roads here. To get honked at is akin to being sworn at.
As far as India is concerned, the ‘People’ factor does inject itself everywhere. Here, Time, Tide and People wait for none. So use the horn and make way for yourself!!
After all rules are meant to be broken and horns are meant to be honked.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Mel 'Bourne Voyage'
And then one day I was on a flight to Melbourne. The events of the previous weeks had run through so fast that the mind had not had the time to process them.
Sitting in the Malaysian airlines flight, helping an old Indian couple and myself get some vegetarian food, it hit me like a bag of ice falling from a 1000 ft above me. Well, couldn’t think of anything worse to compare. I survived though.
I spent the rest of the time trying to answer questions that I was throwing at myself. Am not sure if some of those will ever find themselves an answer.
The ABCD(American Born Confused Desi) sitting next to me, on his way to LA, wasn’t helping my cause. Thankfully, after a change of flights at KL, I found some decent company and successfully kept myself away from helping some of those questions find answers.
Like someone once said, and I hope he was right, ‘Everything happens for good’. Duh!!
Sitting in the Malaysian airlines flight, helping an old Indian couple and myself get some vegetarian food, it hit me like a bag of ice falling from a 1000 ft above me. Well, couldn’t think of anything worse to compare. I survived though.
I spent the rest of the time trying to answer questions that I was throwing at myself. Am not sure if some of those will ever find themselves an answer.
The ABCD(American Born Confused Desi) sitting next to me, on his way to LA, wasn’t helping my cause. Thankfully, after a change of flights at KL, I found some decent company and successfully kept myself away from helping some of those questions find answers.
Like someone once said, and I hope he was right, ‘Everything happens for good’. Duh!!
Friday, January 21, 2005
A Buffalo herd moves only as fast as the slowest buffalo…
..and when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that arekilled first.
This sentence has to be judged not by what it says literally but by the wealth of knowledge that it camouflages.
The intended audience for this sentence was certainly not a herd of buffaloes, I hope.
It is applicable to each and every one of us and everything we do in our daily life.
When it comes to nature, it consistently follows the principle of Survival of the fittest, automatically eliminating the slowest/least fit in the herd. This is good news for the herd because the general health and speed of the heard is maintained and at times improved.
Much the same way, our performance is restricted to the average capability of our peer group. You can see it happen in all walks of life. An average student performing averagely in an average school, when put in a very competitive school either manages to rise to the occasion or loses out badly to the competition.
The best example I could take is the performance of the Indian Cricket team. How could a team that has lost to a young inexperienced team like Bangladesh beat teams like Pakistan and Australia in their home grounds?
When we play against a superior team like Australia we automatically raise the level of our game.
It happens to each and every one of us. We restrict our performance to just what is required of us at that particular point in time.
It is important for each and every one of us to realize that we are capable of a lot more and must constantly yearn to consistently extract that level of performance from ourselves.
Here is to a world of continuous improvement, where, as I see it, there is no limit to improving ourselves. Here is to an extremely competitive human race…
This sentence has to be judged not by what it says literally but by the wealth of knowledge that it camouflages.
The intended audience for this sentence was certainly not a herd of buffaloes, I hope.
It is applicable to each and every one of us and everything we do in our daily life.
When it comes to nature, it consistently follows the principle of Survival of the fittest, automatically eliminating the slowest/least fit in the herd. This is good news for the herd because the general health and speed of the heard is maintained and at times improved.
Much the same way, our performance is restricted to the average capability of our peer group. You can see it happen in all walks of life. An average student performing averagely in an average school, when put in a very competitive school either manages to rise to the occasion or loses out badly to the competition.
The best example I could take is the performance of the Indian Cricket team. How could a team that has lost to a young inexperienced team like Bangladesh beat teams like Pakistan and Australia in their home grounds?
When we play against a superior team like Australia we automatically raise the level of our game.
It happens to each and every one of us. We restrict our performance to just what is required of us at that particular point in time.
It is important for each and every one of us to realize that we are capable of a lot more and must constantly yearn to consistently extract that level of performance from ourselves.
Here is to a world of continuous improvement, where, as I see it, there is no limit to improving ourselves. Here is to an extremely competitive human race…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)