First Anniversary

Its been almost a year since i started blogging - and i realized it today, almost after a month after the acutal First Anniversary date (March 29) . What started as an acitivity to keep myself occupied during my notice period(after submitting the resgination) in my previous organization , has now been quite an often activity. This endeavour has been quite interesting and continues to interest me.

I would like to thank all my readers who have been visiting my blog often and have given their valuable comments.


I hope to continue this acitivity ; and blog on quality issues. I would like to keep this blog free from any personal experiences(diary) and hope to concentrate on Science/Technology/Business/Philosophy/Current-Affairs.

qsdc njkp

Now that's not some funny collection of alphabets ....

Try to type these alphabets by keeping :
For the Left Hand
* Llittle finger on 'q'
* Ring finger on 's'
* Middle finger on 'd'
* Index finger on 'c'


For the RightHand
* Llittle finger on 'p'
* Ring finger on 'k'
* Middle finger on 'j'
* Index finger on 'n'

Try to access the other keys in the QWERTY keyboard using this arrangement; i find this to be far easier than the traditional - "ASDFG - :LKJH". I will try to upload a picture of the same in the near future.

An advantage of this combination (pattern) of fingers is that, the key-board can be separated into 2 separate pieces and can add on ergonomic postures.

However, the above mentioned pattern has not been scientifically proven, but i find it easy in my day-to-day work.

The Google Story

I have just finished this book - " The Google Story" By " David A.Vise.

I must say that its a must-read for a any Google enthusiast/fan who has been following this organization's spectacular growth in the past 7 years. Its also a must-read for all the ardent cribbers in the IT industry who have perfected the art of "How to Crib - the Programmer's Way".

Google's story is a perfect example of how technology drives business. Organizations that thrive on technology have always been successful in business , and Google is a perfect example of this.

The books dwelves into how Google started, the challenges that its faced and how it has burgeoned into a Internet Giant posing threats to the big-wigs like Microsoft and its future expansion plan. The book gives deep inghts into the corporate history of this 'noun' , that has become a 'verb these days.

A few lines from the book :

• "youth + freedom + transparency + new model + the general public's benefit + belief in trust = The Miracle of Google" Context: this is Mr.Lee's ( from MS to Google) definition of Google

• "Every declared war begins with a opening salvo of some kind" Context : Google's vs Microsoft

Munich

I was very much sceptical about spending around 140 INR for the movie "Munich" at Europa Class in PVR Cinemas(The Forum, Bangalore) ; i convinced myself that its not worth it and went for a movie called "Underground evolution" - a gory movie which mainly portrays the war between lycans and vampires. Though initially i thought the plot to be a little different, but the mundaness was something thats to be abhorred. (I had spent 110 INR for the tkt for this movie).

A week later i went for Munich (tkt = 80 INR , @ the same theatre) . I was totally awestruck - a SUPERB movie with an excellant story line and simply great screenplay and direction. Speilberg at his best , Eric Bana playing the role of a Mossad agent (though he wasnt one, actually) who leads a team of 4 to kill all those involved in the Black September attack on Israeli Atheletes during the 1954 Munich Olympics. The movie portrays how the assasinations/murders carried out by the Mossad Agents (after the Black September attack) takes the toll on themselves and affects their psychology. [ for more - go & see the movie ]

I wouldnt dare to review this movie , but would highly appreciate any serious cinema goer to go for this classic and satisfy his hunger for a 'good-movie' , that has been unsatiated for quite some time.

Google and BETA's

( This post is a follow-up to the previous post on Google , wherein i had serious doubts on the way the organization is making inroads into all the Internet-Based-Services)

I did a small sample survey of the existing Google Products/Services (List is here) and came up with the following observation :

Search Products
Alerts : BETA
Blog Search : BETA
Book Search : BETA
Catalogs : BETA
Desktop : BETA
Finance : BETA
Froogle : BETA
Scholar : BETA
Video : BETA
Images : NOT A BETA
Google Maps : NOT A BETA
News : NOT A BETA
Directory : NOT A BETA
Earth : NOT A BETA
Specialized Searches : NOT A BETA
Toolbar : NOT A BETA
Web Search : NOT A BETA ( Thats a Great News !!)

Explore and innovate
Co-op : BETA

Communicate, show & share
Calendar : BETA
Gmail : BETA
Groups : BETA
Talk : BETA
Picasa : NOT A BETA
Translate : NOT A BETA
Blogger : NOT A BETA

Go mobile
Maps for mobile : BETA
Mobile : BETA
SMS : BETA

Download the latest software
Pack : BETA


From the Google's Search Products Stables (which is the organization's forte ):
Number of Betas : 9
Number of non-Betas : 8

Most of those products that are "Not in Beta" have come up from the organizations that Google has bought over the past couple of year. Examples include - Picasa, Earth and Blogger. Writely is in the pipeline :-)


All Products:
Number of Betas : 18
Number of non-Betas : 11

Google -- Where is it heading to????

We have seen this org grow from a measely Stan project to a Search-Engine Giant in a span of little over 8 years. Google's market-cap has increased by leaps and bounds and is far ahead of the rivals Yahoo,Ask and MSN. MSN's AdCenter or Yahoo's so-called 'enhanced-ad-placement services' have not affected this Giant. Danny Sullivan, the editor of Search Engine Watch (the website is a lot cluttered - hence ahem!!), still ranks Google as Numero-Uno.

But, as this story/article points out - is Google making forays into all the available sectors just for the heck of it, without caring for the excellance in each of the services that they are providing thus far?? Google News came out of the Beta version just months back(after a 'brief' testing period of around 3 years ) ; Gmail is still in Beta. We saw Google trends being launched last week and today i see Google Notebook . This is similar to Microsoft's OneNote, but with a cleaner and 'WIP' interface.

As always, Google Notebook , though still in its infancy has lots of features that are yet to be implemented; we are prompted with a WIP page on some of the features that are yet to be completed.

Try this out in IE: Login to Gmail and click on the "New Features" hyperlink on the top-tight corner of the page.That will lead you to this page. Now, did that work in IE??? Try the same in Mozilla's Firefox -- ?????? Google wake up!

A prudent customer would never settle for an uncompleted(beta) product - though he may use just for the heck of it , if that is offered freely.

I see lots of bloggers blogging about Google Trends and how intelligent it is; but at the same time we fail to see the other pothholes that Google is offering to its 'customers'. I have been a fanatic of Google since 2000, but it's 'Dalmatian-Service' does bother me.

Now on a slighlty different note..We have seen Google News being offered based on the demography of the customer (i.e., country-based)...i was contemplating on Google offering its new services on similar lines....It has already made inraods into radio-advertising in the USofA; I was thinking about Google offering Kiosks in India. (Kiosks in this context are touch based simple screens ,which will take inputs from the user and present results accordingly).These kiosks will be strategically located all across the country and will offer its 'services' to its custmers free-of-cost.

Voila - me Again!

First the Good News : I have started blogging again.There were a couple of things that are happening around that have prompted me to start this activity again and stimulate the intellectual cells of my fellow readers and make them wonder about the bogons that are being hurled against them.